To the death pt.2: Devotion
The four Huntresses-in-training had pushed against Adam's sword for a few seconds, before the young man let out a roar and sent them flying back.
"FREEZERBURN!" Ruby commanded on reflect, hoping against hope that her teammates were still able to keep in tip-top shape.
And her hopes were answered.
Like clockwork, she and Blake jumped away, allowing Weiss to summon a sheet of ice on the floor before Yang punched with all the might in her artificial arm, creating not only a mist of cold fog, but sending some debris as well.
Adam snorted and continued his way through the fog.
"You think a little fog will save you from my, dearest Blake?" He shouted as he tried to sense his ex-love and the three girls she had abandoned him and their cause for.
Team RWBY had retreated into the next room over.
"Explanation." Weiss demanded. "Now."
"He's my former mentor in White Fang and first love, he loves shedding blood, I went to Meanguire to try and find out what to do, learnt he was going to attack the White Fang leader and this party, came to warn you." Blake hurriedly said. "Did you get all that?"
Ruby nodded as she began to choose her ammunition for the upcoming fight.
"Why did you run?" Yang asked.
Her partner's question hurt Blake more than the stab wound Adam had given her
"Answer." Weiss demanded. "We are not going through another bit like when we first learnt of your…less than stellar past."
Blake looked down at her feet, being unable to come up with an answer. And this apparently did not sit well with her leader.
"We're a team, Blake!" Ruby snapped. "If one us is in trouble, then we help them! You know that!"
"I was trying to protect you from him!" Blake said the only thing on her mind
"By pushing us away?" Weiss asked. "You're just like Jaune was!"
Despite the tense situtaon, the teammates did get a slight rleif in comparing themselves to the blonde knight, when Adam suddenly leapt through the fog, determined to take the heiress' head.
However, he was to be disappointed. With seemingly some effort yet not as much as she thoyght she;d need, the young heiress summoned a white Boartusk pushed him back. While shocked, he quickly dealt with the creature.
"We're having a meeting, can you just wait one Oum-cursed minute?!" Weiss snapped at the Faunus.
Ruby chuckled at her partner's reaction, remembering Jaune had done something similar back at the Vytal Fest.
"I'd say you're only the second worst redhead I've ever met," Weiss sighed. "But that would imply Tourchwick was worth praise of some sort."
"The one thing we can agree on Schnee." Adam snorted, only to be taken abac when Ruby shot a lighting infused Dust bullet that shot off one of his horns.
…
For a full minute, Adam did nothing. Then he touched where his head had been.
"I'm going to kill you." He promised Ruby.
"Same here." Ruby retorted as she raced to attack the man who'd hurt all of her teammates in some manner.
That's when Weiss and Blake noticed something; Ruby wasn't aiming to take down Adam.
She was aiming to KILL him.
As their blades clashed and she dodged bullets, Ruby never let up her glare and kept aiming for vital spots.
This man had hurt and scared Blake, along with countless others. Attacked Weiss' home. Claimed to fight for a just cause when all he did was cause bloodshed. But worst of all? He had taken Yang's arm and nearly destroyed the closest bond Ruby had.
And before all this, he had implied he'd hurt Kitaliya if he got the chance.
If there was one thing that could be said about Ruby Rose; if ANYONE messed with those she loved…she would stop being nice. And the two years/weeks she had spent on Earth had drilled it into her head that if she wanted to keep people safe, sometimes people had to die.
And in this case, she had no problem with that.
"Fight psycho ex-boyfriend now, talk later." Yang snapped as she raced to aid her baby sister, her two teammates still unsure what was going on, but knowing they had to help.
Speaking of which, Adam finally seemed to recognize Yang, who stopped when he made eye contact with her.
"I see you got a new arm. Pity I'll have to destroy it again."
"I'm not scared of you anymore."
"You should be." Adam smirked evily.
Yang was a little scared; she'd admit this much; this was the man who had taken her arm. His smirk still haunted her dreams…
"YANG!"
Ruby delivered a brutal punch to Adam, who tried to slice her. Seeing this, Yang snapped out of her funk and raced to aid Ruby.
Adam sound found himself of the defensive as these two human sisters started pushing him back. HIM! A Faunus, being pushed back by mere humans!
The two sisters delivered a brutal punch to Adam's neck which sent him skitting back. The Bull prepared to fire but Ruby swung Crescent Rose at him, forcing him to dodge, before he felt two arms wrap around his neck and himself being flung to the ground before he heard the clicking of a gun.
With an enraged roar, Yang let loose weeks of nightmares and trauma onto the person responsible.
"May not have done a lot…but Adam did it feel good."
"..God damn it Yang." Blake sighed, a smile on her face. "That was actually funny."
Weiss didn't comment she had to admit she'd missed Yang's puns, but there was a time and a place; fighting a homicidal fanatic was not the place. She turned her attention to the intruder.
"I know you have your reasons for your actions." She said. "And I know that my death would help. But you hurt my friends….and that, I cannot forgive. Defend yourself, because you will get no mercy."
Adam seemed to relish that thought before Bake, the only teammate who had stayed alittle back, threw her kusanagi at him, grazing his cheek.
"BUMBLEBEE!" Ruby commanded.
Yang grabbed the whip and let herself be spun around the room, gathering up speed and heat. Adam aimed to shot her, but a red scythe came swooping down and blocked his scope, forcing him to sheathe
Yang delivered a brutal punch that sent Adam skirting back and cracked his mask.
"Okay…THAT felt way better." Yang smirked.
The Bull was left groaning just long enough for Blake to wrap her whip around the White Fang leader's ankle and send him skywards, giving Ruby enough time to issue another command.
"LADYBUG!"
The Cat Faunus recalled her whip before joining her leader in leaping and slashing at Adam in multiple directions, culminating his suit's sleeves being cut off and his the suit itself finally starting to be tattered. His weapon's hilts gun was also began to show cracks and damage.
"CHECKMATE!"
Weiss switched with Ruby and began attacking Adam alongside Blake. The now clearly battered bull was starting to have trouble blocking their blades, but he managed to jump back and fire three shots they back flipped to avoid. Adam then dashed towards Weiss, determined to at least kill a Schnee and prove why he deserved to lead White Fang over that slow-poke Khan.
With a roar filled with no shortage of anger towards her former mentor, Blake used her whip to send the redhead flying throughout the room, crashing through walls, paintings and furniture and forcing his aura to compensate as best as it could.
The Schnee manor's foundation began to crumble and the room the five were battling in was soon little more than rubble. Adam glanced down to see his aura was in yellow
"So…still think I'm weaker with them?" Blake smirked at Adam before jumping back with her friends. He grit his teeth and charged, Yang meeting each strikes with her fist
"We need to slow him down." Weiss mused, giving her partner a knowing look with a smile. Ruby smiled and declared:
"ICE FLOWER!"
The Bull Faunus, having finally built up enough power (not as usual, but enough), unleashed his semblance to destroy the coming blast of Dust, bullet and large debris. But even in his current state, he could only stop one blow; soon Adam's feet were encased and ice and was losing feeling in his exposed arms.
"He's mine!" Ruby snapped as she dashed forward
He then rushed towards the young leader, his brow rising from under his mask when Ruby put Crescent Rose away and leapt over his head, shouting:
"Hidden Bullet…KENMAKEA!"
A side-kick to the face nearly sent the White Fang leader to the ground and caused a crack in his neck, but he didn't stay there for long
"UNEBIKO RYU!"
Ruby's fist, surprisingly not much weaker than Yang's, met Adam's sword, and the Bull smirked thinking he could absorb this blow…And then his weapon broke. Ruby's attack sent him flying to the roof of the room, where the White Fang Commander grit his teeth in pain
Ruby was now falling in a spin towards the White Fang officer, whose spinning head barely managed to make out:
"INZEN KOKUTEI BURST!"
The Silver-eyed girl's foot made contact with Adam's head and forced their combined weight down through the floor. They fell through the floor, and the floor below them…and the one below that one, where Weiss was sure the cars were being kept.
"…Yang." Blake and Weiss said together after a minute of silence. "Explanation. Now."
Yang was too shocked to respond; she knew Ruby and Jaune had been put through hell on that new world…but what the heck happened to make her baby sister turn into someone like this?
The remaining members of Team RWBY jumped down to the floor where the attack seemed to stop, with their leader standing in front of Adam's downed body, which was now on the inside of what remained of one of Jacque's cars.
With her foe seemingly knocked out, due to the pained groans escaping his mouth, Ruby turned and smiled at her teammates, taking them into a hug.
"I missed you guys so much…" She teared up
"..It was only a few weeks." Blake smiled weakly, returning the hug along with Yang and Weiss
"For you guys." Ruby mused. "For me, it was two years."
That brought p so many questions for Weiss and Blake, but they were too happy
"…If only you'd been born a few years sooner."
Team RWBY tensed, their reunion cut short by a familiar voice.
"…and not as a filthy human."
They turned to see that Adam had leapt to his feet, blood dripping his mouth and nose as anger burned in his eyes. His aura was almost depleted, but this seemed to only make him stronger.
"…He always was persistent." Blake mused.
"You! Red." Adam panted as he reached for what remained of his sword. "What's your name?"
Ruby frowned.
"Promoter Rank 275. Leader of Team RWBY. Former Third-in-Command of the Tendo Militia of Tokyo, Earth. Ruby Rose."
Adam didn't understand everything that had come out of the silver eyed girl's mouth, but he was able to discover a few things; she was indeed the leader of his ex-love's team and skilled enough to be considered leader of a militia. The blows she landed on him showed him she was strong not only in her 'naïve' ideals but strength as well.
"You would've have been a great Huntsmen." Adam confessed. "You could've done it…"
His brow furrowed, and RWBY knew that any sanity that the bull had had was now gone.
"But I will not lose here! I need to save the world, and I will do whatever it takes to do so…Even if it means killing you, beloved."
He then reached behind his back and pulled out a whip with two spikes at the end.
"Look familiar, Blake?" he smirked evilly.
The Cat Faunus didn't respond as the five raced towards each other again.
And this time, Team RWBY knew they would finish the job.
RWBY BB
Feet clashed and legs were blocked as Jaune and Mercury raced up the tower of the mansion, determined to end the other's life.
The assassin could honestly say, he was actually having with this fight; to think the Spartan changed this weakling into someone who was actually pushing him back. Not bad for someone who had only killed few Ursa..and such viciousness.
Then it hit him and he smirked
"What?" Jaune asked as he and Mercury parried punches and kicks, the blonde dodging Mercury;s gales and bullets like it was second nature.
"You've actually killed, haven't you?"
The fight paused for a second, as if Jaune was remembering something…and by the look on his face
"Oh my Oum! You did!" Mercury beamed. "And not just those monsters that Watts was telling us about. You've killed people who couldn't fight back."
A smirk crossed the assassin's face as Jaune's face hardened.
"So, how'd it feel? Did you cry or laugh?"
Jaune stayed quiet
"Oh come on, at least tell me if I'm right."
Jaune clenched his fist and stood in silence for a good minute.
"Yeah." Jaune confessed. "I killed people on Earth."
Memories of THAT night filled the blonde knight's memory; how he had felt so strong to hold life in his hands, how those animals had begged for him to spare them after what they did…and how he never lost a wink of sleep over what had happened...until Kagetane revealed he knew what the 'golden Arc lad' had done amid their final battle with Aldebaren's forces.
Mercury smiled.
"Finally! Someone who's not afraid of a little blood…So tell me, did they beg? How'd you do it?"
Jaune's fingernails were now dirtied with blood
"They deserved it." Was all he said before landing a punch in Mercury's face.
The assassin smirked; he was aready enjoying this fight; now blondie was angry and distracted. And without Cinder to tell him to hold back…
He'd wanted to use this on the Spartan, but he guessed her leader would do.
"Let's kick this up a notch, huh blondie?" Mercury smirked, a little surprised when his comment seemed to bribg Jaune out of his funk.
"…That was so bad, it makes Yang's sound like poetry." Jaune mused.
RWBY BB
Yang sneezed.
'I don't know why,' she thought to herself, 'but next time I see him, I'm going to give vomit boy the biggest hug.'
RWBY BB
Mercury ignored Jaune's comment and clicked his heels together, summoning his feet;s secondary feature; two daggers.
"Been a while since I brought these out." The assassin mused. "Not since my old man."
"… I'm going to stab in the dark and assume he wasn't the best guy?" Jaune asked, which seemed to anger Mercury.
"Not all of us get loving mommies and daddies, Arc. Still up for this? I'd love to reunite you with Spartan, but something tells me you got a reason to life."
The mention of Pyrrha Nikos made Jaune's blood freeze and boil, but he maintained his composure.
"Why Mr. Black…are you trying to opt out? Didn't you just say you were glad I don't mind shedding blood?" Jaune reminded the assassin. "Besides…."
Jaune unsheathed his sword, taking Mercury by surprise when the assassin saw the famous white blade was now black as Jaune's artificial leg.
"With this, the blood won't even touch Corcea Mors."
His brow furrowed.
"And you hurt Ruby."
Mercury smirked as he beckoned Jaune to attack. This was getting interesting.
"This is for Penny."
RWBY BB
Kitaliya and Emerald were matched in terms of strength and speed
An idea came to the theif; something Mercury had told her:
'No matter how good someone is, they'll never hurt the one they love the most.'
Emerald activated her Semblance, smriking at what she was putting the young Wolf girl into.
"K-ki…"
Kitaliya froze.
She knew that voice….
No.
It couldn't be.
It' couldn't be!
Her beloved sister on the floor, bleeding and crying
"RUBY!"
Kitaliya raced towards the image of her Promoter, who was bleeding out and crying…and glaring at her.
"Why didn't you save me?"
Those words made the 10 year old freeze, and she saw the loving care in Ruby;s eyes was now replaced with nothing short of hate and disgust.
"I should've let you die!"
Kitaliya's eyes began to water.
Emerald smiled evilly as she prepared to rend the wolf-girl's head from her shoulders….This image had been used to motivate Cinder and had quickly become one of Emerlad's favoirtes if for no other reason than to imagine the little girl in pain and allievate some of her anger for hurting Cinder.
When Cinder heard she'd used it to hurt Ruby through this brat, she'd shower her with praise like she did that day so long ago! She was just about to claim victory…..
She was so absorbed in her daydreams, she didn't notice Kitaliya had sniffed the air, and her eyes had hardened.
"See ya, brat!" Emerald declared, delight in hurting Ruby trough this kid gleefully obvious…only for the scythe to graze her and cut off some of hair. If Emerald had been a second slower, she would've been killed…
This took the thief for a spin: She knew she had created the illusion perfectly, so why did the rbat attack?
"The hell?! I KNOW you saw Ruby! Why the hell didn't you…?!"
She was cut off by Kitaliya's face; a stoic and cold as could be, and her glare was focused solely on Emerald.
"Ruby…would never do that." The Wolf Model growled, her anger clear. "I love her too much to see her suffer."
And it was at this moment that Emerald Sustari knew….she'd done fucked up.
Kitaliya pressed a button on her weapon's handle, and the blade burst into flames as she began to charge
"Let's finish this."
Realizing her mistake, Emerald switched her weapons to pistol mode and began firing at the blur tat raced towards her.
"I'm not dying here, brat!"
She barely has time switching back to kama mode just as Kitaliya brought her flaming Scythe down. Their blades clashed and blurred once more, and Emerald found herself losing ground.
Bits of fire singed the devoted follower of Cinder, but she ignored them as best she could.
Kitaliya suddenly put her weapon away, and Emerlad remembered anoth tactic Mercury had mentioned; drop the weapon and go in for an attack.
With rage clear in her voice, Kitaliya roared:
"ROKORO KABUTO!"
The wolf girl's fist greeted Emerald's stomach and sent her flying backwards, only for Emerlad's scent to move further away. The young girl turned to see the green haired theif attempting a retreat. Without a second thought, she shifted her scythe into spear mode and tossed it.
Emerald fell to the ground in pain as she tried to remove the spear and escape the hellish child she had been fighting, but she was too tired from fighting and blood-loss. Her weapons were gone she was at the mercy of a little girl who hated her.
It was just like before…But this time, no one to save her.
Kitaliya dashed after her enemy as swung her weapon as fast and as powerfully as she could.
"Die."
Without even glancing at her, the Wolf-Model slit the thief's throat open, then burned out her eyes…all in the span of a second. She then sniffed the air and dashed off towards another battle.
As a tearful Emerald's world went black and the light started to fade, only one word escaped her thoughts:
"C-Cinder…."
RWBY BB
Tyrian was fast. Not as fast as Ruby, but still fast enough for Pyyrha to have trouble getting a lock on his with her rifle. She'd opted for her sword and shield mostly for this fight
Just then, Tyrian's ponytail suddenly started moving, and seemd to race towards her. Pyrrha leapt over him to see the hair had a stinger on the end.
So, he was Scropion Faunus.
"Not bad…" Tyrian grinned evilly. "You're only the 2nd person to dodge my tail."
Pyrrha gave the praise no mind, spinning into the air to deliver a weaker Shokua Hanabishi that Tyrian managed to block, although it did crack the floor.
"A little kick in you, eh?" The insane fighter gleefully chirped
"Why else do you think I addressed myself as a Horse mod…?"
