Gravenimage: Well... wouldn't say saved yet but... he kicked her copy's butt!
Grimlock987: She'll appear soon enough! Please don't hurt me! :(
SparktheDog: Good point. When things are back to normal, I'll have Pyrrha update Jaune's training programme!
Yaboioverthar: Aw come on! It's just X vs the entire enemy leader's! What's the worst that could happen?
DukesofBoston: Ummm... I'll be honest, I never thought about any of that... y'know... sort of stuff. A relationship doesn't automatically mean sexy time!
Ultimate Kuuga: Well, we have an Ultimate Kuuga at least! That's something! (I hope)
ChimaTigon: Arkos 4 life yo!
MegaLegends29: You're here now, that's all that matters!
Onwards!
Terrifying storms had hit Remnant before, but none quite like this one. The sky was filled with the rumble of explosions, both from Xandria's forces being destroyed and the brave Remnant defenders who fell in the line of duty. Bright flashes illuminated the sky like fireworks, accompanied by the soundtrack of gunfire and explosions. Hot metal rained down from fallen friend and foe, adding to the bloodbath on the ground as well as the air.
"I got one behind me! You see it?"
A Bal Kacche Moth was following on the tail of one of Hawk's fighter pilot's. He dived and darted across the sky, but the Reaverbot would not lose sight of him, though could not land a good hit.
"I'm on him." Hawk responded, pulling in behind the duo.
His holographic reticule produced by his helmet beeped rhythmically, increasing in tempo every time it drew closer to it's target, before dropping again as it passed over.
"Come on, come on!"
Finally, the beeping remained in a constant, one tone sound, signifying that he was locked on. Squeezing the trigger, guns under both wings fired, sending a trail of bullets in front of him. All of them pinged off the moth, which burst into flame and exploded spectacularly for it's size.
"Clear tail! Thanks boss!"
"Don't relax, we ain't done yet!" Hawk reminded his team.
In response to the air assault, the Reaverbot's brought forward another variety of their own; a Janfoden. Several of them were lined up and aimed to the sky, before releasing a plethora of missiles at Hawk's forces.
"We got incoming! Evasive action!" Hawk warned.
Banking right, he just managed to dodge aside as a missile passed his wing, exploding instead on some Reaverbot's who were trying to chase him. He let out a relieved sigh before realising one of his allies had a missile on his tail.
"Sharkbait! Start weaving, you've got a hot one on your six!"
"I'm trying boss! It's not working!"
Indeed, Sharkbait was pulling off every move he could while trying to maintain speed, lest the missile catch up to him. He ducked and dived all over the sky but to no avail as the missile followed his every move.
"This is Sharkbait, I need hel-YEARGH!"
The line went dead as the missile made contact with Sharkbait's right wing. With a total loss of control and his engines aflame, he spiralled down out of the sky, his craft emitting the signature whine as it nosedived before embedding itself in the ground in a ball of flame.
"Sharkbait's down!" Hawk reported, smacking the dashboard of his cockpit in frustration. "Defcon! Get your ass in there and take those missile launcher's out!"
"With pleasure!" Defcon replied. "All wings, form up on me, we're going fo-"
*KABOOM*
"Sting is down!" A pilot reported, confirming what the explosion was.
"Defcon! Above us!" Another warned.
As Defcon's team were getting organised, a squad of Bal Kacche had caught on to their plan and had begun attacking his forces. They quickly split up and began splitting their attackers up. Defcon cursed his luck.
"Wingblade! Where the hell are you?" He called to his support.
"We're in the thick of it! Looks like the whole damned enemy fighter corps is here! There's too many of them!" Wingblade responded.
Defcon's bomber juddered as the one that was flying alongside him was hit by a missile, destroying it instantly.
"Is there no way for you to get through?" Wingblade asked.
"Not in bombers, no. We don't have the manoeuvrability to get past the fighters and the missiles! What about you?"
"We could get through but we aren't equipped to deal with ground forces! It would be a waste of time!"
Back on the ground, team RWBY was just polishing off the last of the main assault group of Reaverbot's. Blake quickly decapitated a Beowulf before changing to pistols and shooting a Geist right through it's mask, the supernatural demon screeching before vanishing to nothingness.
Yang and Ruby were heading to help her when the ground started shaking beneath them. It was caused by three Nakel Reaverbot's burrowing out of the ground in front of them. They began spitting burning hot blasts at the girl's.
Both girl's backed off. Yang using her Ember gauntlets to propel herself backwards, while Ruby's speed semblance was more than enough to avoid the enemy's fire.
