Bab 78: Counterparts and Corruption
Ruby had just woke up, wiping the gunk off her eyes and stumbled out of bed to go brush her teeth. She was hoping this time to see Neo and Noire in class, though for some reason, she felt today was going to be kind of weird. Shaking off that feeling, she went into her dorm's bathroom and stripped before getting in the running shower. Warm water cascaded down her body and slowly woke her up.
Then she realized that the shower was already running. More importantly, her new friend Neo was in it. Sitting there, in a swimsuit as to not expose too much to Tearwyn, was Neo. She was scrubbing Fou's fur while Tearwyn had just gotten her hair and tail fur carefully washed. All the while, Neo was singing some strange kid friendly song. Ruby blanked as she watched Neo with what looked like a tiny Faunus and a small cat? Rabbit? She had no idea.
"You know they'd walk a mile just to see me smile.. Woo! My shiny teeth and- Oh hey, Ruby? Can you pass the shampoo? Scruno the Magnificent's fur needs more than I thought" Neo asked with her hand out.
"I.. what?" Ruby asked, though acquiescing and handing her the shampoo, hearing Tearwyn laugh.
"Wait! Why are you in our shower!?" Ruby asked in embarrassment.
"Ah.. Noire was using ours and these two tagged along. I'm also not exposing Tearwyn to anything above PG-13 by going in with Noire. That's why I'm wearing this" Neo casually explained before rinsing Fou off.
"Hehehe~But Ruby here isn't very PG-13" Tearwyn laughed as Ruby covered herself up.
"Gasp!! Ruby! You're naked!" Neo acted shocked and pretended to look elsewhere.
"I-I'm sorry!!" Ruby squirmed, though almost faceplanted the tub when she heard Neo and Tearwyn giggling.
She looked up to see them both giving her incredibly amused expressions. That's when it hit her.
"Wait.. This is a shower! MY shower! Of course I'm naked!" Ruby shouted indignantly at them both as Fou simply gave her foot a sympathetic pat with his paw.
"Okay okay.. We're done anyway so we'll be getting out here. Don't take too long though, I have things to explain to you and Noire will be here in a few minutes. Enjoy your shower and try not to think of anything not PG-13" Neo winked and got out with Fou and Tearwyn, drying them off with a large towel and carrying them out of the bathroom.
"Fou!" Fou spoke, earning a nod and a grin from Neo.
"She's funny! What a reaction that was.." Tearwyn snickered, remembering Ruby's shocked face.
That's when Yang, Blake and Weiss noticed all three in their room. Yang was about to open her mouth to ask why they were in their room but Weiss squealed and tried to grab Tearwyn, failing to, due to her using an illusory image. While Blake 3.0 looked interested in her nine tails, which was highly unusual for a Faunus.
"Uh.. hey Neo? Why were you in our bathroom?" Yang asked with a laugh.
"My partner took our shower first so I borrowed yours" Neo shrugged and used her skill, wearing the clothes Neopolitan would wear in the later volumes.
"Ah.. clothes beam is so useful.." Neo nodded appreciatively.
"Why... can't... I... hug.... you!?" Weiss said between attempts, hearing Tearwyn's cute and joyful laughs.
"Fou!" So instead, Fou was grabbed by Weiss, who thought he was a dog, being pet as she suppressed her squeal.
"I love them..." Weiss rubbed his silky fluff and sighed in contentment.
"And uh.. who are they? Friends of yours?" Yang asked.
"Yeah this is Tearwyn... The Amazing" Neo claimed as she raised the little Goddess up, who puffed her chest out in pride.
"And Weiss over there is snuggling Scrungo the Magnificent" Neo finished with a sagely nod.
"Or you could just call him Fou.." Blake added, having just walked in.
"You just can't handle my awesome naming sense.." Neo shook her head.
"Yeah, that's it.." Blake retorted with a cheeky smile.
