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Chapter 12: Rising Hopper
For Athena-Jade Slate the ride to rendezvous with the Aiktishaf, the ancient and titanic roving crawler which served as the home of her team-mates' entire clan had already been something of a risky and nerve-racking ordeal even before the Creatures of Grimm had announced their arrival with a low, droning buzz that seemed to saw away at the air itself as had supported both herself and her partner on a single glowing and carefully maintained glyph, the Bear Faunus holding onto the harpoon tip of Regalia's weapon in order to be pulled along after the Racoon Faunus's jetbike at breakneck speeds.
Though the appearance of the insectoid monsters had certainly made thing worse.
Each of the swarm which numbered in the dozens, possibly several hundred in total boasted a segmented body larger than that of the average person by roughly half which was comprised of an elongated abdomen covered in chitinous armour and clusters of jutting spikes from inside of which a burning red light could be seen and gouts of smoke and crimson fire belched as the Grimm moved and a smaller, roughly shaped thorax which their many limbs were attached to, the Grimm whose overall appearance resembled that of a grasshopper or locust each sported three pairs of legs; the rear pair being far larger and arched up behind them, unfurling spasmodically as the monsters hurtled towards their targets whilst a pair of red-tinged gossamer wings buzzed into an indistinct blur around them. Their skulls were an almost oval mass of obsidian flesh covered in bone armour with several pairs of compound eyes and a pair of jagged antennae which appeared more like spears whilst the entire front of each of their heads gave way to a pair of wide, serrated mandibles within which several more pairs of jaws filled with crushing, grinding and shredding implements could be seen. The things did not truly fly, rather they leapt and bounded on their oversized hindlimbs and as they sprung into the air whatever internal combustion within them led to the contrails of smog in their wake blasted them forwards whilst their wings served merely to give them a limited amount of control over their own direction which led to the advance of the swarm resembling a plethora fireworks or rockets that been fired haphazardly and clattered into each other in a display that would have been so comical were the situation not so serious.
These were Purge-Bugs, a relatively common and supposedly easily beaten specimen that could be found within the wastes whose destruction Professor Rose had already instructed her First Year students on; their sheer numbers however left Athena with no doubt that this would be a challenging fight. Moreover that swarm was led by a Purge-Queen, an Alpha of the species several times larger than the Grimm that followed it and whose mandibles had extended out into a pair of scything blades that clacked against one another menacingly as the thing came hurtling towards Team MARZ.
"We might have a problem here Hops!" the Bear Faunus called to her parter over the sounds of the Grimm, rushing air and the roaring engines of both the jetbike she was being towed by and the Aiktishaf in the distance.
"I had noticed that" Zirconia noted dryly, the Grasshopper Faunus's deadpan delivery being lessened only slightly by the way she hung onto Athena for dear life.
"Have you noticed that you're the only one who can shoot at the Grimm as well?" Athena shot back testily whilst risking a brief glance over her shoulder to see comprehension dawn on her partners face. Regalia was unable to open fire on the Purge-Bugs as she was currently driving, doing everything in her power to push Clunker forwards as fast as was physically possible though it still seemed inevitable that the Creatures of Grimm would reach them before they could reach the relative safety of the nomadic Faunus's former home as well as the, arguably more important fact that her weapon was preoccupied and currently acting as the tether that Athena and Zirconia were bound to. Astra, from their position on the back of their partners' jetbike had already deployed Buckshot Ares in its' twin shield form and was currently protecting Regalia and thus Team MARZ as a whole however deploying the under-slung Gatling gun mounted along each forearm was unlikely to yield any results as attempting to aim or simply the recoil of the weapons would likely send the Deer Faunus toppling from the moving vehicle. Athena herself could easily draw, aim and fire Mould-Breaker in its' laser cannon form but was prevented from doing so however by the simple fact that she would need both hands but could not release the harpoon tip she was currently holding.
"Leave it to me" Zirconia answered as she clung to Athena-Jade tighter with her left hand whilst her right dipped beneath the lone cape hanging from her hip as she drew Sunrise Cain in its' pistol form and Athena found that she couldn't help but feel a little reassured when her partner used her broad shoulders to steady her own aim, manually adjusting the rotating Dust chambers of her weapon and opening fire.
The first Purge-Bug exploded in a blossom of crimson flames.
The thing died with an explosion that could more accurately be described as an underwhelming pop as Zirconia threaded an armour piercing round through a minute gap in the several armoured pates that covered its' glowing abdomen and ruptured something vital and volatile within, a second shot caught an insectoid monster in the skull and was revealed to be an Ice Dust round as the body of the Grimm began to freeze from the point of impact which not only sent it skittering off course and shattering against the ground but also caused it to collide with several other members of the swarm to cause a chain reaction of chaos which brought a smile to Athena-Jade's face as she realised that, helpless as she might currently be there was still a chance and that her partner was, as she had known since their first encounter incredibly cool.
"Hopper on Hopper violence" the shorter of the two Faunus laughed, recalling a similar comment she had made about herself whilst engaging and Ursa during her initiation; at the same time she rolled her shoulder and found herself wincing at the residual effects of the Dust her partner was using against her skin as Zirconia silently snapped off a trio of shots in quick succession only for what could be seen of her expression to darken and her mismatched eyes to become hard as she disabused Athena-Jade of any notion that things would be so easy.
"They're changing course"
"What the-Oh no" Athena's face dropped as she saw the truth of her partners' words; where the Purge-Queen had initially been leading her swarm in a path to intercept Team MARZ before they could reach their goal their erratic and meandering flight had turned sharply and now they were approaching diagonally from the right and the Bear Faunus quickly realised with a sinking sense of dread what the monsters were aiming for.
The cable of Apex Scavenger, which she was still clinging onto.
The ivory haired Faunus's mind raced and her already pale complexion became ghostly as she tried and failed to form a plan, realising that there was no way Zirconia, talented though she was could gun down the entire swarm before they made contact whilst her mind painted a painfully graphic image of exactly what would happen if the Purge-Bugs managed to strike the cable that was stretched taut between her glyph and Regalia's jetbike. Seconds dragged and time seemed to lose all relevance before finally Athena spoke, giving Zirconia all the warning she could.
"Brace for impact" and with that she released the harpoon that she had been using as handle.
The effects were immediate, the sharpened projectile whistled through the air as it was retracted back towards Apex Scavenger and slashed through more than one Creature of Grimm as it went mere moments before the swarm of insectoid horrors tore through the space between the two halves of Team MARZ, their objective stolen from them. Athena was unable to savour the brief sense of victory however as the sudden stop to her forward momentum sent both her and Zirconia flying from the glyph they had been riding on and the Bear Faunus struggled to pivot in the air and create as many glyphs as she could around the flailing and falling Zirconia to break her fall as much as possible.
Then Athena hit the ground.
