Atlas: Ironwood's Classroom
Winter sat at the front of Ironwoods classroom taking notes on the entity now known as Salem. After returning home she; just like the rest of her team had questions they only hoped Ironwood could answer, fortunately he had the answers Winter was looking for. Unfortunately, Winter seemed to be the only person paying attention as Oscar focused on the next design to spray on a future car while Penny split her attention between watching Oscar and listening to Ironwood, Ceil currently busied herself trying to wake the sleeping Arc; Ironwood picked up a bullet before throwing it at Arc making the mechanic jolt causing him to fall out of his seat.
"Amazing." Ironwood stated dully. "The fact that an unbeatable great evil; that can control the Grimm might I remind you, seeks to destroy all humanity as we know it; and that somehow bores you."
Ironwood rubbed the bridge of his nose as Arc picked himself back up. Looking to the blonde the General wanted to find reason for this lack of urgency.
"Explain." Ironwood commanded. Jaune shrugged his shoulders before reaching into his uniform pocket and pulling out a familiar cartridge.
"She can't die. That doesn't mean she can't be imprisoned, if we ever see her in person I can just aim this little device at her and…" Jaune pointed the cartridge at the board with the complete lectures of everything the General knew about Salem before hitting the button. Ironwood watched amazed as his bored disappeared into the cartridge in Arc's hand.
"What is this thing?" Ironwood asked inspecting the device. Winter stood and began to explain.
"It is an intergalactic prison. It once housed two beings known as the Brothers of Light and Dark. Until Jaune let them out,"
"I only let out the Dark one, Ozpin let the other out." Jaune defended quickly.
"…before defeating both in the Mrgas unit and trapping them in a different cartridge that is now in Headmaster Ozpin's possession." Winter finished as if Jaune didn't interrupt.
Ironwood took a deep breath before unleashing rounds into the steel slab specifically setup for when the General needs an outlet. Dealing with both Jaune and Oscar made sure the anger management item got plenty of use. Ironwood continued to fire his gun long after running out of ammo.
"Is there a reason I was not debriefed about this incident?"
"Ozpin said he would take care of telling you." Winter answered before taking her seat once more.
Of course Ozpin already knew about everything, of course Ozpin would take the gods into custody, and of fucking course he would up and leave before explaining anything!
"Arc, you and Schnee try and reverse-engineer this prison module and make as many as you can. I want it done by the time semester break ends, for now take this time to discuss plans for your leave, if you are leaving the continent Inform me before you go." Ironwood said as he walked out of the room and to his office.
"I'll be heading back to Patch tomorrow. It'll be nice to feel my toes again, even if I have to work on my aunts farm. What about you Penny?" Oscar asked putting his work away.
"Unfortunately I will be down in Mantle helping father in his shop while also working on my extra credit projects. How about friend Ceil?"
"I'm going to Vacuo to visit some distant family."
"No fair! I gotta stay here." Jaune complained letting his head drop to his desk.
Gas Station
As Jaune worked dutifully running scans and testing in the work shop at the far end of the hangar near the giant door, Winter worked on modifying Mrgas for the new transformation sequences. Mini-Zorp and White Lion revolver moved crates around behind her. The two Zorps have shown a unique want for moving around. I would too after being put in storage for thousands of years. Penny sat next to Winter working on her own project. Setting the R.M.S. on auto she turned to see what Penny has been working on in her spare time. A heavily modified dagger; nothing extensive as turning into a gun but it did look like it could double as an instrument if one wanted.
Suddenly, all three stopped; whipping around to glare at an area next to the door, White Lion shifted into revolver mode before Mini caught the gun and held it over his shoulder taking aim; Penny's backpack opened, releasing seven swords all pointed to the same point as Mini.
"You are in a restricted area, surrender or prepare to be eliminated." Penny ordered to thin air before the Happy Huntresses made themselves visible with their hands held up.
"Stand down, its just Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses. They're not much of a threat to us." Winter ordered sending Mini and White Lion to Mrgas' docking station.
"They look more disgruntled than happy." Oscar joked passing by with his things packed for his leave, earning a scowl from the team. "Yeah, like that!"
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Winter Schnee, almost didn't recognize you out of your old uniform." May said referring to Winter's change of clothes as of recently. A fitting flight suit with metal segmented tool belt filled with several tools she never knew existed and ending with segmented greaves covering her boots.
"May, I almost didn't recognize when your not flirting with everything male." Winter replied scathingly only to get a shrug from the other ex-heir.
"Haven't seen any worth the effort up here but I do see Atlas latest death machines."
Suddenly the workshop door burst open with Jaune and Ceil running full tilt before the two jumped over a barricade of tires near Winter, seconds later an explosion blew the door from it's resting place followed by a dying shriek. Jaune stood from his spot dusting himself off.
