Hello my friends, I am back with another chapter of Black Roses. Last chapter we saw that Raven and Black finally met and we also saw that Yang is a pervert too, but who is the girl in the hoodie? You'll just have to read and find out. Oh I got some things to say. First, the main pairing of this story is Black x Ruby, so sorry to those who wanted a love triangle with Cinder, Raven and Black or just Cinder and Black. Yea, I was trying to wait a bit later into the story to put that below the summary as the pairing of the story, probably confused some of you, but then again I did mention them being the main pairing in chapter 1.
X3runner: Black never met Future Gohan before so he doesn't know his fighting style, and since Gohan is suppressing his ki nearly all the time it would make sense how Black wouldn't recognize him by his Ki when fighting him, like how Piccolo didn't recognize Gohan after he had his full potential unlocked in the Buu saga. I hope that answers your question.
Now with nothing left to say let's get this started!
Disclaimer: I do not own Dbz/Dbs or RWBY so please support the official release.
UPDATED
"Gaah!" A man was stabbed through the chest before being thrown to the wall by Black who was wearing his disguise. "That's the last one," Walking over to Roman and Neo who were waiting for him by a truck along with some White Fang members. "You do get messy when working," Roman said as he stared at the blood dripping from Black's hand.
Roman lit a cigar and got into the truck. "Come on boys and girl," Neo rolled her eyes and hopped into the back of the truck. "This is the last weapons cargo Atlas sent to Vale, right?" One White Fang member asked.
"Yes, it is," Roman answered. As they were about to drive away someone landed in front of the trucks. "Now I'm pretty sure that these don't belong to you,"
"Saiyaman!" One of the White Fangs members shouted.
"Oh you're here, great, I was beginning to get worry that these little robberies were a bit too easy," Roman said.
"Stealing is a bad thing to do," Saiyaman said,
"Stealing? We're not stealing; we're merely… borrowing these weapons for a class project." Roman retorted. Neo and the other Fang members deadpanned. "You literality just said we were doing small robberies five seconds ago." They thought.
Black jumped on top of the truck Roman was in and glared at Saiyaman. "Oh it's you, are you ready for another fight mister. I promise that I won't go easy on you anymore." From behind the mask, Black smirked. "Oh really, you were going easy on me? I think I should be saying that." Black blasted towards Saiyaman leaving a dent on the truck. Saiyaman crossed his arms and received a powerful blow sending flying into an abandoned building. Black chased after him and fired small ki blasts at him. From outside small explosions were seen from within the building. "Whelp, so much for lying low." Roman said.
Ever since the event from the shipyard, Cinder ordered them to keep the robberies low and quiet. But it was kind of impossible for Black to do since every time Saiyaman showed up, he would start fighting him. "It almost seems like he wants Saiyaman to show up on our robberies." Neo nodded in agreement.
Black was sent flying out the building and crashed into a parked car. He quickly got up and skipped to the side when Saiyaman tried planting his foot on him. Skipping forward Black let out a combination of kicks and punches with Saiyaman doing the same. Small cracks on the ground were seen from each time their fists or kicks collided with another.
Black blocked two blows with his forearms then kicked Saiyaman with his right leg and spun around and kicked him in the chest, sending him back. Saiyaman skidded on the ground before using his arms to flip himself back on his feet. He cupped his hands in front of him and fired a dozen of small ki blasts. Black grabbed a car and threw it at him, the ki blasts shredding through the car before causing it to explode. Saiyaman looked up and saw the masked man coming straight at him. Lifting his hand he caught the masked man's fist. The impact caused the ground to break. Saiyaman gritted his teeth while behind the mask Black was grinning.
Saiyaman released the masked man's fist and they began another combination of attacks with Saiyaman being pushed. "He's faster than before!" Gohan was mostly on the defense right now. The masked man spun around and tried hitting him with the back part of his fist but Saiyaman leaned back dodging the attack. Using his hands Saiyaman caught himself then propelled upwards planting both his feet onto the masked man's chest, sending him flying up.
Black caught himself in the air before lifting his hand up and created a medium size yellow and black ki ball. Saiyaman's eyes widen, looking around he saw several people nearby. "Get out of here- Now!"
Black was about to throw the ki ball but a voice from his earpiece stopped him. "Blaaaack, you there kid?" Letting out an annoyed groan, he used his free hand and pressed the earpiece. "What is it Roman?"
"We got the cargo in the warehouse, so head on back here."
"I'm busy at the moment, so I'll pass."
"Well, you see, someone here is pretty ticked off at you."
"Black," Cinder voice was heard now, "Come back, now. That's an order." Black sucked his teeth and looked at Saiyaman who was still standing down there. "Another time, Saiyaman." Black looked to the side, seeing a group of civilians he threw the ki ball at them.
"NO!" Saiyaman flew at full speed and stopped in front of the civilians. Using his hands he stopped the ki ball, gritting his teeth he pushed the ki ball upwards sending it into the sky. "That was close," Looking back at the masked man he saw that he was gone. "Darn, he's gone, again." Cheers were heard behind him. Both human and faunas cheered. Saiyaman waved before taking to the sky.
Black landed inside the warehouse and pulled his hood and mask off. "What is it woman? I was in the middle of a fight." Cinder turned around from Emerald and Mercury. "I clearly remember telling you not to cause any mass attention to yourself." She grabbed a remote and pressed the on button, turning the television on. "So mind telling me what this is?"
"Yet another clash between the Great Saiyaman and the Masked man happened just moments ago. In less than two weeks these two super beings have had several clashes since their first back in the Vale's shipyard, but unlike that time collateral damage are at a minimum." Video footage from each fight he and Saiyaman had was displayed. Cinder turned the tv off and glared at him. "Your disobedience is really getting on my nerves."
"Oh, my apologies, "mistress", I didn't realize that my actions displeased you." Black said with a sarcastic tone. Cinder grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to her. "Remember who you serve, Black." Her amber eyes glowed with fire.
