Last time on RWBY X Meta Runner: Worlds Collide…
The party crasher who helped out our heroes shows her face! Weiss Schnee, now equipped with her Magnus Gigas Armor, revealed herself to the group. When she met up with Ruby, Tari, and the rest of the group, she joined the motley crew of heroes alongside Lamar, Sage, and Arma-Kade. Elsewhere, Vekk-Torr was licking his wounds, if robots had tongues, and somehow noticed Braane-Strom's bruiser's plan to capture our heroes. Surprisingly, the bruiser was Yang Xiao Long, one of the members of Team RWBY! How she joined the side of evil is a mystery, but her plan to capture the group of heroes got the attention of Vekk-Torr. As it was happening, Lamar was sent back to his world with the help of Sofia Porter back in Silica City. Once he returned home, he told what was happening in Remnant. Intrigued by this, Masa demanded to go to this world to see if Lamar wasn't lying. As it turns out, he wasn't bluffing. Now under the control of Vekk-Torr with Nevermore Energy stored inside him, Masa serves as the warlord's right hand of destruction and awaits his orders.
But will all three succeed in their plans? Stay tuned to find out!
As Lamar was heading to the spot he teleported from in Vale, he could never have thought something sinister would separate him and his friend. As he materialized in Remnant, the hole in the ground was restored, and Weiss began to take notice. She ran towards Lamar as the Meta Runner completed materializing.
"Lamar!" She greeted him as she hugged him.
"Hey, Weiss." He sighed.
Suddenly, Arma-Kade crawled out of Lamar's shirt and fell to the ground.
"Wow. I saw the whole universe flash right before me." He gasped.
"Well, it looks like someone took the trip quite well." She chuckled.
"Yeah, about that." Lamar groaned.
"What's wrong, Lamar?" Amra-Kade asked.
"Masa," Lamar answered.
"Who's he?" Weiss pondered.
"A friend. He wanted to go to Remnant but saved my life as Vekk-Torr tried to imprison me." Lamar explained.
"It seems you have good taste in friends. Especially those who help you out in the toughest of times." Arma-Kade replied.
Lamar then smiled at what he said.
"Weiss! Lamar!" Ruby hollered. "I just got a text from Yang!"
"In a moment!" Weiss consoled as the group walked towards the rest of the group. "If I had more friends like you, I wouldn't be so lonely. I am glad I met you and hope we meet Masa."
"Thanks." Lamar complimented. "I hope he is okay."
As the group then meets up with Ruby, Tari, and their allies, the leader of Team RWBY starts to tell her announcement.
"We just got invited to a fighting tournament hosted by Yang!" She cheered.
"That's great!" Tari responded. "Where is it?"
Suddenly, an indigo-furred gorilla-like werewolf creature with cybernetic forearms with speakers installed in them and wearing denim jorts, a denim jacket, and shades from the 80s leaped from nowhere and stunned the group with its sonic blast. Each member was then knocked out by its brute force and enhanced speed. By doing so, he knocked Theo out of his mech and into a dumpster.
"Ow! Theo groaned. "My ovaries!"
"If you had some!" Tri-El mocked the ultra-jumpy kid.
Tri-El and Err-Yr then laughed at the former's joke.
"Hey, who was that freak?" Theo asked the Camylonian numbskulls.
"That was Subhowler. A Lycanoid master of combat who has shitty taste in fashion." Err-Yr explained.
Theo then immediately hopped out of the dumpster and confronted the two lackeys.
"Tell me where he is taking them to." He ordered.
"It's a place called The Battleground. Vekk-Torr uses this traveling show to test survivors of fallen worlds if they are worthy of becoming Vekk-Torr's heralds." Err-Yr answered.
"Then that's where I am heading," Theo acknowledged. "And I am heading there to save my friends."
He sprinted out to see his mech in one piece and jumped into it. He then sprinted in pursuit of Subhowler to find The Battleground.
"Congrats. You just got us fired." Tri-El fussed.
Suddenly, a hologram of Vekk-Torr then appeared from his wrist communicator.
"Honestly, I have a task for you two." The warlord interrupted. "Follow that meddling kid."
