Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of War/Mordor or RWBY.
This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and MANY canonical divergences.
The Storm
Part 2
"Pyrrha, please don't-!"
Jaune's plea fell on deaf ears as the locker was sent sailing into the air by the rocket-based propulsion system built into its base. Through the small opening of the locker, his view of Pyrrha was quickly replaced by the sky as he sailed further and further away from her. The last time he'd been stuffed into one of these things, he'd been scared about what would happen to him when it landed. But as he flew further from the school, the dread came from those last few moments he'd spent with Pyrrha before she sent him away.
The locker passed over the majority of the fighting still occurring in and around Beacon, eventually landing near the air docks, where Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port were helping Atlas Personnel coordinate an evacuation. Oobleck had taken note of the locker, but had been preoccupied with several more Grimm trying to attack the Docks. So he'd instead called upon several students to check it out.
When the door of the Locker finally opened and Jaune stumbled out, he found the sound of laughter reaching his ears.
"Well well, times really never change, do they?"
Looking up, Jaune found himself staring into the smirking face of Dove, "She..." Jaune said before shaking off the daze of his impromptu journey.
Pushing aside Dove, Cardin took hold of Jaune's shoulder to steady him, "You able to stand, Jauney-boy?" he asked with a frown, which lightened only partially when Jaune nodded "Good, have you seen Sky?"
As the world finally stopped spinning, Jaune looked up to him with a raised eyebrow, "What?"
"Sky!" Cardin repeated himself "We haven't been able to link up with him since the White Fang started tearing shit up. If we weren't stuck guarding the Docks I would've gone looking for his lazy ass but-"
"Oh forget him, Cardin." Dove waved it off as he walked by and examined the Locker "I'm more interested in what led boy-wonder over here into the air in the first place, I'm sure that's far more engaging than Sky getting himself killed."
While Cardin was quick to scowl at Dove's nonchalant dismissal, Jaune was able to collect his thoughts. His eyes drifted up towards Beacon Tower, the pit in his stomach growing deeper as he stepped away from Cardin.
"Arc?" Cardin asked before frowning "Did you hear me?"
"She's... she's going after her..." Jaune said, still somewhat unable to believe Pyrrha's intentions.
"Who?" Dove asked with a tilt of his head
"I-I have to stop her!" Jaune broke out into a run, only for Cardin to reach out and hold him back.
"Woah there," he grunted "the hell are you talking about?"
"Pyrrha! She's going after that Cinder lady!" Jaune shouted back "She doesn't stand a chance!"
With that he broke free of Cardin's grasp and started racing back towards the battle, leaving the duo behind as he scrambled to make the most of his time. Jaune didn't know what Pyrrha was thinking, wasn't even sure what Ozpin had been thinking. The Professor had led both of them underground, revealing a machine that Jaune couldn't even fathom the purpose of. But he'd trusted Ozpin, trusted him when he asked him to stand guard, when Pyrrha had been ordered into the machine where some unconscious lady was already hooked up.
But he hadn't been ready for the screams that Pyrrha gave when it had been activated.
Shaking the memories from his mind, he picked up the pace. If he could just link up with his team in time then maybe they could reach Pyrrha and get out before the worst could happen. That was the plan Jaune was trying to piece together as he ran, the sounds of gunfire and the roars of Grimm doing nothing to steady the growing panic racing through his very being.
The White Fang had started pulling back, leaving the Grimm and the rampaging Atlas Robots to keep the battle going. Even after the terrorists had started thinning out, the other two threats were still running amok. Jaune raced through the fighting, eventually reaching the path that led from the tower to the docks. It was here when he started noticing wounded being carted through the fight.
Sure there were civilians here and there, but as he drew closer to the tower he started noticing more and more injured students being covered by their teammates. He passed by Team CFVY, eyes momentarily glancing to Velvet as she tried to wake up an unconscious Fox. Then there were several exchange students trying to drag a large girl out from under the wreck of a destroyed Paladin.
But soon he started noticing that they weren't the only injured along this path. Destroyed AK-Units and a Paladin with a massive hole blown through its torso, a few dissipating Grimm and even a few unmoving forms wearing White Fang uniforms. Along this path were casualties on all sides, and they led straight towards Beacon Tower. It wasn't even just casualties, immense scorch marks and crumbled pillars were only a small portion of the structural carnage. The side of a nearby building was completely caved in.
Yet despite it all Jaune carried on, unwilling to let the signs of battle distract him from his goal.
But even all that determination was halted immediately upon seeing the odd sight which was waiting around the corner of another building.
It was the members of Team ABRN but Jaune knew immediately that something was wrong with them. All except for Arslan, who was the closest to him. She was nursing a bad-looking gash on her arm as she struggled to her feet.
"Guys... ya gotta snap out of it, damn it!" she shouted to her teammates as she fought to steady herself. But her teammates didn't even flinch at the sound of her voice, nor did they even seem to contemplate halting their odd actions.
Reese was squatting down with one hand draped over her thigh, her other hand was desperately trying to hold back her giggles, "Again." she ordered before laughing some more, "One more time Ogthrak... I'm sure you've got it in you!"
Bolin walked past her, pointing in random directions as he spoke, "Hang the carcasses there... and there..." he said before pausing and looking behind him at nothing "Want the Graug in the right place... correct?"
Nadir seemed to have it the worst, as he was swinging his weapon by its barrel in thin air, fighting unseen assailants, "Must say..." he grunted out while ducking and diving out of the way "Might be the best ambush I've had in months!"
"Jaune!"
Snapped from his confusion, Jaune's eyes darted towards the side of the building where Nora was holding onto a panting Ren. She was supporting him, keeping him standing as her wide eyes trained on Jaune. With her help, Ren was able to lean up and shout, "Don't touch him!"
Jaune was about to ask who when Arslan stepped forward with both of her fists clenched despite the blood still dripping from her wound, "What did you do to them!?"
Following her trajectory, Jaune finally noticed a hunched over figure in the middle of the confused students. With how oddly those around him had been acting, Jaune had completely overlooked him. But the moment Jaune really started to recognize more and more of the horrifying characteristics of the figure, the more his grip on his shield and sword tightened.
Pugrish Stormbringer had absolutely no idea what it was he was feeling right now, and that was something that had his attention locked to it from the moment he'd gotten to this Academy. Ever since he'd become aware of the phenomenon known as Aura, he'd realized quickly that he was far more adept at using it than any of his underlings. He'd taken note of his heightened senses and greater connection to the elements almost immediately after coming to this realm, and had taken many liberties in understanding and strengthening this amazingly interesting new ability.
It had gotten to the point where he could feel the presence of dangers far before they could enter his sight, interpret the fluctuations in the aura of others and many more wonderful new tricks that he'd never believed possible in Mordor. After activating the Shackle these sense had increased immensely, so he'd been more than aware of the many different Auras of every single fighter who had been battling throughout Beacon. In particular, he'd been aware of the oddly powerful Aura underneath the facility.
Fully intending to get a small sampling of the carnage before he called in the boys, that singular Aura had called out to him like a moth to a flame. But then things just got stranger. As he merrily tore his way through the battle towards that Aura, it began changing wildly. So much so that it had even taken him aback. First it felt like it was swallowing another Aura nearby, then it was absorbed by yet another, then another immensely powerful Aura flared up out of nowhere and the two started attacking one another.
Yet even that was far from the strangest of the events he'd taken note of.
The skirmishes he had with the students became more of a hindrance than a pleasure, so he had decided to momentarily put some of them out of commission with a nifty one of his Aura tricks so he could more closely focus on the irregularity. Alas, by the time he'd dealt with the upstarts that powerful Aura had moved.
He ignored Arslan's yell, his smile gone as his eyes traveled towards the nearby tower of Beacon.
Jaune didn't dare move, but Arslan didn't seem to share his hesitation. She rushed past, ignoring Ren's call for her to stop as she lunged at Pugrish with her fist raised. Pugrish's eyes remained locked on the tower, but he still leaned out of the of her fist before his free hand shot backwards and planted itself against her chest. Both of their Auras pulsed for a moment before Arslan stumbled back, eventually falling onto her rear and casually massaging her ankles.
"I keep telling you Ratlug..." she sighed as she closed her eyes and shook her head "you don't have to lie like that to me."
And like that, all of team ABRN was subjected to whatever attack the strange figure had used on them.
Pugrish had began walking the moment Arslan fell, his eyes still locked onto the tower. The moment he was clear, Jaune rushed towards Arslan and reach out for her.
The moment his hand reached her shoulder, she momentarily locked up before giving a shake of her head. Looking at Jaune, she raised an eyebrow, "Did I-?"
"Aha!" Jaune and her had to pull away as Nadir stumbled by still swinging his weapon "Thought that would be enough..? We both know you can do better, Tormok!"
Blinking away his confusion, Jaune lurched towards the boy and gave a light shove, immediately making him lock up as well before turning back to him with a similar look of confusion. Seeing what Jaune was doing, Arslan immediately pushed herself up and ran to Reese and Bolin, but Jaune instead turned his attention to his teammates.
But Pugrish didn't have time to keep track of that, there were far more pressing matters to attend to. But of course, the moment he drew near the tower itself a flaming Paladin had to crash through a nearby arch with several students attacking it. The moment it fell, the members of Team NDGO began regrouping before Nebula immediately pointed him out.
Pugrish twirled Drumenvok in his grasp as Dew leaped from the Paladin with her spear already swinging. Drumenvok lit up with the same sheen as his Aura right before he sent it sailing towards her, but Dew spun her spear to knock it off course. The space between Drumenvok's handles snapped open and closed around her weapon before dragging her away, with Pugrish momentarily watching her before flexing his gauntlets.
He stepped back as a crossbow bolt punctured the ground before him, reaching up to snatch a long throwing knife out of the air before it could reach him. Looking up he began weaving his way through an onslaught of bolts, throwing knives and fire dust as the other three members of Team NDGO opened fire on him.
Eventually he spun over another swathe of fire before raking his free hand through the air and vanishing in a red flash. Nebula lowered her crossbow and looked to her teammates with confusion before the sound of something landing upon the Paladin behind them made them all spin around with their weapons. Before Nebula could bring her Crossbow up, Pugrish rammed his shoulder into her and sent her flying from the Paladin before spinning and throwing Gwen's own throwing knife back at her. Despite her surprise, she managed to catch her blade only for his foot to slam into the side of her head and launch her from the machine as well.
Octavia didn't hesitate, with flames licking along her blade she lunged for the Shaman while his back was turned. But before she could make contact, Drumenvok launched Dew into her and sent both of them slamming against the broken hull of the Paladin as Pugrish raised his hand. Drumenvok settled into his grasp before he used it bounce off the Paladin and spin into the air as the top of his weapon slid open again.
Both Dew and Octavia looked up as he pointed Drumenvok at them, with the two girls immediately flinging themselves away from the Paladin as he fired an immense blast of condensed electricity which tore a hole through the already wrecked machine. Nebula had to cover her eyes due to the brightness, but she was more than able to notice the Shaman landing beside her. Switching her crossbow to its sword form, she spun towards him. He ducked under the blade, but she was already coming back around for another slash.
He raised an open palm towards her as frost began coating his gauntlet, before her sword could connect an identical gauntlet of ice dust formed and sailed rowards her face, the imitation clamped around her head and made her stumble back. She reached up to tear it away, but Drumenvok smashed through it first and sent her to the ground.
"Nebula!" Gwen cried out before taking aim again. Pugrish righted himself and flicked his gauntlet through the air, disappearing in a flash of blue right before her throwing knife sailed by. He appeared closer in another flash, only to disappear again the moment she threw another blade. She began backing up, as every time he disappeared to evade her blades he drew ever closer, a bead of sweat went sliding down her brow as the sound of something landing behind her made her spin around just as Drumenvok descended.
But Dew slid in between them and caught the Shaman's weapon on her own before his strike could land, casting a grin up at him as Gwen began simultaneously backing away and taking aim again.
Pugrish matched her grin with one of his own right before yanking her spear down with the handle of Drumenvok and lunging forward with his free hand. Gwen rammed the butt of her spear into his gut, but it did nothing to slow him down as his gauntlet latched around her face. Both of their Auras flashed before Pugrish stepped back, watching with the same smile that Dew now sported as she twirled her spear and wandered away.
"By all means, Krosh." she said with a sigh of fondness "Fight him here if you wish..."
Pugrish tracked her for a moment before his hand shot up to catch another one of Gwen's knives. Dropping the pretense, he let the blade clatter to the ground before turning to the rest of Team NDGO as they circled around him.
Almost immediately his smile began to die down as his eyes went to Beacon Tower again, "No time..." he said with a slightly miffed scowl before spinning Drumenvok. All three of the girls lunged at once, but Pugrish raised Drumenvok over his head before firing an absolutely blinding jolt of electricity up into the sky. It resembled lightning in reverse, visible all across the campus as it arced into the clouds above, which immediately began to darken once it was over.
When the remaining members of Team NDGO shook off the flash, they found Pugrish had disappeared. Nebula narrowed her gaze before turning and looking up, spotting his figure sprinting right up the side of Beacon Tower.
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
The sudden flash of lightning was visible for miles, though most were too preoccupied to take note of it. But aboard Ironwood's flagship, neither Ogthrak or Krosh could ignore the bright flash in the sky.
Almost immediately, Krosh's face fell as he stepped away from the window and threw his hands up in the air, "Great, that's just great! Pop's about to send the boys in, meanwhile I'm stuck trying to get this damn thing on the ground."
Ogthrak was still trying to get a hold of Ratlug, not taking his eyes off his scroll while leaning against a control panel, "Patience, if the signal went up then that means he's being called away from his machine. Maybe now I can get in contact with-"
A blue light from behind them made both of them spin with their weapons ready, only for them to lower upon seeing the Dreamer Gate forming at the back of the Control Room. Stepping out from the Portal was none other than Ratlug, one arm wrapped up with a towel as the other leaned what looked like a broken sword on his shoulder. He took a look around the Control Room with a smirk before strolling forward as two of his researchers exited behind him.
"And where the shrahk have you been?" Krosh folded his arms before nodding behind him, "Oggie over here's been blowing up your scroll for the past hour."
Ratlug waved his wrapped up arm in front of him, his blood was seeping through the moist threads already, "Had a lil' setback whilst enjoying my machine." he said before leaning against a nearby control panel "I finish cleaning that up, then after expertly patching myself up I find you two beggin' for my assistance as usual."
Krosh narrowed his eyes, "Begging?"
Ogthrak pushed past him and gestured around them, "Can you land this vessel?"
"Pfft, can I land it?" Ratlug raised an eyebrow "Do you even remember who you're talking to? Or has playing around with music for the past few months rotted your skull?"
"That wasn't an answer." Ogthrak noted
"Because I shouldn't have to explain the obvious." Ratlug leaned forward with a chuckle "I'm unrivaled in intellect, to assume that a master of knowledge such as I couldn't do anything is-"
"Your just gonna use your damn Semblance on it," Krosh interrupted with a roll of his eyes "Not exactly a stellar endorsement of brain power."
"Oh Krosh, as brain-dead as the day you tore your way out of your waste of a mother." Ratlug shook his head "My Semblance is Enlightenment, Comprehension, understandin' in the most thorough of terms. Any other Uruk wouldn't be capable of handling all o' the knowledge it sends pourin' in!"
Rolling his eyes, Krosh turned away as Ogthrak looked around them.
The Larger Uruk gave a low hum before looking back to Ratlug, "You haven't done anything this big before, are you sure-"
"Oh please," Ratlug waved him off, "all of ya asked the same things with the mechs and look how that lil' venture turned out."
Before Ogthrak could question him further, their entire surroundings flashed as Ratlug's semblance activated. Laughing through the blinding light, Ratlug pressed harder against the control panel as light coursed through the halls of the flagship. It surged throughout its inner workings and traveled along the hall until the entire vessel looked like a star in the sky. This flash of light was far more noticeable than the Shaman's lightning, anyone who was looking even slightly up at the moment would see it.
But it didn't last anywhere near as long, fading almost as quickly as it appeared as the Uruks in the Control Room uncovered their eyes. The moment Ogthrak pulled his hands away, the first thing he saw was Ratlug on his knees. The Swordsmith was staring at the ceiling with a grin etched in his face, eyes glazed over as he gave several chuckles to himself.
"Ratlug?" Ogthrak called his name as Krosh rose beside him, "Are you-?"
Suddenly Ratlug leaned forward with a deep breath as he pushed himself up, "Oh what enterprising little tarks."
"You okay, boss?" one of the Researchers stepped forwards, only for Ratlug to hold a hand up and wave them off.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Ratlug said with another chuckle as he stood tall and stretched his back "Knowledge is the healthiest remedy for battle scars."
"If you could only use the damn thing on flesh and blood bodies, we probably wouldn't have to deal with them so much." Krosh sighed before looking back through the window "Are we done here? Because I'm pretty sure there's a curb stomp I'd really like to join in on."
"Yes yes," Ratlug walked past them towards the central control terminal "link up with Maku and get ready for the-"
He paused as his yes fell upon a scroll that was sticking out of a nearby slot, he leaned down and looked it over, "Hello there, I'm spotting somethin' that shouldn't be here."
"Sir," one of his researchers stepped forward, "you need us helping you man this thing?"
Ratlug stared at the scroll for a moment before a sly smirk formed on his lips, "Yes... yes..." he suddenly stood tall as he glanced back, "Actually Krosh, I'm gonna need you to take a message to the boys."
Krosh scoffed as he looked back, "What now?"
"Just a lil' inspiration that'll have this battle all tidied up before the tarks can even blink." Ratlug snickered as he leaned Harbinger against the console and began working at the controls "But I won't be needin' to take up anymore of your time, Ogthrak."
Ogthrak lowered his arms, "Then its time I wrap things up at the Studio. It might be some time before I get back in touch with you all." he stated before turning and walking away.
"Just make sure ya keep that cover solid." Ratlug spoke without looking away from the terminals "Ya got that, Hero?"
Ogthrak paused at that, but merely shook his head with a low laugh before proceeding forward.
Ratlug looked up from the control panel to the view of Beacon in the distance, his grin widening at the sight of the dark clouds now forming over it.
The City of Vale
"Ya know that worst part of bein' in love, Kruk my boy?"
Kruk looked up from his work momentarily to Bubol, who languished in the back seat of the minivan with a grin on his face despite the gash running along the edge of his head.
"Its the time between meetings." he sighed "After having just a little taste of what could be, only to have to wait once again."
Kruk actually nodded at that before looking down at the makeshift splint he was constructing around Bubol's broken arm, "Ah, like how war is maybe." he spoke "Battle cannot be forever, no matter the pleas given. True Warrior thirst for next conflict."
"Oh and that thirst is hitting hard, lad." Bubol licked his lips with a grin, "Just a taste of her beating and now I'm back to starving again."
"Tore up the truck!"
Both of them looked to the front seat, where an infuriated Mitch was gripping the wheel of the minivan so hard that his knuckles went white, "The maneuverability on that damn thing could've taken us all the way through Vacuo! But the bitch just had to break it!"
"Oh I'll be sure to make her apologize next time!" Bubol leaned back again, "Maybe even get the Black-Cloth in on it too, eh?"
He looked to Kruk, only to find the Warmonger looking out the window at something. Leaning up, Bubol raised a pustule-covered eyebrow at the sight of several other Arceus inmates gathered around a Dreamer Gate.
Standing atop a broken Vending machine, a Caterer raised his arms to the sky as other Inmates looked on, "They's tryin' to trap us! The Black Cloth knows! Spread the word, we's gotta get outta this damn city before them Stormfolk tear us all apart."
"Now what's this about gettin' torn apart?" Bubol called out of the window of the minivan as it slowed to a stop
The crowd turned around to him, with the Caterer gesturing back to the Dreamer Gate behind him, "Black Cloth followed the Storm one who busted the glass, came back saying this raid's all a trap! He and that Shadow o' his tryin' to get all the boys back on the boat."
Bubol's torn smile spread wide at that last part, "Did he now?"
Kruk leaned forward, "Timing of intervention very suspect, yes." he noted "Perhaps we heed the Warborn's warning?"
"Well until this heals I'm not able to do much more partyin', anyway." Bubol leaned back inside "But since we've got the speed beast here, we could probably round up more lads than Uthug's little Criers."
Kruk nodded, "We make good time," he looked back up front "Fast Tark in?"
