The Phases of Remnant
ESKK: A brand new chapter, lets get this started people.
(Begin)
-Insert Dot Hack ROOTS OST Silly Go Round by Fiction Junction Yuuka (TV SIZE)-
-Yume kara samete mo-
The song began with the images of Aura with Haseo and Ruby reaching for the Twilight Bracelet. Aura was holding the bracelet in what looked like a forest of fantasy.
-Kono te wo nobasu yo-
The next image showed two hands reaching out towards each other but without any distinguishable markings it was impossible to tell those to whom they belonged. In turn the music picked up to show the title of the story.
"Phases of Remnant."
The next image showed four balls of energy with the images of winter, fall, spring, and summer flying through with the Twilight Bracelet. The song then continued as the image changed once more.
-Onaji tsuyosa de yobi au-
The next image showed Haseo running across the screen but the image of Skeith the Terror of Death behind him taking up the background.
-Kokoro ni nareru no naraba-
The next image showed Atoli walking across the screen with the image of a broken sword and what appeared to be Balmung in the background.
-Nanninbun no kizu demo-
The next image showed Ruby walking down a path with a smile as behind her was the image of the Twilight Bracelet in the hands of the Silver Eyed Kite and Black Rose.
-Boku wa uketomerareru yo-
The following image showed Ozpin as he looked upon a mimic form of Ruby walking off with her own scythe dripping with fresh blood. Accompanying this was an endless void as this figure showed itself to be something beyond human.
-Mou sukoshi datte ki ga surunda-
The next images was a montage of Ruby with team RWBY, Haseo with Team HAKE, and Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora looking at a saddened Atoli as Jaune was found lying in a hospital bed with monitors all over him.
-Kono kabe ga kuzureru Reimei-
The images that showed next was that of the Beacon Clock Tower before four Azure Flames flew by and began to take shape. The shapes taken were Azure Kite, Azure, Balmung, Azure Orca, and finally what appeared to be an Azure form of Summer Rose. It then showed Haseo, Ruby, and their teams preparing for battle against these foes. It then switched with the riff of a guitar and the surge of Dust blowing through.
-Yume kara samete mo mada minai yume no hou made-
Next was shown a montage of images starting with Ovan in a Library reading a book with one hand. Following this was Ozpin as he stood inside the Beacon Tower with his cane in hand. Then showed Haseo and Ruby charging in with weapons drawn for battle. Their foe was the blue and white knock off of Ruby as Ruby attacked first with the image of her teammates showing. Haseo went next as his images showed his own teammates as well.
-Bokura wa hitori de hashiri tsudukeru shika nainda-
The following image showed Pi and Glynda hard at work as well as the images of Sakubo jumping into her mothers' arms before being replaced by Gorre and then back to Sakubo and Glynda. The next images showed Haseo and Ruby charging into battle before they ended up falling through the ground to reveal the forms of AIDA hovering about.
-Korogari mayotte tsukuridasu boku no inryoku ga Itsuka Kimi e-
The next images showed Ruby and Haseo falling into the abyss before tightening their grips on their weapons. What followed was Skeith appearing and the Twilight Bracelet shining to life before Skeith and Ruby proceeded to fire off a Data Drain at the images of AIDA, Salem, and the shadowy force behind the Ruby mimic.
-End OST-
(Start Emerald Forest Yang)
The Initiation test was still going on as Yang was by herself at the moment in another area of the forest. "Hello!? Is anyone out there?! Hello?!" Yang called out while something in the mist moved around. "I'm getting bored here!" Yang complained hoping for a response from someone here. But then she heard some bushes ruffle behind her. "Is someone there?" Yang asked as she walked toward the bushes and pushed them away. "Ruby? Haseo?" Yang asked hoping for a response. But instead, her answer came in the form of a growl from the Ursa right in front of her. "Nope." She said, popping the letter p before she quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the claw-swipe from the Ursa. Yang quickly got back on her feet and readied her gauntlet-based weapons, Ember Celica. She then dodged out of the way of a second Ursa that tried to attack her from behind.
The first one lunged at her, but Yang delt a punch to its gut, Ember Celica firing a shotgun blast to knock it back and away. The second one tried to rush her, but she delivered an uppercut to its jaw, another shotgun blast from the punch to send it flying upward and dealt a kick to knock it back down.
"You guys wouldn't have happened to see a girl in a red hood, would you?" Yang asked rhetorically before the Ursa roared at her. "You could just say 'no'." Yang taunted as she ducked under one claw slice and backflipped to avoid the second with a joking laugh. "Geeze, you two couldn't hit the broadside of a…" Yang trailed off as her smile faded when she saw a lock of her own blonde hair fall off, having gotten cut by the Ursa's previous claw slice. With that, all jokes and humor faded from Yang's mind. "You…" Her eyes closed and then re-opened to reveal they were bright red with rage. "You bastards!" Yang roared out as an explosion erupted around her whole body, her hair lighting on fire as Yang shot herself forward with her gauntlets, gunning for the closest Ursa, pounding it all over its body with punches and shotgun blasts from Ember Celica. It was sent flying, but she wasn't done with it yet as she propelled herself forward with blasts from her gauntlets to continue her merciless beatdown of that Ursa before delivering a strong enough punch to send it crashing through several trees before it died and melted away.
Yang then turned around to face the second Ursa as it charged at her. "What?! You want some too?!" Yang yelled in challenging the monster of Grimm.
However, the Ursa was quickly impaled from behind, causing it to fall over dead. The one who killed it was none other than Blake, who began to retrieve her weapon, Gambol Shroud.
"I could have taken him." Yang said to her, her red eyes turning back to their natural lilac color. But then Blake's eyes widened in shock over something behind Yang. "What? Is there something on my face?" Yang asked noticing the look on Blakes face.
"Yang... behind you." Blake said pointing to something behind Yang.
Yang looked and yelped in shock when she saw a mass of black dots forming in the area behind her. Yang moved back as did Blake as the mass grew larger. "What the Heck is that?!" Yang asked as she saw the mass forming.
"I don't know but its trouble." Blake said as she ran on pure instincts right now and those instincts were telling her to run. The Mass began to rise before going after the pair and just as they were about to fight a large Glyph appeared blocking the mass.
"Down in front!" Kuhn was heard as he charged in firing his weapon at the mass. Arriving on the scene was Kuhn as he stood between the girls and the mass. "Hurry get out of here now!" Kuhn warned them as he looked to the pair.
"You know what this gunk is?" Yang asked shocked that Kuhn would know what it was.
"I'm afraid there is no time to explain." Endrance said as he also arrived on the scene. "We best move before danger follows us." Endrance added and thus Kuhn nodded to this. Endrance lead Blake and Yang away as Kuhn focused his own power causing marks to appear around his body.
Soon a ping was heard echoing around them as the marks flashed on Kuhn's body. "Come on!" Kuhn began as his voice seemed to deepen and echo about while clenching his fist. "My." He said crossing his arms over his chest. "MAGUS!" Kuhn roared out and thus Blake and Yang bore witness to Kuhn vanishing to be replaced with the massive form of Khun's Epitaph Magus the Propagator. Magus towered over them as the mass of black dots made way to a blob like creature with a glowing core.
The creature seeing a threat charged up a beam before it fired upon Kuhn's Avatar. Magus produced a shield to block the attack long enough for the beam to die down. Once the beam was done Kuhn charged into battle and roared out. "I'll make this quick!" Kuhn cried out and thus he began to send a barrage of attacks and lasers against the creature. Soon enough Kuhn back off before reaching out with his left hand that had Magus do the same. And eye like design formed in his hand before rings of energy formed down his arm.
"DATA DRAIN!" Kuhn invoked and thus fired off the Data Drain against the enemy creature. A rainbow of energy left the creature entering Kuhn before it eventually came undone. The battle came to an end as Yang and Blake looked to the towering Magus shocked over what had occurred.
"Did... did you get it?" Yang asked trying to reboot her brain.
"Pretty sure I did." Kuhn's voice came from Magus before Magus reverted back to Kuhn. "So, you girls, ok?" Kuhn asked smiling to Black and Yang.
"What the Hell was that?" Blake asked and thus Endrance glared at where the creature had been.
"AIDA." Endrance drawled as he glared at where the AIDA used to be.
"You owe us an explanation." Yang said wanting answers to what they just saw.
"Later we need to move." Kuhn said prioritizing their own safety first. "There might be more of them." Kuhn said and with this in mind they all got moving out of there. But as they left Yang looked back and for a moment, she swore she saw Ruby standing in the shadows almost menacingly with a sadistic smile on her face. But just as soon as she saw the phantom it was gone the next second.
(Back over with Ruby and Weiss)
Meanwhile Weiss was still fighting the Grimm as she skidded back on her feet while the pack surrounded her. 'Remember your training, Weiss.' She thought to herself. 'Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward… not that forward!' Weiss mentally said as she fixed her stance for battle. 'Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike and… Now!' She mentally called out when she shot herself forward, Myrtenaster pointing forward, ready to attack the Beowulf in front of her.
But then Ruby suddenly appeared in front of her and cut that same Beowulf down with Crescent Rose. "Gotcha!" Ruby called out and in turn Weiss gasped as she stopped herself, slicing Myrtenaster the other direction, sending a trail of flame along the ground to ignite a nearby tree. This alerted Ruby and left her distracted to get sliced by a Beowolf, sending her tumbling into Weiss.
"Hey, watch it!" Ruby exclaimed clearly upset about what happened.
"Excuse me!" Weiss exclaimed back at the accusation Ruby made. "You attacked out of turn! I could have killed you!" Weiss snapped as she glared at Ruby for what she said.
"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Ruby muttered as they came back-to-back, facing the entire pack of Grimm as the largest one, the Alpha, gave a howl. Meanwhile the fire from Weiss' accident began to spread around the area surrounding them and the Grimm in it.
Just then a burning tree fell a clear sign of the fire spreading every violently. Weiss saw the danger and in turn moved to Ruby. "We have to go." Weiss said and thus the pair ran for it while the Beowolves were left in the fire.
(Later nearby)
"What was that?!" Ruby asked as she gestured to the fact that they ran away. "That should have been easy!" Ruby called out wanting an answer as to why they ran for it.
"Well perhaps if you exercised the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire." Weiss said pointing to the tower of smoke from the fire.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ruby asked failing to see the accusation there.
"I'm just surprised that someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter." Weiss argued as clearly, she and Ruby were not getting along.
"Well, I'm sorry that you need my help to win a fight!" Ruby snapped as she had her arms crossed. "I'm just fine on my own." Ruby said not seeing why she needed to work with such a stuck-up girl like Weiss.
"Well congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss scolded as she stormed off leaving an upset Ruby. In response Ruby lashed out and sliced a tree with her scythe causing it to fall over while she followed after Weiss. But as she left, she failed to notice a large black feather falling down to the ground behind her.
(Meanwhile with Haseo and Atoli)
The pair made their way through the forest with Haseo using his daggers as Machete's to slice through the plant life in the way. Hearing gunfire, the pair stopped as Atoli also heard it. "Looks like everyone else is already facing trouble." Atoli said which Haseo shrugged a bit.
"I can tell." Haseo said when he saw a large billow of smoke in the distance. "That's not a good sign." Haseo said just as Atoli saw it to.
"Do you think Endrance did it?" Atoli asked which HAseo turned his head.
"No, even if he has that magic Glyph of his, he's more cautious than that." Haseo said as he had an idea. "I know he and Weiss have the same Semblance so... my money said Weiss and Ruby are partners now and caused it during a bad confrontation." Haseo said which Atoli raised a brow to this just before they continued to walk.
"How do you know your sister was involved." Atoli asked while they continued to walk by.
"Here is how I know." Haseo said as he stopped and picked up a red rose petal from the ground.
"Ok I see your point." Atoli said giggling a bit when something occurred to her. "Wait if a battle went south and started a fire... did the Grimm burn in it?" Atoli asked when she noticed something as well.
"Should have, why do you ask?" Haseo asked and then Atoli drew her weapon and pointed. Haseo looked and was wide eyed when he saw a pack of Beowolves coming their way. "Atoli cover me!" Haseo called out and thus Atoli nodded.
"Right!" Atoli said and thus with her power she summoned mirages of Haseo to back him up. Haseo smirked and they in turn charged at the Grimm. A confrontation was all but inevitable at the moment so they in turn proceeded to prepare to fight. Haseo began to slice his way through the Grimm as they were caught by surprise for a moment, but they quickly regained themselves.
Haseo made his way through his enemies with Atoli providing him with support as he did so. The Beowolves were not as tough as Haseo thought they would be but then again, he was used to this. He fired his guns at them before switching over to his main weapon in its broadsword form before slicing through them. As he did this Haseo had the chainsaw blade grinding so he can deal with his enemies faster.
Meanwhile Atoli provided support fire with her own weapon firing her gun at any Grimm she could before switching to staff form and firing off her elemental attacks at the Grimm. Atoli had improved a lot since The World a shame CC Corp had shut it down but thankfully The World R X had taken its place, though it wasn't the same for some of the veteran players of The World. Atoli had come along way and for Haseo he was proud of her for that much though he felt she still had some chains on her heart, particularly when it came to her twin brother Jaune.
Jaune seemed like a nice guy from what Haseo had witnessed and what Ruby talked about. Plus, Atoli had spoken fondly of him but the way she did... it reminded Haseo too much of Sakaki. They duo continued to deal with the Grimm until the last few, left, deciding it was smarter to run away from the pair. So, as they escaped Atoli proceeded to fire off an explosive Dust at them which proceeded to plow one of them up and injure the other. This gave Haseo the chance to finish it off by slicing its head off with his sword.
"That's all of them." Haseo said sheathing his sword on his back.
"Yeah." Atoli said sheathing her own weapon reverting it to its standby form.
"Come on they couldn't have gotten far and based on what Endrance told us about Weiss... yeah Ruby is either ready to stab someone or is about to be stabbed." Haseo said and thus Atoli was about to retort but then stopped.
"You don't actually think that do you?" Atoli asked with concern which Haseo smirked.
"No but Ruby is not well versed in social interactions." Haseo said which meant they better hurry to catch up.
(Meanwhile with Jaune and Pyrrha)
As the pairing walk down a path as soon enough gun fire is hear in the distant as Jaune said, "Did you hear that?"
Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy," Pyrrha said as now she gotten a bit worry as thing were picking up, as the more they went into the forest, the more Grimm they run into.
Pyrrha push a tree branch off to the side with Jaune following, and without paying attention to ether of them as Pyrrha let go, Jaune turn his head and saw the branch coming at him with no time to block or dodge it, its hit him hard as he fell down yep in pain a bit as Pyrrha turn around quickly as she heard that and said, "Jaune! I'm sorry!"
Jaune gave a small laugh as he held his hand on his face for a moment before letting off seeing little blood and said, "It's okay just a scratch!"
Pyrrha walked up to him as Jaune got up on his own as Pyrrha asked, "Why didn't you activate your Aura?"
"Huh?" Jaune asked as it was the first time hearing the term.
"You're Aura." Pyrrha repeated wondering if Jaune misheard her or didn't hear her properly.
"Gesundheit." Jaune said taking a wild guess that she may have sneezed or something.
Pyrrha looked at Jaune a little weirdly as she said, "Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?"
Jaune scoffs it off, and then waves it off, while not looking at her as he said, "Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?"
Pyrrha gave a soft smile and said, "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"
"Uh... yeah." Jaune admitted as he smiled bashfully.
"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals," Pyrrha explained to Jaune as she held her arms out like she blocked an attack of some sort.
"What about monsters?" Jaune asked both curious and finding this mildly interesting.
Pyrrha shake her head as she said, "No. The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness, and we are the light."
"Right, that's why we fight them!" Jaune asked wanting some clarifications.
"It's not about why, it's about knowing." Pyrrha explained as Jaune looked to Pyrrha. "Understanding both light and dark helps us, manifest our aura. Everyone has some of both. By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are our conduits for aura. You project yourself and your soul with fighting." Pyrrha explained as she looked to Jaune as she smiled at Jaune as she stood before him.
"It's like a force field!" Jaune said as that was a good analogy right there.
"Yes, if you wanna look at it that way." Pyrrha said in a slight joking manner as it may be true. "Now close your eyes and concentrate." She said as she walked over to Jaune and put her hand to the side of his face.
Jaune nodded as he did so as Pyrrha walk up to him and sync her aura as she begin to help unlock Jaune aura as she says, "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death."
Pyrrha place her hand on Jaune chest as she touch his soul as she said, "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." Pyrrha chanted as she unlocked Jaune's Aura.
Once the deed was done Pyrrha let go as she began to catch her breath as that was very draining. "Pyrrha?" Jaune called as he saw how winded Pyrrha was.
It's alright, I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you is now your own." Pyrrha said as she smiled to Jaune and got back up. Pyrrha smiled as the cut on Jaune's face healed up as that was surprising. "You have a lot of it." Pyrrha said as she saw the cut was all healed in an instant.
Jaune smiled before he saw himself as he was glowing. "Wow." Jaune said as was amazed by it.
(With Ren)
Ren the green wearing, black haired young man with a pink streak in it as the young Chinese monk like initiate was dusting his arms off after putting his guns away. Soon the sound of a crow or a bird through a familiar girls voice was heard followed by a familiar dragons roar and grumble as soon Nora came in upside down as the peppy girl was hanging upside down with a smile on her face.
"Heh. I still don't think that's what a Sloth sounds like." Ren said as he smiled at Nora before Nora acted.
"Boop." Nora said poking Ren's nose as the two smiled before Ren stepped back a bit from that.
(Meanwhile at the Beacon Cliff)
Glynda walked up to Ozpin as she looked at her Scroll in its Tablet mode as with it was a message for Ozpin from someone known simply as known only as Proto. "Our last pair had been formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy I can't possibly imagine those two getting along." Glynda said as it didn't make sense to her. "Still, he's probably better off then Mrs. Nikos." Glynda said causing Ozpin to look at her with curiosity. "I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat unlike his sister." Glynda said as she saw an image of Haseo and Atoli making their way through the forest. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." Glynda said in a scolding manner as she saw the scene. "At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes." Glynda said as she began to walk away but then stopped and looked to Ozpin.
"Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" Glynda asked as Ozpin didn't answer no doubt very much deep in thought about the recent events involving the attack on the Fall Maiden.
(Back with Ruby and Weiss)
Meanwhile, Ruby sat with a bored and annoyed expression on the ground, playing with a leaf, as Weiss tried to find the direction they were supposed to go. "It's definitely this way." Weiss walked in one direction before turning around. "I mean, this way! It's definitely this way." She then walked back toward Ruby. "Alright, it's official, we passed it." Weiss said and in turn Ruby just about had enough of this.
"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby questioned as she stood up glaring at Weiss.
"Because I know exactly where we're going!" Weiss tried to defend herself. "We're going… to… the forest temple!" Weiss said which caused Ruby to groan in annoyance. "Oh, stop it it's not like you know where we are either!" Weiss said after the groan using her pride to fuel her resolve.
"At least I'm not pretending that I know everything!" Ruby snapped as it now had the two girls taking verbal shots at each other.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Weiss questioned with a glare at Ruby.
"It means you're a big stupid jerk and I hate you!" Ruby yelled as she had enough of Weiss' attitude.
The Heiress groaned in frustration before turning around. "Just keep moving." Weiss said as she was not going to let Ruby's tantrum get the best of her.
"Oh, just keep moving, hurry up Wah watch where you're going." Ruby said taunting Weiss before glaring at her. "Why are you so bossy?" Ruby asked which served to anger Weiss.
"I'm not bossy!" Weiss argued as she turned to face Ruby. "Don't say things like that." Weiss said making her way towards Ruby.
"Stop treating me like a kid!" Ruby yelled as the argument escalated.
"Stop acting like a kid!" Weiss retorted as they got in each other's faces.
"Stop acting like your perfect!" Ruby yelled and in turn Weiss had enough.
"I'm not Perfect!" Weiss yelled before she paused a second. "Not yet, and I'm still league's better then you." Weiss said but before she could turn around a new voice spoke up.
"Hey, are you two, drama queens done arguing yet?" Haseo was heard and thus the pair looked to the source and saw Haseo and Atoli there.
"Haseo!?" Ruby gasped when she saw Haseo but got a little sad when she saw he already had a partner. "How did you find us?" Ruby asked wondering how Haseo did that.
"We saw the forest fire you two made." Atoli said as this got Weiss a bit bashful.
"And then we followed the sound of arguing teen girls acting like a couple of seven-your-old's." Haseo said as Weiss glared at Haseo for that jab he made.
"But what are you doing here, Haseo?" Ruby asked as she walked over to the pair with Weiss close by.
"Making sure you guys didn't get jumped first off." Haseo began as he explained the situation. "Some dumbass initiates were trying to secure their spot by eliminating the competition." Haseo said recalling Cardin trying to beat down any student who came by. "Anyway, we need to put the peddle to the metal if we don't speed things along there might not be enough relics for us when we get there." Haseo said seeking to help his sister out.
"And what do you suggest we do?" Weiss asked as she looked to Haseo who then saw some birds flying. He then recalled the giant feather he found and thus a plan formed.
"Let's just say I got a grim idea." Haseo said with a smirk that made Ruby smile in anticipation.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Weiss asked as she looked to Atoli who shrugged to this.
(Later With Yang, Kuhn, Blake, and Endrance)
"So, you honestly have no idea what that thing was?" Yang asked as she did not buy it.
"Other than the fact that it's been targeting me for years no not a clue." Kuhn said as he had weaved a story to cover up the fact that the thing, that they saw was AIDA. He and Endrance came to a silent agreement not to reveal what they knew about AIDA and try to pass it off that it targets Epitaph Users for some unnamed reason. Not a total lie but not the entire truth either and for now it would have to suffice.
Blake on the other hand did not seem so easily convinced but the threat was dealt with and thus they had little reason to worry about it. For now, all was well but that did not mean that she would not try and pursue it at a later date.
"Think this is it?" Yang asked as Blake gave her a quick glare before they entered the area to check it out.
What to it appeared to be and old temple or church of sort, and everything look destroy and decay to the sands of time, as the only thing that seem to be stand where many small stone pillars with chess pieces on top of them. The group saw that a few of the chess pieces were already gone meaning other pairs had gotten to them first.
Yang and Blake reach the area, as they looked around to yang said, "This got to be the place." Blake looked around to see if there was any enemy nearby just in case. Blake then walked up to the chess pieces as this was odd even for her as she looked at them. "Chess pieces?" Blake asked as she looked at said Chess Pieces before them all.
"Some of them are missing." Yang said as she looked at the missing chess pieces. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here." Yang said as she looked to where the missing pieces once stood.
"Sure, looks that way." Kuhn said as he inspected the chess pieces in question.
"Well… I guess we pick one." Blake said as they needed to decide the pieces they would take from here.
Endrance hummed a bit when he saw this to be the case. "It certainly seems simple enough." Endrance said which Kuhn shrugged before they began to approach the Chess Pieces.
(Meanwhile With Jaune and Pyrrha)
A the two paired up partners look at a cave with cave drawing on the side of it as Jaune said, "Thin this is it?"
(Later Inside the Cave)
Jaune who had made a torch was taking the lead as Pyrrha followed close behind. "I not sure this is it..." Pyrrha said as she followed causing Jaune to sigh.
"Pyrrha, I made the torch." He began as she gestured to, said torch. "Could you at least humor me for maybe 5 more feet?" Jaune asked before he tripped with a yelp and dropped the Torch into a puddle. When the torch landed inside the puddle the water had put out the fire removing the pairs only light source. "Ow." Jaune whined as he got back up in the now pitch-black cave.
"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked as she felt something was off about this cave.
"Soul crushing Regret?" Jaune asked but that wasn't what Pyrrha was talking about.
"No, it's... warm." Pyrrha said as something wasn't right as there may be something in there with them.
(At the Ruins)
Going up to the gold chess pieces as Yang grab the knight piece as she said, "How about a nice little pony?"
"Sure." Blake said as she let Yang take the White Knight.
"Then I guess we'll take a black knight." Kuhn said taking the black horse from its pedestal.
"Considering its twin is still here, I suspect Haseo may take said twin." Kuhn said voicing his thoughts on this.
"Yeah, that sounds like my brother." Yang said while she secured their own relic. "That wasn't too hard." Yang said as they passed now, they had to get back to Beacon.
"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake said as it really wasn't that hard to find.
(With Jaune and Pyrrha)
Jaune and Pyrrha continued walking down the dark cave as they soon saw the darkness was letting up as it made way for light. They soon found a large glowing yellow object as Jaune had a smile on his face. "That's the relic!" Jaune called as he saw it, but Pyrrha knew better because it was far too big. Jaune reached for it as it looked suspended in the air as when he made a swipe for it the 'relic,' moved as Jaune missed. When this had happened Pyrrha grew worried as she knew that this wasn't a good sign. "Hey. Bad Relic!" Jaune said as he made another swipe at it and missed. Jaune then jumped to it and grabbed it as he smiled. "Gotcha!" He said in a triumphant tone as he was being lifted up.
"Jaune..." Pyrrha said as she saw this and began to put the pieces together.
Jaune was soon faced to face with the glowing red face of a Death Stalker as he was soon wide eyed.
(Ruins)
The two heard the sound of a girls screaming as Yang looked as she heard it. "Some girls' in trouble." Yang cried out as Blake was looking up. "Blake did you hear that?" Yang asked as she looked straight at Blake. "What should we do?" Yang asked as she looked to Blake worried for the screaming girl in question.
(Meanwhile over with Haseo and Ruby's group)
The scream was heard as Atoli went wide eyed in shock as she stood up from a stone. "That was Jaune!" Atoli cried out as she knew it had to be him. "I recognize that girly scream anywhere!" Atoli said as Ruby was nearby as well.
"How can you tell?" Ruby asked as she looked to Atoli with concern.
"Only my brother would scream like that for anything." Atoli said knowing that Jaune always screamed like a little girl even through puberty.
"Then we better hurry!" Haseo called out as he suddenly ran in. "I got our ride, and boy he is pissed!" Haseo called out which got Weiss worried.
"Our ride?" Weiss asked and then went wide eyed over what she saw coming down. "Haseo... if we survive this, I am going to kill you." Weiss said as she saw the massive threat coming their way.
(Back with Jaune and Pyrrha)
Soon after Jaune's girly scream from the cave Pyrrha ran out with weapons drawn ready to fight if need be. Soon the cave burst apart as from it a Death Stalker came out with Jaune hanging on its stinger screaming like a little girl.
"WHY? PYRRHA! PYRRHA!" Jaune called between screams as he was hanging onto the Death Stalkers tail. "This is not the relic! It's not!" Jaune cried out before screaming some more. "Do something!" Jaune called as he hanged on for dear life.
"Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-" Pyrrha began as the Death Stalker tried to shake Jaune off before flinging Jaune off the stinger. "...go." Pyrrha said as Jaune flew through the air screaming all the way through The Forest airspace. Pyrrha smiled nervously as she scratched her head a bit before she ran off like the wind being chased by the devil himself.
(Back with Haseo and Ruby's group)
"This is a terrible idea!" Weiss yelled as she, Ruby, Atoli, and Haseo were holding on tightly to something large and black. "Your entire family is nuts!" Weiss added as she was glad, she did not partner up with Haseo.
"Oh, come on this is a great idea so don't worry!" Ruby called out as she smirked as she held on close to Haseo.
"I am so far beyond worrying!" Weiss screamed as she didn't want to fall off and die a horrible bloody death anytime soon.
"In a good way!?" Ruby asked as she was hopeful, she was getting through to Weiss.
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss answered as this was a bad thing considering they were on the back of a pissed off Nevermore that Haseo was forcing to give them a lift.
"Well, why don't we all just jump!?" Ruby asked, seeing that Weiss doesn't approve of this plan.
"Are you insane!?" Weiss yelled wondering if Ruby's entire family was bat shit crazy. Instead, all Weiss got was silence as Haseo, Ruby, and even Atoli had jumped off. "Oh, you mother f-." Weiss began but was cut off by the caw of a Giant Nevermore.
(Ruins)
Blake kept looking up as Yang tried to get an opinion as screaming was being heard as Yang then looked up to see a familiar red girl coming in. "Look out below/Heads up!" Haseo and Ruby called out as the pair fell to the ground with Atoli by their side. Atoli was the first to act as she produced an air attack from her weapon to slow their descent. Haseo and Atoli landed safely and once he was on the ground Haseo got ready to catch Ruby in his arms. But all of a sudden Ruby was struck by Jaune in a mid-air interception causing them both to fly into the tree. Ruby was sitting on branch with swirly eyes, seeing Beowolves dazed and disoriented.
"What was that?" She wondered before shaking her head, clearing her mind.
She soon heard someone and looked to see Jaune hanging upside down from the branch above her. "Hey, Ruby." Jaune greeted while everyone was just confused over what had happened.
"Did your brother and sister just fall out of the sky with that girl?" Blake asked as she was trying to keep up with everything.
"I-." Yang started but before they heard a roar. The two girls kept their guard up as they saw a rampaging Ursa.
"Yee-haw!" A female voice said before the Ursa fell dead, revealing Nora at its back. She got off and noticed the Ursa's state. "Aww, it's broken." Nora said with a pout while she examined it just before Ren caught up.
"Nora…please, don't ever do that again." Ren pleaded as he was catching his breath. He looked up only to go wide eyed when he saw that Nora was missing. He looked around for the missing girl only to see Nora looking at a white bishop piece.
Nora inspected the chess piece before she picked it up and cheered. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sang while the others were staring at her.
"Nora!" Ren called his tone showing disapproval and scolding.
"Coming, Ren!" Nora answered before skipping towards him.
"Did that girl just came here riding an Ursa?" Blake asked surprised over what she saw.
"I-." Yang started only to hear another roar from opposite end of the forest. Looking to the source they all saw Pyrrha running from a huge Death Stalker chasing her.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called as she was dodging the Death Stalker's pincers.
Jaune looked and saw her before trying to get down. "Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out but found himself to be stuck and needed time to get unstuck from the tree.
"Woah!" Ruby remarked before jumping off the branch to take on the foes.
"Ruby!" Jaune called, who is now a little too late on calling for help from the scythe wielding girl. She landed near Yang and proceeded to rejoin her sister and brother on the ground.
"Ruby Yang." Haseo greeted as he saw the two.
"Ruby!" Yang said when she saw her sister.
"Yang!" Ruby greeted as she saw this and was about to hug her sister and brother.
"Nora!" Nora said as she got in between them.
"Haseo." Endrance spoke when he saw Endrance.
"Endrance?" Atoli spoke when she saw Endrance here.
"Hey Atoli." Endrance greeted as it became an improve roll call.
Yang looked ready to explode as Blake noted Pyrrha and the Deathstalker. "Did that girl just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked when she saw what was going on. Meanwhile Haseo was edging away from Yang knowing she was about to explode.
"I can't take it anymore!" Yang screamed after bursting a few flames from her body and her eyes turned red. "Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again!" Yang screamed, putting emphasis on "crazy". After her explosion Ren then caught up with the group and began to catch his breath.
Ruby just remembered something and tugged on Yang's jacket. Yang then just gave up on it. "Um…Yang?" Ruby called before pointing upwards.
"Oh boy." Haseo said as he saw Weiss up there.
"How could you all leave me!?" Weiss screamed as she was still hanging on the Nevermore's talon. Everyone, who was being chased or stuck, saw the Nevermore and Weiss being stuck on it.
"I said 'jump'." Ruby pointed out to Weiss which Haseo recalled barely.
"Wait, did we?" Haseo asked while Atoli shrugged to this.
"She's gonna fall." Blake plainly said as it was obviously going to happen.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said not worried one-bit knowing Weiss and Raymond would both be ok.
"She's falling." Ren said as they soon saw Weiss falling down to the ground.
Haseo of course was already on it. "Endrance Atoli hurry and get, me up there!" Haseo called out and thus they got to work. Endrance produced a Glyph and launched Haseo to the air. At the same time Jaune saw his chance after getting free and jumped out of the tree to catch Weiss. Endrance seeing this waved his green hand in a circle and thus Jaune hit another Glyph face first.
As Jaune slid of the Glyph Haseo caught Weiss and began to fall but was not bothered. Acting fast Atoli used a Wind Dust to slow their descent and allowed for Haseo to land safely on the ground. "You, ok?" Haseo asked as he looked to Weiss as he looked like a dark knight who had saved the fair maiden.
"Y-yeah." Weiss said as the scene reminded her of some of her own dirty novels.
"Oh, come on!" Jaune whined when he saw Haseo upstage him. All the while Pyrrha was still running from the Death Stalker in the background.
Soon everyone saw the Death Stalker knock Pyrrha to where they were all at and thus the group was reunited. "Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!" Yang cheered with a sarcastic tone when this happened.
"Not if I have anything to say about." Ruby said before charging at the Death Stalker.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang called but Ruby charged regardless of the danger.
"Stop!" Haseo called out trying to stop Ruby, but he was too late.
Ruby drew Crescent Rose ready for battle and proceeded to fire it off and propel herself forward at the Deathstalker. The Grimm in response had a counterattack and proceeded to knock her back. "D-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby called out as she was trying to
assure everyone that she meant to do that. But the hearing movement behind her Ruby saw the Deathstalker moving towards her causing her to fire off Crescent Rose at it. The Bullet bounced off its armor leaving not lasting damage to it save for annoying it. Ruby seeing this turned back around and ran away while sheathing her weapon.
"This can't possibly get any worse." Jaune said only for stomping to be heard. The entire ground shook, which followed the sounds of large stomps echoing around the forest and a large moan. From the canopy of the trees, they could see a large shape making its way closer to them, breaking down all the trees in its path like they were twigs. It would soon enter the clearing to reveal an enormous elephant-like Grimm that dwarfed even the Death Stalker.
"A Goliath?! Here?!" Blake shouted in shock over this knowing that Goliaths tend to travel in herds but also avoid coming this close to the city if it can be helped.
"You just had to ask." Kuhn said looking at Jaune who giggle nervously. Though Jaune did tempt fate one cannot really blame him for an act of God.
"Ruby!" Haseo cried out before he and Yang ran in to go save her.
While Ruby was running from the Grimm the Giant Nevermore returned and fired off razor sharp arrows down upon Ruby. Her red hood was caught in the feathers pinning her down as Yang and Haseo were forced to stop before they could get stabbed. "Dammit." Haseo cursed before he revved his chainsaw and began sawing his way through the feathers to get to Ruby.
"Ruby get out of there!" Yang called out as Ruby was struggling but everyone failed to notice her bracelet was starting to glow.
"I'm trying!" Ruby cried out but then was wide eyed when she saw the Deathstalker was about to stab down on her with its stinger. "NO!" Ruby cried out and thus her bracelet produced an energy form around her arm just as she thrusted forward. Then to everyone's shock, especially the Epitaph Users, the Bracelet released a burst of energy upon the Deathstalker as it then roared in shock and pain while being covered in the energy. The feathers were caught in the attack and vanished into dust as well while the Death Stalker became trapped inside an orb of rainbow energy.
'Data Drain!?' Haseo, Kuhn, Endrance, and Atoli all mentally gasped when they saw the attack being used.
Soon enough the attack came to an end and thus the Deathstalker stumbled a bit dazed and disoriented. Everyone also began to notice the moss on its body was gone it for some reason it looked slightly smaller than normal. Ruby sat there in shock as she looked at her bracelet that had its light dimming with its job done. Soon enough it regained itself and seeing nothing wrong with its form proceeded to attack once more. But before the blow could hit Weiss appeared in a blur of white and produced an ice wall to defend them. The Deathstalkers pincer hit the wall and then to everyone's shock and amazement the armor on the pincer began to crack and shatter showing that Ruby's attack had made the Deathstalker's armor brittle to the touch.
"You are so childish!" Weiss scolded as Ruby saw that Weiss protected her and showed Ruby had severely weakened it.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked as she looked to the see the Heiress had covered her.
"And dimwitted and hyperactive and, don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss scolded as she kept her calm and doctrine for the moment. "But I suppose, I can be a bit…difficult but if we're going to do this then we're going to have to do this…together." Weiss said with a calm tone to the red-haired girl. "So, if you quit trying to show off, I'll be…nicer." Weiss said, much to Ruby's surprise as Weiss knew she and Ruby were stuck together for the long run.
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby explained seeing as Weiss has been treating her like a child since they've met, and Ruby wants her to know that she isn't.
"Trust me, you're fine." Weiss said before she walked away from Ruby. In response to this Ruby smiled as she closed her eyes.
"…Normal knees…" She muttered before going to look at the Death Stalker. "Woah!" She said as the Deathstalker was reeling from the pain its pincer felt. "Did I really do that?" Ruby asked surprised that she could do that to the Grimm. Ruby turned around only to be bear hugged by Yang.
"I'm just so happy that you're okay!" Yang cried out as she hugged her sister close while Haseo came in close to cover them knowing the Deathstalker was still there as well as the Nevermore and the Goliath.
"Guys, that thing's circling back!" Jaune pointed out as everyone looked and saw the Grimm was in fact circling around for another attack. "What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked before Weiss stepped up.
"Look there's no sense in dilly-dallying." Weiss said as they did what they needed to do here.
"She's right." Ruby said as she agreed with Weiss on this. "Our mission it to grab an artifact and bring it back to the cliffs." Ruby said as they had to leave now which in turn caused Weiss smiled before Ruby gave her a nod. "There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby said as she knew Weiss was right, they were told just to bring an artifact, not fight Grimm.
"Run and live, that's an idea that I can get behind." Jaune smiled as he wanted to live after all.
"So, let's grab a Relic before the Goliath decides to charge." Haseo said and in turn they got moving. Thus, Haseo and Ruby went to the pillars and grabbed their relics. Ruby grabbed the White Knight Piece while Haseo grabbed the Black Knight piece just as Yang and Kuhn did prior.
Just then they heard the Deathstalker and Goliath roar before making their way over to them. "It's time we left!" Ren said as they couldn't take on three powerful Grimm at once.
"Right!" Ruby nodded back knowing the danger they were all in now.
"Let's go!" Ruby instructed before everyone ran in her direction. Yang just couldn't help but smile as she saw this as Blake meanwhile had noticed how Yang looked to Ruby who stood and saw Haseo and Ruby leading the groups away.
"Is something wrong?" Blake asked wondering what was up with Yang right now.
"Nothing." Yang answered before taking off obviously proud of her little sister and her twin brother while Blake just smiled before running as well.
(At the Deeper Ruins)
Everyone went further in the ruins to see ancient structures and temple. The Nevermore was circling around the tower. It soon landed on it and screeched.
"Well, that's great!" Yang sarcastically said as they were now trapped.
Jaune looked back to see not only the Deathstalker but also the Goliath as they were basically screwed here right now. "Oh great! Run!" Jaune said before everyone ran while the Nevermore soon started to fly around seeing its prey.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren said to Nora as she nodded as she ran in the middle as she dodge the nevermore feathers and pull out her weapon in its grenade launcher form as she give a smile while fire a few rounds, as the round themselves look to be a normal grenade round but with a pink shape heart on the front of them.
As when they hit the Nevermore directly, they exploded in a pink smoke. Nora had managed to drive off the nevermore out of the area for now, but the Goliath and Deathstalker came up behind her and were about to strike at her. Seeing this Blake and Ren attack the Deathstalker, while Haseo and Endrance went for the Goliath to make it back off. Haseo jumped up and with his weapon in its Scythe form sliced down and used the chain saw to take out one of its tusks.
With this done everyone ran onto the bridge that led more into the ruins as Pyrrha turned around and saw the Deathstalker coming up as she said, "Go-go!"
She then pulled her weapon out and turn it into tis rifle mode and started firing but it didn't see to slow it down. Ren and Haseo also helped as they fired the guns off on the Death Stalker while the Goliath was forced to stay off the bridge. The bullets hit the Deathstalker taking out more of its armor as the soft fleshy bit's underneath were revealed to them. Kuhn, Endrance, and Atoli ran pass the trio with Blake in tow. During this the Nevermore started to come around as it saw the three teams on the bridge, it went in for a dive and destroy the bridge making the 3-team single group split up into two groups.
Once everyone was on the bridge the Deathstalker stopped as it was unable to cross the bridge be it out of fear or size it did not matter. The Nevermore was soon flying in as Ruby still remembered that she was the one who cut down its nest. The Nevermore soon hit the bridge wrecking it as Ruby, Haseo Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Endrance, and Yang were on one side away from the Deathstalker while Atoli, Ren, Pyrrha, Kuhn, and Blake were on the other side closer to the Deathstalker who made swipes at them and the Goliath who was ready to charge them.
"Man, we gotta get over there, they need help!" Jaune called as Nora smiled with an idea in her head.
"Let's do this!" Nora called as Jaune was unsure over what was about to happen.
"Yeah, but uh... I can't make that jump." Jaune said wishing he had a teleporting Semblance right now.
Nora smiled before bashing Jaune back with her Grenade Launcher as it transformed into her mighty War Hammer. Once it was done transforming Nora charged forward and once, she got in the air she spun behind her and hit the already ruined broken bridge which sent Jaune hurdling to the other side as he spewed out objections.
Nora was soon standing on her hammer as she put her hand to her eyes like she was seeing how far she needed to go before she pulled the trigger sending herself flying torts the Deathstalker. "WHEE!" Nora called out as she flew at the Deathstalker. "AH SMASH!" Nora called out smashing the Deathstalker in the head destroying a large chunk of its armor. The Deathstalker tried to sting Nora with its stinger, but Nora of course slid back avoiding it. But when she did this, she had hit Black and knocked her off the edge as Blake was falling. Black then converted her sword into its handgun form and threw it to a spot where it stabbed into. Blake then swung around as the Nevermore was coming in close. Blake responded by using her sword and slashing at it with both sword and sheath as she had already pulled her sword back. She was soon on the Nevermores back as she ran down and slashed at it with her heavy blade like sheath.
Meanwhile Atoli and Kuhn were forced to deal with the Goliath as they were trying to keep it away from the other battle. Haseo saw this and looked to Endrance knowing they had to get in there. "Endrance, we need to get to the Goliath!" Haseo said which Endrance nodded knowing that Kuhn and Atoli would need help to face it in battle.
"Of course, Haseo." Endrance said and in response he got moving. He summoned Glyphs for the two of them before launching them both over the ledge to the battle. Haseo landed on the Deathstalkers Stinger before using it as leverage to sling himself over to the Goliath. Endrance followed via Glyphs and soon enough Haseo slammed down his weapon in sword form upon the Goliath.
Moving back Haseo gathered with Atoli, Kuhn, and Endrance all of them ready for battle. "We might be here for a while." Kuhn said as he glared at the Goliath alongside his friends.
"Then let's not waste time." Haseo said and thus the four charged into battle ready to fight the Goliath.
Meanwhile over with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang the four girls were on a high vantage point as Blake saw the being was quiet powerful. "It's tougher than it looks!" Blake called as she looked to Yang.
"Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang called out as she was ready to take on the Nevermore and bring it down.
Ruby change her weapon in scythe mode with her hand on the trigger, Yang reloads, Blade had her weapon in gun form, and Weiss spin the cylinder for a new dust and soon enough they fire all they got at it, a the nevermore doesn't seem to be much effected and a lot of misses, it was upon them as it flew through a ruin building and brought it down with the four girl on it. They all proceeded to run for it and jump from bolder to bolder, blast their way up, clime up a pillar like a ninja, and dash up with a little help of a semblance.
Once they got top side Ruby stood with Weiss as she saw all that was going on. "None of this is working." Weiss said as she saw that they had three powerful Grimm on the field with one of them crippled thanks to Ruby.
After getting a good look at the situation a plan formed in Ruby's head. "I have a plan cover me!" Ruby called out and thus they got moving.
(Meanwhile with JNPR)
As Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren stuck on what was left of a bridge being attack by the Death stalker that was on normal land as it attack the bridge the team is on.
As the bridge was about to a no bridge, Jaune said to the group, "We gotta move!"
All of them rush towards to the Death Stalker as the thing swing down its claw at Pyrrha, she block it with her shield, and slash it away with her weapon in sword mode as it the death stalker pull back, it use its other claw to attack at Jaune as he bloc it with is shield, Pyrrha came in and knock it off of him.
Ren came in firing his weapon before he dodged a stinger attack from it. Ren then side stepped and grabbed hold of the stinger before Ren began to fire at the joint where the stinger connect to the tail.
Nora then came up with her grenade launcher and fire it at the Death Stalker, with Jaune and Pyrrha pulling back. As the grenade hit against its claws, Pyrrha also did her part as she change her weapon into a spear again and launch it at the death Stalker as it went into its eye causing the monster pain.
With that it freaked out swinging its tail around with Ren still on it, as he got thrown off, Nora look to him and said, "Ren!"
Ren hit into a ruin build, very hard and fell down maybe knocked out, Jaune got up and saw the Deathstalker stinger was about to fall off thank to Ren doing.
Jaune came up with a quick plan as he said, "Pyrrha!" pointing to the stinger as she said, "Done!"
Throw her shield like a Frisbee and cut where the join is weak at, as the stringer fell down on top of the Death Stalker's head, Pyrrha shield return to her, as Jaune soon turn to Nora and said, "Nora hit him!"
"Heads up!" Nora said as she went up to finish the job as she jump onto Pyrrha's shield with her grenade lunch pointed downwards while in hammer mode, Nora fire and shot into the air.
Nora was sitting on her hammer with a big smile on her face before she came down and changed positions to a standing position which allowed her to start spinning in the air once she fired her weapon as she soon smashed down on the Deathstalker's stinger and stabbed the stinger into it. The result was Pyrrha and Jaune being launched over the Deathstalker as Nora saw this and fired her weapon again as she was launched to Jaune and Pyrrha as said Scorpion Grimm fell to its doom. Jaune landing got messed up as Nora landed on her bum while Pyrrha stuck her own landing and finally Ren ran in sore and exhausted before Ren fell down possible out cold or catching his breath.
(Over with HAKE)
Haseo and Endrance charged in with Haseo using his twin daggers and began to perform fast and quick moves against their enemy. Slicing through the legs and any other spot with the least amount of armor the pair went full frontal on the Grimm. Meanwhile Atoli and Kuhn provided cover fire for the pair as Atoli had her weapon in gun form firing off Dust infused rounds against the Goliath. The initial shots bounced off the Goliaths armor before Endrance and Haseo backed off for a bit.
Endrance then summoned forth several Glyphs and used them to fire off spears of ice against the Goliaths. A few of the spears shattered but many more of them stabbed into the Goliath causing it pain from the strike. Haseo jumped between the spears and sliced into the Goliath with each jump as it seems the battle progressing made Haseo work more efficiently zeroing in on his target.
Jumping back Atoli moved in with Kuhn providing her cover fire and the Goliath saw this. Haseo moved in and blocked the attack using the flat side of his broadsword and stabbed it to the ground to bolster his defense. Atoli used the chance to switch her revolver into its staff form and released lightning Dust down using the ice spears and improve lightning rods. The result was as expected as the lightning went straight inside the Goliath causing it to rear back and roar in pain. Using this chance Kuhn charged in and fired upon the Goliaths underbelly before slicing at it once he got close. The Goliath was about to fall over so Haseo then nodded to Endrance.
Endrance proceeded to make a Glyph for Haseo to use as this resulted in Haseo being launched at the Grimm with his broadsword in its scythe form. He grinded the chainsaw and proceeded to carve up the Grimm and forced it on its back. Haseo then jumped back and proceeded to revert his weapon to its broadsword before stabbing it into the Goliath and grinding the chainsaw to make it go deeper while tearing apart its insides. Haseo roared out in fury before carving his way downward on the Grimms body. He soon freed his weapon at the end holding it there as the Goliath vanished behind him.
(With RWBY)
Yang was firing Ember Celica at the Nevermore as it flew over the ruins before she was able to hit its face. The Nevermore roared as that did hurt it quite a bit which opted the Nevermore to fly at Yang as if it were going to eat Yang. Yang of course jumped up and into its mouth before using her left arm to hold said mouth open and began firing into the mouth. "I! Hope! Your! Hung-ry!" Yang roared as she fired each shot with each word she spoke. Yang turned around and was wide eyed before jumping out of the Nevermores mouth and landed on the ground where said Grimm crashed into the wall.
The Nevermore roared as Yang looked to Ruby and the others and saw their plan was ready and smiled at what was to come. Yang soon saw Weiss charging forward as Yang ran past her to the others to help get the plan ready as Weiss reached her target with a jump before she stabbed and froze the area causing the Nevermore's tail to be stuck to the ruins. Weiss soon summoned another Glyph before making her way to the others as they prepared for Ruby's reckless plan.
Blake got her sword into its gun form and threw it over to Yang who caught it and stabbed it into a pillar deep as now it was time for Ruby and Weiss' move. Ruby pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose and launched herself into the sash Blade used with her Gamboul Shroud. Once Ruby was on it, she pushed it towards where Weiss was. During this part of Ruby's plan Weiss created a Glyph that quickly turned black as Ruby got closer to it. Ruby pushed the sash until she hit the Glyph and was thus held there becoming a human slingshot.
"Of course, you would come up with this idea." Weiss said as she held the Glyph ready to launch Ruby.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked as she didn't take her focus off the Nevermore and where she would cut.
Weiss scoffed to the question see it as dumb. "Can I?" Weiss asked with a cocky tone showing that it was a rhetorical question.
But unfortunately, Ruby did not pick up on it and gave Weiss a confused look. "Can you?" She asked only for Weiss to get upset.
"Of course, I can!" Weiss snapped and thus they got ready to launch.
The Glyph soon turned red and once it did it launched Ruby towards the Nevermore while breaking the ground from the force. Ruby, while she was flying through the air, was firing off Crescent Rose to increase her speed. As soon as Ruby got to the Giant Nevermore her scythe blade was hooked around its neck pulling it towards the mountain wall which Ruby landed on. On the ground Weiss created a path of Glyphs for Ruby to run on with the first one set right where Ruby was standing. With this done Ruby began to run up the wall while using Crescent Rose mixed with her Semblance to propel herself faster. Ruby roared as the Nevermore was creating a path of destruction as its body was being dragged on the wall. Soon once Ruby reached the top the Nevermore lost its head before Ruby landed on the cliff edge allowing the dead Nevermore to fall to the crevice below while its body turned to smoke and vanished.
Farther away from the two teams Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement as both teams just kicked major ass as they saw them all retract the armors reverting to their normal forms. "Wow…" The Blond Knight croaked in awe at Ruby, who had her cape and petals flowing with the wind as she looked down to her friends who peered up.
"Well... That was a thing!" Yang said breaking the silence as Haseo, Atoli, Endrance, and Kuh rejoin the group.
But just then before they could celebrate black dots began to surge from the chasm bellow catching everyone by surprise. Ruby nearly fell off the cliff as the Dots surged and caught the Nevermores remains. Reaching out the Dots went for the Deathstalker next and from there went for the Goliaths vanishing remains. Everyone was caught by surprised as the black dots consumed the subjects and brought them all closer together.
"The hell this thing again?!" Yang asked shocked over what was going on.
"AIDA?!" Atoli gasped as the AIDA took the three Creatures of Grimm into itself.
Soon enough the Aida brought the three Grimm together and formed a massive egg like shape of the black dots. Soon enough the shape began to part as from it a new creature was seen inside. Its lower body was that of the Deathstalker minus the head and the pincers. Its torso area was big and bulky but with the translucent slime like substance found on AIDA. At the end of the arms instead of hands was the Deathstalkers Pincers. Located where the shoulder Blades was were the wings from the Nevermore while on the hip area were the Goliaths tusks.
"What... what is this?" Weiss asked shocked over what she saw. The creature with its glowing eye in the torso saw them before it went on the attack. Everyone scattered as the creature was now going offensive. Slamming its pincers to the ground forcing JNPR to scatter from the attack. But Jaune was caught off guard when the AIDA Grimm swung its tail and slammed him into a pillar.
"Jaune!?" Pyrrha cried out when she saw Jaune get hurt.
Meanwhile Team RWBY Tried to move in but were stopped when the creature swung its wings at them sending out razor sharp feathers infused with AIDA. The creature would not be stopped as it then flapped its wings and floated by retracting its scorpion legs before charging at Nora and Ren with its tusk horns. The attack missed by after Nora and Ren failed to stop it and were forced to roll out of the way.
"What is this?!" Ren asked as he saw the creature was not going to stop. Just then its body began to glow and Haseo and his friends arrived just in time to see the creature fire off a barrage of lasers at everything around it. Everyone was forced to get out of the way as the lasers destroyed everything in its path.
Haseo stood in shock over what was going on as the AIDA Grimm was tearing through everyone and everything in its path. This went on like this before Haseo got angry and roared out. He charged in and sliced at the creature with his sword. The AIDA Grimm blocked Haseo's attack with its pincers only for Haseo to grind the chainsaw against it. The creature then swung its arm and sent Haseo flying back from the attack much to Atoli's shock.
"Haseo!" Atoli cried out as Haseo slid across the ground when he landed.
"Haseo!" Ruby cried out and thus she and Yang fired upon the creature.
"Get away from him!" Yang yelled as she and Ruby got its attention.
"No Yang Ruby!" Haseo cried out as he saw his sisters were going to get killed.
"Stop!" Kuhn cried out but then the creature sent its tail out at Kuhn before he could summon Magus. Endrance was ready to summon Macha but was stopped when the creature sent its razor feathers at him. Misa hid in Endrance's shirt to avoid getting hurt even though the Cat had an active Semblance.
