I May Fall
I don't want to do it.
"Do you have a better plan?"
People will die! I'm NOT going to do that, it's a non-starter! I JUST need to get away, I don't need to kill anyone!
"It's reaching a point of being either them or us!"
Penn's argument was cut off as the door to his cell opened. Once again, Salem entered, literally bringing light into his world with her.
"I believe I've given you ample time to 'think about it.' Have you made your decision?"
They didn't have an escape plan put together. He wasn't ready. He needed to buy them time. Thankfully, they'd thought this might happen. The best thing about having a command of thoroughly useless information was that he had lots of useful-sounding things he could tell her that were functionally worthless.
He bowed his head, looking defeated. It was an easy look to pull off when half-starved, dirty, and frightened.
"What is it that you want to know about Sunset?"
Salem hummed with satisfaction before reaching into her dress, producing the DVD set she had shown him on his first day in the castle.
"Sunset Shimmer was an amusing puzzle, but she poses no threat overall. I want to know more about this." She leaned down, holding it close enough for him to make out details. It's not like I need to see it that closely, I own the same dang box set... "You mentioned the existence of other worlds. I assume that this came from a reality above ours, one that can influence our world as easily as one would write a book."
Penn nodded, keeping his head low to hide his shock as how easily she had determined the truth from his single slip of the tongue.
"And you are familiar with it. Are you from the same higher plane?"
Penn shrugged at that. "I- I don't know if I'd call it 'higher,' like it's some kind of divine place... It's just Earth, just like any other."
"Except that it isn't." Salem's voice began to grow irritated. With it came a ripple of cold through the air that gnawed at his skin and set his body shivering. "You shouldn't mislead me, child. It will not end well for you. Tell me only the truth."
Penn couldn't bring himself to speak, only nodding as his breath formed clouds in front of his face.
"Now, is Sunset Shimmer from the same place, as well?"
He shook his head. "Another w-world. S-she doesn't k-know anything about this p-place..." His shivering forced a stutter into his speech. "She's j-just stuck w-with me..."
"In that case, I assume her actions to foil our plans in Vale were on your orders?"
He nodded again.
"And how did the two of you find yourselves here?"
"Two? She still doesn't know about Missy! She's safe!"
"It was an accident." Penn shook his head. "W-we were just driving and w-we went through a p-portal. We didn't even s-see it!"
Salem straightened her posture, changing to look down at him while standing at her full height. "And how much of this have you told Ozpin?"
"None. D-Don't like the guy. Don't t-trust him." He didn't hesitate with his answer.
That got a few seconds of silence. "A wise choice. In that case, I only have one more question for you at the moment."
He felt the sting of a sharp fingernail being pressed under his chin, forcing him to look up and into her eyes. Her red irises glowed against her black sclera like coals, but there was no warmth in them.
"Where is this portal you entered our world through?"
"WHAT?"
"W-what?"
"I believe I made myself clear. What you have, what I want, is the way to leave this world behind. With the power of that world, I can hunt down the calloused gods who created this wretched place, and reshape it to my vision of a perfect world. One without strife, one unburdened by the failed designs of divinity, one where mankind's flaws can no longer continue killing it slowly from the inside out." She dug the tip of her nail a little deeper into his skin. "So, you will tell me where this portal is. I will not ask again."
He locked up. His brain was staring at an impossible problem and quickly shutting down because of it. Behind his back, he fingered at his cards in his back pocket, trying to find a solution. If he lied, she would know. If he tried to stall her, she would see straight through it. If he told her the truth, Salem and an army of Grimm would march on a world completely unprepared to deal with these monsters. He needed something that could save him, protect him. He needed something between him and her. He needed...
He needed a monster.
"If- If I tell you, it w-won't do you any g-good..."
"And why is that?"
"There- there are things out there... From between the dimensions. They watch the portals. We were through so fast they either didn't see us or didn't care, but..." he forced himself to shake his head and back away from her, cowering in the corner of the room. He pulled his knees up to his chest, letting the shivers completely overtake him. "E-even just glimpsing them nearly drove us both insane... They don't adhere to our understanding, they're beyond comprehension! The Hounds of Tindalos, the Angels of Evangelion, Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos, Makuta Teridax, the Ultimate Nightmare!" He grabbed at his head, raking his nails across his scalp until he could feel hot rivulets of blood running down his neck. When he looked up again, he did so with a sudden snapping motion, eyes wide and wild with fear. He pointed an accusatory finger at Salem.
"I GOT LUCKY ONCE, BUT I'D RATHER DIE THAN GO THROUGH THAT PORTAL AGAIN! TRY IT AND I PROMISE YOU'LL GO MAD FROM THE REVELATION, IMMORTAL OR NOT!"
