Authors Note: Hello! A lot has happened since the last chapter. Let's start, I made another story called RWBY: The Prominent Summer Wind, and I think that some people might like it. There is another story I'm creating but this one is unique. This story, called RWBY: SnowFall, was a requested story from a fan, and I've explained who this is in the first chapter of that story. I am willing to take one or, maybe, more requests if anyone wants, as I think if I took up too much I might be overloaded. I may have more time to myself now but I won't be able to update this story as often with all these other projects. Anyway, with that, time to begin The Summer Before Fall Saga!
June and Ino had found themselves fighting off a horde of Grimm. The town they were hired by had recently held a funeral, so they were expecting some problems. However, this force seemed a little much for a simple funeral, as sad as they were. Again and again the pair seemed to have found their way into fighting more than they were expecting. It was weird and could be considered, in an odd way, lucky of them, as this is the action most Hunters wanted when leaving an academy.
Even though it had been a year since they left Beacon, it was almost as if nothing had changed. They wore the same outfits and fought the same way. It was then that June was rushed by a Beowolf, of which was easily brought down with a hard kick. There had been some changes, though, with June employing an ancient technique that involved her clothing. Although she was a skilled fighter, her Close-Quarters-Combat didn't work well against Grimm that weren't that small, meaning she would be forced to use Angeli Cadunt, or Angutus Ortus, faster than she would like. To fix this, she had paid a tailor and a blacksmith to create a special set of clothes for her, of which she then replaced her old clothes with, all except her cloak. Now, dust was woven into the cloth to make her hit harder. This had boosted her capabilities drastically, now being able to fight an Ursa one-on-one and kill it in under a minute without using her weapons. There were different sets of dust located in each part of her clothing, with her sleeves having gravity dust to increase her strength and agility, fire dust woven into her gloves to burn the Grimm, and a mix of ice, lightning, and more gravity dust into her pants. When using these enhancements, her base speed without using her semblance was increased. Now, it was only when something truly threatening would come up that she would have to use her weapons.
Although the force was larger than they were expecting, the Huntress pair had been able to defend the village with only a slight hint of ease. After they were finished for the day, the mayor had thanked them dearly and paid them. The excitement and happiness that had come from the village after they were done would deter another force of Grimm from showing up. Ino and June then went off to Vale after a year of being away. In their adventures over the past year, they had visited Vacuo, which had been almost a half-a-year venture.
While there, June had met up with Amica again, and he was awfully curious on how well her new weapon worked out for her. Obviously he heard about the Leviathan but, knowing her secret, he knew that it probably wasn't her weapons that had done the heavy lifting. He was, however, happy to hear that the Pruergium had done massive damage to the beast by itself, showing the pride he had for his crafting genius. When it came to finding Amica, it was actually easy. Since March had started attending Shade, the family had moved to the city of Vacuo to be closer to her. As for her sister, May had moved to Mistral, so far liking it much more than Vacuo, which was expressed in her messages.
At this point, March was in the middle of her junior year and would be on winter break. Well, the closest it could get to being winter in Vacuo was a slight temperature decrease. June and Ino would stay long enough to spend time with March, and she had changed her look. Now she wore a small breastplate, similar to June, and a baggy, tan sweatshirt with the sleeves cut short. She also wore shorts that were a tan color and had bandages that covered the rest of her arms and legs that would've been exposed otherwise. Her jet black hair was cut short, and now she had a weapon her father made for her. The weapon, called the Celectric Moore, was a pair of weapons.
Celectric was a dagger, although its blade seemed a little longer than that of a normal dagger, and Moore was a long-sword that had a bulky hilt, of which June didn't know the purpose of, yet. March, not being able to see Preurgium before June left back to Beacon, had been excited to see it. June would show her, but they had agreed to spar to see each others skill, so they left to a training area where June said she would show it. The grounds was barren, as most of the students wanted a break, and June would show her weapons potential.
"Woah," was all march could get out when she saw the new weapon. Ino had been watching from the sidelines, and was also curious to see where the Shade junior had stood when compared to June. She then disconnected the Pruergium and sheathed the two nun-chucks, and then started to explain the conditions of the sparring match.
"Alright, let's get started. I'll give you a upper hand and won't force you to show your weapons capabilities." March had just smirked and answered back.
"Up to you, but when I win, you can't complain." This had gotten a smirk from June and the two lined up opposite sides of the arena. It was just barely twenty meters to allow for some form of long ranged combat, but both women had excelled in close quarters fighting, so it wasn't likely that they would take advantage of this much. As they showed they were ready, Ino walked up and would start them off.
