As the Ace Ops walked down the corridor, they turned to look at each other.
"Can't believe how wild it is outside. This is probably one of the worst blizzards that I've ever seen!" Marrow exclaimed.
"Then it's a good thing that we took out those Megoliaths when we did." Elm replied back while holding onto a plastic bag containing a selection of thermoses.
"True enough…So, how hard do you think this Ki training's going to be?" Marrow questioned.
"I'm not sure, but if Evan can do it, how hard can it be? I'll bet you 10 lien that I can figure this Ki stuff out by the end of the day!" Harriet firmly said aloud.
"Come on, give the kid a bit more credit than that…" Elm argued back.
"Elm's right. Using Ki will probably be as difficult as figuring out and mastering a semblance." Clover stated.
"It is a strange feeling though, to have someone so young teaching us something entirely unheard of…" Vine added.
"Well, we live in a strange world. Just you wait, I'm sure the kid's going to show us things that'll blow our socks off!" Elm exclaimed as the group approached Training Room 3.
Throughout the room were various tall archways that jutted out of the floor. Each one was composed of the same black and blue cubes that covered the entire room. Although, the strangest thing in the large space was Evan himself. The teen was practically teleporting around the room. Every time that their eyes found him, he was quickly replaced with a somewhat see-through double that began to fade into the wind before creating a small explosion shortly after. All of the explosive body doubles seemed to detonate at random intervals shortly after being created. As Evan teleported close to the front of the room, the young Saiyan saw the group out of the corner of his eye. Turning toward them, the teen's face shifted from a look of focused determination to a big smile as he waved toward them.
"Oh! Hey guys!" Evan yelled out just as a nearby body double exploded behind him, sending the teen sliding face first into the floor.
"W-What are you doing?" Marrow questioned as one of the body doubles exploded on the other side of the room.
"Well…While I was at Beacon, one of the students, named Blake, was in a sparring match with another student. And as she evaded her opponent's attacks, Blake would create these shadow clones of herself that she would infuse with fire dust. What would happen would be that the opponent would hit the clone instead of Blake, and then the body double would explode and injure the opponent." Evan elaborated as he brushed some ash and dust off of his clothes, while more clones exploded in the background.
"Seeing that made me think of an idea. Basically, when I move fast enough, I can create these afterimages of myself. They're like a 3D photo of me around a second or so in the past. They can't talk or do anything, so I thought to myself: What if I could infuse some of my own Ki into these afterimages in the same way that Blake infused fire dust into her clones. And weeellllll…It's a work in progress, as you can see…" Evan explained aloud as the last body double exploded near the center of the room.
"You can do something like that with Ki?" Elm asked.
"Yeah! So long as you have good Ki control, you can do a lot of different things. It really comes down to the user's own imagination to come up with new ways of how to use it." Evan replied back with an excited look on his face.
"So what exactly is Ki then? You never did mention the specifics of it?" Clover questioned.
"That's good of you to ask. Knowing what Ki is will help you to bring it out. You guys are going to want to sit down for all of this. Essentially, Ki is the life force that flows through every living being. Don't confuse Ki with your soul or anything, because I've never met any other aliens that have an aura or a semblance, for that matter. Ki exists in faunus, humans, aliens, plants, animals, you name it." Evan elaborated as he paced back and forth while the Ace Ops listened carefully.
"Even the Grimm?" Harriet inquired.
"Ye-…Hmmm…I would…assume so, although I can't say for sure since I can't sense Ki." Evan continued on.
"If you can't sense it, how can you use Ki, Evan?" Marrow questioned.
"Ki isn't something that you need to literally touch or see to use, it's…instinctual. Being able to draw your own Ki out should be as natural as breathing, or at least it should be. Since your race hasn't really been exposed to anyone who has used Ki, you've never thought of ever even trying to unlock it. You guys always viewed my abilities as something alien…something completely inaccessible to you." Evan explained.
"Which is why you're here today." Vine pointed out.
"Exactly. My goal is to help you all unlock your ability to use Ki. Speaking of which, where's Winter at?" Evan asked as he looked around the room.
"Winter had some unexpected business come up recently, so she wasn't able to make it. She should be here the next time we meet though." Clover elaborated.