"I'll be sure to try and find ya a new snazzy ride." Bubol laughed
Up front, Mitch's manic eyes were still glazing over the road ahead, images of the race track in front of him occasionally filling his view, "Keep a good pit crew and they'll always deliver. Need to trust them for the hottest mods on the line."
Kruk and Bubol glanced to one another before the latter nudged the former with a grin, "I'm thinking that's a yes!"
The gathered inmates watched as the minivan suddenly spun around before taking off down the street.
Beacon Academy
"Damn these clouds are really screwing up my shot, here." Mercury grunted as he tried angling is scroll "That face-mask guy just couldn't leave it at curb stomping, eh?"
Without a response, Mercury sighed before looking back to Emerald. Without Cinder's presence to manage her nerves, she had begun pacing back and forth the more unnerving things occurred.
"He's heading right for her," she said through clenched teeth, "he tore through all those teams but... but she should have the power of the Maiden by now, right?"
"Emerald?"
"Why the hell is Adam pulling out so soon?" she muttered before looking up towards the Flagship in the distance, obscured by the darkening clouds "Why isn't Roman doing anything anymore? What was that flash of light-?"
"Emerald!"
She spun on him, "We can't just stand here and do nothing, Mercury! You saw what that thing did down there!"
"Yeah, but he didn't actually kill any of them." Mercury rolled his eyes as he looked back to his scroll "Half of those jokers would be ashes if Cinder passed through."
"Then why are we-?"
"Because we still got orders." Mercury shrugged before nodding towards the tower "The last thing people are supposed to see is the Tower starting to fall, then when it cuts out we link up with the Fang and high-tail it while the Grimm clean things up."
"But..." Emerald looked back over Beacon.
She didn't have to say anything, the Grimm presence in Beacon was declining even with the numerous hampers that the Defenders had to get through. Not soon after the first Uruk attacker had fled the Armored Ursai stopped appearing, and with both the White Fang pulling out and the Grimm Dragon nowhere in sight the Defenders were actually starting to gain some ground. Even the Second Uruk showing up and momentarily putting several teams out of commission didn't halt their progress.
But even then, Emerald knew that Mercury was right. All they were truly there for were the Relic and the Maiden. The city, the Academy, hell even the tower were secondary objectives in comparison to them. As long as that remained true and attainable, they still were subject to their orders. Even then, Adam wasn't supposed to be pulling back until the number of Grimm became too much for them. So what were they doing?
Though Emerald tried her hardest to think up an answer, she was still able to catch the sound of something behind her. Glancing back, she immediately drew her weapons upon seeing a gnarled hand gripping the edge of the building.
"Merc!" she shouted, with Mercury glancing back just as the Uruk finished pulling himself up.
"Damn it," he sighed and lowered the scroll "better not miss the shot over this."
Rolling onto the roof, the Uruk looked up at them just as another, beefier one hauled himself up with an odd axe. This second Uruk looked at them before grinning, "Ya right, Blood-Axe! They seem to fit it!." he laughed before looking to the other Uruk "Looks like Tugog was right, eh Ishga?"
"Quiet, Skak!" Ishga seethed before glancing back to them "Are you the Overseers?"
"Excuse me?" Mercury asked as Emerald took aim
"The Greengrey Overseers?!" he asked again, only to have to whip up a spear to deflect three bullets as Emerald started firing at him "Hold on-!"
He lowered the spear just as Mercury's foot came sailing at him, But Skak shoved him aside and caught the kick with his axe, "Didn't think his saying was so on the nose!" Skak snickered before his grin widened "Didn't think they'd be offerin' Blood-Axe a drink, neither!"
Ishga reached out to him as Skak launched Mercury away, "Wait, don't!"
But the sound of chains instead encouraged him to leap back as Emerald swiped at him, he dodged the blades before rolling under another slash and kicking her back.
Emerald landed only to recognize a shadow rising behind her. She spun around just as Skak began raising his Blood-Axe, only for her to vanish before he could bring it down. Skak immediately grew confused, "Huh?" he uttered before looking to his weapon "Whatcha mean she-?"
Something slammed against the side of his head before he could finish his question making him spin away before he snarled and swung back with Blood-Axe. Just as Emerald leaped for him, he hooked the bottom of Blood-Axe around her ankle and dragged her against the roof of the dormitory.
"What!?" she shouted as she rolled away "How did you-?"
"Ya weren't kidding, mate!" Skak looked from his weapon to her with a gobsmacked expression "She pullin' some mystic tricks on us!"
Ishga was sent rolling along the ground next to him, glancing up as Mercury prepared to leap again, "The Pheonix is in trouble!"
That made both Mercury and Emerald pause, with the latter leaning forward despite not lowering her weapons, "What?"
"They're just messing with you, Em." Mercury said as he got ready once more.
"No we ain't," Skak waved him off with a laugh "Tug said the Phoenix's Greengrey Overseers. So far you's the only blokes who meet the criteria... I mean, probably, right?"
"Right before leaving us," Ishga got up "he said that we had to keep the Phoenix alive. Said it was probably responsible for kick-starting everything that happened tonight."
Emerald recognized the theme, "You... you guys are Tugog's right?"
"What?" Mercury looked at her "Why would the Warchief's guys be here? Weren't the inmates the ones running amok down in Vale?"
"That doesn't matter now!" Ishga shouted "If you guys are the Overseers then you have to know where the Phoenix is, right?"
Mercury glared at him, "Why would that-?"
"You said that this... this phoenix was in trouble right?" Emerald stepped forward, her worry returning with a vengeance, "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"A bunch of cryptic mumbo." Skak shrugged "But If that first part was true, then we need to get to ya bird pal quick and whatnot."
"After its final rebirth, the Phoenix will sail too close to the clouds and have its wings clipped in its struggle." Ishga recited "If it shall be swallowed by the many-armed winds then all... I repeat... ALL shall be lost."
"No..." Emerald took a step back.
"You aren't actually buying that, are you?" Mercury asked, though with much less force.
"B-but it lines up with everything and," Emerald spun towards him "He was heading right for-!"
"Emerald, listen to yourself. What would they care if-?"
"What part of ALL SHALL BE LOST did you not get!?" Ishga spat, "Where is the Phoenix!?"
Emerald swallowed carefully before her eyes went to Beacon Tower.
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
At the very top of that tower, Cinder had just finished dealing with one of the many setbacks that had occurred over the course of the night. The moment that Pyrrha fell, Cinder gave herself some time to look through the window at the gathering storm with a still expression before her eyes narrowed. The number of close calls she'd had tonight were unacceptable. First she nearly lost the Maiden because of that hair-brained scheme that Ozpin had cooked up, then she had nearly lost the Maiden's abilities once the Professor had fought her.
Even with the Maiden's powers, Ozpin had proven more difficult than she'd anticipated. Even with forewarning from her peers and master, she hadn't been ready for the sheer scale of his capabilities. But just like she'd managed to interrupt his scheme at the last moment, she was capable of ending the professor, hopefully for good. She'd done it exactly as ordered, so she'd be looking forward to the notoriety of taking down her mistress's most long-lasting annoyance.
Compared to those two issues, dealing with Pyrrha had been little more than a bump in the road. Sure the warrior had given her a few surprises, but against the unyielding power of the Maiden those accomplishments meant little in the grand scheme of things. Even so, Cinder would be remiss if she considered things dealt with at this point. Without the Dragon, she'd have to deal with destroying the tower on her own. With the Maiden's power, that was far from impossible, but now she'd have to take longer in finding the relic.
An irritation to be sure, but one she was more than willing to live with at that point.
The crinkling of broken glass brought her attention back to Pyrrha, who was pulling herself up despite the arrow lodged in her heel.
"I wouldn't move too much," Cinder noted as she turned and approached "not only to make things easier for myself, but because moving that at all would just damage it further."
Pyrrha glared up at her for a moment before her eyes softened and looked down as Cinder stood over her.
"But to be fair, it would be far from the worst thing you've done to yourself tonight." Cinder gave her a small smirk before leaning down towards her "That very same yearning to become a Hero is exactly what drew Ozpin to manipulate you."
"He gave me a choice." Pyrrha looked away
"A choice he knew you wouldn't be able to refuse." Cinder rolled her eyes as she lifted her bow "I'd almost feel pity if your moral platitudes weren't so amusing to tug at."
An arrow formed in her hand as she took several steps back, "But you should take some peace in knowing just how well I plan to use this power, far beyond anything he or you could ever imagine."
Looking up, Pyrrha watched Cinder take aim at her, struggling to stand once more before her gaze hardened, "Do you... believe in destiny?"
Cinder hesitated at that, the tip of her arrow shaking momentarily before she narrowed her gaze, "Yes... I do."
And with that she let the arrow fly, piercing through Pyrrha's chest and poking through her back. Cinder lowered the bow with a frown as she watched Pyrrha's hand shakily reach for the arrow as she gasped for breath. Watching her struggle brought Cinder's smile back, and she approached with flames already licking along her palm. But before she could incinerate the rest of her, Pyrrha's body suddenly jerked violently as her aura flared up.
Cinder paused, confusion marring her features for a moment as Pyrrha's Aura seemed to fade and her body went still. It was odd, Cinder had never seen Aura flare like that at the moment of someone's death. Could it have been the result of that machine Ozpin had put her in?
Before she could guess on that further, the window behind Ozpin's desk exploded. She immediately spun and swiped a hand through the air, burning away the flying glass before it could reach her. Standing in the window frame, Pugrish closed his journal with a sigh, "Too late it would seem..."
His eyes went to Pyrrha as he stepped inside, "I would've loved to fight her... just once...'
Cinder looked him over as he walked around the desk, "And you might be?"
"Oh... I'm known as Pugrish... the Stormbringer... The Grand Shaman... Storm Ruler..." he listed off as he slipped his journal back into its case "And from this point forward I'll be known as the Lord of this fine structure."
"You wouldn't be the first to hold such an arrogant title." Cinder said as she raised her palms to her side, "This tower falls before the night ends, now whether you plan on getting in the way of that-"
"Who did you swallow?" Pugrish interrupted while reaching down to grab Pyrrha's body, causing Cinder to scowl at his impudence.
"Excuse me?"
"I have a rather uncanny sense for Aura, and all night there's been anomalies occurring around one specific figure." he nodded to her before raising Pyrrha's corpse and looking it over "That figure is now swirling within your aura... and I'm quite interested to learn of it."
Cinder didn't answer, merely aimed a hand at the Stormbringer before firing an immense blast of flame at him. The pillar of fire tore through another one of the office's windows, but Pugrish was nowhere in sight. Cinder gritted her teeth before leaping to the side as the handle of Drumenvok buried itself in the floor beside her.
"Can I not ask a simple question?" Pugrish snickered as he launched Pyrrha's body through another window "Everyone's so eager to rush around here..."
"This isn't your battle, Uruk." Cinder spat as glass swords formed in her hands
"I've been making it mine..." Pugrish noted before tearing Drumenvok out of the floor "but this strange occurrence has been distracting me. I've dabbled in the fieldof Aura for quite some time... Perhaps learning of you could even help me learn what's happening with the other anomaly as well."
He rolled out of the way as another scorching pillar of flame raked across the ground, spinning with Drumenvok as Cinder blasted towards him like a rocket to catch her blades with his weapon.
"I assure you, there's no other like me." Cinder hissed before swiping him back.
"Incorrect." Pugrish stated as he caught himself with Drumenvok and aimed it at her, "If that were true I wouldn't be feeling this other Aura trying to pull away from me right now."
Cinder's eyes narrowed, but still she flew out of the way as he raked a beam of electricity around the room. With her speed, she dove around Drumenvok's beam and dipped under it as she launched towards him. She jabbed both of her swords past his weapon-
-only for them to shatter against his chest.
Cinder's eyes widened as she leaped out of the way of Drumenvok, catching herself and looking up as Pugrish brushed the remaining shards of glass from his torso.
"But those questions can be saved for later I suppose..." he said as he twirled his weapon and wielded it like a sword once more "I'll settle for an interesting fight for now."
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
Yang didn't know how they'd done it, but they had.
Though her limbs were heavy and her mouth parched, she was still standing. As were dozens of other students and Atlesian soldiers all around her that were finally making major headway. It started with the White Fang pulling back, and after that the Armored Ursa soon stopped appearing. The number of rogue Atlas robots was steadily decreasing along with the Grimm. Though the number of wounded allies being carried to the Docks was staggering, they had held their ground. And after what felt like hours of non-stop fighting, Yang finally had a moment to breathe.
She leaned against a broken column, Neptune and Scarlet came to a stop beside her.
"You okay?" Neptune as Scarlet kept watch around them.
"Yeah yeah," she waved him off before taking a breath "just feels like I've been fighting all day now."
"Can you make that breather quick?" Scarlet glanced back to her "We're on a roll right now. We keep pushing like this and we might be rid of these beasts before the rain rolls in."
At that, Yang looked up to the sky, almost completely filled with the dark clouds that occasionally rumbled with thunder. They'd come out of nowhere, but now grew with intensity as time went on.
"Yeah..." Yang said, only for a crash nearby to bring their attention to Team BRNZ, who were working together to take down a Deathstalker just as another one charged towards them.
Neptune looked back at her, "Just be ready to jump back in." he said before he and Scarlet ran to help them out.
Yang shot them a thumbs up and leaned forward, steadying her breath before her Scroll chiming caught her attention. Quickly grabbing the device, her eyes widened at the caller.
"Yang, we haven't been able to reach you in forever!" Ruby said "Are you at Beacon with the others?"
Yang almost thought she was going to cry, the sound of her baby sister's voice was a refreshing reprieve from the roars of battle she'd been subjected to all night. Sun had mentioned them getting separated at the Arena, but Yang hadn't been able to look into that what with all the fighting. Now she visibly deflated with relief upon hearing Ruby's voice.
"Yeah, we've almost got things wrapped up over here, sis." Yang looked over to see Neptune burying his weapon in the last Deathstalker's eye "You okay?"
"I'm... yes." Ruby said in a way that made Yang's relief turn to suspicion, "Look, Jaune called us earlier saying something about Pyrrha chasing down Cinder to the top of the tower."
"What?"
"Yeah, he was saying that Cinder did something to Ozpin and that Pyrrha was chasing after her." Ruby said as she leaned over the pilot's seat of the Bullhead "We're going to see if we can find anyone at the Air Docks who might be able to help."
She gestured forward to Blake, who began angling the Bullhead towards the Air Docks. Several other ships were taking off and landing as more wounded were brought to them. But right before they could start landing, Blake glanced to the side and gasped before jerking the controls of Bullhead. The Ship tilted away from the docks right before two large energy blasts sailed down from the clouds and tore chunks out of the cliff.
Immediately the Air Docks began tilting as the ground supporting them tore away, with many ships trying to get in the air. People raced from the Docks as they crumbled, several getting caught in the debris along with a few ships as they fell down the cliff.
"What's happening?!" Yang yelled from the scroll
"Someone fired on the docks!" Blake yelled as she maneuvered the ship, "The clouds are too thick, Yang can you see what did it on your side?"
Both Ruby and Blake waited for a response, but Yang didn't reply.
She was too busy staring up at the Flagship now pulling out from the clouds.
It cast an immense shadow over Beacon's grounds, not a single person could miss the ship as it drew closer.
Jaune had been busy filling Ren and Nora in on his plan, but now stared up as the ship turned in the air.
It was dangerously close to the ground, only about a few floors away. Its propulsion system blasted air on the ground directly beneath it, but its proximity meant Jaune could see the first figures appear on the edge of the ship.
The Gunners, he recognized the gunners who they'd fought at the Blue Scarves warehouse. Only the longer he looked, more and more of them began appearing at the edge of the flagship. Dozens turned to hundreds as they crowded at the edge of the ship, looking down as the ship drew closer.
On top of the Flagship, several of Ratlug's Researchers were busy opening numerous Dreamer Gates along the hull of the ship, with more and more of the Storm's soldiers climbing out with fervor.
On the other side of the Gates, both Maku and Krosh were ushering the gathered forces of the Storm through. Numerous Uruks crowded and joked with each other as they surged forward, but many made space for Belfor. With his massive hands easily allowing him to push his way through, Belfor was much more reserved in approach than the others. Having his rage go out of control back in the warehouse had felt disgusting, and he'd grown a rather sizable resistance to such displays ever since. But even after that experience, he couldn't help his growing anticipation as he followed the crowd through the gates.
This would be the day he proved himself, after all.
Walking along the top of the Flagship, Belfor pushed his way to the front of the crowd and looked out over the ground of Beacon. Even from here, he could see the plethora of Tarks below looking up to them, but he didn't have long to drink in their surprise when he felt wetness atop his head. Looking up, Belfor reached out with his over-sized hand and caught several of the first few drops of rain. Not long after the drizzle started did Ratlug's voice blare out from the ship's announcement system.
"Okay lads, this is the day you were all trained for so try not to make a mockery of us." Ratlug laughed "You see before you a tired assembly of lesser creatures practically begging to be crushed under your heels, so I'll assume you can all do what comes naturally."
Belfor lowered his hand as a chorus of enthusiastic roars and snarls rose around him.
"That being said, I know more than anyone that a little incentive can go a long way for the vicious." Ratlug's voice rose as more rain began to fall "So for today I'm enacting a type of bounty. Any glob who can slay one of them Huntsmen folk or even just one of those young filth aiming to be one, will be promoted to Captain with no questions asked. With the pit almost done, we're gonna need a whole lot of 'em!"
Hearing that, Belfor's regular sized eye narrowed as he flexed his knuckles, a chorus cheers rising up as more and more rain began pouring down his body.
"So go out and slay! After all, when it rains it storms!"
At that the Uruk beside Belfor leaped forward with a cheer, followed by two more. They began spilling from the edge of the ship, and soon Belfor found himself leaping down with them. Below he could already see the muzzles of weapons firing, one of the Uruks beside him spraying his gun blade upon the figures below. Landing upon the grass beside a path, Belfor rose as numerous Storm Soldiers landed around him and immediately took off for the nearest enemy they could see. Gunfire nearby brought his attention to an Atlesian mere moments before a gun-blade was driven through their chest and torn through the side. Elsewhere a Beowolf was punctured by an Uruk with an electrical spear.
But Belfor ignored them all, his focus was solely upon his own promotion, no one else's.
Pug-Bringer Studios
Nobody could even attempt to ignore the presence of Mr. Bigsby as he threw open the rear doors of the studio's main room. Refugees and employees alike watched as he walked through them, his suit torn in some places and covered in dirt elsewhere. Questioning voices rose up as he walked amongst the refugees, eyes solid as he approached the bar.
Bebe did her best to keep track of him. Despite his height, the sheer number of people trying to crowd around him made it difficult for her to see. Grimm Bunny got in between Mr. Bigsby and the crowd, shooing them back as his boss made for the Bar. Pulling aside a chair, Bigsby used it to climb atop the counter before gesturing to the side. Dust Kitten came with a microphone that she placed in his hand, stepping back as he raised it to his immense beard and blew into it. The sound was enough to silence the crowd, who watched as he gave a few coughs.
"Our Merchandise trucks have been emptied and are ready," he said before gesturing behind him to the first aid station that had been set up "as soon as we have the critically injured secured, we can make our move. We'll wait for as many stragglers as we can, but we will be pulling out as soon as we're ready."
A chorus of praise and cheers went up, but Ogthrak was quick to silence them, "To speed things along, I ask that people volunteer to help carry the injured. Listen to the Doctors and we can be going sooner rather than later."
And with that the Evacuation began. It was a blur to Bebe, who was caught up helping Dust Kitten move injured people through the halls of the studio to the loading bay in back. There were a number of delivery trucks stretching from the rear of the building into the large alley behind it. The closer she drew to that Alley, the louder the sounds of battle got. But even as they were hauling citizens onto the trucks, she caught sight of the Studio's staff keeping the Grimm at bay.
"Heads down, people!" Rolo sang out as he gestured upwards "Don't want them getting too much of a whiff now do we?"
Bebe narrowed her eyes at this as she leaned out of the back of one of the trucks, still trying to think on the cryptic explanation he'd given her earlier. A hand grabbed hold of her's before she could think too much on it, and she looked down to see a Faunus man with his arm in a sling, "Thank you, " he said before using her to pull himself into the back of the truck "thank you!"
Though Bebe smiled, her eyes went to Mr. Bigsby, who was overseeing the herding of citizens from atop a step ladder. He was shouting orders to Masqueraders and citizens alike, but even then the sounds of grateful praises could be heard.
Heroes, Borgu had said that this was all to become heroes. But for what purpose would they need to curry favor like this? They were attacking the city, weren't they?
