Remnant's Most Wanted
AN: Last battle heavy chapter for a little while. I would have had this done sooner but then I saw Cinder was going to be in the newest episode so I decided to wait and see if I could get any more ideas to make this fight even more awesome. That didn't work out because Emerald isn't in it.
Chapter 25: Blind Side
Nephrite's body felt rigid in anticipation. Emerald stood casually across from the group. Ariadne had her mouth to her flute. Scotland had his weapon wheel set up and ready to go. Johnny nudged over to her side. His eyes focused on the opponent.
"Nephrite, I know you can keep up with Nova which means you work out for our team attacks." Johnny said. "And your powers of perception are virtually without peer which gives us the advantage. She can hide herself make us see things that aren't there." Emerald opened fire on the group.
"Scatter." Nephrite said as she jumped to an adjacent rooftop. "She can't trick us if she doesn't have line of sight on us." She ran around and fired her guns at Emerald. The older woman bobbed and weaved to avoid the bullets. Johnny fired his flashlight but she jumped over the beam. Johnny darted over to her.
"I need you to back me up and engage in close range." Johnny said.
"Alright." They both jumped towards Emerald. Nephrite moved to kick Emerald but she blocked it with a sickle. Ariadne started playing her flute. Wind currents formed around her and cascaded towards Emerald.
"Get her off balance." Scotland said. Nephrite kicked the villain's leg and readied an elbow but the elbow went through the visage. Nephrite then took a bullet to her shoulder and rolled back to her feet. Scotland began firing the twin canons on his pod at her.
"Where did she go?" Ariadne said.
"Anyone have line of sight?" Johnny asked.
"No." Scotland said as he loaded up another round.
"She's hiding." Johnny said.
"I thought her limit was two people." Ariadne said.
"She's not using her semblance. If she was I'd notice."
The hairs on Nephrite's neck stood straight. She spun around and fired, several bullets managed to graze Emerald as she rolled out of the way. She hooked her sickle around Scotland's weapon and slung it into Ariadne. Nephrite dashed over and slung her elbow only to be countered and slammed to the ground. Johnny aimed his flashlight at her. She quickly wrapped a chain around his arm and flung him away. Nephrite spun on her shoulder and delivered a kick to Emerald's abdomen.
Nephrite kicked herself up to her feet and jabbed with her katars. Emerald dodged each strike with great speed and precision. Nephrite pushed herself to be faster, to push Emerald back. Nephrite was gaining ground but felt like she wasn't getting anywhere.
Her motions were fluid, just like her dad had taught her. The movements of her hands and feet were as fluid as the language she spoke. One missed blow after another causing her hard-won resolve to falter. She was losing. Even though she was gaining ground she was getting exhausted. And her opponent had barely broken a sweat.
Emerald was pushed to the edge of the roof. Then she rolled out of the way of a jab. Nephrite spun and fired but Emerald had vanished. Ariadne's flute played another melody. The chime of the music echoed through the air. After several seconds of this, the blonde gave a nod and Scotland opened fire. He blasted a chunk of a building to pieces. Emerald was flung into the air. Johnny fired his blast as she tossed in the sky. Emerald barely evaded it as she grappled back onto the roof.
Emerald vanished from Nephrite's line of sight. Johnny ran over to Nephrite and they stood back to back. Scotland and Ariadne did the same on the other side. Nephrite spotted Emerald and fired, but it was an illusion. Emerald's popped up and vanished all around them.
"She's trying to get us to use up our dust." Johnny said. "Ariadne found her through sound last time and Scotland nailed her. She took the hit hard and is now on guard."
"She's an evasive fighter. Not direct like her partner." Nephrite responded.
"The fact we split them up is paramount to our victory. Even if it was eight on two, their powers combined would be too much for us."
"And were we the ones fighting Mercury it wouldn't be as advantageous. Ariadne's not a combat type and Scotland's weapon is too heavy to be affective against him."
"That's why I wanted you here. I know that if you calm your mind, you can see things as I can." Johnny noted. "Even better because your semblance is aura control based. Your observations are direct ones."
