The shore drifted ever closer, the endless forest just past the small beaches. She sighed with the calm, the breeze tossing her long golden hair.
It was good to get out of the ponytail. She'd only done that because managing it had become… a lot harder recently, and when she neglected it she looked rather deranged. Her hot-rod of a motorcycle, Bumblebee, served as her perch, sidesaddle style as she looked out. It gleamed in the sun, paint grading between gold and a fiery orange.
"Puddle-jump from Vale," said a gruff, friendly voice, "but something tells me your voyage is just beginning!"
She turned, lifting her carbon shades to reveal eyes of lilac. The voice belonged to the old sea captain. Short voyage, as he said. The ship had to head North around the top of Sanus, but the gap between it and Anima on the East side was almost a strait. But she had noticed the man wandering about. "Seen a lot of people making their way, or was the ol' magic eight-ball just on-point today?" she snarked, affording him a mild grin.
He laughed shortly. "Oh, come now, don't break an old man's heart."
She tilted her head. "Uh, beg your pardon?"
"So serious, but I can tell just from that, you weren't always," he sighed. "Something missing, is it…?"
She didn't answer immediately.
A look of guilt overcame him. "Ah, I don't mean to pry… forget I said anyth—"
"Missing, huh?" she said coldly, removing her right leather glove.
Beneath it, her hand and forearm could be seen… or rather, what replaced them. A cybernetic wonder in black and gold, she flexed fingers and a wrist of polymers, experimental alloys and super-dense ceramics. Built for comfort, and combat. "...Was it that obvious?" she said at last, flashing a wry smile as her fingers fluttered at him.
Both of them laughed as the sun shined all the more brightly.
"Hahaha, ah, there it is," he said, beaming. "I'm not good for much, but I can always tell about people. And you've got a glow about you, if a bit tarnished."
She crossed her legs, arms behind her head as she leaned against a porthole. "Yeah, well… it was all fast times, study nights and food fights back at Beacon. Things change."
The captain's mouth fell open and his head dipped. "Oh… oh, I see… you were there for that nasty business, were ya? Terrible shame."
She scoffed bitterly. "Understatement of my life."
He nodded sadly. "All I know is what I've heard… but I've heard a great deal. Dragons clawing their way up from Hades, rogue Atlas machines, a mech-smashing rabbit… So much is too incredible to sift the facts from the fervor, but I know the other Kingdoms understand even less."
They were quiet, the swell of the sea gurgling as gulls called out. "Still… life goes on," he told her. "It has to."
She nodded, silent. His old eyes twinkled.
"Don't lose that thing you've got, miss. Don't let your light be dimmed by the world. Glow brighter."
She took a deep breath. "It's Yang, actually."
He smiled. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Yang."
She smiled back, pushing her shades back on.
"Alright, helmsman, reduce to port speed! All hands, we are approaching Himawari Bay!"
She twisted the throttle as Bumblebee roared off the boat eagerly into the Anima wilds. The wind in her hair, the lingering smell of sea salt… she felt alive again. She felt control again. Nothing was going to stand in her—
Her shades barely dulled the glare as suddenly something stood in her way.
She glimpsed a pink scalp and some weird yellow pauldrons as the sky flared pink, before she swerved wildly, only landing Bumblebee into a sidelong crash that sent them all tumbling. The bike's engine gave a last roar as it slid to a stop before idling out. Unharmed, she sprang to her feet, noticing the human heap she'd just run down.
"Oh my god!" she cried, running over.
His eyes wide, she finally got a good look at him. Black armor, skin tight shorts —she could relate— and those absurd pauldrons. She pegged him for a kid at first, but he was clearly just short. He'd just come up to her chest, and she was pretty average for height. "I'm so sorry! You… okay down there?"
He stared at her for another second before answering. "I'd call that a short joke, but actually… yeah! I'm just dandy."
Yang offered her right hand, and he took it readily, shooting to his feet and dusting himself off.
"Heh-hey, nice grip there! Yeah, compared to what I was dealing with a second ago, don't worry about me. You took a pretty good spill too, y'know."
She laughed. "Nah, my aura's tougher than that. Huntress. Well… mostly. Haven't graduated… it's a whole thing."
He stared rather blankly. "Uh… well, I'm no one to judge; I used to be an Orin Temple monk. Scratched that…"
Yang, busy picking up Bumblebee, looked up at the incense burns on his head. "Monk, huh? Might never've guessed."
He chuckled. "Eh, I kept the style. So what'd you hunt? Something with enough hide for leather, if that getup is anything to go by…"
Yang cycled her key. "No no, not a hunter… a Huntress. And you're one to talk about outfits, Shoulders."
"Well I didn't think you were a dude…"
The engine roared back to life and idled. "Uh… no," she deadpanned, lowering her shades, "a monster slayer… the Grimm?"
"Hmm? Grim what? I mean, I've had my brushes with the reaper, bu—"
She killed the engine. "You don't know what the Grimm are…" she said, frowning. "The dark creatures that have hounded our entire species since the beginning of time… What temple was this? Is it in Mistral? How does someone miss a thing like that?!"
"Well I don't know… unless…" His brows knit with concentration before he looked around the area. "Whoa…! Either we got invaded while our backs were turned, or…"
She sat confused as he looked her in the eye. "Wow, holy crap, you're nearly as strong as we were a year back! Are you even actually human?"
Yang pulled her shades off entirely, hanging them off her collar. "Okay, I didn't wanna bring this up but… me not human? Says the guy without a nose…"
Her eyes lingered on the bare patch between his eyes and mouth.
"Yeah, I'm tough, but how are you sure just by looking at me?"
Krillin put a hand to his chin. "Strong as you are, but still can't sense energy, huh? So you can't feel anything in…"
He pivoted around slowly, until he faced southwest and practically felt his legs give out. "That!" he cried, eyes like saucers. "You can feel that, right?!"
"Uh…" she groaned, squinting in the same direction. "What am I meant to be feeling?"
"That tremendous power…! Damn everything, just when I thought we caught a break!"
Yang blinked. This was getting weirder by the moment.
"Gotta go dark now," he said, pacing. "If Frieza's still got that scouter, he'll sniff us out! Shouldn't need to hide too hard though, there are way more fighters on this planet, blending in won't be a problem."
Yang watched him with concern. "Uh, hey pal, before you dig a trench there… I was gonna offer you a ride, like, if we were headed the same way, but…"
She came out with it. "Are you 'okay'? Like, am I gonna have to worry about you?"
He stopped, realizing that even on Earth the things they considered typical were probably extraordinary. "Believe me, I'm the least of anyone's worries. It's what's out there… I can prove it to you, but… it's a lot of trouble, and I wouldn't blame you for keeping out of this mess."
She crossed her arms. Yang wondered if she was audience to the thoughts of a crazed hermit. Either way, a Grimm would have picked off some roadside nut in the wilds by now. If he was crazy, ditching him here might be tantamount to feeding him to Beowolves. "I've never exactly been the 'trouble-avoiding' type," she answered at last. "Pretty much the… like… exact polar opposite of that."
She stepped off Bumblebee, approaching him steadily. "So screw it, guy; how far you going?"
He found it in him to smile. "As far as you'll take me. Don't worry, I pull my own weight."
