Greetings one and all, and I bit you once again welcome to another chapter of RWBYS: Heroes! In this chapter I give a small hint at what Jason's Semblance is going to do. I hope you enjoy the chapter and now on to the reviews.
Guest: Maybe, though I am currently leaning towards someone else.
Kyrogue23: I wanted to do it for a while now, but it seemed to fit more with the previous chapter. I am going to give a few more mentions of it, but if your interested I have an story on my profile that tells the story of Jason's time with Team Avatar.
And now on to the story.
Skywalker, Ruby, and Penny are strolling down the street. "I wish I could help you, Jason, but I don't know anything about those men.", Penny told them, but that wasn't his main concern right now. "What happened to you that night? We were all together, and then you just disappeared. Were you kidnapped?", Skywalker asked, but his friend shook her head. "Then where did you go?", Ruby asked next.
"I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, but...", Penny started before suddenly turning to face her friends, "You have to understand, my father loves me very much! He just worries a lot."
"Believe me, I know the feeling.", Ruby said with a grin, Penny grins back, feeling a little awkward by the expression Skywalker got. "But why not let us know you were okay?", he asked. "I... was asked not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Anybody, really.", Penny said before she can continue, she, Skywalker and Ruby hear the sound of megaphones announcing something, turning around the corner to look at the platform in the center of a plaza where the holographic image of James Ironwood is seen before six AK-130 Androids, who are in turn standing in front of two large metal storage cases with the spear-and-shield emblem on their doors.
"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree?", the image of Ironwood said, the clapping of the gathered audience causes the drones to take a jerky bow, "But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200! (the doors to the cases roll up, and six new, bulkier, shinier automatons stand at attention before knocking their obsolete predecessors down to the applause of the watchers. "Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary. These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch."
The last line draws Skywalker's attention. "Jason? Ruby?...", Penny said nervously. "So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... the Atlesian Paladin!"
Ironwood's image is replaced with the hologram of a robotic white behemoth, featuring hinged piston legs, large guns for hands, and a rectangular head, standing at least twice as tall as the Knights below it. "Now, we couldn't have him here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!", the voice of Ironwood said.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else.", Penny said concerned, at the side of the stage, two armored soldiers see Penny, pointing her out and calling in backup. Thinking quickly, Skywalker grabs Penny's hand while with his other hand grabbing Ruby's, before making a run for it, which snaps Ruby out of her weapon-awe-induced stupor.
"Jason! Wait! Where are you going?", Ruby asked, blushing a little when he suddenly grabbed her hand. She turns to look back at the soldiers chasing after them. Skywalker told them to hold on as he went into an alley. "Down here! She went this way!" an Atlas Soldier said gesturing to his partner.
The soldiers following them, though a honking car nearly runs one over. He manages to brace his hands against the hood, which somehow stops the vehicle, and his partner runs along after the direction they thought the friends had go.
Looking down at them from the roofs above, Skywalker and Ruby were grinning at the soldiers who had lost their targets. Giving each other a high-five "Penny? Why would those man chase you?", Skywalker asked, when he touched her hand, he could felt something was off with his friend. He could have used his X-ray vision to find the truth, but he wished to hear it from her. "I-I can't! Everything's fine!", Penny said, becoming nervous again, it was easy to spot that she was lying. "Penny, you can tell us what's wrong, we can help you.", Skywalker said gently, placing a hand on his distressed friends shoulder. "No! No, no! You wouldn't understand..."
"Give us a shot! You can trust us!", Ruby said and Penny finally relents. "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend!?", Penny asked them desperately. Both of them promised. Penny fell silent for a second, then, looking down at her hands, she started to make a cut on her palm, revealing the gray metal underneath.
"Jason... Ruby... I'm not a real girl. Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura.", Penny said as she turns her head to the side sadly, "I'm not real..."
She was taken by surprise when Skywalker suddenly burst out in laughter, "This is your big secret? I thought it was something way worse!", Skywalker said before giving her a warm smile. "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real?", Ruby asked.
"I don't... um... You're... taking this extraordinarily well.", Penny said slowly, trying to process it. "My friend list included but not limited to, a graduate student taught by a physical goddess, a living WOMD with anger issues, a stubborn apple farmer, a fire shooting manchild with commitment issues, a hyperactive baker, a shapeshifting Person of Mass Destruction with authority problems, a brash sound barrier-breaking flyer, a smart generic guy, a prim and proper fashion designer, and an overly shy animal caretaker, I think an android could fit in there somewhere."
"You're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it.", Skywalker added. Penny's sad expression transformed in a smile as she grabs Skywalker and Ruby into a hug and shakes them back and forth. "You're the best buddy anyone could have!"
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower!", Ruby said muffled. "Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one who built me! I'm sure you would love him!", Penny said releasing the duo Ruby, fully back to her happy self. "He built you all by himself?", Ruby said with a giggle. "Well, almost! He had some help from Mr. Ironwood.", Penny said, the soldiers who were after her now made a lot more sense if the general was involved. "They like to protect me, too! They're not sure if I'm ready yet... One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament."
