A/N: Yo it's been a couple months, sorry about that. I've had a bit of writers block and you know how that goes. But thankfully I had someone reach out to me and it's thanks to this person and their advice that helped me get through it. So a huge thank you to triscythe59 for helping me out and giving me some writers advice. I appreciate it a lot. I also like to give a shout-out to a user who goes by ABSOL_ute from wattpad who made my new cover for my story which is super rad! So thank you for your patience and also thanks to all the reviews! I do read all of them and I very much appreciate them. I love reading your guy's thoughts on my story. It's pretty exciting to see your reactions! So without further ado, please enjoy!
Also GeoDaRay you're wild man lmao.
Part 5: Opposition
Yang made it to a civilian transport after leaving the front lines with the Atlesian medics. She was genuinely shocked after seeing a huge pillar of fire blast across the sky but was happy to see it took out the grimm in the air. Thankfully they have given her some morphine to fight off the excruciating pain that came from her missing arm. She sighed deeply, physically and emotionally drained from today's historical events. Looking around she saw all the scared and broken families around her looking just as devastated as she felt. She balled her fist in anger cursing to those who caused all this to happen.
"Whoa look at those hunters' battle!" One civilian said aloud looking out of one of the many windows catching the passengers' attention. Yang herself looked out the window next to her and was shocked once again to see multiple copies of a teenage blonde swarming the city. Just what kind of semblance was that? Thanks to their elevation she got a good view of the city and saw multiple battles being displayed throughout the city which greatly surprised her.
Suddenly a huge burst of light, seemingly looking like an explosion, appeared further out from the city. Looking towards the source Yang's eyes widened having a hard time grasping what she was witnessing. Eventually the other passengers took notice and cries of panic and sadness filled the aircraft. Yang just stared out the window blocking out the other passengers, she clenched her lone fist until her knuckles were white while tears poured out her reddened eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, despite everyone's efforts she watched with a mix of negative emotions Beacon Tower falling. "No..." Looking down she took note that the battles have not paused in the slightest. Quickly pulling out her scroll she cursed seeing it no longer had signal. Reaching out she managed to grab ahold of one of the medical personnel, "Hey do your radios still work??" She asked hastily, wishing for a positive answer.
The medic having seen the tower fall pulled his radio out in hopes that it still worked. Clicking the button unfortunately all he got was static. Not wanting to believe it he went through all the channels, each one becoming more and more dreadful with the consistent sound of white noise. "I-I'm sorry, it seems we've completely lost signal. Excuse me, I need to go to the pilot bay right away." He apologized and ran towards the front of the aircraft as fast as he could.
"Dammit!" Yang yelled punching the wall, "Please get out of there safe." She proclaimed to herself knowing all she could do at this moment was to trust in her friends abilities. "Ichigo...please find my sister out there.." She whispered knowing he was strong enough to protect Ruby from anything out there.
Meanwhile...
Luffy charged ahead of the huntsmen colliding with the Alpha of the pack pushing the wolf away from the others to get a one on one fight with the beast. "You seem different from the other monsters I fought, even that big ape. Let's see just how strong you are." Luffy announced getting into a fighting stance cracking his knuckles. The Alpha just glared at the straw hat teen growling menacingly.
The others seeing Luffy had targeted the leader of the pack quickly took this chance to bombard the horde in front of them. Nora jumped high into the air and proceeded to spin into a blur with her hammer landing in the middle of the pack smashing the ground creating a decent sized crater causing many of the grimm to suddenly become airborne. Glynda seeing this used her semblance to telekinetically cause the airborne grimm to bash into each other collectively holding them in a group. Ironwood pulled out his trusty pistol and shot multiple dust enhanced high caliber shots into the airborne group effectively dispatching them. Nora then transformed her hammer into a grenade launcher and started to blow up the pack in front of her.
Blake and Ren meanwhile ran to opposite sides of the pack and proceeded to take on the grimm that hadn't been effected by Nora's hammer strike. Throwing her bladed pistol forward the weapon lodged itself into a neck of a beast, using the ribbon attached to her weapon she yanked it out instantly killing it. She then began to spin the deadly blade around her, using her weapon like a mock kyoketsu-shoge awaiting the pouncing grimm. One launched forward only to be met with a blade piercing its skull, skillfully Blake tugged on her ribbon while somehow pulling the trigger of her pistol causing it to dislodge from its victim and with another tug she spun it to the side slicing through another two grimm pouncing towards her. Blake then back flipped from a claw meant for her, doing a series of jumps getting some distance from her foes.
