Chapter 5: Players And Pieces/Release The Kraken
Back in the abandoned temple of the Emerald Forest, you walk across the floor and observe the relics on each pedestal.
"Oh, chess pieces. Several different individuals each with their unique ability, working together towards a common goal." You describe the items. "I fail to see the analogy here."
Arriving by your side, Aquila, Ryden and Kalmia also wonder the same thing.
"So do we just pick any of them or..." Aquila asks.
"I highly doubt it's that simple." You respond with.
You point at the chess piece Yang is holding: a golden knight. Which is also the same piece Blake is holding.
"It's no coincidence that there are four chess pieces of each kind left conveniently enough for 12." You explain. "Best be careful with what we choose."
You and the other three grab the same kind of chess pieces. After realising not everyone has arrived, you mention:
"Anyway, we found the temple. So do we just wait for everyone else or...?"
A faint-but-growing-louder scream of "Heads uuuuuuuup!" is heard when Ruby falls from the sky. Just as she's about to hit the ground panicking, Jaune comes flying through the air and crashes into Ruby, knocking her off course and sending them both into a tree to the left of where Blake and Yang are standing. Ruby is dazed by the rough landing, as evidenced by the cutesy Beowolves and stars circling her head.
"Oohhhh... What was that?" Ruby's dizziness passes when she shakes her head.
"Eh-hem!"
Ruby looks up to see Jaune hanging upside-down in a tree branch above her.
"Hey, Ruby..." He greets.
Back on the ground, looking at the tree. Blake asks Yang:
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
"And how did she have Beowolves and stars on her head?" Aquila asks you.
"I..."
Before both you and Yang can continue, several crashing noises are heard in the forest ahead of them, and an Ursa comes out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hits it in the back and it crashes to the ground, depositing its rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" Nora rolls off of the creature's back, then gets up and groans, saddened. "Awwww... It's broken."
She dashes onto its neck and observes the carcass as Ren comes up behind her.
"Nora!" Ren pants and leans on the monster. "Please... Don't ever do that again."
He looks up again and notices by the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora has run off again, and looks around frantically.
"Nora?" Ren then sees Aquila walking towards him and the former asks. "Where is she?"
"I'm more concerned about the pink dotted outline." Aquila comments before receiving a stare, so he points. "She's over there."
Now in the temple, Nora stares at a golden rook relic.
"Oooohh..."
Nora suddenly grabs it, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece:
"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"Nora!" Ren calls her.
She stops dancing with the rook on her head, then salutes, dropping the relic into her hand.
"Coming, Ren!" Nora replies and skips off to her friend.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asks Yang.
"And what was that background just now?" Aquila walks to you and asks.
"I..."
Both you and Yang are interrupted once more as a screech is heard from their right, and Pyrrha comes onto the scene as the Death Stalker uproots entire trees in its chase after her. Pyrrha narrowly dodges its giant claws and keeps on running.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha calls out.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune does the same.
"Whoa!" Ruby stands up, looking at the monster below.
She starts running off of the branch and landing in a roll.
"Ruby!" Jaune whines.
As she stands up, back on the ground, Yang calls out:
"Ruby!"
"Yang!" Ruby excitedly does the same, and raises her arms as if to give her sister a hug.
"Nora!" Nora comes between the two and knocks them off-balance in surprise.
The scorpion Grimm continues to follow Pyrrha as she runs.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asks.
"The F is a Death Stalker?" Aquila also asks.
"I can't take it anymore!" Yang gets angrier until she growls and erupts in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red. "Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
The tick-tock of a clock counts down the two seconds of Yang cooling down, Ren running over to a ditzy Nora, and Blake and Ruby looking up.
"Did anyone forget to leave their clock back in the academy?" Aquila questions the logic.
"Enough with the questions, please!" Ryden holds his head with both of his hands.
"Oh, sorry." The boy looks down and frowns.
"Don't worry, we're all as confused as you are." You place your hand on Aquila's shoulder. "Just try to tone the questions down a bit."
"Okay..." He looks back at you and nods.
"Umm...Yang?" Ruby tugs on her sister's sleeve and points.
Up above, Weiss is revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belongs to a Nevermore.
"How could you leave me?!" The Heiress calls down to Ruby.
