Inner Power
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Back on the hill, the headmistress Goodwitch had being forced to hold herself back into running at Emerald Forest and berating the testers for their stupidity into taking on a horde of Grimm head on, but they were surprisingly effective. Ozpin had even made a comment into how he would have to look for a new place for the potential students next year.
But now, it was different. A Grimm that old was completely out of their league.
"Ozpin, I'm heading there myself." She stated to the headmaster, who had even dropped his mug in surprise, since they had no idea that there was a Grimm of that level in the forest.
"Go, I'll call the others as reinforcements."
With that said Glynda immediately stepped on the platforms and shot herself towards the forest, silently praying to any shred of mercy that the brother gods still had left, to make her arrive in time.
000
Weiss was shaking in horror at the abomination in front of her that had dug itself out of the ground and for once, the opinion of her sister didn't even cross her mind. She had seen such a Grimm before during her studies, but she had never expected to run into one so soon.
"That's a Menos Grande." She uttered, but in all the silence, she may as well have yelled. "A Grimm that has lived for centuries, might even a millennium and therefore evolved into a new existence."
"I don't think we can break it's legs." Nora uttered quietly, a stark contrast from her usual eccentric tone.
But before anything else could be said, the orange haired teen ran against the Grimm at full speed, taking everyone by surprise.
"Ichigo, wait! We can't fight that thing!" Weiss yelled at her partner, but she went ignored.
With a shout, he jumped at the creature's legs and threw a horizontal slash, but it didn't even scratch it, in response the monster kicked the swordsman away, making him crash on the ground.
"What now?" Yang asked in fear at the situation as to what Uryu responded while aiming his bow at the Grimm.
"Melee attacks don't work, let's try long ranged attacks everyone!"
Everyone agreed with the plan and immediately switched their weapons into gun mode and shot everything they had at the Menos Grande.
Bullets, grenades, arrows and more were launched at the monster at once, covering it into a cloud smoke, but the moment it lift off, the Grimm was revealed to be unscathed by the attack, even a gust of air got out of it's mouth, which honestly resembled more of a scoff that anything else, a detail no-one missed.
"Is it, making fun of us?" Ruby demanded irritated at the fact, with her sister mimicking her.
"I think so!"
"Students!" Miss Goodwitch called at finally arriving and taking into the situation. Mister Kurosaki was hurt and bleeding from his landing, while all others were still exhausted from their fight earlier, they may as well just be served into a silver platter.
"This is an unprecedented turn of events! Leave now!" She ordered, leaving no room for debate.
"Yes, of course Ma'am!" Jaune said, almost crying of relief at her teacher appearing at the last time to save them.
With Weiss dragging Ichigo away in her shoulder, Glynda finally felt confident enough to fight the Grimm off. With a swing of her riding crop she used dust to create a storm near the monster and summoned falling ice shards, making the Grimm the back away, at least a little.
With another swing from her weapon, Goodwitch used her semblance to unroot several trees and threw them at the Grimm making it back away even more.
Menos Grande were always difficult to handle on their own, very durable and powerful. It usually took a group of trained huntsmen to take it down quickly, since they were also slow and stupid. She could only hope to be taking it down before it fought back.
000
"What were you thinking?" Weiss berated her partner while carrying him in her shoulder away from the fight. "I'm pretty sure you have enough brain cells to know when you're outmatched!"
"I already told you." Ichigo said while regaining his footing and getting off the heiress. "Is pointless to run if you can't win and no amount of strategy was going to change the fact is stronger than us."
But before Weiss could retort, the air around them and all the others changed, they hadn't got very far given their exhaustion, their attention got dragged back to the Menos Grande, and a red ball of energy began to form in its mouth.
"But I thought Grimm didn't have Aura." Uryu said confused by the situation in front of him, before the heiress interjected.
"They don't. Some Grimm that evolved are capable of generating a type of energy called Anti-Aura."
Aura was a defensive anergy around the body of a host, and with enough training, a Huntsman could morph it into a semblance that reflected their personality. Anti-Aura on the other hand was all the opposite, it was an indomitable destructive energy that could only be released into the offensive.
"Everyone behind me!" Goodwitch called urgently with the students obeying, none of them could hope to outrun the blast in their current states, so she would have to block it with dust.
Ichigo on the other hand was peeved at the situation. Everyone was hurt and tired, the Grimm was about to attack, and he was being protected.
He wasn't defeated, he could still fight, he could still protect!
With that thought in mind he picked up his sword and ran directly at the monster with all the others yelling after him.
"Mister Kurosaki, get back RIGHT NOW!"
"What are you doing!"
"Come back!"
"Ichigo, stop!" Weiss yelled running after him, but before she could active a glyph to reach him, the Grimm opened its mouth releasing a massive blast of red energy towards them.
And by the shock of everyone, he blocked it with his sword. No-one could believe what they were witnessing, not even Weiss.
She had studied that the only way to stop any amount of Anti-Aura, was to counter it with an equal amount of Aura.
This Menos Grande, was beyond words, and yet he was being equaled by her partner, someone that's not even a Huntsman-in-training yet!
What kind of person was he?!
000
Ichigo was beginning to be overwhelmed, he could feel himself beginning to lose ground.
'I don't know what to do! I'm losing the momentum, soon the blast will overpower me completely and I'll be done for!'
What's the matter?" A voice suddenly began to sound in his head, but for some reason he wasn't alarmed by it, he felt completely at ease with it. "Is this, the limit of your resolve? Will you forsake them to save yourself?"
"No, I can't lose, or they will die." The orange haired teen muttered in response. "All what I said and do will be pointless if I lose. I have to win; I NEED TO WIN!"
"Very well." The voice responded; approval clear in its tone. "I'll show you a way."
Suddenly everything about him began to slowdown, the color around him began to go gray and before he knew it, he felt himself losing his consciousness.
000
When he regained consciousness, he was lied down on what looked like a forest, with many castles around him, mixed with modern buildings but all of them in a gray color with many cracks in the ground.
"Where am I?" Ichigo asked out loud confusedly while getting up, not really expecting an answer.
"How can you not know?" Turning to the caller, he saw a tall man with long orange hair tied down in a ponytail that reached his waist. He was dressed in a black keikogi, with red sides, black boots, black gloves and a mask covered his face with the only things noticeable, were his glowing blue eyes. "Amnesic or not, you should know by instinct where you are, after all this is the place within your soul, the way you see the world."
That explanation only created more questions for the teen. "I see the world, as a kingdom?"
The being didn't respond, but he could feel, that he was being stared with a raised eyebrow.
Getting tired of the strangeness around him, Ichigo decided to change the subject. "Who are you?"
"Who am I? You already know that too by instinct, I'm -!"
"I didn't catch that, at all!" The swordsman said confusedly.
"I see, so a little amnesia is all it takes to separate a bond." The being said disappointingly, turning his back on Ichigo while staring at the full moon in the sky, completely ignoring him.
By that point the teen was near his breaking point, he felt as if he should somehow know this being before him, but so far, it had done nothing but question him and honestly he didn't have time for it, he didn't know how time worked here, but he wasn't willing to test it.
"You said you could help me, how?"
The being in return didn't answered right away, before motioning to the numerous gray buildings around the kingdom and the damaged ground. "Your inner world is not composed of a kingdom. No, you see the world as a place full of people, full of lives to protect. Your amnesia has affected you; when you're feeling powerless, the buildings will lose its life, when you fear the ground around us will fail."
Ichigo could only look down, feeling somewhat ashamed, it's true that while he had accepted that he might never remember who he was, he still felt somewhat insecure, since it was a problem he couldn't punch into submission.
What if he had a family waiting for him? What if they needed his help? And many others What if's weakening his will.
His musings were interrupted when the being put a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention. "But I know that all your guts are not a façade, all the bonds you need to make this life worth living can be created, and you may still have a chance to hear my name. Nothing in this world can be done without the will to act. Are you willing to?"
"Yes." Ichigo responded.
"Are you ready to fight for what you believe in?"
"I am." He said in a louder tone.
"Are you willing to forsake the past, in order to live in the future?
"Hell Yeah!" The teen yelled with all his strength, pleasing the spirit.
"Very well, let's go Ichigo!"
000
Back in the real world, not a second had passed. But Ichigo was done hesitating, all he knew was that in order to protect the people he fought alongside with, then he'll have to defeat this Grimm and he would do it!
"Step forward!
"Don't fear!"
"Never give up!"
"Turn your bonds and pride into strength!"
"Fight in the name of your justice!"
"And unleash your rage against those that threaten it!"
"NOW SHOUT MY NAME!"
"ENGETSU!" Ichigo yelled with his blade changing in his hands. The hilt and the blade had gotten longer resembling more a nodachi and the handguard had changed completely into the mouth of a dragon with wings into the side.
But that didn't register in his mind, as much as the fact that suddenly it got far easier to fight back the attack of the Grimm. He felt unchained and ready to tear apart anything in his way.
With another yell he swung the blade against the beam completely overpowering it and landing a massive slash on the Grimm.
The resulting shockwave of the attack made everyone take a step back and knocking Weiss on the ground given that she was the closest to him.
"He slayed the Menos." Goodwitch muttered under her breath, not believing her eyes, yet uncapable of denying what she witnessed, and the feeling mister Kurosaki gave off in that moment was similar to something she would never expect, it felt like...
Weiss was staring at the scene with shock, a look mirrored by her fellow potential students. She hated to admit it, but if the heiress had been on her own against such a monster, then she would have died. She had needed to be protected.
Ichigo on the other hand was a little high on the adrenaline that was beginning to run out, he was losing the feeling of his body rapidly, but he still felt the impulsive need to do one last thing.
He stood up as high as he could and shouted to the skies. "YEAH!"
With that said, he immediately fell to the ground unconscious, snapping everyone of their surprise and quickly ran to attend the fallen swordsman.
000
Uryu Ishida didn't remember much of his life, he didn't remember much of anything, ever since he woke up in Argus a year ago. But he was different, it was plainly obvious given his sensorial abilities and aura powers. He had believed that he was one of a kind, until now.
The power of this Ichigo Kurosaki; felt somewhat similar to his own, perhaps he can be the key to recover his own memories. Looks like things were about to get interesting.
000
A few hours later, after Ichigo regained consciousness, everyone was now in the amphitheater being assembled into their own teams for the next four years.
"Uryu Ishida, Blake Belladonna, Russell Thrush and Yang Xiao Long. You'll be known as team IBRY – Ivory and will be headed by Uryu Ishida." Professor Ozpin stated.
Said team received a round of applause by everyone, with a certain red riding hood, yelling 'That's my sister!' and said blonde enjoying the praise, before the Professor continued onto the next group.
"Ruby Rose, Sun Wukong, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. You'll be known as team RSRV – Rosery, leaded by Ruby Rose!"
Another round of applause started with the tall blonde shouting, 'Go Ruby, go!' causing the younger girl to blush at the attention and covering herself with her hood.
"Weiss Schnee, Ichigo Kurosaki, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. You'll be known as team WIAN - Wiccan, with Weiss Schnee as your leader." Ozpin lastly directed the last group, getting a last round of applause.
The heiress simply kept a controlled pleased smile, while on the inside, she was jumping in happiness, Jaune had a relieved/shocked expression; as if he couldn't believe he had made it this far, Pyrrha on the other hand kept a polite facade, hiding an excited grin, just the initiation had been the greatest fight of her life, she couldn't wait to see where else her destiny would take her with her new team.
Ichigo just had a smirk, a stark contrast from his usual scowl. He had attained new powers and at the same time, much more questions, but it was all right for now. Whatever life had in store for him, he would never forget the lesson Engetsu taught him; No matter what it is, nothing can be done without the will to act.
To be strong, to step forward and to protect, will only happen if you act on it.
000
At night all the teams had been leaded to their shared bedrooms, while at the top of the academy was the office of Professor Ozpin, accompanied by Goodwitch who was retelling the events that happened at the Emerald Forest, while he took a first hand review on the recording of the cameras.
"…And then he slayed the Menos Grande with a swing of his sword!" She exclaimed, still having problems believing what she saw. Her boss remained quiet, taking it as an invitation, she asked the question that she feared already knowing.
"Ozpin, I've been around you and enough maidens to recognize it. It was different sure, but the feeling from mister Kurosaki and mister Ishida was unmistakable... Was it magic?"
The headmaster remained quiet for a few more seconds, before he exhaled through his nose. She was stressed, he didn't enjoy hearing her like that, she was one of his most trusted allies and friends, so he decided to be straight from her, lying had cost him many good allies already.
"What you saw Glynda, was two of the most ancient and most powerful clans the world has ever seen; the Shinigami and the Quincy. Clans older than me by a long shot."
The response caused the blonde woman to quirk her eyebrow in confusion. "I thought that everything from the old world besides you and the queen was long gone."
"I thought so too." The headmaster stated, while showing her pictures of said students. "I already communicated with the headmasters from their respective primary schools, and both of them suffer from amnesia to the point where they forgot everything from their lives, but they were still beyond prodigies in combat."
They were too many coincidences, causing uncertainly. A feeling that was shared by the headmistress.
"What do we do, then?"
"They don't appear to be hostile, so for now we should just keep an eye on them and nurture their strength."
In that moment, Ozpin remembered memories from so long ago. He remembered the raw power that the rival clans possessed, and if these two descendants had the potential of their ancestors, then maybe, just maybe…
Goodwitch had worked for the ancient wizard for a long time now, and she had learned to read him well enough. Usually he was composed and controlled, never showing more of what he wanted, but now; the hand from his cane was twitching slightly and he was staring at the shattered moon in the dark sky.
It was a sight she hasn't seen in many years by now since the formation of team STRQ, he was having hope into finally ending this ancient battle.
The End
Deaths Remnant – Thank you, I like that you enjoyed my own changes.
SomethingAncient – Thank you for the observation, I made suitable changes if you want to look. Hope you like it, the way it ended. How? You'll have to wait to see it.
Timothy Burr – …Maybe
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