Here we are at Chapter 58. Let's see how the gang is doing since the last chapter. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 58. Enjoy.
Chapter 58: Making Progress
In the forests of Anima, Ruby and her group continue their trek to Mistral, along with Magilou. It has been some time since they left the village of Higanbana and were able to rest inside a building rather than out in the wild, which was a nice relief.
"Can I ask you something, Magilou?" Jaune asks out of the blue.
"What is it?" Magilou asks, twirling one of her cards above her left index finger.
"How are you able to do…all those things that you do? I mean, I get it if it was your semblance, but I've never heard of a semblance that allows you to do so many different things. From your cards, to those flames and all that flying around. It's just like something you would read out of a comic book," Jaune says.
"I told you, I'm a witch. I have many magnificent powers. Also, as they say, a magician never reveals their secrets," Magilou replies.
"Wait, then which one are you, a witch or a magician?" Ruby asks, confused.
"A witch, the second one was just a figure of speech. Besides, magicians are nothing compared to a mighty sorceress like myself," Magilou replies.
"Sorceress? Now you're making it even more confusing. Pick a side already!" Nora retorts.
"Oh, my amazement and beauty are lost on these poor, young souls. What is a fair maiden to do?" Magilou plays it off dramatically.
Jaune groans, "We are so off topic now," he mutters, hunching over.
"Come on, no need to get so down, blondie. We still have a ways to go before we reach this Haven place of yours. Although personally, I wouldn't mind hitting a spa along the way. I mean, I travel a lot, but when the weather gets rough, it's killer on my delicate skin," Magilou replies.
"I doubt we'll find anything like that outside the kingdom. Maybe you'll find one when we reach Mistral, though that won't be for some time," Ren notes.
Magilou groans, "Well, that sucks," she replies as they keep walking through the wilderness.
…
In Atlas, Weiss and Eleanor are boarding an Atlas Military airship set to take them to Patch. As they board they look back to see General Ironwood seeing them off. He gives them a simple salute and they nod to him in return before they enter the ship. The ship's doors close and it takes off into the skies.
"Well, at least we got a ship. That was much easier than I thought it would be. I thought we would have to stow away on one," Eleanor notes as she looks out the side windows in the cargo hold.
Weiss sits on a supply crate, holding her suitcase, "Yeah, of course, this part will be a lot easier than what comes next," she notes solemnly.
Eleanor stares at her as Zaveid appears next to her, "What are you talking about? You're finally free from that deadbeat dad of yours, and you're getting to chance to be reunited with your girlfriend. I really don't see the issue here," Zaveid says.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't seen nor spoken to Yang in MONTHS. And the last time we were together, she was unconscious, with a missing arm, and I just…wasn't there. I won't stop from seeing her again, but I highly doubt she'll be happy to see me after I left her in such a manner. I might as well have broken up with her, and done so through a text message! Hell, I'll be lucky if she just punches me in the face straight through a wall!" Weiss complains.
Eleanor goes to stand in front of Weiss, "…And yet, you're still going to see her anyway. You're prepared to face the consequences of your actions. Not many people have that kind of courage or strength. Velvet was like that once. She accepted that she wasn't a good person, and that a lot of innocent people were or will be harmed because of her actions. And yet, she still walked the path that she believed in. She was ready to face what lied ahead of her on her path, even if it meant putting herself in greater danger, or even at the cost of her own life. You and Velvet have that in common," she notes.
Weiss chuckles a bit, "Heh, truth be told, I owe Velvet quite a bit. If it wasn't for her, I would've been a lot worse than how I am now as a person. I was letting so much junk that I got from my father and from my earlier experiences in Atlas cloud my judgement, making me blind to what's truly important. But Velvet knocked some sense into me, in more ways than one. And it's not just her, it was all of my teammates. They helped me become a better person, so now I have to be there for them. Even if it will be difficult, I am Weiss Schnee. I decide my own path from now on," she says.
Eleanor giggles a bit, "You kind of sound like my friend, Eizen. He always believed in following his own path in life as well, his own creed. Maybe you'll get the chance to meet him when we reach Yang. I can assure you that he's not as bad as he looks," Eleanor notes.
