Well, here we are guys. The first chapter of Volume 1, it only took a little more than half a year. But hey, at least we finally made it. Beacon is literally right around the corner, and we're starting things off rather fondly. Kai's little sister was born, Marron's training to fight like a Huntress, Raven is being moody, and a lot of Kai's friends have been changed after what happened.
Things have progressed to say the least, it felt like the end of a book really, but this is Fanfiction, so this story is not going to be ending anytime soon.
Oblivious Ninja IJ: Cinder is going to be a tad different in this story, you'll see what I mean in a few dozen chapters… maybe. Thanks for the comment on the UH cover art, I worked hard on it. I hope you enjoy more from me!
LordTroy: I am glad you feel that way! I'll try to keep it up for you!
Masso 2010: I know you've been dying to see Volume 0 come to an end and everyone get to Beacon, how does it feel that it is finally here? Kai's personality has changed, after what happened it just had too. There is no way I can just write him the same way after what happened to him in Mistral, you'll start seeing the changes soon I hope.
Boltcronic: Trust me, it took a lot of thinking to get all of that thought up and written down. I had to plan so many things in a short amount of time. I'm just glad it worked out.
SuperKaiokenGoku: Here it is! I hope you enjoy!
Reddevil47: Let's see how this adventure goes.
Csshadow349: Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you all for the reviews!
Beta: CrowSkull
Thank you all for 300 follows! It's incredible how fast this story grew.
Let's get right back into it!
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 34- Volume 1, Episode 1
A Bittersweet Kickoff
The air rushed past his face, he could feel his hair whipping in the wind. Hear the excited cheers of his partner right beside him at a lower elevation. As well as the adrenaline rushed laughter he could hear coming from Yang. They were on her motorcycle, Bumblebee. She tried explaining to him why she named it that, and once again Kai had to remind her that he couldn't see. But there was one thing that Yang knew all too well.
Kai did not like riding on her motorcycle.
He clutched onto her for dear life as she drove at over one hundred miles an hour on their way to Vale. His hands were on each of her hips and she could feel his face pressed into her upper back, she was even able to feel the vibrations of his throat when he whimpered as she increased her speed even further.
"C'mon Kai! You can't say this isn't fun, right Orchid?" Yang yelled over the sounds of the whipping wind currents.
"Yeah! This is so much fun! Woohoo!" Orchid cheered as she stood up in the sidecar attached to the motorcycle. Kai would be worried for her partner, but for some reason. She has really strong legs and was able to keep her balance very well on even the most slippery of surfaces.
"This is totally not fun for me!" Kai exclaimed frantically. "Slow down, please! I'm sure Brick isn't going to do anything wrong to Ruby!"
"You don't know that." For a brief moment, Yang's eyes turned red. "I like Brick, I do. But if he thinks he is going win my sisters heart today, he has another thing coming." Her tone was deathly serious, and her speech actually sounded genuine, like that was actually what she was intending to do. "Right Orchid!?"
"Woohoo!"
"Thatta girl!"
"Why don't I have a helmet!?" Kai shouted as he held on even tighter when Yang did a wheelie.
About twenty minutes of holding on later, Yang finally came skidding to a stop in a perfect parallel park between two cars. Kai jumped off as soon as he sensed the vehicle come to a stop, he shuddered and patted himself down, making sure he was still in one piece and even checking if Silver Ebony was still sheathed at his side.
"You were so brave Kaizy! I'm proud of you!" Giddy Orchid giggled as she clapped both of her hands on top both of his shoulders, squeezing them firmly as she pressed her chest against his back in a hug.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Orchid." Kai laughed as they broke apart. Somehow during the entire trip, he managed to keep his blindfold on.
The stench of alcohol was already smelled by his sharp nose once he took his first deep breath in. Once he confirmed that he was smelling was really what he was smelling, he turned his senses to hearing. Blocking out most of everything else going on in the world around him, and reducing them to mere whispers in his mind.
Loud music was the first thing he heard, and combined with that there was the constant vibrations of peoples feet stomping against the ground. Kai assumed that was dancing, and to top it all off.
This was Yang's idea.
Yang's ideas are rarely well thought out.
"Why'd you take us to a club?" Kai asked finally.
"How did you know we were at a club?" The blonde brawler asked, arching an eyebrow at him. "You sneaking a silver eyed look at me?" She teased.
"Sh!" Kai hissed, waving his hands in the air and gesturing for her to be quiet. "I wasn't supposed to tell you and Ruby that, don't go blurting around that kind of information when we don't know who could be listening in."
"Sheesh, don't get your blindfold all tied up in a bunch, I was just kidding." Yang said as she brushed some of her gold locks behind her one of her ears. "You've been getting more paranoid lately, whats up?"
"You know what's up Yang," Kai said in a warning tone. Anytime someone pointed that out, Kai always got on the defensive, it became an automatic defense whenever someone kept pointing it out to him. Was he still paranoid? Yes. Did he have a good reason to be? Abso-freakin-lutely. It wasn't like he had a constant target on his back now after his father died two years ago. He especially gets defensive when someone close to him says it, someone like Yang. Whom he trusted with the secret of his eyes and the significance of them, among other people such as Ruby and Orchid.
"And to answer your question, I could tell because of the music. It's the kind that you like." He said as he simmered down, taking a long good deep breath as to refrain from saying anything he doesn't mean.
"Heh," Yang stroked the side of her face, her mood cheering up after actually getting nervous of Kai's sudden bad mood. "So you do pay attention to what I like, that's so sweet of you." She teased, getting back into the swing of things.
Kai huffed and amused noise and rolled his eyes underneath his blindfold. "Kinda hard not to when I lived with you for over two years."
"What about me Kaizy!? We're partners." Orchid exclaimed with a pout, stomping her foot in adorable anger on the ground beneath her.