Above, Melanie leaped out of the way as a Griffon sailed by, she turned to pursue only for a loud yell to erupt nearby as a wave of force slammed into it and flung it into a nearby building.
"I could do this all night!" Banz laughed before turning and yelling at a Nevermore flying by
"Don't jinx us!" Melanie shouted before leaping out of the way of an Ursa's claws
Nearby, Militia was swerving under another Griffon, slicing up at it with her claws as it passed, "For once, I agree, sis." she groaned "Too many of these bastards flying out of reach!"
She glanced back and dived to the side as a Creep flung itself at her. She spun and slashed it away as she caught herself right at the edge of the roof. Glancing down momentarily, she did a double take at the sight of the street below, "Uh... guys? We might need to tell the boss to speed things up!"
Melanie sped forward and slashed the arms off the creep before getting up and approaching, "What are you-?"
Down the road, two Goliaths were lumbering straight towards the studio.
"You've gotta be shitting me..." Melanie cursed before being shoved aside by Banz.
"And just when things were gettin' boring-like!" He laughed before hefting his microphone and taking a deep breath. The Goliaths broke into a charge right before Banz yelled, the amplified force halting their advance. But unlike the Other Grimm, the Goliaths began moving forward slowly, able to hold up against the force of his semblance. He yelled harder and longer, but the Goliaths kept moving.
Melanie and Militia stepped back, turning to another only for a Beowolf to leap at them. Melanie tackled her sibling out of the way, gripping her hands with a a shared glance before twisting around and spinning her towards it. Militia spun towards the Beowolf in a frenzy of blades, slashing at it while her sister ran to the other side of the roof.
"We've got a problem, boss!" she shouted down, looking for Mr. Bigsby a finding him ushering the last of the civvies on one of the trucks.
He looked up at her, "Fifteen seconds then get down here!"
Turning back, she dove out of the way of another Griffon before turning and burying her heal in its side.
Just as Mr. Bigsby loaded the last civilian on board, Bebe approached.
"What exactly is your plan here!?" she yelled over the growing sounds of battle "With how terrified they must be, we'll have Grimm coming at us from all directions!"
"Heroes have to work for their titles," Mr. Bigsby stated as he pulled down the rear door of the truck and fastened it "but I'll admit to having an arrogant friend of mine clear a path for us earlier."
He began walking away, "Better hop inside, our time is up."
Right after he said that, Banz leaped from the roof of the building on top of the truck beside Bebe. Melanie and Militia jumped as well followed by an Ursa who was immediately blasted back by Banz's sound-waves.
As Bebe ran around the side of the truck and hauled herself into the passenger seat, the truck at the front of the line let out a loud honk before it started moving. Behind them the loud sounds of buildings breaking made Bebe lean her head out of the window the moment she got the door closed. She looked back and saw the rest of the Masqueraders hop onto the sides of the trucks while firing on Grimm that began moving in. But beyond that, a cloud of dust rose up from front of the Studio as they began pulling away.
With the Masqueraders still firing and Banz occasionally blasting more Grimm away, the trucks began pulling out of the alley onto the road. The last Bebe saw of the Studio was a Goliath tearing right through the doors of the loading bay after them.
She turned around and sank into her seat, heart pounding at just how close they'd been. Ahead she could see Mr. Bigsby hanging on the driver's side door of the lead truck, shouting instructions to the driver as they maneuvered around wreckage on the street. Her eyes went to the masquerader next to her, Grimm Bunny, who was grumbling over something as he carefully turned the wheel to keep them lined up with the truck in front of them.
"Get us on 47th!" Mr. Bigsby shouted to the driver of his truck "Last we heard Atlas was helping folks get out through the Highway twenty-two!"
"But boss, if we're aiming for that shouldn't we try going on Soloveran street?" the Driver asked "That's way closer and faster."
Mr. Bigsby shook his head before leaning against the truck as they swerved around the wreck of a car, "Its a no go, we passed by there while getting the trucks. Crawling with Grimm."
"Damn..." the Driver gave a low breath before shrugging "Well, if you say so."
Bebe felt herself curling up, the occasional blasts of gunfire or the yells of Banz warding off Grimm solidifying the threat that was still all around them. She needed a distraction, anything to make her worry recede.
"So..." she looked to Grimm Bunny "I didn't know you knew how to drive a truck."
"I don't," he snickered before glancing at her out of the corner of his eye "Big man had me study a crash course guide for the past two days but I ain't got no trucker's license. I'm actually surprised we ain't crashed yet."
His words did nothing but make Bebe go from concerned to hyperventilating.
But partway to Forty-Seventh street, they came across exactly what Ogthrak had been planning for.
"Hold on," he called out, raising a hand to signal the following trucks to slow down.
He leaned forward to look over the destroyed neighborhood, staring down the road which seemed like the only thing left untouched from whatever onslaught the buildings had been subjected to. The cars had even been flung off the street, several of them burning on sidewalks. Just one of the many roads that Ratlug had passed by during his mechanized rampage.
One which just so happened to cut their travel time in half now that it was clear.
"Go down there." he gestured to the driver.
"A-Are you sure, boss?"
"Just do it." he said while waving for the trucks behind them to start moving.
As they drove through the torn up neighborhood, Ogthrak had to marvel at Ratlug's effectiveness once more. There was no way he would've been able to risk such a venture without a little back up from their resident genius. Ogthrak adjusted his beard while glancing back to the trucks behind him, already planning on how they'd be returning the favor for such charity.
But even when thinking to the future, he couldn't help looking up in the distance at the darkened visage of Beacon.
Beacon Academy
Everything went wrong almost immediately.
Yang hadn't even been able to put away her scroll before stray gunfire forced her to pocket it. Instead she immediately resumed fighting as the students around her were caught up in the renewed battle. The Storm Soldiers spread out covering as much ground as they could while more continued spilling from above. The Flagship began circling overhead, the Uruks descending from it like a waterfall of violence. Their pale white and blue colors almost made them blend into the growing downpour, only punctuated by the blasts of dust rounds.
Yang briefly wondered if Ruby and the rest of her team had managed to pull away from the Docks before they had been destroyed. The fear of what could've happened to them she turned into burning rage, anger that fueled her every strike as she charged the new opponents.
Most of the Storm soldiers seemed to be wielding swords which transformed into assault rifles, but occasionally Yang found her fist halted against modified riot shields. One of which shoved her back as another Uruk leaped at her from the side. Sun slid in between them and whipped up his staff, the Uruk managing to shift his blade to block the counter despite still being flung away.
Yang and Sun shared a small grin before the Shield-bearer rushed them, swinging a halberd in wide arcs that both of them leaped back to avoid. Eventually Yang slid into his attack and took hold of the halberd, with Sun leaping off the halted weapon over the Uruk's shield. Seeing their ploy, the Shield-bearer released his halberd in order to bring up his shield quickly enough to hold back the onslaught of gunfire Sun sent his way.
Shifting his staff into nunchucks, Sun fired with every spin. Pushed back initially, the Uruk held his ground before charging through the dust rounds with his shield and ramming it into Sun's chest, sending the Faunus flying onto his back. Sun looked up as the Uruk raised his shield, then rolled out of the way before the edge of the shield dug into the ground where his head once was. The Uruk spun to continue his attack, only for Yang's fist to slam into the side of his head and throw his aim off. She dipped under his shield and blasted him two more times point blank in the chest, before one of his hands caught her fist and began raising her.
Her other fist slammed into the side of his head before he could continue, which snapped to the side quickly before his grasp went limp. Yang backed away as he stumbled forward a bit before his Aura flared up violently. Though he twitched a few times, the glow of his aura drained as he fell forward.
Taking a breath, she looked up only to find students and soldiers all around her struggling to overcome the new foes. Two Bullheads passed by overhead, in them were several more Atlesian soldiers providing cover from above. But they didn't stay, almost as soon as she saw them they disappeared behind several buildings. Yang scowled, as any kind of aerial support would've been more than appreciated right now. Before she could stew for two long, Team CFVY ran by. Velvet and Yatsuhashi were helping Fox along, who was sporting a nasty cut on his arm.
Coco paused behind them, letting her teammates move on as she called out through the roaring rain, "They're pulling out! Everyone get to the Cafeteria!"
"They're what!?" Yang couldn't believe it, but Sun broke into a run along with several other students, pulling back from the Uruks while covering themselves with gunfire "We're just running?!"
"Not seeing much alternative Yang!" May shouted while running by, pausing at her side to fire several rounds from her rifle before taking off again.
Yang glanced back, watching through the rain as a plethora of Uruks tore after them, shouting slurs and taunts as many shifted their weapons and opened fire. Their return fire tripped up many of the fleeing students, whose teammates had to pause to help them up as the Uruks moved to catch up. Yang knew for a fact that she'd managed to beat down at least a dozen of the things, but from where she was standing she couldn't for the life of her say that it had made a difference.
So gritting her teeth, she moved towards one of the fallen students, who was being helped up just as an Uruk lunged for her back. Yang charged into him from the side and sank her fist into the side of his helmet. Though he stumbled away, he still managed to fire his gunblade at her. Yang raised Ember Celica and blocked the bullets while goading the students to get a move on.
Just as she glanced back to him, something snapped around her left arm and dragged it down as the Uruk lunged for her again. She caught herself before she could fall and raised her free arm as she narrowly dodged the swing of his blade. She wrapped her arm around his and dragged him close before ramming her knee into his helmt and blasting him away with her free hand before he could recover. With that dealt with, she steadied her stance before glaring at what had caught her arm only for her eyes to grow wide at what looked like an arm-less, semi-naked girl with a bear-trap strapped to her mouth trying to chew through her weapon.
"Mincemeat?!" Yang gasped.
Yang hadn't seen her former captor's favorite slave in so long that she had to do a double take at her appearance. That didn't keep her from raising a boot and slamming it against Mincemeat's neck to dislodge her from her weapon.
The Arm-less Slave landed before rolling along the wet ground onto her feet, the metal jaw strapped to her face opening and closing several times as she growled at Yang.
Cocking her gauntlets, Yang's confusion was slowly overwritten by agitation once more, "What are you-?"
Something charged into her from the side and sent her sailing into the wall of the nearby library. Grunting, Yang looked up just as a leg descended towards her. Crossing her arms, she caught the kick and flung her assailant away, only for him to orient himself in the air and land on his feet.
Grinning, the Uruk stood up as the blade extending from his bracer receded, "Glad to see you haven't wasted all that training, Lady."
Yang wiped the rainwater from her eyes as Krosh raised a hand to her and gave her a thumb's up, "Now let's see if it'll offset all the fighting you seem to have been doing."
"Oh of course, you'd just have to show up!" Yang spat
"Sorry if ya don't like it, Lady." Krosh shrugged before frowning "But I've already had to give up one fine catch tonight."
As he spoke, Mincemeat crouched at his side, her eyes locked on Yang as her metal jaws continued clanking together.
Leaning back, Krosh extended his bracer blades again, "So consider this beatdown I'm about to put you through me making up for that."
With a snap of his fingers, Mincemeat raced past him towards Yang, who fired at her over and over again as the distance between them rapidly decreased. To Yang's surprise, Mincemeat slipped in between her blasts and lunged for Yang with her jaws snapping. Quickly raising her hands, Yang caught her jaws before spinning and flinging her away just as Krosh leaped in between them before kicking Yang back. Looking up, she charged at Krosh, who gave a cheeky grin and ducked down as Mincemeat lunged over him.
Yang had to press herself to the wall of the Library to avoid the gnashing jaws, glancing back just as Krosh slashed at her. She blocked his strikes with her gauntlets before ducking under another swing and jabbing him in the gut.
She moved to follow up when Mincemeat rammed into her from the side and tackled her through the Library window. Yang managed to get a hold of Mincemeat and fling her away once they landed, but cracking glass made her look towards Krosh as he hopped through the broken window.
"Now this is much better," he said while stretching his arms with a grin "Wouldn't want anyone else butting in on this, right Lady?"
Belfor watched from outside the window as their fight continued, looking down at his hands for a moment. Around him, Storm soldiers tore into rogue Atlas robots and Grimm alike while pursuing the fleeing Huntsmen and students. He thought for a moment before turning away from the Library and joining in the pursuit with a restrained pace.
His goal was promotion, attaining Captain status would free him of the limitations of the average rank and file soldiers. Ratlug waving that freedom in front of all of their noses was a respectable incentive, one that any member of the Storm would be crazy to pass up. He needed to kill one of the targets, huntsmen or students, and he wasn't about to try stealing a kill from a Warmonger.
His musing was interrupted when an Atlesian soldier opened fire on him. He raised his hand up in front of him, which the bullets pounded against as he turned his attention to them. He was in control of his agitation, could think calmly even with so much conflict occurring around him. After knowing what the truest lack of restraint felt like, he'd promised himself to go beyond having to worry about it ever again.
With his outstretched hand protecting him, he approached the soldier, who grew more and more panicked upon realizing how little effect their weapon truly had. He swung his fist into them like a wrecking ball, sending them rolling back. But unfortunately, the other Uruks pounced upon them before he could land the killing blow. Belfor frowned as he watched four of them mob the downed soldier and slash repeatedly until one tore off a chunk of their broken helmet and raised it up.
"Got it!" he cheered before pointing to another Student "Now let's get the rest o' ya up there with me!"
Belfor turned away, there was too much competition around here. He'd have to beat the crowd, and that meant being where his enemy would be before the others. Or at least finding a target that would be able to repel most of them. From the few yells he'd heard from their targets, it seemed that Atlas could see the writing on the wall. They were pulling out with as many people as they could, so there was also a time limit in effect.
"Roy!"
Belfor glanced to one of the fleeing students. May dropped to one knee and lined up a shot as Roy stumbled away nursing a broken arm with three different Uruks hot on his heels. Before she could cover for him, the tip of a spear punctured through her chest. She yelped out a gurgle as Maku appeared behind her before yanking her towards another Uruk who immediately sank his sword into the top of her head. He held it there for a moment as her Aura flared up and she went still.
The Uruk pulled the trigger to tear his blade through her skull, laughing out while giving a thumb's up, "Thanks Boss!"
Maku yanked out his spear, "Keep at this rate and you may even have a spot beside me, runt." he cackled before looking to other nearby Uruks "But the rest of you still have marks to make, eh?"
Roars of blood lust rose up as he pointed them in a new direction, he disappeared from sight as they ran across another courtyard, keeping ahead of them as they fought their way through. With his invisibility, he was able to enjoy the fighting from a far more advantageous perspective, only jumping in to help when needed. He could work around the forces of the Storm far better than he ever could've with the Grimm, and so only had to wait until given a chance to briefly incapacitate someone for his boys to jump. With only a small portion of his aura having been recovered since his initial retreat, he was more than willing to allow his allies to draw the attention of their enemies.
That being said, there were a few certain opponents he was more than willing to usher their forces towards.
On the other side of the school grounds, transports were doing their best to land and pick up fleeing students and faculty as quickly as they could. The Surge of Storm soldiers kept pushing them back, striking down one after another the longer they remained. The growing rain wasn't helping, as the falling water obscured the sight of many, making the grounds of Beacon more of a violent mess than it already had been. Even with the numbers of Atlas robots and Grimm decreasing rapidly, the onslaught provided by the Storm more than made up for it in droves.
Coco saw signs of this onslaught from every angle around them, Teachers and Students falling under the tide of their advance. She and her team stopped where they could to help, but the consistent push of the Uruks kept them moving towards the Cafeteria. Outside of the facility, Atlas had redirected the rest of the evacuation ships. Bullheads and Airbuses were moving twice as fast to get people out of there as the fighting grew closer and closer. Atlas had formed a perimeter, with several of Beacon's staff working with them to keep the Uruks from flanking them.
"Get him on one of those ships!" Coco called out to Yatsuhashi and Velvet, the latter of which nodded before helping her partner carry Fox towards the nearest ship.
With that settled, Coco turned her gun around and fell in line with the other defenders, firing upon any Uruk who drew too close and covering for the others fleeing from the battle. It wasn't easy, people were still fighting beyond the perimeter making it hard to aim past them. One of these was Arslan, who threw an Uruk aside as she hobbled towards the Perimeter with a broken arm.
Already half way to a ship, Reese noticed her leader approaching and ran to her, "Have you seen Bolin or Nadir?"
Arslan shook her head, "Can't find Nadir worth a damn and... Bolin he's-"
The broken half of Bolin's staff was flung over the fighting through the back of her head, Reese released a scream as the piece of wood emerged from Arslan's eye and splattered her with blood, "No!"
"Two for the price of one!" an Uruk slipped through the battle wielding the other half of the staff "I'm set!"
"Ain't hoggin' a third!" another shouted as he leaped over a busted column and charged Reese as she cradled the body of her leader, which jerked as hers Aura flared up before going still. Just as his shadow fell over her, Russel lunged in and slashed him back before yelling, "Somebody get her moving, damn it!"
As he rushed forward to engage the Uruks, Nebula stepped forward and put a hand on a frantic Reese's shoulder before she and one of her teammates began pulling her towards one of the ships. Walking past them was Cardin, who took one look at a nearby airbus before calling out, "This one's full, get it out of here!"
Stepping from the ship, Nolan gestured behind him, "I'm telling you we can fit more!"
"And I'm telling you, that if you go beyond that ship's capacity then you're going to end up crashing." Cardin hissed before gesturing behind him with his mace "Don't hog this space, get out so another ship can land, asshole!"
Before Nolan could offer a rebuttal, an out of place laugh made both of them turn towards Dove, who still wore his smug expression despite the carnage around them, "Always amazing seeing you take the reigns like this, Cardin." he gave a small clap as he approached "Still a treat to see and enjoy."
"Damn it Dove," Cardin lowered his mace "you're supposed to be helping them carry wounded."
"Yeah, about that." Dove looked around before sighing "I crunched a few numbers and say we've got about seven to ten minutes until this entire perimeter collapses."
"What?!" both Nolan and Cardin stepped forward, with the latter shaking his head "You're bullshitting."
"Am I? Ask yourself truly, Cardin." Dove leaned forward "Am I really?"
Nolan turned on Dove, "But wasn't Professor Oobleck-?"
"Him? Oh they just wheeled him onto a ship, seems one of those Storm guys gave him a nasty skull fracture." Dove waved it off "With Atlas stretching to cover the space where he was working... yeah, feeling pretty confident on this one. So If we don't get on one of the next four ships that land, you'll be gambling on whether the fifth we'll even be able to take off without getting swarmed."
Cardin turned and walked away, "Then we go on the third!" he spat before turning and pointing at Nolan "And get that ship the hell out of here!"
Dove gave him a salute before twirling his sword, "You're the boss, oh fearless leader." he smirked before walking away.
Hearing this entire conversation go down was Velvet, who had just helped Yatsuhashi pull Fox into a Bullhead. As the ship beside them took off, she looked up to Yatsuhashi. When their eyes locked, she could tell immediately that he had been listening to the same back and forth. With that moment of silence hardening their resolve, the two of them hopped out of the Bullhead and made for the perimeter again.
Watching their movements from the roof of the nearby Cafeteria, two Uruks looked to one another before glancing back as Maku reappeared and gestured towards the ships, "Just crates of wounded huntsmen just waitin' for ya to pop 'em open." he said with a grin.
Back on the perimeter, Coco tried to ignore the increasingly dire situation laid out before her. Relying on her weapon's sheer firepower to hold back any Uruks that weren't caught up in the fighting, she held her ground while turning the barrel from target to target. So caught up in it that she was almost caught off guard by the one Uruk who looked as if he was dragging two large garbage bags behind him as he approached.
Whatever he was lugging didn't matter, as she wasn't even going to give him a chance to use them. She revved up Gianduja again and opened fire as he raised the bags.
Only those weren't garbage bags.
Belfor snapped his massive hands together in front of him and broke into a run as Coco's gunfire rained on them. He closed the distance near-immediately, twisting his hands before swinging them into Coco and throwing her away.
She turned her weapon back to its compact form, looking up just as one of those ridiculously large hands balled into a fist and slammed down at her. A precise dust round blasted Belfor in the face before his attack could land, making him step back and give Coco a chance to twist and slam her case into the side of his head. Digging his vine-like fingers into the ground around him, Belfor caught himself and glared past Coco to Velvet, who cocked a hard-light copy of Crescent Rose before firing again. Raising his hands in front of him, Belfor charged through her next few rounds when Yatsuhashi slid in his way sword already swinging.
