Hello, loyal readers! WaterDragonMaverick here with yet another installment of "Sideline: Another Story". In the previous chapter, our heroes met Cornelius Celestine and received robotic eyes for Lapis, which were surgically put in by Doctor Valerie Whitethorn. With that, Lapis can now see once again and everyone is happy. Now with Fragment Hunter back together, we'll see what they can do now that Lapis has robotic eyes. What awaits our heroes now that everything's calmed down? Find out in this new chapter.
I might just touch the sky!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I only own my Original Characters featured in this fanfic.
It was another sunny day in the village of Mirabelle and the members of Fragment Hunter were all happy that Lapis Ondine had her vision restored thanks to new robotic eyes. To see how well they worked, Lapis decided to spar against her sister at Plum Blossom Farms to test the functions of her robotic eyes and to make sure she could still fight normally. The Ondine sisters had their weapons ready as Lapis had a good grip on her trident and Lazuli used her Semblance to reshape some snow into a spear. The two clashed weapons and Lapis used the Wind Dust in her trident to kick up some loose snow into Lazuli's face. While blinded, Lazuli countered by slamming her spear into the ground and creating a cloud of powdered snow to obscure Lapis' vision. Seeing the trick was being used for more than just cover, Lapis blinked before she used the thermal vision of her robotic eyes to locate her sister. Seeing the Fish Faunus' body heat, Lapis was about to go in for a stab before she saw more heat forming in Lazuli's hands and switched to a defensive stance. This was the better choice as Lazuli used a small crystal of Fire Dust to create a burning sword to attack Lapis, but the slash was blocked in the prongs of Lapis' trident. The sisters smirked at each other as they separated and continued their sparring session.
Watching the fight, the members of Fragment Hunter were excited to see their friend wasn't going down without a fight. "It's almost like she never got hurt," Sunset remarked as she Lazuli break down and reform her sword into a storm of fire daggers.
The younger Ondine watched as the weaponry formed and her vision gave a threat assessment of what she saw. Using the Water Dust in her weapon, Typhoon, Lapis twirled the trident and a water barrier blocked the flames, making steam rise above her. Jumping away before Lazuli could reform the steam into something else, Lapis blinked and looked at her sister. Another function of her new eyes included a wireless connection to nearby Scrolls, allowing for locating certain people and being able to see Aura levels from them. Seeing her sister's Aura level reaching into yellow, Lapis spun her Typhoon and slammed the prongs into the snowy ground, making icicles shoot up and race toward Lazuli. The scale-faced Faunus stopped the attack when she used her Semblance to melt the ice into boiling water, which also got rid of some snow on the ground.
However, Lapis counted on Lazuli defending herself with a move like that and threw her trident at the older girl like a javelin. Lazuli gasped as she was hit with the trident and was knocked back after her Aura took most of the damage, sending her Aura into the red. "That's that, Lazzy," Lapis told her sister as she stretched her arms.
Lazuli chuckled as she picked up her sister's trident and handed it back to her. "You've still got it after everything," the elder Ondine said.
"Yeah, those new eyes are pretty cool," Silver remarked. "Thermal vision, threat assessment, wireless Scroll connection..."
"Night vision and a zoom function, too," Lapis added.
"Nice. Now everyone but me on Team SLVR can see in the dark," Rua playfully snarked.
"Just like all of us," Sunset stated as she gestured to Team SAFR.
Soon enough, everyone started joking around as Azalea sat on her home's front porch and was writing something up in her family's journal. While some of it was about Lapis' new eyes and how she could continue being a Huntress, she soon changed the subject and started to write down her own feeling about how much she had changed since the start of her own journey to be a Huntress. Closing the journal after a few minutes of writing, she saw one of the farmhands passing by and wave to her with mole-like claws for hands. Smiling and waving back at the man, Azalea watched him go by before looking at the pink ribbon that was still around her arm. As she did, she soon looked at her reflection in the glass of her front windows. Thinking about a few things, Azalea had a look on her face that showed she made up her mind about something.
Returning inside after the sparring session, the members of Fragment Hunter all went to speak with the adults. "Hey, Ivy. Is lunch ready," Rua asked as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Not yet," the Holstein matriarch told the punk girl. "I asked Ventus to go on a grocery run for me. Why not go around town and explore now that Lapis can see the town for herself? I'm sure you would all enjoy some shopping," she told the teenagers.