"Alright you two, Vytal Tournament rules, you know how it goes. Three... two... one... Fight!" The second she finished the word, March had unsheathed Celetric and had rushed June. Although this was usually not a great idea, her speed was impressive and outright shocked June. She dodged accordingly and would throw a palm strike at March's head. To her surprise, though, she had reacted fast enough to dodge and throw a counterattack at June with the Celetric. She was forced to grab the blade to try and use aura to protect herself from being cut. When she did, however, a stinging, then stabbing sensation had taken over her entire arm, as if thousands of tiny blades had stabbed her again and again in the span of a second. Whatever it came from, it was proving a massive problem. March then used her hold of the blade against her and slammed her arm and body towards the ground, and then she reached for Moore to hit a major blow. When June had realized what had caused the pain, she used it to her advantage quickly. Her signature blue flash appeared and the Moore had been sent flying away.
The sudden burst had reminded March of June's semblance, and her first plan would have to be thrown away. The Celetric was a blade made of gravity dust, so she was hoping the pain from grabbing the blade would distract her, even though such a tactic in a sparring match seemed ruthless. Obviously, this didn't work out well, and June must've realized what the cause. March would then fall back to think of something, which didn't take too long. She was partly expecting June to realize this quick, so she had a backup plan involving the use of her semblance, something she was keeping from her blue haired friend.
After she had thrown away the Moore, June had to take a couple seconds recovering from the attack. If she had kept a hand on that blade for a little longer, her arm may have gone numb from pain. It was dust. That pain only came from direct dust injection into a person, as it was a feeling one never forgot. She, admittedly, had experimented with it on herself and learned quickly why it wasn't a good idea. As for now, she should've expected how seriously March would take a match between the two of them, and now had to plan a counter. When she had waited a couple seconds for a recovery, she rushed March. The speed was something almost unexpected but March had dodged it with some effort. For twenty seconds, the two engaged in close up fighting, with June dodging every slash from March, being forced to use her dust woven clothing on her arms, and March being forced to take some hits from the constant assault. March then broke away and threw the Celetric at June, which had been at insane speeds. This speed had forced her to use her semblance. Once she had dodged it, she looked back to realize that March had grabbed the Moore. She then took the sword, switched between some of its dust cartridges, and stabbed it into the ground.
Once this had happened, June rushed towards the girl to stop whatever she was planning. Almost predictably, earth had shot up at her, and she had suspected earth dust to be the reason for the action. With multiple dodges and side steps, June had reached the planted March, who had one last trick up her sleeve. When June ran in front of the blade, March, in a quick motion, had taken the handle and brought it down ninety degrees. Then, the handle released a trigger and revealed a 40 mm barrel, as it then fired a grenade. She had been at point blank range and it was far faster than normal rounds, making dodging impossible. It was a direct hit with fire dust and blew the girl back with the blast, bringing up a smokescreen formed from sand.
March knew that the grenade would bring June's aura down to a scarce amount. She wasn't okay with a forfeit by aura percentage but she would take the win. Before the dust had cleared, though, a force had kicked March back, taking the Moore with her. When she looked up, June had been standing there bringing her leg down, as if she was unphased from the blast. Although it was a problem, she had planned for a fluke to happen. Still confused how she survived the blast, March had reached out her hand in an odd gesture.
The only reason June had survived such a blast was her semblance. Having a near complete understanding of her it, she knew that whenever she started to go at such high speeds her aura would protect her from the g-force by hardening her aura for whatever speed she was going. She took advantage of this to protect herself from the blast but it still took a large chunk from her aura. When June saw where March was, her sudden hand movements had confused the Huntress, then a noise had gotten her attention. She had instinctively moved her head to the left and had dodged the Celetric, which had zoomed past her head. The handle slammed into Moore's and had clicked in. Afterwards, Moore's blade retracted a bit and Celetric had extended to match the new length, with a circle forming around the handle. March then sprung forward with astounding speed, pointing the double sided hybrid weapon at June. Before she had reached the hooded girl, she lunged forward, making her faster but lifting her off the ground with her weapon below her. June had easily side-stepped the attack and went in for a hit to her back. However, the weapon's blade had started to spin on its new circle part and, with that, at a fast speed. Before June was able to connect her hand with march, she was forced to move out of the blades path, not knowing for sure if both of them were made of dust. After this stunt, March had recovered by keeping the blades moving, which would keep herself protected from June.
With this action, March knew what she was going to do next. Her semblance was something interesting, like most, and its unexpected development would lead to June losing this match, and, although not wanting to admit it to herself to save her pride, she knew that June was holding back.
She had seen her at the 30th Vytal Festival, which included her stunt against December in the final round. December may have been a freshmen but she was extremely skilled, beating out most Seniors at the time, and June had beat her to the point she was frozen in the arena a couple minutes after the end of the match. Once March had started to attend Shade, she realized how impressive of a feat this was, so she was going to use the combined weapon, Celmore, and her semblance for one final attack.
