div id="djs-foo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"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, we find ourselves back at the Carpenter Acre, where the team had reconvened after the disaster at Neo's tea party. Yet as they arrived, they found the Workshop in a state of disarray. The Courtyard was desolated, the piles of woodworked junk were all gone, the house looked abandoned, checking the inside, it was also empty and not populated. Even the forbidden door to the shop below was gone! Nothing about this made ANY sense!/div
div id="djs-alcd8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""ZIMM!", Jaune shouted, but got no answer. He slammed his fist against the decaying tree in the middle of the courtyard and huffed. This place utterly is the worst! How could this once be my favorite story?/div
div id="djs-c0hmi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""This doesn't make any sense…we were gone less than an hour…Two hours tops", Weiss said, putting her hands to her head and try to figure this out. Yang was a wreck who stood alone, Blake holding her hand and trying to keep her up, since Yang was wobbly at the knees, muttering; "I didn't mean to…I didn't mean to…"/div
div id="djs-8aggl" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""First Lewis…now Ruby and Zimm…I hate this place! What does it want!?", Jaune groans before calming himself down and returning to Yang, slowly pulling her into a hug, shushing her and trying to comfort her. Blake slowly sauntered over to Weiss, stuck in thought./div
div id="djs-2d9nc" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I thought…we saved her…the cup…", Yang sobs into Jaune's shoulder, forcing him to gently pat her hair and sigh, "I think we were to late, she ingested a little before we could stop her…I'm sorry"/div
div id="djs-95h6u" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I'll kill Neo…Cat…Whatever! I'll kill them", Yang breaks in a heartbreaking wail as Jaune puts his hands on her cheeks and makes her look at him, tearful lilac staring into endless deep blue oceans. Blake groaned, causing Weiss to take her hand. "What's eating you?"/div
div id="djs-a3rp0" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""That line… 'not a place you go…a place you know'...what's that mean?", Weiss looks at Blake's amber eyes, sighing as she gently hugged her. Blake ponders, "Perhaps it's a riddle?"/div
div id="djs-5pfm0" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Nothing in this place is as it seems", Jaune bemoans, petting Yang's head as he groans. "I just wished we were fast enough…, lately it feels like I'm always too late, failing miserably"/div
div id="djs-7esvr" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I think you're asking too much of yourself", Yang adds, looking at Jaune before kissing him on the lips. Weiss and Blake blush and look away, giving each other a 'shall we as well?' expression before both nodding away. Blake, who was pretty clever as well, adding; "We've been telling ourselves that failing means we're no good. But I can guarantee even the best Huntsmen in history have all lost at some point"/div
div id="djs-bo0ev" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""And they were still incredibly brave, and good", Jaune adding. He nods his head, Yang with a weak smile on her face, still in sorrow, made a connection, she gazed at the tree. And sighed; "maybe the Cat was right…Maybe we just needed to accept it, at your deepest point you're open for the greatest change. It's not a place you go…"/div
div id="djs-71k05" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-ejko2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"…/div
div id="djs-f5c1g" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-vnlo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""R-ruby!", the voice was weak, but also hopeful. Yang rushed from the crowd and arrived at a bark shaped sculpture. As if the Carpenter had made a tree version of Ruby! But it couldn't be Zimm, since there was branches and other leaves growing around the shape of their leader! Yang sobbed once as she threw her arms around the shape, gently sobbing. As she saw the branches she reached forwards and grabbed them, moving to pull them free. Yet she stopped half way and simply sighed, looking at her friends who all watched her. Before the blond girl sighed, turning back to her sister encased in bark and threw her arms around her again. Whispering, "I dunno if you can here me, Ruby…But I'll make this right. I will protect this version of you…"/div
div id="djs-3ps8f" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I…half expected you'd tear the branches off", Jaune adds, placing his hand on Yang's shoulder and looking over the bark Ruby. Before he gave a snicker, "But I think I get it…it's about accepting. The tree took us here because we are ready to accept that it wants to help. And now Ruby's accepting it's help as well"/div
div id="djs-fvvdt" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""But what if…she isn't Ruby when she comes out?", Yang bemoans, still hugging her sister. Blake and Weiss share a look, holding hands. The feline girl replying, "we've done all we could. Now…"/div
div id="djs-9nrv6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""It's up to Ruby. Whatever happens…we have to accept that", as she finishes saying that, a different bark sculpture breaks as Herbalist walks out, now having wings as he stretches and flies off to begin his purpose anew. Blake giggles, "Imagine she comes out with wings"/div
div id="djs-2b7hi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""That would be a sight", Weiss snickers. Yet Yang doesn't share. Will she still be her little sister? What if all that damage done by Neo and the Cat was enough to break something? Am I too late? Jaune, sensing the negative spiral in Yang's mind, slowly squeezes her shoulders. "I'm sure that we'll see Ruby back. Her old cheery self, quirky and adorable"/div
div id="djs-36mp3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang nods, as she puts Crescent Rose, which she had carried with her, on the bark statue and sniffles. Please be safe, sister. Before they could further discuss the potential behind this, the powers that Ruby could achieve, Juniper gave a startled cry. Her ears dropped flat right after they were raised up high for a second. She had heard a rhythmic banging on a solid surface. And it scared her! Jaune, noticing the tension of Juniper, let go of Yang and investigated the sound. As he did, a louder bang drew all of their attention. Slowly, stalking, they approached a large open space, well open wasn't the right word. A sort of clearing, with a wide open platform as if this part of the tree had been chopped. They could count the age rings in the floor beneath them. It was like a hidden area beneath the canopy. Light filtered through the leaves, shining a dim but colorful light around, illuminating enough like at sunset. A massive open door, crafted from the wood that might even make the Carpenter jealous, was a massive door of golden yellow light. A feint breeze came from it, which, as it caressed their faces, filled them with the warmth that only the feeling of home could. They had finally reached their destination…a way home!/div
div id="djs-71rvg" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Is that…"/div
div id="djs-5sasa" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Our way home…"/div
div id="djs-1tore" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""AHHH…Rguaahhh…ooof…rahhhhhhhh…OWW…STUPID DOOR!"/div
div id="djs-4mbes" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"The sounds of the banging had been Neo-Cat, slamming head first into the golden yellow light. But like in a cartoon, they merely bounced off of the energy as if they were made of rubber. Yang wiped away a fresh tear, this was the kind of stuff that Ruby would laugh at, during their times watching tv in their the most hilarious part, was that after Neo-Cat was slammed back that final time, they noticed their audience and took a pose, pretending like they hadn't been slamming their head against a wall for what could possibly be minutes or even hours. It was kind of pathetic. "Oh…good…you figured it out and made it"/div
div id="djs-76boo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I guess your plan to get out of here…isn't working?", Blake couldn't stop herself from giving a snicker, earning a glare from Neo-Cat: "You know you always were the worst of them"/div
div id="djs-1l0pi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Heh…Neo can't go through the door!", Jaune smiled, slowly reaching for his broken sword, the air ripe with tension as if a fight was imminent. Neo-Cat hissed with a vile energy, tooth filled snarl on their face. It was surreal. "No. She has no attachments to your world. Nothing to return to. She has failed me… just like Alyx did."/div
div id="djs-4l4t4" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Like…Alyx?", Jaune slowed his draw. From the soft whispered 'no' to the remainder of the sentence, Cat was speaking with intent, trying to break Jaune's resolve. All these years, he thought Alyx returned and threw their brother to the Grimm. Yet he was so adorably and stupidly wrong! "That cowardly, wretched girl whose story you've been foolishly following all along. The same girl that I followed too, Because she promised me she would bring me back to Remnant with her. But in truth, she had no intention of taking me!"/div
div id="djs-6c0ms" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""No…", Jaune mutters, his arm dropping lower and lower, Yang and Blake stepping closer, flanking Jaune in case it would throw him off. Neo-Cat noticed, sharp fangs curling into a grin, "No, after talking to the Tree, she had a sudden crisis of conscience! Decided she wanted to fix everything that she had broken in the Ever After! Including poor sappy Jaune over there! Lewis went, and at the very last moment… Alyx didn't…"/div
div id="djs-cvetj" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune trembles, he throws a look back at Juniper who wimpers even more than before. Was she always this terrified of the Cat? No she wasn't, meaning this means that now they're stronger and more dangerous. In a way it's horrifying. Yang puts a hand on his shoulder and aggressively stepped forwards, "What did you do to her?"/div
div id="djs-76lj3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Neo-Cat crouched a little, letting out a goading wild laugh that was filled with joy at the confused faces of the heroes, like a cat does before pouncing. Then sprang up in the air, acrobatically turning around their axis before slamming fist in the wooden floor, shattering and cracking the wood. A spiderweb pattern crack shot from her fist, as the kneeling villain smiles and grabs part of the tree, throwing a glance, ever so quickly, at Juniper who wimpers back at the grinning smile. "Let's say that I wish I had these powers back then, to let a Jabberwalker loose on poor little Alyx…or is it…bunny now?"/div
div id="djs-1tfe1" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune gasps. Looking back, the ears of the big Jackalope are flat as she gives a mournful look back at his partner. Suddenly it clicked. SHe found him, after he was poisoned. He didn't remember how long had passed, she brought him to Carpenter. Cat just said she wanted to fix everything she broke. Aside from the Red King who was already gone, she did, as Juniper. To think that all this time, the girl I thought and hated, has been here, caring for me and standing by my side for years. Jaune felt a tear run down his cheek as he noticed Juniper's fear at the Cat, now it makes sense. She's not afraid of the Cat, she's afraid of what I will do now, knowing the truth. With the ching of swords being pulled, Myrtenaster and Passion both. With the reveal that Ruby was still alive and more importantly, with Blake wanting to protect Weiss, Yang and Jaune, her blade slightly reaffirmed her vow, not breaking yet, but there was a dull edge to its blade. Yang raised her fists and cocked Ember Celica, failing to notice she had very few bullets left. With the energy shifting, Jaune draws his sword and turns, defensively standing between him and Juniper. "You…monster!"/div
div id="djs-crd9r" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Cat extended the arms and massive claws, each one the length of a rondel dagger, several inches long, razor sharp and meant for plunging into the skin and tearing out flesh and draw rivers of blood. They readied, Jaune stepping forwards, as he was both most eager to beat this decade long headache down, but he also had the best chances of tanking a blow. His Aura was stronger, his armor while rusty, was still armor, and he had a shield. Blake and Weiss flanked him, swords drawn, with Yang standing behind him, ready to engage! They all glared at the enemy, who drew a smile across their face before rushing in for the attack! But with how Jaune moved aside, there was a line of sight that opened for Neo-Cat, one that… "she's still here!"/div
div id="djs-ddulo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-athbb" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Yes! All my work… it's not lost! Deep down, she wants nothing more than to return to Remnant and play hero. I just need to cut her out, and she will take me there!", Curious almost burst free of the flesh puppet they were possessing, so great was their joy at seeing the bark manifestation of Ruby Rose, Huntress. She didn't want to become some mere bunny with antlers like Alyx, no she wanted to return home! They could feel it manifesting in Tree, smell it in the air! The others weren't important anymore! All that Curious wanted, was to open that thing up, like a juicy jubjub bird egg! The only problem being…/div
div id="djs-fej4p" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""You won't get to her…unless you go through me…", Yang said, stepping in front of Jaune as her eyes flashed red with rage. She had lost her sister once before, due to many factors she'd probably have to shoulder for the rest of her life, but she won't let this furrball of riddles and trickery get to her! I failed you once Rubes, I won't fail you again. I'm not my mother, who abandoned her family. I am Yang Xiao Long, Huntress and big sister! It's time I acted like that, once more! Yet before she could attack or defend, Jaune put his shield out in front, standing side by side. Blake put her free hand on Yang's shoulder, as did Weiss, making Yang snicker. "...sorry…I meant us!"/div
