Chapitre 3: The Beasts of Horn and Fang
Ruby was laying down in her bed in her pajamas as she overlooked the notes she and her friends had taken on the alien transformations the Omnitrix had granted her.
It was Sunday night, the day after the one she used along with her fellow Huntsmen-in training and friends to get used to what the transformations in the Omnitrix she has access to at the moment could do and how that were able to work.
She and her friends went over multiple uses for them, including terrain-based pros and cons, their powers and weaknesses, and how they could use them alongside her friends themselves.
"Ruby." Blake's voice asked as Ruby saw her looking up from a book she was reading while dressed in a black sleeping kimono. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"Uh… yeah. I'm fine, I- I think." Ruby answered, though she knew that Blake picked up on her lying when she said that.
Ruby was honestly very nervous about everything that happened since she had first got the Omnitrix. On their way back to Beacon from the Emerald Forest yesterday, Professor Oobleck raced up to them and asked them what they'd been doing in the forest. Then just this morning, Sun nearly let some info about the Omnitrix slip when he dropped a notebook that had "Omnitrix Notes" written inside of it in front of Glynda, who luckily didn't look inside. And finally, on the way back from the Emerald Forest from some more training with the Omnitrix today, Cardin decided to pick on Velvet and nearly pulled the notebook that had the info on Firebolt, Brainstorm, Icedrop, and some other aliens within its contents after accidentally confusing the cover for one of her homework-based notebooks, we were all lucky that were there with her as a single flash of Yang's Ember Celica and a fierce point from Nora's Magnhild was enough to scare him off since his team wasn't around.
Weiss came in after just having brushed her teeth and was getting ready for bed as she was in her favorite nightdress. "Ruby, I know things haven't been going smoothly lately, but now that we've reached the weekdays, I think we can put off learning about the Omnitrix for now." Weiss told her in an attempt to comfort her.
"Yeah, don't worry Rubes." Yang said with her jovial attitude while in her nightwear consisting of a yellow crop top and black shorts that left the lower part of her thighs open to the air. "Everything will be fine, I just know it." Yang assured her.
All of the sudden, the Omnitrix on Ruby lit up as Omni appeared over it. "I hate to break it to you, Yang, but don't jinx it. The fact that no one has yet to attack Ruby for the Omnitrix is a bit unsettling to me." Omni told her, while holding her right hand to her chin.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Yang asked her.
"I'll try to explain the best I can with you all and Team JNPR tomorrow, but I'll say right now as to why I'm here is that…" Omni trailed off before continuing. "I have to be forcibly ejected from the ship I was in due to there being an abnormally high risk of my capture by some unknown party, unknown to me at least." Omni said to them.
"The ship you were on was attacked?" Blake asked, putting her book to the side.
"Yes it was, which is odd in of itself given how the Omnitrix is meant to be a galactic government-level secret. Whoever it was that attacked could only have been someone who had a good informant on the Omnitrix's existence as a whole. Only problem is I can't think of anyone who's both in my memory banks and a potential suspect at the same time." Omni said in an analytical voice.
"But you have a gut feeling it must've been SOMEONE on the inside who leaked that info, correct?" Weiss asked.
"Indeed I do. But for now, I suggest we all get some sleep." Omni said, as she disappeared from sight.
"She's right, no point in staying up all night worrying." Ruby told the rest of her team, despite a small part of her actually wanting to do just that.
Her teammates went to sleep as Ruby stared out into the night-cloaked air outside, unsure of what might be out there. As she pulled the sheets up over her and slowly but surely drifted off into a deep sleep.
(The next morning, 5:57 AM)
Ozpin was up in his office with Glynda as he was currently talking to a certain general over the scroll. "Yes, it's alright, don't worry, no one knows about it yet." Ozpin assured James as the general himself continued speaking. "You needn't worry, old friend, I'm sure things will work out." Ozpin told him as the general spoke one last time. "Alright, good luck." Ozpin wished him as he hung up.
"Will they be here soon?" Glynda asked Ozpin.
5:58 AM
"Indeed, the Atlas research team will finally be here to investigate what it was that crashed in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin told Glynda.
Ozpin's right hand woman nodded as she soon crossed her arms. "Speaking of which, I feel as though, I have to address the somewhat major concern of the both of us." Glynda told Ozpin as the Headmaster of Beacon stayed silent for a couple moments, enough for nearly half a minute to pass.
5:59 AM
"It's about Ruby and her friends venturing into the Emerald Forest without any supervision aside from each other, right?" Ozpin asked, already knowing the answer.
"Ozpin, if the lot of them went to the Emerald Forest twice in the past two days, that MUST mean that something is going on with them that they don't want even us to kn-"
"Ms. Goodwitch!" Ozpin exclaimed loudly at her. "I know what it is that you're implying, but I assure you, there must be an alternate way to interpret their actions." Ozpin told her.
"Besides, with classes beginning since the weekend is over I'm sure that…" Ozpin continued on as the digital clock on the nearby screen on his desk ticked on and on, both Ozpin and Glynda paying it no mind as it was four seconds away from the next hour.
3…
2…
1.
6:00 AM
And all of the sudden…
BOOOOM!
