Well, I have no excuses for my, unannounced hiatus. And for that, I sincerely apologize. I hope to ACTUALLY update all of my stories. And yes, I plan on updating Reading RGF at some point. Not anytime soon, I'll admit, but eventually. Now, as to where we're at in the story... That's right. New arc! So, how's about we let things get a tad, Grimm...
[Emerald Forest]
[Five Days after the Breach]
[No P.O.V.]
Five days, it's been almost a full day since the massive skirmish within downtown Vale the media referred to as "The Breach." In that time, the Vytal Lance and the Atlesian military began running joint training exercises. Along with the students of the four Academies venturing out on missions in order to hone their skills for the upcoming tournament. And speaking of students, a familiar group of them were making their way through the dense jungle, attempting to rendezvous with two other teams.
"Well, that's just perfect!" Yelled Talia as the seven Vault Hunters stopped to take a quick break, "We're officially lost!"
"Hey, we're not lost!" Hailie countered, taking a seat on a nearby log, "We're just, taking the scenic route." She added, as Bruticus began a quick scan of the area for any Scroll signals.
"In Hailie speak: We're lost" Bruticus decided to chime in, earning chuckles from most everyone, while earning a middle finger from the Siren.
"In all seriousness, shouldn't we have made it to the rendezvous point by now?" Matthias asked, as Sean pulled up the map on his ECHO.
"According to the updated maps that Taylor provided us, we should be, at least a quarter of a klick from the rendezvous point." Sean said, closing the ECHO, "Now, I hope you've gotten enough rest, cause we've got to make up for lost time." The young Vault Hunter said, stepping onto a branch, causing a sniper shot to ring out, hitting a nearby tree, causing Sean to leap backwards into a bush, yelping in surprise.
"Alright, I'm wondering what exactly managed to freak Ruby out so badly, and-OH MY GOD!" Weiss said, emerging from the brush, causing the rest of team RWBY to rush over, and seeing Sean stand up, Ruby began speedily uttering out an apology, while Blake and Yang helped the Vault Hunter dust himself off, much to his chagrin.
"Wow, I never thought I'd hear a man yelp like that before." Said a very familiar female voice, Coco and the rest of team CFVY walking behind her.
"Coco!" Talia said excitedly, before coughing and adopting a nonchalant pose, unintentionally leaning on nothing, "I-I mean, 'sup?" She added, Delilah poking the Elpin native on the shoulder, causing the Vault Hunter to fall to the ground in a comical fashion.
"Smooth sis." Matthias joked, helping his sister onto her feet.
"So, it's the 15 of us on a mission then?" Delilah asked, the fashionista nodding in response.
"Well, everyone's here. Awesome." Sean simply said, "Let's roll." He added, motioning the group forward, where they found themselves overlooking a small area with what looks like a ruined tower, as well as a couple of trees surrounded by rocks. And about almost 30 Creeps.
"Whoa, that's a lot of Creeps." Kord murmured, as Sean grabbed Excalibur, jumping down, followed by everyone else, and a reluctant Kord, "This is gonna be a long mission, ain't it?" He asked with a sigh, as everyone had drawn their weapons, sans Velvet, who adopted a fighting stance.
"Alright! Time to rock!" Sean exclaimed, getting the attention of the Grimm, the horde charging at the group of fifteen.
[Story OST: "Rock you Like a Hurricane" by Scorpions]
As the Grimm proceeded to attack, Coco changed her handbag into its minigun configuration, shredding ten of the Creeps apart. Hailie leaped in the air, firing off a few bursts from Siren's Grace, before using Phasestrike to strike a Creep and slam it into several others, causing a chain explosion. Bruticus grabbed a Creep by its tail, and proceeded to use the Grimm to whack several of the beasts with their compatriot, sending them flying, before slamming the battered Creep into a pile of stones, causing it to collapse.
[End OST]
"Well, that was quick." Yang noted, as all the students received a call via their Scrolls.