div id="djs-49qtp" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Very well…I'll give you the same treatment as Alyx…and put you six inches…in the GROUND", with that proclamation, Neo-Cat giggled. Before blasting forwards in a burst of speed that would rival Ruby's Petal Burst. Oh no, not another Semblance copy fighter! Yang blinked, yet before the entity could strike, a sharp metallic whine broke as Jaune caught the blow with his shield and expended the second last charge of his Dust to blast Neo-Cat back from his friends. In a fluent motion, Gambol wrapped around Neo's torso and pulled taunt as Weiss generated her final Gravity Glyph, strengthening the pull of Blake's ribbon as they both heaved with all their might and drew the body in! With a startled gasp, Neo's body was pulled forwards and struck with a massive haymaker from Yang, causing her to do a backwards flip through the air and land flat on their belly, the wind knocked from their lungs as they slowly got up, Jaune's sword zipped through the air as he attempted to run them through! Yet Neo-Cat was faster! Rolled upon their hands, Neo's handy acrobatic nature came in clutch as they kicked at Jaune's gut, a metallic clang before they sprang up and away from them, landing with their back against the door they couldn't pass through. And very unhappy! Four on one, that hardly seems fair, luckily I'm stronger now than I ever was before! As they grinned, they engaged again! But when they hit a light beam breaking through the leaf-filled canopy, a shimmer passed over Neo's body, before four of them appeared! The real one hidden like a pebble during three cup there were four of the Cat's bodies. Instead of three./div
div id="djs-addl8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss hesitated, she had one each of Gravity, Fire and Ice Dust left, should she blow these four up at once? Waste her powers a little to further this fight? As the four enemies began splitting up, Weiss acted rashly! She drew the final fire charge, luminated her blade and threw a splattering of flames at the four Neo-Cats. All four of them shattered like glass. Gasping, Weiss stomped her foot. Dammit! Blake, who had also been keeping count, knew she had to use Gambol Shroud sparingly. All three girls suddenly realized that them showing off for the chess battle and the skirmish with the Jabberwalkers, was NOT a good idea when you were low on bullets and Dust. How did they do…the flicker! The flicker was the illusion! Jaune also figured that out and pulled everyone into a back to back four way circle, looking around. Before he could utter an order however, Blake stabbed her blade backwards, finding a clawed arm that blocked her stab as Neo-Cat just appeared in their middle! Raising their free arm and clawed at the other three. Jaune's danger sense kicked in allowing him to spin around and block the strike with his broken sword. Then, hooking the sword around the wrist and holding the arm trapped in a vice between blade and shield, trapped Neo-Cat. Weiss thrust Myrtenaster forwards and pierced the skin, Blake and Weiss together forcing the other arm down, leveraging their combined force to hold them down. This freed Yang, who's eyes were raging with anger, to punch their gut as hard as possible! A victorious roar, ending in a sharp gasp as shattered glass struck Yang's Aura, preventing the shards from lacerating her skin. A roar of aggression as another Neo-Cat appeared. Blake, who was faster, put her hand to the spine of her single edge blade Passion and stopped the blow from decapitating Yang, Jaune rushed forwards and tackled Neo-Cat, picking them up and slamming their head in the floor! When they didn't shatter, Weiss struck as well! Finally the real one was found!/div
div id="djs-9cte8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-5meqm" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Get off-a me!", Neo-Cat hissed, opening their mouths for a massive beam to blow Jaune backwards. Blake acted on instinct and threw Gambol at him, wrapping around his chest and pulling him back on the platform, not trusting the fall to be survivable. With that she realized she had only half a clip left. Seizing this opening, Cat tried to force the body up, before all the breath was knocked from their gullet, as Yang punched them hard! Furious red eyes and a mocking grin, before the twelve gauge shell was spent and Curious was shot through the air and slammed into the door once more! Furious, hissing, they claw at the air and advance once more, hesitant now. If trickery with Neo's semblance wasn't going to work, then perhaps a different approach? They had tried the multi clone idea to hide. What if I actually use them to fight? Yang's attack sequence continued. But this time Cat alternated. Instead of fighting them with trickery, it was head on with a trick here and there! Yang's fist landed on the enemy once more. But they shattered like glass once more. No damage thanks to her Aura, bleeding hands would be bad for a brawler like her. Quick scan of the shards, nope no Neo. Yang turned to look at her friends, who also scanned the area. A near invisible grin appeared behind Yang's ear as Neo-Cat materialized once more. Weiss saw it first and pointed her sword. Yet before she could act, Blake dashed forwards, pushing Weiss aside as a guillotine bladed claw sliced at her throat! Cat was learning! Yang likewise felt a shiver down her spine and ducked, as a similar long bladed claw sliced at the spot her neck had been seconds before. Jaune barked an order, once more they bunched up. Perfect! Four Neo-Cats appeared before each and every one of them, grinning their cheshire grin before rushing in, more blades appearing behind them that forced the four out of sync and into individual fights!/div
div id="djs-4n4hn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Blake having to duel someone alone, advancing and retreating at ferocious attacks. It felt similar to fighting Gray Diamondback, the ferocity and uncaring nature. Cat knew the blade was less sharp, plus with the lack of bullets, Gambol was almost useless, with about four shots left. Although the thing that made Blake both giggle at the fight and put her best foot forward, was that this was a genuine catfight. With Neo-Cat swiping and slashing, and Blake ducking and leaning out of the way, giving a pat with the flat of her blade. She groaned. How did Adam manage this so well? She made the mistake with Ruby and now her weapon was less sharp. She didn't outright break her vow, since she did try to protect Ruby in Neo's place. Maybe that's why her sword didn't break yet? Regardless, fighting a cat was not something she had ever done before, but as a feline herself, there was a rhythm to their dance. Pat, swipe, poke, swipe, dodge, thrust. And in those few moments, like a good angry feline when Cat was furious, when different claws appeared out of nowhere being manifested from Neo's Semblance, Blake had no other option but to Shadow out of danger. Frustrating them more and more. "Do you do ANYTHING besides RUNNING AWAY!? All that growth and even now all you are is a scared chicken running away from their problems! You're pathetic!"/div
div id="djs-c21p9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Blake stumbled from her blow. Why did that hurt so much? Cat was just a talker. From these fights, it was clear that she was the better fighter. Sure Cat was way more ferocious and had more of a reckless wild nature to their attacks, but there was no form or backbone to it. She would win regardless. But something about how that taunt landed. Blake had grown. As she blocked a blow and hissed at Cat, not literal but threw a nasty remark back, she realized that her Semblance, while handy, still wasn't what she wanted it to be. She didn't want to just leave a shadow behind everytime to take the hit or use as a stepping stone. She didn't want to have the abilities of say Sun, where her clones could act independently, but just once way to deal more damage. Something a little more useful. Blake backflipped, using the tip of her boots to kick Neo in the face as she created distance between them both, pointed Passion in a taunting manner as she landed and glared. Her eyes darting for a split second from her adversary to her friends./div
div id="djs-abt24" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-89sb3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss, trying to help Blake, had a far less fun time than Blake. For one her Dust supply was low. Meaning no handy windblasts, hardlight platforms or even a solid block of ice, since she had only one shot of ice and gravity left. Best not waste them in a one on one duel with a strange weird science monstrosity like Neo-Cat. But the lack of Dust making her less dangerous for the feline adversary in that Weiss ONLY had her sword. And with the faster claws and that being doubled, Weiss hardly had the ability to fall into a comfortable pattern. She needed to improvise, fight more wild, less true to form. She had to do it like Ruby! Go with the flow style fighting. As Neo rushed forwards, arms raised, Weiss put one foot backwards, this wasn't a dance, but with a grin, she altered her approach. Swinging Myrtenaster wide in an arc, deflecting one clawed arm into the other and making Neo-Cat stagger by like a drunk on the Mantle streets, Weiss put her right hand on her hip and thrust at the body running past her. Hitting their tussie! Score one for me!/div
div id="djs-doh1n" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Neo-Cat, furious at being outpaced, they threw themselves at Weiss! Striking with wide arcs of their claws! Weiss however, evaded. She stepped back for one swipe, braced her rapier for the second and caught it, the blade singing as claws slid across the sharp edge. When the claws threw back for an overhead blow, two hands together, Weiss cleverly tapped her blade against the left claw, forcing the hands to bunch up, slide down her blade as she effortlessly guided them away from her, Neo slamming into the floor. Sure the Cat was stronger now, but they had less control over the body. As if they were just a second slower than most opponents Weiss had fought! And while she couldn't physically overpower them, she could outpace them! Once more Cat swiped! This time she caught the first blow, stepped into the circle of influence that those arms had, causing the second attack to be a mere arm patting her side. Weiss wasn't done however. While the clawed hand was stuck over the basket hilt of her rapier, Weiss flicked her wrist, throwing the hand off while freeing her weapon from the bind. Then she smashed it into Neo's face! Satisfied with a groan as the Cat staggered backwards, with her hand still on her hip, Weiss raised her blade so the sword lined her face perfectly down the middle and gently waved her arm downwards. A fencer's salute!/div
div id="djs-bpdmn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Angered by the provocation, the Cat's new attacks were dodged by Weiss stepping back, the air whooshing as their claws missed her by a hair, the air moving from the ferocious blows was a clear indicator, they wanted her dead. But Weiss knew what she was doing. Yet as she thought that, the hand she thought she dodged, spun around. As if the hands had turned around on their wrist sockets! Instinctively Weiss stepped into it, cutting the power of the strike in half as she drove her rapier into the floor, catching the strike and blocking it. Cat grinned, raising their other hand, with Weiss standing there vulnerable, claws raised next to Neo's face ready for a palm strike. Cat wanted to grab Weiss' head and squish it like a melon! Yet Weiss acted on instinct again. From her hip, her right hand reached for her Aura Blade, activating it as it sprang to life with a gentle rush of nordic winds before Weiss drove the blade into Neo's face! Luckily, or rather sadly, Neo's Aura blocked the blow, but Curious did hiss at the pain! With a grin, Weiss focused as her Arma Gigas appeared in a small format and swiped at their ankles! Neo fell back, the Cat hissing furiously! "Vein girl! Always letting slaves do her work! You're not mature, you're merely a pampered princess, still! Your summons are proof! Slaves to do your bidding!"/div
div id="djs-1krhs" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss gasped. Her focus breaking as the Arma Gigas vanished, shattering like a powder snowman in the summer of Vacuo. No wait, come back! She gasped as she felt her rock, the secured and safety power of the enemy that pushed her, the kill she performed to prove to Jacques she could leave Atlas and attend Beacon, her oldest ally, abandoning her! And not because Weiss didn't need the help of the Arma Gigas, not because she was shattered by such a childish and rather weak insult from a worthless opponent who can't graciously accept their defeat, but because deep down, Weiss didn't wanna be shackled like that. She was Weiss Schnee. Winter used flocks of Grimm to aid her, her Mother had used a Boarbatusk to deal with the Hound. But she wasn't just a Schnee. She was WEISS! She wanted to do things better, redefine her name, like what grandfather had done! Subconsciously, she didn't want her name, Weiss, to be linked to the aspect of holding slaves in her arsenal. That was Jacques' forte. She wouldn't do that! Weiss shook her head at the insult and stumbled, falling to her knee as Neo-Cat leaned over her and smirked. I have you-/div
div id="djs-3keb9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Back off!", Blake's voice woke Weiss from her thoughts as right before her, a Shadow appeared. Blake hissing at the second Cat. Ice blue sapphire eyes shot back and met with the warm Amber of her girlfriend fighting a solid five meters away from her. Why would she throw a Shadow this far out? Yet before Cat's claw could break the Shadow, it hissed. Like a cat! Before throwing Passion out with a sharp slash and forced Neo back. In amazement, Weiss looked at the Shadow that winked at her before dissipating in a puff of smoke! Once more amber met with sapphires as Weiss blushed. Did Blake's Semblance just evolve to save her?! Oh I'm kissing you so badly after this! Weiss huffed and stood to her feet. Raising Myrtenaster and her Aura Blade in a classic fencing guard and smirked. "Care to try again?"/div
