A/N (Please Read): Hey everyone, how're you all doin'? It's time once again for a new chapter and… I won't lie to you guys, things are going to be getting pretty heavy for this one. Be prepared for a lot of family drama. Also, I'm going to be testing something out here as well, and I think you'll know what it is when you see it. With that said, I think we should get on with the show, don't you? This is…
Chapter 81: Bound for Home
…..
Throughout his life, Ben had been no stranger when it came to pain. Whether it was fighting aliens, confronting grade-school bullies, or just getting hurt accidentally, it came in all forms. However, when it came to combating alien threats, he very rarely felt the after effects of a fight, mostly since the Omnitrix made sure to dull the pain whenever he transformed back into human. There had been an error in it after it reset the first time where all the damage he received in a fight would still be there when he became human again, but Azmuth fixed that with the latest model Omnitrix. It still wasn't completely perfect, but it WAS better.
In this case though, in his fight with Sienna, Ben couldn't use the Omnitrix. Meaning that, for the first time in a long while, his body was going to hurt and it wouldn't go away instantly. Now, he wasn't going to throw a big fit about it, he wasn't a crybaby after all. But at the same time… "GAH! Jeez, I forgot what getting hurt like this feels like."
"I'm sure." Gwen said as she applied more rubbing alcohol to his back. "Now stay still. This might sting, but it'll help prevent infection. Then you'll be getting the bandage treatment."
"Alright." Ben let out a sigh as he rested his chin against his hand. "Man, I am NEVER getting into another fight with Sienna again."
Yang, who was sitting next to him, lightly bumped her shoulder against his. "Wise decision, Green Boy." She sent him a little wink. "But hey, she was right, you DID do pretty good out there."
At that moment, Coco came up and gave Ben a hearty smack on the shoulder, making him wince in pain. "Hell yeah, he did!" the fashionable girl exclaimed. "That was pretty impressive for someone with no Semblance or aura, Benji. You got guts taking that tigress on."
"She's right." Cooper supported as he too came over and gave Ben a handshake. "You put in a good day's work, Ben."
Ben rubbed the back of his neck and let out a chuckle. "Haha, thanks guys. But now… I think we should get onto the big thing."
Across from the three of them, the whole team was waiting patiently for said "big thing", with all of them focused on one person in particular; Raven. The Spring Maiden was standing off to the side, decidedly choosing to keep her distance from the group for the time being. However, as everyone's eyes trained onto her, she let out a sigh and stepped forward. "Yes, I suppose it IS time to address the elephant in the room…" Raven's eyes trailed over to Trumbipulor in his new stasis pod. "…I now thoroughly hate myself for saying that."
"This is NOT the time for jokes, Branwen!" Winter exclaimed. "Not only did you hide the fact that you knew where the Maiden powers were, but also that you WERE the Maiden. This is a serious offence. Not just because you lied, but because of the implications of what you did!"
The elder Schnee's statement served to confuse many of the teens in the room, though it was Doctor Holiday who brought up the question; "What do you mean by that, Winter?"
"Yeah, I mean, how hard is it getting the Maiden powers?" Neptune asked further. "Is there some kinda trial that you have to go through?"
Pyrrha stepped up and gave the blue-haired boy an answer. "Well… sort of. Professor Goodwitch told me that the future Maidens are chosen when a current Maiden is about to pass on, but in addition, the successor has to be in the Maiden's final thoughts in order for the powers to pass on to them. If they aren't… then the powers go to someone random."
At her friend's words, Blake's eyes trailed to Raven in skepticism. "So either Raven WAS that random person, or…"
"I can assure you that it's your second assumption, Blake." Raven interrupted, her head craning down a bit. "I DID know the previous Spring Maiden. She was a young girl who had wanted to run away from her responsibilities. So… I took her into my tribe."
Everyone was now focused directly onto Raven, with Yang in particular giving her mother a suspicious look. "Well then, she must've trusted you a lot if you were in her final thoughts, right? Cared about you a lot?" She got a raised brow from her mother, to which Yang retorted with; "Hey, I'm just starting to ask more questions like you said."
Raven let out a sigh at that. "Yes, I suppose I DID say that."
Pyrrha stepped up and continued from where Yang left off. "Well then, let ME ask a few." She narrowed her eyes at Raven. "What happened to the last Spring Maiden? Did she die in battle? Was it sickness?"
Raven's face softened slightly as the memories began playing back in her head; ones of a young girl's life beginning to fade away as she stared up at her with a horrified expression. The tribe leader closed her eyes and said; "I suppose you WOULD ask these questions, Nikos. Out of everyone here, you ARE the second closest linked to the Maidens."
Pyrrha's gaze narrowed further while Yang's became aghast. "I can already see the answer." the Blonde Brawler's voice cracked slightly as the realization hit her. "It's written all over your face."
Gwen stood up as well, sending a rather stern face of her own at Raven. "Yes, and the fluctuations I'm feeling in her aura are quite telling too."
"Raven… how could you?" Ben asked. "You killed someone who trusted you!"
In response, Raven crossed her arms and craned her head away from them. "She was scared when we found her. And in the Branwen Tribe, being scared is seen as a weakness." She moved her eyes back up to face Ben and her daughter. "I tried to train her, but she never learned. She didn't want to learn. Even after I told her about Salem, she didn't care."
At that moment, surprising pretty much everyone, Jaune entered the conversation. "But that's no reason to just KILL her!" He retorted. "If she didn't want to be the Spring Maiden, then there must've been SOME way that the powers could've been transferred to someone else!" The knight turned his attention to his girlfriend. "Pyrrha, wasn't that what those pod things in Beacon's vault were going to be used for? Transferring Maiden powers directly without harm?"
"Well, yes, but even Ozpin said that there would be a chance that it would backfire in some way." Pyrrha admitted. "A Maiden's power is tied to her aura, and it's the aura that's being transferred in those pods. Not the powers themselves."
Winter gave her a nod. "Exactly right. If a Maiden's aura is put in with another's during the power transference, there's still no telling what exactly might happen."
As the conversation went on, Rex raised an eyebrow at all of this. "So… what you're saying is that there's a chance that the previous Maiden's life force would share the new one's body if you used technology to transfer the powers?"
"Either that… or one of the two life forces would snuff the other out." Penny furthered. "Two auras inhabiting one body just isn't natural.
Weiss winced at the prospect. "That… isn't good."
"You're tellin' me!" Nora exclaimed. "I couldn't imagine someone else walking around with MY body."
"And now you see the conundrum." Raven pointed out. "The girl wanted to escape her fate, but there was no easy way for her to do so. In the end, she wanted to go back to being the person she was before… and I felt sympathy for her."
Yang narrowed her eyes further at her mother. "So sympathetic that you decided to take her life?"
Raven grew wide eyed and her teeth grit slightly in frustration. "Don't presume to much, Yang! The choice I made was FAR from easy!" She held up to hands to show her options. "I could either do nothing and let the poor girl be subjected to the worst tortures that Salem could ever put upon someone, or… I could show her mercy and take her burden off of her."
"Mercy?!" Ben shouted. "Are we SERIOUSLY going with that excuse? Because I've heard it way too many times to count."
"It's not that simple." Raven shot back. "You don't know how hard of a decision that was for me to make!"
Yang balled her hands into fists at her mother's words. "…You're right. We don't know. But you know what I do know? I know about the mother that I've been able to talk with for the past few days. And… I was really growing to like her." As she continued, Yang could see a mixture of emotions flash across Raven's face, almost as if the woman had no idea to react. "The Raven Branwen that I've been able to get to know seemed to be a pretty cool person, despite all of her faults… was she a lie too?"
Raven's eyes widened, another pang of sadness resounding through her being. But at the same time, she also felt a bit of resentment as well. She closed her eyes to try and keep her composure before going back to her daughter, her emotions becoming so pent up that her Maiden powers inadvertently activated, making everyone back away. "I've stared death in the face so many times over the years! And each time that I have, I've SPAT in that face and survived because I am strong enough to do what others won't!" Her anger was beginning to devolve into anguish with every word, her voice cracking as it did.
"Oh, shut up!" Yang yelled back. At this point, it was becoming clear to the team that this was now a mother and daughter squabble. Wisely, the they had backed away even more, just in case things came to blows. "You don't know the first thing about strength! The moment you saw Salem, you froze! And what did you do when you came out of it? You just pointed your sword at her and told her to put Ben down!" Yang's fists were shaking, but she still managed to point directly at her mother. "Even though you have all of that power, you're not as strong as you think you are."
It was then that Raven's anger began to return, her own hands shaking in frustration as her Maiden powers flared up again. "Who do you think you are lecturing me?!" She stepped forward with her eyes glaring at her daughter. "You're shaking like a scared little girl, and you're telling ME about what real strength is?!"
Yang pursed her lips at that. "Yeah, I'm scared. In fact, all of us are." The blonde spread her arms out, gesturing to everybody around her. Raven saw that the entire team was staying far away from their fight, their gazes all trained on them. "But guess what? I'm still standing here! We're all still standing here!" Yang's voice continued to break as her emotions continued to stir, but she kept going nonetheless. This HAD to be said. "And whether you like to admit it or not, mom, you're scared like the rest of us are! You are afraid of SALEM!" Yang's scream sent a wave of silence throughout the entire room, shocking everybody to their core, including Raven. The Blonde Brawler herself had tears in her eyes, screwing them shut before turning away from her mother. "…You should leave."
Those three words astonished everyone, most of all, Raven. "W-What?" The woman deactivated her Maiden powers as her daughter's statement knocked her back into her common sense, reaching her hand out to try and apologize. "Yang, I—"
"NO mom! I don't want to see you right now!" Yang rebuked. "I… need some time to think things over. And I think YOU do too."
Raven, her features now etched with remorse over what had just happened, lowered her head in shame. "I… I understand. If you don't want to see me, then that's fine." She was lying at that last part, at least in terms of her own personal feelings. After the past few days of talking to her, fighting alongside her and simply spending time with her, Raven had could begin to feel a true connection begin to form between her and her daughter. And now… all of this had happened. A few tears of Raven's own began forming in her eyes as she turned away, unsheathing Omen to slice open a portal off of the ship. "…I'm sorry." she quietly whispered.
Yang had managed to hear it though, and with her own tears still falling down her face, she whispered; "Yeah… me too."
As Yang began walking away, Raven was about to enter her portal, but she stopped to give a certain hero a small glance. "…Ben, I know this might not mean much to you coming from me, but if Yang needs anything—"
"I know." Ben replied with a solemn nod. Over the course of the argument, his sympathies had actually been divided between the two women. No, Raven was by no means innocent, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel bad that the bond that was just beginning to form was practically falling apart before his very eyes. "I'll make sure she has someone to talk to."
