BFR is tied for 3rd place by Favorites on FFN for overall EBF fics (crossovers and non). Meanwhile on Ao3 it's sitting at a real solid tie for 21st (out of 42 fics) on Ao3 sorted by Kudos. That's pretty cool.
A Battle Fantasy in Remnant
Chapter Five
Black, White, Blue, and also a bit of Pink, Green, Grey, and… dang that's a lot of colors.
-]l[-
"—understand why this is causing such a problem!"
Lance's fingers slid across his controller, hitting each button precisely when needed, perfectly countering every one of Matt's strikes. To his side, the blonde in question had a savage grin plastered to his face as his own controller shook, buttons being mashed.
"—le like me?"
On the bed beyond Matt sat Natalie and Anna, books open, their homework being written and edited. "No, Anna, Professor Goodwitch will not accept that as an answer."
"—want to know why I despise the—"
"Damn, they're loud," Lance muttered, just barely catching one of Matt's attacks on his character's sword. "Anna, could ya close the window?"
"—wait! Come back!"
Anna nodded, stretching as she stood up, and made her way to the window to slide it shut. "Seems like they're just about finished anyways. I'll check in with them tomorrow to make sure everything is okay, but tonight it's probably better if they can sleep on it."
Lance shrugged. "You're a better person than me, for caring at all." In his pocket, Lance's Scroll vibrated violently, startling him enough to drop his controller. A muttered curse at Matt's victory later, and Lance dug out his Scroll from the many pockets in his coat. A quick glance informed him of the contents of the message. "I'll be headed into Vale on Sunday. The guy I met with finally got back to me, so it's time to put the Ion Cannon up."
"We can all go in together then," Natalie declared. Closing her textbook, she rose, drew the curtains closed, and then placed the book back on the room's small shelf. "Matt and I will be headed out to eat, and you'll need someone to keep you from blowing up Remnant—if you're up for that, Anna?"
"Sure!"
"Wonderful. And NoLegs can… Where is NoLegs?"
Matt looked up from his seat, his gaze darting across the room, only to come up empty. NoLegs was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh," Matt said. "I guess he had somewhere to be."
-]l[-
Blake walked across the plaza, her steps silent against the stone tiling. In front of her stood the massive statue that every new student saw after they disembarked the bullhead that carried them to the school.
Damn that girl. Things had been going so well until today. She had no right to say the things that she had, no right to compare pain. No right to scare Blake away from her team—they had almost been like family before then. Damn her.
Blake paused in front of the statue, taking in how it towered over the courtyard. One hand reached up to her bow, before suddenly something was standing on top of the statue, perched on the huntsman's head.
Blake's hand instantly moved from her bow to the hilt of Gambol Shroud, and she withdrew it an inch from its sheath before she recognized the silhouette. After a moment, it came into focus, and NoLegs hopped down, settling in front of Blake.
"...I thought you didn't like me," she murmured, resheathing her weapon. "Are you here to laugh at me? The silly girl who got goaded by a Schnee."
NoLegs looked at her silently for a moment, before shaking his head, and nudging her hand with his head. A half-smile formed on Blake's face, and she turned away. "Alright then, if that's what you want."
Returning to her original goal, Blake reached both hands up. She took a hold of the ribbon that bound her bow in place, and undid it with a quick pull, revealing her Faunus ears to the cold night air.
She turned back to NoLegs, patting him once, before being startled by a voice from behind her.
"I knew you'd look better without the bow."
Standing on the ground behind her was the monkey Faunus that her team had been chasing earlier in the day. Blake gave him a stare, staying silent, before turning away from the statue and making her way down Beacon's main avenue. She expected both of her unexpected visitors to leave at her silence, but to her surprise, both followed her. NoLegs to her left, and the blonde stowaway to her right.
Turning, she gave both of them a raised eyebrow, to which the monkey Faunus responded, "You looked like you could use some company—seems this little guy here thought the same. If you don't wanna talk that's fine, I can wait. Name's Sun, by the way."
Blake nodded at that, before giving NoLegs one final glance, and leading the way out of Beacon's gates.
-]l[-
"So, Lance," Anna began. "Who exactly did you talk to to get this space?"