Hearing the idea of a shopping spree, most of the girls all smiled before they went to get their money and items from upstairs. As they did, Layla passed by Azalea's bedroom and saw the door was open. "Lea? You in here," the Vacuan girl asked. Entering the room, she saw that Azalea's journal was open on a page that looked like it was used for song lyrics. "What's this," Layla questioned just as Sunset entered the room.
"What's what," the flame-haired girl asked before Layla showed the journal page. "Hmm... 'Today I change my place in history. Today I'm gonna start a brand new life. Done with suffering, had enough with misery. Finally on a path that's heading somewhere bright.' This is pretty good," Sunset remarked as she read the lyrics.
"You think Azalea's trying to write a song," Layla asked.
"Maybe. Where is she, anyway," Sunset pondered.
"Azalea? She went out into town before you all came back in," Terracotta stated as he passed by the doorway.
Hearing that, the girls were surprised that she already left and then told the others when they went back downstairs to meet up. "She already went to Mirabelle," Vixen questioned.
"I wonder why," Cereza asked.
"Guess we'll have to go and find out," Rua stated. "Who's up for teleporting?"
"Let's not," Lapis said. "I want to explore the place more on foot."
Rua exhaled as she decided that was fair and all of Fragment Hunter went off to search for Azalea. "I'm coming with you," Pinkie exclaimed as she latched onto her older brother's back like a koala.
"Same here," Percival said as he joined the teams.
Not stopping the two, Sunset and the others marched out the door. "Be back in time for dinner, kids," exclaimed Carmelita Quartz. "We'll be making pork after Ivy finishes her shopping at the market." Hearing the planned meal, Silver licked his lips and rubbed his hands together.
After leaving the farmland, the teenagers all saw that the weather was getting warmer and snow was starting to melt around town. "Come on, let's find somebody we know and ask them if they saw Azalea," Sunset told everyone. Splitting up into their usual teams with Pinkie helping Team FCSA and Percival going on his own, the group went around to ask about Azalea.
Around an hour later, the teenagers met back up at the town square to share what information they had. "So, what did you all find out," Sunset asked.
"She stopped at the pet store to see some of the animals, but didn't stay for long," Layla told everyone.
"She stopped at a candy store, too," Pinkie added as she had a lollipop in the shape of a candy apple. Taking a big bite out of it, she hummed happily at the sweet taste. "So good..."
Shaking his head in amusement over his sister's behavior, Slate soon spoke up. "Have you guys got anything?"
"Not exactly," Team SLVR remarked all at once.
"Same," said Percival and Team SAFR.
Sighing in defeat, the teenagers all decided to get some lunch at Fiore Pizza. As they all split a few pizzas, Sunset spoke up again while they ate outside on the heated patio. "She's not picking up her Scroll, she's not answering on the telepathic link, and we have no clue where she is," Sunset complained. "Where is she," the de facto leader of Fragment Hunter questioned as she took a bite out of a slice of pepperoni pizza.
As the group tried to think, they saw a number of dogs they rescued from the junkyard walking around with people that were willing to look after them. Watching the dogs and villagers go by, the teenagers soon recognized somebody jogging their way toward them with a beagle by her side. "Hello, everyone," greeted Doctor Valerie Whitethorn. The teenagers all stared at the doctor as she was wearing a lime green athletic outfit consisting of a sports bra, a pair of shorts, and some sneakers. "Is everything alright with your eyes, Lapis?"
"Yeah, they work perfectly," the blue-haired girl said. "However, we're wondering where Azalea is. She went into town ahead of us and hasn't been responding to us yet."
The doctor hummed in thought as she heard the information. "You know, I believe I saw her going to Tifaret Tailor, the local boutique and seamstress shop," Valerie stated.
"Really? Thanks, Doc," Slate said.
"Call me Valerie when I'm not on the job," the woman told the teenagers before she returned to her workout and left with her new dog following her.
Waving to her as she left and finishing their pizza, Fragment Hunter paid the Dog Faunus father and son who ran the pizza parlor before heading off. "To Tifaret Tailor," exclaimed Celadon, who was looking forward to finding a new outfit while there.
Heading toward the west side of Mirabelle, Fragment Hunter made their way to Tifaret Tailor. Looking at the sign, the teenagers saw it had the design of a tree with a sun for branches. "This is it," Rua stated before Silver opened the door.