"Thank you." Raven nodded back. "And… farewell." With that, Raven stepped through her portal, leaving the ship and the teens behind.
Needless to say, everyone was pretty much rendered speechless at what happened. What had started out as a serious conversation about the murder of a young girl had devolved into a shouting contest between mother and daughter, and everyone had felt the after effects of it. The whole group was exchanging warry looks with each other, wondering just what to do in this situation. Ruby in particular was simply staring at where the Spring Maiden had disappeared, still reeling from the shock of the fight. While she knew what Raven had done was wrong, she too was also beginning to worry about how her sister had reacted. She decided to step over to Yang and reach a hand out to her. "Yang, are you…"
But Yang just raised a hand up, not even setting her eyes upon her sister. "I'm… fine, Rubes. I just… I need a little time to myself."
"O-Oh, okay." Ruby stammered. "If that's what you want."
Ben then came over and gave Yang a small smile, only to see her giving him a sad face. He was able to pick up the hint rather quickly. "…I, uh, I guess you don't want any company with you on this one, huh?"
Yang sighed and put a soft hand to his chest. "Sorry, Ben. I have a lot to think about right now and… I need some space."
The Omnitrix bearer grasped her hand gently and gave her a nod. "Alright, if that's what you want, then I'll respect it." His smile returned and he gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "But if you ever need somebody to bounce your thoughts off of, you know that I'm always available."
Yang smiled and nodded back to him. "Right. Thanks, Green Boy." The couple separated and Yang went off into a secluded corner of the cargo hold, all while thinking of what just occurred between her and her mother. '…I'm sorry mom, but this couldn't go unsaid.'
As the blonde went to sit off to the side for a while, the silence continued to purvey the room until a certain someone decided to clear their throughout. "Aherm." Kevin coughed into his hand, the Osmosian hoping to break the tension. "Well, I think I can say that we didn't expect all of that to happen."
"Ya think?" Rex countered. "Honestly, I thought that we were gonna be in the middle of a throw down in here."
Ilia shrunk back a bit, remembering how Raven's eyes glowed intensely as the woman grew more and more emotional. "Well, I know one thing; I NEVER want to be on the receiving end of Raven when she's angry."
Sun raised his hand up. "Same. But still, it's kinda sad, ya know?" He gestured over to where Yang had just walked off. "I mean… they were getting along pretty well before all of this."
Next to him, Blake lowered her head slightly. "Yeah… I just hope that things aren't too permanently damaged between them."
Winter crossed her arms in slight frustration, closing her eyes in thought. "Well, whether we like it or not, we have to remember the fact that Raven IS the Spring Maiden. And that means one thing… we'll need her help going forward if we wish to beat Salem." She shifted her eyes up to where Yang had disappeared as well, silently adding; "But… I hope that Yang can sort out her thoughts on all of this as well. I know what it's like to have a complicated relationship with one's own mother, and speaking from experience, it isn't a good feeling to have."
"Preach, sister." Weiss agreed before raising her arms up to her friends. "But hey, let's not just stand around here moping, huh? We've got a long flight ahead of us, so let's try and pass the time." With her announcement, everyone went off to do just that, with Weiss herself going over with Team JNPR, Rex and Neptune to do some more training.
Ruby, who had been staring after her sister since she left, had been pulled out of her thoughts by her partner's words. She was about to go over and join them when she suddenly felt a little poke on her shoulder. "Uh… Ruby?"
The Hooded Huntress whipped around and let out a yelp in surprise, slightly starling the person who wanted to get her attention. "Oh, Velvet! Sorry about that! I didn't see you coming."
Velvet raised a hand and gave her an apologetic expression. "Oh, no, no, I'm sorry for startling you!" She insisted as she bowed her head. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."
Ruby was about to say that she was fine… but a small part of her mind wouldn't let her. With a reluctant sigh, Ruby's shoulders slumped and she hugged her arms together. "Vel, I don't think I am if I'm being honest. I mean, I just watched my sister and her mother get into a fight over trust issues, and that's something I think happens WAY too much around here."
The bunny girl gave Ruby a shrug. "Hmm, I can certainly see that. Still, I never would have guessed that Yang's mother was the leader of the Branwen Tribe, let alone the Spring Maiden."
"Oh yeah!" Ruby realized. "You guys never DID meet Raven before today, did you?"
At that moment, Coco and Cooper came walking over to Velvet's side, the former answering the silver-eyed girl. "Nope, this is pretty much our first impressions of Mama Bird." Coco said whilst eyeing where Raven had once stood. "And… damn, what an introduction."
"I'll say." Cooper nodded. "I could practically feel the power emanating from her, and I'm NOT an energy being."
"Well then, try BEING an energy being around her." Gwen spoke up as she, Ben and Kevin all came over as well. "That power was something else alright. Not as powerful as Salem's, but still very sizable."
Kevin waved a hand up in the air to catch everyone's attention. "So what do we do now? Salem's got a Maiden on her side and we've got one on ours." He leaned up against a nearby cargo crate, crossing his arms as he did. "I know that makes us far from even considering Salem's power, but that HAS to give us some advantage, right?"
"Eh… I wouldn't say so." Ben shook his head. "As much as I hate to say it, Salem still outclasses us when it comes to power. If we wanna beat her, we'll need something that equals her power. And right now, there's only ONE alien in my arsenal that I think can take her on…" Ben reached down and pulled the Omnitrix up, activating the holo-ring before scrolling to the icon of the alien he was referring to. "…Alien X."
A slew of concerned expressions spread across Kevin, Gwen and Cooper's faces while Ruby, Coco and Velvet were more intrigued at the prospect of this alien. "Ooh, mysterious." Coco commented. "So what IS this "Alien X" capable of?"
"Alien X is an omnipotent alien with near-god-like powers." Gwen explained. "He can warp time, space, and reality itself to his will." The Anodite glanced back to the Omntrix with a furrowed brow. "The only catch is that he's got two other voices in his head that Ben has to deal with whenever he transforms, and Alien X can't do anything unless those three are able to agree on an action."
Overhearing the conversation, Blake's eyes widened when she remembered something. "Wait, I remember that!" She walked over to the group with Sun and Ilia joining in as well. "You explained that to Weiss and I when we went to Signal a week or so ago."
"Yes, I did… but considering that we've just got a taste of what Salem's capable of, I think it needs to be brought up again." Gwen faced her cousin, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Ben, listen, I know that we'll probably be in increasingly dire straits the more we fight against Salem, but we can't take the chance of Belicus and Serena not listening to you."
Ruby stepped over to the two and looked between them curiously. "Why? What happens if they don't listen?"
Ben put his focus onto her and let out a small sigh. "Well… if I transform into Alien X, there's a chance that I won't do anything. Or worse, I won't be able to transform back at all."
Everyone except for Gwen, Kevin and Cooper were all shocked at the prospect, with Sun going so far to say; "Woah, okay, NOT cool." He placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head. "Can those two SERIOUSLY not agree on anything?"
"Nope, I got stuck with the two most indecisive inner voices ever." Ben narrowed his eyes at the very thought of going back into Alien X's head. "Seriously, you have NO idea how annoying those two are."
Ilia put a hand to her head, the chameleon girl still taking in all of this information. "Jeez, what HAVE I gotten myself into with all of this?"
Blake gave her friend a smile and a light nudge to the arm. "Hey, that's our lives in a nutshell, Ilia." The cat girl followed up with a little wink. "Better get used to it."
Ilia's spots became pink again, slightly flustered at the small gesture. "E-Easy for you to say!" she stammered before whirling her head away. "You guys have had two weeks to "get used to it". I've only had two days!"
Across from her, Coco let out a small chuckle. "Hehe, trust me girl, it'll start feeling normal in no time." The fashionable girl lowered her sunglasses and gave Ilia a wink of her own. "By the way, I just realized we didn't properly introduce ourselves. Name's Coco, leader of Team CFVY."
Velvet's brows rose at the fact and she gave Ilia a small bow. "Oh, right! I'm Velvet, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Cooper gave Ilia a grin and a small salute. "And I'm Cooper. Pleased to meet ya."
Ilia smiled back at all of them and gave them a small nod back. "Yes, it's nice to meet you too. Blake told me a few things about you guys already." She quirked a brow in their direction. "Gotta say though, you guys sound like a rather… rowdy bunch."
"HA! You don't know the half of it!" Coco guffawed. "When we're on the scene, things get crazy." She pushed her sunglasses back up and raised a single brow. "So, what's your deal, Freckles? How long have ya known Kit Kat for?"
The pink on Ilia's spots persisted at yet another nickname given to her. "Er, well, I've known her for a little over five years at this point. You could say that we're… White Fang alumni." She glanced toward Blake warily. "Of course, these days, it's probably not something that Blake's proud of."
Blake gave her a small smile and shrugged. "Eh, yeah, but if what my parents and Sienna said is true, then maybe there's something to be salvaged out of the White Fang after all." She directed her attention to Trumbipulor's tank, her smile increasing to a smirk. "Hopefully this time WITHOUT any elephant-sized problems."
The whole group got a good chuckle out of that, but it was then that Velvet remembered the whole reason she came over to Ruby. "Oh! I forgot!" She spun back around to the Hooded Huntress. "Ruby, didn't you want me on this ship? You said something about wanting to see me after the battle, yeah?"
Ruby's eyes shot open, remembering the whole reason why Velvet was here in the first place. "Oh, shoot! You're right!" The young girl slapped her forehead. "The trial and the whole thing with Raven threw me off!" Ruby reached out and gently grasped Velvet's wrist. "Velvet, you have to come with me to the brig. There's someone who wants to talk to you."
This only served to render the bunny girl confused. "Wait… me? Someone in the brig wants to talk to me?!"
Coco was just as perplexed as her partner was. "Who the hell in THAT place would wanna talk with Vel? …In fact, who in there would even know who Velvet is?"
"I'll explain when we get there." Ruby said as she began leading both Coco and Velvet over to the elevator. "Coco, you'll wanna be around for this too!"
"H-Hey!" Coco protested. "C'mon Rubes, no need to be pushy!"
Ilia, who had begun to realize what Ruby was up to, began to follow behind the duo eagerly. "Uh, I should head up there, too."
That made Ruby stop in her tracks, a puzzled face taking over her features. "Um… I'm not trying to be rude, Ilia, but… why do you wanna come?"
Ilia wore a sheepish grin at that. "Well… let's just say that I made a friend up there while we were on our trip to Menagerie. And it's also a friend that we have a mutual connection to."
Ruby brightened up at the news and she immediately began leading Ilia over to the elevator as well. "Well then what're we waiting for?! Let's go!"
