Author's note: Something big is happening this chapter. And for once, it's not good.
Ruby and her Kin Summon minions walked through Vale's industrial district, looking for more Grimm to kill. She kept reapplying Electrical Fuzz every time it ran out, and found herself getting better and better at it, evidenced mainly by the paralysis lasting three seconds longer already. On a crossing, large pack of Creeps jumped out of the ground and surrounded the group, only for every Grimm to get paralyzed and targeted by Nora.
"Well, that looks promising," Ruby said to herself when she noticed a water tank on one of the rooftops, and decided to wait. Suddenly, a red portal opened next to Ruby, and Diomede walked out.
"Sorry I'm late," Diomede said, looked around and immediately got ready to help fight the Grimm. Before he could attack, however, a wolf made from crackling electricity ran into the enemies and killed them all, creating numerous Healing Orbs and surrounding Ruby, Diomede and the minions with protective electric cages.
"Oh, right," Ruby said and scolded herself for forgetting her promise, "Hold on, I have to do something." She created a clone and rushed up to the water tank, using Freezing Touch while the clone used Aura Amp on her, using the Healing Orbs to recharge her aura. As the water in the tank froze, it cooled down the surrounding air, as well as the steel pipes, causing the air in them to sink and flow out into the streets through small cracks. When all the Healing Orbs were gone, the Ruby on the rooftop disappeared again, and the remaining one walked over to Diomede.
"What's going on here?" Diomede asked, "Can you help me with my semblance?"
"Our enemies made a move, sorry," Ruby answered, "We were pretty busy, so it slipped my mind. Also, I need Weiss' help for what I had in mind, and she's busy right now, too. Well, everyone is."
"Do you want me to come back later, then?" Diomede asked.
"You could also help us fight Grimm, and other monsters," Ruby answered, "But if you're not up for that, it would be better if you left, yes."
"Well, I can try and help," Diomede said, "You saw how powerful my Aftermath is." Suddenly, Ruby looked in the direction where Nora was and held out her right hand.
"Hold on," Ruby said and summoned a cyan Messenger Bird, "Grimm coming, south." She held the bird up and it flew away to deliver the message.
"What was that?" Diomede asked.
"Messenger Bird," Ruby answered, "It lets me send short messages to people I have met. In any case, yes, your Aftermath is powerful, even though I don't like you relying on it."
"True, it is a gamble," Diomede said, "But Raven assured me that, with you around, I wouldn't have to worry about anything."
"Still, be careful," Ruby said, "And when we run into others, tell them about your semblance so they don't blindly rush into the blast zone once your aura breaks."
"Yeah, yeah," Diomede said and asked, "So, where to now?"
"I was thinking this way," Ruby said and gestured down a road. She walked over to an ice chunk and let it regenerate her aura, while she summoned more minions. She then reapplied Electrical Fuzz to all her minions, as well as Diomede, and once the ice was gone, they both got going.
~o~
Nora stood in an Electric Terrain, using her electroreception to locate enemies, but mostly helping Ruby. She located a Beowolf wandering through a building that had been claimed by a family of rats, and used Wolfpack to get rid of the Grimm. When the spectral wolf hit the Beowolf, it exploded into lightning and provided all the rats with their own protective electrical cage, causing them to freak out.
"My bad," Nora thought apologetically, and kept looking around. She found a pack of Beowolves, and sent another wolf. However, by the time the spectral wolf reached the Grimm, the pack had already made it to the rats. When the pack died, it created countless Healing Orbs, which healed the small injuries the rats had sustained in their panic, and one even unlocked her aura. For just a moment, Nora focused on the rats.
"Wait, what am I doing?" Nora thought and expanded her perception again. She detected several Creeps being paralyzed by Electrical Fuzz, and sent a wolf to take care of them. Once that was done, she returned to scanning for Grimm and other monsters on a wider scale. After sending a few more wolves and either killing or weakening numerous different enemies, a cyan bird flew up to her, and she held up her right arm to let it land.
"Grimm incoming, south," the bird said in Ruby's voice, then disappeared. Nora closed her eyes and focused to sense the cardinal directions, then opened her eyes again and sent a yellow Combat Drone down one of the roads. Once it reached the end, it immediately opened fire and killed a pack of Beowolves.
~o~
Glynda killed another monster and quickly put a pipe over the dust crystal, preventing the poisonous steam from spreading out. She moved the pipe over to a manhole cover and waited for the steam to get sucked into the sewers. She let out an exhausted sigh and sat down on the curb, when her scroll rang, and she saw that Blake had called them all.
"That's all of them," Blake said.