"Orchid, you someone managed to get your hands on an actual Flamingo and took it in as a pet." Kai pointed out. "I was there when it happened, you begged me to let you keep it."
"And you said yes." Orchid brushed a bang of his hair out from in front of his eyes. "Such a good partner." She said in a different personality, the more flirty one of the bunch. Kai could imagine that if he could see her, she would be winking at him.
"I do what I can." Kai said with a shrug.
"Okay you two, who's ready to party!?" Yang asked, hyping herself up by throwing a few fists through the air.
"Yeah!" Cheerful Orchid exclaimed.
"Nah, parties aren't really my thing." Kai politely declined.
"No!" Orchid said soon after.
"Awe, c'mon guys I don't wanna go in there by myself!"
"I thought you wanted to spy on Brick and Ruby's little outing together." Kai accused, enjoying the moment where he sensed Yang's heart skip a beat nervously.
"I… uh." Yang stammered, trying to find the right words to say.
"What're you really here fo-"
"Yeah! What are you really here for Yang?" Orchid cut him off to say the same thing, before leaning in close to Yang and getting up into her face. "If that is even your real name."
Yang blinked once. "Huh?"
"Orchid…" Kai placed a hand on his partners shoulder, and pulled her back. "I thought we agreed on letting me do the talking when it comes to interrogating people."
"Oops, sorry Kaizy." Orchid cheerily replied as she twirled away, stopping in a bowing posture. "続けて、パートナー." (Go on partner.)
"Heheh." Yang barely stifled her laughter. "I love it when she talks like that."
"So what are you really doing here?" Kai asked a second time, making sure to make it known that he wasn't about to have any of it when it came to suspicious things the blonde is getting up to.
"Oh, you know." Yang rocked back and forth on her heels. "Just wanna head out for a drink… or two."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"...Three drinks?"
"How do you always forget that I can detect lies?" Kai asked in an frank tone.
"Err… I just forget sometimes?" Yang defended weakly, not even trying to hide her lying anymore.
Kai sighed, and the look on his face softened as he thought of a very good reason for why Yang would be going to this shady club at such a late hour.
"I don't think asking around for your mother around here is going to dig up any kind of good result Yang." Kai said carefully. Even he still didn't know what was going on with that woman, ever since the last Vytal tournament, she has been distant. Only coming around every once in a while and only to train, and never to speak. He knew that she rather spoke with her actions, and not with her words. But still, it worried him, he didn't know what was going through that woman's head anymore. The only connection he had with her nowadays was through Vernal, and she was very tight lipped when it came to something to do with Raven.
"You don't get it Kai," Yang hissed, getting defensive. "The first time I ever meet my mother, my biological mother, all she says to me is 'I'm sorry', and then dips out on me again. She's sorry, and yet it has been two whole years since she has even looked at me or Dad." She shook her head, ridding the red tint from her lilac eyes. "I have to find her again, I want to talk to her. Get some well needed closure. After that, I couldn't give any amounts of shit to what she does with her life."
"Hmmm," Kai hummed in understanding. Once he woke up from his comatose state, he had to come out and tell the Xiao Long family what he has been secretly doing with Raven after what happened. There was no getting around it when Raven herself went to them for help to save himself and Malikai. Taiyang suspected something was up since Qrow was being quiet around him, like he felt bad about something that he didn't know about, so his forgiveness came easily. But Yang… didn't take the news so well.
She originally and irrationally thought that Raven loved Kai more than she did her own flesh and blood, and that she was somehow not good enough to even be acknowledged by her own mother. Kai learned that Yang was not one who would not easily forgive those who hide the truth from her. Even though he never actually lied to her about Raven, he omitted from telling the truth, which to her was a form of lying.
It took a few weeks, but after a long training session where Kai refused to use his sword or his semblance, where he and Yang beat each other until each were wearing black and blue bruises all over each others bodies. Only then did Yang start coming around again. A year after that, and they were closer than ever.
"Look Yang, I'm not going to try and stop you, if you want to find Raven, then more power to you." Kai began, unconsciously moving his tail to wrap around his waist. "The only thing I am worried about is you actually finding her. I know how you would react, but I don't know how Raven would. She is not someone to take lightly Yang, you need to be careful with her."
"You would know that, huh?" Yang asked softly, looking away from his face even though they weren't meeting eyes with each other anyway.
Kai shrugged his shoulders, not having anything else to say on the matter. Besides anyone from inside the Branwen tribe, Kai may as well be one of the only people in the world who knows anything about Raven outside of her tribe, and if he didn't know what to do about her, then not a lot of other people would either. Even Qrow would have trouble, and he was her twin brother.
"Thanks for worrying Kai, but I'm a big girl." Yang said with a smirk, getting some of her spunk back. "I can take care of myself, and if mommy dearest wants to be a little bitch, then I'll just punch her in the face. Just like how I solve most of my problems."
"Something tells me that if Raven became a problem, it would take more than punching her in the face to solve it." Kai pointed out, smirking.
"Oh, I know Kai, trust me." Yang said with a wink. "Now are we going to head in there or what? I won't make you if you don't want too, I know how you don't like loud noises."
"I wonder why, it's not like I have sensitive hearing or anything." Kai sarcastically remarked.
"Tch, smartass." She playfully punched him in the shoulder. "What about you Orchid? Wanna come with?"
"Hm… lemme think about it." Orchid said as she wrapped an arm around her partners shoulder, and pulled him down to her level. Over the years, Kai has gotten taller than her, something that Orchid apparently did not find funny. None of her personalities did. Even the original one.
"Kaizy, what do you think? Shall we go party?" True Orchid whispered to him, Kai knew because he could feel the rim of her glasses brushing up against his cheek. He also knew that by 'we', she meant herself and her many colorful personalities. As one could imagine, Orchid was very fun when it came to partying, but at the same time. Some of her personalities was not exactly… fun to party with. An example of that is when berserker Orchid came out and nearly killed the DJ. That was a lawsuit that was barely avoided because of the interference of her mother… also a story that is fun to tell sometimes.
