The viewing opened up to show the Company being dragged by the horde of goblins through the cavernous mountain. All chattered as the dwarves attempted to break free from their captors.

As they were lead through the caverns, the viewing showed that many other wooden platforms lie above their heads, teeming with other goblins who watched on from above. Soon enough, the dwarves were brought before a great opening, littered with twisting bridges that lead to goblin holes within jagged stalactites; infested with ghastly goblins that growled and hobbled about. And at the center of this Goblin Town was a mighty stalagmite from which a large, crudely built throne resided on.

____________________________

"Dear God, that is a lot of goblins." Port remarked with his eyes widened.

"And each one looks more fuglier than the last." Qrow commented with a deadpan stare.

"Not to mention a lot of crudely built infrastructure." Oobleck said as he rose his brow at the sight of Goblin Town. Though after saying this, the history teacher found both Qrow and Port raising their own eyebrows at him. "What? Can I not point out how hazardous the goblin civilization seems to be? It's a genuine critique."

"How on Remnant are they gonna get out of this one?" Tai asked.

"That's hoping we all can make it out this time." James spoke with a concerned expression. "Against insurmountable odds like these, the risk of death is far greater."

____________________________

As the dwarves continued to try and fight their way out of the goblins' grasp, the foul clanging of instruments began to play. This had caused the goblins to cheer as a sharp horn was echoed throughout the cavern, immediately sending paint to Bifur's ears as he covered them up.

All around the goblin town, the goblins, in their meager, ragged clothing and their bone built armor, clanged against gongs and battered against makeshift drums.

____________________________

"Ugh! That is horrendously offbeat." Weiss balked at the sound of the goblins's instruments.

"And ear grating." Blake added with a flinching frown as her bow immediately flattened against her head at the sound of the instruments.

"Where's a damn ear plug when you need it?" Sienna questioned with a scowl, going through a similar situation as Blake. However, despite Sienna's annoyance to how the instruments were played, she was able to withstand it better than the cat faunus.

____________________________

At the throne of the goblin town, a great and mighty goblin sat with crown made of bones and a staff adorned with a ram's skull. This was the Goblin King. He was a fat and ghastly creature with long, greasy and balding hair. He let out a sickly cough, hunching forward as he did so. As the viewing panned to show the front of the Goblin King, the audience watched in disgust and displeasure as they were shown his mutated feet and wart-covered potbelly.

"I feel a song coming on." The Goblin King spoke with a rough, yet refined voice; much different from his smaller kin.

____________________________

"Sweet father of Grimm, what the hell is that?" Emerald asked; revolted at the sight.

"Given that barbaric crown on his head, I would infer that this is the king of the goblins." Cinder said with a calm, appalled look. "And a very cancerous individual at that."

"I never thought I would miss looking at a Grimm or ghosts." Jaune spoke with a nauseated look. "This guy makes Slimer look half-adorable."

"Amen to that." Yang agreed with her fellow blonde.

"Well, regardless of his psychical appearance and his obvious wicked nature, I am very intrigued on what song this Goblin King will sing." Penny said with a curious smile. "I do love the way the songs have been sang in this universe. They are very charming."

"With as grotesque a body as he has, I would not be surprised if his lungs prevented him from singing the proper notes to any song." Weiss said as she crossed her arms.

____________________________

Several goblins all stacked upon each other before their king's feet. The Goblin King moved himself off of his thrown, stepping onto the backs of the goblins, squishing their bodies as they squealed in pain.

____________________________

"Oh, that is just unnecessary." Roman with a repelled look. "I actually feel bad for those goblins, there."

"This ain't the kind of kinky, getting stepped on, dominance action I'm into." Neo thought to herself with a frown. "But who knows. Maybe one of those goblins is into that kind of thing."

"I wonder how many of his own guys he ends up killing every time he has to get off of his chair." Mercury commented, staring at the screen while eating his popcorn.

"I somehow doubt many of the goblins would care given their vast numbers." Ren replied to Mercury.

____________________________

From then on, the the dwarves were forced to watch and listen as the Goblin King began to sing.

"🎶Clamp! Snap! The Black Crack! Grip! Grab! Pinch and nab! Batter and beat... Make 'em stammer and squeak!🎶" The Goblin King sang out as he stood up from his thrown, revealing his face to be large with a long and floppy chin that was scarred on the right side of it.

____________________________

"So, it seems the Goblin King's lyrical composition is based more on a poetic nature." Weiss analyzed from what had been sam's thus far, albeit with an unnerved face. "Though far too clearly constructed as more torturous and brutal in nature."

"This must have been what medieval times had in place of slash and death metal." Yang said in regards to the Goblin King's song.

"I wouldn't argue against that." Pyrrha added in.

"Man, look that size of that guys chin." Nora said with widened eyes. "Did it get scarred or something, or was he just born like that?"

"I'm a bit more curious as to how he grew to that size compared to the other goblins." Ren gave his thoughts. "Is he of a slightly different breed?"

"The thing about living in isolation, underground, for decades and decades is that you evolve differently from the rest of the world." Vortech stated. "And when living in such a state to that of the goblins, you end up getting more... variety, to put it nicely. In the case of the Goblin King, he had grown far larger to that of his kin, earning him the initial title of the Great Goblin."

"Must of have been easy for him to become king then." Blake commented. "The biggest is usually considered the baddest in more backwater civilizations."

____________________________

As he stood up, his sheer weight had caused the Goblin King to stumble back, prompting the goblins who attacked as his stairs to push him back forward with as much might as they could muster.

____________________________

"It just gets worse and worse." Roman grimaced as he shook his head; a disturbed expression boring into his eyes. "Why do we have to see his ass?!"

"It makes you wonder how much assistance the Goblin King needs when moving." Glynda said as she held her own frown. "What makes you stop wondering is the thought of imagining how revolting the visuals would be."

"I might need a clean bucket over here." Emerald said as she gave the scene is disgusted deadpan glare.

In response, a portal opened up above Emerald, from which a bucket fell onto her lap. On the bucket there was a sticky note which read: 'You'll be cleaning it. Sincerely — Vortech'.

____________________________

"🎶Pound pound, far... underground...!🎶" The Goblin King echoed out, raising his fist into the air. "🎶Down, down, down in Goblin Town.🎶"

""🎶Down, down, down in Goblin Town!🎶"" The Goblin King's citizens sang along with him.

____________________________

"You go my lad. Ho, ho. My lad." Vortech quietly hummed to himself as people began to discuss the song further.

"That... is just a horrendous chorus." Weiss balked at the sound of the goblins singing along. "The only saving grace about this song so far is that the Goblin King has some range in his tone."

"I think they're... kind of alright." Ruby said with uncertain tone. "It's kind of like a sea shanty. At the very least I think it's good that the goblins are enthusiastic about their song... despite that they've kidnapped the dwarves."

"I'm sorry, but this needs a tremendous amount of fine-tuning before this song can be counted as "alright"." Weiss shot back. "It doesn't matter how enthusiastic the goblins are while singing."

"What, are you gonna try and give them music lessons?" Yang rhetorically asked her.

"If I had assurance that they would not attack me, yes I would." Weiss firmly stated back.

"Leave it to you, sister, to critique a song in the midst of a dire situation." Winter spoke to herself in regards to Weiss's words. "Not that you are necessarily wrong in this instance."

____________________________

"🎶With a swish and a smack, and a whip and a crack!🎶" The Goblin King threw his arms about as the dwarves were brought before him. He then placed both hands upon his staff as the Goblin King rested it behind his head. "🎶Everybody talks when they're on my rack.🎶"

The Goblin King then slammed the butt of his staff onto the floor of his throne room before waving his right arm about. "🎶Pound pound, far underground. Down, down, down to Goblin Town.🎶"

""🎶Down, down, down to Goblin Town.🎶"" The goblin sang once more as their king raised his staff into the air, looking around his kingdom.

"🎶Hammers and tongs, get out your knockers and gongs!🎶" The Goblin King sang as he danced around. "🎶You won't last long on the end of my prongs!🎶"

As the Goblin King sang, he jabbed the spiked top of his staff into of the goblin's, who screeched in pain. The Goblin King then swung his staff around in the air before flinging it forward, sending the punctured goblin flying.

____________________________

"Oh!" Tai winced. "That's gotta hurt."

"No. That guy is definitely dead." Qrow said in turn. "If the stab didn't kill him, the fall did."

"I guess goblins don't care much for their own kind." Ozpin said.

"Apparently no one told the Goblin King that making a point isn't always literal." James remarked with his arms crossed.

____________________________

"🎶Clash! Crash! Crush and smash! Bang! Break! Shiver and shake! You can yammer and yelp, but there ain't no help!🎶" The Goblin King pointed his finger to the air.

"🎶Pound pound, far underground...🎶" The Goblin King stretched out his note as he pointed at the dwarves. He then stepped back, raising his head to look at the cavern ceiling as he began to twirl on his toes. "🎶Down, down, down in Goblin Town...!🎶"

As he twirled, the goblins and the dwarves all had to duck as the Goblin King's staff came over head of them. Meanwhile, all of the other goblins cheered and chanted towards their mighty king.

____________________________

"Hehehe. He's actually trying to twirl." Mercury said as he chuckled at the sight.

"The Goblin King's footwork is never going to be that great with a gut that large." Weiss stated. "We have seen that he cannot stand up on his own without assistance."

"He must like to think himself more elegant and proper amongst the rest of the goblins." Cinder observed. "The fact he can speak properly indicates that much."

____________________________

"Yeah!" The Goblin King cheered as he shook his fist in success.

Once all the singing had been done, the Goblin King climbed back onto his thrown, stepping on the pile of goblins once more. All the while, the dwarves stared at the Goblin King with contempt.

"Catchy, isn't it?" The Goblin King asked the dwarves. "It's one of my own compositions."

____________________________

"I suppose it does have some charm to it." Penny admitted. "It is more unique compared to the other songs we have heard in this universe thus far."

"I'll have to check later to see if this song messed with my hearing any further than it has been." Pietro frowned a bit.

"If nothing else, I'll at least know what a choir of demons sound like." James remarked.

"Honestly, though, it's still better than some rap music people come out with these days." Qrow said as he drank from his flask.

"I'll give you that one." James nodded to Qrow in agreement.

____________________________

"That's not a song." Balin spoke forward in disgust. "It's an abomination!"

The dwarves all agreed with Balin as the goblins growled and jeered at them.

____________________________

"Balin, the voice of reason as usual." Roman commented to the white haired dwarf.

"If any more of those goblins continued shrieking out a tune, I think my ears would have started to bleed." Sienna said with a far from pleased look.

"The nicest thing I could comment about this is it's as if every bad singer in the world gathered in one place and attempted to sing slightly better than usual." Glynda gave her thoughts on the song. "All while being led by a more moderate singer."

"There are those that say something is better than nothing. The something with the Goblin Town song is that they were trying to be grandiose about it." Pyrrha said with a small wince. "That and their attempt at uniformity."

"That was about as uniform as olive oil in water." Cinder remarked. "It was as if a bunch of alley cats all began screaming at once."

____________________________

"Abominations! Mutations. Deviations." The Goblin King declared. "That's all you're gonna find down here."

____________________________

"That is probably a fair point." Oobleck allowed. "What else can be expected from creatures with such wretched appearances?"

"I'll give the Goblin King props for at least taking the insult with pride." Qrow said.

"It is difficult to insult someone when they've accepted their faults." Winter added on in agreement.

____________________________

After that, the goblin horde that had captured the dwarves gathered up all of the company's weapons and slammed them onto the throne room floor before the Goblin King.

The sight caused the Goblin King to scowl as he stomped off of his throne, glaring at the dwarves. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?!"

"Dwarves, your malevolence!" A goblin named Grinnah explained to his King.

"Dwarves?!" The Goblin King questioned.

____________________________

"You're only realizing this now?" Roman asked the Goblin King with a dumbfounded expression.

"The only other short creature we've seen in Middle-Earth are hobbits." Blake said. "And since trolls don't even know what a hobbit is, it shouldn't have been too difficult to recognize them as dwarves."

"Dwarves and goblins do seem to be a mostly mountain-fairing folk. One would think they could spot one another and know what each of them were." Ren added to Blake's train of thought.

"Must have been too caught up in his song to notice." Nora said with a shrug.

____________________________

"We found 'em on the front porch." Grinnah stepped forward, motioning to the dwarves.

____________________________

"Hehe! You know... it's kind of a little funny that apparently a trap door leads to a front porch of all things." Tai said with a chuckle. "Maybe that means Goblin Town is like to mansion to everyone living there."

"Rags to riches is a tried and true plot point." Ozpin said. "Though in the case of the goblins, they made their rags into their riches. Homely, yet completely unfriendly."

____________________________

"Well don't just stand there!" The Goblin King shouted. "Search them! Every crack! Every crevice!"

Upon his orders, the goblin horde clamored around each of the dwarves, scurrying their hands about to try and find any hidden weapons. Grinnah had yanked out Oin's horn, throwing it to the wooden floor before stomping on it.

____________________________

"That was very rude." Ruby chided Grinnah with an angry frown. "You can't just stomp on a horn someone needs to hear better."

"That's like kidnapping a blind man's dog or kicking a disabled person out of a wheelchair." Jaune stated. "It's just needlessly cruel."

"In which these goblins represent to a T." Yang agreed with Jaune.

____________________________

One of the goblins then grabbed one of the dwarf's traveling sacks and dumped out its contents onto the floor, revealing silverware and other items taken from Rivendell. Nori glanced at the items with a knowing look, but said nothing.

"It's is my belief, your great protuberance, that they are in league with elves!" Grinnah claimed as he brought and elven candle up to the Goblin King, who accepted it and examined it.

____________________________

"Ah—?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock at the sight of the elven objects.

"Of all insufferable..." Winter cursed in a muttered voice.

"That's awkward." Ilia blandly remarked.

____________________________

"Made in Rivendell." The Goblin King read from the bottom of the candle. "Ugh! Second Age. Couldn't give it away."

The Goblin King then tossed the elven candle to the side, off the throne room. It clanked and dinked all the way down the cavern, echoing through Goblin Town. After seeing the elven items, Dori looked to Nori with a flabbergasted expression.

"Just a couple of keepsakes." Nori said in his defense.

____________________________

"Oof. I've been there." Roman said with a small laugh. "But hey, I respect the play."

"Keepsakes?!" Weiss shouted in anger. "My grandfather gives you all sanctuary, and that's your excuse for stealing from him?!"

"I know it seems shocking, but several of the dwarves went ahead and buried stolen treasure. Nori included." Sienna brought back up. "Making a long term deposit" were the words Gloin used."

"Yeah... I don't have a defense for this." Nora winced as she rubbed the back of her neck.

____________________________

"What are you doing in these parts?" The Goblin King interrogated the dwarves.

James stared up at the Goblin King and was about to come forward. But before he could, an arm from Oin stopped him as the hard-hearing dwarf stepped forward instead.

"Don't worry, lads." He said to his comrades. "I'll handle this."

"What's that?!" Gloin exclaimed to his brother.

"No tricks!" The Goblin King pointed to Oin before sitting back down on his thrown. "I want the truth! What, and all."

"You're going to have to speak up!" Oin shouted back to the Goblin King as he brought up his hearing horn. "Your boys flattened my trumpet."

____________________________

"Oin's got him there." Ilia said.

"Nothing like the smart Alec move to tick off pricks." Qrow spoke with a smirk.

"And technically, it is the truth." Yang pointed out with a grin.

____________________________

"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" The Goblin King shouted as he marched off of his thrown, making his way over to Oin.

As the dwarves all began shouting, Bofur stood forward as he took his go at speaking.

"If it's more information you want, than I'm the one you should speak to." Bofur pointed to himself.

With his fist raised and ready to hammer down on Oin, the Goblin King paused as he set his sights to Bofur. Calming down a bit, the Goblin King allowed Bofur to proceed. "Mhm?"

Bofur was silent for a moment, choosing his words carefully before beginning to explain. "We were on the road... well it's not so much a road as it is a path. Actually, it's not even that, come to think of it. It's more like a track."