Ren on his part used his own bladed pistols to pepper fire the grimm ahead of him accurately taking some out. Sliding underneath a claw meant to cleave his head he spun digging both of his weapons into the beast's back and with a show of strength he lifted the grimm and threw it at its brethren while tearing his blades out of its back. He then charged forward taking advantage of the downed and dazed creatures, jumping high above them and unleashed both clips of ammo into the multiple beasts killing them. Landing he was forced to jump once again, diving between two sharp claws. Rolling into a crouch stance Ren reloaded his weapons with some dust rounds and proceeded to pepper fire once more.
The Alpha growled angrily seeing his pack get torn apart by the huntsmen, turning to the human who dared to push him away it roared at him so loud it caused the area to tremble giving a slight pause to the fights around them. Luffy stood defiantly waiting for it to make a move and to his shock it had suddenly appeared next to him barely seeing it move, swiping him away into a building. The others looked on in shock having not seen a grimm move that fast fully armored. The Alpha turned towards them and singled out Nora who was in the middle of its pack. Faster than they were ready it pounced forward claws ready to cut apart the girl only for it to get knocked away by a speedy fist courtesy of Luffy who looked extremely angry and steaming pink.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on her!" Luffy shouted out furiously appearing in front of Nora defensively.
Nora took a step back taking a moment to comprehend the speedy exchange. As fast as she was the speeds she just witnessed were more on Ruby's level.
"You okay?" Luffy asked concerned though his eyes were still on the Alpha waiting for its next attack.
"Y-yeah I am" She replied blushing a bit from his tone catching her a bit off guard. Shaking her head she held her weapon up showing she was still ready fight. "Yeah I'm all good, thanks Luffy."
"Good, now I'm gonna go kick this thing's ass." He stated before disappearing and reappearing next to the alpha, "Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol!" He shouted though to his surprise the beast blocked its punch now that it was ready for it. Luffy retracted his punch before throwing out a kick, "Gomu Gomu no Jet Stamp!" He declared and to his surprise once more the beast caught his foot and proceeded to throw him down onto the pavement. Jumping forward the Alpha went to claw him through his torso only to carve up the street. Turning to its right it ducked under another punch before speedily getting in front of the teen using its razor sharp teeth to chomp on his left shoulder.
"Agh!!" Luffy screamed as he was bit, blood seeping down his side. The huntsmen looked on in shock, some more than others seeing that this kid did not have aura to protect him. Ironwood specifically narrowed his eyes not understanding why this kid had no aura but was clearly using a semblance.
"LUFFY!" Nora yelled out worriedly, shocked that he had been seriously injured.
Luffy on his part was genuinely surprised on how it was keeping up with him in Second Gear. Wishing to get this beast off him he threw another attack, "Gomu Gomu no Jet Rifle!" Due to it still biting him the attack hit dead on the beast's chest sending it flying back destroying a building. Luffy gripped his shoulder grimacing from the pain, though he shook it off since he knew his battle wasn't over. It was not the first time he's been injured like that so he would press on until he had won.
The Alpha busted out the debris growling like the beast it was with Luffy's blood now dripping out of its maw making the grimm look even more menacing. It stared at the teen before disappearing with a burst of speed, Luffy doing so as well colliding in multiple areas.
Glynda seeing the battles have paused due to the boy's and Alpha's own battle took advantage of this and used her semblance on the remaining pack of grimm and gruesomely crushed them into ground breaking their bodies and impaling others with surrounding debris. "As impressive as that boy's battle is young students, do not let yourself get distracted from the threat in front of you." She announced professionally, "It would be tragic to see young ones such as yourselves to fall in battle due to an admittedly impressive display of prowess." Glynda finished seeing her point had been made when the students put their heads down in understanding after seeing the grimm in front of them fade away.
"It is indeed impressive Glynda, though I'm concerned on how that Alpha is so powerful and fast? I've taken out Alpha's before and I've never witnessed one as strong as this." Ironwood said in concern. This invasion was showing him things that even he has not seen, just what was going on here? Now that the Alpha was the only grimm around he began to look deep into his thoughts seeing if there was any information he had forgotten about to explain the strength of this Alpha.
Glynda nodded having taken out many alphas in her time as well. "I agree that this Alpha is in a league of its own, however so is that boy, he is innately powerful despite his age." She responded her eyes tracking the fight despite its speed.
Coming to a stop Luffy panted, this grimm was indeed very strong. It was matching him punch for punch in their clashes, it's bones felt like he was punching steel. The Alpha on the other hand was giving off a deadly aura having witnessed the death of its pack. It howled loudly into the air causing the hunters to cover their ears in distress. Luffy stood defiantly despite the ear breaking howl, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath easing himself. Once the howling stopped he opened his eyes and was face to face with the beast, his hand grabbing the claw meant to tear him apart. Red demonic eyes stared angrily into his black determined ones.