"As long as you don't try to kill the DJ again, sure. Go ahead." Kai said, giving the permission he didn't know that he had to give.
"Nah, I don't wanna anymore." Orchid said as she took off her glasses, doing the exact opposite of what Kai said she could do. "You going to be okay Yang? I wanna take Kai to the pet store."
"...Why?"
"Sure, I have no problem with going in there on my own. I was going to anyway, just making the offer." Yang said with a shrug.
After a quick hug of goodbye, Kai told Yang to call him if she needed help with anything. After that, Yang waved 'see you later' as Orchid hooked her arm through one of Kai's arms and lead him away. Waving a hand back at Yang as she did so.
Once the two of them got a good distance away from Yang, she sighed and ran a hand through her hand and turned to face the club. The whole time, there were two bouncers at the entrance who were staring at them the whole time. She already knew what she needed to do if she really wanted to get in there.
"Alright guys, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Yang asked as she cracked her knuckles.
The bouncers looked to each other, and locked the door behind them.
Yang smirked at them.
"Hard way it is then…"
Orchid 'The Flamingo Goddess' Rosa cooed as she fell to her knees to paw at the glass wall that separated her from a pink haired cat. Why the cat's hair was pink was apparently because of some genetic mutation that occurs when the animal was born, which only made Orchid love the cat even more. She kept telling Kai to look at its adorable cuteness, but of course…
"I'm still blind, Orchid." He said as he sat down patiently beside her. He had the patience of an angel, or so as the original nerdy Orchid referred to it as. He never was annoyed by her many personalities traits and quirks. He made friends with nearly all of them, the only one he hasn't been able to get on the good side of was the uncaring Orchid, but she only came out very rarely, and apparently she was despised by the other personalities as well.
"So? Just sense it through the wall." Flamingo Goddess Orchid demanded as she tapped the glass with her finger.
Kai sighed, not pointing that he was already sensing the feline through the glass wall. His seismic sensing was constant at all times after all. His partner was always like this, even though right now technically she isn't really his partner anymore. After they graduated from Signal they weren't officially partners anymore, but that didn't mean that they were going to stop referring to each other as such. They were partners for three years, just because they're not official doesn't mean anything to them.
Orchid underwent many changes after the attack, she was extremely worried for his health after his battle with that woman, which he learned the name of. Cinder Fall. She was a woman he had a feeling he was going to run into again in the future. Orchid was terrified that Kai wasn't going to wake up, he was her first real friend, and the one who gave her and her many personalities the confidence to make many more that will last a lifetime. It goes without saying that when Kai woke up, she was very excited. After that, they got even closer with each other.
She also got a new look for herself for her final year in Signal, and it was the same one that she had on now. To go with her favorite colors, she has moved on from a combat skirt. Much to the dismay of Ruby, and went on to a much shorter kind of skirt which hung off the back of her shirt. Similar to Yangs. She still has the same black leggings, and instead of long combat boots, she has simply sneakers on. The looks may look deceiving, but those sneakers had a surprising amount of traction to them. She still had a dress like top, but now she had short sleeves which ended in the middle of her biceps, magenta colored of course, along with her other favorite color that worked very well with the magenta, black. She had a similar outfit to her younger days, but this one allowed her more free movement, with the style and the beauty of a Flamingo all in one package. It was even enough to turn Kai's head, and he was blind. And it totally wasn't because Orchid made him… To top it all off, she had a design of a Flamingo running up the side of her pant leg. It was truly beautiful.
Kai sat in silence and patience as he waited for his favorite partner to finish gawking at the pink haired cat as it was described to him. But as he was thinking on what he was going to do in Beacon, and afterwards. He heard something.
It sounded like crackling, and loud snapping noises. He was evidently far away because even his sharp sense of hearing could not make it clear to him.
"Orchid, I'll be right back." Kai said as he stood up straight, locking on to the sounds in his left ear.
"'Kay!"
Kai sensed the exit to the establishment, and walked to it. Opening it and shutting it behind him. While he was on the sidewalk, he entered Focus Mode, and relied on his hearing.
At first, he was only able to hear the voices around him. Some were muttering about him, asking why there is a kid standing in the middle of the sidewalk with a black blindfold on around his eyes. But he blocked those out. He was only thankful that no one recognized him as the blind Huntsman himself.
Focusing even harder on the sounds he heard earlier, he could hear the sounds of what felt like… fighting? He couldn't really tell, there was glass breaking, shouting, and the crackling of what sounded like…
Lightning…
"Brick, what the Hell is going on over there?" Kai asked as he started heading in the direction of the noise.
He stopped when he remembered that his partner was still in the pet store not too far away from him. Kai wondered on if he had the time to go get her, but then he'd have to explain why he wants to go, and what he heard, and he might not have the time for that. If Brick or Rick was using their semblance, it meant that they were in a serious fight. Even with Ruby around, that was a cause for concern.
He didn't want to lose any more friends, Orchid would be safe where she was now. She would understand why he went by myself once he told her about it.
"What have you two gotten yourselves into now?" Kai said as he started making his way toward the sounds of fighting.
A few minutes earlier…
Ruby was understandably nervous for being out with Brick just with the two of them. He was one of her best friends, and like her in many ways. She was just starting her second year at Signal while Brick already graduated, and he was just a year older than her!
The two black and red-heads got along with each other very well, after the attack two years ago they started speaking more. Brick got more confident, while Ruby grew more socially awkward. A contrast all of their friends loved to point out. Not only that, but she barely grew ever since that time! Everyone got so much taller and bigger, and here she was only slightly bigger in the wrong departments. And she drank milk! It just wasn't fair…
At least Brick Violet never made fun of her height, and it was totally because he wasn't only barely an inch taller then her. It was definitely not that at all.
