Author's Headnote: Well, time for the Big Sad part 2! And you know that someone is going to die! We already know that Blake's not gonna be much help here... given injury and all.
And it's never too late for the suggestion box. In hindsight, tiny nevermore in a backpack is much more convenient for Blake and the rest of her team, and they don't even have to poke airholes in it since Ruby doesn't need to breathe. Maybe I'll use that in the Anima Arc.
Also, if you're wondering Why Ruby's not an "A" Student in math, the math teachers DO NOT like the way Ruby answers the questions, even if they are right.
So, without further ado, let's jump into the chapter.
RWBY: Festival of Blood: PvP
Ruby Rose:
Aura Status: 97%
Thirst: Slightly quenched
Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst
Grades:
- Grimm Studies: B
- History: B -
- Dust Studies: B
- Combat Practice: A
- Mathematics: C +
- Weapon's Smithing: A +
- Tactics: A -
- Training Missions: B
Vytal Rankings:
- Team Fight: Victory Against Team ABRN, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna has advanced to the doubles.
- Doubles Fight: Victory Against Team FNKI, Blake Belladonna will be advancing to the singles.
-Single Fight 1: Defeat Against Emerald Sustrai, Emerald Sustrai was disqualified for brutality, Blake Belladonna had received a severe 'injury in the knee, and thus cannot continue.
Team Relations:
-Weiss Schnee: She's been a lot more chill and friendly since she's been cut off from her family wealth... and started dating Jaune. Her sister thinks Ruby is weird.
-Blake Belladonna: Ruby's going to miss her, hope she gets better!
-Yang Xiao Long: Had to tell Sun that she's not allowed to drink liquor. The sister bond is back to its pre-vampiric state. Minus the waking up every now and then.
End of main character status report.
Beacon Academy, 4:15 PM, Sunday, JNPR Dormitory
"Well, what does it look like?" Jaune asked.
"It's shaped like a half-trapezoid, and has three ring-shaped holes under it." Ruby stated.
"That describes the lamp... that Pyrrha got... for the dorm..." Jaune said... in realization.
"Wait, Pyrrha stole it!? Did we actually know where she was during the blackout!?"
"Well... no..."
"Oh my god, she was the culprit the whole time! Right under our noses!"
"That actually explains why she didn't want me to continue the investigations after awhile."
"When did she started acting weirdly... before she lost those two months worth of memories?" Ruby asked.
"It was right after the first semester ended. In the middle of the night, we were decorating for Pyrefest and than Pyrrha said that someone wanted to talk to her... when she came back, she was being dissmissive about what happened. Other than that, she put up a smile and everything." Jaune stated.
"Hmmm... and she forgot everything right after Pyrefest ended?"
"I guess..."
"Hmmmm..."
"Hmmmm what?"
"Do you think she was hypnotised?"
"That sounds like it."
"Well, we're just entering a rabbit hole now, are we?"
"Yep."
"And well... I think the Hypnotist had... died?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I don't know, just a hunch, I think."
"Well... we really can't arrest a corpse."
"Ya... well... what do we do with the dust capacitor?" Ruby asked
"How long as Beacon ran on Backup power?" Jaune-counter-asked.
"About two months."
"Well, guess we're going to need to return it."
"I'll do it tonight. After the sun sets."
"Well, hurry up and take the thing!"
"Alright, alright! Keep it down!" Ruby said, heading into the bedroom where she took the Dust Capacitor from the room and proceded to head out of the dorm.
"I didn't even tell you where the capacitor was..." Jaune objected.
"Weiss told me where it was!" Ruby countered.
"Oh..."
"Anyways, I'll get out of your hair and put this away." Ruby said, leaving the dorm. She than proceeded to grab her parasol and proceeded to head out. She figured if she did while the sun is up, she'll still have time to catch Penny fighting in the tournament. And wish Blake farewell. Although she'll just do it by text. Chances are, from what Blake told Ruby about her hallucinations, physically being there would only make things worse.
