The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Try Again

"So the effects are minor, huh?" I mused with a sigh, sitting on top of a fallen pillar. "Well, I guess that's to be expected from level one…"

Adam shrugged his shoulders absently.

"I still felt angry," He said. "But it was distant, like I was thinking of something that pissed me off a long time ago. Like your face."

I ignored that and mulled over his words.

"Nothing you couldn't ignore, then," I decided before tilting my head. "But still useful. You knew it was coming and that the feelings weren't your own; most people wouldn't have that advantage. And event distant emotions can affect how you think, with the right timing. It'll be tricky to use for now though…well, I guess it's just another thing to grind, then."

Adam grunted and looked at me.

"I'm I going be the guinea pig for everything you want to test out?" He asked.

"I don't think that's necessary, if it's the way you described," I answered, shaking my head. "I just needed to try it out on someone who I wouldn't feel bad for if they suddenly made a scene."

"You're getting a bucket of goat semen for your birthday," Adam informed me.

"A part of me wants to ask how you'd get your hands on something like that," I replied. "But as your friend, I will respect your privacy."

Adam clicked his tongue in annoyance, probably because he'd walked right into that one, and then cracked his neck with a sigh.

"Same as usual, then?" He asked, stretching slightly in place. He was asking if we were going to begin our usual training now.

I considered it for a moment before answering.

"…No," I decided at last. "Why don't we do something different today?"

Adam raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah?" He wondered. "Like what?"

I flexed my fingers, looking down at them absently as I did, and then made a tight fist. Beneath us where the broken remains of Haven, felled by my now fairly ridiculous physical strength.

"Why don't we try crossing the Sea of Monsters again?" I asked. "We turned back halfway last time, but…well, that was a long time ago."

"Yeah, entire weeks have passed since then," Adam replied with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Exactly," I answered, not bothering to mention how much subjective time had passed for me since then. "We're like entirely different people now."

Adam snorted and this time rolled his eyes outright.

"Right," He answered. "You want to take Autumn and Gou along on this wild ride of yours?"

"Hm," I mused for a moment before shaking my head. "Not Autumn. She's still a little young for the big leagues; level aside, I don't think she's ready for the other side of the sea. Gou could probably take whatever they dish out, though. I might call for him."

Adam grunted again.

"Why not?" He said at last. "I've always wanted to see it—a place that the all of Mankind agreed to stay right the hell away from. You think we're ready?"

"I'm fairly certain the Sea won't be a problem," I answered. "What's on the other side of it, God only knows. But I think we can escape if it's too dangerous and it's worth the experience we can get out of it, if nothing else."

"Then let's go," Adam replied before looking around. "Ugh, it's always hard to use landmarks after we're done. Which way to the sea again?"

"That way," I answered quickly, holding out a hand towards to the west. The world went momentarily dark as Lux Aeterna's devouring light flooded from my hands, carving a path of destruction straight out of the city. "And see what I do for you, Adam? I made a new landmark so you wouldn't get lost."

"Show off," Adam said with another snort.

"Do you think you'll be able to run across the sea if I give you a few buffs?" I continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Or are you going to need to be carried around like a bitch again?"

Adam huffed but didn't have any way answering after embarrassing himself by not being able to run across the sea. I quickly applied Celerity and Haste to him while he was regretting his own inadequacy and then left him behind as I began to run.

"Jaune—" He tried to retort, but I broke through the sound barrier and didn't bother looking for his reply.

XxXXxX

"Jaune," Gou said as he landed beside us, crashing down from the sky in his still massive form. "You called?"

"We're going to do some last minute training while Cinder's tied up making preparations," I explained. "And Adam needs a chaperone. You know how it is."

"Piss off, fuck face," Adam replied, working on catching his breath. He'd arrived only a few seconds after me, which meant that he must have hauled ass to get over here and he was sweating heavily. Because I was a kind soul, I healed him to erase that and then looked at him mockingly.

"That's the best you can come up with?" I asked. "Really? What's wrong—are you tired or something?"

