Chapter 21: Ashes.
It took a while, but the rest of team RWBYS made it back to the dorm. Once they opened the door, Yang had an urgent expression on her face as well as her teammates as she entered.
The trio noted that the team were present and they waved at them.
*SLUUUUUURP*
Except for Sans, who apparently was busy drinking.
"Uhhhh,... What are you doing?" Weiss inquired.
"We were waiting for you. So I decided to buy some smoothies." Ruby answered.
*SLUUUUUUUUURP*
Chara now joined Sans in making slurping sounds by drinking her smoothies.
"HAVE YOU CHECKED THE NEWS LATELY!? There's a freaking mountain of a Grimm in Patch and you guys can still SIT here and MESS AROUND!?" Yang snapped.
Ruby was shocked to hear this. All of her friends were on Patch. It was her home, and now, it is being destroyed while she was horsing around.
"that wasn't a Grimm." Sans told them.
Everyone turned their attention to Sans.
"that, my friends, is a crack in the void. the creatures of the void seem to be pouring in. but, i don't think we should worry about Patch. it's where Crash is, right? he can handle it. it's his job, afterall." Sans spoke.
"It doesn't matter if Crash can handle it or not! The people there are in danger!" Ruby exclaimed.
"I agree with Sans here. I don't see how putting ourselves in danger helps." Blake reasoned.
"Just take me there if you're too afraid." Ruby declared.
"Ruby, I get what you're feeling, but-"
"No you don't." Ruby cuts Weiss off "It doesn't matter if it's dangerous. We are huntresses! It is our job to protect people!"
"if we go there now, there isn't gonna be anyone to save anymore. if we go there and pull that creature's attention, it's gonna attack us. who's saving who then?" Sans questioned.
"It doesn't matter! It shouldn't matter! Are you guys really trying to talk us into leaving those people here to die!?" Yang yelled.
"No, Yang. We-"
"Yes." A voice from the door cut Blake off.
"What,...?" Ruby muttered as she looked at her uncle, who was at the doorway.
"Look,... I know you kids have good intentions, but throwing your lives away isn't gonna help anybody." Qrow said.
"see? even he agrees, and he's a huntsman. please, just drop it." Sans said.
"Shut up, mister I-have-godlike-power-but-I'm-too-lazy-to-use-it! Of all people, I thought you would understand what it's like to lose your friends!" Ruby snapped.
"yup, i do. i also understand that throwing your life away and becoming someone else's deadweight helps no one." Solemnly, Sans said.
"And I know that doing nothing while people are dying helps no one! If you can help them, help them you bonehead! Not like you can die anyways." Ruby yelled.
Everyone was taken aback by the outburst, Ruby was definitely NOT someone who liked confrontations. No, scratch that, she avoided them like a plague. So seeing Ruby saying things like this is a rare sight.
"*sigh* that's a valid point." The blue hood complained.
"And I'm coming with you." The red reaper declared.
"nah." The white haired summoner replied.
"Have fun dying, comedian. Seeya in the next lives." Chara taunted.
"Lives? Cannot die? Anyone mind filling me in?" Qrow complained.
"I'm going, whether you like it or not. Even if I have to fly all the way there." The red Rose declared.
"We're all going. You two can retry as many times as you want, right? Then it is certain that victory is achievable." Weiss stated.
"I agree." Blake added.
"*sigh* sure you wanna do this." Sans sighed as he looked at the team with a wide smile.
"Hey! Do I get a say in this?" Qrow inquired.
"A battle against an enemy with little to no chance of victory? Sounds fun. Mind if we join?" Pyrrha asked from the door, completely ignoring Qrow.
"Kids, I'm telling ya, this is a bad idea." Qrow spoke.
"Sorry, Qrow. Magical personnel only." Yang chimed in.
"Not like you can hold your own that well. Y'all gonna need some back-up." Qrow told them.
"guess that's settled then. how 'bout you, Chara?" Sans asked.
"..." Said girl hesitated for a short while, but answered anyway.
"Not like I have anything better to do. C'mon,..." Lazily, the princess of monsterkind told them.
"Let's go,... Me." Ruby told her look-alike enthusiastically.