There was no sound other than his whimpering as he buried his face back in his knees, rocking back and forth in the corner of the stone prison. Without warning, he felt his entire abdomen clench and shooting pain erupt from the center of his body. A flood of bile erupted from his mouth, only to be shoved back down as a Grimm hand clapped itself over his mouth. The bile spurted out through his nose, the only way out. He tried to cough and gasp for air, but he was choking on his own vomit. More hands jumped out of the wall, pressing claws to his throat and sinking into his arms and legs. He wanted to scream from the pain, but it felt like this throat had been sealed shut. He could feel himself growing weaker, as if his very life were being drained from him.
His lungs felt like they were about to burst as his diaphragm convulsed and he tried to cough out the blockage. His stomach was screaming with pain, and each of his limbs left like they were on fire as dagger-like claws sunk into him. His lungs screamed with agony, even as his own attempts to scream were bottled up until he was about to explode.
Salem twitched her finger, sending another spasm through his abdomen as her power gripped his stomach a little tighter. "You aren't as clever as you think you are..." A flick of her wrist sent the pain up and into his lungs, making it feel as if his chest had collapsed in on itself. His entire ribcage groaned in the strain, threatening to snap into pieces. "I did not ask for a tall tale meant to scare children."
The world was beginning to spin, and the burning pain was being intensified by a growing tingling all through his body. The world was growing dark, but the pain wasn't fading. I... Am I dying?
"You know, torture has been proven again and again to be relatively ineffective." Salem mused. "Positive reinforcement is a much better system. However, there is something more...basal about fear. Instinctual. If you wish to train an animal, you must make them understand that you are in control. In control of their food..." she gestured to the tiny door that his meals came through once a day, "their safety..." she pointed to the dark corner of the room where the monster torturing him was shying away from the light, "and their very lives. Make no mistake, whether in this world or the next, you exist because I deign to let you. The moment you stand between me and my goals, I will not hesitate to end that existence."
She turned and walked out the door, but the torture didn't stop without her presence. When he finally slipped into unconsciousness, it was with one last thought.
Okay... your plan.
"Good."
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Emerald had been listening in when Salem emerged, looking frustrated. Clearly, things hadn't gone well.
"He still has an ounce of fight left in him... Do as we discussed, Emerald."
"Y-yes, ma'am..."
She almost felt bad for their prisoner. This next illusion was going to truly be cruel. She honestly wished he would just give up so that she could go back to being by Cinder's side. Hopefully, this would be the last straw to break him. If he would just give up, both of their suffering could end.
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On Ruby's suggestion, the team had split up to search the arena. She and Weiss, being the fastest of the group, had gone to search the hallways around the circumference of the colosseum. Meanwhile, Sunset and Blake were assigned to the main arena. Yang had declared that she had an idea of her own and run off before Ruby could give her an assignment, leaving them split into three teams. While their area was technically the easiest to search, Sunset couldn't help bemoaning the fact that they had been left with the largest search in terms of sheer area.
"I don't get it... nothing seems wrong here." Blake muttered.
"Unless you count the fact that there's a crap-ton of gum on the bottom of these chairs..." Sunset muttered, sticking out her tongue in disgust.
"Okay, well, maybe we just need to think like Missy... Sunset? Any ideas?"
Sunset pondered the question for a few seconds. "Missy doesn't like being on the ground, and she doesn't do anything by half-measures. If she was trying to hide, she'd do the opposite of what she thinks they expect so... she'd probably go down!"
"Okay, so... how far down do we go? The front row of seats? Under the arena? Under the colosseum, itself?"
"Let's try the basement and work our way up from there. If we don't find her, we'll have to assume she got away on her own." The two of them nodded to each other, making their way down the long stairway through the bleachers and into the arena, itself. They were almost halfway across the center stage when the spotlights switched themselves on, shining directly on the two of them.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the little troublemakers from the docks! Where's little Red?"
Both of them jumped with surprise, instantly standing back to back as Torchwick's voice echoed over the loudspeakers. Sunset's lightsaber was in her hands and Blake had reached over her shoulder for Gambol Shroud.
"So much for the element of surprise..." Blake whispered.
"Or keeping a low profile." Sunset added.
"Well, I'm sure she's around here SOMEWHERE. She's got a remarkable talent for always being underfoot. For now, why don't I just deal with the two of you?"
Blake turned towards the commentator's box, pointing an accusatory finger up at Roman. "What is the White Fang even DOING here? What could you possibly accomplish in an EMPTY arena?"
