Hmm, I think looking back on my previous chapter I could have done a better job with the fight between Galen and Mercury. Now, I am sure that many of you have told yourselves, 'an acrobatic flip getting the spectators angry is petty', but I'll explain on that part this chapter.
Now, I got my hands on Call of Duty: World at War on the Xbox One along with the extra zombie maps and I have to say, I missed playing that game. One of my favorites in the series. Zombie mode is just as fun as I remember.
Now, onto the reviews.
Darth Cody: Trust me, I wasn't going to let Mercury get under Galen's skin, especially since Galen made Mercury tell him everything about what Cinder has planned. I do agree, Ironwood has been acting selfish and making rash decisions long before volumes seven and eight. From what I know, the force is like a sixth sense, so Galen or anyone connected to the force would be able to see through Emerald's illusion or be able to figure it out if they've encountered illusions before.
Monster King: Thanks.
54godamora: Yes, it's pretty petty for the spectators to be getting angry over something like a backflip, but I'll explain on that this chapter.
Chaotic Skunk Demon: I'll check out Log Horizon soon and trust me, you'll be excited for what Ruby's lightsaber will be.
Luffy L Deathstalker: Yeah, I think I could have done a better job on the last chapter.
Cooldude101011: I will admit, maybe I could have just used Rex and Galen, but like I said, I made it so that more clones were made aware of the Inhibitor Chips and removed them, preventing themselves from following Order 66 like a bunch of droids who are programed to follow any order they are given. Also like I said, I want to give Remnant a fighting chance and you'll understand how the droids came to be on Remnant later on. I promise it will at least clear up a few things.
Spartan-626: Thanks, I never had a girlfriend so I just tried to take a few ques from other stories that involve couples. I will agree, that Plo's plan is better than Ironwood's plan, but things won't be that simple, at least for Amber, I am sad to admit.
Alright, reviews done, lets get the chapter started. Disclaimers are the same as before, please enjoy.
Chapter 38: Enemies Revealed
Though he had won the fight against Mercury fair and square, many of the spectators were claiming that Galen had cheated having betted a lot of Lien on the first match of the one-on-one part of the tournament, along with the fact that he was showboating when he flipped over Mercury. As a result, arguments and various scuffles between spectators caused an increase in negative emotions and the Grimm were now starting to approach the kingdom, resulting in many of the security forces requesting reinforcements which were either unavailable or not responding.
Thankfully, the clones were able to fill in most of the gaps along the Kingdom, but this in turn left Ironwood in a concerned state that he wouldn't even listen to Galen when the young Jedi kept trying to request an audience with the General in order to tell him what he forced Mercury to tell him, that and it was becoming clear to Galen that Ironwood was starting to lose trust in him.
Thankfully, Ruby listened to Galen and much to her surprise was shocked at the fact that the three-person team from Haven that she thought were her friends were planning something against the Kingdom. Needless to say, she was determined to stop them before they could enact his plan and informed her teammates along with Jaune and his team as well as Team GARM. Strangely, Mercury, Emerald and Cinder had somehow disappeared from the public eye something that didn't sit well with Galen or the others. Whether it was because they realized they were discovered or they had something else planned they needed to find them.
As such, those that weren't participating in the one-on-one matches were searching the fairgrounds, school and coliseum for any sign of the three terrorists, as well as keeping Rex and the other clones on security alerted to the situation. All three teams even decided to grab their 'special weapons' just in case.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away and high above the once bustling expansion known as Mountain Glenn, the Galm and Garuda teams, Mobius 1 and Crow 3 had finished their mid-air refueling from a nearby aerial tanker and continued on their mission which was extended by Hamilton's orders. Their astromech copilots continued to scan for transmissions and signals from the missing fighter pilots who they were searching for while also continuing with their own search for the Bad Batch, Delta Squad and Ghost Squad, who had still made contact with command.
"Trigger to Countess, go to channel two and form up on my wing." Rick said into the radio as Neo's plane detached from the tanker, with a full tank of fuel.
"Countess to Trigger. What's up?" Neo asked.
"Has KT picked up any transmissions from Captain Bartlett or Hunter?" he questioned.
