Arc 1 – Menagerie

Chapter 2 – Trouble on the high seas

In hindsight, they all should've known better than to expect things to go smoothly.

The very first complication arose when the Bullheads carrying Qrow and the Beacon students landed in Vale City's industrial district, smack in the middle of Atlesian garrison. Moments after the aircraft touched down several Atlesian crewmen rushed in and chased both pilots and passengers out and the cargo was rather carelessly unloaded, ending up in a large disorganized pile.

At first, nobody knew what was going on. Qrow, always suspicious of Atlas, was halfway through unfurling his scythe. Thankfully, the commander of the garrison thought of sending his second-in-command to defuse the situation before it could escalate.

Everything turned out to be a simple misunderstanding, much to everyone's relief.

As it turned out, the Bullheads were only meant to drop them off on Vale City's airport because they had too small a range to reach Menagerie, or Mistral. Qrow and his hunters in training would have to move onto a more suitable aircraft. Humpback easily fulfilled those demands and more. The large bulky plane that was somewhat reminiscent of a 'Bullhead on steroids,' as certain grenadier put it, was faster, could carry a bigger load and its range would allow it to fly to Menagerie and back nonstop.

The thing was, neither Qrow or his company were told about any of this. The Beacon staff assumed that the Bullhead pilots would let them know about the stop at the airport downtown... and in turn, the pilots thought their passengers already knew about it and felt no need to mention it at all. The end result of this miscommunication was a needless scare that could have been easily avoided. Fortunately, there were no other unpleasant surprises after this incident and less than half an hour after the 'unscheduled' landing, both Humpbacks were loaded and ready to take off. This time, there were no farewells as the students were quickly marched aboard their respective aircraft; the Atlesians wanted to send them on their way as quick as possible.

After lifting off, the two transport planes made a single slow circle above the ruined city, flying side by side. Then, the Humpback carrying team TNDR wiggled its wings in a greeting before it separated, heading southeast; the other continued flying eastward, its passengers watching with forlorn expressions as the aircraft with their friends slowly disappeared in the distance.

There was no turning back now; now they all could only move forward.

Compared to the cramped insides of a Bullhead where passengers would have to stay and sleep among the cargo, ride on a Humpback was much more comfortable. The cargo hold was a separated compartment and the passenger deck, connected to the pilot cabin by a narrow passage, was quite spacious, offering some actual comfort to the people on board unlike the Bullhead. Beside seats and a couple of small folding tables there were also a few cots available to anyone who needed a rest.

Alas, all the aforementioned features could hardly help with one particular problem: boredom.

Menagerie was thousands of miles away; even longer flight than to Mistral. And while Humpback was faster than a Bullhead, in order to achieve the longest possible range it couldn't exceed the air speed of about 250 miles per hour. All of this meant that the flight to Menagerie would last well over 20 hours, give or take.

What was one to do when trapped inside a flying tub of metal for a whole damn day?

The crew of the aircraft, two pilots and a navigator, focused solely on doing their jobs, not even slightly interested in a conversation with the members of team TNDR.

At first, the students tried to make some small talk just to distract themselves from the fact they wouldn't see their friends from JNPR and RWBY for weeks. The fact that communications were still out, rendering it impossible to contact them and see how they were doing, made this all worse. What if something happened and they'd only learn when it was too late to do anything about it?

Casual banter seemed to lighten the mood a bit but it didn't take long before the students ran out of topics. Worse, the tension between them, stemming from their mission and all of its possible dangers, didn't disappear. If anything, the tense atmosphere in the passenger compartment was starting to feel a lot like a beginning of a cabin fever. In the end, the entire team decided to get some sleep, just to keep tempers from escalating.

And so it went like that... for hours; sleep interrupted by short breaks and attempts at a light-hearted conversation that did nothing to alleviate their concerns. The truth was they were all afraid and it was pointless to ignore or deny it.

What would await them in Menagerie? How would a society comprising solely of Faunus react to the presence of humans? Would some try and exact revenge on them for how humankind treated Faunus in the past? Would Chieftain Belladonna even bother listening to them, a couple of human wannabe-Hunters from an Academy that failed to protect a major city from Grimm? Did he even know what happened in Vale?

And the most terrifying question of them all; what if they were late? What if Red Talon had conquered Menagerie already? What if Belladonna was dead and their journey was useless?