"So now we know never to cross those wires again." Jaune stated helping Ceil to her feet before turning to the new people. "And you are?"
"I'm Robyn Hill, leader of the Happy Huntresses and I'd like to ask a few questions." Robyn introduced sticking her hand out expecting a hand shake, only to be surprised when Jaune turned the hand shake into a quick low-five. Ceil wondered off before Jaune could say something stupid.
"I'm Jaune Arc. What do you want to know?"
"Why is the Atlas Military making all these giant robots?"
Oscar tuned everything out as he packed his things into the trunk of his car, excited to get back home for a while and Jaune and his antics are not going to get in the way of that. Packing away the last of his custom mix of green and gold paint cans before Skalgar transformed to warrior mode and picked up his Ram Hammer and the giant blue spiked turtle.
Patch
The day after returning home Oscar found himself tending the fields, as Skalgar rested near the barn. The turtle mace used it's head to plow new rows while Oscar sat on it's back with designs of a ram's body on his holo-screen. The sun just started caress the horizon, when he heard a tune carried on the winds. Hearing the tune caused his green aura to flare very dimly before flickering away when the song ended.
Looking in the direction he heard the song, Oscar saw something glimmer in the soil Turtle Mace had just dug up. Jumping down, he investigated the dirt pulling out a rusted, chipped, and dirty gold coin with a strange symbol carved into it; what he believes is a three-toed dragons foot if some of the alien species knowledge is correct. As he turned the coin over in his hands, dusting off more dirt from the dull gold coin until it sparkled once more before ridding itself of rust and restoring to a shine.
"That's not normal." Oscar took a picture of the coin before running to his barn, Turtle Mace close behind.
Mantle: Polendina's Shop
Penny looked through a magnifying glass as she used a soldering iron on a small circuit board in the handle of a dagger. Her father Pietro sat next to her watching as she worked on her surprise gifts for her teammates. Penny's scroll began to ring with Oscar's personalized ringtone.
You can take a ride on my big green tractor~
Penny quickly and robotically put everything away before answering the call.
"Hello friend Oscar. Are you enjoying your visit home?" Penny asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I am actually but that's not what I'm calling about," Oscar held up the coin for Penny to see. "Could you do me a favor and look through the Galactic Archive for this. Oh, hey Dr.P." Penny took a literal mental picture of the gold coin as her father waved to Oscar.
"It will take a while but I'll report back later with whatever I find."
"Thanks P, you da best." Oscar said before cutting out.
"So that's that Oscar boy you can't stop talking about? He looks like a nice boy but maybe those enhancements you have planned for yourself might be a bit much for him to handle."
"Father!"
Patch: Oscar
After calling Penny, Oscar forgot about the coin in his pocket as he worked on the Ram Hammer transport module; or you know actually give the thing a body so it doesn't look miserable watching Turtle move around while it stays wherever Skalgar drops it.
"Calm down you'll have a body soon enough." Oscar told the ram as his personal R.M.S. placed the head in it's new golden body, highlighted with emerald green along the legs; pressurized air locked everything in place before Oscar hit another button retracting the arms and setting a complete giant ram on the ground.
"The emerald green accents really bring it all together, don't you agree?" Oscar asked opening the barn doors as Ram slowly tested the new body. "Now let's test it out with a walk to the beach and back."
As Oscar arrived at the beach, sitting on the back of Gold Ram as he spied Ruby and her dad sparring in the shallow waters. Oddly Ruby was without Crescent Rose as she struggled to fight barehanded, she just made the mistake of blocking Tai-yang's aura pulse punch, sending the small girl skidding through the water and sand. Poor girl didn't stop until her back hit Ram's front leg.
"Watch the paint, Tai!"
"Don't worry about me, I just had my spine broken is all!" Ruby squeaked from her prone position before Turtle helped her up. "Thanks giant spiky turtle."
Dark Lands
Watts' back slammed against a wall as he faced the wrong end of Tyrian's tail, oozing acidic poison that could melt through skin. The mad faunus giggled as he inched a drop of acid towards the Atlesian's mustache threateningly before a short shrill whistle made him retreat a few steps. Salem stepped into view with a small smile as she petted Tyrian's head shortly before focusing on Watts.
"Your knight failed Arthur. What do you have to say for yourself?" Fast as lightening Salem's hand wrapped around the scientist throat.
"It wasn't," Arthur choked out. "It's not my fault those animals tampered with the machine too much by the ti." Salem tightened her grip cutting him off.
