Hello, readers! WaterDragonMaverick here and I'm ready to show what happens next in Sideline. When we last left our heroes in Fragment Hunter, they split up to figure out where the phantom thief, Smoke Shadow aka Sombra, would strike for his next heist. After failing to stop him, Slate, Layla, and Team SAFR see that Azalea is missing. Sunset doesn't like this at all and reacts in anger. Will they manage to rescue their friend? Find out now!
AMBUSH!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only characters I own are in Fragment Hunter (Team SLVR, Team FCSA, and Team SAFR) and Smoke Shadow's crew.
"I WILL BURN THAT RACCOON'S TAIL OFF AND TURN HIM INTO BARBECUE IF HE SO MUCH AS TOUCHES AZALEA," Sunset screamed in primal rage as her Fire Dust jacket burned brightly and made flames surround her.
"Sunset! Breathe, Darling," Celadon said in an attempt to calm down her leader.
"Yeah. We don't want this parking garage to go up in flames," Slate remarked.
"J-just calm down," Layla nervously said.
"HOW CAN I BE CALM WHEN AZALEA'S BEEN TAKEN BY A THIEF AND HIS MUSCLEBOUND GOON," Sunset shouted at Layla. "She's been kidnapped and we couldn't do anything! We should've been able to handle that thief!"
"But, he wasn't a Grimm or another student," Layla reminded as she looked down at the floor in shame. "We couldn't do anything against someone like him."
"Layla's right. We couldn't stop him," Rebecca said. "If he trained outside of the Kingdoms like I was, then he's bound to have exceptional skill."
"Rebecca has a point. He was obviously prepared and skilled enough to handle us despite having no information on us," Celadon agreed.
"We need to go after them! There's no telling what they might do to Azalea," Sunset said with lingering anger.
"What we need to do is get help from Cereza and Team SLVR. Explain the situation to them and think of a plan while keeping Rua from breaking something," Slate countered. "If Silver can turn into a wolf, maybe he can track them," he thought aloud as he pulled out his Scroll.
Growling and taking a deep breathe, Sunset tried to calm herself down. "Let's do that. But the longer we wait, the longer Azalea is left without help."
The last thing Azalea remembered was cornering Sombra before his associate arrived and helped him escape. After that, everything was a blur and she only felt the hard pavement of the parking garage. As she woke up, she felt that she was now resting on a sofa and was in a dimly lit building. Seeing that she was in an unfamiliar place, Azalea was panicking and tried to look around. After a minute, she realized that the building was an old factory and that she wasn't restrained by anything. "Where is this place? How long was I out," Azalea asked herself. Reaching into her pocket, she tried to find her Scroll before realizing it wasn't there and that her sweater was torn a bit. Gasping, she frantically searched herself and saw that she was only missing her Scroll and her weapon. "Where's my stuff?!"
"You probably dropped them when you were knocked out by my attack," a deep male voice said as something was being struck repeatedly. Looking behind her, Azalea saw that it was the 'Tremor' man that helped Smoke Shadow escape and saw he was hitting a punching bag. "If you're wondering, I didn't hit you. That parking garage was old and starting to fall apart. I probably knocked some pieces of the ceiling loose and one hit you in the head," Tremor explained as he delivered a left hook into the bag.
"But... why did you bring me here," Azalea cautiously asked.
Tremor threw a haymaker into the punching bag that sent it falling to the ground with a large hole. "Sombra doesn't like seeing girls hurt and I don't like seeing anyone hurt when I'm not fighting them. It's no fun that way," Tremor explained as he set up another punching bag to replace the destroyed one. "We brought you here because we couldn't leave you on the ground."
"M-my friends would've helped me," Azalea whispered as she held her arm.
"I know they would've," Tremor said as he continued to jab away at his punching bag. "Besides, we never got to fight. And anyone who has the guts to chase after Smoke like that is somebody I wanna brawl with!" With a loud grunt, Tremor threw an uppercut at the punching bag and sent it into the air before he jumped after it. Smashing the bag down with a hammer fist, it burst open and sent sand flying all over the floor. "And if you're pals come looking for you, then I get to fight with them too," Tremor added.
