In the grand probability of endless potential and opportunity, there exists a timeline where everything goes right, rather than wrong. A timeline where events play out as close to the current one, yet key subtle differences alter and change the fates of those touched. Within the endless reaches of time, space and opportunity, one such timeline begins in a runaway train, affixed with bombs to blow open a tunnel for human destroying monsters that invade a kingdom housing a Beacon of hope…
"You three, get below deck and stop those bombs! Your leader and I will stop the train", the highly caffeinated green haired doctor said as he blasted a fireball directly towards the advancing robots. With a crack of fifty caliber rounds a streak of rose petals flashed and sliced off the heavy ordinance arm and collapsed the machine's frame as a scared pilot bolts before stumbling and falling off the speeding train. Unable to argue, three young huntresses enter the inner workings of the trains. Leading the charge, was the brawler in Yellow, strong and powerful, flanked by the Black shadowy assassin and the White princess of support. Before they walked, Weiss Schnee held up a holster of bullets, dustrounds that could be hers to reload, yet passed them to both Blake and Yang, cracking a warm smile. "Here, these should help you"
Taking the cartridges, Blake ejected her magazine, removed a few rounds and chambered the new ones, with a thankful nod and a soft smile. Yang looked at the big twelve gauge shells that were given to her and gave a flirty smirk back at the heiress. Even the perfect one to put into the chamber of Ember Celica. Then she steeled herself. "This is what we trained for"
The three advanced forwards, easily reaching the next car of the train where a smirking small girl stood guard, stopping the way. Yang, furious from the encounter at the bridge, blasted a round at the compact ice cream girl, who blocked it with her adorable pink parasol. In the confusion of the hit, White and Black snuck around and advanced onwards. Yang smiled. "Time for payback", she said confident as she walked up towards Neo, who stood waiting, equally confident. Throwing the first haymaker, Yang felt a sharp sting. Staggering back as the girl before her had thrusted her parasol forwards. A mere poke like this wouldn't normally hurt. Grimm, earlier this semester Yang had been blasted through a concrete wall and shrugged it off. She shook her head, a soft buzz in her mind, was…was it exhaustion? She looked over her opponent once more and lifted her arms, gauntlets at the ready. She's dangerous, the Sun Dragon managed, before she rushed in, seizing the initiative, as her father had taught her.
She sussed out Neo with a quick left right jab, aiming for the head, but Neo easily dodged and sidestepped. Ok, fast. Easy fix. Alternating the strike angle, the Dragon gave a vertical uppercut, this way if she bobbed or weaved side to side, she'd still get a hit! Except with that insufferable smirk leaned back like a coiling serpent ready to strike. Leaning back, off balance, Yang's fast reaction was to give a middle high kick! In this position she'd either have to tank the hit, or lean to the left, meaning an opening! Neo sidestepped, gotcha! No swing and a miss again?! Yang's frustration building, tired from a full sleepless day of intense grimm killing. A small part was impressed, this girl was good. Yang had tried to throw a body shot at the side dodge, except by a miracle, the brown and pink eyed girl had managed to sidestep again. Yang was a practiced fighter, a true brawler, was she this easy to read? A frustrated groan broke as the dragon duck low, dissuading the dodge balance would help rectify those nimble legs, backhanding to hit the midsection once more, Neo read her like a book and slipped backwards. More frustration, no fighter had ever evaded her this long. It was…infuriating! Rising up with a bald fist, Yang faked an uppercut and jumpkicked. Neo didn't dodge. Yes! She lifted her parasol and blocked the kick with childlike ease. Grimm's sake! But she was closer! Yang had closed the distance, she was in the third inner circle, her father had once mentioned this theory in fighting and pushed the initiative! Another haymaker blocked by the parasol, she was wide open for a body kick! Stepping into it, the blonde's foot shot forwards like a punching glove. No sidestep, no dodge, no it was a golden 'no' in fighting, she pirouetted! Exposing her defenseless back while Yang had overextended with the kick. Using the gyratic motions, swung out her left leg, high and fast. A coiled snake indeed, as the heel impacted heavily against Yang's wide open left flank and knocked her down flat!A heavy ringing that intensified the earlier