"Speaking of which…I never learned what your semblance is." Nephrite pondered. Emerald ran at her.
"Wait." Johnny said. Nephrite tensed up. For a second, she saw the world's aura. She saw the empty cloud of aura of her attacker. It lacked substance. She let the illusion strike her, and it did nothing. "Take deep breaths. Just like your father said."
"She's hiding." Nephrite said.
"She's smart when it comes to this stuff." Johnny said. "She's waiting for a perfect opportunity. This gives us the advantage." He nudged her.
Nephrite quieted her mind. Her eyes were closed and her mind drifted to the clouds. Her aura and semblance worked as one to feel everything around her. She saw the green haze overtaking the rooftop. It was cone shaped. Nephrite pondered if this was Emerald's line of sight. She drifted her silent attention to the point of the cone, which was rapidly approaching.
"Scot, look out." Nephrite said.
Emerald appeared from above and stabbed Scotland in the chest with her weapon. Scotland fired but missed as she hooked around him. Ariadne threw a kick at the thief. Emerald twirled around, slamming Scotland to the ground and sweeping Ariadne's legs. Scotland's weapon folded into a briefcase as he took a swing at her. That Emerald disappeared and was replaced by one that was on Ariadne's other side.
Nephrite leaped in with an unsuccessful kick. Johnny was right behind her and blocked a strike from Emerald. Emerald spun around with her weapons extended. Johnny held his ground and evaded her attacks.
"You've got some good moves kid." Emerald said. "It's no wonder you were able to keep up with Jet."
"It's about all I'm good for." He spun to his knees and aimed his weapon. She moved to evade. "Close your eyes!" Nephrite didn't question it when she saw him aim his light at the ground.
Nephrite closed her eyes but enhanced her feelings with her powers. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Emerald must have closed her eyes too. Nephrite could feel everything that happened. Johnny elbowed Emerald. Emerald opened her eyes. Johnny blasted the ground. The night sky was lit ablaze from his aura and the dust in his weapon. Emerald back peddled as Johnny advanced. The whole area had become clouded with light. Even Nephrite's senses couldn't make much of it at this point.
She focused on her other senses. She could hear gunfire. She heard the battle going on below. She could smell the mist rolling around behind her. She got brief glimpses of Topaz's semblance stretching around. Nephrite focused back on the battle at hand. She could hear Emerald running. As the light faded, Nephrite opened her eyes.
Johnny was two rooftops away. As was Emerald. Both looked exhausted. Nephrite ran for him and joined his side. His eyes were focused. Nephrite recomposed herself and tried going into her Zen state and keeping it up. It was the only way she'd keep up with these two.
"Alright…you're really good kid."
"Thieves like you are taught to use the shadows. I was taught in very much the same way. But I was taught to use the light. Even when the light is blinding, there are few things that slip through my vision.
Nephrite could feel them all. Emerald's aura was a light green. It poured from her body like a cone. Everything in the cone's reach was at risk of her semblances power. If Nephrite could keep this up, she should be able to tell when Emerald uses her semblance and who she's affecting. Ariadne's aura twisted with a leaf green. Scotland's was an industrial red. Johnny's looked strange. It glimmered from his body with flecks of gold and stems of white. But the aura itself was brown like his hoodie.
Ariadne played another song on her flute. Her twisting aura spiraled through the air as if it her looking for something. Emerald made her move. The cone of aura darkened around all four of them.
"Fall back." Nephrite said. She jumped out of the way of a strike that left a gash in the roof. Emerald reeled back and kicked her in the stomach. Her aura sight broke on impact. She hit the ground hard. Emerald ran for her then vanished. She reappeared by Johnny and struck his face.
"Johnny." Nephrite said. Scotland peppered the rooftops with canon fire. Nephrite and Johnny stayed adown as the dust bullets flew over their heads. Emerald avoided the attack only to be intercepted by a flock of seagulls.
"Get off me." Emerald murdered the birds and kept moving towards Johnny. Scotland cut her off with a wall of hellfire.
"She's blinding all four of us." Nephrite said.
