Chapter 51:
Ayumu and Neo faced one another, their expressions almost perfect mirrors to each other as their eyes met. There were slight differences. Ayumu's smile was gentle and serene, while Neo's betrayed an eagerness, and no small amount of bloodlust, as she watched her opponent. For a long moment, neither moved, even though the battle raged around them. Roman could be heard, yelling in the near-distance, even as guns chattered and cannons thundered.
There was no question that Neo was under a great deal of pressure. The situation was to her opponent's advantage. The longer it dragged out, the less time she would have to aid Roman in his escape, if she even could at this point. It was clear that the White Fang would be no match for the girl who'd accompanied Ayumu, and the third person she was certain was also in the vicinity.
And yet, she couldn't move, not carelessly anyway. Ayumu's awareness at this range was nothing short of flawless. One wrong move, and he would exploit any and every opening mercilessly. Neo frowned and slowly raised her umbrella, holding it by its handle as she pointed it at Ayumu, her knees flexing, almost as though she were a fencer preparing to thrust.
When Neo did, there was a faint hiss, and her umbrella shot at Ayumu, the blade extending from the tip as it flew at Ayumu's face like an arrow.
Ayumu's reaction was instantaneous, but almost looked lazy, considering the easygoing grace with which he moved. He brought up his blade and flicked his wrist, bringing his sword against the parasol's tip. However, at that tiny contact, the canopy snapped open, suddenly completely obscuring Ayumu's vision.
Despite that, Ayumu didn't hesitate in the slightest, already bending backwards slightly, at the waist, his wrist rotating to bring his sword around and up as Neo appeared behind him, thrusting with the sword blade hidden within the umbrella's shaft, having launched the upper portion, which included the canopy, at him earlier. She'd aimed to catch him off-guard, flanking him while his vision was blocked. But her ruse didn't fool Ayumu in the slightest. His evasion let Neo's sword slip harmlessly by in the air in front of his chest. His own blade came up to halt her progress as she tried to turn her thrust into a slash, batting the weapon away with a light pinging noise.
Even as he parried her attack, Ayumu countered, snapping his leg up in a swift kick at Neo's midsection. However, she kicked off the ground and, in a near perfect imitation of Ayumu's own effortless grace in the air, launched herself into a jumping flip that carried her over Ayumu's head, and over the canopy of her own weapon, which had only begun to fall to the ground, after being blocked by Ayumu earlier.
Grabbing the detached portion of the parasol with her left hand, she hefted it, the canopy quickly closing. With a flick of her wrist, Neo flipped it in the air, allowing her to change her grip to the closed canopy. She tucked her left arm and the upper portion of the umbrella behind her back so that the parasol, and the blade extending from its tip, were pointed at Ayumu, even as she leveled the sword hidden in its shaft at him with her right hand.
The two of them closed with each other simultaneously, their blades ringing as they clashed against one another. The two fighters fenced furiously, dancing back and forth over the ground. Their blades were blurs, flickering and weaving, moving in curving slashes or swift, darting thrusts. Where they met, sparks of Aura flew through the air. Even as they fought with their blades, they also exchanged blows with their other limbs, using slashes to lead into punches or kicks aimed to hobble or disable. Neo took advantage of the dual nature of her weapon, using a spin to hide her movement as she brought the upper portion of the umbrella and its smaller blade around to slash or thrust at Ayumu in quick motions in an effort to catch him off-guard.
Their fight ranged across the broken terrain, their duel taking them through the doors of a crumbling building. Neither passed up an opportunity to use the terrain to their advantage. Ayumu executed a fierce offensive, increasing the speed of his rapid attacks to drive Neo back up towards a wall in an attempt to pin her in place. However, Neo easily displayed her acrobatic agility, hopping up and kicking off the wall with one foot to launch herself up and over Ayumu's head. Her jump took her up high enough that she was able to reach the ceiling and kick off that as well, shooting downwards with both her blades aimed at Ayumu's head. Ayumu executed a turning sidestep, allowing Neo's blades to fly down past his face as he diverted the path of his evasion to keep her from trying the same thing.
Only pulling her left arm back, Neo planted her sword firmly in the floor, executing a handstand on the crook of the handle of her sword blade. She turned her body and lashed out with a swift kick, aiming the heel of her boot at Ayumu's chest. Ayumu jumped, going into a drifting spin over the path of Neo's kick. He kicked off the air, halting his spin and starting another spin that brought his body around in a forward flip that allowed him to bring his leg down in an axe-kick aimed for Neo's body. Still supporting herself with her right arm, Neo continued her turn, letting her lower half to drop towards the ground as she swung her umbrella's upper portion around to deflect the line of Ayumu's kick.
