Man, spring break was a great time to let my juice flowing. Too bad I have to revert back to study mode :(. Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Proofreading & ideas done by my beta readers Jauneforever and TheMischievousPuppy! Seriously, they catch mistakes that I tend to miss even with Grammarly helping me.
Ruby yawned as she was getting tired. Nora wanted to bash the lone Grimm, but she followed Oobleck's orders on not engaging any Grimm unless they came to them. Just a few more minutes, and they would be changing shifts.
Back in the camp, laid several sleeping people. Oobleck had taken the second floor for his rest, while the rest were on the first floor, their weapons easily within reach if they needed to fight. However, only JPR were truly sleeping. WBY still had Oobleck's question buzzing through their minds. Soon enough, Yang decided to talk with the other two about Oobleck. They shared their experiences and why they really had chosen to be hunters. Blake even let out a rant. But soon, the seeds of doubt dispelled as they all agreed that their main job was to protect the people and that their needs or wants would just have to come second.
Oobleck, who had heard all this, gained a small smile. He was not truly asleep. Merely resting while being aware of any dangers that may come. Any sort of attack, he would react.
Soon enough, Ruby swapped with Yang while Nora swapped with Pyrrha. The night proceeded without much hassle until Zwei suddenly stood up from Ruby's side. She woke up from the sudden movement before she noticed Zwei running off. Quickly chasing after him without giving anyone a notice that she was chasing Zwei, she found him urinating on some ruins in the distance. It was unfortunate at this time because Yang had distracted Pyrrha with some small talk to keep themselves awake. Chastising him for going so far, Zwei barked in response.
"What was that?"
Hearing someone talk, Ruby quickly went to hide behind some ruins. She peeked out to see two White Fang grunts patrolling the area. Gasping in surprise, she decided to follow them silently. Sneaking around, and even using Zwei to have him tell her if it was clear, she saw them going inside a ruined building with a pair of metal doors. Asking Zwei if they had gone into the building, with one bark being yes two for no, Zwei confirmed it with a single bark.
"Oh! This is it! This is it!" squeaked Ruby as she brought out her Scroll to call her teammates. However, she soon discovered that the area they were in could barely receive any signal. "Aw man! Come on, we gotta get the others!"
They hurried down the street to regroup. However, the asphalt beneath them suddenly sank. They stopped moving, hoping they were safe when it caved in. Ruby grabbed onto the ledge with one hand while the other hand was on Zwei. She had thrown her weapon away from her so she could have a free hand to catch Zwei. Grunting, she tossed Zwei out of the hole before trying to pull herself up. Unfortunately, the ledge she had been holding on broke off, and she plummeted down into a huge cave with ruined buildings, far below the surface. She had luckily landed on a tall building against the cavern wall, so her fall wasn't too bad. Before she could try to find her way out, a nearby door on the cavern wall opened up, revealing two more White Fang grunts.
"Freeze!"
"Where did she come from?"
As the two men got closer, Ruby backed away as far as possible, which was only a little as she noticed she was at the edge of the building already.
"You're a long way from home, little girl,"
threatened the grunt. Ruby reached for her weapon behind her only to remember she had dropped it back on the surface. The grunt grabbed her arm in a threatening manner, to which Ruby jerked her arm out of it before punching the guard in the stomach. Unfortunately, due to her build and the man's build, it had little effect. The guard who had been punched worked out, while his partner barely did. If she had punched the other guard, then it might have had some effect. She tried to punch him again, only to have her hand be caught. The guard winded up for a punch when Ruby remembered her recent lessons from Yang when she realized that she needed some hand to hand combat training. It was thanks to Jaune who suggested it to Ruby. Quickly, she raised her right leg and swung it up as hard as she could at the guard. Her aim was at a place where Yang had told her to aim if she was defenseless, her opponent was a guy, and if he had his guard down. Her kick landed...
Right in the balls.
*CRACK*
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
The guard fell down, both hands on his family jewels, hoping nothing had ruptured while still singing in a high pitch voice. Ruby grinned until the other guard used his gun and bashed her in the head. She had let her guard down after successfully taking someone down without a weapon. Even if it had been a dirty shot.
"The boss is gonna want to see this one..." mumbled the other guard as Ruby collapsed, barely cognizant of what had happened, "You ok?'
"Yes," squeaked out a high pitch voice as the other guard slowly crawled to the wall, "Just give me a minute. The Nutcracker shot hurts."
