One of my longer chapters. Today marks as one whole year since I started this story! Thanks for all you readers and fans for the follows, favs, and reviews! Read and Review! Also, yes I know Jaune's Semblance has been discovered and all those other things in season 5, but I'm still going on my own way. Already had them planned out, and I'm not keen on changing them to make it follow canon. I'll borrow bits and pieces, but that's about it. Hope you enjoy, and review if you can!
This story has been brought to you by me, editted/beta by UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppyDog, and Jauneforever
"You brats ready? Wong asked as he stood in front of a transport ship, looking over Teams JNPR and SSSN. Each of them was carrying their weapons as well as survival gear, as Wong had mentioned it would be a long trip. To do this, they had to turn in any projects beforehand and take any tests they had incoming before their travel. Sun had been complaining about this but managed to past his history test easily.
"Master Wong?" asked Neptune, "Is that your choice of weapon?"
It was hard not to notice a giant greatsword on Wong's back. Though Wong was roughly 5'11, the sword itself was roughly 3.5 feet long and straight. The blade width was about 5 inches wide, and at the tip it was pointed. What made it more eye-catching was the right side of the blade was painted black while the left side was painted white. There was no decorated guard on the sword, and the handle itself looked frayed.
"Yeah. Got a problem?" asked Wong with a raised eyebrow. They all quickly shook their head. "Good. My sword and I go way back. Always been my choice of weapon. Good ol' Aetherius."
They all quickly boarded the ship that would take them to Akai Churippu.
"So, your studies going good?" asked Wong as they were on the ship.
"Yep. Even Sun is passing his classes," pointed out Neptune, much to Sun's chagrin.
"Master Wong, you still haven't told us about the mission," stated Jaune, getting a few nods from the others.
Wong nodded and explained "It's just a recon mission, really. Something's been going on near that village recently and I intend to find out what exactly. Rumors of power spikes have been seen recently. That, and I... want to visit an old grave."
Seeing as Wong was unwilling to give out any more information, the rest of the time was spent napping for the upcoming mission.
Undisclosed Location
"Glad we have a room where we can relax a little," said Clodwal as he wheeled himself into a room.
"Yes, it's nice to be able to take a hot shower now," sighed Ales as she walked into the bedroom with just a towel. She let down her usually braided hair and began to slowly comb it with her wooden comb.
"Want me to help you with that?" asked Clodwal, lifting himself onto the bed next to Ales.
"Sure. Been awhile since I've been pampered," smirked Ales as she sat in front of him and handed him the comb.
Chuckling, Clodwal began his work, slowly and gently going down her hair, untangling any knots. Suddenly, it broke in as he began his sixth stroke down.
"What the?"
Clodwal and Ales looked at the comb in confusion before looking at each other with worry.
"I hope this isn't a sign," whispered Ales, worried about her fellow maidens.
Oscar was running, exhausted, but he kept running. He didn't want to stop at all. If running meant he had a better chance of surviving, he would do so. He could hear the growls of Grimm behind him, seeking to rip his flesh from his body. He suddenly tripped on a stray piece of rock, landing face first into the dirt. He whimpered, trying to get back up. As he turned around, he saw Beowolves already jumping towards him. Oscar quickly put his hands up to protect himself and waited for their teeth to sink into his flesh.
He blinked as a few seconds past without him being in agonizing pain. Oscar looked up to see Grimm dissolving into ashes.
"You alright?"
Oscar turned around to see a big black man with black hair walking towards him. At first glance, it seemed as if the man didn't even have a weapon, just the clothes off his back.
"I said, are you alright?"
The man put his hand forward for Oscar to grab, to which he did so gladly. As Oscar grabbed the stranger's hand, he noticed it was very soft. He glanced down to see padding on the man's hand, similar to how bears would have it. He couldn't help but think it was cute that a big strong man like him to have such soft padding.
"Thank you for the help," thanked Oscar, letting go of the man's hand before introducing himself. "I'm Oscar, Oscar Pine."
"Names Bal Bloo, Bloo spelled with two Os. Bear Faunus with plushy paws, though don't underestimate them," grinned the stranger, "So where you headed? You look like you barely have the bare necessities for traveling."
Oscar looked down at the floor, tears starting to well up once more.
"Oh, you weren't traveling for fun, were you?" said Bal solemnly, "It was a Grimm attack, wasn't it? Did anybody else survive?"
Oscar shook his head and sniffed, trying to stop his nose and eyes from leaking. "No," he sniffed, "They all... they were all killed in the attack. I was the only one to escape."
"I'm sorry," said Bal, hugging Oscar to comfort him, he hugged him tighter, "There, there. I can take care of your for now, once we get to one of the major kingdoms I'm sure we can find someone to help you. You have to be strong, you have to live on, for your family. Look, I heading for Akai Churippu, you can come with me. Do you have relatives you can call?"
Oscar shook his head.
"Well then, I have a few friends who will be willing to help," Bal said with a smile.
With that, he lifted Oscar onto his shoulders and started to walk towards Akai Churippu. Oscar suspiciously heard him humming a tune about the bare necessities. What he didn't see when the wind kicked up was the man's back. On the back was a white tattoo of the original White Fang insignia.
Teams JNPR and SSSN had arrived at Akai Churippu a day later and were currently exploring the settlement. Wong had given them permission to do so while he went to check something, not bothering to explain himself. The group quickly went to stock up on some items and bandages they might need for the trip. Neptune and Sage had to keep a good eye on Sun to prevent his kleptomaniac hands from snatching stuff.
"Good, are we ready?" asked Wong as soon as everybody was done, "Now, I want you all to follow one very specific rule. No matter what, follow my orders. I will not spout orders to abandon teammates, but anything else, you must follow it. Promise me this."
Wong glared at them for a full minute until each one promised to follow his orders. Nodding in satisfaction, Wong turned around to leave. As they followed, they couldn't help but be worried what was to come.
They soon arrived at a graveyard where Wong kneeled down to pray a bit. The rest of them stood watch for any surprises or attacks. Once Wong was done, they all headed south.
