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"Jaune!"
Everyone watched in horror as the knife plunged into Jaune's chest. Ren was the one most shaken out of this whole thing. He had failed his duty. He screamed inside his mind as he tried to move, commanding them to obey his brain than be slave to the drug. His fingers twitched as the Dragon Marks began to slightly glow.
As Cobra raised his knife again, he noticed a rather pressing problem. His knife was quite clean. Sharpened daily and polished so no rust was on it, it had been synthesized using a dozen Rapier Wasp stingers and steel to create this blade. So why was there no blood on it? Taking the blade near the front of the hood, a long tongue stretched out and licked the blade, not even the slightest taste of a drop, this personally enraged Cobra. He slashed at Jaune's hoodie just to see a Mithril shirt on him.
"SSSo that's how you lived," mused Cobra as he raised his knife again, "My mistake for being greedy on wanting to taste the heart of a dragon contractor so badly, I was starting from the heart when I should've been aiming for your head instead!"
He tried to stab him once more, only he couldn't, he couldn't move the knife! That's when he noticed a dark glow was enveloping the knife. He looked at Pyrrha and was quite shocked to see her face unharmed. Pyrrha had manipulated her pauldrons to detach and protect her face at the last second before the shot hit. The impact did send her head snapping back, causing her to feel dizzy. However, her desire to save Jaune cleared it up. Watching Jaune being stabbed made her blood run cold.
Cobra tried to shoot Pyrrha by reaching for his gun again, but she forced the dagger he had to plunge into that arm. Cobra hissed in pain, not wanting to make that mistake again, this time he threw another capsule towards Pyrrha. She used her Semblance on her metallic armor to drag herself out of the way as the capsule exploded into a dark green smoke. After she got out, she coughed up blood again, the poison was still running inside her.
"Well, since that nuisance is out of the way, TIME TO DIE!" shouted Cobra as pulled out the dagger and plunged it straight for Jaune's head. Jaune was able to move his arms finally and stopped it, but all his strength wasn't back yet. He caught Cobra's arm as it swung down, but Cobra slowly pushed down. The tip was mere centimeters away from Jaune's eye, with Jaines trained eyesight he can make out Cobra was grinning like crazy. Suddenly, the ground shook, and thunderbolts flew everywhere, Cobra looked up and quickly brought up hid bloody arm to shield himself, the lightning bolt struck Cobra sending him flying back, his minions included. Several were dazed, while Cobra and his top soldiers looked to see Nora had slammed her fist into the ground. Near her mouth was a crushed lightning Dust crystal of the highest purity.
"Get... Away from my ….team!" grunted Nora as she tried to get up. It had taken all her strength to even grab the crystal, and when she found out she couldn't muster the strength to crush it with her hands, she used her teeth. Using all the lighting in the dust crystal when she bit into it, she channeled it into her hand and smashed the ground, sending bolts everywhere. She managed to get on her knees with the lightning circulating through her body, trying to overpower the drug.
"Damn pests," growled Cobra, looking to his arm that he blocked the bolt with, the wound he had was cauterized. "Why don't you just die already?!"
He threw his knife right towards Nora, annoyed at the interruptions. Nora had no way of dodging it, and it looked like it was going for her head. She closed her eyes, ready to die, ignoring everyone yelling. There was a thunk, and the sound of a knife penetrating flesh. However, Nora swore she could still hear everyone yelling. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Ren standing in front of her, arms spread out, back towards her.
"Ren?"
Ren didn't answer, but rather fell back to reveal to Nora a knife. In the chest. On the left side.
"RRREEEEEEENNNNNN!" screamed Nora in anguish.
"No! NO!" shouted Jaune as he slowly got up. The poison was still circulating in his bloodstream, but it was almost neutralized. Immediately he linked up with all seven of the dragons, intent on killing Cobra and those who threatened his friends and mate. Cobra saw it would be a good time to retreat for now.
"Well, it wassssss nice meeting y'all. Ssssshame I couldn't kill you all and feast on your corpses, but least one retainer's down. Drac will rule over all of you! Too-da-fucking-loo!"
With a snap, they all started to retreat, heading south. But before they could run any further, the sound of a gun came from the south, and one of the attackers collapsed, his head now had a gaping hole in it, pouring out blood.
"What!?" shouted Cobra in surprise. Even with a headshot, the man should've had some Aura left to protect him, and even if it shattered, it shouldn't had gone clean through. Instead, there was no sign of Aura protecting him at all.
Everyone looked south except for a sobbing Nora to see a young blonde man with one red eye walking forward. Both his hands carried guns, and one of them was smoking. He looked at Cobra with a questioning gaze.
"What do you want?" spat out Cobra, unsure what this man wanted. He was really getting sick and tired of these interruptions.
"Did you say... Drac? The great Dark Dragon?" asked the man.
