(Hey everyone, how's it been I hope you all had a great summer. Here's the second part of the civil war that is happening in Menagerie between the White Fang and Airachnid, vs Blake and Predaking. Let's see how things get settled in this conflict.
Reminder: This is a story that works in correlation with Ryujudge6614's "Transformers RWBY: The Flames of Redemption", which focuses on Yang and Ruby while my story focusing on Weiss and Blake after the Fall of Beacon. Even though Weiss' story is now being taken over by Ryujudge.
I strongly suggest that you all who have not read his story do so, it's what inspired me to go to him and work with him by writing this very story with his.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Transformers Prime and RWBY they are the property of their respective owners.
Now please Read, Review, and Enjoy.)
Ghira stared in the direction of the broken window by the Insecticon, still looking at the burn marks made by the fiery dragon created from Predaking's recent dragon fire. He turned his head to the young man asked, "What… what was that?"
"I could only assume that my semblance had evolved or I have just accessed the true potential of my semblance. Where I can create the shape of my inner dragon and order it to locations that I, otherwise, cannot go. Such as ensuring your daughter's survival." Predaking explained while some of the Menagerie guard approached. Hearing his explanation made sense to the chief, he then noticed the reptilian Faunus that Predaking had gotten to know from the guard was leading them.
However, before the two of them could find out the situation, several White Fang troops arrived and a fight ensue once more in the entry hall.
One of them tried to kick Ghira, but he grabbed his assailant by the foot and slammed him into the wall. Ghira dodged a sword slash from another White Fang trooper. A guard managed to knock out another trooper after a brief scuffle, and Ghira knocked out the trooper that attacked him by punching him in the diaphragm and slamming his head into the ground. Predaking roared as and charged, his armor and aura deflecting the enemy fire as he gave an upper cut that sent one trooper into the ceiling, hard, before he kicked another in chest, crashing him through a wall.
Ghira looked at the guards with them and ordered, "Go find my wife!"
Another White Fang soldier approached Ghira with his fist drawn back, but Predaking grabbed his wrist and forced his own fist into the soldier's diaphragm, hard, then tossed him aside. The reptilian faunus
"CHIEF! PREDAKING! LOOK OUT!" The reptilian guard got shot while protecting both Ghira and Predaking before he went limp. Ghira caught the guard's body and dropped it to the ground, with Ghira winced at the fallen guard. Predaking stared at shock; no one had ever sacrificed their lives for him… and this guard… he… he… He began breathing heavily as a new rush of emotion filled him. It filled him in a way that made him both enraged and saddened. He then kept breathing heavily, fire reigniting inside his heart. His mind then wandered back to the massacre of his Predacon brethren on earth and anger grew inside.
The two growled as they turned their attention to the direction of footsteps and saw Albains, who had their own weapons out. Anger boiled over in the dragon's heart. A squadron of more White Fang troops and an Insecticon ghoul joined them.
"I believe it's time our dear chieftain stepped down, brother." Corsac stated, getting himself ready to fight.
"Yes brother, I'm afraid I'm inclined to agree. But I am not sorry that we'll do our people a favor by removing the human weapon from Remnant once and for all." Fennec agreed, grinning in satisfaction by killing the dragon Faunus before them.
"Indeed, brother." Corsac added, he too was glad for the order to kill the dragon Faunus with their chief.
Ghira let his claws out and ripped his coat off. He bore his fangs and made a feral growl at the two brothers, before letting out a mighty roar. Predaking gritted his own teeth together and flexed his claws ready for the fight ahead of them, "Everyone continue to refer me as such… and it makes me ANGRY!"
He then let out a roar of his own which could be heard throughout the house. Unlike the other roars, this one was completely alien to them. It sounded like both a shriek and a roar at the same time. He then charge at them, in a greater burst of speed than before, surprising not only Ghira, but the two commanders as well. Predaking reeled his fist back. As he swung the air around his arm began to ignite; the two almost didn't make it out of the way. His fist made contact with the Ghoul, causing the large insect to fly and crash into a wall, creating a crater when it slid to the ground, visor cracked.
The brothers stared in shock at what they had seen. The wood bore small flames from what happened before.
His eyes on them, Predaking asked, "DO YOU WISH TO SEE HOW I CHANNEL THIS ANGER?!"
Without warning, he charged at the enemies before him, the air around him igniting even more, and he wasn't even using his semblance. Or… was he?
