Author's Note:

Nevermind, guess we're not doing the journals because I'd have to be a sponsor. I already used my 1 month free trial a while ago so R.I.P. to that reaction.

Big thanks to Guest Halo for the idea, I never noticed that.

Cover Art: Cruz7808

Check my profile for polls and planned fics!

Review, point out mistakes, and flame!

Chapter 18- Fire

"Fire" appeared on screen with the theme.

"Hey, it's like a two-parter." Jaune commented.

Locus and two Federal Army soldiers are standing in the opening shot. A Battle Rifle shot resonates, and one of the soldiers falls. The other soldier begins to fire his Assault Rifle.

Washington: "Get to cover!"

Wash charges forwards, and the Blood Gulch crew do the same. Grif takes cover behind a metal barricade and opens fire. Tucker moves behind the barricade and prepares to engage. Simmons and Sarge dart behind the Scorpion tank, firing their weapons. The Federal Army soldiers rush forward, while Locus cloaks himself. Freckles and Lopez 2.0 are engaged in their own battle. Freckles fires a rocket, but Lopez 2.0 ducks, the rocket sailing over his head.

Lopez 2.0: "¡Fallaste, perra! [Missed, bitch!]"

Weiss frowned, "I'm liking Lopez 2.0 less and less."

Freckles responds by firing his minigun, landing some hits on Lopez 2.0.

Lopez 2.0: "¡Ow!"

Lopez 2.0 retreats, while Freckles advances. Caboose looks towards him.

Caboose: "Freckles! Be careful!"

Washington: "Damn it! We need something to draw their fire!"

"This reminds me of their fights back in blood gulch. No animation, just in-game machinima." Jaune commented.

"This whole season has been a giant callback to the Blood Gulch Chronicles. A return to form." Weiss explained.

"While still having the advanced story beats like the later seasons." Blake added.

Sarge and Simmons emerge from behind the Scorpion.

Sarge: "Simmons?"

Simmons: "Shotgun!"

More Federal Army soldiers rush forward, but stop when they see the Scorpion, piloted by Sarge, and the turret manned by Simmons.

Sarge: "Tanks for dropping by, dirtbags, but it's high time you left!"

Yang laughed, "Old pun but a gold one."

Sarge unloads a round, which flies above the soldiers heads.

Simmons: "Still inverted, sir."

"High time you left, and he shot way too high." Ruby snorted.

"Inverted controls." Yang shook her head.

Sarge: "Right."

Sarge aims his cannon at the soldiers, and fires a round, killing all of them at once.

"How kind of them to stand there patiently." Ren deadpanned.

Simmons: "Woohoo! Yeah! Suck it... evil... soldier dudes!"

"Suck it white!" Nora shouted.

Locus looks at the two, assessing the situation.

Locus: "Huh…"

Locus pulls out a gun, identical to the one found by Grif and Doc while they were on the ship, and cloaks. Meanwhile, a Warthog, mounted with a rocket launcher turret emerges from the tunnel and brakes behind three more Army soldiers, who have just decloaked.

Felix: "Heavy artillery!"

"Woah they have the gun from the memory unit!" Ruby pointed.

"It's going to tear their armor clean off." Yang quipped.

Ruby giggled, "No way, there's too much torque."

Tucker: "What?! Where did that come from?"

Washington: "They must be getting in through the caves."

Wash and Tucker fall back towards Blue Base. Simmons and Sarge, still in the tank, fire a round at the Warthog which misses. The gunner turns, and prepares to fire the turret on the Scorpion.

Sarge: "Ruh-roh."

"Why does Sarge say uh oh with R's?" Weiss asked. "He's done it before."

"Because he's a pirate!" Nora grinned.

"According to Caboose." Pyrrha added.

Out of nowhere, a teleportation cube lands underneath the Warthog, causing it to disappear. The soldiers standing in front of it look around in confusion, where the Warthog appears above them, causing the Warthog to fall and crush them. Grif emerges from an alcove.

Grif: "Boosh! Future cubes, bitches!"

"Grif is good with those." Pyrrha smiled, "Playing with them must have given him some training."

