We Are Young, but We Have Heart, Born in this World as it All Falls Apart
In the dark morning hours, the Atlesian scientist found himself walking through the streets of Argus once again.
Aurora Castillo. I've heard she's a secretive one... and a strong opponent. On the other hand, many of those so-called strong men and women have already fallen. There aren't many left. And perhaps there will be none.
The scene switched to Watts raiding a white mansion and finding his target within a living room, sitting on a white loveseat.
Aurora had snowy pale skin and hair flowing to her waist. Her hair was mostly blond, but farther down she had pink, blue, green and purple streaks all lined and interwoven with each other. Her eyes were a bright purple and her lips were painted with purple lipstick in the same shade. She had a multi-colored trumpet like black dress, from the bottom upwards were pink, light blue, blue, green, purple, swirls all drawn upwards in beautiful arcs of light. The dress itself was an aurora painted sky.
She looked at Watts as he got out his gun.
"Oh great." she sarcastically remarked. "Another criminal. I can't rest for five minutes, can I?"
"I'm afraid not."
He proceeded to fire three bullets aimed in different locations; one for the head, one for the heart, and one for the stomach. However, despite her fatigue, the huntress was prepared for battle, forming a sky blue aura shield to counter the bullets. From the folds of her dress, Aurora retrieved two daggers, each one filled with ice dust. She swung each dagger forward in rapid succession, sending wave after wave of ice dust at the traitorous scientist. He dodged them all, and upon seeing this, the huntress growled, put her daggers into her right hand and threw empty wine glasses at him with her left. He dodged each glass with his arm, using aura to knock it away from him.
"You know, you're being quite reckless with how you blatantly discard your glassware."
"So? I can buy more." she reasoned. "Criminals like you, however, have been disturbing the peace for far too long, and it's time you receive your comeuppance!"
"You think I'm responsible for this?" He laughed at her. "You are a fool and you have no idea how wrong you are."
Hearing this only infuriated her even more. She threw glass and followed up with ice dust from her daggers, but it was no use. Soon Watts was able to shoot her in the stomach, and in her pain, shot her in the head, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Another one dead." Watts spoke, leaving the manor.
If this is our competition, then the world stands no chance against our lady of darkness.
As the sun rose over Patch, a montage began, showing events over the course of numerous weeks. Yang was shown using her mechanical arm to counter Tai's arm jabs. The mechanical arm shook before Yang steadied herself.
Taiyang Xiao Long took a swing at her with his left hand, but she easily blocked it with her robotic wrist. She then pushed his hand away from her. The sequence repeated itself with his right and her left, only that time, she used the momentum to turn and come back at her father with a roundhouse kick. He bent backwards to dodge it, his legs in a lunge. He gives his daughter a solid punch, pushing her back a few feet.
She punched the air with her right arm, some visible force shown with the attack. The training continued as the scene switched to...
A woman attempting to punch Watts in the face. More specifically, he was up against a blonde cat tailed faunus. Her hair matched her tail, and was parted into long pigtails. Her green eyes and tanned skin reflected fury. She dressed more like a civilian than an actual huntress, sporting a plain pink t-shirt and shamrock colored short-shorts. She also wore clover green sneakers with white laces, along with white ankle socks. To finish the look, she wore two four leaf clover bracelets and a hot pink headband. In each of her hands was a golden horse-shoe boomerang, both filled with electric dust.
Clover Hopkins, holding onto the boomerangs, threw the left one at Watt's head, only for him to dodge the headshot. Electricity crackled above his head as the first boomerang was embedded into a tree. Pressing a green button on the side, she converted the right horse-shoe into a golden colored gun as she used a green aura shield to block Watt's two bullets.
I will admit, she is clever. Or is it all just luck?
As Watts dodged her moves, he pondered how to proceed.
She fires from afar, and every time I try to punch her in the face, she immediately backs off. Far away, she has the upper hand. Up-close, she falters. I just need to get close to her.