The other guard felt sorry for him before kicking Ruby in the head, knocking her out.
Yang and Pyrrha yawned as they went back into the shelter to switch when they noticed Ruby was gone. After waking everyone up to ask where Ruby went, Zwei suddenly came running in, barking. "Grab your weapons! Ruby may be in trouble," declared Oobleck.
Ruby woke up with a killer headache before trying to figure out where she was. She remembered being knocked out by a kick. She looked around to see White Fang members at work, doing various jobs, and even piloting stolen Paladins. She even saw them loading what seemed to be some sort of device into the train.
Soon, the one with glasses dragging Ruby called out to one of the carts, "Hey boss! Found something you might want to see!"
A familiar voice came from the cart, replying "Is it good or bad, Perry? Because let me tell ya, I have had a day. Also, who was the girl that was screaming earlier?"
"Uh, it's a little girl?" replied the guard named Perry. He didn't want to respond to the second question, as he already felt bad for his partner.
From the cart, out came Roman Torchwick, smoking his cigarette. He looked down and saw Ruby, frowning.
"That would be bad."
As they were running, Jaune had already linked up with Andusk and Fafnir to see if he could sense Ruby. As he ran, he suddenly noticed the streets below him were hollow.
Yang found Ruby's scythe and was starting to panic. Ruby never leave her beloved weapon out so carelessly for no reason.
"Doctor Oobleck? Is there any reason why the ground is hollow?" asked Jaune. Oobleck looked at him in confusion for a second. Something very important that he had forgotten about was ticking in his mind.
"You think she fell down that hole?" pointed out Weiss.
Oobleck looked down the hole, realization dawning on his face, "Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!"
"What is it?" asked Blake. Oobleck seemed to ignore her as he continued to rant how he could have been so stupid before explaining the history of Mountain Glenn, and the key point being deep caves.
"What are you saying?" asked Yang in confusion.
"I think he means that the underground crime network literally went underground," Pyrrha stated
"Precisely!" shouted Oobleck.
"They've been working in caves?" asked Blake in aghast.
"Would be harder to find them," commented Ren. Oobleck then went off on another history lesson, on how Mt. Glenn tried a last attempt at survival by building a city in the caves they had originally cleared out for a subway. It had worked, until an explosion opened up the mouth of another cavern. They had been looking to expand and ended up finding a cave filled with subterranean Grimm. With a grim look, Oobleck then told them that Vale basically sealed up everyone's fate that had been living there by sealing the tunnels.
Jaune shivered as he imagined countless lives, all desperate for help, only to find that their only source of help had cut them off. The others were imagining the same thing.
At this, Oobleck seemed to become serious before grabbing his thermos and swinging it, transforming it into a weapon, declaring they had to go down and find her.
"Huh. Not only does it hold his drink, but it doubles as a weapon. That's certainly unique," stated Othim.
Everyone quickly jumped into the hole, landing on the same building Ruby was once on. They spread out until they noticed a bit of blood. At this sight, Jaune's temper rose, his eyes flashing. They had hurt one of his potential mates. They...Had..to PAY!
"Jaune. Calm down! You're letting your instincts run wild. First, find your enemy. Then let it rampage," lectured Lung Wang.
Jaune took a deep breath and quickly obeyed. He closed his eyes, expanding his senses to its limit. He punched the cave, letting it echo through, feeling the vibrations travel. Everyone was surprised at Jaune's action, but nobody questioned it for now, as they searched for clues. Just as his senses were about to hit his limit, he sensed her.
"This way!" shouted Jaune.
"How do you know where to go?" questioned Oobleck, tilting his head. Not that he didn't trust Jaune, but it was intriguing how Jaune seemed to know where to go.
"Part of my Earth Semblance," lied Jaune. Oobleck seemed to accept it and told Jaune to lead the way. They went through a door just to see a maze of tunnels. However, Jaune wasn't planning on finding the right path, merely the direct path. He linked with Fafnir and made holes through the caves.
"That may not be a good idea, Jaune. You might destabilize the cave, causing it to collapse on us, " Oobleck stated
"Then keep up," Jaune began, "These holes won't destabilize the roof, but I'll just shut the holes after we all get through."
Seeing no point in arguing, Oobleck nodded.
Meanwhile, Ruby was being tossed to the floor by Roman.
