Here we are at Chapter 87 and the first chapter of volume 6 in the story. We have now reached over 500 followers! Thank you to all who have been reading my story up to this point. Velvet and her friends begin to make their journey to Argus, and then on to Atlas. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 87. Enjoy.
Chapter 87: Argus Limited
Velvet opens her eyes one night, only to find herself back in the white void.
"A little sooner than I expected," Velvet says as she stands up and turns around to find Summer Rose, along with Maotelus surprisingly.
"Phi? What are you doing here?" Velvet asks as she walks up to them.
"I am glad to see you again, Velvet, though I wish it were under better circumstances," Maotelus says.
"What do you mean?" Velvet asks. Maotelus moves one of his wings to reveal the translucent form... of Velvet' younger brother, Laphicet, in a big bubble made of energy. "What... Laphi? What is he doing here?" Velvet asks.
"We brought him here to keep him alive. This place, combined with Summer Rose's and my own powers are keeping Laphicet from dissipating completely. But that is not the only complication," Maotelus explains.
"What's wrong?" Velvet asks.
"As you know, your brother was reincarnated as the great malak, Innominat. However, it seems that they have been... separated somehow. We haven't found out how exactly, but it seems that Innominat... has become a separate being from your brother and has entered Remnant," Summer says.
Velvet gasps, "What? How is that possible? I defeated and sealed away Innominat back in my old world," Velvet says.
"Again, we're looking into it. But, you must understand that Innominat has returned, as a separate being from your brother. Your brother's consciousness is free from him, but he has lost most of his strength. We are keeping him here to keep him alive, but you must focus on Innominat, because I am certain that he is coming after you, as he has done so before," Maotelus says.
Velvet thinks back to the battle for Haven, "The battle for Haven Academy. The figure in the dark cloak," she realizes.
"Be careful on your journey, Velvet. Your quest has become far more difficult. We will look into how these two separated and how they came here. We shall inform you of any information we find," Summer says before everything goes white.
Velvet wakes back up in her room, finding Ruby sleeping soundly in her arms in their bed.
"*Sigh* Why can't things be easy for me for once?" Velvet mentally laments as she pulls Ruby a little closer to her and goes back to sleep.
…
The next day, the gang is all at the Mistral train station, getting ready to head out to Argus. However, as they're walking, Ruby notices something is off with her girlfriend as she has a troubled expression on her face.
"Velvet, what's wrong?" Ruby asks.
Velvet comes back to reality, "Huh? Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine," Velvet tries to play it off.
"Velvet," Ruby says as she grabs her hand and makes her look her in the eye, "I know when something's bothering you. Please, tell me what's wrong," Ruby pleads.
Velvet sighs, "I'll tell you on the train. Is that okay?" Velvet asks.
"Promise?" Ruby asks.
Velvet leans in and kisses Ruby on the lips, "Promise," she says.
"Okay. Come on, let's go meet up with the others and get going," Ruby says.
The couple meet up with the others and check to make sure that they have everything they need, however...
"Whoa, hey there, hot stuff," they hear and look to see two huntsmen walking over to the group, with one of them carrying a club on his shoulder while the other has a rifle for his weapon. "Didn't know a beauty like yourself was on this train. Guess that makes you a lucky girl," the one with the rifle says as he walks up and tries to hit on Velvet.
Ruby quickly starts grinding her teeth at the punk hitting on her girlfriend, but Velvet pats her shoulder as a sign to let her handle this.
"And you two would be?" Velvet asks.
"My name's Dudley. That's Dee, and we are the Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen. We'll be protecting you guys for this trip..." Dudley says, but scoots closer to Velvet. "But, I may be willing to give your car extra special attention should things get dangerous... if you're willing to go out to dinner with me sometime. They have this nice bar in one of the front cars of the train," Dudley says.
If it wasn't for Yang holding her back, Ruby would've eviscerated the moron by now. However, she doesn't need to when Velvet suddenly activates her arm blade and has the tip aimed VERY close to the idiot's crotch, making him start to sweat.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm already taken, and I don't date guys. So, I suggest you and your idiot friend here beat it, before the Argus limited finds itself short one huntsman," Velvet threatens him.
