Author Note: Welcome back everyone to another addition to the series. Before we get into it, I do want to give a shout out to RandomManGaming who guessed two of the references correctly in the Holiday chapter. He was able to get Cortana from the Halo series and Biff from Back To The Future! The other references were as follows; Lara was Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Kidman was Juli Kidman from The Evil Within, Ripley was Amanda Ripley from Alien Isolation, Leia was Princess Leia from Star Wars, Chell was Chell from Portal 2 (Not Portal 1, I used the design from Portal 2), Alyx was Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2, Ellen was Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise, and finally Barbosa was Captain Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean. Now that we have that taken care of, lets jump right in!
City Of Vale: Airship (LOL)
The next day, the group were once again in an airship and traveling back to the Vytal Tournament Colosseum for doubles round. They had already missed the doubles battle of Sun and Neptune, but had watched them scratch a win against their opponents.
Pyrrha and Nora had also battled already but since it had been very early, they had been able to return to Beacon to chill before returning to the arena. Their battle had been very boring and quick as Pyrrha and Nora completely annihilated their opponents.
Now, they were all sitting in the ship with a very jubilant Yang. She had heard that their opponents were from Atlas and really good. They hadn't seen their first match but it was buzzing around. She was sitting next to Scout, her arm around him, and she was chatting happily with him about how screwed the other team was. The two had become closer in the last few days and Yang never really lived being without Scout, which is surprising since Yang wasn't usually that clingy.
Weiss was sitting quietly, cleaning her saber. She had spent the rest of the day before having tea with her sister and had a very long conversation with her about her abilities in battle. Winter hadn't been too impressed with Weiss's performance in the first match and was curious about why she hadn't used something that all Schnee fighters should know. Summoning. Like she had done against Qrow with the birds. Weiss had tried to summon something, but had not managed. Winter left, but she told Weiss to do her best and not worry to much.
Weiss sighed and looked around the cabin. Pyrrha had somehow managed to teach Jaune how to sleep on airship rides so he wouldn't get sick as easily, which led him to lie down across tow of the seats and his head laying on her lap. He snoozed quietly as Pyrrha gently stroke his hair and tried to look passive, but it was obvious by the sweet smile that she was enjoying this arrangement a lot.
Nora was happily recounting the fight from earlier that day to Ren and Demoman for the hundredth time, but they didn't mind and just listened to the static girl rant about the very quick and easy fight.
Ruby was looking through each of Snipers weapons and all the while commentating to him the perfections and imperfections to him. He didn't mind and though he acted like he didn't care, he was actually listening intently and couldn't resist pitching in a few times and adding a plus or minus to a certain weapon.
Blake was playing chess with Medic while Spy watched quietly, observing the intense game of minds. At the moment, Blake was having trouble keeping herself from losing a very strong attack, but Medic was countering it very well and pinning many of her pieces causing her to have to move around to safety or even sacrifice a few of her more useful pieces.
Soldier was playing a trombone in his seat. Next to him, Engineer strummed his guitar, grimacing slightly at the horrible sound that the trombone was making as Soldier was not a very good player. But he did not say anything as it would be pretty unfair if he told the patriotic man to stop while he was strumming a guitar.
Finally, Heavy and Pyro were competing in a Tic-Tac-Toe competition. So far, Pyro was winning with two more wins than Heavy, which was causing the large Soviet to get very frustrated with the fire retardant mute. in fact, he was about to flip the table over when the airship landed and they were told to get off.
The group walked out and were almost swept away by the crowd that was already there. They stood to the side to let the crowds dissipate slightly. While they waited, Ruby noticed a lot of the people in the crowd wearing elaborate clothes and trademark black shades. Ruby turned to Weiss with a confused gaze.
"Why are there so many people dressed so fashionably?"
Weiss rolled her eyes and said in a obnoxious voice as it was supposed to be obvious, "Because this is the doubles round with Coco Adel. You met her at the battle of Mountain Glenn. She is the leader of Team CFVY, one of the best current teams in Beacon and her amazing fashion sense has made her very popular with a lot of people. I think she's fighting with Yatsuhashi Daichi. Their opponents are those transfer students from Mistral; Emerald and Mercury."
As Weiss finished explaining, over the crowd a voice was heard calling to them. "Hey! Over here!"
They turned to see a female rabbit faunus and a red skinned teenager fighting their way through the crowd to get to the group. They were the two other members of Team CFVY; Velvet and Fox.
