F3: Hello everybody and welcome back. We left you where Team RWBY had been disqualified and out of the tournament and it seems our badies are beginning to make their move. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Team SPIR, Melanie Tora, and Ophelia Sorrel are owned by me. Akane Shidou and Diana Mirai are owned by Decode9 and Senka Linwood is owned by MountainKing312. With that said let's get started.
Volume 3-27: The Truth.
General Ironwood was making his way back to the airship to return back to the arena to make sure his security team was keeping everything in order though he wasn't very pleased with what he had to do but as a general he had to remain vigiliant and not play favorites reguardless of what he thinks.
"Afternoon sir." Carmen spoke from the ramp of the airship.
"Ah... Carmen. I take it you have something to report." Ironwood replied.
"Everything is normal sir. Nothing to report." Carmen said.
"Good. Make sure it stays that way." Ironwood added as he walked up the ramp.
"Though sir. If I may speak freely... are you sure that having this much security is necessary? I mean having an entire platoon travel all across Remnant only for security detail and going as far to bring the ace ops into this. What I'm trying to say is... what is the real reason for all of this?" Carmen asked.
Ironwood at first didn't answer her at first but then he turned to face her.
"We all have our reasons to be here Ms. Blood. Sometimes we must have to take things into our own hands if we're going to protect those that cannot defend themselves. Even if it means having to use everything at your disposal to take down any kind of threat that may come our way. We cannot afford to have any mistakes during this tournament which means we all must keep our eyes and ears open to anything that we see or hear. I will not allow anything to intrupt this event." Ironwood replied and without another word he headed inside the airship.
Carmen closed her eyes before she smirked as she brought out a small hand held recorder from her pocket.
"Good to know." Carmen muttered as she pocketed the recorder and followed the general inside the airship. Thought another certain snake individual was keeping a sharp eye on Carmen as she smirk getting an idea running through her head as she noticed another airship was about to land.
=RWBY=
Meanwhile back at the dorms with Team RWBY and Raven they were surprisingly quiet as no one said as word as the team was still trying to process what had just happened. More importantly Yang wasn't exactly happy that it was all on her that they got disqualified.
That was until Raven broke the ice as gave a haughty chuckle at this situation as she sat down where Yang was.
"You know this reminds of something similar that happened just like this." Raven started getting the teams attention.
"It was our first year at the academy and we were at our best more so than every other team that was their. Though that didn't mean we've had our own mistakes and had consequences." Raven added.
"You went here to Beacon as well. You didn't tell us this." Ruby said.
"I thought now would be appropriate given your situation. It was about four months after we've became a team we were sent out on our first mission assignment and... well it didn't end to well." Raven said.
"Why would you say that?" Weiss questioned.
"Well... let's just say I wasn't exactly the nicest person back then. I thought my leader wasn't fit to be the leader and I was constantly fighting with her for that position but everytime she would make sure that didn't happen." Raven said as she slightly chuckled.
"As I said we were assigned to take care of some grimm in the outskirts that were getting too close to the city and well... we were force to split up into groups to take care of them and I was paired with our leader. Take a guess how that turned out?" Raven said.
"Not good from how you're saying it." Blake answered as Raven nodded.
"Yup. We we're constantly arguing throughout the whole thing saying things to her like she was unfit to be a leader and nothing but a child in a grown up world. Eventually we separated to cover more grounds but not five minutes later my leader screamed like she was in pain as I rushed toward her." She explained recalling herself what happened and flinched at the scene she recalled.
"Luckily I killed the grimm before it could finish the job on her. That was when I realized that because of my attitude toward my leader that I nearly got her killed." Raven looked down as she recalled this shooting a small glance at Ruby.
"Wasn't a great feeling after that. I felt that it was my fault that it happened to her and I've should've stuck by her side through that assignment. The team was pretty much put on the shelves for something I did, but you know what I did after that?" Raven questioned as the four of them shook their heads.
"I looked back at my mistake and I improved myself. I made sure to never make the same mistake like that again to always watch out for not only my teammates but for my leader too." Raven said.