"i'm so gonna have a bad time. nah, scratch that, we're all gonna have a bad time." The masked boy told them.
"Then we'll do that as a team." Yang chimed in.
"What are we, chopped liver?" Nora deadpanned.
"And team JNPR too." Blake added.
"Hey! What 'bout me?" Qrow voiced his question.
"ANYWAY,... We're running out of time. Sans, get us there." Weiss cut in.
"Stupid kids,..." The crow huntsman muttered before imitating Yang's voice "Hey, look at me, I'm Yang! I don't take advice from a stupid, scruffy, old-"
*SNAP*
"-Crow." Qrow finished and realised that he had already been teleported to the island of Patch.
"Dafuq,..." The huntsman muttered.
"neat shortcut, eh?" The blue hood snarked.
The crow huntsman spared a glare at Sans, but decided not to comment. He looked at the children for answers, only for them to reply with a shrug. This guy is, by all means in the world, weird as heck.
"So how are we dealing with this monster?" Qrow questioned.
"calling it a monster would be an insult to my kind, ya know." Sans stated.
"Aren't all monsters abnormally large and have magical powers?" The crow huntsman asked.
"wow, you've just insulted my entire race of people,... but yeah." Replied the former skeleton.
*YIP*
Everyone turned around and noticed that Zwei was here also. Sans could almost see Ruby's eye twitching. With a sigh, the summoner was about to teleport the dog back to the dorm when Toby emerged from the ground and tackled him to the ground before licking him.
"Zwei! Go back to Beacon!" Yang exclaimed.
"check this out. Toby, if you get yourself and your dog friend outta here, you get some of Papyrus' bone treats." The masked boy offered.
Without a second thought, Toby took that offer and ascended off the screen in everyone's confusion.
"What in the, wha,..." Qrow started.
"You'll get used to it." Weiss deadpanned.
"I'm telling you, that thing is death incarnate!" Blake exclaimed.
*SCREEEEEEE*
All of them turned their attention back to their objective, to find two Atlas' cruisers shot their laser cannons along with rockets, but it seemed like the beast took no damage. Any hit taken by the creature immediately healed, any malformation the creature took immediately reformed.
The back of the void creature grew hundreds of human-sized spikes shot out of it's back and looked for it's targets. Every spike pierced through the first cruiser and stabbed all of the people in it. Without a single living pilot, the ship fell from the sky and barrelled towards the creature.
The void demon opened it's face-hole with a crack. The lower half of it's face hit the ground with a loud thud, revealing a large black hole inside. The black hole completely sucked the cruiser into it's body and sunk the ship into the abyss.
Gulping, Nora turned to her friends and was greeted by the same terrified look on everyone's face. Instinctively, she tried her best to stay positive.
"H-Hey, guys! C'mon, don't give me that look. W-We still have another battleship! A-And the other skeleton guy too!" The hammer wielder told them.
Speak of the devil, and he shall come.
Another loud explosion rang in front of them as the battle cruiser was disintegrated by the creature's face beam. Jaune put up a wall to protect them from the debris and suddenly, Crash hit the 'Kindness' shield like a fly to a windshield.
Before anyone could express their surprise, the demon's homing spikes rained into the shield. Stabbing Crash all over his arms, broke his rib cage and obliterated both of his legs.
Everyone was so shocked that they couldn't get a single word out of their mouth. But they knew that saving him was counterproductive because if they lowered the shield, the spikes would annihilate them. So desperately, they yelled at Crash, screaming for him to get out of the way, as if it would save him.
Once the rain of spikes stopped, Jaune lowered his magic shield and let the skeleton monster in. What's left of the skeleton was barely recognisable. His lower half has already dusted, the left side of his skull was gone along with his left arm and his right arm was filled with spikes.
Yet, Crash did not wail or cry. He only coughed and muttered.
"I,... Lost,..."
"D-Don't worry about it! You'll be fine! W-We'll heal you! Just stay with me!" Jaune spoke in a panic as he tried to heal the monster.
But, it would seem that Crash did not heed him. And instead of muttering like before, he yelled surprisedly.
"I lost!? I wasn't supposed to lose! Let me check the script really quick."
