Authors Note: Man, did this chapter take half a year to make. I apologize for the lengthy wait, writer's block and the fact that I'm instilling a new policy of 10-page. I also spent a lot of time putting better paragraphing to amend the past issue of dialogue.
WARNING: Gore warning during this chapter, if you don't like reading extremely gory material, I suggest you skip past this chapter.
After lunch, our crew were just sitting around the dorm. They still had to show up for the last class, but they weren't supposed to participate, due to the fierce battle against the king Taijitu earlier that day.
"I still don't see why you guys can't participate," Dusty said, yawning afterwards before continuing, "I was the only person to sustain any real damage from the fight."
Miguel was reading the poems he got from the book store, he stopped reading and started replying "Well, Dusty, the professors don't know that." Dusty looked at him before answering back, "They can check our aura levels, they have scrolls too you know."
While this debate kept going on, Aquila was talking to Devon about random things, "So, have you heard about the ASA, they're apparently gonna be shut down, as they violate basic human and faunus rights." Aquila asked Devon, "Yeah, the Atlas council say it's for the good of the Atlas people, but they never cared much for faunus so I guess that makes it basic human rights in Atlas terms." Aquila shrugged, "Sounds like something Atlas would do."
Nothing particularly impressive happened at class, but rather at Dinner. For once in his life, Dusty was actually willing to talk to people other than close friends. He'd gained some notoriety at the table for being very quiet.
He still didn't very often, but he was still more talkative than normal. Miguel made fun of him for being more willing to talk after making amends. Dusty just gave him the glare anytime he pointed it out. Aquila was talking with Devon, this time about more complicated matters, while Miguel talked to Team RWBY, and Dusty talked with Team JNPR as it was the first time Dusty was willing to talk to them.
Everything was going well, until a certain team walked by and started talking trash. Cardin started, "Hey look! It's the scum and his team, shame they still aren't good enough to really earn their spot here." Dusty was the first to turn and talk back, "And yet your team still is allowed into Beacon." Cardin looked back at Dusty, "What was that, punk?" Dusty said it again even louder, Cardin asked for clarification, with an edge, Dusty calmly replied, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you lost to Miguel, so if we don't belong here, neither do you by extension." Cardin only got angrier, "That was one match! You've done nothing but lose over and over again!" Dusty intervened, "But you're only remembering the matches against Yang, I remember defeating Mercury in a battle. That would be accurate, correct?" Jaune attempted to intervene, warning Dusty that Cardin only wanted to start a fight. Dusty looked at Jaune and spoke, loud enough for Cardin to hear, "I'd only try to pick a fight with someone I think I have a chance at beating. In Cardin's case, I am picking a fight, because I know I'm better than him." Team CRDL then left, with Cardin fuming. Dusty smiled, he knew what tomorrow would hold in store for him.
The next day had a very boring start, Dusty was eager for time to advance, for he knew that today was gonna be an easy day for him. At lunch, the standard fare of previous days continued, Devon and Dusty talking, Aquila talking with Team JNPR, Miguel talking with Team RWBY. After lunch, Team MADD was relaxing in their dorm room, Dusty was for once absolutely joyful, and everyone knew why.
At the arena, Dusty wasn't smiling anymore, but rather maintaining a frown, Miguel asked why the frown, Dusty replied, "You already know why I'm fighting today, you just also need to realize that I still have some anger against Yang, so I'm gonna take it out against Cardin." Miguel clearly approved of this as he smiled and turned back to look at the stage.
Professor Goodwitch walked on stage and asked for any volunteers, Cardin unsurprisingly raised his hand and immediately voted to fight Dusty. Professor Goodwitch didn't think much of how odd of a fight it was. At the locker rooms, Dusty started thinking, -Focus, you need to unleash your anger, think harder. Concentrate on making your opponent kneel before your wrath- Dusty walked out onto the stage, noticing Cardin's smirk, which only made Dusty even angrier.
"Begin!" the announcer shouted.
Dusty wasted no time in dashing straight at Cardin, longsword activated, Dusty was slashing and attacking with ruthless aggression. Dusty's anger died as fast as it came though, and soon he realized how fatigued he was after his strikes. -I'm making the same mistakes I made last time I fought Yang. I don't have the energy to continue fighting though- Cardin stood up and smirked, "So I guess that rage you have didn't last long enough to beat me, shame I was looking forward to a good fight." Dusty stood back up, staggering a bit, before glaring at Cardin, "If it's a fight you wanted, then you challenged the wrong person." Dusty now had a strengthened resolve to beat Cardin, and found himself even angrier than before. He dashed at Cardin, launching several strikes at Cardin, who just blocked them. Dusty wound up for a vicious blow, but as Cardin moved to block, Dusty swapped the hit to a guard break, staggering Cardin.
"Now pay the price for your actions!" Dusty shouted as he ended the fight with a flurry of strikes. After the fight Dusty calmed down in the locker room as he thought to himself -I beat Cardin, but that doesn't prove anything. I need beat someone of equal ability. This is a question for a later date, right now I can rejoice in the peace following the storm-
As Dusty returned to his spot amongst the crowd, Devon merely smirked with only a few thoughts to be kept to himself -Well played, Dusty, but I could do better than that much faster as well.-
Professor Goodwitch asked for another Volunteer. Devon raised his hand, "Following my teammates example, I believe I can do better than that, so I volunteer." Professor Goodwitch started flicking through her scroll to find an opponent for Devon, all the while Devon was thinking about how cool he is.
"How about Jaune Arc from Team JNPR?" Goodwitch asked.
"Sounds like fun." was Devon's response, as he walked down the stair, he put as much swagger into his walk as possible. Once he was in the locker rooms, he had an idea, -So this Arc guy isn't the finest of fighters, meaning I have an advantage. I should take this opportunity to seem much stronger; how am I gonna do that, simple, sheer force.-
The two walked onto the arena and took their spots, once Goodwitch called for the match to start, Devon started running at Jaune, while Jaune was distracted nonetheless. He landed the first hit on Jaune and got a good amount of hits in before backing away, Jaune snapped back to reality and took a defensive stance to block incoming attacks. Devon rushed at him and Jaune retaliated with a shield bash to give some room. -Alright, so he's not as helpless as I thought, let's try getting around that defense- He rushed at Jaune again, this time sliding past Jaune and firing a round point-blank at Jaune's back making him stagger forward a little, he kept alternating between shots switching between his two tonfas and the rounds he was firing, he took a small pause to reload, giving Jaune enough time to turn around and resume the defense,-Easy, I just gotta slide past him again- As Devon did the same stunt again, Jaune turned around the moment Devon slipped past and hit him directly forcing him back.
-So he really isn't as dumb as I thought, or as weak as I thought- He had one final plan, rushing at Jaune, he made it look like he was gonna slip past, but he instead stopped himself from sliding and Jaune took the bait and turned around, allowing Devon to win the fight from there.
When he got back to the locker room, he got back into his uniform and walked back to his spot in the crowd, smirking like he was the king of the world.
Professor Goodwitch called for one last Volunteer, Yang raised her hand, Dusty thought, -atleast I've already fought today, so I'm not the one getting punched- "Miss Opal you've not participated in many events this year, perhaps you should participate in this?" Professor Goodwitch looked to an overlooked part of the bleachers where some interesting folks were sitting. Miss Opal simply smiled and said, "Sure" and when she stood up, Miguel acted nonchalant, Devon whispered loud enough for his teammates to hear, "Damn girl." Dusty was confused about what made Goodwitch think that this would be a balanced fight and Aquila didn't have a reaction or maybe he did but his hood was up and we couldn't see his face.
As the mysterious Miss Opal prepared for combat, -So then, what's gonna make this fight interesting? First off, I'm facing an opponent that's received a lot of attention recently especially amongst that new team, what was the name, Team HPPY or something like that? Screw it, I can still win this.-
She stepped out onto the arena, awaiting her was Yang already ready to fight. Professor Goodwitch called out to both sides if they were ready, Both sides simply nodded in agreement.
-FIGHT BEGIN-
Yang dashed forwards and landed a couple good hits off before being pushed back. Yang thought -A Scythe like my sisters, but it's firing a different projectile. Shotgun slugs of all the things too- Her thought was cut short by another shot being fired.
Miss Opal was firing round after round, missing, but keeping Yang on the move, -It will be easy from here- she activated her Semblance, Time Stopper, and froze Yang in place for long enough to land several rounds on Yang before the effect wore off.
She failed to account for one thing though, Yang's semblance still triggered even when frozen in time, giving Yang the edge in the fight. Yang's newfound strength and speed allowed her to land a few hits on the hooded figure. At this point, the hood fell back and revealed the pink hair of Ebi Opal.
Meanwhile in the bleachers…
Upon seeing this, Devon was even more surprised, Miguel still didn't care, Aquila was being Aquila and Dusty fainted from seeing the pink hair. "So Dusty does have a weakness for something." Miguel said nonchalantly looking at his passed-out comrade.
Back to the fight, Yang was forcing a swift victory and the fight didn't last much longer than 5 minutes post-semblance. After the fight, Ebi was thinking to herself, -So then, she's certainly stronger than she looks, maybe the Team HPPY thing was right to be so keen on watching her-
After Sparring was dismissed, Team JADE joined the table containing the actual Heroes (RWBY and JNPR) and our not-so-great "heroes" (MADD) and after a brief bit of introductions, most people were talking to Team JADE, except Dusty because he was too busy being anti-social.
Devon was being an egotistical failure, if only to try and impress the new team, but they had already seen his lack of combat ability. Ebi was clearly not interested in him, but he didn't seem to take the signs. Devon was still going on, "So yeah, I'm pretty great since I fought a King Taijitu head-on." Miguel intercepted him there, "You did so on my orders, and Dusty had frozen it completely, hardly a fair fight." Devon kept on, "Miguel, stop ruining the moment." "Remember last time you tried to pick up a girl? You were almost killed on the spot."
Dusty and Aquila just looked at each other, and raised their glasses filled with juice, Dusty started, "Anti-social truce?" Aquila shrugged, "Sure" The toasted for good luck.
Afterwards, The teams split off to their dorms, Miguel was preparing for bed, Aquila was already asleep. Dusty was listening to Devon's chatter about his plans to get Ebi, which led to chaos after Dusty heard some of the plans. "You can't just expect her to appreciate you after risking your life for no reason." Dusty started, Devon followed up, "Certainly better than your gentlemanly habits." "Well, I didn't stalk a girl because I couldn't approach her." "Dusty you don't even talk to girls, you shouldn't even have a say in this." "I don't talk to girls because they'll drag me into their drama, I speak when spoken to and that's my limit, no reason to fight pointless wars." "You want to see pointless wars? Go back to Atlas, I'm sure you'll be great use in their infantry."
Dusty spoke softly at first, but repeated louder at the confused looks, "That's exactly why I left, I don't want to be a pointless tool, they said my semblance has the potential to help, but it's just a tool of war. No good comes from it's use, just more bloodshed and pointless fighting." After Dusty vented his anger, Devon shut up and went to sleep, thinking he actually found a way to anger Dusty. Dusty slept, but didn't get much sleep due to the constant recurrence of nightmares.
The next morning, albeit a wednesday, The students were given a break since the Vytal Festival was so close. Naturally, Miguel woke everyone in Team MADD up and announced that he was going to be in Vale today. At Breakfast, Miguel left for Vale and Aquila led the remaining team to the table. Weiss noticed a distinct lack of Jaguars and asked where Miguel was, Devon responded, "He said he was gonna be in Vale today to take care of some business." Weiss looked confused and shrugged it off, "Whatever, today was going to be training for him and Dusty but I guess I'll have to find some sort of replacement." Afterwards the teams converged to the sparring arena for training. Dusty walked up and asked Weiss, "So I know you're gonna make me do physical training, but who is a replacement for Miguel at this point?" Weiss looked at him, "How much do you like pain and suffering?" Dusty was a bit taken aback by this question but responded normally, "Enough to fight Yang twice apparently." Weiss looked up to the stands before speaking again, "Pyrrha, could you come down here to help Dusty train?"
In this moment Dusty knew he made a terrible mistake. "Weiss, you do realize I can't beat Yang and you're making me fight an even tougher opponent, right?" Dusty nervously spoke. Weiss looked back at him nonchalantly, "You always complain about a lack of drive from Miguel, so why not make you fight an opponent with some actual drive to win?"
In Downtown Vale, Miguel caught up with Mercury and Emerald who were walking around town. Miguel called out to Mercury, "Hey Mercury!" Mercury and Emerald stopped and looked back to see Miguel catch up to them. Mercury looked confused, "Miguel, why are you here? I thought Weiss would be training you?" "I took the day off, so I came here to find you since I still need training." "Ah right, so I take it you have found some more information?" "Yeah, Aquila has a very interesting story. He's an assassin from Mistral who has the semblance capable of making him blend into his surrounding environment." "That explains his silence and why he carries enough stuff to be a one man army." Miguel started training with Mercury again, with Emerald throwing in some remarks every now and then.
Dusty was in the locker room taking Ocular out of the locker, and he also took out a bracelet he put in there a few days before his last skirmish with Yang. -This Bracelet should help me test something out with my vision earlier-
Dusty was preparing himself for the coming battle -Weiss, if I go to the hospital or even the infirmary because of this, you will pay for this- He stepped onto the arena, only to feel less pressure to perform well in combat, likely because no one had expectations of him winning.
-SPARRING BEGIN-
Dusty instinctively took to his normal fighting routine, throwing hit after hit, but he noticed he was missing a lot. His consistent missing led to a lot of pointless damage, but he noticed that one of his swings was like the one in his vision and he went to pull his sword back to deflect Pyrrha's oncoming attack only to notice a distinct amount of forward momentum on his blade. He knew he didn't swing that hard, -So, she has a semblance that allows her to control metals, almost like a magnet- Dusty jumped back and switched to lance and put the gun side right next to the wall, -I don't think this is how gravity works, but whatever it works- As Dusty propelled forward like a rocket he threw Ocular forward and ended up behind Pyrrha through well-timed dodging, he grabbed her by the face and threw her forward before firing 8 cryo rounds at her.
-She should be frozen now, but I can't see due to the amount of smoke in my face from the rounds- When Dusty regained vision he noticed a circle of ice along the wall, -How in the hell did she do that while mid air- Dusty looked at his bracelet and saw an orange glow, -So that's 45 percent Aura remaining for me, better kick up Aura consumption to strike power conversion- he then realized that Pyrrha's semblance would not allow that to work easily, -Miguel, I'm taking a page out of your book- He charged at Pyrrha and used her shield to jump behind her and kick her in the head, much to everyone's surprise, even Dusty didn't expect that to work. "Hey Weiss, I surrender! A miracle just happened and I'm not tempting fate any longer." Dusty exclaimed after that display of luck, much to strange looks from Weiss. He then was proceeded with the task of doing 1500 push-ups from Weiss. In one day.
Miguel was back on the ship before lunch and was heading back to Beacon Academy. Once he landed, he walked over to the Amphitheatre. Once he walked into the Amphitheatre, he immediately noticed Dusty doing push-ups with Weiss yelling orders at him, -Dusty fucked up this time, I just know it-
-88 89 90- Dusty kept on doing push-ups until he inevitably fell at 97, as he always did. This was always followed by being yelled at by Weiss for being so weak as Miguel could do more. Dusty never used it as encouragement as he knew his limit wouldn't push him much farther than that unless he was angry, which he wasn't.
After training team MADD met together to get some dinner with the other. While walking there, Dusty was first to speak "Miguel, what were you doing in vale today?" "I was just doing some errands." Dusty thinking to himself -strange Miguel usually waits until we have a day off.- Team MADD approached the dinner hall and soon after got their food and approached the table as usual, when they approached Weiss glared at Miguel, "Miguel, why were you not at training this afternoon?!" Miguel knowing he fucked up, "Weiss, I had some errands to run." Miguel turned to Blake, "So I got your message, and what did you find." Blake in the middle of eating her tuna fish sandwich looked at Miguel. "Well it would be better to show you and the others than talking about it since it is of utmost importance and could jeopardize the safety of Vale if we don't investigate."
Without a word, they all get up and leave, heading out the door. They boarded the airships to Vale, prepared for the journey ahead. Miguel spoke "Blake are you gonna give us more information on what you found." Blake retorted "you will see when you get there."
Dusty walked up to the two of them and looked at them, "Wild cats shouldn't be causing trouble to those who knows the shackles of life, right Kitty?" Blake gave him a very rude look and looked at Miguel. "I didn't tell him, I swear." Miguel said in his defense.
"He's right, I'm just very perceptive, after all I need to look for trouble somehow" Dusty calmly defending his friend's innocence on the matter. Blake just walked away without a word. "You know, she really does act more and more like a cat the longer we know her, I wonder what would happen if I locked a bunch of cat faunus in a room and threw a ball of yarn in there." Miguel then proceeded to change the subject, "What's up."
"Those kicks you've been performing, you're learning them from Mercury aren't you?" Dusty asked inquisitively, "No, I'm just doing what I remember my father doing, it's just an odd coincidence I'm sure of that much." Miguel responded, "Miguel, that man, Mercury, he isn't trustable. He's got evil in him, I could tell from the way he fights."
"Dusty, you're wrong, he isn't a bad person." Miguel tried to reason, "Miguel, he's offering a deal only if you provide him something of equal worth. He's involved with whatever is gonna happen today, I can tell you only one thing, 'Watch the shadows and don't show mercy, I doubt that helps." Miguel noticed Dusty turned and walk away, but Miguel still needed to shout something, "Dusty, that was two things!"
Once Dusty had retreated back to the corner that he hid in, Blake walked back to Miguel. Miguel looking at Blake asked, "Blake did you hear what we were talking about?" Blake simply retorted, "nope."
They landed at the docking station in Vale, all on the airship left quickly so the people who needed to go back to Beacon wouldn't wait long. The crew of 12(RWBY, JNPR and MADD) used the shroud of night to escape the walls and start the trek to wherever Blake was leading them. Miguel and Dusty were in awe at what they saw outside of the kingdom, Miguel thought to himself -Wow this is an amazing site compared to the city of vale, but the only place I really want to see is Menagerie,now that would be interesting.-
Blake stood at the head of the group, and stopped, motioning for everyone to move up. Blake had taken them to see an abandoned looking building that had two white fang grunts guarding the entrance. Blake motioned for Aquila to follow her, the two snuck around and took out both the guards with swift strikes.
Soon after the others approach the entrance, Miguel was the first to speak. "Ok Blake, what is the plan now that we are here?" "We're gonna clean this place out, check to see what they're planning here." Blake responded quietly, "What if we meet resistance?" Dusty asked, "We respond with force, they won't take kindly to our intrusion." Miguel simply said, "Tallyho, then."
They entered the facility and looked around, being careful to not alert the enemy of their presence. However, Devon was being an idiot and decided to look for a lightswitch, which blew the cover to the moon and was probably the reason it shattered so many years ago. Several White Fang grunts looked over in the direction that the crew was standing, everyone drew their weapons, except Dusty who stared back at them and pretended to be a tree.
The grunts charged forward, easily outnumbering the small group, but the skill gap was immense. The three teams fought consistently and took Blake's advice to heart, retaliating with immense force. Grunt after grunt fell unconscious, shortly thereafter a brief conversation arose over the amount of White Fang grunts.
During the battle miguel noticed a peculiar looking grunt. -Wait that is not a grunt, that must be one of those so called lieutenants I've heard of.- Miguel goes to help Dusty out with a group of grunts using div in its sheath for blunt force he sweeps the leg of one grunts grabbing the hood and throwing him into his allies and firing his sheath-gun and pressing on. Soon after with everybody's efforts all that was left was the lieutenant, "Guys let me handle this man." Miguel spoke, "That's rather cocky, Miguel." Devon said trying to change Miguel's mind. "Trust me on this." Miguel said drawing Div's blade looking at the man he charges ready to strike but the man reacted striking with a left kick knocking div out of his hand "FUCK!" Miguel yelled as the pain was sharp -that leg isn't natural.- Miguel moved his center of gravity low as he moved balancing on his hands to sweep the man's leg but the man was quick and countered the attack moving to strike Miguel with another left kick aiming for his temple muttering "Nice try kid." Miguel moved to block with his forearms the sheer force knocked Miguel back, he recovered and got back on his feet charging past going for a left kick with all his strength -remember no mercy- he strikes hitting the man in Craniocervical area. The man fell limp dead before Miguel "it's over but this man, he was remarkable." Miguel moved the body over forgetting about the others as he removes the mask. "Wh..what, n..no Father, why, why, WHYYY?!" Miguel pulled away looking away from his father and his friends, -This can't be real, he can't be here, how how, how did the white fang get to him, how?- Miguel looked over at the incoming white fang.
Miguel charges roaring "BASTARDS!" Striking one of the white fang in the throat with a left kick then stomping in the exact area with all his might, he continues one after another. Dusty soon realizing that their is no end he moves in to help Miguel take out a grunt calmly saying "Miguel get out of here and take the others with you." Without hesitation he moves evacuating the others. Miguel thought to himself -No, I'm not gonna leave Dusty behind I already lost someone for the second time I'm not losing another!-
The White Fang grunts cornered Dusty, "Well done, Bravo, it only took about 100 of you to corner a weakened huntsman in training, how do you idiots suspect to actually take on real huntsmen if you can't even beat an inferior one without large numbers." Dusty said nonchalantly and focused. One of the grunts responded, "Shut up, we have you beat." Dusty immediately had a spark of interest in his eyes at that remark. "I'm afraid not, my friend." He pulled out a bottle of Red dust he had stored in his pocket and poured it onto his blade before igniting it. "If you're so confident you have me beat, then come at me with everything you have, if you hold back even a little I will know and I will butcher every last one of you."
One of the grunts charged at Dusty and missed his slash, that grunt then received a vicious slash across his back with a flaming sword. "Good, my blade was getting a little thirsty after the lack of serious fighting." Dusty charged headfirst into the horde of grunts on his right and started slashing all around, causing severe burns and a lot of bloodshed. He noticed the grunts on the left side were starting to get tossed around frequently. -Who didn't evacuate?- He didn't have much time to think due to the intense amount of grunts still attempting to fight him regardless of the amount of bloodshed all around.
Miguel charged straight back into the room after giving Devon the order to make sure everyone was okay. -Dusty, be ok my friend.- approaching the horde he lunges to attack using his hands snaps the neck of one grunt moving to the next throwing him into his allies using his sheath-gun he fires luckily it pierced through them so he presses on going to assist Dusty.
The two friends jumped away from the fray and stood back-to-back, "Miguel, why did you disregard my order?" Dusty inquired, "Why did you decide to fight 200 armed grunts on your own?" Miguel said, "I'll repeat it again, why did you disregard my order?" "Because I am your leader, oh yeah, when did you dye part of your clothes red?" "I didn't these guys did." They both jumped back into the fray and started taking out grunt after grunt, Miguel scattering the limp bodies of the grunts across the room and Dusty leaving his half of the room looking like a Quentin Tarantino film.
After the fighting, Miguel was looking over at Dusty as he fell to his knees from exhaustion. "Dusty are you fine?" Miguel asked his very red-looking friend. "I'm fine" Dusty looked up and immediately shouted, "MIGUEL BEHIND YOU!" "What?" Miguel turned around and got slashed by a sword, ripping up the front of his clothes and knocking him back. "You kids are more trouble than it's worth, consider it an honour to die at my hands." The Lieutenant said calmly before walking over to where Dusty waited helplessly. "Wait, why can't I move my body?" Dusty looked up and noticed that his 'executioner' was frozen in place.
Miguel rose slightly bleeding from his wound as he looked onward he said calmly, "Is this what you call an execution, my father could do better." Approaching the Lieutenant he gets near his father's body taking the mask and donning it for this moment "fits nicely, and please forgive me father." As he moved taking the Lieutenants blade he slices the backs of his knees and slashed at his Achilles tendon releasing him so he can fall then paralyzing him again. Standing behind the man he raises the blade, "FOR MY FATHER!" He roared as he slashed down ending the man.
Dusty witnessed this event and calmly stood up. "Miguel, you showed that man a swift death, I commend you on that." Miguel looked over at his friend, who was almost coated in the red coloration of blood. "Perhaps you should be dubbed the red gradient as well." Miguel smiled, and Dusty couldn't help but smile, "We survived that ordeal, but I personally think given that action, I deserve a slight amount of respect."
Post Chapter thoughts: Feels everywhere, Long project times, schoolwork and various things interfering with this chapter's production led to a different chapter than what I was initially planning. But that other plan would've stuck for like 5 chapters straight, so it's a good thing we stopped that idea before everyone complained about cliffhangers