div id="djs-846rf" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-1ba4v" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune wasn't worried. Sure he had one broken sword, but the added years, the training that kept him sane and the friendship of Zimm that pushed him to overcome the venom and Juniper helping him, Jaune Arc was feeling confident as he bashed his shield into a swing and forced Neo-Cat back. Realizing he's far stronger than they were, Neo-Cat staggered back, darn it! I won't be able to overpower him! Jaune gave a confident smile as she flipped his broken sword around in his hand, shield raised for a good defense. Curious wracked their brain. He's stronger than I am, even with the physical boost of Neo's body. But that wasn't going to be the only thing she has. She has that glass, managed to damage Yang earlier. The cheshire grin crawled even higher as Neo's clawed hands retracted. Now it was just Neo's normal body with the cyan cat eyes and the inhumanly big grin. A grin that was even wider than before. Hairs on the back of Jaune's neck raised as suddenly the faintest trickling of glass reached his ear. With a startled gasp he jumped backwards and blocked a blast of razor sharp glass! Like a flock of birds, or a cluster of flower petals carried by the wind, did millions of small edges slam into his shield, clattering like murderous rain. In a way it was clever, weaponizing Neo's Semblance of Illusions which shatter into glass, turning those glass shards into a storm of cuts and edges. Points for creativity./div
div id="djs-3j2bn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But so was he! As he raised the broken sword in the air, he poured what little Aura he needed into it and slashed! A compressed wave of air and energy sliced through the glass and slammed into Neo, staggering back and hissing. Curious probably didn't like that! With all the many years spent here, his Scroll long since battery dead, he had memorized the words and strikes and drills from Pyrrha. It took him a few years, but with the energy he could now expel from the ruined remnants of Crocea Mors. A full sword length's worth of energy! A simple buzzing of glass wasn't gonna stop Old Man Jaune that easy. Slowly he walked towards the Cat possessed girl. Three storms of glass now swirling around him. For a second he thought about flexing, tanking the blow, his Aura was high enough. But that thought was quickly cast down. He didn't need to showboat, he had to focus and get the job done. Be a qualified leader, worthy to return home. This was his 'graduation' from his 'failure' as Rusted Knight. The three storms swirled around him, he didn't give them time to attack! Reversing his hold on his sword, he let out a horizontal hook slash, aimed at incapacitating the Cat right there. But the glass swirled before Neo and formed a barrier, with the sound of shattering glass to prove just how real and dangerous this attack could be. Neo sassily threw a hand forwards, commanding the storm to attack him. Jaune raised his shield and braced!/div
div id="djs-atpav" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But there was no impact. Instead the storm parted around him and swirled behind his back! Oh no, outflanked! Slashing with his sword to try and deal with both clouds of glass that threatened to blast into his back, the cloud separated into four separate forms. Jaune gasped. He was in trouble. A single shard wasn't the issue, but the cloud had gotten bigger. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Jaune cast a glance at Neo-Cat. Hmm, how best to defend? He grinned, waited until the last moment and caught the four individual blows on his shield, using their force to slide over closer towards Neo. When he got close enough, swinging his shield arm to dissipate the glass from blasting against him, spun around and thrust his blade at Neo! He grinned, gotcha now! Except there was a loud and sharp shattering sound as a wall of glass appeared before Neo and caught the blow. His rusted armor whined, several edges and more shards bit into his dominant hand before pulling it free from the cloud. Alright so perhaps the cat isn't that dumb. However he had a final trick to play! As the 'shieldwall' raised up with the rinkling of glass, Jaune put a little bit of Aura into his legs. He had noticed the glass around Neo's body was acting instinctively as a shield. Meaning he just needed to break Cat's focus. And that, by all intents and purposes, was easy enough! So he pivoted around the attack and released the charge in his legs. IN a flash of movement he appeared behind Neo, raised his shield and charged forwards: carrying the possessed girl from her spot, the clouds of glass dissipating as he shield dunked Cat into the ground. "All this time…you were the snake in the grass!"/div
div id="djs-ck7mk" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Yes well you weren't a brave knight either! Just fairy tail nonsense!", As Curious, pinned beneath a rusty shield and years of anger directed at them, noticed Jaune raise his hand to drive his broken sword through Neo's body, a thought crossed their mind. A shimmer in the light before a hand stopped Jaune from striking. He had seen her, but she looked wrong. Ruby? Next thing intense pain hit Jaune as Neo put both her feet on his chest and as she kicked, a stream of glass came out and tore through his defense. His Aura dropping like freefall before he staggered back. Woozy he saw Neo-Cat stagger to their feet, surrounded by an army of 'Zombie Ruby' clones. He turtled up, taking a page from Pyrrha as he raised his shield and held his sword near the edge, backing towards the edge, slowly./div
div id="djs-e1k69" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-bv2td" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang was fairing pretty well. Unlike Neo, who was both super fast and hit like a truck with tricks and counters to most any situation, Curious was a wild beast. As their arms swung wide and aggressive, the razor sharp claws wheezing by and narrowly missing her hair, Yang stepped into the arcs of attack while raising her arm to cover her chest and face in a turtle block. As the blow hit on her arm and the claws missed her because of stepping into the attack vector, Yang smirked before she threw a heavy gut punch against Neo's frame. Had this been the REAL Neo, she'd have countered. No scratch that, if this was really her, she'd never fallen for a textbook move like this. Neo wouldn't let anyone step closer to her guard and not have a plan. In the train, which honestly felt like a lifetime ago, she had proven to Yang just how intensely dangerous she was. This was a cheap knockoff at best. Lucky for her. But also not, since in a way Yang had wanted to fight Neo again, seeing if her training with Dad and her maturity would end the fight differently. Well there's always next time!/div
div id="djs-d2m03" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"As Curious heaved from the air being gut punched out of their system, Yang didn't hesitate once! She reached forwards, grabbed Neo's head by the back and forced it down, while raising her knee as well. With a solid and quite satisfying 'bang' Neo's head connected with her knee. Staggering back, the possessed girl felt the floor disappear beneath her feet as Yang duck low and swept her legs. Springing back up like a piston, Yang advanced on the still flattened Curious who coughed as Yang's boot found purchase with a solid lowbrow kick to the gut. You never attack an opponent when they're down, was a rule in Beacon. Yet in real life, there's no such rules. Hell, if she ever found stilts again, she'd use every dirty trick she could because he still owed her for that stunt at the Vytal Festival. Which was also dirty. Basically honorable fighting doesn't exist in a real fight. And since this feline danger was after Ruby, Yang had only one goal in mind: protect her sister!/div
div id="djs-3bfve" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But they were still a cat with Neo's reflexes and body. Even some muscle memory. Because after that kick, Neo spun around in a breakdance way, forcing Yang back a little and lept upwards, drop kicking Yang backwards and throwing another haymaker with their claws out. Once again Yang stepped into it and blocked. Yet it was different this time. Instead of just stepping forwards, she spun in place, blocking with her prosthetic arm and putting her back against Neo's front, yet she didn't stop there! She spun through, raised her elbow and slammed it into Neo's face! Staggering back from that pain, Yang continued her pirouette and raised her leg to land a solid roundhouse! Adding more pain to Cat's existence. "Damn, you're terrible at this!"/div
div id="djs-dlk98" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Oh now she feels powerful…where was that energy when POOR Ruby needed you most?", Cat hissed as they sprain forwards and grabbed both of Yang's arms. Who crossed her arms thinking a blow came. As the hands, like steel vices, clamped around her wrists and locked them in place, Yang barked back: "There's nothing you can say to me. I'll still make sure you'll never make it to her!"/div
div id="djs-9phq6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang raised her foot and pushkicked Neo-Cat back. Ember Celica and her prosthetic arm whined as the claws caused sparks to fly off them, before Curious laughed tauntingly! "But don't you see…whatever comes out of there, won't be your sister any longer!"/div
div id="djs-19ig8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"To emphasis their point, an army of zombified Ruby clones appeared. Gnarly skin, mismatching color schemes, dull gray in the hair and 'reverse negative' eyes, with the Sclera as black as a raven's feather, ghostly 'deathly white' irises and dilated Grimm black pupils. Yang stepped back a second, anger on her face as her lilac eyes turned to vengeful red as she punched one of the zombified Ruby in the face, shattering them to glass with a curious sound effect, like popping a soap bell. Yang was utterly rage filled! How dare they use Ruby like this!? As more grouped around Yang, a couple splitting off to travel to the other three fighters, Yang used her bullets to clear them out as fast as she could! Not wanting to look at this abomination any longer than necessary, seeing a grinning Curious behind them, "My, and here I thought you'd changed. Guess you're still a rage filled machine that has no quarrel with punching her sister!"/div
div id="djs-5cbf9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-66re4" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang faltered. She didn't like beating her sister! And besides, this wasn't her sister! This was your stupid creation! She wasn't rage filled, not like in Beacon where she attacked without thinking. Furious, Yang dashed forwards and slammed both her hands against Neo's ears, discombobulating her and taking her by the scruff of her jacket and giving a brain shattering headbutt! In pain, Neo-Cat fell to their knees as Yang raised her fist to plummet it into their skull! Before she could however, she felt a shiver pass down her spine. With a quick look back, she noticed that Jaune was being forced off the platform by one more clone of Neo-Cat and several Zombie Ruby! She groaned! Looking furious at Neo-Cat before her, giving them a quick punch to the face, letting a slug loose as she blasted through the air attempting to aid Jaune! Roaring like a force of nature. The one attacking Jaune gasped and vanished in a puff of glass, Jaune grinned as he had expected them to go away. As Yang flew at Jaune they both nodded, throwing his sword into the wooden floor, Jaune braced himself and raised his shield. Yang landed, feet first because she had spun around her axis, nodded at Jaune who pushed off of his blade and pushed Yang with the explosive blast of his shield, the final charge he had, slingshotting Yang forwards as she soared through the air and crashed into the two Neo-Cats that had been circling and attacking Blake and Weiss, who had linked up in their two versus two. Shattering them both, Yang winked at Blake and Weiss, reaching the edge as she still flew through the air and threw a punch to get herself back up the platform. After all, she had done it a thousand times! So all she needed was-/div
div id="djs-c1lfp" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Click. The time she had in the air stopped for a second. Yang's eyes widened. Click?! Her weapon was EMPTY?! A single second in which she realized this, looking at the world in slow motion as a massive dose of panic and adrenaline was pumped into her body from the shock she'd fall overboard, Yang gasped. Another second, the two girls who had looked at her wink and then careen towards the edge, hearing the click of an empty chamber, Blake acted on instinct! She pulled back and threw Gambol forwards, her magazine running on empty. Yang's gasp turned into a startled inhaling shock as she edged ever more towards the deep fall. She could see branches, leaves of the tree all over the place, a drop she would not survive! Time began speeding up more as Yang nosedived off the platform. Screaming! Until she felt a tug as both her ankles were forced together and suddenly restrained. Looking up as she stopped her fall, she was ankle tied by Gambol Shroud looped around her boots, the weapon hooking and anchoring itself around her. Blake had saved her! Blake pulled, slowly raising Yang up with herself as aid, a Shadow who helped pull them up. Weiss turned around and pointed her sword at the remaining Neo-Cat, with Jaune rushing over, sliding under Neo's legs and swiping his blade at her legs! Jaune and Weiss stood side by side as they glared the Cat down! Who merely hissed and attacked once more!/div