Neo waited as her copilot ran a check before they beeped in response. "No joy on transmissions. I know you hold Captain Bartlett in high-regards, Rick, but we might have to face the possibility that he's been killed. Same goes for Team SDOW." Neo said reluctantly.
"I hope you're wrong Neo." Rick replied before R5 beeped and brought the six pilots up on the current situation going on in Vale. "Well, that's just great! Not only did I miss Galen's match, but it looks like the Grimm are starting to make a move on the kingdom. Reports of small scuffles and arguments between spectators about Galen's victory against Mercury Black in the first fight are increasing." Rick snarled.
"Not like we can go back and provide some CAS support now. Hamilton will be pissed if we return from our mission. McKenzie was the same way before he was killed. He would get pissed if we failed our mission or even returned after not finding anything." Dante added.
"Still, we still don't know what happened to Colonel Ford. He's a skilled pilot and it's not like him to just disappear without a trace." Larry said in agreement. Cipher also agreed as the tanker turned away from the six pilots and headed back to the safety of the Kingdom. "Radio chatter is already filled with the reports of Grimm approaching the Kingdom. It's not a big horde, but Ironwoods already gone and scrambled his forces to intercept the Grimm before they reach the Kingdom. Typical Ironwood, he's planning on hitting them before they can hit Vale." He added.
"First, we got someone attacking one of the sub-stations during the Malevolence II incident, the new droid/Grimm hybrid, missing Commando teams, some asshole in charge of our orders, stolen fighters and dozens of pilots missing in action with no clue as to what happened to them. I've got a bad feeling about this." Cipher concurred.
"As much as I want to say its my uncle who's behind this, but even he wouldn't go as far as too murder pilots so he can build new fighters for three times the profit." Dante spoke up.
"You guys fought against this Empire; you think they might be behind it? I mean, those imperial weapons and equipment Teams RWBY and GARM found under Mountain Glenn, think maybe they might be making their move?" PJ questioned.
"Patrick, you might be right about this." Rick began before a garbled transmission came over the commlink. It was difficult to make out, but the pilots were able to make out Wreckers crazed yelling. "Sounds like Wrecker's going gung-ho again. R5, can you get a fix on the transmission?" Rick asked his copilot.
R5 beeped in acknowledgement and was quick to identify the origin of the transmission was from Mountain Glenn. Per military regulations, they contacted command requesting permission to investigate the distress call, but Hamilton was quick to deny their request and ordered them to continue with their mission. Angered, Rick turned his aircraft towards Mountain Glenn, half expecting the others to chew him out for disobeying orders when much to his surprise, the others continued on with the mission while Neo formed up with him and followed him towards Mountain Glenn.
Minutes passed by before the two friends found a clear space to land their planes, leaving their droids to keep their planes safe and ready for when take-off. Rick tossed Neo his sub-machine guns while he changed his main weapon into its battle rifle mode as blaster fire echoed around the city. "Just follow the blaster fire and we'll find the others. Let's get a move on!" Rick exclaimed before he and his friend bolted down the street in the direction of the blaster fire.
An explosion echoed through out the city as a thermal detonator blew several Grimm to pieces before the last one, an Ursa took a knife to the head from Hunter, who quickly recovered his blade from where the Grimm vanished from. His armors shields flickered as a sniper from a nearby building fired on him, forcing the Sergeant to take cover behind several empty barrels in the dried-up urban river he and the others were trying to make their way through when they came under fire. "We should have clear communications after we took out that jamming array! Tech, why aren't our transmissions getting through!?" he shouted as another sniper shot missed him by an inch.
"I can't answer that, Sergeant! I suspect they might have more jamming arrays then we thought!" Tech responded, firing a burst from his pistols at several charging Creeps, downing them all.
"Great! As if this could get any worse!" Hunter scoffed as Wrecker charged past him and blasted multiple Grimm with his blaster rifle in one hand. Despite losing the data from the imperial outpost, Delta Squad, Ghost Squad, the Bad Batch and their two allies found out that the train they commandeered was being used to transport various weapons, vehicles and Dust to a secret underground White Fang staging area underneath Mountain Glenn, which Ironwoods forces failed to locate when they went in to find any intelligence about the terrorist groups plan, following Roman's failure to cooperate with the military.