____________________________

"Hehaha!" Roman laughed. "Did I ever mention that Bofur is my favorite dwarf?"

"He's definitely got all the charm." Tai agreed with the crook.

"Hopefully this kind of misdirection will last long enough for them to formulate a plan of some kind." Blake said. "As to what that plan could be... I haven't a clue."

"Yeah, there really isn't any way for them to sneak out of this one, is there." Ruby said, tapping her chin in concern.

"Not unless they can find some way to run and gun." Ilia spoke, though even she was uncertain given the circumstances.

____________________________

The Goblin King nodded with a hum as Bofur continued.

"Anyway, the point is, we were on this road, like a path, like a track." Bofur said as the Goblin King tried to keep up with his words. "And then we weren't. Which is a problem... because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday."

Getting annoyed with Bofur's ramblings, the Goblin King whispered to himself. "Shut up..."

____________________________

"Well this plan certainly hasn't lasted as long as we had hoped." Ren commented with a deadpan.

"Fudge nuggets." Nora snapped her fingers in anger.

"Despite his appearance, the Goblin King is smarter than he looks." Pyrrha said. "Or he's just easily annoyed... or both."

____________________________

Bofur then looked over to Dori for assistance, the older dwarf stuttering as he helped explain. "Visiting distant relations!"

Bofur nodded to Dori before looking back at the Goblin King. "Some inbreds on me mother's side."

____________________________

"I know I probably shouldn't, but I gotta wonder if Bofur's just adding it on, or if that's true." Jaune spoke as he stretched his head.

"Given what I know of Remnant's own medieval era, there were some families built upon incest." Ozpin explained to the young Arc. "Though that was primarily with royals and nobility. A practice I think we can all be glad no longer exists."

"There's nothing quite like science and biology to prove a bad habit is exactly what it sounds to be." Pietro stated.

____________________________

However, before Bofur could continue, the Goblin King had had enough and stomped forward, roaring out. "Shut. Up!"

The echoing yell sent his goblins back in fear as Bofur stared at the Goblin King with an agape mouth. Seeing that his ruse wasn't working out, Bofur opted to close his mouth and stay quiet.

____________________________

The booming voice of the Goblin King had also rang out in the theater, stunning most into silence.

"The Goblin King is authoritative. I'll give him that." Cinder thought to herself.

Meanwhile Blake had wrapped her arms completely around her head, covering her lower set of ears and her bow. Her face clearly indicated the sudden shout was a bit much for her Faunus hearing.

"Must we have such a loud surround sound?" Sienna asked Vortech in annoyance, her ears having been agitated too.

"Yes. Otherwise you can't get the proper immersive experience." Vortech simply replied to her. "This is a theater! It should be the highest quality of performance, or nothing at all."

____________________________

"If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" The Goblin King declared to the goblin masses, who all cheered in excitement. "Bring up the mangler! Bring up the bone breaker!"

The Goblin King then pointed at Ori, who held a terrified look on his face. "Start with the youngest!"

"Wait!" James then shouted out, sending all into silence as the Goblin King set his sights upon the dwarven prince.

"Well, well, well..." The Goblin King exclaimed at the sight of James. "Look who it is. James, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the mountain."

The Goblin King did an exaggerated bow before James as some of the other goblins snickered and laugh.

____________________________

"It seems your counterpart's reputation greatly precedes him, James." Glynda said to the General. "I suppose it comes with the territory as being a royal within what's describe as the greatest kingdom in all of Middle-Earth."

"All the more reason why my counterpart's allies tried to prevent the Goblin King from noticing me." Ironwood said before giving a small frown. "Though he's obviously mocking my counterpart."

____________________________

"Oh, but I'm forgetting—you don't have a mountain." The Goblin King then said as James stared up at him with a calm and firm glare. "And you're not a king. Which makes you... nobody, really."

____________________________

"Ouch." Qrow said with an actual wince. "I know I've insulted Jimmy a lot over the years, but don't think I could ever throw something like that out to him."

"Nothing wounds a man more than reminding him of his losses and shortcomings." Port said with a shake of his head.

"Don't I know that feeling all too well." Ozpin thought to himself with his head lowered.

"My dwarven counterpart will prove the Goblin King wrong." Ironwood thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes at said bulbous creature. "I've seen the determination in his eyes. He won't give up without a fight."

"Yeesh. Given my experience, that's actually probably the most Torchwick insult I've heard so far in this universe." Ruby said as she frowned at the Goblib King. "And it didn't even come from Torchwick."

"There's definitely a lot of that snide underhandedness in there." Blake nodded in agreement.

"Eh. Guilty as charged." Roman shrugged as he put his arms out, acting as if he were about to be handcuffed.

'The truth hurts' Neo signed.

____________________________

As James continued to stand stoically before the Goblin King, the large goblin put on a knowing grin. "I know someone... who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just a head. Hehe. Nothing attached."

____________________________

"Azog." James spoke with tightened fists.

"Those warg riders of his must have spread the word out pretty fast." Mercury commented.

"The orcs are a crude and barbaric race, but they do seem to have much effectiveness in certain areas." Cinder mused.

"I wish we were viewing them right now instead of these nasty, goblin freaks." Emerald muttered in disdain between herself and her "teammates".

____________________________

The other goblins snickered at this as James brought his full attention to the Goblin King's words.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak." The Goblin King said to James. "An old enemy of yours. A pale orc, astride a white warg."

Hearing this, James stood his ground as he refuted the Goblin King's words. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle ago."

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Goblin King asked James. "Hehehehe."

____________________________

"The number of thoughts running through my counterpart's head." Ironwood said with a sympathetic sigh. "He's going to try to deny Azog having survived the battle at Moria, but now, with this information, he's going to doubt himself equally as much."

"Not to mention Azog and his pack are still tracking them." Glynda stated. "If a majority of the Company can escape these goblins, there's still the orcs to worry about."

____________________________

The Goblin King then turned to a small goblin scribe who sat in a bucket attached to a zip line system. The goblin scribe held makeshift pencil and pad in his hands as he looked to his king.

"Send word to the pale orc. Tell him I have found his prize." The Goblin King ordered the scribe.

Writing this down, the goblin scribe then pulled down on a lever, sending him rolling down the zip line as he cackled through the caverns.

____________________________

"Well that shouldn't take too long." Roman dryly remarked. "Whitey's just outside of the mountain."

____________________________

Soon enough though, the viewing shifted back to Roman. He was dirtied and knocked out from the long fall. However, he soon awoke to the sound of hoarse breath and distant water droplets echoing through the lower caves.

Furrowing his eyes, Roman spotted the goblin whom he had fallen down with. It was groaning in pain, knocked out like he had been. But then, Roman noticed something in the distance as shuddered breathing soon came into earshot. From the darkness, a small bodied, large headed creature with large eyes that shined in the dark stalked its way towards the downed goblin. This creature was not the same in appearance to the goblin, but it was far from normal.

____________________________

"What the hell?" Roman slowly spoke with a raised brow.

"What is that gaunt creature?" Port questioned with a hand to his chin.

"Whatever it is, it's too smooth to be a goblin." Blake said as she squinted her eyes at the screen. "That and it seems more symmetrical."

"It looks more like a naked mole rat." Ilia said with furrowed eyes.

"At least mole rats are kind of cute." Yang said as she gave a perturbed look to the creature on screen. "This thing ain't that."

____________________________

Coming closer into view, this creature was shown to have very few strands of hair left on an otherwise bald head. It's ears were sharp and it's nails were long. It's body was malnourished, but capable of mobility. All it had for a form of clothing was but a tattered loincloth in place of pants.

"Yesss!" The creature hissed out as he looked over the goblin. "Yes!"

____________________________

"It's so... malnourished." Weiss said in apprehension. "How long has that creature been living down there?"

"Long enough to have such large eyes and pale skin." Penny said. "These are attributes that only cave dwellers receive. This creature must not ever go out under the sun, let alone any source of light, if it looks like this."

"Yeah, and that scratchy voice too. It's kind of creepy." Ruby said as shiver ran down her spin.

"Yes... that voice." Cinder quietly muttered to herself, focusing her eyes on the creature. "It sounds different, yet familiar. Where have I heard that voice before?"

____________________________

Roman stared at the odd creature, shown to be hidden from sight in a path. Of large mushrooms.

"Yesss!" The creature spoke again as he crawled over to the goblin. "Yesss!"

But then, the creature let out a hoarse cough, speaking a name as he did so. "Gollum, Gollum!"

____________________________

"What kind of cough is that?" Sienna questioned in bewilderment. "It sounds so... jagged."

"A cough that needs treatment right away." Oobleck stated. "Though that's not all that needs to be treated on this strange creature."

____________________________

Roman then watched as the strange creature began to drag the goblin away. But as he did so, the goblin suddenly sprang back awake, surprising the creature as the goblin began to attack. In retaliation, the creature grabbed a hefty rock and slammed it over the goblin's head with a screeching yell.

____________________________

The sudden screech of the goblin being alive had jumped scared a few people in the audience.

"Jeez!" Jaune shouted before placing his hand on his chest. "You'll scare a guy half to death doing something like that."

"Depends on how you think a guy would actually act." Mercury muttered in a reply to Jaune.

"How is that goblin still alive?" Ruby asked in shock. "With hobbit-Roman, he fell on a patch of mushrooms. But the goblin hit rock bottom and is all scrawny. Shouldn't he at least have some broken bones? ...At least I think that goblin is a he."

"Some of the rocks the both of them hit while falling down maybe have softened their a fall a bit." Weiss theorized. "It would still be painful, but might explain how the goblin survived."

"And since the goblins are cave dwellers, it's more likely they adapted with a sturdier bone structure to help them traverse the inside of the mountain." Penny suggested. "Though to take into account the words of the Goblin King, the goblins are all mutations in a way."

____________________________

"Ahh!"

Roman watched as the creature continuously slammed and battered the rock against the struggling goblin. In order to avoid some of the goblin's slashes, the creature hopped up and down, slamming the rock against the goblin in a brutal fashion.

____________________________

"The scrawny little bugger has some strength to him, huh?" Qrow remarked, mildly perturbed at the creature stoning the goblin.

"I always did find the use of stones compared to modern day weapons a bit ironic." Oobleck spoke. "We've evolved weaponry to become more efficient and destructive. And yet there is a swiftness to a Dust round and a bladed weapon. Whereas with the stone, it's extremely basic and slow to do the job. But when done right, killing with a stone leaves a far more disfigured and brutal display."

"If there's anything more ironic than that, it's how nature can both give life and take it away." Glynda replied to her colleague.

"Indeed it does." Oobleck nodded to Glynda.

____________________________

It was at that moment though, that something unexpected happened. As the creature hopped with his attacks, a small item flew out from his loincloth. It was but a single ring, made out of pure gold. And as it fell to the rocky floor, it clanged against it, as if the ring was much heavier than it looked to be.

____________________________

Roman found himself silent at the current moment, staring at the ring as it fell to the ground. He had felt this feeling before, when he had seen a similar golden ring upon the finger of Sauron in the painting back in Rivendell.

And while he wasn't alone in taking a form of interest at the falling ring, there was only one other analyzing it as much as he was.

Ozpin furrowed his eyes at the ring, a dark feeling creeping up over himself. When he looked at the ring, he couldn't help but be reminded of what he felt when Salem began to turn into what she was today. It was if he could hear her alluring, yet sinister voice whispering into his ear at this very moment.

____________________________

"Ahh!" The creature shouted once more as he gave one final strike against the goblin's head, knocking it out cold.

With the job finished, the creature tossed the rock away as he began to drag the goblin's corpse once more, straining to do so while muttering to himself. "Nasty goblinses! Better than old bones, Precious. Better than nothing!"

____________________________

"That is very peculiar form of grammar." Winter bluntly said with a raised brow. "And the structure he used for his words... it sounded more like he was talking to himself."

"But what the hell does it mean when saying "Precious"?" Sienna questioned. "Is it a form of insanity?"

Meanwhile, Cinder brought her hand to chin, continuing to think on the voice of the strange creature. "I need to hear that voice again. I'm so close to locking on to it, but the tone is setting me off."

____________________________

Once Roman had seen that the creature was no longer in view, he immediately arose from the mushrooms. He picked up his sword, which still glowed blue. Once he had done so, Roman began to look at his surroundings, trying to see where he was. But in doing so, he found himself looking down at the ring the creature had accidentally dropped.

His attention fully brought to this ring, he lowered his hand to pick it up. Bringing it to his face, Roman analyzed the ring in his scratched up hand. The simple, golden jewel seemed to brightly shimmer in his grasp.

____________________________

"Weird..." Roman muttered to himself. "It looks just like your average golden ring, but... it feels more valuable than that. More... precious. And I can't explain why."

Neo looked over to Roman before looking back at the ring. She tilted her head at the sight of it as Neo tried to see what her criminal compatriot saw.

____________________________

"Ahh!"

However, Roman's attention was taken from the ring as he heard the creature cry out again. Placing the ring his coat pocket, Roman carefully began to follow the sound of the creature's voice.

"Too many boneses, Precious!" The creature whined. "Not enough flesh!"

"Shut up!" The creature seemed to reply to itself. "Cut it's skin off."

____________________________

"Hold on." Oobleck said, immediately furrowing his eyes. "This creature actually is talking to himself. But the tones are completely different. The first is whining, but the second is harsh."

"You're suggesting the creature may have dissociative personality disorder?" Pietro questioned the green haired doctor.

"Perhaps." Oobleck said as he rubbed his chin. "I need to hear more from this creature to be certain."

____________________________

The creature then grunted as he presumably began to cut off the skin of the goblin.

"Start with its head." The creature then said before groaning.

Following the creature's voice, Roman found him situation at the pointed edge of a triangular rock in the middle of a cavern pond.

"🎶The cold hard lands. They bites our hands.🎶" The creature began to sing as he used to rock to try and cut open the goblin. "🎶They gnaws our feet! The rocks and stones. They're like old bones. All bare of meat!🎶"

____________________________

Weiss bore a disgruntled look, balking at the sound of the creature singing. "Ugh! This is worse than the goblins' singing."

"Sometimes you end up at a low point, and you believe you can't get any lower." Blake said as she winced at how sharp and off-tune the creature's singing was. "That is until you find out the hard way that you can always get lower."

"I mean, I can admire how the lyrics are comprised simile and personification, but a bad singing voice can ruin any song." Weiss shook her head.

"Yeah, well, while you two are complaining about the music, why the hell am I following the damn freak?" Roman asked with annoyed look at the screen. "Doesn't my counterpart ever learn to stay away from the danger?"

"Maybe the hobbit you is trying to stay close to the creature so it doesn't sneak up on him." Ruby suggested to Roman. "You know, kind of like that old saying. "Hunt the Grimm before it hunts you."

"What kind of logic is that?" Roman have Ruby a baffled expression. "All I gotta do is stay away from anything that'll kill me. It's just that simple."

____________________________

With his sword out and ready, Roman snuck up behind a stalagmite, spying on the creature with baited breath.

"🎶Cold as death. Without no breath. It's good to eat.🎶"

However, the goblin began to stir awake once more, surprising the creature again.

"Rah!" The creature shouted before slamming the rock into the goblin's head once more.

____________________________

"Damn, that is one sturdy goblin." Qrow remarked, almost impressed.

"Well, he's sturdy against blunt objects anyway." Tai countered. "Use a sword on that guy, and he'd definitely end up dead."

____________________________

Seeing this, Roman looked away from the creature, hiding completely behind the rock now. But as he did, Roman soon found the blue light on his sword began to flicker before going off completely; indicating the goblin was now no more.

____________________________

"Well, he was sturdy." Tai then said.

"His sword isn't glowing blue anymore." James observed with a thoughtful look.

"Which confirms this creature isn't a goblin." Ozpin followed his friend's train of thought. "Not an orc for that matter."

"I can't think of any other creature of folklore this thing could be." Port said, stumped. "Perhaps he is a ghoul of some sorts?"