For several seconds her senses were useless to her, processing nothing other than pain as she struck the blasted and hardened earth, skipping and rolling across its' surface several times with her entire body consumed by blinding, bone-deep agony and the air forcefully smashed from her lungs despite both her armour and Aura remaining intact; she landed face down in the dust with her ears ringing and the world seeming to spin around her until finally the buzzing drone of the Grimm cut through the haze of scrambled information that her senses gave her, allowing her to find the strength and determination to leap to her feet once again. Athena unfurled Mould-Breaker in its' enormous hammer form and activated the Dust-fuelled booster mounted in its' head, letting out a wordless yell as she swung blindly and being rewarded with the buzzing nearest to her being silenced in an explosion of acrid smoke.
A moment later she was staggering to the point of almost toppling over.
"Damn it" she hissed through clenched teeth as she found her balance again, realising that something had likely been twisted or sprained in her fall but powering through the pain regardless and taking stock of her surroundings. The Purge-Bugs were simply everywhere, a maelstrom of black and bone ripping through the air all around her that she was forced to lash out at several times, claiming a number of the Grimm before arcing flames and lightning nearby gave away her partners' location.
Athena realised that she would have to fight her way to her partner and then to Astra and Regalia; a tight smile forming as she realised that it would be just like initiation.
"WE JUST LOST AJ AND ZIRCONIA, TURN AROUND!" Astra's panicked voice could only fairly be called a scream as the harpoon component of Apex Scavenger ripped the air and relocated itself beneath the shotgun barrel of the weapon, neither the Bear Faunus or the Grasshopper Faunus anywhere to be seen after the swarm of Grimm had torn through the space between the two halves of Team MARZ. Hearing her leader and partners' sudden, visceral panic Regalia set her jaw whilst beneath her goggles her pale purple eyes were hard as diamond, the Racoon Faunus knowing what needed to be done even without the use of her Semblance or the answers it provided. She slammed on the brakes of her jetbike and wrenched its' steering with all the force she could muster, forcefully dragging the low-flying machine into a wide, arcing turn that kicked up a hazy cloud of dust as Clunker was spun one hundred and eighty degrees before Regalia prepared to send herself and Astra speeding back into the fray.
"Are your people gonna give us a hand?" Astra demanded, torn between fury and incredulity "They've got bikes too!"
"They have to cover those robots that're helping to pull the Aiktishaf, they can't afford to get stranded!" Regalia shot back "Now if you're not gonna shoot then start steering!"
"Wait what? Regalia I've never rode this thing before!" Astra exclaimed, it was far too late to change course however as Regalia was still the one in charge of the jetbikes' acceleration and had already sent them both racing back towards the swarm of Grimm which swirled around where Athena and Zirconia had fallen like a hurricane of raging darkness; as they drew closer she drew Apex Scavenger from where it had been holstered closer to her leg, the weapon already in its' shotgun form with its' recently returned harpoon retracted and locked in place below it and without hesitation she fired, blooms of fire followed by trails of shattering blackness and buzzing, chattering sounds of pain and primal hatred accompanying each of her weapons' reports whilst Astra was forced to hastily reach around their partner and grasp the angled, chopper styled handlebars of the jetbike in a desperate attempt to keep the two of them from careening off course.
Their plan worked well for a few brief, fleeting moments before disaster struck them, quite literally in the form of the Purge-Queen.
"OH SHIT!" Astra's yell gave Regalia a fraction of a seconds' warning, time enough to at least begin to react as the form of the far larger Creature of Grimm came surging towards them, its' massive form partially shrouded by the smog it produced with the combustion that powered each of its' leaping strides; the Grimm struck from the left and though Regalia was unable to reach across her own body and shoot the monster its' chattering many-eyed skull she did at least manage to tightly grasp one of her jetbikes' handles just as Astra was forced to relinquish them and once again use their shields to defend against the onslaught.
"HANG ON!" the Deer Faunus yelled through gritted teeth, strain evident in their voice as the first charge of the Purge-Queen sent its' spiked antennae and serrated, scything mandibles into the planes of hexagonal, pale rose coloured hard-light that Buckshot Ares had projected though whilst Astra had managed to prevent the two of them from being skewered the force of the impact still dragged and forced Clunker off course; a moment later however the massive Grimm, several times larger than those it led shifted its' weight and planted its' powerful hindlimbs on the ground and burst forwards with another explosive blast of flames, smoke and pure kinetic power.
Flinging Astra from the back of the jetbike.
Team MARZ's leader hit the ground, the force of the attack sending them skidding and rolling until they pulled themselves into a crouch and dropped their hard-light shields, instead deploying the blades of Buckshot Ares and driving them down into the dry and cracked earth to force themselves to halt and leaving twin trails carved into the ground in their wake. From there Astra leapt up to their full height and braced themselves, gingerly rolling their shoulder and flexing their left arm to work through the pain of the Purge-Queen's attack before seeing that several of the swarm of Purge-Bugs swirling around Athena-Jade and Zirconia had broken away from the whirlwind of gnashing mandibles and joined their Queens' oncoming charge. Astra took a moment to pop their collar and steady themselves, silently hoping that this might be the moment their Semblance manifested itself in an awe-inspiring display of power though as the monsters drew closer it became obvious that it was not to be and instead they readied their blades and deployed the guns of Buckshot Ares before charging into the fray and opening fire.
As this was happening Regalia was left frantically trying to keep herself from crashing into the ground.
Seizing Clunker by the handles she managed to forcibly wrest control of the jetbike back after the Purge Queen had flung it from its' course and several feet into the air, leaving the stabilisation systems and altitude controls fluctuating and struggling in a wild attempt to adjust and correct the jetbikes' bearings until finally the Racoon Faunus managed to bring Clunker skidding to a halt, simply planting one foot on the ground and leaving the jetbike sliding sideways in a cloud of dust until finally she came to a halt and left its' engine idling as she leapt from its' seat with Apex Scavenger at the ready to face off against the oncoming wave of Grimm.
Perhaps half a dozen Purge-Bugs leaping and launching themselves in sputtering, wild and barely coordinated bursts which Regalia answered by readying her shotgun and blasting three of the buzzing, droning monsters apart with well placed blasts yet still it seemed that the Grimm would reach her and so she shifted her weapon into its' melee form; the pickaxe blades unfurling whilst the haft lengthened and the harpoon tip became a sharpened base.
The first Grimm to reach her exploded into mist and fragments before she could act, a broad bladed javelin tearing through the space it had occupied and burying itself into the ground.
"Heh, on my left?" Regalia chuckled, leaping into action and twirling her axe-headed staff with practised ease to impale the Purge-Bugs and bat their buzzing, droning forms aside until nothing remained; allowing her a moments' respite in which she turned towards the source of her aid. The Aiktishaf had come to a halt, the ground no longer rumbling beneath its' massive treads and whilst members of Regalia's clan could be seen manning the various ramparts and weapons systems in preparation to open fire on any Grimm that drew close a lone figure stood upon the roof of the trailer of the land-train nearest to Regalia, sun gleaming behind them to make them seem even more dramatic as they readied another javelin.
With no words passing between them Regalia merely nodded and charged, leaving Clunker behind safe in the knowledge that it would not be damaged.
"Hang on Astra!" he called out as she tore through another pair of monsters on her path towards her partner who was currently leaping and rolling to avoid the crushing blows of the Purge-Queen "I've got your back!"