"Nice to meet you~" Tearwyn greeted them.
"Kyu.." Fou greeted, pressed into Weiss' chest.
"Back atcha, Foxy! But not that it isn't cool to get guests but.. why are you here so early?" Yang asked while Blake 3.0 tried to get Fou out of Weiss' grip.
"I have an offer. I'll be doing something important in a week and I've been convinced this should involve you, due to the nature of it. I'll go over more when Ruby comes out of the shower" Neo replied, taking a seat on Yang's bed.
"Sounds serious" Blake 3.0 commented, looking over to Blake, who had her arms crossed.
"You'll see" Blake responded while looking over to Neo, who was moving Tearwyn's tails around her neck to make it look like a fluffy scarf, much to Tearwyn's amusement.
A few minutes later, Ruby exited the shower and threw Neo a pouty face.
"Oh come now, it's nothing I didn't see literally yesterday" Neo flashed her an innocent smile.
"I.. guess that's true.. Okay, what did you wanna tell us?" Ruby asked, sitting down.
"Well.. first off, where's Arturia?" Neo asked Blake.
"She wanted to shower after me. You also left some of your divine cooking in the fridge in our room, so.." Blake chuckled, remembering the several plates Arturia pulled out.
"Makes sense. Now, onto my offer and a little exposition" Neo looked over team RWBY and began her explanation.
Telling them about the bar fight was first off. To say Yang looked proud would be an understatement there. Then she skimmed past the interrogation of Cinder, getting to the parts about Salem, what she is and what she has done. Which brought up questions of her own origin, something she put off telling, as that would take even more time to fully explain. After explaining the corruption possibility and what she may have to do when she finds their counterparts, she asked a question.
"So, knowing all that. That your Grimm counterparts were forcibly turned like that, could you do what is necessary and kill them? If they can't be saved, that is" Neo asked, watching their faces.
Ruby and Yang made the most expressive reactions. Blake 3.0 seemed only a little bothered. Weiss seemed disgusted at the fact that her counterpart and team were enslaved like that. Ruby and Yang felt the most empathy for them and were contemplating if they could really kill them if they were too far gone.
"If you can't, don't worry. I wanted to handle this with my team here anyway. I'd rather not-" Yang interrupted.
"Alone? You'd do that to spare us all that?" Yang asked, seeing Neo nod unhesitatingly.
"Then we're coming with you" Ruby got up and announced, seeing her team nod to her.
"You don't exactly need to.. I told you, I'd rather-" Again, Neo was cut off by Yang, who put her finger on her lips.
"Yeah but that's why we gotta go. You're our friend, Neo" Yang replied, seeing a wry smile form on Neo's face.
"Alright, fine.. If that's what you decided. But just know I'll be going on an excursion to find them in a week. If you wanna join, you train. I'll clear your class spots with Ozpin. I'll make sure you won't just survive either. We'll be winning. No.. we'll be... Tearwynning" Neo punned with a grin, hearing the collective groans of team RWB_ and Blake.
Tearwyn laughed and pat Neo's head with a thumbs up. Yang had a large excited grin on her face, ready to unleash some puns of her own.
"So with all that said.. Are you in for some training?" Neo asked with a calm smile that sent shivers up Blake's spine.
"Give us everything you got!" Ruby excitedly declared.
"It's Sousuke Sagara training time.." Neo hid her evil smile behind Tearwyn's tail and muttered.
~Yours will be worse than ours due to the week timeframe.. I don't have the heart to tell them..~ Blake looked away from the smiling and confident team RWBY while Fou looked at Neo with mouth slowly widening in a smile.
-One week later-
To say the training was harsh would be like saying 'a weeb getting laid at 18' was hard. A massive understatement. Thirty kilometer runs a day, carrying logs of wood. Sparring with Blake, Neo and Arturia past their aura and body's energy was depleted and they could barely stand. Subjecting them to magic attacks while their aura was up, to build up resistance and expand said aura. Five hour sleeps a day, only to be awoken by Arturia's fists. The one thing keeping them going was the food Neo cooked. It was delicious and gave them the energy needed to get through the days.
