Hey, it's time for the eleventh chapter! So, last time we went off, Team UCER, the made up team containing Ultra, Peter, Epsilon and Willow is about to fight with the mysterious Team HAUS from Elysium Academy. Will they win? Who are Team HAUS? Where is this Elysium Academy? Some, or one, of these questions will be answered in this chapter. The rest are for later.
Much.
Much.
Later.
Chapter Eleven - Team UCER vs Team HAUS
"Begin!" Port yelled over the speaker system. In an instant, Peter ran across the stadium and ran around the desert section of the arena, creating a large sandstorm, blinding Team HAUS as they covered their eyes too block the sand. Peter quickly ran back to us.
"Right, caused a distraction, what's the plan?" Peter asked, looking at the miniature sandstorm that slowly disappeared.
"Put on a good show, don't be too over powered, at least give them a chance." Ultra ordered us. As the storm cleared, the four of us ran forwards as the opposing team did the same. Amber and Umber both pulled out a small metal cylinder from their sheaths, snapped them in half and clenched each half in their fists. The metal melted and formed metal gloves over their hands. Amber ran forward first, swinging her right fist at Ultra, who easily dodged the attack and swung his machete, which was stopped by Amber's hand. Umber jumped over her twin and punched Ultra in the face without him noticing, knocking him back and damaging his face. As his face reconstructed, the twins both ran and punched him in the chest at the same time, sending him into the water and ran after him.
Willow raised her right arm and shot a bolt of energy at Vanessa, who side flipped out of the way, pulling six daggers from her belt in the process. She landed and threw them all at the other girl, aiming directly at her head. Willow crossed her arms in front of her face, creating a energy barrier and the daggers harmlessly bounced off it, sending them behind her. Vanessa smirked and flicked her wrist, and the daggers all turned around and sped up towards Willow again. Caught off guard, the six daggers all hit Willow in different places, knocking her down and draining 20% of her aura. The daggers all returned to Vanessa, who swiftly reattached them to her belt. Willow got back up and growled in anger, raising both arms and firing telekinetic lightning. Vanessa held out her hands, stopping the energy just in front f her. She moved her arms back and fired the electrical energy back at Willow, who narrowly avoided it.
"Oh ho! It seems Willow Anderson was in for a shock there, right Bartholomew?" Port asked his fellow professor.
"Why yes! While Willow's semblance allows her to create and manipulate energy with telekinesis, Vanessa also possesses telekinesis, allowing her to control her daggers and redirect energy projectiles at her, putting them both at a stale mate." Oobleck explained.
I raised both of my pistols and fired electric bolts at Xander, who back flipped a couple of times to avoid the shots, almost falling onto the ground. He took both of his automatic pistols off his back and fired at me, sending dozens of dust bullets per second. I folded the pistols back into my wrists and stopped the bullets with my aura, taking away 5% of my aura. I unsheathed both daggers while he did the same, and I charged at him. We traded several attacks, defending each one with relative ease, more difficult on Xander's part, until I spun and kicked him in the chest with my jet boot, sending him several feet back and draining 30% of his aura. He got back up, shook his head, and pulled a flask from his pocket. He took off the lid and downed the contents, coughing a couple of times as he put the flask away. I narrowed my eyes.
"Are you- are you drinking alcohol?" I asked, surprised. He just laughed, rubbing his forehead.
"It numbs the pain." He replied, shaking his head. He stood upright, closed his eyes and clasped his hands together and his silver hair glowed. From within his body, seven silver duplicates of him came running at me, exiting from within his body and appearing like reflective shadows. I turned the right dagger into a pistol and shot at one of the silver clones, which disappeared as soon as my shot hit him. However, another clone simply came out of Xander's body and ran towards me, slightly behind the others.
"Well... damn." I said to myself, running away from the silver clones at they chased me. As I ran, I shot backwards, hitting three of the clones, causing them to vanish and three more to appear. I stopped running and forced my arm back, and swung directly at the silver clones, hitting each one in my track. I raised my gun and shot several electric bolts at Xander, who quickly opened his eyes, unclasped his hands and unsheathed his daggers, deflecting each of the electric bolts.
"For a drunk, you fight pretty well." I complimented, holding both of my daggers. Before I could advance, Peter appeared directly in front of me.
