RWBY X Radiant Descendants part 21
I own only my characters and RD, everything else belongs to Rooster Teeth!
It was just a little past evening on Remnant, a cool breeze passing through the trees. Currently in the Xiao Long household, the four were talking over a few topics while enjoying a nice meal Taiyang had prepared for everyone. They shared their laughs, but curiosity soon filled the room as Ken began to speak of one of his tales.
"The first of my companions that I met was Kuro, and funny enough it was by an accident. He was on the run and he ended up crashing into me despite warning me to watch out." Ken couldn't help but smile at the memory of how they had met.
"Umm...question?" Ruby asked, gaining their attention.
"You want to ask something? Go ahead Ruby."
"Oh, okay! Well, you said he was on the run, but from what? Did he do something wrong?"
"Hehe, no, I was just going to get to that. So, let's save questions until I'm done." He chuckled, making the girl blush from embarrassment for asking something she could have waited to get her answer to. "As I was saying, he crashed into me because a stand owner had called some guards to chase after him just because of how racist the man was. Kuro explained to me that he paid for the fruit he got, but because he isn't human, the man assumed he stole them."
"Seriously? They're prejudice on him too? So uhh...that meant he's a faunus right?" Yang worded carefully, not wanting to let her father know just yet that Ken wasn't from their world.
"Yes, he's a cat faunus just like Blake." Ken responded along with a nod, knowing that he had to play his part to. "There were a lot of people like that man we had to deal with, but I always stood up for him because we're all the same regardless of what we truly are. I hate seeing prejudice and people making faunus seem inferior to us when they're really not."
Ruby truly liked that about him, how kind he was and that he treated everyone, faunus or not, the same way. Sure, she and the rest of her team had to build up to that point, but he was different. In his world, the same happened, with other 'races' being treated very unfairly by humans, but he always saw them as their equal without any hesitation.
"In all honesty, I still say you can't beat him in a race with the reflexes and speed he has. I know you all want to know more about me and my journey, but I suppose we can save that for another time. Right now I'd like some fresh air. Thank you for the meal Taiyang." He pushed back his seat as he stood up, smiling. He then exited the dining room, stepping out of their home.
"He sure is a great guy, standing up for the faunus friends he's got. You two sure are lucky to have a friend like him. Still, I want to eventually see what he's got with that sword of his. Just listening to his stories makes me feel like going back to my old days as a Huntsman in training."
"Yeah, he's totally fun to hang around with. Trust me dad, he's no pushover. Even with my semblance I can't beat him, but I will eventually with the sweet training I've been doing with him. We practically got the tournament wrapped up." Yang grinned, closing her hands.
"Heh, yeah, the tournament. I can't wait to show the world what team RUWBY can do! I'll step outside too dad, I want to go visit mom." She then excused herself from the dining room, hearing a faint snicker from her older sister.
The boy still didn't understand the things he saw. They were very present in his mind, but he never recalled those memories as his own, so where could he have gotten them from? He summoned his sword, taking a seat against a nearby tree so that he could take a better look at it.
"That was Advent...I know it, even that man said his name. Aurion was the only thing I could hear from Advent though...but this thing..." He moved his hand over the blue orb that shined. "An exsphere...what is that? The man gave it to him, so it didn't come from Ethiria, it's logical since there's no record of this in any of the books...ughhh so much I have to think about now." He sighed in slight frustration.
"Hey Ken." Ruby's voice caused his head to turn to the left, seeing her usual smile. She was glancing down at him, curios as to what he was doing. "Why are you sitting out here with your sword out?"
"Ahh, I didn't think you would follow me out. Well...I'll be honest with you. When I passed out, I saw some sort of vision, or a memory that wasn't mine, there were two men that talked and one of them handed over this orb to the other." He glanced back down at the orb.
"Ohh." She said, a bit confused. "So...you don't understand anything about it? You said that memory thing wasn't yours, but you saw those two with that shiny blue orb."
"Yeah, it's strange to me, but it's nothing bad. I'll figure it out later though." He shook his hand and made the sword vanish, standing up.
"Okay, well, I wasn't exactly following you, I left because I wanted to go see my mom again before we would have to leave to Beacon in a few days. Want to come with me?"
"Sure, I'd like that." The two then walked together to the place where Summer's grave lay. Once the two arrived, Ruby was the first to approach it, kneeling in front of it. "Hey mom, heh, it's been awhile. We've had a crazy ride this semester and the tournament is coming up in a few days. Ken came over again and told us some stories. I'm really happy that he comes with us, but he's also with Weiss and Blake since he can...well, make a clone of himself heheh."
