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A/N
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Chapter 29
Jaune stared at the one-eyed teen as he made a feat – which he declared impossible – possible. Damn him for making a stupid bet. Why'd he even bother making such a stupid thing in the first place? Oh right! Because Sun told him that he'd never ran across someone capable of doing it. Which meant Sasuke couldn't do it. Which meant it was easy money. Man, he was gullible.
Sasuke stopped jabbing the straw in the table as he wove the imaginary blade through each space between his fingers at rapid speeds and sat it down. Without bothering to look up, he gestured for the money, to which Yang and Jaune both begrudgingly did, while he took a sip of his water. "You are so dumb sometimes, Jaune," he told him, sounding tired from his sparring session with Nora from earlier.
To his credit, Jaune didn't even seemed fazed by the remark to his intelligence. "I'll find something you can't do that I can do one day," he told him, a toothy grin sliding across his face. Sasuke didn't doubt that. Naruto could do stuff he could do, and while it no longer bothered him anymore, it was still a fact of life he had to get used to. He wasn't invincible like he thought, and it was all about growing up. "Doubt you could do it with a real knife though."
Sasuke yanked out a kunai and was about to start repeating the process before Persia grabbed his hand and Pyrrha pulled the knife out of his hand with her Semblance. "Really?" they both asked in unison. Pyrrha blushed. Persia rolled her eyes and then continued. "I don't need you chopping off a finger right now. Or causing property damage. These aren't our tables."
"Says you," Emert said with a grin. "I marked this chair the day I came in. No one else uses it."
"I'm scared to ask if you're being serious, but I doubt you did," Weiss told him with a look that promised pain if he answered her about the subject. "And what would it matter? We had a food fight and broke several of them at the start of the new semester. I can't see them really complaining."
"Didn't we get in trouble though," Jaune reminded, much to Weiss's minor embarrassment at forgetting that small detail. "And besides, I don't think I want to do anymore fighting for the day. Training against Jasper is enough that I don't think I want to fight for the remainder of the week and maybe next week."
"Pain is weakness leaving the body," Jasper announced and then fist bumped Nora who was more than happy to agree with him. "Besides, I didn't have my weapon and I wasn't using my Semblance. I fought you with my real strength."
"And your real strength is still strong," Jaune reminded, rubbing a sore spot on his shoulder. He'd given one or two good hits to Jasper, but ultimately, he was no match for him and that was made clear via that beating he got from him. Jasper was no joke and capable of standing against an entire team if they didn't coordinate their attacks properly. It was part of the reason why RWBY could deal with him. They planned for him and could best him two out of three times. "Besides, didn't we win that fight?"
Jasper scoffed and held up two fingers. "No weapon and no Semblance. Granted, in a real fight, even without those, I think I can take almost anything."
"I'm sure you could," Pyrrha told him, a smile on her face. She looked forward to their next training session. It was fun working with other teams for combat practice. Especially when it was unfair fights against stronger opponents that she knew a few of her teammates couldn't handle on their own. Jasper was strong enough that in some matches restrictions were enabled to make it challenging for him. Like with Pyrrha, most of her fights were four on one, but she got to keep her weapon and the use of Semblance. Jasper could either use his Semblance or his weapon, and each match was always a four on one. "Perhaps we can work out again next weekend. Supposing that none of us have anything going on."
"You don't want to spend time getting the stuff you need for the dance, though?" Persia asked her. She didn't have a date and she doubted she'd find anyone for it. Going alone was much better option than giving someone the idea of getting action at the end of it.
"I…" Pyrrha was quick to glance shyly in Jaune's direction, something everyone but Jaune saw, and then shook her head. "I haven't found anyone yet and no one has approached me just yet. Perhaps they're waiting till the last minute to swoop in and be my hero for the dance."
Sasuke blinked as he looked to Jaune who was more focused on his chicken nuggets than the actual conversation concerning a beautiful redhead that was sitting inches away from him and giving subtly, but big, clues that she wanted him to take her to the dance. Sasuke wondered if it was like that with all blonds as he was sure there was someone that was interested in Naruto back home, but he was never aware of it, and instead infatuated with their pink haired teammate. If that was the case, Sasuke felt sorry for Jaune because he knew one of two things was going to happen; Someone was either going to tell him or she was going to work up the courage and just molest him one night to show that she was interested in him. While he doubted the latter would happen, he couldn't see the first one taking place either.
The real question was: Who was going to do it and how would they make it believable, so he didn't think they were joking.
"I know who I'm taking!" Yang declared with a fist raised in the air.
"Yourself?" Ruby joked.
"No. Did you find someone? And it can't be Crescent Rose, either." Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister for the jab and then sighed. "I'll help you find someone. I'm sure there's a guy that's still looking. Don't worry, Ruby, your big sis has got your back."
"You're the best," Ruby made sure to put as much sarcasm as she could on that, but somehow, she figured it still sounded like she was thanking her older sister regardless. "Sasuke, is Naruto taking Blake to the dance? I know that they've been spending a lot of time together."
"They're not dating, but as for the dance, I don't know." Sasuke leaned forward, his fingers laced together in thought as he wondered if he too should focus on going to the dance. He hadn't given it any thought. Persia has said something once, but he never thought anything about it. She didn't ask him. That much he knew. "Besides, the knucklehead doesn't even have a suit for this."
"Not like he'd need it with that transformation ability he has," Ren reminded. It was useful. It didn't cover up smells, but if Naruto didn't have a suit, why get one when he could just make it seem like he did with his transformation ability. Hell, he could even take a female version of himself. He'd seen his clones in all the teachers' rooms acting as assistances and sometimes taking their female form for fun. Sure, it was worth a few gags when one thought about the implication for that, but it was nonetheless an interesting thought. "Do you even have a suit, Sasuke? I didn't see you out in town getting fitted for one."
