Well, Christmas is upon us once again and this year we can actually spend it with our families since we are vaccinated. Well, the same can't be said about those who have lost their lives recently. I honestly wish the world was a much better place than it currently is right now.
I mean, I live in a relatively safe area, but hearing all about all these terrible things occurring around the world really brings me down. Hasn't there been enough suffering in the world?
Anyway, it's onto the next chapter, but first onto the reviews.
Monster King: Thanks, but please tell me what you like about the story. I'd really like to know.
54godamora: Glad you didn't lose power, but it's a shame about that nature preserve.
Jack Smith1: Sorry, I haven't been keeping up with your story lately, but I am glad you like it. Keep reading and you'll be in for more surprises, just you wait. Now about that light I have, it's because of my parents and grandparents that I have a big heart.
Chaotic Skunk Demon: I like the mountains myself. I've been going to the mountains in New Hampshire on vacations for many years and there is no better place to be, especially where you can take a nice relaxing train ride through the mountains. So, you are fan of Gundam Wing and G Gundam? Those are some of my favorites. By the way, I plan on doing a Gundam Seed story in the future, so you should keep an eye out for it. In regard to Qrow, I agree with you completely.
Spartan-626: You'll have to wait and see.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Yes, it has. And you'll like what I have planned for this volume.
Silverfox3456: I agree. What's becoming of this world. As for Star Wars: Visions, it is a series of animated short films presented by some of the greatest anime creators in the world. The stories are set outside the created canon, set during the Galactic Civil War, after the Clone Wars, the Old Republic and after the First Order Conflict. I strongly recommend that you check it out.
Alright, reviews done, let's get this chapter started.
Disclaimers are the same as before, please enjoy.
Chapter 63: Dread in the Air
With his head in his hands, Leonardo Lionheart sat in his office as Arthur Watts walked into the room. "Are we ready?" the good doctor asked. The headmaster lifted his head and looked at Watts who closed the door behind him after stepping into the room. A brief exchange of looks between the two was made before he turned his head away from the doctor who smirked in response. Both men soon entered a secret hallway adjacent to the office.
At the curved end of the hallway is a circular room containing the Seer. A Grimm with a small black spherical body similar to that of a crystal ball, bone like plates and spikes and tentacles, resembling a Jellyfish. Watts pushed the Faunus Man towards the creature before Lionheart spoke to the Grimm as if it were a commlink. "Your Grace are… you there?" he asked timidly.
The red smoke substance contained in the head of the Grimm shifted to form an image of Salem, Cinder, Maul and their newest associate sporting a rather nice-looking brown hat, similar to the ones worn by the various bounty hunters, ranchers and farmhands in Vacuo, parts of Anima and Vale. "Hello, Leonardo. Do you have something to report?" the Grimm woman inquired.
"Of course, ma'am. I would not waste your time, it not." Lionheart answered nervously as Watts walked close to the creature in fascination.
"I'm stull just so fascinated by this creature. Cinder dear, are we coming through?" he teased the Fall Maiden, tapping the Seer. "Can you see us clearly? Well, as clearly as you can."
"Shut… up." Cinder said annoyed at the doctors teasing from the other side.
"Oh goody, you've recovered." Watts said sarcastically.
"Your report. What is it?" Salem asked again.
"I've… I've found the Spring Maiden." Lionheart reported.
"Is that so? Well done. Arthur, had I known how useful you'd be in expediting this process, I would've sent you long, long ago." Salem said impressively.
"As much as I'd love to take credit, ma'am, I can't say that either of us are to thank for this development. I guess you could say, a little birdie told us." Watts clarified. Much to Salem and Cinder's surprise, they learned that not only Qrow Branwen had arrived at Haven earlier that day, he also believed that the Spring Maiden had taken up residence with his sisters' tribe.
"Is… the girl… with him?" Cinder asked.
"Yes, Miss Rose was in attendance. Along with a certain bounty hunter in green armor, one who the Empire provided us. It appears that he has indeed changed sides." Watts answered, referring to Boba Fett.
"And you know of the tribe's location?" Salem asked.
"No, Ma'am. I'm afraid to say it, but I think the Jedi that came with them is starting to suspect me." Lionheart answered.
"What Jedi?" Maul inquired.
"The Demon Lord. Galen Marek. I don't know if he was able to determine, but you must hurry! Qrow is already at odds with my—" the cowardly headmaster began to say when he felt something wrap around his throat and began to choke him. From the other end of the Seer, Maul began to joke Lionheart with the dark side of the force.
"If I recall the first time you met with Lady Salem, you were afraid. But ever since then, you've been extraordinarily brave. We won't forget all that you've done for us, but you shouldn't forget what she can do to you." Maul said as Lionheart began to lose his breath. "Fortunately for you, I have already discovered the location of Raven's camp, thanks to my probe droids. But to hear that she may be in the possession of the Spring Maiden, this is certainly most valuable information." He released his grip and Lionheart dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.
"Cinder, you and your team along with Maul will convince Raven Brawen that the survival of her people depends on her cooperation. Once you have Spring under control, escort her to the relic and contact Hazel. The White Fang was promised the destruction of Haven, and they'll have it once we have what we need. Watt's, you are to return here and assist in finishing our newest weapon. Tyrian's untimely departure was unexpected, but it has also brought a promising new experiment. I need you to finish the necessary work needed to complete the experiment." Salem instructed.
"It will be done." Watts replied before the connection ended. "Seems Qrow was right, Lionheart. The students aren't pushovers."
Back in Salem's domain, Cinder was very unhappy about the situation. She believed that they were strong enough to take whatever they wanted by force and that working with bandits and keeping Ruby alive was beneath them. Salem told the young Fall Maiden that one should never underestimate the usefulness of others. Lionheart was one such example, for before he was one that Ozpin trusted greatly, before he became their inside informant to everything in Mistral. "You will have the power I promised you, when the time is right. But remember to take to protect yours. There's only so much I can do to aid you." She added.
"Well," the newcomer said, causing Salem and Cinder to cast a glance at the newcomer who was a Duro's male. "Guess that where I come in then. If the little lady is so important to you, it's best that I go bring her here pronto. A girl like that, she'd be a nasty thorn in your side unless it's taken care of." They spoke.
"You had better bring her back alive. I personally want to thank that little bitch for what she did to me." Cinder snarled at the mention of Ruby.
"Don't worry. I always get my pray. After all, they don't call Cad Bane one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy for nothing you know." Cad Bane answered before he departed to his ship and headed for Mistral.
Meanwhile, the cargo ship carrying Weiss, Hevy, Hardcase and Arthur flew over Lake Matsu, a region in Anima known for it's thousands of small islands that floated hundreds of feet in the air due to the large deposit of Gravity Dust in the area, this also caused turbulence for any aircraft that traveled through the region, and it was known to be home to some very dangerous Grimm.
Weiss, however, was still somber over being unable to help the cargo ship from earlier. Arthur noticed this, as did Hevy and Hardcase who still kept an eye on the floating islands for any sign of hostiles. Their pilot was confident that the ones who sent the distress call would be able to keep the Grimm occupied, but he was proven wrong when the same airship he refused to help nearly slammed into them, on fire and trailing smoke.
"Look out!" Weiss called to the pilot who pulled up to avoid it, narrowly hitting the cargo ship. The pilot was quick to switch the radio back on, but it did little good as another Airship arrived, pursued by a swarm of Lancers and a new type of insect-like Grimm with claws and a pincer. The Lancers soon hooked themselves onto the other airship and pulled tightly, killing everyone on the airship.
"Lancers, freaking Lancers!" the pilot cursed as the swarm of Grimm turned their attention towards his cargo ship. "Alright buckle up—Huh?" they said in confusion as Weiss, Arthur and the two ARC Troopers jumped back down into the cargo hold and readied their weapons.
A determined look appeared on Weiss's face as she loaded up her rapier with six vials of powdered dust, causing the pilot to question what she and the others were doing. "What we should've done in the first place! You're carrying Dust, right?" Weiss shouted to the pilot.
"Officially, no. Actually, yes." The pilot replied over the intercom. Arthur rolled his eyes, it was clear that the pilot was smuggling Dust into Anima, either on his own or by orders from Weiss's father to make himself a little profit.
"Then when I tell you, open the rear door!" Weiss shouted back to the pilot.
"Time to lock and load!" Hardcase shouted with excitement as he spun up his Z-6, as did Hevy. "I've been waiting to shoot something this entire trip!"
The pilot executed multiple evasive maneuvers, but both the Lancers and the new Grimm gained on the Airship, ready to attack it. Summoning a black glyph underneath herself and her companions to keep them stuck to the ship, Weiss readied her sword before she called out to the pilot and opened the cargo doors. Blaster fire from Arthur, Hevy and Hardcase took down several of the new Grimm, revealing that they were not as armored as the previous types of Grimm they had encountered. Weiss used both her glyphs and the Dust to eliminate several Grimm, taking down six Grimm.
"Vile Beasts!" Arthur snarled, firing his swords blaster mode in short-controlled bursts so he didn't waste any ammo. Three bursts of bright blue blaster bolts knocked out three of the new Grimm, while another burst from his rifle blew the head off a Lancer, killing it.
Hevy and Hardcase mowed down several of the new Grimm with their rotary blasters and were about to target a group of Lancers when the group was knocked off balance as a Lancer stinger hooked the airship. Two more lancers firmly planted on top of the Grimm as the rest of the swarm finally caught up with the Airship and flew along side it.
"Blast it!" Hevy cursed.
"I've got an idea! Hold on! Literally!" the pilot shouted before accelerating the ship towards one of the floating islands. At the last second, the pilot dived down and used the airships remaining forward momentum to throw the Lancers off his ship and into the side of the rock formation. "Ha!" the pilot cheered.
"Can you find a pair of islands we can fit between?" Weiss questioned.
"Kid, you are reading my mind!" the pilot replied in agreement before he flew towards a pair of closely adjacent, interconnect islands, narrowly avoiding the close island walls and the attacking Grimm. Weiss launched a fireball from her glyphs, destroying an overhanging rock formation. The attack caused the debris to kill the attacking Grimm. "Yeah! Great going, kid! We are in the clear!" the pilot cheered.
But he was wrong, for Weiss's attack had awoken a Queen Lancer a larger version of the Lancer that appeared right behind them. "It's a Queen Lancer!" she shouted, much to the shock of the pilots. Immediately, Weiss and her companions started to attack the Queen Lancer, but their attacks did nothing.
"I can see the shoreline! Gods, we're not gonna make it!" the pilot shouted frantically as the airship came nearer and nearer to the lake. Regaining her composure, Weiss summoned her Arma Gigas and ordered the pilot to pull up, ascending further into the air before maneuvering his vehicle upside down. It was during this maneuver that the Arma Gigas left the vehicle and divided towards the Queen Lancer, with Weiss controlling it and was able to kill the creature, but she wasn't able to prevent her ship from crashing into the forest.
The crash killed the pilot, but there was no sign of Arthur or the two ARC Troopers as an injured and dirty Weiss laid on the ground as two bandits who spotted the crash approached her. "Help… please." She begged.
"What do you think?" one of the bandits asked before their leader, who was none other than Raven Branwen approached them.
"I think… we just hit the jackpot." Raven said. Weiss's face turned to one of concern as she looked at Raven before the bandit leader brought their foot up and stomped her face, knocking her out. "Tie her and make it tight. I don't want her trying make an escape before we reach camp. Blindfold her too." Raven ordered the two bandits who did as they were told before she ordered several other bandits to continue searching the wreckage for anything of value or any other survivors.
Once Weiss was tied up and hefted over the shoulder of one of the bandits, the others continued to search through the wreckage. They were completely unaware that Arthur, Hevy and Hardcase were thrown from the wreckage and had witnessed Weiss's abduction. "We'll wait for the bandits to leave and then we'll follow them back to their camp. These dishonorable brigands will regret this deeply." Arthur told the two Clones.
And done. Not a very long chapter, but nothing wrong with that.
So, Cad Bane has taken Tyrian's place, for the moment and is on his way to Mistral and is after Ruby. What he has planned for her, you'll have to wait and see.
So, a new type of Grimm has appeared, and it is an insect type Grimm. It's basically the Hopper Bug from Starship Troopers but looks like all the other Grimm. Another bug from that movie will appear as a Grimm later on.
So, Weiss has been captured by Raven, but Arthur, Hardcase and Hevy are planning a rescue mission. Will it happen when Yang arrives at her mother's camp? I'm not telling.
Until then, please read and review and I'll see you next time. Happy holidays everyone and stay safe out there.