"Nice work students!" Spoke the boisterous voice of Peter Port, while Taylor proceeded to cough.
"Right... Anyway, now that you've all assembled, I'd like to start this briefing." Taylor said, "Bruticus, if you would provide the holograms, please?" The Lance leader asked, as the Loader Bot produced a hologram of the Emerald Forest, and of Taylor and Port,
"Ah, so THESE are the ECHO holograms I've heard so much about." Port said, impressed.
"Yes, now, if we can get this joint briefing underway?" Taylor asked, only to notice Sean's slightly irritated expression, "What is it Sean?" The eldest McAllister sibling asked with a sigh.
"Why the hell weren't we given a joint briefing beforehand?" Sean asked, as everyone else had a similar question in their thoughts.
"It wasn't mine or Ozpin's decision, it was... General Ironwood." Taylor replied, as the map of the Emerald Forest showed two general locations highlighted in red, "Anyway, as you were aware of in your individual team briefings, two of the security nodes in the Emerald Forest recently went offline. And well, you know what happens when we've no way of detecting attacks..." Taylor finished, trailing off.
"Yeah, Grimm." Matthias answered simply as Port continued.
"Yes, and with the loss in communication with those beacons, we need boots on the ground to investigate! That means you, teams!" Port said excitedly.
"And seeing as Hailie's the most accomplished hacker, she'll be the one in charge of re-establishing our connection with the nodes." Taylor added, "Now, with that out of the way, good luck. And godspeed." He finished, the ECHO link cutting off.
"Well, let's get this op underway!" Sean said with mildly-false enthusiasm, as the group began to make their way towards the first beacon, encountering yet another group of Creeps, including a large Creep, which the group dispatched with ease, the wall of rocks collapsing after the battle, the group passing by some old ruins.
"Hmm?" Sean mumbled to himself as he felt a weird, almost vibration-esque feeling.
"Sean? what's wrong?" Talia asked, as everyone noticed Sean had stopped, and started reaching for Excalibur.
"I haven't the slightest idea." Sean answered, as Excalibur suddenly jerked itself from the Vault Hunter's hand, and into a nearby pillar, said pillar collapsing to show what looked like a curved piece of metal or stone, which attached itself to Excalibur, creating a large bright light, blinding most everyone.
"GAH! My confusion has blinded me!" Kord yelled, the light finally dying down after several seconds, and then Excalibur flew back into Sean's hand. But only now, it looked like the lower half of the weapon looking like the guard of a cutlass, and when Sean activated the weapon, the blade resembled one of a cutlass.
"Well, looks like Excalibur got an upgrade." Hailie said with a chuckle, as Sean began to swing the blade around a few times, before deactivating the weapon with a small laugh.
"Oh, I'm gonna have some fun with this." Sean said, as everyone continued towards where the first node was located, after dispatching a few Grimm.
"According to the coordinates provided by Taylor, the first security node is right inside there." Hailie said, pointing towards a cave, causing some groans of annoyance.
"A cave? You've got to be kidding me." Coco groaned, as the group entered the cave, finding the node, but with a strange box attached to it like a salamander.
"Well, that's...unexpected." Weiss noted, as the group approached the node.
"Huh, didn't expect to see that." Taylor finally said, contacting the group, "Hales, you think you could crack that?" The Lance leader asked his younger sister, who the proceeded to crack her knuckles, taking out an ECHO Recorder, and connected it to the strange box.
"Alright! Everyone, form a perimeter around Hailie and the node." Sean ordered, setting up his Matryoshka turrets, "The less Grimm she has to deal with, the better." He added, just as a huge swarm of Creeps suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh shit." Yang cursed, as the Grimm began their attack. Matthias already taking out five Creeps thanks to his Semblance, while Talia was separated from the others.
'Guess if there's any time to break out my Semblance, now's the time.' Talia thought, as a cloud of dark purple smoke surrounded her form, before she began to spin like a top, firing her shotguns, more ammo being digi-structing in her guns, taking out the Grimm surrounding her, before said cloud dissipated, the young Huntress returning to normal.
