DARK
Klein was making sure the IV he gave to Nora was fine, noticing her start to wake up. "Ah, glad to see you're awake Miss!" he cheerily smiled as she groaned.
"Nora… My name's Nora." she weakly stated.
"Miss Nora, okay." Klein smiled as he was about to try and talk with her more while making sure her vitals were fine when the door was pushed open, he turned towards it to see Ruby, Weiss, and Whitley carrying an injured Penny into the room, placing her onto a lounge chair adjacent to Weiss's bed. Whitley, Weiss, and Ruby were all partially coated in a green coolant that leaked from Penny.
"We found another person that needs your help!" Ruby explained in a panic as Klein immediately made his way over.
He started to scan over Penny with his medical tablet before stopping on a part of her torso. "There's bleeding going on here. I'll try to get it to stop, but I can't guarantee her condition will be stable given how different her anatomy is from our's…"
Ruby ran her hands through her hair now, looking out the window at the storm. "This is starting to become too much to handle."
"Well my dear, s-sometimes it's best to start with the little things before worrying about the big ones." Klein reasoned with her. "Focus on what you can do immediately."
"Immediately?" Ruby was lost in thought now as she turned away from a window, a distant shadow stood atop an outer wall of the manor grounds.
Whitley crossed his arms before an idea came to mind. "What if I used the SDC freighters that we got in storage?"
"Freighters?" Blake was curious about this.
"Yeah, we have a ton of unused company freighters that could be used to transport people to safety." he recommended.
Weiss couldn't help but smile at her brother's quick thinking. "Whitley, you're a genius, you can give the orders for that?"
"I just need to access father's computer. I may or may not have peeped his password…" Whitley admitted.
"Sounds like a good start! I'll go tell May the plan." Ruby made a call on her scroll now.
May answered it. "Um, could you kids have picked a better timing?!" she was steering her Manta ship around several Grimm that were trying to intercept her, blasting any that got too close.
"Look, we have a plan to get help to the people down in Mantle. We're going to order SDC Freighters that aren't in use to come to the crater. You'll be able to fly everyone to safety then." Ruby explained.
"Not a bad plan." May dove the ship down sharply now. "Look, I'll tell the others when we're down in the crater what you kids are planning so we can expect the ships. You just stay safe for now, okay?"
As soon as the call ended, the power happened to just cut off for the whole manor.
"That's probably gonna complicate things…" Weiss groaned, now turning towards the open door to see her mother tiredly leaning on the side of it, a single wine glass in her hand.
"What's with all the-" she noticed Klein and was actually surprised to see him. "Klein, you're back?"
"Hello, Madame Schnee." he bowed. "I was called over by Young Master Whitley. He told me that there was someone here that needed medical attention, I rushed over as fast as I could."
"M-Mrs. Schnee is there any way we can get the power back on?" Ruby asked. "It's of utmost importance we get it back on!"
She set her wine glass down on the coffee table in the room and sat down. "Yes, there's a backup generator by the back end of the courtyard." she rubbed her temples now. "It's a bit much for me to drink in the dark, so please do hurry."
"Of course that's all you care about." Whitley scoffed.
"Why does your family get its own power generator anyways? I know I haven't lived here long, but, I know you need government approval for these kinds of things to be installed." Blake crossed her arms.
"SDC executives were able to buy themselves the generators with the government." Weiss explained with a sigh. "It's incredibly unfair when you think about the people these generators could have been helping.."
Ruby started towards the door. "Well there's no sense in lamenting it now. I'm going to get the generator back on."
Blake then stood up as well. "I hope you don't mind me accompanying you. You never know what might be out there." her ears folded down.
"Of course." Ruby smiled and left with Blake.
"Whitley, why don't we get situated in Father's office?" Weiss suggested, wanting to be as far away from Willow as Whitley did. A chance the boy jumped at as he left the room with her.
Willow looked at the wine glass she was now holding again and sighed. "Klein, I'm sorry about-"
"There's no need to apologize Madame Schnee." he assured her. "It had nothing to do with you, or your children." his eyes turned red. "And everything to do with that no good sleazebag, Jacques."
The lightning from the storm lurking just at the edge of the Atlas city limits was the only source of light that Weiss and Whitley had as they made their way to their father's office. "Whitley, I… Did the right thing last night, right? I mean, I know you and father were closer than-"
"Stop." he stated, also stopping himself from walking anymore. "I wasn't. That was never the case between us… That man was no better than that drunk who spent every night in the garden." he bitterly scoffed.
