Well, my friends, it's that time of year.
I hope you are ready for a very spooky Hallows' Eve.
This is my gift to you all.
An early but very Grimm Halloween!
My longest chapter to date.
Better have your snacks ready, and your music prepared.
Maybe a little Rip and Tear and action?
How about some Blood and Guts?
To all those that paid attention to the summary…
The third crossover is complete.
Welcome to the island!
You got off the boat.
Let's get this ride started.
Warning! The chapter broaches implied non-consent without the content ever occurring, and there is graphic violence. Reader Discretion is Advised.
The night seemed quiet as he sat at his desk in front of a long hallway. And that desk sat in front of the cell of Vale's most notorious criminals of the past ten years. The man started as a gentleman thief and slowly grew to become more of a legend as time continued as he kept besting Huntsman and Huntresses.
He was guarding the cell of one Roman Torchwick on this calm night, drinking his coffee as it was hard staying away this late at night.
The man had been isolated as he had vital information, but his security measures had recently been reduced, and it seemed he would be assigned fewer protocols. However, he was still given a strong security presence as the man was considered a dangerous threat and, despite his excellent behavior so far, could make a break for it at any given moment if given a single break. He, again, had bested many Hunters throughout his career, so he was quite capable and intelligent.
His room was littered with effects that, though all approved beforehand and thoroughly checked and cleared, could still conceal many things. The man was a genius and could just be biding his time…
"Dan, I got some more coffee! Today's national coffee day, after all." The other guard on shift yawned as he walked over and put the cup of joe on the desk. "Supposed to be an exotic blend today as they wanted to give everyone something special on this approved stupid calendar date. …It's one I can get behind. A day where coffee is appreciated is my kind of day."
"A hot cup of java is a lifesaver, don't we know that?" Dan took the extra cup and was pleasantly surprised as the smell wafted in his direction. "Ah, that smells great… I almost want to… Who's that over there, Rob?"
Following Dan's eyes while he drank some of his coffee, the guard known as Rob lifted his eyebrow. A short woman with pink and brown hair began twirling and spinning toward them down the hallway. All the while under an open parasol.
Keeping his hand on his holster in case of the unexpected, he decided to use words first. He put down his coffee and called out to the woman. "Mam… This area is highly guarded. How did you get in here?"
No response. She kept spinning as she trotted toward them with an ever-present smile growing ever wider on her face as her eyes gleamed with manic desire.
When Dan reached for his radio, he commented, "She's not stopping. Think she might have gotten loose from upstairs. So let's go with tasers and nightsticks. Lethal force is not authorized if that's the case…."
"Yeah, I guess but shouldn't the alarm have been triggered..." Rob frowned as the situation didn't feel right watching the short woman keep dancing toward them as she was almost upon them. "And I feel like I almost recognize her… Wasn't she the one that… Raise the alarm! She's the one on the wanted poster that was Roman's accomplice!"
The woman grinned before suddenly dashing forward, slamming her open parasol into Rob. She bashed him over the desk and quickly snapped it shut and struck with blinding speed, slapping Dan in the throat and knocking him to the ground. She then strutted over him and stomped on his face, knocking him out cold. She also did the same to the other guard as she happily walked down the long hallway.
She expertly took shots without looking, sniping each camera in the room with a grin on her face. She smiled and tapped on the floor outside the hallway.
And the door ripped open with a flared explosion, flying off and skidding across the floor and landing several feet away from her heels. All she could do was smile as the smoke and residue began to settle. This was as the most handsome and dapper man she knew walked through, grinning at the sight before him. "Well, this takes me back a little…."
Spinning and doing a polite curtsy, Roman cringed ever so slightly at the sight. "You pull that off a little too well. I'm beginning to wonder if Trivia didn't just possess you somehow. But let's make haste. They will be coming after hearing that."
Neo grinned as she walked Roman, walking in step with the auburn-haired gentleman thief, for despite the situation, he casually strutted forward with only a little hustle in his step.
Roleplaying was fun! She needed to do it more often!
Roman ignored the desire to exhale in frustration as they walked past the desk and heard the siren go off. They grinned as several guards rushed onto the scene with their guns drawn upon him. Tipping his bowler hat, his eyes twinkled in delight. "All right, time for a new legend to be born! Roman Torchwick is back in business, fellas!"
"And this time, I'm taking it all!" Roman declared as Neo opened her parasol, deflecting several shots fired at him before he held his cane over the parasol and fired, the flare erupting from his cane.
Roman glared into the emerald eyes of Neo as the blast ripped through the hallway, sending guards flying without any protection from the blast itself. Roman and Neo strolled through the carnage, their eyes focused on the path ahead as they quickly made their way through, following the simple points on Neo's parasol.
"Pathetic, this is the best they could keep me contained with?" Roman glowered at the lack of guard as Neo quickly dropped the next few that tried to stop them, hurtled towards them, and opened Hush towards them, spinning like a vortex and driving them into the wall.
She reservedly picked up her weapon as they walked by, heading down the stairs as he shook his head. "I feel insulted! How long was I the most notorious criminal there was in these parts?! And they are barely dedicating a fraction of their resources to me! Who could possibly be more dangerous in here than me? That bitch Emerald? Hardly! Just keep out of her range and follow your protocols!"
"I'm the true wildcard!" Roman pulled out his cane and just randomly shot his flare into the ceiling above the guards as they rushed to meet them at the bottom of the stairs, starting a fire for what seemed to be no reason. "I only did that because you assholes pissed me off! I'm Roman Torchwick! Where is a goddamn Huntsman! I deserve one on guard for what I've done throughout my history!"
While the first guard pulled the trigger, Neo opened her parasol to block the dust fire before she was on him, delivering a heel straight to his jaw. Roman followed behind, knocking the next guard's gun with a downward strike from his cane before quickly bringing it back up and slamming the head of the can into the man's jaw. And to make sure, he followed it with a double tap with two firm smacks to the head as he dropped him to the ground.
Neo took care of the other, flip-kicking the first with her heel catching him right in the nose, and using that to launch herself up and over the other guard that she grabbed with her parasol closed and gripped tightly around the throat. Roman drove his cane into his stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs. She casually tossed him into the other guard and grinned menacingly as they continued their path to freedom unabated.
"Is this really all you have?" Roman called out as he broke out the front doors, holding out his hands and looking around as if he expected more and was quite disappointed. "Can you call the Atlas General at the very least? Maybe he'll send a few droids here to make it look like you tried to put up some resistance!"
As they walked down the stairs, they found themselves at gunpoint. The rest of the guards trained their weapons on them from the courtyard, while snipers aimed from above as well. Yet they did not seem to notice our care as Neo grinned as she held a very simplistic device in her hand with a red button.
It was a detonator.
She clicked it, and the guards were all sent flying back as explosions ripped through the complex. The snipers were barely able to stay in their towers. The courtyard was filled with explosions as guards were lifted from the shockwaves yet not caught in the blasts themselves. The gates burst open, and the guardsman at the helm was forced to abandon his post as it went up in flames.
Yet somehow, both she and Roman remained completely unharmed through the exchange from where they stood. All the guards groaned in pain as their eardrums were shot and rang but were otherwise intact despite powerful explosions being used and planted all over the prison.
Neo grinned wildly as Roman whistled, impressed as they walked through, seeing not a single person was laid to waste. "Impressive. I could use that kind of planning and prep more often. We are going to make for a wonderful team!"
Strolling out the front gates, seeing an open-air four-wheel vehicle that he just knew would be the choice, considering the person he was with, he caught the keys and rolled his eyes. "How did you even get it here… Better not to ask that question. I don't want to know what your driving skills are like."
Hopping into the driver's seat and hearing the engine's purr, Roman almost sighed contently as it had been a long time coming to do something like this again. "This feels right… It's time to show this world what it has been missing and start this party! First stop, let's find where that money flows from the drug trafficking, shall we?"
Checking her nails in the passenger seat to ensure everything was fine, Roman twitched at the sight of Neo. "Okay, you are playing the role too well! If you kiss me, I'm throwing you out of the jeep! It's getting creepy!"
Neo smirked as Roman hit the gas, pulling out at blistering speeds. The wind blew through their hair as she caught his bowler hat on reflex, putting it on her head with a smile. Roman frowned and sighed, and shook his head.
"You know, in hindsight… That makes a lot of sense considering she designed that hat. It would have made sense on her." Roman sighed and shook his head before his eyes glistened with purpose. "But now I have all the more reason to ensure that the one percent pay…."
"Trivia was made into what she was by her parents… And while they may be dead, others like them exist and have the same power and influence just like the Schnee asshole, and while I'm going to get mine… I'm done fucking around."
"Time to watch their world burn!"
As the sun slowly rose in the distance, darkness still dominated the land as their fishing boat struggled through the currents, but they slowly approached the island. They had been taking shifts throughout the night, so no one was overworked by paddling the oars through the ocean's currents. Now it was Weiss' turn as she struggled to stay on course.
Blake narrowed her eyes as she got a better look at the island as they got closer. Even if it was still too far away to get to at this time. She noticed that it was rather rocky and cliff-heavy. She felt a general sense of unease as she scanned around, looking for any possible place where her mate could be. And now, with the heavy stench of salt in the air, she couldn't make any traces of his scent if he did come this way or not. "Despite being a small island, he could be anywhere here, and the cliffs here don't make this any easier. Wait…"
And then she saw something that looked artificial in the distance, and she was struggling to make out the shape on the top of a cliff since it was still quite far away…
"My scroll stopped." Ruby frowned as she raised her scroll and showed the map screen no longer working before she stuttered a question. "Is there interference?"
"Weiss, stop. I think I see a tower on top of that cliff, so that might be what it is…." Blake frowned, as that wasn't normal to be on an island this far out as Weiss stopped paddling. "Something feels off... I fear we've made a mistake. Why did I think he would come out here just because he was mad at me and wanted to get away from me? He wouldn't do something like this… I'm an idiot!"
"I believe you are right, and we were all in a panic and not thinking properly due to everything that had just happened... Why would he come out this way? Yes, we learned he can walk on water recently, and you caught his scent from this direction…." Weiss started with a frown as she couldn't think why he would come out in this direction.
Something foul was afoot.
"But it makes no sense why he would come here. I think it would make more sense if he went into Vale first and still worked on the plan despite being angry... He channels his emotions into his work." Weiss finished and gazed at the island as she recognized they had committed a mistake too.
"We need to go back." Ruby agreed before all three suddenly lurked forward on the boat as a massive wake surged into their small boat and nearly flipped it over.
And Weiss screamed as she felt her arms nearly be pulled out of her socket as the oars were violently dragged into the wake that moved under their boat. A massive black body traveled beneath them. All three of their eyes widened seeing the enormous creature and realized what it was. "Grimm! Out here?!"
"A sea-borne Grimm that's big?" Blake yowled as she drew Shroud and was ready for a fight before recognizing how much trouble they were in as it began to circle their tiny vessel, pounding it with the ocean, knowing it didn't need to do anything else. "It has to be a Sea Feilong! It's too large for a Carcharias* and too thin to be Alpha!"
"We need to get to the beach! We can't fight here!" Weiss cried out as the boat could barely stay above the wake it was creating by swimming around them as they were doused in the salt water and barely staying afloat. "We are at a serious disadvantage! Fighting will only get the boat destroyed faster, and then we'll have to swim all the way, and we're doomed for sure! Do you think we can make it if we make a break for it? We're fast enough that a single jump should carry us most of the way!"
"Too far from land!" Ruby cried as she drew Crescent Rose, transformed it into a rifle, looked through the scope to check the distance, and growled as she could see nothing nearby either. "We won't make it! It will catch us!"
"We'd be sitting ducks then! Our weapons aren't designed to be used for paddles, and swimming isn't an option! We must do everything in our power to force it out of the water and fight it! It's our only chance!" Blake roared as she transformed Shroud into pistol form and fired a few shots into the water, trying to get its attention.
Ruby seemed to agree and took potshots with her rifle since her rounds got a bit further. Weiss was still not convinced of this plan but gritted her teeth as she looked for options. The saltwater would resist freezing with sigils and even with her speed boosts. She wasn't sure if anyone could get close enough to the island and have a chance to outswim the beast.
Fighting seemed to be the only option, but that was even worse as with one hit, they could lose their only platform to stand on. They would be forced into its territory.
The Grimm was at a serious advantage, and the only thing she could think of was…
Standing on the teetering boat as Blake and Ruby tried taking potshots at the Sei Feilong, trying to get to come out of the water, struggling to do so due to the wakes constantly causing the boat to tremor, Weiss found her balance. If it was possible on a vertical surface, and he had demonstrated that walking on was possible…
That meant, in theory…
Timing the wake, she made her move.
"Weiss, what are you doing?!" Blake screamed as she saw Weiss leap out of the boat, and her body turned cold as she saw the dragon-like head of Feilong rise at that exact moment out of the water as if it was waiting for something like this.
"No!" Ruby turned, tried to brace herself, and fired her Crescent Rose toward the massive head that shot out of the water but moved with such speed that her bullet hit the long snake-like body instead.
Blake wildly fired, and her shots were often off-target, but a few managed to hit. However, she slowly began to drop Shroud as her eyes widened as the Feilong crashed nearby the boat at the exact spot where Weiss jumped into the water. The wake's force flipped her and Ruby out into the saltwater.
Gasping for air as she struggled for breath and fought against the currents and wake, she found the overturned boat and grasped for it. Pulling herself up with a mighty heave, she panted from the struggle while the ship shifted, and Ruby managed to grab a hold and get out of the water. But her silver eyes were focused on something else and drew her attention…
And Blake's eyes widened as she saw Weiss…
Weiss barely stayed afloat but kept in sync with the torrential currents of the ocean. Her icy gaze focused on the roaring Sea Feilong as it burst from the depths once more, seeing an opponent challenge it.
This was far more challenging than she could have ever imagined. It was similar to walking up a vertical surface. The principle, however, was exponentially more complex. She could barely keep track of the ever-changing surface she was trying to walk on. Not to mention the drain she felt on her aura from staying afloat…
Just how Naruto made this look so easy was a simple feat on its own. She understood that chakra was different in principle, but they have proven it fundamentally had similar qualities, allowing some exercises like tree climbing to be practiced... But this was absurdly difficult!
She was sure you were meant to start with a more accommodating body of water, but she was thrown into the deep end in a life-or-death situation…
"It's like tree climbing! You have to adjust to an ever-moving surface!" Weiss called out as the Feilong made its move.
Its wings flapped and darted towards her, forcing her to draw Myrtenaster. She just managed to get a good enough push; she jumped right out of the way fast enough to be knocked back and into the water by the large Grimm as he tried to swallow the huntress whole. He paid the price for it. Roaring back, the right side of his maw was sliced open as Weiss splashed into the ocean and black smoke ruptured from its wound.
"Weiss!" Ruby and Blake cried out before she burst off the overturned vessel with her semblance, and Blake jumped off, attempting to do as Weiss instructed.
It didn't work out as planned, as she fell straight through the water's surface.
"Mother fu…!" Blake's scream was short as she splashed into the ocean before she managed to slowly rise, slowly getting it from underneath and pushing herself up until she managed the ocean's surface as she coughed up seawater as she charged the Feilong, stumbling on the water's surface with her speed dramatically reduced. "How does he make this look so natural?!"
Ruby was on the Feilong instantly, Crescent Rose transforming into its scythe form, bringing down her blade and slicing through its body with relative ease. She growled in annoyance as she wanted to cut off its head. It was simply too fast. So landing on its body, she was ready to race down it when it flicked its long snake-like body upward, sending her airborne far higher than she would have liked.
"This isn't from the heavens!" Ruby stumbled over her words as she didn't like where she was with how high she got sent up, and she saw it dive into the water below as Blake sliced at it with her kusarigama.
"If it keeps going under, it will drain us dry of aura!" Weiss cried out as she was getting tired and fast while she pulled herself back up, wheezing laboriously as she tracked it from underneath before her eyes widened, seeing where it was headed. "Not the boat!"
"No!" Ruby screamed from above as she transformed Crescent Rose and fired helplessly as the Feilong ruptured through their only hope of salvation.
It shattered to pieces as the massive dragon burst through. It surfaced again and blew everyone back from a shockwave as two grand wings grew from its fins. It then flew straight at Ruby with its mouth open, electricity building within before a bolt of lightning burst out and knocked her out of the sky. Evading the first bolt, Ruby cursed as she tried diving down and streamlining her body to avoid the next several shots. However, her luck ran out.
"Eat a bag of dick!" Rose stuttered angrily over her words, putting Crescent Rose up front to absorb some of the current and using her aura to blunt the rest of the damage as it struck her, sizzling her and frying some of her nerves regardless.
"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as Blake took advantage of the Feilong's position, as it flew back down to the water's surface.
Blake opted for her double-blade form of Shroud as a cleaver and wakizashi as she jumped at the water dragon Grimm as it tried to submerge once more, cutting deeply into the side of its neck and slicing through the membrane and cartilage of its left wing. It didn't make it through cleanly, but the Grimm shrieked underwater as the bubbles began, and she heard Ruby splash into the water.
She growled as it seemed to be diving deeper, knowing it was playing the waiting game at this time. Her aura was depleting fast just trying to stay up, and if she had to shield a hit or two, it would be an issue. She could tell Ruby was struggling now as she was treading water, waiting for it to come back up before she even considered standing up for a fight.
The Feilong seemed to sense this and chased after Ruby. She cursed as she was not in a position to defend herself as she tried to swim out of the way. Recognizing it wasn't going to be enough, she transformed Crescent Rose back into scythe form. At the last second, she shot it into the air to blow herself away. This was so she wasn't caught in its maw as she jumped back onto the water's surface and gave the Grimm a special salute.
Weiss used her glyph to instantly jump into the fray and drive Myrtenaster into the skull of the Feilong. Her eyes glistened with fury as ice crystals temporarily froze around the Grimm and kept it in place. It roared in pain and shattered the ice as it flung Weiss back. Blake came with another double slice and cut through the neck, further opening a large gash as it knocked her back and into the ocean.
"Ruby, finish it!"
"Got it!" Ruby cried as she burst towards the opening with her semblance, dragging Crescent Rose behind her and catching the Feilong's weakened throat with it. "Time to end this!"
Firing Rose once more, Ruby activated her semblance as she felt her aura nearly drain, but as roses fell from the sky from above…
Black smoke coated the ocean as her scythe ripped through the Feilong's, and its head rolled off its body, dumping into the sea as its snake-like body slithered and flailed wildly around, its body slowly disintegrating as it sank to the depths.
Splashing back into the ocean, Ruby felt every muscle in her body ache as she desperately tried to reach the surface. Every stroke was painful, but it felt good…
This is what it felt like to be a heroine and save the day. Maybe this time it was only their lives, but the next time… It would be something far greater. More importantly…
It was finally her. She finally got to do it with the help of her friends. Together they did. A part of her felt like… It was always supposed to be this way.
Breaking the water's surface and gasping for air, Ruby tiredly looked around to see that the island was just so far away. But as Blake and Weiss swam to her side, she smiled. "We did it…."
"Yes, Ruby. Well done." Blake smiled as she let out a small laugh of relief now that the situation was over. "Let's get out of here… That island is our only means to salivate now; at least we know there is a tower there…."
"So there has to be some form of communication." Weiss sighed as she was barely treading water as it was. "First thing I'm planning to do is rest… This has been a long night."
"Me too…" Ruby's eyes widened as something was skidding towards them on the water's surface. "A boat!"
"You're kidding me? Out here?" Blake growled as this seemed almost too convenient as the vessel skidded toward them. "I know some structures out here seem man-made, but…."
But as the boat skidded by and started to slow down near them, Weiss wanted to cry in relief before she began to panic. "Oh no… I recognize the symbol on that boat. It's Merlot Industries."
"What? Isn't that the name of the company that…" Blake yowled out as she recognized the name before the smaller passenger boat stopped before them, and two armed guards held their rifles straight at the three Huntress. And worst of all…
There was a white droid holding a Gatling gun straight at them.
And they were exhausted in the ocean with very few options.
Blake gritted her teeth as she spat, while Ruby glared at them and Weiss glowered. "You assholes! We're lost at sea here!"
"Hand over your weapons, and we will kindly assist you then. Dr. Merlot has taken quite an interest in you three after witnessing your show." A middle-aged woman with deep red hair, wearing a lab coat over a long black skirt and white blouse. "So if you would kindly hand them over… I would prefer if we got started right away."
"What do you mean started right away?" Blake hissed as her ears twitched violently as they were pulled out of the water one by one, a gun trained on each of them as they were.
She would have tried something, but given how exhausted they were, she wasn't entirely sure she could pull off a coup and take out a guard without someone getting hurt or shielding herself from a shot at the moment with her aura. Then there was the droid…
It was a rough spot to be in, and it seemed the woman knew it. They were being toyed with, and she delighted in their misery!
She growled in her throat as she drew Shroud and her sheath and unwillingly handed them to the guard, her golden eyes glistening with hatred.
Weiss followed suit, flipped Myrtenaster the handle in her grasp, and handed it to the guard closest to her. But her icy blue eyes burned through his vision as she snarled as he took it.
Ruby hesitantly followed their lead, as Crescent was her baby, transforming it into its sheathed form. She narrowed her eyes as she gave away her chief means of defense against these men and this woman as she only smiled at them.
The scientist beamed at the sight of all three of them being so obedient. Unlike all her last subjects.
And her emerald eyes sparkled behind her glasses as she looked at the three soaked and half-drowned Huntresses and smiled. "With our experiments, of course, dear. I mean, we are willing to let you swim to the island where you'll have to deal with it, but at least this way, we'll give you a fighting chance and some rest."
"Dr. Merlot may want subjects, but I prefer you to be in peak condition before testing begins in case one of you happens to be what I am looking for."
Sighing as he returned home, seeing the sun rising over the horizon, Naruto wasn't sure how he wanted to handle the upcoming situation. Jacques used the wedding ceremony as just a ceremony, which was genius. He was a step ahead, forcing him into an awkward position.
Having already made plans to falsify the documentation and having an in with the Vale council, he was guaranteed protection at the very least. He just needed one more vote on the Remnant council, and they would be at a stalemate at the very least. So it would just come down to Mistral's and Vacuo's diplomats on the world council, who were supposed to be unbiased and judge things strictly based on Hunter's resume…
But he knew lien talked and Dust was power, and Jacques had plenty of both to spare, so…
So he needed something like what was about to happen to open the world's eyes to what he was about. It would also show Remnant what he was capable of and what he had done for Vale already. He wanted to target Atlas next, but Ironwood suggested he target after Vacuo due to their neutrality…
But he really wanted to tear Jacques down, and it just supported everything he needed to get out of his way…
Naruto sighed. He understood Blake's point or at least the point he thought she was trying to make. Even with the move he had made, it was still a long-term move, and while it could cause some rapid results to cash in…
This was not one he expected to come to fruition right now. Maybe if he had released Roman sooner but didn't pull that trigger as he wasn't entirely confident in Roman as he was in Trivia. While she had Roman as a buffer and came to listen and respect him too, Roman was just…
Well, he chose to side with him as he saw him as the winning side in this, and he was a gambling man, as he called himself. That also seemed to fit Trivia, now that he thought about it. She loved playing cards and wanted to go to casinos in her free time…
It was just how… Blake had shut him out of the decision that bothered him. And that they had just come to a similar decision earlier in the day, although they had far more time to discuss that decision. Yang had been hitting on him for some time, and now that she showed sexual interest in Blake, it made a few more things make sense…
Weiss was in a different situation. He understood that. Her feelings and where they came from surprised him too, but it made sense why she was so attracted to him initially and didn't immediately recognize why. She wasn't sure herself as it was a buried memory that probably had much pain attached to it.
And yes, he shared some level of friendship and attraction for her. He wouldn't put himself out like this to protect anyone. She was a precious friend to him, and his friends were the only family he understood. Whatever kept him from reverting back to those days of loneliness... He treasured each person like they were the most precious thing in his life.
…Attraction?
Naruto frowned at his thought as he ruminated on it. There was a bit of a spark there. He admitted that they had a surprising amount in common despite being worlds apart status-wise. He grew up the closest thing to being a street rat; she was basically a princess.
It was the desert princess fairy tale, now that he thought about it. He swore there was a film made about it, and Blake was clamoring for him to bring it home for them to watch on his movie night choice this week…
Despite that, they grew up very lonely, and while she had a few more family relationships, she was cold and distant from everyone due to her upbringing. On the other hand, he was always lonely and didn't get that interaction until later in his life while she was growing cold.
He also always had a thing for kind of body type since Sakura always did it for him…
Exhaling, exhausted and tired from everything and wanting to talk everything out with Blake now that he had time to think as he vented some of his frustration, Naruto started to walk a tad more quickly to his house. This was something that they needed a day to sit down and talk about…
"Hey! There you are!" Liam, the head of Ghira's guard, motioned over for Naruto before running over to the fox faunus, who was surprised as they hardly even spoke to him during their duration outside of possible fortifications that could be made.
They liked the idea of another village being established here and another haven for faunus. The dream of living in a village that was mixed with humans without any oppression was the dream that most people wished to achieve. They didn't want segregation or oppression. They wanted to be treated fairly and regarded as equals, living amongst everyone without it being seen as weird or wrong.
So something like that… Was something they wanted to get behind.
"What's going on?" Naruto raised an eyebrow as the ape faunus rushed over to him, seemingly in a hurry, and noticed the other two guards were not there. "Where is everyone at that moment?"
"Sir Belladonna set out looking this morning for everyone when no one returned last night," Liam reported as Naruto's eyes narrowed at hearing that bit of information and growled. "After you left that magical swirl of yours, Blake bolted out of the house, and the rest of Huntress have been prowling the island searching for you, but no one has returned. They thought something might have happened."
"Wait, you told her I left like that, correct?" Naruto deeply growled in frustration as she should have known there would be no way to track or follow him after her Body Flickered from the area.
"I tried, but she bolted from the area too quickly, sir." Liam grimaced as he could feel the heated pressure and the deathly stare piercing into his eyes only being intensified. "She never came back, but I did manage to tell one of the others, though!"
"Thank god… They'll be able to tell Blake, and she'll… Wait!" Naruto started to calm down and relax, knowing that if it was Weiss, everything would be explained, and Blake would return soon before his eyes widened. "Was it the girl with the black and red hair and a scythe you told?"
Liam felt the world's weight pressed onto his shoulders as the stare intensified beyond measure. He nervously let out a chuckle, and the fox's eyes narrowed as he realized what was happening. "Yes."
"Fuck me!" Naruto roared as he grabbed his temples and started to rub the knots building them, trying not to be infuriated as there was no way the faunus would have known. "You did your part, but you told the one person that has trouble communicating things due to issues out of her control!"
"Naruto?" Kali's voice came from inside as the door snapped open upon hearing his voice with her exceptional hearing, for she had stayed back in case someone returned home. "Thank the Brothers you came back… Now, if we can find where Blake is after hearing that argument."
"Wasn't so much an argument as it was a disagreement on how to handle something that we're getting screwed over by Weiss' oh-so-lovely father," Naruto bitterly responded before he pulled out his scroll and turned it on.
Kali winced as she could only imagine what that phone call could have been like remembering that was why he had left the table in the first place. He then continued with a slight sigh. "I decided I needed to cool down, and I ventured into town to take care of some work… So I'll try reaching Blake by scroll."
"What the…" Naruto frowned, getting a static response, and raised his eyebrow while Kali frowned, hearing that as her ears twitched at the sound. "That's not normal… That means she's in a place where there is no reception or it's being jammed… Where the hell is she?"
"Hey!" Taiyang called out as he and Ghira sprinted over and panted, having been looking for Ruby when she hadn't come home in the middle of the night as he expected. "I'm glad to see you're fine but… I just happened to pass by my shed and…."
"The doors busted open as if someone kicked them open. And his boat was missing." Ghira snarled at his daughter's disappearance, upset at the events that led to this. "I can't imagine why they would think you would venture to sea after the fight unless she was tracking your scent…."
"My scent?!" Naruto was alarmed at that assumption before he furrowed his brow and checked his pouch. "Did I lose anything of mine recently into the ocean by chance? I kept everything relatively sealed and safe in my pouch except…."
"Wait, where is my headband?!" Naruto roared as he rummaged through everything he had in his pouch and couldn't find it anywhere before he dumped the entirety of its contents.
His eyes narrowed dangerously as he was livid. That was one of his most treasured items, and he didn't seal it due to its value. Instead, he would bring it out to focus on it and remind him of what he was doing here. "I never lose that. Fate, you bitch! That's one thing I always have with me! That would do it! I wore that thing for years with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears poured into it! My stench is baked into that!"
"Oh no… That would explain a lot." Kali frowned as she saw her husband worry and how livid her daughter's mate was. "Blake is very headstrong, and once she thinks she is on the right course of action, she will take it no matter what… And if she thought she could smell you out there, she tried to track you down after everything that happened."
"In my fishing boat! That thing is barely meant to leave the harbor! It's not designed to get very far! Not to mention if they run into a Sea Feilong or a group of Carcharias, much less an Alpha, they're dead to rights in that thing out there! Grimm own the sea!" Taiyang grimaced at the horrors they could run from and could only pray.
Grimm on land was already problematic enough. Fighting them at sea was much more difficult on all fronts. They had the advantage no matter the situation.
Taking a deep breath and letting himself calm down, allowing the world to breathe through him, Naruto searched for Blake, Ruby, and Weiss' presence. It took a moment, but their aura was far weaker than usual, and they seemed exhausted. And…
"What the hell are they doing out there?!" Naruto's eyes snapped open, his eyes yellow as he looked around and saw an island in the distance. "That island over there has something on it, and they are deep inside it! It feels like they are in a cave system, a bunker, or something. And their aura is taxed and spent! Like they were just in a fight… And worse of all…."
"That island is full of Grimm! And some of them don't feel right!" Naruto growled at the end, picking up his scroll and making a call.
"Winter… I don't want to bother Ironwood for this, as I owe him enough at the moment and need to keep this down low as possible… But I need a pilot and Bullhead, and I couldn't think of anyone better for the job."
Taking a deep breath of fresh air as she stepped outside for the first time in a few days, she sighed contentedly. She carried a small bag with her medication and her old outfit. She still planned on wearing it occasionally, just not as much anymore, as a valid point was made.
She needed to protect her modesty more. So she'd wear that when she wasn't planning on heading anywhere and staying home and for sparring, so she didn't accidentally come flying open again.
Yang wasn't sure she could survive Blake mauling her if she exposed herself in front of Naruto again. She wasn't sure if she could survive Naruto if she tried to come out to Blake again. He seemed genuinely upset at that, which she couldn't blame him for...
Regardless, she had taken steps to try and reduce some of the issues. She couldn't cover up her sexiness, but she was smoking hot, and they knew it. That's all that mattered. They didn't want to see her that way, and that was fair, and she needed to stop coming onto them.
It would also help get her dad off her case of being jailbait, so…
Yang now wore a tan jacket with darker brown short sleeves, an orange lining, gold edging, and a thick collar that completely encircled her neck. She purposely left it partially unzipped as she showed off some of her assets. She was also showing off a glimpse of the orange crop top she wore underneath with the smallest amount of cleavage visible.
This was to maximize her appeal. It was her most attractive asset, and she flaunted it, demanding attention. She now could zip up and hide that attention, and she found it a tad more desirable when she ventured out to public places where sleazeballs were rampant. She didn't want them anywhere near her.
She wore black pants after ditching the tiny shorts that her father always complained about, and felt a lot more comfortable, to be honest. No longer would guys try to rub their creepy hands against her thighs in bars, or at least she wouldn't feel them against her bare skin again before she knocked their teeth in…
A brown belt fastened her pants and had what appeared to be leather coattail pieces attached to it to give the illusion that she was sporting a long coat. She wore knee-high brown boots; on her left knee, she had a purple bandana tied to it. And the last part of her outfit was the fingerless gloves she wore just under the tan bracers.
So sliding on her aviator sunglasses, Yang almost purred as she saw her baby waiting for her in the parking lot.
Purring as she slid her leg over the top and turned the engine on, Yang let the rumble fill her entire being and shake her for a moment. She let out a deep sigh of relief. She then stopped and blushed profusely as a sensation came to her, and she recognized it. "By the Brothers! That's why I like riding! Fuck me!"
"Well, Bumblebee… At least you treat me right! Not at all like the other jerks!" Yang laughed lightly as she patted her bike handle before softly running her hand across it till she reached the throttle. "I'm pretty hungry, in any case… Wonder if any burger joints are open this early?
"Ah, I'll find one somewhere!" Yang commented with a grin as she kicked up the brake and handle as she pulled out of the parking lot, for once not peeling out and staining the ground with rubber.
When she hit the open road, she sighed contently as the wind began to whip through her hair, soothing her and making all her troubles go away. She tamed the raw power beneath her that hummed and waited to be unleashed.
If it could only always be like this.
"Wonder if I should grab everyone a burger to… Better call them when I get there and get everyone's order. It's the least I can do." Yang grinned as she thought of a place that would be open and wouldn't be too far out of the way on the drive home.
Sighing contently at the feel, she picked up the speed wanting to sate her hunger but, more importantly…
To get home and see everyone where they were supposed to be.
Moving through a large but darkly lit hallway filled with pipes that occasionally oozed a blue liquid, Blake hissed as she pushed in the back. She tried to wiggle her arms free from the bindings that tied them behind her back, but the struggle was fruitless.
She was restrained along with Ruby and Weiss as they were led along by the guards down this forsaken dump of a facility that was filled with crates. And in some of those crates, she yowled at the sites of Grimm within them.
Beowolf. Beringel. Boartusk. Cenitaur. Creeps. Lancers. Mini Deathstalkers. Ravagers. Sabyr. Ursa.
So many different types of Grimm were kept within this facility. Her mind was disturbed, and she was unable to grasp why they were here with them. She could tell Ruby and Weiss were also unnerved by the sight of so many Grimm being disarmed. Thankfully the Grimm were unable to break free of their containment.
Being shoved again, Blake wanted to retaliate and strike the man with a kick to his skull. She knew she could drop him before he could react, and her teammates' reaction time would be fast enough to help take out the other guard. Maybe even take the scientist hostage, but now there were two androids following behind them.
One red, one white.
While the guards would be easy to take care of, they would be the issue as taking on a droid with a dual-ended glaive and one with a Gatling gun while bound and without her weapon was not ideal. Not to mention her aura was still recovering from the battle with the Sea Feilong. She didn't think she could withstand a hit from the glaive and the gun would shred them.
This was a disastrous situation, and she cursed for letting her emotions get the better of her. She just had to try and track Naruto down for thinking she smelled him out in the open ocean… What was she thinking?!
And the woman was just so smug as she led them, humming a tune that only she knew as she led the way. She seemed to have a skip in her step, and it just irked her further. Add in that she seemed to stop at every pod and irritate the Grimm inside, and studying its reaction just made the situation worse.
They were simply specimens in her eye.
Coming to several doors, they finally came to a stop. She opened the door on her left to reveal a brightly lit room filled with various medical supplies. Quickly gathering a few vials and syringe needles, the redhead scientist motioned them over. "Come, bring them over. I need samples of their blood before we just let Merlot mindlessly throw them into the pit test against his superior subjects. We must see if they possess the correct gene for New Horizon Project."
Feeling the gun push against the back of her head again, Blake yowled before she snapped back and kicked the gun out of the guard's hand. She then snapped it into his face. Weiss responded immediately, seeing the more open environment, and she hip-checked into the guard behind her while Ruby dashed over, jumped, and threw her right knee into his face.
"HOSTILITY DETECTED." The white droid spoke as his turret began to spin on his gat and pointed right at all three of them, their eyes widening as the red droid moved far faster than something of that size should have been capable of and jumped between the doctor and the Huntresses. "ELIMINATING TARGETS."
"That won't be necessary." The scientist spoke and snapped her fingers as several turrets emerged from the walls and floors in the room, activated, and took aim at the huntresses. "I think they know they are in no position to fight back. At any moment, they could have been terminated or, worse, they could have been left in the ocean to drown or fight more Grimm the moment they arrived on the island. Merlot would have started releasing them to test his subjects right away instead of showing patience."
Yowling in displeasure and not seeing a situation where this might work well, Blake walked forward before turning to offer her tied right arm to the scientist. "Do it."
"Thank you. At the very least, you can provide useful test data for me here and perhaps extend your lives for many years." The redhead scientist gleamed at the prospect of her project finally coming to fruition as she wiped down a spot on the faunus' arm, finding the vein and sticking her with ease. "While we only identified the gene, we haven't found any test subjects to survive any attempts, and if one of you possesses it, you surely will be strong enough to do so!"
Drawing the blood into the vial she needed, the redhead grinned, removed the vial, and labeled it before taking the needle out. She motioned for Ruby or Weiss to step forward. Blake yowled as she was left to bleed freely as the woman seemed to only care about the extraction and nothing more. "Yeah, leave me to bleed in a facility full of Grimm. That won't excite them and target any of us."
"Oh, they are all contained very well unless Merlot gets too frisky and can't wait to test his new subjects again… Then we're all in a bit of trouble as the man can be a bit of a megalomaniac." The scientist grinned as she prepared a replacement needle for Ruby as she walked up next and prepped her arm. "And if they are excited, that's all the better if one of you is fit for the New Horizon Project I've been trying to get off the ground for years desperately."
And Ruby winced as the needle was inserted into her arm and the redhead's eyes sparkled as she drew the blood into her vial. "We've finally found a gene that certain individuals have that gives them immunity to the Grimm's vial blood, finally allowing us to cross-test! To see if we can create a brand-new species of man!"
"A human-Grimm hybrid is finally a possibility! All we need is one to be bred!"
"At approximately four-fifteen this morning here at Vale Northern Penitentiary, the infamous criminal..." The TV behind the bar droned on, but he honestly didn't care all that much.
He complained about it to the barista behind the bar as he sat at his small table, glaring at his cup before him. "Can you turn that down?! Hard enough to drink this stuff without loading it with whiskey…."
"Hangover killing you again, I take it." The woman responded to the man known to be a drunk around these parts, smiling as she turned down the TV as it wasn't all too impertinent to her job anyways.
Who cared if someone broke out of jail? Sooner or later, the Gale Fox would catch and bust them. He had become something of a guardian for Vale.
"I wish…" The drunk sighed a bit as the barista giggled while he took a shaky sip as his palms were sweaty. "Feels more like I'm detoxing… Haven't had a drink in a few days, and it is the worst."
"Yeah, you do look a bit shot. Just thought it was a serious hangover." The barista frowned, noting that this wasn't the first time she had served the man as he frequented the coffee shop rather often in the past two months.
He did look unsightly, that he would admit. He was visibly pale, sweat dripping from every pore of his skin as his body craved a drop of alcohol. His eyes were bloodshot, and veins were visible on his visible skin as he shivered, suffering through withdrawal.
Qrow needed a drink, but he refused to let Raven win.
She called him out, and the hell if he was about to break! He'd show her he could stay off the booze!
"I would have asked for the smallest shot of something if I wasn't trying to prove a point…." Qrow growled as he thought of his sister before he gave the barista a kind smile. "So whatever you do, don't pick on your little brother at home! He might end up doing things like this later in life to spite you and prove to you that you're wrong!"
"Okay…" The barista was flabbergasted and didn't know how to respond with anything other than a sweat drop.
Thankfully she didn't have to as the bell on the door rang as a customer entered the door, and she turned her attention to focus on the person. "Welcome! What can I get for you?"
"Ah, what a lovely quaint place you got here. I'll have one of the house specials, medium. Four shots, if you would. Going to be a long day." A dapper man with a cane spoke as he tipped his bowler hat at the woman, grinning as he found the person he was looking for before placing the lien on the counter. "Keep the change."
"Oh, right away." The barista happily took the purchase order and the lien before quickly getting to work on the cup.
"Is this seat taken?" The dapper man asked, his grin never fading as he tempted Fate herself as he stood before the Huntsman unafraid.
Qrow narrowed his eyes at the man that stood before him before giving a deep sigh and waving his hands. "Sure, whatever. My fortune tells me I know where this is heading after seeing that bit on the news."
"Ah, good, we can leave it out then." Roman continued to grin as he took the seat, flipped his cane up, and sat it on the table before him. "Since we already know each other, there is no need for introductions or pleasant formalities, and we can get straight to business."
"And what possible business could the two of us have?" Qrow raised an eyebrow at the suavely dressed man before him as he took a drink from his cup, believing he needed something more now to pair along with it. "I don't see a business venture between the two of us due to what we are. Me a Huntsman. You, about to have a bounty placed on your head once more…."
"How about it more as a mutual transaction, then? After all, I will often be working with you from now on." Roman's grin never left as the barista brought his cup to him. "Thank you, doll! Ah, the aroma is just so decadent! If only Trivia were here to share this experience with us today… She fancied herself at being a barista when she put her mind to it."
Qrow twitched at the whole exchange but more specifically…
The working together and often part. That could only mean one thing.
So waiting until the barista was ready to serve the next customer that walked in, Qrow grunted under his breath. "Don't you tell me… My luck isn't that bad."
"Oh, it seems so, my good chum." Roman didn't let off the gas as he took a sip of his coffee, and his eyes gleamed with mirth. "So whether you like it or not, you will have to deal with my morally questionable actions. In the end, it doesn't matter to me as long as we come out on top and I get my share…."
"I want those rich bastards to burn, and I know where to start as here is a trade secret, my good friend. I just talked to an old friend who was dealing with the VR-6 series before the new synthetic hit the market and drowned out the old one." Roman took another drink of his coffee as he already had been busy hitting the streets digging up information.
Qrow's eyes lit up with surprise when he heard about the older drug series that had now been driven into obscurity due to its more potent, faster acting, and cheaper alternative in the VR-7 series. Then there was the news of what happened to Naruto and the girls…
"A mutual transaction, you say?" Qrow pondered his options and decided to give the convict a chance.
Somehow, if possible, the grin on Roman's face widened and irritated Qrow further. It was as if he was testing him like a specific other person was. "Ah, you see, I hear you have an extraordinary ability about you that most others don't know about that makes you nearly unidentifiable in most circumstances…."
"And that will be quite useful in the upcoming week as I need to gather information fast. I have any chance of trying to meet this week's deadline I have, which I was told I did not have to meet but… I want to screw over that man's plans, so I feel encouraged to do so." Roman explained his part while sipping his cup of coffee, leaving the corvid fuming.
"He gave you… The information about what I can become?" Qrow gritted his teeth in annoyance at his current ally and his daughter's friend. "His honesty is biting him in the ass if he did such a thing..."
"No, I already knew from my work with Cinder as they were always weary around birds. He confirmed it." Roman's emerald eyes glistened with confidence. "So my corvid friend, I need your assistance in gathering information on a particular man from Mistral who should be in a town now for the Vytal festival. Vester Gold."
"The Mistral Remnant Council member?" Qrow whispered under his breath as he narrowed his eyes and glared straight into Roman's. "You are out of your mind..."
"Not if it means proving he's part of a collusion scheme and behind the VR-7 production line, as I'm so inclined to believe," Roman commented as he took another sip. "My informant wasn't able to give much, but he did note that VR-7 started there and since Naruto's little assassin had his name in that room where she signed her contract…."
"You are still out of your mind." Qrow interrupted with narrowed eyes. "With a better point now, but he's not going to have his guard down here, especially if they just killed one of their own in the streets of Vale while he was here. Not to mention Ironwood's droids are constantly on guard… Oh."
"That is even better! Now you're getting it!" Roman grinned as he clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Think about all the data that could have been collected and what we could learn. Any possible place where they could be storing or making VR-7 could be in his conversations!"
"Just what do you hope to get out of this?" Qrow scowled as he kept his gaze locked on the criminal mastermind in front of him. "I didn't trust her either, but I was proven wrong about her… You, on the other hand…."
"Oh, I am getting exactly what I want from this arrangement." Roman's eyes twinkled before he put down his still-full cup of coffee, which caught Qrow's attention. "All my life, I've just wanted to survive and get my own, but you know what's better than that… Taking everything from those stuck-up, arrogant people up top that make us suffer down below while they have all the power."
Lifting his cane, Roman's eyes glared daggers as he held straight at the barista, who looked a bit off-put. "Now, doll, call your boss if you wouldn't mind. I need to talk to the man as it has been a long time since he and I had a good chat. Next time, try Rohypnol. It has no odor when released and dissolved into a drink."
"It seems I'm going to have to remind everyone just who the hell I am?" Roman growled at the barista while Qrow grabbed the cup and caught the whiff of what Roman had smelled, and while not surprised, he felt a bit dubious for not realizing this young woman was capable of something like that.
"Might want to do it. You tried to apprehend someone clearly out of your league and is notoriously known for leaving collateral in his wake," Qrow commented as he knew the man's reputation well enough for collateral damage in escape attempts. "Why do you think I'm being civil? I would rather not risk the damages; as of now, the risks outweigh any possible rewards."
"See, doll? The Huntsman agrees. Now be a smart girl and go make that call." Roman grinned as the barista nervously nodded and turned to the back to place her call. "Now I do hope we can make this simple arrangement of ours work, after all… He only has a week since the plans have been moved ahead of schedule."
"A week… What are you talking about… Son of a bitch." Qrow started before he let out a deep sigh and drank the rest of his coffee. "Dammit… First, my sister, then this, and now that gets thrown onto my plate too. My luck is not doing any favors for anybody. This place might spontaneously catch fire if you stay around for too long."
"One can only hope. Then I can't be blamed for it since it will most likely come back on my head regardless." Roman grinned as he put down his cane and tossed his coffee careless to the side, not caring anymore about the place as he stood up. "Now that we have an agreement, I will let you go. I have business to attend to."
"Yeah… About that." Qrow sighed as he stood up as well and cracked his neck. "Can't exactly let you go. I am a Huntsman, after all. Whether or not you are working for us doesn't negate the fact that you are a wanted criminal. I have to bring you in."
Qrow was starting to hate that grin on Roman's face as the top of his cane popped open, and a small button appeared. "Naturally. That's why I'm always prepared."
A bright flash of light emitted through the room along with an ear-shattering bang as Qrow cursed as he covered his eyes while many more cries of surprise and anguish were heard throughout the coffee shop. "Fuck! A flashbang! When the hell did you set that up?"
"Till we meet again!" Roman's voice echoed from every direction as the ringing in his ears diluted what he could hear.
Stumbling forward like a drunk, something he was very familiar with, he tried to sense the man's aura but couldn't feel him anywhere. He stumbled into several people and through a few chairs and tables. "Fuck!"
Finally getting to the door and having some visual despite the blotches and blurs obscuring his sight, he snapped it open and looked all around him. But the well-dressed man could not be spotted anywhere, and he snarled.
"Well played… No wonder you managed to evade capture for so long." Qrow growled and if he had a hat, he would have tipped it to the better man in this exchange before sighing as he pulled out his scroll. "All right, Buckethead… Let's see what you have."
"Just why did he not come to us first and let that guy out… He's more trouble than he's worth."
Yang was getting progressively more frustrated as she pulled into her favorite burger stop, flipped off her engine, and was ready to go in. What kept her from stepping in was that she was on her scroll, flipping through everyone's numbers, and all she was reaching was static.
She called Ruby first, despite knowing she would be frustrated if she responded via text. However, it was something she was trying to force her sister to do anyways. Her therapist wanted her to try and speak as much as possible and not retreat into using technology to avoid her problems.
And she wanted to hear her sister's voice anyways.
So when she got static, that bothered her, so she tried Weiss, considering they were rooming with one another. So when there was the same issue, she was worried and went straight to Blake's as Naruto wasn't always consistent in answering his scroll. He had gotten better, but…
Same response. Fear was setting in as that wasn't normal. Why would all three be out of range? What was happening, and where were they? She was just about to dial Naruto to see if he would pick up when something caught her attention in the distance…
It looked like someone they had discussed yesterday after she mentioned the incident. A stout man dressed in all black, cloaked in a hood with what could hardly be described as a sword, carefully surveyed everything around him. He slipped into an alleyway heading down towards the docks nearby.
"Is that… him? That Jett guy?" Yang frowned as she couldn't get in contact with anyone.
Seeing someone who matched all of the descriptions of the person who beat her friends, she growled. This person could somehow, in some way, be connected to this strange set of events. This just irked her further. After slipping off her bike and putting up her aviator sunglasses, she stalked after him as she slid Ember Celica onto her wrists in case a fight broke out. "Has to be. That blade does make Yatsu's Fulcrum look tiny in comparison. This guy must be some monster as that thing is impractical as hell…."
Slipping into the alleyway after him, checking her surroundings as she did, Yang crouched and stayed low as she could. As they moved into the shipping yard, she knew she was at a natural disadvantage regarding stealth. Thankfully she was wearing a more muted color now, but her bright blonde hair shone brilliantly every time it got struck by the sunlight.
It made her question how Naruto was adept at being stealthy, but then she remembered his stupid secret ninja bullshit…
"I will learn it one day… Just you watch." Yang silently raged to herself as she tried to keep just within eyesight of the cloaked man while staying behind objects, and they came up to a large white boat with a few shipping crates being offloaded with a strange logo had the letter M written in the middle of it.
She swore she had seen it in her textbook but hardly remembered it. It had something to do with Mountain Glenn…
Yang's world came crashing down. Her scroll began to ring.
Her eyes widened in horror as the man flickered out of existence, and she cursed at her rotten luck. She forgot to turn it into silent mode! And, of course, of all the times he complained that she was gifted with lousy timing, Naruto was calling her now!
What was the irony in this?!
"Naruto!" Yang hissed into the scroll as quietly as she wanted to smash her head into the alley wall. "I think I had a lead on something here, and of all times, you call?!"
"What?!" Was the only intelligent thing that could come from the other end of the scroll. "Yang, I have no idea what the hell is going on over there, but we have an issue over here, and we need you back! Blake, Ruby, and Weiss appear to be trapped on an island in some kind of facility, surrounded by Grimm! At least that's what Winter's aerial report shows, and our scroll fell dead the moment she got near it!"
"What do you mean my sister is trapped and held hostage on an island full of Grimm?!" Yang growled under her breath with her eyes narrowed, and she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. "How did that happen? What did… Hey! Give that… How the hell did you get behind me?!"
Being stripped of her scroll, a relatively tall and stout man in black put Yang's scroll to his ear and spoke gruffly into it. "Do you happen to know if anyone else is being held there?"
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto barked out from the end of the line, and you could feel his heated breath. "Just why should I tell you anything and what happened to Yang?!"
"She's fine for now if she stays quiet." The man in black spoke in a flat, gruff tone that seemed to give it an air of menace. "She followed me into a shipyard where I was about to infiltrate a Merlot Industries ship to get access to that island. Now answer my question… Do you know if another person is being held on that island?"
"Merlot? The one that caused the Doctor that caused the Mountain Glenn incident?" Winter's voice spoke as she connected her scroll to the call. "From all of Ironwood and Ozpin's records, he perished in that incident, and his company seemingly folded."
"That doesn't seem to be the case." The man in black replied as he saw the ship and knew the logo. "If you wouldn't mind, I'm in a hurry. I'm looking for my daughter, and these men kidnapped her when I was busy dealing with the mess you all created, and she was sleeping."
"Daughter? Wait…" Naruto seemed puzzled from the other side momentarily before he let out a low growl. "Ebon Jett, I assume."
"We can deal with our issues later. I do not have the time for this. Do you or do you not know if my daughter is on that island?" Jett asked as his patience had worn thin with his voice having a slight edge.
There was silence on the other end of the scroll for a moment. Then Naruto spoke with a calm and neutral tone. "I can sense another within the facility… One with dual presences within them."
Growling, Jett nodded as he looked over at the boat and tossed the scroll back to Yang. "She's there then..."
"Girl, if you are coming, you better get on the boat now. It's probably going to be faster this way." Jett said as he started moving to the ship and looked for an opening to jump on board. "They won't be expecting two teams coming in until I get my daughter back safely…."
"We are allies."
"I WANT THAT BITCH'S HEAD!" Ruby screamed nearly without a stutter as she slammed her shoulder against her cell door repeatedly, her silver eyes aglow with frustration as she tried to force her way out of their confinement. "NOT FUCKING A GRIMM! ONLY WANT NARUTO!"
"Now is not the time for that, Ruby!" Blake roared from across the hall, being loud enough to be heard, and was very irate at what Ruby was screaming at the top of her lungs. "I hope none of us have that gene! But let's not focus on that right now! Escape should be our top priority now that we're on land! We at least have a fighting chance!"
"At least we're free to converse since it's only droids roaming our block!" Weiss called out as she could see out a small window out of the block in the door they were keeping her in. "I don't think these were meant as containment cells originally… Maybe we can force our way out somehow?! The doors seem very sturdy, though…."
"I'M TRYING!" Ruby grunted as she repeatedly threw herself against the door, growling as her head occasionally bonked against it.
"Ruby, enough! That's the most reinforced part of the cells! You're only liable to hurt yourself!" Blake growled as she looked around her cell and gathered what she could about the design. "Save your energy and focus. That's the most effective thing we can do for now. Wait for an opportunity to strike, as I don't see anything here that looks like it leads anywhere. I don't even have a toilet."
"What do they expect us to use?!" Weiss screamed as that thought made her very uncomfortable as she didn't have one in her cell. "I am not degrading myself by relieving myself on the ground! That is disgusting!"
"Never been camping." Ruby slyly commented from her cell while rubbing her shoulder as she looked around to see if anything was helpful, but it was useless.
Hanging her head, Ruby slid down against her door and gazed at the floor beneath her. She kicked her left leg out in defeat as she brought her right knee into her chest. The coldness of the concrete floor soaked through her thigh stocking, and her black skirt with red tulle underneath didn't provide warmth to her bare legs.
Everything she had was still soaked, and it was bitterly cold in here.
She shivered, rubbed her shoulders, and wished her white high-neck décolletage blouse wasn't soaked with briny seawater. It would take forever for the smell to disappear, and being soaked made her black corset with straps really tight on her chest.
It was a bit difficult to breathe, and she wanted to take it off.
So she settled on taking off her red cloak by unbuckling it, tossing it to the side, and readjusting her rose pendant. This was because she accidentally knocked it loose off the strap it was on. Frowning as she looked at it, she looked up at the ceiling and sighed dejectedly. "Blake… Sorry."
"Ruby?" Blake spoke with a softer tone but loud enough voice to reach, showing concern over the girl's tone.
"About Naruto." Ruby gazed emptily at the cold and grey ceiling above her before she found her voice and stammered through what she wanted to say. "Fantasizing. Wishing he chose me… On the day we met. Should have been…."
"He's what mom said to look for… To become… And what I desire." Ruby looked down, and her eyes darkened as she looked over at her black knee-high boots with red soles. "Confused. You're my friend… But I can't help it. He's… Everything I want. Want to be. Be with. …My hero."
"Ruby… Fuck…" Blake bit back a sob before she slid against her cell door. "Is everything just going to fall apart for me right now? I'm not allowed to have a life with my boyfriend and now my mate… First was our emotional baggage that we still struggle with… Then as I started dating him and we went steady, I learned every one of my friends is attracted to him… Then…"
Tears began to build in her eyes as her body started to shake and tremble. "This engagement after all the trouble we dealt with Adam nearly killing Naruto and me before we finally decided it was enough and tried and make it work as…."
"I felt it from the very first moment I laid eyes on him. I felt a kindred spirit and someone that could understand me… And I was right." Blake sadly smiled as she shed a tear. "The funny thing is I think you all fell for him faster than I did… I just was always around him as I saw him as someone I could trust. I didn't see him as someone to love. I regarded him as a partner. A companion… A friend."
"That changed on Valentine's Day..."
"When he kept me from running away from Beacon as I couldn't face all my problems." Blake sobbed lightly as she lifted her head and placed it against the back of her cell door. "I think it was then that I realized what we already had. I would visit him every day for an hour or more to spend time with him. I would do nothing more than read or listen to him speak about his past and his stories. I wanted to be there. I was comfortable."
"We were a couple before we said we were." Blake grimaced at that fact. "And he always wanted to hear more about me but never pushed, accepting I would say in due time and was okay with the few words I said… How did he put up with me?"
"Because he is a caring individual that loves all his friends." Weiss bit her lip as she understood Ruby's point but wanted all her friends to be well. "How did he put up with any of this or us? Who would have put up with this engagement issue my father enforced upon us? Either way, one of us should have been left crying, if not both of us, yet here he is trying to protect all of us…."
"A hero." Ruby hung her head, proving once again that her point had been proven. "I feel bad… I make him hurt. We make him hurt."
"Ruby… It's not anything you can control, honey… You're fifteen and just starting to deal with these issues. And you have… Well, took a few knocks to the noggin." Blake spoke with a few sobs before trying not to sound mean, but…
Her brain was damaged.
"Fuck you! My brain broken! What's your excuse?!" Ruby laughed, which in turn began to raise everyone else's spirits despite the situation they were currently in.
After a small fit of laughter from the three, Blake softly sighed as she rubbed her eyes. "We're all going to need to sit down after this and talk… But we got to air this out. We can't keep on like this, especially around Naruto when it concerns him."
"Yeah… Don't like him hurting." Ruby agreed, distraught when she saw Naruto coming out of the room the way he was. "Want him happy. Heroes deserve a happy ending."
"That they do..." Blake looked around haplessly, hoping to find something before shrugging her shoulders. "By the Brothers, I hope he shows up and bails us out of this… I fucked up…."
"Mother says you didn't. We have something of his here, and that's why you smelled him. While here, we found it... You were destined to be here, she said. Fate has entrapped us on this island." A soft, younger voice echoed near Ruby's cell that caught the three's attention.
"Who are you?" Weiss asked in response to the sudden interruption, concerned as the girl sounded very young. "What are you doing here? …Wait, did you say Fate?"
"I was separated from my dad for what feels like two days now after my foster mother used up her strength to give your leader a message, and these mean men came in and took me away." The young girl responded with fear in her voice.
And at that moment, their eyes widened upon hearing what she said, and they began to suspect who she was.
"Wait… Are you Tealle? Daughter of Ebon Jett?" Blake's voice lowered to a growl, but she tried to stay calm.
"Yes." The girl admitted, and their deepest fears were confirmed as she followed it up. "I'm trapped here as they keep mother's powers locked away with this contraption that contains a Grimm's true potential. So mother…"
"Salem cannot escape this place, and we must cooperate to escape."
"Again, with this, Robin?" A man with messy gray hair, an equally disheveled mustache, a goatee, and a beard with very prominent eyebrows growled at the red-haired scientist in a brightly lit laboratory.
He futzed with the high collar of his grey jacket, which looked very similar to a lab coat. "You are still talking about the New Horizon Project? While I agree the concept of having a human intellect fused with a superior Grimm body is admirable… It is folly. You will never find a subject durable enough to survive the strenuous process. It was hard enough keeping limbs from disappearing after separating them from a Grimm; semen is impossible, so the only way for your project to work is by manual impregnation and…."
"I tire of having to clean up after the messes left after the last few times you found subjects capable." The man spoke in annoyance as he finally got his collar just right while remembering their last few incidents. "I'm not sure if science was occurring within test labs or if it was just your wanton fantasies, Dr. Pinot. Regardless these three will be the ideal specimens to test just how effective my newly developed breed of Grimm truly are and if my devices work as intended."
"After all, we now have her here and can study if she can take control of them from me even if she is in a weak state." The man grinned before he tapped his fingers against the woman's desk. "Pinot!"
Rather annoyed at his presence, she mumbled, dismissing her project once more as examining the last samples of subject B's blood under a microscope. "Yes, Merlot?"
Dr. Merlot scoffed at her dismissive behavior by narrowing his natural red eye and his glowing mechanical eye at his leading researcher. "Do not forget your place, Pinot. You work for me, and my vision comes first. I allow you to pursue yours as it interests me and could lead to the future of humankind. But that means nothing if you can't control it or your other experiments."
"Which is why I request your presence when we test control devices. You'll know better than anyone if your Khimeras are under the influence or not once they are released… They have been the most difficult to contain and control so far out of your concoctions." Merlot ordered as he made the redhead scientist look him in the eyes and dared her to step out of line.
This was his research lab, and she knew it.
She knew the consequences of disobedience.
"Fine… I'll be there to help with your project." Pinot rolled her eyes as she had grown bored with all the experiments they had done over the years. "Are we doing that now?"
"Why yes, actually." Merlot grinned as Robin narrowed her eyes while she wanted more time as she had only gone through one subject and did not have the gene. "I think they have been given ample time to recover. Lead them to the pit if you don't mind. I will prepare the rest."
Dr. Pinot gritted her teeth as Merlot arrogantly turned away from her and slammed her fist on her desk. He always did this to her. If she had a little more time, she could get the New Horizon Project off the ground and…
Hearing a ring, Robin turned to her machine, and Merlot stopped where he walked as she rushed over to look at the blood analysis from subject B. And it started low, but he could hear it clearly as it grew louder as her red eyes turned to gaze into her crazed eyes behind her rimmed glasses. "Fine, if you want to test them, be my guest but make sure subject B survives! I want her alive!"
"We've never had a specimen as tough as a Huntress before! Let's see if the union of one with a Grimm is what it takes to bring our species together once and for all!"
"Yang! Can you still hear me?" Naruto commented as he put his scroll on radio mode, sliding it into his pocket as he slid in his earbuds. "We're about to enter into the radio dead zone!"
"Yeah, I copy. We're hidden below deck with the cargo, and no one seems to be patrolling this area. Must stay extra quiet to avoid attracting unwanted attention over here." Yang whispered as it seemed like she might be drawing the ire of the former Huntsman she was with.
"We can see your ship off in the distance, and the dock will be on the other side of the island where we will be landing," Winter replied on her end of the radio transmission as she could see the large ship in the distance as it wasn't quite a cargo ship and was more streamlined. "When you get there, you will find a radio tower nearby. Every scroll issued to Hunters is military-grade quality and has auto encryption technology within."
"It allows those with the most novice of skills to interface with most terminals and if need be, access and hack into the mainframe if certain perimeters are met," Winter explained as she circled the island in the Bullhead, having given it thorough scouting as they needed the information. "If they are indeed jamming the signal, the scroll firewall will activate a program and auto-hack the terminal the moment we get near those towers and allow us to start freely communicating once we are on the island."
"How many are there?" Jett's gruff voice came from Yang's scroll, understanding the importance of staying in contact with your other operating group in the area.
"Three overall. We'll be landing by one, and there is one near where you are landing. The last one is located on rougher terrain on a cliffside. Seems like all the pathways that lead to it are destroyed due to accident of some kind or through shoddy craftsmanship." Winter shared what she had learned through her aerial scouting.
"That one is mine then. I'm the most mobile out of everyone, and it makes logical sense for me to take care of it." Naruto took disarming that tower as his responsibility. "Once we get communication running, we can form a plan and figure out how to move on from there."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I'll take this tower as soon as we land, as I have the scroll." Yang confirmed and cracked her knuckles, preparing for a fight. "What kind of resistance are we looking at?"
"A lot of Grimm freely roaming everywhere," Winter growled as her eyes narrowed at remembering what she saw. There were Androids stationed at the facility's entrance and at the docks. Otherwise, there didn't seem to be many people outside of a few guards and workers."
"That number doesn't go down inside either. I sense a lot of Grimm within the facility, and something is off about many within." Naruto added as his eyes narrowed at the sheer negativity he felt generated from within the facility. "Jett… About your daughter… You know what she is becoming…."
"We are not talking about that right now!" Jett growled violently and cut off his end of the conversation as he could hear the man's footsteps walking away.
Sighing, for there was nothing he could do from this end of the scroll, Naruto focused his attention on the island ahead. "All right, we have our plan. Let's put this into action."
"Time to rescue our friends and family."
Her ears twitched, and her golden eyes snapped open.
Blake had been resting against the cell door, so she could listen to the outside and be aware of any changes or anything heading their way. She was the most sensitive to noise and aura, so she made the most logical scout, but they all needed rest. And over the past few years, she has become a very light sleeper due to what was required of her.
She, unfortunately, had to be for many reasons, and now she had a new one…
Her mate naturally slept like that.
Hearing footsteps echoing in the distance alongside the clangs of the many droids, Blake called out to wake her cellmates. "They're coming. Be ready. I hear several droids but only one person. We might have a chance."
The sound of bodies moving in two other cells confirmed that Ruby and Weiss slowly rose from their rest. She could not confirm anything about Tealle, but she was unsure what they were planning on doing with the girl in the first place.
What exactly were they planning on doing with her? How did they plan on controlling Salem once she regained her full power? Did they even have a plan for that?
"Stand away from the door!" A man's voice echoed from outside Blake's chamber, and she took a few steps back before the door opened to show a guard with two droids with their guns already trained.
"Turn around and put your hands behind your back." The guard ordered with no remorse as he pulled out two objects.
One was bindings, and the other seemed to be some metallic clasping device that almost looked like…
A collar.
Blake growled at the sight of that but seeing she still couldn't fight back, she reluctantly turned around and unwillingly slid her hands behind her back. Closing her eyes, she bit back the snarl in her throat as the man walked up, roughly grabbed her by the wrists, and fastened the restraints onto her.
It was what was next that made her snap.
Her eyes snapped open as she felt him sweep her hair past her neck and grasp onto her mated collar. "This is in the way! You won't be needing it where you're heading, livestock."
And he yanked hard, snapping Blake's head back, and she yowled violently, her eyes narrowing and turning feral.
"Fuck you! Leave my vow alone!" Blake roared as she threw her entire body back into the man, uncaring of the danger she was in, slamming him to the floor as she tripped over him and fell with him.
But in the process, his arm snapped back and ripped the collar from her neck, and the azure jewel flew into the air.
Blake's eyes widened. Tears filled her eyes as she watched the jewel bounce against the concrete as the physical item that represented her vows with her mate was now torn asunder.
And her body shook with unyielding rage. She let out a vicious growl as her head snapped back and focused on the guard, her eyes seething.
"Crazy fucking animal! Shoot her!" The guard cried out from the ground and tried to move from under the faunus.
Blake suddenly flipped and mounted him, and her thighs tightened around his head as she squeezed and twisted. Her golden eyes pierced into the man's with a blood-curdling fury before she suddenly felt a metallic snap around her neck and an electric surge course through her veins.
"AAAHHH!" Blake screamed as she fell off the guard as Pinot stood behind her, looking at the scene with annoyance.
"Such incompetence." Robin rolled her eyes in disgust at the guard before looking at the twitching faunus, her body convulsing from the unexpected shock she had received. "Maybe if you knew something about culture, you'd understand. Merlot would have thrown you into the arena if you had executed her."
"Regardless, she's a bit useless now. Even a huntress taking a shock like that will be out of commission for some time. Grab the others but do not harm any more of them." Pinot hissed as she walked back to the door. "Their life is more valuable than yours..."
"Especially subject B's. She is essential to my New Horizon Project that will bring forth a new dawn!"
"Man… Final exams sucked so much!" A tall blonde complained as he carried his book bag across the long courtyard across their campus. "Professor Oobleck could have made that test a little easier… At least all that we have left now is to pack up and wait for our test results tomorrow and summer vacation on the beach!"
"And a lot of training Jaune." Pyrrha reprimanded her team leader sternly before giggling at seeing him hunched over in defeat. "Oh, relax. It isn't anything that harsh. From what I hear, they do all their training in the morning and have the rest of the day off. We might also work on a few missions when not time for team CFVY, Nora, and Ren teaming together, or myself in singles to compete in the festival."
Jaune looked back up happily at that and pumped his fist. "All right! So swimming and beach volleyball is back on the menu!"
"Wait…" Coco blinked at hearing that since her team joined JNPR and had been hanging around them since Naruto and RWBY, before twitching. "You aren't happening to be thinking of anything naughty in that head of yours… Are you Jaune? Because if you are… Yatsu!"
Cracking his knuckles the moment Coco snapped her fingers, the sizeable young man born from Mistral looked menacingly down at Jaune, who whimpered in fear. Several giggles were heard as Fox laughed. "Man, got to have some backbone. Yatsu wouldn't hurt a fly unless it were dire."
"Don't tell him that!" Coco growled and pushed Fox, who grinned as he allowed himself fall against Velvet's shoulder.
"Oh no! What's this? I've fallen and can't get up!" Fox slickly tried to wrap his arm around Velvet's waist.
"Um… A for effort?" Velvet gently put Fox down, pushing his hand back and rolling her eyes at her friend as he stood back up and giggled at his grin. "Tried a little too hard there. It was a one-time date."
"Ah, but madam, I felt so much chemistry between us!" Fox smirked as he lightly bowed and tried to be as gentlemanly as possible.
"It seems that someone else was taking Weiss' lessons with Naruto..." Coco said once more before shoving the blind one once more and making sure that this time she pushed him forward so that he stumbled away from everyone. "Enough, Romeo! We need to be focusing on the festival. Think with your lower brain later."
"Bah! All work and no play makes Fox a dull boy!" Fox grumbled as he crossed his arm in mock anger. "Dull boy needs his fix of fun. Haven't had nearly as much fun time since the rest of the gang left and the headmaster took over Glynda's job."
Frowning as the mood at Beacon seemed to have changed, specifically for them and in Glynda's class when she was still teaching before her falling out with Ozpin, Ren lightly rubbed his temple. He looked over at Pyrrha and knew she was somehow involved in the fallout. She said nothing about why, but Glynda was very upset and didn't think she was ready for what the headmaster asked of her.
Ren sighed, shaking his head as it was pointless to continue down that road, for Pyrrha was disturbed by what was brought up. "It's going to be much more work than play this summer, I'm afraid. With the festival and getting the group back together…."
"There will be some fun too!" Nora beamed before smacking the marginally longer-haired Ren in the back, trying to get him out of the funk he was in. "I know many things are going on, but we must stay positive and look at the bright side! We're seeing our friends again for the first time in months, and you and I were added to the duos' division over some third years, so that will be fun as we kick some butts!"
"Nora… Well, when you put it like that." Ren felt nearly as optimistic as his partner before he let out a sigh and gave a soft smile in return seeing Nora's gleaming face. "Hard not to feel at least a little enthusiastic."
"Right? I mean, come on! We're on a beach all summer and get to go to a festival!" Jaune argued his point to everyone as they made their way through the courtyard and to the dorms. "Sure, we're going to get run ragged in the mornings but is that anything different? Maybe a little harder but whatever! We get days off! Get to travel and do cool missions, and best of all, relax at the beach and beat the summer heat the coolest way possible!"
"What possibly could go wrong?!" Jaune exclaimed as he led the way to the dorms and did not realize everyone had stopped before he bumped into someone and tripped face-first into their… "Oh! Excuse me… Mam? Oh, by the Brothers, I'm sorry!"
Grabbing the blonde by the scuff of his armored shirt and lifting him, despite the fact he was taller than the woman, to her face, her red eyes glared into his deep blues. He was thrown haphazardly back toward the group with surprising ease. "Consider yourself warned, child… Happens again, and I will cleave off your head. Your lower head."
"YES, MAM!" Jaune choked and then swallowed his spit in fear, jumping to his feet and bowing in forgiveness to the woman. "I swear it will not happen again!"
Ren kept his eyes focused on the woman as his hands reached back for Stormflower in the off case she proved hostile. Her attitude suggested it was possible, but her appearance and features told him otherwise.
She looked like an older Yang in everything except attire, hair, and eye color.
"Why are you here? She's not here anymore." Ren asked politely as he quickly identified the woman, trying to guess what her purpose might have been.
She had to know Yang wasn't here.
"I am more than aware of that boy." Raven snarled and let her aura pulse as she locked eyes with Ren before grinning as he didn't back down, an admirable trait as most people, let alone men, backed down when she lashed out at them with an intimidating aura.
As it seemed only the blonde was affected, she grinned. These two groups were exceptional, and the boy and her children had a sharp eye for friends.
"There's been a change in your summer plans. Grab your gear and get ready for combat." Raven commanded as she looked down at the students.
"Little Ruby and her friends are trapped on an island full of Grimm, and something isn't quite right about that place."
Standing its ground, a Beowolf growled as several Creeps tunneled around it while their Alpha charged. Having swatted a first away with ease as they simply lesser Grimm, it howled as the pack jumped from foliage. Suddenly, more Creeps tunneled back up and beside their Alpha.
If they wanted to dispute this land, they would fight for their…
Both Creeps and Beowolves started to look around as the sound of something odd caught their attention. It sounded almost like a roar. A roar that soared through the winds.
A gale of air pressure blasted most of them off their feet and bellies as a Bullhead flew past and encircled the clearing.
"The landing zone is hot!" Winter called out from the pilot seat as she looked around from above as she hovered the aircraft and saw Grimm covering the area she scouted they could land earlier. "Take them out! This is the safest place I can land without being right on their base and drawing the attention of all the droids!"
"Got it covered!" Sliding the door open, ignoring the violent jets of air blowing from above from the turbine due to the Bullhead hovering, Naruto leaped and landed before the startled Grimm below with a growl. Two thuds were heard behind him as he drew Shattered Dreams from his back sheath with his left. He flipped it in his hand, so the blade was facing outward.
A shot was fired from above as Creep dropped as smoke oozed from its head. From ahead, Kali held Blush in its transformed state and carefully aimed.
The two species of Grimm growled and charged, the Huntsman and leader of the White Fang countering.
Stepping in faster than either of the fathers could get the Grimm, Naruto slashed through the first Beowolf's strike before transforming Dream's as he rolled to its right side. He then effortlessly popped a round into the Beo's skull, dropping the Grimm. Crouching, he launched himself forward as Dream transformed again. He tagged a Creep with a heavy right and drove it into some of its brethren before leaping high into the air.
His first tag was followed by a brilliant explosion. He landed just past and out of the range of the bomb.
"Just what?!" Taiyang yelled out as the shockwave sent a few Creeps tunneling while he slammed his gauntlet through a Beowolf's guard catching it on the muzzle before sweeping the legs out from underneath it and finishing the job with a well placed stomp on the skull. "An explosion from what? How?! I'm starting to believe Yang is right! Your powers are bullshit! No way that should work!"
"You'd be amazed what else seals can do!" Naruto commented as he came face to face with the Alpha Creep, drawing Dream in front of him with a grin as he dodged the tunneling Creep. "Explosions are just child's play compared to what else they can do!"
"What?! How are explosions nothing?!" Tai blocked the rising spin of the Creep's tail with his left gauntlet before throwing his right and driving his other gauntlet into the Creep's face, shattering its skull. "That's going to need an explanation! Bombs are one of the most dangerous tools known to man!"
Ghira ignored the exchange and focused on the fight at hand. He was very rusty regarding combat as he hadn't needed to fight in years. But his years of honed training, training others, or honed instincts were still very much there, and Creeps and Beowolfs were still the lowest of the Grimm.
And he was always confident in his skills.
The Beowolf didn't know what hit him as Ghira's claws came out faster than it could defend. They ripped the left side of the Beo's face to shreds, forcing it to howl in pain. The second swipe from his left was all he needed as several slashes tore the throat and dropped the wolf, and smoke poured from its open wound.
He quickly turned and met a Creep as it tried to tackle him. But with his sheer size and strength, he caught the Grimm, threw it off him and into the cliff, and retaliated as it hit the ground defenseless. His claws tore through its throat, causing its body to emit smoke.
A Creep tunneled to his left and tried lunging out at him, but a well-aimed shot from above put it down immediately, and he smiled. His wife and mate was a wicked shot. Always had been and was a scary sight to behold when she was motivated to see what she could do in battle.
He thought he was dangerous in battle…
She hit a Creep with a headshot, without a scope, the second it came out from tunneling from underground while hovering in the air on a Bullhead.
If she had a sniper rifle…
The Alpha tried to lash his tail at Naruto, but it roared in pain as Dream cut into it and gashed out a chunk of its flesh. It then tunneled into the ground, leaving a trail of blackened blood in its wake. The blonde faunus ears twitched as he listened to the tunneling sound underneath and easily sidestepped the attack before planting his elbow into the belly of the creature. He then launched it across and straight to Taiyang for a volley.
"Oh, I got this!" Tai grinned and knocked it in the head with a striking right uppercut, launching the Alpha Creep into the air. "It's on you now!"
Several shots pelted the Alpha in the face, taking out its eyes as its cry echoed. The force of the dust rounds knocked it back several feet each time. Into the slicing claws of Ghira, he tore through the thick dorsal spine and severed its head clean off.
"Team kill!" Naruto cried triumphantly as he transformed Dreams and dusted off the last of Creeps with one final round before loading combustion rounds into his weapon while looking around as the Bullhead started to lower and land. "Looks like all is clear… What the hell is that?"
"More Creeps?" Taiyang commented, seeing two Alpha-sized Creeps tunneled into the area but were offset as they didn't look like the ones they just fought, seeing many more dorsal spikes that seemed... "They don't seem quite right… And their dorsal spikes are glowing like they're irradiated."
"That is never a good sign," Naruto growled as anything glowing tended to lean towards being dangerous or se… Just dangerous. "New species? Never seen these before."
"New to me. I haven't been on a hunt as a teacher at Signal in a while, but I would have heard something about glowing Grimm!" Taiyang growled as he cracked his knuckles. "But a Creep is still a Creep. We use them for the younger Academy kids to train up, and killing an Alpha is part of the graduation test to being accepted to the greater Academies… Besides just impressing the headmasters, which is a chore in itself."
"Wait… Something is odd about these two." Ghira narrowed his eyes as they got closer, and their glowing became more vigorous, and he was ready for a fight while his mate and Winter joined the group. "Kali, do you have a shot?"
"Taking it!" Kali brought Blush to her sights and, with an expert shot, predicted the tension in its legs and put the round into its hardened skull.
And the eruption of radiated goop exploded all over, flying in every direction and consuming the other Creep. Because of this, it exploded, engulfing a small area in an irradiated disaster.
"Doton: Āsusherutā! (Earth Release: Rock/Earth Shelter)"* Naruto countered instantaneously with a few hand seals and slammed his hands into the ground to bend the earth to his will.
The irradiated slime, ooze, and body parts splattered against the dome's earth wall as it rapidly enclosed all five, shielding them from the explosive blast. Ghira knelt to accommodate the dome structure due to his height, making it easier for the boy as it no doubt taxed him to do such a feat. Kali's ears twitched as her face distorted in disgust, hearing all the goop hitting the walls outside. "That… Is a disturbing trait to have."
"I don't think they evolved that way." Taiyang narrowed his eyes at what they had just witnessed. "That cannot be natural. I've seen Grimm do many absurd things before but just exploding without warning is against their survival instinct! Something else is at play here… Like this Grimm you recently discovered."
"Yeah, they seemed very unnatural." Naruto couldn't feel the presence of any Grimm and could no longer hear body parts pelting his dome, so he released the technique to see the damage and grimaced, seeing the irradiated goo everywhere…
And it wasn't evaporating like an ordinary Grimm's body would.
Then there was the smell…
Tai groaned as he covered his move and almost gagged and barfed. "Oh, that is putrid!"
"Screw you, Tai. You don't have a hypersensitive smell!" Naruto growled before he started to choke, turned away from everyone, ran off to the side of the Bullhead, and began to dry heave. "Fuck! That is the worse! I thought the sewers were nasty!"
Winter was quite queasy from the smell and was only glad she didn't have enhanced sensory. The smell was already traumatic enough, she could only imagine what Naruto and his in-laws were dealing with. Kali looked ill, and Ghira was leading his mate away from the mess, doing everything he could to stay strong.
"Okay… Think I'm good…." Naruto rose and looked over the cliff and growled, wiping his lips. "Back to the scheduled program. I'll take the tower on the top of this cliff base. Tai, you are taking Ghira and Kali with you while Winter stays back and guards the Bullhead. This is in case we need a quick airlift when we bring these towers online. Most importantly, we can get a quick airlift straight to Blake, Ruby, and Weiss as soon as we get them above land."
"And what about the girl Tealle and her father, Jett?" Winter narrowed her eyes as that was still unaccounted for as of this time.
"Still a work in progress on all of this! At this point, I'm on Plan J with how this is turning out!" Naruto sarcastically commented before growling. "I wouldn't be surprised if I had to resort to Plan Z by the end."
"I'm afraid that is a real possibility at this rate," Tai responded before shaking his head. "I hope Qrow can somehow get a hold of Raven… We need all the help we can get for this. This is getting out of hand."
Naruto tilted his head and could only hope. It was a long shot but one he could wish for. Raven was someone who did things on her own time, and there was no way to get a hold of her unless she wanted to be contacted.
"Let's get a move on. I don't think this place is as pleasant for our girls as it is for us. I can only imagine what they're dealing with inside." Naruto grimaced as his eyes sharpened and focused on his goal as he jumped onto the cliff face and began to run up the cliff.
"Right. Time to head out." Tai agreed with a nod toward Ghira and Kali, and the three of them took off in the direction they knew the tower to be, leaving Winter to guard the Bullhead.
And she grimaced as the smell was still horrid. She decided to get away from the gunk because she couldn't stand it.
However, as she moved into the cockpit of the Bullhead to move it out of the smell zone, she gazed at everyone, giving them her blessings. "By the Brothers… Please, everyone, be safe… But be fast."
"Intruders!" Fires shot as a black and blonde blur shot off the large boat and landed on the docks, one wielding a massive blade too large to be called a sword and the other pumping her fists as she loaded her combustion cartridges.
"So much for getting in silently!" Yang roared as the guards tried to shoot from above but could not hit the fast-moving targets.
Jett slashed through the open boat with his greatsword, cutting into and dragging it alongside the vessel, leaving a massive rupture. Then, he quickly tore through it like it was nothing. Then, he rushed along, tearing the boat apart, and left it gaping wide open as it started to capsize into the dock.
Yang leaped above the first red droid, jumped from the boat, and swung its dual glaive down into the duck, cracking it open as she landed behind it. Then, rolling from the moment, she turned on a dime and jumped in. She drove her left fist into its spine with multiple quick jabs, each firing a round of Ember. She then threw a ferocious right hook as she tried to turn and catch it and send it tumbling into the capsized boat.
Then with a burst of aura to her feet, she jumped away and allowed the boat to crush the droid. This was as all the guards and workers fled the dock as several droids came running to challenge them.
"You want some of me! Come get some!" Yang growled as she stood with her back to Jett as he held his massive greatsword in front of him while the droids surrounded them, glaives ready while others began to spin their gats. "I can do this all day!"
Jett paused only for a second as he felt a sense of familiarity with the sensation he was feeling from those words. He then shook the thought from his head as a maddening grin appeared on his face as he hunched down. "Then prove it!"
Moving faster than they could process, Jett was beside the group of droids in front of him as his greatsword cleaved through everything. Even if they put up a guard with their glaive, nothing would change.
One.
Two.
Three droids were bifurcated with a single horizontal slash.
His maddening grin only increased as dust shots dinged into his plated armor, cutting into his leather or buried pierced through the flesh of his face. Gatlings opened fire on him. Faster than the eye could track, he moved past them and stopped with his sword held in a single hand as his tattered cape billowed behind him.
The only thing that could be heard as the blur passed was the sound of metal being crushed as it was sliced diagonally in half, droid and gun alike. Blood dripped down his cheek, and he rubbed it and grinned.
In this moment, he felt the call of battle and the desire to retake him.
And he was willing to let it happen.
After sprinting forward, Yang dodged to her right as the glaive from the first droid struck and knocked her back. She grinned as sparks flew from the contact, as her red eyes burned. Then, taking a step back with her right, she planted herself before launching towards them faster than before, driving her right fist into the stomach of the droid and firing Ember within, destroying the droid on the right.
Then holding her guard, she took a swing from the next glaive as sparks flashed from the contact, her grin continuing to grow as she slid a few feet back as her aura absorbed the energy. "Yeah, keep feeding me! I'm a growing girl, after all!"
Dust shots began to rain around her as those with guns wildly started firing, and she took off sprinting, rushing straight for the glaive-wielding droid to put it between her and them. But, even if she wanted to take those shots, they would tear through her aura and rip her apart.