The huntress received the boomerang and fired it at him as Watts zigzagged through the bullets, then grabbed her gun before kicking her down. The boomerang the lucky cat threw had hit Watts, causing him to suffer from electric shocks. Alas, it was not enough to keep him down. Quickly weaving along, he got to her before shooting another bullet at her. Startled, she backed into a tree, where Watts tripped her up and grabbed her boomerang-gun as she fell. She growled at him.
"Nobody touches those but me!"
Watts fired her boomerang gun rapidly and she attempted to get out the first boomerang, the one that hadn't been transformed, but Watts soon punched her, kicked her back into a tree and shot her in the heart.
"Looks like your luck has run out."
The dead huntress fell to the ground. He crossed Clover Hopkins off his list.
That same day, Weiss was briefly shown amongst the trees. Her servant, the Arma Gigas summon, was carrying the former rich girl in their arms.
"Okay, I have thirteen MREs left, and I have a bit more of them than I thought. Still, I may be stuck out here for a while. Where is a source of water when you need one?"
The Arma Gigas said nothing, but instead took Weiss in a new direction.
"Hey! Where are we going?!" She looked around in confusion... "Huh?" Before realizing it had led her to a flowing river. "Yes! A river! Follow the trail! Hopefully we'll find civilization soon!"
The Arma Gigas followed her command.
One morning, Wungeng was shown with his hand behind his back as he approached Aoi in the breakfast lodge. The siren was sitting alone at a circular table in the upper left corner of the room. He sat down across from her.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do I know you?"
"You should. I am Wungeng, Vacuan Fang leader."
The siren slightly frowned. "Oh yes, the pig tailed faunus, who oddly enough has an appetite for gourmet food and carries snacks wherever he goes."
She took a bite of jellied toast as Wungeng gave her his response. "Guilty as charged. You gonna report me to the food police?"
Aoi rolled her eyes as Wungeng took a bite of a sausage patty. "I don't think such a thing actually exists."
"Well, lucky us then. We can enjoy our breakfast together."
Is this guy trying to flirt with me? Or worse, get into my skirt?
The blue scaled faunus took a few bites of her scrambled eggs. Wungeng was shown putting some butter and jam onto a bagel.
He's not leaving...
She sighed. "Wungeng? In all due respect, why are you here?"
Trying to avoid the question, he gave one of his own. "What do you mean by that?"
"Look, I'm not here to make friends. I don't like talking. Or people. Or talking to them. There are very few exceptions to those rules."
"Aoi. I don't know much about you, but I do know that we are two of a kind."
The fish girl raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?"
"We both have a sibling that doesn't understand us."
She blinked in surprise, her voice becoming more sympathetic. "You have a brother or sister that isn't in the White Fang?"
"A brother. Technically, half brother. You probably heard about him. His name is Sun Wukong. Monkey-tailed faunus, friend to Blake Belladonna. May or may not have feelings for said friend?"
Aoi mused to herself, taking a sip of water. "He was mentioned in that meeting a while back, but I wasn't paying full attention to it. So what did he do to you?"
"Well, he accused me of being a traitor, when Sun himself is no better." Wungeng explained. "His teammates, the other three members of team SSSN, are not here. He is a deserter, but I am not."
She groaned. "Deserters are the worst. That's why me and Urdina don't get along. She doesn't care about loyalty to the Fang's cause. Mother was in the White Fang, I'm in the Fang, and thus, by extension, she should be with us. Not fighting against us."
"I can understand that." he lied. "Loyalty to the White Fang is important. And if you can't trust family, who's supposed to be loyal, then who can you trust?"
Aoi mused to herself. "Hmm... Maybe you're not so bad..." At that moment, he handed her a coral rose. "For me? Um... thank you?"
"You're welcome. I thought it might cheer you up."
"You know, you're... unpredictable, in an odd way. Maybe you're not so bad after all."
Wungeng smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. Who knows? Perhaps this will be the start of a beautiful relationship."
