Please enjoy, and constructive criticism is appreciated. (I do not own RWBY, but I do own all the OCs except three, Nick and Isabel, which belong to my real life friend, although I did design them; and Shade, who belongs to my online friend The Burning Ruler)
Blood of Grimm: Chapter 8
Team VNIS walks out onto the field. Another team is already waiting there. The most noticeable is a wolf Faunus with long black hair that covers one eye. His visible eye is red, similar to Valke's. He wears a black leather jacket with a blue shirt underneath, black pants, and black sneakers with blue flames on them. He holds two black swords, with golden hilts. He is accompanied by three other students. The first is a girl in bronze colored heavy plate armor with a horse motif forged into it, with steel-blue accents. She has long brown hair, blue eyes, a basic helmet, also with a horse motif, and a long jousting lance modified for ground combat, making it lighter with a guard covering the handle. There is also a boy in Japanese priest robes, white with red accents. He has short black hair and strange, golden eyes. He carries a large mirror-polished shield with an oddly shaped blue double edged sword, and the hilt is split into two separate handles, with a magatama embedded in the sword's guard. Next to him is what appears to be his sister. They share the same eyes, but her hair is crimson and long, tied in a messy ponytail. She is dressed in a dark grey hakama-shita and hakama, with a light purple haori jacket over the top. The hakama-shita is loosely tied, and she has cloth wrapped around her body underneath. She wears the boots and gauntlets from a set of extremely dark purple yoroi armor. She carries a tachi blade, which is longer and more curved than a katana, and worn with the blade facing down.
The teams face each other as the battlefield is selected. Behind VNIS appears a rainforest, and behind SPKR a rocky wasteland appears, with some snow. The teen in black smirks and nods to his teammates. They split off from him and head to Valke. The girl in plate armor lifts her lance, and it splits on a hinge, revealing a flamethrower. She uses this to create a wall of flame between Valke and his teammates. The boy in black dashes toward the remainder of team VNIS, who run into the forest, and Valke takes a stance.
"Hey, 'demon' boy. What's your name? Shade won't tell us," the female samurai asks lazily. She seems over-confident.
"Nee-san, be more polite. We have to tell him our names first," the boy in robes says. "Sorry for her rudeness. I'm Kami. She's Risa, and the knight here is Palida."
"Nice to meet you. Sorry for teaming up on you, but Shade said that we wouldn't beat you if the three of us worked together. We're going to prove him wrong." The female knight puts her lance in the ground, leaning on it slightly.
"He's not wrong you know. You would have a better chance fighting the rest of my team. I'm Valke, since you asked."
Risa responds: "That's a unique name." Valke adopts a ready stance, his SMG loaded, the weapon angled down in front of him, braced by his left hand. Risa draws her sword, revealing the blade to be clear and shiny, like glass. She loads a vial of red dust into, turning the blade shimmering crimson. She holds it in the Jigen-ryu stance, the handle held at her right cheek, the blade pointing to the sky, while the other two lift their weapons.
Palida rushes in, attempting to take him by surprise at her speed. Valke simply sways fluidly to the right, drifting over in a cloud of dust. Risa launches herself at him in an aerial slash downward. Valke blocks with his dagger and pushes her off. He fires at Palida, who was trying to rush him again. She tucks her head into the crook of her arm, and the armor and her yellow Aura take the damage. Suddenly, a slash of light rushes to Valke, who jumps over it, looking towards the source. Kami is in a pose showcasing his over-swung attack. Valke shoots at him, but is distracted by a downward crush from Palida. Valke swings, deflecting the lance, only to get struck in the back by several bullets. He looks and Kami's shield is rippling, the kanji for "ten" or heaven briefly appearing. Risa then dashes in, unleashing a series of thrusts, fast enough that it looks like only one attack. Valke blocks as many as possible, his Aura taking the rest. Palida unleashes an upward swing, and Valke uses it to escape the two close range combatants, landing in the tundra wasteland. Kami uses the magatama to unleash a small beam, striking the ground where Valke had been a second before, creating a large crater and lifting smoke and dust into the air.
Valke, who had narrowly avoided the attack, uses the chance to take cover behind a rock. He pulls a vial of blood from his bandolier, unstops it, and drinks. The smoke clears, and he reveals himself, walking toward them. "You, know, I'm not really a demon. But my other side is. You're about to meet about a thirteenth of him." He stabs his left forearm, and the blood that comes out is a red mist, cloaking his entire body. It forms the white armor parts of an Alpha Beowolf in red blood: rib like armor on his chest, spikes on the knees, shoulders, and forearms, as well as the spine. Random seeming patches of bony plate, and claws on his feet and arms. The claws on his arms are much longer than a normal Beowolf, more like claw weapons made by humans. Valke crosses his arms in front of his face before adopting a pose while howling, as a fanged Beowolf mask covers his face.