As the four young women began boarding the elevator, Cooper and Ben directed their eyes toward each other, with Cooper raising a brow at his friend. "Uh, Ben? Think you can explain what's going on?" the blonde genius asked. "Ruby seems pretty eager to visit a prisoner hold filled to the brim with villains. And she and Ilia have a mutual "friend" up there? What's that about?"
Ben let out a small breath and ushered for Cooper to follow him. "C'mon, Coop. Things will be a lot clearer to you if we go there too." The Omnitrix bearer moved to his cousin and gave her a nod. "Gwen, if at any point Yang says she wants to see mee—"
"I'll get you on the horn." Gwen acknowledged. "I promise."
"Great. Thank you." And with that, the six teens piled into the elevator and it went up, leaving Gwen, Kevin, Blake and Sun to talk amongst themselves.
"…So, I'm guessing that after tonight, things are gonna be a lot different." Blake spoke up.
Gwen pursed her lips at the idea. "Maybe… but there are still a few unknowns that need to be worked out." The Anodite trailed her eyes upward, her thoughts going to what a certain witch was doing right now. 'Salem… what ARE you up to?"
…..
As the elevator came to a stop, Coco and the others began stepping out onto the upper level of the massive ship, the girl slightly relieved to be off of the blasted thing. Well, to be more accurate, it wasn't much of a step as it was a stumble. That elevator was barely big enough to fit the six of them, so they were all feeling quite antsy on the ride up, especially Coco herself. So when they finally made it up, they all took in a deep breath of fresh air, even though the ride had only been about twenty seconds. "Finally!" Coco said as she leaned up against a wall. "Dear god, I hate enclosed spaces like that! Tetrax needs to get a bigger elevator."
"Not sure he can do that unless he rebuilds his entire ship." Ben pointed out. "Still, I'll give him the memo." But then he blinked in surprise. "Wait, you're claustrophobic?"
Coco pursed her lips and readjusted her glasses. "Hide and seek incident when I was a kid. Do NOT ask for the details."
Once everyone was able to collect themselves, Velvet began searching for their destination. "So… which of these doors is the brig again?"
"Oh, this way!" Ruby lead the group over to a particular door and it opened in front of them, allowing them to step into the brig. "Hey Argit!" the Hooded Huntress called out. "Are you actually AWAKE in here?!"
Almost immediately, she got a response; "Yeah, yeah, keep yer cloak on, toots." Argit spun around in his chair, his arms crossed and a positively bored expression on his face. "I've been getting an earful ever since Simian got locked up in here, so I AM awake."
Coco and Velvet's eyes widened simultaneously at the rodent-like alien's presence. "Hey, I remember you!" The leader of Team CFVY pointed directly at Argit as she stepped toward him. "You're the possum guy who was in that metal suit of armor that tried to kill us! I thought Tetrax locked you up!"
Argit smirked and he jabbed a thumb over to Ruby. "Yeah, well you can thank Little Red over there for that. She got me this sweet gig as the warden since I didn't technically do anything wrong." The alien rat gave her a thumbs up. "Ain't that right, Ruby?"
Ruby raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, and while your commitment to the job's been… questionable, you ARE at least doing it."
However, Ilia narrowed her eyes at Argit. "A bit too well if you ask me." she quickly added. "He almost stuck me with one of his quills on the ride here."
"Hey, THAT was a mistake!" Argit defended himself. "I was half-asleep and I'd never seen you before. Can ya BLAME me for attacking first, asking questions later?" He simply got a deadpan look from all of them in return, which he was quick to reciprocated with a sigh. "Ugh, okay, moving on. Lemme guess, you're here to see your buddy, am I right?"
"We are." Ben nodded. "But first, I wanna check on Simian. Where is he?"
Argit smirked and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "Heh, he's over by the Circus Freaks. Kinda fitting if you ask me." He put his hands behind his head and reclined in his chair. "Gotta say, everybody's been in a good mood since he was brought on board."
Ilia raised an eyebrow and set her hands to her hips. "Oh really? And why's that?"
Ruby let out a little chuckle and began walking further into the room. "I think I know why. C'mon, I'll show ya." The six teens walked further in, eventually finding Simian… and nearly everybody erupting into fits of laughter the moment they saw his pink shirt. Ruby was able to keep her composure and send a small wave at the alien primate. "Hey Simian. How're you liking your new home so far?"
Simian, now inside of his own cell, crossed his four arms indignantly. "I would be doing better if YOU people would stop laughing!"
"AHAHA! Oh-oh god!" Ben gasped for air and approached the cell, setting his hand on it to support himself. "Si-Simian! Wh-What were you thinking with that get-up?! AHAHA!"
The Arachnichimp pouted in annoyance. "Tennyson. I must say, I had hoped our meeting would have our places reversed." He gestured to the hero. "With you inside the cell and myself on the outside. But I guess I had my hopes set a bit high on that one." Simian then took notice of Ben's multiple wounds, making him smile a little. "But I can at least take heart in the fact that you didn't get out of this unharmed." He sat down on the cell floor with his legs crossed. "So, I'm guessing that Trumbipulor was defeated?"
Ben had finally calmed down, though many of his friends were still trying to get a hold of themselves. "Hehe, yep, he's locked up in a stasis pod in the cargo hold. He won't be causing any more harm anytime soon."
Simian scoffed and turned his head away. "Hmph, how unfortunate."
Coco, who had been trying to collect herself while she and Cooper propped themselves up against one another, gave Simian a hearty laugh. "HA! You wanna know what's REALLY unfortunate?"
"Let me guess; my shirt?"
The fashionable girl scowled at him and put her hands on her hips. "Well the joke's no fun if you ruin it."
"I've heard it a million times in the last twenty-four hours." Simian narrowed all four of his eyes. "Pardon me if it's beginning to get old."
Ben stepped up and raised his hands defensively. "Okay, okay, why don't we all just settle down and make peace, okay?" He made a pair of finger guns at the blue-furred alien with a cheeky grin. "Simian, how's about I get you some donuts? Maybe with… strawberry frosting?" Simian let out a primal scream in rage and jumped at Ben, only to collide with the energy cell and receive a jolt for his troubles. In the end, he landed on the floor flat on his back, involuntarily twitching as his singed fur began to smoke a little bit. "Uh… I may have taken that a bit too far." Ben uttered.
Faster than they could even blink, Simian flipped back up and pointed his two right arms away from him. "LEAVE!" Without needing to be told twice, the teens high-tailed it away from the Arachnichimp's cell, a snarling Simian being left in their wake.
Cooper let out a sigh as they stopped at a safe distance. "Man, Simian can NOT take a joke."
"That's putting it mildly." Velvet concurred before facing Ruby with a raised brow. "Now… why are we here again?"
But before Ruby could answer her, the silver-eyed girl heard a familiar voice call out to both her and Ilia from across the room. "Ruby! Ilia!" Both girls smiled and moved around to see Swift, the Aerophibian waving to her from her usual cell. "Hey! I was wonderin' when you guys would get back! How'd the mission go?"
"H-Hey, Swift!" Ilia waved back sheepishly. "It actually went pretty well."
"Heck yeah, it did!" Ruby said as she approached the cell. "We—"
"YOU!" Everything stopped when Coco pointed right at Swift, giving her an intense glare and making Ruby stop in her place. "You were that bitch who attacked Beacon and almost killed my partner!" Coco stormed up to the cell and Swift's eyes widened, the Aerophibian making to back up. "Don't you back away from me, chicky, I want a few words with—huh?" Right as she got up to the cell, Coco suddenly found Ruby and Ilia standing in front of her, the duo's arms spread out and blocking her path. "Ruby, Ilia, what're you—"
"Coco, please… hear her out." Ilia pleaded.
Coco's brows furrowed further. "What do you mean "hear her out"?! She tried to kill my best friend!"
"I know, but she's sorry for it!" Ruby pressed further. "She regrets ever attacking Beacon and accepting Hazel's offer! She's not a bad person, I swear!"
Before the fight could escalate any further, Cooper stepped over next to them and held his hands up, hoping to bring things down a few notches. "Woah, woah, okay. Let's try to calm down here." He then set a soft hand on Coco's shoulder. "Baby, I've worked with Swift before. Let me talk to her, okay?"
Coco shifted her eyes back and forth between Ruby, Ilia, Cooper and Swift. The Hooded Huntress and the chameleon girl in front of her were steadfast in their resolve while the alien-hybrid wore a rather trepidatious face behind them, her eyes staring back at Coco in slight fear. Finally, Cooper was giving her a rather serious look, which she knew meant he was all business at that point. Coco let out a sigh and gave her boyfriend a pat on the arm. "Alright, Tech Head, do your thing. But if things start to sound fishy, then I'm outta here!"
"Thank you." Cooper gave Coco a kiss on the cheek before taking a deep breath, facing Ruby, Ilia and Swift with a questioning gaze. "Okay you three, just what IS going on here?"
Ruby, instilled with confidence, locked eyes with Cooper and gave her answer; "It's just like I said, Cooper. Swift is sorry for what she's done, and she wants to make up for it." She then focused on Swift with a soft smile. "We've been talking for the past few days, and I've learned that she really isn't a bad person. She was just given a bad lot and I wanna help her put her life back together."
"Me too." Ilia agreed. "We haven't known each other for very long, but…" Ilia's spots became pink again. "Swift's been able to help me out with my own problems too, and I'm very grateful to her for it. I'd vouch for her any day."
Swift smiled back at the two, thankful to them for speaking on her behalf. "Thanks, gals. I'm glad that you're helping me out… but I think I need to take it from here." Ruby and Ilia each gave her a nod before stepping out of the way, allowing Swift to come face to face with Cooper. "Hey there, officer. Been a while, eh?"
"Yes, it has." Cooper folded his arms across his chest. "So, Swift, you really want to try and make up for what you've done in the past?"
"Yeah. Ruby's helped me see that I don't have to waste my life being a criminal… that I can do better." Swift lowered her head a bit. "But to do that, I'll have to work for it. And there's still one person in particular I need to apologize to." She craned her head up to Velvet, which took the bunny girl aback and made her gasp. "W-Wait." Swift raised a hand up to the brunette. "I want to say that I'm sorry for almost trying to kill you. I know that "sorry" really doesn't make up for it…"
Coco rolled her eyes. 'That's putting it mildly.' she thought to herself.
"But I want to start making up for everything." Swift bowed her head to Velvet. "I hope that you can forgive me for what I've done, Velvet."
A few moments of silence passed, with Velvet giving Swift a rather surprised face. "Well, I… I really don't know what to think about all this." After pondering over the Aerophibian hybrid's words, she went back to Ruby and Ilia, tilting her head a little bit. "You two are willing to vouch for her word?"
