Chapter 2- The Emerald Forest
Ozpin watched the gathering from the hilltops, the Headmaster with his right hand watching over the students through Professor Goodwitch's tablet, watching as Jaune was saved by Pyrrha, Ren exploding the head of a King Taiju, Blake and Yang joining forces, the eventual joining of Ren and Nora, with Nora hitching a ride on an Ursa, Jaune and Pyrrha fleeing from a heavily armored Death Stalker, and finally as Ruby and Weiss hitched a ride on a massive Nevermore with Yusaku following after them on foot.
"This year is shaping up to be a strange one." Ozpin hummed shortly after taking a sip from his ever present mug, Professor Goodwitch looked over to headmaster then back to the screen, her eyes focused on Yusaku, who stopped momentarily to dispatch a pack of Beowolves,
"You're worried about , aren't you?"
Professor Goodwitch gave a solid nod, "I can't help but think I've heard the name Kurogane somewhere before…and after Qrow went to the Facility and retrieved his file…"
Ozpin nodded himself closing his eyes and letting out a breath. "We'll have to debrief him when we get the chance…but for now, let him have time to grow accustom and to open up." Ozpin smiled at his assistant.
"Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss' cries echoing from above the forest where Yusaku ran after their 'ride'.
"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby's voice followed right after
"I am so far beyond worrying!"
"In a good way?"
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss screamed at the top of her lungs, Yusaku managing up a cliff where he drew in a lung full of breath. "I FREAKIN' TOLD YOU IDIOTS IT WAS GONNA BE A BAD IDEA!"
"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby questioned
"DON'T YOU DARE JUMP ROSE!"
"What are you? Insane?!" She is met with silence; Ruby has already disappeared. With Yusaku watching the a small red and black dot falling. "Of all the stupid…"
" Oh, you insufferable little red-!"
Down on the ground in the Abandoned Temple, Blake Belladonna is still staring skyward and pointing for Yang Xiao Long to look up, the Blond brawler jolted upon hearing something getting closer to them.
"Blake, did you hear that? What should we do?"
"Heads uuuuuuuup!"
"SOMEONE CATCH THAT IDIOT!" A second voice yelled, Blake looked up finding Ruby first, then over to find Yusaku running towards them,
Just as Ruby's about to hit the ground panicking, Jaune Arc comes flying through the air and crashes into Ruby, knocking her off course and sending them both into a tree to the left of where Blake and Yang are standing. Ruby is dazed by the rough landing.
A groan escaped Ruby as the dizziness began to pass her. "Oohhhh... What was that?" She moaned
"Eh-hem!" Ruby looks up to see Jaune hanging upside-down in a tree branch above her, "Hey, Ruby..." He chuckled lightly
"Oh, Hey Yu!" Yang grinned.
"I thought we agreed no nicknames.' He groaned
Then came the real question on Yang and Blake's mind. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
"I..." yang began but before she can continue, several crashing noises are heard in the forest ahead of them, and an Ursa comes out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hits it in the back and it crashes to the ground, depositing its rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" Nora rolls off of the creature's back, then gets up and groans, saddened, "Awwww... It's broken." she dashes onto its neck and observes the carcass as Ren comes up behind her,
Ren panting and leaning on the monster finally broke his silence, "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again." But after he got no reply he looks up again and notices by the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora has run off again, and looks around frantically.
Now in the Temple, Nora was staring at a golden rook relic, "Oooohh..." She hummed and suddenly grabs it, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"NORA "
Nora stops dancing with the rook on her head, then salutes, dropping the relic into her hand, "Coming, Ren!"
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"
"Never mind that…anyone else noticed the cartoony animated stars and her hammer symbol…How the hell did she even change her surroundings into pink!?" Yusaku began to question his own sanity at this point.
"I..." Yang is interrupted once more as a screech is heard from their right, and Pyrrha Nikos comes onto the scene as the Death Stalker uproots entire trees in its chase after her. Pyrrha narrowly dodges its giant claws and keeps on running.
"Jaune!"
"Pyrrha!
Ruby standing up, looking at the monster below, "Whoa!" She starts running off of the branch and landing in a roll
"Ruby!" Jaune whined
But as Ruby got back up Yang called out her sister. "Ruby!"
Ruby with excitement soon crying out "Yang!" she raises her arms as if to give her sister a hug,
"Nora!" comes between the two and knocking them off-balance in surprise
The scorpion Grimm continues to follow Pyrrha as she runs.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake seemed to have a lot of questions today…
"Goddammit…I'm gonna lose my sanity in this place…" Yusaku groaned pinching the bridge of his nose
Yang getting angrier until she growls and erupts in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
The tick-tock of a clock counts down the two seconds of Yang cooling down, Ren running over to a ditzy Nora, and Blake, Yusaku, and Ruby looking up.