Now count in the worries about their friends bound for Mistral – What if they're walking into a trap? What if there's someone else that wants them dead, beside Cinder? What if they run into another huge-ass ancient Grimm? - and it was pretty clear no one would get a peaceful rest.

Not during this flight.

"Hey! Um, Mr. Pilot, sir? What's our ETA?"

The pilot didn't appear perturbed by the Roland's question... or the banging on the door to the pilot cabin. "We won't be there for another fifteen hours, at least, so settle down!"

The students didn't take the news well... if the annoyed groans were anything to go by.

"Fifteen hours?!" Tanya half-whispered, half-shouted, her expression one of pure disbelief. "You gotta be fucking joking!"

"Never in my life did I think I could ever go mad with boredom," Nicolaus grumbled. "But here I am, facing the very real possibility of just that."

"I know, right?" Emery chimed in, frustration clear in his voice. "We can't do anything besides sleeping when we're stuck here, and we're supposed to endure fifteen more hours of this?!"

"At least fifteen hours." Roland corrected him.

"Not helping, Gunny." Tanya actually growled.

"Hey, it could be worse." Her partner pointed out. "At least we don't have Jaune with us."

The remark earned a few chuckles among those present. Everyone knew about Jaune and his motion sickness that made travelling a real pain, for himself as well as anyone with him. Every ride on an airship ended with the blonde knight being hunched over a paper bag and puking his guts out. Not even pills seemed to help much. Now consider that Junipers, Qrow and his nieces were stuck with him aboard a Humpback for twenty hours, or more...

Things would get really messy, indeed.

"Yeah, right!" The team leader laughed. "How many barf bags you guys think he went through already?"

"No idea," Nicolaus chuckled. "but I wouldn't be surprised if our friends were swimming in Jaune's vomit by now."

Emery gagged at that. "Not funny!" He groaned, struggling to get his queasy stomach under control.

"But really, things are bad enough for them already, even without Jaune and his motion sickness. I dunno how far it is to Mistral from Vale but do you think they'll be able to sit down and do nothing for several hours?" Tanya pointed out. "You know how Ruby and Yang act when they get bored... and don't even get me started on Nora."

Yes, everyone remembered the 'spin-the-bottle' debacle in their first month at Beacon... or the infamous food battle. Pieces of food somehow found their way onto the cafeteria's ceiling.

"Needless to say, those guys are in hell right now." Roland quipped.

Oh yes, the other team had it so much worse.

"You think they listened?"

The gunman tilted his head quizzically at Tanya's question. "To what?"

"I mean what Goodwitch said before we left Beacon." She explained. "Doing what is necessary to survive and stuff; we know what she meant but do they? And are they gonna take it seriously?"

"Let's hope so." Nicolaus said. "We know damn well what's at stake here, what we're up against. And so do they, especially after what happened to Vale City."

"But are they ready to take a life if there's no option?"

"We can never be ready." Emery butted in. "Either you do it, or you don't. And sometimes you don't have a choice. I know I didn't."

"I know they'll do fine." The fox Faunus remarked. "They have Qrow on their side; that has to mean something, right?"

"The scariest drunk on Remnant? I guess so." Tanya chuckled. "But let's just move on from all the depressing stuff, okay? There are some long hours ahead of us and I'd prefer not to mope through all of 'em."

"'-I'm sorry but you suffer from a terminal illness and have only ten to live'. The patients says, all freaking out: 'What do you mean "ten," doc?! Months? Weeks? Days?!' And the doctor goes: 'Ten... Nine...'"

The cabin exploded with laughter.

In the past few hours, members of team TNDR were telling jokes just to distract themselves from the long and boring flight to Menagerie... or whatever awaited them there. If the pilots were annoyed by the noise coming from behind them, they didn't show it.

"Alright, it's your turn now." Roland said in between laughs. "I'm running out of jokes."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot!" Tanya chirped happily. "So... Two elephants meet a completely naked guy. They watch him for a while and then one says: 'Dude, I don't get how he can feed himself with that thing!'"

A moment of silence... then the audience started roaring with laughter once the punchline sank in.

"We're starting out strong here!" Nicolaus chortled.

As for Roland, the gunman was torn between laughing his head off and gagging at the few really dirty mental images the joke conjured.

That kind of feat was physically impossible unless you were a contortionist... or really well endowed down there.

