Chapter 8: Players and Pieces
Ruby, Weiss, and I are hanging onto a giant Nevermore Grimm. We were flying high in the sky. The wind blew my hair at the speed we were going.
"Ruby! Lana! I told you guys this was a terrible idea!" Weiss shouted to be heard.
"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby also shouted to be heard.
"I am so far beyond worrying!" Weiss yelled.
"In a good way?" Ruby asked.
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss yelled.
"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby said.
"What are you? Insane?!" Weiss yelled. She is met with silence; Ruby and I have already disappeared.
"Oh, you insufferable little red-!" Weiss shouted angrily.
Down on the ground in the Abandoned Temple, Blake is still staring skyward and pointing for Yang to look up.
"Blake, did you hear that? What should we do?" Yang asked worriedly. Ruby and I fell right towards them, finally getting Yang's attention.
"Heads uuuuuuuuup!" Ruby and I yelled to warn the crowd below us.
Just as we are about to hit the ground panicking, Jaune Arc comes flying through the air and crashes into Ruby and I, knocking us off course and sending us both into a tree to the left where Blake and Yang are standing. Ruby is dazed by the rough landing.
"Ruby. Are you okay?" I asked. My head also hurt from the rough landing.
"Ohhhh... What was that?" Ruby asked. Her dizziness passes when she shakes her head.
"Eh-hem!" Jaune's voice interrupted our thoughts. We look up and see Jaune hanging upside-down in a tree branch above us.
"Hey Ruby, Lana," Jaune said.
"Hi, Jaune," I said. Blake looks up at the tree where we crashed.
"Did your sister and friend just fall from the sky?" Blake asked.
"I..." Yang started. Before she can continue, several crashing noises are heard in the forest ahead of them, and on Ursa comes out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hits it in the back and it crashes to the ground depositing its rider.
"YEEE-HAAAAAW!" Nora screams as she rides on the Ursa. Nora rolls off the creature's back, then gets up and groans, saddened. "Aww... it's broken."
Nora dashes onto its neck and observes the carcass as Ren comes up behind her. "Eeewwww," Nora said.
Ren pants and leans onto the monster. "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again!" Ren said. He looks up again and notices the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora has run off again and looks around frantically. Nora is now in the Temple, looking at the golden rook relic.
"Oooh..." Nora said with amazment. Nora suddenly grabs it, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"
"Nora!" Ren shouts. Nora stops dancing with the rook on her head, then salutes, dropping the relic in her hand.
"Coming Ren!" Nora shouted back. Nora happily skips off to her friend.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked.
"I..." Yang started. Yang is interrupted once more as a screech is heard from their right, and Pyrrha comes onto the scene as the scorpion creature uproots entire trees in its chasing after her. Pyrrha narrowly dodges its giant claws and keeps running.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted.
Ruby and I stand up, looking at the monster below. "Woah!" Ruby shouted. She starts running off the branch and landing in a roll.
"Hey Ruby, wait for me!" I shouted. I swing off the tree branch with my lasso, landing next to Ruby and Yang.
"Ruby! Lana!" Jaune whines.
"Ruby! Lana!" Yang said happily when Ruby stands back up on the ground.
"Yang!" Ruby and I shouted excitedly. Ruby raises her arms. I was about to hug Yang when Nora suddenly comes in between us, knocking us off-balance in surprise.
"Nora!" Nora shouted happily.
The scorpion Grimm continues to follow Pyrrha as she runs.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked.
"Yep, she did," I said.
Yang is getting angrier until she growls and erupts in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" Yang yelled.
The tick-tock of a clock counts down to the two seconds of Yang cooling down, Ren is running over to a ditzy Nora, and Blake, Ruby, and I are looking up. Ruby tugs on her sister's sleeves and points.
"Um... Yang?" Ruby said. Yang lowers her head in annoyance.
Up above, Weiss is revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belongs to the same gigantic Nevermore Ruby and I were riding on earlier.
"How could you guys leave me?!" Weiss shouted to Ruby and I.
"I said, "Jump!" Ruby shouted at Weiss.
"She's gonna fall," Blake said.
"She'll be fine," Ruby said.
"She's falling," Ren said.
"She's gonna die," I said.
"Don't be cruel," Ren said. "She's falling."
Jaune is finally out of the tree, panting until he looks up and grins at the sight of Weiss falling through the air, giving him the opportunity to jump off the branch with arms outstretched and catch her in a slowed-down moment.
Jaune smiles at Weiss. "Just... dropping in?" Jaune said. Weiss is speechless... and Jaune realizes why when they both look down.
"Oh, God," Jaune said. They both hang on to each other wide-eyed as their moment of suspension ends, their weapons flying behind them. "Oh, nooooooooo- Oomph!"
Jaune does a facepalm into the dirt, limbs splayed out, and serves as the perfect landing spot for Weiss as she falls into a seated position on his body.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," I said.