They finally were able to reach the group and Velvet smiled happily.
"Hey guys! We just came from telling Coco and Yatsuhashi good luck int the fight. Though honestly I don't think they need it. They will win for sure!"
Next to her, Fox didn't say anything but he nodded. Ruby and Nora smiled broadly as they led the group to the stands, talking excitedly with Velvet. As they took their seats, Velvet turned to Scout for a second.
"Hey, your Scout right?"
"The one and only pally!" grinned Scout smugly and spread his arms wide, "Whatcha ya need from the Force-O-Nature?"
Velvet blushed a little and muttered something before mustering up her courage and speaking louder. "I wanted to thank you for standing up and teaching that bully Cardin. Since then he hasn't approached me once."
Scout smiled and rested one of his arms around Yang who sat next to him. "Hey no problem! If he goes after you again, just come to me. I won't be as nice to him as I was last time."
Velvet smiled but before she could thank him the announcers began talking and the group fell silent. The two pairs of fighters walked out onto the arena to tumultuous applause. A whole section of the stadium showed well dressed fashionista's cheering wildly as their teenage star walked onto the field alongside her teammate, Yatsuhashi. Opposite them were Emerald and Mercury, both looking ready for combat.
Velvet, Ruby, and Nora began cheering very loudly as the contestants were introduced. Fox clapped calmly, but he had a small smile on his face. Heavy was a bit more excited and clapping enthusiastically with the others. He was very interested to see Coco battle with her Mini-Gun more and see wether she was worth the hype.
The biomes were soon being spun around until four were chosen. Forest, Savanna, Urban, and Geyser. The fighters readied their weapons and waited for the signal. Their was a small pause as everyone in the stadium held their breath, waiting. Then the gong rang out and the battle began.
Emerald and Mercury smiled a little and just stepped back a few paces and were swallowed by the tall yellow grass. Coca just smiled and unslung her handbag and it transformed into a golden mini-gun a lot like some of Heavy's. She opened fire and the hundreds of bullets tore through the grass lands of the savanna and cutting every single grass part down to the height of a shoe. The fashionista part of the stadium roared with approval as she did so and when she finished the savanna looked liked it had been had a large lawn mower over it.
Coco stopped firing and scanned the area. There was no sign of the two opponents and the on the stadium screen where it showed the aura levels of the fighters, it showed that they hadn't taken any damage. There was an unsettling silence.
Suddenly, out of the Urban area, a gray blur jumped out of a ruined building and flew straight at Yatsuhashi who rose his sword just in time to block a powerful kick from Mercury. Mercury used his leg gauntlets (Basically the same as Yangs except on the leg) to shoot himself off the sword and charged once more and began a barrage of kicks at the bury teenager, forcing him to back up into the geyser biome of the stadium. Coco ran after them, but she was stopped by a pair of kusarigama that caught her around the arms and reeled her back into the forest biome.
The stadium gasped at the successful sneak attack and watched slack jawed as Coco disappeared into the trees and Yatsuhashi trading blows with Mercury but visibly losing slowly. Velvet gasped, a hand over her mouth. Fox just stared, but his eyes were hard and cold. Ruby and Nora turned to Velvet to comfort her and say that it would end for a victory for her friends. Heavy was scanning the forest biome, his eyes calculating. So far, the large Soviet was incredibly unimpressed with this supposedly powerful team leader. It wouldn't have mattered as much to him, but she uses a Mini-Gun. And someone who uses that is immediately under the critic from the man had built one with simple scrap metal in a Siberian work farm.
Yatsuhashi struggled to keep Mercury off of him as he was slowly back up towards to an active geyser. He tried to slice forward with his massive sword, but Mercury dodged with a gauntlet jump up and brought one of his legs down onto Yatsuhashi's head. He jumped back and tripped over the edge of a geyser and fell onto his back over the opening. His sword flew out of his hand and stuck into the ground a few feet away. He rolled towards it just as the geyser under him erupted and spewed super heated gas. He unstuck his sword and got up once more and glanced up at the board showing the aura's. He grimaced when he saw his already in the yellow while Mercury was still in the green. He turned away to duck down immediately to not get his face smashed by a high jump kick from Mercury. He somersaulted forward and turned to charge at his opponent. However, Mercury fired his gauntlets forward and launched himself backward and rammed into Yatsuhashi and sending him flying. Yatsuhashi landed on his back once more but his sword still in hand. He groaned a little and began to get up when he heard a ominous rumbling under him. He didn't need to look under him to see what was about to happen and he just closed his eyes as the steaming hot gas flew up from under him.
