Chapter 14 - Village Rescue


Venator - Hallway

The three Tekkadan ships, Isaribi, Venator and Sledgehammer, having traveled at an extremely fast pace for the last 10 minutes, are almost on their way to Grace's village before Beelzebub reaches it. They've also rendezvous with Winter's fleet, but the problem is… there was only one Atlesian Airship, despite having 12 Mantas and 16 Bullheads that are used to help with civilians to evacuate.

In the Venator, several Tekkadan mechanics, including a few Faunus who appear to have learned about mechanics, were traversing alongside Zack and Dane, who feel excited to help out their comrades despite feeling scarred.

"I can't believe we're going to do maintenance work." A wolf teenage male Faunus said, feeling down not getting to do some action.

"Well, most of us are working alongside pops and the other tech experts on the ships to resupply the Mobile Suits, who are now attached to the pilots instead of giant ones with the pilots riding them." A teenage Eagle female Faunus noted.

"Hey, at least you'll learn from us as the safest option." Zack explained.

Dane chuckled, which confused Zack. "What's so funny?" Zack asked.

"Just glad you're back to you being energetic after everything that happened." Dane replied.

"Well, I'll do whatever it takes to live. And that means helping Tekkadan anyway I can." Zack explained, which made Dane smiled.

XXX

Venator - Control Room

Weiss felt a small bump on her forehead, courtesy of her tsundere older sister Winter, having got the chance to see her with a happy expression, only to be (lightly) scolded for lacking some manner in greeting.

Right now, the two sisters were in the control room of the Venator along with Orga, Biscuit, Eugene, Fumitan, Azee, Merribit, Natasha and Isurugi, discussing about what happened to Winter's second fleet.

"What happened to your second ship?" Orga asked.

"Something just came up. So we had the first ship go on ahead to meet up with you." Winter replied.

"What kind of something?" Eugene asked, only to get an elbow to the gut from an irritated Weiss, which made Biscuit silently snicker.

"Well, all that matters is that we need to know if the enemy's at the village yet?" Fumitan asked.

"Hopefully, in the new few minutes we'll be there before they arrive, since according to our scanners, the enemy is plenty far from it." Isurugi replied.

"I've already called Ms. Grace ahead of time as soon as we left. She's already ordering the entire village to quickly fortify defenses to hold out until we can get there." Biscuit explained.

"And just so we're all on equal footing, Tekkadan will take the lead since we know Grace's forest like the back of our hands." Orga explained.

"Very well. My ship will follow your lead." Winter said, trying to keep her cool.

"Specialist Schnee and I will head back to the ship to get everything ready," Isurugi said as he and Winter began to make their leave, "We'll await your orders once we arrive."

"Alright… Eugene. Ms. Azee," Orga said, turning to the mentioned duo. "You two head back to the Isaribi and the Sledgehammer to gear up. Eugene's in charge of the aerial forces."

"You got it, boss!" Eugene hollered, as he was the next to leave.

"Got it." Azee said, making her leave next.

"Natasha. You and Takaki will follow Specialist Schnee to help with the evacuations while we keep the enemy busy in bullheads." Orga explained.

"Roger." Natasha said, leaving alongside Weiss. Orga then turned to Biscuit, "You'll help Eugene in the Isaribi. Ms. Merribit with me. Ms. Admoss with Ms. Azee," he ordered.

"You got it." Biscuit said, which Fumitan and Merribit agreed too.

XXX

In another hallway of the second Tekkadan ship, Orga and Merribit were having a chat of their own.

"What's your take on what they've told you?" Merribit asked.

"Seems to be telling the truth. But I wouldn't go out on a limb and say both Isurugi and Winter are hiding something if it's that disturbing." Orga replied, getting a gut feeling the answer that would've came from the mentioned two about hiding something.

"If you had suspicions about this, why still go though with it?" Merribit questioned.

"I know you're worried. But most of us owe Ms. Grace big time - we can't simply turn a blind eye. Plus, if we can take out the Prince of Hell leading those Grimm, we can deal a devastating blow to Salem." Orga says, explaining his reasons.

"Figures you'd say something like that." Merrebit commented.

Orga turned his attention to the open window with a glance of some worry, "It may be an issue, but still…" Orga explained.