"What is this place called again?" The guy she is totally out on a friendly date asked her.
"The place is called 'From Dust Til Dawn.' It's my favorite dust store, trust me. You'll love it." Ruby said as the two of them walked down the sidewalk in their full combat gear. Because why would they not? It wasn't like they have any other sets of clothing.
"Cool, I hope they have what I need for Crimson Lighting." Brick said as he patted his short sword sheathed at his side. He gave it that affectionate nickname around a year ago, while his is Crimson Lighting, his brother Rick's short sword was named Midnight Lightning to go along with it. Together, they form Violet Lightning, because that was the way things rolled with the two brothers.
"Oooh, they'll have plenty more then that, and more. I can promise you that." Ruby said as she rubbed her hands together menacingly like.
Brick chuckled at her antics, if a little nervously. He was the one who offered to go with her, saying that it was a date as a joke. His scroll has still not stopped vibrating with the messages coming from his brother doing his best to give him tips and messages from Yang telling him that if he did anything wrong, he would see Ember Celica in a much more personal light. His crush on the girl a year younger than him was well known apparently, much to his dismay. But said girl that he has a crush on does not know yet, so that was good. This is a chance for him to get closer to her, and he was happy to take it after he was done hyperventilating in the bathroom with his brother trying to calm him down. That was something he made him do a Violet promise to not tell anyone about that time.
Besides, he needed an upgrade for his sword anyway. He and his brother thought it would be a good idea to upgrade their swords in a way which made it easier for them to conduct the electricity their bodies produced with their shared semblance, and maybe even increase the output of their attacks with an amplifier of some kind. Much like Ruby was, the Violet twins were weapon geeks and knew how to modify almost anything as long as they had the right parts for it. All he needed right now was a battery capable of holding thousands of watts of electricity. The minimum needed to be around two thousand watts of potential. The amount needed to kill a person was around that number, but they had the control needed to not accidentally kill a person when they fight, as long as they stay under five hundred watts, they won't stop a person's heart. But when it came to the Grimm, especially the big ones, they need watts up in the thousands in order to kill them with just their semblance.
The highest either of them went was when they fought Emerald and Mercury back in Mistral two years ago. Together they were able to conduct a rough estimate total of twelve hundred watts of electricity. But they weren't able to kill either of them because of their auras, and the fact that they were low on aura themselves also chided into the result of that fight.
In the end, Emerald and Mercury outlasted them in stamina, but they couldn't finish them off. So, they ran. The twins took the loss poorly, promising to never lose to those two again. They trained to the best of their ability, and have mastered a dulled down version of 'Overclock'. Now even when they are on their own, they can nearly triple the energy output of their semblance, able to reach the twelve hundred volt mark on their own each.
Ruby trained with them as well from time to time, increasing her skill even more. She was considered a prodigy at Signal, and even Albedo regarded her as such. It was said that if she kept it up, she could graduate early from Signal later on this year. Which certainly made Brick happy.
Now however, was not the time to be thinking of such things. He went out with Ruby tonight to get some parts for Crimson Lightning, Midnight Lightning, and Crescent Rose. Ruby's very large mecha shift capable scythe. Then they were going to pull an all nighter modifying their weapons.
The bell above the door to the shop rung as the two red wearers stepped into the shop, giving the owner a friendly wave as Brick followed Ruby to the back of the store. Right away, Brick could tell what Ruby wanted to show him.
It was beautiful…
It was a battery the size of a hand, and the small thing was capable of conducting and holding a voltage of three thousand… more than enough for Crimson Lightning. There was only one problem…
There was only one of them.
"Oh no, I don't want to not match with my brother. It's like our thing to match with each other." Brick said as he stared at the mechanical device. "I mean, I might be able to reverse engineer this and make another one for him, but that'd take weeks! Even with Ruby's help. Agh, what am I going to do?"
Ruby giggled to herself as she overheard her friend panic, and mutter to himself about what he was going to do. He was always funny like that. As he focused on thinking on that problem of his, she idly put on some headphones and listened to her favorite song. Red Like Roses, it truly was a classic.
She quickly found the part that she wanted. It was a barrel stabilizer for the high impact sniper rifle part of her Crescent Rose, with that, she would be able to control the recoil of her weapon much more easily. With her small frame, it was hard not to get flung back with the scythe when she tried to use it in it's ranged form.
She started humming to herself as she bagged the item in a little rose colored baggy she brought with her. It was a bag that was supposed to be used to carry lunch around during the school day, but it wasn't like any normal person was going to tell an aspiring Huntress what she can and can't do.
As she read a weapons magazine, she started zoning out. Ruby thought about the information her other best friend Kai told her, the story about the silver eyed warriors.
He let her and Yang listen to the same message that his father left him, and even though he ended the message as soon as he was finished talking about the silver eyes. It was still a lot to take in. She was a silver eyed warrior, and one day she would have to use the power of her eyes, and apparently the only way to train with them was to go hunt down Grimm while at the same time going through some insane physical training regime. She wasn't ready for it yet, even though she desperately wanted to be.
It would be awesome to laser beam Grimm with her eyeballs!
She still had time to learn, she knew that. She was just fifteen years old after all. Even though Kai was able to use them at her age, it still nearly killed him, and according to him the first time he used them felt like his eyeballs was melting out of his face. She wasn't quite ready to feel pain like that anytime soon. Once she graduated Signal however, Kai finally agreed to try and teach her how to use them. He did try to explain it to her, but he wasn't really good at explaining things. Just like his father.
Focusing back on the music and the weapons magazine before her. Ruby continued to hum along with the song as she awaited Brick to finish thinking about what he was going to do about his little battery problem.
