OK, here's the beginning of the climax!
(Warning: brief, strong language)
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The Parade was going smoothly, with the crowd loving every new float that crawled past; from Vale's miniature Beacon Academy float, to Mistral's majestic recreation of its ancient ruins, to Vacuo's acrobatics platform (complete with Faunus performers pulling off daring feats), to even Atlas's float, which was only a squad of Knights running drills and an oddly painted Paladin behind them was applauded, probably due to the fact that the Knights would occasionally waved to the crowd. Leading the floats along were ensemble marching bands made up of humans and Faunus of all kind, most of whom were uniformless; only the bands that represented the Schools wore matching outfits, save for the one from Vacuo.
Between the unforgettable tournament (for one reason or another), the lavish dances that happened at sunset, all the energetic music that was performed throughout the event, and now the exquisite parade to cap everything off (not to mention all the delicious food that was consumed) one could not ask for a better Vytal Festival, especially considering it was the event's Jubilee anniversary.
Everyone was so enamoured with the parade and its festivities that they hardly paid attention as a petite figure in baggy clothes and a red cape leaped onto the Vacuan float and knelt in the middle, placing something on the platform and began muttering under her breath.
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Crimson didn't have any trouble locating her younger self once she reached the parade route, though navigating the densely packed crowds to get to them proved to be more of a challenge. (Though "annoyance" was probably more accurate, considering no one was actively trying to get in her way.) the parade had already begun, and her sister and younger doppelgängers were all focused on the acrobatics display from Vacuo that was currently passing by.
"Guys!" she called once she was only a few metres away.
Yang was the first of the group to respond. "Hey Older Little Sis!" she called back, "What took you so long?"
"Did you get your booze?" RJ asked.
Crimson waved dismissively, "That's not important right now; something big just came up and I need to head back to Beacon."
"But the parade just started!" Cress pointed out, "If you leave now you're gonna miss it."
The older doppelgänger shrugged. "Thems the breaks, kid. Trust me, I'd much rather hang around here than deals with what's waiting for me." She unhooked a familiar looking flask from her belt and tossed it to Ruby, who fumbled with it briefly before catching it. "If you run into Uncle Qrow, tell him that's on Beacon this time."
And with that the warrior woman headed back into the crowd, soon disappearing from sight.
During the whole exchange Ruby remained quiet, studying her older self. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something strangely off about how she was acting, both before and just now. She didn't know if it was because Crimson really was her from the future or not, all she knew for sure was that she couldn't shake the sense that Crimson wasn't telling them something important.
"I'm going back too," she declared, hooking the flask to her belt, "I think Crimson might be about to do something dangerous."
This got the others' attention, especially Yang's; while she sometimes had trouble figuring out her "older little sis", she could tell right away that Ruby was in "serious mode" right now. "Should we all go back?" she asked.
Ruby shook her head, "You guys should go find everyone else and let them know what's up."
"Um...is something going on that I should be worried about?" asked RJ, visibly nervous.
Ruby wanted to give the girl some but of comfort, since she was pretty much like a fish in a pool of sharks, but….
"I don't know," the crimsonette answered honestly, "but whatever the case, I think it would be better if all of us were together." She began to walk after Crimson, then paused and turned around. "Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can," she assured everyone before resuming her trek.
For a moment the remaining girls just stared after the young team leader, then Cress asked "So...are we gonna find everyone else or what?"
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"Crimson, wait up!" Ruby called as she ran after her future self, the woman striding purposefully in the direction of the airship docks. "Where are you going?"
Without breaking her stride or even looking back, she said "Beacon Academy. You should go back to your friends."
"But why are you going back?" the young girl pressed, "What's so important?"
Crimson briefly glanced back. "It's better the less you know. Seriously, go back and look after the other You's, you'll do more good there than with me."
Ruby was undeterred, and zipped in front of the older woman, blocking her path.
"There's something you're not telling me," she accused, "and whatever it is, I can't shake the feeling that it's something bad, and that you're about to do something because of that you're gonna regret." She'd been holding her arms out to her sides, though now she let them fall, her previously stony face softening. "I may have had a pretty easy life so far, and I may only be fifteen, but if there's a chance I can make whatever you're about to do turn out OK, I want to take it."
Crimson stared at her younger self; apart from still having both her eyes, Ruby's face still held a sense of youthfulness to it that almost seemed foreign to the battle hardened Crimson. Crimson was sure she was giving Ruby the most intimidating, penetrating stare she could muster, but the girl merely stated back with a determination and an unwavering resolve that belied her youth.
That, and a tiny quivering of her silver orbs rapidly eroded Crimson's resolve.
It's so weird being on the other side of that, she thought, mentally sighing.
"...I can kill a Goliath with my bear hands, but you are the more dangerous individual right now," she said, her own expression softening slightly.
Ruby made a motion that could be taken as "And…?".