"My hero," Weiss said mockingly.
"My back..." Jaune groaned in pain.
The Death Stalker is still hunting Pyrrha, but she manages to land on her side at the feet of the heroes.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said with confidence. Ruby sounds a battle cry and rushes towards the Grimm.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang shouted.
"Ruby!" I cried. Without thinking, I ran after Ruby.
"Lana!" Yang cried.
Ruby, still screaming, fires Cresent Rose and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back. I drew out my God Killer sword to defend Ruby and myself. I was going to attack but the Death Stalker knocked me down too. Ruby gets up slowly.
"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby said. Ruby sees me on the ground and helps me up. Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe. I realized the Death Stalker is now going after us, so I sprint away with Ruby as fast as I could. Yang runs towards us.
"Ruby! Lana!" Yang shouted worriedly.
Ruby and I rush towards Yang, but the Nevermore caws above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape and prevent Yang from reaching us. I drew my sword and tried to save Ruby's life by attempting to cut the Nevermore's feather, but it wasn't working. The Nevermore shot its feathers at me. I tried to dodge the feathers but one of them caught on my skirt.
"Yang, I'm stuck!" I cried, frantically trying to get out of the feather that was pinning me down.
"Ruby, Lana, get out of there!" Yang cried.
"I'm trying!" Ruby shouted as she struggled with the cloak.
"Oh no," I said when the Death Stalker approached us. It raised its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and me heading down to us.
Yang reaches out in vain as she calls out to us. "Ruby! Lana!" Yang cried.
"Help!" I scream. A white blur reaches past Yang and reaches the stinger just as it's about to pierce us. I blacked out for a minute.
"You both are so childish!" A voice shouts. I woke up to see the sight of the stinger encased in ice and Ruby lowered her arms from their futile position over her head and stairs at our savior. I looked up to see Weiss was the one who saved us from the Grimm.
"Weiss...?" I said, confused.
Weiss continues to berate Ruby and I as she removes Myrtenaster from the ice. "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you guys quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer." Weiss said.
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby said.
"Yeah, Weiss. I'm not trying to show off either. And I was helping Ruby!" I said.
"You're fine," Weiss said. Weiss walks away. I took a moment to catch my breath.
Ruby breathes a sigh of relief, then closes her eyes and clasps her hands. "Normal knees..." Ruby gratefully whispers. Ruby gets up and stares at the Death Stalker. It struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice. "Woah!"
I observed the Death Stalker too. "How did she do that?" I whisper to myself. Yang rushes up to me and Ruby and gives us a hug. Ruby groans upon receiving.
"So happy you guys are okay!" Yang said. We all stared at each other for a moment, then looked at the Nevermore still flying overhead and roaring. We made our way back to the group.
"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked nervously when we made our way back to the group.
"It's not going to stop until we are its next meal," I said.
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said. We all stared at the relics in front of us.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." Ruby said. Ruby nods to Weiss. "There's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune said excitedly.
Ruby goes over and grabs a gold knight (Identical to the one Yang picked out) and Jaune takes hold of a gold rock (Similar to Nora and Ren's piece), smiling at each other. The Death Stalker continues to fight its bands, cracking the ice a little in the process.
"Guys, it's about to let loose!" I said nervously.
"Time we left!" Ren said.
"Right," Ruby said. Ruby waves to the others. "Let's go!" Ruby said. Ruby goes forward with everyone including me following except for a smiling Yang and Blake as the latter approaches her partner.
"What is it?" Blake asked.
Yang is staring proudly at Ruby as she leaps onto a boulder and motions the group onward. "Nothing..." Yang said. She moves on as Blake smiles in realization and leaves as well.
The group and I head out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore follows us from the air. We spread out when it passes above, concealing ourselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perches on a high volume and caws. I took cover behind Ruby and Yang.
"Well, that's great!" Yang said, annoyed.
Jaune looks behind at the Death Stalker bursting onto the scene.
"Ah, man, run!" Jaune cried. The group and I emerge from our hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren shouted.
Nora obliges, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore and causing it to retreat. She is unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake, Ren, and I perform a cross-slash with their Gambol Shroud, StormFlower, and my sword against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora she can create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake, Ren, and I are now being chased.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha yells. Pyrrha stops running beside Jaune and gets out Milo, firing red shots alongside Ren's green blasts for a second until it reaches them and tries to swipe, prompting me and the group to run again. I notice the giant Nevermore flying towards us as we race over the ancient stone bridge.
"Everyone, incoming!" I yelled to warn the group.
It was too late because people didn't notice the giant Nevermore closing in on us until it used its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the control collection of columns and leaving me, Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker. Ruby fires at the retreating Nevermore while Blake is beaten back by the scorpion. I helped the others fight the scorpion.
