The lights flickered on. The same audience was still there, except Salem was once again present. She looked around the theater, scanning the faces of the usual undesirables, her rival, and her respected pawn with her pawns. Said respected pawn and pawns seemed a bit... uncharacteristically unnerved by her presence.
She was about to open her mouth to speak until a certain lovable diety interrupted her. "As much as I love to hear your pre-show banter, we need to get to the show. My peers are pumping out some good works like crazy and I need to get my ass going."
This uber-meta commentary brought confusion to the viewers, but little time was given to them to ask DB to elaborate since the screen was on and the show had begun.
Last time on DB - I mean RWBYZ!~
"Why did you take your shirt off?"
Salem turned to Cinder. "I could use some context."
Cinder nodded. "Yes, well-
"You're somehow winning by having gotten all the powers and relics, you gloat like a bitch on national television, and now Jaune and probably Ruby are probably gonna lay the smack down on your pale ass," Yang answered, a smug smirk gracing her lips at the thought of the queen of Grimm getting laid out, "any questions?"
"None." Salem only really cared about the part of her winning. Everything else didn't really matter. Yang, however, did neglect to tell her about the part where she double-crossed her pawns. Cinder was somewhat grateful for that.
Now~
Pretty much everyone associated with Beacon stood at the far outskirts away from the ring and others watched upon screens of either scrolls, computers, or televisions. General Ironwood stood alongside the news duo of Atlas, the newsman in training Flynt Cole and the erratic camera girl named Neon Katt. Penny stood off to the side, intently focused on Jaune for some reason.
Jaune landed a solid blow in Salem's gut. Jaune took one right in his gut. Jaune retaliated with a kick to Salem's head before she sent him up with a high kick. She then received an elbow strike to the top of her head and being left open to another kick that launched her into the air.
"What?" Salem asked, more than confused by a Jaune going toe to toe with her and... winning? "He... he shouldn't be able to do that. His power level shouldn't even be a fraction of mine."
"It's more than likely power levels are essentially moot here," Ozpin answered, adjusting his glasses. He had to admit, he probably is skeptical about this if he weren't seeing it.
"That right Jaune!" Ruby screamed, "kick her to the moon!"
"Go for the suplex!" Nora yelled, flexing a few her muscles too for added effect.
"How?!" Cinder yelled, no longer able to contain herself, "it makes no sense! He-he should be inept, especially compared to Salem, who mind you, has all the relic and maiden powers in her hands! How?!" She was nearly frothing by the end of her rant.
"You'd think she'd be happy about this," Pyrrha muttered, not forgetting the part where Cinder was abandoned.
The scene the focused on Nora and Ren. The former was checking out the latter and had to ask. "Hey, wasn't your hair shorter this morning?"
Ren nodded, his eyes still intently focused on the arena battle. "Indeed. But I felt like a having a spiky ponytail an hour ago."
"Oh. Neat."
"That's not how hair works," Yang muttered, fascinated by the logic of that world. 'What potential could await me in such a place?' Her mind asked itself. Meanwhile, Nora began to idly play with Ren's hair. Said young man began to ponder going for that look. Maybe with a sleeveless vest too?
The battle then took focus again as Salem caught Jaune by his elbow and threw him back. He easily recovered with a flip and floated straight towards Salem again. "This is the day we've been waiting for." The queen of Grimm merrily sang as she blocked or deflected Jaune's blows before kicking him away again.
"Oh my god, we both like that song," Ruby groaned, "eww."
Yang nodded and slumped in her seat, sharing her sister's pain. "No kidding." Blake nodded just like her partner before pinching the bridge of her nose and muttering about villains with similar interests.
Both Cinder and Weiss kept their mouths shut on that one. They wouldn't admit it, but both of them liked that song too. It was catchy in their opinion. Fun fact, Cinder has it as a ringtone for her more... private calls.
The blond rolled midair and recovered again, charging straight towards his opponent. That's what it looked like at least, until his after image went right through her. "Now hold on a chicken picking minute, how did -" Salem's switch in focus made her receive a knee to the side of her face then a spin kick that nearly tossed her out of the ring.
"The image kept moving when he didn't." One of Emerald's deadpan eyes twitched. "How and why?"
"Because logic is bullshit?" Mercury sorta answered. It was also a question too since he was unsure himself.
"Evidently, that's apparently the case." Weiss muttered, both impressed by the fact Jaune was kicking ass and befuddled by the amount of 'WHAT' going on in that universe.
"Alright!" Cardin cheered. His happy face fell when Salem stopped in the middle of her fall and floated off the ground.
Nora turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Did you actually forget we could fly?"
"Well, maybe I just like to hope okay?" Cardin weakly blurted out while not able to look anyone in the face.