Beacon Academy, 4:55 PM, Sunday, Boiler Room (That's what it's called!)
Not much different from the one at the club, except there's defenses, albeit they are disabled for some reason. That, and everything's bit green and brown. Why? Ruby prefers not to question the choice of color. The defense turrets and cameras all around the area look either disabled or destroyed. Chances are whoever came here before was a skilled fighter. Which, again, signs point towards Pyrrha.
Ruby was walking through, looking for the generator room. She has the dust capacitor on hand, and she's not expecting any opposition. The young girl would figure she would just go in, put the dust capacitor back in before Backup-Power ran out of juice, and than get out. It's not that hard, right?
Wrong. Much like at the club, the boiler rooms are a maze. And she can't change to bird mode to fly over and see the map, she would have to actively guess which way was right... well, it was anything like the club, the generator room would be on the left. Especially since the other areas still have their defense turrets are still up and active. Although they would not be targeting Ruby since she's not close enough for their turret's range. So, it would be that easy after-all, just follow the trail of wrecked turrets. Ruby felt dumb for not noticing that right away...
Ruby followed it to lead her to the generator room, which has a vacant dust capacitor slot. Ruby pulled the sliders out from the slot and than inserted the dust capacitor... followed pushing the sliders back in, locking the dust capacitor back. Now that the main power's back up, things can go back to normal... minus Ruby's vampirism. Now she just has to worry about a misunderstanding. To avert this, Ruby changed into bird mode for rest of the time here...
She than flew and glided her way back to the elevator to take her back up the main floor. She doesn't want a misinterpretation of what she was doing, after-all...
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Jaune Arc
Amity Colosseum, 7:37 PM, Sunday, Colosseum Seating
The Colosseum seating, it can hold up to around 3,000 people. The seating surrounds the main arena, and is protected by a barrier which seals off any stray bullets that would attack civilians in the arena. Along with anything else harmful, of course. There are monitors that cover the fight as well, along with a box where the announcers will reside in.
Of course, Jaune already knew that. He figured he'd watch Pyrrha fight in the arena, root for Beacon and all... especially what happened with the Incident involving Blake and Emerald.
He was heading to grab a seat... that is until he sees...
Mercury? What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be on the first flight back to Mistral?
After Emerald damaged Blake's Knee, and basically made her physically incapable to fight... or move without assistance... she was disqualified and team CMSN was to be sent back to Haven Academy, with Emerald receiving a punishment, of course. But why is Mercury here, perhaps he hasn't gotten the memo...
Jaune than looked to his left for some reason, hearing footsteps... he sees... Emerald? Wait, what's going on here?
He follows Emerald under the seating and into one of the maintenance halls. Where he continues to follow Emerald heading out somewhere... perhaps she's departing a bit later than expected. Yet again, Blake had left Academy grounds an hour ago to go back to her parent's home, so... maybe the bullheads are arriving early? Even then, this is a bizarre place for her to board one.
That is when he sees Cinder. Jaune is confused to why they aren't on the bullhead back to Haven Academy yet, and still here instead. But no matter, he's gonna listen in on their conversation.
"Quite impressive with the legwork, Emerald." Cinder praised.
"I am to please." Emerald responded.
"Well, I am more than pleased. You've managed not only to cause a scene, but managed to take out a potential hostile for the attack tonight."
"What if she recovers?"
"A knee injury won't recover within a day. Knees are the slowest healing parts of the body, her knee won't recover for around a year, and that's with aura."
"Then I really outdid myself?"
"You certainly did. The audio caught up on the cracking, that shows how severe you broken her knee."
"I've heard the doctors saying that the recovery would take only months."
"Who knows? It could take months, years, but it doesn't matter, that cast on her won't come off."
"Now what do we do?"
"You come with me; you need to record the chaos that will unfold."
"As you say, Cinder."
What are they talking about... wait, that's a stupid question, they're performing an act of terrorism, he'll need to call off the match before the... and than Jaune tripped over and made a loud noise.
"Looks like we have an eavesdropper." Emerald commented.
