Chapter 6

"Naoto said she talked to Sun after you left." Ruby said to Blake. "Why did you leave?"

"She figured out that I'm a Faunus." Blake said. It was difficult to tell if she was disappointed or annoyed. "She told me I should stop hiding it."

"Why would she say that?" Weiss asked. "Does she have any idea what you've been through?"

"She said something about having experience hiding who she was because of prejudice." Blake replied. "She said it wasn't healthy. Being lectured like that, it made me angry."

"Did she tell her teammates?" Yang asked.

"She said she wouldn't." Blake answered. "But she also said at least one of them would figure it out on his own."

"You should probably just tell them then." Ruby suggested. "We're working together anyway. If we hide things from them, how can they trust us?"

"Maybe you're right." Blake sighed. "I don't want them to figure it out and then go telling everyone."

"Is it raining?" Rise asked as midnight approached.

Yosuke pulled back the curtains and peered out into the darkness. "Not hard, but yeah, it's raining." He reported.

There was a knock at the door. Yu got up and opened it a crack. Blake pushed her way in, a look of nervous determination on her face. "We're kind of in the middle of something." Naoto protested. "Can you come back later?" The rest of Team RWBY followed her in, ignoring the protest.

"This is important, and if I don't do it now, I don't know if I ever will." Blake said. Naoto understood and nodded politely. Yang closed the door and stood in front of it. "I have a confession to make." Blake continued. She untied her bow and it dropped to her shoulders, revealing a set of cat-like ears atop her head. "I'm a Faunus."

"So?" Rise asked. "What does it matter?" Yosuke looked similarly confused, but Yu just had an I-knew-it look to his smile. "Were you worried we'd think less of you?"

"Yes actually." Blake admitted. "Most humans do."

"We're not most humans." Yu assured her. "We're your friends. What you are isn't what matter. It's who you are." Blake was shocked. Even her own team had not taken the news as well.

"Since you let us in on a secret, we'll return the favor." Yosuke said. "We're not from this planet. Not from this universe actually. It's sort of hard to explain, but we won't tell if you won't tell."

"Yes, those men we're chasing aren't from here either." Naoto added. "We came here because we don't want them to cause the same trouble in your world that they caused in ours."

"What kind of trouble?" Ruby asked. The rest of her team stood in stunned silence at the revelation but Ruby seemed unfazed.

The clock struck midnight and the television took on an otherworldly glow. "That kind of trouble." Yu said, pointing to the screen. For emphasis he held up the plug with his other hand, showing the screen was unpowered.

After a few moments of static, the screen resolved, displaying none other than Sho. He seemed to be in some sort of laboratory. Something about Sho was not quite right. Maybe it was the eyes. He seemed different. "I'm so desperately alone." Sho said, his voice more like that of a small child's than normal. "I just wish someone, anyone, care about me." It was clear to YYRN that this was Sho's shadow. This Sho looked straight at the camera. "Will you?" With that, Sho lashed out with one of his blades and the screen flashed back to static before fading to darkness.

"What in the world was that?" Weiss asked. "That Sho guy seems more deranged than I imagined. He's like a little kid throwing a tantrum."

"That wasn't Sho." Yosuke said. "That was his shadow."

"I don't follow." Ruby admitted.

"It's a reflection of his hidden inner self." Naoto explained. "If we don't rescue him, it'll kill him."

"How do we rescue him?" Yang asked.

"We enter the TV world and destroy any shadows that get in our way." Rise replied.

"TV world?" Blake asked incredulously.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Yu said. He walked up to the screen and plunged his hand through it as it flashed white. "Take a look around back." Team RWBY peered behind the screen to see nothing penetrating to the other side. "He's in there. It's another universe."

"How did he get in there?" Ruby asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Adachi threw him in." Naoto answered. "That's a power he possesses and that's how he murdered his victims."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Yang asked. "Let's go save him. He might know something about Torchwick."

"It's not that simple." Rise cautioned. "It's dangerous in there, and we're not really in any shape to fight right now. We spent the whole day investigating. I don't know about you guys, but we're exhausted."

"It's also a bad idea for you guys to go." Yosuke warned. "People who haven't faced their shadows are in grave danger in there. You should leave it to us."

"That's not going to happen." Blake declared. "If there's any chance saving Sho can help us catch Torchwick, we're going."

"Fine, but not until tomorrow after classes." Yu said. "And we all go together."

"We'll see you then." Ruby said. She sounded excited. Team RWBY left YYRN's room and headed back to their own. Yu closed the door behind them.

"Even we can't go in there." Rise said. "Without Teddie we'll have no exit. We'll be trapped just like Sho."

"That's where you're wrong." Yosuke said confidently. "After what happened the last time, Teddie taught all of us living in Inaba how to summon exits. That way, if one of us fell in accidentally like Kanji, we'd be able to get right out without having to search for Teddie's exit. He would have taught you guys too, but you haven't been around."

"Have you tried it?" Naoto asked. "I don't want to get in there and find out you can't do it."

"Of course I've tried it." Yosuke said. "It's easy. I asked Teddie why he never showed us before and he said he never thought about it."

