After X-49 and Ruby rejoined the rest of the group, they make their way to the Teapot Lady's shop.
Teapot Lady: Welcome to Things n' Things! How can I help you?
Curious Cat: Looking for nose hairs. No, not the ogre ones.
The Cat nonchalantly tosses aside and tips over the various items on the booth, much to the Teapot Lady's annoyance. Suddenly some fireworks go off, the crowd goes to see it.
Yang: Woohoo, a festival!
The crowd begins to scream and everyone runs for their lives, the fireworks saying the word "DANGER" in green.
Yang: Or not?
The Teapot Lady screams and quickly takes away the items by sucking in with her spout. The Cat hangs on to the jar they found.
Ruby: Wait, please! We need those leprechaun's nose hairs!
Teapot Lady: No time!
Ruby: Here! I'll give you this! I-It carries a mother's promise!
As Ruby hands the Teapot Lady her brooch, she runs away.
Curious Cat: This....is exceedingly bad...
Blake: Wait. What's a Jabberwalker?
Curious Cat: It's a truly terrible creature. If the Jabberwalker eats one of us, we do not ascend.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang gasp.
X-49: Then we better hurry!
Yang: How do we make the parfait thing?
The Cat uncorks the jar of nose hairs with their mouth and places it on the table.
Curious Cat: Toss everything in here. But be careful, eat too much and we'll have to shrink you back again. And that's a completely different potion.
Ruby tosses everything together in a span of a few seconds, and the Parfait is prepared. X-49, Weiss, Blake and Yang run forward and take a scoop of it in their hands, consuming it. They start to grow a little bigger, bigger than the parfait cup.
Blake: It wasn't enough!
The Jabberwalker then appears, breaking a vendor booth. It notices X-49 and Team RWBY and charges toward them.
Jabberwalker: FOUND. GRAB. MAIM. KILL.
Little screams. Ruby grabs her friends in her arms and uses her Semblance to dodge out of the way, but the Jabberwalker hits her with its tail. The parfait falls away from Ruby's arms. Some of it spills on the Jabberwalker, who wipes it off.
Weiss: No!
X-49: Not good....
The Jabberwalker starts to grow bigger from the spilled parfait. Ruby holds her friends in her arms and runs away.
Jabberwalker: PREY. EAT. DEVOUR.
The Jabberwalker chases after Ruby. Suddenly, Hawker shows up swooping in on his wings and tackling the Jabberwalker to the ground.
Curious Cat: Run!
Ruby: What is he doing here?!
Curious Cat: I gave him something new to do for the moment. Now go! Your friends need to get big again, or we're all Jabberwalker dinner!
The Jabberwalker grabs Hawker as Ruby runs towards the parfait. Hawker gets thrown into a booth, groaning in pain. The Jabberwalker stops Ruby again. Suddenly, another creature comes galloping in, with an armored warrior riding on top of it. The creature charges forward and bashes the Jabberwalker with its antlers. At the same time, Penny arrives, using her Maiden powers to attack the Jabberwalker.
Blake: It's the Rusted Knight!
X-49: Penny!
With the newly arrived allies keeping the Jabberwalker occupied, Ruby runs towards the parfait. She sets X-49, Weiss, Blake, and Yang down, and they take more scoops of the parfait in their hands, eating them. Ruby looks behind, before looking back to her teammates, now finally back to their regular sizes.
Weiss; Finally....
X-49, Weiss, Blake, and Yang run forward to join the battle. Ruby looks on.
Curious Cat: Ruby! Follow me!
Ruby follows the Cat. The Rusted Knight leaps over the Jabberwalker with his Jackalope mount. The Jabberwalker tries to charge forward, but is held down by Weiss' black glyph. The Jabberwalker tries to use its tail, but it gets wrapped by Gambol Shroud's ribbon. Yang then jumps on top of it, punching away.
Yang: I said....I wasn't done with you yet!
Weiss then launches the Jabberwalker into the air, followed by Blake swinging above and kicking it back down, before a Semblance-enhanced Yang punches it in the gut. As the Jabberwalker was about to attack again, X-49 fires both his pistols at the beast, causing it to roar in pain. X-49 then jumps on the Jabberwalker's back and fires his pistols into its neck. It disappears into a bright, pink light, but the team looks on in shock.
Blake: Neo?!
A growl is heard. Another Jabberwalker emerges out from the water.
Rusted Knight: What?! There's only supposed to be one!
Multiple Jabberwalkers appear and surround everyone.
Jabberwalkers: Detecting... Searching... FOUND!
X-49 then aimed his pistols at a large branch. X-49 then fires it, breaking the branch. The branch then falls on the Jabberwalkers, stunning them.
Rusted Knight: What? Run! This way!
The Knight gallops away on his jackalope mount, with X-49 as well as Team RWBY following him. Penny begins following them from the sky. The Curious Cat then steps in and battles the Jabberwalker. This allows the group to escape inside the Lotus Flower.
Yang: What the hell was that back there?! How come there were more Jabberwalkers?!
X-49: Somehow Neo is empowering the Jabberwalker. Something tells me that's not the last time we'll be seeing the Jabberwalker.
As X-49 speaks, the group turns their attention to the Rusted Knight.
Blake: I can't believe it. The Rusted Knight, in person!
Rusted Knight: You did good, Juniper.
Juniper coos as the Rusted Knight pets them on the head. The Knight takes off his helmet and turns around to X-49 and Team RWBY, showing them his familiar face. The Rusted Knight is revealed to be Jaune Arc, now older than Team RWBY. His blonde hair has grown longer tied in a lower ponytail, with white streaks in it, and has a full beard. There are also age lines under his eyes. At the same time, the elderly Penny lands next to the others.
Jaune: X-49. Team RWBY. You finally made it.
Penny: Salutations, my friends.
X-49 and Team RWBY gasped in shock. In that moment, X-49 and Team RWBY had been reunited with their friends Jaune Arc and Penny Polendina.
YOU ARE READING
The Tale Of X-49: A RWBY Story
ActionWhen a mysterious robot is discovered, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long take him in as both a brother and protector. In the years that followed, the robot known as X-49 would forge a powerful bond with them that will give the robot a purpose beyond his...
