The Seidan Guard operated like a perfectly set clockwork machine. Every piece of it did as it was intended. If something happened that derailed the original plan, then alternate routes could be taken for the mission to succeed. That had been their way for ages, and Hotaru had no reason whatsoever to even consider the idea of changing it.
Indeed, he sat alone in the Dragon Room, waiting for the reports from the lower levels informing him on the state of the warships The 'new' and 'miraculous' portal 'technology' to move them through Remnant would be enough to cloud whatever chaos or casualties could come after the conflict, and it would serve to cement their hold over the planet even more.
But even though Hotaru was more than confident of their victory, the fact that Frost's communication channel went down did scare him. Again, there was a big chance that she just shut it down due to Beacon doing something that could compromise them; Hotaru knew better than to underestimate his rivals in moments of desperation. Yes, messages were short and far in between with all his subordinates anyway, but the doubt remained. The fact that some of the members of Beacon were on The Night Beatle was also worrying, but he had fulfilled his objective: Distract them long enough for the ship sections to come through.
His thoughts then shifted to the poor souls he sent to fight, not really lamenting that both Violeti and Nero were beaten almost to death; after all, the number of crimes they both amounted to was more than enough for more than one life sentence for each. Ironically, he expected Pyrrha to come on top; with her statistics and his fighting abilities, it should have been enough. Then again, the Branwen brother's bloodlust was something he had not considered. In Remnants' future, Hotaru was more than able to see a line of her descendants, all strong and worthy of joining the Guard if male and exceptional government administrators if female; but alas, fate was not with him. He at least was able to enjoy the panicking faces on the mongrels once they discovered the truth that they had been fighting Pyrrha.
Everything was calm until he and Ryu heard the doors and metal wall to the lounge banging. They knew only Yang and Blake could be there, but it didn't matter. Without addressing Hotaru at all, Ryu then stood up and went for one of the bookcases, pushing a specific sequence of books that made the piece of furniture move and showed him a lava minigun.
"Are you sure about using that, my lord?" Hotaru questioned.
Ryu just placed it on his back, allowed it to securely strap itself, and then opened a portal.
"Are you sure you don't want me to take care of them?".
Ryu just gave the other man an all-knowing glance.
"Very well, my lord" Hotaru then said while bowing.
With that done, Ryu then walked through a newly opened portal which closed soon after; and as expected, the banging on the entrance stopped, with only faint booming noises being heard occasionally. None of that mattered, however, as the moment for the endgame to begin had arrived in the form of an alarm.
To prevent any sort of trouble this night, all inside communications within his office and the underground compound were done via landlines and with no wireless devices; and with the press of a button, Hotaru was now speaking directly to the lower floors. "Open the tear!" he ordered.
"Yes, sir!" a voice said on the other side of the line. Hotaru then prepared himself, knowing exactly what was coming.
Indeed, the earthquake that followed and the blinking lights were signals enough of what was happening. When they finally stopped, he called once again, and just as expected, he got the message he was expecting. "Ships came through, sir! Assembling is happening as we speak, sir!" the man at the other side of the line told him.
"Well done. Deploy when I order it" Hotaru told the man before hanging, smiling as he returned to see the status of his scramblers. Truly, everything was going perfectly, and now there was no way the academies could defeat Onaga.
For the first time in a long time, he felt relaxed and… even happy. So much so that the wine cabinet under his memorabilia collection felt inviting enough. He poured himself a glass of wine and then sat down, smiling as he drank the red liquid. That was until he noticed that the signal from Beacon's scrambler seemed to have been lost. There was no direct communication between him and Frost, sure, but there were ways for him to know if she was ok and even alive.
Under each of the screens showing the faces of his underlings were flames, indicating whether the corresponding person was alive or not; and Frost's flame was still burning. He was unsure of what was happening until he heard a ringing noise coming from a device that should not be working at all: his Zaphyre. Activating it, he then saw the pile of warning messages coming at once, meaning that the scrambler was indeed destroyed. Hotaru did not lose his composure, however. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. "No matter. The ships are already being assembled" he told himself.
Looking at the blocked entrance, however, made him realize that Ryu had not returned yet; but before he could question what was holding him, Hotaru was able to hear echoing booming noises getting louder by the second. Concerned, he slowly stood up and walked towards the railings, identifying soon after that the noise was coming from the kitchen. His concern then quickly turned into annoyance once he figured out who was the ones making those noises and why.
Sure enough, a couple of seconds later Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow slammed the kitchen doors open and entered the dining room with the girl and her uncle pointing their guns at him. "Party is over, pal. You know what we want, so do it before things get ugly" Qrow threatened, clocking his shotgun for emphasis.