With that she fired the harpoon component of her weapon into one of the larger Grimm's legs and managed to drag it aside just enough for Astra to recover; the two of them sharing a glance and silently agreeing that together they would succeed.
'Hard-Light! Gravity' Zirconia held Sunrise Cain to her chest as one would a rapier in its' close combat from, a spear of translucent and solidified cyan light bursting from the blunt tip of the weapon to skewer and dispatch three Purge-Bugs in a single attack.
'Ice! Gravity!' the twin Dust chambers of her weapon once again rotated as the synthetic voice declared her intent to the uncaring monsters before the Grasshopper Faunus simply became blur of motion, slashing at the air with several invisibly fast flurries of strikes; the Ice Dust loaded into Sunriser Cain freeing the moisture in the air itself into jagged chunks of ice the length of Zirconia's gloved and armoured forearm before the Gravity Dust it was paired with flung the projectiles out in all directions to eviscerate Grimm by the score.
'Fire! Lightning' seeing that the swarm flitting around her still numbered in the dozens Zirconia found herself falling back on one of her more ubiquitous and thus more commonly used techniques; cybernetic legs whirring faintly with the sudden strain placed on them as she flung herself into a series of fluid and graceful spinning attacks and as Sunriser Cain flew out, shattering chitinous armour in countless places a contrail of flames wreathed in crackling and forking arcs of lightning trailed after her movements until the blaze enveloped Zirconia entirely, assaulting her senses and stinging at her nose and eyes despite the ragged and faded cape covering her mouth which the flames miraculously never touched until finally, with some unseen command the flames guttered out and faded into small patches of burning detritus and swiftly fading embers and when the shroud left in the wake of the Purge-Bugs she had felled was lifted the Dust wielding swords-woman saw that there were enemies left in her immediate vicinity
Though the same could not be said for Athena-Jade.
With the nearest Creatures of Grimm disposed of and the roiling cloud that their bodies had formed thinned Zirconia could now see where her partner had fallen, a task made easier by the beam of coruscating jade green light which tore through several of the Purge-Bugs at once as Mould-Breaker was fired in its' laser cannon mode. Honing in on the source of the light Zirconia saw that Athena was crouched in a firing position on one knee and using her glyphs as shields to keep her foes at bay rather than unleashing devastation upon them in the form of an endless stream of acrobatic attacks with her hammer as the Grasshopper Faunus might have expected; the Grasshopper Faunus quickly realised that her partner was being slowly overwhelmed and that the only reason Athena would allow herself to be pinned in such a way was that she had been injured at which point Zirconia prepared to throw herself into the fray and act with ruthless, destructive decisiveness only to pause for a moment as she remembered being struck by Mould-Breaker when Athena-Jade had tried to come to her aid in much the same way.
"Athena! Can you move?" she called out, rasping, clipped and naturally subdued voice managing to rise above the droning of the Grimm.
"Yeah, I can't really fight on it but I can move-"
"Then move!" with that Zirconia aimed her weapon, its' Dust chambers shifting once again.
'Fire! Synthetic!' Athena rolled to the side, surrounding herself with as many glyphs as she could muster as a lazing fireball began to expand from the tip of Sunriser Cain, the Fire Dust interacting with the SDC made synthetic Eco-Dust famed for its' volatility until finally reaching a peak and bursting outwards in a wave of blinding light and heat like a miniature sun that scorched and scoured the already barren ground and unmade every Purge-Bug that failed escape. When the light subsided Zirconia sprinted to Athena-Jade's side and pulled her partner to her feet, the Bear Faunus limping and clutching at her side though nothing appeared to be broken and the presence of her glyphs made it clear that her Aura was still in tact
"Thanks for that Hops, appreciate it" she managed to utter between gasps for breath, shifting her weapon into its' hammer form to support her weight whilst Zirconia allowed herself a small smile of relief.
"Well I don't think we were brought out into the wasteland just to lose our partners, it would make the last visit something of a waste of time" Zirconia managed a small smile only for it to falter as the look Athena gave her made it clear that the insectoid Faunus's idea of a witty joke might have sounded a little too harsh and missed its' intended mark though before the moment could grow into an awkward silence the two of them were both brought suddenly and jarringly back into the present moment by a piercing, vibrating shriek of fury that seemed to grind and tear at the air itself and the pair quickly wheeled around to see Astra and Regalia struggling against the remaining Purge-Bugs, led by the Purge-Queen.
"They need our help!" Athena-Jade exclaimed, eyes widening at the sight of Astra pinned to the ground, Buckshot Ares in shield forms held in front of their face as the monster that dwarfed them looming over them, cracks and fissures beginning to appear in the hard-light planes as the Purge-Queens' mandibles tore slowly but inexorably into them, drawing closer to the Deer Faunus's Antlers. Regalia fought with the smaller Grimm, smashing them aside or snatching from the air mid-flight and slamming them into the ground with crushing force whilst at the same time using the harpoon of Apex Scavenger and its' retractable cable to drag the Alpha Grimm off balance again every time it tried to steady itself and plant its' hindlimbs into the ground for a decisive blow on Astra, the Racoon Faunus blasting away at the insectoid horrors' abdomen and thorax with her shotgun at every opportunity she was given' thus far she had managed to shred and deaden one of its' wings and leave its' abdomen torn open, flames and smog spewing from within. Seeing all of this Athena made to sprint into action, only to stagger and stumble on a twisted ankle that her Aura was yet to begin healing, Zirconia catching her before she could fall.
"We need a plan" the Grasshopper Faunus murmured quietly but intently as she regarded the situation; her brow furrowed as her mind raced and she tried to formulate one of the hasty, daring and frankly insane spur of the moment ploys that Astra had begun to make their hallmark but found herself struggling; thorough as her private education had been she suddenly felt herself lacking in the face of an unpredictable reality and whilst she had never considered making friends a necessity or a part of her goals at Breaktide Academy the idea of standing by and watching harm come to one of her team made her sick to her stomach. She needed to do something, she needed to act, she needed to do something brazen and unpredictable like Astra or one of the legendary Hunters like Ruby Rose.
Then the way forward became clear.
"Athena, can you balance well enough to swing your hammer?" she asked cautiously, hopefully and seeing Athena nod she set her jaw in determination "Then throw me"
"What are you-"
"As high as you can" the Grasshopper Faunus insisted before calling out to her team-mates wrestling with the Purge-Queen "Astra, Regalia! Hold the Grimm in place!"
"Okay, let's do this" Athena nodded, sensing that her partner had a plan and trust that Zirconia knew what she was doing; the Bear Faunus winced slightly as she took up a wide stance and readied Mould-Breaker, the thruster mounted in the head of the hammer beginning to glow with jade light whilst a glyph infused with Gravity Dust until its' surfaced shimmered black appeared in its' projected path, angled upwards.
