Chapter 19

The moment of truth had arrived. Teams RWBY and YYRN were ready to face Adachi. They passed through the screen and into the Shadow World.

"Where are we?" Blake asked. Instead of the threatening looking but relatively safe hub they usually arrived in, the teams found themselves surrounded by unending blackness.

"I don't know." Naoto replied. "I think this means Adachi has the same sort of control over this world he had back home." There was no apparent light source, no clear floor, walls or roof, and no landmarks at all. Still, they could somehow see each other as if they were in a well lit room.

"I can't detect anything." Rise reported. "Don't let your guard down though. It's like my abilities are being jammed."

"Interesting…" Adachi's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "Narukami, I'm surprised, half of your pals are missing. That's unfortunate; I was hoping to take you all out in one shot. At least you brought me some substitutes."

"Just show yourself so we can end you!" Yang shouted.

"Like you did last time?" Adachi laughed. "Don't you remember how I kicked your ass without breaking a sweat?"

"This time we're ready." Ruby said.

"Sad to say I'm not." Adachi said. "You see, while I'm entirely confident that I could take all of you, I'm not really in the mood. I think I'll split you up first." In an instant Yu and Ruby were gone as if they had fallen through the floor. "That was fun; I think I'll do it again." The remaining members of the group felt the sensation of falling and everyone else faded from view. "Now I'm ready."

Rise landed. It was a jolt but felt like she had only fallen a few inches. Only Naoto and Yosuke were with her. Her abilities were still being blocked. "This isn't good." Yosuke said. He looked worried.

"You're right." Naoto agreed. "We didn't plan for this. I didn't think Adachi would have that kind of control over this world." She looked around curiously, but there was not much to see.

The group could hear footsteps, and they were getting closer. "Someone's coming but I can't sense who." Rise said. A figure appeared and they struggled to see who it was. It was tall and thin. Adachi? No, the posture was all wrong. "Senpai!" Rise shouted as Yu came into focus. She rushed toward him and wrapped him in a tight hug. He stood still and silent. He did not hug her back; there was no witty remark or comforting words. "Senpai?" Rise looked up at Yu's face. She saw eyes full of anger and hatred. "You're not senpai." She said as she stumbled back in terror. The shadow grinned and lunged at her, punching her in the side of the head. Rise crumpled, unconscious, as the shadow drew its blade.

Yang landed in a crouch. It felt like she had fallen for a long time but the impact of the landing felt more like she had dropped off a single stair. The rest of her team was there, except for Ruby. They seemed to be in the same unending sea of darkness, but the others were gone. "I hate that guy." Yang growled.

"Calm down." Blake said. "He wants us to get worked up. We can't afford to fall for his games."

"Blake's right." Weiss agreed. "We need to be ready. We can't let him get the drop on us again."

There was a sound, footsteps in the distance. They were getting louder. Yang could not just bring herself to wait there and await the unknown. She was going to meet it halfway. With uncharacteristic caution she started in the direction of the sound as the others followed with weapons drawn. Soon they could see a figure. Whoever it was, she was too short to be Adachi, and he was unlikely to be wearing a dress.

"Is that…" Blake started.

"It's Ruby!" Yang shouted. She ran to her sister and wrapped her in a tight, smothering hug. Something was wrong. Ruby did not squirm or squeal in an attempt to escape from Yang's vice-like grip. "What's wrong?" Yang asked as she stepped back and held Ruby by the shoulders at arm's length. Ruby looked at Yang with eyes full of anger and hatred.

"Yang, it's a shadow!" Weiss warned. It was too late. The shadow swung Crescent Rose around. It unfolded as it arced behind Yang, the blade landing in position inches behind her. With a pull of the trigger she would be cut in two.

Ruby landed awkwardly, though it felt like the fall had only been a few inches. Without any reference points to use to orient herself, maintaining balance after the sudden drop was difficult and she just managed to stay on her feet. Beside her was Yu, looking annoyed. They were alone. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Yu replied. "I can't believe we fell into a trap. I'm an idiot; I should have been prepared for this."