"But, he was still our father though, wasn't he?"
Whitley just shook his head. "I'm surprised you're second guessing your choice after so long. You made the right choice… It's like you said before, he did it to himself. He needs to be held accountable for everything he's done to our family, and the families of the people that died during that rally."
"Whitley…" Weiss looked him in the eyes now.
"There's a reason I never called his legal team in." Whitley shrugged his shoulders and started walking again. "Apart from all the chaos and destruction going on right now. Seems like your work is cut out for you on that end, sister."
Weiss just rolled her eyes. "We still gotta adjust that attitude of yours."
The courtyard was silent, almost too silent as Blake's eyes scanned around for anything that might seem suspicious, turning her attention back towards the large shed as Ruby pushed the door open after breaking the lock off with Crescent Rose. She only just missed the shadow that was lurking atop a tree in the distance.
Ruby started the sequence for powering the generator on and sighed. "Looks like we're gonna need to wait for a minute or so…"
So Ruby leaned by the window, with her arms crossed, looking at Blake. "I feel like nothing we've done has worked so far." she sighed. "Global communications are down again, Penny's hurt, Yang and the others are missing, and now I don't even know if our new plan is gonna work."
Blake smiled at her team leader. "Ruby… I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish I could think more like you do."
"In what way?" Ruby asked, while briefly glancing at the progress bar on the generator.
"Well, just because things are tough, doesn't mean you give up. I can admire that in someone. I mean, I was the same way too when I first joined the White Fang. I legitimately believed we were making a difference and that things would eventually get better…" she paused for a moment, as some of those painful memories did come back to her. "Look, after my time there, I didn't really believe that a girl like that would last in this world. Yet here you are, in spite of it all, still optimistic, and still not giving up."
Ruby couldn't help but chuckle a little. "It's hard to be that person that everyone looks to." she admitted. "I always figured that if I smiled, no matter how terrible I felt, that things would get better."
"That's what makes you such a good person, Ruby, and I'm more than happy to look up to you as my leader." the generator powered on, earning both of their attention from the sound it made to confirm that.
"Well, let's get going Blake!" Ruby smiled, unaware of the large menacing shadow of the Hound looming behind her.
Blake's ears folded down now as she moved her hand to Gambol Shroud on her back.
"What?" Ruby was confused, but turned around slowly when she realized Blake wasn't looking at her.
Ruby was almost immediately grabbed by an arm that tore through the window and flung out into the courtyard.
"RUBY!" Blake yelled as she opened fire on the Hound, only to be shoved back by an arm that extended outwards, slamming her onto a wall.
Ruby sat herself up and picked Crescent Rose up. "Let her go…" Ruby took a deep breath, her eyes were starting to glow, but the Hound did as she demanded, diving towards her, breaking Ruby's focus on her eyes as it began to swing at her with it's arms. She managed to cut one off, only for that arm to immediately grow back right in front of her, much to her surprise.
"Take... The… Girl…" it stated coldly as Ruby's eyes widened and she froze in shock, leaving her open to its next claw swipe.
She was slammed into a fence, dazed now, with her weapon on her lap.
"Leave her alone!" Blake opened fire on the Hound, which caused the beast to turn its attention towards her and transform into its quadrupedal form.
Blake went to face it head on as another arm grew out of it's back and attempted to grasp at her, but all that it would instead hit is an electricity clone, which caused a jolt to course through the creature's body, leaving it open to attack.
Gambol Shroud was swung at it's head, but the attack wasn't strong enough to decapitate the Hound as it stumbled backwards, changing back into it's bipedal form now that Blake was in range. It started to swing at her with it's arms, but each swipe only hit a shadow clone before Blake dove down at it with both blades of Gambol Shroud, a move that it dodged away from, now finding itself positioned closer to Ruby as it snarled, rushing over towards her.
Blake transformed Gambol Shroud into its kusarigama form, pulling it to the ground and towards herself. It was grasping at Ruby's leg, but it was just out of range.
Before Blake could pull the Hound any closer, it let out a loud yell, the result was a pair of Centinels emerging from the ground, forcing Blake to divert her attention partially to them while the Hound was nearing it's target, who was shaking her head and starting to pull herself up.
The power turned on and Whitley was able to quickly get to work by logging into Jacques's terminal when the sound of something crashing outside made him stop.
"I'll go see what that was." Weiss drew out Myrtenaster.
