Chapter 11: All or nothing
Ryu took up a fighting stance ready to take on the exosuit cladded guards. They all charged at him. One with a sword lunged at him. Ryu duct to the left and countered with a powerful explosion infused left hook to the stomach sending the guard flying back into some of the others. Two appeared at his flanks and another came up the middle right at him. The two on the flanks throw a punch at Ryu. Ryu caught both of the strikes and countered with a kick to the one on his his right then moving to the one on his left with the same foot. The one coming up the middle closed in. He threw a kick at Ryu. Ryu performed a front flip dodging the kick while pulling the other two in. He came down on all three of them with a powerful double axe kick sending them into the car floor. Ryu landed and readied for the continuing onslaught of soldiers.
"I don't have time for this." Ryu stated.
He looked at the door behind him.
"As much as I'd love to beat the crap out of all of these guys I gotta get moving." Ryu stated.
Ryu made his way towards the door only to have more guards come through the door.
"Dammit!" Ryu shouted.
Six guards came at him three from the front, three from the rear. Ryu looked around and saw a ceiling hatch. When the guards moved in with an attack he leaped out of the way he spring boarded off of one of his attackers head and burst his way through. Once on the roof he bolted across the roof of the cars. Many guards followed him onto the roof and were in pursuit.
"Gezz these guys don't know when to quit." Ryu observed. "Got a pick up the pace."
Ryu accelerated his pace. As we made his way towards the front of the train he spotted a large figure on the top of the car before the very front of train. When Ryu reach him he stopped and stared him down.
"Night," Ryu stated.
"It's been awhile Ryu I should have figured you were the one behind this." Night replied.
"You'd better stop this train Night or else." Ryu demanded.
"Or else what you'll beat me up sorry Ryu while I'd love to stay and chat but I have bigger things to worry about." Night retorted. "And besides you can't stop this train."
On the last word a airship came nearby and night lept to it.
"Dammit!" Ryu shouted.
"Farewell Ryu!" Night shouted.
Nights airship flew away. Ryu wasted little time and hopped into the front of the train were the controls were. He finds the controls busted.
"Dammit!" Ryu exclaimed.
He went outside to try and unhook the front from the rest of the cars. When he looked at it he saw a vertical eye type symbol on it.
"What the hell is this?" Ryu pondered. "We'll whatever it is I can't just pull the cars apart. If I try and cut it I'll likely trigger an explosion."
Ryu hopped back atop the roof of the train. The train was now passing along a cliff overlooking the forest. A multitude of guards continued to charge at him.
"Dammit I need to think of something." He shouted.
Suddenly an idea came to Ryu. He readied himself to sprint at full speed. He breathed. Then he bolt at max speed running across the top of the train towards the last car. He plowed his way through all of the guards knocking many of them off the train. When he reached it he hopped down into it. He search for all the bombs in the train car and quickly moved them to the center. Once he did this he drew his sword and cut opened a large opening in roof of the car. He made his way outside to see a large group of guards, some with exosuits some with out, coming at him with three in exosuits that stood out. One held a large great-sword while another held two curved blades in a backhand grip with the third wielded gauntlets.
"Those three must be the lieutenants." Ryu presumed. "Time to try out that new move."
He gripped his sword with both his hands. He pulls it back as flames began to form on it. He bends his knees and took a wide stance his sword now engulfed in flames. The guards closed in. He continued to charge his attack. When the guards were just about to be on top of him. His the flames erupted into a 200 ft long blade of fire with the same ratios as his sword normally has.
"Dragon's Blade!" He yelled out.
He swung his blade out catching many of his attackers flames. He he fully swung out he discharge the flames into a wave taking out even more and knocking the three lieutenants down for a bit.
"That should by me some time," Ryu assumed.
He quickly rushed to the next car and cut opened the roof. He quickly moved the bombs from the last car to the one in front of it. The three lieutenants recovered and charged towards him. Ryu only got half of them transferred before moving up two cars to meet the lieutenants charging at him. The lieutenant with the blade leaped into the air and came down with a downward swing downward swing. Ryu intercepted the attack with his sword stopping the lieutenants momentum. Ryu forced the lieutenant back only to have the other two follow up with a coordinated strong punch to his stomach. The resulting impact sent Ryu flying back. He quickly recovered from the attack with a backflip back on to his feet. He faced his opponents.
"This is gonna be fun," He stated. "It's go time."