The two lackeys then turned around and looked at Theo.
"What happens if we get caught?" Err-Yr asked.
"Trust me. Neither you two nor my new friend will get in trouble." Vekk-Torr replied.
"Who's your new friend, sir?" Tri-El pondered.
"I'm glad you asked that. This individual is a silent but deadly type." Vekk-Torr confessed.
In the sunset paradise of the Faunus, Menagerie, a small ultraviolet and red shooting star, was falling towards a White fang hideout. In it, two members were in the process of completing a tent.
"Okay, that's the last of it." One of them said.
"Good work." The other complimented. "Now-"
Suddenly, both of them noticed the shooting star coming straight at them.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The second one ordered his comrade.
The soldiers then jumped out of the shooting star's impact. When it landed, the duo immediately crawled to the crater and saw what landed near them.
"What the hell was that?" Another soldier questioned as he ran toward it.
"It's… a human?" One of them informed.
The three got on their legs and then pointed their weapons at the human, who was Masa, slowly getting up.
"You! Who are you? Who sent you here?" One of the soldiers ordered.
"I… am… the inevitable," Masa responded before firing two tendrils of Nevermore Energy at the soldiers, making them suck their Aura dry and absorb their bodies.
Suddenly, as Masa's chaotic attack began, Adam Taurus began to exit the building he was once in. He then noticed the human that killed two of the members of his group.
"You, who are you?" He asked the invader.
"I told those two who I was. And you will soon see why." Masa responded.
"Prepare to eat your words, human. Because those will be your last." Adam growled as he prepared Wilt and Blush.
"Hmph. At this point, you're playing a stupid game." Masa taunted.
He fired two tendrils at Adam. He deflected the first, but the second one pierced through his chest. Sienna tried to attack the invader from the back, but Masa responded by firing a tendril at the attacking faunus. Suddenly, he began to drain the Aura from their bodies.
"What are you, some sort of Grimm?" Adam grunted.
"I'm much worse than that," Masa responded.
The attacker absorbed Adam, Sienna, and their weapons. By the time he finished them, he had begun to kneel in pain. Ilia sprinted away from the grounds after witnessing Masa's carnage. The brainwashed Meta Runner noticed this and turned his head to the escaping faunus. Suddenly, Lin-Noir landed on his left shoulder and saw the damage done by Masa.
"Seems you kept yourself busy, Masa." He complimented.
"Not now. We have a faunus to stop." Masa hinted.
"I see." Lin-Noir noticed.
"Pursue her. I'll come after you once I regain my strength." Masa informed.
The Camylonian raven nodded his head and flew off in pursuit of the fleeing faunus. Meanwhile, in Kuo Kuana, the Belladonnas are having dinner. Ghira and Kali were delighted to see Blake arriving here safe and sound since their daughter, Blake, hatched from her crystal cocoon that landed in Meragerine.
"Blake, time for dinner!" Ghira, her father, informed as he put some shrimp gyoza on the table.
Inside her room, Blake was taking a shard of her crystal cocoon out of her ear. She is a fair-skinned young woman with choppy, wavy black hair and amber eyes. Her Faunus trait is a pair of black cat ears on top of her head. She wore a black tailcoat with a teal inner lining with its right sleeve neatly removed, a violet cape reachings her hips that showed tears from hard wear pinned to said coat, and a sleeveless indigo t-shirt with rectangular and diamond-shaped cutouts around the neckline. On her legs, she wore a white belt over black fitted pants with a silver stripe on the right side and black boots with light purple soles, trim, and teal laces. A white diagonal strap with a smaller magnetic clip on the back across her torso for sheathing her weapon, Gambol Shroud, and a tattoo of her emblem on her right shoulder completes her look.
"What the hell happened to me?" She asked herself.
"Blake, dinner's getting cold!" Kali hollered.
"Just a moment!" Blake retorted.
She exited her room and headed to the dining room. When she arrived, she saw the table already set. Blake began enjoying her food as it was warm. As she finished her plate, she paid attention to her father's plate. She then used her chopsticks to snag a gyoza off his plate. In retaliation, he reeled back, protecting his plate. By doing so, she began to chuckle, and the young faunus then jumped from her seat and attempted to take a gyoza off her father's plate.
