Chapter 38: Our Smash Training.
Sarah grunted as she pushed herself up in the middle of her and her teams shared rooms. She held her throbbing head, before she vomited a bit of black ooze from her mouth. The ooze sizzled against the wooden floor before it fizzled out.
"The more you fight, the worse it'll get. You may have gotten me this time…but that'll only make it worse from here on out."
She shook her head as a knock on their door had her look. She looked up as Weiss opened the door.
"Oh…it's just you…" Sarah mumbled.
Weiss didn't say anything as she closed the door behind her. "Yeah…I was looking for Moon…but…I suppose you'd work too."
Sarah simply tilted her head to the side as Weiss sat down next to her. It wasn't like she had actually had any one on one conversations with any of Team RWBY…ever. So it was kind of weird to just be sitting with Weiss.
"Is…is everything okay?" She asked Weiss. "Erick did tell us everything was going alright. You two are now married and all."
The heiress didn't really respond to that. Which made Sarah realize why she was struggling. She may not have had Moon's telepathy. But she could still feel the problem.
"It's okay to discuss it with me…you know." She said sweetly. "I uh…I do know Erick didn't actually convince you to take the HeartBound."
Weiss recoiled slightly. "Was…was it really that obvious?"
"No…you actually played it perfectly if you managed to trick Moon like that." She replied. "But, how do you think it worked so well? Erick told Sapphire and I what really happened right after he explained the situation to you that night after the train."
She was very quick to notice the blushing face on the Schnee heiress. "Look…Sarah…I'm really, really sorry about that. Erick told me how hard you and Moon worked to try and keep his under control…and…"
"Hey, don't worry too much about it." She replied sweetly.
Weiss didn't seem to take what she said very comfortably as the heiress rubbed the sleeve of her bolero. "Well…um…why are you so comfortable with it? You aren't mad…or…"
Sarah frowned. "Truthfully…yes, it was rather annoying to hear about what happened. I'm sure Erick already told you part of the reason why that was so cataclysmic was because of the threat that was the first time his Darkside was active would finally give him access to his thoughts and memories…so, you know; keeping him at bay was the only way to keep Erick in a more…healthy mental capacity."
When the heiress seemed to try and hide her face, Sarah simply placed a hand on her shoulder.
"But…as much as it was annoying, I can't say I truly blame you fully…you wanted to protect Vale, Erick wasn't thinking properly, so you went into desperation. I do believe you made a necessary sacrifice. And, on top of that, it's not like you didn't accept your unfortunate fate you clearly understood the consequences of your actions. You think like a good hero."
"Yeah…well…it's not like I really had a choice…" Weiss replied, rubbing her sleeve. "I just…I don't understand how you guys handle stuff like this?"
"Truthfully…we don't." Sarah replied. "I mean, maybe it's due to Erick not housing psychic powers like Moon and I do…or maybe it's due to the fact that you don't have a darkside. But…it's tortuous to have to handle the things we deal with. Every day of our lives."
"I…I see…" Weiss replied.
"Do…do you not actually mean anything you say to Erick?" Sarah asked, tilting her head to the side. "I mean…I wouldn't blame you if you do. You didn't get a real choice."
The heiress just shook her head rapidly. "No…no…I do love him." She replied. "I mean…it's hard for me not too…Erick's treated me better than just about everyone I've ever known. It's just…"
"You worry about what would happen to him if you're not around…the same way you've seen Moon react when I've been in trouble."
Weiss seemed shocked by her institution. "Um…yeah…actually."
Sarah just giggled. "I've been through the same thoughts before…you know." She replied. "Dare I say, you got the luckier end of the stick with the way Erick has matured and how Moon and I helped him deal with his darkside. You could've dealt with so much worse."
"How so?"
"Well…mine and Erick's darksides didn't really have an impact on our lives…not until much later into them." Sarah replied. "It's what makes dealing with Moon so…difficult for me…sometimes."
When Weiss didn't seem to follow her, Sarah continued.
"Moon basically grew up with his darkside from the day he began to think a conscious thought. I'm certain it wouldn't surprise you to learn that the 3 of us, and our fourth friend Dyson, were all born on the same day. That was when Giygas' cult kidnapped us and did our soul transfer experimentation thing."
"Oh…so…your lives were already taken…the second you came out."
"Moon's and Dyson's…sure." Sarah replied. "Moon spent his whole life in misery from the horrors of Giygas' soul. Dyson spent his whole childhood training for the moment we'd have to journey to defeat Giygas. Erick and I…we had an…interesting childhood. My parents ran a preschool, but Erick was dumped in boarding school when his mom vanished and his dad didn't want to take care of him. We both were about more in line with Ruby and Yang…before it was our time to be heroes."
"But…Moon sort of views himself as the beginning of the end for us." Sarah continued, as Weiss gave her a more intrigued look. "Once we had all met with each other, Moon's darkside activated mine, and later, Erick had to activate his to relief pressure when Moon got separated from me."
Weiss seemingly tugged a bit on her side braid. Which Sarah noticed. "I mean, I tell Moon everyday that I wouldn't change anything about our relationship…and…I truly do mean that. Sure, it would be nice to…you know…not have a psychotic evil soul that tortures you every single day. But…I do truly love him, and I'd do anything to stay with him."
Weiss' eyes narrowed as her face began to turn red. "I mean...I feel the same way about Erick, It's just been a bit...difficult, for me to admit that with how guilty he makes himself feel about our situation." The heiress replied.
"I can tell…but maybe you shouldn't be telling me that." Sarah gave Weiss a smile. "I mean, I'm not your boyfriend…"
Weiss' blush increased. "Yeah…I know…" She replied. "It must be difficult having been the only girl in your group for so long."
Sarah blinked in confusion. "I…I don't really see what that would have to do with anything?" She replied. "Moon has always treated me with respect for my boundaries. I was the one who had to encourage him to be more proactive since he was always too afraid to initiate with me. He's always treated me as an equal…actually…know he's treated me as more important. I wouldn't be surprised if the conversation my dad and mom had with him before we left still rings in his ears…after all…it's not like we ever saw my parents again."
When Weiss didn't respond. She asked; "D-Do…D-do your teammates STILL not trust us?"
"It's honestly hard to tell." Weiss replied, twiddling her thumbs. "I…I haven't talked much to them since our talk with Ozpin and Qrow…but…I can't help but feel like Ruby, Blake, and Yang are all hiding more from me…almost like they're concerned…or being told not to trust me because I might tell you guys something they don't want you to know."
"Well…would you?" Sarah asked curiously. "I mean…my team and I have been as honest as we possibly can to you all with the information we have. You, and everyone else here knows that we're likely creations of Salem. What we were created for. What we can be…Moon usually doesn't keep secrets from me…but I've kept a few from him…like the real story between you and Erick."
"I…I honestly don't know." Weiss replied. "I mean, I know you can just…read my thoughts anyway. So it doesn't really matter…but…I trust you and your team. But, Ruby…Blake…Yang, they were basically the closest I had to a real family before meeting Erick."
"I see…you're still concerned about what will happen when our job is done…" Sarah replied. Rubbing the back of her head. "I…I can't really give you any solace…or…false hope. Much like us…you don't really have a choice in what happens to you when the time comes."
"I know…I know…Erick's been just like you. And I've told you, I understand and accept it. I'm just…not sure what to do with myself in whatever time I've still got on Remnant."
Sarah placed a hand on the heiress' shoulder. "If I were you, Weiss. I'd cherish the time you still have with your teammates. There's no guarantee that your cluster will be allowed to stay connected to ours…so don't feel like you should spend your time bracing yourself by acquainting yourself more with me and my team. It'll only make the feeling of regret stronger when that time comes. Even if our two teams never end up seeing eye to eye, we wouldn't force you to betray them for us. I promise you with my whole heart that we will never demand you turn your back on Ruby, Blake, or Yang for our benefit. We got you into this mess, and, while we can't undo the damage we caused, we don't want you to hurt anyone you're close too."
Weiss rubbed her shoulder as she smiled. "Thanks, Sarah…it was nice having a talk with you. Just to have to some reassurance about this."
Sarah gave her a smile as she hugged the heiress. "That's what friends are for after all."
"Alright, Team RWBY." Moon said, placing his hand behind his back as the team of four young huntresses looked at him. "Ordinarily, when doing some type of training with the Smash Brothers, I would allow you to pick and choose with whom you would want to face off and spare with. Because I find that it's ultimately better to train with someone you'd feel comfortable with, rather than someone who could either be better or worse than you."
When the four girls didn't say anything he continued.
"However, as per Professor Ozpin's request, I've spent my time with them to get familiar with your semblances and fighting styles to understand how each of you work. Every bit of in and out detail from where you excel and where you falter. From there, I have…let's just say…determine which member of the council will take part in your small segments of fights today."
"Okay…so…who are we going to be fighting?" Ruby asked.
"There isn't going to be a "We" in this." Sapphire replied, as he walked next to Moon. "The four of you fight…decently…as a team. However, you all seem to lack any, if at all, skills when it comes to dealing with individual fights. How this is going to work is Moon will select one of you, and, using some similar technology that's used to make the stages in the Smash Tournaments function, you will be transported to a makeshift environment dedicated to allow you to fight each member. As we don't want any potential stuff from Smash leaking their way into Remnant."
"Wait…that doesn't sound like "training." us." Blake replied, crossing her arms. "How can it be training, if all we're going to do is fight outside of our homeworld? Without even a chance to monitor what we need to improve ourselves?"
"Because we aren't training you to improve, we're making sure you prepare." Erick replied, adjusting his glasses. "Ozpin's biggest concern is you all not being able to stand up to threats that Salem could throw at you from outside of Remnant. The Smash Brothers you can face are some of the most powerful heroes and villains within the Multiverse. While we don't expect you to be able to actually beat any of them. Matching you against ones that closely function to each of you would be the best possible way to see what should be done to prepare you for threats you may face."
"Because of that, we've taken some…liberties…" Sarah continued, "Some of you were a bit more difficult to work with than others…so, we've asked the Smash Brothers to go all out. Any power or ability they have access to in their homeworld is on the table compared to the…watered down versions of them you play as."
"It sounds to me like you just want to see us get absolutely beat up by things way more powerful than us because you hate us." Yang replied. Giving Team MESS a harsh glare.
Moon just shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, if I truly wanted to do that, I would've just thrown all 4 of you up against Kirby or something and watched him absolutely demolish you in five seconds."
When none of the girls even so much as chuckled, Sapphire cleared his throat. "Regardless of what you believe, that is not the intent of this, any good hero within the multiverse starts out as an inexperienced novice, it's only natural you'd get demolished easily by those with more experience. But, it is important that you all take the opportunity to learn."
"We've asked the Smash Brothers to keep track of your aura using my little communicator orb here." Moon pulled out the blue shining orb they'd seen him use. "When the orb lets me know your aura has run out, you'll be pulled back here. Sound simple?"
The four girls eventually nodded their heads.
"Good." Moon replied. "Yang, you'll go first."
Yang blinked as she took awareness of her surroundings. She appeared to be a dimly cloudy world…in the middle of nowhere? Aside from a few mountains she could see in the distance, she appeared to be on the side of a lake.
She took one step and, immediately, she felt her foot splash. Looking down she jumped back as she found herself physically standing in the middle of the lake, with a distant, yet somewhat calming music began playing in the background. Given her experience playing games with Ruby, she instantly recognized where she was, and her heart plummeted.
"You've got to be kidding…"
A burst of dark energy shot through the area as a half-demon man appeared in front of her, crossing his arms. The demon side of him turned more human as it developed into a regular man, he had a black suit and trench coat with a bloody red tie. His black hair was spiked up at the top of his head with his left eye being glowing red. Alongside his red gloves, the man looked very menacing, especially since he towered over her at nearly 6 feet.
"Of all the actual fighting game characters I could've gotten, of course he gives me you." Yang said grumpily.
Kazuya just looked at her with a very dead expression. "I'm not in the mood for chit chatting…especially with one such as yourself. Do you wish to fight or not?"
She readied Ember Celica as she awaited Kazuya to make his move. Kazuya simply remained still, waiting for her.
She silently rotated a bit of the dust bullets within her gauntlets, before quickly unleashing a rapid fire. Kazuya simply took her bullets as the ones laced with Fire exploded against his trench coat. Not really seeming to hurt all that much.
The man then uncrossed his arms as he made a crouch dashing movement towards her. Remembering how it worked from her experience playing his games. She quickly clashed her fist against him as he went to uppercut her with his arm.
Amazingly, despite Kazuya not having any mechanical body parts or fists. He seemed to take clashing against her robot arm without any type of flinching.
Kazuya did a low angled kick against her as she went to fire a close ranged dust bullet. The kick smacked her thigh and knocked her off balance as he proceeded to then round-house kick her across the water.
She quickly caught herself by pushing against the water and flipped herself back. She launched some ice dust against the water surface as Kazuya's eyes glowed, the purple demon head of his developed as a laser was fired from his eyes upwards.
The electrical laser launched her back as the ice bullets blew and made ice around the demon-fighter's feet. Yang quickly ran towards the man and unleashed two punches with Ember Celica before swiftly kicking Kazuya back across the water.
Kazuya quickly recovered as he slid across the floor in his demon form, his fist collided, stunning her temporarily as he quickly turned around and uppercut her.
She could feel the kinetic energy she had been building flaming up, and it finally burst as her golden hair turned aflame. Her eyes glowed red as she quickly charged back at Kazuya. She unleashed five quick close combat punches against the man's torso before she quickly pivoted on her right foot and socked the man with her robotic arm.
Kazuya took the punch and quickly grabbed onto her hand. The man pulled her in close and headbutted her. He quickly ducked and hit her with a small uppercut. She felt a massive zap go through her body as a few sparks surrounded her. Before Kazuya quickly jumped up and lightly spiked her into the ground with a demon-scissor kick.
She landed in the water with a splash as she popped back up as Kazuya rapidly began to hit her with ten-hits. Before launching her away with a dragon uppercut.
She groaned, as she flew through the air. This dude really just hit her with a ten-hit combo?! This dude was doing STRINGS! This had to be some type of joke.
She quickly landed on the ground and fired three dust bullets as Kazuya charged at her again. This time, she must've hit a weak spot, because the man finally flinched in recoil as the dust exploded against him.
Thinking quickly, she charged in as the flames on her hair grew stronger, before uppercutting the half-demon in the chin and sending him flying.
However, her victory felt very short-lived as Kazuya landed back on the ground in front of her, his body was now glowing a fiercely red light as his red left eye glowed.
Panting just slightly, Yang readied herself as she once again charged at the half-demon. Kazuya simply tucked himself in as he crouched dashed towards her, she missed her strike and felt the man grab onto her neck as he transformed into his purple demon form, lifting her up into the air and piledriving her into the water of the bay.
She tumbled against the bay as she grunted to herself. Now she understood how Ruby must've felt when the two of them played Tekken. This was humiliating…she could only imagine how her teammates must've been doing.
Regardless, she pushed herself up and looked Kazuya back in his eye. Strangely, the half-demon smiled at her.
"You have the same firey spirit as Kazama-san." He said. "Perhaps the boy was right for me to train you."
Ruby landed on the rather interestingly soft green grass. She began taking a quick look around, trying to gather what environment she'd been sent to. Seeing if she could recognize who she'd be up against. However, the only thing she needed to spot was the image of a loop-de-loop looking hillside to know where she was and who she'd be facing.
Her happiness was short lived however, as she heard the ear splittingly loud charge up noise as she felt a big sharp amount of mass roll over her foot, making her yelp as the blue hedgehog uncurled out of his ball in front of her. Only to find that he had already taken Crescent Rose from her.
The hedgehog gave her a cheeky grin. "So, you're the little hero fan that Moon tells me about."
"Yeah! That's me!" Ruby replied cheerfully. "It's so cool to meet you, Sonic! I'm like…one of the biggest fans of yours! I've read all the Archie comics, seen all the movies and shows, and bought the toys! I used to even make some stories about you!"
She noted that the hedgehog didn't take too kindly to that last one.
"Anyway, Moon tells me you're a speedy one." Sonic said, "I've been shown your record data, its never going to be as fast as me, of course, but, I think you might need a bit of time without your weapon here."
Ruby was taken aback by that. "But…Crescent Rose is how I fight…I can't exactly throw a punch at you. You said it yourself, you're too fast for me!"
The hedgehog's green eyes rolled over, before he simply tossed her scythe on the ground. "Fine, I was gonna go a bit easier on you without your weapon. But since you want it so badly."
Ruby bit down, perhaps she had just made a mistake, granted, after what had happened with Pit, she probably shouldn't have been surprised.
Before she could even pick up Crescent Rose, the ear splitting noise entered her ears as she was pushed back by a streak of blue. She was knocked off balance as she twirled around, as the hedgehog turned around and kicked her backwards.
Ruby quickly grabbed Crescent Rose as she began to twirl it around. Sonic's feet seemed to keep moving but the hedgehog didn't move any from there.
She enveloped herself in her cloak as she charged to Sonic. Before she could strike with the scythe; Sonic basically vanished in the blue streak, and she felt herself get spiked into the ground by the hedgehog's foot.
She grunted as she stood back up, clutching Crescent Rose as Sonic wagged his finger at her smugly. Man, no wonder people hated him in Smash.
Ruby quickly shifted Crescent Rose into gun form as Sonic began circling her, she aimed the gun down and fired an ice dust bullet into the ground of green hill. A ring of ice crystals erupted around her and knocked the hedgehog up into the sky.
She quickly wrapped herself up in her cloak again as she flew towards Sonic. However, her quick thinking ended up being shortly lived as Sonic quickly pulled out a small, blue, emerald. The emerald began to glow as she felt herself get slowed down dramatically.
Sonic landed on the ground as she remained hovering in midair, before he quickly summoned a spring to bounce himself up, and used a front axe kick to spike her down. The slow down effect of Chaos Control ended as Ruby was thrown into the ground.
She quickly got back up as Sonic ran past her, and she felt lighter as she reached for Crescent Rose and found nothing. Sonic twirled Crscent Rose himself. "You know, using weapons isn't normally my style. But maybe you'd learn a thing or two if I keep it away from you.
He tossed the scythe to the ground and ran up to Ruby. She braced herself in a defensive position…but nothing ever came.
Instead, she opened her eyes as Sonic just stood in front of her. She blinked, but the Hedgehog remained still.
"Alright kiddo, hit me." Sonic said cheekily.
Ruby bit down, but she bawled her hand into a fist, and threw a punch.
Sonic moved out of the way leaving a streak of blue. Ruby turned her head to see him cheekily look at her.
She threw another punch, the same thing happened.
"You're too slow! Try using that semblance of yours! Speed is helpful for everything!"
Ruby's silver eyes glowed as her semblance flared up she threw another punch as rose petals flew off of her, this time, she managed to connect, though, she doubted Sonic actually wasn't ready.
"Nice shot…keep it up and you can have your scythe back!" Sonic ran over and grabbed Crescent Rose, before taking off into the woods. "Just try and catch me!"
Ruby sighed. She only hoped Blake and Weiss were doing better than her.
Blake quickly lept from Tree to Tree. She wasn't quite sure where she ended up, much like Weiss, she had no experience with video games. Though, given who her opponent was, she didn't really want to know.
She quickly tossed Gambol Shroud across to swing across a cliffside before it was halted by a shuriken of water that exploded on contact with her weapon. She gasped quickly as a tall, blue, bipedal frog with a tongue scarf landed in front of her, and boy, did this thing look hideous.
"Ruby and Yang say YOU'RE one of the most popular Pokemon in existence?" Blake asked.
The frog did not look amused as its eyes narrowed. "Gren."
Right…Pokemon didn't talk…jeez.
Greninja quickly moved over to her and swiped with its arm. Which knocked her away, it was incredible that it didn't have the biology of an actual frog being so slimy. It then summoned a bowing knife out of water and slashed her back.
She quickly activated her semblance before the knife made contact as she vanished, leaving a small explosion of fire dust in her place as the frog jumped back.
She twirled Gambol Shroud like a lasso and threw it at the frog's tongue scarf. However, the frog's yellow eye flashed as it grabbed the weapon and yanked her towards it. Greninja then summoned another knife and slashed her backwards.
Before she could recover, she blinked in shock as several copies of the ninja-frog developed around her. All of them flashed like a static hologram, but she couldn't pinpoint which.
She quickly turned her weapon into its gun form as she began firing dust bullets at each copy as they closed in on her. Each bullet she fired only seemed to make the clone frogs vanish as they exploded against the trees.
Blake felt a heavy swipe on her back as Greninja kicked her towards the cliffside. The Ninja frog charged up another water shuriken as it launched the spinning weapon at her. Blake quickly shifted to an ice dust as she shot the shuriken. The ice halted its movement as it fell to the ground and shattered.
Greninja then tossed a few purplish looking spikes around her. Blake did catch a faint whiff of some type of toxin and decided it was best to just wait. However, the frog simply began to start blasting pumps of water at her. She quickly dodged the first two, but quickly, it became apparent the frog wanted her to step on the toxic spikes.
She spotted a loose branch and quickly dove off, tossing Gambol Shroud around it, her weapon ribbon wrapped around the branch as she swung around and propelled herself back to the cliffside out of the spikes range.
She quickly fired an electrical bullet at the frog, which made contact and exploded against its slimy looking skin. Greninja flinched as more sparks began to settle in around as she lassoed it with one half of Gambol Shroud and drew it towards her other one, where she proceeded to slash at it.
The frog took two slashes, before its eyes glowed red as it vanished, stunning her to continue her swinging and hitting her own hand, she flinched in pain before she felt the swift kick of Greninja's slimy foot launched her backwards.
Blake sighed as she pushed herself up. Before quickly ducking as the frog fired a beam of ice at her. She quickly readied herself as the frog came in with a dark light slash to swipe at her. Before it made contact, she once again vanished, this time leaving some ice dust in her place.
It exploded on contact, and froze the frog in place.
Blake took a moment to catch her breath as she watched the statue of the ninja frog in front of her. She may not have been a video game expert, but even she could figure out what the issue was here.
"Maybe Raven had a point about them…" She said, "I mean, I'd have to ask Yang and Ruby about it…but…even something as minor as this thing is still a hassle. Sure, it's this magical frog-ninja thing with various elemental magic…if video games were basically just animated books, she was used to the idea, but this was just one of nearly 80 others…and she was having trouble with it."
The ice statue of the frog began to crack as she flinched. It was already breaking free of her ice dust prison? What sort of shit was this?
"I think Raven is right about them…" She whispered. "I'll have to talk to Yang and Ruby about it."
The ice shattered, tossing her back as Greninja broke free, jumping onto one of the tree branches, crossing its arms as Blake looked up at it.
"I wish I could talk to you; it would be a lot easier to understand the thoughts of a slaved animal like yourself. Trust me, as a Faunus, I know how it must feel to do other people's bidding constantly for no appreciation or pay."
That seemed to set the frog off, as its eyes glowed red and shook its head. "Nin-nin-JA!"
Weiss blinked in confusion as she took in her surroundings. Boy, was she confused about what she was seeing. Like, what she saw was so weird it almost made her pinch herself.
Everything, and she meant everything, was a cube. Literally, the dirt around her? Cube! The trees? Cube! She looked over and spotted a wild sheep? You guessed it, another cube!
"What a…strange world." She questioned.
She quickly pulled out Myrtenaster; and turned to a small sound, and if she thought the cubed sheep wasn't bad enough, the sight of a person who was literally made up of cubes and rectangles certainly was.
She wasn't even sure why she was taken aback, she had seen him in the picture Ruby showed, and the two times she had talked to the council with MESS, but she just assumed that was some type of…difference of atmosphere or something. Him just being nothing but cubes and rectangles was all the more creepy. Especially since she remained…well…curvy and regular.
"Okay…you're Steve…right?" she asked. "What are you going to train me in?"
Steve didn't move, the blocky man just stared at her. She watched as a small sign developed in his hand, the man placed it down, and she just waited…and waited…and waited…
Eventually, words developed on the sign and she began to read them.
Your unique attributes were considered "difficult." for us to determine who would be a good faceup for you. So, I'll be facing you.
She blinked in confusion. Before turning to the blocky man again. This time, it seemed he had prepped as he was now cladded in bright blue armor and a sword that was glowing blue.
She just nodded her head as she drew Myrtenaster into a ready stance.
She quickly rotated her dial and slashed an electrical blast. Steve quickly moved out the way, she noted that the sword quickly disappeared and was replaced with a fishing rod, which he flung at her, she felt the hook latch onto her leg, surprisingly it didn't seem to hurt. But she was yanked towards him.
Steve swapped over to his sword and quickly jumped up, slashing her backwards. The pain she felt from the hit seemed to be much greater as her aura flashed.
She quickly rotated her foot as she began to move Myrtenaster into position. She quickly summoned the arm of the Arma Gigas to grab onto the block man before she quickly summoned a whirlwind with some wind dust. Blasting the trees around, yet not affecting the overall landscape as Steve was pushed back into the wall of a cliffside.
She quickly summoned a few platforms to quickly skate over to the man as she spun her dial over to fire dust, as she slashed at the blocky man, an explosion of Fire dust encapsulated as the blocky terrain was destroyed behind him.
Strangely, though she supposed she shouldn't be surprised given video game physics never made sense, the blocky terrain of the mountain didn't instantly collapse despite the large gaping hole her explosive dust created.
She watched as what appeared to be a perally glass eye landed in front of her and a flash of purple light saw Steve appear in front of her; where he launched her back with another sword slash. Before she could even react, she felt an arrow punch into her left leg. Making her flinch in pain.
She quickly twirled Myrtenaster and stuck it into the ground, a black mural glyph surrounded her as her body began to glow yellow. Remembering how the Time Dilation was meant to work.
Her body began to lighten as she moved in a much more quick succession, she quickly began to do a double danced slash she'd seen used by several characters in games before. She finished her slashes off with a quick stab to push the man back.
Granted, she wasn't sure her rapier was doing a lot to the man's armor. It was made of what she could only assume was diamond? Now she regretted never listening to Ruby and Yang babble about video games.
She watched as Steve pulled out an ominous looking bottle of what seemed to be a brownish liquid, the man tossed it at her, the bottle made contact with her left arm and exploded against her, tossing her into one of the square birch trees in the forest around them.
She quickly coughed as she stood back up. Only to find the blocky man now had a trident, which he tossed at her.
She quickly used her glyphs to create an icy spear, before summoning it at the trident. The spear and trident collided with each other. However, Weiss felt her heart skip a beat as a lightning bolt struck down where both of the weapons collided…the weapons might be simple, but there was still some magic in them.
In her hesitance of observing, she failed to notice that a block tower had risen above her. She quickly looked up as she caught Steve coming down, holding onto what looked like some type of mace. She moved to get out of the way before he smashed into the ground. Only to watch him crash against the ground and glow red as he collapsed into nothingness. She watched in horror as his body disappeared and dropped everything.
However, that was short lived as Steve reappeared and the items magically disappeared back into him.
What a strange world…
"Are we going again?" She asked.
Steve simply looked at her in dead silence, before he began to crouch in front of her several times, before jumping up and punching his rectangle fist in the air.
"How are they doing?" Ness looked over at Byleth and Akira, the Ashen Demon professor and phantom thief leader; had been helping him observe the four girl's performance, as Team MESS felt they'd do best in providing a neutral analyst when it came to analyzing the four of them.
"To be completely honest, as Moon expected, not good…" Ness sighed. "Like, don't get me wrong, the four of them are very skilled, very talented, and very strong. But…just watching them fight Kazuya, Sonic, Greninja, and Steve…I have a hard time believing they'd actually be prepared for the event they were to face other outside threats."
Akira rubbed the back of his neck. "Is there…anything positive you can say in their performances?"
"Weiss seems to be versatile and able to adapt quickly, at least when she's on her own." Ness replied. "Her being paired up against Steve was a good call. However, Blake seems to have trouble fighting on her own. Ruby seems incapable of being without her weapon, and, while Yang faired impressively against Mr. Mishima, she seems to lack any form of defense, she's purely a glass cannon."
Byleth seemed to follow his train of thought as the professor put his hands in coattail. "I see, you seem to think their biggest problem is similar to what most of us face. They're better as a team than they are as individuals."
"It's a bit more of a glaring weakness with them than it is with us." Ness replied back. "Like, you've been able to be competent without your students. Same goes for everyone else in the Smash Roster. But when we separate the four of them…it just seems like they're helpless."
"But that doesn't even make a modicum of sense." Akira replied. "Didn't Moon write in their notes that they would've been on their own before coming to Beacon, and that individuals graduated into the school based on talent and merit. With the team synergy just being a way to divide them up for real experience."
"I did," Ness replied. "I'm starting to wonder…if maybe there's something much more concerning about the four of them…something that we aren't quite thinking about."
"You think maybe this is a situation similar to that of Akira and the phantom thieves?" Byleth replied. "One or two outside powers have deliberately selected the four of them for some type of sick twisted game they're playing?"
"I mean…the story between us, Yaldabaoth, and Maruki is a bit more complicated than that." Akira replied quickly. "Chihaya and Anthony helped me look into it after Lavenza revealed the truth about the bet placed by Igor. There's absolutely no way that the night between me and Shido was somehow puppeteered into happening by mere coincidence. It has to have been orchestrated somehow."
"I mean, didn't you also say that Ann was also called your "Lovers." confidant, so that sounds like pretty clear 'canon love interest' to me; Byleth said, giving the teenager a smug grin. "At least I could have free will on who I decided to marry without an outside force pushing me in a general direction."
"Point being, Byleth." The thieves' Silver eyes narrowed. "I think we've had one too many chances with fate being manipulated to not entirely rule out dad…er…Ness' theory."
Ness looked at the two of them. Granted, all 3 of them knew why Moon wanted them specifically to observe the four girls over any other member of the council. But having this type of conversation with the two of them was really starting to make him see his doppelgangers point.
"Still…in order for fate to have been changed and manipulated, Team RWBY's story should've already been told once before." Ness sighed as he folded back and crossed his arms. "Yet, every stone we overturn, every bit of digging we do, we always come up short. Their story hasn't been told in any universe we check. It doesn't make any sense. Our stories are canon to theirs. But their stories are not canon to ours."
"For those stories to have already happened, that would mean their destinies are already predetermined. Which would cause problems for things like Erick and Weiss' relationship. As well as the implications of Salem's with Pokey and Rhea." Byleth placed a finger on his chin.
"You know…I remember Dad lamenting to me once about destiny and fate when he was teasing me about Ann." Akira replied. "I think back then I always thought he was like that due to him and mom having me when they were so young, that was the snarky remark I made to him. When I first met Moon and Sarah, I also assumed maybe it was them he was referring to. But, hearing what you and the Smash Brothers say about stories, it makes me realize that…maybe he was referring to wanting to hide what happened to them and Giygas from me since I didn't know about it at the time." There was a pause as the thieves' silver eyes narrowed some more.
"Or maybe he was referring to what Moon had to say about some stories not ending up the way we expect…not all heroes getting a happy ever after on their attempt, which could mean that…uh oh."
"What exactly are you…getting at?" Byleth asked.
Ness also looked equally confused by the thieves' logic. Before the teenager looked up at them.
"What if the reason we can't find RWBY's story in our worlds isn't because those stories don't exist as a way to be rewritten. But because…the story doesn't actually have an end?"
And that concludes our filler training chapter. Don't worry though, it wasn't all filler? See? I progressed the story just a tad here at the end with that vague comment! So it wasn't a complete waste of your time! Hehehe.
Anyway, That's all for this chapter. I don't really have a lot to talk about, since not a lot major happened. I actually wrote the scene between Sarah and Weiss last ironically enough because I thought the chapter was too short at first, but then the scene just kept going and before I knew it was about as long as three of the four fights that happen lmao.
I did some touch ups on the fights you all suggested, but I want to give a shoutout to all of you who submitted requests I didn't get as many as a I first expected. But that's no big deal, because the few of you who did submit gave me some very creative ideas and pointers. Such as putting the four girls into the worlds more catered to the Smash Characters to see their reactions.
Unsurprisingly, everyone who submitted a request for the characters requested Ruby to go up against Sonic. I initially was going to put him on the "don't request list." because I tend to have trouble writing for speedster characters due to me not really liking super speed as a power due to how completely busted it can be.
Since I wanted the Smash Brothers to fight at close to strength as possible, I actually dreaded having to do Sonic, cause have you seen some of the shit this guy can do? I swear to god the writers for Sonic are smoking something special. Like, he alone could probably solve every problem in this story if I truly just stopped caring eventually about the shit I do.
I hope Ruby vs Sonic was satisfying enough to you all, since it was by far the most requested fight, I felt obligated to try and make it as in-character and fun as I could possibly be. Obviously, Ruby's speed is nowhere near close to what Sonic can do, but I wanted to try and have her do something other than get beaten to a bloody pulp by the hedgehog.
Speaking of which, Yang vs Kazuya, was another heavily requested fight Granted, I kind of expected people would choose one of the 6 "fighting" game characters actually in Smash, and while I probably wasn't going to pick Min Min or Little Mac, I was surprised Kazuya was the more popular pick of the 4 left.
Some of you all told in my DMs that Monty has stated he was inspired by a lot of different franchises, and one of them you all listed off was Tekken. Now, as I've mentioned, I know not much about the man, but if multiple different people tell me, I assume it has some merit behind it. So I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that Kazuya was requested if that is true.
Honestly, I like Mr. Mishima a lot. I couldn't play Tekken properly if you held a gun to my head, but the lore behind the series is so fascinating. Everything from Kazuya's relationship with his Son, Wife, and Dad. To the worldbuilding of his devil gene and fighting style. To even the stages like Infinite Azure, which is where Yang's fight takes place as I believe it is considered to be Tekken's most iconic stage. I can definitely see where the fascination for the franchise comes from. This fight was the easiest one to write by far. I had a lot of fun having the two trade blows. Yang for Tekken 8 DLC BTW!
Now we have Blake vs Greninja. Blake and Weiss proved to be a bit more difficult for people to select characters for. I had a couple requests for Bayonetta thanks to her Bats Within ability functioning similar to Blake's semblance. There were also a few for Snake and Shiek thanks to their sneakier based ninja-like attributes. One person even suggested Incineroar and specifically, if I chose him, to have it show off with Blake thinking she's an actual cat, based on one comic where he show's off to Ann in her Phantom Thief Costume because he thinks she's an actual panther.
I ultimately decided to go with Greninja; who did receive a few requests, though admittedly not as many as Bayonetta and Sheik. I felt he struck the closest to Blake, being both distances based, speedy, and sneaky with moves like Double Team, Substitute, and Spikes. Also it just so happens that I've written a Pokemon story with Greninja, so I'm used to making fights with him. I actually believe I've stated somewhere that the Incineroar, Lucario, and Greninja that appear in the Smash Council are meant to be the same ones used from that story. But I don't think it's relevant for you all to know that. But, in case it ever comes up. They'll be referred to as Scar, Sapphire, and Genji respectively.
Actually, the fact that Lucario would be named Sapphire is probably the reason why I don't have the Pokemon do much. Granted, they're also Pokemon, so despite Lucario and Mewtwo's ability to communicate and translate speech, it's not exactly fullproof.
Oh, Weiss vs Steve. This one actually was one of only 3 character requests for Weiss, in comparison for the other girls for reference;
Ruby had 11, all of which were for Sonic,
Yang also had 11, 5 for Kazuya, 2 for Terry, 2 for Ryu, 1 for Ken, and 1 for Lucario
Blake had 10, 3 for Bayonetta, 2 for Shiek, 1 for Snake, 2 for Greninja, 1 for Incineroar, and 1 for Byleth
Weiss only got 3 specific requests from people. One person suggested Pyra/Mythra specifically because of how they fight meaning I could show off other blades used by Rex.
My friend PhoenixClaw2128, creator of Sapphire and author of the story Joker comes from in this story, Bound By Our Desires suggested Cloud specifically for the various summons that you can perform in FFVII. Which was a very entertaining idea since he and Weiss are close in terms of abilities with both summoning and a sword, and Cloud almost ended up being the winner.
However, one person out of the blue DM'd me on Reddit and requested that 1 of the 4 girls go up against Steve. This was also the person who requested I send each of the RWBY Girls to the worlds of the video games for the training. They specifically requested it purely because they wanted to know how I'd handle Minecraft's physics compared to the rest of the world.
Luckily, for those who may not know, I happen to be a big Minecraft Fan, well, at least back in the day, I sorta fell out of love with Minecraft after the Combat Update overhauled the PvP system. Though, I did take some notes from PvP currently on dealing with Steve, such as the use of the Mace and Fishing Rods, though, as you may have noticed, I didn't use Netherite. Because I still believe in OG Minecraft just a tad lol.
Honestly, I had a lot of fun just having Weiss, who's probably the more down-to-earth, non-gamer of the 4 girls just being completely bamboozled by Wonky Minecraft logic. Such as the mountain's not collapsing the second, she blows a hole through it. Or the fact that Steve can switch weapons so quickly and build rapidly.
So yeah, that concludes this filler chapter; next time, we proabably enter the start of the Battle of Haven...Yippee. Though, we may not see a Chapter next Month due to me starting College for the first time. We'll have to see.
Anyway, that's it for this month's chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. As always, any thoughts or criticism is greatly appreciated. I'll always respond as those who submitted requests can tell you.
See you all, next time.