Grimm Parade: End of Volume 2
Some Time Later: Mountain Glenn Train Tunnels
Ouch, was one of the first, and most civil, thoughts Wayne had as a small amount of light entered his vision. Slowly, everything started to come back into focus as Wayne tried to move. A dull, but irritating pain coursed through Wayne's body as he slowly turned over onto his stomach and tried to rise. Looking around, Wayne was able to spot Aegis, who was also regaining consciousness.
"You still alive over there?" Asked Wayne. "Well I can hear your annoying voice and my #$ hurts," replied Aegis, "So yeah I guess I'm still alive." Well at least he's okay, thought Wayne as he looked around for Oobleck and Zwei.
"Where's the doc and pup?" Asked Aegis as he and Wayne slowly rose to their feet. A bark outside the train alerted the both of them as they looked towards the train car door, which was now broken open thanks to the crash. Stumbling out the door, Wayne and Aegis looked around at the chaotic scene before them as the front of the train itself had rammed straight through the sealed doors and was sticking out of the tunnel. The rest of the cars were in varying states of disarray as the smell of dust and train fuel filled the air.
"Well the train's stopped anyway," said Aegis. "Yeah, but not where it should've stopped," Said Wayne. Another bark drew their attention as Wayne and Aegis finally saw the source of the sound. Zwei was standing next to a fairly torn up mech, which was now being worked on by Doctor Oobleck.
"Ah excellent, you two are finally awake," Said Oobleck as he tinkered with the inside of the Atlesian paladin. "How long were we out?" Asked Aegis. "Oh only about a couple minutes," Replied Oobleck, "Long enough, though, for the first wave of Grimm to enter the city."
"What's the plan for that thing?" Asked Wayne. "It is my hope that, should I bring this paladin back online I can use it to block the hole to a certain degree." "And the Grimm already in the city?" Asked Aegis.
"Why you'll need to do what you've been trained to do," said Oobleck, "Which reminds me, why are you two still standing around, get to the surface and help take care of those Grimm, I'll be up shortly." Wayne and Aegis nodded before turning to each other.
"You up for a few rounds of Grimm bashing right now?" Asked Wayne. Aegis smiled and formed his customary glass ax blades on his weapon, "Do you really need to ask?" Smiling back, Wayne and Aegis turned and ran for the exit which had been created by the train, leaping and climbing over several cars as they worked their way up until they finally exited the hole, right in the middle of the town square, and the most massive horde of Grimm Wayne had ever seen.
At the center of the Grimm horde, team RWBY was fighting ferociously for their lives. Wasting no time, Wayne and Aegis leapt into the fray, in front of a crater which had just been created by Yang falling out of the sky and onto the pavement. Wayne opened fire with his own weapons, clearing a small swath of Creeper Grimm out of the area as Aegis spun fire dust on his weapon and cleaved several other Grimm in half with flaming blades.
"You can sleep later," yelled Aegis, "We still have a lot of Grimm to kill." "Yeah yeah," said Yang as she pulled herself out of the crater and readied herself for another onslaught of Grimm, "I'm up I'm up."
As the next wave of Grimm approached, beowulves this time, Aegis leaped to one side of the pack and began hacking through them as Yang and Wayne opened fire on them with both their weapons. Several beowulves fell before they could get close to them, but eventually the Grimm who had been lucky enough to avoid getting hit got close enough to lunge at them, forcing Yang and Wayne to move apart as they switched to close rang fighting, Yang punching away in all directions, while Wayne switched his Crescent Fangs to sickle mode and hacked and slashed left and right, all while avoiding claws and fangs coming at him from all directions.
Wayne wasn't sure at what point it happened, but at some point during the ferocious melee, the Grimm had managed to separate them completely as they continued desperately avoiding and slashing through Grimm. Suddenly, a loud boom sounded, causing some of the Grimm to stop and look in the air. I know that sound, thought Wayne as he looked up and saw Nora suddenly flying into view on her hammer, which she promptly brought down on the head of the giant snake Grimm known as a King Taijitsu. I guess team JNPR got the message after all, thought Wayne as he caught glimpses of Pyrrha, Ren, and even Jaune joining the fray. Soon enough, Sun and Neptune also showed up to lend a hand, flashing their junior detective badges for some ridiculous reason.
Well this is getting a bit better, thought Wayne as he noticed exhaustion creeping in, but we still got problems. He'd been using his semblance repeatedly today for fighting the Atlesian paladins, which was why he was only shooting and slashing right now. If we're gonna contain this we need more help, thought Wayne. As if on cue, the sound of a giant air ship suddenly filled the air as General Ironwood's massive warship came looming over the city and completely stealing the thunder from Sun and Neptune's 'heroic' entrance. Multiple small gunships also came flying over the city, following in the wake of the main airship.