"Ah yes! Are you someone who also adores her, since you used her proper title? You're welcome to join our group! We could use a man like you to finish off Jaune Ryu-Long right now. We-"
Cobra didn't finish as the man raised his weapon and fired at them. They were forced to dodge, but the man managed to somehow predict their movements easily and shot them in the legs. Cobra was the only one who managed to escape, though not without a scratch.
"Damn, if only I hadn't turned my weapons in for repairs and upgrades," muttered Cobra before tossing another poison ball at the insane man, who shot it in midair. Cobra used it as a smokescreen to escape, leaving all the other attackers on the floor. The man walked forward and shot another one in the head. Even when they begged for mercy, he didn't hesitate and killed them all.
'Guess that's over,' sighed Jaune.
"Jaune, be careful. This man is dangerous," warned Lung Wang.
A second later, Jaune had to bring his shield up to block a bullet from piercing his head.
"What was that for?!" shouted Jaune as he brought his shield down just to look at the man glaring at him.
"You're also my enemy,"
"What? But I'm not part of... that crazy group!" replied Jaune, "None of us are!"
"But you're still in a form of contact with dragons," answered the man, "None of the dragons can be trusted. Anyone in contact with them must either break off or die."
With that, the man fired more shots at Jaune. He immediately summoned a stone wall, but had to dodge when he saw them pierce through it easily. As he was dodging, he found out that the bullets pierced right through his Aura as if it wasn't there.
"Oh what next?!" Jaune shouted in frustration as he thought 'This man is clearly dangerous. His attacks ignores Aura protection. Good thing Othim drove the point of learning how to dodge.'
"Told you it would be useful," laughed Othim, "Never rely on your Aura to always protect you."
"But who is this man, and why does his grudge extend to all dragons?" questioned Aryz.
"... I think I might have a theory," announced Ryo-Wo, "Jaune, try asking about Drac."
'Who is this Drac?'replied Jaune.
"We'll explain more about her later," stated Fafnir, "Just... ask for now."
"Hey!" shouted Jaune as he shifted his shield to hand cannon mode and started to fire back, "What's with you and Drac?"
At this, the man's expression turned into rage as he fired more bullets at Jaune, who was forced to duck behind his shield.
"Drac... DRAC! I'LL KILL HER! SHE AND THE REST OF HER KIND WILL DIE!"
"That answers it. This person has to have met her in the past," said Andusk, "And this man... his current body does not match the true age."
Jaune rolled away and fired a blade beam at the man, who easily dodged it and rushed forward. He pocketed his guns and threw a palm strike. Jaune blocked it with his forearm guard, but was surprised to see sparks and hear metal clashing against metal.
"What?"
Jaune looked closely to see the man was wearing rough gloves with knives embedded inside. What was worse was this man seemed to be an expert in close combat. The man kicked him away, and the two stared at each other. It was a stand off now, who would make the first move, who would strike-
"Yahoo!"
Suddenly, Sun came jumping in with a drop kick to the head. Even though he attacked from behind, the man dodged it without even looking. He grabbed the leg and threw Sun into the ground.
"Ow…"
Just before the man's hands went straight for Sun's face, Jaune intercepted with his sword, swinging as hard as he could. The blade stopped the hand, but neither budged. Jaune threw a fist, but the man caught it and squeezed. Jaunce winced in pain as the blades dug into his fist, once again ignoring his Aura protection. He tried a head butt, but the man somehow predicted it again and let go of his fist and sword just to knee Jaune in the face.
Jaune stumbled back, and the man grabbed his pistol and aimed it at Jaune to fire. Sun quickly got up, spun on his back before launching himself in the man's arm and kicking the said arm. His shot went wild, and he growled in anger. Sun, however, from his pocket, drew out a pocket knife and slashed at the man. He was surprised to see it cut flesh.
He wasn't able to keep it up as the man focused on him and punched Sun in the gut. Sun was sent backwards, but he rolled back and recovered, although winded. He was lucky he was in his armor form, otherwise that punch might've ruptured some organs. The man stared down at Sun and Jaune, who were wary of him.
"This isn't right," muttered Jaune as he took a peek to see a paling Ren, "We don't have time for this, but this man seems to be able to predict our moves easily."
"Think it's a semblance?" asked Sun.
"Maybe, but if it is, then we don't have time for this."
The man pulled out his pistol and was about to fire when they heard, "STOP!"
A child ran out to the middle of the fight and put his hands outstretched. He looked at the man with a childish glare.
"Don't hurt them. They saved us!"
The man stared at the child for a bit. It looked like the child's plea was going to work when the man, without any hesitation, pointed his gun at the child and fired.
The child almost died if Jaune hadn't intervened and summoned a gust of wind to blow the child away, making the shot miss, clipping the boy's hair. The child stared in fear at this cruel man's attack. Suddenly, the two other Huntsman and Huntress that had been unconscious stepped forth and stood between the man and everybody else.
"Leave," said the Huntsman, "We've already sent an SOS, and Mistralian forces will be arriving soon. And I don't think you want to fight all of us."
