Long ago, the gods abandoned this world. Leaving behind their tools and instruments that change our world. Without their masters to control them, these tools ran wild, changing and shaping the world of Remnant. These tools were all powered and controlled by one invisible, uncontrollable force, over time this force became called, the Will of Oum.
The ever-changing world quickly became dangerous, heavy storms wiping out settlements. Until a group of warriors rose up to silence the wild-relics, to calm the Will. These warriors were called… Hunters.
They pushed back against the storms. Silenced the relics, protected our cities, and became beacons of hope.
Until one day…
Location: The Fallen City of Spero
Time: 1800 Hours
Area's Designation Changed;
Location: The Wrath of Oum
Time: 1801 Hours
Active Huntsmen Teams: 3
Huntsmen Rosters:
Bulldog 1;
Senior Officer: Luna Starlight
Artillery Specialist: Shiro Frost
Elementalist: Vivian Aquarius
Recognizance Specialist: Shade Kurogane
Communications: Taurus Silver
Bull-
{Error: Power Surge}
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{Initiating System Shutdown}
A silver-haired man scowls as he smacks the side of the console.
"Piece of junk." The man mutters.
"Taurus, get it together." A raven-haired woman says, making her way into the cockpit. "How close are we?"
"Around a klick out Luna," Taurus says. "The storm is battering the Bulldog, I don't think we can push it much further."
"Understood," Luna says. "Alright everyone, gear up, this is as far as the Bulldogs go." A chorus of responses flood the comms. Luna turns and walks out of the cockpit and down the stairs into the large bay of the Bulldog. Inside the bay stood three individuals. A younger woman with light blue hair quickly walks up to Luna, while a white-haired male stays back. The last was a black haired male with a scar over his right eye. Luna's violet eyes snap to the other woman walking up to her.
"Luna are you sure we can do this?" The woman asks, her aqua eyes shining with worry. Luna nods, a grin on her face.
"It's just another storm Vivian." The older woman says.
"The Wrath of Oum isn't just another storm." The white-haired male says.
"So it's bigger. Who cares?" Luna says. "The premise is the same. We go in and shut down the relic. We've done this multiple times already. This is just on a bigger scale Shiro." Shiro frowns but nods. "And you, Shade? Do you have anything?" The black haired male shakes his head.
"No, this is my first official sortie, I have nothing to say," Shade says. Luna nods.
"Alright, suit up!" The ravenette says. The four move around the bay, towards mechanical suits that stood off to the side.
These suits were called Auras, a device that defines a Hunter, and makes them unique. An Aura usually came in one of four frames. The Brawler frame is made for artillery, a hulking frame that trades speed for armor. A Striker frame was the most versatile, able to equip almost anything except for heavier weapons while still keeping agility. The Blitz frame was the fastest of them all, at the cost of armor. Lastly was the Tempest frame, a frame that can harness the elements itself to attack. Its armor was on par with the Striker frame.
What made the Auras effective, however, was the bond it shares with the Hunter. An Aura has the power to utilize the Will of Oum. It cannot control the will, but the strange powers from the Gods of old rather flow through an Arua. The physical manifestation of these powers forms unique abilities for each individual Hunter. These abilities transfer between Auras, so if a Hunter were to change frames, their ability would transfer to the new frame.
Inside Bulldog 1, the team was getting in their Auras. Luna and Shade had Striker units. Luna's was a dark purple, a shoulder-mounted rocket and an impact pulse under the forearm. Impact pulse is a pulse of energy that yields a high impact, firing after a short charging time. Shade's was a dark green. He had forgone the shoulder mounted rocket for advanced targeting systems. And instead of an impact pulse, his Aura had a spark beam. Spark beam was a beam of concentrated energy, capable of firing a sustained beam for five seconds. Shiro had a Brawler unit with a white chassis. He has a shoulder-mounted mortar and a railgun under the forearm. Vivian's unit was a Tempest with light blue coloration. Her armament consisted of blasts of cryo-energy as well as a beam of cryo-energy. All four fielded an assault rifle and a heavy pistol.
The four Hunters and Huntresses are lifted up on top of the Bulldog, a massive four-legged machine.
"Alright, we're flying in low. Stay in formation." Luna says, as her Aura's thrusters flare to life and then the four take off. Shade quickly notices that he's lagging behind.