Ruby raised her right hand. "All the way."
"Same with me." Ilia supported as she did the same. "No going back."
Velvet put a finger to her chin, thinking it over a little bit more before stepping closer to Swift's cell. The young half-alien woman moved her head back up to Velvet, their eyes locking instantly. Velvet's brow furrowed slightly and she crossed her arms. "Swift, you might not have hurt me in your attack, but you DID hurt someone else. A young redheaded man in armor."
"The guy who saved you." Swift recalled. "I remember him."
"Tell me, are you sorry for hurting him?"
"Yes." Swift answered instantly. "I'm sorry for any harm that I may have caused to anyone on that day."
Velvet closed her eyes, taking in Swift's words. "Hmm… well, if you are truly sorry for what you did…" She opened her eyes and smiled. "Then I suppose that there's no harm in taking a chance." Velvet glanced over to Ruby and Ilia, who were wearing hopeful grins of their own. "And it helps that you've got two really nice people willing to speak on your behalf as well."
"WHAT?!" Coco exclaimed, taking everyone off guard. "Vel, that girl tried to kill you and she blasted Bird Boy in the shoulder! How can you just easily forgive that?"
To everyone's surprise, Velvet was quick to counter. "Because I'm not one to hold a grudge, Coco!" the bunny girl pointed at her partner, whose eyes widened in shock. "You've known me long enough to know that. If what Swift says is true, then I'm willing to believe her, and you should too!"
Coco blinked a couple times, her partner's words resonating within her. "V-Vel, I… wow." The fashionable girl took off her sunglasses and gave Velvet a salute. "Alright, I can respect how you feel about this." She then shifted her eyes over to Swift, her features unchanging. "Listen, Swift, if you REALLY want to change, then I hope you won't screw up this chance. Because if you do, then you know what'll happen."
"I do." Swift acknowledged. "I'll be put back in the slammer. But trust me, Coco, I plan on changing my life around." She raised her own right hand. "I swear by it."
It took a few seconds, but a cheeky smirk appeared on Coco's face, the girl giving a small chuckle. "Heh, alright. I'll take your word. But if you mess this up, I'm bringin' you in myself, understand?"
Swift smirked back and gave her a salute. "Crystal clear, ma'am."
"Alright, glad we understand each other." Coco gave a nod to Ruby and nudged her head toward the energy cell. "Alright, Rubes, you can set her free if ya wanna." All at once, Ruby, Ilia and Swift winced at Coco's statement, which only served to make the latter confused. "Uh… something wrong?"
"Easier said than done, I'm afraid." Ben spoke up as he strolled over to them. "See, in order for Swift to have her freedom, she needs to be tried. My grandfather has already written up a parole statement for her, but now we need to wait until we get home so that we can run it through the intergalactic court of law."
"He's right." Cooper supported. "The court has to be in favor of her case in order for her to make parole, and I can guarantee that it won't be as easy as what Ben went through with Sienna."
Swift's eyes widened when she finally took notice of Ben's wounds. "Woah! Sheesh, Tennyson. What blender did YOU go through?"
The hero chuckled and sent her a sarcastic grin. "Oh, you know, an angry tiger lady beat me up for insulting her and wrecking her palace a bit. No big."
Swift smiled back and crossed her arms, impressed at the young man's resilience. "Heh, well, at least you're still able to stand." She pointed down to his chest where his bandages were visible beneath his shirt. "And hey, I'm sure your girlfriend'll dig all of those scars." That didn't get the response she was expecting. Instead of blushing or acting awkward, Ben became crestfallen, glancing off to the side with a worried face. This served to make Swift worried herself. "Oh god, did… did you two get in a fight? If you did, I'm sorry for bringing it—"
Ben's eyes widened and he immediately began denying it. "Oh no, we didn't get into a fight." He rubbed the back of his head, wincing as the memory from earlier came back. "It's just… Yang got into a fight with her mom and… it was kinda awful to watch."
"Oh, I see." Swift gave the hero a single wave. "Well, give her my best, whatever its worth to her."
"Heh, thanks." Ben recollected himself and focused back to Coco. "In any case, Swift won't truly be free until she's able to make parole." He shifted his eyes between the fashionable girl and Velvet. "And in addition, she's going to need you two to testify for her when she DOES get to court."
Velvet's eyes nearly bugged out at that. "M-Me?! In intergalactic court?"
"It'll be alright, Vel." Cooper reassured. "It's not like regular court where there's a bunch of people. Since there are literally THOUSANDS of evil-doers out in the galaxy, intergalactic court has to keep moving at a fast pace." The genius waved his hand back and forth. "We'll be in and out before you know it."
Velvet was still a little concerned about all of this, but she couldn't deny Swift directly after accepting her apology. That definitely wouldn't' be fair. "Well, alright Cooper, if you say so."
"Yeah, we'll testify." Coco asserted before placing her hands on her hips, giving Ben a questioning look. "But can't we at least let Swift out of her cell? I mean, you did the same with Argit and he's a freakin' degenerate con artist!"
"I heard that!" Argit called out from his station. "I might be a con man, but I am NOT a degenerate!"
"Yes you are!" Ben hollered before putting a hand to his chin in thought. "Actually… there might be a chance, but it's a long shot." He pulled up the Omnitrix and spoke into its commlink; "Hey, Tetrax? You reading me?"
"Indeed I am, Ben." Tetrax spoke back. "You need anything?"
"Yeah, actually I do. Can you come down to the brig? There's something I wanna discuss with you." After getting an affirmative response from Tetrax, the group proceeded to wait a few minutes before the Petrosapien finally arrived, with Ben putting a fist over his chest in a salute. "Hey, Tetrax! Glad you could come down."
"Of course." Tetrax did the salute himself before going on. "So, what is it that you need?"
Ben gestured over to the two members of Team CFVY. "Well, Coco and Velvet have given Swift their blessings. They'll be testifying for her in intergalactic court when we get home."
Tetrax nodded in understanding. "I see. Well, that's good to hear." The bounty hunter set his sights onto the Aerophibian in the cell. "One step closer to freedom, Swift. I hope you don't squander it."
"Er, thanks… I think." Swift shifted her eyes between Ben and Coco, whispering to them; "Hey guys, you really don't have to do this for me. I'm perfectly fine with—"
But Coco was having none of it. "Oh no, I'm sticking my neck out for you, Laser Girl. The least I can do is give you the same basic freedom of a dirty rat." The leader of Team CFVY confidently stepped up to Tetrax, putting her sunglasses back on for good measure. "Hey Big T, if Argit of all people can roam free on the ship, then I think that Swift can at least have some free reign here too, huh?"
Tetrax was about to argue against it, but the more he thought about it, the more he saw Coco's point. "Hmm… I can certainly see your reasoning. Wait one moment." Tetrax stepped back over to the room's entrance and opened up a large storage closet, one that had multiple pieces of strange technology in it. But out of all of them, Tetrax grabbed one in particular; a small bracelet that was a solid white and had a tiny red light on it. He came back over to the group and presented it to them. "This is a power dampening ankle monitor. If Swift wants to walk through my ship's halls, she'll have to wear one of these."
Velvet inspected the bracelet a bit closer. "Wait, aren't these the things that people put on criminals when they're under house-arrest?"
"Precisely. But as I said, it has the added effect of dampening her latent abilities." Tetrax raised a finger as he listed them off. "That means that she will be incapable of flight and firing energy beams if she wears this." The Petrosapien faced Swift and presented the device to her. "Swift… I hesitate to do this, but if you are willing to behave, then I will allow you to walk freely inside my ship with this anklet on. However, if you so much as step outside of my ship, it's back in the cell for you. Am I clear?"
However, Swift was still trying to process all of this in her mind. She could really be out of this cell? Even if it was still only on the ship? 'I'd have my powers taken away for a while, but… honestly, that sounds kind of alright by me.'
"Well, Swift?" The young hybrid was brought out of her thoughts when Ruby spoke to her, the hooded girl's eyes brightened with excitement. "Doesn't that sound like a great deal?!"
"It does." Swift admitted. "…I'm just still trying to take it all in is all."
Coco stepped forward and pointed at Swift, taking her by surprise again. "Hey! I hope you know that this opportunity probably won't be coming up again." she scolded. "What's it gonna be, Laser Girl?"
Swift darted her eyes between everyone there before finally landing on someone in particular; Ilia. When the Aerophibian hybrid's eyes landed on her, the chameleon girl was initially a bit confused. But then she got a good read on her friend's face and realized; she was wondering what her opinion was. Ilia gave her a soft smile and a shrug. "Hey, I think you should take it. It might not be the best deal, but you'd at least be able to have more space."
Slowly but surely, Swift's smiled back, followed by giving her friend a nod. "Yeah, can't hurt, can it?" She faced Tetrax once again and gave him the okay. "Alright, Tetrax. Let me have it."
"Very well." Tetrax complied as he put his hand up against the energy barrier, bringing up a holographic control panel to type a command code into. Once he entered the code, the barrier lowered, allowing him to step closer to Swift. He bent down and put the brace around her right ankle, the red light switching on the moment it locked shut. Tetrax stood back up and gave Swift a nod. "Alright, you are free to move about my ship under strict supervision."
"Thank you, I—"
"WOOHOO!" Ruby suddenly rushed forward and enveloped Swift in a soul crushing hug, making the half-alien's eyes bug out. "I CANNOT believe this is happening!"
"M-me either!" Swift choked out. "You're… crushing my ribs!"
Ruby's eyes snapped open and she let go of Swift, allowing her to breath. "Whoops! Sorry!" she lowered her head in apology. "I sometimes get carried away with these things."
"Heh, it's alright." Swift assured as she collected herself. "So… what now?"
Ben waved his hand toward her. "Whatever you wanna do. So long as it's within the ship's parameters."
Swift looked around to everybody before her choice was made for her… by the growling of her stomach. Her eyeridges rose up and her hand went to her belly, a slight chuckle escaping her lips. "Hehe, well, I think a decent meal would probably be good right now."
At that moment, many of the others also began to feel their stomachs rumble, taking them off guard. "Hah, it HAS been a while since we last ate." Cooper pointed out. "But is there any food on here at all?"
"Of course." Tetrax jabbed a thumb toward the exit. "The kitchen isn't far from here. Come on, I'm sure that everyone else down in the cargo hold are hungry as well."
But before they could even step foot out the door, they heard an indigent yell come from behind them; "HEY!" The group all did an about face to see Vulkanus and many of the other bad guys all glaring at them, their fists clenched in ire. "So what, she an' Argit get special treatment and we don't get a chance?!"