Coco smacked into a tree and fell to the ground, released from the kusarigama that had pulled her but in pain and her aura lowered sufficiently. She staggered to her feet and raised her Mini-Gun in a defensive stance, scanning around the wooded area she was in for any sign of her opponent. It was eerily quite and she couldn't hear the battle between Yatsuhashi and Mercury. Even the crowd was much quieter now and that did not help her confidence. She heard a rustle to her right and spun around and fired at the spot to quickly find nothing there. Her brow began to sweat as she whipped around to look behind her to see if it had been a trick. There was nothing. Visible sweating and her eyes betraying a look fright she walked forward a little, her knuckles white from gripping the handle of her Mini-Gun so hard. Another rustle was heard and she turned and revved her Mini-Gun but before she could fire she heard,
"Wait Coco, its me Yatsuhashi."
Coco lowered her gun as Yatsuhashi walked out of the bushes and approached her smiling a little. "I took care of that other creep. How are things with you?"
Coco smiled, her worry fading. "I'm having a little trouble pin pointing this girl, but she can't hide forever. Do you know-"
Before she could finish though, the loud voice of the announcer suddenly blared out. "Yatsuhashi has been eliminated after that nasty geyser blast taking out the rest of the aura and is now unable to continue the match!"
Coco stared up in confusion. "Yatsuhashi eliminated? How? But he's right-" she looked back at him to find that he wasn't there and before she could comprehend what was happening, she felt a bullets pierce through her aura from behind and she fell as Emerald jumped out of the tree grinning, her manipulation semblance being successful to distract the fashionista.
The announcer once again spoke and announced the defeat of Coco to the crowd, who were completely silent. No one had though that she and Yatsuhashi would lose. Especially without even damaging their opponents. They had beaten flawlessly. Velvet was staring at the arena as the biome disappeared and revealed the four fighters, two of them perfectly fine and exiting the arena while the two unconscious bodies lay on the ground a bit of a ways from on another and were approached by paramedics and lifted onto stretchers.
Ruby hugged Velvet as the rabbit faunus began to sniffle. Fox stared with numb disbelief. He hadn't shown the same confidence as the others but he hadn't expected to them to lose so terribly. It hadn't even been a competition. The mercenaries were quite as they calmly watched the two defeated Beacon members being taken away. Heavy was sporting a frightening grimace as his eyes followed Coco's body being escorted out. He couldn't believe a capable girl with a impressive weapon like that had failed so miserably.
The announcer announced that the next match would begin momentarily and left the crowd to mutter indisctinrtly as many of the people began to file out, especially all the fans of Coco. Velvet and Fox also got up and said that they would go and visit their teammates in the medical bay. When Medic stood up to join them, they said it was fine and that Coco and Yatsuhashi wouldn't like being woken up so early after a humiliating defeat. Once the two left, the group exchanged glances with one another, the uncomfortable silence still in the air. Finally, Pyro broke it when it looked at Heavy and let out a questioning, "Mmph?"
Heavy didn't respond immediately and just sat, grimacing. After a few moments, he turned to realize everyone was staring at him. He huffed a little and said in a curt voice, "Fashion girl should have used weapon better."
The students just looked at each other but the mercenaries nodded understandingly. They knew better than anyone that Heavy took weapons very seriously, especially heavy weapons and especially Mini-Guns.
Before they could dwell on it anymore however, the announcer once again spoke and announced the next match was about to begin. The crowd cheered, snapping out its depressed state. Ruby jumped up excitedly once more.
"Oooh, who's it going to be?"
They all looked down at the arena to see two members from Team CRDL (the team led by Cardin) walk out from one corner and from the other, a strange dark skinned girl with a blue beret and skirt and Penny.
Ruby cheered happily as Penny's name was announced and so did Engineer who had sat up a little and was staring intently at the arena through his welding goggles. Since the groups first meeting with the android, Engineer had taken an interest in her design and her functions and had been contemplating them in his head for the last few days. After seeing her match on television at the food tent yesterday, he was very eager to see it live and observe her fighting design.