Ayumu's heel dropped past Neo's body to strike the floor as Neo allowed her own feet to fall all the way down so that she landed in an arched position, her legs supporting her at one end, her arm supporting her by the handle of her sword at the other. A buck of her hips allowed her to snap her upper body upwards enough to pull her sword free of the ground and, without rising fully upright, she turned her body into a spin that allowed her to bring the bladed tip of her parasol around to slash at Ayumu's face. He leaned back, just out of its range. However, that was not far enough to escape the range of Neo's sword as she continued her spin to follow through with a rapid slash with it, extending its range even further by twirling the weapon by the crook of its handle about the first two fingers of her hand. The difference was no more than a few centimeters. However, in a fight like this, that distance could mean the difference between life or death.
Still, Ayumu remained unruffled, turning his wrist to maneuver his own blade in position to parry, meeting Neo's slash directly. He attempted to use the shock of impact to dislodge the sword from her fingers, seeing as she wasn't actually gripping it at the moment. The handle did bounce away and lose touch with Neo's fingers for a fraction of a second. However, she turned her wrist deftly, maneuvering it to spin her weapon about her fingers again and turning its path so that she brought the blade back around to deflect Ayumu's followthrough thrust. The impact again knocked the crook off her fingers, but Neo opened her hand and closed it around the handle without missing a beat, and executed a thrust of her own that Ayumu parried as he fell back.
They returned to a swift fencing match, their blades arcing and clanging against one another. Ayumu steered their duel towards the wall again, this time causing the two of them to approach it in a sidestep. At first, it seemed as though he was aiming to limit Neo's movements by hampering her sword arm on her right side by forcing their exchange towards the wall, but then his sword began slicing through the stone and masonry like a hot knife through butter, not even losing speed as he continued to exchange blows with Neo simultaneously.
After just a few such slashes, the wall gave way, collapsing into chunks of rubble and opening up the next room. It wasn't just the wall though. The ceiling the wall supported was already cracked and in danger of collapsing, the damage caused by the passage of time and the elements being supplemented by the buffeting shockwave of the explosion Ruby had triggered earlier. When the wall gave way, the ceiling too crumbled, causing chunks of the building to rain down on both of them.
Neo smirked. Ayumu might have been trying to hinder her own movements by dropping the ceiling on them, but he'd actually given her a powerful tool. Drawing back from him, she slid her sword back into the parasol's shaft, then opened the canopy, spinning it as she swept it around her, several chunks of stone and masonry bouncing away off the spinning canopy, while others were swept up into its spin. Bringing the whole thing back around her, Neo launched the accumulated chunks of debris as Ayumu like the spray from a shotgun.
Rather than seeming caught-off-guard, Ayumu's expression was as unflinching as ever. Bringing up his sword, he braced the flat of Green Destiny's blade against the first two fingers of his left hand, he flicked the blade just as it made contact with the first pieces of rubble in the flurry heading his way. That eerie tone rang out once more and the entire barrage of rubble that Neo had thrown his way suddenly rebounded with a flash of green from Ayumu's Aura, flying back at her.
Fortunately, Neo's parasol was still open and interposed between her and the mass of flying debris, so it bounced harmlessly away. However, its momentum had been reversed and simultaneously amplified by the application of Ayumu's Aura, which pushed Neo backed, threatening to knock her off her feet.
But Neo wasn't so easy to catch off-guard. Before she could be knocked over, she kicked off the ground, jumping upwards and allowing the momentum of Ayumu's counter to send her into the backflip. As she came back around, she found a large piece of rubble that had crumbled a little bit later than the rest. Planting her boots against that, taking advantage of her small size and low mass to use the falling chunk of stone as an airborne platform to execute another jump that carried her up to what remained of the floor above them.
Ayumu followed her immediately, executing a leap of his own, which carried him off the ground and up to Neo's level in a single move, not even needing to use an impromptu platform like she had. Neo fell back. However, as she did, she drew her blade again, her sword slashing at the floor where she'd been standing, cutting into it so that, when Ayumu's foot touched down, the floor, already weakened by the earlier collapse, gave way beneath his tread. Despite that, Ayumu continued on, jumping off the pieces of floor before they could fall away, somehow managing to keep going, despite the fact that the movement should have simply kicked them down without giving him any means of support.
Neo continued her retreat, alternating between slashing at Ayumu's body and attacking his footing. However, no matter how many times she carved away the floor where his feet were about to touch down, she couldn't make him fall, or even lose his balance and falter in his continuing advance.