"Umm... Yang?" Ruby tugs on her sister's sleeve and points Up above, Weiss is revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belongs to a gigantic Nevermore.
"How could you leave me?!"
"I said "jump"!"
Yusaku just slapped his forehead in response. "Who in the hell, in their right damn mind jumps off a giant freakin' Nevermore?"
"She's gonna fall." Blake said
"She'll be fine." Ruby reassured
"She's falling." Ren replied.
"Huh…Ice Queen is gaining some speed." Yusaku whistled, sheathing Nameless and shoving his hands into his pant pockets.
Jaune, finally out of the tree, began panting until he looks up and grins at the sight of Weiss falling through the air, giving him the opportunity to jump off the branch with arms outstretched and catch her in a slowed-down moment.
"Just... dropping in?" He said flashing a shining, toothy smile. Weiss is speechless…and Jaune realizes why when they both look down.
"Oh, God." Jaune gulped, they hang on to each other wide-eyed as their moment of suspension ends, their weapons flying behind them. "Oh, noooooooo- Oomph!"
Jaune face's was firmly and intimately introduced into the dirt, limbs splayed out, but serves as the perfect landing spot for Weiss as she falls into a seated position on his body.
"My hero." Weiss said sarcastically
"My back..."
The Death Stalker is still hunting Pyrrha, but she manages to land on her side at the feet of the heroes. "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said with false enthusiasm
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby sounds a battle cry and rushes towards the Grimm.
Yusaku sighed soon reaching for Nameless only for his ears to catch something deep within the forest, something was agitating the Grimm, his eyes widen and blood ran cold as realization struck, "Ruby, Wait!" He shouted
Ruby, still screaming, fires Crescent Rose and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back.
Getting up slowly, Ruby reassured the group. "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now goes after her.
"Ruby!" Yang screamed running forward,
Ruby rushes towards Yang, but the Nevermore caws above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape and prevent Yang from reaching her.
"Ruby, get out of there!" Yusaku shouted running after Yang,
"I'm trying!" Ruby cried while struggling with her crimson cloak. The Death Stalker approaches, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl.
Yusaku's eyes widen in horror as bloody, gruesome images flashed before him, his body suddenly freezing up, his breathing becoming erratic, soon hyperventilating from trauma long past…but he was soon snapped out of it. As a mass chunk of the ground was suddenly thrown at Ruby, a two pronged strike,
Yang reached out in vein screaming with worry. "Ruby!"
A white and Black blur races past Yang and reaches the stinger just as it's about to pierce her, everything falling silent
"You are so childish!"
Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and the sound of heavy objects crashing and uprooting trees. Ruby lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her saviors
"Weiss...? Yusaku?"
Weiss continued to berate Ruby as she removes Myrtenaster from the ice, Yusaku remaining silent, "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. All three of us," She said looking at Yusaku for emphasis, "So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby whined
"You're fine."
Ruby breathes a sigh of relief, then closes her eyes and clasps her hands as she gratefully whispers "Normal knees..." she stares at the Death Stalker as it struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice, "Whoa!" then soon looked over to find the chunk of ground left as nothing but pebbles
Then finally came the helping hand offered to her, she traced it back to Yusaku, the young huntress took his hand. "Thank you…"
Yusaku pulled her up then took his hand back, slipping it into his pant pocket. "Don't make your sister worry like that, alright kid?"
Yang rushes up to Ruby and gives her a hug, which Ruby grunts at upon receiving.
"So happy you're okay!" the two stare at each other for a moment, then look up at the Nevermore still flying overhead and cawing, the Death Stalker screeching as it attempts to free itself, and the source of the chunk of ground making it's appearance, a large Grimm that was on all fours with two extra pairs of bone clad arms sprouting from it's back, the larger beastly Grimm released a powerful, roaring howl that shook the forest.
"Wh-what is that!? What are we gonna do? We got three Grimm on us now!" Jaune yelped
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss replied looking over to the artifacts,
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." Much to Blake, Ruby and Yang surprise, Yusaku agreed and supported Weiss' words, giving the heiress a small nod. "We don't need to fight them…Hopefully."
"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!"
Ruby goes over and grabs a gold knight, Identical to the one Yang picked out, and Jaune takes hold of a gold rook, similar to Nora and Ren's piece, smiling at each other. The Death Stalker continues to fight its bonds, cracking the ice a little in the process. All before the Third Grimm began to run towards the Death Stalker's aid.
