Hi everyone welcome back! Once again, sorry for the delay on this chapter. My summer class finished up this week so I should be able to keep on track until my classes pick back up in a few weeks. I already have the initial layout for the next several chapters planned so that should really help with keeping things in order. Anyways, before we get started, I have a few announcements.
From this point forward, this story will be updated on Saturdays. This is to avoid having an alternating (Friday, Sunday) schedule as I have been tending to do lately. The one-shot releases (other story) will still be the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month (tentative as of this time). Also, tomorrow morning, I will be pushing out an update on all previous chapters! These updates mostly include some dialog/grammatical improvements and format improvements. I'm still working on additional scenes for a few of the chapters so those should be pushed out sometime this week. No need to go back and re-read any previous chapters as of this time.
This will be the last chapter to cover main events from Volume 2. The next chapter will be tying up any loose ends before I move forward going into V3 territory. I will be shifting the dance scene to take place during the Vytal Festival as the Opening Dance. It will feature edited scenes from Volume 2 and Volume 4 (what? This isn't a hint... that's for sure. That would be ill of me to do something like that.) but it will be the last chapter in this story to feature major scenes from V2. There will be a two week time skip after this chapter, the next chapter will begin to set the stage for an edited Volume 3. Chapter 20 however, will have another time skip that will be about Ruby and Scarlet going back to Evernight Castle for a short weekend trip to visit Mother Dearest. This will act as the prologue to Volume 3.
Taking some advice from CloudCartoons/The Guy (Thanks again for the wonderful advice!), I decided to take a bit of extra time on this chapter to make sure to spice things up a bit. I wanted to have this chapter out MUCH earlier in the day but I decided that quality over speed would be better in the long run. I ended up making a lot of changes to this chapter last minute and I believe that you guys will enjoy it much better than the original version I had planned.
That's all I have for now, please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to leave a review!
- Lucky
Disclaimer: RWBY is created by Monty Oum and is owned by RoosterTeeth. I do not own anything except the characters, weapons, original plots, locations, etc. that I have created.
Chapter 18 - A Grimm Situation (Part II)
Downtown Vale - Shopping District - 6:30 am
Screams, Rumbling, Howling... pure chaos is rampaging through the streets of Downtown Vale. This is the unexpected scene that Ruby woke up to. She sits up pushing small pieces of rubble off of her and rubbing her throbbing head. What is happening?
Yang gets up from her position on the ground and takes a look around, "Is everyone alright?"
Blake mumbles something that can't be made out by the rest of her teammates, but Weiss is able to respond with a clear "Yes, I'm fine."
Yang is about to come over and help her partner up, but she feels rumbling under her feet which causes her to pause. She looks down briefly before she is sent flying in the air because of a King Taijitu emerging from the ground. The blonde brute is sent down the street and nearly crashes into a man with light green hair.
"YANG!" Ruby calls out, reaching out towards her. A moment later, she turns back to her teammates, her emotional moment now over, "Ennh, she'll be fine, come on guys, we have a mission to do!"
"Don't you think we should wait for Yang?" Weiss asks as she quickly refills her weapon with dust.
Ruby holds her finger up as she reaches into her pocket for her scroll. She comes up empty, so she tries her other pocket. Empty again, "Where's my scroll?"
She looks around wondering if it fell somewhere but instead, she sees Neo carrying an unconscious Scarlet, and holding up a scroll with her free hand. The mute can be seen silently snickering much to the annoyance of Ruby. Neo then runs into the alley and sits Scarlet down behind a dumpster.
If anything... Scarlet's alright and is getting fixed up... but where the heck is the rest of her team? Where's Torchwick and the White Fang Guards? Her thoughts are interrupted as she sees a nest of Death Stalkers emerging around her. Her worries are clouded as she takes Crescent Rose off of her back and begins to spin it behind her, transforming it into its scythe mode. Next, she implants the tip of her sniper-scythe into the ground and begins to shoot at the stinger of one of the Death Stalkers before it can get any closer to her.
Weiss summons a glyph to secure the heads of the King Taijitu before it can snap down on innocent bystanders fleeing from the area. Blake begins dashing from behind her, aiming her rushed shots at the neck of the black head of the abnormal snake.