Ironwood eyes widened staring at both Luffy and the Alpha coming to the conclusion on why this beast was so powerful. But that couldn't be possible considering that this teenage boy was fighting evenly with it. Not to mention why it would be here right now, from information that Qrow has given over the years they usually keep to themselves or are located in the Land of Darkness. Glynda noticing the General's rare behavior asked, "What's wrong James?"
The General didn't take his eyes off the two, his mind going overdrive on what to do next. "That boy," he started and looked straight into her eyes. "If I'm correct on this, I believe he is currently fighting an ancient grimm." Ironwood finished breathlessly.
Ringing... that was all Weiss could hear. Slowly opening her eyes all she could see was dust and smoke completely covering the area. "Natsu?" She called out coughing away the cloudy air. Slowly moving forward she found some debris to lean against, "Is anyone nearby??" Waving her hand in front of her trying to clear her vision she frowned not hearing a response. Checking her hip she was pleased to still have her weapon on her, switching the dust setting she waved her weapon clearing out the debris littered air with wind. Taking in her surroundings she couldn't help but to feel saddened, her school and temporary home now looked like the aftermath of a war zone.
"Okay keep cool Weiss, I just got to find Natsu or Ruby's uncle and then make our way out of here." She thought trying to maintain calm despite the situation. Thinking back she remembered Natsu grabbing ahold of her before the tower fell, so what happened to him? Hearing groaning she walked over to some debris noting that it was coming from underneath. Using her glyphs she moved the debris out of the way to find Natsu injured with a pain look. "Natsu?! Are you okay??" She exclaimed quickly kneeling to his side. It looked like he was bleeding from his back which means something must've hit him when they were mid flight.
Blinking his eyes he awoke to the sound of Weiss's worrying tone. Coughing he slowly sat up much to his body's displeasure. "Ugh.. my back.." He groaned fighting off the pain.
Weiss helped guide his body upward carefully taking this chance to see what injured him. She gasped after seeing the very obvious puncture wound. She was confused because surely his energy should have protected him right? Regardless of them having different forms of energy, it should still be the same no? Looking at him in the eyes she asked, "Natsu you still have energy correct? How come it didn't shield you from the damage?"
"Huh?" He responded halfheartedly, the pain in his back clouding his head a bit. "What do you mean by that?"
Taking his confused response as his answer to her question she frowned. "I guess Aura has one advantage to their separate powers from us."
"Yeah I still have energy, though this thing is a pain in the ass." He fully replied, the rest of her question registering in his head. Carefully he reached back, looking for the damn thing stuck in him before being stopped by Weiss.
"Are you crazy? What if that hit something important?" Weiss exclaimed with wide eyes. She couldn't believe he was just going to rip that out of him.
Furrowing his eyes he let out a pained sigh. "I'll be fine, I don't think it hit anything vital as it would be much more painful than how it is. Plus I'm going to cauterize it as soon as I get this damn thing out of me." He explained hoping she would just let him get this thing out.
"You think?! You are crazy then, cauterizing it doesn't exactly make it better." Weiss was becoming overwhelmed now. Never had she met someone so reckless before. Even Ruby wasn't this crazy.
Getting annoyed now he batted away her arm that was stopping him. "Well I rather be crazy then just sit here with debris in me. We need to find those bastards and stop them from getting away! So if you'll excuse me." With a mighty heap he ripped out a decent sized shard of glass causing blood to ooze out of his wound earning a shocked gasp from Weiss. Quickly he ignited his hand in flames before pressing down on his wound screaming from the pain he was inflicting unto himself. After a moment he dropped to his side heavily breathing. "Shit that hurts." He gasped out.
Weiss looked at his wound and sure enough it was cauterized, no longer bleeding but did that make it better? Getting to his feet after a moment he stretched, "Now that I'm no longer impaled, let's try to find our way out of here yeah?" He suggested while giving the air a sniff. Weiss just stared dumbfounded, this guy really was something else. "Damn there's too much going on here to get a clear scent, we should try to find that guy with the huge sword, he seems important."
"Ruby's uncle? I wouldn't call him important, but yes we should find him since he does have the professors with him." Weiss replied standing next to Natsu glancing at his wound. "However once we find them we're immediately taking you to the nearest medical station to have your injury looked at."
"Yeah yeah, I'll be fine." Natsu said halfheartedly ignoring Weiss. They walked forward some more only for Natsu to come to a dead stop. Weiss looked at him curiously before he spoke aloud. "I know you're out there, so why don't you quit hiding ya coward!"