"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace!", Ruby said confused, for some reason Penny seemed to be confused too. Suddenly, Skywalker's Scroll received a message, on the screen it showed that it was from Blake. "I got to go, see you two later.", Skywalker said, before taking to the sky and flying off.
Meanwhile, Blake's fingers trace three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they are ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turns to Sun next to her. "This is it.", Blake said. "You sure?", Sun asked, Blake glares at him, "Okay, okay. By the way, do you think Jason can pass as a Faunus?". The two were slightly startled when a voice suddenly spoke up, "Of course I can.", looking to their left, they saw Skywalker approaching, "I got your messages. You ready to do this?", he asked Blake who gave him a nod before turning to Sun, "Your ready Sun?"
The monkey Faunus gave him a cocky smirk, "What do you think?", and they start moving towards the entrance while Blake unfastening her bow. "What kind of animal are you going for?", Sun whispered. Raising an eyebrow, Skywalker points to his hair, "Obviously a hedgehog."
The three walk inside the building, Blake moves closer and grabs a hold of Skywalker's arm. "What are you doing?", he whispered. "We'll attract less attention this way.", Blake said as they arrived at a hallway filled with cases, seeing another man announcing "New recruits, keep to the right!" at the young trio as they follow. "I don't get it.", Sun said as he looked at the White Fang mask he had just recieved, in his hand, "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol.", Blake explained as they put on their masks on, "They put Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
The new recruits to the White Fang are moving in a line to the side of the stage, a mere few dozen compared to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to their left and up above in the balconies. Skywalker, Blake and Sun look around themselves when they stop. "God this brings back bad memories.", Skywalker muttered, as a fully-masked man with tattoos standing starts speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!", White Fang Lieutenant said as he stepped to the side to reveal none other than Roman Torchwick, smiling confidently even as the crowd starts protesting.
"Thank you, thank you!", Torchwick said waving mockingly as he is followed by a girl with hair that is half pink and half brown, with white streaks in the pink half. She also seemed to have heterochromia iridum, one eye is brown while the other is pink. She was dresses in a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and gray boots with very high heels. Under her jacket is a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wears a multitude of necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. "Please, hold your applause!", Torchwick, pausing when he heard some ask what a human was doing here, "I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
Sun leans towards his friends, asking is Torchwick was going anywhere with this. "It always goes somewhere... And I don't like where this is going.", Skywalker whispered back. "But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!", Torchwick continued, the crowd changes their tune and starts agreeing with him, "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life! And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."
With a snap of the fingers, the curtain falls, "Oh no.", Skywalker said as he takes in the sight of the Atlesian Paladin-290 behind Torchwick, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder as the whole mass of Faunus applaud. "How did he get that?, Skywalker wondered as Torchwick continued.
"As some of you might have heard, this right here...", he said as he taps the giant mech, "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves'. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?", the White Fang's roaring applause tells him the answer.
"We should get out of here.", Blake said as suddenly the line with new recruits surges forward, the White Fang are cheering loudly as the recruits are marched to the stage, with Skywalker, Blake and Sun having no choice but to follow along. "What are we going to do!?", Sun whispering to his friends. "I got an idea. Be ready to use one of the windows.", Skywalker said as he made a jump, making it unto a large pipe.
"Hey! Torchwick!", he shouted to the thief who was leaning on the robot smoking his cigar and laughing with the girl beside him. As Torchwick turned to look at the one who shouted his name, Skywalker removed his mask, "You really need to amp up your security.", he said with a cheeky grin, enjoying the surprised and outraged look on Torchwick's face. "Don't let him get away!", Torchwick order.
Hearing a distant window crash, Skywalker knew it was time to get out of there. Jumping through another window, his ears picked up the mechanized sound of running power signals the Altesian Paladin's activation, and it crashes through the wall of the building in pursuit of Skywalker, who leap off of a car and manage to get on the roofs. The Paladin follows beside them on the street as Skywalker runs, jump, and flip from rooftop to rooftop.
Coming to a large square, Skywalker came to a stop, turning around to face Torchwick, Keyblade in hand. "Tell me, do you bleed?", Torchwick voice came out to The Paladin as it entered combat mode, "You will."
"Why don't you come out there and face me like a man.", Skywalker said, taking his fighting stance. "And face the wrath of your almighty key? No. I think I'll fight from inside here where my odds are a little more... equal.", Torchwick said back. "Haven't I already beaten you like a trillion times?", Skywalker asked.
"No, you have beaten me only two...", Torchwick corrected him, but stopping mid sentence, letting out an angry roar as the battle begins with Torchwick shooting at the young man. Skywalker charges forward, dodging more incoming fire and propels himself up into the air. Torchwick could barley bring up The Paladins melee weapon to block Skywalker incoming attack.
As they blade-lock, Torchwick used it's other fist to slams, Skywalker through multiple building and giving chase. As he recovers, dusting off his clothes, Torchwick wrap a cable around his opponent and conduct electricity, trying to electrocuting Skywalker into submission. Much to Torchwick shot, Skywalker let out a roar, shattering his bonds and once again charging forward. Transforming his Keyblade into its Gauntlet form, Skywalker landed on The Paladin, delivering a few punched of his own before sending it straight through a few builds, making it land on the highway.
