Hello everyone, and welcome back to another chapter of the Chorus Chronicle. Before we begin, just going to answer a few questions from reviewer's. First up from Thaqif, Will there be any PSA's (Public Service Announcement) in the story? Honestly, I played around with the idea when I was writing up the general storyline for this fic but I decided against the idea in the end as firstly, I felt as though it might take away from the story too much and secondly, I wouldn't even know what to put as a script for it. And lastly, two questions from Ryuuben. First up, will other RWBY characters appear in the story? No, I want the story to focus more on team RWBY's adventure's on Chorus and in my opinion at least, they have the most character out of the RWBY characters. And secondly, will we see a death battle between Ruby and Grif over cookies? I have no plans but, you never know, could change my mind. Now, on with the show!
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Chapter 7: Dust and Ashes
Ruby, Weiss and Yang stood in the small space they had taken refuge in after the fiasco at the security centre. Multiple crates surrounded the area, acting as a makeshift fort of sorts with three metre tall walls on all sides with a small hole a metre wide acting as the door. Ruby sat, huddled in one of the corners as she came to grips with the fact that they may never see Blake again, small tears streaming down her face. Weiss strode back and forth in their makeshift sanctuary like a lion in a small cage, never content with where she was standing. Yang leaned up against one of the walls, tending to her hand whilst also looking affectionately towards Ruby. First her mother died on a hunt, and now someone who was pretty much like a second sister to her could be dead. Yang then turned her attention back to Weiss and rolled her eyes as the Heiress continued to wander around.
"Just stand still already Weiss, you're making me feel dizzy." Yang said, shaking her head as she spoke.
"I don't understand, how is this even possible?" Weiss muttered to herself, completely ignoring Yang and continuing to walk in circles.
Yang let out a sigh as the heiress was still apparently stuck in her own little world. Realising that she would get nowhere with Weiss she turned to Ruby, who was still huddled but had stopped crying, her eyes raw from the tears.
"How you feeling Rubes?" Yang asked quietly. Despite the closed walls the 'fort' had, they were still in the city surrounded by soldiers, and this was something she wanted kept quiet. Ruby sniffed and wiped her eyes to remove any excess tears before turning to face Yang.
"Better, thank you..." Ruby managed to say, her lips curling slightly as she managed a smile. Yang also smiled, proud that her sister was getting stronger emotionally. When her mother, Summer, died on a hunt gone wrong, she had been crying for over a week. That doubled with the bad attitude had made life very hard early on. Yang was proud that her sister had grown so much over the past few years.
"Whilst I do agree that this is a tragedy and all, but I think we have bigger problems that require our immediate attention!" Weiss butted in, having finally ceased her wandering. Yang growled slightly as she turned to face the heiress, the anger she was feeling clearly displayed on her face.
"Like what?" Yang seethed, raising an eyebrow towards the heiress who met her hateful stare with a neutral gaze.
"Like your aura and semblance." Weiss replied. Yang simply froze, she had got her on that part.
"What about it?" Ruby asked. In all fairness, she too was worried about her sisters aura and semblance. Yang could destroy an Atlesian Paladin-290 faster than most military artillery could, yet a simple blast door did more damage to her than the actual door. Not to mention her struggle with the crates earlier.
"I think that something may be wrong with our Aura, and therefore, our semblance." Weiss stated, a grim look on her face. A look that was shared amongst her team mates. "And I think I can prove it as well." Weiss continued, turning to face Ruby. "How many laps do you think you would be able to do of this area?"
"Maybe about..." Ruby began, attempting to count how many she would be able to do before looking at Weiss with a sheepish grin on her face. "A lot?" Ruby asked, unsure of the answer herself. Weiss gestured for her to demonstrate, which Ruby readily complied with.
She ran at full speed in a small circle, her semblance leaving behind her trademark rose petals as she barrelled faster and faster. However, after a few laps, her speed slowed up to the point that her blurred shape simply started to take a form. Her movements becoming more sloppy up to the point that she simply just stood still, gasping for air as she fell forward in a manner that would have been comical had the situation not been dire.