"Coward? Well that's quite rude to call someone." A voice responded before walking out, Weiss gasped recognizing the individual. "I'll have you know that I'm actually quite the opposite."
Weiss immediately had her rapier pointed at him, "Mercury how could you betray everyone? Can't you see everything bad that has happened?"
"Betray? Oh princess I was never on your guy's side." He smoothly replied. "You 'good guys' are just way too trusting of people and that's why we're winning."
Natsu not one to just stay quite spoke up, "It may seem that way now, but in the end it is you guys that will lose."
Smirking Mercury got into a fighting stance, "If that's what you want to believe." He then charged forward throwing a kick only for it to be caught by Natsu. "Oh? You're quite strong!" He then jumped and did a spinning downward kick only for a glyph to appear beside him and push him away. "Now that's quite annoying." He then began to to shoot projectiles from his leg at the duo hoping to overwhelm them. Multiple glyphs appeared before the duo and repelled the projectiles before they could reach them effectively protecting them.
Natsu then charged forward with a flaming fist "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Colliding his punch with Mercury's foot creating a shockwave between them.
"Damn you punch as hard as that blondie, can you keep up with speed though?" He then vanished appearing to Natsu's side with a kick to his injury.
"Argh!" He yelled out in pain as he was sent back to Weiss. She hurriedly got to his side seeing if the injury got any worse.
"Are you okay?" She asked desperately.
Grunting he got back up "Yeah I'm fine, bastard got a lucky hit." He said glaring at the silver hair mercenary.
"Lucky? That's all skill kid." Mercury mocked with a sideways grin. "Here let me show you how much more 'lucky' I can get." He vanished once more going for the same attack only for Natsu to catch his foot and to cock his fist back.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He yelled out with his fist connecting into Mercury's stomach. Coughing up some spit he landed a fair bit away from them. "That'll teach ya to underestimate me." Natsu shouted a bit peeved off at this guy's cocky attitude.
"Damn, no wonder Emerald said that you would be a problem, you're quite strong unlike the other weaklings." Mercury said aloud getting back up. Weiss just glared at him. "Remember this Natsu, as strong as you are, you're no match for what's to come later on and I'll happily be there to watch you fall!" With his piece said he vanished having left the two of them alone.
"That bastard ran off! And he had that balls to say he wasn't a coward! Pathetic." Natsu cursed pissed off. He was going to chase after him until he felt something off coming from the city. "This feeling.." He stared ahead sniffing the air.
"Natsu? What's bothering you?" She asked noticing his demeanor had changed.
"Something happened, I don't know what, but there's crazy amount of energy coming from that city." He replied seriously. "Come on, let's hurry and find those old guys!" He grabbed her hand much to her embarrassment and began their search once more.
Naruto and Ruby stared down the ghastly humanoid figure with trepidation, the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. It's blank white eyes made their skin crawl, as if they were looking into a void. The energy rolling off the creature is something neither of them have felt before, it was almost suffocating with how empty it felt.
Ruby despite being afraid twisted her weapon forward and stabbed the ground in front of her making a pseudo mount. Clocking her weapon chamber she spoke aloud, "Okay, I have no idea what you are but you made a big mistake coming across me and Naruto! Because we won't lose to you!" Ruby exclaimed shouting away her fear.
Naruto smirked admiring the rose for not backing down and facing what she fears. "Hmph that's right, so don't you run away when we're kicking your ass!" He shouted as their personal morale was rising up to face this threat. "So Ruby, ya got a plan?" He asked noticing that thing hasn't moved in the slightest.
"Yeah.." She started before pulling the trigger of her weapon causing a loud boom to resound through the area, "We're gonna kill it." She stated while reloading the chamber but frowned as the creature dodged the sniper round.
Naruto almost lost his footing from what he just witnessed from the girl. "T-that...was kinda hot." He thought a bit flustered. The way she stated that as pure fact along with the instant attack sent a shiver down his spine. Shaking his head he tried to get that out of his mind as this wasn't the time nor the place for these kind of thoughts. "Curse you pervy-sage.." Naruto whispered knowing this was somehow his late master's fault for his slip up.
Ruby took another shot again only for the creature to dodge once more. "Naruto since you don't have a gun I'll handle the long range, if you're able to get close and distract it then I can probably get a shot on it." She announced wishing he would go for her suggestion.
"Up close and personal? My kinda fight." He responded before blitzing forward and throwing a haymaker colliding blade to blade with the humanoid. "Let's see just how skilled you are!" Throwing a flurry of fists his knuckle blades clashed evenly with the creature's arm blades. Naruto threw an uppercut and it dodged, he smirked however as it was disoriented from a blow it couldn't see. Naruto then went for a leg sweep only for the creature to hover over his leg and slash downward though before it could land the blow it disappeared then reappeared across the street hissing as it narrowly dodged Ruby's bullet.
