Ruby let out a yawn, rubbing her eyes to try and shake off the drowsiness she felt. It wasn't only her. The rest of her team were present as well, all four of them garbed in their Huntress attire and carried their weapons.
Demon Hunting class wouldn't be officially implemented until next week, so Jaune decided to start their training the next day. Team RWBY had been woken up very early in the morning and was sent a text by the blond to be at Emerald Forest.
Thirty minutes in, and he still wasn't there.
"I'm going to wring his neck when for ruining our beauty sleep." mumbled Yang angrily, a tick mark growing on her forehead.
The others muttered some form of agreement as they continued to wait for him. Their eyes shot open as the sound of leaves rustling grabbed their attention. RWBY turned to that direction and saw Jaune approach them. A sigh of relief escaped their lips while Yang chose to voice out their irritation.
"What's the big deal, making us wake up at five in the morning and show up late, huh?!"
He didn't respond, his expression remaining blank. Yang was about to shout at him some more, until Blake stopped her. The cat Faunus felt a bit unnerved that Jaune hasn't said anything at all, continuing to stalk up to them.
"Um, Jaune? I-is there something wrong?" asked Ruby.
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The Devil Hunter drew out Red Queen and simply kept on walking towards them without a word. All four of them grew apprehensive, their hands hovering over their weapons as they tried to decide on what to do.
"I think we should run..." suggested Weiss.
Ruby and Blake were all for it, but Yang was having none of it.
"Screw that, come on, we can take him!" she proclaimed, firing off two kinetic blasts.
Jaune deflected both shots towards to some unfortunate trees, his blade exploding with a flourish of flame as courtesy of a Max-Act, serving to intimidate them. The blond blinked his eyes turned blood red. Yang took a step back and decided to maybe agree with Weiss's decision.
"On second thought? Yeah, let's run."
The four ladies turned and broke off into a sprint. Jaune slowly picked up the pace and started running after them. Ruby sliced up some trees with Crescent Rose, creating some road block for their hunter. Yang followed her sister's idea, blasting down some branches as they pass by them.
The cambion uttered no sound as he navigated through the fallen trunks with ease, performing a few flips and tricks while he did so. He slowly gained in on team RWBY, increasing his speed. Ruby yelped in surprised, seeing him so close.
"I don't think we can outrun him." Planting down her foot, she came to a stop and brandished her scythe. "Then we should fight him head on!"
With a war cry, Ruby charged in at the blond and attacked, fiercely swinging around her weapon. Jaune grunted and blocked each of her strikes. He slid back to dodged one of her attacks and launched his own with an EX Shuffle attack, slashing at her with two powerful blows. Dashing forward, he delivered an EX Streak attack, sweeping her off her feet and right into a tree.
The campion flipped to the side, dodging a kinetic blast. Yang jumped at him and peppered with more shots. He danced around the projectiles, staring at her with no expression. This infuriated the blonde and she engaged him a close combat.
Jaune kept on parrying her attacks and struck back when the opportunity presented itself. He rolled to the side, dodging her ground pound. Raising his blade, he defended himself against a Superman punch. The Arc Devil tripped her off-balance and smacked her away, smashing the blonde into a tree.
Looking forward, Weiss zipped forward for a lunging strike. Shaking his head, he deflected her strike and showed her a real lunging strike. Roaring loudly, he Stingered her and launched her across the forest. From behind, Blake tried to go for a surprise attack, but was blocked and sent flying with a palm strike.
Team RWBY groaned as Jaune planted down Red Queen into the ground, leaning into it with a bored expression.
"We're not gonna beat him one-on-one." realized Ruby. Her eyes lit up, getting an idea. "Let's try out our team attacks!"
Pushing themselves up, the other three nodded and got themselves ready. However, Jaune rushed in and didn't give them the chance. Ruby yelped and raised Crescent Rose, locking blades with him. Weiss and Blake charged in for a sneak attack.
The Son of Vergil disarmed the young girl and dragged her around, putting her up front to take her teammates' attacks. Ruby cried out in pain as their blades struck her body, surprising Blake and Weiss.
Tossing aside the Rosette, Jaune capitalized on the opportunity and delivered two savage blows to their stomach, before spinning around in a 360 arc and used the momentum to send them flying.
