Chapter 4
The Closer You Get
Hiroki was flying above Yang as she drove with the stranger.
'What is she thinking?'
They stopped and Hiroki remained above them.
The stranger got off Yang's bike and went into the woods.
'And it's a trap.'
And sure enough someone shot at Yang and she quickly blocked it.
Hiroki readied his swords but Yang held her hand up.
He stopped and waited on top of a nearby tree.
The Stranger told Yang where the camp was and that they were going to take her bike and she was going to take her lumps.
Yang readied her one weapon and her robotic arm.
"Get her!"
The stranger shouted.
The group ran at Yang.
They were all knocked out in less than a minute.
She punched the stranger into another guy and then gripped her real arm which was shaking.
Hiroki landed and punched the stranger in the face, properly knocking him out.
"I had this covered."
Yang said to him.
"This guy is just lucky I didn't draw my sword."
He noticed Yang was looking towards where the Stranger said the camp was.
"What are you looking for?"
Hiroki asked.
"A quick way back to my sister."
Yang responded while walking away.
Meanwhile at Mistral…
Shade and Ruby were facing each other.
Ruby had been training with Oscar/Ozpin lately so both herself and Oscar have gotten better at hand to hand combat.
"I don't see how this is fair, Shade has gauntlets he'll obviously hit harder."
Shade just shook his head.
Oscar who was currently Ozpin at the moment spoke.
"Mr.Leaf here is the best at hand to hand combat at the moment it would be best if you test against him before we let you go against Oscar."
Shade sighed a little.
"Fine but i warn you."
He takes his left gauntlet off and drops it on the ground making a loud thump.
"You'll regret this decision."
He dropped his other gauntlet causing another loud thump.
"He was wearing those things on his arms?"
Oscar questioned
"How long has he been wearing those?"
He asked Jaune.
"He hasn't taken them off since he got them."
Jaune responded.
"And he had at least one of those on all the time back at Beacon."
Oscar looked back at Shade.
Shade faced Ruby.
"I know you're faster with your semblance Ruby."
He took a stance.
"But i'm faster now."
Shade ran at Ruby.
He started with a right punch which Ruby blocked with her left arm.
She didn't have time to react to Shade's left hook punching her back.
"I trained with your sister a lot back then."
Shade said running towards Ruby.
Ruby ducked under Shade's next punch and then punched Shade in the stomach.
He took a step back.
"So have i."
Shade and Ruby ran at each other and began to punch and block each of their attacks.
Neither of them appeared to have the advantage.
'Guess I'll get serious.'
Shade thought to himself
He ran straight at Ruby who threw a punch at Shade.
Shade quickly ducked and spinned his leg causing Ruby to fall.
He quickly stood up and began to attempt to punch Ruby down.
Just before he did Shade saw someone else instead of Ruby.
A White Haired Girl in Silver Battle Armor and had the same eyes as Ruby.
Shade immediately took a step back and put his hands on his face.
He was shaking.
"Shade?"
Ruby asked as Shade moved his hands off his face.
Shade had tears in his eyes.
He wiped them off.
"Are you ok?"
Shade stopped shaking.
"Y-yeah i don't know what happened."
He walked past Ruby and put his gauntlets back on.
"She's ready."
He said as he walked past Oscar and the others and leaned against a wall.
A bit of time passed and Shade was still trying to figure out what happened.
'I've never seen that girl before. Why did I see her.'
He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the group talk about semblances.
"Ruby moves super fast. Electricity makes me stronger. Ren can mask emotions. Jaune can uhhh"
Nora explained.
"I haven't figured out mine yet."
Jaune said.
Ruby brought Oscar to him.
"Jaune's like you. He hasn't figured his semblance out but we know he's got one."
"She's right."
Shade said walking back to them.
"It takes time, practice or even just a trigger but you can unlock it."
"What's your semblance?"
Oscar asked curiously.
Shade held his hand in front of him.
A shadow version of Oscar began to rise from Oscar's feet.
Oscar backed up a bit as the shadow version of him poked the real him in the head.
"Shadow manipulation."
He made the shadow Oscar return to the ground.
"I can channel all shadows around me and make them into solid form."
His own shadow went to his gauntlet turning it black.
"I can even use shadows to amplify strength in certain items, it does not work on the actual body for some reason though."
His shadow vanished
'That's not all he can do.'
Oscar heard Ozpin say.
'Huh?'
Oscar responded mentally.
"It's hard to know when you know sometimes. Ren's semblance was unlocked through intense stress."
Nora said
"And mine kicked in during training one day."
Ruby added,
They all looked at Nora.
"Struck by lightning, did not die, crazy Thursday."
Oscar looked at Shade.
"And you?"
Shade held his head thinking back to when he first unlocked his semblance.
"Shade?"
He looked at Ruby.
"It's fine."
He took a deep breath.
"My semblance unlocked the moment that what I truly wanted and hoped for was ripped away leaving only despair."
Shade looked at each of them.
"It unlocked the moment right before I had to kill my own parents."
The others looked at him in shock.
Meanwhile…
Yang and Hiroki were walking side by side into Raven's camp.
They were escorted by some of Raven's people.
Hiroki refused to make eye contact with any of them.
Yang kept a scowl on her face.
While this was happening Weiss noticed the people were distracted.
Weiss started to focus.
There was rustling in the woods and a small smirk covered in shadows.
Dawn began her plan.
Hiroki and Yang were brought to the big tent.
They walked a few feet close to it.
Raven came out of the tent wearing her mask.
"Mom."
Yang responded.
Raven took off her mask.
"I see a weapon of our clan has brought you to me."
She responded looking at Hiroki.
"Not really he just needed a ride and he decided to hang around me."
Raven smiled and put her mask down.
"So after all this time you finally decided to visit me."
Yang's arm was shaking so she held it with her prosthetic hand.
"I don't know why you're back though."
Raven said, looking at Hiroki.
"I decided to see how this ends."
Yang decided to speak up.
"You know I've searched for you."
She told Raven.
"I spent years looking for you"
"And you found me. You were patient, determined and strong enough to make your dream a reality. Well done Yang but did you have to be so rough with my men?"
"How do you know he wasn't?"
Raven scowled.
"Cause if he did i doubt any of them would be alive."
Yang looked at Hiroki then at Raven.
"Did he tell you? I trained him to be who he is today. All so he could get his little revenge. That did him no good though and now he has to live with a nasty scar across his eye."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Yang asked him.
"I didn't know she was your mom."
Hiroki responded with simplicity.
"Right, I'm sure this is all very overwhelming. But i must admit you have proven yourself."
Raven said to Yang.
"So any questions you have i'll be happy to answer.You can stay with us tonight and as an added bonus i won't execute Hiroki for desertion since he's your friend."
"That's not why i'm here."
Yang responded.
Hiroki stepped back.
"What was that?"
Raven questioned.
"I'm not here for you. Ruby and Shade are somewhere in Mistral. They're with Qrow and they are going to need our help. I just need you take us to her."
"And why would i do that?"
"Because we're family."
Raven scoffed at that word.
"Family. Only coming around when they need something."
Raven started to walk away then looked at Yang again.
"I have to say i'm disappointed. Afterall you found me and him didn't you? Why not use that drive to find your sister and friend if they mean that much to you."
"Because you're going to save us time."
Yang responded.
"Dad told me how your semblance works."
"Tai."
"You can bond with certain people and you make a portal that takes you straight to them. You've got one for Dad, one for me, and one for Qrow."
She looks at Hiroki.
"And from what I can tell, probably for him as well."
Hiroki hid a confused look.
Yang looked back at Raven.
"He promised me he'd watch out for Ruby before she left and I trust him.So make a portal to my Uncle and sister and we'll be on our way."
"It takes great strength to march in here with a traitor and demand a favor from me."
"I have not betrayed anyone, i have done nothing to you or your clan."
Hiroki spoke up.
"That doesn't matter, leaving us is treason."
"Then these people aren't part of your group, they're your prisoners."
Raven put her hand on her sword and took a deep breath.
She faced Yang again.
"If your sister and friend are with Qrow then they are a lost cause."
"What does that mean?"
"You don't want to get mixed up in all of that Yang. Ozpin is not the man you think he is. Qrow is a fool for trusting him. I would know i trusted him once too."
"I don't care what you think"
"Your choice is your own. All I'm suggesting is that instead of getting wrapped up in something too big for you, for any of us. That maybe you take a moment to wonder if you're already where you belong."
"Save your breath, nothing is going to keep me from my sister."
Hiroki stood next to Yang.
'I fix my mistakes starting now.'
He thought to himself.
"Aren't you both stubborn?"
"I get it from my mom, not sure where he's coming from."
They both looked at Hiroki.
"I don't plan on letting my Team Leader be without one of his Teammates."
There was a long pause of silence.
"It sounds like we're done here."
Raven began to walk into her tent
"Take them away."
Bandits began to surround them.
"Did you not hear me?"
Raven looked at Yang and Hiroki.
"I said take me to Qrow damn it!"
One of the bandits ran at Yang.
Hiroki activated his semblance on his left arm and smacked the bandit away, knocking over a tent revealing Weiss in a cage.
"Yang?"
Weiss?"
Hiroki remained silent.
'Wait wasn't?'
Suddenly all the bandits weapons were pulled away from them and tied up into a net above them.
Hiroki looked up.
Dawn was above them.
"Dawn."
"Hiroki?"
She questioned.
"Alright well suddlity is out."
Weiss said as she made her Ice knight grow and break out of the cage.
She ran to Yang and Hiroki, Dawn jumped down next to the three.
"What are you two doing here?"
Dawn asked.
"Well that's my mom and she can take us to Ruby and Shade."
"Your mom kidnapped me?!"
Weiss shouted.
"You kidnapped her!?"
"Enough!"
Raven shouted
"If you people don't keep it together this place will be crawling with Grimm."
She sighed.
"Hiroki tell your friend to give everyone their weapons back, your other friend will get her weapon back, then we'll talk inside."
Raven went inside her tent as Dawn brought her net down.
Weiss and Yang hugged.
Dawn and Hiroki looked at one another.
"Don't expect a hug from me."
Hiroki stated.
Dawn just smiled.
"I missed you too."
Hiroki smiled a little back.
AN:So it's been a while. Lets just say January was a tiring month for me. A lot of family stuff happened causing me to be tired and uninspired. I had a lot of fun writing this though. So the HD of SHDE is back. Shade is dealing with more worries himself. And Hiroki and Dawn are shown to have gotten a lot stronger and skilled. What will happen next? Stay tuned.