"Time we left!" Ren spoke up,
"Right." Ruby waves to the others, "Let's go!" She goes forward with everyone following except for a smiling Yang, Yusaku and Blake as the latter approaches her partner.
"What is it?" Blake questioned
Yang staring proudly at Ruby as she leaps on a boulder and motions the group onward, "Nothing..." She moves on as Blake smiles in realization and leaves as well, with Yusaku glaring back to find a blade extending from the third Grimm's palm.
"Tch…It just had to be a Marduk."
The group is heading out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore follows them from the air. They spread out when it passes above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perches on a high column and caws.
"Well, that's great!" Yang snarled with annoyance and frustration,
Jaune looks behind at the Death Stalker and Marduk bursting onto the scene.
"Ah, man, run!" The group emerges from their hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air,
"Nora, distract it!" Nora obliges, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore and causing it to retreat. She is unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake, and Ren perform a cross-slash with a final downward strike with their Gambol Shroud and StormFlower against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora so she can create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren are now being chased.
"At the same time Yusaku managed to gain the attention of Marduk, throwing a decent sized rock at the Grimm's head,
"Go, go!" Pyrrha then stops running beside Jaune and gets out Miló, firing red shots alongside Ren's green blasts for a second until the Death Stalker reaches them and tries to swipe, prompting the group to run again,
The eight race over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing Yusaku's sudden disappearance, nor the Nevermore closing in on them until it uses its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and leaving Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker. Ruby fires at the retreating Nevermore while Blake is beaten back by the scorpion.
Jaune coming to the edge of the break in the bridge, "Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!"
Nora running up beside him, soon stops "Let's do this!"
Jaune gulped then looks down at the misty abyss "Yeah, but, uh... I can't make that jump." Nora smiles diabolically at him, laughing as she knocks him back, turns her weapon to its full-length hammer form, and jumps to the edge of the bridge.
Jaune seeing what she's about to do "Oh, wait!" too late, she slams the hammer into the bridge and throws Jaune to the other side, yelling: "No, no, no!"
Nora places one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam its face right in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fires it just as the stinger comes down to get her, and blasts back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Blake and making her fall from the edge. Blake sees the Nevermore above her and launches her whip so the gun's blade sinks into the edge of the bridge, circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back. She dashes all over its body, slashing the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, then going over to Yang and Weiss.
"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake declared
Yang readying her Ember Celica, "Then let's hit it with everything we got!"
The Nevermore approaching, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang set their weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird, which it either dodges or takes harmlessly until it crashes through the columns and platform. The girls leap from one section of falling stone to the next until they reach the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs.
"None of this is working!" Weiss growled
Ruby watching Blake whip over to another section of the area and Yang firing round after flaming round at the Grimm, soon said "I have a plan! Cover me!" she blasts away as Weiss raises her blade and heads into the fray
Down below, the Death Stalker is still battling Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.
"We gotta move!" Jaune called out as they all moved in
The Death Stalker aims a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflects it with her Akoúo shield and slashes it with her blade. The scorpion recoils and swipes at her with its other claw, but Jaune is there to deflect it with his shield, knocking it back so Pyrrha can leap over and attack its face. Ren runs up firing and gets on the stinger when it tries to hit him, shooting at the base between it and the tail while Nora fires more grenades at the attacking claws. Pyrrha hurls her javelin straight into one of the monster's ten eyes, making it throw Ren to the side.
"Ren!" Nora called out, Ren hits the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up. Jaune, though, manages to stand and notice the stinger is hanging limply.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted
"Done!" She raises the shield and hurls it like a discus, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Death Stalker's head as Pyrrha retrieves her rebounding shield
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune called out orchestrating the battle.
"Heads up!" She jumps on Akoúo, Pyrrha leaps as Nora aims her blast down to give herself a maximum lift, and she smiles the entire way up before twirling down until her hammer slams its head into the stinger, driving the point through the Death Stalker's head and crushing the bridge beneath it,
Jaune and Pyrrha bound over the monster to the land behind it, and Nora fires up and away behind them as the monster falls to its doom. Jaune hits the ground on his back, Nora lands on her bottom, Pyrrha manages a crouched pose, and Ren simply walks over to them, panting and groaning until he just collapses. The other three get up and watch as the Nevermore is peppered with firepower.
Yang is still burning through her ammo on the beast, landing a blow at its face and causing it to head right towards her, but she leaps for its open maw and forces the beak wide as she attacks.
