Here we are at Chapter 14. To answer an earlier question from a follower, Soundwave used Megatron's voice in his first meeting with Ruby's group because it was a recording, trying to stick to his strong, silent type behavior from the show. He'll be using recordings of others from time to time. Also, his tentacles come out of some armor on the sides of his lower abdomen, just so you know. Anyway, I do not own RWBY or Transformers. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 14. Enjoy.
Chapter 14: Bug Hunting
To say that things have been exciting for Ruby's group…would be a little off. Ever since this Soundwave and his pet falcon, Laserbeak, joined the group (more like followed them everywhere without ever explaining why), things have been a little tense in the group. He hasn't attacked them yet, but he hasn't really answered any of their questions since he joined them. Any Grimm they've encountered along the way, he's dealt with them alongside the group, so at the very least, he's not an enemy…hopefully. They are currently walking through the forest, on another day of walking, with their new companion walking behind them while his partner is flying high above them.
"…So, anyone else still feel off about this guy?" Jaune whispers to Ruby.
"Oh come, he's not that bad. Besides, he's been nothing but helpful ever since we met him. I mean yeah, he talks even less than Blake, but still, he's pretty cool," Ruby tries to defend Soundwave.
"Are you sure you're not just saying that because of his weapons?" Ren points out.
"No…well, maybe. Look, so far he hasn't tried to kill us, so I say, let's just give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, we still have a long way to go before we get to Haven…If only it were closer," Ruby says, looking a little melancholy.
Nora then looks back to Soundwave, "Hey, Soundwave, right? Are you from Mistral?" she asks. Soundwave just shakes his head. "Okay…Well, what are doing all the way out here then?" she asks him, but this time she gets no response at all. "Yeah, that was helpful," she deadpans.
Jaune takes another look at the map, "Yeah, let's just focus on getting to Haven for now. The next village will be a bit of a walk to…get…to," Jaune says as he looks up, only to see another village in front of them. Nora goes to stand on top of a wooden fence to get a better view. "That's strange…I didn't think we'd hit another village for a few days," Jaune says in confusion as he looks over the map.
Nora looks closer, "Are those buildings…Damaged?" she asks.
"We should search for survivors!" Jaune says and the group races into the village.
When they enter, they see several buildings, though each one of them looks incomplete, showing their wooden support beams but nothing covering them. As if something stopped them from being finished. Nora jumps on top of the wall and then onto one of the taller buildings while the others remain on the ground for their search. Ruby picks up one large piece of wood, but finds nothing underneath. Soundwave follows them and only watches as they search for any survivors…or bodies.
"Soundwave, help us look!" Ruby calls out to him.
Soundwave stares at her for a moment before he sends out his tentacles and they start coming through a few buildings as he walks by them, while also using his visor to scan for any life signs.
"Anything?" Ruby asks as she walks up to him, but he just shakes his head and retracts his tentacles.
"Nothing over here," Nora replies while Ren kneels and looks at the stone ground.
"No one over here either," Jaune replies.
"It almost seems like…the town was abandoned," Ren notes as Nora runs by him with the others walking up near him.
Ruby remains behind them, feeling an ominous sense in the air. Soundwave looks up to Laserbeak above them, a silent command to scope the surrounding area. The armored bird screeches in acknowledgement and flies around the area around the village.
"Hey! I think I found something," Nora calls out. They all move to the center of the street, coming up to a small sign with some foliage growing on it. Nora moves the leaves out of the way to show the name of the village…Oniyuri. "Oniyuri. Hm, never heard of it," Nora says, hands on her hips.
"Me neither. Soundwave, what about you?" Jaune asks, but Soundwave just shakes his head.
Ren closes his eyes, "I have," he says and they look at him. Ren looks at them solemnly, "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council, they pulled their resources together to build their own city. With their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe become its own kingdom. Many thought it would be the future…" Ren says as he turns and walks away from them a few feet. "…I know my parents did," he says, looking sad.
"What happened?" Ruby asks, worried about the answer.
Ren swipes away some dust on a stone, revealing claw marks in the rock, "What always happens…" he answers.
"…The Grimm," Soundwave says, using a recording of Ruby's voice in his visor.
This surprises the group, "Hey, that was my voice!" Ruby says.