"Ok, that's good to know. Today, we're going to go over the basics. We'll start off with drawing your Ki out. Once you learn how to properly and easily bring it out on command, we'll move on to channeling it. By purposefully channeling your Ki throughout your body, you can increase your agility, strength, and speed! The first step to understanding how to channel your Ki is by learning how to fly. Flying requires you to channel Ki all throughout your body, which makes it a good beginner technique." Evan explained.
"We're going to learn how to fly already? That seems a little advanced, if you ask me." Marrow hesitantly stated.
"Getting off the ground is the easy part. It's the actual maneuvering that takes practice and effort. I set up all of these archways to act as rings for you to fly through. I'm not expecting you to pull off anything fancy, so we'll be staying close to the ground for the most part." Evan continued as he sat down in front of the Ace Ops..
"I think that's enough of an explanation to start off with. Alright, let's begin." Evan finished as he held his hands close to his chest.
"Now imagine in the center of your body is a pool of energy. Feel it stir and rumble inside of you. I want you to slowly trickle some of that energy from your chest, down into your fingers. And if you do it right…" Evan began to say as a yellow ball of Ki appeared in between his hands.
"You'll bring out your Ki!" Evan stated.
All of the Ace Ops mirrored his current stance and began to intensely focus. However, feeling the air ripple and move about wildly, Evan turned to Vine, who had managed to quickly create a small Ki ball within his hands. Elm and Marrow looked on in amazement. Clover gave a respectful nod, but Harriet had a slightly irritated look on her face.
"You're doing it, Vine!" Marrow exclaimed.
"Good. Very good! Now, just let the energy that you brought forth return back into your body." Evan added.
Focusing even more, Vine let the ball of energy dissipate, causing Vine to shudder for a brief moment.
"That's really impressive! I wasn't expecting one of you guys to get it on your first try!" Evan said aloud.
"How did you do it?" Clover asked.
"I just followed along with what Evan told us. Bringing that energy forth felt so…right. Although, it was very intense bringing some that Ki out…" Vine elaborated.
"But why didn't any of us manage it when he did?" Harriet pointed out.
"Maybe it's because Vine's more spiritual than you guys. He's a lot more open minded to the subject of Ki and to things in general. I suppose his body just responded to his command and brought the KI out. I've seen a couple of alien races that acted and lived in a similar way to how he does things. That probably has something to do with it..." Evan replied back as he pointed toward Vine.
"You should be careful not to push yourself too hard. You don't have a lot of Ki when you start training, so the more you actively try to bring it out, the more that you'll start pushing your body to unhealthy levels. As for everyone else, let's keep going…" Evan continued on.
As the minutes passed, the other four Ace Ops continued to try and bring out their Ki. While Marrow, Harriet, and Elm did so, their colorful auras began to glow. Vine continued to slowly bring his Ki out again and again. Before long though, another member was successful.
"So this is what it's like…" Clover stated in bewilderment as he gazed upon the Ki orb in his palms.
"Great job, Clover!" Evan cheered as Clover made the Ki ball disappear back into his body. Looking back toward the other Ace Ops, he saw that they looked rather stressed.
"Maybe we should take a break for now. Perhaps a time to breathe and a new perspective should help bring out your Ki." Evan stated.
As the group began to unwind, Elm reached over and began to look into the plastic bag. Handing out thermoses to the other members on the team, she tossed one to Evan, who caught it with his right hand.
"I told you guys that I'm not a coffee person." Evan said as he examined the metal thermos.
"Trust me, I didn't forget your little reaction the last time you had some. So, I put some hot chocolate in your thermos specifically. Considering that we're essentially snowed in, I thought that it would be fitting." Elm said with a grin on her face as she sipped some coffee.
Opening the thermos, Evan smelled the aroma coming out of the container. Satisfied, Evan started to drink.
"So why do you think that we can't get this Ki thing down?" Marrow asked as he stared at his coffee.
"Especially since Vine and Clover have managed to do it already…" Harriet muttered out with a look of frustration on her face.
"I mean…I grew up with lots of people who knew how to use Ki already, and my race seemed to have a knack for using Ki too. I'm trying to think what else I can do right now to help teach you guys in a better way. Any ideas?" Evan replied as he turned toward Vine and Clover.
"There is one thought that comes to mind…For the longest time, we all thought that aura and semblances were tied to our soul, but if what Evan says is true, then maybe what we know about our aura and semblance is actually just a trait unique to our race. We need to think outside the box and focus on trying not to bring out our auras. Instead, we should try and look deeper than that. That's what helped me unlock my Ki." Clover elaborated as he drank from his thermos.
"Interesting…" Marrow said, his voice trailing off at the end as he was in the midst of thought.
"Ok, I think that's enough of a break." Evan stated as he sealed up and put the thermos on the ground.
While Clover and Vine started talking with each other regarding their Ki control, the rest of the Ace Ops continued to focus and tried to bring out their Ki. Eventually, another member had succeeded.
"Nice! Look at me go, Evan!" Elm exclaimed as she gestured to the Ki ball in between her hands.
"Yeah, you got it down!" Evan added excitedly.
Looking back toward Marrow and Harriet, he saw the former being somewhat downtrodden with a lingering hope in his eyes, while the latter was getting increasingly frustrated.
"Let's stop here for today." Evan decided.
"What?! I know I can do it! Just give me more time!" Harriet yelled out as she got back on her feet.
"Yeah…" Marrow added.
"You're not going to be doing anything if you don't have the right attitude. We're not in a rush, so don't worry about getting everything right immediately. Besides, you two didn't even know about what Ki was until today. Not to mention, you can practice trying to bring it out on your own time as well. Maybe a different environment could help you do it…" Evan concluded as he began to walk out of the room.
"I'll be here, same time tomorrow, if you want some personal training." Evan said as he left the room.
"Don't worry you two, I'm sure you'll get it in no time!" Elm exclaimed as she gave them a small hug.
"Thanks Elm…" Marrow replied back with a hopeful tone in his voice.
At the same time, Harriet brushed Elm away and walked out of the room, looking dejected.
/-/
Walking down the long corridor, Evan stopped at a familiar door. Giving it a slight tap, Evan raised his voice.
"Hey Pietro, it's Evan. Is it ok if I come inside?" Evan called out as he continued knocking on the door.
Stopping himself, Evan waited as the moment dragged on. Just as the teen turned away from the door, he heard the door unlock.
Entering the room, he found the space in a state of disarray. Aside from a lone desk lamp, the rest of the room was filled with darkness.
Some of the mechanical projects that Pietro was working on had been thrown off of their various desks and laid there on the floor, broken and beaten alongside blueprints and tools that had been ripped from their places on the walls. Pietro's cap and glasses were placed close by on one of the desks. Multiple boxes of tissues laid discarded and used in addition. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, his hair was a mess, and he smelled as if he hadn't showered for a long time. Seemingly ignoring Evan, Pietro longingly stared at a photo of Penny and himself hugging each other as he sniffed his nose.
Stepping over the waste on the floor, Evan grabbed a nearby stool and pushed it up to the desk that Pietro was sitting near.
"Pietro, I-I…It's not…" Evan tried to get the words out, but nothing that he could think of could properly convey what he was trying to say. The two sat in silence for a long time until Evan finally spoke up.
"I knew that Penny was a robot for a while. It happened a couple of weeks ago, when everything was leading up to the Vytal Festival. I guess that explains her deadly hugs…heh heh…" Evan said aloud.
Surprised, Pietro sat up in his chair, but still continued to stare at the photograph.
"But even when I found out, nothing changed. She was still my friend." Evan continued, causing Pietro to turn toward him, somewhat confused.
"Penny was…such a nice person. She always seemingly knew what to say to make me feel better. I don't know if that was her robot brain calculating stuff, but I like to think that it was because of something more than that…Do you want to know something?" Evan asked.
Pietro's eyes raised slightly in interest after Evan finished the question.
"When I called Penny up to meet me at Beacon's library to talk, she thought that I wanted to ask her out to the dance. After she told me that, she wanted me to forget about it. I thought it would be fun and I said yes. She was so happy…" Evan continued on with a growing smile as he reminisced.
"I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know how to dance! If it wasn't for Winter, I probably wouldn't even have a suit to wear back then. Despite all of that, it was such a great night. There was this fancy dance music playing, I don't know the artist who wrote it, but we were smiling ear to ear as we followed along with all of the other students who were dancing in the room. Eventually, the music switched to a more upbeat track and we danced our hearts out, oh we must have looked like complete idiots…" Evan said with a short laugh.