Yang screaming and firing a round with each syllable "I! Hope! You're! Hung-! ...-gry!" She looks behind her and jumps back from its mouth onto a ruin, causing the creature to crash into the cliffs,
Despite Yang's attempts, the Nevermore recovers quickly, and Yang smiles as she spots Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passes her while the Nevermore starts to fly back up, but Weiss hops over to the ruin it's lifting off of and freezes the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flips into a snowflake-circle jump and lands on the other side, running to the group.
Blake fires the pistol portion of Gambol Shroud over to Yang, and the two tighten it between the columns so Ruby can jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bend it back into Weiss' black sigil, right next to the caster.
"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss spoke up.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby questioned
"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss spoke with great confidence,
A comical second passes.
"Can't?"
"Of course I can!"
Ruby looks forward and pumps Crescent Rose as Weiss turns the circle from black to red and releases Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracks, rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she gets closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe catches the Nevermore's neck in its blade and causes them both to fall to the cliff wall. Weiss raises her sword and creates a series of white circles up the wall, which Ruby dashes through by firing the entire way up.
Yang, Blake, and an exhausted Weiss watch her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reaches the top of the cliff, circles up, fires one last shot, and rends the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.
She lands beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore falls lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the girls and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement.
"Wow..."
Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to her friends as they peer up.
Yang: Well... That was a thing!
Ruby continues to smile as the faint sounds of a combat echoed, her silver eyes scanning her friends…but soon realized. "YUSAKU!?"
Yang's face went pale, she and the rest of her group hurried to the broken bridge, one by one making it over and back over to Jaune.
"That was amaz-" Jaune began only for Ruby to suddenly become a red blur leaving a trail of rose petals behind.
"Where's Yusaku!?" Yang questioned.
"Oh no…"
"Ha!" Yusaku grunted unleashing four clean strikes against the larger Grimm, four strikes that were easily blocked by its two extra appendages, it then rushed him, attempting to bite into his body, but Yusaku managed to side step kicking forward and thrusting Nameless into the Grimm's side before ripping it out.
Marduk roared out in pain, its tail erupting losing its fur and becoming bony, it swung at Yusaku who in turn used Nameless to block the strike, but still more then enough to throw him off to the side a good distance.
"Dammit…I thought the rest of your kind died off already, guess you're a persistent one!" Yusaku snarled slashing at the Grimm once again, The Marduk roared out tackling Yusaku back, the dark red lines on it's body beginning to glow before the appendages on its back erupted taking the form of bladed, red and black wings, the massive wolf like Grimm sprang forward striking Yusaku once again, the young man blocked the coming blades only to be swatted aside by its gauntlet clad paw,
"Course…course…ya…had to…evolve…damn Marduk…" He growled glaring at the Grimm, it's white armor beginning to grow and extend, it's own body growing larger and larger…
"YUSAKU!" Ruby screamed, her eyes widening at the sight of his battered state, Nameless' blade having been cracked and chipped during the battle.
The young man jolted soon glancing back, his onyx eyes widening. "Why…WHY ARE YOU HERE!? LEAVE NOW!" He commanded, the Marduk suddenly howled, galloping towards Yusaku, the young man readied his damaged weapon only to be flung off to the side, the young man's back soon impacting a stone pillar that forced the air out of his lungs and threw his body into shock.
"G-get…out…of here…now…" Yusaku growled then grabbed a Burn Crystal from his pouch and pressing the red gem into Nameless Blade, He forced himself to his feet and burst forward striking the Grimm multiple times, but nothing affected it only gaining it's aggression.
The Marduk swung it's heavily armored paw at Yusaku, a strike the young man dodged and countered, his blade's cracks growing larger and deeper, until one final strike completely shattered the dull grey blade. The Marduk's tail soon struck the young man launching him into the air.
"We gotta help him!" Weiss cried out.
"Already on it!" Yang growled angrily, slamming her fists together, her lilac eyes erupting with a crimson glow of their own, her brilliant yellow hair igniting like a blazing wild fire. Only for the much larger Grimm to rush them
"Look out!" Jaune shouted, Yusaku however was quick to force himself up to his feet, he sheathed Nameless broken remains a roar ripping itself from his throat as black and red flames ignited from his shoulder forming his claws
Yusaku growled trying to hold back the Marduk's gauntlet with his claw, Ruby gasped in shock as blood began to squirt out from the deep gashes in his arm. "It's…Fine…I'll be…all right…" Yusaku's strained voice escaped his lips, Ruby's eyes widen in horror.
"Get out….Run! RUN AWAY NOW!"