Hotaru remained silent, looking at the intruders not even with anger or annoyance but with pity. Shortly after, however, he chuckled before placing his hands behind his back and walking slowly towards the stairs, all three members of Beacon keeping their eyes on him. "Really, Mr. Branwen? I feel we all know your threats are useless at this point". He went silent once again until he arrived at the first step. "I also know that you will not risk killing me, as only I or Lord Onaga can stop the destruction of the academies". Hotaru then stopped at the middle step to look at his enemies before addressing them again. "Here is my counteroffer: surrender now, and I'll offer you a quick and painless death".
It could have been either pure hubris or blind commitment to his so-called cause, but he said each word fully convinced. Not that Qrow cared either way, as his answer was to shoot a round towards Hotaru. The Seidan, however, expected that to happen as he then jumped away from the pellets.
Hotaru sighed in annoyance before looking at the intruders once again. "Very well," he told them before activating the device on his arm which in turn enveloped him in the Firefly armor. "Just for reference: I am no longer controlling separate entities…" he told them before activating the propellers in his boots and back, allowing him to fly towards the middle of the room. "This will be easier for me now" he warned with overconfidence as Ruby and Qrow pointed their guns at him.
It was not until Hotaru saw the smiles on all three that he then figured they were plotting something. "Now would be a good time!" Qrow then yelled as he turned back to look at the kitchen; and before Hotaru could even question who they were talking to, what seemed to be a redhaired girl wearing a green dress smashed through the doors and tackled him at full speed, sending Hotaru crashing against the wall over the twelve doors before falling. "What in Grava's name…?" was all he managed to say as he then saw the red-haired girl flying and materializing ten swords from behind her back which then got in front of her in a circular formation to shoot a powerful green beam. Unfortunately for her, Hotaru activated his shield and extended it, creating a mirror-like surface that reflected the laser at different points in the room.
The girl kept on shooting until Hotaru got to hold his ground and then managed to reflect the laser towards Ruby and the others, forcing the girl to stop her attack and look at her allies in panic. That proved to be a mistake, however, as Hotaru then shot beams of his own at her; managing to stun the girl and making her fall. But he was not done, as Hotaru then flew towards the girl, ramming into her, grabbing her by the leg, spinning once, and then slamming her on the ground; and just as he was getting ready to blast her again, Ruby and Qrow decided to shoot at him once.
"Get! Away! From! Her!" Ruby yelled each word at him after first shooting a round of her weapon.
'Then why did you send her after me in the first place, foolish child!?' Hotaru asked himself as he then torpedoed himself towards the other three people.
Jaune and Ruby jumped out of the way while Qrow moved away for the main area of impact, ready to slash the Seidan with his giant blade. Unluckily for him, Hotaru immediately turned around and blocked the attack with his left armguard, delivering then a knee strike powered by the propellers on his boots.
Qrow received the attack, but it was not enough to take him down. He recovered midair and landed on his feet, the red flash of his aura noticeable to Hotaru.
"Impossible! You are supposed to be out of aura!" the Seidan yelled in disbelief. "How!?"
"Ask nicely and I'll tell you!" Qrow then answered back, taunting him.
Sadly, for Qrow, Hotaru was right. He was no longer controlling a puppet, this was the real deal; and just as his sister described, he was no pushover.
Hotaru propelled himself towards Qrow, jumping and twirling in the air as the huntsman swung his sword once again. Hotaru then used his back rockets once more to land a series of kicks against Qrow, with the man only being able to block the first two before the other five connected, with the final one blasting a lava beam against Qrow and sending him rolling a few feet away and landing on his back. Hotaru then deployed his naginata and was ready to impale Qrow how many times it was necessary to kill him, but at the last second, he saw Jaune coming from behind a table to try and stab him.
Jaune was able to block the incoming stab from Hotaru, having succeeded in distracting the Seidan from further attacking Qrow. The older man wasted no time in then spinning on the ground to get back on his feet and changing Harbinger into scythe mode, jumping in the air, and getting ready to vertically slash his opponent with his weapon.
Hotaru, however, was fast enough to release one hand from his weapon's rod to activate his Seidan shield before the attack connected. But he could not rejoice in victory as both his arms were now occupied, and his front was entirely exposed.
Indeed, Penny had recovered from his previous attack and was getting ready to shoot her swords at him.
Facing a tough decision, Hotaru let go of his naginata and kicked Jaune away, using his now free arm, to block his face and his chest as best as could, and just in time as Penny shot all her swords, one by one, towards him. He was able to deflect the first four, but the next four, however, were able to dent the arm guard and push it away, while the final two were able to hit his helmet; not breaking it but managing to crack it while also stunting him.
Using that to his advantage, Qrow then spun over the snath of his scythe to then deliver a powerful double kick directly on Hotaru's chest, sending his opponent falling back; and just as he was getting up once again, Hotaru was assaulted by a barrage of shotgun blasts from both Qrow and Ruby. That, however, was a distraction for Penny to have enough time to load her giant laser and then fire it once again.