div id="djs-d14e8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune and Weiss worked pretty well together. He blocked the claws with his shield and leveraged his strength to give Weiss the openings she needed! Lightning fast her rapier stabbed, her dagger slashed and Neo-Cat's life turned from uncomfortable to frustratingly terrible! With uncontrolled anger, they screamed as a legion of Zombie Ruby appeared and rushed past them both, aiming at throwing Blake and Yang off the edge. Jaune nodded at Weiss, he'd take care of Cat. She'd protect Blake! Nodding, Weiss spun around and stabbed at the zombies. Furiously striking and fighting, the horde slowly overtaking her. She felt like her grandfather's words echoing in her mind. You will be the castle that protects those in your heart. She would stand like the rock, as waves crashed against her, like popped bubbles the zombies shattered one by one. She could handle this army, with a little bit of extra help from her dagger! Yet for safety reasons, she spun around, pointed Myrtenaster at Blake and generated a wall of ice to save her flanks. Now they'd have to go through her to get to Blake and Yang! Jaune and Cat traded more blows. Not as ferocious as Yang, he could anticipate their moves by being analytical and clever. Striking, blocking, weaving around the attacks, standing his ground. A rusted knight standing against the deranged possessed hat wearing girl. Things were looking good. Until…/div
div id="djs-7pr7c" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-t3ep" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""No, not now!", with the sound of nordic winds, the Aura Blade fizzled out, leaving her only one sword as she bashed her basket hilt into one of the Ruby Zombies, another popped from the point running her through. Blake was heaving all she could, assisted by her Shadow, but Yang wasn't getting up any faster. She spied movement in the trees. She gasped. Asking Blake with ragged breath to pick up the pace. Jaune, who pushed back against the cat, noticed how Weiss was getting overwhelmed. But he was unable to assist, all his attention was put on keeping the cat back! He focused. No, team RWBY were capable girls, I'll trust that they'd figure it out! He pushed his advantage, putting Aura into his legs and began outspeeding Neo-Cat. Weiss gasped as one of the Zombies got through her weaved web of slashing and stabbing, she reached back, right before the Ruby could attack Blake. She looked at the horde in front of her and Yang behind her still dangling. She pointed at the floor, trying to summon yet from her Glyph, nothing appeared. Slowly, she was panicking! Out of ideas she put a Gravity Glyph in front of her to repel the Zombies and ran for Blake, grabbed the rope and pulled. Yang was getting higher, but because she was tied and the ankles, she couldn't pull herself up as fast as if it were her hands. Weiss saw the Glyph beginning to shimmer and fade. And closed her eyes./div
div id="djs-vtj2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Focus on your enemies. See them come to your aid. But Weiss didn't have the ability anymore. As she tapped into the inner sanctum, instead of finding her Armagigas, her knight, she found nothing. The Lancer Queen was similarly no longer answering her call. Please! Someone…I need help protecting my friends. At the end of her rope, still pulling with Blake, Weiss' mind shifted on the words. As an ocean of zombies were culminating in a big wave and about to crash on her, Weiss' eyes opened in fury as she gave a battle cry! If she could just stagger them back, then that'd be it, small victories! Yet before she could finish her cry, a voice broke from a light icy blue summoning Glyph. It was close to the natural one she'd seen so many times, yet somehow this one felt different. A sword and an arm broke out of it as the voice rang out: "Don't you dare touch my GRANDDAUGHTER"/div
div id="djs-398di" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss shivered as she watched an armored figure crawl from her Glyph. The armor's design close, so very close to her Armagigas, while having a cape, all in icy powdersnow color, helmeted the new 'knight' stood proud and high, swiping at the Ruby Zombies and roared in a righteous fury. Yet that wasn't what made Weiss' heart skip a beat. No it was not the Armagigas! She recognised the cape and the helmet! It was him! Coming to her aid! Not an enemy chained like a slave, a hero who she loved, protecting her from his own will! She felt tears in her eyes as Yang finally got pulled up, with the knight swiping around and giving a rolling belly laugh as he swiped and smashed them left and right. Blake looked in awe, turning to Weiss. "Is…is that…"/div
div id="djs-d7ceh" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Before she could ask, the knight twirled his massive blade around and held it reversed in his right hand, turned to the girls and took a knee, the blade holding off the remaining few Ruby Zombies as his left hand moved and pulled the helmet off, revealing the older, handsome, bearded face of the one and only Nicholas Schnee. Weiss, overwhelmed by the power of seeing her grandfather, the memory of when she asked him if he was a king, resurfacing as she sank to her knees and cried tears of joy. Yang and Blake were awestruck seeing this iconic legend before her. Yet all the Summoned image did was laugh gently, put the helmet down and reach out, his armored glove wiping the tears from Weiss' cheeks as he smiled at her. "Weiss…my dearest…grown up friend…I'm so very proud of you! You didn't let the name and my legacy shackle you! You made it your own and improved upon it. You built a wonderful castle in your heart with the friends you made along the way. I couldn't imagine a better person to carry our name into the memories of Remnant. So if you're ever in need, unlock the gates of your castle and I shall come to your aid, my little friend!"/div
div id="djs-epa5u" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"As Nicholas turned around, the cape and hair waving in a wind that blew only for him, straightening his sword as he charged forwards! Trampling the final few Zombies and crashing sword first into Neo-Cat, who yelled in pain and fear at this massive unit of strength and majestic power. Nicholas wasn't even like her previous summons which scattered like snow at the faintest touch. He was durable, powerful and strong! Weiss at on her knees, smiling warm and bright as she understood what he meant. Because she had locked her grandfather in her heart, did as he told her all those years ago about making a fortress in her heart and soul for her friends, he had answered her call and came to her aid! She turned to Blake and Yang, friends she had also locked in her heart as the family she always wanted and grinned. One day, she'd call on them and they'd always be at her side! Weiss had her home, her home wasn't Atlas. It wasn't a legacy defined by her father's name or even her Grandfather's name. it was a legacy of 'Big Nic' and Weiss herself! To fight in service for others, he was named a King for how he fought for Atlas. And now Weiss would be able to summon him at her command and need, while she would become a queen as well. A queen for her friends, family and the people of Remnant!/div
div id="djs-bgb89" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-74klm" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Not to ruin the big moment…But I have a plan", Yang grins as she saw the legend that even…uncle…Qrow had looked up to. It was inspiring. But Yang had more than just inspiration. SHe held a branch of the tree, thick with leaves and smiled, her hair burning gold behind her, as if the sun radiated from her golden locks. She concentrated. Having tanked and taken a few hits from Neo-Cat, she extended that energy. No longer just boosting her strength, she took part of that stored energy and released it via her fingers. Her hands sprang to a fire as she also put her other hand on Blake and Weiss, in that order, both feeling the fatigue of the fight lessen as if a candle or torch was lit inside their souls. It wasn't a full Aura Amp like Jaune could. But a second wind, or a sharing of power as Yang passed some Burn to them. SHe then roared and charged at Neo, throwing the burning branch at her feet and pulling Jaune back. Coincidentally giving him the last of her energy, for now to top him off as well. Yang smiled ear to ear./div
div id="djs-al1q6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Seems you all had a moment of growth…", Jaune smiled. Weiss being able to summon allies rather than enemies of old, relying on the strength of friends nad family which hold the potential of the future, rather than going with slain enemies from the past! Blake having her clones be more than just Shadows, they could fight and aid her, being more than just the passing moment but an actual clone that assisted her with tasks, as she stops being the cat that ran and became the feline that fights for her friends, as sworn by her vow. And Yang becoming more than just a punching bag that hits harder the more you strike her. She could still do it, but now she could also give part of her strength to others, her growth as a sister, understanding that from now on, she'd keep Ruby strong! Holding her team up and powering them up! Jaune smiled as he recalled his own team. So close to going back home, he'd love to just talk with Ren and Nora. Oscar as well./div
div id="djs-9glvg" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""HAHA, that was your grand plan!? A pawn in the shape of a human and vapor from the tree? It doesn't affect me!", Curious spoke through Neo and inhaled a massive quantity of the cloud of smoke. Jaune grinned, "Maybe not you…but Neo's not so lucky…"/div
div id="djs-1qlb2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-9qcb" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Curious wanted to grin! He had sealed Neo away far in her own mind and puppeteered her like a toy! But as the vapor made it's way through Neo's system, figures appeared. He recalled some of them from spying up on Ruby during that disastrous tea party. He saw Ruby herself, appearing before Neo with a sorry expression on her lips. "So, Neo, is killing me all you hoped it was? Did it satisfy your revenge needs? Because ultimately, that wasn't what you wanted, was it? Aschen played you like a fool…"/div
div id="djs-1vln2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Another figure appeared. No it was two! Jimmy and Caramel Vanille. Curious felt the fists of Neo pound on their presence and take control a little. A stroke of pain pushed Curious to stagger, the possessed body falling on the floor. "Neo…all we wanted to say…was that we were wrong in how we treated you…it was our fault you strayed from the path because we didn't give you a home to feel safe in. And we're sorry.."/div
div id="djs-f5aq1" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Stupid girl…attacking me the way you did and then expecting me to just lay down and not trick you? Honestly, you were pathetically easy to turn and use as a tool. Perhaps Curious is just the next one who does it", the voice was foreign to Curious, as was the hood wearing figure. Her ashen hair and blue eyes were vile though, a match between them would have been impressive. Yet all these words did was push Neo deeper and deeper as Aschen vanished, Jimmy vanished. But Lil Red and Caramel stayed, when suddenly he appeared, a smirk on his face as he offered a hand to the girl that suddenly pushed Curious aside. Neo had wrestled control back from her body as Roman smiled at her. "There we go, the Neo I knew would never let some stray alley cat control her. Now break free, you've got this!"/div
div id="djs-8p028" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"A pain from the heart shot through Neo's body, which overwhelmed Curious who left the vessel and screamed in pain. A moment the smoke lingered before Neo sprang to her feet and ran out. As Curious screamed and roared, remaining in the cloud. She wasn't getting far however as Neo stumbled and fell on her knees and shivered. That was horrendous. She'd never want that to happen again. Yet the emotional rollercoaster knocked her out as she fell on her face and passed out./div
div id="djs-42ese" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-fjrn8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"A moment of victory flashed over the heroes as they raised their hands, ready for a high five. Before a mocking laughter turned from sneering to maniacal. IN the cloud, huffing it like an addicted lunatic, Curious grew. From the monochromatic cat that had possessed Neo, came a different beast. Standing bipedal, flashing a feral wild grin, cackling as a saturday morning cartoon. Curious Cat had transformed. A were-cat. Or something similar. The body was muscular, the fur feral and wild. Eyes wide and milky, glazed over with a furious berserker hatred and rage. Whiskers bent and asymmetrical in length. A fang filled grin the size of daggers, drool at the corners of their mouth. Massive miniature scythe curved claws. Curious was no more. Now it was Furious Cat! And if they thought that Curious was dangerous, the entity snickered and vanished from sight! Jaune barely had the ability to raise his shield as Nicholas Schnee was shredded like cheese in the blink of an eye! In a movement that was barely able to be seen, Furious Cat sliced and diced. Nicholas groaned in pain before finally dissolving and vanishing, Weiss screamed his name, before the shape of Furious Cat impacted from the sky and sent them all flat on their back, the shockwave alone shattering their Auras like mirrors. Juniper, who had been cowering in fear as her previous life as Alyx recalled the dangers this form could bring, sprang forth in a display of bravery as she stood before Jaune, who was also flattened. He screamed her name as he tried to get up, Furious out for blood, when a flash of light blinded them all and turned their attention back. Weiss gasped, Blake inhaled sharply, Yang gave a mixture of a scream and a cry as she was both shocked and confused at what she saw, Jaune didn't make a sound, only his eyes widened in wonder./div
div id="djs-9pi9g" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"At the epicenter of the light explosion stood a shape, obscured from color. Blackened silhouette as a small silver spark appeared from the red hood that flew in the wind behind her…red like roses…filled their dreams and guided them to a new hope, like how the Sun broke through a darkened sky or storm. Or even as a sunrise would after a long endless night of deep darkness. The blinding light, like a new dawn breaking up, revealing… in the Sunrise…Ruby Rose…/div
