Chapter Thirty-Four: The Sting of Defeat
Phoenix was awoken suddenly by the sound of the trap he had set up outside his room at the inn being triggered. He quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed The Blazing Hooks from his bedside, pointing them toward the doorway. He found a shocked Jaune hanging upside down and looking down the barrels of his guns.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a little paranoid when it comes to security?" Jaune asked once Phoenix had gotten him down from the rope trap.
"No," Phoenix replied. "Why?" Jaune proceeded to list off all the times he had been caught in one of the traps Phoenix had set up. "I'll admit that pit traps and ice dust mines may have been a bit excessive, but I'm just trying to make sure we don't lose anyone." he explained. "Grant may not be able to have his task force follow us, but he can. I can just about guarantee that my mother has sent someone after us."
"I suppose you're right," Jaune admitted, "But could you turn it down a little? That pit trap was really deep."
"You think that's bad? You should've seen the security I had at the warehouse. I had a trap with Grimm mace."
"Grimm mace?"
"It's mace, but for Grimm."
"Hey, Ruby. You up?" Phoenix asked as he knocked on her room's door.
"Yeah," she replied groggily as she opened it.
"While we, uh, have time alone, I thought I'd give you this," Phoenix stated as he handed her a small box. Ruby's tired disposition immediately disappeared, replaced with one of excitement. She quickly tore open the box. Inside of it was what appeared to be some sort of scope. "I remember you saying you wanted something that worked like my glasses, so I made this scope for Crescent Rose. It has almost all the tactical functions that my glasses and mask do. I know it's not exactly the most romantic gift, but hey, it's something."
Ruby held the scope up to her, she saw an infrared view of the room. Weaknesses in the building and on Phoenix were also highlighted. "This is incredible!" Ruby exclaimed as she lowered the scope. "Thank you so much!" She pulled him into a spine-crushing hug.
"No problem," he replied as he hugged her back. "Now, what do you say we hit this thing hooked up."
"More rain. Wonderful…" Phoenix stated as he and RNJR continued their trip to Haven.
"Well, at least we've got an exciting day ahead of us," Nora said optimistically.
"If walking through the rain all day is your idea of exciting."
"So, we're not gonna fight the forces of evil?"
"Nope."
"Haven's a lot farther away than I thought it was," Ruby sighed.
"Ruby, how long did you think this journey was going to take?" Ren inquired.
"I don't know! I grew up in a small area. I've never been this far away from home."
"Right, but, how long?" Jaune asked.
"Maybe like… two weeks."
"What!?" Phoenix and Jaune exclaimed.
"Fine! Three or something."
"At least we're moving faster than this crappy story." Hold on, did you just break the fourth wall? "Yep. What're you gonna do about it?" Suddenly a large tree branch fell on Phoenix. "Gah!" That. I can do that. "Fine, I'll stop." Good. Anyway…
"Hold on, what's that?" Jaune asked as a village appeared on the horizon. "We shouldn't reach another village for at least a couple days."
Nora looked at the village from the top of a fence post "Are those buildings damaged?"
"We need to search for survivors. Let's move!" Phoenix ordered. Upon entering the village it was clear that the buildings weren't damaged, but rather under construction. Phoenix switched from his glasses to his mask and checked for heat signatures. Aside from the five of them, there were none. "There's no one here," he informed them.
"It's almost like the town was abandoned," Ren pointed out.
After about another minute of searching Nora called out to them. "Hey, I think I found something!" She pulled back some vines that covered a sign that had the town's name on it. "Oniyuri," she attempted to pronounce the name of the village.
"Strange, there wasn't a village by that name on any of the maps we've had," Phoenix pointed out.
"That's because it was never completed," Ren stated. He explained that it was similar to Mountain Glen. "Many thought it would be the future. I know my parents did."
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"What always happens." Ren brushed away some dirt to reveal claw marks.
"Grimm."
"And not just any one."
"One?" Ruby asked, wondering how a single Grimm could destroy an entire village.
"So, that's how they knew what made those tracks," Phoenix thought to himself, recalling how Ren and Nora had reacted to the signs of one of the lesser known and more dangerous Grimm. One of the only ones capable of singing-handedly wiping out a village. The others, however, didn't seem to catch on.
"Let's get out of here." Jaune ordered. "This place gives me the creeps."
"You okay?" Phoenix asked Ren before they continued. He received no response.
"Does anyone else have a sudden urge to punch Weiss's father?" Phoenix asked as they walked through the city. The others just gave him confused looks. Ruby was about to say something, but before she could Ren held up his hand as a sign for them to stop. Phoenix's mask quickly picked up why. It gave him an alert that a someone was approaching rapidly.