Neo's eyes widened, and she seemed to give up on cutting away the floor in her wake, instead retreating an extra step. Before Ayumu could touch down on the sections that Neo hadn't cut yet, Neo returned her sword to its sheath inside the parasol, and thrust the whole thing at Ayumu. Ayumu brought his own blade up to block the thrust of the umbrella's bladed tip. However, at the instant of contact, the canopy snapped open again. This time, Neo's intention wasn't to blind him. Instead, the open canopy carried the force of her thrust behind it, releasing a gust of wind.
Normally, it would have amounted to little more than a mere breeze that would have barely stirred Ayumu's hair. But, this time, his momentum was not only halted, but reversed by the breeze. Ayumu's Semblance had lightened him to the point where he was able to use even small pieces of the floor as platforms to jump off of. Unfortunately, it had also lightened him to a point where even the relatively light gust released by the parasol's canopy was able to push him back.
Undaunted, Ayumu allowed himself to be pushed backwards, going into a backflip that brought his legs back around so that he could kick off the air behind him, and launch himself after Neo. But, in the time it had taken him to execute the maneuver, Neo had slipped back farther, then darted down what had been the remains of a hallway and sidestepped through the doorless entryway of a larger room, the door itself having rotted away over the years.
Ayumu touched down on the floor, able to return to his normal weight, now that Neo was no longer attempting to actively destroy his footing. He followed her through the doorway, barely a second behind her, his eyes only losing contact with her for a brief instant. Emerging into the room, he saw Neo reverse direction and come at him, her blades raised. Ayumu lifted his own blade to counter, but his slash suddenly drifted through the air towards the empty space to Neo's left.
Both the attacking Neo and the space Ayumu's sword struck at suddenly shattered, as though they were glass, revealing a wide-eyed Neo, who'd barely managed to parry Ayumu's attack with her own blade.
"Oh!" said Ayumu, his eyes widening in surprise. He paused, and Neo took the opportunity to jump back out of his immediate range. She was used to surprise in her opponents, but Ayumu's surprise was both pleased and amused, something she didn't like in the slightest.
Ayumu flipped his grip on his sword, bringing it around so that the blade's flat rested against his arm while he held the weapon with his fingers curled around the crossguard, the first two fingers of his hand extending down the length of the handle. "Sorry," he said with a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean no disrespect. I just didn't expect to run into someone with this sort of skill."
Neo tilted her head, blinking. When her eyes opened again, the prink and brown had switched sides.
"I see..." said Ayumu, his tone slightly pensive. "Could your Semblance be...refraction, perchance?"
Neo jolted back as though Ayumu's query had been a thrust of his sword, her reaction as definitive an answer as any spoken one might have been.
Ayumu laughed again. "I see," he said. It's a similar principle to Gin's technique. However, where Gin needs to manifest his Semblance into a medium to refract and distort light, this girl controls light itself. I thought something felt off. She's actually been using it subtly throughout our whole match.
Though Ayumu hadn't consciously realized it, Neo had been using her refraction throughout the whole match, slightly distorting both direction and distance. With his Shingan, Ayumu could track her effortlessly, even when his eyes were deceived. However, the slight difference had been enough to allow her to avoid meeting the edge of his weapon with her own blade and parasol, ensuring that Green Destiny couldn't cut through either part of her weapon. It was an elegant and well-developed skill.
My Shingan is still a far cry from perfect if she can alter my aim by even the slightest degree, noted Ayumu. I still have a long ways to go. In some ways, she's an even better opponent than Ciar.
Ciar had been quite dangerous in his own right, his swift, radial attack having probably felled many and adversary before they even realized it was coming. However, if one possessed the means to perceive and react to said attack, Ciar himself was actually quite vulnerable, when brought into melee range, which had proved his downfall.
Neo, on the other hand, was an opponent who relied on skill, both in her fighting technique and in her use of her Semblance, which could be both blatant and subtle. As such, she was actually proving a much better match for Ayumu than the supposedly more-dangerous Ciar ever had.
For the first time since their fight had begun, Neo betrayed a frown. She'd clearly never had her illusions pierced through so easily. What was more, in the lull in their fight, she could hear the sounds of combat outside the building rapidly receding. The sounds of gunfire and the shouts of soldiers were becoming more sporadic.
"Well, it seems our time is almost up," said Ayumu. "Shall we conclude, Ms. Neo?"