"Well, then deal with him how you like." Cinder commanded.
"My pleasure."
Emerald said, getting her weapons out. Jaune got up, but however... is unarmed...
"And the first match of the Semi-Finals is... Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon vs Penny Poledenia of Atlas." Port announced.
"Looks like I'll need to keep you busy, how about a spar?" Emerald offered. Cinder was than seen leaving the scene, perhaps off elsewhere.
"No thanks, I don't exactly have my weapon on me... right now..." Jaune stated.
"I wasn't offering." Emerald said, using one of her chained blades to draw Jaune to Emerald.
Jaune was trying to get away... however, he had no way to counter Emerald's weapons, and he was unarmed, and has absolutely no skill in hand-to-hand combat. So he is, by all means defenseless and at the Mercy of Emerald, and from what he saw at the match, Emerald most likely doesn't have any. He tried all he can to get away... hopefully Pyrrha doesn't cause a scene whilst Jaune's trying to escape from Emerald.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Penny Poledenia
Amity Colosseum, 7:40 PM, Sunday, Amity Arena
Running Personality: Penny_Poledenia (SOUL file)
Combat Functions: ENABLED
Aura Percentage: 100%
Battery Life: 98%
Hardware status: Fully Functional
Grimm Prescence: 0
Penny Poledenia vs Pyrrha Nikos
Penny's feeling a bit out of whack, but she's still combat ready. She can get her software scanned for viruses after the fight. But no matter, she stepped up to the arena and went to greet Pyrrha.
"Salutations, friend Pyrrha! I hope we have a good fight!" Penny said, with good sportsmanship.
"I hope the same as well." Pyrrha replied.
"Now that's some good sportsmanship! Brought to you by Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Cereal! A champion's breakfast!" Port announced. as the platforms between the central platform have collapsed.
3...
2...
1...
FIGHT!
As soon as that was heard, Pyrrha had her javelin used a recoil thrust at Penny, pushing her back. Penny than responded by having her blades spin up and fired a couple of lasers at her opponent as a way to pin her down as she prepared an array of melee attacks, although Pyrrha managed to dodge the attacks carefully. Pyrrha than went and slashed and stabbed Penny a couple of times, damaging her aura. As retaliation, Penny prepared to...
ERROR: SOFTWARE MALFUNCTION!
Penny stopped in place and her arms twitched as she's stuck in place, being forced to resolve the internal problems. This left Pyrrha more than enough time to make a dent onto Penny. She went and made a basic three-hit combo onto Penny, a slash, a thrust, and a horizontal swing in that order and than used her javelin to uppercut Penny into the air and than jumped down and bashed her down with the shield and than jumped down to let Penny get back up.
Penny than got up, she was feeling more than hurt from that attack from Pyrrha. But no matter, she was prepared for what is to happen next.
"Just how tough is Penny's aura if it didn't take any damage from that combo?" Port asked.
"I am not sure myself." Oobleck announced.
"Come on, Pyrrha! You've got this!" Nora yelled.
Wait... her aura didn't take damage that means... her aura was de-activated during the malfunction. Her hardware is at 84% integrity, that is not good. She's got to strike Pyrrha before her hardware is further damaged by another malfunction. Penny went and lunged onto Pyrrha with her blades flying across her, she tried to parry, but she failed. Penny than went and zapped Pyrrha with some lasers and went and slashed five of her blades across Pyrrha, and fired an array of lasers, keeping Pyrrha on the defensive, a position Penny has concluded that Pyrrha is not comfortable with.
She's making an effort on Pyrrha. She needs to stay on the offensive, otherwise Penny would most likely get either torn to bits or lose the fight. She was slashing her aura down little by little, with the number of blades and slashing, she could only parry so much, but it was not enough, some broke through. With various slashes from her blades, and the occasional laser blast. Penny even had some hand-to-hand mixed up to it, as the lasers blasting, she employed some boxing moves... everything was in Penny's favor, until...
ERROR: SOFTWARE MALFUNCTION!
