Yang Xiao Long's POV:
It took several moments for Pyrrha's statement to kick in.
But when it does, I start to feel a hint of panic. I have been through enough things in my life to be considered an adult, some of the more radical moments occurring when I met Sander, but being shrunk in size? That's a new one altogether.
"How in the world was this thing even created? I know my family has few ties to the Atlesian military, but I'm fairly sure that they don't have technology remotely like this." Weiss said, her voice higher in pitch. Both Blake and Sander look lost for words on how to describe this situation. After a few seconds, Max speaks up, his voice also a little higher.
"You know what? This is perfect for our endgame plan. We use our new size to sneak into the castle that will most likely be our enemy's headquarters and improvise from there."
I know that's the wisest way to go, but I can't help groaning a little. I'd prefer fighting my opponents head on any day of the week, but needing to know when to exercise strategy in combat is vital as well.
"Let's just go. I don't want to stay shrunken long enough to feel any side effects." Blake said with slight impatience.
Looking at each other, we do the unthinkable and run towards the tiny gap between the door and the floor. What was mere steps for us in our normal size now feels like we're running miles just to go those feet. After what feels like an eternity, we finally leave the hidden laboratory, only to arrive in a field with grass that is almost 3 times our current height.
"Come on. Let's at least find a dirt mound and get some orientation on where we are." Sander said, looking around warily.
"Agreed. I already see what you are looking for." Pyrrha said, pointing to the right where, sure enough, there is a lump of dirt that's tall from our viewpoint. Running towards the mound, we run up the dirt hill that's starting to sink under each footstep I take until I reach the top. To my disappointment, I don't see anything aside from fields of tall grass, nothing of real worth that can help show us where we need to go.
"So, what now?" Jaune asks, holding his sword out in front of him. I too am expecting to be attacked, so I have my gauntlets primed. But before any of us answer, the dirt under my feet start shifting, and a creature our height crawls out. A swarm of black ants with black eyes and sharp pincers, slamming back and forth and staring at us with hunger.
Seeing no other way around it, I push a hidden button on the side of Ember Celica and they transform into miniature lightsabers. Sander nods at me, and also transforms his weapon into his lightsaber. The others saw our training with the weapons and after some explaining, and seeing the opportunity, Pyrrha and Jaune helped us train with the sword style.
Igniting the twin swords, I slash at the ant's head and it slashes through the ant's natural armor. Although now that we're their size, it was rather difficult. Even Pyrrha is having a hard time breaking the shell, but is managing to make the ants bleed out by cutting them in the chinks.
Within minutes, we are surrounded by the dead bodies of the ants that attacked us. I am breathing much harder than I should have, which is very concerning.
"Well, may I say we're in serious trouble?" Penny said, looking around for any more enemies.
"Come on, lighten up. We're not in trouble yet." Ruby said confidently. But I know what Penny means, and reluctantly agree.
"Sadly, she's right. We can't see where we need to go, our auras drain much faster than usual thanks to our new size, which will take us hours just to go several feet. Unless we hitch a ride, we're going to have problems." I explained to Ruby. She looks down at the ground, a sad look on her face.
We all look at each other, silent for a few minutes and pondering what to do next. Until a loud crunching sound goes off. But judging by the sound, whatever is coming isn't another ant. We walk out of the way when a giant walks past us.
It's a fully armored White Fang soldier, out on patrol with a turret in his hands and a backpack on his back. Wait…out on patrol?
"Guys. Let's hitch a ride on this guy. He'll take us to where we're going." Blake said. I stare at her, thinking that Sun Wukong has rubbed off on her a little too much, but nod and we start making a mad dash.
Ruby reaches the man first and starts crawling up his pants leg, followed by the rest of us, just hanging on. Now having hitched a ride, we start climbing up higher. I reach the backpack and reach the top, helping others up. Jaune is the last to climb up, his armor weighing him down slightly.
I look over the side of the man's head, and nearly gasp at what I see. We're in the middle of a vast grass field, with a thick forest on the right. In front of us is a transportation ship, full of White Fang soldiers. In the middle of the ocean is a large island. Even from here, I can see that the place is heavily fortified and the large stone castle on top of the cliff to the right of the island is hard to miss as well.
"So…are we in the clear?" asks a White Fang woman soldier. For some reason, she sounds really nervous.
"Yes, we are. Our blockade is still sturdy. Let's just hope those scary bandits stay away from us for a while." The soldier we're riding on says. That caught my attention.
"Come on. We captured their leader. I think that without her, they have already run off. Hop on, we're going back to base." A 3rd soldier said.
The soldier we're riding nods in agreement and starts walking onto the boat. I look over at my friends, who were crawling into a space in his backpack full of Dust ammunition. Knowing instantly what they're up to, I jump across, slide down the top, then crawl into the side pocket the rest of us are hiding in.
As soon as I land in the spot, the engines roar to life and we speed off at a surprising speed. We aren't going that fast, but fast enough to stop after only a few minutes. The worst part about the ride is that my head starts hurting slightly before the pain goes away.
Once the boat stops, all of the soldiers get up and walk off. Since we're in a mesh side, we can see exactly what is fortifying this place. I can hear Jaune gulp a little in fear, seeing what they went through to set this place up, and I don't blame her.
We see military Jeeps and tanks driving by, thick concrete bunks with large cannons sticking out of them, as well as trenches in the grass-less ground to protect from an aerial assault, all surrounded by a thick barbed wire fence as a final touch. Judging by the number of soldiers here, I get the feeling that the entire White Fang army is here.
After several more minutes, I can feel the soldier we're riding on starting to walk up a hill, past another set of barbed wires, and finally come to the castle. I heard the creaking of doors swinging open and our soldier walking onward. Behind us, the metal gate slams back into the ground and a drawbridge retracts, sealing us in. I look over at my friends, and notice Penny already climbing out of the pouch, and jumping to the ground.
"What's she doing?" Weiss whispers, a little shocked.
"Penny's got the right idea. We need to return to proper size now." Sander said, touching his head and wincing a little. He's right on his 2nd sentence. We aren't meant to be in this size without protection.
Seeing no more need to stick around, I start climbing out of the side pocket and do a backflip, landing on my feet. My head aches immensely, forcing me to grip it, but it goes away. Looking up, I notice we are in a large corridor with 2 curving staircases going down to a hall. In the center of the floor is a symbol of a Beowulf's head, with 2 broadswords crossed underneath. Even shrunken, the giant black banner with the White Fang symbol emblazoned in red on it. I look around to get my bearings on this place. On the left, down the stairs, is the door I've been looking for: 'Dr. Watt's laboratory. Do not enter unless authorized'.
"I see it. Let's get going." Blake said, running towards the railing and taking a leap of faith.
"Let's do it." Ruby said, jumping off with Max, Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Yeah!" I exclaim, jumping off and landing on my feet. Trying to stick to the shadows of the old stone castle, we silently run down the corridor and under the door into the room. Standing just as tall as the others are 2 Faunus scientists, examining several more pieces of experimental technology Dr. Watts no doubt created.
Sensing that the scientists are going to look at us, I dive under the white metal desk. "Look, there's our way out of this." Weiss said, pointing. Sure enough, there's a large circle in the center of the room like in the previous facility.
A new wave of pain, more intense than the previous times, hits me, making me grip my head. "It's getting worse. We need to reverse the shrinking machine's effects now." Blake said.
Jaune and Sander start talking for a few seconds, Sander patting Jaune on the unarmored shoulder at the end, then look at us. "Alright. We have a plan. We grab those mini planes over there, and fire on them. While they're distracted, Jaune will turn on the reverse device and return to normal." Sander said.
Wait, what mini-planes? Sander saw the confusion on my face, along with the others, as he points to the far wall. There, strapped into the wall, are several miniature planes. These planes are jet black, with thick spikes jutting back instead of a fin on top, a bottom with creases on it, a cockpit that can support 2 people, and thick black wings on each side. I see Ruby grinning widely as she too realizes what they are.
"Are those Never Dies, fighter planes used by Vale during the Great War?" Pyrrha asks, shock written on her face.
"Yep." Sander responds, then stands back, saying, "I'll watch from down here. You get them." Not wanting to know what happens of caught like this, we towards each of the planes. There are only 6 of the legendary planes, so me, Jaune, Ruby, Blake, Penny and Max are only ones who get to fly them. I look at the controls, and only just realize I have no idea how it operates. Closing my eyes, I sink into the Force and it gives me a mental map of how each nob and lever works. I grab the red lever on my right and pull it towards me.
The engine reeves to life and I start driving, my friends on either side. I pull up on the steering wheel and I fly into the air. "Hey!" One of the scientists exclaims, looking at us in shock. "Guys, I don't know how these planes operate." Blake said over the comm lines between the planes.
I push a red button on my left, and the surface of the wings pop off, revealing missiles inside. "Uh oh." The scientist with the wolf ears said, then made to push the alarm button on the wall. Thinking I got a basic handle on it, I push the green button next to it. Two missiles, 1 from each wing of the plane, are fired and hit the scientist. To my surprise, electricity crackles around the Faunus who's back is turned, and falls to the ground.
"Well, that's shocking." I said, only to be met with groans. Before we could talk anymore, the other scientist grabs a strange-looking gun from the many racks of experimental weapons and fires it. A giant net is shot out and tries to capture us. Using the surprising mobility of the plane, I pull up and I ascend at a rapid rate, but it isn't enough. Suddenly, the outside of the plane glows black and I am forced up at a rapid rate, just barely dodging the net. "Thanks, Pyrrha." I said, looking down at the ground. Only to see Pyrrha leaning heavily on Sander, looking exhausted, while the duo and Weiss figure out how the miniature computer that hopefully operates the resizing device works.
"Take this!" Penny shouts, before firing her own set of missiles, but missing since the scientist dodges the,. "This is why I dislike aerial battles. I suck at them." She mutters, before pulling away.
"I got this." Max said, then fired his own missiles. But these actually hit him in the face and he falls to the ground.
"Guys, the device is on! Come on!" Weiss says, somehow making her way onto the communication lines. Excited on what she said, I push the wheel forward and land on the ground, coming to a bumpy stop.
I open the cockpit, jump out and start running. All around me, my friends are landing and doing the same. Just as I reach the humming circle, my head nearly splits in pain and my body aches as well. Gripping my head, I fall in and rolling around in pain.
Through the pain, I notice Ruby and Sander trying to get to me, but then the ground falls out from under us. As we fall, a strange sensation comes over me and I start feeling much better. Seconds later, I crash to the ground. The circle flies up and finally stops like before. Groaning, I sit up and look up. Except this time, the room is much smaller.
"We did it. We're alive and in the base." I said triumphantly. Looking over, I notice my friends also groaning in pain, but smiling as well.
"That we are." Sander said before his head hits the floor.
AN: Yay, the gang are alive and ready to meet the enemies.
Now, I'm fairly sure that the planes I invented aren't in the show, but I am sure that a fighter plane OF SOME SORT was used during the Great War (possibly Remnant's version of World War 1).
Anyway, next time, the group finally gets to meet the Witch of Darkness (I think she's called, but not sure), Salem.
I will see you then, when the final battle starts.