"No." Haseo gasped as he saw what was happening. "I can't let this happen." Haseo said as he got back up despite the pain his body felt. "I have to protect them... I promised I would." Haseo said recalling when Yang and Ruby when Summer died. "I swear anyone who harms them I'll kill them with my own hands." Haseo said grabbing his face as his eyes widened with fury and a bit of madness. Just then a bell rung in Haseo's head, and the entire world turned to darkness around him.
Haseo knew what this was and when he saw a familiar trio of red eyes he smirked. "Took you long enough." Haseo said and thus a voice boomed from the shadows.
"I HAVE FOUND YOU!" The voice boomed before Haseo was in the grip of a familiar large creature to whom the eyes belonged.
"Come to me." Haseo said as soon the world returned around him. "Come on. Come on. Come on!" Haseo chanted as his mind focused on all his friends and loved ones. His eyes widened as the bell rung again and his mind began to hurt with a familiar pain.
"Haseo?" Ruby asked as she could see something was going on with Haseo.
"It's here... It's here... It's here... IT'S HERE!" Haseo yelled and thus his Aura burst forth from his body.
"Wow?!" Jaune gasped when he saw what was happening as a phantom formed from said Aura.
"Come to me. I'm right here. SKEITH!" Haseo roared and in turn he vanished into a flash of light.
"Did Haseo just get Skeith back?!" Atoli asked shocked at what she was seeing.
Soon the light died down and from the light Skeith in his first form was on the scene hovering in the air. The AIDA Grimm saw it and knew that it was in trouble as it fearfully stepped back from the Terror of Death. Haseo looked at his hand and laughed sadistically while clenching his and Skeiths fist. He then reached out and summoned Skeith's scythe as the weapon came as a staff first before the energy at the top shifted to form a scythe blade.
The AIDA Grimm roared and thus Skeith glared at the foe. Charging in Skeith avoided the laser fire from the anomalous monster and returned fire with its own attacks. Following this up Skeith stunned the creature before he began to hack and slash at it with his scythe. All the while Haseo was keeping his emotions in check to avoid Skeith going berserk on him.
The AIDA Grimm was unable to find an opening to attack as Skeith tore through each of its Grimm parts with his scythe. He then stabbed the Pommel of his weapon into the Deathstalker body before bashing the creature away. Skeith then flew back and reached out with his right arm as a familiar energy formed around the hand taking the shape of an eye glaring out. The energy spread across the arm before it took the shape of a cannon which was then aimed at the AIDA Grimm. The AIDA Grimm tried to stop Skeith as it began to charge up the needed power for the next attack.
Everyone watched as Skeith avoided the AIDA Grimm's attempts to stop Skeith before the Avatar fully charged up. Once the attack was fully charged Skeith proceeded to unleash it upon the AIDA Grimm and in turn the Grimm was covered in an orb of energy. Following this up the cannon arm on Skeith changed with six fins shooting out around it.
"DATA DRAIN!" Haseo invoked and thus the AIDA Grimm was caught. A rainbow of energy shot out of the AIDA Grimm like tendrils into the Cannon arm Skeith had made. The AIDA Grimm roared in pain from the attack before its body vanished from sight. Once it had vanished from sight Skeith hovered for a moment before his body began to give off red particles. Soon enough Skeith vanished and was replaced by Haseo whose feet gently tapped onto the ground.
Everyone saw the scene and needless to say they were all left speechless. Haseo smiled to everyone as he finally reawakened to his Avatar the Epitaph Skeith the Terror of Death the first Phase of Morgana.
(Scene Break Team Naming Ceremony)
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin's voice announced as the screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" Ozpin announced before the audience gives one more wave of ovation for the.
"Jaune Arc, Lei Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces from this day forward you will be known as team JNPR (Juniper)." Ozpin said as JNPR's faces and team name appeared on screen with the ovation going on for them as Nora then hugged Ren happy to be on the same team as him. "Lead by Jaune Arc." Ozpin said surprising Jaune as people applauded them.
"Huh... L-lead by?" He asked surprised to see this as he gestured to himself in shock to hear he was the leader of Team JNPR.
"Congratulation young man." Ozpin said as Pyrrha smiled and did a playful punch to Jaune which knocked him down. Soon enough JNPR stepped down from the stage as the next set of initiates stepped up to the stage. "Haseo Branwen, Kuhn Adel, Atoli Arc, and Endrance Schnee the four of you retrieved the Black Knight Pieces. From this day forward you will all work together as one team known as Team HAKE (Hacker)... Lead by Haseo Branwen." Ozpin said as this surprised Haseo for a moment when he heard this while applauses were sounding.
"Wait... you sure?" Haseo asked and thus Ozpin smiled to Haseo.
"Your mother would certainly be proud of you." Ozpin said keeping it vague as Haseo raised a brow and smiled sadly a bit recalling Summer.
"Way to go buddy!" Kuhn praised as he punched Haseo's shoulder playfully.
"I shall follow you anywhere so long as you need me, Haseo." Endrance said as Atoli then hugged Haseo.
"I'm so happy for you, Haseo." Atoli said happy that Haseo was the leader of team HAKE.
"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long the four of you retrieved the white knight pieces from this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY lead by Ruby Rose." Ozpin said surprising Ruby as the four mentioned girls stood before Ozpin as he smiled to them as Weiss was surprised to hear this.
"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said as she hugged Ruby as the people applauded them for this success.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Ozpin mused as he saw how things were playing out.
(Meanwhile in an undisclosed location)
In a warehouse that serves as Romans current hideout he was on the phone with a mysterious person before the call ended as he put the phone down and sighed. He then took out his cigar and light it just as a man in a white uniform with a Grimm Mask came in. Roman then took out Lien cards and gave them to the individual before speaking. "Open it." He said as the young man did so.
Inside where Dust Crystals of different colors as Roman looked at it as behind him was a map of the City of Vale with certain areas marked for some unknown reason. "We're going to need more men." Roman said as he knew if the plan was going to work, they needed help.
Just then he heard commotion behind him followed by some gunfire and panic. Looking back to the source of it Roman was wide eyed when he saw a familiar figure behind him with some corpses on the ground. "Red?! But how did you?!" Roman asked as who he thought was Ruby stood int he shadows with her Scythe out. "Wait did you..." He trailed off seeing the corpses. But then his shock was larger when the Ruby look-a-like stepped out of the shadows revealing herself to be Sapphire Thorn.
"Red?" Sapphire asked as she looked at the bloodstains with her gold eyes. "Well, I did stain myself with blood, but I wouldn't say I'm red... yet." Sapphire said and thus Roman was shocked.
"You're not her." Roman said as the girl was like a mirror reflection of her as she even had her own Crescent Rose which retracted into its storage form before she sheathed it.
"No, I'm not... I'm Sapphire Thorn a pleasure." Sapphire said with a bow of introduction. "And I hear you're in the business of causing chaos." Sapphire said and then she gave Roman a truly sinister grin.
"W-What of it?" Roman asked as he noted the insane look she had in her eyes like even if Roman said no Sapphire won't hesitate to slit his throat and take control.
"I want in." Sapphire said as she then stood straight. "I can keep Ruby Rose off your tail increase the damage, and most of all you can help me enjoy my new body." Sapphire said lifting her sleeve and licking her arm.
Roman may be a criminal, but even he knew the implications of her words and was not going to take that offer. "Ok kid, you can join if your useful but not like that." Roman said not wanting to add pedophilia onto his rap sheet. "Assuming you have anything to offer besides dead bodies." Roman said and thus Sapphire sighed to this.
"Don't worry... when all is said and done Vale will be a cesspool of chaos and destruction." Sapphire said as she could already picture it all for the sake of her plans. The world was changing and soon a story, thousands of millennia in the making would begin its second act.
(TBC)
ESKK: Well, here you guys go another chapter and with that Skeith has finally appeared. Anyway, I need to log off now and rest my brain but until the next chapter leave a review and as I always say ja-ne.