Hi, readers! WaterDragonMaverick here with the next part of "Sideline: Another Story". Last time, Fragment Hunter started their shadowing by helping Terracotta protect Azalea's childhood friend and rising pop star, Bianca Coloratura. After meeting up at the music store for her to sign autographs, we're now going to have a little more content for this chapter to make up for the lack of action scenes in a few of the other chapters before.
Let's go!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I only own my Original Characters featured in this story
After leaving Electric Rhapsody, Fragment Hunter and Terracotta continued their mission of being Bianca Coloratura's bodyguards/entourage. They had to head off to a local recording studio for Bianca to do work on a new song for her next single. "You have no idea how great it feels to be with people the same age as me and not have them screaming like crazed fans of my music or looks," Bianca said as she walked alongside Azalea and Celadon.
"If that line at Electric Rhapsody was any indication, you're doing well," Celadon commented.
"Yeah. I'm amazed at how well you're liked here," Azalea remarked.
"It helps that I've released some of my songs online and into music stores across Remnant. Plus, I've had several appearances in magazines over the last few weeks," Bianca mentioned. "Most of them in outfits I've made or in swimsuits."
"You make your own clothes," Celadon asked in curiosity as Cereza and Vinyl walked up to them.
"When you're growing up with a seamstress for a mother, you tend to gain interest and knowledge," Bianca replied. "I even made that dress I wore to the dance last night," she whispered so that her manager, Kurenai, didn't hear.
Celadon and Cereza were impressed that Bianca made the outfit that she wore when they first met her, but Azalea just smiled because she knew Bianca tended to make her own outfits. As the five girls kept talking about a few things, they fell behind the others and accidentally made a wrong turn. When they continued along their way, they were too wrapped up in their conversation to immediately notice where they were until Vinyl caught everyone's attention. "Guys, we made a wrong turn," Vinyl stated.
The girls looked around to see that they were in a run-down section of Vale that was a few blocks away from their destination. "We should head back to the others," Azalea suggested as she pulled out her Scroll to contact her father. "Hey, Dad? I think we made a wrong turn. We're just a few blocks away from the studio we were supposed to go to, so we'll meet you halfway there. Don't worry, Bianca's okay. Alright, see you back at the corner we turned at."
After hanging up her Scroll, Azalea noticed that several young males were staring at her and the other girls. Azalea timidly stepped back toward Bianca as she covered her chest with her arms. Celadon, Cereza, and Vinyl were surrounding the two Faunus girls as they glared at the apparent gang members. "What do we have here," one thug with a bandana said as he approached the five girls. "Looks like some girls who lost their way."
"Yeah, nobody like them ever comes here on purpose," a second thug with a denim jacket agreed he and the other males eyed each of the girls. "Never seen women like them before," he told the gang members with a lecherous grin that creeped out Azalea.
"Maybe that's because you repel any sane woman who comes within a few meters of your presence," Cereza retorted.
"Why, you," the jacket-clad thug exclaimed before a third man approached him and the bandana-wearing male.
This third man was wearing a gold chain that seemed to say that he was the leader. "I take it that you don't read enough magazines," he said to his subordinates. "That short-haired blonde next to the Dairy Cow is Bianca Coloratura." Hearing them call Azalea a 'Dairy Cow' and refer to Bianca by name had the others react by getting into defensive stances. "We can hold her the pop star for ransom," the gang leader told his lackeys.
"I don't think you will," Celadon said to the leader as she got into a martial arts stance. "Even a beautiful rose has thorns."
"And what exactly does that mean," the bandana-wearing thug said as he approached Celadon.
"She means this," Bianca exclaimed as she walked up to the male and stomped on his foot. As he screamed in pain, Bianca threw a palm strike to his chin and made him bite his tongue. With a swift punch to the stomach to follow up, Bianca then ended her attack by kicking the goon in the groin and throwing him to the pavement. Everyone but Azalea was gawking at how Bianca dealt with the first thug before the leader ordered the other members of the gang to attack.
"Get them," he yelled before pulling out a gun and fired at the girls. Just as he pulled the trigger, Cereza used her Time Mirage to counter and move the bullets out of the way. When time began to flow normally, some of the gang members fell over from bullet wounds while Cereza began to fight against the gang leader. Throwing a punch at Cereza, the boss was surprised to see her deflect his attack before following up with several kicks and a punch to the stomach.
Celadon used her martial arts skills to easily fend off the street punks by sending each flying with one strike. As one thug snuck up on her to deliver a punch, Celadon focused her Aura and Semblance to her palm just as she caught the fist coming at her. The thug recoiled in pain and he saw that Celadon's hand had become covered in a gem-like armor before she backhanded him to the ground with it. "You ruffians really have this coming to you," Celadon said before her gem-armored hand faded away and was replaced with several jewel-like projectiles that launched forward to strike some of the thugs that were charging at her again with knives.
After Celadon's shots either knocked the armed punks back again or disarmed them, Vinyl began to attack them as she danced around the streets and kicked at her opponents. Avoiding attacks easily, Vinyl countered each thug that attacked her with kicks to their heads or using her Semblance to blast her enemies away with energy projectiles. When one of the bigger thugs grabbed at Vinyl's leg when she tried to kick him, the Huntress-in-training used her other leg and prepared to kick him again. The goon was about ready to withstand the kick when he saw Vinyl's foot begin to glow and she fired an energy shot into his face. The blast didn't deal major damage to the mook, but did knock him out cold and release Vinyl. The blue-haired girl looked at her legs and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw before returning to the battle.
While most of the thugs were fighting Celadon, Cereza, and Vinyl, the thug that called Azalea 'Dairy Cow' managed to sneak up on Bianca. "You're not going anywhere, Angel," he said before he felt something on his shoulder. "Huh?"
Turning around, the street punk saw Azalea grabbing his shoulder and throw a punch at his face. Azalea managed to hit the guy so hard, he was sent flying into five more thugs that were heading right for Celadon. When two other gangbangers ran toward Azalea and Bianca, the former grabbed the first one by the arm and threw him into his ally with ease. When they picked themselves up, Azalea pulled out her Multi-Action Dust Baton and set it to use Ice Dust. Swinging the weapon into each thug that approached her, Azalea's strikes sent them flying and covered their limbs in ice. "Girls, get around me," Azalea called out to her friends. When they regrouped, Azalea whispered, "Cover your eyes." As the girls did, the Faunus girl used her Semblance in the same way that she did when she fought against Tremor and unleashed a blinding light that disoriented the gangbangers like a flash bomb.
When the thugs were distracted, Bianca and her Huntress bodyguards ran off to meet back up with Terracotta and the rest of Fragment Hunter. "Since when could you do that, Azalea," Bianca asked when she saw her friend's use of her Semblance.
"I'll tell you later tonight," Azalea said as she and the others kept running. The street punks saw which way the girls ran off to and began to chase after them.
"These boys aren't quitting," Celadon said as she looked behind the group.
"They will soon enough," Cereza told the girls as they approached where they got separated from Terracotta and Fragment Hunter. Seeing the enormous Bull Faunus in front of them, the girls all got behind the Huntsman just in time for the gangbangers to see who they were charging toward. One look from Terracotta and the sight of his hand reaching for his claymore had the thugs running away in the other direction.
"Thanks, Dad," Azalea told her father as she hugged him.
"At least, you were taking your job seriously," Terracotta replied as he saw Kurenai sigh in relief when Bianca explained what happened. "Come on. We still have stuff to do this evening."
The rest of the evening went well for the large group as Fragment Hunter got to hang out at a recording studio with Bianca and the even played a few covers of her music to pass the time before they got a sneak peek at her new single, 'Bmblb'. After Fragment Hunter had to step back and let Bianca record the song, they were all amazed to hear her sing and they were captivated by her voice. Everyone could swear that Silver was only partially listening to the song as he continued to look at Bianca as she got into the song. The first take wasn't perfect, so they had to keep trying again until it was finished for the day.