"Wow! You are much more manageable without that over-sized gardening tool of yours," snarked Roman.
Ruby got up, trying to get into a fighting stance that Jaune had taught her. However, the headache from earlier was affecting her strength and balance. All she could do was try to land random hits, but Roman easily sidestepped and tripped Ruby, sending her to the floor before laughing.
He walked towards her, bending down before pointing his cane, Melodic Cudgel, at her chin,
"But seriously. How'd you find this place, Red?"
Ruby growled before using her Semblance to escape, leaving rose petals behind her trail. Roman looked around in shock until she saw Ruby running away. She stopped using her Semblance, as she still had a headache from earlier, and using her Semblance just now almost made her throw up. Roman chuckled before tossing his cane up in the air to switch sides, the handle pointed towards Ruby. He fired it, and it hooked onto Ruby's hood like a grappling hook. She was quickly dragged back to where Roman was. He was about to start interrogating again when a massive explosion could be heard in the distance. He looked up, before making a decision. He would've merely tried to send some men to take care of it, but after meeting that devil that night, he decided not to take his chances.
"Load the cargo and attach the cart. Spread the word. We're starting the train."
"But we're not finished!" said a member.
Roman responded by pinning the member against the wall, "Do it, or you're finished!"
"Hey boss, what do we do with the girl? Can we keep her? She looks... good." said a lecherous wildcat Faunus with ears, who seemed to be around his 40s.
Roman seemed to actually be thinking about it. Thinking Roman approved, the pedo-cat was about to grab Ruby's breast. Suddenly, he found himself being slammed in the face by Melodic Cudgel.
"Let's get this straight. I'm the boss. My word is law. I may be a convict, a con man, a thief, and sometimes even a killer. I lie, I cheat, I steal, and I survive. But I do NOT promote rape, and especially pedophilia! That's below even for me!" snarled Roman. Bringing his foot back, he slammed his foot into the man's nuts, causing everyone to cringe. The males all covering their junk from pure instinct.
"Ooh, that's the second one of the day," said Ruby. Roman perked up, "Really Red? Who was the first one?" He was grinding his shoes in painfully at the Faunus, not letting go while holding a conversation.
Ruby pointed to the White Fang whom she kicked, "I kicked him in the nuts while I was trying to resist." Said Fang member was still holding his balls while crossing his legs. Seemed like Ruby's kick was a lot stronger than one first thought, might've cracked a nut with that nutcracker shot.
Roman actually chuckled, "Red, if you weren't so determined to stop me and be a hero, I think we could've been acquaintances. But whatever. Take her into the train, lock her up, or send her to Adam. I don't care."
As he turned to leave, another massive explosion went off.
"WHAT is going on here?!" shouted Roman.
Another explosion happened, this time it could be seen. White Fang members were running around the corner, one of them turning to shoot. However, the member couldn't even get a shot off before he was hit by a flying shield. Followed by a war hammer slamming him up into the air.
There, they saw the members of WBY, JNPR, Oobleck, and Zwei running around the corner. Seeing as everyone was distracted, Ruby took the chance to escape by jumping on Roman's shoulder, pulling his hat over his eyes, and then jumping towards the ground, before running off towards her friends.
Roman readjusted his hat before glaring at Ruby, "Somebody kill her!"
He pointed his cane at Ruby, and fired, along with the other White Fang members. Ruby did her best to keep herself a moving target to avoid being hit, but she soon wouldn't need to worry.
"They're firing at a potential mate!" snarled Andusk.
"Show them what it means to try to take a mate from a dragon!" shouted Lung Wang. Jaune agreed easily, using his link with Fafnir. He jumped and slammed his right hand into the floor. Suddenly, 3 walls of earth came forth behind Ruby, protecting her from any stray shots.
"What in the- Kids just keep getting weirder," groaned Roman before quickly boarding the train. The rest kept firing, trying to buy some more time. Some of the other members tried to intercept Ruby, but they were quickly taken out by Nora and Yang.
Jaune quickly ran and jumped, punching one of the walls he created. All three walls were sent flying right towards the members, who yelped and scattered.
"Ruby!" yelled Yang as she hugged her little sister.
"Are you okay/hurt?" asked both Weiss and Pyrrha as they got near her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" insisted Ruby, "But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down there. Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars!"
Blake looked in shock. She never imagined the White Fang were somehow capable of getting so many hi-tech supplies. Somebody had to be supplying them besides Roman.