"I know you won't hear me out. But I think helping out Ms. Grace is the right thing to do. Especially when Yukinojo told me about the speech Ms. Rose gave out." Merrebit commented, assuring Orga of her new faith in the "family" she's gotten close with.

Orga chuckled, "Well… she's a lot like me and Mika: stubborn, strong and idealistic. But if she's going to be a leader, I have to do everything I can to make sure she doesn't make hard choices like I've had," being confident in the young huntress-in-training skills, but also showing worry for her future as a leader.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Even though she is a student and fifteen years old to even become a huntress." Merrebit commented.

"Age doesn't matter anymore. Once you have the will to fight, you fight." Orga explained.

Merribit chuckled, "You really have grown up since coming here, boss." Her comment on Orga's newfound resolve made the Tekkadan boss smile.

"Guess I better head to the control area and begin preparations." Merribit said, making her leave.

"I'll leave that to you then." Orga said.

XXX

Venator - Mikazuki and Atra's Room

Little Akatsuki playfully laughed as Atra was tickling the baby's belly lightly, currently in the new baby bed Nadi and Yamagi made together, in their new room that was originally Mikazuki's before she came, as the mentioned Tekkadan ace sitting on a chair, watching the cook play with their child; he gently smiled at the scene, feeling a new sense of peace that always came into his mind whenever he's with Atra and Akatsuki.

"Glad to see you two enjoying some time with lil' Akatsuki." Kudelia's voice came as the two saw Kudelia herself standing by the entrance, alongside Cookie, Cracker and Fuka.

"Hey, Kudelia." Mikazuki said, which Kudelia waved.

"Are we chopped liver?" Cookie, Cracker and Fuka questioned in unison, feeling offended.

"We know you guys are there," Atra said, having a sweat drop on her forehead.

Mikazuki began to get up, getting ready to fight.

"Sorry you two can't join the frontlines. You don't have enough experience yet and…" Mikauzki explained, before Kudelia understood what he meant.

"It's alright. Ms. Atra's going to help with the maintenance crew for food, so I'll help these three look after Akatsuki." Kudelia explained.

Mikazuki nodded, before Atra got up after finishing her tickling of her son, gently gripping Mikazuki's right arm; the arm he once lost after pushing past Barbatos' limits.

"You make sure you come back in one piece, alright?" Atra asked.

Mikazuki answered by giving Atra a kiss on the forehead, making her blush furiously, while Kudelia, Cookie, Cracker and Fuka cooed at the sight.

Outside the room stood Yang, who couldn't help but envy the relationship between Mikazuki and Atra no matter how much she denied it.

"Why do I feel like a third-wheel? Or a fourth-wheel with Kudelia?" Yang thought to herself.

XXX

Grace's Village

All three ships soon arrived at Grace's village within the next minute, getting ready to begin their evacuation operation.

"Alright, boss. Everything's ready!" A male teenage Tekkadan member hollered.

"Any word from the scout team we send on ahead?" Orga asked.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Shino hollered, his sudden tone caused some alarm.

"Wait, what's wrong?" Orga asked.

Outside, the Ryusei Unit (now joined by Chad) quickly reacted in shock at what they saw.

"There's no way…" Chad said, in disbelief.

"Are you freakin' kidding me?! How could there be so many Grimm?!" Dante asked, in an angry manner.

"This is bad… Really bad!" Derma hollered.

Their fears were right as they see for themselves the enemy strength; besides Beelzebub himself, he is commanding an army of the sky and the ground! The aerial forces has multiple Teryxs, Nevermores, Griffons, Lancers and Manticores. The ground forces comprised of Beowolves, Ursas (both minor and major), Death Stalkers, Boarbatusks and King Taijitus.

Back inside the Venator, multiple scans appear on the radar, and continue to increase.

"This… This is insane…!" Merribit gasped.

"What?" Orga asked.

"Boss! We found the Grimm, but there's like almost thousands of them! 2000 at most!" Shino hollered, shocking Orga as the leader gritted his teeth.

The same was said for the Isaribi. "I'm getting a visual from the Ryusei Team!" Another teenage Tekkadan member hollered.