buzz she had even more. Sluggish, as if moving through water, she looked up and took a second to process..a heel coming straight for her head! Instinctively Yang's body acted: springing up with a one handed ground flip, cocking her legs into a position and shot forwards like a bullet! Her arm going for a straight. This entire time Neo had been dodging, so the fact that not only did she block the arm with her parasol, but also held the arm, bend it in an unnatural way that forced Yang to drop her guard and prevent it from breaking, only further confused her as she suddenly became aware of a new ringing pain in her head. Neo's upwards kick was like titanium. She hit so hard, for someone so small and diminutive. She had the frame and build of Weiss or Ruby, yet her strength rivaled or surpassed Yatsuhashi's. No doubt about it. Also why was the ceiling where Neo stood? Yang was blindsided and was back kicked by Neo on the floor, who cartwheeled over her smiling her taunting smirk. Yang's aura wasn't breaking..yet but she had taken more damage than she should. She hit almost as hard as that Paladin a few weeks ago. I need to recover, regroup, steady myself and reingage. Yang's instinct was to fire her Ember Celica. The heavy flare of the blast brushed over the parasol, absorbing the hit straight up, shrouding Neo's frame in the orange light until the blow to Yang's belly pushed her back again. How is she doing this!? Yang threw another punch to fire her shotgun blasts, except that parasol nudged her underarm and threw the shot off by a mile, denting the ceiling, before the opened parasol was shoved in the dragon's face and pinned her backwards. Desperate and frustrated, eager for a chance to gather herself, Yang threw a punch to the floor, aiming a blast at neo's feet. Back off spider monkey!
Neo's practiced cartwheeling ending in that cutesy pose with a leg crossed and a dauntingly evil teasing smirk Yang almost fell for the taunt. Keep your head about you, the voice of her father said. Yeah, calm, easy for you to teach as you can't land a blow. But Yang knew what to do, after all she had trained and fought leg fighters and speedsters before. She just needed to match their rhythm and then counter attack! She smiled back, now it was a proper fight, as she took the initiative, baiting Neo to retaliate. Who kicked her punch aside and acrobat her way up to attack, using her legs. Yang slipped into her disruption pattern, dancing around the kicks, closing in trying to find an opening. Until a wide kick changed trajectory and staggered her backwards. Grimm…she knows how to counter that as well? Does she have answers to all my tricks? Wait, that's it, she mimics my style, so what if I mimic hers? Yang threw a long range shell, Neo blocked it, now the flash glare was enough to blind her! Jumping forwards, the Dragon attempted to close the distance again, hoping that this bait will work, it was the final desperate plan she had to open up this girl and seize initiative and perhaps even win. Using the blow on her parasol, Neo pivoted, turning and swung her left leg out to strike. Yang smiled. Gotcha! Catching the pivot kick into her open hands, Neo smirk vanished. YES! yang pulled her leg in closer and attempted to slam Neo into the floor! A final desperation play since her grapple game wasn't the best, but it did catch the acrobat off guard! Until, like a Mistral Eel, she snaked out of it!? Twisting her ankle to break the vice grip, Neo pulls free and slings her body over Yang's neck. Oh grimm, counter grapple. Yang sighs, this is it, i've used every trick I could think off and I can't beat this…monster. Yang's thoughts are interrupted as she slams into the ceiling and falls down hard. THe buzzing in her head reaches a maximum as she blinks to stave off unconsciousness. I..can't beat her…
As she lays there, slowly succumbing tonthe cold embrace of unconsciousness, a spark catches her eye. The shell that Weiss gave her. During the tumble it must have been ejected from the magazine. Watching as Neo pulls out the blade to Hush her opponent forever, Yang looks at the shell again as time slows down. I might not be able to beat her alone, but with the help of my friend, I might be able to stall her and get out! She throws a feeble punch that Neo doesn't even register as a threat, as the blast hits the shell and a miasma of black clouds fill the air. A darkness blanket of intense breath stopping fog shrouds Yang who scatters to the door to continue and locks it behind her, sealing away Neo behind her and slams the door with what power she has and wedges it stuck. She's safe, and sighs to catch her breath, only to hear a pained scream as she turns around and her eyes flare up in a rage that consumes her vision.