Well, that was until he walked in.
A man with bright orange hair and emerald green eyes sauntered into the Dust store with a cocky smirk on his face, and a cigar in his mouth. The bowler hat on top of his head covered his eyes for a moment, but with a quick flick of his cane the hat was pushed further on top of his head, revealing the rest of his face. With him, there was about half a dozen goon looking dudes wearing black and red suits with sunglasses on each of their faces.
"Hello good sir! I trust that you know what we're here for, right?" Roman Torchwick asked the owner as he leaned over the countertop, blowing smoke in his face for added insult.
"Please… we don't have that much money here." The old man whimpered.
"Sh sh sh, calm down old timer. We aren't here for you money…" He turned to the goons. "Get the Dust, all of it. Any less, and that monster of a woman is going to have our heads." He ordered the goons.
"Hm?" Brick hummed as he stood on the tips of his toes to look over the aisle, noticing the crime taking place. "Oooh, so this is happening." He whispered to himself as he crouched down, and slowly backed up to Ruby, tapping her on the shoulder when he got close to her.
"Huh? What's up Brick?" Ruby asked as she pulled down the headphones from over her ears.
"I think this place is getting robbed." Brick whispered to her. "A bunch of guys walked in, lead by this guy wearing makeup, they said they were going to steal all the Dust here."
"Oooh, so this is a thing that's happening, huh?" Ruby whispered back
"That's what I said!"
The two looked to each other with knowing grins on their faces.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Brick asked her, only to realize that they said it at the same time.
"Yup." They each replied at the same time, giggling to each other afterwards.
"Hey! You two, get out of here and no one needs to get hurt." One of the goons said when he noticed the two of them giggling to each other in the corner of the store.
He realized that he made a mistake the moment they both turned to him, weapons already drawn.
Roman was whistling a tune to himself as he stuffed a black leather bag with Dust crystals of all types. It was one of his favorite songs that both he and his favorite person other than himself shared.
"Hyah!"
Which was why when one of his goons suddenly flew over his head and crashed through the display window and to the outside, he simply turned to the other five goons standing wide eye before him. Hands literally caught in jars of Dust.
"Go deal with that please~" Roman sung to them along with the song he was thinking about, not missing a single beat as he continued to bag crystals of fire Dust. Because apparently that was the big bosses favorite.
When the other five recollected themselves and charged in blindly together to the two Hunters in training, and each of them one by one was also chucked through the air and outside of the shop. Roman sighed to himself and strapped the bag to his hip.
He casually walked to the exit of the shop, puffing away at his cigar as he did so.
"Amateurs, every single one of them." Roman said to himself as he stepped out of the shop without even looking at the ones who caused the damage. "Truly, you were all really worth every cent, really, you were." He sarcastically remarked as he stepped in the middle of the five defeated men.
"Stop right there criminal scum!" Brick heroically shouted as he jumped out of the window, crackling red sword in his left hand.
"Give it up, you're surrounded!" Ruby followed up, landing on his right and twirling Crescent Rose in her hands before holding it out in a stance.
Roman chortled and clapped his hands, even adding a whistle along with it in a cheery way.
"My oh my! This is new, what are you two? Guy Red and Girl Red? You two dating or something?"
"N-no!" The two Hunters in read stammered. "Shut up! You are under arrest!" Brick shouted at him.
Roman smiled at them, rolled his eyes, and then finally shook his head no. "Sorry Guy and Girl Red, but not today, and not ever."
"We'll see about that!" Ruby exclaimed as she fired Crescent Rose behind herself and launched her body forward in an attempt to slash the criminal across the chest with his weapon. But as soon as she got close enough, the criminal expertly dodge out of the way, and aimed the tip of his cane toward Brick.
Brick only had enough time to widen his eyes before he was forced to react to the explosive flare that was fired out of the end of his cane. Batting it away with a lightning infused slash.
"Nice reactions kid!" Roman complimented as he weaved under Ruby's attack without even look at her. "But you're still not fast enough."
"Huh?" Brick said, confused.
Behind him, a figure seemed to fade into existence. The figure was short, even shorter than Ruby, she had white eyes, and multicolored hair. To top it all off, she had a manic grin on her face as she snuck up on Brick with speed rivaling even Ruby's.
"Brick, behind you!" Ruby shouted when she saw the figure about to stab her friend in the back.
Without thinking twice, Brick activated his aura before the blade could stab through the back of his heart. He cried out in pain despite his strong aura. The thin silvery blade bounced off his aura but still ripped a hole in his light leather armour plate that he had on his back.
Flipping with the momentum of her attack, Brick spun around to meet his opponent, recognizing the figure based off of a description Cyan gave to him soon after his recovery. It was the same girl that almost killed him at Mistral, everything besides the eyes matched with what he told her.
The girl pouted angrily at him, like she was mad at him for not letting her kill him.
"Awe, you're getting slower Neo!" Roman shouted as he fended off Ruby's scythe with his cane. "Distract them for a bit, will ya?"
Neo didn't reply, she instead answered him by lunging for the twin in red first. Attempting to stab him through the chest once more and watch as the blood spurted out. Brick defended perfectly, parrying her first strike and went for a counter. She dodge it by behind backward so far it was a wonder how her spine didn't break, she was impossibly flexible, and as she flipped backward she kicked her heels into his chin. Almost making Brick bite off his own tongue.
"Brick!" Ruby cried as Roman started running away into one of the alley's.
"I'll take care of her!" Brick shouted back, standing his ground against the very dangerous woman. "Go after that other guy! I'll be fine!"
"B-but…" Ruby looked toward him, and then back to where Roman ran off to, and then back to him. "Right, be safe!" She exclaimed as she chased after him, reluctantly believing in him to keep himself safe.
Neo rolled her eyes and held her parasol across her shoulders, rocking back and forth on her heels as she stared boredly at Brick.
"You…" Brick seethed, his red lightning starting to crackle even further. "I'll get you back for what you did to Cyan!" He declared as he started overclocking his semblance, his eyes crackling with red lightning along with his aura. Cyan was still alive, but he was so close to being paralyzed permanently. Still is. The stab wound was so precise that even if it didn't kill him, it was going to cause permanent damage anyway.
"Bet on that!"
He swung his sword up above his head twice, and brought it down hard overhead. Slamming his shortsword into the ground with incredible strength, causing an electrical shockwave ahead of him to rupture out of the ground itself.
Neo wasn't hit by it, but she nearly was. With a combination of her agility and flexibility she was able to weave herself out of the way, and disappeared back into her semblance with a smirk on her face.
She appeared behind Brick, but the Violet was predicting this course of action, and was already swinging behind himself to catch her off guard. What he didn't predict was for her to front flip over his attack, and wrap her legs around his head. Brick muffled a curse into her thighs before he was somehow flipped over himself, the top of his head slamming into the ground. His body held an small electrical current within it, but with Neo's powerful aura, it wasn't able to hurt her in the slightest.
Brick choked as Neo managed to lock him in some kind of submission maneuver where she was both choking him, and disarming him at the same time. He used his free hand to try and get the knee out from on top of his neck, but he wasn't strong enough from his current position.
He widened his eyes when he watched as Neo picked up his own sword, and aim it toward his face. Smirking lovingly as she drove it down toward his eye. He wasn't even able to scream as it got closer to his face.
He was able to finally take in a deep breath however when a powerful gust of air blew the woman off of him, and caused her to tumble over herself several feet before coming to a halt with a silent snarl.
"I leave you two alone for one day," A familiar voice berated him as he saw a pair of feet with just socks on step closer to him. "And you already start trying to stop robberies. Is that what dates are like these days?"
"Kai, oh man, I thought I was done for." Brick said as he pushed himself up from the ground, taking back his sword which was nearly stabbed into his own face.
"What happened here?" Kai asked as he entered a combat stance. "I was able to sense what was going down from three blocks down."
"This girl was the one who nearly paralyzed Cyan." Brick growled as he activated his semblance once more. "She's a lot better than she looks, I was caught off guard."
"I'm sure you were." Kai said with a invisible roll of his eyes. He wrapped his tail around his waist as he got ready to fight. "Where is Ruby?"
"Ignoring the blow to my pride, she went after another guy. You should be able to sense them, they can't be far." Brick told him.
Kai was definitely able to sense something, and it felt and sounded like more fighting. Ruby was losing clearly. "Yeah, I got her." He said with a growl.
Neo narrowed her eyes at him, she could swear that she remembered him from somewhere. She tapped her finger on her chin in deep thought as she tried to remember, then snapped her fingers when she remembered that this was the boy that let her take his bowl of ice cream.
She blew a kiss at him and winked, allowing her eyes to change back to pink and brown as they always should be.
"You know her?" Brick asked Kai, sensing some kind of connection here.
Kai sniffed the air a few times, easily able to smell the scent of… Strawberry? Vanilla as well. "Might have. Are you able to stay alive until I get back with Ruby?" He asked as he slowly started taking steps around the girl his sensed not too far away from him. He kept Silver Ebony pointed at her, and kept his head down as he walked around the person. Knowing that her eyes must have on him the entire time.
"Yeah, I won't be caught off guard a second time." Brick replied as he prepared to attack.
Kai's head raised as he sensed something else, someone else, someone on their side, and then smirked as he realized who it was. "You won't be on your own." Kai said as he drove his sword into the ground, creating a stone pillar beneath his feet to launch his body up into the air. It all happened so fast, Neo wasn't able to stop him, and pouted when she saw him fly through the air and land on the roof of a building.
"Huh, wonder what he meant by that…" Brick said as he prepared to fight off against Neo once more, strengthening his defense and sense when he saw her mismatched eyes land on his once more.
"Let's start this one off hot! Lighting sla-"
"Lighting slash!" A different but Identical voice shouted instead of him, and a blue arc of lightning came down from the sky to almost strike Neo.
She stopped flipping backwards and scowled at the newcomer, who looked exactly like the one she was about to kill, but with a blue color pallet instead of red.
"Rick!? How long were you there!?" Brick shouted indignantly at his brother when he landed beside him.
"Long enough! You think I was just going to leave you alone on your first date? Hell no!" Rick said that in a way that suggested that it should have been obvious to his brother.
Brick, to his own horror, blushed madly and tried to deny that it wasn't a date. Even though he would have loved it if it was.
"Geez, calm down bro. You're easier to embarrass than Ruby, and that's saying something."
"J-just shut up and help me fight her."
"Heh, if you say so bro."
The two brothers merged their semblances together, red and blue mixing in to create lightning befitting of their namesake.
"Let's do this!" The brothers shouted at the same time as they charged Neo.
She welcomed the challenge, it's been a while since she truly got excited during a battle.
These two will do just fine.
Roman Torchwick huffed once he got to the top of the building that was agreed upon for him to get on top of in case things go south. Any second now, and his escape ship should be here.
"Persistent…" Roman said as he dodged a bullet that might have blown his head off his shoulders if he wasn't ready for it.
The persistent little brat, Girl Red follow him. Using that pesky semblance of hers to easily catch up with him. He was better then her of course, she must have known that. The little squabble they got into earlier in front of the Dust shop was more than enough for her to have realized that, but of course she has to play hero and chase after him anyway.
Stupid kids, and their constant need for validation as heroes…
Just as he thought that, a Bullhead came flying over head from over the side of the building. How his boss and her little cronies were able to to hide it there just in case something like this happened was unknown for him, but at the same time he didn't really care. As long as they got him out of there, nothing else mattered.
Two figures jumped out of the Bullhead, one with a head of silver, and the other a pastel green. Ruby jumped back and yelped in surprise as they immediately attacked her, hardly able to call out their names before she was forced to adjust her posture to benefit a more defensive posture.
"Sorry, Girl Red! I'd love to stay, and chat, but I've got a city to run!" Roman exclaimed as he hung out of the Bullhead, waving one hand at her.
"Ergh, you won't get away with this!" Ruby shouted as she took aim at the Bullhead, only for her aim to be redirected when a metallic boot slammed into the side of her weapon.
"Sorry kid, not today." Mercury Black smirked at her as he brought his leg back up close to his body.
"Mercury… Emerald." Ruby said under her breath through her barely restrained anger. "Why are you doing this? What do you get out of it!?"
"Eh, I'm mostly just hanging around for the funzies. Emerald however…" Mercury looked toward his literal partner in crime. "She is doing this for more… personal reasons." He smirked when he saw Emerald whip her face toward him.
"Shut up Mercury, get back in the Bullhead." Emerald hissed at him.
"Sheesh, talk about defensive." Mercury rolled his eyes and stepped back from the red reaper.
"Arrgh!" Ruby screamed as she used her semblance to catch Mercury off guard, only for a barrage of green bullets to stop her from attacking him. She cried out in pain as she lost her balance, and got her feet sweeped out from under her by the silver haired boy. Together, Emerald and Mercury was a force to be reckoned with, and Ruby was learning that the hard way.
Ruby was pinned on her back by a metallic foot. Trapping her between it, and the stone roof of the building they were fighting on.
"Mercury move!" Emerald shouted out in warning.
Mercury didn't even have time to react when he saw another guy with a black blindfold around his eyes slash into him from the side with a silvery shiny black blade. He couldn't even see it coming. He held his cut side and pumped aura into that area to start healing himself. It hurt a lot, but he would live.
"You two…" Kai seethed as he clenched his fists together, settling his face to aim toward the ground. "I didn't want to believe it, but when Rick and Brick told me that you two tried to kill them… I lost it." He aimed his sword at them, never even raising his head. Sensing them was sight enough for him. "I considered you two my friends, but now that I know that you're working with her… You're just more Grimm for me to put down."
The ground around his back foot cracked as Kai fired himself like a bullet toward the two people he once called friend. Emerald and Mercury didn't even have time to say anything back to the blind warrior before he attacked them. Mercury struggled to keep up with the surprising speed of the blind silver eyed Huntsman in training. His sword was like blurs through the air, and honestly. Mercury didn't like his chances against this guy, he didn't two years ago. Now would just make things worse for him.
That was why that for once, Emerald rushed to his aid without questioning or teasing him for his disadvantage. She shot four bullets at Kai, and only one of them hit their mark before Kai reacted to the other three bullets, cutting each of them out of the air.
"Damn, that kid is a beast." Roman said as he watched the fight go down, keeping an eye on the girl in red in case she decided to try anything. "He's someone to look out for, he's that blind kid trying to become a Huntsman right?" He asked one of the other goons in the Bullhead with him, a White Fang grunt.
"Yeah, he's the hybrid that nearly kill- AGH!" The grunt screamed as a fireball was thrown into his chest, setting his body on fire immediately even as his aura tried to protect his body.
"Oookay," Roman drew the word out as he kicked the burning White Fang grunt outside of the Bullhead. "I am never going to ask that again."
"Where. Is. He?" A dark females voice asked him.
Roman gulped before he turned around, and when he did. He desperately wished that he didn't. The woman looked just as she did when she first recruited him. She had short black hair and one exposed orange eye, she wore a red elegant dress that covered one side of her body more than it did the other. Her left arm and eye were both covered by a long sleeve and a ceramic Grimm mask respectively. Roman could see the tip of what looked to be claws from the end of that long sleeve, and he didn't want to know what the full arm looked like if those were the nails.
Many would say that this monster of a woman was beautiful judging from the parts of her body that could be seen. But Roman could see the severe burn scars she had creeping out from that mask she had on her face. She introduced herself as Cinder Fall, and she was his boss until she said otherwise.
"Down there." Roman simply said, pointing down to the rooftop where Kai Matsuoka was fighting and winning against Emerald and Mercury. she was not a woman to try his wit on. It would only earn him another burn scar. Which was one of the reasons he got a new white trench coat which was more resilient against fire attacks.
Cinder snarled animalistically as she pushed him out of the way and yelled at him to take control of the Bullhead. He did so without question, only letting her know that it was only a matter of time before a fully trained Hunter caught up with them.
Cinder answered him by leaping out of the Bullhead, and onto the rooftop.
Kai stopped attacking Emerald as he sensed a new pair of feet land about a dozen feet away from him. And judging by how the person was currently sprinting at him, she was not friendly.
He brought his sword up just in time as another sword clashed against it. The force of the attack was so strong, he could feel the force in his knees as he tried to push it back.
"You…" A voice seethed with anger and utter hatred straight into his face. "You did this to me!"
He knew that voice…
He'd never forget what that voice sounded like, or whom it belonged to...
Kai screamed as he pushed the woman back.
"Cinder!" He exclaimed as his sword lit up with a white light.
Before he could slash his sword, through the air, he could feel his body become engulfed in flames. It was so hot even his heat resistant body felt like it was getting burned around every inch. But he absorbed it just as fast.
The flame energy burned around his shoulders like an aura, the flames turning black and white in color as his aura was put into it. Then, with all his might, he fired back the flames along with even more power, he knew where that thing was standing, she was just waiting for him to fire it back at her just so she could meet it with her own beam of flames.
Ruby watched as a fire blast of orange met with a blast of black. When they met in the middle, there was a bright explosion which nullified both attacks, and Kai was blown back skidding on the back of his heels until he was right in front of her.