"..." Everyone looked at him in a dead silence, not knowing how to respond to that.
"Yup. We're all gonna die." Chara deadpanned.
"Yeah,... It says here that,... We're gonna win,..." With a final breath, Crash dusted away.
Blake looked at the pile of dust with an empty expression, Weiss covered her mouth in shock while Yang cursed. Yet, Ruby looked at the pile of dust with a look of Determination.
"And we will win." Ruby told her friends "Anyone wanna leave now? Final-"
The Desperation's face hole lit up in white light as it readied another blast at the crew. Sans noticed that and put up a wall of blasters. He charged all of them with 'Kindness' to block the incoming heat beam.
"A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Sans called out.
Chara looked at the skeleton and saw that his 'Kindness' blaster was breaking rapidly. The princess of monsters used two giant knives to block the ray in an X formation.
It's super effective!
The desperation was dissipated by Chara's Determination. Angered, the beast went for a left swipe. It's claw tore the ground to pieces, but 'Determination' bones protruded from the ground and stabbed Desperation's left arm.
The giant let out a bloodcurdling roar as it tried to pull it's arm back. Chara and Qrow took this chance to run up to the arm and slash it. The striped hooded girl enhanced Qrow's scythe with 'Determination' as they chopped off Desperation's arm.
The beast howled in pain as it pulled it's arm back. A new arm immediately grew back and replaced the old one. The creature leaped back and released a hail of spikes from it's back and ribcage.
The spikes flew to the sky and rained onto Chara and Qrow. The huntsman deflected the spikes and the girl weaved around the spikes as they came down upon them.
"How'd you do that? I don't even see you moving your feet, yet ya zipped 'round like there's notomorrow." The crow huntsman questioned.
"You mean humans don't move their soul out of the way so their body can dodge anymore? Wow,... Weird." Chara commented.
"Hey! Not everyone can move their soul!" Qrow replied in a mock offense.
The princess of monsters only smirked as she summoned dozens of knives to retaliate against the beast. But as she launched them, the spikes turned into shadow people who then charged at the two.
Chara was forced to drop her knives back to the ground and impaled the shadow humanoid creatures. Qrow switched his weapon to sword mode and took down anything that got close to the two of them.
The creature then turned to the group and prepared to shoot the white beams again, only for a giant skeletal dragon with red flame as wings bit it in the neck. The dragon then wrestled the creature onto the ground. The beast fell immediately with it's stomach facing to the sky.
"Woah." Ruby muttered as she looked at Sans, who was sweating profusely "We gotta keep the shadow people away from Sans! He will keep the giant thing busy!"
"Right/Gotcha/Leave that to us/Copy that!" Everyone answered at the same time as they set up a perimeter around Sans and fought off the shadow people.
The skeletal dragon was about to plunge it's hands into the beast's torso when the creature blasted the dragon to the air. The flaming skeletal dragon flapped it's wings to remain airborne as it returned a red beam. Desperation and Sans' flaming dragon engaged in a beam battle when suddenly, the creature pressed on and made it's beam much stronger.
Sans returned the favor by adding 'Bravery' into his summoning as it's 'Determination' power quadrupled. The beast was actually pushed back by the attack. Yet, Desperation did not stop pushing and ducked underneath the beam.
The vile creature then jumped and grabbed ahold of the dragon's legs before dragging it to the ground. Desperation then plunged it's arms into the ribcage of Sans' dragon, slowly disintegrating it.
The 'Determination' dragon breathed red flames at the beast's empty face in defiance, but the creature shut it up by shooting thousands of spikes into the dragon's head. The spikes cracked the dragon's skull and smashed it into tiny pieces.
Sans' knees immediately hit the ground. He started heaving as his irises turned back to it's usual silver color. The former skeleton looked at the beast in front of him with that usual sad smile on his face.
At this very moment, a wave of crimson knives washed by. Ren was quick enough to use 'Patience' on everyone and told them to stand still.
The knives washed the shadow people out of existence and disappeared immediately afterwards. Chara and Qrow then rushed back to the crew, but before they were within reach, the ground shattered, separating them from the crew.
"Hey guys,... Where's the giant thing!?" Nora voiced her concern.
