Hey, readers. WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". Last time, Sunset and Fragment Hunter met Aurora Celeste before getting some practice with Team Attacks and Sunset's Semblance. Seeing a few things about her friends, Sunset then tried to read Ozpin's mind before she suffered an overload-induced migraine. After recovering from it, she's going to be more careful after that, but she'll still try and develop her Semblance to find out more of its abilities to connect with people through their minds and Aura. What's in store for our friends in Fragment Hunter this time? Find out now.
Let's start!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only things I own are my Original Characters
On Monday morning, Fragment Hunter were all in Oobleck's history class as he talked about events that happened a few years after the Great War. "And after everything that occurred after the war itself, the territories of Vacuo never fully recovered from the damages dealt in the final battle," the teacher explained before taking a sip of his coffee. "Any questions?" Seeing that nobody was going to ask anything about the current topic, Doctor Oobleck decided to change the subject both figuratively and literally. "Now then, the village of Tsubaki in Anima's southern regions is known as the birthplace as a monk named simply as 'Cintamani'," Oobleck explained. "This man was known as a warrior that took part in numerous battles during his travels across Remnant. The instances of where and when he fought always depict him as granting victory to whoever he allied himself with. Does anyone care to answer as to why that is?"
The students in Oobleck's class were all stumped and couldn't answer the question. "I've never heard of this guy," one student from Vacuo with bat ears commented as she turned to her teammates.
"Who's 'Cintamani'," an Atlas student with a robotic left arm asked his friends.
"I don't know this," Lapis admitted to her friends and teammates. "Any of you guys?"
"Nope," Slate bluntly said.
"Not a clue," Sunset stated.
After a few moments of silence, Doctor Oobleck took another sip of his coffee before sighing. "Well, I suppose that this is more obscure compared to the other lessons we've covered," Oobleck admitted. "I doubt that any of you have even heard the warrior monk, Cintamani."
"Cintamani's main feats of victory stem from his Semblance that allowed him to physically empower others. By using his Semblance to coat himself or allies in a mystical blue flame, their strength was increased dramatically and they were able to continue fighting against impossible odds," a female voice said as everyone turned to the door of the classroom. "The strength increase also allowed those who didn't have their Aura unlocked to shake off being shot with bullets. During Cintamani's travels, he aided those in need and was essentially considered a Huntsman despite never attending one of the recently formed Academies. Over the years of using his power, stories claim that his weapon has been exposed to his Semblance so much that legends say that wielding it will grant the current holder the same abilities as Cintamani himself," the woman explained.
Everyone in the classroom was surprised to see the woman at the door and took notice of her beautiful appearance. She was 5'9" with two-inch white cow horns that easily identified her as a Faunus, had tanned skin like she spent most of her time outside, and her reddish-brown hair fell down to reach past her chest. She had a very prominent and voluptuous hourglass figure with wide hips, a narrow and toned waist, and large breasts that looked even bigger than Azalea's did. If Oobleck and the students weren't looking at the woman's figure they saw that she looked extremely similar to Azalea herself as they had the same hair color, the same vibrant green eyes, and similar faces. The Faunus woman had magenta lipstick and eyeshadow, a black choker with a cross that had four stars in the corners, and wore a ruby-like necklace that rested on her bosom.
"Um... Azalea? Darling? Do you know her," Celadon asked as everyone kept staring at the gorgeous woman who entered the room and several students began to blush.
The Faunus woman walked forward to reveal she was wearing a gold earring with an emerald center in her left ear when she adjusted her hair. She wore a white ruffled button-up blouse that revealed plenty of cleavage, a brown bodice with brass buttons and a black belt around her waist, a green skirt that reached her knees, and brown boots. She stopped when she saw the members of Team FCSA staring at her and waved to them. "Hi, Sugarcube," she greeted as she waved to Azalea.
"Mom?! What are you doing here," Azalea exclaimed and asked as she saw the woman.