A loud explosion went off in the school's primary teaching building nearby as Ozpin and Glynda heard it all the way from the office they were in.
"What the hell!?" Glynda cursed loudly.
"What just happened?" Ozpin asked as he saw a fire spilling out from the building the explosion came from. "We have to get down there, make sure the students stay in the dorms until-" Ozpin was interrupted...
BOOOOM!
BOOOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
… By four more explosions going off, with one in the same building, one in the auditorium, and two more in the combat practice arena not too far away.
Ozpin's calm visage shattered as he had no idea what to do now except for one thing. "Get down there, NOW!" He sternly ordered as he and Glynda took an emergency staircase in the room down to the ground floor as they knew the elevator wasn't a good idea.
(1 hour and 30 minutes later…)
It was now 7:30 AM in the morning as students were currently huddled in the cafeteria, completely shocked by recent events, even Team CRDL were so disturbed that they didn't even bother saying anything to anyone else but to each other. With those especially disturbed by all this being Teams JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and especially Team RWBY.
The explosions last night were dealt with by whatever teachers were able to make it to the fires and put them out, where Glynda was able to do the same with her semblance.
Fortunately, no students or teachers were harmed by the explosions. Unfortunately however, classes for the rest of the week were canceled as a result. Even worse news however, is that Atlas soldiers and scientists, along with General James Ironwood himself had made it onto the campus to investigate the areas of the explosions and find out what exactly had happened.
After breakfast, which the students were in the middle of right now, all the students were told immediately to head back to their dorms and were not to leave the dorm building without soldier notice first.
All the students, for this reason, were all in their combat gear and had their weapons just within arms reach in case they had to fight for whatever reason, even then, it only seemed to increase the tension in Beacon's atmosphere. Even Cardin and his team were shaken by these events, only glancing at Velvet and Coco when they were passing by.
RWBY and JNPR were currently dead silent, even with Nora looking at her pancakes without a hint of joy in her eyes. "You guys think that…" She began to ask, only to unreluctantly shush herself when she saw another student walking by.
"An early-morning bombing, on the most prestigious Huntsman Academy on Remnant." Weiss let out, visibly nervous about how the day had started.
"Could this be… because I have it?" Ruby wondered aloud, getting the attention of her friends.
"Ruby, it's gonna be oka-" Pyrrha tried to comfort her, but stopped when she saw the look of terror on Ruby's face, which looked nearly lifeless and pale.
"But it isn't okay… the Omnitrix, whoever's been the reason for it accidentally winding up here… is here." Blake muttered, worried about what this could mean for Ruby.
"I'll go tell Sun and Coco to be ready for anything." Yang said, picking her breakfast up to go to them while not being suspicious.
Ruby was even more nervous than she was before going to sleep now that the explosions happened. She knew in her gut that this was because of the Omnitrix being her possession that those explosions happened in the first place, it was probably a calling card of some kind that warned her to hand the Omnitrix over to whoever might be here to get it… and she wouldn't deny the fact that she was trying to weigh her options.
"Man, that is wild…" Yang muttered, catching Ruby's attention and that of everyone at her table.
"What is, Yang?" Jaune asked.
"Apparently when Velvet passed by Cardin recently, the big lug asked her if she was alright." Yang told them, shocking everyone present.
"Seriously?!" Ren questioned, shocked at the thought of the bully actually lightening up.
"I guess the explosions really blew away his toxic attitude, huh? Nora joked with a sincere smile on her face.
"You shouldn't joke about something like that, but still… the thought of him changing is somewhat endearing." Weiss admitted.
"Agreed." Blake said, looking over to Cardin's table with a smile as Ruby was smiling in their direction too.
"Ruby." Yang got her sister's attention. "Sun and Coco are ready to go at a moment's notice in case you get attacked at some point, keep your scroll on you, and you'll have some of the most kickass students in the academy backing you up." Yang explained to her as she smiled.
Ruby had her smile from earlier come back as she felt warm inside from how things were at the moment, which, while bleak, were seeming a bit more positive then the hopelessness she felt earlier.
(About four to five hours later, Headmaster's office…)
"This HAS to be the work of Salem's henchmen, Ozpin, it has to be." The voice of the general of Atlas, James Ironwood, told Ozpin as he leaned over his desk.
"James, calm dow-" Ozpin tried to press his friend's paranoia down, but James continued.
"We were lucky I was coming over here anyways, but a bombing attack on Beacon academy, with no suspects whatsoever? And to top it off this has happened right before the Vytal Festival too." James said, beginning to pace back and forth.
"James, you need to get a grip." Glynda, who was in the office with them, told him to try and get him to calm down.
"Dammit, how can I possibly calm down when Salem is probab-" James was interrupted by Ozpin.
"James, that's enough!" Ozpin told him in a loud tone compared to what both James himself and Glynda were used to.
"We still don't know for sure that this IS the handiwork of Salem, once we get more info regarding those explosions, I'm sure we'll be able to learn more about who's responsible." Ozpin told him.
(Same time, City of Vale, White Fang Hideout…)
"A series of explosions, at Beacon?" Cinder asked Mercury, shocked at what she was seeing on a scroll she was holding.