She couldn't help it. She laughed. "I'm s-sorry, I'm sorry!" she managed, clearing her throat and offering her left hand. "I'm Yang. Nice running into you."
He clapped her hand as he took it readily, flashing his teeth as his grin widened. "Just don't make it a habit. Name's Krillin!"
She snorted. "Why, 'cause you're shrimpy?"
"He-hey now!" he chuckled. "All fun n' games until someone picks on the monk."
Taiyang swept out the old shed in the cool predawn air, sweat already forming under his sandy blonde hair. He'd been on his own with the kids in Beacon, but with all that was happening, it was empty-nest syndrome plus… five. Little to do but keep things from falling apart, have home just the way they left it, so the warm welcome could be all the sweeter.
He didn't know who he was kidding, of course. Ruby had been gone a while, and Mistral was a long way to go. And when they got there? Where did this end?
In any case, he wasn't likely to entertain visitors anytime soo—
He rounded the corner to hear a labored grunt, and found the source in moments. Dropping his broom, he rushed over.
The man was crawling, clawing his way towards the house with surprising speed for a man thus hobbled. He looked to be soaking wet, mud and dirt caking his front. There was no river close by, and the ocean was further still. He knelt down to the man, his orange clothes bright against their surroundings. "Hey, easy! Whoa, pal, where did you come from? Who did this to you?"
His injuries didn't look severe, but he pushed himself onto his back and gasped for air regardless, his strange mop of jutting, unruly black hair barely reacting to the shift in gravity.
"No… it's too soon! I'm not… ready!" he said unhelpfully. "Frieza!"
Taiyang eyebrows rose. "Well that means… nothing without context. Come on buddy, let's get you fixed up. Hey, Zwei! We've got you a friend for today!"
'*BOOM*'
The little blue hover-car vanished in a puff of smoke just as it had appeared, startling Sun and Blake as the odd human girl strolled up to it.
"Again, sorry for hitting you with it," she said, picking up the resulting blue capsule, "Don't you worry though, my insurance is primo, full coverage… and otherwise, my lawyer makes seven figures, so..."
"Uhhh," Sun stammered, "well that was… I'm fine, you don't have to—"
"Aww, what a tough guy! Don't be afraid to change your mind, you deserve something," she said, patting his cheek while walking past him and surveying the area. Both faunus were left speechless, Sun idly rubbing his cheek while Blake soured.
"So where the heck did I wind up? This doesn't look like part of the southern continent…"
"It's Menagerie," Blake said simply. "How lost did you g—?"
"Wait wait wait, hold it hold it!" Sun blurted, zipping back around. "What IS that? The thing! With the smoke— the car— the… that was AWESOME!"
The blue haired woman watched him geek out with surprise, pulling out a number-one labeled capsule and holding it up. "You've… never heard of dynocaps? The Capsule Corporation? Hello…?" She hit the plunger on the device and tossed the capsule onto a bare patch of dirt. It clattered around for a second before bursting with a sound like a vacuum chamber.
In moments Blake went from confused to start-struck, as an entire dome-shaped house appeared in its place from nowhere. Sun wandered drunkenly towards the building, hand against his cheek. "I mean… I mean… whaaaaaaaat!"
He took off towards the structure, delicately touching the doorknob like it might bite him.
"This… is it some new Atlas thing?" Blake asked, finally far more curious than annoyed.
"It's a West City thing. Nothing new about it," she answered. "How far in the sticks am I? Capsule Corp is the wealthiest business on Earth, and dynocaps have been around since twenty years before I was born!"
"What?!" Blake breathed, as Sun chittered with giggles while he opened the door and wandered inside. "That's impossible. Everything you just said… look, I've been a lot of places and dealt with a lot of high tech Atlas toys, but there's no way this is… This just isn't!"
The jumpsuited woman frowned, before a thought occurred to her. "Oh no… maybe you're right! Hold on, come with me, I've got a map inside!"
She gripped the taller girl's wrist and dragged her along inside, slamming the door as none but Ilia Amitola stood up from her hiding place on a nearby rooftop.
" 'Dynocaps,' huh?"
"Please, hurry!" Ruby pleaded to the Mistrali scouts, as her uncle's stretcher was loaded onto the airship. She hopped on, picking up a surprised Gohan as she did, who stared bashfully at the floor as she seated him away from the open-air access platform. "Uncle Qrow, hold on, just hold on a little longer!"
The humbled Huntsman groaned unintelligibly in reply. Jaune climbed in as she saw Ren and Nora do likewise to the other airship. In seconds afterward, the wash of the engines blasted as they whined and ascended into the sky.
"You folks are lucky we happened on your signal!" one of the scouts told her over the noise. "Supposedly there's something that stalks this valley, picks off travelers. It's why it got the nickname 'Shi no Tani'. Three guesses what it means."
Ruby glanced over at the extraordinary child, who was listening politely. "Just… how long do we have until—?"
Jaune stood up. "Look!"
Her head spun around as they crested the next mountain.
There it was…
The City of Mistral. Set into a vast flat valley of grasslands, twin mountains rose into the sky, taller than they were wide, and upon them was a bustling civilization. As if to represent the city foundations, huge white columns jutted into structures built into the foothills, while an increasingly more intricate and ornate forest of wooden structures with curved tile roofs formed a thin canopy.
All of it looked like one enormous structure, fastened together, all supporting each other as they clung to the cliffsides.
The journey had been so long and treacherous, Ruby Rose couldn't quite believe it. A thousand feelings filled her. What did they do now? Where did they begin? But the strongest was a feeling of safety, and triumph. She had to work hard not to choke up.
"Uncle Qrow… there it is! We did it! We're here…"
Ruby paced in the waiting room. Qrow had been rushed into Intensive Care, and for an hour the only news was that the staff were pinning down the exact makeup of the neurotoxin at work.
Finally, a male nurse stepped out from the ward, making her whip around. "My Uncle Qrow, is he gonna—?!"
He held up a hand. "We've administered the best we could find to neutralize the effects, but this being from a faunus instead of an animal or Grimm… it's a far more unique situation."
"U-unique?" she asked, as her fellows held their breath.
"Yes, precious few faunus are capable of something like this, so the cocktail they secrete is less understood. That being said, we're the best site in the city to treat it."
"Wwwwhat does that mean?" Nora asked.
The nurse sighed. "It means that with luck, we've negated the worst, known quantities of the venom. The rest, I'm afraid, is up to him now."
Ruby could barely move, even though she felt like running a mile. "So… that's it?"
"Yes, he'll need to sweat this out. Even for the best, miss, there can only be so many ways of treating a sting."
Ruby's mind was left to churn and process… before the nurse evidently believed there had been time enough before getting down to brass tacks.
"Speaking of, there's the matter of fees. It's against our duty to refuse treatment, but Mr. Branwen is not a Mistral citizen. Under these circumstances, we normally just bill it to the insurance they do possess abroad at a nominal rate. But with the CCT down…"
"U-um… oh my gosh," Ruby stammered. "W-what do we owe you?"
"Well that's the good news," he said. "His fees have been waived on the authority of Leonardo Lionheart."
All but Gohan leaned back.
"The headmaster?" Ren asked. "How does he know we're here?"
"Well, specifically he knows Mr. Branwen is here. Certain VIPs have been listed by the Council to be brought to certain seat-holder's attentions, if entered into the system. Again, even with a Kingdom's resources, the loss of the CCT has distinctly inhibited the ability to give notice of visitation for certain persons."