"Yeah!" Frightwig piped up. "What if WE wanted to change too, huh?" They were met with a bunch of deadpan stares from the team, with Swift giving them a hard glare. Frightwig pouted and crossed her arms. "Well, okay, we don't, but still!"
"Oh, shut up!" Coco flipped them all off while turning her back on them. "C'mon guys, let's get outta here." With that, the group of eight all left the brig, leaving a bunch of irritated villains behind. However, as they were stepping out, Coco couldn't help but ask; "Hey Tetrax, ever considered investing in bigger elevators?"
…..
Meanwhile, in the Land of Darkness, the mighty castle known as Evernight towered over the barren wasteland, its massive violet crystal structures producing some of the only light that could be seen there. But even so, the light was so dim that no one could really tell if they were lit up or not. The land was relatively calm, as it usually was during the twilight hours of the day. That is, if you ignore all of the Grimm skulking about. However, beneath the massive structure, things were anything BUT calm. In the castle's training room, Cinder Fall was currently fighting off wave after wave of Beringels, taking out her frustrations on every single one.
It had been almost two full days since she and her team were put under house arrest by their Mistress for failing their mission, and she was attempting to work out all of the pent-up anger that she was building up. And, for the most part, it was working. After every training session, she felt much calmer, and along with it, she could feel her skills improving. There was just one little problem though… "Would you two pry yourselves away from that damned phone for a SECOND and actually train?!" she shouted to her teammates.
Rojo and Emerald were currently sitting on a bench, taking a break while listening to some music on the former's cell phone. The duo shared a pair of earbuds and banged their heads to the music, only somewhat aware of what was going on. However, Cinder was just loud enough to get through to the two, causing them to whip their heads up in surprise. "Aw, c'mon, Cindy! We've been at this for hours!" Rojo pleaded as she pulled her bud out of her ears.
Emerald did the same, though she was a bit more cordial with her teammate. "Yeah, she's got a point. I mean, the least we could do is take a small break—"
"No breaks until dinner!" Cinder insisted. "We have to be at our BEST when we face off against Ben Tennyson again. I am NOT about to let him beat me a THIRD time!" After slicing through the rest of the Beringels with her obsidian blades, she circled back around to Rojo. "How do you even have that phone? I thought you were being held in a prison before you were sent here."
Rojo let out a chuckle at that. "Heh, I managed to find it after I recovered my old armor, so I thought I snagged it up too. Thankfully all of my downloads were still on it." She raised an eyebrow over to her partner. "Cindy, while I can appreciate wanting to give Tennyson a good reaming, I don't think this is the way that Boss Lady wanted." Rojo pointed a finger straight into the air. "I think her exact words were; "your rage clouds your judgement, young Cinder", or somethin' like that."
Cinder scowled and balled her fists, a sigh escaping her lips. "Well then, what do you suggest I do? The best way I can cope with it is to train, so unless you see an alternative—"
"Wanna listen to some music?" Rojo smirked while shaking her phone. "Listenin' to some tunes does wonders to bring me out of a funk."
Emerald's face brightened up. "Yeah! This Earth music ROCKS!"
The Fall Maiden sent her partner a deadpan look. "…You're kidding. You ARE kidding, right?"
"'Course not!" Rojo offered Cinder an earbud. "Here, take a listen."
"I am NOT putting that in my ear after it's been in yours!" Cinder countered. "That's SO unsanitary!"
Rojo raised her hands in defense. "Alright, alright, I'll just pull 'em out so you can listen." She took the earbud jack out of the phone and played the song, which Cinder was quick to raise a brow at. It started off with a rather catchy drum beat, but then it went straight into a heavy metal guitar riff that got more intense as the song went on. Despite herself, Cinder felt herself going along with the beat, her head lightly bobbing up and down. This was something that Rojo was quick to take note of. "Like heavy metal, huh?"
Cinder's eyes widened and she whipped her head away, a slight blush coming to her face. "It's fine. Nothing spectacular. I actually prefer more sophisticated music myself."
"Well, I personally think you'll like the lyrics…" Rojo counted the seconds off her fingers before the words kicked in, with both herself and Emerald beginning to sing along herself;
He is observing the chaos, taking in the lack of raw humanity
It's as if the entire world's fallen in love with their insanity!
Hear the innocent voices scream
As their tormentors laugh through all of it
No forgiveness from all I've seen
The degradation I cannot forget
As the song went on, Cinder blinked in surprise at how Rojo and Emerald were acting, especially the latter. In all the times they had worked with each other, she had never seen Emerald do something like this. As for Rojo, she had been pretty wild, but this just felt primal with all the headbanging and singing, which the bounty hunter was surprisingly good at. As the lyrics went on though, Cinder couldn't help but get lost in them. And it was mostly thanks to the fact that she began to see a lot of what she aspired to be within it, that being; a harbinger of doom.
So sleep soundly in your beds tonight
For judgement falls upon you at first light!
I'm the hand of God!
I'm the dark messiah!
I'm the vengeful one!
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
In the blackest moment of a dying world
What have you become
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
The Fall Maiden found herself beginning to see what Rojo was talking about. This song spoke to her on a level that she could understand; the want—no—the need for the utter destruction of her enemies. And what's worse, Rojo could tell that Cinder's resolve was weakening with every passing moment. As the song drew closer to the end, Rojo gave her partner a smirk. "Well Cindy? You sure you don't want to take a crack at it?"
"C'mon, Cinder!" Emerald urged. "It wouldn't hurt to at least try, right?"
Cinder shifted her eyes between the phone and Rojo as the ending chorus came closer and closer. She screwed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together to try and prevent the inevitable… but it still came as she began belting out the remaining lyrics; "~I'm the hand of God! I'm the dark messiah! I'm the vengeful one!~"
Rojo smirked and provided back-ups; "Look inside and see what you're becoming!"
Cinder continued as her hands burst into flames, her power flowing through her as she continued singing; "~In the blackest moment of a dying world! What have you become!~"
"Look inside and see what you're becoming!" Rojo let out a laugh and pumped a fist into the air. "HAHA! YEAH! I knew I could get through to ya!"
As the song ended, Cinder whirled around, her hands still on fire from her power trip and her eyes widened, realizing that she had lost herself completely to the song. "I… I… ugh, damn it." She stamped her foot on the ground and she flicked her wrists, dispersing her flames. "I cannot believe I just did that."
"Believe it, Cindy! You love hard metal." Rojo made a sign of horns with her hands, sticking out her tongue for good measure. "And as far as I'm concerned, that means you got good taste."
Emerald pointed to her teammate. "Plus, you're a pretty good singer!"
Cinder was quick to point at the two girls, giving them an intense glare. "If you even so much as let it SLIP that this happened—"
"I am inclined to agree." With the addition of a rather familiar voice in the room, everyone froze. Mostly out of respect, but on Cinder's part, she also felt a rush of fear go through her veins. The three women spun around to see Salem, the witch standing in the doorway with her eyes fixed right on them. She wore a small yet sinister smile on her face as she drew closer, waving her hand to her Fall Maiden. "After all, music is able to soothe the wrathful soul."
"L-Lady Salem!" Cinder instantly went to one knee and bowed her head, with Emerald doing the same while Rojo stood up with a salute. "How… how much did you hear?"
"Most of it." Salem answered. "While the choice of music itself is not my preferred variety, I still cannot argue with the results…" She reached down and cusped Cinder's cheek, making her crane her head upward. "I can sense that your fury has calmed somewhat from all of this. I advise that you continue if you wish to fully control your rage."
Cinder gave a hasty nod. "Y-Yes, of course, Lady Salem."
"Very good." Salem pulled her hand back and her gaze hardened slightly. "Unfortunately, I come bringing bad tidings. Hazel's group have come back from their mission… and they have failed."
Cinder fought to keep herself from screaming in frustration while Rojo let out a groan. "Ugh! Seriously?" She facepalmed and ran her fingers through her hair. "What the hell did Tennyson do this time?"
"It was not JUST Tennyson." Salem answered. "We have multiple people to thank for this defeat." The witch faced herself away from her underlings as she began listing the factors off; "First, Branwen managed to cut off Tyrian's tail, and then the heiress managed to trounce him even further after the fact."
Emerald's eyes widened at this. "Wait… Tyrian was beaten… by Schnee?!"
"Humiliatingly so." Salem affirmed. "And even further, Hazel was also defeated by the young man who can absorb solid matter."
Rojo's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. "…Levin? Kevin Levin BEAT Hazel?!" She through her hands up in the air wildly. "How in the FUCK was he able to do that?!"
"He was able to take Hazel's Dust crystals away from him… and then he absorbed them." Salem turned back around to her subjects. "In addition, he had the hammer-wielding young lady as backup." She shook her head in disappointment. "Such a shame as well. I thought that out of everyone here, Hazel would be the most adept in succeeding. But I suppose that simply was not the case."
"And the elephant guy?" Emerald asked. "What about him?"
"Ben Tennyson was able to defeat him, to the surprise of no one." Salem's sinister smile returned and she raised her hand. "…But I was able to acquire a little something out of our enemy when I paid them my visit." All at once, her hand erupted with a bright green energy, one that took the trio aback.
"L-Lady Salem…" Cinder uttered. "What is that?"
Salem moved her hand out to give the three a closer look. "This, young Cinder, is the life energy of one of Ben Tennyson's mightiest transformations… Humungousaur."
"Woah!" Rojo said in slight disbelief. "You managed to beat back Humungousaur?! That's freaking awesome!"
"Indeed, it is." Salem nodded. "And I can assure you that this will be put to a proper use." With a snap of her fingers, Salem made the energy disappear, her hand returning into her robe. "I will be taking an excursion to the central Grimm pool tomorrow, and I would like everyone to join me for what I am sure will be quite the show."
The bounty hunter raised a brow at that. "Uh, "central Grimm pool"? What's that?"
"It's where the God of Darkness resided when he and his brother, the God of Light, ruled over Remnant." Cinder answered. "And it's also where many of the more powerful Grimm spawn… from..." The Fall Maiden's eyes widened in realization and she whirled her head around to Salem. "My mistress, are you really thinking—"
"I am." Salem confirmed, her smile unwavering.
After a few seconds, Cinder's lips turned up into a dastardly smile that matched her mistress'. "Oh, I believe I'm liking where this is going."
"As you should. Now come, dinner will be served in—"
However, Salem was interrupted by the sound the doors opening, but she did not move to face it whatsoever. The witch simply scowled as Cinder, Rojo and Emerald directed their attention to the door, catching a glimpse at who had just entered. There, with utter fear written across his face, was Tyrian. The scorpion man was shuffling his way slowly into the room, his tail hanging behind him stingerless and ineffective. Once he was in, he fell to his hands and knees whilst sobbing and muttering to himself, lowering his head to Salem. "I'm sorry." He raised a hand to his chin as his apprehension began to grow. "She'll forgive me… pleeease." Tyrian bowed his head to his mistress once again. "Forgive me."