"Yeah, the news is only public from a couple of blog posts on certain media sites, but they all say the same thing." Mercury told her. "A series of explosions went off on Beacon's campus, not killing anyone, but causing enough of an uproar that the entirety of Beacon is effectively on lockdown." He finished.
"Which means no one gets in or out until the situation is cleared up, right?" Emerald asked as she was shocked at what this could mean.
"Or until the culprit is caught, yeah." Mercury answered.
This got Cinder so furious, it was shocking that she was even contemplating the thought of not burning the scroll in her hands in anger. "Dammit, this was not supposed to happen. I'm going to talk with Roman, I need as much info on this as I can get, Mercury, stay as up to date on this as you can, ask as many questions on as many social media sites as possible and get me answers in two hours. Emerald, you do the same, and look out for anyone suspicious in the building, for all we know this could be some ill-intended joke on part of some rogue White Fang pawns." Cinder ordered.
"Yes, ma'am." Emerald said with a nod.
"You got it." Mercury answered back as Cinder handed him the scroll.
Cinder began walking out of the room while a thought crossed her mind. 'The timeline has changed, but this isn't going to affect things in the long run, I will obtain the power I need, no matter whose corpse I have to walk over in order to get it.' She thought as she narrowed her eyes.
(Same time, Team RWBY's dorm…)
Ruby was currently overviewing her notes on the Omnitrix while the curtains to the dorm's windows were closed and the door was locked.
Yang was playing some games on her scroll in order to calm her nerves, and Weiss and Blake were reading some books with each other. "So this man with two souls wound up having them both intertwine with one another at some point?" Weiss asked, sitting on a chair positioned in front of Yang and Blake's bunk bed.
"Yep, it's actually a bit of a climax of the final thing, where the both of them combine their souls to unlock their full potential or something along those lines." Blake explained.
"That kinda sounds like something out of a TV show or some corny animation. Are you sure this is the same book as the one you were reading prior to the initiation?" Weiss asked her.
"Well… it is a more positive and light-hearted rendition." Blake admitted.
Yang overheard this and looked over to Ruby, who was currently looking over notes on her transformations like they were ancient texts. "Hey, Omni." Yang said after turning off her scroll as she jumped off the bed.
Ruby looked down to her as she moved over to the side of her bed as Omni appeared over the Omnitrix. "Yes, Yang?" The AI asked, wondering what she could have in mind.
"I know this is sudden, but…" Yang breathed in and out before speaking. "Can we make... a deal, or something like one?" She asked Omni, earning a visible head tilt from the AI.
"What kind of deal?" Omni asked.
"It's about Ruby." Yang admitted. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I have this sinking feeling, so…" Yang clenched her fist before continuing. "If we work hard to protect you, can you do the same for us?" She finished.
Omni's eyed widened along with everyone else in the room, until Omni realized what Yang was talking about. "You want me to protect Ruby, should you not be able to, do you?" Omni guessed.
Yang only confirmed this with a nod as Omni could feel the nervousness in Yang despite her having a determined look. Omni only smiled as Team RWBY saw a dark red tear running down from her face.
"Is something wrong, Omni?" Weiss asked the AI.
"Oh, ummm…" Omni rubbed the tear away as it vanished in a small amount of pixels. "Apologies, it's just… only now did it occur to me how… happier I am here with Ruby than with my predetermined candidate for the Omnitrix." Omni stated.
Blake raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean?" She asked, unsure of what she meant by that.
"It's just, I don't think my previous candidate would be treating me the way you all have. You've been treating me like a genuine member of your kind, rather than a simple AI to bark orders to…" Omni told them.
"Seriously, who was this candidate to make you think that?" Ruby asked, not liking where Omni might be going with this.
Omni was going to answer, but then she stopped. "I'm sorry, but it's against my instilled command to disclose information regarding the wielder to anyone without my creator's permission." Omni stated.
"I see…" Ruby said, not liking how Omni literally HAD to keep this a secret. "How about we go out for some fresh air, then?" Ruby asked Omni.
"Wha- no, I couldn't possibly ask that of you. You'd be putting yourself in danger-" Omni was interrupted by Ruby.
"I need some fresh air as much as you do, so don't worry. It'll only be for a small ten minutes anyway." Ruby told her.
"Wait, Ruby-" Yang was going to say until Ruby beat her to it.
"Don't worry, I'll bring Crescent Rose and my scroll along with me." Ruby said to her, making Yang smile in relief.
(Outside the dorms, Beacon statue plaza…)
Ruby was currently pacing around the statue plaza near the middle of Beacon as the wind was blowing through the area. She looked off in the distance and saw white tent-like curtains with the Atlas kingdom logo on the front of them, covering up the parts of the buildings where the explosions occurred.
The sight made her a bit nervous, but her arm that had the Omnitrix on it suddenly warmed in her hand again, like Omni was silently telling her…
"I'm right here with you."
Ruby smiled as she looked down to it while walking, only for an Atlesian soldier with medium brown skin underneath his armor to walk up to her, rifle held in her hand. "Heya kid, what're you doing out here?" The soldier asked her in a tough voice.
