Here we are at Chapter 48. Things will get pretty hectic for a while. Let's see how this plays out. Also, I finally got Tales of Berseria and have started playing it. This will help with the future of my story. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 48. Enjoy.
Chapter 48: Darkness Falls
Velvet activates her arm blade as she prepares to fight against Cinder.
"It was YOU. You were the one that got Roman and the White Fang involved in your little scheme. You attacked the CCT tower weeks ago. You did all of this!" Velvet realizes.
"My, aren't you the clever one. I would offer you a place at my side, but something tells me that isn't going to happen," Cinder says as her eyes glow for a moment.
"Out of my way!" Velvet yells as she runs at Cinder.
Cinder spins around and swings her swords at her. Velvet counters with a swing of her arm blade, using the momentum to swing her body around while activating one of her foot blades. She swings it at Cinder a few times, who blocks each strike, before doing a backflip kick to push her back. Velvet fires off a few shots, but Cinder raises her left hand and blocks each one. She then waives her hand around as fires appears around her and then she fires it at Velvet. Velvet swings her arm blade to deflect the strike and runs at Cinder again. The two exchange sword blows, but soon enough, Velvet manages to break through both of Cinder's blades. Cinder jumps away. Cinder conjures up more flames, while Velvet activates her demon claw. When Cinder fires off her fire shot, Velvet holds out her claw and absorbs the attack when it hits. Feeling the energy come into her, Velvet's eyes widen when she notices something.
"That wasn't Dust, or even someone's semblance…It can't be," she thinks as realization comes in. "It was you. You were the one that attacked the Fall Maiden and stole half of her power," Velvet figures it out.
Cinder click her tongue in annoyance, "So you figured it out, huh? I must admit, you're more trouble than I first thought Velvet Cr-," Cinder begins until Velvet fires off a fire arte at her face, making her roll out of the way to avoid it.
When she gets her bearings back, she sees Velvet in front of her and smacks her away with her demon claw, and then kicks her into the wall before she makes a break for it As she's running away, she fire off another fire arte behind her that manages to hit Cinder, knocking her further back.
"I can't waste time with her right now. I got to go stop Pyrrha and Penny before it's too late," Velvet thinks as she runs to the arena.
When she gets to the stands, she still can't find Ruby anywhere and figures she must be trying to do the same thing as her. Looking into the arena, she sees Penny and Pyrrha fighting each other, with Pyrrha using her spear in conjunction with her shield to fight off Penny's swords. Velvet tries to get inside, but gets blocked off by the protective shield around the arena. Velvet looks around and sees Emerald in the stands opposite of her. Remembering that Emerald and Cinder were on the same team, Velvet makes a run for it to get to Emerald before the unthinkable happens. She runs as fast as she can and when she gets close…
"Emerald!" she yells, getting her attention. Emerald looks over, only to receive a punch in the face that knocks her out of her seat. "It was you. You were the one that made me see that illusion, wasn't it," Velvet says.
The commotion gets the audience's attention, and even Pyrrha and Penny stop their fighting to see what's going on. By this point, Ruby finally comes back out and sees what's going on.
"Velvet?" she mutters worriedly.
Emerald slowly gets up and begins to back away, until she notices Atlas soldiers and robots appear and surround Velvet, with all their guns aimed at her.
"Velvet Crowe, stand down!" one soldier commands her.
Velvet looks around, about to attack, when she notices something. Suddenly, the Atlas robots have red lights appear on their heads, and then they turn their weapons onto the civilians.
"Wait, what are you doing?! Stand down!" the soldier commands.
The civilians attempt to make a run for it, only for more Atlas robots to appear and block their path, with their guns armed and ready.
"What the Hell are you doing?! Call off your robot dogs, now!" Velvet yells.
"I'm trying. Something's interfering with the signal!" the soldier says.
The Atlas robots start firing at the people, making them all scatter in a huge panic. Velvet runs at them, using her arm blade to slice through a few of the machines in order to protect the civilians. However, more robots show up and start attacking the civilians. Ruby takes out her scythe and starts attacking them on her side along with the rest of Team JNPR. Down in the arena, Penny and Pyrrha find themselves surrounded by more Atlas robots.
"What are you doing?! Cut the feed, now!" Port yells in the announcers' area.
"We can't! Something's interfering with the signal!" someone says.
Back in the arena, the students try to fight off the machines, but there are just too many, and already a few civilians have been killed by the robots, and the whole world is watching. Suddenly, the announcements come on, but with a new voice along with the symbol of the Queen's chess piece.
