Interlude 1 Chapter 5: A Geistly Situation

AN: More title puns! In case you haven't noticed yet, puns and alliteration are kind of my thing.

Also, Monday uploads are going to be about an hour later than they usually are for the foreseeable future, due to Linear Algebra not getting out until 7:15.

To compliment this hilariously short Author's Note, Team RWKY is back together with the heavy hitters of their respective families. Is it enough to save Patch from certain doom, death, and despair?

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Kassidy landed flat on her back yet again as the near-concussive blows from the Geist rock-monster thing sent her flying. She didn't have time to complain about how sore she was getting, however, as it was necessary to scramble to her feet to try and get out of the way of another smash. Of course Winter volunteers me to be the bait. Why did I expect anything different? Ruby, Yang, Qrow, and Taiyang all needed a break to catch their breaths, so it was up to her and the Schnees to kill this thing. And, of course, since Kassidy didn't have anything that could kill a walking boulder, it was her job to keep its attention. She looked over her shoulder just in time to watch Winter speed by and slash ineffectually at its feet and another Dust barrage from Weiss impact harmlessly against its arm.

"This isn't working!" Weiss lamented.

"Gee, I totally didn't notice that!" Kassidy skidded to a stop for as long as it took to shoot a Grimm that had taken interest in Weiss, then got back to running. It wasn't fast enough, however, and another near miss knocked her from her feet. Fortunately, she happened to land right in front of Yang, who helped her to her feet. "I don't suppose you have any idea how to kill walking boulders, do you, partner?"

"You need to go for its face, genius." The man named Qrow staggered on over from… whatever it was he had been doing. "Geists are a sort of spirit Grimm that can animate the environment around it. That face mask is the only part of the thing that's part of the Grimm. Blow a hole in it, you can take out the whole thing."

Kassidy slid a new magazine into her weapon. "How big a hole are we talking about?"

Qrow took a drink from his canteen – or, at least I hope that's his canteen – and drawled, "Well, that pea-shooter of yours should be able to get the job done, if you get close enough."

"Miss Smith!" Kassidy looked up to see Winter dodging out of the way of the monster. "If you're quite done playing Twenty Questions with that… man… we could use your assistance here!"

"Weiss, go for its face!" Kassidy shot at it a couple times to get its attention, but the bullets scattered harmlessly along its rocky arm. However, the distraction had the desired effect, as another Dust barrage found its mark across its main body. One of the bolts actually hit the mask, and the Geist stumbled back before falling flat on its rear. Kassidy regrouped with the two Schnees as it tried to clamber back to its feet. "We need to end this, and fast. The next wave of Grimm is gonna be here any time now."

Weiss shook her head and grunted, swinging Myrtenaster at her side violently. "My Dust barrages can't get through it! That was the closest I've gotten to actually hurting it, and all it did was knock it over."

"We need to hit it with more firepower." Winter cast a Dust barrage of her own, sending a random Creep to an early grave. "Fortunately, I know a certain girl who just received the prototype of the SDC Heavy Pistol, a firearm that can certainly get the job done."

"Gee, great idea, except for the part of 'how am I supposed to get to its face?'!"

"I'll leave that in my sister's capable hands. In the meantime, I'll get its attention." With no further words, Winter stepped forward and plunged her own saber into the dirt. A glyph spun up beneath her, and soon what looked like a swarm of miniature white Nevermores manifested and flew right at the Geist.

Kassidy had to pick her jaw up off the ground. "The hell is that…?"

"Summoning." Looking over, Kassidy saw that Weiss had her eyes downcast even as her brow was furrowed in thought. "An aspect of my Semblance I still haven't really been able to master."

"Well, do you have any ideas on how to get me up to that thing's face?"

"One or two…" Weiss thought for a moment, then suddenly flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Do you trust me, Kassidy?"

Kassidy crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she glared at her teammate. "I did until you said that."