Ruby shook her head soon standing up. "I'm not! I'm not leaving you alone, Not if you're going to die! I…I don't want to lose anyone ever again!" She exclaimed, Yusaku's eyes shot wide, he glanced back at Ruby finding determined silver eyes looking back, then, in that moment, he found himself going back…back to Two years ago, during his time with those seven…a young girl with short sandy brown hair and her own brilliant silver eyes…
Yusaku bit down, his eyes sharpening. "I'll make it out…No matter the cost!" He declared soon dodging off to the side and driving his fist into the Grimm's snout, a powerful punch that launched the Grimm back a short distance, Yusaku then took Nameless holding it with his clawed arm.
"I…really didn't want to use this…I wanted to leave it in the past…but…it looks like I can't..." He said softly, soon opening clear, unwavering onyx eyes. "Nameless, remove all Inhibitors cast aside the shell placed on you, and reveal your true form, and my true nature." Yusaku spoke softly, his broken weapon soon giving off a brilliant glow,
Yusaku held the weapon in front of him as the flame claws he created faded with all of his flames collecting into his broken weapon, those same, murky black and red flames purifying turning into brilliant crimson, gold and orange flames, soon he swung his arm to the side, for a brief moment black embers flowed off his tattered jacket only to be soon extinguished, the flames around Nameless soon extinguishing as well, revealing a black and purple long blade.
The young man soon got into a firm lowered stance, he brought Nameless up with his left hand tracing the flat of the longer sword, he began to aim down the flat of the blade, aligning his blade with scurrying Grimm…
"One strike…that's all I need…" He said to himself, he soon let out a calming breath, Nameless was soon wreathed in brilliant flames as the Marduk sprung up and charged him, Yusaku's eyes narrowed a faint glimmer reflecting in otherwise, empty black voids, once the Grimm was in distances, a wall of Ice trapped it in place.
"NOW YOU DOLT!" Weiss screamed, Yusaku nodded giving his thanks before releasing one final roar whilst thrusting Nameless forward and through the Grimm's forehead. "Now burn…" He growled, a command that came into effect as flames erupted from every open cut on the Grimm's body, all before it erupted into ashes…
"Holy…He…really finished it with one hit…" Yang gulped, Yusaku swung Nameless off to the sides before sheathing the blade on his hip…
Clapping soon echoed through the auditorium "Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." the screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continues, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" Ozpin announced
The audience gives one more wave of ovation, while four students walk up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces fill the screen.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Ozpin announced. Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug. "Led by... Jaune Arc!"
"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune was like a fish in water at this point
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin nodded with a pat on the shoulder, A grinning Pyrrha offers a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her "fine leader" is knocked over and falls to his butt in front of the laughing audience.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long, and Yusaku Kurogane," He motions over the five as they stand before him, "The five of you retrieved the white knight pieces. A rarity as a Five Man team, From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBYY. Led by... Ruby Rose!" Weiss looks to her right surprised, where Ruby is obviously in shock all while Yang goes over to hug her sister.
"I'm so proud of you!" Yang cheered happily, Ruby looked at her team, her silver eyes shifting over to the proud expression on Yang, the surprised look from Weiss, the expecting look from Blake, then the usual neutral expression Yusaku usual has, and then, he gave a small, respecting smile. Ruby soon smiled back at the young man.
Amid the last round of cheers, Ozpin smiled over to Glynda soon saying. "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."
Yusaku's smile was soon erased as Yang began to tease and poke fun at the swordsman, he cursed slight, looking away with his cheeks holding a tint of red, his dull onyx eyes soon looking up to the setting sun, "One hell of a year…" Yusaku spoke softly…
... before going into the night and seeing the moon through a window, providing a view to the outside for a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, where Roman Torchwick is getting a call on his phone. The muffled conversation ends, and Roman angrily slams the phone down, sighing. He holds a cigar to his mouth and puts his symbolized lighter to the end, just as a man in a gray mask and black hood comes with a trolley. Roman holds out a collection of Lien, which he places on the table and the man takes.
"Open it." He demanded
The masked man does so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors - orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Roman picks up a blue gem in his hand and looks at the loot.
"We're gonna need more men..."
Authors Note- HOLY CRAP! That took a lot longer than I thought it would but after many rewrites, drafts and multiple concussions, I decided to leave this chapter as is, No Ace or Ophelia this time, we begin to see a somewhat friendly side of Yusaku, and introduce a Grimm called a Marduk, I've got everything planned out up until the end of the Vytal Festival, including exploring Yusaku's past, so for now I'll work with that then start planning for Post Beacon's Fall, So until next time everyone! Thank's for Reading!