During the fifth day, Neo was hit with the notification of her system.
[Quest Rewards fully ready and integrating...
4/9 Divinities gained!
Yurism authority (Partially locked)
Freedom authority (Locked)
Balance authority (Locked)
Magic authority (Partially locked)
Demigod achieved! Linking to Proxy form... Complete!]
Seeing it and trying to comprehend what the scope of that meant, she tried Proxy form and found herself capable of an even greater height of power than before. Enough so that her aura now behaved in a similar way to 'Spiritual Pressure'. Which means she could hurt almost everyone in Beacon if she was going all out. It was a welcome increase in strength, which Tearwyn happily helped explain to her and navigate its power.
Soon enough, the deadline came. Team RWBY got to have a full eight hour sleep before they'd go to Mount Glenn, where their Counterparts were waiting. The bullhead ride was quiet as they thought about the worst case scenario. Though they had more reasons than that hellish training to push through. Seeing Neo, someone who they figured out during their training, was from a different world but still helped them earnestly was enough reason already.
Landing in a field outside the wrecked town, they quickly followed Neo, who seemed to know exactly where to go. The Grimm in the area had found them but were very quickly dispatched by team RWBY and Fou, who killed a Golliath with Unlimited Blade Works, turning it into a pin cushion. Neo was preserving her strength for what was ahead.
Stopping outside the entrance, out of sight, all of them could see two people standing guard. Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina. Of course, they were the Grimmified versions. Pale skin, black sclera, red irises and desaturated hair colors along with the Grimm plate attached to their bodies.
Velvet sniffed the air and smiled maliciously, licking her lips slowly and turning to her team leader.
"It's them, Coco. Earlier than we expected too.. Let's go inform mistress Neo" Velvet said, purposefully loud enough for them to hear.
"Oh I love the way your twisted mind thinks, Bun-Bun.." Coco laughed and winked at the building she knew Neo and the team were hiding behind before running inside with her partner.
"Good noses.. And mistress huh? I guess Grimmified Neo climbed up the ladder of success" Neo mused before turning back to the girls and Fou.
"She.. is not Mast- Neo" Arturia muttered with a resolved shake of her head.
"Alright, they know we're here and they're expecting us so ambushing them is out. We'll just have to do this the old fashioned way" Neo cracked her knuckles, hearing Tearwyn cheer in response.
"And that is..?" Weiss asked, almost afraid to ask.
-Mt Glenn underground-
Coco and Velvet quickly ran inside and leaped down the hole, seeing their established base with over a hundred Grimmified humans walking around. Some were more Grimm than human but the strong were a perfect blend of both, like their God, Salem. Quickly making way over to the biggest area in the base, they saw their very own team RWBY, along with their own Neopolitan.
Ruby was, as usual getting beat up by Yang, who could barely control her angry outbursts and ended up beating on Ruby for every perceived slight against her. Weiss was sharpening her Grimmified Mytrenaster lovingly and Blake seemed to be eating some human flesh. Meanwhile, Neopolitan looked over, playing with a skull with a bowler's cap on it with a small giggle escaping her lips occasionally.
"Mistress, they've arrived" Velvet excitedly proclaimed, earning the attention of team RWBY.
"Good.. early, but good. Let's wait for them here. I'm sure you're eager to kill your inferior versions" Neopolitan talked in a rather raspy but still sing-song voice.
"I'm gonna crush that bitch's skull.." Yang dropped her sister with a toothy grin before they heard and felt the caves shake.
Running out of their crude base and seeing a few dozen of their workers dead under the rubble, they saw their counterparts, plus a few strange additions. Atop the rubble, the two Neo's locked eyes.
"Brute force" Neo answered.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone