Chapter 3 : Searching Answers or Searching Yourself.
Everyone is gathered in the amphitheater to watch matches that will prove if a student can qualify for the upcoming tournament. The current match is Pyrrha Nikos against team CRDL.
Pyrrha launches her spear at Dove Bronzewing and then knocks Sky Lark to the ground. Cardin unleashes a short column of fire from the red Dust crystal in his mace before he and Sky attempt to double-team Pyrrha.
Pyrrha throws her shield, which hits Cardin in the face and bounces back to hit Sky as well. She then flips backward through the air to land on Sky, incapacitating him. Dove and Russel Thrush rush her together, but she is able to drive them back as Cardin leaps in to smash at her with his mace.
Pyrrha opens fire with rifle-form Miló, but Russel covers Cardin, deflecting every shot with his daggers. He and Dove charge at Pyrrha, with Russel leaping into the air and performing a triple somersault; however, the attack is easily deflected. Russel and Dove proceed to strike at Pyrrha together, demonstrating precision through their ability to avoid hitting one another during the attack. Cardin attempts to capitalize on the distraction, but is unable to keep up with Pyrrha. Russel ducks in under Cardin for a surprise attack, but also proves himself unable to wear her down.
Dove moves in after Russel is knocked to the ground. After a couple of deflected swipes, he fires on her with his sword, but she is able to bull right through using her shield. Although he is able to avoid her attack, Dove finds himself knocked out of the fight by an errant swing from Cardin, who moves in for one final assault. Pyrrha knocks Cardin into the air and then leaps to slam him into the ground.
Glynda approaches from behind Cardin who clutches his ribs.
Glynda : And that's the match."
"Lucky shot." Cardin said as he finally falls unconscious.
"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Glynda said to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha replied, "Thank you, professor."
Glynda begins tapping on her scroll and said, "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." Glynda looks around at the observing students. "Any volunteers? Ms. Belladonna?" She said and Blake immediately slams her book shut and stares wide-eyed at Glynda. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you -"
"I'll do it."
Everyone turned and looked at the one who spoke and raised his hand. It was Ben!
"Ben Tennyson? Finally attentive in class I see. Very well. Let's find you an opponent."
"Actually..." Ben interrupted her. "I wanna fight Pyrrha."
Team RWBY and JNPR all widened their eyes.
"I believe Ms. Nikos has just finished a match. I recommend you choose another partner." Glynda said, her eyes narrowed at Ben.
Pyrrha looked at Glynda and stopped her. "No. It's fine!" She said and faces Ben. "I'd be happy to oblige." She said to Ben, smiling.
Ben smiled too. He's always wondered how skilled Pyrrha really is.
Ben walks calmly in front of Pyrrha as he readies the Omnitrix.
Pyrrha : Why challenge me, Ben?
Ben smiled back. : I've always wanted to know how a 'World Renowned Fighter' fights.
Pyrrha chuckled. "You won't be disappointed." She said as she takes a fighting stance.
Ben slammed down his Omnitrix and is engulfed in emerald light.
After the light died, in Ben's place is an alien that resembles a combination of a rooster and a hawk. He has sharp claws on his toes and talons on his hands, as well as two larger talons protruding from his arms. He has a short beak. He is covered in brown feathers and also has a white mohawk.
He also wears a green mask, a green belt with a white stripe, and black underwear. The alien wears a strap vest with the Omnitrix symbol on the vest hooker.
Ben : Oh yes Kickin' Hawk will kick the party. Are you ready ?
Pyrrha : I'm more than ready !
Ruby wiggled in excitement. Meanwhile, behind team RWBY is a teen boy with gray hair and a girl with green hair are watching the scene curiously and with amusement.
Kickin' Hawk charges in and kicks at Pyrrha, but she lunges forward, blocks it with her shield, and sweeps his other leg from beneath him with Miló. He falls onto his back but then kicks his legs into the air, spins on his hands, and does a double back-handspring. The two stop and stare at each other for a moment as Pyrrha stands up from a kneeling position. She runs forward to attack, but Kickin' Hawk strikes first, leading her to instead block the first kick with Miló and a second with her shield, before turning around and blocking a further barrage of kicks with her shield.
Pyrrha ends the barrage by hitting his leg away with Miló, creating an opening for her to ram her shield into him. He lands on his feet and slides to a stop some distance away.
After correcting himself, Kickin' Hawk begin to move foward and start punching so fast that almost hit Pyrrha.
