AN: I would once again like to thank Lord Maximus. This story point was his idea, and I worked closely with him on the fight scenes this chapter.

Quick question: Has anyone hear read the RWBY Anthology manga series? They gave each member of Team RWBY their own book that was basically a collection of short manga stories drawn by a bunch of different artists. The reason I bring this up is because I'm pretty sure there's a moment in Ruby's book where Mercury just straight-up grabs her ass. It's weird that I have never seen anybody talk about that moment anywhere. Look it up if you get the chance. It's weird.

Anyway, onwards!

Chapter 59

Aqua, Weiss and Yang prepared for battle against the Unversed, the one that shared Vanitas's form. Yang held her fists up with Ember Celica, while Weiss held her Myrtenaster in one hand. Aqua settled into her normal stance, Keyblade at her side and one hand held out with her open palm facing their enemy.

"Be careful, you two," Aqua said. "Copy or not, Vanitas was an extremely dangerous opponent."

The Unversed seemed eager to prove her point as it aimed its Keyblade and fired three dark Thundaga bolts at them. Aqua quickly raised her Keyblade to block the attack aimed at her, while Yang shot herself out of the way, and then used the recoil of Ember Celica to shoot herself straight at "Vanitas". Weiss summoned her glyphs and used them to increase her speed and dashed out of the way. Yang reared her fist back and aimed at the creature's face, but it easily blocked her strike with the side of its Keyblade.

The strength of Yang's strike only pushed it back by a few feet. Yang followed up with a series of punches, but "Vanitas" blocked each and every one with its Keyblade, even when Yang tried a few kicks. It stabbed its Keyblade into the ground and leaped up, delivering a flying kick to Yang's face that sent her flying back. She hit the ground hard but got up with a growl. She reared her fist back, ready to send a projectile, but she spotted Weiss dashing up behind the Unversed.

Weiss thrust her sword at the back of the creature's head but at the last second it moved its head out of the way. It then spun and slammed the hilt of its Keyblade into Weiss's abdomen. Her Aura took the worst of it but Weiss still gasped as she was knocked to the ground. Just as it raised its Keyblade to finish off the white-haired heiress Aqua dashed in, using her Keyblade to stop the blow just above Weiss's head.

Aqua then swung her Keyblade, following up with a swing but the Unversed vanished with a blur. "Get back!"

She grabbed Weiss and both rolled out of the way as the Unversed fell from the air above, delivering a downward slash where they had been that left behind a small crater and a shockwave that shook the ground. The Unversed aimed its Keyblade at the two and released a large blast of dark fire at them, but Yang fired a blast from Ember Celica that collided with the Dark Firaga. But the blast had split into three smaller ones, and only the one aimed at Yang had been cancelled out. The Unversed spun around and slashed at her. She quickly raised her arms, using her Aura and gauntlets to block the first few strikes. Aside from Aqua, Yang knew best how tough an opponent with a Keyblade was.

They could forgo the use of Dust, and with the help of magic they were completely unpredictable, as Ruby and Aqua had shown. Yang only had her weapon and skills, but that didn't mean she was helpless compared to them.

In fact, she might know best out of everyone on Team RWBY how to go toe-to-toe with a Keyblade wielder.

She dashed out of range, firing her weapons and using the recoil to move around the Unversed in a circle. The creature remained still as a statue, just waiting. Yang then shot in from the left and the Unversed spun around, slashing its Keyblade at her. Except Yang aimed down at the ground and fired, the blast propelling her right over the Keyblade. She landed behind the Unversed, delivering a few punches to it before it vanished into the ground.

"Yang!" Aqua shouted. "Watch the ground for a moving shadow!"

Yang looked down and saw a moving shadow just as Aqua said, moving underneath. She jumped back just as the Unversed shot out, releasing a Dark Blizzard spell that froze her arms. "Damn it!"

She knew she should have dodged but her reflexes kicked in and she went for a block instead. She remembered how unpredictable Keyblade Wielders were. The Unversed landed on the ground and moved to strike when an ice wall appeared between it and Yang. The Unversed spun around and blocked a strike from Aqua aimed at its chest and then tried thrusting the shard end into Aqua's face. Aqua brought her Keyblade up to deflect the attack and tried another thrust to "Vanitas's" chest.

The Unversed brought its Keyblade up in a diagonal angle to catch the attack and sensed someone behind it. The creature immediately ducked under a strike from Weiss and spun around, leaving her to shoot past it. Just as Weiss spun around the Unversed fired a series of dark blasts at Aqua, forcing her to conjure a barrier to protect herself, with the blast hitting the ground in front of her to temporarily blind her and immediately attacked Weiss. For most of her life the heiress had trained to become a Huntress, soaking up all the lesson her elder had taught her and spent hours practicing until she had her style down to perfection.

