You know what makes me laugh? Nut shots! When I see those in TV and anime, I can't help but laugh so hard that I feel like I am going to bust a gut. I know its painful in real life, but its funny in other forms of media. My advice to you all, wear a cup to protect your kiwis, I got hit there once when I played dodgeball and it hurt like hell.
Anyway, I am back with another Chapter of Remnant Unleashed and its now time to return to Remnant. I'm glad that a lot of you liked my previous chapter. If I haven't said it once, I'll say it again. It means a lot to me that this story has gotten so many favorites and follows, plus three hundred reviews, guess I am doing something right.
Now, onto the reviews.
Monster King: Thanks.
Jack Smith 1: Thank you. Sorry if I haven't left a review on your story. I've just been focused on my own stories and such, you can understand, right?
Luffy L Deathwalker: You'll be surprised to see how each of those characters will overcome their current 'predicaments' but I can assure you, they will have some help from several troopers, friends, family and maybe a Jedi. Ahsoka will be the hardest one though, but I think I'll manage.
Darth Cody: Thanks, and I do agree that Galen is better than his clone, but I like them both since they slash through Stormtroopers as if their armor is made of cheap metal.
Alright, reviews done, let's get this started. Disclaimers are the same as before, please enjoy.
Chapter 45: The Next Step
Within Salem's domain, Mercury and Emerald watched from a large window as emerging from a pool of black slime in the red and purple land was a large paw of Beowolf that gradually crawled out of the pool, slime sliding off it and onto the ground. More Beowolfs emerged from other pools while droid fighters flew overhead to various floating war factories that hovered over the dark and desolate land of red ground, purple crystals and a red and black clouded sky.
Mercury had a look of disgust while Emerald had a look of fear on her as they watched the creatures of Grimm emerge from the pools before they were quickly brought back to reality by the snap of gloved fingers belonging to Cinder. The two walked away from the window to Cinders side, who was sitting at a long purple, crystal table with seven chairs. Four of them were occupied. In one chair sat Arthur Watts who was looking through his Scroll. Tyrian casually crouched on his chair, resting his prosthetic arms on his knees while across from him, sat Hazel who had his arms crossed and appeared to be asleep.
Finally, there was Maul. Unlike the others, he stood at the window focused on several Widow's that marched away from the land. His focus was so strong that he didn't become distracted when he heard Watts speak to Cinder. "Yes, yes, please keep your posse in check." He belittled, earning a grunt from Mercury, who was ready to make a move towards the doctor but Emerald held him back. "You hear that? Silence. I've half a mind to thank the two that bested you."
Tyrian then spoke. "If I were you, I'd hunt them down. Find them and, well, they took your eye and arm, didn't they?" he snickered, getting a stare from Cinder who tried to speak but only managed to make quiet exhaling noises, forcing Emerald to lean in to hear her.
"Pathetic. Why did you even-" Watts began before the heavy metal doors of the room unlatched, causing everyone except Maul to stand as Salem entered the room. She glided alongside the table with soft footsteps before reaching the head of it, the jewels jangling from her hair. She then came to a stop, facing away from her followers and towards a candle/crystal display. "Watts. Do you find such malignance necessary?" she asked the doctor, gesturing for everyone to take a seat.
"I apologize, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure." Watts admitted, taking a seat.
"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She's become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So, I'm curious, to what failures are you referring?" she asked.
"Well, the girl with the silver eyes." Watts answered.
"Yes. We've dealt with their kind before. How is it a novice was able to best one of us?" Hazel asked.
"My thoughts exactly. Even without her new power, it should have been effortless. Not only that, her strength in the force is laughable. Not only did she fail miserably to kill the Invincible Girl, but she lost both her arms in the process." Watts agreed.
"It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness. Which is why you will remain by my side as we continue both your treatment and training." Salem explained. Cinder was quite unhappy with the situation and lowered her head while Emerald looked to her in sympathy.