"This…is not a tragedy," Cinder's voice begins as people see the same image and hear her voice all around the world. "This…was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians…" Cinder continues as everyone looks to the screens, while Jaune looks only back into the arena in pure shock. Meanwhile, Cinder stands on one of the dorm buildings back at Beacon, using her scroll to broadcast her speech. "But are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our academies' headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here?" Cinder continues while Ironwood angrily gets up and walks away from his seat. "One's attempt at using a robotic army to take over the Vytal Festival and the kingdom. It wouldn't have been the first time the kingdom of Atlas had tried to take over the world. Just look at its predecessor, Mantle. And, what I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? Attacking an innocent student in the stand where civilians are so close by? Huntsmen and huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither," Cinder continues while Weiss, Blake, and Yang look on, shocked and angry looks on their faces. "Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas from the tournament would help people forget his COLOSSAL failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets," she adds, while Velvet looks around the building chaos around her, feeling the negativity in the air rising. "Or perhaps, this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong, but I know that the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves," she continues as Ozpin watches his screen before looking back to the Atlas ships outside his window. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you, the situation there is…equally undesirable," Cinder continues as Emerald leaves the stands. "Our kingdoms are at the brink of war, yet we, the citizens are left in the dark," she says as two Atlas soldiers listen to her speech, not noticing the massive herd of Grimm running towards them from behind.
The two soldiers turn around and start firing while Cinder continues her speech.
"So I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?" Cinder concludes her speech and the screens go back to normal.
"The feeds are all jammed. We can't get a message out!" Oobleck says.
"Will somebody tell me what in the world is happening?!" Port calls out.
Velvet feels something and looks out into the late evening skies, and her eyes widen.
"Oh no…" she mutters.
Suddenly, emergency sirens come on, "Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: 9. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner," a message gets broadcasted.
However, calm is the last thing on everyone's minds as the people in the arena panic and race to the airships for escape. Meanwhile, Ironwood enters Port and Oobleck's announcer's booth and grabs the mike.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please there is no need for panic-," Ironwood tries to calm them down, but then a large Nevermore appears and starts attacking the shields around the arena.
"A Nevermore!" Sun shouts as he gets up from his seat.
"How did he get pasted the kingdom's defenses?" Coco says, lowering her aviators.
Ren stands up, "It wasn't alone," he says ominously.
Down below, Velvet takes out a few more Atlas robots before she looks back to Pyrrha and Penny still in the arena. Then she notices the three Atlas battleships in the distance, and sees one of them change direction…and then shoot down the other two battleships right out from the sky.
"Oh great. What the Hell is going on now?!" she thinks before she notices the Nevermore attempting to break through the shields to the arena. She then gets a call on her scroll and pulls it out, seeing the rest of the team on the other end. "Guys! Where are you?! What's going on?!" she yells.
…
"That's what we want to know! We're at the fairgrounds, and now it's being attacked by Grimm and Atlas robots. What is going on?!" Weiss yells.
"It's Cinder and her team! They're the ones behind this. Behind all of it! Grimm are attacking everywhere now. Look, try and meet us at the school. We'll get to you after we take care of things on our end!" Velvet yells back.
"Okay, just be careful. And don't let anything happen to Ruby," Yang says.
"Don't worry. I won't," Velvet replies before she hangs up.
"So, what do we do now?" Weiss asks.
Blake thinks for a moment before pulling up her scroll again, "We're going to the docks, and we're doing our job," she replies while typing away at her scroll.
A moment later, a rocket locker lands behind them, and opens up to reveal her weapon inside it. The other three look at her before nodding in agreement.
…
Back at the coliseum, the large Nevermore screeches as it continues to attack the arena's shields. Velvet finally links up with Ruby and they look on as the arena's shield get weaker.
"Pyrrha! You gotta get out of there! It's going to break through!" Jaune yells from his side of the arena.
Pyrrha and Penny look around, worried, and then to each other.
"What do we do?!" Penny asks.
Pyrrha looks up at the Nevermore, "We'll have to fight," she says.
The Nevermore finally breaks through the shields and lands in front of them, with the impact sending them flying back. The Nevermore uses this chance to charge at them, but just before it can attack, a fire ball nails it in the face making it reel back. Penny and Pyrrha look up to see Velvet land in front of them, her demon claw activated.
"Not on my watch," she says before Ruby lands next to her. Velvet hands Ruby her scroll, "Use this," she says.
Ruby nods and uses the scroll and a moment later, her locker lands behind her, opening up to reveal her scythe inside. Ruby activates her scythe and the four girls get ready to fight when the Nevermore regains its bearings and charges at them once more. The Nevermore screeches before it takes flight, encircling the arena while Velvet, Penny, Pyrrha and Ruby prepare for its attack. However, as the Grimm flies towards them, many rocket lockers suddenly collide on top of the Grimm's body, making it fall onto and slide across the ground in front of the two of them before collapsing. The lockers open up, showing off various weapons. Ruby, Velvet, Penny, and Pyrrha look on in slight awe as the members of Teams JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, ABRN, and the two members of Team FNKI retrieve their weapons, ready to join the fight. However, the Nevermore they're standing on and around begins to get back up, making them lose their balance. The young huntsmen begin moving, with Ren jumping up and stabbing the blade of his right auto-pistol into the Grimm's left eye. Arslan uses her rope dart to swing under the Grimm's neck, and grabs Yatsuhashi while Sage jumps high into the air, and Nora runs along the Grimm's back before using her hammer to smash its head back onto the ground. In the air, Arslan tosses Yatsuhashi up, and together with Sage, they use their large swords and swing at the same time, decapitating the Nevermore. The Grimm's head falls and its body quickly disintegrates. Ruby and Velvet look at the others before they turn to Pyrrha and Penny.
