Chapter 20

Adachi drew his revolver and leveled it at Ruby. He fired, but in a flurry of rose petals she was gone. Adachi tracked the red blur as she zipped around him, emptying his weapon in a futile attempt to hit her. As soon as he fired his sixth shot, Ruby was there, right in front of him. She swung Crescent Rose around, caught Adachi's revolver with her blade and fired. The recoil slammed the blade clean through Adachi's gun, leaving him holding the handle as most of it fell to the floor. For Adachi, it did not much matter, his weapon was entirely unnecessary given his powers. What worried him was that he had an opponent who could match his speed.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose in a wide arc, aiming the blunt side for Adachi's head. He lifted his arm and stopped the weapon cold. His strength was still unmatched. He extended his arm, forcing the weapon around and causing Ruby to spin as she tried to hold on. Adachi punched straight forward, aiming for the back of Ruby's head, but by the time his fist arrived she had completely ducked the attack. Ruby reached back with Crescent Rose and slipped the blade behind Adachi's legs. She fired, catching Adachi's ankles. He tumbled into the air but recovered and landed on his feet after a backflip.

Ruby's speed was clearly too much so Adachi changed tack. He unleashed a blast of wind into her and Ruby slid across the floor, still on her feet. She dug Crescent Rose's blade into the ground to arrest the slide and put Adachi directly in her crosshairs. Ruby fired but Adachi sidestepped the shot. He reached out his arm and electricity arced between his fingers. Adachi unleashed a bolt of lightning at Ruby, but Yu dove in the way. He caught the electricity on his sword and it dissipated around him. Yu launched his own electric attack as Adachi fired another, and the two met in the middle. A concentrated ball of energy formed and grew until blinding light filled the room. Finally too much, the ball exploded, knocking all the combatants to the ground.

Yu and Adachi sprung up almost immediately. Yu charged, his blade held high as Adachi stood casually. Yu slashed but Adachi ducked out of the way before delivering a punch to Yu's stomach. Yu doubled over and staggered back, and Adachi hit him with another punch to the gut. Adachi jumped away, drew his arms back, and then thrust them forward, unleashing a blast of wind that hit Yu squarely. Yu flew through the air and slammed down on his back beside Ruby, who was just getting to her feet. Ruby charged in to take his place as a dazed Yu regained his bearings.

As the blur of red and rose petals approached, Adachi unleashed another blast of wind. Ruby was moving far too quickly for it to matter. She headed straight for Adachi like a rifle bullet, and Adachi attempted to side-step the attack. Ruby was ready and swung Crescent Rose out to the side at the last moment, catching Adachi in the chest. The force of the impact slammed Adachi down on his back. Ruby arced Crescent Rose over her head and slammed the blade down at Adachi, but he rolled out of the way and countered with a blast of electricity. Ruby convulsed as electricity flowed through her.

Yu crashed into Ruby, pushing her out of Adachi's attack. The electricity transferred to him where it would have no effect. Yu drew his sword and slashed horizontally at Adachi, forcing him to abandon his attack and bend backwards. Yu looped his sword to slash down at Adachi but he was able to dodge this attack as well. This time Yu left no openings for counters. His attacks were lightning quick but carefully executed so as not to leave him vulnerable. A horizontal slash at Adachi's legs forced him to jump, and Yu lunged forward to knock Adachi off balance. Caught in the air, it was all Adachi could do just to stay on his feet. Yu blasted him with electricity and Adachi writhed. Yu pressed forward with his sword, hoping to finish his target while he was stunned, but Adachi was playing possum. As soon as Yu got close Adachi landed a powerful elbow to Yu's face.

Yu was pretty much out on his feet. Adachi disarmed him, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him off the ground. Yu flailed weakly as Adachi squeezed the life out of him. "I have wanted to do this for so long." Adachi hissed.

Adachi saw the flash of red out of the corner of his eye but it was too late to react. Ruby slammed into him at full speed and the two tumbled across the floor as Yu fell to his knees gasping for air. Ruby and Adachi rolled across the floor, struggling to gain the upper hand. Adachi prevailed, ending up with Ruby pinned underneath him. He postured up and slammed his fist down at her as she struggled to defend herself against the onslaught.

A searing ball of flame, courtesy of Yu, slammed into the side of Adachi's head. The fire broke across his aura and Adachi kept punching Ruby. Yu fired a barrage of ice crystals into Adachi, but he ignored them as well. Ruby was losing badly. Her arms were bruised and exhausted, and Adachi's blows increasingly found their mark. Yu launched a gust of wind at Adachi, and this was finally enough to knock him off of Ruby.