However that did bring up something that Weiss remembered when she was in the training room with Velvet that Raven's name was one of four names that were on the simulators data banks.
"Ms. Xiao Long. If I may ask but your team wouldn't happen go by the name of STRQ?" Weiss questioned.
Raven was silent for a moment as she said nothing. She then reach into her back pocket of her jeans and brought a small photo. The photo itself was worn as shown signs of aging along the edges.
She then showed the picture to them. The picture contained and much younger Raven with short black hair along with her armor with her left hand on Omen. On her left is young guy that is about Raven's height with short blonde hair and blue eyes wearing hunters gears. On her right is another man with spiked black hair that is also swept back he also seemed to have bright red eyes which is contrast to Raven deep red eyes.
Finally on the Raven's far left is a shorter girl wearing a white cloak but the picture was just able to catch the teens face as her silver eyes were in full view.
"Yeah this was us. Team STRQ. We were quite the team back then." Raven said almost reminiscing about the past.
Ruby looked at the photo and noticed the guy on the right as he almost seemed similar to Raven.
"Hey auntie... this one here... is that him?" Ruby questioned as Raven nodded.
"Yeah. That's him. Qrow Branwen my brother. The other guy is actually your girl's dad." She added.
That was when Yang spoke up "What was your brother like?" She asked.
Raven thought a moment before she spoke "Well... honestly he was quite the dolt and he wasn't always smart when it came to other things but if their is something I can take from him is that he has a caring heart and is always willing to do anything to get the job done." Raven said before she gave them a somber look.
"It didn't save him in the end though. Got him killed during our last mission about ten years ago." She said as she pocketed the photo.
"Qrow would've loved to get to know each and everyone of you." Raven said as she got up from her spot.
"Take this time to learn from your mistakes and then and only then will you be able to move on." Raven said as she turned to the door to leave.
"I better get going. I'll be around though if you need to talk to me." Raven added as she left leaving the team to their own devices as Ruby and the others began to think about what she said to them.
=RWBY=
Meanwhile Team SPIR and company had just arrived back at Beacon but the moment the ship landed Star jumped out and sprinted toward the entrance well knowing where she was going as the rest of the team followed along with Cinder and her team.
"Wait up Star!" Iona called out but that didn't stop her from heading straight toward the infirmary where her girlfriend was currently on the infirmary bed wearing a gown that reaches her knees as she noticed her old outfit on the side. She is currently wearing a patch over her right eye so it could help with get the swelling down.
Neo looked over toward everyone with a small smile as she sat up from the bed.
The nurse looked over to the group for a moment.
"Ah so you came after all. Miss Velvet told me that you might be stopping by." The nurse said as she was treating the bruises but they were sensitive to the touch which made Neo flinch everytime the nurse touched them.
"How is she?" Cinder asked a little worried about her teammate.
"Well aside from the bruising on her arms she also has defensive wounds on her knuckles." The nurse said slightly raising Neos left hand seeing the red marks on her knuckles as she slightly flinched at it.
"She must've put up a fight against whoever she was fighting. She also has swelling on her right eye which the patch will help with the swelling. But the trouble was that her ribs also received a beating from what I could tell she had a few cracked ribs but what surprised me was that her aura wasn't healing her wounds but then I noticed that on her neck." The nurse said pointing out the collar that was still locked on her neck.
"What is that?" Iona asked.
"It's an aura suppression collar. Normally used on prisoners but who could have something like this?" The nurse replied as Pepper nervously rubs her own neck taking a step back from just the sight of it.
"Have you tried to take it off her?" Star asked.
"Yes but it's apparently protected with a retina scanner installed into it." The nurse replied.
"So it needs someone specific that can unlock it... great." Rina said not liking the fact that someone put this on her sister.
Star examined the collar and noticed small initials that read S.D.C. on it which gave her an idea.
"If this is SDC property then I might know who could help." Star thought as she pulled out her scroll and dialed Weiss.
"Hey Weiss you think you can come down to the nurses office. There's something that I need you for." She said talking to Weiss then she smiled a bit.
