The city of Vale was in chaos.
A huge army of Grimm - no, an army of huge Grimm - flooded through the now-busted barrier, as Beowolves, Creeps, and Ursai surged out of the wilderness beyond the defensive walls, spilling into the streets like a swarm of locusts. Enormous Nevermores flew low alongside the rest of the Grimm, while a dozen or so scaly King Taijitu slithered through the cracks made by the larger, stronger Grimm. And alongside the rest of the horde strode the largest Grimm of all; massive elephantine Goliaths, their shoulders meeting the height of the towering skyscrapers of Vale - and promptly knocking them over into showers of glass and steel with little more than a nudge.
This was the day they had waited for.
People from every kingdom, whom were sipping on sodas and watching the tournament finals mere hours ago, were now screaming and running in terror at the approaching Grimm. Of course, their fear and panic only made the beasts of darkness stronger, just as it was their tension and unrest that had summoned the Grimm to their borders in the first place. All prior disputes, disagreement, or racial tensions ceased to matter anymore; men, women, and children of all ages - human and Faunus alike - fled from the approaching Grimm as fast as their legs could take them.
Not all of them fled, though.
"I sure hope this works," said Ruby Rose, her long red cape fluttering around her as she squatted down behind a destroyed snack stall, "This will work, right?"
The bunny-eared Huntress squatting next to her gave something between a nod and a shrug.
"That's not really an answer, Velvet," said Ruby.
"Well, sorry," said Velvet Scarletina, "I mean, none of us have actually fought one of those things before. Sure, we've had training, and we've had exams and homework assignments, but...I don't think there's a single academy in all of Remnant that could teach us how to take one of those down."
The silver-eyed Huntress peeked cautiously around the corner, getting a good glimpse of the twenty-story Goliath as it crushed cars like soda cans underneath its enormous legs. She remembered everything Professor Port had taught them about Goliaths in Grimm Studies (when he wasn't waxing tales about his beloved pet cow or regaling his tale about hunting the Beowolf for the hundredth time). The eyes were a weak point for pretty much all Grimm - taking away sight can slow any beast down, although such a blow would hardly be fatal. The Goliath in particular had a rather glaring weak spot on the back of its neck, where the skull and the torso were the closest together. However, not only was getting there a challenge in and of itself, but this particular Goliath had grown enough ivory, bony plates to completely cover the weak spot. Finally, the greatest strength of the Goliath was also its biggest weakness: its size, while intimidating and powerful when upright, also gave it a rather high center of gravity, such that if it was knocked over onto its side, it would not be able to get back up again for a time. On the other hand, finding a way to topple something as big as that would require force that wasn't readily available at the moment - right now, the best bet was to go for that weak spot on the neck and hope that Fox Alistair's Aura Palm technique would be enough to destroy the Grimm.
Ruby pulled out her Scroll, which was simultaneously connected to the rest of teams RWBY and CFVY. She took a quick peek at the other Huntsmen and Huntresses, making a mental note once again of their positions. The fair-skinned Weiss Schnee and the dark-skinned Fox Alistair stood at the base of a ruined tower further ahead; Yatsuhashi Daichi and Coco Adel were on a higher floor, with him prepping his sword and her feeding an ammo belt into her handbag. Across the street, the fiery blonde Yang Xiao Long and the raven-haired Blake Belladonna crouched behind a rock anxiously, and Ruby could see Yang giving a thumbs-up and a wink to her sister, who returned it with a smile.
"Well, if it doesn't work," said Ruby, smiling at Velvet, "you can always use your box. Then we finally get to see what's in it!"
Velvet scowled in mock frustration. "Why is that all anyone ever wants to know? Everywhere I go, it's 'Hey what's in the box' or 'oh when are you gonna open it up' or 'come on, you spent all semester building it up, what is it?' Never 'Hello Velvet' or 'How do you do Velvet' or 'What's the news', no, it's always just about the silly box! That's all anyone asks me!"
"...so what's in it?" asked Ruby innocently, a coy smile on her face.
The Faunus had to nearly bite her lip to keep herself from giggling loudly enough for the Goliath to notice them. This made Ruby feel a little better; if she could still make her friends laugh, then maybe things weren't so bad after all.
"Red Velvet's in position," said Ruby, after Velvet had stopped stifling her laughter, "Sound off."
"Bittersweet, ready," came Coco's cool voice.
"Tundra Fox is waiting on Red Velvet," came Weiss's cold voice.