Everyone then turned to the direction Desperation was at, only to find that it was not there anymore and the ground was replaced by a huge hole on the ground.
"ahhh, hell." Sans muttered.
The ground then cracked up and shattered into pieces, swallowing them whole into the underground. They screamed as they fell into the abyss, and everything went dark afterwards.
TIMESKIP
Sans woke up with a jolt. The summoner then scanned his position to look for any possible threats. Finding none, he then realised that he was in the Core.
The white haired summoner urgently ran to the Core room, only to find everything that kept the Core stable was completely destroyed. He desperately looked for any tools that he could use to fix the Core, but it was all for naught.
The stabiliser of the Core was completely destroyed.
Yet, Sans was not desperate.
He was filled with Determination.
Running to that ever-shifting light orb that is the Core, the blue hood noticed that it had spider-web cracks covering it's whole surface. It's a miracle that the Core hadn't shattered into a million pieces.
Quickly, the skeleton monster put both of his hands onto the orb and channeled his magic into it, but he immediately pulled his hands back. The feeling itself was agonizing. It felt like his hands were continuously stabbed by thousands of needles at the same time.
"i can do this, i can do this,... i refuse to let it end like this." Sans muttered to no one but himself "i have someone to protect now,... i can't afford not to care anymore,..."
Mustering up his strength and the power of every drop of his soul, the summoner channeled the power of his own and six human souls into the Core at the same time. Every fiber of his being screamed, telling him to stop, but his mind refused. Because Sans knew that if he let go, the void would consume this world.
His left eye shifted violently with different colors, his right eye sockets cracked and spread to his skull. His clothes slowly lost it's colors and turned into a dull color of grey and white.
Throne room
Ruby woke up in a flower garden. She looked around and saw that she was in some kind of palace. The reaper noticed that there was a large throne in front of her and Chara lying next to the throne.
"CHARA!" Ruby shouted, causing the princess of monsterkind to bolt up and hit her head at the throne's armrest.
"Owww,..." The red eyed brunette groaned.
"Chara! Are you OK!?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"Mmmmm. I'm good. Huh,... Guess it's just you and me, pardner." The red eyed girl stated as she laid on the flowerbed.
"C'mon, Chara. We gotta find the others." The red Rose told her.
As she was about to leave the room, the little Rose was pulled back by Chara as a worn knife lodged itself to the door in front of her.
"WOAH! WHAT THE HECK!?" The red reaper exclaimed.
"Shhh!" The brunette shushed the little reaper as she peeked her head out.
There, she saw a shadow of a child that eerily resembles herself. Immediately, the princess of monsterkind realised who that was.
"Frisk?" Chara half-asked.
"FRISK!?" The little Rose exclaimed as she ran to Judgment Hall.
There stood the remnant of her once friend. Someone who was family to her, someone who she cared for.
Whatever this is, is not that person.
This is a twisted, darker version of Frisk. Her form remained the same, but it was covered in black tar, her eyes were blood red and glowing with 'Desperation'. An ear-to-ear toothless grin was plastered on her face as her head continuously spun counter-clockwise.
"You're not Frisk." Ruby spoke.
Chara remained silent as she drew her knife and held it in a back-grip position. The red reaper drew Crescent Rose and planted the scythe tip to the ground. The demon, in response, charged.
Ruins
Ren tread the Ruins aimlessly. He called for everyone's name as he walked past each and every corner. Suddenly, the shaolin felt a presence, as if he was being watched.
Warily, the green lotus kept walking. He saw a bowl of monster candy with a sign saying "Take one". Ren hesitantly took one, and another one, and another one, and another one,... Until the bowl was empty.
He knew that if Nora was here, she would berate him about how this action is selfish. That, or she would just eat the whole bowl.
Sighing, the lotus shaolin was about to walk away, when he felt that something was going straight at him. Ren used 'Patience' and stood still as a large knife cleaved right through him.
The shaolin then threw a left donkey kick at his attacker's face. The creature rolled backwards as it stood up.
The creature had some close resemblances to that girl Penny. Too close for his liking. If it were not for the black tar skin and a large knife as a left hand, Ren would've said this is Penny when she was younger, as creepy as that thought sounded.