Aoi gave him a coy look as Wungeng smirked.
The next scene showed Sun on a wooden stage about five feet from the stone ground in a warehouse. He spun his staff above his head in front of a small group of both humans and faunus. The trainees tried spinning their staffs overhead, but one of them didn't hold their staff high enough and accidentally knocked down someone to their left. And the same thing happened all across the room until almost everyone had been knocked down, and five shamed trainees were left standing. Sun silently sighed.
Another group was shown in a similar room, this time with energy-shot guns in their hands. Blake demonstrated firing with Gambol Shroud at a target on the stage. The trainees tried to hit the positioned targets, with mixed results. Blake breathed in, trying to soothe herself.
Ghira was shown teaching martial arts. He demonstrated a few punches by punching the air. Another group of trainees were punching some punching bags. He smiled as they got the hang of it, but soon cringed as a trainee accidentally knocked someone's tooth out.
The montage ended with Kali, working with aura. A small number of students were in meditation, sitting on yoga mats as Kali lit candles throughout the room to try and help their subjects unlock their aura. The lightly scented candles filled the room with a lavender scent. She returned back to her mat, elevated on a small podium, and breathed in and out. The elder catwoman soon found that some of her trainees had fallen asleep. She sadly sighed before the scene switched to meeting with her husband, daughter and friend to report back the results of the day.
Ghira turned to his wife. "How's the process of helping others unlock their aura going?"
Kali sighed. "Not well. We have only three others with their auras unlocked, and all of the future fighters reported gaining their aura before joining us."
"Unfortunately, none of us are skilled enough in aura to unlock the aura of others."
"If only we had an aura unlocker..." Sun told them.
Blake's father raised an eyebrow. "Those jobs exist?"
"They do. They're not very common worldwide, but they are a thing. Mostly, they're in some Vacuan tribes and settlements. Either for money and/or the community, these people unlock the aura of others so that they may use it for themselves. More often than not, aura unlockers usually recite a mantra and/or give a motivational speech to the recipient. There is some controversy surrounding them however. On one hand, they can be a great service to civilians by allowing them to unlock their aura so that they can protect themselves from Grimm or other threats. On the other hand, many don't want anything to do with aura and/or fighting, and can cause severe stress in certain people. In these cases, it can do more harm than good." Sun explained. "Either way, unless we find someone skilled enough to unlock the auras of our collective fighters so far, we may as well forget it."
Blake mused to herself briefly. "The only people I can think of who would be able to unlock aura are Pyrrha Nikos, who says she's done it before but didn't name anyone, and Claire Blanche, who is regarded to be an aura master. A higher level of mastery than most huntsmen and huntresses have. But both of them are far away from here."
"At least we got Mata into the White Fang as our double agent." Sun reminded them.
"True, true. He has been doing well to keep us informed." Blake noted.
"I wonder how he's doing right now." Kali stated. "I can't imagine this being easy for him."
Mata sneezed as he was in his room. He sneezed even louder.
"Oh gosh." He sniffed. "I really hope that I'm not sick..."
A knock on the door was heard. "Just a moment!" He grabbed a tissue, blew his nose into it, groaned and discarded it before opening the door. "Ah Daphne, what brings you here?"
"Lady Athena is ready for you." Daphne answered. "I was told to lead you to her for the aura unlocking."
"Oh right. That..."
"Are you ready?"
The shy sheep faunus nervously smiled. "As ready as I'll ever be."
He exited his room, closed the door, and walked by the side of the former Loyalist. The two were silent for a few moments before the double agent asked. "So... this aura unlocking thing... is it... painful?"
Daphne smiled. "Not really. If anything, you'll feel refreshed and invigorated."
"That's a relief." After another pause, he added, "I do have one more question. Is it possible for an aura to be re-locked after having it unlocked?"
"As far as science knows, no. Now, I've been told that there are semblances that can cancel out the effects of aura and/or semblances temporarily, but such abilities are rather rare."