And as she fought this creature she found her skills to be the only thing keeping her alive.

The copy of the boy Aqua had called "Vanitas" fought with a fighting style that was lethal as it battered away at her attempts to defend herself. She fought with fluid grace, and valued precision over power. This creature fought in a way that ruthlessly punished any attempts she made to strike it, defending and then following with an immediate counterattack and exploited any weakness it could find. Weiss jumped back and plunged her Myrtenaster into the ground.

Using the Earth Dust stored in the hilt of her blade Weiss sent a line of earth spikes right at the Unversed as it vanished into the ground. Remembering this trick from before, Weiss remained composed as the moving shadow approached her and timed it just right to jump back when the Unversed leaped out. It fell towards her, swinging its Keyblade down, but Weiss caught it in a black glyph and sent it crashing into the very spikes she had just made. Just as it was getting up, Weiss activated her time glyph and shot forward, ready to end this fight.

Only when she stabbed the Unversed through the chest it wasn't what she thought.

The Unversed vanished, having not been hurt it hadn't been there.

It had been an afterimage.

The real one appeared right behind Weiss and slashed at her, damaging her Aura. It then followed up with an upward somersault slash that released a wave of dark energy that completely broke Weiss's Aura, blasting her to the edge of the arena and crashing her into the ground. Weiss was dazed as she felt the burning sensation in her back and realized that the man was right.

This was supposedly a dream, but it felt way too real to be a mere dream.

Looking over her shoulder she watched as the Unversed slowly approached her.

Just how strong is this thing? She thought. Is this… the power of a Keyblade Wielder? Is this… how strong Ruby and Professor Branwen really are?

A few years ago…

"All right, Ruby," Mom said with a proud smile to Ruby after a hard day's training. "I think you've got down the basics of Keyblade combat."

"Yay!" Ruby exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air, making Mom giggle.

"Now, we start working on your personal style." Ruby tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"My personal style?" she asked.

"Yes," Mom said with a nod, summoning her Keyblade. "You see once a Keybearer masters the basic forms they can start on more advanced forms. My form for instance."

She settled into her Keyblade stance, making a few practice swings as she started to flow around the training ground, with Ruby watching her closely. She even did a few cartwheels just to show off.

"My Flowing Combat Style allows me to flow in and out of the battlefield, where in one instance I attack and in another I didge or retreat. While I'm neither the weakest or the slowest, I'm the most balanced in terms of speed and strength. But, my frame combined with my agility makes me hard to hit, as you've seen in my spars with Qrow," Mom explained as she did an elegant twirls, almost as if she was dancing or even figure skating. "When combining this style with magic I can be extremely tricky to the point I almost always have the element of surprise."

She gracefully somersaulted through the air, landing back in front of the awestruck Ruby and spread her arms out as she did a dramatic pose. Ruby quickly clapped her hands in applause as Mom looked up with a smile.

"Now we focus on what your style might be."

In the coming weeks, they got to work on figuring out exactly what Ruby's Style might be, even allowing Uncle Qrow and Yang to offer their own advice as Uncle Qrow trained Ruby in scythe-based combat. Despite the elegance of her style, Mom's Flowing Combat Style wasn't really suited for her. Instead of flowing around the battlefield Ruby literally shot in and around it, especially after unlocking her Semblance. The petals and roses left in Ruby's wake gave Mom an idea.

Scattering Combat Style.

That was what Ruby chose to call her style, combining her fast attacks with her Semblance and flower-based magic to disorient her enemies with her speed and the roses she created before going in for a surprise attack.

Needless to say, she took to it very well.

Immediately the armored man swung his Keyblade down, creating a large crater as Ruby and Blake jumped back. Blake shifted her weapon into its pistol form and fired, using Earth, Fire, and Ice Dust to hit the man head-on. There was a moment of silence as they watched the smoke clear.

Only to reveal the man's armor didn't even have a single scratch on it.

The man sprinted at Blake, performing a three-hit combo as Blake hastily used both of Gambol Shroud's blades to block. Just as she managed to block the third strike the man's Keyblade suddenly transformed into a drill. He thrust it at Blake, who let out a scream as it pierced her…

Only to use her Semblance to leave a shadow behind in her place.

The man turned around, watching as rose petals fell over him. He immediately changed his Keyblade back into its original form to block a trike aimed at his head by Ruby. He shoved Ruby back, and the wielder jumped further away, aiming her Keyblade at him.

