Here we are at Chapter 48. Time to see how the gang will handle Cordovin's me, Skyquake's ghoul, and who knows what else as they try to get from Argus to Atlas. I do now own RWBY or Transformers. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 48. Enjoy.


Chapter 48: Trouble in all Forms

Along the cliffs outside of Argus, the gang look between Weiss and Dreadwing's airship as it flies by with Cordovin's mech following it, and the ghoul of Skyquake's body coming from their rear.

"So we're supposed to fight both that giant mech, AND that thing from Haven?!" Oscar exclaims.

Megatron contacts the airship, "Dreadwing, the ghoul of your brother is here. It must've followed us all the way from Haven,"

"How would it have caught up to us so quickly?" Weiss asks.

"That thing doesn't grow tired because it's no longer alive. It doesn't need rest like the rest of us. That's how it must've caught up," Megatron replies.

Nora looks between the two foes, "But, how are we supposed to fight both of these things and get safely to Atlas?"

The ghoul charges at them, but Soundwave sends out Laserbeak, who fires some lasers at its face, causing it to stop and block the shots with its arms. Soundwave nods to Megatron, who nods back, before he activates his arm blades and goes to face the ghoul by himself to keep it occupied. With that, the gang look back towards the giant mech.

"You little fools thought you could outsmart the mighty kingdom of Atlas. Well, let's see how your resolve holds up to the glorious might of the Atlesian military!" Cordovin moves a few handles.

The mech raises its right arm, which has a large cannon on it, and a portion of it pops out with a missile launcher. Cordovin fires off a missile at the airship, but it gets blasted in mid-air. Cordovin growls as she looks over, seeing Megatron with his arm cannon up as the culprit. With option A off the table, she goes with option B and charges up her main cannon as another portion of the arm goes inside it.

"Evasive action!" Dreadwing yells.

"Hang on to something!" Maria makes some quick maneuvers as the cannon fires, and barely manages to evade the shot. "Geez, that lady has completely lost her mind! She's actually trying to kill us!"

"Hahaha, and that was just a warning shot. All units, remain on standby and watch as your leader shows how we deal with pests who don't know their place," Cordovin goes after them.

Megatron looks back at Soundwave. Soundwave rolls under a swing from the ghoul and makes a few swings on its side. The ghoul roars and throws a few more punches at him, but Soundwave dodges each one. He steps back up against a tree and then jumps out of the way when the ghoul punches through it. It rips its arm out and then kicks the broken tree towards Soundwave, who swings his arm blades downward to slice through the tree. Laserbeak flies in from the rear, firing a few more shots at the ghoul's back. The Ghoul swings around to through another punch, forcing Laserbeak to break off and head back up into the air. Soundwave sends out his tentacles to shock the ghoul, but the ghoul manages to grab them and pulls on them hard. This causes Soundwave to get pulled towards the ghoul, who makes another punch at him. Luckily, Soundwave flips in mid-air to evade the punch and throws a double flying kick to the ghoul's face before bouncing off and freeing his tentacles as they retract back to him. The airship lands in front of the others and Weiss steps out, stabbing her rapier into the ground to create large ice crystals to act as a shield for them.

"Okay, so what's the plan. We obviously can't make to Atlas without first getting through the problem in front of us and the problem behind us," Jaune asks.

"We need to find a way to disable that machine. We don't need everyone fighting the ghoul. Dreadwing, I presume you'll want to face the ghoul. You want to bring your brother's body back. Now would be your chance," Megatron says.

Dreadwing nods, "Yes, I can trade places with Soundwave. My semblance will give me the edge. Plus, Laserbeak can help you in the air against that giant weapon,"

"You really want us to fight that thing?" Nora groans.

Jaune steps up, "No, Megatron's right. Look at that thing. It's not made for dealing with smaller enemies. It was most likely built to deal with large Grimm that come in from the coast. Keep it focused on more than one target at once until we can find its weak spot and then take it down. It can't focus on all of us at once,"

Ruby turns to Maria, "Maria, can you keep the airship safe?"