He yelled as he charged at the White Fang before him, their weapons proving ineffective against his armor and aura. The White fang moved out the way while two of them, scared out of their minds, couldn't escape as they fired. One received a claw slash across his chest while the other felt himself being kicked through a window.
Two of the White Fang soldiers ran forward firing at him. However his aura blocked the impacts of the bullets. They were then met with a backwards fist from Predaking as he roared again. One hit a pillar that held the ceiling up; the other fell to the ground, sliding past where Ghira stood. The Insecticon ghoul climbed up the pillar to the ceiling before diving at Predaking. The enraged Predacon heard the shrill cry before leaning back far enough to avoid being hit and used his claws to cut through the insect like armor of the creature before him, even as it slid to the ground, spilling its purple blood. Before the corpse could reanimate itself, Predaking went over and slammed his foot into the head of the Insecticon, causing a crunch from the amount of physical strength he used. The physical power that he used was similar to when Predaking destroyed the Autobot's hand for the crime against his brethren.
'He's a monster…' Both Fennec and Corsac thought, feeling fear as they saw the Dragon Faunus turn his head at them. They looked to see where their fallen comrade lay only to find that the chief had disappeared. Forgetting the fact that Predaking had only killed the Insecticon given to them by their arachnid ally.
Ghira Belladonna leapt around the entry hall and used his claws to hang from one of the pillars. He pounced on a White Fang soldier and clawed him down. A female White Fang soldier charged at him with a spear, but Ghira grabbed it, lifting her off the ground, and tossing her into Fennec Albain. Corsac Albain held out his weapon, which started to glow red as Ghira prepared to launch the spear at him. A fireball launched from Corsac's weapon as Ghira threw the spear. The two attacks managed to follow through the direction they were going; only the fireball had made contact with Predaking, making his aura shimmering from the fireball, as if absorbing the element, with Corsac getting pinned to the wall by his hood.
Fennec noticed and cried out, worried, "Brother!"
Looking at the two, Fennec shouted, "You'll pay for that!"
Fennec got back up and activated his weapon, which glowed white as a wind gust was conjured from it. Ghira brought his arms to his face to block the attack, and his feet drag backwards a couple of feet as a result. A White Fang soldier with an assault rifle is hiding behind a pillar and took the opportunity to attack Ghira. Before Predaking could help the chief, Sun came bursting in from the window behind him and knocked him down. Corsac discarded his hood and joined his brother as they prepared to launch a combination attack with their weapons. A stream of wind and fire whirled toward Sun, but he blocked the attack by twirling his staff, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. He then called out to someone, "Hurry!"
Blake was seen loading a new cartridge into Gambit Shroud, drawing the attention of Corsac and Fennec. Blake Belladonna jumped down from the terrace above them, dodging a fireball and a wind attack in the process. She did a three-point landing in front of them, which impressed Predaking out of his rage. The brothers attempt to stab Blake, but she used her ice Dust-enhanced Semblance to trap their hands and weapons. She leapt away from them to join her father, Predaking, and Sun.
"Dad! Where's mom?" Blake asked, worried. She then saw the body of the guard that help them against the ghouls and gasped.
Ghira looked back, "I'm not sure; Predaking and I got ambushed right away."
"Once we take down Corsac and Fennec-" Blake began, but her father interrupted.
"No, you and Predaking go now."
"But-" Blake began, shocking both her and the tall dragon.
Ghira interrupted again by saying, "You keep assuring me your blond haired friend isn't a complete waste of space! Let's see him prove it."
Sun looked back to Blake and assured her, "We got this, Blake. I've wanted to sock these creeps since the day we met!"
Corsac used the fire Dust in his weapon to start melting Blake's ice clone.
"You'll have to get in line." Ghira told Sun before ordering the other two, "Blake, Predaking, go!"
Ghira ordered, keeping his eyes on the Albain brothers.
Blake and Predaking did as ordered and left the room. Corsac and Fennec freed themselves from their imprisonment, and prepared to fight again.
Blake bursts into the forked hallway with Predaking following closely behind. She heard the sounds of fighting to her right and proceeded down the left hallway.
"Blake, Should we not go to the direction of the conflict?" Predaking asked, concerned that the sound of the fighting indicated where her mother would be. Especially since the sounds and scents of everyone was making it hard for him to find the scent of Blake's mother.