The man made a tsk noise before pocketing his guns, turning around to leave. If he was lucky, maybe he could still catch up to the man called Cobra. As he was about to vanish into the distance, he turned around.
"I am Ezekial Liu-Wang!" shouted the man, "If you all know what's good for you, stop all contact with the dragons. They will use you like a puppet before throwing you away. As for Jaune Ryu-Long, I fear it is too late for you. I will free you from your imprisonment with your death. You'll thank me for it."
With that, he left, running after where he thought he last saw Cobra running.
With the enemies gone, the villagers rushed out to help.
"Get these boys to bed to rest!"
"Prep up the medical room! This boy's going into shock!"
"We don't have one! The bandit's looted that..."
"Then FUCKING MAKE ONE! WE CAN'T LET THIS BOY DIE AFTER SAVING US!"
Ren was quickly rushed into a room, where the village doctor was prepping up for surgery. Nora was still in shock that they had to carry her away. Pyrrha was also rushed into another room to treat the poison. Her skin was starting to turn green. All in all, only Sun and Jaune were standing while their team was down. They looked at each other, their fists tightened that blood spilled out. Especially Jaune. He hated this feeling of... losing. It was true they had been ambushed, but they should not had let their guards down so easily after preventing a Grimm attack.
"I hate this feeling," grumbled Sun.
Jaune could only look to see his team falling apart. Ren was in a life threatening situation, Pyrrha was trying to drive out the poison in her body, and Nora was in shock. He was angry, but there was nothing he could take his anger out on. He swore the next time he seen Cobra, he will kill him if it's the last thing he'll do.
"I need to train more," growled Jaune, "I need to get stronger, I need to be strong enough that something like this will never happen again."
Night fell upon them, and a few Mistralian airships arrived with supplies and personal. Any medics were immediately sent to Ren and Pyrrha to patch them up. Some tried to help the villagers and the other Huntsmen, but they all refused, saying those two were top priority. Nora was laid down in another room, still in shock. Jaune wanted to stay with Ren and Pyrrha, but was rebuffed, saying they couldn't afford any distractions. In the end, he stayed with team SSSN.
"So... Like, what are we gonna do now?" asked Scarlet.
Nobody answered as they were still depressed from the situation.
"Sun needs his new weapon now, more than ever," answered Jaune, "Your team can go look for it. I have to stay with mine. I'm sorry I can't help you guys out."
"We can't just leave you here to defend your team and the village by yourself," cried Neptune, "That's crazy! What if those guys come back?"
"Then I'll kill them," replied Jaune coldly, "I dunno how they managed to avoid my Aura sense, but it won't happen again."
"I don't think you need to worry about taking care of them by yourself," said Sun, "Mistral sent a team of Huntsmen here to help protect while this village gets itself back on its feet."
As they were discussing, Sage slammed his fist into the wall. They all looked at him in surprise.
"I was useless... AGAIN!" shouted Sage, "First the tournament, and now this? I got taken out of the fight before I could do anything."
He looked to Sun in shame, "I don't think I'll be any use in your hunt, to be honest. I'd probably hold you guys back. From what you said, it's a riddle and maze, and those aren't my strong points. If Jaune lets me, I'll stay here to help protect his team. Jaune should go with you guys. He can provide enough muscle, and with those dragons of his, can also help with any riddles."
"You sure?" asked Scarlet. When Sage nodded, Scarlet sighed, "Then I'll stay back too. It's probably better this way. I might get in the way, too."
Neptune was about to volunteer to stay behind, but Sun intercepted first, "Neptune, you're coming with me. I need the intellectual with me."
Neptune sighed, but agreed. Jaune looked conflicted. He wanted to help Sun acquire his weapon, but he didn't want to leave his mate and retainers behind. The whole attack had thrown their original plans into shambles.
Sage stood up, noticing Jaune's hesitation, and kneeled in front of him, "Jaune. I swear I'll protect your team on my life. Nothing will get past them, even over my dead body."
"What he said," added Scarlet, "If it weren't for them, I don't think we'd have lived if team SSSN went here alone."
Jaune looked at them with gratitude, but he hadn't made his choice.
"Give me a bit of time," requested Jaune, "I want to see how my team's doing before making any decision."
And with that, he left to go check on them.
As he passed by a few houses, the villagers were all thanking him and his friend for their heroic deeds, Jaune, however, still felt empty inside. He finally reached the makeshift hospital and entered. He looked to see an oxygen mask on Pyrrha's face while Nora laid in the next bed beside her. He looked left to see an operating room still being used.
Jaune pulled up a chair, sitting next to Pyrrha, grabbing her hand.
"Please... Make it through for me," whispered Jaune, "All of you."
And with that he fell asleep, sitting on the floor while his head was on her bed, hand still clasped on hers.
Jaune opened his eyes to see he was in his mindscape with all seven dragons, looking troubled.
"So, who is this Drac?" asked Jaune, "I saw their badges. It was a green dragon standing on top of another dragon as if conquering them."