"Oh, sorry, I just wanted to get some fresh air after being inside for so long." Ruby told him.
"Ah, I see… How long ya been out here for?" The soldier asked her with a small smile.
"Only about… three minutes." Ruby answered.
"Got it." The soldier nodded before looking at a bench near them. "You still seem a bit tense, wanna sit and talk while you're here, I've got some time on my hands." He offered.
"Oh, ummmm… sure, I guess. Mister…" Ruby trailed on, not knowing his name.
"Brutus." He told her. "Brutus Spearhorn. Pleasure to meet you." The Soldier properly greeted her, now named Brutus Spearhorn.
The two of them sat down and got a look at the building nearby that was wrecked by the explosion. "So, are you nervous about these explosions?" Brutus asked Ruby.
"Yeah, I just can't shake the feeling that whoever was responsible for them is somewhere on Beacon grounds." Ruby admitted, expressing her unease.
"I don't blame you, when it comes to explosions, there always seems to be a sense of unease in the area around them, I should know." Brutus told her.
"Have you ever been near an explosion before?" Ruby asked.
Brutus sighed as he looked up, as if he recalled those times he had done so. "More times than you'd think, kid." Brutus answered. "I've seen explosions for longer than you've probably been training to be a Huntress, in fact. I've seen many friends rise and fall despite it supposedly being a time of peace." He lowered his head. "In fact, if it weren't for them and their biting the dust, I'd probably forget completely what it is that I'm here for." Brutus told her.
Ruby's breath was taken away from what he was saying. "Oh, I'm so sorry…" Ruby said to him.
"Don't apologize kid, it's not like you're the one who… planted those mines, or fired those shrapnel-loaded shells, or threw those grenades at me." Brutus told her.
"If I may ask, actually…" Brutus looked at Ruby, who did the same to him. "Why did you take this position as a soldier anyways?" Ruby asked.
Brutus was silent for a moment before answering. "Why does any fighter throw himself to fight what's in front of him? To protect what's behind him that he loves, in my case, at least." Brutus told her, making Ruby's eyes widen at what he had said.
It was then that she felt a sensation come from the Omnitrix, only this one wasn't like the comforting warm feeling she'd felt just moments before talking to Brutus, it was more like a searing feeling that gripped her hand and screamed in her ears…
"wE NeED to LEaVe!"
BGM - You Shouldn't Be Here (Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth)
Ruby carefully glanced at her arm with the Omnitrix on it as she suddenly felt nervous sitting where she was, like the perpetrator behind the explosions was right behind her.
"Hey kid." Ruby and Brutus turned to see two soldiers walking towards them. "What're you doing here?" The soldier on the right asked Ruby, in a careful but stern tone.
"Oh, ummm…" Ruby didn't know what to say for some reason, until Brutus cut in.
"Don't worry, she was only talking to me, I offered to hear her out on some things till you two came along." Brutus told them.
"Oh, alright then, but seriously, Maxwell, you've really gotta-" The second soldier on the left started telling him before Ruby realized something.
"Wait… who's Maxwell?" Ruby asked, her nervousness slowly increasing.
"Oh, uh, this guy who was talking to you just now, I recognized that voice anywhere, didn't he give you his name?" The second soldier asked her.
"But… he told me his name was…" Ruby began to say until Brutus sighed and walked up to the two soldiers and took his Atlas helmet off, causing a bright light to shine around him.
The two soldiers were so shocked at what had happened, they didn't have time to react to the larger than a human's fist sending them flying away with a lariat-style throw.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The two soldiers went flying until they crashed through two windows in a nearby wrecked building. "MY LEG!" One of them cried out in pain.
Ruby was shocked at that, but nowhere near as shocked at what happened to Brutus, who had, in that flash of light, now been replaced by a tall and intimidating figure with broad shoulders and a muscular physique. "Brutus…"
The figure was a minotaur with bronze brown horns on its head and brown skin that had jet black tattoos with a shattered shield on its right arm and a broken sword on its left, he turned around to reveal what he was wearing, consisting of a chest plate over his heart area and a shoulder guard stylized like the top of a wolf's skull with horns on the forehead and snout, and black pants with no shoes that made room for his bull hoof-like hooves.
And on his muscular arms were a pair of black cesti secured to them by black cushioned wrappings around his arm with yellow and white brass knuckle-style armaments attached to his knuckles.
The figure looked at Ruby with a condescending look and seemed remorseful, but it scared Ruby nonetheless by how red they were. "Yep, that's my name." Brutus confirmed as Ruby saw him raise his fist up into the air.
BGM - F.O.E (Etrian Odyssey 5)
Ruby quickly used her semblance to move out of the way before he brought his fist down on the bench the two of them had been sitting on.
Ruby was erratically breathing as she slowly backed away from Brutus who'd pulled his fist out of the ground and the bench which was now in pieces, scattered on the ground.
"Sorry it has to be like this, kid. But I need to get that Omnitrix." Brutus told her as he began running towards Ruby with his horns pointed right at her.
