Take a wild guess as to where Mike woke up at. Yeah, the void. He groaned in annoyance.
"Okay, Monty! You better explain something," Mike called out. "Nothing, huh. Fine, this better be good." Don't get him wrong, he appreciated the firepower, but it was the why that was bothering him.
Mike walked to a light, and the light led to a circle of four pedestals. The far left was a bottle with a rag sticking out of it. The bottle was filled with alcohol or a highly flammable liquid. The next was of a monkey in a blue uniform and hat. In its hands were cymbals. It had C4 explosives on its back with a wind up on the side. The third was a platform with a switch and two lights. The lights were red and green, with the switch being pointed to the red. The platform had an elevation to it and was topped off with a construction tape paint job. The final was a Russian Nesting Doll, a Matryoshka, with a hidden surprise. Mike picked up the RND and it disappeared.
Mike turned around and the world changed. This time, it was of weapons. Not your everyday weapons, however, but of weapons that required Element 115 to even be built. Mike saw the selection, but stopped on a bolt action sniper rifle. It had the scope attached to the gun by being welded. He held the familiar weapon. Mike turned around again, and a light took him.
Mike woke up, his breath uneasy. He looked around. It was still night. According to his scroll, it was 1:10 am, so he had a few hours until everyone else would be active. He looked to the others, and saw they were sound asleep.
"Here we go again," Ian said in his sleep. "Looks like someone has been here already," Ian said again.
'He must be talking in his sleep. So, we all must be separated now. Must be because of the Wonder Weapons,' Mike thought. He stood up and made his way outside, not making a sound.
He made his way to the courtyard where he met Jaune. He was all alone, which was fine by him, he needed to think. He sat down on the stairs, feeling the night wind pass his face. He looked to the moon, broken in pieces. It reminded him of what he had to do at Der Eisendrache Facility. He remembered watching the rockets fly from the hidden 935 base to the moon, known as Gryphon Station. It was the only way to secure Dempsey's soul. It broke his heart, watching one of his two friends from the 1.0 crew die alone. Mike blinked, to remove the tears from his eyes. He didn't need to relive that again. He then focused on the sphere in front of him.
"What happened?" Mike asked nobody.
"Nobody knows,' Mike heard from behind him. In a split second, Mike was preparing Redeemer and had turned around. It was Professor Ozpin. Mike dropped the axe and it reentered him.
"Please, do not do that," Mike told him, "Also, what do you mean nobody knows? I thought they would have written it down."
"No, the moon was fractured before recorded history, before humanity came into existence," The elder explained.
"This makes sense, but something doesn't feel right. I think it is because of the dreams," Mike muttered.
"What dreams?"
"It's dreams of us getting weapons and perks. I thought we would be finished, because we have five perks and three upgraded weapons. However, I just had one earlier. I received a Wonder Weapon. They are a type of weapons that only works because of 115, at least in my old world. An example would be the Ray Gun. Those cells Ian gave you would power it and make it a weapon. Without them, it is about as useless as the boards on the windows," Mike laughed softly, even though he wished the planks that kept the zombies out lasted longer than ten seconds.
"What do you suppose Dr. Monty is resupplying you for?"
"I, I don't know. My best guess would be those robbers, but mainly that one woman. This whole thing is giving me a headache."
"I suppose the castle was built there for a reason?" Ozpin asked out of the blue.
"Do you mean Der Eisendrache? From what Monty and Ian told me, when Primus won the first Great War, they told the Wolf King to build his castle there. You know who Primus is, so there is no surprise as to why it is there. Later, he was killed and buried around the castle, his dogs with him until the end. Their spirits were still in the skeletons of the dogs, so that one day, the pieces of the king could be brought together and reward the person who reunited them with a bow that was infused with the wolves' spirits. That is where the Wolf Bow Dempsey and I used during our time in Der Eisendrache came from. From there, we can obtain Dempsey's soul and move on, until the universe resets and they go back as Primus, completing the cycle," Mike told him.
"I suppose that with everything, there is a story attached to it," the Headmaster told him.
"I guess so," Mike said.
"I would make sure you are ready for the task at hand later in the morning. You might not need sleep, but make sure you are ready for anything. I will see you at initiation, Mr. Woods," The Headmaster finished, leaving Mike to himself.
"I guess rest can't hurt," Mike stood at the doorway of the ballroom, not able to see a thing. He could make his way out because of the light the door gave him a notable place to go, while his jacket had nothing. Heck, he couldn't tell if he was on the guys' or girls' side.
'I guess that's out of the window. Plan B, then,' Mike thought, leaving the doorway and heading to the locker room. 'Might as well check ammo.'
When he arrived, not a soul was present. Mike made his way to his locker, and opened it with his Scroll. Inside was his weapons, all inside of his bag, and his second pair of clothes. Mike took the bag and checked the ammo. The Twins were running dry, and Skullcrusher was not at 100%. However, the grenade launcher ammo count seemed to be full. Anarchy was almost full, besides the four rockets he fired yesterday. Finally was his last gun, the sniper rifle. He knew the name well, Scavenger. Mike checked the chamber, it had a special shot. Unlike the other guns his teammates has, this one fired special bolts that would stick to surfaces or the enemy, if his aim was spot on, and then explode after a few seconds. He ejected the clip and saw two other shots. From searching the bag, he found five spare clips.
"That, is what I'm talking about," Mike told himself. He took out the Bowie knife and practiced some slices and lunges. Afterwards, he placed everything into the bag and grabbed his clothes. Mike made his way to the showers, ready for whatever this world had in store.
Ian woke up, slightly sore. It was morning, and everyone else was starting to wake up. He saw the others were starting to wake up as well. Mike was missing from the group.
"Where is he?" Ian asked. Malik and Sam finally recovered from their grogginess and asked the same question. "We should head to the lockers. If I had to bet, he would be near that area," Ian told his group as they made their way to the lockers. Ian made sure to get his jacket. When they arrived, they saw Mike leaning on his locker, eyes closed.