"Tsk, almost had it." She complained and began to reposition for some cover, she couldn't stay in the open for too long. "Keep that up Naruto, that was a close one!" She shouted, her confidence in this fight growing tremendously. She doesn't know what came over her but it was definitely going in their favor!
"Yes ma'am!" Naruto replied with a salute before dashing at the creature again. However this time it dashed towards him as well catching him off guard, with a double horizontal slice it slammed him away into a car completely destroying it.
"Naruto!" Ruby shouted in concern, that looked very bad. Due to her shout however the creature looked straight at her before vanishing in a blur of speed appearing beside her thrusting it's bladed arms forward. Ruby quickly activated her semblance and zipped away in a flurry of rose petals before it could make contact, landing a distance away she was forced to block a downward strike with her scythe as it appeared in front of her matching her speed. She used her semblance again to get further away but it followed her like a shadow moving right alongside her throughout the area.
Naruto shook his head and started to peel himself out of the destroyed vehicle. "Damn I got careless." He cursed to himself, looking up he saw what he assumed was Ruby, a flurry of rose petals, getting chased by that bastard thing, a misshapen black mass. Pulling out a kunai he took a deep breath adding chakra to the weapon, they were moving at impressive speeds so he had to time his kunai throw just right. Letting his senses take over he closed his eyes feeling their paths. Snapping his eyes open he threw the kunai forward at blitzing speeds and hit the black mass causing it to stop its chase. He frowned though seeing it didn't damage it.
Ruby appeared next to Naruto breathing heavily, she hadn't used her semblance continuously like that since she could ever remember and it exhausted her. "T-thank you, I was scared it was going to catch me." She heaved out trying to slow her breathing.
"Your speed is impressive, I doubt it would've gotten you." He grinned at her, "besides we're gonna kill it right? So there's no need to be scared." He stated with certainty. Ruby smiled accepting the praise, he was right, they were going to beat it and that was that. They both turned to the creature ready to fight once again however they were blown away from the negative feelings it was letting out.
"Kill... me..?" It had question with darkness becoming more prominent and leaking out of its body. "No... I'll... kill... you... outsider...".
The teens were truly shocked, it was angry and had spoken again though Naruto was concerned by what it specifically said. It somehow knew he wasn't from here, probably due to his chakra being different compared to aura, but it specifically said it would kill him and not Ruby. "Crap, no matter what I can't let this thing capture her."
Ruby hearing the outsider part realized it wanted to kill Naruto and that rubbed her the wrong way. She moved in front of Naruto with her scythe in a defensive position showing no fear anymore even with the overwhelming presence it was giving off. "I won't let you hurt him, we will defeat you." She declared with certainty, determination written all over her presence.
Naruto took a step back, staring at Ruby with an unfamiliar emotion. To him he was always the one protecting, he was the one to make those declarations, he was the one to stand up against opposition and remain determined despite the odds. Now here was Ruby making a stand to protect him, which nearly brought a tear to his eye as he could count on one hand the amount of people who has done that for him in his life and they had only met today.
Ruby though was unaware of the emotional Naruto behind her and spoke out to him. "Okay Naruto, this time let's both take this thing head on. Up close and personal yeah?" She suggested while still glaring at the supposed grimm with a spark of light glistening from her eyes.
Rubbing his eye he let out his biggest smile he's ever worn. "Yeah, you got it partner." Tightening his headband he began leak out his chakra pushing against the emptiness of the ghastly creature.
Ichigo was forced to block a downward strike from the mecha tank causing a sizable crater to form under his feet. He gritted his teeth as the weight of the strike nearly buckled his knees. With a grunt of effort he redirected the offending blade to his side and jumped forward to slash the mech in half only for its top half to spin and bat Ichigo into a nearby building.
Jaune and Pyrrha ran forward slashing their respective swords against the mech's legs, the sound of metal grinding echoing in the area. Taking notice the robot leaped back causing the ground to shake once it landed. "Crap that armor is tough, we barely scratched it." Jaune complained, he didn't know if he could swing harder than he currently was.
"Do not worry Jaune, we will defeat this thing together." Pyrrha exclaimed, her eyes focused on their enemy. She will make up for her recent defeat and will not fall to something like this.
Ichigo ran up to them once he made his way out of the destroyed building. "She's right, this thing is going down. You can bet on that." He stated glaring the mech down. That last hit hurt a bit, so he had some payback to give out.