Not only was the blast powerful enough that it sent Hotaru crashing against one of the metal walls, but Penny used a second blast to make a column fall on top of him.
Once Jaune regained consciousness, he saw the worried look on Ruby's face. Noticing the place, she and the others were staring at, he seemed to have confirmed their concerns. "Is he…?" Jaune asked, worried.
"I don't think so" Ruby answered. "Do you think we might have overdone it?" she then asked back.
Their answer, however, came in the form of two powerful golden blasts which then blasted the column away along with Qrow and Penny. From the wreckage then emerged Hotaru, his armor dented and with some cracks, but still looking functional. Nonetheless, both Ruby and Jaune could feel the anger coming from within the armor, making them both assume a defensive stance.
Without saying anything, Hotaru then blasted two more beams, not toward the two teens, but the roof. They were confused at first until they then saw the giant candelabra falling. Ruby managed to use her semblance to get out of the way, but Jaune was barely able to get out of the way, rolling at the last second; and just as he was focusing on the battle again, he was then tackled by Hotaru, propelled by the thrusters.
But the Seidan's attack was far from over. Once they landed, Hotaru grabbed Jaune by the neck of his hoody and raised the teen's torso before delivering a continuous barrage of punches directly on the boy's face. "You!" Hotaru screamed at Jaune, stopping just for a moment. "Of all the pests I had to deal with! Why must YOU always be there!" he yelled after three more punches. "YOU, spineless, yellow-bellied buffoon! YOU, underserving parasite! I had to give away one of my personal assets because of YOU!" he vented in frustration as he kept on punching. "Why! Won't! YOU! GO! AWAY!?". It took Hotaru some time after he stopped punching, but then he was able to see the white light surrounding Jaune's bloated face. "So that's how they recovered their aura…" Hotaru realized as Jaune just gave him a smug smile before spitting blood at the Seidan's helmet.
He was then ready to blast Jaune's head clean off, but was pushed away by Ruby, batting him in the head with the blunt part of her scythe and the momentum from her semblance; but as ready to fight Hotaru as she was, she put that on hold to look after Jaune. "Jaune! Are you-?".
"I'll be fine… Penny… is she… did she get it!?".
"She did" the girl assured him as Hotaru was standing up. "But it's not enough. Go!" she ordered him.
Jaune was able to get out of sight just as Hotaru was composing himself. The helmet was cracked and dented, completely broken on the inside, not allowing him to look in front clearly. Enraged, he then pulled some of the broken pieces, making his face visible, looking directly at Ruby who was pointing her gun directly at him.
"Really?" he then asked her condescendingly as he began to charge his gauntlets.
"You are a liar" she just stated, fully indignant. "How dare you claim to give people hope!?" she then yelled at him.
"Oh, spare me!" he yelled back as he shot at her first.
Ruby, however, was expecting that, as she used her semblance immediately after he fired to get behind his range of sight.
Nonetheless, Hotaru was also expecting that and proceeded to shoot more blasts at her, following the rose petals tornado with his beams, only stopping when a section of the platform over him collapsed, covering everything with smoke and dust. He stood still, waiting for the dust to settle down while also waiting for the girl to make her move, and sure enough, he heard her cocking her shotgun from behind him.
Ruby had taken her time, waiting for the dust to cover her and slowly heading towards her opponent; but as she managed to shoot almost at point blank, he propelled himself upwards; but instead of flying away he spun in the air and launched himself at Ruby fists first, managing to grab the weapon and to push Ruby to the ground and then make a cartwheel, releasing the shotgun and slamming Ruby against a column. Ruby still had some aura, but it was hard to keep up with punishment, nonetheless.
Hotaru in the meantime was calmly walking towards her, expecting her to fight back. Sure enough, she changed her weapon to scythe mode and charged toward him. Hotaru's response was to deploy his shield to block her horizontal slash.
"I will not allow you to enslave us!" she told him through gritted teeth.
"Oh please…" he answered back, clearly annoyed. Hotaru then managed to punch the girl on her stomach, taking the air out of her lungs and making her lose the grip on her weapon and allowing him to throw it away. "Seido taking control of this pathetic world and its people would be a blessing for you!" he told her before punching her in the face with his other hand and then grabbing her by the neck and lifting her.
Ruby, however, was still defiant. "Do you really think… the people of Remnant… will just submit to you?" she managed to ask him before he released her and immediately punched her in the chest, sending her flying back.
As she said that, Hotaru released a genuine laugh before speaking again. "Have you seen how they throw themselves at our feet? It will just take a few nice words, some promises to build a few buildings, and then every insect on this planet will be bending to our will".
"After what happens tonight, do you think the people of Remnant will still follow you!?"
Hotaru ignored her question, shooting her soon after she was done with two beams.