Not giving her any opportunity to respond, not that she seemed inclined or even able to (verbally, at least), he dashed forwards, almost seeming to glide across the floor at her, flipping his grip on his sword again, even as he whipped the weapon around in a slash aimed at Neo's neck.
Neo fell back, but Ayumu's blade seemed to cut through her face. Neo's image shattered like glass to reveal her real body as she brought her own sword around in a parry. Ayumu pressed the attack and their weapons once again became flashing blurs. However, this time, Neo's body seemed to shatter repeatedly, along with the space around it as Ayumu's sword pierced through her illusions again and again, his aim no longer even being diverted by her expert application of her Semblance.
"I'm sorry," Ayumu called out over the sound of ringing steel, "but you should have kept to using it more subtly. I won't be fooled so easily this time." Indeed, he was ignoring his eyes entirely, so much that he might as well have closed them, tracking Neo entirely through the gestalt of his other senses that made up the Shingan. It almost seemed as Green Destiny itself was homing in on Neo's location, always bending unerringly towards her true position, no matter where her body appeared to be.
Their fight pressed up to the corner of the large room, adjacent to the wall to the outside, with a window that overlooked what remained of the White Fang's base of operations in Mountain Glenn. Neo's eyes flashed in the quickest glances outside, what she saw caused her resolve to continue fighting to crumble completely.
As Ayumu closed in yet again, Neo's sword flashed downwards, cutting into the floor once more. Ayumu jumped back, lightening his body in preparation for Neo's anticipated attack on his footing. However, instead of the floor giving way beneath Ayumu, it gave way beneath Neo, dropping her back down into the darkness of the floor below. Ayumu hesitated, surprised by her sudden change in strategy.
Instead of trying to follow her directly through the hole she'd opened up in the floor, Ayumu instead used his Semblance to increase his weight, until the section of floor he'd been standing on, already weakened by Neo's attack, gave way, intending to try and catch her off-guard in the chance that she was waiting for him to follow her. Now his descent would be preceded by another rain of debris that might throw her off-guard enough for him to land a blow.
Ayumu landed amidst a shower of rubble, then froze, his senses finding no trace of Neo, save for a few tiny traces of her scent, which smelled faintly of strawberries. However, Ayumu's skills weren't enough that he could track her by scent alone. It appeared that she'd executed the move solely with the intent of escaping.
"Well now," said Ayumu, rising up after he determined that Neo was no longer present, "that's a bit unfortunate. Hopefully she won't try to interfere with Mr. Torchwick's capture. It's a shame. That was a lot more fun than I expected. I rather liked her."
Ayumu decided that he'd best head out and make sure she didn't do exactly that.
"A-a-a-a-a...d-d-d-d-dragon-faunus," stammered the lieutenant, stumbling backwards, pulling the still whining blade of his saw across the floor, its teeth scraping and grinding against the stone, which offered less resistance than the scales on Gin's arms.
"That's right," said Gin as Ruby rose up to stand behind him.
Ruby turned around and stood with her back to Gin, facing the mechs that were now advancing through the smoke of their failed missile barrage. They wouldn't open fire now, not with so many of their comrades in range of the resulting attack. But they could charge in to add their formidable strength to the melee.
However, those were relatively minor concerns, all told. Ruby found that her scythe was perfectly suited for cutting into the mechs. In its own way, her blade was as effective at cutting as Ayumu's was. If she swung it right, there was almost nothing that it couldn't cut through, if she had the mind to do it. However, the White Fang soldiers, the mechs, even the imposing figure of the lieutenant, were all so many distractions. While she and Gin were dealing with them, Roman Torchwick was making his getaway.
Glancing in Roman's direction, Ruby saw him hunched over, gasping for breath. Apparently, walking with his legs still not fully functional was taking a lot out of him. It would take time before he regained full use of his legs, a few more minutes at best, and time before he caught his breath enough to make a real effort at escape. She intended to make sure that it was time he didn't have.
"I see..." growled the lieutenant, not knowing about Ruby's thoughts, not that he would have cared had he known, "...then perhaps things are not so hopeless after all."
"Huh?" Gin lowered his arms, genuinely perplexed by the lieutenant's change in attitude and his train of thought.
"True...this operation is a failure, and the destruction we intended to unleash upon those human scum was denied...for a time," continued the lieutenant, drawing angry and frustrated growls from the other faunus behind him. "However, we are presented with a marvelous opportunity, a chance we won't get again."
"Say what now?" asked Gin, canting his head to one side.
"Failure can be made up for," said the lieutenant, talking more to himself than anyone else. "Brother Taurus will be angry for certain. But, if we can present him with a dragon-faunus, he will be happy to forgive us."
