Alrighty! Let's get back into it! Honestly, it took me a while to come up with some Team attacks for Team KOLD. I think these are fine, but feel free to review and provide some ideas in the future.
Either way, no more waiting! As always, I don't own RWBY, that belongs to the CRWBY and Roosterteeth. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 22: Operation Investigation Part 2
Title Song: Nargacuga Battle theme (Monster Hunter World OST)
The team of Blake, Sun, Lilo and Jasmine approached an alleyway. As they did, Blake investigated three markings that looked like claw marks. She and Lilo then glanced around the corner, seeing two faunus approach a third acting as a guard.
"Looks like this is it," Lilo muttered.
"Yeah, it is," Blake nodded.
"You sure?" Sun asked, getting a look from the cat faunus. "Y'know… I'm just gonna take your word for it."
"That… best," Jasmine mumbled as Blake removed her bow.
As they headed inside, they were given the uniform masks of the White Fang. "I don't get it," Sun muttered. "If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to put on the faces of monsters," Blake sighed.
"Still…" Lilo glanced down at her mask. "Grimm masks are pretty dark…"
"So was the guy who started it," Blake pointed out.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you…" Sun mumbled, but put on his mask, as did everyone else.
Stepping into the main warehouse, Lilo noted that there was a lot of White Fang already in uniform, as well as a large gathering of visitors and new recruits on the right. Shadow, time to do your thing, She mentally signalled her shadowy hound.
Understood Alpha, Shadow replied. The black wolf shifted with the shadows, heading deeper into the warehouse than the meeting. His eyes were constantly flicking around, looking for danger. Slipping under a doorway with the shadow, he blinked, looking at a room filled with boxes.
Alpha, I've discovered dozens of crates, some have the Schnee girl's signet on them, I think they may be dust. He thought.
Good find, see what else you can find. Lilo instructed.
As Lilo was sending out Shadow, a burly faunus with a unique uniform and mask on stage was getting things underway. "Thank you all for coming!" He began. "For those who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you that he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!" He said. The undercover students looked to see Roman Torchwick walking on stage.
"Thank you! Thank you!" He smirked. Lilo quickly took note of a young girl around Jasmine's height in the back. Her hair was half pink and half brown, with white streaks in the pink half. She had a pink left eye and a brown right eye. She was wearing a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants and grey boots with high heels. Under her jacket was a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wore multiple beaded necklaces which hung at different angles from her neck.
Spotted a new face in the back, She relayed to her pups. Came in with Roman, probably an assistant to him.
"What's a human doing here?" She heard a faunus ask.
"I'm glad you asked deery!" He joked. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst. Case and point," He gave a wink and a cocky salute. "So, I can understand why you'd like to see some of us locked away, or better yet, killed!"
"Is he getting somewhere with this?" Sun asked.
"But! Before the claws come out, I'd like to point out the fact you and I all share a common enemy. The ones in control, the ones pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms," Roman said, and clenched his fist. "Government, military, even the schools! They're all to blame for your rotten life!
"And they're all pests that need to be dealt with… fortunately… I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room," He went on. He then snapped his fingers, and the curtain backdropping the stage was pulled off, revealing a massive robot.
Jasmine's eyes were darting all over it, eyeing every weapon system and gadget the thing had installed. "Paladin," She muttered to the group.
"That's a big robot," Sun mumbled.
"How'd he even get that?" Blake asked.
"As some of you have heard, this right here," He knocked on the robot's knee. "Is Atlas' newest addition in their line of defence against all the scary things in the world. And, thanks to my employer… we've managed to snag a few before they… hit the shelves," Torchwick said.
"Now, many of your brothers and sisters have already moved down to our new operation in the south-east. If you'd rather stay here, that's fine… but if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in… this is the kind of arsenal I can provide you with. Any questions?" He finished.
We've got what we can here, Shadow, meet with Snowfall outside, we'll be right there, Lilo commanded.
"We should get out of here," Blake pressed.
"Will all new recruits step forward?" Asked the high-ranking White Fang member.
Roman had stepped back to stand next to the girl. As he did, his eyes narrowed as they settled on Sun and Blake. "He sees us," Sun mumbled.
The criminal human threw aside his cigar and began to storm towards the crowd. "He can't see in the dark," Lilo offered.
"Genius," Blake smirked, taking out her pistol and shooting a junction box.
"Don't let them get away!" Roman called out as the lights went dark.
"Guys! The window!" Blake ordered. The four students burst through the glass out onto the streets. Behind them, the wall suddenly burst down as the robot charged after them.
"Uh oh!" Lilo groaned as they leapt up onto the rooftops.
"I don't suppose you might have… I dunno… some kind of backup?!" Sun asked as they roof hopped, the robot following from the road beside them.
"On it!" Lilo and Blake both called, pulling out their scrolls.
Onyx and Weiss were coming out of the CCT when they got the call. "Everyone, if you can hear me, we need back-!" Blake began.
"HEEEEELLLLPPPP!" Sun screamed.
