Hey guys, Flipkicks here and today I bring you a quick update for "The Reaper of Beacon", thank you guys for checking out the story and letting me know what you all thought of the previous chapter.
Sorry for not being able to update as my main job has taken over most of my hours for each day and I haven't been able to write down a sequence yet but as this update is up, I'm sorta in the works writing a new chapter.
Painting the Town Red
In the ruined parts of Vale, the sound of an engine gets closer and closer until Bumblebee pulls into the street and stops just short of the camera, showing Yang Xiao Long behind the handlebars in her matching helmet.
"Come on, my friend's right in here!" Yang says as she puts away her helmet. She gets off the bike to reveal Neptune sitting right behind her, hair and goggles messed up with a petrified expression of terror on his face.
"Cool..." He says a bit dazzed and he shakes his head, somehow perfectly fixing his appearance, and gets off the cycle, looking around worriedly. "And where exactly is... here?"
The music from Junior's Club gets louder once inside to show Junior behind the bar adjusting his cuffs as his Henchmen stock the bottles, carry boxes, and otherwise stand around on the dance floor, until...
"Hurry, close the door - she's coming"! He and another Henchman proceed to roll the doors shut and keep them closed with their bodies.
"What are you two idiots doing?!" Junior shouts at them as he is walking out from the bar.
The Henchmen shout incoherently until an explosion knocks them to the ground and forces the doors open, allowing a familiar face to walk in through the smoke as "I Burn" starts playing.
"Guess who's back!" Yang continues to smile and pose as eight guns are pointed in her face with an equal number of angry Henchmen behind them. Though this doesn't faze her, she stops and glares at the recording studio where the track is messing up until the frightened bear-headed DJ takes the needle off the record and retreats back under the table.
"Yeah, so could you define "friend" for me?" Neptune hides behind Yang.
"Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." Junior Cuts his way through the crowd of goons, straightening his tie, "Blondie, you're here! ...Why?"
"You still owe me a drink." She grabs Junior by the arm and drags him to the bar through the hired guns.
"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman... " Neptune breaks from his lovestruck staring to see the twins Melanie and Miltia Malachite standing beside him. "'Sup?" He tries to play it cool with them with little to no success.
"Whatever." They walk away, noses in the air.
Meanwhile, Blake's fingers trace three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they are ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turns to Sun next to her.
"This is it." Blake says quietly.
"You sure?" Blake glares at him and starts moving towards the entrance while unfastening her bow, "Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it."
The two walk inside the building to a hallway filled with cases, seeing another man announcing "New recruits, keep to the right!" at the young pair as they follow.
"I don't get it." He holds out the half-mask in his hand, "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 don the faces of monsters." Blake says as she looks at the mask. The images of all the things humans portray the Faunus race lead up to them becoming the monsters the humans see.
"Grimm masks... That's kind of dark." He could tell that Blake must have had it rough growing up. Sure he should feel the same but he learn to show them that they are the same as the humans. He wanted
"So was the guy who started it." She then puts her mask on and walks on.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you... " He then follows her lead and puts on his mask as well.
The new recruits to the White Fang are moving in a line to the side of the stage, a mere few dozen compared to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to their left and up above in the balconies. Blake and Sun look around themselves when they stop, and a fully-masked man with tattoos standing starts speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.
"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!" The White Fang Lieutenant spoke to the new recruits.
They all would see the person he is referring to. The Individual is wearing dark pants and brown shoes step forward before the orange tip of the Melodic Cudgel taps on the stage. It is none other than Roman Torchwich.
He waves at them mockingly, "Thank you, thank you! "Please, hold your applause!"
Antler Faunus" What's a human doing here?! An Antler Faunus shouted at the sight of human as one of their leaders/
"I'm glad you asked, "Deerie"! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed! And plus there is another human that is or was part of our little group so you all might have to get used to the idea of two humans as part of the White Fang."
"So, is he going somewhere with this?" Sun leans to Blake's ear and whispers to her.
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms! Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in 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."
With a snap of the fingers, the curtain falls, and the whole mass of Faunus applaud at the sight of the Atlesian Paladin-290 behind it, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder.
"Whoa, that's a big robot..." Sun stares at the reveal of the robot.
"How did he get that?" Blake wonders as to why he has one of Atlas's newest machines in here.
"As some of you may have heard, this right here..." He taps the giant mech, "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves". Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?
"We should get out of here." She tells Sun as she needs to tell this to her team.
"Will all new recruits, please come forward!"
Back at the Club, Junior puts down his glass as he sits behind the bar separating him from his interrogator.
"I don't know!"
"How can you not know?"
"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here." He leans over to point in Yang's face, "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back."
Neptune Rushes to Yang's side to raise a question of his own, "So where did they go?"