Belfor's immense hands latched around the blade and yanked Yatsuhashi off his feet before tossing him aside. Belfor raised a fist as he approached him, but Velvet slammed into his side with a copy of Cardin's mace.
Several yards away, Coco finished shifting her weapon back to it s minigun form, but noticed shadows moving above which led her to glance up and gasp, "They're using the rooftops!"
Several Uruks leaped from the top of the Cafeteria over their perimeter line before immediately taking off for the ships, forcing those helping move wounded to divert their attention. One of the Uruks managed to leap onto the cockpit of a bullhead and drive his sword through the window. As the glass shattered, the surprised pilot reached for their side arm and took aim only for another swipe of the blade to slash it out of their grasp. The Uruk rore them out of their seat and was about impale them on his blade when a flying dagger slashed his wrist and made him drop the pilot
He brought his sword up to deflect the next dagger which came spinning at him, but the blade froze to his weapon upon contact before exploding and sending flying from the cockpit. Russel darted under him and drove his dagger up into his helmet as he fell, the Uruk still moving until he twisted the dagger in his head. The Uruk's aura flared up violently before he went still, with Russel dropping him before walking over to grab his other dagger.
"No time to waste," he hissed towards the dazed pilot, "get this damn thing in the air now or never."
Not even waiting to hear their reply, Russel's head turned to look for his teammates.
Cardin was on another part of the perimeter, using the immense blasts of his mace to disorient and halt any pushes the Uruks made towards them. He panted heavily, using his heavy attacks one after another like this drained his Aura faster than he'd like to admit. Not helping was the smarmy chuckle he heard approaching.
"They found a way around the perimeter, " Dove called out while taking aim with his sword and firing several rounds into the chaos "We're down to five minutes."
Cardin grimaced at that, sending another shockwave which threw several attackers into the air, "Sky still hasn't shown up."
"That's what you've been waiting for?!"
Both Cardin and Dove glanced over as Russel approached while twirling his blades, "I refuse to die waiting for that pathetic little shit." he spat as he walked past them "I'm on a ship in three minutes with or without you two!"
With that he darted into the cloud of dust Cardin's most recent attack had left, the dust of his daggers glowing brightly in the confusion as he pounced upon his partially-blinded opponents.
With him dealing with the attackers, Cardin turned back to Dove, "Are you sure we can't hold out longer?"
Dove turned away with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, "You should know better than to get hopeful in a time like this, oh fearless leader."
Cardin scowled at that title before a blast from another side of the perimeter drew his attention.
Velvet wielded a copy of Magnhild, firing explosive blasts upon one of Belfor's hands while Coco fired her minigun at the other. Belfor moved both of his immense hands to block the attacks, before digging them into the ground in front of him and launching himself at Yatsuhashi, who managed to halt his oncoming swings with his sword and throw him back. The moment his feet touched the ground again, Velvet slid underneath one of his hands with a copy of Sun's staff which she proceeded to twirl into the side of his head. She managed to slip out of the way of his next attack, with Coco quickly stepping in with her case swinging into his fist to throw off his momentum.
As he stepped back, he shook off the attacks and took a breath. For even in battle, he was determined to maintain the order of his thoughts. He would not allow such things as a simple fight to shake his conviction, and so he once more thought carefully.
Both of his hands surged forward before Velvet or Coco could land their next strike, his long fingers wrapping around both of their limbs before he stood and spun with both of them. He sent Coco flying against a pillar while Velvet was sent sailing towards one of the ships. Yatsuhahsi managed to catch her before she could smash against the vessel's hull, but he eyes immediately went to Coco, whose Aura flared dangerously as she shook off the impact.
She looked up and rolled out of the way as Belfor slammed his fist into the pillar and tore a chunk out of it, pieces of which pelted Coco as she got back to her feet and began shifting her weapon again. Belfor lunged through the debris before her minigun was anywhere close to ready, but Velvet leaped over her with a copy of Fox's weapons which she slashed against Belfor to force him back. After two strikes he managed to catch her arm and swing her through the air over him before slamming her against the ground. He raised a foot to curb stomp her when Yatsuhashi swung his blade into his chest and forced him back again.
Before he could retaliate, the roar of Coco's minigun made him whip both of his hands up to block her rounds as he charged towards her. This time she swapped her minigun back to its compact form before he could reach her, ducking past his hands and swinging her case into his gut. Belfor grunted but held firm as his hands began closing around her, with Yatsuhashi just barely able to charge into him with his shoulder and throw him off again. But this time Belfor managed to swing his immense fists as he stumbled, one of which slammed into the side of Yatsuhashi's head.
Before he could shake off the daze, Belfor clasped his hands together and swung them into Yatsuhashi's stomach with the force of a wrecking ball. Coco gasped as he sailed past her with his Aura flickering out, eyes narrowing as she turned back to Belfor.
His eyes locked with hers as he raised his hands again, only for a powerful blast to slam into him and send him sailing back to the other side of the Perimeter. The sight of Belfor sailing by was enough of a distraction for one of the Atlesian Soldiers that the Uruk he'd been firing on managed to close the distance and pounce on him.
"Finally!" he roared before driving his sword through Soldier's arm, "Over here lads, they falterin'!"
He slashed the soldier away as two more Uruks leaped to capitalize on the hole in the perimeter. But just as they rushed forward, a second powerful blast sent them flying back as a cloud of dust was kicked up.
Coco glanced to the side as Cardin fell to one knee, breathing heavily as he gestured towards the nearby Bullhead, "No more time!" he wheezed out.
Catching his meaning, Coco stood and shifted her weapon back to its minigun form, "Vel! Get Yatsuhashi into the ship!"
Nodding, Velvet ran by as Coco fired into the dust cloud at the disoriented Uruks. The nearby soldiers pulled back towards the ships as well, with Coco covering them as she slowly backed up. Russel darted out from around a nearby pillar and glared at Cardin as he passed before racing towards an Airbus. Catching his breath, Cardin pushed himself back to his feet as a hand patted him on the shoulder.
He looked up at Dove, who gave a grin before helping Cardin up. The two made their way towards the Bullhead, with Cardin collapsing in an exhausted heap as Velvet stepped past him and called out, "Coco! We're ready!"
That signal was music to Coco's ears, as it was right about then that her weapon ran out of ammo. As if sensing the halt in the gunfire, one of the Uruks raced from the cloud of smoke and threw a spear at her. Coco acted quickly, bringing up her minigun which the spear lodged itself in. Groaning at the damage her precious weapon sustained, she hefted the entire thing up and launched the entire weapon at the Uruk, who crashed into three more as the weight of the Minigun brought them to the ground. With that settled, Coco turned and ran for the Bullhead just as it began taking off.
But then Belfor threw himself out of the cloud sailing over the stumbling Uruks with his fist already swinging down.
Coco never saw it coming, only felt the impact of something against the back of her head before everything went dark and fuzzy as she was flung forward onto her stomach.
"No!" Velvet cried out before moving quickly to form a weapon, only for gunfire to race across the side of the bullhead and throw her back.
Other Uruks were emerging from the crowd in pursuit of the last ships, several managing to leap on one nearby as they gained altitude. Dove saw this and immediately moved for the cockpit, "Pick up the pace!"
Coco's vision swam as she tried pushing herself up, a splotch of blood on the ground before her leading her to look to her Beret, which had been flung from her head during the impact. More red spots on her broken sunglasses led her to bring a hand up to the side of her face, which was dripping wet with her own blood. That hand shakily slid back to a gruesome wound on the back of her skull that made her choke up mere moments before Belfor's massive hand wrapped around her head and yanked her off the ground.
Velvet scrambled back to the edge of the Bullhead's door, already cycling through options as she hastily created a hardlight copy of May's sniper rifle. Alas, by the time she put her eye to the scope it merely gave her a perfect view as Belfor's hand clenched tightly and crushed Coco's head into pulp.
Time seemed to stop for Velvet, as all the sounds of roars, ships, gunfire and screaming faded out under the beating of her own heart. The air around her seemed non-existent as her lungs cried for oxygen. The sight of Coco's Aura flaring violently one last time before her body went limp was the only thing in existence for Velvet as Belfor watched the corpse fall from his grasp.
Then she was screaming, feral cries tearing their way out of her mouth as she lunged for the edge of the bullhead. Cardin and Yatsuhashi had to hold her back before she could leap out of the ship, her arms frantically reaching out as Belfor took note of her cries.
His over-sized eye watched the Faunus flail in the grasp of her cohorts as the Bullhead's doors closed and the vessel took off along with the last few ships. Beside him Uruks of all types roared in agitation over having missed their chance at promotion, but that was of little consequence to him. He looked down to the headless body of the student he'd managed to catch in the nick of time, that was all that really mattered right now. Reaching down, he lugged the body over his shoulder just in case one of his superiors needed it for verification. Not like they'd be his superiors for long.
He turned his attention to the other Uruks, who were already fanning out to hunt down anyone who might not have escaped the campus yet. Hunting parties already forming as their pickings became more scarce.
As he watched, Belfor's gaze eventually went to the top of Beacon Tower, where every so often lights would flash from Professor Ozpin's office.
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
Cinder flew around the circumference of the office, speeding behind her was Drumenvok spinning at high speeds carving gashes into the walls wherever it touched. As she flew, she fired blast after blast of intense flames at Pugrish, who had planted himself in the center of the room and swiped his gauntlets through the air each time she attacked. With every slash, claws of ice would form between him and the oncoming blasts to nullify them, the collisions eventually filling the room with puffs of steam. Cinder suddenly altered her course, blasting herself towards him as a spear of glass formed in her hands. Pugrish crossed his gauntlets and slashed through the spear, but Cinder rolled past him as the rest of the spear formed into a sword which she jabbed backwards into his spine. However, once again her blade shattered upon contact with him, his aura hadn't even flared up to defend him.
Cinder gritted her teeth as she looked up, seeing Drumenvok fly into Pugrish's hands. She leaped back as he spun and tore the handle of Drumenvok through the floor where she once stood.
"Why won't you bleed?!" she shouted as flames coursed up her arms.
"Hm?" he tilted his head while aiming Drumenvok at her, "Its nothing more than a clever use of Aura."
"I didn't see it flicker once," Cinder spat as the two began circling each other
"True, my skin has always been more resilient than most."Pugrish raised his arm "Instead of coating myself in Aura like everyone else seems inclined to do, I merely reinforce what I already have."
He flexed his arm, and upon closer inspection Cinder noticed the faint glow under his flesh. It was like a web of glowing veins weaving underneath his skin, "A Semblance then."
"I'd be inclined to agree if that were the only thing I could use Aura for," Pugrish noted before holding out Drumenvok "however..."
His Aura surged towards his weapon and coursed long it before Pugrish opened his hand and let it float around him again. He folded his arms behind him as Drumenvok floated in front of him defensively.
"That's not how Aura works." Cinder narrowed her gaze.
"Perhaps it merely requires a different form of examination, then?" Pugrish offered with a smile "Perhaps I might actually have a semblance that merely gives me more flexibility in its usages than most. In truth, I know of only one Uruk whose Aura reserves naturally outclass my own, and even he hasn't been able to recreate what I've done with it."
He raised a gauntlet in front of him and clacked his claws together, "But I hold to the belief that Aura is already malleable... and that the rest of you merely impose superficial limits onto it all on your own."
Cinder blasted herself to the side whilst forming a bow, turning in the air and firing a volley of arrows. Pugrish didn't move, instead Drumenvok circled him before spinning to shatter the arrows. Cinder took that as her moment to slip around Drumenvok with two daggers of glass and swiped them at Pugrish, who finally began dodging backwards out of her swings. The sound of metal behind her made her roll out of the way as Drumenvok swung back at her, her semblance fusing the two daggers together into a twinblade which she sent flying into the side of Drumenvok and pinning the weapon to the ground as she leaped at Pugrish.
The Stormbringer twisted under a blast of flame and brought a claw up to catch an incoming glass sword. Cinder snapped it in half as she spun around him, the broken handle forming into a dagger which she jabbed at his side only for it to shatter as well. Pugrish swiped back at her with his gauntlet. Cinder managed to circle around his attack as she allowed flames to accumulate in her hand before lunging at him again. He caught her wrist and aimed her hand upwards before he leaned close and nodded, "Would you like to see what else I can do with Aura?"
Cinder began forming another glass spear, only for everything to flash bright. When her vision cleared, she found that she wasn't in Ozpin's office, she was running through a cave with something immense roaring and charging behind her. Her limbs weren't moving under her commands, and she was forced to look forward as she entered a cavern with a hole in the top that light streamed in from.
The cavern was littered with bones, as if something had been nesting there. Finally she looked behind her and realized what exactly that something was. A bipedal monstrosity the size of a building was charging after her, its immense form nearly blocking the entirety of the cave behind her.
For some reason the sight of which brought a smile to her face, and a laugh that she quickly realized wasn't her own. The monster roared as she turned back around and picked up the pace, reaching a wall of the cave and climbing towards the opening at the top. She still had no control over her own body, which she quickly realized wasn't her own. Hands ended in inhuman claws and her skin was leathery, yet this body still refused to wipe the smile off of its face. She climbed the wall, which shook as the beast below dug its immense hands into it and began scaling.
Cinder didn't have to look back this time, the sound of the monster's claws was drawing closer exponentially. It was far faster at climbing despite its size, and for some reason her body took this as a sign to halt in its ascent. She pulled out a jagged short sword with one hand before leaning back. The Monster was reaching for her at that very moment when she let go and fell towards its roaring maw. She fell through its grasping fingers and reared back with the short-sword as she twisted in the air, driving the blade into one of the monster's eyes and holding tight as it flailed with rage. Hanging from its eye hole as it spewed blood on her, the body pulled itself up and slammed a hand on the pommel of the sword, driving it deeper and causing the monster to lose its grasp on the wall.
Cinder leaped from the falling monster's head as it slammed into the ground behind it. Cinder could only watch through its eyes as the body approached the monster and lunged towards its snapping jaws, getting a grip on a large jagged tooth before yanking it out and driving it into the monster's other eye. She leaped back as it twisted and swiped a large arm at her, pushing itself on its hands and knees as it roared and a blind rage. But Cinder didn't stay idle long, rushing forward and driving an arm into the bottom of the broken tooth, forcing it deeper into the monster's head and into its brain. At that the monster finally fell into a dead heap before her, with Cinder forced to watch as her hands playfully rubbed its blood together in her palms.
The image faded from view, with Cinder finding herself rubbing her hands together in the midst of Ozpin's office. Once the vision was gone, she found control returning to her, and she immediately pulled her hands apart with a gasp of disgust.
"So how was it?"
She spun around to find Pugrish sitting on Ozpin's desk, legs folded under him as his hands pressed together. At his side Drumenvok continued floating around him, coursing with his Aura.
"What did you do to me?!" Cinder bit as she steadied herself, shaking off the delirium of being in something else's body.
"Shared a memory through Aura." he answered simply
"That's not how Aura works!"
"I find evidence to the contrary everywhere." he said as he hopped from the desk "From your movements I believe you were stuck fighting the Jagged-Horn Graug in its nest? A good memory, though there are far greater you could've wound up with."
He pulled out his journal and flipped through it, "If you could read Black Speech I might've been able to show you a thing or two before I take you and whatever that anomaly is."
"You're a blind fool if you think acquiring my power is so simple." Cinder stated before raising a hand towards him "I've seen your type before, those that think a scary little mask and a sliver of power is enough to make you a threat."
Pugrish gave her a smirk as his aura surged over his journal, which he then tossed into the air before using his staff to bounce out of the way of a column of fire which scorched the floor behind him.
The moment he landed, he turned to find Cinder already darting into his reach with a blade lunging for his eye. He caught her wrist and angled the blade away with his free hand, holding his ground and locking her in place with a hum of interest, "Ah, going for my eyes are we?" he asked with a tilt of his head "I would've hinted to it eventually... but it seems you're quite perceptive as well."
Cinder lunged back as the glass blade heated up and exploded in her grasp, with her looking up only to scowl as he walked out of the smoke.
"This mask is for me and me alone... not some trivial attempt at intimidation." he stated before reaching up "I'm sure you'll soon recognize that I've earned my titles... my power."
His journal floated over to him, its pages opening as it thrummed with his aura. He reached forward and pressed a finger to it before tracing several symbols on its pages, "Observe, if you would."
Cinder wasn't about to let him issue any commands to her, and already was forming another glass bow in her grip. She'd gambled after he mentioned how his unnatural durability worked, and it had paid off. Even if every portion of his skin was laced with Aura, then the natural openings in said skin couldn't be given the same treatment. He'd just confirmed her theory, so all she had to do was carry it out. She'd already proven that, despite his ridiculous assembly of abilities and weapons, she could get through his guard. Now that she knew where to aim, she wouldn't be putting up with this farce for much longer.
However, just as she resolved herself a red form appeared beside Pugrish as he pulled his hand from his floating journal. This form molded itself into the outline of a humanoid, becoming more detailed as it pushed itself to its feet. It wasn't the sudden appearance of this form that had Cinder stunned.
No, it was the fact that she recognized it almost immediately.
The ponytail, the stance, and especially the outlines of the spear and shield forming in its hands.
The red figure darted towards her, its approach knocking Cinder from her daze. She let loose the volley of arrows, which the figure raised its shield to intercept before swinging its spear at her.
"Ah... I feel as though you understand what this is." Pugrish cooed as more figures began appearing around him.
Cinder blasted the red form, which dissipated immediately, she turned her scowl back on Pugrish, only to go wide-eyed as more of them lunged for her. She flew above them, twisting out of the way as they leaped up and swung weapons at her. They were of varying colors with a plethora of different weapons, though a concerning number had similar shaped swords. Voices rose up from them, with Cinder immediately blocking them out as she rained fire upon them.
Pugrish merely watched as that first red figure reformed beside him, doubled over as if in pain until Pugrish flexed his wrist. It stood tall, the voice echoing from it sounding distant, as if it was spoken through a tunnel, "You need to leave this to me, Jaune."
"For the Master! For the Storm!" another echoed while stumbling by.
"I can't see you, May! Where are you?!"
Cinder landed amongst a large group of them, a wave of fire throwing them back. They dissipated momentarily only to reform at Pugrish's side, Cinder looked up at him and groaned, "These are-?"
"Those that have perished on this campus tonight." Pugrish finished for her while tracing a finger in his journal again "All of their Auras suitably subjugated by the Shackle. Perishing within its range denies the freedom of death."
He leaned against Drumenvok, "Of course, that rings true for you as well."
At that Cinder gritted her teeth while forming another glass blade.
"I have no idea what will happen if it attempts to trap your anomalous aura," he admitted before gesturing to her with a curious grin "let us discover together."
Cinder blasted through the growing horde of Shackled Auras before spinning towards Pugrish, who dipped out of the way as her blade passed his face. He dodged under her next strikes, letting the encroaching Auras surge towards her as he backed away, "Its magnificent... isn't it?"
As she slashed through the Shackled, Pugrish suddenly lunged into her attack and drove his fist into her gut, forcing her back as the figures around her moved to capitalize. When Cinder landed, she immediately spun around, searing the forms near her and leaping back as Drumenvok buried itself beside her.
"The runes used for this were only usable by the Dark Lord's underlings... spells such as it lossed to Uruks such as I." he continued speaking while swinging his gauntlet to the side, a flaming claw forming and slashing Cinder back to him as he reared back and swung with his weapon.
She slid under Drumenvok and formed a spear, only for one of the Shackled to tackle her from the side.
"We Mystics made do with pale imitations of their spells... knowing full well of the divide between us and them."
Cinder flung the Shackled away from her with an enraged roar, moving to aim for Pugrish only to notice a flash of red behind her. She spun with flames ready, but Drumenvok was faster, slamming into the side of her head and sending her spinning away while trying to force back the Aural figures.
"But here, I've made these runes serve... all thanks to the wonders of Aura." Pugrish said while rearing back with Drumenvok "With it, limitations are meaningless to the passions of those truly devoted to their causes."
He swung, but Drumenvok was halted against two glass blades as Cinder managed to hold him back, "You speak far too much." she bit as a surge of flames from her arms caused Pugrish to slip back "Words only matter if you can back them up!"
Leaning out of the way of another pillar of flames, Pugrish nodded "Oh? Then allow me to do so." he stated before raising Drumenvok as Cinder lunged across the Shackled Auras. As she brought down her blades towards his face, all of the Auras around them seemed to shimmer before being drawn into Drumenvok. His grin widening, Pugrish reared back with his weapon before darting forward to meet Cinder's attack head-on.