"Bumblebee's ready to bring the sting!" came Yang's enthusiastic voice.
"Then let's do this!" shouted Ruby.
Using her Speed Semblance, Ruby leapt out from behind the cover, pulling out Crescent Rose as she did so. The scarlet sniper rifle unfolded into a scythe as she came out of a perfect roll, firing an entire clip full of piercing Dust bolts at the distant Goliath. At least a few of the shots hit the soft, blackened flesh of the Grimm, getting its attention and making it turn towards the source of the disruption. Ruby knew that as much as she loved her weapon, Crescent Rose just did not have enough firing power to do anything more than irritate the Goliath - fortunately, that's all she needed it to do.
The Goliath trumpeted aggressively as it locked its gaze on the fifteen-year-old Huntress in the open street, who was already loading a fresh magazine into her weapon. It started with a walk and ended with a sprint, stampeding through the broken rubble around it as it closed in on its prey. As Ruby brought Crescent Rose up to fire again, a stack of concentric white glyphs suddenly appeared in front of her, spinning with snowflake runes within them. Nodding her thanks towards Weiss, Ruby fired again and again with Crescent Rose, the bullets flying through the glyphs and accelerating as they did so. When they impacted, they exploded into formations of solid ice, freezing and slowing down whatever they hit.
A few of the Ice Flower bullets grazed the side of the rampaging Goliath, shattering into fragments as they were shaken off by four thousand tons of moving muscle. Most of the shots missed completely, forming pretty (but useless) sculptures of roses out of ice. But two lucky bullets managed to find their mark; one frosty round hit each of the Goliath's eyes, forming a thick sheet of frost that blinded it and embrittled its flesh. The Goliath roared in pain, digging its heels into the earth to stop its charge. Its momentum kept carrying it forward, however, as it skidded down the street towards where Ruby was now rushing away in a swirl of red rose petals.
Weiss held tightly onto a cable that hung low near the ground, bracing herself as Yatsuhashi grabbed the other end and wound it around a bent steel girder. With a grunt of exertion, the seven-foot-tall Huntsman leapt down from the ruined tower, landing on the ground and leaving a massive crater. The force of the much-taller Yatsuhashi falling was transmitted through the cable, flinging the barely-five-foot-tall Weiss upwards like a dainty little figure skater. Coco leapt up just as Weiss created a propulsion glyph underneath her still-airborne feet, sending both Huntresses flying through the air and onto the back of the Goliath. Weiss created another Glyph on the back of the massive Grimm just as they touched down, keeping them on solid footing as Coco's handbag unfolded into a gatling gun.
The Goliath did not take kindly to its new passengers, reaching up with its trunk to try to feel them out and smack them off. But Ruby leapt into the air and fired Crescent Rose behind her, using the force of the recoil to fly through the air and drag the blade into the soft underside of its trunk. It didn't do enough damage to actually split open the flesh, but it was enough to cause a whole lot of pain; just like a single little splinter can make the manliest of men curl up into a ball and cry, the Goliath let out a low trumpeting cry as it curled its trunk back up until it resembled a huge snail shell. Ruby leapt off just before she became part of the coil; she landed on the ground and skidded to a halt next to a firm-footed Yatsuhashi.
"Ready," said the tall armored Huntsman.
"Firefox, go for the eyes!" shouted Ruby into her Scroll, "White Chocolate, open up a weak spot! Black Velvet, secure those tusks!"
The other Huntsmen and Huntresses nodded, going to work. Coco aimed the many barrels of her weapon at the back of the Goliath's armored neck, spinning the barrel and pouring on the armor-piercing hot lead thick and heavy. On the ground, Blake threw her Gambol Shroud into the air, pulling the trigger with a yank on the ribbon and wrapping the black cloth around one of the Goliath's massive ivory tusks. Velvet did the same to secure the other tusk, using her box and a cable secured to the handle to achieve a similar result. Yatsuhashi ran and grabbed onto both the box and the blade, pulling them both down as the girls dug their heels into the ground, secured their lines to nearby lampposts for leverage. The sheer strength of the Huntsman was enough to pull the Goliath's head low to the ground, forcing it to widen its stance to compensate. When its head was in range, Yang leapt into the sky from the right side, and Fox did the same from the left; both of them landed next to one of the eyes, and both of them shattered the icy formation with a single powerful punch. The force of the punch, combined with the freezing bite of the ice, was enough to permanently damage the Goliath's eyes; its eyesight gone, it trumpeted in pain as Yatsuhashi groaned in exertion, keeping the massive beast in place while Coco punched a hole in the back of its neck with a concentrated barrage of bullets.