"There have been rumors about a young girl who has magically received strange, incredible powers. The villagers swear she was just a regular civilian until she accidentally lit her house on fire. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but she's terrified now. Happened roughly at the end of your first year, but the rumors didn't reach my ears till months later. You know how information from small towns is. Very slow to reach the major kingdom."
"Hey, doesn't that sound like...," trailed Pyrrha, immediately thinking of the maidens.
"One of the Maidens of the Four Season? Yes," answered Wong, surprising them all.
"Are you part of Ozpin's group?" asked Jaune suspiciously, knowing that this information shouldn't be known to the general public.
"Feh, not everyone needs to be in some sort of faction to know this," scoffed Wong, "Remember, the legend of the Four Maidens was once common knowledge. Even if the legends have faded and forgotten, there are still some that remember."
And with that, he prodded them forward. The fact he didn't add anything else showed that this was quite serious.
The whole group was finally reaching the town borders when they heard screams.
"GO!" commanded Wong, rushing forward despite his age and what he was carrying.
Jaune quickly linked up with Alaerth, sprouting yellow-scaled wings and picked up Pyrrha and Ren, giving a quick zap to Nora so she could keep up. Team SSSN quickly dashed forward, drawing their weapons out. Yet Wong still outpaced almost all of them completely. Wong and JPR were the first ones to arrive into the town just to see a girl being held hostage by several men with Drac badges. In front of the poor girl was a woman with waist length sea-green hair and pale skin. She wore a purple dress similar to Cinder, with seashells attached to her waist. Her hair was fashioned with a hime cut style, barely touching her vivid teal eyes. And most importantly, she had a white glove pointed at the young girl.
"Stop her!" shouted Wong as he drew out his sword and swung, firing a blade beam right at the woman. Jaune quickly dropped his load and aimed his shield at her, switching to sniper mode and fired. Pyrrha used her rifle form of Milo and fired while Ren began firing his SMGs at the woman. The woman grinned as the Grimm parasite appeared from her hand and spat its bile out, draining the girl's power. She didn't even attempt to block the attacks coming towards her. As the attacks approached her, there were multiple movements all converging towards the attacks. A dust cloud exploded from the clash.
Laughter could be heard from the dust cloud, so Jaune quickly lined up with Aryz. Using a flap of his wings, he blew the dust away to reveal Adam, Cobra, and Mercury. Adam was already glowing bright red, having absorbed Wong's attack. Cobra had spun his weapon in spear form to block the bullets, while Mercury had slammed the ground with his foot, kicking up the ground to block some other bullets.
"Well, well, if it isn't dragon boy and his little friends?" smirked Mercury, anxious to get a good kick at Jaune. That last kick Jaune had hit him with had almost crippled him for life. It was only thanks to Merlot with his cyber tech and Drac's group with some weird artifact, along with Salem putting some weird Grimm in his body was he able to recover and grow stronger.
"I have a score to settle with you," growled Adam, his hair glowing along with the red marks on his body. His right arm was also glowing thanks to Merlot's technology, allowing him greater use of his Semblance. He still held onto his hatred for Jaune, stealing HIS Blake. He could just imagine how much pain Blake would feel. It would proper education for her when he took her again, reminding her of how she broke his heart. His Blood Fang group had come along and were also ready to kill the impudent humans.
"Did you get my messssssage?" asked Cobra, looking at Jaune specifically, "I persssonally think I did an excellent job with your father."
Jaune twitched at that statement before glaring at him, "That was you?! You sick... Why did you even kill him in the first place!?"
"Sick? It was a masterpiece," replied Cobra, "And he contacted me. Which is sssurprising, as I make it so very few people know my work as an asssssasssssin. But I digress. He wanted me to kill you as you clearly offended him somehow, ssssooo I agreed, in return for hissss life."
Jaune clenched his fist, as did Ren and Pyrrha. The man didn't seem to learn his listen, even after his defeat. Though now that he was dead, there would be less worry.
"Why his life then?" asked Pyrrha.
"Becaussse we couldn't risk him giving birth to another dragon contractor," hissed Cobra, "He admitted he was the reason for such. Not to mention, even if he wasn't I still would have killed him because what I hate more than not getting my contract finished, is parents like him!"
Jaune had to stop himself from rolling his eyes but was thankful that Vlad was just a blowhard braggart. Telling them that he was the reason for Jaune having his power was probably the best and only present he could've given Jaune. At least his mother and sisters would be safe. Though he was slightly confused at the last part of the statement from Cobra, but it was something he could worry about later.
Wong gritted his teeth as the woman finally let go of the young girl and kicked her towards Wong. Wong caught the girl and looked down sadly at the terrified face. She looked like she was merely 14 years old with black hair and pale skin. Wong slowly closed the girl's terrified eyes and laid her down before shrugging off his coat and covering the body.
"What are you doing old man?" laughed the woman, "She was undeserving of such power. I merely appropriated it from her unworthy life."
"What is your name?" asked Wong, his eyes shadowed.
"Me? I am … well you don't need to know my name," smirked the woman, "But I suppose you'll need one when you are sent to the next world. I am Laire Delma, the true Fall Maiden. It'll be the last name you hear."
Her eyes glowed fiery orange, similar to how Cinder's eyes were. She had fully assimilated the Fall Maiden's power.
"I've already beaten Cinder when she had that power," snorted Jaune, "I'll do it again."
"True. Cinder was quite talented in her skills. One of the best Mistress Salem ever trained. But she was not the only one. And I'm sure my group can take out an old man, a dragon boy, and his two friends."
"MAKE THAT FIVE! NORA SPIN SMASH!"
Everyone looked up to see Nora spinning down with her hammer directly towards Laire, lightning bolts coming off her. Reacting quickly, Laire summoned a fireball and shot it at Nora. Thinking it was over, she turned her attention to Jaune when she felt someone push her away. It was lucky, as a second later, Nora smashed the poor grunt into the ground, lightning spewing from her hammer impact. Several other grunts were hit by the lightning bolts, as was Laire.
