Chapter sixteen
The Choice to Create
Emerald walked alone down the path of the busy streets of the city, she was in a province that was several days from the main kingdom of Atlas, so it was not as cold as it was there but it was still snow blanketing the ground and a lot of it falling from above. She counted herself lucky that she had managed to grab a cloak that had a good hood, maybe it made her seem like a strange character but she was warm right now so who cared what anyone else thought about her.
Since that talk with Ruby Rose so many thoughts had been going on around her head, she figured that surely a girl who had everything had, well 'everything'. And in a way she was right, Ruby had suffered, she had enough pain and hurt and shame to last her a few life times, feelings that Emerald knew all too well.
Feelings that had lead them down 2 different paths, while Emerald focused on her pain and loneliness and wanted to make others regret ever letting her feel those thoughts, Ruby instead focused on making sure that nobody felt those feelings. Perhaps if she had met Ruby instead of getting caught up in a life with the Deathstalkers she wouldn't be where she was right now.
Situation wise, location wise Emerald was perfectly happy with where she was right now, maybe happy wasn't the right word to use but not unhappy? Nobody knew who she was here so that was a plus at the very least and the inn she was at had good food and beer, she needed a beer.
Back to the Deathstalkers, or actually never back to them, never again. She could remember the promises they offered her and then when she started moving up the ranks she found out so much about them, how they were a fanatical group that worshiped a long extinct group of creatures, how they sought to unify the kingdoms under a banner of no emotion or some other rubbish, Emerald had not stuck around for much of that, she left and took many members with her as well as a lot of the technology as well to start her own group up, admittedly keeping the name and then trying to build up her own home, something she had always wanted, somewhere people would not side eye her constantly.
She knew the true fanatics resided in the deserts of Vacuo so her being here now she was the furthest from them as she could be, and all the others she had left in the mountains of Vale as well, screw them all. They were planning on turning on her as well, she was secretly glad when the Hunters first turned up, so many of the ones wanting to stage a coup against her and then return to their roots were drawn into the fight and got locked up, she knew their come up was coming soon, she wished she could be there to see it but maybe it was better to be further away from all of the drama.
From now on it was just about her, she was not working for anyone, she was not working with anyone and she was not going to get involved in any world ending events, she was going to live out the remainder of her days quietly and without a care for anyone simple as that while also managing to keep her instinctive need to steal everything that was even a little bit shiny in her sight. These were the thoughts going around in her head as she headed upstairs in the inn and into her room, lying down on her bed for the night.
When had anyone actually ever cared for her anyway, was her last thought as her red eyes closed tightly and she drifted off into the land of dreams.
The thing about sleep is, you are never closer to death than when you are dreaming, some old Remnant scholar used to say that, although Emerald thought it was a load of crap, you were never closer to death than when you were fucking dying, so that idiot was wrong…
Or so she had thought as she glanced around her at the endless dark void with the sounds of snarling and roaring echoing all around her, she had to be dreaming right now but dreaming of what?
"My dear precious Emerald, you have suffered so greatly haven't you? Oh my poor darling, but what if I told you it didn't have to be this way, what if I told you that the world could all be changed, there could be a chance for all of this-"
The mystery voice stopped for a second and Emerald stopped turning to try and locate it when she heard the familiar sound of her voice crying out in pain as she watched herself cry out on the streets for food, then she watched herself get beaten by Deathstalkers in 'training', she watched herself get locked up in various jails and beaten by corrupt law enforcement, she watched as a tiny little girl was left alone for days in her room only to find out her 'family' had up and left her behind without a care in the world.
"-Could never have happened, a chance your suffering could just completely disappear, you could have people that love you, people that listen to you, you could have everything you have ever wanted and I can give it to you my child… all you need to do is one thing for me, one job and it will all soon fall into place."
Emeralds eyes opened up, the white orbs taking in the room as the shadows moved and covered a half portion of it and wordlessly she stood from the bed and walked through the shadows.
"-I'm not saying you can't astral project a dog, I'm asking why do you want to?" This question came from a very smartly dress looking black man, although both of the figures in the room were both dressed in the kind of robes a monk would wear, only his seemed pressed and well kept, while the faunus girl's looked like every odd and end had been thrown on them.
"Because has anybody else?" Came the high pitched voice, the owner of it being the faunus in question as she had a very visible trait of having a brightly coloured cat tail that waved around in the air as she swayed from side to side.
"No, look Neon, I don't think it is the best use of your time to try this." The man had shut the book and behind his glasses his eyes had closed tightly in response to the other girl pouting at him.
"Oh come on, would you stop Weiss?" she said it with a teasing tone and the man's eyes exploded open as he stood and looked down at her.
"Yes." He said firmly while the girl then rolled her eyes and sat against the desk and started waving her arms around in the air.
"Please, you couldn't stop her, she is the sorcerer supreme, the master magician, the confident caster, the-"
"Stop with the alliteration please, before you get back on to the fabulous Flynt again."
"Awww, but you are fabulous." She said as she pinched his cheek and ruffled his short and cropped hair before he managed to grab her hands and they both stilled for a moment as they realised how close they were to each other.
"Please don't, you make it sound like I do children's birthday parties." And then they were both moving out the door, with the expressive girl then saying how it would be such a good way to make a bit of extra money for the monastery on the side if they wanted to.
Emerald listened intently as the 2 voices then moved out of the room, from the amount of book cases she could conclude that she was in a library, the talk about astral projection and the mention of those titles and Weiss' name, she must be in one of the mystical city's in Remnant. The Deathstalkers held records of a time where they believed to find one in a mountain region but it was guarded by a man with glowing fists that fought like a dragon, not that Emerald ever put much stock in fairy-tales, but after all she had seen now; perhaps the impossible was indeed possible.
Still she knew her item to steal was not in here, how she wasn't so sure, why she was doing this she also was not too sure about either, but she was still doing this and Emerald always saw the job through to the end, her only exception was that stone thing with Roman, but that was personal business, stuff she didn't want to get into right now.
Slipping out of the same door and checking the corners she saw the expanse of a lovely hallway and she instantly turned left and moved swiftly along, the first person that Emerald came upon she was quick as she could to activate her shimmer technology and move past them without alerting them to her presence, she was still completely covered up when she managed to find an open window and climb out of it and then scale down the outside wall that also connected to the rock of a mountain, in the back of her mind she wondered if this place was the one defended by the person who fought like a dragon but she knew it mattered not, they would not be able to find her to fight her anyway.
