Speeding through the sky, Evan could immediately feel the calmer ocean breezes begin to change to the colder and harsher arctic winds, as the teen continued on.
Before long, Evan could make out the cities of Atlas and Mantle with Ironwood's armada hanging high in the skies moving rapidly in from the horizon. As he did so, the Saiyan could sense a large amount of Ki emanating up in Atlas, much larger than what he had remembered before he left the floating city a month ago.
"Wow! I didn't expect that the Ace Ops and Winter would've made so much progress in such a short timeframe. They're probably stronger than me back when I first landed on this rock. If we were to band together…" Evan thought optimistically before dispelling the idea.
"Gotta find Ironwood first though! He can issue orders out and get this ball rolling. The sooner I tell him the situation, the sooner I can get back to the tree!" Evan contemplated as he zoomed past a nearby Atlesian airship.
Seeing a nearby landing platform built into the side of Atlas, Evan touched down. Immediately spotting the door, the teen rushed ahead at blinding speeds, moving further into the facility.
Rushing through the tight corridors and hallways of the complex, Evan maneuvered past numerous Atlesian soldiers, students, and other various staff. However, as he passed another hallway intersection, the Saiyan saw something that almost stopped him dead in his tracks.
With how hard he was focusing on navigating through the almost maze-like structure he found himself in, most of the individuals' faces that he had passed simply blended together. Like mixing colors together on a palette, the resulting blur that had been created made his surroundings seem unimportant and bland. That was the case until he passed this intersection.
For just a moment, barely a fraction of a second, Evan saw her face. For that one instance, the Saiyan saw what looked to be his fallen friend, Penny Polendina. But as his brain processed what he was seeing, he noticed that some details were off. The person's chin was slightly pointed in contrast to the more rounded features that he remembered from Penny. In addition, there was a set of freckles underneath each of her eyes. The most notable detail however was how long the hair was, now reaching down toward the middle of their back instead of stopping at the neckline. But those bright green eyes were so familiar, he never forgot that detail of hers. He swore he could have seen the glimpses of recognition begin to flare up in them. Could this really…
"Aagghh! I can't waste time like this. Just keep moving! Have to find the General!" Evan decided as he pushed those thoughts aside and continued on his way.
Moving past the elevator, Evan found a set of stairs and rapidly climbed them with precision, all while his combat boots clanged against the metal steps.
Before long, Evan reached the top as he pushed open the door back into the main complex, almost sliding out into the hallway as he did so, and then bursting into Ironwood's office.
"Evan! What is going on? I've just received word from several air traffic controllers that you just charged into Atlesian airspace without a single-" Ironwood began to explain as an exasperated Evan attempted to catch his breath.
Holding his hand out toward the General's face, Evan saw the tall and imposing man stop himself mid sentence to allow the teen a chance to explain himself.
"There's a group of aliens…south of Argus…they planted a…tree. It's going to drain the life out of this planet in order to bear fruit that will empower them if eaten." Evan stated, causing the General's confused expression to quickly shift to one of terror and dread.
"The tree can be stopped, but we'll need any and all firepower to take it down, although Winter and the Ace Ops are a must if we're to succeed. I'm going to head back toward Argus and deal with those monsters and their leader Turles. Hopefully by the time I'm through with them, your men will be there to assist me." Evan said aloud, allowing the General to collect himself and change to a more determined look.
"The entire Atlesian fleet will be at your disposal. I'll start mobilizing my army immediately. And what about the tree's exact location…" Ironwood began to ask.
"It's canopy's reaching up and into the stratosphere, you can't miss it." Evan interjected.
"Understood. Thank you for telling me all this. With luck, we'll make it through this nightmare. Good luck, Evan." Ironwood replied as he pressed a button on his desk, causing the white fluorescent lights inside the General's office, along with the lights in the corridor, to change to red as the General grabbed a microphone from one of his desk's drawers.
With a nod of acknowledgement, Evan left the room and headed back down the stairs.
