Cooldude : That goes back to the early chapters, it's part of the Silver-eyed warrior legend Neo loved.
Neo skipped through the empty streets of Mt. Glenn, enjoying the little respite between two hordes of grimm they needed to clear.
Watching the White Fang struggle to take down the beowolves and creeps constantly attacking them certainly was fun, and Neo didn't even need to use Dust to kill the few beasts that went through the line and attacked either Roman or her.
It was better that way. She would rather avoid using Dust at all. Even if Cinder wasn't here, she didn't want to risk one of the goons forwarding the info up to her.
Roman took his sweet time deciding on where to settle down, letting their group scour through the abandoned city for a while before finally stopping in front of one of the several entrances to the underground.
"Here, this should do." said Roman, "Everyone go inside, we'll be using the ground floor as a base until we manage to clear the undergrounds."
The group carefully walked inside, and as soon as it was clear no grimm was around, they started barricading the place and setting up camp.
"Now, is there any bat faunus around ?" called Roman, "We need someone to scout down there, and I'd rather have one of the best suited to complete darkness."
Everyone turned towards Roman with wide eyes, completely baffled that he would actually suggest something sensible using their faunus characteristics.
"What ?" asked Roman, "I'm racist, not stupid."
Neo rolled her eyes with a small smile, and one of the White Fang members actually had the courage to speak up.
"Sorry boss." they said, "We're just surprised you actually care enough not to send us blindly to our deaths."
"Ha, good one." laughed Roman, "What's your name again ?"
"Perry sir." said the glass-wearing goon.
"Right, then, Perry, thank you for volunteering for this dangerous mission." said Roman, "That's very brave of you."
Half of a chuckle ran through the rest of the group, and Perry quickly found himself lacking friends around him. Turned out the people here weren't fond of running head first inside a grimm infested underground city. Who knew ?
Perry sunk his head low and dragged his feet towards the nearest set of stairs. He was visibly afraid of what he was going to find down there, but before Roman could tell him to move it, Neo grabbed him by the collar and dragged him behind her down the abyss, much to everyone's surprise.
"Wait Neo, he'll be fine on his own." said Roman, "You don't have to go down there."
Without stopping a single step, Neo grinned and winked at Roman, before disappearing with Perry down the abyss.
"Kids, I swear." grumbled Roman, "She's going to kill me from worry one day."
Perry stumbled down the last few steps of the stairs, and the two of them arrived inside a pitch black room. It took his eyes a few moments to adjust, but soon Perry was able to see as clear as day, which he found strange since he still needed a light source, no matter how small, to be able to see.
A unpleasant sensation ran down his spine, reminding Perry that a human was down there with him. One that wouldn't be able to see in the dark like he could, and that had been kind enough to accompany him down there.
He turned around, and quickly realized he had no reason to worry at all once he saw the woman's parasol glowing in a blueish light. So this was the light source that allowed him to see so clearly down there, and why he had this very unpleasant feeling as well.
"Are you... using lightning Dust to make your light your parasol up ?" he asked.
Neo frowned. The activation glow of her Dust was invisible thanks to her illusion Dust, and she even made sure to make an illusion over the space immediately around her parasol to hide the small occasional lightning arcs. People would usually think that was her semblance.
"Sorry." apologized Perry, "It's just that I can feel sources of electricity... just call it electrosensitivity or something."
Neo was a bit surprised. She had vague memories from the classes on faunus abilities Glynda used to teach her, and as far as she remembered, the only faunus capable of sensing electricity were a few species of dolphins and platypuses.
Well, she would have preferred to know that beforehand. Not only did that mean she didn't need to use her illusion Dust to hide anything, but it also meant she wouldn't have gone down there with him in the first place. Now he had information she couldn't allow Cinder to get a hold of.
Neo stopped using illusions to hide the effects of the lightning Dust, before pointing further down the station for Perry to scout to.
Perry, however, did not quite understand what Neo wanted, until she patted her chest twice and pointed at the lightning Dust running over her weapon.
"Oh !" said Perry, finally having an idea of what Neo meant, "No, I can't use that sense to find where the grimm are. Unlike all animals and humans, they don't have any electricity running through them. I can't sense them at all."
Neo tapped her chin for a moment before brightening up and pointing Hush ahead of them, charging up a lightning bolt.
"Wait, no !" shouted Perry, "I can't echo-locate them if you fire an electric charge their way ! Stop ! Please ! Don't !"
His plea fell on deaf ears and Neo shot her lightning bolt forward, causing Perry to scream in intense pain as his electric sense was overwhelmed. The bolt shortly lit up their path until it went so far away they couldn't see it anymore.
Perry's pain slowly subsided as the lightning bolt disappeared in the distance, and after a moment he could actually feel the electricity slowly be absorbed by its environment. He could somehow make the shapes of the walls, doors, and even some... animalistic shapes that the electricity would avoid like rubber.
A few more seconds later, and the last of the electric bolt disappeared from his senses, and Perry could finally breath again.
"There's like a dozen small grimm up ahead." he said weakly, "Please, don't ever do that again."
Neo smirked and skipped towards the grimm. She couldn't promise him that.
"Wait, aren't we supposed to only scout ?" asked Perry, "We don't need to go and fight them."
Neo ignored him, continuing on her path. If Perry knew of her Dust usage already, then she could go all out. A few small grimm didn't stand a chance.
It was only several hours later that Neo and Perry came back up from their little exploration, Perry looking like he had been traumatized three times over and Neo looked as happy as ever.
"Well, you certainly took your time kiddo." said Roman, "Good news I hope ?"
Neo shrugged, then showed Roman her scroll where the map of the underground city could be seen. On it, there was several X marks blocking different paths. All in all, Neo and Perry had explored quite a decent amount of the tunnels.
"Looks like we have an easily defensible position around the tracks don't we ?" noted Roman, "With a bit of luck we won't even lose anyone on this."
A shiver went through the people around as they heard these words, yet none dared defy Roman's next order.
"Ok guys ! I know you're not really the brightest of the bunch, but the sooner we're done with this, the sooner we can stop working together." he shouted, "Now everyone get ready to fight some grimm starting tomorrow, cause we're going to clean up this underground !"
Back at Beacon, Yang managed to ask Pyrrha for advice against Neo, but Pyrrha didn't have much to give, to Yang's disappointment.
"I'm really sorry Yang." said Pyrrha, "I only fought her for a single match, I can't help you much. Besides, I need to train up Jaune, so I don't have that much time."
"It's fine." answered Yang, "I just need information. Anything you can give me, really, anything."
"Well, let's see..." started Pyrrha, "She has a very acrobatic fighting style. I've seen her jump over opponents who were almost twice her size."
"And ?" asked Yang.
"I think she uses some kind of illusions ?" continued Pyrrha, "When I fought her, her movements looked very weird to me, and I missed several times because of that. The only reason I was able to hit her was because I started keeping track of her real position using my semblance."
"Illusions ? Yeah, I kind of had a feeling, seeing how she saved Torchwick." said Yang, "Anything I could take advantage of ? Any weakness ?"
"I'm note sure Yang." answered Pyrrha, "I understand you want to fight her, but if I am honest with you... I don't think you have a chance."
"Ha, good one Pyrrha." laughed Yang, before backing up, "You're not serious, are you ?"
"Look, Yang." said Pyrrha, "You're strong, I know that, but... just... when I fought her, if she had aura back there... I'm not entirely sure I would have won that fight. I spent a lot of my own aura just to try and keep up with her, and you're not really... the agile type."
"Fine." said Yang as she rolled her eyes and left the room, "I'll find some other way to beat her then."
"Wait ! Yang !" shouted Pyrrha.
It was too late though, Yang was already far away.
Pyrrha gave up on trying to chase her, and instead decided she should better warn Ruby. So, she went back to the rooftop where Jaune and her were going to train. He was there, as usual.
"Sorry I'm a bit late." she said, "Before we start, could I ask you something ?"
"Sure." answered Jaune, "I'll be glad to be able to do something for you."
"It's just..." started Pyrrha, a bit awkward, "Could you help me have a one on one talk with Ruby, there is something I need to tell her."