Ruby barely had time to react to his speed as she used her semblance to dash out of the way again as Brutus just missed her again, only to plant his arm into the ground and dug his fingers into it to make a hard turn towards Ruby's direction. Ruby didn't react in time as when she turned around, she was shoulder bashed by Brutus, sending her rolling back.
"Come on, kid. You've gotta have a lot more fight in you then that." Brutus taunted her as she tried to get back up, her aura fluctuating all the while.
"RUBY!" Ruby turned to see her teammates running over to her with Yang and Weiss kneeling down to her, with Blake, Teams JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN blocking Brutus's way to Ruby. "Are you okay?" Yang asked, hoping her sister wasn't hurt.
"I'm… fine…" Ruby answered as she got back on her feet. "How'd you… get here?" Ruby said through panting breaths.
"Blake and Velvet heard a loud screaming, so we came as fast as we could." Weiss answered.
Brutus snorted some visible breath out from his nostrils. "Well, guilty as charged, never was a subtle being before." He said as he rolled his arms and neck, causing a fairly loud popping noise to ring out.
"You have some nerve striking at a little girl, fiend!" Yatsuhashi said to him, raising his greatsword, Fulcrum, up and readying it to fight.
"You take one step near her and we'll make you wish you didn't." Neptune threatened while spinning Tri-Hard into its Guando mode.
"Oh, we'll do a whole lot more than that, buddy." Nora stated as she held Magnhild in her hands. "I'm gonna break your legs..." She growled.
Everyone else got their weapons ready and got into their fighting stances, shocking Brutus. "Woah… since when did the children of this planet start wielding weapons?" He wondered.
End BGM
"HEY!" A loud voice that demanded attention caught that of RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN as they and Brutus looked towards it to see a large platoon of Atlas soldiers lined up alongside Glynda, James, and even Ozpin, with a pair of Bullhead aircrafts flying over them with gatling guns pointed straight at him. "Who or what are you, and what are you doing here?" James demanded of Brutus.
Brutus looked at the large group of soldiers and Huntsmen in one direction and then to Ruby's friends, and then focused on Ruby, who was visibly clutching her right wrist with a worried expression on her face. "Well, I can confidently say that I'm officially outgunned…" Brutus said, confusing the soldiers and the students of Beacon, while James, Glynda, and Ozpin were adamant about keeping their fighting stance. "That doesn't I can't even the odds SOMEhow." He said with a slight grin as he pushed a red button on his chest plate that soon produced a faint red light from it.
About three seconds later, a shot from a gun was heard as what looked like a bullet made of light flew over Brutus and over to the group of Huntsmen and soldiers, specifically… to the Bullheads above them.
The bullet struck an engine on the right wing on the left Bullhead's wing and caused it to explode causing the Bullhead to crash into the Bullhead next to it while the soldiers were trying to move out of the way so as to not get crushed. While the Bullheads pilots were jumping out of them as the Bullheads themselves crashed into each other and into the ground beneath them, making Glynda, James, and Ozpin recoil at the sight.
Brutus took the initiative and charged straight at the three of them with his horns pointing at them. James saw this as he and a couple of soldiers, who weren't knocked out or were busy picking themselves off the ground, aimed at him and opened fire with their guns and rifles, only for Brutus to either take the shots easily, or parry them with the thick iron-like wrappings on his arms.
He charged at some soldiers and everyone was shocked when he approached three of them and started punching at them with the rapid rate of a Gatling gun, seemingly wildly but also with excellent control of power and precision.
The soldiers fell onto the ground knocked out as their armor was destroyed and the bodies had been seriously bruised from the massive amount of punches he'd inflicted onto them in such little time. "If you think some weak weapons like those can topple Mirappataur, then you've got another thing coming, Humans." Brutus forebodingly said.
James and Glynda looked at each other and nodded with Ozpin as they charged straight at Brutus with Ozpin jumping up to catch him from behind.
"General, wai-" Weiss was about to call out to them Huntsmen and General, only for a laser to strike at the ground near her feet.
"Apologies young ones, but I'm afraid that once Brutus has his mind set to something, there's no stopping him." A condescending female voice said to the students of Beacon around Ruby as they all looked towards a tree nearby and saw a fairly tall humanoid being hidden amongst the branches.
The being jumped out of the branches and landed on the ground where Brutus was standing with a large sniper rifle with a black color scheme with white stripes and a white sniping scope with black sharp ended stripes on the top of it.
The being appeared to be an anthropomorphic feline humanoid with fur that was a mix of white with brown black spots, she wore silver bracelets on her arms, a quartet of red ear piercings on her cat ears, yellow rings wrapping around her legs, a blue ring on her two foot long tail, and had a voluptuous body with wide hips and a big bosom while wearing a black and brown striped bodysuit with a white furry collar around her shoulders with a black belt attached to her hips with multiple utility pouches clinging onto it along with a sheathe of some kind.
She then pulled out what looked like the hilt of a whip off the back part of her belt and held in her left hand, and clicked a button on her sniper rifle, causing the sniping scope to fold into the rifle as the rifles barrel folded into the gun, making it look more like an assault rifle in its new form.
Blake and Pyrrha stood in front of the group as the anthropomorphic feline was standing in front of them casually. "Who are you?!" Blake demanded with Gambol Shroud drawn and in her hands.