"Wait, really?" Bartholomew asked.
"Yes, really," Blake answered, "I can track enemies to the other end of Vale, and I can't find any more of these monsters."
"Alright then, time for the next phase," Ruby said, "We'll meet up back where we started. Jaune, get ready. And Weiss, I have a special assignment for you as well." She hung up, and everyone started to get back to the meeting spot. When Glynda arrived, she saw that she wasn't first, although Jaune was still not there yet. However, she also saw a summoned Seer hovering beside Ruby.
"What's the plan?" Glynda asked.
"I'll explain it when Jaune is here," Ruby answered, "He is the one who needs to help me with it, after all."
"And what's with that?" Glynda asked and gestured towards the Seer.
"That's for Weiss," Ruby answered, "She's currently in Atlas, to take care of something I forgot about due to how hectic everything was today. She'll contact my Seer and teleport back here when she's done."
"I see," Glynda said. A few minutes later, Weiss returned, and Ruby let her Seer disappear. After a quick chat, Weiss headed back to the train station, and so did Glynda. Then, Jaune finally arrived.
"Sorry I'm late," Jaune said and asked, "Can we start?"
"Yes, we can," Ruby said, "You just need to use Zenith Skin, I'll handle the rest."
"Alright, here goes," Jaune said and manifested a sphere of pale green energy in his right hand, then nudged it over to Ruby. When the sphere disappeared into her, she felt fluffy and breezy for a moment, then created a Glyph to confirm that her semblances really acted like they were augmented with air-dust.
"Alright, it works," Ruby said and created forty-nine clones of herself, and all of them burst into rose petals and rushed off into the industrial district. Standing all by himself, Jaune looked at the rose petals dissipate in the wind, and then down at his hands. He clenched his fists and fused with Pyrrha's soul, and Arkos reached out to track Ruby's clones and their aura. The fusion created numerous minions, which hurried to hitch a ride on one of the spectral wolves made from air that Ruby's clones sent out across all of Sanus.
~o~
Ilia led a group of faunus through the moonlit streets of Vale's upper class district, accompanied by five Atlesian Knight 130s and three 130b units. Just as they wanted to head back, a Deathstalker carrying dozens of Ankle-biters on its back broke through a wall, and two Geist used the debris to create bodies for themselves, while the Ankle-biters used the smaller chunks for armor, which already included gemstones and other jewelry. The Knights immediately fired their special disks at the Grimm, coating them in a golden glow, then deployed their shields or guns.
"Just perfect," one of the faunus said and aimed her gun at the Deathstalker. The faunus and Knight 130s opened fire, with the Deathstalker and Geist taking most of the hits. When the faunus stopped, the Deathstalker lowered its pincers.
"Get ready, everyone," Ilia said and prepared to put up a barrier when she saw the Ankle-biters' gemstones glowing red, and the Ankle-biters fired red energy beams at the faunus. Ilia jumped forward and activated her maiden powers to create a barrier and protect the faunus. At the same time, Penny took over one of the Knights and used Safezone, surrounding the group with a protective sphere that blocked the energy beams.
"Hello," Penny said through the Knight, "It looks like I made it just in time." The faunus looked around and noticed the green lines where the Safezone interacted with solid objects, and Ilia lowered her barrier again. The Ankle-biters fired another barrage of energy beams, but the attack only hit the Safezone and was rendered useless.
"Thanks," one of the faunus said, and the entire group aimed their weapons at the Grimm and opened fire. The Deathstalker blocked the attacks with its pincers again, and the Geist covered their faces as well, rendering the bullets ineffective as well, despite the Grimm taking more damage than normal.
"Retreat," Penny said and made the Knights slowly move backwards, causing the faunus to follow suit. Some of the faunus stopped shooting, moved a few meters back, and then continued shooting to give the rest the opportunity to retreat, while the Grimm kept blocking their attacks.
"So, what now?" Ilia asked, "Do you have a plan?" When the Knights stopped shooting, the Grimm advanced and ran straight into the Safezone.
"Yes," Penny answered, "Fire." The Knights opened fire, forcing the Grimm to stop and defend again, protecting the Ankle-biters. Ilia used Deathzone on some of the earth-dust in her skin and fired earthen Shooting Stars at some Ankle-biters. Each hit created a small rock that harmed any Grimm within five meters. When the first Ankle-biter died, it burst into silver-white sparkles that sank to the ground and disappeared on contact with Grimm, harming them in the process.
"What is happening?" Ilia asked as the Grimm started dying. When the Deathstalker died, it filled the area with sparkles, taking out the Ankle-biters and forcing the Geist to retreat. Ilia used Emphatic Beacon on some of the ice-dust in her skin to make it attract Grimm, then sent an icy Shooting Star after each Geist.
