Author's note: And now, the plan to stop the monsters is finally in motion.
Two Manta were headed towards the unnatural lake, following their latest super-weapon, a monster created from Yang. The humanoid dragon rode a burning motorcycle that looked a lot like a living being, with smoke coming out its exhaust and nostrils. The monster revved the engine, making the bike let out a furious roar, and leaned back into a wheelie.
"Can't you tell her to keep it down?" Blake asked, covering her cat ears against the noise. Below them, the bike fell back onto both wheels and shivered, then its mouth revealed a toothy grin.
"Sorry, no can do," Roman answered, "At this range, she can't hear me."
"Alright everyone, remember the plan," Jaune said, "Weiss and I neutralize that lake, Yang deals with those plant things, and the rest keep anything else from getting in our way." When the lake came into view, so did the monsters, except now there were more than before. Ruby's friends jumped out of the Mantas and got ready to fight, when they saw Lich stand on a ledge overlooking the area.
"Nora," Weiss shouted, and Nora rushed down, firing an air-dust grenade into the ground to break her fall, then used Electric Terrain. Sirena briefly entered her Alpha State and hit the ground at full force, while Weiss let a Queen Lancer carry her and Kobalt to the ground. Lich entered their Alpha State and summoned hordes of spectral Beringel, making them charge the monster.
"Sirena, let's go," Nora said and hugged Sirena, and the two fused into Surge. She let both Kobalt and Weiss copy her semblance, then split up again. Kobalt shot three Annihilation Fields at the incoming enemies, while Weiss focused on creating one. When Kobalt's fields hit the enemies, they began electrocuting them, jumping from one enemy to the next and dealing constant damage, while Shocking Shackle, the semblance of Nora's fusion with Marrow, kept the enemies immobilized. Weiss shot an Annihilation Field at a group of enemies that got around the shackles. It was surging with ice blue lightning, and on impact, began electrocuting a series of enemies, keeping them in place, but also slowly freezing them over.
"I did it," Weiss exclaimed happily. The plant monster with the Knight armor attacked with its gun arm, and Yang jumped off her bike. The bike ran over the plant monster, and Yang came back down, wailing on the enemies. The bike came around and ran over the normal plant monsters, scorching them with every hit. The plant monster hit Yang with its axe, but Yang caught the weapon and threw the monster over her shoulder.
"Y- Yang?" Blake asked, watching the monster fight as it suddenly changed its behavior from feral violence to more tactical for just a moment, before it went back to stomping the enemy's head into the ground.
"No, she's here," Roman said, "My monsters are driven by pure hatred, and I've never seen anyone gain control over their monster form."
"Blake, ready?" Jaune asked and jumped off the Manta. He used his shield as glider to get down safely, and used Grassy Terrain to create a large area covered in patches of ethereal grass. Blake and Ivori followed him to ensure he wouldn't be disturbed. Jaune created two clones, and all three used Rose Tourbillon, shooting swirling rose petals at the lake.
"Oh no, you don't," Lich said and sent their minions the other way around the lake, towards Jaune. Ivori swung his whip and sent green shooting stars at the enemies, then began swinging his whip in a circle, sending a constant stream of stars at the summoned Grimm.
"Sirena, come," Weiss said and used a Glyph to launch herself across the lake, while Sirena used Petal Burst. After landing, Weiss swung her sword in an arc above her and made three Glyphs, from which she fired stars with a green hue at the summoned Grimm, though they were followed by a trail of red embers, and exploded into burning leaves on impact.
"Sirena," Blake called out and activated Retaliation at the edge of the Grassy Terrain, and began emitting clouds of spores. When Sirena followed suit, she emitted larger clouds at a wider range around herself, and at a faster rate.
"Guys, a little help?" Kobalt asked when his Annihilation Fields disappeared and the summoned Grimm could get through to him. Suddenly, Yang's monster form stopped beating the nearest monster, shook her head and assumed a proper fighting stance. The armored monster charged at her with its axe and she stopped it in its tracks. Her bike drove up to it from behind and drifted, leaning sideways to swipe the monster's legs. Yang jumped up at the last moment and forced the enemy to the ground.
"Incredible," Ivori said under his breath as Yang firmly planted her clawed foot on the monster's chest. She gripped its axe arm and began pulling and roaring, until the plant-like tendons gave up and she held the axe in her hands. She screamed and slammed the axe into the monster's armored head, killing it. Its body practically exploded, as if it was being shot to bits, and left nothing but scrap metal that used to be a Knight 130.
"Wait, what?!" Lich asked in disbelief, and Yang focused on them, until another monster attacked her. She threw herself on the ground, pinning the monster under herself, and bit its head off. She got back up and targeted the nearest monster, tearing through them with much more focus than before, and being much more efficient at killing them.