"Great. See you in ten." Star replied as she hung up and put away her scroll.
"Weiss will be here pretty soon." Star began which seemed to be getting looks from the others.
"Okay and what for?" Pepper asked.
"Well... call this a hunch but this collar was made by the SDC so maybe it'll only come off when... one of them is nearby if you know what I mean." Star said as the team seemed to know what she meant all but Neo who tilted her head in confusion as the waited for Weiss to arrive.
Ten minutes came and went as not only Weiss but Ruby and Blake showed up as well but the blonde haired girl of team wasn't with them.
"Where's Yang?" Iona asked.
"She's back at the dorm. She has some things going through her head right now about what happened at the tournament." Ruby said.
"We'll explain later. You said you needed me for something." Weiss said.
"Yeah and you're the better choice. That collar is made from the SDC and maybe you can help remove it. It has a retina scanner installed in it for only specific people." Star replied as Weiss looked at the collar in disgust.
"Of course they would be using it on other people. But how did the collar get here all the way from Atlas? I'll probably get this over to Winter and see what she can dig up." Weiss thought as she approached the collar on Neo's right side. She noticed a small red light meaning that it was locked in place. She also saw right next to it is a small touch screen. Weiss moved a little bit of the teens hair out of the way so she could press the touch screen.
Almost immediately small beam of light illuminated from it a began to scan Weiss's right eye. First it scanned from up and down then went from left to right then the light disappeared again.
"SCAN COMPLETE. WEISS SCHNEE IDENTIFIED. INPUT COMMAND." The voice on the collar spoke.
"Unlock collar." Weiss ordered.
"COMMAND ACCEPTED. UNLOCKING." The voice said again and on the back of the collar it suddenly came undone. Weiss carefully removed the collar from around Neo as the girls aura was starting to return.
"Good thing you haven't had this on long. Your aura should return to you and start healing those wounds in no time." Weiss replied as Neo gave a bright smile glad for that thing to be off her as she could finally relax.
"That's great to hear." Mercury added a little relieved that they're teammate was going to be okay.
"Nicely done Weiss." Ruby said patting her teammate on the shoulder.
"Though I think we need to give her some time to rest. Her aura maybe returning but she still needs rest." The nurse added as the group understood and decided to leave the room not before Star gave her girlfriend a small kiss on the forehead before leaving.
Now finally outside the nurses office Cinder began to ponder if it would be the right time to tell them what is really going on and to tell them about Star's supposed semblance.
"So Ruby what's the verdict with your team? We saw that Ironwood guy come out of the academy before we landed. What's up?" Iona questioned.
"Well... due to what Yang did at the arena... we're sort of..." Ruby started but not sure how to word it that is until Blake sighed at told them.
"We're disqualified from the tournament." Blake simply said.
"Wait what!? You've got to be kidding me we all knew it was self defense." Pepper said wanting to argue the situation.
"Yes but he said it would be favoring us if he allowed us to continue in the tournament after something like that. In accordance to the rules since this happened after the opposing team was beaten both teams are hereby eliminated from the tournament." Weiss replied still not exactly okay with the ruling.
"That only makes us the only Beacon team left." Star said as Emerald's scroll buzzed of a notification.
"So that means its either going to be Sun from Shade Academy or Penny from Atlas Academy. Both of them are highly competitive." Iona replied.
"Actually looks one of you will be facing Penny in the last round." Emerald replied as she brought up the news from the tournament.
"What an upset!? Penny has defeated Sun Wu Kong! An impressive victory none the less!" Port shouted.
"While Sun's experience and awareness of his surrounds were top notch. Penny can command those swords to cover the gap that would be need to handle the quickness of Sun Wu Kong. Penny will be moving on to the finals as she'll face one member of Team SPIR." Oobleck added.
"We'll find out this evening as the finals will be taking place this evening as we find out who'll be the winner of the Vytal tournament." Port said as Emerald put away her scroll.
"So one of us will be facing Penny in the last round. What do we know about her?" Star asked.