Before he had the chance to respond the person jumped over a building and landed in front of them. He extended pincer-like blades from his wrists and charged at them. Ren tried to attack him but was quickly dispatched. His next target was Ruby, but before he reached her his foot was caught by one of the hooks of Phoenix's swords. The man managed to dodge the next series of blows and land one of his own. Caught off guard by his strength, Phoenix was sent flying back to the rest of the group.
Their opponent stopped fighting for a moment in order to get a good look at his opposition. "We're not looking for a fight!" Jaume said as he adopted a defensive stance.
"Who are you?" Ren added.
"Who I am matters not to you, or you, or… well, you do interest me," he said as he looked at Jaune.
"I need an adult."
"I am an adult," the man said with a maniacal laugh. "But I digress. I only matter to the two of you," he said, pointing to Ruby and Phoenix.
"Why both of us?" Phoenix asked. "I can understand wanting me. I've got a huge bounty on my head, and I haven't exactly made friends with a lot of criminals. Ruby's a different story. Unless… Her," he realized who the most likely suspect for who sent this assassin after them was. "What do you want with us?" he demanded to know.
"I'm going to whisk our little flower here away with me on a magical journey. And as for you my boy, I can do whatever I want with you as long as you're not a problem anymore." He let out another laugh.
"You lay a finger on her and I'll cut it off," Phoenix threatened.
"We're not going to let you do anything to either of them," Jaune declared as he stepped in front of the two of them, shield raised.
"Good…" Ren barely had time to warn Jaune of the next strike. The man dodged the shots Ren fired at him by spinning atop Jaune's shield. Ruby tried to slash him, but he pushed himself off the shield and kicked her back. He lunged at Phoenix who barely had time to block the strike with his swords' guards. He managed to push him back and switch his swords to a reverse grip so that he could fight with the pommel blades more easily. While they fought Nora decided to intervene. She used some of the dust cartridges Phoenix designed to power herself up before making her move. Phoenix noticed this and decided to make a move of his own. He switched his swords to their gun mode mid-clash and fired two ice blasts at the man's feet. Whit him unable to dodge, Nora charged. She closed the distance between the two of them in the blink of an eye. The strength of her blow left a dust cloud and cracked the ice that held their opponent in place.
When the dust settled they were all shocked. "Surprise," the man said gleefully as he held back Nora's hammer with a scorpion tail. While they were distracted he did a backflip, kicking Nora in the chin and sending her back as he did. He landed on a nearby rooftop and shed his coat to put his tail on full display.
"He's… a Faunus," Ren pointed out the obvious. This revelation led Phoenix to a new theory.
"You're White Fang then," he guessed.
"They're nothing but plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and body belong only to our goddess," he said lovingly.
"So, my first guess was accurate. You do work for Cinder."
"Only in her wildest dreams," the man snarled as he lunged at him. Phoenix was barely able to block the pincers that were heading right to his throat. Jaune tried to charge at him, but the man dodged out of the way. Nora wasn't able to stop herself in time and the two crashed into each other. With the two of them temporarily out of the way he turned his attention to Ruby. She attempted to block his strikes, but he easily broke through her defenses and batted her around the town square. He eventually broke through her aura.
He slowly approached her. When he was a few feet away Phoenix jumped in front of her. "If you want to get to her, you'll have to go through me."
"I look forward to it," he replied as he drew back his stinger for the killing blow.
Before the stinger could reach him a new person entered the battle and blocked the tail. "Hey," Qrow said casually to the two of them.
"Qrow?! What the hell are you doing here?" Phoenix exclaimed.
"A little birdie told me you guys needed help."
"Oh my! If it isn't Qrow Brawnwin. A worthy foe has finally arrived," their opponent declared. Qrow looked back to the two of them in hopes of an explanation.
"I don't know. He's weird," Ruby said.
"Don't look at me. This guy isn't one of the usual crazies that I fought in Vale, and he doesn't seem like a bounty hunter," Phoenix added.
"Look pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece and her friends alone," Qrow commanded.
"Why, my name is Tyrian, and I'm afraid that's simply not possible. You see, my assignment from her grace was to retrieve this little flower and have fun with her friend there. So… that is what I must do. One does not simply upset the queen and live."
"Queen?" Ruby asked.
"Salem."
"Who's Salem?" Phoenix demanded to know.
"Quiet boy!" Tyrian silenced him. "I think we've had enough talk now." He crouched down and prepared to lunge.
"Took the words right out o-" Qrow was cut off by Tyrian's sudden attack.
Tyrian's original opponents could hardly keep track of the fight with the speed the two were moving at. After a moment the fighting came to a stop, the two caught in a clash. Just as it appeared Qrow was going to overpower Tyrian, he extended gun barrels from his pincers and opened fire. Qrow was forced to pull back in order to block the bullets with his sword. His back turned to them, Ren, and Nora saw an opportunity to strike. They charged at Tyrian but were easily pushed back by him. He ran towards them in hopes of finishing the job, but Qrow intercepted him.
