With a loud roar, Pyrrha slammed Cardin onto the ground harshly, causing a buzzer to go off. It was Combat Class and she had just fought team CRDL 4v1. It was honestly pathetic how easy she beat them.
Goodwitch sauntered over to the arena, announcing the end of the match. Cardin groaned, mumbling how she got a lucky shot in before falling unconscious, his teammates dragging him out of the ring.
"Excellent performance, Ms. Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."
Pyrrha bowed, thanking her professor. Goodwitch turned back to the class, stating that there was more time for one last sparring match. Her eyes fell onto Blake, who wasn't even paying attention and seemed to be more interested in her book.
"Ms. Belladonna?" Upon hearing her name, she slammed her book shut and stared at her teacher wide-eyed. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you..."
"I'll do it." volunteered someone.
Goodwitch turned to the left and saw Mercury raise his hand. Adjusting her glasses, she nodded.
"Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent."
"Actually," cut in Mercury, pointing right at Pyrrha. "I wanna fight her."
The redhead cocked an eyebrow, but remained silent. Goodwitch shook her head, recommending the gray-haired boy to pick another fight since Pyrrha had just recently fought.
"No, it's fine, Professor." insisted the Hoplite, twirling around her weapons in anticipation. "I'd be happy to oblige."
Mercury stepped down from the stands and walked into the arena. The two sized up each other, waiting for one to make a move. Mercury charged forward and went for a kick. Pyrrha blocked the attack and swept his other leg.
He fell into his back but quickly recovered into a hand-spring. Pyrrha initiated the second attack, tossing her shield at him. Mercury spin kicked it away, and barely defended himself against Pyrrha's leaping overhead slash. He managed to get the upper hand, barraging the redhead with a flurry of kicks.
The Invincible Girl blocked his attacks, all coming out at a rather fast pace. She saw an opening and deflected one of his kicks, leading up to a roundhouse kick, pushing him back.
Mercury planted down his foot, skidding to a stop. He tilted his head, a bit impressed at the girl's skills. Jumping into the air, he descended down with a spin, for a dive kick. Pyrrha flipped back to dodge, landing near her shield.
The gray-haired male grunted and kicked, cocking his weapon - gun-boots. He unleashed a series of kicks, shooting out silver blasts at at redhead. Pyrrha blocked the first few with her shield before weaving around the remaining shots.
He dashed in and constantly attacked her with kicks. However, she managed to block each one with her shield with continued effort. Moving to relatiate, Pyrrha turned her javelin into its xiphos form and struck.
She batted away his kicks, the two of them trading blows. Once more, Mercury managed to get the upper hand and kicked the shield from off her grasp. He went in for a second attack, only to find himself spinning around with a stumble. Before he could realize what was going on, Pyrrha retrieved her shield and flung it towards his head, making it bounce. Kicking herself up, she spun around mid-air and kicked it back, slamming it into his chest.
Mercury rolled and righted himself into a kneeling position, a thoughtful expression on his face. He ran forward and engaged her in another close-ranged battle. Once more, he got the jump on Pyrrha and disarmed her of her weapons.
Smirking, as if victory was assured, Mercury raised his leg for a devastating spin kick. At the very last second, Pyrrha activated her Semblance and repelled away his boots, causing him to stumble. A look of realization lit up his face, making him chuckle.
Looking up, he saw Pyrrha charging at him, having retrieved her weapons. He kicked himself onto her shield and propelled himself away with a bullet blast, spinning into a kneeling position. The redhead smirked, starting to enjoy the fight. However, just as she was about to attack, Mercury turned away, his smug smile unseen.
"I forfeit." he casually conceded.
"You don't want to even try?" Pyrrha asked, irritation clear on her tone.
Mercury just shrugged. "You're the four-time champion. We're pretty much leagues apart."
"In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match...again."
Pyrrha hid her growl, clutching her weapons tighter to alleviate her anger. The screen then flashed, changing Mercury's Aura levels from green to red to indicate his loss.
"Next time, you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Goodwitch lectured him.
"I'll be sure to do that."
With the fight over, the alarm sounded off to signal the end of the class. This jolted Blake awake, who had started sleeping, dark circles under her eyes
"That is all for today." announced Goodwitch. "And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses."
The students slowly filed out of the door. Jaune jogged up to his girlfriend, having sensed her earlier vexation. "Hey, you alright?"
"I'm fine." she insisted through gritted teeth.
Jaune was about to drag her back to their dorm, but couldn't help but overhear Blake snapping at Sun, stomping away and left her friends behind. He figured to not get himself involved, and that they didn't need his interference. The blond turned back to his girlfriend, only to find that she had disappeared.
"Well, there goes that plan..." he sighed, slumping a bit. Until he had a hunch where she was heading. Jaune quickly ran off to the where that location is.
"You what?!" screamed Blake.
She and her team were back at their dorm, all three of them looking at her with nothing but concern.
"We want you to go to the dance." repeated Ruby.
Blake shook her head, declaring it ridiculous. Yang just expressed their concern, how the investigation's messing with her head. Weiss, trying to help her see reason, counted down the facts.
"You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering."
At this point, Blake seemed to blow up. The arguments went back and forth, the cat Faunus using every excuse to try and not be a part of the dance while her team did their best to convince her to stay, wind down, and relax. Unfortunately, Blake could not be dissuaded and stormed off to the library.
Jaune stared at the door that led to one of the new training facilities - the simulation chamber. Or as Lady liked to call it 'the Discount Void'. It's where the Demon Hunting classes was gonna take place. While it worked properly, it still needed some tuning up because the demons it would spawn in, well... Had they been real, most of the students would've been slaughtered.
He gently pushed open the door and, to his correct suspicion, saw Pyrrha. The red-haired Hoplite was facing off against a pair of Bianco Angelos surrounded by a couple of scattered pieces that belonged to other Bianco Angelos and dispersing corpses of Scarecrows. Jaune felt a bit apprehensive, but made no move to interfere and contented himself to watch.
The artificial demons charged in at Pyrrha, lunging at her with their lances. She crossed Milo with their weapons and managed to threw them off balance. The Invincible Girl delivered a swift kick to one, using it to launch herself at the other and struck with it with a revolution slash.
She jumped back into a flip, avoiding their sudden upward strikes. The Angelos went stationary and charged up their lances, giving Pyrrha an ample opportunity. She rushed in and jumped over them and started attacking their defenseless backs.
The Demons of the Order didn't take kindly to do this and suddenly swerved around, deflecting her attacks with their shield. This left her momentarily vulnerable, allowing them to a simple bash into stab motion.
Pyrrha forced herself to skid to a stop, glaring at the angel-looking monsters. Once more, the two charged up their lances and rushed in to attack. With no audience to watch, she could freely use her trump card.
The Tournament Champion forced the Biancos to their knees with her Semblance, halting them of movement. Using her other hand, she ripped their lances out of their grasps and jammed it into their chest.
Unfortunately, this didn't quite kill them. Pyrrha released her hold, lest she wasted anymore of her Aura. The artificial demons wrenched their weapons from out of their bodies and merely revved up its propulsions.
Vulnerable once again, Pyrrha charged in to strike. She swung her xiphos at the two, hitting their shields twice before twirling back and whacking them with its javelin form. It didn't put a dent on them, however. She tried again, but this time, it made her stagger back.
Once again, the two demons bashed with their shield then struck her with a lunging stab that pushed the redhead back by a considerable amount. Pyrrha chuckled, calling upon the usage of her Semblance once more. This time, she targeted their shields, prying them off of their hands and tossed them aside.
