3,915Xander instantly awoke as mana flooded through his system and stretched, comfortably lying in the air as he floated near the ceiling with a rope on his leg tying him to the younger girl's arm below him.
"Is it time?" Ruby asked hopefully as she woke up.
"I'll have to message Salem and see if she's up, but as soon as she's ready I can open a portal and bring her through," Xander replied.
"How am I awake?" Blake asked in confusion.
"I'm guessing their talking woke you up like it did me, why?" Ember asked.
"Well yes," Blake agreed, "but usually I don't wake up until my second cup of coffee, I'm just sleepwalking."
"I'm surprisingly awake as well," Weiss offered.
"Vigilance means you don't have to sleep, so when you do you don't wake up groggy," Bonnie offered.
"Huh, awesome," Yang decided. "So why are we all up anyway?"
"It's sunrise," Xander replied, only to have everyone stare at him. "I get a flood of power, waking me up at sunrise."
"Oh," Blake said. "I may not need coffee, but a cup sounds good right about now."
"Is anyone actually awake at this point?" Yang asked.
"Some of the teachers should be, so coffee must be available," Blake pointed out reasonably.
"Now I want coffee," Yang and Ember chorused.
"Dibs on first shower," Blake said, leaping for the bathroom.
"It has room for us all," Weiss pointed out, "the bathroom has expanded into a team shower room, which I must say I really appreciate."
"There are seven of us," Bonnie pointed out, "I don't think it's meant for more than four unless they're really close."
"I… um," Weiss blushed.
"With everyone properly soaped up we can all squeeze in," Xander teased.
Yang and Ember laughed as Weiss discovered new shades of red.
"I believe she was just referring to our team," Blake said, taking pity on the heiress.
"Yes, that," Weiss quickly agreed.
"A bit too early for you to see me naked," Yang teased, "you'll just have to go second."
"With me and Bonnie," Ember pointed out with a smirk.
"Oh, seeing you naked would be just about the same as seeing me naked," Yang realized.
"You can take my spot," Ruby told Ember, "I'll shower with him and Bonnie."
Her three team members turned to look at her with various degrees of surprise.
"I said I wasn't letting him out of my sight until Mom was back," Ruby reminded them, blushing shyly but with a determined look, "and I meant exactly that."
"I'm right there with you sis," Yang declared.
"Isn't that a bit over the top?" Weiss asked. "I mean, I understand how important it is for you, but he's hardly going to vanish from the bathroom."
"Actually that did happen to me a couple of weeks ago," Xander said, much to their surprise. "Had a ninja in an orange mask throw me out of the dimensions. Still haven't found my way back."
"And again I'm shown why Ruby was chosen as our leader," Weiss said, "group shower it is. I have some body wash that will make us all slippery enough to all squeeze in at once."
There was silence for a few seconds before laughter broke out from the half dozen girls.
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"You guys seem to be in an exemplary fine mood," Pyrrha noted as team JNPR joined them at the breakfast table, the hall empty this early in the morning.
"Group shower, bad jokes, and just generally good company," Blake offered and sipped her coffee with a grin.
"Oh, I thought only we did that," Juane said.
"That's because Pyrrha isn't letting you out of her sight until you are skilled enough to slaughter massive amounts of Grimm without effort," the Nora's chorused.
"And Nora insisted we shower together if you two got to," Ren added.
"It was a lot easier to get that awkward spot in the middle of our back properly scrubbed with help," Ren 2 pointed out.
"Also helps that our bathroom is huge now," Nora said.
"Looks like group showers are going to be the norm now," Blake offered.
"You know… I never imagined going to Beacon was going to be like this," Weiss said thoughtfully.
"Unless your Semblance was precognition, I don't see how you would," Bonnie told her.
"I was referring to the team's closeness," Weiss explained. "I always thought hunters were exaggerating it."
"So did I," Yang admitted, setting off a chorus of agreements.