Before June could rush March again, she spun the blades faster until they were but a gray blur, and threw it at the girl. June prepared to dodge, or use it against her, but it would be harder than she was expecting. As she began to make a slight movement, she realized she couldn't actually move, and when she saw March, she was crouched with her hands on the ground, along with a grin plastered on her face. Her arms were then forced to her sides, along with her legs being planted together, to allow for the thrown weapon to do more damage.
A powerful semblance when used the right way, March had trained with it for the past three years attending Shade. It allowed for advanced aura manipulation, giving her the ability to spread her aura onto people and things to control them as if they were puppets. June was put into a position near impossible to escape, and she had to come up with something to get out.
All that she had done in response was smile at the predicament. It wasn't of cockiness, but of pride in her friend. Her own pride wasn't hurt by the sparring match, and she was happy to see how far March had gotten, understanding now how she was able to make it in such a hard kingdom. It was then June had vibrated intensely and would force herself to move. March had grunted, as she couldn't stop the moving. June started to move her legs and arms which started to consume massive amounts of aura on March's part. To stop herself from completely being drained, she had retracted her aura and stood up. June then jumped up and spun herself into a barrel roll while grabbing the Celmore, landing, and threw it back at double the speed. Without the Celetric to boost her speed, March was forced to take the hit from the weapon.
Once she took the hit, she was knocked back far enough to be out of the ring. With a ring out and her aura dropping below fifteen percent, March was taken out. June would've gone to help her but she had dropped to a crouch, as her stunt to break the girls aura trap had taken a considerable effort with her semblance. It would've completely drained her if she was forced to go for longer. When June was able to stand, she came over to the crouched March.
"Nice," was the first thing June had said as she held out her arm, and March wasn't much better.
"Heh, like hell that was nice," she added as she took her hand to get up. "You still beat me when you actually took it seriously, asshole," and then she shoved the girl in a playful manner.
"What? Come on, don't be too hard on yourself. You're better than half the Hunters I've meant," it wasn't at all lying, as some Hunters seemed dangerously under trained to her.
"Pff, yeah, sure," March's addition had been the last of their bantering as Ino ran up to them.
"You two OK," she asked, sounding concerned by the fights results.
"Hm, eh," March had just shrugged while doing this and walked off, telling June she'd be back at home.
"Before you start worrying, she's fine, trust me. We should look for something to do while she settles down at home for her break," Ino, being somewhat used to the people there, nodded in agreement without asking much else. As for what they would do, that was the real question. They found themselves getting a fast dinner before heading back to Amica's house. When they got there, the family had already eaten dinner and, before Amica could feel bad, the pair explained they had eaten already. Ino found herself talking to August, wanting to learn more about Mistral while June and March had caught up.
"What else aren't you telling me," June had asked March while they were talking.
"What are you on about," March followed up and June had started to ask away with some questions.
"First, we both know even an average Hunter can't just randomly immobilize their opponent, so what's up with that," she had said it with her expression changing to one of joy, feeling it was something she already suspected.
"Well, I think you already know the reason for that, girl," she had added this and June had gotten a little too excited. She hugged March and exclaimed openly she was very happy that she had discovered her semblance.
March had kneed her, wanting her to let her go. June, realizing what she had done, let go and simply said she was excited. Also adding that she was too used to Vale.
"It shows," March added in a deeper voice, but a smirk had grown on her face. "Anyway, what it is is some form of better aura manipulation. I can do a lot with it, it's even able to mimic some other abilities, although definitely not as good as some semblances dedicated to those things." She was then asked about what she could do, besides being able to use people as puppets.
"Well," March had started, "I can control things and I can change what my aura can do on contact. Like this," she then gestured for June to grab her arm. When June did grab it, her hand was shot back before it could get a grasp on March's arm.
"Interesting," June had added. The list went on, with March adding that, at a high price, she could make her aura have the same effects of some types of dust. The problem stemmed from the activation, which involved direct dust injection to replicate the effect. As bad as it sounded, March had been practicing the ability and had become somewhat resistant to the pain over time. June didn't bat an eye but she was still concerned. Before she could bring it up, though, March recognized what she was thinking.
"I would only use it as a last resort," she had said this in a more serious tone as well, "and when I say resistant, I mean I've done it twice so far to make sure it can be used reliably."
June went with this, realizing the sudden change in her tone. They spent the rest of the night talking about March's time at Shade, but, before they could talk about Beacon, it was time for the Huntresses to leave. They weren't staying with Amica, although they said they would let them stay. They had decided to stay at an inn instead while they were in Vacuo. They had left deep in the night, so the pair wanted to get some much needed sleep. After about a half an hour of walking, the two had got to the Inn. Their shared room had been just fine as the two went to sleep for the night.