Deflecting the incoming attack, she watched the droid torn to shreds by its allies as she kept running and jumped on the warehouse wall. Then, landing in a crouch, she launched herself straight for the droids. Her eyes turned gold and her aura built around her. She drove her head through the torso of the closest droid before quickly flipping and landing on her feet.
Skidding just a few feet, Yang grabbed her temples and yelled out. "Fuck, that hurt! Metal beats my skull any day!"
"Oh crap!" Yang realized she had forgotten about the fight, and at the same time, she cursed as the other droids turned their Gatlings on her as they began to spin.
Only for their torsos to be severed from their bodies as Jett appeared, slicing through them with a single swing of his massive blade. He didn't spare her a look as he sheaved his sword behind him and their bodies crashed to the ground.
Jett ignored the incredulous look Yang gave him as he searched for the tower and found it. "Let's get moving before more arrive."
Yang nodded, letting her golden aura fade, and the shock that the man that was supposed to be their enemy helped her without a second thought. "Right. Got to get communication up and running, and maybe we'll get lucky, and they didn't confiscate their scrolls."
"Doubtful," Jett responded darkly as he had seen many situations like these in his life and had experienced hostage scenarios where the captor took everything away from them they knew about. "They seem professional enough to know what they're doing."
Yang growled as she was only trying to lighten the mood. "I was only trying to be optimistic, you ass!"
Jett scoffed but began to make his way toward the distant tower. This action only annoyed Yang further as she angrily stomped and rushed after him. "Don't just ignore me! Hey!"
"What was that?" Yang and Jett stopped as they heard a massive creaking noise coming from the ruined docks they came from.
Turning to the overturned ship, Yang was a touch confused as she saw a few guards surface from the water. They started to scream as they ran for their lives while others just swam further away. The sounds of metal rupturing and tearing apart inside the ship were clear as day. Finally, a black-clawed hand tore through the hull, grabbed the metal, and pried it open.
And a chilling, hollowed scream left Yang extremely disheartened as she backed away from the scene. Jett narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the scene.
A guard rushed past them, not even caring as he was in a blind panic. He screamed in terror as he pushed Yang out of his way and scrambled for the facility's safety. "It broke containment! We're fucked! We need everything!"
The hand that ruptured the hull began to gash it wide open, but it still wasn't large enough for whatever it was to escape. A second hand reached in and started tearing, opening a massive gash into the drowning boat. And the unearthly screams only intensified.
Yang's eyes twitched in fear as she had never heard something so inhuman before and knew this had to be a Grimm. But what was this? Why had she never heard of something like this before? Just what was this thing?
And as the hands retreated as a massive hole was created in the hull, a Grimm-like horse began to walk out before it leaped onto land and kicked dust around it. Then something twitched above it as the horse suddenly stopped moving.
Yang's eyes widened as she saw a humanoid-shaped Grimm fused to the horse's body. With two long horns protruding from its head and dozens of weapons sticking out its back, it had seen its fair share of battles.
And it screamed that hollowed cry throughout the island as its gaze fell onto them, and Jett growled as he drew his greatsword and was prepared for a battle. "How the hell did they capture this thing?!"
"Oh, I know what that is… I fought it ten years ago at Kuroyuri and barely lived to tell the tale." Jett's gruff voice announced as he knew all too well what stood before him. "It's not something I wanted to do again either. But we'll have to fight this thing if we want to survive, and maybe things will be different this time."
"But that's the Nuckelavee that's been running amok on Anima for over a century!"
Reaching the top of the cliff, Naruto flipped over and landed in a crouch as he surveyed the sight before him and searched for the tower. See it just off a bit further past where he was and through a ravine with several Grimm scraping with one another for territory. He silently leapt past all of them.
It was natural for him. Even creatures with natural senses couldn't detect him on the best of days if he didn't want to be found. Ever since he picked up Jiraiya's hiding technique he had been abusing it appropriately. Why the man used it for pepping on women in bathhouses was beyond him. Did he not learn his lesson?
He learned his lesson!
The beatdown from all the kunoichi of Konoha destroyed the pervert within him. Of course, he still had those thoughts, like any other respectable person, towards their sexual preference, but he learned doing that wasn't acceptable and degrading.
He had a long talk about it afterwards. Which led him to wonder...
How did the Jiraiya get away with it for all those years and write smut about it?! Was he just a product of his time when it was socially acceptable?!
Getting lost in his tangent, Naruto didn't realize he was almost at the tower. He easily scaled the broken scaffolding, hopping over to the tower itself and found the panel he was looking for quite easily. Withdrawing the scroll, he allowed it to hack into it.
What he wasn't expecting was his scroll to let off an alarm. "ERROR DETECTED! ANALYZING! DECRYPTION MODE ENABLED!"
Every Grimm from below was immediately alerted and snarled as a Beowolf leaped up and onto the platform that Naruto was on. He blinked at what had just happened before setting his scroll onto the panel and groaned. "Guess stealth isn't an option! Would have loved to have known about that detail Winter!"
Growling as he punted the Beowolf that charged at him in the face, launching it off the platform and into the rocky terrain below, Naruto jumped after. Landing on it with a stomp to its sternum, crushing its rib cage, he drew Shattered Dreams once more. An Ursa roared in rage while several Beowolf and Creeps backed off and allowed the big one to charge.
Easily sidestepping the rush and the slam that ruptured the earth around it with a jump to the air, Naruto activated Dream's transformation into a double barrel state as soon as he landed. Then he flicked it out to the right and tried to slap him with its body and tail.
Then with a quick step, he was on the Ursa and drove his left forearm into the big bear's stomach. This lifted the Grimm with a jerk of his arm and off its hind legs. He then rolled his left shoulder into the Grimm so it would naturally flip over his body and collide with the ground as it lost its balance from the force of the blow.
Naruto flicked Dream to the stunned bear's face, and with a round to its face, smoke erupting from the bear's skull while two Bewolves charged.
Only to slash through a log and appear confused about what had happened.
"From the heavens!" Naruto cried out as he came directly above Dream transformed once more with a single slash cut through one's head as the other was able to back off, lifting its arm in time to defend itself, only to have its left paw sliced off instead.
It roared out in pain as smoke poured out of its left arm. Its paw turned to dust but it was quickly put out of its misery as the attack came faster than it could react. Naruto slid under his bleeding stump, flipped Dream in his hand, and stabbed upwards and through the Grimm's muzzle before ripping it out and jumping away. This was before the blood could even splatter on him.
All that was left now were the Creeps that looked shell-shocked at their situation and started tunneling away, knowing they were in a world of trouble.
"Grimm do have intelligence. They know when to flee." Naruto commented at the sight of Grimm tunnel and retreat, he shook his head and was about to jump back to the panel to check on the hacking when he heard a roar. "What? Another Grimm?"
Ripping through some of the cliff's rocks with a mighty swing, a much larger Ursa roared yet again, but this was far different, and Naruto's eyes narrowed. It looked like an Ursa Major, but even then, something was wrong despite it being double the size of a Major.
He might say it was about the size of a Deathstalker if it was on all fours. When it stood on its hind legs and dwarfed him greatly, it was difficult to give an accurate measurement.
Its paws and all its armored bone protrusions were glowing an electric green, as were the pronounced spikes on its back. Even the mask-like features on most of Grimm's face were glowing the same neon green.
Finally, a sickening green glow was exuding from its body instead of the usual intense red of a Grimm.
Naruto growled out in frustration as he pulled Dream into a guarded position. "Oh, you got to be kidding me… Is this place radioactive, or is something else at work here?!"
"I hope your gimmick isn't blowing up, as I don't want to be around that explosion!"
"When she said this island was crawling with Grimm… She meant it. Why are there so many here?" Taiyang stated in frustration as yet another group of Creep tunneled into their path as they made their way to the tower that they were close to reaching.
His gauntlet-covered fist was thrust through the first head without hesitation as a sign of dominance over them, letting the smoke rise from the body. "Seriously! I haven't seen this much Grimm spawned in an area unless there are high concentrations of… Negativity."
This left a thought in Tai's mind as the Creeps began to charge.
He countered with a swift left that dropped the smaller Creep as Ghira rushed the next and ripped it open with a single slash of his claws.
Then they were both left in awe as they heard the click of a sheath. After a few seconds of them being diced into a few pieces, the rest of the Creeps fell into bloody chunks. Kali stood behind them and stared at them. Wilt sheathed into Blush, and her golden eyes focused on the incoming Grimm as more Beowolves rushed over.
"And you were the Huntsman?" Tai tilted his head at the stunning beauty of the scene.
Ghira only grinned. His mate was something else, and he knew it. She would have been an excellent Huntress, but she had another calling. She wanted peace and equality for faunus, which was the battlefield she chose. "We all have our battles… We chose peaceful protest."
"But we are more than capable of protecting ourselves," Kali responded before frowning as she looked at the blade in its hilt. "I'm off and slow… It's been too long since I've done anything like this. Helping my daughter and her mate with their practice yesterday was both a blessing and a curse."
"That was off and slow?" Taiyang blinked before shaking his head and rushing out to meet the Beowolves with Ghira. "I don't want to know what's going on, do I?"
Knowing just how fast she could be with the blade, having seen her dispatch Grimm back in the day when training Blake when she was younger, Ghira shook his head. She was deceptively fast, and the regimen she put their daughter through when she said she wanted to learn how to wield the blade…
And while he had always been real with his daughter, he learned how strict his mate could be.
Blocking the few strikes of their measly claws, Ghira swung back and put the smaller Beowolf in its place, gouging through its face. The next came and tried to latch onto his right arm with a bite but instead, a well-placed shot covered his body in smoke instead.
Thankfully Grimm's bodies and their fluids evaporated once their host expired. It made cleaning up a lot easier. However, it was unpleasant to deal with the fluids during…
Another lunged straight for the panther, and Ghira responded with his own lunge. He tackled it mid-air, overpowering it, and slammed it to the ground. Its swipes meant nothing slashed through and caved its head in, ending the Grimm's life and dissolving its body then and there.
Being an experienced Huntsman, Beowolves was never a challenge for Tai. Maybe in a large enough back with a few Alphas, they could represent a threat, but he'd have to be in a bad way for that to happen. And they would need to be some ancient Alphas… Like several hundred-year-old Alphas, and he wasn't sure if Beowolves lived to be that long…
So it wasn't a surprise after he ducked under their guards. He would one-shot the Grimm with a single strike to their domes. He struck with enough force that their skulls caved in, and they would collapse and eventually dissipate from existence.
Taiyang dusted his hands and looked at the tower, knowing that to be his destination now as he had the scroll and could deactivate this comm interference. That way, they could at least communicate and send word about what was happening out here on this island.
Naruto was right. Something was wrong here…
His eyes shot out as a large Beringel leapt from above the cliff side and above and landed directly behind Kali, the ground cratering as it impacted around it. Ghira turned at the sight and growled, knowing his speed wasn't enough. It worried him that Grimm had lifted his two arms high above his head and slammed them hard down.
Through what seemed like an afterimage or a clone of Kali.
And two golden eyes gleamed from behind the Grimm as a click of a hilt was heard as a flash passed through the Grimm's neck. "From shadows, we rise, and your kind will fall."
The Beringel head fell from its body as smoke burst from its body before it disintegrated from existence.
A smile spread across Kali's face as she stood up from her stance. She then began to walk towards her husband and mate, feeling a tiny bit better as she purred contently. "Okay, I feel better now. I might be able to teach them properly if I'm hitting all the correct postures myself."
"I can see that." Ghira smiled happily while keeping his guard on high alert due to the amount of Grimm in the area. "But let's make sure to get to our daughter and her friends first."
Kali nodded in agreement, and their attention turned to Taiyang and the nearby tower. "We are close. Maybe the others have deactivated their towers, and we can start communicating to focus on a plan."
"Only one way to find out," Tai said as they moved forward briskly, noting Grimm now seemed to have left the area.
Taiyang realized that was inconsistent with his earlier thoughts about negativity and wondered what was driving them to the area. Nothing happened on this island that he was aware of, but there was a build-up of negative emotions here for the Grimm to be attracted to. But, of course, humans didn't live here unless the Branwen clan was camped out here for some time, and even then, that wouldn't explain the sheer number of Grimm as they weren't that negative…
Raven could be a bitch, though…
So as they made their way up the scaffolding, he had to wonder if something else was drawing them here. He didn't see any Grimm pools or anything of that sort here. Maybe there was some here, but…
He frowned as his device sounded off as Tai reached the panel. He had been through something like this in the past, and rolled his eyes and put his scroll on it. He knew it would take a few minutes. "Think they would have put a silence mode on this in case of… I don't know. Covert operations."
"Seems like a flaw in the design." Kali agreed, her ears twitching after hearing the scroll's protocol activate. "I think I know someone's plan that got ruined."
"Oh, he most definitely didn't know… Yeah, he will be livid about that for a while." Taiyang grimaced at the thought of Naruto sneaking in silently to the tower, only for his scroll to alert all the Grimm in the area. "If we hear any explosions, we know…."
A roar from overhead caught their attention, and all three scattered as what looked like an Alpha-sized Beowolf came crashing down from above onto their platform and landed in a crouch.
Tai narrowed his eyes as he stood up and prepared for a fight, looking at the creature as if this was not an average Alpha. It was older and larger for sure, but it had the same green glow as those Creeps did before. In addition, dozens of green spikes protruded from its hunched-over back, some even on its shoulders.
"Great, more irradiated Grimm… Please tell me you don't explode when you die, as I feel this will be a lot tougher than a Creep!"
Being led down a hall, Ruby narrowed her eyes as she shifted and grunted against the restraints she was put in. She didn't like how any of this was happening. First, she heard what happened in Blake's cell and saw her friend lying unconscious in her cell. Next, she was forced to be restrained and have the same collar wrapped around her neck. She was forced out into the hallway, chained to the droids while they did the same to Weiss.
What was frustrating was the guard gave her the courtesy of unfastening her bolero so they could latch the collar around her neck. However, she knew he didn't give her the same courtesy as Blake. That pissed her off as she knew how important that collar meant to her. She also wanted to break the man in front of her who was carrying the unconscious faunus on his shoulder.
She may have been struggling with the concept that Blake and Naruto were in that kind of relationship, and she wanted that, but…
Blake was her friend! Her feelings be damned!
Seeing Ruby seethe in front of her, Weiss couldn't help but feel similarly. She was anxious, too, considering the situation, and couldn't find a way to fight back at the moment. Blake attempted to, and the most unfortunate outcome happened, and now she was being carried to wherever it was they were being taken to.
And most horrendous of all, the vessel of Salem, a twelve-year-old girl, was chained up behind her and forced to try and keep pace with the droid's walking speed. She could hardly do such a thing, and she was being dragged by the tether they were connected to. If she was struggling to keep pace…
"Hey! You might want to slow down!" Weiss yelled out as Tealle was about to fall over her two feet as she stumbled with each step. "Didn't the doctor say not to harm us anymore? You're doing a piss poor job of it considering the pace we're walking at!"
Irritated, the guard stopped and glared at the white-haired huntress. He raised his hand and was ready to strike her for even daring to speak out when a voice spoke up. "I'm not sure which doctor you are speaking of, but I agree with this sentiment. I do request you treat our dear vessel, the Queen of the Grimm with more care."
"She is our most valuable asset, and I would like to see if she can overpower our control device in this test if possible." A man with gray hair and red eyes gazed adoringly at Tealle. "If only you would be reasonable and listen to my request, my dear…."
"Mother says no. She has no desire to strengthen humanity's grasp of the world, Merlot. In her opinion, it's detestable enough as it is and needs to be destroyed and reborn." Tealle gazed into his red eyes without fear of repercussion. "Before this is all said and done, she will end you as he is here, and she can feel his presence..."
"Fate has made her way to this island… It's time for us to play our given roles." Tealle closed her eyes, tilted her head, and gave a wicked smile that did not belong on her face. "Now play along, puppet."
Merlot frowned at the girl's words. He had figured Salem would refuse. That was to be expected. He wasn't even surprised by the death threat. But, again, she was someone that used to be in control and all-powerful, and for once, she was in a position where she was not. He had to always stay on guard and make sure she didn't free the device and was constantly monitored, which was why he had arrived.
Under no circumstances would he allow Salem freedom, as his life was in jeopardy when she became free.
He reminded himself to find better help as the quality of the guards had deteriorated recently and wondered what the cause of it was.
But the final words she spoke bothered him. So someone arrived on the island? And she had the audacity to call him a puppet despite every choice he made being his own. It was intriguing.
"Interesting…" Merlot commented as he turned away. "Proceed at a slower pace if you would. The experiment isn't going anywhere. We'll start as soon as they arrive."
Watching Merlot walk away in the same direction that they were heading, most likely to a place where he could observe safely, Ruby clenched her fist behind her hands. She looked back at the girl behind her and Weiss and narrowed her eyes.
What was going on? Naruto was here?
While that was encouraging and meant rescue was on the way… Fate had come, and that meant something major was on the way. This was the last time she and Weiss were in a situation like this.
Bad things happened.
Weiss had similar thoughts and bit her lip. "I do not like this."
"Do not worry. Mother says you will be fine." Tealle responded as they all began to move at a much slower pace now, the guard frustratingly moving at a slower pace so the more petite girl could easily keep up.
She then frowned as her eyes gazed at Ruby and Blake. "It's everyone else that needs to worry. Mother no longer knows what Fate's plans are being trapped within me."
"And she worries that something may have changed."
"All right, come get me, big guy!" Naruto barked as his ears flattened at the massive irregular Ursa before him.
His eyes narrowed as it leaned down onto all fours and charged him, barreling towards him. And in the process, everything around it was being demolished. Parts of the cliff, crates, and scaffolding. It didn't matter what it was. The glowing Ursa was blood lusted onto him.
Naruto leaped away from the radio, towered, and growled in his throat. This was not good. The tower was about to be destroyed just by its presence. He needed to get it away and fast. He was quite capable of dispatching it, but that would come with collateral, too, and he wanted to avoid that.
"Over here, you large bastard!" Naruto barked once more at the irradiated Ursa as it roared angrily, having missed its target and charged into the cliff wall.
The results would be devastating considering its size, power, and speed. The ground shook from where he was, and part of the cliff side ruptured and collapsed onto the Grimm bear like an avalanche. But the rock slide seemed to irritate the massive Ursa as the boulders cracked onto its spikes as it turned around.
And its glowing green eyes glared at Naruto before its paw swiped one of the boulders straight for the blonde faunus at tremendous speed.
"What?!" Naruto blinked at the intelligent display from the Grimm as he hadn't seen the creatures use the environment to their advantage before.
Rolling to the right as the large boulder flew past him, he shook his head as he looked at the luminous Ursa. He then remembered something he had read in the books he read about Grimm for Professor Port's classes. "The older a Grimm gets, the wiser and more intelligent they become while retaining their intense aggression for humanity… And they grow in size every day, slowly but surely adding to their size."
"You are one old bear!" Naruto grinned as he tried to mock the Ursa which only roared, already entirely enraged at his presence, and dug its paws into the ground underneath him. "What are you doing now?!"
"That the earth you ripped out of the ground! Stop being Sakura!" Naruto yipped as he slid down the cliffside in horror as a massive chunk of the earth was thrown from eviscerated the area was standing moments prior in a cloud of rock and dust.
And it triggered a rock slide as rocks and boulders started tumbling down, forcing Naruto to leap from the cliff entirely to avoid it. Skidding across the ground, he narrowed his eyes as he was back in the area before, close to where the tower was and not where he wanted to be. "Dammit. Really don't want it right here…."
"Making me take the fight to it, I guess!" Naruto's eyes dilated and turned feral as his complexion began to blush.
He could feel the oxygen surge in his blood as it surged through his veins rapidly. His breath began to heat up, leaving steamy wisps coming with each exhalation. Finally, steam began to emanate from his skin.
After discovering what Fate was doing with his life, Naruto learned he didn't like using his semblance anymore. If she had engineered this ability within him, it was explicitly designed for a purpose, and he hated that aspect. But he thought he understood it enough now that he knew it.
It was emotionally driven, like Yang's Burn.
And once it activated, he felt more compelled to keep that emotion flowing due to the rush of blood flowing and adrenaline flowing through him. It was a clever bit of ingenuity, he had to admit. But he understood it and would use it sparingly now.
Didn't want to tempt Fate any more than he already was.
Seeing the Ursa get on all fours, Naruto pulled Dreams before him and prepared to counter as the bear Grimm leaped forward and rushed him. In very few steps, Naruto turned into a log as it tried to crash through him with its sheer body weight. Instead, it shattered the log and crashed into the cliffside again.
Coming in from above, Naruto transformed Dreams and had a round of fire Dust loaded and blasted into the back side of irradiated Ursa. With a controlled burst of elemental wind, he strengthened and carried the effects, seared the flesh, and coated the entirety of his massive hindside as he hung midair.
The Ursa stood up and roared in response.
It caused an earth-shaking shockwave that deafened Naruto, and he was sent flying since he hadn't touched the ground and was completely unprepared for the impact. And all of the flames that engulfed the Grimm were put out by the echoing blast of sound. This is as the Grimm turned and found the blonde faunus now standing on the radio tower.
"Okay, what the hell was that?" Naruto winced in pain as both sets of his ears rang and he picked himself up, stumbling as he did and over the railing of the… "Oh, mother fucker!"
Hearing another earth-shattering roar, the bear Grimm slammed its paws to the ground, and his eyes narrowed as a pulse of irradiated aura wave burst forth. Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw the ground crack and crumble from the pressure of the blast. He quickly descended and cursed.
Disappearing in a flicker as he jumped up, the platform he was on was ruptured and torn asunder by the irradiated wave. The tower began to creak, and the scroll slowly slid off the platform. It would have fallen off if it wasn't caught and placed back in a more stable position.
Naruto roared as he came in from above faster than the Grimm could see, transforming Dreams back into its kunai state. He landed on its head and shoulders and plunged it into Ursa's skull. He stuck the entirety of his blade into the skull, which wasn't deep enough to penetrate through! His eyes narrowed as the bear roared, and a shockwave once more hit him, and his entire body reverberated from the blast.
After applying chakra to his feet and riding the Ursa as it thrashed around, Naruto ripped Dream's head out. He then transformed it into its gun state. "Fuck you, giant asshole!"
"Eat this!"
Firing round after round into the open wound in its skull, the Ursa roared several more times before being ridden into the ground, collapsing and losing all its strength. Naruto spat as he got off the giant irradiated bear Grimm, transforming Dreams back into its kunai form as he slid it back into his sheath. "Damn thing… Hope that tower lasts now..."
Shaking his head, looking at the leaning tower, Naruto's eyes suddenly narrowed. He turned back to see the massive Ursa growl and attempted to stand back up slowly. "You got to be kidding me! How?!"
A bolt of electricity scolded the Grimm before cold steel ripped through its neck as a portal opened. A woman wearing black and red stood behind the disintegrated Ursa as its head rolled off its body.
And Omen was returned to its sheath as Raven turned to Naruto. "I received your message from Qrow. It seems I came in time once more to save the day."
"At the tail end of a fight, yeah. Only this time, I'm not exhausted and trying to figure out how to get out of the area." Naruto commented as he watched the irradiated Ursa turn to smoke with a frown. "At least it didn't explode like the Creeps when it died..."
"What?!" Raven turned, and her eyes narrowed at the odd-colored Grimm she dispatched, and her eyes narrowed. "What is going on with the Grimm on this island? Why is little Ruby here?!"
"Long story… Let me fill you in while I check how the decoding is progressing. Need to get these towers up so we can communicate." Naruto sighed as Raven cautiously looked around the environment, prepared for any of these mutant Grimm.
"I feel it is going to be another Fate adventure..." Raven stated in annoyance as she opened a portal to follow Naruto so she could meet him at the top of the tower while he leaped up and carefully balanced to keep his footing on the unstable platform.
She hated the fact that she knew she was right.
And she just brought those rookies... "We need these towers up and now. Those kids don't know what they're getting into."
"WHAT?!" Naruto roared as he turned on Raven and his eyes narrowed. "By reinforcements… You don't mean…."
"You didn't bring your clansmen, did you? ...You brought my friends," Naruto growled as he glared into the red eyes of Raven, who did not answer back.
And that was all the answer he needed as he twitched, enraged as he kicked the panel in frustration, denting it. "Dammit! We're all falling in line with Fate's plan! There has to be a way to find information to break these damn chains and fight back!"
Raven wanted to respond back, he obviously didn't know her situation yet. Despite that, she frowned as a valid point was made. She went entirely out of her way to grab the kids, and while she could cross considerable distance relatively quickly thanks to her semblance as long as she had been there before…
Then something occurred to her, something that he didn't know. Something that may have been hidden from him. And her eyes narrowed as she thought about a particular person working with the boy and his own agenda.
"Did Ironwood inform you of the Relics or what their powers are?"
Naruto dangerously narrowed his eyes. What did Ironwood know that he wasn't telling him? Furthermore, Qrow had to know something after working with Oz and the ironman for so long.
He growled before his thoughts were loudly interrupted by his scroll announcing that the decryption was completed. Flicking his ears as he picked up his scroll and attempted to see if anyone could be reached.
It was only static, but he could hear the faint, muffled sound of voices on the other end.
So there was progress.
"All right, we have quite a few things to discuss while we work on the next move here." Naruto tried to reach out with his senses and feel what was happening on the island so he wouldn't be caught off guard.
Raven nodded in agreement. "Then let's start with why we are here."
"Why is little Ruby and her friends here, and what does Fate have to do with it?"
"Okay, you are the big bad wolf!" Tai roared as he flipped out of the way of an oncoming claw swipe, barely able to dodge it. "Either I am rustier than I thought, or this thing is fast and stronger… UMPH!"
Tai couldn't avoid this swipe and could barely put up both arms in front of him and apply his aura to absorb the hit. Still, he slid back several feet as he skidded from the blow on the metal platform. He then skidded into the railing, grimacing at the sharp pain in his lower back from the collision.
A shallow trail of blood flowed from his arm where the Grimm's claw lacerated through his gauntlet. However, it only made the elder Xiao Long grin as he slammed his fist into the unrelenting Beowolf's face, jarring it to the side and making the mutant snarl at the blow it took. "Yeah, how's it feel?! I bet you haven't taken a hit like that in years, you old son of bitch!"
Howling in rage, the Beowolf lunged and swiped both claws at Tai's head, and the Huntsman ducked under. Putting his elbow into the glowing Grimm's gut, he lifted the larger-than-normal Alpha on his shoulder before tossing it over the railing and into the ground below. Head first.
The Grimm was too nimble and could land on its forelimbs and continue its momentum. It turned on a dime only for a Dust round to meet its face the moment it did. The Beowolf roared in annoyance before he felt several large claws rip into its torso from a being nearly as large as it was.
In response, it slammed its paws down, forcing Ghira to jump back. His eyes then widened in horror as irradiated crystals of pure energy ruptured from the ground in the direction he had evaded. He could not avoid the crystal blast as he was still mid-jump at the time, and he grimaced as he attempted to shield himself with his aura.
Only for the green crystals to shatter around as a red blade severed through the crystallized attack, Kali clicked Wilt into Blush. She stood before her mate with narrowed gold eyes. Landing and regaining his balance, Ghira could only smile as he stood back to his full height. "Thank you. What would I do without you?"
"I love you too, my dear." Kali beamed while keeping her gaze fixed on the illuminated Alpha Grimm. "It seems each glowing Grimm will have something weird about them. We'll need to be careful."
"Thankfully, that means it likely will not explode!" Taiyang commented as he came in hard and forced the Grimm back on the defensive with an intense flurry of strikes. "I'll take that any day over those Creeps!"
Forcing it on the back foot, breaking through its guard with fast strikes, Taiyang overwhelmed the much larger Beowolf. It tried to swipe him off when Ghira swung back in. He sliced in with his claws, and made the mutant Grimm roar in pain at being pushed into a corner by two powerful sets of attacks.
With one last gasp, it tried to slam its paws into the ground. It lifted them into the air only to be severed from its body as a red blade sliced through them.
