As Evan looked at the broken body of Penny, he could hardly believe his eyes. Seeing his best friend dead on the ground felt so unreal, as if he was in some horrible nightmare that he would soon wake up from. But as the moment continued on, he started to truly realize what had occurred. As he did so, he felt something beginning to stir within him. A growing overwhelming rage that started in his stomach and rose up into his throat. Standing up from his seat, he clenched his hands tighter than he ever did before. Evan stared at Pyrrha with both rage for his fallen friend alongside sadness and confusion for wondering why Pyrrha would ever do such a horrible thing. Pyrrha continued to gaze at Penny's corpse with pure shock and horror, her mouth and eyes both being wide open. Raising a hand to cover her mouth, she started to tear up. Breaking the deafening silence of the crowd was a new voice coming through the loudspeakers.
"People of Remnant, I come to you today to reveal the truth. This event wasn't some kind of accident. This is exactly what occurs when you entrust everything you hold dear to those who prop themselves up as protectors of the people, who, in actuality, are really nothing more than cowardly men." A female voice stated as the holographic screens throughout the arena changed to a red background along with a black chess piece of a Queen in front of it.
"The Headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies hold more power and control over the kingdoms than practically any army on this planet. And General Ironwood believes himself worthy to be in control of both." The voice continued on as the crowd started to stir and look uneasy.
"These men so desperately try to maintain their stranglehold over their positions of power, all for the supposed idea of "the greater good". If that is true, then what is this? A robotic girl? Could this the General's latest attempt at subverting the law and infiltrating our kingdoms? How many more of these automatons has he built? What exactly could the General be planning to do with these mechanical soldiers? Who can we even trust at this point?" The voice carried on, as Evan's anger rose upon hearing his friend's name be dragged through the dirt.
"She was more than just a soldier. She wasn't made to be some agent to slip past Vale's defenses. She just wanted to be a normal girl. She was as real a person as anyone else! And now…she's…she's gone. Who does this person think she is?! To think that she has the right to say that?!" Evan angrily thought to himself.
"And then there is Headmaster Ozpin, and his clear lack of morals. What lessons is he instilling into his students? First the brutal dismemberment of Mercury Black's leg, and now the death of another student? This is certainly not how acceptable behavior from the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Maybe Headmaster Ozpin hoped to put on a spectacle in order to make the public forget his shortcomings when Grimm invaded Vale not too long ago. Whatever the reason, I know that this so called era of peace that we now live in is much more fragile than one would expect." The voice stated.
"Considering how I've lived in Mistral for much of my life, I can confirm that there has been underlying tensions in the Kingdom for years now. The Kingdoms of Remnant are so close to breaking out into another Great War, but those in control say otherwise. So my final question to you is this: When the drums of war have begun to sound...who exactly can you trust?" The voice concluded as it cut away, leaving the holographic screens with nothing but static.
Quickly the screens shifted to an orange background with the word "CAUTION" displayed in white large letters. A robotic voice came out through the loudspeakers alongside blaring warning sirens.
"Warning! Grimm attack imminent. Current Threat level: Nine. All civilians, please head to the nearest evacuation shuttle." The robotic voice stated.
Immediately, the crowd began to rise up from their seats and began to flee toward the exit tunnels, their numerous voices and screams quickly becoming a wild cacophony.
"Everyone, calm down..." Ironwood stated as his voice came from the loudspeakers.
However, as Ironwood attempted to gain control of the situation, a gigantic Nevermore flew up and sat on top of the coliseum. Using its massive beak and talons, it began to peck at and claw away at the force field surrounding the whole coliseum.
"Is that a Nevermore?!" Sun exclaimed as he rose from his seat.
"That shouldn't be possible. How was it able to get through Vale's defenses!?" Coco questioned.
"Looks like it didn't travel alone..." Ren replied as he got up from his seat, while more Nevermores soared past the coliseum.
As the Nevermore continued its attack on the force field, the loudspeakers turned on once again.
"CAUTION: Automated Defense Shields Integrity at: 10%." The robotic voice explained.
Rising into the sky, the Nevermore began to circle around the coliseum. Still staring at the broken remains of Penny, Pyrrha remained practically motionless.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled out from within the stands.
"That Nevermore's about to break through the shields! You need to move, now!" Jaune exclaimed.
As Jaune's words fell on deaf ears, the blonde teen leapt from the stands and rushed toward Pyrrha. Diving down into the force field, the Nevermore burst through it, its sheer speed sending Pyrrha and Jaune tumbling backwards toward the edge of the arena. Extending its mighty wingspan, the beast crouched down and prepared to charge the duo. However, before the massive monster could reach them, a blur of red rose petals twirled into the creature and plunged one of Penny's swords into its stomach, forcing the monster back.
Quickly, the blur of rose petals came to a stop on the arena floor, revealing themselves to be Ruby Rose.
"Wha-Ruby?" Pyrrha questioned.
"Get away from her!" Ruby shouted out as she pointed one of Penny's blades toward the beast.
As the beast screeched defiantly at the small group, it prepared to leap into the air. However, before it could even get a chance to retaliate, Evan rocketed forward at immense speeds from the stands toward the Grimm. Extending his leg, Evan's foot collided with the Nevermore's skull. For a brief second, everything was quiet, before immediately afterward, the sound of the impact caught up with everyone as a loud BOOM could be heard. Due to the incredible strength from the young Saiyan, he easily removed the monster's head from its shoulders as its body collapsed in a heap on the arena floor and began to fade away.
As the three looked on at the amazing display, Evan landed back on the ground, a look of wild rage shined in his eyes as tears fell from his face. His fingers were a bright red from how hard he clenched his palms, which were now beginning to trickle a small amount of blood from where his fingers had been previously. Oddly enough, his hair was beginning to stand on end, almost as if it was just electrified.
"Why…" Evan said. The young teen just barely managed to get out the word as he stared down Pyrrha.
"It...I-I..." Pyrrha began to speak.
"TELL ME WHY!" Evan shouted as loud as he could, the concrete arena floor shaking as jagged cracks blasted out in each direction. With a fierce glare in his eyes, the Saiyan stared Pyrrha down as he stepped closer and closer toward the red haired student.
"Why did she have to die…What explanation could you possibly give that would make what you did ok?!" Evan questioned, his voice now reduced to a harsh whisper as he held back large sobs from coming forward.
"I-I'm so…Please forgive me!" On her knees, Pyrrha cried out as tears fell from her face.
But before Evan could get any closer, Ruby stepped forward.
"Evan, stop! Pyrrha's not the one to blame. She was set up!" Ruby exclaimed.
"What?" Evan asked, stopping immediately in his tracks. As he did so, his hair started to fall, returning to its usual state.
"I found out from Velvet that her teammate Coco experienced something similar to what happened with Yang during her fight against Mercury and Emerald. Even though Mercury and his team went back to Mistral, I saw Emerald sitting in the stands, and Mercury tried to stop me from warning anyone else. He was standing and fighting me on his own two legs!" Ruby elaborated as she turned toward Pyrrha.
"What did you see while fighting Penny?" Ruby questioned.
"W-While I was fighting her…Penny created hundreds, if not thousands of swords. They…They all looked so real, so I used my semblance to force them back." Pyrrha said.
"Emerald must have some kind of semblance that makes people see things! They set all this up! That lady on the microphone...they must have been working with Emerald and Mercury. They are responsible for all of this! " Ruby finished as she looked at Evan.
"Ruby's right! And we're not going to let them get with it!" Jaune added as he helped Pyrrha up.
"I can't believe they would do something like this…When I get my hands on them…" Evan replied as he thought out loud. His words, however, were stopped as numerous rocket lockers were called down on the arena, smashing into the concrete floor.