The next morning, the two went back to Amica's. They had ended up doing the same thing as last night, June talking with March and Ino talking to August. Once they had all eaten breakfast and talked until noon, the Huntress pair had left for Shade to use the CCT Tower to get in contact with their friends. Well, they didn't have to go to it but Ino had wanted to see the tower for herself and June wasn't going to argue with her. It would be the first time they had talked to any of their friends for six months, so it was nice to be able to do this.
After exiting the elevator, they found themselves in the communications center, which wasn't too packed at the time. They had found a terminal and June let Ino talk to her parents first. It had been quick, as her parents had been busy with some stuff, so next came Taiyang and Summer. Raven too but they hadn't really gotten to know her while at Beacon. They had tried with Taiyang, but that didn't work, so they tried Summer. She had picked up relatively quick. When she picked up, she sounded surprised by the call.
"Hey. Where are you," Summer had started the call.
"Well, me and June are in Vacuo using the CCT Tower to call you. June," Ino then looked at June, telling her that she could talk.
"Hey," June had followed up.
"Oh, both of you are still with each other? That's good, mostly because I need to tell you something that just came up," Summer said that in a way that showed she was a little confused about whatever she was going to tell them.
"Um, is everything OK," Ino had followed up sounding concerned.
"Yeah, everything's fine, just um... huh... well... Raven's pregnant, and it's Tai's," after Summer had said that, both June and Ino's reactions were quite different.
"WHAT," Ino had actually jumped when she said that, and June's eyes just got bigger that had an expression that said, "I was not expecting that."
"Yeah, it's been a little weird. Raven's been acting strange recently, too, but it isn't because of the pregnancy. I think, I'm not really sure. Anyway, you guys might want to come back if you want to see the baby," Summer had stated in way that suggested that they would come back.
"Maybe!? We're leaving today," before Ino could say anything else, June had immediately followed up.
"Wait, what," she said it confused and was asking, "we are?"
"Yes. TODAY," and Ino had then said goodbye to Summer while adding that they would be there as fast as they could. June would've normally questioned Ino about such a big decision for their traveling but, between Summer sounding like she needed them and the fact that their friends were having a kid, she decided that going along with it would've been better than resisting it.
When they got back to Amica's, they unfortunately had to tell the family they were leaving early.
"Is anything wrong," Amica had asked cautiously and concerned.
"I'll let the overjoyed one explain that," and June, after saying that, had let Ino tell him.
"Well. It seems one of our friends our pregnant, so I'm pretty happy about that," and Ino had said it promptly.
"Oh. Well, I'm happy for them. But, if you're in a hurry, I'd recommend to June that you should try to pry her from August," Amica added this last comment as a joke but was still half serious about it. June would have to say goodbye to August but went to March first.
"March," June had called out to her. She soon came out and asked what June was on about.
"Seems we're going to be leaving a little earlier than expected," June told her.
"Why're you leaving so soon? Guess it doesn't matter, I want to leave this place too," March wasn't joking about that last part.
"No, just the fact that a friend is having a kid, so probably have to go back for the time. If I don't come back to see you before graduation, make sure to come to Vale after you graduate," June, after saying that, had then held up her fist for a fist bump, their version of a goodbye.
"You bet your ass I'm leaving here as soon as I can," March had smirked saying this and followed up with a fist bump. After the two's quick goodbye, June went to grab Ino. Sure enough, she was getting bombarded with questions from August.
"...who are they," August had been talking pretty fast, and with excitement.
"It's two of our Hunter friends we met in Beacon," Ino had answered with much excitement as well. August was about to ask more before June had come in and cut off the conversation.
"Sorry, August. Someone insisted that we should leave fast to make it, and I'm going to hold her to it," June had shoved Ino and the gray haired girl had complied. August just said that made sense and let the girls leave. Amica gave them one last goodbye as they headed away. Ino was also soon reminded why she hated the trip across the desert.
Six months later, the pair had found themselves leaving the town they had just defended. At this point, they could just barely connect to the CCT Tower and managed to get a message from Summer that said Raven was almost eight months in. Seeing this, Ino had wanted to get there immediately. June had kept her pace equal to Ino's as the two rushed to see the new mother. After another half-a-day of traveling, the duo had gotten to Vale, with them going to the docks to get a ship for Patch the second they got there. The wait for a boat would take another day, however, so they were forced to sleep at a hotel for the night. It was boring, and partly annoying for June, as Ino was too excited and couldn't stop talking about it. After June had waited for Ino to exhaust herself and fall asleep, June had then followed her and went to sleep. After that night, Ino and June had gotten a boat and headed to Patch, and Ino could hardly wait to see her friends new kid...
