[X] Forget Five. Qrow's in trouble. Get to the airship and stop whatever's happening.
Five was standing on the rooftops. Yang stared upwards, glaring with hateful eyes.
She had to be bluffing. Qrow had to be fine, he was saving Ruby, they were fine, they'd be fine, but how did Five know about Qrow? How could she, if she wasn't telling the truth? How would she know so much about all the people who were here to oppose her?
There had to be some trick here, but what could it be? Five was right here, the person who had kidnapped Ruby, gotten so many people addicted to her song, and was motivated by reasons as petty as exotic food, barely a reason to leave a house let alone act like a super villain...
There was no way she could know about Qrow being on the airship with Neo and Roman unless one of the latter sold him out, and if Qrow was fine after being sold out then he would have contacted someone by now and spread the word. Five had to be right. Qrow had been caught somehow, and if he'd been caught then why would she be lying about what they were doing to Five, what was this Dito person doing-
Damn it, damn it.
A cry bursting from her throat, Yang set out on a sprint. Running past the building Five was on and running north, a name slipped from her lips.
"Qrow!" She called. "Ruby!"
People behind her called her name, but Yang tuned them out as her vision tunnelled before her. She heard gunshots, and the sound of steel striking steel, but she ignored it.
She had to get to Five's airship, find out what was going on. She couldn't risk the chance Five was telling the truth, she couldn't let Ruby be stuck there if there was even the slightest chance that Qrow had been caught.
She was supposed to be Ruby's big sister, she'd promised to keep her sister safe and sound forever. She couldn't just stand aside, especially not now. Especially not if someone else she looked up to was in danger as well.
There was a growl, as a swarm of Grimm turned the corner in front of Yang, attracted by her anger, and she leapt up, crushing a Beowolf's skull as she passed. It died, and the others around her lunged at her, but Yang fired back and propelled herself forward, bypassing the Grimm entirely as she ran along a wall and went upwards.
There was a cawing sound in the distance, as a Nevermore took flight with increasingly close flaps of its wings, and Yang looked back to see the small-ish Nevermore flying in her general direction. It was distant, but it looked to be a weaker Nevermore, though that would still be a big threat at her current abilities.
But who cared? The Nevermore didn't have anything to do with Five. She had more important things to worry about.
Yang continued dashing forward, noticing a park in the distance, with a lot of trees knocked down and what vaguely looked like an airship in the middle. Grimm wandered around near the park but away from the airship, just enough to make it difficult for her to pass. A King Taijitu wandered the street where it met the trees.
Fighting that would take too much time. Well, time to practice her landing strategy.
Continuing to run along the side of the building and forcing herself to the roof of a nearby skyscraper, Yang sprinted as fast as she could before leaping off the top and firing backwards.
She went through a whole clip of Ember Celica and was forced to reload in mid-air, but she propelled herself far enough to skip most of the park. Before she could slow her landing, though, she hit the trees, knocking the wind out of her as she hit a branch and fell backwards onto the ground. Her Aura strained under the damage taken, but Yang got up with a groan and kept running.
This wasn't enough to make her stop. Her sister needed her. Nothing was enough to make her stop.
She stood and continued sprinting towards the airship, even as her muscles screamed at her. Didn't matter. Her sister needed her.
A bull-like Grimm started running through the trees, and Yang leapt onto an above tree branch, flaring her Aura as she did so. She grabbed a handful of vines as she caught fire. The vines quickly burned up, and Yang threw them at the approaching Minos, noting as she did so that the flames were spreading quickly.
The Grimm cried out in pain as Yang kept running, and before long, there was an orange glow behind Yang as she continued running through the night.
Continuing her run, Yang came to a clearing, with a large airship in the middle.
Perfect.
The airship was sealed up, no way in and no way out, but Yang refused to let that be a problem. Running up to the doorway without a ramp, several metres off the floor, Yang leapt up and punched the doorway. The steel rang out at the impact, but there was no dent. Not even a scratch.
"Hey!" Yang screamed, as she landed on the ground. "Let me in, assholes!"
There was an angry growl from behind her, and Yang turned to see the burnt Minos from before step out, burning as it threw the last of the vines off of itself. It stomped its foot a few times, before charging at Yang.
The yellow-haired girl jumped up as the Minos approached, and there was a cawing sound as she looked up and saw the Nevermore from earlier diving down at her. Before she could react, it's head struck into her, forcing her against the side of the airship. Yang cried out in pain as her drew close to breaking point. Reaching around the smallish Nevermore's head, Yang grabbed its throat and ripped it outwards. The Nevermore died, and before she fell, Yang struck back.
The airship still wasn't scratched.