"Well, we're just dropping off a little package, sweetheart, nothing too special! As for my employers, well, I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that there's only one thing to do with an arena this big: SEND A MESSAGE!"
Sunset and Blake both looked at one another, eyes wide as realization set in.
"It's not an operation..."
"It's a BOMB!"
"Ding ding ding! Someone give the ladies a trophy!"
Sunset felt the bottom drop out of her stomach, that same unrest she was starting to recognize as a warning of danger. At the same time, Blake's hair bow twitched, and she drew her weapon. She followed the feeling, slashing blindly to her left at the empty air alongside Blake. A glass-like wall beside them shattered, revealing an unfamiliar stranger who just barely dodged their attacks. Sunset did get a moment of satisfaction as she watched the girl's umbrella fall into pieces along a glowing molten line her saber had left.
"That's the one who caught us off-guard at the docks..." Blake growled. The stranger didn't say a word, staring at her half-umbrella in shock, then giving both of them a furious glare.
"If she took out all five of us by herself, we can't fight her here."
"I know. We have to find Missy and the others and get a warning out as fast as we can!"
Sunset re-positioned herself into a ready stance with her lightsaber, trying to look for any way they could escape.
"Sunset, do you trust me?" Blake asked.
"As much as you trust me, if not more."
"Then on my mark, throw me your saber."
Sunset blinked at the strange request, but nodded in agreement.
"Make this quick, would you, Neo? We've got places to be, after all. Like, 'anywhere but here,' for instance!"
"Neo" smiled a wicked smile, expertly swiveling the remains of her umbrella in her hand like a sword. After inspecting the new tip for sharpness from the angle it had been cut to, she lunged forward. Sunset and Blake did the same, Sunset swinging for her head as Blake ducked down to strike for her ankles. Both of them met only air as she hopped and spun through the air, weaving through their attacks. Sunset felt a firm kick to her back drive her forward, forcing her to stumble. Behind her, she could hear a furious series of blows exchanged between her and Blake, metal clashing against metal in rapid succession. By the time Sunset was on her feet, Blake had been forced back by the flurry of attacks, landing with a thud on her back. She growled as she forced herself back onto her feet. Meanwhile, Neo was simply smiling and patiently waiting for them.
"Neo, quit playing with your food, we've got a schedule to keep!"
"Sunset, swap!"
Sunset tossed the saber to the side, receiving the cleaver-like metal sheath of Blake's sword in return.
"Buy me some time!"
Sunset nodded, rushing forward towards Neo and brandishing her new weapon. Neo simply raised an eyebrow. Sunset heard a scraping sound against the metal floor to her right. Without taking her eyes off of her opponent, she brought the cleaver down in that direction, shattering another illusion and landing a blow on the real Neo's shoulder. It glanced off of her aura, letting her get in close and ram the point of her broken umbrella into Sunset's gut, taking a significant chunk out of her own protective energy. She kept up the pressure, landing numerous beatings on Sunset's body in less than a second in a flurry of attacks before looping the hooked handle around her ankle and yanking it out from under her.
"SUNSET!"
Blake's cry was the only warning Sunset got before there was an ear-splitting screech of metal being torn. Then, several things happened in less than two seconds.
Rather than the hard impact with the floor she had been expecting, the rest of the world seemed to fall away, leaving her weightless. Neo's eyes widened as she was suddenly airborne and the three of them plunged into darkness, but Sunset took advantage of the situation, landing a kick under her opponent's chin with enough force to right herself. Neo sailed away through the air, colliding with an unseen wall and dropping to the ground like a sack of bricks. A second later, Sunset impacted hard with the ground, her knees objecting enthusiastically to the sudden impact.
And then time seemed to resume its normal pace, and she understood what had happened. Looking up, she could see that a large circular hole had been cut in the arena floor, still glowing from where the metal had been melted and torn. They had dropped through, which explained her second of weightlessness. It was at least a thirty-foot drop, one she never would have survived intact without her aura. Blake strolled up beside her, swinging her gun on its elatsic ribbon and revealing how she had done it: she had jammed the handle of the lightsaber into the loop of metal housing her gun's trigger. Pulling her weapon up by the ribbon, she reached down and wrenched the saber out of the hole, instantly returning it to Sunset, who nodded in appreciation.
"What should we do with her?"
"Neo? Neo, what's going on down there?"
They both looked at the ribbon, then at their unconscious enemy.
They both smiled.
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Pyrhha sighed, feeling anxiety building in her chest as she stared at Team RWBYS's empty dorm room. They were nowhere to be found on campus, she and Nora had looked everywhere. She'd tried calling each of them, but all of their scrolls were unresponsive.