"I never would've imagined that so many Grimm would come to one village?" Pyrrha asked.

"Seems Salem must be pulling all the stops now this is war." Azee commented, communicating from the Sledgehammer.

"Doesn't matter. Shino, get your team back to gear up. Hurry and send out Mikazuki and Hush. Have the Commando Unit charge through the enemy, that will give our huntsmen and huntresses the chance to drop the Bullheads to help with evacuation." Eugene ordered.

The scene shifted to Mikazuki (in the Barbatos Lupus), getting ready to move out alongside Hush/Hekija in the Isaribi's newly upgraded launching bay.

"So I'm ordered to keep the enemy forces in the air at bay to buy time for the others to get the villagers out of here?" Mikazuki asked.

"That's right. And if you can take out the enemy leader, it's two birds with one bullet." Eugene replied, which Mikazuki acknowledged.

"Once Mikazuki's team takes charge, the Bullheads will quickly head below to evacuate. Take out any Grimm that tries to impede your progress." Orga ordered.

"Roger that!" Ruby, Jaune, Natasha, Takaki and Winter hollered in unison.

"Let's do this, Mr. Mikazuki." Hush said, as the new dual catapult system was ready to go; the hangar bay door opening and folding into a straightforward manner.

"Dual catapult deployed! Launch when ready." Biscuit said, from the comms.

"Mikazuki Augus. Gundam Barbatos - launching." Mikazuki said, immediately launching forward first.

"Hush Middy. Inside the Hekija. Launching now!" Hush hollered, right behind his captain as the two were the first to confront the Grimm as the four main ships follow behind.

Back in the Venator, several members were connecting their ship to the Isaribi, thanks to Eugene's unique talent to remotely control two ships with the Alaya-Vijnana, even the process hurts him.

"Control of the Venator to the Isaribi is now set and ready!" A female Eagle teenage Faunus member hollered.

"Are you absolutely sure taking out the enemy boss and evacuating civilians is something we can do?" Merribit asked, out of concern.

"It is. If we're going to do both, then we have to do everything we can to win. Including myself even though I won't be able to actively join on the battlefield." Orga replied.

Merribit decided to not argue at a time like this and contacted Isurugi. "What's the status on the second ship?" She asked.

"It's said to arrive here if we hold out long enough." Isurugi replied.

The sensors picked up incoming Grimm, alerting the members in the Venator. "Enemies, incoming!" A Tekkadan preteen member hollered.

"We'll have to continue this later." Merribit said.

Orga smiled before turning his attention back to the battle, "Send out the Mantas and Bullehads at once! And get Akihiro's team ready on the double!" Orga hollered.

XXX

Beelzebub began to see Tekkadan making their move, seeing Mikazuki/Barbatos Lupus and Hush/Hekija charging towards him and his aerial fleet, the three Tekkadan ships launching their other Mobile Suit pilots and fighting alongside the Atlesian Airship, and several Bullheads and Mantas deployed below with Takaki's group for evacuation. He wasn't impressed at all.

"Try all you like. No one's leaving out of this alive." Beelzebub said, making an arm gesture to command the Grimm to attack, allowing the aerial Grimm to challenge the Tekkadan forces, while the ground-based Grimm began their advance on the village.

The villagers see them coming and began to immediately run as fast as they can to where they supposed to meet up with the airships to get them out of the battlefield.

"This way, everyone! Hurry!" Grace hollered, commanding her fellow villagers to follow her as fast as they can.

Back in the air, Mikazuki and Hush immediately began combat with the Grimm, wiping out most with their guns from a distance for a few seconds, hitting every head of any Teryx, Nevermore, Griffon, Lancer and Manticore with two to three bullets to the head each, piercing through the skull and flesh head each.

Mikazuki then dashed into an incoming Nevermore, delivering a deadly knee to the face, staggering it before he decapitated its head with his sword-mace to the neck, causing the larger Grimm to fall down. Mikazuki then swung his blade against two Manticores, effectively killing them instantly.

Hush slashed through a Griffon with his Tobiguchi Blade with enough force to make it vanish when killed, then fired his bayonet rifle at an incoming Lancer, killing it. He was about to be attacked from behind by a Griffon, but the Muscle Unit (Akihiro, Ride, Lafter, Masahiro and Aston) arrived just in time to save him, Akihiro using his axe to cleave the Griffon in two.