Taking out his weapons, the lotus shaolin aimed them at his assailant. His enemy, Irrational, only responded with an animalistic roar.
Snowdin forest
"GUYS!? GAL!? REN!? RENNY! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Nora shouted as she zipped around the snowy land.
"NORA! HOLD UP!" Yang yelled as she chased after Nora.
The hammer ginger suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, causing the brawler to bump into her. Triggered, the blonde fighter yelled at Nora, who fixed her eyes onto something.
"NORA! What the fuuuuuuuu-" Yang's voice trailed away as she saw what the ginger was staring at.
There, in the middle of the road to Snowdin, stood a crying figure. It was some sort of Grimm with vibrant ginger hair. It had pink boxing gloves on.
"Elise?" The blonde muttered as she slowly approached the figure.
"Yang! Yang, what are you- Dang it!" Nora whispered loudly.
Yang accidentally stepped onto a branch, which alerted the creature. It snapped it's neck to her direction so fast that she felt like it broke it's neck. The creature screeched before leaping into the bushes and disappeared into the woods.
"Wha-whu,... What!?" The ginger stuttered.
"That,... That was Elise. H-How is he here?" The blonde bombshell exclaimed.
"Did,... Did your friend somehow turn into a Grimm?" Nora asked fearfully.
"I-I don't know,... He was my next-door neighbor. How is he here!? Why is he a Grimm!? It makes no sense!" The fighter yelled.
"I don't like this." The ginger stated.
On a nearby cliff, Fear watched the two attentively.
Waterfall
The Heiress tread carefully through the tall grass so that her clothes don't get stained by the mud. So far, her experience in Waterfall was definitely bad. Never before had she got this much dirt into her clothes, and she took an initiation in a damn forest!
This place is certainly in Weiss' black list since it contained everything she hated. Mud, heavy streams of water, bugs, a certain bastard of a tentacle creature named Jerry that she'd rather not talk of.
Suddenly, Weiss heard a mournful, yet smooth and deathly sweet voice. The fencer pulled out her rapier and held it tightly in her left hand as she followed the song. Warily, the heiress pulled down the tall grass to find the source of that sickly smooth voice.
She heard the song as it continued being sung. It was singing,... Her song.
The figure then turned towards Weiss and danced. The creature wore a ballet dress and shoes. It looked like a human if said person turned into shadows because that's what she was freaking looking at.
It graciously danced as it got closer to her and asked.
"Are you lost?"
'Whew,... Just a monster. It got me worried for a moment.' Weiss thought as she let out a breath she did not know she was holding.
"Y-Yes, I am! Can you please lead me out of here!?" The heiress asked.
The figure said nothing and pointed to a tunnel.
"You have my thanks." The fencer nodded as she ran in said direction.
Weiss noticed that the monster was following her, but she decided not to question it. It probably just wanted some sort of companion or something. Snapping out of her thought, the fencer stopped and realised that she should be careful since the wooden bridge she was running on seemed weak.
Looking back, she noticed that the shadow dancer thing did not cross. It just stood there and waved at her. Something was definitely not right here.
The shadowy creature did some sort of downward pushing motion and Weiss felt the gravity pulling her down increased threefold. The bridge could not hold and caused her to fall down with it.
The heiress looked down and saw spikes down at the bottom. Weiss used 'Integrity' and shifted the gravity so that she would fall into a pile of garbage. The fencer cursed as she crawled out of the pile of garbage.
"I'm going to muder that damnable Dishonest pest once I got out of here!"
This became personal quickly.
Hotland
"Why,... am I,... Wearing a hoodie,... IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY!?" Jaune complained as he wandered hotland.
Lava boiled underneath him as he walked on red rocks. The white knight sighed as wandered the land and saw an arrow on the ground. Apparently, these things work similar to the ones from the initiation and it blasted Jaune to the other side.
Jaune was about to fall face first to the ground when his face met a frying pan. Groaning, the knight groggily got up and saw a Grimm with an apron and a frying pan.
The creature swung down onto him and Jaune blocked it with all of his might. It was much weaker than he had imagined. The white knight then bashed the shield into his enemy's face, pushing it back.