"I said 'jump'!" Ruby shouts up at Weiss.
"She's gonna fall." Blake assumes.
"She'll be fine."
"She's falling." Ren notices.
Jaune is finally out of the tree, panting until he looks up and grins at the sight of Weiss falling through the air, giving him the opportunity to jump off the branch with arms outstretched and catch her in a slowed-down moment.
"Just...dropping in?" Jaune smiles at Weiss.
The Heiress is speechless...and the boy realizes why when they both look down.
"Oh, God." Jaune panics, as they hang on to each other wide-eyed as their moment of suspension ends, their weapons flying behind them. "Oh, noooooooo- Oomph!"
Jaune does a faceplant into the dirt, limbs splayed out, and serves as the perfect landing spot for Weiss as she falls into a seated position on his body.
"My hero." Weiss mockingly thanks.
"My back..." The boy groans.
"Yeah...I can relate to that." You say as you stretch out your back.
"I'm more concerned about the fact that the both of them slowed down before realizing that they were in the air." Aquila then receives a stare from Kalmia. "Sorry."
The Death Stalker is still hunting Pyrrha, but she manages to land on her side at the feet of everyone else.
"Ouch, I think she landed on her xiphos." Kalmia notices.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang jests.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby then yells a battle cry and rushes towards the Grimm.
"Ruby, wait!" Her sister calls out.
Ruby, still screaming, fires her sniper-scythe and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back.
"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby gets up slowly.
Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now goes after her.
"Ruby!" Yang starts running forward.
"You've got to be kidding me!" You decide to do the same.
Ruby rushes towards you and Yang, but the Nevermore caws above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape and prevent Yang from reaching her while halting you temporarily.
"Ruby, get out of there!" The elder sister says.
"I'm trying!" While the younger struggles with her cloak.
You rush towards Ruby while with your sword, you slice the giant feathers in your way in order to clear a path. But before you can reach her, the Nevermore swoops in to crash towards you.
So you halt the bird by gripping its beak just before it pierces you, then slam the Nevermore onto the ground before kicking it across a short distance.
You pull out your revolver to fire at the Nevermore, forcing it to fly back into the sky.
While you are focused on the Nevermore, the Death Stalker also approaches, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl.
"Ruby!" Yang reaches out in vain.
A white blur races past you and Yang, and reaches the stinger just as it's about to pierce Ruby.
"You are so childish!"
Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her saviour.
"Weiss...?"
Weiss removes her rapier from the ice as she continues to berate Ruby:
"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit...difficult...but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be...nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby admits.
"You're fine." Weiss walks away.
Ruby breathes a sigh of relief, then closes her eyes and clasps her hands as she gratefully whispers:
"Normal knees..."
As Weiss walks back to everyone else, Aquila tells Ryden:
"See, she's not so bad."
"Fine...but I still have my doubts." Ryden responds back.
Ruby gets up and stares at the Death Stalker as it struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice.
"Whoa!" She reacts with.
Yang rushes up to Ruby and gives her a hug which Ruby grunts at upon receiving, to which the elder sister says:
"So happy you're okay!"
The two stare at each other for a moment, then look up at the Nevermore still flying overhead and roaring.
"Look out!"
Despite your signal, Ruby and Yang didn't notice the Kraken landing in front of them. The impact shakes the ground and the blast sends the sisters flying back.
Stepping back, you manage and catch the younger sibling bridal style. As Ruby looks into the eyes of the one who caught her from falling, you ask:
"You okay?"
"Uh huh." Ruby nods in response.
As for Yang, she lands on her back ungracefully.
"Ow..." The elder sister slowly gets back up. "Hate to ruin the moment, but I would be happy if you caught me as well."
"Sorry." You respond while letting Ruby back on the ground.
The Kraken roars and starts approaching you three. So Yang fires several blasts from her gauntlets, with the shots weakening the front tentacles the cephalopod's using to block.
Swinging her scythe, Ruby dismembers said tentacles, which causes the Kraken to shriek and attempt to bite the girl with its sharp teeth.
Luckily, Ruby fires a shot from her weapon at her target's open mouth, while using its recoil to blast herself out of harm's way.
After landing next to her sister, Ruby starts to catch her breath.