"You don't say…" Ruby said, bewildered.
"Also, I've no idea why I've been made into an impromptu messenger, but provided Mr. Branwen recovers, his scroll has been cleared to use the guest residence in the Murasaki District. That would be… two-three-two Masayoshi… that's the street... got that?"
Ruby realized after a moment that she needed to take down his information, and then found herself juggling her scroll as she whipped it out. "Oh no, wait… hold on… Masoyash—?"
Ren stood up, holding his own scroll. "Masayoshi," he said. "I got it."
She finally caught her scroll, slipping it back into her pocket slowly.
"Excellent," the nurse said, "We'll inform you once the patient has been transferred to the recovery room." With that, he returned to the ward, leaving them in silence. Ruby stared after him, gazing endlessly into the distance.
"Ruby?" Jaune called after a bit.
She turned to meet his eyes, before silently nodding and finding her way to one of the benches. She caught sight of Gohan, mirroring her expression next to her. She gave him a kind smile. "So speaking of addresses, now we're in Mistral, where do you live Gohan? Did your parents teach your house number to you?"
He matched the smile. "Uh… four-three-nine East District, on Mt. Paozu… yeah."
"Okay… is Paozu the name of one of these mountains?" she asked of the room.
Ren shook his head. "The Two Lovers? No, Mistral's peaks are called 'Sozo' and 'Fuku.' It's one of Mistral's founding mythologies! You really should have paid more attention in Professor Oobleck's class."
Ruby groaned at him.
"Doctor!" Nora sang correctively, as a passing woman in scrubs stalled, lowering her clipboard and staring at her.
"Oh, not you hon'..." she said, as the woman rolled her eyes and strode away.
"Gohan, I don't know how to say this, but," Ruby began, taking his hand, "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do about you. We don't know where you live or where your family is! I don't feel right leaving you with child services here."
Nora's face turned crestfallen as she nodded. "He'd just become a ward of the state and be given a foster home. And believe me, being able to overpower your new parents makes it hard for anything in the system to stick."
Several of them stared at her before Jaune added, "Whoa, that's, uhh…"
Nora frowned. "You don't need to be a terror, the knowledge alone freaks parents out. It's a cycle of rejection when they know up-front, abandonment when they find out later, and even when they give it a try it's like they expect their necks broken when you walk into their room at night, just asking for a glass of water…"
Ren sighed. "We stayed together at the orphanage for a long time, despite a few… attempts."
Ruby blinked, trying to process that little tale. "Yeah, so, not an appealing option… But if you stuck with us, well… we're kinda in the middle of something dangerous. You're a tough little kid, but I wouldn't wish this on you."
"Oh, well it's okay," Gohan told her, "if Frieza showed up here, then I'll bet the others did too, they're just masking their energy. You can do what you need, I'll just wait until I feel them again."
Ruby's eyes went saucer-like. "Wha— No no no, we can't leave a little boy like you to fend for himself!"
Gohan shrugged. "Mister Piccolo taught me to survive on my own in the wild. That's how I spent most of the past year. I don't mean to be rude, but… can you guys hide your power?"
"Uhhh…" Ruby intoned. " 'Hide it?' "
Ren sat up. "My semblance lets me mask emotions…"
"O-oh…" Gohan sighed, staring at the floor.
"Why?" Jaune asked.
Gohan lifted his eyes, if not his head. "Well, if I'm being generous… I'm about a thousand-times stronger than you guys."
He let that statement hit the floor, and plummet through the floors beneath them one by one and into a mysterious wine cellar as he scratched his head.
Nora leered at him, arms crossed as she argued, "Hey, we got the tar kicked out of us fighting that Grimm, so nyeh!" she said, sticking out her tongue as Gohan chuckled. "You haven't exactly met us at our best, sweety."
Gohan stood up. "But no, you guys, I'm serious. Just let me stick around and help till my dad and friends show up."
Even Ren smiled, but he then regarded Gohan seriously. "All the same, we don't have much but your word and your feats to go off of, Gohan. Forgive me, but we might need something more tangible before we take any action."
"Tangible? What do you mean?"
Nora sighed. "Kid… are your pals really out there? You're sure nothing else happened?"
Gohan stared at her with his brows knit in confusion.
Ruby waved them off. "Gohan, none of them saw what I did. They didn't see you show up like I did… you were somewhere else a second before we met, weren't you?"
Gohan nodded contentedly.
"Ruby," Ren said, taking up an admonishing tone, "do not reinforce his delusion, and don't lead his answers. If there's even a chance you were mistaken, you're doing more harm than good."
"Delusion?!" Gohan and Ruby said as one.
Nora glanced at Ren and nodded. "Gohan… we've all lost people we love, but—"
"Before I wound up with you guys we were on a completely different world!" Gohan blurted, determinedly. "Planet Namek, because we did lose people! Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chiaotzu and Mister Piccolo! We went there to bring them back with the Dragonballs just like we brought back my dad!"
"Dragonballs…?" Jaune asked.
"Nora, don't be crass in front of the boy…" Ren warned.
"What?! I wasn't gonna say anything!" Nora cried, crossing her arms.
Gohan continued. "The Dragonballs are seven gem orbs. They're magic, made by the people of Namek. Bring them together from all over the world and you summon the Eternal Dragon."
None of them could do anything but blink. The conviction behind his words was unquestionable for his age.
"The one we had on Earth granted one wish, but the Namekian one grants three. The first wish is how we got here. Me and my friends, I mean."
"Wait… wish?" Ruby asked. "Like, anything you want?"
"Well kinda," Gohan answered. "I think there are limitations, like they can't do the same wish twice, or kill someone really powerful—"
"They can kill people?!" Ruby squeaked.
"I…!" Jaune began, standing up suddenly enough to get the room's attention before he calmed himself. "I'm sorry… I don't… I don't feel well."
He took off at a brisk pace towards the hospital entrance as the group watched. "I'm gonna… get some air… Just… People don't come back from the dead, kid..."
There was a long silence as he left. Gohan looked conflicted, caught between frustration and guilt.
"I'm not lying," he said quietly, before looking up to Ruby, "you believe me, right Miss Ruby?"
His propriety broke the spell of Jaune's outburst as she giggled. He was adorable! "Just Ruby is fine… and I want to believe you…"
Gohan stared at her with pleading eyes, and seemed to come to a decision. "Ruby, is it okay if I try something?"
"Hmm? Try what?"
He stepped closer. "It's something I saw my dad do recently. I don't know if it'll work, but if it does you might have an idea of what I'm talking about."
Ruby's eyes widened in curiosity, and she looked to Ren and Nora, who seemed truly uncertain of the proceedings. "Um… okay, what do I do?" she asked.
He smiled. "Well I'd ask you to lean down so I can reach your forehead, but…"
Before anyone could say anything, in broad daylight, the boy miracle rose off the floor like it was totally natural. Ren who was sitting stood bolt upright, as the standing Nora grabbed his sleeve on her way down heavily into her chair, the other hand over her mouth.
Ruby found herself stiff as he rose to her level, stopped in midair as his hand reached out and planted under her messy bangs.
"Just relax," he said, closing his eyes. "Tell me if you feel it."
She obeyed, searching every sense she knew for a change, however subtle. It didn't help that she was actually pretty hungry…
...and then it came.