"Hello. Welcome to Tifaret Tailor. Where we make your outfits with love to make you beautiful," said a trio of women. Looking at them, the teenagers recognized two of the three blonde women. "May we help you?"
Looking at them, the younger two of the trio smiled as they saw who it was. "Hey guys, it's great to see you again," said Bianca Coloratura.
"Yeah, it really is," said Valencia Stonehaven.
"Hi, Bianca," Silver greeted before she walked over to him and gave him a kiss.
While Silver laughed like a dope after the Dove Faunus kissed him, the rest of Fragment Hunter all looked at the older woman and saw she must have been Bianca's mother. The older Faunus was the same height as Bianca, had longer hair, wore a pair of glasses, and had a sweater and thermal leggings on. The main physical difference between the mother and daughter was that instead of dove wings, the older Coloratura had a monkey tail. "I take it you're all Bianca and Azalea's friends? I'm Luna Coloratura," the older woman greeted.
"Hello, Mrs. Coloratura. Have you seen Azalea today," Sunset asked while the others started checking out some outfits set out for people to look at.
"Actually, we did," Valencia stated. "She came in asking for some extra details for her outfit, changed, then headed off for some other place."
"Where," Lapis questioned.
"I don't think she said anything about it," Valencia said, disappointing the others. "Since you're here, how about we try giving you some new clothes? I'm sure that you could use something else to fight in."
Everyone looked at their current attire and most of the teenagers were in agreement that some new outfits would be a good idea. "Count us in," Cereza told the workers as the three women started getting measuring tape and went to work.
After each of the group that wanted a new outfit got their measurements taken, Bianca spoke up. "Okay, with all of this done, we'll start looking for what's in your sizes and even make some new outfits if you want."
"I think I'll find something on the racks or something," Sunset told them. "After all, it would be hard to get another jacket like mine."
Valencia nodded in agreement after she put away her measuring tape. "Yeah. Fire Dust in a leather jacket would need to be a fully customized work. Luckily, I could help with that. I've been learning to weave Dust into clothing."
"Impressive," Cereza remarked.
"Have a look around and see if there's anything you want," Luna told the teenagers. "If there's nothing you like, I can always get to work on something you would want."
As the members of Fragment Hunter looked around, a few of them found outfits that were already available and decided to buy them immediately. "This would definitely look good on me," Lapis said as she looked at a top and some leggings before seeing a belt that went with the outfit. "Yup. I'm getting this. Just need to get my hair fixed up," she added while brushing her bangs out of her face.
Hearing Lapis' comment, Valencia snapped her fingers when she remembered something while Slate saw a necklace he thought was interesting. "That's right! Azalea said she was going to get her hair changed up. There's a salon around the corner and down the block," she told everyone. "I forgot about it because I was focused on improving the outfit she asked for."
"Thanks," Layla said. "We'll get going as soon as we pay for everything."
"No need. I'll cover it," Bianca replied as she handed her mother a card to use in the cash register. "I'm staying here at home for a while anyway. I won't go back to singing until I get enough song inspiration."
"Speaking of, we found some lyrics to a song we think Azalea was writing," Sunset remarked.
"I'd love to hear it from her next time we see her. Let's just get your outfits for now," Bianca said as she reminded the group of their purchases.
After leaving Tifaret Tailor with some new clothes, the members of Fragment Hunter made their way toward the salon that Azalea stopped at earlier. After asking the beautician if they saw the Cow Faunus, the teenagers were told that she went off somewhere else. "Back to square one," Silver remarked while Lapis sat in a chair and was getting her hair styled.
"Yup," Vinyl agreed while deciding to change her hair as well.
As a few other members of Fragment Hunter got their hair fixed while the rest waited around, the door soon opened to reveal Gin Aurum. "Hey, guys. What are you all doing here," the Huntsman asked.
"We're looking for Azalea," Pinkie said while chewing away at some taffy she bought earlier. "Have you seen her?"
Thinking about it, the older Aurum scratched his head before turning toward the group again. "I think I saw her heading to that lab you got Lapis' robot eyes from," Gin stated.
"Guess we have another place to check," Cereza remarked. "At least we can see more of those inventions of his. Possibly upgrade our equipment, too."