"Tyrian!" Salem shouted, making his head whip up. There wasn't any anger behind her voice. Rather, she was more disappointed than anything else. She moved back around and approached the crazed man, who was cowering before her. Salem lowered her gaze to him before going on. "I have seen that you were… unsuccessful in your task."
"…Y-Yes." Tyrian replied while lowering his head again. Salem was about to move past him, but Tyrian continued on from there. "B-But hope is not lost!" He kept himself crouched as he hobbled around to keep himself facing Salem. "Watts and Animo! Th-They can help me replace my tail, I KNOW they can! Once my stinger has been restored, I promise that I will please you in any way I can!" He raised his hands up to beg. "I swear I will!"
Salem stopped near the doorway, initially not even looking back at him. "Perhaps. But as of right now…" The witch moved her head so that she was merely glancing at Tyrian out of the corner of her eye. "You disappoint me." And with that, Salem walked out of the room, leaving Tyrian on his knees with Rojo, Cinder and Emerald keeping their distance from him.
As she left, Tyrian fell to his hands, his sobs becoming wails of agony and tears beginning to stream down his face. The one person whose opinion mattered to him the most was disappointed with him, and that only made him even more upset with himself. However, what he had failed to notice was a large Beowolf that had spawned behind him, the beast having been attracted to his grief. Emerald was about to warn him, but Rojo put an arm out in front of her, shaking her head slightly to warn her against it. The beast pounced at him, but Tyrian whirled around and let out a bloodcurdling scream, slamming the remainder of his tail into the Beowolf's side to knock it back.
"AAAAAAAUUGHH!" Tyrian activated his blades as the dark creature landed on the ground, jumping onto it immediately. Still wailing in utter sadness, he began slashing his blades into the Beowulf relentlessly. And, slowly but surely, his cried became his insane cackling once again, a wild and crazy smile coming to his face as his mind went elsewhere for the time being. "AAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!"
The three women who were still in the room could only gaze on in horror as Tyrian sliced into the Beowolf, their guts churning in discomfort at the whole thing. "I, uh… I think we should leave him alone." Emerald suggested.
"Yeah, it's obvious that he's got some issues to work out." Rojo winced.
"Good, then we're all in agreement." Cinder faced away from the gruesome scene with her compatriots, all three of them headed to the door as fast as their feet could carry them. "At this point, a break actually sounds rather nice right now."
…..
Over the course of their flight back home, Yang had continued to seclude herself to her own personal corner of the ship's cargo hold. She was thinking over what she had done, as well as what her mother had done. The woman that she was beginning to look up to had killed a young girl simply because she wasn't strong enough. True, the girl didn't want to be strong, but at the same time, Raven hadn't considered any other options. And the more she thought about it, the more frustrated Yang became. 'How could she just take someone's life like that?' she balled her hands up into fists and slammed them against the bench she was sitting on. 'I know that she said it wasn't easy, but there must have been SOME other way she could've dealt with this!'
However, there was something else weighing on her mind as well; the rift that she had put between her mother and herself. Ever since their first meeting, Yang had been all too eager to bond with her mother. But now that she had snapped at her, she was starting to think that all of it would end up being for nothing. She let out a sigh and laced her hands together on her knee, speaking out loud to try and convince herself of her own decision. "I had to do it though. If I didn't give her the wakeup call she needs, then who would?!" She clawed at her hair and let out a yell. "GAH! Damn it! Why can't she admit that she's scared?!"
"I honestly couldn't tell you." Yang's eyes snapped open and she moved her gaze up to see Ben, smiling down at her softly. "Hey, haven't seen you since lunch."
"Y-Yeah." The Blonde Brawler stammered. "I'm just… still thinking."
Ben nodded to her. "Hm, I get ya. Well, we should be landing in a few minutes, so…"
Yang was taken aback by that fact. "Wait, it's been four hours already?!" She put a hand to her forehead. "I was over here for THAT long?!"
"Heh, yep, you were." Ben put an arm around her shoulders. "But honestly, I don't blame ya. Especially with all the stuff you're thinking about." The hero tilted his head to the side a bit. "So, have you been able to sort some things out?"
Yang leaned her head against his shoulder. "I don't know. Every time I think about it, I only feel worse. I feel bad for that girl, I feel bad for my mother… I just don't feel good."
"I've had those thoughts before." Ben concurred. "Speaking from experience, it ain't fun."
"That's putting it mildly." Yang raised an eyebrow to him. "But why don't we move on to something else. How's Swift doin'?"
Ben chuckled a little bit at that. "Hehe, she's glad to be moving around, I'll tell ya that. She, Ilia and Ruby haven't stopped talking with each other since."
Yang grinned and lifted her head up to him a little bit. "That's good to hear." But in a split second, her face fell again, going back to a bit of a frown. "…Ben?"
"Yeah, Yang? What's up?"
"Do you… think I made the right choice?" She shifted her eyes away in slight shame. "I mean, I was so angry at my mom for what she did… but at the same time, I'm wondering if I just ruined whatever we could've had."
The Omnitrix bearer let out a sigh of his own and mulled over the question for a bit, giving his answer a second later. "Well, I can tell you one thing; fights between family are nothing new to me. I've had arguments with my parents, my grandpa, and of course, my cousin. But in the end, a family bond isn't something that's easily broken." He pulled Yang a bit closer to him in a reassuring hug. "It's like you said before; you and Raven need some time away from each other right now. Hopefully it'll give both of you the time you need to think over everything."
"Yeah, I guess. I just wish that she would've been more honest about it in the first place." Yang's head lowered back down again. "If she had…" But then she shook the idea away from her mind. "Man, I've gotta stop thinking about all of these "what if's". The only thing that matters is that it happened and I gotta deal with it."
Ben gave his girlfriend a peck on the lips, managing to perk her up a little bit. "Don't worry, Goldie Locks. I'm sure you'll figure this out."
Yang smiled back, responding with a second, more passionate kiss. "Hehe, thanks, Green Boy." As that happened, the couple began to feel the ship stop and lower itself to the ground, signaling their arrival. "Well, guess we're home."
"Yep, and after today, I'm pretty glad for it." Ben made to stand up, with Yang doing the same. "C'mon, let's get inside and relax."
The couple went over to the rest of the team, who were already beginning to disembark the ship as its ramp lowered to the ground below. As most of their friends walked down to the ground below, they saw Ruby, Ilia and Swift standing with each other, the three girls saying their goodbyes. "So, will you gals be around tomorrow?" Swift asked.
"More than likely." Ilia nodded. "But Blake told me that we're probably going to be going into town tomorrow too." The chameleon girl gestured to her stealth suit. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly wearing something that can be considered "casual"."
"Heh, gotcha." Swift gave them a wave. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later then?"
Ruby gave her a thumbs up. "You can bet on it!" It was at that moment that she noticed her sister and Ben approaching, meeting them with a soft smile. "Hey, sis… how're you doing?"
Yang shrugged her shoulders. "Well, so-so, I'd say. But I think I'll be okay for the most part." The blonde shifted her eyes toward Swift and gave her a wink. "Hey, Swifty. How's it feel to be out and about?"
Swift rolled her eyes at the nickname but kept her smile on. "Hah, I gotta admit, it's nice to be able to move more than three feet." She lifted her leg and pointed to her anklet. "Even if I'm still not allowed to leave the ship, it's still something."
"Hey, I'm just glad that Coco and Vel are giving you a chance." Yang gave the Aerophibian a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck with what comes next though, 'cause it's gonna be a doozy."
"Probably, but I've been through worse." Swift reciprocated the wink and jabbed her thumb off of the ship. "Now go on, you're overdue for some rest after today."
"Thanks, and see ya!" With that, the five remaining teammates stepped off of the ship and onto the driveway, with the familiar visage of the Xiao Long house standing before them. Yang took in a breath of fresh air and declared; "Ah, home sweet home!"
"And man, am I glad for it." Sun spoke up. "After the chaos of today, I can go for a good rest."
"Right there with you, Sun." Blake agreed before noticing that nobody but them was out there. "Huh… you know, I expected a bigger welcoming committee—"
SLAM! The cat girl got her wish when the front door swung open, startling everyone there. Standing on the other side were Tai, Athena, Jonathan, Mary and Max, all of them beaming at them with pride. In addition, Romulus and Rema came bolting out of the house, the two pup running toward their respective owners. "Kids!" Tai greeted with a wave. "Haha! Welcome back!" He jogged out toward his daughters with Max settling for a steady walk toward his grandchildren, with Athena and the Arcs heading for their children as well. Tai pulled his girls in for a hug, which they quickly returned. "How was the big mission, huh? You guys kick ass and take names?"
"Heh, yeah dad, we did." Yang assured. "I got to beat up the big elephant guy for ya."
When Max finally made it over, his eyes immediately caught sight of Ben, and he let out a gasp at how injured his grandson was. "Dear lord, Ben! What in the world happened to you?" We went over and began inspecting the injuries closer. "Did Trumbipulor do all of this?"
Ben's hand went to the back of his head in nervousness. "Oh, heh, no grandpa, he didn't. This was all Sienna Khan's doing."
Seeing their grandfather's initial confusion, Gwen decided to explain further. "She's the leader of the White Fang, and since Ben ended up causing a lot of damage to her palace… plus a few other things… she decided to challenge him to a fight, one where he couldn't use the Omnitrix."
Kevin pointed over to his best friend. "Add the fact that she's a tiger Faunus who's got razor sharp nails, and you've got a recipe for an ass-whuppin'."
After taking all of the information in, Max gave a small nod. "Ah, I see. Well, I'm just glad that you all came home in one piece. And you managed to bring in Trumbipulor to boot!"
Ruby raised her hand. "Oh! And Holiday and I took out Simian by ourselves!"
Max's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "My word, that's very impressive. Simian's quite the crafty combatant, so you two should be proud of yourselves."
"Oh, we are." Holiday supported as she came over and gave Ruby a small pat on the shoulder. "But that doesn't mean that we should brag about it, right Ruby?"
"I know, but you gotta admit," Ruby gave Holiday a thumbs up, "we made a good team out there."
"You know it!" Rex announced as he joined them as well. "I think we proved today that this team is gettin' pretty good at takin' down bad guys."
Tai put his hands on his hips, impressed by the feats he was hearing. "Ha, I see. Well, I'm just glad that everything worked—" But then he cut himself off when he noticed the addition of one extra head, which took him by surprise. "Oh! Ilia! I didn't expect to see you back here!"