"Hmph. Close enough. Come with me." Weiss sprinted off to the far side of the clearing. Sighing, Kassidy didn't have much choice or much of a better idea than to follow her. She took potshots to clear out a few Grimm that had entered the area, then turned back.

"Alright, Weiss, now what's…" Kassidy couldn't help but trail off and simply stare at the black glyph slowly spinning on the ground. Now where have I seen that be… oh. Oh no. Oh FUCK no! "Do I look like Ruby to you?! You are NOT launching me at that thing like I'm some sort of human projectile!"

Weiss rolled her eyes and motioned for her to step on. "You need to get at that face, and this is the best way to do that."

"Do you have even a single idea on how to keep it from swatting me out of the sky? Or how about me not landing in a horrible splat and I get turned into a blood stain across the grass?!"

"Yes, and yes. Now step in."

Kassidy looked a few more times between the glyph and the Geist that was still fending off summoned Nevermores. Eventually, her shoulders slumped as she trudged onto the glyph. "Bob, if I survive this, remind me to have a psychiatric exam. Apparently I've just turned suicidal."

She missed Bob's reply of 'reminder set' as the glyph under her turned red before sending her flying. Gee, this has to qualify for my brightest idea yet. I'm hurtling through the air at several dozen meters per second right at a rock monster that's beaten Ruby, Yang, and their dad and uncle into the dirt. Alright, how do they do the fancy bullshit that makes them look awesome? Oh, right, stab my sword in its face, hang on for dear life, and hope for the best. What could possibly go wrong? Drawing her sword from its sheath on her back, Kassidy rolled her eyes at the invocation of Murphy's Law.

Time seemed to slow down for the last few seconds of her journey. The Geist turned around and looked at her. Kassidy's eyes bulged as its arm began swinging to swat her out of the air. She relaxed slightly as a giant restraining glyph manifested and held the limb at bay. Then she panicked again as she realized that she was about to stab this thing in the face, hope she didn't fall off, and then fire her gun one-handed, all while trying not to die. Still, the next part went as smoothly as one could hope, as her sword buried itself up to the hilt in the Geist's face. It would've shrieked if it could, but Kassidy didn't wait for it to do something. Holding on with her right hand, she drew her pistol, braced for a broken wrist, and emptied the magazine. Surprisingly, her wrist didn't break, not that it wasn't very insistently complaining about the stress it just went though. The Geist, on the other hand, died quickly. It mask began dissolving, and its body fell apart. Kassidy quickly remembered why this was a terrible idea, as she was now in the middle of a veritable rockslide thirty feet off the ground. She could do nothing but squeeze her eyes shut and brace for impact.

Hmm, that's odd, I remember getting thrown onto the ground with significant force to be measurably more painful than this. Cracking an eye open, the culprit was fairly obvious. For the briefest of moments, Kassidy's jaw opened slightly as she looked into lilac eyes shining with both relief and mirth, and lips that pulled into an all too satisfied smirk. Damn, the way the sun frames her hair, her eyes… Jesus Christ on a pogo-stick, how does my partner manage to look better all dirty and sweaty than I do on my best day? Mentally slapping herself, Kassidy brought herself back to the here and now.

"I believe this is the part where you say, 'my hero'." And of course Yang would have to make a crappy joke about the situation. Way to ruin the moment, partner.

"Do I have to?" Yang quickly nodded, huge smirk still plastered on her face, and Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Fine, my hero. Now put me down, the job's not done yet."

"Your friend's not wrong, daughter dearest. C'mon, lovebirds, break it up, we've got more company." Yang and Kassidy both squawked, and Yang blushed at Taiyang's offhand comment, but were interrupted with more thunderous footsteps coming from the trees.

Kassidy was so done with the world at this point. That's it, Remnant can go take a long walk off a short pier for all I care. "You have got to be-"

"Nope, we're not." Qrow stepped up as he took another swig from what Kassidy was quickly beginning to suspect wasn't a canteen. This time, not one, but two Geists came bursting from the woods. Qrow didn't seem concerned, however. "Well, at least now we don't have to worry about hunting these things down. Thanks for the breather, but it looks like you could use some help of your own."