After waiting for the others to finish getting their hair finished, the members of Fragment Hunter soon reached Rabbit Hole Labs just in time to hear another muffled explosion. Opening a window, Cornelius Celestine coughed as a small cloud of smoke escaped. "Okay, I thought that I would be able to make a second one easier than the first. Ah well, everyone makes mistakes," Cornelius muttered as Mochi waddled into view.
"Learning from mistakes is important. As you may recall, my initial 86 activations were all failures," Mochi stated before noticing the others. "Hello, Lapis. My scans show that you have adjusted to your new prosthetic eyes well," the robot said to the girl.
"Yeah, they're pretty great," Lapis said.
"Of course, they are! They're my genius invention! My brilliance knows no bounds," Cornelius declared as he ran his hands through his hair, messing it up.
Most of Fragment Hunter rolled their eyes at the Rabbit Faunus' boasting, but remembered why they were at the lab in the first place. "Have you seen Azalea around," Celadon asked. "We haven't seen her since this morning and we heard she was here a little bit ago."
"She was," Mochi stated as he brought up a clock projection on his body. "Azalea was at this location approximately ten minutes ago," he told the others.
The teenagers all groaned as they missed Azalea once again. "We just had to get your bangs fixed up," Rua complained as she turned to Lapis.
"If anybody's to blame for us being late, it's Celadon and Vinyl," Lapis countered as she pointed at the two girls of Team SAFR.
"Guys, let's just focus," Sunset stated as she prevented a fight between the group. "She only left a few minutes ago. Did you hear where she was going," the flame-haired girl asked the Rabbit Faunus and robot.
"Well, after she asked about a few things, I think she said she was heading somewhere else," Cornelius remarked. "Something about Nashihana."
Hearing the name of the neighboring town, the members of Fragment Hunter all whined like children. "Oh, come on!"
"Why?"
"Noooo!"
"Sonuva-"
After the teenagers finished complaining about Azalea heading for Nashihana for an unknown reason, Sunset spoke up again. "Okay. So, she went to Nashihana. We can just head to the station and see when she got a ticket. Let's go."
"Just a sec," Slate said as he and a few others decided to leave their weapons with Cornelius. "Think you can help upgrade these for us," the gunslinger asked as he left his guns with the inventor.
Seeing Slate, Vixen, Rua, Silver, Cereza, and Pinkie leave their weapons with him, Cornelius smiled at the opportunity to get to work. "I've got a few ideas for them if you're willing to test them as payment," the Rabbit Faunus told the group.
"Oh no," Mochi said in his usual calm tone, making his apparent worry sound dull.
Eventually, the members of Fragment Hunter reached the local train station and spoke to the station master about Azalea. "Oh, I saw her earlier. She purchased a round-trip ticket to Nashihana. That train will be back in a couple of hours," the station master told the group.
"Thank you," Sunset replied before turning to the rest of the group. "So, we have a couple of hours to kill until she gets back."
"I wonder why she's not answering us," Rebecca questioned.
"Who knows," Cereza remarked.
"Well, I don't know about all of you, but I feel like finishing my shopping spree here in Mirabelle," Celadon remarked.
Seeing that they couldn't really do anything else, the members of Fragment Hunter all agreed to spend the rest of their afternoon shopping. After a while, they decided to return to Plum Blossom Farms and wait for Azalea. "We're back," Slate said as his family greeted him at the door of the Holstein home.
"How was everything," Claire asked as she gave Slate a tight hug. "Are you all okay? Can I get you and Pinkie a drink?"
"Mom, everything's fine. We just couldn't find Azalea all day. She's been going around town and we kept missing her," Slate said as he tried to pry his mother off of him.
Overhearing everything, Ivy smiled to herself. "My little girl that was born in the family barn as my husband's birthday present has grown so much over these recent months," she remarked.
Listening to her, the teenagers weren't all that surprised that Azalea was born in the barn, but they were surprised to hear the second detail. "Azalea has the same birthday as her dad," Vixen questioned.
"Best gift of my life," Terracotta voiced as he walked past the group and grabbed a photo album that was on a shelf. Opening it up, he showed the members of Fragment Hunter a picture of a younger Ivy in the barn holding a newborn Azalea, who was swaddled in a green blanket. "When she was born, Azalea so small. Just like a little butterfly," he said as the girls of Fragment Hunter all fawned over the picture.