Upon hearing what Azalea called the newcomer, everyone had similar reactions to when Terracotta's relation to Azalea was revealed. As students from all four Academies looked back and forth between Azalea and her mother, Fragment Hunter were the most surprised. Vinyl's sunglasses fell off of her face as her jaw dropped, Slate and Silver looked at the two Faunus women with bright red faces, Sunset kept mumbling something to herself as she pointed a finger at her friend, and the other members of Fragment Hunter were speechless until Layla spoke up.
"Wow... Azalea wasn't kidding," Layla Carbuncle mused loud enough for the others to hear. "She really does take after her mom."
"She looks more like her sister," Rebecca commented.
"No. Azalea said that she's an only child," Slate managed to say as he kept staring.
After the shock of learning who the woman was, Oobleck collected himself and introduced himself to Azalea's mother. "Greetings, ma'am. My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. Huntsman and History teacher at Beacon Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he extended a hand forward.
"The pleasure's all mine. Ivy Dahlia Holstein. Just call me Ivy," the woman responded as she shook Oobleck's hand. "I take it that with your lesson including Cintamani, you've been covering events that happened in the first few years after the Great War?"
"Why, yes we have," Oobleck replied. "I must say that I'm surprised that you understand such an obscure historical figure."
"I'm surprised that you've been teaching my daughter and her classmates about him," Ivy said with a small smile.
"I believe that if you don't learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it," Oobleck told Ivy and the students before the bell rang out to signal the end of the lesson. "It appears that with our surprise visitor, we've lost track of time. I want you all to study about warriors that surfaced soon after the Great War as we will cover them in a test on Thursday," he said to the students as they began to leave.
As everyone began to exit the classroom, they kept staring at Ivy as they passed by her. A few students ended up bumping into each other or the door as they continued to look at the Cow Faunus. Soon, only Fragment Hunter and Ivy were left in the room. "What are you doing here, Mom," Azalea asked as she walked up next to Ivy.
"Your father invited me up here to help chaperone the upcoming dance and I thought it would be the perfect way to see my baby girl," Ivy replied as she hugged her daughter. As Azalea returned the hug, the rest of Fragment Hunter kept staring until the mother and daughter separated. "So, are you going to introduce me to your friends, Sugarcube? Because I get the feeling they're not in much of a talking mood," she said with a smirk and tittered.
Most of the teenagers coughed as they regained their senses and turned back to Ivy. Azalea only rolled her eyes at how they acted before introducing Fragment Hunter. "Mom, these are Silver Wuruhi, Lapis, Ondine, Vixen Kosaku, and Rua Amaranth," Azalea said as she pointed to Team SLVR. "Sunset Blaze, Vinyl Aurum, Celadon Flynn, and Rebecca Haze," she stated as she gestured toward Team SAFR. "And my team, Cereza Fujita, Layla Carbuncle, and Slate Quartz."
"Ah, yes. I know you," Ivy said as she looked at Slate. The boy looked nervous as Ivy gazed at him and he covered his face with his hat. "Terracotta sent me some pictures of when you took Sugarcube on her first date," she explained as she pulled out her Scroll and revealed two pictures to the group. The first was Azalea in her little black dress when she was shown to the guys, but the second was a shock to the teenagers. They could see that the second photo had Azalea holding Slate's head as she kissed him on the cheek and leave a fuchsia lipstick mark over his scar.
"HOW DID HE GET THIS PICTURE," Azalea shouted in surprise. "We didn't see him at all!"
"This is actually a pretty good photo," Vinyl commented as she looked at Ivy's Scroll.
"You'd be amazed at what your father can do," Ivy stated as she put her Scroll away. "But we're not focusing on him now. I'm just so happy that my baby girl is growing up so fast," she exclaimed as she hugged Azalea again.
"She'll probably end up like you if that's the case," Silver muttered before he realized what he said and slapped a hand over his mouth. Celadon slapped the Wolf Faunus in the back of the head and he fell to the ground. "I deserved that," Silver said as he pushed himself back up.
"Honestly, Silver... You need to watch what you say around women like Mrs. Holstein," Celadon scolded. "Tits rude to say things like that... 'IT'S'! I meant 'it's'," she said in a panic when she mistakenly said the wrong word.
"Wow... I can't believe that Celadon would slip out like that," Layla commented before she realized what she said. "UP! UP! Slip up," she hastily corrected herself.
Azalea sighed as her mother chuckled at everything in amusement. "This always happens with my mom," Azalea said. "Her looks tend to be something that sticks with somebody until they get used to her being around."
"There's nothing wrong with having a good figure," Ivy stated. "Some of your friends seem to share my opinion," she said as Cereza, Celadon, and Lapis all nodded their heads.
Sunset soon realized something as she turned to Azalea and used her Semblance to telepathically communicate with her. "When I was looking through your head the first time, I saw you with a Dove Faunus named Bianca that looked kind of familiar, but that's not important right now. I heard her tell you that you were just as beautiful as your mother and I felt this warm sensation near where you were sitting. I think that I saw a strong presence of your mom in your mammaries. MEMORIES!"
"No need to yell, Sunset. We were literally talking with our minds," Azalea said after she flinched from Sunset correcting herself.
"Oh yeah, Azalea's letters kept mentioning you as well," Ivy mentioned. "You've been such a great friend to her. I haven't seen or heard her talk that way about someone since Bianca."
"Thank you, Mrs. Holstein," Sunset replied.
"Please, call me Ivy. Hearing you all call me that makes me seem old," Ivy told Sunset and the rest of Fragment Hunter. "Come on. You kids should get your studies done. I brought some cookies for you all to enjoy while you do that." As soon as cookies were mentioned, Azalea immediately rushed out of the room to return to the dorms. "She always did enjoy my baking."
"What kid could refuse treats from their mom," Lapis retorted as she and the others headed to the courtyard. They soon met up with Azalea in the courtyard, Ivy and Fragment Hunter were getting attention from the students and faculty that were outside with them. Seeing that most of the stares were toward Ivy, Lapis turned to the woman to ask her something. "Is this normal for you?"
"Yeah, it is," Ivy admitted. "I've been turning heads in Mirabelle since I was a teenager. I'm glad to know that I still have that effect on people," she said with a confident smile and a flip of her hair. As the group of thirteen made their way through the courtyard, Rebecca suddenly stopped and Silver bumped into her. "What's wrong," Ivy asked.
"Something's coming at us," Rebecca said as she stood ready for a fight.
"What would attack us here in the middle of Beacon Academy in the middle of broad daylight," Silver asked before he and the rest of Fragment Hunter heard something charging toward them. Turning to the source of the sound, Silver soon saw that nothing was there until he heard something above him and saw something blocking the sunlight from his vision. "This won't end well," Silver muttered before he was crushed underneath something large and heavy. Silver could only give off muffled yells of frustration as he tried to get the object off of him.
The rest of Fragment Hunter was confused by what happened and looked at what landed on top of Silver. A large dog with a coat of reddish fur was laying down on top of the Wolf Faunus and panting with his tail wagging happily as he looked at the teenagers. The dog looked like a mix between a Great Dane and a Wolfhound, had brown eyes, and wore a green collar with a tag that depicted a dog's head in the center of a shield. The dog barked as he looked at Fragment Hunter before getting off of Silver and approaching Azalea. Placing his front paws on her shoulders and licking her face, the dog made Azalea laugh in delight and she soon started to scratch him behind the ears. "Hahahahaha! Dante! Down, boy! I'm glad to see you, too," Azalea laughed.
Silver slowly stood up and caught his breath after suddenly being stuck under the large canine. "I knew it wouldn't end well," he stated after cracking his neck and back. "This is Dante?"
"Yeah. I didn't expect Mom to bring him with her," Azalea said as Dante got off of her.
Ivy chuckled before speaking up. "He's not the only one," she said before whistling off toward the distance. "Diana! Drei!" As soon as Ivy whistled, a tricolor collie and a tan corgi came running toward the group. The two new dogs immediately started to circle around Ivy before seeing Azalea and leaned up against her. Both Ivy and her daughter kneeled down to pet the dogs as the former spoke to the other teenagers. "All three of them missed Azalea, so I thought that bringing them along would be good for them."
"I can tell," Sunset remarked with a playful roll of her eyes. "Although, I can feel the powerful emotions from them. I guess that Azalea just has a way with animals," the flame-haired girl commented.
"You should see how the horses back on the farm act when I'm around," Azalea said as she rubbed Drei's belly. "Same with the cats that deal with mice and other pests. Although, they prefer to be alone most of the time."
"You know, I'm wondering if these dogs are going to be a problem with Professor Ozpin," Celadon mentioned.
"Oh, I'm sure that I can convince him that it's not a big deal as long as they behave," said a deep voice that approached the group. Everyone turned to see Terracotta had returned from his mission and waved at them. Almost immediately when she saw him, Ivy rushed to her husband and jumped for him to catch her in his arms. As Terra carried his wife, they smiled with flirtatious looks in their eyes and Ivy pulled him in for a passionate kiss. When they separated, Terracotta and Ivy smiled at each other as she hugged him. "I never get tired of that," Terra remarked as he kissed his wife on the cheek.
After Fragment Hunter finished their studies for the day, they all began to dig into the cookies that Ivy brought with her with Terracotta, Aurora, and Nocturne joining them. They were mildly surprised by the amount that she brought with her, but understood that Azalea and Terracotta probably ate a lot at home. Not only that, but Azalea did write about all the friends she made at Beacon as well. "Maybe next time I should bring a crate of chocolate chip for all of you," Ivy commented as she watched all of Fragment Hunter devour her baking while keeping the dogs from eating any stray crumbs.
"These are delicious, Ma'am," Slate said before shoving another cookie into his mouth. "Anybody got mil-" Just before Slate could finish asking his question, he realized who he was with and immediately shut himself up with a few more cookies before covering his bright red face with his hat.
"At least he stopped himself," Rua snarked before biting down on the last cookie she had.
"Unlike me when I first had Ivy's baking during my team's training mission at Mirabelle," Terracotta commented. "Me and Ivy ended up getting laughed at by my teammate Orchid Tilia because we were blushing so hard after I said it."
"You were such a dork back then," Ivy stated as she laughed at the memory with a small blush on her cheeks. "It was still cute, though."
"No matter how many times I see or hear it, I never tire of the fact that the two of you are meant to be with each other," Aurora said as she enjoyed her own cookie before sipping a cup of tea.
"Speaking of 'together', did you or Nocturne find somebody to settle down with," Ivy asked the pink-haired Huntress.
Aurora's eyes immediately shot open as she spat out her drink and it splashed all over Slate while Nocturne fell to the floor in shock. "W-what?! No! I mean... I haven't yet," Aurora said as she lost her composure and had to calm herself down. "Neither has Nocturne."
"I'm okay," Nocturne remarked as she shot a hand up and waved to everyone in the room.
"That's a shame. If only you managed to catch the bouquet at our wedding," Terracotta stated before he began to laugh. "Hahahaha! I still can't believe all of that happened over some flowers," he guffawed.
"I don't think anyone who attended the wedding will forget that fight," Ivy snickered as Aurora and Nocturne had sheepish expressions on their faces.
"Okay. I've got to see this for myself," Sunset declared before she grabbed Terracotta's arm and activated her Semblance to find the memory that had her teachers embarrassed.
Sunset soon found herself at a large farm that had been set up for a wedding and a reception. When she counted the number of people, it looked like an entire village was invited as she saw everyone sitting down for the ceremony. Sunset headed toward the crowd and went to get a closer look at the guests when she noticed Terracotta pacing back and forth in a tuxedo. "How in the heck did they get one in his size? You would think that thing would explode if he flexed," Sunset said to herself.