"What did they do this time?!" Weiss asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not sitting on the sidelines this time," Onyx sighed, "Come on."
Koa, Yang and Neptune were sitting on the Genesis Dawn, hatches open. "Where abouts are you guys?!" Asked Yang.
The reply wasn't from the scroll, all three turned to see and hear, "Over HEEERREEE!" Seeing Blake, Sun, Jasmine and Lilo running from an Atlesian Paladin.
"I… think that was them," Neptune mused.
"Yeah. I think so, hold on." Koa dove into the driver's seat, gunning it after the chase.
Yang and Neptune sat on the hatch thresholds on either side. Koa put foot to the floor as he tore out onto the open roads.
They caught up to see the girls and Sun hopping from car to car on the Vale main highway, staying ahead of Roman's Paladin. "We've got to slow it down!" Koa called to his passengers as he pulled up alongside the machine.
"Got it!" Neptune started to reach for his weapon, but either some system of the mech alerted him, or Roman just realised he was being tailed, because he began to plough through the cars, crushing, smashing and sending them out of control.
"Hang on!" Koa yelled.
"Uh oh…" Neptune mumbled.
Koa swerved and avoided the cars sent careening out of control. As he drove, he tried to do as much damage control as he could, gently pushing aside vehicles with precise hardlight barriers.
Once through the barrage of cars, Neptune tries again, pulling out what looks like a rifle with blue energy crackling from the barrel. He rested the weapon on the hatch door, firing several shots. He then climbed up, shooting twice more before changing the weapon into a polearm called a guandao. A handle formed from the rifle butt, while the body slimmed, becoming a curved blade emitting blue energy. Neptune spun it twice, before leaping up, the weapon turning into a trident and firing a shot back, propelling him onto the mech, stabbing it.
Sun and the girls saw this, stopping on a truck and several cars. "Neptune! Hang on!" Sun yelled as the mech began to spin, attempting to shake off the blue haired boy.
He clapped his hands together, a pulse of yellow light emitting, before two clones of Sun, made of golden light form, charging across cars before attempting to stop the robot, Sun then followed, drawing his staff, but Neptune was thrown off into him, sending both flying from the highway.
I might have to remember that one, Jasmine thought.
"Blake, I'm in position!" Weiss called from Blake's scroll.
The heiress leapt from a higher bridge to land in front. Roman grinned in his mech, prepared to squash her, but Weiss span twice, stabbing her sword into the concrete, ice forming in a circle around her. She leapt clear as Roman slipped, his mech falling off the highway to land where Ruby and Onyx are waiting.
Their teammates dropped down from the highway to land next to them, battle positions at the ready. Lilo smiled as Shadow and Snowfall rejoined her, panting, but able.
"Freezerburn!" Ruby called, leaping back with Blake and Team KOLD, Yang leaping into the air as Weiss formed another floor of ice, Yang shooting down to smash with a fiery fist, causing fog to form all around them.
"Nice, Forget-Me-Nots!" Koa called out, forming a tube of hardlight, which Snowfall engaged her ice dust collar, icy crystals shooting from the tube with startling speed and accuracy. Lilo stood next to them, firing her guns while Shadow wisped in, slashing at the robot with ghostly claws. The four kept at this, while Team RWBY ran around, confusing the Paladin's laser sensor grid.
"Checkmate!" Ruby called out, Weiss and Blake darting forwards to jab and slice together at the robot's legs and arms, cutting at the sensors. Weiss sprang up with her glyph, stabbing the one right in front of the cockpit.
Roman growled, firing a salvo of missiles.
"Gentium Tea!" Koa called, he and Jasmine both conjuring up hardlight barriers, blocking each missile. Some got through, but Weiss sent a glyph to underneath Blake, which span rapidly in a clockwise pattern, rapidly increasing her speed.
Blake then lashed out with her swords, sending out violet crescents that sliced each missile in two, only exploding as she flipped into a crouch. "Ladybug!" Ruby called, getting Blake back in with herself, both leaping by and slashing at the robot's legs. Roman primed the cannons, firing, but Ruby and Blake leapt up, avoiding the blasts, and when Roman angled the robot up to aim, they came spiralling down, slashing off the robot's arm.
As the mech reeled back from the attack, Yang leapt onto the robot's back, punching it with shells at pointblank range. Feeling the impacts inside, Roman reverses the mech straight through a pillar with Yang on board and impacting her against another. As she began to fall, the robot turned, right arm slamming into her, punching the blonde right through the second pillar.
"Yang!" Blake yelled, alarmed.
"Don't worry!" Ruby calmed her. Yang began to get up. "With each hit, she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special," She said.
"Been a while since I've seen her use this…" Koa muttered.
Yang got back up, her hair glowing golden now. Roman threw another punch with his one arm, but Yang stopped it with her own left punch, but the shockwave split the ground behind her. Yang then lifted her right fist, pupils now red with rage as she punched, completely breaking the remaining arm before Roman kicked her away with a foot.
The blonde flew between Ruby and Blake. "Bumblebee!" Ruby commanded.