"She was small, but she definitely inherited her father's appetite," Ivy said with a chuckle. While the teenagers all stayed silent and questioned the specifics of what Ivy meant, the elder Cow Faunus showed another photograph of a young Azalea surrounded by empty plates and crumbs of food. "The moment she could have solid food, she could eat more than a Huntsman," Ivy laughed as she remembered the times that her daughter wolfed down numerous homemade apple fritters.
Everyone who saw the picture laughed as Ivy said that, but thought that the photo was cute. "Awww, look at her little horns in this," Layla said as she looked at the photo.
As the girls all started to look through the photo album for themselves for quite some time, Celadon found a picture of a ten-year old Azalea. The young Cow Faunus wearing a sweater and pants, but also had a necklace with a bell on it. "This is interesting," Celadon voiced as she pointed out the necklace.
Terracotta looked at the photo the girl was referring to and nodded as he remembered it. "This was around the time that she learned of her Semblance. Those kids were cruel to her that day and she ran away to hide. If it wasn't for the bell on her necklace, we wouldn't have been able to find her," he said. "After we found Azalea, she tried to get rid of the bell because of what those brats said to her."
Hearing the story, the Quartz Family all showed disgusted faces. "Those children better have gotten what they deserved," Vasco remarked as he expressed his irritation.
"I hope so. We've been saved by Faunus while in Vacuo before on multiple occasions," Carmelita stated.
"If that Faunus didn't get to Slate in time when he was a baby, he would have died to a Ravager," Claire exclaimed as she gave her son a tight embrace.
"MOM! Choking," Slate said with a strained voice as he tried to fight out of his mother's grip without harming her.
As Pinkie tried to help pry her brother out of their mom's arms, Terracotta continued the story. "After that whole thing, I made a guest appearance at their school to talk about my career as a Huntsman. Let's just say they know why my throat is so scarred," he voiced.
"How did you get those scars," Rua asked.
"Mission in Menagerie, explored the desert, nearly dyed of thirst, found a small oasis that Grimm used as a trap, killed them all after I got my neck scratched, drowned one of them in the puddle of my blood, and headed back to Kuo Kuana after getting enough to drink," Terracotta explained nonchalantly.
Hearing that story, the members of Fragment Hunter and Slate's family were speechless. The first one to break the silence was Grayson Quartz. "Damn! How are you still alive," he asked in an impressed voice.
Soon, the front door was opened and everyone turned to see somebody had entered the building. "I'm home," said Azalea's voice before she stepped into the room and everyone got a better look at her. "Hey, guys. How's it going," Azalea asked while her friends gawked at her. The Cow Faunus was now wearing a hooded version of her jacket, a sleeveless fuchsia top with a butterfly-shaped keyhole opening, a purple pair of fingerless gloves, a pair of leather pants with a half-skirt similar to Yang Xiao Long's at Beacon with a butterfly scale pattern, a new pair of vambraces, a pair of greaves instead of one, and a pair of boots with a butterfly design. Aside from her clothes and armor changing, Azalea also had streaks of pink hair framing the sides of her face like antennae or butterfly wings, kept wearing Penny's ribbon on her arm, had some pink lipstick on at the moment, and her left bicep had an intricate tattoo of blue and green butterflies around it. "Well? You like my new look," Azalea asked as she held a bag in her hands.
Most of Fragment Hunter was speechless over the changes Azalea made to herself. Vinyl's sunglasses fell off her face as her jaw dropped, Lapis wordlessly blinked and tried to make sense of the situation, Celadon stammered as she admired the new outfit Azalea was wearing, and all of Team FCSA couldn't believe what they saw before Slate stepped forward. "Y-you're beautiful," Slate managed to say before pulling something out from a pocket on the inside of his poncho. "Maybe this would look good, too," he said as he gave Azalea a necklace with a silver chain and an emerald pendant.
Looking at the necklace, everyone wondered when he bought the piece of jewelry while Azalea smiled. "Thank you, Slate," Azalea told her boyfriend as he offered to put it on for her. With the necklace on and resting on her chest, the Cow Faunus looked at her reflection and soon faced her boyfriend. "I love it," she says before pulling Slate in for a flurry of kisses that left pink smudges all over his face.
"N-no problem, Azalea. I just thought it would look good on you," Slate mumbled out while wobbling around like a drunk after being kissed like that. He didn't even last another second before falling to the ground with a goofy grin on his face.