Penny had stopped again, twitching again. But she managed to re-activate her aura so her hardware doesn't take more damage. Pyrrha took this time to make a quick strike, forcing Penny onto the defensive. Pyrrha was thrusting, jabbing, and slashing her blade, but Penny managed to parry the attacks, some got through, though, damaging Penny's aura. After a while, Pyrrha bashed her shield at Penny, pushing her back. Penny than got fully functional yet again, and went to go after the offensive throwing some of her blades at Pyrrha. Pyrrha then blocked and parried every single one, and than fired rounds from her blade (in rifle form), and than fired another round (in javelin form) to thrust at Penny. The two of them continue to clash their blades until Pyrrha got the upper-hand.
Penny back at the defensive, she tried to fire lasers to give her an edge, but Pyrrha managed to block it with her shield. She has concluded that Pyrrha was holding for the fight, which is clever... don't go full-out at the start of the fight. So, Penny needs to give it her all as well. Well, she was. She's a smarter fighter, but she's not as tough, Penny sucker-punched Pyrrha and than proceeded to attack with her blades.
"Nothing like some good old fashioned dirty fighting!" Port announced.
"Peter, this type of fighting should be discouraged in arena fighting." Oobleck announced.
"It's not against the rules, though."
"I know, but it is still improper in terms of combat."
After that, Pyrrha responded with a sucker-punch herself. The duel had turned into a brawl, where the two of them went and punched each-other with severe might. Well, it's moreso of a boxing match than a brawl. Being that they aren't swinging below the belt or pulling hairs or using their feet. Just their fists. After awhile they proceded to go back to using their weapons, in which... Pyrrha seems to gain the upper-hand.
"That was unexpected." Oobleck announced.
Penny than slide back at the other-side of the arena, and had her blades in a circular motion... she than...
ERROR: SOFTWARE MALFUCNTION!
She ended up freezing in place and her blades dropped. Which means Penny is Vulnerable, and Pyrrha was charging at Penny with her spear, Penny, with her physical body paused and defenseless. She didn't know what to do... this... most likely end up having her cranial hardware damaged, which contains her primary drives, this would basically be the equivalent of smashing the motherboard of a computer. The suddenly her blades, glowing red, proceeded to fire a large laser toward Pyrrha, as she began to clash with Penny's face.
"PYRRHA! NOOO!" Jaune yelled.
"Cut the Camera!" Port announced.
The audience gasped, screamed, and looked afraid.
The end result, the spear escaping Pyrrha's grasp and tearing through half of the skin of Penny's face, revealing her mechanical nature. As for Pyrrha... well there's a mid-sized hole in her chest where her heart used to be, and her body collapsed onto the ground. Did Penny really damage her aura enough that it couldn't defend Pyrrha from such an attack?
As soon as the malfunction is resolved, Penny went and scanned for Viruses as she realized that she's killed someone. She than looked at the monitor... she sees that her mechanical nature is revealed. People know about Penny... but that's not what shocked her... it was the fact that someone managed to create a virus that managed to bypass Penny's software, and take control of her blades. She was being used, manipulated, but... by who? And what's worse, is that no one would believe her. So... she just stood there, shocked by the events that have cause Pyrrha's demise.
This is not she wanted this day to end, it's now the worst day of her existence.
"I said, cut the camera! Why isn't the camera being cut?" Port announced.
"What do you mean, you can't cut it?" Oobleck announced!
"This is not a tragedy!" A woman's voice is heard, followed by all the screens displaying a black queen chess piece and a red background. "This, was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to men who claim to be our protectors. But in reality, no different than the rest of us. Our academy's headmasters wield most power than our militaries. Infact, one had the guts to take control of both. They cling this power in claims to prevent conflict." The woman's voice added.
The crowd had stood silent in fear of what she's saying, and Penny was standing still out of shock.