"You got to be quicker than that," Ghira said.
Blake, with a happy grin, then backflipped over her father. She then launched the last gyoza on his father's plate. Blake jumped in midair as the fried dumpling descended and caught it with her mouth. As she proceeded to do that, Kali noticed something bizarre with her daughter.
"Ghira?" She spouted.
"Yes?" He replied.
They immediately saw Blake rolling in midair, laughing at them.
"Hey, what are you two staring at?" She laughed.
"Blake Arryn Belladonna, get down on the ground right now!" Ghira ordered.
"Okay!" She responded.
And by respond, she meant using her Semblance to make a stone clone of her and making it land on her father. As he fell to the ground with the stone copy of Blake in his arms, the parents of the faunus huntress then saw their daughter walking in midair like it was a sidewalk.
"Blake?" Kali questioned. "What happened to you?"
"Huh?" She spouted.
However, she immediately fell to the ground, but Kali caught her.
"Two semblances?" Ghira gasped. "How is that possible?
"What are you talking about?" Blake responded.
"You had your clones. Now you were joking around and walking on air like a cartoon character!" Kali explained.
Suddenly, Ilia sprinted to the hallway and entered the dining room, out of breath from being chased.
"Chieftan! Some monster has attacked the White Fang!" She panicked.
"The White Fang?" Blake questioned. "That's impossible!"
"That's where you're wrong, Blake. Ever since Vekk-Torr began his conquest of Remnant, the White Fang have been a force for good. They recently have been fighting battles across Remnant against that robot tyrant and his forces." Ilia explained.
"Liar! Prove it!" Blake demanded.
Suddenly, Lin-Noir flew into the room and landed on Ilia's shoulder. She then began to become scared of the Camylonian raven who just entered.
"Funny. I thought the White Fang were fighters like the humans here." He spoke sinisterly.
Blake then struck the raven, making it fly off Ilia's shoulder. As it landed on the stone clone of Blake, Ghira then slowly put the statue down and baked away.
"I am glad you asked that. Masa would like to talk to the Distortion here in Menagerie." The Camylonian raven explained.
"Masa?" Ghira questioned.
"Distortion?" Kali asked.
She then turned her head to her daughter.
"Take her!" She screamed in fear as she shoved Blake to Lin-Noir.
"Mom, what the hell are you doing?" Blake barked.
Her parents looked in anxiety for both herself and Lin-Noir.
"Ilia, you mentioned a human. What does it look like?" She asked.
"I'll answer that question. The 'human' you speak of looks normal but isn't." Lin-Noir explained.
"No matter who or what this monster is, I will destroy it!" Blake growled.
She then stormed out of her house, and Ilia immediately followed her. On the way to the boardwalk, Blake and Ilia discussed what had happened while she was away.
"Okay, so while you were away, Vekk-Torr began to attack Remnant." Ilia began.
"Vekk-Torr?" Blake asked. "Who in the hell is Vekk-Torr?"
"He's this intergalactic tyrant who sends legions of robots to take over and destroy worlds," Ilia explained. "As soon as he took over Remnant, the huntsman academies were overrun by his generals. However, someone escaped Beacon and met with the mad machine himself."
"At this point, you're not making any sense. Where have you been getting this info from?" Blake demanded.
"The White Fang. Ever since the invasion started, they have been fighting with the humans." Ilia revealed.
"So that explains why you came into my house worried," Blake remarked. "It seems I didn't know who was friend or foe when I arrived."
"And one more thing, as Remnant got enshadowed by an eternal night, eight crystals of unknown power fall from the sky and freed it from Vekk-Torr's destruction," Ilia added.
"So that's why I woke up in Menagerine," Blake replied.
"Wait, you were in that crystal that landed here?" Ilia asked.
"Yeah, once I was fighting Grimm in Vale, then suddenly, I woke up here, and my mom calls me a freak now," Blake replied. "Can this get any worse for me?"
