["Bloody Stream" - JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE (English Cover by Y. Chang)]
From the darkness…
Strong and silent
Like pillars in the night they break the dawn
Hungry and violent
Scarlet rain falls
Hot and heavy
Show me that you've got the strength to fight
Boy, are you ready?
And so, may love guide your way through every last endless trial
Always tempt your fate with luck and a smile
Watch out for danger left and right it's just like dancing in the dark
You slip through like a knife and cut your way right to the heart
Let your path unfurl and the world will always sing your story
Like a bloody storm
It surges like a bloody storm
When destiny runs through your veins so wild and wet and warm
Fate may pull the strings and who knows what tomorrow brings
But, tonight we stand together!
残り:四の影/ Remnant's Four Shadows
Volume 3, Episode 2: Diverging
(Sunday – Day 21)
It was good to be back in the dorms of Beacon Academy were the collective thoughts Team YUKI had as they walked through the halls. Not so much for Team RWBY and Jaune as they had to catch up on work while everyone else got to enjoy their weekends…well most of them. Yang groaned before throwing aside her textbook. She wanted to go work out and give her body a test run. When they returned to Beacon, jaws dropped at the sight of the new Ruby. Blake found herself in an awkward position given she now had a tail, but Sun had brightened it offering any help she needed. Weiss did not even receive any compliments as Neptune was too busy staring at Ruby. A knock on their door revealed it to Ivory who stated that Peach and Yuki were calling them. Ruby slumped out of bed missing her precious baby and had been bummed out about it. She lumbered into the common room to find a familiar friend waiting for her
"Oh my gosh, Crescent Rose!" Ruby said tackling her beloved scythe. "It's just like the original."
"But better." Yuki said with a small smile. "This one's a bit a special. I called in a favor for this.
Yuki did not tell her that he actually got Tempus to take an upgraded Crescent Roses off a dead future Ruby from some other timeline. He did not want to dampen her mood.
"Now, myself, the Team, Peach, the Amazons, and even Toriel all assisted in rebuilding your weapons. For Weiss, we simply rebuilt Myrtenaster from the ground up. Notice that we have a pouch for you to put on, Weiss. That's because Toriel enchanted it with magic. Now you can wordlessly or verbal command a reload in your chambers if you're out on your weapon." Yuki said tossing the pouch to her. "That pouch is magically bound to your weapon."
"So, there's no such thing as magic, huh?" Blake snarked.
"Quiet you." Weiss said admiring the handiwork.
"For Blake, Gambol Shroud was given the personal touches from Kelly." Yuki said handing them over to Blake. "Switch them over to katana mode."
Blake did so only for the swords' metal to turn an eerie purple as she could feel her aura coating them with ease.
"I was able to mix the metals with a bit of aura metal." Kelly bemused. "It'll give your blades an extra kick."
"Figures you'd do that. Your family is famous for their mines full of the stuff." Weiss remarked.
"And unlike your family, I sprang for people to handle robots to extract the metal." Kelly snarked.
"Lastly, there's Yang. Ember Celica was given a bit a facelift which the dragon design on the plates. I upgraded it with a rapid fire mode like an automatic weapon, Peach added a slot for you shove rods of fire dust for a flamethrower mode, Kelly added a hidden blade to come out of both of them, and Toriel imbued it with magic to increase your physical strength while having them on. That's mostly for lifting heavy objects though…" Yuki explained.
"I barely recognize it." Yang said putting them on. "You all went all out."
"You're welcome. This incident has led to all of us getting upgrades ourselves. Well most of us." Peach said sheepishly.
"Frostbite get a few magic upgrades from Toriel, and I may have gone nuts on Yang's gauntlets before well…I may have made my take of them." Yuki said unveiling his own gauntlets. "Introducing the Midnight Mortis."
Putting them in active mode, they formed over his hands and forearms in gauntlets, acting as arm guards.
"Unlike yours with is based around shotguns. Mine is centered around making condensed blasts out of dust in its Buster form. Other than it, can do all that Ember can and then some." Yuki said deactivating them. "Of course, I still have my pistols. Just lined up with new explosive clips."
"Yeesh, you went all out on improving this. You got us new clothes too?" Yang asked.