"And yet, what do we have here? A nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly taking the life of a star pupil? And what need does Atlas have for a soldier to be disguised as a little girl? I don't think the grimm could tell the difference. And 'what?' I ask you, is Ozpin been teaching his students, or not been teaching them exactly... given that one of his own students have been dismembered, and now this?" The woman's voice announced.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses should be strong and prepared for anything. Yet, I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin has gotten more lenient with his training, leading to more decadent and lazy huntsmen and huntresses. And if the Pyrefestival incident was not a good example for you, might I remind you of the Blackout at Beacon Academy? Or the Nostferatu grimm attacks? Or the building explosion at downtown? Or perhaps, he was more than willing to let a tyrannical dictator with armed forces occupy his kingdom to do the job for him."
"Honestly, I don't have any clue to why all of that has happened. But what I do know, is that conflict is inevitable, and our leaders conduct their businesses whilst keeping us in the dark. As someone who hails from mistral, the situation there is... inverse to the one here, but equally undesirable. Our kingdoms are at war with grimm every day, and are at the brink of war with each other. And I ask you, how do you expect to rely on the huntsmen and huntresses to defend you, if they can't even defend themselves? And when the first shots are fired, who do you expect to trust?" The woman stated, the screens then turned off.
Then sirens are heard across the arena, informing of a level 9 grimm invasion, the automated announcement even announcing it.
A giant nevermore is than seen poking through the protective barrier of the colosseum.
Penny is just frozen, not from any viruses or malware, but out of pure shock and guilt.
"Penny, how could you?" Jaune asked in an enraged tone, he was behind Penny, so she doesn't see him.
"I... was not in control of the situation." Penny said, having regaining control of her head.
"Don't give me any excuses!"
"I am telling the truth; I leave up a hiccup whenever I lie."
"Prove it."
"My name is Penny Polledenia, My Best Friend is Ruby Rose, I am an Organic human being. Hic."
"Then, care to tell me what happened?" Jaune demanded.
"I had... suffered from a virus that had me malfunction, causing me to lose control of my body and for my aura to be disabled. I was lucky that I managed to re-activate my aura for the second one." Penny stated.
"Whether or not you are telling the truth. You took the life of my teammate. Don't expect me to forgive you."
"Like I told you, I had no control of my blades when they were used to kill Pyrrha. I did not wish for her demise."
"Was it your programming!? Were you programmed to kill her!?" Nora yelled in the background.
"No. I am a fully sapient artificial intelligence; my programming does not fully dictate my actions. The blades were in control by someone else. I was bound and defenseless in my own body. If that laser did not kill Pyrrha, I would have died in her stead."
"At least if you'd have died, they can just repair you!"
"You can't simply replace aura, Jaune."
Before anyone can say anything... the nevermore broke through the colosseum, the civilians were running for their lives and trying to escape the colosseum. The student huntsmen and huntresses were shocked and surprised. But Penny just stood there... not flinching.
The nevermore went after Penny, thinking she was a good target. But by the time the nevermore went for the attack, Penny had successfully removed the malware from her system. She than gathered her blades, and dodged.
But before she could lay on the offensive... a mysterious, gargoyle shaped grimm had jumped onto the nevermore. It had red eyes, goat horns, and the left half of It's body looked scarred and burnt, filled with slashes and burn-marks. The said grimm had then impaled the nevermore's head with it's claws, and grabbed Pyrrha's dead body.
In Retaliation, Jaune went and grabbed Pyrrha's weapon and tried to stop it! "YOU LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU MONSTER!" He yelled.
The grimm merely pushed back Jaune and than let out a scream, it then flew up out of the arena, carrying the dead champion with it. Jaune tried to shoot down its wings with bullets from Pyrrha's weapon (in rifle form), but it was in vain, because he had missed every single shot. And he was out of ammo.
"First, one of my teammates, a close friend, and ally of mine, has been revealed to me to betray me unknowingly, then she was killed by an emotionless machine, and now some grimm took her body!" Jaune snapped out of rage! He then went to strike Penny out of a berserk rage.
Penny grabbed the weapon Jaune was carrying. "Stop. I know you are upset, and you should be upset at me, but dismantling me won't bring her back." Penny said.
