Chapter XVI – Is This the End?
As I slowly regain consciousness, I hear somebody call out my name in the distance. After a while, it sounds like whoever is calling me is right next to me. I suddenly wake up, slamming my head against something hard in the process.
"Ouch!" I heard a girl's voice next to me say. I look to my right see Iris rubbing her forehead with a slightly pained expression. "Sorry. I didn't see you there. Where are we, anyway?" I ask her, looking around the room we were in. "We're in the town's motel. We went here to try to get help, but there wasn't much that could be done while you were out like that. At least you're better now. You had been out for three days straight." Iris said, helping me up. Although, I could've done that herself, given the look on her face, she wasn't going to take no for an answer there.
Once I was up, we went to meet everybody else in the lobby. "So I was actually out for three days?" I asked Iris, not believing it quite yet. "Yes. After you passed out, we got you here and tried everything we could to wake you up. You didn't even respond to getting frozen over by the Ice Queen. Luckily your powers seemed to kick in while you were asleep to thaw you out." She answered. "That's a good thing for that last part." I said.
And then something hit me. "Zeus's thunder! It's the last day of the quest!" I said, starting to run towards the lobby, Iris right behind me. When I got there, I didn't even give them time to ask questions about my condition as I hurriedly explained the situation.
"That would explain what has been going on during the last couple of days. Dimensional fissures are opening up everywhere. A city was almost completely destroyed by an army of sentient robots." Blake said, putting down her book. Where does she even carry that thing when she's not using it?
"We've got to get moving then. There has to be a way to get to Athens as quickly as possible." Bob said. Remember what Blake said about the dimensional fissures opening up everywhere? What if there was one that could take us to Athens?" I suggested. "That's not a bad idea, actually. We'll have to start looking right away." Yang said. "I think I can find what portals go where." Penny said. "How are you going to do that?" I asked her. "Let's just say she downloaded some world maps of your world while you were out." Ravena said.
"Alright. So can you run the map that runs on real time so we could find the fissure we need?" I asked Penny. "I'll do that right now." The odd girl said, saluting. She didn't even move after that. She just stood there like a statue. "Does she always do that?" I asked team RWBY as well as Ravena and Skyla. "Yeah. But we got used to it Most of us, anyway." Ruby said, nodding towards Weiss.
Suddenly, Penny dropped her salute as she seemed to finish some process we couldn't see. "I found a fissure just a few blocks from here that will lead us directly to Athens." The robot girl reported. "Alright! Let's go!" Jack said. "Can we get some ice cream before we go?" Skyla said with puppy eyes. "No, Skyla. You already blew up two ice cream shops while Jordan was out." Weiss said. "She did what now?" I asked.
"You don't want to know. After they explained what happened to every ice cream shop in Remnant that she had gone to, I volunteered to go help her with getting her ice cream. Unfortunately, she got a little too eager and got some herself, anyway." Bob said. "What happened?" I asked "Let's just go with things went boom somehow." my cousin answered. "And that's another reason we need to go as quickly as possible." Yang said.
"Okay. Penny, lead the way." I said. With a nod and yet another salute, Penny took the lead. After a long walk spent going from block to block, we finally reached our goal. "Are you guys ready for the fight of a lifetime?" I asked my friends as we neared the portal. "Always." Yang and Ruby said at the same time. "Let's just get this over with. This world is great and all, but it's just not home." Weiss said, crossing her arms.
"We'll be heading home soon enough." Blake said. "Let's go." I said, stepping into the dimensional fissure. After stepping out of the other side, I shook off the dizzy feeling I had acquired from traveling through it. Once everybody else was through, we took in our surroundings. "This looks nothing like when I had first visited this place." Bob said.
"You've been here before? Why didn't you tell me?!" I asked excitedly. "Because I figured how you would react. You're doing exactly as I predicted." He said jokingly, patting me on the head. "Can we get back to the fact that the world is in danger right now?" Ravena asked. "Sorry. Jordan just has always wanted to go here. And now he got his wish, just in a more depressing manner than intended." Bob said. At the moment he finished his sentence, we all saw a rocket flying towards us.
"Scatter!" I called, fire dashing behind a nearby building. Everybody else took cover as the missile struck where we were last standing. I drew the Bowmerang in its Bow Form, quickly readied a fire arrow, and aimed at the direction the missile came from. What I saw almost made me drop my weapon.
There was another Bullhead flying overhead, this one seeming to have been outfitted with heavy artillery such as missiles and gatling guns. "Now that's not something you see everyday." I said as everybody else gathered around to see what I was looking at. "What do we do now?" Iris asked, her eyes a near white as she backed up. "I suggest we run. That thing's too heavily armed for us to take down on our own." Blake said.
"That sounds pretty good right now." Weiss said from behind her. "Run!" I said, not even caring if I sounded scared. I just wanted to get all of us away from the thing. We did so with our weapons out, cutting down any Grimm in our way. "Do you even know where we're going?" Ruby asked. "Yeah. I think I know exactly where we need to go. Just follow me and whatever you guys do, don't slow down." I said as we ran from the hail of bullets and missiles, memories of the Parthenon flashing through my head from my dream.