The Atlesian robot's eyes then began to glow a bright red as if it was scanning them. "Hostile threat, surrender and be terminated." It announced with a booming deep voice. However it's phrase threw the teens for a loop.
"U-umm, I don't think that's how it works." Jaune pointed out hesitantly with a sweat drop.
"It can talk?!" Ichigo thought bewildered, this new world's technology was super advanced compared to his own. Though after seeing the grimm he could understand the need for further advancement of technology. Still though something was clearly wrong with this robot, especially with it's phrasing. "Like hell we would do that! Are you nuts?!" He yelled out a bit frustrated.
As if it acknowledged that they weren't going to surrender its eyes locked straight onto Ichigo and before Jaune and Pyrrha could react it shot a red beam of light at him blowing the swordsman away once again breaking through wreckage.
The huntsmen in training eyes widened having not expected to see a god damn laser beam be used against them. Quickly they ran for cover, their shields up as they ran praying their equipment held up against the light attack. The mech turned its gaze towards the two retreating teens before firing another beam at them. As if Lady Luck was watching upon him Jaune suddenly tripped over rubble, he watched with dread as the beam of light blitzed right over his head and blew up the building behind him causing his eyes to widen realizing that could've been him.
Pyrrha, who had made it to cover, used her semblance to drag Jaune by his armor towards her out of harms way. "Jaune are you alright?" She asked worriedly, she was thankful that his clumsiness had saved his life.
"N-no, not really.." Jaune replied still eyeing the destroyed building. Shaking his head he turned and looked at Pyrrha to notice her worried look. Taking a deep breath he spoke, "Just how are we gonna beat this thing?" He asked softly.
Pyrrha grabbed his hand and turned his face towards her looking him straight in his eyes. "I don't know, but what I do know is despite the odds I know we can defeat it. We have to beat it. Because we are huntsmen. We fight to protect and persevere. With you be my side I know we can win Jaune." She said wholeheartedly, her eyes full of determination and a hint of something else.
Jaune stared speechless at his partner, a spark developing within himself from her inspiring speech. He grinned at her and sat up dusting himself off. "You know what? You're completely right Pyrrha." He reached out and grasped her hand tightly causing her to blush. "We can do this, together." Unconsciously his aura began to glow around him making Pyrrha's aura to glow as well. Feeling empowered Jaune took the lead only to suddenly pull himself and Pyrrha down to the ground as the mech's sword arm sliced horizontally through their cover.
"Surrender now and be eliminated!" It announced once again setting its sights on the two teens.
Jaune being a bit irritated at its phrasing immediately stood up and pointed his sword at the mech. "It's OR dammit! It's supposed to be a choice!" He yelled with angry eyes.
Pyrrha immediately stood up, pushing herself off the ground while transforming her weapon into its rifle mode and began to fire into the robot's eyes. The mech, despite its bulky stature, used its sword to deflect each round sent its way before zooming forward issuing a horizontal slice at the red head. Jaune jumped in front of Pyrrha using his shield to block the blade causing his legs to scream in protest from the heavy attack. Pyrrha jumped above him, with her weapon now transformed into a lance, proceeded to throw the weapon towards its eye. The mech grabbed the thrown projectile an inch before it made contact then twisted its arm throwing back the weapon into Pyrrha sending her flying back into a wall depleting her recently gained Aura.
Jaune's eyes widened seeing his partner be taken out. "NOO!" The blonde twisted his shield causing the blade to be thrown into the ground before charging forward and thrusting his blade into its gut with surprising success. "I cut it!" He grinned though it was short lived as the mech swung its leg back and kicked Jaune towards the same wall Pyrrha was at causing his Aura to waver but still holding. Coughing up some spit Jaune struggled to get up, looking to his side he saw Pyrrha doing the same. Looking up he noticed the mech running towards them with its blade ready to swing down. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up with his aura glowing around him, he threw his sword up with a swing clashing with the downward swing of his opponent. The ground cracked underneath him from the force of their clash, he almost lost his footing as he had never had this kind of clash before but glancing back towards Pyrrha gave him all the courage he needed right now. "I won't lose to you!!"
Pyrrha watched in fascination as Jaune held back the mech, tears of pride began to spring forth seeing how strong her blonde leader has become. Then the feeling of dread washed over her as she saw the eyes of the robot light up, "Jaune it's eyes!" She yelled out in desperation but unfortunately was too late as it fired on her friend. An explosion encased the area in front of her making her cross her arms attempting to block any debris and shockwave from affecting her. Once she felt it calm she slowly opened her eyes in fear of what she was going to witness but was utterly shocked by the sight in front of her.