"Thanks, Mr. Akihiro!" Hush hollered, which Akihiro/Gusion nodded before he slashed through another Griffon.

Ride, Lafter, Masahiro and Aston fired their rifles at several other flying Grimm, killing them effortlessly.

XXX

A Hammer Chopper was thrown at the head of a Boarbatusk, killing it as the weapon itself came back into Takaki's hand.

"Keep moving, people! We got you covered!" Takaki hollered, guesting his rifle hand to get the villagers moving. His team, comprised of himself, Teams RWBY, JNPR, NEGL, Winter, several Atlesian soldiers and several Tekkadan Mobile Workers operated by both teenage Martian and teenage Faunus members, were laying covering fire to keep the Grimm at bay for the villagers to escape. So far, some of the Mantas and Bulleheads were full.

Ruby began reloading her weapon after firing a fire Dust round at a Beowolf, "We're holding our own so far," Ruby said.

Yang punched an incoming Ursa in the stomach, which fired an explosive round upon impact, sending the bear Grimm flying backward into a King Taijitsu hard. Blake, slashed through two Beowolves with her katana, then used the clone to take the blow for a Deathstalker, allowing her to jump over with grace, transforming the katana into her pistol form, firing several rounds of ice Dust at the head, freezing it before Liam used Arondight to slash it's head off completely, smirking as he was free to let loose despite being ordered to hold off the Grimm.

Liam, hanging from a tree upside down, used his Semblance Bird's Eye lock onto three incoming Lancers from the air from a considerable distance, firing three arrows from Galadhirm at all three Lancers hard enough to kill them, making him smirk. Winter summoned two Beowolves to fight off their Grimm counterparts, while Winter herself clashed against an Alpha Beowolf, jumping to avoid it's claw attack, and landed her sword on the beast's head, killing it easily and jumping off as the alpha turned to ash. Natasha activated her Semblance and took to the skies, flying above before descending downward with Argalia in lance form, taking out a King Taijitsu before retaking the skies, deciding to join Tekkadan's battle.

Winter then saw Weiss slamming her sword to the ground, creating ice pillars that blocked a King Taijitsu, which allowed Elizabeth to activate her Semblance, Wind Skater to momentarily levitate from the ground to move elegantly, firing streams of ice from Blizzard's Touch at both heads of the snake Grimm, which allowed her to move via Semblance through the ground before delivering a deadly right roundhouse kick to the black head of the King Taijitsu, shattering it to several pieces, before Weiss used her Glyphs to move around with speed, getting behind to stab through the white head from behind, killing the beast instantly. Weiss attempted to cheer, but had to maintain her composure around her more dignified older sister.

Jaune blocked a Beowolf with his shield, getting it in close so he can thrust his sword into the beast's head, killing it as he sighed, feeling confident thanks to the recent training Pyrrha gave him. Pyrrha herself, was holding her own quite nicely, using the javelin/rifle hybrid form of Miló to shoot down an Ursa Minor several times, before throwing the javelin itself at the Grimm with enough force to cleanly piercing through, killing it and piercing through a tree. A Deathstalker attempted to attack Pyrrha, but she blocked it with Akoúo̱, then used her Semblance to retract her javelin back to her hand, transforming it into a xiphos and slashed the stinger that attacked the shield, causing the Grimm to howl in pain. This gave several Tekkadan Mobile Workers a chance to deliver their salvo of bullets at the scorpion Grimm, killing it.

Nora swung her hammer against a Boarbatusk downward, mashing it to the ground, alongside Ren, who shot down a few Beowolves with his weapon. Nora then transformed her hammer into a grenade launcher, which blasted through a few Ursas, causing a powerful explosion.

"Aw, yeah! That's what you get messing with Team JNPR Ryusei!" Nora hollered, causing deadpanned looks from Ren and Jaune, while Pyrrha giggled.

XXX

Shino, slashing through a Manticore, heard Nora through the communicators and smirked, "You tell'em, Nora! The JNPR Ryusei Unit is on a role!" Shino hollered.

"Really? JNPR Ryusei Unit?" Derma asked, annoyed after taking out another Manticore.