Exiting the staircase, as he sprinted through the halls, he could hear the General's voice through the speakers on the walls as dozens and dozens of soldiers charged toward the landing platform. Joining them, Evan reentered the spacious area. Running along the side, already spotting a few soldiers getting on a docked Atlesian airship, Evan felt the icy winds claw at his face as a massive airship landed on the other end of the landing platform.
Reaching the edge of the room, with the open sky awaiting him, Evan leapt off and into the air as he took flight. Focusing his Ki, Evan blasted through the air and began the trip back toward Argus.
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Looking out into the barren landscape, a blue haired alien put his left hand against his face as he turned about in the small hovel that the group had found protruding out of the Tree of Might.
"Out of all the planet's we've crushed into dust, this one has certainly been the most boring." The man said aloud as he tossed a small stone in his other hand.
"Damn straight Daiz!" A red haired alien exclaimed as he stood tall with his hands at his waist.
"Not even a single warrior has shown up to challenge us yet. I knew this planet was remote, but I thought that there would at least be one determined hero to threaten us or something like that." The alien continued with a twinge of disappointment in his voice.
"Remember back on Twanbei II? There were whole armies there to challenge us." Daiz added.
"Yeah, Amond really was able to have some fun and cut loose. I never knew you could make a man scream like that." A small purple skinned alien said with a sadistic smile.
"Well Raisin, it's all about knowing and practicing the proper technique. And when you're locked up in a Galactic Patrol shithole for 8 years, you tend to pick up a thing or two." Amond replied with a smirk.
"At least this planet has hostile wildlife. Those native beasts from earlier certainly looked ferocious." A second purple alien stated as he flew further away from the group, continually messing with the scouter on his face in the process.
"True, but they were all bark and no bite. Cacao took them all out no problem." Daiz argued.
"Indeed, my mechanical might was wasted on such a primitive opponent." A red alien in metal armor proclaimed while leaning against the trunk of the tree.
Suddenly, the scouter on the midair purple alien began to beep slightly.
"Oh, finally!" The purple alien exclaimed fondly.
"Do we actually got some action?! Come on, Lakasei! Don't leave us in the dark!" Daiz questioned the purple alien.
"It appears that there's multiple of them advancing..." Lakasei muttered out.
"Like the sound of that." Amond said with a growing smile on his face.
"Looks like there's four of them…" Lakasei said as he fiddled with his scouter.
"Even better…" Daiz said, almost on the edge of his seat.
"And their power level is…awww, really?" Lakasei shouted out angrily.
"What is it?" Amond inquired.
"Their power level's a load of crap." Lakasei exclaimed, as he looked at the scouter's readings before floating back toward the group, clearly dejected.
"Damn it." Cacao said under his breath.
"Should we even bother with them? This race doesn't seem to have even invented orbital satellites yet, so what could they really do against the tree?" Raisin asked as looked toward the others in the group.
"To hell with this, if this planet isn't going to provide us with some good entertainment, then I guess we'll have to make our own." Daiz determined as he practically leapt out of his spot and into the open air.
"Sounds like a plan. Come on, let's move out! That includes you as well, Lakasei. Even if they aren't strong physically, they might have some unique tech that could scratch that itch you've been looking for." Amond ordered as he addressed the second purple alien.
"Fine. I got nothing else better to do." Lakasei mumbled out, with both disappointment and boredom on his face as the group floated down from their vantage point.
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As Yang parked the motorcycle within a collection of trees, the rest of the group got up from their spots on the trailer as they took in their surroundings.
In every direction, the trees looked completely dead and withered away, with all of its leaves now filling the forest floor. Any and all flowers, bushes, or weeds had long since died out at this point. Not a sound could be heard aside from whistling of wind through the hollow and cracked trees, which filled the group with an ever growing sense of dread.
And stretching out in front of them was the Tree of Might. The tree stretched on and on into the sky, to the point where you had to crane your neck all the way back to actually grasp its height. The tree's canopy was densely packed, with only the tiniest pockets of light managing to break through, causing most of the area to be covered in darkness.
