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Escape
Ruby could feel the wind breezed through her as she sped up, turning into nothing but a blur in the eyes of normal observers.
There was only one purpose for using her semblance, and it was to use it to gain an advantage in the fight she was currently. She needed all she could, considering her weapon of choice was not in her grasp.
And just like that, Ruby instantly closed the gap between her and Neo as she swung her leg in mid-air, confident that it would hit her opponent with it.
But it didn't.
Just before the hit connected, Neo simply ducked under as Ruby jumped right passed her, her kick missing entirely.
Upon landing, Ruby stumbled a bit due to her failed attempt earlier. Once she regained her footing, she quickly turned around to face Neo once again but the instant she did, Neo was already there, swinging her umbrella from above.
Unable to react, Ruby was smacked right onto the ground, the pain enveloping her whole body as she was now slumped atop the stage. It didn't stop there however, as when Ruby struggled to get back up again, Neo stepped on the young rose with her left leg, firmly placing Ruby on the ground.
With a sadistic smile, Neo started grinding the tip of her heel into the young Rose, only pinpointing in one area of Ruby's back as the woman knew doing so would most certainly cause Ruby more harm.
Ruby let out a groan as she winced from the hold the petite woman currently had on her. In her current predicament, she couldn't see any sort of way to get out of it. Ruby didn't have the amount of strength needed for her to escape...but if her opponent were to slack even for just a moment, then she definitely could pull something off! All the young Rose could do was to bide her time, hopefully not for long. Even with aura protecting her, she wasn't sure how long she could last if this keeps up.
Having played around long enough, Neo reached her right arm towards the handle of her weapon, seemingly to pull something out from it.
But before the woman even could, Ruby quickly pulled the back of her hood, causing Neo to fall down as Ruby hurriedly rolled off the ground.
Unfortunately for the young leader, Neo was able to balance herself as she flipped back into her normal posture. Though she was unaffected by what just happened earlier, even Neo was unprepared for what was about to come next.
It was fast, too fast for even the silent woman to keep up. Earlier, Neo had time to prepare and react but it was impossible right now unlike before. The young Rose's dash was almost instantaneous as she was already upon Neo's breathing space, her fist curling into a ball before it slammed right into her opponent's gut.
With her speed and strength combined, Ruby's punch was able to send Neo flying away into a nearby wall.
Ruby could feel her breathing becoming heavier and heavier as she stood in the spot Neo was at earlier. Even with her combat experience, her physical prowess still had its limit. Still, she was sure that hit earlier connected, she definitely felt it.
Ignoring the fatigue, Ruby knew this fight couldn't possibly be over as she ran towards the spot where Crescent Rose laid.
With her scythe back in her grasps, Ruby transformed it back into a gun as she got into position, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Ruby knew it was perfectly fine to fire freely now, knowing that the unconscious man was a far bit away from where she was targeting.
The instant her opponent was back into view, Ruby fire several rounds at Neo, not noticing how relaxed the woman was even after what just happened.
Neo simply opened up her parasol, deflecting the blasts into other directions as they come into the contact with her weapon.
One of them was towards the fight that was happening below.
The blast flew, slowly descending until it was at a straight course towards a still dazed Blake.
Noticing this, Ruby yelled out at the top of her lungs, hoping that Blake would hear her.
"Blake, look out!"
The cat faunus was able to hear her leader's warning but it was too late at that point as the blast was already within range. Blake shut her eyes tightly, preparing for the inevitable.
Surprisingly, it never came.
"It seems like you're slipping Blake. Normally, I would think you out of all people would be able to dodge that one," the voice of a certain heiress chimed in.
Blake's eyes fluttered open, only to be greeted by the sight a wall of ice erected in front of her, with Weiss Schnee standing behind it, whipping her hair backwards as she held out her rapier.
It all felt very familiar, more specifically back at the docks when they were facing Roman and the White Fangs. Only this time, she was protected not because she exhausted every ounce she had; she was protected because she was still too hung up on Adam!
The former member of the White Fang honestly hated that she was still tied down towards him, unable to be released from his grasps just from looking at him once.
Weiss silently observed her teammate, impossible of knowing what was going through Blake's mind. That didn't matter as the heiress only had one thing to say.
"I don't know what...this is all about but right now, we need you Blake, all of us. But judging from how you look, I suppose that's too much to ask," Weiss pointed out, her back still towards Blake.
"Weiss, I—"
"That's why you should leave it to us for now, at least until you're back to your normal self. After all, it's not team RWBY without you correct?"
Before Blake could even respond, the wall of ice was broken into pieces as members of the White Fang shot it down, the pieces of shard dropping as the bullets fly through.
Weiss simply lunged forward, activating her glyphs as she did so.
All Blake did was stood there, hesitant on what to do.
Ruby let out a sigh of relief, knowing that Blake was safe thanks to her partner.
Still, she had a feeling that shot her opponent deflected was aimed on purpose. Ruby gripped Crescent Rose tightly, her gaze solely on the older woman.
Neo was simply letting out her usual smile, the same smile that unnerved Ruby for some reason.
With that, she started shooting once again as she ran around; this time however, making sure that the shot wouldn't fly towards somewhere else, wanting to keep her opponent's focus solely on her, until she could figure out a way to escape out of this predicament with everyone, the unconscious man included.
A bit further away from Blake and the others, Yang was surrounded by White Fang members, a toothy grin in tow as she punched one of the White Fang members in the gut, her opponent falling down from the impact.
"Are you guys gonna do something or should I take the first punch...because I can't waste my time on you all," Yang announced loudly, her expression changing into one of complete seriousness as she reloaded her gauntlets.
The White Fang members immediately rushed in, disregarding what happened earlier.
Yang ducked under as an arm flew right above her before she grabbed said arm and threw the White Fang member over her shoulder, knocking some of them onto the floor alongside person she threw.
None of them let up as more came, wanting to take down the blonde huntress-in-training.
It didn't stop her however as she simply started punching her way through the crowds of White Fang members, knocking them unconscious when one was in her sight.
It didn't take much to beat them, but it was certainly a struggle to go through the sheer number of them. Luckily, none of them were exactly what they called heavy hitters, though the fact that they were unable to use their weaponry in a crowd was definitely advantageous to her.
Still, she couldn't afford to waste any more time as she needed to get to Blake and the others as soon as possible. As strong as they were, they were going to have trouble trying to fight while protecting Blake, doubly so with her partner's present condition.
It was hectic to put it simply as Sun went through the wave of White Fang members trying to put him down. Luckily, he wasn't the only one there since Neptune was stopping the other side relative to Blake's position; the same could be said for Weiss as they were all positioned in a specific way so that Blake could be protected from all sides.