Pyrrha smiled and said : Wow you almost hit me Ben, looks like this form can make me have a hard time.
Kickn' Hawk : Thank you! You may called the invincible girl. But you're not invincible all the time.
Pyrrha : you're right but you need more than that to touch me.
Kickin' Hawk smiled back and slapped the Omnitrix symbol and turned into a living diamond creature with the Omnitrix symbol on his belt.
"Well try to put me down in this form" He said as he transformed his right hand into a diamond sword. He then engaged Pyrrha in a sword-to-spear battle.
Despite being durable, Diamondhead can't help but feel outclassed as Pyrrha kept landing blows on his diamond body while all his own attacks are deflected and blocked by Pyrrha.
After getting knocked back by Pyrrha, Diamondhead fired multiple shards at her but she kept charging, using her shield to protect herself.
Pyrrha managed to land another blow on Diamondhead. The alien staggered and regained his composure. "Not bad." Diamondhead said as he slapped his Omnitrix symbol.
Ben's new form, after the light died down, has a magnetically floating metal head which levitates in an arch between his shoulders, however, it is still bonded to his body as wherever his head goes, his body follows. He has crab-like claws for hands and his body is mainly black with yellow feet, hands, shoulders, and chest. His mouth never moves, even when he's talking. The Omnitrix is on his chest.
"Lodestar!" The alien yelled.
Pyrrha prepared herself. "Lodestar? Isn't this the form you wanted to show me?" She said with a smile.
Lodestar : Yep. And this one is the one that's gonna beat you.
Pyrrha : Don't disappoint me then, Ben.
Pyrrha transformed her spear into a rifle and open fired on Lodestar. Lodestar simply raised his arms forward and emitted green energy waves. Then, the bullets simply stopped in mid-air. Turns out, those energy waves were actually magnetic waves. Lodestar made the bullets reflected at Pyrrha.
Lodestar : Got more?
"I have enough." Pyrrha responded with a smirk as she threw her shield at Lodestar, causing him to use his magnetic powers to redirect it back at Pyrrha. However, he was too late to throw it back as Pyrrha has already managed to come very close to Ben. Pyrrha then grabbed on Lodestar's floating head and, using her own Polarity Semblance, removed the head from it's magnetic field on it's body and successfully took off Lodestar's head. Lodestar's body then began walking by itself while Pyrrha held Lodestar's head.
Pyrrha : Woah ! I must say Ben, you didn't disappoint me. You were a good fighter.
Lodestar : Are you kidding me? You actually forced me to transform 3 times. You were better.
Pyrrha chuckled and so did Lodestar. But then, Lodestar's body began moving by itself and kept looking for it's head. It is currently headed towards Glynda. Glynda, irritated, used her telekinesis to push away the headless body.
Glynda : Mr. Tennyson. Would you please behave yourself?
"Don't bother, professor. He can't hear you. His ears are over here." Lodestar's head said. Everyone in the theatre began laughing after he said that.
Lodestar : Ummm.. Pyrrha. Could you... you know...put me back on my body?
Pyrrha laughed a little.
Outside, Sun's team, SSSN, are standing at the entrance as Team RWBBY walks past. Sun notices Blake and runs after her.
"Hey, Blake!" Sun said as he grabs Blake by her shoulder. "You uh, doing okay?
Blake shuts the book she is reading and faces Sun with a seemingly irritated expression. "I'm fine."
Sun scratched the back of his head and said, "So I hear that there's this dance going on this weekend, and it sounds pretty lame, but you and me, I'm thinking, not as lame, huh?"
Blake : What?
Sun seems shocked but quickly regained his composure and replied, "The dance! This weekend! You wanna go, or what?"
Blake gave him an irritated look and began walking away. "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that."
Blake walks away past her team. Sun sinks from his rejection.
Ben went over to Sun pats him on his shoulder while Ruby looked at Blake, still walking away.
Meanwhile in Cinder's dorm.
Cinder : So any news or anything to be aware from
Mercury : Yes. So Pyrrha is invincible but not forever, its hard when you fight her because she won't rest more than 10 seconds, keeping you on the edge.
Emerald : Her semblance is polarity. its hard to see wherever she fighting keeping her untouchable.
Cinder : Interesting. Put here on the list. anything else?
Mercury : Yeah Ben Tennyson. He's interesting.
Emerald : Ben have a weird abilty to transform into other things. I think that is his semblance
Cinder : Okay i'm listening,
Emerald : He transformed into what looks like a fusion of humanoid turkey and hawk and can kick some butt, A humanoid diamond structure that looks harder than he looks, And one with a body made of magnet poles with a floating head and the head is his weakness but the body can move without it.
Cinder put her fingers in her chin wondering.
Cinder : Okay we might have some problems. We need to be more focused and keep your eyes on Ben's transformations, We don't want to fight a transformation that can cause problems without knowing anything about him.
Emerald and Mercury nods their heads.
Cinder : Okay Benjamin you influenced me. What else you're hiding ? with cinder checking the photos of Ben's transformations.
Meanwhile with team RWBBY in the ballroom.
A glum Ruby is resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance. She's still worried about Blake. She says she doesn't want to go to the dance. She said there are still unanswered questions. She says they shouldn't be wasting time. She said...she'll be in the library. Ruby let out a sigh. She was then startled by someone slamming their palms on the table she's at.
"I need you to pick a tablecloth." Weiss, the one who slammed her palms on the table, said. She slides two squares over to Ruby, both seeming to be similar shades of white.
Ruby got confused. : Aren't they both the same? She thought.
Suddenly, Spidermonkey drops from the ceiling and looks at the tablecloths. "Hmmm... No there's a diffrence. I know that because in models they use white but there's the snow white or the egg white. but i'm not the greatest in these kind of stuff ." He said as he scurried away, making monkey noises.
Weiss sighed in frustration. "I don't even know why I asked!" She yelled as she walked away.
Yang comes in carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder, which bounces her sister and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground.
As she brushes her hands Spidermonkey hops on the speaker Yang just placed.
Yang : So, have you picked out a dress yet?
Ruby sighed. : What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?
Spidermonkey turned back into his human form. Ben then sat on the speaker. "Don't worry, Rubes. Blake's going." Ben said.
Ruby then looked at her best friend. How does he know...
"Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!" Yang yelled at Weiss.
Weiss then angrily walks up to Yang, pointing in her face. "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!"
The gang is suddenly interrupted by the sound of doors opening.
Walking in the ballroom is Sun and Neptune.
Neptune : Your dance is gonna have fog machines?
Weiss, entering fan girl mode, steps up to him then tries becoming sweet. "We were thinking about it..."
Neptune : That's pretty cool.
Sun then comes into the scene and asks "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"
Ruby scoffed. "Pfft... Yeah, right!"
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!" Yang said, crossing her arms.
"I'm gonna have to buy a fancy get up later." Ben said as he got off the speaker.
Weiss then asked Sun and Neptune, "What are you two wearing?"
"Uuhhh... this?" Sun said as he gestures to his current shirtless outfit.
Neptune steps up and holds a hand in front of his friend's face. "Ignore him for he knows not what he says." He said dramatically.
Sun : Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place.
Yang : Yeah, we noticed.
Ben pointed at Sun mockingly. "Oooh! Sick burn!" He said and laughed as he headed to the door.
"Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?" Sun asked, rubbing the back of his neck, nervous.
Weiss sighed. "Obviously." she said, turning and crossing her arms in disapproval.
Ruby : I still can't think of a way to change her mind.
"Guys."
Everyone looked at Ben, who was about to leave the room.
Ben : She'll be at the dance.
He then opened the door and left, closing it behind him.
Everyone in the room all just looked at each other, confused.
Later.
The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing. But she needs to focus. She needs more info, more answers, more...anything! Anything that can help find Roman and end his plans once and for all!
"Blake."
Blake was startled by some spooky voice mentioning her name. She actually yelped and fell of her chair.
Almost everyone at the library looked at her. Those who were doing work even stopped what they're doing and looked at Blake.
Blake stood up and fixed herself and her chair. She finally notices all the looks everyone is giving her. "I-I'm fine..." Blake said as she sat back down and continued typing.
Everyone else continued whatever they were doing.
Now that everyone is busy again, Blake then closed her eyes and spoke to the invisible voice that called her by name.
Blake : I know that's you, Ben."
Appearing in front of her is a phantom/ghost-like alien with claw like hands. He has grey skin with black lines running all over him.
He also has green chains all over his front side which lead to his neck, waist, and center/chest. He has spikes on his elbows and also has two cuffs on each of his arms. The Omnitrix symbol is located at the center of his chains.
"Hi, Blake." Ghostfreak said, still rather transparent and intangible in front of the Faunus.
"What do you want Ben?" She asked, still rather focused on the holographic computer.
