Ruby Rose | Team RWBY (eyesofsilver) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-11-01 23:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, blake belladonna, ruby rose, weiss schnee, yang xiao long |
Who: Team RWBY
What: Fighting the Dragon
When: 1 November, night
Where: Tower of Future Industries
Warnings: Grimm fighting
Status: Log | Complete
It was not the best few days for Yang. The stark reminder of her dreams (and everything that involved) might have set her back a little, and despite her objections they were going up the tower to take on this big beastie.
On the plus side, they were together, an advantage none of them had had during the fall of Beacon, not really. On the negative, they’d left the others to hold the line and so couldn’t count on their backup.
To say she was nervous was an understatement, but she hid it well. She glanced at Blake, then looked at Ruby. Her sister was their leader, and she’d always, always follow her lead. Even in the face of the army of Grimm that stood between them and the stairs to the next floor. Maybe especially in the face of the Grimm.
Ruby was doing what she always did. Pushing through everything and focusing on the threat at hand. Yang may have her objections, but this was what they trained for. This was what they did and they couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. And if the others hadn’t wanted to fight, she would have gone off on her own to fight despite it.
Of course, she also was dealing with a swirl of emotions and feelings and memories from her own dreams. Dreams that she’d just had when all of this had started. Penny. Blake and Yang hurt. Pyrrha. Of being too late, too slow. She wasn’t going to be slow or late again. She refused. Not to mention the tension behind her eyes, a headache she couldn’t shake but was currently ignoring.
Right now though? Right now her focus was on the Grimm that were actually invading. Real Grimm and not the ones she’d seen the first day of classes along with her mother and the whispered words. No. This was actually happening and she was in full huntress mode.
“Checkmate!” Thank goodness for attack calls and the fact that during practices those had been gone over as well. But they helped and were necessary in getting to the top of the tower. They would get through this. They had one another and this was who they were.
Weiss felt underprepared. She hadn’t had as many dreams as Ruby or Yang. She wasn’t sure that she was even as far as Blake. So this? This was like running in with only partial training. Even if she had been training ever since she got Myrtenaster. She’d even managed glyphs. She wasn’t as proficient as she was with them in the dreams, but she managed. As long as she could at least sort of help, she was going to do everything in her power to keep the team going. She was going to do everything she could to keep herself going.
She knew the right moves, she knew what she knew from the dreams, and she’d practiced. She was about as prepared as she was going to get at this point. She could remember the attack calls, so she followed them.
It wasn’t like they’d never done this before while being not quite experienced. They could do it again.
Blake was laser focused on the task at hand. At least she felt more at home in her own body now that she was fully faunus. Her cat ears were discreetly covered by a black bow in her hair, just as they were in her dreams. Her night vision tended to help matters at times, but she was finally able to move and fight the way her dream self could. Her reflexes had vastly improved, and she had been training hard to improve herself.
She had dreamt up through the tournament, to where Yang had fought against Mercury. Yang had talked to her about what had really happened there, but she still hadn’t dreamt as far as Yang had. She wasn’t quite certain where Ruby or Weiss were in the dreams, but she didn’t completely need to know in order to function as their teammate. All she needed was her fighting skills.
At Ruby’s command, Blake gave a nod, casting a glance at both Yang and Weiss before she leapt into her part of the attack. She drew on her experience from the dreams and went with it, more than happy with taking down Grimm in the process.
Cocking her gauntlets, Yang waited for the order. In another time, earlier in her dreams or even this life, she'd have jumped in half-cocked. But that got people hurt, and while this wasn't the first time most of them had fought together, they'd never really faced this many Grimm, or this many of the big ones.
An Ursa slashed towards Weiss, only to be overwhelmed by the the checkmate attack.
Yang bounced on her heels, moving closer to her sister. She counted two more Ursas, a half dozen beowulves and a gryphon between them and the stairs, and somewhere above, that big dragon roared. This part actually wasn't so bad, and her arm was performing really well.