"You good?" Yang asks her sister.
"Yeah!" Ruby smiles back. "Never better."
"Great!" You then start running around and away from the Kraken. "Keep it distracted for me! I'm gonna try something."
"Relax! We got it under control." Yang assures you.
"Umm...Yang?" Ruby taps her sister's shoulder to get her attention.
The Kraken's previously lost limbs begin to regenerate while glowing neon green until they return back to normal.
"This thing can heal?!" Yang reacts in shock.
"More importantly, does it have any weaknesses?" Ruby wonders while trying not to panic.
With its recovered tentacles, the Kraken raises them up high to slam them on the sisters. Just before they reach the girls, a red arrow pierces one of the six eyes of the cephalopod, making it the third eye lost.
The arrow bursts into flames after entering the eye, keeping the Kraken distracted long enough for you to run towards it and perform a dropkick on the side of its skull, sending the cephalopod tumbling on the ground before sliding across the sharp grass.
Eventually the Kraken recovers from the cuts and before it chooses to retaliate because of your attack, the cephalopod looks at you for a few seconds before taking notice of everyone else behind you, so it retreats away from the forest.
You look behind yourself to understand what the Kraken was thinking, after realizing why, you whisper to yourself:
"I think a lot of people underestimate some of the Grimm, because that was a clever tactic."
Ruby and Yang (who are both amazed) look back at the archer who is all the way back in the temple holding her bow. After she transforms her weapon back into a glaive, you and the sisters head back to the same location.
"Nice shot!" You compliment her. "Appreciate your help there."
"Th-Thanks." Kalmia looks away smiling, while holding her arm.
———
Back in the temple with the group of 12, Jaune asks everyone else:
"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?"
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss explains.
Everyone stares at the relics.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliff." Ruby nods to Weiss. "There's no point in fighting these things."
"And even if we have to, we'll take them down together." You encourage the rest. "That means we gotta stay close to each other, no matter what."
"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune simplifies the explanation.
Ruby goes over and grabs a gold knight (identical to the one Yang picked out) and Jaune takes hold of a gold rook (similar to Nora's piece), smiling at each other.
"Everyone got what we need?" You ask the rest of the 12, to which they all nodded.
The Death Stalker continues to fight its bonds, cracking the ice a little in the process.
"Time we left!" Ren signals the rest.
"Right." Ruby waves to the others. "Let's go!"
The red hooded girl goes forward with everyone following except for a smiling Yang and Blake as the latter approaches her partner, asking:
"What is it?"
Yang stares proudly at Ruby as she leaps on a boulder and motions the group onward.
"Nothing..." Yang moves on as Blake smiles in realization and leaves as well.
You leap onto the same boulder as Ruby and she tells you:
"Y/N. You should head on with them, no one gets left behind."
"I know. And that includes you as well." You imply.
"Don't worry, I can catch up with my Petal Burst..."
"No, Ruby." You interrupt her and hold both of her shoulders. "I like you too much to see you get hurt. I'm not leaving you behind."
Ruby slightly blushes in the same colour as her hood, and asks:
"Wh-What do you mean?"
Realizing your misunderstood implication, you let go of her shoulders and correct yourself:
"Sorry, what I meant was...I wanted to make sure that everyone I care about makes it out of here alive. You're my friend, all of you are."
You gesture in the direction of the rest of the people, with Kalmia stopping in her tracks to slightly eavesdrop.
"Look, we both nearly got badly hurt by Grimm, and that was just the entrance exam." You recall. "So if things get worse, I'll promise to help you, to help all of you."
Ruby holds your right hand and promises:
"Then let's help each other."
You nod in response and you both catch up with the rest. Kalmia stands there and looks a bit befuddled at the sight of your and Ruby's conversation and handshake.
"Kalmia?" You call out after noticing her idly by. "C'mon! We're not leaving without you either."
The girl shakes her head after hearing your words and follows you with everyone else.
———
The group heads out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore follows them from the air. They spread out when it passes above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perches on a high column and caws.
"Well, that's great!" Yang says, annoyed.
Jaune looks behind at the Death Stalker bursting onto the scene, so he tells you all:
"Ah, man, run!"