Another one fell as he slammed his pole downward before swinging it in a clockwise direction, pushing some of them away. Sun didn't let up however as he separated his pole into a pair of nunchucks, hitting the two men that were coming from both his sides in the face, rendering them unconscious.
Sun let out a glare as the remaining members stood motionless before him, seemingly hesitating after seeing the display they just witnessed.
That wasn't the only thing as one of them posed him a simple question.
"Tell me, why did you forsake your brothers and sisters for the sake of these...humans? They were the ones who used you in the first place!" a member questioned, not in uniform unlike the others.
"First off, there is no way I consider any of you White Fang creeps to be any relatives I know of. Second, doesn't matter if they're faunus or not, I'll help my friends whenever I can."
This seemed to enrage them as they charged once again, with Sun preparing for another long series of battle.
Neptune wiped the sweat off his brow, a bit winded from having just slashing repeatedly with his spear.
He was never one for stamina, never had been since his leader had enough those to last for the both of them. Though when it came to precision...
That gave him an idea as he put on his goggles before transforming his spear into a gun. Neptune immediately put it into action as he started shooting them on the ground they were standing on, blocks of ice as it freeze their legs.
While it stopped their mobility, it certainly didn't stop them from having the chance to fire their guns. Luckily, Neptune had foreseen this as he quickly changed back his weapon, slashing their weapons in two in a timely manner.
His job wasn't to beat them anyway; it was just to stall for time.
How long exactly? He had no idea but he certainly hoped it was soon. As calm as he was on the outside, he was inwardly nervous as he couldn't exactly tell how long he would last out here, and Neptune seriously didn't want to find out either.
Weiss whipped her rapier back as another member of the White Fang fell to one of her strikes. For some odd reason, she found the number of opponents to be lacking...in comparison to the others. Was it perhaps a coincidence or—
"My my, isn't that a particular symbol on your back, specifically for the Schnee."
The heiress turned towards the voice, keeping her guard up as she did so. Upon doing so, she was greeted by the sight of a group of White Fang members all huddled in front of her and in the front center of it all, was the member that seemed to hold a higher rank than the others.
She didn't notice it earlier but the man was clearly of a different rank just from his outfit alone. Unlike the others, he wore bracers, a much bigger physique and the most alarming thing about him that was not present earlier, was the giant chainsaw he was now holding onto.
"Well well, a Schnee protecting one of our kind? Isn't that just blasphemous...even if two of our own here are traitors!" The high admin accused out loud, his finger pointing towards Blake.
Weiss took a glance towards Blake, noting that her teammate's condition was unchanged and simply stared back at her opponents.
The White Fang.
"What do you have to say for yourself? Do you not know what sins your entire family has committed, for all those years?!"
Weiss kept silent, taking in what he had just said.
All this time, the heiress had always assumed that every faunus would have been associated with this organization and who could blame her? The White Fang had been a reason for a lot of turmoil and hardships that her family had went through.
However, she could somewhat understand their hatred towards the Schnee family. Before even coming to Beacon, she had never wanted to admit it and even now, it was somewhat hard for her to say, but the Schnee family was not totally innocent in all this, and she needed to bear it.
Now, her perspective had changed since the night at the docks. While she would not wildly accuse every faunus out there and was able to be level-headed about it now, that didn't mean she didn't have disdain towards the White Fang in general. After all, it was impossible to sudden erase the history between the two.
That was why she did not answer him. All she needed to focus on now was the protection of her friend. Weiss closed her eyes as she concentrated, glyphs appearing in mid-air around her.
Furious with her silence, the high-ranked member gestured for the White Fang members as they started rushing towards the heiress.
Just as one of them were about to strike her, Weiss simply jumped towards one of the glyphs, using them as platform as she sprung from above, striking them in a row as she went passed them. Weiss then backflipped away as one of them tried to grab her from the sides.
Weiss revolved the chambers within the guard of her rapier, until it slotted to a red chamber. She stood in a readied position before lunging forward, slashing in mid-air to create a thin wave of fire blasting out.
A small fiery explosion occurred as the flames collided with the White Fang members, with some of them knocked out due to the impact. The heiress then felt a sudden pain in her left arm as someone punched her from the side, Weiss taking a few steps back as she did.
Returning focus, she saw it was the lieutenant earlier that hit her, and he was about to try again as he outstretched his arm. Weiss held out her right arm as a glyph appeared before it, acting as a shield. Her glyph did just the job as the lieutenant's arm collided with it, unable to do anything to it.
With an all too gleeful smile, the older man held out his chainsaw high up before striking it down, destroying her glyph as it shattered into translucent pieces.
Weiss quickly backed away but was quickly caught off guard as her opponent caught up with her, grabbing onto her arm. Her muscles tensed as the White Fang lieutenant threw her overhead, sending her flying. Not wanting to have a rough landing, Weiss activated one of her glyphs, appearing in mid-air as she landed on it, and just before she dived in, the tip of her rapier at the front as she did so.
Having observed what the heiress did earlier, the older man simply held out his chainsaw in front of him, covering the upper part of his body.
As the rapier planted itself into the weapon, the older man smirked, knowing he won this little exchange. The lieutenant was about to grab her weapon with his free hand but Weiss was one step ahead as she threw herself in an arc, jumping over the lieutenant's head.
Once she landed, the heiress did a low roundhouse kick on her opponent, staggering him as he fell down from the sudden pain.
Angered, the lieutenant swung his weapon towards Weiss but he had momentarily forgotten the rapier was still stuck to his chainsaw, causing his swing to be slower than it should be because of the extra weight at the end, and that was all Weiss needed to capitalize on.
As the swing arrived, Weiss simply back stepped away, just far enough that the weapon didn't hit her, even with the inclusion of Myrtenaster but also close enough for her to pull her weapon out of it mid-swing. As she did so, Weiss took a step forward before she spun herself along with her rapier, slashing the man across the chest.
Groaning in pain, the older man swung his weapon once again in the hopes that it would crush the heiress entirely.
Realizing the danger, Weiss quickly backed away as the chainsaw was swung in a circular arc. What Weiss didn't anticipate was the sheer force the swing had as it created a wind pressure just from that alone.
Weiss was certain if she were to be hit by it, there was a good chance she would have been unconscious for a while. As much as she wanted to deny it, her endurance to pain was palpable compared to her teammates.
"Well well, it seems I'm going to have a bit of fun with you, Schnee...my brothers and sisters! Leave her to me as you all deal with the infiltrators!"
At his command, the members that were still conscious scrambled, noticeably towards Blake and the others.
Weiss was about to intercept them but widen her eyes in shock as the lieutenant suddenly started charging towards her at a frightening speed, yelling at the top of lungs while doing so. The man was swinging like a madman, attacking in all directions as he ran. Even Weiss could do nothing but to focus everything on dodging his strikes.