"You can't predict everything." Ruby assured him. "We can deal with this. I just hope our teammates will be okay."

"I'm not worried about them." Yu said. "They're strong and they can take whatever's thrown at them. I'm worried about me. Without them, I'm nothing."

"Come on now, I've seen you fight." Ruby said. "You're awesome, with or without them." Yu did not look convinced. There was no more time for discussion however, someone was approaching. A figure appeared, walking toward them. Tall and thin with a casual air, it had to be Adachi. He got closer. Was it a shadow? No, this was the genuine article.

Adachi looked surprised. "How did she get here?" He asked. The annoyance was clear in his voice. "No matter, I'll just have to deal with both of you."

"Just give up." Yu said, drawing his sword. "You promised us you would behave."

"I promised a lot of people a lot of things." Adachi laughed. "Besides, I only promised to follow the rules of your world. This isn't your world, so the rules don't apply."

"What do you even want?" Ruby asked. "What's the point of all this?"

"Does there even have to be a point?" Adachi shrugged. "I just want to have a good time. Money, power, fame, it's all so fun. Unfortunately you fucked it up, and now you're going to pay."

"Your fight is with me, leave her out of this." Yu said, stepping in front of Ruby.

"Looking to add another to the harem eh?" Adachi smiled. "Is there no end with you?"

"What's he talking about?" Ruby asked.

"Don't you know?" Adachi laughed. "Those girls he brought, he's fucking them both. And he's got more back home. Isn't that right Narukami? If I know you – and let's face it, I do – I'd say she's on your list of planned conquests. The other girls too probably. I'd say it's the only reason he even helped you."

"Stop trying to turn us against each other." Yu said.

"Is he telling the truth?" Ruby asked.

"Partially." Yu admitted. "I get around, but that's not why I help people."

"Are you going to believe him?" Adachi asked. "I know if I was him I wouldn't tell you the truth. Tell me, has he done anything altruistic that didn't involve a girl?"

"Well, no, but…" Ruby started.

"I'm not perfect but I'm not just driven by my base urges." Yu said, pointing the tip of his blade at Adachi. "You're looking at me through the lens of you." Yu turned to Ruby. "I help people because it's the right thing to do. I don't need you to believe I'm telling the truth about my motives. You're smart enough to see what he's trying to do and you know he's the enemy."

Ruby swung Crescent Rose around and pointed it at Adachi. "He's shown nothing but kindness since he got here." Ruby said. "You've caused nothing but suffering. I don't care why he helped us, what's important is that he did." She stood at Yu's side. "I'll fight with him."

"Suit yourself." Adachi shrugged. "You won't have the opportunity to find out if he's telling the truth anyway. You'll be dead long before that." His grin widened. Wind erupted around Adachi, blowing his hair and clothes around, as electricity arced between his fingers.

Shadow Yu flipped its sword around and stabbed down at Rise. Just before the blade arrived, the shadow was knocked back and off balance by a blast of wind from Yosuke. A fireball from Naoto further distracted the shadow as the pair rushed to Rise's aid. Yosuke unleashed blast after blast of wind at the shadow, and it appeared to be working. The shadow grunted in pain as it staggered back under the sustained assault. Naoto tended to Rise. She was just regaining consciousness and still trying to get her bearings.

The shadow had finally had enough of Yosuke's attacks. It roared and leapt aside, dodging a blast of wind. Electricity arced between its fingers and then leapt through the air and into Yosuke. He writhed, no longer able to control his muscles as electricity coursed through his body. The shadow relented and Yosuke dropped to his knees. He was in pain but not ready to give up. He struggled back to his feet as the shadow looked on with an expression that Yosuke thought seemed like amusement. The shadow laughed and then unleashed a short but very powerful blast of electricity. Yosuke dropped flat on his back. He sat up but another blast knocked him down. Now he no longer had the strength to resist. The shadow added another vicious blast as it approached.