"Alright, that was pretty great, Bianca," Kurenai said as he gave his client a bottle of water. "Now tomorrow, we'll need to meet up with the band I've hired at the concert's venue and there's that community center charity event with the local children. Got a busy day then, so just go ahead and relax for tonight," he told the idol.
"Thanks, Kurenai," Bianca said as she finished downing the bottle's contents. "Now we can have that slumber party," she exclaimed and faced Azalea. All of Fragment Hunter cheered at the thought of spending the night in a hotel's penthouse, but Bianca gave a knowing look to Silver and Slate. "Sorry, boys. But there are more girls here than boys, so you're going to have to spend the night away from the penthouse," the Dove Faunus said to the two males of the group. "No matter how much me and Azalea want you there," she added in a whisper so only they heard her.
Slate and Silver looked disappointed before they shrugged and decided to figure out what to do for the night while everyone headed off to the hotel Bianca was staying at. When they reached the building, Bianca and Kurenai told the staff that the members of Fragment Hunter were with them and Terracotta, so they were given their own keys for the night. The girls were excited for the night and immediately went to the penthouse while Terracotta and the boys decided to stay in the Huntsman's room to play cards most of the night.
As for the girls, they immediately went to the penthouse suite to get changed for the night. After changing, Bianca ordered room service for everyone before they started talking about some of the Huntress students' days at Beacon. "And as she was fighting against that King Taijitu, Azalea threw a boulder into its mouth and impaled it with a giant rock spike," Layla excited said as she told Bianca about the initiation test at Beacon. "After it was pinned down, me and Slate shot its head off while Team SAFR dealt with the other one."
"Man, that sounds awesome," Bianca, now wearing a grayish-colored babydoll, voiced as she placed her drink down. "What about Azalea being a living flash bomb? When did that happen?"
"Now that happened when we were dealing with a thief that had kidnapped Azalea," Cereza stated before Azalea clarified something.
"I wasn't kidnapped. I was knocked out by a rock falling on my head and they brought me to their hideout because Tremor didn't like the idea of anybody getting hurt when he wasn't intending to fight them," Azalea said. "He did get to have a fight with me later though when the others tried to rescue me."
"So, what happened," Bianca asked.
"After we reached the old factory that Azalea was taken to, I had to fight the guy who knocked out Azalea with Silver fighting with me," Rua said as she adjusted her t-shirt and boyshorts. "He was a tough opponent that had me and Silver on the ropes until Azalea showed up and straight up got into a boxing match with him! They traded blow after blow until he knocked Azalea to the ground, but she started to shine like a lighthouse when she got back up."
"With Tremor distracted, I managed to until I managed to break his Aura and knock him out cold," Azalea explained. "Now I can use my Semblance for more than just hiding," she said as she pointed her hand toward a darker corner of the penthouse and used her Semblance in a more focused manner. Now, Azalea's hand was shining like a flashlight and it illuminated the corner she pointed at. "I bet that I could use it with Dust from my weapon for a number of different ways."
"Oh, I'd love to see that in the Vytal Festival when you fight," Bianca said. "What else happened in that factory if all of you went there," the Faunus idol asked and was told about everything that happened with Smoke Shadow and his team. After talking about the thieves that escaped, the girls of Fragment Hunter moved onto more recent developments such as Team JADE and the lesson on Pendras. "Wow. You've been through a lot before even meeting back up with those bullies," she said as she looked at Azalea.
"Yeah, she has," Sunset remarked.
"In any case, let's move onto some other topic," Celadon said as she stood up and smoothed out her red nightgown. "How about we do something together?"
"Like what? Pranking the guys," Rua asked sarcastically. Hearing the idea of pulling a joke on the boys, Vixen, who was wearing a pair of yukata-styled pajamas like Blake Belladonna, perked up before a glare from Cereza shot down the idea.
"I was thinking something more along the lines of a movie," Celadon replied.