"Hey you'd better watch who you're talking to. We're-," Dee begins.
"Official huntsmen, yeah, we heard you," Qrow joins in, showing his huntsmen ID and getting between them and Velvet. "Now then, it looks like one of you boys left the staff door to the caboose wide open. I would really hate for you guys to lose your job before it even gets started," Qrow says, while Ruby wraps her arms around Velvet and sticks her tongue out at the dumb duo.
Dee looks at Dudley, "Well, I didn't do it," Dudley defends himself.
"Come on, let's go," Dee says and the two leave, arguing along the way.
"I do hope those weren't Beacon graduates," Ozpin mentally notes.
Oscar laughs a bit, "You know, with all this saving the world stuff, it makes me wonder if I have what it takes, but then I see people like them and I'm glad it's us doing the job instead of them," Oscar says, and everyone nods and hums in agreement.
"Well, when Blake gets done talking with Ilia, we'll get to boarding the train. So, let's get ready, team," Ruby says.
Soon enough, Blake finishes saying her goodbyes to Ilia and Sun (and Neptune who was there), the group board the train and it heads on its way towards Argus. While the rest of the team are in their room for the trip, Ruby and Velvet are looking out a window overlooking the snowy, mountain region.
"Okay, Velvet, we're on the train, so tell me: what's wrong?" Ruby asks.
Velvet sighs, "I had another talk with your mother, and she showed me my younger brother, Laphicet there," she confesses.
"What, why?" Ruby asks.
"They don't know, but remember about what I told you about my brother back in my old world. He was reincarnated as Innominat, but we defeated him and sealed him away. However, somehow, my brother's consciousness and Innominat's have separated into two separate beings, with Laphicet there with Summer, and Innominat here in our world," Velvet explains.
It doesn't take long for Ruby to put the pieces together, "The one wearing the dark hood at Haven," she realizes.
Velvet nods, "Yes, and it seems he's after me, which means things just got a lot harder for us now," Velvet says.
"But what are you going to do if-," Ruby begins until the train car they're in suddenly shakes. "What was that?" Ruby says.
"Nothing good, I bet," Velvet notes.
Qrow suddenly joins them, followed by the rest of the team, "We'd better get outside," he says.
The group head onto the roof of their car, only to see Manticore Grimm flying all around the train, led by a Sphinx Grimm that lands on another car further down. They also spot Dee and Dudley fighting against the Grimm that land on the cars with their weapons. However, at one point, Dee gets taken out when one Manticore flies in and tackles him off the train and into the forest below to his demise.
"Dee!" Dudley cries out for his partner.
"Well, no one saw that coming," Velvet notes, activating her arm blade.
"What's the plan, Ruby?" Weiss asks.
"Make sure no one else dies," Ruby says as the rest of the group ready their weapons.
The group run towards the Grimm, gaining their attention. Velvet makes the first move by firing a few shots from her gauntlet at the body of one Manticore. It swipes its claw at her, but she jumps over it and twists around to swing her arm blade, slicing off the Manticore's head. Velvet sees another Manticore flying overhead, attacking with a fireball attack from its mouth. Activating her demon claw, she smacks the fireball away, forcing the Grimm to charge down at her. Velvet waits for it to get close and then sends out a fire arte, blasting the Grimm into the snowy abyss below. Meanwhile, Yang throws an uppercut into the jaw of one Manticore, knocking it up and allowing Weiss to send out some ice shards, skewering the Grimm as it falls off the train. Weiss smiles, only to get spooked when another Manticore attacks her from behind. However, Yang is quick to react and throws a series of punches into the Grimm's skull before finally bashing it into the side of the mountain next to them.
"Thank me later!" Yang says with a wink.
Weiss smirks before focusing back on the fight. Qrow spins in the air with his blade, slicing through one Manticore in half, followed by shooting his weapon at the head of a second, and then transforms into a bird to fly above a third before changing back and impaling his blade through its skull and then jumps off as it falls off the train. He looks back to see Dudley running up to one train car and then takes out his scroll, pressing some buttons and shielding the train's windows with armor and activating the turrets which start shooting at the Grimm.
"What's that idiot doing?!" Qrow growls.