"I see. From what I can tell, Miss Belladonna nor her allies possess such powers."
They exited the hallways and began their descent down the stairs. "With help from her friends and fellow leaders, Athena has gathered information on all our known enemies and established profiles for each of them. They have been given to the specialists. The 'Cursed Cat', aka Blake Belladonna, can create shadow copies of herself. The 'Little Prince', better known as Sun Wukong, creates copies of himself out of light. The 'Elder Cats', Kali and Ghira Belladonna, never unlocked their semblances that we know of."
Mata raised an eyebrow. "'Little Prince?' Where does that nickname come from?"
"Adam once called Sun Wukong by that name during his duel with him on the night of Sienna's fall. Why, no one is truly sure. Some of us, such as Cola, believe that the monkey faunus has an unrequited crush on Blake. A small few, such as Marrok, believe they have mutual romantic feelings and/or may be dating. Others, like myself, dismiss the possibility, believing that because of Blake's cowardly tendencies that she wouldn't commit to a romantic relationship."
"I see."
Little does she know she's right. Mata silently thought. Those two are madly in love!
The two reached the bottom of the staircase and walked around the first floor.
"Well... let's suppose that it were true," he hypothesized. "How do you think High Leader Taurus would react to such news?"
"Probably not well." Daphne theorized. "No one knows the full extent of why he hates her so much, but some suspect they once had an intimate relationship. And if the story of how Blake left the White Fang is anything to go by, it ended badly."
Also correct... And it's... not good.
The two arrived at the dojo. Wooden floors, red-painted wood against the brown colored walls, and cushy blue training mats spread all over the place. Athena, who was flying slightly above the ground, landed before the relatively new recruit. She was wearing the chain belt she had taken from Sienna, but it was now painted gold to prevent others from connecting the dots.
"There you are." she greeted. "I was beginning to wonder when you would show up."
"My apologies." he said sheepishly. "I guess I was just trying to gather my wits..."
"You needn't fear anything, Mata. This will lift you up."
Athena touched the center of his forehead with her thumb and folded her right hand onto his head. Her left hand was placed on his right arm. Her body glowed with a dark grey aura and soon Mata glowed with a lime green aura around him.
"Aura. The manifestation of the soul. All living beings, save for the soulless Grimm, possess this vital force. It is a tool, used for defense, to breach the defense of others, and with effort, can be used for other purposes. It is a fighter's greatest asset. Channel your aura into your weapons and remember that while aura prevents injury, it does not prevent pain. The body may be weak and subject to injury and eventual death, but the soul is immortal. However, it is with the soul that we truly learn to live. We will not only live, but we will fight. You are a part of this fight, and with this, I set your spirit free."
She released her hold on him and smiled as his aura glow flickered before stabilizing. Daphne smiled as Athena stepped back.
"Seems you have a decent amount of aura."
The shy sheep bowed his head to her. "Thank you, Lady Bruna."
"You're welcome. I will get one of my specialists to train you in the future."
"I know Aoi is busy with training Daphne, but what about the others?" Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I forgot their names."
"You're still new here, so it is understandable." Athena told him. "Their full names are Marrok Alban, Cola Arvin, Gilford Carran, Aoi Morris and Tawny Lemongrass. Their respective faunus traits are sheep ears, a lizard tail, bat fangs, blue fish scales, and cat ears. To answer your question on their current whereabouts, Gilford is still doing important work abroad, and Tawny has been assigned to a mission as well. Cola and Marrok will likely be assigned to work abroad in the future, and I don't want such events to disrupt your training if/when that does happen. Hmmm... I think I have another idea."
Sometime later, Wungeng stood before Athena and the new recruit, and Daphne had already left the room.
The Vacuan leader was unamused. "You want me to train him?"
"Yes. He has recently started combat training, just unlocked his aura, and needs a teacher to guide him."
The pig faunus folded his arms. "Why can't you get one of your specialist subordinates to do it? Or Adam? Or even Ares?"