"No," Sasuke confessed, getting a confused glance from Weiss and Persia. "I don't do dances. I've never danced with anyone."
"I'll show you how to dance!" Yang declared happily. Sasuke chuckled and shook his head. "I can be very persuasive, Sasuke. You know that."
He shivered. Yeah, he knew alright. Jokes aside, he knew it was all fun and games right now. Come dance night, he knew he'd be sunk. Damn their worlds' way of doing things. Did they even have formal events like that? He didn't think they did. He couldn't even remember one for his clan before they were destroyed. Did they have them? Maybe he wasn't remembering things right.
A hush fell over the cafeteria.
It started with a whisper when the sound came back and then turned into shouts as someone screamed something about home. Weiss was the first to get her Scroll out and start flipping through the networks to see what was happening, but it was Emert who found it first. He blinked at the sight and leaned closer to Jasper who didn't have his with him to show him what was going on.
"…Eden attacked by an unknown creature! Death count is estimated to be in the hundreds. White Fang are on the scene urging Faunus to flee the area and combat this unknown Grimm that's now rampaging through Feira Eden as we speak. The Atlas Military is currently moving in to offer aid and Huntsman in Vale are rushing to the scene to help!"
Sasuke found the channel just as the camera zoomed in one a red blob. At first it was hard to make out through the dust, smoke and fire. White Fang members were shown fighting it, but nothing seemed to be happening to it. Finally, there were a clear view of it as it roared and threw back the stuff obscuring it from view. A red humanoid creature hunched over on all fours with four red tails swinging behind it came into view.
Naruto! Sasuke jumped from his seat and rushed to find Ozpin as he called him to find out what was happening and why it happened to begin with. His friends followed. When he found Ozpin, the Headmaster was speaking with James and Glynda as they were trying to coordinate rescue efforts and ways to stop the Grimm that had showed up. "Ozpin! What happened?"
"We need to evacuate the entire area!" Glynda was in the middle of speaking and didn't bother looking to the teens that had showed up with Sasuke. "If one got in, then another might surely be following it. We have no idea how it even got in here to begin with!"
"We can worry about rescue efforts after we suppress it and block off the entrance it used to get in," James argued back. "This thing suddenly appeared in the city! If it tunneled in, we need to find the tunnel first and seal it before more can use it!"
"Hey!" Sasuke screamed, getting their attention. James had a look of rage while Glynda was stunned by his outburst. "What did you do? I need to know right now!"
"A Grimm is in Feira Eden and we need to…" James was silenced by Ozpin who tapped his cane against the floor, his mouth hanging open as he did. Sasuke's eye was spinning angrily at the three adults. The General looked between his two trusted friends and then to Sasuke. It was instant. His look was switched from rage and confusion to one of shock. "You can't be serious," he said in a whisper.
"What did you do? Tell me!" Sasuke demanded again. "We need to pull everyone back. Give him space. Send me in. I can deal with him."
"Big talk, but that thing is taking explosives like it's nothing and other abilities that go "Boom", Sasuke!" Yang informed him. She hadn't closed the feed. It was terrifying, and a need to stay up to date was required here. Gossip was going to spread quickly about this. Classes were sure to be canceled for next week just to deal with any remaining Grimm that might be sneaking in at this very moment.
"I need to get there, now!"
Ozpin nodded. Yes… This situation was beyond our control. But it's not too late to reign it in. "We're deploying everyone to contain this situation before it escalates further. It's going to take us ten minutes to get there. And that's including prep time for launch and getting people on board to fight it. The new students, however, will be further back from the battlefield to ensure they're survival."
Sasuke snorted. "Only I can stop him." He left, and the others followed.
Ozpin closed his eyes. He knew what was going to happen next. His Scroll buzzed, and he didn't bother looking at it. "We have a job to do. Let's get it done. We'll deal with the fallout after."
(-)
The collective White Fang could only stare in amazement to what had just transpired. Banisher and another one of their members were crushed by a giant red spectral hand that crushed the building and let it fall before the hand disappeared like flames in the wind. The stillness gnawed at them as they waited for the next attack by the unknown assailant that had gotten the jump on them. What was it? And how did it get here?
Adam watched the smoke and dust for any signs of movement. He didn't dare take his away from the clouds for fear of something coming out for him the moment he did. Blinking was about all he was willing to do, and he was sure he hadn't done that yet either.
A low grumble from behind the vail of smoke and dust sounded and everyone tensed in preparation for a fight. The growl faded, and the silence came back before a loud bang echoed from within the cloud and a wave of burning debris was caste out of the clouds of smoke and dust. It took out two members who were unfortunate to be further up than the others. They never got a chance to cry.
Adam brought the captured sword up and slashed a large wall that came barreling towards him at high speed. The thing parted, and a red hand surged through it to reach out and claw at him. He ducked under the swipe and slashed upwards to catch a darting blur in the chest. He felt the connection and smiled for a moment before noticing that the weight had gone up with the blade and it had not cut clean through its target.
The target flipped in the air, landed in another pile of rubble from the collapsed building and snarled like a wild animal.
Great. They were fighting some powerful Grimm.
Adam tensed as he got ready to remove its head from its neck when it attacked, but instead of going for him, the strange red creature darted to Blake's captors before stumbling and skidding along the ground before coming to a stop a few paces away from said girl. Blake, to everyone's surprise, seemed near fine with what she was seeing, because only she and her captor could see it.
Adam rushed to her side and slashed at the creature. It caught the blade with the red hand and then shoved him away with the normal looking one. He fell in front of Blake and stared at the sight before him.
