Chapter 27: No Brakes
The train rocketed along the track, as Daniel held his breath to hear if team RWBY and Dr Oobleck had managed to jump onto the train in time. It would appear that luck was not on his side today, as a moment later, a White Fang member popped his head into the room.
"Hey boss, they made it onto the train!"
"Where are they?"
"I think there-" He was cut off when the cry of a White Fang member was heard from above, followed by a sudden thud as something hit the train tracks. More sounds of fighting were emerging from the top of the train.
"Does that answer your question?"
"Yes, yes it does." And with that, Daniel rushed to the top of the train by using a ladder inside of the train. A second later, Lucy, Luna, Roman and Neo all came up behind him.
"Well, isn't that great." Roman muttered. Far ahead of them was the sight of the White Fang being demolished, handled with relative ease. A loud explosion was heard as one of the train cars detached themselves. Then, Grimm began to pour onto the tracks, rushing forward as the train raced on.
"Hey, where did Neo go?" Roman suddenly asked. She had indeed disappeared.
Not for long though, as she suddenly appeared in front of them, and began making complicated gestures with her hands.
"What is she saying?" Luna asked, confused.
"Three of them are heading down below into the train cars to try and stop the bombs while Red and Dr Ooblock-" Daniel would have probably corrected her, but there was no time for that now. "Are staying up on the top to try and stop the train?" Neo nodded her head. Somehow, she had managed to sneak further up the train and listen in on their plan without being noticed.
"How did she find out-" Luna looked at Neo like she was some magician who had just pulled a rabbit out of her hat.
"It's Neo." Lucy stated. Daniel took a step forward and stared down the train. Some of the Paladin's began jumping up, obscuring his view, but he could only see flashes of red and black, as well as Oobleck's green hair. He saw no signs of white or yellow, the colours he had associated with Weiss Schnee and the blonde girl. No sign of Blake either.
"Neo, Roman" Daniel said. "Stay here and fend off Dr Oobleck and Little Red." Neo gave him another quick nod before whipping out her parasol and charging forward, Roman on her heels. Daniel couldn't help but recall a time where Roman and Neo would not have listened to him, butting heads over how to plan a robbery and stuff like that. Yet, the two of them seemed perfectly willing to listen to him nowadays.
"What are we going to do?" Luna looked up at him.
"We need to head back down below and stop the rest of them." Daniel jumped back into the train car, and rushed through the compartments.
When the door in front of him opened, and he saw Weiss, Blake and the blonde girl in front of him, he stopped, eyeing the three of them up for a second. Not a word was exchanged as Daniel slung Death's Grace off his back, and pointed it at Weiss, a very clear command that he was going to deal with her. Lucy and Luna then came out from behind them and went for Yang and Blake, catching them off guard and knocking them into the car behind them. Daniel watched them for a second before focusing his attention back on Weiss as the door to the car closed.
"A Schnee attending Beacon? I don't know about you, but that seems quite odd to me. I thought Atlas Academy would be the place for someone like you."
Weiss didn't say anything as she pointed her rapier at him. Without another word spoken, the two raced to meet each other. Weiss went for the first strike, a thrust to his stomach, but he sidestepped it and went around the back of her, and just as he brought his sword down, a force field formed in front of him suddenly, deflecting the blow. He took a step back to dodge a follow up blow.
Going in once again, Daniel swiped his sword downwards, and she deflected it with her rapier, but he brought his free hand back in a attempt to punch her, forcing her to backflip away from him. Keeping up on the offensive, he whipped one of his pistols out and fired, a shot which hit the wall behind her, not in a attempt to damage, but to distract. Stepping in once again, he brought his foot back and went in for kick to the face, and Weiss leaped into the air, landing on the ceiling, and came down, and he moved his body to the side, holding out Death's Grace in such a way that her rapier went grinding down it.
He moved forward once again, and he unleashed a flurry of swipes, focusing on the chest area, and just when she was about to retaliate with her own attack, he used his semblance, and the clone went straight through her, appearing behind her, and he he was able to score a blow to her back, and he didn't let up, delivering a barrage of powerful sword slashes all over her body, and thanks to the additional attacks with his semblance, Weiss was forced back against one of the crates, and he went in for a another blow, but this one didn't land, and his strike knocked over the crate.