"Think you can handle it?" Whitley snarked.
"Attitude, Whitley… Attitude." Weiss grumbled as she ran out of the room, leaving Whitley to start putting the order through.
In the dimly lit room, Willow just wept silently, as she was about to reach for her wine glass again, a sound caused her to stop.
It was Penny, she had activated and stood herself up, her eyes were red now. "I must open the vault and self-terminate." she declared aloud as Klein moved to stop her, but was shoved across the room with a single push.
It was then that her powers suddenly flared up and she screamed, falling to her knees. "I won't… Let you…" the storm she was conjuring was far beyond her control now. "I must- NO!"
It was then that comfort would come from an unexpected source as Nora took hold of her shoulder and smiled. "You're stronger than this, Penny."
"Stronger? B-But it's literally something in my head. It's a part of me that's- AH!" she yelled as her eyes flickered red and she sparked again now.
"It's only part of you, Penny." Nora tried to assure her, looking her in the eyes now. "It's not all of who you are."
The cyclone she was conjuring stopped as Nora took a few deep breaths and Penny sat herself on the floor, still clearly distressed but holding herself steady for now.
The Centinels were aggressive, Blake was only able to fend one off at a time while holding The Hound back from Ruby who was barely getting up now. One of the Centinels leaned back and spat acid in Blake's direction, forcing her to back off by jumping.
This gave the Hound all it needed to stand back upright, and fling Blake away from it as it grabbed Ruby and quickly formed it's back wings, starting to take flight.
"Ruby!" Blake aimed Gambol Shroud's pistol at the Hound, quickly dodging the dive of a Centinel that got too close.
The Hound's attention diverted almost immediately when it sensed the burst of maiden power from across the manor. Glancing down at Ruby, it realized it had the wrong target. "Not… You…" it raised it's arms up with Ruby in them.
"Not-? It's after Penny!" Ruby realized in that instant before she was harshly thrown onto the ground, her aura shattering from the impact that made dust and dirt rise. The Hound dropped back to the ground and made its way towards the manor.
"Ruby!" Blake was annoyed to be interrupted by the Centinels again, and this time managed to behead one of them, but just as she did, a Cenitaur Grimm burrowed its way out of the ground right behind Ruby.
It raised its bladed arms up to stab at her, but would only hit a thrown Gambol Shroud as Blake rushed in after killing the other Centinel. "It's me you want." Blake held a wide stance now, closing her eyes and forcing any negative thought she could think of into her mind to draw the Grimm towards her.
The sound of distant glass breaking made Willow drop her wine glass and pick her scroll up. On her feed, she saw Weiss in the entrance hall of the manor.
Above her, the Hound hung from the ceiling, looking down at her and sniffing the air. It caught the scent of Penny from Weiss and started to position itself.
Weiss received a call on her scroll from Willow. "Mom, what's wrong?"
"I'm watching the cameras I put around here…" she explained. "Your friends are outside battling some Grimm by where the generator is and- ABOVE YOU!" she shouted.
Weiss barely had time to dodge the Hound as it jumped towards her, pulling herself back with a glyph below her feet as the monster growled.
It's arm extended outwards and attempted to grab her, but she swiftly ducked under it and fired ice shards out of a glyph that struck its body, doing little more than irritate it before it reeled it's arm back in and used it to make a large swing that Weiss jumped over.
Seeing this chance, she cut the main chandelier in the entrance hall, attempting to crush the Hound with that, but all that happened in response was that the Hound caught it and hurled it in her direction. A glyph took the brunt of the through and knocked it off course from Weiss, but she was launched back, crashing into the piano.
"Take… The… Girl!" it declared more vehemently than before as it began to walk it's way over to Weiss who steadied herself against the tipped over piano. With a single hand held forward, Weiss created a propulsion glyph below the Hound's feet, launching it right at the ceiling, a sickening crack sound could be heard as it hit the ceiling.
Weiss looked up at it and was in shock to see it grasping onto the ceiling and sniffing the air. It hurriedly scuttled around a stairway entrance to one of the main wings of the house, barely dodging ice shards fired from Weiss. "Dammit!" she grit her teeth as she picked her scroll back up. "Mom, can you tell me where it is?"
Willow began looking through the screens on her scroll. "Oh Gods… No... " she was in shock and almost immediately out the door, dialing for Whitley on her scroll.
The Cenitaur Grimm was giving Blake a harder time than she thought it would have, it's armor seemed to be impregnable and its strikes had more power to them despite their slow speed.