…
"This is what we trained for", the words still fresh as Black and White dash past the small pink, brown, white dressed girl and enter the next caboose. There they both halt as a deep and booming voice speaks to them: "Traitor and the Slaver. Fitting that I get to kill you both", standing there is a man Blake recognises. "Grey…"
"Former associate, I presume?", Weiss quips, trying to dissuade the tension in Blake as they both would need to get going soon. Yet before they can formulate a plan the roar of a chainsaw kicks in as the White Fang Lieutenant steps forwards, dragging the scraping and biting chains over the floor behind him as he laughs and boasts "finally I get to kill a Schnee"
A fury of anger bursts from Blake as she shoots at him with her pistol. Urging Weiss to go on ahead, she has to deal with this lunatic. The Heiress gives a little look, a look of concern for her friend, before steeling herself. They are huntresses now, the job comes first. Using her Glyph to summon a block of ice, Blake blasts it and creates a veil of mist that Weiss uses to sneak behind the imposing figure and continues on. Leaving the cat faunus alone with this behemoth of a man. Snarling he pulls his chainsaw sword up and charges, unbothered by the mist as he strikes where once Blake had been, striking empty air.
"Traitor! That could have been my kill! My chance to eradicate a Schnee, wipe that scum from the face of Remnant. I have been denied too many…", his rant is cut short from a slash at his back. He snarls and swings wide behind him, once again cleaving nothing but air. "You are a disgrace to your kind Belladonna! Your teacher would be ashamed of you. The pet slave of a bloody Schnee. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised given your bloodline with that weak and patheti-AHHH", his scream of pain sounds like music as Blake drives Gambol Shroud deep into his aura and causes a sharp spike of pain. Sinking to his knees and dropping the blade, Grey roars and reaches back, but Blake's dancing around him evading his sightline and breaking his focus by hit and run tactics. It was true that she would shame her sensei by doing this, especially given his hatred of hit and run strikes. But his fighting philosophy was always that 'power was all you need', so if your power was to strike From Shadows, he should be proud. Blake jumps up, using her Shadow to gain more altitude and clings to the ceiling by latching to an opening in the metal and observes Grey scrambling up and roar, swinging and striking around in the now dissipating mist to find the roaring chainsaw casually buzzing on the floor as well as the annoying bee that's stinging him from angles he never sees coming. Fitting that Blake should face the one member who never realized how she actually fights. After the escape of the Schnee train way back when, Blake had chosen to find her own fighting style and not linger to that of the murderer she once called sensei. When Grey grabs for the buzzing blade, the feline strikes! Her black ribbon shoots out, Gambol's folded 'kunai' mode coils around his wrist and bites into his aura as she pulls his arm up, when she drops out of the rafters and uses the bladed scabbard to strike Grey right in the face. The blow impacts heavy as the subtle flash of his aura flickers, getting closer to breaking it, Blake smirks as she kicks the sword away, for a split second removing her focus from the Lieutenant. ENraged by the pain and the way she's annoying him, he roars and pulls on the ribbon, yoinking Blake off balance as he throws his arm at her and grabs her throat. His meaty thick fingers attempt to crush her windpipe as he snarls and bellows a triumphant belly laugh. Clutching at his fingers and clawing at his face, her weapon discarded from the altercation, gasping. Her aura kept her from being damaged, for now as it began ticking down, sand down the hourglass, yet his grip did cut off some oxygen of her esophagus. Kicking as a feral feline, Blake began trying to dislodge his hands. "And now you'll die the way all traitors will!"
"Foolishness Blake…without proper might or skill you can't beat anyone. Never aimlessly attack. Always find those angles and spaces that will drop your adversary into a spiral of defeat", the voice of her Sensei creeps into Blake's mind as the loopiness from asphyxiation begins setting in. The one spot that would break her opponent. She knows Grey, he's massive, strong and slow. But that can't help her here, she dropped her guard and got caught up in a grapple, which was always her weakest parts in training, breaking free once she was caught. No amount of lessons could help her in that regard. Or did it?! She pulled both her feet back and kicked them as hard as she could in the 'illegal' place for official fights. Luckily this wasn't official and in life or death situations, there is no line you don't cross and no bridge you don't burn if you want to survive. Blake knows that one day anyone would fall, but she won't fall, not here and not to this oaf! In a gnarled roar, his aura breaking in the spot she struck, air entered in Blake's lungs as he dropped her and staggered back, visibly in pain. Blake gasps and scrambles for her weapon, before she feels her heart sink as the angry Lieutenant roars. With his aura broken, is Semblance kicks in. One she knows as a dangerous one, cause Grey is a deranged lunatic. Mindless rage blows over as he goes into a frenzied rage and grabs his weapon, having failed to notice she kicked him towards it had been dropped, Blake uses her dust bullets to evade and escape certain death. First she tries a fire clone to blow away the attack, yet mindless rage pushes Grey forwards. Next a rock clone to trap the chainsaw, which easily shreds through the brittle rocks and finally an ice clone that he slams aside, shards of sharp cold blades cutting his uniform and staining it with dots of dark red. Blake hits door leading into the cabin that Weiss had moved on to and faltered. She duck under him but couldn't avoid the chainsaw catching her in her attempt to evade. Her aura instantly blocks the real damage, yet the visious bite does hit her full on as she lets out a scream of pain and falls to the floor. Acknowledging his strike, Grey turns and lifts the blade attempting to kill his target once and for all
"GET AWAY FROM HER", a roar of equal rage snaps Blake's attention as she sees a winded but alive and well Yang standing there, flaring eyes and hair as her Semblance brightens her candle's burn. In a flash she pistons forwards and collides with the crack of thunder blasting Grey back, coughing up blood from the sustained damage. Blake smiles as Yang winks at her. They both turn to the Lieutenant who tears off his shirt and reveals wounds, scars and damage that isn't possibly just from two girls in their late teens. Smirking behind a half broken mask, Grey reels up and charges like a runaway train, yet Blake and Yang are in perfect sync. Blake knowing he's unstoppable in his Berserker Frenzy as he can shrug off even the most decisive of blows by sustained rage, drops to the ground and swipes at his legs while Yang pivots around him and unleashes a massive haymaker with the building strength she still had from Neo's expert beatdown. In effect it wasn't just Yang and Blake that managed to KO Grey, it was Neo's expert beating and nearly killing of Yang that gave her the draconic strength needed to blast him against the jammed door. Realizing the blow would potentially open up and unleash the monster that is Neo, Yang and Blake advance onwards, in pursuit of Weiss.
…
"Finally I get to kill a Schnee", the words linger in Weiss' mind. His rage was so viscous and intense she almost threw up. Was this how she had been towards the faunus? She shook her head, no he was a terrorist and a monster that wanted her dead because she was linked to the bad reputation her father had inflicted upon the grand standing that once was Nicolas' legacy. She steeled herself. One day Weiss would restore her grandfather's true legacy. Not defined by the sting and greed of her deadbeat father. She clutched Myrtenaster and stepped forwards and scoffed, there he was. The white dressed orange haired knave that Ruby had fought before and told her about. She cracks a soft smile, he hardly seems any dangerous. Off course, she did hear about how he managed to outfence Sun and Blake. She advanced, but cautiously. Her stride is prideful, with purpose and carries herself as she was taught. "Stop the train, NOW", she demands.
"No can do, princess", he says with a smirk as he twirls his cane. There's an air of control and suave to him. Weiss smiles. For once, it would be nice if a bad guy would just accept he was outmatched and give up with dignity. She puts her sword forwards and smiles. "Don't say I didn't give you the chance"
Using the spiraling Glyph beneath her feet, Weiss sprang forwards. Lunging with the grace of a dancer knowing their steps intimately from practice. Roman's smile never faded as he twisted his cane comically before batting the thrust to the side. Weiss' reaction was another practiced set of motions as she cartwheeled and evaded the counter strike Roman had attempted. In her rotating motion she swung her blade and hit roman. However a Rapier is hardly an effective cutter and while the damage was noticeable, it would hardly be more than a somewhat deep cut. Orange aura sparked as the blow deflected off of him and the Heiress' landed ready like a jack in a box on her airborne Glyph and leapt upwards, Roman's counter missed her by a hair before he blocked her attack from above, forcing a bind that made Weiss lose her momentum and dropped before him where he swiftly threw a punch towards her. She tried to evade but could only cut the surface of the strike as it glanced on her shoulder, staggering back and readying herself again, left foot forward (now perfectly distance forward) as she readied her next attack pattern. Roman swung his cane around on his finger and smiled at her. At least he's not being a sore loser. Extending her finger, Weiss created four more glyphs that surrounded Roman, boxing him in and began ticking like clockwork, Orange hair flicked aside as he flourished and extended his hand, inviting her to attack. Weiss smiled, provocative taunting? How Childish. She dashed forwards, like a spring released, shooting between the glyphs that only carried her momentum and pushed her forwards. Bouncing like a ball between points with increasing speed and precision. Her rapier extended for continued thrusts. The dashing rogue's cane however intercepted and parried each strike. Following her motions with ease. How was that possible? She did everything as she had practiced!? IN training, Pyrrha could block her but people like Cardin would be decimated. How is this lowlife handling- Weiss' thoughts were interrupted as the floor gave way beneath her feet as she dropped to her butt, her ankle snagged by his cane's hooked handle as he trips her over. Groaning, she gets up and stomps her foot. How dare he fight dirty! There's no honor among the lower rank civilians. Weiss gets back up and looks at Roman, who twirls his cane again. She gets more annoyed and tries again. The same pattern as before, bouncing between the bounce Glyphs before trying a different dance with fencing. Roman matches her step by step as ultimately Weiss realizes her mistake with why she can't overpower him. He's able to read my patterns. How?! He's just a criminal. I'm a practiced huntress that trained with Winter and the best of the best in Atlas and the pretty good and meh of Beacon. How is this happening? Weiss flinched. A moment of fear as she wonders if she can handle that going forwards. Sensing her hesitation, Roman begins giving honey'ed words. "Why are we fighting? You and I are on the same side and you know it".
Beyond aggravated, Weiss can't stop herself and replies aggressively: "you and I are not even remotely similar", as she voices her opinions, Weiss raises her sword once more.
"Off course we are, I'm working with animals and so does your family. You think I want to do this? I'm stuck doing this or else I'm dead", He says, a flicker of panic in his voice. There's a renown anger in Weiss' voice as she replies in a rage.
"I am not my family name. I am my own person and won't be disrespected this way", she hisses as she changes the cartridge of her rapier and begins channeling a new Glyph. Noticing, Roman flips his cane and aims for her sword, correctly reading that she needs it to work, like how a thief uses a stethoscope to open a safe. Weiss' feet radiate in a golden glow as her time dilation goes off. In a flash, Myrthenaster disarms and inflicts critical damage to Roman who stumbles back and manages to seal the door to the locomotive shut as he fumbles the key and drops it into a hole the fight has generated, halting Weiss' advances. "why…would you do that?!"
"Because if I'm to lose, i'm taking you all down with me", Roman biles as he notices that Blake and Weiss have entered the caboose and stands defiantly. Not noticing her teammates Weiss scowls as she pushes Roman aside and tries to force the door open, unable to make it move. As Weiss is distracted, Roman pulls out a knife and tries to blindside the Heiress. Yet all the White girl can do is smile as she hears the sound of her friends and teammates protecting her back! She channels more aura into her Glyph and turns towards Yellow and smiles. Wordlessy they agree as the now double amped Yang breaks down the door and lets out a coy giggle. Black peers over the shoulders of her teammate and lets out a yelp and a snicker, while Weiss makes a happy voice and coos with reckless abandon. From his position at the floor, the barely conscious Orange haired thief can see that the train is already compromised. With a groan he notices that standing at the wheel is a single dog barking as he sits on the 'stop engine' button. "Seriously? Now even the mutts are beating me?"