(Early Authors Note: Yes, yes, this chapter may not be the one you were expecting, but I just thought a quick little chapter that tell what our villains did during their wait for the next day should be something we know about. I also get that this chapter is funnily short, seeing as how the last two were both 10k words long. Nevertheless, I hope you guys like this chapter as I continue preparing the Arcturus battle chapters (and yes, it'll be a two-parter). Trust me when I say it'll take a fair bot of time (I am trying to make as good of a battle as possible, after all).
To DemonicOrder: Those Orcs (well, Zogger at least) will indeed try something to keep Raven from winning, you can be sure of that. Zogger does not know Raven is a Maiden (yet) because he's not really all that powerful like Ufthak or Wurrzag. Even an Orc can get lazy from advanced technologies. And you think Adam stole a chaos book? Well, read this chapter closely and maybe you might be wrong (but who am I to say?). And yeah, with the Greenskins finally having a (basic enough) grasp of Dust, they were sure to quickly utilize its more destructive qualities. And when the Battle of Beacon comes, I will be sure to write so well that it will be talked about for a long time. And finally, let's see about Grimgor's Semblance. I really do like it, but I wonder if there is something more... let's say, 'Orcy', out there to use. I'm not discarding your suggestion (far from it), I just mean I'd like to see what other people offer and then weigh my options. But what do you think would be good Semblances for the other LL's? And I thank you for the good luck, I wish it to you and your endeavors as well.
To Merendinoemiliano: If you mean Raven vs the Snotty Krumperz and Nurjug, or Yang vs Mercury (or both), then I'm truly glad! I really worked hard on the battles last chapter, and wanted them to be as good as possible before the epic siege of the Arcturus. For the Yang vs Mercury battle, I wanted it to be cool, but a fair bit of the spotlight was more for Raven, so yeah. As for Raven's two fights, I really wanted to utilize not just the Greenskin spells that aren't in the game, but also Raven's Dust-revolver-scabbard... thing (I'm honestly still not sure of a shorter thing to call it other than scabbard). I mean, she essentially has every single Dust in those chambers, yet never uses them in the show proper! So, I used them here. And yeah, Raven is for sure gonna be super humbled by Da Boyz. Especially by a... 'special guest Orc' later on...
Now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and are hyped for when the Arcturus (followed by the Beacon) chapters are ready!)
As everyone was waiting for the next day to dawn and bear witness to the (what, in everyone's minds would no doubt be) stunning final match and end to the Vytal Festival Tournament, Cinder called out to all her helpers to make sure they were all ready. Having the final match be for tomorrow not only gave her time to work around whatever the Greenskins had done to so-far use her own plans in their favor, but also organize her allies.
Of course, being a not-really-an-actual-student from Haven, she couldn't get to some secluded location like she did when meeting Thanquol. No, she would have to meet up with them all within the city, but away from prying eyes. After all, it's as they always say.
Out of sight, out of mind.
She sent her messages to Adam, Thanquol (after giving him his own Scroll during their meeting), Neo, Mercury and Emerald (who were all out and about the grounds of the school) and told them all to meet in the Residential District, right by the gate of some private-owned little garden. As Cinder and her three lackeys walked their way through the other districts on the way there, they were halfway through the Agricultural District (they had to take the longer way through the Commercial, then Industrial, and now Agricultural Districts because of some accident blocking the shorter roads) when they soon came across a crowd of people looking on in shock at what appeared to be a building in utter ruins. Its walls were barely there, the roof had collapsed, and the whole thing in general looked like a small atomic bomb went off. As the three made their way through the crowd, Mercury managed to get a better look at it before saying "Hey… isn't this the warehouse that held all our Dust…?"
It was then that Cinder, eyes wide and shock written all over her face, turned and looked at the warehouse again. There was no mistaking it, the warehouse they stored all their stolen Dust in was demolished! But by what? Clearly whatever, or whoever, did this brought out most of (if not all) of the Dust. If they hadn't, and only wished to destroy both the warehouse and Dust, the ensuing explosion would be much, much more devastating. The whole District might have been destroyed! Emerald, unsure of what to say, looked on for a moment before asking "Cinder? What do we do now? Without all that Dust, how are we going to supply…" she then lowered her voice and said "...our 'allies'?"