Weiss gave him a condescending look, smiling as she spoke. "The fact that you cling to any hope in your life at all is your most remarkable characteristic."
Cardin had a stunned look on his face before smiling goofily. "Wow, thanks!"
The Beacon students, except Blake, and Cinder's minions couldn't contain themselves on that one. They laughed, unable to not hold their laughter back on what was essentially the living joke of Beacon. Not even in another universe could this guy be given a break.
"Pfft-hahaha!" Unexpectedly, Blake busted out laughing for a few seconds before returning back into her stoic facade, save for the little mouth twitches.
Salem hummed, a tad curious over this Cardin hate. "Hmm, this Cardin fellow must be quite despised amongst his peers."
Ozpin shrugged. "He's getting better."
"For the love of the gods Cardin, do not thank the woman." Salem deadpanned as she rose back into the ring. "And as for you Jaune, nice little move there." She chortled as her eyes began to gleam with a light of malice and challenge. "However, would you honestly find satisfaction in a mere ring out victory?"
"Uh - huh," Jaune said with a nod. "That's how I beat Yang, Weiss, and even my girlfriend and her old girlfriend who is also my girlfriend too now that I think about it," Jaune said with the most innocent face.
A good chunk of the jaws in the theater dropped at that nonchalant statement. "Wow," Mercury said after a whistle.
Salem once again found herself in an odd place. Pride in someone else.
"Oh god/Oh no." Both Blake and Ilia groaned.
Blake's recovery nearly came to a halt. 'Ilia!'
"Le gasp!" Flynt cried. "This outback wandering knightly looking hillbilly beats on his lovers AND practices polygamy!" He screamed in a dramatic older time speaking fashion as the Neon shakily turned the camera to face Jaune.
Said outback knight hillbilly scratched his head in confusion. "What? No, I don't do much math anymore. Also, they really didn't put up much of a fight. I smacked them around and now Blake takes me in the school closet when one's around so I can have my way with her. Next time, Ilia's gonna join in." He said like nothing was wrong.
"When... when he puts it like that..." Blake trailed off
Massive amounts of crowds began to boo at Jaune, some even going as far as to cheer for Salem and/or chant bullshit.
Somewhere in Mengarie, both Ghira and Kali Belladonna were being restrained by Sienna's personal guard. "I will castrate that monster with a butter knife!/When I get my hands on him, he'll be singing in a new Octave before his spark of life ends!"
"Uggghh!" Blake did her best to hide face within the palm of her hands while Yang patted her on the back.
Meanwhile with NPR, "she sure does have a lot of universe Jaune's giving her romantic attention," Pyrrha nearly grumbled at a very low audible frequency. Nora and Ren could've sworn a dark cloud was hanging over her head.
Her time shall come. I promise.
"Amusing as usual Jaune. If you're looking for a ring out then," she landed and went into a power channeling stance, "you're going to have to exert far more effort."
"Oh, I'll exert all of my force on you." Jaune replied as he got ready for another charge.
"Ew!/Repulsive!/Seriously/Even I'm not going to touch that." Team RWBY respectively had an outburst. Nora couldn't help but fake gag while Pyrrha was beginning to develop myokymia. Ren gestured for more tea which he received not a split second later.
"What?" Salem was puzzled by the outburst, "he just said-no wait, I understand now... how odd." Conflicting feelings within her stirred yet again.
'That's one way to put it.' Cinder wisely thought to herself.
Salem giggled an inhuman yet melodic sound. "If we're going to get a little freaky, then allow me to slip into something more comfortable." She shifted her arms into an X formation. "Let's make this a Menagie Mois."
Jaune went wide-eyed and looked towards Weiss. "Uh, translation please?"
"She means five-way but it actually means my house!" She answered while Salem made three clones of herself. "It's really awkwardly phrased... "
"NERD!" Salem(s) yelled playfully as all four of herself encircled Jaune. "Now it's time for us to take you to perfect university. We'd say school but we're beyond the basics." They all spoke at once.
"Hey! That means P-U!" Jaune shouted like a child cheering that they got an answer right.
"Hey, that's kinda funny." Ruby giggled out while Nora snickered.
Weiss shook her head, not at all amused by the juvenile joke during a time of literal life and death for a planet.
Salem was honestly slightly confused by her counterparts attitude but she supposed a little fun was fine. She doubted Jaune could stop her and she had the ultimate power within her. Who could or would oppose her in any way?
"And we love that you got that." The Salems said as they threw themselves at Jaune with an odd yet meme-y song playing in the background. Kicks, punches, and other body parts were thrown at each other with the ferocity of true warriors. Jaune took down one Salem with an upward kick before one elbowed him on the cranium. Jaune headbutted that one in the nose.