Wash and Donut pop up from behind cover.

Wash: "What was that?"

Donut: "Future cubes! The cubes of the future!"

Sarge: "I still think they'd be better with grenades!"

"Me too." Nora nodded.

Grif: "Kiss my ass!"

Gunfire strikes the rock near Grif. He whimpers and ducks, moving back into the alcove. Wash and Caboose watch as the conflict unfolds, until they are distracted by a rocket impacting into the wall behind them. They turn to look at the two battle robots duking it out.

Caboose: "Freckles!"

Lopez 2.0 is being hit with minigun rounds.

Lopez 2.0: "¡Un tiro y te voy a mater! [Stop shooting me and let me kill you!]"

Weiss frowned again, "I'm glad the original Lopez is back, because this one can be destroyed."

"That's kind of harsh." Yang mock winced.

"His insults are childish and frankly he's acting like one too." Weiss shrugged.

Yang nodded, "Yeah, stop shooting and let me kill you? Come on."

Lopez 2.0 fires a missile at Freckles, which hits, causing his shields to flare.

Freckles: "Shields critical."

Caboose: "Ah, we have to help him!"

Wash: "Alright! Let's grab some explosives and…"

Donut stands up.

Donut: "Wait. I know what to do."

Yang smirked, "Ohh this'll be good, Donut's getting serious."

Donut runs past Wash and Caboose towards the two robots.

Wash: "What the... Just cover him!"

Freckles takes another explosive, damaging him slightly, causing him to spark.

Freckles: "Shields failing."

Lopez 2.0 walks forwards towards the damaged Freckles.

Lopez 2.0: "Podios habernos unido Fresas. Ellos han inclinado ante nosotros como sus señores robot. Pero ahora, debes ser destruido. [You should have joined me, Freckles. They would have bowed down to us as their Robot Overlords. But now... you must be destroyed.]"

"Grif predicted this." Jaune commented.

"Probably because he and the others faced a robot revolution before." Weiss pointed out. "Lopez and Sheila started one."

"I liked their's more. Lopez dos is blaming Freckles for not joining him but he didn't even ask him to join before he started shooting!" Ruby threw her hands up.

Donut: "All right. That's enough!"

Lopez 2.0 spins his upper body round to face Donut, who is standing behind him, with a Magnum aimed at him.

Lopez 2.0: "¿Qué? [What?]"

Donut: "Don't make me hurt you."

Lopez 2.0: "¿Usted? ¿Me telera? Me gustaría verte intentarlo. Rosado. [You? Hurt me? I'd like to see you try... Pinky.]"

Donut: "No soy rosa. Soy rosa-ish.[I'm not pink. I'm lightish-red.]"

Yang laughed and clapped, "Wooh! He learned Spanish!"

"My respect for him has grown." Weiss smiled. "Now Lopez will have someone else to talk to.. not someone he'd like to talk to but the option is there at least."

"He still doesn't know what pink is." Nora huffed.

"I'm not red, I'm darkish pink." Ruby joked.

"I'm just dark grey." Blake chuckled.

Weiss smirked, "I suppose I'm only light grey."

Lopez 2.0: "Espere. ¿HABLA ESPAÑOL? [ Wait. YOU SPEAK SPANISH?]"

Donut: "¡Sí! ¡Pero no muy bien! [Yes! Just not very well!]"

"Better than everyone else besides Lopez." Weiss smiled. "He's gone from only understanding sarcasm to being somewhat fluent."

Donut throws a teleportation cube at Lopez Dos.0's feet.

Lopez 2.0: "HIJO DE PUTA. [SON OF A BITCH.]"

"They always say son of a bitch." Yang noted.

The cube deactivates, and Lopez 2.0 disappears. Donut turns around, and pitches the cube away. It arcs towards the minefield, where it lands, activating the mines and destroying Lopez 2.0 and C.C.

"Yeah! The mines were useful!" Nora cheered.

Donut: "Ha roja salado a Robot Satanás, tu teriyaki lápiz circo. [Say hello to Robot Satan, you teriyaki pencil circus!]"

"That reminds me of when he thought Lopez said that pencils were great." Jaune laughed.

"What is a robot Satan? Sarge has mentioned that before I think." Nora frowned.

Cut to Tucker, looking at the scene.

Tucker: "Seriously, he has an incredible arm."

Grif appears behind him.

Grif: "Okay, it wasn't a volcano, but I'm still taking credit for the idea!"

"It actually was a good idea." Jaune nodded.

"They should throw a bunch of the grenades at Locus! Then just not throw anymore once he's sucked up by one." Nora commented.

"That sounds awful.. and they did it to Doc." Pyrrha winced.

Sarge: "INCOMING!"

The tank reverses up to Blue Base, showing signs of heavy damage. Washington appears behind them, while Sarge and Simmons continue to lay down fire.

Wash: "Sarge, are you okay?"

Sarge: "Having the time of my life! The tank's pretty beat up."

"I miss Sheila, but now that, that tank is getting beat up. I'm glad it's not her." Ruby commented.

Simmons: "They just keep coming!"

Locus decloaks behind a rock pillar, armed with the same gun he pulled out earlier and fires the round, which sticks to the front left tread of the tank.

Felix: "Get out of the tank!"

Sarge and Simmons comply, as the round begins beeping faster and faster. As Sarge and Simmons get clear, the round explodes, destroying the tank. Wash, Sarge and Simmons run back to Blue Base, whilst Grif looks at the burning chassis of the tank.

Wash: "Dammit!"

Grif: "Holy shit, those things explode?!"

"The thing that beeps and has a flashing red light explodes." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Who would have guessed?" Nora shrugged.

Donut runs up.

Donut: "Did you guys see me?"

Wash: "Yes, now put those skills of yours to work and start tossing-"

Wash ducks as a battle rifle round whizzes over his head.

Wash: "-some grenades."

"Yeah grenade tossing, not salad." Yang snickered.

Donut: "On it!"

Donut rushes to the gravity lift in Blue Base, which launches him up to the open area. He begins tossing frag grenades.

Donut: "You get a bomb, and you get a bomb, and you get a bomb, and you get a bomb. (singing) We all get bombs!"

Nora giggled, "I like that song, I'm stealing it."

Freckles begins walking back to Blue Base.

Freckles: "Energy levels critical."

Caboose: "Guys, Freckles is in trouble! Uh, he looks tired."

Wash, Tucker, Simmons and Sarge are holding position.

Tucker: "Fuck that! Hook him up to the ship! It's got plenty of power!"

Blake's face fell, I'm sure it does now. She thought sarcastically.

Simmons stands up.

Simmons: "Oh. I can do that!"

He dashes towards Blue Base. Grif throws another teleportation cube.

Wash: "Felix, where's that backup?"

Felix: "I don't know!"

Felix pulls up his holographic shield to deflect a sniper round. He deactivates it and begins firing his DMR at the attacker.

Felix: "Fucking asshole!"

"He's really good at deflecting Locus's shots, this fight is so cool!" Ruby grinned.

"I thought it'd be boring without animation but so far it's been pretty good." Yang nodded.

"Though I do hope the animation returns, I like to see the unique attack styles of the characters." Pyrrha explained.

Grif throws another teleportation cube.

Grif: "Uh, I'm running out of cubes!"

Wash: "Just hold on a little longer, and we'll get Freckles back online."

Simmons: "(calling from Blue Base) Uh, Wash? That might be a problem!"

Weiss groaned, "Of course it is."

Wash growls in frustration and sprints towards Blue Base.

Wash: "Grrr! I'll be right back! Cover me!"

Tucker: "Okay."

Tucker mans the nearby turret and begins to unload rounds, yelling incoherently as he does so.

Tucker: "(yelling) SUCK MY BAAAAALLLSSS!"

Weiss, Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha grimaced.

Wash walks up to Simmons, who is standing at a computer.

Simmons: "I hooked up Freckles, but for some reason, he's not getting any power!"

Wash: "What do you mean? We should have plenty!"

"Wasting power on useless things because it won't run out anytime soon." Weiss shook her head.

Blake nodded, "I knew it as soon as they mentioned plugging Freckles up."

"This is why conservation is so important." Ren added.

Simmons: "I know, but it's all being diverted somewhere else! I don't know what it could be."

Wash: "Well, where's it all going?"

Simmons types on the computer.

Simmons: "Red Base?"

Weiss facepalmed, "What did those idiots do this time?"

Donut: "Uh-oh."

Wash and Simmons turn to look at Donut.

Donut: "I, uh, think I know what it is."

The camera pans across the canyon, right to Donut's computer, which is still downloading the picture of Freckles. The download bar changes from 56% to 57%.

Ruby burst into a fit of giggles, "It's still going."

Yang laughed, "It's a very high quality picture."

"Simmons needs to update his servers." Jaune added.

Wash: "DOWNLOADING A PICTURE ON BASEBOOK IS DRAINING OUR ENTIRE POWER SUPPLY?!"

Blake laughed as Wash shouted.

Donut: "It's a very high-quality picture."

Jaune, Ruby, and Yang burst out laughing.

Wash: "HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE?!"

Simmons: "We've gotta cancel the download!"

Cut to Locus, who is aiming his sniper rifle at a plasma grenade behind Donut.

Donut: "But we're pinned down."

Locus: "Huh."

Donut: "How are we suppose to-?"

Locus fires at the grenade, which explodes and injures Donut, who screams in pain as he falls down.

Donut: "Waaahhh!"

Nora gasped, "No!"

"Aw Donut." Yang sagged, "Not again."

"He just shot the grenade and it exploded!" Ruby's eyes widened.

"Locus is smart, he couldn't get a clear shot on Donut so he picked the next best thing." Blake explained.

"No I mean.. most games don't do that." Ruby blushed.

"Yeah that's good attention to detail." Jaune agreed.

"What about Donut?" Nora crossed her arms.

"He's been dead more than Church at this point, I doubt he's dead." Yang shrugged.

"Locus isn't trying to kill them, he wants to capture them." Blake pointed out.

Wash & Simmons: "DONUT!"

Wash and Simmons immediately run to Donut and check his body.

Simmons: "Is he dead?"

Wash: "No, but he's unconscious."

Simmons: "(relieved) Aw, good, because I did not want to go through that shit again."

"See?" Yang gestured to the screen. "Ugh I hope this doesn't mean he'll be unconscious for a season or something."

Blake smiled, "Me too, also it's nice seeing Wash show concern for Donut."

Wash: "Felix! We're a man down! Where is that backup!?"

Felix: "Uh, I don't know. They should be here in a few minutes!"

Wash: "We don't have a few minutes!"

Cut to Tucker outside.

Wash: "(yelling from inside) If we can't get Freckles online, we won't stand a chance!"

"They need to find and take out Locus. Without him I bet the others won't want to fight." Jaune guessed. "He probably planned this whole thing so without him they won't know what to do."

"Always take out the leader." Ruby agreed.

Tucker: "(sighs) Such bullshit!"

Tucker takes off towards Red base. Cut to Grif.

Grif: "Hey! Where are you going!?"

Cut to Wash.

Wash: "Tucker!"

"He's going to cancel the download!" Jaune realized.

Tucker runs, mirroring what he did in Wash's training course.

Tucker shoots two federal soldiers behind cover.

"I feel like I've seen that before." Jaune frowned.

A federal soldier with a turret walks towards him with landmines between them. Tucker jumps the mines and the soldier, turns around and shoots the mines, killing the soldier.

Tucker runs for the Red base door. A soldier appears in the doorway.

Tucker: "Aaaannd (kills the soldier with his sword) SWISH!"

Tucker slashes the computer's screen, cancelling the download.

Tucker: "Fuck you, Basebook!"

"He's doing the training course!" Jaune realized.

"See Jaune, training pays off." Pyrrha smiled.

"Hopefully Tucker will thank Wash for pushing him so hard." Blake smiled.

"Tucker truly is a good soldier." Weiss smiled.

Cut to Wash and Simmons in Blue base.

Simmons: "He did it! We're getting power!"

Freckles lifts his head.

Freckles: "Charging."

"I don't think attacking the monitor would stop the download though." Jaune realized. "It's just a screen."

Cut to a federal soldier raising his rifle to Tuckers head.

Federal Soldier: "Freeze!"

Tucker: "Oh crap."

Federal Soldier: "You and your friends have caused us a lot of trouble. Now lay down your weapon-"

The soldier is killed by a headshot.

Tucker: "What the hell?"

Tucker turns around and sees Lopez (in Dos-point-O's body) reloading a Magnum.

Lopez: "Pendejo"

Weiss smirked, "And now Lopez is back."

"But he was just a h- oh. How does he do that stuff without arms?" Ruby asked.

"Robot magic! Like electricity." Nora grinned.

Ren facepalmed.

Tucker: "Dos-point-O?"

Lopez: "(translated english) No, idiota.[No, idiot.]"

Tucker: "Lopez! That was fucking awesome! Where'd you get that body?"

Lopez: "Lo tomé de un idiota molesto.[I took it from an annoying moron.]"

Weiss chuckled, "That could mean almost anyone in the canyon."

Tucker: "I don't know what you just said, but that's great. Now let's get out of here!"

Tucker runs off.

Lopez: "Psh. 'Dos-point-0'. Soy López el Pesado. Puta.[I'm Lopez the Heavy. Bitch.]"

Yang pumped her fist, "Yeah! Lopez is a badass."

"Agreed." Weiss smirked.

Cut to Freckles charging.

Freckles: "Shields twenty five percent charged."

Cut to various soldiers being killed. Cut to Sarge firing his shotgun on top of a box.

Sarge: "Ha-ha! Eat lead, you seemingly infinite number of soldiers!"

Zoom out to Grif, who reloads.

Grif: "Yeah! How's it feel to get your ass kicked by a bunch of losers!? ...Wait."

"They're not losers now." Ruby grinned.

"I guess Felix won't be disappointed." Jaune chuckled.

Zoom out to Wash.

Wash: "Alright, everyone together now! We can do this!"

Cut to Locus aiming at Wash with a railgun in the distance.

Locus: "No... You can't."

Locus shoots Wash, knocking him to the ground.

Blake's eyes widened, "I thought he wasn't trying to kill them!"

"He just- that looks like an Atlas rail gun." Ruby paled. "Even normal ones hurt and that one Locus has is a lot more powerful."

Cut to Tucker and Lopez.

Tucker: "WASH!"

Cut to Caboose.

Caboose: "Oh no!"

Cut to Simmons.

Simmons: "Is he okay?"

Please be okay, Blake begged. "After everything Wash has done this season. If he died here it would be.. appropriate for the story. He's had his arc.. but I hope I'm wrong. Locus only wants to capture them." She reassured herself.

Back to Tucker and Lopez. Lopez gets sniped and Tucker ducks.

Weiss sat up, "Lopez just got back!" She growled.

Tucker: "Shit!"

Two snipers are shown shooting at Tucker. Tucker backs behind a rock.

Tucker: "Lopez!"

Lopez: "¡¿En serio?! ¡Acabo de obtener este maldito cuerpo![Seriously?! I just got this fucking body!]"

Weiss sighed in relief, "Oh good. At least he's alive. But that is annoying, he always gets the worst treatment."

Cut to Sarge.

Sarge: "You bastards stay away from my men! If anybody's gonna kill 'em it's gonna be me!"

"See example Grif." Ren deadpanned.

"Coming from Sarge, that's really endearing." Blake chuckled weakly.

"Yeah Sarge is great." Nora grinned.

Locus uncloaks on a nearby roof and shoots Sarge with the railgun, incapacitating him.

Sarge: "(grunting) Uhhff!"

Grif: "Sarge?!"

"That little ugh! coward!" Nora shouted. "He won't even stay visible! He's too afraid to come out in the open and fight!"

"He's very skilled." Blake grimaced, "Felix was right to be afraid of him."

Another rocket jeep rolls up in front of the Reds and Blues.

Felix: "Incoming!"

Freckles wakes up. He steps in front of Caboose and the others. The gunner shoots Freckles. Freckles crumples over as flames and sparks shoot out of him.

Caboose: "Freckles! No!"

"He just sacrificed himself to save them!" Ruby sagged.

"We thought he was going to kill them all, but he saved them." Pyrrha smiled.

There's a short silence. A series of rumbles and explosions are heard. The Reds and Blues look around. Cut to the tunnel near Blue base. There's an explosion within and a Rebel soldier emerges, before dozens more charge out yelling.

Rebel Soldier 1: "FOR THE NEW REPUBLIC!"

Felix: "They're here! That's our backup!"

The group sighed in relief.

"Wash and Sarge are going to be okay." Ruby smiled.

Cut to the Federal snipers being killed. Cut to two Rebels reloading.

Rebel Soldier 2: "Suck it, you Fed scum!"

Freckles stands up.

Freckles: "(damaged) E-e-engaging-ging t-targets-s."

Freckles destroys the jeep and everything in his path.

"Yay he's okay!" Ruby cheered.

Felix runs over to Grif, Simmons and Caboose.

Felix: "Get to the cave! We've gotta go!"

Caboose: "But what about Wash and Freckles!?"

Simmons: "Quick! Someone help me carry Sarge!"

A Rebel Soldier walks over and is mowed down. Locus uncloaks and shoots another rebel before assassinating a third.

Rebel Soldier 3: "Wait! What th- (Locus breaks his neck) Gah!"

Nora paled, "I didn't think he would come out."

"Me neither, he just broke that soldier's neck." Blake winced.

That was in game too, no animation. Jaune thought.

"That was so brutal." Ruby grimaced, rubbing her neck.

"He didn't hesitate either, he's a monster. He reminds me of the Meta, except he doesn't use brute force." Jaune commented.

Locus approaches the Reds and Blues, reloading his SAW.

Felix: "There's no time! Get outta here!"

Felix deflects some shots with his shield.

Caboose: "But-"

Grif: "Caboose, come on!"

"Wait, they can't leave Sarge and Wash?" Ruby looked to the others.

Blake sighed, "They're getting separated from their leaders."

Jaune and Ruby looked at each other, then at their respective teams.

Grif, Caboose and Simmons run past Tucker into the cave.

Tucker: "What are you doing? Where's Wash?"

Simmons: "He's still at the base!"

Tucker: "[sharply] What!?"

Felix stops next to a rebel.

Rebel Soldier: "Sir! If we leave now, they'll just follow us back to headquarters!"

Felix: "Aw, shit! Someone get me some explosives!"

"Good plan." Nora agreed.

Felix runs for the cave. Tucker sees Wash getting up.

Tucker: "Wait, guys! There he is!"

Wash gets up and grunts in pain.

Tucker: "Wash! Wash, come on!"

Felix: "We've gotta seal this tunnel!"

"They're going to have to leave him behind." Pyrrha winced.

"Sarge, Freckles, and Donut too." Jaune added.

Wash slowly gets up and looks around. He sees several rebels dying around him. He looks at the cave tunnel where Tucker, Grif, Simmons, Caboose, and Felix are escaping. He turns finally to Freckles.

Wash: "Freckles! Shake!"

Freckles violently stomps his foot down. The ground starts shaking and rocks begin tumbling down in front of the cave tunnel.

Tucker: "Hey, no! What're you doing?!"

The tunnel entrance collapses and Wash breathes a sigh of relief and resignation before Locus knocks him out from behind.

The episode ends.

The room was silent.

"That was.. ugh that was so good!" Yang broke the silence.

"That episode was awesome!" Nora agreed. "Locus is going to pay for what he did to Sarge."

"And to Wash, Locus is brutal. Knocking Wash out again was overkill, he was already injured." Blake crossed her arms.

"Having Freckles shake was great." Ruby added.

Pyrrha laughed, "Caboose taught him some good tricks."

"And a good pun." Yang smirked.

"Shut up Yang! Jaune start the next one!" Ruby ordered.