Cinder just shook her head and walked on past the crowd. Mercury and Emerald followed her, waiting for an answer, then stopped suddenly as she turned and replied "We do nothing. Only stay the course. If this Warpstone that Thanquol has can be able to be implemented in our Remnant weapons, then we no longer need the Dust. Everything will continue to go as smooth as silk."
While Emerald, Neo and Mercury looked at each other in concern before nodding, Cinder was already ahead of them and continuing on at a brisker pace than before. They finally managed to make it into the Residential District, but even as they neared their destination, all of Cinder's doubts in her mind started to surface once more. Who raided the warehouse? Why would anyone want that much Dust? Was it the Greenskins, some other group from their world? They still had the Fall Maiden (to Cinder's constant humiliating reminder), was she alive, or dead? What plans do they have for her if she is alive, if alive at all? Unfortunately, though Cinder managed to reign in her worries, she and her three teammates were stopped yet again, but this time by something worse. Oh, it was so much worse.
"Oh, hey Cinder! What are you and your team doing out and about? Taking a tour of Vale?" Coco said as her and the rest of team CFVY (followed by teams JNPR, RWBY, CRDL, and SSSN) came walking up to meet them. As Emerald and Neo put on fake smiles, and Mercury just whipped out his scroll and proceeded to pay no attention, Cinder could only slightly wince at this ill-stringed bad luck she's gotten so far in one day. First all the Dust they've gathered is gone, and now they have to deal with the kids. Ugh… why must her job be so troublesome?
Cinder put on a fake smile and said "Oh, yeah. My team and I are just taking in the scenery that your city has to offer. How about you?"
Before Coco could answer, Nora jumped in and said "We've been playing some arcade games! And I've been winning!" Cinder looked past her to see an exhausted team CRDL, JNPR, and SSSN. Cardin mouthed the words "Don't ask. Don't humor her. Don't say anything." and proceeded to plop down on a nearby bench. Ruby, however, enthusiastically nodded her head and said "Yeah! Nora's been lucky these few games! But next time, I'll be the one takinging the trophy! And bragging rights!" Emerald was already tired of having to spend any more time than is necessary with these people, so she quickly pushed her way through Mercury and Neo and said "That all sounds… really great. But we actually have something we have to go and do. Really important, and all that, you understand. Maybe we could get together and hear more of your adventures next time?" Ruby just simply nodded, while Nora yelled "Byeee!" and the crew of teams walked away. "I thought they'd never leave. Or shut up." Mercury said as he walked along with the rest, arms above his head in boredom.
Neo agreed (by simply nodding her head) while Emerald said "And clearly you can't shut up for even an hour. But, yeah, they are even more annoying than you. If that's even possible…"
Cinder, ignoring their back-and-forth quips and barbs, continued on until stopping in front of a little arch leading into what looked like a mini forest and saying "Finally. Here we are. Now, follow me and stay quiet."
They looked both to their right, then left, then behind them, then above them, before quickly and quietly entering the little garden. As they passed under the boughs and branches, they soon came to a little clearing where Adam Taurus was already waiting. "Took you long enough. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get in here? Those accursed Empire men are everywhere." Adam said unhappily. Then, from out of the nearby manhole, Thanquol came out followed by two other Skaven who Cinder didn't recognize. One had three green-tinted blades and white fur, while the other had a skull helmet and what looked like a halberd and… an odd type of pitchfork?
"S-so-so… we are all here-ready?" Thanquol asked.
Cinder ignored his question and asked "Who are those two with you? I thought I specifically asked for only you to come." before suddenly having all three blades held by the white rat inches away from her throat.
"Speak-chitter more warily next time, no-fur. You-you may not be so lucky to live-breathe next time."
The rat then moved away the blades (while the other chuckled at the ordeal) and allowed Thanquol to introduce them, saying "That one is Deathmaster Snikch. Greatest-mighty assassin of the Under-Empire. The-the other is Tretch Craventail. Sniveling-coward, but lucky and useful-helpful. They-they came of their own choosing."
Adam scoffed and looked at Cinder as he said "Really? Now you're enlisting the help of… of these creatures? What can they do, really? I've managed to enlist the help of those gullible Lizardmen, they'll be ready to move when I say. What could we need these rats for? I heard of how quickly they died during their failed attack on Vale."
As the three Skaven looked at Adam with loathing, Cinder shook her head and said "Oh, Adam. Don't you see? The Greenskins and Empire men, while enemies to each other, are also our enemies. And we can't face them both without evening the playing field with some friends of our own. With the Lizardmen, Skaven, White Fang, and my plan, we'll have all of Vale to us. Just leave everything to me."
