As the young Saiyan awakened from his long slumber, he groggily clutched his head. Looking around, he saw various medical machines alongside two Atlesian doctors. Before he could say anything, one of the doctors saw him and proceeded to sprint out of the room. The other doctor started typing away on his scroll.
Quickly, General Ironwood entered the room along with the first doctor. The man looked tired and bits of stubble were starting to emerge on his normally clean shaven face. As the General turned toward Evan, his expression changed to a more relieved look.
"It's good to see you awake, Evan." Ironwood said aloud.
"How…How long was I out for?" Evan questioned.
"It's been about two days." James replied back.
"T-Two days?! What's happened? Where's Ruby, Sun, Yang, and the others? Are they ok?" The young Saiyan asked.
"After the massive Grimm attack on Vale, hordes of Grimm have surrounded Beacon Academy and more have continued to appear. Headmaster Ozpin has also…gone missing. Regardless, a lot of the world is blaming Atlas for what happened in Vale. It's also caused many citizens in Atlas and Mantle to become concerned, wondering if what happened to my robotic forces in Vale could also happen here in Atlas. Because of all this, large numbers of Grimm have begun to appear and approach Atlas's borders. I sent the Ace Ops alongside many of my best soldiers to help quell the problem, but the situation is proving more difficult to accomplish than I initially thought." Ironwood explained.
"As for the students, Ruby, Yang, and many of the other students, they're fine and have decided to stay within the Kingdom of Vale, last I heard. Weiss was brought back to her home in Atlas by her father. With the CCT system down, it's been…difficult to properly gather all of the information regarding the event. We're still receiving the last bits of news from Vale as we speak." Ironwood finished.
Looking out the glass window, he saw the Ace Ops coming through the hallway and entering the room. The group looked exhausted, but Elm was the first to perk up as she rushed up to give him a hug.
"Oh, kid! I was so worried about you!" Elm exclaimed.
"You should've seen her when the medics first brought you in. She practically was in tears…" Harriet said with a small smile.
As Elm let go of Evan, Evan shifted in his bed as he gave an uneasy expression toward the group.
"What's wrong?" Marrow inquired.
"T-There's something that I need to tell you all. And…I need no one else in the room before I start talking." Evan elaborated.
"Understood." The General replied as he signaled the doctors to leave the room.
Sitting in the hospital bed, Evan felt like there was a pit in his stomach. Pushing forward regardless, Evan began to speak.
"*Sigh* Listen…While I was in Vale, I've been getting more of my memories back. It wasn't until the Grimm attack on Vale, the one before the Vytal Festival had started, that I finally remembered everything. Just let me finish before you say anything. Essentially, I'm an alien known as a Saiyan. We were a cruel and ruthless warrior race that worked under a horrible emperor named Frieza. Our job was to wipe out entire civilizations of people in his name, and I did just that alongside my fellow Saiyans. I killed many who were innocent and many who were not." Evan explained, causing the group to look at him with a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Frieza hated the Saiyan race and feared that we would become strong enough to overthrow and kill him. As such, Frieza ordered all of the Saiyans to return to our home planet in an attempt to wipe them all out. My brother, Toma, realized what was happening and the two of us attempted to leave the planet before it was too late. There was a fight against some of Frieza's troops, and, in the process, one of our spaceships was destroyed. Toma forced me to flee from the planet without him. I watched as Frieza destroyed my home planet, alongside the entirety of the Saiyan race." Evan continued, causing Elm, Vine, and Marrow to look at the teen with pity. Harriet, Clover, and Ironwood had changed to a more neutral expression.
"When I regained my memories, I was scared and afraid of what you might think of me if you all knew the truth. I kept my past secret until Team RWBY and Penny confronted me about it. I told them everything, and I was surprised that they were willing to stick by me. Ruby believed that you all would be willing to understand and offer me a second chance. I made a promise with Penny to tell you all the truth, although I was hesitant to follow through. After she…died, I swore to myself that I would honor the promise that we made, regardless of what might happen. I know that what I've done can't be excused or taken back, but I'm willing to change and fight for Remnant regardless of what you may now think of me." Evan finished as he looked toward the group.
The Ace Ops looked at Evan with a conflicted expression.
The General, in the midst of thought, paced the room, his boots clicking on the floor interrupting the silence that filled the room. Slowly, Ironwood approached the bed.
