TRTL Power

***TRTL Power*** is the fourth episode of *RWBY: Grimm Force*.

## Plot

"Students."

Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch stood atop a cliffside before their new first-year students.

"There has been speculation and rumor amongst you regarding the assignment of teammates. So, allow me to clear up any confusion. You will all be getting your teammates... Today."

Ben and Gwen glanced to one another briefly before turning their attention back to Ozpin.

"These teams will be who you spend the rest of your time with while attending Beacon. It would be beneficial to find yourself allied with those you are most compatible with. That being said... The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner."

Ben faltered. He had figured, and hoped, that he and Gwen would simply be partners for the sake of some familiarity. Plus, in the event he would need to use his Semblance, he'd be with someone who already knew what to expect. But with the assignments of partners and teams being random, he was unsure if this would even happen now.

"Now then. The manner of your assignment today. Professor Goodwitch."

Glynda stepped forward. "Your task, students, is to make your way through the Emerald Forest to the temple on the far side. Once there, you are to choose one of the relics placed there, then make your way back here."

"Be sure to destroy anything in your path. Or you will die." Ozpin followed up.

Further down the row, Rook looked stoic as ever. Further still, Kevin cracked his neck with a grin, ready for the challenge ahead.

“Your assignment begins…” Ozpin paused, allowing a moment of suspense to build. “...Now.”

Simultaneously, all the first-year students were launched via their individual platforms off the cliffside and into the air. Ozpin nonchalantly turned to watch them get flung through the air, and took a sip from his cup.

An airship docked at the end of the platform outside of Beacon Academy. The door opened and out stepped the young Ben, Gwen, and Albedo. Ben had a backpack which stored his Omnitrix, while Albedo seemed to not mind wearing his on his wrist. The three walked towards the academy, gawking up at the large tower which acted as Vale’s CCT Tower. Max stepped out shortly after, holding his knees to try to stable his wobbly legs.

“I’ll never be used to those things.”

“I’ll give the headmaster your regards about the transportation.” A voice said, prompting Max to look up. “Or perhaps you could tell him yourself?”

“Glynda.” Max said with a half-smile. “And here I had almost thought you didn’t have a sense of humor.”

“I wasn’t joking.”

“...Right.”

Glynda stepped towards Max, then turned back towards the kids, who had made it a decent ways away. “Touring the grounds, I see.”

“Touring the world. The kingdoms and academies are just the hot spots.”

“Were you intending on meeting with Ozpin?”

“Not if he’s too busy. We both know how… ‘Hectic’ things can get for him.”

Glynda acknowledged this for a moment before speaking. “I’m sure he’d make time for you, at least. If you’re concerned about disrupting him, I can take over for the… Young bloods for now.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Glynda nodded before quickly making her way after the kids. “Children!”

Max’s smile faded as he looked up to the top of Beacon tower.

‘Crap…’ Ben thought to himself. ‘...*Crap*.’

This day was certainly not going to plan. Being flung off a cliff into the perils of the Emerald Forest was something Ben figured he could handle. Go through the woods, find the relic, bring it back. Simple. What he was worried about was the team situation. Without the right emotional support, he’d have a bit of trouble explaining his Semblance to his new team, whoever that might include.

Looking down, Ben saw the tops of the trees approaching fast. Taking a deep breath, Ben tilted himself forward, his body rotating to the point of him heading face first towards the ground. Once he had almost neared the ground, Ben put his arms out, and a Gravity blast from the Omnitrix thrust him back upwards. He repeated the process a few times before finally using a Hard-Light shield from the device to stop his movement. The shield dissipated and Ben stood upright, getting a baring of his surroundings.

“...Gotta find Gwen.” Ben said aloud before running off through the forest.

Gwen herself was still in the air. Her eyes closed, Gwen focused for a few moments before opening her eyes, both now glowing pink. She placed her hands out, and a slide-like construct of her Aura manifested, allowing her safe travel into a clearing below. Once on the ground, the slide disappeared. Gwen took a few deep breaths for a moment, and one of her Charms glowed, flashing a replenishing touch to her Aura. She smirked.

“Elementary.”