"Like it? 'Cause I got more of 'em!" She smirked. "Here's another one: What's the difference between a paycheck and a penis?"

"What?!" Emery spluttered.

Roland chuckled. "I'll bite; what's the difference?"

"You don't need to beg your wife to blow your paycheck!"

While Roland and Nicolaus guffawed loudly, clutching their stomachs, Emery only stared, shrugging helplessly. "I don't see what's so funny about that."

And laughter suddenly died down.

The rest of the team sat there in silence, exchanging awkward glances until Tanya spoke up. "Emery, are you at all familiar with the concept of sex?"

"Of course I am!" Emery stammered out with a massive blush. "I- I mean, they mentioned it a few times during classes; that it's where babies come from and stuff, that some people actually enjoy it and-"

"A lot of people, actually." The team leader sighed. At least she wouldn't have to give him 'the talk.'

"But I still don't get the joke." The giant blonde frowned.

Roland got up from his seat and approached him. "I'm gonna explain, just don't freak out 'cause it involves stuff that's pretty much indecent."

For a while, the other two students simply watched as the rifleman whispered something into Emery's ear. At first, he simply frowned in confusion... then suddenly his eyes popped open and the blush on his face deepened.

"THAT'S REALLY A THING?!" The rest of them cringed at the sheer loudness of Emery's voice.

"Yes, it is." Tanya replied simply.

"That sounds really gross." Emery grimaced. "I don't get how anyone could like that, especially girls."

"You'd be surprised but guys usually do. And most girls, too; it's a real turn on for both of them." Roland chimed in. Of course, he wouldn't tell him that his knowledge came from watching numerous porn flicks he'd watched. Yep, raging teenage hormones and all that.

"And that's just one of many sexual fetishes, for your information." Tanya added with a saucy smirk.

"Alright, let's move on." Nicolaus butted in. "Don't traumatize the poor guy any more, please."

He didn't notice the rather cross look from his partner.

"I've got a few jokes, too. Don't know if they're any good but here we go." The fox Faunus continued. "'You da bomb!' 'No, you da bomb!' In Atlas it's a compliment. In White Fang base it's an argument."

At first, his teammates stared at him.

Then Roland started chortling loudly, infecting everyone else, and shortly the whole team was roaring with laughter.

"Oh my God, that's horrible!" Tanya giggled helplessly. "I like that!"

"Ren would've loved that one!" Roland concurred, referring Ren's rather dark sense of humor.

"This was less of a joke and more of a real-life experience." Nicolaus said flatly, and the laughing doubled in intensity.

"You know, I find it pretty damn amazing that you can joke about stuff like that, being an ex-White Fang and all that." Roland pointed out.

Before the fox Faunus could answer, the red light in the cabin suddenly went off.

The good mood evaporated in moments. "Well shit, looks like the fun times are over." Tanya grumbled and headed to the pilot cabin. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that things were about to go wrong... and the crew's behavior only seemed to confirm that.

The pilots were no longer relaxed, sitting ramrod straight in their seats and their eyes glued to the instrument panel and the green screen of the radar where a suspicious blob flickered in and out of existence.

"What's going on?" Tanya asked.

"Sensors picked up a suspicious anomaly a while ago." The man with a commander's insignia spoke up, not taking his eyes off the indicators. "About a mile ahead of us, to the south. It seems to be moving in circles."

"Maybe something's messing with our sensors?" The co-pilot offered.

"And what could that be? We're above an open sea, there's literally nothing out there-" Tanya suddenly cut herself off when she noticed a dot appearing on the radar's screen. "What's that?"

"Looks like a vessel, a passenger ship most likely." The navigator answered. "Seems to be heading the same way we are."

"Still, I don't like that... blur thing." The girl frowned. "The way it moves around, like if searching for something..."

"Think it might be a Grimm?" The commander questioned.

"It very well might be," She replied. "Nothing's safe from them, not even oceans."

"We're getting a transmission from the nearby passenger ship!" The co-pilot suddenly exclaimed. "Sir, I think you should hear this." He flicked a switch on the instrument board and a male frantic voice resounded through the cockpit.

"- we need assistance! I repeat, this is MV Selkie! We are being under attack by a Sea Feilong! Our on-board weaponry has little effect. Our ship has suffered hull breach in section 3 and is in danger of sinking! We cannot hold out much longer without assistance! Someone! Anyone, please respond!"