Ruby could swear that she could see a glow from under his blindfold.
And apparently, so could Emerald, Mercury, and that Cinder woman.
"Cinder, we need to go now." Mercury shouted as he jumped back into the Bullhead, quickly followed by Emerald.
Cinder saw the flash, but nothing came through. She just wanted to kill the little shit that took away her left eye and arm. It was a fate that he more than deserved after what he did, what his father did. Make her afraid of something.
She rose her hand to fire another blast off at Kai. He sensed it, and strengthened his guard. One of the only reasons he was able to keep up with her right now was because of his semblance, without it. He would have died back in Mistral two years ago.
A wave of rocks and stones formed into a javelin by a purple and black aura stopped her from attacking him. It hit her in the side while she was tunnel visioning on Kai, and she snarled as she fired off the ball of fire into a different direction. The woman that dared to attack her rose her thin black wand of a weapon to deflect the ball of fire, but Ruby got in it's way first and dispersed it with her scythe.
"Young lady, get back this instant!" The Huntress shouted at her as she pulled her behind her body. Not even giving her a thank you for potentially saving her from getting burned.
"Argh!" Kai screamed as he charged toward the flame wielder, his own safety and caution thrown into the wind as he makes his first priority to end Cinder's life.
She huffed at his charge and waved her hand, sending a blast of air that even Kai couldn't withstand. He was blown back and flipped three times before landing on all fours, breathing heavily as he got the wind knocked out of him.
"You will die Matsuoka." Cinder told him as she jumped back into the Bullhead, her one eye flaming powerfully. She kept her eye traced on him as she fended off against the Huntress. "You will die a painful death."
"No!" Kai shouted in defiance as he hurled balls of flame of his own wildly into the night sky, most missed because he couldn't see his target, but some hit by luck. It wasn't enough to hurt Cinder at all since she was able to block them with just her hand, but it was an effort nonetheless.
Before Cinder could fire back, the door hatched closed before her. Blocking her off from attack the group any further. She already had what she needed after all, but not what she wanted. Emerald, Mercury, and Roman will have words with her when they landed.
"Get back here coward!" Kai yelled into the sky, not even able to tell which direction they flew off too.
"Mister Matsuoka, stand down now." The Huntress ordered, using her semblance to close Kai's arms to his sides.
"Kai, it's over! Come on!" Ruby called to him when he struggled for a few seconds.
After about a minute of struggling, Kai finally calmed down. Surrendering and letting the Huntress' semblance to pull him toward her and Ruby.
"Young man, girl, do either of you know how dangerous facing off against those criminals were!?" The Huntress berated them, crossing her arms and looking sternly down at the two shorter students.
"Yes…?" Ruby tried, going for the truth that she knew wasn't going to slide.
"Cinder Fall, Roman Torchwick, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai. Every single one of them are dangerous criminals in which not even fully trained Huntsman could take down on their own. What would have happened if I didn't come in time?"
"I would have kept fighting." Kai said, believing in his own words.
"You would have died." The Huntress countered harshly. "I know what you are capable of Kai Matsuoka, we've never met in person, but I know enough about you. I held you in a high enough regard to think you would be smarter then to go after a woman such as herself."
Kai grit his teeth in anger. "Cinder Fall killed my father!"
"And she would have killed his son as well because of your own selfish desire for revenge!" The Huntress snapped.
The truth hit him hard, Kai's eyes shook underneath his blindfold, and his fists were left unclenched. He didn't stand a chance against her two years ago, and even with how much stronger he had gotten, he still might have gotten killed easily by that woman unless he used his eyes on her. But he couldn't rely on them, he tried using them on her this time, but they didn't go off all the way. Why? He didn't know, but without them… He couldn't beat her.
"Kai…" Ruby comforted him, wrapping her arms around his body as she sensed the emotional vibe coming off his body.
The Professor softened her glare as she realized what kind of nerve she struck in the boy before her. She knew of his fathers sad demise, and to be honest she was simply concerned for his own life once she saw who that Cinder woman was up against. It didn't mean that she had the right to speak the harshest version of the truth, but she'd rather him alive than dead.
Before any of them could speak again, Brick and Rick jumped onto the roof with a combined aura enhanced jump. Landing simultaneously just a few feet away from the group.
"Damn! How did that girl get away?" Rick asked as he looked around the building.
"I don't get it, one second she's fighting us, the next she just vanishes? I call bullshit on that- Oh hi!" Brick cut himself off as soon as he noticed the actual Huntress glaring at them.
"Oh… wow. I feel like we messed up a bit." Rick said hesitantly as he took a step back. "I-I mean, it's not everyday that we run into someone as beautiful as Glynda Goodwitch, right?"
Glynda narrowed her eyes at them. "Nephews…"
"Right, we're in trouble, got it." Brick said, standing as straight as a pencil.
"All four of you, come with me." Glynda said with authority. Then sighed. "This is going to be a long night for everyone."
And there we go! The official beginning to Volume 1 of this story. Gosh, this was a long one. But I just had to for the sake of it being the first chapter that isn't Volume 0. Truly, we have hit a milestone.
Thus, the Vale/Beacon Saga has began! I wonder how this is going to go? Definitely going to be a trip, I mean. I somehow managed to get ten minutes of the first episode of Volume 1 into 10k words, and it's not even the full episode. We got through like what? 4-5 of those minutes? Gods, this arc is going to be long.
Oh, and yeah. Rick and Brick are nephews of Glynda Goodwitch. That will be explained later down the line. It's not going to effect the story in a massive way whatsoever, so no worries about that. If you choose to believe that they are not related, then go ahead, it won't change anything.
Please review and let me know what you think of the story! I would love some feedback for the first chapter of Volume 1!
If you would like to keep track with the progress of every chapter, you can do so by following my twitter!
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