The wind was blowing out of control around Weiss and Yang as they continued to fight Shadows and Grimm. Just as Weiss was cutting down a Beowolf, huge cracks started appearing throughout the whole courtyard. Soon enough, chunks of land began to slowly float up into the sky. The Schnee heiress was at a loss. None of this made any sense. Fears and anxieties that she'd been trying to repress were coming to the forefront. Was this really the end? Could everything she'd ever known or loved disappear? Just like that?
"Can you ground us with your glyphs?" Yang shouted as she clutched on to the heiress's shoulder. But Weiss glanced at the tower, where her trail of glyphs was still glowing.
"If I do, we risk Ruby falling to her death," Weiss shouted. With how long that path of glyphs was by now, trying to create even a single one under themselves would risk their leader's life. She then turned back to Yang in desperation. "Is there anything your mother said about stopping this? Please! Please tell me that we didn't go through all of this for nothing!" Yang hesitated but steeled her gaze as her free hand seemed to instinctively clutch the pouch on her belt.
"I'm not sure what's about to happen," Yang replied. "But I do know that I don't want to go down without a fight. If there's even a tiny chance that we'll make it and find the others, then I'll take it! Will you?" Weiss could tell that Yang was trying to be brave for her sake, but she swallowed her own fear and nodded in return.
After that, Yang looked at all the floating debris, and her eyes suddenly lit up. She let go of Weiss to grab something from her pocket. Pulling out a hair tie, Yang quickly bound her long locks into a left-side ponytail.
"Why are you—W-whoa!" Weiss never got to finish her question as the ground beneath them shook and the chunk that they stood on began to rise in the air. As they ascended, Yang suddenly yanked Weiss in so that she was positioned on her back.
"Hang on!" Yang yelled. "Maybe we can use this to help Ruby!"
"What!?" Weiss yelled even as she wrapped her arms above Yang's shoulders, looking over the blonde's right shoulder. As soon as Yang cocked her gauntlets, the pieces clicked in Weiss's mind. "Oh, you've got to be—KIDDIIIIIIIINNNNG!"
Yang fired off her gauntlets and used the recoil to launch the two of them high into the air. She managed to reach another chunk of debris and shotgun-punched it with a mighty yell. The kickback once again sent them hurtling even higher. As their altitude increased, so did the intense winds. But Yang used that to her advantage, riding the currents of air and changing directions with her gauntlets' recoil whenever needed. She was clearly aiming for the top of the tower.
With an idea as crazy as this, Weiss was reminded that this girl was indeed Ruby's sister.
...
"Dang it, they just keep coming!" Sun shouted in frustration as he took out more and more shadow creatures with his gun-chucks, blasting in every direction that he saw them rising. He and every other student who could still stand had engaged the monsters as soon as they'd shown up. While these things weren't nearly as tough as a Grimm individually, they were almost overwhelming with these kinds of numbers.
"Let go of me!" shouted a protesting Nora Valkyrie, as an Atlas soldier tried to take her to the airbus. "Our friends are still out there!"
"It's too late!" the soldier shouted back. "We gotta get on the transport now!" Despite her injuries, Nora continued to struggle along with Lie Ren. Sun really felt for them and regretted that he'd let the rest of Blake's team go right back into the thick of this chaos. Deciding to save what people he could, Sun took out a few more Shadows that had been in his way and made a run for Blake.
"Come on, Blake!" Sun yelled over the winds as he put his weapon away and knelt to carefully pick up his crush. "I'm getting you out of here."
"But... my team," Blake pleaded as he picked her up. Sun knew she'd be devastated if anything happened to them.
"You've got great teammates," he reassured her. "If anyone can survive this, they will. But we won't be able to help them if we go down. I'll try and gather a rescue team to find them once we touch down."
"Guys!" shouted the voice of Sun's partner. He looked up to see the blue-haired Neptune Vasillias waving for them from inside the airbus. "Come on, hurry!" Both Nora and Ren were just outside the transport as Atlas soldiers continued to try and pull them aboard.