The Angelos weren't pleased and went after her. Pyrrha grunted as she blocked their lances, forcing her into a kneeling position with their surprising strength. Mustering her own, she bashed them off and butterfly kicked them away. Spinning around in recovery, she flung Akuou at one of the Biancos.
The shield was embedded into its face, robbing it of its sight as it wildly swung around its Lance. Pyrrha roughly pulled the shield out with her Polarity and shield bashed it, quickly following it up with a rising slash. Spinning around, she dove down and jabbed her javelin into its head and extinguished its life.
The redheaded Hoplite rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the remaining Bianco Angelo. Revving up its lance, it charged forward, doing an EX Streak attack. Pyrrha raised up her shield and defended herself against the attack, sliding back by a few feet.
Before she could recover, the Demon of the Order rocketed towards her and launched her into the air, before flying after her and slammed her back into the ground. Raising up its weapon, it tried to impale her. Once more, she used her Semblance and redirected its motion to stab the floor instead.
With the Bianco distracted, Pyrrha retrieved Akuou and bashed it into the demon's face before shoving it off. Taking hold of its lance, she charged with a loud war cry and rammed it into its stomach. Summoning all of her strength, she lifted it up and leaped into the sky before crashing it down, causing the sentient armor to shatter into pieces.
Pyrrha caught her breath before pushing herself up, wiping the sweat that dropped down her face as the computer's voice came ringing.
"SIMULATION COMPLETE."
The remains of the Angelos dispersed into a series of codes as the arena around her turned back into its virtual-like appearance. A screen popped up in her face, detailing a score of her performance. She lightly frowned, almost pouting.
"Oh man. I only got a B-rank?"
"A B-rank? I'd say that's good."
Pyrrha turned around and saw Jaune walking up to her.
"So, you feeling any better now?"
She nodded, placing her weapons into her back. "Yeah. I worked up quite a sweat, so I'd say I'm alright. But I still wished I managed a higher ranking."
The blond smiled softly at his girlfriend, placing his Devil Bringer over her shoulder. "Considering the fact that this thing's stuck on the Must Die mode? Getting a B is amazing on its own, Pyr. Hell, I can only manage an A, and I fought these things before. Just because you aren't the same as us means you can sell yourself short. There is a reason why you won four times in the Mistral Region Tournament."
Pulling back, he summoned up the holo-pad and inputted a command, bringing them back to the earlier arena. Pyrrha was curious as to what her best friend had planned. She was most definitely surprised when she caught a certain ice Devil Arm in her hands.
"You're letting me use Fenris?" she asked curiously.
Jaune called out Yamato, running his hand through his hair. "Why not? He liked you as a pup, and I'm pretty sure he still does. And besides, I want to let you feel the power of a Devil Arm."
Pyrrha stared down at the katana and felt as if it spoke to her. Gently gripping its handle, she felt a glimmer of cold energy radiate from within, as if calling out to her. She drew out the blade and made a few practice motions with it, based off of what she saw Jaune perform.
The cambion chuckled in amusement before calling attention to his girlfriend.
"Your stance is a bit loose. Your guard's also wide open." Lifting up his father's blade, he flicked up her handle and smirked. "How about I teach you how to really pull them off?"
Pyrrha could only smirk back. Jaune slowly slipped into a stance, which she copied. The two stared at each other before charging with a loud cry.
Cinder was in her dorm room, sewing a black dress with her cohorts near-by. Emerald sat on the floor, looking through her Scroll, while Mercury laid on the ground and read the comic book he snatched from Tulson's. The three of them were discussing possible threats to their plans.
Soon, they got to Pyrrha.
"Ah, the Invincible Girl." Cinder recalled.
"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible." voiced out Mercury.
Cinder grew curious, urging them to say more.
"Her Semblance is Polarity. But you'd never know just by watching." answered Emerald.
Mercury put aside his comic and explained it a bit further in detail. "After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But she only made slight adjustments."
Emerald then continued. "Just enough to make it look like she's untouchable. She doesn't broadcast her power, so it puts her opponent at a disadvantage."
