Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Azula Pov .
I got out of the taxi with my gear and bag after paying the fair. The first thing I did was look at the stupidly large building in front of me. I guessed I was in the right place. I walked toward the door when I saw someone. Todoroki. I frowned and approached it.
"Todoroki." I greeted simply, she turned around with a bored expression, no, she wasn't bored, but simply someone who had learned not to show emotions.
"Azula, you're finally here," Todoroki said simply. "Come on. Mother must be waiting. She'll get mad if we're late." She added. I frowned and nodded.
"You didn't have to wait for me." I said as I started following Todoroki.
"We're classmates," Todoroki said as if that were an answer. I hummed softly. We walked silently into the building. To my surprise, Todoroki didn't address anyone, but instead walked on past me and ignored the reception hall.
"I thought you'd be angrier because of the whole festival thing," I said simply. Todoroki remained silent as we took the elevator.
"I'm not going to lose again," Todoroki said fiercely. A smile spread across my face. Oh, she definitely meant it. "I have a lot of catching up to do with my fire side, but next time I'll win, and I'll win against Miyamura, too."
"Ill be waiting for it," I said with an expectant smile. "And I'm sure Izumi is too." Todoroki nodded. We both fell silent again as the elevator finally stopped at our destination. Todoroki stepped out of the elevator and walked around again as if she were completely familiar with the building. And maybe she was.
"You're finally here, Shoko," Endeavor's voice announced once we entered her office. A very large and unnecessary room.
My gaze finally fell on Endeavor, Japan's number two heroine. Her appearance was quite distinctive. Long, almost crimson red hair. She was tall and muscular, but not so much so that she was a mass of muscle; in fact, she was quite well-proportioned between curves and muscles. Her heroine outfit was blue and striped where her quirk came out almost passively.
Using her quirk constantly, even at such a low level, was quite impressive. She wore it over her face like a mask and over her body. It was surprising that she could do that for hours without any problem. And she was sure it wasn't the "default" form of her quirk, but rather something she consciously had to do.
Certainly impressive, and it required a considerable level of control to maintain it. Especially when Endeavor's upper limit was skyhigh. I'd done my research on her. And Izumi was right. Endeavor was strong, her fire quirk was more than strong. But her personality left a lot to be desired. But her personality didn't matter, only what I could learn from it.
"I see you've finally come to your senses and are ready to take the path to greatness." Endeavor's smile was arrogant as she looked at her daughter.
"I have no intention of following the path you want. I'll follow my own path." Todoroki said firmly, Endeavor snorted.
"Uh, never mind." Endeavor dismissed before looking at me. "And you, you're Azula, the blue fire girl." Endeavor's eyes narrowed.
"Yes, ma'am." I said, standing at attention. It wasn't a question she'd said, but it was better to agree with her. Endeavor looked at me for a few seconds with an expression I couldn't quite make out before nodding.
"Blue fire burns brighter, reaching higher temperatures than orange and yellow fire, but you used the latter during the sports festival. Why? " Endeavor asked simply as if she were judging me.
"My fire is naturally orange/yellow, like the rest of my family. But since I was little, I was able to control my quirk perfectly to be able to produce blue fire. Like you said, hotter, more intense, stronger. But... recently I discovered a way to improve a fire, it became orange/yellow again, but it's hotter than my blue fire." I said honestly, there was no point in lying to your mentor. It was simply stupid if what you wanted was to improve.
"Show me." Endeavor said simply as she stepped aside, I nodded.
"My base fire." I extended my fist, and a surge of orange fire erupted from it. "Blue fire." I performed a second kata, this time letting the blue fire flow out of my body. Now I breathed deeply. I still couldn't enter Total Concentration Breathing, but Izumi's breathing technique was still better, so more oxygen entered my lungs.
Sun Breathing - Sunflower Thrust. I didn't have a sword, but it was a thrust. I extended two of my fingers to use them as an imaginary sword and went through the motions. I'm not as skilled as Izumi is, but the result was clear.
Intense sun flames erupted from my fingers and shot out a long burst of orange and yellow fire, much hotter than my blue fire, much more intense, and much stronger. It was completely ridiculous that it evenworked, but I was glad it did. I could get stronger with Sun Breathing, and I would take advantage of it.
"Interesting," Endeavor said, her eyes slightly wide. "You'll try to turn that attack into blue fire. Blue fire is stronger." Endeavor repeated. I grimaced before stopping.
I'd never tried it before. In fact, my Quirk came so naturally with Sun Breathing that I barely had to force myself to let it out of my body, so I didn't focus on perfecting it. It was... something I really had to try.
"I'll try." I said firmly in Endeavor's direction, Endeavor nodded.
"We'll train later. Now, it's time for you to see what it's like to be a hero," Endeavor said with a cocky smirk. "Get dressed, we're leaving," she said simply before walking toward the exit.
"Your mother is intense," I said simply once Endeavor left the office. Todoroki nodded.
"That's her," she said simply before starting to undress. I shrugged before doing the same. It truly seemed like I could learn something here.
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Ruby Pov .
"And that was the last one!" I said with a smile as I watched the Grimm disappear into a black mist. Mom, on the other hand, had also finished her share of Grimm.
"Good job, Ruby! Looks like this place is the right one after all. Overly defended, too many Grimm for a simple deserted island, not to mention those pesky robots." Mom said cheerfully. I nodded.
"This is turning out to be the best internship ever!" I exclaimed happily. Mom laughed softly.
"You've really gotten stronger, darling. I didn't know what to make of that 'Total Concentration Breathing,' but there is such a huge difference in your abilities compared to before. Especially with that Thunderclap and Flash," Mom said, genuinely impressed. I puffed out my chest.