Looking back, Blake called, while running, "Trust me!"
Predaking didn't take too long to think; he gave her a nod and followed after her. They continued until they reached what was, as Predaking put it, the archive room. Before Predaking could take a step, Blake stopped him with her arm out and poised herself for battle. Looking in the direction she was glaring at, Predaking saw Ilia there, standing up on the railing above them.
The two reached for their weapons, with Blake gripping Gambol Shroud first. Ilia proceeded to grab her weapon's hilt. The two glared at each other, both still holding their weapons while Predaking readied his claws again.
"Did you come in here to hide?" Blake asked, her eyes on Ilia.
Ilia, told her, ignoring the large male next to her former friend, answered, "I told you, I didn't want this."
Predaking's glare hardened as he said, "And yet, you are still here, doing that you proclaim you did not wish to transpire."
"Shut up, you fake! I'm talking to the only other person in this room." Ilia shouted at Predaking. He narrowed his eyes, even as Ilia continued, looking at Blake, "I don't have a choice!"
"Of course you do!" Blake shot back, trying to convince Ilia of a better way.
Predaking, who noticed that Ilia didn't say anything, just looked away.
"Just... stay out of our way." Blake said, having had enough of this, and put Gambol Shroud on her back and started walking away, unconsciously grabbing hold of Predaking's claw like hand and pulled him to not fight Ilia. In response, Ilia leapt and charged at the two, but Blake's form disappeared. Predaking leapt back as he growled. Blake then reappeared a few feet away behind her assailant. With both her enemies in front and behind her, Ilia swung her weapon around, in its whip form, to hit them both with one move. They dodged and rolled out of the way. Their immediate coordination made Ilia furious. She ran along the desks and chairs in the room, trying to get at Ilia, who kept trying to use her whip to hit Predaking. It seemed to Blake that Ilia was really out to kill Predaking for reasons unknown to Blake. So Blake managed to stop the attacks by using her ribbon to wrap around Ilia's wrist. Ilia was pulled toward Blake, followed up with the latter kicking the chameleon Faunus to the ground. The two then locked blades with each other. Predaking would've assisted but something made him stop as though this was a fight that Blake need to handle herself, for now.
Looking at Ilia Blake asked, "Why do you feel like we have to hurt people to get our way?!"
"Because it works!" Ilia shouted, pushing against Blake's blade with her own.
Blake then shouted, "That doesn't make it right!"
"Of course it does not… Especially since you are mimicking the very essence of humanity that you see in the species. Just like the one who betrayed me." Predaking said, talking to Ilia. It made Blake's eyes widen in fear of her friend, being the same as the man who hurt Predaking so much.
Ilia, seeing Blake's reactions to the "fake's" words, pulled the trigger on her weapon, sending an electrical charge that caused Blake to drop her weapon a few feet away from her. Blake pulled out her cleaver sheath, but Ilia jumped from the desk and did a turn kick that knocked Blake over another desk, causing her to drop her weapon. Ilia whipped at Blake again, but she used her Semblance to get out of the way. Blake takes cover behind a desk, being covered by Predaking, who sent a chair flying at Ilia, who dodged and dropped her mask, shouting at Blake, "Stop lecturing me!"
Blake peeked from behind the desk and noticed Ilia's Grimm mask on the ground. Ilia quietly turned the lights off in the room, sending it into dark. Blake quickly went to pick up her katana while Ilia sneaked around the room camouflaged. Blake heared a creak on the floor, Ilia quickly knocked her back. Blake used the pistol form of her weapon to shoot at Ilia, who quickly evaded the shots.
"Why couldn't you just leave?!" Ilia shouted in the darkness.
Blake, transforming her weapon into katana form, answered, "Because I ran away too much."
Blake dodged a couple more whips from Ilia. As she took cover from behind the desk, Blake extracted out two cartridges - one with fire Dust and the other with ice. Before she loaded the cartridge, she heard Predaking get up and turn his head to the plants above.
"Apologies chief Ghira." Predaking muttered before taking a deep breath and sent out a torrent of flames to the shrubbery close to the ceiling with his semblance. The roar of the flames jetting out of his mouth attracted the attention of the two fighting females. Ilia had to use her weapon to swing out of the way of the oncoming flames. Her face had the expression of fear on it from how close she was to being burnt alive by the heat of the dragon faunus' fire.