A moment later, a volley of rounds begins to repeatedly penetrate the head of the black half of the King Taijitu. Blake turns her head to the left to see Coco, with a clearly agitated look on her face, firing the shots. At least we have some backup...
Yang lets out a battle cry as she runs up to assist Ruby, who is now riding on top of one of the Death Stalkers, trying to detach the stinger from said Grimm.
She hops up onto the shell and punches repeatedly, causing it to crack ever so slightly.
"Hey! I got this one, go get your own Death Stalker!" Ruby yells at the blonde brute with a grin.
Yang gets the message and grins back in response. She leaps from the back of the Death Stalker and lands on another one that was coming closer. She crouches down and punches the back of the shell and pulls up. Time to put one of Ozpin's new upgrades to use. She pulls back, allowing the hooks and ultra-thin steel cables steady her as she steers the Death Stalker to face the other Death Stalker her team leader is currently occupying.
Ruby, who was not aware that Ember Celica had this ability is distracted long enough for the Death Stalker she is riding to start bucking around, nearly tossing her off the side. But she hurls her scythe upward in a last attempt to stay on. This both assists and hinders her as she apparently only needed one more hit on the stinger to whack it off, the stinger falls off, impaling the Death Stalker, right in the center of the cracks that Yang created previously. This causes Ruby to loose her grip and fall back first on the ground. "My back..." she grunts.
"Coming Ruby!" Blake yells as finally beheads the black head of the King Taijitu with Coco's assistance. She turns and looks at Coco and Weiss, "Can you two handle the other head?!"
Both of them respond with a nod then they get to work.
"Have you called your team yet?" Weiss asks Coco.
Coco nods her head, "Velvet is out sick, but the other two should arrive sometime soon. I sent Matt to call a few buddies of his!"
"Who's Matt?" Weiss asks confusingly.
Coco lets out a laugh as she loads another belt into her weapon. "Ohh, you'll see," she replies Before she begins firing on the white head.
Yang can now be seen riding past them on top of a Death Stalker as it rampages down the street. She's sending punch after punch, enhanced by rounds of shotgun bullets into the evergrowing cracks in the Grimm's shell. She realizes very quickly however that she should have been looking forward and not down as the Death Stalker slams into the side of a building, particularly... right into a familiar shop, From Dust Till Dawn.
The old shopkeep takes one look at her and grabs his broom. He then begins to yell and rage to a point where it is incomprehensible.
Yang ignores the old man as she struggles to stay on top of the Death Stalker. She looks to her right and just so happens to see a package of Grade A, Explosive Fire Dust, one of the Schnee Dust Company's more premium offerings packed neatly into shotgun shells. Lucky for her, they happen to fit perfectly into the slots of her gauntlets. She smirks as she cocks back her now fully loaded gauntlets and begins firing away at the Death Stalker. It only takes a few explosion powered shots to make the unfortunate Grimm become dust.
Yang lets out a whoop in celebration before the old Shopkeep throws a broom at her. She fumbles as she catches it and gives him a confused look.
He replies... "Clean this up, I'll be in the back." He then goes up to the front door and jokingly flips the sign to 'closed' before heading towards the back of the wrecked establishment. Before he closes the door to his office, however, he pops his head back into the main area and says as he points at her gauntlets, "Oh, and that will be 200 Lien."
Yang lets out a huff and begins to sweep up the debris. Welp, I guess I must have overlooked something in the job description.
-0-0-0-0-
Beacon Academy - Courtyard - 7:00 am
"Come on Ren! We have to go or else we're gonna be late and lose our time as being deputies!" Nora rushes up behind him and squeezes him tightly.
Ren sighs and replies, "I can't move Nora."
"Hunh?" Nora replies before realizing what he means, "Oh... sorry" she apologizes with a slight blush.
Ren looks out into the distance towards the sun, "I can't believe we're going back."
Nora sighs as she lets go and leans against him, "It's been so long. I wonder how the relief efforts worked out..."
He sighs as he replies, "I've heard a lot of things, but I just hope that someone that we knew from our past lives is still out there."
Nora stays silent and just nods her head.
Ren is contempt with standing here for a little longer, but his peaceful silence is interrupted as soon as he feels his scroll buzzing in his pocket, he picks it up and says, "Hello?"