div id="djs-alcd8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""ZIMM!", Jaune shouted, but got no answer. He slammed his fist against the decaying tree in the middle of the courtyard and huffed. This place utterly is the worst! How could this once be my favorite story?/div
div id="djs-c0hmi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""This doesn't make any sense…we were gone less than an hour…Two hours tops", Weiss said, putting her hands to her head and try to figure this out. Yang was a wreck who stood alone, Blake holding her hand and trying to keep her up, since Yang was wobbly at the knees, muttering; "I didn't mean to…I didn't mean to…"/div
div id="djs-8aggl" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""First Lewis…now Ruby and Zimm…I hate this place! What does it want!?", Jaune groans before calming himself down and returning to Yang, slowly pulling her into a hug, shushing her and trying to comfort her. Blake slowly sauntered over to Weiss, stuck in thought./div
div id="djs-2d9nc" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I thought…we saved her…the cup…", Yang sobs into Jaune's shoulder, forcing him to gently pat her hair and sigh, "I think we were to late, she ingested a little before we could stop her…I'm sorry"/div
div id="djs-95h6u" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I'll kill Neo…Cat…Whatever! I'll kill them", Yang breaks in a heartbreaking wail as Jaune puts his hands on her cheeks and makes her look at him, tearful lilac staring into endless deep blue oceans. Blake groaned, causing Weiss to take her hand. "What's eating you?"/div
div id="djs-a3rp0" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""That line… 'not a place you go…a place you know'...what's that mean?", Weiss looks at Blake's amber eyes, sighing as she gently hugged her. Blake ponders, "Perhaps it's a riddle?"/div
div id="djs-5pfm0" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Nothing in this place is as it seems", Jaune bemoans, petting Yang's head as he groans. "I just wished we were fast enough…, lately it feels like I'm always too late, failing miserably"/div
div id="djs-7esvr" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I think you're asking too much of yourself", Yang adds, looking at Jaune before kissing him on the lips. Weiss and Blake blush and look away, giving each other a 'shall we as well?' expression before both nodding away. Blake, who was pretty clever as well, adding; "We've been telling ourselves that failing means we're no good. But I can guarantee even the best Huntsmen in history have all lost at some point"/div
div id="djs-bo0ev" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""And they were still incredibly brave, and good", Jaune adding. He nods his head, Yang with a weak smile on her face, still in sorrow, made a connection, she gazed at the tree. And sighed; "maybe the Cat was right…Maybe we just needed to accept it, at your deepest point you're open for the greatest change. It's not a place you go…"/div
div id="djs-71k05" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-ejko2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"…/div
div id="djs-f5c1g" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-vnlo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""R-ruby!", the voice was weak, but also hopeful. Yang rushed from the crowd and arrived at a bark shaped sculpture. As if the Carpenter had made a tree version of Ruby! But it couldn't be Zimm, since there was branches and other leaves growing around the shape of their leader! Yang sobbed once as she threw her arms around the shape, gently sobbing. As she saw the branches she reached forwards and grabbed them, moving to pull them free. Yet she stopped half way and simply sighed, looking at her friends who all watched her. Before the blond girl sighed, turning back to her sister encased in bark and threw her arms around her again. Whispering, "I dunno if you can here me, Ruby…But I'll make this right. I will protect this version of you…"/div
div id="djs-3ps8f" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I…half expected you'd tear the branches off", Jaune adds, placing his hand on Yang's shoulder and looking over the bark Ruby. Before he gave a snicker, "But I think I get it…it's about accepting. The tree took us here because we are ready to accept that it wants to help. And now Ruby's accepting it's help as well"/div
div id="djs-fvvdt" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""But what if…she isn't Ruby when she comes out?", Yang bemoans, still hugging her sister. Blake and Weiss share a look, holding hands. The feline girl replying, "we've done all we could. Now…"/div
div id="djs-9nrv6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""It's up to Ruby. Whatever happens…we have to accept that", as she finishes saying that, a different bark sculpture breaks as Herbalist walks out, now having wings as he stretches and flies off to begin his purpose anew. Blake giggles, "Imagine she comes out with wings"/div
div id="djs-2b7hi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""That would be a sight", Weiss snickers. Yet Yang doesn't share. Will she still be her little sister? What if all that damage done by Neo and the Cat was enough to break something? Am I too late? Jaune, sensing the negative spiral in Yang's mind, slowly squeezes her shoulders. "I'm sure that we'll see Ruby back. Her old cheery self, quirky and adorable"/div
div id="djs-36mp3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang nods, as she puts Crescent Rose, which she had carried with her, on the bark statue and sniffles. Please be safe, sister. Before they could further discuss the potential behind this, the powers that Ruby could achieve, Juniper gave a startled cry. Her ears dropped flat right after they were raised up high for a second. She had heard a rhythmic banging on a solid surface. And it scared her! Jaune, noticing the tension of Juniper, let go of Yang and investigated the sound. As he did, a louder bang drew all of their attention. Slowly, stalking, they approached a large open space, well open wasn't the right word. A sort of clearing, with a wide open platform as if this part of the tree had been chopped. They could count the age rings in the floor beneath them. It was like a hidden area beneath the canopy. Light filtered through the leaves, shining a dim but colorful light around, illuminating enough like at sunset. A massive open door, crafted from the wood that might even make the Carpenter jealous, was a massive door of golden yellow light. A feint breeze came from it, which, as it caressed their faces, filled them with the warmth that only the feeling of home could. They had finally reached their destination…a way home!/div
div id="djs-71rvg" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Is that…"/div
div id="djs-5sasa" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Our way home…"/div
div id="djs-1tore" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""AHHH…Rguaahhh…ooof…rahhhhhhhh…OWW…STUPID DOOR!"/div
div id="djs-4mbes" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"The sounds of the banging had been Neo-Cat, slamming head first into the golden yellow light. But like in a cartoon, they merely bounced off of the energy as if they were made of rubber. Yang wiped away a fresh tear, this was the kind of stuff that Ruby would laugh at, during their times watching tv in their the most hilarious part, was that after Neo-Cat was slammed back that final time, they noticed their audience and took a pose, pretending like they hadn't been slamming their head against a wall for what could possibly be minutes or even hours. It was kind of pathetic. "Oh…good…you figured it out and made it"/div
div id="djs-76boo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""I guess your plan to get out of here…isn't working?", Blake couldn't stop herself from giving a snicker, earning a glare from Neo-Cat: "You know you always were the worst of them"/div
div id="djs-1l0pi" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Heh…Neo can't go through the door!", Jaune smiled, slowly reaching for his broken sword, the air ripe with tension as if a fight was imminent. Neo-Cat hissed with a vile energy, tooth filled snarl on their face. It was surreal. "No. She has no attachments to your world. Nothing to return to. She has failed me… just like Alyx did."/div
div id="djs-4l4t4" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Like…Alyx?", Jaune slowed his draw. From the soft whispered 'no' to the remainder of the sentence, Cat was speaking with intent, trying to break Jaune's resolve. All these years, he thought Alyx returned and threw their brother to the Grimm. Yet he was so adorably and stupidly wrong! "That cowardly, wretched girl whose story you've been foolishly following all along. The same girl that I followed too, Because she promised me she would bring me back to Remnant with her. But in truth, she had no intention of taking me!"/div
div id="djs-6c0ms" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""No…", Jaune mutters, his arm dropping lower and lower, Yang and Blake stepping closer, flanking Jaune in case it would throw him off. Neo-Cat noticed, sharp fangs curling into a grin, "No, after talking to the Tree, she had a sudden crisis of conscience! Decided she wanted to fix everything that she had broken in the Ever After! Including poor sappy Jaune over there! Lewis went, and at the very last moment… Alyx didn't…"/div
div id="djs-cvetj" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune trembles, he throws a look back at Juniper who wimpers even more than before. Was she always this terrified of the Cat? No she wasn't, meaning this means that now they're stronger and more dangerous. In a way it's horrifying. Yang puts a hand on his shoulder and aggressively stepped forwards, "What did you do to her?"/div
div id="djs-76lj3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Neo-Cat crouched a little, letting out a goading wild laugh that was filled with joy at the confused faces of the heroes, like a cat does before pouncing. Then sprang up in the air, acrobatically turning around their axis before slamming fist in the wooden floor, shattering and cracking the wood. A spiderweb pattern crack shot from her fist, as the kneeling villain smiles and grabs part of the tree, throwing a glance, ever so quickly, at Juniper who wimpers back at the grinning smile. "Let's say that I wish I had these powers back then, to let a Jabberwalker loose on poor little Alyx…or is it…bunny now?"/div
div id="djs-1tfe1" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune gasps. Looking back, the ears of the big Jackalope are flat as she gives a mournful look back at his partner. Suddenly it clicked. SHe found him, after he was poisoned. He didn't remember how long had passed, she brought him to Carpenter. Cat just said she wanted to fix everything she broke. Aside from the Red King who was already gone, she did, as Juniper. To think that all this time, the girl I thought and hated, has been here, caring for me and standing by my side for years. Jaune felt a tear run down his cheek as he noticed Juniper's fear at the Cat, now it makes sense. She's not afraid of the Cat, she's afraid of what I will do now, knowing the truth. With the ching of swords being pulled, Myrtenaster and Passion both. With the reveal that Ruby was still alive and more importantly, with Blake wanting to protect Weiss, Yang and Jaune, her blade slightly reaffirmed her vow, not breaking yet, but there was a dull edge to its blade. Yang raised her fists and cocked Ember Celica, failing to notice she had very few bullets left. With the energy shifting, Jaune draws his sword and turns, defensively standing between him and Juniper. "You…monster!"/div
div id="djs-crd9r" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Cat extended the arms and massive claws, each one the length of a rondel dagger, several inches long, razor sharp and meant for plunging into the skin and tearing out flesh and draw rivers of blood. They readied, Jaune stepping forwards, as he was both most eager to beat this decade long headache down, but he also had the best chances of tanking a blow. His Aura was stronger, his armor while rusty, was still armor, and he had a shield. Blake and Weiss flanked him, swords drawn, with Yang standing behind him, ready to engage! They all glared at the enemy, who drew a smile across their face before rushing in for the attack! But with how Jaune moved aside, there was a line of sight that opened for Neo-Cat, one that… "she's still here!"/div
div id="djs-ddulo" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-athbb" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Yes! All my work… it's not lost! Deep down, she wants nothing more than to return to Remnant and play hero. I just need to cut her out, and she will take me there!", Curious almost burst free of the flesh puppet they were possessing, so great was their joy at seeing the bark manifestation of Ruby Rose, Huntress. She didn't want to become some mere bunny with antlers like Alyx, no she wanted to return home! They could feel it manifesting in Tree, smell it in the air! The others weren't important anymore! All that Curious wanted, was to open that thing up, like a juicy jubjub bird egg! The only problem being…/div
div id="djs-fej4p" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""You won't get to her…unless you go through me…", Yang said, stepping in front of Jaune as her eyes flashed red with rage. She had lost her sister once before, due to many factors she'd probably have to shoulder for the rest of her life, but she won't let this furrball of riddles and trickery get to her! I failed you once Rubes, I won't fail you again. I'm not my mother, who abandoned her family. I am Yang Xiao Long, Huntress and big sister! It's time I acted like that, once more! Yet before she could attack or defend, Jaune put his shield out in front, standing side by side. Blake put her free hand on Yang's shoulder, as did Weiss, making Yang snicker. "...sorry…I meant us!"/div