With camouflage not an option anymore, Ilia engaged the two in combat. The two started off with a mixture of sword clashes and hand-to-hand. Blake dodged out of the way of one of Ilia's attacks and started to fire at her with the pistol form of her weapon. Ilia deflected the shots with her whip, "Quit taking potshots and fight me like you mean it!"
With Blake out of danger, Predaking charged forward, rearing back an arm, which Ilia dodge, her expression showing that she knew about Predaking's Strength.
Blake took this chance to jump up on the balcony above them. She took cover behind the railing as Ilia ranted at her, angrily, as she kept fighting Predaking, "You used to see things the way I did! The way Adam did! If no one's going to do anything to stop the humans that attack us, then the only choice we have left... is to attack back!"
"Then what?! You become the same as your aggressors? That will only make you become the evil you claim to fight." Predaking said, speaking from experience. Those words made Ilia falter in her resolve; she shook her head and aimed to attack him again.
Blake loaded another cartridge into her pistol and began to fire at Ilia again. Ilia deflected the shots, but when she went to use her whip to attack again, Ilia noticed that her weapon was frozen in place. Suddenly, a ribbon wrapped around her weapon as Blake pulled. Ilia would've retaliated but Predaking took the chance to kick the chameleon Faunus away. This gave Blake enough time, as she leapt from the balcony to hold Ilia down, telling her, "You're wrong, there's always another choice."
Ilia struggled, sure that a number of her ribs might be broken, to get up as Blake continued to hold her down, "Ilia... please. You're a good person but you're making all the wrong decisions!"
"SHUT UP!" Ilia shouted as she thrashed in her former friend's arms.
Blake then asked Ilia, "Is this really what your parents would've wanted?!"
Ilia, voice breaking, "I don't know what else to do!"
Suddenly, Ilia ceased her struggling and her eyes start to well up. Sobbing, she said, "I don't know what else to do..."
Predaking tried to speak again, but… they heard a rumbling sound. Corsac was thrown through the wall, dropping his weapons. Ghira jumped into the room as he growled at Corsac. He then noticed his daughter pinning Ilia to the ground, "Blake!"
Suddenly, Fennec came rushing into the room and stabbed Ghira in the back, who cried out in pain and slumped toward the ground. Predaking charged in with his usual battle cry, not knowing the consequences of his action.
"Dad!" With Blake distracted, Ilia pushed her off her and kicked her into a nearby chair, knocking Blake out momentarily. Predaking slugged Fennec off Ghira's back, which sent him away as Corsac ran to him. Ghira pull the dagger out of his back and clashed fists with Corsac. The two then struggle to push each other as their hands interlock.
As if to rectify his mistake, Predaking grabbed Ilia by her arms and held her off the ground. She struggled to get out, "Believe me Ilia, I know exactly what you are going though, the pain, the hatred, it is a flame that you must use carefully or you will lose yourself to it. I lost my brethren due to the treachery of the very person that aided in my personal creation. They were what I considered my family. Like you I wanted to make the ones whom I thought caused their destruction whole heartedly to suffer. But then I found out that the human that ordered my cloning had used my fury for his own purposes."
While she listened, Ilia couldn't believe that what she thought was a weapon was actually telling her something that she could relate to. It was enough to make her stop in her struggle. Seeing this Predaking set her back down, back on her feet as she heard him say, "I live on for my brethren until the day I can face the betrayer who used me for the reasons in which you fear me. What will you do Ilia Amitola?"
Ilia seemed confused by his question, not sure how to answer it.
Fennec noticed the two of them standing and theorized what was happening so he shouted, trying to get her to focus again, "Ilia! What are you doing?! Fight! Kill that false Faunus and aid your true people!"
"Do not be deceived by the rantings of a fanatic zealot! YOU choose what you want to do." Predaking shot back to her before he went to back Ghira up.
Fennec pulled out another dagger from his sleeve and charged at Predaking, the feelings of hatred for the dragon faunus' status as a fake and human weapon, by Adam Taurus, made him blinded to those around him. The chieftain managed to push off Corsac, dodged Fennec's swipes as he began to fight both of them at once. They heard the familiar warcry of Predaking as he slashed at them. The two dodge out of the way. Fennec dodged the first attack, only to miss the one that tossed him away. With Predaking distracted by running to help Ghira, Fennec charged his weapon while Corsac and Ghira continue exchanging blows. Fennec then charged in again, giving a loud battle cry. Predaking noticed him and grabbed his wrist, pointing his weapon as it fires at Corsac, who got blown back several feet away and knocked unconscious. Realizing his mistake, Fennec cried out, again, "BROTHER!"