"You'd be both right and wrong in that assumption." Vortech told the portly professor. "Is he ghoulish? Yes. But biologically, he does not identify as a ghoul."

"Then can tell us what he is?" Port asked.

"I could, but disclosing that information to you now would be telling too much too soon." Vortech replied in an almost cheeky manner.

____________________________

Seeing the blue glow now gone, Roman began to examine his sword, twirling it around in his hand a bit. However, the ginger haired hobbit noticed that the creature was no longer singing; no longer speaking all together.

Peaking his head out to look back at where the creature was, Roman found that the creature and the dead goblin were nowhere to be seen. It caused Roman to worry as his darted around to see where the creature went.

____________________________

"That's not good." Ren deadpanned.

"That thing got way too quiet." Nora said while frowning. "Does he know hobbit-Torchwick is there?"

"If that's the case, the creature must have some acute awareness." Pyrrha said. "I suppose that comes with the territory of living, presumably, alone in a cave."

"You just had to follow the damn thing." Roman slapped his hand against his head, cursing his counterpart's actions. "I ask again, how did I survive all of this?"

'Lots of dumb luck?' Neo signed to her partner in crime.

____________________________

But unbeknownst to Roman, the creature was silently moving through the water on a makeshift raft, using his hands as paddles as he snuck up to Roman.

____________________________

"Oh, of course he's swimming over to me!" Roman harshly whispered out.

____________________________

As Roman sat in his spot, he soon heard the same shuddering breathing he had heard from the creature before. Slowly, Roman turned his head, looking up to seen the creature climbing up on the rock above him.

____________________________

'Behind you!' Neo signed out with widened eyes while Roman groaned in annoyance.

"Damn, that thing's sneakier than Blake." Yang said in surprise.

"He knows how to stay quiet, that's for sure." Blake nodded in agreement. "Though I don't think he's a swift as me."

____________________________

Roman looked at the creature in shock and fear as the creature hopped down before Roman, a bright smile on his face, revealing that he was missing some teeth.

"Bless us and splash us, Precious!" The creature happily exclaimed as he looked at Roman with a wicked expression. "That's a meaty mouthful."

____________________________

"And he thinks I'm an all you can eat buffet." Roman complained. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"So this creature is less of a scavenger and more predator-like." Penny observed while nodding. "However, that is more likely with creature smaller or around his size, given that most carnivores, except Grimm, hunt in their size class."

"Yes, study the thing that wants to eat. That'll help a bunch." Roman muttered as he rolled his eyes at Penny.

"But wouldn't this kind of classify him as a cannibal though?" Ruby asked. "You know, since he's willing to eat things like goblins and hobbits."

"No, friend Ruby. A cannibal is a predator willing to eat it's own kind." Penny informed Ruby. "An intelligent creature eating another intelligent creature does not count as cannibalism."

"Oh." Ruby replied with a thoughtful look.

____________________________

The creature began to walk up to Roman, but in a fearful response, Roman brought his blade to the creature's neck. The creature looked at the blade in surprise as he began to gag, coughing that odd name once again.

"Gollum, Gollum!"

"Back! Stay back." Roman quietly ordered the creature as he stood up, aiming his sword out as the creature began to back away. "I'm... warning you. Don't come any closer."

____________________________

"Hood the damn sword still!" Roman shouted at the screen. "Swinging it like that won't do you any favors."

"Why does that creature keep spewing out that horrendous cough?" Glynda asked.

"Hearing it again, it sounds as if he's saying a name when coughing." Sienna mentioned. "Hollum or..."

"Gollum." Vortech stated, gathering peoples' attention. "The word he is coughing out is Gollum. I'm fact, he received his name after his cough from those that have previously encountered him."

"So his name is Gollum." James said. "Or at least the nickname given to him."

"The name of Gollum definitely fits the the appearance of the creature." Ozpin said.

"I must say, though, I've never heard of someone being named after the sound of their cough before." Pietro said with a hint of intrigue. "It's very peculiar."

____________________________

Terrified of Roman's blade, Gollum had back himself up against a rock before steadily moving to the side to further the distance between himself and Roman.

"It's got an elfish blade. But it's not an elfs." Gollum said to himself as crawled away from Roman; the hobbit still pointing his sword at the strange creature. "Not an elfs. No."

Gollum then looked back at Roman with an inquisitive look. "What is it, Precious? W-what is it?"

"My name..." Roman began, his breath hitching a bit as he spoke to Gollum. "Is Roman Torchwick."

"Torchwickses?" Gollum tilted his head while furrowing his eyes. "What is a Torchwickses, Precious?"

____________________________

"Oh, great, he's having a conversation with him now too." Roman threw his hands up on the air. "What's next? Are we gonna play games with each other?"

"Heheh. I think it's a little funny how Gollum ends some of words with ses." Nora said with a giggle. "He's like that old hermit in those pirate movies. Except this hermit isn't as nice as the other ones."

"He clearly picked up some form of speech deformity." Weiss strongly speculated. "Even the goblins that can use English speak a bit more normal than Gollum."

"Being alone can mess with your mind a lot." Emerald stated as she crossed her arms. "Especially if your mind isn't strong enough to handle loneliness."

____________________________

"I'm a... hobbit from the Shire." Roman replied.

"Oh!" Gollum said with a laugh. "We like goblinses, batses, and fishes. But we hasn't tried hobbitses before!"

Gollum then slowly inched his way back towards Roman with a dark grin in his pale blue eyes. "Is it soft? Is it juicy?"

____________________________

"Just shank him already!" Roman shouted. "All he wants to do is eat you!"

____________________________

"Now... now, just...!" Roman warned Gollum as he haphazardly swung his sword about. "Keep your distance! I'll use this if I have to."

"Raah!" Gollum screeched at Roman in return, causing the hobbit to stumble back a bit in fear.

"I don't want any trouble!" Roman stated as he swung his blade some more. "Do you understand?! Just show me the way to get out of here, and I'll be on my way."

____________________________

"You seriously think that thing is going to going to show you the exit?" Roman asked, flabbergasted. "That is a terrible idea."

"I would argue it's a risk your counterpart has to take." Ironwood replied to Roman. "He wouldn't know how to make his way through the lower caverns all on his own. He could be stuck in there longer than he would desire. However, this Gollum creature has lived down there. It would be more likely that Gollum knows how to exit the caverns; perhaps even the exit from the mountain all together."

"I'm sorry, have you forgotten how bad the other me handles in a fight?" Roman raised his brow at the Atlesian general.

"Gollum is far from a troll or goblin." Ozpin added in.

"And yet he's clearly got a violent streak with how he killed the goblin." Roman stated back.

____________________________

"Why?" Gollum asked as he moved behind a rock. "Is it lost?"

"Yes. Yes." Roman nodded, lowering his sword slightly. "And I want to get unlost as soon as possible."

"Ooh! We knows!" Gollum suddenly said as his eyes widened with a smile. "We knows safe paths for hobbitses. Safe paths in the dark."

____________________________

"Excuse me. Huh?" Roman blinked in surprise.

"Well that remarkable easy." Sienna commented.

"I guess even a creature like Gollum has a friendly side." Ruby smiled a bit.

However, Blake thought a bit differently. "Hmm. I don't know. Gollum suddenly goes from wanting to eat Torchwick to helping him out?"

"Maybe he's just quirky." Ruby suggested.

"Or maybe his tone going to shift back to trying to eat Torchwick." Ilia crossed her arms, agreeing with her old friend.

____________________________

But suddenly, Gollum's eyes angrily furrowed as he berated himself with a harsh whisper. "Shut up!"

Confused by, Roman squinted his eyes at Gollum. "I didn't say anything."

"We wasn't talking to you." Gollum said to Roman before ducking his head behind the rock.

"Well, yes, we was, Precious. We was." Gollum calmly said to himself.

____________________________

"This confirms it; most definitely." Oobleck firmly nodded. "Gollum has a split personality."

"Aw, man." Ruby slumped her shoulders.

"Welp. This is turning out to be bust after all." Roman spoke with a bland look.

"This will not bode well for Torchwick's counterpart." Winter said. "If the personality of Gollum that wishes to kill him is stronger than his friendly side, getting out of the mountain will be prove far more difficult."

____________________________

"Look, I don't know what you're game is." Roman said, still befuddled by Gollum's mannerisms. "But I—."

However, the moment those words left Roman's mouth, Gollum beamed in joy. "Games?!"

Gollum then hopped atop the rock, prompting Roman to step back a bit in preparation for a potential attack.

"Oh, we love games. Doesn't we, Precious?" Gollum happily said to himself before looking at Roman. "Does it like games? Does it, does it? Does it like to play? Hehaha!"

Roman, still confused, have a reply nonetheless. "Maybe."

____________________________

"Wait, wait, wait. I was being sarcastic about the game." Roman immediately said.

"Even then, maybe this can be a good thing." Ozpin said. "Perhaps a bargain can be struck through a game or two with Gollum. Or he could end up taking a liking you."

"Yeah, as dinner." Roman sharply replied through gritted teeth.

____________________________

Raising his hand up to Roman in a stopping motion, Gollum had a wide smile before asking the hobbit a riddle. "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, and yet, never grows?"

____________________________

"Gah, it's a game of riddles?" Yang groaned with a frown. "I hate riddles."

"Yes, despising anything truly intellectually challenging would be right up your ally." Weiss replied to her teammate with the hint of a snide smile.

"They're just very skewered descriptions of words." Yang argued back. "What's so fun about them?"

"I already told you why they are fun." Weiss replied. "Your question is redundant."

"Then enlighten me, Weiss. Answer Gollum's riddle." Yang sneered back at the heiress.

"Hah! You act as if this riddle is that difficult." Weiss shot back. "The answer is a mountain."

"She's right." Oobleck immediately spoke.

"Dang it, Weiss!" Nora shouted, slamming her fist against the arm of her chair. "I wanted to figure it out."

"Wha-Nora?" Yang asked in confusion. "Why do you of all people want to answer a riddle?"

"Because Nora doesn't know when to back down from a challenge." Ren told Yang. "It's a double-edged trait, but I tend to view it as more positive."

"Now I gotta wait and see if Gollum asks another." Nora pouted as she crossed her arms.

____________________________

Giving a lightly surprised yet bland look to this, Roman answered Gollum right after the riddle was asked. "The mountain."

____________________________

"Huh, looks like Weiss isn't the only one good at riddles." Ruby said. "Hobbit-Roman answered that, easily."

"You know, I can't really say I've ever been the best at riddles." Roman admitted. "I'm a lot more pragmatic and conniving. But I guess it's good to see there's a version of me that's better at this."

____________________________

"Yes, yes!" Gollum laughed as he shook his head. "Oh, let's have another one, eh? Yes! Do it again! Do it, do it again! Ask us."

"No!" Gollum then shouted. "No more riddles."

Roman looked at Gollum hopped away, the creature speaking to himself with a dark tone. "Finish him off. Finish him now! Gollum, Gollum!"

____________________________

"What is with this guy's hate boner?" Roman asked.

"It would seem that with being harsher and more violent, Gollum's dark personality is also very distrusting and territorial around others." Oobleck analyzed. "It certainly creates for an interesting dynamic of minds."

"Perhaps the darker personality is Gollum's survival insects given form." Ozpin theorized. "The darker personality does seem to wish to do things for Gollum's own personal interests."

"I know a thing or to about that." Qrow remarked to Ozpin. "And I will never have any doubts that leaving the bandit tribe was one of the best things I ever did in my screwed up life."

____________________________

Gollum turned back to Roman with an angry look, ready to pounce on him. But just as he did, Roman quickly interjected.

"No! No. No." Roman said, causing Gollum to stop. "I want-i want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see... you are very good at this."

This tactic appeared to work as Roman had appeased Gollum's kinder side, the creature brightly smiling up at the hobbit.

"So, why don't we... have a game of riddles?" Roman suggested as he crouched down to Gollum's level. "Yes? Just-just-just you and me."

"Yes!" Gollum quietly whispered as he crawled up to Roman. "Yes, just-just us."

____________________________

"Huh. Gollum's kind of cute when he's friendly." Ruby smiled a bit. "At least when you get past how he looks. He acts more like a little kid a bit."

"Please tell me this game is just a distraction so I can kill Gollum." Roman said with a deadpan.

____________________________

"Yes. Yes!" Roman whispered back. "And-and if I win, you show me the way out. Yes?"

"Yes! Yes!" Gollum nodded to this. But it wasn't long before his darker half took control again.

____________________________

"Eh, I'll take that too, I guess." Roman shrugged.

"I told you a bargain could be struck with Gollum." Ozpin reminded the criminal. "Now all you have to do is win the game of riddles and you're home free."

"I still say I should kill him." Roman replied back. "Have him lead me to the exit and then end his miserable existence."

"And here I thought "No honor among thieves" was just an overused cliche for criminals." Winter's voice dripped with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes at Roman.

"What the hell does honor matter when your life is on the line?" Roman asked.

"You truly believe that your counterpart should kill Gollum after he shows him the way out?" Winter asked Roman.

"I think anyone sensible here can agree that I'd be doing Middle-Earth a favor." Roman retorted.

____________________________

Gollum's dark half scowled as he turned away from Roman, speaking to himself. "And if it loses? What then?"

"Well, if it loses, Precious, then we eats it!" The lighter side of Gollum said to himself. "Hehehe!"

Roman, who had waited for Gollum to finish talking to himself, widened his eyes a bit upon those words escape from Gollum's lips.

"If Torchwick loses, we eats it whole." Gollum said to Roman with a tilting nod.

____________________________

"So much for a "friendly personality" out of Gollum." Ilia dryly remarked.

"Ah, man." Ruby slumped her shoulders.

"Please, kill him now." Roman bluntly pleaded to his counterpart, even though his pleas could not be heard.

____________________________

Roman paused for a moment, his eyes trailed off in thought upon Gollum's terms. He furrowed his eyes a bit, glancing up for a moment before giving his reply. "Fair enough."

____________________________

"No. Not fair!" Roman shouted. "That's not fair at all! At least haggle with the damn thing if you're not gonna kill him!"

"He could have done that, but I doubt Gollum currently wants anything more than to eat your counterpart." Sienna said.

"Torchwick's really okay with the greater possibility of being eaten?" Emerald asked.

"When one is resigned to fate with so very few options, Emerald, they cannot he too picky on their next move." Cinder informed to her subordinate.

____________________________

With the terms for the game set, Roman stood back up and placed his sword in its sheave, something the darker half of Gollum eyed heavily for a few seconds.

"Well, Torchwick first." Gollum said to Roman.

"Hmm?" Roman turned around to Gollum before he began to think of a riddle. All the while Gollum eagerly waited while resting his chin on a rock. "Uh... thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."

Gollum thought long and hard on this riddle, tightly closing his eyes in thought. He thought about one answer at first before dismissing it. Thinking about it again, Gollum widely smiled, but then squinted his eyes as he went back to thinking.

____________________________

"Oh, I know this one." Oobleck stated with his finger in the air.

"Hold on. Hold on! Let me think." Nora raised her hand in a stopping motion whilst Yang rolled her eyes.

"Thirty white horses on a red hill..." Ruby trailed off in a muttering tone.

"Do you require assistance, friend Ruby?" Penny whispered to Ruby.

"Sorry, Penny, but I gotta figure this out in my own." The leader of team RWBY told the living android.

"Huh, the little beast looks a bit stumped." Roman noticed, smirking as he rested his arms behind his head. "This'll be easier than I thought."

"Hmm... could the answer be teeth?" Weiss suggested.

"White horses, and a red hill. Now that I think on it, it does sound similar to how teeth work." Pyrrha said.

____________________________

As this went on, Roman waited for Gollum's answer, hoping he would get it wrong.

After a few moments, Gollum finally came up with what he thought was the answer. "Teef?"

Hearing this, Roman became dejected, something Gollum took notice of.

____________________________

"You just had to speak so soon." Tai deadpanned to Roman.

The criminal in question dragged his hand down his face in annoyance before speaking. "Me and my big mouth."