"Adam," Gou greeted. "Would you like some help?"

"I'm good," He answered with a shake of his head. "Jaune's just being a crazy asshole, as per usual."

I snorted but nodded my head towards the sea we now stood on the shore of.

"Here's the plan," I said. "Run across the sea, kill a lot of monsters, and feel awesome—that'll be a little hard for you Adam, but just give it your best shot."

"Bitch, I was killing people with my bare hands when you were still in diapers," He replied.

"And I was writing history thousands of years before you were born," I boasted right back.

"Wasn't the history you wrote was a long and elaborate series of fuckups?" Adam asked.

I paused at that and frowned.

"The details aren't important," I answered. "Back to the sea. Gou, look after Adam. We'll get far enough out to take another shot at a Leviathan and then continue right across to the other side. Really, I just want to see it, but we'll take a look around and see what we can find. If we find a Hydra we can kill, that might be a fun way to spend the night. The only problem is that I guess we drew a bit of attention last time—"

"Maybe it's because someone keeps shooting giant laser beams and burning down fields," Adam muttered.

"In fairness, my power is fairly noticeable as well," Gou added apologetically. "And Autumn has been devouring an impressive number of trees of late. Really, you're the only one who's managed to keep a low profile."

"And however they managed to figure it out," I continued as if they hadn't said a word, casting an unamused look towards Adam. "Which I assume is your fault, Adam, the same way everything else is—they've set up some machines to keep an eye out for repeat occurrences."

Ignoring the finger Adam lifted, I point towards the modified robot standing a ways down the beach, atop an stone outcropping.

"There are a few machines like that around here," I said. "They're equipped with powerful cameras to record whatever happens. The range isn't good enough that we really need to worry much about it and I, being awesome enough to make up for the mistakes of others—that's you again, Adam; why do you suck so much?—will shield us from detection. It's not really a big deal if they do see something, either, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up."

"Have they put those just along the beach?" Gou wondered as Adam stepped forward to press his upraised middle finger against the side of my face.

"No," I said, ignoring my friend. "It took a while, but they've finally started putting them up around Mistral. They aren't taking it too seriously yet since it's just the wholesale slaughter of Grimm—Grandmother says they think it's some team of Hunters that ran off at some point and who may be crazy—but it seems they'd like to know who's responsible. Depending on what happens, Jian Bing might step forward and take the credit, but for now we're going to keep our faces off the record; this is more useful to hold in reserve and come up with explanations for as needed."

"Is that we haven't trained in the fields recently?" Gou asked.

"That and the fact that the Grimm there are too fucking weak," Adam muttered, still pushing his hand into my face. I steadfastly refused to acknowledge it, which was irritating him. "None of us can level up very well there anymore."

"Mm," I agreed. "What's more, the Grimm aren't stupid. After coordinated assaults failed, the stronger ones have been avoiding the area and keeping far apart. I've made sure to kill any that tried to wander towards Mistral, but it's too much of a pain in the ass to hunt all of them down and for too little reward. They're all still there, but it's like they're trying not to make it fun anymore."

"That's Grimm for you," Adam replied. "Bunch of inconsiderate assholes. It's probably their parent's fault."

I had to snort at that one and flash Adam a quick grin and shrug.

"It's remotely possible that I'm a bad influence for children," I allowed. "But I think we can safely place the blame for everything that's ever happened on the shoulders of Malkuth because he's an asshole, I hate him, and, well, why not? I mean really, I've done pretty well with Autumn, right? Right. I'm innocent until proven guilty and no one can prove anything. I'm practically father of the year material."

"I'd disagree, but…" Adam shrugged. "Autumn."

"Exactly," I said. "Such a good girl, isn't she?"

"Whatever," Adam answered with another roll of his eyes, finally taking his hand out of my face. "Can we get to the part where we kill stuff?"