"Oh, it looks like Shade Hill and Valke Itzal have both activated their semblances. Shade is avoiding every attack using his Shade's Deception, and Valke is going berserk with his Blood of Grimm ability," Oobleck informs the crowd.
Panicked, Palida breaks up the ground and sends chunks of rock and dirt at him. Valke slices the first few into pieces, before jumping on top of larger ones, hopping closer and closer to the group. Risa picks up some smaller rocks that got left behind and throws them at Kami's shield, causing them to launch at high speed toward Valke, about ten times bigger than before. Valke simply slices these, emerging from behind them and landing amongst the three now terrified warriors. They take up ready stances, and Palida jabs at him. Valke swats the lance aside and strikes her. She's launched, landing a few feet away. Risa rushes at Valke, dragging her sword on the ground, igniting it. She swings up, then follows through with a spin and several downward slashes. The slashes are dodged, and Valke catches the final slash, then pushes, forcing her back. He kicks her and she flips away in the nick of time. Kami attempts to slash again, but is too slow preparing his slash. Valke rushes toward him, and pins his sword in his right claws, using the left claw to trace out the kanji on the shield. The shield dulls and shatters.
"And Valke has figured out Kami's semblance! The kanji he writes on his equipment enchants it, giving it special abilities," booms Port.
Risa dashes in and strikes at Valke, creating a slight wound on his back, causing him to release Kami. Kami kicks at Valke, who blocks with a forearm. Palida returns, riding a spectral horse. She lowers her lance and charges at Valke. He rolls to the side, then blocks Risa's strike.
"And Plume activates her semblance, the ethereal mount! But can they defeat Valke? He's barely gotten any damage to his Aura!" Port exclaims.
Valke swings at Risa, who gets grazed, protected by a light purple Aura. She recovers and sheaths her sword, taking a crouched stance, her sword out to the side, her hand barely touching the handle. Palida distracts Valke by running around him, swinging the lance. Valke attacks, knocking her off the horse and making it dissolve. Suddenly, Risa rushes by. She unleashes a series of quick slashes, drawing her blade as she strikes. Valke gets hit by a few, but is familiar with the basic technique, which allows him to block most of the strikes. His Aura at about 60%, he rushes to Risa, knocking her to the ground, then stomps, reducing her Aura to the red zone. Palida attempts to strike him, spinning the lance around, but Valke circles her, avoiding her jab. The knight turn around, only to be met with a clawed hand, gripping her head as Valke draws back his other hand, performing a palm thrust, launching her out of the ring. Turning to Kami, Valke rushes, knocking the sword out of Kami's hands, then uppercuts him, launching the priest into the air. Valke jumps and kicks Kami back onto the ground, creating a large dust cloud. Valke walks away, the red Beowolf armor fading. Shade, the boy in black, walks out of the forest.
"We have a major knockout, with each team losing three members! Now we get to see the clash of alleged 'demons'! Who will come out on top?" Oobleck proclaims, sounding astonished.
"Hey there. How you doing? Haven't seen you in a year. Of course, you've never met me." Shade says, smirking.
Valke takes up a pose, shock barely visible on his face. "What are you talking about?" Then, he suddenly remembers: the boy had nearly beaten Pyrrha Nikos at every Mistral Regional Tournament. "It's you. The runner-up four years in a row."
"That's me!" He laughs. "I've always wanted to fight you. You were hired as a guard for three years, at a tournament full of top warriors from around a kingdom."
"Then enough talk. Let's get this over with." Valke takes a stance, replacing the magazine in his dagger, using the ejected magazine as a left hand knife. He holds them like a praying mantis: both pointing downward. Shade takes his own stance, the swords point up and to the sides of his body. He dashes forward, swinging the right sword inward. Valke stops it with his knife, then slashes with his dagger. Shade takes the obvious choice and blocks with his other sword. He then jumps away and changes his left sword to a machine pistol, firing a long burst at Valke. Valke jumps back, getting scraped by only the first few. He counters with his own series of bursts, three bursts of four bullets, following Shade as he dashes around. A few bullets hit, causing Shade's black Aura to glow. Shade unleashes a series of slashes, very skillfully, fast, with only very small windows to disrupt, and unpredictable as well. Only Valke's high analytical skills and instinct allow him to keep up. He deflects most of the attacks before aiming a quick burst of bullets, stopping Shade. Shade combines his weapons into a shotgun, firing in Valke's general direction. Valke lunges forward, laying on the ground, avoiding most of the fragments.