"Should we wake him?" Malik asked.
"I'm already awake. I was waiting on you three," Mike told them, getting off of the locker and looking at them. Ian tossed him his jacket. "I was just resting my eyes. And thanks."
"So, what are you doing here?" Sam asked as they slipped their bags on.
"After I got the Scavenger, I saw a bright light and it woke me up. I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. I just decided to wait here for you guys," Mike told them.
"Wait, so you woke up before us, and on your own?" Ian asked.
"Yeah."
"I didn't see a light, so I think it was just for you," Ian thought, with Sam and Malik nodding. "Maybe Dr. Monty used you to see where he could get the 115 replacement for the entire gun. I guess it doesn't matter."
"Yeah, so what did you three got. I got the Scavenger, like I said before, and the Matryoshka doll," Mike told them. He fixed his handheld explosives so the grenades would be on the inside of his jacket, and the dolls on his belt.
"I have the Gersh Device and the Wunderwaffe DG-2," Ian told them. He held the platform and a fourth gun.
"I got the Monkey Bombs and the Mark 2," Malik said, showing the monkey with C4 and the third Wonder Weapon.
"Okay, I have Molotovs and the GKZ with the MK3," Sam finished, holding the bottles and two guns.
First was Ian, who held the Wunderwaffe DG-2, or just Wunderwaffe. It was an old fashioned, yet futuristic, gun, with a metal frame. It had wires coming out of it and a wood stock. It had a red switch on the left side, right if you were on the wrong side of it. The switch was up, and was next to it was three bulbs, glowing yellow. Ian counted the other bulbs, making 15 spare shots, just like Mike with the Scavenger.
Then there was Malik and the Mark 2. It was the Mark 2 variant of the Ray Gun, but it was a whole other beast entirely. The Mark 2 had a red paint job and had glowing 115 on the sides. It was about the size of an SMG, requiring two hands to fire accurately, but had the weight and mobility of a pistol, meaning a person could one hand it if necessary. The clip was in the back, and held 21 shots. Mike knew that it was a burst, so he could only fire it seven times before he has to reload. Malik showed him the clips, each having 21 shots. There were eight in total, making the reserve 168.
Finally was Sam, with the dual wield weapons. There was the gun in her left hand, which was a metal gun-like object. It had a flat surface for where the shot would come out. The other was more of a gun. It was metal as well, but it had a barrel. In terms of reload, the weapons were connected to a battery that was on Sam's person. The battery would charge the guns' systems by moving them a certain way. The left gun, the GZK-45, only takes three energy, The other, the MK3, holds 15 energy. For ammo, there was a total of 158 shots in reserve, as one shot is equal to one energy for both. The MK3 was, in simplistic terms, a semi automatic, weaker version of the Mark 2.
"Alright, let's load up," Ian told them. Mike saw Ruby and Yang enter, with the former being a lot more cheerful.
"You seem a bit happier," Mike told her.
"Yeah, no more awkward small talk and 'getting to know you' stuff. Today, I let my baby do the talking," She said, holding her weapon like a baby.
"What about when they assign teams?" Yang asked.
"I don't know. I guess I'll be on your team," Ruby replied.
"I think you should be on somebody else's team," the older sister replied.
"My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that you don't want to be on my team?" Ruby asked, approaching her sister.
"No, I just think you need to break out of your shell," Yang replied, clearly stretching for an answer that will not hurt her.
"What do you mean break out of my shell? That is absolutely-"
"-Ridiculous," Jaune finished. He was looking for something, probably his locker.
Mike left the two girls to check his clips one last time. Malik had already gone to talk to Jaune. He saw Ian replace the padding for his ballistic vest. He then placed the damaged padding into his locker. Mike started to walk to the exit, ignoring the loud thunk coming from behind him. He passed a guy and a girl. The guy was about as tall as Ian and had green clothes that looked old fashioned and traditional with white pants. His hair was black with the exception of a pink sliver. The other was wearing a pink skirt, a white top, and had orange hair. She was taller than Ruby and Weiss, but not as tall as Sam.
"We should have a call, so we can find each other. Can you imitate a sloth?" The orange haired one asked in a hyperactive tone.
"Nora?" The guy asked in a tone that said he was the Yin to her Yang.
"Yes Ren?"
"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise," Ren told her.
"That's why it's perfect!" Nora said, excited, "Nobody will know that we're working together. Well, not 'together' together."
"I believe he will know," Ren said, directing her attention to Mike, who was watching them. Nora walked up to him, a serious look on her face.
"You will say nothing of this," She told him.
"Y-yeah, I promise," Mike said. She accepted this, and started to walk back to Ren. He shivered as she walked away.
He made his way around a corner and bumped into somebody. It was a girl, in spartan armor, that was a bronze gold. She had a spear and a shield on her back. Her hair was a red ponytail. She had a circlet of the same color.
"Sorry," the two said at the same time.
"It's alright, I'm Mike. Who are you?"Mike asked first.
"I am Pyrrha Nikos. Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'll live, don't worry," Mike told her, nonchalantly.
"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately," The two heard Goodwitch announce over the intercom.
"I guess that's us. Good luck," Mike told her.
"It was nice meeting you," Pyrrha told him as Mike followed the rest of the first years.
"Alright, let's give them a show of what we can really do," Mike told his friends through their earpieces.
"Remember, conserve your rounds. Don't go Rambo unless there is a large threat," Ian told them.
"So, we can't shoot 50 rounds at one thing?" Sam asked.
"Unless it's really, really big."
"Okay, stay safe and stay alive," Malik told them.