Adachi scrambled to his feet as Yu launched blast after blast of wind. They were enough to push Adachi back they were clearly not doing any damage. "Wind is kind of my thing stupid." Adachi sneered as Yu persisted. Adachi was getting annoyed, and though the constant barrage of wind did not hurt him, it prevented him from launching any effective attacks of his own. Electricity would not harm Yu, and the wind Adachi launched back was canceled out by Yu's attacks. At the same time, Yu could not afford to let up or switch to a more effective tactic lest Adachi take him out.

Ruby broke the stalemate. She leapt high into the air, repeatedly fired Crescent Rose up to rocket herself downward, and fired one last off-center shot to send her into a spin. At tremendous speed and with all her weight and strength behind it, she slammed the blunt end of Crescent Rose into the top of Adachi's head. Adachi smashed down face-first, and Ruby sped away to avoid any counter attacks. Adachi stood up unsteadily. Now he was enraged. He looked around for Ruby so he could get his revenge, but what he saw from Yu was far more concerning.

Yu was standing, deep in concentration, with his arms stretched above his head. Adachi looked up to see a massive ball of energy just above him. "Well shit." Adachi sighed. Yu lowered his arms and the ball of energy slammed into Adachi, exploding with a blinding flash and a thunderous rumble. When the light faded Adachi was on the ground on his back, motionless. Yu almost fell over, the attack having exhausted him, but he managed to stay on his feet.

Yu and Ruby carefully approached their downed opponent. He was bruised and burned, and showed no signs that he would further resist. Yu pointed his blade at Adachi, the point at his throat. Ruby converted Crescent Rose into its rifle form and aimed for Adachi's head. "You're coming with me." Yu said. "It's time for you to go back to prison where you belong." The blackness that surrounded them evaporated. They were back in the usual hub, and the others were there too. Everyone looked pretty beaten up.

"Senpai!" Rise exclaimed. "It's the real you!" Her abilities were no longer being blocked.

"Ruby, I'm so relieved you're alright." Yang said.

"Adachi, how did you get the power to control this place?" Yu asked, ignoring the others for now. "How did you even get here? Who's responsible?"

"Who?" Adachi laughed. "It's all me."

"Naoto, cuff him." Yu said.

"Gladly." Naoto said as she approached.

"There's no way you could have done all this on your own." Yu pressed Adachi.

"I don't need anyone's help." Adachi said as Naoto slapped the handcuffs on one of his wrists. "You always assume there's some higher power behind everything, but there isn't."

"Oh no?" A woman's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. The voice was at once soothing and threatening. "For a pawn you have a very inflated opinion of yourself."

"Who is that?" Weiss asked. She drew Myrtenaster and readied for a fight.

"I sense something really powerful." Rise warned.

A white glowing door appeared before them. It opened, and out of a blinding light stepped a woman in a flowing white gown. "Who the hell are you?" Yosuke asked.

"Eris." The woman said. "I am disappointed Tohru. I thought we were working together, even if you did not know it."

"You used me?" Adachi asked.

"You could say that." Eris admitted.

"You bitch!" Adachi shouted. He wrenched free of his captors, reached into his jacket, retrieved a syringe of dust and injected himself. "I'll kill you!" He screamed as electricity and wind erupted around him.

"You'll do nothing of the sort." Eris said calmly. She waved her arm at Adachi and he was briefly bathed in light. When it faded Adachi collapsed in a heap, groaning in pain.

"What did you do to him?" Blake asked.

"I neutralized the dust in his system." Eris said. "It may as well be sand."

"Will it kill him?" Yu asked.

"No, but he is in quite a lot of pain." Eris laughed.

"What's your role in all of this?" Yang asked. "Who, or what, are you?"

"I brought him here." Eris explained. "I gave him his power. I created this place. As for what I am, I guess you would call me a god."

"But why?" Rise asked.

"Chaos." Eris replied. "To create chaos. Pain, suffering, confusion, paranoia, destruction, it sustains me."

"You're a monster!" Ruby shouted.

"Perhaps." Eris said. "But what would you do about it? That one can sense my power." Eris pointed to Rise. "You know very well that you are in no condition to combat me. Luckily, I have no desire to fight you. You have put a temporary stop to my plans, but there is still much to do and I don't have the time to waste on such a pathetic rabble." Teams RWBY and YYRN wanted to fight, but they knew Eris was right. They were in no shape for a battle, particularly one against a god. "If there are no objections, I will take my leave." The group stood stunned and after a brief pause Eris passed back through the spectral door from which she had come. The door faded from existence.

"She's gone." Rise said. "I can't sense her anywhere."

"That was…disconcerting." Weiss said.