With every step, the group slinked behind the trees as a form of cover, moving ever forward, as Ruby held the cane in her hands.
"To think something so small could hold enough power to destroy the moon." Ruby muttered out.
"Well, I'd say now would be the perfect time to use it. We have to be close enough, right?"
"Ok, stand back everyone. This tree's going down for good!" Ruby declared as she held both hands out, pointing the cane toward the Tree of Might.
As Ruby steadied her aim, the teen took in a deep breath as she reached toward the trigger.
"Intriguing." Lakasei said aloud, appearing out of nowhere, now floating in the air next to Ruby.
Upon seeing the alien, Ruby took multiple steps back out of surprise as Yang stepped forward to protect her.
"That's a weapon? What source of energy do you use to power it? Where is the opening for the ammunition to come out?" Lakasei inquired in a flat tone as he gestured toward the cane.
"Why the hell do you care?" Yang asked as she cocked the shotguns on her gauntlets.
"Well, what else would grab my attention? It's certainly not the four of you, I can assure you that much." Lakasei added.
"Stand down. We're warning you." Blake threatened as she pointed her weapon at Lakasei.
"Oh ho ho, you're threatening us?" Daiz said aloud as the group looked up to find the source of the noise.
Surrounding Team RWBY in a circle, flying above the tops of the withered trees, were the four remaining underlings of the Crusher Corps.
Amond was a tall humanoid alien with red skin, and light red hair. Attached to the left side of his face was a red scouter. He wore a mixture of Frieza Force armor along with red and purple pants.
Daiz was practically identical in appearance to an average human with the exception of his long blue hair. Like Amond he wore a red scouter on his face, but his attire only consisted of a blue set of Frieza Force armor.
Cacao was an alien with pink, veiny skin and pure yellow eyes. Most of his clothing consisted of a set of pure silver Frieza Force armor along with a red scouter.
Raisin and Lakasei looked practically identical in appearance to each other. Both were very small in size, only reaching half the height of a regular human, with purple skin and bald heads. Underneath their shawl was a set of teal Frieza Force armor, green scouters, and teal pants.
Joining his brother in the air, Lakasei and the other aliens looked down on the huntresses, snickering as they eyed their opponents.
"Are you the one called Turles?" Weiss announced with a scowl on her face as she pointed her rapier at Daiz.
"Would you look at that? Even all the way out here, Turles's name is getting thrown around. Sounds like we're doing a good job. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no. He saw the power levels on this pathetic planet and didn't think it was worth his time." Daiz explained as he floated down to ground level, now standing less than a foot from the sharpened point of the weapon.
"Go ahead. Try it. I dare you to!" Daiz shouted out with a smile.
Lunging forward, Weiss attacked the man, only for him to easily sidestep the attack. Thrusting her weapon out, Weiss tried in vain to land a single blow only for Daiz to continue dodging in response as he stepped backward, his grin not leaving his face for an instant.
Creating a series of glowing glyphs all around the two of them, Weiss used them to enhance her speed as sprinted around him in circles. However, despite her massive increase in mobility, Daiz was always able to turn his body about and keep his eyes on her.
Grimacing in response, on the ground, Weiss used a new glyph to get launched high into the air. Expertly flipping through the air, Weiss created a second glyph midair as she leapt off of it. Pulling the trigger on her rapier's revolver mode, Weiss unleashed a barrage of ice dust bullets toward her grounded opponent.
As the bullets made contact with the ground, large shards of ice grew in all directions, freezing Diaz in place. The alien now momentarily confused at what just happened, Weiss took advantage of it as she thrusted her weapon toward his chestplate. Only for the weapon to bounce right off of it. Immediately dissatisfaction began to fill his face, as if he were hoping for his armor to break from the force of the strike.
Using her remaining momentum, Weiss flipped backward, now close to her team.