The combatants stood still for a moment as the biomes were chosen. They ended up to be Mountain, Ocean, Cyber, and Geyser. There was a short pause afterward as the fighters got ready and waited for the gong to ring. Once it did, Penny immediately unleashed her four string connected swords from the strange box like object over back and launched them towards her opponents who both scrambled to get out of the way. She whipped them around and with very good precision and accuracy she was able to score a few hits on the two members of Team CRDL who had seemed to forget that it was a fight and instead began to flee. They went to the mountain biome and hid behind to large boulders. Penny turned to the boulders and launched to swords at each of them. They implanted themselves into the stone and with her arms outstretched in front of her, she used her bioengineered aura to seep power into the strings tied to the swords and raised the two boulders in the area with the her two opponents clinging on helplessly. She seemed to be having fun, but then her partner tutted to get attention and pointed at the watch she wore as if they were on a time limit. Penny sighed and then smashed the boulders downward and incapacitating her opponents.
There was a roar of cheers as the crowd applauded her incredible skills. No one except the group and the military actually knew she was an android and thought she was just a very well trained girl in training that knew how to use her aura expertly. Penny straightened up and retracted her swords back into her apartment on her back and gave a small salute to her still dazed opponents.
"Thank you for the enjoyable fight!"
She then turned to follow the other girl out of the arena as the paramedics came onto the arena once again to pick up the dazed members of Team CRDL. Up in the stands, the group were clapping along with the rest of the crowd, except for Ruby and Engineer who were cheering loudly.
"WHOOO! YOU SHOWED THEM PENNY!" yelled Ruby happily.
"Now I have seen everything!" stated Engineer, clearly impressed. Then he got an idea and turned to Ruby. "Why don't we go congratulate her in person? We got a few minutes before Yang's and Weiss's fight starts. Plus they can come down with us."
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang nodded and stood up, Yang giving Scout a kiss on the nose as he wished her good luck and in his words, "Beat the crap outta them hot stuff!" and they set off with Engie down to the arena entrance.
They arrived in time to see Penny and her partner walk out. Penny smiled broadly when she saw the familiar faces and ran up to a jubilant Ruby, hugging her tightly. Then she turned to Engineer and surprised him by giving him a tight hug as well, which he soon returned smiling genuinely. After she stood back and smiled even more widely.
"Salutations friends!" she said in a very cheery voice. Ruby giggled a little and Engie tipped his construction hat a little. "We just wanted to come down and congratulate on a darn brilliant performance," he said as he patted Penny on the shoulder. Ruby nodded and Penny looked she was going to blush.
"Why thank you friends!" She then noticed Weiss and Yang behind the other two and waved to them. "Salutations to you as well! Are you fighting next?"
The two nodded and she smiled excitedly. But before she could say anything the strange girl that was with her tutted once again and pointed to her watch once more. Penny sighed but nodded and turned back to her friends, her smile fading. "I a regret inform you that I must go, but I will be very excited to see you once more soon." She then waved once again and left with the girl.
The three students and mercenary watched her leave, a little puzzled at what had happened but didn't have time to question it. Weiss and Yang's match was about commence. Ruby and Engineer wished them luck and left them to enter the locker room and they themselves went back up to the stands where they had left the rest of the group.
Meanwhile Yang and Weiss got ready in the locker room and then walked out onto the arena to tumultuous applause and cheering from the crowd. They could still distinguish Ruby's, Nora's, Scouts, and Soldiers voice shouting encouragement over the everyone else. Then they turned to look across the battlefield to see their opponents.
One was a dark skinned teenage boy with rectangular sunglasses and a black fedora. He had a black vest over his untucked white dress shirt and dark dress pants. He also wore a loose tie around his collar and an earring his ear. In his hand he held a gray trumpet as if he was about to begin a music performance. He had a sly grin on his face as he inspected his opponents.
Next to him was a bubbly and excitedly female feline faunus with red-orange hair that went up into two ponytails. Her feline trait was a pink tail that became lighter towards the tip. She wore a light blue tank top that exposed the midriff and a pink combat mini-skirt that was tied on by a white belt. Around her neck was a cat bell and on her arms were bracers. Instead of shoes, she wore roller blades. In on hand she held a pair of nunchaku that looked like glow sticks.
The four looked at each other as the biomes were chosen. The were Mountain, Lava, Cyber, and Geyser. As the arena morphed into the respective biomes, the dark skinned boy directed his attention to Weiss and spoke in a polite and level tone.
"Well, if it ain't the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. An honor to meet you."
Weiss smiled brightly and curtsied a little. "Why thank you. I always a person who appreciates the Schnee's. What is your name?"
