Chapter 1
Blitz stared down at his desk in contemplation. Less than an hour ago, Stolas, a Goetia Prince of Hell, and his…well, the relationship was complicated, but that's not the important part! Stolas arrived at his business with a job opportunity. Now, normally he'd be down for it so long as it wasn't an excuse for Stolas to fuck him, but the situation has quickly spiraled into insanity.
First, it turns out that the client was a fallen angel. That alone would be worrying. However, he decided to have his entire worldview shattered with the revelation that this angel, called Summer Rose, doesn't even come from Earth, but an entirely different world, with different gods. Hell, to be honest, this felt way above his paygrade, so to speak.
Blitz groaned. 'Okay, try to keep it grounded.' "Alright, let me back track and make sure I've got all the details, Tits. You want to hire us to go to your world, and kill a seemingly unkillable queen of monsters, as well as her entire covenant of crazies."
Summer narrowed her eyes at the 'tits' comment, but responded. "Yes. That's correct. Salem has been a plagu-"
Blitz raised his hands, "I don't care about your sob story, I'm more concerned about the tables getting flipped if I accept this deal."
"Stolas did mention something about political upheavals, but-"
"HA, understatement of eternity! Bitch, let me lay it out, and this is coming from a lowborn commoner. If either the big shots in Hell or Heaven find out about your world, wehehell, it's going to be open season on your planet. You think those Grimm are a problem? Get either of our those two involved, or, more likely, both, and things will get grim. Now, I wouldn't care that much, but since I'd be the one kicking the door open, me and all my employees would be the first to get run over."
"Please. I know I'm asking a lot, but…you're literally my last resort. I don't want to do this. You're right, bringing in your world will cause more problems for my home, but…I'm out of options."
Blitz literally just told her that he didn't care about her sob story. However, remembering Fizz, he decided that, if he's jumping into…well, a different kind of hell, he better be paid damn well.
"What are you offering? You've only been here for, what, a couple weeks, so I doubt you've got any soul bucks."
Summer shook her head. She then took out her weapon, a warped axe. Blitz placed a hand under his desk, gripping the tapped gun. He didn't think the woman would attack him, and, to be honest, he doubted he could defeat a fallen angel. But, damnit all, he'd get at least one good shot at her. But, instead, Summer placed the axe on his desk.
"My soul. In exchange."
Blitz's face fell in complete shock. This angel…is either completely desperate, or completely insane. I mean, think about it, an angel, a fallen angel, but an angel regardless, is willing to give her soul over…to an imp.
'Fucking hell, this woman will not take no for an answer.'
Blitz rubbed his face. "Well, shit. Even if this deal will cause more problems than it's worth, I'd be even dumber for turning down a price like that. Did Stolas tell you how soul contracts work?"
Summer shook her head.
"Though not, and there's no way us signing a hand contract wouldn't be noticed," he stood up from his desk, "Well, let's go hammer the details to bird boy."
Blitz opened the door…to find a bubble around Stolas and Octavia, who were currently in a silent argument. Millie, Moxxie, and Loona were all staring at the bubble, but Moxxie turned when he heard the door open.
"Sir, are we-"
"We're accepting the deal. Just need to ask Stolas to hammer details. What the hell is going on with them, though?"
"Stolas and his daughter were having an argument about somethin," Millie replied, "And daddy wanted to keep it private."
Well, nothing they can do until the bubble is gone, then. Blitz watched as Ocatvia, determined but angry, was debating something with Stolas. Eventually, he turned around, hands running down his face in exhaustive defeat. He then finally noticed Blitz and Summer had reentered the room. With a snap of his fingers, the bubble literally POPPED.
"So, what's got the birds squawking?"
Stolas groaned, "Only something that's going to keep me up for the entirety of this endeavor. I'm assuming you've accepted Miss Rose's contract?"
"That's Mrs. Rose," Summer then remembered that, while an angel, she was still talking to a demon, "Mr. Stolas."
Stolas briefly cracked a smile at the thought of an angel referring to him as a 'Sir'.