Pyrrha had a spite-filled glare, contrary to her kind expression. "Are you the one responsible for the explosions here at Beacon?" Pyrrha asked in an interrogative voice.
"Apologies for the surprise, but you could say something along those lines, I was responsible for planting those explosives." The alien feline answered before looking at Blake. "As for who I am though, just call me Nelira." She said before looking at Ruby who was still clutching her arm with the Omnitrix.
Nelira smirked at her before getting into a combat stance of some kind. "I suppose you're not willing to hand over what we're here for?" She asked the students of Beacon.
"Fat chance, whackjob, we were told how the Omnitrix could be dangerous when used for evil, and we're not about to let you take it." Sun said with determination.
"Such bravado… But let's see it hold up when you're faced with a force like me and Brutus." Nelira taunted as she gestured over to Brutus and Ozpin, Glynda, and James, who were in a still stand-off stalemate.
Brutus snorted as air exited his nostrils and he charged at them with no remorse. "Come and get some, for getting… in my WAY!" Brutus shouted as he punched his fists together.
That was when a large yellow and blue sigil appeared on the ground, which soon after had a large slightly multicolored see-through barrier form around Ozpin, Glynda, and James as they were stuck inside.
"What the hell?" James swore at the sight of the barrier.
"What is this?" Glynda asked, as she saw Ozpin looking at the barrier confused out of his mind.
"Is this… ma-" All of the sudden, the three of them and the barrier surrounding them disappeared.
"Heh, that should keep them busy till we're done. No way in or out without some sort of magic-based countermeasure." Brutus told them. "Now then, Ruby… I believe you have something that shouldn't belong to you." He said as he began turning his right arm while holding his shoulder.
Ruby was nervous at the sight of the three toughest humans she knew that were in the area, suddenly not in the area anymore, but she could also feel Omni's worry too, as while was still within the Omnitrix, she could feel a sensation that Omni was very distraught about the sight before them.
But that made Ruby only more determined to fight these two off, if not for herself then at least for...
"Everyone, we've got to stop them, JNPR, CFVY, you guys fight off Brutus, the rest of you are with me to take on the cat lady." Ruby stated as she suddenly started giving orders.
Which was when everyone suddenly snapped out of what fear they held and took action. Getting out their weapons and ready to fight them off.
"Hehe… you kids have got guts, don't worry though..." Brutus said before Nelira finished.
"We won't need to look at them to confirm it." As Nelira's whip hilt had yellow energy shot out of it in the form of an actual whip as she lashed it down at the students in front of her.
BGM - Asterisk Boss Theme 1 (Bravely Default 2)
Their First Encounter - Brutus and Nelira
Jaune got in front and blocked the energy whip with his shield before flinging it away as he ran for Brutus along with his team, not hesitating to fight.
Yang and Blake dashed at Nelira with their weapons ready, only for the feline alien to fire at them with her assault rifle, a flurry of laser bullets forcing them to dodge to either side.
Which was able to make an opening for Scarlet to take some shots at her with his gun, but she was able to quickly stop them by swinging her whip around to block the shots.
This made an opening for Sage to run up from behind her and take a horizontal swing at her with his sword, Pilgrim, only for her ears to twitch as she backflipped out of the way of the blade, landing behind him as she kicked him in the back.
Velvet and Coco were both firing on Brutus with their weapons, Gianduja in Coco's case, and a hard light copy of it made by Velvet's Camera, Anesidora.
Brutus simply moved his fist rapidly in front of him to block the shots from Coco so he could take the shots from Velvet no problem, only for Ren, Pyrrha and Nora to fire their own shots at him from behind, as Brutus was getting fed up with this situation, he ducked to the side, causing Coco and Velvet's hail of bullets to go flying for the three members of JNPR, who had to split up as a result.
Meanwhile, Sun wasn't holding back as he brought out his nunchuck guns and began spinning them around rapidly at Nelira, both striking and shooting at her all the while, but Nelira being able to block and parry each attack. "Nice weapon, kid, never seen anything like them before." She complemented Sun as he gritted his teeth.
"Stuff it, lady, we're not letting you have the Omnitrix!" Sun shouted at her, only for her to manage to catch his weapons in the flurry of strikes and shots before tossing them behind Sun while he still held them and brought out her assault rifle before swinging it into his gut. Knocking him back as Neptune rolled under Sun's flying back body and took a shot at her with his weapon, Tri-Hard.
Nelira ducked under this and aimed at Neptune with her assault rifle before firing, only for Weiss to form a wall of ice in front of the young man as she used her glyphs to advance straight towards her with Myrtenaster pointing at her chest.
This only got a chuckle out of Nelira as she caught the tip of her rapier in her hands and planted it in the ground. "Nice try, princess." Nelira quipped before punching Weiss in the face and then kicking her away.
Scarlet shot at her with his pistol, Hook, as he readied his cutlass, Darling. This was good for him because Nelira sprinted straight for him while a pair of black and neon purple metallic claws formed around her hands from her bracelets with a cat paw aesthetic.