The lieutenant chased her until the heiress was now facing at the direction where Blake was, which Weiss didn't want as now, she needed to get past the lieutenant if she wanted to help her teammate.
"Time for round two, Schnee..."
That was all the man said before he activated his chainsaw, the blades on it rotating with a loud noise attached to it.
Weiss mentally steeled herself; this was going to be anything but easy.
Sun looked back and noticed that a number of goons were coming after Blake, directly from Weiss's side. Turning his head just a bit, he saw the heiress was preoccupied with the guy that was talking on stage earlier, and immediately came to a decision.
"Neptune, we need to get closer to Blake!" Sun yelled out to his partner before he jumped towards Blake where Blake was.
Hearing his command, Neptune followed suit as he joined Sun, the two now in close proximity with the cat faunus as they faced the numerous amount of White Fang members.
Sun glanced back at Blake, and as expected, she was still in the same state. However, the cat faunus seemed a bit more aware than before. It might have been due to the blast earlier, perhaps because of the passing of time itself; either way, the monkey faunus was glad that progress was being made, no matter how small it was.
"You ready to show these White Fang creeps what we're really made of?!" Sun questioned confidently, knowing what Neptune would respond with.
"You betcha leader," the blue headed teen responded firmly as the two readied their weapons, waiting for the incoming assault.
And then it began.
A wave of White Fang members rushed in, all of them coming up to the three, it seemed like the numbers were limitless, even with the amount that had been taken down. `
Sun and Neptune was constantly under pressure, having to continuously both fend off the members of White Fang member while trying to protect Blake at the same time. However, what they lack in number the two was able to compensate more than enough with their own way of working together; when one was in trouble, the other would be able to instantly tell and cover their weakness. Thus, the boys were never in the same spot as they were constantly on the move, moving sideways in a circle, with the center of it being Blake herself. Suffice to say, the two boys' teamwork was almost impeccable.
And it was that very same bond and cooperation that would be their downfall. Not only were they continuously moving, their eyes were also always darting around, observing whether it be respective partner, the person they were protecting or even the opponents in front of them. It was all very taxing, both physically and mentally. So sooner or later, the cracks would start to show in their defense. Ultimately, they would succumb to the limits of the mind and the body, it was only a matter of time.
Up on the stage, things were becoming more and more hectic as the battle raged on between the diminutive woman and the young Rose. It was a role reversal compared to the beginning of the fight as the one who was in the constant offense was Ruby, with her opponent being the one on the defense.
Though the roles were swapped, the situation was not. Ruby was still having a lot of trouble dealing with Neo. Whatever she dished out, the silent woman would easily counter it, with almost unnatural degree and ease. The only time Ruby felt she actually had the advantage was when she was able to deliver the gut punch earlier but since then, she hadn't felt like that at any point at all that she was in control of the fight.
Was the skill gap between her and her opponent that large?
No. It was pointless to think about things like that right now. All she needed to know was that she needed a way to settle this fight, and soon. While it was true her focus had been entirely been on the battle up until this point, that didn't mean she didn't sneak glances to check up on her friends. And unless she had observed wrong, it was clear as day that most of them were exhausted beyond belief.
Some way or another, they needed to escape as even Ruby can tell that if they were continue to fight, they would most certainly be caught.
With only one thing in mind, Ruby steeled herself, changing her ammunition clip before she launched another attack on the woman.
Ruby quickly shot backwards with Crescent Rose, using the recoil to propel herself forward as she readied her scythe in the air. As she swung, Neo easily backflip away, the scythe the older woman entirely but Ruby didn't relent as she shot herself upward, rolling in mid-air before swinging her scythe down hard.
But once again, the woman simply dodged to the right as Crescent Rose swung right past her, with the tip of the scythe planting itself onto the stage. Neo immediately held up her parasol to defend herself as the young Rose swung herself sideways as she let out a kick.
The kick itself was strong enough to push back Neo but was nowhere near enough to actually overwhelm her opponent. However, it was just enough for Ruby to work with.
Ruby flung herself backward before she positioned herself just right behind Crescent Rose. She then held out her left hand, placing it near the trigger of her weapon, before she took aim.
One shot.
And that was all she needed. The leader of team RWBY had learned from her previous mistake, and had adapted accordingly.
The woman smirked, assuming that the outcome would be just like before as she opened her umbrella, allowing it to cover the area of the blast. It was the opposite of the woman's expectations as the bullet dissipated into the weapon itself, a wave of electricity spread across her weapon and by extension, Neo herself.
Neo stumbled a bit, not expecting the sudden discomfort. It was not anything that could harm her directly but the shot had momentarily stunned her, effectively limiting her movements.
That was what Ruby had aimed for as she removed Crescent Rose from the ground before dashing across the stage in a quick blur, leaving trails of rose petals behind her.
While it was difficult for the older woman to move, but as time passed, the effects were starting to dissipate even if only a matter of seconds had passed. And because of that, Neo slid her right arm across the shaft of her umbrella, until her fingers was situated right above the bottom spring.
Just as Neo was within Ruby's striking zone, the diminutive woman pressed the trigger just when Crescent Rose was already midway towards its target. The sudden opening of the umbrella pushed Ruby backwards as the snath of her scythe connected with the woman's weapon.
While a bit winded, it didn't deterred Ruby as she simply spun around, swinging her scythe once again; only this time it was from another angle.
But it was too late as the effects that held her back were diminished to the point that Neo could once again take control of her arms and legs. The woman jumped back just as Crescent Rose was about to reach her but Ruby was able to snag the top of the umbrella, before she pulled it back. Swiftly, Ruby was able to remove the weapon from her opponent as the top of the umbrella was flung into the air—
—which was exactly what Neo wanted her to do.
As Ruby reel back Crescent Rose, she noticed that the woman had a new weapon in her hand; a long, thin blade. It was a simple weapon, but just because it was basic didn't mean the woman was not as dangerous as before. In fact, it might have been the opposite.
Neo lunged forward, her smirk ever present as the blade was already inches away from Ruby. Ruby quickly spun her weapon around as she redirected it into another direction. This didn't stop Neo as she followed the same motion her sword was going through, lifting her legs up as she kicked Ruby in the back of her head.
It was painful, it felt almost akin to a bullet being shot just from that one kick alone and just as quickly, she was sent skidding across the stage, letting out a yelp before it finally stop. She shook her head in pain as she got up, a bit disoriented from the hit just now.
Smiling, Neo simply picked up her fallen umbrella and held it with her free hand as she just stood there, waiting for her opponent's next move.