"Shade, you're lagging behind," Taurus says over the comms.
"I know, I'm getting a time delay in the suit, it's fighting me," Shade says, trying to push his suit to go faster. "It feels sluggish."
"Give me a second to check over the systems," Taurus says. "Luna, Recon's lagging behind, seems to be a malfunction."
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up," Shade says.
"Are you sure?" Luna asks.
"Yeah." The recon specialist responds.
"Understood," Luna says, and the three rocket off ahead. Shade follows behind, flying much slower.
"Shit," Taurus says.
"Taurus talk to me," Shade says.
"We have incoming Nevermores. Nothing too big, but with your thrusters, it's gonna be hard for you to take them down." The communications officer says. Shade grunts as he grips his rifle. Black birds swarm him, grabbing him and tearing through parts of his armor.
"Shit! They hit my thrusters!" Shade shouts, struggling in the claws of a Nevermore. He unloads his clip into the Nevermore's face. Screeching in pain, the Nevermore drops Shade, and the recon specialist slams into the ground. "Well, that hurt. Taurus, try to restart my systems."
"On it, bringing them on now," Taurus states, as Shade's suit lights up once again. "Looks like your stabilization thrusters are destroyed."
"So flight is impossible now. Jump jets and primary thrusters?" Shade asks.
"Operational."
"Good, I'll try to regroup on foot then. Try to bring up the rest of my systems while I make my way over." Shade grunts, loading a new clip into his rifle and running towards the center of the massive storm overhead. The comms go silent as the Hunter bursts into a destroyed courtyard.
"Incoming Beowolves. Weapons systems online."
"Thanks, Taurus. Find me a route while I clear these things out." The lone Hunter states. Black, bipedal wolves surround the downed Hunter, and Shade scowls under his helmet as he opens fire. The pack of 'wolves wasn't large, maybe fifteen at best. Shade quickly cleaned them out, using his thrusters to dodge. After killing the last one, an explosion catches his attention. "Shit! I got a Titan on the wall!"
A large, hulking figure walks down the wall, and Hunters from Bulldog 2 swarm around it. Shade readies his rifle to open fire when the Titan catches on fire and explodes, downing the Hunters and destroying the walls.
"Hunters down, Shade move to assist," Taurus commands. Shade does just that. Wiring Taurus into the downed Hunters to help jumpstart their suits.
"Thanks, Kurogane." The Tempest frame says, Bulldog 2's leader Celestia, says. Shade nods. "Team, return to the Bulldog for repairs. Shade we'll grab some parts for a field repair as well." The four Hunters take to the skies again, and Shade runs through the opening on the wall, sprinting into a clearing to find his team taking on another Titan.
"Sitrep!" Luna shouts, using her rocket salvos. The Titan roars in rage.
"Bulldog 4's team has returned with extensive injuries. Bulldog 3's team is KIA. Bulldog 2's just returned for minor repairs. You're the only team still operational right now." Taurus lists. A static explosion echoes through the comms. "Bulldog 3 itself just exploded, this storm is battering the Bulldogs. I don't know if we can handle much more of this."
"We can't fall back now, people are counting on us!" Luna growls, bombarding the Titan once more. Shiro moves forward, his mortar firing and exploding on the chest of the massive enemy. The Titan roars in anger, batting Shiro aside. The white Brawler soars through the air and impacts the ground before Shade with a sickening thud.
"Hunter down. I- 'm not getting any vital signs." Taurus says. Shade kneels down next to Shiro's Aura.
"KIA confirmed." The recon specialist says. Vivian grits her teeth in rage.
"Let's kill this damn thing." She says, her Aura flying forwards.
"Vivian no!" Luna shouts, but it was too late. The Titan slams a fist on top of the Elementalist, slamming her into the ground and squashing her body like a bug.
"KIA confirmed," Taurus says shakily. The static on the comms intensifies. "Guys! Somethings happening to the Bulld-" A massive explosion echoes in the distance as the line goes dead.
"Taurus! Taurus respond!" Luna shouts. "Damn!"
"We need to get out of here." Shade shouts. Luna evades out of the Titan's way.
"We can't, we have a job to do." She says, before her Aura takes a hit to the back, downing her. "Shit it got my weapons systems."