With a combination punch and a slash to the throat and face from Taiyang and Ghira, the mutant Beowolf's body crumbled to the ground, turning to dust.
"I hope there aren't too many more of these around." Ghira sighed as he could feel his body tense up after that fight and rubbed his shoulders. "It has been too long since I had to let loose at this level of intensity."
"I understand that feeling," Taiyang commented, for he could feel his muscles ache in places they hadn't in years, and the rust began to show. "Man, I'm about to have to join the kids in the mornings… This is rough. Even after training Ruby and Yang these last few years, it's not the same when you get into an actual fight…."
Ghira laughed heartily, having helped with Blake's physical training before she left. Even Kali smiled and nodded as she felt slightly exhausted, not having to exert herself like this for a long time.
Then her hair stood on the back of her neck as another roar echoed. Her hand reached for the handle of Wilt as she turned and was joined by her mate and Taiyang. And rushing into the area was another large and glowing Alpha Beowolf.
This time, it was not alone as multiple Beowolves joined its brethren, followed by several Creeps who came through the tunnels, emitting the same glowing light.
"This is not going to end well…" Tai clenched his fist, seeing the glowing Creeps, and took a step back as he tried to focus on the task. "They need to be put to rest first for safety..."
"What's that sound?" Kali's ears twitched as she looked around, hearing something that sounded off but at the same time… "It sounds very mechanical..."
She then locked eyes with a person standing on the tower, sunglasses covering their eyes, holding onto a... "Everyone move back!"
"CFVY, time to show why we're the most talented team there is!" Coco grinned as she announced, holding Gianduja in its minigun form, the barrel spinning as she held the trigger and focused it on the Grimm below. "I'll take out the explosive Grimm and pin down the big guy! Fox, Velvet! You've got the rest! Yatsu, make sure nothing gets to me!"
"Got it!" All three cried out and were ready to fight as Coco unleashed her barrage.
Hi-velocity Dust rounds tore the area apart around the Grimm alongside them, ripping apart the Creeps in seconds and they ruptured and exploded. Several Beowolves instantly turned to smoke from the irradiated green bombs while everything else was knocked back, including the massive mutant Grimm.
Several Beowolves tried to rush the gun fired, and those not gunned down suddenly found themselves standing before a bunny-eared faunus wielding a scythe made of pure light, her brown eyes aglow.
Before they could react, Velvet raced past them with impressive speed, pulling the hard-light Crescent Rose through the Beowolf's throat. As its head rolled and it turned to smoke, Velvet swung the scythe around and pulled the trigger. This increased the arc of the swipe to catch each Beowolf and cut them down before they could defend themselves.
Fox jumped down and joined the fray, using Ada's echolocation and the pulses of natural chakra to pinpoint precisely where each Grimm was around him. Their negative aura was easy to find, and the sound of Coco's minigun made finding where she was firing rather obvious.
Hearing Velvet engaging and sense of where she was, he joined her and leaped in, driving a flying left elbow so Sharp Retribution's blade would catch the Beowolf. He grinned as he felt the Grimm guard and fired the weapon's trigger, catching the creature off guard. It howled in pain as the blade snapped forward and sliced through its arms and chest.
Fox then drove the Sharp Retribution's left blade through its throat and head, ending the Beowolf before ripping it back out and reengaging it back into place. He guarded a swipe with his right hand, then thrust his left knee into the next Grimm's gut, knocking it off its feet. Before it could recover, he spun and hit with a spinning elbow to the muzzle and skull, catching it with Retribution's blade and slicing through its head.
The Beowolf collapsed and turned to smoke, and he felt the last standing Grimm's repulsive energy and heard Coco pinning it down with her shots.
He went for it, and he sprinted off in its direction.
"Wait for me, Fox!" Pulling the hard-light scythe behind her, Velvet called out and fired another round as she ran, increasing her speed as she raced toward the mutant Beowolf that Coco was pinning down.
"Catch me if you can… WOAH!" Fox started cockily before nearly being spun around as Velvet blazed past him, and he yelled out in frustration. "Stop copying Ruby! That's not fair! You're already the faster of the two of us! I needed a head start!"
Fox could feel the raspberry Velvet blew at him. And that annoyed him. So he flipped Coco off, in her general direction at least, in response as he continued sprinting to catch up. "You are at fault for this!"
"Maybe you aren't as wooing as you thought, lover boy!" Coco called out as she let off the trigger seeing Velvet and Fox rush in before she grinned. "Yatsu, show them how it's done and stop this petty infighting."
Drawing forth Fulcrum, Yatsu nodded before he leaped off the railing, knowing Coco no longer needed his protection. He landed with a loud thud, then bolted to catch up to the racing duo.
Velvet swung in, cutting her hard-light Crescent Rose into the mutant Beowolf's right claw as it roared out in pain with so many Dust shots having pelted it previously, along with the Creep explosions harming it. Still, it managed to guard against her blow, only for Velvet to cut deeper as she jumped and triggered the scythe. This caused massive damage before she kicked the Grimm in the face.
"Silly rabbit!" Fox called out, having felt the kick and making Velvet bluster at the name, as he jumped in and sent a flying kick directly into the rib cage of the irradiated Grimm. "Kicks are for ribs!"
Flowing that statement, Fox landed and turned to land a straight heel kick into the massive Beowolf's rib cage while at the same time, Velvet landed with her eyes burning as she sliced the hard-light scythe into the Grimm's left claw as it tried to swipe Fox off him.
Yatsu then jumped over them, letting loose a hellacious battle cry as he leaped with Fulcrum high in the air. He swung it down with a mighty heave as Fox rolled out of the way.
The earth cracked and shattered as the large young man slammed his blade into the ground. And the mutant Grimm split into two pieces, collapsing before him as it turned to dust. He then slowly rose and sheathed his blade on his back. The deed had been done.
Velvet dispersed the hard-light Crescent Rose, for she was no longer needed since all Grimm had been dispatched, but her gaze focused on Fox as he laughed and congratulated Yatsu on the finishing blow. "Good show, man! I felt that one!"
"Fox!" She stormed over to him, her eyes lit up, and when the dark-skinned young man turned his attention to her…
A resounding snap filled the clearing as she slapped Fox in the face and left a deep mark on his right cheek. "What… Shit! Velvet, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I was caught up in the moment..."
"Fuck you! You should know better!" Velvet cried, tears welling in her eyes before she turned her back and walked away from her friend to join a stunned Coco as Yatsu looked on in slight surprise, barely catching what had happened before.
And as someone from Mistral, he knew what Fox had done and grimaced. "You fucked up."
"Yeah, I get it!" Fox bit his tongue as he wanted to be more expressive and shook his head, and looked in Velvet's direction, depressed. "Dammit, I do know better … Gah! ...I don't even know where to begin apologizing for that one. That was so stupid!"
"One step at a time." The advice came from behind as Ghira watched the interaction before deciding to help when he recognized the team's name when the girl announced it as one that would be joining them on Patch for the summer. "Even if it is accidental, prejudice is something that is painful for all faunus. And it is particularly painful when it comes from someone you trust.
"Speaking from experience, I would say she is extremely hurt and feels her trust has been betrayed," Kali added as she stood beside her mate and smiled warmly. "Take some time and let her calm down. She will understand that it wasn't on purpose, but be sincere and considerate. Cultural barriers can be difficult to overcome."
"Yeah…" Fox sighed as he took a moment, feeling everyone's presence and listening to Ada before he shook his head. "I crossed the line. I should have known better. Even if I still don't understand it well, even if my parents were racists, I should have. Then again, they thought I was weak and pathetic for being blind."
Kali couldn't help but frown at that. She knew this happened to be another of Blake's friends but what was the deal? How many of their childhoods were traumatic or seemed to have rotten parents? This was not normal to have so many dysfunctional upbringings. She understood it could be a driving force and make one more motivated, but…
It, more often than not, led to crippling and broken lives for the child.
Ghira's thoughts were on the same page when Tai finally broke the silence as he grabbed his scroll. "Still static, but I hear voices, so we're almost through. Wonder if we should go back to Bullhead to regroup or push forward?"
"I think…" Ghira began as he saw the younger in-trainees handle the Grimm and the situation. "We should split up and let them head further in while we return to the Bullhead and be the recovery and strike team when communication is re-established."
"As much as I hate to say it, I am rusty, and it's not getting better after these fights. That fight might not have turned out well if the students here didn't show up. So I'll put my faith in them to help Naruto and the others rescue Blake and her friends while we wait in the wings." Ghira confidently put his trust in the youth.
If the kids his daughter made friends with were the ones leading the way, then the future seemed bright. Change could very well be on the horizon. And it seemed an offworlder would be leading that charge…
"I hate to agree with that assessment, but I'm out of shape. I can beat any of my kids one-on-one but where they got me beat is stamina to keep fighting…." Tai sighed while looking at his arm before he shook his head and looked at the students from Beacon. "Also, you guys recover quicker than we do! It's not fair! The splendor of youth is wasted on the young!"
Coco cockily grinned as she placed her hand on her hip, and her eyes glinted beneath her sunglasses before gesturing to herself with her other hand. "Oh, I beg to differ! The splendor of youth is perfectly sculpted into this masterpiece! I'm the best there is! The best there was and the best there ever will be!"
"Coco… By the Brothers…" Velvet sighed as her long ears sunk further from the embarrassment and what had happened earlier.
Temporarily putting that aside for the time being, she turned and faced the current leader of the White Fang with a brimming smile of confidence. "As eccentric as my team is, you can believe in us. We'll get the job done and make sure everyone is safe and sound."
Kali smiled back at the calm confidence of Velvet and felt reassured. Seeing the entire team pumped and ready to roll as they nodded in agreement, she felt her husband knew what her husband saw and couldn't help but agree. "Do be safe. There are liable to be more of those things around."
"Safety is our middle name." Fox grinned as he cracked his knuckles and pushed aside his personal feelings for now. "Doesn't hurt when the big guy here is guarding the lines and preaching preparedness every day and Coco's keen eye for details and maximizing our abilities to the fullest and applying in the right situations."
"That's why I said our team is the best!" Coco smirked before her eyes turned as several more regular Creeps tunneled in. "Oh, you want a little more, huh!"
"Yeah, I think it's time for us to head back to Bullhead and to Winter. Comms should be up any minute now, and she could take flight." Taiyang commented, and both Ghira and Kali nodded in agreement. "Kids, we're leaving our daughters and their friends to you. We're counting on you!"
Coco's smirk only increased as she nodded, Gianjula turning into a minigun. "We'll get them out of here! CFVY "
"Let's get this rush started!"
A scream pierced their eardrums and forced both Jett and Yang to wince and their eyes to tighten and close ever so slightly from the pain. Forcing them to stay open to keep their eyes on the Nuckelavee,
And then, the main body turned and focused its attention on them and ignored the fleeing guards running for their lives.
"It comes!" Jett roared out as he drew his massive blade before him and winced as he saw the strange humanoid creature's head creak inhumanly tilt to the side at them. "Be careful! Its arms can stretch and hit us from a considerable distance!"
But then it reached out and extended its hand to an absurd distance directly in front of its horse body. Yang's eyes widened as he saw the clawed hand crush a guard into one of the warehouse walls. This was despite the range it reached being far beyond what should be possible.
As bones snapped and blood flew across the Nuckelavee's hand, it almost seemed to grin devilishly on its devil-like face as it felt the ooze dripping onto it. Its hand retreated to the body as it screamed in an intimating fashion.
At that moment, Yang froze, and her body seized and started to shake. Her eyes began to dilate in and out. Her breathing labored as her throat stiffened, and it became increasingly difficult to get sucking breath. She felt vile pushing up from his stomach and into her throat, making her breathing even more difficult. The world around her began to spin, and her knees trembled.
Yang finally lurched forward and hurled her stomach contents, her body trembling as fear consumed her.
And her screams soon followed.
"What the hell?!" Jett gruffly tried to respond, unaware of the blonde's trauma as he saw her panic and fold at the site of the man being splattered. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"Shit!" Jett roared as the Nuckelavee seemed to respond in kind in almost a sadistic fashion, its hand quickly stretching toward both of them at a frightening speed.
Reacting on sheer instinct, he leaped over to Yang and lifted her by the waist with a single arm before jumping. Getting caught by the outstretching claw of the Nuckelavee, Jett cursed and slashed his massive blade into the stretching arm cutting deep. But it was tougher than its gangly appearance suggested. Even his blade and strength couldn't penetrate completely as he leaped away. This left only a smoky trail of damage on the arm as it retreated to Grimm.
With one more jump, he tucked himself behind a building before dropping Yang unceremoniously and glaring at the petrified girl with a deadly serious look. She didn't move from her spot.
"Shut up. I know something is wrong with her." Jett annoyingly swatted something nearby his shoulder that couldn't be seen.
This girl was overly confident before and was enjoying the thrill of battle. However, the moment that man splattered, something triggered within her, and she became a nervous wreck, and he had an idea of what that could be.
He had seen it before many times in his life. He knew that look. But someone so young to already be experiencing the traumas of battle and war…
Jett grimaced. This world was harsh. He knew that from what he had experienced. "Girl, you need to get up. I can't help you if you don't help yourself right now."
Still frozen in terror, Yang couldn't move as she lay on the ground where Jett had dumped her body. The stout man growled in irritation at her state.
"Things aren't going to get better." Jett gruffly stated as a scream of the Nuckelavee came as the horse stomped and began to trot toward where he saw them retreat. "This world is not pleasant. Life is filled with pain and keeps hitting you when you're down. It makes you want to quit. It is unrelenting, and sometimes it feels like the better option is to give up."
Finally, there was movement as her arms began to twitch. He continued with narrowed eyes as he made his point.
"If you wish to die, allow me to put you out of your misery. You'll be far less of a hindrance to your friends and me." Jett gripped his greatsword as he heard the Grimm approaching.
A growl escaped Yang's throat as her fist clenched at the dirt beneath her. Good. There was still a fight. She hadn't lost that spark.
"If not, get up. You have to keep struggling." Jett turned his attention as the scream of the Nuckelavee was almost upon them, and it turned the corner, and it had founded them, the grin on the top half of the body evident. "You have to keep fighting back and never give up! Never bend and force this world to recognize that it doesn't own you! Even when you don't know what you are fighting for anymore!"
"Struggle to the bitter end… And carve your own destiny!" Jett roared as he blitzed his position seeing the Nuckelavee's outstretched arm racing toward them once more, swinging his giant blade down with all the force he could muster to block the hand.
And it carved straight through the hand and nearly through the wrist as smoke erupted all around Jett, his battle-hardened face adorned with a grim determination.
He was ready for this fight.
The Grimm screamed in agony as its hand retreated to its body, the arm slowly regenerating and repairing itself, much to the ire of the swordsman. "Forgot it recovered like that… Going to have to lop it off next time!"
Jett sprinted toward the horse and rider Grimm in a blur of black, holding his blade out to his right side. The scream came. He didn't even wince as he felt his ear drum burst and blood trickle down his ears, so close to the terrible demon. He swung his mighty blade with all he could and cut into the Nuckelavee. However, he was forced to jump in front of the horse as the rider swung at him and suddenly hung limply on the side of the horse.
The horse kicked both legs out in front and smashed Jett in the torso.
He gasped in surprise as the air knocked out of his lungs was sent flying back. The horse galloped and leaped over him, landing and stomping on his chest. Flattened into the ground by the force of the blow, he grimaced as the Grimm kept stomping on his gut. He felt his armor caving around his torso.
Ribs and bones cracked as he tried to use his aura to recover the damage instead of shielding himself. He could take the punishment. He was used to it. Years upon years of battle had hardened him to take damage.
This was not the most difficult thing he had ever been through.
Reaching into a pouch, he sparked a light on his hand and threw a handheld explosive right into the horse Grimm's face. It exploded with a massive punch, causing the Nuckelavee to scream in pain as Jett rolled and stood back up.
As he held his giant sword high and tried to cleave off the Grimm horse's head, he ignored that the horse had suddenly stopped moving.
Only to grunt and be carried off by the outstretched hand of the now-recovered hand of the rider, knocking him away from his giant blade. Then, slamming into and cracking into a warehouse, Jett felt a few more rib cracks as he grimaced.
This was as much of a struggle as he remembered ten years ago. The creature was strong and tough back then as it is now. He had only survived by saving a few children, and in one of the few moments of clarity, he put their safety above all.
It was a losing fight at that time.
He had a daughter he was struggling to protect. She struggled and fought for every breath, and the most he could do was to be there for her! Her life was precious, meaning he needed to stay alive!
Managing to free his left arm as he saw the other arm stretched out, Jett growled in his throat as he bit a ripcord attached to the arm. Then, the hand lifted to reveal an opening. Smoke erupted as Nucelavee screamed in pain as the hand attached to the black-clad man exploded as a cannonball ruptured through it with intense force.
But the other hand was still going to hit and he braced for the impact…
That never came.
His eyes widened as the wall beside him cratered as the blonde girl smashed into it, gasping in pain from the blow. Her eyes then glowed a brilliant red as the flames of battle engulfed her.
"Come fucking get some!" Yang screamed as she pried her right fist out of the grasp of the clawed hand as Jett collapsed into the ground and picked himself up off the ground.
Seeing Yang punch the hand repeatedly without flinching as round after round was fired at the hand. The force of the punches was becoming stronger and stronger as it continued.
The Nuckelavee screamed as its hand retracted back, its fingers broken and bent from the impact of the dragon's punch. Yang stuck to the wall and launched herself toward the horse and rider Grimm.
Jett grinned menacingly at the scene, saw his massive sword, and rushed to grab his precious weapon. "That's more like!"
Yang landed on the horse's face and struck it repeatedly, firing Ember with each punch before the horse violently shook her off and tossed her aside. Jett lifted his sword with barely any effort as he ran, grinning as he had a free shot as the Grimm's attention was focused, and the rider was slack-swung horizontally to cleave deep into the horse's body.
Only for the Nuckelavee to rear up and viciously kick Jett in the chest in a pyrrhic exchange. The massive blade cleaved through its right front leg the moment it landed its hoof into the man's chest and knocked him back. Smoke erupted from the leg as it fell limply to the floor, spasming and twitching as it still reacted as it was connected to the Grimm.
Jett only grinned as he skidded back, wiping blood from his mouth. He'd take that every day. Now the Grimm was far less mobile as the rider slowly rose and screamed again. Missing a hand, and now the horse was missing a leg.
They were slowly chipping away at the monstrosity.
"What the…" Jett started when arms suddenly stretched out, and the Rider spun around violent spin claw and stump smashed into him, sending him into and skidding into docks and tripping into the water below.
Yang was also caught off guard, but she was knocked back but was far less lucky. She slammed into a warehouse metal door, the flimsy metal crumpling around her as she partially broke through it. She cursed and tried to break out when her body froze again. She saw the crimson ooze from her right arm as she pried it free from the metal and violently shook.
And the Nuckelavee pounced, its right arm stretching forward with the intent on crushing the blonde right then and there.
Only for it to pierce through the metal shuttering door as a hammer struck the clawed hand with a purple electrical blast coming from it. And aqua eyes turned to the Grimm as the new person stood before Yang.
"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND! I WON'T LET YOU TEAR APART MY LIFE ANY LONGER!"
Yang's eyes snapped away from the blood. She recognized that voice. She hadn't heard it in a while, but she knew it…
"Nora…"
"Don't worry… We got this." Nora spoke solemnly as she gazed at the Nuckelavee before slamming Magnehild violently down on the clawed hand as it tried to retract and kept it stationary to make it scream again. "I don't know why it's here, but…."
Rapid gunfire caught the rider's body and made it scream out. Ren suddenly jumped in, his eyes burning as he slashed into its chest with StormFlower several times as he jumped by it. "We will put an end to this now for our families!"
"What are you guys doing here?!" Yang cried out, unsure why they were here in the first place, as they had come here to rescue her sister, Blake, Weiss, and Jett's daughter. "I don't even understand how you knew to be here!"
"A message was sent to your mother that you needed help!" Pyrrha called as she rushed by, not letting the opportunity fall to waste as she drew Milo and rushed to help Ren as he started to slice into the horse and rider, dodging the limp arm of the rider.
"MY MOTHER IS HERE!" Yang roared indignantly as she struggled to free herself from the shutter. "After years of abandonment, she comes to save my sister! I'm gonna break her fucking jaw!"
"Communication should be up since I left my scroll at the tower to decrypt it! You can tell her yourself!" Jaune called out, immediately moving for Yang as he started to pull her free of the metal shutter. "We got the tower up when we realized it hadn't been decrypted yet! Then we heard the screaming, and Nora and Ren knew what it was and came running! We had to follow, and now we know why!"
Ren violently lashed out with StormFlower, staying on the horse's body using his aura from the exercises he learned from Naruto's training. He gashed into the rider without remorse. He would duck under every time it wildly swung its arm at him as it tried to bash him off. He kept attacking with all he could while his ear drums ached and felt like they would burst from the screaming. It would be worth it!
Pulling a spear out of its back, he shoved it further into the Nuckelavee. This made the Grimm scream louder, and swiped its entire body to force Ren off its back finally. It only ate more Dust shots as he refused to quit his assault, flipping and sprinting back to the horse's body to join Pyrrha.
Pyrrha found the horse strangely still struck and cleaved through it with Milo, smoke dispersing with every slash of her blade. Although she kept Akouo up and ready to guard, nothing came as Ren attacked the rider, which she found odd. Slash through its midsection one more time, no reaction as smoke ruptured through its body.
"It's no use. It's recovering too quickly. Need to go for the limbs!" Pyrrha noted that the front leg was missing and rushed forward as Ren was forced off and started firing StormFlower.
She didn't notice the rider turning limp and the horse's eyes glowing as it reared up and kicked at her. This forced Pyrrha to put Akouo before her to endure the hit as she skidded back. Ren slid in and slashed at the horse, knocking it back up as the rider came alive once more and screamed, slapping at them with his blunt arm.
Parrying it with her shield, Pyrrha and Ren charged in as the rider's arm retracted back to their normal length. The body fell limp as the horse rapidly turned and thrust its hips into both of them before kicking its back legs and launching both into the air. Immediately the rider awoke and swung its stump hand, stretching to try and hit Pyrrha.
Only for a massive blade to sever more of its stumped arm as Jett intercepted, causing the Nuckelavee to scream further in pain and annoyance. All three skidded on the ground as the arm retracted, and Jaune ran over with Yang, his eyes widening. "That's it! Only one body can move at a time! The horse only responded when the Imp on top wasn't moving!"
"What?!" Jett turned to the young boy before analyzing what he recognized in his head, and a deadly smirk crossed his lip. "So if we attack both bodies, it won't be able to defend itself. Girl! Can you hold that arm down for a while longer?!"
"I AM TRYING!" Nora screamed as her body surged with electricity, her semblance active as it sparked around and enhanced her physical limit, keeping the Grimm's clawed hand pinned. "I DON'T THINK I CAN KEEP IT PINNED FOR MUCH LONGER!"
"Then we got to move! Ren, go for the rider with Yang! Pyrrha, you and I will go for the horse! Big guy, finish the damn thing with that massive fucking thing!" Jaune ordered as he devised a plan on the spot, slowly having learned his role better within the team and embracing it.
"PUT THIS THING OUT OF ITS MISERY!" Nora screamed as she watched her team, the boy she was raised with for so long and a man she felt was quite familiar, rush in to end the nightmare that ruined her and Ren's childhood.
Ren was faster than the Imp as he jumped over the arm swipe and fired StormFlower rapidly into the rider's face. He stuck to the horse with his Aura as he landed in front of it. Intensely striking for its face as it screamed, he struck multiple times into its torso, knocking it off as its body flailed.
Only to be caught by Yang while she leaped over. The two rushed up and back onto the horse. "Come on! You want some of this!"
She drove her fist straight into the Imp's face, causing it to recoil and strike back before it stared in horror as Yang glowed golden, barely batting an eye. Instead, she only grinned darkly before countering with a right jab multiple times. This slammed the rider back into the horse's ass as it recoiled, rising up and into another strike.
Pyrrha took advantage of the horse's inactivity as she sliced into the front leg, nearly slicing through but finding the limb extremely solid. Narrowing her eyes as even with her strength, she couldn't cut cleanly through, she roared back, withdrew the Milo, and tried again. Only for Jaune to join her, and together, they cut through the limb.
The mistress smiled, seeing her pupil was coming along just fine when the horse reared to life and slumped down, swinging its head wildly at them. This forced them both to put up their respective shields to withstand the hit. And they were swept aside only for a massive greatsword to swing through and cleave the horse's head in twain. The lower half of the Nuckelavee was destroyed.
Ren sheathed StormFlower as Yang pummeled the limp Imp and drew a dagger from his right boot. Running up on the horse's side, he sliced and stabbed the Imp in the chest, driving it into the horse's rear. The Grimm roared to life as it screamed at the pain of losing its lower half.
But Ren did not care as his eyes burned as he looked at the Imp in its glowing red eyes. "This is for my mother, my father, for all in my village that you butchered! Most importantly, this is for Nora and her family too! Burn in hell!"
Slicing the dagger out of its chest, with a single cut before it could react, the Nuckelavee's head was torn asunder from its body and rolled onto the ground. Smoke began to rise from its body as it disintegrated.
And Ren coldly glared at the body, taking deep and heavy breaths in the wake of everything that happened at Kuroyuri. But as he stood there, he felt a warm presence slide into his left before a hand gently gripped his. And he turned, and his gaze met the aquas of Nora, gently smiling at him. "Let it out. It's finally over."
"No… It's not yet." Ren stated as he looked at where they were and took a deep breath. "We still have a job. Our friends are still in danger, and if this is any sign of what we're up for…."
"We better be prepared for a long fight as they brought that into this island," Jett commented sternly as he looked over at the two as he placed where he had seen them before while sheathing his blade on his back. "They're doing something to Grimm here, and if they grabbed my daughter… They plan on controlling them."
"What?!" Pyrrha exclaimed in alarm at the Grimm they had fought and the statement that Grimm could be controlled. "No… That can't be… I heard that only..."
Jett's eyes narrowed dangerously at the redhead as she seemed to understand who was capable of controlling the Grimm. The blonde girl knew, but that was to be expected, considering who she was working with. This girl was someone he did not know and could not trust at the moment.
At the very least, he could trust the boy and his group not to act rashly. It was something he had come to understand about them from watching them and learning of their actions.
"Pyrrha, we'll explain later. For now, it's best not to ask and focus on rescuing everyone kidnapped. This place is too dangerous for anyone to be here if they bring things like that here." Yang realized that somehow Pyrrha knew of Salem, which bothered her.
She had to wonder if Professor Ozpin had something to do with that…
"I agree. Doesn't matter. If someone is in trouble, we should help them." Jaune agreed with the sentiment and nodded to Yang's assessment, while Ren and Nora agreed, the orange smiling and waving at something. "Nora… What are you doing… WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
"What… Can you see me? That's rare." A small boyish voice that only he and Nora could hear along with Jett echoed. "Even here, with all the weird things that happen here, I'm still rarely sighted..."
Suddenly a tiny flying pixie-like being flew straight toward Jaune while everyone except Nora looked at him oddly while Jett sighed. "Great… Another person for him to annoy."
"Oh, quiet you!" The pixie spoke before offering his hand to the freaked-out Jaune as he backed into a worried Pyrrha.
"Is anyone else seeing this?! Nora! What's going on?!" Jaune cried while Nora shrugged as she didn't understand either.
"I'm an elf, silly! You can see me because somewhere deep inside of you, you believe that mythical things are still a reality!" The fairy exclaimed happily. "I'm so happy to finally speak with someone other than Guts! ...Or Jett, as he is known by now, I guess. It's been so long!"
"The name is Puck! Nice to meet you!"
Dropping the dead weight he was carrying with a thud on the ground below as he made it to the destination. The guard no longer cared about what was going on. He was tired after this day. He didn't even care about the glares he was getting or the shriek from the white-haired banshee. "What are you doing?! Be careful with her?!"
"Yeah, whatever." The guard rolled his eyes as he withdrew his key and released each of the girls from their chains as the droids held their weapons at the ready. "It's not like any of you are surviving this anyways."