The duo arrives at the docks, ready to find and kill the monster Ilia mentioned before. Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud and prepared to strike the invading threat. She then took a deep breath to focus on the danger in the water. As the 'monster' began to surface from the water, it would quickly strike the chameleon faunus.
"Ilia, watch out!" She warned her friend as it emerged from the ocean.
Blake then jumped in the way, pushing her friend out of the oncoming attack. As it focused on Ilia, Blake fired at it on the tip to get its attention. The monster was humanoid in appearance, with scarlet eyes and carnivorous teeth akin to a shark, and it was in a black substance familiar to Ilia.
"Funny." It said. "I fought all the Faunus here were peaceful people."
"Blake, behind you!" Ilia shouted.
As she heard her friend's command, Blake turned around and threw her weapon at the nightmarish foe. As the blade slashed its face, it gave the faunus huntress a smug look.
"How banal." It responded.
It then transformed its forearms into large katana-like swords, sliced the dock they were on, and made the two faunus run from its attack. It then fired its blade like a harpoon at Blake. As it impaled her, from what it believed, he then leaped towards the duo as Ilia trembled in fear.
"Please spare me. Please spare me. Please spare me." Ilia whispered.
"Do not be frightened, little faunus. The end for you will come sooner than you think." The monster informed. "The same can be said for your cat… faunus… friend?"
It then noticed the stone Shadow Clone Blake left behind for her sneak attack, in which she threw Gambol Shroud into its neck, impaling it.
"Surprise!" She taunted it as she pulled herself towards the attacker and delivered a dropkick that staggered it.
She then gave it a few more powerful slashes to weaken it when it was down. As the incisions in the monster reveal who it truly is; Masa Shimamoto. Ilia gasped at what she saw, the same individual who had attacked the White Fang camp minutes ago.
"It's you!" Ilia gasped.
Masa then grunted at the chameleon faunus, bolted towards her, and immediately choked her.
"So you DO know me." He snarled. "Looks like I'll be having chameleon faunus for dessert."
"Hey, your fight is with me, cannibal!" Blake hollered as she lunged at Masa.
Masa dodged her attack and parried the next few she threw out.
"Be grateful I lightened your burden. You're now safe without those White Fang burdens." Masa argued.
"Lies! They are aiding humanity in fighting off Vekk-Torr and his army!" Blake explained.
"Care to explain? Or are you too much of a scaredy-cat?" Masa argued.
"The faunus see Vekk-Torr as a threat to Remnant the same way humans see the Grimm," Blake responded.
"The Grimm? You compare Vekk-Torr to those beasts?" Masa hissed as he threw Blake aside onto the beach.
The two then continued their fight on the beach. As Blake and Masa's blades clashed, Ilia focused on the latter to find an opening and strike him. As she waited for that, Lin-Noir landed on her shoulder.
"Right shoulder." He whispered.
Ilia then screamed at the one who gave the hint. Masa turned his attention to her as she did that and fired a tendril at her. In response, she jumped out of the way so that the Camylonian raven would get absorbed by Masa.
"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled at his attacker. "Are you bl-AAAAGH!"
Masa then absorbed Lin-Noir, making him obtain his powers. He sprouted pitch-black techno-organic wings from his back, grabbed Blake by the neck, and began to fly.
"Your hubris has cost you your life, Distortion." Masa smiled sinisterly.
"Fact is, you judged a book by its cover," Blake grunted.
She then used her Shadow Semblance to make an exploding clone of her and then made another out of stone to fool her opponent. As Masa grabbed the clone by her throat, she slashed at the right wing, causing him to lose his grip on the decoy. While in the fall, the stone decoy sliced the left wing off, causing Masa to descend even faster. Masa retaliated by launching a tendril from his left hand, wrapping it around the clone, and throwing it into the ground like a lawn dart. He then used said tendril to catch and repair the severed wings back onto his body. By the time he did that, Blake had come at him, and the two continued to trade blows. Masa then fired a tendril at Blake, impaling her left hip. She responded by throwing Gambol Shroud at him, piercing his right eye. Masa quickly answered by rocketing toward his attacker by letting him come to the end of the tendril, turning his free hand into a claw, and piercing her chest. With the said attack, the velocity of the two combatants increased, and in seconds, they fell to the ground below. As the dust, or at this point, sand, settled, Masa removed his attacker's weapon from his eye. He walked away from the defeated faunus just as Ilia noticed him coming. Suddenly, Blake responded by throwing Gambol Shroud again, only for Masa to parry it with his blade made from his Nevermore Energy. She then swung it back multiple times, but time and time again, he deflected it. As Blake threw Gambol Shroud again, Masa caught it by the blade.
