Burning the Town
AN: Whelp here is another one
Ruby and Roze were staring at the metal on Penny's hands. Ruby with an awed look, and Roze with a confused look.
"Penny...I don't understand." Ruby said, trying to wrap her head around what Penny was trying to say.
"Most girls are born. I was made" Penny started to explain, earning wide eyes from Roze. "I'm the first synthetic person able to generate an aura. I'm not real." At the last part, Penny looked down sadly, now clenching her hands into fists.
Ruby placed her hands over Penny's, "Of course you are. Do you think that just because you're made of nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts it makes you any less of a person than me?" That response surprised Penny. "You have a heart, and a soul. I can feel it." Ruby said, while tapping Penny's chest.
"…You're taking this...extraordinarily well." Penny said, squinting her eyes at Ruby.
"If we're talking about being real, then I'm not exactly a person either." Roze said as he lifted the part of his cloak that normally covers his blooming rose-shaped Core Crystal.
"That's..." Penny said, looking very surprised, "Just like Kos-Mos."
"Who," Ruby asked.
"Umm...my Blade," Penny said awkwardly, "Few days after I met you...I picked up a misplaced Crystal...and it became Kos-Mos."
"Well then, that settles it." Roze said as if there was no further debate.
"What do you mean, Roze." Ruby asked in confusion.
"If Penny was able to awaken a Blade and become a Driver, then she must be alive." Roze explained.
That surprised Penny, but not more than what Ruby said next, "That's right! Penny, you're not like those things at the exhibit."
And that was it for Penny, "Oh, Ruby! You're the best friend ANYONE can have!" Those words were accompanied by Penny hugging Ruby's head against her chest. A little hard if the minor noises of discomfort from the red reaper were any indication.
"I can see why your dad would want to protect such a delicate flower." Ruby managed to say through the vice grip her head was in.
Thankfully, Penny let go of Ruby to answer," Oh, yes he's very sweet. My father's the one who built me."
"Wow! All by himself?" Ruby asked, wondering what kind of genius Penny's father must be.
"Well, almost." Penny replied happily, "He had some help from Mr. Ironwood."
"The general?" Roze asked, having a bad feeling about why someone from military would help building a girl. But then his white eyes widened as he realized something, "Was that why those soldiers were after you?"
"They like to protect me too." Penny responded happily, earning a very miffed look from the male Blade.
"...I thought they were evil kidnappers." Roze said in mild annoyance.
Ignoring her Blade, Ruby laughed a little, "What, they think you can't protect yourself?"
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet." Penny said, with a slightly downcast look, "One day it will be my turn to save the world, but I have so much to learn. Which is why my father allowed me to participate in the tournament."
But that confused Ruby, "Penny, what're you talking about? We're at the time of peace."
"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said," Penny replied.
"Check this way!" A distant voice sounded out. The two soldiers had finally caught up with them.
"You two need to hide," Penny quickly said before picking up Ruby with one arm.
"Gahh! Penny, wait! You don't have to go with them, I can help you!" Ruby cried out as she was being carried by Penny.
"And why did you pick me up too?" Roze complained, from Penny's other arm.
Penny then threw both the Driver and Blade into a nearby dumpster. "It's okay Ruby, they're not bad people. I just don't want you to get in trouble." Penny said, before having a serious look, "Just please promise me that you won't tell anyone my secret."
"...I promise," Ruby said, and the dumpster was shut.
As Ruby dared to make a small crack to peer the situation, the two soldiers reached Penny.
"Salutations, officers!" Penny greeted the two with a salute.
"Why were you running?" One of the soldiers asked, clearly annoyed, "And what happened to the other two?"
"What other two?" Penny asked, "I've been by myself all day." And then Penny hiccupped.
The two soldiers glanced at each other. Then the other one spoke, "You shouldn't cause such a scene." This one sounded much more understanding.
"Are you hurt?" the first one that was annoyed then asked.
"Just a scratch." Penny said, showing her hands.
"Penny, your father and Kos-Mos aren't going to be happy about this." the second soldier then said with a sigh, "Please... just come with us."
