I've watched a new webseries recently. I'll tell what it is at the end of this chapter.
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo while RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth
Chapter 06: Tukson's Message
Vale Docks Warehouse Area
"You've heard about the dance coming up in a few weeks, right? I was thinking that I will finally muster up the courage to ask Weiss out." Jaune said to Ren.
"…Weiss? Are…are you sure you want to ask her, though?" Ren asked.
"What do you mean?" Jaune wondered, genuinely confused.
"Like, maybe you could ask someone else."
"Like who?"
"…Pyrrha?"
Jaune starred at him for a moment before snorting a laugh. "Yeah. Like that's gonna happen. I'm sure that Pyrrha has already had a bunch of guys running all over each other to ask her out. She won't need me in the mix. Especially since she's training me." His tone was wholehearted, no ounce of bravado in it.
"…Have you asked her?"
"I thought about it. I mean, she's helped me so much. I just don't wanna burden her with something so silly."
Ren sighs. "…If you say so."
"I'm taking a guess that this happens a lot." Sage said.
"Yes." The ninja then sensed something hostile. He sprints over to Jaune before he could turn a corner and pushes him up against a freighter. Ren covered Jaune's mouth with his hand before he could shout a question. Ren places a thin finger to his lips. "Shh…" He removes his hand and cautiously went to the corner.
"Did you sense something?" Jaune asked, readying his sword and shield. Ren nods and beckons Jaune and Sage to come closer, quietly. They do so and peered over the corner. Several yards away, they see a group of White Fang mooks in the process of loading giant robots from a warehouse and into a freighter big enough for them near three Bullheads. "The White Fang? What are they doing here? Shouldn't there be workers?" Jaune noticed an individual that stood out from the rest of the White Fang. It was a tall man, probably in his mid-20s, with auburn hair that spikes backward in a windswept way and dressed in all black, save for a white design on his back and a red rose. When the man turned around slightly, Jaune saw a more detailed WF mask and horns. Who is he? An executive of sorts? His train of thought stopped when he noticed Ren going around another freighter. "Ren!" he whispered. The ninja turns around. "Be careful."
Ren nods before disappearing around the corner. He looks around for a way inside. He checks the back door, only to see several WF soldiers on guard. He glances up to see any windows he can use. Thankfully, he sees one and there is a scaffolding nearby for him to use to get up there. He makes his way up and leaps over to the window. He peaks through the glass to see if he is in the clear. It looks like most of the commotion is at the opposite end, so he gently opens the window and goes through. He quietly lands behind a pile of crates. He climbs over some until he nearly reached the top, but remained hidden.
He sees other shipping containers that the giant robots are coming from, containers with the Atlas symbol on it. Ren takes out his Scroll and takes a video discreetly. After giving it a good 30 seconds, he stops the recording and puts it away. He takes a careful step to the side, the wooden crate caved in and Ren falls to concrete ground. Sore and a slight ringing in his ears, he's fine.
That is, until he comes face-to-face with the glossy eyes of a dead body. Ren quickly covered his mouth to prevent a shout of horror as he scurried until his back hit a wall. Eyes wide and heavy breathing muffled by his hands, the young ninja took in the carnage surrounding him. Six bodies, as far as he can tell, laid before him, frozen in early stages of rigor mortis, the ground stained rusty with dried blood. And the metallic smell that still lingered…
Flashes of memories came to mind… A flaming village… People screaming… A hellish screech… The house collapsing on mother…
Ren can feel his Semblance calming him a little. He removes his hands as he let out a small, shuddered breath.
"Who's there?" a WF soldier shouted. Through quick reflexes, Ren leaps to the other side just as a light shined where he was. Ren stayed still as the light moved. Soon, the light turned off. He slowly took hold of one of his StormFlower guns attach to his hip, his index finger hovered over the trigger.
He leaps into attack as machinegun bullets shredded through the wooden crates and into the dead bodies, causing whatever blood left in them to spurt out. Ren nimbly leaped around as he shoots at the attacking WF mooks. Not to kill, but to incapacitate. His barrage of attacks was halted by a pressure slash hitting his path. Again, he falls to the ground. Several WF mooks surrounded him, aiming their guns. Ren looks up as footsteps slowly came over to him. The mooks moved aside as the auburn-haired man appeared.