Loud gunfire filled the air as the main guns of a few of the military craft opened fire, cutting down several Grimm, including an ursa which had nearly caught Ruby from behind. The remaining gunships which weren't unloading on the Grimm opened their rear doors as several white robot soldiers armed with assault rifles leaped out in formation and opened fire on the numerous Grimm as they landed effortlessly on the ground below. So those are the new Atlesian android soldiers, thought Wayne as he slashed through another group of Grimm, now we can win this. As the chaos on the street continued to ensue, Wayne also noticed a few more unexpected arrivals.
From around one of the corners, Emerald's group emerged and split up to take on the Grimm as well. Wayne managed to slash his way closer to the new arrivals in time to see Emerald shoot down several beowulves and an ursa, before leaping away from a larger ursa major. She might need help, thought Wayne as he decapitated another beowolf. But the green-haired girl was more than a match for the ursa major as she switched her weapons to their sickle mode and spun around, slashing the ursa major several times, then, retreating a couple feet, swung her weapons again, revealing the weapon's chain links as she unleashed another volley of deadly slashes, killing the Grimm before it even hit the ground. Well so much for that, thought Wayne until he saw one of the borbatusk which had bashed through the android soldiers rolling towards Emerald, or maybe not.
Leaping a few feet in front of Emerald, Wayne had just enough time to channel his semblance into his blades and slash forward, cutting the rolling borbatusk down the center as its two halves rolled past on either side of Wayne, unfortunately getting several splotches of Grimm blood on his coat and helmet.
"I had that one," said Emerald. "Yeah I know," said Wayne, trying to brush some of the blood off his coat, "Just thought I'd swing by and say hi." "Well since you're here," said Emerald as she walked up next to Wayne to face the next wave of charging Grimm, "I guess so long as you don't get in the way you can help," said Emerald.
"Sure, how about a suggestion," said Wayne as the charging Grimm neared, "You ever performed the phases of the moon?" "You mean that sickle form that requires a partner?" Replied Emerald, "I was forced to practice it a couple times." "Let's see what you remember," Said Wayne as the two of them took mirrored fighting stances. As the Grimm approached, the two fighters leaped into the middle of the Grimm, bringing their sickles down on two ursa, before standing back to back.
As the surprised Grimm turned towards them, the two fighters moved in sequence as they spun while keeping their backs to each other, slashing high and low as they advanced forward. After slashing through the first several nearby Grimm, more Grimm tried leaping at them from farther way. Wayne attached his wrist wires to his weapons as Emerald readied the chains on hers. While continuing their rotating blade dance, they swung out with their linked weapons, slashing several more Grimm out of midair. Reeling their weapons back in, the two fighters slashed at the midsections of the remaining Grimm. All that remained of the Grimm at the end of their dance was a pile of black furred bodies all cut to shreds.
"You know this isn't how I imagined our third dance," said Emerald. "A blood spattered coat and piles of dead Grimm do ruin the mood a bit don't they," replied Wayne. "I don't know," said Emerald, "The blood smell is kind of nice when it's fresh." "I guess it's only fair you get to sniff me too," Said Wayne teasingly. "Just keep killing Grimm," said Emerald in a half playful, half annoyed tone.
This is fantastic, thought Aegis as he cleaved through another Beowulf. White Fang, mech suits, and a horde of Grimm all in the same day, this was exactly what I'd hoped being a huntsman would be like. Aegis slashed through another Beowulf as it lunged at him, splitting it in half, only this time he was a bit slower. Wish I wasn't starting to get really tired though, thought Aegis. Even with the backup they were receiving from Ironwood's androids, JNPR, and Emerald's team, a few of the tougher, or at least luckier Grimm, were still trying to run amok.
Suddenly, the giant shadow of a deathstalker loomed behind Aegis, forcing him to leap forward and away from the large scorpion Grimm, barely avoiding its large yellow stinger. What a day, thought Aegis. The sound of another bullhead entering the area sounded, breaking Aegis's thoughts as he looked up to see who else had decided to show up to the party. That bullhead's from Beacon, thought Aegis as the doors opened, revealing Professor Port and the four members of team CFVY. Of all the people to show up, thought Aegis as he dodged and cleaved through an ursa, they were the last I expected to show up late.
Late, as Aegis saw however, didn't mean team CFVY didn't have something to contribute to this chaos. As they leaped from the bullhead, Aegis saw Yatsuhashi clear a horde of Grimm by slamming his massive orange sword on the ground, sending debris, and Grimm, flying in all directions. Velvet and Fox made an impressive display of their hand to hand combat abilities as they punched and kicked several Grimm into submission, Fox even used one of his special moves which caused an Ursa major to expand and explode, showering other nearby Grimm with the spikes which had once adorned its body.