It was like some winding path in her mind had been illuminated, a maze with the solution laid out for her. She followed it, as something ballooned to the forefront of her consciousness.
It wasn't quite seeing, and to say it was an expanding feeling in her chest would be to diminish it. It was transcendent. It was a true sixth sense. Had this always been possible? "W-w-what is thi…?" she asked quietly.
He smiled wide. "Wow, it worked! You're sensing the life energy of people around you. It'll take a while before you can do it on your own, I'm just letting you piggyback, sorta. Look around!"
She nodded, as he hovered around her so she could move freely.
She looked to Ren and Nora, and it was like a glow surrounded them, a glow she didn't 'see' per se, but it obscured them the more emphasis she put on this new sense. It was accompanied by a feeling, like lead marbles in her gut… the weight of their power?
She turned to see Jaune walking the street. She didn't know exactly why she knew it was him, but his glow was intense. He was more of a billiards ball. "That's good!" Gohan said, "You already have an instinct for what someone's power feels like! See if you can find your uncle."
She gasped, and wheeled around at the notion. As she searched, she felt the city at large. At once, it was a galaxy and a belly full of toothpicks, each modest light unique in its own way. She scanned over to the hospital, heart sinking as she felt so many dim, flickering souls. At a glance she could tell some were already gone.
Then she picked it out. The power was humming, fluttering meekly. Teetering, but still strong. "He's… better than he was," she muttered hopefully. Gohan nodded.
"What about you?" she asked.
He frowned for a moment. "Well, I've been suppressing myself to keep hidden, but I'll show you a little bit." He closed his eyes, and in a moment the boy's profile swelled. It was like having a light shined in her eyes and eating exactly too much. She couldn't look away.
"That's all I can do without risking getting caught," he explained, as the sensation dulled.
"C-caught?" she asked, still reeling. "Caught by who?"
Gohan recoiled, and couldn't meet her eyes afterward. Instead, he floated, bidding her to turn southwest as he started to sweat. "By him."
He didn't need to explain a word. She jumped nearly out of her own skin. It was like suddenly realizing a giant had been leering over you the whole time.
If Gohan was a flashlight, then this was a sun. Overwhelming in every respect, it almost hurt to conceive, hitting the upper limit and peaking this new sense. It was like going from the freezing winter outdoors to a wonderfully hot drawn bath, and feeling so hot that at first it also felt freezing at the same time.
"What is that…?" she whispered, as though it would know she was speaking of it.
"That's Frieza."
In a moment, Ruby was left in a cold sweat as the sense as a whole lifted. Gohan drifted back down to his feet as she gasped for breath. It had been overwhelming.
"What did I just see?" Nora asked, still watching the spot where Gohan had been gently hovering.
"I… have no idea," Ren answered.
"You guys believe me now?" the boy asked.
"I… have no idea," Ren answered again.
"Well I will," Ruby said warmly. "But one other thing bugs me from all that."
"Yeah?"
"Gohan, all this strength… but your aura isn't unlocked."
Krillin felt strange with his face being this warm for this long. He'd thought he'd get used to it, but riding the same bike as a buxom blonde bombshell was not a novelty that was wearing off any time soon.
The gentleman in him forced him to release her hips early on, and good old fashioned bashfulness bade him to flip entirely around to place himself back to back with her, watching the trees and trail race away.
Damn it, Master Roshi…
"How ya doing back there?" she called over the motor. "Sorry for the speed, but we've got some ground to cover!"
"No problem!" He shouted back. "But if you were going for speed, I'm surprised you're bothering with the bike at all!"
She turned her head. "Hey, don't diss my baby, it's a classic! I didn't get it for distance, I got it because later stuff is missing that roar. You don't feel the road, either! Call me a grandma, but I just love the old liquified fire Dust over the solid-state stuff."
"Hey, no judgment here," he said, leaning to meet her eyes, "I just figure we'd make better time airborne, you're sure strong enough."
Yang shook her head. "Airship travel is out save for evacuation stuff, so unless you've got some pixie dust it's the open road or nothing."
"Airship…?" Krillin muttered. So she couldn't fly?
It was then that he saw them pass a fork clearly marked by a sign. He couldn't make out the fork they took, but the other plainly read—
"Hey, I thought you were headed to this Mistral place! There was a sign just there."
"I know," she said. "Our route is a bit… unconventional. Just trust me on this one. Plus, this is the only place for a long while that sells the fuel this puppy takes."
A half mile down the road and a raucous noise of celebration filled the air. "Oh boy… what's this now?" Krillin asked.
As they cleared the trees, they neared the fuel stop, nestled against an alcove of a small mountain… but that wasn't all.
An extending drawbridge was locked fast, preventing access to the station with a moat that surrounded the whole alcove, its bottom lined with wooden spikes. Atop the station was a heavy turret, motors whining as it struggled to align, but grappling hooks on cables held it still and away from its intended targets across the moat.
"Bandits," Yang answered, "good chunk of the tribe, looks like."
"Harassing a fuel station?"
Yang killed the motor, staying by the tree line. "It's never just a fuel station. You can't just plant down a building in the middle of nowhere and survive. See that snowflake?"
Krillin looked to a strong, solid metal gate behind the station. Sure enough, a snowflake emblem was embedded into the steel. "Hmm." He nodded.
"Schnee Dust Company. These stations are all built onto a Dust mine. It's their own little communities, franchise-owned satellites. They refine Dust and export most of it, sell some at the stations, and the SDC funds the defense budget. Doesn't get much better than Atlas tech…"
She flexed her carbon-fiber fingers.
"But I've been watching the news lately… Dust Embargo's hitting everyone. No CCT, no communication, no Dust getting moved, no funds getting wired. Like these places didn't have enough to deal with out here."
The bandits, roughly clad in rugged shades of red, steely grey and earth tones fired weapons into the air, facing the station menacingly.
"They're just waiting them out, keeping them nervous and sleepless till they can raid the place in peace."
"I don't know half the things you're talking about," Krillin began, darkly, "but bullies are the same wherever you go." He hopped off the bike and began walking towards the group, whose outliers were slowly becoming keen to their presence.
"Ah— hey!" Yang cried, stepping briskly after him and putting a firm hand on his shoulder, bidding him to stop. "You really are nuts! You never even heard of Huntsmen before today, and you're off to throw down with a whole raiding party? I'm not positive I can deal with this many!"
He turned and flashed her a smirk. "Well, you can join in, but it's not strictly necessary."
She froze as he continued forward, and by then the bandits were pointing the both of them out, about seven splitting off from the group to meet Krillin's stride.
"Hey sixer, what's hot?" a petite bandit girl asked, tapping a chained bat against her collar.
" 'Sixer?' " her stud-helmeted friend asked, crossbow slung over her shoulder.
"Yeah, check the kill-notches on his forehead!" she said, then prodding his stomach with the bat. "Plus the abs! Sorry deluxe-pack, station's closed, pending new management in… eh, give it a few more days."
The crooks chuckled as they slowly crowded him, Yang hanging back and preparing for the worst.
"I'm giving you a shot right now to leave this place in peace," Krillin said impassively. "You clear out, nobody gets Johnny Law involved."
The group laughed yet harder. The helmeted thug retrieved his crossbow. "Out here, only law is that the strongest survive. That's the law of Branwen!"