Suddenly, the wind picked up like never before. Huge cracks formed on the ground as the landing docks fell apart and flew into the air. The airbus groaned as the land underneath it crumbled. It's engines quickly fired up as the vehicle tried to right itself, but some debris hit a wing and sent it careening.
"No!" Sun yelled as he stumbled on the rising ground. Down below, he could see both Nora and Ren trapped on a floating chunk of land. The soldiers that had tried to get them to the airbus had lost their grips on the two students and were currently holding onto the flying debris for dear life. The monkey-tailed blond had no idea how this was happening, but he needed to find a way to help everyone that he could. If only he'd been able to move while using his semblance, then he'd have been able to get to everyone while keeping Blake safe.
"Gyah!" Sora shouted as he was knocked off his feet. The giant monster had plunged its arm all the way into the ground, seemingly reaching for something. Sora quickly got back up and ran at the monstrosity's head, but it was too late. It pulled out a huge black orb, similar to the giant one floating in the sky, and slowly stood up. (Surprisingly, there wasn't so much as a scratch on the ground from that grab.)
After lifting it high up, the monster released its grip on the dark orb, blowing it up. The next thing Sora knew, there were a bunch of tiny orbs raining from above. Not wanting to get hit by any of them, he made a run for it.
The dark giant's gaze followed the new Keyblade wielder, and it threw a punch at him. Sora barely jumped out of the way, then had to roll on the ground in order to avoid a couple more orbs. Unfortunately, the monster managed to grab Sora with its other hand before he could get back up.
"Agh! No!" Sora protested as his whole lower body was enveloped in the colossus's fingers. It lifted him towards its face as it stood up. Sora struggled to pry himself loose until he was face-to-face with the giant. "Let me go!" he shouted, swinging the Keyblade at its writhing face.
The monster winced from the strike, extending its hand so that its head would be out of range from another attack. But Sora wasn't done yet. He stabbed the Keyblade into the hand that held him. The giant winced, opening its hand, causing the boy to dangle from the Keyblade's hilt. It then swung its arm wide, shaking the boy loose and sending him flying!
"AAAAH!" Sora screamed as he fell over the floating island's edge. As he fell, Sora was suddenly caught in the whirling winds and sent flying out of control. As he tumbled through the air, the boy spotted a small bit of land flying towards him. Acting on instinct, he angled himself so that he'd meet the chunk of land feet-first. It worked, as he now found himself standing on said debris with surprising ease. Sora then leaped down to another floating island as it came close. After landing with a haphazard roll, Sora managed to pick himself up and look around in confusion.
"Did that really just work!?" Sora thought aloud in astonishment. He wasn't sure how, but it seemed that any time he was on a bit of land, the winds didn't seem to affect him nearly as much. Physics wasn't his best subject, but he was pretty sure that something weird was going on.
His attention was brought back to the giant as it got on its knees, crossing its arms into an X-shape. Sora's eyes widened as he recognized the position from his dream. Looking around, the only thing he could see on the island was a broken fence. There was no way that could give him enough cover, and there wasn't a lot of room to move. He turned his attention back to the monster as its arms spread back out and energy built up above the hole in its gut.
'Okay,' thought Sora, trying to calm himself. 'It's like fighting Wakka... Kinda.'
The monster sent out three dark missiles that curved in the air and homed in on him. Sora kept his eye on the projectiles as they came. When they were just close enough, he swung the Keyblade at all three of them as hard as he could. To his surprise, they all bounced off the Keyblade, hurling right back at the giant.
"Oh yeah!" Sora exclaimed as the repelled shots hit their shooter. All of his past sparring matches with the blitzball fanatic were paying off! But he had little time to celebrate as more shots were fired in his direction. He managed to repeat the process of parrying the shots a couple of times. But he wouldn't be able to do this much longer.
"OOF!" Sora grunted as a dark missile knocked him off his feet. He needed a way off this tiny island of his, fast. Trying to repel the dark missiles back at the monster was taking too long. He soon got his answer when some more debris came whirling from below.
"Well, it worked the first time," Sora nervously shrugged. Just as the monster released another volley of dark missiles, the Keyblade wielder leaped off of his little island, immediately getting caught in the whirlwind. As he was blown through the air, Sora maneuvered himself until he managed to land on a small chunk of land again.