***“WOOHOO!”***

Gwen looked up to the sky, surprised by the shouting. A grey figure flew through the air, their arm outstretched towards the tree they were headed right for. The figure was Kevin, having absorbed the material of the launchpads from the cliff before being launched. His outward arm shifted into the form of a sickle right before latching onto the tree, allowing him to spin down its trunk to the ground, taking off branches and bark as he did. Landing to the ground, he chuckled to himself, then paused. He turned about, seeing Gwen looking at him.

“You certainly seem to know how to take care of yourself.”

“May as well learn how early, right?” Kevin’s body returned to normal. “Kevin.”

“Gwen Tennyson.”

Kevin gave an inquisitive look upon hearing her name, though this changed to fear as a looming figure appeared behind Gwen. Without hesitation, she turned about and launched an Aura disk which sliced the head off an approaching Ursa. She took a deep breath, and Kevin was a bit surprised.

“Learn early, right?” She said while turning back to him.

“...Y-Yeah. Right. Um.. W-We should head to the temple.”

The two headed on their way. Gwen had changed her expression to one of concern. There was still her cousin to worry about.

Ozpin looked out the window of his office at the top of Beacon Tower. Sipping from his mug, he turned upon hearing the elevator ding. Its doors opened, and Max stepped in.

“Maxwell. I knew your family would be touring the grounds, but I didn’t expect such a personal visit. Where are the children?”

“Glynda’s looking after them for a bit while I’m here.”

“The perfect person to whip them into shape.” Ozpin chuckled. “How have you been?”

“Retirement’s been kind. My joints have not.” Max joked, cracking his arms again. Well, arm. Though, he did glance to the prosthetic. “Might be time for a checkup.”

“I’m sure the general wouldn’t mind a visit, either.”

Max’s expression turned dark. “...Yeah. I haven’t exactly figured out how I’m going to handle the Atlas portion of our tour, yet.”

“You can’t put off your issues with James forever.”

“Is that you speaking from experience?”

There was a grim moment of silence between the two.

“...I don’t intend to keep that put off.”

“No, you just haven’t figured everything out yet. I believe that’s how you worded it.” Max’s voice raised slightly.

“You needn’t speak with such a personal vitriol, Max-”

“Oh, yes I do! When’s the last time you spoke with Verdona, Oz?” Ozpin fell silent as Max spoke. “And as for Ironwood, I have no intention of forgiving him! Experimenting on children crosses a line.”

Max took a deep breath, pinching his brow briefly.

“...I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted our meeting to go.”

“You have every right to feel the way that you do. To answer your question, Qrow has informed me that Verdona is honing her skills out in Vacuo.”

Max thought this comment over for a moment, then nodded. A stern look remained in his eyes.

“You need to find a way to finish this, Ozpin. I don’t want my grandkids to find themselves wrapped up in it as much as some others have.”

“I know, Maxwell. I know…”

“Isn’t this just my luck?” Ben groaned. He stood atop a hillside, looking down over some stony ruins, including a circular pattern of half-pillars. “I manage to find the temple before any people.”

Ben slid down the hill, making sure not to stumble or fall. He looked around the ruins, noticing each pillar had a stone goblet atop it. The goblets themselves were carved with different types of Grimm. Some pillars were empty, implying others had arrived before him.

As Ben looked over the goblets, he was surprised when something flew past his head. It lodged itself into the far wall of the pillar, a black cord connected to it. A grappling hook? Er, no, a zipline. Ben turned and saw the figure of Rook Blonko zooming down the line from the hilltop. Upon reaching Ben, he jumped to the ground, and the hook retracted into the weapon on his shoulder.

“...H-Hi?” Ben awkwardly said.

“Hello. Benjamin, correct?”

“Just Ben, dude. And you are?”

“Rook Blonko.”

“I see. So… I guess this makes us-”

“Partners, yes.”

“...Right. Yeah. Cool.” Ben spoke, then thought to himself. ‘Guess there’s still the chance Gwen’s one of the other two on the team.’

Ben and Rook looked about at the goblets.

“So, any preferences on Grimm?”

“Dead ones.”

“I meant the carvings on the cups.”

“Oh. Of course. Then no.”

“...Alright.” Ben swiped up the nearest goblet, then looked at its carving. “A Beowolf. That works …Or we could call it a Benwolf.”