~o~
After fusing with Sky, and sharing their fusion Dandelion's Shock Crystal semblance with Sky and letting Khione copy it, Ruby thought of more she could do before heading to the jungle in the city to retrieve the fire-dust from the zoo. While she was contemplating what to do, Khione walked up to her, but before she could say anything, Ruby heard gunshots in the distance and rushed over to their source using Petal Burst, taking Khione with her. However, instead of the two friends, a fusion appeared on the scene.
"Never fear, Snowfall is here," Snowfall said after she arrived between a group of police officers and a pack of Beowolves. She wore black shoes with white soles and white fluff around the rims, black ripped jeans, an ice blue leather belt with a horned rose belt buckle, and an off-white corset over a black shirt. Her shoulder-long black hair had a distinct unkempt look, and her silver eyes scanned the situation. Seeing the officers in trouble, she held out her left hand and manifested a small, ice blue object, which then flew towards the nearest officer and began circling him. Then, she repeated the process with the others.
"Guys, look," one of the police officers said and pointed at the Grimm, who were frozen in motion and stared at Snowfall. One of the officers, a woman with long, dark brown hair and orange eyes, fired several rounds into the Grimm, killing several. Snowfall drew her weapon, a disk mace with a rifle in the handle, and helped kill the Grimm. Suddenly, a Creep jumped out of the ground behind one of the officers and tried to tackle him, but only hit the ice blue particle, which created a small force field to block the attack. Most of the officers panicked, and Snowfall rushed over to kill the Grimm.
"Is everyone alright?" Snowfall asked. She knew that some police officers were coming back to Vale, but they usually got a huntsman to protect them, so the situation was rather unusual.
"Yeah, I think so," the officer who had shot first answered, "Hello, my name is Diamond Lumiere, Vale police special forces. Well, unofficially. I've been assigned to protect this group, but thanks for stepping in anyway."
"That's good to hear," Snowfall said, "I can bring you to the others, if you want."
"Thanks," Diamond said, and the officers followed Snowfall back to the train station. When they got back to the station, Snowfall let Teams CRDL and CFVY, and the teachers, copy her semblance, then split up again, first confusing and then horrifying the police, and warranting a lengthy explanation.
~o~
Abital Dew stared into the bathroom mirror, wondering how he could continue working with the same humans who killed and ate animals, and encroached on their territory. At least the Grimm went about their lives and ignored animals, unless the animals chose to attack first. He looked down at the sink he had been leaning on, and saw that the metal had heated and deformed around his hands. Seeing this, he had an idea and decided to make a quick call.
"Thank you all for coming," Abital said when Weiss, Jaune and Nora met with him by a conveyor belt leading to one of the intakes in an SDC dust refinery.
"So, what's this about?" Weiss asked, and Abital made a flame appear over his hand.
"This," Abital answered, and made the flame disappear again, "I can make fire, so I figured we could use this to make fire-dust."
"Sounds like a plan," Jaune said, "Nora, if you would."
"Of course," Nora said, "Don't worry, this won't hurt." She used Mentor to teach Abital how to crystallize his aura, while Weiss set up a Healing Circle and Safezone, and Jaune set up a Grassy Terrain. When everything was ready, Abital began crystallizing his aura, while Weiss and Jaune recharged it, and the fire-dust powder fell onto the conveyor belt, ready to be modified and made safe for users.
~o~
After talking to the police officers, Glynda assigned many to Professor Port or Doctor Oobleck as reinforcements, while Diamond remained at the station. Meanwhile, Ruby went and tried to retrieve the fire-dust from the zoo, but took Khione with her, just in case.
"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Taiyang asked.
"Yep," Ruby answered, "This is a delicate mission, and animals can tell when someone is a good person, so your semblance might be too combat-oriented for their liking. Besides, I've never had trouble getting along with animals before, so I'll be fine."
"Taiyang, there you are," Glynda said and walked up to the trio, "I need your help preparing to launch an attack on the Grimm at Beacon."
"You should first restore power to the ventilation system, and take the air from near my team's old dorm room to the main building," Ruby said.
"Do you know how much effort that will take?" Glynda asked, "Why should we do that?"
"I'll explain later," Ruby answered, "But for now, get everything ready. I need the blueprints for Beacon and Vale's power grids, so I know which transformers I need to repair to get the power back on. Believe me, it will help. Anyway, Kiki, we should get going now." She walked away, and Khione followed her, a tad concerned about how Ruby had changed. However, she chalked it up to the stress of traveling the world, and the experiences of saving two kingdoms, one multiple times.
~o~
After Blake was done using Deathzone on another steam-dust crystal to make the resulting fog harm Grimm on contact, she handed it to a Knight, who took a proximity mine shell Ilia had made attractive to Grimm, and put them together. The Knight handed the bomb, which would create a massive smoke screen if Grimm came close, to Yang, who used Bubble Teleport to send it to the team's old dorm room in Beacon.
~o~
Ruby and Khione walked through the dense forest that had popped up inside the city park, but had already started to grow naturally, due to a lack of human interference. They both had their weapons out, ready to fight off any Grimm. In the distance, Ruby sensed a couple Beowolves, but then they disappeared. Suddenly, Ruby spun around and pointed behind herself.