"Will do, Gomer Pyle," Mike joked in a traditional military voice, as the others laughed.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin told the freshmen as they stood on platforms overlooking a cliff, his coffee mug in hand. Mike and Ian were on the far right, next to Yang, Ruby and Jaune, who was the closest. Malik and Sam were close to the middle, but left of the midway point.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Goodwitch said, holding a tablet or scroll. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates today." Mike heard Ruby make a scared groan.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin said. Ruby made a scared groan again. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Mike could almost hear Ruby break at that point.
"What!?" He heard her shout.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ozpin finished.
'Okay, I need to try to find people I know. If that fails, then I'll just head to the temple and hold out. Hopefully it isn't like Shangri-La. I hated that place,' Ian thought, remembering the hidden temple. It was filled with death traps, like spikes coming from the ground.
"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune asked, his hand raised.
"Good. Now, take your positions," Ozpin said, ignoring the Arc. Everyone had their weapons ready, with the exception of Mike and Jaune. The former was acting like it was a casual Friday, while the latter still had his hand raised.
"So, this landing strategy thing, uh, what is it?" Jaune asked. As he did, students got send flying by being catapulted from the platforms. "You're, like, dropping us off off something?" Malik was sent to the air, followed by Sam a few seconds later.
"No, you will be falling," The headmaster answered. More and more were sent flying.
"Oh, I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune asked, as Nora was sent to the forest.
"No, you will be using your own landing strategy," The headmaster replied, as the guy next to Yang was fired. Yang winked at Ruby before putting on aviator sunglasses. She was sent in a split second later, followed by Ruby.
"So, um, what exactly is a landing strate-" He was launched, before he could finished.
"Let's rock and roll!" Mike called out as he was sent flying. As the wind passed his face, he did nothing. Why should he? He can, hypothetically, fall from the moon and survive, so why should he bother trying to stop his descent? Ian, however…
"Crap!" He called out, flying through the sky. He didn't have a plan to get out of this. Mike was too far away to be reached and he didn't have a perk that made falling do nothing. The only reason Mike was so chill was because of Ph.D.
'Okay, breathe. You can find a way out of this,' Ian thought. The thought came up blank as Ian started to breathe faster and faster as the ground grew closer and closer. 'Is, is this it? After killing the Harbinger of Doom, I die because of falling!' He thought, before closing his eyes. 'Irony's a bitch,' He thought, as he accepted his fate.
"Finally, this bastard's dead," Ian opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a battlefield. The ground was a mixture of mud, snow, and blood. In front of him was Mike and… himself?! Ian looked down and saw he was translucent. In front of the three was a dark grey metal suit, with a zombified man inside. It was on the ground, with bullet holes covering it. On the right hand was a flamethrower, while the left had a claw hand. The suit was a dark grey. Ian knew where he was.
He was back in France, and he was looking at a Panzer Soldat.
"Watch it," Other Ian said. The suit's power source exploded, but the suit remained intact.
"Thanks. Ya know something? I wonder what it would be like to be in that thing. You get a flamethrower, claw hand and a Goddamn jetpack!" Other Mike said.
"Yeah, if only," Other Ian said. The two were interrupted by a familiar German.
"What are you two doing? Have you turned Generator 5 back online?" Richtofen asked them. Even though Ian could not see him, he knew who it was.
Ian approached the suit and touched it. The world shifted to a complete void. As Ian turned to see if the rest shifted as well, he was greeted with a logo. It was the logo of the group that tried to harness 115 for their twisted objectives.
It was the logo of Group 935.
Ian knew that logo anywhere, especially the numbers 935 in the center. He saw the gears in the back, with an atom. The 935 was the actual atom. Ian punched the logo, causing a large crack to form from the top left to the bottom right. It went straight through the 3 as well. A bright light flashed him as he returned to reality.
His decent stopped. He heard thrusters behind him. He looked at his right hand and saw a flamethrower! His left was a claw! He took deep breaths, as he thought of going down. The thrusters' power weakened as he descended to the forest. He couldn't believe this, his was a Panzer! He calmed himself as he remembered where Mike landed. Ian took off to get to him.
Sam was in freefall, with Malik close by. She was sure he had no idea on how to land.
"Malik, you have a plan?!" She asked as she drifted to him. She knew how to control where she was going, and so did he.
"Not a thing! Do you have anything?!" He asked back.
"Maybe, you did say you had the Mark 2, right!?" She asked, as the ground grew closer.
"Yeah, why?!" He asked back, as the two drifted closer to each other.
"Get the Mark 2 out and let me on your back!" Malik did what was told, letting Sam on his back. "Okay, now fire at the trees! The recoil will slow us down! I'll use the GZK as well!" Sam said, taking out the gun with the flat surface.
When Malik fired, three blasts of Weaponised 115, it glowed an ominous green, would be sent out, and the user will be sent back. The GZK fired a large, orange ball of energy that slowed down whatever hit it. However, it would take time for the shot to come out, as it had to build up for a second. As the two were flying, their guns helped them slow down a little bit. The two saw a clearing ahead.
"Brace for impact!" Sam yelled as she fired one last shot.
She placed the gun away as she her hands in front of her, to catch her fall. Malik did the same as he fired the last three rounds. The two landed with a thud, as Sam rolled off of Malik and landed on her back.
"That, really hurt," Sam groaned.
"At least we're still in one piece," Malik told her. The two picked themselves up, and looked each other in the eyes.
"Hello, partner," Sam said with a joking cowboy accent.
"Hey. So, what do we do?" Malik asked. The two heard explosions in the distance.
"Follow them and hope it's Mike," Sam told him, as the two ran off in the direction of the blasts.
Mike landed on his feet. If he was being honest, he didn't know how the perks work, but he knew that if he asked it would hurt his head. He decided to wait things out, and try to find someone. Then, he heard footsteps. Loud, metallic footsteps. Footsteps that were all to familiar to him. He looked at the darkness of the forest, the Twins ready to fire. Out of the woods was an old foe. The Panzer Soldat.
