Here we are at Chapter 22. This is basically the rest of Vol. 2 chapters 3 & 4 together. Let's see how this plays out, along with that special surprise I mentioned before. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 22. Enjoy.


Chapter 22: The Protective Claw

Ruby and Velvet chase Penny across a street and into an alleyway while the two soldiers are behind them. As they follow Penny, Ruby sees some wooden crates stacked together on a platform. As they run by it, she pulls out her scythe to slice through one of the legs on the platform, causing the whole thing to fall behind them, blocking off the soldiers from catching up to them. As they turn one corner and see Penny in front of them, Ruby jumps up and runs along the side of a wall on her right, using her semblance to catch up to Penny.

"Ruby, wait!" Velvet shouts to her as she tries to catch up.

Ruby gets close to Penny and Ruby then uses her semblance to shoot over to Penny and grabs her around her waist.

"This way!" Ruby says, and then winches as she uses her semblance again to shoot them down another alleyway like a rocket.

At one point, Ruby loses her energy and they drop onto the ground, with Penny stopping while Ruby rolls out onto another street. She slowly sits up and rubs her head until she hears a truck horn behind her and stands up, turning around to see a cargo truck coming at her. Velvet comes around the corner and bolts as fast she can to get to Ruby.

"Ruby!" she yells.

Suddenly, Penny pushes Ruby out of the way, and then holds her hands out, stopping the truck, causing a crater to form in the ground under her and the truck to lift off the ground for a moment. By this point, Velvet reaches Ruby, wrapping her arms around her and checking to make sure she's okay. However, both of them then look on in shock at what Penny did.

"Penny?" Ruby asks, her face filled with worry, and maybe a little fear.

"Are you okay?!" Penny asks the driver, who nods in confirmation. Penny looks at Ruby and Velvet and sees Ruby's scared expression, "Um, uh…" she stutters, looking at her hands.

She looks at other people converging on the scene, looking at her, and then she runs away, pushing past Ruby.

"Penny, come back!" Ruby calls out and they run after her again, leaving the scene as the two soldiers from before arrive on the scene. Penny stops at one point in the alley, and the Ruby and Velvet catch up to her. "Penny! Please, what is going on?! Why are you running?! How did you do THAT?!" Ruby asks, trying to figure out what's going on.

"Come on, you have to tell us what's going on. We can't help unless we know what's going on," Velvet adds.

"I-I can't. Everything's fine *hiccup*. I-I don't want to talk about it *hiccup*!" Penny says, hiccupping as she speaks, crossing her arms and turning her head away.

"Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!" Ruby pleads with her.

"No. No, no. You wouldn't understand," Penny says.

"Then let us TRY to understand. Penny, you can trust us," Velvet says.

"You guys are my friends, right? You promise you're my friends?" Penny pleads, walking up to them.

"I promise," Ruby promises.

"You can tell us," Velvet says.

Penny looks down at her hands, "Ruby…Velvet…I'm NOT a real girl," she admits, showing her palms to reveal METAL parts from underneath the damaged skin.

"…Oh," Ruby utters, completely in shock, while Velvet looks in with her eyes wide. Ruby takes a few moments to takes all this in. "…Penny, I-I don't understand…," Ruby says, trying to cope with she just found out.

"What are you exactly, Penny? I'm not trying to be rude, but I would like to know," Velvet says.

"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura…I'm not real," Penny says, hanging her head.

Ruby reaches out, holding Penny's hands open first, but then closes them while still holding them.

"Of course you're are. You think just because you got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me or Velvet?" Ruby comforts her.

Velvet looks at Ruby, "That's just like her. Typical Ruby," she thinks, smiling.

"I don't, um…You two are taking this extraordinarily well," Penny notes, confused.

"Believe it or not, I've seen crazier things in my time," Velvet says.

"Yeah. Besides, you're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart, and a soul, I can feel it," Ruby says, pointing at Penny's chest where her heart would be.

Penny then grabs the both of them, "Oh, oh, Ruby, Velvet, you two are the best friends anyone could have!" Penny happily says, pulling both of their heads into a tight hug.

"Ugh, too much happy. Can't breathe," Velvet chokes out.

Ruby groans, "I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower," Ruby painfully says.

Penny then releases them, "Oh, he's VERY sweet. My father's the one that built me. I'm sure you would just love him," Penny says.

"Wow, heh-heh. He built you all by himself?" Ruby asks.

"Well almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood," Penny explains.

"That one guy I met back at Beacon?" Velvet wonders.