"I'm sorry, just seeing that grimm snatch up Pyrrha... kind of made me snap." Jaune stated.
"And I am sorry for your loss. However, I am not the one who killed her, my hacker was."
"And who would that be?"
"I would assume it was the woman talking on the screen."
"So, what do we do?"
"Well, one, we would need to leave Amity. Get anyone who's a huntsman or a huntress and tell them to get armed. We need them to defend Beacon."
"What about you?"
"I have to go somewhere; I have a purpose to fulfill." Penny said, leaving the colosseum. She had jumped down from the colosseum and performed her landing strategy. She used one of her blades to attach to the nearest object and than swing towards it to lower the momentum, this would break her fall. She than went to find Headmaster Ozpin, after covering her mechanical part of her face with a makeshift mask.
Character Change: Penny Poledenia - Jaune Arc
Amity Colosseum, 7:55 PM, Sunday, Amity Skydocks
The amity skydocks were filled stations to fill and store bullheads that are to leave or arrive to the colosseum, there are even slots for the Atlassian air-fleet for their much larger air-ships.
Jaune, along with his band of student huntsmen and huntresses, which consists of the rest of team JN_R, along with teams CRDL, SSSN, CVFY, ABRN, and FNKI. have arrived to the dock looking for a bullhead to get to Beacon. There were combat robots fending off the grimm from entering the colosseum. And General Ironwood fighting them off himself. He then sees the students.
"What are you all doing here?" the general asked, demanding an answer.
"We are heading to Beacon to defend it." Jaune answered.
"Well, you all are either brave or suicidal. This is a level 9 grimm emergency, you will most likely die."
"Like Pyrrha?" Nora asked, in the background.
"I did not order Penny to kill her! Nor am I going to have her go after all of you! Now get out of here while you still can!" General Ironwood demanded.
"No." Jaune responded.
"What was that?" The general asked.
"I said, no. We're going to defend our home. We're more than capable of doing so."
"Well, so be it. I won't stop you. Besides, the robots here are doing most of the work."
Aaaaand... suddenly the robots stopped glowing blue, and started glowing red. They stopped attacking the grimm, and started attacking civillians and the huntsmen and huntresses, including General Ironwood.
The members of Team JN_R were attacking the robots, along with the rest of the students, but Jaune and his team is the focus here right now.
Prior to evacuating, the huntsmen and huntresses have gotten their scrolls out to get their weapons, well... except Jaune, whose scroll was destroyed by Emerald. So, whilst everyone else is using their standard weapon, Jaune is defaulted to use Milo and Akouo, the weapons that belong to the late Pyrrha Nikos. Thankfully, given the similarities, Jaune can use Pyrrha's weapons in a similar way to Crocea Mors. So, he did just that. Using his techniques with Pyrrha's weapon, using various sword slahes and swings, along with shield bashes as he was striking down the robots.
As for Nora and Ren, Ren was focusing on ranged attacks and stealth, whilst Nora was baiting and taking the bots up close... set them up, knock them down. Jaune's impressed that his tactics are going well. Too bad they're quite limited without Pyrrha now.
But still, whilst everyone was busy clearing out Amity... Jaune only wonders what team RW_Y is up to.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Ruby Rose
Beacon Academy, 7:50 PM, Beacon Courtyard
Team RW_Y had watched what happened on the television back at their dorm. Yang and Weiss were outright shocked. But Ruby, she felt something is wrong, Penny would never do something like that. She'll have to talk to Penny when she finds her. But for now, Ruby has to help fend off the grimm Beacon, along with Weiss and Yang. Along with the incoming White Fang attacks. Each member of the team was doing well, and thankfully the robots were helping.
Ruby was dual wielding Slice of Life and Crescent Rose, using her vampiric strength to wield them like one-handed weapons. The drawback is, the recoil is pain to deal with when using the ranged features. She knows as she has fired Crescent Rose and being that it was only with one hand, only her right half of her body was pushed back, causing an imbalance. And slice of life was meant to be aimed with two hands, otherwise the blades would just hop back after causing an amount of collateral damage.