She raised both of her swords up to block a strike from one of it's bladed arms, struggling to hold it back before dodging backwards from an acid spit attack that melted through a stone clone. "Ruby, I need you to get up right now!" she yelled for her team leader as she dodged downward stabs from the Cenitaur, blasting into its open mouth with Gambol Shroud, which did little more than delay it's next acid spit attack as it circled around her now.
"How the hell did these things get more disgusting." she grunted in annoyance before pulling the trigger on Gambol Shroud and letting the Cenitaur strike at a fire clone, doing little more than singe it's sturdy armor.
There had to be some weakness that Blake could exploit. The acid sack was exposed near its bottom, but shooting that ran the risk of acid splashing all over her or Ruby.
A thought flashed through her mind as she blocked and countered another strike from the Cenitaur. "You know, if the enemy doesn't have a visible opening, sometimes it's best to make your own." Yang's voice reminded her, in her usual spunky tone.
A simple memory from a simpler time, but that was exactly the advice she needed to think of as she threw Gambol Shroud out and scaled up a wall, letting the Cenitaur spew it's acid at her now and dodging around it, landing on the ground across the courtyard from it, standing right in the center of four small pillars.
Flood!
Now the sky's raining blood!
Everything that I love's falling away
And there's no escape!
It slid towards her as fast as it could, but this was exactly what Blake was hoping for, throwing Gambol Shroud out. It dodged the weapon, but that wasn't what Blake was after. She pulled as hard as she could on one of the pillars the Cenitaur just passed, causing it to fall onto the creature, stone and dust crumbling around it as it got up more fervently.
From shadows we rise
The curse of a bloodline
That's fated to fight just to survive
Just to survive
It attempted to slash down at Blake, but the faunus jumped upwards and kicked off a bladed arm, landing atop another pillar. It slammed into it, causing the pillar to topple onto it, while Blake landed in front of one of the remaining two pillars. It spit acid at her now, but only struck a shadow clone while Blake watched the third pillar fall onto it due to the damage at it's base.
Giving our hearts and minds
From the day we were born we knew this is how we might die
The Cenitaur was only getting more agitated as Blake landed behind the last of the pillars and waited for the monster to come barreling through it. She sheathed Gambol Shroud on her back now.
Die
Sure enough, as predicted the Cenitaur did come slamming through the tower, hissing and screeching. Blake jumped to the side of it's next strike and pulled Gambol Shroud out of its sheath, a purple blade-shaped beam of aura shot out of Gambol Shroud, and straight through one of the Cenitaur's arms, causing it to yell out in pain.
Blake smirked at this chance and waited for it to come swinging at her with it's remaining arm, it did so, but that arm was stuck in an ice clone of herself now. She shot at the Cenitaur again, it's armor, now visibly more worn down than before, and a couple of shots piercing through.
Flood!
Now the sky's raining blood!
Everything that I love's falling away
And there's no escape!
She got so caught up in attempting to finish it with her pistol, that she didn't catch her ice clone being slammed right into her, she hit the ground hard, struggling to get up as the Cenitaur wouldn't let her even reach her dropped weapon.
It lifted her up, by her head as she struggled . "Ruby, Please, I need you… W-We all need you!" she gasped between breaths. The Cenitaur opened its mouth, readying to spit acid into its prey when the sound of a familiar gunshot, followed by a slice caused it to stop.
Blake caught her breath as she watched the creature dissolve, Ruby standing behind it with Crescent Rose slung over her shoulder in one hand, and Gambol Shroud in the other. "I heard you." she chuckled a little as she tossed Blake her weapon.
"C'mon, I'm sure Weiss needs our help." Ruby insisted now.
"Right." Blake followed her lead.
Whitley was focusing on getting the orders through on the terminal, grunting in annoyance when he saw that Willow was attempting to call him. "Not now." he scoffed.
The orders were almost finished being made when the door slightly opened. "What is-!" Whitley stopped himself when he caught just a glimpse of the Hound and hid underneath Jacques's desk.
It sniffed the air as it slowly made its way into the office, slowly inching closer to the desk that Whitley was starting to move around from now.
"I know… You're… Here…" it spoke in it's distorted voice while Whitley held his hand over his mouth.
Whitley slowly started to move away from the desk as the issue for the order was done and the screen lit up. "Order processed, waiting for approval, Mr. Schnee."