The others pumped their fists, giving a single short war cry.
"That's the law of the world!"
They cheered, machine gun fire spraying towards the sky.
Krillin gave a sly smile. "Alright… we'll play by your rules." He whipped around into a fighting stance, planting his foot down with a slam that shook the ground. Many of them stumbled, and all of them stopped laughing.
The bandit girl took a breath and held a hand up to give the attack order, but Krillin struck first.
With a diving kick, he slid between and under her legs making her reach low in surprise as he grabbed her by the ankle. She fell on her front just before he swung her around as a weapon into three others, the four landing in a heap.
"...Pardon?" Yang asked, letting her shades drop as her pupils shrank.
"Runty little upstart!" helmet shouted, taking aim.
The crossbow was rapid-fire, slinging steel-tipped bolts in a bursting volley, but Krillin's fists became lightning-fast blurs as he matched each one with his knuckles, spraying splinters. At the end of it, he'd plucked a bolt out of the air, and hummed a laugh with his eyes closed as he held it across his upper lip like an absurd mustache.
Helmet took on a look of frustration and fear, before charging in with a war cry to beat him with the butt of his empty weapon. Krillin tossed the bolt at his feet, pinning the bandit's boot to the ground and tripping him as the monk used his head as a step, kicking off towards the charging crowd of crooks and diving straight into the mosh pit.
Yang stepped slowly forward as she watched the chaos unfold, ringing noises filling the air as bandits flew out of the swelling crowd. She shook both wrists as Ember Celica, her once-paired shotgun gauntlet, and the matching gun in her right arm popped out at the ready.
As she advanced, some bewildered thugs on the outside saw her and charged. The first one came at her swinging a chain, whipping it at her only for her to block the blow with her good arm. Once the chain wrapped around it, she tugged hard, forcing him to stumble forward directly into her waiting cybernetic fist as the shotgun blasted in sync with the impact. His feet flew out in front of him as his head wheeled back into the hard ground.
The others descended upon her as she wadded the length of chain together and set it like a volleyball. She punched forward as the chains crested a few inches, another shotgun blast shattering the chains into a blunted, directional shrapnel-bomb which caught the crooks as they closed in and made them reel in pain.
But she'd been flanked. A bruiser of a man reared up behind her and caught her in a bear-hug from behind. "Bad form, golden-girl! Play nice with me!" he laughed, until she slammed her head back into his nose.
He wailed in pain, but didn't loosen his grip. "Think you're tough? Let's see how strong your bones are! I bet they make a lovely snap!"
She groaned as he gripped both arms and shoved a boot into her back, pressing her into the dirt and pulling her taut. Yang stared around as more bandits broke off for her. She weighed her options.
Finally the seal at the root of her prosthetic hissed as her arm turned into a rocket, wrenching the man's arm back even as his balance was lost, and it was just enough to free her.
Now held by a single strong arm, she rolled from beneath his foot and got enough leverage to swing around his torso, until she was seated upon his shoulders like a piggyback ride. Yang retrieved her replacement limb and belted him along the back of his head with it. "Timber…"
A green flash signified his aura breaking seconds before he fell flat on his face unconscious, the brilliant blonde riding it down and finishing with a forward somersault to her feet, upon which she was faced with another thug.
There was an ear-splitting 'SMACK' as she swung her prosthetic instinctually like a flail, its open palm slapping the now wide-eyed bandit, who reeled and rubbed a hand on his face as he awkwardly skulked away wincing. She watched, torn between humor and confusion as a lass wielding a cutlass crept up behind her.
Not even turning her head, she tossed the arm behind herself, and the surprised crook caught it without a thought… just as Yang spun around to deliver a hammer-kick to the skull which practically buried her head halfway into the sand. Still aloft, Yang grabbed hold of her arm and fastened it back on with a twist, as Krillin burst out of the mob and beside her, skidding back along the ground while using a prone human being like a snowboard.
He hopped back before raising his palm to the air, leaning heavy to the extended arm's side.
She watched him curiously, and noted that she wasn't alone in that, before a bright yellow sphere of light formed, before spinning wider and wider into a luminous disc. It grew before their eyes, until it was several feet across and buzzed with a dangerous sound.
"Kienzan!" he cried, before lobbing the bright circular blade forward, the remaining thugs ducking or hitting the dirt outright as it curved across the battlefield. But its target proved to be nothing alive. Instead, it severed the grappling cables tying down the heavy turret, before grazing part of the mountain and dashing into a shower of sparks as rocks tumbled down.
The turret went instantly to its duty, twisting and delivering automatic fire from low to high, with a sound like the cannon it was. It fanned low to high over the battlefield, tripping up and blasting back bandits as they all scattered in full retreat. A scant few fired their own weapons back at it as they ran, but the heavy gun hardly cared.
Yang pulled Krillin behind the huge bandit's unconscious form, and waited out the storm, finally emerging as the sounds of jubilation rang out from the station. They saw the bridge extend to admit them as miners and the old shopkeeper came out of hiding.
Yang finally turned to Krillin, a huge grin on as she punched him in the shoulder. "Bulletproof monk!" she cried, as he smiled sheepishly. "Never heard of Huntsmen? Tell me another story, that was crazy!"
"Well I wasn't joking," he told her. "Not so bad yourself!"
"Pick your brain later," she said, hopping on Bumblebee, "our public awaits…"
She rumbled the machine forward as he followed into the station, the adulation of grateful men descending upon them.
She slammed the map down on the dinner table, finally catching Sun Wukong's attention as he marveled at the Capsule Home's fully working plumbing.
"Here," the space-faring entrepreneur said, stepping back as they each stepped forward, "I don't suppose you could pick where we are off of this map?"
Blake and Sun only needed a glance.
Blake loomed over it, staring from major city to major city. "No… we can't. This isn't Remnant! Most of this is just one enormous continent!" She brought a hand to her temple, the implications breaking over her like waves.
"That's because this is Planet Earth," their new acquaintance explained, "and just like I thought, I've ended up somewhere else. 'Remnant' you said?"
Sun had busied himself this entire time silently letting his mouth hang open, but finally found his voice. "So you're a freaking space alien?!"
She smiled. "Didn't know they came this cute, did'ya? Oh well, if I'm stranded on another planet, at least it's one that's civilized."
Blake couldn't help but find a chair and sit down. "This is insane… I feel like we should have nothing to do with this, but how do you just ignore your whole world changing?"
Sun immediately crowded the blue-haired scientist. "So why'd you come to Remnant?! Or how?! Is your name something catchy and weird?!"
She stepped back, blinking. "Oh yeah… we did sorta skip right past introductions, didn't we? Alright then, I'll go first." She offered a hand. "I'm Bulma, Bulma Briefs. Catchy enough for ya?"
Sun glanced at Blake before swaying side to side. "S'alright…" he muttered.
"I'm Blake," the amber-eyed activist offered. "Belladonna. The boy-child invading your personal space is Sun Wukong."
Sun turned to her, pouting with an animated shrug of his hands.
"Sure, just leave me hanging…" Bulma said, hand still extended, eyes half-lidded. "I think the hospital we took Goku to was named Wukong… small cosmos…"
Sun made to correct himself and shake, but Bulma had already retracted it, the moment past.