"One time, we went with some of Team RWBY to this little coffee shop stand before the tournament finals started up. The owner was this old lady and she recognized us as participants in the tournament. She offered us some drinks pretty quickly. I tried saying no, but she insisted that I'd have some. Same thing with Penny too. I kept a big smile on my face as I drank that disgusting brew. Penny, I guess she couldn't drink anything since she was a robot, had to sneakily pour the contents of the cup on the grass whenever the owner wasn't looking. However, one time that she did it, some of the liquid got on my leg. That stuff was like magma! I had to practically bite my own tongue off in order to not scream out in pain…In the moment, it wasn't a particularly pleasant memory, but, right now, I wouldn't trade it for the world…" Evan added as he stared off at the ceiling.
Upon hearing the sound of crying, Evan turned toward Pietro, who was busy wiping his tears with his sleeve.
"I just…I just thought I would have m-more time with her…" Pietro's voice practically died in his throat as he finished.
"I thought so too." Evan solemnly stated as Pietro moved forward in his chair and wrapped his arms around the teen.
Quietly weeping into his shoulder, Evan returned the gesture with his own as he held Pietro close. The two men stood there for what seemed like forever before Pietro lifted himself back up and into his wheelchair.
Slowly, Evan got up from his stool and maneuvered his way back over to the entrance of the room.
"If you ever need me to be there for you, just let me know. I'm serious about that…No time is a bad time to ask for me to come over…" Evan explained as he opened the door.
Before Evan stepped out, he heard Pietro clear his throat as he started to speak once more.
"Thank you Evan…" Pietro said with a look of sincerity on his face.
"Anytime." Evan finished as he left the room.
Walking through the halls, Evan quickly made his way back to his bedroom. Entering the space, Evan practically sunk into the soft mattress before sleep quickly overtook him.
/-/
Waking up to the sound of alarms, the young Saiyan shot out of bed. Heading out of his room, Evan looked around to see numerous soldiers sprinting down the corridors. Chasing after one of them, Evan questioned him.
"What's going on?!" Evan yelled out.
"A gigantic horde of Grimm used the blizzard to sneak past our radars! They're practically at the city right now! Ironwood's reporting all troops down to Mantle to protect it!" The soldier quickly explained before turning and rushing down the hall.
"The Grimm are already here?! Well I'm not going to sit by and let Mantle and Atlas become another Vale!" Evan declared in his mind as he rushed down the corridors.
Pushing past soldiers and huntresses, Evan made it to one of the docking bays. Without a second thought, Evan approached the edge of the room and leaped into the cold, early morning air of Atlas.
/-/
Trying desperately to keep the rifle steady in his hands, Jack Evergreen looked on at the countless numbers of Grimm that rapidly approached them.
Shooting down another oncoming Sabyr, it seemed like the end for the young huntsman as three more prepared to pounce on him.
However, the beast, alongside its two companions, were destroyed instantly by multiple blasts of yellow energy from the sky. As Jack looked up, a figure came down and shook the ground fiercely upon landing.
Staring at this unknown savior, Jack was at a loss for words as the figure turned toward him.
"Is there anyone else further up the road?" The figure asked.
"I-I I…Who ar-" Jack started to mutter out.
"Are there any people up the road or not?!" The figure yelled out.
Composing himself, the young huntsman shook his head.
"N-No, there isn't. My sister Jill and I are some of the only huntsmen outside the gates of Mantle. Most of the other soldiers are set up in various positions on the gate itself." Jack explained.
"Good. Make sure that they stay there. I can handle this by myself, but I can only do it if no one gets in my way." The figure ordered out.
"What?! You can't take all of those Grimm on by yourself?! It's too-" Jack started to say as a flying Manticore flew in from the sky toward the young huntsmen before being shot down instantly by the lone figure.
Looking back at the lone figure, Jack saw the individual quickly vanish from sight and reappear practically in front of the Grimm horde and started to crush the opposition.
Running back up to the gates, Jack saw his sister staring at him, confused and bewildered at what Jack had just seen.
"What's going on? Who was-" Jill Evergreen started to ask questions.
"We need to warn the incoming soldiers from Atlas to not approach the Grimm horde." Jack interrupted her.
/-/
Rushing up to the Grimm horde, Evan's fist obliterated the first Sabyr almost instantly. Holding his palms out, Evan blasted all of the other nearby Sabyrs just as quickly. Burrowing up from under the ground, a Cenitel tried to bring its jaws down on the Saiyan, only for Evan to fire a Ki blast straight through its skull. Charging forward, a Megoliath lifted its body upward and brought its massive foot down on the teen. Holding the foot back with both hands, Evan pushed forward and tossed the Grimm into the air and further into the Grimm horde, crushing multiple Grimm in the process. Flying in from the sky, a group of Manticore opened their mouths to breathe fire on the Saiyan, only for Evan to fire a collection of targeted Ki blasts that lodged themselves inside the throats of the Grimm, causing them to collapse to the ground, dead.