"Yes, sir." With that, Penny and the soldiers left.
"...Ruby...could you please get off of me?" Roze finally spoke, seeing as they were safe now.
Ruby looked down on Roze to see that Penny had somehow dropped them in a way that made the young reaper kneel on top of Roze's lap which was clearly causing the Blade a fair amount of pain. "SORRY!" And Ruby was off in an instant.
In the shady side of Vale, an incredibly robust motorcycle drove in front of a night club. This was Bumblebee, Yang's bike. With the modifications she had applied to it, the bike was able to move faster than previously, even with the extra weight it was designed to withstand.
"Okay, guys. We're here." Yang said as she took her helmet off before getting off the bike.
Dragunov did the same from the back. "That was great!" the draconic Blade said with a fist pump, "I'm honestly surprised it was even able to carry my weight and still get around as fast as it did."
"Yeah, that's what it was designed for." Yang said with a smirk, "Extreme speed and durability. Also, a good passenger helps." Indeed, during their ride, not only was the bike able to make sharp twists and turns without falling over, Dragunov knew where to distribute his weight to keep the thing upright.
"Thanks." Dragunov said, his tail finally settling down from the excitement he felt, "Now move it you little wuss!" That part was directed at a disoriented Neptune who instantly jumped up to his feet. Because of the modifications, the back of the bike became long enough to fit Dragunov and another passenger, excluding the driver. But sadly, Dragunov had to be at the back while Neptune was in the middle. Why? Because at the back, Neptune would've been smacked away by Dragunov's tail that he used to help Yang in balancing the bike. The Blade wasn't even aware he was doing it, the action just came as naturally as breathing.
"Well, then let's move in." Yang said, before moving towards the only club that had suits at the front. With Dragunov and Neptune soon following.
However, at the sight of Yang, the suited guardsmen scrambled inside the club. Earning a raised eyebrow from Dragunov, "Yang, how did you know these guys again?" He says that, but Yang never told her Blade how she knows this "friend" of hers.
"Ehh... I may have trashed this place once." Yang replied with an easygoing shrug. Earning an excited "Oh." from Dragunov.
"That sounds fun." the dragon said with a very evil grin.
Though it looked like Neptune didn't agree.
Anyway, when the three reached the door that was probably locked by now, Yang wound up her fist in preparation to strike.
But then... "Yang, please let me do it! Please, please pleaaaaase!" Dragunov practically pleaded with his tail wagging like a dog's.
That kind of behavior honestly, surprised Yang, "Uhhh...sure?"
"Oh, great." the draconic Blade said as he moved in front of the entrance, winded up his leg, and kicked the poor door off its hinges. Then the Blade quickly moved to Yang's side.
From the perspective of the people in the building. Two of the goons tried to shut the door in vain, before it was flung off of its hinges, with the poor men with it. And then a familiar blonde walked in with what had to be the most monstrous faunus they had ever seen by her side. Seriously, she looked like a female mafia boss with an oversized henchman.
"Guess who's baaaack!" And cue every gun in the room pointing at Yang and Dragunov.
The draconic Blade gave a savage grin at the men with guns, "Will you make this easy, or will you make this fun? Please, say fun." That seemed to make the goons even more nervous, as this thing didn't seem scared of the guns any more than the blonde did.
"Uhhh...Yang, could you define 'friend' for me," Neptune asked in fear.
"STOP STOP STOP! Nobody shoot!" Shouted the voice of a very tall man with black hair and beard pushing through the goons. "Blondie...you're here." The man said at the sight of Yang, "Why?" That single question word sounded like, "Why is this happening to me?"
"You still owe me a drink." Yang said before moving past the goons and dragging Junior to the bar.
"...So…anyone want to try me?" Dragunov asked all too happily from the goons who instantly took their distance from him. "...Wusses." Dragunov grumbled as he slouched after Yang.
"What a duo." Neptune said in a mixture of admiration and fear. Admiration for Yang, fear for Dragunov. Then his eyes turned to two beautiful black haired girls, "Wassup?"
"Hmph. Whatever." The two girls said in unison before walking away.
