Chapter 10: Sunrise
Yang and Roland stood ready for any advance by the bandit boss. He walked closer to them, his hand on his weapon, but then stops and relaxes. "Ya know, I gotta hand it to you two!" he says, cracking a smile and chuckling. "Ya both are real skilled taking down my gang like that." He faces Roland, "You, blue. Ya real smart in following us back to our camp, sneaking around to free blondie over here, and gettin' away!" He faces Yang, "You, blondie. Ya real strong since it took my whole gang to capture ya and lock ya up!"
"Your point?" Yang asks, clearly annoyed.
"What are you getting at?" Roland warily asks.
"Instead of fighting," the bandit boss says, "how 'bout we team up? Think about it! With all o' our skills combined, there'll be no one that could stand in our way! All the riches in Mistral could be ours! Whaddaya say?"
"Hmph!" Yang says, getting angry. "If you think I'll join a scumbag like you after how you treated me, you're just crazy!"
"I agree with Yang," Roland said. "After how you treated her tonight, you think I'll join you? How many lives have you ruined? I'll die before I join you!"
"Heh, wrong answer," the bandit boss said. "Then again, I was kinda hopin' ya would refuse. That's because..." He paused and the smile faded from his face and transformed into a huge frown. "NO ONE GETS AWAY FROM ME! MY PRIZE HAS NEVER BEEN TAKEN FROM ME!" he shouted, anger etched into his face. "I'mma take my time killing ya, blue, as slowly and painfully as I can for taking my prize! And you blondie, I'mma take my time enjoying ya before I kill ya too!" He says as he licks his lips.
Yang is disgusted and gets angrier at him. She begins to charge at him but feels the tug of Roland's hand holding her arm. "Wait, don't just charge in blindly," he says. "Remember how we fought the Grimm the other day? Don't worry, you'll get your payback."
Yang remembers and relaxes. "Ok, what's the plan?" she asks.
"I'm not sure how he fights. You have any insights?"
"Hmm. Looking at him, I think he would be more of an aggressive fighter, like I am. I can see it in his eyes, they have a wild look."
"I see. Alright, first, we keep our distance to see what move he makes. Attack from afar until he comes up close. Once that happens, you counter him up close and I'll watch your back. It'll be just like when we faced that Alpha, and like before, we stick together."
"Got it. I can get you some glue if you want to stick together," Yang says with a wink.
"Really? A pun now?" Roland says while rolling his eyes.
"Hey, stop mumblin' over there," the bandit boss says. "Let's get to the part where I kill ya." He gets out his weapon, a single long-barreled pistol, begins to take shots at Yang and Roland. "Incoming!" Roland shouts as he blocks the rounds with his shield. Yang counters by firing shots from her Ember Celica but the bandit boss simply dodges them. He then fires back at Yang who is forced to dodge the shots. He gets ready to rush at Yang but instead dodges an energy wave from X-Calibur. Yang then fires off more shots that are simply dodged and blocked by the boss. Roland charges his sword again but swings it several times releasing several small energy waves. The first few are dodged but the last one hits! The bandit boss stumbles upon the impact and stumbles again and falls over after a few hits from shots fired from Ember Celica. Yang discovers that the rounds were earth dust rounds since they had an impact like a rock. The boss gets up, dusts himself off, and gets an angry look on his face. He presses a button on his gun and a knife emerges were the barrel was. He then rushes at Yang, blocking any shots with his blade. "Here he comes!" Roland shouts and takes a defensive position.
Roland blocks the strike and Yang follows up with a punch. The bandit boss blocks her punch and flips backwards dodging a parry from Roland. The bandit boss attacks again, this time going after Roland, who blocks the attack. Yang follows up again, but the bandit boss punches her in the stomach. He then arcs his attack upward to break Roland's defense and kicks him, sweeping him off his feet. Yang and Roland recover and counterattack. Yang punches, but misses. Roland covers the opening she left, delivers a parry that is blocked, and is locked with the bandit boss. Roland then lands a kick in the gut, followed by a punch to the face by Yang that sends the boss to the ground. He recovers and attacks Yang. She dodges the attack, and Roland follows up with a parry and lands a clean cut. The boss recoils and is punched to the ground by Yang.