Maul then finally spoke. "Cinder's training is detrimental to our victory. Despite the failure to kill the Invincible Girl, we have destroyed Beacon and crippled communications on a global scale. The people have turned to their fear and anger which have strengthened the Grimm. Our droid army continues to grow with each passing day, thanks to the war factories and Atlas is facing much backlash from all of their 'forces' that attacked the Kingdom of Vale. The Empire will no doubt return to the planet, but we must continue to press our advantage." He said, turning back towards the others.
"And what advantage would that be?" Watts asked.
"The enemy is still unaware of our objective or who the enemy really is. While they no doubt prepare for war against the wrong enemy, we should continue to secure our objectives. That being said, I suggest we send a division or two of droids to Vale, to keep the enemy from retaking the city and school." He explained.
Salem was intrigued by the idea and agreed before she turned to her other followers and gave them their instructions. "Dr. Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral."
"Very good." Watts said.
"Tyrian, I want you to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden." Naturally, Tyrian laughed like a mad-man, delighted at his assignment.
Salem then turned to Hazel. "And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting. The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same." She ordered.
"As you wish." Hazel replied.
"Be on your guard, Hazel." Maul warned. "I believe that Sienna Khan is not who she claims to be. A probe droid of mine spotted her conversing with our enemies shortly before the Malevolence launched its attack. She may very well be the mysterious 'Fulcrum' we have heard about and I have sensed a great deal of power emanating from her. A power strong in the force."
"I'll take the necessary precautions." Hazel told Maul.
"Maul will stay behind to help with Cinder's training and oversee another one of our 'projects'. As Maul said, one must always have a backup plan in the event one of us fails or is killed." Salem finished.
Cinder raised a finger that Emerald failed to notice until a moment later and leaned in to hear Cinder's voice and straightened up. Since her voice was still damaged, Emerald spoke for her and asked what they were planning to do about Ruby. Again, Watts scoffed and said that she's Cinder's problem and not theirs, which made Cinder glare at the doctor who only grinned at her. Salem then decided to change Tyrians orders from tracking down the Spring Maiden and bring Ruby to her alive, much to Tyrian's disappointment.
"Because of your efforts, Beacon has fallen. And Haven will be next." She praised before everyone rose from their seats. Tyrian turned to Cinder and snickered at her, laughing like a manic while Cinder gritted her teeth.
Meanwhile, miles away from the darkness of Salem's domain and in one of the forests of Anima, Nora and Ren emerged from behind a nearby tree, walking together and both of them sporting new clothing. Ren now wore a longer, sleeveless tailcoat with black and sliver trimmings with a black sleeveless turtleneck with red tasseled ropes over the hips, pants that got tighter below the knees and calf-high open-toed sandals.
Nora's retained her gloves from her previous attire but now wore a white sleeveless turtleneck top similar to her old one, but with a diagonal heart cut-out on the top, and a short detached white sleeve on her left arm. Over her turtleneck was a short-sleeved, navy blue bomber jacket with a damaged print of her emblem on the back and pink stripes on the along the sleeves alongside pink buckled cuffs. A pleated pink skirt with two wide belt loops for a matching belt and white layered tulle, knee-high pink socks and white calf-high boots with pink laces, black low heels, soles and toes completed her outfit.
The two of them were arguing about the name of their new team. Nora was suggesting that they call themselves Team JNRR while Ren argued that since they were helping Ruby, they should call themselves Team RNJR. The two of them continued to argue until Jaune reminded them that they needed to be ready for when Ruby brought their target out.
They didn't have to wait long for Ruby when came flying backwards through the trees firing Crescent Rose in the direction she had came from. Like the others, she also had changed her outfit. This one consisted of a black skirt with red tulle, overbust corset with a red strip holding it in place, black belt with a magnetic clip for her weapon and ammo, thigh-high stockings and red-soled black boots while still maintaining her traditional red cloak.
Following her was a collection of floating boulders and light blasters from an AAT tank with a Grimm mask moved the trees aside, chasing her and causing her to fall and crash against the tree limbs along the way. "Bad… landing… strategy!" she cried out, landing on her feet on a big tree branch that was strong enough to hold her weight before using her semblance to fly past the Grimm, which soon started to shoot at her.