"Something's wrong..." she muttered.
"Of COURSE something's wrong! The very IDEA that our friends would skip out on Pancake Night when Ren is cooking is just absurd!" Nora pouted. "I even tried to get him to make little metal pancakes for Isis, but apparently that would ruin the cookware!"
"Isis... of course!" Pyrrha reached down into her pocket, opening her scroll and scrolling through her contacts. She felt her spirits fall slightly as she realized that she never actually received a contact number for their digital friend. She's always just... there.
She looked down at her scroll, unsure if what she was thinking would work. Still it was worth a shot.
"Isis? Are you there?"
"Affirmative, Pyrrha Nikos."Pyrrha felt a wave of relief with only a slight undercurrent of worry at the fact that Isis appeared to always be listening through her scroll.
"Can you tell us where Team RWBYS is?"
"They have departed on a rescue mission and confrontation with the White Fang at Amity Colosseum.""They what?"
"They WHAT?"
"They received a call from Missy claiming that the situation was coming to a head there. They went to extract her and glean whatever data they could.""They're going up against the White Fang ALONE? AGAIN?"
"I believe that Professor Ozpin brought his own group on a separate mission, as well, but Team RWBYS is operating independently of them."Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, turning to Nora. "Nora, I'm afraid Pancake Night is going to have to wait..."
Nora grinned, reaching behind her back to take hold of her grenade launcher. "I'll go get Ren."
"And I'll get Jaune. We'll meet on the airfield."
Pyrrha knew where Jaune was: pretending to study while he read comic books in the library. She hurried down the hall, arriving at the elevator and giving the button a firm push.
The doors opened, but it was instantly apparent that there was no room inside.
Crammed inside was a giant-sized version of one of Isis's drones, taking up almost all of the available space as it folded in on itself. Instead of metal, it was covered in yellow-and-black ceramic panels, almost looking as if it had been wrapped in police tape from its coloration. The other occupant was a coffin-sized container sitting beside it, its contents a complete mystery. The robotic dragon was hunched and folded in ways that made no biological sense, just barely fitting inside and making the floor beneath it sag in a way that made Pyrrha almost certain that it was breaking the weight limit. The huge drone tilted its head in curiosity.
"Going down?""I... think I'll take the stairs..."
"Affirmative."The tail picked itself up off of the floor, extending out to press a button on the inside of the elevator. The doors shut and it was soon out of sight, on its way downwards to who-knew-where. Pyrrha looked down at her scroll. "Do I... want to ask, Isis?"
"I doubt any answer I am permitted to give would be satisfactory." Stats
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Gotta admit, I have no clue how you'll resolve this without some kind of bullshit solution or deus ex machina.
10167571
I do have a tendency to write myself into corners, but not to worry! This time...
cdn.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1331070777291_8765426.png
10167579
I just read the M rated version. DAMN. You really hold no punches making main characters suffer, or proving the bad guys irredeemable bastards.
Whatever you are planning for the ending of this arc, I hope involves raking Salem and co. over the coals.
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Those are the best kind of plan(e)s!
10167652
Until now, I have been bound by the shackles of the "Teen" rating! No longer!
lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/C4DWQIon78qICazCJpHRoMNRoh8F9mz_3DylwU9DXFKclOefwtf5n4DtmvULrXkd8_RQgGxRjxKhelEiqm459do3jN7JNmFLlM3ZYsCoQpBR3Yhm1gr1rWa3ld0wFTjwenzkuWYFEsX5DnP8TzQnrGgShbdnUdWIIn0
10168144
The continuity of the timeline and a series canon are one and the same thing. Otherwise "canon" is a meaningless term.
Oh, dear. I have a feeling Penn and Sunset's friendship is going to be very strained by the time this is over.
Now how did that drone even get itself into that elevator?
... well I just read the mature version of this chapter and... I think watching so many mature documentaries about war, animal attacks, how to survive a nuclear explosion a pandemic plus other natural disasters, plane crashes and other accidents that resulted in the death of hundreds maybe even thousands, as well as a bunch of teen rated movies, when I was barely a 6 to 8 year old kid, let another mark on my beside the nightmares and a fascination for watching “shit-hit-the-fan” situations, that can go from a financial level to a more physical one, and that mark is that I have become very insensitive to this kind of things.