"If anyone has a suggestion that doesn't involve using me as a human missile, I'm all ears." Kassidy sheathed her blade, then reloaded her pistol. Weiss and Winter leapt back to the congregating group. Qrow and Taiyang stood behind Yang and Kassidy. Ruby stepped to their side. Well, gee, sun above and behind us, everyone standing in a nice line. Someone take a picture and make a corny action movie out of us.

Winter was the first to speak up. "Weiss, you and your team take the smaller one on the left. Me and Taiyang and… Qrow… will handle the larger." Without further hesitation, two of the three adults sprinted at the Geist Winter pointed out. Oddly, Qrow couldn't be seen, but Kassidy had to duck as an actual crow flew right over her head. Yeah, all the wildlife around here is definitely in need of some attitude adjustment. Not just the Grimm.

"Kassidy, how far can your awesome new gun reach?" Kassidy half-expected Ruby to have stars in her eyes as she drooled over the pistol, but instead the team leader was, well, team leader like.

"Pinpoint accuracy to twenty yards. It can reach further, but I'm not as good with this as I am with my rifle. I'm gonna need to get close if I want to hit the face from the ground."

"Okay. Yang, get its attention. Weiss, see if you can't lock it down. Kassidy, get ready for some Thorned Rose. Let's go, team!"

The four girls instantly sprang into action. Yang leapt front and center, yelling out a challenge even as Ember Celica sent high-impact shots thundering at the Geist. Weiss fired Dust barrages of her own, keeping their foe on the defensive as it had to shield its face. Ruby sped forward, carving through a few Creeps that had shown up to the fight, before slashing at its legs and backing off. Kassidy ran forward, gunning down Beowolves before having to dive out of the way of a surprise Ursa. Looks like that next wave of Grimm is here. Alright, just how ridiculous is my new gun? Kassidy shot it in the face and wasn't terribly surprised when it lodged into the skull but didn't punch all the way through. However, the Ursa did rear up from the pain, exposing a wonderfully juicy stomach that was quickly riddled with bullet holes. Hot damn, because I wasn't liking my new gun enough as is!

"Weiss, get its arm! Yang, keep the Grimm off us! Kass, Thorned Rose!"

The teenagers instantly adapted to their new roles. Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at the Geist and conjured another restraining glyph on the arm that would have blocked Ruby's shots. Ruby, being the speed demon that she was, dashed to the side and instantly took advantage of the open firing window. The Geist flailed back, and Kassidy took her opportunity to plant a few shots of her own into its face. A couple seconds later, the girls were faced with another pile of rocks and the more mundane creatures of Grimm pouring into the clearing.

Kassidy brained the monster near her, then looked around to where she could best help. The obvious one was the pair of Alpha Beowolves tag-teaming Yang. Normally, her partner would've been able to handle this with little difficulty. But she'd been fighting for hours, she was tired, and smaller Grimm were getting involved too. Kassidy sprinted over, determined to help Yang out.

Then, Yang had to use both her arms to block an overhead swing from one of the Alphas, giving the other one an opening to dig its claws into the girl. Aw, hell no. I didn't spend two and a half hours trying not to puke my guts out, and then get used as a human missile, just to watch my partner get carved up again. Kassidy fired thrice at the Alpha moving to strike Yang, missing lethal spots but getting it to abandon its offense. Meanwhile, the first Alpha ended its struggle with her partner by kicking her away. Operating purely on instinct, Kassidy reached an arm out and arrested Yang's involuntary retreat, before aiming with her other hand and blowing the two Alphas' brains out. Well, I can punch through an Alpha's skull at twenty paces. Nice.

"My hero!" Goddamnit, Yang.

Kassidy rolled her eyes, looking down at her partner with a theatrical hand over her heart before helping her on her feet. "Yeah, yeah, stuff it, you big goof. Let's go make sure nobody gets eaten."