Rushing forward, the same Megoliath, now furious at being injured, attempted to pierce the young Saiyan with one of its massive tusks. Sidestepping the creature's attack, Evan grabbed its tusks and planted his feet into the ground. Getting pushed backward, having ice and snow give way, Evan managed to snap one of the tusks off of the Megoliath before quickly throwing it straight into its skull. As the beast collapsed to the ground, Evan grabbed and snapped the other tusk off and threw it deeper into the horde, killing two more Sabyrs with it. Turning around, Evan saw a few Sphinxes attempt to head toward the gates of Mantle, but the young Saiyan easily shot them down before they got far. Returning back to the horde, Evan held out his hands as the yellow Ki changed to a red hue.
"Crimson Cannon!" Evan yelled out as the red beam was fired into the horde.
/-/
As the Bullhead left the docking bay and entered the skies of Atlas, Elm tried to look through the thick clouds and see the Grimm horde.
"Alright, so what's the plan Clover? I think we should head to the Grimm horde and make sure none of them reach the city." Elm questioned as she pulled out her rocket hammer.
"Negative. From what I've heard from the troops currently stationed in Mantle, they're saying that someone is already taking down the Grimm horde all by himself. Apparently he's told the troops to stay back and just let him take the Grimm on." Clover stated.
"What kind of person would be insane enough to do that?!" Elm asked.
"Well, from their reports of his appearance, I think we all know someone strong enough to back up that kind of thinking." Clover said aloud.
The group only had to think for a moment before realizing who their teammate was referring to.
"Is it really him?" Harriet questioned as the Bullhead passed through the clouds.
Now able to see the Grimm horde, the Ace Ops watched as a red laser was fired out from a small figure close to the horde, which quickly created a massive red explosion that disintegrated countless Grimm.
"Dang! He's not playing around!" Marrow exclaimed.
"Looks like we all got out of bed for nothing…" Clover added as he looked on at the scene occurring before him.
/-/
As the smoke from the explosion cleared, Evan saw multiple, massive figures emerge. Standing as the last remnants of the Grimm horde, were four Geists which all possessed large chunks of ice and stone as their makeshift bodies. Lumbering forward, one of the Geists brought its stony hand down on the young Saiyan. Flying into the air, Evan broke through the limb and charged up a Ki blast, eviscerating the Geist as the rest of its makeshift body fell to the ground in a heap. As two more Geist approached him on either side, both Grimm swung their massive hands at Evan. Still high in the air, Evan caught one hand of each Geist in each of his own palms. Concentrating, Evan fired out a Ki beam from both hands, which wiped out both Grimm instantly.
Turning toward the final Grimm, Evan charged forward and grabbed the Geist's face. Feeling the monster squirm within his grasp, Evan pulled the beast out from its makeshift body before vaporizing it within his hand. As the dust settled, the young Saiyan looked at his handiwork and let out a long breath. Looking back toward the floating city of Atlas, Evan was in the midst of thought.
"I don't see any other Grimm left…Good. I should get out of here and let the soldiers clean up the roads. I doubt that we will be seeing any hordes like that anytime soon…" Evan thought to himself as he took to the skies and headed back toward Atlas.
/-/
Jack could hardly believe what he had just seen with his own two eyes. A single huntsman had taken out the entire Grimm horde all by himself. A feat that would've taken an entire armada of soldiers to clear out, was done by one man in such a short span of time.
"That was amazing! Who was that guy?!" Jill questioned.
"I don't know…But that guy saved all our asses. I'm not sure if we would've been able to stop that horde from entering the city if that huntsman didn't show up to help. And at that point, who knows what would've happened!" One of the soldiers stated.
"That was no huntsman, that guy's a hero in my books!" Another huntsman yelled out.
"That's for certain!" Another soldier cheered out.
Before long, the whole legion of troops stationed there started cheering as they happily congratulated the mysterious savior.
/-/
There we go! So, what do you think of the story so far? Let me know by leaving a review! I should have the next chapter out either next Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, see you around!