The boy's smiled wavered for a second as he responded, "My name is Flynt Coal and this is my partner Neon Katt," he gestured to the excited girl who waved. He then turned his attention back to Weiss and his smile began to curl into a sort of grimace. "I wouldn't say I fully appreciate the Schnee's. Especially after they ran my fathers business out and took his ideas."
His smile was now completely gone, replaced with a cold glare. Weiss returned to her fists clenching. "How dare you! The Schnee Dust Company has always been-"
"A bunch of liars and scoundrels that only care about the money and that their precious name isn't tarnished," interrupted Flynt, his cold glare not wavering. Yang turned to him, her face angry. "Hey lay off! She didn't do anything to-"
"Hey lay off!" mocked Neon, mimicking Yang's voice and sticking her tongue out, "Thats how you sound!"
Yang turned her angry look to Neon and began to growl out, "What-"
"You should try rollerblading!" Neon cut her off once more and showed off her rollerblades, "Its really fun! Though it maybe a little hard for you since your a little top heavy." She gestured to her own chest. Yang glanced down at her large cleavage, that was a little revealing, and then looked back up, her eyes red.
"WHY YOU LITTLE-"
"STOP ARGUING AND FIGHT YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING SLACKERS!"
They all looked up to see Soldier once more yelling his lungs out, annoyed that there wasn't a fight. Next to him, Spy just face palmed and murmured, "Merde," under his breath.
The fighters looked back at each other for a second before springing into action. Weiss going after Flynt. Yang going for Neon.
Weiss summoned a quick glyph under her and charged forward at Flynt with the small speed boost, but he dodged quickly to the side and she stopped where he had been a second ago and turned to repeat the action. He grinned and put his trumpet to his lips as she summoned another glyph and blew a high screechy note. Out of the trumpet, visible sound waves rippled out and struck Weiss hard as she tried to sprint forward with her glyph but was unable to charge through the sound waves. She stumbled back and managed to roll out of the way of the sound waves. Flynt kept on grinning as he turned a little to face her and blue another note sending another wave of sound towards her. As the waves approached her once more, she summoned two more powerful glyphs, one under her and one behind her, and released their power to charge her forward. She hit the waves and was slowed down, but she pushed through and was able to land a few hits on the trumpet player. Flynt staggered as the strikes lowered his aura but he retreated slightly and smiled even more. He held his trumpet with both of his hands a blew a hard note and suddenly he began to glow. When the glow faded their was four of him grinning slyly, each clone holding a trumpet as well. Weiss stared in shock. This was gonna be harder then previously thought.
Yang was having an annoying time trying to pin down the energetic Neon who just skated around Yang on her rollerblades mocking her opponent and repeating, "never miss a beat" over and over again. Yang fired her shotgun gauntlets at the faunus, but each shot missed and Neon just kept on riding around her. Naturally, this did not help Yangs already angry mood and furthered her resolve to beat the crap out of this annoying faunus. She fired again, missing and this time Neon came in close and smacked Yang with her glow stick nunchakus causing Yang's aura to decrease a little. Yang grunted but tried to use the opportunity of Neon coming close to hit her, but missed as Neon just rode out of range. Then behind her she heard a grunt of pain and turned to see Weiss slammed to the floor near a geyser pit by the force of a quartet of sound waves aimed at her. The heiress struggled to get up but just lay their helplessly. Yang looked to the screen to see Weiss's aura a slimmer away from being in the red and making her unable to battle.
Neon rolled in close again and gave Yang another powerful strike with her nunchakus, snapping Yang out of it and forcing her to her knees. The four Flynt's stepped up calmly to the kneeling brawler and smirked simultaneously. The only thing that kept them apart was a geyser pit. Then the real Flynt spoke.
"It seems we have been able to best one of Beacon's finest teams quite easily. Not to mention a Schnee along with that. How disappointing."
He gave a short laugh but was then interrupted as Weiss, using her last ounce of strength, grabbed the real one by the legs and pushed him and herself down over the geyser pit just as it began to spew the hot gas. Yang backed away staring at the column of steam in horror as the three clones of Flynt disappeared. After a few seconds, though it seemed like hours to Yang, the steam stopped and revealed Weiss crumpled up on the ground next to it, her clothes charred and blackened and even her skin was covered with burns. On the screen, her aura meter had been completely depleted. As for Flynt, he was revealed stumbling around, his aura very much decreased but still standing. He regained himself and then looked down at the unconscious figure of Weiss with a sort of new respect.
"Well, I will admit. That was courageous to try and sacrifice herself to take out me. But no dice Schnee."
That did it for Yang. She roared in rage and actual flames burst around her and her hair crackled with the same fire. She stood up and looked at Flynt with blood red eyes. Her semblance had been activated. Flynt backed away a little, his eyes showing a hint of fear as the fiery girl advanced. Neon rolled in and tried to hit Yang once more with her nunchakus but Yang just thrust her fist to the side and decked Neon straight to the face, adding a shotgun shot it the punch for maximum damage and causing Neon's aura to go straight into the red and unable to battle.
Up in the stands, Heavy smiled broadly. His teachings had not been in vain it seemed. Next to him, Scout gaped as Neon's unconscious form flew to the side.
"Man... I love that girl," he said, a little breathlessly. Then he smiled and turned to the large Soviet next to him. "Thanks for teaching her that cool stuff pally! I mean she was strong and hot before but she is super strong and super hot!"
Heavy laughed a little and patted Scout on the shoulder. "Heavy just does what is necessary."
Back on the arena, Yang faced her attention back onto the now panicking trumpet playing boy in front of him. Flynt fumbled with his trumpet and played a screechy note at Yang. The sound wave blasted out and hit Yang full force, but she just shrugged it off and began to advance on Flynt who kept blowing notes in fear. But it was to no avail. Yang reached him and clocked him right in the chest and, just like Neon, his aura fell to the red immediately and he crumpled to the floor.
There was a stunned silence.
There was a tremendous roar from the crowd as the announcer pronounced Yang and Weiss the winner, but yang didn't care. Her eyes returned to their usual lilac and she dashed towards the limp form of Weiss and kneeled down. She picked up Weiss and held her in her arms. Weiss coughed a little as her eyes fluttered.
"Did we lose?"
Yang gave her a small smile. "No."
Weiss grinned weakly back as the paramedics came on to tend to the three injured fighters. A few approached Weiss, but then a professional German voice was heard and they turned to see who else but Medic sprinting over, Quick-Fix in hand.
"Out of ze way, schweinhunds," he said irritably to the paramedics, and they parted to let the doctor through. He came to stop next to Yang and the crumpled Weiss in her arms and trained the Quick-Fix's beam onto the heiress. The healing beam seeped into Weiss and her burns that were covering her body faced quickly. After a few seconds she was able to stand up and rub her head in disorientation but other than that she was fully healed. The paramedics looked stunned as Medic took off the beam and smiled his scientific, slightly sinister, smile.
"Another successful procedure!" He proclaimed happily. Then he turned to see Flynt and Neon being tended to and murmured a German curse before jogging over to them and healed them. Meanwhile Weiss was helped up by Yang just as the rest of the group ran onto the arena. Ruby rushed to both of them and tackled them both in a hug. Scout also joined and it was a heartfelt moment, until Nora decided to also join and almost crushed them to death.
After disentangling the pile of hugs, Weiss and Yang talked happily with their friends. Medic had returned from healing Flynt and Neon and was now chastising Weiss for not using her healing cartridge to heal Yang and use more teamwork. Yang was in the mist of laughing to something that Engineer had said when she noticed the Heavy, standing a little away from the rest but regarding with a proud smile. She walked up to him and punched him on the arm. Not to hard, but yet again not to soft.
"Why are you so quite big guy?" she asked curiously. Heavy just smiled on.
"You are credit to team." Yang's smiled widened. She didn't know why but she felt that that statement was incredibly good coming from Heavy.
The group were about to make their way out when Flynt and Neon came towards them. Yang and Weiss looked at them with wary eyes, but Flynt just smiled. A kind smile.
"I must apologize for my behavior earlier," he said politely, "I judged you by your family and that was wrong. You ain't nothing like the Schnee's I know off and I now appreciate that not all Schnee's are bad. May I ask for forgiveness?" He reached out his hand to Weiss. Weiss hesitated, but she felt the truth behind his words and, smiling back, she shook his hand.
Neon also stepped to Yang. "I'm sorry for being rude and mean to you. I didn't realize how super awesome you were!" She had said the first part in a sad voice. But she had changed back to her fun excitable voice for the second part. Yang was taken aback for a second but then let out a giggle and raised a hand while the faunus shook happily.
Then the group headed out of the arena and onto an airship back to Beacon.
On the way, everyone chatted with one another, recounting the cool events from earlier that day. Pyrrha was relaxing next to Jaune, listening to all the funny exaggerated stories of the events prior, when her scroll beeped alerting her of a message. She took it out and glanced at it and her face hardened slightly. What would he need from her?