"Oh jeez, Shino…" Chad muttered. "I feel sorry that Jaune's team got stuck with Shino." Dante commented, in an annoyed manner after he and his best friend killed two Griffons.

"Oh, I feel your pain, fellas…" Flauros muttered at agreeing with Shino's team, as the battle in the air intensified.

Mikazuki killed another Nevermore with a savage maneuver, then looked to see Beelzebub, still riding on his Teryx in his usual arrogant manner.

"That's the boss…" Mikazuki thought, thinking of the intention to take him out.

"Hold on, Mikazuki… You'd be best to head back to the Isaribi to resupply and check for any problems." Barbatos advised.

Mikazuki wasn't worried, but taking Barbatos advice would wise if he's going to fight Beelzebub at full power. That's where Isurugi came in, having cleaved through three Teryxs with his sword.

"Head back to your ship to resupply. After that, you will have to confront the Prince of Hell. I'll clear the way for you." Isurugi explained.

Mikazuki nodded and immediately flew back to the Isaribi.

XXX

Isaribi - Docking Bay

"Be ready to reload the ammo and check for any damage to the suit!" Nadi ordered to the mechanic team.

"YES SIR!" The Tekkadan mechanics hollered in unison, as Mikazuki/Barbatos made his way in.

Once docked, Mikazuki immediately allowed the mechanics to quickly check on him weapons and all. After likely 2 minutes, they finished repairs and began to head out, but stopped to see Atra waiting with a small Italian sandwich and water bottle in hand, which he took that made him transform him back into human form to eat the sandwich first before drinking some sips of water, handing the water back to Atra before transforming back into Barbatos Lupus.

"Thanks for the meal, dear." Mikazuki said, which made Atra smile and blush as the former immediately jetted out of the docking bay.

"Make way, gang! Dante and Chad are coming in next!" Nadi hollered.

"We've got more coming in?!" Zack exclaimed, in the background.

"Evacuations are going smoothly. But…" Nadi thought, thinking about both the evacuation and defeating Beelzebub is possible for Tekkadan to do.

XXX

Back in the Venator, Orga was getting an update from Yamagi's crew in the ship docking bay.

"Gonna take us some time, boss. Ride and Lafter have taken a few hits, but it's nothing we can't handle." Yamagi explained.

"We just got Ren and Nora after they finished evacuating on their end to resupply." Eco explained, calling from the Sledgehammer.

"Kay, but you guys are gonna have to be quick." Orga explained, before turning to Merribit. "How's Grace?" Orga asked.

"Evacuation's almost done, Mr. Itsuka! We still have three ships left!" Grace hollered.

"Great. We can still do both if we do that," Orga said as he contacted Eugene, "That's your cue!"

"Roger that boss!" Eugene hollered.

XXX

Beelzebub sees all four ships charging straight towards him as the Mobile Suits provided cover from all sides. Natasha joined the fray thanks to her hippogriff Semblance, firing the rifle form of her weapon.

"What hope does that do?" Beelzebub asked, thinking that their strategy will fall short, only to realize the Isaribi fired Nano Mirror Chaff missiles, proving a powerful smokescreen to block his vision.

The Isaribi charged forward without hesitation, thanks to Eugene at the helm.

"Let's GO!" Eugene shouted, as everyone around the four ships kept clearing out any aerial Grimm coming their way.

"Do whatever it takes to keep them off our backs!" Akihiro hollered.

"Right, big brother!" Masahiro hollered, shooting down a few Grimm.

Beelzebub couldn't see anything aside from the gunfire, so he decided to swing his chain scythes forward into the pink smoke, which got something that made him believe it was the Isaribi, but in surprise, something dragged him into the smoke and when he came into it, something punched him away.

It was Mikazuki who grabbed onto the chain scythes, which can only mean Tekkadan using the Nano Mirror Chaff to get Beelzebub into thinking they were charging blindly, taking advantage of the Grimm warrior's arrogance.

In the Isaribi, Eugene grinned despite some blood coming from his nose, which is the result of connecting two ships at once. "How'd you like that?" Eugene taunted.

Beelzebub grew irritated and decided to change tactics, "All forces - attack the villagers! Don't let those ships get away!"