The next thing she knew, Cinder was on her back, staring up at the ceiling of the office. Everything felt numb, she hadn't even felt herself land. But as she reached back to push herself up, she spotted the tips of Drumenvok's handlebars coming into view. Walking before here, Pugrish tapped the bloodied handlebars of his weapon against the ground and gave her a small smile before reaching down and picking up one of her feet.
It wasn't attached.
All of a sudden that numbing feeling faded away under the tsunami of agony flaring up from her knees, Cinder released a sharp scream before biting down on it as her panicked eyes went downward. Everything below her knees had been ripped from her body.
"Be honest... have I earned the right to be labeled a threat yet?" Pugrish asked as the severed foot in his grasp was set ablaze.
Despite the pain, Cinder merely snarled at him as she dragged herself away, shaking hands still forming fire as her aura struggled to heal the grievous wounds.
"Come now," Pugrish sighed before lifting the charred foot up and sinking his teeth into the ankle "an entertaining brawl like that shouldn't be tarnished with naivety."
As he gnawed on the limb, the glow faded from his weapon as the Shackled Auras began reappearing again. Cinder paid them no mind, as throughout the torturous feeling the only thing she could focus on was her anger. That singular desire for vengeance overwrote the feeling of exhaustion being brought out from blood loss. Taking aim as Pugrish strolled towards her, she once more called upon the powers of the maiden and launched a blast of flame towards him.
Before it could get close, one of the Shackled Auras threw themselves into its path and was blasted apart before reforming at Pugrish's side. She gritted her teeth, biting into her lip hard enough to draw blood as she moved back with one arm and took aim with the other again. Pugrish just kept approaching, dragging Drumenvok along the ground as he feasted upon the seared flesh. Every blast she fired was intercepted by the Shackled Auras which continued wailing out garbled cries from when they still lived.
Finally her back pressed against Ozpin's desk, startling Cinder for a moment which was just long enough for Pugrish to close the distance between them. His free hand locked around her throat as he buried the handlebar of Drumenvok into the floor beside him.
"I'll admit to adoring such tenacity," he said as his grip tightened "but we both know that it alone cannot bring one victory in a useless situation."
He squeezed slowly at first, holding her higher even as she pressed burning hands to his wrist in an attempt to char them.
"Cinder!"
The new voice was enough to make Pugrish raise an eyebrow and turn his head, but he found upon further inspection that they were still alone in the room. He briefly wondered if it had come from one of the Shackled Auras when he looked back to find that Cinder had disappeared from his grasp.
His hand immediately tore Drumenvok out of the ground as he gave a quizzical look around. His eyes settled momentarily on the side of Ozpin's desk before a familiar voice called out to him.
"Messing with Nazgul magic, eh Stormbringer?"
Pugrish smiled and turned to the Elevator, where Ishga stood with his spear drawn, "Ah... my predecessor's son reveals himself."
Ishga's expression tightened at that, but he didn't move. Pugrish lowered the bloodied handlebars of Drumenvok to the floor before gesturing to the Shackled Auras, "Impressive isn't it? The range is lacking, extending through my own Aura's senses only, but its more than enough to reach across this entire campus."
"Range like that isn't gonna cover the whole city."
"I won't need all of them," Pugrish sighed before spinning Drumenvok and burying it into the floor again "but how about you enlighten me as to what you think you're doing pretending to stand before me."
Ishga raised an eyebrow, "Pretending?"
Pugrish folded his arms, "Its an intriguing attempt to be sure, I can smell you, see you, hear you. But the Aura doesn't lie." Pugrish turned back to Ozpin's desk "I can feel you standing over there along with that Anomaly and... is that another Tark?"
Pugrish looked around him, eyes locking on different parts of the room before settling on 'Ishga' once more "Skak... is that you? You two are working with Tarks?"
'Ishga' cursed in Skak's voice before rearing back with the spear, "He's seein' through it!"
Ishga shimmered before becoming Skak, who lunged towards Pugrish with Blood-Axe. Pugrish stepped out of the way as Skak plunged the axe into the ground, the Stormbringer gave him a small applause as Mercury appeared and leaped over Skak. Pugrish ducked under a swinging kick before swiping forward and forcing Mercury to roll away.
Ishga and Emerald appeared beside the desk, with the latter releasing a deep breath and drawing her weapons. Laying against the desk, Cinder's eyes fluttered open at the sound of clashing metal. Emerald kneeled beside her, looking her over with panic in her eyes, "Cinder!? Shit, are you-?"
"We have to get her out of here." Ishga whispered while keeping track of Pugrish as he slipped through Mercury and Skak's attacks "Can she move?"
"I don't-!" Emerald glanced to him, only for her mouth to snap shut as Cinder's hand reached up and clamped onto her shoulder.
"Put me on the desk!" Cinder practically hissed.
"O-Of course."
"What?" Ishga looked to them as Emerald immediately hooked her arms under Cinder and helped sit her on the desk "Those two can't distract him forever! We have to move before that happens or you'll be-"
If Cinder heard his words, she didn't react, instead lifting what was left of her right leg. She didn't hesitate before letting flames form in her palm and pressing it to her mangled stump. Biting down on her own screams, Cinder cauterized the gruesome wound before blinking several tears from her eyes and moving to the other one.
Shoving Skak away again, Pugrish took note of her screams and looked back to the desk with a wide grin forming under his mask, "And even still she continues!" he clapped his gauntlets together while leaning out of the way of a blast from Mercury "This brawl grows more and more interesting!"
He stretched out both hands and caught Mercury's leg in one and the edge of Blood-Axe in the other, yanking both of them off-balance, "Tarks and Uruks working together, a welcome surprise every time."
He flung both of them away before holding out his hands and grinning at Cinder, "Do you intend to flee?"
"No..." Cinder growled, causing both Ishga and Emerald to look to her in surprise, "all they have to do is slow you down."
Pugrish applauded with even more enthusiasm, "So you believe that to be the key?"
His eyes briefly went to Drumenvok, still buried in the floor, before reaching up. His journal floated into his outstretched hand, and soon the Shackled Auras drained out of Drumenvok and disappeared along with those wandering around the room. Pugrish slammed his journal closed and hooked it back to his belt before raising his hands again.
"I'm dying to see such an effort through." he stated as Mercury and Skak rushed him again.
Ishga grumbled as Emerald joined them in their assault, eventually glancing to Cinder as she began gathering power, "You're already missin' ya legs, we didn't come all this way just for you to kill yourself playing his game!"
Cinder didn't stop, her heavy breathing fading as she finally seemed to notice Ishga, "Why are you even here, Orc? This battle is between me and him!"
"Ain't much of a battle if he's already tearing you apart!" Ishga slammed a hand on the desk "We were warned that if he kills you, we're all shrahk out of luck!"
"Good thing... I don't plan on...dying, then." Cinder looked to Pugrish as her eyes glowed, the power of the maiden allowing her to hover from the desk as arcs of flame coursed around her.
Pugrish flipped through Emerald's chains before driving his elbow through Mercury's attack into his chest. He flexed his other gauntlet before hearing a battle cry and looking up as Skak lunged with his Blood-Axe raised. Throwing Mercury away, Pugrish spun out of the way of the Blood-Axe before whipping his gauntlet through the air. A fiery claw swiped Skak in the back and sent him stumbling forward as the Stormbringer reared back and drove his fist up into his chin. As Skak rolled away, Pugrish took note of the unseen Aura approaching him and raised a hand towards it before sending a fist made of ice flying towards it.
Emerald appeared as she darted out of the way of the fist and leaped over icy claws as she fired at him. Pugrish swiped the rounds out of the air as Emerald slid past him, he turned back to her as she lunged for his neck, only for his hand to slip through her attack and latch onto her head.
In a flash Emerald wasn't in the office, instead on the roof of one of many buildings which made up a cliff-side fortress. She watched as a drake rained fire upon dozens of Uruks running amongst the other buildings, struggling for crossbows and spears in order to fight back.
Emerald sighed in Pugrish's voice as she strolled to the edge of the roof and crossed her arms, "Destroying Ratlug's harness... was it truly worth it, Kormak?"
"Ha!" a voice called out to her "The Boss was a fool to let a Mystic like you into this keep, that Exile's gizmos blinded him!"
Emerald glanced to the side as an Uruk in golden armor raised a single-hand crossbow repeater in front his eyes. Looking him up and down, Emerald gave a shake of her head.
"When the Overlord learns one of his Warchiefs could sabotage his dealings to such an extent... I'm sure he'd be most grateful to be made aware of this betrayal." Emerald clapped her hands together and grinned at him "You've merely given me another entrance... my dear little Marauder."
"That'd be a problem if ya didn't perish in this unforeseen incident." Kormak snickered before pointing the Crossbow repeater at him "Funny how that works, eh?"
Emerald darted forward as the first crossbow bolt passed under her ear, rolling under the second one as she drew her sword. Kormak's smirk disappeared upon seeing her rapid movements, and he backed up as he drew his other crossbow repeater from his belt. She stood and spun past the next bolt before throwing her sword full force at Kormak.
The Warchief slipped out of the way as the blade lodged itself in the roof behind him, turning back and firing the repeater only for Emerald's foot to kick it out of his hand. Kormak swiped forward with the other repeater, with Emerald ducking under it before taking hold of his arm and spinning him around. She sent him neck first into the edge of the blade she'd thrown, the Warchief crying out as he tried pulling away. Emerald planted her foot on the back of his head forcing him harder against the blade, he swiped back with the repeater, with her catching his weapon and tearing it out of his grasp.
She took aim, only for the approaching roars of the Drake to lead her to roll her eyes. Turning around, she fired several bolts at the Drake as it began spewing flame towards them. Before either the flames or the bolts could land, Emerald jerked to the side as something slammed into her.
Her vision swam as the fortress rooftops faded away back to Ozpin's office. As her stupor faded, she groaned as she looked back to see that Mercury had landed on her. His Aura flickered dangerously, but still he looked up with a frown as Pugrish approached while flexing his gauntlets, "Back with us? How was Cirith Ungol? Its usually a fascinating sight in the afternoon."
As the two untangled themselves, Pugrish glanced behind him before raising his gauntlets as Skak swung his Blood-Axe. Pugrish caught the axe with his gauntlets, with Skak grunting as the Stormbringer cooed at him.
"Damn it, Pug!" Skak breathed heavily as he tried forcing his weapon against Pugrish's gauntlets "Can't just tease Blood-Axe with all that Mystic blood like this."
"Oh Skak," Pugrish shook his head "even with your freakish strength and captivating weapon, you'll need more than that in order to puncture my-"
The sound of metal bits falling made Pugrish go silent, and soon the two of them looked down to see his gauntlets falling apart. Pugrish's smile slipped into a frown at this as he clenched his hands around Blood-Axe and yanked Skak towards him before slamming his fist into the side of his head. Skak stumbled back and looked up right before Pugrish leaped forward and kicked him onto his back.
As he watched Skak scramble back to his feet, Pugrish raised his hands and saw that Skak had managed to cut through his gauntlets. His palms were untouched and unmarred, yet Pugrish sighed as he shook the broken remnants of his gauntlets from his wrists, "I very much did enjoy those trinkets."
"Sorry 'bout that, pal!" Skak massaged the back of his head while whipping up Blood-Axe and pointing to him, "He's just really antsy, ya know? Really lookin' forward to that Mystic blood o' yours."
Pugrish rolled his eyes before smiling and pulling his journal from his belt, "Its going to take me weeks to rebuild those, but I suppose I'll just have to make the next ones better."
He traced a finger along several runes, with both Emerald and Mercury racing towards him only for the Shackled Auras to reappear. Emerald ducked under a strike and lunged for the Stormbringer, only for another Aura to tackle her out of the way. Mercury had similar problems, having to divert his attention to fighting back the growing mob. Skak prepared to jump back in, only for a bright flash to draw his attention back to Cinder.
The arcing flames had sped up and multiplied, a cage of fire had formed around her that she began gathering in her hands. Ishga was backing away from her, worriedly glancing to the skirmish and yelling, "Get out of the way!"
Both Mercury and Emerald were still dealing with the Shackled when they heard his warning, moving to break away from the spectral attackers when Pugrish spoke up.
"Come to me." he ordered whilst tracing more runes.
Immediately the Shackled Auras pulled away from Emerald and Mercury, stumbling and falling backwards as they were yanked by unseen force towards Pugrish. He raised his arms to his sides as the Journal floated in front of him, his gaze turning to the ceiling as the Shackled were drawn into him in a flurry of colors.
All eyes were transfixed on the occurrence, but Cinder wasn't one to hold back when given a golden opportunity. With the condensed blaze surging through her fingers, she reared back and fired a concentrated beam of pure heat which seared the floor as it raced towards Pugrish, who disappeared inside of the attack. All stumbled away as the beam coursed from her grasp, with Cinder pushing herself to maintain it for longer and longer.
Ishga had to brace himself with the desk, Mercury and Emerald both had to hold themselves as the force of Cinder's blast threatened to push them away. Skak merely buried Blood-Axe in the floor to ground himself, laughing in awe at the display of power. But it wasn't a display that could go on forever, and soon the beam faded. The room darkened once more as Cinder fell back onto the desk, the searing pain from her stumps leading to her yelling out in a mix of pain and anger. She rolled onto her hands and looked along with the others, only for her expression to drain.
Pugrish was still standing, the floor nearby and the walls behind him had been melted down, but he stood upon them without a scratch
More than that, his Aura was pulsating violently. Instead of the bright blue glow, his Aura was now pure white. It almost looked like it was leaking off of him, the white glow overwhelming both his eyes and the grin he sported. Even beyond that, it now coursed up from his skin into his hideous mask. Before them all, the dry flesh of that mask began writhing and pulsating as jaws stretched and eye-holes began rapidly opening and closing. That bright white aura spilled out of all those orifices, with even Pugrish himself momentarily trembling before he stood tall and began clapping his hands again.
"What... have you done?" the question came from Ishga, who stared wide-eyed as Pugrish rubbed at his glowing skin.
"So many trinkets act as conduits for Aura..." Pugrish sighed, his voice sounding as though it was reverberating within that mask of his "The Shackle keeps Auras within its range bound and subjugated to my own."
Ishga couldn't even see the Stormbringer's eyes anymore, only the bright glow of the Aura which coursed through his veins and throughout his body.
Holding his hands out to his sides, Pugrish turned his glowing gaze to Ishga and gestured to himself, "I've merely pushed the idea to its logical conclusion, sucking them into my Aura through the Shackle and putting all of it to use."
Cinder's eyes shook with confusion, pain and anger, but even worst was the emotion which she suppressed under all of that spite: the Jealousy. Before she could even try to reconcile herself with the whirlwind of emotion, Ishga took hold of her and pulled her from the desk as he sheathed his spear.
"That's our que to break for it!" he shouted out as he began backing up with her towards the Office's broken window. Skak gave a dissapointed little grunt before he stepped away, Emerald was almost captivated by the impossible sight before her, but Mercury managed to pull her out of her stupor as they ran to flee as well.
"As much as I thirst for retaliation," Pugrish slowly approached Drumenvok, still buried in the center of the floor "I must ask you earn your escape."
Ishga passed Cinder to Skak before leaping through the broken window, the larger Uruk giving her a playful jostle as Mercury leaped past him over the edge. He took note of Emerald backing up past him with her weapons still trained on the Stormbringer, and gave her a nudge with the back of his axe before backing up towards the edge. Her eyes snapped to him before travelling to the form of Cinder. Nodding, she turned and followed him over the edge as well right before a surge of light flared out from the office and shattered the remaining windows.
As they fell down the side of Beacon Tower, Ishga turned in the air to look up as the light faded from around the tower.
"So what exactly is the plan now?" Mercury shouted to him, holding out his arms to manage his descent
"Distance between us and him!" Ishga snapped as Skak and Emerald fell beside them "All that really matters!"
"He's absolutely correct." Pugrish's voice concurred from far too close than it should've been.
Immediately they began turning towards the tower, with Emerald gasping at the sight of Pugrish sliding down the side of the building with his journal in one hand and Drumenvok in the other.
"Unfortunately I must attempt to stop you." Pugrish shrugged as he pumped Aura into Drumenvok and let the floating weapon spin to intercept the blasts that Emerald and Mercury fired upon him. Despite the roaring wind whipping all around them, Pugrish still managed to trace the runes in his Journal.
Suddenly Shackled Auras appeared flailing through the wind around them as Pugrish reached out and gestured towards them. His targets had to spin or whip their weapons around to fend off the Auras while Pugrish took hold of Drumenvok and raised it up while pouring Aura into it.
"Get him off the building!" Ishga called out while slicing away another Aura "Quick!"
Once more they opened fire, but this time the Auras began intercepting their rounds. Emerald cursed as she whipped her chains through another gaggle of the Shackled, only for her eyes to dart towards Skak. He was working to fend off the Auras with one hand and keep hold of Cinder with the other. As he slashed through the spectral attackers, Cinder took aim and fired a blast of flame which managed to tear through the defending Auras and strike the building at Pugrish's feet. The blast sent him sailing from the building, spinning with Drumenvok as he flew past them. They all had to twist as the Shaman sailed past them, laughter ringer out from him the entire time.
"Glorious, glorious!" he cheered as he finished pouring Aura into Drumenvok.
"Grab onto it, quickly!" Cinder shouted as she raised a hand behind them and used it to blast Skak and herself towards the tower. Catching onto the ploy, Skak reared back before chopping Blood-Axe into the building and halting their descent.
Pugrish laughed before whipping Drumenvok around, a concentrated beam of pure white energy slashing through the air as the rest of his foes scrambled out of its way. The beam cut through a plethora of the Shackled Auras, only for them to reappear seconds later. As Pugrish reared back for another slash, Mercury spun in the air and blasted himself towards the building and managed to wedge his metal legs into the side of it.
Emerald moved to follow, taking aim at Pugrish only for one of the Auras to leap on her back and cause her to spin. Ishga glanced to her, watching as the roofs of the buildings below grew closer and closer. As one of the Auras lunged for him, he managed to plant his feet on it and use it to launch himself towards Emerald, twisting around another one of the Stormbringer's beams before stabbing the Shackled Aura away from her. The moment her descent was steadied, she whipped her chains around to drive off the closest Shackled before firing to propel herself towards the building as well. As she sailed by, Ishga grabbed hold of one of her chains as Pugrish fired another beam which just barely missed him as her momentum yanked him towards the building as well.
Emerald stabbed her remaining weapon into the side of Beacon Tower to slow her descent, her other weapon jerking momentarily as she looked down to see Ishga hanging on her chain with one hand and using his other to stick himself to the building with a spear
Below, Pugrish continued falling with the numerous Auras as he watched the forms of his quarries rapidly pull away. He took aim with Drumenvok momentarily before instead letting go of the weapon and clapping his hands together. He continued this applause, laughing with joy as he continued falling towards the buildings below.
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
Yang wasn't gonna win this, and they all knew it.
The Library had been torn apart in the heat of their battle, but Yang just didn't have the Aura to deal with both Krosh and Mincemeat at once. Even now, standing atop a broken bookshelf and staring him down as Mincemeat circled around her, Yang could only think about how she could get away. Both Krosh and his slave were light-footed, and they'd managed to keep up with her throughout their fight. Working together, she was sure they'd have a damn good chance of tracking her down if she fled as it was. So her plan for the last few minutes had been to get rid of Mincemeat and bank on being able to escape Krosh.
The problem was, he kept getting in the way whenever Yang tried to switch her attention from him. Mincemeat was an opportunistic attacker, keeping away from them until she had an opening to exploit. With how fast Krosh's flurries could be and Mincemeat taking bites at her whenever he was letting up, the two had managed to wear her down with a distressing amount of ease. The shit-eating grin Krosh sported throughout their fight only managed to hammer in the hopelessness of her situation.
But she wouldn't give up, even with the odds stacked against her like this she refused to just roll over for this ass-hat again. She just needed a moment, a chance... anything to take their eyes off of her.
As if heeding her call, something crashed through the roof. All three of them turned their attention upwards as the laughing figure clapped away while crashing through a bookcase and into the floor which crackled and shattered around it from the sheer force of the impact.
Krosh squinted a bit, only to grow confused at the sight of Pugrish partially embedded into the ground. The Stormbringer was chuckling at something, still giving a small applause as he stared up at the hole he made in the roof. A second later Drumenvok landed next to his head, getting stuck in the floor beside him and kicking up more rubble. But if Pugrish noticed his weapon, he barely reacted to it.
Yang recovered first, blasting herself away and landing before a window which she ran towards ready to use Ember Celica again.
But then an arm reached out from another bookcase. She took note of it and raised her arm defensively, only for this new figure to drive a dagger through her aura and into her arm before ramming its shoulder into her chest and flinging her away from the window.
Yang landed and rolled onto her knees as she cried out and reached for the dagger jutting out from her arm. Her cries drew Krosh's attention from the still laughing figure, only for his face to fall immediately.
"When I heard you ran off the moment the attack began, I just knew you'd be off messing around with tark women." Ratlug emerged from behind the bookshelf with another sword strapped to his back, he turned to Krosh and rolled his eyes "And what do I find upon lookin' into it? My children once again making a mockery o' my name."
For the first time that night, Yang watched Krosh's constant smirking devolve into a snarl. Mincemeat actually lowered her head as her eyes locked on Ratlug, trembling slightly as she inched behind Krosh.
"Do you just make a hobby of showing up at the worst time?" Yang tried to grin through the pain as she inched closer to another window, hand wrapping around the handle of the dagger as Ratlug laughed and reached back for the sword.
"I'd probably be more dissapointed in my disgusting spawn if this weren't a perfect opportunity to keep good on a threat I made." Ratlug said while drawing an awkwardly bent sword.
Yang's movements ceased immediately as she recognized Qrow's weapon.
Harbinger was still stuck in its semi-transformed state, the ratty clumps of a towel still wedged in its gears. Ratlug savored her expression as he pulled out what Yang initially thought was a Towel. But as he let the fabric dangle, the horror on her expression grew deeper.
"Had to take these nifty lil' things off of a lanky old shrahk who went and broke a project of mine." Ratlug explained as he twirled Qrow's blood-soaked cape "Had to break him apart and even things up, but then I find out whose sharing his blood and-"
"What do you think you're doing here, you old Bastard!?" Krosh shouted before pointing to Yang "Lady's mine and you damn well know it!"
"You don't want to share with ya own flesh and blood?" Ratlug tilted his head before looking past him to Mincemeat "Rather prance about with that mutant, I see."
Yang pushed herself to her feet and bit her lip as she pulled the dagger from her arm, she flexed her fingers only to find the motion hard to do.
"I'm not gonna stand here and let you shit talk my methods!" Krosh stepped forward "Get out of here so we can get back to-"
"Get back to what?" Ratlug asked as he lifted Harbinger over his head "Am I suppose to believe she ain't dead yet because she's strong? Or capable? With that repulsive half-blood at your side, she should be chow by now."
He turned and threw Harbinger right as Yang made a break for it, her escape halted immediately as she slid to a stop mere milliseconds before the edge of Harbinger embedding itself in the wall right in front of her face.
"Shaman's been rubbing off on ya, I see." Ratlug continued lecturing Krosh as he walked towards Yang "Neither of ya seem to understand when to tighten ya belts and actually kill your prey."
That seemed to snap Krosh into action, as he surged forward and took hold of Ratlug's shoulder, "You can't just-"
Yang spun and rushed for the Bookshelves nearby, only for Qrow's cloak to wrap around her ankle and nearly trip her. Ratlug held her back by the other end of the cloak, giving a little laugh as he began dragging her back, "See this? She can barely even flee!"
Yang spun and blasted the cloak, the dust round tearing through the fabric and causing her to stumble backwards. Ratlug tore Harbinger out of the wall and lunged for her, with Yang rolling out of the way of the blade and rising with her fist cocked only for Ratlug to turn Harbinger and swing it back up.
The edge of Harbinger tore up along her torso and face, flinging Yang away and sending her flying through the window leaving a trail of blood behind her.
"Ha! Even beat to shrahk like this, I'm still superior." Ratlug laughed to himself as he moved for the broken window, only to halt as a blade pressed against his neck. Ratlug's grin remained unflinching as he lowered Harbinger and glanced back. Krosh had extended one of his bracer blades and was keeping it pressed right to the side of his throat.
"You're not stealing what's mine." Krosh hissed, but Ratlug could feel the blade shaking slightly.
"Ah, ya finally gonna try taking me on?" Ratlug asked as he began turning, Krosh's blade lightly cutting along his neck as he did so "My Aura ain't recovered, but you look like ya still got plenty."
Krosh swallowed as Ratlug turned to face him, staring him down as Mincemeat's eyes darted between them worriedly.
"Ya probably won't ever have a better chance than this, runt." Ratlug raised an eyebrow "But ask ya'self this, do you really think that advantage is enough to help you win? Even if that wretch over there jumps in to help ya? With me covered in wounds like this?"
Ratlug leaned his head against Krosh's blade and gave a curious hum, "Is all of that truly enough, my errant son?"
Krosh narrowed his gaze, not even realizing that he'd been holding his breath until Ratlug's goading speech trailed off. Eventually he closed his eyes and pulled his blade away before pushing past Ratlug towards the window, "No time for that, she's getting away!" he grumbled before calling behind him "Mince!"
Mincemeat's head snapped up as Krosh leaped through the window. The arm-less slave moved to follow him, ducking her head down as she passed Ratlug, who watched the two of them running off for a moment before smirking.
"That's what I thought, pissant." he shook his head before turning around.
He approached the source of that clapping sound, finding Pugrish in the center of the impact zone, "Looks like you've had a good time, boss." he noted as he crouched down beside the Stormbringer "Was it all ya hoped it to be?"
Ratlug stepped back as the bright white aura faded from the Stormbringer, who proceeded to pull himself out of the floor. Leaning up, Pugrish stared up at the hole in the roof with a grin, "I do believe I've... incurred some type of retribution."
"Oh?" Ratlug tilted his head as Pugrish took hold of his weapon and used it to stand "Think its gonna be enough for that 'Perfect Fight' you's always goin' on about?"
Pugrish looked up at the ceiling as the excess aura drained from his mask, "Oh... I can only hope so."
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
Yang's feet felt like lead as they bounded across the rain-soaked paths of Beacon. Her wounds felt like they were on fire, and she couldn't see out of her right eye, but none of that would mean much if she was caught now. Having removed the dagger and put some distance between her and the Uruks, her first instinct was to get out of the open before they spotted her. So immediately she pushed her way into one of the dorms and used her good arm to pull the door closed behind her. She gave herself a moment to breathe as she turned around, only for her to choke on that breath the moment she spotted the corpses.
Corpses of students and Beacon staff dotted the hall, with the bloodied prints of boots tracking everywhere. It was now that she could finally hear over the pounding rain outside, in these dorms rang out the laughs of Uruks and screams of those who hadn't managed to escape.
Yang moved to push her way back outside, only to spot Krosh and Mincemeat searching the area. She immediately dropped low, if the Uruks were this far into Beacon's facilities than all she could hope for now was to make her way across the camp grounds and into the woods. It was all she could hope for with wounds like hers. Keeping low, she moved through the hall, pausing to glance into an administrative room.
She winced at the sight of two Uruks watch another standing atop a desk and jabbing his sword at a map of Vale hung on a wall. He pointed to one district then another while stabbing his bloodied sword at them. The others cheered and nodded, with Yang using their loud voices as a cover to dart past the doorway and continue her way down the hall.
At this rate, she just needed to cross the nearby courtyard and sneak into the woods around Beacon. It might've been easy if a door behind her hadn't suddenly swung open. Hearing the voices of Uruks, Yang had no choice but to duck into the nearby stairwell. Two Storm Soldiers were dragging the unmoving form of one of Beacon's staff members through the hall.
"Think we got many more slinkin' around the Master's Citadel?" one asked as they passed the stairwell
"Hopefully, don't know how long the Swordsmith's bounty's gonna be lasting for." the other sighed as they approached the doors which led to the courtyard "Maybe if there were more fighters left instead o' these pathetic little meatsacks I'd go lookin' for 'em."
The other laughed as they went outside, Yang looking up for a moment before ascending the stairs. If there were Uruks in the courtyard, then she'd just have to go around it using the building. Making her way to the second floor, she began passing through the exchange student dorms. Many of the doors had been kicked open. In more than one she spotted Uruks tearing apart dorm rooms or staring out the windows at something.
She kept a low profile until up ahead she saw a student stumble out of one of the rooms. She moved to gesture towards him to try and grab his attention, but instead bit down on her words as an Uruk charged out of the room and impaled him to the adjacent wall with his gunblade. The Student reached out wildly, only for the Uruk to take hold of his hair and snap his neck. Yang ducked into one of the nearby Dorm rooms as the Student's Aura flared violently before he went still.
The Uruk took hold of his sword and yanked it out, letting the body fall to the floor as he whipped blood off of it.
"You done?" another Uruk called out from the room "They's almost starting."
"Yeah yeah," the Uruk in the hall grunted before turning and walking back into the room "can't believe one of them's already throwing his weight around. We ain't even official Captains yet."
"Well the Master's always about initiative and whatnot." the other replied, neither noticing Yang sneaking past the doorway behind them.
She moved along a turn in the building that she knew wrapped around the courtyard, unknowingly letting her breath out as she noticed less Uruks in this area. At the end of the hallway was a window that she was positive would lead to the woods if she could get through it quietly enough.
Though she had that goal, she couldn't help pausing near a large window that showed the courtyard outside. Even with the pounding rain muddying the image, Yang could clearly make out several of Beacon's Staff and a few exchange students being rounded up and forced to their knees in a line. One of the Storm Soldiers was ordering his comrades as they sat down their captives. Once they were seated, he turned towards a group of Uruks nearby who were all sitting or leaning on their weapons as they watched.
Yang couldn't hear what he was saying over the rain, but she saw him pointing his gunblade at the captives several times. Yang bit her lip, trying to focus on the pain of her injuries. She knew she couldn't save them in her condition, but even though she rationally understood that, she couldn't help flexing her fist the longer she watched. But before she could even consider doing something reckless, the Storm Soldier's display was interrupted as Krosh made his way over with Mincemeat following closely behind.
The Soldier gestured cockily at Mincemeat with his weapon, with Krosh striding forward and taking hold of his armor before yanking him close. Even though Yang couldn't hear what he was saying, the way he gestured around them before tossing the Soldier back spoke volumes. He gestured towards the group of Storm Uruks nearby and pointed them to the building. Yang didn't wait to see them jump to his orders, as she began making her way towards the window again.
She heard sounds coming from behind her, but she focused instead on yanking the window open and hauling herself out. Though she readied herself for the fall, her wounds in conjunction with the wet path below made her stumble as soon as her boots hit the ground. She fell forwards, slamming painfully against the solid path. Her vision swam momentarily as she looked up. Directly across from the building was the line of shrubbery which led to the woods. She began struggling to her hands and knees, only to spot movement down the path from her.
"How long it been since we had tark meat?"
Several yards from her were two Storm Soldiers watching a third with a shield as he rifled through the clothes of a dead exchange student.
"Too long," the Shield-bearer grumbled as he took hold of the corpse's head and lifted it up "beasties just ain't as soft. Oh? Looks like we got us one of they's ladyfolk."
"They's supposed to be the softer of Tark meats." one of the onlooking soldiers noted as he rubbed the side of his head "never tasted no different to me though."
"Who cares about the taste?!" the other soldier griped before pointing to the body "Is it one of them huntsmen? I swear I'm getting that promotion."
"What good's a promotion gonna do without a good meal to celebrate it with?" the Shield-bearer sighed
The other soldier nodded as he looked around, "See? This lad gets it-" he paused at the sound of shaking leaves before glancing behind him "You hear that?"
"I ain't hearing nuttin' but you two babblin' bout meats instead o' my promotion!" his partner snarled as he turned to look as well "And how the shrahk can you hear anything in this rain anyway?"
The other Uruk walked away while examining the path, which was devoid of anyone other than them, "Could'a sworn I heard somethin' muckin about over-"
"Oi!"
Both of them looked up to see another Uruk looking down from the window, "Was this thing open before ya got here?"
Yang pressed herself deep in the shrubbery, slowly inching through the rain-soaked greenery. She prayed the weather was enough to cover the sounds of her movements, but she wasn't sure. Her movements got more sluggish, the fall had jostled her far more than she realized. She still wasn't able to open her right eye, and soon the woods around her turned into a kaleidoscope of colors.
With the dripping sound of rain clogging her eardrums and her feet stumbling through the underbrush, Yang wasn't sure how far she'd managed to get away from the dormitories before she collapsed. All she did know was that she refused to pass out before she could see her team safe again, see her sister safe again. So she forced herself back up, stumbling along with intermittent collapses as the rainwater matted hair, leaves and twigs to her face.
It was around fall six or seven that she could hear something calling out to her.
"Yang?"
The voice was familiar, but Yang found it hard to think. She tried pushing herself up, only for the hole in her arm to stretch horribly and lead her to fall forward again. She rolled herself over, eyes momentarily blinded by rain water as she struggled to clear her vision.
Standing over her was a figure too blurry to properly make out, Yang couldn't tell if it was because of the rain or the haze settling over her mind. Despite the exhaustion turning her limbs to stone, Yang gritted her teeth and tried pushing herself up.
"Hold on!" came a different, garbled voice as another figure approached. It sounded more familiar, making Yang relax her hands right before she lost her balance. This time one of the blurry figures rushed to catch her, finally coming into focus as a familiar panicked blonde.
"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked as he tried to steady her, nodding for Ren to help hold her up.
The moment they got her to her feet, Ren narrowed his eyes at her, "She's lost a lot of blood." he noted before looking to Jaune "we may not-"
"What... what are you guys doing here?" Yang got out as she let out a heavy breath
"Same thing you are..."
Yang struggled to crane her head back to see Nora walking out of the nearby shrubs with what looked like a rolled up carpet strapped to her back. Dangling from her hand was Magnhild, held in a loose grip and dragging her feet as her other hand wiped at her eyes. She looked up at Yang with her reddened face and a tight expression before continuing past them.
"A few ships were redirected from Beacon once Atlas broke ranks," Jaune explained as he nodded to Ren and began helping her forward "they'll be able to help, just hang in there."
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
They emerged from the Library to a chorus of cheers and rowdy laughter. With Drumenvok in one hand and his journal in the other, Pugrish strolled out to find the sounds of battle fading under the pounding rain and cackling Uruks.
As he walked past them, he rubbed at his chest, the pure white coloring of his Aura receded, the movements of his mask ceasing as the glow faded. Twirling Drumenvok, he pointed it towards the sky right before firing an identical arc of lightning into the sky. It spread and traced through the clouds momentarily as Pugrish continued his walk, but as he passed the broken statue in front of Beacon he found the rain dying down.
More and more of his soldiers took note of the calming rain and began hurrying to follow behind him as he made his way over to what was left of Beacon's air docks. Standing at the very edge of the cliff, he looked out over the City of Vale, where still signs of battle raged on. Fire and smoke, rampaging Grimm, Uruks and robots on every street corner. It was a farcry from the after-battle desolation that was Beacon Academy, and already Pugrish noticed many of his underlings eyeing the city with bloodthirsty gazes.
As the clouds began clearing from Beacon, Krosh and Maku eventually made their way through the crowd of soldiers only to join them in watching as Pugrish turned to face them.
Raising his free hand, still wet with rain water, he rubbed his fingers together for a moment before gesturing to Beacon, "This place was known as Beacon, one of the symbols of hope and strength that the people of this realm look to for comfort."
Lowering his hand, he smiled before nodding the assembled Uruks, "Yet it fell to us, stained with the blood of this land's warriors and children." he shook his head "From this day forward you shall see it as proof of your strength, of the sheer magnitude of your bloodlust."
Several laughs and growls arose at that, but Pugrish merely raised his hand to silence them before walking along the edge of the cliff, "We dug our fingers right into one of this land's vital organs, readied our forces and rained upon the weak with fire in our veins. We did that...Uruks... Didn't need any Lords or Masters... just our own knack for war."
"Yeah!" one of the Uruks behind Krosh shouted, earning a glare from Maku.
Pugrish pointed to them, "These are not the actions of slaves, but of conquerors... warriors!" he raised Drumenvok "But is this enough to sate those warriors?"
"Never!" another Uruk snarled
"Is there such thing as enough battle?!"
"Impossible!" another cackled
He turned to wave his weapon towards Vale, "Then for all those who still crave combat, show me! Show me the ferocity of your hunger!"
Watching from the command Center of the Flagship were two of Ratlug's researchers, who watched as the Stormbringer riled up their forces for yet another bloodbath. Their viewing was interrupted by Ratlug exiting a Dreamer Gate behind them. Now with even more wet towels wrapped around his wounds, he approached the ship's controls with a smirk.
"We're lowerin' this thing." he ordered while gesturing to them "The boss wants to watch the rabble enjoy their fights from up high. Leaving behind the new captains and the Scholars to finish cleaning up our keep."
The Researchers moved according to his orders, though one hesitated as he looked through the window, "Looks like the master's got them right back into it."
"Warlord." Ratlug spoke up, making the Researcher turn back to him.
"Sir?"
"No masters under this lad's rule," Ratlug grinned as his hands flickered over buttons "he's a warboy leading warboys, ain't gonna run it quite like how it was back in the Dark One's land. He's a Warlord, laddie."
"Overlord worked just fine in Mordor." the other Researcher noted "But he's the one got all them Auras locked to him, so-"
"He can pull whatever Mystic garbage he wants, doesn't change what's beneath all o' that." Ratlug snorted as he maneuvered the ship, pausing as he glanced over to something "Ah, almost forgot."
Stepping away momentarily, Ratlug approached a scroll that was still jutting up from a console nearby. He yanked it out and looked it over before reaching towards the console.
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
Down in the City of Vale, the numerous robots firing upon civilians came to a stop, many of them collapsing or simply going still. It wasn't much of a relief, as it merely let the Grimm and Arceus inmates gain more ground. Mostly Grimm at this point, thanks to the efforts of one diseased Uruk and his allies.
Bubol sat beside one of the active Dreamer Gates, eyes going up to the Flagship in the distance as it halted right next to the cliff under Beacon. He smirked at the sight before his eyes went to a pair of inmates who were dragging the deactivated robots to a pile where they yanked apart by two other Uruks.
"Ya sure you lot don't want to come back with lil' old me?" Bubol cooed as he stood and stretched his legs.
"Been stuck on that boat for far too long!" one of them shouted back before growling "Hiding away while you and Bone-Snapper went wild in the halls."
"Even if Pug's about to wipe all of ya out?" Bubol placed his good hand on his hip as he watched the Flagship begin turning towards Vale "Ya think me and Felsy were bad? Ya really don't wanna be on his bad side."
"He's an Uruk just like the rest of us!" one of the other inmates shouted as he ripped a metal arm from the unmoving AK-Unit "Storm helped us escape, we wreck this town for 'em, they get nothing by slayin' us. Black-Cloth just being loud again, got all of you doing it too."
Bubol shrugged as he turned towards the portal, with the Inmates watching as he entered it mere moments before it disappeared.
With him gone, they returned to breaking the robots, but a few kept track of the approaching flagship. One even turned to his companions before smirking, "Think they'll be mad we was havin' all the fun without them? I mean, them Atlas folk are pullin' out and all their toys ran outta steam. Ain't nothin' left for 'em!"
Despite the joking manner in which he asked, those who found the Flagship passing overhead found their good time raiding rudely interrupted. Even without the weather covering their movements, dozens of Storm soldiers giddily leaped to join in the battle below.
Watching from a distance was Kruk, who grumbled as the sounds of gunfire rose wherever the Storm Soldiers landed. Standing beside the crumpled remains of a large shopping center, he glanced down the road as the Flagship drew closer.
"Sir! They's coming!"
Kruk turned to two of his fire-starters who flanked a Dreamer Gate.
"Ya said we's pull back as soon as Pugrish's boys showed up!" the other said while eyeing the approaching ship.
Kruk nodded at that before following their gaze, "Even so... Fast Tark said he be back."
"Them Storm lads gonna snatch that meatbag up if he too far!" one of the Fire-Starters noted, with Kruk looking down momentarily only for the sound of tires screeching to draw his attention back down the street. He looked up just as Mitch finished swerving around the corner on a motorcycle, with two Beowolves in pursuit.
"Too fast too quick too much!" Mitch cackled as he swerved around a toppled sign towards the gate.
Kruk gestured with a length of metal pipe, the fire-starters moving away from the gate as one tore a flask from his chest. The Fire-starter tossed the flask past Mitch as he sped into the gate on the motorcycle. The flask exploded against one Beowolf's head, disorienting it in its charge. It sped towards Kruk, who ducked under a flailing claw and rammed the pipe up through its gaping maw into its head before flinging its body towards the other Beowolf.
He stepped back as the remaining Beowolf flung the dissipating body off of it before lunging at him, Kruk stepped out of the way of the swing before wrapping his hands around the Beolwolf's arm and yanking it to the side. The Grimm snapped its jaws at him and raised its other claw, only for one of the Fire-Starters to pin it through the elbow with his blade.
The final Fire-Starter jammed a burning club against the side of its head until caught fire, with the other Uruks releasing the beast as it flailed around with the flames spreading.
"The flame burnt well today." Kruk noted as he stepped back and gestured to the gate, waving the two fire-starters inside before following after them.
Just like that, he was back on the Arceus.
Looking up he found many of his Fire-Starters arriving via the other gates before closing it behind them. Standing up, Kruk glanced back as one of the Fire-Starters sealed the gate behind him. He briefly looked around doing a head count of the Uruks assembled under that broken window. Many had undoubtedly wandered topside, but as more gates closed he began noticing something.
"Bubol..." he called out over the others, causing some to look at him "Has he not returned?"
"Not usin' any of our gates." one of the Fire-starters grumbled, causing Kruk to narrow his gaze. The hum of an engine made him glance over to Mitch, who was looking over his Motorcycle as two inmates looked on.
"Riding machines instead o' monsters." one of them shook his head before glancing to Mitch "How exactly ya supposed to strap siege weapons on somethin' that small, pinkskin?"
Mitch's grip on the Motorcycle tightened as he pressed his head against it, after several moments he began rambling "With suspension balancing out the uneven wheel design, the rear of the Geenex thirty-three model Two-Person Cycle can be outfitted by most local mechanics for dual purposing in travel and style!"
The two Uruks glanced to each other, one of them shrugged as Kruk approached, "Fast tark, Bubol's not returned. Need your speed to scour Vale for-"
"Hey Kruk my lad!"
Pausing, Kruk looked up to the window to see a familiar pustule ridden face grinning down at him, "When you and the lads are finished closin' up them gates, I need ya to help me move some things."
Kruk took a step back to see him better, "None of my boys saw you return!"
"Had to make a quick stop on my way back." Bubol said sheepishly before waving with his good arm, "I'll explain later, but right now I got me a little reunion to get to!"
As Kruk nodded and turned to call out to the Uruks behind him, Bubol stood and turned his gaze towards the bow of the ship.
At the very front of the ship, Gundza crouched on the edge of the Arceus as he watched the waters. His hands were wrapped around the cloths that had been tied over his bullet wounds, with him grunting whenever he turned awkwardly. Despite having the things fished out of him and the wrappings keeping pressure on them, they still hurt immensely. Behind him, Uthug was pacing back and forth with the blade of his musket dragging on the ground behind him.
"Those bastards won't listen." Uthug spat "They'll ignore us and go get themselves slaughtered."
"Probably." Gundza said
"Ordering around those globs... it'll all be for nothing!"
"Maybe."
Uthug paused and glared at him, "Then why are we even trying to help them!?"
"We need numbers maggot..." Gundza placed a hand over his bandages "They're the easiest source of them right now."
"But if they're just gonna ignore us-!"
"Making the offer will be enough," Gundza looked back to him "we draw in those smart enough to return while letting the Storm deal with the leftovers."
"Bah!" Uthug threw his hands up "Either way we lose something!"
Gundza gave a small laugh at that, "That's how battle goes, whelp. The whole point is to lose less than your enemy... my trainer taught me that back when I still served at the Black Gate."
Scoffing, Uthug returned to his pacing, "I suppose that trainer of yours is who I should thank for having to deal with you, then."
"Nope." Gundza said simply, "They teach how to swing ya weapon, how to work with your brothers, how to be an efficient grunt. I wouldn't have survived this long if I wasn't a trained assassin, and I never would've become no assassin if I wasn't aiming to take the Friendly's spot."
Uthug went quiet at that, though he maintained his agitated glare. Gundza took note of his lack of a response, then nodded to himself as he gave another laugh.
"So ya heard of him, eh?" Gundza leaned back towards him as he stood up, stumbling a bit before lowering his arms to his side "Wasn't sure if you Chiefless freshspawns still knew the old tales about the Black Gate's deadliest servant."
His gaze went back to the ocean stretching before them until his eyes eventually traveled up to the rising sun, "But back in my days with the Garrison, his accomplishments were the envy of us all. No other could be trusted to complete their missions so efficiently, no other could command such a stalwart place at Hork's side."
Stepping back from the edge, Gundza tripped over his own feet in his reminiscing. Uthug managed to hold out a hand to catch him, but Gundza still seemed lost in his own memories.
"You and your loot, that was me and that position: The Black Gate's Shadow... I knew that I would tear and claw my way through whatever it took to become that." Gundza sighed as he raised his hands up and stared at them, grin widening as he clenched them, "And I did... Hork had gotten over his Mangler persona and grown tired of that Monstrosity he created. Right when he gave him the boot, I was more than ready to be everything he was and more."
Uthug rolled his eyes, "Well not hard to see how that turned out, eh?"
At that Gundza's grin faded, his hands lowered, "Never got anywhere close to leaving a legacy like that Prancing bastard did."
Pushing away from Uthug, Gundza made his way over to the side of the ship before leaning against it with a sigh, "He wouldn't have panicked like I did when that shrahk... that filthy little shrahk killed that informant. He wouldn't have tried doing a demonstration for the Warchief. Wouldn't have struggled so much to kill one single tark. Wouldn't have had a wretched Hybrid humiliate him over and over again."
Folding his arms again, Uthug rolled his eyes, "So does this mean I don't gotta worry about you runnin' back to that Warchief again?"
"The time of the Warchiefs is over, Uthug." Gundza said as he looked over the side of the ship while pressing against the rail "Shaman tore Hork to high hell and without him, no way Dreamer can keep his shrahk together."
Tapping a bloody nail against the rail, Gundza shook his head, "Not like I was getting back in his good graces any time soon, no Assassin of his could fail so horridly... over and over and over again. So I ain't gonna pretend to be something I ain't."
"Never though I'd hear words like that coming from your mouth, Gundzie!"
Both Uthug and Gundza looked back to see Bubol approaching, one arm still in a splint and blood still dripping from the gash on his face. He looked between the two before grinning at Gundza while tilting his head.
"Finally up and out of our mutual rager, eh?" Bubol asked as he looked him over "Gotta say, didn't imagine you to be so... bloody."
Gundza lowered his gaze as he turned to him, "You knew?"
"Of course!" Bubol gestured to Uthug, "Lad had the face of someone gettin' yelled at by ya."
"So that's a running theme with you, eh?" Uthug glanced to Gundza, who rolled his eyes.
"You do realize he only figured it out because you're as terrible at hiding things as your are at planning, right?" Gundza offered
Bubol snickered at that before reaching up to scratch at the clumps of boils near his torn open cheek, "Don't downplay his actin' Gundzie!" he said before leaning forward "Maybe if my memory wasn't so swell I wouldn't have noticed, but this one always made a certain face of silent anger whenever he was following my lovable old All-Eater's orders. Got the feeling he was listening to someone I couldn't see and... well, he did mention runnin' into you on the train."
Uthug snarled and looked away, even when dead Ashgarn was still being a pain in the ass. Looking back to Bubol, he raised an eyebrow, "But I was just a grunt back then, how did you-?"
"Did you forget what I told ya when ya first showed up here?" Bubol interrupted before waving a finger at him "Once I catch sight of proper meat, I never forget."
Gundza shook his head while looking back out over the waves, "Yet again a mere taste of the competence you could be showing if not for that damnable mania of yours."
"Seems stewing in the Black-Cloth didn't change ya much," Bubol noted before nudging Uthug with his good arm "thanks for keepin' him all warm and snug, eh?"
"Trust me, he didn't make it easy." Uthug grumbled before looking down at Bubol "You didn't either, for that matter."
"Testy aren't we?" Bubol shrugged as he began circling Uthug "I woulda thought such a deliciously destructive lad like ya'self would grow to recognize the benefits of the struggle."
"And leaving me here to go prancing off after that Tark of yours?" Uthug asked
"A test o' character my angry little friend." Bubol clapped him on the shoulder "Passed with flying colors! I wonder if our Exile over there could be thanked for it?"
"Pfft, barely..." Uthug looked away "Exile or not he's just as Chief-less as the rest of us, no matter what he-"
"Ya right."
The suddenness of Gundza's response made Uthug pause as he looked back to him. Bubol cooed with interest as they watched Gundza step back from the railing and turn around, "Wasn't keen on sayin' it before, but you're correct, whelp. Congratulations."
He flinched a bit as he raised his hands in front of him and gave a few haphazard claps before pressing his back to the railing, "Just as Chief-less as the rest of ya."
Bubol hummed at that, stepping past Uthug and observing Gundza more closely, "Well now... ya might have changed more than I guessed, Gundzie. If you's truly accepting that now, then what exactly are you planning to do?"
"What do you mean by that?" Uthug scoffed "We're gonna get this ship turned into a proper fortress, ain't we? Get to raiding and taking whatever we want, lining ourselves with plunder and goods. Battering and breaking anyone or thing that tries to stop-!"
"That's what you want, Marauder." Bubol reached out and tapped Uthug on the nose, only for the Looter to slap his hand away.
Bubol cackled as he backed up and nodded to Gundza, "This one's been drooling over becoming the Black Gate's Shadow again for years now, can't imagine he'd link up with your particular fondness for possessions, ya see?"
Uthug opened his mouth to speak, only to close it before glancing to the side.
"Right... I'm sure you lot are gonna have your fill of fun with all of this." Gundza waved his hand around them "With Uthug and Kruk alone you've got enough blood-thirst to fuel hundreds of raids."
"Don't you lump me in with that loon, Shadow." Uthug pointed to him.
"Yes yes, your violence is so much more different than his." Gundza rolled his eyes before looking to Bubol "And you..."
He trailed off, with Bubol giving a chuckle as Gundza seemed to think this words over a bit.
"You're a brand of violence that most chiefless find difficult to ignore or deny." he finally said, "You may not be the Uruk who I hunted with before... but you've got more than enough of his ability to be... confusing to me."
"The good kind of confusing or the bad kind?" Bubol asked, much to Uthug's confusion.
"What kind of good confusing is there?" he asked, only for Bubol to approach Gundza.
The two stared each other down, with Bubol's low laughter growing more and more giddy as the seconds ticked by. Uthug glanced between them, the confusion of Bubol's previous statement offset by the awkwardness of the silence. Eventually Gundza merely began nodding before closing his eyes.
"I suppose... I'm not the Uruk the old you hunted with either." Gundza said after some more awkward silence "So I guess that doesn't matter anymore."
Bubol tilted his head as his grin spread wide at that, "So then, what does this Uruk before me want?"
Gundza turned his back to him at that, looking to the skyline before his hands went to his bandages "To hunt."
Uthug groaned at that, "Are you kidding me? You been hunting for this entire time! Said even linkin' up with me was just to get you close to that Tark-"
"That was for the Warchief!" Gundza spat back at him "I'm talking about for me. If I don't got a place at the Gatekeeper's side, then I want to spill blood for myself."
Turning to them, Gundza clutched at his wounds "Thirsting for redemption nearly killed me time and time again, I only got away because that damned Hybrid couldn't take the time to put me down for good."
"Oh really?" Bubol stepped away "And here I was thinking I was the lucky one."
"Luck had nothing to do with it," Gundza growled "she was just weak. So now that I still draw breath, I suppose my first goal should be making good on a promise I made her."
"So you gonna run off after her this time?" Uthug asked
"No, I'm done working on my own." Gundza sighed "Its not my strong suit at all."
Bubol pumped his fist, "Alright! With you and Kruk with me again its almost like we's getting the old gang back together!"
"Ashgarn and Felgrat are dead," Gundza stated before glancing to Uthug "let's focus on making a new, better one. "
Uthug raised an eyebrow, "Thought you said you was gonna make good on something ya said to that Hybrid?"
"I will," Gundza stated "by butchering every last Hybrid I can get my hands on."
Bubol stopped his celebrating at that, with Uthug blinking several times as Gundza clenched his hands.
"The self-righteous bitch thought she could leave me in a pool of my own blood and get away with it." Gundza growled "I promised I would spend the rest of my days making her regret it. And I've learned just enough about what runs through that harlot's mind to know what'll sting."
He looked to both of them, "So go on your plundering, your raiding or whatever you lot want. I'll help wherever I can. But I will use this time with you to make sure I spill Hybrid blood in her name for as long as I can."
Bubol drew closer with a cheeky grin "Now you's starting to sound like me and my Tark, Gundzie! Could this be love?!"
"Do not pervert my hate the same way you've perverted yours." Gundza shook his head as he finally stepped away from the railing and walked past them "This is merely me setting a new goal all on my own, to become a scourge on her entire species as she became to me."
Watching him walk off, Uthug sighed, "Always theatrical with you two."
Bubol nudged him, "Wouldn't want it any other way, Black-Cloth!" he laughed before spinning away, trailing blood where he walked.
Sighing at the name, Uthug merely watched as Bubol danced off, only to groan as the Diseased Uruk began singing a jaunty rhyme as he did so.
Riding our prison, from Mordor we hail.
Hoooh hooh, on Black Tides we sail
Craving metal and meat, soot and blood we do trail
Hoooh hooh, on Black Tides we sail!
The Emerald Forest
They trekked through the woods in silence at first, passing through trees carefully and cautiously. All were on high alert, but as they put distance between them and Vale that caution gave way to a morose vibe that seemed to infect them all.
Emerald felt it grow the longer they were in the presence of the Uruks, with her fingers returning to the triggers of her weapons as she looked over to Ishga. He'd been glancing behind them every so often, but never let them pull too far ahead. Being this close to one of them was odd, especially after being subjected to whatever it was that that damn Stormbringer had been doing back there.
What felt even odder was Skak, mostly because he'd been unofficially tasked with carrying Cinder. She drifted in an out of consciousness several times after they distanced themselves from Beacon, but each and every time she'd demanded to know how far it was to where Adam was supposed to have a ship waiting for them. If she felt odd being held up by the Uruk, she didn't voice it. No, Emerald knew that tone even with the pain and exhaustion obfuscating it.
That rage that Cinder often kept tempered, it was bleeding through even as she struggled to maintain her coherence.
Emerald's eyes snapped to Mercury, who was taking the sudden cooperation with the Uruks in stride. He kept beside Skak, his arms crossed his head as he kept his eyes ahead of them looking for the clearing where the ship should've been.
"You sure none of them dark beasts are gonna attack us?" Ishga asked, casting a glance towards Cinder.
Her head tilted against Skak's shoulder as she glared over it towards Ishga, "I wouldn't allow them..." she stated before grunting as she lowered her head.
"Well then as long as that pal of yours pulls through then I suppose we'll be getting away with no hassle." he said as he looked her over "But what if you pass out again? Would they-?"
"Why are you two still helping us?" Emerald interrupted before gesturing towards Cinder, "If Cinder getting taken by that... that Thing was what you guys were aiming to stop, congrats! Doesn't mean't you have to help us carry her."
"Though it's much appreciated." Mercury piped up as his eyes went to the treetops "With this setup, even with her banged up like this we could still take you both down in a moment's notice if you try anything."
"We ain't gon do that!" Skak insisted before snickering "Ishga says we got's to get in good with you folk now that Pug's on the warpath, or somethin' like that."
Cinder shifted in his grasp at that, clenching her teeth as the burnt stumps of her legs rubbed against his arm painfully, "Attempting to... appease us... for your masters?"
"Bah, I'm doing this on my own." Ishga spat as he jerked a thumb to himself "The only reason that bastard's gotten this powerful is because everyone rolled over and just let him do whatever the Shrahk he wanted. I ain't letting that happen anymore. Sadly, the list of folks I know who might actually be able to stand a chance against him at this point is rather slim, so excuse me for thinking that the folks who set up this whole Grimm attack may be up to par."
"You still never told us what your Boss wants!" Emerald noted "I get that stopping the Shaman from killing Cinder was necessary, but-"
"And I said that this ain't for him!" Ishga spat, "He only warned us of you before he took off."
"Took off?" Mercury glanced back at him
"Yep yep!" Skak laughed "Said that Pug's ploy was the perfect opportunity to slip away and seek answers on his own. Didn't really get any of it, but Ishga and him yelled about it a lot before he took off. Short story is we's chiefless now!"
"And just like that you decide to try joining up with us?" Emerald shook her head, "Ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is all the juicy little tidbits we can give you lot without you even having to torture us." Ishga responded "Don't think I'm not familiar with the Give and Take."
"Cool, traded a pair of limbs for a pair of fantasy monsters." Mercury noted looking ahead again "Guess we gotta figure out if it was worth it."
"Merc!" Emerald warned before her eyes snapped to Cinder, Skak took note of her concern and looked down as well.
"Aw, lady tark's tuckered out again from that little dismemberment." Skak cooed before he tilted his head down to the Blood-Axe hooked to his belt "Think it's a good dream of blood or a Bad dream of bleedin?"
Emerald's eyes darted from him to the weapon he was eyeing up, "Who is he-?"
"I'll explain later, just ignore it." Ishga scoffed "Now are you sure this Hybrid will follow through?"
"You don't trust our planning, buddy?" Mercury asked
"Given that your Leader's legless and unconscious, I'll go with Yes." Ishga scowled
"If it wasn't for you friend back there, everything would've gone perfectly!" Emerald insisted
"Oh? You mean the friend we nearly died saving your boss from?" Ishga glared at her "Oh yes, I'm sure he alone was the main factor in everything going to shrahk for you."
"Was that sarcasm?" Emerald matched his glare as Mercury snickered.
"Geez, we just met and already you're almost as good at riling her up as I am." he said with a shrug before reaching out to push through some dense foliage "At this rate you guys'll be part of the family in no ti-"
"You're late."
The voice rang out loudly from the center of the clearing they just entered, where a single bullhead was stationed. Standing beside the ship was none other than Adam himself, whose gaze notably lowered as he took note of their company. Behind him, two white fang grunts were watching as well, both of them immediately raising their guns at the mere sight of the Uruks.
Adam lifted his weapon up to halt them, the two Faunus glancing to one another before lowering their guns. With them quelled, he strode forward to meet the group halfway.
"You guys pulled out early!" Emerald shouted "The plan was-"
"That we leave as soon as your Grimm arrived to reinforce the ones we released." Adam interrupted with a nod "We saw those Grimm appearing out of nowhere, so we assumed it was part of your plan."
"But those weren't ours." Emerald insisted
"Perhaps specific details should've been given then." he replied before glancing to Cinder "I was under the impression we were informed on a need-to-know basis."
Emerald bit back a snide reply as soon as she noticed Cinder shifting in Skak's grasp again.
"Oh?" Skak hefted her up a bit as her head tilted towards Adam.
"I'll assume from the missing limbs and the Uruks in your presence that things went poorly." Adam stood aside and gestured to the Bullhead "Might want to hurry this up, then."
"Sir!" One of the grunts called out, "We aren't just gonna let those things on our ship, right?!"
Adam looked to Ishga, then to Skak, before finally his head tilted down to Cinder, "Are we?"
Though it still hurt to move, Cinder gave a single nod.
Adam stared at them for a few more seconds until the sound of ship engines nearby caused them all to turn to spot several transport ships flying overhead.
"They're making their move." Adam noted before turning to them and gesturing to the ship "Get on, we'll have a clearer window if they manage to draw off any attention."
And draw attention they did, at least for a patrol of Uruks traversing the edge of one of the many cliffs lining around Beacon's premises. A certain scholar led two snipers and a Shield-Bearer along the path, only to call for them to halt upon taking note of the ships. Immediately upon recognizing what had garnered his attention, both of the Snipers dropped to one knee before sighting the ships in their scopes.
"Bah, more tarks scurryin' like rodents." one of them laughed before glancing to the other "Think we can get them engines from here?"
"I could." the other sniper snarled "Don't know about you though."
The Shield-Bearer gave a deep chuckle before lumbering behind them, "May not be good with them tark toys like either of you," he said as her leaned his halberd against the ground "but I can keep tally o' ya shots for ya if you two's bout to start some kinda gallery thing."
"Wait."
The other Uruks looked to Naruk, who watched the ships for a moment, "They aren't coming here... probably fleeing to Patch like the rest of them."
"Pfft, that lil' island's gonna crumble even quicker than this place." the Shield-Bearer grumble "I give it two weeks, a month at most, before the Stormbringer's got us taking that land as well."
"Not like these maggots are even gonna make it." one of the Snipers slid his finger to the trigger of his rifle.
"No," Naruk folded his arms "not worth the ammunition."
"Just gonna let 'em run?" the other sniper asked
"It is the Master's way," Naruk turned and continued walking along the cliff, "you'll have plenty to play with once we march on Patch."
.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.
She'd been split from her Team again.
Ruby was on board a massive transport ship, same as the very one she and her friends often used to make trips from Beacon to Vale. This was the very same type of ship that had taken her to Beacon in the first place all that time ago. That excited trip with her sister couldn't feel any further away, especially with the sounds of crying and the groans of wounded rising up all around.
After evading the Storm's initial barrage, she and her teammates had tried following the other ships. They'd gotten caught up in the evacuation, as there was plenty of space on their Bullhead. After Torchwick crippled Ironwood's fleet, Atlas had re-purposed as many civilian and commercial ships as they could to facilitate the evacuation of Beacon, which had evolved into the evacuation of Vale once the Storm's army began pushing them back. Right now, five other massive ships were putting distance between them and the City, with smaller transports still flying in-between them.
Their ship had been taken by Atlas personnel the moment they'd landed, but Ruby honestly couldn't find it in her to complain. Even without knowing whether her friends or sister had made it out of Beacon, she knew that she wouldn't have been able to help much. Just the broken shaft of Crescent Rose was hard to hold with the wounds on her hands. Of the three of them, the only one of them who could reasonably put up a fight if attacked was Blake, but Ruby had noticed during the flight that she was notably shaken.
Weiss had been carted off by Beacon Staff almost immediately, with one of them immediately calling for a doctor of some kind. Neither Ruby or Blake had seen her since, so were left with nothing but the overwhelming sense of defeat in the air. In the time since Weiss was taken, Ruby had gotten her hands patched and wrapped, but she still struggled to hold onto the only remnant of her scythe she still had.
The two had sat in silence for some time, but as more people had been brought on board that silence became harder and harder to maintain. Blake had noted Ruby's hands trembling once the remnants of Team CRDN and CFVY showed up, Velvet's anguished cries gnawing at her as well. It didn't take long to figure out the source of her misery, as the dreadful expressions on her teammate's faces coupled with Coco's absence had spoken volumes. Cardin had been angrily stomping to and fro since they arrived, eventually getting into an argument with Russel much to Dove's delight.
Unlike Ruby, Blake could hear all of this with far more clarity. Even from where she was sitting, she could perfectly hear Yatsuhashi and Fox trying to comfort Velvet despite the pain in their voices. She could hear Cardin and Russel laying into each other over whether they should've looked for Sky or not, even the tiny snickers Dove gave as he watched on with that unchanging smirk of his.
They were only a few of the defeated conversations that Blake could hear. As more and more of them occurred, she gripped her wrist and looked up, "Ruby?"
"We lost...didn't we?" Ruby asked without looking up "Beacon's gone."
"...Probably." Blake eventually said
It felt awkward, usually Ruby would be brimming with optimism even in the worst of times. Blake even remembered finding it annoying back when they first met. But now, at this very moment she'd been hoping for some of that optimism to fight back the unyielding weight of failure.
"I couldn't do anything..." Ruby continued giving a small shake of her head as her fingers traced the edge of the broken shaft in her hands "Instead of being there with Yang and everyone else I-"
"None of us could've predicted what happened, Ruby." Blake interrupted "It wasn't our fault that Torchwick fired on the Arena, it wasn't our fault that those Uruks showed up."
"Right... it was... that voice." Ruby tilted her head up
"What?"
"That voice..." Ruby's empty expression slowly knitted together with anger "First Penny, then the Voice, then the Fang, and the Uruks."
"What are you thinking?" Blake asked
Ruby looked up at her for a moment before her anger faded and she looked down again, "I'm... not sure yet..."
She went quiet again, much to Blake's chagrin. She'd been hoping that talking to Ruby would keep her from thinking too much, as most of her thoughts were either focused on worrying about her friends. Underneath all of that were the biting taunts Gundza had roared at her. She didn't want to think about the Uruk's last words to her, but even while trying to focus on the here and now, his harsh jabs hurt. Worst still, the conversations around her started dying down.
Yatsuhashi and Fox managed to change Velvet's woeful cries into miserable whimpers. Cardin and Russel had split away from each other, with the larger boy moving to the back of the room with Dove not too far behind. Even the other murmurings began quieting down as more time passed. Now Blake only had the hum of the Ship's propulsion systems to focus on, and it did nothing to hold back the Shadow's words.
"Ruby?" Blake eventually said again, garnering her Leader's attention again "I don't know how to say this, but-"
"Make way, make way!" A voice called out right before a pair of double doors on the other side of the room burst open. Several Beacon Staff were wheeling a gurney in, and on that Gurney was-
"Yang!" Ruby shouted as she practically flew towards her sister, holding back only when she took note of the wounds Yang was sporting.
"Stay back, she's still losing blood!" one of the Staff said while pushing past her.
"He took him..." Yang muttered while reaching up, a nurse holding down her arm as they moved "not dead... can't be..."
"Don't move too much!" another Nurse said as they approached a door on the other side of the room.
Ruby could only watch as they wheeled her sister away, eyes wide until Blake patted her shoulder.
"Yang's tough," she said while looking away "she'll pull through I-... I know she will."
"Found her on our way back."
Both of them turned around to see Jaune walking in, behind him were Ren and Nora. Jaune gave them a weak smile before sitting in a nearby seat and putting his head in his hands. Ren stood beside him with a tight expression, but Nora kneeled beside their leader and rubbed his back while wiping at her eyes.
"You guys..?" Ruby took a breath before nodding "Thank you..."
Jaune didn't respond, but Nora looked up at her with red around her eyes and gave a thumb's up.
Ruby gave a careful look around them "Did... did you find Pyrhha?"
"Yes." Jaune answered slowly, hands holding his head even tighter.
"...And?"
A single shake of his head was all that Jaune needed to answer Ruby's question.
Ruby went quiet at that, her chest feeling tight as she struggled not to start tearing up, "I'm sorry."
Silence reigned for several seconds which seemed to drag on for eternity, but eventually Ruby managed to swallow down that tight feeling and harden her gaze, "Jaune... in your call, are you positive that it was Cinder?"
Jaune finally lifted his head to match her stare with one of his own, "Yeah, I know you guys hung out with them more than us but... I'm sure it was her."
"I knew it." Ruby sighed
"Knew what?" Blake raised an eyebrow
"I don't know how yet, but I'm positive she was the one who was speaking after-" Ruby closed her eyes for a moment before looking back to Blake "After Penny."
"What?" Nora looked up "But that would mean... how would she even-?"
"She had a hand in all of this somehow." Ruby stated before tightening her hands "I don't know how she was able to work with Grimm, White Fang, and Uruks at the same time. But the timing..."
She thought for a moment before kneeling beside Jaune, "I know it might be hard, but I need to know everything that happened down there, Jaune."
"After what she did to..." Jaune trailed off for a moment before looking to Ruby and nodding "I'll tell you everything I can."
Somewhere in Vacuo...
Two figures trekked across the endless dunes, with both of their footsteps being covered by the windy sand. It breezed along their clothes, but that didn't keep Krimp from smiling the entire time.
"Been a long time since we had us a moment like this, eh?" he asked.
In front of him, Hork was stumbling forward. A choppy pillar of sand had been compacted together where his left leg once was, that pillar dripped with the color of his semblance as he used it to walk. Every step he took made his black blood seep through the limb. Another clump of sand was tightly clamped to the stump of his right arm, and even as he moved that sand continuously tried extending into a limb.
"Ya having trouble? I could carry you the rest of the way!" Krimp offered.
Hork didn't respond, silently moving forward as he used his semblance to try replacing his lost limbs. The same couldn't be said for for his jaw, as instead of sand he had the missing portion covered by the same wrappings that Krimp's sword had been wrapped in. The same ones that Krimp had used to carry him out of Amity. Hork's remaining eye widened a bit before narrowing, but he still pushed forward up the dune before him.
"That's okay, brother o' mine." Krimp shrugged as he followed, "I know just how strong you is!"
He made sure not to get too close, but to keep near enough in case Hork fell. He kept the sword at the ready, just in case any Grimm decided to try attacking. His brother was strong, but even strong friends needed help now and then. Really, Krimp was just happy that Hork wasn't shooing him away like usual. That was a grand improvement over how things were before.
"If ya want, I could go get Pug to apologize for slicing you up." he continued before tilting his head to the side "Or maybe ya want me to try killin' him?"
Hork stumbled at that, his knees falling and slipping against the sand. He caught himself, swinging his hand back as Krimp stepped forward to help. Hork's open palm hovered before Krimp, halting him as Hork stared down at the sand sticking to his bloody clothes.
"Ya know ya just gotta say the word, and ya best buddy's goin' slaying again." Krimp noted as he leaned back "No pressure or nuttin', bro. Just want you to know its an option."
Hork grumbled, "No..." he managed to get through his ruined jaw as he used the sand arm to stretch forward and lift him back up.
Krimp pouted at that as he resumed following, the two continuing up the dune as he looked over the sword in his hands.
"One o' your lads was making this for ya." he noted "Came across it when we last met... was thinkin' I could deliver it to ya as a great conversation starter!"
Hork didn't reply, so Krimp kept going.
"Was gonna' say all this stuff about bein' sorry for not turning out how ya wanted, not bein' able to act all soldier-like. Guess I was still used to all that fun we was having and couldn't really get used to you bein' all... serious n' stuff."
He looked up at Hork's back for a while before smiling, "But I am now! Ya don't have to make me kill for ya if ya don't want, but I been missin' me big bro! Sure would be okay with just bein' a bodyguard and whatnot. Ya wouldn't even notice me there."
Still, there was silence, so Krimp lowered the sword and casually dragged the tip of it along the dune, watching the sand bend around it before continuing, "And I wanted to say that it was okay to feel bad about Ashy."
Hork stopped at that, his sand arm momentarily falling apart before his semblance surged through it and pulled the limb back together..
"Figured with how you was now that you wouldn't really be okay with him dyin' like that." Krimp put a finger to his lip and tapped at it "But I was also thinkin' that you wouldn't enjoy not bein' okay with it. Ya know, since a Soldier weeds out the weak, and him and his eatin' could be seen as weak."
Lifting up his hand, Krimp rubbed at his head "Ever since ya got promoted, ya started thinkin' less about the fun and more about being a good soldier. I might not've understood it at the time, but I do now, so I know why you came to hate me n' him seein' as we ain't exactly no model soldiers. But I still figured ya might feel bad for him."
Hork pushed forward with no indication he was listening, the top of the dune growing closer.
"Its okay to feel bad about it, don't make ya no less of an amazin' soldier!" Krimp continued, with Hork speeding up the more he spoke "Just means that all that fun we used to have ain't gone!"
Hork was now trying to run, his sand limbs struggling to hold him up as he pushed them harder.
"Ya musta remembered havin' loads o' fun with us back in the day. I sure do!" Krimp laughed to himself "Back before that promotion went and took ya away from us, made ya all worried and coarse n' stuff."
Finally Hork crawled up the top of the dune, panting with exertion as he stumbled forward. He tried yanking himself forward, only for his sand leg to fall apart and send him hurtling over the other side of the dune. He rolled through the sand, vision going haywire before he finally collapsed onto his stomach in a heaving mess.
"Bro!?" Krimp called out from the top of the dune before sliding down it towards him "Ya ain't gone n' died on me, right?"
But Hork was managing to push himself up, his muddled vision clearing up only for his eye to widen at the sight before him. Krimp came to his side, kneeling to help until he noticed the mortified look on Hork's features.
Following his gaze, Krimp blinked a few times before giving a simple, "Oh..."
Destroyed Atlesian ships dotted the sand around the crevice, partially buried bodies in Atlesian body armor was scattered between them. Cracked windows and discarded weapons were still gripped in unmoving hands, even from there Hork could see several Grimm poking around through the remains.
In the center of the destroyed fleet were the ruins of his tower, most of it having been torn from the cliff and wedged into the canyon itself. The remains of Uruks and siege weapons dotted that as well, framing the massive figure which still writhed along the canyon.
Bruma's Folly still surged, its many limbs picking and prodding at the ruins around it, dragging bodies of all types into the canyon as the smaller Grimm feasted around it. It was perched on a section of the broken tower, the one wedged into the canyon, sticking out from its body were the clumpy ruins of the shanties, as if it had spent all day rolling around in them.
Hork leaned back on his knees, his eye shaking fervently at the sight of what had been done to his keep. And though Krimp stepped forward to try and say something, anything to calm him down, the only thing that Hork could do was stretch open his torn up mouth and release an enraged roar across the ruined sands.
Four Days...
That's how long it was since all the broadcasts from Vale went dark. Television went off the air, websites went silent, the entire city basically became a gaping hole in the CCT. Multiple times, people attempted contacting missing individuals thought to be trapped in the city limits by the Storm's invasion, all attempts wound up with no response.
With both Atlas and Vale officials warning individuals to keep their distance from the city at all costs and other sources of information going wild over the madness that was the Battle of Beacon, nobody was prepared when one channel finally opened from Beacon no less.
A single broadcast which garnered the world's attention almost immediately.
It started haphazardly, a single camera showing an eye staring into the lens before it pulled back revealing the gleaming smile of Ratlug.
"There we go," he said before grinning widely and waving someone over from off-screen "hold it, hold it!"
Someone else took the camera with a grumble, allowing Ratlug to step back to reveal a cliff overlooking the City of Vale. Lit in the morning sunlight, the devastation was plain to see. Much of the city was still marked by broken buildings, and entire section of them on the east side had been torn up entirely. The fires had been put down, but the black markings left behind were still visible even from there. His coat fluttering in the breeze, Ratlug puffed up his chest before adjusting his lens-less glasses and gesturing around him.
"If my setup worked, and of course it will, this should be plainly visible to all you pathetic tarks of the world." he stated before gesturing for someone off-screen "Can I get confirmation on that, though?"
"We's live!" another voice called before Ratlug snickered and put his hands on his hips.
"Perfect," he continued before walking to the edge of the cliff "I know none of you pink-skins are much for thinking beyond your petty little lives, but I'll give you all a moment to bask in my achievement. Your tech may have proven stubborn, but it is all child's play for someone of my-"
"Can we hurry this up?" another voice asked, prompting Ratlug to groan before walking away from the cliff and gesturing for the camera guy to follow.
"Fine fine, I'll save my gloating for later."
The camera turned to follow Ratlug as he walked towards Beacon. Th Academy was also marred by the signs of battle, holes in walls, toppled pillars and destroyed buildings. Despite this, the Tower still stood tall, only with an ominous air of grey overshadowing all else.
"With only a portion of the numbers we can usually amass, we've taken one of your great citadels." Ratlug said as they drew closer to Beacon "Hopefully the rest of your academies put up more of a fight, because that army is nothing compared to what we's cooking up next."
As he spoke, they passed by Storm soldiers hauling bits of broken building out of the way. They weren't doing the hauling themselves, instead using people with shaved heads in chains to do their work while occasionally threatening them for going too slow.
"Ya'll left more than enough gear and metal here for an army two, no... three times as big!" Ratlug raised his arms for emphasis before spinning around and jabbing a finger at the camera "And that's exactly what I plan on giving ya! Our spawn pits are nearly complete, then after that you ain't ever gonna run out of us. You hear me?"
He composed himself, adjusting his lab coat before strolling to a busted open set of doors, "But I wouldn't want to spoil all of the surprises I'm cookin' up for you. My time'll come... way sooner than any o' you could even predict."
Snickering, he led the way inside, passing through a hall that had marks of blood on the sides with bullet holes running along the walls. Eventually they entered Beacon's Amphitheater, which showed notably less signs of the brutal fighting that had taken place across the campus. Even so, there were still Storm Soldiers ordering around enslaved captives, having them patching up the signs of battle. Notably, several were being forced to work on a new addition that had been placed in the center: a throne.
Made of gnarled metal and a few bones, a throne drew the eye of all those within the Amphitheater. The Camera focused on it, but Ratlug still took up most of the screen.
"For now I'll just allow our magnificent Warlord to issue forth his declaration." Ratlug shrugged as he strode forward and leaned against the throne "But make no mistake, you lot are gonna hear a whole lot more from me from now on."
As he snickered, a figure in the throne began to rise. What once only looked like a bundle of cloth soon revealed itself to be Pugrish, with Drumenvok hanging off the edge of his new throne and his journal lying upon his lap. His hands were busy etching some runes into little bits of metal, but he wrapped them in a bundle and set them aside once he recognized the camera looking upon him.
"Its... ready?" he looked to Ratlug, who gave a prideful nod as the Stormbringer leaned up in his seat.
Looking into the camera, Pugrish folded his hands and smiled, his grotesque mask stretching around his expression, "Today marks the day that we've finally squeezed you out. The little pockets of resistance stowing away in my Kingdom are now gone. Over the past few days I've found Soldiers, Terrorists, Grimm and Uruks all stalking about my lands like maggots feasting on the wounds."
Shaking his head Pugrish leaned forward, "And today, I've stomped out the last of them. Ground them up into fuel for my Storm, so now I must deal with the rest of you."
Finally the image cut to a scene in Vale, Storm soldiers patrolling the ruined streets while vehicles full of them passed by. A quick cut later and it revealed lines of captives being paraded about or forced into fighting pits with other Uruks and Grimm. Another cut revealed some of Ratlug's researchers opening up broken Atlesian vehicles and androids, and yet another showing Amity with what looked like dozens of corpses strung along its sides.
Throughout all of this and more, Pugrish's voice continued speaking, "For those of you cowering in Patch, don't bother preparing a counter-attack, prepare for a siege. By the time any of you could scrounge up a force large enough to challenge us, we will already be there, adding that precious little Island to my kingdom along with any of you daring enough to try stopping us."
The shifting scenes returned to Beacon's Amphitheater, where Pugrish had descended from his throne as and was now standing right in front of the camera.
"For the rest of you... consider this my declaration of war." he stated before raising a finger "Not to anyone in particular... I truly mean ALL of you. For whether you're Human, Faunus, Uruk or somewhere in-between, we will be coming for you and all that you call yours. My Storm and I have the know-how, willpower, and soon the sheer numbers necessary to take on all of you."
Striding forward, he waved to the camera before ending the broadcast with another smile, "But I do hope some of you try to stop us."
"In fact... I'm counting on it."
AN: This was actually supposed to come out in about two or three more weeks, some time near the end of the month. But thanks to a certain virus going around I've found myself with enough time to get this out early. While not as big as the previous chapter, I've still had to cut a few things which I didn't feel would be particularly necessary. They'll show up in the next chapter, which I'm less certain on the release of due to something I'll mention later.
For now, let's get the Uruk showcase out of the way for the one Uruk who stands above all others in my repertoire.
Pugrish.
In Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War there's a term I use for certain Uruks who just seem impossible to beat. Whether it's because they've got a specific blend of traits that are hard to deal with or are just really good at countering the player, they stand out for the sheer number of deaths they can inflict compared to their contemporaries. As someone who's put hundreds of hours into both games, I've come to label Uruks like these as Perfect Storms. Whether weapons, skills or traits, they're a Perfect Storm of capabilities successfully mashed together by the Nemesis System.
That label was made entirely because of Pugrish, who had a counter for literally everything I threw at him back in Shadow of Mordor. I just couldn't fight him, even when the game told me he had weaknesses it felt like he could just power through anything. Its because of him alone that I wound up with half of the Uruks in this Cast getting promoted to captains, since it took forever for me to actually beat him. Over time I noticed lots of quirks of his, in duels he would never kill his opponent unless they got him to half-health. Every other time he'd let them flee. The same couldn't be said for any beasts he fought, which he'd dispatch with little hesitation.
Then there was just how many Uruk Followers I lost trying to kill him. Eventually I just sent an army of Brainwashed Uruks at him at once in order to beat him. This thing cuts all of them down, but is just low enough in terms of health for me to finally take him out.
So here he stands today, a Perfect Storm in Remnant. I never was able to bring him to Shadow of War, so instead I brought him here.
But now that that's over with, I'm going to give fair warning that from this point on there's going to be a slight change in how this story is updated. It shouldn't make much difference in the long term for all of you but I figured I'd warn you early. I'll go into more detail in the AN of the next chapter.
Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.
Next Chapter: The New Journey