Knowing that the White Fang was planning something big and the Empire was supplying them with weapons and equipment, the fourteen-man team eliminated the White Fang forces, the Imperial forces working with them and destroyed their equipment. This time, they managed to gather the evidence needed to prove to Ironwood that Cinder and her teammates were behind the recent incidents, but their attempt to call for extraction were hampered by a jamming device in the rubble of the old Merlot industries building which they were quick to destroy once they made it back above ground.
Their transmissions should have been cleared up, but they still couldn't get through to the others and had been fighting for over twenty-four hours against the Grimm, droids and the occasional imperial patrol. When morning came, they still couldn't reach their brothers and decided find any remaining jamming devices and destroy them before Cinder could enact her plan.
As expected, when they took out one of the jamming devices, the enemy was alerted to their presence and was quick to mobilize their forces to protect the remaining jammers. The second one was taken out hours ago and as they tried to find the third one, they came into contact with the Grimm and droids, forcing them into the river while Imperial snipers from several nearby buildings kept them pinned down.
Sev, Crosshair and Climber were quick to engage the snipers while the others tried to clear a path forwards, which was easier said then done when multiple advanced dwarf-spider droids arrived on the scene and kept them pinned down, save for the two that Wrecker, Scorch and Darman were able to bring down, but in the process used up all of their grenades for their DC-17's grenade launcher.
"We're going to need a miracle if we're going to get through this." Boss stated, ducking down and loading a fresh back into his blaster rifle. The leader of Delta Squad quickly popped out of cover and opened up with his blaster rifle, downing several hostiles before Neo leapt down from the bridge above, landing right in front of the enemies. As expected, the spider droids fired their heavy cannons at Neo only for the multi-haired girl to shatter like glass, leaping onto one of the spider droid's head and thrust her new cyan lightsaber into the droid's brain, short-circuiting it before leaping towards another one and stabbed it right in the sensor eye. Both droids exploded as Neo landed on the ground, pulling out one of her borrowed SMG's and fired the weapon at the Grimm while using her saber to deflect the blaster fire from the droids. "What is she doing?" he asked.
In the building the enemy snipers were using, Rick's emerald blade sliced clean through the plastoid armor of the imperial scout troopers, showing no mercy to them before he sheathed his weapon and picked up a fallen imperial sniper rifle, took aim and began to provide sniper support from his new position. Hostiles fell as nailed each of them with a headshot, using the force to sense their movements as so his shots wouldn't miss their target, especially considering the dead trooper who's rifle he was using had only three power packs left.
A quick reload of the rifle and Rick resumed his sniper work, nailing two Beowolfs in the head as he watched Neo slash and shoot her way through the horde of enemies before he caught a glint of something flashing from a building across the river. Adjusting his scope to maximum zoom, Trigger spotted a pair of snipers taking aim at his adoptive sister. "No, you don't!" he snarled and fired his weapon. Both enemy snipers fell from headshots and he was about scan for new targets when he heard something behind him.
Discarding his borrowed weapon, he pulled out his weapon in its machine gun mode and pulled the trigger as several dozen Creeps emerged from the staircase. Dust infused bullets ripped the Grimm to shreds as Rick made his way back to ground level, joining up with the others. "Hope you appreciate the help we gave you boys! Cause we need to get our asses back to Vale quick! I think that…" he began.
"That Cinder, Emerald and Mercury are the ones behind everything that has been happening since the start of the school year? Yeah, we know that. Not to mention they've made an alliance with the Empire who have been providing weapons and vehicles to the White Fang along with stolen military aircraft." Hunter interrupted and finished. "I think they were also behind the attack on someone called Amber or something." He added.
"That bitch attacked my sister!" Rick yelled as an explosion from nearby echoed all around them as the final jammer was destroyed. "I can't believe it! The one who attacked my sister was right underneath my nose and I didn't even know it." He snarled, clenching his fist. Neo was about to speak sympathetically before an enemy transmission was intercepted.