Yang practically zipped to him in anger, Semblance active. She cocked back her hand and threw a punch. Jaune caught her hand, pushing him back by a considerable amount but he kept himself planted.
Grabbing her by the waist, Jaune performed three rolling suplexes onto the blonde and ascended into the air, harshly piledriving her into the ground.
Looking around, he spotted Weiss recovering and dashed forward for a Stinger stab. The Schnee Heiress materialized a Glyph to defend herself, but Jaune had other plans. He skid to a stop and switched to a Million Stabs, rapidly striking the Glyph. Weiss struggled to keep it up, very surprised that it was being chipped through.
With one last plunge, Jaune broke through her defenses and knocked her out. A few shots barely missed him, courtesy of Blake, who hid somewhere in the bushes. Lifting up his sword, he exerted some of his energy into Red Queen and flung it at the cat Faunus like a boomerang.
The Belladonna's eyes widened in pure surprise and turned Gambol Shroud back into its blade form, blocking against the sword coming right at her like a boomerang. She was pushed back, causing her to stumble. But, she managed to hold her ground and stop it, lodging it into a tree.
"Nice one, Blake!" called out her partner, pushing herself off the ground. "Without his sword, we might stand a-" Yang immediately ducked for cover at the sound of Blue Rose going off, hiding behind a tree. "Okay, seriously! Are we sure that thing's not a hand cannon?!"
Blake shielded her eyes from the splinters that scattered, the tree that they were hiding in slowly being reduced to nothing. "Well, it does pack quite a lot of power."
The two of them jumped out of their hiding spot and rained fire upon on Jaune. The Devil Hunter stopped shooting, bobbing and weaving around their attacks.
Ruby groaned, rubbing her head as she got up. She shook it off and grabbed her scythe, seeing Yang and Blake fighting against JNPR's leader, fending off their attacks with ease. She couldn't help but wonder just how strong their friend really was.
Patting her face, she tried to focus back at the task at hand. The Rose Reaper charged back into the fray, swinging at the blond. Jaune curved around the slashes and kicked himself up with Blake's body, lining up his shots at the young girl.
Ruby twirled around Crescent Rose, blocking the shots and returned fire. To their surprise, Jaune summoned a Glyph below him to ascend higher into the sky. His hand crackled with energy, unseen by the four. Gripping Blue Rose tightly, he pulled the trigger and fired off a Charged Shot.
The team leader almost didn't see it coming and dodged at the very last second. Jaune Tricked down, the four of them charging at him in all directions. A small smirk encompassed his lips as his eyes narrowed and RWBY just ceased moving.
He Tricked to the tree where Red Queen was embedded and ripped it out. Brandishing his sword, it hummed with demonic energy, ready to be used. Jaune released his hold on the time bubble, unleashing the Overdrive shockwave.
When time resumed for the girls, they were very confused as Jaune disappeared from their sight.
"Huh?!"
"What the-!"
"Where did he go?!"
Blake saw the incoming blade of energy, but was too late to warn her teammates. The attack struck and it steadily chipped at their Aura before it exploded and sending them crashing right in a tree. Ruby and Blake's Aura shimmered but didn't break, however, the same couldn't be said for Yang and Weiss..
Despite it all, Ruby pushed herself up and tightly gripped her weapon, still determined to fight. Jaune smirked at the little Reaper and leapt for a homing revolution strike.
Ruby blocked his attack and pushed him off, firing out a few shots at the blond. Jaune shot them down with his own. Brandishing his blade, he charged forward with a roar and engaged in a clash with her. The two team leaders traded blows, Ruby doing her absolute best to keep up with him as sparks flew across her face.
The Rosette flashes a cheeky smirk at the blond and pulled back, Blake joining in on the attack, taking him by slight surprise. The two went on the offensive and continuously barraged Jaune.
The cambion easily defended himself against them, continuing on wielding his sword with just one hand. He parried both of their attacks, mockingly wagging his finger at the two before disarming and batted them away.
Groaning loudly, their Aura broke, leaving them vulnerable to any sort of deadly attack. Jaune pointed his gun at them, before holstering it away with a satisfying spin.
"That concludes the first class." he said.
"Excuse me?!"
Weiss and Yang dragged themselves towards the others, a glare on the Schnee Heiress' face.
"Yeah, I agree with Weiss-cream. What do you mean 'first class'?!"