A glass arrow suddenly hit Jaune from behind, causing Jaune to stagger forward. The creature then swung it's frying pan left, forcing the kind knight to roll underneath the attack.
The white knight got up from the ground and raised his sword and shield to face his opponents. A feminine figure landed next to the frying pan wielding Grimm-like thing.
The figure's bow was then split into two curved swords as it took a stance. Jaune only sighed as he got into a stance of his own.
"Two on one? Really? Why does the universe Hate me so?" The knight questioned.
"Worry not, friend Jaune! I shall aid you!" A familiar voice sounded behind Jaune.
"Penny!? How are you here!?" The white knight shouted.
"After everybody mysteriously disappeared, I flew towards the giant Grimm thing with my weapon because being alone is boring. Surprisingly, flying with one's weapon is very therapeutic. I now understand why Ruby and Sans do it all the time." Penny chirped.
"Can you fight?" Jaune asked, sizing his opponents.
"I am combat ready!" The cybernetic girl replied.
The spider bakery
Pyrrha shrieked as she ran away from the spiders. Grimm she can manage, but freaking large spiders? Hell to the frick no!
When she realised that she was too deep into the spider-webs, it was too late. The champion tripped and fell right into a giant web. She was completely wrapped into the spider-web.
In the distance, she saw an abnormally large muffin spider. The warrior panically reached for her javelin, but she couldn't reach it. Pyrrha shrieked louder each time the spider muffin took a step closer to her.
"NONONONO! STAY AWAY! GO! GO AWAY!" Pyrrha screamed as the spider stood inches away from her face.
The spider only placed it's two forelegs onto the champion and,... Started untying the webs.
"Oh,... You were trying to help me." The gladiator realised.
The spider nodded as it continued it's work. After being untangled from the spider-webs, Pyrrha scratched her head embarrassingly as the spider muffin rolled over, demanding belly rubs.
"I'm sorry. I'm kinda an Arachnophobe." The champion told the spider.
The spider muffin rolled back to it's feet and looked at her with,... Disappointment?
"I'm sorry?" The gladiator apologised again and the spider scoffed as it walked away.
The champion only gave them a forced smile as she watched them march away. As she continued on her trip through the dark halls, Pyrrha encountered a dark figure with purple glasses and holding a book.
The figure immediately slammed the book shut, and Pyrrha was immediately put into a soul battle box.
"Oh,... I guess we have to fight? But why though?" Pyrrha asked, using up her turn.
The figure remained silent. The Aura of tardiness from the creature could be felt by the gladiator, even through the box she was in. Yet, Pyrrha was not afraid in the slightest.
"Whatever your intentions are, whatever plans you have, I will persevere." The champion spoke.
Apathy reply with a passive look.
MTT Resort
Blake sat at a fancy restaurant, eating a burger to relieve stress. She needed to calm down and find her friends. Then, they can just get outta here and seek shelter.
The kingdom must've evacuated by now, right?
Surely people are safe now. Of course they are. She needed to not think of trivial things like that and started looking for her friends.
The black cat sighed as she rose from her seat. She was about to leave this place when the door opened up to a dark figure dressed in what seemed to be cowboy clothes.
Seriously, that had got to be the most cowboy hat she had ever seen. Seeing that it's hand laid on it's old revolver, she knew that it was looking for a fight. More specifically, looking to fight her.
"Please, I don't wish to fight you." Blake pleaded.
"B̵̤̀͂̒̽̔͒ũ̸̹̠̪͍͆͊̈́̋̚t̴̛̞̰̣͛̀͑ ̴̡̡̗̘̝̂̇̀I̸̡͋͆ ̵͖̘͖͛̎͊ͅͅd̷̨̖̾̉̈́ǒ̶͔̞͕͙̺͐̂̾͌͠." It spoke in an incomprehensible tongue.
Everything except her and her opponent went dark as they started the *FIGHT* system.
The cat faunus sighed and drew her blade and prepared for battle.
End of the chapter. Sorry that I could not update sooner. I was busy with the finals. I was also running out of ideas for this story, so I had to rewrite this chapter three to four times. That's why it took so goddamn long. That's all I had to say.
See you all in the next episode.