Welcome back for the final time for Act IV. As this is the last one in this miniseries I would love to hear what everyone thought of it. Also, after reading, would you like a sequel. I have a few ideas that could be interesting and don't really work for my other project. Anyway, you've heard this twice already, this picks up right where Act III left off so you know what to do. I have been your MC, Gadreel, it's time for our story to come to its close with ...
Act IV: Cold Front
Pyrrha spent the greater part of the day trying to figure out how to get Ruby to notice Salem's Nevermore. First I need to find it again, once I do that I just need to make her look up. Pyrrha began to survey the sky again. I just wish she wasn't so good at hiding it. The group stopped for a break and to eat.
"Well guys we have almost made it. Now all we need is a battle plan." Nora said drawing her hammer. Ren grabbed her arm.
"We aren't going to attack anything unless we need to. For all we know they were manipulated too. They might want our help as much as we want theirs." Nora put magnhild away.
"Fine." She lifted Pyrrha up. "Now we just need to teach you how to fight."
Ren took Pyrrha away from her. "Yeah I think she is a little small for fighting don't you think?" Ren commented, but Nora just scoffed at him.
"Common, you've heard about what Oobleck did with Ruby's dog and she is at least as big as Zwei." Nora pulled out magnhild again and began to wind up. "Ok get ready!" Pyrrha braced herself for the impact.
Luckily, this time Ruby stopped her. "Maybe we should try something a little less extreme to start off with." Nora out her weapon away again.
"Fine, let's see what we have to work with." Nora walked over to her and opened Pyrrha's mouth. "Well she has really sharp teeth and claws. I guess she can use those."
Pyrrha heard Salem's voice in her head. "Wow that was close wasn't it dear. I was beginning to worry I would have to scrape bits of you off the trees." Pyrrha rolled her eyes.
Nora's not an idiot, she would have stopped before I got hurt.
Salem laughed. "Honey your friends walked into an area populated by Beowulfs and decided to bring a random animal along for the journey. They ain't winning any awards. Then again, you did try to go after a maiden alone. Geese what is that maniac Ozpin teaching you kids."
Pyrrha got annoyed. Go away please. Salem's voice began to fade.
"Fine, I will check up on you later dear." Pyrrha heard Nora calling out to her.
"Common Snowball we gotta keep moving!" Pyrrha began to catch up.
Wasn't she calling me Snowflake earlier? Ah well. After a little while Pyrrha began to get tired and ended up passing out on Nora's head again.
Salem was sitting in a chair waiting for her. "Hello darling, how goes the adventure? Friends try to hit you with any more construction tools? Perhaps an oversized screwdriver?" Salem laughed at her own joke.
Pyrrha sat down across from her. "I can see you don't take them very seriously."
Salem laughed again. "No, not really. Silver eyes has peaked my interest a little but the others are just background noise while observing you. Although that blonde one seems to really have liked you, that's unfortunate. Do you think I could make him cry if I had a Nevermore drop one of those cereal boxes featuring your old face on him?"
Pyrrha got angry at Salem. "My friends are a lot more powerful than you think, and don't you dare even try to mess with Jaune or I will hunt you down myself."
Salem was slightly surprised. "Wow, struck a nerve with that one. Fine I won't play any jokes on your friends, buzzkill. Oh, by the way, when are you going to try using your semblance again. You'll never get better if you don't practice dear."
Pyrrha thought back to the last fight. "I can't even stay conscious long enough to do anything productive with it. I would need to figure an alternative way of doing it. If that is even possible."
Salem sighed and the world began to fade again. "Well good luck with that. Oh and by the way dear, your friends ran into more Beowulfs so be ready to fight when you wake up. Bye."
Pyrrha was greeted by the sounds of gunshots and growling as her friends were currently engaged in combat with three more Beowulfs. Nora had placed her in a shrub away from the three beasts. Ok so how can I help. She was barely able to think of a plan before Nora hit a Beowulf right next to her. Oh god. Pyrrha thought as the Beowulf prepared to attack again. However, it didn't seem like it was going to go for Pyrrha.
Luckily she didn't find out because Ruby shot it multiple times. The creature toppled over and Pyrrha bit it's neck. The Beowulf seemed to evaporate and Pyrrha suddenly felt a wave of energy. This is amazing, did I just absorb that Grimm? Pyrrha decided to try her semblance. She focused her energy and once again found herself flying towards the nearest metal object which so happened to be Jaune's breast plate. She collided with it and knocked him off balance.
"Oh common, not again." Jaune commented trying to regain his composure. Pyrrha meanwhile was overjoyed, she was able to stay awake and stop using it. Unfortunately, this did drain her energy quite a bit. Luckily her friends were still in combat so she could restore some of it. Ruby decapitated the second Beowulf and Ren finished off the third. Pyrrha was happy that she had found out about this new power but quickly found herself being lifted off the ground.
Salem's Nevermore had lifted her into the air and was taking her away. Ruby shot at it a few times but it was able to get away. She heard Salem's voice in her head. "Well after that display I think it is about time we met in person. How does that sound dear? I can train you myself, learn from the source." Pyrrha began to struggle.
Sorry, I don't think I am ready to fight you yet. Pyrrha bit the Nevermore multiple times. Eventually the Nevermore evaporated and Pyrrha felt a familiar wave of energy. Pyrrha then realized that she was falling from a considerable height. Well if I die again at least I got to see Jaune one last time. Pyrrha hit some trees getting dirt stuck in her eyes, but was caught by something. Believing it to be another Grimm she bit it.
"Ow, is that any way to treat the guy that just saved your skin?" Said an oddly familiar voice.
Wait what? Pyrrha let go and rubbed her eyes. She was being held by that silver haired man who was with Ozpin during the whole madden thing. Qrow, right? But what is he doing here? She thought to herself.
"Give me a minute please." Qrow pulled out his scroll. "Hey Ruby, it's your uncle Qrow, I'm just calling to tell you that I'm gonna borrow your little friend for a bit." Pyrrha could hear Nora's protests through the device.
"Ok, ok don't worry I'm just gonna borrow it for a little while. I will get it back to you later." Pyrrha heard what sounded like a shaky agreement and Qrow hung up. "So I'm gonna take you somewhere and I can't really have any unwanted eyes so..." He tore off a portion of his cloak and wrapped it around her eyes. After a while of traveling they seemed to reach their destination. She was set down on what felt like a table and the cloth was pulled down around her neck.
Oh my god. Pyrrha thought as she saw the man in front of her.
Sitting on the other side of the table was Ozpin.
"Hello, did you have a good trip?" He asked, pouring himself a cup of tea. "I assume given your expression that you know me?" He questioned taking a sip of his tea. Pyrrha nodded. "Great so we can skip my introduction and get right to the matter at hand. How would you like to help me?"
Wait what? Why do you trust me? Not even I would trust me right now. Pyrrha thought. Ozpin must have noticed her confused expression.
"What? You have an interesting set of abilities that could really help us combat the Grimm. Also, I can tell that you are different. Anyway, if you accept, you would be in charge of helping secret teams when they are on assignments that could be too dangerous for them otherwise. This would also really help us get to Salem." Pyrrha's ears perked up. "Ah I see you know of her too. Recently she has acted more extreme so we have also have to adjust our approach. So what do you say, will you help us?"
Pyrrha thought for a moment then nodded. "Great, we will get you ready for your first mission. Maybe get you better at controlling that special ability of yours." Qrow began to lead her out of the room. "Oh, by the way..." Ozpin began as the doors started to close.
"... it is good to have you back."
