Chapter 14: Grimm with Emerald/Ren

Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were walking together. Haven was still quite a way to go. It's been days since they've departed Patch, but they weren't getting any closer. Nora's legs gave out at one point, so Ren had to carry her for this leg of the journey.

"Are we there?" Nora asked for the 153rd time.

"No…" Ren groaned.

"Don't worry." Ruby reminded. "We'll be there soon."

Jaune was quiet for a strange reason. Suddenly, he felt something.

"Look out!" He cried, grabbing Ruby. Then explosions happened right where they were.

"Where did that come from?" Ren asked. They turned to see Emerald. She was grinning. Ruby stepped forward.

"Emerald!" She cried. "What was that for?"

"I need to get rid of you." Emerald replied. "So I thought I'd have some fun with you first."

Then, she pulled out her sickles, and lunged forward. Ruby shot at her with Crescent Rose, but every time she seemed to hit her, she disappeared and reappeared somewhere else. Jaune also ran forward, pulling out his sword. Emerald laughed, and just annihilated him in the face. She then proceeded to kick Ruby in the face. They both fell to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Emerald mocked. "Are you guys that incompetent?"

Ruby turned to her scythe, and jumped up.

"How's this for you?!" She yelled, coming down.

Emerald just giggled, and used her Semblance. Ruby came down with the force of an anvil, but Emerald was nowhere to be seen. Then, she reappeared again behind her, and punch her in the back.

"Our attacks don't even hit her?" Jaune frantically said.

"You're an observant one, Arc." Emerald commented. "But we're done playing games."

And with that, she pulled out a strange device that attached to her wrist. What she pulled out next shocked Ren. Emerald pulled out the Grimm Eyecon.

"Isn't that… Osamu?" Ren uttered.

Emerald pressed on the Eyecon, but it refused to cooperate with her.

"Work with me, or you'll never see the light of day ever again." Emerald threatened.

The Eyecon stopped resisting, and let Emerald use itself. She then proceeded to putting the Eyecon into the device.

YES SIR!

She pressed a button, and the Grimm Damashii flew out of the device. It flew around Emerald before she put it on.

TENGAN! GRIMM! MEGA ULOAD! FIGHTING PEN!

Emerald opened her now deep purple eyes replacing her red ones, and charged. Ruby and Jaune also charged, but were knocked off their feet. They slashed and lunged, but Emerald landed good punches on their stomachs. Then, pulling back, two tentacles with fountain pen points at each end unwound themselves and lunged towards Ruby and Jaune. They did their best to hold them off, but the tentacles soon wrapped themselves around them. Emerald then used those tentacles to fling them all over the place. Ruby and Jaune's Aura now retreated back into their bodies. Emerald slowly walked over for the killing blow. She raised her sickle to kill Jaune first, but Ren had other ideas. He tackled Emerald from the back and began a dogfight with her. Nora crawled over and helped Ruby and Jaune to heal by a tree.

The dogfight was pretty intense. Ren got some punches, but Emerald had Grimm at her disposal, so she just used him to get Ren off her. She pinned him into a tree, and looked.

"That was quite brave." She commented. "But that was also a fatal mistake."

Then, she pressed a button on her device again. The tentacles floated up, and dived. Ren covered himself, but then looked up. The tentacles stopped midway, and was shaking a little bit. He looked at Emerald and she was struggling herself.

"You… work…" She stuttered. "For… me!"

Ren could only laugh from this. "You can use heroic people to your own will or power, Emerald." He declared. "But you can't control them. You don't have that will within you!"

Right there, he lunged forward to grab her device, and pulled the Grimm Eyecon out. The Grimm Damashii disappeared from Emerald.

"Wha-" Emerald said. "What happened?"

She looked up only to find Ren's sucker kick to the face. She flew back out into the open, and struggled getting up. Ren walked up slowly.

"This your first and last chance!" Ren called. "Give up."

Emerald just pulled out her sickles. "I could this all day."

Ren sighed. "You asked for it."

Ren turned to the Eyecon. It dissipated into him, and the Grimm Damashii flew out once more.

"Thank you for saving me!" The Damashii cried. Then it landed itself on top of Ren.

GRIMM!

KOKORO NO DOOR! HIRAKU DOUWA!

Ren opened his eyes, which are now dark green instead of pink, and glared at Emerald.

"Let me tell you a story…" He whispered in unison with Osamu's voice.

Emerald used her Semblance. She disappeared. Ren, instead of getting confused, just stayed calm. Breathing in and out, he waited for Emerald to move first. Emerald reappeared behind him, and slashed. But Grimm's tentacles caught the attack, deflected it, and Ren turned to knuckle-busted her in the stomach. Emerald groaned as she was blown back.

"Leave. NOW." Ren said.

Emerald got up, stumbled, and limped away. Ren bowed, as the Grimm Damashii flew off him and turned into Osamu. Osamu stretch for a good while.

"Ah!" He exclaimed. "It feels good to have a body again!"

He was about to talk to Ren, but Ren spoke first.

"What happened to you?" He asked. "I haven't seen you since the attack on Beacon."

Osamu sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it…"

Ren and Osamu walked over to where Ruby, Jaune, and Nora were.

"Are you doing okay, Ms. Valkyrie?" Osamu asked.

"Sort of…" Nora said. "My legs are still asleep though."

Osamu looked down at her legs, and pressed on her knees. And with one jolt, he passed some of his Aura to her legs, and instantly, Nora's legs were back in action. Nora jumped around. Osamu laughed, before turning back into the Grimm Damashii.

"Just remember, that we're still here for you." The Damashii said. "Just summon us when you need to."

And it floated away. Ruby turned to everyone else.

"Come on!" She said. "We shouldn't that far from Haven now if Emerald reached us!"