"Well, let's make sure we're ready for tomorrow." Yu said. "I don't know what we'll face or how Team RWBY will react, so we'll need to be extra careful."

Torchwick unlocked the door and swung it open, exhausted after a meeting with Cinder and her lackeys. It was always hell to talk to them. He looked up to find the apartment ransacked. The furniture was broken, all the drawers were pulled out with their contents scattered, and there was a hole in the wall. Neo sat on a mostly intact couch, looking down. She was covered in blood and her clothes were torn, but what really worried Torchwick was that she was not smiling. She always smiled, even when she was slitting someone's throat.

"Neo, what happened?" Torchwick asked. She did not react. "Did Sho do this?" She shook her head. "Where is he?" She gestured toward the broken screen but gave no other response. If Torchwick did not know better, he would think she had been crying. Torchwick walked over, carefully making his way around the debris that covered the floor, and sat beside her. He put an arm around her. "Who did this?"

"I've got good news and bad news." Adachi said over the phone. The Faunus on the other end grunted. "The good news is I got rid of Torchwick's pal. The bad news is, it's not the one you're expecting."

"So you failed." The White Fang member charged.

"Look on the bright side." Adachi suggested. "I took out the guy that broke him out of prison. That'll send whatever message you wanted to send just as much as getting rid of Neo would have. He's going to be looking over his shoulder now."

There was a brief silence on the other end. "Fine, but don't fail again." The Faunus finally said. "Take care of the others."

"I'm looking forward to it." Adachi said.

YYRN and RWBY had been hoping for a quiet, restful day as a lead up to their attempt to rescue Sho. They would have no such luck. Glynda scheduled a practice match and it involved a member from each team. Yosuke would face Weiss. Yosuke planned to use the match as an opportunity.

The two combatants met in the center of the amphitheater and waited for the signal to begin. "Let's make a bet." Yosuke suggested. "If I win, you have to go on a date with me."

"You're sick." Weiss snapped back.

"If you win, I won't ask again." Yosuke offered.

It was too good an offer for Weiss to resist. "Fine." Weiss agreed. "But if I make you forfeit, you'll never so much as speak to me again."

"I'd never forfeit, so I'll take it." Yosuke said confidently.

The buzzer sounded to start the match and Weiss immediately charged. She slashed at Yosuke, his aura absorbing the flurry. He countered with a blast of wind that sent Weiss tumbling backward. She rolled to her feet, cycled Myrtenaster, and lanced a line of fire at Yosuke. He fired wind back, fanning the flames and sending a massive fireball at Weiss. She dove out of the way just in time. Yosuke leveled his SMG's at Weiss and fired a sustained but inaccurate burst. Weiss cycled Myrtenaster again and used a glyph to create a wall of ice to block the shots.

Behind the opaque wall of ice, Yosuke could not see what Weiss was up to. When she reappeared around the side, she was sliding across the floor on her glyphs, approaching at high speed. A blast of wind did nothing to slow her down and Yosuke was forced to awkwardly dive out of the way as she closed in. Weiss jumped high into the air as Yosuke scrambled to his feet. At the peak of her leap, Weiss summoned a glyph to launch her into Yosuke with incredible speed. She slammed into him full-force and Yosuke slammed down onto his back, sliding across the floor.

Yosuke was hurting. The last shot had been a good one. He lay there for a moment, trying to regain his composure. Just as he started to sit up, Weiss smashed the pommel of Myrtenaster into his face, knocking him back down. She positioned one of her high-heeled boots over Yosuke's crotch, a devious smile on her face. "Oh God I forfeit!" Yosuke shouted. Weiss stomped down anyway. Yosuke was in too much pain to even scream. He writhed for a moment then lay still as Weiss walked away looking very happy with herself.

Moments later, Yu arrived, kneeling at Yosuke's side. "Are you hurt?" He asked.

"Just my pride." Yosuke groaned. "And my balls."

"Someone tried to have Neo killed." Torchwick said. Cinder showed a hint of concern but Mercury and Emerald were unmoved. "Some guy named Adachi killed Sho and almost killed her too. He stole every grain of dust I had too. I want to know who he's working for and why he did it."

"He's working for the White Fang." Adam said, walking up behind Torchwick. "Some of them are very angry with your failure. With all the Faunus that died because of your failure, can you blame them? I can't control them all you know. I have made sure that there will not be a repeat, and those that were responsible have been disposed of."

"You filthy animals, I should have known." Torchwick sneered, raising his weapon at Adam.

"Please, we should be working together, not bickering amongst ourselves." Cinder said, stepping between them and pushing Torchwick's weapon down. "Right now there are much more important matters to attend to."

After classes, Team RWBY joined YYRN in their room. Yu, Rise and Naoto were checking their weapons in anticipation of combat. Yosuke sat on his bed with an ice pack placed strategically between his legs. Ruby shoved Weiss toward him. "They want me to apologize." Weiss sighed. "I'm not going to apologize." The rest of Team RWBY looked on disapprovingly but Weiss was unmoved.