The pair were standing in an abandoned junkyard on the perimeter of Vale. A large space had been cleared out, only to be filled with the massive metallic form of Lance's Ion Cannon, perched on top of the Neon Valkyrie and pointed toward the sky.
"Some guy named Torchwick, I think. Got directed to him after I beat up a bartender."
"And you're planning on just shooting this into orbit?"
"Yep. I have enough missiles for the job, and the Neon Valkyrie will serve as a launch platform. It should be ready in about ten minutes."
Anna glanced at the darkening sky. "Only took four hours for you to set it up, so it could be worse."
"Oi! If you have somewhere better to be."
Anna laughed. "Not that I know of."
A moment later, her Scroll buzzed. Giving it a glance, she appeared to have just received a message from the Headmaster, Ozpin.
"On second thought, we do appear to have somewhere to be."
Lance turned from his tank to see what she was talking about, drawing his own Scroll to see the same message, due to it having been sent to the entirety of team MALN.
"Well," he began, "I won't be leaving this out here, not after the amount of time I put into it… and Matt and Natalie probably won't see it until after their date, since Natalie doesn't allow Scrolls at the table, so it looks like you'll be the only one to answer. Good luck."
Anna stared at him, deadpan. "Keep your luck, Ozpin says it's just some criminal named Roman… Torchwick. Lance, are you associating with criminals?"
Lance pursed his lips, taking a slightl step back. "Not knowingly, no?"
Anna hummed. "Better not be. I've got somewhere to go—don't screw this up, or if you do, don't come crying about it to me."
Lance nodded. "I got this, go capture a criminal or whatever."
Anna retrieved her ocarina from a pocket, and raised it to her lips. A quick tune was played, before the wind was swirling around her, forming a small tornado. A grin settled on her lips. "I always wanted to try this."
Then the winds increased in power tenfold, launching Anna off of the ground and into the sky.
"Damn," muttered Lance, turning back to his makeshift rocket. "I'm jealous."
-]l[-
The Bullhead, in which Roman Torchwick rode, shuddered in the evening winds as it flew toward its destination. Beside the master thief sat his partner in crime, the mute Neo, and beyond her, one of Fall's brats, Mercury.
Normally, Roman would have gone on this mission alone, but Fall—who had shown up earlier that day—had insisted he take the pair with him, "just in case." So naturally, fearing fiery reprisal, Roman agreed. Thankfully, due to Fall's plan to infiltrate Beacon, the boy was wearing dark clothes and a hood, keeping Roman from having to see his near-constant smirk.
"We're here, Sir," the White Fang pilot interrupted his musings, and Roman stood up.
"Bring us down, quickly now," Roman ordered, gesturing for Mercury to stand up with Neo. The trio stood by the bay door, and only had to wait a few seconds before the Bullhead thudded onto the ground. With a quiet hiss, the bay door slid up, and Roman stepped out of the ship, his two compatriots following him, a step behind.
Landing beside Roman's Bullhead was another Bullhead, while another two hovered above the docks, pausing just long enough to offload a few dozen White Fang soldiers onto the concrete docks.
"Alright mutts! You know what we're here for, so let's get moving. We want to be in and out before any wannabe heroes show up!" Roman ordered. While the Faunus scrambled to prepare one of the shipping containers to be moved, Neo walked up beside him, and gestured toward the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the docks. Roman glanced up, before groaning loudly.
"You have got to be kidding me. The wannabe heroes were here before we even showed up."
As he finished speaking, Roman took a step back, just in time to dodge a black-haired girl who landed in front of him, weapon in one hand, and the other wrapped around the bow in her hair. She pulled it, causing it to unravel and reveal a pair of Faunus ears beneath, and began speaking. "Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?"
Roman rolled his eyes at the girl, before gesturing to Mercury. "Shut her up, will you?"
A savage grin lit up the boy's face. "With pleasure!"
Mercury kicked off the ground, the force of his movements shattering the concrete into a cloud of dust. The girl's eyes widened, and she raised her weapon, barely catching Mercury's kick on the side of the gun. She was blown back by the force of the attack, flying into the side of a shipping container, denting it on impact. Dropping to the ground, the girl had just enough time to roll out of the way of a followup kick from Mercury.