He hears a huff and a tapping sound on the scroll, he pulls it away from his ear to realize, it's a video call. "Umm... who are you?" He asks.
The girl with pink and brown hair smiles before signing, "Can you understand me?"
Who is this girl? "Yes... I know sign language..." he replies.
The girl smiles and blinks, her eyes change colors unexpectedly which catches the attention of Nora. "Ooh! That's cool! Ren, who is that?"
"No idea... let me see what's she's saying though." He replies to his partner before nodding for the girl to begin.
The girl signs, "Your friends are in trouble, downtown, go there now, bring backup."
Ren's eyes widen before he nods his head and looks at Nora, "Go get Jaune and Pyrrha."
"What's going on?" Nora asks worriedly. He only gets this serious if something is seriously wrong.
"Just go and get them!" He snaps back and thanks the girl quickly before hanging up. Out of curiosity, he checks the caller ID to see that it was coming from Ruby's scroll. I wonder if she may have dropped it?
It took Nora a lot quicker than Ren expected for her to find the rest of their team. "I'm sure they're fine," he hears Pyrrha say.
"You think? Ren was really worried..." Nora replies.
"Team RWBY is one of the top teams here in the rankings, I'm sure that they could handle themselves." Jaune says as he walks up with the rest of their team, "So what's happening exactly?" he asks.
"Someone managed to get a hold of Ruby's scroll and called me to tell me about something going on downtown. I think we need to go assist them," Ren replies.
"We have our own mission to focus on. Like I just said, they can handle themselves," Jaune replies nonchalantly.
Ren shakes his head, "I've got this feeling, I think we should go help."
"Ren, I was made the team leader for a reason, I got this," Jaune replies sternly.
Nora looks between the two of them and gets between them, "Guys, don't fight, I think we should discuss this as a team."
Pyrrha steps up and pulls Nora back, "Let them handle this."
"No! I'm not gonna let Jaune walk all over my man even if he is our team leader." Nora attempts to shove her friend out of the way but Pyrrha stands firm.
"Nora, I got thi-" Ren is interrupted as he begins to hear sirens ringing in the distance.
Everyone in the courtyard area becomes silent and still as they tune their ears towards the sirens. A moment later, a loud explosion can be heard from downtown, and the sirens around the school grounds begin blaring.
"We need to move." Ren says as he turns to begin walking towards one of the bullheads.
"Ren, don't you walk away from me! We will be having a team discussion about this later!" Jaune yells angrily.
Ren turns back to Jaune, "What's more important, our friends and the citizens of that city over there," he points a finger behind him, "Or your own agenda and ideals?!"
Jaune sighs, not sure how to respond to Rens' question.
Ren turns with a huff and begins stalking towards the bullhead, not really caring about his team leader's 'orders'.
Nora shoves past Pyrrha and runs up to him, keeping up with his brisk pace with a light jog. "Are you alright Ren?" She asks.
Ren shakes his head, "I'm starting to regret your idea of coming here."
Nora's eyes widen but she understands where he is coming from. "I don't know what has gotten into them... but they were acting really weird."
He nods his head in confirmation, "Let's continue this later, we have some friends to help."
"Wait!" they hear from behind them.
They turn to see Pyrrha running towards them, she stops to catch her breath once she catches up with them.
"I'm coming too..." She says.
Nora narrows her eyes at her and is about to reply when Ren puts his hand on her shoulder to stop her before she says something that could make their current situation worse. "We're glad that you are willing to assist," He replies.
Pyrrha smiles then follow them into the bullhead. I hope you are happy with with your decision, I'm sure that our master will be very... ecstatic, to hear of your actions later on. I'm sure to be promoted for this.
-0-0-0-0-
Downtown Vale - Shopping District - 7:30 am
Ruby hops off the last Death Stalker as it fades away. I hope Mom won't be too upset about that...
Blake lands next to her, sheathing her weapon as she does so. "Alright, where to next?"
"I think we should go help Weiss and Coco," Ruby responds.
"Hyaaaaaa!" Weiss yells as she sticks the point of her rapier into the ground, directing a blast of ice towards the white head to hold it still for a few moments.