"Wait a minute, is that, uh, visor actually recording everything we say and then allowing you to play it back as a way of talking to us?" Jaune asks. Soundwave nods. "Um, okay, well, that's creepy," Jaune mutters.
"Well, it might be how he communicates. He may be mute, and so that's how he speaks. Kind of like a more advanced version of Sign language. But, back on topic, we should probably get going. It isn't safe here," Ren says and starts walking on ahead.
Ruby looks back through the village before she and the rest of the group follow him through the center of the village. As their walking, Soundwave gets a message from Laserbeak, describing one person nearby watching them for some time, but doesn't appear to be an enemy. However, that quickly changes when Laserbeak screeches in the air, gaining the group's attention. It starts flying a little more erratically, confusing most of them.
"Soundwave, what's wrong with Laserbeak?" Ruby asks.
Soundwave looks back and a moment later, he activates his arm blades. Wanting to be on the safe side, the others draw their weapons as well. A moment later, Ren senses something.
"Something's coming, and it's coming fast," Ren says.
A moment later, they see someone jump high into the air and land several feet away from them in the village. The man smiles crazily and activates a pair of pincer blades on his arms, all the while with an evil smile. Tyrian Callows. Tyrian runs at the group, but Ren intercepts him. Their blades clash, and then Ren tries to kick Tyrian followed by shooting him, but Tyrian parries each attack. Tyrian the attacks Ren with his left pincer blades, which Ren blocks, and then throws a kick that Ren ducks under. However, Tyrian attacks with his blades once more, this time sending Ren flying back. Tyrian goes after Ruby and Ruby swings her scythe at him, but he blocks it, followed up by a spin kick that knocks her back. He attacks her again, and swings his blades, which Ruby barely blocks. Smiling, Tyrian spins around to kick her weapon away, forcing her to spin it in defense, and is about to strike her with his blades until a new blade blocks the attack. Tyrian looks to see Soundwave as the one who blocked his attack. Tyrian makes a few swings with his blades at Soundwave, but the Decepticon blocks each strike. In the melee, Laserbeak swoops in and strikes Tyrian from behind with its claw blades, allowing Soundwave the chance to backflip kick him away. Laserbeak returns to the sky and fires off some blasts at Tyrian. Tyrian manages to avoid them without much issue, but the Soundwave comes in spins around with his blades. Tyrian leans back and twists around to evade them and goes for roundhouse kick that Soundwave blocks. Nora jumps into the fray and attempt to smash Tyrian with her hammer, but he easily dodges it and kicks Nora away, forcing Soundwave to catch her in mid-air and place her on the ground. Jaune makes his move and swings his sword down on Tyrian, but Tyrian side-steps the attack and then latches onto Jaune's shield. Jaune growls at him, but Tyrian just smiles before he pushes off of him when Soundwave thrusts his left sword at his side. Tyrian goes at him, and they clash blades. Tyrian stares into the visor of his opponent, and notices the lack of any emotion on his face. For some reason…that actually annoys him. Ruby comes in and swings her scythe at Tyrian, but Tyrian jumps away, high into the air and crashes into a nearby tall building, , balancing himself on two wooden support beams. Everyone recollects themselves as they look at Tyrian.
"We're not looking for a fight!" Jaune yells at him.
"Who are you?" Ren asks.
Tyrian just smiles and falls to the ground, landing on his feet in front of them and stands up.
"Who I am matters not to you. Or you," he begins, pointing at Ren and Nora. "Or…Well, YOU do interest me," he says, pointing at Jaune, which makes him nervous. "Meanwhile, there's something about you that is definitely interesting…as well as irritating, "he adds when he points at Soundwave, who makes no response, which only annoys him even more before he refocuses on his objective. "No, I only matter…To YOU," he says, pointing straight at Ruby who stands behind everyone, making them look back at her.
"…Me?" she asks, confused.
Tyrian starts laughing crazily, "Hahahaha! You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be!" he laughs, holding his head in his left hand.
"…What do you want?" Ruby sternly asks.
Tyrian gasps dramatically, "The rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to wisk you away with me," he says dramatically, hand waving in the air.
"Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora says as she stands defensively in front of Ruby.
Tyrian drops his left arm, "Well, I'll take her," he says.