"No one ever does." He commented as he started walking away while the droids held their position until he left through an opening that shuttered closed with a sturdy steel grating.
"Asshole!" Ruby cried out as she ran to check on Blake's unconscious form, nudging her to see if she could wake her up.
It was to no avail, and she only got pain-filled labored breathing. Weiss joined her and frowned as she fingered the collar around her neck. She could only imagine the wattage and amp it must have generated to knock Blake out for this long.
Looking around, her frown deepened as if this was a pit. It felt like something carved out of a cave wall with a few metallic structures holding up the walls to stabilize it. Otherwise, it attempted to mimic a cavernous open-air space. Outside of all the weird pipes and oozing green fluid in the corner that screamed, it was radioactive. There was even artificial lighting to make it look like the sun was out…
"Wait… That is a cave opening up top!" Weiss called out as she recognized what she saw, and her eyes widened, now having a means of escape before her mood dropped back as the cold metal around her neck reminded her of their situation. "We must figure out how to break off these things..."
"It is quite durable. Even with magic, I can't melt them." Tealle commented as Weiss' attention snapped over to the young girl with them, and she realized she already had a collar on her this entire time.
And several burn marks around her neck.
She had been attempting to sear her way out of the device. But then she noticed that there was something different about hers than the ones they were wearing.
Tealle had a red gemstone and several other mysterious attachments interlaced with the collar. And if she had to guess… "Is yours not only for controlling you but to keep… Your mother under control?"
"In essence, it is. It's simply draining mother's powers straight into the gemstone and keeping her from taking over my body." Tealle tried to mess with the collar once more. "If I could get it off, we could get off this wretched island and find my father... I know he is worried about me. I don't want to keep him waiting any longer!"
"My dear, you are too important to my research, which is why I brought you here." Merlot's voice spoke on the loudspeaker as cameras from above began to watch their every move. "Both your mother and I know that Grimm are the superior race. What I am doing here benefits all humanity by trying to bring their power under control!"
"I've already made a device to control the smaller, weaker-willed Grimm. Those that have lived long enough still tend to think for themselves but with a few modifications… I've made them listen and obey and given them new powers! I have even managed, with the help of Dr. Pinot made my own Grimm with the fluids of the Grimm pools and carvings of still-living Grimm!" Merlot announced as another entrance to the door began to open.
"So, my pretty Huntress and my darling Princess of Grimm!" Merlot's voice came from over the speakers as the Creeps, Beowolves, and a single Ursa and Beringel walked into the cave clearing, all wearing devices around their necks. "I want to test just how strong my control is in a live scenario! Fight as hard as you can if you would! And try to rest them from my control, my Princess! I know you haven't learned your powers too well from your mother, but I can't let her out for obvious reasons!"
"We're supposed to fight Grimm without weapons!" Weiss cried out incredulously as she saw nothing to fight back with and was alarmed while Ruby took a step back, looking around for anything she could use to fight with.
Merlot laughed briefly over the intercom. "Of course not, dear. I'm a scientist, after all. The experiment needs to be fair, after all. I put in controls to keep variables from being taken liberty of so that you may use your weapons for this test. Take them so we may begin."
Hearing the sound of machinery being activated, a portion of the mechanical section of the wall extended and opened out. Without hesitation, Ruby and Weiss ran over. And inside were all of their weapons. Crescent Rose, Myrtenaster, and Gambol Shroud, exactly as they were handed over earlier. Grabbing all three, Weiss put her friend's weapon and sheath down by her unconscious form. "You could have at least not brought Blake! She's out cold still!"
"Science waits for no one. Perhaps she wakes up and provides interesting results within the rounds? Who is to say?" Merlot retorted uncaringly. "But if you are ready..."
"Test gamma initialized. Cameras up and recording to log every detail… Please give a good show. "I am most curious to see how well my control works." He spoke with a menacing tone in his voice. "Give the order Pinot."
"Attack subject A." Robin's voice spoke over the intercom with little enthusiasm for the experiment.
Each Grimm was instantly enraged and roared as their sights locked in on the unconscious form of Blake, the Beowolves taking the lead as they were the fastest.
"Shit!" Ruby screamed as she jumped in front of her friend, sweeping Crescent Rose through the skull of the first Beowolf who tried to even close.
She immediately swept down the next Beowolf and fired another round into the one that tried to bypass her. But unlike usual Grimm, the rest were not deterred by her attack and rushed toward Blake despite her attack. Her eyes widened. "What?!"
Weiss used her glyph to appear by Blake's side instantly, and she sliced through a Beowolf that tried to bite into her, cutting through its muzzle. After kicking it off, another glyph appeared, and several ice crystals burst and froze the next Grimm that charged in. Then, with a straight thrust, she pierced Myrtenaster through its skull and drew it back, slashing back to fend off another.
"They're just trying to get past you! They're only focusing on Blake! She's subject A! That's their target!" Weiss screamed out as she thrust Myrtenaster forward as a Creep tunneled out of the ground and tried to chomp onto Blake's right arm.
It roared, and she sliced it into ribbons, dissolving it to smoke but was suddenly knocked back as a Beowolf hit her from behind to knock her away. "Fuck! Ruby!"
A burst of roses and a boom hit the Beowolf, slightly nudging Blake as well. Ruby came in hard and drove the handle of Crescent Rose into Grimm's face, knocking it over and onto its back. Ruby then stomped on its chest to keep it in place, shoved the scythe blade down into its throat, and decapitated the Grimm.
Her eyes narrowed as two Creeps tunneled out behind her. Ruby cried out in frustration as she stepped into one slashing through it with Crescent Rose before it could take a bite out of Blake. And at the same time, the other was stabbed through the face as Weiss dashed in and pierced it with Myrtenaster. She flicked her wrist to finish the job as smoke erupted from its head.
Their attention was suddenly brought to a thump, and a roar as Beringel landed in front of them as the Ursa charged. Weiss screamed as she switched to green Dust in Myrtenaster and thrust her rapier forward, creating a whirlwind shockwave that staggered the Grimm back.
Only for a giant ball of flame to set both Grimm on fire causing them to shriek as they were set ablaze by intense heat. Ruby and Weiss put their arms up to shield themselves from the fierce and blistering heat. They almost were blown off their feet while Blake skidded a few more feet away.
And they watched as the Grimm burned and turned to smoke. It was tiring for Tealle as she held her hand out, grimacing at the effort it took to use the spell. "My spell casting is nothing compared to mother Salem's. I've only learned so much in this short time, and the strength I have inherited from her is limited."
"It will be years before she can gain her full strength again. It's most likely why this fool took advantage of her weakened state. ...Took advantage of my father letting his guard down for once since I finally was healthy for the first time in my entire life!" Tealle's emerald eyes shone with rage as she looked up at the cameras and hissed at them.
Ruby and Weiss stayed silent, wincing as they knew a few details of her story due to the bio they read. Meanwhile, they also knew what Salem was doing after what happened on the train and after the incident with Fate. Naruto believed they needed to be prepared for the worst-case scenario…
Weiss was deflated at the time, knowing that one of the forces they would be opposing was an immortal being. But realizing she could be defeated was a step in the right direction. Knowing that she would be limited in the following years so they could prepare for her made her believe they had a chance.
Ruby had an instinctual sensation that she did not trust the witch and wanted nothing more than to end her. But she also did not wish harm on this child who did nothing wrong, so she was left confused about what to do. And she understood the feeling of not having a mother in one's life and having a father trying so hard…
"Excellent first test!" Merlot's voice came over the loudspeaker, ignoring the turmoil below as he sounded excited at what he had witnessed. "My control over the lesser Grimm is as strong as I thought. I'm not ready to move on to a full scale against the Queen of the Grimm herself, but against her heir, she couldn't rest them from my control."
Tealle gritted her teeth in annoyance, and she clenched her fist. She had tried to take control of the Grimm but was unsuccessful in her attempt and had to burn the last two to cinders to protect her allies. She needed all the help she could get to escape or stall for time for her father or their friends to get here in time.
"So now it is time to move to the second test. Let's see how you fair against my mutant Grimm without any control measures." Merlot commented as another gate opened to show what looked like an Alpha Beowolf roaring before it rushed into the cavern along Creeps tunneled beside him.
Only this time, they appeared to be glowing a dark shade of green that irradiated like the puddle of ooze in the corner of the room.
Drawing their weapons before them, Ruby and Weiss narrowed their eyes at the sight. They had never seen Grimm like this, and Tealle looked wide-eyed as she felt something off about the Grimm before her.
"Behold the evolution of Grimm, my dear! Let's see if you can even control what is untamable!"
"Anyone! Does anyone copy!" Winter called out as she heard voices on the other line of her scroll, and the static had become increasingly transparent.
A few other Grimm had arrived since she moved the Bullhead slightly further away because she couldn't stand the smell of exploded Creep had left. They were easy to handle as they were the standard variety of Beowolf and Creep. Even though she hadn't seen anything strange since the glowing ones when she first arrived, it was better to remain vigilant.
That was the easiest part to take care of. The difficult part was when a raven flew in, transformed into a woman, and created a portal. This allowed two Beacon Academy teams to arrive and help out their friends! What the hell was this woman?!
Who the hell had the power to morph into a bird, honestly?! Who had the ability to turn people into birds?! Why did they turn them into a bird?! For what reason?!
She did not get her answers as the woman glared at her with her red eyes. She asked which way everyone was headed, as she was there to help rescue her family and her friends. Winter would have questioned that but taking in her visage, she did have to admit she possessed similar features to the blonde sister of Ruby…
That family had its own mess, from what she heard from Weiss, so she did not want to get drawn into more family drama. She decided to stay out of that one as hers was enough. Dealing with everything her father was, him casting her out of the family, her drunken mother, and now that her father was trying to marry her sister against her will were enough issues!
So she focused on the two teams as the woman seemed more capable of keeping up with Naruto due to her flying and portals. Therefore, she sent her up the cliff.
Then she quickly explained the situation to the kids about what was happening on the island from her scouting reports and what they were doing about the towers. Learning of the mutant Grimm and the possibility of others like it, they each set out to join the others and get to the radio towers to establish communication.
But that was almost twenty minutes ago, and while the signal had gotten more robust, there was still no line of communication. She was beginning to worry that something might have happened. Growling in her throat at the thought she might be needed, she switched on her comms once more. She got ready to pilot the Bullhead and start searching for everyone. "Is anyone there? Is…"
"Winter?!"
"WEISS?!" Winter's eyes widened as the scroll's communications suddenly became crystal clear, and she could hear her sister's voice loud and clear. "They didn't confiscate your scroll? Good, they made a foolish oversight! Where are you?!"
"Fighting Grimm! Protecting Blake!" Ruby screamed over the comm line when gunfire was heard over her brood. "Fuck off, green shit!"
"Green shit?! Fuck, you're fighting the irradiated Grimm! The Creeps explode on impact! Stay far away from them as possible!" Taiyang cursed as he let the girls know over his scroll communicator.
Winter doubled as she turned and saw Tai, Ghira, and Kali running over to the Bullhead. As a result, they let Coco and her team take the lead and returned to be her recovery team.
She'd explain as soon as she could, but there were more pressing matters.
"THEY WHAT?!" Weiss cried as she tried to engage one. "Shit! Ruby, grab Blake and run! Keep her away from them!"
"GOT IT!" Ruby frightfully responded, and Winter could hear the boom of her semblance activate the growls of several Grimm.
"What's wrong with Blake?!" Naruto worriedly expressed, and she could hear the tension in his voice.
The young man was afraid.
"They put shock collars on us before they dragged us here to test their control devices on these Grimm! Blake was the first up, and the guard went over the top and ripped off her vow collar, and she lost it and fought back. They snapped it on her, and she's been unconscious since! And they still brought her to this fucking experiment!" Weiss explained before screaming at the scientist. "Ruby, would you kindly let them know what we think!"
"COME FUCK THESE GRIMM YOURSELF!" Ruby hardly stuttered in her angered state as several shots were fired and a loud eruption was heard. "GO BOOM, SHITBAG!"
"Um… Dad, I swear I didn't teach Rubes any of this." Yang commented from her end of the scroll, seemingly embarrassed at what her sister had spoken over the line. "Is there anything you can tell us about where you are at? Like any hints! I know Naruto has his sensory thing, but we don't have a layout of this place!"
"There are dozens of corridors, we're not going to be able to help you navigate them, but I think I can narrow something down from the outside!" Weiss called out as they heard her weapon fire Dust with a crackle of electricity, and a roar echoed. "There is light coming down from a cave opening from up top! Maybe coming in from above could give us a way out?"
"We're already inside. So that's not helpful for us. But I heard that explosion, so we'll go in that direction." Velvet's voice came from the other line, surprising that both Ruby and Weiss did not realize that CFVY was there.
"Give us some time as we're tearing through the horde of Grimm and Androids guards, though!" Fox grunted as the sound of metal being cut through was loud and clear on his side. "Would be a lot easier if I could sense these things instead of relying on Ada and my hearing!"
"Don't get me started on that!" Naruto responded with a growl. "I was already high up. I'll make my way and look for that cave opening! Raven, fly up and look and scout ahead!"
"YOU AND I ARE TALKING LATER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Yang roared over the scroll so her mother could hear her loud and clear.
"I'm beginning to feel like my life with my seven sisters nagging me constantly was pretty tame in comparison," Jaune commented on his end of the scroll before he winced as several voices screamed at him all at once.
"You think!" Naruto growled in annoyance at the clueless blonde knight.
"EAT DICK JAUNE!" Ruby screamed through the comms and wanted to throttle him.
"Suck my tit!" Yang bellowed as an audible smack and "UMPH!" was heard.
"Seriously!" Weiss sarcastically commented, and you could feel the eye roll despite the severity of her situation.
"Dude, come on! Really?!" Fox barked from his side, knowing a few things about opening his mouth and inserting his foot from recent events.
"Jaune, no joking!" Nora chastised her friend and team captain, and you could hear her frown.
"Now is not the time!" Ren stated with ire in his voice with what they dealt with earlier and how Jaune still didn't have any tact.
"Enough chatter!" Winter barked on her end of the line, getting annoyed at the arguing. "I'm taking off to look for the opening too. "If we find it, we'll be able to airlift them out of there."
"We must figure out how to get these collars off, however! They pack a wicked charge!" Weiss informed everyone and winced as she most likely looked over toward Blake's position. "Blake is still out from the shock, which was a while ago."
"FUCK YOU, BIG SHIT!" Ruby screamed, and a sickening slice and what sounded like flames erupting were heard around her. "Wait… What?"
"Sorry to interrupt this reunion everyone has been having, but my experiment seems to be winding down, so I'm going to push ahead to our next step. Send them in Pinot." Merlot's voice came over the scroll's comm lines as if he had been listening to it the entire time.
"Releasing Beta subjects… Khimeras." Robin's voice came over the loudspeakers on Ruby and Weiss' comms.
"What the hell are those?!" Weiss screamed before everyone could hear the wind being knocked out of her lungs and the sickening thud of her slamming into solid rock.
"WEISS!" Winter screamed as she fired up the Bullhead, the engines roaring as everyone held their breath as Taiyang slammed the door shut and motioned for her. "We're on our way! Naruto, do you have a direction as to where they are?"
"North to northeast from the radio tower I was at! Heading there now!" Naruto kept his voice low and focused, but the desperation was evident for all to hear. "Everyone move in and spread out! Push through, and as soon as you find something, report it to us! Ruby, Weiss, keep fighting! Winter and I will be there soon."
"Giving all I got!" Ruby called out with labored breathing, multiple battles with Grimm starting to take their toll.
"On the way!" Winter exclaimed as she turned the Bullhead toward the radio tower. Naruto was out and flew up the cliffside while her passengers hung on tight. "We will find you!"
"Believe it!"
"Believe it!"
For one of the few times in his life, as he sat alone, allowing the dust of his elven comrade of many years to heal his internal wounds, Guts watched the interactions of the young warriors with an odd sense of familiarity. It almost reminded him of his younger days. The days before everything changed…
It reminded him that the second family he was building was ripped from him before he could make sure they grew strong and were prepared for the world!
Looking over at the two, the girl with orange hair in particular, he couldn't help but be further reminded of his past. He brutally squashed them as if it would do him no good here. He only had one goal in mind, but for now…
He knew the two. He couldn't forget the girl due to her hair and those vibrant eyes. How she helped carry Tealle away from Kuroyuri as he guarded them away from the village, knowing the battle to be hopeless then.
He was too injured and finally laid his old armor to rest, knowing he couldn't use it any longer if he wished to keep his daughter safe. Ironically the moment he put it to rest was the one time he could have used it the most. He had begun to lose a step even back then and he wasn't able to fight due to his injuries at the time.
Life had been harsh on him, and the constant battles fatigued and aged him harshly. The fact that he was still physically fit and capable of fighting at the level he currently did was a testament to his will. Puck probably had something to do with the magical dust healing him constantly and keeping him alive all these years, even after coming to this world due to his intervention…
Guts snarled at the memory before shaking it out of his head. He buried that long ago. While he wanted nothing more than to settle things with that man, there seemed to be no way to return to that world. Even his most well-intentioned gift in a moment of clarity that reminded him of what the man used to be in the end still caused him pain and suffering…
"Guts, are you okay?" Puck's voice reached through and broke him out of his thoughts, and his attention turned to the blue-haired elf that continued to shower his dust onto his chest. "You are brooding more than usual."
"Does it happen to look for the kids again?" Puck asked as he looked over at Nora and Ren in wonder. "I knew you struggled with the decision to take them to the Kingdom of Mistral so easily, but…."
"It doesn't matter. Their lives are better." Guts gruffly responded as he batted Puck away, annoyed at the elf's interpretation, before standing and moving toward the group. "I'm good enough. We should make our way inside and try to find where they are holding the girls and my daughter."
"Really?" Yang looked at him incredulously in response. "I heard quite a few bone breaks. I don't think you should be standing with that…."
"Oh, don't worry about him… Oh, you can't hear me!" Puck annoyingly started to answer before frustratingly crying out as he threw a pebble into Yang's temple.
"What the fuck was that?! What threw a rock into my face?!" Yang grumbled and twitched as Jaune and Nora pointed at the air next to the man she knew as Jett. "What do you mean? I'm not buying that there is anything there, Jaune. Nora, stop feeding into this! Fuck! Another pebble!"
"I'm right here! Notice me!" Puck yelled, vexed that the blonde refused to acknowledge his existence. "What makes it so hard to believe that Elves are real with all that happens? Others of my kind live here in Remnant! I've at least seen one other!"
"You know… I am noticing an outline of something glowing beside him." Pyrrha commented as she thought she could see a blue glow next to a man that still dwarfed her height by slightly less than a foot.
"There is aura for sure. I'm sensing something is there. Nora and Jaune aren't making it up." Ren whispered as if he could feel something. "In fact… With my aura sensory, it almost looks like a small human… Okay, I understand why Jaune freaked out now."
"Can you hear me now?" Puck flew over to Ren; his eyes were wide as he looked at the blue-haired elf and nodded, as with his deductions, he believed that his friends were seeing something.
Thus, he sensed and confirmed that they were there. Now he knew Elves were real.
"Yay! Someone new to converse with!" Puck excitedly cried out before being pluck out of the air by the wings by Guts' thumb and pointer finger. "Hey! That still hurts, you jerk!"
"Stop bothering people. You are annoying." Guts gruffly grunted before he opened a jar on his person and tossed the elf inside of it. "Consider this a timeout!"
"I'm older than you! This is not fair!" The jar muffled Puck's scream as he beat against it helplessly before crossing his arms and huffing. "Will you let me out of I go on ahead and search for Tealle?"
"You should have been doing that in the first place!" Gus grunted at the elf before giving him the courtesy of being let out. "Now do your job!"
"Fine, fine! I'm heading ahead!" Puck blew a raspberry as he flew away, heading ahead to the door he saw that had already been cracked open from the Nuckelavee fight from earlier.
"Shouldn't… Someone head with him?" Jaune questioned as he watched the elf fly away and wondered if the tiny thing would be okay on its own.
"He'll be fine. Grimm don't seem to notice him." Guts casually responded as Puck had been in far more dire situations many times and survived.
He was adept at finding a way to stay alive.
"But what if he does find them?" Pyrrha inquired as she tilted her head at the odd interaction despite not hearing or seeing the being yet. "Shouldn't someone be with him so it would be most effective?"
"If you wish to, do so." Guts commented as he walked to the door and kicked the door off its hinges with a kick. "This place will be a labyrinth, and we will most likely have to separate. So it is best we…."
There was a crackle on everyone's scroll as the radio came through, the comms went live, and Jaune's eyes widened. "Oh! My scroll finished decryption at the tower!"
"Is anyone there? I repeat! "Is..." Winter's voice, the sister of Weiss, greeted them when Raven opened the portal on the island and informed them of everything that was happening.
"Oh, Pyrrha, tell her we…." Jaune started when they were interrupted by a surprise they were not expecting to hear.
"Winter?!"
"WEISS?!"
Everyone was in shock at hearing her voice. Ren was the first to voice his opinion on the matter, ignoring that Winter was speaking on the comms. "How ignorant are they of not confiscating their scrolls? That should have been the first thing to confiscate?"
"Indeed." Guts frowned as he listened to every word spoken as the girl had to be near where his daughter was.
"Sounds like they're fighting Grimm. We need to move!" Yang cracked her knuckles before everyone nodded in agreement and started to rush ahead at a quick pace through the narrow hallway.
Puck, flying ahead, turned around and smiled, seeing Guts and the group rushing to catch up. "Ah, I knew you could… WOAH! Too fast!"
Being spun around violently and caught in the vacuum of everyone rushing past him sucked him out of the air. He was left to be caught by Nora as she smiled at the tiny elf. "I got you."
"Thanks!" Puck said with a couple of swirls replacing his eyes for a moment before shaking his head as he became dizzy. "What's going on?"
"COME FUCK THESE GRIMM YOURSELF!" Ruby's voice came over Nora's scroll as the comm echoed what was being said.
Yang grimaced ahead at what her sister said and blushed fiercely at what her sister had been saying on the other end of the comms. "Um… Dad, I swear I didn't teach Rubes any of this."
At this, Guts looked at the blonde he had been fighting with and raised an eyebrow. He knew better as he heard her fight. If her sister had been exposed to her fighting, she most certainly would have picked up on a few of those traits.
The blonde's blush increased further as she tried to ignore all the stares focused on her. This was for what she had been teaching Ruby and the silent treatment she knew her father was giving her. She would be in for it when she got home.
She was corrupting his innocent Ruby. Innocent her ass!
Yang growled as they reached a large tunnel that seemed to branch in three directions before she spoke into her scroll again. "Is there anything you can tell us about where you are at? Like any hints! I know Naruto has his sensory thing, but we don't have a layout of this place!"
"There are dozens of corridors, we're not going to be able to help you navigate them, but I think I can narrow something down from the outside!" Weiss said as she fought off a Grimm, the sounds of what seemed like electricity crackling over the scroll being heard. "There is light coming down from a cave opening from up top! Maybe coming in from above could give us a way out?"
"Then we need to separate and start our search! Pick your paths and go!" Guts wasted no time seeing there were three paths and took control.
"Taking left!" Yang cried as she rushed to the left.
"I'll come with you!" Jaune surprisingly called out and rushed out alongside her.
"Middle it is!" Ren took the straight path they were on.
"Coming, Ren!" Nora ran after her partner, as inseparable as always.
"I guess I'm coming with you then," Pyrrha responded with a warm smile before looking at the right path.
Guts did not share the greeting. He turned and began his path, moving steadily to the right tunnel and making Pyrrha catch him. Puck sighed as he flew. "You know you could try to be a tad more friendly. They are here to help."
"Or not ignore me too!" Puck yelled out in frustration as he fluttered above, trying to keep pace with Guts and Pyrrha's speed as he listened to the call on the radio. "Wow… That Jaune guy knows how to get everyone mad at him."
"I know!" Pyrrha commented, catching Puck off guard, and even Guts to an extent, as the redhead could now hear the elf. "He really is insufferably, obnoxiously oblivious at times! He's getting better, but he still has a long way to go… As we all do."
"When were you able to see and hear me?!" Puck cried out as he landed on the redhead warrior's ponytail.
"Since a little after Ren was able to!" Pyrrha admitted with a sheepish smile. "When he admitted to feeling something and hearing you, I knew something had to be there. And with the belief that my friends weren't pulling my leg, you suddenly showed up. It was rather shocking!"
"Fair… Woah!" Puck cried out as several Dust shots came out of nowhere, as the whirling of fire began, and the chain sound of a Gatling gun was heard in the distance.
"INTRUDERS!" Several androids with glaives and miniguns stood in the distance, white droids wielding guns unloading their rounds. "ELIMINATING!"
Pyrrha immediately drew Akouo before her face just below her eye line. This allowed her to keep sight of where she was running while lowering and streaming, lining her body as she ran, recognizing the danger. Guts picked up the pace, his hand reaching back for Dragonslayer. He, however, was caught off guard as the redhead briskly outpaced him, and her blade transformed into a javelin.
With a mighty heave, her aim was precise. The javelin form of her weapon split through the right minigun-wielding android's head, stopping its fire a moment after its signal was lost and its body crumpled.
Pyrrha retracted Milo with Polarity before she leapt toward the droid, using her aura to increase the speed with a powerful burst. Manipulating the entirety of the swing of the glaive while emerald eyes glowed with aura, she swatted the weapon away with Akouo and left the droid off-balanced. She followed with a single cut of Milo, and the droid's arms and weapon clashed to the ground.
It was now defenseless as she gave it a straight boot and kicked it back into the wall, transforming Milo into its javelin form. And with a single thrust, she drove it through the droid's skull. She felt the pulse of metal behind her as the other droid with a glaive approached and was ready to repel it with her semblance.
"You are in my way!" Guts roared as a black blur appeared, pulling Dragonslayer from his back, and with one fluid motion, both droids were bluntly cleaved in half as the blade swung ever so closely and sliced near Pyrrha's torso.
His eyes turned to the redhead as the droid, and without a hint of malice or remorse, he spoke as he kept moving. "You followed me at your own peril. I will not hold back. Stand in my way again, and I will cut through."
Narrowing her eyes at this man as he continued to sprint ahead, Puck patted Pyrrha on the head and sighed. "That's him showing his concern. He's not very good at it. You would think he would have learned to soften up a little after twenty years and having had a daughter."
"That was concern?!" Pyrrha hissed at the elf before she raced after the man in black armor. "That sounded more like a threat!"
"I did say he's not very good at showing it." Puck sighed once more as he continued to ride in Pyrrha's hair. "He always had… What did that say?"
"What?" Pyrrha exclaimed before listening to her scroll once more as she was too caught up in the moment. "What happened to Weiss?! We need to find them fast!"
"Right!" Puck started to look around as he saw what lay before him. "Oh man, there are so many rooms coming up!"
"It's pointless checking them! They're all in battle! We need to listen!" Guts called ahead, trying to listen for any details that could lead him in the right direction that wouldn't get them caught up with the others in the process.
Stopping and closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and listened to everything around him. He could ignore the creaking of the metal or the drips coming from the ooze leaking from the pipes. Trivial sounds like that made no difference to him. He was looking for the sounds of battle—the sounds of some struggling in a life-and-death situation.
Those desperate clashes. Those sharp intakes of breath. The roars of the monsters. The tears of flesh. Anything he could recognize.
Pyrrha stood motionless as she watched the man take short and steady breaths, almost like he was in a meditative state. He was listening, but there was no way his hearing was of that caliber unless they were nearby. Even with years of training, that was something only a faunus could hear, like Naruto, Blake, or Velvet with their extra set of ears...
Snapping his head to the right, he kicked a door open to his right to reveal another hallway. Pyrrha quickly chased after. She was baffled as she could hear anything as she kept pace, running with him for a full minute as they made turn after turn. But as they broke through another sturdier tunnel door, what he heard was apparent.
There were dozens of Grimm in this large tunnel that seemed to lead somewhere. And if she could hear in the distance… But how did he hear that from where they were?
She quickly communicated what she knew on her scroll as she drew Milo and Akouo once more as the Grimm roared and charged. "I think we found a large tunnel that could be heading where they may be! I hear fighting in the distance!"