Coco smirks as she transforms her machine gun back into its handbag form. She goes up to the King Taijitu who snaps at her as it continues to wiggle. She rolls her eyes and then takes a mighty swing, twirling as she does so. A moment later, her handbag collides with the frozen prison holding the King Taijitu, shattering it into dust.
"I think we got it handled," She smirks. Weiss lets out a cheer of relief.
"Ok, has anyone seen Yang?" Ruby asks.
"She went that way." Coco points towards the end of the street.
Ruby notices at the end of the street the giant hole in the wall of her favorite dust shop. She then notices a familiar blonde who seems to be sweeping inside of it. "She looks busy. We need to keep moving, I think we might have a little break before the next wave of-" she's interrupted as a flock of small Nevermores come out from the giant hole that was left behind from the King Taijitu, "Nevermind..."
They all get into battle-ready stances, ready to take on the next hoard of Grimm when they hear yelling over the sound of bullhead engines.
"Nora... SMAAAASSSSHHHH!" a familiar ginger-haired girl yells.
They all look up to see blur flying through the air and then they hear the cry of a Nevermore in pain. Nora literally smashed down on one of the Nevermore's, pinning it to the ground and dusting it in one quick motion.
Their eyes widen in shock. Coco's glasses falling out of place, putting her eyes, nearly the size of dinner plates, on full display. Weiss is more annoyed than impressed, unlike her team leader. Blake eventually shakes her head to get out of her stunned state and runs off to assist the hyperactive ginger.
"We heard you might need backup!" Ren says as he runs up behind them, the bullhead, which just dropped off team JNPR, minus Jaune, is seen taking off and heading back towards the school.
Pyrrha runs up behind him and notices an Ursa coming up from the giant hole in the ground, where part of a train is sticking out from the large pile of rubble. "I'm gonna go on ahead, come help when you are done here."
Ren nods his head, watching as his friend runs off into battle.
"Did the sirens tip you off or the explosions?" Ruby asks as she nonchalantly takes her scythe, currently in its sniper-rifle mode and raises it up, she takes a shot without much effort, sending it towards a small Nevermore flying above them. It soars down and crashes into a car on the street, shattering the windshield in the process.
"Ayy! We're gonna have to write you up for that!" A voice comes from nearby. The group turns to see Sun and Neptune running up to them, holding up plastic badges. As they stop Sun yells out, "Nobody move! Junior Detectives!"
Neptune smiles as he says in a very serious tone, "We have badges, so you know its official." He then winks at Coco.
Coco rolls her eyes. Sorry, buddy, not my type.
"We need to focus! The city is being overrun by Grimm and here we are having a relaxed conversation!" Weiss interrupts.
"Don't worry," Yang says as she walks up to the group. "Things are about to heat up around here," She then tosses a few bags of various Dusts to the members of the group. The shopkeep can have a change of heart if you have the right leverage.
"What did you do this time?" Ruby asks in an annoyed tone.
"Nothing! I did nothing!" Yang holds her hands out trying to calm down her sister. Nothing that you need to know about... yet.
Coco furrows her brow at the blonde brute as she notices a ring on her finger. Dammit. He got you too... Matt isn't going to be too happy about having to deal with two Corrupted.
"Alright, we have a city to save, Sun, Ren and Coco, go down that way and kill off any Grimm you come across," Ruby says as she points down the street to her left, towards the dust shop. "Weiss, Neptune, and Yang, you come with me, we're gonna go help Blake, Nora, and Pyrrha with any holes where the Grimm could come out of, the idea is to block off any exits with anything we can to hold them off with. We have to keep them at bay until more backup can arrive."
As they begin to run off, a bullhead begins to fly low and lands in front of them and the door opens up. Team CMET, plus Winter hop out with the latter signaling the pilot to go back into the air. Ruby catches manages to catch a glimpse through the front window of the cockpit to see Neo piloting it. That was quick.
Neptune points at team CMET in confusion, "don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Nope," Mercury replies, popping the p.
"I don't think we have met previously," Cinder replies more professionally.
Neptune is about to argue but he is quickly interrupted. "What are you all standing around here for?! There's a city to save!" Winter sternly reprimands them all.
All of the students mutter and mumble various apologies as they run off to do their tasks. Winter stands in her place and pulls out her scroll, calling General Ironwood's emergency line.