"Why are you always following me?! You know what?! Fuck you! I've had it with you guys following us!" Mike yelled, before aiming at the Panzer. It held its hands in front of it, as if to say 'don't shoot.' Mike wasn't buying it. "Nice try, asshole!" Before Mike fired, he saw the Panzer lift its claw hand to its face and remove the metal on the headpiece. Inside was Ian. "What the fuck?" Mike asked. Ian took a deep breath and the suit turned into visible light and entered him.
"That is my semblance, I become a Panzer," Ian said, short of breath.
"Oh, sorry," Mike said, scratching the back of his head, "We should probably go, do you have any idea on where we should head?"
Ian looked to the skies. He pointed in a direction that had the sun to the right. "It's before noon, so that way is North," Ian told Mike. He nodded as they made their way to the temple.
As they were traveling, they saw smoke appear from deep in the forest. The two nod as they approach it. They approach it, and see Ruby and Weiss, both surrounded by Grimm. A tree nearby is on fire.
"Those the freak bags?" Mike asked. Ian nodded. "Okay. what do you say we give the Wonder Weapons a 'test drive?'" Mike asked.
"Of course you would say that," Ian said.
"You're not denying it."
"Okay, I'll count. One," Ian said, his Wunderwaffe at the ready.
"Two," Mike had the Scavenger ready.
"Three!" The two jumped out of the foliage and into the clearing.
"Eat 115, beast!" Ian said, firing the weapon. It shot out lightning that would chain to enemies. The lightning was a bright blue.
"Ka-fucking-boom, Maggot Addicts!" Mike yelled, firing the Scavenger. It hit the largest of the Grimm, probably the Alpha, in the chest. When the shot hit, it beeped for two seconds before exploding, leaving nothing of the Grimm.
"Today, you die!" Ian told a smaller Grimm, before tazing it twice with the Galvaknuckles, then grabbing its head and firing into its skull with Boomhilda, killing it instinactly.
Mike shot a Grimm in the legs with Mustang, removing its legs and forcing it to crawl. "First I took your legs, now I take your life!" He took out his Bowie Knife and stabbed it in the head. The flaming tree from earlier fell down, catching the forest on fire.
"Move now!" Ian told Mike and the others. They all ran back and up a hill, the Grimm burning behind them.
As they moved, the two guys reloaded their weapons. Mike took out the clip and placed a second one in. Ian flipped the switch and took off the first bulb. He then brought in another and placed it in the empty slot. He flipped the switch back to on and the bulb started to glow.
They stopped to catch their breath. "Hey you two, how's life?" Mike asked.
"If Ruby wasn't so careless, we would never need your help to begin with," Weiss told them coldly. Ian knew Ruby was about to snap, something he's gotten better at picking up over the cycles, so he grabbed Mike and took him to the side.
"We need to go pass the fire," Ian told him.
"Well, you can fly," Mike told him as they ran off.
As they reached the fire, they felt the flames try to lick them. Ian took a deep breath, and thought about the 935 logo, but cracked. He felt his arms and legs become covered with metal. He opened his eyes. He saw thick glass separating him from the world.
"Okay, how will you get over? Do you want me to take you?" Ian asked. To Mike, his voice was muffled slightly.
"No," Mike told him bluntly.
"Why not?" Ian asked.
"Remember what happened at France?" He asked. They both knew what happened. Mike was grabbed by the Panzer's claw hand and he barely got out. He then proceeded to kill it with his fisticuffs. How he did so, is a story for another day.
"Yeah. You'll find another way?" Ian asked.
"Already have one," He said as he aimed Anarchy at himself. Ian quickly flew and made his way to the other side. He heard explosions behind him. "OVER THE FIRE AND THE FLAMES, WE'LL CARRY ON!" Mike shouted as he flew past his partner. He landed with a roll as he reloaded. Ian landed beside him. He disengaged the Panzer. He took a deep breath before taking out the Reaper and continuing on.
As they pushed through the foliage, they heard growling. Out of the bushes came a larger Grimm. It was about the size of a bear, with claws and plating being made of the bone like material.
"This is new," Ian said. He shot at it with the Reaper. It took about 30 rounds to the chest to take it down, but it was 2 seconds because of the high RPM of nearly 900.
"Okay, wow. That thing did not want to die," Mike said, as the body disintegrated.
"Yeah." About ten more showed up after the first. Ian took out Boomhilda and fired a round into the head of one. Its head went back, before coming back to looking at its prey.
"Shit, you never told me they were ARMORED, Ian!" Mike yelled at him as he dodged a swipe from the bear.
"I didn't know. I think we should-"
"Way ahead of ya!" Mike called out as he ran out of the encounter. Ian ran behind him as they were chased.
Malik and Sam finally approached the explosions. There were burn marks along with footprints. Sam saw that there were two sets of footprints, and they led somewhere.
"Is it Mike?" Malik asked as Sam looked at the burn marks and footprints.
"Can't be. Mike uses explosives, not flame weapons. Our best bet is to follow the footprints," Sam told him.
The two tracked the footprints, until it led to a clearing. They exited the foliage to see Yang and Blake. They were standing at an ancient place. It was made of stone and was in a circle. In it was a pedestal, along with one in the middle that was larger. On only three of the pedestals were chess pieces. Two Rooks and one Knight. Yang was holding the other Knight. The two made their way to the others at the temple.
"Hey, so you two are partners?" Yang asked. Sam nodded. "This is Blake." She told Malik.
"Hey," He said. She nodded in response. The four heard rustling and gunfire nearby.
"Jesus, take the hint!" They heard from the woods. Out of the thickness came Ian and Mike. Ian was holding the Reaper with one hand and blindly firing behind him. Same with Mike and his Skullcrusher, but he had to use two as it had more recoil. Following them was more Grimm.
"I got them!" Sam said, pulling out a Molotov and lighting it with a lighter. She threw it at the two runners. They managed to avoid the flames, but the Grimm did not.
"Thanks, I owe you!" Mike said, as he took a few deep breaths.
"No problem, you guys alright?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Ian told her.
"HEADS UP!" They heard from above. They saw Ruby fall from the sky. She managed to land in Yang's arms.
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang.
"Uhhhh," She could only respond with, as she didn't know herself.
They saw another of the bear Grimm come from the trees, but fall over as soon as it did. On its back was Nora, with Ren closely behind.
"Aww, its broken," The orange haired one said.
"Nora, never do that again," The male responded, clearly trying to catch their breath. She had already made their way to the temple, grabbing one of the Rooks.
"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!" She sung.
"Did they just ride in on the back of an Ursa?" Blake asked.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh," Yang responded again.
Finally, they heard trees fall down. In the direction came Pyrrha. She was being chased by a large scorpion. It was covered by a large amount of bone plating. Its stinger was large and glowing yellow. She dodged multiple attacks, but only barely. She managed to outrun the thing and make it to the others. It appeared to have stopped its chase, but it soon continued, slower. Ian had a feeling it was conserving energy.
"Did she come here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked. This make Yang snap.
"Can we have nothing crazy go on for two seconds?!" She shouted. Everyone could hear the timer count off. Afterwards, Blake tapped her shoulder and pointed up.
It was a giant Grimm bird. It had the bones covering its face mainly. The feathers were pure black. On the bird was something white. The survivors that had snipers zoomed in on the spot and saw…
"Weiss?" Malik asked.
"Yup, that's her," Mike told his friend.
"I told her to jump," Ruby said. Weiss started to slip and she then started to freefall. As she started to reach the top of the trees, a figure jumped from the trees. It was Jaune to save the day! ...for about two seconds. They started to fall again. Ian looked to Mike and nodded. Ian activated his semblance and flew up to get one of them. Mike took off his bag and ran to Pyrrha, who was the closest to the two untrained skydivers. He removed his case.
"Pyrrha, can you throw this to one of them?" Mike asked. He saw Ian grab Jaune with the claw hand, leaving Weiss for him to help. Mike didn't have perfect accuracy, so he just prayed Pyrrha had better accuracy than him.
"Yes, but why?" Pyrrha asked. If Mike was being honest, he was pulling this plan out of his ass, but it didn't matter.
"Later, just take aim," Mike ran closer to where Weiss would fall. "Now! Okay Weiss, catch! Don't! Drop! It!" He emphasised. The case traveled in a perfect arch, allowing Weiss to easily catch it, which she did. She landed on her back, but didn't groan from pain or anything. "Okay, good thing that worked. You're welcome," Mike told her as he helped her up, taking the case back as he did. He slipped it into his jacket.
"Guys, we have a problem," Malik told them. It was the Deathstalker that chased Pyrrha. It decided to rush them, and it seemed faster than when it chased Pyrrha.
"Not if I can help it," Ruby told them as she dashed to battle.
"No! Dammit," Mike muttered, grabbing his pack and running after her. Ruby had a large lead on him, but he didn't like where things were going. When she attacked, he noticed she made mistakes that tired her out. She barely dodged a swing from the tail.
"Ruby, fall back!" Mike told her.
The bird that had Weiss, and possibly Ruby, flew on came back around, dropping razor like feathers near him. Her hood got caught on one of these and Mike's path was blocked.
"Ruby, hold on!" Mike tried to lift it, but it had embedded itself into the ground so deep he couldn't pull it out. He tried making an opening through the feathers, but it would not budge. The Deathstalker got closer to Ruby.
Time for Mike seemed to stop, as the world changed to an asylum. He was a younger him, one that did not know barely anything about the task ahead. He was in standard WWII US Marine gear, complete with ballistic helmet. He banged on the doors that would not budge. On the other side was the man who saved them and helped them survive their first night against the horde. Private Miller. He was being attacked by a large horde of zombies dressed in WWII Nazi Germany gear. Mike grabbed the crack of the electric powered doors and tried to open them.
"Miller! Hang on!" He cried. He tried to open them, but could not get an inch. He tried to use his BAR to hold the door open, but nothing.
"It's too late for me, Mike," Miller said, as the zombies reached him and started to kill him, though Mike didn't see how.
"NO!" He tried one more time, but it was futile.
"Mike, remember. Semper fi," He told him as he held a Stick Grenade and primed it. It exploded, killing Miller instinactly.
The explosion knocked Mike back into reality. He saw the Deathstalker was closer to Ruby. Mike felt the Redeemer enter his hands. With one slice, the feather fell, letting Mike enter the area. It went to strike Ruby, but was stopped by the hand axe. Ruby also managed to free her cape.
"Miller. Fall. Back. Now," Mike told Ruby.
"Come on, we can-"
"Miller! Fall! Back! Now!" Mike told her, a look of anger in his face. Ruby also noticed tears forming. She didn't bother to say anything else. Mike turned his attention to the Deathstalker. "You will bathe in the eternal flames of Damnation!" Mike yelled as he attacked, pushing the stinger off.
He went for the head, and managed to make a crack from the force of the strike. Mike quickly removed the axe and jumped off, avoiding a strike from one of the claws. He threw the axe at the beast as he focused on removing the tail. He took out the Bowie and tried to slash it. However, it spun around, smacking Mike with the claw. Mike picked himself up before trying to flank it. The Redeemer was hitting the tail over and over, and had ceased its assault.
Mike fired at it with Mustang, but was halted by a claw snatching him. The Deathstalker squeezed him, making his aura weak. It then stabbed him in his left shoulder with the stinger, shattering whatever aura he had left. It released him with the claw and it lifted him into the air. Mike tightened his grip on Mustang.
