No yackin' more fightin! I promised the next chapter soon after the last, so let's hop to it!


Fighting Rose

Chapter 21

Metal Mayhem


Ruby and Weiss touched down on the roof, Ruby barely winded while Weiss had to stay still for a moment, catching her breath as Yang and Neptune pulled up below them, both groups signalling each other. Ruby herself was surprised though: Weiss used a fair number of Glyphs in order to keep up with her Scatter, yet Weiss wasn't anywhere near as out of breath or aura as she should have been. Still, it was telling that yet again, the unlocking of an Auric Trigger didn't instantly solve certain weaknesses but instead polished them out to an extent.

"Interesting, so I was right about that too…" She muttered as she took a mental note.

"Hmm?" Weiss said as she righted herself, back in full form.

"Oh, you're just a lot less drained than you normally would've been. The last time you used that many Glyphs so rapidly was your fight against me, at least as far as I'm aware."

"Huh…" Weiss herself realized, "…Do you think it's because of this… Trigger?"

"From what it seems, probably yeah," Ruby noted. "Yang and I already had pretty high overall stats but where she lacked in speed and I lacked in power, the Trigger didn't fix the issue but did help with those weaknesses. Seems to be pretty consistent with aura as a whole."

"Seems so," Weiss agreed, noticeably pleased with herself before she snapped back to focus. "Eyes up Ruby, let's not lose focus."

"Right," She nodded, "Thanks."

"Anytime," She said casually as they kept their eyes on the building.

There was an uneasy feeling in the air as both Ruby and Weiss felt this… off feeling from the warehouse, the quietness of the industrial area which they were in allowing them to truly feel this sensation. There was some muffled, ragged cheering coming from the inside, but rather than a joyous sound, it seemed more desperate, angry, bloodthirsty. It wasn't long after the dying down of the cheering that there was a sudden dull popping sound, the group tensing up at the familiar sound of Blake's handgun going off, the lights in the warehouse shutting off and innocent civilians running out soon after.

"Get ready!" Ruby shouted, muscles tensing and aura starting to rise from her skin.

A moment later, Blake and Sun burst out of the windows, immediately launching themselves onto the nearest roofs before locating Weiss, Ruby and Yang.

"GUYS, WATCH OUT FOR TORCHWICK AND HIS GIANT-!" Sun began to shout before the screech of metal rang through the air, the south-side of the warehouse gutted from the inside out as a mechanical monster stomped its way out, red tracking lasers rapidly locking onto the group of the roof.

Metallic Menace (in the Making)

Atlan Paladin Prototype

Easily up to 15 meters tall, its gunmetal grey steel glinting brutally in the harsh streetlight. Squat and hunched in build, it was clear that it was lacking armour-plating in certain areas such as the joints and other exposed pistons, but where it lacked in defense, it made up with its own bristling arsenal. Missile launchers mounted on its shoulders, heavy-metal miniguns on both wrists, a full-blown retractable cannon on its back, and what looked like foldable arms with crude but effective fists that could easily punch through pillars of reinforced concrete.

"W-we can't fight that!" Blake said with a shaky voice. "All those weapons… we have to get to a better spot-!"

"HELL NO!" Ruby shouted as her aura burst forth. "Trying to get it to a better spot means going right through Vale's Highway system! That's practically five kilometres of innocent people that Torchwick can kill, we have to fight him here and now before he can cause any major damage with that thing!"

"I'll be the first to ask," Sun spoke up calmly before his own aura exploded to life, his hair seeming to grow spikier along with his muscles slightly bulking up as he rocketed into the fray, proudly roaring into the night sky as Fang goons opened fire on him in a panic, "WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!?"

The rest of the group openly stared at him with dumbstruck expression, Yang swearing that she heard an eagle's cry overhead while Neptune just stood there and face-palmed.

"He… he does stuff like this a lot," He sighed before he lay down on the roof, taking out his Dust-rife and aiming at the Fang members below. "I'll cover you up top."

"...Alright then, I'll clear as much of the grunts as I can and try to stop the Paladin from gaining any speed!" Ruby shouted as Team RWBY burst into action.

"Ooh, you gonna do that big move!?" Yang shouted with excitement.

"Damn straight!" Ruby confirmed, "I'll be vulnerable for a few seconds after though, so I'm counting on Weiss and Blake to cover me!"

"Will do!" Blake nodded as she drew her katana.

"Understood!" Weiss yelled as she threw up a large Propulsion Glyph for Ruby to help her out. She jumped in the middle of it angled towards the Paladin as the machine began to step forward, steadily picking up speed while Sun was unable to reach it thanks to the Fang members piling onto him. Ruby closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the sensation of petals suddenly scattering in the wind before the telltale signs on her Trigger bloomed to life.