Fennec tried to correct his mistake and attacked Predaking again, but Sun jumped in and kicked him away. Sun saw Blake struggling to get back up and angrily glared at Ilia. Noticing this, Ghira ordered the two young men, "Go help Blake!"
"On it!" Sun said. Predaking nodded as the two ran to help Blake.
Sun pulled out the staff form of his weapon, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, and engaged Ilia in combat. He delivered a flurry of attacks with his shotgun nunchakus that overwhelmed Ilia and disarmed her. She was then pushed against pillar by Sun. As she struggled to get out of his hold, the pillar she was pushed against started to crack. The king of the Predacons stared and knew that there was only one way to stop fanatics… looking down Predaking thought, 'Forgive me… Blake…'
Predaking then charged to deliver the final blow when…
"STOP!"
The voice alone made the dragon Faunus stop in his tracks as he glanced toward to the source. Sun and Ilia stopped to look at Blake, who had cried for them to stop fighting.
"Please..." Blake pleaded to them, as tears started to fall from her eyes. Seeing the tears in her eyes, Predaking was the first to lower his fist; something about her saddened expression hurt his spark than any physical weapon could. Sun was the second.
Ilia managed to push Sun off her and fell to the ground. Suddenly the pillar started to crack even more, Sun moved out of the way quickly as the balcony above Ilia started to give way. Ilia yelped as the balcony was about to fall on her. However, nothing happened. She looked up to see Predaking lifting the broken part of the balcony with his own strength, even as pieces of the ceiling began to fall on it. Ilia stared in awe at the weight of the debris barely affecting him.
Predaking turned his yellow glowing eyes and snapped, his voice distorted, his yellow eyes glowing, "Go!"
Ilia quickly got out of there, but Predaking remained where he was. Those who had not seen the dragon faunus' strength before, continued to stare in awe. Blake grabbed her weapon and changed it into its kusarigama form. Unbeknownst to them, Fennec got back up and saw his brother still unconscious. He grabbed both of their daggers and ran at Predaking. He would finish the holy quest given to him by the high leader, and kill the human weapon! Blake saw this and quickly used her weapon to try and wrap it around her torso, to pull him out before Fennec could harm him. But Predaking, hearing both these things at once, tossed the balcony as far up as possible to kick Blake's weapon away, looking to her afterwards, as though he was saying that he would be fine. Fennec charged, the daggers held high over his head to run them through the dragon Faunus' body.
However, Predaking gave Fennec a strong upper cut with his claw, shouting, "ENOUGH!"
The strength of the blow had finally knocked him out as the daggers fell. At the moment of contact, with them still charged in power, Predaking grabbed Fennec's unconscious body and dove away as they exploded, causing everything that Predaking had forced upwards to come crashing down.
"PREDAKING!" Blake screamed out, fearing that the explosion and the fallen debris had killed him.
The door to the side opened and Blake's mother, Kali Belladonna, entering the room dragging an unconscious Yuma, whose hands were tied behind his back. Through the tears, Blake cried out, happy to see her mother unharmed, "Mom!"
Kali dropped the unconscious Yuma as her daughter came up to hug her. Their embrace was cut short as a voice gets their attention.
Corsac stared in shock before he asked, darkly, "What have you done?"
He then stood again and said after a few breaths, "You and that fake… ruined everything..."
Finally Corsac screamed, "EVERYTHIIIIIIING!"
The Belladonnas and Sun took defensive stances. Corsac angrily charged forward, but suddenly, something large had jumped out from the wreckage. Everyone turned to see that it was Predaking, alive, and with something over in his arms. He landed in Corsac's way and gave the enraged fox the same shriek-like roar that everyone heard from before. The roar had frozen Corsac in so much fear that he didn't feel Ilia's weapon wrap itself around his body until he felt the energy of the lightning Dust electrocute him, knocking him unconscious. Everyone stared at her. With the battle over, Ilia started to cry. She fell to her knees and broke down, with the Belladonnas and Sun looking on.
Putting Fennec next to his brother, Predaking stood up to look to the sobbing Ilia.