"That's possible!" Weiss' responded with a pant as she breathed heavily. "If there is a heavy metal shutter at the end, we've seen a few Grimm come out of there!"
"Then let's cut through!" Guts stated as he moved to meet the Grimm and swung Dragonslayer, cutting through several Beowolves that tried rushing through him without his massive sword losing momentum.
Pyrrha charged in, bashing Akouo into a Beowolf and knocking it off its feet. She slashes right before cutting back and through the second that came charging at her, ending it. Stomping on the downed Grimm's chest, she stabbed it through its throat. She let the smoke coat her as she pulled back and used her shield to step away from the erupting tail slap of the tunneling Creep that appeared ahead of her.
Following this, she struck with another slash that cut through the Grimm's face. She charged forward, meeting an Ursa and leaping over, transforming Milo into the javelin for extra range. The bear swiped at her. It barely missed as she flipped in mid-air, landed on its paw, and drove Milo straight between its eyes. She then jumped over and continued rushing ahead.
Guts swung his massive hunk of iron and steel, tearing apart every Grimm that got near him as he raced ahead. His goal was evident as he saw that metal shutter far ahead. His eyes snapped as a green crystal burst and crashed into the ground next to him. A green glowing Beowolf slammed its paws into the ground and knocked him back and into the wall.
He winced as he heard and felt a few more cracks than what he should have taken. He lost a step in his old age. He felt more brittle than he remembered. He should have been able to notice that and dodge that. He should have been able to take a hit like that much easier. That was nothing compared to what he had taken before.
With a burning resolve, Guts bounced off the wall in a blur, with Dragonslayer held high before the mutant Beowolf could react. The air pressure was torn asunder and cracked around him as the Grimm was split in half. The ground buckled and ruptured as the massive blade tore through it. Smoke erupted from the two halves as it dissolved while the man stood in the crater of his own destruction for just a second.
Guts didn't hesitate as he picked up his sword and continued on his path, carving a path through the Grimm.
Pyrrha's eyes widened as she sliced through another Creep at the sight. He had hit with such force that he caused a sonic boom and rent the earth asunder! How heavy was that sword?! How much power was he putting behind every swing of that blade?!
How strong of a man was he?! He didn't even seem to be using a semblance!
"Show them whose boss Guts!" Puck yelled out as he cheered on his friend of many years from Pyrrha's head before he called out. "Watch out!"
She instinctively responded as she blocked yet another Creep tail swipe and, with a single slash from Milo, cut through the Grimm's skull, lopping the top of its head off. Shaking her head, she had to learn more about this man. She had thought Naruto was a fine specimen of a warrior, but this was something else!
What was this man?!
"I think we're close by!" Coco mentioned that she had heard the earth-splitting crack from Gut's slash, and Pyrrha could hear another minigun firing nearby.
"Yeah, felt that from a mile away!" Fox responded as a few snaps and clicks were heard, and a sudden slice followed.
"We'll be right there to help!" Velvet commented as the sound of Grimm roaring in pain echoed on her scroll.
"Stay safe until then!" Yatsu responded as a cleaving thud was heard, and the roar ended.
"Will do!" Pyrrha called out before cutting down a Beowolf, slicing through with ease and rushing past the rest as a clear swath had been cleared, and their numbers thinned.
They needed to get to the others, and she could hear their tired voices.
Ruby was unsure what stood before her as she held Blake on her right shoulder and stood before an incapacitated Weiss while holding Crescent Rose on her left. These Grimm were something she had never seen before. They were hacked together Grimm…
"Abominations," Ruby growled at the skeletal armored Grimm, which seemed to be mishmashed and put together.
"Oh, you have to be kidding me… I think I know what those are!" Naruto growled from his line on the comms. "Skeletal armor over a human-like body with body parts from other Grimm attached and a scorpion tail?!"
"Body of an Apathy, tail of a mutated Deathstalker..." Tealle tried to comment on the parts her mother recognized as they slowly walked toward them while holding her hand out toward them, wincing painfully as she did. "I can't control them either!"
"Fuck me! This is where they came from!" Naruto roared on his comm. "They have poison in their tails that is flammable! Their skeleton is extremely durable, and conventional weapons will bounce off them! How many are there?!"
"Ten!" Ruby growled as Weiss slowly awoke before she burst toward the closest Grimm in a petal of rose and a sonic blast to try and knock them away, but her scythe caught the face and bounced despite the strength of the blow behind it. "Shit!"
Sprinting away, Ruby knew she needed to get a better opportunity and catch them from a better angle.
"That many?!" Winter screamed on her side of the scroll as Tealle forced an abomination back away from her and Weiss by holding out her other hand, pushing it away with a mighty force. "What the hell are you trying to do?"
The Grimm tumbled back into the others but quickly turned and landed on all fours. It stood back with its hands down as a few others chased after Ruby, trying to catch the sprinting rose. It was all she could do to fight back this time as the few swings she made bounced off their armor, as Naruto had mentioned. "Fuck off!"
"It's simple research, my dear." Merlot explained with no hint of compassion as he watched on. "I want to know how much control I exert over my creations and all Grimm. If I can match even a fraction of what the Queen of Grimm can do, my work shows signs of success."
"You lunatic! Controlling Grimm! What the hell are you thinking?! Of all the things I know of what Ozpin did and is, not trusting you was the correct decision! You are insane!" Taiyang called the man out with anger written in his voice. "What do you think happens the moment your device break?! Grimm are naturally aggressive towards only humans and seek us out! Is that what happened at Mountain Glenn?! Is that why all those people had to perish?! Because of your science!"
"Try and attack the joints and with a bladed weapon. Anything that is not bone covered is vulnerable!" Naruto commented at the same time over the comms trying to give Ruby what she needed at the same exact moment, trying to provide the girl with advice after hearing the clang moments before, trying not to growl at what Tai was yelling at Merlot. "Be careful. The tail moves independently as well! Attacking from behind is a risk! Or even trying to get past them!"
Ruby's eyes widened, for at that moment, she tried to race past all of them. One of the long Deathstalker tails came striking down towards her, utterly independent of the body's movement. She deflected it with Crescent Rose with a quick reaction, but another struck her in the left thigh, piercing through the flesh. And she felt something within the tip of the stinger flood her system that brief second the contact was made.
She screamed as she dropped to the ground in intense pain and skidded against the floor due to the speed she was traveling, Blake falling from her grasp. The two were now separated.
"Fucking stinger!" Ruby gasped as she clutched her left thigh, and she felt intense pain coursing through her leg, seeing green goop pouring out of the small piercing wound along with the blood.
"Ruby!" Many voices called from over the comms before the most dominant began speaking.
"Naruto, Raven! Have you had any luck finding that cave opening!" Taiyang's voice sounded desperate as he wanted to get to his baby girl then and there, knowing how toxic a regular Deathstalker's venom could be.
He couldn't imagine what the abomination's was like.
"Dammit! I wish I had Naruto or Ren's ability to sense aura right now! I'm fucking lost in here!" Yang cursed on her end. "Ruby, I know this is a lot, but can you make more noise?"
"We'll try…." Weiss weakly responded on the scroll as she used the cave wall to stand up, watching Tealle repel yet another of these Grimm away from them. "We're doing as much as we can already..."
"It was unfortunate, but I was running out of test subjects and had to… Bring more in, so I created a negativity amplifier, and they came running." Merlot finally answered, giving off a pleasant tone as if he enjoyed what he was watching, while Ruby attempted to stand back up as Tealle burned and knocked back several of his creations. "But it was a massive success. I had begun to demonstrate that I could bring the Grimm into an area where control was possible. And now I have shown I can even have them pick specific targets!"
"Progress waits for no man, and if we wait, the Grimm will overcome humanity! We need to use their strength and put it to our own good!" Merlot announced to the world over his communicator.
Everyone held a brief pause as they let those words sink in. And then Naruto spoke with venom dripping in his words. "You psychotic bastard… You wiped out an entire city for a science experiment!"
"All right… If no one else is calling it… I will find you personally and fucking put you into the ground myself." Blake yowled as she slowly picked herself up off the ground, as everything was still unfocused, but she could hear everything fine. "You and that bitch that wants to breed one of us with the Grimm…."
"THE FUCK?!" Several voices screamed over the scroll radio.
Seeing her friend up and her weapon far away from her, Weiss didn't hesitate. Instead, she formed a glyph to burst past all the abomination Grimm, narrowly avoiding a tail strike as she ducked under it with a slide. Gripping the hilt and sheath, she tossed them across the room to Blake. "Catch!"
"Thank you!" Blake cried out as she managed to snatch her weapons out of the air by the hilts and switched to dual blade stance with them, her golden eyes glowing as she looked at the abominations again. "Hit the black parts! You'll bounce off the skeletal parts!"
"Got it!" Weiss' eyes opened wide, realizing that bit of information and that these were the new variants she and Naruto must have faced before everything turned south a few days ago.
As she was exhausted and in pain, Blake rushed forward despite every muscle screaming. She made her way toward Ruby, seeing a few of the abominations crouched around her. It worked as one turned its attention towards her, the tail swinging wildly and on its own.
She deflected the tail with the sheath and held her breath, knowing the mist was poisonous as she was a second late with a clone. In a blink, she sliced through the unprotected spinal column of the Khimera with the wakizashi in her right hand, severing its head. Smoke erupted as the head fell off, and she flipped in mid-air. A clawed hand swiped at her back faster than she could register and form a clone and she was thrown into the ground.
Several gashes tore through her clothes, and her aura barely kept the razor edge claws from penetrating her, leaving only several significant cuts across her lumbar and lower back. She rolled as a tail repeatedly struck at the ground where she was before slicing back and knocking it aside as she rose to one knee.
Ruby swathed her scythe around them, Blake ducking her head so she wasn't caught. She fired Crescent Rose to extend the range of her sweep to force the Khimera back. Weiss dashed in with another glyph and flicked Myrtenaster forward as crystal shattered all around them, trying to freeze them. Most shattered as they backed off, but one's foot was caught; that was all Blake needed.
With a quick burst of speed, her slice came under its throat and caught it. The Grimm, however, moved its chin down so that it reflected off and swung its clawed hand at her, brutally catching her with it. She barely survived the blow with her sheath deflecting the blow in time and her aura shielding enough of the damage. Still, several more claw marks gashed her left arm and shoulder.
Ruby, however, burst through with a semblance and caught it with her scythe before it could react. And its head rolled off its body as smoke erupted from its collapsing body. However, the landing was problematic as she tripped and tumbled, her leg unable to sustain her body weight.
Pushing up with Crescent Rose to stand on her feet, Ruby glared around her and took a deep breath. As she jumped back to her friends and breathed heavily, she wasn't giving up in this fight.
"That's two down, at least! Eight more to go!" Tealle cried out as she tiredly joined them, not used to fighting, and looked exhausted and drained.
At any given moment, she could drop as her breathing was extremely labored, her eyelids drooped. Every step she took to reach them seemed like it took everything she had in her tiny and frail body. It was apparent she wasn't prepared for this kind of situation, and they were struggling with it. Those who were trained to fight Grimm, but exhaustion was catching up to them.
The fight at sea wasn't an easy affair, which came after a sleepless night of oaring a boat to the island. Now they have been locked in a life or death struggle against Grimm of increasing difficulty!
"I think we found a large tunnel that could be heading where they may be! I hear fighting in the distance!" Pyrrha's voice broke the tension and gave them hope.
"That's possible!" Weiss' responded as she looked around and saw where the irradiated Grimm had come from earlier. "If there is a heavy metal shutter at the end, we've seen a few Grimm come out of there!"
"We saw one of those too! We're on our way!" Nora exclaimed before a loud slam was heard and a roar was ended, a Grimm most likely meeting its end.
"This seems most unfortunate." Merlot spoke over the loudspeakers, and that caught their attention. "It is simply too bad I will have to cancel today's experimentation. Pinot, terminate subjects. Recover the Alpha specimen and, if so pleases you, your subject. We need to evacuate and retreat to one of the other labs, and at the very least, I know that will keep you motivated."
"Ah, yes," Robin responded with a lot more vigor in her voice, and the droids stationed in the room suddenly activated. "Retrieval program activated. Recovering Tealle Black… And Ruby Rose."
"NOT FUCKING A GRIMM!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs despite the venom coursing through her veins, finding new strength to fight as the droids came over, and Grimm seemed more docile than before.
"Terminate other targets… With extreme prejudice." Robin expressed activating the control sensory on the Khimera.
"Shit!" Weiss screamed, firing the last of ice Dust to create a wall of ice before them to separate some of the Khimera from them. "Hurry up… Okay, someone is close by!"
Hearing a thunderous thud of metal and concrete from nearby, Tealle panted and smirked. She had a reasonable guess of who that was. Preparing a ball of fire in her hand, she lit a Khimera on fire for the girls.
Help was arriving.
Then her body surged with electricity, her aura shielding her just enough as the shock passed through, and she dropped to her knees. She noticed Blake felt the same sensation as the electricity pulsing through their collars, sparking and surging.
And then, a Khimera slapped their meaty claw through Blake's chest, her aura barely hanging on as it tore into her right breast and stomach. The force of the blow sent her spinning and knocking her to the ground. She could hardly move as her body was jolting from the surge coursing through her.
She couldn't fight back!
Another pounced onto Weiss, its clawed hands tearing into her shoulders and gashing into them. Already crying out in pain, her eyes welled up with tears of fear as she saw the mandibles snapping before her and aimed at her neck. An invisible force slammed into it as if a miracle had happened, knocking it to the left as the incisors clamped shut. The claws gashed further against her chest, but she didn't care. She hardly cared that she watched her braid be snapped in half.
She was alive! If only this electric shock would allow her to move and fight back!
Ruby swung her scythe at the droids, cutting through the first that came for Tealle with ease. However, a glaive blow came and struck Crescent Rose with enough force to knock her back. She buckled as her right leg couldn't withstand the pressure but forced herself back to her feet when she felt a shock pass through her body.
"FUCK!" Ruby screamed as she dropped to both her knees, having her aura prepared and shielding herself, but the shock left her senseless.
At that moment, everything became dark when the lights flickered off. Blake and Weiss felt the surge of electricity burning at their necks.
"Pinot! What happened?" Merlot growled over the comms as he was unpleased with this development.
"We fucking happened!" Yang roared over the comm lines, ripping something apart with her bare hands and the sound of Ember firing off. "Seeing this big old power generator as we ran by and hearing my friends being shocked got me thinking… Hey! Maybe if we wreck this, we can do something!"
"Shouldn't make this obvious! Easy to turn off the power!" Jaune shouted over the scroll, sounding like he was hacking into something with his sword. "If Yang and I can find it, you aren't doing your job well!"
"Ruby!" Blake cried out angrily as she jumped to her feet, exhausted and desperate.
She attempted to rush to her side by slicing into the tail strike of a khimera with a wakizashi and slicing into a claw strike with her cleaver. However, she made it to her side only to deflect a glaive strike that knocked her back. She was then pounced on by a Khimera, pinning her arms down and its pincers dangerously close to her throat. "Get off me!"
Weiss also got to her feet and, with a glyph, dashed over and plunged Myrtenaster into the open eye socket of the Grimm. She ripped her rapier out as she kicked the abomination off her friend before the mandibles could snap shut on Blake's throat. "Get off!"
"Activating back generator… Systems online once more." Pinot spoke over the load speakers once more. "Since we are running on backup power, we are essential functions are only active. It is necessary to make our exit now."
"FUCKING LET GO OF ME!" Ruby screamed as a droid wrapped one arm firmly around Ruby's arms and waist with a single arm, easily manhandling her and keeping her pinned down. Its strength far outmatched hers.
"Ruby!" Weiss and Ruby cried out together as the droid jumped away but were forced to back off as a Khimera rushed at them with a pounce, then its tail stabbed the ground where they were.
"Hang on, Ruby! I see a cave entrance nearby!" Naruto reassured with an edge to his voice as a few others spoke, trying to keep her spirits and their own up.
"We're right there!" Ren cried as he banged against the metal shutter, letting them hear it. "Nora, blow it!"
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Nora's voice echoed the metal shutter that Beowolfs, Creep, Ursa, and Berengil came through ruptured with an explosive purple round.
And Ren and Nora rushed through it; StormFlower trained on the Grimm, letting a fury of Dust rounds unload into the closest one. "I'm over here!"
"It's no good! They've been honed in on a target they stay on when controlled!" Weiss stated as she figured that out during the first test, using her glyph to increase both her and Blake's speed to jump further away as the eight remaining Grimm were incensed onto them, not giving them space to breathe.
"That's lovely!" Blake screamed as she tried to keep eye contact with Ruby as the droid took her out the door they exited from, hearing another explosion from another metal shutter door. "These things are incredibly difficult to kill one-on-one! This many at once is absurd!"
"Then we'll take the fight to them!" Nora yelled as she came screaming in, electricity crackling around her as she slammed Magnehild into one of the Khimera in the ribcage, knocking it into its allies and tripping over them momentarily as they quickly recovered.
Her eyes widened as several tails suddenly lashed out to sting her. However, a shield flew in, deflecting the hit as Ren came a second later and slashed the tails back with StormFlower. "Don't forget what Naruto said on the comms! The tails move independently!"
"Together we can take them!" Pyrrha called out from the other side of the room, having thrown Akouo seeing Nora in danger from her range after coming out the other ruptured door.
"Dad!" Tealle cried, seeing her father running behind Pyrrha before her eyes widened as she felt a mechanical arm wrap around her. "Let go of me!"
"Well, now I have apprehended my prize once more. I will be making my leave as well." Merlot stated over the comms, but everyone could feel his confidence now that he saw Tealle's capture. "As for the rest of you, I dare say I don't wish for your interference in my research any longer, so… Goodbye, my friends. This was a fun encounter. Run wild, my creations."
"I don't like what I just heard," Jaune spoke over the scroll with worry written in his voice. "The villain often follows that in a movie, activating some self-destruction sequence for his base. At least that is how most movies play out…."
Guts' eyes narrowed as he pushed his body as hard as possible. He knew he could catch the creation. It was slower than him even in his advanced age and worn down body. But luck was not on his side as he crossed the threshold of the room. The Grimm suddenly were no longer focused on the two girls as their target and spread across the room.
And what happened next left everyone petrified.
The Khimeras let out a shrill, horrifying scream, and something new happened to everyone nearby as they all froze, petrified in place. Gritting his teeth as he saw all the kids freeze and the droid take his child, Guts felt a drain on his body. It was as if something was trying to take away his right to move... His will to keep going.
Yelling with a hefty swing of Dragonslayer, he stopped as a Khimera blocked his path, and it split in half, and its tail was severed in the process. His eyes were lit with rage as he focused on the droid nearing the exit. "You are in my way! Stand aside!"
This action sparked nearly everyone into action, snapping them out of their fear-induced state. Ren quickly moved under the claw swipe and cut into the arm's blackened flesh, causing smoke. He then fired a few rounds into the open torso, causing smoke to erupt from the Khimera and forcing it to stagger back.
Nora charged herself with enough amperage to tank the claw strike, toughening her muscles so her right arm only took a few gashes. In return, she shoulder bashed into the Khimera, knocking it off-balance and onto its back before dropping Magnehild down onto its skull, crushing its head.
Blake quickly registered they were still on the run and grabbed Weiss as she deflected the claw and delivered a cut into the neck of a Khimera. This forced it to back off before managing another Shadow Clone to dodge an incoming pounce from another. The two continued to sprint. The heiress could only shout her thanks. "Thank you! I'm not sure how much left I have to be honest!"
"Don't mention it… Pyrrha, move!" Blake started before her eyes widened, taking a quick turn as she saw the redhead was still frozen. "Not again!"
When she first heard the scream. She didn't know what had happened.
Pyrrha felt cold. She felt like nothing. Like everything didn't matter. Like she didn't matter. That everything she did was pointless. That all her strength was meaningless.
That was proven already. The day she saw Naruto eviscerate those Grimm with such ease and with such outlandish force left no doubt there were those far superior to her. That made her look weak and helpless. Like she was nothing more than a child.
So what if she was the four-time Mistral Tournament Champion? The first win she got was more of a fluke than she would like to admit, as her opponent was superior that year, and if it weren't for her semblance, she would have lost.
What hope would she have if there were Grimm stronger than she... If there were Grimm that were capable of matching her Heracles...?
If she couldn't stand up to these Grimm with this measly strength, what good was she?!
"Hey! Move, please!" Puck pinched Pyrrha's cheek as he hovered in front of her, trying to get her to move as he attempted to get the girl to snap out of her funk. "Come on… Oh crap!"
Pyrrha stood frozen as the Khimera latched its arms onto her shoulders, snapping her out of her trance as its drool splattered onto her face. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw its mandibles inches from her face while her attempts to struggle and break its grasp failed.
Ready to snap through her flesh. All the while, the elf fairy was smacking it in the face with some spiky plant. "Leave her alone, you big meanie!"
"NO!"
From nowhere, Jaune screamed as his sword cut into the Khimera's arm, causing smoke to erupt and letting go of Pyrrha, dropping her into a heap on the ground. It swung its claw brutally and caught Jaune's shield, knocking him back. However, it was not prepared for it as it found a short sword lodged through its torso, piercing through its skeletal armor.
And Pyrrha's emerald eyes burned brightly, and she withdrew Milo, and with a turn, she loped the Grimms head off and gave a fierce battle cry. She locked onto her target, transforming Milo once more, and aimed.
"Nice save!" Puck called out as he fluttered over to Jaune and smiled before returning to Pyrrha, unaware of why he was sticking with her.
Guts didn't have a moment to spare as everyone dealt with the Grimm. He kept rushing for the droid as it was almost out of the room. If it left, he would have to chase it through tight corridors, giving it the advantage. He needed it in the open!
For once, luck shined on him, for a large kunai split open its head before reaching the door. This caused the droid to stumble, fall onto its side, and collapse with Tealle still in its grasp.
In that instant, Naruto dropped in from above and landed with a swift roll. He sprints straight after Blake and Weiss, his focus solely on engaging the Khimera chasing after them. However, as he passed by the man he knew as Jett, he spared a momentary glance, and their hardened gazes locked with one another. "Get to your daughter!"
For the brief moment they held eye contact, Guts felt he knew what the blonde faunus stood for and represented. And he was pretty interesting. A grin crept on his face as he rushed to his daughter.
He would have to exchange blades soon enough. He wanted to know more about the boy to see exactly what he was like.
As Guts took off towards his daughter, a raven flew in and swooped in overhead, transforming into Raven with Omen drawn as she scanned the room. But she could not find who she was looking for, which deeply disturbed her. "Where's Ruby?!"
"They took her through that door!" Blake called out as the aggression of the Khimera was finally split, and she and Weiss were no longer the prime focus of the Grimm.
"Then you have the rest! I'm here for Ruby!" Raven blindly charged forward behind Guts, uncaring of everything around her, lightning crackling around her, ripping into a Khimera's chest that tried to get close to her.
Omen followed with a trail of burning dust, cutting through the tail that attempted to swing at her as she moved forward. This left the Grimm hollering in agony as she rushed by.
It didn't count on a javelin finding itself lodged between its eyes as Pyrrha expertly made a precision throw, skewering the Khimera. With her semblance, she retracted her weapon as she saw Naruto engaged with the last few Grimm chasing an exhausted and wounded Blake and Weiss. She took a step to help engage them when her eyes widened.
A lot of regular Grimm began to funnel out of the tunnels they had come from. Only to start being mowed down by the minigun from behind while Coco walked into the cave opening, shredding them CFVY made their arrival. Velvet dashed in with Fox as they heard the sounds of the Bullhead above. "We'll cover the area! Get them out of here!"
"Problem with that!" Naruto growled out in frustration as Raven dashed out of the room, bypassing several droids entering; he saw Jett rip the arm of the destroyed droid to free his daughter from its grasp. "The person that can create portals for everyone just rushed after Ruby! I don't think everyone can fit on one Bullhead!"
Having thrown Shattered Dreams to capture the escaping droid, Naruto drew one of his few remaining kunai from his home. With wind chakra flowing through it, he became a flicker that no one could keep up with. The first slice passed through the spinal column of the Khimera, severing it before it could react. The second sliced the second's right leg off from the knee as he slid past.
With a quick throw, he plunked the kunai straight through the head of the down Grimm even as the tail reactivity struck at him. He sidestepped it and knocked it away with a flick of his wrist, the Grimm fading to smoke while their tails still wildly flailed about.
Ren sliced at it when Yang jumped on it from the side, upset at everything and glowing gold, unleashing a solid superman punch against the dome's back. "Get the hell away from my friends, you freak!"
"Yang the tail!" Ren yelled as he dashed behind her, seeing it react and spray a poison mist around her.
He tackled the dragoness down and below, avoiding the mist before he pulled StormFlower up and fired into the fog.
It ignited and set the Grimm ablaze, the Khimera screaming as both untangled from one another to leap further away from the fiery eruption. Only for one person to rush in and swing her sword through the Grimm.
And the head of the last Khimera rolled as Pyrrha skidded with Akouo held before her, scorched from the heat of the fire it absorbed. She was only slightly sizzled as she streamlined herself behind her shield when she leaped through the blaze. Her speed allowed her to jump through quickly, allowing the flames to lap at her briefly. She only patted her hair to remove the embers from it.
Above her, Puck was flying, patting his butt and yelling out. "Why did you do that?! That was a Guts move!"
"The fuck is that thing?!" Naruto narrowed his eyes and pointed at Puck while Blake looked curiously, unsure what Naruto was looking at, and Weiss was bothered as she saw nothing as well.
"Long story! He came with him! I can't see him, but apparently, everyone else can!" Yang annoyingly cried out as she ran over to the door. "I'm going after mom and Ruby! They need a comm, and I need to exchange a few things with my mother!"
Having ripped the arm off the droid, Guts kept his emotions in check as Tealle smiled, and she looked up at her father with a warm smile. "What took you?"
"Had to get off the boat." Guts looked at his daughter's rough shape and reached down with a single tug of his mechanical arm, shattering the metal collar on her neck.
Tealle sighed in relief but winced as she still wasn't in the greatest shape. That didn't matter to Guts. He was more proud of her for fighting as hard as she did. "Then I had to deal with all the noise. Can you stand?"
"Yeah…" Slowly standing on her own as a black-haired woman raced by, Guts stood before her as the droids came running in. "But I can't use her magic… And my body is drained… I don't think I could handle her possessing me now, even if I wanted to."
With a single swing of Dragonslayer, every android that came out was swept away as he ripped them apart, their inner parts scattering from the sheer force of his blow. It was more like the blow's power destroyed them than the blade's sharpness. A second swing took care of another as it came through the door, and it was ripped in twain, and the ground cracked beneath it.
"Go with them." Guts gruffly commanded as he started to walk forward as the blonde girl he came with rushed by him. "I have some unfinished business to deal with here… And it is better for you not to see what I'm planning to do."
"If he is honorable as the witch within you says, I have no worries about your safety." Guts finished as he walked through the door, his cape covering his armor as he did. "After all, we came here to find them."
"Right." Tealle tiredly sighed as she struggled to grab his odd weapon from the destroyed android, before turning and limping towards the rest of the gathering.
She watched as the blonde faunus cut the metal band from the white-haired girl's neck with the odd metal knife as the other faunus rubbed her neck, heavy burn marks from the shocks they had received. He didn't say a word as he looked over at her, and she weakly extended her weapon for him before pulling out something else alongside it. "Thank you."
"Not about to let a little girl, whether you are under Salem's control or not, be kidnapped and tortured by monsters like these," Naruto responded calmly as he reached out and took Shattered Dreams from Tealle and put it into his sheath before slowly taking the other item, recognizing what it was.
It was his headband that was soaked and drenched in seawater.
This was the catalyst Blake probably smelt and he repressed a growl. She really was being weaved into Fate's game, it seemed. "Why did you come to me instead of staying with your father?"
"Sometimes it's best I'm not around so he can… Unleash the other side of him. The war dog within." Tealle tried to explain as she breathed and labored more and more while her eyelids became heavier. "Besides… We came to Vale for you… Because mother said, you are the one..."