Something growled behind the two of them, and both blondes turned around to see an Ursa Major rearing back to tear them to pieces. It never got the chance, however, as a broadsword carved it in half. Qrow materialized right next to them.

"Tch, I'd be more worried about the two of you than about myself. Especially you, smarty-pants. For someone with such a hyped reputation on their instincts, you sure haven't been using them."

"Does your insolence know no bounds, Qrow?" Winter stormed over with Weiss right behind her, practically quivering as she glared at Qrow with her arms crossed in front of her. Looking around, Kassidy could tell that the most recent wave of Grimm had been pushed back, and everyone decided to gather around.

Qrow returned with a glare of his own. "Hey, how about cooling your jets, Ice Queen?"

"Hey!" Interestingly (and humorously) enough, that came from both Weiss and Winter.

Taiyang stepped in between both of them. "Yeah, yeah, you two had an ugly breakup, we all know. But in case you haven't noticed, we still have to kick the Grimm off the island."

Kassidy leaned back and started tapping her foot. "How did the Grimm even get here to begin with? From what I understand, Patch has been relatively Grimm-free for years. What, did they suddenly learn how to swim en masse while I wasn't looking?"

"I wish." Qrow took a swig from his canteen. Kassidy took a sniff of the air, and at this point wasn't as surprised as she thought she'd be to figure out it was alcohol. Some strong stuff, too. "Nah, wherever they're coming from, it's from the far side of the island. We'll need to make an excursion into their territory to push them out."

"The good news is that the Grimm seem to have ceased their offensive for the time being. I predict about half an hour before the next wave arrives." Winter sheathed her saber as she reported this, exhaling slowly with eyes closed.

Taiyang sighed, then stood up straighter and addressed everyone. "Good. Girls, you can reload and recharge in the village. Take a breather, and here in ten minutes or so we'll be ready to push out again."

"I should probably make a quick stop back at the Schnee ship." Kassidy got a few cocked eyebrows at the statement. "I left my bag there. Medical supplies might be necessary if we're pushing into Grimm territory."

"Thirty one…" A blast from Crescent Rose sounded over the comms before Ruby spoke up again. "Thirty two…"

"Oh come on, I did not train my niece that poorly. I'm already in my fifties ever since we started this excursion."

"Hmph, of course you of all people would consider a mere fifty to be an adequate kill counter. Weiss and I are both already in our seventies."

Taiyang could be heard laughing over his Scroll. "It's not a competition, guys. Especially since I'm still only in my forties."

Yang snorted from Kassidy's side. "Are we still talking kill counts, here, or did we switch to ages?" The two blondes weren't the only ones who started snickering.

"Not funny, Yang." A groan sounded, then a blast. Probably from Taiyang punching something. "Speaking of which, surely my sunny little dragon is doing so much better than her old man from how much trash talking she's been doing, right?"

"Uh…" Yang rubbed the back of her neck and looked anywhere but her Scroll, despite the fact that this wasn't a video call. "I'm on seven." Her face only lit up in a blush as the sound of uproarious laughter could be heard. "Hey, it's not funny! K keeps stealing all my kills!"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Speaking of which, how are you doing, Kassidy?"

Kassidy put her hand to her ear and made a show of leaning closer to the Scroll. "What was that? I can't hear you all the way from the land of triple digits." She had to quit her show to drop a Boarbatusk that got too close. "Hey, Winter, remember when you said I wouldn't have to make more ammo anytime soon? That two hundred rounds would be enough? Yeah, nice joke. I'm already down to my last five mags."

As the sound of arguing could be heard, Yang pocketed her Scroll to where it could still be heard and tuned it out. "So where did you get your awesome new gun, partner?"

"Worked on the designs starting a couple weeks before finals. Weiss gave me a hand towards the end, then offered to send it to her folks up in Atlas. Got a pretty nice deal: I let them use it for their own gain, and in return they build it better than I ever could and give it to me for free. Plus a healthy ammo supply that isn't quite so healthy anymore."