____________________________

"Teef!" Gollum shouted the answer in joy. "Ohohoho, yes, my Precious! But we—."

It was there that Gollum reverted to his darker half as he gave a wicked grin to Roman.

"We... only have nine." Gollum gave a small snarl as he bore his jagged and disfigured array of teeth.

Roman looked at the teeth with a hidden expression of dread as Gollum looked at him.

____________________________

"And what a lovely set of teeth they are." Roman stated as he balked away from the sight.

"That's... disturbing." Ruby winced at the screen.

"Gollum must have been in isolation for a very long time if that's the state of his teeth." Glynda said in slight revulsion.

"I don't know who's worse. The Goblin King or Gollum." Emerald said as she groaned into her hand.

"Definitely Gollum. I can see it in his eyes." Mercury told his partner "That guy does not want Roman to leave."

____________________________

"Our turn." Gollum said as Roman prepared himself. "Voiceless, it cries. Wingless flutters. Toothless bites. Mouthless mutters."

Roman glanced up, thinking about the riddle as he spoke. "J-just a minute. Uh..."

____________________________

"Hmm." Weiss placed her hand on her chin in thought. "The wording on this one is a bit tricky... I like it."

"Of course you do." Yang groaned in a murmur.

"What kind of riddle is this?" Nora asked, befuddled. "Is-is it a Geist Grimm?"

"The wording does fit a description of a Geist, but there aren't any Grimm in Middle-Earth." Ren reminded his partner.

"Dang it!" Nora cursed.

____________________________

Roman then turned away from Gollum so that he could think on what the answer could be, while Gollum looked at him with a wicked, eager grin. 

"Ooh! Ooh!" Gollum suddenly exclaimed. "We knows! We knows!"

"Shut up!" Gollum harshly berated himself.

____________________________

"Gollum's nice side must be quite the enthusiast if he's eager to answer his own l riddle before Torchwick can." Port said. "It's a shame he's burdened with such a wicked alter ego. Otherwise I would wager he would be the friendliest of chaps out there."

"Hold on. A lanky appearance. Bursts of rage and zealous excitement." Cinder thought to herself before widening her eyes. "My God. Is this Gollum creature actually... Tyrian Callows?"

Meanwhile after giving some further thought to the riddle, Weiss soon beamed in discovery. "I've got it. The answer is the wind."

"That's twice for Miss Schnee." Oobleck stated.

"Ugh!" Nora groaned in defeat.

"There'll still be another riddle if hobbit-Torchwick gets this one." Jaune supportively said to his loyal teammate.

____________________________

Roman stood still, looking out to water of the cavern. In doing so, he noticed the small sound of wind reaching his ears as he watched the water ripple. Roman had found his answer.

"Wind." He whispered with a smile. Roman then turned back to Gollum. "It's wind. Of course it is."

Gollum gave a groaning snarl as he crawled out from behind his rock. "Very clever, hobbitses. Very clever."

____________________________

"Hmph! Don't get mad at me for being better than you." Roman cockily taunted Gollum.

"Would you say that if you were actually in a room, alone with Gollum?" Winter dully raised her brow at Roman.

"Maybe I would." Roman shrugged with a smile.

'Depends on his fight or flight response.' Neo signed when Winter was still looking in Roman's direction.

____________________________

Fearing for his life as Gollum stalked up to him, Roman pulled out his sword again and pointed at Gollum. "A-a-a box without hinges, key or-or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."

Gollum then set his focus onto answering the riddle, speaking to himself as he tried to piece it together. "Box. Um, um... box. The lid and a key."

____________________________

"Man, why do they have to use their old-timey phrasing for these riddles?" Nora complained. "Only a fossil is gonna get these immediately."

"I'm around your age!" Weiss gave an indignant reply to the ginger bomber.

"I'm not that old." Oobleck retorted to Nora.

"I am." Ozpin thought to himself with a small, almost offended, expression.

"Being close to a fossil myself, I can safely say I don't quite understand these riddles." Pietro admitted with a confused look.

"Like I said. Man-child." Vortech muttered to himself.

____________________________

"Well?" Roman asked Gollum, a bit impatient.

"It's nasty." Gollum said to Roman before going back to thinking on the riddle. He crawled away as he continued to work it out in his head. "Box. Key."

"Do you give up?!" Roman hurriedly asked Gollum.

"Oh, give us a chance, Precious! Give us a chance!" Gollum pleaded to Roman.

____________________________

"That's not very sportsmanship-like behavior coming from hobbit-Roman." Ruby frowned a bit.

"Like that matters here, Red." Roman argued with her. "The other me wants to survive and get the hell out that mountain. The quicker Gollum gives up or gets it wrong, the better."

"Though if Gollum does get the answer to the riddle, it should be eggs." Weiss said.

"Right again, Miss Schnee." Oobleck responded to the answer.

"Oh, come on! I was actually about to give that as my answer!" Nora cried out. "Why must the multiverse be so cruel?!"

However, as Weiss gave a proud smile and Nora sulked with Pyrrha patting her shoulder, Yang stared to the heiress with a fiery look of annoyance.

"I know I hate riddles... but I'm gonna put a stop to Weiss's cockiness." Yang thought as she narrowed her eyes at said girl. "It's time to let out some big fuck you energy. I just need Gollum to get this riddle right so I try my own hand at it."

____________________________

Roman watched as Gollum grumbled and moaned, slapping his hands against the rocky ground as he desperately tried to find the answer to the riddle.

Gollum then closed his eyes as he worked it out some more. And in doing so, his eyes widened and his jaw became agape. "Eggses!"

Roman rolled his eyes in disappointment at this as Gollum cheered the answer.

____________________________

Roman gave out another groan as Gollum spoke the answer to the riddle. "Just get a riddle wrong. Just once."

____________________________

"Eggses! Wet, crunchy little eggses." Gollum joyously spoke. "Yes! Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes!"

____________________________

"I'm surprised that Gollum has relatives." Winter said. "It's hard to think a creature like him could have kin."

"We all start from somewhere." Glynda replied. "No matter how strange we appear."

"You know what? My dad used to suck eggs all the time for his workout regimen." Tai said, focusing on the topic of eggs. "He even tried to have me do it too. But I just could not stand the taste of raw eggs."

"Nope. That joke is just too easy for me to make." Qrow said in regards to Tai's words with a shake of his head.

"Actually, despite Gollum's grandmother teaching him to suck eggs, I find it ironic to the term "teaching grandmother to suck eggs"." Weiss gave her thoughts.

"Wow, Weiss. That's not a nice thing to say about your grandma." Yang said to the heiress with a humored grin.

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, but made no remark against her. "The term means to inform someone on a subject they are already well versed in."

"Huh. But why do people use it as an insult?" Ruby questioned.

"You're thinking of "go suck an egg"." Blake told her leader.

"Oh." Ruby realized.

____________________________

It was there, though, that Roman found his attention drawn away to a bat flying through the cave. He turned his back from Gollum as he raised his sword in case of an attack from the bat.

When Roman turned back around, he found that Gollum had moved; the dark side of the creature hissing at him.

____________________________

Mercury shook his head at this, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "Rookie mistake."

"I agree with Torchwick. How did this guy end up living?" Emerald murmured.

"Why would you take your eyes off of him?!" Roman shouted to the screen. "You should know by now that's something you shouldn't do with Gollum!"

____________________________

"We have one for you." Gollum's voice echoed to Roman, who tried to find where he had gone off to. "All things it devours. Birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel. Grinds hard stones to meal."

____________________________

"What bull shit of a riddle is that?" Roman deadpanned.

"A very tough one." Oobleck said while tapping his chin. "I don't think even I can think of the answer."

"This is had to be one of the most challenging riddles I have ever heard." Weiss said. "I will have to think a lot on this."

"Oh, peachy. The one time I attempt a riddle here, and it's the most difficult so far." Yang inwardly complained.

"Yeah... I don't think I'm gonna be able to answer this." Nora said with wince.

"I can, though. I know the answer too well. As much as I wish I didn't." Ozpin thought to himself as he looked to the floor, a harrowed and downtrodden look falling upon his face. "Time. The greatest and most cruel fact of life."

____________________________

Roman furrowed his eyes at this riddle as he continually moved in a circle with his sword pointed out.

"Answer us." Gollum said to Roman.

"Give me a moment, please." Roman said to Gollum. "I gave you a good long while."

____________________________

"That's karma if I've ever seen it in play." Ruby commented at the scene with an almost bland stare.

"Shut up, Red." Roman muttered, crossing his arms while looking away.

____________________________

After saying this, Roman began playing the riddle back in his head, muttering out some of the words. "Birds, beasts... beasts? Trees, flowers... I don't know this one."

"Is it... tasty?" Gollum spoke in a sing-song voice. "Is it scrumptious?"

____________________________

"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him." Roman continually repeated to himself.

"That is just way too creepy." Jaune said in a disturbed voice.

"I'll still take this over whatever is in Dol Guldur any day." Ilia stated.

"Gollum's really taunting Torchwick's counterpart now." James regarded. "There's also a tactical approach to it. The more Torchwick has to fear, the less his mind will be focused on answering the riddle."

____________________________

The echoing voice of Gollum had send fear down Roman's spine as he began to pack up into a rock. But in doing so, he failed to notice that Gollum was now behind him.

"Is it crunchable?" Gollum asked, pricking Roman's shoulders with his boney fingers.

____________________________

"Gah. I hate it when people come up from behind me like that!" Roman yelled in frustration.

"I would have immediately gutted anyone who tried doing that to me." Sienna bluntly remarked.

"This kind of thing is definitely reminding a lot more of one those serial killer horror movies." Mercury commented. "There's more psychology going on with it that gives you the scares."

"I'm more than well enough scared by now." Jaune warily said.

"I'm getting there." Ruby said with a disturbed wince.

"Gollum has certainly shown he can be very perturbing." Penny said while frowning.

____________________________

This had sent a jolt through Roman, who immediately turned around and backed away, aiming his sword at Gollum once more. "Let me think. Let me think. Just..."

Roman raised a finger at Gollum before walking away to contemplate on the riddle some more.

"It's stuck." Gollum said with a twisted grin. "Torchwickses is stuck."

As Gollum said this, Roman went to lean against a stalagmite as he did his best to come up with the answer to the riddle.

But Gollum was far from overly generous as he raised his hands in a shrugging manner. "Times up."

But at saying those words, Gollum ruined his chance at victory as Roman began to think on what Gollum had just said.

____________________________

Roman's counterpart wasn't the only one who came to this realization, as it dawned to Weiss at the same time. She widened her eyes as she prepared to speak the answer.

"The answers time."

However, Weiss had been beaten to the punch. With shocked eyes, she looked over to see that those words had come from none other than Yang. The blonde brawler held a small, knowing smile to Weiss, who was completely floored.

"You are correct, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin said to Yang.

"But you said you hated riddles!" Weiss accusingly pointed to Yang.

"I do. But then I thought that answering at least one would be fun." Yang shrugged. "That, and I just ruined your winning streak."

"At least one muscle-bound powerhouse was able to get it right." Nora solemnly spoke. "I salute you, Yang Xiao Long."

"No, no. It was just one riddle. Weiss answered more of them, after all." Yang replied, casting a sideways glance to Weiss, who gave a glare in return.

____________________________

"Time." Roman said in realization. "Time. Ti- The answer is time."

Widening his eyes at this, Gollum looked down with a rueful groan as Roman held an amused and relieved smile. Though he proceeded to give a small grunt to wipe his smile away.

"Actually wasn't that hard." Roman stated, trying to save face.

____________________________

"Oh, like hell." Roman waved his counterpart off. "You nearly lost the game there, and we all know it."

"Does... does that count as Torchwick being humble?" Blake asked in bewilderment.

"I would call that as self-belittlement as opposed to being humble." Cinder said.

____________________________

Gollum looked back to Roman with a cross expression. "Last question. Last chance."

As Gollum said this, he picked up a sizable rock into his hand, hiding it from Roman's sight as he readied to bludgeon the ginger haired hobbit.

"Okay." Roman said with a sigh as he tried to think up another riddle.

____________________________

"Oh, no. No." Roman said with a cross, dry look. "Don't tell me, now, that you can't come up with a riddle."

"Creating a riddle has to be more difficult than answering one." Oobleck raised his finger up. "Placing words in such an order akin to that of a riddle must take tremendous time if you're not a complete expert on the subject."

"I can attest to that." Winter rose her hand. "Weiss had me come up with riddles for her a few times, back in our childhood. It was a very strenuous task."

"It was still fun though, wasn't it sister?" Weiss asked Winter, feeling uncertain from the elder Schnee's words.

"Seeing your intelligence grow from answering the riddles correctly did have its merits." Winter admitted, allowing for Weiss let loose a relieved smile.

____________________________

Smiling at seeing Roman now struggling to come up with a riddle, Gollum spoke to the hobbit. "Ask us."

Though Gollum immediately took on a darker face as he yelled at Roman. "Ask us!"

"Yes, yes. All right." Roman said to Gollum with a nervous smile.

____________________________

"Shouting isn't gonna get you anywhere nice." Roman pointed to Gollum. "Remember, the other me still has a sword."

"Are you saying that in a pointless bid to threaten Gollum, or are you doing to that satiate your own fears?" Sienna asked Roman.

"No one asked you for your input." Roman shot a glare back at the White Fang High Leader.

"I can't say I blame Carrot-top. You don't want to be in the same room as a cranky sociopath." Qrow stated to Sienna. "It will never end well."

"I'm surprised Tyrian has held back this long." Cinder thought as she stared at the screen. "Usually, in this instance, he would have tried to kill Roman out of boredom. His split personality is holding back some his usual tendencies. Though, frankly, I can't tell which one I like less. The Tyrian that's annoying, or the Tyrian that's hideous."

____________________________

As the hobbit did his best to give Gollum one more riddle, he found his hand moving over to his shirt pocket. And in doing so, Roman began to tapping at said pocket as he muttered aloud. "What have I got in my pocket..."

However, Gollum had not taken this as Roman simply speaking to himself, but as the final riddle. Gollum began furrowing his eyes in confusion and slight anger as he spoke. "That's no fair. It-it's no fair!"

Hearing this, Roman looked back to Gollum with a surprised face.

____________________________

"Wait, Gollum thinks that's the question hobbit-Roman wants him to answer?" Ruby asked, a similarly surprised look to that of Roman's counterpart.

"That cannot work, though. This is meant to be a game of riddles." Weiss said. "Gollum is not going to accept that all too well."

"Who knows. Maybe this is actually how Torchwick's counterpart wins here." Blake added.

____________________________

"It's against the rules!" Gollum shouted as he threw the rock away in anger.

"Oh." Roman gave a short chuckle, realizing how Gollum had perceived things.

"Now ask us another one." Gollum ordered Roman with crossed arms.

"No, no, no, no. You said, "Ask me a question." Well, that is my question." Roman pointed his sword at Gollum, taking advantage of the new predicament. "What have I got in my pocket?"

____________________________

"I've got you there, you mutant weasel." Roman laughed. "I am a master at exploiting semantics."

"There's no way Gollum will be able to win now." Glynda said. "Guessing something completely random about someone you just met is a one percent chance against a hundred."

"Which makes it all the more better to watch unfold. Hoohoohoohoo!" Roman chuckled while Neo silently giggled.

"He may be a more morally sound Torchwick, but the hobbit does seem to share his underhandedness." Ironwood remarked.

____________________________

Gollum grumbled as he hopped down from the rock, causing Roman to back away again. "Three guesses, Precious. It must give us three."

"Three guesses. Very well, guess away." Roman allowed.

____________________________

"You could have five or ten, for all I care." Roman chuckled some more. "You're not gonna guess the answer to this any time soon."

____________________________

"Handses!" Gollum quickly said, raising up his hands.

Roman responded by raising his own hand up. "Wrong. Guess again."

____________________________

"Come on, that was too obvious of an answer to ever have been right." Nora chided Gollum.

"Once guess wasted. Two more left." Ilia remarked.