Ruby found herself standing up once again, relief that her strength had not betrayed her just yet. Still, it hurt. Not only did the attack dealt on her significant, but the sudden headache certainly didn't help. She felt like she would fall unconscious at a snap of finger.
But she couldn't give up! In fact, this only drove her more to stand up against the enemy she was facing against, whether her opponent was now truly serious or not didn't matter.
All she could do now was to move forward despite all the odds stacked against her.
Weiss let out a grunt as she bended over, with her hands placed on both of her knees, and breathed profusely as she wiped off the sweat that was pouring out of her cheeks.
"What's the matter Schnee? Out of breathe already?" the lieutenant taunted, confident that the battle was already won.
The lietenant on the other hand, looked like he had plenty of energy in reserves. It was the absolute opposite to that of Weiss.
From the fight until now, Weiss was sure she had hit her opponent more than he ever possibly could. Yet, she was the one who was exhausted beyond belief.
The older man charged forward, his chainsaw skidding across the ground with sparks going off as the blade of his weapon clashed with the ground.
Weiss responding by simply pinning her rapier right into the ground, her head hung low as she stood there, staring at the ground.
Witnessing the strange scene before him, the man slowed down before finally, slowly dragging his chainsaw as he walked up to her.
It was maddening for the heiress as she took in the sound of heavy footsteps approaching her, the sound of his chainsaw clashing against the floor and finally, her own beating heart. She could hear every bit of it, the beating sound in her heart getting even louder as the lieutenant slowly got closer.
"Well well, it seems the little Schnee has finally accepted the inevitable! Unfortunately, there is no such thing as mercy for you Schnee… but your head would be worthy for the White Fang's noble cause!" the lieutenant said gleefully, his deep voice sounding excited at the prospect of beheading his hated enemy.
With that proclamation, the lieutenant reeled his chainsaw back, before swinging it in full force. But just before it could even reach the heiress, the ground between the two cracked and suddenly exploded, bits of debris flying everywhere. The White Fang member screamed in agony, having felt the full force of the blast as he was thrown off the ground and into the air.
Weiss fared no better as she was thrown back from the impact, rolling off the ground until she was now sprawled on the ground, the sound of sparks fizzling out coming from the heiress. She could feel both her ears ringing incessantly as she struggled to get up again. Placing her left hand on her cheeks, and removed it as she stared at the palm of her hand, a splotch of blood painted on it.
She could surmise that there was a trickle of blood flowing across her face at the moment, though weirdly enough, she couldn't quite feel the pain. Perhaps the bruises on her might have overtaken it instead.
Still, she was inwardly glad that her desperate attempt worked. It wasn't exactly perfect, seeing as she was caught up in the explosion as well but it certainly had the effect that she desired.
She just hoped it was enough to take the faunus down.
Her train of thought was cut off as a loud voice echoed throughout the room.
"SCHNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—"
The lieutenant's condition was even worse than Weiss's. Unlike before, his White Fang uniforms were now in tatters, pieces of his braces chipped away and his mask had been cracked right in the middle. Cuts and bruises could be seen all over his body, and even little bits of blood dripping from him as well. His most dangerous weapon was now a former shell of its destructive nature. Whereas before, its blade could cut anything in an instance, it was now partially destroyed, with bits of it lying on the ground, and the blades all gone.
Weiss was shocked that he was still able to stand, let alone yell like that because as of right now, she was completely out of options, having no strength left to fight.
The lieutenant started walking, disregarding everything around him as his focus was solely on Weiss. The man trudged on and on, as if every step he took was a heavy task that required everything of him.
The sounds of his footsteps were loud but it didn't hold the tone it had earlier when he as approaching her. This one felt...desperate, until seconds later the footsteps finally stopped.
The heiress didn't know why he did so and perhaps didn't want to know. She couldn't possibly fathom what the man could have next in his sleeves, even if how impossible it may seem given his current condition. Nonetheless, Weiss simply continued lying into the ground, unable to move. It wasn't until a few seconds later that she heard a very familiar voice.
"Hey Weiss, you need a lift?" Yang called out to her teammate, a smile of relief on her face.
"Ya...ng?" the heiress murmured almost hazily.
Indeed it was. Yang didn't look worse for wear despite having fought through the wave of White Fang members, sans the number of dirt that was all over her but she was still in prime condition, judging from her general demeanour at the moment.
Weiss was confused of Yang's presence until she suddenly realized something.
"Watch out! He's about to—"
Yang stayed silent at her words, before finally giving it to her straight.
"Umm Weiss, the fight is already over."
"What?"
"Well, you can see for yourself."
Weiss didn't understand her teammate's words, until Yang lifted Weiss up in a bridal style so that she could now get a better look at the situation.
Weiss gasped upon seeing the condition her opponent just now was in.
The lieutenant was simply just standing there, unmoving. It was almost unnerving to the heiress to see someone in a state such as this, and she was the one who caused it. The White Fang or not, did she actually...
"Don't worry about it too much, he just passed out on the spot," Yang reassured her teammate, knowing what Weiss was thinking as she noticed the heiress's shocked expression.
Weiss let out a sigh of relief. It would have eaten at her conscious if she committed murder, self-defense or not. She just wasn't prepared to do it, and hopefully never have to.
"Still, gotta hand it to you ice queen. If you didn't do something as crazy as that, I doubt you would have won."
Weiss didn't truly believe she won the fight between her and the lieutenant. At best, she considered it a draw. The man was unlike any opponent she had ever fought and truth be told, she felt like she was walking near a very volatile dust mine, meaning her life was in danger at all times. That being said, now that the blonde mentioned it...she was curious about something.
"Yang, how did you know where I was? I thought you had your hands full with White Fang members just like the rest of us."
It was a general question, but one she genuinely wanted to know. With the pile of men Yang had to deal with, it should not have been easy for the blonde brawler to know where she was.
"I'm Yang Xiao Long! There's no way any of these bozos stand a chance against me! That and the fact that there was no one around the fight you two had made it pretty easy for me to spot you," Yang stated confidently, flashing a grin.
Weiss turned towards the location Yang as at earlier, and there only laid unconscious members of the White Fang. Weiss looked back at Yang, realizing that her teammate didn't have much battle damage, which impressed her. That was, until Weiss remembered that there was no time for them to relax.
"Blake! We need to get to Blake now!" the heiress screamed right into Yang's ear, something she didn't like as she rubbed her sore ears.
Recovering from Weiss's outburst, Yang's expression turned into one of understanding as she simply nodded and started running as fast her legs allowed, carrying Weiss in tow.
As Yang ran, Weiss decided to take one last glance at the White Fang lieutenant. She was surprised to see that there was a grunt that was not involved with the fight surrounding Blake's side. The grunt was incapable of forming words at the state of his lieutenant, but he was able to yell out two words in shock.