"Those sparkles are from Safezone," Penny explained, "After using the semblance regularly, my understanding of its aura structure increased, and after consulting the information Jaune provided to the Atlas military, I was able to advance this semblance to the next stage. These sparkles appear when Grimm die within the bounds of the Safezone, and somewhat neutralize Grimm on contact."
"That sounds pretty useful," Ilia said, "Also, thanks for the help."
"It definitely is," Penny said, "And you are very welcome. But I must excuse myself now, since I still have other duties that I need to attend to."
"Alright," Ilia said. The Knight's lights turned red again, showing that Penny had relinquished control of it. The faunus stayed around for a bit longer, then headed back to base to get some sleep, and to give their report to the next team.
~o~
Blake jumped out of a Beowolf's shadow and killed it with a single sword slash, then created an incendiary-goo clone. Another Beowolf attacked the clone, scattering red-hot glass everywhere, and Deathzone quickly killed the entire pack, leaving only Healing Orbs behind. The orbs restored her aura and she closed her eyes, focusing on her predator sense to track the next pack.
"That's a big one," Blake thought and loaded spark-dust bullets, "Let's see how you like this." She fell into a large tree's shadow popped out of another one, near a pack of Ursai led by a Big Ursa. Before the Grimm had time to react, Blake shot three bullets into the leader's shadow, pinning it with Shadow Stitching. She drew her sword's sheathe and switched her gun into its sword form, and rushed the Grimm, cutting off their limbs and leaving them to the sparks of electricity their leader emitted every second.
"Hey Blake, need help?" Yang asked over communicator, catching her off-guard and allowing an Ursa to land a hit. Blake quickly recovered, jumped onto the Big Ursa and fired three more rounds into its shadow, making it release three more sparks per second.
"Thanks, but I'm good," Blake answered, "I'm just finishing up here in Forever Fall, and then I'll head back anyway. It's getting late, after all." As the Grimm came closer, trying to attack her, they got hit by the sparks and took some damage, and every so often, Blake fired a single bullet into the Grimm, or used Shooting Star.
"Alright. And yeah, it's already 5am," Yang said and asked, "Want me to ask Ruby to pick you up?" Blake looked around, when her cat ears twitched, alerting her of wings flapping nearby. She focused on her surroundings and sensed a medium-sized pack of Griffons in a cave just up the mountain near her.
"That'd be great, yeah," Blake answered, "But something else just came up, so I'll need to take care of that first. Tell Ruby to come and get me when there are no more Grimm around me." She went through a mental list of her abilities, thinking of how to deal with the Griffons, but found thinking more difficult, due to being tired.
"Got it," Yang said, "Good luck." Blake looked across the Grimm around her, who were dying to the light green sparks of electricity, and triggering Spectral Healing every time they took a hit. She put her sheathe back, shifted her sword into its gun form, and loaded regular bullets, then pinned all the Grimm with Shadow Stitching once they got close enough. When only the Big Ursa was left, she got up and walked towards the cave, since the Grimm would die eventually anyway. When Blake entered the cave, she saw that it was littered with all kinds of animal bones, which were picked clean of any flesh, muscle, or fat.
"Wait, Grimm don't eat," Blake thought and looked around until she spotted a cave bear sleeping in the middle distance, with the Griffons laid across the cave and not disturbing it. The Griffons made noise, waking the half-ton beast. Almost out of reflex, she used Summoning, releasing a wave of energy that compelled all nearby animals to attack the Griffons. When the Grimm realized they were the monster's target, they tried to fly away, but Blake used Shooting Star, aiming for their wings and downing the Grimm. The cave bear, as well as other animals, charged the Grimm, tearing them to shreds. Once the fight was over, Summoning wore off, and the animals fled from the cave bear, which stared at Blake. She returned the stare and walked out of its way, allowing it to return to its sleeping place. After the bear had laid down again, a red portal opened next to Blake and Ruby stepped out.
"Good job," Ruby said, "Now come, it's almost morning." The duo walked through the portal, heading back to Vale, and Blake went to get something to eat, and some sleep, after staying up all night. On the way upstairs, she passed the early morning team, which was comprised of Weiss, Yang, and Sky. Before falling asleep, she updated the team's shared file with all the locations she had checked that night.
~o~
Weiss stood in a Healing Circle and looked at a Seer, while five Queen Lancer summons scoured the forest and checked all the locations Blake had visited. She settled on the last five on the list, and turned all her summons into Seers once they arrived at their destination. However, something one of the summons saw beforehand piqued her interest.
