A Battle Fantasy in Remnant
Chapter Six
"Well, that was easy."
-]l[-
"Uh guys," Jaune spoke over his shoulder. "Why are you huddled against the wall?"
"No reason," Ruby quickly responded, peeking over Lance's shoulder as they both crouched halfway behind the door to the room. "No reason at all."
It was spring break at Beacon, and the three would-be-forgers had foregone a day of vacation to upgrade Crocea Mors. Well, Jaune would be upgrading his sword. Lance and Ruby were just there to provide moral support and commentary.
"Uhhh, okay then." Jaune accepted her words and turned back to the forge, where Crocea Mors sat mostly obscured within the forge, heating. The Dust fire below flared occasionally, while pipes to the side fed in trickles of Fire Dust to keep the heat at the preferred temperatures. Laid on a table to Jaune's side were numerous parts and tools, totaling to a bit over four dozen items. It was a realm of metal, gears, Dust vials, and workshop tools.
Jaune nodded seriously, putting the matter of where his friends sat out of his mind, and, after slipping on a thick pair of gloves, grabbed a pair of tongs in one hand and a hammer in the other. Stepping on a pedal on the floor, Jaune triggered a mechanism. It dumped a pinch of Ice Dust into the fire that fed the forge, causing the flames to lessen and revealing the ready-to-work blade of Jaune's sword.
Holding the hammer in-between his elbow, Jaune moved Crocea Mors, placing it on the anvil to the side of the forge, before re-grabbing his hammer. Thinking back to how Ruby had described the process of forging the parts to Crescent Rose, he brought the hammer down, causing a loud crash to ring out through the shop. So began the forging.
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"Crocea Mors is like hundreds of years old, and a family heirloom, right?" Lance muttered to Ruby, as the pair of them retook their seats within the forge room, threat of explosions mostly gone.
"Uhuh."
"Are they just okay with Jaune reforging it like this? I know that if I had kids, no way in hell would I let them mess with my guns without asking first," Lance continued.
"Uhuh."
"So y'know, did Jaune actually ask—you aren't listening to me at all. Damnit, Rose," Lance said, exasperated, as he elbowed Ruby.
"Ack! Sorry!" Ruby shrieked quietly, surprised at the attack. "Sorry, I was watching to make sure Jaune is doing everything right."
"And is he?"
"Seems to be. Anyways you were wondering if he… had permission to do this, right?"
"Uhuh."
Ruby pouted at the parroted response. "He mentioned to me that no one in his family had used it in a couple generations anyways, so it's not like anyone will miss it. Besides, I don't think his family situation is all that good anyways, so I doubt he cares."
"I see," Lance said. "Well, I think I'll give him a present once he finishes up the first stage of forging."
The stage in question would be when Jaune successfully prepared his sword for the transformation into a hybrid weapon. That is when Ruby would step in to help, as she had much more experience than either Lance or Jaune. Lance was really only there to provide parts for the weapon. That and moral support. He might be strong enough to blow up a city pretty easily, but his crafting skills started and ended at making robots… speaking of which...
It was a bit under an hour later when Jaune finished preparing the blade. By the time Lance made it over to where Ruby and Jaune were hunched over a table, Crocea Mors was completely disassembled, spread out into various piles of parts.
"Oi, Jaune," Lance called out.
"Hmm?"
"I heard you needed a gun part for your new sword, and since Matt's taken such a liking to you I've got one for you."
"Oh really? That's awesome!"
"Eh, you seem like a decent person." Lance reached into his bag, and retrieved a blue-gray pistol with small spikes of ice poking out of it at random points. "Here ya go, kid."
"Anyways," Lance continued. "I'm gonna head out and get some stuff set up. Have fun, you two."
-]l[-
A little under a week had passed since Lance had helped with Jaune's forging, and school was back in session. They hadn't even made it a full day before teams RWBY and JNPR had caused some chaos.
"They're really going at it, aren't they." Lance kicked his chair back slightly to allow for a group of panicking students to pass in front of him. "Any idea what got them all in such a 'good' mood?"
"Mmmhmmph!" Anna agreed, her mouth full. "Remember that big adventure they went on at the end of last semester? Apparently some stuff came out of it that brought tensions up, but they've since talked it over and are good."
"That's good to hear—I was distracted helping Jaune with his new sword, and getting some parts set up for robots," Lance said. "Speaking of helping people out… Natz, has Ozpin gotten back to you about that person you offered to heal?"
"Ozpin's waiting for someone named Ironwood to get to Vale. I think he was part of the Illuminati like Ozpin. Was supposed to arrive today, I think," Matt answered for his girlfriend from where he stood above her, protecting her homework from any food that might fly over toward team MALN's now empty table.
"Sounds like a cool guy… Actually, I'll head out and see if I can find him."