Ken smiled at the way she spoke, he grew used to it. He then approached the grave, kneeling beside Ruby and doing the same thing she did. "Hello again Summer, it's been awhile since I last visited you with your daughter. I'm helping her and Yang become stronger and better in training, so that they can become the Huntresses they always wanted to be. I do really wish to speak to you again, the next time I come and visit." He rose to his feet with Ruby, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Alright, we should head back before it gets dark."
"Yeah, thanks for coming with me, heh." She smiled as she looked up at him. His own smile always found a way to make her blush. The two then left, making their way back to the house. It was just a few more days of this peace they would be able to share before they along with Yang, would return to Beacon. He had several questions on his mind, and he hoped he could get the answers to them sooner than later.
-"Grr!" A swift strike was made in a horizontal motion, nearly hard to see for the untrained eye.
"Just a few left, do not drop your guard." A voice emitted from the ear piece the boy had.
"Hmph, don't remind me of something I know." The response was in a bitter tone, teeth clenched as he glanced around, eyeing the several Grimm that had him surrounded. This was just another mission of extermination, and thus far the boy has been clearing it faster than any of his previous ones, involving faster and more brutal strikes. "Demonic Climax!"
He dragged his sword into the dirt, spinning around once to surround himself in a barrier of black flames. This soon expanded and engulfed the Grimm, burning them alive before he placed his right hand onto the ground, summoning large crystals of a violet color that impaled every single one and bursting apart to effectively take them out. To the ones viewing him and the mission, it was a rather violent method of eliminating Grimm, but it still held the job done.
"Hmph...give me a damn challenge for once..." He stated loud and clear for the person on the other end to hear. Killing Grimm of this level was useless to him and he held no joy of taking their lives...joy...he shrugged off that thought and sighed, taking in a deep breath. He wasn't tired in the slightest, physically that was.
"I'm afraid you are still not at a suitable level for me to assign you higher difficulty missions, Nega. While you indeed are capable of becoming one of the finest and strongest that have fought alongside me, I cannot allow to take on more dangerous type Grimm yet. I will let you know when that time will come."
"Grr...you can't be serious...I'm bored out of my damn mind with your pathetic missions. I haven't gone anywhere nor done something I enjoy and I will not accept any more of your missions." Nega said in return, placing his foot down. He had been in this world for a few months now, and he certainly wasn't going to follow any more rules unless he had his way.
"...Very well then, seeing as how you are, I would rather avoid any unnecessary conflict between us. Starting tomorrow, you will be participating in higher ranked assignments."
"Hmph, finally you change your mind. I'll be on my way back to the base." With that, the boy sliced the air in front of him to create a portal, stepping inside and snapping his fingers to shut it. As he stepped out and into the base, he started to consider on taking a break for once. He wasn't deprived of anything, but he needed to make some form of excuse to be able to leave without making a scene.
"These Grimm are just pathetic excuses for monsters, even the humans I've fought before put up a fight. I don't want to involve Winter into my business right now, so I'll report and get out. Tsk, I bet that idiot is having the time of his life, nothing changing. He'll always have friends."
-A day passes over the world of Remnant, the young Savior standing outside the home of Taiyang, making sure he wasn't too close to any of the trees. It was 6:00 in the morning, and he had no doubt that Yang and Ruby could be up at this time as well, but that wasn't really on his mind. He held a hypothesis, but not of what had been bothering him the day before, but of a way to become stronger. He already mastered every elemental form to its peak, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to pin down Aster for good.
Taking in a deep breath, the boy exhaled it out as he clenched his fists tightly. "Alright, summon spirits, we discussed about this action I would take a few hours ago, so I've made up my mind. If I want to become stronger, to be able to defeat Aster, I must go beyond my limits."
'Indeed, and we have also warned you of the costs for attempting to go beyond your current body limit. You may still proceed, but do remember this will not be easy to do.' Ifrit stated in a calm manner.
"Right, I know. I'm ready...to stack the elemental forms." By saying those words, he became surrounded in a fire-like aura, transforming into his fire state. "Now, for the hard part to begin." He closed his eyes and began to 'unlock' more of his hidden power, adding even more energy into the aura and expanding it. So far things were still going smoothly and he had yet to use his entire power before attempting to add another form to it.
"Ngh..." His eyes slightly began to move, the aura once again expanding itself. This time, he was sure this was the entirety of the form's strength and it had only added a small addition to the pressure he felt. "This...is...it...time to go...past my limits!"
'Alright, let's see if you can really handle all of this, master.' Gnome spoke from within him, surrounding Ken's body in a thin brown aura that paled in comparison to the one made by Ifrit. It then began to slowly expand, the Earth rock shields he used from before slowly being created as well.