Nearby, Blake uses her semblance to evade an attack of another Manticore Grimm, and then jumps into the air and spins around, swinging her blades at the Grimm's wings. She follows this up getting in its face and firing her pistol into its mouth several times, killing it from within. Blake then sees another Grimm coming at her, only for Ruby to zip by with her semblance and behead the beast before landing next to her.
"Stay sharp! There's a lot of them!" Ruby says, firing off her sniper-scythe at some of the Manticore still flying in the air above them.
Back with Velvet, she swings her demon claw around, smacking one Manticore into the mountainside. She then turns her attention to another, her blades ready. The Manticore charges at her, but she jumps and twirls in the air with all three of her blades out, ripping through the Grimm in one fell swoop. She lands and looks back to see how the others are doing, finding Team JNPR and Oscar join the battle. Jaune swings his sword at one Manticore, forcing it back, while Ren spins Nora around as she fires her grenade launcher off, taking out a few more Grimm with their combo attack.
"Shall I take over?" Ozpin offers.
"No, I'm staying in control," Oscar says.
Oscar watches the others fight, only for a Manticore Grimm to land behind him. It attacks, and he tries to fend it off with his cane. He manages to get a few hits in, but just as its about to retaliate, Velvet joins in and clamps her demon claw on the Grimm's skull, crushing it and killing the Grimm before it falls off the train.
"You okay?" Velvet asks.
"I'm fine. How can I help?" Oscar asks.
"You can go and tell that idiot to turn the turrets off. The blast doors on the windows are fine, but those turrets are only drawing the Grimm closer to the passengers," Velvet says, and then notices the Grimm taking out a few of the turrets already. "And at this rate, there won't be any more turrets anyway," she adds.
"I got it," Oscar replies and runs over the train cars until he reaches Dudley. "Listen, you got to shut the turrets off!" Oscar tells him.
"Are you crazy? Those turrets are keeping us alive!" Dudley doesn't listen to him.
"They're drawing the Grimm towards the passengers! We've got to-," Oscar says, but then notices the Sphinx Grimm and the others suddenly fly back up into the skies. He wonders why they left, but then his eyes widen as he looks ahead of them to see why. "TUNNEL!" he shouts at the top of his lungs.
This catches everyone's attention as they look ahead, seeing the tunnel ahead of them, and coming up fast.
"Get moving, now!" Velvet yells.
Ruby grabs her and uses her semblance to shoot them in between two train cars to safety, while Yang grabs Weiss' hand and pulls her down with them along with everyone else. However, one person does not escape unscathed. They all regroup back in one car, only to see Team JNPR and Oscar around Dudley, who's screaming in pain with his broken left arm.
"Guess someone wasn't fast enough to escape," Velvet mutters.
However, Qrow doesn't care as he walks up and picks Dudley up by his shirt collar.
"What is wrong with you? We told you to turn the turrets off!" Qrow tells him, angry.
"Those turrets are what's keeping us alive!" Dudley retorts.
"Us, sure, but they're drawing the Grimm towards the passengers and putting them in greater danger, you idiot," Qrow argues.
"I'm the one that was hired for this mission. I'm in charge!" Dudley yells.
"You're not in charge of anything anymore. You really think the people here are going to listen to you after you lost your partner and put them in harm's way?" Velvet notes.
Seeing that this is going nowhere, Ruby steps in, "Please... Just turn off the turrets," Ruby asks politely.
"Please, just trust us. We know what we're doing," Jaune adds as he uses his aura to heal Dudley's injury.
"May I speak?" Ozpin asks Oscar. Oscar nods and allows him to take control. "While the Grimm are attracted to the negativity emitted on the train, they are also attracted to this," he gestures to the lamp on his waist.
"What's that?" Dudley asks.
"None of your business... Ozpin, are you serious?" Qrow asks.
"Why didn't you tell us about that sooner?" Yang asks, getting angry.
Ruby intervenes again, "Look, that's not important right now. Right now, we need to focus on getting the Grimm away from the passengers. Ren, can you use your semblance to mask everyone on the train?" Ruby asks, getting an idea.
"I don't know. I've never done it with so many people before," Ren notes.
"But, you didn't have Jaune with you. He can give your aura a turbo boost," Nora says.