"So you planned for the tournament to go the way it's going? Did you plan for the Greenskins to beat you to the CCT tower? Did you-"
"Hey, quiet! Those were just setbacks! Cinder clearly has everything still in the palm of her hand." Emerald said, tired of hearing Adams' words.
Tretch, so far silent in all of this, then says, "Who-who is that one, there? Is it another friend-ally?"
Everyone then looks upwards. Only to see…
"Penny?"
The robot girl stays silent, but jumps down from the trees, tackling Tretch as he screams for someone to get her off of him. As Snikch jumps back, waiting to see what the girls next move would be, and Thanquol scurries away so as to not get killed, Adam Mercury and the others (minus Cinder) all charge the robot, only for her to jump off of Tretch, bust open the manhole, and jump down into the sewer.
"Now what?! She's seen us!" Adam said, breathing from how surprisingly strong the girl was.
"After her! We can't let her reach the others!" Cinder yelled as she jumped down, soon followed by everyone else.
The Vale sewers were rather large, but also had many twists and turns all throughout, so finding and capturing Penny was going to be much harder than they initially thought. After a few bends, turns (and wrong ways and dead-ends), and backtracking, the crew of villains finally spotted Penny.
Her back was to them as she faced the exit leading out beneath the abandoned docks of the southernmost part of the Agricultural District. She did not move, even as everyone surrounded her. "Hey… is she broken or something?" Mercury whispered as he made ready to jump up and kick her square in the head. Neo shrugged, pulling out Hush and readying for a thrust. But then, even as Thanquol said "Now-now!" and everyone lunged at her from all sides, Penny sped forward and looked back as, surprised by her sudden speed, the crew of villains all crashed into each other. Angry, embarrassed, dirty from trudging through the sewers (and actually a little hungry), they all angrily got up and chased the girl. She led them out of the sewers, onto the dockyard, and sped off down south into the forest.
The villains had chased her all the way to the edge of the woods before stopping. "So… do we keep going after her, or…?" Mercury said to break the silence.
Emerald rolled her eyes and said "Of course! If we don't catch her in there, our whole operation will be found out! Then we'll all be done for!"
Adam however, just huffed and said "I came to hear what your plans were for our next move. I didn't risk everything just to go on a wild goose-chase for a girl. Besides, she could already be circling back through another part of the forest. Probably too late to stop her."
"No-no." Thanquol said as he held out a hand (glowing with green energies and magics) and squinted towards the forest.
"The-the no-fur is waiting. Hmm, yes-yes. Waiting for us to come-follow."
"Then that means we have a chance." Cinder said.
"Let's go!"
So they all ran into the forest, following Thanquol as he used one of his spells to track the girl down. Finally they came upon Penny again, but as they managed to get a better look at her, they noticed that she looked… wrong.
She looked shoddy, twitched a lot, and seemed to be more painted than covered with some type of layer meant to pass for skin. Even her hair was just clumps of metal spray-painted orange. But then, they heard her speak.
"Well, well, well! You finally caught up to this little prototype of mine! I'm glad, truly. Master Ironhide wanted me to test this machine and see if it was worth the time. So, come forth and let's have a bout!"
It didn't even sound like a girl's voice, and the mouth didn't move when the thing spoke, only glowed with a light. Before any of them could ask questions of their own, the Penny look-alike pulled out eight giant, clumsy swords from its back and (like the real Penny) swung them about with deadly precision and attacked the crew without any hesitation. The first time she attacked was with a simple swing, and yet it was with such force that (though the villains managed to dodge, if barely) it cut down a dozen trees that were behind them. Whoever is controlling this thing, clearly made it strong enough to rival whatever could be thrown at it.
As Snikch threw smoke-bombs to provide cover, Adam used the opportunity to charge head-on and cut the robot in two. But even as he charged, he thought he saw the shine of red eyes and the sudden blast of green light. Sure enough, a green laser blast was headed right towards him and stuck him square in the chest.
He survived thanks to his Aura, but the sheer force and power behind the blast knocked him back and slammed him into a tree.
Looking back and seeing how quickly Adam was taken care of, Mercury and Emerald charged together at once into the smoke, but could not seem to find the robot, even when they made it to where (they supposed) she was when Snikch first threw the bombs at her.
"Dammit. Where is the metal creep?" Mercury said.
"Right above you."