Nelira jumped with the claws outstretched as Scarlet attempted to parry the claws by raising his sword up, only for the claws to be a feint as she landed on all fours and then jumped backwards, revealing that she had planted a mine of some kind on the ground in front of Scarlet.
Scarlet dove out of the way as the mine detonated, knocking him out and taking out his aura as well. "SCARLET!" Sage ran over to his teammate, only for Nelira to run in front of him.
"Eyes on the prize, big boy." Nelira jokingly said as she shot her rifle at him, forcing him to spin his sword around to block the shots, letting Nelira get in close to rear back one of her claws as it glowed orange for some reason.
Sage couldn't react in time as she rammed the armored hand into his stomach, sending him flying back far as he hit a tree back first as his aura also dissipated.
"Dammit, this is bad." Yang muttered as she started shooting at the cat alien with Ember Celica, only for Nelira to block each shot with her armored hands.
Brutus was swinging punches at Jaune and Pyrrha who had their shields up as they were constantly being pushed back. Only for Jaune to somehow push his arms out the way, buying Pyrrha a moment where she could take a stab at him, only for Brutus to grab Jaune's shield and, by association, shove him into Pyrrha as a way to throw them off-balance.
Nora fired some more grenades at him, which he promptly punched out of the air like with Velvet and Coco's bullets, only leaving behind some explosive smoke behind, blinding him, making room for Yatsuhashi to come in with his sword and ready a swing as he got close to the smoke cloud.
Only for Brutus to come charging out of it with his horns pointing towards him as Yatsuhashi got stuck in-between his horns and he drove the big huntsman-in-training into a nearby building's wall, where he proceeded to punch him rapidly like with Nora's grenades until he'd knocked Yatsuhashi through the wall with one last punch, making his aura fall apart.
"Yatsu…" Coco muttered as her grip on Gianduja shook with fear.
"This is really bad…" Velvet muttered as she brought up a replica of Pyrrha's weapon, Miló, and fired at him with its rifle mode.
Brutus simply picked up some rubble and large broken walls nearby and chucked them at the two of them, they looked on as Fox came in and sliced through the oncoming projectiles as Ren came up from behind him as Fox reared his arms back and Ren aimed his legs toward Fox, making Fox a chance to propel him forward as Ren began spinning around as Brutus simply reared his right arm back and readied a punch…
Only to suddenly sidestep and, just as Ren was in front of him, rapidly punch at him with his right arm and send Ren flying back onto the ground.
"REN!" Nora shouted as she got angry and readied Magnhild's hammer mode.
Nelira was throwing punches and scratches at Yang only for the blonde to successfully grab both her arms as Ruby dove in and swung Crescent Rose at her from behind, only for Nelira to swing her legs up and catch the scythe with her heels as the glowed orange, with the feline alien then planting Crescent Rose into the ground as she backflipped out of Yang's two-hand grip and landed up Crescent Rose's pole, where she proceeded to spin on it and kick Ruby away while swinging a lash at Yang with her energy whip, who wound up being hit three times before Nelira jumped off Crescent Rose planted a mine at Yang's feet, only for Yang herself to propel away with the force from her Ember Celica before the mine could detonate.
As Nelira was able to land, Sun and Neptune came in from below and behind her to try and strike, only for her to land on their weapons with both her feet as she front flipped behind them and reared both her legs up and kicked them both in the backs, making their aura flicker.
Ruby used her semblance to make her way to picking up her scythe as she tried to figure out how to make a comeback, only to continuously draw blanks no matter how hard she thought on the situation. 'Dammit, what do we do? I can't see any way we can see this through and win… not without…' Ruby thought as she looked at her right wrist. "Omni…"
End BGM
BGM - Rare Monster Theme (Bravely Default 2)
"RUBY!" Weiss shouted to her, making Ruby look forward to see Nelira jumping side to side to avoid shots from Blake's Gambol Shroud and its gun function.
Weiss used her semblance to make a glyph in front of Ruby to block Nelira's oncoming attack as she got close enough to strike, which was the chance Ruby used to propel herself away using Crescent Rose and its high recoil.
She used her semblance to reposition herself and found herself standing next to Weiss. "What're you doing, we can't afford to get distracted." Weiss sternly told her partner.
"Sorry, I just…" Ruby didn't know what to say, but didn't have time as Nelira had knocked Blake down in front of them. Nelira charged at them again as Weiss conjured an ice wall in front of them to try and buy them some time to get Blake to safety.
"Not…" Nelira activated a function in her gauntlets, causing their glow to change from neon purple to orange. "Gonna…" She reared her arms back as Yang got in front of the ice wall to try and fire some shots at her. "WORK!" She front flipped and punched the ground in front of Yang and the ice wall with Weiss behind it, causing the wall to shatter to bits and Yang and Weiss to fall onto the ground in pain.
Nelira chuckled as she stood up with one of her hands on her hip. "Just because I consider myself stealthy, doesn't mean I'm not afraid to get into the ol' hand to hand." She remarked as Ruby and Blake saw all that had happened in that moment.
Nelira charged at them as Blake and Ruby split up, Blake dodging a swing from Nelira's whip with her shadow clone semblance and Ruby shooting at her from behind with Crescent Rose.