"Oh, I didn't know..." started Jaune, "Yeah, sure, totally, I can do that. You can count on me !"
"Thank you Jaune." said Pyrrha, "You don't know how much that means to me."
"Nah, don't worry." said Jaune, "One of my sisters is the same."
Pyrrha was a bit confused, but shrugged it off. They still had training to do.
In Shade, headmaster Theodore was pacing back and forth through his office, much to Rumpole's annoyance.
"Will you stop acting like the world is going to fall apart for five seconds ?" she asked.
"I'm sorry." answered Theodore, "I'm just worried, Ozpin is tenser than ever, it seems things only changed for the worse."
"Come on, you're the one that believed in her in the first place." said Rumpole, "I know Neo, she'll pull through, so long as she can make sure Torchwick doesn't die in the process."
"But what if she can't ?" asked Theodore, "What if the threat is actually big enough to endanger the students ? Can we safely send them to Beacon for this year's Vytal festival ?"
"Should I make my way to Vale then ?" asked back Rumpole.
"You know you can't." said Theodore, "The big one has been trying to encroach on this city for decades. We need you here to make sure she still isn't able to."
"Then let's give Neo a chance." offered Rumpole, "Besides, I'm sure Ozpin is taking proper precautions as well, and he even has Ironwood's army to protect the city."
"I'd be able to trust them, if only Ozpin wasn't such a naive optimistic, and Ironwood wasn't such an idiot." grumbled Theodore, "I swear, that man only knows strength and nothing else. It's a wonder he's managed to work himself up to the top of Atlas' military."
"It's still their city." pointed out Rumpole, "And even if they have been a little stingy on information lately, we should give them the benefit of the doubt. They are still our allies in this war."
"You're right." said Theodore, "You're right."
Ruby was led by Jaune throughout the school grounds, until a small clearing near the forest, where nobody was. There, she found Pyrrha waiting for her.
"Hello Pyrrha !" said Ruby, "Jaune told me you had something you wanted to tell me ?"
"Oh, hello Ruby." said Pyrrha, "Yes, well, it's about your sister."
"About Yang ?" asked Ruby, "Why ?"
"She asked about my opponent in the finals last year's Mistral tournament. She called her Neo." explained Pyrrha, "I think she wants to fight her."
"Oh ! You fought her before ?" asked Ruby, "That's great, that Neo is currently one of Torchwick's goons, so we kind of need to know how to fight her. If Yang already asked you then I should ask her what she learned from you !"
"No ! Don't ask her !" shouted Pyrrha before Ruby could run off, "I've tried to tell Yang not to try to fight her, but she wouldn't listen. I need you to promise me you'll stop her from fighting her."
"Why ?" asked Ruby, confused, "Yang's strong you know, and with us by her side, we're unbeatable."
"I"m sorry, you're all really good for your age, especially you Ruby, but..." tried to explain Pyrrha, "It's just that I was barely able to touch her despite fully using my semblance, and that was enough back then because she didn't have aura, but if she does now..."
"You're worried she could actually fight all of us ?" asked Ruby.
"I've been fighting the best Huntsmen and Huntresses during the last four years, and she not only managed to reach the finals, but also forced me to use my semblance in almost unnatural ways." explained Pyrrha, "And that was almost a year ago. Who knows how good she became since then."
Ruby stayed silent for a moment, and Pyrrha almost worried that she'd feel as insulted as Yang had been.
"I understand." said Ruby, "I'll try to convince Yang not to fight her, and I'll do my best to stop her if I can't."
"Thank you Ruby." said Pyrrha, "I just hope you'll all be okay."
Ruby smiled and gave Pyrrha a thumbs up.
"We will."
To be continued on July 3rd
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 16
Level : 16 (06%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 10/10
AP : UNUSABLE
STR : 11
CON : 10
DEX : 18
INT : 21
WIS : 12
CHA : 16
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Fighting for your life [Your aura behaved in the only way that would let you survive, and will continue to do so until you overcome your trauma. You cannot use aura, but you can will any item you wield for it to reflect 100% of any attack that hits it]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses :
AC : 26(30)
For : 19
Ref : 25
Will : 23