Jaune sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Maybe he took it a little bit too far with the act. "Demons comes in all form of sizes and shapes. Could look like a skeletal dog on fire. A burlap sack possessed by insects. A sword that acts like a shark. Or even us... Human and Faunus. Like what Lady said, you need to always be on your guard. Had I been a demon, you four wouldn't be standing right now. Demons can pop out any time, anywhere. You need to be ready. This was just to see if you guys can handle the training."
All four of them felt themselves shrink. That was just a taste of what's the come?!
"This is gonna suck..." muttered Yang, the others sagging in agreement.
"Well, I've been doing this kind of stuff since I was about nine. And this is to help you guys get ahead for the actual class. Don't worry about it so much... That's it for now. Ren will send you guys some material to read through later. Get some rest."
RWBY dragged themselves back to their dorm room. Classes had finally ended, and they were most grateful for Pyrrha, who had given them Vital Stars. It was 4pm and they intend to head off to find out what Torchwick and the White Fang were planning.
They would've asked team JNPR for help, but they had a team hangout planned, so they didn't want to disturb. So, it'll be just four of them... And it most definitely had nothing to do with their prides having been broken earlier. Nope, not at all.
"So! You guys remember the plan?" asked Ruby.
"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem." Weiss said with a slightly smug tone.
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to to hand out eoswrs and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning." supplied Blake.
"Let's say Jaune and I have a mutual info broker. Hopefully, he should have some useful info regarding Torchwick." Yang smiled at her sister.
Ruby nodded, brimming with excitement. "Alright! Let's meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found. Let's do this!"
"Yeah!"
The four ladies blinked. They turned to their window and saw Sun hanging upside down with his tail, smiling at them. The whole team took a step back in surprise.
"Sun!" spoke out Blake, alarmed.
"How did you get up here?" Yang asked in curiosity.
"I am a monkey Faunus, I kind of have experience climbing stuff. That, and this tree helped a lot." he answered.
Sun let go and flipped into the dorm room, revealing the large tree that he used to climb up on. Ruby titled her head in confusion, having not notice that there was a tree by their window.
"So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?" he asked.
"Sorry, Sun but we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to." Ruby stepped up, reasoning with the blond.
"Psh, that's dumb! We should always get our friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune." he said, pointing his thumb at the window.
The girls leaned out of the window to see the aforementioned male standing against the wall. He waved to them in greeting, before slightly losing his composure, asking to be let in because of how high up it was.
With two new people, they were forced to slightly modify their plans. "Alright, I'm still going with Weiss. Sun, you go with Blake, and Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. That okay?"
No one had such complaints and they went off to their designated areas.
Ruby and Weiss walked up to the Transmit Tower, the former looking at it in awe, since she's forgotten how big it exactly was. As they were about to enter when Ruby saw someone familiar out of the corner of her eyes.
"Hey, is that Penny?" she muttered to herself.
The Rosette ran towards the ginger-haired girl, calling out to her. Penny froze up and started running away, leading to Ruby to chase after her. Weiss watched this, dumbfounded that her partner just left her.
The Schnee Heiress sighed and walked into the tower. Guess she'll have to make the call by herself.
"Penny, wait!" shouted at her friend, continuing to chase after her, descending on a flight of steps. "Where have you been? It's been weeks!"
"There...seems to be a misunderstanding." she responded forcefully, just keeping on walking at a brisk pace.
Luckily, the team leader managed to keep up with her because of the sudden red light. "Penny, please! I'm worried about you. Look, the guys we fought at the docks, we think they may have something big planned, and you just disappeared! Can't you tell me what happened? I'm your friend, aren't I?"
Penny remained silent, glancing around the crowds of people until the stop light turned green. She leaned in to Ruby's ears to whisper something.
"It isn't safe to talk here."
Ruby didn't know what she exactly meant, but gave a nod. The two of them crossed the sidewalk and ventured through the alleyway. To their fortune, there wasn't any people lurking around.
"I wish I could help you, but I really don't know any thing about those men." answered Penny.
"Well, what happened to you that night? One moment you were there, then blam! You're gone. Did you get kidnapped?"
"Oh, no! Nothing like that." she assured her friend. "It's just that, I've never been to another kingdom before, and my father worries about me very much.
Ruby lightly chuckled, reminded of her own dad. "Yeah, I know that feeling. But, why did you run away?