"Before you go," Matt interjected. "You mentioned Jaune has a new sword?"
"Yeah, me and Rose helped him make it, though I didn't catch the end of it, and haven't seen him for a few days."
"I'll have to catch him after lunch for a spar, then," Matt decided.
"You do that." Lance stood up from the table, and ducked under a pair of watermelons thrown by Jaune. Carefully weaving his way through the crossfire, he was able to make it to the one of the cafeteria exits. The door slid open as he reached it to reveal a pair of teenagers, one with blue hair in the middle of posing, and the other with blonde hair looking the first up and down.
"Hello," Lance greeted them.
The two returned his hellos and introduced themselves as Sun and Neptune. Lance made to introduce himself, but was interrupted by Sun.
"Wait! You're… Lance, right?"
"Yeah. How'd ya know?"
"Blake told me about your team, and team JNPR while we were in Vale," Sun answered.
"I see. Well, everyone is inside throwing food, so let's take a walk," Lance explained, leaning forward to dodge a turkey. "I hear the Atlesian military is here, so let's go look at them. I'm told they have large guns."
Sun and Neptune exchanged a concerned look, which Lance ignored, and the three of them headed away from the dining hall just as Professor Goodwitch stepped inside.
"We'll uh, have to catch them later," Sun muttered to Neptune. "I've heard that that teacher is super scary."
-]l[-
"So, Jaune!" Matt exclaimed, sliding to a stop in front of Jaune and his team. "I heard you got a new sword?"
Jaune's eyes flicked to his waist, where Crocea Mors was sheathed. "W-well, more I modified the sword I already had. What about it?"
"Nothing much, I just want to spar since I didn't get a chance during the break."
"That's really more your fault… It's not that I was doing anything during the break."
Matt laughed. "Well yeah, but I was busy 100%ing this new RPG, and I couldn't just stop halfway through. But now we're both free, so let's fight!"
"Ah… but my team needs to get unpacked?" Jaune reasoned weakly.
"No, no," Pyrrha interrupted. "This is the perfect chance for me to see your new sword, and how your sessions with Matt go."
That did make sense, Jaune supposed. Pyrrha had gone back to Mistral during the break to visit her family, so she hadn't had a chance to see his newly modified sword either. The trip was expensive, but as both a prized tournament fighter and mascot, Pyrrha probably had the money to burn.
"Alright then, if Ren and Nora and okay to go on?"
"Of course," Ren agreed, stepping past Jaune and his teachers, Nora trailing him.
Damn. That had been Jaune's last chance to get out of this. Time to get beat up by Matt—and while Pyrrha was watching, no less.
It was a short ten-minute walk to get to the sparring rooms, and once the trio arrived, Jaune and Pyrrha threw their bags onto the bleachers, and Pyrrha took a seat beside them while Jaune went down to the arena floor where Matt was already waiting.
"So, uh, how are we doing this?" Jaune asked.
"Same as usual," Matt was leaning on one of his swords as he answered. If Jaune remembered correctly, this one was called Heaven's Gate, and the massive gold guard certainly was recognizable. "You try to hit me, and we go until I get bored, you land a hit, or you get tired," he explained for Pyrrha's benefit.
Same rules, but an all new Jaune… well, partially new at least.
"All right!" Jaune shouted, drawing Crocea Mors and pointing it at Matt.
His new sword didn't look very different; still a rather plain, if well-made longsword. Straight edges, golden handguard, and a blue handle. But, if you knew the blade well enough, or looked close enough, the differences became visible. Running along the length of the blade were a number of lines—places where the sword would split for its mechashift functions, and within the guard, one could just barely see the hints of a trigger.
Compared to Crescent Rose, it looked much cleaner, lacking the same number of exposed gears and shift points as Ruby's sniper-scythe, but given the much larger number of mechashift forms that Ruby's weapon had, compared to Crocea Mors' two, it made sense.
Returning his mind to the fight, Jaune stared straight into Matt's eyes in some sort of sparring tradition. Every time the two had fought, Jaune had started the same. Pointing Crocea Mors at Matt in a pseudo-salute, meeting eyes, and promising to himself that this would be the one—the time when he would finally win.
And then Jaune triggered the mechashift function, and in less than a second, Crocea Mors' sword form was no more, leaving the barrel of a pistol pointed straight at Matt's face while the rest of the mass of the weapon wrapped around Jaune's hand in an odd form of gauntlet.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots rang out through the room as Jaune fired on his teacher. If the bastard thought he could just stand still every single fight, then he had something coming.
Lowering the gauntlet-pistol form of Crocea Mors, Jaune took in the situation, while at the same time raising his shield to guard from any potential counter-attacks. Several meters across from him, Matt still stood, uncaring, practically taking a nap on the hilt of his sword.