"Damn, nice!" The two continued talking for a little bit, Yang going on about how she caught the flu a mere day into the vacation, while Kassidy professed her re-found love of cooking. They continued like this for several minutes before Kassidy's paranoia started tingling again.

"Hey, any reason you trailed off, partner?" Kassidy ignored Yang's question in favor of aiming her pistol out and taking a careful sweep of their surroundings. "Oh, something's not right. Keep pushing forward, I got your back."

"Thanks," Kassidy muttered. After shooting a couple Creeps, she found an explanation as to the sudden unease. "They aren't running towards us. They're running away from something. The hell could make fucking Grimm run away in fear?"

Yang let out a slow breath. "I dunno, but I don't like it any more than you do." She paused for a moment to take out her Scroll. "Hey, none of you have the Grimm running away from you guys, do you?" When a chorus of negatives was her answer, Yang swore. "Alright, K, looks like we've got a whole lot of fight coming our way. You ready?"

"Always." With no further words, Yang took a step in front of Kassidy. She led the way, and Kassidy put one hand on her shoulder while bracing her other hand with her pistol. "This almost feels like…"

A cracking branch gave away their foe. Kassidy didn't even need to look to know that something just jumped at them. Hauling back on Yang's shoulder and pulling her out of the way, Kassidy tumbled into a roll of her own. Well, she tried to, at any rate, but whatever jumped at them crashed into her and sent both Kassidy and her assailant rolling. Kassidy managed to get to her feet first, just in time to stare down a rather bulky Beowolf without a scrap of fur and already emanating a black smoke.

"Hunter-Killer! Yang, get back! Keep your eyes open for more!" Kassidy tried emptying her gun in its face, but she had to snap back and backpedal as it lunged for her. Alright, putting its energy into strength. Good lord, this is going to be a pain. At least I'm still faster than it. Barely. Deciding that breaking her wrist was not on the list of 'ideas that would help her win', Kassidy holstered her pistol and unsheathed her sword just in time to block a swipe strong enough to send her rolling.

"K!" Yang took half a step forward, but stopped herself. Glancing between the Hunter-Killer and Kassidy, she couldn't seem to decide whether to jump in and bail her partner out or stay back and keep it from getting stronger. Snarling, Yang ripped her Scroll out of her pocket. "Guys, Hunter-Killers are in play. I repeat, Hunter-Killers are in play. K's fighting one now… ugh! Why do these things have to be so damn awful that I can't help her without making her job infinitely harder?!"

As Kassidy rolled around a swipe and swung hard enough to gouge a minor scrape against its forearm, she could hear Taiyang over the comms. "A Hunter-Killer? Shit! Yang, get your partner away from that thing, I'm on my way!"

Kassidy tried talking over her earpiece while fighting, with predictable results. "Getting away – damnit! – isn't an option. Just give me – stop trying to bite me! – a bit of time, I – shit! – got this!" Kassidy finally managed to get a few step's space, and she and the Hunter-Killer circled each other. Drops of blood were welling from a couple close calls, while the Grimm was favoring its left shoulder. Well, its energy must've worn off, no more smoke. Hooray for small miracles.

She got distracted, however, whenever Yang started firing off Ember Celica. Turning around to see if another Hunter-Killer had entered the area, she completely missed her foe backhanding her and sending her to the dirt. It tried to clamp its jaws around her throat, but drawing her pistol and triple-tapping its face made it back off as it scratched at its snout. It didn't stay away for long, and as Kassidy went to slide a new magazine in it lunged again.

Only for it to suddenly get bodily lifted off the ground. Kassidy was confused by it clearly struggling until something reached out and ripped its arms off. The culprit kicked it onto the ground before sending a gauntlet clad fist through its skull. Her mouth fell open, and she didn't know how long she was staring at Taiyang until she realized that he was holding his hand out for her. As he lifted her up onto her feet, an orange shimmering covered his body. "It's not often I need to turn off my Aura like that, but I'm glad I still got my muscles to look out for me."

"Wait… you people can turn off your Aura?"