"Blake!" a voice called from on top of the containers, leaping down and being clearly visible as a blonde monkey Faunus boy, with a staff in hand. The newcomer engaged Mercury, managing to beat away the assassin for a few moments and giving the Faunus girl—Blake—time to recover.
Turning away from Mercury, Roman began shouting orders at the Faunus. Some of them had been distracted by the fight going on, and had stopped working. So be it. Mercury would be able to take care of the two kids, so there was no reason to stop the theft. He expected the fight to be over in under a minute, given the skill of the assassin.
What he didn't expect was for Mercury to get thrown clean across the courtyard, one leg encased in ice. They were academy students! Was it really so hard to deal with two of them? Irritated, Roman turned around, only to be surprised by the sight of a blue furred 'cat' standing between Mercury's fallen form, and the pair of students. In one practically-invisible-paw, the cat held a golden polearm with red ribbons attached to the blade, and in the other, the cat had a red and gold shield.
"Oh great! Now the actual animals are here," Roman cried out, exasperated, before barely catching the cat's first attack on Melodic Cudgel. Pushing back against the attack, Roman leveraged his greater mass to throw that damn cat away from him, only for it to flicker through the air, appearing behind Roman mid-stab. Reacting as fast as he could, Roman was just barely able to slip out of the way of the attack, leaping back to regain some ground.
The cat was fast, faster than Roman, that was for certain, but he had a few advantages on his side beside his greater size. Dashing back, Roman was able to dodge the first of the cat's slashes, though the second just barely caught him, ripping a gash into his side, as well as causing the air surrounding him to shatter as if made of glass. A moment later, and Roman had teleported slightly, about five inches to the side, only for the illusion to be shattered almost immediately by another blazing fast attack.
Again, Roman was clipped by the edge of the attack, the cat too fast for the illusions to do more than slightly decrease its accuracy. This time, as the illusion reformed, three copies of Roman appeared, each dodging back with slightly different angles. The hope was to distract the cat long enough for Roman to get away. That hope was shattered—just like the illusion, when the cat dashed from where it stood to all three Romans in almost sync, destroying each with glowing slashes.
The illusion shattered, revealing Roman's bloody torso, a pair of cuts adorning it, flying through the air to slam against a shipping container. Roman's blood pooled beneath him, staining the Schnee logo, and his head lolled to the side, his eyes unfocused. The cat advanced upon him, fauchard level with his chest, before spinning the weapon and going to knock Roman out with the shaft of the weapon.
—the illusion shattered, and even as the cat spun—already moving faster than any Huntsman Roman had ever seen—Roman's shot was already out of the barrel and halfway across the space dividing the two. The cat made as if to cut the blast out of the air, but was just a fraction-of-a-second too slow. The reddish flare impacted with the crate behind the cat.
A massive explosion roared into the night as the Dust within was ignited, and a shockwave swept across the dock, throwing Roman toward where the White Fang soldiers still worked. Smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air, and behind that obscuring curtain was visible various elemental effects at work; lightning flickered at the same time as ice burned, the entire thing warped slightly by the gravity Dust present within.
"Well that'll certainly get the police coming—" Roman lamented, before cutting off with a cough, blood splattering onto the concrete in front of him. Neo quickly walked over to him, supporting Mercury with one arm, and crouched down beside Roman, giving him a questionable look.
"Of course we're calling it!" Roman cut himself off, with another cough. "The Huntsmen will be all over this place in minutes. Let's get out—of here."
Neo nodded, before tapping a few buttons on her Scroll. A moment later, and the two hovering Bullheads landed, bay doors opening. The White Fang soldiers finished carrying the last few boxes, before leaping into the two empty Bullheads, causing them to lift off again. Neo gestured to Mercury and then Roman, and once the former lifted the latter—causing him to give yet another grunt of pain—the trio made it to one of the final Bullheads. The moment they were inside, Neo rapped a fist on a bulkhead, and the door closed, Bullhead rising.
On the deck where he had been laid, Roman muttered, "Could have been worse."
-]l[-
Anna heard the explosion when she was over downtown Vale, and the smoke was visible almost immediately after. Worry playing across her face, she sped up her flight, until she arrived above the docks just a minute later. Canceling the tempest that had carried her, Anna plummeted to the docks, resummoning the wind just a dozen feet above the ground to slow her fall.