Instead of replying, I strode out onto the water, increasing the surface tension beneath my feet to the point that it could support my weight. For Xihai, stuff like this was trivial now, as were most of the conventional applications of my Elementals Power, at least in their separated forms. It was rather impressive when you think about it—they had become 'Lesser Elementals' when Summon Elemental had maxed out and my natural Elemental Affinities had increased along with it, rising from ten to twenty-five. Even that had proven to be a major increase in power, definitely on part with the boosts of my recently upgraded skill, but that just made me wonder about it.

Of all my skills, Summon Elemental was perhaps the one that held the greatest confirmed potential. While the simple truth was that I had no idea what most of my skills would become over time except in cases where there was an easily observed pattern—such as with Bai Hu's various skills—I was fairly certain of my Elementals growth. They'd grown from Basic Elementals to Lesser Elementals and the names alone implied that there were a number of higher ranks for them to grow into. The dreams I'd had when I'd contracted them especially implied that one day they could rise to truly monstrous levels of power. What were those giants I'd seen? If there were lesser Elementals then were those perhaps Greater Elementals? Or something even more powerful?

Even after all this time, I'd only scraped the surface of their power—but they would rank up again soon enough. So long as I continually drew upon their power and spent great quantities of MP to do it, they'd continue to grow. I was looking forward to seeing what they'd become next, along with Acceleration and the White Tiger of the West; they were the skill upgrades I was looking forward to the most simply because I'd relied on them so often.

Smiling a bit at the thought, I called for my Elementals to manifest around me, watching them assume forms out of the sand on the beach, the water in the sea, and the breeze that brushed against my face. Lightning came down from the sky to take form at my side and the sparks it cast erupted into a greater blaze. And, of course, Crocea Mors looked back at my from the gleaming surface of my gauntlets.

"Welcome back," I murmured. When I'd introduced them to Raven, it had surprised me how glad I'd been to be able to do so. Hiding my Elementals made sense and they were a powerful trump card that I could spring on pretty much anyone—but at the same time, I missed having them physically present beside me. They were perhaps my closest companions and friends but I'd needed to keep them invisible and out of the way as of late, to keep them from drawing attention. Being able to share their existence, even if it was only to Raven, had been gratifying.

Soon enough it wouldn't matter, I knew. There'd come a time when there'd be no more holding back and then…

But not yet. I suppose that was for the best given that that time would probably coincide with everything going to shit, but I still kind of wished that this was one thing I didn't need to hide. Although…I suppose that with a bit of Glamour, some presentation, and some Psychokinesis…

It was something to think about.

"Are you coming or are you just going to stand around all day?" I asked Adam who snorted in annoyance, leaned forward, and then took a running start at the water. Water sprayed as his foot came down upon it, but he was moving fast enough that he didn't even begin to sink. As the arcing trails of electricity from Celerity crackled around him, he shattered the sound barrier and blew past me, sending up a wave of water taller than I was.

My smile widened as I glanced at it—but I was gone before the first droplet hit my skin, Gou leaping into the air to land firmly beside me. I let Gou set the pace as we took off and slowly caught up to Adam, who's vastly higher base stats were a match for the vast number of multipliers I was able to grant Gou. Even so, you'd be hard pressed to win against Gou in a battle of stamina and when Adam began to falter, we caught up. I healed him once as we moved into place beside him, restoring his spent energy, and then we continued on our long distance run.

It wasn't long before we were near our previous stopping point and I found a Leviathan without even consciously thinking about it. When we were a little less than a kilometer away, I gathered energy into the shape of Gungnir and hurled it with all my might, sending the energy spear deep into the sea.

A moment later, the resulting explosion sent up a building sized pillar of water that came raining down on us as we approach. Before the central pillar could wholly loss it's shape, however, I created a modified version of my firing spheres, this one channeling Deposition around itself as it moved invisibly through the water. With several such spheres working in concert, the tower of water was quickly frozen solid and without the slightest hesitation, the three of us hopped up onto it.

"Leviathan?" Adam asked calmly, peering into the sea as columns of steam began to waft from its surface.

"Of course," I answered cheerfully. "Never hurts to have a bunch mark, right?"