"Well... not much. Other than she can command those swords of hers like they're nothing. But she prefers to remain at a distance away from close quarters fighting and with a strong defense like that it'll be hard to get in close." Pepper said crossing her arms.
However Rina wondered about something what Penny said to them before their doubles match that she couldn't wait to fight her in the finals which did make her concern but also curious about what she meant.
"I'll take her on." Rina declared as the rest of them looked at her with concern.
"You sure she's a tough opponent I mean she beat Cardin and Russel in five minutes. You sure you'll be okay lasting against her?" Star questioned.
"The reason why they were beaten was because they weren't prepared for what kind of defense Penny would bring. Heck I would bet her partner isn't really a teammate more than likely an associate to help her get through to the finals. Beside I know I can take her." Rina said confidently.
A little concerned by her teammate she wanted to elect Iona to take her on since she was more skilled than the rest of them but Rina seemed to be very adamant about this last round. So with a heavy sigh Star relented.
"Okay if this is what you want then I won't stop you." Star said as she placed a hand on Rinas shoulder.
"I know you won't let us down." Star said as Rina nodded assuring.
"Well then since that's all said and done." Mercury said before looking toward Pepper.
"How about something to eat? You hungry?" Mercury asked as the wolf faunus nodded happily as her tail slightly wagging.
"Sure. This time I'm buying okay." Pepper replied as the two left the group.
"How about us Blake? Want to join them?" Ruby asked as Blake gave a gentle nod as Ruby wrapped her arms around Blake as they left as well.
"I'm going to go find Neptune. See about talking with him some more." Iona said as the pink eyed girl left them as well.
"I'll go see how Yang is doing. Maybe talk to her about getting something to eat here at the academy. I'm sure she'll be hungry about that match she had. Then I'm going to talk to Winter about this collar." Weiss replied as she stuffed the collar in her jacket as she went off to go back to the dorms.
"I'm going to go prepare. This is the last round and don't want to screw it up." Rina said as she walked off more than likely toward the training field.
Which only left Emerald, Cinder, and Star alone with each other.
"And what about you Star? Do you have any plans?" Cinder questioned.
Star thought a moment before she shook her head "Well not at the moment I don't have anything. Why?" Star asked back.
Cinder took in a breath before letting it out slowly as she glanced toward Emerald as the red eyed girl slightly nodded.
"Star theirs something that I need to discuss with you about." Cinder said in a more serious tone and Star knows that tone all too well when they were back at the orphanage but it had been awhile since she'd heard it and only wondered what Cinder wanted to talk about.
=RWBY=
Meanwhile up about the clouds of the arena Roman was starting to get rather nervous about this whole thing and wondered if he should back out but he knew if he did that it would mean his three daughters would be in a great deal of trouble and that was something he couldn't allow. Though it did give him time to think on the matter as to why they wanted him to hijack a large ship like this if he's knows that not a single person was on board with it all being controlled mechanically.
He knew something wasn't right and he knew it but he remained their in the ship until he was told otherwise. Suddenly his scroll rang letting him know that someone was calling him and he knew who it was even without reading the ID.
"Yeah what now?" Roman questioned annoyingly.
"Well that's not how you greet someone is it but I'll let it slide since we're nearing the final stages of the plan." Coco replied.
"What do you mean 'final stage'? What is it that you are planning?" Roman questioned.
"Oh that's for me to know and for you to just follow orders. After all the virus is already implemented. Once I give the word you just simply trigger it and we'll take care of the rest." Coco replied.
"This sounds a little fishy to me." Roman said.
"I could care less if its fishy to you. You are to just follow orders or I'll make sure your 'daughters' won't be on the chopping block. Oh and don't even bother trying to contact your daughters about this little plan. If you do I'll make sure you don't make it out alive." Coco said.
"Is that a threat." He growled.
"You look at it as a motivator to not screw it up. Nice talking to you Roman. Ta ta." Coco said as she hung up. Roman put his scroll down as he began to worry about what she was talking about and still wondered what this plan was about. Though one thing for sure that he knew that it couldn't be very good.