She put away the scroll and tried to act natural as they began to near Beacon. However, across from her, a certain French espionage was regarding her closely.
Beacon Academy: Ozpin's Office
Professor Ozpin sat behind his desk quietly with his usual cup of cocoa, listening to the current argument that was being held by the three fully grown adults in front of him.
"There is no guarantee that this will work!" said a distraught Professor Goodwitch.
"We are not going to do it yet, Glynda," replied Ironwood calmly as Qrow opened his mouth to reply something unprofessional. "We are just going to tell her. Ozpin is sure that she is the right one if need be and she has a right to make a decision before its to late."
"Well obviously," said Goodwitch, "there is no way in Remnant that I would allow someone to go with this without having a say."
"Then why are you arguing?" asked Qrow frowning.
Before Goodwitch could say anything else, the elevator to Ozpin's office beeped. The four adults looked towards the elevator opening doors to see Pyrrha Nikos there, looking a little nervous.
"Ah Miss Nikos," said Ozpin giving her a warm smile, "please take a seat."
Pyrrha walked towards one of the empty chairs in front of Ozpin's desk and sat. Goodwitch, Ironwood, and Qrow all went around Ozpin's desk and stood a little behind him. Ozpin himself regarded Pyrrha with a small smile, but his eyes had turned grave.
"I would like you to meet General Jame Ironwood and Qrow Branwen. Of course by now you know Professor Glynda Goodwitch."
Pyrrha nodded. Ironwood then spoke, his voice serious.
"We will get straight to the point Miss Nikos. We have been analyzing you for the past few weeks and have found your skills to be exemplary. Especially for a young huntress in training."
Pyrrha didn't say anything, but she didn't get why that was important or why they need her to come up her if it was just to compliment her. She was really missing quality time with Jaune.
"Which is why we have selected you for something very important and top secret."
That brought her back to Remnant. She stared at the General who was looking at her intently.
"What would you want me to do?" she asked.
Qrow spoke up from the side. "Well before we tell you, we must preface that this is a guarded secret and must not be told to the public."
Pyrrha looked at him and hesitated for a second. It would be hard for her to hide it from Jaune or even her team. But she had come up here and since it was the headmaster of Beacon and the General of the strongest army in Remnant that was talking to her, she might as well hear them out. She nodded that she understood and Ozpin brought her attention to himself.
"Well Miss Nikos, before we tell you exactly, I must ask you which fairytales you know."
This question struck Pyrrha as incredibly odd. "Well, I always like the one of the One Footed Casket, The Two Brothers, The-"
"What about the Four Maidens," said Ozpin, cutting her off and giving her a calculating look, "Do you know of that one?"
Pyrrha nodded. Ozpin didn't say anything for a second. Then he asked, "Could you recite it?"
Pyrrha was becoming increasingly confused, but obliged all the same.
"An old hermit is visited by four sisters, who each in their own unique ways are kind to him; the first by encouraging him to meditate and reflect, the second by bringing him fruit and flowers and revitalizing his garden, the third convincing him to step outside and embrace the world, and the fourth by encouraging him to be thankful for what he has. The old man gives the four sisters great powers in return for their kindness, and as the embodiment of the four seasons, they go through Remnant spreading their gifts."
She finished and a short pause followed as she looked at the four adults across from her individual to gauge their reactions. Ozpin then spoke and brought her attention back to him.
"Well what if I were to tell you that those Maidens were real?"
Pyrrha stared at him. This was far from what she had expected of a top secret kept by such important people. Ozpin continued.
"You see, the Maidens passed and gave their powers to another young female. Usually the one they were thinking of last. Since the time of the Maidens, many girls have become Maidens and passed on their powers to another generation."
He paused and his eyes turned ashy. "However, something unprecedented has happened. Something that could mean the beginning of a war."
Pyrrha was now totally lost. But her curiosity got the better of her and she persisted, "What?"
"The current Fall Maiden, a young girl a little older than you named Amber, has been attacked by an unknown assailant. Somehow the assailant was able to absorb some of the Maiden's power out of Amber and make it her own. However, before she could fully absorb it, Qrow here intervened and was able to save Amber's life. Since then, we have been in search of the mysterious assailant... and of a new Fall Maiden."
His eyes rested on Pyrrha and she finally realized why she was there.
"Me?"
Ozpin sighed and then walked out from behind his desk, cane in hand, and walked past the seat that Pyrrha was sitting in and towards the elevator.