"For Ruby yes, the rest of you are going to get your new gear, just after the dance." Yuki said as Ivory rolled out the new clothes for Ruby.
Ruby took the outfit and went to change before rushing back in her new clothes. Her usual red cloak, a black tank top under a metallic dark grey flak jacket that had an interwoven band near the stomach and two straps over the shoulders, a pair of black fingerless gloves, red arm-guards, dark red pants, black boots with a little cross on the ends, and a porcelain mask with wolf styled markings. Ruby looked ready to clear the world of Grimm and Yang whistled in appreciation.
"I wouldn't want to be a Grimm now." Yang said giving a thumbs up.
Ruby took off the mask showing that warm smile and silver eyes full of hope.
Serena blipped on a screen that flashed in front of Yuki's face.
"[Ironwood is at the door.]" Serena said before the screen vanished.
Yuki came up to find the general and the Azure fighter was wary of this.
"Ironwood. What brings you to the Dragon's Den?" Yuki remarked.
"I believe I owe you a bit of an apology." Ironwood remarked as Yuki was concerned. "Concerning Penny. Your upgrades came through for making repairs easier for us. I wanted to personally give you thanks from both me and Penny's father. Also, due to the media, it has been raised to my attention you have tangled with the Church several times before along with your deeds done in Mistral with your team. While I was growing aware of your team's actions, this time I took a better look. You have tangled with plenty. Trafficking rings, mafias, mad scientists, and all manner of horror. Personally, while education is a strong thing to have, experience gained on the battlefield is as important."
"That's…actually kind of you. Thank you. I didn't do all that for any real reward or glory. Just doing what I do." Yuki said only to be handed an envelope. "What's that?"
"Let's just say, I had to pull a few strings. Ozpin will definitely take issue with it, but Atlas thanks for your service. If you do ever leave Beacon, Atlas Academy would love to have you teach. And on that…thanks for looking after Kelly." Ironwood said before curtly leaving.
Yuki walked back to his group before opening it to look inside. What he found gave him a grin, the "OH HELL YES!" kind. His teammates gathered around, and they got the same grins before taking them up. Their full-fledged huntsmen licenses were in their hands.
"Of course, you'll still have be under a senior hunter for a bit given the nature of all this, but those are your full-on licenses." Peach said cheerfully. "I had made sure to give my approval for Atlas to give them to you."
"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't also a bribe from their government." Kelly said diversely.
As others rolled her eyes, Weiss got a text on her scroll to which she read it and had a look of pensiveness. Tempting as it would be to kill Kelly, she swallowed that desire down not wanting to ruin the day for them. Weiss did promptly excuse herself as the text was a family issue after all. She had no idea that Whitley had done something like this. Left home for a week only to show up stringed out passed out on the floor of a Faunus church with cut up wrists begging for help. She called up Klein who summed it up easily for her.
"The guilt ate him, and it nearly ate him whole."
Weiss had no idea Whitley even began to feel that giving he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps so badly. She could not help but worry about his health a tad.
-R4S-
"What do you mean you let Ironwood give Team YUKI their licenses?!" Ozpin said to the Vale Council. "You circumvented my authority."
"That may be, but considering the case, we made an exception. One of your staff members has informed us in full about your mishandling of the Crossroad Case. Personally, we understand if you need to secure information that could fall into the wrong hands, but the fact you completely rushed the investigation has led to make neighbor villages trust the Kingdom of Vale less. Never mind the fact the White Fang fiasco led to an attack on Vale." One of the councilmen said. "We will not reverse our decision in handing security measures to Ironwood for the Festival. Good day, Ozpin."
They hung up and Ozpin wanted answers. He had a sneaking thought of it being Peach who did this, but he could not be any more wrong.
-R4S-
"Seriously, Toriel. Thank you for all your help." Yuki said with a bow.
He had caught up with her after she had a session with Yatsuhashi once again. Toriel sweetly played it off as no big issue and that she was happy to help.
"I should also thank you for pointing me towards children in need of help. While I can't exactly officially work here as the shrink, I've gotten the offer to work at Signal there. So, we won't be near, and you'll see me soon." Toriel said kindly. "Please see me if you need anything."