"Ahhhh, that's ridiculous. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end," said Oobleck until they heard Roman announcing that they were leaving. Seeing as they had no choice, they quickly ran to the train and got on.
"I believe we only have one option..." Oobleck began as he turned to the young team.
"We're stopping that train!" shouted both Ruby and Jaune, finishing what their professor was going to say.
A White Fang member peeked out to see a flap of a red cape. He radioed to warn the others, but Oobleck smacked him upside the head with his weapon.
In the front of the train, Roman groaned as he ordered them to force the intruders off.
The crew was on top of the train and were about to jump into a cart when Weiss noticed something.
"Err... Professor?"
"Doctor..," growled Oobleck. He did deserve that title, after all.
Weiss ignored that for a second as she pointed down to the cart, "What's that?"
Everyone looked down and saw a device with wires attached all over it.
"That my dear... appears to be a bomb," said Oobleck, frightening all of them.
"Can we disable it? Pyrrha can use polarity to hold it and disarm it maybe," suggested Jaune.
"Not a good idea. We have no idea what type of bomb it is," reminded Oobleck.
Suddenly, Ruby pointed to the front of the train, "We've got baddies!"
Dozens of White Fang members were climbing on top of the train now, getting closer to them, but from quite a bit of distance.
"Well, I didn't expect them to go—" started Oobleck. Suddenly, the bomb below started ticking.
"-easy on us," he finished. He stood up before announcing it was time to go. He had Blake go detach the cart. As all the members made it to the next one, Blake was about slash at the connection when it disconnected itself. Confused, she yelled up to them, saying that it decoupled itself. Oobleck was confused when he saw the detached cart explode in the tunnel.
"That's not good..." muttered Oobleck.
Ruby opened the next hatch only to find herself staring at a bomb. Jaune and Ren quickly went to the next one and found another one.
"Err, neither is this!" pointed Ruby.
"Another bomb?!" shouted Blake.
"Make that two!" shouted out Jaune, "There's one here too."
Oobleck looked pale before announcing, "They all have bombs!"
The next cart detached itself, making them all quickly run to the next cart for safety. Yang piped up that it didn't seem to make sense. However, they had to put that on hold as they noticed the White Fang members were closing in. Everyone prepared their weapons.
Yang managed to make one fly up in the air momentarily with a leg sweep before winking and smashing the poor sucker into the train with her fist. Blake slashed as fast as she could, no longer caring that these were once brother and sisters of the White Fang. They had made their choices. She had her obligations to protect the innocent. Weiss stabbed as many as she could, darting towards a new target. Ruby, who was finally feeling better now, she finally had her weapon back and that her headache of hers was gone, thanks to a massaging technique Oobleck employed. Dashing forward, she slashed low, causing many members to fall down.
Nora was having fun just swinging Magnhild, sending them flying. She didn't want to risk using her grenades seeing how she might cause a bomb to go off. Ren was slashing and kicking the White Fang off. He decided to copy Yang, except after the leg sweep, he did a backflip and slammed his foot onto the member, sending him into the cart. Pyrrha was in her field, blocking and attacking multiple enemies at once, using Milo in its multiple forms. Jaune was using his sniper rifle attachment to snipe off any enemies before charging in with his sword.
Oobleck, however, turned around to observe why they were detaching carts, only to look in horror as he noticed Grimm dropping down from the holes the bomb blew. Then, the Grimm started to chase after the train.
"He's leading Grimm to the city!" shouted Oobleck, "It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!"
"If this wasn't so threatening, I'd say that sounds awesome," Nora stated, she would have with glee, but this was a serious matter they were in.
Another cart detached itself, forcing them all to board the next one.
"We have to hurry!" He quickly pointed at Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, and Ren, "You five, go below and try to stop the bombs!"
"What about us?" said Ruby as she gestured to Jaune, Nora, Zwei, and herself.
"We're going to stop this train," said Oobleck dramatically. It was ruined when Ruby reminded him that that was what they were already doing.
The groups quickly split off. As the top runners were running, they noticed multiple Atlesian Paladin-290s with the White Fang logo on it jumping on top of the train. It started to run towards them.
Oobleck merely took a sip of his thermos before transforming it into a weapon, the place that used to hold the opening of the thermos, where he would drink, was now containing a small flame burning on the tip.