So, Ruby had an idea... she jumped and fired both at the same time. Causing the recoil fire-back to be balanced and a co-ordinated strike from the blades. Ruby put Slice of Life's handle away on her back and proceed to use just the scythe for now, no need to hold the handle whilst fighting, it'll come back, Ruby can be sure of it. She went and slashed upwards on the upcoming Griffon, and than jumped on it's back to use the knife to cut the wing's off of the gimm, and finished off the grimm by stabbing it's exposed back with the Scythe and than twisted and went to jump down as the grimm was pulled in half and disintegrated by Ruby's scythe.
And after that a pack of four beowulves were running towards some civilians, and by the nick of time, Slice of Life's blade came in and returned, Ruby gathered the handle and caught it, and than swung in the circle, taking out the entire pack with a single hit.
"Wow, Rubes. It seems you've got this. Mind if we let you take on the grimm on your own while we go after the white fang?" Yang offered.
"I don't see why not, make sure you don't need a caste like Blake!" Ruby said, waving towards them, followed by her quickly whacking the beowulf that was behind her.
Yang and Weiss soon headed out following the White Fang mooks. Meanwhile, she heard a large crash. And went to investigate. It was Penny. And she was putting something on her face. It looked like a combination of metals and plastics.
"Penny, what's with the... mask?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, Ruby! My skin was torn and I don't want to freak people out more than I already do." Penny stated.
"Everyone knows your secret. No need to hide yourself."
"It's not as much for everyone else, it's moreso... for me. I don't like to see myself looking like a machine."
"Oh..."
"Now excuse me, I need to find the headmaster!"
"What for?"
"I need to fulfill my purpose!" Penny said, running off toward the headmaster's office.
"Hey, wait!" Ruby said, chasing after her.
Beacon Vault, 8:02 PM, Sunday, Beacon Vault
Ruby was still confused to what's happening. But she was following the Headmaster and Penny anyway, whatever is in here, must be important. She doesn't know about this place, or it's purpose but the two of them look calm. But no less, Ruby had her weapons ready incase.
She had managed to make it across the end of the hall, there were two chambers. Penny had gone inside one of the chambers. Ruby had no clue what was going on, and she has plenty of questions. but she feels like now is not the appropriate time for them.
"Are you sure it's going to work despite your mechanical properties?" Ozpin asked.
"I have an aura, I'm sure it would work." Penny stated.
"Very well, are you ready to start the process?"
"Affirmative."
"Wait, what is going on?" Ruby asked.
"There is no time to explain, Miss Rose. But if you want to help, stand guard and watch the entrance. Don't let anyone get near the chambers." Ozpin commanded.
Ruby stayed silent and nodded. She faced the entrance, and got Crescent Rose out.
As soon as she did, she heard a lever pull and machine movement, along with Penny sounding like she's in pain, but is enduring. Which doesn't make sense, given that she's an android, how could she feel pain if she doesn't have nerves?
But short after it started an elevator beep is heard. It appears to be Cinder with a glass bow, she then fires an arrow which Ruby dodges. But it turns it out it wasn't aimed for Ruby; it was aimed for one of the chambers. The woman in the chamber then let out a final cry before finally collapsing and dying. A large glowing aura is seen travelling towards Cinder as she absorbs it.
Penny is then seen jumping out of her chamber. Along with Cinder's eyes fiercly glowing a bright flame.
"Go!" Ozpin commanded.
"Wait, why?" Penny asked.
"Regardless of your skills and combat prowress, she's too powerful for you to take on, now go!" Ozpin said, telling Penny to escape. "You too, miss Rose. You are honestly the last person suited to fight her."
"What about you?" Ruby asked.
"I'll need to stay here and buy you two some time." Ozpin said, getting his cane out in a combat stance, he then went and attacked Cinder.