"Epsilon, keep him busy and I'll take him out." He ordered quickly and disappeared just as quickly as he appeared. I just shook my head with a sigh.
"Alright, then." I said to myself, and attacked. As we traded blows, Peter ran across the stadium and up the destroyed ship, hitting the edge of the beam. He leapt off it and sprinted across the air, going directly in front of the sun. He descended and kicked Xander directly in the face, sending him back. As Xander got back up, Peter kicked him in the chest, knee, stomach and double kicked him in the face, sending him to the edge of the arena with only 20% aura. Peter briefly observed his boot.
"Huh, I wonder what this does?" He asked himself, and kicked at the air. From is boot, a white torpedo came out and flew directly at Xander, hitting him in the chest, knocking him out of the arena and dropping his aura below the safety line. He just looked shocked at what he had just done. "Man, these boots are awesome!"
"And Team UCER gains the advantage!" Oobleck announced over the speakers.
Amber and Umber solidified the metal into the cylinders again and dropped them on their feet, making a metallic shell around their shoes. Amber swung her left leg at Ultra's head, who leaned back to avoid it and tripped her up by swiping his leg under her standing one. Umber lifted her right leg and slammed it down, striking Ultra directly in the chest, sending him to the floor. The twins both synchronised their kick and sent Ultra flying into the air. He unsheathed his machetes and stabbed one of them into the beam on the ship, vaulting himself up onto the top while pulling his machete out. The twins leapt up onto the edge of the beam, Amber with metal gloves and Umber with metal boots. Ultra sheathed his machetes and fired both of his pistols at the girls, which they punched and kicked with their metal limbs to stop the bullets.
The two of them ran towards Ultra, who holstered his pistols and unsheathed his machetes again, spinning them a couple of times in the process. Just as they were about to re-engage in combat, Willow landed between them in front of Ultra, and fired her electrical energy at Amber and Umber. Unable to react in time, the twins were struck and sent across the beam to the very edge, half of their aura's drawn from them.
"I had them." Ultra stated, spinning his right machete. She just laughed.
"Sure you did." She replied with a smile, with quickly fades when Vanessa landed on the beam, holding her arms in a defensive stance. Ultra stepped forward and fired his pistol at Vanessa, who dodged each of the bullets like they were moving.
"Wow. It's just like the Matrix." Ultra complimented. Willow leapt over the android, charged a bolt of energy in her hands and fired it at Vanessa. She crossed her arms and the bolt hit her, leaving her physically unharmed, but lowered her aura to 25%. She narrowed her eyes and drew a revolver from the left side of the inside of her jacket and fired it at Willow. Too slow to react, the bullet struck her in the head, knocking her off the beam and completely draining her aura. "Willow!"
"And it's down to 3-on-3!"
"Alright, enough playing with my food." Ultra said to himself, gritting his teeth. He charged at Vanessa and swung both of his weapons at her, which she narrowly dodged by ducking underneath them. SHe grabbed a pair of daggers and threw them at Ultra, which hit him and passed through his body harmlessly, much to her shock and confusion. She recalled them and held them in her hands defensively as Ultra attacked again. She managed to dodge and deflect each of his attacks, but any harm made to him did nothing to slow him down. He yelled in anger as she dodged another attack, he spun around and elbowed her in the chest, sending her off the beam and into the water.
She got up, soaked all over and glared up at Ultra, who glared at her. Without her realising, Peter ran towards her, leaping into the air with his boots mere feet away from him. Without turning away from Ultra, Vanessa took out her revolver and shot Peter in the head, draining his aura and knocking him out.
"Oh ho ho! Looks like the tables have turned! Team HAUS gains the advantage!"
Amber and Umber slowly got back up, shaking their heads from the disorientation, until the beam they stood on started to shake. They turned and saw Ultra slicing the beam with his machete until it collapsed under it's own weight, falling to the ground. The two huntresses-in-training ran to the highest part of the beam and jumped up to where Ultra was, until they were sent flying to the edge of the shielded arena by a hard punch from Ultra.
"And just like that, UCER regains the upper hand!"