The younger boy knew he had to get that order through no matter what, so he began to slowly rise up, to see if he'd be spotted, and sure enough the Hound stared right at him from across the desk.
It lunged for him when suddenly a Boarbatusk summon slammed right into it. "WHITLEY! RUN!" Willow cried out for her son.
He was about to start for the door as the Boarbatusk was keeping The Hound held back, but he remembered the last thing he needed to do at the terminal and hit the enter key, approving the order of freighter ships.
The pair ran out of the room now, turning sharply around a corner as the Hound ran out after them after dispatching of the summoned boarbatusk.
Willow shoved Whitley ahead of her while she slammed a door behind her, the pair kept running as the Hound knocked the door off of it's hinges and ran at them in it's quadrupedal form.
It nearly had them when an ice wall suddenly formed in front of it, successfully barring it's path for now.
Weiss held Myrtenaster forward and took a deep breath, looking to her mother and brother with a smile. "I didn't forget either of you." she affirmed, earning a slight smile from Willow, who wiped a tear from her cheek.
"I'm glad." the woman nodded as she helped Whitley to his feet before they followed behind Weiss.
The Hound sniffed the air and ran away from the ice wall, likely looking for another path to its prey.
Weiss was now leading her family through the entrance hall when Ruby and Blake pushed the door open.
"Weiss, there's a weird Grimm after Penny!" Ruby explained.
"Penny?" Weiss was confused now, why was it so adamant on attacking her and her brother? Unless…
She came to the realization slightly too late as the Hound crashed through the skylight in the Schnee Manor's Entrance Hall, landing right in the center of the room.
Ruby and Blake readied their weapons, while Weiss outstretched an arm in front of her mother and Whitley. "As long as Whitley has it's scent, he won't be safe where I can't see him. We'll deal with this thing now."
"Right!" Blake affirmed as the Hound sniffed the air and turned towards Ruby, who had an idea.
"Ladybug." Ruby smirked and rushed straight for the Hound, firing a shot off at the ground to send her above the first swipe it sent her way.
The Hound turned to face her when she landed behind it. It was quickly caught off guard when both Ruby and Blake sliced through it together now, their attack doing little to harm it's main body as the wounds closed up immediately.
"What's this thing made of?!" Blake asked as her and Ruby both started shooting at it with their guns.
"I don't know, but we can't let it get Penny!" Ruby insisted now as Weiss launched ice shards from the stairs while she walked down them. The Hound curled up to block the gunfire and ice before suddenly wings grew out of it's back again and a powerful gust of wind caused the three girls to back off for a moment.
It turned its attention to Weiss who ran down the stairs and formed a glyph behind her, a pair of smaller lancers emerging from it and firing their stingers out at the Hound, impaling both of its wings. But a simple aerial spin from the beast threw them into a wall as Ruby ran closer to Weiss, drawing the Hound's attention more now as Penny's scent grew stronger there.
"What's your plan, Ruby?" Weiss asked now.
"It's after Penny's scent." Ruby stated as she dodged an extended arm sent her way. "We throw it off."
With that idea in mind, Weiss formed a gravity well Glyph beneath the Hound to try and ground it. Blake wrapped Gambol Shroud around it's leg and pulled as hard as she could, The beast was starting to thrash as Ruby sped towards it with her semblance, splitting into rose petals around it when it attempted to slash at her before slicing off one of its wings, causing it to hit the ground hard.
"Hey, it's me you want isn't it?!" Ruby taunted as the Hound stood itself up, destroying Weiss's glyph by digging its claws into it.
It ran for Ruby, who strafed around it with her semblance and blew a raspberry at it from behind. "Too slow!"
It snarled now. "Take the girl…" it spoke as a bolt of electricity struck it from behind, this one having fired from one of Weiss's glyphs. "I thought you wanted me!" Weiss called out now from it's other flank, making it divert it's attention from Ruby.
It charged Weiss, but found itself shoved back by a propulsion glyph and blasted in the face by some shots from Gambol Shroud's pistol that started to freeze its body slightly from the impact.
The Hound's senses were completely thrown off by Ruby and Weiss both carrying the scent of the one who it needed, but it also sensed Whitley standing still, meaning that this one had to be the right target! It ran for Whitley now who started to take a step back, before a wind glyph formed in front of it, blew it back down the stairs.
"You're not going anywhere!" Weiss shouted as Ruby and her rushed the creature.
It's first swipe at Weiss ended with a sliced off arm via Crescent Rose, while Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into its shoulder, making it stagger back.