Grunting in surprise and pain, Laire lashed out, firing ice shards at Nora, who blocked them before blasting herself up. Before anyone could shoot her in the air, Jaune had already flown and snagged Nora away to safety. However, what was more surprising that Wong had slipped right through Mercury, Adam, and Cobra while they had been distracted and was already swing his blade right towards Laire. Her eyes widened in shock as she was helpless to stop the blade from cleaving her body in half.
"Die," said Wong ruthlessly.
"No."
Wong found his blade halted centimeters from Laire's body. He slowly looked at fist with brass knuckles blocking his slash. He slowly looked up to the man who had managed to stop it. It was Hazel Rainart, who didn't seem to be struggling at stopping his attack.
"I cannot allow that," said Hazel slowly, "Our mistress has plans for her."
Team SSSN burst into the scene, weapons ready and tensions high. They had to go through several prowling Grimm Creepers, several of which were mutated. Hazel and Wong glared at each other before the two of them pushed forward, crushing the ground they were standing on as they tried to overpower each other before jumping back,
"Kill them," said Hazel.
Several more Grimm appeared, they were on all fours, growling with the Grimm mask on their face and nothing else. Neptune quickly identified them as Grimm Panthera, with their teeth so strong it could rip steel apart. They were accompanied by Mutant Grimm Beowolves.
"Enough!" shouted Jaune as he held his blade forward, already putting some of his blood on his hand. He spun the blade four times in front of him before stepping the blade parallel to the ground, dragging two fingers across his blade to drag his blood across the blade. He swung his blade around him before raising it above his head to spin once more and stabbed the ground below him.
Jaune was attempting to summon a dragon to aid him once more and to end this threat.
"No you don't!" shouted Adam as he grabbed his sword, already in Iai position and drew his blade, hoping to cut Jaune in half. He unleashed his semblance, but Wong jumped in front of his path, and with an effortless swing, parried the swing away and spun to kill any momentum on him.
Cobra charged forward but was deterred by both Pyrrha and Ren. Mercury had to dodge several bullets and grenades being fired at him.
The symbols on the ground flashed, and from the earth below came forth a brown dragon with green tints on its scale. A giant horn could be seen on top of the dragon's nose.
"Hmm Gigarock, an earth dragon," said Fafnir, "A low-level dragon, but he has quite the attack power. Should be enough to deal with them with your help. Must be because of your Aura cuffs that you didn't summon someone stronger."
Gigarock roared and charged forward, crushing several Grimm in his charge before using his horn to sending a mutant Grimm flying.
"I'll take care of the overgrown lizard!" shouted Laire, summoning another fireball and shooting it into Gigarock.
"You're too overconfident," warned Hazel as he had to drag a laughing Laire to dodge Gigarock from impaling her with his horn. The fireball had been utterly ineffective. "Cobra, do your men have the tools to deal with this?"
"Indeed we do!" cackled Cobra, "We have been preparing for this thanks to Drac, our true dragon Queen! Men!"
The groaning men tried to lift themselves up but were able to stand. Each of them quickly grabbed a vial of gooey black liquid and sprayed it on their weapons. Cobra himself put on the blood red ring and drank the liquid itself. With a wild shout of glee, Cobra charged at Gigarock, only to be intercepted by Jaune.
"No idea what that was, but I'm not letting you go," said Jaune as he slashed at Cobra. Cobra blocked it with glee, and as the two clashed in the air, Jaune sensed danger and dodged a slash from Adam.
He looked and was surprised to see Adam standing on clouds in the air.
"Dammit! He has them!?" shouted Neptune, "That was ours when your stupid Blood Fang members abused others and took them!"
"So your team was the one at the ruins," mused Adam, "That means the traitor is..."
He slowly glared at Sun, who glared back while donning his armored form.
"You're such a hypocrite," growled Sun, "Trying to portray yourself as a hero of the Faunus, fighting for the rights of the race while killing just as many Faunus. Not to mention you're actually teaming up with some 'dirty' human, as you would say."
"Those who don't follow my vision and order are traitors!" shouted Adam, "I alone will bring a golden age for the Faunus race, and those that don't agree can either get out of the way or die! As for the others, they have agreed to leave all of Anima and Menagerie for my people only!"
Sun answered by extending his weapon and slashed it at Adam, who jumped over it before creating another cloud with his shoes.
"So that's why it's called cloud walking shoes," mused Neptune.
"Jaune, I'll take care of this one," said Sun, "Neptune, back me up. Scarlet and Sage, go crazy and kick ass, but don't die."
Jaune nodded and resumed his attack on Cobra while Sun and Neptune were at a standoff against Adam. The trio stared off before Neptune began to fire, using explosive rounds to prevent Adam from absorbing kinetic energy easily.
"Get back here!" shouted Mercury, rushing towards Jaune when he stopped and spun around, launching a high kick to block the high kick from Ren.
"Your fight is with me," said Ren calmly.
"Is that so?" said Mercury, "I remember you. You're the punk that shot at us back at the stadium. Surprise you're not running after this failed sneak attack like before. Seems like all you can do is sneak attacks."
"I assure you, I can do more than that," replied Ren grimly as the two stared off at each other. As a leaf fell between them, the two withdrew their legs and attacked.
Wong was busy dealing with Laire and easily pushing her back. Scarlet, Pyrrha, Sage, and Nora went to deal with the additional Grimm that was coming in, including a Nuckelavee, along with several Blood Fang members. This one was far older from the one Ren fought, but thankfully they were able to handle it.
"Sage, go help Wong!" said Pyrrha as she blocked a swing from the Nuckelavee, "We've got this."
Sage nodded and ran towards Wong only to find his path blocked by Hazel.
"I won't let you stop me!" Declared Sage as he raised his sword, "I'll cut a path through all of you!"
With a roar, he slashed down only to find his blade halted by a punch from Hazel. Shocked but not finished, Sage roared and spun, trying to add more momentum to his swing only for Hazel to do the same thing, blocking it with his brass knuckles.
"I won't be beaten that easily!" roared Sage as he backed up and tried to swing once more horizontally.