Damn it, she wasn't strong enough. She couldn't risk getting hurt much more. She couldn't just brute force this, she needed to work smarter.
As she hit the ground, Yang turned and saw the Minos running at her again. Preparing to duck under it and throw it upwards, and braced herself for another hit.
The airship ramp suddenly came down, crushing the Minos, and Yang took a step back in surprise.
"Hey, blondie." Roman grinned, before coughing and doubling over, reaching for his stomach. His usually white outfit was dyed red with blood.
Neo suddenly appeared at his side with a shattering, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.
"Calm down." Roman replied. "I'll live. You can carry me to the med bay when I'm unconscious. That Dito fucker deserves what's coming to him. Give him hell for me, blondie."
He collapsed slightly, groaning in the process, and Neo gave Yang a look.
"Go give him whatever help he needs." Yang ordered him. "Thank him when he wakes up."
Neo looked down, before picking Roman's cane off his side, threw it at Yang, and as soon as she caught it, waved a hand and hid it from view.
Yang nodded at her, attaching the cane to her belt and feeling it to make sure it was actually real.
Neo gestured her in, picked Roman up under his shoulders, and walked in. Yang watched her long enough for Neo to point in the direction she wasn't walking in, showing Yang the way. Yang turned the instant she did so, the tunnel vision returning as she ran through the airship.
Every door she passed, Yang paused to look in and confirm that there was nobody inside. She passed room after room, every one having a bed in it for some reason, usually with some clothes left on the floor. There was one room with a bookshelf with what looked like fifty different identical copies of the same book.
Eventually, she passed another door which slid open, and a sudden scream filled her ears before she processed the sight.
On the other end of the wall, chained to it and held into the air, was Ruby, the red cloak she was so fond of nowhere on her, as she looked blankly at the ground before her. And for good reason. The sight of her sister distracted her from it for a moment, but the following scream certainly reminded Yang what was happening.
Some kid was standing with his back to the door, a spear in his hand. In front of him, with the spear piercing his arm and drawing blood, was her uncle, Qrow. He gritted his teeth, and the kid pulled out.
"Ready for this, Red?" The kid asked, before pressing a button on the hilt of his spear. There was a sickening scream which Yang couldn't connect to Qrow, it sounded too pained and afraid to be Qrow, it couldn't be Qrow it couldn't be it-
There was a click, and then a small explosion. Qrow's scream echoed through the room as the small explosion ripped through his arm, shattering blood all over the floor and cracking bone. The arm was still attached but barely, it was so close it-
Yang didn't know when exactly her fist started flying, but the surprised cry as the kid stumbled forward was the greatest sound Yang had ever heard. Yang saw Ruby look up suddenly, surprised, as she followed through, stepping around to hit her target in the stomach and fire Ember Celica in to him.
He flew upwards, but quickly moved his spear to push away from Yang and land on the other side of the room. Staring him down as he regained his footing, Yang breathed heavily for a moment as she stared at him.
The kid looked at Yang's hair for a moment, and the sudden hatred in his eyes almost caught her off guard, before the realisation came.
"Huh." He noted. "Don't recognise you. Red's sister, then?"
"We can do this two ways." Yang said simply. "First, you surrender. I tie you up, knock you out, and let the people actually qualified to punish people deal with you."
"Or?" The kid asked.
"We do this my way." Yang continued, looking meaningfully at Qrow. "Where we'll start by giving you a taste of your own medicine, then see where we go from there."
The kid smiled. "Oh, that sound like fun. Go on, Yellow, see what you can do."
Yang leaned forward and fired back, propelling her forward as she slammed her head into the kid- Dito, probably- And knocked him into the wall. He twisted his spear up and detonated the tip, hitting Yang's Aura and straining it to breaking point, but Yang rushed through the explosion, grabbed him by the throat, and started punching. She squeezed him as tight as she could, watching him struggle for breath for a moment, as she tore the spear out of his grasp and threw it away. Then she punched, and fired Ember Celica right in his face.
His foot struck her stomach, and Yang took a step back in shock, but quickly threw Dito to the floor before he could take advantage of her distraction. He rolled, grabbed her leg, and pulled her off balance, before throwing a leg over her and leaning over her.
"You know what?" Dito asked. "Let's have some fun with this."
A hand reached around Yang's throat as she faced the ground, and a second grabbed her hair, pulling it back.
"What a disgusting colour." Dito continued, and he ripped, tearing the strands out. Yang didn't even have time to get angry at that, not with how furious she already was with Dito, and she buckled back to throw him off her, before spinning and punching him in the stomach to force him away.