"Yeah, yeah," Blitz waved off, "We're taking the contract. Now, Stolas, can your grimoire make it to this Remnant? I mean, you do manage the stars and whatever."
Stolas nervously chuckled, "While I'm flattered you think I can control all of the stars, Blitzy, I need my grimoire to perform high level spells like that, and can only really influence Earth. Getting to Remnant is a little more…complicated."
"In what way?" Millie questioned.
"I'll keep it simple: the spell I'd need to send you to Remnant will be wrapping a rope around you, and lowering you down there, so to speak. However, there's three things that must occur. One, I'd need to remain here, as I'm the one maintaining the spell. Summer will need to stay here, with me, so I can use her blood, as it's the only source of anything from Remnant."
"Okay, and the third?" Blitz question, but Stolas really didn't want to answer.
Octavia groaned, "Someone with his blood will have to go through the portal in order to maintain it, otherwise you'd be ripped back here."
"WIth your blo-Oh, HELL NO!"
"That's what I said."
"Stolas, you cannot be serious in letting your daughter go there."
"As she annoyingly pointed out, it's either this…or we find someone powerful enough to set up the connection without needing a blood relation. Which would mean getting one of the Sins involved."
Blitz flinched. Yeah, that's a no, also. Sure, he doubt that Asmodeus or Beezlebub would want to snitch. But, with something this big, they'd be obligated to tell the big L and L.
Blitz rubbed his face, "This deal is getting more and more complicated. Well, everyone get suited up. We'll be going for a long trip."
As the three members of IMP got up to get supplies, Summer spoke up.
"If you don't mind, there are…a couple more conditions I'd like you to complete."
Blitz, for the first time since this whole thing started, crack a smirk. "Frankly, offing one bitch and her entourage was a little low bar for offering your soul as payment. Figured there'd had to be more. So, who else do you want dead?"
After the deal was hashed out, IMP and Octavia stood in the middle of the room, with Stolas in front of them, and Summer beside him.
"Alright, so," Stolas declared, "Using Mrs. Rose's blood, I'll be able to teleport Octavia to at least one to ten miles of her daughter. The rest of you…eueeeh-"
"We're pretty much shotgun blasting."
"So long as you maintain your grip on Octavia, you should land in the same general area. If you let go, I can't guarantee where you'll end up."
"Got it, everyone, hold on to Stolas's girl!"
Stolas clapped his hands and, as they separated, dark purple lighting connected the two, as a blood red circle formed around IMP. When it fully formed, the center turned into a gaping red pit, though the group didn't fall.
"So," Summer leaned forward, "How does this work?"
"Like this." Stolas then clawed Summer's arm, drawing a gashful of blood.
"Fucking!" Summer cried out in pain, but watched as Stolas's now bloodied hand went back to the ritual. The blood was sucked from his hand, and began to spin around the circle rapidly. It then formed a book, a simple book, and it floated to Octavia.
"Blitz," Stolas said softly as his daughter grabbed the book, "Please take care of my girl."
Octavia gave a sad smile, but still rolled her eyes.
"You know damn well I'll give it my best shot." Blitz replied as the red pit turned purple, and all five plummeted with screams.
IMP held onto Octavia as the vortex sucked them through the cosmos. They didn't know how long or how far they had fallen, only that every imaginable color, and even some new ones, were blasting their senses.
"Fucking hell, Blitz," Millie exclaimed, "This is giving me a migraine."
"Oh, good, I thought that was just my drink from last night, but, if you're all getting this headache."
"Hey, what's that?" Moxxie cried out. Octavia looked, and could barely see two streaks of light heading straight towards them. One bright yellow, the other dark purple. Before they could figure it out, the two beams turned and slammed into the group, splitting them.
"HOLY SHIT/FUCK/HELL?!" Everyone cried out.
"Someone grab onto someone!" Blitz cried out as everyone tried to reach each other. Loona and Moxxie grabbed Octavia's, while Mille latched onto Blitz's tail.
"Ow! Watch the tail!"
"Hang on!" Octavia cried out as the end of the tunnel became a white light. Blitz reached out to Loona, but they were engulfed before they reached.
Loona slammed into the dirt ground with a sickening THUD. She stood up, ruffling her mane as she tried to scan the area, but her vision looked like she had a fun time last night, as was feeling the morning after effects.
"Fuck, Blitz," she murmured, "Stolas gave us one job, don't let go. And we couldn't do that!"
Loona took a look around once her vision began to clear. She was in the middle of a forest, with a gray sky overhead. Overall, she assumed the spell worked, and that they were somewhere on Remnant.
Loona stretched her arms and legs, before magic swirled around her, changing herself to her human disguise. Honestly, she'd better get used to this form, as this was going to be an extended visit to the 'mortal' realm. Though, something about Summer's words when they brought up human disguises did concern her.
Oh, I doubt that will be a problem. You'll be able to find an easy excuse.
Remember Summer's words, Loona got a small smell, hidden in the wind. It smelled very similar to Summer, but also different. Likely her daughter, Rudy or something, Loona wasn't paying attention to it. But she did remember when Blitz outlined one of Summer's conditions for the deal.
Angel flower wants to make sure her family, especially her daughters, come out alive by the end of this, so make sure they stay amongst the living, got it?
Loona began sprinting in the direction of the scent. For what fealt like miles, she kept on running. As she got closer, she could hear gunfire, as well as a rapidly approaching town. Or, well, abandoned town. Moving through the alleyways, she looked into the central courtyard, and saw what was going down.
A guy in a brown trench coat ad black ponytail was currently in a brawl with four teenagers…and currently trouncing them, by the looks of it. He slashed at a girl with a giant red scythe. As a boy with blonde hair and a sword/shield combo went to assist her, the ponytail man then leapt onto the shield, laughing as he got in the boy's face. A red haired girl with a warhammer went to attack the man from behind, but he merely jumped off the shield, onto the hammer, then leapt into a building.
'What the fuck…?' Loona mouthed. Summer didn't mention anything about this kind of stuff.
In fairness, the plan was 'land, get a camp set up, then go into more details about Remnant's rules'. Safe to say, they couldn't get step one right!
"We're not looking for a fight!" The blonde boy yelled out.
A black hair boy in green attire added, "Who are you?"
As the ponytail man dropped from the building and replied, Loona sniffed around, her eyes fixating on the girl with the scythe. Taking another sniff, her eyes glowed, and the girl was highlighted.
'Well, found the target. And ponytail here is attacking them. Best to wait until the right moment.'
Loona pulled out her assault rifle, the only thing she had on her person. Most of their other weapons were…with Blitz…who is God knows where.
"What do you want?" Ruby responded to the ponytail man, who acted in mocking shock.
"The rose has thorns. My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me."
The red head got infront of Ruby. "Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?"
Ponytail frown. "Well, I'll take her."
Blonde boy got infront of the two girls, face determined. "We're not going to let you do that."
Ponytail man sighed, but then smiled. "Gooood."
In a near instant, ponytail was behind blonde, with a bladed gauntlet poised for his neck. However, as he was about to strike, the man noticed Loona raising her rifle.
"Jaune!" the green clothed boy yelled out, but not before Loona opened fire on ponytail, catching one in the chest and sending him flying back.
"What?!"
Loona ran into the courtyard, laying down fire on ponytail, who effortlessly dodged the bullets. He then charged at her, blades swinging like a mad man, which, frankly, the guy clearly had to be.
"OOOhohooo," ponytail cried out, "A new player. Friend of yours?" The last part was said to the teenagers, but they wouldn't respond, also in shock at the newcomer.
"Nope," Loona said, ducking under a blade, "Just part of the JOB!" She emphasized the last word with a kick to Ponytail's gut, then another bullet hitting his arm.
"AAAAg! Have to say, your weapon is fascinating. You've only hit me twice, and, yet, I feel like I've been hit by a goliath. You make that yourself?"
Loona wasn't going to entertain the bastard as she just opened fire. But the man simply dodged them. Sure, a bullet or two might hit him, but he was a slippery motherfucker. Reminded her too much of Striker, and all she knew about his fighting is from how others described him.
Ponytail jumped in the air, moving to slam down both blades onto Loona, but she blocked them with her rifle. Using her weight, she slammed Ponytail to the ground, trying to pin him down. However, this only made him smile. Her ears picked up the sound of clothes ripping, and-
'Is that a fucking tail!?' Loona thought as she barely had time to dodge the black scorpion tail aiming for her head. Thinking fast, as the tail past her head, she grabbed it with a free hand, and Ponytail, for the briefest of moments, realized the mistake he made.
Loona, like a sledgehammer, lifted and slammed Ponytail into the ground. She did this one more time when Ponytail, now eyes glowing purple, attempted to claw her. While it stung, it didn't do much, which clearly shocked him. She swung down a third time, and was about to open fire with her free hand, before she heard a clicking sound, and Ponytail turned his body, and fired at her. Catching a bullet in the arm, she ended up dropping Ponytail. However, Ponytail was shocked at the fact that Loona was bleeding.
"Wait, do you mean to tell me," Ponytail said, standing up in bewilderment, "That, this entire time, you haven't been using your Aura? OOOOOO, and people call me crazy."
""He's a faunus?" Green shirt boy exclaimed.
'The fuck's a faunus?'
"What is this about," Ruby questioned, "Torchwick? The White Fang?"
"Pawns and toy soldiers, dear girl," Ponytail responded, "My loyalty resides with the one true goddess."
Ruby looked confused, but then shifted to anger. "Cinder…"
Ponytail rolled his eyes, smirking, "Only in her wildest dreams!"
He took a step towards Ruby, only to back up, dodging a bullet from Loona.
"Hey, fuckhead, you forget about me?"
"I'll admit, you do interest me. A girl like yourself, fighting without using their Aura? Suck a curiosity. However, without it-" Loona interrupted him with more bullets.
"Don't know what this Aura is, but I won't need it to kill you."
The man's face twitched. Clearly that upset him and, while it seemed like his only goal here was Ruby, the snarl growing made it clear he wasn't going to leave with Loona dead. Raising his weapons, he charged. He fired several bullets, some of them hitting her leg, causing her to kneel down. Loona switched her rifle to shotgun mode, and fired once. The man was blasted back, and his body briefly glowed purple. He looked at himself, shocked, before snarling and charging. All sense was lost from him as Loona fired again and again, but the man, now aware of his own predicament, dodged them.
"I'll be taking your head as gifts for my goddess!"
"My head, huh?" Loona responded as he dived at her, just barely blocking the two arm blades, "Well, let's just say I have one more trick up my sleeve."
Ponytail tried to stab her in the face with his tail, just barely grazing her cheek. As he did so, Loona dropped the illusion, giving Ponytail an up close look at her true form. Before he could process it, she CHOMPED on the man's tail, taking the stinger, and half of the tail itself, off. Roaring in pain, the man leapt away from her.
"You BITCH!" The man took a staggered step forward, but stopped when Loona turned around to pick up her rifle.
"She'll forgive you." He muttered, turning to run. He got one step before a bullet entered the side of his head. As it exited the other side, the force completely blew up that half of his head. With a sickening crunch, Ponytail fell to the floor, dead. Loona knew exactly what fired that.
"Took you long enough, fatty."
From another alleyway, Moxxie, followed by Octavia, came in, with Moxxie looking particularly angry.
"I'm not fat! Also, um, why were you fighting this guy?"
"Wow, Moxxie," Loona mockingly replied, "hot at someone without knowing why. What if he had an innocent little family?"
"Oh, fuck you!"
Loona smirked, "Anyway, the reason why I attacked him is because he was attacking our mission."
"Would someone like to explain what's going on?!" Ruby cried out in anger.
"Ruby!" A new voice cried out. Nearly everyone turned, as a man with a giant sword came rushing in.
"Uncle Qrow!"
Qrow looked at the scene before him in wonderment.
"Qrow?" Moxxie questioned, "As in 'Qrow Branwen'?"
"Yeah," the man slowly said, standing between the teenagers, "And you are?"
"Before we answer that," Octavia, "Two questions: did the guy we just kill work for someone named Salem?"