"General Banesaw!"
Weiss closed her eyes and turned back, having seen enough. She needed to at least know of his name, since she had an alarming feeling that the two would meet again, as her team was continuously involved in the White Fang's activities.
Blake stood still, her eyes uneven and unfocused. Her perception on what was going around was still muddy as most of her focus was her mind trying to process the fact she had just seen Adam, even if he was not really present.
Why now? She thought she would have been fine. Logically speaking, sooner or later she was bound to meet him again in her goal of changing the White Fang...she was the one who cut off contact from him after all, but just seeing his appearance just now finally set it in.
She couldn't possibly cut ties with him. It was just impossible; no matter how much she hide, no matter where she ran ...she would always be pulled back, and that scared her.
"Blake...Blake...Blake!" a voice yell out.
The cat faunus could vaguely hear it in the midst of the loud fight occurring outside, but her inner turmoil was causing much more of a ruckus, thus the noise was like static, feebly trying to get her attention.
That was until she felt a sharp pain in her left cheek, forcing her to finally be aware of her surroundings.
Her eyes traced around the area, with the first thing she saw was her partner Yang. The blonde brawler was standing upright with her right hand extended, a look of mirth in her eyes.
"Did that finally get your attention?"
Blake lifted her left hand as it traced across her redden cheeks,
"Wh—
"Look around you!" Yang yelled, her eyes flashing crimson for a split of a second, before returning to its usual colour.
She did as such, her eyes trailing off until she spotted a certain heiress right behind her partner, who was currently lying on the ground. Weiss didn't say anything but the heiress's eyes were more than enough of what was being conveyed to her.
Then, she looked around as she noticed a flurry of blurs zipping around in a circle. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Sun and Neptune.
The two were still fighting off grunts that dared to approach them, but compared to before, even Blake realized that the boys' movements were much slower than before. It was to her bewilderment that the two had cuts and bruises all over them and looked like they would pass out at any moments, but she could tell the two would not yield despite the circumstances.
It finally dawned on her that each and every one of them were like this because of her. She was the one who brought them here, it was all her fault...was that why Yang—
"Don't try to take it all in again. Geez, you know you could just talk to us. Anyway, I told you that because all of us, Weiss, Ruby, me, Neptune, Sun...we're in this with you and we wouldn't want it any other way. So, if anything, we need you to buck up and go back to the old Blake we know so we can get out of here, all of us."
Blake stared at her partner, letting what she just heard sink in.
"That's all I gotta say."
Yang then turned her back against Blake as she joined the two boys into battle.
Blake merely stared at the floor, silent as seconds passed, only the sounds of gunshots firing nearby being heard.
It finally came to her. All this time, her friends were protecting her the entire time and all she did was just stood there, doing nothing. Worse, she held it all in again. It meant that she didn't trust them enough even after their previous encounter with the White Fang.
Truthfully, she had enough of it. If this ever—no, after this was over, she absolutely needed to lay it all out for the reasons of her strange peculiar behaviour. Right now however...
Blake simply took a step forward, unsheathing the sword from her back.
Seeing this, Weiss let out a smile, relief and happy that they had their teammate back with them.
"You are awfully late Blake, are you perhaps becoming Ruby now?"
"Hmm, maybe I am. Though I think our roles are reversed now," Blake pointed out as she was the one protecting Weiss instead of the other way around.
"Oh haha," Weiss laughed mockingly, before the heiress spoke once again.
"It's good to have you back."
Blake smiled warmly at the comment. Never had she thought a member of the Schnee family would say that to her and yet, here it was, and she was genuinely glad for that.
"Yeah..." Blake answered back before she sprinted towards the battle that was ensuing.
As she got there, the three were bewildered to see her presence but their confusion quickly turned into one of relief. They didn't say anything. They didn't need to, except for Sun that was.
"What took you so long? I was starting to think we were gonna handle all the fun without you," Sun yelled out, before pushing back another White Fang grunt.
Blake inwardly laughed at that as she joined in the fray, slashing one of them in the chest before following it up to a roundhouse kick to the chest, pushing them away.
Upon seeing this, several of them backed away, realizing that there were four of them opposing them now. And if the two boys were any indication of their general strength, then they were correct to have seconds thoughts.
"So...what's our plan of escape?" Blake asked, eyeing the opponents in front of her carefully.
Neptune had several ideas for that, thus he spoke out as he held out his spear in caution.
"Well, we can either wait for Weiss's aura to start generating again so that we can back up ruby or—"
"—wait for Ruby to finish her fight instead," Sun finished off Neptune's words.
Each of them took in their options, and knew respectively that the fastest way to get out was in Ruby's hands. And they really do need to escape fast, with their limited stamina.
But someone else had something other than that in mind.
"Or our best option, just blow everyone here away," Yang announced loudly as she punched her fists together, her confidence unwavering. Her voice was so loud in fact the White Fang grunts in the vicinity heard her.
This understandably made them furious, for their pride in their strength couldn't just be mocked like that, especially by a human of all things.
Blake merely stared at her partner flatly. She sometimes wondered if her partner was doing this on purpose. Then again, it wasn't without merit, seeing the numbers of White Fang members had at least gone down by half. Yet it was also a reckless one, as even half was still a huge number judging from the looks of it. Blake only hoped her leader was able to finish her own fight soon, seeing that any longer than this might result in more than just mere injuries.
For her entire life up until this point, Ruby Rose had never felt a fight being as one sided as she did right now. Sure, she had been plenty of fights, both Grimm and humans alike, but she always felt she had a chance of winning.
This battle was anything but that.
Neo was wielding both her sword and the remaining parts of her umbrella, twirling the umbrella in a nonchalant way, even if its handle had been removed. Though Neo looked seemingly at ease, Ruby knew more than anything else it was just a simple taunt as ever since the woman had held her weapons like this, it had become exceedingly difficult to break her defense.
If at the start of the fight the diminutive woman was an impenetrable shield, then right now, the woman was an unbreakable fortress. No matter what angle she came at, what speed she was at, what tactics she pulled, Ruby couldn't come close to even touching her opponent.
Add to the fact that her body was closed to the breaking point didn't really help with her chances. The sole reason she was still able to fight was her pure stubbornness and belief in that everything would turn out all right in the end.
Ruby merely stood there as she cautiously eyed her opponent, the two at a pretty fair distance from one another. The young Rose watched as Neo slowly walked over to them still unconscious man and as she stop, the diminutive woman held up her blade high up in the air, her intent all too clear for Ruby to see.
Before even the young Rose realized herself, she had already went into a starting run, before she dashed off, turning into a blur in anyone's eyes.