Ghostfreak : We need to talk.
Blake : If this is about stopping my search and going to the dance, then you're wasting your time. this time, looking at the ghostly alien with an irritated look
Ghostfreak : I knew you were gonna say that.
Then, using his ghost like powers, he possessed Blake, shocking the latter.
Now inside Blake. Ghostfreak began controlling her movements and made it look like Blake was now turning off the hologram and left the library.
Minutes later in empty class.
Blake : Ben, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath.
"I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down." Ben replied as he leaned on the blackboard.
Blake continues to pace with her arms crossed, obviously irritated. "I don't have the luxury to slow down." She answered calmly yet angrily at the same time.
Ben shook his head. : It's not a luxury; it's a necessity.
Blake : The 'necessity' is stopping Torchwick.
Ben : And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say. gesturing to an empty seat near him.
Blake looks away for a moment until she relents and finally sits down on the chair, saying, "Fine."
Ben then cleared his throat, preparing to say his story. "Back in my world, I live in a town called Bellwood. My parents were ordinary people. My dad was a mechanic and my mom's a normal housewife. But you wouldn't believe what my grandparents are." Ben said, chuckling at the last sentence he made.
Blake still had a very stoic face, but otherwise, still listening.
Ben : My grandpa was a Plumber. And not the ones who clean toilets and pipes. Plumbers in my universe are intergalactic police officers that hunt down the most dangerous criminals. My best friends and my cousin and myself are Plumbers. Oh, and my grandma is an alien. Weird, huh?"
"I don't see your point, Ben..." Blake replied.
Ben : There was one time that my grandpa Max disappeared. I was scared then. I didn't know what I would do without him. So, I put the Omnitrix again after 4 years without using it and joined with my cousin Gwen and my best friend Kevin went to find him. But it wasn't easy. Our main goal was to find him, but there were things that kept stopping us from finding him.
Blake's mouth gaped a little. "Ben..."
Ben said "We had to save people, beat bad guys and ultimately, save the day. But, time and time again, I was rushing things too far. And because one of my old foes the highbreed was there it made me nervous and drawn a picture if i didn't find or not, This search control me that I keep forgetting to keep my emotions in check. I wanted to find grandpa Max." Ben said as he turned around to face the blackboard and picked up a chalk then started drawing.
Blake : Ben...I'm sorry about that...but you...
"And we did find him." Ben said, still drawing on the blackboard.
Blake looked up and at Ben. "You did?"
"But it was too late. When we found him, he was already sacrificing himself to save us. To be exact, he used some kind of bomb that would wipe out our enemy...and himself. Me and my friends only survived the explosion because of dumb luck. My grandpa...however... was gone." Ben said, still drawing.
Blake : I'm... sorry for your loss, Ben... .
"Don't worry. One day, we got reunited with him after finding out that it wasn't a bomb, but just an energy grenade that transported him to a dimension called the Null Void." Ben said, dropping the chalk back at the container.
Blake : But Ben. What is your point then ?
"My point is this...Don't stop searching. But don't rush either." Ben said, turning around, facing Blake. "Like me, there are other people that need your attention other than Roman. I was so fixated on finding my grandpa that I forgot my real duty: To protect and save the people in my world."
Blake looked away, seemingly ashamed of what she has done.
Ben put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. : Besides, even if you manage to find and stop Roman, would it be worth it if you lost your friends in the end? We need you Blake... Sun needs you.
Blake sighed...and gave Ben a friendly hug. Ben, though astonished at first, gave back a friendly hug himself.
"Thanks, Ben." Blake said as she broke away from the hug.
Ben then gave her a thumbs up. : Anytime. We're friends, aren't we?
The two then left the empty classroom.
Back at the blackboard is Ben's drawing, which, though not accurate, is a replica of a certain hero...
Hours later.
The dance has finally started. Everyone is at the ballroom. Dancing, chatting or just drinking. Everything seemed peaceful.
Outside, Sun is seen walking around and wearing a new black jacket with a white tie hung around his neck, which he proceeds to fight with before going inside.
"Stupid... dumb... neck trap!" Sun said to the tie as he kept fixing it.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie."
Sun stops his struggling and stares at the dark purple dress and bright blue bow worn by Blake, now looking like she traded her dark bags for violet eyeshadow, as she steps forward and takes him by the arm.
Sun then felt his heart beating fast. "Sooo, does this mean we're going... together?"
Blake chuckled at Sun's dumbfounded expression. "Technically."