"I thought I smelled a filthy human." The man hissed, his tone dripping with venom. Ren tries to reach for his guns again, but the man unsheathed his red blade and aim it in his face. The tip of the katana lightly grazed his cheek. "Don't even think about it. Now, get up." Ren complied, raising his hands up as he got to his feet. "Good boy." The man said, speaking as though he is talking to a dog. He circles around Ren, his sword still aimed at his throat. "I'm curious to know what your business is here. Are you with the Neo White Fang or the Animal Farm?" Animal Farm is basically a human version of the White Fang. "… or maybe…" the man inched closer to Ren, his sword grazing on the skin on Ren's neck, beads of blood started to emerge. He stopped until his face was inches away from Ren's "… you're acquainted with Blake Belladonna." He said in Ren's ear.
Soft pink eyes widen. This man knows Blake. He needs to get out, now! He thrusts a palm strike at the man's sword arm and runs away. The WF gunmen starts shooting at him. Ren throws one of his guns like a boomerang at a hanging freighter, cutting the ropes and causing it to fall. The gunmen scattered to avoid being crushed. Ren catches his gun in time as the bull Faunus slashes at him with his sword. Ren blocks the attacks with the blades of his guns before he had the chance to shoot him. The bull Faunus dodges the shots and returns them with his own. Ren hides behind a crate. The Faunus man huffs. "What's wrong? Had enough?" He slashes at the crate, cutting it in a diagonal half. The top half slides away, revealing nothing behind.
The bull Faunus whips around in time as Ren came at him, his palm charged with Aura Pressure. His hand makes contact with the man's red blade, a shockwave of Aura bellowed out upon impact. Several WF soldiers were knocked to the ground by the force. To Ren's shock, the blade, along with the red on the man's person glowed. The bull Faunus smirked as he sheathed his sword and said, "Nice try." Before delivering a hard kick on Ren's midsection, sending him flying into the fallen container from before. The ninja hit it, back first, leaving a sizable dent, and coughed up a little bit of blood. He collapses on the ground, wrapping his arm around his torso as he coughed, the wind knocked out of him. "That was a nifty trick, I'll admit." He heard the man say. He looks up to see the bull Faunus still glowing red. "And I thought only Quincys can manipulate their Aura like that. But, I had enough." He firmly grasped the hilt of Wilt. "It's time to end this." The Faunus releases a blood-red Aura Pressure and an agonizing fear overwhelms Ren. Normally, his Semblance would've calmed him down, but this Aura Pressure… He could feel this man's intent to kill and it was staggering. The ninja did his hardest not to vomit bile from the intensity.
Ren's life flashed before his eyes. From his first, real family to his new one in team JNPR and team RWBY. Him cooking, Jaune talking, Ruby playing, Yang joking, Pyrrha laughing, Blake reading, Weiss berating, and Nora… Oh, Nora… What will happen to her if he dies here? He then thought about teams IURR and TAIM.
In a swift movement, the man unleashed a powerful vertical wave of Aura Pressure, powerful enough to break through Ren's remaining Aura and kill him. Ren clinched his eyes shut, waiting for the lethal blow.
The container behind him was slashed in two.
.
.
.
Ren cautiously opened his eyes and sees white light. But it wasn't the white light of heaven.
It was Jaune's Aura. The tall young man stood in front of the ninja, his shield at the ready. It took a moment for Ren to realize that his leader was able to block the fatal strike. "J-Jaune…?" Ren muttered. Even the bull Faunus was in disbelief.
Jaune sighed as his Aura flickered and flashed Ren a grin. "I thought I told you to be careful." Ren let out a chuckle, though it hurt his sore ribs.
The White Fang soldiers on the other hand started talking among themselves.
"Did…you see that?"
"Did a lowly human block Brother Adam's Moonslice?"
"Unbelievable…"
"He must have one hell of an Aura Pressure. Probably greater than Brother Adam's..."
"Enough!" Adam shouted, his voice echoed through the warehouse. He points his sword at Jaune's and Ren's direction. "Don't think that either of you will be coming out of this alive."