"Damn." Emerald said. She vanished and an instant later had a chain wrapped around Nephrite's throat. "Your father is Lie Ren, isn't he? Should have figured. Haven't spent a lot of time with him but I know he's the kind of guy who doesn't let his eyes deceive him.
"Neither am I." Johnny blasted his weapon to her right. It hit the real Emerald and slammed her into a building.
"Alright then." Emerald smiled. "No tricks. The jig is apparently up." She moved blindingly fast. She swung both of her weapons outward into Johnny. His aura broke and he was thrown ino the next building where he crashed through a window.
"Johnny!" Scotland said.
"Playtime's over." Emerald ran towards him. He fired his canons and ordinances. She dodged and blocked them all, even cutting an artillery shell in half. "It's been fun." With an imperceivably fast swing she cut Scotland's weapon in half.
"What?" Scotland muttered. Ariadne called more birds and rats to her aid. Emerald extended her weapons and in three swings, killed the animals and broke both of their auras. Each swing was followed by a massive blade beam.
"Now for you." She strutted over to an exhausted Nephrite. "I know you're just kids and all so I thought I'd give you a good workout. Someday you'll be one of the defenders of this world. Maybe you'll perish to the Grimm. Maybe you won't. If all's well you'll live long enough to have kids of your own. I admire your profession. On paper, so selfless. I know I could never live my life for anyone else again. Unless she…that's not important. I'm leaving. Take care kid. Hope to see you on the flip side."
"Where do you think, you're going." Nephrite struggled back to her feet only to be kicked back down. She tried again and Emerald slashed her face, breaking her aura. Even so, Nephrite still tried standing.
"You're a tough kid. You'll go far in this world."
"And you've gone far enough."
"Okay, I get that you kids are playing hero or whatever, but why are you so persistent? I've done nothing these last twenty years except take what I need…and a little extra just to have some fun."
"Was killing those people on the train fun?"
"What are you…?" Emerald stopped. "You think we did that?"
"You've killed before." Nephrite said. "You're calling card was there at the crash site."
"Is that so?" Emerald stopped. "So, that's why. Look, you have no reason to believe me but that wasn't our doing. All we did was steal a healing gem and some dust from the train. We were asked by a penniless doctor we owed a favor to."
"And those victims?"
"That wasn't us. Someone came in behind us."
"Any ideas?"
"I have a hunch."
"Care to share?"
"Maybe in exchange for my son back. But only the headmaster could arrange such a meeting."
"If you come with us, I'm sure it can be…"
"No." Emerald sighed. "I made a promise to live my life. I promised not to get involved with that sort of thing. When you make that important of a promise to someone who…someone you care about more than anyone else…you don't break it."
"And your son?"
"He's arrogant but tough. He'll get out eventually, whether he breaks out, gets let out, or I get impatient and break him out myself. Either way, I'm keeping my promise." Emerald said. "One last thing, can't have you or your friends follow me…so nothing personal."
Emerald ran at her. Nephrite's powers kicked into high gear. She had no reason to suspect it would be a clean hit. She needed to know where the strike was. She saw the cone of energy engulf her. In a split second, she reacted and thrust her palm out. She felt the satisfying sting of flesh on flesh. Her hand hit Emerald's exposed midsection.
"Got you." Nephrite used vacuum palm to knock the wind out of the thief. Emerald staggered but the blow did nothing.
"Persistent…" Emerald went to swing at her but her hand was stopped. A stronger palm strike hit her in the back. As she dropped to her knees and was forced to submit, Nephrite dropped to her knees and gazed at her father.
"Daddy?"
"It's alright my little jade stone." Ren put a hand on her head. "Thanks to you, we got her. We got them both."
AN: Even longer than last time. Well done me. Too bad I couldn't have it out in a timelier manner. But at least it's not days or weeks between chapters. It's just over a day. Wow, one more chapter in this arc. Then I'm taking a small break. RWBY volume 4 finale is next week and I have a lot of videos planned for the weeks after that. I'll definitely have a chapter out on February 9th and anyone who's checked out my profile can see why.