Hearing the idea, Rebecca, who was wearing her own style of yukata-like pajamas, grabbed the remote and tossed it over to the others. Lapis was able to catch it as she jumped up, but had to fix her tank top and shorts when they fell slightly during her grab. "So, any suggestions? Because I don't think that new Spruce Willis movie is on demand yet," Lapis asked.
"My suite, my choice," Bianca said as she grabbed the remote and chose a something to watch.
After enjoying the film that Bianca chose, most of the girls of Fragment Hunter were all asleep on the penthouse floor. As they slumbered, Sunset rolled around in her sleep as if she was dreaming. She soon opened her eyes to see that she was no longer in the hotel's penthouse, but that she was now in a peaceful forest with flowers blooming around her. "This is beautiful," Sunset said to herself as she began to explore the area. As she walked along the path, the sky turned pink and clouds appeared to make it rain soap. "Okay, this has got to be a dream," Sunset remarked as she soon saw her pet gecko command an army of mice into bringing him a Rapier Wasp nest made out of cherry gelatin. "I wonder what else there is," she asked herself as she continued on her way until seeing a trapdoor just suspended in the air above her.
Climbing the trees nearby to reach the door, Sunset soon opened it and crawled through the entry. When she got her legs through, she began to fall until she was suspended upside-down and looked around to see a starry river with a walkway made of stained glass. Stepping onto the glass panels, Sunset heard a musical note play as he foot made contact with each of the colorful platforms. Smiling in amusement after stepping on a few more, Sunset did a little dance which made the panels she stepped on play a whimsical song. "Oh, this is fun," the rookie Huntress said to herself.
Looking around the new area, she soon noticed that there were several doors with different colors and emblems on each of them. When she approached one that seemed to be shifting colors between green, pink, purple, white, black, red, and blue, she noticed a name appear on the frame of the door. "Huh? 'Azalea Calla Holstein'? Why's Azalea's name on this," Sunset asked as she placed her hand on the door and it opened for her.
Peering her head through the door, Sunset soon saw Azalea was surrounded by animals of all kinds. Puppies, kittens, lambs, rabbits, monkeys, and even strangely-colored ponies all ran around or climbed onto Azalea as she giggled in delight. Sunset herself couldn't help but coo over the cuteness of what she saw before leaving to investigate the other doors.
Seeing a silvery-blue door with Lapis' name and emblem on it, Sunset decided to peek inside to check it out. When she did, it looked like the entire area was underwater and she saw Lapis swim by with a silvery-blue mermaid tail instead of legs. "Come on, girls," the mermaid Lapis called out before she swam away. Following her toward some ruins, that looked like a giant fish-like creature, were several other members of Fragment Hunter with their own differently colored mermaid tails. Azalea's was emerald green, Rua's was reddish-purple like her hair, Celadon's was a celadon green, Layla had a ruby red tail, and Sunset saw another version of herself with a fiery-red tail with hints of gold-colored scales.
"What's going on here," Sunset asked herself as she walked away from the door and stepped on the stained glass platforms again. As she tried to make sense of the situation, Sunset soon saw the stars around her began to move around like they were being blown by the wind. They began to swirl around and gather as they grouped together behind Sunset. Turning around to see what was happening, she soon saw that the stars briefly flashed different colors before falling down through the glass panels. When they did, a woman with black hair that seemed to sparkle like stars and move around like an ethereal wind was passing by appeared in their place. Sunset immediately recognized the person that appeared when she saw their black dress with a blue trim and called out their name. "Nocturne Celeste?"
The woman turned around and was surprised to see that Sunset was right behind her. "Sunset Blaze? What are you doing in the realm of dreams?"
And with this small cliffhanger before the next chapter, we now have something to look forward to. A new power of Sunset's Semblance! We'll get more explanations about it and have a scene with Nocturne when the story returns.
In all honesty, I was planning on making this cliffhanger a different one, but I thought that with the slumber party in the penthouse, it would have been a great opportunity to show off more of Sunset's discovery of her Semblance. The one I originally planned will be at the end of the next chapter, so get ready for it then.
I hope that you all enjoyed the scenes in this chapter and if you did, make sure to leave a review.
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out!