"Well, hello there," Weiss said to herself, and immediately had an idea. Using Quick Travel, she teleported to the first location, and three Healing Orbs immediately rushed to restore her aura. She summoned another Queen Lancer at the last location and had it fly into the cave. The summon fired its bone spikes into the ground, and Weiss used them as conduit for Guardian's Gambit, creating skeletal minions until the Healing Orbs were gone. She teleported to the next location and repeated the process, and kept going until she was done.
~o~
Yang sat on a bench near the train station, with an earth-dust crystal in her hand, using the military's camera drone network to find Grimm. She saw a pack of Beowolves in the upper class district and summoned a spectral wolf to go kill the Grimm. She switched to another camera, and saw some soldiers yell at each other, and Amihan shoved another man to the ground.
"Now this looks strange," Yang said and got up, taking the dust crystal with her. She hurried to the location, an old gardening store, and sent a signal to nearby Knight 200s to head over and intervene if necessary. She also sent a signal to nearby camera drones to cover all possible access points, and let her know if any Grimm approached.
"And that's not even half of it!" Amihan shouted, holding the other soldier by his shirt. The Knights had already arrived, and were blocking off the store, to prevent the soldiers from using anything inside as weapons.
"Both of you, stop it right now!" Yang shouted, grabbed both men by the neck of their shirts and pulled them apart fast enough to send both of them to the ground.
"Tell him that!" Amihan shouted and pointed at the other man as both men got back up. The surrounding soldiers were also on edge, and Yang realized she might not be the best to solve this kind of situation.
"You started it," the other man said, also agitated, but still trying to remain calm. However, the other soldiers all began taking sides and throwing their version of the story into the room, quickly turning the whole thing into incoherent screaming, shouting and accusations. Yang tried to come up with a solution, but her augmented vision told her that not all the soldiers had their aura unlocked, so she couldn't just blow them away with a heavy attack on the ground. Suddenly, she got a notification from one of the cameras.
"Everyone, calm down!" Yang called out, "Grimm are coming!" She used Wolfpack and sent wolves made from earthen brown mist to kill one or two Grimm per pack, to maximize results. The soldiers stopped shouting and grabbed their weapons, preparing to fight.
"This is all your fault," the other soldier said under his breath, and Amihan was about to start hitting him again.
"For the last. Damn. Time!" Yang called out, releasing a powerful wave of heat that shattered windows and knocked down the Knights and soldiers, "Shut up!" She walked over to some of the soldiers, all of whom stared at her with abject horror in their eyes. Just as the men thought she'd kill one of them, she grabbed a Beowolf by the neck, catching it mid-jump. The other Beowolves hesitated, and Yang slammed the one in her hand into the pavement, killing it instantly. It exploded into golden flames, which rolled over the entire area, igniting the Grimm and coating the broken windows in fire as well.
"I- I'm sorry," Amihan whimpered. Yang grabbed a charging Alpha Beowolf that had caught up to the pack, and pressed its face into the portable fire place the military used. The Grimm roared in pain, but it didn't die, even when Yang pressed it down hard enough to shatter the device. She pulled the Grimm back up and saw that three small fire-dust crystals were lodged into its head. Yang stuck several explosives into the Grimm's chest, sending it flying with the last hit, and detonated the explosives once it was far enough away. The explosion triggered the dust as well, engulfing the Grimm in a dark red fireball.
"So, what the hell was this all about, anyway?" Yang asked and looked back at the soldiers. However, the men and women looked past her, and when she turned around, she saw the Grimm, badly damaged, with crystals growing out of its mangled body.
"Wha- what is that?" Amihan asked and aimed his gun at the Grimm, when it started walking towards the group. He fired a three-round burst of air-dust bullets at it, creating three Cutting Wind spheres and quickly killing the Grimm. Yang shuddered, took a deep breath and regained her composure.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Yang answered, "But it's clear that this dust isn't normal. I'll need to tell Ruby about this so she can find a solution." She sent a message to Ruby, letting her know what happened.
"So, what now?" Amihan asked, and Yang looked around. The entire area, previously easy to defend due to its narrow roads, was now completely destroyed, and she could practically feel the hatred lingering in the air.
"I'm afraid you'll have to abandon this place," Yang answered, "It's not safe any more." She helped the soldiers and Knights pack up what they could save, and the whole group moved to another location. Before leaving, Yang used Deathzone on a bunch of things in the area, making them all harm Grimm for the next two days.
Author's note: So, that happened. Man, I love being creative with different dust types and sub-types.