"I'd remove that hand of yours if I were you." Black warned. Cinder gave no motion but continued to glare at him. Having enough of a human touching him Black reached to grab her wrist, but then a painful feeling stopped him.
"krkk," It took all his might not to fall. Mercury and Emerald had a confused look when they saw him shaking a bit. Meanwhile, Cinder was smirking as she knew what was happening to him. With widen eyes Black could feel his body starting to give out.
"Now, is that any way to treat your superior?" The pain within his body intensified nearly causing him to fall to his knees. "Salem," Gritting his teeth in anger he looked up to see Cinder smirking down at him.
From behind some crates Neo was witnessing everything. She knew Black was strong but to see him in this state where he can barely keep himself up was a bit frightening. Was Cinder causing this to him, or someone else?
"Do I have to remind you who is in control here?" Salem asked.
Black didn't respond causing the pain to increase which finally caused him to fall onto one knee. Swallowing up his pride he answered. "N-No,"
"Good, now be a good little slave and do what you are told next time." The painful feeling disappeared and Black breath heavily as a bit of sweat dripped from his chin.
Cinder placed a hand on his cheek and had him face her. "Remember Black, you're just a pawn in this game." With that, she walked away. Mercury and Emerald looked at him for a second before following her.
Standing back up Black made his way out the building. Outside he walked up to a truck that had his clothes and began changing into them. After a minute of changing he finished up by tying his red sash around his waist.
Black looked up and stared at his reflection from the truck's window. Gritting his teeth he punched the truck sending it crashing into a container. Some White Fang members heard the crash and ran outside with their weapons. Black looked over his shoulder and glared at them making them shiver in fear and walk back inside.
Whistle* "Wow, someone's moody." To his right Roman walked up to him with Neo next to him. "What do you want?" He asked in a serious tone.
"Just wanted to show you the weapons we stole, like this one," From behind, Roman pulled out a rifle of some type. "It's a prototype, instead of using dust bullets you use your Aura," Black lifted an eyebrow at this, "Neo, would you like to demonstrate?" With a nod Roman handed the rifle to her. A pink and brown aura surrounded Neo's body and the rifle turned on. A charging sound was heard from the rifle, aiming at the truck Black punched Neo pulled the trigger a pink and brown beam ripped through the truck and penetrated the container.
"Cool huh?" Black stared at the hole that the gun made. "The more Aura you charge the rifle the more powerful the blast." He then noticed Neo slightly panting a bit. "But of course if you do, you'll be absolutely exhausted," Roman warned.
"I see,"
"You know, you could at least show that you're little impressed by it." Black gave him a blank stare. "Okay, fine how about this," Walking up to a trailer he pressed a button and the side of the trailer slid open. He had to lift his head a bit to see the huge robot. "Black, I'd like you to meet the Atlesian Paladin, another prototype from Atlas military."
"Two energy blasters on each arm, rocket launchers on the shoulders, laser sensors, and the energy blasters can turn in to fists when you want to do some hand to hand combat." Roman said all this with a proud smile.
"We stole this today?"
"No an acquaintance of mines snuck some of these out of Atlas for me." Roman inspected to Paladin. "Should I add some other weapons on it?"
"I don't know, I'm not really knowledgeable about weapons. But think I know someone who would love to see this." Black said the last part to himself; he then felt his scroll vibrate. Taking it out he saw that it was his alarm, "I'll be heading back now,"
"Leaving already? Why not head to the club with me and Neo, drinks are on me."
"I've tried alcohol before and didn't like it one bit." With that Black took off. Roman and Neo watched his form fade into the night sky. "Hey Neo, do you ever wonder what it feels like to fly." The multi-color haired girl answered with a shrug.
5 hours later…
"I'm starting to consider that he's not human." Black thought as he looked left to right trying to keep up with what Mr. Oobleck was saying. "So students tell me, how did the faunas manage to defeat the battalion of human forces in the battle of the Ethereal Mountains?" Several hands went up, looking around Oobleck's eyes landed on someone. "Mr. Black, would you care to answer?"
"I don't believe I raised my hand."
"Yes I know, but I think it would be fair to everyone if you would participate in answering at least one question for the semester." Everyone faced him, looking to his right, teams JNRP, RWBY, and his teammates were holding up cheering signs. Hell, even the Schnee was holding one up.
With a deep sigh Black answered the question. "The faunas knew the terrain well enough to know where to set up a defensive position that would grant them from suffering any heavy casualties."
"Very good, the faunas did know the terrain of the mountains better than the human forces did." The bell rang and everyone got up from their seats. "Please read and do pages 305-315."
As the students walked out the classroom Pyrrha noticed her leader very tired. "Jaune, are you alright? You look more tired than usual." Pyrrha asked with a concerned look. "Yea, I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"Because you were dozing off time from time in class today," Yang added.
"He always dozes off," Weiss said.
"Yea but he even does it while walking now." Looking back they all saw him walking and sleeping at the same time. "Wish I can do that." Lewis said,
Gohan shook him a bit, waking up, Jaune looked around. "Who, what, where, when,"
"Easy Jaune, you fell asleep." Rubbing his eyes with a yawn he looked at his friends, "S-Sorry guys, I guess I slept on the wrong side of the bed last night."
"Clearly," The Schnee said.
Just then, everyone except for team JNRP scrolls went off. Taking their scrolls out they read the message they received. "Huh, Professor Ozpin wants to see us." Ruby announced.
"Same here," Yang looked over to Gohan's scroll and indeed they had the same message. "Do you think w-we did something b-bad?" Alli nervously asked.
"Well, we didn't do anything. Maybe he just wants to tell us something." Blake answered.