As she landed, she took in the area. Off in the distance, Anna could hear the sound of Bullheads flying—though they were obscured by the smoke and oncoming night—and right near her, Anna could hear the sound of two people coughing, just barely audible through the crackling of the flames.
Striding toward where she thought the sounds were coming from, Anna came across a pair of teenagers collapsed on the ground, surrounded by flames. On the left, a monkey Faunus that Anna didn't recognize was covered with his still flickering Aura, while to his side, Blake, who had no Aura and had gathered several scrapes and bruises, as well as a worrying gash along one arm.
Crouching down next to the pair, Anna pulled out her flute and played a short tune. Magic rushed through Blake, forming into an intricate pink flower in the air above her. Satisfied, Anna watched as Blake's wounds knitted closed, bruises turning to fresh pink skin.
Just as she was going to lift the pair up to move them, she was interrupted by the arrival of Ruby, followed closely by an orange-haired girl in a green dress.
"Anna!" Ruby shouted. "Is that Blake!?"
"Yeah. She's fine now, but she's out of Aura," Anna explained to the pair, as they came level with her. "The other one is fine. Help me carry them out of here before something else explodes."
Ruby nodded, and, after a moment of struggle, lifted Blake into her arms, leaving Anna with the other one. Ruby's companion, on the other hand, made no move to help, instead seemingly scanning the burning dockyard. Just as Ruby and Anna made to move, she raised her arm and said, "Wait. Friend Ruby, Anna. There is someone else here."
Anna's eyes narrowed. It was true that this was a lot of destruction for the two junior Huntsmen, more the scene she would expect after Lance or Matt fought, but who would still be here? And also, how could this girl tell? "Where?" she asked.
The girl pointed toward the thickest wall of flames. "There."
Anna nodded, raising her load over her shoulder, before setting off toward the flames. Waving her one free arm, she summoned a gust of wind to clear the smoke and extinguish the flames, revealing a large crystal of ice, with a dark shape held within it. Just then, a large crack appeared in the block of ice, quickly followed by another few, before the ice finally shattered. Dropping out of the ice came the drenched, burnt, and crushed form of NoLegs.
"So this is where you went," Anna muttered, reaching into her bag and pulling out a fresh garnished hamburger. Ignoring Ruby and the orange-haired girl's looks, she threw the hamburger straight at NoLegs' mouth, the cat practically absorbing it. A moment later, and the cat hopped back to his feet with a loud meow.
"What the heck!?" Ruby exclaimed. "What just happened?"
"I healed him!"
"With a hamburger?"
"Of course!" Anna paused. "Oh that's right, you guys don't do that here. Sorry, it's a thing from our hometown."
"Y-you can just feed people food and they're suddenly fine!?"
"I'll explain later," Anna fended off Ruby's questions. "We should get back to Beacon. While we walk, tell me about your new friend?"
"Well, this is Penny..."
-]l[-
"Are you sure you want to drag them into this, Ozpin?" Glynda asked him, from where she stood beside his desk. "They're just children. You can still change your mind and just thank them."
Ozpin laced his fingers together. "No, Glynda. We've seen hidden depths to them already, and I feel it would be a mistake to leave them out of this—especially with how willing they are to help. As for them being children… needs must, and I do not believe we will defeat Her with how things are now."
"What do you mean, Oz?"
"The world is becoming a darker place. The reports Qrow sends back paint a dire picture, not to mention the nearly successful attempt on Amber's life. Events are coming to a head, and we need more allies."
Glynda pursed her lips. "If you're sure, Oz."
Ozpin made to respond, but was cut off by the office doors opening. Through them stepped team MALN, in various states of dress. Anna was dressed in combat gear, bow slung over her back; Lance was covered in oil, pistol slung against his hip; NoLegs was dressed for combat, while both Matt and Natalie were wearing fancier clothes, unsurprising, given how the pair were just out for dinner.
"Headmaster," Natalie nodded to him. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yes," Ozpin nodded solemnly. "In light of recent events, I wish to ask for your help."
Lance raised an eyebrow. "With what? You seem to be doing fine running the school."