"So the short version is that if I don't get to the school and stop something bad from happening then the future, my future, is gonna become a reality here," she explained. "And it has to be only me that goes; except for Ozpin, I'm probably the most powerful person in the world, and if anyone else is with me when I do this, it's almost certain that they'll die."
Before Ruby could retort, the sounds of commotion reached the ears of the two crimsonettes, and it didn't take either long to realize that it wasn't the sounds of jubilation that were prevalent before.
"Oh fuck," Crimson swore as explosions started peppering the panicked din, immediately pushing past Ruby. "You still wanna come with?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Uh huh-"
"Then hold on tight." Crimson reached behind her and grabbed Ruby, who squeaked as she was propped up on Crimson's back. (She quickly wrapped her arms around Crimson's neck.) "I'll give you the short version of this on the way."
And with that she activated her Semblance, sprinting off towards Beacon as fast as she possibly could.
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Neo raised an eyebrow as she watched a tower of vines began to rise from one of the floats in the parade, all the patrons going from calm yet eagerly excited to frantic panic in a matter of seconds.
So that was what she meant by "impossible to miss", she realized, both impressed and slightly fearful at the display.
It also dawned on her that Cinder's claim about her new pawn's powers night just be completely valid. She seen some impressive displays of power and plenty of unique abilities in her life, but nothing quite on a scale as large as this; it was almost like watching one of the legends of old come online before her very own, heterochromatic eyes.
Putting her (quite justified) amazement aside for the moment, she headed off towards the Cross Continental Transmit tower to play her part in Cinder's Evil Plan (rvsd.). Cinder had apparently planted a virus of some kind in the network there, she couldn't be bothered to remember what it actually did, and without any way to get onboard one the Atlas airships like the original plan called for it would have to be activated at the source, which frustrated her to no end.
Not that she would have a problem getting up the CCT, far from it; except for maybe Cinder's verdant little puppy dog and Cinder herself, she was the most adept at infiltration (being both short and silent were huge boons in that regard). No, what made her blood boil was that she wasn't going to busy Roman out of jail. Despite his brash demeanor and unwillingness to play along with his (and her, by association) boss, she kind of had a soft spot for the professional their. She couldn't put her finger on why that was, they just sort of clicked whenever they worked together.
But regardless of her slightly selfish reasons for wanting to bring Roman Torchwick back into things, she needed to play her part in the Big Plan first; virus first, then Roman.
Besides, if she was lucky, there might be a few guards she could unalive when she got to the CCT.
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"What the hell is that thing?!" Weiss asked staring in shock at the tower if vines that suddenly erupted from one of the floats.
"Well it's obviously not part of the parade!" Rubin answered condescendingly, "Hurry up and call our weapons already!"
"Right!" Weiss, Blake and Sister said in unison, all whiping out their Scrolls and punching their coordinates.
"I-is it s-some k-kind of Dust?" Rosey wondered.
"No," Weiss shook her head, "definitely not!"
"Hey guys!" Yang called as she ran up to the second group, Cress and RJ in tow. "We were just coming to find you," she panted, "You wouldn't happen to know everyone suddenly started panic-" Then she noticed the tower of vines. "Whoa! That's a big plant!"
"Indeed it is," Sister confirmed. "Though I'm afraid that's all we know about it at the moment; its apparantly outside all of our experiences."
"You two wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" Rubin asked half seriously to RJ and Cress, who both shook their heads.
"I have theories, but I doubt they'll actually hold up," RJ said, while Cress elected to simply shrug.
At that moment a quartet of lockers thudded behind them, their doors springing open to reveal the girls' weapons.
"Do you really need those?" RJ wondered as Weiss, Rubin, Rosey, Sister and Blake retrieved their respective armaments, gesturing to the monolith, "I mean, all it's doing is swaying a bit."
No sooner had she said that when large buds began sprouting up the vines, with a massive one appearing at the top. They all bloomed into roses a moment later, and all of them sans the one on top angles downward. They fired what looked like seeds which borrowed into the ground on impact, and after a couplel seconds clusters of smaller vines and grew and entwined with each other until they resembled ape like figures.
"...I'll shut up now," the teenager said ashamedly.
"W-wait a minute," Rosey spoke up, looking around worriedly, "w-where's R-Ruby?"
"She ran after Crimson," explained Yang, who shifted Ember Celica into their Gauntlet forms, "She said she'd be back, but now I'm thinking she's safer wherever she is with Crim."
to be continued…
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Well, this certainly looks dire, doesn't it? A giant, scary plant appears out of nowhere and spawns minions? A nasty virus that has something to do with the CCT?
My friends, the climactic final battle is about to begin.
There's a couple more things to set up before we get to all the fight scenes I have planned, so next chapter will deal with all that. But afterwards...well, let's just say that some of the things that happen may parallel the actual events of Volume 3. Possibly. Maybe. Evil chuckle.
In the meantime, check out the adorabiggle RWBY CHIBIS, and give my other ongoing story "Knight of Conquests" a look see.