The shadow drew its blade and held it high above its head. Before it could finish Yosuke off a series of rifle bullets struck the shadow in the chest. Naoto's shots did no apparent damage but the shadow's attention was successfully diverted. Naoto blasted the shadow with wind, knocking it back, but it quickly recovered and launched a bolt of lightning at her. She blocked it and fired back with wind. The shadow grunted as it took the hit before launching another electric strike. Naoto blocked that attack as well but she was drained. She fired a final blast of wind at the shadow. It was enough to knock the shadow off its feet, but Naoto was spent. She dropped to a knee in exhaustion as the shadow stood up and stomped toward her.

As the shadow approached Naoto stabbed up at it in a last ditch effort. The shadow sidestepped the strike and grabbed her wrist. It twisted her arm until she was no longer able to hold her weapon. The sword/rifle combo dropped to floor at her feet. Naoto tried to punch the shadow with her free hand but it caught that arm too. The shadow grinned and unleashed a blast of electricity directly into her. She screamed and convulsed as the current coursed through her, but it relented while she was still conscious. The shadow laughed then wrenched and twisted her arm. She screamed as her shoulder was dislocated.

The shadow let Naoto drop to her knees. It drew its blade and lifted Naoto by the hair. It held its blade to her throat and grinned. A blinding light shone in the shadow's eyes as Rise blasted it in the face with her laser. It threw Naoto aside and turned to get the beam out of its face. Using its arm to protect its eyes, they shadow approached Rise. When it was close enough, the shadow swung its sword around at neck level. Rise ducked the attack, planted her spear against her foot, and fired. The spear point crashed through the shadow's chest and emerged from its back in a spray of black liquid. The shadow dropped its own sword and grabbed the spear with both hands. Rise struggled for control of her weapon but the shadow kicked her away. With a sickening slurp the shadow drew the spear out of its chest and then turned the weapon on its owner. Rise dove forward, rolling as she passed the shadow, and grabbed the shadow's dropped sword. She sprung to her feet behind the shadow, spun around, and sliced through the shadow's neck. The shadow, its head severed, fell to the ground, melted and evaporated away.

"Are you guys going to be okay?" Rise asked.

"Give me…an hour." Yosuke groaned. He would be fine.

Naoto lay on the ground clutching her dislocated shoulder. "I'll be alright." She said weakly. It was a lie and Rise knew it. She rushed to Naoto and knelt beside her. "Help me pop it back in." Naoto said.

"What?!" Rise responded. "I can't!"

Naoto sighed, the repositioned herself. "Fine." She said. With a single violent motion she forced the joint back into place, screaming in pain. She took a series of deep breaths, grunting as she exhaled. "There, now I'm ready to fight again." She was not.

"You scare me sometimes." Rise said.

"That fight was really hard." Naoto said.

"Yeah, the shadow was tough." Yosuke agreed.

"No, I mean it was difficult to fight it because it had his face." Naoto clarified. "Even though I knew it wasn't him, it was hard."

"I know what you mean." Rise said.

"It's probably all part of Adachi's plan." Naoto theorized. "I bet he's doing something similar to Team RWBY."

"I hope Yu's doing better than we are." Yosuke said.

Yang was sure the end was near. The shadow, the visage of her sister, had her at its mercy. It grinned widely and pulled the trigger. Instead of Yang being cut in two, the shadow jerked forward. Yang looked back to see the shadow's copy of Crescent Rose encased in ice and frozen to the floor with Weiss adding more and more. "Yang move!" Weiss shouted. Yang dove aside and out if immediate danger, allowing Weiss to reload Myrtenaster's exhausted supply of ice dust.

Yang charged back at the shadow, delivering an Ember-Celica boosted punch to the side of its head. The shadow staggered back, but the force of the punch helped the shadow break its scythe free of the ice. Yang pressed her attack, attempting a flurry of punches, but she was overextended. In a flash the shadow spun around and smashed the blunt side of Crescent Rose into Yang's face. Yang stumbled but just managed to stay on her feet. The shadow leapt into the air, used shots from its weapon to propel it into a spin, and slammed its weapon down into the top of Yang's head. Yang was crashed to the ground face-first and did not get up.