The two looked up to see the hovering form of the robot, who then sent four Chopas after each of the two. Fighting off four weapons at once while trying to not get hit by laser-beams soon tired out Mercury and Emerald, but they managed to stumble their way back out of the smoke-screen.
Tretch had really been doing his best to put as much distance between him and the battle as possible (but still assisted by throwing rocks and other things he found, so as to not get blamed for cowardice or anything else of that sort).
He didn't want to risk his life killing some robot!
Of course, fate just had to cause the red eyes of the machine to alight on him through the fog. And a sudden claw clamping down on his foot and dragging him into the smoke, followed by his incredibly loud screaming, made Tretch know that the world (be it his own or Remnant) is just really unfair to Skaven. Tretch managed to pull himself up and as he faced the robot, he remembered he had his lucky skull helm. So, with a sense of security in his heart and a yell on his lips, he charged the robot and swung his weapons around as wildly as he could.
Unsurprisingly, he made barely a dent in the thing, but was still able to barrel his way out (and slam into a tree). So, though he basically knocked himself out, he lived to (never, for fear of mocking laughter and an assassination) tell the tale.
Cinder then used her Semblance (Scorching Caress) to blast away both the still-lingering smoke and the robot within. While successful in getting rid of the smoke, the Penny look-alike still remained. It was then that Thanquol then called down Warp Lighting and struck the robot with a direct hit of dire green-black lightning. Then Snikch runs in and manages to stick two of his blades in each of the robot's legs, rendering it immobile.
But then, that same strange voice said "Very good! Very good, indeed! I must say, the results are quite what I had hoped. This machine is strong and powerful, now let's see if its attacks from a single place are as they should be, yes?"
Then the robot pulled back the Chopas and positioned them around it in a circle, then they slowly spun.
But then they spun faster.
And faster.
And faster still!
At such a speed as they were going, none of our villains (turned heroes for the moment) could get close to the robot as it just stood there, blasting at any attacks by Snikch and Mercury from above. Adam, however, had a plan. He shot multiple times with Blush at the spinning death-trap, and each time he absorbed the damage from the reflected bullets with Wilt. With that, he then charged forward as Thanquol used Crack's Call and Cinder again used Scorching Caress (slightly knocking the robot off balance and disrupting the spin of the Chopas) just long enough for Adam to jump in and block the rapid spin with Wilt, absorbing more and more damage, before jumping back and readying Moonslice.
Just as Adam slashed at the Penny look-alike from the front, Thanquol used what Winds of Magic he still grasped and unleashed his Flensing Ruin spell from behind, sending green ribbons of Warp-Energy.
The two devastating attacks collided with the robot, with Moonslice cutting it clean in half while ribbons of Warp-Energy basically shredded the two halves to pieces. As all the robotic pieces laid there on the ground, occasionally letting out sparks, everyone gathered together and circled the robot, wondering who it was that sent it. Tretch (after regaining consciousness) then asks "So-so, what do we plan-scheme now?" but does not get an answer as the voice suddenly says "Well, now! You actually managed to land a hit on it! Amazing, truly! However…" The voice then paused as howls and strange screamings were heard all around them. From the trees then emerged horrifically mutated Grimm and Greenskins, the likes of which none of them had ever seen. Even Adam was taken aback at all the things he was witnessing. A tiny Snotling, mutated and now the size of a Hobgoblin, snarls and lunges towards Emerald, only to be kicked back. But, it was still alive and simply snarled before circling them like all the others. As they look around them, they hear metallic noise behind them and turn around only to stare in shock.
The robot was putting itself back together.
As all this was happening, the voice said "...the tests do not stop here, of course. I simply must see how you fare against my other creations! This will be my greatest achievement! The whole world of Remnant will soon hear of my name! Not Pietro's, not Watt's, not anyones but my own! Now, tell me how I can improve!"
The mutated creatures attack just as the robot finishes rebuilding itself, and blasts away the villains.
"Gah! These freaks just keep coming!" Mercury yells as he kicks back two mutated Orcs and a Creep, then shoots down a mutated Ursa. Emerald could only yell "Shut up and keep shooting! There can't be too many more! Not this close to the city!" Adam just absorbed attack after attack with Wilt while primarily using Blush as his form of attack. He then runs out of ammo, but only smirks as he places Blush back at his side, and ignites his hand in a turquoise color. He then pushes it outward, and while at first nothing happens, a rumbling out of the ground is heard. The next thing a pack of mutated Beowolves knew, they were blasted apart by the giant fist of some sort of monstrous creature pulling itself out of the ground. It had a great, cyclopean eye in the center of its face, while having the legs of a type of cow. The giant creature brayed incessantly and crushed everything around it. Adam then turns and shoots out an odd, magic spear projectile that then causes the stricken horde of mutant Ogres to start killing each other like beasts.