"It's no big deal." Rise said. "I don't know what he did to you, but he probably deserved it."

"Yes, I'm sure what you did showed great restraint all things considered." Naoto agreed.

"You've got my back, right dude?" Yosuke asked Yu. Yu just shrugged and went back to his weapon. Yosuke frowned. "I guess I should apologize. Sorry for hitting on you and asking you out on a date."

"That's all he did?" Ruby asked. Weiss nodded. "Weiss! What's wrong with you?"

"If I crushed the testicles of every guy that hit on me our species would die out." Yang said. "I think you need to calm down a bit."

"I'm still on her side." Rise said.

"As am I." Naoto added.

"Can we please get down to business?" Blake asked. "We need to rescue Sho and find out what he knows about Torchwick and we need to do it as soon as possible."

"Fair enough, into the TV then." Yu said.

"Are you guys sure you want to come?" Rise asked. "I'm warning you, it's super dangerous for anyone new and I'm sure we can handle it on our own."

"We're going and that's final." Blake insisted.

"Yeah, we can't let you guys go into danger alone." Ruby said. "It's our job to help people, and that includes you." She paused for a moment and looked at the screen. "So how do we do this?"

"Just jump in." Yu said. Yosuke tossed the ice pack aside and limped to the screen. Yu helped him dive through as it flashed white.

"Rise's right." Naoto warned. "You shouldn't go." With a look of steely determination, Blake walked up to Yu. Yu helped her up and into the screen, to be followed by the others.

"So, what's the word?" Adachi asked. He looked bored.

"They think you were working for a rogue element in the White Fang." Adam said. "If they get their hands on you, they'll kill you."

"I think I'd be the one to do the killing." Adachi smirked. "Anyway, it's good that your master plan isn't ruined. That would have sucked."

"Speaking of which, I have a few questions for you." Adam said. "First off, why are you helping us? You're a human, a sworn enemy."

"Humans are real pieces of shit." Adachi laughed. "I'm sure you've noticed. The White Fang though, you guys know what you want, and you take it. No apologies, no excuses, just violent action. It's refreshing. Besides, it's always rewarding to help the little guy. Seeing the Faunus mistreated like they are makes my blood boil."

"Well, when the time comes you may be asked to back up your statements with action." Adam said. "When the Faunus aren't the little guy anymore, when the White Fang is ascendant, will you still be on our side?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Adachi asked. "I already told you how I feel about humanity. I'd kill every last human if I could." He would not say it, but he was just as willing to kill every last Faunus.

Adam knew Adachi could not be trusted. He was a pathological liar. It took one to know one. "Good." Adam said. "Finish taking care of your list, then we'll move on to the next stage." Adam got up to leave.

"Oh, uh, what are we going to do about him?" Adachi asked, pointing to the corpse of the ram Faunus that had been his initial contact within the White Fang. Half the Faunus' head was missing, the result of a gunshot from Adachi.

"Leave him." Adam said. "His death will be quite useful to us." By us Adam meant himself. Adachi was useful, but Adam had already planned his betrayal. He knew Adachi would be thinking along similar lines. It would all be in the timing.

Ruby staggered to her feet with a groan. "My head hurts." She complained. "Where are we?" Wherever she was, it was very foggy. Nearby the rest of her team were in similar discomfort, struggling to make it to their feet.

"Welcome to the TV world." Yu said. He and his team stood beside Team RWBY. They were seemingly unaffected by whatever was causing Team RWBY pain. "It's disorienting at first, but you'll get used to it." He assured them. He handed Ruby a pair of glasses while his teammates gave pairs to the others. "Put these on, they should help."

Ruby slipped the glasses on. Suddenly the fog was gone. "Wow, these help a lot." Ruby said. They stood in what appeared to be a post-apocalyptic version of Beacon. The buildings were partially collapsed and the ground was marked by large cracks and craters.

"Why does it look like this?" Yang asked.

"This world is a reflection of the unconscious minds of those in it." Naoto explained. "I suspect it took this form because this is the sort of thing we're trying to prevent. Or, perhaps, it represents your fears. The theory that worries me most is that this may represent what our enemies actually intend to do. I cannot say for sure."

"Those are all pretty bleak." Ruby said. "It this world always like this?"

"Not always." Yosuke replied. "Sometimes it's all sunshine and rainbows, but with someone like Adachi or Sho in the mix, the place gets corrupted. I wonder if there's some evil god behind all this."

"An evil god?" Weiss asked.

"We defeated five of them." Rise said. "The two Sagiris, the one in Marie, Izanami and the one Sho was working with."

"You can't be serious." Blake said. "Next you'll tell me you made friends with one of the monsters from this world."

"That would be Teddie." Yosuke said. "He made those glasses. He used to be a shadow, but he grew a human body so he could enter our world."

"Grew a human body?" Yang was way past understanding at this point.

"We don't really get it either." Rise admitted. "It's really best if you just roll with it. Anyway, I located Sho. He's that way." She pointed off into the distance.

"You don't have to understand it." Yu said. "We don't, not really. Just be ready for anything. We've got a fight ahead of us. I'm sure of it."