Not bad Fo-, oh # #, thought Aegis as he saw Coco stepping forward with her usual confident stride as she effortlessly knocked a large beowulf's claws aside, kicked it in the junk and smashed its head with her hand bag. What's got her in such a, oh that explains it, thought Aegis as he watched Coco bash through a few more beowulves with her hand bag. The vicious creatures of Grimm had made a terrible mistake by destroying one of the few places in the city of Vale where Coco was almost always happy, her favorite clothing store, and now they were paying for it as Coco finally unveiled the terrifying secret of her hand bag, its ability to transform into a Gatling gun.
The weapon produced an incredible repeating tempo as it fired off dozens of rounds in mere seconds, ripping up death stalkers, bewoluves, nevermores, and anything else unfortunate enough to be in front of Coco as she continued spraying the area with fully automatic fire until all the Grimm in front of her were dead. Good thing she's got the Grimm to take her anger out on, thought Aegis, or that might've been me and Wayne. It was at that moment that Aegis saw another Ursa Major heading towards team CFVY on their right flank. Aegis spun the fire dust on his weapon and ran towards the Ursa Major as two flaming blades formed on his weapon.
I know they can handle it, thought Aegis, but it's a good way to let them know I'm here. Leaping into the air, Aegis cleaved off the head of the Ursa Major which went tumbling off of its body and rolling right past the feet of team CFVY.
"What took you guys," asked Aegis jokingly, "the idea is to show up just before or right at the same time as the cavalry, did you have to stop for one of Professor Port's stories or something?"
"Some of us were enjoying our down time," Replied Coco as the rest of team CFVY ran on ahead, "Need I remind you we just got back from our mission yesterday, and we'd still be relaxing if someone had managed to stop this little incident, which reminds me," Coco swung her Gatling gun right next to Aegis, forcing the half-bear faunus to leap back in surprise as Coco opened fire on a few nearby Grimm which had somehow managed to slip by the rest of team CFVY, ripping them to shreds.
"When we're through with this I still need to kick you and your brother's $$#$ for messing up our training area." "Oh yeah," said Aegis, "About that." "Save it for later," said Coco, "Right now we have Grimm to kill, so don't you dare die." Joy, thought Aegis, oh well at least she seems like she's in a better mood for now.
Wayne slashed through another Creeper which had leapt at him with its fangs bared. They're numbers have really gone down, thought Wayne, just a couple more groups of Grimm left. Another Beowulf tried charging Wayne, only to be cut down by Emerald when it got close.
"Not getting tired are you?" Emerald asked playfully. "Maybe a bit winded," replied Wayne, "I did have to fight soldiers and mechs before this." Wayne quickly lifted up his weapon and fired at a Creeper which had landed behind Emerald.
"But, I think I got a couple more killing sprees in me," said Wayne as more Grimm approached. Suddenly the air grew hot as two flaming spheres came flying through the air, forcing the two students to leap out of the way as they ripped through the Grimm.
"That was Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck," said Wayne, "The Doc finally made it out." "Yeah but is their aim typically that bad?" asked Emerald. "They probably haven't fought in a cramped city space in a while," Replied Wayne. Before Emerald could say another word on the matter, a Beowulf went flying over their heads as Wayne heard the familiar sound of heels hitting the pavement. Goodwitch, thought Wayne as another Grimm went flying over their heads. Looking around, Wayne located the assistant headmaster as she waved her weapon in the air, causing all of the rubble from the train wreck to start floating back to the breach in the ground.
It was like watching the crash in reverse as rocks fit together like puzzle pieces and the main train car was forced downward, back into the tunnel from which it came. "I see why you weren't so worried about breaking stuff in Beacon," said Emerald, "With someone like that to clean up your messes."
"Yeah it's handy," said Wayne as they stood up, "But she still chews us out for breaking stuff in the first place." "Well look on the bright side," said Emerald, "at least this one wasn't completely your fault." "Actually if it wasn't for the Grimm," replied Wayne, "This would've been about average on the destruction scale for me and my brother back at Signal."
Emerald could only shake her head before speaking again, "How did you guys ever make it through Signal and Sanctum?" "Well we had to get kicked out of Signal first," Replied Wayne as he stepped forward then stumbled and would've landed on his face if Emerald hadn't caught him.
"Wo now easy," said Emerald, "You're not looking so good." "No kidding," Replied Wayne as he opened the mouth guard on his helmet and removed it, "All the adrenalines wearing off and I've had to use my semblance repeatedly the last two days, so to say I'm exhausted is an understate-," Suddenly the sound of someone else groaning could be heard.