The girl wasted no more time herself as she ran behind the fallen debris and the columns of fire and smoke for cover. Unluckily for Ruby as she managed to hide, a big fire split apart; and from it, a flying Hotaru emerged, ramming into her and then a wall.
"Oh please, everyone will believe the academies did all of this out of spite towards us, stupid girl!" he told her before letting Ruby go and then grabbing her by the neck and then slamming her on the wall again. "After tonight, everyone will think this was a self-sabotage from the academies, attacking their own to make themselves look indispensable to every kingdom, hiring even lowlife criminals to terrorize their citizens while using students as dispensable pawns to cover their own actions!" he then threw her away before firing once again, and without her weapon to block, Ruby received the entire force of the blast, breaking her aura. "But there is hope, for thanks to our quick response, we were able to stop the power-hungry headmasters and their corrupt control over the safety of their kingdoms! Every person alive will be begging Seido to take control of the academies, as opposed to the corrupt beings close to the headmasters!".
Unknown to Hotaru, however, was that Qrow was keeping close attention to the fight and waiting for Ruby's signal for him to intervene. That did not mean he was not hurting inside, wanting to just pummel the other man to death for what he was doing, but Qrow trusted her niece's plan, and with his aura restored thanks to Jaune, he was more than ready to swipe in. A sudden vibration coming from his pocket, however, broke his concentration on the fight. He expected a report from Ozpin or the like but was momentarily overwhelmed with joy when he saw Yang calling him.
He answered immediately, but before he could speak, the raspy voice of Yang came in. "He is coming… uncle Qrow. You need… you need to get the others… away… there is no other- AHHH!" she screamed before the call was interrupted by a loud roar and then a call ending sound.
"YANG!" Qrow screamed in panic, alerting Hotaru of his presence and distracting both him and Ruby from their fight; but before any of them could do or say anything, an explosion came from the stained glass on the roof, immediately followed by the unconscious bodies of Yang and Blake.
"Well… here it is…" Blake pointed out as she and Yang arrived at the penthouse room where Onaga should be. "Are you certain about this?" Blake then asked one final time, clearly afraid of whatever was behind that door.
Yang, on her end, just looked at the gun's meter to be sure it was full. Alien language aside, a full yellow line was enough indicator for her. "Make sure that bastard is in there" she answered back.
Blake nodded and placed her cat ear on the door. It took a few seconds, but she was then able to hear distinct steps coming from the inside. Confident with her finding, Blake then looked at Yang and nodded. When the blonde nodded back, Blake inserted the key card and opened the door before rolling out of the way.
Yang wasted no time in pulling the trigger and delivering a storm of yellow blasts upon the room as she walked in. Once inside she then pointed the barrel towards every inch and corner of the room, destroying every piece of furniture and cloth until it was all an unrecognizable heap of trash. The assault lasted less than a minute, and Yang began to breathe heavily before screaming in rage. When no more shots came out, Blake entered the room. It then took them less than a second to see the face-up body on the floor.
It took a moment before Yang realized what had just happened. She had defeated the leader of their enemies; but at the same time, she had just killed another living being in cold blood. "Yang! Yang! Listen to me, Yang!" the blonde heard Blake calling for her attention. "Yang, I know it's hard, but trust me, it had to be done. For better or worse, it's over" the other girl tried to reason.
Blake was right, it was over. And with that, Yang dropped the gun and fell to her knees exhausted. "We did it, Blake. We did it…" Yang said as tears of joy began to form in her eyes.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha. Foolish brats" they then heard a deep booming voice say as they then saw in horror how the body was standing up as if nothing had happened. "Do you really think it was going to be that simple!?" it added, taunting them; and when it was fully standing, both girls saw in horror as there was absolutely no blood or bullet wounds on his body. Even his clothes were perfectly intact.
"No… it…it can't be… you should be…" Blake tried to reason but found no logic whatsoever as to what was happening.
"Ha, ha! Raiden was right about one thing; I do use avatars to fool my enemies" he continued before then floating and twisting his torso, legs, arms, and neck completely. "And my allies" he added with a sinister grin.
It was then Yang who seemed to come out of her shock first as she continued her questioning "Then… you are not real?".
"This body isn't" the fake Onaga explained as it raised his hands which then slowly disappeared into bright smoke. "If I wanted to, I could have made it a solid construct, but you two are not worth the effort, unlike the witch's servants!".
"Why are you doing this then!?" Yang demanded as anger began to consume her once again.
Blake, however, decided to answer instead. "He doesn't trust his allies. Have them believe he is hidden from the world as he spies on them with a less conspicuous body". As she finished that, Blake then looked at the floating man again. "Wouldn't want to repeat another Shao Kahn working behind your back now, would you?".
