Hey, I know it's been a while but while there are no excuses for my absense, there are reasons behind it. I should have dedicated more time to this, and after returning to it after a terrible sickness, I finally feel that I'm ready to come back. Now I also have something else in the works, but I'm still in discussion about that. Funny thing is that this was written quite quickly, literally today the second of October. I prefer writing in these more miniscule set of boxes and creating more of them than the larger boxies I used to write in. Frankly it makes writing easier for me, but if you have any suggestions or critiscm, HMU, I'll be glad to listen and hopefully improve because of it.
Part Two: (Battle of the Harbour)
Ruby and Cassie took off running towards the harbour which was about a half-kilometre away. They had been looking to replenish their dust supplies before the explosions started. Fortunately, the two kept their weapons on them, so there was no need for backtracking. As they neared, more explosions sounded. They resonated throughout the air, not powerful enough to cause tremors, but it did mean they were nearing. The girls needed to get there, quick.
"We're getting close Ruby. Get Crescent Rose ready, we might be in for a fight," said Cassie.
"Got it," said Ruby, unholstering her beloved scythe-sniper. Cassie brought out her gun, ready to rain fire if needed.
As they neared the harbour, the explosions stopped, but it was replaced with gunfire. The Atlesians Winter had brought had posted themselves in a position to eliminate the imminent threat, alongside the Mistrialian military. As the duo arrived they caught a glimpse of Winter and went after her.
"Winter, what's happening?!" asked Cassie.
"Yeah, it seems pretty bad," said Ruby.
"Your assumption would be correct. A fishing vessel appears to be sought after by a warship. We do not know what that warship contains, but we do believe it intends to cause harm, so we will not allow it to do so. The issue as of now is that none of our forces have the resilience of Hunters apart from you two and myself, therefore I believe that it would be best if you were to extract the passengers aboard the fishing vessel while we keep the warship at bay," said Winter.
"We got this, right Ruby?" asked Cassie.
"Yeah we do!" the reaper exclaimed, "Let's go save some people!"
The two sprinted over to the dock, weapons holstered as this was an extraction mission. The target was a sizeable fishing boat, yet it was tiny when compared to it's predator. From what they could make out, there were three passengers.
"Okay, we have to get onto that boat," said Cassie.
"Yeah, I can carry two people with my semblance, so you'll grab the other?" asked Ruby.
"Will do," said Cassie retrieving an Opal dust crystal, placing the receiver on the dock, and loading the activator into a socket in her palm, specially made by Opal. As Ruby grabbed her two passengers, Cassie dashed over to the boat as it had finally come near enough for her to reach it. By then Ruby was already on the dock waiting for her return.
She combat-rolled as she landed, looking for the final passenger. She saw them at the wheel of the boat. He was a monkey faunus with blonde hair and a blonde tail.
"Hey, you!" she shouted.
"Who are you?!" he responded.
"One of the two sent to get you off this boat," she responded, "Now ditch the boat, and let's get moving!"
"Yes ma'am!" he said, clearly scared of the girl.
"Grab on, you might feel a little dizzy after this," she said as he put his arms around her. She activated the crystal, teleporting her and her companion over to the dock. She was met with the chameleon faunus, whom she recognised, but a cat faunus whom she did not.
"You," growled the cat faunus.
"What?" was all Cassie could say as the cat faunus charged her, appearing behind her. Luckily Cassie caught the blade before it could do anything.
"Wait, Blake stop!" shouted Ruby.
"Stay back Ruby, this girl's dangerous!" Blake shouted back, kicking off of Cassie.
"Okay girlie, I don't know who you are, but I do recognise that blade. I'm guessing you'd like a rematch, but we can do that at Haven-" said Cassie before she was cut off by another slash. This time she drew her own blade to defend herself.
"Can we not do this now!" shouted Cassie.
"I will not let any harm come to my friends," said Blake, "Ilia! Sun! Take Ruby and go!"
"Hey wait-" Ruby tried to say as the two faunus grabbed her and ran towards the Atlesian-Mistralian barrier.
"I guess you really wanna do this don't you," said Cassie blocking another strike.
"You will not harm them!" shouted Blake throwing Gambol Shroud at Cassie, who ducked under the attack and ran towards Blake. She then dashed towards Blake to counter the return of the weapon. As she tackled the cat faunus she tossed an Opal dust crystal up to a flat roof and teleported them up there.
"Now we can make sure people don't get hurt," said Cassie.