"Out of our way!" Ruby shouted. "Yang, now!"
Grabbing her sister's hand, Yang began spinning Ruby around. Gathering momentum, she released her grip and sent her sister straight towards the enemy.
Ruby readied her scythe, swinging it across just as she passed in between all three of the Nakel's necks. She landed safely on the other side, her scythe held behind her as the Nakel froze in their positions. A second later, their top halves were separated from their body's and they fell down, destroyed.
Ruby smirked in triumph before a Giwan stomped up to her, clearly annoyed with the girl's actions.
She gave a nervous grin before the Giwan slammed one arm down, which Ruby just managed to dodge in time. Trying to capitalise on the opportunity, Ruby tried to bring her weapon down on the extended arm. Just as she was bout to however, the other arm swooped in from behind and swatted the crimson fighter away.
"Ruby!" Yang shrieked, as her sister was dazed.
The Giwan drew ever closer, raising both arms to squash Ruby like the bug it made her out to be.
That would have been the case, had a large glyph not appeared right next to the giant Reaverbot. From within the centre of the snowflake shaped semblance, a giant glowing white hand emerged, moving slowly towards the Giwan, who looked on in bewilderment.
Snapping into action, the hand grabbed hold of the Giwan, which began flailing around uselessly as it was lifted high into the sky. The hand released it;s grip, letting the Reaverbot fall back to earth with an almighty crash. To finish, the hand closed into a fist and was brought down upon the Giwan, crushing it instantly.
Ruby and her team watched in awe as the hand moved back into the glyph, before vanishing from sight.
"No need to thank me!" Weiss called over, panting from exhaustion. Her summons would take a lot out of her, this one was exceptional so she obviously felt shattered.
"You holding up alright?" Yang sarcastically asked, pulling the heiress to her feet.
"Yes, actually." Weiss answered. "Since it seems our job here is almost done."
Looking around, it was true. Most of Xandria's force's had not even been able to land, destroyed while still in the Mandomantal's that were bringing them to the field. Those that were not destroyed were still fighting through the air battle above them. The few forces that had reached the ground were all but beaten, a few stragglers remained but they would be easily picked off by the soldiers.
"She's right, Yang!" Ruby chirped. "As long as the air force can hold out, we've pretty much won!"
On that note, the team got a call on their scroll's. None of them were expecting it and they all looked at each other in confusion at this development. Taking them out, they opened up the video link to find Defcon, Wingblade and Hawk were calling them. All of them seemed to be frantically busy as the air battle raged above them.
"There you are Hunters! Finally!" Defcon began.
"What's going on up there?" Ruby asked.
"We almost had the situation under control up here, but we've got a problem!"
"What sort of problem?" Yang questioned.
She got her answer as a whistling sound drew the girl's attention to a point far off into the distance. A flaming object fired from the ground was responsible for the noise. It zoomed up into the air and hit one of their allies plane's exploding it instantly.
"That problem!" Defcon answered. "Our bomber's are too slow to get through their defensive perimeter, if we don't do something soon the entire fleet is going down!"
This was not what the girl's needed, they were so close to victory now. The soldier's here could handle themselves but that still didn't solve the problem of the missile launchers. If they didn't get rid of them soon, it would give Xandria's forces a safe place to land and their hard work would be for nought.
Ruby then got a spark of an idea.
"Hawk, are your ships fast enough to get through their defences?"
"Miss Rose, my boys will get through anything!" He boasted.
"Great! I need you and another ship to swing by us, I have a plan!"
"Acknowledged Miss Rose, see you in a moment." Hawk switched his call off, leaving the screen blank.
"Just hold out you two, we'll deal with those missiles."
"Alright but hurry! Defcon acknowledged.
Putting her scroll away, Ruby motioned for one of the commander's to come over. He ran to her and saluted.
"Ready the Paladin's commander, we'll lead the way. When the firework's starts, you start pushing forward with all you've got. It's time we end this battle."
"Yes ma'am!" He sprinted off to ready his men.
"What's this plan then, Ruby?" Weiss queried.
Hawk and his wingman both swooped in low, their ship's hovering just beside team RWBY. Without any hesitation, Ruby hopped onto Hawk's left wing with a smile on her face.
"We're going for a little ride!"
2 minutes later
(Insert music: Megaman Zero 2 Remastered OST: Power Bom)
"WHY DID I AGREE TO THIS?!"