"I swear...that...usually...never happens..." Ruby managed to say between her huge intakes of air. Yang helped her sister up who merely slumped against her for support.
"See? And I can guarantee that if I overused my Semblance, the same would happen to me." Weiss stated. Yang turned to face Weiss again, one thing that was gnawing at the back of her mind.
"I have a question, why is this happening?" Yang asked, Ruby nodded in agreement, unable to actual speak due to how tired she was.
"I honestly don't know." Weiss stated, a sad look on her face. "It could be anything from the gravitational pull of this planet to some cosmic event that cannot be explained."
"I have a question, what the fuck are you guys talking about?"a familiar robotic voice asked.
Weiss, Ruby and Yang turned to find Church standing, or more floating, at the entrance of the 'fort', cocking his head slightly.
"How much did you hear?" Weiss asked, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"Enough for me to ask the question." Church replied, turning to face Weiss as he spoke.
"You know, if your 'spying' on us, the spy is meant to remain hidden at all times." Yang stated matter of factly, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"I'm not here to watch you actually!" Church replied, causing Yang to blink in shock. "I'm here to deliver some news."
"What news?" Ruby asked, standing up slowly as Church spoke.
"We think we found Blake!" Church smugly replied. The reaction to that sentence was instant.
"Really?!" Ruby shouted, rushing up to Church with a burst of speed. "Where?!"
"I'll explain more in the War Room, we'll see you there!" Church replied, before disappearing in a flash of blue light.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! We're gonna find Blake!" Ruby shouted, barely able to contain her joy.
"I have to agree, it's good to finally hear some good news for once." Weiss concurred, nodding her head as she spoke.
"I have just one question," Yang said, Weiss and Ruby turning to face Yang. "Where the hell is the War Room?"
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Hours later
Ruby, Weiss and Yang panted as they entered the War Room. It had taken them ages to find this place, and were disheartened when they finally saw the room with their own eyes. The room had four metallic walls with multiple computer monitors on them, the largest one facing them directly with what appeared to be a geographical map of Chorus displayed on the screen. A large florescent light hung from the ceiling giving the room an eerie blue glow. All in all, it was pretty underwhelming. But the biggest disappointment was the one standing in front of them.
"Hello!" Caboose said, as the other Reds and Blues turned to acknowledge their arrival.
"Seriously?" Weiss asked, turning to her team mates to see the same disappointing look on their faces.
"What happened to your face?" Yang asked, pointing towards Grif who had a large crack on his visor.
"Yes Grif, tell us what happened!" Sarge threateningly said, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand.
"Errr… I slipped and fell?" Grif whimpered somewhat questioningly.
"Thought so..." Sarge replied, his body easing slightly as Grif continued to whimper.
"All right boys, that's enough!" the somewhat familiar voice of Agent Carolina shouted, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Carolina stood in one of the side doors, Church's small holographic form standing beside her as she was joined by Washington.
"Thank you for coming," Wash said as he walked into the centre of the room, joined quickly by Carolina. "Now, I'm sure there are a lot of questions-"
"Where's Kimball and Doyle?" Simmons asked almost immediately.
"Kimball is taking part in an assault on one of Charon's outposts while Doyle is inspecting the troops in one of our barracks." Carolina immediately replied. A wave of questions flooded the huntresses minds. Who's Kimball? Who's Doyle? Who or what is Charon?
"Well, I was going to ask if you could refrain your questions until the end but I'm just going to go straight to the point." Wash said before he turned towards the huntresses. "We think we found Blake."
"Will someone please tell me who the fuck is Blake!" Grif shouted, causing everyone to turn towards him.
"She's our friend, but I thought you didn't know where she was!" Ruby both explained and asked, turning to Wash for an answer.
"We didn't at first." Wash admitted before he turned to Church. "Epsilon, you take it from here."
