Chapter 4

The Sting

More grunting filled the training room as Ruby took out frustrations. In truth she wasn't mad at her teammates, she was mad at the world. Why did this have to happen!

After a solid five minutes, Ruby finally saw the blood on the punching bag and looked at her hands. She had bloodied her knuckles for the second time now.

She sighed and activated her aura, healing the minor wounds instantly. No one had noticed it yet, but her aura was a darker red now, a clear sign of her new emotional state.

"Careful kiddo, you don't need to hurt yourself more than the attack on Beacon did…." Qrow warned.

Ruby frowned and said "I'm fine" while holding up her perfectly clean hands.

Qrow took a swig of his flask and then replied "physical injuries heal, but you need to be careful about mental ones too….whatcha say we go get some lunch together?"

Ruby nodded and picked up a bag containing her usual outfit. She was currently wearing a red sport's bra and black sweatpants. "That…..actually sounds pretty good, let me change first."

Just then sirens sounded over Beacon's intercom. "Warning, incoming grim attack, threat level: 8. All huntsman and able body students report to the courtyard" Headmistress Goodwitch ordered.

Qrow gave Ruby a concerned look, but she responded with "go!, I'll need to get ammo for Cresent rose then I will be there"

Atop a roof in Vale, Alpha Team was overlooking the battle. Ironwood's flagship was taking the bulk of the Grimm out as they approached the plains northeast of Beacon, the few that made it into the city were too close to civilians sheltering in place, thus airpower was useless. Luckily the local huntsman and huntresses had mobilized in record time.

"This isn't right, obviously Salem sent this attack...but it's not working" Zander observed.

Nia gave the Latios a confused look and asked "Um, because we're stopping it, and what makes you think this is her directly?"

"Negative emotions are down, Grimm don't attack like this in large groups unless they sense negativity, Salem sent them here, and this is too easy. Why are there no airborne Grimm?" Zander questioned.

Just then there was a roar as a horde of new Grimm appeared over the horizon, they had a primarily black body, with giant, white tusks and a white and red patch on their foreheads. Like most Grimm, they had bony, white protrusions on their bodies, with a massive row of them going down their spines. They were intimidating even to Alpha team at a whopping 20 feet tall.

Ironwood's flagship fired a volley of red lasers, but it did nothing but agitate the Grimm more. Charlie gave his sister a look of determination and then turned to Zander, silently asking for permission.

Zander sized up the situation before saying "Keep in your human forms and use your huntsman weapons. Remember that we still need to keep a low profile"

Charlie and Kelly nodded before vanishing in a bolt of lightning, aside from a select group, they were still a secret, and they intended to keep it that way.

Nia tapped Zander on the shoulder and asked "should I go?"

"I'm sure the Mason twins can handle this, but if you want…" Zander said calmly, a stark contrast to the massive battle in front of him.

The disguised Zoroark shuffled in place and said "I wanna pull my weight, and I don't feel like I am if I..."

"Nia, you need to stop that, just because you're the youngest and not as powerful doesn't mean you're inadequate," Zander stated bluntly.

Nia smiled and said "thanks..I'll stay with you" unlike Zander, Nia was raised among humans from the beginning, but also mingled with pokemon much better than the Mason twins. This mixing of both sides was why she was the oddball of the team. Zander identified as a pokemon while the Mason twins were firmly humans. Nia however understood the Latios's antisocial tendencies, and that's why she and he seemed to get along better. In reality, Zander and the Mason twins were friends, they just didn't appear to be. Zander knew how to talk in tactics and serious situations, but anything else was a crapshoot.

"I appreciate that, let's see how the Mason twins take care of this, knowing them it'll be quite a sight" Zander admitted, his practiced formal demeanor disappearing for a rare moment.

Meanwhile, in Beacon's courtyard, Qrow was personally guarding Pyrrha, who despite her insistence, was not allowed to join in the fight.

"I just...want to help," Pyrrha admitted bluntly.

Qrow nodded and said "I know, and you're getting better for sure, but until you master the Fall Maiden's powers, it's just too risky.

A few grim then arrived only for Pyrrha to sear them with a blast of fire, earning a grin from Qrow. Pyrrha knew this was for the best, but there was nothing wrong with taking out Grimm that were here.

Just then there was a whooshing sound, Pyrrha flinched and covered her neck, only to immediately collapse.

Qrow ran up to her and pulled a dart out of her neck, she was still breathing, so it was clearly just a tranquilizer.

The black-haired huntsman immediately pulled out his sword and scanned his surroundings, someone was here for the Fall Maiden, and it was up to him to protect her.

"I'm not going to fail twice, SHOW YOURSELF!" Qrow demanded.

With a maniacal laugh, multiple tranquilizers fired his way, but Qrow deflected them by spinning his blade before firing a shotgun blast at the bushes they came from.

Just as the blast ripped through the bush, a figure in a brown jacket with blades attached to his vambraces jumped out from within it, the blades popping out from their folded mode and battle-ready.

Tyrian Callows looked at the blowgun in his hand, the pipe was blown in half, he had just barely managed to dodge Qrow's blast.

"HAHA HAHA!, Well, that was a close call!" Tyrian said with a psychotic laugh, even louder than his previous one.

Qrow sized up his opponent as he switched Harbinger to scythe mode, he could tell that despite being completely insane, this guy was an incredibly deadly foe.

"Who are you?" Qrow questioned.

Tyrian chuckled and answered "Why friend my name is Tyrian, and I am here to take the Fall Maiden off your hands! After all, one does not disappoint the queen!"

Author's note- oh it's good to be back with some action...

1. some fights from the original RWBY canon will still be here, with my twists of course...

2. thoughts on Alpha Team's characterization? I may have violated the show don't tell rule a little, but it's necessary sometimes.

3. Sorry for not keeping my promise on the character chapters, after this and the next we'll start in Atlas with Weiss.

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