Snikch sped through the mutants and braying cow-giant, cutting the mutants down as quick as a flame would a field of dry grass. Tretch and Thanquol both scurry about and do what they can to help (but, being Skaven, don't want much to do with such close-proximity fighting). Cinder, meanwhile, deals with the robot, now fully put-together and functioning (and yet still looking like a slap-dash wreck). The two exchange many blows, but Cinder gets the upper hand when she uses her Semblance to cause the robot to fly into the air, only for her to quickly slid under it and shoot it right in the foot-turbine (that being the little rocket inside the foot), causing the whole thing to stop and short-circuit.
Having dealt with the mutants, the others (followed by the cow-giant) run up and watch the robot as it plummets to the ground, only to put more power into the second foot and be able to still hover in the air. It calls together its Chopas again and forms them in a circle, from which erupts a devastating beam of pure power. As it shot towards the group below, a speaker on the Chopas screamed "WAAAAGGGGHHHH!" as the blast shot forth. Unsure of how to avoid such a large attack, everyone was scrambling to get to cover, but Adam then stepped forward and held out his sword and was absorbing the power of the attack. Still the robot put more force into the blast, and it grew more stronger and the "Waaagh!" grew louder and louder. Adam noticed Wilt glowing too bright as it absorbed more and more power, and realized he couldn't contain it all.
"I… can't… hold it back!" Adam yelled as he and the others were all blasted away. Having broken the force of Wilt, all the previous energy stored inside burst out in a violent shockwave that spread across many, many miles of the kingdom. Trees were cut down like nothing, technology short-circuited and fizzled out, even the giant did not survive. It disintegrated at the mere moment the shockwave came into contact with it, letting out one final bray before its head turned to dust like the rest. But through it all, that same, stupid robot was still there. Thanquol then readied his most powerful spell (exhausted though he was), but suddenly, everything turned a black-green as a single bell sounded.
Thirteen times that bell tolled. And each time the robot, the trees, everything just seemed to break and bend and warp all in on itself. When the thirteenth and loudest toll sounded, the robot burst asunder. There would not be a chance of rebuilding itself this time.
"What… what was that?" Emerald shakily said as she helped Cinder up. Everyone looked to Thanquol, who had not clutched his ears and fell down like the others, but stood taller and grander. Thanquol himself did not know and could only shrug. "I know what that is." Cinder said with a smile.
"Our dear Grey Seer Thanquol has just unlocked his Semblance."
Even as they all crowded around Thanquol and congratulated him while also grinning at the fact they have an incredibly powerful Semblance on their side, a sputtering, glitching noise was heard. They turned and saw that one of the few pieces of the Penny look-alike that wasn't crumbled into scrap, was what looked to be the voice box.
And sure enough, the voice spoke again, still as chipper and happy as before.
"Perfect. Just perfect. I do believe I've gotten all I need to gain from this. Have a good rest of your day, my friends. I'm most positive we'll meet again soon. Oh, and Cinder… I'm the one who stole all the Dust. My employers really needed it, and honestly… it was only gathering 'dust' in your warehouse. Hahaha!"
The speaker then seemed to go quiet. Upon further inspection, Emerald found a little slit in the box next to a tiny button, she then pressed it and out came a tiny disc. "It was a recording. He knew we'd chase after him. He had the whole thing planned from even before we found the robot." Emerald said, stunned. Tretch, upset at being made a fool of, crushed the voice box and started pacing around, grumbling. The others, instead, decided to do something useful and plan what they should do next. "Adam, do you have all of your forces at a nearby location? I'd like to take a look at them all. Besides, I see they've taught you a thing or two. If these Lizardmen are as powerful as you say with their magic, then I'd like to say a few words to them myself."
Adam nodded, called someone on his Scroll, and soon a White Fang transport truck came down and drove them all to the headquarters of the Vale Branch of the White Fang. Before they opened the gates, Thanquol said "We will stay-remain here. Cold-bloods hate Skaven. Always trying to murder-kill us, and we do-do the same to them."
