Chapter 6

Two days after asking Phoenix out to the dance, we went to a few stores to check out outfits to wear to the dance. I think this is the fifth shop we've stopped by at. Neither one of us have really worn clothes suited for a dance so we were rather lost. We mostly just kept trying on a bunch of clothes, though it never really seemed to work out well. Though our uniform is kinda formal, we don't really know what to really go off of. It's especially harder for Phoenix, since there's a larger variety to choose from, which leaves us in awe for Phoenix to even try on all of them. We were going to ask Sapphire if she could help Phoenix out, but she might get an idea off of that, which would involve Robyn possibly spreading rumors around before she'd even leave the dorm. We weren't really getting anywhere at this rate so we took a break, and went out to eat at a local noodle shop. It was called A Simple Wok, and was run by an old man. He didn't really speak, and just nodded when we ordered. I must've seen this man before, as he looks rather familiar to me. When we finished eating, we decided to check out one last store before calling it a night.

"This is much harder than I thought." Phoenix said rather surprised from the overwhelming amount of variety that she has to choose from.

"Damn right it is. You have worn practically every dress in town and still can't find one." I said.

"Well we only have one more shop to visit before we call it quits." She said.

"Thank god. I can't believe we went through every shop in Vale." I said.

We stopped in front of the final store and it was empty. There was nobody inside, but the store itself seemed promising. I was really hoping and praying that this would be the store that we find something for her since I had already purchased my blazer. It was made out of cashmere and cotton with faux leather on the shoulders and a buttons that go across the chest. Along with that, I also purchased a pair of slacks that seemed to be appropriate for these kind of events. Phoenix had also said that she would find me a tie that would match her dress (If she could find what she wanted).

As we were about to walk inside, we heard thunderous steps and car horns in the distance. I turned to face Phoenix and she nodded. We ran towards the noise and found an abandoned building that was harboring hundreds of White Fang members. We definitely weren't expecting to stumble upon a White Fang rally. They spotted us and decided to take us out. I quickly grabbed my scroll and put in the code to get my locker to launch over here.

Phoenix did the same as the White Fang members began to surround us. Off in the distance, I could see Team RWBY fighting some sort of mechanized machine. A moment later our lockers crashed nearby and we retrieved our weapons. I equipped my gauntlets, and loaded them lightning dust for this fight. Phoenix almost always used dust that relates with fire, as she prepared her sword and shield.

"This certainly makes our night much more interesting. Don't you think?" I asked Phoenix to ease the tension, as we had our backs to each other, facing the White Fang surrounding us.

"I'd say so. How's this for a plan? I take the five hundred on the left, and you take the five hundred on the right." Phoenix said, knowing that she'd still take on way more if I asked her to.

"Screw that. I'll take on five hundred and one!" I said attempting to demoralize the enemy.

"That's the spirit Jet." She said looking right at me.

"Should we start with the Air Strike?" I asked Phoenix, who was anxious to fight.

"You always did like to flaunt right away. Sure, take as much as you need." Phoenix said facing me. I nodded, and placed my palm on her stomach and took some of her aura. Only a bit was needed, as her aura is incredibly powerful. I felt her power flow throughout my body. It made me feel warm in a way. I guess her aura really is like a flame. Though I'm not burning, I can feel fire resonating throughout me.

"Ready?" I asked Phoenix, once I prepared myself.

"Yeah." She said as she prepared herself. I took about ten steps backwards, as Phoenix got on her knees and had her shield at an angle. I ran right at her, then jumped right on her shield. With all her might, she pushed her shield upwards, sending me straight into the air. The wind, wildly threw my hair around, obscuring my vision a bit. On my way down, I was charging my attack. I was more used to using Phoenix's aura, so it charged much faster than when I fuse my own with someone else's. The enemy was clueless of my attack, as my palm was turning red with the aura from Phoenix. Phoenix used the opportunity to create a tower shield, and slammed it into the ground to hide behind. I pushed my palm forward, and aimed for the biggest group of enemies. A moment later, they were blasted with a greater impact than I had used against Team CRDL. Many were on the floor now, defeated, though others still remained capable of fighting. I then used my gauntlets to blast at the ground to slow me down, as I landed nearby Phoenix, who switched back to her sword and shield combination. Several White Fang members were about ready to run away, had it not been for their numbers. It's rather sad to see so many Faunus having to go through with doing actions such as these. Though now isn't the time to ponder. Now is the time for action.