On the other side of Vale, Blake was tracing three white chalk marks that looked like claw marks. Then she peered into an alley where two faunus entered a building. "This is it." Blake said.
"Are you sure?" Sun asked, earning a glare from Blake. "You know what, I'll just take your word for it." the monkey faunus wisely corrected.
With that, the two faunus entered the building. Blake had to of course remove her bow to show her faunus heritage. They were given masks that the members of White Fang wear.
"I don't get it." Sun said as he looked at the white mask," If you believe what you do is right, then why hide who you are?"
Blake hesitated for a moment, "...The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we choose to wear the faces of monsters."
And then it hit Sun, "Grimm masks? That's pretty dark."
"So is the guy who started it." Blake said putting the mask on. All the while playing Nox's opinion of this "tradition" in her head. "If you to wear the mask of a monster, how long will it take before that mask is fused with your face and you become the monster you have sworn to fight against?". Speaking of the dark ninja Blade, he had already disappeared somewhere. Even after entering the large hall of a storage building where a lot of White Fang members and new recruits had gathered, there was no sign of him. But Blake knew one thing about Nox, just because you don't see him, doesn't mean he's not there.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you." Sun said as he clearly didn't like the idea of wearing the mask now, but he sucked it up.
Then a high ranking White Fang member came to an improvised stage with some kind of tarp over something large on it. "Thank you all for coming." The lieutenant said to the gathered faunus, "For those of you who join us for the first time, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he's the key to our victory for what is rightfully ours."
With that Roman Torchwick in his fancy suit and bowler hat entered the stage, and the White fang started jeering. "Thank you! Thank you! Please hold your applause!" But the man either ignored it or didn't care.
"What's a human doing here!?" One deer faunus shouted angrily at the sight of one of their enemies.
"I'm glad you asked deery," Roman replied easily, "Now allow me to be the first to admit, humans are the WORST. Case and point." At the last part, Roman pointed at himself, before continuing, "So I can see why you would want to see us all locked up, or better yet, killed." The man was far too jovial for someone who was in a room with faunus that had a deep hatred for humans. "But before the claws come out, allow me to remind you of the fact that we have a common enemy..."
As Torchwick kept going with his speech, Sun leaned towards Blake, "So...is he going somewhere with this, or...?"
"...the people pulling the strings. Government, military, even the schools. They are responsible for your lot in life." Torchwick kept on explaining, with the faunus starting to cheer for him. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around." the criminal said proudly, before turning to the audience, "No offense to any rodents in the room." With that, Torchwick snapped his fingers and the tarp came off. Revealing a large mech suit under it.
"Uhh... that's a big robot." Sun said in worry.
"How did he get that?" Blake wondered aloud, not understanding how Torchwick could've gotten his hands on them.
As if to answer her question, Roman started talking again, "As some of you might know, this is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. Fortunately, we managed to snag a few before they hit the shelves."
During this explanation, Blake could swear she saw movement somewhere behind the stage. "He's here." Was the first thought that came to her mind.
"Now, you all will be joining your brothers and sisters in our hideout to the southeast. If you'd rather stay in the city, that's fine. But if you're ready to fight for what is right, this is the arsenal I can provide. Any questions?" That last part of Torchwick's speech was mostly a joke, but he still earned some cheers for it.
"Okayyy." Sun mumbled at the enthusiasm these faunus had for basically being told that they get to kill humans.
"Now we need to get out of here." Blake said
"All the new recruits, step forward." Was then announced which forced Blake and Sun to move with the crowd. Now they had a problem.
Back with Yang, Junior, the tall dark and bearded "friend" of Yang's slammed a glass down on the bar desk. The guy had needed a drink to deal with the blonde.
"I don't know." Junior sighed.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Yang demanded, with Dragunov standing behind her with his arms crossed, like a henchman ready to pounce on anything that threatened his boss. Not that Yang needed any protection.
"I haven't talked to him." Junior replied in annoyance, "I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in. He just paid upfront and I lent him my men. And none of them came back."