=RWBY=
Meanwhile Raven was walking around the campus as she wanted to reminisce about her old days at the academy more importantly about her days with Summer Rose. That also made her still wonder if her partner was still out their in the world as she still wanted to find her and bring her home to her family that deeply misses her but part of her also thinks that she should give up on this pointless task.
"Lien for you thoughts." A voice came from behind her as Raven looked over her shoulder seeing the older wolf faunus approach her.
"I don't think we've met before. Are you part of the staff?" Raven questioned.
The wolf faunus nodded "Yes I am. I'm actually helping Miss Goodwitch in her combat class." She said as she held out a hand in a friendly gesture.
"Rieka Orion. Pleased to meet you." Rieka introduced herself.
Raven took the hand and shook it gently "Raven Xiao Long. Pleased to meet you." She added back.
"Oh a Xiao Long. Then you must be Yang's mother then." Rieka said with a gentle smile.
While Raven was glad to have met someone else she still held that same thought in her head about her fruitless search in finding her old teammate or if her teammate is still alive that is as she gave off a distant look which apparently caught Riekas attention.
"Some wrong? Your not sick are you?" She questioned with some concern.
Raven tried to brush her thoughts away "No... it's nothing." She said turning away from Rieka.
But saying only made the wolf faunus concern "If is not suppose to be nothing then its certainly something." Rieka began as Raven said nothing as she looked down with a forlorn look on her face. A look Rieka knows all too well.
"Hm... your not sick then it has to be something else. Marriage problems?" She asked but quickly shook her head.
"No that's not it. Maybe it's something else like... finding an old friend perhaps." Rieka said as Raven clenched her hand slightly which gave her the indication that she was right.
"So it is about an old friend isn't it?" Rieka said as Raven surprisingly have a small nod.
"Well... you want to talk about it?" The wolf faunus replied as Raven looked back to her as she nodded again.
The two sat down at a bench with Omen placed to Raven right side of the bench. At first the red eyed women didn't say anything for the first few minutes but Rieka was being quite patient with her as Raven found her voice to speak.
"I've been exploring all of Remnant to find someone that has been gone for little over ten years. I've search everywhere that I could think of and I still have no results from it. But I know that I can't give up on it but..." Raven said pausing a moment before continuing.
"Sometimes you have to ask yourself that is this even worth doing anymore. That maybe the person your looking for really is gone from this world and what your doing is pointless and that you need to give up on it and just accept the reality of the situation." Raven said as she let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm about their right. Wanting to throw in the towel and give up on this search." Raven said with a defeated look.
"So that's what this is about." Rieka said as she then thought of an answer for Raven.
"Let me tell you something that happened to me some time ago. Me, my husband, and Pepper, we were coming back from a long vacation and heading back home but we were ambushed by bandits, captured and forced to work in the mines of Atlas." Rieka began.
"Some months later my husband was shot for training our daughter. They thought it was trying to start a rebellion of some kind. Three months later the mine where I was working collapsed causing cave in and I thought for sure that my daughter didn't survive but you know what. I never lost hope that my daughter was still alive and that we would be reunited one day. I held on to that hope for eleven years and looked what happened. I was reunited with her at long last because you know why?" Rieka questioned as Raven shook her head.
"Because I never gave up on her. Believe me their were times that I wanted to go back to Atlas and find her to make sure she was alright but I couldn't. But in no way that I gave up on her." She said placing a hand on Ravens shoulder.
"And I'm sure that Summer Rose is still out their. Just waiting to be found. Maybe not by you but maybe by someone else." Rieka said which surprised Raven at how'd she knew about Summer.
"How'd you..." Raven wanted to finished but Rieka stopped her.
"I spoke to Ruby some time ago about this same very issue. She wanted to believe what others told her but I gently guided her in another direction. And now I'm telling you Raven. Do you believe that Summer Rose is still alive?" Rieka asked.
"O-Of course I do. Their wasn't a sign of..." Raven started but got a flick in forehead from the wolf faunus.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Raven cried out rubbing her forehead.