"As to what I'm doing here, I never intended to be on this planet in the first place. We all went to Planet Namek, but I have no idea how I wound up here. There was just a bright flash, and POOF! New zipcode."
"There has to be more to it than that," Blake said, standing up to wander the house.
Bulma shrugged. "Hey, it's more than you two kids have given me. All I can tell is you guys are easily mistaken for earthlings."
"We helped save you from quartz crabs earlier," Blake said, glowering. "I think that's worth something…"
"Okay, tolerance is cool, but you don't have to pretend," Sun said, waving his tail, "I've got this, she's got the ears…"
Said ears twitched unconsciously as Bulma stared.
"Okay, you guys have some animal parts, am I meant to be weirded out?" Bulma asked with a smirk. "Because several working citizens where I come from are bears, and the King of Nations is a blue bearded terrier. You're downright normal by our standards."
Blake and Sun shared a look.
"I…" Blake began, shaking her head. "I have no idea how to feel about this… On one hand, that sounds almost like paradise. And on the other…"
Bulma blinked, sitting against the windowsill. "What? People give you grief for being part cat? I mean, there are a few jerks in our neck of the woods, but…"
"It's better than it was, not that some faunus will admit that," Blake elaborated, ears folding, "but places like Atlas and Mistral still practice open discrimination, though at least Mistral is more or less honest about it. Humans and the faunus have been at odds for a long time."
"Wait… humans? Because I'd call myself a human, so… alien humans? That doesn't make sense…" Bulma concluded.
Blake nodded. "No, it doesn't. Which is why I'm trying to decide whether or not you're just an escaped lunatic that got a hold of some top secret tech."
Bulma recoiled, before regaining her composure with a smirk. "Ah, Occam's Razor, huh? Alright, get me a pen and paper, I'll put a schematic together right now. It'll work too." She began checking surfaces near the window, arranging some clutter.
"Puts my mind at ease being here, actually. A little technical prowess and I'll ascend the social ladder in no time… Huh, I don't remember this type of coil getting left here…"
Blake looked up and froze. Running over her palms, Bulma held a length of steely cable, banded evenly with a yellow glowing material.
"Bulma, put that dow—!"
But the surprised billionaire shrieked, electricity arcing through her as the coil lit up. She slumped over, conscious but weak as the coil swept back before swinging back to wrap around her waist, tugging and pulling her out the window and onto the shoulder of—
"Ilia, NO!" Blake shouted as they locked eyes, before the whip-wielding girl lowered her mask and bolted.
Blake took a flying leap out the window and gave chase.
"Where the hell did SHE come from?!" Sun demanded hotly, before bursting out the door and following.
Blake found her predictably sprinting for the tightest, most complicated series of buildings nearby to lose her in. She'd have to, encumbered by a whole person over her back.
She passed under a scaffold, and Blake quickened her pace. If she took the high ground by leaping to the rooftops, too many things would obscure her vision, and she'd lose her for sure. Plunge in after her, and Ilia would drop the scaffold right on top of her. She knew the playbook all too well.
She opted to hurl Gambol Shroud in its entirety, ribbon trailing through her fingers as Ilia leaned to avoid the cleaver's blade. It embedded in the far wall of a 'T' intersection even as Ilia swung her whip at the scaffold legs and sliced them cleanly with a sizzle. Blake pulled the elastic ribbon as hard as she could as she bounded forward, the scaffold beginning to collapse as she passed beneath it. She crashed through three boxes, but emerged on the other side just as Ilia stalled, having nearly tripped over the ribbon, instead veering right.
Blake landed against the same wall her weapon was stuck in, planting her feet into a gravity-defying crouch as her favored hand gripped the handle. She pulled it out and kicked off, spinning into a corkscrew as she landed, hot on Ilia's heels. Blake was close enough to clear the gap, and shot forward into a flying tackle. But she grabbed nothing but air as Ilia leapt ten vertical feet skyward.
The lone cat girl fell on her front, rolling and sliding to her feet, but her quarry was already kicking off the walls towards the rooftops. They were going to lose her.
"No! You! Don't!" Sun cried, dropping down from the roof at the far end of the street, staff in hand as he swung overhead to smash Ilia's head.
Her mask slipped as she was cast down, landing with a cry of pain along with a barely stirring Bulma.
Ilia's head swiveled as Blake and Sun closed in from both sides of the street, before reaching for her weapon and aiming the retracted point against Bulma's temple as her other arm hoisted her into a sitting position. "Back off!" she demanded. "Blake, if you value the faunus at all, look the other way on this!"
"Why?!" Sun asked, visibly livid. "So you guys can just pick off random humans?!"
"What are you even doing?!" Blake wondered aloud, keeping her weapon trained on her old friend.
"With this kind of technology, the faunus will finally have an advantage over the humans!"
Ilia explained. "With these cap things, we can finally bring the fight to the Kingdoms in ways they'll never see coming! We need this! I can't let something like this slip away!"
Amidst all the chatter, Bulma came to and glanced around to recognize her situation, frozen stiff.
"And what happens when you're done with her? She's just disposable? Is this what you've become?!" Blake asked, taking a step forward.
Ilia's skin flashed to a green, her hair and freckles going blue. "She'll serve our kind further, like the rest of them! This isn't about exterminating humans, it's about putting them, and us where we deserve! I'm not letting her fall into human hands! I'll kill her first!"
Bulma groaned fearfully as Ilia pressed the whip blade harder, but managed to speak. "I-I'm no good to you dead! You'll never figure dynocaps out just by taking them apart! You're more likely to get yourselves sucked into a super-dense pocket dimension—"
SHUT UP!" Ilia ordered, before pointing her weapon at Blake. "You're going to ruin everything!"
"Ilia, you're not a killer!" Blake told her, taking another step.
"I'm whatever my people need me to be! What I want comes second if it helps our—"
A fist attached to a slender arm rose from below to sock Ilia in the nose, stunning her a moment as Bulma twisted away, batting Ilia's armed hand as she used the opportunity to flee for Blake. "Get your paws off me, Little Miss Murder!" she cried, as Ilia recovered and took aim.
The shot glanced off Blake's cleaver as she dashed forward, embedding its bladed tip into an archway behind her.
"Gotcha now!" Sun declared, as his arms wrapped around Ilia from the back. They struggled but a moment before she retracted her weapon, dragging both faunus through the air as it behaved like a grappling hook.
Sun struck the archway and fell flat, while Ilia swung beneath it, gaining distance before she landed, sliding along the dirt as she pulled at her weapon. Sun had to roll out of harm's way as the archway collapsed, flooding the street with Dust and obscuring Ilia's escape as her skin matched the sandy beige in the air. "It's not going to work Blake!" she shouted. "The humans will never accept us as equals!"
She billowed into the obscuring dust, even as Sun stood up and gave chase. "Stay with her, I'll be back!" he told Blake, vaulting over the ruined remains of the arch.
Blake considered calling him back… but he was right. However she felt about Ilia, she had dangerous information and needed to be captured, or Bulma was going to have a target painted on her back. The only full-blooded human for a good long while…
"Sun, be careful!" It was a toothless sentiment, but she wasn't sure what else to do.
"Ohh…! What did I do to deserve this?" Bulma asked of the Cosmos. "Thanks for coming after me. I don't know what her deal was, but she was seriously about to make a kebab out of me!"
"Oh," Blake said, "don't worry about it. Good on you using that opening, glad to see you're not helpless. You're probably going to need that instinct if she comes back…"
"Definitely not my first hostage situation," Bulma told her, "but I'm not that good, just seen a few fights in my time."
Blake put a hand on her shoulder, offering a smile. "Well we'll protect you until we figure something out, but it'll make our job easier if you can also protect yourself.
"Speaking of which…" she began, looking the girl over in concentration."
"I am not always going to be around to save you, Weiss."
Weiss rocked awake with the turbulence. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and it was surreal once she did. As if she needed even more reminiscing after her little dream… memory… Then she remembered she wasn't alone.
Her head whipped around, and her nerves immediately set on edge as she saw him staring out the window, wide awake. She didn't dare attract his attention, this Prince Vegeta.
"Hmm. You're awake," he said, not turning.
So much for that.
She stood up. Might as well make nice. "Yes," she said carefully. "I'm not sure how you knew that."
"The Saiyans are a warrior race," he answered, "and our instincts are honed for battle. But the ability to sense the energy of living things is one I've only recently acquired. I could tell you were waking before you'd even stirred."
She put her hands on her elbows. "Is everything you say tailor-made to skeeve me out?"
He smirked. "Just being honest. You'd rather I left you in doubt?"
She considered as the ship lurched slightly. "I suppose not."
"Heh," he intoned. "It's something you could probably learn yourself, I can sense the potential. Play your cards wisely, girl, you could be useful. Especially if…"
She shuddered. "Useful? Useful for what?"
"Tell me, your father… who is he?" he asked, finally turning around to lean back against the wall.
"My F—?" she began to ask. "He's Jacque Schnee, owner of the Schnee Dust Company, one of the most influential private bodies on Remnant."
"That's all?" he said, eyes boring into hers. "He's not moonlighting as a deity when your backs are turned?"
She scoffed. "Deity? His head is big enough… why? You don't seem the type to care about money or business."
He hummed an acknowledgement. "Nothing. Stupid idea I had, that's all." He closed his eyes as silence filled the room.
"So… Saiyans? That's some kind of alien?" she asked.
He didn't open his eyes. "To your people..."
"So, is this your true form?" she asked.
"Well what did you expect?"
"I… I don't know?" she said, feeling foolish. "Tentacles, slimy skin? I just figured you'd stand out in a crowd more than just your enormous hair."
He coughed out a laugh. "You'd call mine modest if you saw the third member of my team. Before his failure got him killed anyway…"
Coming from him, that could mean anything. Perhaps Vegeta had even killed them himself…
"Your power is nothing particularly special, not even to HIM, but certainly not nothing, and quite a few on this world have well exceeded it. Yet a military force offered such meager resistance, relying on mere machines? Just what fashioned you into such higher stock?"
She never thought she'd find herself measured against an alien warrior she'd never met. "Well, I've been training to be a Huntress. Huntsmen and Huntresses are the defenders of humanity, the strongest there is."
He growled slightly. "There has to be more to it than that. If those soldiers were anything to go by, it must require a certain disposition or bloodline. What I did to them was the closest I come to 'mercy,' and certainly you'd have been capable of it."
She widened her eyes, arms dropping. "I'm good, very good… but what you did is the most I've seen of anyone. And you're telling me you were holding back?!"
His eyes narrowed. "Seriously? Alright then, I have to know for myself." He stalked over to the bay door and punched a button, the hold taken instantly by a gale of icy wind as it opened.
Before she could do more than stare, he hopped up and hung in midair, looking to her impatiently. "Well?"
She stumbled back. "W-well WHAT?! You can…?! Look, I don't know about space aliens, but humans cannot generally fly!"
Even as his frown deepened, his outer brows shot ever higher with confusion. The moment ended however, as the doors suddenly closed on their own.
"The hell is up back there?!" the Pilot's voice rang over the intercom. "You guys trying to lift product?!"
Weiss dashed over to the cockpit door. "I'm sorry! Just… getting a bit stuffy back here!"
"Well them's the breaks, kid! It's a cargo bay! We've got A/C up here. You're welcome to it if you need, just as long as you don't get spotted by Air Patrol, but don't pull a stunt like that again, y'hear?"
Vegeta grunted. "I'm warning you now, girl: if he takes that tone with me, I'm going to put him through his own damn console."
"Noted," Weiss deadpanned.
Vegeta walked around the space nearest the bay doors without crates, idly inspecting it. "Here. This will do," he said. "One blow, the hardest you can deal me. Now!"
"Y-you want me to… hit you?" she asked.
He huffed. "I want you to try."
Weiss stood conflicted, but ultimately complied, retrieving Myrtenaster from its case as he rolled his eyes.
"Even still your kind, relying on weapons… splitting your fighting style for the sake of a truncheon, it's madness!"
Weiss sighed. "I can manage alright without it, if you're scared—"
The very air burst, rattling the ship as he struck her with a piercing glare. "Use your stupid crutch then! But insult my pride like that again and your pilot will be pulling it from your neck!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" she cried. She took for granted, for one stupid statement, that he hadn't tried to hurt her yet… "Hard as I can… when you say…?"
"Any time," he said, arms crossed. "I'll suppress my power to your level so I can feel it."
"I'm really less about raw power and more about precision and finesse," she told him, whipping her blade in a short circle.
"Fine qualities, but the greatest fighters possess both. Now hit me," he demanded.
She took a breath. "Okay." Her off-hand swept low as a glyph glowed beneath her, spinning like a gear faster and faster.
And then all at once, it stopped.
With a single stroke, she thrust forward, sliding over the floor on the glyph. She closed her eyes as she braced against the impact, which swept through the compartment and caused the ship to lurch.
"Substantial power level, but incapable even of basic abilities like flight…" he commented. "Such a sickening waste of potential!"
She opened her eyes. She'd worried that unarmed she might skewer him, but her concern was misplaced. With a pair of fingers, he held her blade fast. Everything. All she had, held at bay like she was nothing at all. He hadn't even uncrossed his arms. An idle flick of his wrist.
He released Myrtenaster as she stumbled back in surprise. "How… How can I so plainly feel a power exuded by you that doesn't reflect your ability? My time on Earth taught me of those who could hide their energy, but puffing up to give the false appearance of strength is something altogether different… It shouldn't be possible! Or are your kind so coddled that you can't even control your power?"
"N-no!" she objected. "Huntsmen and Huntresses are necessary just for us to survive! Humanity has been plagued by the Grimm for thousands of years! Dark creatures with no purpose but to hunt and destroy us and what we've built! We're forged in the fires of adversity! There are so few of us, but they are never-ending!"
"Ah," he said, considering quietly. "I think I see it. These creatures, you keep them at bay, do you? They're not so overwhelming for you to alter tactics?"
She hefted herself to sit upon a crate. "Well, the four Kingdoms hold most of the populations, and rises in technology have made things mostly manageable…"
"You had to better yourselves to survive, but then your enemy became a known quantity. Requiring special resources, but rarely rising beyond a nuisance, only causing true havoc when it's least expected."
"Um…"
"So reaching a certain standard was sought, but nothing more was ever required. Your abilities plateaued, but it wasn't a problem that forced you to think in lateral terms, to find the source of your power and seek another path."
"We know the source of our power," she told him. "It's called…"
" 'Aura?' " Gohan asked? "I dunno what that is."
Ruby nodded. "I figured, since you're such a toughy without it. Aura is what we call your soul's power, the thing that makes our semblances and superhuman abilities possible… It can shield us when we take a hit, or it can be our greatest weapon. Without it, we're just muscle and bone."
"Oh, so it's ki!" he said, understanding alight in his eyes.
" 'Ki?' " Nora asked.
"The energy of living things!" Gohan answered. "Or, well… one specific part of it. I don't know about the shielding part, but Mister Piccolo taught me ki is divided into three parts…"
"Gen-ki, Yuu-ki and Shou-ki," Vegeta explained. "You can think of the first as your latent vitality, your will to live. It's not generally used for offensive combat, but I've recently seen someone use it in a surprisingly potent technique."
He felt his back tighten at the memory…
"You said this 'Aura' of yours produces a sort of defensive barrier?"
Weiss was listening intently, and answered immediately. "Yes. It also allows semblances like my glyphs, but that's dependent upon the person."
"Hmm," Vegeta grunted, smirking. "Assuming it's all one thing, I know what your 'Aura' really is, then."
She blinked, frowning. But he wasn't finished.
"Before coming here we faced a squad of supreme warriors, and among them was a fighter barely worthy of his place, aside from his extreme mental fortitude and psychic techniques. His name was Guldo."
"What Aura really is…?" Weiss parroted.
"Guldo, like you… like these Huntsmen of yours, have mastered Shou-ki. It's spirit energy like mine, but purely of the mental disciplines. It is the energy tied to one's true nature, and in it lies the capacity to unearth specific abilities and skills that are innate to their being."
"Like your disc thing? That's your semblance?" Yang asked, as she walked Bumblebee back across the drawbridge, fuel-laden, free of charge after their helping hand to the town. Krillin walked backwards as they spoke.
"I guess?" he said. Arms folded behind his head. "If you learned to tap into the rest of your power, I could probably teach it to ya."
Yang frowned and shook her head. "Well… then it can't be a semblance then. I couldn't teach mine to somebody."
"Wow then, you guys must have really mastered Shou-ki as a people," Krillin stated. "I've got a friend named Chiaotzu who really takes to the mental disciplines of ki too, and he's definitely got some abilities I couldn't dream of pulling off."
"Well, so," Yang began, ever more intrigued, "what's this other power then? Is that what fueled your little death-move?"
Krillin nodded. "Like I said, Yuu-ki. Some call it the power of courage, and it deals largely with the body. It possesses the greatest raw power, but it's useless if the mind, body and spirit aren't in sync. My friends and I dealt with a guy recently who could switch bodies with people, and he tried to steal my pal Goku's."
Yang stopped. "What?! No way… what kind of crazy semblance is that?!"
"I don't know, but it didn't do him any good," Krillin explained. "Goku's power was amazing, but only because he could match the three aspects of his ki. By drawing out and infusing your body with yuu-ki, you can surpass your body's physical limits, and as long as you can increase your ki there's virtually no upper limit on how powerful you can become. Easier said than done, of course…"
"Wait wait wait…" she said, shaking her head like she was rebooting her brain. "You're saying you can make yourself tough as a brick wall even with a downed aura? Is yours even unlocked?!"
"Unlocked?" Gohan asked. "Like what the Grand Elder did for me?"
Ruby blinked. "Sorry, who?"
"Uh… nevermind. It was like a power boost! He unlocked my hidden potential."
"Well, not quite," she said. "Maybe it'll unlock a deeper part of this 'Shou-ki,' if it's like you're saying, but for one thing you'll have the same passive barrier we do."
"Really?" Vegeta said, feigning half-interest, even as his eyes were wide and alert. "You think you could unseal a power I've left untapped?"
Weiss smirked. "Agree to help me understand this 'yuu-ki' power, even just getting started, and I'll at least give it a shot."
"Ha! Fine. If nothing else, I admire the ambition."
"Okay then…" she sighed, her palm extending. "Hold still…"
Bulma's eyes crossed as Blake's hand cupped over her forehead. She appeared to concentrate as she closed her eyes.
A moment later, her eyes flew open, dilating as Bulma felt something curious. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality…"
Gohan sat transfixed at the sensation as Ruby chanted, knelt down. "Through this, we become a paragraph—"
"Paragon…" Ren corrected.
"Yeah that... of virtue and glory to rise above all..."
"Infinite in distance, and unbound by death..." Yang versed, as Krillin felt a warmth to accompany the heat in his cheeks.
"I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee…" Weiss finished, a visible glow around the Saiyan Elite as she retracted her hand. He stood, looking over himself, no longer a trace of sarcasm in his demeanor.
Four foreigners to Remnant felt an awakening as the rituals concluded. It wasn't a substantial change, but there was no denying it.
Meanwhile, Jaune Arc wandered the streets of the city of Mistral. He wouldn't go far, but he had too much on his mind. He got a few looks from the citizenry, likely because of his blade. Most of them wore flowing robes in all manner of colors, but others were clearly of another class or culture altogether.
As he pretended to peruse the markets, he heard a gasp behind him. He turned to find an olive-skinned girl with braided orange hair carrying her shopping. She couldn't have been any older than Ruby was on her first day at Beacon. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, shrinking and very nearly dropping her treasures. "It's just… my name is 'Silea, and— a-aren't you one of those fighters? From the tournament?"
Jaune stood foolishly. "I… well, yes… I was on—"
"Team JNPR!" she blurted. "Right?!"
Something felt strange to Jaune —imagine that— though he couldn't grasp why. "Right, I—"
"Then you know her!" she burst, grinning openly. "You know my sister!"
"Your sister? I… oh no…" he finished with a whisper. The penny finally dropped as Jaune noticed one thing.
'Silea had the most brilliant, familiar green eyes...
A/N: Aaaaaaand that's it for the weekly starter chapters, folks! I think these three present a good foundation, but from here we will have at MOST updates every two weeks, as I'm keeping at least one finished chapter shelved while I work on the next. Once I have two finished and begin work on the next, the next gets released.
So I hope you all noticed and enjoy my slight format change to this and my previous chapters, grouping more lines together and having fewer singles. This was suggested by a FEW people, and I'm more than happy to make adjustments if they improve the experience.
That said, if you take issue with things like grammar or comprehension… please cite specific examples. Painting a broad brush doesn't help me distinguish the problem.
Sadly no Frieza this chapter, but I hope the action beats helped regardless. You can see my take on Yang visiting the "Just Rite" station, and how it's basically the heavily defended face of a small town, and not just an undefended biker bar in the middle of Grimm infested woods… Blake and Sun are being more proactive as well.
Ah… and the three-part ki concept. I'm pretty proud of this, and NO, I didn't just make this up. Gen-ki, Yuu-ki and Shou-ki are things Toriyama himself has used to describe how Ki works. Really, all I did was define Aura and semblances as fitting into the Shou-ki aspect. This explains Huntsmen having decent power levels but not showing any outward ability with it.
Training their Aura directly contributes to their power levels improving, but without a concept of Yuu-ki, it means very little for them. They just don't know how to use it…
...yet.
Also yes… if you properly guessed who young 'Silea at the end is… I'm going there. Because Rooster Teeth sure didn't. I think they forgot kids usually have… families...