"They can take my pilot's license, but I won't let them take this airship!" Maria yells from the cockpit.

"That's reassuring," Ren deadpans.

"I'll go with her. Maybe I can spot a weakness while in the air," Oscar suggests.

"And Soundwave's feathered friend isn't the only one who can get a bird's eye view," Qrow adds.

Megatron activates his semblance arm, "I can get close to do some damage with my semblance,"

Jaune nods, "Alright, then we'll focus on fighting from here. Keep her attention moving from different places and people and that should trip her up,"

Weiss looks at Ruby, "Need me to do anything specific?"

Ruby rubs her head, "Well... something like that,"

With that being said, Dreadwing runs back to trade places with Soundwave. The ghoul charges at Soundwave, only to get tackled to the ground by Dreadwing.

"I'll deal with him. You and Laserbeak go help the others!" Dreadwing yells while trying to hold the ghoul down.

Soundwave nods and runs to the others with Laserbeak. Dreadwing looks back at his opponent, only for the ghoul to head-butt him in the face and kick him off. Dreadwing shakes it off and readies his sword as the ghoul roars and charges at him. Meanwhile, Cordovin watches from her mech as she approaches the cliffs. However, a few seconds later, she sees the group separate, with Team JNR running in one direction, the airship flying off in another, and Ruby zipping up into the air and firing a shot off at the cockpit. The shot cracks the windshield, but doesn't break it. Though, this still pisses Cordovin off.

"You impudent brats!" Cordovin hits the controls forward.

Megatron comes around the ice and conjures up his large cannons with his semblance. He fires off a few shots, shaking the mech when they hit. Cordovin growls and aims her missile launcher at them, firing off a swarm of missile. Ruby uses her semblance to fly around the missile, while Megatron creates his old jet form and hops on with Soundwave in tow. Ruby falls towards the water, where Weiss creates pads of ice for them to hop across to the mech's feet. Megatron and Soundwave get close and hop off his jet-board as it dissipates. Megatron throws a hard right fist to the mech, staggering it with his strength. Soundwave uses his tentacles to swing around the legs in order to land on the side of its hip before he starts climbing up. Megatron jumps into the air and throws a spear at the mech that hits the right side of the body and then explodes. However, when the dust settles, Megatron lands on the mech and sees a hard-light shield where the spear hit.

Cordovin laughs, "Hahaha, did you forget that Atlas is the father kingdom for hard-light Dust? It appears lesser kingdoms can't properly educate their people on when they are outmatched,"

Nora fires some grenades from the cliffs, but Cordovin raises the mech's left hand with its shield up to block them. Back with Dreadwing, he blocks a punch from the ghoul and pushes it back. The ghoul roars and charges at him again. Dreadwing sheathes his sword and then meets the charge. The two clash, trying to push the other back. Dreadwing head-butts the ghoul and then gets a front kick in on its chest.

Dreadwing closes his eyes and concentrates, "Brother, I require your assistance,"

He activates his semblance, thus bringing out the spiritual form of his brother, Skyquake.

"I am here, my brother," Skyquake looks over at the ghoul. "It would seem that our destined foe has returned. How, I have longed to have this chance again," Skyquake clenches his fists.

Dreadwing nods, "Yes, but just like before, our situation is dire. Our allies are dealing with one massive enemy, but we must keep this one occupied. However, if we can capture your body, my brother, it may help with your unfortunate circumstances,"

"Then, as always, we shall fight together," Skyquake and Dreadwing charge at the ghoul.

In the airship, Oscar looks out the side door as the others battle the mech.

"That thing has some kind of force-field. How do we get passed that?" Weiss calls out over the comms.

"Yeah, I saw it too from here. There must be something powering that shield though, something separate from the main generator for that machine. If we can find it and shut it down, that should bring down the shield," Oscar suggests.

"Hey, I have an idea. Maybe the power source is on its back. That always happens in video games!" Ruby says.