Ruby and Penny took the time to flee the scene. They took the elevator back up, hopefully the headmaster buys enough time for the elavator to land at ground level.
Beacon Academy, 8:17 PM, Sunday, Beacon Courtyard
Ruby and Penny fled the scene. And soon after, a huge fire geyser is seen on top of the tower. It seems that not even one of the most experienced huntsmen on Remnant could stop her. The wyvern that was flying by creating grimm with the dripping liquid from it, is now resting on top of it.
Ruby went to her scroll to contact her friends. But unfortunately, the CCT appears to have gone down. Guess the White Fang took down the CCT in Central park.
"We need to stop her!" Penny demanded.
"I'll need to check up on my team." Ruby said, in a concerned tone.
"What about Cinder?" Penny asked.
"I'll see you there, I'll need to check up on my team. Make sure she doesn't get away." Ruby said.
"Very well, I'll make sure she doesn't get away."
"But Ozpin said that you wouldn't be able to take her on her own."
"And I'll have to try. Besides, I am combat ready."
"Alright, I'll go check up on my team, I'll meet you there. Make sure she doesn't leave the tower."
"That's what I said."
Ruby was running toward she had Penny, only to find that there were a couple of Paladin Mechs fighting a group of students... Ruby got out Slice of life and armed it with fire dust and fired at one of the paladins, with the disk getting caught on to it. She than rushed towards it and careful roll-dodged as the paladin mech explodes from the fire dust and the speed of the blade. Ruby continued to rush forward, catch the blade mid-sprint, and sliced the other one in half.
Everyone else watched in amazement to how Ruby managed to take down two mechs on her own.
"Sorry, I had to take care of something." Ruby said, whilst scanning the crowd for her teammates.
"THAT. WAS. COOOOL!" Neon yelled in excitement.
"Neon, calm down. There could be more coming." Kobalt responded.
"Not bad, Ruby. I still launched you across the arena, though." Arslan retorted.
"She still won the fight." Ren commented.
"Shush."
"It's quite impressive how she managed to take down two paladins with no effort when most of us have struggled to do so."
"Am I still alive? Yep, still alive! Great job team!" Cardin said, trying to steal the show. With the rest of his team gloating.
"Quit it, bishop. You didn't do anything against those paladins!" Coco objected.
"Yep. Velvet here actually did most of the handiwork." Yatsu stated.
"Awww... I missed Velvet using her weapon!" Ruby retorted in a sad tone.
"Yep, IT. WAS. SO. COOL! She went SCHLING! SCHLING! STAB! STAB! PUNCH PUNCH! BRRBRBRBRBRBRBBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBBRBR!" Nora said, as she keeps making weapon noises. Ren facepalmed.
"Hey, I've noticed the rest of my team isn't here. Where's Weiss and Yang?" Ruby asked. She also had noticed all of team ABRN, CRDL, and FNKI here. Three members of team SSSN, and two members of team JN_R. So... she's wondering... "Where is Jaune and Sun?" Ruby added.
"They were spending awhile in backside of the courtyard. So, Jaune and Sun went to investigate." Neptune stated.
"For how long?"
"I don't know, they've been away for five minutes at least."
"So... when do you think they should be-"
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Jaune yelled, carrying Weiss. Sun is also there, carrying Yang. Something must have happened if the two of them aren't returning on their own. What did her teammates encounter that they had to be carried back on their own?
Author's Footnote: The Big Sad continues. I've decided to rush in and speed things up here in the event because I wanted to get to the finale ASAP. In addition, I've forgotten my plans for the inbetween chapters because the COVID Vaccine messed up with my plans because I felt like pain for three consecutive days. And if you're wondering why people seem to react more negatively from Penny killing Pyrrha. Well, people found out she was a mechanical droid, and she killed an organic person. That has a lot more grief and backlash than vice-versa. So ya, Pyrrha's on the dead list. And being that Ruby did not try to stop Roman Torchwick, the robots would keep on attacking civilians and huntsmen and huntresses. If you have any feedback, leave them in the reviews, and see you all next chapter.