____________________________

Gollum groaned as he hysterically tried to think of all the possible answers he could. "Fishbones, goblins' teeth, wet shells, bats' wings."

____________________________

"What's going to make this more difficult for Gollum is that he's only thinking of things he's personally seen." Ozpin said. "And I doubt he'll be able to guess a ring in these next two attempts."

"Though it's certainly strange that he thinks anyone would have bat wings their pockets." Winter raised her brow in bewilderment. "Gollum has spent too much time being alone in a goblin infested mountain."

____________________________

Gollum continued to moan and groan, slapping his hands on the rock again before looking towards Roman. "Knife!"

"Oh, shut up!" Gollum berated himself.

____________________________

"Oof! That was a big brain fart." Yang chuckled a bit. "Did he really just forget that Torchwick has his sword out?"

"He hasn't exactly used it effectively, so I wouldn't completely blame Gollum in forgetting it was still in Torchwick's hand." Blake replied to her partner.

"I should feel offended by that comment, but she's got a point." Roman calmly spoke in regards to Blake.

____________________________

"Wrong again. Last guess." Roman told Gollum as he made sure to keep his distance.

"String." Gollum said before turning nearly all the way around for his darker half to give an answer as he pointed at Roman. "Or nothing."

"Two guesses at once." Roman cheekily informed Gollum. "Wrong both times."

____________________________

"Tried to pull a fast one on me, and still lost." Roman gave a proud smirk as he rested his hands behind his head.

'Four strikes. You're out.' Neo signed to Gollum.

____________________________

Gollum let out and ever growing moan as he fell to the side, balling up and crying at the loss.

____________________________

"That is some really ugly crying." Emerald gave a uneasy look at Gollum.

"I've never seen Tyrian cry before. Though I can't say this could be an accurate visage of him crying, given that this is but his counterpart." Cinder thought to herself. "I would go so far as to bet that the Tyrian I know hasn't any tears to shed."

"Man... now I feel a little bad for Gollum." Ruby admitted.

"Wha-why?!" Roman exclaimed to her. "He tried to eat the other me!"

"You know I don't like agreeing with Torchwick, sis, but I gotta agree with him here." Yang told Ruby. "Gollum's far from prettiest flower in the garden."

"I know, but that all was mostly his bad side influencing him." Ruby gave her rebuttal. "He still tried to help hobbit-Roman out the first time. I can't help it if I don't like seeing people cry."

"It's certainly a pitiful sight." Sienna said as she looked at the crying form of Gollum. "But that's as much sympathy I can spare for someone like him."

"That is simply the burden of those with D.I.D." Oobleck said. "The dominant personality always takes charge. Regardless of how that personality behaves."

____________________________

"So..." Roman began to carefully moved closer to Gollum, who groaned as he got up. "Come on, then. I won the game. You promised to show me the way out."

"Did we say so, precious?" Gollum darkly replied to Roman as he slowly turned back around to the hobbit. "Did we say so? What has it got in its pocketses?"

Roman pointed his blade at Gollum as he denied to answer the question. "That's no concern of yours. You lost."

"Lost?" Gollum asked, repositioning himself as a knowing, dark grin grew on his face. "Lost? Lost?!"

____________________________

"I don't like where this is going." Jaune said with a wary look.

"He's pissed." Mercury commented on Gollum.

"Can Torchwick's counterpart take Gollum?" Pyrrha questioned.

"I'd wager it a fifty-fifty." Emerald said.

"Oh, no. No. You really think you get to cheat me after you lost?" Roman asked Gollum as he pointed to himself. "...Actually, there is an irony I'm picking up here."

"Now I wonder if Gollum's darker side would have kept to the deal of the game if Torchwick's counterpart asked him a final riddle." Ironwood voiced his thoughts. "The pocket question really bothered him."

"Perhaps." Ozpin allowed. "Or perhaps this was always going to be the outcome of Gollum lost."

____________________________

Gollum then went to grab something from out of the back of his loincloth. But as he did, his eyes quickly widened as worry and fear overtook him. Gollum began frantically searching through the pockets of his loincloth as he tried to search for something.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" Gollum cried out as Roman backed away. Gollum then tried to search through some piles of bones in a vain attempt to search for whatever he had lost. "No! Aah! Where is it?! No! No!"

Gollum then tried splashing through some of the water to find his object as he continued to cry out. "Lost! Curse us and splash us! My Precious is lost!"

____________________________

"He calls the ring, Precious?" Ruby asked with an inquisitive, surprised expression.

"Someone's obsessive." Nora remarked off to the side.

"But Gollum was going for that ring as if it would help him kill Torchwick." Cinder pointed out with furrowed eyes. "What sort of significance could one ring have in aiding to kill someone?"

"And excellent point, Miss Fall." Glynda said to Cinder. "We've all seen what exists in Middle-Earth. Perhaps this ring of Gollum's has special properties of some sort. Maybe even magical."

"What kind of magic, though?" Ozpin questioned as he set his full attention to the screen.

____________________________

Roman then immediately pulled out the ring from his pocket and hid it behind his back. "What have you lost?"

"Mustn't ask us!" Gollum cried to Roman as he clasped his hands on his head. "Not it's business! No! Gollum, Gollum!"

As Gollum's cried subsided to hoarse, heavy breathing, a single thought began to resurface in his mind as he stared into the water, his dark reflection looking back at him. "What has it got... in its nasty, little pocketses?"

Roman tightened his hand on the ring as he as he shakily pointed his sword at Gollum.

____________________________

"Uh-oh." Ruby spoke in worry.

"Now would probably be a good time to get ready for a fight." Tai advised.

"Or run away." Roman interjected. "I know killing Gollum would be better in the long run, but I have doubts the other me can pull it off."

"M-maybe hobbit-Roman can fib and say he has something else in his pocket?" Ruby suggested in uncertainty.

"I don't think that's gonna work with a guy like Gollum, squirt." Qrow said to his niece.  "He's too broken and angry right now to believe anything else."

____________________________

Slowly, Gollum turned his head back to Roman, his eyes wide as he came to the answer. "He stole it. He stole it!"

Gollum could barely contain his seething anger as he let out a screech at Roman. "Raaah!"

____________________________

"God dammit. Just run already!" Roman jumped out of his seat as he yelled to his counter.

____________________________

"He stole it!" Gollum shouted again as he threw a rock at Roman, who narrowly dodged it.

It was here that Roman took it as a sign to flee from Gollum, who gave chase to the hobbit with a loud shout.

____________________________

"Thank you!" Roman have another shout as he sat back down.

"And just like that, a game of riddles became a deadly game of hide and seek." Sienna stated. "Though, for Torchwick's sake, he better try and kill Gollum as well."

____________________________

The viewing cut back to Goblin Town as several of the goblins began dragging in torture devices, all the while the Goblin King sang once more.

"🎶Bones will be shattered! Necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered! From racks you'll be hung!🎶" The Goblin King sang as he danced a bit; the dwarves struggling to get out of the goblins' grasp. "🎶You will die down here and never be found! Down in the deep of Goblin Town!🎶"

____________________________

"Ah, back to Goblin Town." Port said. "And just when it seems things are about to get worse too."

"Gah... the Goblin King has such potential for a good singing voice, but his tone is just too off for me." Weiss spoke of her gripes.

"The torture indicated in this song a much more evident than Down in Goblin Town." Ren pointed out.

"Again, I have to give him credit for being enthusiastic about it." Ruby admitted. "Even though what the goblins are about to do is evil... again."

____________________________

But just as the Goblin King finished that final note, Grinnah had pulled up the sheaved Orcrist. He tilted his head in curiosity to the shape of the blade, intrigued by it. However, the moment he pulled out the sword from its sheath, Grinnah freaked out at the sight of the swords metal and the elvish carvings upon it.

"Aah!" Grinnah screeched as he threw the sword to the floor, allowing all to see that it.

"I know that sword!" The Goblin King shouted as he backed away in fear, stepping on some of his goblin soldiers. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver! The Bitter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!"

____________________________

"Huh. Go figure. A sword known for killing goblins is feared by goblins." Qrow said.

"You never seen Grimm act like that with our weapons." Tai added.

____________________________

Angered by the sight of Orcrist, all of the goblins began to pile on and attack the dwarves in a blood-filed rage.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them!" The Goblin King ordered as the dwarves tried to fend off the attacking goblins. "Kill them all!"

____________________________

"No. No, no." Ironwood worried with dread.

"Wow, those guys are pissed." Mercury commented to the goblins.

"The one time they run into someone wielding a weapon infamous for killing their kind." Ilia said. "I know we're meant to be rooting against the goblins, but I can't blame them for their rage."

"Come on, fight back!" Nora pleaded to the dwarves.

____________________________

Several of the goblins had downed James, holding his limbs as they piled onto him.

"Cut off his head!" The Goblin King yelled, wanting James to die for his transgression.

A goblin had taken out a dagger and raised it up James's face, ready to splice open his neck.

____________________________

"Not like this. Not like this." Ruby pleaded with fear in her eyes.

"Come on. One of the dwarves had to be able to reach for a weapon!" Winter shouted.

"Will they even be able to make to James in time?" Glynda quietly asked as she too held a bit of dread in her eyes.

However, despite seizing his counterpart about to be beheaded, Ironwood remained stoic in the face of death as best he could. "A way out of this has to become clear soon... I just know it."

____________________________

But in that moment, a bright and blinking light flooded the throne room in an instant, forcing back all of the goblins and sending the torture equipment tumbling off the edge.

The force of the blinding light had caused all torches to blow out for a moment. And in that momentary darkness, when all had fallen to the floor, one man stood; a staff and sword in his hands and a pointy hat upon his head.

As the lights came back on in Goblin Town, all had began to get back up to see that Ozpin the Grey had joined the fray.

____________________________

"Wooh! That was really bright." Jaune said, blinking his eyes rapidly after having his vision shortly impaired by Ozpin's light.

"Dues Ex Ozpin!" Nora cheered as she threw her hands into the air.

"Oh thank God." Ruby sighed in relief as she fell back into her chair.

"Wizard-Ozpin seems to have a habit of it cutting a bit too close." Yang said with a small wince. "But at least he's here."

"You're not alone on your sentiment, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin agreed with his student.

"How did he get to them in the first place?" Sienna questioned. "He couldn't have known they were being held in Goblin Town."

"Maybe the goblins left their trap door open." Ironwood assumed. "Or it's just this version of Ozpin being a wizard."

"At least now the Company is mostly back together." Glynda said. "Now all they need to do is get out of the mountain and find Torchwick's counterpart."

____________________________

"Take up arms." Ozpin said to his dwarven friends, who began to get up as well. "Fight. Fight!"

All of the dwarves gave out battle cries as they the got up to fight the goblin hordes.

Several goblins went in to attack Ozpin, only to be knocked aside by his staff, or sliced open by his sword.

____________________________

"Finally, some bold action!" Nora cheered again with excitement in her eyes.

"But will they be able to take on all of the goblins is the next question." Ren stated. "The Company is still vastly outnumbered, even with  Ozpin on their side now."

"Can't you just learn to enjoy the moment?" Nora asked her partner with a dull expression.

"It's like Ilia said." Blake replied to Ren. "The Company is going to have to run and fight if they want to make it out."

____________________________

"He wields the Foehammer!" The Goblin King pointed to Ozpin. "The beater! Bright as daylight!"

The dwarves had gathered all of their weapons from the floor as they used them to fend off against the goblins. Dwalin knocked down goblins with a staff, Bombur bounced away goblins with his gut, and Kili used his swords to stab Grinnah through his stomach.

____________________________

"That's what happens when you stomp an old dwarves hearing trumpet!" Nora shouted to Grinnah as he was killed.

"It's good to see that Bombur knows how to use his weight to his advantage." Pyrrha said with a somewhat bewildered smile. "Even if it is a bit silly to watch."

"Hey. If you try hard enough, anything can be a weapon." Yang stated with a finger raised.

"Apparently the Goblin King knows a lot about the eleven swords." Ozpin regarded. "He may be more knowledgeable than he seems at first glance."

"That's not going to help him much if he can't back up his knowledge with a strategy for it." Ironwood stated as he crossed his arms.

____________________________

Angered, the Goblin King went in to fight the dwarves as well, attempting to attack James from behind.

"James!" Nori called out to James as he handed the dwarven prince Orcrist.

Taking up the sword, James turned to meet the Goblin King's attack, parrying with such strength that he sent the goblin tumbling back off his balance; falling off the edge of his throne room.

____________________________

"Damn. Nice block." Qrow complimented the dwarven prince.

"Bye bye, you fat, ugly blob." Emerald waved to the screen as the Goblin King fell.

"That was underwhelming easy on the dwarve's part." Cinder said. "In the end, the Goblin King was all talk and no show."

"With how big the Goblin King is, that's going to be one devastating landing." Port commented.

"Now that the Goblin King is out of play, the rest will be without direction." Ironwood said. "The downside to this is that the goblins will undoubtedly act more sporadic while throwing their bodies against the Company."

____________________________

One by one, the dwarves hammered and sliced at the goblins. Ozpin had sliced his sword across the neck of an attacking goblin brute. The brute stood still after the attack, a worried look to his face as he glanced down at his neck.

____________________________

"Eh?" Nora raised her brow in confusion.

"Odd. Given the angle of that strike, that goblin's head should have fallen off." Penny said as she gave the sight a curious glance.

"Just give it a moment." Ozpin said with a knowing glint in his eyes.

____________________________

"Ah." Ozpin said as he gently knocked on the goblin brute's head, causing it fall off of the brute's shoulders before the body fallowed suite.

____________________________

"Pfft! Okay then." Yang chuckled a bit alongside Nora as the goblin brute's head popped off.

"All it needed was little nudge." Ozpin said.

"The look that goblin made." Qrow shook his head with a humored smile. "He thought if he stood still that he wouldn't loose his head."

"I have to wonder what it felt for him in that moment. Feeling your head disconnect from the rest of your body, but still remaining on your shoulders." Oobleck remarked. "That would have to border on the line of cruel and unusual."

____________________________

Once enough goblins had been cleared, Ozpin motioned over to the dwarves. "Follow me. Quick! Run!"

It was now that the dwarves began to make their escape, following Ozpin as he lead them through Goblin Town.

Back with Roman, he was still on the run from Gollum, sliding between narrow cave passageways and panting. Roman had gotten to an opening through the path, pausing to look around for the next direction. But an echoing groan and grumble from Gollum told Roman that he had to hurry up.

"Give it to us!" Gollum echoed to Roman, still groaning as he chased the hobbit.

____________________________

"Oh, back to this already." Roman commented.

"Boo. I want to see dwarves fight goblins." Mercury complained with a bland expression.

"Yeah, I feel a bit betrayed here." Nora said in a dejected tone.

____________________________

Roman had looked back to see that Gollum was getting closer. And so, without many options, Roman attempted to squeeze his way through a tight and narrow opening. But in doing so, the hobbit found himself stuck as he strained to pass through it.

____________________________

"Are you serious, right now?" Roman exclaimed with widened eyes. "You're not even fat. How are you stuck!"

'He needs a better diet plan.' Neo signed.

"Is that the only other path he could find?" Weiss asked. "Are there not any larger paths for him to take?"

"If Torchwick's counterpart can make it through that crevice, he should be able to separate some more room between himself and Gollum." Blake said. "Though given how scrawny Gollum is, he might have an easier time going through it than Torchwick currently has."

____________________________

With a worried look, Roman watched as Gollum backed up, spotting the stuck hobbit; snarling at him.

"Raah!" Gollum shouted as he moved closer to the crevice Roman desperately tried to pass through. "It's ours. It's ours!"

____________________________

"The old monster backing up routine." Jaune remarked. "One of the unluckiest things that can happen to someone in a horror movie."

"Come on. Come on. Suck your gut in, or something." Roman told his counterpart.

____________________________

Pushing with all his might, Roman eventually got through the narrowing opening, at the cost of several of his shirt buttons popping off. A few of the buttons flew against Gollum's face, who was shocked at Roman actually getting passed the crevice. But that shock quickly returned to anger as he groaned out.