Nelira got hit by a couple of shots, but turned around and swatted Crescent Rose off its aim as she slashed Ruby away with her claws, making the girl let drop her weapon as she rolled onto the ground with her right arm's sleeve torn, revealing the Omnitrix on her wrist.
"There is it, in all its glory…" Nelira said with a purr in her voice as she kicked up Crescent Rose and held it in her hands. "So kid, what'll happen now?" The feline alien asked Ruby as she got herself back onto her feet. "Are you gonna hand over the Omnitrix, or are your lovely friends gonna feel more hurt than they have already?" Nelira asked her.
Ruby was panting like a dog from all the fighting and pain that was around her, until she felt a pit in stomach she heard stomping and looked to see Brutus and his large physique walking towards the both of them.
"RUBY, RUN!" The girl heard a desperate plea from Pyrrha as she looked to the direction of the voice and saw all of her friends miraculously conscious, but were all bruised and beaten beyond belief.
The only one still standing among more of them were Fox, Coco and Velvet, Pyrrha, and Yatsuhashi, who Coco was helping support with the large young man using his sword as a crutch.
Meanwhile, Jaune, Nora, and Ren, in the time she'd been fighting off Nelira as best she could, were barely able to sit up by the looks of it.
Ruby was now beginning to wonder if she should run, but… something inside her screamed at her she should do anything but.
"Ruby…" Omni's voice said to her as she looked down at her. "Hurry, use the Omnitrix, it's your onl-"
"Here's the deal, kid." Omni was cut off as both Ruby and her looked at Brutus, who was folding his arms as Nelira held Ruby's Crescent Rose. "You hand over the Omnitrix, and we take our leave, but don't do so, and things won't be so pretty by the time we're gonna have to be done." Brutus looked to Nelira who nodded as she unfolded Crescent Rose and tossed it up in the air with her Gauntlets activated.
This made Ruby realize exactly what was gonna happen. "No… WAIT!" Nelira ignored her plea as she jumped up at Crescent Rose her arms reared back…
As she swung her claws at Crescent Rose four times, literally slicing the weapon into pieces as she landed with the pieces scattering around her, and the weapons blade planting into the ground before tilting over.
Ruby's blood ran cold at the sight. As memories involving that weapon flowed through her mind, she began to have a small tear appear in her eye.
First was when she conceptualized Crescent Rose at Signal with Qrow looking over her shoulder impressed, then came another where she was working the blade and implementing a rifle barrel into the base of the blade and customizing the scythe's pole to accommodate for the rifle system. And finally the day where she scored her first big win against a small horde of Grimm with Crescent Rose as she stood proudly with her weapon, the weapon she poured her heart and soul into making, over her head as she had the happiest smile on her face.
The tear on her face fell to the ground as she gritted her teeth as she soon breathed in and out as she looked at Omni… and the Omnitrix. "Hey Omni." Ruby said to her.
"Yes, Ruby?" Omni said, wondering what could possibly be going through her mind as she looked and saw a face of tranquil fury on Ruby's face behind her eyes.
"I promise… I will not. Let them. Take you." Ruby sternly said as she activated the Omnitrix and pulled up playlist 1.
Looking through the Omnitrix and getting the one she wanted she looked up at Brutus and Nelira, the latter noticing what alien hologram was above the Omnitrix.
"Wait… that's a-" Nelira got cut off by Ruby herself.
"You want the Omnitrix so badly…" Ruby asked as she raised her hand up. "Then HERE IT IS!" She shouted as…
(Saturday, two days ago…)
"WOAH! That thing was AWESOME!" Nora cheered as Ren was writing notes down on the most recent transformation Ruby used into the notebook he held.
"What was that?" Blake asked, hiding behind a tree, from shock at the sight of the transformation in question.
"That was a Kaiozorian from the planet Kaios, they're known for their ferocious fighting style and somewhat high temperament, but aside from that, they're capable of flight, supernatural strength traits, and more."
"So, any idea what we ought to call it?" Sage asked in curiosity.
"Hey, I know!" Yang said, earning a glare from Weiss.
"If it's a pun on wolves, you're not gonna like what'll happen to you." Weiss threatened as she was visibly reaching for Myrtenaster.
"No, no, it's just… given how it looked I think we ought to try and name it…" Yang's voice was cut off as…
(End flashback…)
...She pushed the Omnitrix's core down.
(Transformation)
The Omnitrix sunk into her wrist as her muscles increased in the bulk. Red fur appeared all along her body as wolf ears popped out of her head as her face elongated into a wolf-like snout.
Large webbed wings suddenly burst out of her back as her upper body grew in muscle mass, and her lower body changed into a reptilian torso with hunched legs and feet that had two sharp digits, along with a long reptilian tail that formed on her tailbone area.
Ruby was now a large anthropomorphic lupine beast with both the wings of a bat and the lower body of a reptile, as she wore a black pair of shorts on her lower torso that had the Omnitrix in the center front area.
Ruby let out a loud and thunderous howl as she let out a battle cry in the form of the transformation's name.
"LYCANDRAKE!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone