Chapter 9

Loss

"Very pretty," Lupin admitted as the elevator arrived in the vault, causing the metal barred cage in front of them to slide down, allowing the three occupants to step onto the large stone platform surrounded by a dark chasm on all sides.

The path on the platform leading up to the Relic chamber's doorway has three cyan circles on the ground with an ornate symbol in each of them that illuminated when Raven stepped onto the stone floor, the door to the Relic chamber was a stone wall with a massive tree coated in glowing yellow flowers behind it, and the chamber was covered by an elaborate orange doorway situated in the rock wall. The doorway was constructed out of golden fans layered on top of each other, decorated with a floral pattern.

Watts smirked and said, "very good, open the vault."

Raven unleashed a blast of ice from her hands in the blink of an eye, freezing Watts solid; Lupin dodged it with a look of annoyance on his face. The ex-atlasian scientist was frozen on the elevator pad with his hand in his coat, just seconds from drawing his pistol.

"I'm in a good mood, so I'll give you one more chance to save your own life, open the vault and leave; your tribe will be left in peace."

Raven shook her head and drew her sword, saying, "I don't take orders from you, and the relic will assure Salem will leave us alone!"

Lupin shook his head and said, "so be it."

The mega Lucario summoned his sword to his side as Raven drew omen from its sheath; the two rushed towards each other and locked blades, flying through the air and slamming into the stone next to the vault, shattering a large portion of it before breaking apart and landing 10 feet apart.

Raven switched to a fire dust blade and went in for another slash; Lupin was caught off guard and received several red hot slashes. Lupin staggered and glowed blue, his wounds healing instantly.

Raven smirked and said, "can't handle the heat? I just have to play to your weaknesses!"

Lupin sheathed his sword and said, "don't be so sure; you shouldn't be so confident when you are clearly outnumbered."

On cue 4, ghostly clones of Lupin, composed entirely of blue energy, formed around Raven, grabbing her arms and legs.

Lupin rushed forward and began slashing Raven over and over, her aura flashing from the repeated hits.

Raven's eyes glowed with a pink fire as she unleashed the full power of a seasonal maiden, the massive explosion blowing Lupin back and vaporizing his clones.

The pink explosion of energy shook the cavern around them, causing the massive stalagmites above them to begin falling. However, the battle above hadn't felt the blast. What happened next took place over the course of less than a second, as both fighters were moving so fast that everything around them appeared in slow motion.

Raven jumped up onto a falling stalagmite, only for Lupin to jump up after her. The spring maiden deflected multiped blasts of blue energy with her sword as lupin rushed after her; Lupin then force palmed her in the gut, causing her aura to flash again as Raven was thrown through one of the three falling stalagmites, company shattering the middle one. Raven and Lupin then locked eyed as they charred up energy around them, then with orbs of blue and pink energy surrounding them, they jumped toward each other, the two clashed, causing an explosion twice as large as the first one, vaporizing the falling rocks around them and shaking the entire mountain.

Raven was sucking air on her knees as her aura shattered, vanishing into pink particles around her.

Lupin summoned a bone rush and stabbed raven in the gut, causing her to scream in pain as she was impaled to the ground.

"That was an amusing fight," Lupin scoffed before taking a deep breath; Raven had just barely managed to make him sweat.

The mega Lucario turned towards Watts, still frozen, and said, "you talk of strength, but the only reason you lasted as long as you did was because of the power you gained from killing a scared little girl. You are nothing but a cowardly fool."

Lupin then put his hand on the ice prison and funneled energy into it, causing it to shatter.

Watts was shivering as his aura dissipated, saying, "Thank you, Lupin."

"No thanks are necessary, Doctor, now, let's retrieve the lamp," Lupin stated casually.

Watts noticed Raven's condition and said, "we need her to open the vault; get her up."

Lupin noticed the Doctor's nervousness and said, "relax; I stabbed her there; specifically, she has 10 or so minutes bleed out."

Watts looked even more confused as he said, "so get her up and open the vault."

"I will, but first, I have a theory to test, one I've been considering since my battle with Miss Nikos at Vale's docks."

The doctor gave a curious look as he said, "and that would be?"

Lupin waved his hands over Raven, whose breath was getting slower and labored, causing a pink aura to appear over his paw as he walked towards the door to the relic."

"If the maiden powers are bonded to someone's soul, in other words, their aura, could I copy the aura signature and open the door myself?" Lupin questioned as he laid his paw on the vault door.

The golden fans that made up the door glowed and began to fold up, revealing a vast desert hidden behind the door, seemingly going on for miles."

Lupin smirked and poked at the opening, causing the area to ripple as he said, "fascinating."

As he and Watts walked into the desert and retrieved the lamp, he explained "a pocket dimension, just out of phase with this reality. Connected enough for this door but too out of phase to travel to with my portals, very impressive."

As the duo exited the pocket dimension, Watts noticed a yellow liquid in his jacket; he reached in and revealed a leaking DNA vial.

"That's regrettable," Watts scoffed; the cold temperature from Raven's ice had cracked it.

Lupin sighed and said, "I can get a replacement; best not to take that through our portal unless you want to get mutated."

Watts nodded and tossed his jacket and the vial down next to Raven, careful not to get it on his hands. Lupin then handed him the relic of knowledge and spawned a dimensional hole, leaving without another word to Raven.

Just then, Yang landed on the elevator pad and immediately spotted her mother.

Running up to her, Yang took her hand and said, "stay with me, mom."

Raven coughed up some blood and said, "I'm sorry, Yang….I shouldn't have ever left you."

Yang shook her head and said, "I understand why you did….I forgive you" as tears filled her lilac eyes.

The blond brawler hadn't truly forgiven her mother, but right now, she wanted to comfort her.

Raven smiled at her daughter and said, 'i love you, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you...and I'm sorry about forcing this on you…."

Raven went limp as a pink light flowed out of her hand into yang, along with a quick burst of red magic that Raven had received from Ozpin.

Yang knew what had just happened; she had become the new spring maiden….

Author's note- apologies for missing my Monday upload, wanted to make this fight live up to the hype!

1. Lupin needs an up-close scan so he can open the vaults, for now, he can only open Haven's since he didn't properly scan Pyrrah's energy"

2. One more chapter, then this story will go on hiatus, hope you enjoyed Alpha team's presence in altering the events of Volume 5

3. I didn't mention it previously but everyone losing up top is because, if the bad guys actually committed to their ambush in the show, they would've won no problem

4. wonder what that last flash of magic was, and if the DNA vial affected it...

5. As an apology for missing my weekly upload, both chapters are being posted today.

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