"I tire of this farce." He scoffed. "TIME TO DIE!"
He then fired techno-organic metal chains at her from her fingertips, and then they instantly pierced her flesh through her chest, arms, and legs. She then struggled to stand up, fell to her knees, and loosened her grip on her weapon. Masa recalled his chains and fired a shot at her head with Gambol Shroud before returning it to her by converting it back to sword form and giving it a roundhouse kick that pierced her chest.
"Rot in hell, freak." He hissed.
Just then, Ilia fired Lightning Lash at Masa's right shoulder. By doing so, he blocked the attack and turned his attention to her. His wounds began to heal as the victor approached her, thanks to the Nevermore Energy inside him, and then sinisterly smiled and came to the frightened faunus. Then, he heard a sinister laugh, strangely enough, from his supposed defeated foe, Blake.
"You put up a good fight against a standard White Fang member. Maybe even an average huntsman." She said.
Masa then paused and turned around to discover Blake was still alive. She was still bleeding from her wounds but still alive for some reason.
"H-how are you still alive? I impaled you!" Masa questioned.
Blake then chuckled at his question.
"You didn't remember? I am supercharged, which means I have a second Semblance. Whenever I feel a strong emotion, I gain another power. We are all different, you and I. We both possess powers we do not want to trifle with but do for the hell of it. You are a walking weapon, and I am an assassin insane in the membrane. We can rule this world together. We can show these miscreants who is the dominant species." She responded.
"I do not know what you are saying, but Vekk-Torr sent me here to kill you," Masa growled.
"Vekk-Torr, you say?" Blake chortled evilly. "I'll send him back to you... IN PIECES."
"Blake, snap out of it!" Ilia screamed in fear.
She runs towards her friend, but Masa stops her by extending his arm.
"Stand back." He informed. Tell the chieftain that the Distortion is under control."
Ilia ran to Blake's parents while Blake stood up, and Masa prepared to fight again.
"Tell me your name so I can find your tombstone and desecrate it in the future," Blake asked.
"It's Masa." He replied. "Masa Shimamoto."
"Masa Shimamoto," Blake noted. "At this point, you should have wussed out like a bitch and run. But now…"
She immediately pulled her weapon out of her chest and ran towards her 'killer' at an unexpectedly quick speed.
"PREPARE TO DIE!" She yelled.
She slashed him in the chest before he could react. As Masa regained focus, he noticed that his opponent was speedy. She jumped around him and moved like a blur, like a bear on cocaine. Masa tried to focus on her, but every time he tried to maintain his focus on her, she immediately turned to his blindspot and attacked from behind.
"Shit. She's too fast! I need to slow her down, but how?" He thought.
After an attack from Blake, Masa sees the sand on the beach and grabs it. He quickly got up, and his wounds rapidly healed. He saw the attacking faunus approach him and throw the sand at her face, blinding her for a few seconds.
"Gah! Cheap shot!" Blake jeered. "Who the hell uses sand? Honestly?"
Masa then responded with a few slashes with his Nevermore Energy blades, with the faunus stunned. Suddenly, Blake began to recover from the thrown sand and then delivered a slice to Masa's chest. She then jumped and plunged Gambol Shroud into where the cut was, and her opponent screamed in pain. Suddenly, Lin-Noir emerged from his chest in a blot of Nevermore Energy. As he hatched from his 'egg' that made him a Camylonian humanoid raven, he charged at Blake with his new weapon, retractable claw gauntlets, which made him block her attack as he struggled with her enhanced strength.