Ruby frowned, her body tensing.
"Present, huh..." said Gin. "and what makes you think that I'd be interested in joining the White Fang?"
"Your interests and wants do not matter," declared the lieutenant. "A beast like you has no rights, no agency. You shall exist to serve our cause. We shall take you and mold you into the ultimate weapon to turn against those filthy humans who dare to oppress us!"
Behind him, the White Fang soldiers raised a ragged cheer.
Ruby growled, her fingers clenching tightly around the handle of her weapon as it unfolded back into its scythe form. However, Gin seemed largely unconcerned, merely smirking at the lieutenant.
"Wow," he said with a small chuckle in his voice. "It's amazing you can still breathe, choking on your own hypocrisy like that."
The lieutenant growled and brandished his chainsaw once more, sweeping it dramatically through the air.
"You will serve us or you will die!" he declared.
"Hmm..." Gin pretended to mull the options over. "I pick Option Three...I beat the lot of you to a pulp and turn you over to the authorities. That sounds good to me."
"Me too," agreed Ruby, her smile returning.
"I will break you, brat!" roared the lieutenant, grasping the handle of his chainsaw in both hands and bringing the weapon down in a single, powerful stroke.
Gin merely raised his right hand and caught the saw's blade with his palm, stopping the lieutenant's swing cold.
"Let's make this quick," he said to Ruby.
"Right!" agreed Ruby with an eager nod, bending her knees, before kicking off the ground to send herself shooting out to confront the approaching mechs.
In the meantime, Gin remained where he was, still holding the lieutenant's saw by its blade, his manner almost casual, even though it was clear the looming, muscular man was bearing down with all his strength.
Then Gin closed his fingers around the blade and squeezed tight. The whining of the chain's teeth against his palm and fingers rose sharply in pitch, before snapping with a sharp, cracking sound as Gin's grip crushed the blade itself. The motor continued, pulling the chain in one end and spitting it back out the other so that the broken chain was sent whirling off into the darkness. Had his eyes been visible, there was no doubt that the lieutenant's would probably be as wide as dinner plates.
As it was, he was so flummoxed by this development that his body froze in place, almost like a statue. He made no effort to defend, or even react as Gin sank into a crouch in front of him, his hand descending and opening to discard the chunk of crushed metal that had been part of the saw's blade, which pinged as it struck the ground. Swirling, sinuous, silver Aura, decorated with scales, wound around Gin's arms as he drew his right arm back. Then, all at once, Gin shot forward, driving the claws of his open hand at the lieutenant's chest.
The sudden attack prompted the bulky man to action and he frantically raised the engine section of his weapon in a feeble, last-ditch defense. But Gin's claws tore right through it, as though it were made of paper. His blow powered through and struck the lieutenant full on in the chest, the force of the blow blowing him back and sending him flying through the ranks of his troops, scattering them and taking at least three down with him as his back was slammed into the side of the train's second car, the one Roman had been using as his quarters, causing the whole thing to rock, then fall over completely, tilting onto its side with a crash.
"Get him!" shouted one of the other soldiers, and they turned on Gin. The ones with guns opened fire, while those with melee weapons closed in, swinging wildly.
Gin had to give these soldiers a little credit. Deluded fanatics to a man and woman they might have been, but they were at least good enough not to shoot their own as bullets flew past the heads of the advancing faunus. Of course, that discipline and skill were something Gin could turn to his advantage. He dropped all the way down to all-fours and advanced rapidly, charging to meet the incoming attackers head-on. In doing so, he forced the ones with guns to stop, so that they wouldn't hit their comrades.
That lack of pressure from the gunners was all that Gin needed. Their line of sight blocked by their own allies, they were caught completely off-guard as he plowed straight through the lines of the melee attackers, slamming a couple of sword-wielding faunus aside and rushing straight for the gunners. They quickly tried to compensate, wanting to start firing before Gin could reach them. However, Gin rose up, bringing their aim up in line with him...and making them realize that, if they missed, they would once again risk hitting their fellows.
Ironically, the very discipline they relied on to coordinate their attacks as a group now caused them to hesitate, their fingers pausing on triggers, as they weighed whether or not to shoot their single opponent and risk hitting their own. That gave Gin all the time he needed to close the distance.
He threw himself headlong into their ranks, slashing with his claws, movements that seemed wild and uncoordinated. However, their seemingly random nature masked how smoothly and efficiently each blow flowed into the next, Gin weaving amongst his opponents with moves that were downright serpentine. His Aura shimmered, taking on the shape of an elongated, silver, scaled body, that weaved and undulated in his wake, its movements following those of Gin's arms as he struck with the force to send full-grown faunus flying through the air, dropping opponents with a single slash of his claws each.