"Come with me. You must see something."
Pyrrha was still astonished by the revelation of becoming a powerful Maiden, but the other three adults had made their way to the elevator as well and she didn't have time to dwell on it. She got up and followed them. They all got in and Ozpin pressed a hidden button and the elevator beeped and the doors closed. But not before a cloaked man slipped in unnoticed and unseen and stayed in the corner of the elevator, silent but observing.
The elevator ride was silent and uncomfortable. Filled with the new tension that had arose in the office. Pyrrha easily noticed that the ride was much longer than a ride to the ground floor. They were going way deeper.
Finally after around five minutes, the doors opened and Pyrrha gasped.
In front of her was an enormous black tiled hall with a high arching roof and two rows of columns led to a strange object at the far end of the hall. On the walls were torches, which lit up the hall in a very dim light, giving it a very secretive look.
She walked out with the four adults and they began to walk between the two rows of columns towards the object at the end of the hall. Behind them the cloacked man slipped out silently as the elevator beeped and the doors shut once more. It was silent, except for the footsteps of the Huntsman and Huntresses echoing throughout the massive hall. Ozpin then broke the silence.
"Welcome to the Vault, Miss Nikos."
Pyrrha turned to look at the headmaster. "Vault? For what?"
"For that," responded Qrow as they reached the end of the hall and Pyrrha got a better look at the object that she had seen from the elevator and once again gasped.
It was a large machine with two large capsules in which a person could fit in on each side. In between them was a control panel. It was hooked up to the back wall with a bunch of wires and coils. However, the most startling thing about it was that one of the capsules wasn't empty. Inside was a young tan woman in her earlier twenties laying sound asleep. She looked peaceful, except for the fact that half of her face had strange black tendrils around it.
Pyrrha approached the capsule and put her hand to the glass. The four adults stood quietly behind her, letting her absorb everything. Behind the nearest column, the cloaked man gazed at the machine as well, trying to piece everything together.
Pyrrha turned to the adults. "Is this-"
"Thats Amber," said Qrow, "And the black stuff? We got no idea kid. Most likely has something to do with her part of her power being taken a though."
Pyrrha looked back at the woman in the capsule and said quietly, "Ok, but why do you need me?"
"So in case that Maiden cannot be saved or if the enemy is close and about to try and steal the rest of the power, you are there to have the power transferred into you," said a familiar voice and everyone looked to see Spy walk out from behind the column. For once, he wasn't smoking a cigarette and his face was sallow.
"They are asking you to do something many adults could not do. But understandably you are not just a teenager. You are an incredibly capable fighter and caring person. You are ripe for this role. However, it will change your life. You must be alright with this before you are subjected to it."
Spy finished and looked Pyrrha in the eye. Pyrrha was frozen. She didn't know what to do or say. If she accepted, she may not have her friends anymore, her team, her Jaune...
General Ironwood looked at the Spy astonished. "How the hell did you know that and get here?!"
Spy scoffed a little and turned to face the General. "I pieced two and two together sir. I also saved her the boring and tedious wait time that you would have most likely made her suffer through."
Before Ironwood could retort, Ozpin spoke and everyone fell silent.
"What he said is true. You now know the long and short of it." He sighed deeply and looked into the eyes of the Mistral Champion with sympathy. "Take sometime to think over your decision." And with that he turned and began to walk back to the elevator. Qrow followed him with Ironwood and Goodwitch. Pyrrha stood planted to the spot, still completely rattled by this new torrent of information. Spy approached her and put a comforting arm around her.
"I understand that this must be hard," he said quietly as he began to lead her after the others, "But it is necessary. However, if you say no, no one will think any less of you."
She looked up at him. "When did you have such a choice?
He returned her look with a sad expression. "I had a choice before I went to the war of the mercenaries you know. I could have said no and been killed by representatives. But by how they had advertised the job to me seemed ludicrous. The other mercenaries say they accepted it immediately happy to have a job. Me? I didn't need it, but I accepted it anyway. Not because I would have been killed, but for a good cause and aiding fellow comrades in the war. And it was the best decision I made."
And with that, they all stepped into the elevator and rose up, leaving the Vault behind.
Well we will end the chapter here. I'm sorry this took a little longer to update but I was very busy. Plus I do need to set time for Team Fortress 2. Anyway I don't have anything much to say post chapter so Reviews are always welcome and I will see you in the next chapter... BYE BYE!