"Attention, all 8492nd pilots. Galm Team plus two others have entered the target area. No sign of the Garuda Team. Commence with the operation, the fleet is on its way and we need them eliminated." An unknown voice said over the commlink. Everyone looked to each other in concern before Hunter called for a pick up as night began to fall. Rick and Neo double timed it back to their planes, slashing and shooting at anything that got in their way before they shouted at their copilots to power up their planes. Once powered up, both planes taxied onto the damaged road and rocketed into the air, turning towards the location of the impending enemy ambush.
As this was going on, The Galm Team, Mobius 1 and Crow 3 had still not found any sign of Captain Bartlett or Team SDOW and incoming transmissions from Hamilton who was still trying to call them back from their mission were ignored. Eagle Eye was also ignoring the incoming transmissions before he picked up multiple contacts on radar. "This is the AWACS Eagle Eye to incoming aircraft, please identify yourselves and state your intentions." The AWACS pilot requested.
"Eagle Eye, this is the 8492nd squadron of the Vale Air Force. We've been ordered by Captain Hamilton to escort you all home. Anyway, let's get back to base." The pilot of the lead S33 replied before they formed up with the other planes.
"Hey, buddy. You thinking what I'm thinking?" Larry asked Aaron on a separate frequency.
"Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this." Cipher agreed. Suddenly and without warning, a salvo of missiles streaked towards the AWACS plane, blowing it in half and killing the entire crew. "Blue on Blue! Blue on Blue! 8492nd lead, stand down! I repeat, stand down! You just shot down our AWACS!" Cipher called out, but the planes ignored them.
Just then, Rick and Neo arrived. "Cipher! Pixy! PJ! Mobius 1! Those planes aren't with the Vale air force! There is no 8492nd squadron! They don't exist! They're with the Empire!" Trigger shouted frantically into the radio as the dozens of stolen Sentinel and Sabre planes broke formation and began to engage the six pilots.
(Start Mask, Ace Combat 5 OST)
"We've been set up and we're outnumbered!" Pixy snarled as his missile warning blared in his headset. A quick evasive maneuver saved him from becoming a fireball on the mountains below. "No way we can make it back to base with these assholes trying to fill us full of lead!" he added.
"No kidding! Hunter and his brothers found not a White Fang supply depot underneath Mountain Glenn, but they've also been supplying the Empire with the stolen aircraft that Ironwood's been trying to find! Now we know where they ended up!" Neo added with a snarl of her own, jinking hard left to avoid an enemy missile.
"If we're going to make it out of here alive, we need to eliminate these fighters!" Rick stated much to the surprise of the others. "We don't need to eliminate all these fighters. If we can punch a hole through their defenses, we should be able to return to the kingdom safely." He clarified.
"But we're only six planes against thirty-six fighters. We won't last long without back up!" PJ reminded. Seconds later, R12-F4, Pixy's astromech copilot picked up six new contacts coming from the mountains below. At first they expected it to be more imperial controlled fighters, but that was proven wrong when a familiar voice crackled over the radio.
"Heartbreak 1 to allied fighters. Looks like you guys could use some help!" Bartlett exclaimed as he, Team SDOW and an SE-29 quickly climbed above the mountains and formed an element behind Heartbreak 1. "We'll explain where we've been later, right now we need to weaken the enemy forces and get back to the city! Things aren't looking too good back there!"
"Works for me!" Cipher responded as his own Astromech, R3-S4 confirmed that the SE-29 that arrived with Bartlett was on their side. "Time to dive into the fireworks. Garuda Team, form up with me Pixy. Heartbreak 1, form up with Mobius 1, Crow 3 and…"
"Alice." The SE-29 pilot replied.
"Right, Alice. Team SDOW, you guys stay together. Work as a team and take these boys down!" he ordered; banking hard left avoiding the incoming cannon fire from one of the enemy craft. To his surprise, the rounds he avoided were lasers. "Be advised! These planes are modified with the same hybrid cannons we have!" he shouted.