"That sounds urgent..." The navigator remarked. No shit, Captain Obvious, Tanya thought to herself.

"What do we do, sir?"

The commander frowned heavily. "Our own weapons won't do much against something that big."

"Perhaps we could distract it-"

"No! I won't risk our airship fighting a losing battle." The commander immediately shot down the navigator's idea. "Close the channel; let's hope anyone else heard the message."

"Sir?" The co-pilot looked at him questioningly.

"So you're leaving those people to die?" Tanya demanded, outraged by his order. "Are you serious?!"

There were loud footsteps coming from the passenger space. Moments later, Nicolaus and Roland entered the cockpit. That many people made the already small space feel cramped. "What's going on?" The gunman asked.

"There's a ship nearby being attacked by a sea Grimm and those assholes want to ignore it!" Tanya spat out heatedly.

"Look, I have my orders!" The commander protested. "I'm supposed to get you to Menagerie and that's precisely what I intend to do; nothing more and nothing less!"

No one seemed to buy his argument, though.

"So orders are more important than doing the right thing?" Roland snapped back, his expression one of disgust. "Is this what we should expect from you soldiers?"

"I'm in charge here! My bird, my rules!" The commander roared in anger. "And I say I won't put this aircraft and its crew at risk by playing a hero!"

"Do you think you can live with yourself knowing you could've done something to avoid a disaster yet you didn't?" Nicolaus remarked, casting a cold glare at the Atlesian airman.

The commander was prepared to argue back but Tanya stepped forward and grabbed the collar of his uniform. "I've had enough of this bullshit!" She snarled viciously. "You're turning this flying tin can around right now or so help me-"

"MV Selkie here; we're under attack and suffering heavy damage! Does anyone hear us?!" There was a cracking sound coming from the transmitter. The voice then came back. "Listen, that thing out there has knocked out half of our guns and is snatching my men off the ship without pause! I dunno if anyone hears this trasmission but if you don't do something, we're all gonna die!"

A second passed. Then another... though in the given situation, it might as well have been an eternity.

Then the Humpback suddenly tilted to the right, making a sharp turn.

"Setting new course; vector two-five-zero, altitude zero-one-zero." The co-pilot reported, staring dead ahead and refusing to look at his superior who glowered at him with thinly veiled fury.

The navigator only shrugged and pressed a button on the radio. "We read you, MV Selkie, this is C77 of Atlesian Army, designation Sierra-four-seven-nine-dash-two. We'll provide assistance as best as we can. Over."

The commander was grinding his teeth. "You realize I can have both of you court-martialed, don't you? This is insubordination!"

"I'm well aware, sir." Co-pilot stated flatly. "I've made my decision and I'll deal with the consequences."

The commander stared at him, fuming quietly. Then he stood up. "You want to get all of us killed? Fine! But I won't let this slide." He snapped. "If we survive this, you can kiss your military career goodbye!" Shouldering his way past the Beacon students, he growled at their leader. "You got what you wanted, you damn brats! Well, go off and play heroes; I'll be watching with great interest how you handle this!"

"Gladly." Tanya said in a cold voice before turning to her teammates. "Get your weapons, boys; we got work to do."

It only took several seconds since the co-pilot's fateful decision before the attacked ship was in sight. A large dark serpent-like shape was circling around, deftly evading fire coming from the vessel and lashing out on its own, wreaking havoc among the ship's crew. As the Humpback approached the scene, the reptilian Grimm's short forelimbs and pair of wings on its back came into view. So the damn thing likely could fly as well...

It didn't take a genius to realize that this was going to be a tough fight.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Roland questioned, frowning heavily as he watched the enormous monster, a strange hybrid of a snake and a dragon.

"We need to draw it away from the ship before it does even more damage." Tanya stated. "That thing looks pretty agile but I bet something as big can't outmaneuver this airship."

"What about its wings?" Nicolaus pointed out. "It might pursue us in air."

"Maybe but look at the size of them and compare it to its body mass." The leader argued. "It won't be able to keep itself airborne for long. Our Humpback still could fly circles around that thing!"

"Does this thing have any onboard guns?" Roland asked the co-pilot.

"This version of Humpback has two remotely controlled gun turrets, a dorsal one right behind the cockpit and another installed on the tail's underside. Both are armed with twin 20 mm auto-cannons."