"Petal!"

A stream of rose petals flowed out of Ruby's Keyblade and shot straight towards the man as he held up his Keyblade. To the shock of Ruby and Blake the man's Keyblade transformed into a whip, which he swung so fast it was literally impossible to see, slashing Ruby's entire Petal spell to pieces.

"No way…" Ruby said, stunned to see her attack blocked so easily.

No one outside of Mom had managed to that, but that was because Mom had just used a barrier to block it whenever they'd spar. She had never seen anyone physically block each individual rose petal before. The man dashed forward again and Ruby immediately used her Semblance to dodge an attack that left behind another crater. Blake thought to attack while his guard was down, using both of her weapon's blades as she fell upon the man. He hastily raised his Keyblade, blocking the strike to his head.

Blake slid down his back and ducked as he spun around and swung at her head. He swung again, but Blake left behind a shadow as she moved to the side, believing she had caught him off-guard.

She hadn't.

A strange rune appeared underneath her and an orange orb appeared above her that immobilized her as she tried to attack.

"What?!" she shouted. The man turned to face her, raising his Keyblade to strike her down.

"BLAKE!"

Ruby rushed in and grabbed Blake, both of them getting away as the man swung his Keyblade down hard.

Blake managed to stand up, but found that she physically couldn't move her body when she tried to shift her weapon to its pistol form. And only when she tried to do that.

"Ruby, I can't fight," she said, making Ruby look at her in confusion. "It feels like I'm not allowed to use my weapon!"

"Must be some kind of spell," Ruby said, looking up at the orb above Blake's head. She swung Crescent Rose at it, shattering the orb. "That should do it. Now we better—"

"We need to get out of here," Blake said, surprising Ruby. "We can't beat him."

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Look at him! He's not even trying! He—" Blake was cut off as the man shot forward, changing his Keyblade into a giant mace and swinging it down. "RUBY!"

Ruby dashed away with her Semblance, dashing around the man as he stood up. She then shot forward, transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form and swinging it with all her might. The man easily blocked the few strikes aimed at his head and torso. Using her training from Uncle Qrow, Ruby spun her scythe in one hand, utilizing quick slashed too fast for the eye to see. But the man blocked each and every one.

Blake could only look in stunned silence as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

This was supposedly a dream, and yet it felt so real.

She could feel the sweat from the heat of the battle.

She could feel the adrenaline beating in her head

And most of all, she could feel the crippling fear of this strange armored man.

The man was already pushing Ruby as she hastily defended herself but no matter she did the man overpowered her so easily it was like he wasn't taking her seriously at all.

"Vine!" Ruby shouted, summoning vines to grab the man and hold him down.

She actually managed to deliver a few strikes before the man summoned several objects that fired beams of light at her, burning the vines she had created and forcing her to dodge again. Ruby's Scattering Style allowed her to dodge most strikes and she could seemingly surprise the man, but his reflexes were beyond ridiculous as he blocked or countered her strikes with such frustrating ease. He then changes his Keyblade into a bow and fired three energy arrows at her as she hastily shot around the battlefield.

"Fine, you wanna play a shooting game?" Ruby shouted as she landed on the ground, her Keyblade changed into it's sniper form. "Here's one for ya!"

She gathered as much power as she could into this shot, hoping it would do some damage. She looked forward at the man and watched as he changed his Keyblade…

…Into a giant cannon.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Ruby muttered just before she fired her shot.

The man fired his cannon as well, releasing a bright glowing sphere that barely even reacted to Ruby's sniper blast and flew straight at the stunned Ruby. Just in time, Blake's ribbon wrapped around Ruby's waist and pulled her away just as the attack was mere inches away. The attack created a powerful explosion that blinded both of them for a moment. When they could see again, they watch in absolute shock and fear as the man walked through the dust cloud created by his cannon.

"No way…" Ruby said, backing up in fear, trembling. "What are you?"

The man wielded the Keyblade with a kind of power neither of them had ever considered possible before.

Ruby had always been impressed by her Keyblade's ability to switch forms, especially after hearing Mom had never seen any other Keyblade do anything like that. But now her confidence had been shattered by the sheer power she was facing, and she realized she couldn't hope to win.

Not against this man.

What do I do? What do I do? She frantically thought as the man approached them. What would Mom do? Could she even fight him?

AN: Again, a lot of thanks to Lord Maximus for the huge help you gave me writing this.

So, next time, we will continue the fights.

As always, thank you all very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!