"Roger that!" the other pilots shouted and broke off into their assigned groups
"Alright girls, lets kick some ass!" Sarah exclaimed and pressed the fire button, launching a missile at an enemy SE-31. The missile slammed into the enemy plane, turning it into a fireball. As the enemy craft plummeted to the mountains below, a hostile S33 opened up with its twin 30mm cannons. Quickly, Sarah dived down and pulled a split-s maneuver which the enemy pilot did the same, firing their cannons at the leader of Team SDOW. Sarah on the other hand wasn't worried in the bit and hit the brakes hard, allowing the enemy plane to fly past her and right into her gunsights. A quick burst of 30mm rounds riddled the enemy craft, a lucky shot hitting the canopy and killing the pilot before the plane slammed into the mountains.
Wyn acquired a missile lock on an enemy craft and just as she was about to fire the enemy fighter snapped upwards and was directly over her cockpit. Gritting her teeth, the pink-haired Mandalorian slammed on her breaks, narrowly missing the enemy missile that would have killed her and fired her own missile. The enemy missile missed her, but her missile found its target and turned the enemy craft into twisted falling wreck of metal. "I'm a badass! Here's a pop quiz: What is it that makes us the best pilots in all of Atlas? Answer is, our piloting and teamwork!" she quipped.
Dominque and Olivia chuckled at their teammates quip, acquired a target lock on four enemy fighters and each launched two missiles at their targets. Two of the enemy fighters were turned into scrap-metal while the other two jinked hard to try and break the missile lock, only to end up joining their comrades down below. "Keep on the pressure and don't underestimate them!" Dominque shouted, picking out one of the enemy S33's and going after it.
Alice kept her focus on a group of enemy SE-29's and although she had a lock on four enemy craft, she waited for the right moment before she fired her four BVR missiles. The missiles tracked their targets and slammed into the enemy craft, sending four flaming wrecks down to the ground. Cannon fire streaked passed her cockpit, narrowly missing R7 who whined in alarm as another enemy SE-29 overshot her and passed right through her gun sights.
A smirk appeared underneath her helmet as she banked hard right and went after the enemy plane, getting into gun range before her fingers pulled the trigger, sending a lethal volley of 30mm rounds into the enemy craft before it pitched nose down and slammed into the ground.
Dante, PJ and Captain Bartlett each launched a pair of missiles, scoring a single kill before three SE-31's overshot the three pilots, ending up right in the gunsights of the three Remnant pilots who were quick to unleash a barrage of 20mm cannon fire downing the enemy craft. "We need to wrap this up quick!" Bartlett shouted.
"No shit, Cap! R5 already picked up transmissions about the increasing concentration of Grimm approaching the Kingdom!" Rick exclaimed as Neo, Cipher and Pixy zigzagged to avoid enemy cannon fire. "All pilots, listen up! Form an element around Cipher and arm your long-range-missiles. If we can have them focus on dodging the missiles, we can get back to Vale and warn the kingdom." he instructed.
"This is Cipher. I copy you, Trigger. Sure, you don't want the lead position?" Cipher acknowledged and asked.
"Negative. You take the lead, teacher." Rick replied. He heard Cipher chuckle from the other side of the radio as the twelve planes formed up wing-tip to wing-tip and armed their long-range missiles. Once they were in range, a literal wall of missiles streaked towards the enemy craft, destroying some of them and forcing the others to break away in an attempt to evade the missiles. "Let's get the hell out of here!" Rick shouted and turned back to Vale with the rest of the planes.
(End song)
As the sixteen planes headed back for the safety of Vale, Galen and the others continued to search for Cinder and her associates but found nothing when the match between Pyrrha and Penny came. Pyrrha, who was already feeling confused about what Ozpin and the others told her was starting to feel a bit better after a pep talk from Jaune, who told her that she was in charge of her own destiny. As a result, Pyrrha decided that when the Vytal festival was over, she was going to side with Plo and his suggestion to send Amber to an off-planet location where she could get the help she needed. She was also quite shocked when Ruby told her that Penny was an android capable of generating an Aura.