For the first time since this all started, Yang felt her confidence returning. Seeing Blake and Weiss kick butt probably helped, too.
She called out, "You were bear-ly trying and rolled right over it! Good work guys!"
It was strange because each of them were at different parts of their dreams, and that this was really happening. Still, they had trained for this and while not as much as in the dreams, those abilities and knowledge did still cross over. Still, between their own training here and just being together, it still felt right. That and it was easier to push aside the dreams she’d had before all of this and everything to the side while they had a common aim which was to get rid of the dragon.
They just needed to get to the dragon which wasn’t exactly easy as they still needed to get to the roof and through the Grimm they were currently up against. But no matter. A quick scan of the area gave Ruby an idea. They had space right now - not ideal but workable.
“Group formation! Split into Freezerburn and Ladybug!”
That should do waste to the beowolves and it gave room for each attack. They would be confined once they were at the stairwell so they needed to make the most of the space while they had it.
Weiss locked eyes with Yang for a moment before moving closer to her. The names were curious, but she guessed it made as much sense as anything else. She understood the things that were called out to her, so she followed them all the same. “Hey.” Were they acting on their own here? “Do you want me to try to launch you at one?” Because maybe she wasn’t Ruby, but Weiss was pretty sure with some focus, she could manage this.
She looked toward Ruby quickly before looking back to Yang. “Or do you think there’s an attack call we’re waiting on past this?”
Blake took quick stock of the beowolves and the other Grimm around. This was going to be a fight just to get up to the dragon, but she had faith in them. And, for once, she had faith in herself as far as her fighting abilities went. Right now, she was in the huntress mode and nothing else mattered.
When Ruby gave the order, Blake slid over beside Ruby, briefly wondering why Ladybug when her main color was purple, not black. But whatever, it was close enough! She gripped the hilt of Gambol Shroud, which was in its sword configuration.
“I can use my speed to push them closer together for you to use Crescent Rose?” Blake suggested. Her semblance would also come into play quite strongly, but she had enough speed that she could corral some of the Grimm into a close group for Ruby to dispatch if she wanted to take that approach.
"I think she wants cover," Yang suggested, readying her gauntlets. "Give me an ice slick! Then throw me like a baseball!"
She'd always kind of wanted to be launched by Weiss. Usually it was Ruby who had the honor of human slingshot, with her speed and agility.
Did that make Yang a human rocket?
And it seemed most everyone had an idea of what she meant when she gave the order. Which yay, team cohesion! Still, it was helpful because even as Ruby had her own speed and agility, Blake was right that she wanted the beowolves corralled together to make easier use of Crescent Rose. Yes she would use her own speed against the walls but all in one place was better for this.
“Exactly it.” With both sets ready to go, Ruby gave a nod for them to go into action.
“Makes sense.” If she was going to corral them, she was going to need people making sure that they were gathered together.
Weiss smiled before calling up a glyph to send Yang in closer, a black glyph forming at the end of it. “Feet first,” she called as she used glyphs to get her there in enough time to pull her back and launch her toward the Grimm. She didn’t have the natural speed that Ruby or Blake had, but glyphs could get you there fast, too. She was just glad that hers seemed to be working in that moment.
Blake nodded, then she leapt into action. She charged, using her semblance to both distracted the Grimm and to push them in one direction. And it seemed to work. Her ‘shadow’ would be left standing in one area while Blake slipped in behind the Grimm and attacked from behind, pushing them around. With her speed, it didn’t take long for Blake to have several of them corralled into one confined area.
“Ruby! Go!” Blake called, continuing to move around the Grimm and also to stay out of Ruby’s line of fire.
Yang had never really been launched by one of Weiss’s glyphs before, and it was a lot of fun. She slammed into the Grimm like they were bowling pins, punching her way through them and then turning to fire off several shots to cover Weiss. She kept aware of the rest of the team’s positions, ready to respond at a moment’s notice.