"You're lucky I still need you alive and that Cinder never suffered an injury that would keep her from her own mission. Now go with Tyrian here and track down the Spring Maiden." Watts fell to the floor gasping for air before Tyrian grabbed him by the leg and began to march out of the castle.
This is only a minor set back in her greater plans, it's nice to have a distraction from the ongoing war she has with Ozpin but that is all the Blue Knight will be, a distraction. One that has garnered the unending ire of Cinder for her one defeat.
Looking out over the Grimm pools; Salem planned for her next batch of monsters. Let's try something with more magic and less mad science. Salem summoned an ornate staff to her hand, a scepter topped with a large golden hoop; shaped into a crescent moon, a ruby orb rested in the center of the moon. A gift from civilizations past that Salem once thought she had no use for but now as she gazed through the center an image of a large red-eyed beast laid in shadows and laying at the bottom of the ocean. Whistling a small tune caused the eyes to glow brighter before a loud roar answered her song.
A creature only spoken of in tales far older than herself, a creature that fought the gods to a standstill with it's mighty dragon form before the brother's imprisoned it in the deepest pit of what is now the oceans and it's powers stripped away.
The Brothers once tried to use the power for themselves only for it to nearly destroy them both. Doing what they could, they forged the power into a key that could reawaken the monster from the deep, casting it to the opposite side of Remnant, never to be discovered.
Multiple millennia later a village grew to worship the dragon of the ocean, offering trinkets of gold and emerald to the waters below their island, until one day this very staff fell from the heavens. Decades later, when she traveled the globe requesting aid to rise up against the Gods; Salem received the staff and allegiance of the village island. The staff is said to boost one's magic power and allow a link to the behemoth but Salem never could get the staff to break the spell cast on the dragon before the gods 'cleansed' the world but now was her chance to see what secrets waited in dark depths of the ocean.
"Emerald , while Cinder places final touches for Beacon; you are needed for my new plan." She spoke to a seer floating nearby, throwing open the large windows and hurling the staff into the distance.
Patch: Cliffs
Emerald stood on the cliffs overlooking the ocean as storm clouds spewing lightening grew closer than any formation should. As the clouds reached overhead Salem's staff crashed down before firing a thunderbolt that shattered the cliff in front of Emerald.
"Take hold of the staff and summon the Great Dragon." Salem's voice commanded.
Gulping nervously, Emerald tried to brace herself for what would happen, never expecting a harmless light to envelop her body. When it faded, a golden armor vest and arm bands glimmered into existence, Emerald flexed her hand as the other held the staff.
"I feel…so powerful." She commented watching her aura pulse around her.
"As you should, prove yourself by bringing me a creature that can face the Blue Knight and you will be rewarded with far more than Cinder could ever hope to promise. Now hold the staff out to the ocean and let the summoning song do it's magic."
"Yes ma'am." Emerald replied crossing a fist over her chest before raising the staff into the air.
Oscar's Barn
"Hey Penny. Did you find anything about the coin?"
"Not so much anything useful, but the information I do have is quite fascinating. When our world was still young, a cultivator was sent to spread greenery, like trees and flowers."
"Wait are you saying this coin belonged to an old space farmer?" Oscar asked flipping the coin in his hand.
"Shush, no interruptions please. Later the God Brothers were sentenced to help the farmer in making a new world as part of their community service, time passed before the Brothers revolted. Luckily the farmer had a mech to fight the two but unfortunately it was not enough even though it was one of the strongest of it's time. The coin in your hand acts like an activation key when in the cockpit."
"Wait how strong are we talking?" Oscar asked before a familiar song began to play once more in his mind, but this time as if played on a trumpet, alarms started blaring on Penny's end of the screen.
"I'm sorry friend Oscar but I am needed at the Gas Station." Penny signed off never noticing her friends far off look.
Unknown to Oscar around the world ancient Grimm rise from secluded resting grounds at the four corners of the globe, each one making a path to Patch as a song summoned them. A giant Sabre Grimm roared as it and a giant Megaliath ran across the frozen tundra of Solitas followed by their smaller counterparts, setting off alarms at Atlas HQ. In the far north of the Vacuo desert a giant three horned Grimm lead a stampede of death-stalkers and Ravagers to the east towards the nearest ocean to Patch. In the volcanic wasteland of Anima two giant Grimm break apart the dormant volcano they slept in before entering or flying over the ocean.
In Patch the ground began to shake as more lightening rained down with sound of a roaring dragon. A large quake knocked Oscar off his chair as as Ram and Turtle made a commotion outside.
"What the hell was that?" Oscar yelped running outside to see a mechanical bipedal dragon rise out of the cliffs before shooting missiles from its fingertips hitting nothing but empty fields and forests but that could change as the hundred plus tall robot began walking to the village. "Oh, come-on! I can't do three days without this shit happening!?" Oscar stressed to himself as he started up Skalgar and began running at the rogue mech. Skalgar picked up Turtle after it jumped in the air and transforming into weapon mode as Ram ran behind.