"Hmm... sounds like just the thing to grab the beast's attention." Tanya mused. "Alright, here's what we do. Our helmsman can fly us around the Feilong, just stay out of its reach." The co-pilot nodded curtly. "We should also remain in contact with Selkie, tell them to keep firing at the damn thing while we distract it."

"Got it!" The crewman in question called out.

"Emery, you should man the guns 'cause I'll need Gunny for something else. Think you can handle it?"

Emery looked a little unsure but agreed nevertheless. "Haven't done something like that but I'll try my best." He said. "Somebody just give me some pointers and I'll figure it out."

"Get to it, then." Tanya replied. "The sooner you get a handle of that, the better."

The navigator stood up from his station and led Emery to a small console with a joystick and a few switches, placed at the very back of the pilot cabin.

"What do you need me to do, Tan?" Roland asked while the navigator was tutoring their newest gunner.

"Head down to the cargo bay; out of all of us here, you're the best shot and also the only one who carries heavy firepower. I need you to find a chink in that big bastard's hide and hit is as hard as you can."

"Got it." The sharpshooter nodded with a look of determination.

"What about the two of us?" Nicolaus questioned. "What are we gonna do?"

"Don't worry, Nick; we'll get our chance at taking that beast down, with a bit of luck." The team leader grinned. "If it gets close enough, we can jump onto it and take it down up close and personal... just the way we like it."

"Looks like I'll have to prepared to fish you out of the water, just in case." The co-pilot remarked. "There might be other Grimm nearby."

"Thanks for the headsup; we'll be careful." Tanya then addressed her teammates. "You all know what to do? Then let's get to work!" She marched out of the cockpit and headed to the cargo hold, Nicolaus and Roland striding after her. On the way down, they met the commander who sat on one of the passenger's seats, refusing to look at any of them. It seemed that Tanya hit a nerve by second-guessing him aboard his airship; in the current situation, she couldn't care less. There was a beast out there waiting to be slain.

The Sea Feilong was circling the wounded MV Selkie, preparing to deal yet another devastating blow. It stopped abruptly when a hail of bullets came from nowhere and began pelting its thick hide. The beast turned its head towards the intruder with a low growl.

A large flying contraption was coming at him at full speed, its gun turrets trained forward. The Grimm made a move to attack but another salvo interrupted it. The bullets bounced harmlessly off its bony cranial armor but still succeeded in drawing its attention.

Back aboard the Humpback, Emery grinned. "Uh-oh, it's looking right at us... and it's mad as hell!"

"That's exactly what we need!" Tanya's voice blared from the radio. "Let's draw it away from the ship!"

The co-pilot jerked the control stick to the right. The Humpback responded quickly, executing a sharp turn, away from the Grimm that was again on the move.

Down in the cargo bay, team TNDR minus Emery watched the Sea Feilong rise from the water, its wings splayed wide as it prepared to take off. The airship was now relatively close so they could see the scaly hide, semi-transparent membrane of its wings, armored underbelly, sharp spines on its back and a double row of red, slightly glowing gills running down its neck to its forelimbs.

The Feilong went right after the Humpback, finding it a more interesting prey.

"It's fast," Roland mumbled, watching the large foe through his rifle's scope. "Faster than I thought."

The Grimm had its long narrow body entirely out of the water and was now gaining on the airship.

Emery opened fire from the rear turret. With unexpected agility, the Feilong evaded most of the shots and those that hit barely did any damage. The salvo did seem to slow it down slightly.

There was a flash and a couple of white-hot streaks crossed the Grimm's flying path, causing it to swerve to the side.

"What was that?" Nicolaus roared, surprised by the unexpected ocurrence. Tanya replied by pointing towards the nearby vessel.

MV Selkie was in a visibly bad shape. The damaged ship had developed a slight list to the starboard, the side that suffered much damage. Many hull plates were cracked or bent out of place and there was a large crack in the ship's forward portion, running right through the gun deck and disappearing below the water level. Most guns on the starboard side were destroyed, leaving only a handful still functioning.

If the co-pilot didn't make the decision to go against the commander's orders, Selkie would be doomed.

The Feilong recovered from Selkie's surprise salvo and once again gave chase to the airship. "Damn it, it's catching up!" Tanya cursed, seeing how quickly the distance between the Grimm and the Humpback closed. Not even gunfire from the aircraft's rear turret deterred it from pursuing. "Gun it!"