Jaune comes to the edge of the break in the bridge. "Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!" Jaune cried. Nora runs up beside him.
"Let's do this!" Nora said.
Jaune looks down at the misty abyss. "Yeah, but, uh... I can't make that jump." Jaune said nervously.
Nora smiles at him, laughing. Nora knocks him back, turns her weapon to its full-length form, and jumps to the edge of the bridge. Jaune panics when he realizes what she is about to do.
"Oh, wait!" Jaune cried. Too late, she slams the hammer into the bridge and throws Jaune to the other side, yelling: "No, no, no!"
Nora places one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of the bridge, launching her to slam its face right in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fires it just as the stinger comes down to get her, and blasts back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Blake and I, and making us fall from the edge.
I panicked, looking over the height I was falling at. I was going to die if I didn't do something. I tried to shoot my web shooters, but I was too far away from the ledge and couldn't reach it.
Blake sees the Nevermore above her and launches her whip, so the gun's blade sinks into the edge of the bridge. Blake circled around and grabbed me, and we leaped onto the aerial Grimm's back while slashing our blades at its head. Blake dashes all over its body with me following her. We slash its back the entire time as we are running with our blades, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby.
"Thanks, Blake," I said. Blake nodded before going over to Yang and Weiss. I took a moment to catch my breath.
"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake shouted.
Yang readies her Ember Celia. "Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang said.
The Nevermore is approaching. Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang, and I set our weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird which it either dodges or takes harmlessly. I helped by shooting some of my electricity powers and web shooters at the bird. The bird crashes through the columns and platforms. Me and the girls leap from one section of the falling stone to the next until they reach the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs. Blake retracts her weapon.
"None of this is working!" Weiss said with frustration. Ruby watches Blake whip over to another section of the area and Yang firing round after flaming round at the Grimm.
"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby shouted. Weiss and I helped cover Ruby. Ruby whispered the plan to me quickly and I nodded in agreement because I was able to help. Ruby blasts away as Weiss raises her blade and heads into the fray.
Down below, the Death Stalker is still battling Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.
"We gotta move!" Jaune cried. They all rush towards it.
The Death Stalker aims a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflects it with her Akouo shield and slashes it with her blade. The scorpion recoils and swipes at her with its other claw, but Jaune is there to deflect it with his shield, knocking it back so Pyrrha can leap over and attack its face. Ren runs up firing and gets on the stinger when it tries to hit him, shooting at the base between it when it tries to hit him, shooting at the base between it and the tail while Nora fires more grenades at the attacking claws. Pyrrha hurls her javelin straight into one of the monster's ten eyes, making it throw Ren to the side.
"Ren!" Nora cried worriedly.
Ren hits the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up. Jaune, though, manages to stand and notices the stinger is hanging limply.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted.
"Done!" Pyrrha responds. She raises the shield and hurls it like a discus, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Death Stalker's head as Pyrrha retrieves her rebounding shield.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune shouted.
"Heads up!" Nora yelled. She jumps on Akouo, Pyrrha leaps as Nora aims her blast down to give herself a maximum lift. and she smiles the entire way up before twirling down until her hammer slams its head into the stinger, driving the point through the Death Stalker's head and crushing the bridge beneath it.
Jaune and Pyrrha bound over the monster to the land behind it, and Nora fires up and away behind them as the monster falls to its doom. Jaune hits the ground on his back, Nora lands on her bottom, Pyrrha manages a crouched pose, and Ren simply walks over to them, panting and groaning until he just collapses. The other three get up and watch as the Nevermore is pepped with firepower.
Yang is still burning through her ammo on the beast, landing a blow at its face and causing it to head right towards her, but she leaps for its open maw and forces the beak wide as she attacks.
Yang screams and fires a round with each syllable. "I! Hope! You're! Hung-!...gry!" She looks behind her and jumps back from its mouth onto a ruin, causing the creature to crash into the cliffs.
Despite Yang's attempts, the Nevermore recovers quickly, and Yang smiles as she spots Ruby, me, and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passes her while the Nevermore starts to fly back up, but Weiss hops over to the ruin it's lifting off of and freezes the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flips into a snowflake-circle jump and lands on the other side, running to the group.
I look up to see Blake firing the pistol portion of Gambol Shroud over to Yang, and the two tighten it between the columns so Ruby can jump on the center with Cresent Rose and bend it back into Weiss' black sigil, right next to the coaster.
"Lana, hurry!" Ruby shouted. I nodded and jumped up towards the Nevermore. I tied my lasso around my waist and wrapped the other end of it around its neck then landed back on the ground next to Weiss. Weiss made another black sigil next to Ruby's. I jumped onto the sigil, loading myself onto the launcher.
"Of course, you two would come up with this idea," Weiss said annoyed.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked her.
"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said with confidence. A second passes.
"Can't?" I said.
