AN: So I've been busy with a lot of things and lost interest in RWBY for a bit because my mother insists on treating her 20 year old son (me) like a five year old that just found her life savings and spent it on shitty bubblegum. So I've been under some stress.
BUT I SAW EPISODE 1 OF CHAPTER TWO OF RWBY!
I AM NOW REAWAKENED!
So heres chapter 20.
Enjoy.
Also for those of you that said that my writing took a drop in the fight against Torchwick and his undying minion, that was because Jaune took some major damage and had to fight off an illusion making him unable to process things at his normal logical level.
If that wasn't obvious.
I should have explained that better lols.
I also make some Youtube gaming vids on the side now.
When FarCry 4 comes out I'll be doing ridiculous power-uploads, so spread the word! XD
Begin
"Oh… I am going to enjoy this…"
"Uh… Mercy?" Sun chuckled nervously as he took a step back.
"NO MERCY! ANNOUNCER! START THE FIGHT!"
"I like your style kid! A man should fight for what he wants with his own two arms!" The announcer from the arena match that the girls were in two days prior was back again with his weird sunglasses. He tossed his blue hairdo back and crossed his arms, both of which were under his large open red shirt… which was opened and just hanging off his shoulders. "BEGIN THE BATTLE!"
"Fucking dammit." Sun grumbled as he dodged a swipe from my left arm, covered in Aura Armor.
"First part of the Tri-Focal Roulette is being paired up with a student, preferably from another school, and then getting one of the three battle types before you can move on. You were paired with me for AURA CONTROL!" I grinned as armor covered my other arm as well and it extended twenty feet into the air like titanic fists as I swung them around with almost herculean strength. "AURA CONTROL IS MY SPECIALTY! NO ONE HAS A SEMBLANCE LIKE MINE!"
"I FUCKING KNOW!" the horney ape hissed as he dove and rolled away from a left jab before a backhand caught him and slammed him into a stone pillar, smashing my prey through it.
The Colosseum had been refitted to this time forgo the stone stage used for combat and rather now had many pillars filled with Null Dust at their bases, tuned in a way that caused them to have their own small gravitational pull.
This made movement both difficult and aura control somewhat erratic, but I had fought in similar conditions before, so I at least knew how to shift my aura the way I wanted it for my armor to stay at full capacity.
Sun on the other hand howled in frustration as he fell, the pillars pulling him in four different directions, making him spin about like a mad top.
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE ENTERED THIS EVENT, YOU HORNY GORILLA!"
"HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW YOU WERE IN IT, YOU OVERPROTECTIVE TEENAGE DAD?!"
"BECAUSE THE GODS FAVOR ME TODAY!" I gleefully crowed as I swung another fist, knocking over another pillar as it clipped Sun's leg, sending him in a strange awkward spiral as if he was a bird of paradise performing a strange dance.
Sun sent out bolts of condensed aura keyed to the Burn Crystals that he had lined inside his gauntlets, scorching the ground when it hit.
One of them struck into my shoulder after orbiting around one of the pillars during his erratic fall, sending me tumbling just long enough for Sun to regain his sense of up and down.
"So that's how it works, huh? Ok! This I can do!"
Sun grinned as his pulled his arms back behind him focusing his aura into the palms of his hands before launching them forwards as a combined fireball, large enough to stay largely on track.
I had to roll out of the way, dispersing the aura that made up my armor as I hid behind a pillar.
"This is aura control alongside tactical positioning and manipulation of different centers of gravity. Took me a while to get that, but I'm better than you at the third!"
Like a bolt of yellow he bounced from pillar to pillar, using his aura like thrusters through his Burn Dust. He didn't look it, but I've studied him for weaknesses long enough to know that as part of his Faunus lineage some of his bones were denser than others allowing him to shift into many positions to alter his center of gravity. It was one of the reasons that the members of the Sun family were so hard to apprehend as they could twist and turn in hundreds of different ways to elude capture while attacking.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeeeeee's JOHNNY!"
Stars flickered as I failed to block a scorching jumping double hammer kick to the side of my head.
At least I managed to get a faceplate formed in time for the impact.
I think that the crowd reeled at the sudden turnabout and cheered with excitement over the violence. I did hear a lot of anti-Faunus sentiment and jeers alongside that, but I didn't put too much thought into that.
I call him a horny gorilla because he's after my Penny, not because I'm racist.
I have other Faunus friends than just Blake, you know.
It didn't take more than a second for me to regain my senses and knowing Sun's fighting style, which is a bastardization of his older brother Zidane's I knew he liked to kick a guy when he was down.
Ergo why I formed the fifty two pieces of interlocking aura armor that protected the entirety of my back, the back of my shoulders, the back of my waist, and wrapped a bit around my ribs and then fired it upwards by pulling in and compressing air under the armor before flexing and releasing the pressure.
This caught a burning drop-kick to the center of my spine and collided with Sun Wukong, sending him flying upwards.
"Now that you're in the air there's nowhere to dodge!"
Sun gulped as the armor that sent him into the sky in the first place dematerialized under him, leaving him with no cover.
"SCREW YOU D'ARC!"
"AND YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT KNOWS HOW TO USE AURA BOLTS!" I giggled maliciously as I launched barrage after barrage of white kinetic aura into the air, watching as Sun desperately twisted and sent out burst of flame to launch himself in different directions in a feeble attempt to avoid slaughter.
In the corner of my eye I could see my clanmates looking very embarrassed over my zealous bombardment of the monkey kind, although Nora seemed to be cheering loudly to break his legs.
As tempting as that was… even I'd feel guilty after doing that.
I don't know how Nora so easily hands out such violence.
I think she's sent more people to the infirmary than any of the Grimm in the training grounds surrounding Beacon.
It made me wish I had control on the level of someone like Professor Goodwitch. That woman can use her aura for just about anything and is a genius that only comes once a century.
Makes you wonder why she became a teacher.
…Then again I think she was Ozpin's partner at Beacon, so… eh.
"You're distracted!"
Goddamn it.
Sun sent himself like a missile at my face, his rocket powered fall aided by the force of gravity. Riding out the full momentum until the back of my head hit the ground, Sun rolled away, leaving the back of my head as a bruised mess.
A LOT of my blows hit him after all.
Just like the armored headbutt that struck his stupid face when he turned his stupid head.
"You bnokth my nothz you mudderpucker!"
Sun growled as he snapped his nose back into place, bobbing and weaving past my punches. Not only did he have naturally better reflexes as a Faunus, but Sun also had been trained in hand to hand combat since he was a toddler, while I had unlocked my aura at the same age. However, I still had less physical confrontations that were about skill rather than physical strength than he.
I also wasn't trained for combat until much later, and actually couldn't use my aura at will until I was six, although I unlocked it two years prior.
"You're not allowed to use physical attacks unless it involves aura, you crazy scientist!"
"I make my armor with my aura, so stick it where the sun don't shine!"
"HEY!" the announcer yelled out, "You kiddies done with your sandbox spat?"
"LIKE HELL!" We screamed back before smacking each other in the face again.
"Well too bad. The monkey boy landed on your face as an attack without using aura. He has a technical disqualification. Get off my stage."
…
"Wait, seriously?"
"Come on! That was one mistake!"
"Yeah! I'm totally still kicking his ass!"
"OFF THE STAGE! D'Arc is the victor! Seeing a schoolyard grudge match isn't what the audience paid for."
Well fuck.
We grumpily stomped off.
"This isn't over… not by a longshot." I muttered in disappointment.
I really wanted to smash Sun a new asshole…
"No offense, but you two looked like kids feuding over some toy." Weiss sniffed, "Way too personal for a tournament fight."
"Oh hush." I grumbled with the most disappointed look I could muster. "How was our fight not going to be personal? You girls know what I call him. "
Although contestants were usually to rest in the waiting room between rounds, there were several sections of the observer's seats that were reserved for the competitors themselves, winner or no.
Which is why I was burning a hole into Sun's head as he and Penny fed popcorn to each other.
"Glaring isn't going to fix anything, Jaune." Yang rolled her eyes, flicking buttery popcorn into the air before catching it with her mouth.
"No, but I can make the little sonuvagun sweat."
"Psh. Calm down and have some popcorn. Weiss is up against someone from Haven. I didn't even know that Haven was attending the Vale Festival this year." Yang said, plucking some of the salty treats and holding them up to my mouth.
I ate somewhat reluctantly.
"Vale's kind of crazy with its economy. We have a festival every month because our economy actually depends on it. Sure its really only HUGE like this twice a year, but there really isn't too much to DO in Vale other than work a day job or become a Huntsman. This popcorn is really good by the way. Mmm. But because we have these festivals, we get both tourism and trade to and from the three other kingdoms. It's cheaper for them and we get huge influxes of large transactions. Other than Dust we have no other real export. Unfortunately that's also why we've always been the first military target during the last Great War and all the wars before that. We sit right on top of and by the biggest Dust deposits on the Vytal continent as well as the world... Not that we even have records for that far back to know if there are better deposits elsewhere."
...Or that there are a few secret texts that predate the Great War.
...As far as the public knew at least.
"...Hey, Jaune, want a bite of my churro?" Blake asked, half-shoving it into my mouth.
It caught me off guard, but I chewed off a bite nonetheless.
Nothing like sugar and fried dough.
"Oh Dust, I have to get a bunch of these later. Ruby might be right, my sweet tooth is ridiculous."
"Sugar-hating is for the weak!" Nora agreed as she slurped up the slushy remains of a large multicolored snowcone which was turning green as the syrups began to mix.
"You can have some more of mine if you want, Jaune. " Blake giggled softly as I turned to her with a happy smile, unknowingly missing a light glare from Yang.
Who quickly called a vendor over for some colorful cotton candy.
Before I knew it I was bouncing back and forth between the two girls being fed a variety of treats as I vaguely recalled that I should be controlling their spending.
My stomach and tongue decided otherwise.
Haven had shown up to this month's Festival without warning.
Although most of the travel and migration from kingdom to kingdom was limited, and tensions between them were generally tense as a whole, Vale had always tried to set as much of an open door policy as possible to encourage peace and international cooperation. Out of the four remaining kingdoms we were the most demilitarized and rather relied more upon the establishment of Huntsmen as both a defence and peacekeeping corps.
This meant that although rare, it wasn't unheard of that last minute visitors popped in for the monthly festivals.
Beacon was also an international school. Although somewhat hard on their own citizens for the original team programs, it still kept most of the students who applied based upon skill and potential. When transfer students and international applicants come to Beacon during a festival, it made it easy and simple to fill up and create teams for those without the full four members, as different kingdoms had different ideas upon teamwork.
I was fed another kernel of kettle corn as I mused upon the strangeness of it all.
The yellow and black partners of Team RWBY had called some sort of truce and started feeding me together, which I had no objections to.
I was feeding them as well, anyways.
Seemed like a fair compromise for them to stop busting our wallets with whatever issue they were resolving.
That and Weiss was really tearing into her opponent.
I think she saw the two dozen people selling food swing by our section.
The only reason that they weren't stopped was because Ruby and Pyrrha were next in line to compete and were waiting in the locker rooms to be called out for their fight.
I felt bad for the Haven guy.
He was using a warhammer and was way too slow to deal with Weiss and her speed.
Fencing was widely accepted as the fastest melee armed combat style left in the world, after all. Going up against that kind of speed with an extra-heavy warhammer is just suicide.
That and that overpowered air-jumping of hers.
"Pft, you're thinking out loud again, Jaune." Yang giggled as she nibbled on another piece of sugary corn, teeth teasingly nibbling my fingertips much to my weak and half-hearted protests.
"Besides," Blake followed up popping a piece into my mouth, "You can actually fly. That's much more overpowered."
"She looks like a fairy walking on air. Tell me that doesn't look cool."
"It doesn't look cool."
"Owuh! Whai aur you pinchin ma cheekths?!"
"Repeat after us: It doesn't look cool."
"Okah, okah! It dothen luk cool!"
I shrunk into my seat as they let go, a look of satisfaction on their faces.
"I think we're getting lots of transfer students though. I know Penny's joining Beacon because I'm here. And so that horny ape's following."
"Teenage daddy." he shot back as he slung an arm around my little girl.
I kicked him in the back of the head.
"Pedophile."
"Damn blonde…" he growled as Penny rubbed the back of his head.
"You're blonde too idiot."
He stuck out his tongue childishly and ducked as I tried to make him taste the sole of my boot.
"Ok girls, stop the bickering and be men about this." Yang rolled her eyes, but the smile gave away that she still found it funny. "It's not like we're done with the event, so calm yourselves. Have some more popcorn. Looks like ice princess won so we can cheer, too."
"Good luck explaining all the food wrappings." Ren smirked as he finally spoke up, Nora having fallen asleep, head in his lap as he absentmindedly stroked her hair.
Ah.
Valid note.
"We should, uh, probably clean it up quickly. As much as we can at least."
"Agreed." Blake muttered nervously, "I don't know what we were thinking."
"Mhmm? Yeah, I want to know too. I thought that I told you to watch our spending, Jaune."
"Uhhhhhhh…"
Weiss had somehow appeared right next to us, seemingly have forgone freshening up in the locker room before meeting up with us.
"If you didn't realize, yes, I could see you from where I was."
"...Sorry."
"Don't sorry me." Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her eyes. "What were you thinking?"
"...THEY DID IT!"
Two hands smacked me in the back of my head.
"We were feeding you! Traitor!" Yang hissed in fear of Weiss's impending wrath.
"I was distracted by sugar! I deny everything!"
Blake rolled her eyes as she pinched my cheek and pulled.
"Don't be a child."
I pouted but gave in when she gave me a semi-stern look, cocking her head and raising a brow.
Damn her and her feminine wiles.
"Is… is there something on my face?"
"No. My hearts just going crazy and my mouth's going dry is all."
As a blush climbed up rapidly from my Faunus friend's neck to her face, Yang and Weiss yanked my back by my ears and started giving me a noogie at the same time much to my displeasure.
Sun laughed at me, just dying of chuckles as I attempted to kick him.
Feebly.
Because it was more important that I get out of my painful head-hold.
The rest of the Tri-Focal tournament was pretty dull for me, as I had little interest in any fights that didn't belong to a member of our Clan, though I did find some humor in getting paired up against Cardin Winchester and proceeding to absolutely destroy him in a contest of pure combat.
I wasn't Yang or Pyrrha in terms of pure combat skill, however I could hold my own even without aura enhancing my strength and speed.
That and I was less armored and faster than Cardin was a plus in my direction.
I suppose the victor was to be of note though, as she was a student of one of Haven's lesser known combat schools, Lodestar. she seemed to favor large area of effect type dust spells, although she didn't seem to use a weapon.
She was strong, most definitely, but she was rather wasteful with her aura when she attacked, even though her defenses were surprisingly economical and conservative.
Her hair wasn't as dark as Blake's though.
Although I realized somewhat recently that I found brighter hair colors more attractive, there was something about dark, black hair that I found exotic and eye-catching.
By that point I had lost in a bout with Weiss in a pure combat battle as I was used to just juggernauting with my aura armor, complimented by my somewhat skilled swordplay.
Fencing is so overpoweredly fast…
She also might have been miffed that I didn't keep a better look over our finances.
My ribs were told that much at least.
She really hates pointless spending for some reason and personally sets budgets for everyone, it's insane. I don't get it.
I tried asking Nora why Weiss was like that and she just shrugged at me.
"Women." She shrugged and rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Ren and I both stared at her with somewhat judging eyes.
Then I gave Ren judging eyes.
He just rubbed his temples in irritation as I dodged a swipe at my head.
"Don't say anything. I know. I've known since I was a small child. It's a hopeless case."
"You're a hopeless case."
Nora was shocked when Ren socked me in the face.
I didn't dodge because I deserved that one.
My aura protected me from bruising, as it wasn't a powerful enough punch to really cause harm. Our friendship was good enough for that much at least.
After being forced to talk with the victor and schedule out a time for tutoring, much to the displeasure of many of my clanmates as she introduced herself as Ella. She and her team were one of three transferring from Lodestar in Haven.
I was a bit concerned for her team dynamics though as she claimed that in Lodestar teams were in three member groups and she'd have no control over the selection of her fourth.
She assured me that she'd be alright.
I smiled.
And now I'm being forced to carry all the bags.
HOW DOES THAT WORK OUT?!
"My arms… so heavy…."
"You're not the one carrying three crates of Dust-grenades." Ren grumbled at my misery.
"Shut up, Rin."
While the self-estranged heir to an assassination clan glared at me, his magenta eyes flashing into a dark fuchsia in a semi-dangerous manner, Sun just laughed at the two of us, only to get smacked by a load of three heavy containers full of dust and circuitry by a happy Penny.
The girls had insisted on a makeover which meant that I had to do some light inner and exterior remodeling so that nail polish and the like wouldn't wreak havoc on her systems.
I warned the girls that cucumber juice would not be good for her optics, but now my poor Penny had to wear the cutest little eyepatch.
I just wished that she's stop singing "When You Are a Dust Pirate."
There's only too much 'fim fum fiddty dee' you can take when you have no idea what's going on and Nora joins in.
And Ruby.
And Yang.
I sighed as the holophone, model "Scroll XI-B", rang and I picked up.
"Yellow."
"Mr. D'Arc. Colors are still not an acceptable form of introduction. I wish you would pick up on this."
"...Dr. Seymore. What can I do for you?"
I dropped the bags as calmly as I could as I walked away from the group, ignoring the questions as to where I was going.
"I've noticed that Auron has gone off the grid again and subject Pinocchette has gone missing. Am I to assume that this is your actions?"
I ducked into an alleyway before quickly jumping from wall to wall, scaling the cement buildings and hopped down to hide in a different alleyway.
I ignored the others passing overhead as they dropped their excursion to follow.
I didn't have time for this!
"She's not missing. And Auron goes gallivanting doing who knows what all the time. I don't understand what you're problem is. She's just a girl. Stop calling her that."
The voice on the other side gave a hum of annoyed amusement.
"The General and I are both anxious with her extended disappearance. She is under our project's jurisdiction."
"I already have you the format from her data to make your Elysium units. I strictly remember that she was to be placed under my supervision once I did what you wanted."
"Times change. Promises do too to match the times. Subject Pinocchette's body itself has become a security risk. One that we cannot ignore. Nor can we after what we witnessed in the previous night. I believe you named it the 'Lightshard Symphony'?"
"Test name. It's for self-defence."
"Self-defence does not melt through Class II armor."
"It's experimental. It wasn't supposed to be that strong."
A lie, but a necessary one.
It shames me, but when I first rebuilt Penny, I was still too driven by anger and I thought I could make a fighting, thinking, machine of destruction to help me hunt down the source of my childhood tragedy.
I was wrong to do it.
I knew that within the week as I was called Mama, then Papa, as I taught Penny about what it meant to live.
To be human.
"Is that so? You should create such accidents more often. Atlas would like those schematics. We are too close to Vacuo, after their separation and so-called independence."
Atlas had originally been the biggest kingdom, but three years ago VIT, and the people of Vacuo had separated themselves from their motherland, wanting freedom from constant martial law.
Tensions were still high and it certainly hadn't been pretty.
Vale and Haven both had to intervene as Atlas angrily conceded its rights to the land on the small continent to the North.
Atlas never forgets.
And why would they?
They were originally the strongest kingdom to come out intact after the War of Chaos.
"Like I said. It's an accident. Forget it."
"Dr. D'Arc. I highly suggest you think otherwise."
Then don't threaten me so blatantly, you greedy, warmongering…
"Dr. Seymore. We had a deal. I kept to my end. You keep yours."
"Unfortunately," another voice interrupted, "We have conflicting interests then. That doesn't work for us."
My mouth went dry.
"...Emerald."
"Glad to know you remember my name, monster."
A green haired girl emerged from the shadows, my guns in hand, even my ancestral weapon, Crocea Mors on her hip. She showed a lot of her caramel skin, a white top that wrapped around her neckline and under her bust contrasted sharply, a low-cut tube top showing off her cleavage. My sword and sheildth dangled on her belt, threatening to pull down her white short shorts.
Although her leggings would have hidden up anything unsavory anyways.
When did she…
"I didn't think that you of all people would work for Seymore." I cautiously turned, hands up.
She hadn't bothered to take my empty frame-sword, as she knew it to be useless without modifications.
Her knowledge was lacking about it though.
I hopefully still held some sort of an advantage.
"...He wants to turn your sister into a weapon."
"That THING is not my sister. Not anymore." She glared, red eyes flashing dangerously, "She doesn't have my skin. She doesn't have my hair. All you did was make a weapon from her corpse."