Don’t get me wrong, at first when I read the tittle and specially when i saw the nature/uncensored version of the fic, I hesitated to read this chapter, mostly because I was worried about Penn (the character, that by the way, speaks very well of your writing, as felling worried for a character when they are in a situation of danger, is usually considered a sing of masterful writing, as usually means that the author has done an excellent work making its audience like its creation), but also because I didn’t felt like starting the day with something grim/dark, i mean I basically when to bed at 5:00 am, watching one of my favourite YouTubes beat Half-life Alyx in a marathon, and well, it was kind of endearing to see him trying to not cry of eximente as he watch the post credit scene, plus yesterday I finally managed to found a ROM of Pokemon mystery dungeon explores of shy that was actually a working ROM and not a pack with 5 toons of malware; basically I was in a good mood and I didn’t want to ruin it, so as much as I look forward for your updates, I decided to not read the chapter for the time bean and sit on it wile i enjoy my beloved mystery dungeon, I mean, that game also gets kind of sinister, but the early hours are “happy-go-lucky” and that early hours, despite been kind of annoying with all the tutorials, were just what I wanted this morning.
But as you can see, I finally decided to give it a read while in the toilet and... I was disappointed, although that has less to do with your writing and more with the combination of factors, like this site been more severe/strict with ratings and me probably dreading the chapter more that what I should have, resulting in me high expectations for the brutality of the torture... or maybe because I’m a perturbed individual...
Any way, is good to see that at least a few things are finally going in favour of our heroes, I can’t wait to see what kind of “destructive” power, ISIS new “big” drone is capable of (please, please, please that she can though balls of fire, or at least something similar, heck the way you described she might be able to carry a 5 inch naval gun maybe even an 8 inch gun) also, I’m not calling that drone mega, because knowing how you have written her in the past, she may be interested in building a mega-drone/mecha, just like how she implement drifting in her driving stile, due to the media always depicting it as the fastest way to turn, the mega drone can be a result of the media always depicting something bigger as better.
Any way, before I finish with this wall of text, i have one question: you been mentioning Pokemon here and there, and I been wondering, is there a possibility that the gang will visit that world in the far future? If you have any plans, will you consider visiting the mystery dungeon “version”? Yes, I’m aware that I sound like a jehovahs Witness nocking at your door at 8:00 am on a Sunday (yes that happened to my, twice actually!), but in all seriousness, I actually think this will open the doors to some interesting situations, maybe Penn can turn into a Pokemon as is tradition in this games, putting Sunset in a position similar to the one Penn has found himself into during this hole arch i.e. been in a world full of people with a super power wile having access to none of said powers, ISIS will mix well, although she will probably rice a few eyebrows (although most Pokemon don’t have thous) while Missy and Sunset will be the center if attention, specially Missy due to... you know what..., also there’s the possibility that humans might not be at all well come in the mystery dungeon world, rescue team, has a few hints of the game taking place in a future where humanity went extinct or at least where all humans were turn into Pokemons, so that’s something dark you can add to the arch if you are interested in what I’m saying, or you can ignore what I’m telling you and do what ever you want, or even go nuts and visit all the variations of the Pokemon world, the manga, anime, mystery dungeon, main line games, heck even Pokemon snap, because why the hell not!? Think big or go home!
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Robo-yoga
I’m really waiting for the Doom Slayer to show up.
Don’t tell me he isn’t because I want to hold on to hope.
10168839
He will, but like most people's requests/favorites, I'm afraid I have to admonish patience. He's not planned until after they rescue Pinkie Pie, or at the very least Applejack
10168510
Well, I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed, I may have built up more anticipation than the uncensored version deserved considering it was my first real foray on this site into anything that would need to be rated "Mature."
I can't really promise anything any time soon, but you're not wrong about there being a mega-drone somewhere in the far future (What do you think all these repair drones are supposed to be maintaining/fixing? ;)). The HENVEX (Hostile ENvironment EXploration) unit is primarily for exploration, though, so I think 8-inch naval guns might be a little much.
Please rest assured, there WILL be pokemon. As a lifelong Poke-maniac, there WILL be pokemon. Right now I have arcs planned involving Pokemon Go, Pokemon Sun/Moon, and the anime, but there could be more since I'm a 100% nepotist when it comes to what universes get attention in this story. Don't worry, I never want anyone to feel like they're bothering me or annoying me when they request a crossover to add to the list, whether it's something I know/am interested in or not!
Thank you for the feedback and for being so involved/invested. Seeing people say "I was worried about X character" is really a huge confidence/motivation booster for me, and I'm glad you were willing to express your disappointment, whether it was my writing that caused it or not. It's always good to know where I could have done better/more. I hope you can keep enjoying the story as it comes out and I can do more to live up to what you've come to expect!
And "I May Fall" is also the title of another song on RWBY.
I get the sense this is becoming more of an alternate take on Volume 2.
A thought just popped into my head as I was reading this chapter; If you could choose any voice actor/actress, who would you choose to voice Isis?