You and the group emerge from your hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air. It flies toward you and everyone else, so Ren tells his partner:
"Nora, distract it!"
Nora obliges, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore and causing it to retreat.
She is unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their weapons against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora so she can create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren are now being chased.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha orders.
She stops running beside Jaune and gets out her rifle, firing red shots alongside Ren's green blasts for a second until it reaches them and tries to swipe, prompting the group to run again.
The 12 race over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it uses its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing you, Aquila, Ryden, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and leaving Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker. Ruby fires at the retreating Nevermore while Blake is beaten back by the scorpion.
"Everyone okay?" Aquila asks after getting up, he then notices you counting. "Y/N? What are you doing?"
"...10, 11, wait? We're missing one!" You realise and look around. "Where's Kalmia?"
"Over here!"
You, Aquila and Ryden rush to the ledge, to find Kalmia hanging on the edge, trying to climb back up.
Just as she loses her grip, Aquila grabs onto her arms while lying on the ledge.
But before he can pull Kalmia up, a giant tentacle reaches out from the fog underneath the ledge and grabs her leg, pulling her along with Aquila downward.
Luckily, you and Ryden grab onto Aquila's legs to prevent him and Kalmia from being dragged away.
Knowing this tug-of-war can't end like this, you let Ryden hold on to both of Aquila's legs, as you walk to the ledge and pull out your revolver. You try to shoot at the tentacle pulling Kalmia, but the bullets hardly did any damage.
As Ryden starts glowing with crimson electricity due to the struggle, you unsheathe your longsword and swing a crescent energy slash, slicing off the tentacle.
The sudden release from the roaring Kraken allows your three friends to climb back on the ledge next to you.
After four of you head to the ruined center platform, Nora slams her hammer into the bridge which throws Jaune to the other side, she then places one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam its face right in the center of the Death Stalker's skull.
You look across the distance to see Jaune and three others facing the Death Stalker, then you look at the columns to see Ruby and three other girls facing the Nevermore. As for the cephalopod, it starts to slowly climb up the broken bridge after you four.
"We have to keep the Kraken separate from our friends and the other Grimm." You tell the three beside you.
"Any plans?" Aquila asks.
"We need to lure it to the cliff. Calculate the fastest way to..."
Kalmia readies an arrow that has a claw arm on its tip, as well as a metal rope connecting to the other end of the arrow and her belt, then fires it towards the top of the cliff.
With his left arm, Ryden throws his katana like a javelin and it impales the top of the cliff next to Kalmia's arrow.
Despite being surprised by your friends' quick thinking, the approaching Kraken reminds you that time is of the essence.
Since you and Aquila have no fast ways to reach the top, you suggest to the two that do:
"If you both don't mind, you each need to take me or Aquila with you. So who's...?"
Kalmia immediately grabs your hand, presses a button on her belt which retracts and pulls her with you hanging on towards the cliff.
Aquila and Ryden then look at each other before the former decides to grab onto the latter's hand and Ryden holds onto his sheath that he activates, attracting them towards his sword latched onto the top in order to get there.
Once you and the three of your friends reach the cliff, you step onto the edge and use the flat side of your blade to redirect some of the sun's rays toward the Kraken down below.
After pestering it with the sunlight, the cephalopod becomes so annoyed by your signal that it crawls quickly through the ruined area and starts climbing up the cliff.
"What's the next step?" Aquila asks you.
"A distraction for the Grimm would be nice." You suggest.
As the Kraken reaches the top of the cliff, it roars with anger and attempts to charge at all of you, only to have its face encased in ice after being struck by a light blue arrow.
Kalmia shifts her bow back into a glaive before mentioning:
"That won't hold it for long. We need a plan, because this thing keeps recovering from anything we dish out."
"I've got one idea, but I'm afraid we don't have the resources available." You claim.
"Well, tell us anyway." Aquila suggests.
"We need to completely disintegrate it, leave no trace behind. That way, it will have nothing left to recover from."
"Yeah..." Aquila scratches his head. "I have no idea how to pull this off."
The ice on the squirming Kraken starts to break.
"I know someone who was able to do something like that and I can try to replicate his move." Ryden recalls. "But I'll need to take in a lot of energy to pull that off."