"I was already making sure that didn't happen," Blake responded.
"It looked like you were ready to do what you had to in order to take me down," said Cassie.
"I still am," she said, "With your abilities I feel as though you pose a major threat to me and my friends, so I will give you this one opportunity to leave."
"No can do," responded Cassie, "Not after what I promised Ruby."
Not responding, Blake chose to attack first. Unexpected, but not unseen, Cassie decided to fight defensively as Ruby knew the girl she was fighting. It would cause less hassle later anyways. Cassie could see that her opponent was fighting emotionally rather than logically.
The exchanges were in no one's favour as Cassie wasn't really attacking, and Blake was becoming more and more predictable as she let her emotions get the better of her. Blake lunged forward cutting through air this time which threw her off balance causing her to almost fall.
Cassie had dashed towards a blind spot she saw in Blake's vision. Something the faunus normally would have countered, which was why Cassie was surprised. She still took the opportunity to grab the ribbon from Gambol Shroud and pull, disarming Blake and causing her to fall over.
"Listen if you want to fight me that's fine, but you seem exhausted and to emotional to win here," said Cassie, sheathing Blake's weapon, "I'd rather you be at a hundred percent when you fight me, your gonna burn out before I even attack you at this rate."
Blake shocked Cassie yet again by pouncing on her.
"Sun, what are you doing! Let me go!" shouted Ruby at her captor.
"Ruby, we can't go back. That girl's bad news," he responded.
"She's the one who got you off that boat!" Ruby screamed.
"Don't listen to her Sun, that girl is dangerous," said the third passenger of the boat.
Ruby had no idea what to do. Sun was her friend and she didn't want to hurt him, and so was Blake, yet her newfound friend was found on the wrong side of their barrel. Even though she only knew Cassie for a few weeks, Ruby learned of the many hardships she faced. Blake had run away though. She trusted Blake, but she didn't know whether to trust her decisions. From what she could see, Sun would follow what Blake ordered, and she assumed the same for the newcomer.
Ruby finally made her decision. She wrenched herself free from the two faunus, and made a break for the roof tops. She knew Sun would never hurt her, and that he would make sure his companion would do the same, so she was not worried about getting hurt. She also knew that they had no chance of catching her, but she just had not clue where she was.
Yang and Wiess had been making their way over to the harbour ever since the explosions first started. Haven being far enough away that a Bullhead service was implemented had Yang and Wiess running for a good stretch of time. Yang was beginning to get fed up with all the people crowding the area. Wiess was able to keep her calm, which did help.
"Damn it!" shouted Yang, "Get out of my way!"
"Yang, please calm down," pleaded Wiess, "I know Ruby was near the harbour, but she had Cassandra with her."
"I know that, but she's my sister, I have to worry," said Yang, "You better be okay Ruby."
"Yang, Ruby is incredibly strong and has determination like no other. I'm certain that she'll be okay," said Wiess, "Don't forget who's with her. Cassandra is one of the greatest fighters that I've seen and from what you've told me, she's fiercely loyal. Don't doubt them."
"Thanks, Wiess," said Yang, "You're right, I gotta believe in them. You're a good friend Wiess, don't let my teasing tell you otherwise."
"You're not so bad yourself Xiao Long," replied Wiess.
The two continued pushing through the crowd, making progress albeit slow progress. Yang was getting increasingly more frustrated as the crowd became larger. That made moving even more difficult. Moving against the crowd made it tougher for the two huntresses-in-training to push forward. As movement finally worked its way to a standstill Yang had an idea.
"Hey, Ice Queen, let's get up to the roof," said Yang, "It's way faster than down here."
"Sure thing," said Wiess using her glyphs to reach the roof. Yang took a different approach, that is to say using her gauntlets to propel herself upwards. The two reached the roof in under five seconds and took off towards the harbour. Moving on the rooftops was much quicker on ground and gave them more freedom of movement. With no walls or people in their way, the only thing stopping them would be missing a jump, but they were too experienced for that.
As they jumped roof to roof they saw two figures fighting in the distance. It seemed as though they were locked in a standstill.
"Hey Wiess, I'll handle this, get to the harbour," said Yang.
"Okay Yang, be careful," said Wiess.
"You got it Princess," Yang said with a wink.
Wiess continued towards the harbour without Yang and saw that things were beginning to worsen. There were soldiers retreating with varying amounts of injuries. From what she could see, there were no fatalities… yet. The legions of soldiers still looked impressive. Volleys of perfectly synchronised bullets showed the prowess of the Atlas army. She found a small gap in the lines and made her way through to the front. She kept moving and eventually ran into team CFVY.
"Wiess, shit's gettin' bad. We can use all the help we can get," said Coco.
"What's happening Coco?" asked Wiess.
"Well a huge White Fang warship has made its way over and it's bombarding the shore with troops and gunfire. Atlas has setup some barriers that seem to be holding up, but their making no progress in pushing back the Fang," responded Coco.
"How many Hunters do we have right now?" asked Wiess.
"As of now we only have a handful hunters including those in training, we don't have enough for a push," said Velvet.
"Is my sister here?" asked Wiess.
"The entire operation is being led by Schnee senior," said Fox.
"Then let's find her," said Wiess.
The five saw what looked to be an Atlas mobile headquarters. It was quite surprising being that it had barely been an hour since the beginning of the battle. It was either Winter's quick wits or Atlas's responsiveness capabilities. Soldiers were walking in and out in and orderly fashion, surprising for the amount of people there were. They entered the building and made their way to the command centre where they saw the elder Schnee overlooking the entire operation.
"Winter what is required of us?" asked Wiess as she walked over to her sister.
"I see that you have with you four others with aura, that will indeed be useful in this battle. We're fighting with limited resources and limited huntsmen, so any person who can fight and has aura is needed greatly. We had two others, Ruby Rose and Cassandra Aotatsu, but Rose's whereabouts are unknown and Cassandra appears to be locked in battle and I cannot spare any resources to help her or her friend. That being said, that is not your mission. You are needed as support. Wiess, your summons are reliable as of now, correct?" asked Winter, to which Wiess nodded curtly, "Good, now team CFVY, you are to escort Wiess towards the warship. You must not let her exert herself as her summons are very reliant on aura and physical stamina. It is her job to take down the ship. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am," they responded in unison
"Good, now I wish I did not have to send you out there… You are all far too young, yet it is a necessity brought on by the times. First the battle of Beacon, now this… I trust that you will have this under control. Now, get out there and be heroes!" exclaimed Winter.
Cassie forced Blake off her with a two-footed kick to her abdomen, which sent the girl flying. Blake recovered quickly and charged yet again, this time Cassie was prepared and redirected Blake's momentum forcing the faunus to head straight to the ground.
"Hey, we don't have to do this, we're on the same side… I think," said Cassie as she backed away from her foe.
"How would you know what I fight for, you probably just take orders and fight for whoever you work for," said Blake getting up from, "I don't know what you did to convince Ruby that you're good, but I'll make sure to show her what you truly are."
"She's already seen what I truly am…" said Cassie, "But you will not take her away from me. Not after everything I did to make it back. Just make this easy, I don't want to hurt you. I really don't- Your just making it really hard 'cause you won't stop. She told me about you, I thought you'd be less judgemental than Wiess, but I guess I was wrong. People change Blake, just because we fought doesn't mean we have to stay enemies. Hell, you're the one who started this whole fight."
"I needed to get you away from the people I care about," responded Blake.
"Why, did I look at you funny? Did I have my weapon drawn? I thought you were familiar, but I didn't care. You and your crew needed help, and I helped Ruby do just that. I just don't understand. We can just let this go," said Cassie, removing Blake's weapon from her back, "Don't make me regret this, right now we should be helping those people push back the White Fang."
Cassie tossed the weapon over to Blake and she caught it with ease. The faunus girl looked over her weapon and began thinking about the choices she made so far. Running away from her friends, the ones who dedicated themselves to her. Fleeing to Menagerie, hoping to reconcile when in reality she just couldn't bring herself to face those she brought pain to. She thought about how her judgement had become so rash that she had just attacked the girl who helped save her friend Sun, all because of her past. She thought that she of all people should know that people were capable of change. She thought of her time in Menagerie, no matter how short had changed her. She had seen the terrifying side of humans once more, but did not even think to remember that humans aren't all the same, that one group is not representative of the whole. That was the way she wished for her fellow faunus to be treated, yet she had become what she feared.
"You're right… Oh Oum, what have I become?" questioned Blake, "I passed judgement over you so quickly because of what happened in the past. I created a villain in you in order to justify my actions. I became just like the humans that I hated. I became like Adam…"
"Hey, Blake, right?" asked Cassie to which Blake nodded, "We all make mistakes. We all have your moments that we're not proud of. Oum knows I have a shit tonne of those. But that doesn't mean you put yourself down because of them. You learn and you grow. That's all there is to it. Now, this harbour is under siege, and we gotta be the ones to stop it. You ready?"
Cassie reached her hand forward as a sign of peace. Blake sheathed her weapon and accepted it graciously.
"Now that's really cute," blurted out a new voice.
"Yang?!" shouted the duo.
"Yeah, it's me, so you mind fillin' me in on what just… BLAKE!" shouted Yang.
"Yang, I'm so so sorry," said Blake dropping to her knees.
"Hey," said Yang as she dashed over to her partner's side, making sure to place her left hand on her friend's shoulder, "We can talk about this later, alright?"
"Yang… your arm…" said Blake.
"It's awesome, I know," responded Yang, "Not as cool as her's though," she said pointing her thumb at Cassie.
"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt this tender moment, but we should really get moving," said Cassie.
She grabbed her mask which was compressed on her back and placed it over her face. She input a command through buttons on the side of the mask and began overlooking the harbour.
"There are only five aura users engaged in active combat," said Cassie, "Four appear to be defending one. Hold on that might be Wiess… Winter what the Hell were you thinking!"
"What's wrong?" asked Yang.
"Well, knowing Winter Schnee and seeing how spread thin the Mistralian and Atlesian armies are, Winter's sending the only thing that has enough power to take out that warship," said Cassie, "That thing would be a summon, and since Winter can't leave her post without sacrificing critical thinking as she's the one heading this whole Mistral operation. Wiess, and I are both capable of summons, mine is more physically taxing, her's is more aura taxing. She can pack a bigger punch, but from what I know about Winter, she won't be able to keep it goin'. Since I focused a lot on stamina training, I could theoretically last longer. I was also not there to be selected anyways. Well, let's get down there."
"Okay," said Yang, "Let's kick some ass!"
"The White Fang have already made Vale fall, I will not let another city fall to their hands," said Blake.
Cassie and the three jumped down from the roof and into the fray. Cassie decided to call Ruby since she had no clue what happened to her friend. She picked up.
"Ruby, are you alright?!" asked Cassie.
"Yeah, just running from Sun and the other girl," responded Ruby.
"Blake get on a conference call with your pals, tell them to back off Ruby!" yelled Cassie, "Scratch that, get everyone on comms."
"Will be done," said Blake joining the comm channel, "Sun, Ilia, I don't have much time to explain, just stop chasing Ruby and head to the harbour."
"Yeah guys, stop chasing me!" yelled Ruby.
"Blake what the Hell's goin' on!" yelled Sun.
"Change of plan, we can't lose this harbour to the White Fang," responded Blake, "We only have eight hunters, us total. We need all three of you guys now!"
"Blake, you owe us an explanation for this later," said Ilia.
"Yes, I do, now just get over here and help us," responded Blake.
The three pushed their way towards the five-man team that was currently making their way over to the boat, although quite slowly. As they neared their friends the amount of soldiers just kept increasing.
"Alright that's enough," said Cassie, "You two watch my back, I can't afford to take to much physical damage."
"Cass, what are you doing?" asked Yang while punching a soldier.
Cassie then channelled her aura into a smaller being than the ones she summoned during the battle against the Nuckelavee. It took the shape of a woman clad in dragonesque armour, donning a helmet reminiscent of the horns of a dragon.
Cassie yelled in anguish as her summon began punching every enemy soldier in its path. Her summon continued with its barrage of unstoppable punches as its master continued forwards. The three were able to continue forward with this formation, nothing able to stop them. They were like a wall that fought back.
"Wiess-cream, what's the plan?" yelled Yang.
"I need my all the aura I can get to sustain my summon… speaking of Cassandra can you summon something larger to aide me?" asked Wiess
"I might be able to, but I'm close to runnin' on fumes," responded Cassie.
"Does that matter?" asked Wiess.
"My summons are based on my stamina, not aura, so I'm not too sure if I'll be able to after another fight," said Cassie punching another White Fang soldier.
A Fang soldier managed to break through the CFVY defence, and right next to Wiess, who was facing away from the front. He would have landed a massive hit if it weren't for Blake who stepped in just in time.
"Blake?!" exclaimed Wiess.
"Yes, I'm back," responded Blake, "Now I know you have a lot of questions, and so do the others, but now is not the time."
"Well, I'll hold you to that, Belladonna," Wiess said gruffly.
The impromptu Wiess defense force aka team CFVY was starting to run out of energy. Not just having to defend themselves, but also protect the precious cargo. Fox's blades were beginning to dull. Yatsuhashi's strength was beginning to wane since logically most of the Fang soldiers went after the largest target. Coco, wasn't faring much better, having run out of ammo, she was using the mass of her handbag to bat soldiers away. Velvet was running out of weapon projections to use.
"Coco! We'll sub out for you!" shouted Yang as they approached.
"You're a life saver Xiao-Long!" replied Coco, "Wait is that Belladonna?!"
"Yes, listen you guys are runnin' on fumes, we'll talk about this later," said Yang.
"Fine be me, CFVY, retreat!" yelled Coco, and her team followed their orders. The new defenders took up their positions.
"Alright ladies, let's get Wiess-cream, to that ship so she can do some damage!" yelled Yang.
"Gotcha," said Cassie.
"Will do," responded Blake,
Cassie took point with her summon, with the other two taking up the rear, surrounding Wiess, forming an impenetrable wall of defense. At this point the girls were about fifty meters from the warship, and making quick work of the dwindling Fang soldiers.
"Wiess, get ready," said Cassie, "We'll be there in maybe a minute!" shouted Cassie over her shoulder as her summon ploughed through more soldiers.
"Charging now Cassandra," replied Wiess.
Within the minute they arrived at the warship, when Cassie gave the signal and Wiess unleashed a giant knight that stood about five storeys tall. It charged its way through the warship, splitting it in half.
"Damn Wiess, you made quick work of that thing!" exclaimed Yang.
"Wiess watch out!" shouted Blake and Cassie as a hulking figure pulled itself from one of the halves. It revealed itself as a robot of Atlesian design, like a more humanoid Paladin, but much larger and much deadlier. Wiess prepared her Knight to defend itself from a strike. Even with that preparation the mech managed to push the Knight back a few dozen metres. The mech pulled itself out of the warship and extended itself to its full height. It stood taller than even Wiess's Knight, at around seven storeys tall. Its legs were more human than the original Paladin and its arms had the same weapons as the original. It threw a punch towards the Knight, which it parried with its blade. Wiess's Knight was more agile than the mech, but it was not nearly as powerful as the mech. Trading blows was getting Wiess nowhere.
"Hey, I see a cockpit on the mech!" shouted Cassie, "If we take out the pilot, we take out the mech!"
"Okay, look…" said Yang, "Someone's gotta take care of Wiess, Blake I don't know if I can trust you yet, but please take care of her."
"I'll make sure to do so," responded Blake, "We'll talk after this okay?"
"Okay Blake," said Yang, "Cassie, ya think you can get us up there?"
"Please, Yang. I'm not as weak as I look," she said putting her are around Yang's waist.
"Woah, being a little forward there Cass, didn't know you could get so touchy with someone who's not Ruby," teased Yang.
Cassie glared at her tormentor before releasing her waist. She launched her arm up to the top of the mech and started pulling herself up, and as she did so, she grabbed Yang's collar.
Yang yelped as she was pulled up by the collar, not feeling very stable as they flew up towards the top of the mech.
"Cassie, I'm sorry!" she screamed as she was flung from side to side as the mech moved. Cassie dropped Yang, and she screamed bloody murder, until she felt an arm around her waist and the sensation that she was moving upwards.
"I will never tease you again," stated Yang.
"Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep," quipped Cassie.
They were sill swaying as the giant mech moved, but it was nowhere near as bad as when Yang was being pulled by the collar. They were nearing the top when they noticed that there was artillery waiting for intruders such as them.
"Oh shit!" yelled the girls as the guns opened fire. Yang fired Ember Celica at the guns to some degree of success. Cassie in the mean time was dodging all the fire she could, her aura taking a hit every now and then. She was getting tired from carrying Yang for so long, and she knew that her next summons would either be very weak, or she would be very tired.
"Yang this is where we get off!" she yelled flinging Yang onto what appeared to be the shoulder of the mech. Yang landed and started destroying all the batteries that she could get her hands on. Cassie landed beside her and started doing the same. They made quick work now that they were on land, but the ever-shifting mech made things more difficult.
"Hey, Cass, I found a hatch thingy over here!" yelled Yang over the noise of battle.
"Well, let's go say hello," said Cassie as Yang opened the hatch.
They popped inside and were met with ten White Fang soldiers. They started shooting as soon as the girls entered. Yang fired a blast behind her and charged right into the fray and started taking soldiers down. Cassie took a much different approach. She knelt down and pulled out her gun and made quick work of five of the soldiers with streams of dust. Yang just as quickly defeated her opponents.
"We make a good team," commented Yang.
"Yeah we do," responded Cassie, "Now, let's go and find the pilot."
The two dashed around trying to find a way to continue upwards. Quickly they found a ladder and they climbed it. There they met similar resistance to what they faced earlier, and again made quick work of their enemies. Out of nowhere the whole mech shook, and it started falling down, changing which way was up.
"Hold on!" said Yang, grabbing onto the nearest hand-hold she could find. Cassie wasn't so lucky, but Yang caught her before she could fall any further.
"Thanks," said Cassie.
"Hey, it's no problem," responded Yang as the robot they were in righted itself.
"That whole shaking thing is a good thing, 'cause that means Wiess is doing damage," observed Cassie.
"Yeah, your right," responded Yang, "Now let's make it easier for her."
The two continued eventually finding a door that looked like it housed something of importance.
"Let's bust it down!" yelled Yang.
"Be ready for whatever's in there okay," Cassie said.
"Sure thing," responded Yang, preparing her mechanical arm for an almighty punch, when to door was flung open, slamming Yang into the wall. An arm reached out and grabbed Cassie who was caught completely off-guard due to the sudden turn of events. She found herself being thrown across the room she was dragged into, destroying all the dust she was carrying on her back.
"Well, I'm surprised," said a familiar voice, "It seems as though taking your arm wasn't enough."
"Taurus?!" exclaimed Cassie.
"Who else did you expect human?" asked Adam from within the pilot's sphere, "Well, I would love to kill you now, I have another fight to attend to. The Schnee brat will be crushed by my hand."
"I don't think so," said Cassie, who got up to be met with an fist to her chest sending her careening to the wall.
"Your fight is not with Taurus, it is with me," said a large man. He stood at seven feet, towering over Cassie. He was incredibly muscular with his revealed forearms giving enough impression for the rest of his arms. He wore an olive three-quarter coat that did little to hide his imposing frame. Yatsuhashi matched him in height, but in presence, the giant boy had nothing on this mountain of a man.
"Well, big guy I guess it is," said Cassie drawing her blade.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" cursed Yang, "What the Hell just happened?! Think, Xiao-Long think."
She peered through a window and saw that Cassie was engaged with an opponent that literally dwarfed the girl. Hell, he even dwarfed Yang, and she was by no means a small girl. She knew that she had to help in some way or form, but what could she do? She already tried busting down the door, to no avail. Nothing she tried has worked so far, but she did notice that even though she was getting tossed around by the moving robot, they were not. This meant that that room was being kept stable by a gravity dust crystal. She was grateful that her father had insisted on her analysing things before she left for Mistral. Even though Yang payed very little attention in class, there were a few things that interested her, namely things that sounded cool. Gravity dust happened to be one of those thing, 'cause come on, something that affects gravity sounds pretty damn awesome.
Yang knew that gravity dust had to be near its source as it was extremely heavy and required a lot of energy in order to make it flow through any sort of dust system. Yang did manage to find the chamber that housed the power line, but it was going to take a while to get to it, she just hoped Cassie would be able to hold out for long enough.
Cassie charged at the massive man faking a downward strike which he evaded, to a slash to the side, catching him by his legs because of how tall the man was. He punched the ground where Cassie would have been if she had not rolled out of the way.
"You are quick, and strong. Not bad," said the man, "For a youngling, your technique is excellent."
"Never got a compliment from an opponent 'til now, but thanks," responded Cassie, "You're not too bad yourself."
She charged at him again, unleashing a flurry of strikes hoping to even put a dent on his aura, but nothing. She didn't stop though, she may have been tired, but she would never give up. The man just took everything she could throw at him. She retreated a little bit and pulled out her gun and she let off a stream of dust, only to see the man walk into it as though it was nothing. He got close enough and grabbed the barrel and Cassie decided that it would be best to abandon the weapon altogether. He quickly snapped the weapon in half and tossed it aside.
Cassie cursed under her breath as another fist came flying her way, and she twisted out of the way, only for the hand to follow her. He grabbed her head and slammed her into the ground face first. Her mask was somehow unharmed by that, but it didn't stop her from being thrown against yet another wall. Her aura was taking a beating and she had already started this fight off tired.
"Cass, if you can hear this, hang in there for a little while longer," said the voice of Yang in her ear," I'm nearing the powerline for the gravity dust around your room. I'll disable it and that should give both you and Wiess some sort of advantage. I'll let you know."
With a newfound goal, Cassie fought with more purpose. She tried her hardest to do something against the man, but he was just so strong that a dust blade just wasn't able to do enough. He had been able to shrug off any type of dust attack she threw at him, Hell he just walked through about twenty rounds of mixed dust rounds without even batting an eye. The only way she would be able to hope to hurt the man would be through a summon. She quickly came up with an idea.
Cassie created a summon around her body in order to amplify her physical strength and speed. She would not be able to maintain the form for too long, maybe two minutes at most. She just hoped Yang would be able to pull it off in time.
Yang was brute forcing her way through to the powerline, and it was tiring work. Not to mention the multitude of soldiers defending it, boy was that a nightmare.
"Can you just give up already!?" she questioned while punching out yet another White Fang soldier.
Wiess was having her own troubles, but at least she didn't have to deal with any attackers, as she had Blake defending her from those. Her Knight was doing what it could against the massive enemy that it was locked in battle against. At the beginning of the fight, it seemed as though she had the upper-hand doing major damage to the mech's right arm. After the loss of it's right arm, it started taking things more seriously. Wiess was put on the defensive blocking as many strikes as she could, but she felt every hit that the mech landed on her Knight through her aura. She knew she couldn't take much more, and from the looks of worry Blake kept sending her way, she knew too. All the two girls on the ground could do was hope that the two up in the air could do something… and fast.
"Finally!" exclaimed Yang as she reached the powerline, "Now which wire should I blast?"
She looked over the wires, but she knew that she had no clue what she was doing, so she made a quick decision, not before telling Cassie though.
Cassie's new summon based strength was able to make the man's aura flare, much more than she was able to accomplish earlier. The main issue was that she was tiring out to much. Suddenly her summon gave way, revealing how weak she truly was. Her sword clattered to the ground as her body was beginning to give out. Her wounds were finally starting to show, with little cuts and bruises strewn about her body, and she fell to her knees.
"Hmm, it seems as though your strength has run out," said the man, walking towards her, "It is a shame, if you were less tired, you may have had a chance."
"I'm not done yet asshole!" she exclaimed throwing a punch powered by her mechanical arm, but the man just caught it. Even with the arm propelling itself forward with dust, it wasn't generating enough force to push the man back, instead the man was actually forcing her arm back. This forced Cassie onto her back as she watched in horror as her mechanical elbow was forced to the ground. She tried to push back, but his strength was to much. Cracks in the shell were starting to show, and the forearm gave out shattering as his hand forced itself through hers, destroying the arm from the elbow down.
"I will make your death painless little one," said the man, "You fought with resolve that I have not seen before, and I commend you for that. However, this is the end for you."
He readied what would be the finishing punch when she heard Yang's voice through her mask, right when she needed it, "I'm blowin' this thing Cass, grab hold!"
Cassie did as instructed, and not a moment to soon as the entire chamber felt as though it was flipped on it's side. Adam was flung to the side of the pilot sphere, and the giant man to the wall.
"Danger, Danger," said the built in intercom, "Opening all emergency exits, evacuate immediately.
"Wiess, its not moving, hit it now!" yelled Blake, and Wiess did. She hit it with every ounce of remaining strength her Knight had before collapsing.
Blake witnessed the fall of both the mech and the Knight. The Knight dissipated in a shimmer of white, while the mech fell hard. She saw many little bodies running out into the ocean or wherever they could get away. They ended up running into military forces. She also saw a familiar yellow blob pull itself from the mech.
Cassie took this as her chance to escape, she still had enough aura to do one thing and she diverted that aura to strength as she summoned her wings and she took flight out of the nearest emergency exit.
"Taurus, we are leaving," said the man, grabbing the bull faunus out from the sphere and forcing him into an escape pod located nearby, "Our cause cannot lose you yet."
The man hopped in and launched the craft, and he set course for a White Fang base nearby.
Cassie had made it out of the mech, but she wasn't free yet. She could feel her body trying to shut itself down, but she pushed on, forcing herself to get to land. Her wings were not able to support her and she began slipping into unconsciousness. She tried making her way to the harbour, but she finally gave out, her wings dissipating and she entered free fall.