"What the heck, since when does a hole close itself up?" said a familiar, and unpleasant voice. Near where the crater had closed, a figure in a white coat and black bowler hat was trying to crawl away from the scene.
"Roman Torchwick I presume," said Wayne as he pointed his right weapon, the arm that wasn't being supported by Emerald at Torchwick, while Emerald pointed the weapon in her left hand at Torchwick. "Oh hey I was just," Torchwick tried to respond before Aegis and Mercury's booted feet dropped down in front of him, blocking his way from escaping down the alley.
"Just what?" Asked Aegis as he swung his weapon into his own palm repeatedly. "Not trying to crawl away unnoticed," said Torchwick. "Don't worry," said Mercury, "I hear you do a lot of crawling in the local prisons."
"And not the fun kind," said Emerald. "But if you still feel like crawling away here," said Wayne, "We still got a few dust rounds left with your name on them." "So what's it gonna be?" Asked Aegis.
This hurts, thought Wayne as he leaned his back against the interior of the bullhead as he watched everyone else gather around outside the bullheads, congratulating each other and telling each other good job, and other assorted words of praise, even Emerald was up talking to Ruby with a friendly smile on her face.
"Well isn't this just something," said a familiar female voice as Coco stepped into Wayne's field of vision, "Don't tell me you went through the trouble of exhausting yourselves just to avoid a beat down from me." "Believe me this was not part of the plan for the weekend," Replied Wayne.
"Well don't worry," said Coco, "I got something just as good for you and your brother when I find him." Coco pulled out her scroll, tapped on a few keys and pulled up what looked like a video before showing it to Wayne.
"Though I gotta say," said Coco, "I could've sworn you said you couldn't dance." Wayne's face contorted into a number of expressions as realization, shock, and then utter embarrassment spread across it. On Coco's scroll was a video of Wayne and Aegis performing the dance they used for luring Grimm, and they looked, as Wayne expected, ridiculous.
"Okay who sent you that?" Asked Wayne. "If you must know," said Coco putting her scroll back in her pocket, "Velvet sent it to me." "Why Velvet," Wayne groaned loudly. "I'm sorry," said Velvet from several feet away, having heard Wayne's complaint with her large rabbit ears, "Blake sent it to me and well, Coco kind of made me send it to her." "Why Blake," Wayne groaned again, "Why?"
Fortunately for Wayne and Aegis, all the bullheads heading back to Beacon had taken off shortly after Coco's little video showcase. Wayne and Aegis spent most of the ride sleeping, which wasn't long as it only took a few minutes to get back to Beacon from the center of the city. When they finally arrived back at Beacon, Wayne and Aegis headed back up to their dorm as the rest of the teams separated across the campus.
"Well that was something else," said Aegis as he set some of his armor plating next to him on the roof of their dorm, "Do you think first missions typically end that way?" "I doubt it," said Wayne as he set his helmet next to him, "But at least it gives us one heck of a story for Mom and Dad the next time we talk to them."
"Yeah, but I'm probably gonna leave out the part about you and me dancing." Said Aegis. "Please," said Wayne, "Though somehow I think Mom and Dad will find out one way or the other." "Oh yeah," said Aegis nervously as he pulled out his weapon and laid it next to him.
"What do you think the point of letting Grimm into the city was?" Asked Wayne. "You got me," said Aegis, "I never could understand the criminal types, why does it matter anyway." "Ah just a feeling," said Wayne, "We know not everyone behind this has been caught yet and there's still a ## $ load of questions that haven't been answered, it just doesn't feel like whatever is going on is over."
"Well there's not a lot of point in worrying about it at the moment," said Aegis, "We beat the bad guys today and if more happen to pop up again, we'll beat them too." Wayne smiled half-heartedly at the remark.
"Now if you'll excuse me," said Aegis, "I am in severe need of a shower." With that, Aegis picked up his weapon and armor and headed back down into the building. Wayne sat on the roof just a little while longer, lost in thought as he surveyed the campus. We won today, he thought as he spotted team RWBY sitting on the edge of the airfield trying to relax, and if we can keep it together we can win again, so bring it on, we'll be waiting. Smirking to himself a little, Wayne got up and headed back down into the building, catching his own scent as he entered the stairwell. Man, Aegis ain't the only one in need of a proper bath, hope I don't smell this bad at the Vytal festival.
End of Volume 2
Team WA has made it through another volume, with a few bumps and bruises, but that's part of the journey right. As always I'd like to thank all my reviewers, followers, and viewers on another milestone as this story has not only gotten through volume 2 but also 2,500 views and counting. So if you've stuck around this long, thanks and be sure to come on by as team WA fights in the Vytal Festival Tournament, make new friends as well as new enemies, and fight for their lives and everyone else in Vale as Cinder's true plot is finally unveiled. 'Til next time.