WaterDragonMaverick here with the third chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". In this one, we'll see how Azalea and her friends get out of the situation they got in during the last chapter. Cornered by a King Taijitu and a group of Griffons, it looks like we'll see how everyone fights in this chapter.
Combat Ready!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I own nothing but my Original Characters.
As Azalea, Slate, Layla, and Cereza stared down the King Taijitu that emerged from the forest and ruined several trees, they also saw another quartet running towards them. Or more specifically, away from a small group of Griffons. With more than one type of Grimm to deal with, the eight had one thing to say about their situation. "We have our work cut out for us," Cereza said as she took notice of the four new girls.
Azalea recognized Sunset and Vinyl from before, but she saw two new faces with them. The first was a blonde girl in a green qipao dress and shorts. Her hair was in a styled bun with a hairpin holding it together. She had brown eyes that had a green color around the edge of the irises and wore light turquoise eyeshadow as well. She stood at 5'6" with a toned hourglass figure and a pale complexion. She also wore martial arts slippers on her feet and her hairpin had a jeweled pendant that reminded Azalea of fruit on a tree. She carried a spear with her and with a flick of her wrist, it transformed into a bladed whip that struck at a Griffon that got too close.
The second girl reminded Azalea of a ninja because of her outfit. A mostly black costume that looked like it focused on stealth, but seemed to have a fishnet vest or chainmail underneath what she could see and a red scarf that covered her mouth. Azalea also saw she had some sort of high-tech metal armguards and she wore tabi-styled boots with regular shin guards. The girl was the shortest among the group at 5'3" and even had the most petite figure between the four. She had short and messy plum-colored hair that reached the nape of her neck. The ninja girl's purple eyes scanned the area as she gripped the wakizashi sword at her waist.
Sunset saw Azalea and stopped at her side. "Azalea, we need to talk after dealing with these Griffons," she said before turning her head to see the giant two-headed snake that Azalea was staring down. "And the overgrown garden hose, too. I should've guessed," the fire-haired girl remarked as she rolled her eyes.
"We'll need to take care of everything by splitting up. I'm sure we can handle one this," Cereza casually said as she took aim. "Everybody pick a target and make sure it dies," the cherry-haired girl ordered as one of the Griffons swooped down to attack her. Dodging the monster, everyone saw her speed increase as she delivered a series of powerful punches and shots from her tonfa guns. As a final heavy strike was dealt, the Griffon's body started to evaporate and Cereza's speed returned to normal.
"There's something about her power that seems different than regular speed boosting," Sunset said before spinning her sword around to transform it. Turning the weapon into a sniper rifle, Sunset took aim and fired a round into one of the Griffon's eyes. Nailing it with a direct shot, the monster flailed around in pain before crashing into another Grimm. "Yes! Got it," Sunset said before one of the King Taijitu's heads rushed at her. Backflipping out of the way, Sunset unloaded her weapon's clip into the snake to deal some damage to it. However, the armored scales of the Grimm deflected most of her shots and only left some indents in its skin. "Damn," Sunset cursed before changing her weapon back into a sword.
As the first head of the Taijitu attacked Sunset, the second one hissed at Layla and the two girls that came with the sniper and Vinyl. "Out of the way," the ninja girl said as she swiftly dodged an attack and slashed at the snake's eye. Despite getting a cut in, the snake still stood ready to attack. The black half of the snake began to coil around the three girls, but they jumped away before it could do anything to them.
"Watch this, darlings," the blonde said as she placed hands in front of each other for a brief moment. As she did this, gemstones seemed to form in-between her palms and she released the gems at the snake like a shotgun blast. Each jewel hit the snake and shattered on impact to deal damage despite the scales defending the beast. Impressed by the girl's Semblance, Layla turned to her as the blonde smiled. "Who says you can't fight monsters with style," she said before turning her whip back into a spear to pierce a nearby Griffon in the neck.
Slate took aim with his pistols and fired bullets at the Griffons that surrounded Azalea. "Got your back, partner," he said as rolled to dodge a Griffon's attack and reloaded. As three more landed next to him, Slate fired one bullet at a Griffon's beak and the projectile landed right in the eye of the Griffon next to it. Then as he dodged the next attack, the previously shot Griffon crashed into the third and Azalea slammed her heel into the two monsters. "And I see you have mine," Slate thanked the girl before firing at new Grimm that showed up in the battle.
Vinyl activated her Hard Light Projection Braces, or 'Rhythm Scratch' as she would call them, and summoned a blue hard light katana in her hands. With Creeps and Beowolves joining the fray, Vinyl dodged their attacks and delivered a couple of slashes at each. As a Beowolf swung its claw at her, the music lover flipped back and dropped to the ground. Activating Rhythm Scratch, Vinyl summoned her hard light katana at her feet and she slashed away at the Beowolf as she did a break dance underneath it. Swiftly getting back on her feet, Vinyl summoned the final hard light weapon she had with Rhythm Scratch, a pair of gauntlets with three claw-like blades sticking out of them.