After a really long time of nonstop running, we finally reached our destination. "We should be safe in here from the Bullhead." I said, relaxing a bit. "Yeah. This place looks like it could take a lot more than what the Bullhead chasing us has. The pilot will have to come in after us." Bob said. "And we can take that person out. Not too bad an idea there." Yang said, lightly punching him on the shoulder.
As we neared the Athena Parthenos, I saw a shadowy mass come down at me just as a very bright yellow flare shot out of the darkness behind the statue towards my friends. They ended up scattering to avoid getting hit. I stood my ground as I was blade locked with my mystery attacker, both of my weapons being used to keep myself stable.
"It's time for you to back off!" I shouted, sending the shadow away as I released a fiery explosion between our weapons. During the explosion, I was able to see a mask similar to the White Fang grunts we had faced, only more detailed. He also had on a black and red trench coat. His hair looked kind of reddish brown with horn-like formations near the front from what I could tell. His weapon was what grabbed most of my attention, though.
It looked like an assault rifle with a sword jammed down the barrel. How that even worked, Hephaestus wouldn't even know that himself. I charged at him as he landed. As I neared him, I slashed downward hard with both weapons. He only blocked and countered, sending me flying back several feet. "It's on now." I said, getting back up, feeling the heat around me get hotter. I immediately set myself ablaze and charged at him again.
This time I kept on attacking him, countering his counters and vice versa. A little while later, Iris, Blake, and Jack joined the fight. After some time spent fighting, I felt a presence. Looking around, I noticed the massive shadow approaching us. "Not again." I said as I jumped back to avoid getting hit by my opponent, who was revealed to be Adam, who Blake seemed to be trying to reason with, which I had nothing against.
Right at that moment, I simultaneously dodged a fireball and the Minotaur, who jumped straight towards us. "You have got to be kidding me." Bob said. "Nope. He's really here." I said, jumping on his head and slicing his horns off as I narrowly avoided getting hit by a flying sword. Sheathing my sword and throwing my Bowmerang at Adam, I grabbed up the horns and used one on the Minotaur while throwing the other one at Adam as the Bowmerang made its way back to me.
Adam deflected the projectile as I caught and returned the Bowmerang to my left hand in its Edge Form and drew my sword once more. "What was that thing?" Blake asked me as she dodged Adam's attack. "That would've been the Minotaur, half-man, half-bull, as you could see from its currently crumbling body." I answered, launching a couple of flame wheels at Adam point blank. Unfortunately, he somehow absorbed them into his blade.
Right after that, he sent all four of us flying as he released that energy he gathered in one massive swing in the form of a massive energy wave. We were all too close to even attempt to dodge in the first place. It even hit the rest of my friends. I then remembered the fireball I had dodged before and looked at where it had come from.
At the temple's entrance stood a women with flowing black hair and fire burning brightly in her raised hand. She wore a red dress and her eyes were glowing a bright gold or orange. I couldn't say for sure. I threw a fireball at her as I blocked an attack from Adam with the Bowmerang. At the edge of my vision, I saw that the rest of my friends were still fighting Roman, who had obviously been the one hidden behind the Athena Parthenos. They were doing everything they could, but he kept on deflecting and countering their attacks.
I soon became aware that the longer this fight went on, the more tired we would get. Our enemies weren't even showing any effort in fighting us. I had to end this quickly. "Guys! Cover me! I'm going to try to end this fight quickly." I said. I got nods in response as I shot a few fire arrows at the fire lady that had joined that battle as well.
"Bob. Yang. Send me up. Skyla, Ravena, Ruby, and Penny. Keep these two busy." I said, catching their attention. They all nodded and took action. Bob threw Yang high into the air first and then me. As I reached Yang, she caught my hand and threw me even higher. I shot myself even higher with my fire powers. Once I was near the roof of the temple, I kicked myself off of it, following that up with a fire boost. As I sped back to the ground in a fiery blaze, I saw the fight pretty much stop as everybody, friend and foe alike, watch me descend.
I had the Bowmerang's top point aimed right at the ground, prepared to stab right into it. With another shout, I shot myself at the ground and stabbed the Bowmerang into it. As I made impact, I released a shockwave at first, one much stronger than even Adam could take into his blade. Right after the shockwave followed an explosion so big that it engulfed the entire temple in it, as if the shockwave knocking down the columns wasn't enough. Once we were all able to see again and the dust cleared up, we looked around to see what had happened.
The Parthenon was virtually destroyed. Somewhere in the distance, I could've sworn I saw what was once the temple's roof crash into a something that was exiting a dimensional fissure.
"Now that's what I call bringing the roof down." Jack said. "No kidding. How did you even do that?" Ruby said. "I really have no idea. I just felt like it would happen." I responded. I looked at where our enemies were lying unconscious. "Let's get them back to your world, too. They need to not be here." I said.
We all silently agreed there. I went to the Athena Parthenos, which was still unmarked thanks to its magical properties, and touched the base. The shield lit up as a portal opened up on it. "I'll keep you guys covered. Bob, take everybody else home." I said as team RWBY, who had Adam, Roman, and the mystery lady, followed by Ravena, Skyla, and Penny, went into the portal. "Wait!" a voice said behind me. I turned around to find Iris running towards me. "You'll come back, right?" she asked.