Looking around, Sunset noticed a few familiar faces and some that she couldn't recognize immediately. She saw Aurora and Nocturne as bridesmaids along with a Gecko Faunus with a tail, a girl who looked like Azalea with white horns and apple red hair, a woman who looked like an older version of Ruby Rose, a woman that looked like Yang Xiao Long with black hair, and a Cat Faunus that looked like Blake Belladonna with shorter hair. On the groom's side, Sunset saw that the groomsmen consisted of the same Falcon Faunus that she saw saved Azalea from Rapier Wasps, two dark-haired men, a male who looked like a male version of Yang, a large Faunus man with black hair, and even Professor Ozpin. "I only recognize a few of these other people. Maybe some are related to Ruby and Yang," she commented before turning to the two dark-haired Faunus. "Maybe those two are Blake's parents?"
Soon, music started playing and everyone turned their attention to the bride walking down the aisle. Sunset, the guests, bridesmaids, groomsmen, and Terracotta were all speechless over Ivy in her wedding dress. When Ivy and Terracotta stood with each other, the ceremony became background noise as they stared into each other's eyes and smiled. Sunset thought that it was a sweet moment between the two before the scene changed to the reception. "Okay, ladies! It's time to toss the bouquet," Ivy announced and got into position.
Right when the bride told everyone what was happening, the bridesmaids all grouped up before they glared at each other. Most of them pulled out weapons and were prepared to battle each other for the bouquet. With swords and knives drawn, several onlookers looked panicked until Terracotta calmed them down. As the bouquet was tossed into the air, the women began to lock blades or grapple with each other before the redheaded Faunus girl charged through all of them and knocked them all to the ground before she jumped up to grab the flowers. "YES! I GOT IT," she exclaimed as she landed. Terracotta and Ivy laughed at the sight of what just happened and that the lucky girl just floored several trained warriors instantly.
Sunset shook her head as she returned from using her Semblance and looked at Ivy. "Who was that doppelganger of Azalea with apple red hair," she asked.
"Oh, that was my little sister, Malus," Ivy stated before turning to Aurora and Nocturne. "I still can't believe that she knocked down Summer, Raven, Orchid, and the two of you! Kali was the only one who wasn't ready to cut somebody down," she laughed.
"I still don't like that memory," Nocturne said as she dug into another cookie.
"Malus just really wanted to find a boyfriend of her own because of seeing me and Ivy," Terracotta said as he pulled his wife into his embrace with one arm. "And now she has a husband of her own. I'm happy for my sister-in-law."
"Same here," Ivy agreed before she looked at Azalea enjoying the company of her friends and family. As the twelve teenagers started talking about the upcoming dance, the Vytal Festival, and a few other things, Ivy kept smiling as she watched Azalea's behavior with her friends. "She's never been happier, Terra. This was for the best, wasn't it?"
Terracotta looked at Azalea and the other members of Fragment Hunter as he nodded. "Yeah. Our little flower has been blooming, but she still needs time to grow and learn," he stated. "Luckily, she's got some help from her friends. And she'll get more as they stay together." Soon, Terracotta's Scroll started to ring and he answered the device. "Hello? Yeah, I can come over to help now. See you in a few minutes," he replied as he heard the person on the other line. "I've got to get going. I'm technically still on my mission," Terracotta said to everyone.
"Really," Vixen asked.
"Yup. I'm just bodyguarding someone important who's in the city for a concert in time for the Vytal Festival," Terra explained.
"I need to check something if that's the case," Vinyl said as she pulled out her Scroll and searched for upcoming concerts online.
"Don't bother. Everything still needs to be set up the right way because my client's manager is pretty strict about details," Terracotta stated as he began to leave. "Besides, you have that dance to look forward to this weekend."
"We still need to get outfits for it," Celadon exclaimed. "I hope that we have some or can get them."
"I'm sure that we can help all of you," Ivy said as she stood next to Aurora and Nocturne.
After a shopping trip for new clothes to wear to the Beacon Dance, Fragment Hunter all went off to either train, practice their music, or just relax after the eventful day. Azalea was playing with Dante and Drei in the courtyard as the sun began to set. Soon, Ivy found her daughter and sat next to her as Drei climbed onto the older Faunus' lap. "Hi, Mom," Azalea said.