"Right!" Church said, before he disappeared and then reappeared in front of the large monitor on the wall. "As you all ready know, you three appeared to us in a flash of light almost a day ago." Church explained as a short simulation played showing a flash of light appearing on the western border of the city.
"Booo! This movie sucks!" Grif shouted, earning a groan from the A.I.
"But what you may not know is that before that, a second flash of light appeared just before that." Church continued, another simulation playing of the flash of light appearing in a mountainous terrain followed by the one near the western border of Armonia.
"This is worse then a Michael Bay movie!" Tucker shouted.
"The CGI in this flick is worse then the Hobbit movies!" Simmons stated in a moody fashion.
"Which one, the original or the reboot?" Sarge asked, turning to face Simmons.
"All of them!" Simmons replied.
"I want more popcorn!" Caboose shouted immediately after.
"Shut up! This isn't a fucking movie! It's a simulation!" Church shouted in fury, the huntresses noticing his form changed from blue to black for a mili-second. Church sighed inwardly as he composed himself, "As I was saying," Church seethed before gaining control of his temper. "There were two flashes of light, one containing you three and the other containing what we believe to be your friend."
"We sent a scouting force out, but we lost contact when they entered the woodland." Wash continued, stepping into the centre of the room. "However, a few hours ago, one of our drones picked up this image."
The screen changed from the geographical map to an image overlooking the woodland. As the image became clearer, the huntresses noticed a familiar form running through forest.
"That's Blake!" Ruby shouted, unrelenting joy echoing in her words.
"Judging from her current direction, she's heading for the city of New Lincoln." Wash replied, the image changing to an image of a ruined city. "The city is large, but also abandoned. Whether she knows it or not is unclear, but it's a good place to start.."
"Unfortunately, we don't have the authority to authorise a military movement into the city." Carolina said, causing the huntresses to stop their small celebration and stare at the Freelancer with disappointment. "However, you're not military and therefore have no authority over you." Carolina stated, causing the huntresses to smile slightly.
"Meet me in the training room, and I'll go over a little tool you're going to need to get to New Lincoln and back." Wash stated, walking out the War Room, followed by Ruby, Weiss and Yang.
"So, why are we here?" Tucker asked, turning to face Church and Carolina.
"Well, they're gonna need an escort," Church stated, turning to address the gathered Reds and Blues. "So who wants to volunteer?"
Church was met with a deafening silence until finally Grif spoke.
"Dibs not me."
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New Lincoln outskirts
Blake wandered through the ruined city, taking in all the sights and sounds of the area. The city was nothing more but an empty shell of what it once was, ruined buildings barely standing and fires that appeared to be ever fuelled by corpses, creating a horrific stench that made her want to gag. The stench was also attracting local wildlife. A large lizard like beast almost as big as a Beowolf, tore at the carcasses, lifting it's horned head to hiss and roar at Blake before dragging the body into the surrounding trees. Crows flew over head, landing onto bodies and picking at whatever scraps they could. Blake wanted to shoo the birds away to show some form of respect to the dead, but she knew the crows were only following instinct and would return regardless.
She also took notice of the bodies surrounding her. Soldiers wearing different uniforms to the ones that had captured her. Some wore brown armour with splashes of sage designed in a camouflage pattern whilst others wore what was once white armour with sage stripes, the sun having turned it a pale yellow. Both were riddled with bullets and appeared to have been making last stands of some sort, leaning on sand bags and crates. But what horrified her the most were the ones without armour.
Many were women, with a few elders, but she could see the small forms of children amongst them. Many had already been stripped of flesh or had deteriorated rapidly, but some were still in the early stages of decomposition. She knelt before one of the dead, a small child clutching an elephant plush, her eyes wide in shock and fear whilst her once pink top was smudged in red blood, emanating from a single bullet wound roughly the size of a golf-ball. Blake closed her eyes as a single tear left her eye, before she closed the young girls eyes with her hand and continued to wander.
She saw multiple bodies, the civilian body count lowering as she got closer to the city centre. She spotted multiple propaganda posters, some of the white armoured soldiers whilst others of what she assumed were freedom fighter posters. She then came across a simple store with a smashed window, the sign overhead saying 'H. '.