She arrived at the ground level and she crawled around the building and spied a large square where there were a few people crossing it, the shattered moon hung in the sky giving the area a glow and Emerald could tell instantly that whatever she was after was in the small building that over looked the cliff to the far edge, beside it was what looked like to be a picture perfect view to sit on the edge with a few friends, maybe when the world is remade Emerald would bring those friends she would make here, the 4 of them would look good sat there.
Without even realising it she had moved to the door way and was already inside, something about it all was strange to her, yes she was good but to do so without careful movement and without her remembering was not right, something else was hap-
"I'm going to have to ask that you leave this place, I sense only sinister motives from you right now." Came a voice to her right and Emerald barely turned her head, she knew that the voice was no threat, but she would still have checked out the person to assess weakness'.
"I will know if you are lying to m…e – it is you, I should have foreseen this day." Emerald felt a breath get caught in her throat, what day, why wasn't she turning, her eyes were locked on this staff, sure it was shiny, that alone would have made her mouth water but right now she wanted answers the far more valuable currency in any situation and she needed to get a read on the person she was stealing from, you always get a read first that was the first lesson she learnt.
"I feel for you Emerald I do, but know this you can have all you ever want in this life time, just look to the Sun." And then the voice was quiet, not even a peep as Emerald strode forward and claimed the staff, not even a peep as the shadows over took her and moved her away to another Realm.
In-fact the statue of Robyn didn't even awaken when it was questioned by the other members of the Magical council as to where the staff was, she would not answer even if Weiss stood in-front of her, she needed to focus on what would happen next.
Emerald woke up the moment her body impacted the hard cold ground as she then moved straight into a roll to mask the pain she then felt and instantly reached for her guns at that moment to see if there was anything for her to shoot, or if more embarrassingly someone had seen her fall of the bed, but when it was neither of those things Emerald almost dropped her guns in shock upon seeing what was in-front of her.
The woman was dressed in black and her skin was the whitest Emerald had ever seen, she once did a deal with a chameleon faunus that didn't even go that white to camouflage herself against the snow, her skin also showed that she had several dark veins criss-crossing all over her skin, lastly she had blood red eyes with white pupils, that were locked right onto Emerald at this moment.
Or more specifically what Emerald was currently holding in her hands instead of her other gun, she might have one in her right hand but her left was wrapped around the gold staff she had seen in the dream, or was it a dream? Was this a dream?
The woman was now right in-front of her and Emeralds trembling hand almost dropped the gun she was holding and she felt the overwhelming need to hand over the staff, which is what she did and the woman looked very pleased with her choice as she then tossed it behind her where… it floated in the air?
Next to a sword, a crown and a lamp of some sort?
"What the fuck?" Emerald whispered to herself as the dark woman turned away from her and let out a chuckle upon the view of the floating items.
"Oh no need to be so vulgar, this is simply what is going to happen, and after everything has been torn down and reduced to nothing, not even atoms, I shall build a better one… perhaps born out of blood, but you won't know the difference and honestly, it will not matter. As with every future you are inconsequential to me." She was the voice that Emerald had heard while she slept, the voice that haunted her dreams the last few nights.
The woman waved her hand and the objects all glowed a faint blue light. "Go my champions, make a some mayhem for me while I prepare to cross into Remnant."
Emerald then saw 4 blue beings appear before the dark woman and as they stood there they all looked firstly at each other and then back to the woman before replying all together in one voice. "As you wish." The very confused and frightened thief then watched as they all suddenly began to disappear one by one and Emerald only was getting more and more confused about what was actually happening here and now.
"Hmm, perhaps you should get one last look before the world is change for the better, me personally I don't quite care, Remnant is the lynch pin in my plan, when I am finally able to cross into it, then the real change can begin, for now the Relics are in their places… as should you be."
Emerald felt her stomach shift and suddenly she went from the cold ground to a burning heat and her last image was of the golden staff floating with sand billowing around her before she passed out.
"Come on push Monkey-Prince, we can do this, together!" Monkey-King said as he knelt under the heavy lead pipe with his trusty sidekick, the 2 being drenched in water but at the same time they couldn't afford to let this pipe fall down and hurt so many people below.
"We got it!" He croaked out and they did indeed have it as they both gave a thumbs up to each other and then it was on to the next grand adventure around the city, and it was coming right at them.
The Totem-pole, a criminal known for his high footwear and the fact he towered above the city, Monkey-King instantly called out to his partner. "We need to be careful here, I don't think I've ever seen him this tall before."
"Yeah, but he's never *cough*, he's never fought both of us, and we need to return what he stole!"
"Yes we do partner, I'll go high and you go low."
"Because the taller they are the further they fall!" Monkey-Prince said as he moved into action alongside his partner, and sure enough with the 2 of them working together they were victorious and they were soon sitting atop the highest building they could find as they watched the streets move.
"So did you get what he stole then N – Monkey-Prince?"
"Um yeah, I did."
"Is it really valuable?"
"It is to me."
"Well anything important to you is important to me." Monkey-King accepted the box and opened it up and saw it was an action figure of himself, they even got the tail the right colour and everything. "Oh wow."
"Do you have that one already?" Monkey-Prince asked through a wheeze as he looked over his mentors shoulder, said mentor shot him a worried look hidden behind the mask, but then after everything looked alright for the moment he quickly became more cheerful.
"What? Do I look like the kind of guy to collect his own action figures?"
"Um yes?"
"Okay so maybe I have a Captain Vale and Iron Reaper, but this is still so co-" he was interrupted by a series of coughing coming from Monkey-Prince and he placed the action figure behind him and then reached out to steady the kid instantly.
"Hey easy there, let's take off the mask shall we?"
"But my secret identity."
"It's okay, just you and me remember." Monkey-King then helped Nathan take off the spare mask he kept with him and the young boy looked slightly more grateful for it and then looked around the hospital room they were in, from their position on the filing cabinet they were currently the highest in the room as it had a few cardboard cut outs of familiar buildings in the city's skyline. "And I think between the 2 of us the city is safe for now."
Sun then sighed as he noticed the doctor walking towards them to signal it was time for the visit to end and he jumped down from the cabinet and helped Nathan down who stood on wobbly legs for a moment and then when the doctor said that it was time for him to lie down he got very upset.