As The Paladin recovers it could just barley evade the incoming attack from Skywalker from above, as he landed he smashed up the highway, "Having fun yet, Roman?", Skywalker said before calling upon his Keyblade Armor, "This looks so much better than my current outfit.", he thought. "Your good kid, but your still not half the Keyslinger or a hero the others were.", Torchwick said before the two charged again.
"Are you sure Jason needs our help?", Sun said, as he, Blake and Yang followed the fight ever since it entered the highway, "I think he is winning.", just as he said that, Skywalker was hit by a powerful blast, sending him crashing into the ground, sliding across it before recovering and charging again. Weiss and Neptune joined the fight from a upper highway, but Torchwick notices the pair on his sensors and crashes into a multitude of cars with the Paladin's strong bulk, sending them flying towards the duo.
"Oh no you don't!", Skywalker said, throwing his Keyblade like a boomerang, slicing the cars in two as the duo jumped down, while Neptune unslings his weapon, aims as sparks start flying, and fires several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Torchwick to grimace from the force of the attacks.
Switching strategies, Neptune flips the gun and it grows a shaft and an energy blade at the end, as the spear's head splits in three and drives it into the top of the Paladin as he lands. Neptune is trying his best, but the mech keeps bucking and threatens to make him fall. "Neptune, hold on!", Sun said as he closes his eyes, Sun smashes his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance creates two glowing outlines that copy their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They explode into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with his weapon held high, but Torchwick finally turns enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.
"Sun! Neptune!", Skywalker shouted, calling his Keyblade back to his hand before making a similar trust forward he had seen Weiss preform, creating an opening for him to kick the Paladin off the highway.
Landing further down before Ruby, already having her Crescent Rose out in scythe form. The Paladin stands back up, and the rest of Team RWBYS falls beside their leader to take up positions. Torchwick chuckles, moving the robot slowly towards the heroes.
Weiss performs her ice-circle trick, but backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounds Torchwick. Immediately, the Paladin activates its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely sees the afterimage of Blake and narrowly misses the dashing Yang. A gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast comes Skywalker and Ruby, who slashes the metal with their blade, causing it to falter.
Blake and Weiss go in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumps up and stabs a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Torchwick lifts the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Skywalker appears in a blur actually managing to hold the foot up before launching it upwards, bringing it out of balance. Torchwick growls and fires off the missiles, but Skywalker releases a flurry of bladework, slicing the missiles apart, creating explosions as they fall safely to his and his teams side, his cape blowing thanks to the wind.
Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Torchwick is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she is falling down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.
"Yang!", Blake said worried but Ruby calmed her down. "Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.", their leader informed them. "Yang, let's finish this.", Skywalker said, extending his hand. Yang gave a cocky grin, accepting his hand, "Let's go partner!", as he gets back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenches her fists. "Strange, I feel much more powerful even though I haven't taken much damage.", Yang though while Skywalker changed his Keyblade into its Gauntlet form once again.
The duo charged forward, Torchwick throws a punch, but is shocked when both Skywalker and Yang deliver one to it as well, obliterating the arm as the ground cracking beneath them. Getting desperate with his armless robot, Torchwick immediately kicks as them, but this resulted in it being kicked off by Skywalker. "Dragon Fist!", both Skywalker and Yang shouted as they charged forward once again a blue and yellow aura surrounds them, taking the form of a dragon. Torchwick was unable to react in time as the Paladin is hit by the speed and power of their combined fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.
"Just got this thing cleaned...", Torchwick complained as he gets up, slightly dazed but unharmed, as he inspects the damage while brushing himself off. He looks up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he's saved at the last instant when the two-toned girl from before drops in front of him and merely opens her pink umbrella, deflecting the blast entirely. The new arrival hangs the weapon over her shoulder as Torchwick said addresses the victors. "Ladies, Sir Knight, Ice Queen...", much to Weiss annoyance, "Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..."
The pink-and-brown girl curtsies her enemies with a bow, but Yang will have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turn just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBYS runs up to Yang's side, now cooled down with the end of the fight. "So I guess he got a new henchman...", Yang muttered.
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!", Weiss said, while giving a smile. Ruby giggles, Blake starts walking away, while Yang simply states, "No. Just... no. There's a time and a place for jokes."
"Was this not it?", Weiss asked surprised. "It just wasn't very good.", Yang told her as she followed Blake. "At least she's trying.", Skywalker said coming to the defense of his friend, getting a thank you from her. "Neo huh?", Skywalker said, giving a moment to think over the name, "She didn't look anything like Keanu Reeves."
"Now that's funny.", Yang said, placing an arm around her still armored friend, "Nice suit by the way, Jason."
And that's another chapter, hope you enjoyed. Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite or follows this story, you beautiful bastards! For now, I wish you all a fantastic day and I will see you all, very soon.