"Can't...hold..." muttered Yatsuhashi under the strain. Blake and Velvet let out similar groans and squeals of discomfort, as the stress of holding the Goliath got to them.
"Just a little longer!" said Weiss loudly enough to be heard, "Coco's almost got a hole big enough to -!"
WHAM.
Despite the massive pain in the sensitive flesh, the Goliath still found the strength to overcome the prick in its trunk, unfurling it and knocking Yatsuhashi three blocks down the street. Blake and Velvet lost their grip on the ground, and both of them flew into the air as the Goliath yanked its head back. Only their Faunus agility saved them from the swiping trunk of the Goliath, as Blake landed in a building nearby while Velvet landed next to Ruby. Yang and Fox barely managed to keep their grip on the armored face of the Goliath as it yanked back and stood back upright forcefully; Weiss and Coco were not so fortunate, as they both tumbled over the side of the massive Goliath, their weapons falling over the other side to the ground twenty feet below.
"Coco!" shouted Velvet.
"Weiss!" shouted Ruby at the same time.
Blake was already swinging to their rescue with the help of her Shadow Clones and Gambol Shroud before Ruby could even give the order; she and Velvet were too busy dodging the stomping footfalls of the Goliath as it regained its footing. Yatsuhashi limped out of the rubble clutching his side with one hand, leaning on his massive orange sword for support. And Yang and Fox held on for dear life as the elephantine Grimm thrashed and threw its head back and forth, trying to shake off the Huntsman and Huntress like they were gnats on its face.
"This isn't working!" said Velvet as she and Ruby took cover out of the path of the Goliath, "We need a new plan!"
Ruby quickly assessed the situation. Two Huntresses out of the fight already, and the strongest Huntsman among them severely injured. Meanwhile, the strongest Huntress and the most precise Huntsman were both in the same tight spot; if they let go, they'd be dead, and if they held on, they'd be dead anyways. The ones still capable of fighting - herself, Velvet, and Blake - all specialized in fast, hit-and-run strikes - none of which would be effective against a beast of that size, especially since its armor wasn't fully pierced by Coco's assault.
What do I do?thought the young leader of team RWBY frantically. What would Qrow do? Or Ozpin? Or Mom? Or -
That was when she saw it.
A rapier of silver, its tip planted into the ground about twenty feet away from where she and Velvet sat in hiding. Weiss's Myrtenaster, lost in the fight but still full of powerful Dust. From this distance, she could tell that the revolving chamber already had Ice Dust selected - it was Weiss's favorite, after all, and the one she carried the most of into a fight. But she wasn't the only Huntress who used nature's wrath in battle...
She looked at Velvet, an idea firmly in her head.
"Velvet, can you operate a Multi-Action Dust Rapier?" asked Ruby quickly.
Velvet momentarily looked puzzled. "A MADR? Well, I've used one before, but it didn't really suit my style of -"
"Then get ready to use it!" said Ruby, "As soon as that thing passes you, lay it on thick!"
Ruby was off sprinting in a swirl of rose petals before Velvet could even ask what she meant. Eyes firmly locked on the Myrtenaster, she dodged the rubble and the footfalls of the Goliath as it continued to get Yang and Fox off its face. She grabbed the handle of Weiss's weapon in a running grip, spun on her heel, and sprinted back the way she came. Her Semblance allowed her to cross the battlefield in the blink of an eye, and she returned to find Velvet in the exact same pose she had taken before her dash.
Thrusting the Myrtenaster into the arms of a bewildered Velvet, she sprinted away again into the middle of the street. She locked her silver eyes onto the Goliath as it flung its head with enough force to finally tear Yang away from its face. Only a quick grab from Fox saved Yang from a decidedly deadly crash; even with her Aura, the odds of surviving a crash like that were slim to none.
"Hey!" screamed Ruby, waving her hands in the air as she did so, "Over here, remember?! Come and get me! I can take it! I eat bigger things than you for breakfast!"
The Goliath paused mid-thrash, allowing Yang to hold onto Fox's hand with both of hers and secure herself more tightly. The elephantine Grimm stared down at the tiny little Huntress, the one that had aggravated it earlier by firing at it unprovoked. Now she was...taunting it?