Ozpin considered. "What if I told you that magic—no, not the magic you five claim to use, a different magic—was real?"
He studied the team in front of him for a moment, taking in their unperturbed looks. "I imagine it is not much of a shock for you five, is it. Nonetheless, if I told anyone else in Beacon, they would be shocked."
"Alright, magic is real," Matt agreed. "What's so important about that?"
"Well… there is a fairy tale in Remnant, called The Story of the Seasons which tells of four sisters who met an old man, and were granted immense magical powers. These women are called the Maidens." Ozpin glanced at the group, and upon seeing Lance and Anna already looking distracted chose to speed up the story. "To make a long story short, the Maidens are real, and for centuries Remnant has been embroiled in a secret war between a faction that I now lead, dedicated to protecting the Maidens from those who would wish them harm, and a group led by an evil woman named Salem who covets the Maiden's power as her own."
"And you want our help?" Matt asked.
"Simply put, but yes," Ozpin answered.
Matt glanced back at his team and asked, "You guys good with that?"
A series of confirmations came in response, and he turned back to Ozpin. "Alright, we're in."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "That simple? You don't expect any more information, nor demand any reward?"
"Nah. Well, loot is nice, but the foes are half the fun! Besides, there hasn't been all too much to do since we arrived."
"Remarkable." Ozpin shared a look with Glynda. "I wish all my recruitments could go this smoothly."
"That's just how we roll!" Matt agreed. "Anyways, what's up first? Give you some materials? Retrieve some orbs of power? Defeat the evil foe leader?"
"Nothing so grand, I'm afraid," Ozpin returned. "We're still waiting for another one of my agents to return with more information before we can make a decision. For now I just want you to keep an eye around Beacon for any suspicious persons, and be prepared to respond to any operations by the White Fang, as I suspect they are being manipulated by Salem."
Ozpin paused, glancing at Glynda. "Actually… I heard from Miss Rose that you had some kind of healing magic, as well as healing food?"
Anna nodded. "Yep! Natz is better at the magic than I am, though. I just dabble."
"Intriguing. Then, if you would be willing, Miss Natalie, we have a very important person here at Beacon who has been in critical condition for many months. If you could take a look at her and possibly heal her, that would be a great boon to our cause."
"Of course," Natalie agreed. "And, if that'll be all, Headmaster, we need to get back to our rooms. The boys still haven't finished their homework."
Ozpin gave a slight smile at that. "That will be all. Thank you for your time, and for agreeing to help. You four could change the fate of Remnant. Good night."
-]l[-
Happy Holidays!
Guys it's late september right now, don't look outside, don't look at a calendar, just believe me… Alright, so this chapter is late. I got distracted with Worm fanfiction, Wheel of Time, and binging all of Attack on Titan.
Anyways… RWBY isn't on Youtube anymore, which is kind've inconvenient for research. I'll admit I didn't really watch this episode much at all in preparation, since I just didn't feel like opening the RT website.
In this chapter we had butterflies. Roman gets away w/ Dust, and the gang doesn't get as friendly with Blake. Not sure how well the NoLegs vs. Roman/Neo fight went, but I'm hoping I pulled it off well enough to keep it from seeming like NoLegs just got nerfed into the ground. I tried to portray it more like a losing fight for Roman, but via overwhelming Dustpower he was able to take NoLegs down, even if not very permanently. Basically NoLegs is a cat, and not very good against illusions, though his absurd speed still kinda destroyed Roman.
For some non-story news, the EBF Collection is getting closer to completion, so that'll be fun to pick up when it comes out. I haven't beaten EBF4 before, even though I got pretty close a couple of years ago—and I've never played any of the other games that Matt makes besides Bullet Heaven—so it'll be a fun dive to see what else he's made.
Last few things: Is anyone else bugged by the FFN character tag for Matt (the character) just being Matt R. (the game Dev)? Anyways, thanks to everyone who left a review, whenever I feel down, I read them, and then proceed to procrastinate for another month.
Fav/Follow, and leave a review if you have a question/want to have a chat, I do my best to respond to any questions I get.
'Til the next update, sometime in 2021, ideally before Febuary, and definitely before my birthday.
-Berix