____________________________

"He was stuck because of the buttons on his shirt?" Sienna raised her brow at this.

"Are you kidding me?" Roman asked with the same level of befuddlement. "What, we're they half an inch too thick or something?"

"At least you got through the crevice." Ruby tried to point out the positive to the criminal.

"I shouldn't have gotten stuck in it to begin with." Roman argued back.

____________________________

As for Roman, once he had finally gotten all the way through the crevice, he tripped and fell on his back with a grunt. But during that process, the ring had flung from his hand, twirling in the air. As the ring fell back down to Roman, he attempted to grab it, only for it to perfectly slide down onto his middle finger. But the moment the ring was on his finger, Roman immediately vanished.

____________________________

It was here, at this very moment, that everyone in the audience widened their eyes in shock and awe. All of them were bewildered into silence at what they had just seen transpire, for none had expected for Roman's hobbit counterpart to disappear the moment the ring fell onto his finger.

"...Come again?" Roman asked in a quiet voice, completely dumbfounded.

____________________________

Gollum shrieked as he too made his way through the crevice, only to find Roman was nowhere to be found.

But in truth, Roman had not left the area. In fact, he had huddle himself into a corner upon Gollum's arrival. But something was off. The world around him was different. Everything was greyed, hazy, and slightly slower than it once was.

____________________________

"Just what kind of ring did Torchwick find?" Cinder asked, her eyes gleaming with intrigue.

"I've turned invisible. This is... this is the best thing a thief could ask for." Roman said in awe. "So how come the other me gets the ring, and I don't?"

"I can get away with a lot of things with my semblance." Emerald thought to herself. "But this ring... I wouldn't have to stress my semblance too hard when doing things for Cinder. Pick-pocketing would be even easier than I could have ever imagined."

"There's no way Gollum will be able to find Torchwick now." Sienna stated, impressed with what she was seeing. "Now we know why Gollum was going to reach for that ring in the first place."

"Being able to sneak behind your enemies without the risk of being spotted." Winter remarked. "Who wouldn't desire that kind of power?"

"It would certainly present a massive tactical advantage." Ironwood mused. "Especially if the ring's ability could be replicated."

"Eh, it's cool and all, but I don't think turning invisible is for me." Yang shrugged a bit. "I'm more of a face to face kind of gal. Blake would probably like it though."

"Maybe... being able to turn invisible does defeat the purpose of most stealth training, though." Blake said as she weighed the pros and cons of the ring's ability. "I wouldn't want the ring to make me lazy."

"I can understand that." Pyrrha agreed with the cat Faunus. "Being able to turn invisible defeats the purpose of a lot of skill-based training. A huntsmen or huntress would have to ensure they keep up their training and not rely solely on the ring."

"I'm a little more worried about that ring than excited." Ruby said as she looked to the screen with an wary glance. "It's one thing to turn invisible but... why is everything so grey and wispy for hobbit-Roman?"

"Yes. I wish to desire the explanation for that as well." Ozpin stated as he looked back to Vortech.

"Simply put, Roman's hobbit counterpart isn't so much invisible as he is in plane of existence." Vortech explained. "What you all see before you is a world so few can ever glimpse upon. The wraith world. A place between the land of the living and the dead. A void that is, on a more natural scale, usually only seen by those who are banished from death."

"That description definitely makes the ring a lot less appealing." Qrow said before taking a swing from his flask.

"And yet all the more informative." Oobleck added as he wrote down Vortech's words in his notes.

"Wait... that doesn't mean I'm gonna end up running into ghosts by having that ring on, am I?" Roman asked in concern.

"There is only one group that has sight into the wraith world." Vortech stated. "One of them, you all have seen. Back when Bartholomew the Brown first ventured into Dol Guldur."

Thinking back on the visage of the wraith, Roman felt a cold and hollow chill run down his spine as the wraith's scream quietly echoed in his mind.

____________________________

"Thief! Torchwick!" Gollum cursed out to the hobbit.

____________________________

"Guilty as charged." Roman replied to Gollum. However, his tone was offset as the criminal was still getting over the resurging thought of the wraith.

____________________________

Roman then watched in bewilderment as Gollum failed to realize his presence. Even more so when Gollum left the area to search for Roman further ahead, despite the hobbit now behind him.

Meanwhile, Ozpin continued to lead the dwarves through the goblin tunnels, passing over bridges and balconies.

"Make way!" The wizard shouted.

"Faster!" Dwalin yelled as the goblin horde chased after the Company, flooding in from the walls and ceilings behind them.

____________________________

"And thus the flood gates open." Port declared.

"There are just so many of them." Jaune said with jaw agape.

"It's a big mountain. Those goblins would have had plenty of time to multiply and spread." Ren stated.

"I don't even want to think what that would look like." Weiss balked at the thought.

____________________________

With many of their paths soon becoming blocked, the Company broke into two groups. One led by Ozpin, and the second led by Dwalin.

Some of the goblins came attempted to ambush the second group, only to be met by Dwalin's hammer. The grizzly dwarf looked up ahead to see that a multitude of goblins were scrambling towards the dwarves from a bridge in front of them.

"Post!" Dwalin shouted as he, Nori, and Fili grabbed onto a long, wooden post.

Dwalin gave out a mighty yell as he, Nori, and Fili used the post to knock away the oncoming goblins left and right, sending them all falling to their deaths.

____________________________

"Now this is the kind of action I like to see." Nora said in excitement. "Sweep 'em off their feet, guys!"

"Remember this, students. Never attack an enemy with greater numbers, never attack them in a line." Glynda advised the students in the audience. "Otherwise you'll end up just like those goblins."

"You don't need to tell me that twice." Jaune replied.

"Using the post was some very great and quick thinking on Dwalin's part." Pyrrha complimented the rugged dwarf. "And it's good to the see that the dwarves have excellent synergy in battle too."

____________________________

Once the path was clear, the dwarves released their hold on the post and continued onwards, fighting back against any other goblins ahead of them while Ozpin's group traveled above as they too fended off against oncoming goblins.

Soon enough, the two groups reunited as they made their way across a narrow bridge. One their way across it, one goblin tried attack the group, only to be knocked down by Gloin. The goblin let out a scream as he fell, crashing down onto a bridge below Ozpin and the dwarves; breaking it and sending many more of his fellow goblins down to caverns below with him.

____________________________

"A multi-kill for the price of one." Yang gave a laugh as she clapped her hands.

"You go, Gloin!" Nora cheered the ginger bearded dwarf.

"Those are some very unstable bridges, it seems." Weiss added with a concerned frown. "If the Company uses that to their advantage, they will get rid of more goblins on their way out than they could from normal combat. But that can also be a tactic the goblins can try and use as well."

"Hopefully the goblins won't be smart enough to try and break any bridges the Company is on, then." Ruby said to her partner.

____________________________

Once they had gotten to a more stable platform, some of the dwarves paused to fight off some of the goblins. James sliced several down in a large arc while Balin held his own, cutting down goblins one by one. One goblin attempted to attack Balin with a bow and arrow, only to be immediately killed by James. Bofur and Nori fought as well with the former bashing his pick axe into a goblin while Nori stabbed another with a blade. Even Ori fought back as he slammed a hammer against the back of a lunging goblin's head.

____________________________

"The Company is just mowing through these guys." Jaune said in awe.

"Even Ori's getting in on the action." Yang said with an impressed look.

"For an old dwarf, Balin sure has a lot of spring left in him." Qrow remarked. "Goes to show even if you grow old you can still work to be strong."

"His skill almost reminds me of myself in a way." Port said as he stroked his mustache.

"Nah. You're beefier. Balin's quicker." Qrow retorted to Port, who frowned back in response.

____________________________

James continued to cut through goblins, running Orcrist through their guts and decapitating them. He even skewered two goblins through their chests all in one strike before punching them to the side.

____________________________

"Who's up for goblin shish-kabob?" Tai joked.

"I'm starting to think I should practice more with a sword." Ironwood said with a hand to his chin, observing his counterpart fight. "If I can master that with how I wield my gun, I can cover better offense and defense."

____________________________

With Oin, he repeatedly swung his staff out in a circular motion, swiftly knocking down any oncoming goblins.

____________________________

"That's just embarrassing on the goblins part." Ilia commented with a humored look.

"I've seen what a staff can do in a fight, thanks to Sun." Blake said. "They can be effective long range weapons."

"There's joke about knocking and staffs I'm trying to find here, but I'm just too distracted by all the action going on." Yang said as her eyes were glued to the screen.

"That's a good thing." Weiss muttered between herself and Ruby.

____________________________

But things were about to get more difficult as multiple goblins began to swing in on ropes from an adjacent platform.

____________________________

"Goblin monkey formation coming in at three o'clock!" Nora shouted.

"That's not an actual formation, Miss Valkyrie, but I can see how you would think that." Glynda replied to Nora.

____________________________

"Cut the ropes!" James ordered his men. In doing so, he, Nori, and Dori cut the ropes that attached a balcony up the platform beside them.

Once the ropes had all been cut, the balcony began to fall over, catching the swinging goblins along with it as they quickly became entangled.

____________________________

"That has to be the swiftest counter measure against an ambush I've ever seen." Sienna complimented to the dwarven prince. "This version of Ironwood knows how to think in the moment."

"It's been a while since I've experienced combat on the front lines." Ironwood remarked. "A downside of being both a general, a council member, and a headmaster."

"And yet Atlas couldn't have asked for a better leader." Winter replied to Ironwood.

"Thank you, Winter. Though I must admit, I do miss the rush of action sometimes." Ironwood admitted.

____________________________

Several goblin archers then came in as they fired arrow after arrow at Kili, to narrowly dodged a few of them by blocking them away with his sword. Having had enough of the archers, Kili grabbed onto a nearby ladder, and with the help of some of his fellow dwarves, he slammed the ladder onto the oncoming goblins, catching all of their heads between the rungs.

____________________________

"Ooh, I wanna do a ladder attack." Nora said with stars in her eyes. "We should do that whenever we fight bad guys."

"Nora, that's purely a situational attack strategy." Pyrrha told her teammate. "It's not like you can just carry around a ladder, waiting for the right moment to use it in a fight."

"Pyrrha, I go through many great lengths to achieve my goals." Nora replied back. "If I've gotta carry a ladder around until there's another fight, than so be it."

Pyrrha held a concerned look before her attention was grabbed by Ren.

"You have to admit that Nora can be really tenacious." He said to her.

____________________________

Kili and several of the dwarves then pushed the trapped goblins forward as the nasty beats tried to claw their way out. But before they could, they were all pushed off a gap between a bridge, falling down from the spaces of the ladder as the dwarves then used it to fill said gap.

"Come on. Quickly!" Ozpin said to Kili and the other dwarves as he and Dwalin joined up with them.

They dwarves and Ozpin went back to running once more, though not before Fili kicked the ladder off of the gap, preventing other goblins from following them.

____________________________

"They used the ladder to get past the first wave of goblins. They then used it as a bridge. And then they kicked it away to block off more goblins." Tai listed off. "Yep. That's officially three birds with one stone. Or ladder, in this case."

"It seems the dwarves combative ingenuity is just as admirable as their forging and craftsmanship." Winter said, looking to the dwarves with respect.

____________________________

Ozpin and the dwarves continued to slash and hack their way through the attacking goblins until they came upon a bridge with an even larger gap. Thinking on his feet, James swiftly cut one of the ropes that connected the the Company's side of the bridge to the rest of the structure behind it. The result was that Ozpin and the dwarves were now swinging on a bridge, though they were now able to get over to the other side.

____________________________

"Hohoho! This battle is absolutely wild." Roman chuckled in astonishment.

'I wanna be on a giant swing.' Neo signed with a frown of jealousy.

"By this rate, the Company is going to end up destroying Goblin Town before they escape it." Jaune remarked in awe.

"I need something like this as a one of those 3D roller coasters." Yang stated. "It would be so awesome."

"You can say that again, sister." Nora eagerly agreed with Yang.

____________________________

"Jump!" James shouted to his kin as several of them were able to jump off the swinging bridge, and onto the other side.

But there was no time for the rest to join them as the bridge began to swing back towards the goblins. The moment it did, some of the goblins hopped onto the bridge and battle with the dwarves and Ozpin as they were now swinging back to the other side.

____________________________

"That is unfortunate." Ilia frowned.

"What goes around, comes back around." Blake said with a small wince.

"Hey, no free-loaders!" Nora shouted at the goblins. "Get your own swinging platform!"

____________________________

"Jump!" Balin shouted to everyone.

This time, Ozpin and the rest of the dwarves were able to make it off the swinging bridge. Though during this course of action, James cut another rope on the bridge, causing it to fall with the goblins that remained upon it; all of whom screamed as they plummeted to their deaths.

____________________________

'Enjoy your last destination.' Neo signed to the goblins with a smile.

____________________________

Ozpin and the dwarves ran as fast as they could as hundreds and hundreds of goblins pursued. All of them fended off what goblins lunged and attack them. Several goblins had jumped onto Bofur, who had gone on his own. The large, fat dwarf did his best to shake them off before deciding to jump and slam himself onto the bridge, crashing through it and taking down many other goblins in the process.

____________________________

"Wooh! An earthquake attack." Qrow exclaimed at the sight. "Man. Port, you should be able to do that, right?"

"Oh, that is just hilarious." Port rolled his eyes at Qrow in a droll tone.

"That is one heavy dwarf." Emerald remarked with wide eyes.

"That was... an interesting tactic." Cinder said while giving the screen an odd look. "It certainly brings a new light to accomplishing a cannon ball dive."

"Is Bombur gonna be okay?" Ruby asked in worry.

"He'll be fine." Nora assured Ruby with a wave of her hand. "Bombur may be fat, but that's one hundred percent dwarven fat right there."

____________________________

Eventually everyone had gotten to stone path in the goblin tunnels. Using his staff, Ozpin cast a spell upon the rocky ceiling, causing it to crack as a large boulder fell down; rolling down the sloped path.

"Push!" Dwalin shouted as he and some of the dwarves pushed against the boulder, increasing its speed as it began to crush any goblins in its path before rolling off at a curving turn.

____________________________

"I mean, damn. That wizard staff sure comes in handy a lot." Qrow said with an impressed look.

"My old one was a lot more effective, but I do understand Qrow's sentiment." Ozpin thought to himself.

"It was effective. But it was also gross." Weiss said as she winced at the scene in disgust.

"When did you get squeamish at death, all of a sudden?" Yang asked Weiss.

"It is not about the death. I just can not stand squelching sounds such as those." Weiss pointed at the screen. "They are just too revolting for me to listen to."

"You kidding? That's the best version of bowling I've ever seen." Mercury said with a small smirk.

"You have a very skewered look on fun." Weiss raised her brow at Mercury.

"Believe me, you haven't seen the half of it. I tried to have him traded. But we got stuck with Mercury." Emerald said in return.

"We don't need to have another talk about this, do we Emerald?" Cinder quietly questioned the mint-haired girl.

"N-no. No. I was just explaining something is all." Emerald answered Cinder with a fearful glint in her eyes.

____________________________

Through endless hordes of goblins, Ozpin and the dwarves continued to fight. Never relenting, never giving in; determined to make their way out of the mountain.

The Company soon came upon a large bridge that would lead to an exit from the tunnels. But before they could pas s through it, the Goblin King suddenly broke up through the edge of the bridge, halting their escape.

____________________________

"Oh, great. The Goblin King's back." Nora rolled her eyes.

"What?!" Emerald exclaimed with an almost angered look. "That disgusting ball of puss is still alive?"

"How did he even get there so quietly?" Weiss asked in absolute confusion. "Or quickly, for that matter?"

"It's always the vermin of the world that prove most difficult to keep dead." Winter said in blatant revulsion towards the Goblin King.

"Maybe he grabbed a rock before he fell all the way down and started swinging." Yang suggested.

"Even then, that should have made some form of recognizable noise." Penny pointed out. "How was someone so large able to sneak his way ahead to cut off the Company?"