"Well whatever it is we shouldn't keep the Professor waiting," Weiss then walked away. "Well catch you guys later," Ruby said to JNRP. While both teams walked down the hall discussing that if Ozpin might want to talk to them about the events that happened at the shipyard again. Black stared at the message, for some odd reason he had a feeling that today was going to get pretty interesting.
After a couple of minutes of waiting Ozpin looked up from a report sheet he had in his hands. Both RWBY and BAGL, walked in, "I told you we would be cramped." Weiss scold her partner who was stretching her limbs. "I said I was sorry,"
"Hey, it wasn't that bad." Yang, of course, didn't have a problem with being cramped in the elevator since she was pressed against Gohan. "Stop you're whining Schnee, what's done is done, now," Looking at the Ozpin, Black crossed his arms, "What is it you want?"
"Black, a little respect," Alli lightly scold. Black paid no attention to Alli's scolding and continued to glare at the professor.
"It's fine Ms. Banks. Now, you all are probably wondering why I called you in here." The eight nodded their heads, "Well, a couple hours ago we lost contact with a nearby village and haven't been able to get anything from them since then."
"Do you think the village might've been attacked by Grimm?" Blake asked.
"No, there haven't been any Grimm sightings near that village for the past two decades. That is why I want you to go and find out the reason for their absents."
20 minutes later…
"Looks like the village is a pretty big one," Weiss announced as she looked at a map of the village. "Maybe we should split up, what do you guys think?" Gohan asked.
"Splitting up will help cover more ground but we don't have any signal on our scrolls to communicate with each other." Ruby said.
"That shouldn't be a problem; you see that little box under your seat?" The pilot said out loud. "There should be some earpieces and a box for you guys. Doesn't need a signal just put it in the right frequency and you're good." The teens all grabbed one earpiece and box and tuned into the same frequency. "TESTING!" Everyone ripped their earpiece out and turned and glared at Lewis, "Heh heh heh, sorry."
"Alright kids, we're here." Feeling the Bullhead land they all got up. The back door opened. Upon walking outside they noticed one thing was wrong. "It's quiet," Yang looked around and saw no one at the front entrance of the Village.
"Too quiet," Blake took the lead with the others following behind.
As they walked through the main entrance there was absolutely no one visible, hell there weren't even any birds or squirrels. They walked further down the road till stopping in the middle of the village. "What is this place a ghost town?" Yang asked. Alli shook in fear, "G-Ghost!"
Ruby checked the map on her scroll, "I think it's time we spilt-up in pairs," Ruby suggested, "Weiss and I will go check around the dust mines, You and Blake will go over here," pointing at part of the map, " Gohan, you and Lewis will go to the telocoms tower-,"
"Telecoms," Gohan corrected,
"Yes, that and try to see if you can get a message to Professor Ozpin. Black, you and Alli should go… where'd they go?" Blake pointed behind Yang, turning to the direction she pointed at; they saw Black walking down the pathway while dragging Alli behind the collar, who had a teary face and reached out to them.
"…I guess he knows where he's going." The group then walked their separate ways.
Black and Alli walked through one of the village's buildings which of course had no one in it. "It's weird you know, that n-no one's here. What do you think h-happened here?" Alli quietly asked. Unfortunately, Black ignored her and kept looking around. He then stopped next to an open door. "Don't all villages have weapons to defend themselves?"
"Y-Yea," She looked into the room he was staring and saw an empty room with empty weapon racks. "This is supposed to be the armory." He pointed at the name tag of the room which said armory. "Do you think the village was raided, by bandits?" Alli asked.
"I'm pretty sure if it was the people of this village would've used their weapons to defend themselves, but we haven't seen a single bullet casing anywhere." Now that he thinks about it none of the buildings have any damage on them.
With Ruby and Weiss, they walked up the steps to the dust mine. "That's strange," Ruby stopped and turned to her partner, "What,"
"There're tracks on the floor," Weiss pointed out.
"Uh, yea, that's what happens when you walk on dirt."
"No you dolt, look, these tracks all lead to the mines but some of them stop, like the person just… disappeared." Ruby and Weiss looked at each other before continuing up the steps, with their weapons ready in their hands.
Yang and Blake walked into a bar and checked the surroundings. "Hey Blake,"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think there's still some alcohol left?
"Yang, no, we came here to complete a mission that Professor Ozpin gave us, not to have you use this opportunity to get drunk." Blake strictly said.
"Man you're no fun," They walked around, checking rooms time to time.
"This place is really giving me the creeps. I mean no one is here, absolutely no one." Yang said.
"There are no animals too," Blake added.
Yang gave her partner a questioning look, "huh,"
Looking back, Blake explained what she meant, "Ever since we got here there hasn't been a single sound of birds, squirrels, mice or deer."
"I can understand the birds making a sound but deer, mice? I'm pretty sure they don't make a lot of-," Blake wiggled her cat ears, "Oh, right, you have better hearing."
"Exactly, the only noises I can hear are the ones we and the others make." They exited out the bar and looked at the empty streets. "Normally I'm a fond of the quietness, but right now… it's very unsettling."
"So Gohan, what's a radio tower?" Lewis asked.
"A radio tower is a tower that lets villages communicate with the Kingdoms or with other neighboring villages," Gohan opened the door to the radio tower building and walked inside. "Oh, what do they use it for?"
"Well, one example would be if the village were low on supplies they would call one of the Kingdoms and ask for some supplies, or another use would be passing on information on Grimm activity to the Kingdoms or the other villages," Gohan explained.
They reached the main door to the radio tower's circuits and control room. "Could they use to call for back up if they're being attacked?"
"Yea they could," Gohan walked in the room and tried turning on the lights, nothing happened. "Then why didn't they call and reported what happened here sooner?"
"…I don't Lewis, I don't know."
"Ruby, we've gone a circle again!" Weiss said in a frustrated tone.
"Hey, it's not my fault that they don't put maps in these mines!" She argued back. The two have been walking in the mines none stop trying to find the exit again. "I knew we shouldn't have come in here."