"Yeah, in fact Eizen and I are old buddies. We've had a few fights when we first got to know each other, but then again, I've always loved a good brawl. We'd fight for fun, we'd talk, and sometimes we would drink so much that we couldn't stand back up. Heh-heh-heh, it's been a lot of fun. He's a good guy. He made me realize a few things too," Zaveid adds.
Weiss smiles a bit, "I see. He sounds like a splendid man. I remember Velvet telling me about him. It sounds off that someone like him would be called 'the Reaper'," she notes.
"Yeah, well, that Reaper's Curse of his can be a real pain in the butt. But, you get used to it. If you ask me, it just makes things more interesting. Nothing more annoying than a boring, uneventful life, huh," Zaveid notes.
…
Speaking of said Reaper, back in Patch, Yang trains outside her home, with Eizen as her training partner, and her father and Zwei watching from the sidelines. They had only been training for a short while now since Yang put on her arm, and immediately, the two adults could see how rusty Yang's combat skills have gotten since Beacon. Yang runs at Eizen, throwing a few punches at him, but he easily steps away from each strike. When Yang goes for a spin kick, Eizen grabs her leg and swings her into a tree. Yang growls as she gets back up, and goes in for another attack on Eizen. The Reaper conjures an arte, creating stone pillars to shoot up around him to block her punches, and then punches through them, sending out rocks and debris at Yang. Yang blocks the counter attack with her arms, but that leaves her open for a hard uppercut to her stomach by Eizen. Yang gasps for air, but then Eizen throws her into the air. He jumps up after her and conjures up a fire arte, sending a ball of fire at her that makes her crash into the ground. Eizen lands in front of her and crosses his arms.
"Is that all you got? I can tell that you haven't practiced your fighting skills in months. If you're going to get back out in the world, you need to knock the rust off and get back in fighting shape, and soon," Eizen criticizes her performance.
Yang groans as she slowly gets onto her hands and knees, "In case you hadn't noticed, I had been short one arm for several months. Kind of hard to practice fighting with just one arm," Yang retorts.
"Velvet told you about her past, correct?" Eizen asks, and Yang nods. "Then I'm sure she told you that her brother-in-law, Artorius, was a master swordsman. Even after he lost the use of his right arm, he trained with just his left arm and became a master swordsman once again. If he could do that, then you should at least be able to know how to throw a proper punch with just one arm," Eizen says.
Yang groans and slowly gets back on her feet, "Okay, so I'm off my game. Think you could at least even the odds a bit by not doing all that hocus-pocus stuff you do with the rocks and fire and everything else?" she asks.
"I could…" Eizen begins, before he suddenly does a flash step and is right behind Yang, throwing a left hook that knocks her back onto the ground. "But then it would take more time for you to get back into tip-top shape. And we don't just don't have that kind of time right now," he says, flipping his coin.
Yang growls and is about to attack him again until Taiyang steps in with a towel and a bottle of water.
"Okay, how about a little break? I think you've tastes the dirt and the grass enough times for today," Taiyang jokes.
Yang looks away, but accepts the towel and water anyway, going to sit down on the tree stump next to Zwei.
"You know, you could take it maybe just a little easier on her," Taiyang says.
"You wanted me to help her in her training, so I am. My way. The Grimm aren't going to be nice to her out in the real world, so being soft on her isn't going to help her in the long run," Eizen retorts.
"I know that…but still, the goal is to get her back in the game, not break her spirits…You know, I never knew that Velvet had a brother-in-law," Taiyang notes.
"She doesn't like talking about her family, especially him. So don't bother asking about it okay," Eizen replies as he looks away.
"I…see…Well, we all have things we'd rather not talk about, especially when family is involved," Taiyang mutters.
…
Meanwhile, on the ship towards Menagerie, Blake, Sun, and Rokurou sit in one of the passenger cabins in the ship, making light conversation to help past the time, with Rokurou polishing his swords, Sun having a banana, and Blake reading a book that she kept from Beacon.
"Do you really do nothing but read all day?" Rokurou asks Blake.
"Mostly…Is that a problem?" Blake asks, a little annoyed.