'Put the full weight of my body and soul into this,' She said to herself as the auric petals whipped around her far faster than ever before, the red thorns on her skin glowing even through some of her black clothes, metal clanked and scraped harshly as her thick wristlets and anklets slid into a brand new formation. 'Cut off any escape, and demolish whatever wall stands in front of me! DEEP STINGER!'

Ruby's aura turned into a literal red drill as she shot across the distance in the blink of an eye, the whipping winds from her spiralling soul literally blasting a good chunk of the frontline Fang grunts away in an instant as her diving kick smashed right into the hull containing Torchwick himself. She grit her teeth and blasted her Semblance as hard as she could like a missile pushing against a wall, steel beginning to crumple under the clawed boot of her new weapon as it initially pushed the mech back.

'Using too much aura, gotta stay efficient!'

The swirling winds and roaring momentum of Deep Stinger rapidly died out as Ruby sharply backflipped away, barely brushing against the Paladin's shockingly fast and somewhat sloppy left hook that was thrown off by Weiss' glyph and Blake's gunfire to its cameras before landing smoothly on her feet and in her loose stance, her new armaments glinting with equal danger in the moonlight. In contrast to her previous ones, these weapons looked almost brutal, made of segmented Black Iron and highlighted by pure Auric Silver. Her forearms and fists were armed with gauntlets that took on the vague visage of a snarling wolf, its spiky 'mane' on the top of her forearms and its open 'mouth' giving a clear view of her fingerless gloves. Her lower legs and feet were entirely covered with segmented greaves and boots, its toes armed with three wicked and thick talons while the very back of its heel had a smaller but just as sharp vestigial claw. This was Ruby's true and only physical weapon:

Earth-Piercing Gauntlets And Greaves

Beowulf

"Wicked little toys you got there lil'-Red," Torchwick's drawled from the mech's speakers, "But they aren't gonna be much help against my own badboy."

"You say that, but you're just a bigger target for me to bust up!" Ruby shouted back confidently as she bounced on her toes, "Besides, look around, there's nowhere to go! I dare you to try and run around without hurting people who you're supposed to be allies with!"

"…" Roman, looking at the screens within the mech realized she was right: by keeping him here, he couldn't use any of the mech's more devastating weapons without harming or the other Fang members there, thus his relationship with the Fang as a whole, not to mention the fleeing civilians. 'Smartass little kid,' He sighed internally, 'Oh well, never been one to shy away from a brawl, especially when I can't avoid it.'

A Fang grunt saw the standoff between Ruby and Torchwick, taking the opportunity to aim at Ruby's head and opening fire. She deftly lashed out with her arm, the bullet ricocheting off the Black Iron before she turned to stare directly at the grunt. He was frozen in place as he felt the sensation of a genuine wolf right up in his face, teeth bared and snarling before Ruby instantly shot across the distance between them, her flying hook-kick knocking him out cold, breaking his jaw and his aura all in one blow. She quickly grabbed his arm as he fell and threw him over his shoulder right as she noticed Torchwick turning the mech to try and bolt out of there, the grunt landing right in front of him. He cried out and quickly skid to a stop, one of the sensors going off as Ruby appeared right over its left shoulder-joint.

"RAAGH!" She roared as she brought both fists down on the pistons with a two-handed smash, crunching through the outer plating and ruining the pistons directly under the armour. The mech lurched and spun rapidly, again swinging its fist at the airborne Ruby only to miss as she Tricked up, her body turning into a vertical buzzsaw with her signature Lunar Phase as her clawed boot ripped through the mech's forearm like a chainsaw to flesh.

'This damn brat!' Roman cursed as the left wrist and hand hung limply open, unable to properly close its fist as she reappeared by its ankle, leg drawn into her chest as the silver highlight bled into red and glowed brighter with the more aura she funnelled into it. She grunted as her leg suddenly shot out in a storm of sidekicks, her armoured heel blasted into the joint over and over again as the metal caved and cracked in many areas. The mech buckled for a moment before steam began to rise from its entire form, the air around it growing warmer as it sharply pivoted on the spot and swung its leg at Ruby far faster than she expected. She Tricked back but it wasn't enough, the tip of its foot smashing into her hasty guard as she was sent flying through the air. Her arms stung but nowhere near as much as when Yang's full-power punch fractured her bones, easily recovering as she dispersed the impact by going limp, almost gently landing on her feet with her hands up once more.

'Alright, the Black Iron was the perfect choice for Beowulf!' She cheered internally, 'He took a pretty big hit and withstood my attacks, but not a single dent or warp. That's good, because now…' She grinned as she looked up. 'Somebody's piiiissed.'

"Alright you little brat, you want a fight, you got it!" Torchwick shouted as the miniguns in its wrists were pointed right at her, barrels spinning and metal whirring. "If you wanna talk big, better hope you don't swallow it!"