"Ruby, now is not the time to be thinking abo-incoming!" Weiss and Ruby move when Cordovin tries to stomp them down under her mech's giant foot. Soundwave stabs his blades in the armor of the mech's left leg, behind the knee. He sends out his tentacles to enter the small openings in the armor and then gives it a little jolt. The leg starts to shake from the inner damage.

"Argh, what is going on here!" Cordovin seethes as the monitors show some interior damage on the leg.

She reaches down to try and grab Soundwave, but Megatron flies in and picks him up before he can. The pair nod to each other and Megatron flies back around. He jumps and throws a hard right punch to the back of the leg, causing it to buckle and get down on one knee.

"Ugh, this can't be happening!" Cordovin seethes again.

Qrow flies in from above and turns his sword into its scythe form, hitting the back of the mech as his blade pierces through the hull a bit.

Megatron calls the others, "Those shields may protect this thing from ranged attacks, but they can't stop close-range attacks. Soundwave managed to deal direct damage by attacking the mech's interior components. Which means if we can cut through the armor, those shields won't stop us from dealing more damage," he then activates his arm blade and stabs through the armor, pulling the blade downward to make a small hole.

Qrow grunts, "Up close and personal, huh? Well, then we'll just have to keep at it until we find this thing's weak spots and take down those shields," Qrow makes a hole of his own with his scythe before turning it back into its sword form.

Megatron and Qrow fire their weapons into the holes, dealing more internal damage. The damage shows up on Cordovin's monitors. Cordovin growls and moves the mech again. Qrow changes back into his crow form to fly away while Megatron jumps up and grab onto the rear waist as the mech stands back up. Laserbeak flies around, taking a few pot shots at the mech from a distance, though they can't find an opening in the shields and its claws and armored feathers won't be able to break through its tough armor. From the cliffs, Team JNR watch as they can't do much with those shields still up.

"Hey guys, we gotta do something about those shields. If you can bring it to the cliffs, we can help!" Ren calls out.

From the airship, Oscar watches as the mech's cannon rotates again, and sees a section of it move inside the cannon before it charges up.

He gets an idea from this, "Hey, that looks like... wait, that's it!" he realizes.

However, he doesn't have a chance to think further on this when the mech aims its cannon at the airship and fires. Maria manages to evade the shot, but the blast almost hits Ruby and the others.

Megatron growls, "Weiss, can you get me into the air? I'm going to force that thing to the cliffs for the others!"

"I have something that might work," Weiss uses her summoning and brings out a Queen Lancer.

Megatron hops on it and it flies into the air. He creates a large hammer with his semblance and jumps off the summon when it gets close enough, falling towards the mech. He swings his hammer against the side of the mech, hitting it with enough force to make it fall against the cliffs.

"Now's our chance. Go!" Jaune, Ren, and Nora charge at the fallen mech. When they get close, Ren jumps up and stabs his blades into the armor, while Jaune goes for the exposed elbow and Nora smashes her hammer against the mech. They make a few hits before Cordovin regains her composure.

"Argh, you little ingrates!" Cordovin manages to get the mech back on its feet.

Megatron climbs around and creates a small sword to stab into the hull just above the cockpit. He hangs right in front of Cordovin and aims his arm cannon at her. However, he has to jump back when Cordovin tries to grab him with her mech's hand. Luckily, Soundwave sends out one of his tentacles while hanging off the side. Megatron grabs it and swings around to grab onto the side of the mech's right arm. The arm cannon rotates, causing Megatron to lose his grip and fall off, only to get caught in mid-air by Ruby and Weiss on Weiss' Queen Lancer summon.

"You're lucky we caught you, you know," Weiss berates him.

"You can insult me after we finish this battle," Megatron looks at the mech as they fly to its back and gets an idea. "Can you get me close to its back?"

"What for?" Weiss asks.

"I'm beginning to think that Ruby may have had an idea about where the shield generator was located," Megatron replies.

They fly around the mech. Meanwhile, Soundwave continues to deal interior damage by finding chinks in the armor and sending his tentacles in to deal some electric damage. Qrow is on top, stabbing his blade into the armor and making another small opening, before firing a few more shots in. Nora fires more grenades from the cliff, but the hard-light shields keep her from dealing any damage. After climbing around the arm, Ren manages to get to the back of the mech. He looks over when he hears something coming from within the mech. Weiss's summon flies in and Megatron jumps off to latch onto the other side of the back.