"NO I DON'T WANT TO LIE DOWN!"
Monkey-King bent down to his height as instantly afterwards the kid looked like he had scared him off. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin it."
"You didn't ruin anything, we saved the day right? And that was without question the best team up I've ever had with someone ever." Monkey-King then watched as the doctor took Nathan away and he quickly picked up all the pieces of cardboard and folded them next to the cabinet and was about to leave when he saw Nathan's parents and they looked like they wanted to speak to him so he walked over, never a harm in saying hello.
"Hey there, your son is truly my favourite person to team up with, just don't tell the Hunters, they might get jealous." The sad smiles on their faces grew a little bit at that until Nathans father spoke up.
"Thank you for today, it means everything to him, you're his hero."
"Anything to help, anything." Monkey-king said honestly as he shook their hands, there was a little question on his mind though. "Why does he hate not wanting to go and rest? Surely the doctors told him that for his condition he needs it."
This time it was his mother that spoke up. "He says that every time he closes his eyes in that bed, he is scared that it will be for the last time and all the cancer treatment will be for nothing." Tears formed in her eyes and Monkey-King wordlessly turned back to the window plain where they watched him sit on his bed, he was holding the mask that he had been given.
Sun let out a deep breath and then stood a little straighter as he still stared at Nathan. "Does he have some sunglasses?"
"What?" the parents both looked at him like he had lost his mind, a common thing but he didn't mind, most days he had lost it after all.
"Something to block out the sun, a hat would do."
"Um yeah?"
Monkey-King took a moment to explain his plan as he then walked through the door into Nathan's room, a smile under his mask as he watched the kid, fully confident in his idea. "Hey Nathan."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you, you were amazing and-"
"Don't worry about it partner. You liked being Monkey-King for a bit didn't you?"
"Well yeah, it was so cool."
"That's good, because the day isn't over yet, you might want to put these on, it gets quite bright out there." Nathan then puts them on a little confused as Monkey-King then walks over to the window and opens it wide as the sound of the city comes though as well as the heat of Vacuo and he lets out a little sigh. "No place like home, you coming?"
Nathan then gets a look of realisation and races over to him and Sun wraps him up in one arm. "Hold on tight." And then the 2 of them leap out of the window.
The city is then filled with the laughter of a child and the laughter of a hero that day.
Sun stands next to the window as Nathan goes back through as his dad takes hold of him and both of his parents give Monkey-King big smiles and Nathan gives him a big wave as he leaps away and swings away doing a few extra acrobatic moves to let out some happy energy, that's when he notices a floating aircraft flying a lot lower than the planes do and he recognises it, it's the same one the Hunters used to travel around, well one of 2 that is and it is flying towards him so he quickly swings onto a building with a large roof for them to land on and then he perches himself ready and waiting.
The doors open and out comes Captain Vale first as he throws his guts up into the corner of the roof and falls to his hands and knees instantly, and Sun doesn't waste a single moment and launches himself over to check if he is alright. "Hey Cap you good?"
He gets a thumbs up in return and then he looks to the sound of 2 more pairs of footsteps and notices that one of them was Ren the bowman and Sun gives him a wave in greeting, and the other is a beautiful red head woman that looks nervously at Captain Vale and moves over to rub his back and help him up.
"Jaune I told you that perhaps you should have stayed behind, you knew we were going to be traveling around a lot today." Ren says as he hands over a napkin to Pyrrha who gives it Jaune as he then wipes his mouth.
"And miss new recruits, no chance, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet right? And Monkey-King here is no stranger, so I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to meet a friend." Captain Vale thinks he is a friend.
Captain VALE, the legend himself, the history hero, the biggest inspiration there was thought he was a friend.
This just about came second to making Nathans day, maybe he could convince Cap to come on the next visit. "Hello there, I don't think we've met, I'm Pyrrha." The woman held out her hand and Sun was slightly struck by her beauty for a moment, honestly wasn't difficult but he still took her hand.
"Hey I'm Mo-"
"Monkey-King, with a hyphen. Um the others are weirdly into getting pronunciations right, they really feel strongly about capital letters and that sort of stuff." She interrupted as Sun felt how strong her grip was, she was most certainly stronger in a raw sense than he was.
"Yep that's me, also guys not that this isn't awesome to see you here, but what was that about new recruits?" He questioned them all as Jaune then stepped forward, his armour looked so cool and he looked so cool as well.
Sun didn't hear him at first because he was a little star struck if he was being honest, I mean this was Captain Vale, yeah he probably folded his socks or whatever old people did and he might not trust phones, but he was still a legend.
"You want me to do what Cap?"
"We want to know if you would consider joining The Hunters."
Holy – just wow.
"There are others that we are looking at as well, but you were all of our first thoughts, and you were the one we all agreed yes on, me, Ruby, Ren, Weiss and Pyrrha all agree you have what it takes, and we have been watching you this last week, we would be happy to have you." He held out his hand as Sun stared at it in shock and then Pyrrha spoke up.
"I only learnt about you this week and already I think you will make a great teammate, and a good friend."
Then Ren cut in. "And if you worry about having to leave Vacuo, don't, we were thinking of a way to make this a more… global thing."
Jaune then swooped in to finish up the closing sale. "You would be a member here, if you need us call, if we need you we get you picked up, we share intelligence, we train together when we can and we always help everyone… so I guess the only thing that really changes for you is more people on your side."
"Captain-"
"Jaune."
"Captain Jaune-"
"Just Jaune."
"Captain Jaune sir-"
"No sir."
"Sir Captain Jaune Sir, I am-" Monkey-King stops what he is saying as he can feel the tingle in the back of his mind and all the hairs on his body are suddenly standing on end, he muscles tense up and he instantly starts looking around when a large BOOM fills the air and he runs over to the edge of the building, the other 3 heroes are hot on his heels and peering over the edge as well, doing what they can to see if there is anything odd going on down at street level. Other than spotting a few confused civilians looking around nervously they don't manage to spot anything, but in the distance they hear some screams and before anyone can say anything Sun launches himself off the building and is swinging towards it.
"Pyrrha go, and follow his lead until we get there, his city his rules."
Pyrrha gives a nod and then she is flying off after the white suited man who has already managed to get a good distance on them, he is fast. "Looks like we are flying then, Ren full throttle." As the 2 raced together to get on to the Bullhead, our vine slinging hero had already arrived at the scene and…
Yeah Sun had no idea what he was really looking at here.
"Oh my." Pyrrha floated next to him as he was crouched on a street light as she averted her gaze from the image in-front of her, her face taking on a red hue as she then fixed her eyes firmly upwards. "Is… this normal?"
"Sometimes? I'll be honest the colour is a first." Our spectacular super answered as he tilted his head in confusion, something about all of this was just out of this world.
He is going to do his best to explain it because when he tries to tell the story later he will regret not having practiced it; floating a few inches off the ground was a short blue woman, she was completely blue and she was also completely naked and she glowed slightly, she was also doing this thing that was causing her hair to wave around and also her to float in the air as well, if Sun was being honest he had no real clue what was going on.
"Jaune I don't know how to explain this to you." Pyrrha spoke into her communicator, no doubt he would get one if he decided to join, but if this was the stuff they dealt with on the day to day, maybe not, was a bit too weird for him if he was being honest, give him science experiments gone wrong not a cosmic blue woman.
Captain Vale landed on the rooftop of the small bakery behind the street light and cocked his head to the side. "This feels familiar." He muttered to himself but Sun's enhanced ears still picked it up, would make sense him already seeing something this strange already. "Let's hope they are a talker."
"Monkey-King of Vacuo." Everyone froze at that, especially the hero in question as he felt like he was being called out for a duel of some kind. "Stop me if you can, save her if you can." It was then that the blue woman lifted up someone in her left hand that had been hiding behind her and showed a dark skinned woman who was completely limp, like she was unconscious and she had mint green hair, fortunately she was clothed so Sun would not feel too awkward trying to get her to wake up.
"Um hello? Well it's nice to know that I'm known around the blue people but I, uh, I don't know who you are, so how about a trade of names? Sound good?"
"I am one of four forces that threaten to bring about ruin on your planet, ruin that is happening… now." The blue woman spoke as she waved her hand and showed three other blue people in various different places, one was a tall thin man with very long flowing blue hair he stood with his back to the image and Jaune recognised the place her stood.
"Vytal Island." He felt a strong calling deep within him to go to that place and face the figure.
Next were 2 figures next to each other, both blue, one was a very muscular man and the other was a very tall and muscular woman floating next to him. "YOU cannot stop what is coming, if YOU try, YOU will fai-"
She is cut off from what she is saying as Monkey-King shoots a vine at her mouth and eyes are covered up causing her to drop the woman at her side. "Yep heard it before, didn't like it the first time, I got this one you guys go and do what you need to, um Hunters assemble? What do you say?"
Ren looked at Pyrrha and then Jaune and both of them were in deep thought, still staring at where the images had been before. "Time to get to work usually."
"Alright then, you guys get to work, time to save me a damsel in distress."
"Careful with her, she is a wanted criminal."
"Just my luck hey?" When Ren didn't respond to him, Monkey-King prepared himself to jump into the fray and save her and stop this blue woman, so putting on his hero voice he gave a salute and a smile under his mask. "I got this." And he leaped across and swept Emerald up and was placing her safely on a rooftop while the others were getting back into the Bullhead and Ren was taking off.
"Alright Blue Baddie, just you and me now, so what you got?" The woman had managed to rip the vine mask off and then waving her hands she managed to create several what appeared to be very high tech laser drones that zeroed their sights in on Monkey-King and he could hear the tell-tale sound of rounds being loaded into the chambers. "Yeah that sounds about right."
Ruby was running to the meeting room with Penny and Weiss hot on her heels as the alert around the house was screaming at her, the three of them had been in the medical facility that Ruby had set up when Weiss had joined and they were going over her most recent medical exam, and while the results were not exactly positive this alert was currently more important. Bursting through the doors she waved her hand and the holo screen brought up the faces of Jaune, Ren and Pyrrha on the Bullhead traveling quickly, and Jaune did not look air sick at all.
"What's happening?" Ruby asked right away, seeing the worried looks on her friends faces, knowing instantly that this was not going to be a lazy day where she could create a new armour with even more upgrades while Weiss hovered around her and talked about treatments.
"Multiple different enhanced people around the planet, saying that something is coming, Monkey-King is dealing with one in Vacuo, I'm heading to Vytal Island and Pyrrha and Ren are going to Mistral."
"You left Monkey-King alone to deal with it?" Weiss asks as she has brought up the news feed on a different screen and they now see a blue woman creating several death traps out of thin air that he is currently swinging through and saving people from, it looks like he is being run ragged. "This woman looks to be incredibly powerful, and familiar."
The 3 on the Bullhead were silent as then Jaune spoke up, with all of them sharing the same thought. "It felt right to leave him?" While he sounded confused when he said it he also seemed convinced of the statement like they were all compelled to leave the location.
"Okay." Ruby shared a look with Weiss who narrowed her eyes slightly as she cast a subtle spell to make sure the 3 were not being mind controlled and she came up blank, while it was not effective at such range, she would still be able to get a hint yet she managed to get nothing from any of them. "So what is the plan then, I can send a message to Yang and Blake and have them meet you Jaune while we go and back up-"
"No!" All 3 of them cried out as they then looked confused why they said it.
"Guys you are acting weird, what's going on."
"Ruby, there is another abnormal energy signature coming from the Dragon Islands." Penny then informed them as she had plugged into the console and her eyes were glowing while she scrolled through several different incoming reports of both STRQ and BEACON satellites, also hacking some Atlas ones as well.
"How abnormal are we talking?"
"The energy is -error-" Penny said and then gave a helpful smile as she looked at her friends, all who then looked back at Ruby who cocked an eyebrow and had her mouth open in extreme confusion.
"Okay? Well that means Magic I think, or my systems can't get a proper reading of the energy levels." Ruby explained as the others all then nodded in understanding.
"Thank you for using the capital letter, well I guess we know where the 3 of us are going."
"Have Blake and Yang meet up with you guys there, we can handle ourselves and then we will meet up with you." Jaune advised as they suddenly shut off the communication and Ruby and Weiss shared a worried look, the 3 of them were acting very strange right now, like more than any of them usually were acting.
"Do you think they will be okay?"
"I could not detect any hint of mind control, rather their minds appeared to be focused on the tasks, like this was everything they had been building to and working towards, it is strange." Weiss answered as she swished her hand and then she was in her battle outfit and ready to head out to the Dragon islands.
"Alright I'll go get armoured up, you send the message to Yang and Blake, they can meet us there, I hope the others are going to be okay."
"Don't worry friend Ruby, I calculate that Pyrrha and Ren will both have a success margin of 84.3% and Janue a 56.6% chance. I do not have enough data for this Monkey-King man though." And with those rousing words the 3 went about their tasks and sent whatever positive thoughts they had to their fellow teammates.
Jaune looked out the window of the Bullhead as they flew towards the familiar island, he remembered being able to see it from a height similar to this when he was on the missile headed towards it before he plunged down into the frozen waters around Mantle or rather Atlas now, so much had changed and yet here he was flying back to the place where he had lost all that time.
"Coming in now Jaune, the local reports all say that a blue figure has been destroying police cars and the surrounding area, you ready?" Came Ren's voice from the pilot seat, he didn't ask if he wanted any help and Jaune wasn't about to ask for it either, something in his head told him that this was for him to do and him alone, a feeling he had when he saw Monkey-King and knew he needed no help.
A reason why he felt so comfortable taking on this challenge alone and then letting Pyrrha and Ren go to take on the other blue figures without him there to help either.
It felt right but at the back of his mind he recognised that as a team they were stronger together. "I'm ready." He hit the button to open up the side door and stared down at the battlefield below him, observing from a distance what was going on as the ship started to lower. The blue figure was quick and it seemed like whatever power he had was able to destroy things with a single blow, and while he might not have his shield right now, he was still more than capable, and Ruby had given him a nice supplement.
Just before he jumped out Pyrrha grabbed his arm and held him in place. "Remember, we are going to get chocolate at some point, when the world isn't ending."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Jaune responded as he leapt out from the Bullhead and activated the device Ruby had given to him a few days ago, he was getting used to it after the absence of his shield but it was most certainly useful, of that he would say as he activated a safety bubble around himself to halt the impact of landing and then he turned it into a hard light construct of his own shield and faced the blue figure.
"A promise was a promise, know what happens next is not my choice Jaune Arc." His voice was soft and weary, like he was being forced to do this, yet the way in which he stood showed a determination that Jaune respected in a way. "Those who stand against me shall fall."
In his hands he conjured a large blue sword and walked forward dragging it along the floor towards Jaune who turned to the gathered police behind him. "Focus on getting people clear of this area, then make a perimeter, he is staying here." Then without waiting Jaune ran forward and threw the hard light shield and he watched as it was deflected before another appeared on his arm to block the swing of the sword, the power behind the swing sent an airwave that sliced right through a police car behind him and also sliced off the corner of a building roof top.
Jaune had to put this mysterious figure on the defensive, because in a few short swings he was most likely going to level the surrounding area, and it looked like he was heading to the Vytal peace monument, the treaty that had been signed that ended the war between the kingdoms, the very thing he had almost died trying to protect years ago was now in danger once again, he didn't let it fall then, he was not about to let it fall now.
Pulling his fist back he punched the blue man around the side of the face and thrust his shield into it afterwards in a one two combo, the when he saw the sword arm about to swing he stepped in to grab at the wrist and hold it in place so that there would be no more destruction in the swing, however for all of the strength he had, it was not enough.
Jaune was flung away as the sword arm slashed out in a wide arc and curve of explosive force blew up the buildings just behind him and they all came crashing down, one such building was about to fall on a young police officer and Jaune dived and tackled her to the ground while creating the protective bubble around the both of them and saving the 2 of them from any injury. "Go, get more people clear and then tell everyone to back up furt-MOVE!"
Jaune pulled and practically threw them out of the way as the blue man suddenly appeared in-front of them and he managed to lash out with a front kick, on any other person his front kicks sent them flying away, this blue man took it in stride and stabbed with his sword and the result was a shattering of his hard light shield and a sharp slash across his shoulder that gave him blinding pain. "ARGH!" He couldn't help but cry out as he rolled away and inspected the cut, it wasn't particularly deep, but it still drew a lot of blood.
"It is futile to resist."
"No, it never is, I'm going to be resisting for as long as I can, so you're going to have to hit me a lot harder, because once the others are done with the other threats; you won't last 10 seconds against the greatest heroes I have ever met." Jaune said as he wiped the blood off his hand and curled it into a fist, the device summoned another hard light shield for him to use and he readied himself for battle again.
"If you continue with what you are currently doing then your corpse will be a warning to them."
The flight with Ren and Pyrrha was silent as they journeyed towards the village and as the village came into view that was when they finally broke the silence. "This is the village where Dr Merlot killed my parents."
Pyrrha then turned to face him from the co-pilots seat and then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well I'm not letting you die here, and hopefully you will be watching my back as well."
"That is what teammates are for, and it is most certainly what friends do for each other." Ren said as he looked over at Pyrrha and then gave a tiny, almost incomprehensible smirk before he continued on. "Besides, you have a date with our Captain to look forward to."
The shade of red that Pyrrha turned was quite amazing, on the other hand the hyperventilating was a little worrying before she managed to stammer outa retort about Nora, to which Ren could only raise an eyebrow at, he was expecting something a little more creative from her if he was being completely honest.
The Bullhead floated above the little village as Ren spied the group of the whole village all knelt down in the centre of it before the 2 blue beings, they looked dazed and like they were locked in a strange trance of some kind and as he landed and then walked forward he turned his head to notice that Pyrrha was floating by his side, an angry look on her face as she eyed the male looking one of the 2 while Ren cast his gaze to the woman who had turned and was looking upon them with a small smile on her blue face.
"I knew you would come Lie Ren."
Ren then raised his bow in response as looked upon the group of villagers once more and then out of the corner of his eye he noticed black energy start to engulf Pyrrha's fists, she was ready to take the fight to them on his mark it would seem. "It would seem that we are at a disadvantage here, we do not know your names."
At this the blue man turned around and faced Pyrrha with a stern look on his face, taking a few steps towards her, his eyes were harsh and then Ren heard Pyrrha let out a cry and she dropped to the floor and was on her knees as well and the same expression came over her face as the villagers and in that moment Ren shot his arrow at the man to catch him off guard before he hit Pyrrha hard across the face to try and snap her out of it; she had taken hits from Yang and she was still able to function so him whacking her with his bow was more likely to hurt him. "Pyrrha? Snap out of it!"
"She will need to make that choice." Came the voice of the blue man, not even caring for the electricity that was coursing around his body as he flicked the arrow away and knelt down in-front of Pyrrha and cupped a hand under her chin, tilting her face up to his and looking in to the white of her eyes. "I do wonder what you are seeing P'yrr'a Nike, and I wonder what you will choose."
Ren moved forward and swung his bow this time at the blue man's face only to be met with a hand that held it in place and he turned his head to find the blue woman holding back the blow with no strain on her face and her hand reaching out to touch his head. Backflipping away from the movement to get some distance Ren shot another arrow that she snatched out of the air and tossed up into the sky where there was a very small and quiet explosion from how hard she had thrown it.
"Have you no questions mortal?"
Ren narrowed his eyes and threw a smoke bomb and then shot an arrow through it, hoping that it would catch her off guard, only to then instinctively duck under an outstretched arm as she was suddenly behind him and reaching out to try to touch his head again. "I know what I need to." Ren answered plainly as he spun and tried a roundhouse kick to her head to catch her off guard and maybe land a blow.
While he did strike her, her expression remained unchanged as she then looked upon him with an impassive gaze and a small sigh escaped her lips as she then grabbed the leg, quick as a flash and pulled him into her and placed her hand on his head, the last thing he heard before he blacked out was. "Allow me to show you more."
Sun sprung off of the sign saying that there was a reduced price of hot dogs in the fast food restaurant and mentally made a note to head there again later to see if he could get them, he was starting to build up a hunger doing all this exercise, as he quickly grabbed one drone and smashed it into another and then he flipped down so he was crouched in-front of the blue woman.
"So out of like serious curiosity, you got a name? because I usually like to talk, you know get a feel for why you're doing this, see if maybe we can reach an understanding between us and that way nobody needs to get hurt… preferably me." Monkey-King muttered that last part as he watched the blue woman then turn her attention to the roof top where he had dropped of the green haired girl and she raised her hand and a cannon appeared, like seriously a pirate ship cannon and without giving it another thought he jumped and swept the prone form of the girl off the roof while a cannonball blasted it to cinders and rubble.
Through the fast movements in the air and the wind whipping past her face the girl groggily opened her eyes and took in her location for a moment and then her blood red eyes focused in on him and she started to thrash about in his grip, understandable but they were mid swing right now. "Sorrysorrysorry, I will put you down but please try not to – OHF" Sun grunted out as an elbow hit his stomach quite hard and he almost dropped her, well almost dropped her but let go of his vine and suddenly the 2 of them were hurtling towards the ground, however at the last moment he twisted and made it so his back smashed into a car roof.
"Another happy landing." He moaned out as he felt the metal creak under him and the girl pushed herself off of him and shakily stood on her feet before seeing the blue woman and then she was about to run away down the street when Monkey-King had to scoop her back up and out of the way as a racing car almost ran her over where she stood, the both of them looked at it in shock and Sun in complete confusion, was she pulling these ideas from a child's mind?
"Okay, strange, but not the weirdest thing I've seen, you okay miss?" The girl gave him a look of barely concealed fury and our Amazing hero felt the sting behind the look and quickly made to leave her alone as soon as she got to safety. "Alright, uh, you wait here for a moment I'll distract her then you get away somewhere safe okay? Can you do that?"
Her red eyes scanned him for a moment and Sun had never felt so judged before she managed to speak, her voice was biting and hard but there was the unmistaken fear beneath it all. "Yes, I just want to get away from all of this."
"No problem miss, that's what heroes like me do, we make sure that you can get through the day!" Monkey-King declared confidently as he stood and sprung over the car they were hiding behind and then swung to the blue woman. "Say this might sound rude but have you always been blue? Or is it just a thing for today? Like wearing pink on Wednesday? Also what's with all the death traps? And are you making your hair do that moving thing or is that natural?"
He then spied the mint haired woman suddenly sprinting from behind the cover and thought to give her some more by throwing a manhole cover at the blue woman to distract her further, and it seemed like it was working… until the good old Wukong luck kicked in and Sun was watching as she split the manhole cover in 2 and then she made a series of spiked walls appear on either side of the girl as she ran and then it trapped her inside it all and they started to close in on her.
"Not good!" Our Spectacular hero was quick to shoot some vines to catapult himself over to the trap and then use another vine to pull the victim out and this time while they were in the air the girl didn't try to hit him, she did glare at him slightly and he gave her a small smile to try to ease her mind… then he remembered he was wearing a mask and stopped because that just felt stupid to him.
Landing and ushering her back behind cover again so she was out of sight he jumped into return to the fight, he needed to end this now as he vine-zipped towards the blue woman and hit her with a drop kick and as they tumbled around on the ground he pushed her so she hit a streetlight and he then shot some vines to hold her in place. "If you're going to put people in life or death situations then do it to me."
He watched as out the corner of her eye the girl was once again running down the street as he turned back to his mystery opponent and observed her once again, her passive look had not changed, in-fact she barely looked bothered by either the drop kick tackle or the fact she was tied up against a streetlamp. "So we done here? Please tell me you surrender and we can just talk about this, nobody else needs to get hurt and nothing else needs to be broken, because I get blamed for it all and it's really annoying and I just want some hot dogs, and I know everyone says that Rick's is the best this side of town, but I quite like-"
"Your desire to protect shall be tested Monkey-King, if you truly are to make people feel safe… I require proof you have the character to do so." She simply closed her eyes for a moment and then a blue portal opened up and the green haired girl ran right through it and then looked at the both of them and tried to turn and run away only to be met with another familiar figure coming through the portal; Sun would recognise that sense of dread anywhere even without the large smile on his face and his mechanical tail swishing around happily behind him, there was also another person with bat wings right behind him and a sneer on his face and lastly there was a large lion man.
"Oh fuck." Said the girl quietly as she backed up swiftly until she found herself next to Monkey-King, she did then mean to back up further but casting a look behind her she saw a marge glowing blue wall had appeared and was now blocking the way behind and then ahead as well, it was just them on the street.
"Hey Tyrian, long time no see, don't suppose you are going to go quietly are you?" Sun thought he should at least try, although judging from the faint blue glow that was coming from his eyes he very much doubted that it was going to happen. "Nope cool, cool, cool, what about you Yuma? Any chance you can forget about before?" Again he was greeted with silence and Sun then turned to the blue woman but before he could speak he was cut off by the girl at his side.
"Do you ever stop talking?" She spat at him as she suddenly drew 2 pistols and aimed them at the approaching people and went to fire the triggers before she was grabbed and moved out of the way of a pouncing lion.
"Sorry! Sure you make a good point I like to talk; but I don't like to let old Leo there get going, he has claws and they really hurt, plus this is my one good suit left." He then shot a vine at Yuma's eyes to blind him and make him fly straight into a brick wall. "Since it looks like we are in this together, mind telling me your name at least? I'm Monkey-King, nice to meet you."
Tyrian then pounced up and tackled the 2 of them halfway through a swing and they all fell to the ground with Sun then making sure his body was in-between the 2 of them so the mad goblin like monster could only hurt him and not the girl. It worked for a moment but he quickly found himself thrown away and was about to jump in when he watched the mystery girl then use those 2 guns of hers and shoot off the mechanical tail that Tyrian tried to stab her with as he let out a howl of pain and Sun watched as she was about to shoot him in the head so he made sure to use his vines to rip the guns out of her hands just as the lion man lunged at him and started to scratch at him. "Wait! Your! Turn!"
He reversed the lunge by putting both feet on his chest and then throwing him backwards off of him then running over and jumping towards Tyrian and catching him in mid-air before he could hit her. Monkey-King hit him with a few close punches and then pushed him away and as they both got a footing he pulled off a few acrobatic kicks and even managed to perform a butterfly kick which sent him face down into the concrete street as he turned back in time to grab the girl and swing them out of the way of an angry Yuma who had flown in to snatch her up. "Sorry about this!" Sun yelled.
The reason he was sorry was pretty clear as he threw the girl up into the air the next time Yuma came around, his air control was very good, but Sun was far faster as he somersaulted and landed on Yuma's back before hitting him across the body and then swinging under his head to strike at his chin and knock him out of the fight, hopefully at the least, then he swiftly zipped over and grabbed the girl out of the air as she was still falling, turning her body around to reduce the whiplash and he landed on the ground with a slight skid as Yuma smashed into the car next to them, heavily denting the roof. "You good?"
"BEHIND YOU!" And then she got out of his grip and managed to backflip over the car roof as all the senses in Monkey-King's head warned him of the incoming danger behind him, but he was very amazed by the backflip and so he could do nothing but watch in awe as she landed flawlessly – and then he was decked across the face by a lion man's fist as Leo then stood over him and brought those claws of his out and made to slash him.
Monkey-King was quick to roll out of the way as the punch across the head had made it a lot easier to focus on the fight and not on the pretty girl and her ability to backflip very well, he then used his vines to try to tie up Leo instead of trying to go with punches, he felt sorry for Leo, he was a mild mannered teacher from Mistral originally and he had a school trip here in Vacuo where an unfortunate accident had turned him from just a lion faunus into this… now more beast than man he was a tragedy and Sun vowed to help him if possible, he kept in contact with Oz when he could about his recovery and his prison cell was more like a safari.
Still as he was pinned against the ground and he was trapped and snarling Sun stood over him. "I'm sorry Mr Lionheart, one day you will be back to normal, I promise you." The mystery girl came over and she had her pistols again and she made to point them at Leo but Monkey-King stopped her.
"Hey, no need for that. Their all done." She gave him an even look.
"This will keep them down."
"No, no guns and no killing."
"You think they would show you such mercy?"
"That's what make us different to them, we give a second chance, I know this was a trying ordeal, but heroes give a second chance, heroes don't kill people, and this guy is not a villain… he's just a victim." When he notices that her expression remains somewhat guarded he offers a different tactic and instead holds out a hand in greeting. "Look between all the death traps and the attacks I still don't know your name."
"Emerald." She said with a small wince and he could understand why, he knew the name as she was an enemy of The Hunters, now he understood why Ren had told him to watch out since she was a wanted criminal, but she had warned him before he got hurt so maybe she wasn't so bad.
"Well nice to meet you Emerald, now what do you say we put the guns away and we-"
"Get me off to prison? Yeah I don't think so."
"I was going to say see if that blue woman is gonna throw anything else at us."
"I have seen enough Mr Wukong." The blue woman floated before them and Emerald went to bring her weapons up but Sun was faster and moved to stand in-front of her, almost like he was protecting her, although she supposed that he had been getting her out of a few un-manageable situations since this ordeal had begun. "You would make peace with those you fight, you would build trust with an enemy, you give second chances… you create solutions to impossible problems, I now offer this to you, what would you like me to create for you?"
"I'm sorry you lost me."
"I can create a perfect life for you, I can make sure you have absolutely everything that you could ever possibly want, you would need nothing-"
"Nah, I'll pass." There was a silence as nobody spoke until Emerald broke it with a disbelieving tone of voice.
"Are you fucking serious? There is nothing you want?"
"Well I mean there are a few things I would like to change yeah, but all of that power this woman has and she is just throwing it out like that, no responsibility, and that's not who I am, I'm not going to erase my mistakes or make it so I never make any more. No fate, destiny or any of that rubbish, don't much care for luck (I've never had any) so I'm good. You can offer it to the next person or you can go back to where you came from, just please don't put anyone else through these death traps?"
The woman was completely silent and then spoke up again. "So you want for nothing then?"
"Not what I'm saying, I just do not want anything from you is all."
"Not the most brilliant person I have ever been in contact with, but you are Amazing in your own right I suppose… very well Sun Wukong." And with that the blue woman disappeared into nothingness as Sun then turned to Emerald who was looking at him with a strange expression on her face.
"So your name is Sun?"
He felt a shudder run through him as he moved closer to her and brought his voice down to a whisper. "Not so loud, secret identity!"
She smirked at him and then cocked her hip out to the side, holstering her guns somewhere he couldn't see them. "Well then, I guess you are going to have to let me go then, aren't you… Sun." she added on in a whisper as she gave a look around and while there was nobody else around, wait not even the other 3 and that caused Sun to panic for a moment, but one thing at a time.
"Wait you – I can't, your technically a criminal and yeah I know I saved you but-"
"Guess I should shout it to the world then." She took a dramatic large gulp of air and was about to yell when he clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Okay, okay, okay, how about I make the Beacon agents promise to give you a nice cell, make sure you have everything you wanted?" The tell tail sound of sirens in the distance and the sound of a Bullhead engine was approaching while Emerald had a thoughtful look on her face as she observed them in the distance and then made a point to draw his attention over to the approaching law enforcement.
"First you explain it to them." Sun then turned to where she was pointing and gave a small sigh in defeat, hoping that maybe Jeff was among them so at least he could talk to his buddy at the end of it all.
"Fine, but you need to be on you-" he turned back only to find that she was not there, scanning the area he could not find a single trace of her anywhere around, not even a hint at where she might have gone either. "-r best behaviour… damn that's cool, kinda sucks though, and I'm talking to myself… still talking to myself even now I brought it up." As he then turned to speak with the police that showed up and also the Beacon agents he could see already taking up positions across the rooftops he silently hoped that Emerald would show up again, he felt like they were making a real connection.
Meanwhile hidden inside a shop and watching his movements as she silently snuck away and avoided the many agents and police that were suddenly surrounding the area Emerald spared a look around the city, the sun glinting off shop windows, the people not giving her strange looks, the general bustling of life and the fact that their hero was just a guy named Sun, heh perhaps she would be sticking around, having some leverage over him would be good for her career she could see some very posh and expensive buildings in the distance and her kleptomania senses were telling her this would be a great place to get that fix.
And if a certain vine slinger wanted to try and stop her, well he could try, heh funny. It would seem that she has found a Sun, now the question was what to do with him.
P'yrr'a flew across to her little home on her favourite planet in all the galaxies, Sparta was really a treasure for the eyes and she was beyond proud to be a noble warrior of it, apparently they had even won a battle across the galaxy on some back water planet called Remnant, but wait that was her home wasn't it?
"Ah there she is, the greatest warrior in the galaxy, our very own Invincible Girl, here for your reward of the prisoners?" Questioned the Judge standing there and holding his massive war hammer and sometimes gavel, which was planted on the floating platform. She was one of the rare group that could fly without the use of any technology, her powers were a gift from the Collective itself – no she remembered the experiments, the pain she endured as they made her into a tool for them to use.
"Ah the Invincible Girl, here at last." Called out Do've as he floated up on a similar platform with another being, one who was bound and gagged at his feet, while a different person held a tray with several different drink options, both the bound man and the tray man had collars around their necks and had multiple bruises across their body, the bound one having a fire and determination in his eyes that spoke of untold resolve. "If anyone can break this slave into a proper obedient servant then it is the great P'yrr'a Nike, the one blessed by the Collective itself!"
"Well I don't know if I-"
"Nonsense, you don't fail, that's not something you were made to do and you always win, so you can get this one to submit to you easy." The Judge said as he handed her the details of the bound man, who gave her a look which told her she would have a fight on her hands, but before the Judge could go on any further she knelt down and removed his gag.
"If you think I will break so easily, then you know nothing, I won't let you turn me into a mindless slave like you have so many others."
"I-" This was not how it was supposed to go!
Pyrrha walked home, the flowers of Argus were particularly beautiful this time of year and she was so happy have so many to view on her walk back home as she practically skipped up to the front door and opened it up, she noticed all of the trophies she had won up on the shelves, all of the photos of competitions she had excelled in plastered over the walls and then she heard her managers voice. "-Naturally, you think the Invincible Girl is going to just rest on this victory? Obviously she is going for gold again, hell they might as well give her a new league of her own."
A voice on the other end spoke up. "I would expect nothing less from someone who always wins, literally the perfect girl."
No I am not perfect, this is wrong.
Pyrrha stood on the rooftop looking out across a courtyard, she was stood alone as she watched others mill around below her, right where they should b-
No, I don't think that!
Pyrrha raised her blade as she deflected another blow and let out a small chuckle as she returned a series of her own strikes and watched as her opponent let out some comical sounds as he deflected and blocked her attacks, so she speed up and almost managed to catch him off guard before she feinted and he lunged, she had him and he was quickly disarmed and beneath her, trapped, beaten like everyone else that faced her, she was unstoppable and there was no point trying, you would only end up like him.
No that isn't right!
Pyrrha sat and observed the people fighting for her favour the insects would try to win to gain her respect but she was so far above these useless
I SAID NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT!
"Then what is it you want? You have gifts, power, you are the envy of so many and you would not want greatness?"
Putting others down is not greatness, that is selfishness!
"Don't you deserve it, to claim what is yours, to be the best of the best."
No, I just want to be me, I don't want to be what people always expect of me!
"I can give you any choice you want, you could choose to be-"
I am done with people giving me choices! I am Pyrrha Nikos, I am a Hero, I am a Hunter and I will be with my friends! I don't care what you have to offer, because I already have what I want and I am already with who I want to be with.
Yang, Blake, Weiss, Ruby, Ren, Nora and Jaune, they are people I would not trade anything for, because of their kindness I have made bonds that will last a lifetime, so whatever you offer know this.
I CHOOSE THEM!
There was a deafening silence as Pyrrha waited for the blue being to respond to her and that silence only grew louder as it seemed like he was nowhere to be found. She gazed around the bright white space that she was currently stood in and then that's when a flash of blue appeared in the corner of her eye and she saw him stood there, staring out to what looked like multiple different pathways and with his back to her.
"Making a choice does not seem like letting the chips fall where they may." He said in a calmer voice then he had been addressing her so far and Pyrrha couldn't stop the gasp that left her throat as she realised this was a voice in her head from before Do've managed to reset her programming, this was the voice that stopped her from further attacking Jaune and Yang.
"I know you." Pyrrha said as she came to stand beside him and looked out at the different paths.
"Yes, you do, I am something you have struggled with your whole life and also something you have rarely been given; I am Choice."
"And these paths, they lead to different choices I could make?" Choice turned and nodded down at her as she looked out to see the options, some she imagined were appealing, some she imagined were not, but the one she wanted right now more than anything is to go and be with her friends, she was certain that they needed her and she both needed and wanted them. "So which way takes me to them?"
Choice looked up into the sky and Pyrrha knew instantly what she had to do as she crouched down and then rocketed up, higher, further and faster than ever before.