*BRAAATATATATATATAT*

A hail of bullets were spat from the barrels, Ruby instantly moving into action as she constantly dashed, leapt, dived and Tricked from spot to spot, barely dodging the stream of lead as it punched through and ripped up the ground behind her. Trying her luck, she intentionally tried to deflect one of the bullets, only for her arm to be blown back with her shoulder stinging in pain, forcing her to string together backflips from her lapse in movement.

'Alright, they're about as dangerous as I expected,' She confirmed as she sharply weaved past another handful of rounds. The hair on the back of her neck raised as she felt a vague threat from her side before a violet slash of aura sent the grunt flying. 'Good, everyone else is finishing up. Time to take this thing down!'

Ruby Tricked straight up over the stream of bullets, her body still for a moment before her leg seemed to disappear. The near-instant attack of Crescent Judgement tore right across the mech's cockpit, its shocking weight threatening to send the machine toppling over while Torchwick dedicated his attention to keeping it upright. Ruby herself was shocked at how well Beowulf's Greaves managed to augment her attack, though upon landing she had to stifle a cry of pain as the muscles in her leg locked up, sending her to a knee.

'Damn, I've only met the bare-minimum requirements to pull off Crescent Judgement!'

Blake quickly entered the fray as she dashed through a dozen charging Fang members with their weapons raised, intent to cut the recovering Ruby down until her sword flashed, streaks of purple light cutting across their chests and shattering their aura right as she sheathed her blade. She dashed in and grabbed Ruby, using her Shadow-Clone to quickly boost them to some thick enough cover before Torchwick could spot them again.

"You alright?" Blake asked as she quickly checked over her.

"Yeah, already back in action!" Ruby nodded with a grin.

Both of them burst into action as Fang members closed in on them from both sides, Ruby vaulting over Blake and cutting through the air with a terrifying roundhouse, her shin smashing through two Fang's blades and straight into their faces, sending them crashing into the floor before she went low, sweeping the stragglers off their feet before spinning on her knuckles like helicopter to smash her legs into their ribs. Blake was just as quick on the draw, using Ruby's vault to cut straight down as hard as she could and literally slicing through aura and armour in a single strike, finishing him off with a sharp elbow to the jaw. Two more raced her way and she shifted Gambol into its pistol-form, firing at their kneecaps before again easily closing the distance to knock them out with the flat of Shroud, practically dancing between them to whack both of their temples.

"Hey, that's like what I did to Yang!" Ruby noted as she weaved under a slash, grabbing the Fang's arm and sharply throwing him over her hip, spinning mid-air before she smashed her kick into his face right as he crashed into the floor.

"What can I say, I was inspired," Blake said wryly as she locked blades with another before quickly shooting a jab at his eyes, stunning him before she unleashed a downpour of slashes across his entire body, one final slash tearing his aura away as she smartly knelt under bullet aimed for her head. "Speaking of which…"

"I'm on FIRE baby!" Yang whooped as she slipped under another slash and breakdancing on the spot, aura trailing from her feet like fire while her boots crashed into the shocked Fangs' ribs and through their weapons before unexpectedly rising up with a fierce heel-kick to a Fang-Commander's gut, her raw power blasting him across the floor and into Sun. He was quick to grab him by the ankles before using him as a literal human weapon, sending another group scattering and right into Torchwick's path, forcing him to cease his fire lest he hit the Fang members. Sun himself was like a whirling storm, his brutal but elegant martial arts where he attacked with every part of his body being put to great effect, a knifehand stabbing into a Fang's armpit before they could open fire before he grabbed their amr and whipped them over his shoulder and into another member. He closed the distance before they could even topple over and slammed his palm into the member he threw, a flash of pale yellow aura sending them flying through the air before he ducked low and swept another Fang to swung for his head off their feet, breathing out sharply as he shifted into a deep stance and slammed his elbow into their gut, followed by a strong heel-kick to the face.

Weiss herself moved like a cold-snap, a strange fierceness overtaking her movements as she dashed around the field to support and take out Fang members, some of them catching on very quickly that she was a Schnee and focusing on her. Landing on her feet, a group emptied their clips at her, Weiss sharply pointing and forming a glyph to stop the bullets from reaching her, a flick of her wrist reversing the gravity of the glyph and sending the rounds right back at them. Distracted by the sheer pain of being shot, she launched forward with a Glyph to smash her knee in one of their faces, shooting straight down to the floor with another Glyph to dodge a chainsaw aimed for her neck, a stocky Fang Commander simply raising it again to cleave her in half. Scowling, she quickly flicked a finger and surrounded herself with multiple Glyphs, the chainsaw rebounding off of them before Weiss send them flying out, the auric constructs blasting the lesser grunts away while sending the Commander into the air, positioned to surround him. The sound of a clock ticking echoed through the air as her body was surrounded in a golden sheen, her form turning into a black and white blur as she bounced from Glyph to Glyph, slashing and stabbing away at the airborne commander before he tried to lash out with his chainsaw. Weiss spun like a top on one last leap, Myrtenaster a circle of light as it sheered through the chainsaw before smashing into his chest, the blade turning red for a split second until it exploded and flung him away, completely out cold.