-R4S-
Within the dorm of Team FAME, half of the team had seen better days. By some miracle, Mercury and Emerald had escaped that blast with minor injuries. The other half of the team were worse for wear. Ilia ended up with both of her legs broken and bound to a wheelchair. Considering she had no insurance; Ilia was stuck with a crappy wheelchair she could not even afford. Cinder, despite not having broken legs, ended up worse off. The flash of the explosion ruined her left eye leaving vision from it fuzzy forcing her to keep it under an eyepatch until it healed. Her perfect skin had patches of burns on her arms. She did not find the irony in that funny at all. Her right ankle was busted, and she was stuck on crutches. But for her, the worst loss was her beloved hair. Cinder spent a lot of time maintaining it and threatened murder on anyone who dared ruin it. It was why she put a lot of money into her hair care products. Now, she was stuck with a near bald haircut! What did make it funny for Mercury was her hair loss was not from the fire, but from an outbreak of lice they were trying to contain in the hospital. Emerald had felt a little sorry for her even though Cinder treated her poorly.
"Cinder, I know you're sad about your hair. So, I brought this for you to wear until it grows back." Emerald said producing a blonde wig.
"Is this a joke to you? I didn't lose my hair so I could look like a goddamn bimbo!" Cinder said bitterly slapping the wig out of their hands. "If it wasn't for the fact that my arms are still hurting, I'd burn that wig."
"Lay off, Baldy. She went out of her way to shield your chrome dome. More than I would have done." Mercury said coming up to Emerald's defense.
As Mercury and Cinder argued, Emerald was amid in a mental debate. Emerald had always justified everything under the fact that Cinder took her in, and she owed her everything. Yet, the frustration with her was welling within Emerald.
"I would have gotten her a black wig. Could you believe this idiot, Cinder?" Ilia said with a sneer. "Then again, you can't ask for hair help from a street rat."
"Careful, Cinder. She may ask for your childhood photos to get off too." Mercury said sarcastically before leaving to cool off. "Come on, Emerald."
This time, Emerald did not protest and followed. She could see it. Ilia was trying to get under Cinder's side through a bit of "sweetness" through put downs. It was a weird feeling being the end of being ripped on to score brownie points.
-R4S-
Monday came and the school week began. Sun was still helping Blake get used to her new tail, Weiss was still outshone by Ruby, and Yang had wanted to shield Ruby from too much attention. Given that the dance was just a few days away, Yang had her work cut out as plenty of boys and girls wanted to ask Ruby to the dance.
"This is bullshit, I've been a bombshell for longer, but everyone wants to focus on Ruby." Yang said forking down more of her lunch.
"She's new. It'll die down." Yuki insisted.
"So, who are…Oh no, not again." Weiss said weakly as Jaune came with a guitar to serenade.
Pyrrha just wanted Jaune to ask the one who obviously was pining for him. Ren and Nora were fed up with Pyrrha just not telling her and were done putting up with the nonsense. Jaune started to serenade, only for Yuki to snatch the guitar out of his hands.
"Jaune, please stop. Clearly, you can't serenade to save your life…plus Weiss is clearly not in the mood." Yuki remarked tiredly.
"But a song could…" Jaune remarked as Ivory had an idea.
"I'll go with you." Ivory said as Yuki looked down at Ivory.
"Wait, what?" Jaune stammered.
"Yes, I will go with you to the dance as your date." Ivory said with a cheeky grin.
Pyrrha's jaw hit the table and Yuki looked at Ivory like she dropped her standards. Lapis realizing why Ivory did this warranted a shaking of her head in disapproval. Kelly was rolling her eyes.
"Really?" Jaune said surprised.
"Of course, Jaune. Why not? You're hitting the boxes for me plus you're certainly improved from where you were." Ivory said getting up to leave. "So, see ya there, huntsman."
"Oh no, you don't." Lapis said getting up while glaring at Ivory. "Ivory, I know why you're doing this. Can you not be petty? Jaune's a person and at least deserves not to be used as commodity for your little revenge."
Lapis gently took Jaune by his hand much to Yuki's mild surprise.
"Which is why I'll be taking him to the dance." Lapis said as Ivory had a double take.
She left with Jaune and he was just feeling on top of the world. Pyrrha left like she was smashed into the dirt and Nora rolled her eyes.
"I told you to just talk to him." Ren said flatly.
"And now Lapis snatched him up. Might as well start looking for another date." Nora said finishing off her food. "And at least Ivory didn't get him."
"So, Yuki? Who are you talking to the dance?" Ruby asked.
"Haven't decided." Yuki remarked. "You guys choose up yet?"
"Neptune flaked when I asked." Weiss said with a pout.
"Lapis, you wet bitch, blocked my plans!" Ivory said sourly.
"Weiss, Neptune's flaking because he doesn't know how to dance." Kelly remarked. "I've seen that look before in a guy."
She lied of how she knew that, but Weiss did not catch on.
"That's it? I could probably show him a few basic steps." Weiss said getting up to leave the cafeteria to find him. "Wish me luck."
On another table, Team FAME was having their lunch and Cinder is scowling at the attention Ruby was getting.
"That bitch." Cinder said glaring at her.
"Jeez, what did little…well Big Red do to you?" Mercury asked.
"She's mocking me! Look at her hair, it's literally styled like mine!" Cinder said pointing her as Ruby had let her hair down.
The hairdo had looked vaguely similar to Cinder's and Cinder saw that as a grave insult. She turned to Mercury.
"Go ask her to the dance." Cinder ordered.
"What? Why?" Mercury asked.
"Because I want you to stand her up." Cinder said as Emerald dropped her fork.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! Cinder, stop acting like a damn child!" Emerald said unintentionally raising her voice.
Everyone turned their heads and Yuki had a split grin on his face. Something Cinder had coming for a long time came today. Emerald got up not even caring if everyone heard this.
"Ruby literally gave you sympathy for your loss of hair and I got out to get you damn wig! People keep extending you kindness, you act like its pity. Can you be any less of a hoarse CUNT?!" Emerald screamed.
"Yeesh, Emerald. Chill out." Ilia said trying to ease the situation. "Aren't you just mad Cinder isn't asking you out?"
Emerald's eye twitched and pointed at Cinder.
"Fuck you!"
Her finger moved to Ilia.
"Fuck you!"
Her finger shifted to Mercury.
"You're cool."
She turned back to Cinder.
"And fuck you, I'm out!" Emerald screamed walking away dragging Mercury with her.
Yuki gave a slow clap with a shit-eating grin only for Emerald to glare at him hotly.
"Wipe that grin off your face, asshole." Emerald remarked before leaving.
"You know what, I ain't even mad." Yuki said chuckling.
Team YUKI were all feeling rather confident as they did not have to do anything to screw Cinder's plans up any further. Cinder's own attitude and Ilia's attempt to get on Cinder's good side were going most of the work for them.
-R4S-
[Nearing Vale]
"This is it, huh?" Jase asked as the "borrowed" ship he and Elsa were piloting approached Vale.
"It is. You know, the time I spent with you…has changed me." Elsa said not wanting to completely admit it.
"Well, it helps we were trapped in that prison with no one to talk to but each other." Jason remarked. "And considering what we did once we got out…"
"You will never speak on that, Jason. I still…" Elsa said with her voice trailing off.
"Oh, come on, so you slept with a human. Big whoop. We were cooped up and pent up." Jason said crassly. "Besides, we both don't have any regrets on those nights."
Elsa sighed asking him what will be do now.
"For one, take a nice vacation. Always wanted to visit Patch. Considering I know you and the Fang are going after Azure, I'll leave you to it. If you fail, I'll take my turn." Jase said cheekily.
"You won't get it." Elsa said firmly.
"Either way, I win. I'll settle for pissing on the ashes before going to war with Atlas." Jase said with a shrug.
"Well then, this is goodbye." Elsa said impulsively kissing him. "I hope we see each other soon."
She took her bag and flew away leaving Jase to take the helm with a confident smirk.
(A/N: The dance is coming, and it looks like Cinder's not going to be the threat this time. Blake, Yang, and Weiss's new outfits are something I'm working on at the moment. You'll see them after the dance. Now there's the matter of dates for the dance? Who do you suggest Ivory, Yang, and Yuki take as their date to the dance? Leave it in the review.)
Cue the Ending Theme