div id="djs-49qtp" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Very well…I'll give you the same treatment as Alyx…and put you six inches…in the GROUND", with that proclamation, Neo-Cat giggled. Before blasting forwards in a burst of speed that would rival Ruby's Petal Burst. Oh no, not another Semblance copy fighter! Yang blinked, yet before the entity could strike, a sharp metallic whine broke as Jaune caught the blow with his shield and expended the second last charge of his Dust to blast Neo-Cat back from his friends. In a fluent motion, Gambol wrapped around Neo's torso and pulled taunt as Weiss generated her final Gravity Glyph, strengthening the pull of Blake's ribbon as they both heaved with all their might and drew the body in! With a startled gasp, Neo's body was pulled forwards and struck with a massive haymaker from Yang, causing her to do a backwards flip through the air and land flat on their belly, the wind knocked from their lungs as they slowly got up, Jaune's sword zipped through the air as he attempted to run them through! Yet Neo-Cat was faster! Rolled upon their hands, Neo's handy acrobatic nature came in clutch as they kicked at Jaune's gut, a metallic clang before they sprang up and away from them, landing with their back against the door they couldn't pass through. And very unhappy! Four on one, that hardly seems fair, luckily I'm stronger now than I ever was before! As they grinned, they engaged again! But when they hit a light beam breaking through the leaf-filled canopy, a shimmer passed over Neo's body, before four of them appeared! The real one hidden like a pebble during three cup there were four of the Cat's bodies. Instead of three./div
div id="djs-addl8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss hesitated, she had one each of Gravity, Fire and Ice Dust left, should she blow these four up at once? Waste her powers a little to further this fight? As the four enemies began splitting up, Weiss acted rashly! She drew the final fire charge, luminated her blade and threw a splattering of flames at the four Neo-Cats. All four of them shattered like glass. Gasping, Weiss stomped her foot. Dammit! Blake, who had also been keeping count, knew she had to use Gambol Shroud sparingly. All three girls suddenly realized that them showing off for the chess battle and the skirmish with the Jabberwalkers, was NOT a good idea when you were low on bullets and Dust. How did they do…the flicker! The flicker was the illusion! Jaune also figured that out and pulled everyone into a back to back four way circle, looking around. Before he could utter an order however, Blake stabbed her blade backwards, finding a clawed arm that blocked her stab as Neo-Cat just appeared in their middle! Raising their free arm and clawed at the other three. Jaune's danger sense kicked in allowing him to spin around and block the strike with his broken sword. Then, hooking the sword around the wrist and holding the arm trapped in a vice between blade and shield, trapped Neo-Cat. Weiss thrust Myrtenaster forwards and pierced the skin, Blake and Weiss together forcing the other arm down, leveraging their combined force to hold them down. This freed Yang, who's eyes were raging with anger, to punch their gut as hard as possible! A victorious roar, ending in a sharp gasp as shattered glass struck Yang's Aura, preventing the shards from lacerating her skin. A roar of aggression as another Neo-Cat appeared. Blake, who was faster, put her hand to the spine of her single edge blade Passion and stopped the blow from decapitating Yang, Jaune rushed forwards and tackled Neo-Cat, picking them up and slamming their head in the floor! When they didn't shatter, Weiss struck as well! Finally the real one was found!/div
div id="djs-9cte8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-5meqm" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Get off-a me!", Neo-Cat hissed, opening their mouths for a massive beam to blow Jaune backwards. Blake acted on instinct and threw Gambol at him, wrapping around his chest and pulling him back on the platform, not trusting the fall to be survivable. With that she realized she had only half a clip left. Seizing this opening, Cat tried to force the body up, before all the breath was knocked from their gullet, as Yang punched them hard! Furious red eyes and a mocking grin, before the twelve gauge shell was spent and Curious was shot through the air and slammed into the door once more! Furious, hissing, they claw at the air and advance once more, hesitant now. If trickery with Neo's semblance wasn't going to work, then perhaps a different approach? They had tried the multi clone idea to hide. What if I actually use them to fight? Yang's attack sequence continued. But this time Cat alternated. Instead of fighting them with trickery, it was head on with a trick here and there! Yang's fist landed on the enemy once more. But they shattered like glass once more. No damage thanks to her Aura, bleeding hands would be bad for a brawler like her. Quick scan of the shards, nope no Neo. Yang turned to look at her friends, who also scanned the area. A near invisible grin appeared behind Yang's ear as Neo-Cat materialized once more. Weiss saw it first and pointed her sword. Yet before she could act, Blake dashed forwards, pushing Weiss aside as a guillotine bladed claw sliced at her throat! Cat was learning! Yang likewise felt a shiver down her spine and ducked, as a similar long bladed claw sliced at the spot her neck had been seconds before. Jaune barked an order, once more they bunched up. Perfect! Four Neo-Cats appeared before each and every one of them, grinning their cheshire grin before rushing in, more blades appearing behind them that forced the four out of sync and into individual fights!/div
div id="djs-4n4hn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Blake having to duel someone alone, advancing and retreating at ferocious attacks. It felt similar to fighting Gray Diamondback, the ferocity and uncaring nature. Cat knew the blade was less sharp, plus with the lack of bullets, Gambol was almost useless, with about four shots left. Although the thing that made Blake both giggle at the fight and put her best foot forward, was that this was a genuine catfight. With Neo-Cat swiping and slashing, and Blake ducking and leaning out of the way, giving a pat with the flat of her blade. She groaned. How did Adam manage this so well? She made the mistake with Ruby and now her weapon was less sharp. She didn't outright break her vow, since she did try to protect Ruby in Neo's place. Maybe that's why her sword didn't break yet? Regardless, fighting a cat was not something she had ever done before, but as a feline herself, there was a rhythm to their dance. Pat, swipe, poke, swipe, dodge, thrust. And in those few moments, like a good angry feline when Cat was furious, when different claws appeared out of nowhere being manifested from Neo's Semblance, Blake had no other option but to Shadow out of danger. Frustrating them more and more. "Do you do ANYTHING besides RUNNING AWAY!? All that growth and even now all you are is a scared chicken running away from their problems! You're pathetic!"/div
div id="djs-c21p9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Blake stumbled from her blow. Why did that hurt so much? Cat was just a talker. From these fights, it was clear that she was the better fighter. Sure Cat was way more ferocious and had more of a reckless wild nature to their attacks, but there was no form or backbone to it. She would win regardless. But something about how that taunt landed. Blake had grown. As she blocked a blow and hissed at Cat, not literal but threw a nasty remark back, she realized that her Semblance, while handy, still wasn't what she wanted it to be. She didn't want to just leave a shadow behind everytime to take the hit or use as a stepping stone. She didn't want to have the abilities of say Sun, where her clones could act independently, but just once way to deal more damage. Something a little more useful. Blake backflipped, using the tip of her boots to kick Neo in the face as she created distance between them both, pointed Passion in a taunting manner as she landed and glared. Her eyes darting for a split second from her adversary to her friends./div
div id="djs-abt24" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-89sb3" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss, trying to help Blake, had a far less fun time than Blake. For one her Dust supply was low. Meaning no handy windblasts, hardlight platforms or even a solid block of ice, since she had only one shot of ice and gravity left. Best not waste them in a one on one duel with a strange weird science monstrosity like Neo-Cat. But the lack of Dust making her less dangerous for the feline adversary in that Weiss ONLY had her sword. And with the faster claws and that being doubled, Weiss hardly had the ability to fall into a comfortable pattern. She needed to improvise, fight more wild, less true to form. She had to do it like Ruby! Go with the flow style fighting. As Neo rushed forwards, arms raised, Weiss put one foot backwards, this wasn't a dance, but with a grin, she altered her approach. Swinging Myrtenaster wide in an arc, deflecting one clawed arm into the other and making Neo-Cat stagger by like a drunk on the Mantle streets, Weiss put her right hand on her hip and thrust at the body running past her. Hitting their tussie! Score one for me!/div
div id="djs-doh1n" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Neo-Cat, furious at being outpaced, they threw themselves at Weiss! Striking with wide arcs of their claws! Weiss however, evaded. She stepped back for one swipe, braced her rapier for the second and caught it, the blade singing as claws slid across the sharp edge. When the claws threw back for an overhead blow, two hands together, Weiss cleverly tapped her blade against the left claw, forcing the hands to bunch up, slide down her blade as she effortlessly guided them away from her, Neo slamming into the floor. Sure the Cat was stronger now, but they had less control over the body. As if they were just a second slower than most opponents Weiss had fought! And while she couldn't physically overpower them, she could outpace them! Once more Cat swiped! This time she caught the first blow, stepped into the circle of influence that those arms had, causing the second attack to be a mere arm patting her side. Weiss wasn't done however. While the clawed hand was stuck over the basket hilt of her rapier, Weiss flicked her wrist, throwing the hand off while freeing her weapon from the bind. Then she smashed it into Neo's face! Satisfied with a groan as the Cat staggered backwards, with her hand still on her hip, Weiss raised her blade so the sword lined her face perfectly down the middle and gently waved her arm downwards. A fencer's salute!/div
div id="djs-bpdmn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Angered by the provocation, the Cat's new attacks were dodged by Weiss stepping back, the air whooshing as their claws missed her by a hair, the air moving from the ferocious blows was a clear indicator, they wanted her dead. But Weiss knew what she was doing. Yet as she thought that, the hand she thought she dodged, spun around. As if the hands had turned around on their wrist sockets! Instinctively Weiss stepped into it, cutting the power of the strike in half as she drove her rapier into the floor, catching the strike and blocking it. Cat grinned, raising their other hand, with Weiss standing there vulnerable, claws raised next to Neo's face ready for a palm strike. Cat wanted to grab Weiss' head and squish it like a melon! Yet Weiss acted on instinct again. From her hip, her right hand reached for her Aura Blade, activating it as it sprang to life with a gentle rush of nordic winds before Weiss drove the blade into Neo's face! Luckily, or rather sadly, Neo's Aura blocked the blow, but Curious did hiss at the pain! With a grin, Weiss focused as her Arma Gigas appeared in a small format and swiped at their ankles! Neo fell back, the Cat hissing furiously! "Vein girl! Always letting slaves do her work! You're not mature, you're merely a pampered princess, still! Your summons are proof! Slaves to do your bidding!"/div
div id="djs-1krhs" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss gasped. Her focus breaking as the Arma Gigas vanished, shattering like a powder snowman in the summer of Vacuo. No wait, come back! She gasped as she felt her rock, the secured and safety power of the enemy that pushed her, the kill she performed to prove to Jacques she could leave Atlas and attend Beacon, her oldest ally, abandoning her! And not because Weiss didn't need the help of the Arma Gigas, not because she was shattered by such a childish and rather weak insult from a worthless opponent who can't graciously accept their defeat, but because deep down, Weiss didn't wanna be shackled like that. She was Weiss Schnee. Winter used flocks of Grimm to aid her, her Mother had used a Boarbatusk to deal with the Hound. But she wasn't just a Schnee. She was WEISS! She wanted to do things better, redefine her name, like what grandfather had done! Subconsciously, she didn't want her name, Weiss, to be linked to the aspect of holding slaves in her arsenal. That was Jacques' forte. She wouldn't do that! Weiss shook her head at the insult and stumbled, falling to her knee as Neo-Cat leaned over her and smirked. I have you-/div
div id="djs-3keb9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Back off!", Blake's voice woke Weiss from her thoughts as right before her, a Shadow appeared. Blake hissing at the second Cat. Ice blue sapphire eyes shot back and met with the warm Amber of her girlfriend fighting a solid five meters away from her. Why would she throw a Shadow this far out? Yet before Cat's claw could break the Shadow, it hissed. Like a cat! Before throwing Passion out with a sharp slash and forced Neo back. In amazement, Weiss looked at the Shadow that winked at her before dissipating in a puff of smoke! Once more amber met with sapphires as Weiss blushed. Did Blake's Semblance just evolve to save her?! Oh I'm kissing you so badly after this! Weiss huffed and stood to her feet. Raising Myrtenaster and her Aura Blade in a classic fencing guard and smirked. "Care to try again?"/div
div id="djs-846rf" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-1ba4v" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune wasn't worried. Sure he had one broken sword, but the added years, the training that kept him sane and the friendship of Zimm that pushed him to overcome the venom and Juniper helping him, Jaune Arc was feeling confident as he bashed his shield into a swing and forced Neo-Cat back. Realizing he's far stronger than they were, Neo-Cat staggered back, darn it! I won't be able to overpower him! Jaune gave a confident smile as she flipped his broken sword around in his hand, shield raised for a good defense. Curious wracked their brain. He's stronger than I am, even with the physical boost of Neo's body. But that wasn't going to be the only thing she has. She has that glass, managed to damage Yang earlier. The cheshire grin crawled even higher as Neo's clawed hands retracted. Now it was just Neo's normal body with the cyan cat eyes and the inhumanly big grin. A grin that was even wider than before. Hairs on the back of Jaune's neck raised as suddenly the faintest trickling of glass reached his ear. With a startled gasp he jumped backwards and blocked a blast of razor sharp glass! Like a flock of birds, or a cluster of flower petals carried by the wind, did millions of small edges slam into his shield, clattering like murderous rain. In a way it was clever, weaponizing Neo's Semblance of Illusions which shatter into glass, turning those glass shards into a storm of cuts and edges. Points for creativity./div
div id="djs-3j2bn" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But so was he! As he raised the broken sword in the air, he poured what little Aura he needed into it and slashed! A compressed wave of air and energy sliced through the glass and slammed into Neo, staggering back and hissing. Curious probably didn't like that! With all the many years spent here, his Scroll long since battery dead, he had memorized the words and strikes and drills from Pyrrha. It took him a few years, but with the energy he could now expel from the ruined remnants of Crocea Mors. A full sword length's worth of energy! A simple buzzing of glass wasn't gonna stop Old Man Jaune that easy. Slowly he walked towards the Cat possessed girl. Three storms of glass now swirling around him. For a second he thought about flexing, tanking the blow, his Aura was high enough. But that thought was quickly cast down. He didn't need to showboat, he had to focus and get the job done. Be a qualified leader, worthy to return home. This was his 'graduation' from his 'failure' as Rusted Knight. The three storms swirled around him, he didn't give them time to attack! Reversing his hold on his sword, he let out a horizontal hook slash, aimed at incapacitating the Cat right there. But the glass swirled before Neo and formed a barrier, with the sound of shattering glass to prove just how real and dangerous this attack could be. Neo sassily threw a hand forwards, commanding the storm to attack him. Jaune raised his shield and braced!/div
div id="djs-atpav" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But there was no impact. Instead the storm parted around him and swirled behind his back! Oh no, outflanked! Slashing with his sword to try and deal with both clouds of glass that threatened to blast into his back, the cloud separated into four separate forms. Jaune gasped. He was in trouble. A single shard wasn't the issue, but the cloud had gotten bigger. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Jaune cast a glance at Neo-Cat. Hmm, how best to defend? He grinned, waited until the last moment and caught the four individual blows on his shield, using their force to slide over closer towards Neo. When he got close enough, swinging his shield arm to dissipate the glass from blasting against him, spun around and thrust his blade at Neo! He grinned, gotcha now! Except there was a loud and sharp shattering sound as a wall of glass appeared before Neo and caught the blow. His rusted armor whined, several edges and more shards bit into his dominant hand before pulling it free from the cloud. Alright so perhaps the cat isn't that dumb. However he had a final trick to play! As the 'shieldwall' raised up with the rinkling of glass, Jaune put a little bit of Aura into his legs. He had noticed the glass around Neo's body was acting instinctively as a shield. Meaning he just needed to break Cat's focus. And that, by all intents and purposes, was easy enough! So he pivoted around the attack and released the charge in his legs. IN a flash of movement he appeared behind Neo, raised his shield and charged forwards: carrying the possessed girl from her spot, the clouds of glass dissipating as he shield dunked Cat into the ground. "All this time…you were the snake in the grass!"/div
div id="djs-ck7mk" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Yes well you weren't a brave knight either! Just fairy tail nonsense!", As Curious, pinned beneath a rusty shield and years of anger directed at them, noticed Jaune raise his hand to drive his broken sword through Neo's body, a thought crossed their mind. A shimmer in the light before a hand stopped Jaune from striking. He had seen her, but she looked wrong. Ruby? Next thing intense pain hit Jaune as Neo put both her feet on his chest and as she kicked, a stream of glass came out and tore through his defense. His Aura dropping like freefall before he staggered back. Woozy he saw Neo-Cat stagger to their feet, surrounded by an army of 'Zombie Ruby' clones. He turtled up, taking a page from Pyrrha as he raised his shield and held his sword near the edge, backing towards the edge, slowly./div
div id="djs-e1k69" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-bv2td" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang was fairing pretty well. Unlike Neo, who was both super fast and hit like a truck with tricks and counters to most any situation, Curious was a wild beast. As their arms swung wide and aggressive, the razor sharp claws wheezing by and narrowly missing her hair, Yang stepped into the arcs of attack while raising her arm to cover her chest and face in a turtle block. As the blow hit on her arm and the claws missed her because of stepping into the attack vector, Yang smirked before she threw a heavy gut punch against Neo's frame. Had this been the REAL Neo, she'd have countered. No scratch that, if this was really her, she'd never fallen for a textbook move like this. Neo wouldn't let anyone step closer to her guard and not have a plan. In the train, which honestly felt like a lifetime ago, she had proven to Yang just how intensely dangerous she was. This was a cheap knockoff at best. Lucky for her. But also not, since in a way Yang had wanted to fight Neo again, seeing if her training with Dad and her maturity would end the fight differently. Well there's always next time!/div
div id="djs-d2m03" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"As Curious heaved from the air being gut punched out of their system, Yang didn't hesitate once! She reached forwards, grabbed Neo's head by the back and forced it down, while raising her knee as well. With a solid and quite satisfying 'bang' Neo's head connected with her knee. Staggering back, the possessed girl felt the floor disappear beneath her feet as Yang duck low and swept her legs. Springing back up like a piston, Yang advanced on the still flattened Curious who coughed as Yang's boot found purchase with a solid lowbrow kick to the gut. You never attack an opponent when they're down, was a rule in Beacon. Yet in real life, there's no such rules. Hell, if she ever found stilts again, she'd use every dirty trick she could because he still owed her for that stunt at the Vytal Festival. Which was also dirty. Basically honorable fighting doesn't exist in a real fight. And since this feline danger was after Ruby, Yang had only one goal in mind: protect her sister!/div
div id="djs-3bfve" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"But they were still a cat with Neo's reflexes and body. Even some muscle memory. Because after that kick, Neo spun around in a breakdance way, forcing Yang back a little and lept upwards, drop kicking Yang backwards and throwing another haymaker with their claws out. Once again Yang stepped into it and blocked. Yet it was different this time. Instead of just stepping forwards, she spun in place, blocking with her prosthetic arm and putting her back against Neo's front, yet she didn't stop there! She spun through, raised her elbow and slammed it into Neo's face! Staggering back from that pain, Yang continued her pirouette and raised her leg to land a solid roundhouse! Adding more pain to Cat's existence. "Damn, you're terrible at this!"/div
div id="djs-dlk98" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Oh now she feels powerful…where was that energy when POOR Ruby needed you most?", Cat hissed as they sprain forwards and grabbed both of Yang's arms. Who crossed her arms thinking a blow came. As the hands, like steel vices, clamped around her wrists and locked them in place, Yang barked back: "There's nothing you can say to me. I'll still make sure you'll never make it to her!"/div
div id="djs-9phq6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang raised her foot and pushkicked Neo-Cat back. Ember Celica and her prosthetic arm whined as the claws caused sparks to fly off them, before Curious laughed tauntingly! "But don't you see…whatever comes out of there, won't be your sister any longer!"/div
div id="djs-19ig8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"To emphasis their point, an army of zombified Ruby clones appeared. Gnarly skin, mismatching color schemes, dull gray in the hair and 'reverse negative' eyes, with the Sclera as black as a raven's feather, ghostly 'deathly white' irises and dilated Grimm black pupils. Yang stepped back a second, anger on her face as her lilac eyes turned to vengeful red as she punched one of the zombified Ruby in the face, shattering them to glass with a curious sound effect, like popping a soap bell. Yang was utterly rage filled! How dare they use Ruby like this!? As more grouped around Yang, a couple splitting off to travel to the other three fighters, Yang used her bullets to clear them out as fast as she could! Not wanting to look at this abomination any longer than necessary, seeing a grinning Curious behind them, "My, and here I thought you'd changed. Guess you're still a rage filled machine that has no quarrel with punching her sister!"/div
div id="djs-5cbf9" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-66re4" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Yang faltered. She didn't like beating her sister! And besides, this wasn't her sister! This was your stupid creation! She wasn't rage filled, not like in Beacon where she attacked without thinking. Furious, Yang dashed forwards and slammed both her hands against Neo's ears, discombobulating her and taking her by the scruff of her jacket and giving a brain shattering headbutt! In pain, Neo-Cat fell to their knees as Yang raised her fist to plummet it into their skull! Before she could however, she felt a shiver pass down her spine. With a quick look back, she noticed that Jaune was being forced off the platform by one more clone of Neo-Cat and several Zombie Ruby! She groaned! Looking furious at Neo-Cat before her, giving them a quick punch to the face, letting a slug loose as she blasted through the air attempting to aid Jaune! Roaring like a force of nature. The one attacking Jaune gasped and vanished in a puff of glass, Jaune grinned as he had expected them to go away. As Yang flew at Jaune they both nodded, throwing his sword into the wooden floor, Jaune braced himself and raised his shield. Yang landed, feet first because she had spun around her axis, nodded at Jaune who pushed off of his blade and pushed Yang with the explosive blast of his shield, the final charge he had, slingshotting Yang forwards as she soared through the air and crashed into the two Neo-Cats that had been circling and attacking Blake and Weiss, who had linked up in their two versus two. Shattering them both, Yang winked at Blake and Weiss, reaching the edge as she still flew through the air and threw a punch to get herself back up the platform. After all, she had done it a thousand times! So all she needed was-/div
div id="djs-c1lfp" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Click. The time she had in the air stopped for a second. Yang's eyes widened. Click?! Her weapon was EMPTY?! A single second in which she realized this, looking at the world in slow motion as a massive dose of panic and adrenaline was pumped into her body from the shock she'd fall overboard, Yang gasped. Another second, the two girls who had looked at her wink and then careen towards the edge, hearing the click of an empty chamber, Blake acted on instinct! She pulled back and threw Gambol forwards, her magazine running on empty. Yang's gasp turned into a startled inhaling shock as she edged ever more towards the deep fall. She could see branches, leaves of the tree all over the place, a drop she would not survive! Time began speeding up more as Yang nosedived off the platform. Screaming! Until she felt a tug as both her ankles were forced together and suddenly restrained. Looking up as she stopped her fall, she was ankle tied by Gambol Shroud looped around her boots, the weapon hooking and anchoring itself around her. Blake had saved her! Blake pulled, slowly raising Yang up with herself as aid, a Shadow who helped pull them up. Weiss turned around and pointed her sword at the remaining Neo-Cat, with Jaune rushing over, sliding under Neo's legs and swiping his blade at her legs! Jaune and Weiss stood side by side as they glared the Cat down! Who merely hissed and attacked once more!/div