"No need," The general speaks from behind her as he walks towards her, "What are you standing there for? There's a city to save." He smirks as Winter rolls her eyes at her mentor.
Why do you always show up unexpectedly at the worst times possible?" She wonders to herself as she heads into battle.
The General lets out a laugh as he turns to face a Giant Ursa coming from an alley before him. "I see you're eager to be first."
The Ursa lets out a growl and stands up on its hind legs, attempting to show dominance.
James is not startled in the slightest, and charges at the Ursa, feeling the typical thrill of the hunt as he does so.
-0-0-0-0-
Pyrrha lets out a cry as she is sent flying backward towards a brick wall. The Creep that she is currently in the middle of battling has been particularly troublesome.
The Creep lets out a hissing sound then charges at the warrior with the intention to kill, but Nora comes soaring through the air and smashes down on it, killing it instantly.
"Aww, I broke it already?" Nora complains loudly.
Pyrrha's vision blacks out for a moment, once it returns, the light around her suddenly becomes really bright. She reaches a hand up to cover her eyes as she then begins to look around. Where am I?
Oh my god, Pyrrha! Nora runs over to help her teammate up but notices that something is off. "What's wrong?"
"N-Nora?" Pyrrha seems to be shaking now.
"Pyrrha what's happening? Why are you crying? Did that Creep hurt you?" Nora begins asking questions quickly but is interrupted when Pyrrha gets up from her spot and squeezes her tightly. "Pyrrha?"
"H-Help... Me..." Pyrrha mutters before falling unconscious.
"Pyrrha!" Nora yells as she catches her in her arms, she then sits Pyrrha down on the ground gently, leaning her up against the brick wall. Before she can pull out her scroll to call for help, she notices the light glimmering off an object on the ground.
"Ooh! Shiny!" Nora bends down to pick up the green gemstone on the ground.
Blake runs up to Nora to see what's going on when she notices Nora holding something. "What are you doing? What's that?" She asks.
"Oh, I just found this on the ground... Look how pretty!" Nora holds it up in awe.
Blake's eyes widen as she quickly leans forward to grab it from Nora, snatching it before Nora can protest.
"Hey! Finder's keepers!" Nora argues.
"Where did you find this?" Blake asks as she inspects it.
"Oh, I found it on the ground! After Pyrrha fell unconscious, after asking for help and crying and shaking and- what are you doing with Pyrrha?" Nora asks as Blake crouches down to look at Pyrrha's right hand, on her hand is a silver band with a spot where a stone must have been moments before. Blake slips off the ring with ease and puts it in her pocket.
"You need to go find somewhere safe for the both of you, call me if she wakes up. I'll explain what's happening later on but you need to trust me." Blake says with nothing but seriousness in her tone.
Nora is about to argue but instead nods her head in understanding. "Thank you,"
Blake smiles then begins to run back towards where the action is happening while Nora begins to pick up Pyrrha and throw her over her shoulder.
-0-0-0-0-
Weiss and Yang are clearly overwhelmed by the immense amount of Boarbatusks that just appeared around them. Yang is frustrated because she was already yelled at by Weiss for causing a lot of collateral damage a few blocks back, so she's having to hold off on her best attacks.
She sends a punch through the air, sending a small grappling hook towards one of the Boarbatusks. It loops around one of the tusks of it, causing it to squeal and turn to charge towards her. Weiss summons a glyph to hold it in place as she comes to make a nice, clean slice down on its neck, beheading it easily.
"There's too many of them!" Weiss yells.
"Ruby told us to come this way, so we need to do what we can here, Coco was bringing help right?" Yang asks.
"She was supposed to, but I've not seen anyone yet..." Weiss responds.
"Well look up, Schnee, the best help you've ever seen is right in front of you." A soothing voice says from nearby. The man walks up wearing sunglasses and a sleek fedora. He's holding a trumpet and has a smirk right smack on his face.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Weiss asks in a huff.
"I can't believe you haven't heard of us, being from Atlas, but of course, you chose to come to Vale instead so I would understand your lack of knowledge." A particularly annoying voice responds as the source of said voice rolls up next to the man. The girl, clearly a cat Faunus with a pink tail, is wearing roller skates and is spinning around a pair of glowing nunchucks.