Before Vinyl slashed away at the Grimm, the blue color turned gold and the braces of Rhythm Scratch seemed to play music. As she swung her arms, the new color of the weapon seemed to show some sort of increased strength as Grimm were cut down even faster. Slashing away at the Grimm and taking off body parts, Vinyl managed to deal with most of the new monsters before she turned off her weapon.
Turning back to Layla, she held out her palm and an energy blast fired at a Griffon that was about to get her from behind. The blast sounded out with a loud drum-like beat and nailed the monster in the face. Giving a thumbs up to each other, the two returned to fighting before Sunset and Cereza regrouped with everyone. "Admittedly, this is getting hard," Cereza said as she reloaded her guns.
"And we still have that giant purse to deal with," the spear-wielding blonde noted as she landed next to Sunset. "Anyone have a plan?"
Cereza and Sunset looked around and saw the ninja girl using her armguards as a holster for her shuriken and throw them into a couple of Creeps. They also saw Azalea throwing large boulders at flying Griffons and send the beasts falling to the ground. Layla was also using her Telekinesis to send Grimm flying into each other for a chance to slash at them.
Thinking about this, Sunset absentmindedly touched Cereza's hand and heard something. "If I used my Semblance to slow time around myself, I'm sure that I can lead that monster into a trap with Azalea's strength helping."
"What did you say," Sunset asked Cereza.
"I didn't say anything," Cereza said to the girl.
"You just said that we could use you Semblance to lead the Grimm into a trap with Azalea's strength," Sunset said. "I was think something like that as well. But, I didn't know what you could do."
Cereza placed her hand on her head in confusion, but realized that Sunset was right about her idea. "We'll need tell the others the plan," Cereza stated.
Nodding, Sunset went to Azalea and Slate as they managed to kill the last Griffon. "Guys, we have a plan for the King Taijitu," Sunset said to them. "Cereza's going to lead it right to you. Try and stop it from attacking," she explained.
"I think I have an idea on how to do that," Azalea said as she looked back at the cavern.
As Cereza finished explaining the idea to the others, the eight regrouped as the King Taijitu's heads faced the novice Huntresses and Huntsman. Hissing at them, the twin-headed snake glared at the teenagers before the first move was made. The ninja girl placed her hands together and made a hand seal as she released a plume of smoke around her. The rippling cloud covered the area and the black Taijitu head attacked what was in front of it. However, it ended up not hitting anything and it soon felt somebody running along its back.
Cereza managed to dodge the snake's lunge and used her Semblance to slow down time around herself. She liked to called this power, 'Time Mirage', and she landed blow after blow on the snake's head while she was faster than everything else. She ended the duration of her Time Mirage by slamming her heel into the snake's skull and forcing it in Azalea's direction at the cavern opening.
The Taijitu's mouth was wide open as it went flying at the Faunus girl, but she stood her ground and waited for it to get closer. During Cereza's onslaught, Azalea picked up a rock that was about the size of the snake's head and she threw the large stone into the Grimm's maw. As the snake's mouth was kept from closing, Azalea pulled out Gladion and slammed it onto the ground to send a spire of rock into the serpent's neck to fully immobilize the monster.
With the head dealt with, Slate and Layla aimed their guns at the monster's eye and they each fired a different Dust round into it. Slate used two Wind Dust bullets to spiral into the monster while Layla used a Fire Dust bullet to cremate the Creature of Grimm. The two different elements combined as they traveled to the snake and created a spiral of flames that incinerated that monster's head to ash. The snake was now down to one head and that gave the others an advantage.
As the ninja girl took to the trees that remained, she used her armguard's magnetic capabilities to retrieve her previously used shuriken before throwing them back into the Grimm's eyes. With the snake blinded by the throwing stars, it was at a major disadvantage as it tried to attack the girls it was fighting. But, it was still a snake and it sensed the footsteps of the Huntresses-in-training on the ground. Coiling around them, it planned on constricting the girls and crushing their bodies. However, they easily jumped out and it only felt pain from what it was currently coiling around.
As Sunset jumped out from the King Taijitu's attack, she activated her Aura and the back of her leather jacket began to light up. With a glowing emblem of a sun with her sleeves also glowing to give the image of phoenix wings, Sunset unleashed a torrent of fire at the grass where she and the other girls once stood. With the flames affecting the serpent, it straightened itself out again before noticing the lack of vibrations around it. Only feeling the heat of the fire it was near, the Grimm failed to locate its targets.