"Of course. This is my home world after all." I answered. "Good." she said, planting a quick kiss on my cheek before running off to Bob and Jack. I stood there, frozen for what seemed like forever as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. "Are you coming or what?" I heard Yang's voice say through the portal. I shook my head as I was brought back out of my thoughts. "Yeah! I'm coming!" I said back as I waved to my friends and cousin before stepping into the portal.
What I saw after stepping inside really amazed me as well as confused me. We appeared to be in some kind of hub with all a bunch of portals leading into different worlds. I followed the group as they made their way to a gateway with Ruby's rose emblem. "Ready to finally get home, sis?" Yang asked Ruby. "I am, although your world wasn't too bad, either. It was quite a good time spent there, actually." the red cloaked girl said. "Thanks. It was fun having you guys around. My life was rather boring before you guys came along." I said, smiling.
Just as Skyla was about to say something, she was interrupted by the hub shaking. Turning around, I found that some giant robotic spider thing had landed right behind us while we were distracted. "Get going! I'll keep it busy!" I said, drawing the Bowmerang in its Boomerang Form. I threw it and the only thing it did do was ding against its head. I caught the weapon as the residents of Remnant all ran into the portal back to their world.
"Bring it on, you rusty arachnid." I said, trying to not think of it as a spider that could crush me under its weight. I ran to the side and continued running, changing my direction to straight at the spider mech, as I avoided the shots from the shoulder mounted cannons. I put my fire powers to full use as I made my way to it. When I got close enough, I slid underneath the thing. As I did that, I cut through the bottom of it with my burning blades.
The next thing I did was quickly scale up to the mech's head. When I got there, I stabbed my sword into its head to stay on, repeatedly stabbing it with the Bowmerang to get a lot of damage in. As I heard a whirring sound emit from it, I back flipped off of it and got as far back as I could. I saw the upper body change it a really big cannon that was charging up a giant laser. "Should've seen that one coming." I said to myself as I got hit with the laser, which was way too fast for me to dodge at all. I was sent flying pretty darn far, slamming my head against the top of Remnant's dimensional gate before falling to the ground hard. I could feel the spider mech slowly closing in on me as I struggled to get up with my head aching like there's no tomorrow.
"I can't do anything like this." I said, pretty much to myself since nobody else was really there. "You have to keep fighting." Athena's voice said to me in my head. "I can't. I lost my sword and I'm not strong enough to take this thing down." I responded, clutching my head as the pain seemed to increase. "You still have your Bowmerang. And there's one secret I've been keeping from you." The goddess said.
"And what would that secret be?" I asked her. "The Keyblade." The goddess answered. "What? I thought that was only a video game weapon." I said. "It's much more than that. I found this powerful weapon years ago, far before you were ever born. It seemed that nobody, not even a god, could wield it." Athena said. "Then how did you even get it in the first place?" I asked her. "Now is not the time for this. The Keyblade seems to have chosen you as its wielder. Your heart is as pure as can be. You sacrificed yourself to protect the friends you've come to make. That was more than reason enough for it to choose you. Take it and bring this robot down for good." Athena said.
Just as the spider mech got close, a blindingly bright explosion occurred between us. When I was able to see again, I saw the Keyblade floating right in front of me. This specific one had a black handle, four elemental orbs; fire, water, earth, and air, a simple round steel colored guard that linked the four orbs, and a blade that resembled that of a roaring fire. The keychain was a set of colored marbles in the same color-coded arrangement as the orbs on the guard.
As soon as I grabbed hold of the weapon, I felt a new energy flow through me. "I will beat this thing! And I will make it home!" I shouted into the air as the column of flame that had engulfed me from when I had taken hold of the Keyblade disappeared, my cloak flapping in the breeze. I picked up my Bowmerang and charged to meet the mech's charge with renewed courage and strength of will.
I attacked from all angles nonstop. Eventually the mech seemed to get tired of this and charged up its laser cannon mode again. I ran to a good enough distance to set up my own attack. As it charged its laser, I dismissed my Keyblade, put the Bowmerang back in its Holster, and recalled my Keyblade.
I focused all of my energy on the tip of the Keyblade, creating a ball of fire at the tip. As soon as I felt ready, I released the energy in a fiery beam that took the form of a dragon (Western, not Eastern.) At the same time, the spider mech released the pent up laser. Our beams met right in the center. As I struggled to keep mine going, I put more energy that I didn't even know I had into the attack. As me and the mech struggled I felt mine win over as the mech stumbled back to try to stay away from my attack while maintaining its own.
I continued pushing more energy into my dragon beam, pushing the spider mech's beam back at it with my own. As the laser ceased to be seen and mine connected, the entire thing blew up. My attack burned through its upper body as the explosion occurred. As soon as my adrenaline rush wore off, so did my attack. I went down on my knees as I tried to stay upright. "I….. did….. it." I said, smiling as everything went black and I collapsed.