"DAMNED BRATS-!" Torchwick roared, sorely tempted to just swat them out of the way regardless of the consequences. The cameras refocused to reveal Sun right in front of him, his red and gold gunchaku whirling through the air as he rapidly opened fire while Neptune perfectly sniped the rest, the shells and bolts tearing through the secondary cameras and rendering Torchwick almost blind if not for the main display. The mech was quick to respond with a punch aimed at Sun's prone mid-air form, only for Ruby to blast in and shoot a sharp straight-kick right at its forearm, redirecting it just enough to brush past the both of them.

"Point blank?" Sun asked with a grin, his entire body glowing with power before he cupped his hands by his hips, the space in between forming what looked like a miniature star.

"You bet!" Ruby laughed as aura coalesced around her leg, "Aim for the joints!"

"Too obvious lil-red!" Torchwick mocked as he dug the mech's hands into the floor before violently yanking up, a wave of debris and stone flung right at them, forcing the pair to cancel their attacks before sharply retreating using their Semblances. Torchwick took the opportunity to try and bolt again of for Ruby to call out-

"Frozen Lake, Falling Dragon!"

The heiress was in front of the mech a moment later, though Torchwick has no qualms with attempting to squash her until she jammed her blade into the ground, a thin sheet of ice spreading across the floor and sending the speeding mech slipping onto the ice, just in time for Yang to dive from above with a crushing punch on its midsection fuelled by volatile Flame-Dust. The ice instantly evaporated and blanketed the area in thick steam, obscuring the mech's vision. Torchwick couldn't even rely on any extra cameras or secondary sensory-input, having been largely destroyed by Sun's gunchaku barrage.

"Well, at least all the regulars are far away now..." He chuckled as he gleefully looked at all the buttons and leavers. And so with his understanding of all the civilians being far enough from the combat-zone, he resorted to his favourite option when things got hairy: blow everything to hell. Miniguns, secondary guns, missile-launchers, even the Dust-cannon attacked to its back were now deployed, clamps on its feet drilling into the ground for better stability as it opened fire with almost everything it had.

"Red Nightshade, Overdrive!"

Auric blades of violet and rose-red cut through the mist as Torchwick opened fire, missiles and bullets clashing with the auric attacks mid-air with continuous bursts of light and heat. It wasn't long before the mist began to dissipate from the shockwaves of the clash, Ruby and Blake side by side as the former's legs constantly lashed out in time with the latter's arms, pumping furiously to ensure that the bullets and missiles were intercepted, though it was clear that they couldn't keep up a sustained stream.

"Weiss, Run the Clock!"

"Mirror-Mirror on the wall," She intoned as frosty aura crackled around her body, "Shatter your glass, I rise and stand tall!"

She stood behind them and cast a new glyph under Ruby and Blake's feet, the face of a classic two-handed clock rapidly spinning and surrounding the pair in a golden sheen. Their bodies turned into literal blurs as their rate of fire soared, the boost in speed even push back the mech's barrage. Even then it was clear that it was only temporary, not something that could be kept for long… not that such a thing was necessary. Yang and Sun came barrelling in from the sides, the latter blasting into the right leg with her Sunlight Stinger while Sun's body relaxed for a moment before he exploded into the left leg, slamming his shoulder into the steel in much the same style as Ruby's Tetsuzanko. Its legs buckled, forced to stop firing lest it overbalance itself, and Yang, Ruby, Blake and Sun went on an absolute rampage. Yang roared as she used her gauntlets to flip through the air and smash her fists across the mech at every possible angle, Ruby and Blake blitzing back and forth with their respective roundhouse kicks and heavy slashes to chop away at its ankles, Sun latching himself to the mech as he pounded away wherever there were functional weapons.

"You wanna play rough, fine!" Torchwick shouted as the air heat up, steam flying from the mech as he removed all its limiters before it suddenly moved twice as fast to punch the unprepared Yang clean out of the air, steel knuckles smashing into her entire body and embedding her into a building wall.

"YANG!" Ruby screamed, panic taking over her and distracting her from the mech punting her across the floor with a kick to the gut, her aura taking a massive hit as she tumbled across the ground, crashing into the same wall under Yang, dust shrouding both of them as Yang fell to the floor.