"You sure about that?" Sage said from the entrance, where unconscious WF members lay. "To bad for you, I called the Atlesian personnel. They are coming as we speak."
The proclamation made the present WF soldiers murmur in worry. Adam gritted his teeth. "Tch." He slides his sword into its scabbard. "We got what we need. Move out!" The soldiers moved at the order, running over to the Bullheads outside. As soon as he neared the Bullheads, Adam turned a hateful sneer at the three human males. With a growl, he runs to the Bullheads. The three machines take off, taking their cargo with them.
Seeing the danger gone, Sage walks over to Jaune, who is helping Ren to his feet. "Did you really call the Atlas soldiers?" Jaune asked.
Sage shook his head. "It was a bluff. A bluff that saved your skins."
"Yeah. Thanks for that. Let's get out of here too." They go to move, but Ren let out a pained whimper. "Ren?" Jaune said, having a firm and gentle grip on his friend.
Sage gently probs Ren's ribs, earning indignant hiss. "We should call someone. It might be serious." The older male said as he gingerly guided Ren back to the ground.
"R-Right." Jaune said as he takes out a Scroll to call the nurse's office. As he waited for someone to pick up, he wished that he could develop at least a heal-based Semblance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Guardians of Remnant ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Uryū taps his slim finger on the bar table impatiently. He's been at this horrid club for nearly two hours and his patience is waning. The two glasses of blue lagoon cocktails did little to calm to his nerves. He glances over to Byakuya, who is drinking a glass of tea, given that he disliked the taste of the cocktail and gave it to Uryū.
The Quincy starts to rub his temples as he can feel a headache in the making. "At your wit's end?" Byakuya questioned.
Uryū breathes out through his nose. "If we're going to have to spend time here for another five minutes, I'm going to—" A tap on his shoulder ended his rant. The men turned to see the petite girl from before.
"I believe that this 'Ohana' is ready for us?" Byakuya asked. The girl nods and beckons the two to go with her. They follow her up a flight of stairs and down a long corridor, the club's music is muffled. As they were getting closer to the room at the end of the hall, they could smell incenses. Byakuya removes his sunglasses and puts them in his suit pocket.
The Mistralian-styled room was dimmed with a low light from scented candles and tatami doors to another room. The girl moves to the door and sits down on her knees and slides the door open. "Are they here?" a woman asked. The girl nods. "Then, please let them in." the girl nods again before turning to the men and gestures them to enter. When they did, the girl closes the door behind them. "Welcome." The woman is seating at a low table, smoking from a cigarette holder. She is violet-haired with a red ribbon around her neck and a black eye patch covering her right eye. Her left eye is turquoise, and her hair is worn in two corkscrew pigtails with bangs framing her face. She wears an indigo cape with an imprint of a large skull and two blades on it, and a long, dark dress with a significantly low-cut neckline, exposing her large breasts. She wears a golden bone headdress. "Please excuse my daughter, Hanako. She's a shy one. Please, have a seat. Oh, and don't forget to take off your shoes first."
Uryū and Byakuya did so, seating across from her. "I take it that you are Ohana." Uryū asked.
"Yes, I am." Ohana answered. "And you are Beacon Academy's Prince of Light, Uryū Ishida. Quite the heartthrob I hear."
Uryū blinks. "…I am?" He blushes when Ohana started giggling behind her sleeve. Uryū pushes up his glasses. "Ma'am, is there a reason for me being here?"
"Indeed, there is." Ohana said. She gets up her feet, her robes rustling as she strode the wall behind her. There is a keyhole. She pulls a key from between her cleavage and inserts it in before turning it. A hidden compartment opens, and she reaches in and pulls out a shopping bag. Uryū recognized the logo.
"Tukson's Book Trade?"
Ohana sits back down after placing the bag on the table. "He came to me the day before yesterday and gave this to me, telling me to give this to the Prinz von Licht." She said. "Good thing I know a little bit of Deutsch, though I'm not fluent."
Uryū reaches into the bag and pulls out the Eventide: Shattered Morn novel. Shock overcame him as he picked up one book after the other. The Coming Frost, Asylum, Scorned Thrasher, Tryst in the Mist, the Hero High manga collection, and much more…
"…These are the books I ordered." Uryū muttered as he stared at the Witch's Lament novel in his hands.
"Yes. He seemed quite anxious when he delivered this to me." Ohana said, tapping her cigarette holder on an ashtray. "He looked as though a Geist was after him."
Uryū's grip on the book tightened, his eyes hidden by his glasses and long bangs. Byakuya glances at him with little expression. Though, there is a part of him that wanted to comfort the Quincy in some way. But, unfortunately, not right now. They have a job to do. "Is there anything else you can tell us? Anything at all?" he asked Ohana. The woman only grinned. Getting the message, Byakuya rolled over the trunk they brought in. He unhooked the lid and lifts it up. Inside were medical supplies. Fresh and clean rolls of gauze and bandages, antibiotics, medicinal alcohol, some emergency blankets, various medications, disinfectant wipes and sprays, and other things. "Would this suffice?"
"Greatly." Ohana smiled. She picks up a bottle. "My husband has informed me about some of the villages under Grimm attacks in Anima. Given how things are now outside of the Kingdoms, the agents of the IMG are spread thin. Hopefully, this will ease at least one village. Maybe two." She puts the bottle back. "Now, as for information about Tukson, all I can say is that he was a member of the White Fang."
"Is that right." Byakuya said.
"His place of work was also used as a meeting place for the Vale branch of the White Fang." Ohana told him.
"So, what you are saying is that the White Fang was attempting to silence him?" Byakuya asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine, colonel." Ohana said with a smile.
Uryū put down the Witch's Lament and reaches down into the bag again, pulling out the last book, titled Viral Bullet. A book he didn't recognized. "I don't remember ordering this…"
"Oooo, I've read this before." Ohana said. "Wait until the resolution, there's quite a cliffhanger."
The young Quincy stares at the book intensely, until the club's music started to skip annoyingly. "I wish that music will stop." Not a second later, the music did indeed stop.
"…I wonder…" Ohana said, tapping her cigarette holder on her chin. Hanako comes in and whispers something in her mother's ear. "Oh, so it's her? Well, it's been a long time since I last seen her." Ohana gets up back to her feet. "Might as well see her again. I adore her spunk."
Uryū stared at her curiously before sensing the new arrival. "You've got to be kidding me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Guardians of Remnant ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you mean 'I can't see her'?!" Yang shouted at Junior.
"Exactly what it is! She's currently with a client right now. You'll have to wait." Junior told her, agitated. Neptune meanwhile glances at them nervously. When he noticed Yang's eyes turning red, literally, he cautiously places his hands on her shoulders.
"H-Hey, why don't we just calm down and—"
"I thought I heard someone familiar." Ohana said. Yang sees her and her eyes change back into their lilac color.
"Oh, there you are! Hey, I need to ask you about—"
"What, Ms. Xiao Long?" Uryū asked, appearing from behind from behind the woman with the the books inside in of his tote bag.
"O-Oh… Hey there, Angelface. What are you doing here?" Yang asked.
"I could be asking you the same thing." Uryū said as he walked up to the blonde girl. Byakuya follows him.
"And I do believe that you are underage to be here." Byakuya told her. His cool, grey eyes moved to Junior. "I thought you don't serve minors in this establishment. I could easily have this place shutdown because that."
"You try and get in this chick's way." Junior's balls still ache from last time.
Yang glances at Uryū and Byakuya back and forth before asking coyly and suggestively, "Are you two on a date?"
Uryū's face turn a beet red. "A d—No! N-No, we are—" He sputtered before taking a deep breath to compose himself. He turns serious again. "Do not change the subject. Now, I'll ask you and you better answer me: What are you doing here?" When Yang continued to avoid the question, Uryū says, "Let's go." He takes Yang by the arm and leads her out.
"Hey, where are you taking me?"
"Out of here and back to Beacon. And maybe to the headmaster's office."
"But…but…"
Byakuya and Neptune watched them go. "Sooo, nice day, huh?" Neptune asked self-consciously to Byakuya. The older man barely gave him a sidewise glance before walking away. "…okay. That's cool." He said awkwardly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Guardians of Remnant ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Have you found anything, Rukia?" Lirin asked, flying to the girl's shoulder. The two are in the archives room, a dimly lit room with monitors and buttons. Rukia is in front of one of said monitors, reading off the screen.