"Is that all that you have on the brain, Agate," a new voiced asked before stepping into the room. Azalea turned to see a short male wearing glasses and a tanned woman with white hair. "I swear, you always want to test your strength against... anyone you... meet," the male continued before he saw Azalea for himself.
Everyone saw that the bespectacled male was looking at Azalea, but not saying anything. Tremor and the new girl started laughing at their associate's sudden silence. "Oh man! Oliver, you STILL can't talk to girls? That's hilarious," the girl said as she was laughing.
"Bite me, Rouge" Oliver retorted as he opened a water bottle and started to take a drink.
"If you really want me to," 'Rouge' replied with a sultry tone. Hearing her say that, Oliver spit out his drink as he began to cough. Seeing his friend needing help, Tremor went to give Oliver a hand. "Hahahaha! I can't believe that you did that, Electrum! That was a classic spit take," Rouge said with a snigger.
"Ummm, what's happening here," Azalea asked as she saw her 'captors' messing around with each other.
Rouge turned back to Azalea and took another look at her. Smiling, she walked toward Azalea with a sway in her hips. "It's not often that we get a cute girl visiting us like you," Rouge said with a wink. Azalea blushed a little as Rouge continued to talk. "Oliver's shy around girls he doesn't know. It took him weeks to actually talk with me."
"In case you didn't pick up on it, he's kind of a nerd," Tremor added with a grin.
"Kun! Stop that," Oliver exclaimed. "Same with you, Miss Moonstone!"
"Why should we? Hahaha," Rouge laughed.
As the others started to bicker and speak amongst themselves, Azalea tried to sneak away and find her way out. Seeing a door, the Cow Faunus carefully made her way over and grabbed the doorknob. Pulling on the door, Azalea realized that it was locked from the other side and that her attempt to leave possibly alerted the others.
However, they didn't seem to notice and continued to speak with each other. "There has to be another way out," Azalea said quietly to herself. Moving to the upper floor of the factory, she searched for another exit. "I hope that the others can find me. I just know that Rua's going to be the angriest at this whole thing."
"WHEN I FIND THAT RACCOON, I'M GOING TO CARVE HIM INTO PIECES AND FEED HIM TO THE NEAREST PACK OF GRIMM!"
Everyone outside of the museum was stunned in silence at the anger coming from the girl screaming. However, one warrior-in-training was either brave or stupid enough to talk with her. "I think you need to calm down. And that's a lot coming from me," Rua said to a raging Sunset.
"I don't want to calm down! I want Silver to help find our friend," Sunset aggressively replied.
"I'm not going to if you don't calm down," Silver warned.
"Just breathe, Darling," Celadon instructed. "Take deep breaths, hold them in, and exhale slowly," she demonstrated.
Following Celadon's lead, Sunset calmed herself down. "I'm sorry, guys. This is just stressing me out too much. We had that thief, failed to catch him, and Azalea got nabbed in the process," Sunset apologized. Looking down at her boots, Sunset mumbled sadly. "I wasn't able to do anything..."
Feeling something placed on her head, Sunset saw that Slate had removed his hat and placed in her head like he does for Azalea. "We'll find them. You just need to know that we're still learning and we need to rely on each other," Slate reminded.
"...You're right. We all have a lot to learn," Sunset answered as she took off Slate's hat and gave it back to him. Placing it back on his head, Slate smiled at Fragment Hunter's de facto leader. "Okay team. We need to find Azalea. Let's get to tracking, Silver," Sunset ordered.
Silver only nodded before transforming into his wolf form with his Semblance and started to sniff at Azalea's items. Finding a scent from the Scroll and Gladion, Silver started to sniff the air and floor to figure out what direction Azalea was taken. Picking up something, he turned to the others and spoke up, "This way!"
Following after Silver, everyone went in the same direction in hopes of locating their missing friend. "Hold on, Farm Girl. We're coming for you," Sunset said to nobody in particular.
Azalea was still looking for an exit and kept coming up empty as she closed door after door. "Where's the exit to this place? I don't want to break a wall to get out of here," Azalea muttered to herself. Searching the downstairs area again, Azalea found herself in a room with a pair of modified binoculars and a few computers. "What are these," Azalea asked herself before looking through the binoculars.
As she peered through the device, she saw that it was similar to a camera. As she looked through the previous pictures, she saw that the gallery was filled with photos of the museum and a few other places that were potential targets for Sombra. "So, you enjoying the pictures," a voice inquired from behind Azalea.
Panicking, Azalea instinctively elbowed behind herself and turned into a big hook. However, the attack failed to hit its target as it felt like her arm went through thin air instead of impacting against someone. Seeing that it was Smoke Shadow, Azalea put up her guard and prepared to defend herself against the thief. "Stay back," she warned.
"Whoa. Is that the way you treat the guy who DIDN'T tie you up when his friend brought you here," Smoke asked as he smiled and raised his hands to show he didn't mean harm.
"It's how I treat thieves who steal priceless artifacts," Azalea said.
"Come on, Freckles. I have calling cards. It's kind of obvious I'm a criminal. At least I have a sense of honor about it though," Smoke said as he began to circle around Azalea.
"I thought the saying was 'There's no honor among thieves'," Azalea said as she turned to keep an eye on the Raccoon Faunus.
"Well then, you've never been to Vacuo before," Smoke retorted with a smirk as he quickly slipped behind Azalea.
Azalea moved to get Sombra in her sights before replying. "I have teammates from there."
"Well, I'm sure that they can tell you about it when they come and find you," Sombra said as he lazily twirled his cane.
"And if I know my friends, then you and your gang are going to be in for a fight," Azalea mentioned.
"I'm sure that Kun would absolutely love that. He never did get to see how you fight," Smoke said before subtly hooking his cane around Azalea's waist. Pulling Azalea toward him, Smoke brought her close so that he could hold her chin and look into her eyes. "Maybe I can see how you handle yourself some more, too," he asked with a flirtatious tone and a charming smile. Azalea's face turned bright red at what the phantom thief was saying and she could only stammer in response.
"Smoke, stop teasing the poor girl," Rouge said as she approached the two Faunus. "Let me have a shot at her," she laughed.
"Oh, alright," Smoke reluctantly agreed before turning back to Azalea. "Can I at least know your name?"
"A-A-Azalea..."
"Azalea... Perfect name for a delicate flower such as yourself," Smoke complimented before he left the room.
After Smoke left the room, Azalea fell to her knees and curled into the fetal position. Blushing at what happened, the Bovine Faunus hid her face in embarrassment. "Why me," she moaned.
"Don't worry about it too much. Smoke flirts with every pretty girl he sees. So do I," Rouge said.
"...But, I'm not pretty," Azalea mumbled to herself.
Overhearing her, Rouge took another look at Azalea and helped her off the ground. "Seeing as you don't have an exit plan, follow me. I want to talk with you," Rouge said. Following the other woman, Azalea was guided to a makeshift dressing room in the basement of the factory and stopped in the center of the room. "Look in the mirror over there," Rouge instructed.
"O-Okay," Azalea nervously replied as she turned to see her reflection.
"You want to know what I see when I look at this mirror right now," Rouge rhetorically asked as she looked at the reflections of herself and Azalea. "I see a beautiful girl that's hidden away because she's shy and timid. Because she's scared of what she was treated like growing up. I see a woman who can catch everyone's eye when she walks by in the right outfit. I see a woman whose beauty can fool others and hide a smart brain underneath her gorgeous hairstyle. I see a girl with power, brains, skill, and charm."
As Azalea heard that speech, she couldn't tell if Rouge was talking about herself, Azalea, or if she was making up a story. But one thing was for certain, Azalea was entranced by the thief's words the entire time as she stared at the mirror. Seeing Rouge walk away, Azalea saw the woman reach into a closet and grab a few clothes. "Try these on. You should change out of that torn sweater," the thief said as she gave what she grabbed to the Faunus girl.
Looking at the clothes Rouge gave handed her, Azalea was getting even more confused. "Why are you doing this? I'm training to be a Huntress and you're part a band of thieves," Azalea asked.
"We may be on opposite sides, kid, but you need to have more confidence," Rouge explained. "You're beautiful, so start acting like it. Even just a small change in how you dress or a little makeup can help how you feel about yourself. Help you break out of your shell and even help make you feel like a true Huntress when you get there," Rouge elaborated as she started to walk out of the room. "Besides... It might also help you get a few cute guys," the thief added with a wink before she left.
Hearing those last few words made Azalea blush again before she turned to the clothing held in her arms. "Well... I might as well find something in this pile," Azalea said to herself. Placing the clothes on the nearest chair, Azalea started removing her damaged sweater and looked at her reflection again. Seeing her flannel shirt askew, she adjusted it before looking for a replacement to her favorite green sweater. "I wonder if Sunset and the rest of Fragment Hunter found me yet," Azalea asked herself.
"Is this the place," Layla asked as she looked at the old factory.
"I can smell Azalea in there. Just not exactly where," Silver said before he transformed back into his regular Wolf Faunus form. "We'll have to split up to cover more ground in this factory."
"Okay, teams. We'll split up into groups of two or three people," Sunset instructed. "I'll go with Layla and Slate, Team SLVR splits up, Cereza and Celadon go with each other while Vinyl and Rebecca pair up. Got it?" Everyone agreed before separating and started to search the factory. Unknown to Fragment Hunter however, they were all being watched.
In the factory, Oliver Electrum was at his computer systems and looked at some of the monitors to see that Fragment Hunter was at the front doors. "Cyber Shell calling Phantom Thief, Rhino Wrecker, and Vampire Bat. We have visitors. Prepare for confrontation," he said as he pressed down on something in his ear.
"Got it, Hermit. Me and Tremor can handle a few of them together while Rouge gets changed," Smoke Shadow said through a communication earpiece. "Make sure that they can't call for backup."
"Already on it," Hermit said as he started to type commands on his keyboard. After a few minutes, a notice appeared on a screen that said 'Scrolls Locked Down'. "Nobody can stop my skills," Hermit boasted as he finished jamming Fragment Hunter's communications. "I'll keep an eye on all of them. Just be careful everyone. There's more than who was at the museum earlier."
"Okay, 'Dad'," Sombra joked.
Inside the factory, Rua and Silver started looking around for any sign of Azalea. "I can't see a damn thing in here," Rua complained as she pulled out her Scroll for a light source. "You see anything I can't, Silver?"
"Yeah. Check out that area right there," Silver said as he pointed to a couch and some ruined sandbags. "Somebody was here before and used this place to practice," he remarked before transforming with his Semblance. Sniffing the air and sofa, Silver found something familiar. "Azalea was definitely here earlier," he mentioned. "And there was another guy here because I can still smell him off the sandbags."
"Okay, I think it's pretty cool that you're able to do this kind of stuff," Rua admitted with a smile. "I mean, who wouldn't want to track somebody about two miles away just by scent alone. Really helpful with police work," Rua noted. "Why did you want to become a Huntsman anyway," she curiously asked.
Looking down and his wolf form's ears drooping, Silver was hesitant. "It's... complicated," Silver said laconically.
"Aren't we all," Rua remarked with a bit of snark in her tone and a smirk on her face.
Before Silver could retort, he heard something and sniffed the air. Changing back to normal, he readied his grip on his weapon. "We have somebody coming. It's the guy that used these punching bags," Silver warned his teammate. As Rua prepared her shield, the two members of Team SLVR saw a large man charging at them for a punch.
Dodging out of the way, the man punched the ground instead and left the floor cracked from the strike. "Hmm. Nice work finding me," he said as he got into a boxing stance. With his Drill Bit Knuckle Dusters on, it looked like the punches he would throw will undeniably hurt. "If you're looking for your friend, she's okay. We're thieves, not monsters," he mentioned.
"Still doesn't mean we won't hurt you for taking our friend in the first place," Rua exclaimed as she separated her shield into its Arm Blade Mode.
Punching the air, the boxer smirked at the challenge. "Good to know. Name's Tremor," he stated. "Who are you two?"
"Silver Wuruhi."
"Rua Amaranth."
"Okay, you two. LET'S DANCE," Tremor exclaimed as he started his offense against the members of Team SLVR. Charging at Rua, Tremor threw a couple of jabs at her as she formed and raised her shield. With sparks flying off the weapons, Tremor kept pushing Rua back until Silver jumped above them and unsheathed the knives in his boots. Bringing his heel down, Silver delivered an axe kick to try and stab Tremor in the shoulder.
Acting quickly, Tremor slid away from Rua and managed to dodge Silver's attack before nailing the girl in the side with a powerful straight punch. After being sent flying into the couch, Rua was dazed for a while and had to recover. Seeing his friend out of the battle for a little time, Silver revved his chainsaw and took a big swing at Tremor. The boxer dodged the swing and countered with a heavy punch, but Silver was faster and ducked under the attack. Bringing the chainsaw up for a vertical slash, the weapon made contact with Tremor and Silver began to continue his onslaught.
"Take this," Silver exclaimed as he continued to punch, slash, and kick at Tremor. Tremor himself was forced to dodge and block most of the attacks from Silver, but he powered through the damage. With an opening available when Silver jumped for another slash, Tremor swiftly grabbed Silver by the shoulders. Tightening his grip on the Wolf Faunus, Tremor made sure he couldn't move before slamming his forehead into Silver's face. After delivering the headbutt, Tremor stomped down on Silver's foot to keep him in place as he threw a massive and heavy left hook that lead into an elbow strike. Getting decked in the face like that, Silver was sent sprawling to the ground.
After Silver was knocked to the floor, Rua changed her shield into twin blades and teleported behind Tremor to begin pummeling him in the back with several quick punches. Turning around, Tremor backhanded Rua away before following up with an uppercut. Warping into a blind spot, Rua kicked Tremor in the gut before continuing with a couple of hooks. "Hahaha! This is a great fight! You two have skills," Tremor boisterously exclaimed as he got out of Rua's reach.
"Then, you'll love this," Rua said as Silver got back up. Constantly teleporting around Tremor, Rua was able to keep him distracted while Silver used his chainsaw's whip form to grab onto one of Tremor's arms. With one limb caught, Rua was able to land a series of blows on the defenseless boxer. However, Tremor was able to pull free from Silver's weapon and smashed it into Rua.
"I did like that. Let me show you guys some tricks now," Tremor said as he removed the chain from his arm. Soon, the drills on his knuckle dusters began to spin and his fists vibrated before he threw a punch at the two training Hunters. As the punch was thrown, Rua and Silver dodged before seeing that the punch was able to puncture holes into the sofa. All three saw the damage and were equally shocked. "Oh, come on! I liked that couch," Tremor whined before getting back into the fight.
Silver and Rua kept dodging the projectile punches from Tremor and they both noticed it was similar to Yang Xiao Long using her Ember Celica. "Big deal. You can punch bullets at us. We have a classmate that does the same thing. We know how to handle this," Rua taunted.
"Then, try it," Tremor exclaimed as he threw more punches at Rua. Bringing her shield together, Rua was able to block the attacks, but the shield kept shaking in her hands. Throwing her shield into the air and teleporting to it, Rua unfolded it into a giant shuriken and hurled the weapon at Tremor. Being forced to dodge, Tremor jumped back and was caught in a trap by Silver. In wolf form, he pounced onto the boxer and kept attacking with his claws and fangs before getting thrown off. Seeing Silver growling at him and Rua holding her shield again, Tremor laughed loudly. "THIS IS AMAZING! I think we're just getting started with our fight," he shouted before rushing in for another punch.
"Where would they keep her," Rebecca asked herself quietly as she and Vinyl snuck through the second floor of the factory. Looking around, they were navigating through the dimly lit halls and offices. "We need to figure out how to get around first," Rebecca said to Vinyl. Before the DJ could give a suggestion, they felt something and prepared their weaponry.
"Oh, hey! It's you two again," Sombra noted as he stepped out of the shadows. "How's it going? Aside from the 'we came here to save our friend' thing? Because she's okay. I'm a thief, not a pervert."
"You better tell us where she is or we'll slice you to ribbons," Vinyl stated as she made Rhythm Scratch create a hard light katana.
"I will if you fight me. You two were able to keep up with me while I tried to make a run for the crown. I want to have a rematch," Smoke said as he spun his cane. "Hmm. I think Kun is rubbing off on me," he whispered to himself.
"You're on," Vinyl and Rebecca agreed before they both rushed him. With their swords raised, the girls tried to slash at Sombra, but he jumped onto the nearest wall and kicked off of it to get behind the girls. Turning around, Vinyl sent an energy blast at Sombra with her Semblance and managed to hit him in the chest.
"Ouch. That stings," Sombra said to himself. "Guess I have to stop going easy on you Huntresses," the thief declared to Vinyl and Rebecca.
"You were going easy on us," Rebecca cautiously asked. "I don't believe you." Preparing a handful of shuriken, Rebecca snuck around the thief and threw the blades at Smoke. However, all he did in response was gasp and stand there. As the shuriken approached Smoke Shadow, they just went right through him and clattered on the ground. "What the," Rebecca exclaimed as she and Vinyl stared in disbelief.
"Why do think I call myself a 'Phantom Thief'? How do you think I got the sword and the crown like I did without cutting the glass cases? How do you think those cards ended up where they did," Sombra rhetorically asked. "You're not the only people with special powers. I can walk through walls with anything I carry. I can make it seem like I'm a ghost to anybody who doesn't know me. I call my Semblance, 'Phantasm'. Pretty cool, right," he explained.
"Everybody has limits. We'll find yours soon," Rebecca said as she used her armguards to collect her shuriken.
"Then, let's continue our dance, ladies," Smoke said with a bow before getting back into a fighting stance.
Cereza and Celadon searched their way through the top floor of the factory and didn't find any sign of Azalea anywhere. "Where is she? She's my teammate, so I should've been responsible," Cereza said.
"I don't think we'll be able to find her if we rush, Darling," Celadon mentioned. "If these ruffians have Azalea hidden up here, it's pretty unlikely. Maybe if we check on the lower floors," she suggested. Before they could turn around, Cereza and Celadon heard a clicking sound. Hearing gunfire and seeing bullets hit the floor by their feet, the two girls had to retreat. Making their way to a catwalk, Cereza and Celadon were cornered on the narrow bridge.
"Hmm. I didn't expect Azalea to have such gorgeous friends," a female voice commented as she stepped onto the catwalk. Celadon and Cereza noticed that she was wearing a skintight black catsuit, long fingerless white gloves, white go-go boots, and a red domino mask that resembled bat wings. She held two pistols with a bat wing design and idly twirled one as she spoke. "This may be fun."
"Where is Azalea," Cereza impatiently asked.
"And where did you get that outfit? It's amazing," Celadon commented.
"Oh, this old thing? Had for a few years," the woman mentioned.
"Well, it looks ravishing on you," Celadon complimented. "What's your name? I'm Celadon Flynn and this is Cereza Fujita."
"Call me 'Rouge'," she replied. "You two have great style."
"ENOUGH! Tell us where Azalea is or I fill you full of holes," Cereza practically screamed as she aimed her tonfa at Rouge.
"Someone's testy. I suppose that we'll have to settle this Agate's way," Rouge remarked as she raised her pistols. Pulling the triggers, Rouge shot at Cereza and Celadon only to see them deflect the bullets with their weapons. Reacting quickly, Cereza fired her own shots from her tonfa to counter against Rouge. Jumping off the catwalk to dodge, Rouge grabbed a bar underneath and flipped her way back onto the bridge. "Is that all, or are you two just pretty faces," Rouge taunted.
"Depends if you're just going to play 'Keep Away' or not," Cereza replied. Jumping at Rouge, Cereza went for a flying kick that the thief ducked under. However, Celadon was able to use her Semblance to fire gemstones at Rouge and inflict some damage to her. Caught off her guard by the attack, Rouge was left open to Cereza backflipping at her and was hit by a bicycle kick. "Sometimes you just need to get more... physical."
"Oh, I can get physical," Rouge said in a sultry tone as she twirled her weapons around to transform them into butterfly knives. With the new blades in her hands, Rouge turned to try and cut Cereza in the side. Dodging at the last second, Cereza activated her Time Mirage Semblance to slow down everything around her and unleash a string of punches and kicks at the thief. After the Time Mirage ended, Rouge was sent flying at Celadon and got hit with the latter's spear.
With the wind knocked out of her, Rouge was sent to the floor of the catwalk and Cereza stomped on the thief's back. "Tell us you're keeping Azalea," Cereza demanded as she pointed her tonfa's gun barrel at Rouge's head.
Rouge could feel Cereza's heel digging into her body and the sharp pain from it. "You're pretty tough up close. Guess I need to deal with that," Rouge commented as her body rippled briefly. Shocked by what was happening, Celadon and Cereza were caught off guard as they saw a vine-like tail appear from Rouge's body and grab at Cereza's ankle. Pulling the leader of Team FSCA off of her, Rouge rolled off the catwalk and her new tail caught onto the rail before she pulled herself up.
"You're a Faunus," Celadon asked in surprise.
"Not exactly," Rouge said as her body rippled again and she jumped off the catwalk. Sprouting bat wings from her back, Rouge was airborne and pointed her pistols at Celadon. "I'm human. This is just my Semblance. I can change my look whenever I want," she explained. "Changing my eyes into those of a Faunus does come with perks like night vision, though."
"That's an amazing power, Darling! But, you still have to pay for taking my friend," Celadon commented as she separated her spear into its whip mode. Cereza stood back up and pointed her tonfa at Rouge with a glare in her eyes.
"I suppose that's fair. But, let's see you're worth what I charge," Rouge taunted with a flirtatious tone.
Layla, Slate, and Sunset were searching through the rest of the factory together, but they couldn't find anything. "I don't think we can find her like this," Layla said sadly. "If she had her Scroll, we could've called her."
"Well, she doesn't. I might as well check with the others," Sunset remarked as she took her Scroll out of her jacket pocket. As she reached her contacts, she noticed something unusual. "No service? That doesn't make sense."
"Shot in the dark here, but what if they had a hacker to help with some of the security at that mansion and in the museum," Slate mused. "How else do you explain the lights going out when they did before?"
"And with us in their hideout, they would have the advantage with him controlling a communication jammer or something. Great," Sunset realized as her face became despondent. "As if this day could get any worse..."
"Sunset... I... ohh," Layla tried to reassure her friend, but failed to think of something to cheer her up.
Slate saw the sorrowful looks on the girls' faces and scoffed at them. "Come on, girls. Azalea couldn't have been dealt with so easily. We just need to keep our hopes up," Slate said. "How do you think she would feel if either of you were in her place?"
As Slate asked this, Sunset's eyes widened at something she completely forgot. "My Semblance," she exclaimed as she smacked her head. "How could I have been so stupid? I can try and find her with it." Calming down so that she could focus, Sunset sat down with her legs crossed to try and search for Azalea. "Come on, Sunset. You can find Azalea. She's your friend and you can find her. You just have to concentrate," Sunset thought to herself.
After a moment of silence, Sunset managed to sense something and heard Azalea's thoughts. "I think she's right about what she said. A new outfit might help me feel better. This one's cute. Let's see if it fits."
"Is she... trying on clothes? What is going on, Azalea," Sunset pondered in confusion.
"Sunset? Is she here? But... I'm in a dressing room by myself. How could she be here with me," Azalea thought to herself.
"Hold on a second," Sunset said aloud. "Azalea. It's me, Sunset. I'm here with Fragment Hunter and we're all looking for you. What floor are you on," Sunset mentally said.
"Sunset! I'm so glad to hear your voice! But, where are you," Azalea 'said' to her friend.
Sunset's face went from an expression of confusion to slow realization before she was beaming with a giant smile. "Can you hear me right now," Sunset asked mentally.
"Yeah... Why do y- Oh my god! Is this another part of your Semblance," Azalea cautiously asked before the same realization as Sunset.
"I'm telepathic! This is amazing," Sunset exclaimed with a giddy laugh.
"You're not insane, Sunset," Slate remarked. "But, randomly saying words like that and laughing would make you seem that way."
Turning to Slate and Layla, Sunset cleared up what she meant. "Not 'psychopathic'. 'Telepathic'. I can talk with people with my thoughts! This can help when we lose our Scrolls," Sunset said to them with her mind.
"Okay, that's pretty cool," Slate and Layla both thought.
"Yeah, it is," Sunset agreed. "Azalea. Leave a door open and a light on where you are. We'll find you that way," Sunset telepathically told Azalea. "Come on, guys," Sunset instructed Layla and Slate as they continued down the hall. After a few minutes, they saw a light coming from an open door and Slate went ahead of the girls to make sure Azalea was okay. "Slate, hold on! You really shouldn't do th-," Sunset tried to warn the gunslinger, but couldn't do it in time as he entered the room.
Almost immediately, Slate stumbled back and held his hat in his hand to block his view of where he exited from. "S-s-sorry, Azalea. Didn't know that y-you were like that-t," Slate nervously apologized as he covered his face and looked away from the door.
"I-I-I-I-it's fine, S-s-slate. You d-d-didn't know I was doing that. I'm okay now," Azalea stammered as she let Sunset and Layla into the dressing room. The latter two tightly hugged Azalea in relief before they took notice of her clothes. While she kept her jeans, choker, and flannel shirt, Azalea discarded her old working boots for a newer stylish pair and started putting on a fitted version of her green sweater. She also wore her red bandanna next to her horns instead of covering them with it.
"N-n-no problem," Slate said as he looked at Azalea's new subtly changed look. "I like this style. It suits you," he complimented with slightly pink cheeks. At Slate's words, Azalea blushed and smiled as she looked away from him. Sunset and Layla saw the reactions of the two and giggled to themselves.
"Sooo, what happened," Layla asked.
"NOTHING! NOTHING HAPPENED," Slate and Azalea both declared at the same time.
"Azalea said that she was in a dressing room trying on clothes when I was finding her," Sunset said.
Layla nodded at the info and walked up to Slate before slapping him in the arm. "Stupid! Next time, listen to us! It's a good thing you're a gentleman and got out when you did," Layla scolded her friend and teammate. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you got an accidental peek and liked it. Azalea's a pretty girl."
"Can we please not talk about how Slate saw what bra I was wearing," Azalea asked as she covered her face.
"It IS a nice shade of blue," Layla mentioned. "But okay, we can stop talking about it now and head off."
"Not without finding what Sombra stole before," Sunset stated. "We need to find the crown and the sword, then we get out of here and return them to where they belong." Everyone agreed with Sunset and nodded. "Good. Now, let's split up and help the others. We'll stay in touch," Sunset said with a smirk.
Azalea's okay, has a new change to her wardrobe, and Sunset discovers that she can use her Semblance to talk to people with her mind. A lot is happening for Fragment Hunter in the course of one weekend. Now we just need to have them handle going against Sombra, Tremor, and Rouge.
Can Fragment Hunter handle the thieves? Can they take back the King of Vale's crown? What about the sword that belonged to the Celeste Family? Find out more on "Sideline: Another Story" for the end of the current story arc.
If you wanted to know the full names of Sombra's team, here you are.
Smoke Shadow aka "Sombra"
Oliver Electrum aka "Hermit"
Kun Agate aka "Tremor"
Veronica Moonstone aka "Rouge"
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out!