Ruby had a terrible thought that if Emerald tried to interfere with Galen's match against Mercury, she would do the same thing with Pyrrha and Penny's match, possibly forcing Pyrrha to accidently kill Penny. Not wanting to have the thought of someone, even a machine that was capable of emotions, Pyrrha came up with an idea. If anyone spotted Emerald in the coliseum, they would signal Pyrrha anyway they could and she would drag the match out as long as possible to keep Emerald from using her semblance or until she was captured, even stating that she wouldn't use her semblance.
Galen agreed with the plan and as Pyrrha entered the ring, he, Ruby, Ren, Nora, Rose and Jaune continued to search the coliseum for any signs of the enemy. Arthur, March, Blake and Weiss, along with Rex, Fives, Echo, Hevy, Jesse, Hardcase and Kix searched the fairgrounds while Yang and Ahsoka searched Beacon for any signs of the three, all keeping in constant communication with each other.
The match had yet to start when Ruby caught a sight of Emerald in stands on the side of the arena where Penny was waiting eagerly for the match. Quickly, she took out her scroll, opened it and sent a message to Galen who had spotted Cinder ducking into the maintance corridors who then opened his own scroll and flashed its flashlight on and off to Pyrrha, who was about to enter the arena.
Pyrrha waved to Galen, making it look like she was waving to her fans. Galen acknowledged it and immediately went after Cinder. A message from Ruby indicated that his girlfriend had spotted Mercury entering the maintance corridors himself and she was giving chase. Galen followed after Cinder, having a feeling there was a lot more to her than he or anyone either thought.
Dashing down the corridor, Galen ran into Ruby who had lost sight of Mercury as Galen did with Cinder. Or so they thought, both of them sensed an attack coming from the side and quickly dodged the attack before Mercury's lightsaber was pulled off Galen's belt and levitated in the air before Mercury reclaimed his weapon. "Thanks for returning this to me. I was wondering when I would get this back." he joked, walking out of the shadows.
"I'm going to ask you once; where did you get that weapon?" Galen demanded, reaching for his own lightsaber as did Ruby with Obi-Wan's second lightsaber.
Neither one of them activated their weapons until Cinder's heel's clattered across the ground, her hands clapping. "Bravo, bravo, Jedi. I must admit, I thought everyone here was as stupid as your girlfriend here." she began, getting an annoyed and pouty face from Ruby. "You knew I wasn't who I claimed to be, had your slave soldiers remove the virus I planted into the CCT and delayed the Grimm from demolishing this kingdom. Quite impressive, for the Demon Lord." She added.
"Ok, first off. Rex, Fordo and the others, they aren't slaves." Ruby countered, ready to activate her weapons blade at a moment's notice. "Second, how do you know about the Jedi?" Ruby asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mercury questioned in a teasing manner; his finger ready to ignite his own weapons blade. "Oh yeah, I heard that Neo went and switched sides. Multicolor haired bitch. I knew we should have killed her rather than manipulate her into working with us." He added.
"You poisoned her mind with lies. Lies that Rick had abandoned her when he was looking for her, like his… sister." Galen countered when he realized the truth. "It was you three. You're the ones that attacked Trigger's sister! Why did you attack her?!" he demanded.
"Let's just say, Amber had something that rightfully belongs to me." Cinder replied with an evil grin, pulling out a pair of lightsabers and ignited their blood red blades, as did Mercury with his own blade. "Sadly, you won't be able to stop the arrival of him." she added, just as Port announced the start of the match between Pyrrha and Penny.
"Show time." Mercury stated and dashed towards Ruby, ready to bring his red blade down onto the young leader, only for a blue blade to block his own blade just in the nick of time. Galen's dual blades ignited and he charged at Cinder who was quick to launch lightning from her finger tips, forcing Galen to block the lightning.
Both Ruby and Galen traded blows with their opponents. Remembering what she saw in Galen's match, Ruby countered each of Mercury's attacks with the same combination of Form VI and Form III moves Obi-Wan taught her during their meeting on Tatooine. Ruby's attacks were more controlled and focused, keeping Mercury on the defensive but she still had to contend with the occasional blast from Mercury's boots which she was able to block. "I don't know what Cinder promised you, but I won't let you and her get away with it!" she exclaimed, dashing in a storm of rose petals towards Mercury who attempted to block the attack, only to get a swift double kick to the chest and knocking him back quite a few feet.