"Drac, the Invisible Dragon," growled Lung Wang, "A traitor of our race."
"It all began when we, the dragon race, were about to leave Remnant," sighed Alaerth.
"Most of us agreed it was time for us to leave," began Ryo-Wo, "But there were a few of us who thought we should stay."
"The Dragon Clan that we left behind as a legacy wasn't enough for them," continued Fafnir, "They wanted to ensure that the dragon race was to be remembered."
"Out of all of them, the most evil one was Drac," growled Andusk, "She wanted to stay and all the races, saying it was their right. She even tried to lie when it was time to leave, saying she forgot something, and that she would catch up."
"We caught her lie," said Aryz, "And confronted her, but it was there that she showed her true nature and tried to kill us. There were a few dragons that allied with her, sharing the same thoughts. In the end, a short war raged on, and we were forced to kill them."
"To think that bitch used to be part of the shadow dragons," growled Othim.
"But it seemed like she was alive," questioned Jaune, "Those guys were all worshiping her."
"She is dead," replied Othim, "I saw to that myself."
"Then who are they worshiping?" asked Jaune.
"Who knows," sighed Lung Wang, "Could be someone posing as a dragon."
"What about the man named Ezekial?"
"That... we don't know," murmured Ryo-Wo, "He seems to have a grudge on all dragons, especially Drac, though. Maybe a human who has spoken to Drac herself."
Cobra was panting in a hidden area as he dialed to Chernobog. Taking off his hood, it was revealed to be a man who looked to be just a few years older than Jaune, shaggy white hair that was long enough on one side to partially cover his left eye. His light green eyes had slit pupils that definitely resembled a snake. He snarled, enraged from having to run away, baring his front four canine teeth which was larger and sharper than most. Especially the top two fangs. On his cheekbones, just below the eyes, were patches of scales.
"Oum damn that bastard," groaned Cobra, as he placed some ointment on the bullet scratch that hit his arm. "If only I had Yūdoku, I would've won. But no, I just had to turn them in for repairsss and upgradessss."
Soon, Chernobog's face showed up in his Scroll.
"Cobra. Did you sacrifice the ones you were sent for to Drac?"
"We had some problemssss," sighed Cobra as he reached into his cloak pulling out a small bag, taking out what looked to be a black pill, he popped in into his mouth and crunched on it, shivering at the disgusting taste. "I know these pills are sssuppose to help us, but remind me why I can't kill the doctor of the bitch who made these?.."
"Explain." Chernobog demanded ignoring Cobra's last question.
"Every one of my crew is dead. All of them. We found Jaune Ryu-Long and tried to kill him. I'm pretty sure we got one of his friends, and potentially his mate if the poison worked. However, before we could finish them off, some crazy bastard interrupted our hunt. Some blonde one eyed man with dual pistols that seemed to ignore any Aura protection."
"Did this man have scars on his face?" asked Chernobog sharply, "And a red eye?"
"Yeah. Why you know him or something?" Cobra asked with a raised eyebrow.
Chernobog closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before touching the scar on his throat. His face twitched as he remembered how he got it.
"His name is Ezekial Liu-Wang. He was the one who gave me this scar," snarled Chernobog, "Left me for dead. Luckily, Drac clearly though it was not my time yet. Avoid him if possible. His weapons and attacks bypass any Aura protection as if they don't exist. It's part of his corrupted Aura and Semblance."
"What if he allies with Jaune?" asked Cobra
"He won't," smiled Chernobog, "He hates all dragons. If anything, he'll be our enemy and our ally at the same time. If we're lucky, he's killed Jaune and all his friends for us."
"And why does he hate dragons?" asked Cobra, puzzled at this.
"Don't know," replied Chernobog, "The only thing I can tell you is that man has never aged a day. The last time I saw him was 30 years ago when I got this scar. I presume he still looks in his 20s?"
Cobra gulped and nodded.
"Thought so. Return to base for now. Your weapons are almost finished with the upgrades."
Cobra grinned before signing off. With his injuries being healed, he grabbed an item from inside his bag and grinned. From the bag, he extracted out some sort of blood red ring before donning it on his fingers. His Aura pulsed before he sped off towards the extraction point, blurring through the forest.
Ezekial was walking through the jungle before he frowned and instantly punched a tree. The tree snapped in half on impact. He had lost track of Cobra. One moment he could feel his aura just a yard away, the next he vanished.
"Dammit. There goes my link to Drac. Must've used something to hide or run, like a little cowardly snake."
Ezekial Liu-Wang was not a normal human. He had lived when dragons still existed, when the two brothers had left Remnant. He had been a naive man then. One day, the female dragon named Drac offered him the chance to become one of them and potentially become her mate if he followed her orders. He became consumed by the lust for that kind of power, so he blindly obeyed and killed others, all for her. When he fulfilled all her wishes, he was betrayed. She laughed at him, saying that it was impossible for him to even think about becoming like them, and even more to become her mate, that she was just playing with him for fun. She cursed him to live out his life full of emptiness. He could not mate with others, and she made him infertile and unable to become erect. He was immortal, but at too great of a cost. He had abandoned his own family for her!
Full of anger and lust for vengeance, he stole a special cream that she had made for to rub on her dragon eggs, and without care, put some on his eyelids. The cream had been something that was specially made for Drac's own kin. The resulting consequence was that it changed his eye color, corrupted his own Aura, and gave him precognition of about two seconds ahead if he was paying attention to a person. However, Drac found out and attacked him, toying with him before slashing one of his eyes making him blind. Drac was too fast for him to predict, and even when he did, he didn't have the reaction time. She would've killed him, if it wasn't for the fact that she spent too long toying with him for the other dragons to arrive. A fierce battle raged, and he escaped with his life.
But he looked back and saw the dragons raze down villages because of their battle. The lives of Humans and Faunus alike were lost. It was then he believed that all dragons were evil, and was glad to see them depart. When he heard of the Dragon Clan, he sneered at it. He didn't actively hunt them, but if he crossed paths with them, then his fingers would... slip. Over the years, he changed weapons, going along with the times. He saw cities and regimes rise and fall. But it didn't matter to him. He didn't care. All he wanted was the death of Drac's daughter, who had named herself Drac to honor her mother.
He found about his existence many years ago when he came across a group. They bragged about worshiping Drac. This put the spark of life back in him, as he had been wandering Remnant without any real emotions. He killed the group, and cut the throat of the last one before leaving. He soon regretted it as he forgot to ask for the location of their headquarters so he could kill more of Drac's followers. He ran back just to see the boy whose throat he cut had disappeared. And so, he kept with his search, doing odd jobs and hunts to eat, even if he didn't need to. He could not starve to death, though it annoyed him. The only way to die was be killed in battle, and nothing else.
"I will end you all," growled Ezekial, "And show them humanity is not something they can toy with."
Jaune woke up around six am to find that someone had draped a blanket around him while he slept next to Pyrrha. He shook his head to clear any drowsiness and saw that Pyrrha was looking a bit better. He stretched and saw Ren in a bed... with a white cloth over the top of his face.
"No..." whispered Jaune in horror. He quickly got up and ran over to him, hesitantly he slowly put his hands on Ren's face... to feel it was rather quite warm.
"Shhhh. He's sleeping."
He looked to see Nora with a finger on her lips, shushing him before slapping his hands away.
"Ren usually likes to put a sleeping mask on when he sleeps, but I didn't know where he put his. So I grabbed a cloth to substitute it," explained Nora.
"Oum dammit, Nora, you scared me," sighed Jaune, "I thought he was dead! You do realize a white cloth on somebody's head means death!"
"Na, just sleeping. Luckily the dagger didn't penetrate all the way through and knicked his heart. Once they got the dagger out, they had Aura transfer packets to help heal him. It was still quite a shock."
"What about you?" asked Jaune in concern.
Nora shivered, curling into a ball, "I thought I lost him. So many times, I imagined him as my shining knight. Only this time, it became a nightmare. I don't want to feel that again. It was already painful when we thought we lost you and then saw Pyrrha get shot."
Jaune nodded before telling Nora to look out for them before finding a doctor. The doctor assured him that both of them would be fine, but needed serious bed rest for a while. Jaune thanked him and walked out to see what he could do to help out the village. It was an hour later when team SSSN stepped out of the inn they had been staying at.
"Made up your mind?" asked Sun, "I'd prefer to leave as soon as possible."
"Yes," replied Jaune, "I just need to write a note for them, telling them I'm safe."
He quickly dashed back to the room, jotted down a quick note before leaving. Nora had ended up falling back asleep again. The doctor told him that when Nora finally snapped out of her shock, Ren had just finished his surgery. She stayed awake the whole night, making sure nobody could hurt her team. She was the one who put a blanket on Jaune.
Sage and Scarlet bid them good luck and went to stand guard at the medical room. Sage took this chance to do his practice swings while Scarlet scouted the perimeter.
As Neptune, Jaune, and Sun traversed west of Sion, they went through some heavy jungle.
"Hey Sun. Your weapon broke, right?" asked Jaune.
"Yea, still got the parts though," replied Sun, "Uncle Pig said to present my old one to the original Jingu Banyu and it should mimic its form."
"Then where'd you get that staff?" asked Neptune, looking up from the tome he had been reading.
Sun was carrying a staff on his back that they had not seen him use a few days ago.
"Borrowed it from the village," answered Sun.
Back in the village of Sion, one of the village defenders was scratching his head in confusion. His staff was gone. Did the bandits steal it? But why?
Neptune and Jaune glanced at each other and sighed, knowing he most likely stole it. Neptune wasn't paying attention and accidentally stepped into a puddle, and somehow jumped onto Sun's back.
"Dude... You gotta get over this," deadpanned Sun.
"Get over what?" asked Neptune.
"Really?" deadpanned the dragons and Jaune.