Ruby didn't know why she ran. Even before her body started to move her mind itself had not processed what just happened. It was as if her entire being wanted to save the man, no matter the cost.
Did she regret it? No. Not at all.
However, the very instant Ruby was in close proximity, preparing to push the man out of the way, her vision was suddenly blocked by the appearance of the canopy of the umbrella. It was floating in mid-air, the top of the shaft right in the middle where Ruby's forehead was from a horizontal view.
And then it suddenly lunged forward, hitting directly at her forehead. The instance it touched her, she was sent flying back at high speeds. The hit was so strong that upon impact, the resulting force cause a huge dent as Ruby landed on the metallic stage, a loud clang reverberating throughout the entire building.
Neo smirked, knowing that she had for sure won as she slowly worked towards the now unconscious Ruby, who had a trail of blood across her face, with a giant bruise right in her forehead.
Her line of motion stopped as a round of gunfire shot through the air, accompanied by the voice of a very angry blonde.
"You stay away from my sister!"
Neo dodged to the side as the blast collided onto the ground, and continued to do so as several more blasts rained down.
Yang relented for now as she landed onto the stage, her blazing red eyes glaring at the diminutive woman.
She was furious. No, more than that...she was enraged! For someone to even have the gall of—she didn't want to think about it, all she wanted to do right now was to pound the person responsible with everything she could muster.
Yang tighten her fists in frustration, before punching them together as her entire body flared up, with her hair standing on end. With a flick of a trigger, Yang blasted herself forward as she pulled back her right arm in mid-air, before delivering a right hook to the older woman.
The strike missed entirely as Neo simply twisted her body a bit, not moving from her spot.
Unrelenting, Yang simply reeled it back before releasing a barrage of punches. The blonde yelled in anger, wanting to pummel her opponent.
Neo still had a calm demeanour as she continuously dodged each and every one of Yang's punches. They were destructive for sure, feeling the heat and intensity in each and every one of them, even she wouldn't be left unscathed. It was pointless however, but even with all of Yang's strength, the blonde could never possibly beat her if none of them ever hit, especially with the her opponent's current mental state.
As if to defy her opponent, Yang let out a fierce battle cry, signifying a changed in her attack rhythm. With each consecutive punch, Yang's punches got even faster, even fiercer, even stronger than the previous one, until it was to the point that even Neo was forced to stop her current momentum as she tripped the blonde with the simple swing of her weapon.
Yang couldn't possibly saw it coming, seeing her entire focus was on attacking, disregarding everything else in her surroundings. Still, as she fell, the blonde turned her mistake into one of chance as she placed her hand on the ground, giving it a good twist before delivering a sweeping kick in the process.
Neo was no fool. She had more than enough reflexes to anticipate such an attack as she pinned her weapon in the ground, blocking the direction of the blonde's kick. Just as Yang's kick was about to hit the umbrella, Neo countered back as she let out a jump kick to the blonde's guts.
However, even with the woman's weapon blocking the attack, Yang's strength was more than enough kick it off the ground, effectively destroying the Neo's pillar of balance. But the instant the blonde did just that, Yang let out a pained groan as she got blown away by the woman's kick, tossing her to the side.
Neo's jump kick allowed her to use Yang as a platform, as she simply back flipped back in place while the blonde got pushed back, as though nothing ever happened.
It didn't stop Yang at all as she simply got up again and with a huge roar, triggering both her shotguns to thrust her forward into her opponent once again, her anger exploding in blind fury.
Blake looked on, staring at the battle now taking atop of the stage. It was almost unbelievable how enraged Yang looked. She had never seen her partner like this, even when Yang was fighting the Grimm back during initiation when strands of her hair fell. The moment her partner had witnessed the unconscious form of Ruby, Yang bulldozed every White Fang members in the way before jumping to protect their leader. Thus, it was left to the three to protect the heiress.
Truth be told, Blake had contemplated that this was the perfect moment for them to escape. It wasn't a completely foolproof of a plan but hopefully, it would be enough.
"One of you get Weiss and we go towards where Yang and Ruby are. We need to escape, now!" Blake commanded, emphasizing her last words.
The two boys looked to one another, nodding in understanding before Neptune quickly turned back and ran towards where Weiss laid.
"Come on Blake. What are we waiting for? Let's open a way for those two to go through," Sun shouted loudly as he rushed into the group of White Fang members.
Blake rolled her eyes, a bemused smile plastered on her face. She was thinking she would be the one to lead but Sun had already beaten her to the punch. He always did tried a bit too much, not that she hated it.
The cat faunus dashed forward, her sword and sheathe in hand as she cut through the crowd of faunus. She didn't like to fight in this way, especially so since it was her own kind, but it was necessary right now.
As her blades clashed with another's weapon, the cat faunus glanced back, checking up on Neptune and Weiss. The blue-headed teen was carrying the heiress with his back as he ran as fast as he could, trying to keep up.
Blake breathed heavily before she finally pushed her opponent away with one move.
They were all going to get out of this, no matter what.
Normally, a person's anger would subside as the river known as time flows. However, for one Yang Xiao Long, this did not apply to her right now as the longer she fought, the angrier she became.
Yang let out a growl in frustration as she shattered another illusion made by Neo. This had been going on for a while now, with her getting hit and her opponent dodging every one of her hits. The process then rinsed and repeated itself, the only difference being Yang's every surging rage.
It was more than infuriating! She needed to discharge this anger somewhere and more than anything else, she wanted it to land on her opponent. But for her to do that, she needed to be calm enough to think straight. It was difficult for her to do so, but she needed to relax a bit. Yang bit her lips as she begrudgingly closed her eyes, momentarily ignoring her opponent.
Witnessing the scene before, it was more than a perfect moment to strike as Neo quickly lunged forward, only for her eyes to widen in bewilderment as Yang grabbed onto it, the blonde staring at her menacingly.
"Gotcha," Yang stated as she let out a straight punch, a red glint coming out from her gauntlets.
Just as it was about to hit, Neo pulled the handle of her umbrella back, revealing her blade before twisting herself to avoid the hit.
As the blast collided onto the ground, Neo had already spun herself, swinging her weapon along.
Instinctively, Yang held out her left hand defensively, not wanting to even give her opponent another advantage point against her. The sounds of metal clashing could be heard as the blade collided with Yang's gauntlet, the two weapons shaking against one another.
Not allowing the chance to slip passed her, Yang headbutted the older woman, causing Neo to winced away from the hit as she took a few steps back, her weapon now in Yang's hands.
Neo didn't let out a sound but Yang was confident she had her that time, the touch of flesh could be felt, unlike the illusions.
Nonetheless, Yang continued on as she threw the umbrella and the sword to the side. She then took a heavy step forward, reeling her body before she punched Neo in the gut, twisting it slowly.