"Aw, did I hit a sore spot?" Dito asked, as he picked up his spear. "How-"
He was cut off, as something hit him from behind. As he stumbled forward, Yang saw Ruby come into view as she shoulder charged him. Behind her, Qrow was standing where the chains previously were, his right arm hanging uselessly at his side as he panted in exhaustion next to the broken chains.
"Yang!" Ruby called, looking at her with scared eyes. "Don't let him-"
Dito reached back and grabbed the remains of the chains on Ruby's arms, using them to pull her over his shoulder and slam her into the ground in front of her.
"Ruby!" Qrow and Yang called at once, as they moved forward. Dito casually stabbed his spear back, hitting Qrow's leg with the crack of bone and sending him to the ground, before resting the point on Ruby's face and detaching a small explosive.
"So here's how this is going to work." Dito continued, as he knocked Yang to the side. "I'm going to have some fun with you, Yellow. If you try anything, I press this little button, and we see if your sister has enough Aura to not die instantly."
The explosive quickly stuck to Ruby's face, as Qrow tired to crawl towards Dito and Ruby. Dito stepped over the girl at his feet, towards Yang.
"So how much do you value your sister?" He asked.
Damn it. She couldn't do anything with Ruby at risk like that. Not while Dito still had his spear. Standing still as Dito drew closer, Yang glared at him.
"Oh, scary." Dito chuckled, as he reached for Yang's hair. Yang flinched as he grabbed it, and Dito smiled.
"Is this important to you?" He asked. "A shame. It's too much life Five's for me liking."
With a swipe of his spear, Yang felt her hair fall away, as everything below her neck was cut off in a single swipe. She shook in anger, not just at the lose, but what it meant.
There was no reason to do this. It didn't stop her fighting. It just pissed her off. Was he trying to get a reaction? Make her lash out without thinking, so he can claim it was her fault when he detonated and hurt Ruby?"
Yang's red eyes stared at Dito as she snarled, and with Dito focused on her, he didn't notice Qrow reaching for the explosive on Ruby's face.
"That's good." Dito continued. "Now, why don't you let me see you bleed?"
His spear stabbed forward, breaking Yang's Aura and impaling her stomach. She doubled over in pain, as Dito pressed a second button on it, and Yang felt more blades emerged from the spear impaled in her. Dito twisted his spear, leaving Yang in agony, as Qrow continued.
"How's it feel?" He asked. "Does it hurt?"
He pressed the button again, retracting the various blades, and pulled away. Yang groaned, as she struggled to stay on her feet.
Reaching for her hip, Yang tried to make a plan as she saw Qrow rip the explosive away from Ruby, even as her vision blurred. Dito's spear hit her again, stabbing through her leg, and she collapsed as he stirred the spear and spread the pain through her leg.
"Man, this must suck so much!" Dito laughed. "Oh, don't worry, you'll live. I'll just wait to give you the medical treatment here and there, leave you crippled for months. I want to see you completely helpless, Yellow. Unable to help yourself, unable to help others, not even able to do anything when I walk in and decide I want to see your blood painting the floor whenever I want..."
He laughed to himself as he pushed the spear further into Yang. Making the most of what strength she had, Yang reached for the spear, grabbing the shaft. Dito grabbed her arm and pushed the spear further, even as he squeezed until Yang heard bones break.
Working through the pain, Yang tore the spear to the side, feeling her arm flare up in agony as the spear cut through the muscle in her leg as it left her body. The weapon was torn from Dito's grasp, and his eyes widened in surprise, as Yang lifted Roman's cane from her belt and let the illusion shatter as she fired it into his chest.
Being forced back, Dito let go off Yang, and cried in pain as the girl collapsed in front of him. Feeling her blood drain out, Yang pointed the cane at him and fired repeatedly, forcing him to block and deflect and occasionally be hit, until the cane ran out of ammo. Trying to drag herself forward, Yang couldn't move her left arm, so she dropped the cane in her right and fired Ember Celica, feeling herself slid backwards with each shot she was unable to brace for.
Eventually, Dito's hand grabbed Yang's, and pointed Ember Celica away.
"Oh, but you're fucked now." Dito laughed, as he put his other hand on Yang's face and drove in his nails, cutting her in several places. "Let's see how much I can make you hurt before-"
There was the sound of sudden movement, and Dito tore away, his nails cutting Yang as he did so. Looking up with the last of her strength, Yang saw Ruby standing in front of her, looking at Dito with hurt silver eyes as she pointed his own spear at him.
"Rub..." Yang tried to speak, before her voice failed her.
Damn it. She'd tried to save her sister, and now her little sister was saving her. She just hoped... It'd been...
Enough...
Yang felt her eyes tear up as her vision went black, and the tears fell freely for a moment.
Why was she never strong enough?
[X] Perspective Change
-[X] Ruby fights Dito
-[X] Two fights Five