Ryu charged the lieutenants. The one with the great-sword took the lead with the other two behind him. Ryu brought his sword over his right sword and swung it at the lieutenant in the front. It was block. However, Ryu retained his momentum and used it to carry a powerful explosion powered knee into the man's stomach sending him flying back. The other two flanked from the side with the one coming at Ryu with his blade. Ryu switched to a backwards grip and stuck his sword into the roof of the car blocking the strike. Before the other could follow up Ryu answered with a strong elbow to the man's chest followed by bring his fist up striking his face. Before Ryu could follow up the other lieutenant swung his other sword around at Ryu. Ryu flips himself up over the strike. As he's in the air mid flip he switches his grip back to normal and follows up with two explosion infused powerful kicks to the lieutenants at his sides heads. They were sent of the roof of the train. The one with the twin blades recovered sooner and used his blades to stab into the roof of the car to hang on. The other one recovered just in time to grip onto the edge of the roof. Ryu landed and drew his sword from the roof. The lieutenant with the great-sword sprung back into action and charged at Ryu full speed. Ryu readied himself. The lieutenant swung at Ryu with full force. Ryu meet the lieutenants blade with his own. The momentum of the lieutenants sent the both of them flying. The two remained lock in place their blades grinding against each other. When they first flew over top of the last car Ryu managed to slip underneath the lieutenant to deliver a strong kick explosion and aura infused kick to the man's stomach launching him into the air. Ryu threw his blade up towards the lieutenant. Ryu leaped into the air ahead of the lieutenant. He clasped his hands together and brought them down on the lieutenant. The lieutenant was sent flying down and was impaled by Ryu's blade. Ryu fell back down towards the ground. As he was falling he called his sword to him. The sword pulled itself out of the man and returned to Ryu's hand. The man fell down the cliffs into forest below much to shock of his comrades, who had gotten back on the roof of the train. Ryu launched himself back onto the train with an explosion and landed safely on the third to last car. Ryu cracked his neck and place his blade on his shoulders.
"Who's next?" Ryu taunted.
The two hesitated.
"Hmph… You and your friends call the Faunus animals when you're but cowardly chickens." Ryu taunted.
The lieutenant wielding the blades eye's lite up in anger. He charged full speed at Ryu.
"Wait!" The other Lieutenant called out.
Ryu readied himself. As the lieutenant drew near Ryu channeled intensely hot flames into his blade. When the two were in reach of each other they swung their blades at full force. Ryu's sword shattered the lieutenants and cleaved the lieutenant in half. The lieutenants lifeless remains rolled of the train. Ryu place his sword on his back and took up a fighting stance. The last remaining lieutenant faced him.
"So this is the strength of the great Shinku Ryu." He stated. "I hate to admit we underestimated you."
"Don't feel bad most do," Ryu pointed out.
"Hmph… well I wouldn't get too confident for I Ricardo De Arboles shall defeat you!" Ricardo claimed.
"Give it your best shot." Ryu taunted.
"Oh I will!" Ricardo replied.
Ricardo began to grunt as he tightened his muscles. His exosuit soon began to light up at certain spots. Ricardo began to show signs of being in pain.
"What it the world?" Ryu pondered.
Suddenly Ricardo charged at Ryu at tremendous speeds catch Ryu off guard with a strong punch to his face. Ryu began to fly through the air. What in the hell just happened. He just increased his strength and speed tremendously. Ryu thought to himself. He recovered and landed safely on the ground. It must be his suit it can increase his abilities even further than I first thought. But it seems to also take a toll on the user. This must be new with this model. Ryu thought to himself. Ricardo charged at him again. Ryu readied himself for the next attack. Ryu countered Ricardo's punch with on of his own. After a few seconds of struggling Ricardo broke the struggle and unleashed a fury of punches at Ryu. Ryu struggled to block or dodge them. After this had gone on for a bit an intense and sharp pain erupted from Ricardo's arms. Ryu took the to deliver a strong left into Ricardo's stomach causing him to stumble back. Ricardo's body struggled to recover from the damage he had done to himself.
"Shit I pushed it too far!" He shouted.
Ryu delivered a strong kick to Ricardo's head sending him flying off the train and down the cliffs. With the three lieutenants Ryu resumed moving the bombs from the last car to the one in front of it. Once he finished he sealed up the opening he had cut opened. He opened the roof hatch. He made his way towards the front of the car. He summoned a ball of flame and kept it over top of opening in the other car. He quickly made his way inside the train car and shut the roof hatch sealing it tight. Once inside he readied himself. He commanded the fireball outside down onto the bombs. Upon impact the fireball triggered the explosion. The following explosion sent the car Ryu was in flying and took out a large section of the forest.