Just as Yang was about to fire off her gauntlets, Neo placed her right hand around Yang's own, which only served to enrage the blonde as she formed a fist using her other hand.
Neo lifted herself upward as she jumped, twisting her body in mid-air to dodge the attack.
Before Yang even realized it, her head was no wrapped around by the woman's legs, but before she could attempt anything, Yang was tossed over as her vision turned upside down, before finally landing somewhere a bit far away from their previous spot.
With her opponent out of the way, Neo picked up her weapon once again, inserting the blade into her umbrella.
Yang jumped back up into position as she gritted her teeth, glaring at Neo. She was about to rush in and try again but stopped at the sight of Blake and others landing from above. She then turned towards what was below and saw that many of the grunts had been knocked unconscious but there were just as many left, though it would looked like it would take them a while before they can even come up here. Judging from the scattered guns on the floor, she could guess that most of them were all out of bullets as well.
"Yang! It's time we leave, we already got what we needed," Blake advised.
"Are you trying to say we leave Ruby?" Yang asked in a low tone, her red eyes staring into Blake's.
"What—no. Of course not! I'm saying that once we get Ruby, we leave immediately," Blake denied, a bit worried of Yang's mental state.
"Don't forget the guy who was dragged here for no reason. I feel sorry for the guy if he was just left here..." Sun added to the conversation. He just felt sorry for the guy. After all, he didn't have anything to do with this whole situation.
"Fine, but I doubt 'she' would let us leave easy," Yang pointed towards Neo, who was simply twirling her umbrella in place, smiling excitedly at them.
"...We'll leave that to you. After we get the two, we leave through the window," Blake suggested to all of them.
"Then I guess I'll wait around here, I'm carrying Weiss right now and it wouldn't be a good idea to run around too much," Neptune reminded them.
Weiss wanted to deny that, but her still aching head prevented her from doing so.
The other three nodded in understanding as they now shifted their focus on what was in front of them. Standing behind the diminutive woman, was where the older man was situated. Ruby on the other hand, was at the other edge of the stage, which was a bit further away.
Now knowing each and everyone's position on the stage, Yang took the first move as she sprinted towards Neo, followed by Blake and Sun who were trailing behind her.
Neo greeted the blonde with her usual smile, before swinging her weapon towards Yang. Yang quickly put up her left arm, blocking the hit as she let out a right hook.
The older woman merely shattered into pieces upon the impact, which caused Yang to immediately look around for her opponent's current location.
Blake observed the situation at hand as they ran past Yang, concerned of where their opponent was at.
She didn't have to wonder for long as she suddenly felt a sharp pain around her waist, before she was lifted in the air and flung towards near where Yang was.
Blake clutched her stomach in pain, it was definitely not something she saw coming. But she couldn't stay down now, there was something she needed to do immediately.
"Blake!" Sun yelled out in worry, as he turned back, worried about her.
Just as he did however, the woman was right in front of him, smiling creepily, which caused Sun to instinctively back away. In that instant, the woman spun herself in mid-air, before delivering a roundhouse kick towards Sun.
However, Neo suddenly felt her momentum stopped, as if someone managed to stop her kick. The woman shifted her eyes a bit and was instantly taken aback.
Holding Neo's leg was Yang Xiao Long, a scowl on her face. The blonde went for another punch but was stopped yet again as the woman kicked the brawler in the chin, causing her to lose her grip.
Neo simply backflip away, but something was different with the criminal. She looked ecstatic as opposed to the bemused smile she had the whole time up until this point. It was just an exciting feeling to see that they still had much more to go, especially the blonde. She couldn't wait to play with them more, even if they had no chance of winning.
Yang let out a growl, before she dashed towards the criminal, getting into close confrontations once again.
Assessing the situation, Blake thought it best that she and Yang held her opponent off. This...woman was clearly very strong and as capable as her partner was, it would be best they maximized their chance of escape.
"Go, we can handle things here," Blake mouthed to Sun.
The monkey faunus did as he was told, snatching the man up over his shoulder before running to where Ruby was.
Seeing the monkey faunus run off, Blake decided to join in the fight as she swung her sword while Neo was busy blocking one of Yang's punches.
The sound of metal clashing reverberated in the air as Blake found herself struggling to push away the thin blade Neo had unsheathed.
Realizing the woman was momentarily distracted thanks to Blake, Yang tightened her muscles, before putting even more strength in her right arm.
Neo noticed the slight push back and decided that she should stop indulging them in this futile contest of strength as she simply jumped up in the air.
Without an obstacle in the way, the two stumbled forward until they collided with each other. The results ended up being a very angry Yang being miffed with her partner.
"Watch it Blake!" Yang yelled out, her eyes turning even more crimson than before.
Blake stared at her partner, and realized that she needed to consider her response carefully. Yang was usually a very laid-back person but even she could see that the blonde wasn't exactly in the best state of mind, so it was best she didn't anger Yang any further. After all, it was better for them to work together.
"...You need to calm down Yang. I get that you're frustrated but we're not getting anywhere if we're the ones arguing."
Listening to her words, Yang shook her head, trying to shake off her current emotion. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work but Yang tried her best to control her anger as she replied back.
"...Got it."
With the exchange of words just now, they had completely forgotten about their opponent. It wasn't until Neo suddenly appeared between the both of them that they remembered of the battle at hand. It was too late however, as Neo spun herself along with her weapon, blowing the two away.
Yang stood her ground as she got pushed back. Once she stop sliding backwards, she quickly dashed forward once again, her right arm reeled back in preparation for another attack.
Unlike her partner, Blake was thrown up in the air, before the cat faunus rebalanced herself as she placed her hands on the stage, before backflipping to her normal posture. Once she did, the cat faunus noticed that her partner was already engaging in close combat with the diminutive woman. She had to give it to her partner, Yang was probably the sturdiest out of all of them.
Blake didn't join up with Yang as she looked around the area, wanting to check up on her friends. Neptune and Weiss seemed fine from the looks of it, but was easily discernable that they were worried about them.
The cat faunus then searched for Sun, and when she did was surprised that the monkey faunus was holding both the man and Ruby and nodding towards her, signaling that he got them both covered.
Good. It meant that they were done here. Now, all they needed to do was to escape through the window. The only problem was Yang handling their opponent, who would unlikely let her partner escape and with Yang's still fiery demeanour, she doubted her partner would want to go this easily without releasing her pent up anger. Thus, she was in a dilemma in what they needed to do in order to escape.
Her question was answered as she turned towards the direction where Neptune and Weiss was, and noticed the heiress was pointing upwards, although very feebly.
Blake was understandably confused, until she looked up herself and was confused on what she saw.