The bloody red hair mixed with flakes of blond covered its head while blackened skin was mixed with blood and tanned flesh. A pair of tattered pants that were probably once orange was blackened and blooded from ripped up flesh along both legs. A single red eye scanned her and the captor over before the other eye, a blue one seemed to try and snap into focus on her. For a moment, it was calm, whatever it was, and then, as if angered by the presence of her captor, roared, revealing sharp teeth. Flesh dangled from its face, showing a bloody mass of something red that wasn't blood beneath the skin.
Naruto?! Blake realized in a state of confusion, horror and relief. How was he still alive? Why did he look like that? Was this the same thing he told about in the past, the monster he held within? She saw the building explode on top of him. He should be dead or at the very least critically wounded.
He's still alive?! Adam wanted to scream at him and felt rightly so in doing so as began to shake violently before one of the tails caught him in the chest and knocked him backwards away from Blake and her captor.
Roaring, it reeled back and punched the captor in the head, killing him instantly as his head exploded into a fine mist. Blake was thrown back by the force of the roar and sent skipping along the ground. Someone snatched her up before she could use a clone to escape and she was once more being held again. Only this time the person was Adam and he was more focused on getting his people out alive rather than killing the transformed Naruto.
Something tagged him from the side and knocked him down. Adam stared at their savior as it was a rather large Faunus with a large gun. Putting his foot on the chest of the transformed Naruto, he fired point blank into his face and grinned as it saw the head cave into the dirt beneath him before he stopped firing. He took a step back, grinning as he did.
"That wasn't so hard," he said with a smirk.
A large red hand reached up and caught him by the throat. He screamed as Naruto raised up out of the hole and grinned at his burning body before he turned and stared at Adam and Blake, a white glowing from his mouth. The captured Faunus screamed for another second before his head burst into flames and then started to melt away as if he had been dumped in acid.
Roaring, it reeled back and punched the captor in the head, killing him instantly as his head exploded into a fine mist. Blake was thrown back by the force of the roar and sent skipping along the ground. Someone snatched her up before she could use a clone to escape and she was once more being held again. Only this time the person was Adam and he was more focused on getting his people out alive rather than killing the transformed Naruto.
"Open fire while moving back!" Adam shouted. Guns raised, the White Fang opened fire with what they had, peppering his body and causing him to scream louder than before. Adam tossed Blake to another member and rushed forward through the hail of bullets for Naruto. The blonde's left arm collapsed from internal pain and Adam ran harder, the sword now at his side for a clean slash to the throat.
Adam swung.
The sword connected.
And then it broke on impact.
Adam continued with the motion and momentum, came to a sliding stop while spinning to see just what had happened to the sword. Pour quality was what he figured, but what he saw made more sense. The red corruption that spread across him had gotten to his neck, making it harder than whatever the sword could typically cut. Of course, to his utter shock, the creature he was now trying to kill, was in fact the person he swore he just killed.
Angry that he was losing people to a dead person that was very much alive, Adam grit his teeth and took aim with the sheath for Wilt. He fired. The rounds hit home, and the body reacted like it should, but there was no indication of damage. Naruto remained on all fours, his red eye glaring at him with an evil intent. He fired again and once more Naruto's body reacted like it normally would have, but without the damage. He snarled at the red-haired Faunus and then punched the ground, denting it and then grinning.
Adam had only a moment to realize what he'd done when the ground beneath his feet bulged upwards. He sprang backwards, jumped to the side to keep moving, and began watching him closely as the spot he'd once been erupted upwards with a large red hand coming out of it. The hand stayed there like an old tree before it convulsed and shot out another arm from its arm with a matching hand to claw him. Adam leaned back, hit the ground, rolled to the side and sprang to his feet. The hand chased after him. He ran to Blake, believing it wouldn't harm her. Naruto'd stop because he was protecting her.
He didn't stop.
Adam grabbed Blake and rolled away as the hand tore through the side of the former captor of Blake.
He ran towards the others, stopped, thought about it, looked down at Blake, and then continued. He had her again. That's all that mattered.
(-)
"Are you seeing this?" Zero spoke into his Scroll while a smaller Faunus, Whisper, stood with her Scroll out taping the whole thing.
"I'm seeing, but not believing," a female replied.
Zero shook his head and glanced down at Whisper, a now former younger sibling of a trio thanks to Banisher's death. She was a rather small Faunus that had served a great purpose for them. She was covered in a cloak and sported a shaved off left horn and a completed right one that stuck out through the hood of her cloak. The only other thing visible about her was the soft teal eyes that peered through the scope of a rifle.
"Believe it, Sienna. Adam might have just gotten a lot more people to believe in our cause with this little stunt. Whatever that thing is, it's attacking everything in sight and Adam. He might have these people up in arms and ready to strike back against the humans here, but I think relief efforts should be focused here for this." Zero resisted the urge to lite up a cigarette out of respect and fear that Sienna would know. "If we can kill this thing, it might make us look good, but at the same time, people will still have doubts about our intentions and involvement in this."
"I see no reason to assume that they wouldn't have doubts about us. Adam warned the people to leave, but left it vague as to why, yes?"
"Of course, he did." There was a loud rumble that echoed from within the rising dust storm. Narrowing his eyes, Zero release a small sigh of frustration. "I'll have to call you back after this, Sienna. I think my position is compromised." He cut the line and looked down on Whisper as she put her Scroll away. "We're leaving." She nodded and started silently moving away from the ensuing fight.
(-)
"Hold on!"
Naruto felt the voice more than he heard it. It was weak, cold, and fearful, but he felt it more than he heard it. In one eye, one might say he saw the future. A world devoid of light and life. Barren, cities brought to ruin, and the dead littering the streets. A world with only red skies, hot winds, and a landscape burnt to ash. In the other eye he could see only the present. The city was crumbling around him, dust was reaching beyond the clouds, and fire flashed all around him.
His breathing quickened. His heart ached, and his lungs began to burn. His right arm began to stiffen.