"You're the one who suggested that we investigate the place." Ruby said with a deadpanned look.
"S-Shut up," Ruby sighed and continued to walk. After a couple of minutes, she stopped suddenly causing Weiss to bump into her. "Hey, what's with you?"
Looking ahead it was a huge cave with dust extracting machines and wooden stairwells. "Whoa,"
"Weiss look," Ruby pointed, up across was someone kneeling on one knee and was holding on to a sword that was lodged into the ground. Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other before proceeding forward.
This isn't right, no ki signature, not even traces of anyone ever being here. "It's like no ever lived here." Black thought aloud.
"Huh, w-what did you s-say?"
"Nothing," They continued to walk down an alley. All of a sudden Black heard a splash by his foot. Looking down he saw that he stepped on some kind of black liquid. "W-what is it?" Alli asked.
Black crouched down and touched the black liquid with his fingertips; he rubbed his fingertips together as he examined the liquid. This stuff looked familiar but from where? Looking to the left he saw a crack in the wall where the liquid stuff leaked from. For some reason when he stared at the liquid he saw glimpses of all types of Grimm. "What the hell?"
Yang and Blake walked past several houses not really bothering to check them anymore. "Man this village is huge, huh Blake," No answer, "Blake,"
Looking back she saw her with slightly widened eyes. "Blake, what's wrong?"
"Do-Do you smell that?" Yang sniffed the air but didn't smell anything unusual. "No, what is it?"
Without saying anything Blake sprinted to the right passing other houses. "Blake, where you're going!?" Chasing after her partner Yang's nose started to pick something up. "Ugh, what is that?!"
Blake stopped in front some bushes. "Blake what is that," Yang asked while pinching her nose. The cat faunas gave no response as she continued to stare at the bushes with frightened eyes. "Blake?" Yang was now concerned for her friend. Looking at the bush she was staring at, she walked to it, the disgusting smell seemed to increase with each step she took.
Stopping in front of it she reached over and pushed the bush to the side. Yang's eyes widen, "Oh my god," Ripping her eyes from the gruesome scene Yang covered her mouth as she felt a queasy feeling.
It was a scent Blake was all too familiar with, the scent of blood. The faces of the people that her ex-partner killed and other White Fang members killed appeared in her mind, then a thought came to her mind. "The others they might be in trouble!" She exclaimed.
Yang's eyes shot up, "Ruby!" The two ran to find their friends.
Ruby and Weiss made it near the man. They both stopped because a low fog on the ground surrounded the area. Ruby was the first to proceed, "Ruby wait," Weiss reached out to stop her friend but then felt her foot step on something wet.
Black placed his hand on the crack, "This stuff, its same the stuff where she summons the Grimm." He closed his eyes and concentrated on the black liquid. A couple of days ago he found out that he was able to sense the Grimm. Not the same way as he can sense people by their ki but by placing his hand on this black stuff he could sense the dark negative energy they seem to produce.
After a while Alli started to wonder what her partner was doing. "He's been just kneeling there." Black frowned a bit at what he was seeing. "What the hell? It's everywhere." What he was seeing was a wide stream of connections of the same liquid throughout the village, and they all seemed to connect to one single stream that was in the…
"Shit!" Black quickly got up and ran to Ruby and Weiss's direction. "Black w-wait up!" Black ignored her and continued running.
Ruby kept walking up to the man, "Sir, are you alright?" No response, taking a couple more steps Ruby asked again, "Umm, mister, are you alone?"
Weiss bent over and waved some of the fog away. "What is this?" What she was seeing was a black substance that surrounded the area. Looking at it more closely she saw something in it.
"Sir, it's okay, my name is Ruby I'm a huntress in training from Beacon. Professor Ozpin sent us here to investigate the lost communication from your village to Vale. Are you alone?" The man gave no response but instead steadily stood up; the sounds of bones popping made her flinch.
Weiss reached over and grabbed the object from the substance, her eyes widen at what she was holding. It was a skull. Quickly turning to her partner she shouted. "Ruby get away from him!"
The man pulled his sword from the ground and turned towards her, raising his sword and then bringing down on to her. With widen eyes Ruby used her semblance and skipped to the side barely dodging the attack. The sword hit the ground causing a wave of spikes from the black substance to travel towards the heiress. Using her Glyphs she created an ice wall stopping that black spikes from hitting her.
The man jumped and vaulted over the ice wall and with his right hand aimed his sword to her head. Ruby ran at full speed and using her scythe she knocked the man's sword to the side. Quickly spinning around and skipped forward before bringing her scythe downward. The man regained his momentum and turned and caught the scythe with his free hand, surprising Ruby.
Now holding his sword in a reverse grip, he tried slashing her in the mid-section but quickly spun his sword had the fuller part of his sword face forward blocking a thrust from Weiss's rapier from the left. His arms were both occupied as he held Ruby's scythe with his left hand and blocked Weiss rapier with his right. He stomped his foot which caused the black substance underneath to Ruby to shoot up, sending flying backward.
Twisting his sword to the left he had the rapier go left along with Weiss. Raising his fist he aimed at her face but then a glyph appeared in front of him and blew him back. Landing on his feet he slid on the ground a bit before coming to a halt.
Ruby ran up next to Weiss and readied themselves, "Who are you?!" The heiress yelled.
The man gave no response. Now in full view they saw that the man was wearing black hoodie, a black armor chest plate with red marking all over it and black layered shoulder pads, black gauntlets that went up to the elbow also with red markings, the rest of the arm was just deathly white skin with red markings as well, black armored legs with the same red markings, But what caught their attention was the red markings looked like to moving and the man was wearing a white Grimm mask that resembled that of a dragon. "Is he part of the White Fang?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know but he's dangerous." Almost immediately the man slashed up causing a wave of spikes from the black substance to head straight at them. Ruby used her speed to move out of the way while Weiss used her Glyphs to jump away, but the attack wasn't over. The man continued to slashes at them launching more wave spikes to hit them. Ruby ran around the man, jumping over and ducking under the attacks while firing sniper rounds at him.