"I have not," He lifted the pistol, "come this far," He aimed it at the stinger, "to die now," He pulled the trigger, causing him to fly off away from the Deathstalker. He held his shoulder as he landed. He rolled about ten times, before coming to a stop. He was bleeding out, and he couldn't stand up. He resorted to trying to crawl to his friends. The Deathstalker recovered from the attempted escape and looked to its prey.
Everyone looked at the scene. Each of them unsure of what to do. Except for two…
Malik felt a rush of energy as his focus seemed to be drawn to Mike. He removed his gear, with the exception of his PDW and Refibrillator. He bolted after his friend. The bird came over for another flourish of feathers, but Malik didn't stop. As one of them came close to Malik, he slid under the feathers as they pelted the ground behind him. He picked himself back to his feet before going in an all out sprint. Malik shot the revival knife into his friend at point blank, before grabbing him by the collar and dragging him back to others.
However, the Deathstalker was not finished with them, as it tried to rush. Before it made it to the two, ice enveloped the Grimm. Malik saw Weiss standing beside them. She glanced at them, as Malik placed Mike's right arm over his shoulders, carrying him closer to the group, but he can't get to them quickly. He felt the weight lighten, as a female blonde lifted the other half of him and carried him to the other eight.
"Come on, Mike. You have been through crap ten times worse than this. Stay with me," Malik told him. Mike groaned in response.
"Is… is he okay?" Ruby asked, full of guilt.
"Hopefully. The Refibrillator is keeping him up, but not for long. It's okay. Don't blame yourself," Malik told her. "Can somebody get my bag?" He asked. Jaune grabbed his bag and took it to him, looking at the wound. He held his hand over his mouth, trying to keep his stomach in check. "Thanks, Jaune," the man said, removing a small syringe from the bag.
The 11, minus Mike, heard something shattering. They looked to the Deathstalker's prison starting to shatter.
"We need to get out of here. Let's get the pieces and go," Weiss told them.
"What about Mike?" Ruby asked.
"We can hide him, as long as the Grimm are distracted. We need time to patch him up," Ian told them.
"We can take them away from here," Yang told them.
Ruby and Jaune took a relic, the Knight and Rook respectively, as Ian and Malik took Mike to the temple. Sam was behind them, checking to see if any stragglers would try to attack. They hugged the wall as they heard the Deathstalker go for the eight, alongside the giant bird.
Malik removed Mike's jacket and shirt, as he began to dress the wound. He took the small syringe and injected Mike with the substance at the wound. He removed some bandages from his bag and wrapped the wound. He used some medical tape to keep it in place. Malik wasn't sure if he had done it right, but he knew how to dress a wound temporarily until actual professional help could arrive. He didn't need to worry about bleeding as the 115 in their systems increased the body's natural healing speed by a large amount.
"You okay, pal?" Malik asked Mike.
"Yeah, I'll live," Mike told them. He was helped to his feet by Ian, as Sam aimed her gun to the woods.
As she passed the center pedestal, she felt the ground sink a bit. When she looked down, she saw the same symbol from Der Eisendrache. The symbol that would activate the low gravity.
"Guys, take a look at this. It's just like Der Eisendrache," she told the others. "Let's look for the other three."
"Either Oz is hiding stuff only for us, or Monty's screwing with us," Mike told them as they found one directly across from the first. The other two were at 45 degrees from the others, if the pedestal was the base.
As the symbol lit up, they waited five seconds for it to activate. It worked flawlessly. However, instead of low gravity, the pedestal showed four small panels. Each one of them flipped, revealing a stone. It was a familiar stone to the four. The same stone from France. Each of them reached out and snagged the stone at the same time.
"Does this count as a relic?" Malik asked.
"Hope so," Ian responded. The others started to make their way up the hill.
As they approached, they saw Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang fighting the bird in ruins over a valley. Weiss used a rapier and Blake used dual swords with a firing mechanism built in it. Closer to the two were Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren fighting the Deathstalker. Nora had a pink and white Warhammer with a trigger mechanism, Ren had dual pistols/SMGs with blades on the bottom of the barrel and both weapons were coated green, and Pyrrha was using a spear and shield. The spear looked to have a rifle and sword mode alongside the spear. Mike was about to start shooting, but Ian stopped him.
"Guys, do you see that? There's something moving in the trees," Ian told them. He saw saw a dark blob moving, but the others saw nothing.
"No. Ian, are you seeing things?" Mike asked.
"I'm not," Ian told him, as he pointed Boomhilda at the blob. He fired, and whatever was there was hit, but still alive. It crawled out of the woods, and the others saw it was a Grimm. Ian fired another round into the wolf, killing it.
"Thank God for Vulture Aid," Mike said. It enhanced Ian's eyesight, making Ian their best bet for a spotter.
They heard the foliage next to Malik rustle greatly. He turned to figure out what was in it, but was surprised by a different Ursa and knocked away. This Ursa had large spikes on its back, along with more armor made of the bone.
"Malik! Dammit, we got a Tank!" Mike told them, opening fire with Skullcrusher.
"We need him back up! Sam, go for hi-" He was cut off by a Grimm wolf, who tackled him to the ground. Mike went to help, but was also pushed down and pinned.
Sam took off to help Malik, while Mike wrestled the Grimm off of him. He grabbed its head and smashed it against his own. He shook off the blow and used the Grimm's stunned state to grab his knife and end its existence with a stab to the brain. Ian was still fighting, so Mike went to help him.
He stopped when he remembered the large Ursa. He saw it going for him. He dodged it, and tried to find Sam, but couldn't see her. He flipped the knife so it was facing downward, with the pinkie being the closest finger to the blade (Which I will be calling "Tactical" from here on out). The Ursa roared, accepting his challenge.
"Come get me!" Mike told him as the Ursa took the first swing.