"Isn't that unsafe?" sweat-dropped Alaerth.
Zwei barked at Oobleck, as if ready to attack. Before Jaune and Nora could do anything, Zwei jumped into the air and flipped. Oobleck slammed his weapon into Zwei, sending him flying like a small deadly fireball. The person piloting the front-most Paladin saw it coming and tried to shoot Zwei, but he was coming in too fast. Zwei rammed into the Paladin, causing it be knocked off the train. Jaune and Nora could only stare at what seemed to be a cute pet, now turned deadly.
"I would say animal abuse, but it seems like that dog is used to being a projectile," deadpanned Aryz.
"That is an awesome pet!" Othim shouted with glee, "We need to get one like that. Wonder if Zwei has siblings. Or if we can, just breed him and use his children!"
"That.. was.. AWESOME!" shouted Nora, "Can I do it next?"
Another Paladin appeared before Zwei, its gun was aimed at him. However, before it could even start rotating its gun, several fireballs slammed into the machine, followed by a quick but effective slash, sending the Paladin tumbling off the train.
"Damn. You really gotta respect him," Jaune began as he watched Doctor Oobleck at work, "I know we all had our doubts, but seeing him in action reminds us that he is a Huntsman for a reason."
The other two nodded before running to help their fellow huntsman.
Down, below, inside the carts, the five finally managed to get into a cart that didn't seem to have a bomb.
As they started running forward, Weiss had tossed a magazine filled with Dust for Blake. Suddenly, Neo appeared before them, dropping from the ceiling to block their path.
"You all go ahead. This one's mine," said Yang. The others nodded and ran forward. Neo was prepared to stop them when she noticed Yang had fired a shot to distract her, allowing the four to continue ahead. Yang stepped forward toward her opponent, staring down at Neo as she got nice and close. The height difference could easily be seen. However, Neo didn't seem to be bothered by it at all as she gave a sinister smile.
Yang tightened her fist and winded up for a right straight, only to be hit by Neo's umbrella, which had jabbed her faster than she thought. Neo grinned as she opened up her umbrella, holding it like a noble lady under the sun. Shaking off the damage, she growled before launching a barrage of attacks. Neo, however, seemed to dodge them with ease even with her umbrella open. When Yang tried to include a few kicks, Neo blocked them with her umbrella closed up before doing spin kick, landing it right on Yang's face.
Yang stumbled for a bit before growling and swiftly dodged Neo's forward flip kick. She dashed forward to punch, only for Neo to parry it before locking her arm in place, her back towards Yang. There, Neo showed how flexible she was by landing a kick to Yang's face by raising her left leg all the way up before combining it into a back kick. She quickly flipped behind Yang, who responded by trying to use her shotgun gauntlets to her advantage. Sadly, they were blocked by the umbrella without any damage to it. Neo was already use to Yang's patterns, as she was getting sloppy and offered to real techniques, just brute strength. After landing a few more hits, Neo taunted her by holding her opened umbrella in front of Yang. Yang responded by punching it, but Neo did a few backflips before landing on a cargo, sitting on it with a smile while crossing her legs.
Back to the four
As the four were continuing forward, Ren stopped.
"I'm going to help Yang," he announced, before walking back to her.
"We still need to stop Torchwick!" shouted Weiss.
"I trust you guys. Plus, we know Neo's a skilled fighter. She was able to handle four of us, even if she was losing. Yang might be in over her head on this one. I will not let one of Jaune's potential mates be killed off by her own pride. I know he is protecting Nora, so I will do the same," replied Ren.
"She doesn't like it when people interfere with her fight," warned Blake.
Ren merely smiled, "She won't notice me. I'll intervene when it's necessary." He activated his Semblance, causing them to lose sight of him.
"He really is a ninja," sighed Pyrrha.
"No time, we need to keep going,"
In the next cart, they hear a revving noise up ahead. Soon, a figure dragging a chainsaw along the floor appeared. It was the White Fang Lieutenant that Blake saw back at the White Fang meeting. She remembered that the man was very loyal to Adam. He was Edward Talutah, aka Bloody Ed, the bloody chainsaw user.
"You go on ahead!" shouted Weiss as she and Pyrrha readied their weapons.
"Got it!"
Weiss charged ahead, only to suddenly backflip as Blake deflected Ed's attack. Pyrrha and Weiss took this chance to deliver several strikes, knocking him down.
Blake looked back before running forward again.
Ed got back up before chuckling darkly, "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee. Although the famous 'Goddess of Victory' might pose a challenge."
Weiss held up Myrtenaster in an en garde position while Pyrrha raised her shield, ready to fight.
As soon as Blake entered the room, she saw Roman Torchwick, twirling his cane.
"Hello, kitty cat. You miss me? You know, we really gotta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk..." smiled Torchwick.
Blake charged forward to attack, drawing her sword while Roman walked forward, ready to deal with the Faunus. Suddenly, as Torchwick struck, Blake rolled away, leaving a shadow behind her. However, she combined her Semblance with fire Dust, creating a clone that exploded in Torchwick's shocked face. He was sent flying into the air, to which Blake took advantage of this to land three hits on him, sending him hurtling to the ground.
As they both landed, one on her feet and the other on his back. Torchwick quickly scrambled to his feet before firing a shot, to which Blake blocked it with a shadow infused with earth Dust before jumping into the air to attack. Torchwick swiped upwards, only for Blake to dodge it with her shadow again, using wind Dust to blow herself back to a better position before attacking. Torchwick easily parried her two sword style before swinging his cane down on her vulnerable head. Blake left a shadow infused with Ice Dust, freezing her clone. It caught Torchwick's cane in the middle, causing him to struggle to get his weapon free while leaving himself wide open.
Blake took this chance, charging forward before unleashing a blade beam attack, knocking him into a wall and losing his weapon. As he tried to get up, Blake stepped on his chest, pointing his sword at his throat.
Roman chuckled nervously a bit before giving a dramatic sight, "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally, we're on the same side and you know it..."
Inside his mind, he was a little nervous. He had severely underestimated the girl.
Back at Yang fighting Neo, she was having a hard time landing a hit, and she was getting angrier. She walked up to Neo, who was still sitting down, and tried to punch her. Neo, however, blocked it with a sweep of her umbrella before spinning on the cargo hold, forcing Yang to back off. Doing a couple flips while Yang backed off, Neo kicked her away. Yang responded by launching a projectile, which Neo blocked. Yang then tried to follow up quickly with a jumping punch, but Neo merely spun out of the way before attacking with her umbrella, diverting any shotgun blasts that was directed towards her.
Yang then decided to throw her. When Neo kicked, she grabbed the leg, taking Neo for a spin before throwing her. Neo, however, easily recovered from it, landing on her feet. She then dashed forward, swinging from Yang's right arm before managing to put her hand on top of Yang, spinning her around and getting Yang confused. She would finish this by grabbing the disoriented Yang by her left arm and threw her into the roof, knocking her out.
However, before she could do this, her instincts once again screamed at her. However, it was too late as she saw a flash of green with white pants, and a leg flying right into her face.
Ren had been hiding with his Semblance the whole time, watching Yang fight Neo. He entered when Neo had been sitting on the cargo.
'I was right. Yang can't solo this. I doubt I could either. But together, with Yang calming down, we might stand a chance,' thought Ren. When he saw Neo starting to get ready to throw Yang, he knew this was the perfect chance.
Ren loaded his leg with Aura, and when he struck Neo with a kick to her face, he let it explode. This sent Neo flying away and into the wall.
"You all right?" asked Ren as he put his hand out. Yang had fallen to the ground, a bit dizzy from that attempted throw.
"I had her," pouted Yang, knowing full well she didn't.
"Yea yea," replied Ren as they both faced Neo. Neo looked up, wiping the bruised and slightly bloody lip. She grinned as she saw it was Ren, the same boy who managed to land a hit on her. She licked her lips and walked forward, emphasizing on her waist while looking at Ren.
"Is she... hitting on you?" asked Yang in confusion.
"I hope not," sighed Ren, "I already have two girls and another two trying to get in my pants. I'm not Jaune."
Yang was about to charge when Ren stopped her.
"Remember the time when you had us help you with a few new moves? Use those. You're letting your anger control you, making your moves sloppy and easy to predict."
Yang nodded before taking a deep breath. She then changed her fighting position. From her usual brawler/boxer stance, she had her left hand extended slightly farther than the right, but kept both slightly bent. Both hands had their palms facing upwards, but her fingers were bent in. Her stance shifted, right leg back and left foot forward, and the arms were close together. An unintentional consequence was that her breasts were squeezed together a little, emphasizing just how big they were.