Shade responds by shooting several more shells at him. Valke rolls to the right, launching himself into the air with his right arm. He uses his left hand to pull the string from his glove, then wraps it around the handle of his knife. He then throws the knife, wrapping the string around Shade's shotgun, and pulls. The gun would have been pulled out of his hands, but Shade morphs them back into swords. Shade dashes to Valke as the latter lands, forcing him on the defensive. Valke dashes, back-stepping into the burning forest. Suddenly, Shade disappears. Valke looks around, but is slashed on the shoulder by Shade, who had appeared behind him. This causes red blood to spill out, too weak to enhance Valke, but still with the Beowolf blood taking over the Reaper blood. Valke turns and swings, but Shade disappears again. Valke notices slight movement on the ground and sees a shadow without anybody to cast it. He slashes at the place where the shadow originates, but nobody is there. The shadow moves, and Valke loses it amongst the shadows cast by the fires. Shade appears again and again, almost always hitting Valke. Valke's Aura is now at only about 20%, whereas Shade still has a good 85%. Suddenly, Valke gets an idea. He lines up the strike and swings, the weapon's shadow narrowly missing Shade's shadow, as he moves out of the way. Valke runs toward the tree line, where the fire is casting shadows everywhere. Valke line it up again and strikes Shade's shadow, canceling his semblance, majorly hurting his Aura, lowering it to about 31%. Shade is stunned on his knees, so Valke starts slashing, stabbing, and generally anything to hurt Shade. After a few hits, Shade catches Valke's weapons on his swords, stands up, and pushes Valke away. Valke kicks at Shade as he is sent flying back, causing minor damage. Valke lands in a crouched position, out of breath. Shade walks slowly forward, advancing cautiously on Valke. Valke turns and runs to the left, into the forest, before stumbling over something. He looks and sees what appears to be a tree root, but is a little too far from the trees to be so. He stops and crawls backward, waiting.
Shade appears and sees Valke on the ground. "Out of energy, huh? Too bad. I was enjoying our little duel here." He walks forward for a few feet until his left foot gets ensnared by a loop of thick rope. He gets pulled up into the tree branches.
"Too bad for you, my teammates are amazing. They may not be perfect fighters, but they're strong and smart. Nick had the foresight to trap the entire forest while you were fighting. Of course, most of them burned, but at least this snare survived." Valke loads a new clip, and the lights on his dagger become ice blue. "Let's end this." He shoots at least a dozen bullets at Shade, encasing him in a thick shell of ice. He then jumps, catching a branch with his now empty left hand, and cuts the rope holding Shade, and the frozen boy falls, cracking, but not shattering the ice. Valke then jumps off the tree branch, flipping in the air, before aiming at Shade and kicking, one foot pointing down, the leg straight, while the other leg is bent, positioned close to his body. His foot makes contact, shattering the ice and creating a crater in the ground. Shade's Aura just barely drops to the red zone. Valke stand up from his kneeling position, and walks over to Shade.
"Good fight. The toughest I've had in a while," Valke says, holding his hand out. Shade takes it and nods, attempting to recover the air knocked out of his lungs. "Come on, let's go. Your teammates might need some help, I went a little berserk on them." The two walk off the field, sharing the camaraderie of having found a good opponent and a likely friend.
Valke is with his team, voting for who would move on. Sara is talking: "Valke should be at least one of the next fighters."
Valke just shakes his head. "No. I don't feel like it, and I wouldn't have won without Nick's snare trap anyways. Also, any of you two work together better than I do with any of you. That's important for the doubles round. I for one, think that it should be Nick and Isabel. You two work together well, and that way you have a fast fighter and a more powerful fighter, balancing it out. Not every opponent can be defeated with strength or speed alone. And the kid who beat you three, Shade, is on my level of strength, not to mention his surprising semblance."
Nick nods and Sara just shrugs, not caring who went next. "So, Isabel and I then?" Nick asks. Each of the four nod. "Well, that's decided! Now if you don't mind, I need a nap."
"Okay. I'll be watching the next fights." Valke walks out on his own, going to find a good seat to observe the next fight.
Valke is sitting down at the edge of a row of seat, watching team JNPR's fight. Team RWBY had fought in the previous match, and to be honest, it wasn't that bad, although they could have monitored and controlled the enemy team a little better. As JNPR's fight ends, Jaune forgets that they are in a fight, arguing with his teammates. He really wasn't good at planning, but he is a good improviser, as shown when he directed Pyrrha to protect Nora from the enemy sniper, although generally the fight was a mess.