"What do we do now?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do." Yu replied. His focus changed almost instantly. "You guys don't look so good. You must have had a tough fight."

"We had to fight you." Naoto said. "Well, shadow you to be precise."

"That must have been hard." Yu said.

"You have no idea." Rise added.

"And we had to fight a shadow version of Ruby." Blake said.

"It was really tough, and not because it was strong." Yang admitted.

"I'm sorry all of you had to go through that." Ruby said. "It must have been horrible."

"Well, look on the bright side." Yosuke said. "We beat Adachi, so this whole thing's over. For now at least."

"I guess that means you guys will be going back home." Ruby frowned. "We'll miss you."

"You could always just stay here." Yang suggested.

"We can't." Yu said. "There are people back home who need us."

"Enough already, you're making me sick." Adachi groaned. "Why don't you just give me a lecture on the power of friendship?"

"Eris is still out there." Blake said. "We can't rest while she's still a threat."

"We'll be back if she shows up again." Yu promised.

"Yeah, we've defeated gods before." Yosuke added.

"So, am I the only one thinking about how we're going to get home?" Naoto asked. "Yu, I assume you have some way of contacting Margaret."

"Nope." Yu shrugged. "I assumed she'd show up when the time was right."

"Who's Margaret?" Weiss asked.

"I am." Margaret said. She was standing just a few steps away from the group, a glowing blue door behind her.

"Huh, what do you know?" Yosuke said.

"I've already collected the possessions from your dorm room." Margaret reported. "If you would please give me your weapons, I'll hold onto them for safekeeping. It would not be wise to bring them to earth."

"I guess this really is goodbye." Ruby said.

"I hate goodbyes." Yang said.

"I'm sure we'll meet again." Yu assured them.

"Yeah Weiss, I'll be back to win your heart." Yosuke said.

"I really hope I see the three of you again." Weiss said, very obviously leaving Yosuke out.

"Thanks for saving us, and our friends." Blake said.

"No need to thank us." Rise laughed. "Saving people is what we do."

"I think it's time we returned Adachi to prison." Naoto said as she finished cuffing him.

"Until next time." Yu said. He stood beside Margaret as his teammates handed over their weapons and passed through the doorway. Naoto shoved Adachi through as she went. Yu gave Margaret his and walked to the door. Looking back, he gave one last wave and passed through himself.

"You helped them greatly." Margaret said. "You have my thanks."

"It's our duty as Huntresses." Ruby said.

"You've been good friends to them as well." Margaret added. "I will do my best to ensure that you do indeed meet them again." With that she passed through the doorway and it faded from existence.

"And then they left." Ruby finished telling Ozpin what had happened.

"It's a shame I was unable to properly thank them for all they did." Ozpin said. He took a sip of his coffee. "They did Beacon, Vale and all of Remnant a great service."

"Yeah, it's sad that they had to leave so soon." Ruby sighed.

"Ruby, if given the opportunity, would you do as they did?" Ozpin asked. "Would you travel far from home to assist strangers in their time of need, expecting nothing in return? Would you put your life on the line?"

"Of course I would; that's what being a Huntress is all about." Ruby said. "I wouldn't even hesitate."

Ozpin smiled. "Thank you for your time." He said. "You can go now."

Yu, Yosuke, Rise and Naoto stepped through the doorway and found themselves on the Samagawa Flood Plain. During a brief visit to the Velvet Room, Margaret had assured them that she would handle taking Adachi to prison. "So, how long were we gone?" Yosuke asked.

"It was over a week at least." Rise said. "Everyone must be really worried."

"Margaret said she would handle that." Naoto reminded them.

Yu pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and checked the date and time. "It's still the day we left." Yu said. "It's been a few hours, but that's all the time that's passed."

"That's a relief." Rise said. "My career is just getting back on track. If I went missing again that might be the end."

"Do you think Team RWBY will be alright without us?" Yosuke asked. "What if Eris comes back?"

"I'm sure Margaret will be in touch if they need help." Yu replied.

"Besides, they're tough and so are their friends." Naoto added. "I'm sure they could handle it."

"Oh, I just remembered!" Rise exclaimed. "With all the action, I forgot to mention it. How would you guys like to go on a trip next month?"

"What kind of trip?" Yu asked.

"I'm going to New York City for an appearance at some convention." Rise explained. "I only agreed to do it if I could bring some friends along."

"I'm down." Yosuke said.

"It would be nice to travel for something other than investigations." Naoto said.

"Definitely." Yu agreed. "It sounds like fun."

"Alright!" Rise cheered. "It'll be so awesome!"

End Volume 1

It will return...