Sam didn't like leaving the others behind, but she knew they would be fine. Malik needed her and needed her now. She dodged the large Ursa and passed a wolf. She finally found Malik, on the ground. He appeared to have been knocked out, so he couldn't defend himself from the wolf about to take him out.
Sam pulled out her assault rifle, the Man-o-War, and fired at the Grimm. While it had a relatively slow fire rate, each bullet hit like a truck, making the Grimm not have a chance to pray to whatever God it believed in before it died.
She finally made it to Malik, who was still. She felt his skin. Cold. She feared the worst, but saw his chest rising and falling. She sighed in relief. She was about to help him to his feet, but a second Ursa, this time a normal one with less armor, surprised her and smacked her away. She landed about twenty feet away from Malik. The Ursa faced her, but turned away to go for Malik.
She tried to push herself up, but found no strength. She felt her vision double as a crimson liquid dripped from her forehead and into her weakening vision. Her vision darkened and she let the void take her.
"Sam?"
"Samus?!"
"Dammit Samus, wake the hell up!" She heard as she opened her eyes. The world was a dark void. In front of her was a reddish purple orb of light. "Finally, now get your arse up," The voice said. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but she could tell who it was based on the British accent.
"Monty? Where are you? Where am I?" She asked.
"I will be quick. I may sound like Monty, but I am not him. I am only a memory. I'm only in your head, and you are in your own subconscious. Now, grab your bloody semblance and use it to save Malik's arse!" He told her as she felt him fade away. She didn't know how, but she felt him leave her.
She grabbed the orb and it entered her. She felt many possibilities pass by her, until one stayed. Fight For Your Life.
She regained consciousness in the real world. Malik was still knocked out, and Mike and Ian were out of her view. She remembered the words in her head. She found the MK3 and held it tightly in her right hand. She heard growling nearby, so she prepared herself. A wolf jumped out at her, and as she aimed to take the shot, she felt the gun shift so the creature's head was in front of the barrel. One shot was all that was needed.
As the Grimm was vaporized by the Weaponized 115, Sam felt a second breath of life enter her. Her strength seem to be that of when she was in Stalingrad, collecting Nikolai's soul. She focused her attention on the Ursa looming over Malik, but it was not there. It decided to go for her instead, which she hoped would happen. She dodged the charge and quickly thought of the orb she grabbed. A second orb appeared, shattering when she closed her hand. The possibilities quickly went through her head, but it stopped on one she would enjoy. Slash Them Apart.
She noticed her sickle glowed the same color as her aura and the orb. When the Ursa slashed at her, she went under the arm and she went for the arm. She originally imagined the sickle to go through some of it, but get stuck on the muscle or bone. However, when she hit the arm, she tore through the it as if it were air. The Grimm roared in pain. She was surprised by the strength of her Semblance, but did not pay it any mind, as she ended its life with a decapitation. She noticed her sickle's glow disappeared.
She looked at Malik, who was still in the same spot. She sighed in relief as she took out a syringe from her bag. The syringe was the same type as the one Malik used to help Mike. Before she removed the cap, a Grimm wolf surprised her. Before she could react, it jolted around, as electricity covered its body. When it fell, Sam saw a ghost behind it. The ghost had the face of Malik, but it showed no expression. It was bright blue and had an ominous fog following it. There were sparks of electricity on its figure nodded to the stunned Samus, before passing her and going to Malik's body. It shocked the body by using its hands and it disappeared.
Malik's body jolted when the ghost disappeared. He coughed, as he rose off the ground. He tapped Sam on her shoulder.
"Are you alright? Don't worry, it's just my Semblance. We're not back," he told her as he gave her a quick hug to calm her.
"Okay, sorry. I was just a bit shocked," She told him.
"Heh, nice pun. Now, let's go to the others," he told her as they made their way to the other half of their group.
Ian had managed to shock the wolf and shoot it in the head, while Mike kept the Ursa Tank, as he called it, busy so Ian could get off a clip of the Magna Collider. They all stood there, exhausted.
"Please tell me its over. Because I don't think I can last much longer," Mike told them. He took his Scavenger and rested by a tree.
"I think I know of a way. We need to get up the cliff, right? So, let's teleport. The Gersh Device should allow us to teleport, so we just have to hope that the exit portal is near that cliff," Ian told them, taking the platform out. He was about to activate it, but stopped. In front of them was a large group of wolves and Ursai.
"Ian, what are you doing? Let's go," Mike told him.
"Jaune and his group, they will still have to deal with that horde," Ian told him.
"Okay, let's take care of them," Sam told them, preparing the Haymaker.
"We just have to hold the line," Malik said, holding the SVU tightly.
"Mike, we're doing this to secure a better tomorrow," Ian told him, holding the Boomhilda in one hand, a smile on his face. It was one that he held every time this happened in the other cycles. He held it so it pointed to the sky.
"Yeah? Well, let's make sure we live to see it," Mike responded with the same smile, getting Anarchy ready. He held it in its compact form.
As the horde approached, the four charged, with Malik diving onto the ground. Mike slid to a stop, so he was next to Malik. Sam rushed past her brother and was the first to meet the Grimm. The thing with the Haymaker that makes it into a monster, is that it's a fully automatic shotgun. She held down the trigger when she got close to the Grimm, so anything unlucky to be leading the charge was filled with lead. Ian took care of any of the Grimm that she couldn't reach. Malik took care of any flankers that went for the Hudsons, while Mike took care of a majority of the horde with Anarchy.
"Guys, these things keep on coming!" Sam called out through her ear piece.
"Hold on!" Malik called back. He dropped his sniper and ran closer to them. Mike took his position. Mike removed the Monkey Bomb from his bag. "Monkey out!" He told them as he wound up the cymbals and pressed the button disguised as a hat. It landed in the middle of the horde and the Grimm paid the four survivors no mind, as they were to busy looking at the monkey. It played an annoying song, and it glowed slightly blue. They fell back to Mike.