"Who?" Ruby questioned, but Qrow narrowed his eyes. Looking at the corpse, he vaguely seemed familiar, but he couldn't place where.
"I can't say. Not sure why he was here. More importantly, how do you know that name?"
"Which leads to the second question: girl in red. Are you Ruby Rose?"
Qrow tightened his grip on the sword as Ruby nodded.
"Well," Loona chuckled, "That's good. Makes our job easier."
"What job?" Ruby asked.
"The one given to us by your dead mom."
Ruby briefly paused as the words sunk in. "WHAT?!"
While Qrow only had one thought.
'What the hell is going on?!'
Author's Notes: Oh dear, Moxxie just killed Tyrian, and canon has been COMPLETELY derailed. If the start of this feels choppy, that's intentional. Certain details are being left out to avoid spoilers, such as the complete details of Summer's deal. As for how powerful IMP will be...that's a bit more complicated. Without Auras or Semblances, they took on an entire complex of people trained in melee weapons. Yes, DHORKS brought knives to a gun fight, but they still were trained in them. And IMP got out of that with barely a scratch. This, in my mind, puts their skill level on par with Huntsmen, and that's not even considering all the hell and angel-tipped weaponry they're bringing.
Before I close this out, I'd like to talk about two things. More recently, the animatic for Vol 9 epilogue, then the closing of Roosterteeth.
First, the animatic. I had already seen most of it at what would end up being the final RTX, so I wasn't surprised by the extended version. Three things the got me were the teasing of the Crown, a group of characters that were the antagonists in one of the RWBY books. Another was seeing the progression of Oscar/Ozpin fusing, and how it's slowly taking a toll on them. The one thing that annoyed me was the fate of Glynda. From what they decribed, I can't tell if she's dead or missing, or simply just not part of the current Vale refugee group. If she's dead, that would piss me off. Not for the fact that they killed her offscreen, but the fact that they teased her in Vol 8, only to have her killed off.
Now, for the shutdown of Roosterteeth. I actually got this news at the end of our first day of moving, so, not only was that one hell of a way to signify a different chapter of my life, but I couldn't even write my thoughts out until we actually got to our new home. Overall, I am saddened. Yes, RT made mistakes, but it's still a company that was passionate about their projects. Maybe they didn't take it in the ways we wanted them to, but they were still passionate about them. And to know that 21 years of history is now going to be gone is...hard to describe the feeling.
We do know that RvB's final season is still going to be released, and it certainly looks like it'll be a good sendoff. Won't spoil why, just watch the trailer for it.
As for RWBY...I'm not sure. Hopefully a new studio will be able to take the reins, but my biggest concern will be that they will completely abandon the current story in favor of a reboot, which will be the worst outcome for me. To explain why, I need to explain a personal belief of mine. Stick with me here.
I consider Game of Thrones superior to A Song of Ice and Fire.
I know, crazy, right? Even though ASoIaF has better writing, better characters, plotlines, how could I consider the show superior, especially when it's quality declined after Season 4, and nose dived for Seasons 7 and 8? Simple...
The show finished the story. The way GoT ended way not good, but it laid the foundation for others to try to improve upon it. One example is Macabre Storytelling. He made an entire series rewriting the latter half of GoT, and it's such a marked improvement, while still sticking close to what happened, that I consider more canon than what we got. It's not just GoT, RWBY itself. Celtic Phoenix is a group that's been rewritting the show for awhile, and got up to Vol 6, with choices that I wish the actual show did, such as not revealling Salem until Vol 5. Again, go watch their content if you want a 'better' RWBY story. However, without that foundation, their stories wouldn't exist.
In short, a badly written story can be improved upon. An unfinished one will forever be speculated. A thousand different people could write how RWBY will end past Vol 9, and none of them will have the full answer, because the answer was never revealed.
To be clear, I just want whatever company that picks up RWBY to finish the story, I don't care how it's done. Whether by show, books, comics, hell, I'd be content with a PowerPoint that lists off plot details. Just finish the current story before rebooting, so that the community can have a foundation to work with.
With that, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.