"Hmm… According to this, a shipment of Atlas tech was absconded about a week ago." Rukia said.
"Is there anything else?" the MOD AI asked.
"There is, but that's confidential. I'd have to be the head of the Kuchiki family to have access to that information." Rukia explained.
"Should we call your brother?"
Rukia shook her head. "…No." She turns the monitor off and goes to leave the archives room. "While Brother is indeed the current head of the family, he is only the figurehead."
"What does that mean?"
Rukia runs into Weiss on her way out. "Oh, hey Weiss. What are…you…up to?" Rukia asked, taking in Weiss' garments.
"…Nothing. I'm just here to check on things back at home." Weiss lied. "I am the heiress after all."
"With your weapon?" Lirin asked.
Light blue eyes flickered to her Myrtenaster at her hip. Weiss giggled nervously. Rukia didn't find it funny. "What are you up to, young lady?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Guardians of Remnant ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A yawn escapes from Renji as he listens to the White Fang lieutenant spout off some nonsense about liberation or something. In an effort to prevent the Faunus from seeing him recording, he has the organization's mask on over his goggles as he recorded what is going on. Eventually, Roman appears on the stage, accompanied by a petite woman that could give Rukia a run for her money. After a rousing speech, Roman unfurls a sheet behind him, revealing the Atlesian Paladin with the Atlas insignia painted over by the current White Fang's own.
"Thaaat's a bad sign." Renji muttered.
"Will all new recruits please come forward!" the lieutenant prompted.
Renji deactivates his goggles. Got what I needed. Time to-huh? Renji noticed a pair of Faunus that look familiar. Very familiar. As he inched closer to the pair, he knew who they were. You've gotta be shittin' me… As soon as he reached the two, he grabbed them by the shoulders.
Blake's hand flew to the hilt of Gambol Shroud and Sun reached for his gunchuks in his open shirt. "Who are you?" Renji lifts his mask, revealing his sharp eyes and distinctive eyebrows. "R-Renji? Why are you here?"
"I could ask the same thing." Renji hissed in a whisper. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"What about you?" Blake whispered.
"I'm here to gather information." Renji said. "So, what the fuck are you doing?"
"Uh, guys? He sees us." Sun informed. And he was right, Roman was looking straight at them, his eyes screaming recognition.
"He can't see in the dark." Blake said before shooting at a circuit breaker, causing the lights to go out.
"After them!" Roman exclaimed in the darkness.
"To the window, now!" Renji shouted.
The three smashes through the glass window, ditching the WF masks, and go into a run on top of the buildings. Roman, now piloting the Atlesian Paladin, breaks through the wall to go after them.
"You two…have…a lot of…explaining…to do!" Renji said with each jump.
"I know! But that'll have to wait!" Blake said.
"I think now is a good time to call for backup!" Sun said.
"On it!"
They kept running until they reached the highway area, Roman not too far behind. Renji lands on the top of a car, startling the driver. He peers over to see the poor man. "My bad." Renji looks up to see the Paladin charging. He turns back to the driver. "You might wanna avoid the middle of the road." He said to the poor man before leaping to another vehicle to tell them something similar. The driver looks at his rearview mirror to see the giant mech. He yelps in fright before swerving to the side of the highway road and stopping, thankfully out of the machine's way. He gets out of the car to see other vehicles on the sides like he is. A yellow/black motorcycle drives by, driven by Yang with Neptune seating behind her. The man then looks up to see something white and bright fly by.
It was Uryū riding on a platform of light made from his Semblance. Riding with him is Byakuya. When cars started to go flying because of Roman, Uryū readies his bow and releases Light Arrows to catch the cars and place them back on the highway and out of harms way. Byakuya takes out his sword from its scabbard. The blade turns a bright pink before breaking down into many shards, like a swarm of cherry blossom petals. The colonel wills the shards into a swarm at the Paladin, attempting to stop it. When it didn't work, he takes his scabbard and connects the bladeless hilt back to it before it morphs into a tanegashima musket and starts to fire at the machine, pink shards swirled around the bullets. Incredibly, the Paladin was merely scratched. Then, Weiss and Rukia appear, creating a sheet of ice to make the Paladin slip and fall off the highway and down to the ground below.