By now, he was above the monster's head, so he wasted no time in jumping. Just as he'd hoped, the winds started calming around him as soon as he was above the larger floating island. But he was losing control as he flailed through the air.
Seeing him coming, the giant threw a punch at the spiky-haired boy. Sora reacted quickly, wildly flipping in the air for an overhead slash that barely managed to meet the monster's fist in time. The attack managed to minimize the hit, and Sora landed on the giant's backhand, sliding down its arm. The giant tried to squash him with its other hand, but Sora leaped from the arm, landing on its shoulder and attacking its head with a three-hit combo.
The giant staggered and fell onto its hands, causing Sora to lose his footing. But the new Keyblade wielder grabbed onto one of the tentacles on the monster's head and held tight. As the beast landed, Sora used his free hand to deliver more slashes to its head. Unable to take the punishment, the giant shadow fell face-first onto the ground. Sora released his grip and landed on his feet, twirling the Keyblade just for the heck of it.
"No way," said Sora as he faced the fallen giant. "I'm actually beating a giant monster! That's awesome!" Clutching his Keyblade, the boy moved in to finish his opponent. Suddenly, its huge hand tried to squash Sora underneath its palm. With a yelp, he barely managed to dodge the attack. But the giant was already picking itself up.
'I just had to open my big mouth, didn't I?' Sora thought sarcastically.
Ruby was very grateful to have Weiss as a partner at this moment. Her glyphs were the only reason that the winds hadn't blown her off the side of Beacon Tower yet. Her plan had been to reach the roof, bust her way into Ozpin's office, and help Pyrrha with whoever she was fighting. That plan seemed like it was going to work, as she rapidly closed in on the windows to Ozpin's huge office. But something went wrong.
The winds grew stronger than ever, and Ruby was having trouble maintaining her balance. There was a loud CRRAAACK as Beacon Tower shook. To Ruby's horror, chunks of the building were breaking off both above and below her. They all flew off towards the giant death ball above. Ruby's eyes widened as the entire top of Beacon Tower broke off, along with a chunk of the wall that lay right in her path.
"Oh no!" Ruby cried out. The glyph that had been laying above the broken wall shattered against the flying debris, destroying her path. Ruby quickly pulled out Crescent Rose, transforming it into its scythe mode. Just as she reached the edge of what was left of her ascending path, Ruby angled her weapon's barrel away from the flying debris and held tight.
Pulling the trigger, Ruby fired off a full-power shot from her weapon and sent herself flying at the windblown debris. She landed on it with her feet and immediately kicked off. Clutching onto her scythe like a witch's broom, Ruby fired off another shot and sent herself flying at the wall.
The top was getting very close, and the silver-eyed girl could hear sounds of an intense battle breaking through the winds. Ruby fired another shot when she felt herself losing momentum. Managing to reach the edge of the broken tower, Ruby pulled her weapon away and used a new trick. Activating her semblance, the red-caped girl shot herself upward in a burst of speed. The winds didn't let her get far, but it was just enough for her to grab onto the edge of Ozpin's wrecked office. She then converted Crescent Rose back into its rifle form, storing it away so that she could use both hands to climb up.
Hoisting herself partway up the ledge, Ruby finally got a look at what was happening and widened her eyes at the sight. Pyrrha was locked in combat with none other than Cinder Fall. But the crazy part was that Cinder was shooting much bigger flames than should've been possible with Dust-infused clothing. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the newcomer yet.
Pyrrha converted her weapon into its xiphos mode and tried to gut Cinder. But the ebon-haired terrorist caught Milo by the blade (no doubt using her aura to protect herself) and used her free hand to uppercut the Mistral champion in the chin, unleashing a small explosion of flames with the impact. Pyrrha's aura shattered as she lost her grip on the xiphos (sword) and was sent flying. As the redheaded warrior rolled on the ground, Cinder tossed Milo aside without a second glance. She then smirked and created a bow and arrow out of glass shards that floated out of her clothes. Ruby's silver eyes widened in recognition. She'd seen that power before—the masked woman from the night of the dance.
Ruby's redheaded friend managed to pick herself back up, but without aura, she couldn't activate her polarity and recall Milo. As Cinder took aim with the bow and arrow, Ruby decided to make her move, activating her semblance to zip onto the floor and charge right in. Just as the arrow left the bow, the red blur zoomed by, catching it out of the air and surprising Cinder. The amber-eyed terrorist barely had enough time to knock aside Akouo after it'd been thrown at her.
"Ruby!?" shouted a shocked Pyrrha as the red reaper came to a stop with Cinder's arrow in hand.
"Ruby Rose," said Cinder. "Once again, you interfere with my work."
"So it was you," Ruby accused, tossing the arrow aside and whipping out Crescent Rose in its scythe form. "At the Dust shop robbery, and then here during the dance."
"How clever of you to have figured it out," Cinder replied in a mocking tone. "After I've revealed myself."
"Be careful, Ruby!" shouted Pyrrha. "She has magic! Real magic!"
"What!?" the red reaper exclaimed in shock. 'First living shadows, then the end of the world, and now magic is real?' She shook her head and glared at Cinder. "Did you have anything to do with this storm or the shadow monsters?"
"No," Cinder admitted. "I don't know what's happening. But…" Suddenly, flames burned in her eyes and in her hands. "Why waste an opportunity to punish the thorny Rose in my side and destroy Ozpin's failed guardian?"
"Pyrrha, your aura's down. Hang back for now." Ruby ordered as she held her scythe in a ready position. The magic-wielding psycho brought her hands together, sending out a huge stream of flames that were headed right for Ruby. The red reaper activated her semblance again and zipped around the ruined office, avoiding Cinder's shots while slowly making her way closer.
Just as Ruby was getting closer, Cinder gathered power around herself and sent forth waves of fire from all around herself. Just as it was about to hit her, Ruby aimed her scythe at the ground and fired off a full-power shot, sending herself flipping over the attack.
As she sailed through the air, Ruby swung her weapon in a downward slash. But Cinder quickly created a pair of swords in her hands that blocked Crescent Rose's blade. Ruby used her opponent's deflection to backflip in the air, landing on her feet and charging back in. A rapid pattern of swinging and deflecting commenced between the two female fighters as each tried to gain an opening.
Cinder then enveloped one of her blades in flames and sent out a wave of fire. Ruby used her speed to dodge the blazing attack, though she still felt the intense heat as it went by. The silver-eyed huntress went in for another strike, this time aiming low. But Cinder avoided the attack by flying back on jets of flame from her feet.
The amber-eyed villainess landed in a backward slide. There was a loud BANG! Cinder managed to block a gunshot with the palm of her hand while glaring at her shooter. Ruby turned around to see Pyrrha with Akouo in one hand and Milo's rifle-form in the other.
"I can't afford to get hit," said the Mistral champion, "but I won't let you face her alone." Ruby smirked as she turned her attention back to Cinder, only for her eyes to widen in shock. The amber-eyed criminal waved her arms back, creating a wide volley of ice-shards in the air.
"Get behind me!" Ruby quickly ordered as she prepared to swing as rapidly as possible. She might've been able to block a few shards, but this would definitely knock down her aura level. Cinder sent the barrage right for the two huntresses when a white glyph suddenly appeared in front of them. The shards embedded themselves in it but left the two friends unharmed.
"What?" Cinder asked in confusion, looking left and right.
"YRAAAAGH!" roared a voice from above. Everyone turned towards the source in time to see a familiar blonde brawler fly out of a red glyph in the sky with a certain heiress on her back. Cinder raised a hand to shoot at the incoming opponents. But it was too late to counter as Yang hit her with a shotgun-enhanced punch that sent her rolling on the ground.
Ruby used the opening to her advantage, zooming forward with her semblance. She swung Crescent Rose in an upward motion, catching the rolling terrorist's torso in its blade and knocking her into the air. Before Cinder could either fall or fly, Weiss shot out a series of glyphs that caught the woman by each of her limbs, holding her in place.
"OPEN FIRE!" Ruby ordered, transforming Crescent Rose into its sniper form and shooting at the villainess. Yang and Pyrrha unloaded their guns on her as well, while Weiss unleashed streams of Dust from Myrtenaster. Cinder's aura flickered as she took shot after shot from the four girls.
"ENOUGH!" screamed the amber-eyed villainess. Huge flames exploded from her body in every direction, shattering the glyphs and knocking everyone off their feet. Ruby had managed to place herself in front of Pyrrha, ensuring that she took the brunt of the hit. But it also sent her crashing into the golden-clad girl.
Ruby could see her red aura flicker as she struggled through the pain to get up. She spotted Cinder glaring daggers at her from the air. The red reaper strained to aim at the woman and pulled the trigger, only for Crescent Rose to click empty. Ruby was pretty sure that she had one more clip in her belt, but there was no way this magic user would give her a chance to use it.
Cinder was just about to blast Pyrrha when the winds suddenly blew like never before. The magic-wielding criminal was knocked off balance. Ruby could feel the wind affecting her as well. Her body began to lift off the ground until another force pulled her back down.
Ruby looked at the ground and saw a black glyph underneath both herself and Pyrrha. She turned towards her two teammates to see that Weiss had placed another black glyph under herself and Yang. Looking up, Ruby could also see Cinder shooting jets of fire from all four limbs in order to resist the hurricane-like winds.
"N-no!" cried out Cinder. "I didn't come all this way… Gain all this power… Just to be wiped out by some storm!"
"This," grunted Pyrrha as she aimed Milo in its rifle form, "is for Penny, Amber, and Ozpin!"
BANG!
The rifle shot true, nailing Cinder right in the head. Her aura barely managed to protect her, but the Dust round still knocked her off balance. The winds caught her after that and sent her hurdling into the giant orb of darkness.
"Nice shot!" Ruby shouted over the winds.
"What do we do now?" Weiss hollered to her team leader/partner. "There's nowhere we can go without getting sucked into that… Thing!" She winced as her white aura flickered. "And I can't keep this up for much longer!"
"If the worst happens," yelled Yang, "then I sure hope that we somehow make it to another world!"
...
Blake winced as her wounds flared from the sudden movement.
"Sorry," apologized Sun as he continued to carry her bridal style across flying debris. He was trying to reach Ren, Nora, and the soldiers that had been with them. But they weren't having much luck. The airbus had disappeared after its wing was damaged, and Blake didn't want to think about what might've happened to it.
"Ngh! There!" Blake shouted, weakly pointing ahead. They could see both members of Team JNPR struggling to hold onto the chunk of land they were on.
"Great job, beautiful," Sun cheered as he made his way towards them, leaping from one bit of land to the next.
As he was about to reach them, a Beowolf unexpectedly popped out in front of the two faunus. Sun took a step back, and Blake wished she could do more to help despite her condition. The Beowolf was howling in protest as a few Shadows held onto its back. Then, to Blake's shock, they started crawling into its body. The Beowolf suddenly broke into violent convulsions, as if it were suffering from a siezure.
"What the?" asked Sun. But they didn't have time to dwell on it as the wind picked up again, throwing everyone violently into the sky.
"No!" Blake screamed as she caught sight of Ren and Nora being blown towards the giant orb. "Ren! Nora!"
"Hold on tight!" Sun shouted as they too were sent hurdling towards the ominous sphere. The monkey-tailed faunus tried to maneuver their trajectory and aim for their flailing friends. But it wasn't doing them any good. Suddenly, he turned Blake around in his hands, hugging her close and twisting in the air. Blake didn't understand why until she felt the impact. A large piece of debris slammed into Sun's back, knocking him for a loop and causing him to lose his grip on the cat-eared girl.
"NOOOO!" screamed Sun as Blake was sent tumbling through the air.
"SUUUUNNN!" Blake screamed as she hurdled out of control. Sun tried to make his way towards her, but the winds kept them just out of reach of each other. Either way, they were both heading for the same place: the dark sphere.
Blake didn't know what was going to happen next. Part of her feared that this really would be the end, but another desperately wanted to believe that she'd somehow survive this catastrophe along with everyone that she loved. So she kept reaching out for Sun, even as they reached the sphere, and everything went black.
...
Ruby looked in every direction for something—anything that they could use to escape these winds. But before she could find one, cracks appeared throughout the glass floor that they were standing on, including underneath her and Pyrrha.
"Weiss! Try to give me and Pyrrha a path to you!" Ruby ordered. Weiss grunted but nodded and extended a hand towards her red-haired friends. A few more black glyphs formed a line. Ruby and Pyrrha quickly stored away their weapons and took each other's hand, slowly making their way across. Each black glyph would disappear after they'd passed it.
"Come on!" yelled Yang, holding a hand towards her little sister while her other hand held onto Weiss's extended wrist.
Ruby wasn't sure she understood. But she still reached for the offered hand as they came close. Suddenly, the floor all around them shattered, along with Weiss's aura. The white-haired fencer collapsed in Yang's grip as all four girls were sent flying towards the looming darkness.
As they tumbled through the air, Ruby managed to grab ahold of Yang's hand, holding tight. Pyrrha also managed to catch Weiss's free hand with her own. The four girls all held on as they were blown towards the darkness in a circular formation.
Ruby looked between her friends. They all had the same fearful expression. She had no idea what would happen next or if any of their friends had managed to get away. But Yang's suggestion was the only idea any of them could go with now. So they held tight while they were sucked into the darkness.
After that, they found themselves flying through a dark void. The winds got even more chaotic, blowing in all sorts of directions while purple lightning surged in the distance. Ruby could make out bits of debris flying around them.
"Heads up!" Ruby tried to scream. But it was too late. A chunk of debris slammed into her and Yang. The silver-eyed girl was flung through the darkness, helpless to save her friends as they were all scattered. "NOOOOOOOOO!"
As she tumbled out of control, Ruby looked everywhere for any sign of her friends. But she couldn't see anyone. Her heart sank as she continued to be flung to who knows where.
"YANG! WEISS! PYRRHA!" Ruby screamed into the darkness, getting no response. "PLEASE! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!? ANYONE AT ALL!?" At first, there was nothing but the howling winds in the endless darkness. But then, she saw a flash...
As he dodged the giant monster's hand again, Sora landed on a broken wooden structure that jutted from the ground when the winds suddenly picked up all around. The boy started feeling lighter and instinctively crouched, grabbing onto the wood for his life.
The monster didn't seem bothered by the situation, even as the winds picked it up and sucked it into the death ball above. Sora dismissed the Keyblade and struggled against the winds as he tried to grab onto the wood with his now-free hand. But he couldn't move it far enough, and he felt his grip loosening. Before he knew it, Sora lost his grip and screamed as he was sent hurdling into the dark orb.
Sora tumbled into a vast, dark void where purple lightning surged all around him. Everything was slowly going black as tendrils of darkness closed in on him. He needed to do something—anything! Since it'd saved him before, he summoned the Keyblade back into his hand and hoped for the best.
"I don't know what's going on," Sora shouted to the mysterious weapon, "but I'm trusting in you. So come on! Help me save at least one friend!"
Then, to his surprise, power built up on the Keyblade's tip. He felt a tug as the large key guided his hand in a specific direction. A bright ray of light shot out, pushing away any darkness in its path. Almost immediately afterward, it created some kind of glowing portal and Sora saw someone come out of it, flailing helplessly. He squinted his eyes and could faintly see red hair, a white top, and a pink skirt.
"Kairi!?" Sora gasped. "Over here!" She seemed to hear him, turning towards the spiky-haired boy as the chaotic winds blew her towards him. As she came close, Sora dismissed the Keyblade and reached out. "Take my hand!"
They circled each other, maybe eight feet apart, and it felt like the wind was about to separate them again. But Kairi braced herself and suddenly burst towards him at surprising speed. Sora caught a glimpse of some specks or something flying off of her as she approached. But he didn't question it and caught her wrist as she did the same. They both held on with all of their might, even as everything slowly went black.
"I'm with you, Sora!" shouted Kairi.