"Perfect!" You then order your other two friends. "Aquila, Ryden will tell you how his Semblance works. Kalmia, you and I will stall the Kraken to buy them some time."
"Got it!" Kalmia replies and follows you towards the cephalopod.
As for Aquila and Ryden, the latter unsheathes his katana partially and performs a guarding stance.
"Like what Y/N figured out, I can absorb pain so damage works too." Ryden explains. "But I can also use my sword as a catalyst, so dish out everything you've got."
"Okay!"
Aquila complies and starts punching the flat side of Ryden's blade along with adding a couple of kicks here and there. Ryden on the other hand, begins to have his Aura glow crimson and his body surrounded by red electricity, which in both cases start to increase gradually.
Approaching the Kraken, you and Kalmia take out your weapons.
"What's the plan?" The latter asks.
"Keep moving in a circle." You respond with. "But don't forget to keep attacking."
"Got it!"
The Kraken leaps towards you and Kalmia, only for the both of you to jump out of the way and run around the cephalopod at opposite ends of a circle. Even though it has multiple eyes left, the Grimm isn't able to keep up or strike you two with its tentacles.
As you slash with your longsword and as Kalmia swings her glaive, you both manage to dismember all eight of the Kraken's tentacles.
Seizing the opportunity, you step in front of the cephalopod and strike all three of its remaining eyes with your sword, blinding it for good.
Despite not being able to regenerate its eyes, the Kraken recovers all of its limbs. Then in a circle, the cephalopod spins and swings its tentacles wide enough to smack you and Kalmia across a distance.
Meanwhile, as Aquila continues to power up Ryden's Semblance with his punches and kicks, the brawler slowly starts to feel exhausted.
"Are you there yet?" Aquila asks with frustration. "Are you there yet?!"
"Almost." Ryden reveals. "Just a few more."
Aquila then uses the last of his energy to headbutt the flat side of Ryden's partially unsheathed blade, to which the swordsman sheathes his sword.
Ryden laughs as his body's red colorings glow intensely. Hearing his cackle echo, the Kraken turns to his direction and leaps at him.
When it comes mere inches from impact, Ryden unleashes all of his energy in one sword swing, causing the cephalopod to slowly recoil and disintegrate into dust scattered on the grass. Even affecting the trees in the green forest causing their leaves to fly into the air.
After sheathing his sword, Ryden nearly falls to the ground. Luckily, you catch him before he hits the ground and help him up .
You signal Aquila and Kalmia to gather around and the four of you take a breather.
"I thought...that it would be impossible to pull this off." Kalmia says with a smile.
"Never let anyone tell you that something is impossible." You tell her. "And even if it is, it's still something worth trying."
Hidden within the dusty remains of the Kraken, a shadowy figure emerges from the cephalopod's corpse. Seeking its target, the phantom creature flies towards her.
From the corner of his eye, Ryden notices the figure heading towards Kalmia with only meters away. So he pushes her out of the way, but the creature instead phases into its newfound target.
"Ryden?" You ask with concern.
Suddenly, your partner falls on his knees and holds his head tightly. His eyes dilate and he starts to hyperventilate.
Hallucinations of a bunch of shadowy people appear beside him inside his head, they all mock and point fingers at him. Throwing insult after insult, the pain starts to consume the possessed boy.
"I won't go back!" Ryden begins to scream. "Nor will I let you hurt anyone else!"
Not only is he glowing crimson and surrounded by red electricity, his skin and hair turns to bone white with red veins and his eyes become pitch black.
After the possession, Kalmia approaches him, holds his shoulder and asks:
"Are you...?"
The moment her hand makes contact, Ryden turns to stare at her with his hollow eyes. Then he creates an omni-directional energy blast to send you and the other two a few meters away.
After landing on your back, you use it and your hands to push yourself back on your feet. Observing your partner's change in appearance, you take a few guesses in your head:
"A possession-type Grimm? Was the Kraken housing it this whole time?"
Kalmia also gets back up, only to block Ryden's charging sword swing with her glaive.
"What's gotten into you?!" She asks.
"I won't go back." Ryden repeats in monotone. "Nor will I let you hurt anyone else."
He continues to swing his blade as Kalmia keeps stepping back and guarding his attacks.
You run to Aquila to help him up, to which he asks:
"I know I'm asking the wrong questions, but why did Ryden repeat what he said earlier?"
Confirming your suspicions, you realize:
"It's a Chill."
"What's a Chill?" Aquila asks again.
"A possession-type Grimm. Not only do the ones they possess match Ryden's current appearance, they can be distinguished by their inability to speak more than their victims' last words before possession."
"That's the first time I've heard of such a Grimm."
"That's because they're so rare to the point where many believe them to be fiction, like The Grimm Child fairy tale."
After wearing Kalmia down, Ryden manages to disarm her of her glaive. Then without warning, he diagonally slashes a huge cut on her chest and stabs her through her gut, causing her to scream in pain.
"Oh my God!" You then give Aquila your longsword and revolver. "Here, defend yourself with these."
You quickly head right into the fray and reach your longsword scabbard from his back, it then magically glows light blue and forms a bone-like crossguard and handle of the same colour.
Using the transformed scabbard, you strike Ryden's back just before he tries to blast Kalmia with the palm of his hand.
Just before he sees who stopped him, Aquila gets his attention by firing a bullet at his head with your dark blue revolver.
Not noticing your presence and assuming Aquila as the attacker, Ryden pulls out his sword from Kalmia and approaches him instead.
You on the other hand, tend to Kalmia who is bleeding on the grass. Before you try to figure out what to do, her wounds glow neon green and she recovers good as new.
"I was going to ask about your lack of Aura, but now I'm more concerned about something else." You wonder.
"Right, I have no Aura overshield, only a healing factor." Kalmia explains as she stands back up.
"Yes, that. But also, I realized that you and the Kraken both regenerate while glowing with the same colour."
Your observation gives Kalmia a loss for words, but before she comes up with an excuse. You interject her with:
"You can explain it to me once we all survive this."
You turn to the direction of your possessed partner and pull out a dark red revolver hidden within your coat.
With scabbard and revolver in hand, you charge towards the fight in front of you, with Kalmia tagging along.
Meanwhile, Aquila evades and redirects Ryden's energy blasts with your sword, and then counterattacks by shooting him with your revolver.
But not only does Ryden tank the shots and reflect energy with either his sword or even head on, with every hit he starts to get even faster.
Just before Aquila gets overwhelmed, a bullet hits Ryden on the back of his head, so he turns to the one who shot him.
You twirl your red revolver and put it back in your coat. Then with both hands, you ready your scabbard like a sword.
Aquila heads to your side as Kalmia asks from behind:
"What's the...?"
"Hopefully this'll be the last time we need to come up with something today." Aquila unintentionally interrupts.
"Knock him unconscious." You order the two beside you. "I think once it realizes that the mind it has is down, it'll leave him for another."
"And that's when we strike." Kalmia understands.
"Precisely."
You and your friends surround Ryden, continue running in a circle around him and slash your target with the blades you're all holding.
Due to the three of you attacking him at the same time, Ryden has trouble keeping up with your strikes. Since he isn't able to block all of the damage he's receiving, he begins to get exhausted.
"I won't...let you hurt anyone else." Ryden repeats again in monotone.
He then punches the ground which creates a crater and a shockwave that blasts the three of you back.
With all three of you landing on your backs, Ryden turns to approach Kalmia again, but gets struck in the back by an energy wave in the form of a sword slash.
As he turns to his attacker, you swing your sword again to fire another energy slash at your partner. Only for Ryden to blast a huge laser from the palm of his left hand, to which you roll to the side, dodging the beam of energy that disintegrated your projectile.
Ryden then propels himself towards you by blasting energy behind him from his hands and feet, so you parry his incoming sword strikes by slashing with your scabbard.
After clashing blades multiple times, Ryden manages to swing his weapon and disarms your scabbard, causing it to land a few meters behind you, stabbing the ground like a tombstone.
Seizing an opportunity, Ryden performs a diagonal slash straight at your chest, sending you flying backwards with your back crashing towards your scabbard.
Before Ryden starts to walk towards you, Aquila rushes in to hold his arm that's holding his weapon, while Kalmia does the same with his left.
Taking your chance, you backflip onto the side of your scabbard and propel yourself off of it.
Switching to reverse-grip, Ryden whacks Aquila's forehead with his katana's hilt to make him let go. Then with his right arm freed, Ryden strikes Kalmia with his sword to send her far back.
But before Ryden has any time to react, you head towards him while focusing your Aura onto your fist and punch your partner straight to the gut.
Immediately after your Aura-powered strike, the Chill possessing Ryden gets expelled out of the body of its victim. Your partner begins to regain all of his regular features back and falls unconscious.
"I should've gone for the head, but I guess this works too." You scratch your head out of surprise.
The exorcised Chill tries to search for a new host. Looking at you, the shadowy figure heads towards you. But before it even gets the chance, you pull out your red revolver from your coat, point it at the Grimm's face and say:
"Jackpot!"
Firing at the Chill in its vulnerable state, the shadowy figure dissipates into dust.
Witnessing that the deed is done, you place your revolver back into your coat and walk to retrieve your scabbard.
"Kalmia, check if Ryden's okay. Aquila, I'll need my weapons back."
After your orders, Kalmia follows them and Aquila returns your longsword and dark blue revolver.
"You know, for someone who doesn't have weapons, you are surprisingly pretty good with mine." You compliment your friend.
"I had a teacher whom taught me to use every kind of weapon possible." Aquila reveals. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to master any of them, so I decided to go with none."
"Jack-of-all-trades." You jokingly call him.
"Did someone call for me?" Ryden's voice interjects.
Holding his head in pain, he tries to sit back up so Kalmia helps him do so.
"Also how did you know how to get the Grimm out from Ryden?" Aquila asks.
"I'm surprised your question isn't about my scabbard." You ask back with surprise.
"Well...that too."
"To answer your first question, I forced the Chill out with my Aura. Utilizing your Aura offensively is a common ability, something you can do even without using your Semblance."
"I totally forgot because I panicked during the whole possession situation."
"As for my scabbard, I...know nothing about it."
"Wait?" Kalmia then asks. "What do you mean?"
"My sword and scabbard were a gift from my mother, but not even she knows the reason for their magical properties."
You then walk to the edge of the cliff and ponder:
"I wonder how everyone else is doing?"
———
Just below the cliff, Ruby looks forward and pumps her sniper as Weiss turns the circle from black to red and releases Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracks, rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she gets closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe catches the Nevermore's neck in its blade and causes them both to fall to the cliff wall. Weiss raises her sword and creates a series of white circles up the wall, which Ruby dashes through by firing the entire way up.
Yang, Blake, and an exhausted Weiss watch her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reaches the top of the cliff, circles up, fires one last shot, and rends the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.
She lands beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore falls lifeless to the ruins.
Meanwhile everything wrapped up on your end, you quote after witnessing Ruby's feat:
"Quoth the Raven: 'Nevermore.'."
The girl in the red hood turns to you and smiles, as for the crevice below, Weiss, Blake, Yang and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement.
"Wow..." The blonde boy says, impressed.
Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to her friends as they peer up.
"Well...That was a thing!" Yang comments.
Back on the cliff, everyone except for you and Ruby sit down exhausted. On the edge, you walk to Ruby and stand beside her.
———
Back in the auditorium, after a formed team CRDL (Cardinal) leaves the stage, four students walk up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster for the audience to see.
"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren." Ozpin announces in front of them.
The screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles lined up in a row with a capital letter shown below each one.
The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)." Ozpin proclaims.
Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug.
"Led by...Jaune Arc!" Ozpin declares.
"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune also gets surprised.
"Congratulations, young man."
A grinning Pyrrha offers a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her 'fine leader' is knocked over and falls to his butt in front of the laughing audience.
After team JNPR steps off the stage, it's now your turn to step onto said stage. Behind you are the other three who helped you take down the Kraken together. As you and the rest smile and line up to take your places, Ozpin continues to announce:
"Y/N Dharkon. Aquila Aqua. Ryden Taurus. Kalmia Shadow. The four of you retrieved the black pawn pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team DARK. Led by...Y/N Dharkon."
Your smile turns into a surprised expression. Noticing that you have a lot of questions on your mind, Ozpin tells you:
"Move onward, because you're not there yet."
You nod in response as your teammates clap for you as well. Then Ruby smiles and waves her arm to congratulate you, so you awkwardly smile and wave back at her.
