Team SHDW Volume 2

Chapter 10: Taking Control

Outside of her home on Patch, Yang sprayed paint on her robotic arm and half of Ember Celica, making them both bright yellow. Afterward, she headed into the tool shed and took off a tarp that had been covering something: her motorcycle, Bumblebee. Until she had finally gotten used to her new arm, she had thought she'd never ride her bike again. But she was overjoyed at the thought of the wind blowing through her hair as she drove through the countryside.

Dante and Diana had left just the other day. Though saddened at this, Yang felt grateful for their support through her struggles. But she hadn't seen the last of them yet, especially Dante. Not by a long shot. She was about to pull out her Scroll when someone spoke.

"I don't remember saying that you were ready."

Yang heard her father, who was leaning against the frame of the open shed door behind her with his arms crossed.

Yang answered him, without even turning around, "Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop me?"

Taiyang chuckled, "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. And, I also have a question for you."

Yang turned around as he asked, "Where are you going?"

"What do you mean?"

Her dad moved into the shed, "Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. And we both read the note. We know Skyler and your sister are headed to Mistral. So, where are you going?"

Yang looked down at the tarp as she saw the point Taiyang was trying to make. She remained gazing down for another couple of beats before looking up at her father. Her eyes narrowed in determination, her decision made.

"I know what I'm going to do," she said, then chose to pull out her Scroll, "Besides, I won't be going alone."

She pressed a few buttons, and the device began beeping as it was on hold until a voice said on the other end, -Yello?-

"Hey, Dante?" Yang said, smirking, "I've got a proposition for you."
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Rose "Bloodmane" Greymalk had seen a lot of things in her time in the world; a giant three-eyed humanoid Grimm wielding a spear, a warrior wielding every type of weapon imaginable and could also strengthen himself by putting on a mask, a Grimm that had unexpectedly run away from her after it had seemingly wanted to kill her just seconds earlier, and various others. But this... this was different.

She managed to avoid the grab he made with his pounce, morphing into a shadow and got a good few yards away. She gripped Persuasion & Reason (or War & Vengeance, whichever you prefer) tighter and stared at the new threat in front of her. Whatever had happened to this kid was not spelling good fortune for her. She had only seen that kind of crazy grin on a single person's face before, and... well, let's just say her happy moments with that guy were few, but cherished.

The kid lunged at her again, his sword raised high above his head. Rose dodged again, but just barely, and as soon as the blade hit the ground where she once stood, a blast of flames burst around him, actually managing to hit her into a tree, crushing the wood. By the time she, recovered, the guy was closing in on her again, stepping right next to her in an instant, the only thing keeping Rose from getting slashed being her ears, hearing the crazy chuckling coming out of the kid's mouth.

She blocked his strike and she could immediately tell that that slash had a lot more power behind it than his previous ones. She glared at him when they locked eyes, but something caught her eye: a bit of white that was attached to the male's face, just under one of his eyes. Rose then noticed that, slowly but surely, a few white particles were appearing out of thin air and attaching themselves to the bit of white she already saw, slowly expanding it. Why did that look familiar...?

Rose chose that moment to fade into the tree via her Semblance, and the kid stumbled from the sudden disappearance of opposing force. She zoomed across the ground before revealing herself on the opposite side of the clearing. He turned to her and sneered, but smiled before speaking again.

"Do you intend to run forever?" he taunted, "Because I'll let you know right now, it's not going to work. I can practically smell the fear radiating off of you."

Rose knew it was just baiting her. She wasn't exactly afraid, just more nervous and confused. She got into a battle stance, waiting for it to come to her. She figured she was gonna have to take this fight more seriously than before.

"Oh, that's too bad," the guy tsked, "Chasing you would have been quite fun. Skyler was never the type to go all out in fights, despite his best efforts. But with me... you don't have that handicap."

'Skyler, huh?' Rose mused, glad to put a name to the face.

"But for now..." Skyler(?) continued, "I think it's time to eviscerate yo-"

His face suddenly blinked before flinching. Skyler then suddenly cried out in pain, grasping his face and flailing around wildly.

"NO!!!" he screamed, "STOP RUINING MY FUN!!!"

Rose blinked at the sight, now even more confused. When the flailing finally stopped, Skyler removed his hand from his face to reveal that the white stuff on his face had crumbled and disappeared, along with his eyes turning back to normal. He shook his head and shivered, and then he turned to speak to her.

"Sorry about that..." he apologized, scratching the back of his neck, his voice also back to normal, "Now, where were we?"

Rose blinked before exclaiming, "Okay, no! No no no!! What the heck was that?!"

He seemed taken aback by her response, but before he could answer, a loud noise filled the air. The sound of a Grimm's roar. Rose's attention immediately swapped to the roar, her eyes widening... before she grinned.

"There it is..." she muttered, looking towards the tree-line.

Skyler turned to where she was looking just in time to see the trees a couple meters away rustling, something running past them... right in the direction of Kuroyuri, where Jaune and Ruby had taken Qrow. But before he could turn to see Rose, she had already dashed after whatever that was, running into the woods. Seeing no other choice, Skyler followed her.

He caught up and shouted, "Hold up, what's going on?!"

"I don't see why it's any of your business!" Bloodmane retorted.

"My friends are in this direction!!" Skyler yelled angrily, "It's plenty my business! At least tell me what we're going up against!!"

Rose was quiet for a moment before answering, "We're about to face one of the most powerful Grimm I've ever seen. It's slaughtered countless off-Kingdom villages singlehandedly. Many Hunters and others have tried to kill it and failed miserably. It even keeps a collection of the weapons from the warriors it's killed. It even had a hand in slaughtering my own town...

"The Nuckelavee."
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And next up, the finale of Volume 4! It might take longer than usual to write, so please remain patient. Till next time guys!