There stood Ichigo with his sword pointed forward standing directly in front of Jaune. The blonde looked down staring at the teen with a indescribable expression having seen him get in front before the beam hit him. "You did great Jaune, but I think it's time for me to give this thing some payback." He calmly said with a furious scowl. The mech jumped back, it's sensors picking up the energy coming off the orange headed teen.
Power began to pour off substitute shinigami causing the air and debris around him to swirl. Jaune took a step back not understanding what was about to happen. Ichigo placed his hand on his outstretched arm as his power began to reach its building apex and uttered a word that Jaune and Pyrrha would forever remember.
"Ban.. Kai!"
Coco began to unleash her minigun against the many robots that have arrived with the White Fang. The hundreds of bullets ripped through the smaller bots while the Fang members took cover behind the mechs that withstood the barrage of ammunition. The mechs then began to return fire causing the huntsmen in training and clones to deflect and take their own cover. The majority of the clones however were overwhelmed by the gunfire due to never encountering guns, let alone machine guns before. Smoke began to cover the area causing a temporary cease of fire. Fang members moved out of cover and proceeded to slowly make their way forward relying on their animal traits to help them traverse through the smoke.
"Shit, what the hell was that!" A clone whispered to Sun who was right behind him. He was one of the lucky ones to make it to cover before getting pelted to death, while he was able to see the projectiles there was just way too many of them to even do something about it.
"An ambush, we need to get those civilian transports out now!" Sun replied with the assumption that he knew what guns were since every warrior and soldier used firearms. "How many more clones do you have with us?" He questioned while thinking of a plan.
"I'm not sure, but it'll be enough to help get these people out of here." Naruto reassured.
"Okay, have some of your clones stay up front while we group up with the others and retreat back to the escorts. While I want to make those bastards pay, the civilians are top priority." Sun ordered showing his leadership qualities. "Thanks to the smoke we'll have some temporary cover though it won't be long so we need to hurry."
"Gotcha I'll pass on the info." Naruto responded before dispelling giving the information to his other copies. Each clone in the area received the information and the ones with the other teens gave them plan.
Coco nodded in agreement impressed by the younger team leader and the clone's ability of information passing, "Sun's right, the civilians are top priority so let's retreat while we can. On my signal we all move to retreat, can you pass that on?" She asked while taking note of the dissipating smoke.
"Sure can, what's the signal?" He asked.
Coco smirked before revving her weapon, "You'll know."
Naruto seeing the machine gun begin to spin blanched. "Gotcha.."
Seeing him disappear Coco got out of cover coming face to face with a White Fang member. Just as he was about to fire on her another clone appeared on his side kicking him away from the older teen. "We got you covered." He announced and proceeded to head into the dissipating smoke. Sounds of clashing metal began to reverberate from the smoke as the clones and White Fang clashed with each other. Coco aimed her weapon upwards where she could faintly hear the sounds of an airship and let loose. The bullets tore through the air immediately dissipating the smoke and hitting the White Fang's airship.
"That's the signal! Move it people!" Sun shouted as him, Neptune and Velvet began to sprint towards the transports. Sun cupped his hands and shouted at the medics who were getting the last of the civilians on board. "Tell those pilots we need to leave NOW!" Quickly they did as they were told and engines began to rev up coming to life.
Coco hearing the engines began to walk backwards keeping up her barrage. She smirked seeing that the clones were keeping their enemies at bay however she began to sweat once the mechs began to shield against her attack protecting the airship. "Crap."
"Coco! We're loaded up! It's time to go!" Velvet shouted on the middle airship. Sun and Neptune took the left and right ships respectively. Nodding in response Coco stopped her fire and began to run towards the transport as fast as she could. All three began to lift into the air while she was still running back, a clone appeared beside her keeping pace cupping his hands hoping she would get his idea. Without a pause she immediately jumped forward landing on the clone's hands and was pushed upward reaching Velvet's outstretched hand successfully getting to the aircraft.
"Now that was stylish." She exclaimed with a grin. Alarms began to flare around the three ships causing the huntsmen to look back and see missiles being sent their way from the mechs. Gritting her teeth in irritation Coco began to unleash her minigun on the airborne projectiles, "It's always fucking something!" She yelled out angrily. She was able to shoot nearly all of them down however some exploded next to Sun's transport causing the aircraft to shake violently.
Sun tried to keep everyone calm however the explosions had caused a parent to lose their grip on their child and unfortunately the child began to fall out the ship. He ran as fast as he could reaching his hand out to the little boy who had a frightened expression while falling out. The boy's hand was outstretched and just as he was about to grab him another explosion tilted the aircraft making him miss and he could do nothing as the boy continued to fall through the air.