"Now" Zirconia nodded leaping onto the surface of the glyph as Athena-Jade swung at its' opposite surface, flinging the Grasshopper Faunus into the air in a Dust reaction that sent waves of tingling numbness through the airborne Faunus's body. Zirconia reached the apex of the steep arc that she had been sent flying into and glanced down at the ongoing battle below from the dizzying height to see that Athena had returned Mould-Breaker to its' ranged mode and was shooting the Purge-Queen whilst Regalia and Astra had done as she had asked, the Deer Faunus managing to position the blades of Buckshot Ares under the jaw of the Grimm as they continued to grapple with it.
"Perfect" Zirconia hummed to herself as she began to fall, adjusting the Dust chambers of her weapon as she fell; preparing to do something that every student Hunter would reluctantly admit that they had tried to do at least once.
She was going to imitate Ruby Rose.
'Double Gravity!' the synthetic and digital voice exclaimed and the concussive blast of Dust being expelled accelerated Zirconia's fall, turning her descending form into a blurred, darkness-wreathed comet which struck the Grimm below at the point where its' skull met its' thorax with the dull reverberating boom of the sound barrier being breached; the ground cratered, carapace shattered and the limbs of the Purge-Queen buckled as its' skull was forced downwards onto Astra's blades which tore up into where whatever brain the thing had was housed.
"Hopper on hopper violence" Zirconia mumbled to herself, swaying on the spot as she fell to the ground, the fading, swirling body of the felled Grimm and her own flickering Aura engulfing her as her ears rung and the world span after her momentum was suddenly halted.
"Holy crap that was awesome!" Athena-Jade's voice managed to bring some semblance of coherency to Zirconia's world a moment before the Bear Faunus came rushing towards her as fast as her own injuries would allow and reaching up to place her massive, calloused hands on her partners' shoulders whilst she gazed at her intently, checking her for any sign of injury.
"Nice" Astra laughed weakly as they pulled themselves to their feet, brushing themselves off as they added "Did you know that was gonna work before you did it?"
"It did, that's what's important" Regalia noted as she trudged over, weapon at the ready in its' shotgun form in a display of wariness that was proven to be justified a moment later as the air was sundered by the buzzing cacophony of the Purge-Bugs once again.
"Heads-" Astra's warning yell fell silent before it could be completed as they made to level their guns at the nearest oncoming Grimm yet before its' careening flight could bring it close enough to do more than screech and buzz the thing expired, a broad bladed and roughly made javelin bursting through its' torso and embedding itself into the ground. The sound of roaring engines filled the air a moment later and Team MARZ turned to see that the small fleet out outriders protecting the Aiktishaf had sped away from the enormous crawler and were not baring down on the tattered remains of the Grimm swarm with their Dust-tipped lances at the ready whilst the opening salvo of the massive machines' weapons tore through several of the surviving monsters.
"Oh now they wanna help" Athena noted pointedly, arms folding across her chest in a display that she would steadfastly refuse to admit was pouting.
"Who the hell threw a javelin at us though" Astra gave a disbelieving look at the simple weapon and tried to follow its' trajectory back to where it had been flung from only for their partner to place a hand on their shoulder and guide them, pointing up at a lone figure perched on one of the many bridges between sections of the colossal land-train; a figure whom Astra realised only had one arm but had already drawn another javelin from the quiver of the bladed implements slung across their back.
"It's hard for her to reload a gun one-handed fast enough" Regalia explained
"You know them?" Astra asked, realising that it was a foolish question almost the moment it left their lips yet Regalia's answer was still enough to floor them.
"That's my Mum" she raised her goggles and waved at the figure "You guys wanna meet her?"
The bright and blazing sun had long passed its' zenith and more than half of the allotted time for the first year students' assignment had elapsed, with Ruby and Penny Rose sat upon the ramp leading down from one of the Pearl, Penny's personal transports' open hatches.
"It really is a sensational day" Penny noted idly, shifting her weight slightly to accommodate Ruby making herself more comfortable as she leaned against the android. The pair of them had briefly joined the crews of the various other Bull-heads that the students had been transported in for a small lunch in the form of a picnic; with one of the co-pilots, a young and clearly inexperienced gunner becoming the subject of several jokes when their plans to start a barbecue were shot down, the Hunters and more senior pilots explaining to them slowly, as one would a child why fire, smoke and the smell of burning meat might be unwise in a wasteland populated by Creatures of Grimm and wildlife famed for its' aggression. Ruby herself currently looked far younger years owing to the way she kicked and swung her legs which failed to reach the ground whilst she held a sandwich in each hand, a smile on her face as she ate.
"Mm hmm" she took a moment to finish chewing and swallowed before speaking more intelligibly "It really is, the students got lucky….remember that year we sent that out foraging in a monsoon"
"I remember Coco's reaction the mud they brought back to the academy" Penny noted with a small smile, years of working and living in close proximity to the Headmistress had given her at least some measure of Coco's idiosyncrasies and pet peeves.
"It was fine, it all washed out" Ruby exhaled the words, dragging them out in a show fax exasperation utterly at odds with the smirk she wore and Penny couldn't help but smile along with her, even if she felt she would never truly understand her wife's seemingly uncontrollable urge to find out just how much she could test Coco Adel's patience and get away with, though she suspected it might be a product of some experiences from her time as a student at Beacon Academy. The two adjusted their weight and nuzzled into each other a little more closely as a faint breeze passed through the air, the slight movement prompting Penny to survey her surroundings and cock her head in mild surprise at the sight of four figures approaching in the distance who had thus far gone either unnoticed or simply unreported by the pilots where still loitering around, enjoying a relatively uneventful day.
"Ruby, I think some of the students are returning"
"What?" Ruby was perplexed for a moment and quickly checked the time "The still have hours left, which team is it?"
"Team WULF" Penny answered slowly as she focused her vision and magnified it until the details of the quartet were more clear "None of them appear to be injured beyond scrapes and bruises"
"Let me see" Ruby muttered and similarly focused her own cybernetic eye, the students were given more time than they would need for their assignment during the traditional first year field trip both to allow for any unexpected encounters with Grimm or other threats but also to account for the usual amount of simple relaxing that occurred when they should officially have been working, each of the Professors understanding that giving the students time to recuperate from their studies was important, as were opportunities for the various teams to learn to function in the field in an environment that was not quite as potentially perilous as an actual mission. It was rare then that a team of students returned so early, most of the time in fact the field trip returned to the academy late as more than one team lost track of time however as Ruby regarded Team WULF a smirk tugged at her features, the four of them walked in almost perfect synchronicity, weapons unsheathed but rested on shoulders with the exception of Diabla's gauntlets as they strode through the long grass of the plains at a slow deliberate pace towards their professors.
"Now it makes sense, they're showing off" Ruby chuckled "You think they practised that, just to make sure it has the effect they want?"
"Should we play theme music for them?" Penny suggested, almost convincing Ruby herself for a moment with the earnest eagerness in her voice.
"Don't encourage them, this is gonna boost Ironside's ego as it is" the dark haired woman shook her head and the couple waited as Team WULF approached, the two of them determinedly not looking at one another and trying their best to maintain neutral expressions despite the obvious self importance that their young charges carried themselves with.
"Looks like we're the first ones back" Wolfram noted, the conversational tone just a little too obviously forced to be convincing as he made a show of dropping the samples that his team had gathered, the bag hitting the ground with a weighty thud which gave some example of just how successful they had been.
"I see that" Ruby nodded "Do you have an accurate inventory of what you collected-"
"Here" Diabla Fuego was the one to hand over the clipboard and upon seeing the pride in her fiery orange eyes Ruby noted to herself that Diabla more personable she might have expected this entire show that Team WULF were putting on to have been her idea, upon reading the admittedly well kept notes and data that her students had taken Ruby was forced to admit to herself however that these students, whilst certainly trying a little too hard to impress her were still impressive; gathering far more than what she had expected.
"You've done well" she murmured "Very well, Team WULF will definitely be given all due credit when I report to Professor Adel and that will no doubt play a part in the assignment of your first official mission"
"Thank you Professor Rose" Wolfram's smile was something far less predatory than it often appeared, a genuine expression of happiness as he slapped his team-mates on the back; the usual charismatic certainty that he carried himself with coming spilling out of him "I knew you guys would do me proud, we absolutely-"
Gunshots filled the air, followed by an exclamation of pain that could only have come from a student.
"That was close" Ruby noted "If Grimm start attacking the landing zone it could complicate things-"
"We're on it" Wolfram interrupted, Berserker at the ready and already taking several steps towards the sound "Come on, we've got-"
"Stand down Ironside" Penny stated bluntly, giving a silent nod to Ruby who raced passed Team WULF in a blur of petals and rush of air that threatened to loosen Wolfram's smokey blue hair from the wolf-tail it hung in, the abrupt dismissal grating the young mans' nerves and prompting him to wheel around and face his Professor, paying no regards to his team-mates' warning glances and attempts to stop the inevitable.
"Professor!" he barked "We can help, if there's a team in trouble then-"
"Stand down" Penny repeated, her usual friendliness being replaced for the briefest moment by ice and steel that served to instantly remind Wolfram of just who he was talking to and who was in charge at that moment "Your eagerness to help your fellow students is noted and appreciated however it is not necessary. Your team have just completed an assignment, rest, get something to eat and leave the matter to Ruby….unless you think there is anything that the four of you can handle that she cannot?"
"Okay fine" Wolfram ground out, being led away by Ursinia who loomed over her partner and hissed a stream of inventive insults in his ear as she questioned his sanity which made Penny smile faintly to herself; shaking her head as she realised that whilst he had relented Wolfram had not conceded her point.
In a way she had to admire the boys' belief in his team.
Team MARZ had been surrounded by the outriders of Clan Aiktishaf, the forms of the jetbike riders almost entirely hidden beneath loose fitting hooded robes the colour of the dusty ground they soared over whilst what little of their faces could be seen beneath those hoods was obscured by heavy goggles not unlike Regalia's own and masks with filtration systems jutting out like mechanical beaks that turned their breathing, laboured after their late intervention in the battle against the Grimm into a reverberating, haunting sound though the sense of fearsome mystique about the riders was quickly stripped away as one of their number pulled her mask and goggles away to reveal a woman perhaps in her forties whom Regalia had referred to as Auntie, though as her team had been led towards the still stationary form the Aiktishaf itself the Racoon Faunus had explained to them that there was truthfully no blood relation and instead that almost every child within her clan called their elders Aunt or Uncle unless they held a more specific rank or title that it would be deemed disrespectful not to use.
The Outriders had promised to keep watch over Clunker whilst the massive crawler and the fleet of modified haulage robots that helped it move were stationary, another of the group offering to mend any dents to the jetbikes' chassis and from there a ladder had been lowered from the side of crawler itself allowing Team MARZ to climb onto one of the many makeshift walkways bolted and welted to its' hull; all of them save Regalia herself unable to entirely ignore their nerves as they peered over the side of the Aiktishaf and saw just how large the ancient machine truly was despite the fact that their Auras would allow any of them to survive the a fall largely unharmed, Zirconia in particular taking care with each step and placing her limbs tentatively whilst Athena-Jade used her friends to support her weight as she limped along. The situation was rendered more awkward still by the undeniable sensation of being watched, Regalia scanned her surroundings; knowing where the many hideaways of her former home were located and quickly picked out several children of Clan Aiktishaf, many of them young enough to have never seen a Hunter before peeking out from ports and openings to stare at their guests whilst many of the older members of the Clan, those who had been manning the crawlers' weapons and scurrying along its' many walkways to send messages to those in the rear sections of the land-train tried to be more subtle in their observations with varying degrees of success.
Respite came in a familiar and expected voice that made Regalia's heart swell, calling her mother just did not have the same effect as seeing her in person.
"There you are! I never doubted you but you might've given some of the others a little scare"
"Heh, hey Mum I missed you!" Regalia exclaimed as she wheeled around to take in the sight of her mother, striding towards Team MARZ with powerful steps that reverberated through the metal beneath their feet until she reached her daughter and pulled her into a crushing one-armed hug before peering over Regalia's shoulder to the people who had followed her daughter home.
"I am Helms-woman Swarf Russet, overseer and member of the Council of the Aiktishaf….I presume that you are friends of my daughter?" her voice was low and smokey with a faint wheeze to it, as though she were not quite what she once had been. Astra, Athena-Jade and Zirconia remained silent for perhaps a moment longer than was polite as they took in the sight of their friends' mother. Swarf Russet was simply huge, a giant of woman with the same golden brown skin and powerful, bulging and well defined muscles as her daughter yet where Regalia was lean and athletic Swarf was simply massive; sporting shoulders broader than Athena-Jade's and matching Regalia's even six feet in height despite the fact that age had bowed her back and left her somewhat stooped. Swarf's eyes were a dull, pale grey and a long scar ran from across her weathered features from just above her right eye to the left corner of her mouth and her hair, which was worn in a simple and practical bun had faded from the same grey-brown blend that she had once shared with Regalia to a ghostly, oddly intangible white though her racoon tail Faunus attribute had retained its' original colour. Her clothes were simple yet adorned with many trinkets and keepsakes that had clearly been accrued over a lifetime of travelling and trading; over which a which tool-belt hung around her waist and was connected to the bandolier slung across her torso, its' front filled with knives and other implements whilst on its' back a quiver filled with javelins in place of arrows still rested. Her left arm was entirely absent, missing at the shoulder with only a mass of scar tissue to indicate what had happened to it though her right arm was enormous and powerful.
Sensing that the silence had lasted a beat too long Regalia interjected.
"Come on Mum you don't have to give them the whole speech, these are Team MARZ" she grinned gesturing to each of them in turn "Astra, my partner and the team leader, Athena who helps me study and Zirconia….she's super cool"
"Well any friends of yours are welcome" Swarf gave a bright smile, scarred face and stoic, watchful features morphing into something altogether more welcoming as she gestured to members of Clan Aiktishaf who had been drawing steadily closer, curiosity getting the better of them "You! Send word to helm and the council, we anchor here for a while. You two, bring food and drinks, these children just fought Grimm for us there's no reason they should be going hungry and you! Show Team MARZ the way to the gardens, we'll speak more there" at that last comment Team MARZ whipped around to see a small human girl, perhaps only a few years younger than the students themselves who had managed to slink within a dozen feet of them entirely undetected, the tough and wiry looking teen nodded and gestured
"Come, our garden is on the roof, only place with enough sun to grow vegetables" with that she turned and led Astra, Athena and Zirconia away whilst Regalia remained behind, walking more slowly with her mother whom she had deduced wished to speak with her in private.