Suddenly, he notices two people in loose, hooded robes watching him. They walk away, and he stands up, following them. He enters an empty corridor that only those affiliated with the fighters can enter, as Nora smashes JNPR's enemy team, defeating all four of them at once. Valke walks in cautiously, seeing an empty corridor. "Hey there Valke. Haven't seen you in a while." A semi-deep voice says from behind him.
Valke turns around and sees a teenager in a red hooded robe, one of the two watching him only moments earlier. He draws his dagger and loads it, slowly approaching the teen. "Who are you? How do you know me? When did we meet before?" The man chuckles, and Valke feels a stabbing sensation in his neck. Valke swings behind him, narrowly missing a female in a white hooded robe. Valke reaches up grabs a syringe in his neck, pulling it out and dropping to the floor. He flexes his hand. "A coagulant? So you know I'm a Reaper, and you want to capture or beat me. Who do you two work for?" He raises his arms, entering a combat stance, the coagulant stiffening his body.
"You don't recognize us? That's too bad." The female says, in a very familiar voice.
Valke's eyes go wide. "Who are you!? You sound like someone I know, but they're dead. I know that for a fact."
"So you haven't forgotten us." The girl swings out two katars, which unfold from her forearms. They have a crescent moon pattern on them.
Valke rolls out of the way as a huge blade comes crashing down at him from behind. The male is wielding a large blade, black with red accents. On his right arm is a huge shield, and he uses a left-handed grip. "Come with us, or we'll have to hurt you."
"Never. I have some obligations here." Valke lunges at the man, who holds up his shield, stopping Valke's attack, while the girl dashes in, sweeping at Valke's legs. He jumps up and kicks off the wall, putting both the enemies in front of him. The girl walks towards him, then launches a crossbow bolt from her left weapon. Valke flips backward, avoiding the projectile. When he stands back upright, the girl is behind him, and kicks him forward. The man attempts to crush/cut Valke with his sword, but Valke deflects it with his dagger, forcing it to land to his right. He rolls to the side and gets to his feet. Every second, he gets stiffer and stiffer as the coagulant starts to course through his body and solidify his body. It's gotten to the point where he can barely keep up. He attempts to raise his weapon, but can't and instead drops to the ground.
"Tell me, who are you? You remind me of two people I know died. But you can't be them," Valke says, panting. It's getting difficult for him to even breathe.
"You're right, we did die. But about two years ago, I came back to life," the man says, lowering his hood. Underneath is a blond haired teen about Valke's age, with red eyes. He looks five years older, but the smirk, the stance, the face, everything reminds Valke of…
"Connor? But you died five years ago. I saw it. The Atlas soldiers shot you and you died in my arms," Valke whispers, shocked.
"I told you, I don't know how, but I do know who. She can help us, bring everyone back. We just need to help her do something that will allow her to do so."
Valke looks towards the girl. "And you… don't tell me… Selyn? Are you really alive again?"
The girl nods, also lowering her hood. She looks basically the same, but with scars where the thugs had cut her before she had died. "I only got revived a couple days ago." Her voice is just as musical as before, although slightly sadder.
Valke struggles to his feet and walks over to the two, hugging them. "Do you guys have any idea how much I've missed you? I felt so empty after your deaths." He stands there, tears streaming down his face, silently crying, when he feels a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he sees a black serrated knife lodged in his gut. He chuckles. "That figures doesn't it? I did reply 'never', and I still won't go willingly." With that, he faints. The last thing he sees is Selyn turning to slap Connor.
Team CFVY is walking from the arena entrance returning from their fight when they see two mysterious figures holding Valke, who has a knife in his stomach, sinking into the floor, in a portal of shadows. The two strangers are arguing, something about how one of them shouldn't have stabbed him and such. The three disappear before they can stop the two abductors, and they immediately go to see Ozpin, informing him of Valke's capture.
So a few notes. I'm approaching the end of the current season, and Chapter 10 will be the last chapter for a while, so any requests for sidestories or backstories would be appreciated.
Team SPKR:
Shade: read RWBY: a Demon's Life by The Burning Ruler
Palida: inspiration for weapon is Kamen Rider Knight. I just really like lances as a weapon, and knights are cool. So yeah.
Kami: His weapons are based off the "Imperial Regalia of Japan" or the three sacred treasure: the sword, the mirror, and the magatama. All three are needed for a descendant of the emperor to take the throne. The sword I designed based off Nagi's sword from the game Okami.
Risa: Just really wanted a samurai character, and I wanted a second female member for the team. I based her mainly off the Rurouni Kenshin series, or Samurai X. The name is just taken off a name website, although it fits because it's similar to where I got her basic personality: Riza Wildman from Kaibutsu Oujo.