div id="djs-d14e8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Jaune and Weiss worked pretty well together. He blocked the claws with his shield and leveraged his strength to give Weiss the openings she needed! Lightning fast her rapier stabbed, her dagger slashed and Neo-Cat's life turned from uncomfortable to frustratingly terrible! With uncontrolled anger, they screamed as a legion of Zombie Ruby appeared and rushed past them both, aiming at throwing Blake and Yang off the edge. Jaune nodded at Weiss, he'd take care of Cat. She'd protect Blake! Nodding, Weiss spun around and stabbed at the zombies. Furiously striking and fighting, the horde slowly overtaking her. She felt like her grandfather's words echoing in her mind. You will be the castle that protects those in your heart. She would stand like the rock, as waves crashed against her, like popped bubbles the zombies shattered one by one. She could handle this army, with a little bit of extra help from her dagger! Yet for safety reasons, she spun around, pointed Myrtenaster at Blake and generated a wall of ice to save her flanks. Now they'd have to go through her to get to Blake and Yang! Jaune and Cat traded more blows. Not as ferocious as Yang, he could anticipate their moves by being analytical and clever. Striking, blocking, weaving around the attacks, standing his ground. A rusted knight standing against the deranged possessed hat wearing girl. Things were looking good. Until…/div
div id="djs-7pr7c" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-t3ep" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""No, not now!", with the sound of nordic winds, the Aura Blade fizzled out, leaving her only one sword as she bashed her basket hilt into one of the Ruby Zombies, another popped from the point running her through. Blake was heaving all she could, assisted by her Shadow, but Yang wasn't getting up any faster. She spied movement in the trees. She gasped. Asking Blake with ragged breath to pick up the pace. Jaune, who pushed back against the cat, noticed how Weiss was getting overwhelmed. But he was unable to assist, all his attention was put on keeping the cat back! He focused. No, team RWBY were capable girls, I'll trust that they'd figure it out! He pushed his advantage, putting Aura into his legs and began outspeeding Neo-Cat. Weiss gasped as one of the Zombies got through her weaved web of slashing and stabbing, she reached back, right before the Ruby could attack Blake. She looked at the horde in front of her and Yang behind her still dangling. She pointed at the floor, trying to summon yet from her Glyph, nothing appeared. Slowly, she was panicking! Out of ideas she put a Gravity Glyph in front of her to repel the Zombies and ran for Blake, grabbed the rope and pulled. Yang was getting higher, but because she was tied and the ankles, she couldn't pull herself up as fast as if it were her hands. Weiss saw the Glyph beginning to shimmer and fade. And closed her eyes./div
div id="djs-vtj2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Focus on your enemies. See them come to your aid. But Weiss didn't have the ability anymore. As she tapped into the inner sanctum, instead of finding her Armagigas, her knight, she found nothing. The Lancer Queen was similarly no longer answering her call. Please! Someone…I need help protecting my friends. At the end of her rope, still pulling with Blake, Weiss' mind shifted on the words. As an ocean of zombies were culminating in a big wave and about to crash on her, Weiss' eyes opened in fury as she gave a battle cry! If she could just stagger them back, then that'd be it, small victories! Yet before she could finish her cry, a voice broke from a light icy blue summoning Glyph. It was close to the natural one she'd seen so many times, yet somehow this one felt different. A sword and an arm broke out of it as the voice rang out: "Don't you dare touch my GRANDDAUGHTER"/div
div id="djs-398di" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Weiss shivered as she watched an armored figure crawl from her Glyph. The armor's design close, so very close to her Armagigas, while having a cape, all in icy powdersnow color, helmeted the new 'knight' stood proud and high, swiping at the Ruby Zombies and roared in a righteous fury. Yet that wasn't what made Weiss' heart skip a beat. No it was not the Armagigas! She recognised the cape and the helmet! It was him! Coming to her aid! Not an enemy chained like a slave, a hero who she loved, protecting her from his own will! She felt tears in her eyes as Yang finally got pulled up, with the knight swiping around and giving a rolling belly laugh as he swiped and smashed them left and right. Blake looked in awe, turning to Weiss. "Is…is that…"/div
div id="djs-d7ceh" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Before she could ask, the knight twirled his massive blade around and held it reversed in his right hand, turned to the girls and took a knee, the blade holding off the remaining few Ruby Zombies as his left hand moved and pulled the helmet off, revealing the older, handsome, bearded face of the one and only Nicholas Schnee. Weiss, overwhelmed by the power of seeing her grandfather, the memory of when she asked him if he was a king, resurfacing as she sank to her knees and cried tears of joy. Yang and Blake were awestruck seeing this iconic legend before her. Yet all the Summoned image did was laugh gently, put the helmet down and reach out, his armored glove wiping the tears from Weiss' cheeks as he smiled at her. "Weiss…my dearest…grown up friend…I'm so very proud of you! You didn't let the name and my legacy shackle you! You made it your own and improved upon it. You built a wonderful castle in your heart with the friends you made along the way. I couldn't imagine a better person to carry our name into the memories of Remnant. So if you're ever in need, unlock the gates of your castle and I shall come to your aid, my little friend!"/div
div id="djs-epa5u" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"As Nicholas turned around, the cape and hair waving in a wind that blew only for him, straightening his sword as he charged forwards! Trampling the final few Zombies and crashing sword first into Neo-Cat, who yelled in pain and fear at this massive unit of strength and majestic power. Nicholas wasn't even like her previous summons which scattered like snow at the faintest touch. He was durable, powerful and strong! Weiss at on her knees, smiling warm and bright as she understood what he meant. Because she had locked her grandfather in her heart, did as he told her all those years ago about making a fortress in her heart and soul for her friends, he had answered her call and came to her aid! She turned to Blake and Yang, friends she had also locked in her heart as the family she always wanted and grinned. One day, she'd call on them and they'd always be at her side! Weiss had her home, her home wasn't Atlas. It wasn't a legacy defined by her father's name or even her Grandfather's name. it was a legacy of 'Big Nic' and Weiss herself! To fight in service for others, he was named a King for how he fought for Atlas. And now Weiss would be able to summon him at her command and need, while she would become a queen as well. A queen for her friends, family and the people of Remnant!/div
div id="djs-bgb89" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-74klm" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Not to ruin the big moment…But I have a plan", Yang grins as she saw the legend that even…uncle…Qrow had looked up to. It was inspiring. But Yang had more than just inspiration. SHe held a branch of the tree, thick with leaves and smiled, her hair burning gold behind her, as if the sun radiated from her golden locks. She concentrated. Having tanked and taken a few hits from Neo-Cat, she extended that energy. No longer just boosting her strength, she took part of that stored energy and released it via her fingers. Her hands sprang to a fire as she also put her other hand on Blake and Weiss, in that order, both feeling the fatigue of the fight lessen as if a candle or torch was lit inside their souls. It wasn't a full Aura Amp like Jaune could. But a second wind, or a sharing of power as Yang passed some Burn to them. SHe then roared and charged at Neo, throwing the burning branch at her feet and pulling Jaune back. Coincidentally giving him the last of her energy, for now to top him off as well. Yang smiled ear to ear./div
div id="djs-al1q6" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Seems you all had a moment of growth…", Jaune smiled. Weiss being able to summon allies rather than enemies of old, relying on the strength of friends nad family which hold the potential of the future, rather than going with slain enemies from the past! Blake having her clones be more than just Shadows, they could fight and aid her, being more than just the passing moment but an actual clone that assisted her with tasks, as she stops being the cat that ran and became the feline that fights for her friends, as sworn by her vow. And Yang becoming more than just a punching bag that hits harder the more you strike her. She could still do it, but now she could also give part of her strength to others, her growth as a sister, understanding that from now on, she'd keep Ruby strong! Holding her team up and powering them up! Jaune smiled as he recalled his own team. So close to going back home, he'd love to just talk with Ren and Nora. Oscar as well./div
div id="djs-9glvg" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""HAHA, that was your grand plan!? A pawn in the shape of a human and vapor from the tree? It doesn't affect me!", Curious spoke through Neo and inhaled a massive quantity of the cloud of smoke. Jaune grinned, "Maybe not you…but Neo's not so lucky…"/div
div id="djs-1qlb2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-9qcb" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Curious wanted to grin! He had sealed Neo away far in her own mind and puppeteered her like a toy! But as the vapor made it's way through Neo's system, figures appeared. He recalled some of them from spying up on Ruby during that disastrous tea party. He saw Ruby herself, appearing before Neo with a sorry expression on her lips. "So, Neo, is killing me all you hoped it was? Did it satisfy your revenge needs? Because ultimately, that wasn't what you wanted, was it? Aschen played you like a fool…"/div
div id="djs-1vln2" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"Another figure appeared. No it was two! Jimmy and Caramel Vanille. Curious felt the fists of Neo pound on their presence and take control a little. A stroke of pain pushed Curious to stagger, the possessed body falling on the floor. "Neo…all we wanted to say…was that we were wrong in how we treated you…it was our fault you strayed from the path because we didn't give you a home to feel safe in. And we're sorry.."/div
div id="djs-f5aq1" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;""Stupid girl…attacking me the way you did and then expecting me to just lay down and not trick you? Honestly, you were pathetically easy to turn and use as a tool. Perhaps Curious is just the next one who does it", the voice was foreign to Curious, as was the hood wearing figure. Her ashen hair and blue eyes were vile though, a match between them would have been impressive. Yet all these words did was push Neo deeper and deeper as Aschen vanished, Jimmy vanished. But Lil Red and Caramel stayed, when suddenly he appeared, a smirk on his face as he offered a hand to the girl that suddenly pushed Curious aside. Neo had wrestled control back from her body as Roman smiled at her. "There we go, the Neo I knew would never let some stray alley cat control her. Now break free, you've got this!"/div
div id="djs-8p028" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"A pain from the heart shot through Neo's body, which overwhelmed Curious who left the vessel and screamed in pain. A moment the smoke lingered before Neo sprang to her feet and ran out. As Curious screamed and roared, remaining in the cloud. She wasn't getting far however as Neo stumbled and fell on her knees and shivered. That was horrendous. She'd never want that to happen again. Yet the emotional rollercoaster knocked her out as she fell on her face and passed out./div
div id="djs-42ese" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" /div
div id="djs-fjrn8" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"A moment of victory flashed over the heroes as they raised their hands, ready for a high five. Before a mocking laughter turned from sneering to maniacal. IN the cloud, huffing it like an addicted lunatic, Curious grew. From the monochromatic cat that had possessed Neo, came a different beast. Standing bipedal, flashing a feral wild grin, cackling as a saturday morning cartoon. Curious Cat had transformed. A were-cat. Or something similar. The body was muscular, the fur feral and wild. Eyes wide and milky, glazed over with a furious berserker hatred and rage. Whiskers bent and asymmetrical in length. A fang filled grin the size of daggers, drool at the corners of their mouth. Massive miniature scythe curved claws. Curious was no more. Now it was Furious Cat! And if they thought that Curious was dangerous, the entity snickered and vanished from sight! Jaune barely had the ability to raise his shield as Nicholas Schnee was shredded like cheese in the blink of an eye! In a movement that was barely able to be seen, Furious Cat sliced and diced. Nicholas groaned in pain before finally dissolving and vanishing, Weiss screamed his name, before the shape of Furious Cat impacted from the sky and sent them all flat on their back, the shockwave alone shattering their Auras like mirrors. Juniper, who had been cowering in fear as her previous life as Alyx recalled the dangers this form could bring, sprang forth in a display of bravery as she stood before Jaune, who was also flattened. He screamed her name as he tried to get up, Furious out for blood, when a flash of light blinded them all and turned their attention back. Weiss gasped, Blake inhaled sharply, Yang gave a mixture of a scream and a cry as she was both shocked and confused at what she saw, Jaune didn't make a sound, only his eyes widened in wonder./div
div id="djs-9pi9g" class="daeditor-paragraph" style="margin: 24px 8px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"At the epicenter of the light explosion stood a shape, obscured from color. Blackened silhouette as a small silver spark appeared from the red hood that flew in the wind behind her…red like roses…filled their dreams and guided them to a new hope, like how the Sun broke through a darkened sky or storm. Or even as a sunrise would after a long endless night of deep darkness. The blinding light, like a new dawn breaking up, revealing… in the Sunrise…Ruby Rose…/div