Yang is already annoyed by her presence alone. This should be interesting...
"The name is Flynt, this is my partner Neon. We're from Team FNKI of Atlas Academy," the man responds as he notices a Boarbatusk ready to charge. "How about we give you a little demonstration." He smirks as he readies his trumpet, and sends a blast of a pleasing melody towards it, sending it flying backward down the street. It is sent directly into another boarbatusk that didn't have enough time to move out of the way.
"Neon, Go!" He says as he points forward.
Neon lets out a laugh as she begins to skate forward, "No need to tell me twice! Come on Blondie, let me show you how to fight for real. It might be a little hard since you're a little... top-heavy, but I'm sure you might be able to fight almost as good as me." Neon smirks as she notices Yang's eyes turn bright red.
"Excuse me?!" Yang cries angrily.
"Yang, ignore her, we have a job to do!" Weiss huffs.
"Come with me Schnee, I found the spot where they are coming out of," Flynt motions for her to follow.
Weiss huffs again as she complies, What is with people from Atlas being so demanding, condescending, and rude? I can't believe that I ever acted like this...
-0-0-0-0-
Ruby spins her scythe around, taking out multiple Beowolves in one fell swoop. Her sister leaps above her and takes out the Beowolves behind her, covering her back.
The two managed to come up with a system fairly quickly, the two taking turns with their attacks and the other covering them from behind before the next wave can come in. Scarlet was fairly pleased with the results so far and is not at all surprised that Ruby has been able to keep up. Her stamina must be insane... Even I'm having trouble keeping up.
Scarlet tried a more peaceful method of connecting with the Grimm and influencing them to go back into the ground and leave. She was surprised to find that the link was very weak, and wasn't able to connect with them as easily as she should have been able to. She also noticed something off about their patterns earlier, swearing that she noticed tints of blue, green, and yellow on their shells and in their veins. Something isn't right, this isn't normal.
Behind them, Cinder was in the middle of incinerating a Beringel. The smell was horrific, but it got the job done without getting her hands too dirty.
Mercury, taking a more foot-forward approach, sends a few rocket-powered kicks in the direction of some Ursai. The rockets fly forward killing some of the smaller ones instantly only leaving one standing.
Emerald smirks as she spins around her pistols transforming them into their sickle form, and slices at the giant Grimm. The Major Ursa lets out a roar in pain as it dusts off into the wind. She looks over at Ruby and Scarlet who just fell to the floor trying to catch their breaths. She turns to Mercury giving him the look.
Mercury rolls his eyes and runs over to help them up. "Tired are we? There's no time for stopping," he says with a smirk on his face.
"Even the greatest of Huntsmen and Huntresses deserve a quick rest every once in a while, Mr. Black." An enthusiastic voice calls with a laugh. An AP-290 comes from around the corner, with a corgi running beside it. The voice, clearly coming from an intercom system, is from Dr. Oobleck, who is currently having a hay-day because he got the access codes from General Ironwood for the Paladin. The General was also nice enough to give him the controls over some of the AK-200's in the area, allowing him to have control of a small mechanical army that is marching up behind him and Zwei.
"Come on Children! There's not that many more left! The hole has also been sealed! You won't be able to guess who showed up out of the blue!"
-0-0-0-0-
Downtown Vale - Shopping District - 10:00 am
Glynda lets out a huff as she finally finishes piecing back together the last of the rubble. When I came back to Vale, I did NOT expect this.
The students and several volunteers were able to stop all of the incoming Grimm. Some are still patrolling around for any stragglers, but other than that, the majority of the unwanted invaders have been dealt with.
"Do you need any more help, Ma'am?" A very large student wielding a great-sword comes up to Glynda.
"No thank you, Mr. Daichi, why don't you go help Mr. Alistair?" Glynda suggests.
Yatsuhashi nods his head as he heads over to assist his teammate. Glynda is about to sit down for a rest when she sees more of her students and other familiar faces coming to greet her.
"Professor Goodwitch! You're back!" Ruby cries happily.
Glynda can't help but smile, "Yes, I'm back Ms. Rose. Just in time I see."
"Yes, it seems that you arrived at the perfect time, wouldn't you say Glynda?" a voice calls from the back of the forming crowd.