"Oh SHIT-!" Sun yelped as the scalding metal quickly began to burn his skin, forcing him to jump away with Blake while Weiss and Neptune stepped in to try and pepper it from afar, Weiss infusing Ice-Dust into her Glyphs as Neptune sniped through it, covering the cockpit and joints in frost in an attempt to slow it down. "Are they gonna be okay!?"

Blake peered at them for a moment before she held back a gasp, a confident smile on her face.

"When Yang gets hit, she hits back harder. When Ruby gets hit, she strikes back better. Those two are gonna be just fine."

"Hey sis'," Ruby called out as a rhythmic thrumming began to echo through the place, "Whadda ya say we turn this around in one shot?"

"Sounds like a plan to me! Trigger Act 3!" Yang agreed as she slammed her fists together, the dust blown away to reveal their flaring auras. Yang herself was an incandescent sun, burning with golden fire and crowned with the flaming illusion of infernal horns.

"Time to Advance!" Ruby shouted, veins popping and skin going pink as steam rose from her body, the rose and thorn patterns of her skin pulsing brightly, though strangely it wasn't anywhere near as intense than her previous uses of it, eyes still clear and unclouded by any anger. They both tore across the ground right as the Mech charged at them in turn, both fists raised to squash them like bugs.

"Big mistake Torchy!" Yang called out, crouching with her arm drawn back as black sparks began to fly.

"Space distorts and the sky turns dark…!" Ruby couldn't help but intone, her leg suddenly surrounded by petals that bled into a pitch-black colour before the sisters roared out in unison-

"BLACK FLASH!"

Their attacks blurred and exploded onto the descending mechanical fists, the slash of Ruby's upward kick shredding through the entire arm like paper while Yang's punch shattered the other, the sheer force of their combined attacks literally stealing the light from the area in a flash of pure black while sending the paladin flying head over heels and sliding across its face, coming to a stop 100 meters away. Yang and Ruby fell to a knee side by side, aura fading and panting from their exertions before grinning at each other and bumping fists. Everyone stopped as they still continued to hear a high-pitched humming, looking to see the Dust Cannon on the back of the Paladin almost fully charged, crackling with raw energy and pointed right at them.

"You did good kids," Torchwick's voice warbled through the mangled speakers, "But now it's GAME OVER!"

"Not if I've got anything to say about it," Sun chuckled as she stepped in front of the downed Ruby and Yang. "You were awesome out there Ruby, what with your semblance, aura, and even using Black Flash? We gotta spar sometime!"

"W-while I'm happy I made a good impression again," Ruby said with pink cheeks, "Is now really the time to talk about that?"

"Eh, take the good with the bad," Sun said with his usual cheeky grin, "Besides… what's a battle if you can't have a little honest fun? Wanted to save this for the festival, but hey, what can ya do about it?"

Just before he turned to face the barrel of the canon, Ruby saw his eyes flash stark yellow, his power skyrocketing as he once more physically grew in size, muscles threatening to tear through his pants and jacket. He went into a slight crouch, his aura flowing into his arms as he made the same cupping motion from before, a growing sphere of pure aura forming in between his palms once more. Ruby could only stare in awe once more at the raw strength on display, Sun's voice booming proudly.

"KA…ME…!"

"You think throwing out a little aura's gonna stop this bad-boy!?" Torchwick laughed, "Your funeral kid!"

"HA… ME…!"

There was a split second of stillness, the sphere of aura in Sun's palms literally strobing and warping as it struggled to contain the energy in time with the pulsing lights within the Dust-Cannon of the Paladin. And then, the cannon fired right as Sun thrust his palms forward.

"HAAA!"

*BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA*

Two beams with the thickness of full-blown school busses blasted across the distance and smashed into each other, the shockwave almost throwing Ruby and Yang off their feet, yet the former refused to take her eyes off the spectacle before them.

'A legit aura-beam! I can't believe I get to see one with my own eyes, not to mention one so powerful!' She though gleefully, 'It's not just like he's just blowing his aura out, he's compressed it in between his palms and forcing a small amount, like putting your thumb over a garden-hose to increase the stream's pressure. But for it to be this massive…!'

She looked at Sun again, and it was clear that he was struggling. Trying to keep such a massive amount of aura so condensed while maintaining just enough space for it to fire out continuous was dangerous: an attack of this calibre if he failed to maintain control could literally explode in his face. She went to stand up only to grunt in pain as horrific cramps hit her calf and hamstring once more, forcing her to stay down and allow aura to uniformly flow through her circuits, trying to recover as quickly as possible.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted, "Buy Sun some Time!"

"On it!" Weiss shouted as her aura crackled across her body like frost, forming the same Time-Dilation Glyph under his feet, Sun gasping as he felt everything around him slow down, his beam pushing back against the Paladin's own as it sped up dramatically.

"I've… got one more trick up my sleeve!" He ground out, "But I… need an opening!"

"We'll give it to you, just hold out for a little bit longer!" Ruby nodded as she finished healing her leg, kissing her teeth at her relatively low aura. "Yang, Blake, on my mark, Colour Up and fire at the bottom of the barrel! Weiss, get ready to freeze its base right after!"

Blake and Yang stood at Sun's sides, both of them funnelling their aura into their weapons, focusing it into their respective bullets to further power-up its impact, though the former felt something odd tugging within her as she packed Gambol's pistol with as much aura as it could handle, the bullet rattling in the chamber.

'It feels almost like... my semblance?' Blake wondered, weighing her options. '...If I hold back, too many people will be put at risk. I'll take the shot!'

Ruby watched and waited, knowing that she was betting on a risky what-if, but it was their only option now: any close-range strike on the Dust-Canon could lead to a point-blank explosion that would be 100% lethal at their lowered aura-levels. Trying to redirect the beam could lead it untold innocent casualties depending on how far it could pierce, its power already able to easily punch through stone and metal, not to mention what it could do to a regular person. But a beam of that intensity firing for that long from an already damaged robot…

Then, she saw it: the overheating barrel, the metal beginning to warp and sputtering sparks from the dust-cartridges worming from the gaps of their housing, and most importantly the slight thinning of the beam.

"NOW!" She roared, jumping up and immediately lashing out with her Crescent Judgement, the instant attack slamming into the top edge of the barrel just in front of Yang's fire-charge and Blake's bullet slamming into the bottom, Blake's eyebrows creasing in surprise not just at the kickback of her shot but also the sudden and repeated bursts of violet aura on impact, more than doing its job as it repeatedly ripped at the metal before bursting with a flash of light. Regardless, it did its job as the extra openings caused portions of the beam to spill out, the lack of pressure causing it to taper off and weaken just enough as Weiss used a Glyph to shoot a condensed bolt of ice at the base housing the dust-cartridges. Of course, Sun took the opportunity and went all out. For a split second, he grew even larger, towering over everyone there as the yellow glow of his eyes and his expression turned harsher before his power suddenly doubled, literally blowing Team RWBY away as his aura turned bloody red and he bellowed-

"KAIO-KEN!"

His beam swelled before being violently spat forward, blowing clean through the weakened Dust beam and into the barrel, all the dust inside spontaneously going off in a spectacular explosion of lightning, fire and even stone, the latter just barely killing off the momentum of Sun's final burst of aura. The cockpit seemed to detach itself right as the explosion hit, propelling itself forward and sliding right in front of the panting Sun.

All was quiet as Ruby tried to sit up quickly, groaning as she felt her floating ribs sting painfully, another cramp hitting her kicking-leg. She slowly pushed her dwindling aura into the wounds, making sure to quickly observe her surroundings. Torn-up ground, unconscious Fang members laying all over the floor, shattered weapons, twisted and smouldering steel, one smashed-up wall, and one absolutely ruined Paladin in a burning and electrified heap.

"…Area check!" She coughed out.

"Clear around me!" Yang groaned.

"No hostiles in the immediate area," Weiss sighed as she wiped her forehead.

"Ditto," Blake winced as she stood up.

"…thank Gods," Ruby groaned as she slowly got to her feet and returned Beowulf into its compact form. "Welp… seems like things have more or less sorted ouuu…?" She looked over and flinched to see Sun still standing there. He breathing didn't sound laboured, they were the breaths of someone who was high on adrenaline. His aura was still writhing around his enlarged body, fists clenched and muscles tensed. She slowly walked up to him and reached out.

"Sun?"

The hair on the back of her neck spiked as he whipped around and threw a wild left hook, Ruby reacting automatically as she smoothly redirected the blow, her palms on his wrist and elbow almost gently pushing away from her face. Teeth were bared in a savage snarl, yellow eyes vibrating in his skull before they widened and stilled upon looking at Ruby, her own arms shaking from the effort she put into her defence. Yang didn't miss the exchange, almost leaping in on instinct and just barely restraining herself upon seeing Sun freeze on the spot before his body shook, as if he was barely restraining himself.

"It's over Sun," She said calmly as she ignored the pain, "We've won, so we can relax now."

He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a shuddering breath as he steadily shrunk back to his normal size, his aura settling down along with his shrinking body, Yang herself relaxing but keeping an eye on him. When he was done, he opened his eyes and panic erupted across his face.

"H-HOLY SHIT, I'M SO SORRY!" He cried out, gently grabbing Ruby's arms and inspecting them before funnelling his aura into her. Again she blushed at the sudden closeness before chuckling shyly, relief flooding her as his powerful aura helped to speed up her own recovery.

"Don't worry about it," Ruby said with her usual bright grin, "I know it isn't your fault, and I'm not exactly in the position to rag on someone for going berserk."

"Eh, guess you're right," Sun chuckled nervously, "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again tho-ngh."

Ruby raised a brow as he wiggled a bit before suddenly taking off his jacket, his upper body bare for the world to see as he dusted off some stray pebbles and debris clinging to his taut skin, a number of battle-scars visible all over him along with… stretch-marks for some reason. She couldn't help but take in an eyeful of his incredibly well-trained form again with pink cheeks, once again well aware of just how handsome he was now that the fighting was over, though her eyes went wide as he grunted and turned around.

"Sorry, can you dust my back off? Shoulders are pretty stiff from my aura-attack."

"…" Ruby could only stare at the expanse of his back, corded with the defined muscles of a warrior, but what surprised her the most… "You've got freckles on your back?" She squeaked, her face turning red.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I think it's from all my time baking under the sun back home!" Sun chuckled as Ruby tentatively brushed his back off with her bare hand, sucking in a breath at the sensation of his muscles under her palm. "They're… they're not weird or anything, are they?"

Ruby couldn't help but look up at that with a raised brow, the genuine worry from his squirming aura along with the mix of shame weight down made him seem as if he was almost curling in on himself.

'…He's self-conscious,' Ruby realized, though for the life of her she just couldn't understand why. There was only one way past this: be honest. "Th-they look really good on you Sun."

Sun stiffened in surprise before he turned to look directly at Ruby, his eyebrows raised and his own cheeks tinted pink. She could feel the pleasant hum in his chest before a shy but genuine smile made its way onto his lips.

"Thanks Ruby."

The fact that he was genuinely grateful was again confusing to Ruby yet she couldn't help but smile back at being able to touch on something that was probably sensitive to him. Ruby then had to suppress a cringe and heavy blush at the wording to that train of thought before it was interrupted by the sound of groaning from the detached cockpit.

"Torchwick!" They both gasped as they sprinted up to the cockpit, fear bursting through her. If that explosion had killed him… it didn't take long for them to reach him, Sun gritting his teeth as he gripped the metal and begun to try and pry it open, though it was clear that exhaustion had taken its toll.

"Hold on a sec!" Ruby shouted before she threw a cutting hook-kick, ignoring the slight pain in her back and legs as Beowulf's claws sliced through the steel, giving Sun the room to rip the metal away like the cover of a tin-can. Ruby sighed in relief as they saw that Torchwick was simply semi-conscious, the cockpit entirely uncompromised. "Probably got knocked around by all those impacts," Ruby sighed. "Let's bind him and take him to Ozpin."

She instantly felt the familiar sensation of a 'sharp' aura behind her aiming right for her neck with the genuine intent to pierce her carotid artery, instantly whipping around to shoot her knee up at a thin but deadly estoc with the handle of a frilly pink and brown umbrella. Ruby didn't stop at one, knowing that the familiar attacker would use the momentum to follow up right as the estoc spun in their hand before they stepped in close to try and puncture her ribs and lung. Making sure not to waste aura, Ruby deftly caught the attacker's arm in a lock before pivoting and trying to throw them headfirst into the floor, only for their flexibility to come into play as they kneed Ruby in the back of her head. Her vision tilted for a moment and her lock became loose enough for the attacker to slip free, though not before Ruby recovered and followed up with a spinning back-kick to the airborne foe, Beowulf's heel appearing to slam into a sudden open umbrella. The attacker was sent flying back at first before they gently floated down, Ruby herself landing and catching her breath, legs shaking from exhaustion even as her mind raced.

'It felt like I tried to kick a piece of floating tissue-paper! I knew she was good, but for her to use Hua-Jin so well… hell, I can just barely go limp enough to redirect a bit damage. She's nuts, and worse: pissed!'

Neo didn't bother with any flourishes as she gripped her umbrella so tightly that Ruby could practically hear the handle begin to crack, the shorter girl's face absolutely thunderous as she stormed straight forward.

"The rest of you grab Torchwick and run back to Beacon. I'll hold her off-!" Ruby started.

"Won'tletyoutakehimdon'ttouchhim."

Ruby blinked and flinched backwards, tempted to clean out her ears. She was sure that Neo hadn't opened her mouth, her eyes never leaving the shorter girl, yet it… felt like her voice. Even as Neo dashed towards Sun as he quickly hoisted Torchwick over his shoulder and Ruby sped forward to stop her, Ruby examined Neo as closely as possible in their clash. Ruby shot out a straight front-kick for her midsection only for Neo to bat it out of the way angrily before immediately trying to end Ruby's life with a single stab for her heart. Ruby used a quick burst of Scatter to redirect the thrust with her left shoulder before sharply following up with a right roundhouse-kick to Neo's head, the latter bending backwards and sliding under the kick on her knees with ease, yet barely able to block Ruby's follow-up low hook-kick sending her sliding backwards. Again Ruby flinched as she looked at Neo's enraged face.