Just as I prepared to launch a few blasts from my gauntlets, the enemy received reinforcements with guns. They began to open fire at us, as Phoenix switched to her tower shield once more, slamming it into place, but with her crossbow this time. I ran to her, and took cover by her side. I looked around the shield and saw that many were running around to attack us while pinned down.

"Phoenix! Deal with the shooters! I'll take the fighters on." I ordered her, as she prepped her crossbow.

"Here. You'll need this." I said to Phoenix, giving her the lightning dust I was going to use for my gauntlets. I instead switched it with earth for a harder hit.

"Thank you." She said calmly while loading it into her crossbow. We both peaked around the shield to see the incoming volley of bullets. Phoenix took a few blind shots and actually managed to down some of the shooters with ease. Now it was my turn. I shot at the ground in front of an incoming enemy. The earth dust them activated and it rose from the ground in the form of a rock, tripping the enemy. The enemy fell forward and was in front of me as I uppercutted him, throwing him onto the ground. By the time this guy had fallen to the floor, Phoenix has already taken down about a dozen enemies from blind fire alone. She took a few more shots then switched to a longsword and charged. She was their main threat as of now, and focused directly at her with all they have. I joined up with her, taking down four enemies on the way. Around twenty enemies headed straight for us. Though I wanted to fight them, I knew Phoenix would easily dispatch them all, and that's just what she did. She slowed down, and lowered her sword and pulled her blade behind her. She swiftly followed through with a giant slash, that had enough reach to hit all twenty altogether. She was always a different person on the battlefield. Confident in the abilities of those around her and would be the equivalent of a human tank, able to take much punishment but returning even more with a quicker onslaught. After seeing so many of their own defeated easily, they began to retreat. They ran away, leaving us there.

"Well that ended rather prematurely." I said rather disappointed from the lack of fighting. We were about to leave when we heard someone walking towards us. It was probably reinforcements once again, but it was only one person. We looked in the direction our opponent came from and noticed a very short girl, who seems to be around our age. She walked forward with a grin on her face, and carrying a pink lace umbrella decorated with intricate designs. When she was close enough, she stopped then bowed in front of us. Phoenix and I just looked at each other in confusion of what to do next. Was she really an enemy? Her appearance certainly didn't give that off. She was really short, and had long half pink and half brown hair, with white streaks in the pink half. Her eyes were a light pink in one eye, and dark brown in the other. She's got a white jacket that has pink on the inside, has brown pants with a belt tied around her waist, light gray boots with heels that attempted to make her taller, and it seems like she's got a black corset under her jacket, that sort of curves in the middle, and exposes her hips rather nicely. For someone so small, possibly even smaller than Ruby or Nora, she does have a nice body though.

Phoenix and I prepared ourselves, for the fight, while that girl simply stood there smiling. Phoenix switched to a spear and shield, and waited for our next move. We both slowly made our way to her, attempting to attack her from both sides. We don't know what to expect from our opponent as she hasn't moved at all, except for looking at us occasionally. Since I was closer to her I made the first move. I unleashed an onslaught of kicks and punches, but she managed to dodge each attack like nothing. She gracefully dodged every one of my strikes and mocked me with her charmingly cute smile. I never thought that an enemy could look this adorable and fight so skillfully. I aimed to punch her again and raised my leg to kick her, but she saw that as a gateway opportunity to kick me in the...unmentionables…I was thrown across the room, crashed into several large crates, some falling on top of me, and I don't know how I was able to do it, but a piercing screech emitted from my lips as I fell to the floor.

"She kicked me in the dick...why? Why did she kick me in the dick?" I groaned in a high pitched voice. Phoenix was absolutely stunned but it was quite obvious that she was trying to contain her laughter. At this rate, I was definitely out of the fight right from the start. I can barely even manage to move my lower body at all from a blow that devastating. I looked towards Phoenix and groaned in pain, making sure she got the picture that I was definitely in no condition to fight. Thank goodness that she got the picture because she rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment.

She turned to face her opponent and raised her shield and stood in a defensive stance, waiting for her to make the first move since she learned from my mistake of making the first move. That girl still maintained her smile as she was about to face off with Phoenix. Neither of them looked like they were going to move anytime soon, and I could sense the tension in the air as they looked at each other with equal determination. Not breaking her smile, the small neapolitan themed girl lunged at Phoenix and tried to kick her, but Phoenix saw that move coming and pushed her away with her shield while attempting to strike her with her spear. The smaller girl swiftly dodged and repelled her attack with her umbrella. They continued with their swift exchanges, enticing me since they looked so elegant on the battlefield, but I began to notice that Phoenix was starting to overpower her opponent and for brief moment, I saw her eyes flash white with fear. Phoenix saw this as well and smirked devilishly at her. She was so merciless on the battlefield, it was hard to connect that this was also the same girl who I had developed feelings for. Phoenix changed her spear to a claymore and began to cut and slash at the girl who was now struggling to block her strikes with her umbrella. She stumbled and ducked a swift kick to the face and back flipped to gain some distant from the now blood thirsty redhead. Noticing that she wouldn't make it out of this battle without obtaining severe injuries she backed away and in a flash, she was gone.

Phoenix sighed in relief and rushed over to me. She kneeled down to my height and placed a gentle hand on my head.

"How are the boys doing?" She asked.

"Better than before...damn." I groaned sitting up. The pain was intense but not as excruciating as it was when I was first struck.

"Do you think you can still fight? We need to help Team RWBY." Phoenix said helping me stand up.

"It was just a kick, but I think I can still manage." I said taking a couple of steps forward.

"Then we should go now." She said. I nodded and I felt her wrap an arm around my waist and my arm around her neck and shoulder.

"Just in case you fall." She muttered.

"Um...ok." I said.

We left the building and headed towards the sounds of screeching cars and destruction. I then realized that Team RWBY was fighting against some kind of giant Atlesian robot. It must be one of their newer models currently being manufactured.

"Let's go!" I told Phoenix. She nodded and we headed straight for them. I broke away from her grasp and loaded my gauntlets with lightning, as Phoenix swapped to her flail and shield combo. Though as we joined up with them, we saw that Yang was swinging around as Ruby was shooting at the robot with the aid of Weiss's glyphs, to freeze it in place. Yang used her gauntlets to make her go faster by shooting repeatedly, to the point where she punched the robot right on the head, sending it flying, and crashing, falling apart entirely, as Roman Torchwick, fell out unharmed from it. As Roman was defenseless, Yang took the opportunity, to shoot right at him. As the blast was closing in on him, that same girl that fought us, appeared, and used her umbrella to intercept the attack, saving Roman. RWBY ran closer, and we joined up with them.

"Ladies. Ice Queen." Roman started.

"Hey!" Weiss replied, offended of her nickname.

"And of course gentleman. Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would." He said as the girl, now known to us as Neo, bowed gracefully. Yang prepped her gauntlet, and ran right for her, under the influence of her semblance, as we can clearly see, her hair glowing radiantly, and her red lilac eyes.

"Aghhhh!" Yang yelled, prepared to punch her. She swung, and Neo moved her umbrella forward quickly forward, as Yang hit something. It was easy to miss, but it looked like a kind of glass barrier, as Yang destroyed it on impact, and Neo and Roman weren't seen afterwards. This was some form of illusion. Confused, we all looked around for them, but in the distance we could hear a Bullhead flying. We saw Roman and Neo together inside of it as it flew away.

"I guess he got a new henchman." Yang said looking at the Bullhead fly further and further away.

"Yeah. I guess she really made our plans… f-fall apart." Weiss said, attempting to ease the tension with a horrible pun. Even Yang was unimpressed.

"No. Just, no." Yang replied to the failure of a pun.

"What? But you do it." Weiss attempting to save herself.

"There's a time and a place for jokes." Yang continued.

"Was this not it?" Weiss asked raising a hand in confusion, trying to learn from the master of puns.

"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang put down Weiss right away, while walking after Blake, who left around the time Weiss told the "joke".

"Well at least I'm trying." Weiss said following Yang.

"Wait. Where are Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asked staying behind everyone else. Though I didn't know who Neptune was, I at least knew Sun.

"I'm sure that they're just fine Ruby." Phoenix said, reassuring her.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I mean they only fell off the highway." Ruby said rather jokingly, and following her team, back to Beacon.

"Besides what are you two doing out here?" Ruby asked us. Phoenix and I looked at each other for a moment, then I answered Ruby.

"Well, we were going around Vale, looking at some stores, when we heard all hell break loose on the highway." I told Ruby, as she was closing Crescent Rose.

"I guess you guys didn't get to fight tonight then huh?" She asked us, looking a little embarrassed for taking the fight in their own hands.

"Well, we did fight some White Fang members, since we followed Blake and Sun. Then after that, that Neo girl came, and fought with us. Afterwards, you guys fought off Roman, and then here we are." I told Ruby the jist of what happened. I really don't want to tell her of my defeat that way. Once that was over we just returned to Beacon and called it a night.