The avatar growled, clearly displeased by the mere mention of that name. Nonetheless, he then smirked. "So, you know about Shao; It doesn't matter" he stated before disappearing in a flash of light. Yang and Blake were in clear shock, but that only grew worse when they heard the same voice coming from behind them and down the hall. "And I do feel it is time to finish you both…" Onaga's voice told them as Ryu appeared from behind a corner; his hat gone, allowing the girls to see the horns coming out of his head. "It shouldn't take too long" the once mute man gloated with Onaga's voice coming out of his mouth.
"You… Ryu… Ryu is the real you!? You were there all along!" Blake then realized, remembering what the gods told her about their final encounter on Beacon's grounds.
"To think Raiden had almost caught me that day" Onaga taunted, giving both a grin with his sharp teeth.
"Big whoop!" Yang said once again with confidence, activating her semblance and cracking her knuckles. "We already defeated you once; we can do it again!" she then assumed a fighting stance before speaking once more. "Come on! No more tricks, no more hiding, let's end this!".
Yang was clearly pumped; Blake, however, felt chills when Ryu's grin only grew bigger. "Your terms…" he began to say as he reached for something behind his head. "Are ACCEPTABLE!" he screamed before throwing something at them with inhumane speed.
The object hit Blake in her stomach with such force that it was able to push her back a few feet. That took Yang out of her fighting stance as she then went on to help her partner.
Aura helped reduce the severe damage that could have come from the strike, but that didn't make it any less painful. As Yang was helping her get on her knees, Blake then saw what Onaga had hit her with, what seemed to be once a stone amulet shaped like the dragon crest of the Elder Gods that the ninjas used, now broken into some pieces.
"Hold on… this is the broch Ryu uses… on his ponytail" Yang pointed out as she picked a large part of the broch. That, however, had to be put on hold as Onaga roared before charging towards the room. "Get ready Blake!" Yang warned, once again taking her stance.
Blake, however, had realized something. The ninjas used their amulets as necklaces, but there was no rule as to what shape the amulets had to be to work now, was there?
"Blake…" Yang then said, walking back and lowering her hands as fear began to take over her. "Is… is he getting… bigger?".
Indeed, the young man they had known as Ryu seemed to suddenly be growing in size, build, and even his skin seemed to be turning… scaly?
'Qrow, what did you just do!?' Jaune wanted to scream to reprimand the older man. He was unable to as before he could come out of hiding, the glass on top of the fancy chandelier broke and the now falling bodies of Blake and Yang were visible.
"You have a job to do, so let me handle it!" Qrow shouted, not looking back as he ran towards the center of the room, activated the shotgun functionality, and fired on the floor to propel himself upwards. Once he reached the two falling girls, he fired once again horizontally and twisted midair for a hard but survivable landing.
Jaune was already on his way to help Yang and Blake but was not expecting to suddenly be tackled to a wall by Hotaru, who then proceeded to hold the boy by pressing his forearm on Jaune's throat.
"Not yet…" Hotaru said with a hint of sick pleasure in his voice and a sinister grin. He then turned around to look at Ruby who was getting in position to try and free Jaune. "Trust me, Mrs. Rose, you want to see this as well!".
Aura or not, both Blake and Yang had severe cuts and bruises. Blake was out and barely breathing while Yang just managed to open her eyelids. "Uncle… Qrow…?" she managed to ask in a raspy voice.
"I'm here kid… I'm here" he told her, trying to give her some sort of assurance. "For the love of… what did this to you?".
"We… we found him…" Yang answered as she tried to rest on one shoulder.
"Found? Found wh-?" Qrow wanted to ask until he realized what his niece meant. "Yang for the love of-!" he then began to scold.
"Watch out!" Yang managed to scream, making Qrow quickly turn around to see a giant shadow with bright yellow eyes falling from the ceiling.
The huntsman managed to barely grab the girls and get out of the way before the thing landed while the airwave from it pushed all three of them further back.
Once the dust cleared, Qrow was able to have a clear picture of his new opponent; but not even all the tales and warnings from Raiden and Fujin were enough to prepare him to face who he identified as Onaga. Indeed, the humanoid behemoth stood up as if nothing had happened, adjusting the final pieces of his right-hand gauntlet that he acquired shortly after taking care of Yang and Blake; and once he had Qrow and the girls on sight, he released a powerful roar that echoed through all the room. "Surrender, human!" he then commanded.
Ruby had seen enough; there was no way she would allow her uncle to fight that monster alone. But before she could go and help him, Jaune called for her attention. "Ruby! Don't!" was all he managed to say and thankfully, it was enough for her to stop. "Remember we have a- AUG!" he tried to say but was interrupted when Hotaru released him only to quickly grab the teen by the throat with his hand.
"As much as I would love to see my master destroy you, our fights have already been decided" Hotaru then said with a grin. His smile faded, however, when Ruby acted as expected, pointing her weapon in shotgun form at him. After analyzing his situation, however, Hotaru smiled again, tightening his grip while strangling Jaune. "I wonder which is faster, Miss Rose: Your trigger… or my gauntlet" he playfully stated as the blaster on his hand began to charge up, wanting to blow Jaune's neck clean off, but enjoying Ruby's reaction.