Aware that she was behind him, he turned around and was able to grab her rapier, trapping her in a ideal position for him to go on the offensive once again, and he seized the opportunity, kicking her in the stomach before bringing his foot down on her head, knocking her to the ground. He lifted his sword up, and went for a finishing blow, but Weiss rolled back, and came at him once again.
He ducked underneath her attempted slice on his head, and dropped himself to the floor and quickly sprung forward, bringing his foot forward in a kick on her leg. It connected and she staggered backwards. He straightened himself back up and spun his sword in a horizontal arc, and she backflipped underneath it, and he repeated the same move once again, catching her off guard and she was forced to bring her rapier up to guard against the slash.
Keeping up the momentum, he knocked her rapier to the side when she tried to thrust him again, and in that split second moment, he took out his pistol and shot her in the stomach, causing her aura to flare up. He spun around with his foot and roundhouse kicked her in the head, dropping her once again. Not willing to give her a chance to recuperate, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back up to her feet, but she brought her feet up to his chest, kicking backwards, creating some space.
She whipped her rapier around in a circle, and a pale blue circle formed in front of her, meaning she had created the force field once again.
How do I get around that?
A idea popped into his mind. He took his two pistols out and put them together, forming the small shotgun, and threw his sword in a spinning arc towards her. As expected, the force field came up, but Death's Grace kept on spinning, applying constant pressure to it, forcing her to focus on keeping the force field up, giving him the opportunity to rush around her and come at her from the side and she dropped the force field and leapt to the side to confront him, and he dodged her kick, before grabbing her by the leg, bringing her to the floor, and twisted her leg, earning a small yelp of pain before letting go of her and picked Death's Grace up, and she jumped back up to her feet, and the two of them went back and forward for a second, before Weiss suddenly jumped backwards and held her rapier out in front of her.
A giant clock formed at her feet, and the hands of the clock went spinning around like crazy. Not knowing what she was doing, but not intending on finding out, Daniel jumped forward and brought his leg out, kicking her before she could finish what she was trying to do.
All of a sudden, several glyphs began to appear around him, and Weiss suddenly jumped up onto one, and came flying downwards, her rapier posed and ready to strike. He spun his sword around in a circle, helping to negate most of the damage as she went flying past him in several different directions and just when she was coming at him for the last time, he brought his fist back and punched her in the face as hard as he could. The impact was astounding, sending Weiss flying back into the wall. It was only then that Daniel realised that she had a scar on the right side of her face.
There's no way I just caused that. Did I?
She had already risen back up to her feet, so there was no time to think about that. He readied himself as she came at him once again.
Criminals and Mentors
Oh no, not her again.
Lucy immediately recognised the blonde girl as the one who had blown up the Paladin in a single punch. She cast a quick glance at Luna, who had was holding Lunar Eclipse out in front of her, poised and ready to strike. There was a brief face off for a moment, before Luna made a run for them. Lucy stood back for a second and waited for Luna to draw first blood. Yang drew her fist back and tried to punch her, but Luna ducked underneath it and brought her foot up, blasting Yang with a kick, before quickly turning her attention to Blake, who had attempted to strike Luna down, but found herself caught in a throw, and Luna tossed her towards Lucy.
Lucy caught Blake in a chokehold, and was about to slam her down into the ground before Blake was able to wriggle her way free and rolled forwards, turning back around and facing Lucy, who quickly pulled out her daggers. Lucy struck out at Blake, who backflipped to avoid it, and the two of them were soon caught in a intense back and forth. Blake used her clone to dodge another slash, before she was suddenly forced to jump to the side as Yang came crashing down, but she was quickly able to get back up and charge at Luna once again, who leaped over her head and came back down on her arm, catching her in a armlock.
In that brief moment of hesitation from Blake, Lucy leapt forward and blasted her with a kick to the side of the head, before keeping up the pace with a slash to the leg, however, Blake jumped straight up, dodging it, and bringing her foot up in a kick of her own, but Lucy raised her daggers to block it, and then slashed forwards, forcing Blake back, and she then spun around and rolled underneath Blake's strike, before throwing one of her daggers at Yang, and leaping back to avoid Blake. The dagger didn't hit home, as Yang ducked underneath it, but Luna raised her other hand out and caught it.
With only one dagger in her hand, Lucy attempted to backhand Blake in the face with her other hand, but that proved useless when Blake once again used a clone to get away from her. A loud thud was suddenly heard when Luna pushed Yang back against the wall. Lucy raised her dagger and brought it down in a horizontal slash, and she got the biggest surprise of her life when it came into contact with ice. Blake had created another clone, but this one was reinforced with ice, and with horror, Lucy realised that not only was her dagger stuck in it, but her whole hand was caught as well. It was absolutely freezing, unsurprisingly. There was absolutely no chance of her pulling it out.
Realising that she wasn't going anywhere, Blake turned around to help Yang, rushing at Luna, who jumped backwards, and grabbed Blake by her arm, and when Yang came slamming down, she caught her by the arm as well. She then proceeded to jump up and kick both of them at the same time, before whipping her chain around Yang's arm and quite literally throwing her into Blake, and they both went crashing into the floor. Luna quickly rushed to Lucy and drew her khopesh back, slicing through the ice, and Lucy pulled hand free. Luna handed Lucy her other dagger before engaging Yang and Blake once again. Lucy watched for a moment as she flipped over both of there heads, knocking Blake back with a elbow to the head, and jumped backwards, hitting Yang with a bicycle kick.
Lucy, realising this was her chance, rushed towards the three of them, before slashing a dazed Yang, and Luna came to her side, striking Yang with the back of her hand, before kneeing her in the chin. Lucy turned back around and ducked underneath a incoming attack from Blake, and Luna was able to whip her chain around Gambol Shroud, before pulling backwards, causing Blake to trip and come stumbling forward, putting her in a perfect position for Lucy to grab her by the hair, and brutally kneeing her in the head, causing Blake to snap back, before roundhouse kicking her, sending her flying back into the wall.
With Blake out of the fight for a moment, both Lucy and Luna turned their attention onto Yang, who fired shots from Ember Celica at both of them, and Lucy rolled back, while Luna rolled forwards, catching Yang by the hand and twisting her wrist, and attempted to stab her khophesh into Yang's gauntlets in hopes of breaking them and rendering them useless, but Yang punched out with her other hand, which Luna was forced to deflect by taking her weapon away and raising it up. The force of Yang's punch sent her flying backwards, and while she was flying towards Blake, who had risen back to her feet, she wrapped her legs around her head and twisted downwards, spiking Blake's head into the floor.
Lucy deflected a few of Yang's attempted blows, before spinning around and elbowing her in the face, and pressing the attack, delivered several kicks to her chest area, and finished it off with a final backhand strike to the face, knocking her back to where Blake and Luna were still duking it out. Luna went for a spinning kick, but Blake jumped back, making a clone out of fire dust, and when Luna's foot came into contact with it, it exploded, and she was knocked back into the wall next to where Lucy was standing , hitting it hard with a loud thud. Just as the two duos were about to engage once again, the door suddenly opened behind them, and Weiss was sent hurtling next to Blake and Yang. She was breathing hard, and staring at Daniel as he stepped into the car.
Lucy grinned at the three students. "Well kids, I'm afraid your in for it now."
Yang made to step forward, but Blake suddenly jerked her head backwards, causing all three of them to back up. Without another word, they turned around and sprinted away from them. Lucy and Luna looked up at Daniel for a brief moment, before he took off after them, and they both followed.
They followed them up to the top of the train, where they were reunited with Roman and Neo, who were both trying to hold back Ruby and Oobleck, with the help of the White Fang.
"Oh, thank heavens you three are finally here!" Roman shouted, as he ducked underneath a flying White Fang member. The rest of team RWBY had reunited with their leader, and they were all standing with Doctor Oobleck, who was taking out the White Fang. He grinned when he saw them. Lucy then noticed a small corgi, who suddenly rushed out and came to a stop in front of Oobleck.
"Eh, what are they doing?" Roman commented.
The dog looked back and barked loudly, before jumping up into the air and Oobleck hit him. Lucy was then treated to perhaps the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.
The corgi quite literally turned into a fireball, rocketing towards them at a intense speed.
Nope, nope, nope! I am not dealing with this! Lucy threw herself to the side, causing the corgi to go flying past her. She nearly tripped and fell off the train, but Luna grabbed her by the hand and pushed her away from the edge.
The corgi then proceeded to jump up and bite Roman's coat, dangling off it as he desperately tried to swat it off.
They were all forced to back up as team RWBY and Oobleck rushed forward to confront them. Roman was successful in detaching the corgi, and it ran behind him. Nobody payed the small pup any attention as the two sides rushed to meet each other, but a loud bark caught everyone's attention. The realisation then hit Lucy that the end of the tunnel was coming up, and they were heading full speed towards it.
"Well, shi-" She didn't get to finish her sentence before the train hit the end of the tunnel.
Criminals and Mentors
Lily was sitting on a bench in city square, devouring a huge cup of sweets, wondering when this big event was going to happen. It had been rather peaceful in the city square, people were going about their day to day lives, no problem at all.
Jarah had been just as pleasant as she remembered, but she hadn't talked to him for long, more concerned about this event.
But as it currently stood, nothing terrible had happened. She did have a uneasy feeling though that something big was about to happen. She just didn't know what it was.
"Daddy, why does she have that sword thing?" Lily snapped to attention when she realised that someone was standing in front of her. It was a man, but he wasn't the one who had spoken to her. He was holding a small boy in his arms, who couldn't have been more than four years old. He was staring at her, with round, curious eyes.
"That's a huntress buddy." Lily smiled at the two of them. "She's one of the people who holds back the creatures of Grimm, and protects the people."
Lily took her weapon out and held it up so the young boy could get a closer look. "It's called NightSlayer."
"Why is it called that?"
"Because that's what I decided to call it."
"Oh." He seemed to be satisfied with that answer, and turned away from her. The man offered Lily a quick smile, and hurried on.
Lily put her weapon away, and took out her scroll. She had reread the text message Daniel had sent her a number of times. But instead of rereading it once again, she decided to scroll further up.
There was a huge four year gap, where she hadn't texted him at all, out of the realisation that he was never going to reply. He had probably been ashamed and weighed down by grief and sorrow, that's why he hadn't replied.
Or was it for a different reason? Maybe he had thought they would hate him. That if he did come back, they would scream and shout at him, and he wouldn't have wanted to deal with that.
Whatever his reason may be, I'm just glad that he's talking to us again.
It made her happy, it made Amy happy, and it was sure to have made him happy too. It was a win-win.
Lily scrolled up further, and read some of their Beacon text messages.
Hey, it's Amy's birthday tomorrow Lily, you didn't forget, did you?
No, of course not. Why would I forget my own partner's birthday?
You did last year.
Did not!
I'm pretty sure you did. What have you bought her?
A set of books.
She barely reads a school textbook, do you honestly think she's going to willingly read a whole set of books?
I'll make her. What have you bought her?
Well, since it's coming to the end of this term, I thought it would be nice to buy her something for over the break. I'm buying her a puppy.
Aww, that's so cute!
Nicole's getting her some clothes, as well as making the cake.
Lily recalled Amy's reaction. Daniel had trained the puppy in such a way, that it had hid under her bed, and when he snapped his fingers, it had come racing out. Amy had grabbed Daniel in the tightest hug imaginable, and she had named the puppy Aida. She was still alive today, although Amy hadn't been home in about four years, so she hadn't seen her since then.
Coming out of her messages with Daniel, she continued to scroll down, and came across her messages with Nicole. Even after all this time, she hadn't deleted them. It hurt her heart to read them, but she felt it was necessary from time to time. She sorted the messages into a certain year, meaning it would only show messages from that year. It was their first year at Beacon when these one's were sent.
Lily, where are you right now?
In our dormitory, why?
Is everything okay with you and Amy?
No, she shouldn't be here. She should have never been accepted into Beacon, she cheated her way in!
Well, I've just been talking with Amy, and she's not really in the greatest of moods either. I think you should give her a chance.
Nicole, I don't think you get it. She cheated her way into Beacon, she's a waste of a student space!
You don't mean that.
She sighed and put her scroll back into her pocket. If only Nicole was still here, Daniel would have never left Beacon, and it would have been fine.
A loud crash took her out of her thoughts. She stood up and walked over to get a better look. The barrier which had lead to the tunnels, which were supposed to be sealed, had broken. A plume of smoke had kicked up, and when it cleared, Lily got a closer look at who was there. She immediately recognised team RWBY, who were pulling themselves out of the wreckage of what appeared to be a train.
That was the big event? A train rams it's way in?
But things were about to get a whole lot worse. All of a sudden, a King Taijitu erupted from the wreckage, followed by a mass of Grimm. They began pouring out of the tunnels, and people began to panic and run away.
Lily threw the empty sweet cup at a Beowolf, before rushing in and slicing off it's head in a well placed slash. She observed the chaos for a brief moment, before running at the horde of Grimm.
Criminals and Mentors
Thanks for reading and have a good day!