He easily dodged and blocked the bullets before kicking the substance which caused a wave to appear in front of Ruby. "Gaaah!" Ruby landed on her back. Weiss jumped from Glyph to Glyph before pushing off one, launching her towards the man.
The man saw her and then punched the ground causing a fist made out of the substance to come straight below her. The fist connected. Weiss felt the air leave her body. Quickly getting over the pain she saw that she was heading towards the ceiling. Using her Glyph she quickly froze the fist. She pushed forward and came falling down, before plunging her rapier to the ground, icing the area. Ice spikes came plunging out the ice. The man used his swords and swiped at them, shattering the spikes. Ruby appeared next to him and did several twirls and spins with her scythe, trying to land a hit on him. The man simply blocked and sidestepped the attacks.
Weiss joined in and let out thrusts and slashes at the man. Ruby fired Crescent Rose skipping her to the side, then fired again sending her forward and tried to surprise him with an upper slash but the man spun to the right letting the blade miss him by mere inches. He then ducked under a swing from Weiss, Ruby jumped over him and swung her scythe, the man rose up and lazily raised his blade and blocked it. Ruby landed on her feet, aimed and fired some sniper rounds at him. The man raised up his hand causing the black substance to rise up as well, stopping the bullets. "Huh?!"
Weiss came up from the side him and stabbed his left side, catching him by surprise. The man staggered to the side. Weiss used this opportunity and continued her assault, summoning several Glyphs all around the man she charged and delivered a slash across his chest plate, landing on another Glyph she rebounded and gave him another slash to his back this time. The Schnee continued rebounding off her Glyphs, too fast for the man to detect. "Ruby!"
"I got it," Ruby using her semblance joined in, giving her own slashes. The man's armor seemed to start to crack as the two teens continued their assault. One left a white trail while the other left one of rose petals. Ruby ran up to him, jumped and planted both her feet to his chest, kicking off of him she then switched Crescent Rose into its unfolded mode, charged and slammed the chine part of her scythe to the right arm of the man, shattering his Aura. He stumbled around before stopping himself and turned to face them again only to seeing Weiss thrust Myrtenaster to his chest and since she had her weapon loaded with fire dust the impact caused a small explosion.
The man slid on his feet before crashing into the wall. Weiss flipped backwards and got into her stance. Ruby stood next to her with Crescent Rose ready, both heavily breathe. "What's going on? We barely fought but it feels like we've been fighting for hours." Weiss stated. Taking out her scroll she checked their Aura, "We're almost in the red!" Weiss said.
Ruby looked at the ground and noticed that they were still standing on the black liquid. "It must be from this stuff, you saw how he was controlling it, he's probably doing something to our Aura." They then saw the man start moving again. Ripping his body off from the wall, his body limped forward before steadily straighten up. Pieces from the chest of the armor fell off and a deep cut was seen on his right arm. The man grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands with the end pointed to the ground. "He's going to do that thing again." Ruby said.
But to their confusion, the man stabbed his sword to the ground. "Is he… giving up?" Ruby asked. Weiss didn't pay attention to her partner since she was getting a bad feeling about this.
Growls were heard all around the cave, and before they knew it, 40 Beowolves and Ursas along with 4 King Taijitu swarmed out from the tunnels and emerged from the black liquid, surrounding them.
"Man I don't understand why the tower won't give out a signal," Gohan scratched his head, "Everything is in order so why won't it work." The half-breed tried everything he could but it still gave no results.
"Umm, Gohan, there's not supposed to be any Grimm here right?" Lewis asked.
"Yea?"
"Then why are they doing here?" Lewis pointed down the hall. Getting up Gohan peaked out the door, down the hall were 3 Boarbatusks and outside where a couple of Beowolves and Creeps. "Lewis, through the window now!"
Lewis jumped through the window with Gohan jumping after. As they landed outside they were met with several Ursas surrounding them. "Whelp, this isn't good." Lewis said.
Yang and Blake ran down the street only to be stopped by a King Taijitu that came crashing through a house. "Grimm!" Blake jumped on top of it and ran, doing quick slashes across its body. Yang fired some shotgun shells at it staggering it a bit. She ducked out of instinct and turned around. An Alpha Beowolf stood before her. She jumped back and flipped out of the way of its claws before firing at the ground sending her flying forward and delivered a series of powerful punches all the while firing her shotgun Gauntlets. She got down and swiped the Alpha off its feet and then using her right hand to push off the ground a bit; she brought down her left fist and smashed the Alpha's skull, killing it.
She looked back at her partner just to see her waiting by the dead Taijitu. More growls and howls were heard behind the two. Turing around, they saw a ton of Beowolves, Ursa, and Boarbatusks heading straight for them. "We gotta go!" The two ran back to the center of the village.
Gohan the Boewolf's claws from hitting him before spinning Muffle slamming it on top of the Grimm's head. Then spun Ruffle and slammed it in its ribcage. Then spin kicking it square to the chest, and then spun both his batons and fired them at the Grimm, he ducked avoiding a claw from another Beowolf. Lewis used the ax side of his weapon and cut through the Beowolf that tried attacking Gohan. He quickly spun his weapon vertical and had his double barrel pointed at them and unloaded all the rounds on to Grimm surrounding them, killing 4 out of 10.
Gohan skipped forward and kneed one in the face, then landed on his feet before turning around, leaning back avoiding getting hit from an Ursa and then uppercut it with Ruffle. He flipped backwards over a Boarbatusk that tried to catch him by surprise. Lewis saw the charging Boarbatusk, now using the hammer side of his weapon and like a bat, he swung and batted the Boarbatusk away. "Home run!"
Gohan looked back and saw more Grimm heading their way. "Lewis we gotta get out of here and meet up with the others." He ran the other direction, jumped and kicked a Beowolf out of the way before proceeding forward with Lewis following behind. "Guys, anyone there?! We got Grimm!" A voice was heard through the comms.
"Yang, where are you guys!?"
"We're heading back to the center of the village. Blake already told the pilot about the Grimm, he's waiting for us." Yang said.
"What about Ruby, Weiss, Black, and Alli?" Gohan asked.
"They won't answer." Gohan gritted his teeth, wondering if he should go to them.
"Umm, Weiss,"
"Yes, I know we're surrounded." There were too many of them for them to escape, especially with their Aura so low right now. "This isn't good," The man pulled out his sword and pointed it at them. The Grimm closed in and the two teens prepared for a big fight.
A pair of footsteps echoed throughout the cave. A figure jumped over the Grimm, "Black?!" Ruby and Weiss gawked at how he flew through the air heading straight towards the armored man.
With his fist pulled back Black punched the man with great force that caused his head to dig into the floor and spider web cracks to appear on the ground behind the head of the man.
Alli appeared in a brown-greenish puff of smoke in front of Ruby and Weiss. "Alli!" They exclaimed.
Grabbing them by the shoulders Alli teleported them out the cave but not on the ground. "Ahhh!" The three girls crashed onto the floor and tumbled down the hill. After a few seconds of tumbling down they finally stopped. "Ow, my head," Ruby rubbed her head, feeling a bump on it. Weiss got up and dusted herself, "What was that!"
"I-I'm so s-sorry!" Alli bowed in apology with teary eyes. "Weiss, she got us out of there, it wasn't for her we would've been still surrounded by those Grimm." Ruby defended.
Getting up, Ruby then noticed something, "Wait, Black is still in there!" She exclaimed, "We have to go back and hel-,"
A loud boom was heard from the cave and Black came running out the cave. "Black," Ruby was glad to see her friend come out okay, but then a wave of Grimm came running out the cave chasing after him. Ruby, Weiss, and Alli turned blue as sweat dripped down their faces, "Time to go," Ruby said before running back to the center of the village with Weiss and Alli following behind.
As they headed back to the center of the village Ruby saw Yang, Blake, Gohan, and Lewis in the distance also being chased by Grimm. "Ruby!" The blondie called out.
"Yang, we have to head to the Bullhead!" Ruby shouted.
"I know," With the whole gang together they ran back to the Bullhead. Ruby, Alli, and Blake looked back only to shoot some dust rounds at the charging Grimm. As they neared the Bullhead, a Griffin swooped out from one of the houses and grabbed Blake by surprise. "Blake!" Yang yelled.
Black saw the cat faunas in trouble, as he was running he saw a metal pole that was lodged in the ground up ahead, activating his wrist bracer he cut the metal poll off the ground and turned around to the left while grabbing the free poll with his left hand, passing the poll to his right, aimed and threw the poll at the Griffin. The pole pierced through the Griffin's body causing it to drop Blake.
"Go, I'll get the cat!"
Yang was about to argue but Gohan grabbed her by the arm. "Trust him, they'll be okay. Looking back at where Black was heading Yang clenched her fists. "Fine,"
Black dodged and cut through the Grimm that were blocking his path. Jumping on top of one of the houses he proceeded forward. "Where the hell is she?" He thought, he then heard gunshots and the sound of someone struggling. Heading towards the sound he saw Blake pinned down by an Ursa quickly sprang into action. Jumping down he grabbed a Boarbatusk by the leg and with great force he threw it at the Ursa, knocking it off her. Blake used her semblance leaving a copy of herself on the ground when she saw another Griffin try to grab her.
Black jumped up and landed on top of the Griffin back and stabbed his wrist blades into its head. "Come on, the others are waiting." Blake nodded and jumped on top of the houses and ran back to the Bullhead. Black ran through along the ground, cutting through the Grimm like it was nothing which shocked Blake. "He's able to cut through them all and still keep up, what is he?"
Back at the Bullhead the gang were firing all the dust rounds they had at the Grimm, keeping them away from Bullhead. "Hey kids, we gotta go now!" The pilot said.
"Our friends are still out there!" Ruby argued. She fired two fire dust rounds at a Grimm setting them ablaze.
"We're not leaving them!" Yang yelled, she ducked under a swipe from an Ursa then gave it an uppercut before punching several times in the gut, each punch firing one of her shotgun shells before pulling her fist back and gave it a strong punch, sending it flying into the forest.
"If we stay any longer, none of us will be getting out of here alive!" The pilot exclaimed. Gohan blocked a slash from a Beowolf and then swiped it off its feet before standing back up and stabbing his baton into its mouth and blowing it head off. He then saw a charging Boarbatusk and grabbed it by the tusks, lifting it up he slammed it back on to the ground and kicked into a Beowolf. A Creeper lunged at him but a Glyph appeared below it and launched it into the air before getting shot by some dust arrows.
"Guys, we have to go." Weiss tried to reason with them, they were getting overrun. Gohan looked back at his friends and saw the desperation and confliction in their eyes. Should he use is powers, he could easily kill all these Grimm but then he would be breaking the promise he made to his father. Then an idea came to his head, "Guys get in the Bullhead, we can use it to get closer to Blake and Black then just waiting for them here." Gohan said.
"Alright, let's go then," The group boarded the Bullhead and then headed to the village. "Anyone see them?" Yang asked.
Lewis looked around before finally spotting them, "There!" He pointed. The pilot looked at the direction he was pointing at and flew the Bullhead there.
"Black look," Looking above them he saw the Bullhead flying above them. The sounds of more Grimm caught his attention. Up ahead were more Grimm. "If they land those Grimm are going to tear the Bullhead apart," Black thought.
Seeing the Bullhead come closer Black mentally sighed and quickly thought of something, "Cat, jump now." Not trying to ask why Blake jumped into the air and using his right hand he had Blake place her feet on it before launching her into the air. The Bullhead flew above her and Blake shot Gambol Shroud and had it stab itself into the side of the Bullhead. Yang grabbed the wire and pulled her in. "Blake, you alright?"
"I'm fine,"
"Wait, where's Black?" Ruby asked. Their eyes widen and they ran to the back door of the Bullhead.
On the ground, Black was seen staring at them, "Black!" Ruby shouted in vain.
"Piolet, we have to land, our friend is still down there!" Gohan said.
"We can't, Griffins and a Nevermore are heading towards us." Gohan looked back at his leader, "No, I can't let this happen!" and prepared himself to fly down there.
On the ground, Black stared up with a slightly annoyed look. "What the hell are they still doing here?" He sensed the Grimm closing in on him, turning around he activated his wrist bracer. "Tch, you all are so annoyin-," Black's face turned into one of surprise when he saw the same armored man he punched into the ground making his way through the horde of Grimm. The man's mask now had a few cracks and red eyes could be seen throw the holes of the mask. "He's alive! Impossible, I could've sworn I punched him with a quarter of my strength." He thought.
A grin appeared on his face, "If you can take on one of my punches and still walk that means you'll going to provide me with a bit of entertainment." The man lifted his sword and pointed directly at Black, as on like a given command the Grimm charged forward. "Come on then," Black was about to skip forward, but before could make a move he suddenly appeared in the Bullhead.
"Wha-What the hell?"
"Black!" Ruby ran up and hugged him, after a few seconds of hugging she realized what she was doing and pushed him off, "S-Sorry, I was just- I mean we were worried about you."
Black gave her a confused look, "How did I get here?"
"It was thanks to Alii," Blake said.
Looking behind him, Black saw Alli on her back with her arms and legs spread out with sweat dripping down her face, but one thing that caught his attention was her scared blue face. "T-twice, I did it twice." She whispered, her body slightly shaking.
"You brought me here, how?" Alli sat up, "W-well, you see, my Semblance is teleportation."
"You can teleport?" Gohan curiously asked.
"Well, I don't really call them that, I called them jumps. The only d-down fall of my semblance is that I-I need to see where I'm going to be j-jumping to." Alli explained.
"What happens if you don't see where you're jumping to?" Yang asked.
"I-I might jump inside a boulder, or high in the sky, or in the middle of all those G-Grimm." Ruby and Weiss had a slightly frightened look. "W-Wait, are you saying we could have died when you jumped us out of that cave!" Weiss yelled.
Alli gained a teary look, "I'm s-sorry I wasn't thinking at all, I saw you t-two in trouble and I just a-acted on instinct." She bowed. Now feeling bad for her outburst Weiss tried calming the squirrel faunas. "I-It's fine, you got us out of there so you have my thanks."
Black crossed his arms, "Why didn't you all leave when the cat made it in the Bullhead." He said earning himself a glare from Blake for the nickname. "We couldn't leave you there with all those Grimm." Lewis said.
"You doubt my abilities?"
"Black we know you're very skilled, but even you couldn't take on all those Grimm." Yang said.
"They're not the same as the combat bots from Beacon. The Grimm are unpredictable, and when they're together they're a force to be reckoned with." Gohan added.
"Hmph," Black looked away, clearly annoyed.
"Guys, look," Blake said from the back door of the Bullhead. The group looked out and they saw the Grimm just standing there by the village. "They're not chasing us."
"Not even the Griffins and Nevermore." Ruby added.
Black narrowed his eyes; this had to be Salem's doing. Just what the hell was she doing? "We have to report this to Professor Ozpin." The others agreed with Ruby. The Grimm were pretty close to Vale. Gohan was debating whether he should go back as Saiyaman and kill all those Grimm but choose against it considering that his team and Ruby's team are the only ones that know about this, it would cause suspicion on how Saiyaman knew about the Grimm infested village. Ozpin was a smart and observant man; he had to careful around him.
"We still couldn't find any of the villagers; I wonder what happened to them." Ruby said. Black was about to answer but then felt some grab his shoulder, looking back he saw Yang giving him pleading look as she shook her head. He was confused as to why she didn't want him to tell Ruby about the villagers. He decided to leave it be.
10 minutes later…
Team RWBY and Team BAGL walked in Ozpin's office. "Ah, you're back, how was the mission?" The two teams looked at each other, "Not…not good," Ruby started, Ozpin's face turned one of that of a serious one. "Would you like to explain what happened?" Glynda who was standing next to Ozpin's desk looked at each one of them.
Ruby explained the events that happened in the village, from the disappearance of the villagers to the armored man in the caves and his abilities, and the amount of Grimm that appeared out of nowhere. Ozpin took in all this info Ruby told him, "So the Grimm didn't chase after you all after you bordered the Bullhead?"
"Yes sir, it seemed that the Grimm just wanted us out of their territory," Weiss answered.
"And what about the village's radio tower?" Glynda asked
"It was fine, there weren't any cut wires or burnt fuses, or any short circuits. Unless"
"Unless what?"
"Don't radio towers and other buildings run on lighting crystals?" Ozpin nodded yes, "Then maybe the power was drained from the radio tower."
"Umm Gohan, last time I checked Grimm can't absorb dust, much less lighting crystals," Blake said.
Black then decided to speak, "The squirrel here actually had an idea of what might've happened." All eyes were now on Alli who was sweating like crazy from nervousness.
"It's okay Ms. Banks, whatever idea you have in mind might actually be some useful information." Ozpin tried encouraging her.
"W-Well, I told Black t-that it might have been b-bandits that raided the village a-and caused the people to d-disappear and disabled the radio t-tower." The others thought about for a second, "Hmm that actually might be right." Blake said.
"What do you mean Ms. Belladonna?" Ozpin asked.
"Well, it could explain Gohan's theory of the power being drained from the radio tower." Blake responded.