As the others did their thing, Ruby used her speed to build up momentum - a streak of rose petals in her wake and once most of the Grimm they were currently focused on were corralled into one area, Ruby came out of her speed with Crescent Rose open and the group of Grimm attacked and dispatched, having faith in her team to get any stragglers. That done, she did a quick scan of their surroundings and state of well being and nodded.
“Okay team, let’s keep moving!”
Weiss was a little out of breath by the end, but she was going to keep moving. Maybe she needed to work on her endurance. It was sort of the same way in the dreams. She dreaded the thought of doing something as embarrassing as sweating horribly in order to be able to run longer and more efficiently. Sweating was the worst.
She followed Ruby, offering Yang a smile. “We should be Rocket Launcher instead of Freezerburn.” But she guessed she could deal with being Freezerburn all the same. They had more things to focus on, like the Grimm and not dying or letting others die because of them.
It felt good to let loose like this. And after the stress and anxiety she’d been under lately, focusing on fighting Grimm was actually just what the doctor ordered. Or so Blake liked to think. Venting and releasing pent up frustrations like this was a very good thing.
With the coast clear, Blake followed after Ruby, keeping her eyes and ears, both sets of ears even if her cat ears were currently muffled by the bow she wore, open for signs of other Grimm. They needed to keep on the move and reach that dragon before things got any worse here.
The path led them up the stairs and to the top floor. Unfortunately for Asami far below, her floor-sized office had been turned into a battle zone. A dozen more Grimm, and perched on the outside with it head sticking through what was left of the window was the massive dragon-like Grimm. It roared at their intrusion.
Yang stared at it, remembering how things went in her dreams. At least they hadn’t run across Adam. So she went with her natural reaction. “That thing really tips the scales doesn’t it.”
Ruby had her own reaction to the dragon. She had known it was there, how could she not? But besides Weiss helping her get to the top of Beacon Tower with her glyphs, she had been alone when she had faced it. And given everything that had happened when she got to the top of Beacon Tower?
No. She had to push it down and focus on the fight at hand. She was not going to let any of her team get hurt. Not here. Not now. Not ever.
Okay so it would help if she actually knew what she had done to the dragon in the dreams instead of the white blinding pain, but their first real fight together when they faced the giant Nevermore could be used as a guide. There was less room to move around but they could adapt.
The question was how though.
Admittedly she did groan in annoyance at her sister’s comment and shot her a look.
“Really, Yang?”
But right, how to fight the the thing.
“We need to weaken it, overwhelm it. Like the Nevermore.”
Weiss frowned when she looked up and saw the dragon. Her gaze shifted between the other three girls. She wished that they’d had more space like they had when they’d fought the Nevermore. This was just very cramped and she didn’t know much of anything past a certain point. Certainly not as much as Yang or Ruby. She felt like she was missing a lot of information about herself and the Grimm and fighting.
“Okay. I think we can manage that.”
Blake had to stare at the dragon for a few moments. It was a bit frightening to look at, but she wasn’t going to let anything deter her from fighting this thing. She looked at her teammates, nodding a little at Ruby’s plan of attack.
“That’s probably the best way to do it. Death by a thousand cuts, as it were.” This was different from the Nevermore, but the principle was the same. They didn’t quite have a map to how they would defeat this particular Grimm, but all they could do was their best, right? “Ready when you are,” she said to the three in general, ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice.
“Point me at it,” Yang agreed. She punched her fists together, “Let me be bait, take the hits!”
And with everyone on board with the plan (because really, how did you take down a dragon without weakening it with everything you had?), Ruby gave a nod and it was into action with them. They each had their specialties. Because of space issues, Crescent Rose was in sniper mode at the moment. Though that made it easier to shoot at the creature as she used her speed to move from to different angles.
She had faith in her team and they would get out of this just fine. This was going to work.
It had to.
Weiss nodded. She raised Myrtenaster, glyphs forming in front of her. Three shot off at the monsters in front of them before she turned to look at Yang. “Ready to go flying again?”