Coming forward from the stands and exit tunnels were the numerous Huntsmen and Huntresses that had participated in the Tournament. Approaching the lockers, they all proceeded to grab their weapons alongside Pyrrha and Jaune grabbing theirs. Walking toward Penny's body, Evan knelt down.
"Thank you for being my friend. For always sticking by me. For being a kind and wonderful soul. You were a real girl, through and through. I will keep our promise. I'll tell Ironwood the truth once this is all over. You can count on that…Goodbye…friend…" Evan quietly said aloud as he pulled himself back up.
Reaching for his scroll, Evan called his rocket locker, while wiping the tears from his eyes. As his rocket locker landed, Evan reached inside and equipped his gauntlets. Walking toward the large group of students, Evan could hear a loud series of roars coming from the top of the coliseum. Multiple smaller griffin-like Grimm sat at the ready from the peak of the massive structure.
"Looks like we got some Griffons on our hands. What should we do?" Sun asked as he pulled out his weapon.
"Sun! Pass me your scroll, now!" Ruby exclaimed as the blonde faunus tossed it to her. Using the device, she summoned her rocket locker, but before Ruby could reach the locker, one of the Grimm descended and landed on the locker. However, the beast was quickly scared away by the shot of a gun. Turning around, Ruby and Evan saw two of Beacon's teachers standing at the ready with weapons in hand.
"Everyone! While your efforts here are appreciated, you are needed elsewhere." An older, balding teacher stated as smoke billowed out of his gun's barrel.
"We can help though! Just-" Ruby began to say.
"Ruby Rose! There have been reports that Beacon Academy and Vale are under siege! If we don't split up to take down the Grimm now, then we might not have a home left to defend tomorrow." A teacher with green hair interjected the young teen.
Nodding at the two teachers, Ruby reached forward and grabbed her weapon.
"Come on!" Ruby yelled out.
As the group of students left, Evan noticed one of the students taking a picture of Ruby's scythe using her camera. Leaving through one of the exit tunnels, the group of students rushed toward the edges of the coliseum to see General Ironwood killing more Grimm.
"What's happening below the Colosseum General?" Ruby questioned.
"It's chaos down there...Not only have Grimm filled the city streets, but the White Fang have taken the opportunity to attack Beacon Academy. On top of that, someone has managed to take control over one if my airships. Until that issue is dealt with, aerial support from my fleet is not an option. That's why I'm..." Ironwood explained as another Grimm rushed toward them all. Ironwood, pulling out his pistol, proceeded to easily shoot it to the ground.
"Planning to go up there and deal with the problem myself." Ironwood finished as he approached one of the many airships escorting people off of the floating coliseum.
"You're the General, what do you think we should do to help?" Jaune asked, causing the General to turn around and address the group.
"I won't lie to you. This situation will be immensely difficult for even professional huntsmen to deal with, let alone you students. If you chose to defend the people of this Kingdom, there is a real chance some of you will die...The way I see it, you have one of two options to take right now: Go down there and fight to save Vale and Beacon, or retreat to live another day. I never thought that students your age would have to make such a decision, so I will say this: You will not be punished if you wish to choose the latter option. You will not be forced to fight this battle. In the end, the choice is up to you..." Ironwood elaborated as the students looked at each other uncertainly.
Turning back toward one of the smaller airships, Ironwood quickly entered the vehicle as it took to the skies.
"Hey! There's a shuttle over there!" Sun yelled out as he pointed toward one of the other airships.
"Let's load up and get back to Beacon!" Jaune stated.
As everyone sprinted over to one of the loading docks, Evan turned toward Ruby.
"I can fly a lot faster than this hunk of metal. I'll meet you guys over at the school!" Evan explained.
"You got it!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Be safe…" Pyrrha said as her voice trailed off.
"Will do. Oh, and Pyrrha? I'm…I'm sorry for yelling at you. If I find those bastards responsible, I'm gonna make sure that they pay for what they did to Penny." Evan replied before leaping off the loading docks and flying into the air.
As Evan flew through the air, Evan saw more Griffons and Nevermores soaring high in the skies. Charging up a couple of Ki blasts, Evan proceeded to fire away at them, decimating the group with ease. As he continued on, Evan saw one of the airships catch fire and begin to plummet toward the ground.
Zooming toward the ship, Evan looked through the central windscreen, Evan looked inside to see Ironwood in the pilot seat, desperately trying to steer the ship away from the city below him.
Punching through the window, Evan quickly entered through the copilot side of the cockpit.
"Is anyone else on board?" Evan inquired.
"No, it's just me!" Ironwood explained at a fast pace.
"Come on then!" Evan yelled out as he extended his hand.
Grabbing his arm, Evan lifted Ironwood through the newly made hole in the window as the airship crashed down in an open, empty courtyard. Struggling to keep the General in his grasp, Evan hovered over to a nearby rooftop, where the two proceeded to stumble and roll upon landing.
"*Exhale*…*Inhale*…W-What…What happened up there?" Evan questioned as he gathered his breath.
"The Atlesian knights that were in the cargo bag of my ship fired their weapons on me. I imagine if someone was able to take control over those troops, than I imagine that the rest of Atlesian knights alongside the Paladins in Vale have also been hacked into as well!" Ironwood elaborated.
"Good to know. So I need to look out for both Grimm and killer robots." Evan said aloud as he stared out at the numerous groups of buildings that filled the city streets.
"We're currently a couple of miles away from Beacon. The sooner that we get there, the sooner we can regroup with the professional Huntsmen and Huntresses in the area and send out orders to quickly and efficiently end this nightmare." Ironwood pointed out.
"Good plan." Evan replied as he nodded along. However, approaching the crash site were numerous hordes of Ursa and Beowolves.
"And I suppose that we can't let these monsters endanger any citizens still here, now can we?" Evan asked as he readied himself.
"Correct." James stated as he cocked his pistol.
Leaping from the rooftop, the two warriors charged toward the Grimm horde as they also turned to face and run at them. Firing off his pistol, Ironwood blasted the Grimm, one by one.
Speeding ahead, Evan let off punch after punch at the many Beowolves in front of him. An Ursa attempted to claw at his face, but Evan grabbed its paw and threw the beast further into the horde. However, with each Grimm they cut down, two more seemed to take their place. Even with Evan's tremendous power, their sheer numbers made them seem insurmountable. As the horde continued to surround them, Evan fired off a Ki blast, cutting a path through the horde.
"Move out of the way! Get as far away as you can!" Evan shouted out as the General nodded and sprinted further down the courtyard.
Charging up his Ki, Evan held his arms close as he began to spark and glow. The Grimm, turning toward him, attempted to attack him. Throwing his hands out, Evan sent out a large Ki wave in a blinding flash of light. As the smoke cleared, standing in a sizable circular crater, Evan saw the Grimm were reduced to nothing but dust as it blew away into the wind.
Panting for a second, Ironwood approached the young student, lending a comforting hand on Evan's shoulder.
"Are you alright?" James asked.
"Y-Yeah, I think…" Evan began to speak only for the ground to quake and rumble. Pushing their way forward past the many buildings that surrounded the streets, two massive Atlesian Paladins approached the duo as they entered the courtyard.
"Crap, not good." Evan muttered out.
As the Paladins rushed forward, Evan flew toward them. Firing off multiple ki blasts, the nimble machines managed to sidestep Evan's attack as they closed the distance. Now practically next to the teen, Evan could only try and dodge the attacks from the robots. While Evan was able to dodge one of the machine's punches, flying underneath the attack, he wasn't able to evade in time as the other machine sent Evan flying across the courtyard with a large punch.
"Evan!" Ironwood yelled out, his voice full of concern.
Pulling out his second pistol and aiming them toward the external circuitry of the machines, Ironwood attempted to gain as much distance as he could while he shot at and ran away from the machines. However, the speed of the machines were too great, as one of them had managed to grab the General and chuck him toward the side of one of the nearby buildings. Falling to the floor, Ironwood struggled for a moment, before he managed to pick himself up, his aura flickering in response to his injury.
As Evan watched everything unfold, he charged forward toward the Paladin attacking the General, only for the other Paladin to unload numerous rockets at the student. Flying into the air, Evan launched off more Ki blasts in order to destroy the explosive projectiles midair. As a large smoke cloud was created from the missiles exploding, Evan was stunned as one of the Paladin jumped into the air, through the smoke cloud, and punched him back toward the ground. Without getting a second to breathe, the Paladin unloaded punch after punch on the poor student.
Ironwood was also not faring well either as the other Paladin fired off more missiles which blew up in front of the General, forcing him to the ground. As his aura flickered once more, the General stood back up as he clutched his right arm, readying himself for battle once again. With the other Paladin on top of him, the robot sent out a punch toward the General. Catching the punch with both hands, Ironwood desperately tried to hold it back. However, James was unsuccessful as his right arm gave out on him as the General was crushed under the robotic fist of the Paladin. As Ironwood let out a loud yell of pain, Evan's senses were put on high alert.
"No…" Evan thought to himself.
In the briefest of moments that Evan had while being attacked by the robot, the Saiyan teen managed to catch the punch and push the machine away from him. Standing up from the small crater that he was being punched into repeatedly, Evan looked on in horror as the other Paladin stepped away from the General, preparing to launch another punch. Ironwood, clutching the managed remains of his right arm, tried to pull himself up, only for him to fall to the ground as he failed to do so. As the Paladin turned away from the General and toward Evan, he could feel that raw anger swelling up within him again, that same rage that he felt when he saw Penny die.
"No, it can't be…Please no…He can't die! Not now! All I have left of Penny is the promise we made. If he dies…then it'll all be for nothing! I've always had people helping me when I needed it, but Toma told me to always become stronger. He wanted me to gain the strength needed in order to become stronger than anyone else that I ever went up against! If…If I was just stronger now, then I would've been able to stop anything that got in my way, regardless of the odds." Evan thought to himself as the clouds darkened and lightning shot forth from them.
"These robots, the lady at the CCT Tower, Torchwick and his mech. None of them would've been able to hurt me if I was strong enough to take them down on my own. I'm a Saiyan warrior, and nothing can change that! I can't be scared of the future, I can only move forward and accept reality. But if I don't do something now then…then Ruby, Ironwood, Pyrrha, everyone…their lives are all in danger and I refuse to let anyone else pay for my shortcomings! I swear, whoever is behind all this…they're going to suffer like how I've suffered!" Evan declared to himself as his hair began to stand on end again.
As his body and muscles pulsated with pure power, while the very ground beneath him began to crack and crumble into dust, Evan clenched his hands as let out a mighty roar of anger.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAR!" Evan bellowed out as he was consumed in a yellow aura.
Barely conscious, the General struggled to lift his head up as he looked on at Evan's newfound transformation in bewilderment.
As Evan's scream ended, Ironwood saw that the teen had changed significantly. His hair, alongside his eyebrows, was now a golden yellow and all of it was pointing upward at various angles. His eyes were now a light green as they shined brightly amidst this dark night. His brown tail, now flicking back and forth wildly, was also golden too. Staring at the robots with eyes full of malice, Evan stood at the ready to fight.
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And that is it for this chapter. While some of you will fairly mention the weirdness of having this transformation take place here, you just have to trust me. I have most of the entire story mapped out at this point, and this is just how things unfold. I feel like I gave enough of an emotional reason to warrant the transformation at the very least. If this is too off-putting for you to keep on reading, then it was nice to have you here and stick along with my story for so long! Thank you for all of your support, and I should have the next chapter released sometime this Sunday/next Monday.