Fortunately for the boy, his rescue came instead in the form of swords which Hotaru barely had time to block from hitting his face. They, however, managed to make him drop Jaune; and as he was getting ready to counterattack, Penny arrived once more to ram into Hotaru, taking him through the kitchen doors, the freezer, and finally a wall.
As much as Ruby wanted to help Qrow, Yang, and Blake, she knew what her mission was. She then looked at Jaune who was facing the same conundrum as her and then looked at Qrow, who managed to place the fallen girls down by a table while jumping away from the fireballs of Onaga.
"Do your job!" Qrow yelled at them when he managed to see them standing and doing nothing for a second before he had to roll out of the way of a groundbreaking punch. "I already have a plan!".
The two teens looked with worry at each other, nonetheless, Qrow was right, and they ran towards the kitchen.
As the fire began to clear, Onaga saw Ruby and Jaune running toward the kitchen. He was already in pursuit when he felt two quick blasts from behind him. Mere mosquito bites for him, but he growled as he turned knowing the source of the annoyance.
"You still have me to worry about ugly!" Qrow yelled, turning his weapon into scythe mode, and running towards his opponent before jumping in the air and then spinning, wanting to deliver a horizontal slash on Onaga.
The Dragon King, however, chuckled; and just as Qrow was ready to strike, he slapped the attack away with the gauntlet on his right claw before quickly whipping his tail, sending Qrow flying towards the stairs to the private rooms on the right of the dining room.
Qrow was momentarily out, but he recovered just in time to see the monster take a deep breath and then release a gigantic fireball followed shortly by a curtain of fire.
Onaga kept breathing fire for as long as he could. When he was finally done, he approached the burning pile that used to be the stairs, decorated rugs, and beautifully crafted wood rails before blowing the fire away with an air blast from his wings. His face, however, morphed from a sadistic smile into genuine shock when Qrow's burning corpse was nowhere to be found.
Unknown to Onaga was that Qrow had managed to turn into his bird form and got to fly away without the dragon humanoid noticing. Unfortunately for Qrow, however, was that the fire blast had managed to burn his left arm and leg so he was forced to turn back in front of the Monkey Room's door and away from the Dragon King's line of sight while also being able to see Blake and Yang, still hidden behind a table on the lower floor. Qrow sucked up the pain as much as he could and turned into a bird once again to get down next to the girls, turned into a human once again, and grabbed the first one he could. Noticing the Dragon Room was open, he pulled the girl towards it as fast as he could. Qrow stopped in the middle of the way, however, when he heard the monster laugh again; and to his horror, it also spoke.
"You are full of surprises, Mr. Branwen… but so am I," Onaga told him as he then inhaled deeply.
Qrow kept moving quietly and noticed he had grabbed Blake. Then, just as he placed the girl in the room, Onaga spoke again.
"The burning… It hides your scent…" the Dragon King said at first. "But I can sense… a familiar smell… the girl… the blond one…" he said with a smile as he faced the way where Yang's unconscious body was.
Qrow was panicking, but he then noticed that he had dropped his weapon when he escaped the fire blast, and the pain in his body took away his ability to move fast. He would be able to walk and fight again, sure, but not before Onaga got to Yang. He could serve as a distraction, but he would be placing Blake in danger as well. Running out of options, he looked for anything that he was carrying and got to his scroll. Thinking quickly about what to do with it, he came up with only one solution.
Opening his scroll, Qrow then quick-dialed the only person he believed could help fight Onaga. Moments later, and as soon as the person answered, Qrow began to talk. "I need you; Yang needs you; she could die right now! Please, help!" he managed to whisper urgently, hoping his plan worked.
Penny busted into the kitchen using Hotaru as a bettering ram and broke the freezer's doors with him as well before crashing into a pantry filled with vegetables.
Hotaru on his end was able to place both of his hands together and then punch the neck of the robot girl, making her release him and then allowing him to grab one of the stored pig carcasses to beat the girl with before blasting her away with his beams out of the freezer.
Penny fell on one of the cooking stations, followed soon by a group of pans, and as soon as Hotaru was ready to deliver a lava-covered kick on her she rolled out of the way, making the seidan break the station and get stuck. Penny then got up and kicked Hotaru with a roundhouse kick in the face, stunning him for a moment before calling for one of her swords which she grasped and used to deliver a down-up diagonal slash that pushed Hotaru against the garbage shoot.
Returning to some of his senses, Hotaru managed to see Penny charging toward him, swords close by. He then rolled out of the way, making the robot girl stab the empty shoot as he grabbed a butcher knife and a cleaver.