"Little red-headed bitch!" Mercury snarled, launching multiple projectiles from his boots towards Ruby who either blocked or dodged before she sent a nearby barrel right into Mercury's body. Mercury sliced through the barrel only to get hit by multiple blasts from Ruby's blaster pistol, reducing Mercury's Aura a bit. "Damn you!" he cursed.
"You might know a thing or two about wielding a lightsaber or sword, but when it comes to blocking blaster fire, you're inexperienced in that department!" Ruby stated, dashing towards Mercury with her semblance, catching Mercury off guard and knocking his lightsaber out of his hands before destroying it. A powerful force push from Ruby slammed Mercury into the wall, knocking him out. "Take a load off, I've got a tragedy to stop." She quipped and dashed towards the other exit, leaving Cinder alone with Galen.
Cinder, try as she might tried to overpower Galen with her limited skills in Juyo, but Galen countered each of her attacks having trained in Juyo extensively. Deciding to change tactics, Cinder switched to Form II and kept herself on the defensive as Galen kept changing his form of combat to keep Cinder guessing as to what his next move would be. "What do you hope to accomplish with these acts? What is it you wish to gain from all of this? Don't you realize the Empire will plunder the planet for its resources and enslave its people?" he questioned.
"I do not care about what the Empire has planned for the planet. All I want is the power that rightfully belongs to me and I will crush anyone who stands in my way." Cinder replied coldly, calling upon the force and sent a surge of lightning towards Galen who raised his sabers to block the lightning. "Besides, you should be more worried about your little friends instead." She added, dropping a small device on the ground, which exploded and exploded with a bang, disorienting Galen long enough for her to make her escape.
His ears rang for several seconds before the light from the explosion faded from his eyes, but when Galen finally regained his senses, Cinder had vanished to who knows where. "Damn it! She got away!" he cursed and reached for his scroll. A news report showed that the fight between Penny and Pyrrha was still going on with Pyrrha gaining the upper hand as Penny's aura was in the red. The orange haired girl was about to make a move when all of a sudden, Galen spotted an imperial sniper on the coliseum roof taking aim with their rifle.
"No!" Galen shouted and dashed to the arena floor. "PENNY! BEHIND YOU!" he shouted just as the sniper pulled the trigger and sent a bolt straight through Penny's body. The orange haired girl fell to the ground and ceased moving, causing the entire crowd to gasp in horror just as Cinder's voice came over the loudspeaker.
"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to men who claim to be our guardians, but are in reality nothing more than men." She began, causing many members of the audience to look uneasy. "Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both." Ironwood realized she was talking about him, grimaced and rose from his seat, marching up the steps as Cinder continued her speech.
"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nations attempt to do whatever it takes to win, even hiring an assassin to ensure their victory over another nations attempt at a synthetic army. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference." She continued, Pyrrha looking in the direction where the shot came from and watching the sniper leave the scene, her fists clenched in suppressed anger. Everyone else watched and listened to the broadcast from their respective locations. "And what, I ask you is Ozpin teaching his students? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded the streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves."
Ozpin watched the screen intently, his cane by his side as Atlesian Airships hovered outside window while Sentinel and Sabre fighters took off from one of the airships and headed towards the city. "As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark." Cinder went on.
On the Kingdom's out permitter, two Atlas soldiers watched the message on their scroll unaware of the wave of Grimm behind them before several clones spotted the Grimm and opened fire. The Atlas soldiers were soon quick to open fire as well, blasting several creatures of Grimm down, but the sheer number of Grimm ensured that more rush past them while Cinder, from her position in the city continued to stir up trouble with a malevolent smile. "So I ask you: When the first shots are fired… who do you think you can trust?"
As she finished her speech, the sixteen pilots landed their planes and were quick to instruct the ground crews to rearm and refuel their planes as fast as they could. They were just about to start when several weapons cocked behind them and found themselves face-to-face with several platoons of Stormtroopers.