"Nah, it just reminds me of my old pal, Laphicet. He loves reading books too. I bet you two would've gotten along very well if you ever met," Rokurou notes.
This actually gets Blake interested a bit, "What kind of books did he like?' she asks, curious.
"Well, he read a lot of books related to history, the ocean, animals, map making. He really liked to read all kinds of books. Don't remember if he ever had a favorite though," Rokurou notes.
"Great, more books. Didn't he ever try anything fun, like dancing, fighting bad guys, talking about cute girls?" Sun asks, only to get smacked on the head with Blake's book. "Ow!"
Rokurou laughs, "Hahaha, not really. Though Eizen and I did teach him a thing or two about women for when he got older for one thing," he says.
Blake narrows her eyes, "Like what kind of things about women?" she questions him with a glare.
Rokurou chuckles nervously a bit, "Just to, uh, treat women with respect, and all that…Heh-heh, actually, I remember one time when a friend of our merry band, Bienfu, showed some of the books he liked to read," Rokurou says as he thinks back to the good old days.
Blake gets less irritated now since the topic went back to books, "What kind of books?" she asks.
"The kind a little kid like Laphicet shouldn't be reading. They were basically all about how to pick up women, and other stuff that he really didn't need to know at the time. Once Velvet and Eleanor found out, they quickly confiscated all of Bienfu's books, and Eleanor gave Bienfu a really harsh interrogation after that. It wasn't pretty, I can guarantee that," Rokurou says, cringing a bit.
Blake blushes a little bit as some…mature thoughts on what those books could be about stirred into her mind.
"That's disgusting! Well, I'm glad they stopped him before Laphicet read them. From what Velvet told me, he was just a little kid when you were travelling together," Blake notes.
"Yeah, though he didn't like being treated like a little kid, hahaha. Though, he matured quite a bit since joining our crew. Ah, those were good times, right Kurogane?" Rokurou says as he goes back to polishing his red blade.
This peeks their interest, "Why do you talk to your sword? Not only that, why do you only talk to the red one?" Sun asks.
"Because…Kurogane here wasn't always a sword. He used to be a human who then became a demon," Rokurou says.
"Wait, what?!" both kids say.
"What, Velvet never told you about that?" Rokurou asks.
"No, she didn't. How can someone become a sword? Did he use his blood in making it?" Blake asks.
"Well, it kind of goes like this. Back when he was human, Kurogane wanted to make a sword that would be strong enough to beat my other sword, Stormhowl. It's an old sword, centuries old, but it's the still the strongest sword around. Well, his desire to beat Stormhowl eventually took him over, and he became a demon, kind of like how my bitterness and hatred towards my brother, Shigure, turned me into a demon. He forged countless swords, but then again, he was credited as being the world's greatest swordsmith. Anyway, he had never been able to forge a sword that could beat Stormhowl, even when he forged a sword out of orichalcum. He knew he was missing something. A sword can't just be hard, it needs to be flexible as well, or else it'll break when it meets a strong force. Ultimately, he decided to forge himself into a blade. We had one last drink together, and then I left him to do his thing. I didn't see how he did it. Hell, to this day, I still have no idea how he did it, but he managed to do it anyway. With this new Kurogane Stormquell, I defeated my brother with a three sword technique between Kurogane and a pair of daggers that I wielded at the time. After that, Shigure told me to take Stormhowl, and to put it to good use. I carry the wills of my friend, and my brother, on my back, as I work to become the greatest swordsman in the world. Well, at least my world anyway. I'm not concerned about being this world's greatest swordsman since I won't be here forever. But yeah, that's the story about Kurogane, and that's why I talk to him sometimes. He may be a sword now, but he's still Kurogane, the greatest swordsmith in the world, and my old friend whom I had the honor of knowing," Rokurou explains as he finishes polishing his sword and puts it back in its sheathe.
"Wow, that's…a little hard to believe if you ask me, but still, wow," Sun notes.
"He wanted to defeat Stormhowl so badly that he became a sword himself to do it. It's strange, but…I find it commendable in a way about his determination going centuries, and how far he was willing to sacrifice his own body to beat it," Blake mutters.