'There has been enough death this night…' Predaking thought as he turned to leave. But he felt something press against him from behind.
He turned his head and saw the familiar cat ears over his shoulders. Blake was hugging him from behind, her face buried in his back as she pulled her face back to say, smiling, "I'm so glad you're okay…"
Predaking gently placed a hand to her face and using the underside of his claw to wipe the tears away. As he said, "I… apologize for not accepting your aid moments ago… I had hoped to take care of the collapsing balcony before Fennec Albain had interfered."
Predaking saw those with them either surprised or relieved to see him unharmed, but the dragon seemed to have detected something else from Sun's expression, as though he was dejected… But why?
Predaking remembered what he wanted to do. He looked to the deeper recesses of the household then turned to Blake.
Somehow guessing what she was thinking, he said, "Do you trust me?"
Blake looked back somewhat confused, wondering what he was planning.
Outside of the Belladonna's home, a large crowd of Faunus gathered outside, noticing the smoke and fire coming from the building.
A guard said, as he and the others were keeping the Faunus from getting closer to the obviously dangerous situation, "Back! Everyone, stay back! We've got people inside doing their best."
A Faunus cried out, pointing, "Look!"
From the smoky doorway, Ghira walked out carrying the motionless bodies of a White Fang soldier and a Menagerie Guard on each of his shoulders. He handed the bodies to two guards as the commander of the Menagerie guard, Saber Rodentia, approached. Behind Ghira, was Predaking carrying both Corsac and Fennec on his shoulders as well. Then came the rest of the Belladonna family and Sun, who were assisting the other survivors of the battle out. After depositing both of the brothers on the ground, Predaking went back into the blazing inferno and came back with more injured Faunus, even the bodies of those who perished in the fight. They deserved a proper send burial for their duty. Everyone who saw him do this inside the house was amazed that he did this for everyone whether they lived or not after the battle in the house.
"Get in there! Search for any more stragglers!" Saber ordered, his subordinates following as they rushed inside.
More guards walk out keeping Corsac and the unconscious Fennec restrained, followed by Blake, Kali, Sun, Ilia and others.
Saber looked to Ghira and explained his tardiness, "We came as soon as we got the call."
Saber walked over to the conscious Albain brother and asked, a snarky tone in his question, "Was it worth it?"
Corsac looks down, defeated, but was glad to see brother alive. As the commotion continued, Blake shared brief looks with Predaking, Sun, and then Ilia. Blake took a deep sigh as she went down the steps. Ghira noticed his daughter walking away.
"Blake!" He called after her, but before Ghira could speak any further, his wife stopped him, and both looked on. Blake then stopped at one of the steps. She then began to address the crowd. Predaking watched before he looked back into the blazing house.
"Humans didn't do this. Nor did anything they would call a weapon." Blake said, pointing at the smoke coming from her house, "We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We are just as capable of hate and violence as the humans without any sort of weapons that they may or may not have created, but I don't think any of us here would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame, but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem. And I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away, I don't. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution. I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to."
Blake's words were heard by everyone even the White Fang members who survived the fight.
Predaking approached her and said, placing his right claw over his chest, bowing his head low to her, "You have my promise that I will stand with you until the end, Blake Belladona."
Blake smiled to hear him make a promise similar to the one he did when they first met.
"I'll stand with you too!" The pair turned, with surprised looks on their faces as Ilia stood up. Her pained expression then looked down, "If... if you both'll have me."
"Isn't that the White Fang girl?"
"I thought she hated the Belladonnas."
"Didn't she also called that guy a human weapon?"
"Yeah I heard that too. Why's she saying she'll help people she hated?"
Despite some of the crowd's murmuring amongst themselves, Blake smiled at her old friend. As Ilia proceeded forward, Saber suddenly stopped her, "You're not going anywhere!"
Blake ordered, "Let her come."
"Huh?" Saber asked, confused by her words.
Predaking then asked, "Blake, are you certain you comprehend what you just said? Are you willingly just going to forgive her? After everything she did? To you?! To your family?! To your home?!"
Ilia looked down ashamed of what she did when Predaking spoke. However, Blake looked back into his piercing yellow eyes and said, confidently, "I am."
Predaking stared in shock at this… Why? Why would she forgive someone so easily who did her wrong? It… it made no sense… Betrayal of this level deserved a harsh punishment.
Saber looked to Ghira, who nodded for him to let Ilia go. Ilia continued to walk down the steps to stand next to her friend and her new ally.
"What does she think she's doing?" Saber asked Ghira, who stood there smiling at his daughter's maturity, "She's learned a lesson that evaded me until I was much older: That there is strength in forgiveness."
Predaking was perplexed at that. How is there strength in forgiveness? Should not the guilty be punished for the crimes they committed? He then muttered, "Regretfully, I doubt that claim, Chieftain Ghira…"
Saber looked at the dragon Faunus, confused, Ghira; however, knew why. He kept his silence as he watched his daughter's actions.
Blake puts a hand on Ilia's shoulder, sharing a smile together. Predaking noticed that the crowd of Faunus were still uncertain after what was said about him.
Taking a deep breath of his own, Predaking looked to those assembled and spoke, "I know for the past two months lies and accusations were placed on me due to my unusual appearance, even amongst my own kind. I was indeed made to be a weapon, but I was not fabricated completely, I was cloned from the ancient fossilized remains of an ancestor whose very genes allowed me to be born thanks to their modern science. However, since breaking ties with my creators I have come a long way to know about the race that my form was based on and I see you, not just capable of being proud warriors, but people who wished to protect not just themselves, also those they loved and cherished. Please… for those who fell for a pointless battle as the one that happened this very eve, please help us protect others from this pain of loss!"
Everyone was silent at what they thought was a human weapon and a fake speak to them like a regular person. They all looked at each other, unsure of what to do when. Unbeknownst to everyone Fennec had been awake when he heard Predaking speak, and the anger he felt for the dragon Faunus seemed to have evaporated.
"I'll go!" A male ram Faunus stepped forward and raising his hand, followed by many more. Inspired by the words spoken by Blake and Predaking.
A female aquatic Faunus then volunteered, "I'll go too!"
"I'll stand with you!"
"I'll go!"
"Yeah!"
"Me too!"
"Let's go!"
"Yeah, let's do this!"
As more Faunus start to give Blake their support, Sun walked down the steps to join the three who started this. The crowd cheered as a majority agree to volunteer. They all smiled at the crowd. Sun then said, "Looks like we've got work to do."
"Thank you." Blake said, smiling at her friends.
Sun pointed to Ilia and then to Predaking, "You stabbed the big guy."
Ilia looked down sorrowfully, remembering that she did do that. Turning to the towering Faunus before her she began, "I-"
Sun playfully pinched her arm, which made her cry out, "Ow!"
"There." Sun said, grinning, "Let's just call it even."
"It was even the moment she promised her support to Blake's crusade." Predaking interjected, feeling the matter had been settled before Sun punched Ilia's arm.
Ghira and Kali then walked down the steps to join their daughter and her friends, telling them, "We have about two weeks before Adam's attack on Haven. We're going to need shields, training, whatever we can do to protect as many people as possible."
"We'll need transportation too. For everyone." Kali pointed out, viewing the numbers that were coming with them.
Smiling, Blake said, pulling out her scroll, "I think I know a ship captain who owes us a favor."
Sun grinned and Predaking nodded in agreement. But looking back into the burning flames, Predaking's eyes hardened, the raging inferno reflecting in his eyes, 'I will never forgive Megatron for what he had done… Never… And if I were to meet him again, then he will know exactly how the Predacon race exact their own form of justice.'
Sun saw the look of hatred in Predaking's eyes and began to worry.
Outside of the village Airachnid hurried away from the living inferno that seemed to have zeroed in on her as its prey. Fortunately for her, it seemed to have lost interest in her or had a limit to how far it had to be away from the one person, she could guess, created that being with those "Semblances" that their supposed allies told them about.
Her comms came to life as a hologram of Shockwave appeared, once the communication between them was stable, Shockwave stated, "I heard from our 'benefactor' of your failure."
"I would've terminated your precious creation if it wasn't for that Faunus girl that Taurus wanted alive!" Airachnid hissed, not needed to be reminded of her failure in the name of her new master, Unicron. She then accused, "None of our supposed allies told us the exact capability of these Semblances."
"It was provided to you as research material into the culture of the inhabitants of this planet. You chose the illogical choice of revenge and conquest over studying the information provided by our allies." Shockwave explained, his armor hiding any emotion expressed on his face from the irony of this.
Airachnid hissed, "And those miserable organics destroyed my army of Insecticons."