The rest nodded, leaving Thanquol, Snikch, and Tretch outside while the others ventured on, down the halls and up the stairs before reaching what appeared to be a balcony overlooking an auditorium.
And there, down below, stood numerous Faunus and Lizardmen, all of which cheered at Adam's return.
"My brothers!" Adam yelled after holding up a hand to silence the crowd.
"For too long we have suffered at the hands of humans! For too long, each and every one of us here has been given an injustice by humanity, and for too long we've been able to do nothing about it! But now with the White Fang formed, and our Lizardmen allies by our side, Remnant will pay! First Vale, then Haven, then all the rest of this world will feel our revenge! The Winds of Magic courses through me, and with it comes such a power that not even the humans of the Empire can withstand! Soon, the land will be stained with the blood of our transgressors, our enslavers, our murderers! On the next day, we invade the city of Vale and bring Beacon's ruin! To freedom, and revolution!"
While the White Fang members all cheer loudly at the speech, many of the Lizardmen start to feel concern for Adam. He may speak about freedom and justice for his people, but he also speaks volumes about killing them as being the only way.
Adam, smiling at the reception of his words, turns to the White Fang Lieutenant and says "Lieutenant. Ready to finally kill a Schnee?"
The Lieutenant laughs from behind his mask and revs up his chainsaw blade before saying "Absolutely." Cinder meanwhile, continues to survey the crowd. She then looks to Adam, who nods and turns back to teh crowd saying "And here with me is the one who helped organize all of this. Though she may be a human, she still has her plans able to work into aiding our cause! Here is Cinder Fall!"
He then steps back as Cinde stands up front and looks over them again while saying "I know you don't particularly care for me. I'm a human, after all. But believe me when I say I am here now to help you and bring your cause to fruition. Like I said to our mighty Adam Taurus, I believe my plans will be beneficial to all parties involved. As for you Lizardmen…" here she turned to them.
"I completely understand if you have doubts. But understand that our cause is the one you should be fighting for. The Faunus have been just as mistreated as you no doubt have. The humans of Vale are a vile mix between those from your Empire, who steal your artifacts and kill your own, and the people of Remnant, growing ever more tainted by their evils. I ask that you stand with me and be ready to march soon. Our vengeance will soon be ours. All I need is your support. Well, how does it sound?"
Now, the Lizardmen aren't stupid. Each and every one of them there at that gathering all have a fairly good idea that this woman has evil, ulterior motives. But even so, they are right in the middle of territory not their own, so the best they could do for now was just go along with things and clap and cheer like the Faunus.
Cinder smiles and turns to Adam while saying "Get your Faunus and Lizarmdne ready, you'll know when to attack when the signal can be seen tomorrow."
"Don't worry. We'll be ready." Adam replied as he walked off, followed closely by his Lieutenant.
Cinder nodded, then left with Mercury, Emerald, and Neo following close behind. "Alright, so we have some lizards and Faunus ready and waiting to fight for us. What next? I mean, the day is almost up, and people might start to wonder where we are." Mercury said, accompanied by a nod from Neo and Emerald saying "Yes, ma'am. While Mercury may be an idiot, and therefore wrong, most of the time, he's actually right this time. We don't really have much daylight left. Are we heading back already?"
Neither of the two got a reply until they got back outside and Thanquol asked "So-so, they will fight-kill for us?" Cinder nodded and said "Yes. Now, with them firmly on our side, let's see about your own forces. You've moved them away from Menagerie, correct?"
"Yes-yes. Those Cold-Bloods were taking more-more land. They nearly found-discovered our lair. But-but, thanks to my smart-genius, I-i have moved all forces to the dragon land as-as you said."
While the others looked at each other, confused, Cinder said "Good. Open the way for us." and watched as Thanquol pulled out a green orb which he then threw to the ground. Suddenly, it seemed to open up a portal of swirling black-green energies. Then the three Skaven jumped down, followed by Cinder, and then (after some slight hesitation) the other three.
Somewhere in the southern part of the dragon continent...