Your teammates walk off the stage and as you pass Ozpin, he gives you one last advice by whispering:
"Keep moving forward."
After hearing his words, you can't help but smirk a little as you reach your teammates below after walking down the stairs.
"And finally: Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long." Ozpin motions over the four as they stand before him. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby). Led by...Ruby Rose!"
Weiss looks to her right surprised, where Ruby is obviously in shock as Yang goes over to hug her sister, saying:
"I'm so proud of you!"
Amid the last round of cheers, Ozpin claims:
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an...interesting year."
———
In a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, where Roman is getting a call on his phone. The conversation ends, and Roman angrily slams the phone down, sighing. He holds a cigar to his mouth and puts his symbolized lighter to the end.
"I'll take it that your call wasn't...satisfactory?"
The voice behind Roman came from a man who has short silver hair and pure white skin. He wears a purple coat tattered at the end, along with a black shirt and black trousers underneath, as well as dark coloured boots. Lastly, his eyes are completely white.
"No, Arbiter." Roman replies. "It wasn't."
Roman inhales a puff of smoke from his cigar and then unintentionally breathes it out at Arbiter's direction, to which Arbiter casually fans the smoke away with his hand.
"Anyway, how are things going on your end?" Roman asks.
"Same as yours, not great." Arbiter reveals. "I told Nelo that it's okay to keep funding Merlot's experiments, but I never did tell him to send in two of his best experiments just to take back another one of his."
"Who are you referring to?"
"Nelo Seraphim. Second in command of the White Fang's Vale Branch and Adam's right hand man."
"My apologies, please continue."
"Nelo just had to release the Kraken and the Chill into the Emerald Forest where Beacon's entrance exam takes place, just to clean up his own mess."
Roman nods with a "Yeah..." after listening, before coughing while trying to breathe into his cigar again.
"Roman, please stop with the cigar." Arbiter snatches it away and throws it in the cigar bin beside him. "What do you think Neo would say?"
"Wait a minute?" Roman realizes.
"Right, Neo wouldn't be able to say anything because she's mute."
"What?! No! Weren't you supposed to look after Neo for me?"
"Your surrogate daughter is old enough to take care of her own. Besides, I never left her, because I brought her along."
Before Roman could even ask why, Neo hugs him from behind. Turning his frustrated expression to a joyful one.
Roman starts laughing and returns the hug. While stroking the hair of the smiling Neo, he says:
"Neo! There's my little ice-cream girl. How've you been?"
Neo looks up to her surrogate father with cute puppy eyes.
"Oh...!" Roman figures out her expression. "Well if you missed me, why didn't you say anything?"
Neo pouts at his statement, to which Roman figures out:
"Right, I shouldn't have used the word 'say'."
Roman lets go of Neo and tells her:
"Look, daddy's not finished with work. But when I'm done, I'll get you some ice-cream, okay? Uncle A will keep you company for the time being."
Neo smiles with her mouth wide open.
"Roman, this is the only time you get to call me Uncle A." Arbiter tells him.
Seeing Neo jumping with her arms up high facing Arbiter, he also adds:
"And to carry you, Neo."
Arbiter lifts Neo up and gives her a piggyback ride on his shoulders. The two leave Roman to continue with his business.
A White Fang member then comes with a trolley. Roman holds out a collection of Lien, which he places on the table and the man takes.
"Open it." Roman orders.
The masked man does so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colours - orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Roman picks up a blue gem in his hand and looks at the loot.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Arbiter asks across the distance before leaving the area.
"We're gonna need more men..." Roman claims.
The map above the desk, shows Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, all leading into a specially-circled place - Beacon.
Author's Note:
The Chill is a possession-type Grimm from the RWBY book: Fairy Tales of Remnant.
I added the Chill because instead of Ryden, I wanted you to deal the final blow on the Grimm.
All references belong to their respective owners.
I made a picture book for those who have trouble visualizing the characters and weapons in this story.
My upload schedule is not short term, I take my time in order to release the content you all can enjoy. Plus I need to read your comments other than continue writing as well.
So if you have questions, comments, concerns or advice. Send me a message and I'll do my best to reply, depending on your time zone. See ya!