She paused as a thought came to her mind. Looking back at Shockwave, she theorized, "You wanted them to be exterminated… and you wanted our plan with the Faunus extremists to fail so that our benefactor would reprimand me."
"I do not see the logic in the depletion of our forces and the failure of our new lord's heralds." Shockwave simply stated. Again that helmet hid whatever emotion that must have showed on that organic face of his.
Airachnid hissed again. Ever since Shockwave's first encounter with Unicron and the Terrorcons back on Cybertron, she and one other of the heralds believed that shockwave's sense of logic had been altered. However, since she met up with the one-eyed scientist again on this planet of Remnant, she was not given any evidence of this twistedness of Megatron's former second in command, back on Cybertron, that is.
Seeing as he was the only one that her benefactor, or control, as Airachnid calls him, trusted enough to give the Heralds their assignments to aid that strange immortal organic's goals. Airachnid had no choice but to let this insult to her pride go… for now.
Forcing her anger at the scientist to simmer down, calmly, she asked, "What am I to do now?"
"You are to return to the castle where the three of you will assist Salem's followers in the assault on Haven." Shockwave conveyed the orders from the benefactor.
"The 'Three of you'? You are not accompanying us?" Airachnid asked, a brow raised.
"My presence is needed in aiding doctor Watts in the reassembly and completion of Tyran's tail repairs. By Salem's request. Before continuing my research." Shockwave informed her, though he WAS curious on how the fusion of both Remnant technology worked in compatibility with Cybertronian technology or Cybertronian biology.
"Very well… However, I may need to rendezvous with them at Mistral instead." Airachnid stated. Knowing this world had yet to discover their own means of space bridge technology.
Shockwave however, countered, "That will not be necessary."
Airachnid was confused more as Shockwave explained, "While you were attempting to create more of your army of organic Terrorcons, Salem's disciple, Cinder, was able to recruit the bandit leader Raven Branwin who has the ability to create space-bridge like portals to those who had made bonds with her. After analyzing the energy frequency and using what my data tracks retained of Space Bridge technology, It should be enough to attempt a stable portal by use of the natural resources of this planet."
"You mean those dust crystals that are found abundantly on this planet?" Airachnid asked, remembering how the air commander with them had thought it was Energon and got himself unconscious due to the incompatibility to what was left of his armor.
"Correct. All it takes is the exact combination of each elemental variant of Dust to make the proper fuel necessary for it be accomplished." Shockwave explained, earning an awed look from the vampiric arachnid. But it was easily taken away as she knew that if it was scientific, no matter the ethical issue of the research, or how amoral Shockwave made to the experiments, it was always to ensure their success.
Airachnid then realized, "But that still leaves me in this island filled with enemies."
"I believe you are resourceful enough to make it out of the island without my assistance." Shockwave stated, just as he was about to end communications before telling her, "I also called to inform that the experiment of the female Faunus you infected has come out of the operation with full cerebral functionality along with the countermeasure against Dreadwing's involvement."
She was about to shout on hearing that her new pet had survived the infection as well as the attempt on her life. She grinned at how others will react when they see her as she after Shockwave got through with her with his experiments to preserve her individuality and the same level of combat effectiveness that she had before her abduction by Airachnid and Shockwave. And the countermeasure for that honor-loving fool was an accidental surprise in itself when the four of them arrived.
Shockwave then ended the communications causing Airachnid to scream, as she did when Soundwave space bridged her and her army to the farthest moon in orbit around Cybertron. "NNOOOOOOO!"
She really hated that one eyed scientist…
(Aye-ai-ai-ai-ai! It seems like these two weren't sent by Optimus after all. Who could the "benefactor" of these former Decepticons? did Shockwave's sense of logic indeed get twisted when he met Unicron and the Terrorcons? And what will happen to the surviving White Fang members who were saved by Predaking? Find out this and more next time. and if any of you have questions please let me know in a review I will try to answer as best as I can.
Oh yeah, for the following chapters are going to be for the next fourteen days it'll take them to find equipment, train the people, when the boat arrives and the time it takes to get the Faunus militia to Anima/Mistral and then for them to come up with a plan for when they meet with Adam and the others. Depending on how I want to get this done on the same day i started a year ago, I'm gonna either do fourteen short chapters or a couple of days in each chapter.
So until then, See you all the next chapter of The Light of Hope.)