"You go on ahead. I'll stay to check on the citizens." Byakuya said to Uryū.
"Right." Uryū nodded. The moment the Quincy cancels the platform, they leap off, Byakuya to the main road and Uryū to the lower level where the others are.
"What the hell is going on!?" Ichigo questioned when he arrived.
"We'll question them later, Ichigo." Rukia said. She turns her attention to the current issue. "For right now, we have this to worry about."
Roman unleashes a volley of missiles at teams RWBY and IURR. They move out of the way and Weiss uses her Time Dilation on Blake to make her faster. Blake sends out air slices at the second volley of missiles, destroying them.
"Ichigo! Black Rose!" Ruby exclaimed.
"What?" Ichigo asked, looking at the girl as though she has grown another head.
"Just follow my lead!" Ruby said, charging at the mech. Ichigo had no choice but to follow. Ruby started to make circling slashes the mech's legs and Ichigo does the same, mirroring Ruby. Roman commands the mecha to throw a punch at the ground, causing a shockwave to blow the two away. "Star Dust!" Ruby exclaimed as she flew passed Weiss and Uryū.
"I guess that's us!" Weiss said to him. Uryū pulls back his Aura bowstring, ready to release Aura arrows. When he did, Weiss creates and tethers miniature Glyphs to the arrows. The Glyphs assisted the arrows to control their paths and dodged the mech's attempts to destroy them, hitting their mark. Inside, Roman is growing frustrated.
"Ladybug!" Ruby exclaimed before she and Blake start to attack. Yang leaps on the to the mech and processed to punch it with her shotgun gauntlets. Having enough, Roman controls the Paladin to ram Yang into a stone pillar before giving her a right hook, smashing her through it. While that did cause some damage to Yang's Aura, it had also charged her Semblance. Her eyes and hair glowed their red and yellow colors respectively as she returns the favor to the Atlesian tech, with some assistances of their team attacks of Ice Flower and Bumblebee. Soon, the Atlesian Paladin was smashed into smithereens, leaving Roman vulnerable.
"Great. And I just got this clean." Roman complained, seeing some dirt on his clothes. With a shout, Ichigo charges at him, ready to catch him. However, his attempt was bounced back by a parasol using Hard-Light Dust.
"Who the…?" Ichigo muttered.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and Ice Queen." Roman said, earning a 'hey' from said Ice Queen. "It's been fun. Neo, if you would." The petite woman makes a bow.
Neo? Uryū wondered.
Ichigo sees Yang dashing at them, still in her red haze. "Yang, wait!" The girl didn't listen and punches at the smirking heterochromia woman, only for her and Roman's image to shatter like glass. The real duo is then seen fleeing in a Bullhead. Uryū was about to ready another arrow, but the career criminal and his partner was already gone.
"That looked like the girl that was with him during the meeting." Blake said. Renji appears at the scene after assisting Byakuya with the people above.
"I guess the rumors about Roman having an accomplice where true." Weiss said.
"Well, despite some hiccups, we did good today." Ruby said.
"Heh, yeah! Up top—Ohhh…" Yang raised her arm for a high five, but she noticed how furious team IURR was at them.
"Uh…Okay, I know that this doesn't look good, but we have a reasonable explanation for this." Ruby said to their mentors. Their expression remained the same. Uryū crossed his arms and Rukia has her fists on her hips. "…Uhhh, at least we have an inkling about what Roman is up to, right?" Again, team IURR remained livid. "…We're in trouble, aren't we?"
Insert Fry from Futurama going 'Wooooooooo!'
Now, the second chapter of RWBY Vol7…That hug between Qrow and Ironwood was absolutely wholesome. These men needed a hug, bad! Some people think that Ironwood put a chip on Qrow, but considering he's gonna change his outfit soon, I don't think that's gonna happen. Ruby is starting to make some bold decisions.
Lastly, the new webseries. Have anyone ever seen the Hazbin Hotel? Granted, there's only the pilot now, but I will wait for more.
Next Chapter: Mountain Glenn (November 30)