When they emerged, they looked around them and saw they were indeed on the dragon continent (the southern part, to be precise) but noticed how everything was… ruined. The grass and trees were all dead, the sand and earth was replaced with a wasteland-esc landscape. And everywhere they looked, they saw either massive holes into the earth, or ruined structure on the surface, each place filled with Skaven. But even worse were the monsters roaming about. Rat Ogres, Wolf Rats, Hell Pit Abominations, Chimaerats, Throtlings, Mutant Rat Ogres, Brood Horrors, Giant Rats, Armored and augmented Rat Ogres, Burrowing Behemoths, Stormfiends, but the most horrific creatures they saw were the Flayerkin. Those lumbering things didn't even look human anymore. Emerald nearly lost her lunch when she first saw them. But even then, they were still shocked at all the rest that they saw as they followed Thanquol to wherever it was that they were going.
Warlords were carried about on their War Litters, Plague Priests rode around on Great Pox Rats, but one particular Skaven drove by on something none of them had seen before.
"Thanquol! Where-where have you been? Black monsters fight-fight all the time! Use your magic-spells now-now!"
Thanquol just turns to the Skaven and says "Quiet-silence, Klawmunkast! Use-use your Rat Tank if Black monsters up north are too strong-mighty. I have important-serious business right now-now!"
The Skaven (now known as Klawmunkast) just huffs and closes back the lid to his Rat Tank and drives up north. Cinder strained her ears and sure enough, she could hear some sounds of battle. She just hoped her Mistress wouldn't go too far and destroy them.
As they finally reached their destination, everyone looked upon a giant gate built into the side of a small mountain. Thanquol banged on in a few times before they were opened by some Rat Ogres (goaded on by their Pack Masters). The group went inside and passed many dark and (rather bad smelling) cavernous rooms and areas before emerging into a massive cavern dominated in the middle by large pillar of rock, upon which was built three massive triangular portal frames, each one facing a different doorway (all of which were connected by giant bridges).
If one was able to look at the contraption from above, they would notice the three portal frames were placed in a triangular fashion, too.
"This is where my-my army will emerge." Thanquol said "The Council of Thirteen were pleased-happy with my-my progress. Now-now, with this great-powerful machine, The Great Ascendancy will-will be a reality!"
At this, the portals activated and out came legions upon legions of more Skaven, all saying (over and over again) "GREAT ASCENDANCY! GREAT ASCENDANCY!"
Stormvermin, Clanrats, Skavenslaves, all came through the portals and from the many openings in the cavern. They all came together chanting as one and getting into more and more of a frenzy. Thanquol eyed Cinder and saw the slight fear on her face, then he smirked and said "Still want-want to say-squeak some words? Or have you seen-watched enough?" Cinder only scoffed and put on a brave face as she said "Your forces seem to be invigorated and ready enough for what's coming. Just be ready."
She then turned to her team and said "Lets go. We've done what we needed to do for the day."
As they left, Tretch called out and said "The Great Horned Rat will come! When the Relics are-are together, and Skreech Verminking comes, The Great Ascendancy will be-be upon all of Remnant! Upon all world-realms! HAHAHAHAHA!"
They still heard him laugh even as they reached the gates again. Luckily, Thanquol had given them a portal-bomb that took them right back to their dorm room. It was dark when they looked out the window. No matter, no one would be any wiser to the… 'adventures'... our villains had today. Now, knowing everything was in place, and that entire legions were at her beck-and-call, Cinder smiled as she made ready for sleep.
Tomorrow would be the beginning of the end.
(Ending Authors Note: Yep. Thanquol, the TWW character (who is one of my favorites) that can very well be made a meme (if you think about it) has unlocked his Semblance, which I have decided to call The Thirteen Tolls. Not only that, but one of the books Adam had stolen turns out to be the book of the Lore of the Wild. Fun times for everyone, yeah? And with the White Fang, Lizardmen, and Skaven all coming together, Cinder's plans might be going more her way than other powers would like. I really wanted to put as much in as possible for the Skaven in terms of units and other things. After all TWW didn't seem to include nearly as much stuff (as they do for any faction, honestly) for the Skaven, so I thought "might as well do it here". I also just had to bring in Klawmunkast. After I first heard of him (thanks to The Great Book of Grudges, check out his channel if you wish to know more about either TWW lore, the games themselves, or anything else about it) I really liked him and wanted him in. And of course we can't ignore the Penny look-alike our old pal Doctor Merlot created. I hope you all really liked that little battle there and enjoyed it.
Of course, the question remains: if that is only a prototype, what will the finished product look like...?
Again, thank you all so much for staying with me through the writing of this story, and I hope you guys like, follow, favorite, leave reveiws and share with others. See you all next chapter, where the siege of the Arcturus will finally begin...)