When Penny got her swords unstuck, she then faced Hotaru once again. The man, in turn, spun the utensils in his hands as a display of ability, wanting to scare the girl. Penny was not scared, and instead, she threw her swords again, but Hotaru gracefully pushed them away as he ran towards the red-head, and with only one sword left, she used that to block his double stab.
At that moment both Jaune and Ruby came through the door, Penny saw them and smiled while Jaune nodded, and Ruby readied her shotgun. Hotaru then seemed able to push Penny and they switched positions with him now being able to see the teens.
Before Ruby fired, Hotaru released his grasp on Penny's sword and rolled out of the way. The shot then hit the girl on the back making her lose her balance and allowing Hotaru to kick her on the back, sending the robot girl to the shoot once again. But once Hotaru got up, he fired his beams toward Penny.
The girl had mere milliseconds before the blasts connected, but she was able to deflect most of the damage by calling her blades back and creating a shield of sorts. Nonetheless, the impact was enough to break the door and make her fall through it.
Hotaru wasted no time when he turned around and quickly fired more shots toward the two teens. Jaune managed to get away, but Hotaru got him on his left leg, making him fall to the ground behind some cooking stations and lose his sword.
Ruby was quicker and hid away, preparing the next shot and getting up only to find that Hotaru was nowhere in sight.
That was until she heard a swishing sound from behind her, but when she turned around, a flaming boot hit her square on the jaw, sending her flying across the room and hitting one of the ovens.
Her back ached, and her face felt like it was boiling, but is nothing short of a miracle Ruby managed to block Hotaru's knife with her weapon still in shotgun mode. It was now broken, probably easily fixable, but it was the last of her problems as Hotaru's other hand quickly grabbed her by the neck and he prepared to shoot another blast. Her aura would protect her for a few seconds, but she knew that after that, all that would remain of her was a headless body with a smoking neck.
She looked at Hotaru with a face that showed nothing but pure terror. His, in return, was bloody, bloated, and yet able to show nothing but pure rage. "Any last words, child!?" he asked as he charged his blasters.
Onaga pushed away what remained of one of the dining room's tables; and just as he expected, there she was: Yang. There was no taunting, no gloating, he just picked up the girl by the neck with one hand and placed the other over the girl's head intending to rip her head off and knowing that this would either kill one of his enemies or make Qrow come out of his hiding place. But just as he was ready to pull, a swooshing noise came from behind him.
The Dragon King quickly turned back and felt confused by the black portal that now stood in front of him, not recognizing who the owner could be as it looked like none he had ever seen. He was not allowed to ponder for long, however, as a figure jumped through the portal and shot lightning at him which hit him in the chest, making Onaga drop Yang and making him fall on his back and to the floor.
Yang had regained some of her consciousness when Onaga picked her up, but she was only able to distinguish blurs of colors. She then fell her body falling before being caught by something or someone as she was only able to see a white blob with black on top. The figure then placed her on the ground, and her sight stabilized a bit more before she was then able to see the face of a woman with what seemed like blue fire emanating from her eyes. Before unconsciousness took over her once again, she then heard the roaring of Onaga in the distance.
Coco fell to the ground after another rocket almost hit her while fighting a large Boarbatusk. The monster would have killed her had she not been helped in the nick of time by Raven, who kicked the monster so hard it fell on its side. Coco then used that moment to pick up her minigun and shoot its belly. When the Grimm began to disintegrate, Coco then released a sigh of relief before facing her commander once again. "Thanks for the assist, ma'am. Did you succeed?" she then asked.
Raven turned around, ready to answer before pushing the girl away and then jumping back as the place where they were standing was hit by another rocket.
Both women then looked to the source of it and saw two masked figures standing with rocket launchers on the windows of a building. Coco was ready to try and shoot them but was stopped when Raven raised her hand. Coco was initially confused but then saw as both men were then taken down. Moments later, a girl on a blue sleeveless shirt appeared on the window frame and began to wave her hands towards them. When Raven waved back, the girl then reached for her scroll and seemed to call someone.
"What is she doing?" Coco wondered out loud.
"What? So distracted to notice your scroll?" Raven then asked jokingly as she crossed her arms.
Shocked by that statement, Coco grabbed her scroll and was even more surprised when she saw both Yatsuhashi and Velvet had tried to call her many times. It was then that she also realized that communications were reestablished.
"Don't sweat it, kid. They should be arriving right…" Raven then assured her while raising a finger and looking towards the main street before exclaiming "Now!". Right on cue, a barrage of dust shots was fired by people who were not part of the rioters; in fact, many of said rioters were being gunned down or forced to retreat as the army and police forces began to head towards the wall, and leading the vehicles were, indeed, her team members along with a blond man that looked familiar to her.
"Coco!" Velvet screamed and waved at her when she saw the other girl.
Out of excitement, Coco did the same, but Raven cut her shortly after.
"Pay attention girl! You did good in keeping the zone clear enough, I'll give you that; but now I need you to keep everything and everyone from hurting the repair crew, got it?".