Ben smirked, obviously waiting on some form of reaction to his cheesy joke, but Rook gave none.

“...Get it? Swap out the O for the N?” He motioned to himself. “Ben.” He pointed to the cup. “Beowolf. Benwolf. Ehh?”

Still no response.

“...These are gonna be the longest four years of my life.”

As the two spoke, another pink Aura slide came down the hill, with Gwen and Kevin sliding down it. “Glad to see you made it alive.” Gwen joked before hugging Ben. While reciprocating the hug, Ben looked surprised.

“...Kevin?”

“I knew your last name sounded familiar.” Kevin said to Gwen while nodding to Ben.

Gwen pulled out of the hug, a confused look on her face. “You two have met?”

A low growling sound came from nearby, interrupting the conversation. A mass of black and white barreled through, knocking Kevin over. Kevin angrily got up and absorbed the stone of the ruins. He faced his opponent, the warthog-like Boarbatusk Grimm. He took a step to attack, but a cyan net made of Hard-Light Dust shot past him and covered the Boarbatusk, ensnaring it. Kevin turned back angrily.

“I could’ve taken it!”

“I do not doubt your ability.” Rook responded, his weapon having fired the net from atop his shoulder. “This is simply easier.”

Kevin scowled at him. “I don’t like you.”

“I do believe I can live with that.”

Kevin groaned and changed his arm into a blade, stabbing the Boarbatusk, causing it to disintegrate. However, another batch of the hogs came over the hill, along with a pack of Beowolves. Kevin angrily grabbed an empty pillar and yeeted it at the Boarbatusks, while Rook fired explosive projectiles from his weapon. Gwen placed her hands to the ground, and focused. Aura spikes then jutted from atop the hill, impaling and killing several Grimm. Ben then slid between the others and then in front of them. He put out his Omnitrix arm, and set it to Fire Dust. It launched a large flame which created a wall between the group and the Grimm.

“Either they’re smart enough to avoid it, or dumb enough to go through and die anyway. Either works for me.” Ben huffed.

The ground suddenly rumbled. The group turned and saw the trees shaking just before a gigantic tree monster emerged. The creature was a combination of five trees in the form of a body with limbs, each attached to one another by black smoke. The “body” tree had a white, mask-like face on it.

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Kevin shouted, and Ben ran towards the creature. He put out his Omnitrix arm again, and fired the flames again. What should have scorched the creature to ashes, however, simply made it a tree monster that happened to be on fire.

The beast thrashed its arm down onto the group, only for Kevin, still rock-covered, to catch the limb. The beast then lifted up and threw Kevin to the side. Kevin toppled across the ground, hitting a tree with a thud. A blue mesh flickered over his body before shimmering away, his Aura breaking; the rock armor covering his body disintegrated.

“KEVIN!” Gwen shouted before putting her hand to the ground. An Aura force field surrounded Kevin just before the monster could crush him.

“Anyone got some better ideas than mine?!” Ben asked.

Rook’s Proto-Tool projected a holographic display of a semi-gaseous, phantom-like Grimm. “It is a Geist. This species of Grimm possesses inanimate objects to form a body for itself.”

“So we take out the parts, we can get to the Geist…” Ben thought for a moment. “Rook. Distract it while trying to sever the limbs.”

Rook nodded and grappled to a tree near the Geist. Ben then turned to Gwen. “When Rook’s distracted it, you get Kevin somewhere safe, and then help sever the limbs.”

“What about you?”

Ben paused. “...W-Well, then you can kill it. Duh.”

“Ben.”

“I don’t want to-”

“We need you to.”

Ben stared back at his cousin. There was a tinge of fear in his eyes, and she put her hand to his shoulder.

“I know you can do it. I believe in you.”

Ben, placing his hand onto Gwen’s, reluctantly nodded. “...Okay.”

Gwen nodded to him, and Ben ran off. Rook fired energy blasts at the Geist’s face, drawing its attention to him. As it chased after him, Gwen launched herself towards Kevin, rushing him further into the woods and leaning him against a tree trunk. She then ran back to the fight, and shot an Aura disk at the Geist, slicing the ghastly arm between the body and arm. The tree arm fell to the ground, and the Geist’s skeletal arm was exposed.