Two flew around him again before striking. Jaune punched one but was punched and kicked in the gut for being left open. He recovered in time to throw a punch just as Salem did.
"I'm sorry," Cinder suddenly spoke up, "is this a fight or a show?"
"Definitely feels more like the latter." Emerald mumbled.
"The multiform has to be for shits and/or for giggles. It basically halves your power level with each copy." Qrow explained, folding his arms in an unamused fashion.
"At least we can follow the battle easier now," Yang replied a smile of relief on her.
"Wait." Ruby gave her sister a side glance before asking her question, "you were having trouble before?"
"Yeah." Her sister answered with a little unease.
Ruby whistled and shook her head. "Well, get ready cause it's going to get much harder when they're serious."
Cardin smirked and nudged Blake in a friendly manner. "Tch, true blood right?"
Blake looked away with narrowed eyes and sighed. "Uh... yeah."
The former bully went wide-eyed. "Oh shit, was I being racist again?" He asked with a slightly fearful tone.
"Was he?" Ruby asked, scratching the top of her head.
"Of course he was," Blake answered with a tone of finality. Then she started to waver. "Wasn't he?"
"General Ironwood, what do you make of all these monsters malicious multiple mayhems?" Flynt asked as she scooted over to the general with her eyes still on the arena.
"Ever hear of mirrors?"
Flynt's eyebrow rose. "I have actually. That's all?"
"Yep," Ironwood said with satisfaction on his face and hands on his hips.
Meanwhile, with the citizens watching on the big city screen. "That makes sense!" Some guy yelled.
"That's clearly not the case!" Emerald felt the need to point out the stupidity of that. "First off, how could anyone buy that lie, it's on live television."
"Maybe the masses are just really stupid here?" Nora suggested.
"No duh," Emerald groaned back, "but the masses aren't possible this dumb, right?"
"Different world, different rules." Ozpin reminded her. "And you would be amazed at what a mass of people can believe. Ever hear of the Flat Remnant theory?"
"That's real! Not simply some nonsensical meme?!" Weiss shouted, flabbergasted at the existence of ignorance, and the headmaster nodded, "I no longer wish to live on Remnant anymore."
"Pop quiz, Jaune!" Salem(s) landed in each corner and put two fingers on their foreheads. "Which attack is this?"
"Oh, that's the Mangekyo Sharingan right? Or was it Rinnegan?" Jaune wondered aloud with a scratch of his head. "Oh man, this is killing - I mean it did kill me. What was it?"
"What the H-E-double hockey sticks?!" Pyrrha yelled with an offended look on her face. "You should know that attack by now, that's the... the... ma gekko, uh"
'Makanko Sapo!' The voice of Amber yelled in her mind.
"That one!"
Everyone just stared at her and Jaune replied with a, "what?"
"That voice," Blake began, "Wasn't it that Amber woman?"
Nods of confirmation began to come from the other Beacon students, Pyrrha too but with a bit of reluctance. "It was. Why was her voice in my head though?" She felt some eerie feelings from her gut come up to the surface.
"Intriguing." Ozpin cupped his hands together and rested his chin on them. 'Amber soul being able to speak within another... yet Salem somehow retrieved the all the Maiden's power... at least supposedly.'
Salem, on the other hand, was intrigued with that technique displayed just now and spared a few glances to her hands. 'I wonder...'
"Ma-kan-ko-sa-cannon!" The Salems sounded off as they blasted a line of red energy towards Jaune who was at the center of the ring. Jaune flew upwards to dodge the blast and the Salem's followed after him.
"But he was just blasted by energy from all sides!" Cinder felt the need to point out what she saw as absurd yet again, "how?!"
"Obviously because our fearless leader is a total gang-star!" Nora yelled back with haughtiness.
"He is neither gang nor star and you can't tell me otherwise!" Cinder refused to believe in a world where Jaune, a simple warrior with a minor background could hope to match up to Salem. Secretly, in her deep subconscious, she was rooting for him since his victory wouldn't result in her death. Most likely at least.
Hey, her chances did look better with him.
Blake could help but roll her eyes at the strong denial. "Believe what you want, the screen literally proves otherwise."
"Alright then, let's do some math-i-metrics!" The silver warrior yelled with giddiness. He suddenly flew back and kicked a Salem back into the arena. He took down another with an elbow strike, another with a power punch to the face, and the last one with two kicks. They all landed atop of the first Salem and faded back into the original. "Guess four divided by one is still one!"
"No! It's still four! Damn you!" Weiss furiously yelled.
"Weiss!" Ren chastised.
The ice heiress rubbed her temples before responding. "I apologize, it's just... he's so damn mentally inept."
"Is he... is he really that less intelligent compared to our world's Jaune?" Weiss felt a shiver run up her spine. "My gods, how have I not been driven to homicide?"
"I doubt you could scratch him, let alone kill him from the way things look on here." Blake pointed out.
"Agreed," Yang decided to add on, "he somehow beat me. Imagine what he'd do to you."
Weiss then gave her blonde teammate an incredulous look. "Excuse me, what?"
Salem got back up with a few cracks of her limbs. "Look, I'm trying to draw this out with a little foreplay but if you're going to sink the showboat then I won't even try to bother." She said with slight disappointment.
"Sorry Salem, but I'm here to win," Jaune said with a thumbs up. "Besides, you'll never beat me with your stolen techniques."
"So your stolen techniques will bring about my end?" She replied coyly.
Jaune was taken by surprise from this comment, recoiling from the offense to his pride. "I don't steal techniques!" He yelled back defensively.
"Actually Jaune... you do." Pyrrha uneasily told him.
"What? No, I don't. What about the Kamehameha?" He suggested.
Ozpin took a sip of his special brew, not displaying the slight offense he felt. "Did you forget about my existence?"
"The Solar Flare?"
Yang raised her hand with a deadpan expression. "That's mine, ladykiller."
"The Spirit Bomb?"
"Jaune. I'm literally listening to you, don't even try pulling that shit!" A voice inside of Jaune's head yelled.
Ozpin, who was taking some notes at first, froze along with Salem. Both had on stoic faces, but Salem was withholding a bit of fear. 'The light brother...'
Ruby winced "Jeez."
"I know," Yang stated as her eyes began to turn red, "trying to take credit for my, uh, Solar Flare! What the hell Jaune?!" Yang took note to invent said Solar Flare and then she would show Jaune. He could use that move all he wanted but he would be reminded to not steal her credit.
'Oh, hey light brother... did I invent the Kai-o-ken?"
"God is in the fucking name." The light brother told him, deadpan annoyance and frustration ever present in his voice as usual. It was truly at times like this that he truly felt his age.
"KAME!" Salem began as brought her arms together and reared them back with open hands.
"That's Cardin's attack, gotta go!" Jaune hurriedly focuses back on the battle.
"Was he dropped on his head as a baby here?" Weiss had to ask. "That's what happened isn't it?"
"Wouldn't be too shocking," Emerald added on, her partner nodding in genuine agreement. Now Cinder was beginning to develop some myokymia, unable to firmly grasp this reality.
"HAME!"
"Uh, Salem... if you shoot that too close to the ground then you could-"
"HA!" She boasted of a beam of pure black energy towards Jaune.
"Woah!" Ruby yelled out.
"Dodge!" Nora yelled at the screen.
"Amazing," Salem stated. "All that power converted into a powerful wave of explosive energy."
"And I made it," Ozpin whispered.
The knight Immediately began flying upwards. 'I should dodge.'
"General Ironwood?!" Flynt yelled nervously, holding onto a rock for dear life with his free hand.
Emerald narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. "Oh, what the hell is he gonna come up with now?"
"Lasers! Lasers and industrial fans!" He answered, trying to yell over the blast.
"Such immeasurable insight!" Flynt yelled.
"Fucking of course." Emerald sighed out, plopping further into her seat.
Everyone else capable was shielding themselves and trying to stay on the ground as the blast flew towards Jaune. It nearly engulfed him and his last movements seen were of him putting two fingers on his head.
"What happened! What happened! What happened!" Nora yelled as she bounced in her seat, worry all over her.
"He was doing something with his hand." Ren spoke up, "surely this isn't the end." He rationalized.
Everyone was antsy, wanting to know the fate of Jaune Arc. Was he obliterated or had something up his sleeve? Did he truly dodge?
Salem looked towards the sky as the blast reached into space. "Wow... it's over... after everything, he's experienced annihilation through his own technique." She softly chuckled to herself, her gaze locked to the sky. "Ain't that a kick in the h-" Salem was left open for a kick in the head by Jaune and was launched upwards.
"I refuse to say 'what' anymore." Cinder then turned to Emerald.
"Understood." Emerald cleared her throat and then she shouted, "What?!" Just as the screen turned off and the lights were on.
"Hmm." Salem hummed.
"Thinking about actually firing lasers from your hands?" Ruby cheekily asked. Salem didn't respond and Ruby started to shift back down. "You can't actually do that can you?"
"Maybe..." Salem ominously replied. This brought on wariness from both foe and underlings alike. Except for Ozpin. He had some martial artists to seek out.
"Oh boy, that's the full episode... for now at least. Stay tuned for more!" DB yelled before the lights were out.