"Yes, ma'am!" Coco then answered with a confident smile. "Anything else".
Raven seemed ready to answer her but was interrupted when her scroll began to ring. She had briefed Ozpin, and it seemed that the situation was under control at Beacon as well. She took out the device and was more than confused when she saw that the caller was her brother. Swiping the answering button, Raven then took the device to her ear, but the fact that Qrow did not allow her to speak was enough to tell her he was in trouble.
"I need you; Yang needs you; she could die right now! Please, help!"
"Qrow, what are you-?" she tried to ask but was immediately met with silence on the other side of the line.
"Raven!" Taiyang called for her as he arrived. "The repair crew only needs to… is… everything alright?" he then asked noticing the growing concern on Raven's face.
"Ma'am?" Coco also questioned as the rest of her team arrived too.
Many thoughts were currently running in Raven's head now and after a short silence, she decided to act. "You four, clear the perimeter! Let the army barricade the repair crew! Tell every other third year those are my orders!" with a nod from all four, team CFVY departed.
"Care to bring me up to" Tai tried to ask for context jokingly but stopped immediately as Raven pulled out her sword. "Raven, what are you-?" he was starting to say but was then cut by Raven.
"Qrow called, there is trouble…" she began to say, trying to sugar code the information to not alter Taiyang too much. "Yang… Yang is in trouble…". As expected, Taiyang's face shifted to pure horror and Raven was already moving in to do damage control. "I know what she means to you, Tai. I will save her".
As Raven then turned around and used her semblance to open a portal that took her to Yang, Taiyang then stopped her with a final question. "And what does she mean to you?".
That question hit Raven hard, but it was not the time for that discussion. "I will save her, Tai. Help the other students" she assured him once again before jumping into the portal which closed soon after.
Ruby knew from reports from Raiden, Fujin, and some sort of source of Ozpin's that her next words could mean her end, especially in her current state, but she had a mission to complete, and every piece should be in place. "You… you call us corrupt?" she managed to ask. "After you deal with criminals as if nothing!?" she added with a harsher tone; and just as she expected, Hotaru's face morphed into a frown. "I bet you are willing to give them anything they ask for after all of this! You won't even dare to touch any of them as some sort of payment for helping you! You are just as bad as they are… you disgust me!" she yelled at him.
Hotaru's face showed no emotion at all, but she then managed to see his fist tremble and knew she had hit a nerve. Unfortunately for her, he then decided to inflict more pain before disposing of Ruby, punishing her for her insolence slow and painfully, applying more force to his grip on her neck. "Let me make one thing clear, little girl…" he told her before grabbing Crescent Rose and then throwing it away. "The moment we take control of the academies, they are dead!" he told her before punching her in the stomach, taking the air out of her. "Shot, Burned, maimed, poisoned, hung, I DON'T CARE! I have had to tolerate them ONLY for the sake of our plan! If I no longer must see those money-hungry parasitic swine, it'll be worth it!" With a final punch, Ruby felt how at least two ribs had cracked. "Anything else!?".
Gasping for air, she then managed to raise her head. "You… you are willing to… to kill me? Still… still a kid?" she asked.
Thankfully, Hotaru had stopped his attack and just got close to her. "Women, child, faunus, or whatever, you mean nothing to us. You are all just things for us to use!" he answered with a gloating smile.
"Just… one more thing…" she then added, raising confusion in Hotaru when he saw her cocky smile. "Can you say that while looking at the camera?".
To say Hotaru was confused by the girl's words was an understatement, but then he noticed her attention was no longer on him… but on something to her right, the garbage shoot. His head snapped in that direction, and it was there that he saw the head of the red-haired girl sticking out of the shoot. Worse than that, he noticed how one of her eyes was more dilated and completely back as opposed to the other; and it was at that moment that he realized she was a machine-like Frost or Sektor.
Hotaru then dropped Ruby immediately and was getting ready to shoot Penny. The only reason he stopped was that he heard quick steps coming from behind him, and when he looked back, Hotaru was met with a microwave to his head, courtesy of Jaune. Hotaru's vision went foggy as the pain took over him, and once he regained his senses, he was met with Ruby, having recovered her weapon, and pointing it at him.
Before he could say anything or even move, Ruby pulled the trigger and fired an extra potent shot thanks to the additional damage from the knife, which pushed her back into Jaune, who caught her, while sending Hotaru into a wall of different ladles which then fell on top of him. Looking up, he then saw the three teenagers looking at him with grins on their dirty and bruised faces. "What are you-?" he then tried to ask, being immediately cut off by Ruby.
"You'll see. Now!" she told Penny.
"Editing complete! Uploading video to Vale's Emergency Broadcast!". Jaune and Ruby wouldn't admit it, but they did get a sick joy out of the absolute horror in Hotaru's face, seemingly having figured out their plan.