Blake peered inside and found the store to be filled to the brim with books. Her curiosity got the better of her and she entered the store. She immediately began to look through the books, but was left disappointed by how badly the books had deteriorated, many crumpling to dust in her hand.
She winced slightly as she massaged her leg, her twisted ankle was healing itself but at a slow rate, as were the other wounds she had received from her 'hosts'. As another book crumpled in her hands, she sighed and placed what was left back on the shelf.
'It seems all that's left of this place is dust and ash.' Blake mused to herself, sighing before she turned to leave the store.
"She's definitely here! Spread out and find her!" a sinister voice shouted. A voice that was horrifyingly familiar to her.
She hugged the wall of the store and peered behind it, making sure to remain hidden. Outside were five soldiers, three men and two women. The women and two of the men were wearing the familiar armour that her captors wore, but the last one, which she assumed was the leader was wearing different armour all together. The armour was sharp and had a heavy theme of angles, particularly on the chest area. A thin black visor allowed him to see whilst multiple compartments on his armour housed what she assumed were throwing knives. Like the other soldiers, his armour was grey yet had an orange trim on certain areas. She had seen this one before, standing next to Locus when she first arrived at their outpost. And now, it appeared he was hunting her.
She couldn't stay for long in this place, they would eventually find her and she dreaded what they would do when they did. She spied a fire exit at the other end of the shop. She quickly moved towards it, making sure to avoid making any loud noises. She quietly opened the door and left the building with great haste. She found herself in a dark decrepit alley way, the shadows on one end taking the form of a person.
"I think I heard something down here." a surprisingly sophisticated male voice whispered.
"Check it out, could be her." a deep, thick accented male voice replied.
Blake quickly ran out the alley and round the corner as the sounds of heavy metallic boots drew closer.
"Nothing, must have been a cat or something." the first voice said.
"Keep looking, she's bound to turn up somewhere." the second voice replied.
Blake continued to move, sticking to the shadows and away from open cover. She had to get out of the city fast, or she'd be joining the departed soon…
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Unknown Alien Temple
The Space Pirates watched on as the White Fang were released from containment. Venomous were shot from both sides as the White Fang retrieved their weaponry, no one trusting the terrorists with the Charon Hybrid weaponry. In the safety of a nearby bunker, Locus and Torchwick watched, the latter having retrieved Melodic Cudgel from the pirates.
"I can guarantee you, that you've made an excellent choice my friend." Torchwick said, a smile on his charismatic face.
"We're nor friends!" Locus replied almost mechanically.
"Nonetheless, how about we forget all that 'interrogation' business and pretend it never happened." Torchwick suggested, holding out his hand in gesture of respect to the mercenary. Locus merely looked at the hand and then at Torchwick.
"If that will make you feel better." Locus replied, turning around and leaving Torchwick behind.
"Really not much of a talker are you?" Torchwick asked, lowering his hand and catching up to Locus. "I respect that!"
"Don't try and brown nose me Torchwick. After all, I'm keeping you on a short leash!" Locus threatened, stopping in front of a door and inserting a code. Torchwick merely gulped as Locus finished inputting the code. The door opened immediately, revealing a large room with multiple weapons stacked on the wall, ranging from Sniper Rifles, Pistols, Shotguns, SAW's and a Railgun. Locus removed the pistol currently attached to his hip and began taking the gun apart on a workshop bench before repairing at a record speed.
"Let's talk business." Locus finally said, turning to face Torchwick and leaning against the work bench. "You said you had information this...Blake and her friends."
Torchwick smiled as leaned against his cane. "What would you like to know about them?"
Locus crossed his arms and leaned forward slightly. "Everything."
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The hunt is on for Blake! Sorry if this chapter was a bit short but I guarantee you that the next chapter will feature some fight scenes! As always, have any questions you can just PM me or leave it in the review and in the mean time, post a review and constructive criticism is always welcome.
Raging Archon out.