Those soldiers armed with swords, axes, and spears, quickly moved to join the fray. However, their efforts yielded no better results. Gin's blows snapped the blades of swords. Axes cracked, then broke as they crashed against the scales on his forearms. Spears were caught and their shafts snapped like twigs. Even those strikes that seemed to land, instead threw up sprays of mist and caused Gin's form to ripple and distort before their eyes, like a reflection on the surface of a lake disturbed by a thrown stone. Gin's movements became nigh impossible to read and his opponents were left completely helpless as he brought them down, one after another.
In just a minute or so, Gin stood alone, amidst the scattered bodies of groaning and unconscious soldiers.
In the meantime, Ruby had dashed straight for the remaining mechs, which opened fire as she closed in. She weaved between their shots effortlessly, slipping into range with her scythe and unleashing a flurry of slashes from the rapidly-spinning weapon. Ruby emerged from the other side of their ranks. Four of the mechs turned to follow her, trying to track her with their weapons. Three others tried to do the same, but toppled over as severed legs gave way, while arms collapsed to the ground.
One of the remaining mechs stomped forward with surprising speed, punching downwards with its fist. Ruby jumped up, over the path of the punch, and landed on the outstretched arm. Before the mech's pilot could react or counter, she had dashed up the length of the arm, slashing upwards with her scythe and targeting the chassis. The blade extended and sliced clean through the machine's torso, which split and slid off at an angle, exposing the shocked pilot, who could only sit and stare at what happened to his mech.
The three remaining ones sighted their guns on her, apparently driven to the extent that they no longer cared about their disabled comrade. Ruby jumped out of the way as more shots exploded against what remained of the mech she'd just disabled. She went into a series of rapid, flying somersaults, flipping end over end, her scythe blade following her movement, making her seem like a whirling saw-blade as she activated her Semblance through her weapon to increase the speed of her spin. Her flight carried her right into the middle of one of the remaining mechs, splitting it in two, just like the one she'd attacked from above earlier.
Ruby flew through the falling halves of the machine, just barely missing slamming into the exposed pilot as he dropped out through the widening gap. Emerging on the other side of the mech formation, Ruby turned about as the remaining two machines tried to bring their weapons to bear on her once again. However, Ruby relaxed and smiled, lowering her weapon, and not even appearing to care about her defense as she watched the two massive mechs train their guns on her once again.
Gin flew through the air, approaching the mech on the left, a silver Aura in the form of a sinuous, undulating dragon's body weaving through the air behind him, while his right hand was sheathed in the form of a dragon's head, its maw opening wide, teeth bared. The teeth, and Gin's hand, closed with crushing force on the mech's body. Metal shrieked as it was torn and ripped, Gin's attack carrying him right through the middle of the machine, shredding its chassis with his passage.
Gin continued on, kicking off the tattered remains of the mech he'd just ripped apart, and leaping for the last mech standing. Even as he moved, his Aura wound back around his body, crawling up and along his left arm, the dragon-head reforming. The last mech turned, backpedaling as the pilot tried to keep Gin from reaching him and counterattack at the same time. However, he hadn't done nearly enough. The machine lashed out with a first to meet Gin's attack, but the dragon's fangs and Gin's claws closed on the fist, and he ripped his way up along the mech's arm, looking like a torrential river as much as a dragon, tearing the limb away completely and ripping out a large chunk of the mech's shoulder in the process.
The machine staggered, thrown off-balance to the point of being on the verge of toppling over from the sheer force of Gin's blow. Then Ruby appeared in a flash and cut its legs out from under it. The mech toppled to the ground, not rising again.
"Thank you," said Ruby with a smile as Gin came back to her.
"No problem," said Gin. "I know you had them handled, but I figured the faster the better, right?"
"Right," agreed Ruby with a nod of her head.
Now the two of them turned their heads in unison to look after their main target. Roman Torchwick had apparently regained some more function in his legs in the past few minutes, making a staggering, stumbling run for the subterranean buildings that rose up around the ruined encampment, their already crumbling facades beginning to collapse after the shockwaves of the explosion.
Evidently, Roman had noticed the lull in the battle as well. Turning to look over his shoulder, he let out a startled yelp to see the two perpetrators of the attack on his operation staring at him, with no one left to protect him from their wrath. He turned to continue running, but nearly fell over when he saw a flicker of red out of the corner of his eye and checked again to see Ruby already closing in, petals streaming out behind her as her scythe reached out for him.