Intrigued by this, Neo attacked Yang. Yang shot her left fist out first, to which Neo parried it before using the momentum to slam her umbrella into Yang's face. She was surprised to see Yang's right-hand block it. As Neo tried to withdraw her umbrella to launch a kick, she felt her head pound from the earlier damage. Before she could continue her attack, Yang's right hand suddenly shot forward, punching her in the face while her left hand blocked the kick. Neo, undeterred, launched a barrage of attacks, and yet Yang was able to block them and even launch attacks at the same time. It was simple, concise, and dangerous.
Neo shook her head in shock. She had been dominating this fight! But now, thanks to Ren and this new stance, she was now tied, at worst, losing! Frustrated, she activated her Semblance as Yang drew near with her new stance, launching a punch to shatter the illusion.
Ren merely smiled as he closed his eyes to sense Aura. He felt Neo trying to attack him from behind, so he launched a back kick, surprising Neo. She blocked it but was sent back as Yang quickly walked next to Ren.
"Ok, I'll admit it. This is over my head. But with the two of us, we can do it," said Yang, swallowing her pride. She had to admit, this stance that Jaune and Ren found to teach her was really useful. She could defend herself much better. It may take a little longer to launch attacks, but it was worth it as she finally could land a hit on Neo, whereas earlier, she was being slammed like a punching bag.
"Sunflower, then?" asked Ren. Yang grinned as they approached Neo.
Neo was planning on what to do when she felt danger behind her. She turned around to see Raven Branwen suddenly appear, with her mask on, and slashed at her. Neo blocked it but was instantly terrified to see Raven. Quickly, she used her Semblance and ran away.
"Get back here!" shouted Yang.
"It's no use. She ran away due to that woman," said Ren. Both of them looked at the stranger.
Raven looked at Ren for a bit. Raven had been there watching Neo fight her daughter, ready to intervene when necessary. She may have abandoned Yang, but it didn't mean she had some sort of parental feelings. She would save Yang once, but she would be on her own after that. However, she never sensed Ren was in the room until he launched his attack. Another candidate for her clan. She turned to look at Yang. Her biological daughter. It seems like she had gotten quite strong, but not enough to handle Neo alone. Raven decided to pursue her original goal anyways. To 'convince' Jaune to come to her clan.
"Who are you?" asked Yang. She seemed... familiar. She even wore a small cape drifting off her waist, like she did.
Raven gave no answer as she opened a portal and disappeared. Yang stared at the empty space until Ren shook her out of her trance.
"You okay?" asked Ren.
"I think... Never mind. We need to keep going," said Yang. Ren nodded and the two of them left. However, in her mind, she thought, 'Was that mom?'
With the fight against Bloody Ed, Pyrrha and Weiss were doing pretty well. Ed slashed down, but Pyrrha blocked it with her shield. Ed thought that with his chainsaw, he would just cut right through it, but was shocked to find out that the metal of the shield completely blocked it. Weiss took this chance to stab him, sending him back. Ed quickly recovered and slashed down, only for Weiss to parry it before slashing at his head. Weiss spun forward in the air, hitting him again. Ed, getting angry at these hits, retaliated with another slash, which Weiss dodged with a backflip, albeit just barely. Weiss performed a three hit combo, hitting Ed to the ground.
Grunting, he quickly stood up as Weiss flipped away. He tried to slash at her but found his face being hit by a thrown shield. Pyrrha charged in, slashing at his head, stabbing his heart, liver, and then slashing at his legs. All vital points, draining his aura. The last attack made him trip, leaving him vulnerable. Pyrrha thrust Milo towards his chest, making it extend into a javelin, sending Ed flying back. He got back up to take a quick look at his chainsaw and saw that most of its teeth were broken. He looked back at Pyrrha's shield to see that it had absolutely no marks on it.
"Gotta thank Jaune and my uncle," smiled Pyrrha just as she stepped aside. Weiss had been channeling a time dilation glyph, allowing her to go much faster.
"North Pole!" shouted Pyrrha.