"Sometimes there are questions that are just never going to be answered." Ren said.

____________________________

The Goblin King growled with a smile as Ozpin and the dwarves were stuck between him and his goblin army.

"You thought you could escape me." The Goblin King said as he slammed his staff before Ozpin and swiping it at him; the wizard having jumped back from both attacks. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"

____________________________

In response to this, Ozpin raised his brow at the Goblin King; bearing an unamused expression. "If you thought about what you said for even a second, your "great protuberance", you would have realized you answered your own question the moment you uttered wizard."

____________________________

With a grimace, Ozpin swiftly lunged forward and jammed the head of his staff at the Goblin King's eye.

"Ohh!" The Goblin King shouted in pain, bringing his left hand up to cover his eye as he dropped his staff in the process.

____________________________

"Wow. Haha! That has to be the prettiest move I've ever seen Ozpin use." Qrow laughed. "And I'm all for it."

"While I'm not an advocate of dirty tactics, the Goblin King did deserve it." Port said.

"I never thought I needed to see Professor Ozpin poke someone in the eye. But here we are." Yang said with a chuckle.

"If it works, it works." Jaune shrugged.

____________________________

But immediately after that, Ozpin swung Glamdring at the Goblin King's stomach, slashing open a large wound in his fat belly.

"Ow!" The Goblin King screamed as he fell to his knees, covering his new wound with his hand.

____________________________

"Ooh! There's no getting back from that." Nora winced with a small grin.

"At least the king of fugly wasn't alive for too long." Emerald said with a small hint of relief.

"I'll be happy when the wizard goes in for the killing strike." Cinder firmly stated.

____________________________

Ozpin stood back for a moment as the Goblin King thought on what just happened.

"That'll do it." The Goblin King accepted his own defeat with a casual tone.

____________________________

"Huh. That has to be the most casual acceptance of death anyone could come to." Sienna tilted her head with a raised brow.

"It's a lot more unique than a villain whining in their defeat or cursing their killer before they die." Blake added in her knowledge. "Simple, but unique."

"There really isn't much else for the Goblin King to say." Yang added. "He played himself, thinking he could take on wizard-Ozpin and he took the punishment for it."

____________________________

Ozpin then sliced Glamdring across the Goblin King's throat, killing him once and for all. The bulbous corpse of the Goblin King fell down with a great thud, shaking the structure of the crudely built bridge.

After a moment of the bridge creaking, the part where Ozpin and the dwarves stood upon broke off and descended down into the lower caverns.

____________________________

"This should certainly be fun for them." Glynda dryly remarked.

"Oh, of all the rotten luck!" Nora complained. "Can't the dwarves just catch a break?"

"I used to ask myself that question every day." Qrow muttered before drinking once more.

"That certainly wasn't apart of the plan." Ozpin frowned as his counterpart and the dwarves fell down into the caverns.

"The Goblin King's corpse just had to fall face first. It couldn't have just fallen to the side." Ironwood shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Even when dead, the Goblin King stills screws with the dwarves." Yang irritably said.

"I hope they're all ready for a really bumpy ride." Ruby flinched as the Company fell.

____________________________

All screamed as the falling bridged crashed down on many goblin structures, destroying each of them during the Company's descent. Ozpin and the dwarves did their best to hold on for dear life as the got closer to the bottom; eventually sliding down a wedging crevice that slowed their crash.

All of the dwarves groaned as they were stuck in the debris of the fallen bridge, with planks and support beams knocking against a few of their heads.

Ozpin gave a groan as he got up, having landed away from most of the debris. Dirt and planks fell off his back as he tried to ground his footing.

____________________________

"That was probably about as happy of a landing the Company could have hoped for in this situation." Glynda commented as she let out a relived sigh.

"At least everyone seems all right." Ruby sighed in relief as well.

"They probably have a couple of bruises and crushed ribs, but sure. They're all right." Ilia gave Ruby a deadpanned expression.

"Well... you know... as in everyone seems alive." Ruby meekly corrected herself.

____________________________

"Well, that coulda been worse." Bofur remarked as to everyone.

____________________________

"Oh, Bofur." Ironwood groaned into the palm of his hand.

"You had to say it. You really just had to say it." Roman shook his head in disappointment.

"And... three... two... one." Mercury began to count down for the inevitable.

____________________________

But not a moment sooner, the corpse of the Goblin King came crashing down upon the dwarves and the debris, adding even further weight to their predicament.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin angrily shouted as he and the others dwarves groaned from the sudden weight of the Goblin King.

____________________________

Everyone in the audience immediately winced or flinched the moment the Goblin King's corpse fell upon the already entrapped dwarves

"Oh—! Son of a bitch!" Roman shouted as he cringed at the sight. "That was even more unlucky than then all of them falling."

Neo held a disturbed frown as her sign showed a skull and crossbones upon it.

"...Ouch." Ironwood winced.

"Agreed." Sienna shared a similar sentiment.

"There's an easy way to end up with broken legs." Pietro said as he gave stage dwarves a sympathetic look.

"Bofur, why?!" Nora shouted.

"So glad I'm not them right now." Emerald muttered to herself.

"I actually feel the smallest amount of remorse of these dwarves." Cinder thought to herself.

"That... that is just fate being evil." Tai stated with a perturbed expression.

"Which is exactly why you never tempt it." Qrow retorted as even he flinched at the enormous corpse falling upon the dwarves.

"If I were Dwalin, I would smack Bofur's head the moment I got out of that mess." Glynda stated.

"Despite my condolences to the dwarves, I am happy my counterpart didn't have to experience that." Ozpin thought with an uneven frown.

"What's worse is that I can try and imagine how bad it must of felt for the Goblin King to fall on the Company like that." Yang shook her head with an almost horrified look.

"Don't put that in my head." Jaune complained to Yang.

"I hope the dwarves will still be able to make it out of the rubble." Pyrrha said in concern.

"At least all of the wood helped to cushion the blow a bit." Ruby said with an unsure tone, trying to point out the silver lining.

"Ruby?" Weiss spoke up.

"Yes, Weiss?" Ruby asked back.

"You're not helping." The heiress bluntly told her partner.

"Yeah... I kind of figured." Ruby dejectedly replied.

____________________________

As the dwarves struggled their way out of the debris, Kili looked up, widening his eyes at the sight he saw.

"Ozpin!" Kili shouted to the wizard with worry in his tone.

Above of them all was the entirety of the goblin hordes. They all crawled down to the dwarves and Ozpin like an army of cockroaches.

____________________________

"No rest for the weary, eh?" Tai asked.

"They're coming down like cockroaches." Port commented.

"Blegh! There's another thought I don't like envisioning." Yang shivered in disgust.

____________________________

Ozpin widened his eyes at the sight of this as well as the dwarves began helping each other up.

"There's too many. We can't fight them." Dwalin said to Ozpin as he helped up Nori.

"Only one thing will save us." Ozpin told the dwarves. "Daylight! Come on."

Nodding to this, Dwalin and the dwarves began to get their bearings together as ran once more.

____________________________

"How's daylight gonna stop all of that?" Roman asked.

"Perhaps it's an exploitive tactic of how the goblins are cave dwellers." Penny pointed out. "A species that only lives in caves would most likely be nocturnal. They wouldn't desire to step foot out under the sun."

"That, and it irritates their skin to no end." Vortech added on. "Some creatures that are born of darkness can only remain in darkness."

____________________________

"Here! On your feet!" Ozpin said as helped Oin and Balin out of the rubble.

The viewing went back to Gollum, who was in the middle of the path that led to an exit from the mountain; daylight just ahead as it turned to dusk.

____________________________

"Hold on, how long was the Company in that mountain for?" Weiss asked, shocked that it was already dusk.

"They must have spent a longer time moving through the mountains right before that thunder battle began." Ren said.

"Not to mention we can't truly account for how long the dwarves and Professor Ozpin's counterpart were fighting off the goblin hordes." Pyrrha then said.

____________________________

"Aah!" Gollum shouted as he cried out. "Wait! My Precious! Wait! Gollum, Gollum!"

Still in the wraith world, Roman carefully move behind Gollum, his blade at the ready.

However, as Gollum continued to sulk, he began hearing the sound of numerous footsteps getting closer to him. Widening his eyes, Gollum ducked behind a nearby rock.

"Quick, quick!" Ozpin shouted, his voice distorted to Roman by the wraith world. "Quickly!"

Hearing Ozpin's voice, Roman soon watched as the wizard led the dwarves out of the cave. Gasping in relief, Roman tried to raise his hand to get their attention. But he only sighed upon realizing that no one could see him, much to Roman's disappointment. And so, Ozpin and the dwarves escape through the exit without knowing Roman was there.

____________________________

"What the heck was that?" Nora asked in confusion. "Just take the ring off your finger and join back with the Company."

"Maybe Torchwick's hobbit counterpart is uncertain if he should continue with the Company." Blake suggested. "Let's not forget the conversation he had with Bofur right before all of this happened."

"Don't remind me." Roman muttered to himself as he looked away with a guilty glint in his eyes.

"Regardless, it's too late now. If Torchwick takes off the ring, Gollum will see him." Weiss pointed out.

____________________________

Left alone with Gollum, Roman stalked up behind him, nearing his sword to Gollum's neck.

____________________________

"Well, Ice Queen junior, maybe Gollum won't be a problem for much longer." Roman said to Weiss as his eyes focused back on the screen. "Maybe this will make me happy for a bit."

____________________________

But just as Roman prepared to decapitate the ghastly creature, Gollum turned around with a sorrow-filled look. This had halted Roman's initial strike, but the hobbit just as soon aimed his bland near Gollum's neck. But as Roman stared at Gollum, a creature he intended to kill, he saw not the wicked persona that had tried to kill him earlier. Instead, Roman saw nothing but sadness in Gollum's eyes. In that moment, Roman felt something come over him, a feeling of pity for Gollum as he lowered his sword from the creature's neck.

____________________________

"Wha-wait. Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing?" Roman asked, baffled by his counterpart. "He's right there. Gollum wouldn't see it coming. Why won't you kill him?!"

"Did you not see how sad Gollum looked?" Ruby asked Roman. "It's called feeling sorry."

"I shouldn't need to feel sorry for a psycho like him. He tried to kill me, remember?!" Roman shouted back.

"Yeah, but it's like wizard-Ozpin said." Ruby retorted in return. "True courage is about sparing a life. Not taking one."

"Who cares about that? He needs to die!" Roman firmly held his point.

"Why though? All your counterpart has to do is escape unseen by Gollum. After that, he'll have lost you." Ruby spoke her thoughts. "What's killing Gollum right here and now going to do to make a difference? It would just be a needless death."

"No. It's a heavily warranted death." Roman replied.

"Well I don't think that it is. And your counterpart doesn't think so either." Ruby gave her own, firm response.

"Way to go, sis." Yang complimented Ruby as she wrapped her arm around her little sister. "That's how you stick the landing in an argument."

"Stop. I don't need praise." Ruby said as she tried to tried to get Yang's arm off of her. "Normal knees, remember?"

"I don't know about that, Ruby." Tai spoke to his daughter. "I thought that was a pretty good speech."

Ruby grew a blush of embarrassment to this as she tried to hide her face behind her hood.

However, after hearing Ruby's argument with Roman, Cinder couldn't help but give an inward eye roll. "You naive child. If you knew the kind of person this Gollum was in our world, you would have agreed he needed to die."

____________________________

Sighing through his nostrils, Roman stepped back a bit, his bare feet emitting a small sound against the stone floor. But that was all Gollum needed to hear for an angry and hateful look to grow on his face.

Roman proceeded to run and hop over Gollum, knocking the creature down.

"Ahh!" Gollum grunted as he attempted to grab onto the fleeing hobbit, only to fail miserably.

____________________________

"At least I get to kick him in the head as one last "fuck you"." Roman muttered as he crossed his arms.

____________________________

Left by himself, Gollum groaned in anger as he shifted around in a shaken state.

"Torchwick!" Gollum shouted out Roman's name. "Thief! Curse it and crush it! We hates it forever!"

____________________________

"If keeping him alive screws me down the line, I'm gonna hold this over your head, Red." Roman said to Ruby. "And believe you, me. I can be very vindictive."

"I'm just the person explaining why your counterpart didn't kill Gollum. It's not like I could make an actual choice on whether your counterpart killed Gollum or not." Ruby replied to him. "That was all hobbit-you."

'She's not wrong.' Neo signed to her boss.

"Then I'll hold it over her head and the other me's head." Roman replied to his mute partner.

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Now outside of the mountain, Roman ran as fast as he could in order to catch up to the rest of the Company; traveling through the green, tree covered slope of the mountain side.

Speaking of Ozpin and the dwarves, they had ran far away from the entrance to the mountain. But eventually, they came upon a suitable resting place in order to regain some of their lost energy they had spent in the escape.

"Five, six, seven, eight." Ozpin counted the dwarves. "Bifur, Bofur. That's ten. Fili, Kili! That's twelve. And Bombur that makes thirteen."

However, it was there that Ozpin noted a crucial issue from the headcount.

"Where's Roman?" Ozpin asked the dwarves. "Where is our hobbit?"

____________________________

"Asking the important questions here." Roman pointed his hand at the screen.

____________________________

But the dwarves had no answer, for they too had only just noticed Roman was missing.

"Where is our hobbit?!" Ozpin shouted this time.

"Curse that halflimg! Now he's lost?" Gloin exclaimed as the rest of dwarves looked around each other to notice that Roman wasn't with them. "I thought he was with Dori!"

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"What?! You schmucks didn't even realize I was missing?!" Roman shouted in anger.

"I mean... to be fair a lot was going on." Nora said in the dwarves' defense.

"Like hell that's an excuse." Roman retorted. "It's not like I'm that much shorter than them. I know Nori saw me get left behind, but the others didn't even know I was gone?"

"There's not much that can be done about it now." Ironwood said. "What happened, happened. The only thing that will fix it is when your counterpart regroups with the Company."

____________________________

But ironically, Roman had finally caught up to the Company, stopping to see the dwarves shouting about his disappearance.

"Don't blame me!" Dori shouted back to Gloin.

"Well, where did you last see him?" Ozpin looked down to the grey haired dwarf.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us." Nori spoke up, getting Ozpin's attention.

"Then what happened, exactly?" Ozpin asked, all the while Roman continued to watch with tired expression. "Tell me!"

"I'll tell you what happened." James stated, a cross look to in his eyes. "Master Torchwick saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he first stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again."

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Hearing this, Ironwood sighed as he lowered his head, still disappointed over his counterpart's disregard for the hobbit.

"This won't go well." Ruby muttered, knowing full well how Roman would react to this.

"Why does the Company have to have so much drama?" Nora quietly complained.

"I swear. I am tired of this Iron-dick head's shit." Roman spewed out. "What is his damage with me?! Every time! From when we first met. To the trolls. To the stone giants! What did I do to piss him off?!"

"Now hold on. James's counterpart isn't entirely at fault for his thinking here." Glynda stated.

"I know you're not trying excuse this." Roman narrowed his eyes at the combat teacher.

"I'm not excusing it. But this time, your counterpart has some blame in this." Glynda sternly replied to the criminal. "Did you forget that James's counterpart was awake to hear the conversation your counterpart had with Bofur? You said that you didn't belong among the dwarves. That you missed your home. And above all, you ended up saying the dwarves don't belong anywhere. The previous times James's counterpart belittled your's was uncalled for, but after hearing what you said, what else was James meant to think the moment you end up disappearing from the group?"

Roman had looked like he wanted to argue back against Glynda, but a small part of him had focused on her words. And little by little, they weighed in his mind. And despite the anger that he felt, Roman stayed silent, choosing to set his sights back on the viewing screen.

____________________________

Hearing these words come out of James's mouth, Roman looked away in regret, recalling the words he shared with Bofur before they had all fallen down to Goblin Town. The ginger hobbit then leaned behind a tree, weighing the dwarven princes's words in his mind before glancing back at the Company.