Desperately, Roman raised his cane, this time taking the time to line up a shot before firing. The effort was pointless all the same. Ruby swept her weapon downwards in a slash that cleaved through both the screaming bolt of fire-Dust and the barrel/shaft of Roman's cane in the same move. Roman whimpered, seeing his cane split in two, lengthwise. Another slash and the handle was sliced clean off, the curved crook bouncing away while the split length of the barrel clattered to the ground in two pieces.
Not trusting Roman to be completely helpless, even without his weapon, Ruby continued her attack, her weapon becoming a blur around her as she hacked away what remained of Roman's Aura, her weapon's blade biting into his body and making his limbs cease to function. Roman's clothes were torn and his hat shredded into tatters. He collapsed to the ground with a pained groan, and was barely able to even twitch as Ruby stood over him, panting in a combination of excitement and fatigue.
"All done?" asked Gin, coming up behind Ruby.
Ruby nodded slowly. "Yeah," she said, planting the butt-end of her scythe so that she could use it to support herself. Above her, the blade of light retracted in, along with the wing and the head folded down.
The lightest tap of feet against the ground caused them to turn, neither really surprised to see Ayumu approaching at an easy walk. "I see you two have finished up here," he observed.
"Yep," said Ruby. "What about the girl...Neo, right?"
Ayumu nodded. "Unfortunately, she proved to be quite elusive. While I believe I had the advantage, she was still able to escape me."
"That's a surprise," said Gin, his eyes widening.
"Her Semblance actually gives her an ability similar to your Suigetsu," explained Ayumu. "She is very adept with it, and I believe that Master Yu would say that she is quite good at 'thinking small' with it."
"Pretty high praise," mused Gin, turning his gaze down to the moaning Roman. "Makes it odd that this guy would just abandon her like that. She's a little too valuable to be thrown away just to cover his getaway."
"That is pretty low," said Ruby, a slight growl in her voice.
"Not at all," said Ayumu, startling both of them. "In fact, from what I can tell, I believe the two of them are exceptionally close, and, more importantly, have a strong bond of trust that I suspect they do not share with anyone else. They must have worked closely together for many years."
"Even though Roman abandoned her?" asked Ruby, surprised by the idea.
"I don't believe either of them saw it as abandonment," said Ayumu, holding up one finger. "First, Ms. Neo is a considerably stronger and more skilled fighter than Mr. Torchwick." He held up a second finger. "Second, they are both fully aware of this fact and make full use of it. When Mr. Torchwick ran and left her behind, Ms. Neo did not show any indications that she felt betrayed by his actions and, if anything seemed to expect or even want Mr. Torchwick to do that." He held up a third finger. "Thirdly, they appear to have employed this strategy effectively numerous times in the past. Once she decided to no longer fight, Ms. Neo was very effective in escaping me. The only difference was that she was unable to hold off anyone but myself and the White Fang were not suitable as a distraction to allow Mr. Torchwick to escape the two of you. That appears to be the only miscalculation on her part here."
Ruby pressed her lips together, surveying the cavern around them. "She could be hiding anywhere, waiting to take Torchwick back."
"Perhaps," agreed Ayumu. "However, that commotion, particularly the explosion we set off has undoubtedly alerted your friends from Beacon and they are probably on their way here, even as we speak."
Ruby nodded nervously.
"In his condition, it would not be easy for Ms. Neo to move Mr. Torchwick, though I suspect she's up to the task. It would make things especially difficult, out here in Mountain Glenn, with Grimm no doubt willing to set upon them, especially if she's hindered by having to carry Mr. Torchwick at the same time.
"Instead of trying to rescue him here, I suspect she will fall back and allow him to be taken into custody. Mr. Torchwick will be taken back to Vale and imprisoned. However, there, a person of her skillset would probably have a much better chance of extracting him safely."
"Okay..." said Ruby, still not certain of that.
Gin's head tilted and he frowned. "Well, if we're gonna take the chance and leave him for the authorities, we need to decide soon. They're coming now."
Ruby frowned and closed her eyes, relaxing her mind and allowing her senses to extend out. Doing so allowed her to hear the murmur of voices and the sound of several different sets of feet making their way across the stone floor of the cavern towards their position. The voices were familiar, making Ruby's heart thud alarmingly in her chest.
"Let's go," she said. "We'll keep watch and make sure that they catch Torchwick, then head for Vale."
"All right then," said Gin, while Ayumu nodded amiably.