"What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!" He asks Neptune and turns his attention to Yang, "Who is this guy?"
She Pushes Neptune out of the way with one hand. "Don't worry about him; worry about me if I don't find out what I want!" She says with a coy smile.
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" He shouts this at his own men, who grumble and walk away in response.
"Come on, Neptune." She turns from the bar and walks away.
He then Follows with his hands in his pockets, "We get everything we need?"
"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
The White Fang is still cheering loudly as the recruits are marched to the stage, with Blake and Sun having no choice but to follow along.
"What are we going to do?!" He whispers to Blake.
"I'm thinking..."
He sees us..."
She then notices the junction box on the wall. "He can't see in the dark."
With that, Blake unsheathes Gambol Shroud, transforms it into a pistol, and shoots at the box, making the lights go out for the whole building and turning the screen dark.
"Don't let them get away!"
"Sun! The window!"
"Stop them NOW!"
Before the two student Huntsmen crash through the window and start running as fast as they can, the mechanized sound of running power signals the Altesian Paladin's activation, and it crashes through the wall of the building in pursuit of the runaways, who leap off of a car and manage to get on the roofs. The Paladin follows beside them on the street as Blake and Sun run, jump, and flip from rooftop to rooftop.
So you wouldn't happen to have... oh, I don't know... some form of backup?!"
"On it!" She grabs her Scroll and puts it to her ear as she continues to jump.
Weiss Schnee and Ichigo are now leaving the Cross Continental Transmit tower's elevator when she grabs her own Scroll and listens to Blake's message.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" They both hear Blake's voice
"HEEEELLLLP!" They also hear Sun's voice in the background.
Weiss rolls her eyes and starts running out the door, a little smile on her face as she does so while Ichigo only shrug as they both rush over to their friend in need.
"Do we have a ride?" Ichigo asks the heiress but she shakes her head.
"We don't unfortunately."
"Guess we might need to use his." He pointed to another student that has a motorcycle and Weiss feels this is a really bad idea but Ichigo hurries off to the student and pushes him off of his bike, "Sorry but we have an emergency."
"My bike!"
"Weiss hop on." She reluctantly does and Ichigo hits the throttle and the two speed off to join their friends.
Ruby is still beside the dumpster and is staring at her Scroll.
"Big robot! And it's big! Really big!" She hears Sun's voice
"Oh, I am not missing this!" Ruby says excitingly and she runs off to join her friends.
Yang is back on the motorcycle in her helmet and sunglasses with Neptune looking at the Scroll in her hand over her shoulder.
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!" Sun shouts from his side
"Where are you guys?" She asks them
Right on cue, behind them, Blake and Sun can be seen running through the street with the Paladin hot on their heels before they all disappear from view.
"HURRYYYY!"
"I think that was them."
"Yeah, I got it." She said as she is putting the Scroll away, she quickly circles her ride around - much to Neptune's alarm - and drives off to follow them.
Blake and Sun somehow make it to the highways, jumping down into the busy street and continuing their escape by hopping on cars while the Paladin follows them by pushing vehicles out of the way. Sun pauses to look at their pursuer's path of destruction and offer a quick "Whoa!" before leaping onto more cars, much to the anger of Roman inside the robot, his face surrounded by blue holographic screens.
Yang and Neptune are able to follow the mech suit on their ride, coming up next to it as it runs.
"We've gotta slow it down!"
"Got it!" Neptune reaches for his gun, but Roman notices the pair on his sensors and crashes into a multitude of cars with the Paladin's strong bulk, sending them flying towards his chasers.
"Hold on!"
"Wuh-oh..."
Yang swerves, leaning her bike to the side in avoidance of flying debris while Neptune flails in a panic. Back on two wheels again, Neptune unslings his weapon, aims as sparks start flying, and fires several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Roman to grimace from the force of the attacks.
Switching strategies, Neptune flips the gun and it grows a shaft and an energy blade at the end, then jumps from Yang's bike as the spear's head splits in three and drives it into the top of the Paladin. Sun and Blake pause in their car-hopping to look back.
"Neptune, hang on!"
"I'm trying!" Neptune is trying his best, but the mech keeps bucking and threatens to make him fall. Closing his eyes, Sun smashes his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance creates two glowing outlines that copy their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They explode into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held high, but Roman finally turns enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.
As Blake looks on from her spot, she hears a voice from her Scroll.
"Blake! I'm in position!" Weiss called via her scroll.
She is seen twirling over a highway and landing in the middle of the road, holding Myrtenaster at the approaching Roman. He smiles as his robot charges the girl, but Weiss spins and plunges her blade into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that causes the Paladin to slip and crash, actually flying over the young Huntress and falling off the ramp, landing further down before Ruby, already having her Crescent Rose out in scythe form.