"What's wrong?" she asked hesitantly.
"Nothing at all" Swarf assured her with a faint wheeze "I just wanted to speak with my only child and make sure that she's well before I properly meet your friends….they seem an interesting bunch, some fancy toys; nothing that hard work and a good set of tools can't match of course-"
"Mum!" Regalia groaned in comically overblown annoyance "Be nice"
"I wouldn't dream of being otherwise" her mother chuckled, her face becoming more serious after a brief pause "When we last spoke I was worried, you seemed lonely, sad even if you tried to put on a brave face.
"Heh I kinda was" Regalia admitted, hastily carrying on as she saw her mother cast a glare in the direction of her team-mates "But things are a lot better now….it was just complicated that first week, it took all of us a while to get into a rhythm and learnt to work with each other"
"Understandable" Swarf murmured finally "I suppose that's why they have the teams live together for years, so that you become one big family, like us….can't expect a bond like what you left after only a week"
"Yeah about what I left" Regalia mumbled, there was no accusation in her mothers' voice yet the younger Faunus knew that her leaving had been hard for the older Faunus despite her undying support "All the robots towing, even the really old ones….what happened? Did something hit the engines?"
"The damned Grimm" Swarf scowled "Luckily nobody was hurt but a pair of Hunters chased a herd into our path a few weeks ago and we've been looking for the parts we need since-"
"I can fix it" Regalia offered quietly "I can fabricate the parts you need at Breaktide and….and I'll come and fit them myself-"
"The hell you will child" Swarf scoffed without hesitation "I will not have you throw away the future you worked for"
"You're seriously telling me not to come home?" Regalia asked, taken aback only to pulled into another of her mothers' hugs
"You will always be welcome to come home, but only if you want to….I won't have you feeling guilty for something that wasn't your fault and giving up your future, especially when we have at least twenty people who could repair the damage, we just need the parts. I miss you everyday but I know that you don't want to come back, your future isn't with Clan Aiktishaf"
"Does that bother you?" Regalia's words were hesitant as she once again sought out reassurance that there was nothing souring their relationship.
"Children grow, I would be a poor parent and a poor nomad if I chained you to me even if I don't understand why you want to live with in the Kingdom"
"So you think I'm a weirdo too" Regalia snorted, managing to lighten the tone of the conversation a fraction.
"You are undoubtedly the oddest little duck" Swarf nodded sagely "And I wouldn't have you any other way….I remember the first time you ever saw a Grimm Hunter….we were stranded for a week in the middle of this island, ruined tracks and there was serious talk within the council about abandoning part of the land-train. Those Hunters gave us aid for days and you followed them everywhere you went and every other sentence began with the word why-"
"Was I really that bad?" Regalia asked
"It was adorable" Swarf laughed "Most of the clan are curious about the Hunters, they're curious about your friends but it's a passing thing, no real fire or conviction in their curiosity, we've been struggling to keep our way truly alive since the Great War; not like you….you're an explorer at heart, just not in the same way as us. You saw something and fell in love with it, you just had to have all the answers and see all of it. You might just be the last real Aiktishaf left and it's a cruel joke that's what takes you away from us but I would never change you"
"Thank you" Regalia buried her face in her mothers' massive shoulder as she pulled Swarf into a crushing hug of her own
"Easy on these old bones" the older Faunus chuckled as a coughing fit seized her.
"You're fine, you'll outlast the sand" Regalia countered
"That I will" her mother nodded "Now, in the meantime let's go catch up with those friends of yours and they can explain to me how the one who was halfway in the Grimm's mouth is the leader….and we'll get you some food, one day you'll actually fill out my old jacket"
Regalia let out another groan and realised that the next few hours would be amusing, but still an ordeal.
Ruby was beginning to grow concerned.
The first year students had been given ten hours to complete their assignment and now, as afternoon began to blur into early evening and the Menagerie sun began to slowly near the horizon with the first hints of the chill that permeated the night on the island Kingdom beginning to set in that time was beginning to near its' end. The Yongheng Plains were vast and expansive yet there was no terrain that might confuse anybody hiking across them to be found, one could always simply turn back and walk in the direction that they had come without running the risk of being led astray which, combined with just how much more time than they would require the students had been given should have allowed the teams to find their way back to the landing zone they had departed from without complication.
And yet not all of them had.
"Any sign of them?" Ruby asked cautiously, yet hopefully and with a voice that conveyed every ounce of the nervous tension that she was trying to hold at bay as Penny strode into view, ducking under the wing mounted thruster of her transport to close the distance between them.
"I found Team LEMN" Penny answered "They were already returning, they explained that they were delayed by a Grimm with an acidic attack which damaged most of their samples, forcing them to start from scratch"
"I see" Ruby murmured intently, booted foot tapping against the hard ground in an unconscious display of agitation; after Team WULF had returned there had been an hour where a trio of teams had emerged from the long grass with their findings in quick succession and the return of Team LEMN left only one of the six teams that had ventured out into the plains unaccounted for.
"There's still no sign of Team MARZ" Penny admitted "The jetbike in their possession might have led them to travel further afield than we anticipated, however-"
"They should still be here by now"
"Agreed" Penny nodded and she and Ruby considered their options regarding the missing team which, despite their best efforts to remain neutral and unbiased as teachers still contained their niece, Weiss Schnee's daughter.
"Maybe we can contact the Hammerfall Observation Outpost?" Ruby suggested "We all know that their equipment reaches further than they say it does, it monitors more than just the canyon"
"Perhaps" Penny mused "If one of us stays here the other could take the Pearl and search from the air-"
"I can fly without the Pearl" Ruby reminded her wife, whilst one of her Silver Eyes might have been lost in a fight against Salem she was no less capable of using the immense power that they had granted her. Penny was about to respond but before the words could leave her the two Professors and veteran Hunters found themselves interrupted by a rustling in the long grass nearby, Team WULF revealing themselves a moment later with Wolfram Ironside predictably at their head and wearing an obstinate expression as he strode forwards
"Professors, Team MARZ are missing aren't they?" sensing that his teachers were beginning to grow annoyed with his attempts at heroism Wolfram raised his hands and continued "Look if you say you've got the situation under control then fine, but if you don't know where they are then there's five other teams here and we'll all go looking for 'em; Team WULF definitely will, they're our friends and we're not leaving them in the wastes" it was a testament to the perceived seriousness of the situation that not even Diabla could argue with it, her features being pinched and sour at the idea even as she rolled her shoulders back and prepared to follow orders without question or complaint.
"Ironside I can assure you that leaving a team behind was never even in the realm of possibility" Ruby replied evenly, trying to keep her annoyance at the mere suggestion out of her tone and reminding herself exactly how much she had done for the sake of her own friends as a first year student and reasoning that offering to lead a search party was in no way more questionable than attacking a White Fang warehouse.
"Thank you for your concern" Penny managed to sound soothing as she placed a hand on Wolfram's armoured shoulder, avoiding the spikes that adorned the metal plates "Your teams' willingness to help is what makes a good Hunter however-"
The roar of an engine filled the air.
"I think that's them" Laser noted in his distinctive nasal drawl as all present turned in the direction of the fast approaching sound.
"Sensational" Penny beamed.
"Of course" Diabla huffed "They just had to leave it until the last minute, make us all stand around and wait for them to make an entrance"
"Pot, Kettle" Ruby snorted, throwing professionalism aside for a moment. Less than a minute later Team MARZ came tearing into view, Clunker weaving through spaces untouched by the dark blades of long, swaying grass and coming skidding to a halt in mid-air with a cloud of red dust in its' wake and Zirconia and Athena-Jade being whipped forcefully out from behind the jetbike by the momentum that they had accumulated though the Bear Faunus allowed the glyph she and her partner had been riding on to dissipate and the pair landed on the ground with a thud, Ruby noticing as they did so that the team had obviously seen combat and that Athena wasn't quite as stable on her feet as might be expected. As Regalia idled her jetbikes' engine and prepared to load it back into the Bull-head that had brought them to the wasteland Astra hopped calmly from the back of the vehicle and made their way over to Ruby and Penny with an unmistakable swagger.
"Sorry we cut it close, just had to make sure we got everything" as they spoke they presented their findings to Ruby whose remaining eye widened at the sheer bulk that had been collected, more than double the amount that had been requested of each and every specimen if the records they had taken were to be believed.
"Well I'll be darned" Ursinia drawled, a soft chuckle escaping her as she playfully nudged her partner "Wolfie I think we've been upstaged"
"Not a fan of it, but I can respect it" Wolfram nodded, ignoring the use of the nickname "Not bad Astra"
"I mean I didn't do all the work" the Deer Faunus mumbled with a shrug, absently playing with the spikes of their Mohawk as they added "I mean we all did our thing, if we didn't we'd have been Grimm food"
"You got a fun fight as well?" Wolfram exclaimed "Oh come on, the rest of us just had to deal with Beowolves and other boring shit; we got ripped off!"
"Hey if you wanna be the one to get thrown off of a moving bike and nearly get eaten by a Purge-Queen be my guest, I'll trade places" Astra laughed.
"Sounds like you've got some more war stories to tell" Wolfram noted "We'll have to catch up when we get back to the Academy"
"Absolutely" Astra nodded, looking around as they found their fellow team leaders' steel-grey eyes suddenly difficult to meet and the air suddenly uncomfortably warm; the awkward silence that reigned for a moment was both ended and at the same time exacerbated by Ruby reminded the students of her presence by clearing her throat.
"You've had all day to give each other googly eyes, now you're on the clock. Penny tell the other students to load up and let the pilots know we're moving out" with that both Astra and Wolfram were left sputtering indignantly, their fervent denials and outrage doing nothing but ensuring the teasing they received from their respective teams would be all the more severe.
In Ruby's mind it was a fitting end to a successful field trip.
Night had long since fallen over Menagerie and somewhere in the distance a Beowolf howled up at the shattered moon whilst a freezing wind tore and slashed through the air. In a small clearing amidst the sparse and skeletal trees that littered the periphery of the Yongheng Plains a tent had been pitched and a small campfire crackled in front of it, those who had made this meagre camp having no fear of the Creatures of Grimm as whatever monsters remained in the vicinity after both their own efforts and those of the young Hunters who had come before them would certainly fall victim to one of the countless traps that had been set to give adequate warning of their approach.
A lone figure sat at the campfire, using it to warm their hands and remaining utterly unperturbed by a rustle in the trees that surrounded them, the sound announcing the arrival of a second figure whose form was cloaked in shadows until they stepped into the clearing and made themselves comfortable opposite their companion.
"We're wasting our time here" the newcomer noted dispassionately, the figure opposite them merely letting out an irritable, yet somehow dignified huff and remaining silent for a moment before finally choosing their words.
"One day you will learn the value of patience on the Hunt, nothing of value is gained easily and not every monster comes with its' fangs bared-"
"Yes they do, they're Grimm" the first voice countered sourly "Even the smart ones, even the Alphas….if we haven't found another one by now it's because there isn't one to find"
"I take it your reconnaissance efforts were as fruitless as your temper tantrum would lead me to believe then?" the second, older voice enquired
"Nothing" their younger companion spat "I spent all day hiding from the students….you know how many Faunus kids Ruby and Penny Rose brought out here, how close I was to getting caught?"
"If you were caught by teenagers then would-"
"Have looked like a pervert" the younger voice snapped venomously
"Oh don't be so crass" the older voice sniffed in distaste "I am hardly in the mood for it, my own endeavours were less fruitful than I would have liked-"
"Which means you found nothing, because there's nothing to-"
"All information is useful, even it's not exactly what we need at this very moment" the older of the two figures admonished, their tone that of a teacher speaking to a particularly irksome student
"What did you find?" the younger speaker asked, trying to mask sudden eagerness with sullenness in a somewhat juvenile display
"Well I trust you recall one of our particularly colourful exploits on this cheery little island that happened recently, wherein you felt it would be prudent, upon learning that our quarry at the time was not in fact an Alpha Grimm of the level of intelligence that we had been led to believe to corral them under the vehicle of one of the nomad clans" the older voice almost purred in amusement whilst the other merely chuckled at the memory of their own exploits.
"Well I happened upon those unwilling allies of ours again" the older voice continued "It would seem that we did some notable damage to that ramshackle thing that they gallivant around the wastes in and that the Grimm had begun stalking them; an entire swarm of the things led by an Alpha"
"But not what we need" the younger voice noted, annoyed that the anecdote seemed to have trailed off into meaninglessness
"Quite, the Alpha was certainly a fearsome thing but it was not suited to our purposes….the biggest beast of the lot, brute strength and nothing more" the first speaker admitted "However some of those students you were avoiding made their way beyond the plains, it was none other than Team MARZ who brought the thing down, I had been debating handling the thing myself simply for the sport"
"So some of the kids can do what they're being trained for" the younger speaker noted, every word conveying how utterly unimpressed they were "Does it really surprise you that it was Team MARZ?"
"I suppose it ought not, especially considering who is on that team" the other, more refined speaker chuckled "Now onto business, have you picked out other potential targets and locations"
"I have a few" the younger speaker grumbled, clearly unwilling to pursue the idea that had yielded so little results any further "But I still think we need a change of plan-"
"And if our current dire straits continue then I may be forced to concur" the older speaker nodded, taking their companion aback as they added "The pretences we came to Menagerie under will not last indefinitely and should they expire then we may be forced to resort to more drastic measures….We know that we're not the only party with designs for the local monsters, if we cannot find and subdue a suitably intelligent specimen for ourselves then well, we'll simply have to approach our competitors; hat in hand as it were"
The laughter that followed that statement was ominous to say the least.
Author's Notes:
So we're officially two thirds of the way through Vol.1 and if this story looks like a load of loose threads right now then I'd like to remind you that we're still in the early stages of a story that's gonna take a couple years for me to write….But things will take at least some sort of shape by the end of this volume.
Yes I answered a couple of questions this chapter….yes I immediately followed that up by giving you more questions.
Yes I gave you your first look at your villains but also revealed absolutely nothing about them….I'm a bastard like that.
On another note the chapter title "Rising Hopper" is a reference to Kamen Rider Zero: One because in the early plan of the volume this was meant to be a moment for Zirconia, her Vs the Alpha Locust Grimm being where she cemented herself as a part of Team MARZ but it felt like that happened naturally before this point in the doubles fight and this ended up being more of a Regalia chapter if anything.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Regalia's driving being absolutely terrifying is probably gonna be a running gag….AJ's landing strategy is literally a mix of glyphs, capoeira and a rocket propelled hammer, but even she wants no part of the jetbike.
Locust/Grasshopper Grimm are something that I honestly cannot believe I haven't done before and now here they are and honestly designing them so that they didn't fly and instead just ricocheted around like living stray bullets just makes them worse.
Yeah the whole travelling solution kinda leaves them with a limited amount of free hands.
Zirconia Shadowmoon is cool….even if she's a dork who plays anime openings on the violin to seem more broody and mysterious.
A little callback to the Bear on Bear violence line from AJ.
Yeah if the Grimm had hit that cable it would have been a bad day for all of Team MARZ, so AJ took one for the team.
Regalia will never not do the Akira slide.
I had to make an excuse for why Clan Aiktishaf didn't just jump off of their crawler en mass and handle the Grimm, otherwise this fight would be short.
Astra being forced to steer could have worked….if it wasn't for the Purge-Queen, also yeah they're shields might stop the Grimm from hitting them but kinetic energy is still gonna throw them off the bike.
Still no Semblance for Astra.
Yes Regalia made an "On your left" reference.
I was actually torn on where to give Regalia's mother a proper introduction but I ultimately decided that having it be after the fight made more sense and flowed better.
Zirconia's combos and general bad-ass fight scenes are always fun to write.
AJ has a cannon but honestly if she's forced to rely on it that much then you know something is wrong, that's not the way she usually fights.
Also, communication is key and these two have learned that the hard way.
"Well I don't think we were brought out into the wasteland just to lose our partners, it would make the last visit something of a waste of time" she's trying so hard to be bad-ass, sometimes it doesn't quite land and comes off as a WTF comment.
A pattern in this fight I didn't realise as I was writing it is that everyone who tried to rush in and save someone ended up getting saved by the people they were trying to help.
Zirconia has the utmost respect for Astra's abilities…..And that shows because her attempt at an 'Astra' style plan was basically to yeet herself at the problem.
Also, students taking moves from famous Hunters like Team RWBY or QROW is definitely a thing (In FADE: Legacy there was a team whose leader was from Patch and used a Scythe with a rocket booster on each side of the blade) so things like mimicking Ruby's gunshot propellent move will keep happening.
"Hopper on hopper violence" are you really the brooding bad-ass if you don't save their friends, murmur their own one-liner for maximum effect and pause to look cool before a second before collapsing?
Doing a charge of the Rohirrim really loses some of its' effect if all the hard work was already finished.
Of course that's how they first meet Regalia's Mum.
Any kind of domestic Nuts & Dolts is fun to write….yes the whole legs kicking while double-fisting sandwiches thing was a Vol.6 nod.
Ruby is absolutely an utter gremlin to work with, nothing about her life has taught her how to function as an employee; especially not when her boss is someone she's known since she was fifteen….she can be professional with the students but she will always try and be buddies with Coco even when ruining her day.
You know exactly what kind of slow motion entrance Team WULF were trying to make.
Okay I'm gonna say something here, Team MARZ are the main characters of this story but from the outside looking in, anybody in-universe would probably think that Team WULF are "That" team, they're the constant high achievers in everything; MARZ has AJ's celebrity status which them more like a young Team RWBY or JNPR but WULF generally outclass them, this story is not about OP super-characters, if anything they're the misfit underdogs….However none of that will stop Ruby from joking about them when they take themselves too seriously.
There's a line between brave and dumb and Wolfram is unicycling along it while circus music plays at all times.
Regalia's people are basically raised communally, everyone is Auntie or Uncle.
And yes I was playing up the Jawa look there….with Darth Vader/Death Corps of Kreig/Freman elements thrown in.
So Swarf Russet, Regalia's Mum isn't the overall leader of the Clan but she is one of its' leaders and one of the people steering that massive dune crawler….She's also and absolute unit; she doesn't have a prosthetic because it would probably be hard to maintain.
Momma Russet is protective of her daughter and was absolutely ready to keelhaul the rest of Team MARZ if they weren't treating her right.
The last time she spoke to her Mum Regalia said she wasn't gonna leave the Academy, but obviously if her family/clan are in trouble and need her skills it's different; fortunately an entire clan of nomads doesn't rely on one seventeen year old for all of it's tech support.
Astra and Regalia really should bond over how their parents support them but don't get them.
So there's the missing piece of Regalia's backstory, she saw Hunters save her people as a kid and has wanted to be one ever since, to the extent that her own people basically think she's a weirdo and no doubt some of them think she's turning her back on her own culture.
Swarf Russet is certainly a character….I honestly might have to find excuses to bring her back because her interactions with the rest of the team should be hilarious.
Team LEMN….because I can't keep having Team VNTA be the only background team; also Team VNTA are an in-joke with myself: They're Vantablack and you never actually see them….blame Anish Kapoor.
That little offhand comment about Hammerfall Outpost….just remember that I play the long game.
Oh yeah for people that haven't read the rest of this series….Ruby can Fly, she can also phase through matter like the Flash.
Team WULF, once again ready to pretend they're the main characters.
I feel like Ruby has to balance being a teacher and not being a filthy hypocrite more often than she'd like.
The first team back and the last team back and they both made an entrance….No wonder these two posers that lead the teams like each other.
Everyone can see it except the idiots themselves, as always.
Do you know how fucking hard it was to write this scene without giving much of anything away about the two unseen characters without making it a slog to read?
I mean the younger guy is right about getting caught stalking a bunch of seventeen year old students...Even if he was just trying to study any Grimm drawn to them.
So our villains know of Team MARZ by name and made a cryptic comment about "Considering who's on it" enjoy that little mystery.
These two new people have a time sensitive alibi for being on Menagerie, wonder if there's anything important to the students coming up?
So there was an attempt to smuggle Grimm from Menagerie to Neo Vale, these two people are discussing finding an intelligent Alpha specimen; there were also the bodies of Hunters and the people they were escorting found buried and these two know that they have competition on the island….the plot thickens.
Thank you to SumoSnipe and Funlander for their reviews on the last chapter.
Nope, I got biblical with my Grimm swarm.
I'm glad you like the Aiktishaf, it's a mix of sand-crawler, 40k Ork vehicle and literally every kind of 'Punk' aesthetic forcibly welded together.
Of course there was a cliffhanger, it's me.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.