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Chapter Hunhh: Alt-takes and more
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This chapter is an interim chapter of weird ideas and other story elements and possible cross-overs I've been thinking of writing. Still RWBY and still weird. Lemme know in the reviews/comments if I should turn any one of these into a stand-alone. Waiting for Vol. 7 to end before I corrupt the story some more. I haven't forgotten about you lot. Borderlands 3 came out and I've been playing the Witcher.
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Alternate Take: Beacon Tower
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High above in the Beacon Tower, Cinder Fall looked at the Wyvern she commanded. She was interrupted by a spear and a shield flying towards her, followed by the Spartan, who had grabbed a few fistfuls of Maiden Power. Pyrrha launched towards the wacky mid-life crisis girl.
"...Really?", Cinder noted.
"Time for you do pay for what you've done!", Pyrrha said as she kicked off the wall towards Cinder. She pulled her weapons back and attacked again, hitting Cinder with a grazing shot and cutting her opponent's arm.
"Well, then. Let's begin..." Cinder said calmly.
Pyrrha attacked first, using the small amount of Maiden magic to hold Cinder at bay. She launched her shield, hitting Cinder in the face a few times, marring the woman's beauty. Cinder raged. Glass fragments launched towards Pyrrha, deflected by the nanofibre mail. Pyrrha floated upwards, kicking off the ceiling to land behind Cinder. She pulled her sword and held it to the woman's throat.
"You'll never win, Cinder. It ends tonight!", Pyrrha called into Cinder's ear.
Cinder heated the blade of the sword before sundering it.
"And you won't either. Maiden versus Maiden and I've got more experience than you'll ever know...", Cinder called.
Pyrrha looked shocked. Her weapon was gone. She really didn't know how much Maiden power she had gotten or how to use it. She used her Semblance on the metal in the room, pulling clockwork gears off the walls and into Cinder. She attempted to crush the strange woman with the weight. It didn't work.
Cinder fought back, she tossed the imprisoning gears like they were nothing. Pyrrha stood back as the gears flew past her. A fragment of one of the gears slammed into her, knocking her to the ground with her shield just out of reach. Pyrrha looked at Cinder in realization. Destiny.
Using her Semblance, Pyrrha called her shield to her. She threw it out with the last of her Semblance and Aura towards Cinder Fall. The momentum would hopefully decapitate the older woman. In the same instance, Cinder conjured a glass arrow and fired it. Pyrrha's shield shattered the arrow on impact, but the arrow reformed again with Cinder's Semblance and continued its trajectory. It hit Pyrrha in the ankle, bringing her to the ground as her shield flew off into the distance.
Pyrrha gasped as the arrow struck her ankle. She pulled the arrow out and attempted to stand again. Without her Aura, she fell back down again, this time facing her attacker.
"Awh. So determined. How does it feel to have a power you were never meant to have? Does it feel good to be a Maiden? Or at least part of a Maiden? Or don't you feel anything at all, because you have nothing? You are nothing! You're just a waste of good looks and flesh!", Cinder mocked.
Pyrrha just tried to scoot herself away from Cinder. Her destiny was coming. She realized that she could never escape it. She thought of Jaune and what he'd said. Of what their lives would be if this had never happened. She thought of herself, old and gray, surrounded by grandchildren recounting her stories, an elderly Jaune by her side embellishing every moment. A future she would never have. Tears crept from the corners of her eyes.
"Do you believe in destiny?", Cinder asked as she pulled back another arrow, this time aimed at Pyrrha's chest.
"Yes.", Pyrrha responded.
The arrow fired. Time seemed to slow as it sped towards the red-haired warrior. She closed her eyes as she realized what her fate was. The arrow hit, burying itself into her chest. A fire crept through her body as the light began to fade from the world.
Cinder fall simply mocked the spartan. Pyrrha couldn't hear what the raven-haired lunatic was saying. She could only feel fire as it burned. The feeling suddenly spread to her limbs and she felt the fire creep up into her face.
"I don't want to go...", Pyrrha thought.