Hazel's fist went to meet the blade, but Sage used all his muscles to stop his blade from swinging, taking a spin step forward. His horizontal slash was a feint, and his real target was a vertical slash right at the head.
'Gotcha!' thought Sage as he began his downward swing only to suddenly cough out all the air from his body. Hazel hadn't bother to attempt to block or dodge his slash, but instead sink a right hook into Sage's stomach.
Sage was bent over, his butt sticking up in the air as he tried to remain standing and gripping his sword in a death grip.
"I… will not... let you defeat me!" spat out Sage.
"Hahah, look at him, so pathetic!" said one of the Blood Fang members as he walked up towards Sage, "Sticking his butt in the air. He's-"
The member didn't get to finish his sentence as Hazel suddenly had him in an iron grip on his head.
"Never," said Hazel slowly, "Insult someone who trying to overcome any obstacle in his path in front of me. This man has at least tried and put everything to face me, even though he knows inside his mind he cannot defeat me."
The mask cracked under Hazel's iron grip to the head as the Blood Fang member tried helplessly to escape, his feet dangling off the ground as Hazel lifted him up. The Faunus slowly slumped down, his hand twitching.
"Release my men!" shouted Adam, dodging a swipe from hammer swing from Sun, who had transformed one of his clones.
Hazel sneered and tossed the Faunus into some trees before turning back to Sage, who had managed to stand up once more.
"My last strike then," muttered Sage, "TAKE THIS!"
Sage jumped into the air, and with all his strength, tried to cleave Hazel's head and body in half with a downward strike. The air seemed to displace itself as Sage's sword swung down. Hazel's eyes narrowed and raised both hands to block the attack. The sword clashed with the brass knuckles, creating a bright flash of light. As the light died down, behind Hazel were three lines on the ground that had been cleaved. Hazel himself seemed unfazed until a small trickle of blood went down on his forehead.
"Impressive," said Hazel, "To manage to scratch me even as I blocked with my Aura still active, penetrating through the barrier. Unfortunately, not enough to win."
Hazel pushed the blades away, leaving Sage helplessly as he grabbed his foot and swung him into the ground. Sage could barely even react before Hazel drove in two punches into his stomach, destroying any remaining Aura left. As he laid there coughing blood from his mouth, his hand still tightly gripped his sword.
"Even after defeat, you still hold your sword," commented Hazel, " Commendable. A shame you had to encounter us, but goodbye. May you live peacefully in the next life."
"Sage!" shouted Sun, trying to reach to him, only to have Adam block his way, "Get outta my way!"
"No, watch as your human friend dies!" Adam snarled maliciously.
Jaune tried to shoot Hazel, but Cobra forced him to dodge instead. Cobra was stronger than Jaune anticipated, and in addition, his attacks seemed to have some sort of corroding effect on him. Not to mention the dragons recognized the ring he was using and told him it made the user faster than normal. And finally, Jaune himself wasn't at full strength thanks to the training shackles, which Cobra seemed to have noticed.
Pyrrha and the others were busy dealing with Grimm. Wong tried to assist, but Laire managed to push him away with her Maiden's power. Ren was busy dealing with Mercury in a close quarters combat with kicks.
Sage closed his eyes, accepting the fact the end was coming as Hazel's fist.
Suddenly, he heard a smack, but he didn't feel any pain. Nor did he feel any sort of contact except for some wind.
"Now, that's not very nice to do that."
Sage opened his eyes wearily to see a giant black man carrying a child on his shoulders stopping Hazel's fist with his own. Hazel himself was slowly looking at the man with intrigue. The two stood there for a bit before both their arms started to bulge up in muscle and power. Winds seemed to whip around the two of them before they both stopped and backed off.
"You're... strong," admitted Hazel.
"And you're the one that tried to intimidate Sienna Khan before," shot back the man, "Though you definitely have the power to back up that threat."
"Bal Bloo!" shouted Adam in surprise, dodging a shot from Neptune and returned fire, "What are you doing here!?"
"Hmm? Is that little Taurus I see?" mused Bal as he turned around, "Why it is! Young Adam Taurus has grown up! Though not in a way I like."
Sun and the others would've snickered if it wasn't a life and death situation right now.
"Forget that!" roared Adam, "Answer the damn question!"
"Well I'm wandering around Remnant, as usual," shrugged Bal, "Save this kid from being Grimm food, and ran into you guys. Oscar, mind getting down and taking care of the one on the floor while I handle..."
"Hazel Rainhart," supplied Hazel, not attacking even though Bal's back was turned. It would be dishonorable to do.
"Right, Hazel, Thanks."
Oscar nodded and quickly jumped off Bal's shoulder before slowly lifting Sage up, putting his arm around his shoulders and dragged him away. When he looked around, he shivered when he saw Laire. She had been one of the first to set his barn on fire while he escaped. The two big men stared at each other for a second before a punch from Hazel and a palm strike from Bal clashed against each other.
"No you don't!" shouted Mercury firing air blasts into the air as he jumped as far back as he could, dodging a slash from Ren. The blasts flew up and began to descend down towards Oscar. Ren growled, grabbing his knife and jumped in between the blasts and Oscar and Sage.
"Gotcha!" shouted Mercury in glee until he saw Ren put the dagger handle to his mouth and noticed it didn't seem to be a normal dagger.
A song was played out, and a barrier formed around Ren as the blasts crashed into the shield before bouncing back right towards Mercury.
"Oh bull!" shouted Mercury, dodging the blasts.
Pyrrha, Nora, and Scarlet had finished off the last of the Grimm and quickly ran to protect Sage and Oscar. Jaune was gritting his teeth as his blade clashed against Cobra's spear when he heard a roar of pain. He looked over to see Gigarock with several gashes around his body. Several Mutant Grimm Creepers latched onto his body and promptly exploded, causing Gigarock to thrash in pain.
"How?" gasped Aryz, "Wait. That liquid. Jaune, send Gigarock back and try to grab one of those weapons!"
Jaune quickly dismissed Gigarock away, allowing it to fade from view before blocking a stab from Cobra with his shield. He created a small tornado with his sword and swung, creating a bigger one to surround him and blow Cobra away before dashing forward with his yellow wings beating the air to accelerate him towards one of the more injured fighters. Although Gigarock had been defeated, he had still killed quite a lot of Grimm and injured most of Drac's fighters, even managing to kill a few. Snagging one of the contaminated weapons from a dead one, Jaune quickly flew back over to where Pyrrha and the others were. Sun and Neptune had disengaged from their fight with Adam, their Aura low from taking a few hits from Adam. His new arm apparently also fired Rapier Wasp spikes filled with poison as they found out when it hit a tree. Not only that, his swing seemed to have become even faster than before.
"Perfect! I have them now!" shouted Laire as she summoned a giant fireball to finish them off.
Jaune responded with a lightning roar from his mouth directly at Laire, forcing her to dissolve her attack as she took the hit and went down. Wong quickly moved back to the group, aiming to kill Laire but unable to as she now had others to defend her. Bal and Hazel stopped fighting and slowly walked back to their respective groups, staring off at each other.
It looked to be a stalemate when Bullheads with more Blood Fang, Drac members, and Grimm come over, surrounding the group.
"It's over!" laughed Adam, "Bal, you should've joined us! A shame a legend like you will die!"
Jaune quickly dove into his bag and grabbed the 5 staffs and threw them around them, creating an impenetrable barrier to protect them.
"What now?" said Sun wearily, looking at all the sneering enemies.
"It seems like this'll be our last stand," said Ren, gripping Stormflowers.
Nora nodded and raised her weapon, ready to fight.
"I'll take a Dragon Seed," said Jaune, "Try to link up with all my dragons. I could get buy us all some time. And I'll have to break the seal over my power. I'll need every bit I can get."
"No," said Wong calmly, "Break the shackles, and you'll never be able to train that way again."
"Better than dying," replied Jaune coolly.
"You will not die," said Wong quietly, "None of you will. You will all see what tomorrow will bring. This I promise."
"But!"
"One more thing."
"W-?"
Jaune didn't get the chance to say anything else as Wong surprised him by spraying something in his face.
"What the he-?"
Wong sprayed a bit more on Jaune's face, making sure the drug worked. Jaune fell asleep in Pyrrha's arms.
"Master Wong!?"
Wong ignored them all before turning to Bal, "Take care of them for me."
"Oi, you're not thinking of staying here alone? I can help out!" The Bear Faunus objected.
"Appreciated, but they need an adult with them. Not to mention, you still have much to look forward to. I'm just an old man looking for a good place to rest and to reunite with my family. Grant this old man his last wish."
Bal looked at the man before sighing, "I don't like it, but I'll do my best. But how are we going to get out of here?"
"I put out the SOS, but those jerks seem to be blocking the signal," piped in Neptune, "Not to mention they're trying to bring the barrier down."
They all looked to see guns firing upon them while other Grimm slashed and growled.
"I have a solution for that," sighed Wong, tapping the floor. Suddenly, the ground turned dark, and all of them found themselves sinking into it slowly.
"This will transport you back to Akai Churippu," smiled Wong sadly, "Unfortunately, I'll have to stay behind."
"No!" shouted Pyrrha, trying to get out of the sinking ooze, "Come with us! We can take care of them all! Jaune can use the Dragon Seed to beat them!"
Wong shook his head, "It would be poor manners to have my student to save us all when this was my responsibility. Not to mention, who knows how long it would take for Jaune to go full power. I don't think the barrier would hold long enough before even more of their reinforcements arrive. I have already decided this would be my last trip. Go home. Back to where you all belong. To see that bright future. Pyrrha, be sure to bring those neat staffs with you. Thank you all for giving this old fool a chance to prove himself."
As they continued to sink into the oozing floor, Pyrrha used her semblance to latch onto the metallic rings on the five staffs that Jaune had put back at school. As they all sink down so that only Pyrrha's hand was still above the floor, she summoned them back to hand, taking them with her.
"One more thing," said Wong, "Don't ever let your precious people die."
"Get them!" shouted Adam, pointing to the disappearing bodies as the barrier disappeared
Many dived forward, trying to grab Pyrrha's hand to drag her out, but it was too late. All but Wong had disappeared.
"Well, leassst we get to play and kill with the old one," hissed Cobra, "What are you going to do? Maybe if you beg, we'll give you a quick but painful death, rather than a ssssslow and extremely painful one."
"Begging has never been my style, freak," scoffed Wong as he slowly pulled out a small pill.
"Oh? Going to poison yourself?" asked Mercury, snickering at the possibility.
"In a sense, yes," smiled Wong as he put the pill in his mouth, confusing them all.
Hazel, however, quickly understood what Wong was doing and shouted "Stop him!"
Grimm Beowolves charged forward, along with both Alpha and Mutant varieties. As they all almost touched Wong, covering everyone's view of him, he gulped down the pill. A second later, all the Grimm suddenly died from a very loud spin attack from Wong.
"What!? HOW!?" they all shouted as they stared at a much younger Wong with blood red hair and skin.
"Don't feel like explaining," said Wong as he lifted his sword, "Just die."
Insert OST Farewell to Heroes
The Grimm roared and charged to meet the challenge, only to be killed as Wong bellowed and charged towards Laire. Beowolves and Panthera died at by his giant blade. As he stabbed an Ursa Major in the stomach, two Hyaenida leaped to bit him. Wong clicked a hidden button in his sword and split his sword into two, one white and one black, cutting the Ursa's stomach wide open and decapitating the Hyaenida in one move. The Blood Fang members began to fire their guns at Wong, only for him to slash the bullets away as he charged towards the shooters.
"Get away!"
"Back UP!"
"DEMON!"
Wong descended upon them to deliver carnage they so desired, except they were at the receiving end.
One of them grabbed a thick shield as Wong's dual blade clashed into them. The defender felt his muscles burn as he felt it clash twice before Wong used it as a stepping platform to jump over and kill more of his cohorts.
"Bastard!" roared the Faunus as he tried to attack Wong's back. Wong immediately turned around for a slash. The defender put up his shield thinking, that if he could time it right, then when the dual blades hit, he could push them back to leave Wong helpless. But the blade cleaved right through his shield and body as Wong completed his stroke. As the defender fell to the ground, his last thoughts were on when did Wong put his blades together again into a greatsword, adding more weight to cut through.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" shouted Adam as he charged forward when Wong turned a shot an even bigger blade beam at him.
Adam raised up Wilt from his scabbard/shotgun Blush, thinking to absorb the attack to turn it against him when he found himself struggling to keep his feet on the ground. To make it worse, Wong changed up to dual blades and fired a cross blade beam attack at him. Unable to contain it all, Adam was sent flying backward into several trees, losing consciousness with his Aura shot and gashes on his chest.
"How is he so strong!?" freaked out Mercury.
"That pill," answered Hazel, "It was a pill developed by Atlas and Shade long ago, to find a drug booster to allow people to fight beyond their limits."
"And why isn't it popular?" asked Mercury, "Getting a boost like that would help a lot!"
"Not only was the recipe lost, but the user has to exchange his life for this power. He is using his life energy just to fight beyond his usual capacity. To say it is poison isn't far off. Not only that, it is said that while he is in such an empowered state, his body is burning from the inside out, torturing him with pain beyond belief. I recall not only does it use herbs, but also purified dust, such as lightning Dust to enhance his nervous system. There are even rumors that essence of Grimm was used."
"So we can just wait it out? Maybe just run away?"
"Yes, but he will not allow that. In the hands of a civilian, the person can become as strong as the most Huntsmen. However, in the hands of such a skilled opponent as him, it's ill-advised to outrun him, as he will be able to chase us down while our back is turned and tired. The best solution is to kill him as fast as possible, force him to use as much energy he has left."
"That's not much relief," gulped Mercury as he saw several more killed before his eyes.
"Bah, whoever hasss the longer range winss!" shouted Cobra as he thrust his spear towards at Wong, who dodged it. Cobra grinned as he flicked his wrist, causing his weapon to change into a whip snake and bite down on Wong's wrist, injecting poison into the bloodstream.
"You'll die faster, so just-?!"
Cobra was suddenly pulled forward as Wong let go of his sword, gripping the snakehead and pulling Cobra forward right into his fist. Detaching the bite from his wrist, Wong gave a viscous rib crushing left kick at Cobra's ribs. Cobra coughed up blood and tried to punch him, only for Wong to suddenly jump and spin, dodging the punch before launching a capoeira heel kick to the collarbone. As soon as Wong landed, he spun the opposite direction and with closed beak hand, stabbed Cobra in the ears and disorienting him. Without mercy, Wong punched the same ear 5 more times before grabbing Cobra by the head and spun him towards the ground until his head was trapped between his thighs and left hand holding his chin. Wong clenched his right fist loaded with Aura and punched Cobra in the face. This punch wasn't normal, however. The technique not only involved exploding the Aura upon impact, but the punch itself involved a two-step process. The fist was shaped so the proximal interphalangeal joints hit the target first. Then, within the same time frame, fold the hand so proximal phalanx knuckles hit the same area. All matter bear some form of resistance, so a single blow impact would hit such resistance. However, with this technique, the first hit from the proximal interphalangeal joint would meet and weaken the initial resistance. The second hit within the time frame would hit, meeting no resistance and dealing pure damage to the object. Add the fact that Wong could time his Aura at both moments made it even deadlier.
Wong smacked Cobra four more times in the face with the same technique before letting go to dodge a spear stab. Cobra's eyes rolled back to his head, his Aura, nose, teeth, and some parts of his skull shattered.
"You bastard!" shouted a Drac follower, this one clearly much stronger than the rest. He was second in command after Cobra, wielding a six foot spear, aka commander.
Using his range, he attacked rapidly, stabbing and swinging his spear to show he was no pushover. Not only that, Wong started to cough up blood.
"I win!" shouted the man, thinking it was his chance.
Wong suddenly split his sword into two and threw the white blade the commander. The commander blocked the blade sending it upwards. He grinned as he thought Wong was desperate when he noticed the blade didn't have the hilt, as if it had been detached. Wong jumped into the air and stabbed the airborne white blade with the black blade while attaching the hilt of the white blade to the hilt of the black blade. The blades connected to produce a long sword as Wong slashed down. Thinking he had the advantage in range, the commander spun his spear and slashed down.
The air stilled as they both completed their attack. The spear had grazed Wong's nose and body. The commander grinned before his vision split in half. Slowly, he slumped onto the floor, his whole body bisected in half as blood spilled everywhere. Wong's longsword transformation was seven foot, a whole foot longer than the commander's spear.
Without hesitation, Wong attacked, cutting down a Grimm Beringel before they could even come close to use their fists and strength. A Deathstalker and King Taijuta appeared, trying to sting and bite him. Wong easily decapitated the head of the King Taijuta and spun, dodging the stinger. As he did, he flicked his wrist, detaching the white blade from the black blade while simultaneously splitting his hilt once more. His left hand shot forward, catching the white blade with its original hilt to form a sword once more before crossing blades at the stinger and severing it. The Deathstalker squealed in pain, but it was silenced as Wong kicked the stinger up, connecting his two blades once more to a greatsword and used it as a bat, smashing the stinger into the Deathstalker's brain.
"Enough! I will not be humiliated like this!" cried out Laire as she floated in the air, orange flames around her eyes. She shot a stream of fire at Wong, who dodged it before dashing forward towards her. Mercury began to fire to provide backup, but Wong easily dodged those as well as other fireballs from Laire. Hazel stood in front of him, ready to fight. Wong roared as he raised his blade up in the air and slashed down. Hazel had positioned his body so his right side was facing Wong and launched a double fist attack towards the blade. The result was a great clash as the ground beneath Hazel gave way, creating a crater beneath him. Hazel gritted his teeth as he strained to keep the blade up, using his muscles and Aura. Wong quickly split it into two blades once more, and with the white blade still in the same position, he used the black blade and swung horizontally. Hazel's eyes widened, but keeping his cool, he pushed the white blade away and raised his left forearm. The black blade met Aura before cutting through to flesh. But Hazel had predicted this and met the blade with his right fist, preventing it from cutting further in. Then he clenched his left arm muscles tightly, preventing Wong from taking his blade out.
This allowed Mercury to land a kick to Wong's stomach, followed by a flurry of kicks as Wong shot up into the air. As he reached the apex of his launch, Mercury fired a specialized blast from his new boots, one that would surely extinguish Wong for good. But to his surprise, Wong raised his black sword, and with a roar, swung it forward. The result was his whole body shooting forward towards Laire. The jump force had been equal to the gravity force at the apex, and with it, Wong was able to launch in any direction he wanted with brute strength and timing.
"Stay away!" shouted Laire as she summoned shards of ice and fired them at Wong. Wong ignored all the hits that shredded his body, focusing only on Laire.
"DIE!"
Laire summoned a giant fireball and fired it, and then raised the earth in front of her to protect her. Wong spun, slashing the fireball and earth wall in half before stabbing Laire in the stomach.
"No... I can't die! Not like this!" cried Laire.
"Goodbye," said Wong as he began to slice upwards, both hands on the hilt of his sword.
Suddenly, a flash of light along with the sound of a sword being drawn could be heard, and Wong found himself handless. He glanced over to see Adam had woken up and charged forward and sliced his hands from a bit of distance. Laire blasted Wong away from her before dragging the blade off her stomach, spitting out blood. She seared the wounds and threw the blade at Wong, who dodged it.
"You are without hands to hold your blades now," commented Hazel as he jerked the black blade off his hands and threw it in front of Wong. Both blades were now stuck in the ground in front of him, hilt upward. "You would do best to surrender, and you have earned my respect, so your death will be a quick one."
"Not that quick," sneered Mercury, glancing at all the dead Grimm, Blood Fang, and Drac group, "He allowed Jaune and the others to escape from our grasp. No doubt they'll let that group know we have the Fall Maiden."
He walked up, grinning and ready to take the Wong's head off with his kick.
"Do not think he is helpless, even without arms," warned Hazel, but it was too late. Wong, without any hesitation, stabbed his handless arms into the hilts of each blade before using his Aura to trigger a hidden function within the blade. Spikes sprouted forth from the hilt, ripping his flesh but trapping it into his arms. The blade's burned with fire from the dust compartment within the hilts, searing his wounds and halting the bleeding. He now had two blades for hands now.
"Oh that's just sick!" shouted Mercury as he dodged a blade slash from Wong and tried to kick him in the head. Wong leaned back and crossed his blades right on the right foot of Mercury.
"Oh no," paled Mercury.
Wong replied by cutting Mercury's right prosthetic foot off. He was blindsided by Hazel punching him in the ribs, destroying the bottom ribs. As Wong flew to the side, a Grimm Panthera bit down and ripped half his stomach and kidney away. As Wong's vision began to fade, he focused on one objective. Bringing the new Maiden down. He charged forward like a berserker, ignoring the shouts and gunshots that tore through his body. Other obstacles like Grimm or Faunus or human all died in his path as he slashed through them, heading for Laire.
"No! NO! DIE!" shrieked Laire as mustered all her Aura and fired a stream of scorching hot fire right into Wong. Wong didn't bother to dodge and ran headfirst right in.
Laire kept it up, not even relenting even for a moment for fear of death. As soon as she finished using her Aura, Wong appeared before her, scorched and suffering from what seemed to be fourth and fifth-degree burns. His blade halted inches away from the quivering Laire, just centimeters from touching her skin. For what seemed to be forever, Wong slowly glanced at Adam, who was flat on the floor and glaring at him.
"You've gotten stronger, little one," mouthed Wong towards Adam, who looked at him in complete confusion and shock at this.
Wong slowly slumped forward, unable to move any longer. The poison from the pill and Cobra had finally taken over and consumed his life.
"Ha... HAHAHA!" laughed Laire maniacally, "Die you arrogant bastard, die like the scum you are! All alone and failing! I'll take your blades as trophies, and maybe even use them on those brats! The look on their faces when I slice them with their mentor's blade!"
Laire was about to take one of the blades when Hazel's hand stopped her.
"Leave it. We need to go now. We stay here longer, we risk failing the mission entirely." He told her.
"Fine," scoffed Laire, "You. Faunus pig. Take the blade with me."
Adam scowled at her attitude but picked himself up slowly before glancing at Wong. Why had he said such a thing? Did he know him? He put those questions for later, focusing on getting back to base. One of the Faunus was about to take the blade when Hazel stopped her.
"We leave the body and blade untouched. This one has fought honorably. The least we can do is to let nature take care of his body and blade. If anyone tries to take his blade while I'm here, I'll personally feed them to the Grimm spawning pools."
"But!"
"No! I don't care about your imagination. Leave. It. Alone."
With that final statement, everyone nodded in understanding before gathering up once more. They quickly took the airships and left.
The incident with the Fall Maiden was not just an isolated one. Though Jaune and the others had walked in on Salem's faction cornering and stealing the Fall Maiden's power, back at on Sanus, the other Maidens had been found.
Near Vacuo, isolated settlement many miles from it.
"No, please!" begged a tan girl with pink hair.
"You have a power that doesn't belong to you," sneered another tan girl with black hair and orange stripes hair, along with tiger ears. This was Jazz Misae, and with her group, they had captured the Summer Maiden.
As she put on the glove that was to drain the Summer Maiden of her power, someone stopped her.
"Orders from Salem. We can't use the glove to steal the power. You'll have to do the transfer the natural way."
Jazz looked up to see Emerald on her Scroll. Emerald had changed completely. She had changed her hairstyle to mimic Cinder's and even wore the same red dress as hers, with some minor adjustments. She still wore pants and holsters, though in crimson red.
"And pray tell, why?" asked Jazz.
"Mistress Salem says that there are potential Silver Eye users. If done via Grimm drain, it could be a fatal weakness to you. I've received word that Laire has done it, but was given no choice as other people tried to intervene. They had to do snag and go. Here, we have all the time to drag her back to a secret location and torture her to become your slave before killing her."