As Slate's family all looked at the boy, the members of Fragment Hunter all laughed. "Just like his first date with her back at Vale," Sunset remarked. After that, the leader of the group faced Azalea. "So, why'd you decide to change up your outfit again like this?"
Azalea just looked at Sunset before she gave her answer. "I changed so much from the little girl I was when I lived here. I knew that I'd keep changing if I wanted to be a Huntress. So many battles, hardships, wins, losses, and experiences help somebody go through a metamorphosis. Everything at Beacon and our journey here was that for me. I'll keep fighting. I'll keep protecting. I'll keep moving forward. I'll do all of that to help my friends, my family, and the people that deserve to live their lives. It doesn't matter what's thrown at me in the future. You know I'm too stubborn to go down without fighting back now. It doesn't matter that I'm not in classes at the moment. I knew it from when I faced my fears and fought Team JADE. I'm a Huntress and nobody can say otherwise," Azalea declared.
Hearing everything, Terracotta and Ivy smiled. "That's our girl," they said.
After a night of rest and good food, morning came and the members of Fragment Hunter were ready for a little more training. "Alright. Who's ready for today," Azalea asked as the other members of Fragment Hunter arrived out in the field.
"I'd say that we're all set," Cereza remarked as the rest of Team FCSA arrived with Pinkie next to Slate. Cereza was wearing a black bodysuit with gothic fashion details such as a short mantle with red patterns, a pair of bracelets and a pair of stylish and functional heels with Gravity Dust in both items, her locket around her neck, a cherry red belt to carry her weapons, and a shade of black lipstick on her lips. "I'm glad we found some new clothes while searching for you," the leader of Azalea's team said.
"Yeah, they're really great. Especially since I have something to wear when it's colder," Layla agreed. She was currently wearing an off-shoulder crop top and harem pants in a red color, but the pants had light blue ankles and a light blue waist. In addition to her normal gold circlet, she had a new pair of bracelets and a few rings on her fingers that had Dust embedded in them. She also wore a small gold belly chain, a gold chain necklace, an armlet on her right bicep, and a pair of anklets. "Speaking of that, it's a little chilly," she said as she put on a light brown hooded cloak to keep warm.
"This is what you get for not covering up," Slate teased playfully. He wore a gray shirt with twin bandoleers, a tan jacket with ammo clips, a pair of black pants with his holsters, a pair of black cowboy boots, and a white scarf around his neck. "Thanks for the scarf, Azalea," Slate said as he made sure his regular hat was on his head.
"No problem, Slate. I just thought it would have been a nice way to thank you for the necklace you gave me," Azalea said as she touched the emerald resting on her chest.
The two smiled at each other before they heard playful and mocking kissing noises coming from the younger Quartz. "Mwa-mwa-mwa-mwa-mwa-mwa-mwah! Oh, Slate! I love my new necklace so much! Let me make you a scarf so I can pull you closer and kiss you even more whenever I want," Pinkie said in an imitation of Azalea's voice. "Lemme give you some sugar, my hunky stallion."
"Pinkie! Will you stop that," Slate exclaimed as he fumed at his sister's teasing.
The girl only snickered with Layla and Cereza as Slate and Azalea were embarrassed by the younger girl. Pinkie was also wearing a new set of clothes as she had a frilly blue skirt with her emblem belt buckle, a pair of pink sneakers, and a pink t-shirt with small heart-shaped openings on the chest and shoulders. "What? I'm happy for you two. I'll have a sister in the future," Pinkie exclaimed, making Slate and Azalea blush more at the thought of them getting married.
"I'd give it a few years at least," Silver remarked as Team SLVR arrived into view. The Wolf Faunus was wearing a new outfit consisting of a new leather jacket with a pair of spaulders that had small decorative chains, a t-shirt with his emblem on it for the design, a collar with what looked like Dust embedded in the studs, a pair of jeans with a greave on the right leg, and a pair of combat boots with a wolf paw design. "Is this thing on straight," Silver asked as he adjusted his greave, showing it had a slot to let something attach to it and detach from it easily.