Weiss swept in on her glyphs, deflecting the shadow's attempt to finish Yang off. She froze the shadow's feet in place and stabbed at it repeatedly, though it managed to dodge every shot. Blake rushed in and pulled Yang away to relative safety while Weiss continued her onslaught. The shadow broke free of the icy snare, pivoted around on its weapon, and kicked Weiss in the face. Weiss was pushed off balance and the shadow did not wait for her to recover. It swung its scythe around, but Weiss managed to catch its blade with hers. The shadow used their relative positioning to hook Weiss and throw her through the air. Weiss kept her composure, caught a glyph, and rocketed back at the shadow. Weiss was not fast enough, and the shadow hit her with an upward swing of its weapon, sending her tumbling upward. The shadow leapt up to match Weiss' flight and used an overhead smash of its weapon to send her crashing back to the ground.

Blake rushed in and knocked the shadow back with a shoulder block. She slashed at the shadow with Gambol Shroud and the shadow struggled to deflect the attacks. Blake too made the mistake of being overly aggressive, and the shadow was able to hook its weapon around her legs, pulling them out from under her. Blake fell on her back and the shadow slammed its weapon down at her. The strike only met with a decoy as Blake rolled out of the way. She threw half of Gambol Shroud, extended on its ribbon, and it wrapped around the shadow's legs. With a tug the shadow as pulled to the ground as well. Blake used another tug on the ribbon to pull herself toward the shadow, but it was not there when she arrived. In a flash the shadow had freed itself and was back on its feet. Blake sprung out of the way as the shadow again brought its weapon crashing down on one of her decoys. Now it was the shadow that was overextended. Blake stabbed it in the gut, Gambol Shroud's blade easily cutting through and drawing a stream of black liquid.

The shadow was not done. It kicked Blake in the front of the knee. Her leg was unable to withstand the force, her knee bent the wrong way, and she fell to the ground in agony. Blake lifted her weapon to fire on the shadow, but it knocked Gambol Shroud away with its own weapon before smashing the blunt side into Blake's face. Dazed, Blake tried to crawl away but the shadow was unrelenting. The shadow stomped its boot down onto Blake's wounded calf, laughing as Blake cried in pain. Apparently satisfied with the degree of pain inflicted, the shadow slammed its blade down just above Blake's shoulder, putting it in position to bisect her from shoulder to hip.

Suddenly the shadow was no longer in contact with the ground. It flailed about as Yang – her eyes red and her hair aflame – lifted it up by the waits and suplexed it headfirst into the ground. The shadow groggily tried to stand but Yang caught it under the jaw with an uppercut. The shadow slammed down on its back and Yang leapt atop it. With one hand pinning the shadow's neck to the ground, she punched it repeatedly in the head. The shadow's head collapsed into a puddle of black liquid and the whole creature melted and evaporated away.

Yang stood up with tears streaming down her face. It may have just been a shadow, but it had her sister's face. She took a moment to regain her composure. The fire faded and her eyes returned to their normal violet hue. She wiped away any lingering tears and was ready to face the others again. "Are you guys alright?" She asked.

"I've been better." Weiss said, flat on her back.

"Just give me a minute." Blake said. She was sitting up, examining her dislocated knee. "I don't think my aura's going to fix this."

Yang walked over to Blake and took a look at her leg. "I'll take care of it." Yang said. She grabbed Blake's leg, and wrenched it back into place. Blake slammed down on her back as the pain shot through her. "All better." Yang said.

"Thanks." Blake growled. She wanted to punch Yang.

"No problem." Yang replied, seemingly unaware of Blake's anger.

"So, do you think the others had to deal with something like this?" Weiss asked, finally on her feet.

"I'd say so." Blake said. "It all seems like it would be part of Adachi's sick plan."

"I hope Ruby's okay." Yang said.