"Damn, nice work Tali!" Matthias called out, complementing his sister on the use of her Semblance, as Hailie got past the first firewall.
[Borderlands OST: "Removing the Bandit Threat" by Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco]
"Yes! Alright, one down, three to go!" Hailie shouted, as the cave suddenly began to shake violently. When suddenly, as if out of nowhere, what looked like three minibuses with drills attached to the fronts.
"What the hell?!" Fox yelled, as the hatches opened up, and several people, most having sheets over their heads with a white Vault symbol and carrying pistols, about ten of them were shirtless, but wearing orange pants and a white mask with a Vault symbol adorned on it as well as carrying buzz axes.
"STRIP THE FLESH, SALT THE WOUND!" One of them shouted, punctuated by maniacal laughter.
"Ah, shit..." Sean groaned in deadpan.
"BANDITS!" Kord shouted, as Sean and most of the Vault Hunters focused their attention on the Bandits. Just as more Grimm appeared.
'Great, first Bandits, now more Grimm. This mission just gets better and better.' Sean complained internally, roundhouse kicking a Creep away, whilst blasting a Psycho in the chest with a Tediore shotgun he pulled from his ECHO's storage.
"Who the hell are-" Coco began to ask, before a couple of miniature Psychos jumped onto the fashionista Huntress, and began to pound on her head and back with their fists.
"Hey! Get off of her, you crazed little shits!" Talia and Velvet roared in tandem, Velvet kicking one off, while Talia blasted the second one off with one of her shotguns, "I freaking hate Psycho Midgets." Talia groaned, as she got back to the fight at hand.
'Alright, I'm halfway through this stupid box's firewalls. All that's left is to bust through the last two security programs, and we'll be home free.' Hailie thought as she continued to bypass the box's security measures, just as several more drill buses burst through the rocks, dispensing more Bandits, including hulking muscular bandits with full-face masks crafted from metal and brandishing assault rifles. And one bandit wearing full body-concealing clothing, carrying a bulletproof shield with a midget affixed to the front of it.
"Ah shit, we've got Bruisers and a Nomad!" Delilah called out, as she took out her Vladof pistol and fired it into the face of a nearby Bruiser, roasting his head whole.
"Well, that's just perfect." Hailie groaned, "I'm almost done with this stupid purple box!" The Siren shouted, as more Grimm, this time including Beowolves.
"How much longer?!" Yang yelled, suplexing a Bruiser, knocking him unconscious.
"Just give me a few more-" Hailie began answering, before another drill bus burst through, dispensing a Psycho who had a larger than normal body, and a disproportionately enlarged right arm and a severely stunted left arm, carrying a piece of pipe.
"Shit, BADASS PSYCHO!" Matthias yelled, as the Badass Psycho charged at the group, growling like a feral animal, swatting aside any Grimm in its way, before finally attacking the closest target, who just so happened to be-
"RUBY! LOOK OUT!" Yang shouted, Weiss quickly projecting herself towards her partner, in an attempt to stop the massive bandit from turning the young reaper into silver-eyed paste.
"Dammit..." Sean growled, quickly reloading and sprinting towards his friend, only to be tackled by two Marauders, pinning the Vault Hunter to the ground.
'Sh-shit! I...I can't get them off of me!' Sean thought, struggling to get the two bandits off of him, just as the Badass Psycho swung at Ruby, the young Huntress just barely dodging, before swinging Crescent Rose diagonally, completely bisecting the psycho, killing him.
"Uhh..AH!" Ruby shrieked, dropping her weapon, and beginning to dry-heave, right as a group of Beowolves lunged at her.
"RUBY!" Kord yelled, running towards Ruby, only for a claw attached to a massive arm to slice the Grimm to ribbons. Said arm attached to a hulking, floating robotic torso with one large eye an no legs.
"Wh-what the?" Weiss said, dumbfounded, as two turrets with ammunition belts, rocket pods, a targeting laser, and an extra gun among other attachments appeared, and began mowing down both the bandits and Grimm.
"Wait a moment..." Sean mused, now able to knock the Bandits into the line of fire of the turrets, just as two Beowolves were trapped inside an extra-dimensional singularity, as two sets of machine gun fire tore into the Grimm, killing them.
"Hell yeah! Now that's what I call teamwork!" Shouted a voice no older than most of the girls, said voice belonging to a girl with cherry-red hair tied into two short twintails, goggles affixed to his head, and a cybernetic left arm. Her attire consisting of a school uniform adorned with a Vault Symbol.
"G-Gaige?!" Sean yelled, as said Vault Hunter began firing her own machine gun at the bandits.
"Hey, there's no time for a nap." Said the gruff voice of-
"Axton! Hurry up!" Shouted the Siren known as Maya, the former Dahl soldier rolling his eyes and pulling Sean up, as the short Pandoran Salvador began firing at the Grimm and Bandits, filling both with lead.
[End OST]
"YES! I managed to disable the box!" Hailie cheered, before noticing the very-much dry-heaving Ruby, rushing to her side as Deathtrap, as well as both the Matryoshka and Saber turrets returned to Sean, Gaige and Axton respectively.
"I... I..." Ruby muttered, as Sean and Yang rushed to Ruby's side, Yang pulling her younger sister into a crushing hug.
"Ruby, can I tell you something?" Sean asked thee reaper, who nodded, silently into Yang's shoulder, "Alright, I know you feel like throwing up, and that's a completely natural reaction."
"Unfortunately, while I should say that the churning feeling in your gut goes away, but it doesn't." Hailie said, adding to the conversation, "Not to mention, Bandits on Pandora no doubt would've torn you limb from limb." The young Siren finished, helping Ruby up, whilst Talia grabbed Crescent Rose and handed it to the young reaper.
"Thanks Talia." Ruby said after a few seconds, wiping away a few tears that had formed, "I...I just need some time to calm down." She added, just as what sounded like a massive explosion boomed, rocking the cave.
"What the hell was that?!" Salvador shouted, as the cave began to collapse.
"Students! You must get out of that cave!" Port yelled over the Scroll.
"Yeah, no shit!" Yang cursed, as everyone began getting the hell out of the cave, just as it collapsed, thankfully, our heroes had just managed to escape.
"Jeezus, that was close." Axton said, breathless.
"Yeah, no kidding." Coco added, as everyone began to steady themselves. And then, several more explosions began shaking the area again.
"GAH! Earthquake!" Kord yelled, as everyone struggled for balance.
"Warning: I'm detecting multiple warp signatures emanating from withing Remnant's atmosphere." Bruticus noted, causing the seven Vault Hunters amongts the Huntsman students to look at him.
"Warp signatures?! As in from a spaceship?!" Talia asked/shouted, as multiple ships suddenly appeared above the area, along with small ramshackle VTOLS zooming over our heroes, along with Dahl Jet Fighters engaging them.
"Oh for...Lost Legion AND Buzzards?!" Delilah shouted, as the two hostile factions began a fearsome aerial battle.
"Well, this SUCKS!" Yang shouted in annoyance, the whole group looking towards the sky.
"Yeah Yang, you've got a point there..." Sean murmured, "This mission just got a hell of a lot more complicated."
Well, this took longer to get out than I expected it to. And I sincerely apologize. So, you guys asked for more Borderlands characters, and I delivered! Maya, Axton, Gaige and Salvador have been added! Also, team CFVY has been added to the Grimm Eclipse roster as well! As well as our Remnant-born protagonists' first encounter with Bandits from Pandora! Along with the plot sliding more in line with the current Borderlands timeline. And yes, this story will intersect with that of Borderlands 3. So yes, Sean, Ruby and company will deal with the Calypso twins. Talk about interesting. So, hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner than anticipated. Until next time, don't forget to read and review, and I'll see you next time, on Borderlands: Remnant Minds!