Using Rhythm Scratch's hard light discs, Vinyl created platforms for herself and the girls to stand on as they prepared to finish the reptilian Grimm off for good. Arming her sniper rifle, Sunset took aim at the monster and fired a round into one of its damaged eyes. As the snake sounded off in pain, the blonde girl formed more gems between her hands and fired them at the monster as Vinyl released an energy blast from her palm at the same time. The projectiles collided with each other in the Grimm's mouth and they exploded in a brilliant light, taking the King Taijitu's second head with it.
The battle was finally over and all eight collapsed on the ground with relief. After catching their breath, Layla and Vinyl laughed in delight. "That was awesome! I can't believe all of that happened," Layla shouted in excitement as she recalled the battle.
"It was bloody amazing," Cereza said with a less enthusiastic tone, but she still carried a lot of fervor in her words.
As they laughed and took note of how well everyone did against the Grimm, one of the newer girls spoke up. "I don't think we had the pleasure of introducing ourselves," the blonde said. "My name is Celadon Flynn. Call me whatever you want, darlings."
"Rebecca Haze," the purple-haired ninja stated as she adjusted her scarf.
"I'm Layla. That's Azalea, Cereza, Sunset, Vinyl, and... I'm sorry, I don't think we got your name," Layla said as she listed off the names of everyone else.
"Slate," the cowboy said with a tip of his hat.
"Come on. The temple's this way," Azalea said as she led the group to get their relics. Because the battle they had took place as she and Slate were coming back with their chess piece, she assumed that nobody else found the temple because all of the relics were there when they made it.
Catching up to the Faunus, Sunset decided to talk to her about what happened at the cliff. Taking note of her exposed horn, Sunset tapped Azalea on the shoulder to get her attention. "So, you ARE a Faunus. Why hide it," Sunset asked.
"...Growing up was a pretty big problem with some of the kids at my schools. They made fun of my horns, mocked my family, and it only got worse when I hit puberty," Azalea said as she turned to talk with Sunset face to face. Everyone else heard the story and immediately did the math as Azalea hugged herself.
"Azalea, darling. I only just met you, but I can tell that you're a strong and beautiful woman. You shouldn't let a couple of kids who were jealous that they couldn't see in the dark bring you down," Celadon said as she smiled warmly at the farm girl.
Slate placed his hat back on Azalea's head as she saw everyone else comforting her as well. Azalea smiled back at them and led the way to the temple. On their way, Sunset returned back to something during the fight. "I heard Cereza talk about her plan, but she didn't say anything to me," she noted. "What was with that?"
Vinyl placed an arm on Sunset's shoulder and the latter heard something from her despite not seeing her move her lips. "Maybe your Semblance let you do that?" Looking at Vinyl like she suddenly grew a horn out of her forehead, Sunset was surprised to hear her voice.
Deciding to test the idea of her Semblance developing, Sunset focused on Azalea to see if something would happen. After a few seconds, she heard Azalea's voice in her head just like before with her, Vinyl, and Cereza. "I'm so glad that I came here. I thought I wouldn't actually make friends, but I was wrong! I was wrong and I couldn't be happier!"
Sunset looked at her hands and at Azalea before she started laughing in delight. "Hahahaha! I did it! I found my Semblance," she exclaimed as she hugged Azalea. Surprised by the sudden contact and the laughter, Azalea turned around to see an ecstatic Sunset. "I can't believe it! This is amazing! Miss Celeste would be so proud," she continued.
"What's happening," Celadon asked as she tried to calm Sunset down.
"I think I can read minds," Sunset explained. "But, I feel like there's more to it than that."
Cereza walked ahead of everyone else and saw the temple in the distance. "I'm happy for you, luv. But, it looks like we're here," she said as she fixed her hair.
Azalea and Slate looked around the area and saw that a couple of other pieces were missing from the podiums. Both sets of rooks, the black bishops, and a pair of knights were taken. Seeing that there was still the second gold-colored pawn, Cereza picked it up as it was one of the only ones left by itself. "I guess you'll do, little one," Cereza said to the relic like it was a child before gently placing it in her jacket pocket.
"Guess we need one as well," Sunset said as she looked over the remaining pieces.
Celadon saw the gold queen and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "Ooh, you'll be perfect! I don't understand why nobody chose the queen? She's one of the most powerful pieces in a game," she stated as she picked it up.
"To be fair, the first person who came here probably just grabbed the first piece they found and left before they gave it a second thought," Sunset mused as she picked up the second queen.
Clearing her throat, Azalea caught everyone's attention as she pulled out the pawn from her pocket. "Actually, me and Slate got here first and I chose the pawn because of something my mom said," she said. Sunset gave a nervous chuckle as she heard that and rubbed the back of her head.
"Well, I suppose that we head back to the cliff," Rebecca said as she went over her shuriken arsenal to double check her supply.
As everyone agreed, they headed back before anybody else got to the temple. Along the way, the eight chatted the whole trip through the forest and dealt with any stray Grimm that came across their path. The eight teens were so caught up in their talks that they reached the cliff and met back up with Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch.
"Hello students. I see that you did well on your test," Ozpin greeted them as he sipped from his mug. "I hope to see you in the auditorium to learn which teams you'll be on and working alongside for your years at Beacon." Slate and the girls all agreed with the headmaster before heading back to Beacon Academy.
"Silver Wuruhi, Vixen Kosaku, Rua Amaranth, and Lapis Ondine," Ozpin announced the next four students that passed the initiation. The auditorium was crowded with upperclassmen, staff, and faculty as Ozpin assigned this year's teams. "The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as Team SLVR. Lead by... Silver Wuruhi."
As everyone applauded, Azalea and her friends took note of the other two members of Silver's team. Lapis was a pale girl standing at 5'4" and had a curvy figure with an average chest and wide hips. She had short spiky blue hair that reached her ears and she wore blue earrings with rose gold gems. She had white eyes and wore wisteria eyeshadow at the corners of them. Her cheeks had a natural blush to them that made her look like a happy child. She wore a black crop top with metal pauldrons, detached sleeves that had a seafoam green shell pattern at the wrists, black booty shorts, a gray belt that held up two separated halves of a purple skirt that had a blue symbol of a mermaid holding a crystal, and blue combat boots with metal greaves.
Vixen Kosaku was a red fox Faunus that stood at 5'5" and was easily identified by her bushy tail. She had a fair-skinned complexion and a slim hourglass figure with an average sized chest. She had emerald green eyes and wild orange hair that was cut short. Vixen also had a beauty mark on her right cheek near her nose. Vixen's attire consisted of a short-sleeved kimono with a flower pattern that ended at her thighs and had a fur collar. The kimono had a large sash that looked like it could carry her equipment and she wore knee-high stockings along with wooden sandals that had an ankle strap.
As they left the stage, Silver and Rua waved to Azalea and the others as the two passed. Ozpin called up the next four people at the same time. "Vinyl Aurum, Rebecca Haze, Celadon Flynn, and Sunset Blaze. The four of you retrieved the white queen pieces. From this day forward, you will be know as Team SAFR. Led by... Sunset Blaze," Ozpin said to the four girls. Sunset looked surprised by the decision he made, but Vinyl and the others each gave a thumbs up at their new leader.
Stepping down from the stage, Ozpin called the next four students up. "Cereza Fujita, Slate Quartz, Layla Carbuncle, and Azalea Calla Holstein," he announced as the four took the stage. Because they only took the time to get cleaned up, Azalea decided to not put a new bandana on until the morning and revealed her horns. "The four of you retrieved the white pawn pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as Team FCSA. Led by... Cereza Fujita," Ozpin declared as Cereza adjusted her glasses and Slate tipped his hat to the headmaster.
"Yay! We're teammates, Lea," Layla said as she hugged the Faunus girl. The two laughed together as they stepped off the stage and let the last three teams be announced. With the bully from this morning leading the next team, Azalea was a bit cautious of encountering him the next time.
However, the next team was JNPR and Pyrrha Nikos was a member of it alongside the blond knight boy and two students who looked like they were very familiar with each other. After Jaune Arc was named leader of his team, Ozpin congratulated him and Pyrrha accidentally punched him to the floor. Most of the room laughed at that and Azalea was in that crowd of laughter.
Finally, the last team to be announced was Team RWBY that had not only Ruby and Yang, but also Weiss Schnee and a mysterious girl named Blake Belladonna. The last name sounded familiar to Azalea, but she ignored it as Ruby was named leader of her team. The sisters hugged and Ozpin said one thing about everything that happened. "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year," he commented to himself.
That night, Team FCSA went to their new dorm rooms and got ready for bed. "I deserve a good rest from today," Cereza said as she emerged wearing a black nightgown.
"I think will all do," Slate said as he put his hat on his bedpost. Wearing a simple pair of pajama pants, Slate slipped into his bed and began to fall asleep. "Goodnight, y'all."
Layla undid her ponytail and did the same thing as Slate. Azalea was looking out of the window and stared at the moon while her thoughts wandered to her last two days at Beacon. Despite some slip ups on her part, she made so many friends and even met up with two old ones. In Azalea's mind, she was happy to have come to Beacon. And now, she was ready to drift off to sleep as she prepared for adventures to come.
And with that, the Emerald Forest has been cleared! The three teams I have made are set up. In case you can't figure out what colors they are (besides the obviousness of SLVR), Team SAFR is "Sapphire" like the blue gem and Team FCSA is "Fuchsia" like the purple flower.
I hope you enjoyed the action and bonding of the two teams here and I will make sure that SLVR gets some time with them as well. After all, now we start classes at Beacon and what happens during the time between episodes that focused on RWBY and JNPR. Leave a review if you liked the chapter!
WaterDragonMaverick, signing out!