At Vale team Light and the remaining members of team Crimson helped in the evacuation of citizens from the blast zone. The shooting of policemen, military men, huntsmen and even some students from beacon rang throughout directing citizens out of the area. Despite the situation most of the citizens didn't panic but an aura of fear ran throughout the city.
Luz and Caesar were working together to direct the citizens.
"Keep moving this way!" Caesar directed.
"Just a little further and you'll be out of the blast zone!" Luz assured.
The two continued to direct the citizens.
"Do you think Ryu can stop them in time?" Luz asked.
"I hope so," Caesar stated. "I hope he makes it back in one piece."
Luz looked at Caesar worriedly. Suddenly a the sound of a loud explosion rang out in the distance. Everyone looked towards the west and saw smoke rising in the distance as well as a light glowing on the horizon. Caesar looked in awe and shock. His eyes widened.
"Luz… I think it's… Ryu… he… he did it!" Caesar exclaimed.
"Are you sure?" Luz questioned.
"What else could that explosion had been it came from the same direction as the train was coming from." Caesar explained. "Ryu did it for sure. We're saved!"
Cries of joy and relief rang out aloud across the whole city. All their fears had vanished replaced with bright smiles full of joy. Luz and Caesar embraced each other in a hug laughing and smiling now that the worst of it had passed. The twos happiness was short lived as questions of Ryu's fate began to surface.
"But did Ryu make it?" Caesar questioned.
"We can only pray he thought of something." Luz answered.
After things had died down a bit a large investigation party was sent to the area. Because of their involvement, the remaining members of team Crimson and Light were allowed to come along. The explosion had cleared out a large section of the forest making it easy to search. After a few days of searching the blast zone as well as the surrounding area a few members of the party found one part of the train left in tacked. A lone care had landed in the forest a few miles away from the epicenter it's doors blasted off from the inside. There a message was found inscribed on nearby tree. The group read the message.
"Best call those kids over their gonna want to see this." One man stated.
The group call over Light and Crimson whom rushed towards the area. When they got their they all gathered around and read the message.
"Hey guys it's Ryu. If you're reading this then you found where I landed. I'm letting you guys know I won't be coming back right away there's things I have to do on my own. I'm going to find out more about the Night Hunters. The informant is someone who lives a ways outside the city. I should be back within a month's time. Till then best of luck. Your good friend, Ryu." The message stated.
The group smiled.
"Looks like someone's going to have fun without us." Holokai pointed out.
"If you could call traveling alone outside the protection of the city fun." Iris remarked.
"Don't knock it till ya try it." Sun retorted.
"Oh shut up!" Iris shouted back.
"Hey don't tell me to shut up!" Sun shouted.
As the two began to fight Luz looked towards Caesar. Caesar looked towards Luz.
"See I told you we won't lose anyone." Luz pointed out.
"I guess you were right." Caesar admitted.
The group returned to beacon to rest up after a long and exciting couple of days. The events that took place in Vale soon spread across the world. Almost overnight names Caesar, Ryu, Mana, Sun, Luz, Iris, Holokai, and Tala became known across the globe. Ryu in particular had become praised as the Hero of Vale for selflessly putting his life on the line to save the people of Vale. Caesar and Luz had also received praises for the planning of the operation. News networks across the globe covered the story for weeks. The reveal of the Night Hunters involvement in the attack hurt the their reputation. This occurred despite the group's efforts to pin it on an extreme faction within the organization.
A week after the incident the group continued to rest back at the school. Tala, Holokai, and Sun were walking down the hall together.
"I can't believe Ryu's getting all this attention and he's not even here." Holokai complained.
"What'd you expect he played the biggest role in this." Tala pointed out. "If not for him we'd never had found out about this."
"Hate to admit it by she makes a good point." Sun stated. "We were basically along for the ride. We real didn't do much."
Sun place his hands behind his head.
"Let's just be happy we got any credit for the whole thing." Sun pointed out.
"Yeah but he's not even here." Holokai remarked.
"And if he was here he'd probably get more of the spotlight." Tala pointed out.
"Yeah best enjoy what little of the limelight we get." Sun stated.
"I'm still not happy about it." Holokai stated.
"You and me both." Sun stated.
In the forests far outside of Vale Ryu traveled alone with only a newspaper to keep him occupied.
"The Hero of the Vale on top of Hero of the Faunus man I've made quite a name for myself in just a little under five years." Ryu observed.
Ryu continued to read the article.
"Looks like everyone gets to share in the glory even Port is mentioned." Ryu stated.
As Ryu made his way through the forest he looked up at the sky overhead. The sky was bright blue not a cloud in sight. The sun shone high in the sky.
"Best pick up the pace only got three weeks left." Ryu stated before speeding up into a brisk jog.