"Got a text back from Salem," Xander said as he looked at his scroll, "she's ready for me to come and get Summer."
"Really?!" Ruby said, all but vibrating in place.
"Yep, just got to open a portal and step through, she releases the spell keeping Summer frozen and I can bring her back here," he explained.
"Can we come?" Ruby asked instantly.
"I'm opening a portal to the castle of the Grimm queen on a continent populated almost exclusively by the Grimm," Xander pointed out, "I'd rather you stay on this side of the portal while I get her."
"That's a very good point, Rubes," Yang told her sister.
"Okay," she said reluctantly.
"You can watch through the portal, alright?" Xander said.
"Alright," Ruby said.
"Good," Xander said, getting up and everyone following him as he walked to an open section of floor and opened a portal, revealing the pale woman in her throne room standing next to an enormous crystal with a woman who could almost be a duplicate of Ruby in it, but snarling and carrying an axe, black veins covering half her face.
"I will warn you now, she has been poisoned by Grimm and will shortly die if not cured of it," Salem said. "Also, it makes her act violent and irrational."
"Not a problem," Xander assured her. "Just release the crystal and I'll take care of it."
"Very well," Salem said and gestured, flecks of ash flowing from her hair to the crystal, causing it to melt.
Summer Rose stumbled and blinked in confusion before spotting Salem and snarling, "Die Bitch!" as she raised her axe.
"Paralyze," Xander said, freezing Summer in place. "Okay, let's get you healed up. Healing Balm," he intoned and poured a single White Mana into the paralyzed woman, causing the black veins in her skin to recede and vanish.
"That was enough power to cure a whole score of people," Salem said in wonder.
"Yeah, I have overwhelming power, not overwhelming control," Xander admitted and released the paralysis on Summer.
"I… I can think clearly," Summer said with a smile. "I no longer feel overwhelming rage and the need to destroy."
"I'm relieved to hear that," Salem said.
Summer's eyes turned to the Grimm Queen and narrowed. "Die Bitch!" She raised her axe and Xander paralyzed her once more, but left her able to speak.
"I thought you were no longer crazy?" he asked.
"She's the Queen of all Grimm, it's only common sense to kill her," Summer told him.
"I did mention the whole immortality thing, didn't I?" Salem asked dryly.
"That just means you weren't trying hard enough," Summer said confidently.
"I tried hundreds, possibly thousands of ways to end my own life over my long years," Salem told her, "trust me, I tried hard enough."
"Did you try chopping your body up into little bits and tossing them into a volcano?" Summer asked brightly.
"No… I can't say I did," Salem replied before turning to Xander. "Would you please remove her and close the portal? I'd really like to give the whole growing old thing a try now that I have the option and I don't believe she'd be amenable."
"Of course," Xander agreed, picking up Summer bridal style and heading for the portal.
"Hold up!" Summer said anxiously. "She's not dead yet! We can't just go! Do you have any idea how hard it is to break in here?!"
Xander stepped through the portal, closing it behind himself. "Took me all of two seconds," he told her, setting her on her feet and releasing the paralysis.
"Mom!" Ruby and Yang exclaimed before almost tackling her in a hug.
"Mom?" she asked in confusion before examining the two. "Girls?!"
"You were frozen in crystal for about a decade," Xander said, "there's been some changes."
"Who are you?" Summer asked as she hugged her almost fully grown up daughters.
"He's Xander, the god of tits and beer," Blake said with a feline grin.
"What?"
"He's a Planeswalker, which is like a god… but without a lot of their limitations," Ozpin said as he entered the mess hall. "It's good to see you again, Summer."
"Ozpin?" she asked, surprised. "I… I've missed a lot, haven't I?"
"Catching you up is going to take a bit of time," Ozpin admitted, "Xander has caused a lot of changes recently."
"I'm seeing a lot of twins," Summer said, "some of which are from people I know aren't twins."
"Let's go to my office," Ozpin said, "I have whiskey there."