Weiss screamed at the top her lungs over the sound of wind rushing past them. Her hair and combat skirt fluttering in the gale force winds as she stood on the other wing of Hawk's fighter. She was using a glyph to hold herself and her team in place which ensured they wouldn't fall off but that did little to stop her realising how insane this whole plan was.
"GREAT PLAN, HUH?" Ruby shouted back.
"THIS IS INSANE YOU INSUFFERABLE LITTLE-"
"DON'T YOU BADMOUTH MY SISTER, ICE QUEEN!" Yang protested from the other craft with Blake on one wing and herself on the other.
"JUST QUIT WHINING AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR ANY ENEMIES!" Blake told them all.
"Head's up girls! Squad at 4 o'clock!" Hawk warned them over the comm line.
Yang held up her wrist and looked at the top of it. "ACTUALLY!, IT'S ABOUT 7:30!"
"YANG!" They all bellowed as now was not the time for jokes.
Yang chuckled to herself before a shot whizzed past her head. Looking behind her, she found a group of Balfura zooming towards her, firing shots from their tails.
"Maybe it wasn't that funny! No need to be rude!" Yang shouted.
Activating her buster arm she began firing on the enemy. A few of the Balfura were destroyed but the rest of the group drew closer to the wing of the ship. Some of their weaker shots pinging off the wing, leaving small burn marks. Hawk's partner reacted and tilted his craft to the left, allowing the Balfura to pass underneath it. Having gone past them, Ruby fired from the other ship. Bullet's clanged against metal as the Balfura shrieked after being hit and falling back to the ground.
"Right, that's the first problem out of the way." Hawk radioed in.
"FIRST PROBLEM?" Weiss called back.
Several dozen shots then flew past the craft the girls were riding on. Both Hawk and his wingman dived to the sides and began weaving as best they could, which wasn't easy given the passengers they were carrying.
"THE HELL WAS THAT?" Yang asked.
"That would be problem number two."
Peering down from the edge of the wings, the girls were met with a sight that none of them wanted to see.
A Rush Mamoo... XL size.
The Wojigairon's were big, but this Mamoo was even bigger than that. Squinting through the incoming fire, the girl's noticed several Reaverbot's on it's back, firing up at them as well as the Mamoo using it's trunk with a gain cannon on the end of it. To make matters worse, it was right on top of the enemy Janfoden, protecting them from attack.
"We'll try and take him down, no promises though, just make sure you hold tight. Yellow Jacket, follow me!"
Flying just beside each other, the two fighters weaved gently through the enemy fire as they drew closer to their target.
"Stay tight, Yellow Jacket."
"Look at the size of that thing!" Yellow Jacket replied. "You sure we can take it down?"
"Gotta try at least. Attack pattern Delta, go!"
As they approached the literal and figurative mammoth of a Reaverbot, the two ships banked right, narrowly dodging the main trunk and began increasing their altitude. Ruby and her team took a few pot shots at the Mamoo but they may as well have been firing Nerf darts for all the good it did, the bullets dinging off the robot's hide uselessly.
"Alright, going in!"
Hawk turned about with Yellow Jacket following behind. He dived in low and began firing his gun at the Mamoo. The shots hit it's legs and the Reaverbot began to stumble slightly for a moment. Yellow Jacket repeated the process with the body section before they pulled up again.
"Good hits, good hits."
In theory they were anyway. As their luck would have it, the Mamoo was too densely armoured to receive any damage from their attacks. Blake being the first to realise this.
"Hawk! It's not working, we need t- ARGH!"
Yellow Jacket's craft jolted as an enemy shot hit the wing that Blake was standing on. Yang was launched off her feet and landed with a dull thud on her front. Scrambling quickly, she latched a hand onto one of the small indents in the wing, just managing to hang on and pull herself up.
"That was too close, huh Blake?!"
Yang looked over to where her partner should have been, realising with horror she was no longer there.
"Blake? BLAKE?!" She called out in a panic.
Yang then saw something fluttering in the wind. A small piece of black ribbon, wrapped around the joint between the craft's left engine and the wing. Her eyes quickly scanned along the trail which stretched right off the back of the wing. It carried on until it wrapped around Blake's waist, secured tightly.
The blonde got some relief as she realised that Blake must have tied herself down before they took off as a precaution. It was as well she had, for now she was out cold, practically being pulled along by the plane. Yang called to her but to no avail. All she knew now was they needed a plan to stop this thing quickly, and guns were not the answer.
Back on the ground, the Remnant forces were advancing slowly. They were almost constantly encountering resistance as the Reaverbot's tried desperately to hold their position in front of the Janfoden that were keeping this battle going.
"Keep pushing! Forward! Forward!" The commander ordered.
More men kept moving up, ducking behind cover from the enemy fire as they did so, slowly inching closer to the guns. It was proving costly now though as the enemy had seen their advance and was redirecting fire from the Janfoden to attack the ground troops. One missile landed in the middle of a squad who were torn to pieces by the explosion.
As the fire continued to rain down, the Paladins pushed on, returning the heavy assault in kind as they used 50 cal. Guns and rockets to try and break through. Several Reaverbot's were shredded by the heavy calibur weaponry and the rockets made good work of the pockets of defensive formations but they lacked the range to reach the heavy weapons.
This of course was no problem for the Janfoden, who were easily able to out range the Remnant forces. A few rockets hit close to the Mamoo, still having no effect as Yellow Jacket's craft was now trailing smoke and flew around it, taking pot shots where it could.
The Mamoo aimed it's trunk cannon at the ground and fired a single powerful shot. It whizzed downwards and struck a Paladin right in the chest, detonating it on contact. The arms were flung as the main body exploded and landed on some other soldiers nearby. The legs then creaked and fell as well. Undaunted, another Paladin looked on for a moment before continuing the assault.
Team RWBY meanwhile, were still trying to find a way to defeat the Rush Mamoo XL. Still blasting away at it, they desperately tried to think of a plan to get through it's armour. A stray shot from a Gorubeshu flew past Ruby's head. Annoyed, she aimed back down at the enemy and fired a shot, hitting it's eye and taking it down. Weiss was trying every kind of attack she could muster on the Mamoo. Flame, electric, ice, none had any impact, much to her annoyance.
"Nothing!" Yang seethed. "Even at full charge my buster has no effect!"
Blake eye's flickered open as she groaned tiredly. Looking down through blurred vision, she squinted to see where she was. She was pretty sure there was a wing beneath her not a second ago!
"YEEP!"
Seeing the ground zooming by her, she grabbed on to the nearest bit of the plan she could find, the rear end of the fuselage just in front of the engines. Realising her bow was still attached to the wing, she reached out and began pulling her way along it, crawling along the side of the craft as she did so.
Seeing her crawl up, Yang was relieved.
"Yes! I knew you still had some lives left in you kitty cat!" She cheered before firing another shot at the Mamoo.
"What's going on?" Blake asked.
"We can't get through this thing's armour. Any ideas?"
Blake thought hard. It would be impossible to do anything even if they were on top of it. The legs seemed vulnerable but what could they do? Then the ribbon flew in front of her face again, and she got a brainwave.
Pulling herself onto the wing, she began extending the ribbon cable in her hand as far as it would go, wrapping the excess lightly around her arm. She then attached one end to her pistol and the other was tied to the plane.
"Yellow Jacket!" She called on her scroll.
"Copy Blake."
"Fly in close to it's legs, I have a plan. When I give the word, I want you to start encircling around the Mamoo's legs. Don't pull up until I say so, understand?"
"Got it. Hawk, cover me!"
The two jets swooped in, with Hawk slightly ahead to try and draw fire. Ruby, Yang and Weiss were taking out as many targets as they could to give Yellow Jacket an easier time of lining himself up.
"Going in now, Blake!"
Blake squinted as she tried to get a grasp of the sheer speed with which they were approaching. Her fingers drumming on the handle of her weapon, she prepared to fire. As the jet passed by the right rear leg of the Mamoo, Blake threw her weapon. It wrapped around the leg and was pulled tight by the recoil, the spare cable extending outwards from Blake's position.
"Now! Start circling!" She ordered.
The little jet flew around in an anti-clockwise direction, tightly enough that the cable was pulled taught around the Mamoo's legs. The Reaverbot tried to keep track of the fighter but it was too fast and too close to it's position to get a clear shot.
"Come on, one more lap." Blake thought to herself.
As the cable was about to run out, Blake raised her katana and prepared to swing down. She waited until the very last possible moment before she brought the blade down on the cable.
"NOW!"
The cable pinged away from the plane which gained altitude as soon as it could, the small leftover piece winding around one of the Mamoo's legs in a tangled mess. Realising it's target was getting away, the Mamoo tried to turn and move to a better angle of attack.
It strained under the force of the Mamoo's strength but the cable did not give way. Not expecting the blockage of movement, the Reaverbot had already put it's body weight forward but had no leg to support itself. Realising it;s mistake too late, the Mamoo gave a trumpet to the sky as it leaned forward and toppled.
*CRASH*
"Hit it now, Hawk!" Ruby advised.
Seeing an opening on the underbelly of the Mamoo, Hawk and Yellow Jacket swooped in low before pressing their triggers and firing. The bullets pinged off the metal underside a few times before some flames started to emerge, the Reaverbot bellowing smoke as it they burned. Finally, one shot managed to get lucky, striking the energy core and exploding the Mamoo into tiny fragments.
"Ha...ah ha ha! HAHAHAAAAAAA! WOO!" Yellow Jacket cheered.
"All clear girls, let's get you down there so we can finish those cannons off!" Hawk said, his smile able to be heard through his speech.
Swooping low, Hawk and Yellow Jacket gave the girls a chance to jump off in the middle of the Janfoden. Ruby got the first hit in as she slashed down with her scythe a she jumpedo ff, chopping one of the Janfoden in half, it's front clattering to the ground as the body burst into flames.
Slightly further behind, the Paladin's had moved up ahead of the troops. Their leader opened the cockpit of his walker and scoured the distant battlefield. Seeing team RWBY in the thick of the action and the Janfoden quickly falling, he waved to the men behind him in Paladin's.
"After 'em, boys!"
He got a flurry of entusiastic responses from behind him as the Paladin's revealed, despite their size, they were still fast on their feet. They charged into the battle with the foot soldiers bringing up the rear.
"Ha ha! Yeah!"
"Give it to 'em!"
"Alright, kerb-stomping time!"
A few Janfoden still aimed at the Paladin's though they carried on regardless as one of their comrades was hit and his robot fell where it stood.
The thunder of 50. cal guns roared as the Remnant forces advanced. One Gorubeshu that stood it's ground found itself crushed under the foot of one Paladin. Reaching a Janfoden that tried to turn and shoot at them, two Paladins side stepped around the Reaverbot and began unloading shots into it's side. The artillery device exploded and it's legs fell limp as it was deactivated permanently.
"The cannons are down, Defcon, do your thing!" Ruby ordered.
"With pleasure, Miss Rose. Bombs away!"
The drone of aircraft engines filled the sky as the bombers flew over the Paladins and past team RWBY towards the main Reaverbot force. With no air defence left, they were sitting ducks as bombs and missiles were launched into the swarms of ancient machines, all grouped together.
Their air support too, was practically obliterated. Hawk and Wingblade had regrouped and were hunting down any stragglers that were still trying to land reinforcements for the enemy. The Revaerbots were not programmed to retreat and so, even as defeat loomed upon them, they fought on.
Their job done, team RWBY stopped to take a breather as the Paladins and soldiers charged past them to chase off the remaining forces. All those that passed close to them gave various whoops and cheers.
One cocky soldier gave Yang a cheeky slap on the backside. She responded by grabbing him by the neck, her friends expecting a beat down to take place. Instead, she pulled him and gave him a full blown snog on the lips. As he was dumbfounded, she pushed him back away.
"Go get 'em tiger." She winked.
The other soldiers going "WAAAAAAAY!", whooping and a few giving wolf whistles as they ran on.
"What was that supposed to be?" Weiss asked, arms folded.
"Moral support." Yang replied without missing a beat. "It's about all they need now, they can handle the rest themselves."
"Yang's right." Ruby agreed. "Right now we need to regroup with our friends. Hope they're doing alright."
As the girls were getting ready to leave however, a soldier ran up to them. He was out of breath and motioned for them to stop. The soldier reached them, doubling over as he caught his breath again.
"You alright there buddy?" Yang asked.
"Pufff...pant... thank Oum I've found you all. Pant... You need...whew... you need to get over to the barracks as soon as you can. X and the forces there are under attack."
Yang looked over her shoulder at the massacre behind them.
"Well we've beaten one army of Reaverbots, I'm up for another bunch of them!" She chuckled, cracking her fingers.
"It's not just Reaverbots ma'am. All the enemy leaders are there too! I don't know how long X can hold out alone!"
"Son of a bitch..." Blake realised, smacking herself in the face at the obviousness of it all. "They only did a full frontal assault as a distraction! Of course they were going to lose! All they're interested in is getting their hands on X!"
Without another word, Blake sprinted off towards the barracks, her teammates going after her. Seeing the urgency of the situation, a few Paladins and three squads of soldiers followed in behind as well. Blake ran as fast as she could, not caring how tired or beaten she was.
She only hoped it was not too late.
And you'll find out if it is too late or not in the next part!
Until next time
TOODLE PIP!