"Stay," Ruby said, stopping a chimpanzee that had jumped at the duo in mid-air.
"Incredible," Khione said and asked, "How did you know that?"
"One of my semblances warns me of incoming danger," Ruby answered, let the chimpanzee go and asked, "Why did you attack us?"
"Just felt like it," the chimpanzee answered, "But also, those horns look weird."
"What's it saying?" Khione whispered.
"Nothing I like," Ruby answered, and shot the primate an angry look. The chimpanzee attacked Khione, and Ruby created an air-dust clone of the duo. As soon as the primate touched the clone, it burst into a powerful gust of wind, knocking the animal backwards. Ruby and Khione were coated in a green sparkling aura and felt lighter, and managed to get away with their increased speed, before the effect wore off.
~o~
Russel and Sky made their way through the city hall, taking down any Grimm they could find. Sky had made a Shock Crystal in the main hall, and set up several turrets along the way, all of which keeping Grimm at bay with their energy blasts.
"You think it'll work?" Russel asked.
"Probably," Sky answered, "I mean, her plan with the bandits worked out fine too, so she must know what she's doing." Since Glynda had given them some free time, they had decided to help Ruby with whatever plan she had, despite Glynda's protests against it. They proceeded to the archives, and after some searching and rummaging, they found the documents that Ruby needed, turned into their bird forms and flew back to the train station.
~o~
Making their way through the forest, Ruby and Khione kept their eyes and ears open. The foliage was not as thick as in normal forests, as the plants had grown too close together early on, and suffocated each other more than normal.
"Halt," a voice called out, "Who goes there?" A jaguar jumped down from a branch hanging over the duo, and Khione gripped her axe more tightly, ready for combat, but Ruby held out her arm to stop her.
"I'm Ruby Rose, and this is Khione Waters," Ruby answered, "We're just trying to find the zoo, and get some dust." The jaguar pondered the answer for a moment, clearly weighing his options.
"Alright, fine," he finally said, "Not my problem." He walked off into the foliage, leaving the two girls to continue their trip in peace. Khione relaxed a bit again, but still held on to her weapon.
"So, what was that about Beacon?" Khione asked after walking some more.
"I have a plan, but I can't say if it'll work," Ruby answered.
"But you sounded so sure," Khione said.
"That's what it means to protect people," Ruby explained, "You have to pretend to be absolutely certain that you'll make it, even if you don't know for sure. You have to speak, act, walk, even breathe, like nothing can hurt you, at all times. That way, people who look to you for help will feel safe, and that, in turn, will reduce the number of Grimm attacks."
"Doesn't that ever get exhausting?" Khione asked.
"For some, yes," Ruby answered, "General Ironwood, for example, can't do that forever. He needs others to help him, but in turn, he will make them stronger. But it is in my nature to protect life, so it's easy for me."
"I… guess that makes sense," Khione said and asked, "So, what's that plan you have?"
"One of my friends, Blake, can use a certain semblance, just like I can use yours" Ruby answered, "It's called Deathzone, and it allows her to make an item she touches harmful to any species she wants. In theory, she could make steam-dust harm Grimm on contact, and then the Atlas military could use them for proximity bombs."
"And then, when the Grimm get close, the bombs explode and release steam that hurts them," Khione said.
"Exactly," Ruby said, "And Yang can send stuff to any location she's been to before and considers safe, such as our old dorm room."
"This is a pretty interesting idea, actually," Khione said and asked, "But what made you think of this in the first place?"
"I've sensed Grimm disappear in out old dorm room for a while now," Ruby answered, "And that is the only explanation that makes sense."
"I see," Khione said. Ruby walked ahead a bit and moved some ferns aside, revealing the zoo.
"We're here," Ruby said, and the duo kept their senses sharp to be prepared for any potential attack. As they walked around among the damaged buildings and went through supply closets, they found tools and equipment, as well as tranquilizer guns and darts, and finally dust.
"That's a lot of dust," Khione said.
"I know, and I just had an idea," Ruby said, pulled out her scroll and called someone, "Sophie, I'll need you to temporarily disconnect the hoses sucking water from the sewers." She hung up, grabbed the water-dust crystals and brought them over to a large storm drain, then took a few steps back and shot a sniper round at them, triggering them all at once. The area flooded almost immediately, before the water disappeared into the sewers. Then she used Bubble Teleport to send the ice- and fire-dust to the train station.
"Alright, that should do it," Khione said, looking as Ruby sent the last batch away, and asked, "So, what now? Do we just walk back?"
"I have another idea," Ruby answered with a mischievous smile, and used Bubble Teleport to send Khione back to the train station. She had to wait a bit for her to get out of the bubble, but then she used Kindred Link to open a portal directly to Khione.
Author's note: Careful with chimpanzees.
Anyway, yes, Yang gained control of her monster form. I mean, her whole deal in this fic so far has been to control her anger, and that monster form is pure rage, so it's right up her alley.