At that moment Neptune chose to appear on the desk. "So where did they go?" the blue haired boy asked, coolly. Instead of getting an answer, Dragunov picked Neptune up by the collar of his jacket, before placing him on a bar stool.
"Sit! Stay," Dragunov commanded Neptune like one would a pet dog. All the while using his impressive form to tower over the poor boy.
"Yes, sir." Neptune replied, completely intimidated. Satisfied with the results, the draconic Blade chuckled before returning to Yang's side.
"Who are these guys?" Junior asked Yang.
"Don't worry about them." Yang said, before getting into Junior's face, "Worry about me, if I don't get what I want." The latter part was said in an intimidating tone.
"I already told you everything." Junior replied in annoyance, "Torchwick hired my men, and I guess he wasn't happy with them. WHICH IS SOMETHING I CAN RELATE TO!" That last shout was directed at his goons who looked suitably chastised.
With a sigh, Yang started leaving the bar. However, Dragunov gave the man one more look, "Are you sure there's nothing you would like to tell us?" The kind statement hid an unspoken threat.
Junior let out a sigh at the threat that was clear as day, "Look, you can trash my club, but it won't change the fact that I don't know anything else." The man was really tired of this.
While Dragunov was disappointed at there not being anything more, he still appreciated the fact that this guy didn't cower before him so easily. "That's a shame. Still, this one's for the door." With that, Dragunov left a small diamond on the counter before joining Yang. "And move your ass, MAGGOT!" And Neptune got up off the stool to follow.
"You didn't have to pay him for nothing, you know." Yang pointed out to her Blade, "Also, why do you torment Neptune like that?"
Dragunov smirked at his Driver, "He still co-operated, and that should be rewarded. As for why I torment that wimp, it's fun."
"It kind of reminds me of our first week together." Yang said suggestively, knowing that Neptune would be able to hear them.
"Yeah, but you didn't shut up and take the abuse." Dragunov said with a smirk. Which made Neptune look at the two in horror.
"Uhh...what kind of relationship you two have?" Neptune asked awkwardly.
The Blade and Driver shared a look before they turned away from Neptune with a smirk. Letting the poor boy's imagination run rampant.
Back with Blake and Sun, the two were a little screwed.
"What're we gonna do?" Sun whispered, "Where's that ninja when you need him?"
"I'm thinking." Blake replied, trying to come up with a way to get out of here before they're discovered. And then she saw something that seemed out of place. One of the White Fang grunts was standing next to a fuse box idly. This Fang member had a mask that covered all of his face and wore White Fang uniform. However, Blake saw the familiar bandages and armguards thanks to the White Fang uniforms not having sleeves.
"He sees us." Sun then said, because Torchwick was looking at them, with a very annoyed look.
"He can't see in the dark." Blake said with a smile, because the White Fang "grunt" had opened the fuse box and had his clawed hand on the switch and a familiar black scythe in the other. And then the switch was flipped, followed by sound of something being sliced.
"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!" Someone shouted.
"Sun! The window!"
"Okey dokey!"
After some more scuffling noise and starting up of a machine, Blake and Sun broke through the window. Followed by Nox who had ditched the clothes he stole from a Fang that was probably still tied up in his underwear where the ninja left him.
And then a section of the wall came off when the Atlesian Paladin, that was piloted by a very annoyed Roman Torchwick, crashed through the wall to chase after the two faunus and the dark Blade.
With the said trio running on the rooftops, while Roman had to make do with the road.
"So, you wouldn't happen to have some kind of back-up plan," Sun shouted, seeing as Nox being back up did NOT account for a giant robot chasing them.
"On it!" With that, Blake called on her scroll.
"Couldn't you have at least bent your knees to get to my level instead?" Weiss asked from Dahlia, still embarrassed about the fact that when they stopped hugging, people were staring.
"It didn't cross my mind, Weiss. I'm sorry." Dahlia said with an apologetic look.
Before Weiss could retort to that, her scroll rang. Which made her respond.
"Everyone, if you can hear me we need back-" Whatever was about to be said was cut off by someone yelling.
"Urgh. We got to go." Weiss said in annoyance, before her and Dahlia started to hurry to where the call was coming from.