Jaune steps in front of Ruby and Nora, "We're NOT going to let you do that," he says.
Tyrian slowly shows another sick smiles, "…Good," he says.
Just then, Soundwave steps in front of everyone and cocks his gauntlets guns. He then fires off some quick shots, but Tyrian speeds by them and is right behind Soundwave. However, before he can strike, Laserbeak swoops in again and knocks his blades to the side, staggering him. This allows Soundwave to thrust a back kick at him, pushing him back. Ren tries to shoot him down, but Tyrian runs around behind Jaune, forcing the boy to block the shots with his shield. Ruby comes in to stop him, but Tyrian kicks her away. Soundwave joins the fray again and slides across the ground while swinging his left blade at Tyrian's feet. Tyrian flips over the strike, but then Soundwave jumps into the air, firing off his gauntlets at him again. Tyrian blocks the shots with his blades, and then has to jump away when Soundwave attempts to shove his swords down his throat. The two fighters parry a few strikes from each other with their blades, but when their blades lock, Soundwave sends out his tentacles to shock Tyrian. Tyrian screams in pain, but then something from behind him bursts out of his jacket and knocks the tentacles away. He then takes off his brown coat and jumps into the air, landing on top of another building and showing a scorpion tail out of his backside, revealing himself to be a Faunus.
"He's…a Faunus," Ren says in shock as he stands next to Jaune.
Ruby and Soundwave step up near them, "What is this about?! The White Fang?! Roman Torchwick?!" Ruby shouts.
"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and belong only to our goddess," Tyrian replies, raising his arms in the air.
"Cinder…" Ruby mutters with hate.
Tyrian grunts in disdain, "Hmph. Only in her wildest dreams!" Tyrian retorts, before launching himself at them again.
He lands behind them, activating his blades, and swings his tail at Ruby. Ruby gets knocked back, but then Soundwave clashes his blades against Tyrian's. Tyrian attempts to strike him with his tail, but Laserbeak flies in and grabs the tail, holding it in place.
"Identify yourself," Soundwave demands using Megatron's voice in his visor.
This piques Tyrian's interest, "Oooh, isn't that an interesting toy you got there. Well, since you're asking, my name is Tyrian. How about you?" he asks.
"Soundwave," Soundwave replies with Megatron's voice again.
"Soundwave, huh? Well then, let's see what kind of sounds I can make you sing!" Tyrian says before he activates some machine guns in his gauntlets and fires them off.
This causes Laserbeak to fly away and the two fighter to backflip away from each other. Tyrian starts running around, firing his guns at Soundwave, but Soundwave runs around the area to avoid them. Ren and Nora run in to help him, but Tyrian sees them coming and ducks under their pincer attack from behind. He spins on the ground, dealing a few leg strikes to both of them before he kicks them both away. Ruby tries to retaliate, but Tyrian flips over her and deals a strike to her back, followed by a jump kick that knocks her to the ground. Tyrian tries to attack her again, but Jaune comes in and swings his sword to stop him. Tyrian easily deflects the attack, moving to spin on top of Jaune's shield while evading a few shots from Soundwave. He then jumps off, dealing a drop kick to Jaune's skull, followed by another kick that sends him flying back. Laserbeak swoops in, firing off some shots at Tyrian, giving Soundwave the chance to charge him from his left flank. Soundwave jumps and swings his right blade at Tyrian, who leans back to evade it, followed by a spinning swing from his left sword that Tyrian blocks. Laserbeak comes in again and barely scratches at Tyrian's face, allowing Soundwave to retract his blades and deal a punch to Tyrian's face, followed by a left hook, a right uppercut, and then finishes it off with a roundhouse kick to his chest, sending him rolling onto the ground. Soundwave activates his blades again and runs at him. Tyrian fires off his guns, but Soundwave rolls underneath the shots and then jumps up with his swords raised back. Tyrian jumps out of the way just as Soundwave swings his blades down at him.
Soundwave then rolls out of the way when Tyrian tries to impale him with his pincer blades, and counters with a few sword swings to Tyrian's right. Tyrian uses his tail to springboard over Soundwave while firing a few shots at him, but Soundwave blocks the shots with his blades. Having enough of watching, Ruby jumps back into the fight, swinging her scythe at Tyrian' who jumps over the attack. As she goes to attack again, Laserbeak flies in and gets in her way.