Blake threw the chain scythe form of her sword towards Yang, who caught it mid-air, twisting her body before shooting behind her, giving her extra momentum as Blake pulled her around like a mace on a chain, Yang being the fiery bludgeon swung at Torchwick. However, the robot leapt back to avoid the strike.
"We've got to slow it down!" Ruby called out.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Asked Weiss.
"… Ice Flower!" Ruby called.
"Black Sapphire!" Koa called out his and Onyx' tag team.
Ruby spun her scythe before stabbing the blade into the concrete, barrel aimed at the Paladin, Weiss conjuring up a glyph in front of the muzzle.
At the same time, Koa nodded to Onyx, the armoured student taking his weapon and extending it into it's melee form.
The muzzle pushed in, while the axe component underneath the barrel flipped up over to form the back half of an axe. The main stock under the trigger moved forward and extended, becoming the main axe head, while the rifle butt extended into an axe shaft.
With his new axe, Onyx leapt forward, swinging down and slamming it onto the right foot, then grabbing his axe with one hand, bolstering his aura and gripping the concrete.
"What the…?" Roman asked.
"I locked your foot! Try that jumping stuff again and you might just lose it!" Onyx called, as Koa formed a hardlight barrier to hold down the other leg.
Ruby now fired her rifle, her bullets coated with ice dust that on impact shattered, the icy elements spreading across the body, freezing at key limbs.
Blake pulled Yang around one more time, the fist of the blonde brawler slamming into the robot cockpit, disintegrating the robot and sending Roman sprawling from the debris.
"And I just got this thing cleaned," He complained, dusting off his suit.
Yang fired a shell, as Onyx fired a blue bolt from the head of his axe. Both flew, and impacted harmlessly by a pink parasol.
Koa paled upon seeing the heterochromatic girl step out from behind the shade, a creepy smile on her face. That's the girl Chloe warned me about, He thought. Doesn't look tough, but that means nothing in this case. Neopolitan.
Neo shouldered her parasol as Roman moved to stand next to her. "Ladies, gents, Ice Queen," He jabbed at Weiss.
"Hey!" Weiss was indignant.
"Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would please?" Roman asked, Neo bowing.
Yang ran out of patience, lunging out and punching them both. Or she would have if they were real, but they shattered like glass.
Everyone looked around with confusion, before Lilo pointed, seeing Roman and Neo standing in the bay of a bullhead as it flew away into the darkness.
"So… that's his new henchman?" Yang asked.
"Looks like it," Koa sighed.
"Yeah. I guess she really made our plans… fall apart?" Weiss said, snickering as she looked pleased with her attempt at a pun.
"No, just… no," Yang said, as Koa and Jasmine facepalmed, Lilo groaned, and Onyx shook his head. Ruby just stared while Blake walked away.
"What-? But you do it all the time," Weiss frowned.
"There's a time and a place for jokes," Yang sighed.
"Was this not it?" Weiss asked.
"Probably not," Lilo said.
"Can't believe Torchwick got away, again," Team KOLD were back at their dorm. Koa stood at the window, looking up at the shattered moon.
"Well, at least we stopped them from using that Paladin." Onyx shrugged. "Although, I am severely troubled by the news your contact gave you Koa."
"Too right," Koa sighed. "We should all be worrying about the stuff she told me. Most importantly though is the fact that the White Fang managed to attack and successfully hijack an entire Atlas train and disappeared with the entire thing. It does make you wonder though… what else was that train transporting that warranted a terrorist militia to take the entire train?"
No one could effectively answer that. "What a-" Jasmine coughed, "About Blake?" She asked, voice hoarse and rough.
"Good attempt, you're almost there," Lilo gave a thumbs up. "She's right though. Something tells me our kitty-cat friend is only going to get even more irritable now."
"Lilo, I want you to have Shadow just… keep an eye on her," Koa said, "Inform us if she's not sleeping, struggling in class, that kind of thing." He turned to his team, "That goes for the rest of you as well. Quietly monitor her. If Blake thinks she's got to do this alone, we need to be ready to catch her when she falls too deep."
"Hmm… I wouldn't do it while she's sleeping, I think that'd just be creepy, and she'd be alert right now," Onyx thought aloud. "Give it a few days. If she's starting to falter, then we'll keep a closer eye on her."
"Alright." Koa nodded. "For now though, let's continue to get through school. We're still just trainees. Let's work hard to turn that into the real deal. It's back to the drawing board for some team maneuvers."
"Got it/Aye/Will do," Onyx, Jasmine and Lilo replied in that order.
"Now get some shut-eye, it's been a long day," Koa leapt up to his bed. It wasn't long before the members of Team KOLD were fast asleep.
Lilo: And that takes care of that.
Onyx: Agreed. He may have gotten away, but at least we delayed his plan... slightly.
Jasmine: South-east. Whi... fang...
Koa: All in due time Jas. We will bring them to justice, but for now, let's continue to learn to be even better!
All: Next time: Shadows and Cherry Blossoms.