"Shitfuckgoddamnitlittlebrat!"

'She's… getting sloppy?'

Neo tried to get up only for Blake to fire at her knees, legs buckling further as Weiss formed the true origin of her Propulsion Glyph, the Gravity Glyph, under Neo's feet. Yang exhaled sharply as she dashed in and delivered a right hook point-blank to Neo's face, seeming to connect only for Yang's eyes to go wide as she overswung, having felt as if she hit nothing before Neo rammed her knee into Yang's ribs right under her armpit, agony racking the blonde's body as her lungs locked up before Neo spun and used her own increased weight to bring her shin down on the back of the hunched Yang's head, slamming her face-first into the concrete. Neo unsheathed her estoc from her umbrella and rose it above her head, ready to pierce through Yang's spine until she was stopped in place, Glyphs binding her wrists above her head Weiss held out a trembling arm, the sheer fear of seeing Yang die making her pour out every last ounce of power into her Glyphs.

"SEI!"

"SHAA!"

Ruby and Blake took the chance and blasted in, Ruby throwing a side-kick as hard as she could at Neo's face while Blake slashed with all her might at Neo's stomach, red and violet light flashing as Neo was hit full-force by both attacks. The Glyphs shattered as she was sent flying back, crashing and rolling across the floor yet smoothly whipping her legs and leaping to her feet, nose bleeding while she idly clutched at her ribs before her face twisted into horror and despair: Sun was long gone, and Torchwick with him.

"Thanks for the save gals," Yang grunted as she hopped to her feet, "'Specially you Weiss, really came in clutch there."

"Poor as your jokes are…I'd… rather not… see you skewered," She panted as she stood with the rest of the team.

"So, how are we doing this?" Blake asked Ruby, also noticeably worn out, yet Ruby wasn't listening.

"Please don't go."

There was no message as clear as this, Ruby physically feeling the plea radiating from Neo's very soul. There was a moment where she saw Neo slump very slightly, yet the sign of defeat was telling. Neo then stared Ruby down, her face turning to stone, yet again her message was clear.

"I will get him back. You won't stop me."

Ruby sighed and relaxed, dropping her hands and standing upright and confident as she stared right back.

'Come and try it.'

It was Neo to flinch back this time, eyes going wide for a split second before she scowled and angrily twirled her open umbrella, her visage turning glassy before she vanished in pink shards of light with Team RWBY quickly losing track of the woman in pink. After a few moments of scanning, they all collectively sighed in relief and slumped, tempted to simply collapse onto the floor.

"Alright… now the coast is clear. I wonder if… ah, right!" Ruby huffed before she quickly jogged over to the open cockpit, rummaging around the inside before finally finding what she was looking for. Grabbing it, she grunted and yanked it out, wires ripped away and tiny sparks flying from a little black box.

"Ah, the Black-Box huh?" Weiss noted, "The rest of the components should be fried, though the Black-Box tends to be reinforced in some way. I'll admit, I didn't even think of that."

"Just remembered really," She said nonchalantly as she tossed it into her pocket. "Rather not have our faces plastered everywhere even if our disguises are solid."

"Yeah, no kidding," Yang chuckled nervously. "Now uh, can we bounce? I'm pretty sure those are police sirens coming our way."

"Mm. Wouldn't exactly look good if I was caught with you guys, extra ears and whatnot," Blake said with a grin.

"Not to be racist-!" Weiss started.

"That's what someone says before being incredibly racist," Ruby deadpanned.

"Quiet you!" Weiss hissed with red cheeks, "… I agree with Blake's statement in the least racist way possible."

"…wow Weiss, that's pretty racist," Yang pointed out, dramatically sighing. "And here we thought you changed."

"…I hate all of you," She groaned as they sprinted off into the night, Blake and Weiss getting on Bumblebee while Ruby used her semblance to speed alongside them. All four were unaware of the strange raven perched upon the top of a building closely watching them leave.

(TWBY Continued...)


Sooo? What'd ya think? Had a harder time writing this fight than I initially thought I would, but hey, I think it turned out nicely. Not to mention, get Sun to show more of his stuff this time around (and Neptune, but mostly Sun)! I get that turning him into a Saiyan probably seems far too whacky and out of the scope of RWBY's possibilities... but hey, so what? It's fanfiction, not to mention I'm blatantly doing multiple crossovers. I'll just integrate it in such a way that both worlds seamlessly fit together, or at least as seamlessly as an amateur writer is capable of. Either way, hope you enjoyed and peace out!