Weiss acknowledged and shot forward. As she did, she channeled 7 glyphs for her to use, dashing to each one while hitting Ed. He was forced into the air, where Weiss slammed her last attack downwards, sending Ed back to the floor, into a waiting Pyrrha Nikos. She had both Akouo and Milo in xiphos form, before rapidly slashing at Ed. He was unable to defend himself from the second assault. Weiss had landed and quickly channeled a glyph. Pyrrha's last attack sent the man flying away from them before she landed next to Weiss. Quickly changing Milo to its rifle form, she shot out bullets. Weiss had her glyphs in front of the rifle, making all the bullets explode into ice upon impact. 4 shots later, Ed found himself standing, but unable to move as his legs were whimpered a little when Pyrrha winded her throwing arm for Milo, shifted into a javelin. When she threw it, the end part of Milo exploded, giving it a boost of speed. It went through a movement glyph, making it go even faster. The end result was Ed being shot into the next room, where Blake had Roman cornered.
"Oh, still feisty," commented Roman, "Soooo, what are we gonna do now? You think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget who you were? What you've done...?"
As she gritted her teeth at his words, she heard the door from the previous cart open behind her. An unconscious Ed landed next to them.
"That can't be good," said Roman, looking at lieutenant with a frown. He was sure that that man would be able to handle his opponent. Until he saw Pyrrha walk in with Weiss, looking pleased.
"Oh, cmon. Having the 'Goddess of Victory' team up with 'Ice Queen'? That's just unfair," moaned Roman. Blake merely grinned before kicking Roman in the face, knocking him unconscious. They were later joined by Ren and Yang.
Back with the group on top of the train, they were taking out Paladins easily. Oobleck showed just how good he was, dodging an attack before running up onto the Paladin itself, shooting its engine. As he jumped off, he turned around and shot its foot. Jaune responded with the same, sending the Paladin up into the air. Ruby was with Nora, getting ready for their attack, which was now.
"Sugar Rush!" shouted Ruby.
At this, she sped up, dragging Nora in a pink and red tornado before sending Nora towards the robot. Nora, going at a high speed, ended it with a swing of war hammer, sending it flying off. Oobleck noticed more Paladins coming from the back before commanding them to head to the front. Before they could complain, Oobleck just smiled, reminding them that he was the leader. And that it was time... to teach his opponents a lesson. One they wouldn't forget.
Jaune, Ruby, and Nora nodded before going up head. Ruby noticed a sad Zwei before smiling and motioning him to go ahead with Oobleck. Zwei happily barked before running after Oobleck to back him up.
They got to the front of the cart just as the rest of the team emerged from the train cars to join them. They noticed that they were running out of time when the train was going on a collision course to smash into the thick concrete wall.
"That's not good," commented Jaune. Then he ducked just in time for a sword swing to miss him. Everyone quickly turned around to see a masked woman wearing black and red clothes.
"Who are you?" asked Ruby. She was intrigued that the woman wore the same color scheme as her.
"Oh no. Not you again," moaned Jaune.
"I see you still remember me, Jaune Ryu-Long," said the masked woman.
"Who could forget you so easily, Raven Branwen?" sighed Jaune, causing Yang to stiffen up. Before they could do anything, Raven slashed a portal open.
"Get in. All of you. This'll lead you to a safer place in Vale so you won't have to deal with being sent flying in the inevitable crash," said Raven.
They all looked at each other uneasily before Ruby stepped forward.
"All right. Let's go."
They all looked at her in surprise, to which she responded "She's Yang's mom. I'm sure she wouldn't do anything that would endanger Yang."
The others couldn't fault her for that logic, but Jaune still didn't trust her. However, they were running out of time.
"Don't worry, Jaune. I won't hunt you down... yet," smiled Raven.
The team all quickly jumped through the portal, Raven being the last one to enter. Just as the portal closed, the train crashed into the concrete wall and exploded.
Cliffhanger! Kinda of? Next time, it's the final chapter of Volume 2!
Shout out to ManofManyTales for pming me to guess what I was going to do and getting it correct!
Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Review if you can, motivates me! Also, anyone care to guess what sort of fighting style Yang swapped to when fighting Neo for round 2?
And if you noticed, some of the team name are pairing names that I had to look up. Figured if canon combo names work up as pairing names, they should work here. I tried to find the ones that are the most reasonable.
You know, I always had some questions about Ruby being knocked out and caught so easily. Wouldn't Aura protect her? So many questions! And when she woke up, why didn't she just spam her speed Semblance and run away? Instead, she got tossed around easily, using her Semblance like once or twice, and still get caught. She wasn't even tied up! So rather, I just theorized that the blow to the head affected her powers for a bit. She can't be that helpless without a weapon.