Ruby and Jaune crested the apex of Beacon tower. The duo saw their best friend in agony, an arrow piercing her chest and a raven-haired lunatic standing over her gloating. A bright light quickly washed over everyone as Pyrrha's form was engulfed in a bright light.
Cinder Fall reeled backwards. She was gloating as usual. She held up the dying spartan's head and mocked her. A fierce determination soon washed over the dying girl's face as light exploded forth.
"Aaaauuugh!", Pyrrha screamed. The glow was coming from her own body as it was engulfed by golden light. The top of the tower shook and began to collapse. The feeling of fire and burning intensified for a moment before it faded away completely. Pyrrha wasn't sure what had just happened, she stood up in confusion; she didn't feel quite right. What had just happened? Where was she? Who was she? She looked at herself for a moment.
"Ooh! Oh! Legs! I've got legs!", She exclaimed as she felt for her own legs.
"And hands! Lots of fingers!", She noted flexing her hands.
"Hair! Brilliant hair! Still ginger...", She noted again.
"Am I still a girl? Yep, still a girl.", She said as she felt her own chest.
Pyrrha stumbled around in confusion for a moment, taking in her surroundings. The top of Beacon Tower was collapsing. A prone and unconscious Cinder Fall was a few meters away. A large and fearsome Grimm was frozen in stone. Another shockwave shook the tower.
"I'm forgetting something... Oh! Right. I was fighting... And now... I'm... Falling? I'm falling!", Pyrrha exclaimed as the floor beneath her feet gave way and sent her tumbling from the top of Beacon Tower.
"Geronimooooo!", Pyrrha exclaimed, taking in the exhilaration as she spread her arms and drifted towards the ground below. She didn't even notice the newfound powers of the Fall Maiden taking hold and allowing her safe flight from the crumbling structure.
Landing on the ground below, Pyrrha spied her own reflection in a puddle. She was still red-haired and slender. Her hair was a lot shorter now, though. Her face was more angular and androgynous. She still had green eyes, although one of them was now blue for some reason. She sighed and picked herself up. She had to figure out what had just happened. She had a strange urge for fish-fingers and custard for some reason. She shrugged and headed off into the ruins of Beacon Academy. There was someone she needed to find. A blond-haired bastard, she recalled being named Jack. Jack Handsome? Or something like that...
End. Doctor Pyrrha alt-universe. Next!
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The Grimmer
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Pyrrha Nikos walked the lands. It had been centuries since she'd been taken from her home in Argus. She was young once, a bright lass with a future of untold greatness. But when her father had been saved by a strange man one day, he'd requested their firstborn as payment. Thus she found herself in a whole new world of greatness. She didn't want to be held upon a pedestal, what she did was purely business. The next bag of lien and then on to the next task at hand. She was a professional, a hunter, a killer, a mercenary. It was only by fate perhaps, that she found herself walking through the ruins of Kuroyuri.
She'd taken a contract as usual. A terrible beast stalked the wreckage of humanity. She had heard some reports that a brave bunch of teenagers also took the same contract. A poor choice; they were probably dead already. Their leader's father had told her of their struggles, they had been of Beacon Academy's finest, having lost their friend Penny in the attack on Beacon Tower. Two teams of Hunters, RWBY and JNPR, now made up of their only living members. Sir Taiyang was somber, having lost his eldest daughter to the monsters of the world. Pyrrha vowed to find his lost daughter and kill the Grimm, thus was the way of the Grimmer. It was also a fair amount of Lien, she'd haggled the price with him until he finally broke.
Pyrrha thought of the other lost team members. An heiress? What was she supposed to do in this world? Pay the monsters away? A hybrid cat-girl? An android? She sighed and continued walking. She drank a potion of Thunderbolt and applied Grimm oil to her weapons. Sword, Spear, rifle and shield. A Mithril spear for Grimm that could transform into a sword, and a heavy shield. Her rifle fired hollowpoint .950 caliber bullets for maximum penetration against any human targets she encountered; more than enough to down even the strongest Aura in one shot.
Pyrrha flipped through her monster manual. From everything she could piece together, she was facing a Nuckalavee, a dangerous Grimm and a very rare one. It wasn't the first one she'd encountered and probably wouldn't be the last either.