Taiyang nodded. "It's just that there's so few times that's a good idea that we never do."

Kassidy felt a weight on her shoulder, and turned around to see Yang giving her a grin. "Knew you'd be okay, partner. Wouldn't be the first time we've gone against those things."

Kassidy missed Taiyang's growing face of horror. "Yeah, but where's the rest of them? Didn't these things love being in their packs?" She stepped away from father and daughter to take another survey of their surroundings.

"We've cleared out the Grimm around here." Taiyang pulled out his Scroll and pulled everyone up. "How about you guys?"

"Winter here, Weiss and I have eliminated all hostiles."

A gravelly voice said, "Squirt and I've taken care of things over here."

Taiyang and Yang both sighed heavily and fell flat on their backs, clearly exhausted. Kassidy ran over to them, suspecting they had gotten injured somehow and she didn't notice, but Yang started laughing.

"We did it, Pops, didn't we?"

"We sure did, Yang." Taiyang sighed again and grinned at the late afternoon sky. "We saved Patch. Grimm free once again."

Kassidy could hear the sounds of weak cheering over the comms, but decided to ruin the moment. "Just want to clarify here, Ruby, Weiss, Yang. Did we just have a major fight with the Grimm, and none of us suffered near-fatal injuries?"

Weiss' voice was terse. "You sound surprised, Kassidy."

"You do realize what all our big missions were like back at Beacon, right? Or do I need to remind you about how I nearly froze to death, and then how I needed to perform impromptu deep-tissue surgery on Yang?"

"Wait, what?!" The sudden panicked voice behind her made Kassidy spin around, just in time to see Taiyang bodily lift his daughter from the ground by her shoulders. "You almost DIED and didn't tell me?!"

"Heh, yeah, about that…" Blushing, Yang looked over, clearly pleading for help. Kassidy just facepalmed and shook her head.

AN 2: Well, this most recent episode of Game of Thrones Volume 4 was interesting. Already pressing F to pay respects for Ren, Nora, Qrow, Sun… what the hell, probably Taiyang and Klein too. Those first four, however, are at this point practically guaranteed dead. At least Yang's finally back in the game with her new skeleton robo-arm. At any rate, time for Reviewer Responses.

Coming up next: Kassidy vs. dog. Also weapon names, because I totally lied about when the names were going to go up.

Captain marvel 36: I do try to get things up at 7pm central. A sniper? Eh, probably not, but it all depends on how things write out. But let's be honest, this is RWBY we're talking about here. When's the last time someone fought a Grimm from more than 50 yards away? This isn't exactly a universe filled with long range marksmanship or anything.

AgentDraakis: Qrow being civil? That's a joke, right? And at this point I will neither confirm nor deny that Ruby and Weiss had been texting back and forth during summer vacation up to this point.

Matt Cyr: Former civil engineer (now computer scientist) student here. I think Kassidy put it lightly. Let's start with episode 1, where we have a giant floating box with flapping metal blade wings. Let us then move on to Bullheads, a bloated, less sexy, discount Osprey. Then we fast forward to the military Bullheads in season 2 episode 12 that Atlas uses, which actually do follow the rule of cool but are even less aerodynamically sound than Bullheads are. Oh, and the airships. Of course we have the capital fucking airships. Don't even get me started on those things.

mcd3424: Fortunately, you didn't need to wait too long.

shamwoohoo52: Just want to say, Kassidy already had an attempt at power armor. Roman one-shot it in V1C1. I don't think she's too keen on another attempt after that hilarious failure.

Baconlord53: What can I say? I like puns too.

ThatTrickyTrickster: Yeah, the ship is with Yang. Thanks for the compliments, I will do my best to keepeth the good work up.

AndJrew76: Oh come on, it's not like I have a history of giving my characters potentially lethal injuries whenever they're fighting bad guys, do I?

Firearm legume: Kassidy's Semblance?

… spoilers. Like, super spoiler territory. I will say that you're wrong on all fronts, though.