"Let's get that thing off her!" Jaune told his teammates, pulling out his lightsaber while Ren jumped up into the trees.
"Don't forget me!" Nora exclaimed excitedly pulling out her grenade launcher and shot it at the ground, propelling herself into the air, landing by Ren on the same branch.
"We need to draw its attention away from Ruby!" Ren exclaimed as Ruby shot past them in a stream of rose petals.
"Could use some help!" Ruby called out. Nora was quick to respond by shooting back at the Grimm with some grenades while Ren hopped from branch to branch, the Grimm trying to hit him. Ren was quick to run up the rock arm, flew into the air and came down on the Grimm, striking it with Stormflower but it proved to be ineffective.
"We gotta get in closer!" Jaune shouted, blocking blaster fire with his lightsaber as Ren landed beside him, confirming his blades weren't doing any damage to the Grimm. Not even Nora's grenades worked.
"How about this?!" Ruby shouted, loading a magazine with a lighting bolt on its side into her scythe and fired. An electric bolt encased one of the Grimm's arms, but the red lines on the creatures' arms grew brighter as the Grimm slammed it into the ground, sending everyone flying backwards, but Ruby, Ren and Nora were able to land on their feet while Jaune tumbled along the ground painfully until he hit a boulder between his legs and fell forward in pain.
Jaune however ignored the pain and managed to get back to his feet just as the Grimm prepared to charge at them. Thankfully, the Grimm started to take fire from behind as Rex, Fordo, Alpha and Cody all armed with a bullpup type assault rifle in their hands. Their rifles were loaded with dust rounds which hurt the Grimm, getting it to turn its attention onto them. "That's got its attention, scatter!" Cody shouted to his brothers who jumped out of the way as the Grimm slammed its fist into the area they once stood at.
Seeing the clones almost turned into pancakes, Nora ran forward tossing her launcher into the air, transforming it into its hammer mode, jumped into the air and hit the Grimms arm, breaking it apart. A large piece of the arm flew towards Nora and would have hit her had it not been for Ruby getting in between her friend and the rock, knocking the rock away. The Grimm used its other arm to strike at the two girls, but several rocks were headed straight towards Jaune who managed to slice through all of them with his lightsaber. "Whoa!" Jaune exclaimed as he slashed through all the rocks, barely missing the last one that would have hit him in the face.
He and the others then noticed the Grimm's armless shoulder gaining a glowing red circle of an eye in the middle. The circle then spun around before a black, elongated arm with clawed fingers emerged from the arm which reared back and shoved its new appendage into a nearby tree which was soon lifted off the ground, much to Jaune's shock.
"Big mistake!" Ruby smirked and spun her scythe around, loading another magazine into it, this one loaded with fire dust. She fired and a flaming projectile swung around the tree arm, but to their surprise the Grimm swung its now flaming appendage around the area.
"Yeah. Big mistake!" Jaune shouted as he dodged each of the swings from its fiery arm. One of the blades from Ren's weapon spun through the air and made a cut across the Grimm's mask, causing the monster to fall. As Ren landed beside Jaune, the others came up from behind their teammates, each of them trying to come up with a plan to take it down.
It was then that Jaune had an idea. "Guys, I got it! We hit harder!" he exclaimed. The seven others were a bit confused until Jaune fully explained his plan. "It's trying to keep us from its face. If we kill the limbs, we'll have a shot to kill the whole thing!" he explained.
"Alright! Come on, team, let's do this." Ruby exclaimed in agreement, stowed her scythe away and pulled out her lightsaber. It wasn't an original double-bladed lightsaber as Rex thought, for before Ruby activated the blade, she twisted off the lower part of the saber, revealing that it was a split-saber much like the one Ventress used during the war, only the blades were green. Gripping her lightsabers tightly, Ruby dashed to the left while Ren dashed to the left.
Nora activated a new mechanism in her mighty hammer that sent a current of electricity across the hammerhead while Jaune and the clones ran around the creature, trying to get the Grimm to focus on them. The creature took the bait and turned its attention to the other five using the tanks blaster cannons to try and shoot them as Ruby and Ren attacked the creature while Nora charged her hammer more and more, bracing her feet. "Ready!" Nora called out.