"Don't come closer!" he demanded.
"Fine!" Ruby and Phoenix jumped onto a nearby roof to have a better view of the fight. The two of them used their tactical modes, Phoenix's in his mask and Ruby's in the scope he'd designed for her, to keep their guns aimed at Tyrian. They didn't fire for fear of Qrow getting in the way of their shot.
Tyrian gained an upper hand in the fight when he disarmed Qrow using his tail. The sword was about to go flying off into the distance, but Phoenix used his grapnel gun to pull it to himself. It landed right next to him, almost impaling him. Tyrian took a moment to mock the seemingly defenseless Qrow. This gave Ruby and Phoenix the opportunity they'd been waiting for. They started firing at him. He somehow managed to block their shots with his tail.
"Did you truly think that was all it would take to beat-" Tyrian was cut off by a punch to the face from Qrow.
"Augh! You bastard! You punched me in the-!" He was cut off again by another punch. "You did it again! Y-!" He was punched yet again. "Stop it! Stop it y-!" And again. "Oh dear goddess why?!"
While this was going on Phoenix and Ruby struggled to pull Qrow's sword out of the roof. "How the hell does he manage to wave this thing around like it weighs nothing?" Phoenix though.
Tyrian' beating continued back in the town square. "Are you going to dodge any of these?" Qrow eventually asked.
"Oh yeah. That's what I was supposed to do if-" he was punched once more. "Damn it!"
"Hey old man! Catch!" Phoenix yelled as he attempted to toss Qrow his sword. It didn't end well. The sword slipped out of his hand mid-throw. The sword's pommel hit his foot before it clattered to the ground. "Oh come on!" Ruby struggled to suppress a giggle. Tyrian started laughing hysterically before being punched again.
Qrow eventually stopped pummeling Tyrian and casually walked over to his sword. The second he made contact with it, the fight returned to its serious state.
Tyrian reached Qrow in the blink of an eye and almost pinned him to the wall. Qrow was able to dodge out of the way and shift his sword partly into scythe from. This made the gun's barrel point directly at Tyrian. The shot he fired missed, but its recoil shot him upward and onto a roof. Tyrian was close behind. The two of them continued their fight until part of the roof that Tyrian was on gave out. He fell into the building. Qrow tried to make his escape, but was pulled in as well by Tyrian's tail. After a moment, Qrow went flying through the wall of the building. He managed to land on his sword. Tyrian burst from the rubble and lunged at Qrow. Before he could reach him he was intercepted by Ruby and Phoenix.
"Do you wish to suffer?" Tyrian asked the two of them after he'd pushed them back.
"No, but we won't stand by and watch the people we care about get hurt!" Ruby answered.
He tried to attack them, but Qrow block him. "What did I say?"
"This is our fight too!" Ruby declared as she attacked. Tyrian easily dodged and continued his battle with Qrow.
"It's not that! It's-" before he could finish, Tyrian changed his target to Ruby. He kicked her into a building. This shook loose one of the beams that was supporting the roof. Phoenix used the grapnel gun to pull Ruby out of the way while Qrow cut the beam in half.
Tyrian took advantage of this distraction to sting Qrow. He grinned proudly. While he was gloating Ruby was able to cut off the tail.
Tyrian screamed in pain as he stumbled back. "You bitch!" he yelled as he pointed at Ruby. His finger was quickly cut off from the rest of his body. He let out another scream of pain and clutched his now bleeding hand. "I'll kill you you little shit!" he threatened Phoenix.
"I warned you didn't I," Phoenix replied as he held his swords toward him. The others readied their weapons and approached him. Realizing he couldn't win, Tyrian tried to escape.
"Don't think you're getting away that easily!" Phoenix shouted as he pulled out his lighter. He tried to block off the exit with a wall of flames, but was unable to because of the rain. "Damn it!"
Before they could pursue him Qrow collapsed and clutched his wound. "Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?" Ruby rushed to his side.
"I'll be fine," he managed to reply. "He just grazed me." He pulled his hand away to see that it was covered in blood. "Or not." The rest of team RNJR approached them, and they were hit with a barrage of questions.
"Who was that guy?"
What're you doing here?"
"Why're people after Ruby?"
"Who's Salem?"
Qrow responded with a question of his own.
"What's your favorite fairy tale?"
Wow… that took longer than expected. Between finals, an evil puppy, a new job, trying to think of new ideas, and having to scrap ones that don't work, this took FOREVER. With any luck, the next chapter won't take quite as long. Thanks to ScorchtheHawk's comment on the YouTube video of v4e7 for giving me the idea for the 2nd DBZA reference. Thanks for reading!