Ruby nods, "Get everyone further up the train cars. Once the turrets are off, we'll separate our car from the rest of the train. You'll keep everyone safe... We just can't come with you," Ruby says sadly.
Jaune doesn't want them to go, but understands that this is their best option for right now.
"Only if you'll promise to meet us in Argus," Jaune says.
"Promise," Velvet says.
With that, the group get the plan into motion after the train leaves the tunnel. Team RVWBY, Qrow, and Oscar are on top on car, while Team JNPR are inside another. Dudley turns off the turrets.
"Velvet, now!" Ruby says.
Velvet jumps down and uses her arm blade to cut the car cable, separating their car from the rest.
"Ren, now!" Ruby yells on her scroll.
With Jaune's support, Ren uses his semblance to mask everyone's emotions on the train as it speeds away to safety. Meanwhile, the others prepare to fight as the Grimm, led by the Sphinx Grimm attack them. Velvet activates her demon claw and throws Blake when she jumps on top of it at one Manticore flying above them. Blake uses her semblance to zip around and above it, giving her the chance to slice its head off before falling back down to the train car. With no bystanders around now, Velvet activates her Maiden powers and conjures up some wind mixed with lightning, surging it around her demon claw before swinging it wide, sending out a few blasts of wind and lightning at a few Manticores, taking them all out. Yang and Weiss make a combo of their own, with Weiss skewering one Manticore with some ice shards, and then with Yang punching said Grimm hard into another one and into the mountainside. Yang then blocks a claw strike from another with her right arm, giving Weiss the chance to jump over her and stab her rapier into the Grimm's right eye, followed by Yang throwing an uppercut into its chin, knocking it away. Oscar swings his cane around a few times at one Manticore, staggering it a bit and giving Qrow the chance to some in with his scythe and decapitate the beast. Ruby swings her scythe at another Manticore, only to see the Sphinx Grimm land on their train car, ready to attack.
"We need to take that thing down, now!" Velvet yells.
Ruby gets and idea, "We need to ground it!" she shouts.
The Sphinx Grimm gets ready to take to the skies again, only for Velvet to jump above it and use her power to send a gust of wind down on top of it, keeping it from leaving the car. Weiss uses this opportunity to use her semblance, creating a black glyph to keep the Grimm grounded to the car. Blake throws her chain-scythe over the Grimm, with Velvet grabbing it and throwing it to Yang while she lands on the Sphinx's back. Yang grabs the chain-scythe and stabs the blade segment into the train car. Weiss and Velvet use their abilities to freeze the Grimm's wings, which are then destroyed by Ruby and Qrow with their weapons. They then move in to finish it off, spinning their scythes around, but the Sphinx gets ready to launch a fire ball at them. Velvet swings her claw around to knock its head back as it fires its shot, but misses them. At that same moment, Ruby and Qrow slice the Grimm's head off together and they all land back on the train. However, the Grimm's fire ball attack hits the train rails ahead of them, destroying them.
"Weiss!" Ruby yells.
Weiss conjures black glyphs under everyone's feet to keep them glued to the train car, while Velvet uses her power to create a gust of wind in front of them to slow the train down. However, the train derails and falls off the side, crashing into the snowy bed below. A few moments later, everyone emerges around the trashed remains of the train car, a little bruised, but relatively unscathed.
"Ugh, everyone alright?" Ruby calls out, holding her head.
"Yeah, I'll live," Yang groans back.
"Ruby, you okay?" Velvet checks on her girlfriend.
"I'm fine. Thanks Velvet," Ruby thanks her.
"I'm still alive!" a new voice calls out. They all look to see an elderly, short, woman emerge from the train car. The woman has a walking stick with a skull on it, blue clothing, and a pair of prosthetic eyes that almost look like goggles. "That was a close one, huh?" the woman says.
And that's the chapter. Volume 6 begins, and the group now have to take a detour on their way to Argus, as well as gaining a new member to the party. Velvet learns about her brother's fate after her death, and Innominat, but there are still many questions that have yet to be answered (we'll find them out soon enough). What awaits Velvet and her friends along the path to Argus. Will she figure out how her brother and Innominat got separated? Until then, please Read and Review.