"The general?...Wait, is that why those soldiers were after you?" Ruby asks.

"They like to protect me too," Penny says.

"You need protection? Not from what I saw back at the docks," Velvet notes.

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet. One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the tournament," Penny says.

"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace," Ruby says, getting confused.

"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said," Penny replies.

"Though I don't really know him, I'm not sure you can believe everything he tells you," Velvet adds.

"Check down here!" they hear the voice of one of the soldiers from earlier nearby.

"You have to hide!" Penny says, grabbing Ruby and picking her up over her head.

"Penny, Gah! What are you doing?! You don't have to go with them, I can help YOU!" Ruby shrieks, flailing around as Penny carries her to a nearby dumpster.

Penny throws her into the dumpster and the lid falls shut. Penny turns around to do the same to Velvet, but finds Velvet is already gone. Seeing as how Velvet is out of sight, Penny goes back to the dumpster, and opens up the lid a little bit to look at Ruby.

"It's okay Ruby. They're not bad people, I just don't want you to get in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone about my secret, okay?" she whispers to her.

"I promise. Velvet promises too," Ruby replies before Penny closes the lid, but Ruby cracks it open a bit.

"There she is!" she hears the soldiers say as they catch up to Penny.

"Sal-u-tations, officers," Penny plays dumb.

"Why were you running? And what happened to the other two that were with you?" One of them asks her.

"What other two people? I've been by myself all day (Hiccup)," Penny lies, making herself hiccup from it and covering her mouth before placing her hands behind her back.

"You shouldn't cause such a scene," one soldier says.

"Are you okay?" the second asks her.

Penny shows them her hands, "Just a scratch," she says, but they get a little worried.

"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this," one soldier says.

"Please, just come with us," the other asks her.

"Yes sir," Penny replies, and they then walk away.

When the coast is clear, Ruby lifts the lid up and climbs out of the dumpster just as Velvet jumps down in front of her.

"Velvet, where did you hide?" she asks.

"I have my ways," Velvet replies, and then out of nowhere, wraps her arms around Ruby.

"V-Velvet?!" Ruby gasps in surprise, blushing.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to you in time before the truck almost hit you. I was worried you'd get hurt. I'm just glad you weren't hurt. Don't scare me like that again, okay?" she says.

Ruby returns the hug, "Okay. I'm sorry for worrying you, Velvet," Ruby says and separates from Velvet, though their arms remain around each other so they could look each other in the eye. Ruby starts to blush as she stares into Velvet's eyes. "Her eyes really are beautiful…" she thinks until suddenly her scroll starts ringing, knocking the two of them out of their stupor, and quickly separating from each other. "Uh, I-I better c-check that," she stutters and opens up her scroll, showing Weiss on the other end. "Weiss, what's up? Did you make your call?" she asks.

"Of course I did. It would have gone better if you two had been there, like we planned back at Beacon," Weiss berates them.

"Cool it, Ice Queen," Velvet says.

"Hey!" Weiss retorts.

"You got the records, and that's all that matters. Let's just hope the others were able to get something on their ends as well. Just as planned, we'll meet you over near Yang with the others. See you later," she says and Ruby hangs up before Weiss could get a word in.

Later that night, Ruby and Velvet are on their way to Yang's when they get another call on Ruby's scroll, this time from Blake.

"Blake, what's up?" Ruby asks.

"Big killer robot! And it's big! REALLY BIG!" Sun suddenly yells from the other end.

"Oh, I am NOT missing this. Let's go Velvet!" Ruby says and they both go to help their friends.

The two race across town as they get closer to the highway. Ruby then calls Weiss on her scroll.

"Weiss, I need you to get that robot off the highway and away from the civilians. Think you can manage that?" she asks.

Weiss scoffs, "Of course I can. Who do you think you're talking to," she replies.

Ruby hangs up and looks at Velvet, "From what I can tell, Torchwick is chasing Blake and Sun across the highway. Once Weiss gets into position, she'll get it off and down to our level. Get ready for a big fight!" she says, to which Velvet nods.

They prepare their weapons and then see Weiss jump off one highway and land on another one below it. A moment later, they see a giant robot, the Atlesian Paladin fall through the side of the highway and onto the ground in front of them. Quickly after that, the rest of the team land right beside them, ready to fight.

"FREEZERBURN!" Ruby commands Yang and Weiss' combo move before she and the others jump out of their way.