Lapis inspected and nodded. "Yup. It's fine now," she said. Her new outfit consisted of a cyan tank top with a seafoam-colored shell design on the chest and a fishnet keyhole opening like her previous outfit, teal scale-print leggings, a belt with a shell-shaped buckle and pouches with her emblem on the side, and a new pair of blue boots with a gold trim. Her hair was also trimmed and styled so her bangs and fringe covered her forehead instead of her eyes. "I'm loving my new hair," Lapis said as she felt the end of her hair, which stopped at chin length.
Leaning mischievously was Vixen Kosaku, who had an outfit change as well. Her new kimono was a scarlet color with a gold trim and a silver leaf pattern decorating it. She kept her sandals, but she wore black thigh-high stockings as well. Her sash also had a pair of boxes to carry objects such as her Scroll and fans, which were held in place with small decorative sculptures of her emblem on the cords. "Are you sure that you still want it to be blue," Vixen asked with her tail moving around behind her.
Rua immediately stopped the prankster by bonking her on the head. "Don't even think about it," the punk girl told Vixen before crossing her arms. Rua's new outfit had a brand-new purplish-red tank top, a red leather jacket, and a pair of black cargo pants. She also kept her gloves, earrings, and skull hair clip with the new outfit. And to top things off for her, Rua's hair grew out slightly and her brown roots were showing. "None of us would want you to dye our hair. I'm even letting mine stay this way," she said as she pointed to her hair.
"Yeah, you'd just mess with us," Sunset remarked as Team SAFR arrived.
"It's a harmless joke," Vixen muttered. "Not like I'm shaving it all off."
"None of us would want that either," Celadon exclaimed.
Looking over Team SAFR, everyone saw the girls changed up their combat outfits as well. The most noticeable was Vinyl as she changed her hair from blue to what was likely her natural blonde hair, but kept her bangs colored. She wore a white hoodie with a gold trim, a matching skirt, purple fingerless gloves, purple leggings, and blue sneakers. Aside from her usual amethyst sunglasses and white headphones, Vinyl also had blue lipstick on. Her hoodie was also decorated with a few pins that the others think she got from the Vytal Festival. The ones that stuck out the most were a simple rainbow-colored pin and one of her own emblem.
"Nice outfit, Vinyl," Azalea complimented. The music lover only gave a thumbs-up to reply as she listened to her headphones.
Sunset smiled as she adjusted her jacket and straightened out the rest of her clothes. While she kept her Fire Dust leather jacket, she wore a purple tank top underneath. She also wore a pair of fingerless gloves, a pair of jeans with her emblem on the upper thigh area, a belt with ammo for her weapon, and flame pattern boots. "Do these jeans make my butt look big," Sunset asked as she turned around. When she did, Vinyl smirked as she signaled that they did. "At least I know I look good," Sunset stated.
"Same here," Layla agreed as she twirled around and high-fived Sunset.
"As much as I'd like to discuss figures with you, we have training to do," Celadon said to the girls as she made sure her hairpin was in her bun correctly. Her new outfit was a short cheongsam dress in a green color with the same gemstone branch emblem from her hairpin as the design on the chest of her outfit. She also wore a pair of black shorts underneath her dress, had a pair of stylish sandals on, and wore a pair of earrings that resembled small leaves. "Shall we begin, Rebecca?"
The final member of Fragment Hunter only nodded. Her new outfit consisted of a black leotard over a fishnet top, a pair of new boots with shin guards and Gravity Dust built in, her armguards that stored her shuriken, her sword on her hip, and her red scarf covering her face. "Let's get to work," the ninja said.
All the members of Fragment Hunter were all ready for their day of training. Knowing that whatever came, they would have to be ready for it.
And with this chapter, we have new outfits and equipment for Fragment Hunter. I enjoyed having the characters explore Mirabelle a little more on their trip to find Azalea and showing off some of Lapis' training with her new eyes. With everything all changed up, we'll have another set of adventures for the heroes soon.
Now then, the next chapter will be a change of pace for what will happen, but I can guarantee that it'll be a fun chapter to work on and you'll probably love it. I'll be getting a little help for the content of the story of it, but it'll be great to get the character moments for it written up the way I'll do them.
I'm glad to finally finish up this chapter. If you noticed the lyrics in Azalea's journal, you'll see that they're "Touch The Sky" from Volume 7's soundtrack. I thought that song was perfect for Azalea after all her growth, so why not have an in-universe reason for it? Hope you enjoy and agree with that idea.
I'll get to work on Chapter 64 when I can. Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.