Blake was next up and she rammed straight into the Hound only to back off as a stone clone was what actually hit it.
The Hound started to grow its missing arm back and sniffed the air, opening its mouth in what one would almost mistake for a smile as Ruby's eyes widened in surprise.
"Penny what are you doing here?!" she shouted at her as Penny's eyes were a bright red now.
"I must open the vault… And self terminate." She repeated that simple directive.
The Hound immediately ran for Penny, knocking aside both Weiss and Blake who were attempting to intercept it, while Ruby stood in shocked disbelief at the words Penny spoke. "Penny, snap out of it!" she demanded as the Hound swung at her with its arm.
A single hand raised from Penny blocked the Hound's attack. "Anyone interfering with this directive will be forced to move." her back opened up, but before any of her Floating Array swords could emerge, another arm emerged from the Hound's back and grabbed Penny's head, slamming her into the ground harshly, knocking her out cold.
Ruby then aimed Crescent Rose right at the creature while Weiss and Blake stumbled to their feet beside her.
It held Penny in front of it like a human shield. Ruby gasped and lowered her weapon as the Hound licked its teeth, seemingly victorious now.
A strong emotion overcame Ruby at that moment, when she dropped her weapon to the ground and stared angrily at the creature. "That's enough." her eyes lit up brightly and finally activated, blasting the Hound back through the window, causing it to release its grip on Penny, who tumbled down the stairs.
The trio quickly moved to help Penny who was unconscious again when the Hound's arm shot up from behind the stained glass window at the top of the central stairs. It grasped tightly onto the ground, digging its claws in before pulling itself up.
"Take… the girl…" a weaker, notably more human sounding voice spoke up. Ruby's eyes now widened in shock as Blake immediately opened fire on the creature while Weiss was starting to drag Penny away.
The Hound continued to walk down the stairs, the head of a silver-eyed fox faunus underneath its own was clearly visible, now.
Ruby was backing away with the others, Crescent Rose wasn't in her hand, and her shock didn't give her the right mindset for her eyes, so she was defenseless.
"Take the girl…"
"W-What?" Ruby fell backwards as the Hound grew closer, its head starting to reform.
"Take. The. GIRL!"
She started backing herself away as its head finished reforming. Before it could get any closer, one of the Arma Gigas statues in the entrance hall crashed right down onto the Hound, killing it instantly.
Willow and Whitley both heaved in exhaustion from such a heavy push.
Ruby could only stare now as she watched the Grimm begin to fade, only there was something left behind… Something that Ruby knew would haunt her nightmares for the foreseeable future.
"What exactly was that thing?" Weiss asked in complete confusion.
"It was a Grimm, wasn't it?" Blake crossed her arms.
"B-But… It was also… A person…" Ruby's eyes glanced away as tears started to form in them.
The skeletal hand of the person used to create the Hound stuck out of the rubble of the Arma Gigas statue.
Commentary: Well here we are, at Chapter 9 of Volume 8 and I will say, the next two chapters won't be quite as long as this one, but chapter twelve will definitely be comparable in length to this one. Where do I even start with this one?
Admittedly, this chapter took a drastic turn from the original one in tone, given how the original Dark was more of a horror oriented chapter, and this one turned into a more action-oriented one. I really couldn't compromise between action and horror for this chapter completely. That's not to say there aren't horror elements here, but the big tone of this chapter is generally just more action than horror and I'm honestly okay with that here since we got some fun fights.
The song I used here for Blake's fight with the Cenitaur is the song from her Death Battle against Mikasa. I actually wrote it out before the Death Battle came out, but "Thunder Shroud" actually synced up really well with what I had in mind for that scene, so I decided to add it in here.
Now, you may think I nerfed the Hound here, but I don't think I did, if anything I did kind of buff it at points because in the show proper, the Hound is shown to never be the type to take a direct combative approach with our main cast, as shown with it's tendency to try to ambush its targets when their guard is lowered. A direct fight with multiple targets is something it knows will be a hard time, so it tries to avoid that. At least, until it's all out of options.
Another factor that really led to this fight being in the favor of RWB is the fact that Ruby and Weiss carried Penny's scent on them, which would just disorient the Hound further, something that I'm almost certain that Ruby would exploit the moment she realized why it was attracted to her in the first place.
Apart from that, the interactions were nice, with Weiss and her brother, and even Willow finally deciding to "Mother" up for once.
Next we'll check up on everyone's "favorite" fall Maiden...