"N-ngghh..." At this point, he began to slightly start sweating, feeling an even greater pressure than before. He knew Gnome hadn't even given him close to half the form's power yet and he was already feeling strained. "Come on...don't fail me now, body...keep going Gnome!" At his command, the aura of the earth form began to grow once more, the ground beneath him instantly shattering and causing him to sink further into the ground. 'So much...pressure! It feels like two dragons are standing on top of me!'
The ground then began to shake from his power, a power he was still trying to control, he was close, he knew it for sure! He just needed to hang on a bit longer. "Raah!" He shouted, erupting the auras into a powerful bursting pillar that rose up to the clouds.
Within seconds it vanished, revealing the boy in the same place he stood. His hair was dark red with the tips of his hair changing to a brownish color. His arms held sharp rock-like armor that held their own flames to them. He still held the shoulder plates and his red cape, but now an emblem of the earth shattering with a burst of fire coming out from it. The earth shields floated beside him, and as he opened his eyes, his left one took the color of the fire form, while the one on the right held the one from the earth form. He was surrounded in a large red aura along with a suppressed brown one, and soon the ground no longer shook.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" A voice all to familiar shouted from inside the home, the door being swung open to reveal an upset Yang who was still in her pajamas, but had her gauntlets on. Her expression quickly shifted to being confused as well as shocked at what she was seeing. "Ken...?"
The boy merely glanced at her, still feeling a large amount of pressure and weight sink into his body. The power he had now, he could tell it was much more than any single form he had could achieve on its own. "Yang...it is me...what you're looking at now, is Ignatius Terra. I was able to combine two of my elemental forms...for the first time."
"Whoa...I don't know what the heck you were doing man, but you were shaking everything. Still, you look really cool like that." She smiled, seeing that there was nothing to worry about.
"Thank you...ngh!" He couldn't even take a step further, the weight causing him to lower himself down to one knee. Now that he was starting to notice, his breathing was far quicker and heavier, a side effect of the forms.
"Ken!" She rushed over to him and when she tried to touch him, the aura expanded to push her back. "Whoa easy man! Are you trying to fry me?"
"Sorry...it's too much for me to be able to control right now...I'm fine though, just step back in case." He said as he forced himself to stand. The power was simply amazing, but with how he was taking it, it meant nothing since he's struggling to even stand and move with it. "*huff*...Yang, I..." He couldn't even finish the sentence before the newly acquired state of power vanished, the boy reverting to normal and collapsing in front of her.
"Ken!" She helped him up, placing one of his arms over her shoulders. "You tired yourself out that quick? Am I glad I don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. Just take it easy and rest on the couch." She said, looking at him with concern as his eyes weren't open. Yang sighed as dragged him back into the house, setting him down against the sofa.
"Yang!? What was all that shaking!?" Ruby popped into the living room, confusion and worry clearly visible from her.
"Chill Rubes, it was just Ken doing something with those forms of his. He passed out too so I just brought him in." She motioned for her to come towards her to see the boy.
Ruby then made her way over, sitting down beside the unconscious boy. "What was he doing exactly? I never heard of someone being able to shake the ground before."
"I don't know exactly...he was kinda in his fire form and kinda his earth one too. I'll tell ya, it was the first time I ever saw it and he said it himself that it was his first time doing it." Yang shook her head and shrugged. "Guess we gotta wait until he wakes up again."
-'It seems that you've finally decided to go beyond the limitations of your body, to reach for greater heights...very well then, I will bestow upon you a gift from my companion...to make you stronger, but you must pay a price for this...' A voice echoed through the boy's mind.
'Who are you? Where are you? How did you get into my mind?' Ken asked in surprise as he looked around the white void. The only one able to speak with him in this way was Maria.
'You will know soon...it is time for you to awaken.' The voice responded to him before engulfing him in a bright light.
-"!" His eyes quickly opened, taking a glance around to see he was in the living room. As his senses came back to him, he remembered that he had passed out for having so much power all at once. Yang was the last one he could recall seeing, so she was probably the one who brought him in. "I have to keep practicing that, otherwise it won't be of any use if I can't use it. Still, who was the one speaking to me...in my mind?"
"Ken! You're awake!" Ruby shouted from across the room. He turned around to see her run over to him with a worried expression. "Are you okay now? Sis told me you passed out from something you were doing outside a few hours ago."
Hours ago? "Ruby, I'm fine now so don't worry. I was trying to surpass my limits and use two of my forms at once. I did manage to do it on my first try, but it took a lot out of me. I have to try it again." Ken smiled as he got off the sofa and placed his hand on her head. "Thanks for worrying Ruby, but I'll be fine this time. My body healed up my strength and I know it should be able to handle it this time."