Glynda's face does not falter as she notices Professor Ozpin coming forward with a serious expression on his face. "Yes, I guess I have," What are you doing?
"I do have to ask though, where have you been all this time?" He asks in a questioning tone.
Glynda sighs before she replies with her carefully rehearsed response, "It seems that teams RWBY and CMET were able to find the group of White Fang members hiding underground at Mountain Glenn. A few weeks ago, I was kidnapped along with Ms. Rose and taken to a warehouse across town. Ms. Rose was able to get away while they were transporting her to one of their airships, I, however, was not so fortunate."
Dr. Oobleck is about to comment but Winter puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him, Don't.
The Doctor gives Winter a weird look but shakes his head and decides to ask questions later.
"Well, Glynda, we're happy to have you back at Beacon. Thank you for helping the students out despite everything you have just been through," Professor Ozpin smiles.
Glynda loosens her grip on her riding crop, becoming more relaxed, "I wouldn't be a huntress, nor a teacher if I didn't do everything in my power to assist others in need."
Ozpin lets out a laugh, "That's why I hired you in the first place." He turns to face the crowd of students, "Classes are canceled today, go rest up. You've all done a wonderful job here this morning and on the behalf of the academy, thank you."
Some of the students let out cries of relief and cheers of happiness. Others, not so much. Pyrrha goes to sit down on one of the benches nearby to rest, she's been through a lot in the past few weeks.
Nora comes over, noticing her glum attitude. "You alright Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha shakes her head, "It was so dark..."
"Dark? Pyrrha what are you talking about?" Nora asks quietly.
"Jaune and Yang... they are still there," Pyrrha says quietly.
Nora looks visibly confused, "Pyrrha, what happened?"
Pyrrha grabs Nora's shoulders and looks her straight in the eyes, "Do not trust Ozpin, we need to get away while we still can," She mutters quietly.
"What?" Nora asks confused.
"Is everything alright over here?" Professor Ozpin comes over with a smile on his face.
Pyrrha begins to stutter, which is incredibly unlike her. She can't even look into the eyes of the man before her. You... you monster.
Nora responds, quite weary of the man, but she doesn't show it. "Oh, Pyrrha is telling me about her dream last night, nothing wrong at all."
Ozpin looks at the two girls then sighs, "That's good I suppose, enjoy your day off." He replies as he begins to exit the main square to head back towards the school. A loss, yes, but not a major one. I will have you under my control again Ms. Nikos, no need to question that, it just seems that you are due for an upgrade.
A few moments later once Ozpin is out of hearing range, Pyrrha leans forward and begins to sob into Nora's shoulder. Nora not caring at all just pats Pyrrha's back and begins to comfort her.
Ren comes up to the two of them sits on the bench next to them. "Is everything alright?"
Nora looks at him and mouths, "No."
Ren nods his head, I suppose adding another person to our group won't sound so bad after all.
-0-0-0-0-
Downtown Vale - Warehouse District - 8:00 pm
Ruby sits on the roof of the warehouse, watching the sun as it sets over the city.
"I didn't expect that when initially coming to Beacon," Scarlet says with a laugh as she sits next to her sister.
Weiss comes up from behind and leans up against the wall-like structure surrounding the roof. "Neither did I."
"Hey, quit moping around, at least something interesting happened." Mercury comes up throwing his legs over the wall to sit next to Scarlet. He puts an arm up around her, to which she surprisingly does not shove off for once.
"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm going to be seriously disappointed," Weiss replies
"I don't think that's gonna happen," Blake responds. "A two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery."
Ruby chimes in, "Plus, a lot of people were hurt... and I don't think that shopkeep will want us anywhere near his dust shop for a while."
That gets a laugh from the present members of team RWBY.
"Well, not every story has a neat and tidy ending," Emerald says as she comes up to lean against the wall next to Mercury. She looks at him and thinks, Finally got your moment, hunh?
Mercury rolls his eyes at his partner, Shh... Don't ruin it for me.
"Now that we've managed to get a hold on everything, what do we do now?" Ruby asks.
"I suggest training for the tournament." Cinder says from behind them, the clicking of her heels causes them to turn their heads to look at her. "We don't have much time before it begins and everyone needs to be in shape."