"Hi, Sugarcube," Ivy replied. "Your friends are all very nice. They seem like they would have been great to have back at Mirabelle."
"Yeah... They would have," Azalea agreed sadly. Dante and Drei saw that Azalea was upset and whined a little before Dante began to lean against Azalea. Azalea smiled a little before petting her dog's head.
"Azalea, we both know that we can't change the past. All we can do is move on after times of sadness," Ivy said. "We can look back on all the days that have gone by and see what has changed since then. And I see that you've gained a number of loved ones that would defend you from anything. Especially that Slate boy." Azalea blushed at the mention of Slate defending her and recalled when he fought against her bullies from Sanctuary Academy. "Do you remember how your father and I met each other?"
"The time he and his team were on a training mission at Mirabelle and met you on the farm? Or when he literally beat the crap out of the thugs that were going to do things to you," Azalea asked as she listed the two important times Ivy and Terracotta met each other.
"The second one, Sugarcube," Ivy specified before continuing. "I was already smitten with him when we were teenagers, but him saving me made me realize that I wanted to be with him. I'm glad that he had the same thoughts," she said as she brought her fingers up to the ruby-like necklace she wore and sighed lovingly. "After hearing what Slate has done for you just to make you feel better, I have the feeling that you and he were meant to be together just like your father and I."
Azalea blushed even more at the idea of her mother saying that she and Slate were meant to be together. "Mom! It's not like that! Besides... it was only one date," Azalea exclaimed before muttering the last part.
"Yes, but with the dance coming up, I think that you'll be having more than one date with him," Ivy teased. "If it makes you feel any better, I was pretty much the same as you were when I was around Terra as a teenager."
"I'm having a hard time believing that, Mom," Azalea remarked in a deadpan tone.
Ivy chuckled at Azalea's response before continuing. "I wasn't a wallflower like you, but I always did feel a little awkward when I saw Terracotta while he was training on the farm without a shirt on. At least before things became more... intimate." Azalea dry heaved at the thought of her parents in the bedroom before Ivy spoke up again. "What I'm saying is, the more time you spend with somebody you love, the faster you'll change for the better. Platonically, romantically, or sexually."
"I don't think that last one is going to happen," Azalea muttered with a blush so bright that her face began to blend in with her hair.
"Well, not now. I'd rather be a grandmother by the time you normally graduate from here," Ivy teased.
"MOM!"
Ivy only laughed at her daughter's embarrassment while she pet the corgi on her lap and the sun disappeared over the horizon.
Done with the chapter and I hope that you all enjoyed meeting Ivy Dahlia Holstein! For scenes involving her, I picture a mandolin playing in the background of her moments just like how I imagine Terracotta having a rock/metal leitmotif.
Now for the piece of lore at the start of the chapter, the name 'Cintamani' comes from the Cintamani Stone from Hindu and Buddhist traditions. An equivalent to the Philosopher's Stone, this blue jewel is said to grant wishes. I got the name and idea for the character from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (which is a GREAT game that I loved playing) thinking that the treasure was perfect for a RWBY character. The abilities of the item itself also made sense as a Semblance, so that was something that I tried working into my story.
As for the memory scene with the bouquet, I just thought it would have been funny if trained Huntresses would physically battle over the bouquet toss if they attended a wedding. Combine that with the idea of fully trained warriors getting blindsided by a regular girl before swiping the flowers from them and I've at least got something for myself to laugh at.
Now with the Beacon Dance coming up for Sideline, I'm going to need to figure out dress ideas for most of Fragment Hunter's female members while the boys are just going to wear tuxedos with appropriate color details. If any of you have ideas to help me out, feel free to share them. Especially since I've got a character I enjoyed making showing up at the dance.
Also, I decided that with the Vytal Festival coming up, I needed to include some small cameos from other teams I have planned. I'm pretty sure that you all want to know about the boy with the robot arm mentioned around the beginning of the chapter and anyone else I've got planned for Fragment Hunter to face off against in the tournament.
Until next chapter, WaterDragonMaverick signing out!