Yang jumps straight into the air while Weiss stabs her sword into the ground and making another floor of ice. Yang cocks her right shotgun gauntlet while Weiss jumps out of the way and then she slams her fiery fist into the ice, exploding and making a dense fog appear in the area. The Paladin's multiple sensors activate, showing red targeting beams that start scanning the area and the mech slowly walks deeper into the fog. Roman looks around, not noticing Velvet running behind him in the fog. Blake the quickly moves past Roman's left, then Ruby zooms past his right side. Roman begins to turn left, and starts firing at Yang and Weiss as they run by, but only hits the ground. He then fires again at Yang and Blake, but misses, and then Ruby appears out from the explosion, charging right at him and hits the mech dead center before bouncing backwards. Velvet approaches from his left flank and jumps up, spinning her blade around as she lands a few strikes on his side before jumping away.

"CHECKMATE!" Ruby signals Weiss and Blake's combo attack.

Blake and Weiss appear by her side before they charge at the mech, slashing their swords at its legs a few times, before Weiss jumps up and stabs one of its sensors, rendering it useless, before forming a glyph under her feet and back-flipping away. The mech goes to squash Blake under its right foot, but Weiss makes another glyph under Blake, pulling her away before it could crush her. Growling, Roman activates the Paladin's rocket launchers, firing off several missiles at Blake and Weiss. Weiss and Blake back-flip away several times to avoid the missiles. The two then jump into the air. Roman fires off his energy cannons, which hit Weiss in mid-air while Blake lands on the ground. While flying back in the air, Weiss sends a time dilation glyph to form under Blake's feet, and then hits the ground. The glyph starts spinning faster, giving Blake a major increase in her speed. Yang and Velvet run by her.

"HELL FIRE!" Ruby calls out Yang and Velvet's combo.

The two run at Roman in a pincer strike, firing off their weapons at him from his flanks. When they get close, Velvet activates her demon claw and jumps up. Yang goes and punches the machine's legs while Velvet struck the machine's head (well, sort of its head), causing it to get knocked off its feet and fall onto the ground. Roman works the controls to get the machine up as the two jump back and fires off several more missiles at Blake. However, thanks to Weiss' glyph, Blake starts slashing purple crescent waves of energy at them, slicing the missiles in half. She makes a series of incredibly fast slashes, cutting the missiles as she lands on her feet, with many explosions occurring behind her. After her little show, Ruby then runs behind her.

"LADYBUG!" Ruby calls out her and Blake's combo move.

Ruby fires her scythe behind her, shooting her at the mech as she hooks her scythe on is crotch, slicing it as she zooms past it. She then fires her scythe again, sending her back at it while Blake then runs at the mech from her side. The two crisscross the mech four times while slashing at its legs before it spins around to fire its energy guns at Ruby behind it. Ruby and Blake jump up to avoid it, and then Roman looks up to see them diving down at him. When they get close, they slice off the mech's left arm. However, the mech manages to aim its arm at Ruby and fires off its cannon, hitting her and sending her to the ground. Roman then fires off several more missiles, all aimed at Ruby.

"RUBY!" Velvet yells, and without thinking, swings her demon claw as energy pulsed around it, sending a sudden burst of energy towards Ruby.

Ruby closes her eyes as the missiles close in and hears explosions around her. However, when she realizes that she doesn't feel any pain or heat around her, she opens her eyes and gasps in shock. In front of her is a larger, detached version of Velvet's claw, with the fingers wrapped halfway around Ruby like a protective shield. Everyone stares in shock, and then Velvet slowly looks at her claw.

"That wasn't one of my usual abilities, nor something I did with Dust…That must've been…My semblance," she realizes.

Roman grits his teeth and fires more missiles, this time at Velvet. Velvet swings her arm again and creates another claw shield to block the attack. She jumps over the shield and fires off some shots as she runs over to Ruby.

"Are you okay?!" she asks, worried.

Ruby stands up, "Yeah, I'm fine," she replies and they both look back as Roman comes near them and prepares to throw a punch at them.

However, Yang suddenly pushes them out of the way and gets punched through two support beams before falling onto the ground.

"YANG!" Blake call out as she comes up beside Ruby and Velvet.

"Don't worry," Ruby starts as Yang slowly gets up. "With each hit, she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special," Ruby explains Yang's semblance as Yang gets back on her feet, her hair glowing brightly from the added power.

Roman's Paladin walks up to Yang as Yang clenches her left fist. Roman throws another right punch at her, but Yang blocks the attack with her arms, causing a shockwave that destroys the ground behind her. Roman growls as Yang lifts her head, growling and with her eyes now in their crimson red color. She yells while thrusting her left fist at the mech, obliterating its remaining arm. However, Roman retaliates by kicking Yang away with the mech's left leg, making her fly by in between Ruby and Blake.