"Hmmm, if you say so," smiled Jazz, looking at the Summer Maiden, "Here that? You get to be my little slave. I wonder what I can do to break your spirit before you call my master."
"I'll never do that," snarled the maiden, her eyes glowing in pink flame.
"Oh, I wouldn't be sure about that," smirked Jazz, "We have many ways of breaking souls. Emerald here is very capable in that field."
A bullhead pulled up from the sky, and a few moments later, they were gone, taking the maiden with them.
South of Vale, roughly 100 miles.
Another group had captured the Spring Maiden. The Spring Maiden struggled with all her might, her eyes glowing with green flames as she summoned tornadoes to blow her enemies away, but she was soon hit by a sound cannon, followed by multiple arrows to the back. The captors lifted her up and chained her to a metal pole, where it sealed her Aura. Her tan skin was marred by blood while her smooth brown hair was frizzled.
"You're part of Salem's group, aren't you!?" shouted the Spring Maiden, trying to break free.
They were all carrying the green dragon badge, signifying they were part of the cult that worshipped Drac, while a few of them were part of the Blood Fang. Around them were dead bodies of bandits that had tried to protect her. None of the captors knew why the bandits were trying to protect her, except for the fact that she was the Spring Maiden.
"When will Briar Rora arrive?" asked one of the grunts, kicking the head of a one-eyed bandit, "It's annoying to listen to her."
"Think we can have some fun with her before we have to give her up?"
"I think we do! I call first dibs!"
The Spring Maiden's eyes widened as he saw the lust on the man's eye as he approached her, his fingers dancing and twitching in the universal sign that he was going to grope her. She glared at the man defiantly before opening her eyes in shock. The man suddenly stopped, his eyes rolling up before slumping down dead. A bullet had shot right through his brain from the side.
"What?!"
There was a symphony of gunshots, and more of them found themselves dead or seriously injured. The Spring Maiden gaped in shock as she witnessed bullets bypassing Aura defenses as if it didn't exist, not even shattering it.
A man with a cloak stepped forth into view, revealing his one good eye as he stared at his victims with extreme prejudice.
"No... Please! Spare me!" begged a female Faunus with dog ears.
The man ignored her pleading and shot her in the head.
"You! You're Ezekial Liu-Wang! The enemy of Drac!" shouted another one.
Seeing as this one was a Drac follower, Ezekial decided for a more hands on approached and grabbed the man by the throat. The spikes in his glove broke through skin as the victim found it very hard to breathe as Ezekial introduced many new holes to his throat. Ezekial finished it with a palm strike to the right eye and turned to the others as the man silently screamed in pain about his right eye, but unable to articulate as his throat had been slashed.
The rest followed the man to the gates of Hell as Drac executed all but one. As soon as he finished, he glanced at the Spring Maiden for a second before completely ignoring her, going for the last victim, a follower of Drac. He intended to interrogate his last victim for any hints of their main base.
"Wait!" shouted the Spring Maiden, "Get me out of this at least! If it's true, then Salem's cohorts will be here to steal my power to use for her!"
"And why does this matter to me?" asked Ezekial, "I care not for this Salem character. She can do whatever she wants. I only desire the destruction of all traces of the dragons, especially the cult of Drac."
The Spring Maiden's mind raced through for a bit before asking, "Even though Salem has allied herself with such a group?"
Ezekial slowly turned his good eye towards her, causing her to shiver a bit before continuing, "Salem is hunting down the Maiden's power, and from what I can tell, those people that you killed were working for her. Will you allow them to achieve their goals?"
Ezekial stared at her for a bit before pulling out his gun and pointed at her, "Then should I just kill you to prevent her from getting it?"
The Spring Maiden winced at that thought before admitting the truth, "Technically yes, but the power would just transfer into some poor girl without any training, and Salem would just track them down. Would you really condemn another life to be hunted? Or would you just free me?"
Ezekial stared at the Spring Maiden, causing her to sweat from nervousness. Ezekial finally made a decision and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed her cheek and crashed into the pole. The pole short-circuited, allowing her to feel her Aura well up within her once more. She quickly burned the chains off, palming her wrists to see if there were any marks.
"There. You're free to go," said Ezekial, turning around to drag his victim.
"Oh no you don't!" said the Spring Maiden as she suddenly grabbed him by his cloak, "I'm Natia Idoya, and you need to protect me from Salem until I'm fully healed. I have a cave not far from here with food and water, as well as a place for you to interrogate him."
"I don't need your help," snarled Ezekial, "I should've just killed you if you were going to be this annoying. I'm not hungry!"
Right after that, his stomach growled. He looked down to his traitorous stomach, reminding himself he really didn't need food.
"Too bad! It's your duty as a man to make sure I'm alright," said Natia as she dragged him to her cave, along with the helpless victim.
Ezekial could only sigh, "Fine. One day. Then you're on your own."
Twenty minutes later, Briar Rora appeared with her group, a young woman with dirty blonde hair and heterochromatic red and purple eyes appeared at the location just to see dead bodies and no Spring Maiden. She roared in anger before they quickly departed back to base.
Gasp! An all out attack by Salem on the Maidens! 2 of them now captured/taken, one in a hidden place, and the last one was rescued by an unlikely ally. Anyone wanna guess who Natia Idoya is supposed to be? I know technically it should be Vernal, but I wrote/planned this out way before the episode introduced her. Didn't want to change it. Also, anyone want to give a guess for Bal Bloo? Should be obvious.
And what does that gaze mean for Adam and Wong!? Find out soon :)
Hope you guys weren't too attached to Wong. He was my OC and I just killed him off! No, he will not be making a comeback into the story. Hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter.
So Raven the spring maiden and she can transform? So she's technically more powerful than a regular Maiden T.T. Still, would've thought they'd use green fire instead of red based off the story of the maidens and their colors. Fall was orange, and Amber and Cinder's aura glow is orange. So based off that, I thought it be spring=green, summer=red, fall=orange, and winter=blue/white.
So I managed to get Oscar Pine in here too. Yaaa.