Jaune paused at that. Where had his bullets gone? Glancing around the room, Jaune found his answer. On the wall behind Matt, several feet to either side, were three middling-sized spikes of ice, the afternoon light streaming in from the room's windows reflecting off of them.
Jaune had missed completely.
"Damnit!"
"You know, Jaune. Just having a gun doesn't mean you can aim it," Matt contributed, oh so helpfully. "I think Pyrrha can help you with that."
Jaune let out a sort of whine at the comment, it bit deep.
"I hear you, I hear you. Learn to aim. Got it."
"Well, not right now. We're still in a spar… though I am getting a bit bored, so…"
And with those words, Matt was gone from across the room. Worst part is, in Jaune's opinion, that he didn't even need to see Matt moving, to know where he was going. Right behind Jaune, to tap him on the shoulder.
"Dead."
"Damnit!"
"Now you can spar with Pyrrha!" Matt exclaimed, hopping away from Jaune without a care. "I always fall asleep during Glynda's class, so I never know if you and Weiss are just exceptionally bad or everyone is this weak compared to me."
Pyrrha let out a chuckle as she stood from the stands. "You didn't need to phrase it like that, did you? Besides, if you really want to know, just accept my challenges in combat class already. I am, after all, a four times champion. Besides, Weiss isn't that bad."
"I mean, comparably… Weiss was pretty bad. Anyways, we can spar," Matt conceded. "Right now, it's time for you two to fight!"
-]l[-
"Wait, are you making spy robots!?" Sun burst out, as he and Neptune stood behind Lance. The black-coated boy was crouched behind a bush, with a medium-sized red and black ball with two propellers sitting on the ground in front of him.
"Yep, this is a Flybot," Lance answered. "Took a while to get them made, but with Jaune and Ruby's help it wasn't too hard."
"But why do you need them?"
Lance didn't respond immediately, playing around with the wires inside the Flybot, before slapping the panel closed and hopping backward as it floated into the air with a soft whine.
"Gotta make a surveillance state, of course."
Sun and Neptune exchanged a concerned glance, an event happening more frequently the longer they spent with Lance.
"Again, why is this necessary?"
Just as Sun asked, the Flybot spun around, and the trio could hear the servos that made up its lens whine as the lens focused. Standing up from the dirt, Lance followed the Flybot's gaze, catching sight of a tall man in a long white overcoat striding down the path toward Beacon.
"See what I mean?" Lance asked rhetorically. "He looks interesting, so I need to spy on him!"
"You know what, Lance?" Sun asked, from behind him.
"Hmm?"
"I think me and Neptune will just be leaving you to your spying on the general of the Atlesian fleets!" Sun practically whisper-shouted the last few words of that sentence, before he and Neptune evacuated from the situation.
Lance, left alone, did not entirely understand. This guy was only a general, so why would Lance not spy on him? Oh hey! Robots!
Sure enough, the general had a retinue of robots following behind him. They were humanoid in structure, covered in white armor plating, and had a black skeleton serving for joints. In their arms they carried a white rifle.
"Iiinteresting," Lance drawled. He just had to find out what these robots were made of, and where he could find one. This was the first example of robotics on this new world, and Lance wanted to compare notes with whomever made them. After taking several apart for pieces, of course.
Course of action decided on, Lance retrieved his Scroll from a pocket, and messaged his team.
'Going to find out who made some robots.'
His duty of informing his team done, Lance relayed a command to his Flybot to search for more of the robots, watching it fly out toward Vale, before he followed it on foot. It was time to steal—err, investigate—some robots!
-]l[-
James Ironwood, General of the Atlesian Navy strode down the hallways of Beacon, headed toward the Headmaster's Office. He was headed to an appointment with Ozpin. Apparently the old man had found something which could possibly heal the Fall Maiden.
The elevator doors slid open, and James scanned his scroll, before tapping on the button for Ozpin's office. Security had risen since the last time James had visited, a few years before. If he had to guess, he would say it was a combination of the Maiden beneath the school, as well as the upcoming Vytal Festival.
A short ride later, and the doors opened once more, allowing James to enter Ozpin's office.
"Oz," he greeted the gray-haired man, receiving a nod in return. "What is this I hear about you finding a cure for the Maiden?"
"Ah yes. One of the new students, a girl named Natalie, might be able to heal Amber. She should be here any moment."
"And you trust her?" James was suspicious. A new student pops up who might be able to heal the Maiden, and no one bats an eye?
"It's not like we have anything to lose, James," Ozpin replied. "I suspect Salem already knows the Maiden is here, so she won't learn anything more. But to answer your question, no. I don't trust her. That said, I don't believe we have a choice."
And with those ominous words Ozpin tapped a button on his Scroll and nodded to James. "She'll be here soon."
Indeed, three minutes later, and the doors to the office opened. In strode the girl in question, Natalie, dressed in… was that a nurse outfit? Odd, and slightly concerning. Beyond the strange choice of clothing and hat, she was carrying a moss-covered cross-shaped gravestone, and wore a pair of golden earrings that were just visible beneath her bright ginger hair.
"Headmaster," she addressed Oz, ignoring James entirely. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, Miss Natalie," Oz responded. "Do you remember what we talked about last we met?"
"Yeah, you wanted me to heal someone."
"Correct. Before we head to see her, I'd like to introduce you to James Ironwood, General of the Atlesian fleet, and a trusted friend and ally of mine. He, among others, holds special interest in seeing this young woman revived. I trust you have no objections to his presence?"
The girl—Natalie—turned to look at James for a moment, and he could've sworn that he saw the tip of her gravestone/staff light up, but when his eyes opened from blinking there was no difference. "No, Headmaster. If you trust him, then it's fine."
"Excellent," Oz rose from his chair, leading James and Natalie back toward the elevator. "Then let us be on our way."
-]l[-
The elevator doors slid open after a short ride, and Ozpin led the way out, followed by James, Natalie, and Glynda—whom they had picked up right before heading beneath the school.
As he stepped past the threshold, lights began popping into existence. First nearby, revealing they were emitted from almost lamppost-like lights, and then fading into the distance until they were just faint islands of light in the shadows of the underground halls.
The Beacon Vault had long-since stopped impressing Ozpin—he had been alive during the age of magic, and mere large hallways would never stack up—but still, for something built without any magic, the massive vaulted ceilings, columned walls, and intricate floor designs were still a quite impressive sight. From the quiet gasp he heard from behind him, he could tell Natalie agreed.
A modest walk later—the Vault did span the entirety of Beacon's grounds, after all—and Ozpin led the group to a stop in front of a pair of large metallic boxes, shaped almost uncomfortably like coffins. Both had a large glass window in front, and behind the left window Ozpin saw the face of Amber, the Fall Maiden whom he had failed.
"This is her?" Natalie asked, stepping up to stand beside him, staff tapping against the floor as she walked.
"Indeed."
"What happened to her?"
Ozpin didn't answer immediately, as he considered how much to tell Natalie. "She was attacked by those who sought her power—pawns of Salem. They succeeded, if only partially, and she was left in this critical state. Kept on life-support until we could find a way to heal her, or transfer her powers safely."
"I see," Natalie said, before gesturing toward the group with her staff. "Back up please. I'm not sure how hard this'll be, so it's better to be safe than sorry."
Ozpin nodded, and led the adults a few steps away to where they would still have a good view of the procedure, while still being close enough to step in should anything go wrong.
"Alright," Natalie said. "Open her up, please."
Glynda was quick to respond, waving her crop once, and triggering one of the many buttons visible on the pod's control panel. A moment later, and the glass and metal covering began to lift, slowly at first, then gaining in speed until it was almost vertical, revealing Amber to the cold air of the vault.
Natalie drew her staff close, grasping it with both hands, and closed her eyes. From where she stood, just a few feet away from the box that held Amber's body, she then tapped her staff against the ground. Her eyes shot open, and she took one step forward before she raised her staff to the vaulted ceiling above Amber. Her mouth moved, silently pronouncing some form of incantation, and a pulse of energy similar in color to the sun burst from the center of her staff.
There was a second-long pause, and, for the briefest of moments, Ozpin was worried that Natalie's spell had failed. The glowing laser that appeared from the sky, expanding to envelop Amber's entire body, dissuaded him of that notion. The light infused Amber's whole body, and she seemed to glow with the light of the sun for a moment, before it was gone.
"Well," Natalie began. "That was easier than I expected."
Ozpin barely had time to take in that comment, before Amber jerked awake.
-]l[-
Happy Lunar New Year in a week!
Shorter chapter this time—I didn't see too many places to write in these few episodes, nor did I really want to move onto the sneaky-spy stuff quite yet. That can wait until (probably) next chapter. I'll be honest, not much happened this time. Jaune got a new sword, Lance started setting up flybots, and, most importantly, Amber got healed.
I do like the Amber scene. Natalie shows up, ready to heal 60K HP in a single heal, to cast Genesis and give auto-revive to the whole room, and nah, just a basic heal lmao. Felt there was some pretty fine imagery in that scene.
For your pseudo-monthly fic recs, I (finally) got around to reading Fairy Dance of Death, in the SAO fandom, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone into that show/fanfiction of it. Beyond that, Brockton's Celestial Forge is a pretty fun Worm fic, and the Unwoven Threads of Fate is an entertaining Naruto SI fic.
Anyways, that's it for now. Not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I've been getting some really good words written so far in February, so it might be out faster than normal. If you enjoyed, please favorite/follow. If you have any thoughts, comments, or concrit to share, please share it as a review or PM!
'Til later.