Rook took to slicing the legs off, swinging about with the Proto-Tool’s grappling hook function before switching it over to a staff form which went through the thighs. The Geist collapsed, then phased out of the tree and hurried on its way, deciding the fight wasn't worth it. However, something came flying through and sliced it in half, causing it to disintegrate. This "thing" was a large turtle shell, keeping itself flying through the air with helicopter-like blades. It then spun around to the fire wall and generated a cyclone using its blades and chest holes, forcing the fire onto the Beowolves and Boarbatusks on the other side.

The shell then flew down to Gwen and Rook, its blades changing into flipper-like arms and stocky legs, and its head poked out of its shell.

"Which one is that?" Gwen asked, while Rook stared dumbfounded.

"I told you, I don't name them." Ben groaned. "But it's the mono-Wind Dust one."

Kevin then groaned, catching the group's attention. They ran over to him, Gwen kneeling down beside him. "Are you okay?"

Kevin looked up with a groggy expression, which only had confusion added onto it. "...Why is there a giant turtle staring at me?"

Ben's turtle form sighed. "We've got a lot to talk about."

Beacon’s amphitheater was filled with students. The crowd had second-years and upper classmen. Ozpin stood at a microphone above the stage, a holographic screen behind him displaying the new teams.

“Edwin GrandSmith, Kai Green, Ester Kraaho, and Orb Halcyon.”

The four students stepped forward. All but Edwin were Faunus: Kai bore a wolf’s tail, Ester had deer antlers, and Orb had goat legs.

“The four of you retrieved the two Nevermore goblets. From now on, you shall be known as Team EKKO, led by Edwin GrandSmith.”

The crowd cheered, and Team EKKO took a bow. As they left the stage, Kai and Ben passed each other, giving the other a quick glance. Once the looking was done, Ben shook his head, attempting to focus.

“Ben Tennyson, Rook Blonko, Gwen Tennyson, and Kevin Levin.” Ozpin spoke. “The four of you retrieved the two Beowolf goblets. From now on, you shall be known as Team TRTL.”

The group looked at each other, silently acknowledging the irony of being named after a turtle given the situation earlier with Ben’s Semblance. Surprisingly, this even included Rook.

”Led by…” Ozpin continued “Ben Tennyson.”

Ben gasped a bit. ‘...Led by?’

Gwen beamed over at him, and Ben reciprocated the smile, though he was unsure if it was a genuine smile or an anxious one.

‘Led by…’ Ben thought again. ‘...Led by.’

## Major Events

* Max is shown to have history with Professor Ozpin and James Ironwood.
* It is shown how Team TRTL is formed.
* Team EKKO make their debut.

## Characters

### Present Day Characters

* Ben Tennyson
* Rook Blonko
* Gwen Tennyson
* Kevin Levin
* Professor Ozpin
* Glynda Goodwitch
* Edwin GrandSmith *(debut)*
* Kai Green *(debut)*
* Ester Kraaho *(debut)*
* Orb Halcyon *(debut)*

### Flashback Characters

* Ben Tennyson
* Gwen Tennyson
* Albedo Tennyson
* Max Tennyson
* Professor Ozpin
* Glynda Goodwitch

### Grimm

* Ursa
* Boarbatusk
* Beowolf
* Geist

## Allusions

* This episode’s title is a nod to the phrase “Turtle Power!” from *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*. It also served as the inspiration for having Terraspin debut.
* Ben telling Rook to call him “Ben, dude” is a nod to a gag in both parts of *The More Things Change*, the premiere of *Ben 10: Omniverse*.
* Ben alludes to Blitzwulf's debut episode *Benwolf* when making the joke about picking the Beowolf goblet. It also happens Kai Green, who debuted in *Benwolf*, debuted here.
* The Grimm-carved goblets are a nod to the Mr. Smoothy cups which had Ben's aliens on them.
	+ Originally, the relics were going to be Sumo Slammer Cards, but this was deemed too similar to the cards used as relics during Team CFVY's initiation. When the Discord was asked about other "collectible" type stuff in-universe, Shark brought up the Mr. Smoothy cups, which led to the carved goblets.

## Trivia

* Fasttrack was once again going to be used, but was swapped out for Terraspin.