"Throw everything we have!" Ian told them.
Ian took out a modified version of the Stielhandgranate or 'Stick Hand Grenade.' It was in the form of a stick with a black cylinder on top of it with German writing in white. However, Ian's version had large nails on the black cylinder. He called it the Spiked Grenade. When it exploded, the explosion would kill whatever was nearby, and the spikes would impale anything nearby. The spikes allowed it to stick to things it hit, if he threw with enough power.
Malik threw a white grenade with a sticky adhesive, that was wrapped in a coating that would fly off when in the air. It had a small light that would go from green to red when the pin was pulled. The pin was only able to be pulled by the coating flying off. The adhesive allowed to stick to anything, even the Grimm. While the explosion was not powerful, it was able to do big damage to whatever it stuck to, usually killing them. This was called the Semtex Grenade.
Next was Sam, who threw orbs of spiderwebs. The center was green, but the main thing was the spiderwebs. Instead of being a normal explosion, it released spiderwebs that immobilized anything that was close to it instead of an explosion. The grenades had the same effect as the others, as the spiderwebs allowed it to stick to whatever it hit. She also appeared to be taking them from nowhere. This was Widow's Wine ability. Mike just used his grenade launcher.
"Okay, we need to go! I'm going to get the Gersh Device ready! Malik, get Jaune and his group ready! Sam, train them! Mike, bring the fireworks!" Ian told them.
He ran to about halfway between where they were and Jaune's group. He took out the platform and flipped the switch. It started to power up. Malik passed him and told Jaune to bring them to Ian. Mike took out a RND and twisted it so it was ready to pop open. Sam ran to the side of the horde and fired at it with the MK3. They began to chase her, but she managed to outmaneuver any that tried to flank. She took out for the GZK with her left hand and ran around the horde, firing the GZK to slow them down. When the horde got stuck in the GZK's blast, she fired the MK3 at the orange and brown orb. When the Weaponized 115 hit the orb, it turned purple and pulled anything close by into it.
"Mike, they're lined up! Knock them down!" Sam told him as she activated her semblance and it gave her a thought. Gone in a Blink.
She activated the ability, and she was teleported to halfway between Mike and everyone else. It made a small shockwave that caused them to stumble.
"Alright!" Mike called out, letting go of the top half of the RND and pointing it at the horde stuck in the miniature black hole.
It fired out like a rocket and landed near the horde. The doll waited a second before opening in a huge explosion and releasing a third, smaller, doll. This doll waited a second before going off, with the same explosion size and releasing a fourth doll. This doll was smaller than the third and did the same thing, blow up in a massive explosion and releasing the fifth and final doll. This doll was the smallest and still blew up in the same size. However, it did not drop another.
"Drop it!" Mike told Ian as he ran to them.
When he dropped the platform, a dark purple ball emanated from it. The closer to the center they looked, the darker it became. The area seemed drawn to it, as the trees were losing leaves to the portal. Mike went into it first, as he felt every piece of him fall apart and become reassembled at the exit portal. He was in midair, and he saw a cliff edge. He quickly reached out and grabbed the edge and saw a familiar scythe wielder.
"Ruby, can you give me a hand?" He asked as he couldn't find his footing.
"Wait, how did you get up here?" She asked as she pulled him up the cliff.
"In a sec," He told her as he activated his comms. "You're gonna need to be ready to grab the cliff. Otherwise, you're good. You better hurry, though," He told them as he prepared himself to help the others up.
First was Jaune, who looked sickened by the travel. Mike helped him up and let him do his own thing, while he readied himself to help Pyrrha, who seemed a bit shaken by the travel. She agreed to help him pull others up. Next was Malik and Ian, who thanked them and helped Jaune. Next was Ren and Nora, who Mike and Pyrrha helped respectively. Finally was Sam, who dove through the portal at the last minute. Mike helped her up as they realised the Gersh Device self destructed.
"So how did you get up here?" Mike asked Ruby. She pointed a thumb at the head of the bird.
"They slingshotted me and I ran up the wall with Weiss's help. I managed to decapitate it," She told them, giving the short answer.
"We managed to get the Deathstalker off the edge," Pyrrha told them.
"Actually, how are you, Mike? Are you still-" Ruby asked.
"I'm fine. Malik's a good medic," He told her, before looking at the other three that were not up on the cliff. "How will they get up here?" Mike asked, before Ruby shrugged.
After making it back to Beacon, Mike was taken to the nurse's office to be checked out. Apparently the stinger is poisonous, but they found no venom in his system. He honestly had to thank the 115 in his system. That was the only reason he was still up. He walked into the main area, where they were forming teams. He took his place next to his friends.
"... and you will become Team CRDL (Cardinal), let by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin said, as everyone applauded. "Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. The four of you collecte the White Rook pieces, and you will become Team JNPR (Juniper), led by Jaune Arc," This surprised Jaune, but everyone clapped.
"Good job, Jaune!" Malik yelled, as Jaune gave a thumbs up.
"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you collected the White Knight pieces, and you will become Team RWBY (Ruby), led by Ruby Rose," Ozpin said, as Weiss held a shocked expression. Ruby waved, a bright smile on their face. "Finally, Ian Hudson, Michael Woods, Malik Bowman, and Samus Hudson. The four of you collected the hidden G Stones, and will become team IMMS (Immortals), led by Ian Hudson," He finished, as Mike high fived Ian. They all held a smile, as they felt they could be somewhat normal. "I would like to speak with you four in my office," Ozpin told them, without using the microphone. The four looked at themselves and nodded.
"Alright, lead the way," Ian told him as the team followed him off the stage.
Happy Late Single's Awareness Day! I know I missed it yesterday, but I decided to hold off a day due to certain events. I won't go into it and I will just make sure to keep this short. Next chapter is small, but finished. I will be taking a bit before I publish Chapter 5. Now then, have a good day.