Okay my readers, real talk. With all this over time I've been doing as of late my days have been blurring together. Fortunately those days seem to be behind me so I'll have more free time on my hands to do more writing. Honestly I thought I had posted something last weekend but It turns out that was just the beginnings chapter.
Now though...the mass effect legendary edition just came out so, yeah this week is gonna be tough cause there's a crap load of things I need to do before I can play that masterpiece. I swear there's just so much to do before I can even play it that it just makes me want to throw everything aside just for that game...but I won't cause I'm just too stubborn at times. Anyways on to the story.
Vale
Fires burned in the distance and the sound of civilians screaming could be heard from every direction, it was madness to say the least. Saphron sliced a beowolves head off after she pinned it against the wall with her shield. It felt like there was no end to the amount of grimm she'd slain and with each new kill another two more would take it's place. The elder blonde wiped the sweat from her brow when she finally had a moment to herself...the moment was short lived however when a new group of beowolves came running out of a nearby ally.
"Damn it all to remnant" she growled angrily before looking over to the rest of her companions. The four boys looked pretty exhausted and yang was panting hard enough to make her feel dizzy. It really sucked but she did what she had to do "Hey! New group of grimm incoming" she announced to the rest. Yang raised her fists and the boys hoisted their weapon when they caught sight of the charging beasts. Before anyone could even fire off a bullet a blood red portal sprung up behind the elder arc and several individuals flew from within towards the charging grimm.
Saphron couldn't help the laughter that escaped her lips. "About time you guys got here, and here I thought I'd have to save vale all on my lonesome" she said to the raven haired woman who exited the portal last. Raven smirked "sorry to ruin your big moment but if you'd like I can always come back later"?
"No"! yang and the boys yelled together, unsure if she was just kidding or being totally serious.
Raven looked towards the tired children and huffed "back in my day huntsmen and huntresses were made of sterner stuff". A tanned hand wrapped around ravens waist and drew her into her husbands side. "Come on ray, not everyone is born a badass or comes out nearly as hot as you are" tai said a little too happily. The raven haired woman met his eye for a moment before a smile blossomed on her lips. "I suppose so" she said before flying out of tai's grasp to slice a beowolf in two for getting to close to saphron when she wasn't looking.
"Man I love it when she's like that" the elder man said before rushing off after his wife.
Saphron slumped down to one knee but kept her sword ready for anything when qrow and summer came over. The silver eyed woman took a knee in front of the blonde and started to look her over. "No injuries of any kind but after fighting for so long I can imagine you've probably used your semblance quite a lot today". The blonde nodded her head "yeah, there were a few beringel roaming around that needed to be taken care of". Summer smiled warmly "I'm just glad to see your alright" she then looked over to yang "the both of you".
Yang smiled and raised one of her fists into the air "come on *pant* auntie summer I could've *pant* kept going...". She was cut off the next moment when a red blur slammed into her side and knocked her off her feet. Yang groaned on the floor as ruby's hands checked every nook and cranny of her cousins body. After several minutes of not finding anything potentially life threatening the small girl sat back on her rump "your okay" she cried happily as she hugged her beloved cousin.
"Ru-" before she could finish the small girl quickly peeled herself off.
"Eww, your all sweaty and gross" she screamed as she tried to wipe herself off.
Qrow and summer couldn't help but chuckle at the silliness their daughter showed in the middle of a practical warzone. Not long after their arrival the streets had been cleared of any remaining grimm. "I kinda wish there were a few more around, I was barely getting warmed up" raven complained as she rejoined the rest of them. Tai chuckled "give qrow's semblance time to work it's magic and we'll be swimming in grimm".
The man in question rolled his eye's but couldn't deny the possibility was there. As if to prove tai correct the ground shook and a roar was heard all throughout the city. The group covered their ears in an attempt to block out the horrible cry and were only half successful in the attempt. With ringing ears someone amongst them asked "what was that"? There wasn't a need for an answer because the next minute a large shadow blocked out the sun and descended on the city. Cardins mace slipped from his fingers as he stared up at the monstrosity that landed in the center of the city. "We're dead" the tall boy said hopelessly.
"That's mine" summer yelled just as raven hoisted her katana up to say the same. The raven haired woman rounded on her partner "I saw it first"! Summer stuck her tongue out at raven before heading down the street towards the leviathan class grimm. Raven chased after her partner as fast as she could, leaving the huntsmen and huntresses in training to gawk like a bunch of idiots at their antics.
"Sometimes I gotta wonder how we ended up with such crazy women like them" qrow mused.
Tai stood next to his brother in law and crossed his arms over his chest "trust me, I've asked myself that question more times then I can count". He turned to look at qrow "but tell me could you ever see yourself without her"?
Qrow didn't even bother to think about it when he answered "nope". After all summer had given him from a home to a beautiful daughter, he wouldn't even be half the man he was without her in his life.
/
Blake held a hand out for yang to grab. The blonde was reluctant at first but felt like she shouldn't become too attached to her position on the ground in case grimm decided to show up. She grabbed hold of the cat faunus's hand and was pulled to her feet a moment later to meet amber eyes. Yang took a step back and looked around "I don't see your boyfriend with you" she said bitterly.
"He's busy hunting down the ones behind all this at the moment" blake answered. The two went quite for a moment, leaving saphron to break the silence. "Jaune knows where the mastermind is hiding"? The cat faunus nodded before pointing to a floating airship in the distance. "There" she said. Saphron eyed the floating airship for a moment "I see".
Ruby zipped into saphrons line of sight with a worried expression on her face "come on guys we need to help my mom before something bad happens". Qrow walked over and placed his hand on his daughters head "I wouldn't worry too much about that". Just as he finished saying so a blinding light engulfed the large grimm from head to toe. Everyone looked in the direction of the large grimm as soon as the light faded to see the grimm was completely white all of a sudden, before slowly turning to dust in the wind.
"What just happened" ruby asked her dad.
Qrow smiled knowingly "your mother, that's what".
/
Atlas airship / control room
Cinder typed away at the screen until the door to the control room opened up. She looked away from her screen to see vernal standing at the entrance with her weapon drawn and aimed at her. She smirked before clicking something on the screen. Vernal fired a bullet and cracked the screen a second later to get cinders attention "don't turn your back on me" she hissed.
Cinder let out a sigh before turning around to face the brunette "happy now"? Vernal stared at the girls face before breaking out in to laughter.
"What's so funny" cinder asked.
The brunette wiped a tear away with her free hand "that pizza crust you call a face. I have to say though It's quite the improvement". The comment earned vernal a glare from the raven haired women. Cinder raised a hand and created a ball of fire in her palm "maybe you'd like one to match?! Or maybe I can take it a bit further and give you a full body makeover".
Vernal drew her second gun blade and leveled it on her opponent "give it your best shot".
The tension was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. Cinder and vernal squared off, ready for the slightest movement to react to. Vernal struck first, firing off several shots from her gun blade as she rushed forward. Cinder side stepped past the first few bullets before creating two dual swords made of black glass to deflect the bullets vernal shot off at close range.
In no time the two had all but forgoed range fighting in favor of trading blows with their weapons. They were both trained by the same master and were taught to dodge incoming fire from any direction so as to force there opponents to rely on their melee skills instead which they both excelled at. With the both of them as skilled as they were the battle was fairly even.
Vernal fired off two shots, one from each gun as she rushed her ex-teammate. Cinder slashed through both bullets with her blades before trying to cross slash the brunette. Vernal saw the attack coming and slid on her knees to avoid it before returning the favor by slashing cinders leg mid slide. The raven haired woman gritted her teeth upon feeling her aura take a hit for her before spinning on her heel to attack the brunette before she could recover.
Cinder brought one of her swords down in a overhead strike but was stopped when vernal bent backwards and crossed her gun blades above her head. Black glass clashed against steel for a brief second before vernal latched onto cinders blade with her gun blades and spun around, forcing the raven haired womans blade to point downward and expose the back of her forearm and face to the brunette. The gun blade fired off two shots but cinder placed her second sword in the way of her face to prevent getting shot in her only good eye.
With the bullets deflected, cinder brought her left sword around and aimed for vernals neck only for the brunette to duck out of the way and jump back when cinder pushed forward. Cinder spun on her heel and slashed with her left before trying to thrust directly through vernals head with her right. Both attacks missed their marks but the second one nipped the side of the brunettes face causing her to close her left eye for a brief second.
A few more slashes and cinder forced vernal back towards one of the terminals. When vernal felt her back hit a metal surface she knew what cinders next attack would be and jumped up on top of the terminal when the raven haired woman slashed at the waist. The glass sword sliced through the metal bottom of the terminal with the ease of a knife through butter.
Seeing her chance the brunette jumped forward and slashed downward with her gun blades as she flipped over her opponent. Cinder blocked the attack with her second blade but couldn't defend when vernal fired two more shots downward into her shoulder and forehead. She stumbled backwards and received a kick to her spine by her opponent, forcing her forward into the damaged terminal. Years of combat training told her not to remain still for even a second unless she was trying to die.
Cinder rolled over the damaged terminal and brought both of her swords up just in time to defend against the brunettes twin gun blades. It became a battle of strength and cinder knew she drew the short end because vernal put more weight behind her weapon and began to force the raven haired womans blades down towards her chest.
"Guess your still nothing but talk after all" vernal growled as she pushed cinders blade into her chest causing her aura to activate to protect her.
It was the final straw and cinder released a mighty roar in anger. "GET THE HELL OFF ME"! she screamed as the maidens power burst to life to create a blast of wind that blew vernal across the room with little effort. The brunette slammed into the terminals on the opposite side of the room, crushing them with all the force behind cinders maiden outburst. Vernal tried to pull herself out of the wreckage in time to mount some kind of defense but cinder wasted no time in capitalizing on her opponents defenseless position.
She created a burst of fire to launch herself quickly across the room, abandoning her swords in favor of grabbing vernal by her throat with her left hand before forcing her down into the broken terminal once more. Cinder raised her right hand in the air and created a ball of fire with her semblance before bringing it down to roast her ex-teammate. The second her hand came close to the brunettes face the fire vanished and water splashed on her face instead. Confusion was the first thing cinder felt and the next was the painful feeling of getting shot several times in the gut at close range thanks to vernals twin gun blades.
The second cinder back off slightly from the pain, vernal put her leg between them and kicked the raven haired woman away. Cinder held her gut and growled angrily while she glared hatefully at the brunette. Vernal got the floor under her feet once more as she rubbed her throat with with the back of her wrist. "heh, if it wasn't for that maiden power you got this wouldn't be as fun".
Cinder released a breath and calmed herself down before meeting vernals gaze once more "let me show you just how much fun this is going to be". With that said her eyes glowed brightly and power flowed freely from her finger tips. Her semblance was reversed thanks to vernals but the maidens power commanded all the elements, not just fire or water. Focusing on the element she wanted the maiden power obliged and lightning crackled through the air.
Vernal felt a bead of sweat slide down her face. "Damn" she said nervously as she watched cinder command the lightning to obey her. Her hands tightened on the dual gun blades as she got into her combat stance. When cinder aimed her hand in the brunettes direction, vernal charged forward to continue their battle.
/
Beacon
At the time that vernal confronted cinder in the control room, the raven haired woman finished putting in the command to begin dropping atlesian knights and paladins on Beacon academies lands.
The drops caught the Beacon residents off guard which resulted in several students getting injured when the white knights and paladins began to mobilize and open fired on them. Those that got injured in the beginning were recovered and brought inside the academy, leaving the teachers and atlas's general to handle the heavy lifting. Machines fell to pieces around them, some with bullet holes from the generals handguns or were battered and beaten until nothing remained.
Several white knights locked on to Beacons headmaster, only to lose sight of him the very next second as the elder wizard vanished in a blur and reappeared behind the machines as if he was there the whole time. The machines fell to pieces like old villains in the movies that got cut by a sword and didn't realize they were done for...at least until their top body part slipped off their bottom half. Ozpin placed the tip of his cane on the floor as he watched a paladin charge at him reckless abandon. The machine got within a few inches of the headmaster before it froze in place unable to move.
The next second the machine floated upwards and was crushed into a perfect sphere before dropping to the ground. Ozpin tapped the metal sphere with his cane before a small smile graced his features. "Thank you glynda, I'm not sure what I would have done if you weren't around" the old wizard said happily. The deputy head mistress raised a brow and looked at her boss "honestly you'd be just fine...and if not then maybe I'd get a promotion". She made sure to whisper the last part to herself.
Ironwood slammed a white knight on the ground before putting a bullet in the back of it's head for good measure. He looked over to Beacons headmaster a moment later. "Oz is now really the time for games? Besides this mess here, there are still white knights landing all throughout the academies campus and not enough teachers in your school to protect the students. And let's not forget the fact that a wyvern grimm just broke out a mountain and headed towards the city, where an invasion is taking place".
Ozpin tilted his head and listened for a moment before nodding his head. "It's true that there isn't enough huntsmen and huntresses on campus but we do have those in training, and their not as helpless as you'd believe". As if to back his statement there was an explosion that rang out from the opposite side of the school along with sounds of combat taking place. "And as for the wyvern problem I believe someones taking care of that" ozpin said knowingly.
Ironwood raised a brow and was about to ask who he was talking about when in the distance a large bright light shined from the city. The large wyvern grimm in the center of the city slowly turned to dust in the distance shortly after, leaving ironwood to stare in the distance dumbly.
A hand slapped the generals back to shake him from his stupor. When ironwood looked to see who had hit him, he came face to face with professor port. The elder hunter gave him a fist pump along with a large smile "come general! We mustn't be out done by mere students just yet can we"?! Ironwood didn't get a chance to answer when professor port took off with his fellow teacher and doctor bartholomew oobleck to hunt down more atlesian knights.
Ozpin chuckled softly as he came over to the generals side. He place a hand on ironwoods arm to gain his attention "james we have things handled here but your right, vale is in need of these students much more then this school does". The elder wizard looked to the city in the distance and let out a sigh "Head into the school and have our students begin the rescue mission as planned. Also be sure to take amber with you". Ironwood raised a brow before looking at his surroundings "speaking of, where did that woman run off to anyways"?
Ozpin chuckled softly "she had asked me if I still had any of her equipment around and I told her I did. She's probably searching for her staff at the moment". The general nodded "what about her armor? I'm sure with all this time you've had, her armors been cleaned and repaired I trust". Silence reigned as a guilty expression formed on ozpins face "sadly, I hadn't expected amber to survive her ordeal and as such I saw keeping her clothing and armor around was a waste of space so I discarded it. If I had learned of the young arc's semblance sooner I might have seen fit to actual keep her gear around, but hindsight is twenty twenty I suppose".
Ironwood accepted the answer and honestly he'd probably would have done the same in his case with how badly injured amber had seemed at the time. Still, to see what jaunes semblance could do for someone near death like that had been a real Eye opener. Unknowingly to ozpin and anyone else who hadn't seen what the young arc could do, the gears began to spin in ironwoods head at the application of such power...if in the right hands.
Moments later amber came out of Beacons doors with her staff in hand and a frown on her face. "Hey are we leaving yet? Or did you perhaps forget that we got a job to do old man ironwood"? The general let out a sigh before giving ozpin a stern look. Ozpin merely shrugged as he watched his old friend leave with the fall maiden.
Beacons deputy head mistress cleared her throat to gain her bosses attention. "As much as it pains me to inform you of this, I believe we have company coming" she said as she pointed out the large group of atlesian mechs marching towards them. Ozpin let out a small sigh in annoyance. "Very well let's give them a warm welcome" the old wizard said as he and his deputy entered the fray once more.
/
Beacons auditorium was filled with lockers and students equally from what they could tell. Ironwood looked to each student and saw coco adel approach him from the crowd. "How are preparations proceeding" he asked. The fashionista placed a hand on her hip and met his gaze "everythings all set and ready to go for the most part, we're just waiting for the all clear so we can lift off...plus we were waiting for you to get done with your fun outside". Ironwood raised a brow but coco didn't seem to care and shrugged in response "sorry not sorry".
The general chose to ignore the rather rude comment because he knew tensions were high already with everything going on. "Miss adel prepare to launch every student who's not engaged in combat at the moment to vale. There are already a few huntsmen there but they'll need are help if their trying to reclaim the city along with it's people safely". Coco wasted no time and rushed off to do what he told her to do. Several minutes later and the schools intercom came online "attention students of Beacon academy...and guests, we got word to move out so hop on those lockers and let's get to vale to do what we've been trained to do. Hop to it people there are lives on the line"!
The students in the auditorium began rushing to their lockers and some wished their friends and teammates good luck on the ride over.
"Also" coco spoke on the intercom "we need a few volunteers to stay and protect the school we all call home. First and second years will do but the rest need to get their happy asses on a locker cause we need experience to stop a kingdom ending event like this one. That is all".
Some seemed hesitant to remain behind but a few brave first and second years decided that they weren't going to let some machines destroy the home they made here with their teams. The few that left the auditorium went on to face the atlesian knights and paladins while the rest prepared for lift off. Ironwood grasped the locker with his metal hand and dented it with his firm grip.
He looked to the students once more and saw a few nervous faces before taking a deep breath "LIFT OFF" he yelled. The lockers began to shake before blasting off into the sky, leaving the ground and the school behind.
And that's where I'm gonna end it for now but man a lot is happening in this story and I hope I'm covering it all well. No jaune this chapter but there are plenty of characters doing things to try and end the greatest threat their kingdom has faced in a long time.
Thanks for reading and review if you can but please don't flame me. There's instructive criticism and being just hateful for no reason.