"That can halt her possession and… Grant me freedom from her and Fate." Tealle finished before the last of her strength left her body.
And her fragile form collapsed straight into Naruto's arms, the shinobi catching her with a frown on his face as he did.
He wasn't sure about the game Salem was playing now. She knew of the sealing arts as she knew of his life but did she lie to them? Did she know something that he didn't? What was she playing at? He didn't like this as it seemed she was stringing this girl along, and her father was fighting as he always did!
And it pissed him off!
"Winter! We have Blake and Weiss! I'm bringing them up along with Tealle!" Naruto responded through his scroll as he looked at the door; the man he knew as Jett, Raven, and Yang entered with a frown. "Ruby is still held hostage. Jett, Raven, and Yang are heading in that direction…."
"Who is Jett? That small fairy guy keeps referring to him as Guts." Jaune interrupted, making Naruto's ears twitch as they were in the middle of a mission.
"That's his real name! The other name was supposed to be the undercover name when we didn't know where we were when we first came to this world!" Puck exclaimed out loud, but those words snapped Naruto's attention to the elf in a second.
Those who heard it understood what it meant and turned to look between the faunus and the flying sprite. If what he said was true, it meant…
Naruto wasn't the only one from another world.
And sensing this tension, while Blake, Weiss, and Coco looked confused again, Puck nervously laughed. "Oh… Ah right… I guess that isn't common."
"No, it isn't…." Naruto spoke slowly as he reached out and plucked the elf out of Pyrrha's hair. "And you are coming with me to explain that."
"As someone that came from another world myself, I am quite curious about how another arrived here in Remnant."
Red eyes burned through the darkness of the corridors, the scarce light barely bothering her. Low light didn't bother her anymore. Ever since Ozma was unnaturally gifted with the ability to turn into a raven, she was able to see through the dark. Her eyes filtered and saw through the shadows with little issue.
All her senses heightened due to his magical transformation, so it was the one beneficial thing he had ever given her besides the training of becoming a Huntress to take back to her clan. Little did he know they had initially planned on using it again all the hunters in the first place, and it was why Qrow left the family…
He no longer believed in the cause at that time, and now…
She saw why.
Squashing those thoughts, as she came upon a split path, she listened for any sounds that could help identify which direction they took Ruby. Closing her eyes, Raven focused on trying to hear something other than the droids and the Grimm scattered in the complex. "Come on… Give me something…."
"GO FUCK THE GRIMM YOURSELF TWAT!" Twitched in her ears, and a slight grin escaped her lips.
"That's the way to keep fighting." Raven withdrew Omen once more and raced to the right path before slicing through a Beowolf that got in her way. "No time for you worthless vermin."
"Then how about the daughter you ignored for nearly seventeen years?!" Yang screamed from behind, catching up quickly as she sprinted through the tunnels with her golden aura blazing to make up time, letting it fizzle the moment she caught up.
Dashing ahead, not glancing at her daughter, Yang bellowed in frustration as she kept pace before leaping forward and into an Ursa blocking the path. Then, with a furious left drop followed by a right uppercut, each firing combustion rounds from Ember into the skull of the Grimm, the bear dropped as smoke rose from its broken head.
And she cried out in frustration as her mother kept running, leaving a trail of burning sword slashes cutting through Creeps and Beowolves like they were nothing. "Fuck you! I'm not letting you get off so easily!"
"This isn't the time for this, Yang!" Raven countered simply from ahead as a few androids began unloading heavy dust shells with their miniguns, forcing Raven to use her portal to the left.
Only to appear directly behind them and, with a slash to the right and left, leaving burning dust trails, severed their heads from the rest of the unit.
Just for Yang to leap over her head, catching a glaive with her hands, ripping it out of the droid's hand, and throwing it to the side. Raven then responded with magical energy coursing burning through her several bolts of lightning scorched the droid until its functions seized, and it lay unmoving on the ground.
"I don't care if you think it is or not!" Yang bit back, her lilac eyes piercing into her reds, emotions welling within. "You abandoned me in my time of need! You never came back when dad, Ruby, and I needed you most after we lost Summer, and now that we are grown-ass women making our own choices, you finally have this epiphany that you can make a difference in our lives!"
"Go fuck yourself!" Yang screamed with furious tears streaming down her blushed face before she swallowed the knot in her throat and wiped the salty streams from her face. "You were never there when we needed you... Why do we need you now?"
"We're fine without you." Yang declared as she let her anger boil over, uncaring that her mother was left speechless and could see her visibly shaken.
Or that the force of the hit caused a slight snapping of her head from the sting on her right cheek.
Raven broke as tears flowed down her face, and her body trembled. She struck her daughter as she stared back into her lilac eyes. "Because I am giving up everything to return to you as I always loved you! I never wanted you to grow up experiencing the horrors of what the family did once I saw what life looked like within the Kingdoms! I wanted you to have a happy, quiet life! A life I could never have!"
"I have made many mistakes in my life, and I am trying to repair the damages." Raven looked down in shame and away from her daughter. "And while I might not deserve redemption, I did try to return but wasn't able to back then. I could stand to see Summer's eyes so alive in Ruby's after having to bury my friend personally… I was weak and pathetic, which is now why the clan has exiled me… Though their assassins failed to claim their special Spring Maiden power back."
Yang's eyes widened as she took a step back. Her mother… Came back? But saw Ruby first? And fled as she saw Summer in her? And she buried her? The Branwen clan exiled her? What had happened?
"But now I have the strength to do what I couldn't before… And while I can't redeem myself in your eyes, I won't let Summer down any longer!" Raven's eyes snapped up, the tears drying and determination blistering within as she glared into her daughters. "Ruby is right there, so let's cut this short and save it for another time! She needs us!"
"Shit!" Yang cursed as she lost focus on the reason she raced out for and looked ahead, seeing more droids coming down the hall. "Well, at least they're giving a clear indication of their direction!"
Raven snarled as it was going to take too long to deal with all of them. She could easily brush past all of them, but that would leave her daughter to deal with them along with the Grimm that was now being released out of their containers that conveniently lined the hallways alone…
"How the hell did he contain Grimm?! They're supposed to die in containment!" Raven snarled as she put Omen through the first Creep that tried to tunnel near her, slicing through it with her Dust-heated blade. "Unless there has been a breakthrough while I've been away from cultured society that I am unaware of, they always perished within days of containment if they can't kill their captors as they just stay enraged!"
"Beats me! I didn't know that! I only knew Grimm were enraged by humanity's presence!" Yang struck a Creep with a left, firing Ember, and slammed it into the wall, cracking the wall and leaving it to start smoking before she charged the droids with her mother. "I wasn't very good in classes! I preferred doing anything else!"
"By the Brothers, you inherited your father's personality, hair, and eye color but my looks and frame." Raven twitched as she drew Omen, the blade shifting colors into yellow as the rotary device within the hilt changed.
Dodging a glaive to the right, Yang jumped up and struck with a heavy right and left combination to the head. She caved it in as she fired Ember, landing on it and shoving the droid over. She then pushed back on it to jump up and flip to the right herself. Landing, she charged back to the next droid while yelling at her mother. "Well, maybe if someone had been around, I would have been more well-rounded!"
Slicing through the glaive with an electrical slash, Raven spun, cut through the droid's arm, and nearly cleaved through its torso. Then, with a second diagonal slash, she tore it asunder before rushing to the next, snarling at her daughter. "If I was around, you would have never had a sister! My leaving was the best thing for your life… If Summer had only listened and not tried to be a heroine! Everything would have been fine!"
"What?!" Yang screamed in confusion as there was something more going on as she engaged the next droid, her aim severely off from her block from the glaive and the blade cutting through her left forearm and knocking her back. "Fuck!"
Right into the firing line of another droid revving its minigun and unloading its Dust payload directly at her.
"Yang!" Raven quickly jumped through a portal, absorbing a few shots with her aura as her daughter did while a few more punctured their flesh before pulling her daughter through it.
Rolling through the portal on the other side, Raven grimaced as she felt a Dust round penetrate her right kidney and his left thigh. However, she separated herself from her daughter regardless. They needed to get through. They needed to go to Ruby. "I apologize… I'm letting your emotions get the better of mine… We need to focus. That nearly cost us."
"Right." Yang grimaced as she felt a stinging sensation and blood pouring from her right breast and winced as another round entered her stomach.
Her body began to seize once more, shaking at the sensation of seeing the crimson liquid. Her eyes started flickering, but she suddenly felt her cheeks gripped tightly and was forced into her mother's red gaze. "Focus! This isn't the time for weakness! Your sister needs you right now."
"Fight, or you will lose her."
Raven's red eyes met Yang's red as Yang's aura burned to life, and Raven grinned. That was the fight she was looking for. She saw strength in her daughter—the resiliency to keep fighting and never quit.
Releasing her hands from her face, Raven drew Omen once more as she focused on the droids bearing down on them. Yang clenched her fist, dropping her hips and bringing her fist up to a guard, ready for a fight.
Only for a massive man in black jumped into them with blurring speed, his cape extending outward as his overtly large sword severed every droid's top half from the bottom with a single swing of his giant heap of raw iron. A disproportionate grin distorted his face as he charged forward, his sword trailing as his grin never left his face.
He uncaringly kept moving as Dust rounds tore into him, every so slightly weaving in and out of their shots so they couldn't hit a vital spot. And his blade, which seemed too heavy to be reasonably wielded, tore through two droids wielding miniguns as the third's arm was severed, its arm flying in the air and its gun falling to the floor. It did not matter as he turned and swung his blade, slicing it through the droid, crushing it through it, and shattering the concrete and ground beneath it while creating a sonic shockwave with the force of his swing.
And the man ripped the blade from the ground seeing more Grimm and Droids coming, his grin never leaving as he held his massive sword before him. "Carve the path to her freedom with your own hands!"
"Never stop struggling!" Guts roared as he charged forward into the thick of battle, instinctively letting the swarms tell him he was heading in the right direction.
Remembering his words from earlier, Yang's red eyes burned brighter as she kept his semblance in its first stage to keep the aura drain minimal. She then unleashed a cry herself as she joined the charge. "I'm coming, Ruby! I am not letting these scientists get their way!"
Ruby was still fighting and struggling. So she couldn't give in. What kind of big sister would she be if she gave up?!
Raven joined the fray instantly, using a portal to get ahead of everyone as her blade turned white and a light gale edge formed around Omen's blade. She easily cut through a droid with a single strike of her sword, glaive, arm, and torso before ducking and twirling as she lopped a Beowolf's head clean off. She moved to turn around…
Only to watch the man in black swath an area clean with a single cleave of his massive sword and keep pushing through as if it was nothing. It didn't even look as if he had cut many of his foes. Instead, the bifurcated top halves hit the ground, the Grimm burning up in the smoke while the scattered droid parts ruptured everywhere.
Was his blade blunted?
But seeing him tear through Beringel with such ease with a single swing of his blade, hitting the ground with such force, she could see why. That sword had to require constant maintenance to keep its appearance... And it seemed awkwardly heavy, yet he handled it with such fluidity.
Her curiosity peaked; Raven's red eyes lit up with electricity as she pulsed the Grimm and droids around her with an electric wave before she dashed, slicing through those in her way. After they rescued Ruby…
She wanted to learn more about this man. He intrigued her.
Yang twitched at the sight before dropping a Beowolf with a left hook and chasing after the two. "Oh fucking hell no! No, no, no!"
"This is not happening! Can you not have wandering eyes?! First my friend, and now this!"
"Okay… Never thought a Bullhead could fit this many people in here!" Naruto commented as he sat in the front with Winter with Blake held gingerly in his arms and lap while Weiss crowded in the cockpit as well, leaning against his shoulder.
"Because it's not supposed to!" Winter snarled in annoyance as she kept the Bullhead hovering above, allowing the blonde to direct them in the direction he felt Ruby's presence heading. "We are beyond our maximum capacity and weight! Thankfully, Patch isn't that far. Otherwise, I think we'd be heading for a seaborne landing after this!"
"Well, if someone decided to run off ahead like the arrogant bitch she usually is, this wouldn't have been nearly as much of an issue! It is not surprising in the slightest!" Taiyang said from behind, irritated at his ex-wife. "This is her playbook. Act calm and collected and then suddenly let loose and go berserk the moment she gets emotional… By the Brothers, Yang inherited more than her looks."
"I would like to use my healing dust on these two, but since they don't believe in me, it doesn't work on them." Puck commented as he flew around the tight space of the Bullhead, buzzing around everyone's head as he flew away from Tealle's spot. "It's also kind of limited as I've been using it a lot today, but I think theirs is more severe than everyone else's. She has many gashes on her."
"How does that even function? Do you have to believe that you exist and suddenly have mystifying healing powers? What even are you? Elves are supposed to be human size with pointy ears and hang out in the woods and shoot bows and arrows!" Jaune questioned as he looked up at the hovering fairy-like creature flying.
"That's a movie stereotype! I had to convince Tealle so long that those movies are fake Elves!" Puck raged angrily as he fluttered, smacking Jaune in the face with a spiky flower.
"Hey! Quit it! That doesn't really hurt, in any case. Just annoying." Jaune commented as he fanned the elf away from him.
"Jaune… Could you stop being so insensitive? For one day?" Pyrrha sighed, hung her head at her pupil, and rubbed her temples.
"The hell are you talking to?" Winter called back, looked at the blonde, and noticed Naruto looking at the same spot. "Are you kidding me? Is there something there?"
"I'm shocked as well, but my mother always talked about the Elven people on Menagerie when I was a child, so it is a little less of a surprise to me," Kali spoke up, looking at the pixie-like being, interested in its existence. "I always wanted to believe in them… But to see one is quite another thing."
Blake's ears twitched at this, remembering her mother telling her the stories from her grandmother about the fairy-like elves. And seeing how everyone conversed with something that was there bothered her. But fairy tales didn't exist… Happily ever-afters didn't…
Looking at Naruto's face, her ears dropped, and her face fell. She didn't deserve a happily ever after. After everything that happened here…
It was because of her. Why was she so stupid? She caught the scent of his headband and mistook that for him! All she had to do was call him on his scroll and realize he had gone into town. But she didn't think he would answer her after being so upset. And her panic caused Weiss and Ruby not to rationalize either…
Feeling a nudge against her, Blake's eyes expected it to be Naruto, but to her surprise, she saw a small floating blue…
"What is that?!" Blake yowled at the top of her lungs, her hair standing on the back as she pressed herself against Naruto, backing as far into him as possible. "I will end you!"
"Woah, woah! I'm a friend! Not enemy!" Puck dodged several swats from Blake as he darted in fear for his life. "I felt you were down, so I decided to poke you and see if you could feel it!"
Naruto's ears twitched at that, not realizing that the elf had more refined emotional sensitivity than him. He had just noticed Blake's depressive mood shift with everything else going on and was about to do something about it when the elf darted toward her. And now she suddenly could see him… "So does that mean the healing dust works now?"
"I mean, it will if she stops swatting at me!" Puck screamed as Blake hissed at the glowing blue pixie, her eyes hyper-fixated on him as if he was a target.
"By the Brothers, is something actually there?" Weiss looked confused while watching her friend swiping at the air as she began to believe everyone wasn't pulling her leg seeing how deadset Blake was at tearing whatever it was apart in front of her. "What could it possibly be... AH! Naked little man!"
"Get out of here, perv!" Weiss slapped Puck out of the air and into the windshield, splatting him spread eagle and arms extended as he slid down it.
"Ow… Rejected harder than me." Jaune grimaced in the back before a slap hit him in the back of the head. "What? What I say?"
"I said for one day, Jaune! That means from that moment!" Pyrrha gave the knightly blonde a stern glare, and he wisely backed off as her emeralds shimmered intensely. "Now we're starting again from this moment until you figure it out!"
He gulped and nodded in response. He knew better and decided to verbalize his remarks internally for the rest of the day. Pyrrha was very agitated, and he didn't want to set her off.
Jaune wondered if it had something to do with what happened before with the Grimm…
Naruto blinked at what he witnessed. And then, he calmly tried to rationalize this irrational event. "I don't think he's that Weiss… He was trying to be helpful and give you some of the healing dust that comes from his wings. He was using some of it, Tealle, just a moment ago."
"It did wonders for me when I was a kid and sprained my ankle," Nora commented, snapping their heads in her direction and Weiss' eyes as she was the only one that could see her from their angle. "He and the black swordsman rescued us from Kuroyuri, but I had sprained my ankle while running away. With only a few flaps of wings, his dust made it feel like it never happened."
"Yeah, it's perfect for minor stuff. For the major stuff, it takes a lot. And I'm running a little low right now with how much I had to use already. But I'll have more in the morning, so I can help keep healing everyone. "So I can spare some to speed up the healing process." Puck explained as he flew back from the windshield and smiled at Weiss, trying to be friendly.
It wasn't the first time he had been slapped across a room before.
The worst had already happened, so this was nothing.
Her ears twitched as her golden eyes focused on the blue glow that moved back and forth and the small elf it was attached to. Blake had her arms pinned to her side to keep from swatting at him. However, taking a deep breath, she allowed her rational mind to overcome her instinctual side and leaned forward, showing the bloody gashes on her back.
"Yikes… Let's get started on those," Puck grimaced as even Weiss grimaced.
Blake had taken quite a few hits from the Khimeras during their fight below. After escaping with gashes on her shoulders, she suffered a scrape on her chest and a deep bruise and laceration on her left hip from when they knocked her into the wall. Her friend was gashed all over and bled profusely.
"We got a problem..." Winter growled as she looked ahead, and Naruto's eyes narrowed as well as he saw what she saw. "I don't think anyone is going to like it."
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Taiyang roared as he looked over the bridge into the cockpit. "It's par for the course for this day, but by the Brothers fucking dammit!"
"They're getting away with my daughter!"
Exiting the darkness and into the light, her eyes struggled to figure out her location as she slammed her body against the metallic being that kept her pinned. It did not matter to her that she was leaving more bruises on herself than it was harming it. Eventually, it would dent, giving her enough wiggle room to slip out of its grasp!
Hearing the ocean's swells again, Ruby growled as she did not like this or want this. She was on a boat again. This time it wasn't her father's diminutive rink-dink fishing boat. No, it was more extensive. It was streamlined, and it seemed to be fast, but it didn't quite seem meant for speed either. It looked like it was designed to carry some cargo as well…
Catching the sounds of footsteps, Ruby frustratingly screamed as she struggled with the grasp of the droid, refusing to give up. "Let me go!"
"I am afraid you are too relevant to my research." Pinot's voice came, seeming delighted before she let out a mock sigh. "It is unfortunate that all that activity led to the loss of Alpha specimen. We do require her as well. That will be a pain to attempt to reacquire the girl."
Ruby's eyes snapped up, and she saw the red-haired scientist standing before her as Dr. Merlot continued to walk past, somewhat annoyed at the situation. He stopped and glanced at the black and red-haired girl before tilting his head and shrugging his shoulder. "All things considered, many positive results came out of this despite the negatives. And the possibility of a hybrid does intrigue me…."
"Let's expedite the testing when we arrive at our Atlesian lab."
"Oh, by all means!" Robin happily spoke with sparkles in her eyes as she gazed over at Merlot before her eyes shifted towards Ruby. "It would be my pleasure! I have several specimens that I want to test with her!"
"GO FUCK THE GRIMM YOURSELF TWAT!" Ruby bellowed at the top of her lungs, her eyes shimmering brightly, feeling Crescent Rose's handle and scope pressing up against her body tightly, painfully pushing into her.
Pinot only smirked as Merlot began to walk away, preparing to have the boat set sail. Her emerald eyes gleamed in excitement as she knelt and gazed straight into Ruby's silvery eyes. "My dear… Where do you think all the safety requirements come from? Science has to start somewhere?"
"Trust me, I will be taking the most precautions I can. I want my little breeding stock to be as safe and healthy as possible. You will be provided with the finest care you can imagine. Unlike all the others that failed… When those rough, thick, massive Grimm filled them from within and ruptured them from the insides."
"It was so intense! So pleasurable." Robin grinned manically before she stood up, turning away from a petrified Huntress as she slowly sauntered away. "And one such as yourself who trained to fight Grimm surely should be tough enough to deal with them thanks to your stronger-than-normal aura. Look at how well you lasted today."
Feeling the boat beginning to shift as the anchors were lifted and the ship started to drift. As they pulled away from the dock, Robin grinned as she looked out at sea. "It will be quite the show to watch my new race be born!"
Ruby's eyes began to flicker in size as the dread settled in the pit of her stomach. This woman was insane! She had to get out of here! But she could break free of this stupid damn robot's grip! And Crescent Rose wasn't helping either…
Snapping her eyes to her baby, if she could squirm enough, she could trigger the fire sequence, and the recoil might give her what she needed. And she knew her sweetheart down to every detail, so she knew exactly where the trigger was and how much pressure she needed. All she needed was a minor…
"Ruby!" Yang's voice burst through the metal doors of the base, and her attention snapped over to see her blonde hair sister rush out with her mother and…
The man who easily defeated her and Blake in the Rainbow Hotel and that was Tealle's father.
Today was odd, for it seemed like this was her rescue party.
"Yang!" Ruby cried out in desperation as she started to struggle violently against the droid holding her hostage. "Don't want to be bred!"
"Stop them!" Pinot ordered as several droids jumped onto the dock and began to charge their miniguns.
"Not happening!" Raven transformed into her namesake and flew into the sky as several droids started pelting their direction with Dust rounds with their miniguns.
With a single blur, the man in black rushed through the bullets, rending several in half with a mighty swing of his blade while Yang dodged and weaved, her aura burning red. With a single punch connecting to the torso of the droid, it eviscerated and shattered its top half. Ember fired its combustion round and sent shrapnel about like a controlled explosion.
Guts and Yang leaped onto the boat with a mighty leap. Several more droids with glaives met them only for a single swipe from Dragonslayer to cleave through the first group to step toward them. And the black swordsman stood, his massive rod of iron held before them as the shrapnel of the robots fell to the ground. "Go! I've got this!"
"Thank you!" Yang rushed through as Guts commanded all the attention, trying to get to Ruby but saw her mother was going to get there first.
Guts smashed through, ripping apart the first droid with an upper slice. Their weapons did not matter. He cut through them with each swing of his heavy blade. More like snapped them in half. He wasn't even sure Dragonslayer could cut through things any longer with how dull it had become. There were probably smiths in this world that could treat his weapon, but…
Did he really trust any of them as he did Godot or Rickert?
Even his arm was in poor condition, and it needed repairs. But he didn't trust anyone.
Cutting down the last of the droids, he saw his chance. He rushed to where he saw the man he was chasing heading. Breaking down the door with a solid kick, a satisfied and malicious grin distorted his face as he spotted only one last droid standing between him and his target.
And he slowly began to descend upon him.
Merlot began to beg, but as his droid was chopped in half as if it was nothing, the windows shattering with the single sword swing. "Wait! I can…"
Blood splattered among the captain's wheel as Merlot was bifurcated with the second swing, his intestines and entrails spilling out as his top fell into the remaining windows as they shattered from the impact. His head slammed against the deck, blood splattering as his guts drain from his torso. And finally, his red cybernetic eye rolled out of his head.
And Guts sheathed Dragonslayer, turning with a word as he left the bloodied corpse of Merlot on display to his brutality.
Hitting her trigger, Ruby cried in pain as Crescent Rose fired, but it worked. The gap was created, and she slithered out of the gasp of the droid. She painfully plopped headfirst to the ground, almost too close to landing on her own scythe's blade. But she rolled and was ready to fight when she saw a raven transform and a red blade tear through its skull.
And there stood Raven. Her back turned as she sheathed Omen. Then her red eyes turned into Ruby's silver eyes, a smile almost creeping onto her face but not entirely as they suddenly snapped into the red-haired woman. "You tried to defile my truest friend's daughter… My child's sister… And you think you get away with that."
Lightning began to crackle around Raven as the Spring maiden's magic began to flow through her eyes, wind accelerating around them as she slowly stepped toward the woman menacingly. And she snarled as lightning cracked around her. "You are nothing but an ant! It's time you learned your place in this world! Grimm are not to be fucked with!"
"And neither is the family of a Branwen!"
At that moment, Robin broke into a dead sprint, red eyes tracking the lowly woman, and would have struck her down then and there. But she glanced over at Ruby, and another thought crossed her mind…
Letting the power of the Spring Maiden fade, her red eyes turned to the daughter of her ex. "Ruby… She is yours to deal judgment to. But remember…"
"She has done this to others before?" Raven finished coldly as her red eyes gazed coldly into her silvers.
"Ruby!" Yang rushed over to embrace her sister, and while Ruby melted in her sister's loving touch, closing her eyes and…
The rage boiled within. She felt hatred for this woman! How many people did she do this to before? How many innocent lives were torn apart due to this woman's experiments? Due to what she did? Due to the creations she made?!
She had no remorse for her actions! She was running away to save her own skin! She would do it again if she had another chance!
She pushed Yang away and transformed Crescent Rose into her sniper rifle form with one eye closed as she focused on her target.
Stumbling backward, utterly surprised at the shove, Yang fell onto her rear and looked up at her younger sister in a paralysis-induced fear. "Ruby? What are you? No! Don't do it!"
A single shot was fired, and Robin Pinot screamed as her right knee gave out, a Dust round ripping through it. She crumpled to a kneeling heap on the ground in utter agony as her leg was nearly torn off from the sheer velocity of the shot. It was meant for Grimm on an ordinary human…
Left only viscera and cartilage with a few straps of flesh connection on the outside.
Yang's heart was beating a mile a minute, but she sighed in relief. She had thought her sister was about to kill the woman. "You had me worried, Ruby… I thought…"
Transforming Crescent Rose back to the scythe, Ruby's silver eyes gleamed, and rose petals began to float around her. "Evil must perish… And I am the reaper!"
"RUBY, NO!" Yang screamed as she realized she was indeed preparing to do it while she had taken a life herself…
She regretted that action every day, for it haunted her to this day.
With a scream, Ruby burst forward with a gale of rose petals and Crescent Rose in hand, and the scythe held back. And in a flash, she was standing next to Pinot.
With a sickening slice, Yang watched in horror as rose petals danced in the sky as Ruby stood behind the scientist's still kneeling form. And the sonic gale caught up a second behind, catching Robin's body as it fell limply to the deck.
And her head kept rolling until it stopped by Ruby's left foot while blood pooled.
Yang's scream echoed through the ship as a Bullhead swooped in from overhead, paralyzing everyone that saw the sight with two exceptions.
For one, this was a regular occurrence, but he knew that to her friends it was pretty shocking to see their friend resort to such an action.
And the other looked proudly at Rose as her cape billowed in the sea breeze as the roses settled, her red eyes gleaming. She may have failed early in her life as a mother but in the end…
Maybe she could still pass on a few things.
No... No...
This Wasn't Supposed to Happen!
The anomaly was supposed to perish!
And then my plan could proceed...
Stop interfering!
You think I'm going to stop!
I told you I'm getting to my boy!
And I will rip and tear everything apart till I get to him!
I will not stand for this blasphemy!
I am the Allmother!
I am all-powerful!
You will bend to my will!
I will keep breaking you down until you submit!
Then we're going to be here for a while!
Because I learned to never give up from my boy!
You will bow!
They all do...
Even my sons yield to me!
Then they are weak!
I will get to my boy with the power of my brethren have gifted me!
You will not stand in my way!
*1 - Carcharias is a common scientific/Latin name for sharks, Latin, so I used that for the Grimm name for the unnamed Shark Grimm in the one poster they showed in the show.
*2 - Following the advice of one of the commenters, I tried several combinations of Rock Shelter to try and get a better translation in google using Earth and home. Hopefully, it sounded better.
This took a lot of time and effort to finish.
Going to take a small break before continuing with the Volume.
This, hopefully, will let me get caught up and get ahead again.
Updates might become once every two weeks at this rate if not.
Next Update will likely be on November 11th.
But I may move it to November 18th depending on how Volume progresses.
A new poll is up on what villain you have enjoyed the most so far.
But more importantly...
The door has been opened.
This has been a IV act story.
I've been toying with the idea of Volume V.
I now have a plan for it.
So now we'll get to see where this takes us.