AN: Hello everyone, here's another chapter of my little story. If you haven't noticed, I've changed the cover of this story temporarily, might as well use something I personally created every once in a while. If you've got artistic talent and have something in mind for a cover, go ahead and send it to me, maybe I'll use it.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the rightful property of RoosterTeeth
Chapter 9: Opening Hand
"Expect the best, prepare for the worst."
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah
After breathing a large collective sigh of relief, the small group of naval officers had taken some time to regain their bearings and reassess their situation. Barely being able to stand on his own after utilizing his semblance to such an extent, Jaune was currently leaning tiredly on the troop transport, empty water bottle in one hand and his head in the other. Dealing with an excruciating headache, he inwardly cursed his semblance's hazardous potency, while intermittently thanking Oum above that it was his to freely use. It was a rather difficult and complex relationship in his life.
Interrupting his rather sardonic thoughts, however, was a small hand placed fondly upon his shoulder. He turned slowly to face its owner, finding a pair of fretful bright-green eyes watching him closely with a corresponding subtle pout.
"Jaune." Concern obviously laced deeply within her voice.
"Penny." He replied curtly, attempting to dispel the awkward atmosphere with a tilted smile.
Unfortunately, her pout only seemed to deepen at his expression, followed closely by an exasperated sigh. "Sir Arc, it has been an entire decade since we've worked together, and somehow you are still as reckless as ever…"
He chuckled nervously at her statement, finding a lack of rebuttals for the unfortunately true statement.
"I mean, jumping from a moving vehicle to another, operating your semblance on the roof of one, and entirely overlooking your physical limitations with little care for your own safety, have you realized your mistakes? Or must I go on?" Her eyes narrowed slightly in tandem with her question.
"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." He felt his back straighten unconsciously under her gaze and gulped nervously. Years of living with seven sisters had taught him to fear for his life whenever a woman narrowed her eyes at you.
Somewhat satisfied with his answer, Penny's expression and tone shifted drastically, as a sweet smile grew rapidly on her face, "I will admit though, that was rather sensational, even if I couldn't personally see it from behind the wheel."
"Reminds you of old times?"
She giggled at the question, eyes wandering lazily over the river. "The only thing I remember is a certain someone collapsing and fainting almost daily after training for an entire year."
He rolled his eyes at her words, before bursting out into laughter beside her. "I can't really deny that, but teasing? Wow, since when have you been able to do that?"
Penny giggled once again before answering, "You pick up a thing or two when you spend so much time with Ciel out of the field."
"Really?" He asked disbelievingly.
"Most definitely."
"What do you two do?"
"Oh the usual, we paint our nails, and try on clothes," she turned and smiled mischievously at him, "and talk about boys."
He began to laugh uncontrollably at her words, his image of the stoic Atlesean captain shattering completely at the seemingly impossible, but nonetheless endearing revelation. Soon thereafter, Penny joined him and the two shared a hearty laugh for quite some time by the riverbank. Who could've thought that a remote island of questionable Grimm population was an excellent locale for reconnecting with old friends?
After recovering and vehemently convincing Penny that he could walk by himself, Jaune strode towards the makeshift table surrounded by his party, some of whom were obviously locked in a heated discussion. With such volumes, he was sure the entire forest could hear them. After eluding the Goliath herd, they had taken some time to discuss their future courses of action; yet, even after what had possibly been all the time in the world, they were still unable to decide upon or even agree upon any sort of action. Although it could be partially attributed to the clashing of differing ideas and personalities of various members of the party, it had nonetheless been a mistake on his part when he failed to elect a second-in-command when nursing his blasted headache.
As he moved closer to the group, his headache returned with a vengeance. It throbbed angrily at the influx of volume as various voices were raised. Yang's voice was the loudest, followed by Weiss', and somewhere in between them was Ruby's, ironically attempting to placate them by matching them. Quickly entering the small circle, he walked determinedly towards the table and slammed his hands into it, garnering the immediate attention of the group and in turn, a brief moment of relieving silence.
"Stop. Just stop." He paused to meet each of them in the eye and sighed, "Now tell me what's going on before we all get swarmed by Grimm or anything else that lives here, because Oum knows that you've probably attracted the attention of anything and everything on this island." In the wake of his words, the group was silent for a moment, uncertainty flowing wildly as they exchanged discomfited looks with one another.
Nevertheless, someone did indeed overcome their mortification to speak, "Captain Arc, we were discussing our next course of action."
"Oh, I am well-aware of this Captain Rose, and so is the entire island," the woman flinched slightly at his words, "but please do go on."
"The team is split evenly between two possible proposals, both of which are entirely viable in their own rights."
"Yeah, and one of them is only viable to get us all killed." Flynt grunted out.
"HEY, YOU SHUT YOUR WHOR-"
"COAL, XIAO LONG, both of you shut your mouths, grit your teeth, and LISTEN." Jaune shot a deathly glare towards the duo, emphasizing the last word rather strongly as he did so. "Rose, continue."
"Well, considering what Weiss and Nora have told me, we have no way of creating another bridge to return to other side of the river." He nodded at her statement, both he and Weiss had expended a large amount of energy and resources to enable their escape, it would be incredibly unlikely that they'd be able to replicate the feat in the same day. "This side of the river merely leads to a sheer cliff face at the bay we first landed on, leaving us with one of two general options. Either we contact the ship and find our way towards another inlet large enough for a pickup and resupply, or we continue upriver to its source and double back on the other side."
"I agree that both are entirely viable for our next course of action, so what are your thoughts Captain Rose?"
"I believe we should contact the ship and find another bay for an evac." She said determinedly, meeting his eyes in a similar fashion.
"And this is where I disagree, Captain Arc." An annoyed voice interjected.
"Lieutenant Schnee, could you expand on that?" He raised an eyebrow quizzically at her, signalling her to begin her rebuttal.
The officer in question merely nodded, promptly acquiring the undivided attention of everyone present with practiced ease. "Well, first and foremost is the fact that during our initial sweep of the island, we were only able to spot three direct inlets into the island, one of which we utilized as our initial landing zone on the south side of the island. However, the closest inlet to us at the moment is approximately a hundred kilometres west of our current position and is a rather precarious cliff face. It will undoubtedly be incredibly difficult for any of our ships to dock there without proper equipment, let alone how long it will take to traverse the terrain over there. This leaves the last inlet we found on the north side of the island, a large bay approximately four hundred kilometres away from here. The fact of the matter is that we only have enough supplies for approximately three days of survival, possibly four if we are careful, and we cannot risk freely traversing unknown terrain without a plan. Our safest bet is to follow the river to its source and double back towards our initial site, as according to our initial sweep it should only take us a total of two days to do this. Then we can resupply and be better prepared to move further inland."
"Weiss, just listen to me for a sec-"
"Captain Rose, with all due respect, I do not appreciate you addressing me so casually." The Atlesean hissed darkly.
"HEY, NOBODY TALKS TO MY SISTER LIKE THAT!"
Jaune could feel the heat and fiery passion in the blonde's words, and so could the icy heiress herself. Weiss flinched slightly at the display of seemingly righteous fury, but rather than retreating, she folded her arms disapprovingly and returned the blonde's glare with one of her own.
Before their situation could descend into deeper madness, he stepped up and placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder and shook his head. The simple gesture seemed to calm the heiress down and she quickly mumbled out an apology to his relief, and to his greater relief, it was satisfying enough to placate the fiery blonde.
With a tired sigh, he turned to address the group as a whole, hoping to salvage the situation before it devolved further. "Alright, I understand that we are all under a great deal of stress under the current circumstances, but as experience has probably taught all of us, letting our emotions get the better of us is irrational and rather dangerous. So let's avoid any more outbursts, shall we?" Only receiving silence in turn, he slowly rubbed his temples and continued, "Captain Rose, you had something to say?"
"Yes, during our initial sweep of the island on the 'Hausmärchen', at the bottom of the cliff face mentioned by Wei- I mean Lieutenant Schnee, the sensors registered an expansive system with large dust signatures. These signatures imply that the cave system must be rather expansive and considering the average size of a dust crystal formation, it should be large enough for all of our vehicles to pass through. If we can an entrance from the surface, not only would we be reaching a viable evac point, but we would also be achieving our main objectives, confirming and assessing the presence of dust on this island, whilst also mapping out more of the island." The Valean captain spoke determinedly, regarding each of them with silver eyes that practically beamed charisma.
As Ruby concluded her argument, he immediately turned to face the group's resident cartographer, fishing for her assessment and expertise concerning the Rose's claims. He received a small smile in turn followed by a swift reply, "She is indeed correct, captain. The advanced sensors of the 'Sol' also registered the expansive opening at the bottom of the cliff, alongside the dust signatures. However, what Captain Rose's ship did not register on their sensors was the fact that the signatures were fluctuating rather than remaining at a constant. We were unable to come to a conclusion on why that may be and noted it as a possible point of investigation for a later point in time."
He nodded contemplatively and narrowed his eyes. "And why was I not informed of this?" Penny flinched slightly at the question, his voice unconsciously turning cold at the revelation.
"I-I-Cap-," she continued stuttering for some time before meeting his gaze and sighing, "Captain Soleil believed that it warranted further preliminary investigation before taking the risk of sending in a team. As you know, a large cave system with ample reserves of dust is an excellent location for a Leviathan's nest. Her ship is probably in the general vicinity of the caverns, and if circumstances have not been altered severely, she would currently be sending in a number of unmanned drones to scout the tunnels."
Jaune released another sigh for the umpteenth time today, steadily rubbing his temples again in slight frustration. "Very well, as much as I would have loved to be informed beforehand, this doesn't alter our situation too much, although, I will have to speak extensively about the importance of open communication in a collaborated effort to Captain Soleil when we return." Turning now to face the entire group, he gestured amiably and tiredly asked, "Does anybody else have something say?"
He soon came to regret those words, as a rather pleasant echoed from the parted tree line behind him, sending severe shivers down his spine, "If I may captain, I do have a suggestion."
Walking into the clearing by the river bank, Pyrrha raised a singular hand for a small wave while the other hovered readily over the hilt of Miló. "You know, for what I assume is a covert mission on behalf of the kingdoms, you are rather loud." As the words rolled off her tongue, she could scarcely contain the laughter bubbling within her when the blonde captain began throwing a number of deathly glares at the surrounding members of his team.
He steadily turned towards her, hand mirroring hers as it hovered over the hilt of the blade strapped to his hip. "Nikos, if you really wanted to see me again so soon, you shouldn't have left my ship." A few gasps were released all around, some at the reveal of her rather disreputable name, and others for the fact that she was present on an active Atlesean military vessel and had somehow remained free.
"I'm an avid believer that 'if you love something, set if free'." She replied earnestly with a growing smirk.
He scoffed humorously and rolled his eyes at her. "I don't doubt that."
"Look at that, we're making so much progress in our relationship already."
"If I wasn't so tired, I would be laughing," his eyes remained sharp and cautious as he attempted to circle her position, an action that she immediately followed, "but let's stop this sorry excuse for banter and figure out what you're here for, shall we?"
The two captains continued to circle each other, neither giving much ground to the other. It was a silent match of wills as astute cerulean-blues met defiant lilac greens. Sparks of various implications seemed to fly between the pair, only occasionally interrupted by the momentary glances either threw at the other's group of allies.
She was first to take the initiative and once again break the growing silence, "I'd like to make a proposition, captain."
"And what would that be?"
"Both you and I are working towards the same thing."
To her silent amusement, his eyes only grew warier with her statement. "And what are we working towards, Nikos?"
"Mapping the island," she stated, grinning knowingly at him, "and a few other things."
"Even so, I would still have to ask you to leave. After all, you are interfering with a sanctioned mission of the kingdoms." His voice was sharp, leaving little doubt on his position in the matter.
"Last time I checked, this island remained unclaimed and is free for all to walk upon."
"Point, but you are nevertheless a wanted criminal, alongside the rest of your crew."
She smirked humorously at the blonde. "Point, but exceptions can always be made for every rule, hmm?"
"Point, but you know what they say about Atleseans, we're real sticklers for rules." He replied dryly with a sarcastic wink. "Care to surrender?"
Unsheathing Miló, she smiled pleasantly at the blonde and shook her head, "Not today, captain."
"A shame then," he mirrored her by unsheathing his sword and shield, eyes remaining guardedly on her before a subtle smile grew on his face, "RUBY, NOW!"
At the corner of her eye, a red streak could be seen momentarily as an object whistled through the air from her flank and impacted the ground somewhere behind her. Shortly thereafter, shrapnel and dirt flew freely through the air with its detonation, forcing her quickly roll to her side. Feeling a large amount of force impacting the shield on her back from the detonation, she forced herself to swiftly recover and reassess her situation.
Everything had gone all to hell, as the snipers she left in the tree line had begun open firing after the detonation from what was most probably a grenade, while whatever crew she brought with her were now duelling furiously with various officers. To her utter dismay, they had completely lost the initiative when they were outfoxed by the blonde captain and his team.
It was a risky fight to take when they were outnumbered, but the possibility of gaining a form of ground transport had been much too tempting to simply ignore after they'd found the small group. Nevertheless, they had little opportunity to retreat now. It was all or nothing.
Racing to return into the fray, her eyes moved quickly through the various skirmishes throughout the battlefield, searching for the blonde captain. If they were to survive this, they had to cut off the head or more preferably, incapacitate it. Death had always left a bitter taste in her mouth, regardless of her career choice.
She spotted Sun and Neptune a few times throughout the battle, the duo fighting rather desperately against a vicious blonde and a stoic ravenette, a deadly combination of dexterity and brute strength. Standing close by was Sage with his sword, respectably holding his own against a trio of combatants with seemingly reckless abandon, but the calculative glint she spotted in his eyes have always told her otherwise. His blade clashed heavily against a mountain of a man's battle-axe before shifting slightly to parry a massive war-hammer aimed at his head. Swiftly shifting Miló into a rifle mid-run, she shot a number of bursts into the fray, gaining him a moment of respite as his opponent's rolled out of the way to dodge. Sage shot her a grateful nod as he resettled his stance, readying himself for the impending bout. She rushed away shortly thereafter to return to her hunt, resolving to return and assist him as soon as she dealt with the captain.
However, her progress was immediately impeded by a swift sword thrust aimed directly at her forehead. Dodging swiftly to its side, she retained her momentum and harshly knocked it away in an attempt to disarm her opponent. However, to her greater surprise, the blade was not in attached to its wielder's hand as it merely clattered to the ground and simply raised itself up.
Following its flight, she found herself face to face with her opponent, a smiling ginger-haired woman with a conspicuous pink bow holding her ponytail, and to her unreserved dismay, surrounded by a plethora of floating mechanical swords. Her opponent waved at her and spoke politely, "Salutations, Ms. Nikos. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise, Ms. …."
"Polendina, but friends call me Penny." A cheerful smile remained on her expression as her blades shifted to point towards Pyrrha.
"Well, Penny, could we perhaps do this another time?" Pyrrha spoke warily, raising Akuóu up to cover her abdomen.
She giggled at her response and smiled sadly, "I'm afraid not, Ms. Nikos. Perhaps in another life we could've been friends."
Chuckling dark, Pyrrha replied solemnly, "Maybe we'll find out someday." Lowering her centre of gravity, Pyrrha shifted her foot and rushed Penny with shield raised and sword at ready. It took only a moment to bridge the gap between them and she swung Miló for a horizontal slash, aiming for the woman's abdomen.
Contentment appeared in her gut as surprise momentarily shone in Penny's eyes at her display of agility, but it was quickly snuffed out as the woman matched her abilities with ease. Leaning backwards, Penny nimbly dodged her horizontal laceration and met the blade with one of her own. With a strong flick from her opponent, the move almost wrenched Miló directly out of her hand, forcing her to retreat and reset her stance.
However, she was given no quarter as Penny quickly pressed the advantage with a multitude of thrusts from her fleet of mechanical swords. They surrounded and mainly aimed for her joints intermittingly, ensuring a constant barrage of unpredictable attacks. Shifting her weight slightly, she swung her shield to knock the incoming blades away, while what was left was skilfully parried by her blade or slightly shifted by subtle uses of her semblance. She gritted her teeth in frustration as the swords merely returned to its wielder and restarted their assault.
Finding little advantage in staying on the defensive, Pyrrha knocked the incoming blades away and rushed towards Penny once again, swiftly closing in on her opponent. She unleashed a flurry of slices on the Atlesean, each barely scratching the woman's uniform as she nimbly dodged from side to side with relative ease. To her growing surprise, Penny ceased her movements and directly halted her blade with one of her own, this one actually held in her hand. For a moment, their blades pushed fiercely against one another, neither combatant willing to yield to the other.
Soon thereafter though, Penny broke the bind with a smile and shifted her weight to push Miló away. Once again, feeling her weapon almost wrenched out her own hands, Pyrrha spun circularly on her back heel and utilized the momentum in an attempt to slam her shield into her opponent.
Recognizing her intentions, Penny swiftly moved out of the way, just barely avoiding the full brunt of the strike. As she moved nimbly to gain some distance, she directed the swords surrounding her to restart their assault, now primarily aiming for her flanks and leg joints.
Gritting her teeth at the sudden shift of targets, she called upon more Aura to strengthen her body's natural defenses, shielding herself from whatever strike she could not dodge or block. As Aura flared around her body, feelings of frustration grew quickly in the pits of her gut at the seemingly endless barrage of sword strikes. Resolving herself, she once again rushed forward to meet the Atlesean.
The duo once again found themselves in close quarters with the other, as their respective weapons clashed viciously against the other, sparks flying wilding at every confrontation. Rather than a contest of strength, it was a deadly blade dance of dexterity and attrition.
She sent out a thrust, Penny parried the blow and countered. Blocking the counter with Akuóu, she pushed herself to deal a heavier strike at the woman's shoulder, one deftly held back by another of Penny's flying blades. Pyrrha continued her assault, utilizing every known combination of strikes, counters, slashes, and thrust in her arsenal, only for each to be halted and countered with mechanical perfection.
Finding little to no holes in the Atlesean's defenses, she slowly called upon more of her semblance. Initially, slightly altering the courses of incoming blades or strengthening her own actions, and now, stopping incoming blades midair or destroying them entirely, their duel had now grown to include both mind and soul.
She rushed once again with an upward slice of her blade, but it was again met with swift resistance, and most unfortunately, even swifter retribution. After her blade was parried once again, Pyrrha felt a precise kick impacting her gut, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her a good few metres away. Hitting the ground rather harshly, she rolled limply from the impact for another few metres. She coughed weakly in an attempt to right herself up from ground, easily finding the metallic taste of iron in her mouth.
At the corner of her sight, she could see black boots striding unwaveringly towards her. As her consciousness slowly slipped away from her grasps, she could scarcely register the dying sounds of battle and the words of a singular voice, "Under the authority vested in me by the Kingdom of Atlas, Captain Pyrrha Nikos, you are under arrest for your various crimes against the four kingdoms…" Soon thereafter, the comforts of darkness enveloped her.
AN: Well that was rather eventful, and before you scream at me for whatever happened in this chapter, let's talk about it shall we?
1. Penny is a difficult character to write in my opinion, but one that I really enjoy. In canon, she's essentially a child in terms of emotional age since we can obviously see that does not have regular friendly human interaction, so it is difficult to tell how she will mature. I had a bit of fun maturing Penny by a decade in this chapter, hoped you enjoyed it to some extent. If not, please tell me why and how I can improve upon this.
2. Pyrrha's plan seems a bit shoddy and somewhat of a convenient plot device you may say, and to that I say, you're probably right. However, I'd just like to say that she did not come into this with the plan of getting ambushed, she was supposed to ambush Jaune's team and take an FAV, that was her original plan but then Ruby (she's aware that Jaune would never just casually work with her at this point). Like they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Moving on, her fight with Penny seemed a bit one-sided, well that's kind off the point there, Penny is a battle android that was able to match Pyrrha in canon with probably half of Pyrrha's battle experience with relative ease, given a decade of real-life combat, I wouldn't be surprised if she became virtually unbeatable in this case (at least until Pyrrha realizes that she can manipulate her entire being with her semblance, which she did not realize here).
Well as usual, leave a review, whether good or bad. If you liked it, consider giving a follow or fav, and all in all, good day to you all.