Skalgar spun the spiked wrecking ball over his head before letting it swing out and hit the back of the dragon; a giant wave of sparks sprung to life where the weapon hit, making the green beast stop in its tracks.
"If you don't want anymore I suggest you leave." Oscar spoke after establishing a link and growing confused when his screen showed an empty cockpit. "What the?"
Was all he managed before the drill at the end of the dragon's tail kept out of the water and hit Skalgar in the chest plate. Oscar's robot launched off his feet before hitting the water on his back, the young pilot could hear the music play before the attack but that wouldn't help right now.
"Okay, I feel like such a Jaune for that, but I will admit that tail is cool." Getting back to his feet Skalgar swung the mace down, only for the tail to knock aside the ball. Skalgar rushed forward hitting the dragon twice in the circular chest plating, the dragon didn't move as more sparks cascades to the water below.
The song played once again before the dragon roared and aimed its fingers at Skalgar. Oscar hit a button; transforming Skalgar to vehicle mode and avoiding the close range fire, the mace now descending down from the bottom of the Jet.
"You might be stronger but let's see if you can keep up!" Oscar floored the gas aiming towards the clouds dodging more missiles. Ram jumped into the water ramming the dragons knee joint, making it lose balance. Ram quickly jumped out of the way of the tail as it came down drill first and spinning. "Yeah! Show'em how we do things in Gas, Rammy!" Oscar cheered going into a loop back towards the dragon and hitting the side of the head with the ball.
Emerald watched the fight from a safe distance away in the forest. Holding up the staff whenever she needed new orders conveyed to her robot, but as she gazed at the mechanical dragon she noticed it never looked as if it was taking any real damage, even the last big hit did little more than make the dragon stumble slightly to correct it's footing.
"Ma'am, the beast you spoke of is a robot that has the smallest knight at a disadvantage even with his weapons upgraded and deployed."
"Good, destroy him and return to me."
With a thought the six orbs on the dragon's chest lit up firing red energy at a gatling pace, clipping Skalgar's wing. The golden bull of the ring transformed back to warrior mode before Ram's body shot it's head into Skalgar's now waiting hand. Emerald watched as the robot went through several katas with hammer and ball combo. Oscar linked into the Gas network while Skalgar distracted the dragon.
"This is Skalgar, requesting immediate back-up at my position. Rogue mecha. I repeat rogue mecha." Oscar pleaded.
"Negative, Skalgar. All personnel preoccupied with a Grimm wave headed by two Kaiju levels. You're on your own until further notice." Ironwood spoke over the coms before quickly closing the line. Just as he did more missiles lit up Skalgar's torso. Alarms started blared as electrical sparks traveled over the controls as Skalgar hit a cliff face, Dragon charged with it's head lowered exposing the sharp blade on top, Skalgar brought the hammer up guiding the mech to hit the cliff as well. Skalgar made a bit of distance as Oscar saw the dragon now stuck headfirst in the wall.
"Oscar are you okay? Skalgar's systems are dropping."
"No, Penny. I'm not okay, I'm fighting something that makes that Ender guy look like a pushover and I'm not making a scratch on this thing." Oscar showed Penny an image of the dragon.
"Oscar that's the mech from the legends!" Penny exclaimed after seeing the image. Skalgar whipped the mace around scoring a hit on the back the stuck robot.
"Then why is it attacking me? I have the coin don't I?"
"Maybe that's what it's after. Try to get to the cockpit and insert the coin, maybe that might calm it down. I'll send something that might help."
The dragon roared once again as the music played to a new volume causing Oscar to clutch his head in pain; the dragon freed itself before bringing the drill around and piercing Skalgar's shoulder joint, causing the arm and Turtle Mace to fall to the water. Oscar controlled Skalgar to throw the hammer back to it's body on land before hitting the eject button as the tail came around piercing the cockpit.
As Oscar shot into the air, he watched as Skalgar was decimated by more missiles before completely falling into the ocean and exploding again. Thankfully Turtle walked out the water next to Ram. Oscar parachute deployed as the Dragon roared in victory.
Tears escaped Oscar as he sat limply in his falling seat as the dragon went back to the waters.
"Salem, the Gold Knight is no more but his pilot escaped."
"Find him and see to it he never makes another."
To be continued.
So everybody that enjoys this story give major thanks and awesome gratuity to Obsidian Nova Arc for their help in making this chapter. Without them this chapter would not be near as kick-ass as it is. The ancient Grimm waking up? Their idea and I loved it.