With Ruby, she had also opened her scroll to hear Sun's yelling. "They got a robot! And it's very big!"
"Oh, we are NOT missing this!" Ruby shouted as she and Roze made a move on.
Finally, with Yang, Neptune and Dragunov who were about to drive away. "And that Torchwick guy is inside of it! Not like eaten! It's like he's controlling it or something!"
"Where are you guys?" Yang asked into the scroll. The answer came in the form of their three friends running away on the street behind them, with the robot hot on their heels.
"I think that's them." Neptune said helpfully.
"Well, no shit genius." Dragunov said condescendingly before preparing for speedy take off. Just in time for Yang to hit the gas and turn the bike around.
With Sun and Blake, they had lured the thing onto a long bridge, which sadly meant that the people driving might get involved.
"This is bad." Nox showed on his scroll. Though it was hard to read from due to the wind.
"Kind of." Blake said, as she jumped from one car's roof to another's along with Sun and Nox.
All the while Yang had caught up with the mech from behind on Bumblebee. "We need to slow it down somehow!" Yang shouted to the back.
"On it!" with that, Neptune took off a rifle strapped to his back and started shooting electric shots at the mech's back.
Torchwick responded by flinging some of the cars behind him. "Is he insane?" Dragunov exclaimed as Yang maneuvered past the flying vehicles.
After they got past the raining vehicles, Neptune turned his head towards Dragunov, "Hey, big guy. Can you launch me towards that thing?"
"Of course." Dragunov responded before grabbing Neptune and flinging him towards the rampaging robot. The blue haired boy switched his rifle into an electric trident, before digging it into the mech upon landing. Sadly, the thing didn't even slow down.
"Neptune, hang on!" Sun shouted from the roof of a speeding truck. Then he put his hands together and used his semblance. Creating two glowing copies of himself to attack the mech. They did slow it down for a moment by exploding upon contact, but not enough. Then Sun took out his weapon in its staff form and jumped to attack Torchwick's mech. Sadly, at that moment, Torchwick managed to shake Neptune off. Straight into Sun, sending both of them flying to who knows where.
"Blake, I'm in position!" Weiss' voice sounded from Blake's still active scroll.
Sure enough, slightly ahead of them, Weiss and Dahlia had just come down from an overlapping bridge. "Let me do this, Dahlia." Weiss said as she prepared her rapier with the speeding cars driving past them.
"Alright then." Dahlia said, allowing Weiss to stab her rapier into the road, creating an ice field. Which Torchwick's mech slipped on upon stepping into it. Sliding out of the bridge to the ground below.
Right where Ruby and Roze were waiting. Ruby with Crescent Rose ready, and Roze with his own scythe.
Then, all the members of team RWBY came down, along with their Blades. Each with their respective weapons drawn.
Torchwick smirked in his mech, which drove anti-slip spikes into the ground.
"Freezerburn times two!" Ruby called out.
With that command, Weiss and Dahlia each created a coating of ice on the ground with Yang jumping into the air. Then she came down and let out a blast from Ember Celica to turn one of the sheets of ice into fog. Dragunov did the same, except he just stepped on his sheet of ice with his glowing hot foot. Creating twice as much fog.
That blinded Torchwick, who couldn't tell from the mech where these meddlesome brats were. He started using targeting lasers, but even then, the team and their Blades easily avoided them. Well…all but the largest of them, who got introduced to the stolen Atlesian Paladin's energy guns.
Only for the shots to get deflected when Dragunov back-handed them with his talons, "You think that's enough against the might of DRAGUNOV!" With that roar, the draconic Blade launched himself at the mech, delivering a good punch into its front. "What!?" Dragunov expected to punch through the metal and the talons to dig into Torchwick himself, but all he did was cause a deep dent with his talons digging into it. This forced Dragunov to place his feet on the mech's frame before kicking himself off of it. Though instead of being angry, the fire Blade was smirking at this mech that could take one his punches, "Interesting."
"CHECKMATE!" With that command, Blake and Weiss appeared to the mechs legs and started slashing against it. But strangely, they were barely even scratching it.