The Paladin stands back up, and the rest of Team RWBY falls beside their leader to take up positions. Roman chuckles, moving the robot slowly towards the girls.
"Freezer Burn!"
Ruby and Blake jump back out of the way as Weiss performs her same ice-circle trick, but backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounds Roman. Immediately, the Paladin activates its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely sees the afterimage of Blake and narrowly misses the dashing Yang. A gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast comes Ruby, who slashes the metal with her blade, causing it to falter.
"Checkmate!"
Blake and Weiss go in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumps up and stabs a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifts the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summons another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow can land. Roman growls and fires off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flip backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.
Finally, Weiss jumps up too high, and Roman fires a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbs the damage, but Weiss is thrown back, so she casts a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming a yellow clockwork circle that's absorbed into the Faunus girl and lets her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.
"Ladybug!"
Ruby shoots herself forward and cuts at the robot's legs, then turns as Blake aims herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launch themselves into the air and come down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.
Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she is falling down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.
"Yang!" Blake shouted as she sees her friend got hurred to the pillar, making her worried
"Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special." Ruby calmed the Faunus.
They would see Yang slowly gets back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenches her fists. Sensing victory, Roman throws a punch, but Yang catches it in her own hand (despite the ground cracking beneath her) and, eyes red with rage, smashes her knuckles into the second arm, obliterating it under her force.
Getting desperate with his armless robot, Roman immediately kicks Yang to the side, but as she passes her sister and teammates...
"Bumblebee!"
Blake throws her Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while flying, and the Faunus uses the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot. Roman, however, steps out of the way just in time to avoid complete destruction.
"We have to slow it down!" Ruby shouted
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"Ice Flower!"
Twirling their weapons so they both point at Roman, Weiss creates a series of glyphs in front of the scythe's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles creates a dazzling spiral of energy that creates large icicles upon impact with the Paladin. Ruby continues to shoot as Weiss freezes the fire, and as the ice completely envelops the robot's body, Blake swings her partner around in a circle one more time, but with Roman unable to move, the Paladin is hit by the speed and power of Yang's fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.
Getting up, slightly dazed but unharmed, as he inspects the damage while brushing himself off, "Just got this thing cleaned..." He mutters to himself.
He looks up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he's saved at the last instant when the two-toned girl seen before drops in front of him and merely opens her pink umbrella, deflecting the blast entirely. The new arrival hangs the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addresses the victors.
"Ladies, Ice Queen..." He then sees Ichigo approaching the girls and was surprised to see him, "Boss..." He mutters to himself quietly. Of course Ichigo didn't hear him and for some reason, Ichigo felt he recongizes him.
"Hey!" Weiss again took that offense.
"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would..." The pink-and-brown girl curtsies her enemies with a bow, but Yang will have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turn just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBY and Ichigo ran up to Yang's side, now cooled down with the end of the fight.
"So I guess he got a new henchman..."
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" While Weiss smiles, Ruby giggles, and Blake starts walking away, she simply states
"No. Just... no."
Weiss would get mad at Yang's words, "What- But, you do it!"
"There's a time and a place for jokes." Yang replies back
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang answers as both she and Blake walk away from the scene while Weiss ends up walking with her teammates,
"Well, at least I'm trying!"
"Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?" She asks them but they ended up being a bit far from her to hear her but Ichigo was there with her.
"I think they're gonna be fine Ruby. Come on, we better head back before curfew or whatever."
Sun and Neptune are sitting in the middle stools of the "A Simple Wok Noodle House" eating their plates of noodles with the Shopkeep behind the counter and their weapons leaning on the other two stools.
"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asks his best friend, who was chews down on some noodles.
"Probably." His question answered, Neptune turns back to his noodles, and the two eat in silence.
Afterwards
As the group is now going to find both Sun and Neptune, Ichigo's arm is starting to glow for some reason.
He stops in his tracks and wonders. Does his arm have a connection to Roman or is it his past? He rolls the sleeve down as he doesn't want the girls to get involve in his past as things are starting to become more clear for him.
He remembers doing the dirty things for the White Fang from killing politicians to those who want a peace treaty with them.
"Ichigo." He sees Blake couple of feet behind him. "You alright?"
He waves it off and pushes the bike to her, "I'm fine Blake. Just a lot is on my mind now."
"Like you being part of the White Fang?"
And that ends the chapter guys! After many months of being on a writers block, I finally bring out this chapter and hopefully I can writer more chapters for this story.
At the end, Blake knows the White Fang Tattoo that Ichigo has and this is how their relationship delevops in the story.
I hope to hear what you guys think of the chapter and as always, I'll talk to you all later.