A black glyph formed in front of her and she waited for Yang to jump up before pulling it back and letting her go flying again. Once she was gone, the dust changed from her normal ice to fire, three glyphs forming as she aimed at the Grimm. “I’ve got your back, Ruby!”
And that was the plan. The plan was also to stand back and fight from a little bit of a distance or at least be able to give the others some breathing room if she could. She used her glyphs to get herself a little closer, meaning to go one way instead of another and landed just a little too close. Panicking a little, she summoned another glyph, one that she’d only vaguely thought of at first and an arm came out, a sword slashing down. She could remember hours of listening to Winter talk about this, but she’d never managed it before. At least not to this extent. Not to any extent.
Blake leapt into the fray, using her semblance to help distract the dragon from actually hitting her while she struck out. Gambol Shroud went between the sword and gun configurations. She didn’t use the other configuration because of the confines of the space they were in. That and she was quick, able to deliver several quick attacks before using her semblance to get out of the way.
She spotted that glyph that Weiss laid down with the arm and sword coming out. Blake got momentarily distracted by it, but quickly regained herself. She did a backwards flip, shooting at the dragon as she landed in a squat. She took quick stock of her teammates and what attacks they were doing, giving herself a quick breather while she worked out another attack pattern.
Yang hummed the chorus to 'rocket man', shooting several blasts from her weapons ahead of her as she shot through the air. When she punched the thing in the nose, a great sweeping wing crashed through the floor to her left. It hit her, sending her spiralling into a pillar, cracking it in half.
When Yang got to her feet, she staggered, her eyes burning red. She checked the positions of the others, paranoid of any one of them being too close to the giant Grimm, paranoid of losing them. Her arm twinged as she propelled herself on Ember Celica, leaping high and coming down hard with her elbow into the Grimm's eye.
She bounced back, and the sound of the Grimm's claw on the tile brought her back somewhere else, some when. She hesitated, and the Grimm twisted its head and snapped its jaw and bit Yang's mechanical arm clean off.
So far they were managing even if the dragon was not happy. Still, she kept moving, only to see Yang hesitate. “Yang! Look--” Too late and there went the mechanical arm. No matter, using her semblance, in a burst of rose petals, Ruby grabbed her sister and got them behind the dragon. Her mother’s voice was going to be wrong. She wouldn’t let it be right. She wouldn’t fail like she failed Penny and Pyrrha when she hadn’t been fast enough. Hadn’t been able to warn...
But already she could feel panic starting inside of her and she desperately wanted a way out, to defeat this and put an end to the invasion. Instead as she got her sister in place, she noticed that the pillar Yang had cracked seemed unstable - on top of the structure damage that had already taken place.
“Weiss, look out!” With the dragon in the way, it wasn’t like she couldn’t rush to her partner but she could still try and pray that Weiss got out of the way.
For a while, it looked like they were doing fairly well. She’d managed something she’d never managed before, Yang was being Yang, Blake was doing well, and Ruby was moving fast like she normally did. It looked okay. Only then things started to go downhill.
Weiss’ eyes widened as she saw Yang’s metal arm torn off. Would she be able to get a new one? Was she okay? She’d have focused on that, only she heard Ruby’s voice and looked up. She only got a very weak black glyph up in time to slow it down just a little as she dove, but her leg got caught under the pillar and she let out a pained scream.
Things were going well, better than Blake had anticipated, if she were honest with herself. Not for lack of any of their skills, but they had never fought a Grimm this big before. But everything took a sudden turn as she saw Yang’s metal arm get torn off.
“Yang!” Blake cried out. But Ruby was first to get to her. She then noted the debris falling, and then Weiss screaming. “Weiss!!” Blake cried out. She had an easier path to Weiss and quickly moved towards her, intending to defend her and make an attempt to get the debris off of her.