"Yeah, when you set your sights on something, you'd better give it everything you got, otherwise what's the point. By the way, since we're talking about blades here, can I see your sword again please?" Rokurou asks Blake.
"Um…I guess," Blake says and hands her weapon to him.
Rokurou inspects the sheathe first before he pulls out her katana, eyeing every centimeter of it carefully.
"Hmmm, you turned the sheathe into a blade itself, that's pretty cool. The blade of your katana can fold down when you want to use the gun mechanism in the handle, and thanks to that long ribbon of yours, you can even use it like a chain-scythe. I must admit, the weapons of your world are still a sight to behold. As one who appreciates a good blade, I am impressed," Rokurou says as he hands Blake back her weapon.
Blake looks a little solemn at his comment, "He sounds like Ruby when she goes nuts over weapons…" she thinks.
…
In the village of Higanbana, Velvet Crowe walks through the village streets, looking for Ruby. Her pendant had been glowing the day before and led her here, but now it's not showing even a faint glimmer.
"I wish there was an instruction manual to this stupid thing," Velvet groans as she glances at the pendant before going back to scouting the village. Walking through the village, she finds a tavern and decides to get a drink and take a quick break before heading back out, as well as to look for some information regarding Ruby. Entering the tavern, she finds it fairly busy with some people inside, having drinks, making conversation, and the occasional drunk passing out in his seat. Velvet finds one empty table near the back, wanting to be left alone. After sitting for a few minutes, a waitress wearing an East-Asian type outfit comes over.
"Good afternoon, how may I be of service?" the waitress asks.
"Just a water for now, thanks. I've been travelling for a while now," Velvet replies.
"Of course, I'll be right back with that. Let me know if you need anything else," the waitress says and leaves to get her drink.
Velvet minds her own business, watching the other patrons in case one of them decides to do something stupid (like those bandits from before). After a minutes, she sees the waitress coming back with her drink, but then one drunk patron smacks her butt as she walks by, making the poor woman yelp while he laughs. Velvet narrows her eyes and subtly shoots out a small spark of fire at the drunk's backside, lighting his butt on fire and making him run out of the tavern screaming. The woman then calms down and brings Velvet her drink.
"Thank you. You okay?" Velvet asks.
"I'm fine, it happens sometimes. But thanks for your concern. I don't know how his pants caught on fire though," the waitress wonders.
'It's called karma," Velvet replies.
The waitress giggles, "You're right about that. Anyway, is there anything else I can get you?" she asks.
"Actually, I'm looking for someone. A young girl, wears a long red cloak with a hood, and has silver eyes. You wouldn't happen to have seen someone like that? She's an old friend of mine," Velvet asks.
The woman then gets a little nervous, "Actually…a while back, there was this one man that was also asking about a girl in a red hood. Asked if I knew how to find her," she says.
Velvet then gets serious, "What did this man look like?" she asks.
"He had a ponytail, and a brown jacket over white clothes. He seemed like a mad man with his crazed laugh. Honestly, I was frightened by the mere sight of him. He asked about the girl…and I told him that a girl fitting that description came through the village some time ago," the waitress explains.
Velvet stands out of her seat, "Where did they go?!" she demands.
"The girl went north with some friends, through the other side of the village. The scary man went in the same direction. To be honest, it has me a little worried, but I just wanted him gone and out of here," the waitress explains.
Velvet quickly chugs the rest of her drink, and leaves some lien on the table, "Thanks for the water! Gotta go!" she says and runs out of the tavern. Velvet then starts running through the village, exiting it a few minutes later as she heads north. "Whoever this guy is, he doesn't sound like a friend. Hang on Ruby…I'm coming to you…"
And that's the chapter. Been a while since we had every member of Team RVWBY in a chapter, but now things are heating up a little bit. Eizen trains Yang, Blake gets to know Rokurou, Ruby travels with Magilou, and Eleanor goes to Patch with Weiss. Meanwhile, Velvet continues to search for Ruby, but it seems she isn't the only one after her now. Will Velvet reach Ruby in time? What's in store for our favorite group of girls? Until then, please Read and Review.