"Not again..." Scarlet cries in frustration.
"What? What's wrong?" Ruby asks, shaking her sister as she does so.
"Cinder is ruthless when it comes to training," She mumbles.
"I'm sure she isn't too bad..." Ruby begins before she notices Cinder holding a flame in the palm of her hand.
"Shouldn't we at least get some rest first? We've been awake for nearly two days..." Blake grumbles.
"Please..." Emerald adds in.
"Absolutely," Weiss agrees.
"Yes! I... Need... Sleep..." Ruby nearly dozes off while leaning on Scarlet's shoulder. Mercury pulls his arm back in disgust.
"Did you really just drool on my hand?" Mercury asks in annoyance.
Ruby mutters something but it comes out in mumbles.
Cinder sighs, "I suppose sleep first wouldn't be too bad." She disperses the fireball in her hand.
"If anything, I would call today a success." A voice calls from behind them. Roman steps up onto the roof with Neo following from behind.
"You call that a success?" another voice chimes in. Adam comes from around the corner and glares at Roman. "Lots of Faunus, my men, were in those tunnels, and you did nothing to-"
"Silence." Cinder looks at them causing both men to shiver. "Don't make me regret letting you two roam around freely. That can change in an instant." She pulls out her scroll and pulls up a contact for Winter Schnee.
"Oh shoot that reminds me! I lost my scroll earlier and I-" Ruby begins but notices Neo holding it up and snickering silently yet again.
"Neeeeoooo!" Ruby cries.
-0-0-0-0-
Beacon Academy - Ozpin's Office - 9:00 pm
"Ozpin?" A voice calls from his computer.
Ozpin ignores the voice and continues to watch the city before him. Much has happened today, but much more will happen over the coming weeks.
"Ozpin!" The same voice calls again, this time however, much angrier than before.
"Hmm? Oh yes, Councilman?" he responds, coming out of his daze.
"You've left us with no choice. The Vytal Festival Tournament cannot be broadcast, let alone held, if we are unable to ensure the safety of the citizens." The man on the other end responds.
Ozpin begins to become upset at the Council's rash decisions but continues to let the man finish speaking rather than interrupting him. "Therefore, we have reached out to the Atlas Council and together have decided that the best action is to appoint General Ironwood as head of security for the event.
James appears on the screen and replies, "Thank you, Councilman, our kingdom is happy to lend as many troops as it takes to ensure that the event runs as smoothly as possible."
"And we thank you, General," another voice replies.
"Will that be all?" Ozpin asks, clearly annoyed.
The first Councilman replies, "For now. But after this festival comes to a close, we are going to have a serious discussion about your current position at Beacon Academy. We've received some reports recently that have left us somewhat... concerned. I'm sure you understand."
The councilmen exit the video call, leaving just Ozpin and General Ironwood still connected to the feed. "Have a good night," The general says before leaving the call himself.
Ozpin grumbles as he spins around in his office chair to face the large airships flying over the city. "You will regret your decision, James. I will make sure of it."
Welcome back, everyone. This is the end of Volume 2 events (FINALLY!).
Originally, I was going to free Yang instead of Pyrrha, but after writing the scene with team JNPR, I felt as if it would fit better for the sake of the upcoming plot. I was also going to originally do the team CFVY scene as originally portrayed in the show but after the bonus scene I released last week, I decided to make the switch to feature another team, thus enter... team FNKI. I have a nice scene planned for how Matt knows team FNKI so that will be explained in the future.
I also had a few other scenes written up that I ultimately deleted after I felt they did not go with the new plot points I changed to last minute. I might consider re-writing the unused scenes to fit this version of the chapter and updating this chapter to include them in the future. I had a scene introducing the winning ace-op but I had to scrap it as well due to lack of consistency, that is the one I honestly regret scrapping (I have it saved) but I know that it wasn't ready yet so I pulled it for the time being. I'll work on fixing it up and having it included in the future as well as a few of the other scrapped scenes.
I also decided to introduce Glynda back into the mix, this will be covered in the next chapter. I originally had a scene of her coming back along with another character... that will now be revealed next chapter, but that scene also got scrapped.
Thanks for all the support so far, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time. :)
- Lucky