"What is this thing made of!" Weiss had barely finished that exclamation, before she had to fall back from a mechanical kick. But not before stabbing one of its targeting lasers.
From behind the mech, Dahlia made a jump spike with her bitball at the top of the Paladin, while Nox had moved in close to strike at anything that looked important.
Roman looked on the warnings of the holographic screens inside the mech with a sneer. Red and her friends are a nuisance on their own, but now they have these "living weapons" Atlas had somehow developed. He decided to fire the missiles, thankfully they're heat directed, so there's no need for lock on.
Unfortunately, heat-seeking missiles found their priority with the hottest thing in the area. And that's Dragunov. The fire Blade smirked as two large flames appeared on his palms. He would burn these things out of the sky.
Except, Weiss used a time dilation glyph to power up Blake to use rapid sword beam attacks to slice the missiles out of the sky.
"HEY! Those were mine!" Dragunov was not happy about it.
"Quit whining." Roze shouted as he started shooting at the mech. The rose themed Blade was honestly worried. This thing proved itself sturdy even against Dragunov's might, and the fire Blade is now stronger than when he was first awakened. And only the Blade weapons so far seem to do any damage against it. "Everyone, switch to us, this thing is too sturdy."
"Everyone! Switch to Blade weapons." Ruby also shouted. With that, the Blades handed their Weapons over to their Drivers and linked with them. "Lady bug!"
With that, Blake and Ruby charged, with their Blades right behind them. "Thorny Bloom!" And Ruby's strikes became much faster. Torchwick tried to use one of the mechs arms to catch Ruby, but Blake was already winding up for a pirouette of sickley death. But she didn't notice that the scythe Blades seemed to have grown in size and were crackling with dark energy. Nox had activated Black Predator. And then Blake spun, digging into the arm like a buzzsaw until it was cut off. It seemed like this thing wasn't as tough against a Driver's and Blades' combined power.
Then the two fell back. But then, Yang jumped on the mechs back and started punching it with Dragunov's talons. The fire Blade staying down and supplying her with power. Unfortunately, Torchwick decided to ram Yang through several pillars of concrete, to shake her off. "Damage ARMOR!" That was the roar that sounded just before impact on the first concrete pillar. Dragunov had managed to give Yang a protective barrier that negates damage.
But Torchwick didn't know this, he simply thought that the girl was taking heavy damage to her aura. And when Yang fell off of him despite not taking damage the criminal used the mech's remaining arm to punch the girl into paste. Or that's what was supposed to happen, but instead, the Damage Armor was still strong enough to block half of the damage before finally breaking. The remaining half being blocked by her aura.
"YANG!" Blake cried out, forgetting what Damage Armor does.
"Blake, Damage Armor, remember?" Roze reminded the distressed cat faunus.
As Yang stood up, Dragunov smirked at the little gimmick they had discovered about Damage Armor. You see, despite the skill blocking damage, the said blocked damage still counts into Yang's semblance. Which made Yang's hair glow and her eyes to turn red. "Thanks partner." Yang said with a savage grin that mirrored Dragunov's.
"It was nothing." the draconic Blade replied with his own grin, "What do you say we finish this?"
Yang had a very evil look as there was now a golden glow around herself, and her Blade, "Yeah, let's go." With that, Yang charged at Torchwick's mech head on, with Dragunov right behind her.
Torchwick quickly raised the remaining arms cannon and took aim.
"Ice Flower!" Only to get shot by Ruby's shot's that were imbued with ice, thanks to Weiss' semblance. The ice got into the mech's joints which prevented it from moving. Which in turn, allowed Yang to give a well-placed strike on the mech. Flinging the whole thing a fair distance before it shattered completely.
Roman Torchwick got out of the rubble that used to be a fearsome mech in annoyance. "Just got this thing cleaned," the criminal complained as he dusted off his suit, before turning to team RWBY, "Ladies, Ice Queen-" "Hey!" "-, weapons with unfair abilities. Always a pleasure." As soon as Roman said that, a short woman with one half of her hair pink, while another half was brown. Though the pink side had streaks of white in it. "Neo, if you would?" Roman said and the woman named Neo took out her umbrella and opened it in front of herself.
Roze opened his mouth to say something, before feeling heat emanating from Dragunov. Yang had given her Blade his talons back and he was charging what looked like a big fireball in his hands. "There won't be even ashes left after this." Dragunov said as the cracks in his body were glowing with heat, with occasional bursts of flame escaping from them. Then he lifted the ball of fire into the air, "Burning RAGE!" And then the slammed it into the ground, causing it to have glowing cracks.
After few seconds of nothing happening, the crew was staring at him.
"Uhhh... was that supposed to-" *FWOOOSH* Weiss' question was interrupted by a huge pillar of swirling fire exploding from the ground beneath Torchwick and Neo. Reducing them to ashes like they were shattering
All the girls stared at the devastation with varing expressions. Yang looked proud of the insane overkill her Blade just performed. Weiss was staring in shock alongside Dahlia. Blake felt like curling into a ball at the fiery explosion, with Nox having slight fear for the mighty dragon, despite the dark Blade clutching his left eye.
"D-Did you just kill them?" Weiss was finally able to ask as Dragunov's body stopped glowing with heat.
Nox frowned as he revealed his scroll. "No. He did not."
"What do you mean?" Blake asked in a mixture of concern and relief.
Her response, came in the form of a bullhead flying away with Torchwick and Neo in it. Which did not sit well with Dragunov, "HOW DARE THEY ESCAPE MY BURNING RAGE!"
The amount of offense Dragunov took at his special being dodged scared the Drivers and put their Blades on edge.
"Don't worry, Drag." Yang said, surprisingly, not reacting to her Blade's fury. Then again, they were still linked with their emotions. "You can have your revenge when you see Torchwick and his new henchman again."
"Why do I suddenly hope that whatever plan you two have for them gets shattered like that illusion?" Nox showed on his scroll.
This made Ruby cover her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter. Dahlia wasn't so subtle and laughed melodiously at Nox's words.
"What?" Nox showed, looking confused.
"I thought, you don't make jokes." Dragunov said in annoyance.
"I'm not joking." Nox had a very annoyed look on his face.
"Suuure. Whatever you say, closet punner." Yang said with a smirk.
Nox's eye shifted from a cross to an X as he glared at Yang and Dragunov.
"Just leave it." Blake told Nox, "It's not worth fighting over."
Thankfully, the dark Blade conceded to his Driver's point.
"By the way." Roze piped up... "Dragunov...what level is Burning Rage?"
"Level 3, why?" Dragunov asked, earning a surprised look from Roze.
While Weiss looked shocked and Blake looked terrified. A huge towering inferno... and that wasn't Dragunov's full power?
"...What's your level 4?" Roze asked nervously, earning an annoyed look from the dragon.
"None of your business until I use it." Dragunov said in annoyance, before looking thoughtful, "But I will say this, I need these two to wake up before I can even consider using it." And then Dragunov tapped at the stone dragon heads resting against his chest.
"Hey, where are Sun and Neptune?" Ruby then asked, seeing as the two never showed up.
"Probably lazing around like a bunch of wimps." Dragunov shrugged. Seeing as Neptune at least was easy to reduce into a bitch. "Speaking of which, I wonder if I could make Neptune bark too." the draconic Blade idly said with a very evil look. Causing everyone else to back away from him, even Yang.
At a noodle shop called "Simple Wok", Neptune felt a sudden chill as he ate a bowl of noodles.
"What's up, man?" Sun asked, slurping on his own noodles.
"...Nothing, I just felt a sudden chill." the blue haired boy said feeling very terrified for some reason. "By the way...do you think the girls are alright?" Neptune asked in an attempt to think of something else.
"...Probably." Sun shrugged before returning to his noodles without a care in the world.
AN: Whelp here it is. How many of you thought of the worst case scenario? Thankfully, we only saw Dragunov's level three special. And nothing worse. And if any of you think the Atlesian Paladin was stronger than it was supposed to be, I have one question: Who or what were they tested against?