His command enabled every remaining Grimm in the air to join the ground assault in attacking the airships, much to the shock of Tekkadan.

"Dammit! He's going for the ships!" Shino hollered.

As the Grimm were about to close in on the ships despite Team RWBY and their allies doing everything they can to hold them off… the unexpected happened when several bullets came flying, shooting down a few Griffons and Lancers.

"Who the heck shot that?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Is it your second ship, Winter?" Weiss asking her older sister, the later realized something's not right.

"No. That's the… Arianrhod Fleet." Isurugi said, which shocked all of Tekkadan and those who knew of Gjallahorn's strongest fleet that operates in the Outer Sphere.

Truth be told, two Halfbeak-class ships came from the northwest, opening fire on the Grimm.

XXX

Halfbeak-class - Control Room

"We've reached the battle. So far, we've seen all of Tekkadan along with some unknown combatants fighting these weird monsters." A Gjallahorn soldier explained.

Standing in the control room, aside from Julieta were two new soldiers.

One is a bespectacled adult with brown hair, teal eyes, and aside from the Gjallahorn uniform, he is named Yukio Tatagami. The other is someone around the age of 17, having tan skin, gold eyes and fairly spiky black hair, named Shun Kujan, the half-brother of the fallen Iok Kujan, who Shun totally despised and loathed.

"I had a feeling they didn't just disappear off the face of Mars." Yukio said.

"Well, they're not our priority if the rats are protecting civilians." Shun said.

"Guess the three of us will have to go and find out what is going on then." Julieta said.

The tree decided to head out personally to find out who is in the right or not.

XXX

"How the hell did they come here?!" Derma asked, trying to shake off a Griffon, only for Shino to come to his defense.

"Aw, dammit! Someone tell me what's going on here!?" Shino questioned.

"Just who are they?!" Blake asked, dodging an Ursa before Liam sliced the bear's head off.

"The Outer Lunar Orbit Joint Fleet. Their commander is Rustal Elion." Isurugi explained to everyone on comms.

"So… a faction of Gjallahorn that McGillis opposed?" Natasha asked, transforming her weapon into its shield form to block a Lancer.

"That explains why those two were in such a big hurry." Orga explained, in the Venator.

"We're almost done with evacuations. Beating that Grimm could benefit us if they're being overrun by Gjallahorn as well. But we mustn't get into a conflict with them." Isurugi explained.

"Fine… all forces listen up! Avoid fighting the Arianhrod fleet. Just focus on the enemy boss and finishing up evacuations!" Orga ordered.

Outside, Beelzebub is seeing his forces decimated while he was fighting Mikazuki, who was momentarily shocked to see Gjallahorn join the battle.

"This is just what we need right now…" Mikazuki muttered, which Barbatos scoffed at the sight of his master's oppressors.

"Do not mock me just because you have backup, Gundam!" Beelzebub hollered, retracting the chains back to him to attack Mikazuki.

Mikazuki blocked Beelzebub and kick him and his Teryx away to deliver another strike, but suddenly, Julieta, now in the now 12 ft Reginlaze Julia, blocked both Mikazuki and Beelzebub with her blades.

"If you and your friends really are protecting these civilians, then you should go and leave this to me." Julieta explained.

"I don't have time to waste with you… move!" Mikazuki hollered, as the green eyes of Barbatos lit up.

With Gjallahorn's Arianhrod Fleet in the picture, things have now gotten out of control!


What a shocker! Gjallahorn did found their way to Remnant, but what is their intention with Tekkadan if they're fighting the Grimm too and do the same thing as Tekkadan does?! Gjallahorn's Arianhrod also got two new members named Yukio Tatagami and Shun Kujan. For Shun, I promise you all he is nothing like his jerk-off brother, and (slight spoiler) really hates being part of the Kujan family, disregarding Iok as trash and likes to be his own man, not even willing to work with others nor follow protocol. We got to see lots of action and Tekkadan's fighting force with the maintenance crew back in action! You all wondering why Mikazuki and Akihiro are in Barbatos Lupus and Gusion Rebake, and not Barbatos Lupus Rex and Gusion Rebake Full City? Oh, you'll find that out next chapter!