Naruto watched as Coco shot all the missiles out the sky and couldn't help but notice a figure fall. His eyes widened as he saw what the figure was, pouring a heavy amount of chakra to his feet he became a blur weaving through debris and then jumped with all his might meeting the boy halfway through the air catching him. He continued upwards and landed in Sun's airship and got cheers and applause for his heroic rescue.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see he was no longer falling but back in the airship. He met blue eyes looking down at him with concern and he softly whispered, "t-thank you s-sir.." tears was running down the kids face as it was the scariest situation he's even been in.
Naruto leaned down and ruffled the kid's hair. "It's nothing! You're safe now, I promise!" He replied cheerily, his back was then smacked pretty hard almost making him lose balance.
"Thanks Naruto! You're a real hero!" Sun excitedly said, he was really happy that Naruto was here. "You've helped us out so much, you ever need anything just let me know! Team SSSN has got your back!" Naruto just rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, while the praise was nice he was just doing what was right.
"A-am I really safe??" The boy asked Naruto while trying to keep his sobs back.
Naruto turned back to the boy and gave him a soft smile, "Yeah, you got my word, this thing is gonna take everyone here to safety don't ya worry!"
"Naruto is right! Plus with us on here ya got nothing to w-?!" Without notice both Sun and Naruto were pushed off the aircraft by two older men. They looked up confused before seeing the empty eyes of the men that had tears running down their faces. They could also see them mouth something before the aircraft had been struck by an airborne car courtesy of a White Fang mech completely destroying the airship.
"Dammit! What just happened?!" Coco yelled out furiously. She was too focused on taking out the missiles. She could here everyone crying out in horror and much to her own horror she watched as one of the transports fell to the ground in blown up debris. "Shit, we gotta go now! Tell them to get us the hell out of here!"
Neptune was in a state of shock, did his best friend just die?? He gritted his teeth choking back the tears that wanted to burst out. Pulling his weapon he began to unleash his ammo down at the white fang in anger yelling out his heart. "YOU BASTARDS!" Unfortunately he ran out of ammo and both ships had started to fly off before they too met the same fate.
Sun and Naruto landed back on the ground both silent with shocked disbelieving expressions. Sun looked over at the clone and saw that he was splattered with some blood and he was looking at his hand that he was ruffling the kid's head with. Sighing he walked over to him and put his hand on the shorter teen's shoulder. "Hey man-"
Naruto cut him off, "I-I promised him... I-I gave him my w-word..." He continued to look at his blood splattered hand. "We had made it, we were going to safety.."
Sun looked down at the boy sadly, really taking in his appearance, he was short and quite young looking. This guy had to be around Blake's leader's age and to have this happen to him is not something he would ever wish on anyone. "I'm sorry lil bro, t-that shouldn't have happened.." he said softly gripping his shoulder.
Tears were running down Naruto's eyes some landing in his hand. "It's not fair, they were innocent. They should've made it!" He was becoming angry, why would people do this? He thought back to his fight with Cinder and her words about power and not caring about others was coming back to him full force.
Suddenly they could hear cheering as the White Fang and their robots had taken out the rest of the clones. "Yeah! We got one ship, let's go take out the others!" They could hear them yell and cheer similar phrases and something in Naruto snapped at that.
Sun scowled hearing them cheer for this unjustified attack. He went to speak to Naruto however his senses became overloaded with fear and something made him jump away from the younger teen. "What the hell is this feeling?!" Sun thought looking at the teen from a distance and noticed something off about him. He seemed red?
Naruto's eyes were wide in anger hearing the blasphemous shouting of the White Fang. His blue irises began to bleed a crimson red as a dark chakra cycled through his body. "They're.. cheering?" His voice sounded deep and disembodied which made Sun's skin crawl. His nails began to sharpen and lengthen and his hair became wilder and longer and his canine teeth protruded from his mouth. Turning in a way that Sun could fully see the young teen he gasped in shock from the visual presented to him. "They dare cheer FOR KILLING INNOCENTS?! KILLING A CHILD?! I'LL MAKE THOSE BASTARDS PAY!!" With each yell a red aura manifested around Naruto matching the crimson in his eyes.
Sun could feel the overwhelming hatred seeping off his younger counterpart, all his instincts were screaming at him to run as far away as possible. Despite this he stood his ground, as menacing as Naruto's aura and visual presence felt he could see the pain and anguish in his eyes and the tears falling down his face. Sun slowly began to walk over to Naruto and went to call out to him but he suddenly vanished, shocking him with how fast he had disappeared. He then began to hear shouting and gunfire and grimaced imagining the worse. "Shit."
To be continued...