"Use everything you've got!" Jaune shouted.
Ruby used her semblance and flew towards the Grimm taking Nora with her, sending a swirl of red, pink and green towards the tree arm. Ruby sliced the tree in half with her sabers, opening the way for Nora to hit the mask with her hammer. Ren was able to pin the left arm as the rock body shattered and the Geist Grimm rose out and flew off, but Rex quickly took aim and shot the creature, killing it. "Another victory for Team RNJR!" Jaune exclaimed.
Sometime later, Ruby was shaking hands with the mayor of the village the Grimm was plaguing. Since they were on their way to Mistral, it served as a good opportunity to upgrade Jaune's sword and shield before they continued and as a means to purchase more supplies for the long journey. Of course, the ever-grateful mayor wished they could pay them more, but Ren simply answered that their previous arrangement was sufficient.
Once their business with the mayor was concluded, the four teens made their way to the Blacksmith shop while the clones waited for them by the exit of the village. A large burly man with horns set down Jaune's armor on the table in front of him. "There you go, son. It's going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws." The blacksmith stated, proud of his work.
"Wow. Thank you. I appreciate it." Jaune replied.
"Don't mention it! Just put it on! I'll go get the rest." The blacksmith told Jaune who turned around and headed into the back of the shop. Jaune soon took off his old chest plate and turned around, only to have Ruby giggle at the sight of Jaune's hoodie which had as Ruby called it 'a cute little bunny rabbit' on it, to which Jaune clarified it was Pumpkin Pete and a prize he got from mailing fifty box-tops for it.
Ruby continued to laugh hysterically before she fell on the floor as the blacksmith returned with Jaune's upgraded sword. "Can't have a Huntsmen without his weapon. Made all the modifications you asked for." He began as the sword expanded into a shield. "That's some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?"
Jaune paused for a moment, looking at the gold accents on the shield which were similar to Pyrrha's circlet before he answered it came from a friend.
Later, Ruby, Ren and Nora waited outside of the blacksmiths shop before Jaune came out wearing the armor and pulled out his sword which expanded the shield. Everyone admitted that Jaune now looked the part of a Huntsmen, but Nora still thought that another grenade launcher would have brought Jaunes look together and was still trying to call their new team JNRR, but Jaune told her it didn't matter what they called themselves.
"You guys sure you won't stick around? You've been really good to this town." The blacksmith asked, but Ruby and the others simply answered that they had another mission: Make it to Haven Academy. When Ren mentioned the next village might have a working Airship, the Blacksmith simply answered that the village hadn't heard from Shion Village in sometime, so it was hard to tell if the airship they were looking for was still there.
Nonetheless, the group of eight decided to venture onto the next village once they were certain they had everything they needed. But at the mention of the Schnee Dust Company, Ruby's thoughts turned to Weiss who was all the way back in Atlas.
Speaking of said Heiress, she sat on a cushioned chair with her hands folded on her lap as she looked out the window of her home as airships flew by before a knock on the door got her attention. "Yes?" she answered. Entering her room, which had two large arched bookcases built into the walls and a picture of a knight resembling the Arma Gigas, gilded mirror and fireplace, her butler Klein Sieben entered, telling Weiss her father wished to speak with her. Weiss let out a sigh and thanked her butler before heading to meet her father.
And chapter finished.
Before I forget, Ruby's new Lightsaber is the one used by Cal Kestis's second lightsaber.
The assault rifles Rex, Fordo, Cody and Alpha used are basically the MA5B from Halo. I decided that they would need to conserve their powerpacks for their blasters in the case they would be encountering droids along the way to Haven.
Seems that Maul has another 'project' in the works that Salem has approved of. What is this project? Well, that's a secret for the time being, but it also seems that Maul senses something about Sienna Khan. Trust me when I say her fate will be much more different from canon.
Oh, and the reunion with Galen and Ruby won't be for a while, but it will occur.
Now, though this chapter stayed close to canon, next chapter will have a few differences from the canon. Until next time, please read and review.