"Get out of my way! This is my fight!" Ruby yells.
Just then, Tyrian jumps in, forcing the both of them to move back. He then jumps over another swing from Ruby's scythe and double kicks her in the face. Ruby gets knocked back, but manages to roll back onto her feet.
"Actually, this is MY fight, and you are mine!" Tyrian yells before he charges at Ruby again. Ruby gets ready to fight him again, but Soundwave interferes and surprise Tyrian with a kick to the side, keeping him away from Ruby. Soundwave swings his blades at Tyrian, who responds in kind, and the two lock blades once more. "And you, Soundwave, or whatever your name is. I don't know who you are, but what I do know is that I really don't like you. That blank expression on your face. The fact that the only sounds that come from you are from your fancy glasses of yours. It irritates me to no end. No expressions of fear, pain, dread, despair, agony. I don't see any of that from you, and it's pissing me off…Well, say something, damn it!" Tyrian yells, getting angry with Soundwave.
At that moment, Soundwave finally opens his mouth…and then suddenly a blast of soundwaves erupt from his mouth at Tyrian. Tyrian's ears and head feel incredible pain and he has to back away and cover his ears to block off the sound, but it's no use. The rest of the group cover their ears as well as they watch Soundwave's attack send Tyrian flying into the side of a building, the attack starting to crack the wall. Eventually, Soundwave stops the attack, and Tyrian falls onto one knee, sparks of purple flowing around his body, indicating that his semblance has been heavily damaged. Tyrian groans in pain as he looks up to glare at Soundwave.
"At least you finally said something. But that doesn't matter, my assignment from her grace was to retrieve the little rose girl, so that is what I must do. One does not upset the queen," Tyrian says as he stands back up.
Ruby appears confused at this, "Queen?" she mutters.
Tyrian lunges at Soundwave again, but Soundwave makes no motion to defend himself. Tyrian gets close and thrusts his tail at him, but at that moment, Laserbeak swoops in and grabs the stinger, pulling it around and throwing Tyrian off balance. Soundwave then makes his move and rushes at Tyrian, coming in fast with his right sword raised…and then slices off Tyrian's stinger. Tyrian screams in agonizing pain at having lost his stinger, falling onto his hands and knees for a moment as his tail whips around erratically.
"You bastard!" Tyrian yells at Soundwave.
Just as Tyrian tries to go after him again, something crashes through a nearby building and lands in between them, something with a tattered red cloak and a large sword.
"Alright, I think that's enough," turns out, it's Qrow Branwen.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby says in surprise.
"Hey there, kid. Give me a minute," Qrow greets his niece before he draws his sword and turns to Tyrian. "You want to keep going, be my guest. But Salem's not getting my niece," he says.
This also confuses Ruby, "Who?" she says, but gets no answer.
Seeing that he has no chance against Soundwave, Laserbeak, Ruby's group, and an experienced huntsman like Qrow Branwen, Tyrian has no choice but to retreat.
"Sh-she'll forgive you," Tyrian mutters before he runs off and out of the old village.
Qrow sighs and sheathes his weapon before turning to Soundwave as he retracts his blades and has Laserbeak land on his right shoulder.
"I don't know who you are, but thanks for protecting my niece. I owe you one," Qrow says.
Ruby's group then approach them, "Who was that guy?" Nora asks.
"How did you get here?" Ren asks.
"Why are people after Ruby?!" Jaune asks.
Ruby looks at Qrow, "Uncle Qrow, what's going on?" she asks.
Qrow lowers his head for a moment and then sighs before looking back to her, "What's your favorite fairytale?' he asks, and then groans.
And that's the chapter. For those of you wondering, that sound attack from Soundwave's mouth is his semblance. I got the idea from the resonance blaster from the show, and from a character from the anime series called Canaan that had a similar ability. I thought it would go well with him. As for the fight with Tyrian, Soundwave is who knows how old, but he has many, MANY more years of combat training and experience under his belt, so of course he would win. Experience outranks everything in my book. Anyway, Soundwave saved Ruby from Tyrian, but now Qrow has both questions and answers for everyone. What will happen next? Until then, please Read and Review.