"All of my daughters, come with me," Summer ordered, looking at Bonnie and Ember to let them know they were included.
"Are you sure you're not a trickster deity?" Blake asked as half their team left with their newly returned mother.
"They put a lot more thought into what they do," Xander told her. "I'm mostly winging it here."
Nora 2 poked Xander in the side. "Pancakes please."
"Sure," Xander agreed and gestured at a table, filling it with a number of breakfast dishes he'd scanned while eating here.
"I think you've caused enough chaos here," Ren noted as he took a seat, "what are you planning next?"
"Mistral needs a bit of repair work… then it's back to Kuo Kuana, because I completely forgot to open a portal to the slum near the mines for all the faunus who wish to move there," Xander admitted.
"And then?" Juane asked.
"And then I jump into infinity and try to find my way home," Xander said. "My aim's been getting better and Leo reminded me I could use Blue Mana to enhance my mind, so that should help."
"We'll miss you," Nora said.
"Or at least we'll miss getting pancakes on demand," Nora 2 added with a grin.
Xander chuckled. "I'll try to visit if I ever manage to figure out how to aim in the next couple of decades."
"We'll hold you to that," Blake said.
Three Days Later
"And that's done," Xander said, closing the portal.
"And we appreciate it," Ghira said. "You've done more for faunus kind than anyone since the Animal God created us."
"May the Animal God guide your path and help you find home," Leo said, clasping Xander's hand.
"Thanks," Xander said, letting go and tapping a Blue Mana. "Wish me luck!"
He braced himself and stepped into eternity. Xander shuddered as reality screamed at him from all directions. The Blue Mana seemed to help as he spotted dozens of disturbances in reality as various cracks and holes that opened and closed were all but highlighted to his enhanced senses.
He quickly chose one flicker of something and latched on, having no idea if it was to the right place but not caring as he just wanted to escape.
"Oh god!" a blonde haired man exclaimed, "Did I just yank you out of your world?! I didn't even notice you near me!"
Xander blinked and relaxed as he calmed down. "I was kinda in-between realities and just followed you."
"What? Really?" the man asked, green eyes lighting up. "Are you a dimension hopper too?"
"Yeah," Xander agreed. "I have no idea how to aim though. Any ideas?"
"Aim?" he asked, confused for a moment. "I really wish I could aim. There are some dimensions I'd really like to return to. No, all that happens is about every two weeks… Boom, sudden new dimension and I have to scramble to keep safe until I suddenly return home."
"Oh," Xander said, "that sounds like it sucks."
The man burst out laughing. "Yeah, it really does, but on the plus side, I do get to travel. How is it with you?"
"I drop into the center of existence where all of reality tries to pour itself into my brain at once, and I get to try and hold myself together before leaping blindly out," Xander said. "It's altogether terrifying and overwhelming and usually takes me a couple of days to recover before I try again."
"Damn… but at least it sounds like you have a choice," the man said, looking around. "I think I know where we are, follow me, there's a really good pizza place near here."
"Sure," Xander said. "By the way, my name's Xander."
"I change my name a lot to mess with people," the reluctant dimension hopper said as they left the park, "but you can call me Paul."
"Nice to meet you Paul," Xander said, as a white van with a sign reading Southern California Produce pulled up next to them.
The door to the van slid open revealing several people in grey suits that all but screamed 'Fed'.
"Can we get pizza on the way?" Paul asked hopefully.
"Tony's?" the driver asked.
"Of course," Paul replied as he climbed in, waving for Xander to follow him.
"Sure, who's the extra?" the driver asked.
"He's Xander, a jumper with a slightly different method of jumping," Paul said. "He followed me home."
"Another one?" one of the other suits asked in surprise.
"I saw him jumping realities and decided to follow him," Xander said. "Do I need to chip in on the pizza?"
"Nah, the Foundation will cover it," the driver replied.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows
TN: Foundation? Uh oh…