The sounds of gunfire and screams drew her attention. A fight in the ruined town square. Pyrrha ran towards the sounds and beheld the evil Grimm itself. A team of four tried to hold it off. They stood no chance against it. She let off a warning shot. The group of teens immediately looked towards her.
The Grimm took the advantage of distraction and threw one of the teens to the ground, an orange-haired girl. Pyrrha threw out her spear in retaliation, drawing it back with the Semblance.
"Get back!", Pyrrha yelled as she threw a bomb of Samum at the Grimm, the blast stunning the Grimm and causing it to reel back.
Pyrrha grabbed her transformed sword and drove it into the heart of the creature as it lay stunned. She pulled back and transformed her sword into a rifle and loaded Mithril cartridges and began to unload into the creature. The Grimm was stunned and collapsed for a moment, taking the iniative, Pyrrha downed a Decoction of the Vampire, her face turning white and black veins spreading across her face.
Pyrrha continued to pepper the beast. The Nuckalavee hissed and roared as it took on the fire. Pyrrha circled it and drew its attention. The beast lunged at her as she dodged and brought her sword down upon its neck. The Grimm spasmed for a few seconds before it dispersed, like all other Grimm, into dense smoke. She sheathed her weapons before turning to the kids.
"That wasn't smart. You should leave the monster-hunting to the professionals.", Pyrrha noted.
"Wha... How? What the fuuu...", the one boy stammered. He had dark hair with a pink stripe in it.
"Who are you!?", a smaller girl asked, she was dressed like a perky goth.
"I'm a Grimmer. A professional.", Pyrrha noted.
"A professional what!? What do you do!?", a blond-haired boy asked, out of breath.
"I kill monsters...", Pyrrha said.
"What? You're a Grimmer? I thought they were all dead... What's your name?", the orange-haired girl stuttered.
"I'm Pyrrha of Argus. School of the Werehound. A Grimmer. A professional.", Pyrrha stated.
"Oh wow. Really?", the raven-haired boy said.
"Yes. Now you should all go home. The danger is gone.", Pyrrha noted.
"Maybe you should come with us! We have a mission! The whole world might be in danger!", the perky goth cheered.
Pyrrha stopped for a moment. This was another one of those situations, one contract leads to another and then... Then there's a greater prize at the end. Maybe better armor? Maybe more loot she could sell? Taiyang had promised a paltry sum. Even if the kids died, she'd still get paid. She had been hired to find the missing teenagers and kill a Grimm. They didn't need to be alive and the Grimm was now dead... So... Double payment and possibly more.
"What's this mission?", Pyrrha asked.
"We need to find something. It's important. It might mean the end of the world if we don't!", the perky goth exclaimed.
"I need more information. Who are you?", Pyrrha asked.
"I'm Ruby Rose. A huntress in training...", the perky goth said.
"I'm Lie Ren, son of Li Ren.", the raven-haired boy said.
"I'm Noraaaa!", the orange-haired girl noted.
"And I'm Jaune Arc, perhaps you've heard of me?", the blond-haired boy noted.
"No. I don't know any of you except Arc. You're the boy who forged his transcripts. A farce.", Pyrrha concluded. Jaune sulked.
"You'll help us right? You can't just leave us to die!", Ruby noted.
"I can't. This contract has turned into so much more...", Pyrrha mused.
It had. The contract was more than she'd agreed to. But in the end, it was probably worth it. She'd promised to defend the world from Grimm. She knew in the end, she would prevail. It was only from her own master's defiance that there were any Grimm to begin with. The first of their kind, the Grimmers. Salem herself, an ancient Grimmer and her own mentor vowed to prevent another conjunction of the spheres and the destruction of all of the monsters she inadvertently let into the world. Salem had wanted her beloved back, but made a mistake. Ozma was beyond reach, the world of the dead was untouchable. And in his stead, monsters invaded. Pyrrha had promised Salem to right what was wrong and bring the world back to what it once was. A mission and this little group could possibly be her means to achieve that. She sighed and followed the group out of Kuroyuri.
End. Possibly more to come.