Adam snorted and dropped a hand to his said.

"I suppose not," He agreed. "How do you want to handle it? I doubt it'd be hard for you to kill one now."

"Mm, perhaps not," I admitted. "But I'm not the only one interested in testing his strength, am I? So how about you each take a shot and I'll finish it off?"

"Fine by me," Adam replied, shrugging a shoulder even as he dropped a hand to his already glowing sword. "Mind if I go first, Gou?"

"By all means," Gou answered, watching the waters stir with calm doggy eyes. "This will be my first time fighting an aquatic opponent—I feel it would be best to consider my approach carefully."

Adam shrugged that off and waited silently for our foe to make his appearance. Already, a shadow could be seen moving beneath the surface of the waves, at least from this high up. The Leviathan was such a massive creature that the shadow it cast would have been impossible to separate from one's surroundings at sea level, simply because everything would have been shadowed. In the same way, its movements churned the waves to such an extent that if you didn't know better, you wouldn't have associated such a thing to a creature. It was in that way that the Leviathan's used their environment to their advantage.

But…while that was all well and good…it only mattered if you had the power to see it through.

When the sea seemed to erupt and give forth a hundred meters of sea monster, none of us flinched in the slightest. In fact, Adam was the only one to even move.

Wilt came from Blush, glowing brightly with its own light—and it was as if someone had swung an axe at a young tree. Adam aimed low, hitting it in almost precisely the same spot as before, but this time the wave of cutting energy sank deep into the creature's belly, cutting it all the way down to the reinforcing structure that served as its skeleton. Though far from enough to kill the beat, it put a halt to its initial charge and made it falter, leaving the creature looking stunned as its massive bulk shifted and began to fall backwards towards the sea.

"Gou," Adam said, sheathing his sword absently. "Go."

Crouching once, Gou obeyed and leapt from the frozen tower. In midair, his form began to change, the light of his Aura pulsing outwards. It moved more quickly than it had the first time, expanding in waves such that transparent images of Gou seemed to expand outward from him in waves until, for a moment, he seemed like a see-through version of a matryoshka doll.

Then his body grew as if to fill in those images and it was a dog the size of a building that came crashing down on the Leviathan. Even at that size, he seemed relatively small next to the Leviathan, like a normal sized dog next to a boa constrictor, but that didn't stop him from going for his off-balanced opponent's throat. Claws and teeth raked against wet scales, scraping and cracking them or even tearing them away. The Leviathan snapped out of its momentary daze as it felt teeth upon its skin, seeming to realize that it was being preyed up. It didn't resist the lunge, but instead let Gou's momentum push it backwards into the water where it tried to go on the attack. It's long, monstrous body wrapped around Gou and tried to squeeze even as it dragged him deeper into the sea; a multipronged attack to both trap, crush, and make the opponent panic.

But Gou's Vitality was too high for him to worry about something as minor as a lack of breathable air and for all that the Leviathan tried to crush him between its coils, he didn't flinch. Instead, he merely bit down harder, tearing out a chunk of its flesh the size of an apartment. The Leviathan let out a steaming hiss and fangs flashed for Gou's throat, but he simply took the hit and stopped the teeth with his ridiculously hard skin.

"Hm," I mused, stepping off the tower and onto thin air as I observed the fight occurring in the deep. "That's enough."

As I spoke, I mentally called out to Gou, asking him to return to my side. Immediately, his form shifted in the Leviathan's hold, shrinking to a much smaller size to create an opening and then enlarging again to expand it. Pushing off of the wounded Leviathan, Gou began to doggy paddle to the surface, breaking through it with enough force to rock the tower that I, wisely, wasn't standing on.

Ignoring the sound of Adam swearing as he slipped behind me, I held out a hand as Gou moved out of the way.

"Lux Aeterna," I said as I gathered my power. Last time, it had taken four hits and the Leviathan had still struggled in its death throes.

But that was then and this was now—so this time I ended it in one shot, piercing both sky and sea to burn away the darkness far below.