"Back at Amity Colosseum, I told you and the other students that you could run or stay and fight. Considering your abilities, if you didn't care about anyone else there, you could have easily fled the scene. Remnant is a massive place, and you could have slipped away into the wilderness or some other kingdom, and we might have never seen you again. You could have lived out your days in Mistral or Vacuo, but you chose to stay and fight. You saved my life and helped to save the lives of those who lived in Vale, and considering what I've heard from the Huntresses that found you, along with your medical reports, you fought until your body gave out on you. You put your own life on the line to save those that couldn't defend themselves. You bravely fought the Grimm, knowing the risks. Your actions directly lead to countless people being saved. If those aren't the qualities of a Huntsman, then I don't know what are." Ironwood stated.
"B-But, that doesn't excuse what I've done." Evan muttered out.
"It does not." Ironwood replied as he shook his head, causing Evan to lower his head toward the ground.
"However…" The General announced, causing Evan to raise his head back up, hope filling his eyes.
"If you are willing to put in the effort to truly atone for what you've done, then Atlas will always be a home for you. Our enemies are growing bolder in their actions, and we need those who are able to stand against them. I think that you can rise to the occasion and help to defend our planet." Ironwood finished, causing Evan to stare at the General with his mouth partially agape from surprise.
"I-I don't know what else to say but…thank you…thank you!" Evan said aloud, his eyes tearing up in the process.
"I'm willing to stand by you kid! Isn't that right Marrow!" Elm declared as she put an arm around the faunus.
"Y-Yeah…Absolutely! We need to stick together, now more than ever!" Marrow added.
"If the General is willing to believe in you, then I trust his judgment." Clover announced as Harriet gave a nod to the young Saiyan.
"I concur." Vine replied.
Suddenly, a knock came from the door.
"You may come in." Ironwood announced.
As the door slowly opened up, a short lanky scientist stepped forward. His hairline was starting to recede, and patches of his black hair were starting to gray.
"I apologize if this is a bad time, but I wished to inform you that the gravity amplifier has just been completed. We installed it in the center of Training Room 4. We would have completed it sooner, but after what…happened to Penny Polendina, Pietro has practically isolated himself within his workshop. Thankfully, we were able to complete the rest of the work ourselves." The scientist stated as he lowered his head.
"O-Only those that have this key can operate the machine. I-It's to make sure no one…unprepared ends up using the device." The scientist continued to explain as he raised his head up and pulled a small gold key out of his pocket.
"Thank you Doctor Ohm. You and your team's contributions will not go unnoticed." Ironwood replied as he grabbed the key. The scientist quietly stepped away from the group before leaving out the door.
"I should go and see Pietro, I can imagine what he's going through right now…" Evan replied as he began to get out of the hospital bed, only for his legs to buckle when his feet touched the ground.
"In your current state, the only thing you should be doing right now is rest. Whatever you did back there, put an incredible amount of strain on your body. When you're well rested, I'll have you continue your training. If we can manage to bring out that physical boosting state of-" James said aloud before getting cut off.
"It's called Super Saiyan, sir. It's based on a legend from my culture, although I guess it's not really a legend anymore…" Evan interjected as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Understood. I'll also have you go out with the Ace Ops to help clear out some of the Grimm that have been sighted recently. I imagine they shouldn't be too difficult to take down with all of you working together." Ironwood stated as he handed Evan the key.
"General, if I could suggest something…" Evan questioned as Ironwood gave him an approving nod.
"My abilities aren't exclusive to my race. I imagine that most people on Remnant can use ki. It's what allows me to fly, fire off energy attacks, and increase my physical attributes. If you would allow me to teach the Ace Ops how to channel their ki, then, with enough training, they would be able to perform similar feats to what I'm capable of." Evan explained, causing the expressions of everyone in the room to widen in surprise.
"Wait…You're saying I could fire lasers from my hands?!" Marrow questioned, his voice rising in excitement.
"Yeah." Evan replied with a casual tone in his voice.
"That would be awesome. Imagine my speed semblance with that ki training…" Harriet said with a pleased tone in her voice.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you kid?" Elm responded back with a friendly punch to the shoulder, causing Evan to smile even more.
"That would be incredibly helpful. I might have Winter join your sessions as well if you intend to teach the Ace Ops. I'll make sure to fill her in on your situation. You don't have to worry about telling her." Ironwood added with a smile crossing his face.
"Until then, I'd recommend you get some more rest." Ironwood said as he and the Ace Ops began to leave the room.
"I understand." Evan replied back with a relieved look on his face.