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"This is going to cause tension within Torchwick's counterpart." Pyrrha said with saddened look. "Despite the harshness in the General's words, he knows everything that was said is true."

"And now he's going to decide if he should stick with the Company, or to keep the ring on and return to the Shire." Blake continued Pyrrha's line of thought.

"Yeah, but Torchwick's obviously going to join back with the Company." Nora then said. "He said at the beginning he hadn't told Ruby about all of his adventures."

"But that doesn't mean he stays around until the end." Weiss told her. "All we know is that Torchwick's counterpart lived to tell his tale."

"Can you quit being a nay-sayer for five minutes?" Nora asked Weiss.

"I am just saying what might occur based of Torchwick's decision." Weiss replied.

"But older hobbit-Roman said Ozpin wouldn't miss his birthday for the world." Ruby pointed out. "I don't think wizard-Ozpin would still go to Roman's birthday party if he backed out of the Company."

"How about we all just watch and see what happens." Yang suggested, halting any more discussion from continuing. "The longer we talk, the longer we put off the answer."

____________________________

"He is long gone." James affirmed, causing the dwarves to share uncertain looks with each other.

Continuing to think behind the tree, Roman thought about his options. He could finally go home. Back to the Shire. Back to Torch-End. No longer would he have to risk his life. But then his thoughts lingered to the Company. The plight of the dwarves. The journey they had all shared in together. It wasn't something so easily thrown away. Without wasting another moment hiding, Roman made his choice.

"No. He isn't." Roman called out, making his presence known to all as he suddenly appeared behind James and Balin; the ring no longer on his finger.

____________________________

"There we go. Answer found." Yang stated as she motioned to the viewing screen.

"Finally. The Company is all back in one piece." Nora sighed in relief.

"But he could have left then and there. No one would have known." Ilia said with a confused look. "Why did he choose to stay."

"Maybe it's for a chance to prove himself." Blake said.

"Or maybe, he just want to genuinely help the dwarves." Ruby added.

"It's good to see my counterpart didn't drive Torchwick off." Ironwood smiled a bit before raising his brow. "There's something I thought I would never hear come out of my mouth. It honestly feels strange."

"It feels strange for me just to hear you say it." Roman told the general with an odd expression.

____________________________

Most of the dwarves gasped in surprise upon seeing Roman, some of them even smiling in relief.

"Roman Torchwick." Ozpin happily chuckled. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life."

____________________________

"That's even stranger for me to hear." Roman said as his face became even more flabbergasted.

"That's just how friends are, Roman." Ozpin said to the criminal.

"You're telling me you're not weirded out about this?" Roman asked Ozpin. "Given our lines of work on Remnant, we're automatically enemies."

"True. But a good friendship is a good friendship." Ozpin replied. "No matter who that friendship is made up of."

____________________________

Roman smiled in returned as he walked up to Ozpin, patting a relieved Balin's shoulder along the way.

"Roman. We'd given you up." Kili said with a surprised smile.

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked.

____________________________

"Well, ain't that tale." Qrow chuckled a bit.

"They're out in daylight now, so there's plenty of time to tell it." Tai said.

"The dwarves and Ozpin may just find the tale of Roman and Gollum even more peculiar than what they themselves went through with the goblins." Oobleck remarked.

"Though the dwarves and Ozpin clearly have the more invigorating experience." Port boisterously stated.

____________________________

"How, indeed." Dwalin said as he and James stated at Roman.

Roman glanced between Ozpin, Fili, and Dwalin before giving a nervous chuckle. He rested his hands in his shirt pockets, stealthily hiding away the ring inside the right one. But the golden shine of it did no escape the sharp eye of Ozpin the Grey.

____________________________

"Wait... is he not gonna tell them?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Why would Mr. Torchwick not inform the Company about the ring and Gollum?" Penny asked. "Would it not prove beneficial to inform them of a magical item that may just make their journey easier?"

"Maybe I just don't want anyone to know about my ring in case they get any bright ideas to take it from me." Roman said in his counterpart's defense. "We've seen how grubby some of those dwarves can be."

"Thinking the dwarves would just steal it from you does not set for good group dynamic." Weiss told Roman. "Besides, the ring isn't yours. You stole it from Gollum."

"Who said it was Gollum's either? He could have stolen it too." Roman retorted. "Besides, who to say the dwarves would want me to keep it? They might see my good luck charm as bad and force me to get rid of it. If they get to steal some treasure, so can my counterpart."

Despite usually coming to Roman's defense, even Neo couldn't help but find it odd how much her boss seemed to care about the ring.

"Sure, it's fantastic that it can turn you invisible, but it's not like he hasn't seen better jewels." Neo thought to herself.

But then, the mute girl had heard the quiet sound of laughter coming from Vortech. I'm doing so, Neo had caught him muttering out a set of words that had begun to trouble.

"Hmhmhmhm. And so it begins." Vortech quietly spoke as he stared towards Roman.

"Well, if your counterpart is not going to inform the dwarves, than Ozpin's counterpart will point out the ring." Weiss stated to Roman. "After all, he clearly saw it."

____________________________

"Well, what does it matter?" Ozpin asked the dwarves with a nod, eyes still lingering to the pocket Roman placed the ring in. "He's back."

____________________________

Immediately Weiss's mouth became slack jawed as she stared at the screen in shock.

"Ozpin, my man." Roman looked to the screen with a bright smile. "We really are friends."

"What is going on here?" Ruby asked with a gobsmacked expression.

"I get why Torchwick's counterpart seemingly wants to hide the ring, but why would Ozpin choose to go along with it?" Glynda questioned.

"I can't say I can very well answer that myself, Glynda." Ozpin said to his right-hand woman. However, he narrowed his eyes at the screen as he grew a thoughtful expression. "But if I could take a gander, my counterpart knows something... and he wants to see if he can prove it."

____________________________

"It matters." James retorted as he looked to Roman. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

Roman was silent for a moment before giving an answer. But when he did, he gave it with all his heart. "...Look, I know you doubt me. I know-I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Torch-End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back. 'Cause... you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you... But I will help you take it back if I can."

James glanced down for a second at Roman's words, the proclamation seeming having gotten to the stoic, dwarven prince before looking back up.

Roman then looked out to the other dwarves, seeing that his words had reached them as well as they bore solemn expressions.

Ozpin couldn't help but give a small smile to Roman as everyone stared to him.

____________________________

"That... w-wow. That has to have been the most genuine, most heartfelt speech that could have ever been said by Roman Torchwick." Weiss said, absolutely floored by his words.

"And none of it sounded fake." Blake said in equal shock.

"I'm shocked I tell you. Shocked." Yang said as her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"I knew he came back out of the goodness of his heart." Ruby proud smiled.

"It was really quite lovely." Penny spoke with a warm smile.

"I'd this some kind of bizzaro world?" Emerald muttered between Mercury and Cinder. "There's no way this can actually be Torchwick."

"If there was any doubt within the General's counterpart about Torchwick after he showed up again, hopefully this will have proven that doubt wrong." Pyrrha smiled.

"After this? There's no way he can be mad at hobbit-Torchwick anymore." Nora shook her head with a cocksure glint in her eyes.

"To think that someone who is criminal in our own universe could say such uplifting words." Winter spoke. "It's astonishing."

"This is probably a speech worthy of being remembered throughout history." Glynda said. "And it came from Torchwick, of all people."

"I'm still wondering if what I saw and heard was an illusion of some kind." Sienna remarked with her own surprised look.

"Okay. Okay. I get it. It's surprising that I can where my heart on my shoulder." Roman said with an almost peeved look in his eyes. "Can we just drop it? This is getting too weird for me."

"Regardless, I am glad your counterpart said those words." Ironwood replied to Roman with a soft smile. "You showed the dwarves that not only are willing to give them as much aid as you can spare, but you gave them a morale boost that I don't think even my counterpart could have given them. For that, I genuinely thank you."

"Why are you thanking me? It was the other me who said it." Roman retorted, trying to divert attention away from himself.

"That's true. But he's not here. You are." Ironwood replied. "And if one version of you can say words like that, it makes believe your hobbit counterpart isn't the only kind Torchwick out there."

"Bravo, Roman. In an inadvertent, small way, you've gained yourself a new found level of respect." Ozpin complimented the criminal.

"I can't even get Jimmy to say nice things like that to me. You might as well take the compliment." Qrow told Roman.

"...Heh. Please. Like I'm just gonna get buddy-buddy with you just because another me is trying to." Roman rolled his eyes as he looked away. On the outside, it he tried to deflect everyone's comments and remarks. But inside, Roman had felt... lighter by their words.

Neo had seen the look in Roman's eyes. She understood was resided deep within him. And yet, she didn't know what to make of it. On the one hand, she was happy that he was getting praise. But in the other, it was a praise neither she or Roman had expected. Praise from those they had fought against. Plotted against. Neo simply didn't know what to make of it all.

"This really is an unexpected journey." The mute thought to herself.

____________________________

But just as it seemed all was now well, fate had shown it had other plans.

Higher at the slope of the mountain, Azog and his orc pack had caught up with the Company; their wargs growling for blood.

"Run them down!" Azog commanded his pack. "Tear them to pieces!"

____________________________

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Jaune pointed to the screen in weary annoyance. "The Company had something good going on for them."

"Can't these guys just catch a break after going through hell?" Yang asked. "Is Rivendell the only time they're gonna get some proper R&R?"

"That's what happens when you're being hunted by a relentless foe." Ironwood said as he gave a stoic glare towards Azog. "You either keep running, or you stand your ground and face them."

"The Company just took on all of Goblin Town. They can take on Azog's pack." Nora declared.

"I don't think so, Miss Valkyrie." Ozpin shook his head with a grave look in his eyes. "The Company will still be too tired to take on the orcs. All they can hope to do now is run and find some form of cover to regain their energy."

____________________________

The riderless wargs all howled and growled as they they began running down the slope of the mountain, gunning for the Company.

Hearing the howls of the wargs, the Company looked back in the distance; some of the dwarves readying their weapons.

"Out of the frying pan." James said with a dread-filled, knowing expression.

"And into the fire. Run." Ozpin finished as he looked at James with a hint of worry.

The wizard then looked back to where the wargs were coming down from before yelling to the Company. "Run!"

But before more could occur, the viewing turned to black.

____________________________

Both Ozpin and Ironwood's serious expressions turned to deadpans the moment the viewing faded to black. It was long before those deadpan stares glanced over towards Vortech.

"That's a shame." Sienna spoke in a disappointed tone.

"Ohh! What?! Why there?!" Nora complained, throwing her hands into the air. "Why did you stop there?!"

"It's cliffhanger after cliffhanger with these viewings." Blake said with a saddened face. "I don't know how much more I can take."

"It's like having a blaring alarm clock wake you up right in the middle of a good dream." Tai said.

"Eh. Depends on what the dream is about." Qrow said before drinking from his flask.

"I'd say it's similar to being interrupted during a class lesson." Glynda crossed her arms.

""Here here."" Oobleck and Port agreed with their colleague.

"Do you just like cutting us off after every climax or serious moment?" Yang asked as she glared Vortech. "Bumblebee. The Dark Crystal. This universe. Do you get your kicks out of seeing us suffer like this?"

"I am not confirming that. Nor am I denying it. Hmhmhm." Vortech immediately responded with a mischievous chuckle.

"I gotta give him credit. Vortech knows just the right time to cut things off." Roman shrugged.

"I can safely say I've been satisfied with what we've gotten see so far." Mercury said. "This is some of the best action I've ever watched."

"But now we have to wait several more viewings to find out whats gonna happen with the Company going against Azog." Ruby stated with a frown.

"Yes. That is quite the inconvenience." Penny nodded in agreement.

"Don't be so cross, Ruby Rose." Vortech told the silver-eyed girl. "You should be glad I stopped the viewing here. How else can we get to a universe where you're the star?"

"Saywhatnow?" Ruby speedily questioned.

"Yes. Not only that. But you're super hero in this next universe." Vortech told her in a grandiose tone.

"Huuuuh!!" Ruby gasped with stars in her eyes.

"Lucky." Jaune whined a bit on jealousy.

"Oh, great. Just what we needed." Roman drawled out in annoyance.

"What are we waiting for? Start this new universe already!" Ruby jumped in excitement.

Weiss gave a small groan as she forced her partner to sit back in her seat. "I swear, if this ends up inflating your ego, Ruby, I don't want to hear any more cracks at mine."

"One super heroine, coming right up." Vortech said with an almost sinister tone as he started up the next universe.

End chapter_

____________________________

Casting:

Thorin Oakenshield: James Ironwood
Bilbo Baggins: Roman Torchwick
Gandalf the Grey: Ozpin
Dwalin: Himself
Balin: Himself
Fili: Himself
Kili: Himself
Dori: Himself
Nori: Himself
Ori: Himself
Oin: Himself
Gloin: Himself
Bifur: Himself
Bofur: Himself
Bombur: Himself
Azog the Defiler: Himself
Gollum: Tyrian Callows
The Goblin King (The Great Goblin): Himself

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Next time:

9  3-8-15-19-5  13-25  16-1-20-8  25-15-21  3-8-15-19-5  20-8-5  23-1-25 15-6 20-8-5 8-5-18-15.

1-14-4  20-8-5-25  6-15-21-14-4  25-15-21  1-13-21-19-9-14-7  6-15-18  1  23-8-9-12-5  20-8-5  16-5-15-16-12-5  15-6  20-8-9-19  3-9-20-25.

2-21-20  20-8-5  15-14-5  20-8-9-14-7  20-8-5-25  12-15-22-5  13-15-18-5  20-8-1-14 1  8-5-18-15  9-19  20-15  19-5-5  1  8-5-18-15  6-1-9-12  6-1-12-12  4-9-5  20-18-25-9-14-7.

9-14  19-16-9-20-5  15-6  5-22-5-18-25-20-8-9-14-7  25-15-21-22-5  4-15-14-5  6-15-18  20-8-5-13 5-22-5-14-20-21-1-12-12-25  20-8-5-25  23-9-12-12  8-1-20-5  25-15-22.

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Author's notes:

Welcome to summer, everyone. We're back!

As I did last summer, I will giving you all eight new chapters of this story. I will be working on them week after week, and I will get them out as soon as I can for you all. And if you've cracked the code for the next chapter, you know you're gonna love it.

But onto some personal news, I actually tried to get this chapter out by Tuesday in the least, but I took a job helping my grandpa set up a new trampoline. While that doesn't seem too much difficult, not only were we working out in the sun under 80 to 90 degrees, but we weren't just assembling the trampoline. My grandpa wanted to set up some planks to help tie the trampoline done in case of storms. So we had to dig. But the digging was taking a long time, and the amount of force and grip I had to use on the wooden post hole digger made my fingers sore and my hands raw. Eventually my grandpa decided it would be better to rent out a mechanical drill post hole digger, which sped things up, but I still had to use the wooden handle one to dig out excess dirt. Combine all of that with being under a hot sun and getting sun burned on my neck, I just got a bit too tired to write at times. But here we are, at last.

I would also like to say that I did go see Jurassic World: Dominion. I throughly enjoyed the movie; though it really fun to watch. It's not perfect, as no Jurassic Park sequel truly has been, but in terms of Dominion, I'd say it's more along the scale of the Lost World, but far more action packed.

I'm also very close to getting all of the trophies for Ghostbusters the video game: remastered. All I have to do is get the "Nice shootin' Tex" trophy and I'll be set. I was worried about having to go through professional difficulty to get the golden proton pack and the "Are you a God?" trophy, but after I learned a hack to it, I got both of those fairly well. Apparently all you have to do is go through the training tutorial right up until you get to the elevator on professional. After that, you go to every final chapter in each level and defeat each boss on professional. Though a precaution for all of that involved making sure to go through the Ghostbusters firehouse checkpoints onto the next level before going to the next boss. But after fighting a bunch of bosses later, I got the trophy and the proton pack. And above all else, I didn't have to fight those damn, stone angels on professional.

So yeah, with all of that said and shared, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you next time.

Farewell, Rule Breakers.