"Of course I can!" Weiss said.
Ruby looks forward and pumps Cresent Rose. I prepared my landing position, sort of like what we did on the launch pads back on the Beacon Cliffs. I held onto my lasso tightly. Weiss turns the circle from black to red and releases me and Ruby at such a speed that the ground from behind our launch cracks, rose petals flying in her ascent. I screamed as we were flying through the air. With each new shot, we get closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe catches the Nevermore's neck in its blade and causes them both and me to fall to the cliff wall. Weiss raises her sword and creates a series of white circles up the wall, which Ruby and I dash through by firing the entire way up.
Yang, Blake, and an exhausted Weiss watch us climb up with the bird in our grasp until both of us and the monster is crying out. I was able to pull the Nevermore with my lasso, helping Ruby pull it up the cliff too. Ruby and I reach the top of the cliffs, circle up, fire one last shot, and I give a powerful tug of my lasso and rend the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in the shower of petals.
We land behind the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore falls lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the girls, and father away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement.
"Wow..." Jaune says.
Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to her friends as they peer up. I also looked down at everyone proudly. I can't believe that I have defeated a giant monster.
"Well... That was a thing!" Yang said.
Ruby and I looked at each other and smiled. We high-fived at our victory.
Back at the school, we had a ceremony for our new teams. I watched the new teams form together and Professor Ozpin's speech.
"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark. (The Screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see as Professor Ozpin continues) The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
The audience gives one more wave of ovation, while Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren walk up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces fill the screen.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Professor Ozpin said.
Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug.
"Led by... Jaune Arc!" Professor Ozpin said. Jaune looked surprised at Professor Ozpin's announcement.
"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune said with surprise.
"Congratulations, young man." Professor Ozpin said.
A grinning Pyrrha offers a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune but her "Fine leader" is knocked over and falls to his butt in front of the laughing audience. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang walk up to the stage now.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xion Long." He motions over the four as they stand before him. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"
Weiss looks to her right, surprised, where Ruby is obviously in shock and Yang goes over to hug her sister.
"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said happily. I was waiting for my name to be called but Professor Ozpin did not call my name. My facial expression was saddened. Was I not accepted into the school? The rest of the teams RWBY and JNPR looked at me with concern.
"Wait, what about Lana?" Ruby said with concern.
"Yeah, she was amazing! Did you change your mind so suddenly?" Yang said a bit angrily. I felt some tears in my eyes. Pyrrha put her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I held Pyrrha's hand then I started to walk out the door.
"Lana..." Pyrrha said.
"Do you mean she failed?" Blake said.
"That can't be possible," Yang said. I looked back at my friends.
"It's okay guys. There's always next year. I guess this is goodbye... for now." I said sadly.
"No..." Ruby said worriedly.
"Not quite." Professor Ozpin said. I turned around and looked at him with confusion. Professor Ozpin smiled at me. "Lana Diane O'Hara. Please come to the stage."
I did as he said, nervously stepping onto the stage. I held onto Yang's hand for some support.
"As you all are aware, Lana O'Hara did not find a partner. She didn't find a partner and wasn't able to collect a Chess Piece, but she did help Ms. Rose take down the giant Nevermore and bravely helped her friends in their time of need. If I were you, Ms. O'Hara I would check your belt."
I checked the belt of my outfit and pulled out a golden king piece. I was shocked.
"What? How did that get in there?" I said. "Wait, then this means..."
"Therefore, Lana O'Hara you get to stay in this school, and you passed the test. You get to pick which team you would like to work with for these four years." Professor Ozpin said. I looked at both teams RWBY and JNPR. They all were very nice, well, except for Weiss. I wanted to work with both teams.
"Professor, if it is okay with you. I would like to work with both team RWBY and team JNPR." I said.
Professor Ozpin looks at me and smiles. "Very well then. Lana O'Hara, from this day forward, you will be a member of team RWBY and team JNPR." Professor Ozpin said.
"Welcome to the team, Lana!" Yang said playfully slapping my back. I hugged both teams.
"We are excited to work with you," Pyrrha said.
"I am too," I said.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Professor Ozpin said.
I smiled, feeling grateful for this opportunity. If my family were here with me, they would be proud.
before going into the night and seeing the moon through a window, providing a view to the outside for a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, where Roman Torchwick is getting a call on his phone. The muffled conversation ends, and Roman angrily slams the phone down, sighing. He holds a cigar to his mouth and puts his symbolized lighter to the end, just as a man in a gray mask and black hood comes with a trolley. Roman holds out a collection of Lien, which he places on the table and the man takes it.
"Open it," Roman ordered.
The masked man does so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors - orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Roman picks up a blue gem in his hand and looks at the loot.
"We're gonna need more men..." Roman said.
The view zooms in on the map above the desk, showing Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, all leading into a specially circled place
- Beacon -