"Did you find something?" Megatron asks.

"I can hear something working inside this section here. Can you help me get it open?" Ren replies.

Megatron uses his semblance to create a large hook-type weapon and together with Ren, they stab their weapons into the armor and pull a large piece off. They look inside to find a device within with the words 'shield generator' beneath it.

"Looks like Ruby's assumption was on the mark," Megatron notes before the pair fire their weapons, destroying the power source for the shields.

The explosion rocks the cockpit, "What was that?!" Cordovin looks when one of the monitors shows that the shields are now down. "NO!"

With the shields now down, the gang launch another attack with renewed vigor. Nora fires her grenades from the cliffs, rocking the mech that now has to block them with its left arm.

"Give me back my man!" Nora yells.

Megatron and Ren try to hand on from the shaking until Ruby and Weiss fly in.

"Hey, hop on!" Weiss yells, and the boys hop on and fly away.

As they fly around the mech, they spot Soundwave along the mech's waist and pick him up. With the group safely off of the mech, Megatron conjures up another spear and throws it at the mech's body. The spear stabs the mech and explodes, dealing a hole in the upper right side of the main body.

That explosion was the last straw though for Cordovin, "Argh!" I've had about enough of you pests forgetting your place!"

The mech swings its left arm around at Nora on the cliffs. Seeing this, Jaune runs to her as she tries to run away. He reaches her and uses his shield and aura to try and take the brunt of the attack, but both still get sent flying while taking heavy damage to their auras. With them taken down, Cordovin turns her attention to the others on the Queen Lancer summon. She aims her arm cannon and charges up for another shot. Seeing this, Megatron creates a shield to protect them before the shot is fired. While the shield did protect them, it did not protect the summon, which disappears, and they all fall onto the cliffs.

Dreadwing looks back and sees this," Milady!" but he can't go to their aid as the ghoul tries to grab and rip his head off.

"Brother!" Skyquake pulls the ghoul off and throws a punch to the ghoul's face, but a second punch gets caught in its clutches before the ghoul swings Skyquake into Dreadwing, knocking them both back.

Seeing his friends in trouble, Oscar turns to Maria," We have to help them somehow!"

Maria hits the controls and flies the airship around the mech, getting Cordovin's attention off of their downed friends.

"Calavera!" Cordovin narrows her eyes and aims her missile launcher at the airship.

It fires off a missile at the airship. Maria makes a hard left, making the missile miss just barely, but it still explodes right in front of the airship and causes it to go out of control.

Meanwhile, in the forest near the relay tower, Yang and Predaking continue their search for Blake.

"Where could she have gone?!" Predaking looks around the forest, looking for any sign of his charge.

"I don't know. She's not at the tower, that's for sure... Wait, what's that?" Yang sees something up ahead. They come to a stop and Yang finds Blake's white jacket on the ground. "Blake was here. She can't be far,"

Predaking looks ahead, finding the signs of a battle in front of them. Using those as tracks, he follows the signs with Yang as they move closer to another side of the coast. As they get closer, they hear the sounds of combat up ahead. Kicking her motorcycle into high gear, yang floors it and jumps over a cliff, seeing Blake on one knee against Adam Taurus. Yang kicks her motorcycle off and it crashes into Adam, knocking him away before falling into the river. Yang lands next to Blake.

"You," Adam growls, only to her roaring above and see Predaking release his dragon form and land between him and the girls. "It just had to be you... abomination,"

Predaking snorts some fire out of his nostrils, "Adam Taurus..." he readies his claws before facing Adam Taurus one last time.


And that's the chapter. Megatron and his allies start having trouble against Cordovin and the ghoul. Meanwhile, Predaking finds Adam Taurus attacking Blake again, and prepares to finish what he started with him so long ago. Will our heroes deal with these challenges and make their way to Atlas? Until then, please Read and Review.