Seeing their gaze, he grumbled, "Okay, Okay... I'm working on it."
Soon enough, they were at the base of a very high cliff.
"So... are we going up?" asked Sun. Jaune was ready to spread his wings when Neptune stopped them.
"No... we should be at the entrance, according to this tome," said Neptune, "All these stupid riddles, took me almost forever to solve them, but we should be standing in near the entrance. Look around. See if you can find anything suspicious."
"He's right," said Jaune as he placed his hand on the ground, linking up with Fafnir, "There's a cave entrance hidden here that leads underground."
"Can't you use your link and shift the entrance?" asked Sun.
"I could, but there's a hidden mechanism," replied Jaune, "If anybody uses brute force to open the entrance, it floods the cave with water. I can go in, but you guys…..."
"Let's not get too hasty," sputtered Neptune, "There has to be some sort of key or switch."
They were looking around the area when Sun noticed a tree with a carving of a monkey. The same monkey as his necklace.
Don't forget the necklace!
'I wonder, was Uncle Pig right?' though Sun as he pulled his necklace out and placed it on the carving. It shone for a bit, and behind him, an entrance appeared with stairs leading down.. Sun quickly called Jaune and Neptune over, inspecting the entrance for a bit before finally going in. As soon as Neptune, who was the last to go in, stepped inside, the entrance behind them sealed shut, leaving them all in the dark.
"Hehehehe... that's not creepy at all," said Neptune nervously.
Sun, with his natural night vision due to his Faunus heritage, and Jaune, with his dragon eyes, they were able to see in the dark. Neptune put on his goggles that gave him some night vision ability, but not as good as theirs. They continued through the cave corridor until they found an open area. Suddenly, torches placed in the room all lit up as one, revealing a podium in the middle of the cave. In the podium were multiple gloves and a tablet with letters they didn't recognize.
"Any idea what this says?" asked Sun.
Neptune shrugged before looking into the tome, trying to see if there was any hints.
"Damn. Wish Professor Oobleck or Professor Horton from Haven was here," muttered Sun.
For some reason, they all could've sworn they heard two voices yelling from very far away saying "Doctor!"
"Hmm. Haven't seen this alphabet before," declared Othim.
"I have," said Lung Wang, "I'll translate it, you tell them."
"Guys, one of my dragons say they recognize the language," replied Jaune as looks over the tablet and repeats what it says.
Tablet Description
Those who wish to seek the room of treasure,
Must undertake the trials ahead.
Wear a glove to test your courage,
And proceed to the corridor assigned,
Where no protection will aid you.
Only one per corridor and all must reach the end and push the switch.
Or forever perish.
"That... doesn't sound good," worried Neptune.
"I'm sure we can do this," scoffed Sun, grabbing a glove and inspecting it. It seemed like a normal one.
"How about I stay here, and you two go in?" suggested Neptune.
"I don't think you'd have a way out," replied Jaune, "The entrance sealed itself, remember?"
"Crap," sighed Neptune before grabbing a glove.
They all looked at each other and nodded, simultaneously putting on the glove. Sun had to take off his first before putting it on. They felt their Aura somehow recede into them, and all felt cold.
"Whoa," gasped Sun, "I can't feel or use my Aura."
"Guess that's what they meant by no protection," mused Jaune, "Guess we'll have to do this trial without Aura protecting us."
"Great..," sighed Neptune.
What was a bit concerning was that they couldn't take the gloves off at all. It had attached to them like a second skin.
The trio looked around to see three doors sliding open. Nodding to each other, they each took one and entered with their weapons ready. The tome was stuffed into Jaune's bag so they didn't have to be burdened by it. The doors slid down, closing behind them.
Pyrrha woke up, finding herself staring at the ceiling. Then, she remembered what had happened. With a jolt, she got off the bed, hoping to see someone. She looked around just to see an empty room.
"No," panicked Pyrrha, thinking the worst had happened, "No, no, no, no!"
She slammed the door open and ran out just to see Nora outside stretching, with Ren sitting on a chair. Sage was practicing his swings a bit away. She didn't see Jaune anywhere though.
"If you're looking for Jaune, he went ahead with Sun and Neptune," shouted Ren, who had noticed Pyrrha's panicked face, "But you might want to apologize to Scarlet."
Pyrrha looked back at the door to see it slowly closing to reveal Scarlet in a fetal position. Apparently, by complete and horrible luck, the door knob had slammed right into Scarlet's nuts.
"I'm sorry!" shouted Pyrrha in horror at what she had done.
"Next time... I'm getting a permanent cup for down here," whimpered Scarlet as he rocked back and forth.
Jaune was walking through the corridor of darkness. Thanks to the glove, he wasn't able to use dragon eyes, although his vision had been improving a bit with all the training he had done, thankfully. It wasn't as perfect as a natural Faunus night vision, but it allowed him some vision. What was even more unnerving was that the glove was also making communications with the dragons a bit fuzzy. Lung Wang and the others took this as an opportunity for Jaune to overcome this trial by himself, something he agreed to. He needed to be stronger. That image of watching Ren almost dying in front of him made him quake with rage, not to mention almost losing Pyrrha. He stepped forward just to hear a click and the sound of slots suddenly opening from the right side. He immediately brought his shield up to the right and crouched beneath it. Arrows came flying out, but most of of it struck Dragonscales while the others missed.
"Hope the others are doing as well as I am," said Jaune out loud as he continued forward before jumping to dodge a flying axe coming low.
"Oh crap!"
Sun had almost fallen into a spike pit, but he used his tail to grab a jutting rock, stopping in time. His head was one centimeter from being impaled. He looked around to see a few skulls, signifying that some people had come here before and died.
"Wonder how they even got in without my necklace," mused Sun before shrugging. He quickly climbed back out of the pit and took merely two steps before another pit trap activated, this time with some sort of liquid at the bottom. Sun slammed his staff into the wall before flipping himself onto it.
"That doesn't seem too dangerous," wondered Sun before a banana he had taken slipped out of his pocket and landed into the liquid. It immediately dissolved before his eyes. It was an acid trap!
"Ok, never mind! I take it back!" squeaked Sun before getting back up to land and continuing his path.
"NOOOO! WHY! WHY WHY WHY!"
Neptune was in a dilemma. So far, there had been no traps for him as he went down his path. There was some water dripping from the ceiling, but he avoided it as much as possible. However, his path was now leading him into a pool of water. He couldn't just jump across, as there was a solid wall with spikes on it. He tried to see if there was any other way.
"Dammit!" cursed Neptune. It seemed like there was no other way.
"I'll just head back. I'm sure they can do this without me," said Neptune before shaking his head. "No. Remember what the plaque said. All of us have to make it through."
He began to argue with himself, trying to make excuses. The side that said to go back was winning when a sudden realization struck him.
"I trust you, man. You're my best bud, and you've always had my back!"
Sun had said these words to him when they were young, and they had always covered each other. But now, Neptune was thinking about backstabbing them just because of his stupid fear.
"Enough!" shouted Neptune to his cowardly side, "I've had this fear with me for long enough! I am Neptune Vasilias! I was named after the king of seas! For me to be afraid of my own dominion is not cool. Today, I conquer it!"
And with that, he took a deep breath and dove into the water. He had basic swimming lessons before he feared the water due to an incident. At first, he slightly panicked, but he overrode his own fear and kept going. He soon saw that he was dealing with an underwater maze. Luckily, there were air holes for him to go up for air. He continued down his path, using his instincts as well as hidden guideposts written on the walls.
"Whew! Finally made it," gasped Jaune. His usual hoodie was torn, but he was thankful f
or all that dodging Othim drove into him. There were scratches all over him, but other than that, he was fine. He saw a suspicious looking hole at the end of his path and nothing else. Shrugging and having nothing else to lose, he stuck gloved hand inside. There was some sort of gear noise, and the glove he wore dissipated. Jaune felt his Aura return to him and felt his injuries heal. Seeing as there was nothing else to do, he sat down and began to meditate.
"Dangit. My shirt's all gone. Well, guess everyone can see my abs now, but there's nobody to show it off to."
Sun had reached the end of his path after dodging pit traps and falling spikes from the ceiling. For some reason, one of them involved a piano. Sun had no idea why, but it was effective as it almost crushed him. One of the walls had opened a hole and shot out acid onto the back of his shirt. Sun quickly got rid of it before it could touch his skin, but he went through the rest of it without his shirt. He sneezed quite a few times because it was so cold. He put his gloved hand inside the hole, letting it dissolve his glove. He felt his Aura come back and sighed in relief. Now he merely had to wait for the other two.
Ten minutes later, the wall with the hole suddenly moved upwards, creating a passage for Jaune and Sun to go through. They quickly ran through their own passages just to meet up in another big room.
"See you got through yours, though not without scratches," observed Sun, noticing the rips on Jaune's hoodie and pants.
"What about you? You're not wearing your usual white open shirt," asked Jaune.
"Acid trap. It hit my shirt, and so I had to get rid of it before the acid got to my skin," answered Sun.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The two of them turned to the source of the noise and had their mouths open in surprise when they saw Neptune entering the room completely wet.
"Neptune? Buddy are you ok?" asked Sun in concern. He knew Neptune's fear of water, and to see him drenched in said fear was a cause for concern.
"I'm... fine," replied Neptune, "You owe me one. I had to go swimming for my corridor and navigate through a maze. It was annoying! On the plus side, I'm no longer that afraid of water now."
With that, he fainted on the ground.
"You know what? I'm proud of him," said Sun after a moment of silence, "He's been terrified of the water ever since that incident."
"What incident was that?" asked Jaune.
"Can't tell. It's one of the things I can actually keep my mouth shut about," replied Sun, "But what now?"
As if to answer his question, a pedestal arose from the middle of the room. On that pedestal was a staff that was red with golden tips, elegantly crafted from what looked to be of stone.
"That's the legendary weapon that my ancestor used?" asked Sun in confusion. It certainly didn't look like much.
"Ah, the original Ruyi Jingu," grinned Lung Wang, "It doesn't look much, but it packs a wallop. Especially since it can change its shape easily on command. That, and it weighs about 8.775 ton, making it pretty much impossible for enemies to use it against him."
Jaune quickly told Sun that, who raised his eyebrow in doubt but stepped up to grab it. With a grunt, he pulled on the staff. Only to find it incredibly hard to pull it out.
"URGGGG!" groaned Sun as he tried to pull it out. Jaune quickly went over and tried to help him, but even with the two of them, they were unable to make it budge even a little. Trying to lift it upwards almost caused their backs to break.
"Okay! That won't work!" cried Jaune as the two blondes quickly let go, putting their hands on their back.
Neptune had woken up from hearing their backs cracking before asking Jaune for the tome again. The trio sat in the cave, eating some food Jaune had stashed in his bag and resting. Neptune was trying to find any hints for the staff when he came up with an idea.
"We can use Aura now! That means you should go into your armor mode, Sun! Maybe the staff will recognize you in that mode."
"Worth a shot," added Jaune.
Sun shrugged before focusing a little and donning his armor again. They heard some rocks crumbling and looked to see the staff was moving a little towards Sun, as if trying to reach him. Sun took a few cautious steps forward before placing his hand on the staff. It felt warm to his touch. He closed his eyes, gripping the staff with both his hands, and then with a shout, lifted the staff out of the pedestal. It felt so much lighter that any weapons he had used, and yet at the same time, he could tell that this weapon was heavy.
"Wonder how this extending thing works?" wondered Sun as he pointed it to the ceiling, "Do I just say Ruyi Jingu Bang, extend?"
He said this with a sarcastic tone, but all of a sudden, the staff extended up into the air, crashing right through the ceiling and kept going through.
"Huh. Neat," said Sun in amazement, "What about... Expand?"
Since Sun wasn't really thinking about his command on how big to expand, it suddenly expanded nearly the same size of the cave they were in.
"Holy Shit!" shouted Neptune, "Shrink it down, otherwise it'll kill us!"
"Umm, how?" panicked Sun, not noticing that even with its sudden size expansion, he had no problems holding it.
"Say shrink!" suggested Jaune.
"Shrink! Go back to being small! Go small! Retract! Go thin! Become normal!"
The staff shrunk back to its normal size, but there was now a gaping hole that led back to the surface. Suddenly, rocks started to collapse in on them.
"Grab on!" shouted Jaune as he sprouted yellow scaled wings. Sun and Neptune quickly grabbed onto him, but Jaune found it hard to fly because of the staff weight.
"Tell Sun to shrink the staff so he can put it behind his ears and also command it to recognize you as an ally," Aryz told Jaune quickly.
Sun did as suggested, making Jaune feel a lot less weight now. With a mighty flap, the three of them flew up towards the sky, dodging falling rocks. Finally, they hit the skies, for above ground level. Jaune decided to use this and fly them back to Sion.
"You did good Neptune," smiled Sun, still holding onto Jaune's arm, "Does that mean you'll be able to use your Semblance, since your fear is almost gone?"
"Maybe," replied Neptune, "We'll have to see. I've held us back long enough."
"You've never done that," replied Sun, "None of us sees it that way. And none of us really blames you for your fear because of that incident. Instead, you found another way to improve yourself. That's all that matters, that you find someway to help and improve."
"Thanks," grinned Neptune before putting his fist up. Sun pounded it as the sun was setting, and Jaune was approaching Sion.
Whew. Getting a bit rougher now that I'm making my own storyline now, but hopefully, my muse won't run dry anytime soon.
Usual thanks to all my beta readers, UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever for helping out.
Cobra, who's face has been revealed, is a character made by TheMischieviousPuppy.
And the newest character, Ezekial Liu-Wang, was created by wolf master97. Funny how it went, as he sent me the OC profile as a challenge to see if any OC made can make it to the story. Of course, I've put in my spin onto it, but the basic design is his. He's what I'm attempting at... a gray character. Blurring between the lines. Get's a promise, other side breaks it, and he pays for it.
Draco... well if you like mythology, go look it up! Funny thing is that when I originally went at this story, I was going to try to use French dragon lores as the contracts, but most of them all have them as evil dragons. Must be a western culture thing, as eastern culture identifies them as good, and some bad.
So yea, there are evil dragons. Woot.
Also, new weapon for Sun! I'll obviously have some limitations on it, but for now, enjoy it! Also, I've been brainstorming what Neptune's Semblance could be, and I think I've got one! So sorry people who wants to give me suggestions, but I've already made it. Hurray for Neptune facing his fears head on!
And now for the most important part of this message... REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! Ok I'm done. See ya'll next time, next chapter will be focusing on the friends in the North. Oh, and poll, go vote on my profile on next story.