Ilia wore a sheepish smile and waved to the man. "Hehe, hey Mr. Xiao Long. Yeah, quite honestly, I didn't expect to be back either, but… I ended up joining the team!"
Tai blinked a couple times before realizing what that meant. With a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumped and he lurched forward. "I'll go get the spare mattress. There must be SOME room left in my house for you." The whole group had a good laugh at that before Tai stopped his overdramatics and began searching for another certain someone. "So, uh… Yang, where's your mother? Did she go back to the tribe already?"
At that, the whole group became apprehensive, with Yang wincing a bit at the question. "…Dad, there's something that you should know." From there, the blonde began recapping everything major that had gone down in the White Fang palace and on Tetrax's ship. From Salem making an unexpected visit, to Raven revealing herself to be the Spring Maiden, and finally to the fight that happened between them, Yang explained it all. By the end, both Tai and Max wore faces of disbelief, even when they knew that Yang was telling the truth. "Well, that's basically it." she concluded.
Tai stared back at his daughter, still processing what he had just been told. His ex… was the Spring Maiden? That was insane. He took in a deep breath and let it out, running a hand through his hair all the while. "Well, that's… that's pretty big, I have to say."
Max put a finger to his chin, thinking over everything he had just been told. "Hmm, well, while I can't exactly agree with the way that Raven went about getting the Maiden powers, we still have to accept the fact that we still need her help." The old Plumber crossed his arms. "If we let our guard down, then Salem will eventually find out about it and she'll start to hunt Raven down relentlessly."
At that moment, Winter and Weiss came over, the former giving the semi-retired Plumber a nod. "As much as I detest Raven for what she's done, you're right, Max. We cannot afford to lose her to Salem."
Weiss sent a worried glance to her sister. "You don't think Raven would… betray us, do you?"
"Not likely. After all," Winter sent her gaze onto Yang, "it's obvious that she's come to care about her daughter far too much to let it come to that." Yang simply turned away from Winter, the blonde going back to her thoughts from before. "What I'm more worried about is the possibility of Salem sending her forces after Raven and taking the Maiden powers… by any means necessary."
"We can't let her do that!" Tai shouted, taking everyone by surprise. "I've already had Summer die on me! I'm NOT about to let Raven suffer the same fate!"
Ruby ran over to her dad and placed a hand on his arm, calming him down. "Dad, it's okay. I promise that we won't let Salem kill her."
"Right." Ben raised a vowing fist. "Nobody is gonna die on our watch, Tai. You have my word." However, just as he said that, he felt a tapping on his shoulder, making him turn around to see Coco, Cooper and Velvet standing behind him. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?"
Cooper sent a salute his way. "Well, we just thought we'd say our goodbyes to you for now."
Velvet raised her scroll up and continued. "We just got a call from Yatsu and they said that they'll probably be home in about an hour. So we should really get back to our apartment back in town."
Tai raised a hand up to them. "Oh, do you guys need a lift?"
Coco shook her head and jabbed a thumb back to the ship itself. "Nah, Tetrax said that he could take us back. You guys just have a good time here. And hey," the fashionable girl pointed over to Ilia. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, 'kay?"
Ilia gave her a wave back. "Yep! And thanks again for offering to help me out with my wardrobe, Coco."
"No problem! See ya guys later!" Coco called back as she, Cooper and Velvet began boarding the ship again, its ramp rising up the moment they got on. With its cloak activating as it rose up into the air, the Resolute flew off toward Patch, leaving the group to continue their discussion.
…..
Meanwhile, over by the front porch of the house, Jaune and his team, as well as Neptune and Penny, had just finished regaling his parents and Athena about their escapades in Menagerie, the three adults hooked onto every word that they said. However, as fascinating as the story was, Jaune could tell that Athena was sensing that something was off. The woman wore an intrigued expression as the story went on, especially at the parts where the teens would sometimes falter. All the same though, Jaune clapped his hands together and gave a smile to his parents, who were staring at him and his team with widened eyes. "And that's pretty much the gist of what happened." he finished. "So, whaddya think?"
"What do I think?!" Jonathan went over and pulled his son into an over-the-shoulder hug. "I think that was tremendous! HAHA! To think that my son and his team took on the White Fang with their friends… and won!" The man raised a victorious fist into the air. "I say this calls for a celebration!"
Mary came over and gave Jaune a full-on hug. "Oh, I am so PROUD of you, honey!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and added; "I just wish that your sisters were here to see you come back. Then it'd be a VERY big hero moment."
Jaune couldn't help but blush. "Ah, I'm sure they'd find some way to heckle me about it. Heck knows that Blanche would."
Pyrrha, who was holding Romulus in her arms, rolled her eyes and nudged her boyfriend's side. "Oh, come now, Jaune. They wouldn't do that."
"Yeah!" Nora piped up as well. "They'd probably worship the ground you walked on if they learned you helped take down the White Fang!"
Jaune smiled back at the two of them. "Thanks, but compared to what you two and Penny did in facing off against Hazel, all I did was help out a little."
Off to the side, Penny chuckled sheepishly a bit. "Hehe, well, to be fair, Rex and I served to whittle him down. Really it was Kevin, Nora and Pyrrha who did a lot of the work."
But Jonathan simply waved his hand at that. "Ah, c'mon, you should give yourselves more credit!" The man gave them a big toothy grin and gestured to everyone in the front yard. "After all, everyone counted in this mission." As if he could sense uncertainty among them, Jonathan directed his gaze to a certain blue-haired boy. "Yes, even you, Neptune."
Neptune gave a surprised yelp and put his hands behind his head, glancing off to the side. "Y-Yeah, thanks." But in his mind, he couldn't help but think; 'Damn, he's good.'
Athena gave a nod and placed an arm on her daughter's shoulder, beaming to her with pride. "I couldn't agree more. My dear, you and your friends managed to pull off something that many thought impossible." She offered a wink down to her child. "I would say that's a good sign of your future."
"Thanks, mom." Pyrrha returned as she pet Romulus' head. "I'm just glad that this is all over, at least for now." The Invincible Girl gave out a yawn, which quickly passed through the whole group. "Besides, I'm ready for a bit of rest."
"I'm sure you are." Athena concurred before remembering something. She turned to the Arcs and asked; "Oh, Jonathan, Mary, didn't you two bring the… "you know what" we've been working on for the kids?"
The couple's eyes widened and Mary whipped around to her husband. "Oh, Jonathan, she's right!" She went over and began excitedly ushering her husband back toward their minivan. "They're still in the car, come on!"
As the two made their way to their car, everyone was curious as to what they were talking about, with Ren speaking their thoughts; "Athena, what's going on here?"
Jaune narrowed his eyes at the woman in suspicion. "Yeah… what's the big secret?"
Athena raised a reassuring hand. "All in due time, Jaune. But first, we need to discuss what else happened on Menagerie." The Mistralian Huntress gave them all a rather stern expression. "You mentioned Hazel's presence on the island, and I understand not going into detail because of Jon and Mary being here. But something tells me that there was more that you neglected to mention." She raised an eyebrow, keeping the pressure on. "What else happened there?"
The group of six teens shifted their eyes toward each other warily before Pyrrha let out a sigh, relenting to her mother's wishes. "Mom, there were actually a lot more of Salem's people on Menagerie at the time. Ben's crew were able to handle them… but then…" She had to take a breath to brace herself for what came next. "Gwen sensed an immense dark energy arrive on the island, and Hazel told us that it was Salem herself."
Athena gasped, a chill of fear going through her briefly. "What?!" she whispered harshly. "You actually saw Salem?!"
"Not us." Nora clarified. "But Ben and his crew DID. Ben tried to fend her off, but she just damaged Humungousaur's DNA for his troubles." She sent her gaze over to the hero, who was beginning to approach with the rest of the team as well as Tai and Max. "Now he can't even transform into Humungousaur until he gets the Omnitrix fixed."
Penny folded her arms, her eyes transfixed to the ground. "And what's more… Raven revealed to us that she has been the Spring Maiden all this time." The redheaded android glanced up to see Athena's jaw hanging slack, which was to be expected. "Yes, that was our reaction."
Athena placed a hand to her forehead. "By the gods. This… this is getting rather intense." She set her eyes onto Jaune and gave him a worried look. "Jaune, Salem's attacks will probably continue to grow more relentless from here. I'm beginning to think that we won't be able to keep this a secret from your parents for much longer."
Jaune pursed his lips in thought. Initially, he had wanted his parents to stay ignorant of Salem because he knew that they'd worry about him even more than they had before. He had wanted it to stay that way for at least a bit longer, but after seeing Yang's earlier fight with her mother, he wasn't so sure now. 'I don't want me and my family to come to that.' he thought to himself. 'It's time that everything be let out of the bag. If I'm going to ASK for more honesty from others, I had better start practicing what I preach.' Jaune directed his sights back onto Athena with a nod. "You're right. It's time I told my parents everything."
"So we're in agreement." Athena acknowledged. "First thing tomorrow, we'll tell them."
Neptune raised a brow at that. "Tomorrow? Why not tell 'em now?"
Athena wore a guilty face at the question. "I don't want to ruin the moment for them, especially with the gifts that they've brought."
Pyrrha blinked at the word her mother used. "Wait, gifts?!"
"That's right!" Jonathan announced as he and Mary returned with two large cases, both with swiveling wheels beneath them. On top of the cases were a bunch of smaller boxes, three on each one, all with colorful wrapping paper around them. The couple were rolling them up the driveway with the rest of the team behind them, all of them intrigued by what the two had brought with them. "And let me tell ya, they weren't easy to make!"
Jaune and Pyrrha were taken aback by what the man had just said. "W-Wait, dad, you MADE us gifts?!"
"For what reason?" Pyrrha furthered. "I mean, it can't be for our birthdays."
"Who says it can't be?" Mary countered. "After all, Jaune couldn't be home for his eighteenth birthday because he was at Beacon."
"And neither could you, my dear." Athena added. "So think of these as belated birthday gifts from the three of us."
Off to the side, Nora gave her friends a smirk and crossed her arms. "Man, you guys are pretty lucky, huh?"
But Jonathan was quick to raise a finger to her. "Ah-ah, don't think we've forgotten about you and Ren, Nora." He and his wife picked up the wrapped boxes and went over to the Pink Dynamo and green ninja, handing them off. "These ones are all from my husband and I to the both of you."
"WHAT?!" Nora exclaimed as she was given three boxes. "You can't be serious!"
"Jonathan, you didn't have to do this." Ren spoke up as he was given his own gifts.