Tyrian leapt with his blades, with Pyrrha managed to block with her spear, only to be forced back when Tyrian began shooting at her, her shield bouncing off the majority of the shots.
Pyrrha chastised herself for falling for the 'talking in battle' trick; this guy may have been crazy, but he was also good. Probably just as good as Kagetane, if not maybe a bit weaker. She couldn't take chances.
Tyrian back flipped into Pyrrha's personal space and stood on his hands to attempt to deliver kicks, which Pyrrha managed to deflect with her rifle before opening fire onto him.
Which was what she wanted; the Horse-Model had been trying to find the madman's 'rhythm', his fighting mannerisms and patterns of attack. Admittedly, he was a lot harder than anyone else she;d ever fought, but she picked up a few things; he liked using kicks and would often shout before making a mad dash.
And with this last exchange, she got what she wanted.
'I got the rhythm down!' Pyyhra realized, and soon the fight became a little easier, with her bobbing and weaving between attacks and slashing at the man's clothes. Ramming her shiled into his chest when he;d gone to block a sword strike, she then went in for a move that Ruby, Kisara and Enju had praised her, yet Jaune and Rentaro hated:
She slammed both of her feet into Tyrion's 'important place', sending him flying and moaning on the ground.
"Now if you'll excuse me." Pyyhra said as she attempted to leave the room and finish the mission her Initaor/brother had asked of her.
However, she was stopped by the sound of someone leaping down and a poucnh that sent her to the ground, her weapons now out of reach and a VERY mad Tyrian cracking his knucles and joints as he prepared to end this fight.
"Little…bitch!" Tyrian whimpered in pain. "DIE!"
RWBY BB
Unknown to the two, someone watched the fight with interest and concern. They had finished dealing with the Grimm and esocruting the civilians away
Not again….
The tail grew closer to the little girl's neck.
Not again….
Pyyrha closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, trying to drown out Tyrian's laughter with memories of her big brother, Kitaliya, Ruby, Ren and Nora.
"NOT AGAIN!"
Tyrian was sent flying backwards and landed on his feet, grinned madly at the two newcomers:
An enraged Ren and Nora, their weapons at the ready and standing in front of the little girl he'd been fighting. Nora let out a roar before dashing at the madman, who did a handstand and kicked away all her attacks before leaping over Ren when he tried to slice at him.
"RUN!" Ren ordered as he let Stormflower's bullets race towards Tyrian, who laughed at the two huntsmen in training's attempts to fight him. "GET TO JAUNE! WE'LL HOLD HIM….!"
Nora was sent flying into Ren. They hit a wall, and Tyrian raced to deal with them before Pyrrha leapt between her Initiator/brother's team-mates pushing her arms forward in what seemed like a fruitless attempt to protect them.
"NO!" Ren and Nora screamed in desperation while the scorpion brought his arms down, sadistic glee in his eyes and the tips of his blades made contact with Pyyhra's palms
The little girl smirked as her foe's weapons made contact with her palms, and Tyrian suddenly let out a scream of pain.
"MY ARMS!"
His aforementioned limbs now dangled, but the determined follower of Salem attempted to kick the brat out of the way.
In hindsight, a bad idea; as the leg he used suffered a similar fate.
Nora and Ren's jaws dropped.
"How…?" The Valkyrie asked.
"Well, you have electricity control, Ren has his barrier…" Pyrrha explained with a smile as she now nonchalantly rose a backhand that made contact with Tyrian's chest when the scorpion attempt to body-slam the girl.
"My Semblance…is impact reversal."
"..So, like Yang's, but the other way around."
"Pretty much."
Tyrian, growling and hissing, managed to get onto his one good leg and leapt towards a window before he turned and smirked:
"Until we meet again. And we will, little mare."
Using his only good leg, the Scorpion Faunus leapt through a window, cackling madly as he plummeted downwards.
The three members of JNPR dashed to the broken window and glanced down, only to see a long fall into a lake…and no splash or indication that the maddened Faunus had hit the bottom.
To be continued…
Rea and review, would ye kindly?
I know you readers probably have questions about what happened to Jaune, and this chapter has probably risen more. I assure you, the chapter after next, all shall be revealed. And not to worry, Black Bulley fans; Tendo Civ Sec will be jumping back into the story soon, give or take a chapter of two.
Next chapter will see the end of RWBY vs. Adam, the Katagiri siblings vs. 'Banesaw' and a familiar face popping up. Hint; no one wants him on the other guys' side.
Once again, feel free to offer plot suggestions.
Have a good one!