"Luna fall back!" Shade shouts, opening fire.
"We can't!" The leader returns.
"Then fall back to Bulldog 2 for repairs!" Shade shouts, using his energy beam to kill the Titan. "I can't fly, but you can't shoot! At least I'll have a chance to hold them off until reinforcements." Luna stares at him. "I'll hold them off. Remember, I'm recon. I know how to survive."
"You better be here when I get back," Luna says, before taking off. Shade stares after her until she vanishes from sight. Before he turns back towards the center of the storm.
"Not possible with this thing." He grumbles, before making his way towards the relic in the center. He surprisingly encounters little resistance. Nothing beyond a Beowulf or a Nevermore. The occasional Titan is seen but Shade will hide until it passes on by. After an hour, he finally reaches the center of the storm, with the relic. "The Cenotaph..."
The relic was a large, console-like device connected to something words couldn't describe. He stares at it with awe and fear.
"Now to turn you off." He says, running scans over the relic and the large beam it was shooting into the sky. "A large enough external force? Like an explosion?" As Shade nears the relic, an arc of electricity strikes out, frying his suit's weapons systems. "Shit!" As the basic systems reboot, Shade's Arua locks up, unmovable. "System's check. Weapons: Offline. Thrust: Offline. Motor Functions: Limited. Core: Functional." A surge in energy from the relic catches his attention. "The storm's getting worse. An explosion should offset the energy but ho-" Shade trails off. "Blow the reactor." He quickly goes through the commands to start the countdown. "Shit, timer's fried." Sparking and struggling, Shade wills his Arua to step into the beam. "Guess I'll have to do this the hard way." As the Aura enters the beam, the sheer energy begins to strip the outer armor of the suit. "Voice command authorization: Zulu Hotel India Niner Four." Shade's HUD flashes the Voice command.
{Command: Keep Moving Forward}
"Voice Command: Keep Moving Forward."
Then his world was engulfed in white.
Bulldog 2
"Let's go!" Luna shouts. Repairs had taken longer than expected. "It's nearly been an hour!"
"Almost done," Celestia says, trying to fix Luna's weapons systems. Suddenly, a shockwave rocks the Bulldog.
"Guys," Celestia's Communications Officer says. "The... The relic just exploded." All of the Hunters stop what they're doing and rush to the cockpit to see the top of the mountain crumble as the storm begins to vanish.
"How?" Luna asks.
"Sensors indicate Aura core meltdown." Celestia reads.
"No Hunter got up there. The only one still deployed was Sh-" Luna's eyes widen. "Shit no!" Luna rushes to her Aura, but Celestia catches her. "Sis let me go!"
"He's gone, Luna!" Celestia barks, staring at the crumbling mountain. Luna collapses into her sister's arms, sobbing. "He's gone." The Comms officer turns the Bulldog around once Celestia nods in his direction. The crumbling mountain fully collapsing behind it.
The Hunters stopped the Wrath of Oum with heavy losses. And despite the heroic sacrifice of Shade Kurogane, people began to see that being a Hunter is much more dangerous than was thought. Instead of being treated as heroes, Hunters were considered suicidal maniacs. The four Cities still maintained their academies, but the numbers had reached an all-time low in the years following. Those who remained, as well as those who still aspired to join the ranks of the Hunters, regarded Shade as a legend. They honored his death.
In a different realm, however. Two green eyes opened.
"Glad to see you awake, Shade Kurogane." A voice spoke. It was mostly toneless but held a hint of amusement. Shade groans as he sits up. He looks to the speaker. A black-haired man, whose eyes held a hint of playful genius in them.
"Where am I?" Shade asks, looking around the white world.
"That isn't important." The man says. Shade raises an eyebrow.
"Okay... Who are you?" The recon specialist asks. The man grins.
"You can call me Monty."
Soooooooooooooooo
Not an update with DeadZone... BUT it's in the works!
I had a break in uni for a little bit and got to play ten hours in BioWare's Anthem. I like it despite the crap it's going through.
I thought. Hey... this would kinda fit as a RWBY story... Sooooooooo here it is.
So. Let me know if I did alright!
Updates will be slow as I continue through the semester but hey! Not everyone gets to go to school to fight monsters.
Emerald Night, signing off.