"They are all busy or will be busy in the future. Also, Adam and Ares have much bigger concerns, and you're hardly doing anything to help get our plans off the ground."
He followed up by taking off his mask, before refolding his arms and giving her a glare with his pink eyes. "And what makes you think that I'll do it? This does not benefit me, nor does it get me closer to any of my goals."
The owl faunus glared at her cohort. "Remember, you're here on borrowed time. You left behind your branch of the Fang to seek my aid in taking down The Crown, and you're not receiving said help until all of my goals are obtained first. Also, this is technically my territory since I hold authority over Mistral's branch. Do you know what this means? I outrank you. So I have the right to tell you to shut up."
Wungeng lifted a finger and opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't.
He sighed in defeat. "Alright. When and where do we begin?"
Mata scratched his head. "Can we start here... and now?"
"Sure, I guess."
Oi vey... Wungeng thought.
All the while, Lionheart, with his brown cloak, went back to the Spider's Web, the main base of operations for the Spider Crime Syndicate. Lil Miss Malachite was at her table, just like before.
"Eric, I presume?"
Leonardo spoke with his disguised voice. "Yes. I have come for the information on Rosa Vernal I asked you to find three weeks ago."
"Well, the results have been... partially successful. We did not find Rosa Vernal herself, based on the photo you have given us. But! We have found someone who may be closely related to her. A woman named Marigold Vernal." She set out a portfolio labeled, To Eric. "The files included in this portfolio show her and your photo of Rosa Vernal that you once gave to us. We also have written a few reports as well. "
'Eric', still using his disguise voice said as he bowed. "Thank you. I believe I can work with this. Thank you so very much."
"You're welcome. Do come again."
He left the Spider's Web, and Miss Malachite turned to one of her henchwomen.
"Follow him." Miss Malachite ordered. "And don't let him know you're onto him."
The henchwoman nodded and set off to follow "Eric".
"We're going to find out who he is and what he's hiding. One way or another."
It was April 3rd. Six weeks Ruby and company had been aboard the ship. Two weeks since she had seen her friends naked by complete accident.
Dang it. I wish I could unsee that.
Trying to shove the cursed image to the back of her head, she focused on the sea ahead as Captain Odell stood at the wheel.
"You alright, Miss Rose?" the captain asked. "You haven't said anything in a while."
"I'm... I'm alright. Thank you."
Other than the fact that I've been straight-up lying to you for weeks on end, losing sleep, violating terms of trust, probably breaking the law even!
Oh come on, part of her thought to herself. You're first mate, and no one can take that away from you! You got this!
Ruby felt another side ask, You sure about that?
Of course! He doesn't know that you lied and he never will! You did the right thing to help your friends!
But... I still lied!
It doesn't matter!
As Ruby continued to argue with herself and bit her tongue, Chrysaor noticed something within the ocean. "Um, Captain? I think I saw something in the water."
"Something? What do you mean by that, dear lad?" Odell answered back. "You need to be more specific."
"I'm not sure. It looked big, pointy, and black."
"Big, pointy and black? But we're nowhere near any rocks." he reasoned. "Are you sure that...?"
At that moment, a rumbling was felt throughout the entire ship.
"Did anyone else feel that?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"I think we all did!" Chrysaor shouted back.
"What's happening?!" Captain Odell frantically and fearfully asked.
The ship began shaking, leaning to one side before re-balancing itself. "Oh no..." Ruby spoke.
Out of the water had risen the largest Grimm that Ruby had seen since the Fall of Beacon. It appeared to be as big as the dragon, if not larger. It appeared to be a gigantic sea snake. A form of a water dragon.
"What in the world?!" Chrysaor exclaimed.
"Oh Gods..." the captain said fearfully.
The young trainee blinked her eyes in fear. "No..."
This can't, this should not be possible! Ruby internally screamed.
She knew immediately what the creature was. A form of Grimm that was thought to be extinct; The Sea Feilong.