"Oh, but we did." Mary insisted. "I know that my husband has said it multiple times before, but we want you both to feel welcome in our family." The brunette stepped forward and gave them both a hug. "Jaune told us about how hard both of your lives were before coming to Beacon, so I want to let you know that, if you find yourselves at any hard point in your lives, you can always come to us."
Ren and Nora both stood there, utterly stunned by the woman's kind words. All at once, they both quickly set down their gifts and returned her embrace, with Nora practically bawling her eyes out. "Th-Thank you, Mrs. A!" she cried. "You really didn't have to be this nice!"
"I know, but we wanted to." Mary assured. "Now c'mon, open your gifts!"
"Alright," Ren complied, "but I only wish that we could give the both of you something in return."
"Ah, no need!" Jonathan waved off. "You've already given our family plenty." He picked up one of Ren's boxes and handed it back to the green ninja. "Come on, aren't you the least bit excited for this? For the record though, I recommend unwrapping them all at once."
Ren sighed and took the box, with Nora picking up her own. The duo took the Arc patriarch's advice and unwrapped all of the gifts at once, revealing that they all appeared to be a bunch of clothing and footwear boxes. Their interest piqued, they both opened the first boxes they unwrapped, and their eyes lit up simultaneously. "Oh my word." Ren pulled out a new tailcoat that was similar to the one he was wearing now, only it had a somewhat higher collar, no sleeves, silver ornate trimming instead of gold, and it was in two shades of green instead of green and black. It appeared to be exactly his size as well. "This is…"
"NEW COMBAT GEAR!" Nora exclaimed as she pulled out a navy bomber jacket out of her first box. It had red lining along its inside along with two pink stripes along its poofy sleeves, which were very short and had pink cuffs on the end, complete with buckles. "This is so cool—AH!" She screamed with joy when she saw the back of the jacket. "They even put my EMBLEM on it!" She flipped the jacket around to show it off to everyone who were all enamored by it.
"Woah, that's so cool!" Sun exclaimed.
"And it's really sleek." Blake added, the cat girl carrying Rema in her arms.
Nora hugged the jacket close to her chest. "It's freaking AWESOME is what it is!" She directed her attention back to the Arcs. "How did you even GET all of this?!"
"Well, there's a place in town that specializes in specialty clothes, especially ones used by Huntsman and Huntresses." Mary explained. "I just had Athena send me over a few designs and I gave them to the people there to put on the clothing." She put a hand over her chest. "As for the clothes themselves, my girls and I picked them out ourselves. I think you'll find that they're quite "on the cutting edge" of Hunter fashion."
"This is incredible!" Nora ran forward and gave Mary another hug. "Thank you so, so, SO MUCH!"
"Haha! You're very welcome." Mary then saw that Ren was still looking over his new tailcoat, which caught her interest. "Is there anything wrong, Ren?"
"O-Oh, no, nothing at all." Ren stammered slightly. "It's just… it's been a while since I've received a gift like this."
Nora's face fell slightly at that. "Yeah, birthdays didn't exactly come easy for us on the road. It was only during the school year where we had our first BIG birthday bash."
Off to the side, Yang let out a laugh. "Ha, I remember that night! Talk about wild!"
Jaune rubbed his head as the memory came back. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Goodwitch remembers it too. We got in SO much troub—I mean, we had a good time!" The blonde knight had to quickly save his statement when his parents each gave him a questioning glance. "Hehe, anyway, moving on." He nudged Pyrrha and gestured over to the two large cases, which were marked with a "J" and "P" on their lids. "So, whaddya think's in these things? I mean, it can't be clothes, right?"
"I suppose there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Pyrrha stepped forward and unclasped the locks on her case's the lid, with Jaune doing the same with his. The couple slowly opened them up… and their jaws nearly fell to the ground.
Athena and Jonathan wore knowing smiles, with the former saying; "…Well? What do you think?"
"This… this is unbelievable!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she reached into the box. From it, she pulled out a brand-new breast plate, one that put her old one to shame in every aspect. It was an over bust armored corset that was made of a very sturdy and shiny bronze, complete with a pair of over-the-shoulder maroon leather straps that were attached to a set of matching pauldrons. What's more, the armor had fine red detailing on every piece of plating, though Pyrrha's eyes quickly caught sight of her Emblem having been etched into each of the pauldrons. "Is this ALL new armor?!"
"Holy crap!" Jaune reached into his own case and pulled out his own new breastplate, this one a being MUCH better than his current one. This breastplate was bigger and appeared to be able to cover more of his upper body, at least he assumed it would. It was pearly white with gold detailing, which matched Corcea Mors Mk. II almost exactly. The blonde knight was almost at a loss for words, as were the rest of the team as they ogled at the new armor. "How… how did you guys GET all of this?!"
Jonathan sent the two a wink. "Well… on Saturday, during Ruby's party, I met up with Festus Vulcan and we had a little chat. I told him that I wanted to you a new set of armor, and I asked if I could use his forge. I'm very glad he agreed because, let's face it son," Jonathan knocked his knuckle against Jaune's chest, "this thing is NOT the best thing to go into battle with. ESPECIALLY since you're not even covered up fully."
Jaune gave a shrug, his gaze going down toward his old armor as well. "Well, I can't blame you on that one."
It was then that Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "Wait… what about my armor then? And how did you get my measurements?"
"That was on my part, dear." Athena answered. "I heard Jonathan's idea and I practically jumped at the chance to forge your own." The woman prodded her daughter's bare shoulder. "After all, you aren't especially all that well covered for battle either, young lady. Some shoulder armor never hurt, right?"
Pyrrha pouted slightly, sensing an ulterior motive to her mother's gift. "Hmph, I suppose so."
Ruby zipped up and set her eyes upon the two pieces of armor, positively enamored by the craftsmanship. "Well, I gotta hand it to you guys, you and Mr. Vulcan really did a great job on them! I don't wear armor myself, but wow, this is some impressive quality!"
"You bet it is, Ruby." Jaune said as he went back to the case with the rest of his new armor. "And I can't wait to try this on!" He placed the chest plate back into the case and pulled his parents into an embrace. "Mom, dad, thank you SO much for this! This is probably one of the greatest gifts you guys have ever given me."
"Indeed." Pyrrha concurred as she pulled her mother into a side-hug. "Thank you for this grand gift."
"Ah, no problem, guys." Jonathan said as the hug ended. "Now, how about we all go inside? There's something that Max showed US that we've been eager to show YOU all."
"Oh yeah!" Tai called out before rushing back into the house. "We were just finishing up another episode before you guys arrived! C'mon!"
As everyone began filing in, with Team JNPR taking their new gear in with them, Ben couldn't help but be surprised by what the two blonde men were talking about. His grandfather had shown them a piece of Earth media? And they were excited about it? What could it have been? 'I mean, I only brought so many TV shows, movies and video games from our world, and there's not much that grandpa likes in there, so what IS it?' With that thought stirring in his head, Ben faced his grandfather with an injurious stare. "Uh… grandpa? What did you show them?"
Max chuckled and he ushered everyone to the living room as the group walked into the house, pointing to the TV as Tai grabbed the remote. "Hehe, well Ben, I decided to introduce them to an old Tennyson family tradition. And now that you and your friends are back, I think its time that THEY saw it as well." The old man gave Tai the okay. "Tai, if you would."
With a quick press of the play button, Tai complied with Max's request beginning the next episode of the show. By the first note of the opening music sting, both Ben and Gwen brightened up, their eagerness growing when they saw the great void of space and stars come onto the screen. "Grandpa, you didn't!" Gwen beamed with excitement
"If FORGOT we had this show with us!" Ben added with a laugh. "Haha! This is great!"
Yang raised a curious brow at her boyfriend. "Uh, what're you talking about Green Boy?"
However, before he could respond, an opening narration came from the television, with the music beginning to pick up as well; "Space… the final frontier." Right after it said that, a space ship came zooming from the distance before disappearing again, only for it to reappear in a fade-in transition as it flew by a red planet. "These are the voyages of the starship… Enterprise. It's five-year mission: to explore strange, new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before." With the Enterprise zooming past the screen once again, the opening theme played on, and the title of the show was finally revealed; "Star Trek".
As the opening credits went by, the whole team eagerly stared at the screen, with Yang smiling a little and giving a chuckle. "Alright, I'm in."
Everyone was quick to agree with her as they all took their seats, though by the end of it all, the living room was rather crowded. Ruby in particular took a seat by the window with Penny and Weiss, but the moment that she did, her eyes caught a glimpse of something out in the nearby tree. With the sky beginning to turn to dusk, it was a little hard to make out. But once she did, Ruby could tell that it could only be one thing; a raven. Her lips parted in surprise as she and the bird made eye-contact, only for it to fly off a moment later, leaving one of its feathers behind. '…Raven?'
…..
A/N (Please Read): Well, there you have it folks. I told you that there's be some heavy family drama, didn't I? A rift has now been formed between Raven and Yang over a great mistrust, and both of them are quite upset about it. Will Raven admit her shortcomings and try to make it up to her daughter? Will Yang be able to sort out her inner turmoil and work out her feelings toward her mother? The only way to be sure is to stay tuned and see what happens next. But hey, I'm willing to bet that you saw my little "test" that I did with Rojo, Emerald and Cinder. That's right, the implementation of music begins! Now, I want to hear your guys' feedback from this. Do you think I implemented it well? Tell me in the comments and I'll see if I can make some improvements if need be!
Of course, that's not ALL that happened with our villains. It seems that Salem's planning on doing something, and judging by the sound of it, it ain't good. On the brighter side of things though, Swift's got Velvet and Coco's favor and she's not stuck in her cell anymore! Sure, she can't leave the ship, but it's an improvement. What's even better is that, yes, Team JNPR are FINALLY getting their outfit changes! And yes, it's their Volume 4 through 6 clothes. I like JNR's Atlas outfits (despite Jaune's stupid coif), but they're definitely indicative of where they were made, and I don't think regular stores outside of Atlas would have those kinds of clothes. Plus, I made Pyrrha her own new armor! YAY! They're gonna start wearing their new outfits in the next chapter, so look forward to that. Also, the gang's been introduced to Star Trek! I admittedly wanted to focus on it a bit more in this chapter, but I decided to save it for the next chapter as well. Trust me, I'm not about to just gloss over something like Star Trek.
Alright, with all of that out of the way, NEXT TIME! As the next day comes, Ruby decides to take a jaunt into the woods to visit a very special place… only to find that a certain Spring Maiden is there as well. After Ruby returns home though, most of the gang head into town for a day of recreation, with Yang tagging along to get her mind off of what happened between her and her mother. But is everything as peaceful as it seems? Or will something come up and interrupt their day of fun? Thanks for reading guys and I'll see you all next time!