"Lin-Noir? Aren't you supposed to be dead?!" Masa asked.
"I'm just trying to get Vekk-Torr's attention!" Lin-Noir responded. "Stab me in the back!"
Masa then shrugged and followed his orders. On his ship, Vekk-Torr saw what Masa was doing.
"What the hell?" He snapped. "Dammit, Masa, you were supposed to follow my orders!"
He then opened a portal to Kuo Kuana, walked through it, and rocketed to the fight on the beach. Back to the battle, Lin-Noir and Blake relentlessly parried each others' attacks. With Masa regaining his conscience while his body was fighting the Nevermore Energy, Blake then delivered a kick to the Camylonian's midsection to knock the two on their backs. Blake then leaped in for the kill on the latter, but Masa grabbed the ribbon on Gambol Shroug and made it slip from her hands. This clever tactic would cause her to crash into a palm tree.
"Nice moves, Masa." Lin-Noir complimented.
"Don't mention it," Masa replied.
Suddenly, Vekk-Torr landed in front of the victorious duo. As they turned around, they kneeled before him.
"Excellent timing." The warlord said. "Blake Belladonna will not be a threat to my plans no longer."
Suddenly, Ilia and Ghira came running to the three in conversation.
"Not so fast, tyrant!" Ilia shouted as she fired Lightning Lash at the warlord's head.
The shot staggered him and left an opening for Masa to tear the forearms off of the warlord with his tendrils. As he successfully did that, he immediately absorbed them to make his giant fists with spiked knuckles and retractable claws similar to Lin-Noir's.
"Show off." He scoffed.
"Hey, it suits me," Masa replied.
Ilia then ran toward the duo, and the three immediately got into a fighting stance.
"Damnit. You'll pay for that." Vekk-Torr growled.
The warlord then delivered a nasty magic-enhanced stomp to flatten his foes into a paste. But then, the group leaped out of the way. Masa then jumped at him and delivered a barrage of slashes to the armless warlord that sent shrapnel to his robotic chest and insides.
"That's it, Masa! Shred him up so I can take something from him." Lin-Noir cheered.
Ghira and Ilia looked at Lin-Noir in confusion.
"What? I'm on your side." He informed the duo.
They immediately realized that he was on the side of good.
"I'll explain later. I got to get something." He told them before he flew off to the battle before them.
Masa tore through Vekk-Torr like cheese during the said battle through a grater with his claws. Suddenly, Lin-Noir swooped in and slashed the warlord across his face, knocking the warlord down. Masa paused and saw the Camylonian ally he never needed but somehow came anyway.
"I was fine until you showed your ugly mug!" Masa hollered.
"Uh, you're welcome!" Lin-Noir replied.
The latter then flew to the warlord's body, reconstructing itself due to his regeneration. He grabbed the icosahedron-like device he uses to travel dimensions and ripped it out of his circuitry.
"You won't be needing this anymore." He said to the repairing body.
He then flew away as he gave Masa a thumbs up, and the Meta Runner prepared to fight the recovering warlord.
"LIN-NOIR, YOU TRAITOUROUS CROW!" Vekk-Torr yelled.
"Catch me if you can! Maybe I'll give you back the Dimensional Compass!" Lin-Noir taunted.
Vekk-Torr growled as he began to get up, as his body was fully healing slowly. Masa responded by trapping him with his tendrils, restricting his movements.
"Let me go, Masa!" Vekk-Torr ordered. "Do you know what side you're on?"
"Give it up, Gulliver!" Masa hissed. "Your travels have led to nothing but destruction."
Ghira and Ilia came towards him, ready to fight alongside their former attacker.
"Yeah. Since there's five of us and only one of you," Ilia explained.
"You might want to check your math," Vekk-Torr advised the chameleon faunus."
"What?" Masa retorted.