There, up in the air, just right below the ceiling was a single glyph floating there, where no one would possibly noticed unless one deliberately focus on it.
Why? Why did Weiss make a glyph up there? The person herself couldn't move so what was the point—
Then it clicked. Blake realized that the heiress was probably trying to suggest for them to use it to end the battle somehow. Blake didn't know if Weiss had the same plan in mind but Blake couldn't dawdle as she put her own plan into motion, changing Gambol Shroud into a pistol.
"Yang!" Blake called out towards her partner as the blonde was pushed back by Neo.
Blake tossed Gambol Shroud towards Yang and held on to the ribbon attached to it as it reached the blonde.
Now in her grasp, Yang was momentarily confused by this action until she suddenly felt her weight was off the ground and was launched into the air as she lost her grip on Blake's weapon. Immediately, she noticed the glyph that was hanging in mid-air and knew what she had to do.
Meanwhile, Blake swung Gambol Shroud once again, only this time it was on a different target.
Neo stood there as she saw the empty space that the blonde occupied only but a few moments ago. Wanting to sate her curiosity, she was about to turn her head upwards to see what was going on but her attention was taken elsewhere as she felt a tug around her both of her arms.
Looking down, Neo saw that her arms were now wrapped tightly by Blake's weapon, with it still swinging as the ribbon overlaid her arms. For any other person in this kind of situation, they would usually be anxious and worried about what was going on, but for Neo, this little stunt only served to amuse her.
The plan was going fine so far but Blake disliked seeing that smug expression on their opponent's face. She disregarded it however as she gazed up to where Yang was, hoping that this will fight will finally end with this next move.
The instant Yang maneuvered herself to land on the Weiss's glyph, she immediately dived back down as she cocked her right arm back, an intense fire around it.
"TAKE THISSS!" Yang yelled out in a booming voice despite the intense speed she was falling at, before she extended her forward, down at her opponent's face.
It was an instant, but Yang saw it. Just as her fist was about to come down, she saw that the woman was just...smiling there, not caring of what was about to occur.
The moment the blonde plunged into the stage, the entire stage was lit with fire as a giant explosion occurred, blowing away the White Fang members who dared to approach it. It was as if the ground itself had shattered into pieces.
The grunts couldn't see anything as right after that explosion, dust was scattered everywhere, obscuring their vision. All they could do was wait for the smoke to dissipate. After several minutes, the remaining members of the White Fang searched around the stage, looking for the young teens.
But all they could see was a very large circle of a bump right in the center of the stage, and pieces of glass scattered all across the area.
In a small alleyway near the building where the members of the White Fang had gathered, was where a certain group of teenagers had escaped to.
"Everyone made it out alright?" Yang asked out of concern as she looked to Blake and the others.
Now that she had calmed down, her usual lilac eyes had returned and her anger had dissipated, which was a good thing considering her destructive attitude earlier.
"I guess so...if you consider how we look right now to be alright," Blake answered her partner, her eyes trailing off to everyone around.
Each and every one of them looked terrible, from the amount of bruises they had on their person to even blood dripping out from it, specifically Ruby and Weiss. Still, they were nothing compared to what the man they had escaped with as the number of wounds he had were nothing to laugh at.
Sun stared at the man who was laying against the wall, before he looked back towards the group, having something to say.
"I think I should probably drop this guy at the hospital first, I'll meet you guys at Beacon."
Sun then lifted the man over his shoulder, and was about to leave before Blake's voice stopped him.
"Sun! I have...something to say to you later, so I hope you'll listen to me when we get back to Beacon."
"Pfft! I already told you I'll go back to Beacon later, but whatever it is you want to say, I'll definitely be there," Sun answered, letting out a cheeky grin to all of them before he left the alleyway.
"What exactly...do you mean by that?" Weiss asked weakly, her strength not yet returning to her.
"...It isn't just him, it's to every one of you as well. It's about what happened tonight," Blake replied, a solemn look in Blake's eyes.
The others didn't say anything after that as they started walking the streets of Vale, until a certain blonde decided to speak up.
"Hey Blake, I'm...sorry about earlier," Yang told her partner, who was now carrying the still unconscious Ruby in her arms.
While Yang didn't regret being in an angry fit of rage as it was justified in her eyes. She did however regret yelling at her partner as Blake was just trying to help out.
"Don't worry about it, I wasn't at my best mental state today either. Let's just try to move past it, deal?"
"Deal."
"...want to save...get stronger" Ruby muttered in her sleep, which elicited Yang to smile hearing her sister's words.
Ruby's muttering didn't go unheard from the others as well. While they couldn't hear her full sentence, they all could take a good guess on what the young Rose meant. Likewise, they smiled as well. The youngest one of them all always had a way with words, even if she didn't know it.
"I suppose you can say Ruby 'blake' out tonight?" Weiss joked, now that the danger was over.
Blake rolled her eyes at the joke, one Yang was already enough and even said person was not exactly thrilled of Weiss's joke either.
"...Just stick to being the ice queen of the group, it'll be better for all of us," Yang mouthed off, not looking Weiss in the eye.
The heiress looked up towards Neptune, expectations in her eyes as he was the only one left she could turn to defend her badly attempted joke.
Neptune looked downwards, a reluctant look on his face as he begrudgingly opened his mouth.
"Sorry Weiss, but even I don't think that's very good."
Weiss simply turned up her nose as her hair light whipped Neptune in his face, an action which he couldn't say he didn't enjoy, not that he would ever say that to anyone out loud.
Seconds later however, all of them including Weiss suddenly burst into laughter as they were just content that all of them made it out safe and sound.
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I'm baaaack…from being involved in a two months training program. Word of advice to cat owners, please bring a carrier when you're visiting the vet, it makes life so much easier for the staff members there, or you know, if you don't want to get denied treatment because of policy. This also made me become more aware of Blake's ears. I mean, do faunus also go to the vet when they get sick because of their animal traits? Like for example, can Blake actually get aural hematoma? Yes yes, I know they're technically just humans with extra features, but it's just something to ponder about. And no, I know they definitely don't take shots, I think…
Anyway, this chapter is done and I'm kinda conflicted about it? Three-fourths into writing this was when I realized I wrote way too much for my liking but persevere through it anyway because I had no idea where to exactly split it, that and having the desire to just complete it.
So, if you don't mind please tell me what you think of this chapter? It is the second time that a chapter with Goku not being in it and I'm interested on the responses. It would be nice to compare to the responses from Falling Rose.
Last note, I hope you guys didn't mind the 'accelerated' fights. What I mean by accelerated is the fights that technically happened in the series, just later down the line but instead is pulled forward. Don't know if they'll come up again in the future…they probably will I believe.
Next time, Goku's adventure begins again, only this time, it's in Mistral!