/-/
As Evan entered the training room, he saw a large, metallic, silver pillar standing in the middle of the large space. It stretched all the up to the ceiling. Inside the pillar, was a see through window with a collection of purple, gravity, dust crystals floating inside of it. Approaching the device, he saw a collection of dials and keypads and next to them, a keyhole.
"Alright, let's see this thing in action!" Evan thought to himself.
Placing the key inside the machine, he turned the key to the right. As he did so, a metal shutter fell to the floor in front of the exit, blocking anyone from entering the space.
"I guess that's to make sure that some random guy doesn't walk here and accidentally get turned into a pancake." Evan thought to himself.
Turning the key all the way, he felt the machine begin to come to life. Interacting with the console, Evan began to amplify the gravity in the room.
"Let's start off with two times gravity, just to be safe." Evan contemplated.
Typing the command into the machine, a LED display showed the symbols: "2g".
Looking through the transparent window, Evan saw the dust crystals begin to glow.
For a moment, nothing appeared to happen, but the room began to fill with a very light purple tint. As it did so, Evan could feel the gravity push down on him with a slight intensity, almost as if some imaginary person was pushing their hands down on his shoulders.
"This is nothing, let's try something harder." Evan decided as he interacted with the device again.
As the display showed the symbols: "5g", the purple tint intensified as Evan felt the gravity increase even more so. This time, Evan could definitely begin to feel the gravity weigh down on him.
"This is good for now." Evan said to himself aloud.
With each punch and kick that Evan unleashed, he could feel the gravity try and force them down. Pushing through, Evan started to sweat as he continued his exercise.
"Let's give ten times gravity a shot. I spent my whole life in gravity like that back on Planet Vegeta, so it shouldn't be too bad." Evan contemplated as he typed into the keypad.
As the display showed the symbols: "10g", the purple coloration of the room increased as the gravity rose ever higher. While the gravity was intense, it wasn't something he couldn't handle. It was as if he had switched to using light weights for so long that he had briefly forgotten what lifting heavy weights was like.
"Guess I've been getting a little soft with this planet's normal gravity, but no more!" Evan declared to himself as he continued his exercises.
After 45 or so minutes had passed, Evan approached the console and turned the key to the left. As he did so, the purple tint disappeared as he could feel the gravity return to normal. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Evan turned to see the metal shutter blocking the exit raise back up and disappear into the ceiling. Afterward, he stood near the center of the room.
"Now, let's see if I can go Super Saiyan again!" Evan thought to himself.
Taking a deep breath, Evan focused. He could feel his ki rising higher and higher, as his hair started to point upward and flow wildly. However, despite him increasing his power, Evan couldn't quite figure out how to transform like how he did before.
"Why isn't it working? I did it once before. Maybe there's something to it beyond just raising my power level. Maybe I need to channel an emotional reaction into it in order to push it all the way. I'll try that first thing tomorrow." Evan contemplated as he lowered his ki and walked out of the room.
"That should be good enough for today." Evan thought to himself.
Navigating the long hallways, Evan passed by a couple of soldiers who were talking to each other. Tuning them out for the most part, Evan started to walk past them, but something in particular caught his interest.
"Did you hear about what happened to the Invincible Girl?" One of the soldiers asked.
"Who…Oh, yeah Pyrrha Nikos." The other soldier replied back.
Turning on a dime, Evan spun around and faced the two soldiers.
"What…What happened to her?" Evan inquired hesitantly.
"She…she died." The first soldier explained.
/-/
After hearing the news, it felt like a dagger had pierced his chest. As Evan laid in bed, he kept recalling what the soldiers had told him. Apparently, Pyrrha had died during the battle at Beacon Academy, and multiple sources came forward recently to confirm it. Staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, Evan couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling that lingered in his mind.
"First Toma, then Penny, now Pyrrha…If I had only done more back during the fight, maybe she would have still been alive…" Evan contemplated as he heard a gentle knocking on the door.
Getting out of bed, Evan walked over and opened the door. Standing in the doorway was Vine, looking as composed as ever.
"Hey Vine, what's up?" Evan asked.
"I came by to inform you that we will be leaving shortly to head out on our mission. I would recommend that you get properly suited up for the occasion before we leave." Vine calmly elaborated.
"But that mission wasn't until…" Evan began to say as he pulled out his scroll. Looking at it, he saw that it was close to 11 pm.
"I guess I didn't realize how much time passed me by these last few hours…Just give me a minute and I'll be right outside." Evan replied back as he raised his head back up to face Vine before closing the door.
Approaching one of the drawers, Evan pulled it open and grabbed a pair of the blutz wave goggles. Reaching toward the drawer under it, he opened it up and reached inside, only to see nothing within.
"That's strange, my armor should be in here. I know that I had it with me when I was living…in…Beacon. *Sigh* It's probably still in my room, I imagine. And with my gauntlets smashed up, I guess I'll just be wearing my Atlas uniform today." Evan thought to himself.
Opening the door, Evan stepped outside.
"Shouldn't you be-" Vine started to speak before Evan cut him off.
"I lost my other uniform, so this is all I got." Evan interrupted the taller individual.
"In that case, let's head to the docking bay." Vine stated as the young Saiyan followed behind him.
As the duo entered the docking bay, Evan saw the other Ace Ops waiting for him.
"What's the mission today?" Evan asked.
"A herd of Megoliaths have been spotted crossing the continent of Solitas. At their current pace, they'll be at Mantle's and Atlas's borders this time tomorrow. We got to make sure that we eliminate them before that happens." Clover announced.
"Let's get to it then! There's a blizzard rolling in soon, and I'd prefer to not get stranded out in the tundra." Harriet stated as she stretched her arms out.
"Yeah!" Marrow added.
As the group entered the Bullhead and took off, Evan was in the midst of thought.
"What exactly happened back there with Pyrrha? Was there anything that I could've done to help her? Did I do anything wrong?" Evan thought to himself as the ship sailed through the night sky. While it continued onward, the city of Atlas and Mantle disappeared beyond the horizon. Slowly, the aircraft began to lower to the ground.
As the ship came to a stop, the team stepped out of the vehicle. Equipping his goggles, Evan felt the ice crunch under his shoes. Looking around he saw that the vehicle had landed at the bottom of a frozen hill with a large mountain, piercing the clouds, nearby.
"Hey Clover, can you toss me one of those fire dust tubes? I don't want my tail to freeze off out here." Evan questioned.
"Sure thing." Clover replied back as he pulled the small machine from his pocket and handed it to the teen.
"The Megoliaths should be just over this hill. Everyone, be on your guard." Clover announced to the others.
As the group walked over the hilltop, they saw four Megoliaths slowly marching forward. Tilting its head upward, one of them spotted the group and made a blaring noise from its large trunk, alerting the rest of the group.
"Aright team, let's show them what Atlas's top team can do!" Clover declared.
Both groups charging at each other, Evan took to the sky and rocketed toward the Grimm on the far right. Grabbing the creature by its tusks, he pulled at the appendage, and slammed the beast to the ground.
"Grimm are attracted to the negative emotions of people. Everyone knows that. And the Grimm attacked the city of Vale because of how the thousands of citizens in the stadium reacted to Penny's death. But...wasn't her death my fault…" Evan thought to himself.
Rushing forward, Marrow extended his hand out toward the center two Megoliaths.
"Stay!" Marrow exclaimed, freezing both of them in place.
Pulling his fishing rod out, Clover wrapped it around the last Megoliath, the one on the far left. As the metal wire was wrapped tight around the creature's legs, the beast collapsed to the ground. Using their semblances, Harriet sprinted forward before launching herself into the air, with Vine's assistance, before pulling her fist back and crushing the Megoliath's skull.
Spinning the beast around by its trunk, Evan launched the monster into the sky before flying up after it. Charging a ki blast in each hand, Evan placed his palms against the creature's skin and fired them off at point blank range, turning the beast into dust.
"The Grimm came because of Penny's death, but Penny wouldn't have fought Pyrrha if I had just volunteered myself to fight before Penny did so. If I had done that, then no one would have died! It's all my fault!" Evan thought to himself as he grimaced and clenched his fist in frustration.
Aiming his boomerang rifle, Marrow ran to the side of one of the two frozen Grimm before proceeding to unload dust rounds on the beast. Running along the other side of the Megoliath, Vine pulled out his weapon and slashed through its skin. Collapsing to the ground, the Megoliath became unfrozen as it turned to dust, scattering into the wind.
As the other Megoliath became unfrozen, Elm rushed in front of the beast and grabbed it by its tusks. Using her semblance, Elm rooted herself to the ground, causing the beast to thrash about wildly. Seeing this, Marrow launched his boomerang at the beast's face, pushing it back slightly. Pulling out her rocket hammer, Elm launched multiple rockets at the Grimm before swinging the weapon at its face, while Evan flew toward the creature and punched a large hole through the back end of the creature. As the last of the Grimm turned to dust, Evan stood on the ground, furrowing his brow out of anger and frustration.
"Thanks for the assist, Vine!" Harriet exclaimed.
"Anytime." Vine replied back.
"Great work team! That should lift some weights off the General's shoulders. Evan, your help was greatly…Evan?" Clover began to say before turning toward the teen, concern filling his voice.
"It should have been me…" Evan muttered out under his breath, his hair beginning to rise upward and swirl.
"What did you say kid?" Elm hesitantly asked as walked toward him and held an arm out.
"IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!" Evan yelled out as he transformed into a Super Saiyan once more. His sheer golden aura cracking and melting the ice and snow all around him, the group backed away from the Saiyan.
For a brief moment, his aura had risen to massive proportions as he fell to his knees and punched the ground out of frustration. The ground shook from the fierce impact as Evan stood back up.
"What do you mean?" Marrow questioned.
"A-All of the…Grimm came and attacked Vale because of Penny's death, right? Well...Penny and I decided to…f-fight each other in a sparring match to see who should go on and fight Pyrrha. I was too scared of hurting her, and P-Penny decided to volunteer herself to be the one to fight Pyrrha. Her death is on my hands! A-And if I was just strong enough back then…then maybe…maybe Pyrrha wouldn't have died too…" Evan replied with an exasperated look on his face, tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he tried to control his breathing.
"Evan…" Elm began to say, her face filled with empathy.
"And even with THIS…" Evan added as he pointed toward himself.
"E-Even with the power…of a-an ancient form long thought to be mere legend, I-I wasn't strong enough or fast enough to save Pyrrha either…" Evan said aloud as tears began to fall down his face while he stared toward the ground.
"First Toma, then Penny, and now Pyrrha…Who else is going to die under my watch…I-I just don't think I can…" Evan started to say.
Before Evan could continue on, Elm came forward and put a hand on his shoulder and cupped her other hand around his cheek and chin, making him look into her eyes.
"Kid, you're not thinking straight. I need you to calm down and breathe, ok? None of that was your fault. You could never have predicted any of the stuff that happened that night. You shouldn't blame yourself for what you did! The monsters that caused all of that pain are the ones responsible, and you know that I'm not talking about the Grimm. They are the ones who caused all of those deaths back at Amity and Beacon. Trust me, they are gonna be held accountable and be met with the cold hammer of justice…Pyrrha knew the risks of being a huntress. We all do when we sign up for this line of work. You can't be everywhere at once…Sometimes, the world can be a cruel place, and horrible things like that happen. At times, the best thing that we can do is pick up the pieces, and take things one step at a time. Just know that I will always be there for you if you ever need a shoulder to cry on. Do you understand, Evan?" Elm stated.
The young Saiyan tried to find the words, but decided on a firm nod instead.
"Don't forget about us too! Not to mention, with all of that ki training that you're going to help us through, they won't be able to sneak away next time!" Harriet added as she placed her left fist into her right palm.
"Yeah! Could you imagine the might of like, six Evans working together? No one would be able to take us down!" Marrow pointed out.
"Heh, I think one Evan is more than enough. I don't think our kitchen staff would be able to handle three Evans, let alone six." Clover replied back.
"Heh, C-Come on Clover, I don't eat that much…heh. Elm, back me up here…" Evan said with a chuckle in his voice.
"Sorry kid, but I think I'm going to have to side with Clover on this one." Elm declared as she jokingly turned her head away from him.
"You guys are a bunch of traitors! Fine, I guess I go a little overboard, sometimes…" Evan stated with a growing smile on his face.
"Sometimes?" Vine questioned as he raised his eyebrows up.
"Ok, all the time. But can you blame me? The food is all so good!" Evan exclaimed as he threw his hands up in defeat.
"Can't fault him there. The way that they make their alfredo pasta is just perfect, you know?" Harriet replied back.
"But what about the sushi plates? They always know how I like it served…" Marrow added as he started reminiscing about it.
"How about those chocolate lava cakes?" Elm questioned the group.
"Don't forget about those fruit parfaits…" Vine stated.
"Oh great….Now my stomach's going to keep me up all night now! Can we just head back to the ship?" Evan exclaimed as he turned toward Clover out of desperation.
"I don't know…Now I have pasta salad on the brain…" Clover said aloud.
"Not you too!" Evan yelled out as the rest of the group started to laugh.
/-/
And that ends this chapter. I should have the next chapter released either Wednesday or Thursday next week. We are rapidly approaching 50 followers, and I'm pretty excited! Thanks for reading my story and I'll see you next time!