"Haven't seen many weapons like that before. Might take it off your corpse and hold on to it as a souvenir of this place." Daiz commented, causing Weiss's expression to widen to one of shock and disgust before quickly returning to a more fierce look.
"You do realize the situation you're in, correct?" Weiss questioned the man as she used her weapon to gesture at the large blocks of ice that were encasing his legs and arms.
"Do you?" Daiz replied back with a bored look as he instantly ripped his arms out of their frozen restraints, breaking the ice with the utmost ease. As surprise briefly filled the group of young huntresses, Daiz took to the air, shattering the remaining ice that had imprisoned him.
"Hey Amond, you want to try and take a crack at these worms?" Daiz asked as he looked up toward the rest of the Crusher Corps, who were watching everything midair.
"Sure. Why not?" Amond said aloud as he cracked his knuckles while floating down to the floor.
Turning toward Yang, Amond stepped closer to the teen, his boots crunching the fallen leaves on the ground with every step he took.
"You're fighting me, blondie. Do try to make this at least somewhat interesting." Amond continued as Yang stepped forward.
As her pace increased from a walk into a full on sprint, Yang sent a kick to the man's side, only for him to hold out his right arm to block it. Bringing her foot back down, Yang launched her right arm forward, unloading the fire dust ammunition directly toward his face. However, as soon as she did that, a quick red blur moved in front of the man's head with the bullets nowhere to be seen. Firing the shots off in her left gauntlet, Yang tried again only for the same thing to happen once more.
"I think these are yours." Amond stated as he opened his left hand, revealing all of the bullets that Yang had fired.
Letting all but one slip from his fingers and clatter against the forest floor, Amond let the bullet roll around on his palm before holding it between his fingers.
Instantly, at almost unseeable speeds, the man flicked the bullet toward Yang, causing it to explode at Yang's feet as flames briefly surrounded her. Using the opportunity, Amond pushed through the flames and punched Yang in the shoulder as she got sent flying through the air.
Crashing through tree after tree, her aura protecting her with every impact, Yang finally stopped as she tumbled in a heap across the ground, sending leaves in every direction. Quickly checking her scroll, her eyes lit up in alarm as over 50 percent of her aura had been consumed upon taking the attack.
"Come on! Don't tell me you're out already! That was barely a love tap! I knew you guys were weak, but I thought you could put up at least a little bit of a fight." Amond bragged as Yang began to pick herself up.
Looking toward Blake and Weiss, the group locked eyes with each other as Yang shifted her glance to the cane in Ruby's arms. Understanding, Blake leaned in close to Ruby as she readied her weapon's semi-automatic pistol mode.
"We'll create a distraction, you go on ahead and use Ozpin's cane!" Blake whispered.
Using the damage that she received from Amond's attack, Yang activated her semblance, as her blonde hair ignited with bright yellow flames while her purple eyes turned red.
With effort, Weiss plunged her weapon into the dirt, as the ground around the group froze over. Shooting fire dust at the ground, the flames burned the ice away as a thick cloud of steam filled the air. Using her semblance, Ruby burst into a collection of rose petals as she ran through the steam and closer toward the tree.
Rushing forward, Yang leaped into the air before punching Amond straight in the jaw before jumping backwards and away from her adversary.
"Heh. Maybe you'll do after all." Amond claimed as he briefly raised his left hand up and rubbed it against the area of impact.
As the steam dissipated, Daiz noticed Ruby was missing as he looked around.
"Where the hell did she go? Lakasei!" Daiz shouted out.
"Already on it!" Lakasei yelled back as he checked his scouter.
As the device chirped away, Lakasei turned toward the direction of the tree.
"Found her!" Lakasei exclaimed as he prepared to blast off toward the tree.
Immediately, Weiss used her semblance to summon a dozen large, white and blue Lancers as they flew into the air and formed a protective barrier to stop the purple alien in his tracks.
In response, the metallic armor on Cacao's shoulder pads and knees opened up, revealing a collection of compact missiles as he fired them off on the Grimm summons, annihilating them in one coordinated strike.
With the path clear, Lakasei stormed ahead.
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As Ruby Rose turned her semblance off and returned to normal, she readied herself as she aimed the cane at the Tree of Might. Squeezing the trigger of the cane, the entire object began to glow a bright orange. Suddenly, a large, white magic circle appeared at Ruby's feet. Various symbols and letters unknown to Ruby were inscribed within the sigil as a ball of orange light appeared at the tip of the cane.
"There you are." Lakasei said aloud as he flew in from behind, the ball of light increasing more and more in size.
"Fascinating!" Lakasei exclaimed as he floated in front of where Ruby was pointing the cane.
"What are you doing?! Get away from there!" Ruby yelled out as the cane began to shake within Ruby's grasp.
"Are you joking? I've never seen tech like this before! Not even my scouter is able to deduce the energy coming from that weapon!" Lakasei replied back as the magic circle beneath Ruby glowed an almost blinding white light.
Then, a massive beam of orange light blasted forth from the cane's tip as Lakasei's eyes widened in alarm, holding his right hand out to protect himself as orange light consumed everything for a brief moment.
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Feeling a weight be lifted from her hands, Ruby watched as the cane began to disintegrate as it turned to dust and floated away in the winds.
Despite doing what she had set out to do, Ruby had a small amount of sorrow for the fallen enemy.
"I knew he was bad, but I didn't want to kill him! Why couldn't he just get out of the way!" Ruby contemplated as the blinding orange light dissipated.
As Ruby regained her vision, the sight she saw froze her in place.
Lakasei's right arm was covered in various burns that got worse and worse as you got closer to his hand, which was still steaming from the attack as green blood oozed from his palm. His eyes, which were previously curious and excited, were now filled with utter bewilderment and rage. Behind him, the Tree of Might still remained standing, completely unharmed from the attack.
"What?! H-He managed to stop the blast!? But…But how?! That blast could blow up the moon, and he just took that! H-How strong are these guys?!" Ruby thought to herself as she truly realized just how out of depth her team now was.
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Left in silence, Evan's mind kept going back to that girl he saw back in Atlas. Despite wishing with all of his heart that the individual was who he dared hope it was, his mind kept returning to that gruesome scene of Penny's death back on Amity Arena.
"I may not like it, but Penny's gone. I have to accept that. I saw her die, right in front of me." Evan thought with a melancholic look on his face.
"I don't know who exactly that girl was, but I have to put that aside for now and focus on stopping Turles and his crew." Evan decided as he could a land mass rising in the distance, with large clouds of black smoke accompanying it.
As Evan crossed the ocean, he spotted the now ruined city of Argus as numerous buildings had been toppled or downright demolished by the Tree of Might's gigantic roots.
Concentrating, Evan could sense a massive collection of Ki signatures as looked toward the mountains.
"Looks like the military were able to get the citizens to safety. Thank goodness." Evan thought as he let out a sigh of relief.
Turning his gaze back to the tree, Evan could feel the Ki signatures of Turles's gang moving about near the base of the tree.
"Are they sparring with each other? No, that's not it. Hold on, is that?" Evan contemplated as he focused his senses.
As things came more into focus, Evan could just make out a small handful of almost minuscule Ki signatures numbering four in total, which all felt strangely familiar to him.
"No…Oh god, please no!" Evan thought to himself with a look of horror on his face as he began to put the pieces together.
Immediately, Evan channeled his Ki to its absolute max as he barreled forward at top speeds with a massive BOOM, the very clouds getting pushed backwards for miles from the force of his power.
"Why are they out there?! They're going to get themselves killed!" Evan thought frantically as the air slammed against his face.
"I may not have been able to save Penny, but I refuse to let any of them die! Not if I can help it!" Evan declared as he blasted forward, getting closer and closer to the Tree of Might.
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Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Leave a review to let me know your thoughts. I should have the next chapter out within two weeks or so on either Wednesday or Thursday.
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Until then, see ya!