Naruto screamed inwardly, searching for a strength to help him get control of something. Warm liquid cold liquid ran over his body and a warm breath rolled over him next. Something hot was wrapped around his face, part of his chest, and his right arm. Both of his legs were bound by a leathery feeling object that pulled and tugged with all its might against his form. As it pulled, it coiled around his hips and moved up slowly over his stomach. A piece of the strange that was already wrapped around his chest, most notably, his right side.
Naruto squirmed against the bindings, yelling inwardly until he finally used his free arm to claw away at the hard wrappings around his eye. What he saw horrified him.
The caged that housed the Kyuubi was flooded, yet air could still be felt rolled across his form in the form of the Kyuubi's breathe. The strange leather feeling object was the red tethers of chakra that sprang out from its form to constrict against him. The Kyuubi wasn't looking at him, he was looking behind him. Naruto's single eye looked up and saw golden chains spewing from his mother's body to constrict against him and was attempting to remove him from the red chakra. To his surprise, his father was helping, but the corruption of Kyuubi's power was radiating over his form as well, slowly, but noticeably.
The chains sprang up around his uncovered eye while the red chakra began to wrap around his free arm. Naruto fought hard against both, but inevitable was forced to give in and let them take him so he could rest, if only for a moment.
(-)
General Ironwood stood on the bridge of his ship with his hands clasping tightly to the railing. He wasn't afraid of Naruto. Not like this. Maybe he should be, but he wasn't. And even if he was, he wasn't going to show it to his men. They had a right to see him as a strong leader. He was their General. They looked up to him. So, when it came time to begin sending his people in, he felt a momentary ting of fear as he watched the first batch of soldiers drop in while human soldiers were led down in their fighters.
James could barely contain the fear of what was to come later at the hands of this.
There was no denying the outcome was a severe punishment to Naruto for his inability to control his power, but at the same time, there would be a backlash against both Headmasters for allowing such a creature in their city, let alone allowing it to do as it saw fit without proper supervision. They could lie about it. Deny that they knew about the risk. But Sasuke, should he ever stumble upon them, would tell the truth.
They could stop that from happening, but the real problem would then be from Naruto. If Naruto spoke up about what he did and how he was involved in this, the world would riot. The Kingdoms would demand his head and they would be powerless to stop them. A rioting mob was controllable. Four Kingdoms calling for blood would suicidal to stop. Whatever power he may have, Naruto was still mortal. He was still capable of dying.
"Sir, we have incoming!"
James snapped back to focus and looked at the view screen. For but a single moment he was unsure of what he was looking at. It looked like a black river rushing through trees on the monitor. But that was all it took to know they were about to get hit hard by a wave of Grimm. There numbers were endless. They pooled out from every shadow and rushed to join the growing swarm of blackness. An estimation counter displayed in the tens of thousands.
"Send the Midnight Reception and Morning Dew to intercept them, and have the Tranquility move in to pinch the target," he barked orders, now back in full control of his own life again. "Deploy the droids to that location and send out all but three Paladins to back them up. Have Interceptors on standby for fliers. Warn ground forces of DC and prepare all cannons for such!" He felt a great pride swell within him as he watched his people move give orders and prepare weapons. It was like listening to an orchestra play a song they knew front and backwards without the need for the music sheet.
The moment passed quickly as they then began relaying messages back to him.
"We've got sighting of four large fliers inbound from port side. They're lowering their altitude to go join with the rushing Grimm."
"Ground teams deployed two miles away from the wall. Contact in three minutes."
"Droids are on the ground and marching to the unknown Grimm in the city. ETA four minutes."
"Paladin, supply complete! Loading in progress. ETA two minutes."
"Laser sight coordinates confirmed for DC. Permission to fire on wave of Grimm requested."
James's gripped the railing tighter. His knuckles whitened beneath his gloved hand. This was the deciding factor for him. Could his new droid hold the line and stop Naruto before things escalated further? Could the Paladin stop him or be shown stopping him if things got any more dangerous. He shut his eyes, and for a moment, prayed to a higher power for an answer. When he opened his eyes, he gave the command. "Commencing firing on the targets."
(-)
"That idiot!" Sasuke shouted as the entire bullhead lurched upwards when the pilot was forced to pull up or collide with another bullhead that was rushing to the scene as well. Sasuke was among the few that decided screaming was needed, but vulgarity was not. And while he was sure that one person would get scolded for doing so in the presence of a young lady, he doubted that it would happen given the circumstances. "You guys alright?"
The bullhead was filled to near capacity. Teams were sent out in any available craft that was ready. His team shared the bullhead with teams RWBY, JNPR, and an N-less CEMN. To his credit, CEMN was more than ready for this and it even showed as they weren't worried about what was about to happen. If anything, they seemed eager to fight. Sasuke looked over the leader, Cinder, and watched her calculating eyes watch the scene unfold on her Scroll.
His team wasn't doing such, but Ruby was doing it and so was a worried Pyrrha. Their collective teams huddled around them, watching and listening to news broadcast the entire thing live. Sasuke didn't want to see it. He didn't even want to know what horrors they were walking in to. The media already painted a fair picture in his mind: Hell. It was the one thing he could see happening. Fires had already spread from the location and firefighters were working to douse the flames while rescue crews and police pulled people to safety. And thanks to the pilot and his loud cursing and complaining, they knew that Droids were being sent to two locations: One in the city and one outside it. Meaning only one thing.
Grimm were on the way.
Once everyone was okay from the hasty evasion, the former Uchiha glanced out the opened door of the bullhead towards the city below as the pilot kept yelling about something. "How the hell are we supposed to land down?" Jaune finally asked, looking up over his teammates and down to the ground. "Preferably, I would like one that doesn't involve us jumping out of a good plane."