I shot electric bolts into the water where Vanessa was, in hopes to electrocute her aura away. Realising what I was to do, she leapt from the water before the electricity got her and into the desert biome. She grabbed all of her daggers and threw them all at me, which I expertly avoided without a scratch. With a smirk, Vanessa flicked her arms and all of the daggers flew back towards me, which I just avoided. I took off and flew into the air, the daggers just behind me. I flew around the large beam on the ship, scraping against the surface as the daggers implanted into the wooden beam. I landed with a roll and raised my gun again, until I was hit in the forehead by a bullet from Vanessa's revolver, stunning me briefly. I shook my head and left the smooth surface of the Ultramanium metal on my forehead where the bullet hit.
"What... how did?" Vanessa asked, completely shocked. Taking the opportunity, I boosted forward, spun around and kicked her back and into the shield, ending the match.
"And victory goes to Team UCER, who will proceed to the double's round!" Oobleck announced as the crowd cheered. I let out a sigh of relief and turned around to see Ultra, Willow and Peter approaching.
"So, did this go as you planned?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Exactly. This was a good team, better than some other teams from the show, I'm talking to you BRNZ, so we had to eliminate them for the winner of the tournament." Ultra told us.
"Who is the winner?" Willow asked, hands on her hips.
"It's a secret. Also, it hasn't been revealed. And also, fuck Mercury and the rest of them for what they did to Yang, even if it hasn't happened yet, but it has! Sigh... fourth wall..." Ultra said with a sigh. I turned to the other team and saw the four of them approach us, Xander somewhat stumbling from being drunk.
"Good match. Good luck in the doubles." Vanessa said, holding out her hand to me with a smile. I narrowed my eyes slightly and shook it.
"Why not say this to the 'team leader' over there?" I asked, pointing at Ultra.
"Because I've been told about you, Epsilon." Vanessa responded, more seriously.
"Who told you about me?" I asked quietly.
"Your old master and his team." She responded.
"David? How do you even know him, he should be in Vacuo." I stated, and she shook her head.
"He was, but... complications happened. He told me to warn you about them. The Grimbryds. Fight them. Fear them. Or become them." She warned, eyes narrowed to look more serious. I glanced over at the rest of my team and leaned closer to Vanessa.
"Where is David?" I whispered.
"Home." She finished, and departed with her team, giving me one last nod. I nodded back and the four of us left the arena.
"What was that about?" Peter asked.
"I'm not sure." I answered truthfully. "Since we won, who's going to the doubles?"
"Me and you, brother. Probably against another OC team." Ultra confirmed and departed. "Right now, I have to go meet a 'dusty old Qrow', in the words of Ozpin." He stopped. "Oh, by the way, you two can go home now if you want, heck, you can do what you want now. I needed you for the team, but now, there's nothing keeping you here forcefully. If you decide to stay, come see our match, might be fun." The two Inhumans nodded, glanced at each other and exited.
"Huh, didn't know you had a heart." I stated.
"I don't." He deadpanned. "But I do care about them, even if it's minuscule and irrelevant to everything else I care about. Now, to the Qrowbar! Get it, Qrow-bar? Crowbar?"
"How much of Yang's personality did you take?" I asked.
"Too much, Epsilon. Too much." He answered, and left for the dock. I sighed and headed for the spectator stands.
Guess I'll watch Team RWBY's fight...
After the fight...
"...iiiiiiiiiis anyone else starving?" Ruby asked, landing from her leap and slouching down from a lack of energy.
"I may have worked up an apatite." Blake confirmed, looking as cool as ever. Until her stomach rumbled. Loudly.
"You much have a really big apatite." I said to the faunus, who blushed in embarrassment.
"Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here." Weiss said sarcastically. "Oh, wait."
"Well, there is half a dozen food stands over there. A noodle stand there. A pancake stand being raided by Nora there..." I said, pointing at different places. Ruby put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"It's okay, Weiss, I forget about the fairgrounds, too." She reassured.
"I was being facetious." Weiss responded.
"Gah! Well if you said you were hungry, why didn't you say so!?" Ruby asked, raising her arms above her head.
"No, Ruby, she's making a joke." I say, rubbing my eyes due to her lack of understanding Weiss's joke.
"Come on! I know just the place." Yang gestured to the noodle stand and we followed. Weiss stopped as her phone rang, showing 'FATHER'. She glared at the name and put her scroll away, declining the call.
"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this." A voice said, holding up Ruby's wallet filled with Lien. I turned and looked at the person who spoke: Emerald Sustrai. I remembered her, back when I was just a pair of goggles on top of David's head. I remember overhearing the conversation with the woman at the CCT, Emerald being one of the people talking. I could never forget her face.
"I heard your teams progressed to the next round too." I heard Emerald say after blanking out part of the conversation.
"You know, I feel like we haven't seen our other team mates." Weiss pointed out.
"How'd they do in the fight?" Yang asked. Emerald tilted her head for a second.
"Really well." She said, nodding to herself.
"That's great. Uh. Why don't we all go and get a victory food together?" Ruby suggested.
"I believe they will be busy." I said, somewhat grimly towards Emerald, getting a brief confused glance from Team RWBY.
"He's right though. Oh yeah, Looks like Merc and I are going to move onto the doubles round. What about you guys?" She asked.
"Me and my brother are going next." I answered vaguely, deliberately leaving out Ultra's name.
"Well, as the leader this team, I thought long and hard about this decision-"
"We put it to a vote." Weiss deadpanned.
"Yes, so, but I decided that we should put it to a vote." Ruby said nervously.
"We voted for Weiss and Yang." Blake answered simply.
"Polar opposites, huh? Fits well." I noted.
"I will happily represent Team RWBY." Weiss answered with a curtsy.
"Yeah, we're going to kick some butt!" Yang responded, smashing her fists together in emphasis, causing Emerald to laugh.
"Well, if Mercury and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya." Emerald said with a cocky grin.
"I wouldn't be too confident, if I were you." I warned, Emeralds grin fading slightly.
Mercury. I remembered a Mercury. Mercury Black. On the day of my creation, he duelled against Pyrrha, where he easily forfeit to her after she used her polarity. And he and Emerald were the two who arrested Roman Torchwick, this seems all too... coincidental.
I have to tell Ozpin...
"Have fun!" Ruby yelled as Emerald left to go with Mercury. The five of walked away ad I glanced back at the two kids.
"So, how are the new friends?" Mercury asked with a smirk
"I hate most of them." Emerald cringed.
"Most of them?" Mercury raised an eyebrow.
"I just... how can they be so happy all the time!?" She complained, mashing her fingers together angrily.
"Most of them?" Mercury asked again.
"That guy... Epsilon, I think, he's not like them. He acted... almost hostile towards me. You don't think he knows, do you?" She asked nervously.
"How could he? The people at this academy are stupid, they could never figure us out." Mercury stated matter-of-fact.
"But, we should still tell Cinder." She said to him.
"Do what you want. Also, id you get what we want?" Mercury asked.
"It's the heiress and the bimbo. And it's Epsilon and his 'brother', whoever that is." Emerald shrugged it off.
"Hmm, alright. At least we know who we're working with." He stated.
"Best to ask Cinder about the two guys." Emerald said.
"Agreed."
Crow Bar...
Sitting in the bar, a lone hunter downed another shot of alcohol as he waited for the person he was waiting for. Or, at least one of them. He turned around when he heard footsteps and laughing.
"You poor, drunk bastard. I cannot wait to get to know you, you awesome son of a bitch!" Ultra exclaimed, patting Qrow on the back as he took a seat next to him.
"You're Ultra, right?" Qrow asked, a slur in his voice.
"The one and only." He answered easily. "I'll have what this bad-ass is having."
"Ultra, we've got a lot to discuss regarding some very sensitive topics." Qrow said with a whisper. The bartender handed Ultra his drink and he downed it instantly, slamming the drink on the table.
"Alright then, shoot."
End of Chapter Eleven
So, here we are with the start of the canon volume 3! For the first time, I don' know the ending, and with a two week break until episode seven and a Christmas holiday to write, I'll probably catch up soon. As you likely noticed, a noticeable amount of dialogue us used from the episodes to make it easier to write and so it stays close to canon, as it is the golden rule of this story. Also, half of the first episode isn't in this chapter, and will be put in the next, since Episode 2 was a 'lets watch other teams fight' episode, so little for my characters to do than watch. It'll work out, hopefully. Now for the story recommendation:
Name: Falling Down
Author: Super Saiyan Cyndaquil
General Synopsis: When Jaune loses the use of his legs he is faced with the reality that his future dreams of being a Huntsmen may have gone with them. However, Ruby isn't prepared to let him give up as this begins to put a strain on their budding relationship.
And, as always, keep an eye out for chapter twelve and remember to follow, favourite and leave a review. Thanks for reading!