Then Ruby froze, her eyes going to the downed mechs. "Wait! Those things probably have data recorders. We need to find them and break them before the others get here." If those recorders had any video feed, Ruby didn't want her old team and JNPR finding out she was still about.
"Well, we'd better get to it quickly," said Ayumu.
"Yeah, they're almost here," agreed Gin.
Fortunately, it wasn't too hard. Ruby's fascination with weapons of all shapes and sizes extended to advanced pieces of technology, such as these machines, which allowed her to intuit the location of the data recorders on the basis of where they would be most secure from conventional forms of damage. By chance, she and Gin had already wrecked several of the data recorders over the course of their fight already and destroying the remainder proved to be a quick task. They were able to leave just barely ahead of the others' arrival.
They retreated into the shelter of the crumbling buildings, finding a vantage point that hadn't been too weakened by the explosion. From there, they watched as the eight students and Dr. Oobleck entered the destroyed encampment. They observed as the students began to look for the White Fang soldiers and go about the laborious process of restraining them, Pyrrha making good use of her Semblance to bend the metal scattered around into effective restraints.
Ruby tensed, watching as Weiss approach Roman, who'd begun to regain some of his ability to move, and was now trying to crawl away. They spoke, and Ruby knew that Roman would reveal that she was involved in some way. Weiss' already fair complexion paled considerably, and she reacted in horror and shock. As some of the others approached her, Weiss quickly clocked Roman in the side of the head with Myrtenaster to knock him out and silence him.
Ruby experienced a thrill of fear as she realized how close her plan had come to being undone. Had it been anyone other than Weiss or Pyrrha who'd found Roman, her plans could have very well gone awry. It was an oversight that made her tremble, though she relaxed when Gin's hand found her own.
Still, the threat was past for now. Weiss had obviously decided that Roman couldn't be allowed to talk, which worked for Ruby even more than it worked for her.
"Let's go," said Ruby softly.
Gin and Ayumu nodded and the three of them fell back to withdraw.
Waiting for an opportune moment, they slipped down the tunnel entrance while everyone was distracted securing the prisoners. There had been one encounter, while they'd been taking their leave. However, it had worked out well enough in the end. Once they were in the tunnel, they moved along its length, following it towards Vale, the most direct route they could ask for.
As they left, they noticed that the ominous feeling they'd gotten upon entering Mountain Glenn had not faded, even after they had dealt with the immediate threat. Ruby got the distinct sense that this was not the last time she would have to deal with the place and its secrets.
It was direct, but not exactly as quick as Ruby would have liked. No doubt the train would have made good time in the tunnel. But, at a fast walk, it took them nearly all of the rest of the day to reach the other end of the tunnel. From there, they had to be careful, discretely opening, then working to seal back up, the entrance so that they wouldn't leave a hole in Vale's defenses.
Once they were in Vale proper, Ruby pulled out her scroll and placed a call to the contact that Qrow had given her, grateful for his earlier suggestion.
The person on the other end of the line answered promptly. "Hello...who is this, and how did you get this number?" inquired a familiar voice that made Ruby want to sigh in relief at hearing it again.
"Professor Ozpin," said Ruby, a little shyly, "this is Ruby Rose. Uncle Qrow gave me this number."
"Ah, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin, his voice betraying only the slightest amount of surprise. "Your uncle called me not a day ago and told me to expect you. I'm grateful to hear from you again and even more grateful to confirm that you are indeed alive."
"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, her voice emerging in a sigh.
"It appears that we have a great deal to talk about, Ms. Rose, especially considering what Qrow has told and shown me."
Ruby nodded, despite knowing that, without a video-link there was no way Ozpin could see it. "Yeah, we do."
"Give me a minute to get a fix on your location and I shall send a bullhead to bring you to me directly," said Ozpin. "Whatever else happens, it's good to have you back, Ms. Rose."
"It's good to be back," said Ruby, letting out another sigh. Her long journey back to Beacon was finally over.
And thus, the flashback arc reaches its end. Writing Ayumu's fight with Neo was one of the trickier bits. When writing fights like that, it's easy to get caught up in the fighters using their weapons, but, using Neo's fight with Yang in Volume 2 as a basis, I tried to keep in mind that both participants should be plenty adept at using the rest of their bodies to fight, as well as taking into account terrain, and, as always, keep in mind that the fight is taking place in three-dimensions.
Also, while Ruby is relating the summary of this to her friends, this arc is obviously depicting things that wouldn't make it into her retelling, like the details of Gin's experience, as well as other facts that might be...omitted, for one reason or another.