Everyone was confused about what was going on when an alarm announced an incoming Grimm attack, with a threat level of nine. The crowd soon started to flee, wild and screaming through the exit tunnels while Ironwood entered the announcers' box, grabbing the microphone and tried to calm the crowd down, only to have his words become in vain when a Giant Nevermore appeared atop the arena's domed force field, giving a series of deafening screeches as it clawed and pecked at the defense with its beak, much to the surprise of the students. A grave reminder from Ozpin turned Ironwoods worry to determination before he ordered his forces into emergency combat formation.
On one of the Atlas ships, the Captain watched as giant Nevermores attacked the ships with minimal effort as soldiers scramble to enter the commands inside the bridge before the Captain ordered his ships into defensive formation. One of the ships quickly moved into position, but the second one failed to respond.
He didn't know that the entire crew of the airship was dead as Imperial Stormtroopers who had managed to disguise themselves as Atlas soldiers, released an imprisoned Roman Torchwick, who was quick to shot down one of the airships.
At the base the Jedi were using, Plo was in a deep meditation when Commander Wolfe rushed in. "General! We've detected multiple enemy ships dropping out of hyperspace! The Kingdom of Vale is under attack!" he shouted.
"We must defend the Kingdom!" Plo exclaimed.
(Imperial March starts)
Dropping out of hyperspace, full of soldiers ready for battle a massive fleet of Victory and Imperial-class Star Destroyers, Vindicator-Class heavy cruisers, Imperial Action Transports and support craft began to make their descent to Remnant's surface while hundreds of TIE fighters, TIE Bombers, Sentinel landing craft were deployed.
From the bridge of the lead Star Destroyer, Darth Vader watched as the invasion of the planet began. Behind him, Admiral Kendal Ozzel, a veteran of the Clone Wars and commander of the invasion approached him. "Lord Vader, our advance forces have already begun to cripple the enemies defensive capabilities and we are ready to begin landing our troops on the other land masses." He reported.
"No, Admiral. Our invasion will focus on the Kingdom of Vale. That is where former Commander Ahsoka Tano and Starkiller are located. We will crush them swiftly and efficiently. I want no mistakes, Admiral. Remember that or their will be consequences." He reminded the Admiral before he headed for the hanger where his fighter was being prepared. Once the preparations were complete, his TIE Advanced launched from the hanger and followed after the rest of the invasion force.
(End song)
As the imperial invasion broke into the atmosphere, White Fang SE-21's and F4's formed up with the S35s, and SE-31's of the Grabacr, Ofnir and Schwarze squadrons of the Imperial Special Operations squadrons along with the remaining SE-29 and S33's of the Drossel, Meteor and Falke squadrons. The massive swarm of fighters headed towards their respective targets after a few White-Fang fighters fired missiles at one of the bridges in the city, destroying it and killing multiple civilians.
At the same time, multiple White Fang Bullheads arrived at Beacons cliffside landing platform, the middle one opening it up as Adam Taurus gave his men their orders. "Bring them to their knees!" he ordered as another Bullhead opened its door, unleashing the Grimm inside it.
And thus, the Battle of Vale has begun.
Now I am sure that many of you are thinking that I have followed the canon story and have it seemed like Penny had died, but I can assure you that you'll be in for a surprise next chapter.
Now, even though Galen and the others were able to remove the virus from the CCT, Cinder was still able to hack into the broadcast systems of the CCT, allowing her to send her message to the people. Of course, it required a bit of rewriting since Yang was accused of attacking a downed Mercury and Pyrrha didn't 'kill' Penny.
Now, trust me when I say that I have plans for Pyrrha, so don't expect her to die in this story.
Alright, I'm not going to say anything else other than I just learned that one of my aunts passed away recently at the same age my grandpa was when he passed. She was really sick and hasn't really been the same since her husband, one of my uncles who served in World War 2 passed away. For those of you who have ever felt like crying when a loved one dies, never forget the good times you had with them and they will always be in your hearts for the rest of your life.
Alright, please read, review and I'll see you all next time. The Bad Batch airs if five days and I can't wait.