"Of course! Izumi is amazing! And so am I! " I said arrogantly, Mom laughed as she walked over before ruffling my hair.
"Yes, you are. Now let's get on with the mission." Mom said playfully, and I laughed happily.
"Do we still not have a signal?" I asked, Mom hummed softly before touching the receiver to her ear.
"Qrow, are you there?" Mom asked, the voice coming from her mouth and from my earpiece.
"Qrow here, there's still int -*****-, have you found the third tower?" I heard Uncle Qrow's voice intermittently through my earpiece.
"We're almost there. Still nothing important to report, anything on your end? " Mom asked as she motioned for me to start walking toward the radio tower.
"Actually, yes, it was fun. Yang-*****-'s team was with Port at -*****- and found cages of Merlot." That made us both stop.
"Is Yang okay? I hope they didn't send you to Mountain Glenn, there's nothing there anymore," Mom said as she started walking once more.
"Yes, don't worry, Sal-******- back to Beacon. They're safe." We both sighed in relief.
"That's good," Mom sighed before signaling me, "Let's fix the tower quickly, the interference is annoying." Mom said, as we both carefully approached the radio tower. Mom quickly began manipulating the control screen while I kept an eye on our surroundings so we wouldn't be ambushed.
" Ooh, that's better. I'm sorry, but the radio reception is always terrible around here. I hope you're enjoying your stay on the island. You're the first visitors in a long time." We both straightened up with serious expressions at the unfamiliar voice that sounded from our headphones.
"Merlot, so you're not really dead," Mom said seriously. "So that man is our target."
"Dr. Merlot, please. But that aside, I'm very delighted you're here. You may be exactly what I need for a very important experiment… let's say, the next level of my experiment." Merlot's voice sent shivers down my spine, and my eyes flicked to the small sound of a mechanism.
"Mom." I said warningly to her. Mom grabbed her gun and prepared herself, and I did the same. Quickly, some hatches opened, and the Grimm began pouring out in droves.
"For a hunter as fantastic as you, Summer Rose, and your daughter. This should be an easy test, right? " I grimaced at the sadistic voice in my ear but ignored it in favor of paying more attention to the Grimm in front of us.
I took a deep breath and moved, my speed had increased by leaps and bounds since I started breathing properly, and the Grimm, despite being a large group of a few dozen, were simple beowulfs, so they didn't react to my speed, much less when my scythe quickly decapitated them.
I continued moving through the crowd of Grimm, spinning, moving away, jumping, and weaving from side to side as my scythe struck at all the Grimm' unprotected spots. I glanced at Mom, who was wiping out her group as fast as I was, or faster; it was truly impressive. In no time, we both dispatched the last Grimm.
Or not.
More floodgates opened revealing more Grimm.
"Really! The world was a better place without you, Merlot. What you're doing here is wrong," Mom said dryly, Merlot's laughter reaching my ears.
"Is trying to make the world a better place wrong? Say what you want about me. It won't change the fact that you're powerless to stop me," Merlot laughed sadistically. I grimaced once more before starting to move..
The Grimm had changed, now there weren't just Beowulfs, there were other types, like some creeps and boarbatusks, but they were still just as easy to deal with as the previous Beowulfs. There was something wrong here, where were the mutated Grimm? The robots?
For the moment, it wasn't time to worry; I had to finish off these Grimm first. They might be easy to dispatch, but they were still dangerous. With the same ease as before, I moved across the battlefield, dispatching all the Grimm in my path. I stabbed the last Grimm on my side and looked back to see Mom looking at me with a cocky smile while the Grimm around her were already completely disappearing. I pouted.
" Rooaaar !!!" we both turned immediately to see an Ursa running in our direction. I took a deep breath. Thunderclap and Flash, I launched myself in the direction of the ursa, without it being able to react, Crescent Rose's blade was at the ursa's neck, the blade sank a few inches before it began to stop.
Before the momentum could suddenly stop me, Mom appeared on top of the Ursa with her speed quirk and swung her axe at the Urse's head in the opposite direction to my blade. That pushed the Ursa's head back enough for it to be decapitated by Crescent Rose and die.
" Yay! Team Rose wins! " I said happily as I walked over to Mom and raised my hand for a high five. She happily returned it.
"Well, that was disappointing. I'd love to experience more with you, but unfortunately, I have to go." Merlot's voice interrupted before the signal cut out. Mom sighed.
"Did you hear that Qrow?" Mom asked.
"Loud and clear Summer. I'm already contacting Salem." Uncle Qrow said quickly, Mom hummed.
"There's no need to send help yet. Merlot won't change our plans. Ruby and I will continue investigating the island. Raven must have already left to do her work elsewhere and it's a waste of time waiting for another team. Besides, Merlot might get scared if more hunters show up. For now, stay out of it." Mom said seriously, the signal going silent before hearing Qrow's sigh.
"Understood, Summer. Take care of yourselves. I'll be on the other end of the call whenever you need anything. Qrow out." Uncle Qrow's voice cut off. Mom sighed before smiling at me.
"Good work, Ruby. Now then, let's keep investigating and... maybe find a place to spend the night. It's starting to get dark," Mom said, looking up at the sky. "We'll be on a rotating schedule. I hope you're prepared to sleep with one eye open, for a short time and very uncomfortably," Mom said with a mocking smile.
"Well, it's your fault for choosing the Merlot Resort for my internship. You had to have seen the bad reviews online." I said hilariously. Mom burst out laughing.
"You're right, Ruby, you're right." Mom laughed amusedly before starting to walk. I folded Crescent Rose back into my arms and began to follow her.