"You'd better be glad my uncle's not here!" screamed Ruby at the top of her lungs, "He'd whoop your butt so hard you'd never go to the bathroom the same way again! He taught me everything I know - I'm not afraid of you, you big-eared freak!"
The Goliath tilted its head, glaring down at Ruby as she still yelled at it from fifty feet away. The massive Grimm's sight may have been taken away, but it could still hear and smell...and it could definitely sense the cauldron of negative emotions that was bubbling over inside the young Huntress.
"You wanna ruin someone's day? Try and ruin mine!" she yelled defiantly, "I came to school to fight Grimm and chew bubble gum! And you trashed my favorite bubblegum shop!So come at me! Come at me!"
The Goliath took her up on that offer, trumpeting in fury as it took off on a charge once again. Ruby fought the urge to run away as the twenty-foot-tall tower of terror trampled buildings and cars as it closed the distance in a few seconds...
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Velvet raise Weiss's Myrtenaster high above her head, the blade glowing with light blue light as she activated the vial of Dust within the weapon itself. She plunged the tip of the weapon into the ground, just like Weiss had done so many times before; soon, a thick layer of smooth, polished ice surged out of the tip of the blade and spread out into a sheet that covered the road. The Goliath was firmly focused on Ruby, and so paid no attention to its footing.
It only snapped out of its rage when it felt its foot slip out from underneath it.
The Goliath howled and trumpeted in surprise as it stumbled over its own legs, knocking it off balance and making it fall over. It was almost comical, in a way; seeing four thousand tons of might and muscle toppling over onto its side in surprise would normally have made Ruby laugh and giggle until she was blue in the face. Right now, though, she just sighed in relief as the Goliath hit the ground with a sky-shattering impact; the ground shook and rumbled as the massive elephant hit the ground hard.
The rest of the Huntsmen and Huntresses were quick to take advantage of the newly-fallen behemoth. Blake and Yatsuhashi slid expertly along the ice, with the black-haired Faunus dragging the armored giant along with her ribbon. She swung around while still tethered to Yatsuhashi, sending him flying forward with his sword already drawn. With a mighty yell, he plunged the edge of his blade into the unprotected flesh on the underside of the Goliath, slicing a huge gash into the mighty Grimm. Meanwhile, Yang and Fox leapt off the now-immobile face of the Goliath, hitting the frosty ground and sliding over to the weak spot on the neck. With a mighty yell of her own, Yang leapt into the air and brought both her fists down onto the armor covering the back of its neck; between the armor-piercing barrage of fire from earlier and the shock of impact from the fall, all it took was a double blast from Ember Celica to shatter the bony chitin completely. She flipped backwards as Fox dashed in and delivered a powerful palm strike onto the now-exposed flesh, channeling his Aura into his palms as he struck. The flesh of the Goliath swelled up as the Aura Palm technique did its job, ballooning and expanding until finally, a flood of black molasses-like fluid burst out of the Goliath's belly, concentrated around the cut Yatsuhashi had inflicted.
After a few moments of squirming and low trumpeting, the Goliath eventually went silent and still, before decomposing into a huge cloud of black smoke and smog.
"We did it!" shouted Ruby excitedly, tired but triumphant. She saw Velvet leap into the arms of Yatsuhashi, who caught her and spun her around before nuzzling her face. Yang and Fox bumped fists, before Ruby glomped her sister excitedly. Weiss and Coco walked over with a clear limp, their Aura depleted but still alive and kicking. Weiss graciously took back Myrtenaster from a blushing Velvet, while Coco slapped Fox on his butt affectionately.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" said Yang, nuzzling her sister affectionately even as she crushed her upper torso like an empty soda can, "You were so brave and so cool and that was so much cooler than taking down that Nevermore!"
"...gch, Yang..." groaned Ruby, "...stop, please..."
Blake smiled as Weiss checked the Dust levels of her weapon. She nodded towards Velvet, who had gone back to hugging Yatsuhashi and hiding under his shoulder armor.
"Expect a bill from the Schnee Dust Company shortly," she said with a smile.
That was enough to make everyone laugh, briefly forgetting about the rest of the city falling to pieces around them. It wasn't until Ruby's Scroll beeped that they realized that there were more Grimm to be slain, as Teams JNPR and SSSN found themselves in deep trouble. Again.
Ruby holstered Crescent Rose, and stood proud as Weiss, Blake, and Yang gathered around her.
"Onwards, team RWBY! Let's go take down another one of those things!"
And so the team of young Huntresses ran off into the chaos, ready to take down more Grimm.
Together, as always.