"BUMBLEBEE!" Ruby calls out Yang and Blake's combo.

Blake changes her sword into its chain-scythe form and throws it at Yang. Yang catches it, twists her body in the air before landing on her feet, and starts running in a wide circle, firing her gauntlets to give her an extra push. Blake pulls her around, and Yang goes to strike Torchwick, but his mech jumps back to avoid her attack.

"We have to slow it down!" Ruby says as Weiss comes up.

"And HOW do you propose we do that?!" Weiss asks.

"…ICE FLOWER!" Ruby calls out her and Weiss' combo.

Roman looks on as Ruby spins her scythe before stabbing the blade into the ground with the barrel aimed at him while Weiss conjures up some glyphs in front of her. Meanwhile, Velvet takes out two ice Dust crystals and absorbs them, coating her demon claw in ice. Ruby fires her rounds through Weiss' glyphs, turning them into ice rounds that explode into ice shards as they hit the Paladin, while Velvet fires off a large ice shard that consumes the mech's lower body in ice. The combined assault freezes the mech in place, rendering it immobile. Blake then spins Yang around again, her hair now on fire, and when Yang gets close, she slams her right into the mech, sending it flying. When it hits the ground, it breaks apart into many small pieces, leaving Roman Torchwick exposed as he rolls on the ground before getting back onto his feet.

"Just got this thing cleaned!" Roman says as he wipes off the dust on his sleeves.

He looks over to Yang and she fires a shot at him, but the shot gets blocked by a short girl using an umbrella as a shield. The girl has hair that's half pink, half brown, and having white streaks in the pink half. She has heterochromia, with her left eye being pink and her right eye being brown. She is wearing a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and gray boots with very high heels. Under her jacket is a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also has on multiple beaded necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. Her umbrella is elaborately decorated in lace fabric with multiple colors, being mostly pink and white (in the middle) as well as red and brown (at the edges) and is somewhat translucent. Neo rests her umbrella on her right shoulder, smiling all the while as the team runs up to them.

"Ladies, Ice Queen," Roman says, the last part aimed at Weiss.

"Hey!" Weiss retorts.

"Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would," Roman waves at them before turning to Neo.

Neo politely bows to the two teams. Yang readies her weapons and run at the two. But, as she strikes at them with her left fist, Neo blocks the attack with her umbrella, and then she and Roman shatter like glass, escaping from harm. She looks up to her left to see Roman and Neo escaping in a bullhead airship, the side door closing as they get away. The rest of the team runs up beside her.

"Damn! He got away again," Velvet says in frustration.

"So I guess he got a new henchman," Yang notes.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans…fall apart," Weiss says, snickering at her attempt to make a pun.

However, Ruby just stares at her while Blake walks away, and Velvet facepalms.

"No, just no," Yang criticizes Weiss' terrible pun.

"What-but you do it," Weiss retorts, hand on her hips.

"There's a time and a place for jokes," Yang explains, hands on her hips.

"Was this not it?" Weiss asks.

"No, it just wasn't very good," Yang replies before walking away.

"Well, at least I'm trying," Weiss says before following them.

"Wait…where are Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asks, noticing the two other boys still gone.

Velvet shrugs her shoulders, "Who knows. I'm sure they're alright…maybe," she says and leaves as well.

Yang looks back at her, "Well, anyway, thanks for saving my sister Velvet. When did you learn to do that cool move of yours, anyway?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm curious about it as well," Weiss adds.

"Honestly, this was the first time I used it. Didn't even know I had it, but I'm glad it came when it did. Guess I'm getting stronger with my semblance," she says as she stares at her right arm.

"Well, I thought it was pretty cool. You're really full of surprises, huh," Yang notes.

Ruby walks up next to Velvet, "Thanks for saving me Velvet," she says, smiling at her.

Velvet manages a small smile back, "Always. I told you as much, didn't I?" Velvet replies.

Ruby lightly blushes at this, but still smiles, "Yeah…You did," she says.


And now Velvet's true semblance has been revealed. After going through all the ideas that people gave to me in the past, and thinking about it, this is what I came up with, though no one directly came up with this one. It was inspired by all the defense ideas I got. Thank you to all who gave me the ideas to help make this semblance a reality. Roman got away. What awaits our team as Ruby and Velvet grow closer together? Until then, please Read and Review.