I don't own anything.
"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you working with this scum?!"
Brothers? Were those cat ears?
'No.' I shook my head, there was no time for that now. I couldn't hear what Torchwick was saying from so far away, but his intentions became pretty clear when the ground Blake was standing on exploded.
I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, but I felt strangely calm as I assessed the situation. 18 White Fang members, swords and guns. Roman Torchwick was there too. I didn't know exactly how strong he was, but I had to assume he was at least at my level or beyond that.
By the time Blake landed on the ground, I had a plan.
After fumbling through my pockets for a moment, I unsheathed Crocea Mors and attached my shield to my arm before hopping off the roof. A quick roll to absorb the impact, and I was already running towards the gunfire and explosions. In the flashes of light, I could just about see Blake, flipping, ducking and diving between the explosive rounds the thief was shooting at her.
I didn't have time to keep watching her, though, as I'd arrived in the midst of the White Fang forces. The black sheen of Chitin Shield appeared over my shield, just as I sent it crashing into one of the masked Faunus. A crackle of blue aura told me that the one blow had been enough to break it completely.
I turned to the second, the tip of Crocea Mors ramming into his breastplate, cracking the thin piece of armor even though his aura was still up. It staggered him enough that he had no time to dodge the edge of my shield, which cracked into his jaw with enough force to send him sprawling.
Two down, sixteen to go. By now, though, the rest of the White Fang had noticed and opened fire on me. Some of the rounds I blocked with my shield, but I was surrounded, and I saw my aura bar steadily dropping sliver by sliver. I couldn't stay here. The White Fang members were standing around me in a loose circle, their guns trained on me as they continued shooting.
I rushed at the woman directly in front of me, and while she tried to move backwards, to maintain her distance from me, I was faster. Purple aura flashed as my charge broke hers and I idly blocked a sword from the man to her right, using the brief moment where our swords were locked to take a step to the right. I let his sword continue its motion without resistance, then, letting it pass by me as my fist snapped into his jaw. He didn't get back up.
Fourteen.
With all of the remaining White Fang on one side of me, I could far more effectively block their gunfire, and the drain on my aura lessened to the point where it was negligible. I shot forward again, knocking one of the masked men over with a shield bash, throwing him into the loose formation the remaining White Fang had formed.
Thirteen.
A slash of Crocea Mors dropped another, but I took a stab to the shoulder for it, the tip of the blade digging into my aura uncomfortably. My shield's edge found his temple a moment later, and I took a step back.
Eleven.
Bullets pinged off of the blackened surface of my shield as I spared a look at my aura bar. I was still sitting at over three quarters. Like a coiled spring, I shot at the group again, who were now panicking. One White Fang soldier fell to a burst of gunfire from the person standing behind him, his shaky hands throwing his aim off. I took the moment of reprieve to deck another masked woman with some kind of lizard tail that tried to wrap around my sword arm.
Nine.
In the melee, it only got more hectic. Shoulder bash, elbow.
Eight.
Parry a katana with Crocea Mors, riposte.
Seven
I duck under a clumsy swing and let it crash into one of the other White Fang members. A sword ran along my back, sparking off my aura as I grabbed onto one of the goat horns on the man in front of me and dragged him into the path of a cleaver. The man's aura sparked, and I dropped him with an elbow to the neck.
Six.
The man who had just been hit by his fellow Faunus took Crocea Mors' pommel to the temple just as he was standing back up.
Five.
I felt more than heard another explosion going off behind me, back where Blake and Torchwick were still fighting. I had to hurry.
My shield flattened another White Fang member's nose and drove him to the ground, where he stayed.
Four.
Two of the last members charged me while the last seemed almost frozen in his spot. I batted a sword aside, but I didn't get the chance to counterattack as I had to lean backwards, dodging another sword swing. A clawed hand swept at my eyes, trying to blind me, but it skittered off my shield, which I got up in time.
I swept the clawed Faunus' legs out from under him as Crocea Mors barely managed to push another sword swing from the other White Fang member to the side. I was a lot stronger than them, but in kicking, I had sacrificed my own stability and leverage to get a hit in.
A quick stomp took the now downed Faunus out of the fight, and I turned to the last masked man who was still fighting. His sword came for my throat again, but I batted it aside almost casually. The impact of my shield meeting his swing was almost enough to send him sprawling. The fact that he didn't fall over didn't matter much, though, as he was off balance and unprepared for the fist that sent him into unconsciousness.
One.
I looked back to the last member of the White Fang, but instead of facing me, the masked woman had her back to me and was running. I contemplated giving chase for a moment, but an explosion from where Torchwick and Blake were still fighting made me dash the thought.
I spared a glance at my aura bar and let a sigh of relief, a little over 60%. That relief was short-lived, though, when I turned to look at the source of the explosions. I knew Blake was strong, hell, I had sparred with her before, so I knew firsthand that she was near my own level. And yet, Torchwick was toying with her.
Every strike from Gambol Shroud was turned aside with contemptuous ease, every attempt to wrap the man up in her ribbon turned back onto her, and every time she tried to flee, he cut her off with an explosive round from the rifle integrated in his cane.
I swept forward, Crocea Mors coming out in a wide slash towards Torchwick's torso. The thief spun around just as my blade would have connected with his back and slapped the blade upwards with the back of his off hand. The blow was so hard that Crocea Mors almost flew out of my hand at the sudden shock, but I managed to hold on. He brought his cane up to shoot me, I lifted my shield higher.
And then my world exploded. I stayed on my feet, my shield stopping the direct impact of the dust crystal and the spell layered over top of it negating most of the explosion's damage. My aura had barely gone down, but black spots danced across my vision from the bright flash the explosion had caused.
I couldn't pay it any mind, though, as Torchwick darted to the side and pulled on something. That something was Blake, who had looked to use the distraction to run Torchwick through. I brought my shield back up, blocking Gambol Shroud, as the thief redirected my teammate's stab at me.
"So, Blondie, you tryin' to be her knight in shinin' armor or something?" The man in front of us quipped, twirling his cane in hand. I didn't pay it any mind, though I could hear the way Blake almost growled next to me. I was more concerned about why Torchwick wasn't pushing his advantage.
Even two against one, we were losing. Sure, we could probably win if everything went right, but from what I'd just seen that wasn't very likely. So then why was he taking the time to talk? I shook my head, it didn't matter, the more time I wasted, the better. So, I did what I was best at, I opened my mouth and responded with the first stupid thing I could come up with.
"Oh no, I was just taking a stroll you know? Enjoy the ocean breeze, see the sights." I told him, and I could see the way he raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Taking a stroll? At…" The man made a show of looking down at his watch before continuing. "2 in the morning while fighting a bunch of White Fang mooks?"
"A very enthusiastic walk." I told him, my smile not faltering for a moment. I felt more than saw the way Blake was trying to lift the rifle portion of her weapon, but I put a hand on hers, pushing it back down. The longer I kept him talking, the less chance there was of us dying, and I would like to keep it that way.
"You're funny Blondie, a lot better than that animal you're helping out here." He said, pointing at Blake while he leaned on his cane casually. My smile tightened. While I might not have known about Blake being a Faunus, and her not having trusted us enough to tell us about it, if not the rest of the school, I still couldn't help but feel my anger bubble up through the calm I'd been feeling throughout the fight. So, I went with a low blow.
"You know Roman, I never took you for an incel. Just because you can't get any pussy doesn't mean you should talk about women like that."
"HAHAHHAHA!" The thief laughed, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye as he almost bent double laughing. "Good one kid, though I don't think a virgin should be telling me anything about pussy." He responded.
Behind me, I could hear the whirring of an engine coming closer and closer. Torchwick, for his part, simply gave me a smile and a little bow. "This was fun kid, but my ride's here. And in the future, pick a different neighborhood to go for a walk in. I've heard the Emerald Forest is nice this time of night." The man said, and suddenly he was standing in front of me.
I barely got my shield up in time to block, but he wasn't aiming at me. Instead, the curved part of his cane snaked around the edge of my shield and the thief yanked. My trusty shield almost went flying, and before I could do anything else, the man had flipped his cane around and pulled the trigger.
"-AUNE!"
The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back, tiny pieces of stone digging into my back uncomfortably as my ears rang. Black and purple spots danced across my vision as if I'd stared at the sun for too long. Dazed, I spared a look at the aura bar in the corner of my sight, and I let out a relieved sigh at the sight. I had around 15% remaining.
"J-NE! A-ou o-ay?" Blake suddenly appeared above me, her face hovering to my left. It was hard to understand what she was saying with the ringing, but I could guess. I simply lifted up one of my hands and gave her a thumbs up.
"Oh Th-nk God. Yo're okay." The ringing was getting a bit better as my aura took care of the damage to my eardrums. As easy as those were to damage, even with aura, they were also always quick to be repaired. The increased hearing also meant that the sounds of continued combat wasn't filtered out anymore.
I heard a series of clangs and a couple of cracks of something hitting and breaking the concrete ground of the docks, before it all suddenly stopped. The last sound I heard was the shattering of glass, almost like someone had decided to drop a crate of wine glasses in the middle of the shipyard.
"Well, my boy, when I gave you that beacon, this certainly wasn't what I expected you to use it for. Haha!" The voice was still slightly muffled by the ringing that still steadily decreased in volume, but it was loud enough that I could make out what he was saying perfectly.
Professor Port, dressed in his customary burgundy suit was stood over me, his axe resting on one shoulder while he extended his other hand to me. I smiled as I took it.
"Me neither sir, me neither."
Hi everyone! What did you guys think? I felt a bit odd about the fight scene with the White Fang. I don't know why, but it's hard to make a fight with vastly weaker opponents sound exciting. What did you think?
As for the ending, what did you think? That was my first real use of Chekhov's gun, and was a long time in the making.
Anyways, as always, have a good one!