"No. Not what you say up here." She said pointing to her forehead before putting a hand on her own chest where her heart is.
"But from in here. Now tell me again. Not from what any evidence say but from you yourself. Do you believe Summer Rose is still alive?" She questioned again this time with more vigor.
It didn't take long for Raven to answer "Of course I do." Raven replied.
"Then their you go. Just hang on to that belief and you'll find her." Rieka said with a smile.
For some reason Raven felt more confident in herself now and even more relaxed after talking with Rieka about everything. Feeling renewed Raven got up from the bench and strapped Omen back to her hip.
"Thanks for that. I really needed it." Raven thanked.
"From one mother to another. Just thought I'd help a little." Rieka said.
"Well you most certainly have. For that you have my thanks." She thanked the wolf faunus again.
"Any time. Now how about we step inside. It's going to get rather chilly here in the evenings pretty soon." Rieka replied as she got up from the bench slowly because of her knee as the two then decided to head back inside.
Raven now with her earlier thoughts out of her head she refocused on her goal.
"Where ever you are Summer I'll find you. Believe that." Raven thought she headed back inside Beacon.
=RWBY=
Meanwhile Star followed Cinder and Emerald back to their dorm room after making sure Neo was resting peacefully. Luckily the nurse said that her aura was recovering and helping to heal the wounds but it would still take some time probably before the start of the final round.
But for the moment Star was wondering what Cinder wanted to talk about since it seemed very important to her. Not ten minutes later after an awkward silence of walking the three reached Team CMSN room as they entered it with Emerald behind them making sure no one followed before closing the door and locking it behind them.
"Okay Cinder what is going on and more importantly what's with all the secrecy?" Star questioned.
Cinder sat on her bed facing Star "Their is something that you need to know Star and I don't think I can hide it from you anymore." Cinder started which made the fox faunus worry a bit.
"What do you mean? What is going on?" She asked completely confused.
Cinder glanced back at Emerald who only gave her an affirming nod.
"You remember when Amber was telling us about the story of the four maidens and about how each of them were unique in their own way." Emerald began.
"Yeah though I always thought they are just some kind of fairy tail honestly." Star said.
Cinder shook her head "What if I told you that those fairy tails are actually real?" She replied.
"I would say I need to see some kind of proof of that." Star added as she looked at them weirdly.
Cinder had a feeling that Star would ask for something like that and Cinder had an answer for that as Cinder closed her eyes and concentrated on what is left of the maiden power. Star for reason felt something deep inside her reacting as if it wants to come bursting out.
Cinder then snapped her eyes opened as her left eye burst into oranges flames as suddenly Stars eyes burst into bluish flames. Star looked at Cinder's eye as their powers seemed to mix as Cinder suddenly dismissed her power and at that moment Star's power dismissed as well.
"Okay... what was that? It suddenly felt so..." She began not even knowing what happened.
"Magical. That power you thought was your semblance isn't your semblance. That is one of the maiden powers. The power of the winter maiden. That is what your power is Star." Cinder replied.
"The... winter maiden... how is that even possible?" Star questioned.
"I'm not sure how you're the winter maiden or how you'd obtained it but regardless of that you are the winter maiden and you'll be a target of... her." Cinder replied.
"You mean Salem. Why does she want the maiden powers?" Star questioned.
Cinder shook her head "I'm not sure myself but whatever it is usually is never good. Salem already has some of her agents here at the academy and want you to watch yourself. Never find yourself alone okay." Cinder warned her.
Star nodded as she began headed out of the room with new information that she had gotten but she had an idea who these agents of Salem were which also made her worry about Velvet as she decided to go and find her to make sure she was okay and she pray that she was wrong about all of this.
F3: And that ends this chapter. Cinder finally reveals to Star about her maiden powers and Star's power. Rina prepares for the final round of the Vytal Tournament not even knowing about the dangers that are ahead. Let me know in the comments of what you think of this story. Also if you want updates follow or favorite this story. With that said this has been Fireuser3 and I'm out.