It was the shock that got Yang. It barely hurt, not really registering until Ruby had her. And then it was like everything bad was happening all over again. She’d lost her arm again, Weiss was in trouble and Blake was probably about to be in trouble. Even though none of it was her fault, she still felt like she’d failed in protecting her team. “I’m sorry.”
“No….” At first it was a quiet whisper, Ruby’s eyes wide in horror. Everyone you trust and love will end up leaving you and there’s nothing you can do about it. It was as if time stood still and was flickering all at once.
Penny torn apart.
It was like the pressure she’d felt in her head the past few days was intensifying.
Blake and Yang on the ground, Yang without her arm while Blake was stabbed. She couldn’t do anything for them. She hadn’t been there. Hadn’t stopped it.
Pyrrha disintegrated in front of her eyes by Cinder, because she’d been too slow. She hadn’t gotten to the top of the tower fast enough.
Her head felt like it was about to be split open.
Yang losing her arm - again. Because she’d been too slow. Weiss’ scream of pain because she got caught under rubble. Again because Ruby hadn’t been able to get to her to get her out of the way.
What good was having her semblance be speed if she couldn’t save her team?
The pounding in her head drowned out Yang’s own apology, an unnecessary one in her opinion if she’d heard it. Ruby was team leader. This was her fault. She could see her mom now facing off with Cinder (at least that’s what it seemed in the chaos of her mind), the dirt in her mouth….
“NO!” The scream tore through her, raw and from deep within as everything went white for her. All the pain, and anxiety, the feeling of failure and guilt, the suffering of everyone seeming to be within that scream, blinding light and energy and power coming from her, encompassing the entire area before fading and Ruby collapsing unconscious.
Despite the overwhelming pain from her ankle, Weiss noticed Blake. She attempted a weak smile, but her leg was trapped and she couldn’t move. “Can you lift-” Her sentence was cut off by the sound of Ruby screaming and she turned to watch as light shot out of her eyes and everything seemed to freeze around them.
Her gaze shifted from Ruby, who had fallen to the ground, and turned to Blake. “Get Ruby.”
Blake was surprisingly not panicking. Instead, she was laser-focused on the task at hand. Later, she’d undoubtedly reflect on the events and have deeper emotions over it. But right now, she and Ruby were the only ones not hurt or attacked, and she needed to help where she could. She gave a little smile in return, and was about to lift the rubble off of Weiss’ ankle when she heard Ruby’s scream.
She looked up in time to see everything go white and seem to freeze. She blinked once the white light died away and Ruby collapsed. Blinking, she looked back to Weiss, and nodded. Blake darted over to Ruby’s side, kneeling down beside her. She checked to ensure that Ruby was still breathing, which she was, and she set a hand on her shoulder.
“We need to get out of here,” she said. She looked to Yang, then back to Weiss. “I can carry Ruby.” Blake was suddenly taking the lead, it seemed. “Weiss, do you need help?”
Yang seemed to snap out of it when Ruby snapped. Luckily, the only other people she trusted with Ruby were both present. Somehow, she found her voice, "I can carry Weiss. Ruby is lighter anyway."
She got to her feet and rushed over to Weiss. "Don't argue, we gotta get out of here. Let me give you a hand."
Deflecting was helping her deal okay?
Weiss made a face at the idea of being carried. She could walk...sort of. Once she was up, she realized maybe walking was not something she was capable of at the moment. “Fine fine. Let’s just get out of here.”
While Yang helped Weiss, Blake strapped Gambol Shroud to her back, then picked Ruby up in her arms. She held her carefully, and once Yang and Weiss were ready, she nodded. “Hopefully the way we came is clear of Grimm.” It would be difficult if they had to fight their way out of the place. Blake turned and headed for the door they’d came in.
All but throwing Weiss over her shoulder, Yang stumbled after Blake and Ruby. She hesitated, looking back at the frozen scene behind them. None of it made sense, and it was much more alarming than what Uncle Qrow had told their father when they didn’t know Yang had been listening. It scared her. It scared her for her sister, and for her team.
But she just hoped they’d figure it all out and get through it.