Penny looked down. "I...was told not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Yang. Or anybody, really."
The two of them turned a corner with Ruby about to ask another thing, however the sound of a megaphone caught their attention. There, at the plaza, they saw Ironwood projected through a hologram, and some AK-130s standing behind him with equal numbered cases before them.
"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?"
The gathered audience clapped in agreement, causing the drones to take a jerky bow.
"But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!"
The doors to the cases roll up, and six new, bulkier, shinier automatons stand at attention, knocking down their obsolete predecessors, bringing applause to the watchers.
"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary. These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone!" Ironwood stopped for dramatic effect, before continuing. "Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch."
Oddly, this brought nervousness to Penny, as Ruby stared at the presentation with bright eyes.
" So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... the Atlesian Paladin!"
Ironwood's image was replaced with the hologram of a robotic white behemoth, featuring hinged piston legs, large guns for hands, and a rectangular head, standing at least twice as tall as the Knights below it.
Ironwood voiced disappointment how they couldn't have them for today, but assured the people they'll be up and ready to defend by the year.
Penny was about to suggest they go somewhere else, when two soldiers by the stage spotted them. One of them pointed at her, while the other seemed to call for back up.
The orange-haired girl booked it, leaving behind Ruby. This snapped her out of her stupor. She saw the soldiers and quickly followed after her, managing to catch up with the eccentric girl.
Ruby used her scythe to slice down the support of a stack of crates, buying them some time as it blocked the path. Seeing an opportunity, she grabbed hold of Penny rocketed and away, disappearing in a flash of rose petals.
Unfortunately, she had underestimated how heavy her friend was, and couldn't handle the strain. It caused her to collapse and fall onto the middle of the street while Penny dropped onto the pavement.
The Rosette slowly pushed herself up, feeling dazed. With her current state, she didn't notice the truck that came from behind at high speeds. The driver tried honking to get her attention but it was far too late.
Penny ran right in front of the car and held out both arms. The truck made contact, and she stopped the vehicle, lifting it up slightly with her surprising strength, the road beneath her crumbling into pieces.
"Are you alright?" Penny asked the driver, whom gave her a nod, amazed.
She slowly put down the truck and saw Ruby's startled and frightened expression. The nearby civilians murmured, clearly talking about what just happened. Penny backed away and resumed running away.
Ruby shook herself out of it and followed after her into an alleyway.
"Wait! Penny! Please! What is going on?! Why are you running? How did you do that?!
Penny looked absolutely nervous almost shaking." I-I can't! Everything's fine! I-I don't want to talk about it!"
She hiccuped for each of her lies. Ruby looked concerned, almost beggingly. "Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!'
Penny shook her head, stepping back from Ruby." No! No, no! You wouldn't understand..."
"Let me try!" she insisted. "You can trust me!"
The eccentric girl seemed to finally relent, coming up to her face desperately. "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?!"
Ruby nodded, speaking in a soft tone. "I promise."
Penny went silent for a second, before she finally revealed what it was that plagued her. "Ruby... I'm not a real girl."
She opened up her palms, revealing that parts of its skin had been torn off, revealing metal underneath. Ruby looked absolutely confused.
"I-I don't understand..."
"Most girls are born, but I was made." Penny explained, her tone laced with sadness. "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura. I'm not real..."
Ruby almost immediately took her hand, reassuring her. "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"
"I don't... um... You're... taking this extraordinarily well." she admitted, a bit surprised.
"You're not like those things we saw back there." Ruby tapped her chest, smiling. "You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!"
"Ooohh... oh Ruby! You're the best friend anyone could have!"
Penny was excited and happy, pulling in the Rosette for a very tight hug, shaking her back and forth.
Yang pressed the breaks on her bike, bringing it to a screeching halt. She took off her helmet, shaking her head lightly to let her hair loose. The blonde gestured to a familiar club, music blaring.
"Come on, the guy's right in there."
She disembarked from her bike to reveal Neptune's face etched into a petrified expression, his hair a mess. He shook his head, composing himself. Sun's partner looked around a bit worriedly.
"Where exactly is...here?"
Junior manned his bar, as usual, watching the ongoing clubbers party out, enjoying the night while it was young. One of his men approached him and leaned in to whisper something.
"Sir, she's back. The you-know-who?"
The club owner sighed, trying to fit away the migraine. "Where is she now?"
"Over there."
The goon pointed to one of the stalls, and Yang was there. But, she was a far cry from years ago. She sat patiently and silently, chatting with her companion. Junior cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise, got off from the bar.
"Stay here, and watch over."
The guy saluted as Junior walked off to go and approach the blonde, beckoning for a few of his men to go and back him up.
Back with Neptune and Yang, the two were looking around the club, trying to spot Junior. But, considering how tightly packed the place was, it was harder than it looks.
"Feels kind of cliché to meet an informant in a club, don't ya think?" commented Neptune.
"It is, but hey. It works, and probably great for business."
"Uh, Yang? I think I found him." called out Neptune. He pointed towards the group of guards following Junior, who calmly walked up to their table. And all of them were visibly armed.
"Blondie, you're here. Why?"
Yang stared at the former criminal for a few short moment before sighing. "I'm here, partly to apologize, and ask for some information. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have done what I did years ago, and I'm sorry I thrashed your club and crushed your balls. Nero and I buried the hatchet-"
Junior held up his hand, stopping her. He sat at the opposite side and snapped his fingers, telling his men to get them some drinks. The rehabilitated man looked back at Yang and asked her a simple question.
"What kind of information are you looking for, exactly?"
Blake traced her fingers over three scratch marks on a wall, peeking around its corner and saw a pair of horned Faunus being ushered into a building. Pulling back, she nodded at Sun.
"This is it."
The blond seemed skeptical and Blake glared at him before going towards the entrance and taking off her bow. Sun shrugged and decides just to roll with it.
The two walked inside the building to a hallway filled with cases, seeing another Fang grunt directing the new recruits. The monkey held up the Grimm mask that was handed to him with slight confusion.
"I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol." Blake answered. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters. Originally, they were supposed to resemble demons, but the higher ups thought that even that was too much."
The Belladonna put on the mask, with Sun following suit. They surrounded themselves with the new recruits. Compared to the amount of White Fang soldiers, they severely outnumbered them. The line stopped, when one of the lieutenants stepped up to the stage.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"
And that was the cue for Torchwick to step into the light. Immediately, most of the new recruits booed at the crime boss, who took it all in stride, being followed by an associate of his, themed after Neopolitan ice cream.
"Thank you, thank you! Hold your applause."
"What's a human doing here?" pointed out the female antler Faunus.
"I'm glad you asked, "Deerie"! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
"Is he going somewhere with this?" Sun asked to Blake, who just stared attentively.
Roman then continued on. "But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!"
His word slowly swayed the crowd, most of them agreeing with him.
"Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!" He paused, smirking at the jeers turning into cheers. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."
With a snap of his fingers, his associate dropped the curtain behind him, revealing the Atlesian Paladin that Ironwood showcased earlier. The Faunus were now all cheers, while Blake and Sun stared at the mecha in shock.
Roman walked up to the giant robot, tapping it. "As some of you may have heard, this right here...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves' ."
Torchwick looked at all them in the eye with a serious expression, slowly pacing around as his speech went on.
"Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"
A smile graced his lips, the new recruits loudly applauding. Any hostile reaction they had were swept under the rug. Blake and Sun decided it was time to escape, however, the line they were began to move forward, putting them in a predicament.
The Crime Boss smoked a cigar, leaning against the Paladin before he seemed to zero in on the two students.
"He sees us!" whispered Sun, who could only try to play it off by smiling and waving.
This completely tipped off Roman. He flicked away his cigar in anger and slowly approached them. Blake's eyes spotted a junction box and a plan came to mind.
"He can't see in the dark."
Drawing Gambol Shroud, Blake shifted it into its pistol form and shot the box, shutting off the lights in the entire building, giving them a window for escape...which would turn literally.
"Sun! The window!"
"Don't let them get away! Stop them!"
The two of them crashed through the window and start running across the roof tops, until the my heard the sounds of the Atlesian Paladin activating as it promptly crashed through the wall and ran off in pursuit of the two.
Blake and Sun kept on free running on the roof, performing a few tricks and flips as they did so.
"So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!"
Blake nodded, grabbing her Scroll and dialed her teammates as she continued to retreat from Torchwick.
Weiss stepped away from the Transmit Tower when she received Blake's call.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"
"HEEEELLLLP!" unintentionally cut in Sun.
Weiss rolled her eyes and started heading towards the coordinates, a small smile on her face.
For some odd reason, Ruby was beside a boarded up dumpster as she listened in on the call with an excited expression.
"Big robot! And it's big, really big!"
Yang and Neptune were dismayed. Junior had nothing in Torchwick, but at least they got a free drink on the house. The two boarded the blonde's motorcycle as Sun kept on.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"
"Where are you guys?"
As if on cue, Blake and Sun ran through the street behind them, the Atlesian Paladin still in hot pursuit. The latter saw them and waved his arms.
"HURRRRRY!"
Yang wasted no time, putting away her Scroll and circled around her bike, alarming Neptune as she chased after the large mecha.
Blake and Sun somehow managed to get to the highways, jumping down into the busy street and continued their escape, escape hopping from car to car. The Paladin followed pushing the vechiles out of its path, causing Sun to pause before jumping onto another car before Torchwick could reach him.
Yang and Neptune were able to keep up with the mecha, driving by it as continued to chase after the two Faunus.
"We've gotta slow it down!" voiced out Yang.
Neptune nodded, reaching for his gun. However, Roman noticed the pair on his sensors and purposefully crashed into a number of cars, sending them flying towards his pursuers.
The Blonde Bombshell tightly gripped the handles, telling Neptune to hold on. Yang swerved and leaned her bike to the side a posing the cars that crashed at them while Neptune flailed around. Luckily, he managed to compose himself and grab his weapon. The Haven student took aim as it sparked, firing several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Roman to grimace from the force of the attacks.
Switching tactics, Neptune flipped his gun and it turned into a trident-like form. He jumped off from Yang's bike then jammed it into the mech suit. Sun and Blake paused in their car-hopping to look back, the former shouting out to his partner.
"Neptune, hang on!"
He tried his best, but the mech kept on bucking and swaying around. Sun focused and slammed his palms together, using his Semblance. He created two golden Aura outlines of himself, which both collided with the Paladin's front. They exploded into blinding light, letting Sun go forward with his gun-chucks held high.
Torchwick grunted managed to get Neptune off of him and knocked the blue-haired student into his leader, sending both of them off the highway. Blake saw this from her spot, and heard Weiss's voice from her Scroll.
"Blake, I'm in position!"
The Schnee Heiress twirled over a highway and landed right in the middle of the road. She held up Myrtenaster as the criminal came into view. Torchwick grinned and charged forward, intending on making her a smear in the ground.
Weiss smirked and plunged her rapier into the road, casting a Glyph that spread the ice across the pavement, causing the Paladain to slip and crash. It actually flew over the students, falling off of the highway and right in front of Ruby, who stood at the ready with Crescent Rose out in its scythe form.
The giant mecha stood back as the rest of Team RWBY fell behind their leader. Torchwick chuckled and slowly moved towards the girls.
"Freezerburn!" ordered Ruby.
Her and Blake jumped out of the way as Weiss performed the same ice-circle trick. She moved out of Yang's way as she jumped into the air and blasted the center with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that blinded Roman.
He activated the Paladin's its laser sensors to look around, scanning his surroundings. Grunting in irritation, he fired off its gun, narrowly missing the girls and almost struck Blake and Yang. Ruby emerged from out of the blast and slashed at the giant robot, giving out her next order.
"Checkmate!"
Blake and Weiss charged forward and struck at its legs. The latter jumped up and stabbed one of the sensors, before hopping off a Glyph. Torchwick growled and moved to crush Blake with the Paladin's foot, but had been launched back by another Glyph that materialized below.
The dapper criminal grew annoyed and fired off the missiles. However, both Huntresses managed to avoid each and everyone, Blake with her natural flexibility and agility while Weiss enhanced herself with her Glyph.
Unfortunately, she jumped a bit too high, giving Roman a clear shot and fired off a double energy blast, knocking her back. Weiss cast a yellow Glyph under Blake before she was fully thrown away.
The cat Faunus slowly stood up, feeling herself lighter and faster. Tightly gripping Gambol Shroud, Blake released a flurry of energy slashes at the remaining missiles in super speed, slicing them to bits, causing them to explode.
"Ladybug!" called put Ruby, running back into the fray.
She shot herself forward and struck the robot's legs, Blake redirecting herself to follow suit. They dashed forward circled around the Paladin, striking its legs with each passing, bringing confusion to Roman. Roman. The two of them launched themselves into the air and sliced off the elft arm as they descended.
With it distracted, Yang jumped onto the mecha and started pummeling it, powered up with her shotgun blasts. This knocked around Roman in the cockpit. He narrowed his eyes. He couldn't quite reach her with the remaining arm but he already had a better idea in mind.
Pulling down the levers, he dashed backward through two columns and embedded Yang right into a third one. The criminal backed up the Paladin and spun it around, extending its fist and punched through it.
"Yang!" worriedly called out Blake, when her partner didn't seem to move.
"Don't worry!" Ruby assures her teammate. "Remember her Semblance. With every hit, she gets stronger and uses the energy to fight back!"
Slowly, Yang got up onto her feet, a large grin on her face as her golden locks burned a brilliant white. Torchwick threw another punch, but found it caught by Yang, the ground beneath her cracking under pressure. Eyes red, grinning wildly, she smashed the last arm and obliterated it.
The Crime Boss grew desperate and kicked her over teammates. However.
"Bumblebee!"
Blake threw Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch. With the provided momentum, she used it to to swing around her partner for a final hit. However, Roman dodged it by jumping back.
Ruby realized something. "We have to slow it down!"
"And how do you propose we do that?" posed Weiss.
The Rosette smirked, nodding at her partner. "Ice Flower!"
The two of them twirled around their weapons and pointed them at the Paladin. Weiss cast a series of Glyphs in front of Ruby's sniper, powering up the weapon. With a pull of a trigger, dazzling spiral energy burst through and created large icicles on the mecha as it struck.
Ruby kept on shooting covering the Paladin in ice, freezing it in place. Blake kept on swinging her partner to build up more momentum, Yang blasting herself up with Emeber Celica to help. With one last round, she punched the giant robot and it crashed into broken parts.
Roman grunted in annoyance, a bit dazed from the attack. The ginger-haired dapper man pushed himself off as he brushed off the dust on his clothes.
"Just got this thing cleaned..." he complained.
With him distracted and defenseless, Yang fired off another blast, still powered up by her Semblance. At the very last second, his cohort from earlier dropped down and opened up her parasol, blocking the attack. She stared at the girls with her heterochromic eyes, smirking as she hung her weapon on her shoulder. Torchwick nodded at his partner and addressed the victors.
"Ladies. Ice Queen..."
"Hey!" indignantly shouted Weiss, offended.
"Always a pleasure." he mockingly continued. "Neo, if you would."
Neo gave them a graceful but mocking bow. Yang, however, was having none of it. She charged forward and struck the outlaws...only for them to suddenly shatter like glass. She looked up and saw an escaping Bullhead with the two on board. The rest ran up to her side and watched as the criminals disappeared.
"Well...guess he got a new henchman."
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" joked Weiss.
The Schnee Heiress had a cheeky smile on her face when she said that. Ruby giggled, Blake walked away while Yang just shook her head at the attempt.
"No. Just... no."
"What- But, you do it!" she complained.
"There's a time and a place for jokes."
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang said as she followed after her partner.
Weiss huffed in indignation but walked with them still. On top of one of the highways, team JNPR and Lady watched as the girls discussed among themselves while they got back on the road.
"I guess I see why you've taken such an interest in them." spoke up Lady. "They got potential, I'll give you that."
"Yep." said Jaune. "They're a cut above the rest of the first years. Just a bit more grinding and polishing, and they can shine even brighter."
Lady nodded at that. A smirk crossed the Walking Arsenal's lips, getting on her bike. "This is gonna be an interesting job."
"Don't we know it."
Jaune got onto his, with Pyrrha riding back, the same for Ren and Nora. The three of the revved their motorcycles a bit, building up some speed as they put in their helmets.
"We can talk some more at this noodle place that Luna and I found. Trust me, it's really good, and cheap too."
Omake: Cranky Over Caramel Chocolate
Team JNPR was greeted with the cold breeze of the convenience store's air condition, their leader looking a tad bit peeved.
"Guys, you know you don't have to come with. I can find Chocramel Bites by myself. We'll just meet back at the park."
Pyrrha shook her head. "We don't mind Jaune. It's still a bit early. We can grab some snacks while we're here."
"The pantry back at our dorm is getting a bit empty." voiced out Ren.
"Seriously. How weird is it that we went through twelve straight stores and none of them had any Chocramel Bites." pointed out Nora.
Jaune grumbled under his breath at how right she was. It was incredibly ridiculous. He hasn't had any of his favorite snack in a month, and he wanted one. Now. The four of them dispersed to different aisles to get what they wanted.
Ren went to the canned goods section. Pyrrha approached the food aisle. Nora went to grab drinks. And Jaune looked around the snack section.
The blond grumbled, eyeing every product as he tried to find his favorite brand of candy. He mildly noted the door open and glanced over to see a human walk in. Didn't seem suspicious, though he looked a bit nervous. Nonetheless, he ignored him and went back to scouring.
His eyes lit up in child-like glee when he spotted the familiar packaging. And there was only one left of it too!
"Score." he grinned.
He snatched it out of the shelf and went to the counter, placing down the snack. The owner, an old man, who also manned the counter, gave the blond a curt nod as he went to scan the product.
"Is that all, young man? Need anything else?"
Jaune shot him a smile. "Nah. I'm just waiting on my friends. They're grabbing some stuff too. Thanks for ask-" He paused, feeling something poke his head, looking over to see a gun being pressed against him. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Move it, kiddo!"
The criminal shoved aside Jaune. Well, more like nudged him to the side, irritation crawling up to mask his face.
"And you, old man! Fill this up!"
The robber drew up a case and slammed it onto the counter. Jaune felt something snap, hearing the sounds of his snack being pulverized underneath the damned thing.
The idiot trying to rob a convenience store in broad daylight turned back to Jaune, keeping his gun trained at the owner.
"Don't move, or I'll shoot!"
"Come on, son, you don't want to do this." pleaded the old man, trying to dissuade him. "This isn't worth it. Just put away the gun and leave, please."
"Put a sock on it, old timer!" yelled the robber. "Empty the damned register, or I'm shooting this fucking pretty boy!"
Jaune kept his cool, telling himself not to bother. His friends had probably been alerted and were already contacting the cops.
"Son, don't!"
"Then go ahead and do it, gramps! Or I'm shooting this damned twink!"
Third strike, and he's out. He'd been peeved about discovering that there weren't any of his snack in the previous stores. He's cranky that all his efforts were for naught when his snacks were crushed. And now he's livid because the robber pretty much just called him gay.
"I...went through twelve other stores to look for that brand of chocolate. I was lucky that this store had one left ...and you just crushed it!"
"Are you blind or something? I have a gun!"
Jaune scoffed. "Oh I'm so scared."
The robber growled in anger and went to pull the trigger. The cambion snatched the gun out of his hand and field strips it. Before the man could even react, he used the disassembled parts and beat him into submission. For good measure, he lifted him up and threw him through the window.
Slowly, the anger in him melted away as his friends came to the counter, Pyrrha holding her Scroll.
"Police are on their way." She placed a hand on his shoulders, giving him a comforting pat. "I'm sorry, Jaune."
"It's fine." he sighed. He turned to the owner with an apologetic look. "Sorry about the window."
"Son, you just saved my life, and my only source of income. A window is nothing compared to that. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
The blond could only stare sad and longingly at the crushed pack of Chocramel Bites, giving the owner an idea. He excuses himself for a moment before coming back with an entire box filed with the packs.
"Here. It's all yours. And the rest of your purchases are on the house too."
Team JNPR looked at the owner in shock. "What? Sir, this isn't-"
"It's the least I can do." he insisted. "Like I said, you saved my life, and my only livelihood."
Jaune looked hesitant to accept. Looking at his friends, they smiled, urging him to take it. The blond shook his head, chuckling under his breath.
The team walked out of the store, carrying their purchases as they saw the robber be shoved into the cop's cruiser. They're definitely going to mark that convenience store as their go-to one whenever they needed something.
The omake is based on a fic in AO3 titled 'Human Concerns'. After I saw it, I just couldn't help myself.
This took longer than expected. I was pretty bummed out by some personal news, until I managed to get a jump on my step and finish this chapter. I really should stop writing chapters this long...
Nothing else to really add in this A/N. As always, review if you have any sort of questions. Keep yourself safe and sanitized.
Peace out.