"Ruby, Velvet, what's going on?" Pyrrha asks.
"We've been played by Cinder and her cronies. I'll bet they've taken control of the Atlas robots somehow. And with them attacking the civilians, that caused all this negativity, and that drew the Grimm in. With the Grimm attacking, that only creates more negativity, drawing more of them in like a chain reaction. It's all going to Hell," Velvet explains.
"It's true. I found Mercury in the back of the arena, and I think he did something. Then he attacked me, but I managed to escape," Ruby says.
"Meanwhile, I had to fight off Cinder shortly after I talked with you. They've been behind everything that's been going on in Vale," Velvet adds.
"She's right," they hear and look back to see Jaune, Ren, and Nora walk up to them. "They've already hurt a lot of people. They're the ones behind this, and we have to make sure they don't hurt anyone else," he says.
They all nod their heads and look back at all the others who have their weapons ready to go. At that point, they hear some noise behind them and look up to see a flock of Gryphons land on the edge of the stands, surrounding the arena.
"Gryphons…" Ren notes.
"Anyone got a plan of attack?" Neptune asks.
"Yeah, we wipe them out and get to the school. We need to protect Beacon," Velvet says.
The Gryphons then fly into the arena, forcing the group to fire off their weapons at them, taking out some of them while the rest fly all over the area. When one attempts to attack Ruby, a random shot rings out to shoot it out of the sky. Ruby looks back to see Oobleck and Port with their weapons in hand.
"Students…It would probably be best if you all would leave," Port says.
"But we can help-," Ruby begins.
"Miss Rose!" Oobleck stops her. "…This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it," he says, offering a small smile to her.
The group of huntsmen-in-training begin running to the landing platforms to get to the airships. Ruby points in the direction for them, like a commander of an army, and then Velvet takes a picture of her and her scythe with her camera.
"Velvet!" she hears Coco call her and runs to join them.
They all head down one path while Port and Oobleck stay behind, back-to-back, to face the Gryphons encircling the arena.
Port laughs, "One final match, Barty! Place your bets!" he says as they prepare to fight.
Meanwhile, civilians run down the pathways to the landing platforms to get to the airships and get out of the coliseum. People begin getting onboard airships ready to take them away to safety. However, as the evacuation process continues, bullhead airships fly up, open their side hatches, and release more Grimm onto the platforms. One of these Grimm is an Alpha Beowolf, staring back at Ironwood as he walks towards it. Ironwood narrows his eyes and starts to run at the Alpha Beowolf. The Grimm responds in kind by running on all fours towards the general. Ironwood screams as they get close, and then pulls out a custom magnum pistol from his jacket. He slide under the Grimm as it jumps and swipes its claws at him, firing off two shots at his stomach. The Grimm lands and turns back to him, damaged by the shots but not dead, while Ironwood swings and slides back, his right hand digging into the concrete floor. The Alpha Beowolf charges at Ironwood again while he fires off three more shots. When it gets close, the Grimm swings its right claw at him, but he ducks and spins around. The Grimm attacks with its left claw, only for Ironwood to stop it cold with his right hand. Ironwood fires at its feet, the blast knocking it off its feet, and then swings its body around and slamming it into the floor before pulling its body up with its head over his pistol, and pulls the trigger. The shot kills the Grimm, and its body falls to the ground before disintegrating.
Ironwood walks up to an airship as the teams of young huntsmen run up to him.
"What's going on?!" Ruby asks.
"Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang has invaded Beacon, someone has done the impossible and taken control of MY machines, and to make matters worse, some…vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm…" he begins before aiming his magnum behind them and firing, taking out a Grimm Creep sneaking up behind them. "Going to take it back," he says and turns to board an airship.
"What should we do?" Jaune asks.
Ironwood turns to them, "You have two choices. Defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves," he says, and they all look around to each other. "No one will fault you if you leave," he says.
"…Well I for one have never been the type to just give up and run away like a coward. If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get," Velvet says.
"Yeah!" Ruby agrees with her.
Ironwood nods to them, "Good luck to you all," he says before he gets on his airship and takes off into the skies.
"I mean, come on," Sun says, annoyed that Ironwood left without giving them a ship.
"We can take a ship to Beacon," Jaune says and they all start running, while Ruby and Velvet watch Ironwood's ship leave.
They see Ironwood's ship make its way towards the last battleship in the sky, however some Grimm start attacking his ship. He is able to evade them without much issue, but then suddenly a large blast from the battleship manages to hit his ship, sending it falling into the city. Velvet and Ruby watch on in shock before they nod to each other and run back into the arena. They run up to one of the locker and latch their weapons onto it before sending it flying up into the sky. Eventually they manage to get close enough to jump off and land on the battleship.
"Let's clean up this mess," Velvet says.
And that's the chapter. Yay, Penny is still alive! As for the Atlas robots and the Grimm attacks, I had to do something to get this big battle going, so let's just leave it at that. But now the battle for Beacon begins. Will Velvet and her friends save the school and the city? Who will survive this dark event? Until then please Read and Review.