"Are you saying that someone deliberated caused the radio tower to shut down and led the Grimm to the village?" Glynda asked. Blake nodded.
"It could've been that man me and Weiss fought," Ruby said.
Ozpin's attention now on Ruby and asked her a question. "This man, you mentioned him, what does he look like?"
"We weren't able to see his face due to the mask he was wearing along with his armor," Weiss answered. "But he was pretty tall, 6ft I might say, and seemed pretty old and broken."
"Broken?"
"Yes, every movement he would make caused a faint cracking sound and looked like he struggled to move, but that was till he attacked us. His armor was mostly black with red markings all over it. He had deadly white skin with the same red markings. His mask was white and boney like with some red outlines, like the Grimm but that of a dragon." Blake tensed up, this description; it sounded a lot like the masks the White Fang adopted. Is Roman not the only who is working with them?
"Another thing I want tell you, we only fought the man for approximately 5 minutes and we already felt tired, I checked my scroll to see our Aura and we were both in the red."
"You think he might've been absorbing your Aura?" Glynda asked.
"Yes, where we were fighting the floor was covered with this black substance. My guess is he was somehow absorbing our Aura through the stuff." Weiss thought back to when they were fighting the man, if she didn't notice their condition they were in, they could've probably died in those mines.
"I see, well I thank you for informing me about all this and I apologize for putting you all in that kind of danger if I knew that the village was infested with Grimm I would have never sent you there." Ozpin apologized.
"It's alright professor," Ruby said, As the group headed to the elevator with Glynda leading the way, Yang spoke up, "Hey guys, I'll catch up with you later. There's something I have to discuss with Professor Ozpin."
"Me too," Blake said, everyone except for Ruby and Lewis knew what Yang and Blake were going to discuss with Ozpin. "Umm, okay, we'll be in the dorm when you're done." With that everyone except for Yang and Blake got on the elevator.
"Now, what is it you would like to tell me?" Ozpin asked.
The two girls glanced at each other, Yang started first, "We actually found the villagers, well their remains that is." Ozpin eyes narrowed, "I see,"
"While we were in heading back to Beacon, Weiss mentioned that she and Ruby saw a lot of footprints that headed towards the mines; she said that some of the footprints just stopped midway like as if something grabbed them." Blake continued.
"She also said she found a skull in the black substance, she wasn't able to tell if it was a human or faunas skull." Yang added.
Ozpin was in deep thought, "Thank you for telling me this, I'll have someone keep surveillance on the village, and warn other nearby villages about this." Yang and Blake then excused themselves from the office. Ozpin stood up and looked out the window, "Master was right, you're finally making your moves, huh."
Back with the group, they were heading back to their dorms, trying to get some rest after a long day. "Are you sure you're okay?" Glynda asked for the 5th time.
"Yes Auntie, I never felt so alive!" He happily skipped forward. Glynda sighed and rubbed her temples. Gohan chuckled at this, "She really does care for him."
Ruby eyes were glued to the floor as she thought back why her sister and Blake stayed back. "R-Ruby, is something the matter?" Alli quietly asked.
"I was just thinking, what Yang and Blake wanted to talk to Professor Ozpin about. I can understand Blake maybe wanting to talk to him but Yang." Black was listening to this and deiced to say something. "Knowing your sister, she's probably trying to bribe or convince Ozpin to reduce some kind punishment a teacher gave her." Ruby thought about what he said, "Yea, you're probably right."
As they reached their dorms, they said their goodbyes and walked inside. Lewis flopped on his bed and immediately fell asleep. "I wish I could fall asleep as fast he can." Gohan said. Alli crawled into her bed and snuggled into her blankets. "G-Goodnight guys,"
Gohan was about to lie in his bed till he noticed Black standing by the window, looking out. "Black,"
"What is it?"
"You alright,"
"Yes, just thinking about what happened today." Gohan saw the serious look his leader had. "I can understand, knowing all those Grimm hiding in that village and that trap they set up, it makes you wonder if the Grimm aren't just mindless killers."
"They're just pest under my boot." Black said quietly. "Whelp, nothing we can do about it, I just wish we can tell the kingdom about this but that would only cause a panic." Gohan yawned, "I'm going to hit the hay, try not to stay up long. Wouldn't want you falling asleep in class like Jaune." He joked before lying down.
"Hmph," Black thought about the black substance. He didn't tell Ozpin about the black substance being spread everywhere in the village, from the cracks in the houses, and the streams of it traveling underground. Another thing he thought about was the armored man, he took a direct punch to the face and survived which means he's strong; he also seemed to be commanding the horde. Ruby and the Schnee mentioned that he used the black stuff as attacks when fighting them and it adsorbed their Aura too. He had to be affiliated with Salem, "What the hell are you planning now." Starring at the moon he imagined her smirking down at him which caused his anger to rise a bit.
In a castle balcony, Salem was gazing at the sky. "It would seem you had some problems with the task I gave you." From the shadows, the armored man walked forward and stretched out his arm letting a small Seer orb hover over his hand. The Seer then projected an image of team RWBY and BAGL. "I see, it looks like we'll going to be seeing these children a lot. Oh, and it would seem our little pawn is caught up with them too." Looking at the image of Black, "This might cause some minor problems, but nothing we can handle."
Salem looked at her hand as white and black aura surrounded her hand, "My lord is finally returning home after his long journey. He's going to like to meet our new asset." Salem gazed at the stars as a smirk appeared on her lips.
There, Cheeztiz Christ that took longer than I thought. Sorry guys, but college is not nice to me and my free time. So I barely got this done. As you noticed I did something new with the scene changes, I tried to have a suspense feeling in this chapter when I kept changing the scene from Blake and Yang to Ruby and Weiss then to Black and Alli and so on.
Hoped you guys like this chapter and the slight mystery I added in it and I'll catch you guys next time, PEACE!