"You see, Dr. D'Arc," Seymore's voice continued, "She works for an ally of mine who sees the benefit of… progress, so to speak. We-"
I crushed the holophone.
"Annoying, isn't he?"
Emerald smiled, walking over to me.
Pressing Judgement against my thigh and firing.
I didn't make a sound as I clenched my teeth, my flesh deadening the sound of my already fairly quiet weapon.
"Yes. Not quite as much as you though." She mused, eyes still flashing with bloodlust, "Be glad. I'm not allowed to kill you… yet… Monsters like you are too damned useful."
"Wow. You didn't kill him. I'm surprised."
Emerald turned to glare at a silver haired boy who lazily walked over to us, aura muffling his naturally heavy footfalls.
"I thought I was to handle this alone, Mercury."
The newly identified Mercury shrugged, gunmetal grey pauldrons jangling lightly.
I noted his footwear. A Dual-Range Shot-Grieves.
No.
Variable Round Shot-Grieves.
Tricker with more power and possible kill-shots.
"Cinder insisted. Said you'd kill him if you got the chance."
"Still deciding whether or not I'm right."
I turned to the third voice.
"I see. Ella is your alias here."
"My middle name. Works well enough. My real name is Cinder. Nice to meet you, Teacher D'Arc."
I glanced at her uniform.
Still dressed in Lodestar's conservative outfit.
"So Haven's thrown their lot in with Atlas? Or are you spys?"
Cinder smiled mysteriously, reminding me of Blake, but much more unreadable.
But the hint of power and madness behind the smile were undeniable.
"You don't have to worry about that. What matters is that Emerald is working for me, and you owe her quite the debt if her story is to be believed. Bringing the dead back to life for the sake of revenge? Tsk, tsk. You naughty child."
I growled before giving out a grunt of pain as Emerald shot my other leg, making it rather hard to stand.
Thank Dust that it was loaded as practice rounds.
It still tore bloody holes in my legs like swiss cheese.
"But really, Emerald. He's no good to use if you slowly shoot him to death. Give the man his toys."
"...Yes, Cinder."
"Ah, yes. Armed but crippled. Thank you for the illusion of safety. How civil." I snorted as I worked my aura to heal my injuries.
"Think nothing of it. Thank you for cutting off communication with Seymore though. He's already outlived his usefulness now that I have my hands on you." Cinder smiled again her left index finger glowing faintly.
So that's why nobody's found me yet.
A covert barrier.
Shit.
"Could we make this quick? I have friends looking for me right now. Even though you've sectioned us off, they might accidentally stumble in."
"Mmm. That would be a problem wouldn't it? You should be more considerate as to what would happen to them if they did come across us." Mercury grinned as he picked up a brick from the ground before crushing it into fragments.
If only I could get Sovenar to back me up here…
How did he get that grip strength without aura?!
"All jokes aside. We need you to make something for us. Design, if you will. It will be a test of genius."
"I've never been really interested in tests of intellect."
"What if it's to track certain aura signatures? Or lack-thereof?"
"...Tracking? I don't think that you're doing this for a good reason… Homing rounds? Missiles? It doesn't matter as long as you have the funding and the basis for something like that. What do you mean lack-thereof?"
Cinder's grin grew even larger.
"You're quite the forward thinker in aura control and manipulation. You see, that's exactly what I need for a little project of mine. On the other hand, I've become quite a hand at studying Grimm and their properties. I'm suggesting a trade of the wealth of knowledge. Nothing wrong with that. I even know the genus of the one you seek. The first and only of its kind. You're quite lucky. It's been found to be unable to reproduce with other Grimm of similar origins."
"...Name."
Cinder grinned.
"We've decided to call it the Gluttir Aldenter. I believe that it did devour all the people of your little home village, yes? I've done some research."
It was a smile of victory.
"So you know how to find it?"
"Yes. And I'll track it down for you. If you find something for me in return."
I shook hands with the devil.
End
AN2: A little on the short side, and a bit awk in the middle there, but what can you do? Sometimes things just like to fight with you. I'll try and make the next one better.
Although I wonder how things will change now that Jaune is somewhat secretly working with Cinder and indirectly Torchwick?
MWAH HA HA HA!
Like and Review to find out!
Also leave suggestions.
That always helps.