The boss retreats and says, "Alright, playtime's over." He pulls out a chain, changes the knife to a gun, and inserts the chain into the gun's barrel. The chain is then charged with the same energy as the shots from his gun and he whips it around. Yang fires off a few shots that are promptly blocked followed by an electrifying hit from the chain. She is taken off her feet and is dazed for a few seconds. Roland blocks a followed-up hit with his shield and counters with a wave from X-Calibur. The chain is whipped to block the wave and comes around to counter but is blocked by Roland yet again. Yang gets up and rejoins the battle. The boss turns and sees a boulder and his face brightens up. He wraps his chain around the boulder and, with incredible strength, hurls it at Roland. "Roland! Look out!" Yang calls out. Roland has no time to dodge and raises his shield. A loud "clang" is heard from the impact and the boulder breaks to pieces and dust is kicked up. "Roland!" Yang shouted and the boss begins to laugh, assuming he won.
The dust clears and Roland is still standing, his shield still raised up. The boulder didn't even scratch his shield, and he moved only a couple of inches. "Whew, that was heavy..." he said dusting himself off. Both Yang and the bandit boss are amazed at the durability of Roland's shield and the fact that he blocked the attack. The boss snaps out of it and lunges at Roland, continuing a chain onslaught. Roland blocks and dodges and makes his way back to Yang. "It's a little tricky to read, but there's a pattern to his strikes," he said. "He likes to go for the torso, the feet, and then the head. He'll alternate if one fails, and don't block with your arms or he'll wrap you up in his chain! He leaves an opening between attacks, so dodge them and counter!"
"Got it!" Yang replied. "It's time for him to join the chain gang! Heh, get it?"
Roland simply groans at the bad pun and puts away his shield. "What are you doing?" Yang asks.
"I attack and dodge better without a shield," Roland says. "It's my offensive strategy. If we both go on the offensive, we should be able to land more hits." He grasps his sword with two hands. "Let's go!"
"Yeah! Now we're talking!" Yang says. The two advance and dodge the first attack from the bandit boss. Roland deflects the second with his sword and counters with an energy wave. The boss dodges only to find Yang up close to him as she lands a punch. He staggers and counters. Yang dodges and follows up with another punch that is blocked and the boss finds Roland behind him and is slashed by X-Calibur. The two continue this pattern and begin to overwhelm the boss. Roland then creates and opening for Yang and she prepares to deliver a decisive blow. As her fist approaches the boss, she suddenly sees Adam Taurus take the boss' place and wavers. The image fades and the boss then dodges Yang's punch and counters with a kick followed by a whip of his chain. Roland follows up but is hit by the chain as well. The two are sent backwards and fall to the ground. Yang shakes her head and dusts herself off as she gets up. What happened? she thought. Why did I see... him? She shudders a bit at the thought. She then sees Roland get up and dust himself off and get back into the fight. No, I have to help Roland. I can't worry about this right now. She also gets back into the fight. They perform the same strategy and this time Roland is set up for a decisive blow but hesitates when he also sees Adam Taurus in place of the boss. The image fades again and the boss wraps his chain around Roland, shocking him with the energy for a bit and throws him into a nearby tree. The impact snaps the trunk and causes the tree to fall. "Roland!" Yang says as she rushes over to him. "Are you ok?"
"Ow. That hurt," he says as he gets up and brushes himself off. She looks at him, clearly worried. "Relax I'm fine," he reassures her.
"Hey lovebirds, over here!" the boss shouts as he whips his chain at them. Yang and Roland dodge the attack. Roland then asked,"You're Yang right?"
"Uh, yeah," she replies. "You don't have a concussion do you?"
"No, I'm just making sure I'm not hallucinating. It's strange, when I attacked that bandit boss, I saw Adam Taurus take his place for a moment."
"Wait, you saw him too?!"
Roland is surprised by Yang's response. "Is that why you hesitated earlier?"
"Yeah. I thought I was hallucinating too."
"Hmm. Let's try again and see what happens. I want to confirm a theory..." The two engage in battle once more, and the same thing happens again. The two fly backwards and fall to the ground from a strike. "It happened again," Roland said.
"Yeah, it happened to me too," Yang said.
"Then I think I can confirm my theory: it's a semblance of some kind that incites fear by showing the opponent the person or thing they fear most to cause hesitation. Why it appeared for an instant, I'm not sure except that it may use a lot of aura."
"Alright, so what do we do?"
"Steel yourself and face your fear. Don't worry, I've got something that will give us the edge here."