"Doubt we'll get that," Yang explained. She tried dialing for Blake again. Since it was obvious Blake was in the city somewhere, there was the off chance she was armed and ready for combat somewhere. And since this was mostly a Faunus location within Vale, it stood to reason that she might just be running to this very location. "Damn it. Why won't she pick up."
"She's probably already here trying to fight that thing," Ren suggested. He didn't like the thought of it either. They were thankfully being put in the back to ensure that nothing could get out of the containment zone. When asked why, the simply answer had been that they were too young and inexperienced. This wasn't up for debate and it sure as hell wasn't going to be spoken about again. "I just hope she's alright."
"She's a survivor," Emert told them. "She'll be fine."
"You say that like you know something we don't," Persia warned him. Emert rolled his eyes as he knelt to get a better view of the destruction below. "Landing will be a problem though. With that much dust in the area, visibility will be low. We'll probably be jumping the last few dozen or so feet just to make sure we can get down there."
"Or they make us land further back and run the rest of the way," Pyrrha pointed out. She suddenly gasped and put a hand to her mouth in shock. The creature was visible and currently fighting White Fang members. It wasn't even fighting. It was just picking them up and popping them with massive hands of red energy. It took shots from everything and did nothing but turn to any attacker to end them. "They have to kill the news feed," she explained as she put away her Scroll and got ready for combat.
"Professor Ozpin was working on that before we left," Weiss reminded. But why wasn't it cut yet? Were they showing old footage to keep people on the edge of their seats? If so, why? She'd have to remember to speak with Winter about this later. She was sure she'd know about this whole debacle. If not, well then, she was just going to do a little digging to figure it out on her own.
Sasuke leaned further out the opening and stared at the raging dust storm. His Sharingan narrowed for a moment as he saw movement within the swirling dust clouds. Eye wide, he rushed to the pilot. "Dive! Now!"
"What? Why?"
Screaming ensued in the back and the pilot didn't ask twice. A scraping sound that reminded him of metal on metal sounded above the cockpit and the glass window cracked. The entire bullhead rocked to the left as something barely hit them. He worked his magic and got the craft back under control after a jaunting moment of turbulence that nearly threw the teens out the open hatch.
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke gave him a small on the shoulder as he pointed to their left and slightly upwards. The pilot squinted his eyes and then turned to face him fully. "Was that…Was that a building?"
"Part of one," Sasuke confessed as he too found it hard to believe what he'd just seen. Naruto was strong enough in a four-tailed state to chuck at best a two-story home at them and keep it going. He wouldn't deny that he was impressed by such a thing, no matter how unbelievable it was. To do so now was just stupid. Anything he thought he knew about Naruto's power now might as well be out the door. He moved back to his team and checked on everyone.
"I think I'm done for the day after this," Jaune said as he was once again reminded of why he hated flying. It was just the view. It was that right there.
"I think we all are," Yang added as she got up from her knees on shaky feet. "What kind of Grimm can just throw a house?"
"A very big one," Ruby told her, not seeing why this concept was hard to understand. "How did it even get in to the city? Did it tunnel underneath or something?"
"There's no way that could be possible," Mercury told her, trying to sound optimistic to this strange fight that was about to take place. "There's no tunnels underneath the city of Vale, right?" A few shrugs were his answer. Mercury sighed and held on tight as the bullhead began to fly sideways. The clouds parted, and a ray of transparent red light emerged from within the clouds. Mercury blinked and brought out his Scroll to start recording it. What in the fuck is happening right now?
The bullhead rose and then fell straight out of the sky. Sasuke held himself in place with Chakra and snatched a flailing Ruby before she could fall out of the craft. His Sharingan eye spun rapidly as he looked down in to the abyss of red energy that was erupting from the sky to the ground. The air heated and Sasuke could feel his eye burn from not wanting to close it. The pilot got the craft under control and then screamed when he was forced to roll the craft out of the way of a stray fighter that had gotten taken out by the turbulence created by the high winds. Anyone who wasn't screaming before was screaming now as the craft nearly threw a few of the students out the open door.
"What is going on down there?" Weiss wailed as she felt the contents of her stomach threatening to rise. An orb probably no bigger than the bullhead materialized in the air in the tornado of red energy fell on the creature below. There was a moment of silence followed by a lake of wind that the pilot once again was forced to correct. As soon as he had it under control something red sprang up passed the craft and then snapped back down. It had turned white and everyone blinked.
The beast was fully visible now, sporting white bones across his back that was raised slightly and being held in place by wisps of red energy that was snaking its way around the odd bones. Five tails swayed behind it in a gentle breeze that no one believed was real while a sixth tail lay lifelessly on the ground. A skull mask that was broken covered its face from view.
Gunfire erupted on the ground in large flashes as different types of weapons were used to kill the creature. A small cloud of dust from their attacks covered the beast. Emerald shook her head, believing it to be dead when the entire cloud of dust glowed bright red before an orb shot out of it. "What is-" The orb split into dozens of smaller orbs and splashed against the ground hard. The creature screamed loud enough that the entire craft shook, and the pilot could be heard cursing loudly from up front. It generates that much power just by screaming?! Emerald uncovered her ears and looked down with fear as the beast reeling back and punched the ground. A bright light was all she saw.
MOMENTS AGO
ADAMS PERSPECTIVE
Adam slid behind cover and ducked down. His cover vanished in a cloud of dust as a red paw swiped over his head to try and remove send body part from his form. He held Blake close as the young woman screamed at the red beast to stop its attack. Whenever she yelled it almost seemed to respond, but whatever power she might have held over it was far from perfect and more luck based than anything else. At times he would stop and then something would piss him off and he'd run into that direction to kill whatever it was that angered him so. Other times he would stop and simply grin at their forms as though it were playing with them.
"Suppressing fire!" Someone shouted. Adam rolled to the side as a large red hand came crashing down where he'd been. Not a moment later an RPG flew overhead and exploded against its form. Adam was back on his feet and looking back at the owner of said weapon. A bloody grin was plastered on his face as he held up the spent RPG with one arm. The other arm was gone at the elbow. A piece of rebar was sticking out of his gut. He was trying to buy time. "Go!" he yelled at them.
The redheaded Faunus started running again before a shockwave slammed against him and knocked him to the ground. Blake was thrown away from him in the process and he lost sight of her for a moment. When he found her again, she wasn't moving. Damn it! He swore to himself for not holding her tighter. Now he'd have trouble finding her again and getting her back.
The air heated and Adam jumped forward as far as he could. An invisible hand slapped the earth behind him and sent him further than he expected. He couldn't land on his feet and hit the ground hard, tucking and rolling to minimize damage and sprang back to his feet. The invisible hand jerked forward again, but this time Adam didn't see it coming and took the full force of it as it sent him flying. He skipped along the ground, righted himself after two skips across the broken terrain, and stabbed the remains of the sword to slow himself down.
A roar echoed over the land and threw away the dust cloud.
Adam blinked at the sight. A large house was being hoisted above its head and its target was clearly not him. With a single grunt of excursion, it threw it upwards into the sky and screamed at something Adam could barely make out. The house went far. Farther than he dared believed it could go. No Human or Faunus had that level of strength. And seeing something get thrown so easily was very off putting.
The creature suddenly dropped to its elbows and began panting. With hand it reached up and yanked part of the red corruption from its face. A tiny fraction of blond hair could be seen beneath that mass of red that was slithering back to cover the spot while a blue eye looked around for something, probably anything, to keep its gaze focused and its mind grounded. Then the corrupted covered it fully and the creature rose to its full height. A thunderstorm sprang to life overhead. Lightning strikes centered around the battle at hand but still reached miles out. Trapped Faunus cowered to the ungodly powers of the creature that was at the heart of the event.
In a moment that could only be described as praying, Adam saw Naruto raise his hands up over his head and then bring them together, its eyes closed, and its mouth firmly shut. A white light began to spill from between the cracked lids and the firmly shut mouth before opening to reveal only white voids in what would have been a dark abyss. When its hands touched the earth, it rumbled like a thing possessed and the creature smiled, for it was happy.
The clouds parted. A transparent red twister formed overhead and the collided with the four-tailed Naruto as it continued to smile. High winds picked up and once more Adam found himself stabbing the remains of the sword in the ground to find a way to keep himself from moving. The lightning picked up and Adam, realizing that the weapon might do him in, ditched it. He slid along the ground until he was next to something sturdy that wasn't going to move. As the winds grew stronger, something dropped from the clouds and collided with the beast.
The wind died for a moment. Atlas soldier appeared with weapons ready. Two Paladins marched forward, their weapons primed. The red corruption that had spread across Naruto suddenly exploded upwards before solidifying into a set of bones that looked familiar to arm bones. It covered only the right arm. With its creation more of the red corruption bulged and grew into a spinal cord that connected to a fifth and partially developed sixth tail. A skull in the shape of a canine formed around the head and then snapped open, causing the upped part of the jaw and the left side of the skull to break apart. The rabbit ears fit through small holes at the top of the skull, completing the imagine of a horrifying creature.
"Open fire!"
Adam nearly jumped when the soldiers' radios crackled to life with the single command. Finding that now he had a chance to run, he did so and stopped at the top of the mountain of debris that had been kicked up by the fighting. He could barely hear anything anymore. The sound of rounds being fired, and missiles launching from their tubes was the only sound that could be heard. The thunder was drowned out by the rain of fire created by their weapons. The creature disappeared in the storm of weapon rounds and dust kicked up by their impacts around or on it. Someone called for a cease fire and everyone was happy to do so.
The sound of raining debris and crackling thunder was the only noise for what felt like an eternity. Truth be told, it might have been.
Then, as if waking from a deep slumber, the creature stirred within the smoldering cloud of smoke and dust, releasing a deep growl that was almost a snarl. The smoke turned red at an alarming rate until a reddish orange orb flew from the cloud of dust overhead. Adam turned and started running without pause, never once looking back. The soldiers, stood their ground.
The orb separated into smaller forms that flew in every direction until gravity got a hold of them and started yanking them downwards. They crisscrossed through the air and when they struck, they struck hard. Explosions rocked the entire perimeter that had been setup by Atlas troops. One of the small orbs jetted for Adam's location and sent the man flying. Her landed hard on his back and slowly rolled over to get to his feet. The pair of Paladins rushed ahead of him, almost protecting him as one fired a pair missile towards the creature.
With one it knocked one of the missiles away and then caught the other with a third arm that sprouted from its back. The two left arms fused into one, allowing it to hold the captured missile that was still jetting out a stream of fire as it tried to get closer to its target. Blinking eyes watched the sight with worry as it looked to them and then down at the object it had snatched up. Narrowing its eyes at the object and then them, it turned it, so the missile was aimed at them and then let it go. What remaining fuel might have remained was more than enough to get it right at them.
The missile smashed into the closer Paladin, lighting it up and sending shrapnel in every direction. The entire machine took two steps back before it suddenly lurched forward. The front half of the machine was gone, and the pilot was revealed to be burnt to a near crisp. Its left hand still gripped the stick to control it and with a single gasp, the machine fell forward to the ground. The trigger was pulled the and the remaining weapons fired, detonating on the soil beneath it and blowing the machine apart.
Adam gasped and found it hard to breath or even move as the creature stood to its full height and roared. A second bone arm sprouted from its back and connected over the uncovered arm. It flexed the arm and then grinned before reeling back and punching the ground. Adam blinked a wave of heat him hard. The remaining Paladin had moved in front of him and took the brunt of the attack. The force of the punch sent him flying regardless and he hit something solid after a minute of being thrown around by high winds. When he finally came to a stop he looked around and found the city's wall that protected them from the Grimm to be what stopped him.
With just a single punch he could do that? Adam collapsed to his knees. He stopped breathing and looked up towards the epicenter. He could still see the creature. It was looking around like it was suddenly confused as to what it had done. Rage built up inside him and Adam gritted his teeth before he collapsed he felt extreme pain bolt through him. He looked down and found a piece of wood had stabbed through his right leg. Upon seeing the injury and then feeling the pain, Adam screamed loudly and clutched the bleeding appendage.
A wave of bullets rained down from the heavens and peppered Naruto as he began to convulse on the spot. Missiles were held back for fear of them being turned against them now and as the creature looked to be finally falling, it suddenly bulged as if it had grown a large muscle mass and chucked a few thousand pounds of rocks and dirt into the air to take them out.
Adam felt someone's hand encircle him as he was hoisted up. Through pained eyes Adam saw the form of Zero holding him up. Whisper was looking through her rifle's scope towards the creature. "This wasn't part of the plan. What did you piss off?" He stopped that line of thinking right there. "Forget it. Explain it later." He looked back towards the creature. It wasn't paying them any mind. He tapped his Scroll with his chin and said, "Owl, we're leaving. Get us out of here!"
"Best thing I've heard all day!" A craft appeared overhead. Zero jumped up with Adam still in his arms. Whisper followed a moment later. He sat Adam down and moved towards the cabin where a man with a Grimm mask and a set of large bird wings saw at the controls. He wore the usual clothing that all White Fang members wore, but his mask only covered his right side of his face while black markings covered the left side. A single yellow eye peered over the controls as he yanked up on the stick to pull them up. "You want to tell me what that is?"
"His ex-girlfriends' current boyfriend," Zero hissed at him.
"She's dating a Grimm?" He quickly shook his head.
Without warning Owl forced the craft downwards. A red streak snapped overhead and detonated behind them. Adam, who was struggling to move to the forward cabin to see what was happening, yelped like a kicked puppy as he was thrown to the ceiling and then the floor of the craft. Yells echoed over a radio that Adam wasn't sure was his own or something that was just in the stolen craft. Whatever was happening was bad and only getting it worse it sounded.
"What in the fuck is that?" Zero said, marveling at the sigh before him.
"What are you talking about?" Adam said with a hiss.
"I was talking about that, Genius!"
Adam lurched up to them and looked to the sky as well. A white light in the shape of a wingless dragon roared down from the clouds, pausing right next to a bullhead that was lighting up with the same light. It looked down up the creature it was meant to hit and opened it mouth wide. At the same time the creature, Naruto, began to convulse before a bright light erupted from its chest and tethered it to the ground. It screamed in agony before the dragon came crashing down with lightning trailing after it.
When the two met, the entire craft was thrown sideways and rolled along the ground before stopping in a tree. Adam was knocked out from the pain in his leg, along with the rest of his body, and missed the light show that started not a minute later. Owl screamed at something. Zero turned and blinked before banishing a shadow that moved out of his field of vision. He exhaled a breath he hadn't known he was holding before he looked from the unconscious Adam to Owl.
"Are you holding up – What the fuck are you-" A gunshot rang out in the cabin of the destroyed craft. Zero moved up to Owl and then shut his eyes. What… What is going on here? He removed the gun from Owl and turned away from the gruesome sight of his friends' partially missing head. He saw Whisper crying and rushed to her side as she began to put the barrel of the rifle in her mouth to do the same as Owl. "NO!" He commanded as he removed the weapon and slapped her across the face. She began to hyperventilate and then scream. He winced when he was forced to knock her out with her gun.
He exited the craft, looked around and then shut his eyes. Sienna will want answers. He looked up at Adam. You're going to tell me what we just fought and nearly died to make attempt at killing, Adam. Or so help me God, death will be the least of your worries. He yanked the two out and started carrying them to their base of operations. Hopefully the Grimm wouldn't show up. He doubted very much so that he could fight off whatever was going to show up now.
MOMENTS AGO
JAMES'S PERSPECTIVE
The depths of despair had always been something a few might think had a final stop to it. Like hitting rock bottom was the final step to despair. But it wasn't. It was endless. When you thought you fell far enough, and you thought you were at the end, something would hit you and you'd slip right over into the abyss again, going further than before until you found a piece of solid land to grasp to. But like the river currents, you'd get dragged back under without a proper anchor to keep you bound to that spot for a return swim out of it.
James felt it right now. This deep, sinking, depressing feeling that could only be described as despair hit him hard. Hard enough that he had to take a step back, break the façade of a leader that knew what he was doing. He didn't know what he was doing. Fighting the Grimm was easy. A few might be smart, and a few might be tough. But this…This wasn't something anyone could prepare you for. There was no saving grace in the form of a weapon or ability that he could conceive that could stop this. To him, this was the end.
His breathing hitched in his throat as the creature roared and slapped its paw against the ground in a fit of rage. With one single punch he cratered the ground and removed anyone that was too close to him for his liking. A few moments passed before panicked calls came in demanding support. James could hear his men and women screaming over the comms as they begged for help and information on what to do. What ground teams still had working HUDs could only show death and destruction their view. They were freaking out. Who could blame them?
Shutting his eyes to try and think straight they snapped open when he heard one voice over the others.
"Paladin Oran is out of commission!" Winter screamed over the radio. "It sustained heavy damage! Target can snatch missiles out of the air! Do not use missiles! I repeat: Do not use missiles!" An explosion sounded in the background. James stared at the monitor that showed Winter's location, along with the two Paladins. The three dots turned to two and he shut his eyes. "Paladin Oran has been destroyed! Danse! How's your machine?!"
"Damaged, but still – Get behind me!" The monitor showed his machine rush forward to block something.
"Heat signatures! Hundreds!" someone shouted from up front.
The entire ship shuddered, and fire erupted into the sky. James held rushed forward and looked out the window to see a partial ring of fire and small clouds of rising ash at the backline where his troops were stationed to keep any Grimm from getting to them. While it was the backline of a three-ring system, it was also the front line against the Grimm that were marching towards them.
From his spot aboard the ship, James thought the whole world was burning. Fires sprouted everywhere. The calls kept coming in and James felt so small as large red hands reached out and started to swat at the machines that floated just barely out of his reach. When they climbed to a high enough altitude to keep firing down on him, James felt what was coming before it even happened.
"TRANQUILITY AND ALL CRAFTS EVADE AND BRACE FOR IMPACT!" James shouted. No one questioned him. When he spoke, it happened. A thousand tiny red orbs split from another large one and each began flying towards various crafts. James felt the ship shudder beneath him. He looked at the monitor and saw a dozen little dots vanish, showing that his planes were being shot down by the strange attack.
James saw the Tranquility shudder as well. But where he was unsure of how many of those homing attacks hit his ship, he could see over a dozen pelt the other one. The entire thing rocked to the side, lost some altitude and then began to rise over the smoke that was caused by the fires he could see breaking out along the hull of the ship.
"We lost two of our engines! Decks A1 through A12 have reported fires! Weapon system is offline! Cooling system is offline for engines Four, Five, and Six! We can still fly, sir!"
James closed his eyes to process that. They could keep her afloat, but they'd have to do extensive repairs to get that fixed. The damage was great, but they could still manage to-
A bright light engulfed the entire screen as lightning strikes peppered the hull of both ships. Rain beat against the ship like a drum so loud James swore they were getting hit by hail rather than rain. A bolt of lightning slashed against two turrets on the forward bow of the ship and detonated them a moment later. Shielding his eyes as debris splashed against the window, he turned away when a white light hit them all hard followed by a deafening roar of thunder. Sparks flew inside the craft and Ironwood winced when one zapped his arm.
"My god."
Though a whisper, it drew James's attention from the blinking lights and frightened calls to look out the window once more. What could best be described as a wingless dragon fell from the heaves. He blinked at the sight. He was sure he wasn't the only one to question what they were seeing. The dragon opened its mouth and lightning crackled inside the maw of blinding light. Without a seconds' pause it surged downwards towards the creature and splashed against it. The thunder followed. If there was a shockwave, James was almost certain that they'd have felt with how close they were when the thing hit the ground. But when nothing happened to them, he looked at the monitors to see the creature was gone.
What in Gods' name was that? The General saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Grimm rushing him with human heads and limbs in their mouth waiting for him.
MOMENTS AGO
SASUKE'S PERSPECTIVE
There was no coming back from this. Sasuke could see that now. No one was going to forget this. The horrors that were now unleashed would be spoken of for years to come.
Tears of blood poured from under his covered eye. This… this won't be forgotten by anyone, Naruto. What did you do? Why did you do this? His thoughts came to an abrupt end when he saw a stream of red lights break out across the burning sky. Naruto… I'm sorry.
Flipping through several seals, his body began to burn. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. But he held it in and began to pull the chakra to his dominate hand. A searing pain covered his arm and he gritted his teeth. The former Uchiha saw his skin begin to peal back starting at his hand as lightning began to cover his hand and race up his arm. As the pain grew stronger, his power in the lightning began to grow stronger as well.
"What are you doing?" Ruby shouted. Lightning arched through the craft and she yelped like a kicked puppy when one bolt touched her cheek. "Sasuke?!"
The craft began to rock as high winds kicked up and threw it in every direction possible. Lightning bolts fell near the opening and connected to Sasuke's glowing arm, removing pieces of his shirt in the process, revealing black marks that were running along his body. The sight was alarming to everyone as claws began to sprout from Sasuke's fingers. His Sharingan glowed brightly and spun as he finally began to scream from the pain.
Mercury turned away from the carnage below with his Scroll and focused it on Sasuke as everyone backed away from him and let him do whatever it was, he was doing. What is he doing?
The raven-haired youth's hair turned gray and began to lengthen as if he were speeding up time around his form. His skin turned black fully and then turned ashen-gray while a black mark covered his nose in the form of a plus sign. The white of his eye turned black as his lips turned purple before their eyes. His lightning filled hand turned black before becoming cerulean blue. He raised his arm as blood poured from both eyes like tears.
Stop it! Don't make me do this! Naruto, please stop it! Wake up! Survive this! Please! He shut his eyes and wondered just what he was doing for a moment before a roar sounded from below. Eye wide open, he screamed and a dragon made of lightning appeared beside the bullhead. "Disappear with the roar of thunder! Kirin!" He screamed and lowered his arm. The dragon made of lightning paused and then screamed as it went down on its target.
Sasuke felt the rush of power stay with him as the blow connected and reduce the battlefield to a glassed spot of death. He told himself there was no choice. Naruto couldn't stop himself. The power was beyond his control. He was going to do that to everyone and kill them. That much he knew. They would die. How could they survive against such an overwhelming power that was the Kyuubi?
He wanted to assume he was doubting them too much, but they're weapons weren't working. They're tactics were failing. Naruto was only drawing upon more and more power as the fight progressed. They would never have stopped him, and upon seeing it for himself, he doubted he could either. If he couldn't stop him, what chance did the others have.
Clapping sounded and Sasuke shuddered as he looked over at the owner, ready to berate them for applauding him. "Look you stupid-" His words died in his throat when he saw a creature of red flesh and white bone beside him with its mouth open ready to bite his head off. NO!