"Ken, are you sure? What if you pass out again?" She asked.
"It won't happen this time, I promise. I want you to get Yang and meet me outside. I know she saw it once, but you both need to feel its power to understand why it drained so much out of me the first time." He glanced over to the main door to see it open. 'Taiyang is probably outside...well, it can't be helped. I've already let him know of my form or at least one of them.' He then cleared away the thought before heading outside and leaving Ruby to call for her sister.
After a minute had passed, the three family members were standing outside and watching the boy, wanting to see what he wanted them to know.
"Alright...I'm a bit anxious for doing this a second time, but here goes nothing. Everyone, please watch carefully as I'm not sure how long I'll be able to maintain the form again." Ken said as he slowly closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath of air, holding it in for a few seconds and to exhale it just before making a grunt noise. "Hmph!" The boy was then engulfed by a burst of energy that pushed the three back by a few steps, soon to reveal Ken in the same combined form as before.
Once the light coming off the energy dimmed, they were able to get a better glimpse of the form. Ruby stared in awe while her father stood in shock to actually see someone capable of doing something like that. "Second time seein' it, but man it feels hotter since we're close to ya." Yang responded.
He looked at his arms once his eyes opened, seeing flames cover the earth-styled armor. "I see...I was right to say my body would learn from the first time. I don't feel as much pressure as before, but I also don't feel the same amount of power either." 'I can only guess that you two decreased the amount of energy I'm using.' He spoke in mind, specifically referring to Ifrit and Gnome.
'You are correct master, we have modified the amount of power you may use without any consequences to your body. The first time you used all of my power and then added a portion of Gnome's onto it, however this time, we're each lending you half of our power to maintain a balance.'
'That's right! We weren't risking you passing out again and even when you guessed right that you wouldn't we still talked it over when you were lights out. We also have good news for ya, you can combine any two elements into what we're doing now, but the catch is always to use half the power of each element until you can take it up to a higher level to when you don't struggle much.'
'I see...thank you, both of you. I can't stop at this level, I have to use more of your powers later on. I'll of course use the other summon spirits in this same fashion if I want to take down Aster for good. He keep retreating every time he's backed into a corner and we can't let it happen again.'
"In any case, my body feels no weight like the first time, so I don't think I will have much of an issue using my combined forms." Ken said with a smile, glad to see he's improving faster than what he had thought. He only hoped his clone was teaching the others back at Beacon in a similar pace. "As useful as this new state is for me, I think right now it's only a x30 increase of my abilities."
"Am I hearing you right? Did you say...times 30?" Taiyang questioned with the same look of shock present.
"That's right sir, the forms themselves at max power grant me x20 individually, but now that I'm combining them, it's natural the boost in power and speed is increased too."
"Wait, if each is times 20, how come you're only getting 30 if you're using two?" Ruby asked a logical question, getting a chuckle from him.
"If you mean I should be getting more than that, then you're right, I should be. However, my body wouldn't be able to handle two forms at max power just yet so I'm only using half of each so they don't strain my body."
"Whatever you say Ken, but even I can sorta feel how strong that is, sorta." The older sister said with a grin. "I really want to beat you up like that, but I doubt I'll win. I'll just keep training and I bet I'll be at your level in no time."
"I admire your passion to keep getting stronger Yang, I truly do. In that case, you better start taking our sessions even more seriously than before, because from now on, I will NOT be holding back." His tone then changed along with getting a sharp glare. "Aster will not hold back when it comes to me and Nega, but I can't run the risk of him fighting any of you at that point. You, Ruby and everyone else has to become stronger, faster, smarter by the time he decides to show himself again."
He sighed heavily, getting it off his mind now rather than later. "Taiyang, don't worry, I won't push them too hard, but enough to make them become better than they are now. Ruby, Yang, I expect for you two to come at me with everything you've got, and to work together if you must. Neither of you can face him alone, but together you may be able to stall or injure him."
"Don't worry about a thing, we'll kick his butt when he shows his face again! No one messes with my sis or my friends." Yang grinned as she collided her fists against one another. "I'm already pumped for the next time we train, and you better watch out this time. You've already fought me enough times with at least one of your forms so I know enough with how you fight."
"I'd like to see you demonstrate that the next time then, which will be tomorrow. We still have awhile before we have to return to Beacon so I want you both to keep training." Ken said with a grin of his own before losing the form and allowing him to feel a bit calmer. 'Alright...our true training will begin tomorrow...you two better not hold back on me now! Show me what the people of Remnant can be capable of compared to the Descendants!'
Hello everyone, I apologize for the long hiatus of this story, work has had me very busy and more often than what I would have liked. Worry not though, this story will be back on schedule!