"Understood; increasing speed to one hundred percent!" Back in the cockpit, the co-pilot pushed the throttle forward, increasing the engines' power.

"Sierra-four-seven-nine-dash-two to MV Selkie, how are you holding up?" Navigator spoke into the radio.

"A lot better now that you've drawn the most of the heat!" Selkie's captain responded. "I've had my crew do some emergency repairs, like getting the heavy cannon working again!"

"What's your vessel's status?"

"All our pumps are working at full blast; we're managing to keep this tub afloat, but only just! Engines are undamaged for now but we've got a lot of wounded on board, mostly crew and some passengers! Worse is, that the Feilong managed to take out half of our guns, and we're sitting ducks with no weapons!"

"Understood, MV Selkie. Keep us updated on your status; we'll take care of things on our end." The navigator replied.

Sitting at the gunner panel, Emery kept pelting the Feilong with bullets, despite little effect of the gunfire. The monster suddenly slowed down, which was very unlike its previous zealous attempts at catching the airship... and Emery didn't like it. "What is it doing?"

His question was answered when the Feilong opened its jaws wide, showing rows of razor sharp teeth... and an ominous glow at the back of its throat.

Could it be... but that's only if fairytales, right?

Emery had no idea if that was true, but he wasn't about to wait to find out.

"Dodge! Quickly, now!"

The co-pilot was surprised at the sudden, alarmed cry. But he still did as he was told.

The Humpback swerved to the left so sharply that the students in the cargo hold were nearly knocked off their feet. Still, it wasn't quite fast enough to evade a huge blinding flash of electricity that whizzed past, taking the tip of the right wing with it.

"Woah! What the fuck was that?!" The co-pilot swore, his cool demeanor gone in an instant.

"Lightning bolt!" Roland screamed incredulously, peering out of the cargo hold at the still pursuing Feilong. "That fucker's just shot a lightning bolt at us!"

"We need to end this quickly!" Tanya snarled, drawing her sabers. "Bring us closer to that thing!"

"Got it, ma'am!" Came a clipped reply from the cockpit.

"Gunny, give that big bastard a solid salvo, right where it hurts!"

Without a word, Roland knelt down and whipped up his rifle, taking aim at the pursuing Grimm. Unfortunately, his target was about to vanish from the view, provided by open cargo door. "Shit! I need a better angle, Skipper!"

Tanya nodded and barked into the radio. "I need you to turn left, now!"

There was no reply but there was a tell-tale tilt as the Humpback changed direction again.

The Feilong came back into view.

The flight seemed to exhaust the beast because it had landed back in the sea, over half of its body hidden underwater. It didn't make it any less dangerous as it still could shock them, literally. Roland quickly took aim; he had only a precious few seconds to take the shot.

Where should I aim? Those gills on its neck? Or should I try my luck at its fuck-ugly mug?

The damn thing wasn't opening its mouth anytime soon, so the next course of action was obvious.

Pumping the firing chamber full of Fire Dust, Roland trained his gun at one of the narrow slits of red flesh and fired. The cargo bay was instantly filled with reddish grey smoke for a few moments. Visible even at that great distance, a white streak of burning metal fused with Dust zipped towards the aquatic Grimm.

Come on, get in there...

The Feilong roared loudly as the bullet struck home, passing through the narrow opening and exploding inside its throat. The monster stopped in place, thrashing around in agonizing pain.

There was no time to celebrate yet, however. "That thing's still far from done." Tanya stated with a feral smirk. "Looks like we'll have to finish it off ourselves." She spoke into the radio. "Okay, we need you to drop us right on top of that big sonuvabitch! Be prepared to pick us up once it's dead!"

"You guys are nuts... but have it your way!"

The leader turned to Nicolaus. "You ready for this, buddy?"

"Aren't I always?" The fox Faunus grinned back.

The Humpback rapidly approached the wounded Grimm that only now noticed them coming. Tanya and Nicolaus stood at the cargo door, guns out and ready to leap out.

Suddenly an explosion rang out close by, accompanied by a bright flash... and in the following moment the Feilong's head exploded in a shower of Grimm bodily fluids and fragments of bone armor. Few seconds later, the airship flew past a huge headless carcass dissolving into black dust as it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

The hunters in training were stupefied by the shocking turn of events, wondering quietly what the heck just happened. That is, until they noticed MV Selkie again; on the ship's bow, right where there was nothing mere minutes ago, was a turret with a single long-barelled large-caliber cannon poking out.

"That was... anticlimatic." Roland spoke after a few seconds of silence.

"Not that I'm not glad the sucker's dead..." Tanya drawled. "But I kinda expected... more, I guess." No one disputed that.

Up in the cockpit, the tension in the air dissipated. "Well, that happened." Emery remarked and stepped away from the console.

"MV Selkie, the hostile had been eliminated." The navigator reported. "Do you need any further assistance?"

"I think we can handle things from here now that the Feilong's dead!" Selkie's captain answered happily. "We've just received a message from a Mistralian patrol cruiser nearby, looks like they heard our distress call and they're sailing to us at full speed as we speak. They offered to help us with repairs, wounded and the like, and I know better than to refuse them! Thanks again for the assistance!"

"Don't mention it, MV Selkie. Sierra-four-seven-nine-dash-two out." With that, the navigator ended the transmission.

A while later, the rest of team TNDR made it to the cockpit. Albeit a bit shaken from the shoot-out, they were positively beaming with pride at their accomplishment.

"Alright, looks like we've survived our suicidal run; you're free to celebrate however you want." The co-pilot joked. "Setting new course: vector one-two-five, altitude zero-one-zero. Next stop: Kuo Kuana, Menagerie."

After the brief fight with the Feilong, things went back to normal which really meant 'exhausting, soul-crushing boredom,' notwithstanding yet another small altercation between the still angry commander and his subordinates. Apparently, killing the large sea Grimm couldn't make up for the damage to the Humpback, which was luckily relatively minor. It took a few minutes, filled with arguing and various threats before the commander calmed down enough to take his place in the pilot's seat. As for the hunters in traning, the airman flat out refused to acknowledge their presence... and honestly, they were fine with that.

They spent the next couple hours chatting casually before the night descended upon the ocean below their airship. Fatigue had started setting in so they unanimously decided to get some rest; what else was there to do in the dead of night? Hopefully, nothing bad would happen.

The long flight combined with the Feilong incident wore them out more than they thought because they ended up sleeping through the entire night and most of the morning. When they finally woke up the on-board clock showed a couple minutes past ten.

An hour later, the entire team was gathered in the pilot cabin.

"How long until we arrive?" Nicolaus questioned.

"At this speed? One hour at most, probably less." The co-pilot answered readily since his superior was intent on ignoring them.

"That's great!" Roland exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm. "I was climbing up walls in here."

"I can see land, finally!" Emery pointed at a colorful smear rising from the water encompassing everything below the horizon; a bit of green mixed with a copious amount of dull yellow and the brown on hills far in the distance.

This was Menagerie... and from up there it looked like a beautiful place.

"That's quite a view." Tanya said, taking in the view of the large isle before them. "It would be perfect if it weren't for that one damn cloud over the coast."

"That's not a cloud."

Every eye in the cockpit rested on the commander. "What did you say?" Nicolaus questioned, not expecting him to speak at all.

"I said it ain't a cloud." The commander explained. "Look how dark it is."

"Looks like smoke rising from the ground." The co-pilot added, narrowing his eyes at the dark plume. "Could it be a forest fire or something...?"

"Speed up!" Tanya suddenly said. "We need to get there as quick as possible!"

Her teammates exchanged worried glances.

"Last I checked, I was in charge around here-" The commander started protesting but she cut him off.

"We don't have time for this! Just get us there now!"

"What's gotten into you?" Roland questioned, taken aback by the sudden change in her behavior.

His voice seemed to snap her out of her frenzied state. "Look, I- Damn it, I wanna be wrong about this but-" She rambled just as the aircraft started accelerating. "You remember Goodwitch saying that the Talon might try and take over Menagerie?"

Nicolaus was the first to catch on. "You think it's happening right now?" He said, his expression grim.

Tanya responded with a curt nod. "Get your weapons, boys; we're gonna need them."

Author's note: Welp, looks like shit has just hit the fan. It's gonna be a tough few days for team TNDR.

To blackshadow340: Ask and you shall receive :-) Yang's got many nicknames; Firecracker is from Drunkle Qrow, Sunshine is from her boyfriend... and some boys in and out of school call her Jugs, for obvious reasons (he he). Don't let her catch you say that, though!

As always, thanks for reading, review, favorite or follow; compliments and/or critique always welcome :-)