The femme fatal smirked, almost approvingly. "Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Add her to the list."
Emerald obeyed obediently, before speaking up. "We have three more potential targets. First up is Nora Valkyrie. She may look harmless, but trust me when she isn't. I poked around and saw her lifting over three thousand tons in terms of weight. Not to mention, she seems to be an expert regarding explosions. She may be a bit of nuisance, but nothing we can't possibly handle."
"A powerhouse in such a short package. And not many can master explosives. We can never be too unsure. Add her to the list, just in case. Who's next?"
"Ren Redgrave."
Mercury sat up, eyes widening. "Wait. Did you just say Redgrave?!"
Cinder quirked an eyebrow, motioning for her lackey to continue on. "Anything interesting to discuss, Mercury?"
"Something my old man told me. In a place called Bobby's Cellar, he met a fellow mercenary named Tony Redgrave. And he told me, that if I ever meet someone with that name, I'd run. That guy would take on any of the most dangerous missions offered...and come back unscathed. He took them like it was nothing. Like he was some sort of demon. And if that Ren is related to him, we may have a problem."
"Not to mention his powers." cut in Emerald. "His Semblance seemed to be some form of Aerokinesis, allowing him to use wind as deadly projectiles. He's no slouch with hand-to-hand, said to be quick as lightning."
"The possible son of a mercenary with an extraordinary power to manipulate wind..." Cinder seemed to grin in what seemed to be amusement. "Very well, add him as well. Who's the last one?"
"Jaune Arc." This time, it was Mercury who took the stage. "We didn't get a lot of info about him, but we do have some footage from the school that, well... You should see to believe."
Fishing out his own Scroll, he pulled out the video that detailed Jaune's absolute curbstomp against Cardin. Cinder felt a pit of concern form in her stomach as she watched the blond perfectly guard against the projectiles that the Winchester summoned. And beat him in two hits.
The False Maiden was worried. Jaune could block both physical and projectile attacks made of Dust. Could he possibly defend against her Maiden powers?... No, that's absurd. Nothing was above that, besides her master and possibly the demons.
"Like with the others, better safe than sorry, add him to the list." she ordered.
Emerald did as she was told, with Mercury trying to convince himself. "You should be able to handle them no problem."
"It's not about overpowering the enemy." Cinder clarified. "It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time." A cruel smile crossed her lips.
Mercury groaned, laying back down. "I hate waiting."
"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us." she assured him as she picked back up her sewing needle.
Blake made good on her promise, holing herself up in the library as she continued to work on the investigation. At this point, she was pretty much running on fumes. She could barely even concentrate, but she didn't care. Her only focus was on the screen... Until a bright, red dot appeared, moving up and down.
Her inner cat instincts told her to follow its movement before it promptly disappeared. Looking behind her, no one had a laser pointer. As she prepared to get back to work, it re-appeared. Blake sighed and forced herself out of the chair, following the dot.
It didn't take long for her to start bumping into stuff due to her sleep-deprivation. Turning to a corner, the dot disappeared and Blake's met face-to-face with her partner. Before the Belladonna could even ask, Yang whisked her away to an empty classroom.
"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath."
The blonde sat down on the classroom's desk, sighing. "I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down."
Blake scowled, crossing her arms in irritation. "I don't have the luxury to slow down."
"It's not a luxury; it's a necessity." clarified the blonde.
"The "necessity" is stopping Torchwick." stressed the Faunus.
" And we're going to." she assured. "But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say." Yang patted the desk across from her.
Blake sighed and relented, draping her legs over the desk's edge.
Yang closed her eyes and told her tale. "Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then... one day she left for a mission and never came back."
Yang looked down, still absolutely distraught, gaining her some sympathy from Blake.
"It was tough." she continued. "Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom."
Blake looked amazed and surprised, but Yang didn't let this stop her and continued.
"He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and my uncle, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."
"Why did she leave you?" asked Blake.
Yang: sighed, turning to he chalkboard. "That question... Why? I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her."
Then, she began to recount the time that she managed to find a clue. Something that could possibly give her answers, or even her mother... That ended up being nothing but a near-death experience for both her and Ruby. Had it not been for the timely arrival of her uncle, they would've been dead.
"My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night." she finished.
"Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different." Blake argued, trying to remain firm on her decision. "I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-"
Yang clenched her fists tightly but didn't face her partner. "I told you: I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't! To this day, I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, what good are we?"
Blake was undeterred still. "You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!"
"Are you implying that the Huntsmen are complacent and incompetent?"
Yang and Blake froze as a sharp blade suddenly hovered over the latter's throat quite dangerously. Behind them was Luna, casually holding out Tsukuyomi as her eyes were buried in a book.
"Professor Arc!" exclaimed Yang in surprise. "W-when did you get here?" w
Seeing that she had their attention, she shut the book and drew back her weapon. "About twenty minutes ago. You two weren't exactly conspicuous. Now, you haven't answered my question, Ms. Belladonna. Are you calling us pathetic?"
With how deprived she was, Blake said something she'd probably regret. "Yes! If you weren't, then Torchwick and the White Fang would've been already dealt with by now!"
"And who so you think qualifies? Yourself?" The Daughter of Vergil scoffed. "Hardly. Not even Yang heard me enter the room until I made myself known. What makes you think you can? Go ahead, try to hit me."
The cat Faunus glared at the Huntress and sloppily threw a right hook. Luna easily caught her wrist and twisted her arm around, forcing her into a choke hold. Yang was about to move in until her fellow blonde gave her a look that she seemed to placate her.
"Had I been anyone else, your head would be rolling on the ground. You can't even fight back. You're just a defenseless kitten. So why don't you do yourself a favor, and get some rest."
Luna harshly released Blake from her hold, pushing her into Yang's direction. The Daughter of the Dark Slayer turned to leave, but not before glancing back at the Faunus.
"I don't know you quite well, Blake, but Eve is someone I can consider a close friend. I'm just as worried and confused as you are. Listen to your partner, get some sleep."
With her piece said, Luna walked out, leaving the partners alone. Yang checked over her friend, making sure she wasn't hurt. Blake stared at the floor, eyes slowly widening in realization.
"I've been acting horrible, haven't I?" she muttered.
Yang could only nod as the Belladonna leaned against her, practically losing what will that kept her running. "Yeah, but you can still patch up. You just gotta remember, we're not just your team were your friends too, Blake." she softly reminded. "We'll always have your back. Having fun doesn't mean we're not taking it seriously, we're just trying to wind down and not break from stress. Now come on. Your bed's calling for you."
Blake smiled, thanking whatever deity resided above that led her to meet such great people.
The days passed, and the night of the dance was before them. Everything was lively, buzzing with energy. Every student was having fun, either talking with their friend, dancing with a partner, or just drinking some of the punch. The faculty was scattered around, having fun on their own accord.
Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck were having a conversation, wherein the latter was telling a joke that the former laughed at. Professor Goodwitch was dancing with General Ironwood, the two of them having smiles on their faces. Ozpin chuckled at the pair, smiling as well.
Lady was up on the balcony, leaning against the railing as she watched the students have fun. Luna approached from the left, handing her a glass of punch. The two devil hunter made idle chatter as they kept a look out for anything suspicious.
Ruby stared at the dancing crowd, absolutely bored out of her mind. She was by the punch bowl, steadily drinking a vast amount of punch. She decided to just stand there in the corner and make herself scarce. The Rosette smiled, seeing her sister dance with Blake before passing her up to Sun. Weiss was somewhere around and Team JNPR had yet to arrive.
Yet again, she sighed, having nothing to do. Even now, she was still the socially awkward, weapon-loving girl that at the very beginning of the semester. That, and she felt very uncomfortable in the dress and heels.
"Not enjoying yourself?"
Ruby was surprised to see the headmaster step up by her side. She shook her head, laughing. "Oh, no, everything's fine! I'm just not much of a fancy pantsy... dancey girl." she admitted.
"Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to." pointed out Ozpin.
The Rosette crossed her arms, looking annoyed, mumbling something under her breath. The headmaster smiled, staring back at the crowd.
"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot."
"Or a twisted ankle." Ruby grumbled, looking at her own feet.
Ozpin looked back at the young girl. "It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget."
Ruby seemed grateful for the words of wisdom. She turned her head at the sound of the doors opening, with Yang greeting the newcomers that had just arrived.
"You guys are just in time!"
Mercury and Emerald 'smiled' at the blonde, heading for the crowd. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
Yang nodded in agreement, telling them to have fun. Just as the two left, more newcomers arrived. The Blonde Bombshell whistled in appreciation as team JNPR walked in.
"Damn, well aren't you guys dressed to impress?"
Jaune and Pyrrha wore the same things that they had on during the Schnee Charity Event some months ago, looking stylish as ever. Ren's outfit looked almost similar to his cousin's but his jacket was a deep forest green, instead. His hair was neatly combed, let loose from its usual ponytail. Nora had on a strapless white dress, with the seams in her chest resembling a big heart and a bit of lipstick.
Jaune chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Honestly, we didn't have anything else. But hey, it's supposed to be a long and fun night, so why not dress appropriately for the occasion."
Yang could only nod in agreement and let her friends in. The two pairs broke away, with Nora dragging her boyfriend to the dance floor while Pyrrha and Jaune went to go sit at one of the vacant tables. Like a gentleman, he pulled back his lady's chair for her, making Pyrrha giggle as he pushed it back once she was seated.
"I'm gonna go grab us some punch. Be right back." Jaune said.
The blond walked up the punch bowl and raised an eyebrow once he saw Ruby awkwardly standing there. "Hey, Rubes. Hiding by the punch bowl?"
She looked up, blinked and did a once over of her friend. "Jaune! You look, um... You look..."
"I'll take that as a compliment." the devil hunter said, lightly chuckling as he poured himself and his date some punch. "So, why are you here? Why not mingle with the others or dance?"
"Are you kidding me? These heels are killing me!" she complained with complete exaggeration. "Seriously, how does Weiss even fight in these? I'd have a bigger chance of stepping on someone."
"Well, there's mine and Pyrrha's table. You can come and talk with us, if you want." Jaune dropped as he left behind the Rosette.
The young girl looked at her first friend, considering his offer and took a sip from her cup.
"Anything interesting happen yet?" asked Lady, drinking her punch.
"Aside from a few student fail to try and spike the punch, nothing noteworthy, I'm afraid." Luna informed, continuously scanning the crowd for suspicious activity, while simultaneously reading her book. "By the way, is he-?"
"Yep." putting emphasis on the 'p'. "He just arrived in Vale. In about a week, at most, we might be able to finally start our classes."
Luna nodded, thanking her fellow devil hunter. She looked up and went back to reading before doing a double take. Making sure at what she's seeing is right, she closed her book, obviously grabbing Lady's attention.
"What? Something happen?"
A shrewd smirk crossed the cambion's lips, motioning at something. "You could say that."
The DJ was unsuspecting of the flying piece of bread stick, so stale, it would knock him out. The baked good struck him directly on the head, knocking him out for a possible good minutes or so, falling right on the music system. Coincidentally, it also changed the current song.
"Baby, it's time to make up your mind!"
Jaune and Pyrrha were chatting with Ruby when the new song came up. The couple stopped talking and perked up, a grin on their faces. The two made eye contact with Ren and Nora, who had similar expressions on their faces.
Without so much as a word, the two departed from their table and quickly took over the dance floor. The crowd parted away and watched as Team JNPR moved together in perfect synchronization. Everyone cheered as they stared at the scene in pure amazement, getting them in the mood to start actually dancing.
Unbeknownst to them, Emerald and Mercury stood at one of the upper-tiers, secretly talking to Cinder. With any every distracted and into dancing, the former gave her mistress the go-ahead.
Cinder ducked behind a row of bushes, narrowing her eyes as she watched the guard look away from the stairs. Quickly taking the opportunity, she made made a mad dash to get to the other side. However, the guard noticed this and steadily approached to investigate.
But Cinder was quicker, already right behind the soldier. She chopped on his neck, rendering him unconscious. Cinder caught the soldier and dragged him away, right before throwing him into the shrubbery.
"Hey!"
The masked female spun around and was met with yet another guard, his gun out and aimed right at her. Cinder grunted and rushed at the man. The guard pulled the trigger three times, yet each one was evaded. Cinder swiped the gun away and elbowed the main straight in the gut, right before drop kicking him, knocking the poor guy out.
With no one else to interrupt, she strolled right in the building. Unknown to her, however, someone had witnessed it. The figure chuckled and pushed his glasses as it gleamed brightly.
Cinder sauntered right in, not even bothering to hide as she saw four guards patrolling the section. One of them was quick to notice her and slowly reached for his weapon.
"What are you doing here? No one's allowed in this area!"
The femme fatale smirked and rushed at the guard. She dodged all of his shots and smacked him across the face and kicked another charging soldier, making him stumble down. She faced the soldier she was holding on and quickly knocked him out with a swift uppercut.
The other two soldiers pulled out their stun batons and charged right at her. Cinder's clothing glowed as the Fire Dust she sewed into it gathered and materialized into her twin sabers. She blocked all of their blows and incapacitated one of them quickly, right before dealing with the other one and delivered a final blow to his head that knocked him out.
The elevator doors open, revealing two more soldiers, whom quickly spotted the unconscious bodies of their comrades right behind Cinder. Luckily, they managed to recompose themselves and shot right at Cinder.
She grunted as her clothing lit up yet again, this time, using Dust to block the guards' shots. Cinder manipulated the Fire Dust within her clothing and threw two fireballs right at the soldiers, slamming them into the elevator wall, knocking them out.
Cinder nodded in satisfaction and strolled right up into the elevator. A minute later, a smirking Cinder walked out of the elevator as soon as it reached the top floor, examining one of the Scrolls she just snatched. She sat right on the main terminal and used the stolen Scroll to quickly access the main frame. She smirked and took out her own Scroll and began transferring a program into the system.
The femme fatale resisted the urge to laugh victoriously as the program finished installing as both the main monitor and others flashed the silhouette of Queen chess piece. Her victory would be interrupted by a burst of light. Something materialized right in front of her and swiftly threw out a punch, slamming her right into the wall.
Cinder groaned and studied the figure and saw it was only half of one. It was basically a floating upper body that resembled a robot. Both of its arms resembled a clawed fist. And what seemed to be a cannon attached from its back. The thing stated at her with its single, unblinking, red, mechanical eye. The raven-haired woman froze up, hearing someone approach.
"People often debate - what is the true source of power? Is it by doing evil? Sacrificing innocents? Killing your own friends and making deals with whatever dark and supernatural force that exists? My old colleagues seemed to think so. However..."
Achroma materialized right besides the odd creature, leaning against it with his arms crossed and fists clenched tightly.
"I disagree!"
The scientist pushed up his glasses, cocking back his head as he stared at Cinder. "Now, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave, miss. Or there shall be hell to pay."
He straight up turned his back on Cinder and started typing away on the keyboard, attempting to remove the program that she had installed. The femme fatale called out her twin sabers and jumped at the scientist. However, the creature moved in and struck her right in the gut, sending her careening.
"So that's your decision." mumbled out Achroma, weighing his decision before going back to typing away. "METAGEN. Deal with her."
The robot-like creatures beeped in response before rapidly moving its fists, striking away at Cinder's body with fast-paced hits. One last punch sent her across the rows of terminals. Growling, she pulled out a container of Dust and sent out shards of Ice Dust at the robot construct.
The METAGEN beeped and erected a barrier, blocking the projectiles. Making some sort of sounds, the cannon on its back took aim and fired out sparks of energy. The False Maiden raised up her hand and blocked each one with the aid of her Dust.
Spinning around, she flash-forged out her sabers once again. The odd creature lined up one of its fists and fired it right at her. Cinder narrowly dodged at the last moment, quickly forming a bow and three arrows in mid-air.
The arrows fired at the METAGEN, which dodged around the projectiles, only for one to manage to graze the side of its stomach. Unseen by Cinder, Achroma winced as pain jolted through his body. But he shrugged it off and continued on.
"Need more time." he muttered. He pulled out some sort of blue disc and threw it at the METAGEN. "Douse Drive!"
It called back its arm and caught the disc, inserting it in the slot of its cannon. The weapon began to charge up its next attack. Cinder's eyes widened and pushed both of her hands forward as a large torrent of high-pressured water shot out. The femme fatale struggled to keep up her makeshift barrier as the geyser pushed her back.
With the current stalemate, Achroma achieved more time. His fingers swiftly stroked the keyboard, opening up program after program to isolate and uninstall whatever Cinder had put in.
The battled continued, until the METAGEN won and the blast of water pushed her into the wall. Cinder fell to her knees, panting for air. As luck would have it, her mask had not been knocked out. On the other hand, she felt absolutely sore.
Their skirmish would be interrupted as the METAGEN turned to the newcomer Ironwood stepped out of the elevator, his brow quirked. The robot turned back to face Cinder, only to find that she had disappeared.
Achroma stopped what he was doing, absolutely floored and shocked that the femme fatale had managed to slip by his notice. He frowned concern, trying to figure out how she escaped while the Atlesian General looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
In a hallway, Cinder had quickly taken off her accessories and used what Dust she had left to shift her stealth suit into a more formal outfit, a black halter dress with matching dress gloves. Hearing the guards that followed after come closer, she approached a random student for a dance.
The two soldiers burst into the room and were visibly confused at the amount of students slowly dancing with each other. They couldn't possibly search her with these amount of student within the premise in time.
"I regret to report that the suspect has gotten away, sir." spoke the Altesian soldier into his radio.
"There's nothing we can do. We'll start investigations the next day. For now, keep an eye on Penny."
Cinder quickly broke away from the boy she was dancing with and cut it on her subordinates. Emerald happily stepped aside to let her and Mercury to dance.
" And how's your night been?" inquired the gray-haired student.
"Mmm... a little more exciting than expected." replying cryptically in case there were any eavesdroppers.
Mercury nodded, before cocking his head to the side, smirking. "Should we be worried?"
The False Maiden almost laughed. "Hardly... They'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for. So now, let's enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it is a party."
He nodded and twirled her around, letting go so she could walk around. Cinder smirked to herself. Today was most definitely a victory for her.
Welcome to the dance's chapter. No matter how much I've wanted to humiliate Cardin, I decided to skip the CRDL fight since it would've went largely the same as canon.
Also, I've a question, was it alright for me to have stuck in Luna during Blake and Yang's talk? Or should she have not been present at all?
And if it wasn't obvious and clear that Achroma is a clear expy of Colress from Pokemon BW2, here. As for what METAGEN exactly looks like, imagine Metang but with only one eye and Genesect's cannon on its back. That's it.
Also, I have made the choice of only updating this fic every Wednesday. Just to notify you all.That's everything noteworthy to say. As always, keep yourselves safe and sanitized. And please review your thoughts down below! Peace out.