"I don't know," Yang says and shudders. "Adam Taurus is the one who cut off my arm. I don't know if I can face him..."
"What'sa matter? Give up?" the bandit boss says.
Roland puts his hand on her shoulder. "Adam Taurus slashed me across my back and almost killed me. I'm scared too," Roland said. "But you're not alone, so we'll face our fears together." Roland then smiles. Yang smiles back and gets ready. "Alright, let's do this! The kiddie gloves are comin' off!" she says and hits her fists together, activating her semblance. Roland takes his hand off Yang suddenly and shakes it. "Ooh! Hot!" he says.
"Heh, if you can't take the heat, then go home!" Yang says with a wink.
"Watch me," Roland says as he readies himself. "Like before, I'll create and opening and you nail him."
"Heh, it will be my pleasure!" The two advance once again. Roland deflects the chain and creates an opening for Yang. She sees Adam again as she closes in but steels herself with a yell. She lands a big hit that causes the boss to recoil. Roland then follows up behind him, steeling himself at the sight of Adam, and touches the boss on the shoulder. Roland retreats after blocking an attack as Yang comes in. She notices Adam fade and the boss returning as she hits the boss several times and sends him flying into a tree after the last hit."Gwaah! What?!" he says before hitting the tree. He sits there with his head hung low. Urgh... the boss thought. My semblance didn't work?! Did blue figure it out? I'll hafta put more aura into it. He then gets back up. "You gotta be kidding me!" Yang says.
"Man, he's tough," Roland says. Then, both she and Roland see five Adams that begin to approach. Yang stands there, not knowing what to do. Roland closes his eyes for a second and opens them again. Yang notices that they turned blue and the Adams began to fade away, leaving only the boss. "Follow my lead," Roland said to Yang. He then looked confused and afraid as if the Adams were still there. Yang follows suit and the boss gets a smug look on his face, thinking he has the upper hand. Yang noticed a mark on the boss, the same as Roland's emblem, that was also glowing blue. The boss prepares to strike, and Roland says, "NOW!" He and Yang advance and catch the boss off guard as Roland cuts him, setting Yang up for the finishing blow. She punches the boss into the ground, kicking up dust in the process. As the dust clears, the boss is seen in a crater, motionless. The boss then stirs and staggers to his feet, holding his right arm, panting. "Give it up, you're beaten," Roland said.
"What... the hell... was that?" the boss says, completely out of breath.
"That's not important. Just give up, there's no need for further conflict."
"No... Never... No one... STEALS MY PRIZE!" The boss charges at Roland with his chain ready. Roland then gets out his shield and blocks the attack. Yang comes from behind him as the two deliver a simultaneous strike. The bandit boss falls to the ground, clearly dead before he hits. The battle was won.
Roland then puts away his shield and sword, twirling his sword in his right hand before putting it away. His eyes returned to their normal color and the mark on the boss vanishes. Yang's semblance dissipates and she walks up to Roland. "What was up with your eyes and that mark on that guy? How'd you stop his semblance?"
"All of that?" he replies, "That was my semblance. I'll tell you more later, but let's get out here for now."
"But-" Yang began but then stopped herself, remembering what happened earlier. "No, you're right. It's not safe here."
"Precisely." Roland then looks and sees something down the path. "Hey, look. Does that seem familiar?"
Yang looks and sees the sign at the fork of the path from earlier. "Hey! It's the sign!" she exclaimed. "Wow. Who knew we came so far? I was so busy fighting to notice."
"Yeah, me too." Roland looks at the sky and notices it brightening up. "Yang, look." She looks up and the two see the sun coming up over the horizon. "Wow, sunrises are so pretty," she said.
"The night must turn its darkest before the day breaks and light returns," Roland poetically said.
"Wow, that's... beautiful Roland."
"I'm glad you're alright. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to share this with you."
"Aww, that's sweet Roland. Thanks for rescuing me, you saved my life."
"I only did what any friend would do," Roland said.
"Really? We're friends?" Yang asked.
"I would hope so. I don't have many these days."
Yang is astonished by the statement and begins to think. "Yeah, friends," she says while smiling.
Roland smiles back and says, "Come on, let's go. We should reach at town soon if we follow this path, but let's change the sign before we go. I don't want others to share in our experience last night."
"Yeah, let's do it." The two of them fix the sign, mount Bumblebee, and take off down the path.