The group looked around to see if there was anyone, or anything, fighting against them. Suddenly, Masa was stabbed in the back by Blake, still crazy from before, with Gambol Shroud. With that, Vekk-Torr breaks free from his snare and pursues Lin-Noir. Masa and Blake continued their battle on the beach, and Ghira joined to aid him. Masa then ripped off her magical wings, absorbed them, and fired his claws like darts, with one of them piercing her chest, making her fall to her knees. As Ghira delivers a discus lariat for the final blow, Masa calls back his blades, and his arms return to normal with the Nevermore Energy inside him. Suddenly Vekk-Torr landed in front of the victors. He has his arms crossed and is in an unhappy mood.
"Have you two seen Lin-Noir on this island?" He questioned the duo.
"Nope. But I have seen this." Masa responded as he transformed his right forearm into a plasma cannon the size of a sedan.
He then charged it so that he could fire Vekk-Torr off the island.
"Now is not the time for this." Vekk-Torr declared calmly. "All I need to do is-"
Suddenly, Masa fired and sent the warlord flying.
"Nice shot." Ghira acknowledged.
"Don't mention it." Masa retorted. "I was supposed to be with a friend, but then Vekk-Torr threw a fork in the road between us."
"You should tell me more about you and your friend." Ghira chuckled.
Masa then reverted his right forearm to normal, picked up Blake, and put her on his shoulders.
"We should, chieftain." Masa smiled.
Elsewhere, Vekk-Torr was falling towards a rock formation south of Anima. He is immediately impaled through the chest by one of the giant stone stalagmites, ending his fall. He then begins to climb to the top with all his strength. Back on Menagerie, a fuchsia rift begins to open behind Ilia. She then turned around as it opened, and Lin-Noir stepped out. He was holding the Dimensional Compass, the device making the portal.
"Come." He said. "It's time to go somewhere you haven't been before; Silica City."
"I don't know if I can trust you. But I'll follow your lead." She confessed.
Lin-Noir gave a smile and nodded to the faunus. They immediately entered the portal to Silica City, which immediately closed when Ilia entered it. But on the rock formation where Masa blasted Vekk-Torr, the warlord climbed near the top of the stalagmite. He then used his remaining strength to shatter the top and make it a flat surface, which he landed on his front side. He slowly got up and noticed the tip of the stalagmite skewered in his chest. He then proceeded to pull it out and then crush it into sediments.
"You can run, Lin-Noir. But you have pushed back the inevitable, the end of everything." He forewarned.
Back in Silica City, Ilia marveled at the sight above atop the skyscraper she and Lin-Noir were on.
"The view is more beautiful when you see the city up close." He remarked. "Let's roll."
He then jumped off the top of the skyscraper and began his descent to the street below. Ilia followed suit as she walked off the roof's ledge and fell off the building. She then sped up her descent to catch up with the Camylonian, who was pulling up to glide horizontally. Ilia then pulled out Lightning Lash, used it like a grappling hook on a street pole, and used her momentum like a pendulum to land on an 18-wheeler. She immediately followed her by jumping from vehicle to vehicle, following the Camylonian as fast as possible. By doing so, they immediately got the attention of bystanders in the city streets, who were immediately amazed by them heading to their location.
"Do you know where you are going?" Ilia pondered.
"Ever since I got absorbed by Masa, yes." Lin-Noir retorted.
As they arrive near MD-5's hideout, the duo land on the ground and immediately jog to the location. Lin-Noir then transforms the claws on his gauntlets into tendrils, thanks to the Nevermore Energy he obtained while Masa absorbed him and hacked the keypad to unlock the ramen shop's door. The duo then walked inside, and the door closed once they had entered. They immediately head to the back, where the rest of MD-5 is, and once they enter, the three MD-5 girls begin to notice the humanoid raven Camylonian and the chameleon faunus.
"What are we doing here?" Ilia whispered.
"That's funny that you asked that." Belle bespoke. "What are you two doing here?"
"And where the hell is Masa?" Lucinia demanded.
How will Ilia and Lin-Noir explain everything to the rest of MD-5?
How will they react to what happened to Masa?
And how will Vekk-Torr find Silica City so he can destroy it?
Be here for when all of those questions get answered in Chapter 8: Fate of a City!
"Wait, 'Fate of a City'? Vekk-Torr destroying my home?" Sofia interrupted. " Listen, you disembodied voice, what are you fu-"