A/n still not dead yet sorry Life happened yet again and I got side tracked for some time, and with an update. With that in mind, I present Chapter 50: Desolation.
Chapter 50: Desolation.
Returning to Nar Shaddaa, in the Hutt Crimelord's warehouse, all of the Remnants stared down the freshly formed Beowolf as more lumps of movement started to form in the inky black river was starting to pool in the room. All of their lightsaber's humming as the dark fog crept closer behind the mysterious wolf. Through the force, those same remnants could feel the pain of Nar Shaddaa. They could feel the Grimm's curse spreading through the world at an alarming rate.
Holding their weapons at the ready, the two Sith managed to somewhat regain their composure. Their fear replaced with an exhilaration. They felt fear, they felt stress, they faced their sworn enemy from Remnant yet again. With that, Pyrrha and Nora looked back at each other, Red and Yellow eyes locking as smiles were carved on their faces as they saw the enemy they trained to fight back on Remnant. They were manifestations of fear, anger, and hatred, something the Sith could feel through the force. Pyrrha began to take the Scepter of Ragnos off of her back, slowly as to not draw the beast's attention. The Grimm seemed to be adjusting themselves to the new world it was born into and this was something Pyrrha was about to exploit. She lined up the scepter with the Beowolf as her. Though before she unleashed the siphon, all of the spirits bound to her cried out in protest in her mind in fear. They feared that would only empower the beasts further.
Though as Pyrrha stood there the creature got its bearings and began to look at the group of Remnants, and growled lowly at them all before charging at them, almost seeming like it recognized the people in front of it. Which made Nora do something unexpected, she blasted the bony masked creature with a blast of force lightning. The blue energy of the lightning dashed through the air in a torrential blast of energy. Though the creature was simply unaffected at a matter of fact it got bigger from the attack. Seeing this response Pyrrha realized what happened, as a matter of fact, all of the force wielding Remnants realized what happened. It absorbed the power.
It was at this point the former bandit leader tried to blast the beast back with a force push, which the beast was more phased by but it still weathered the blast. Seeing Raven deactivated her lightsaber and clicked it into a handled cylinder that had a band that looked to be loaded with dust of all types. Quickly the band rotated and fell onto an orange dust crystal, and with a click, Raven withdrew the hilt of her lightsaber and ignited it. This time the stark white blade being replaced with a burning orange one that looked like a stable version of Pyrrha's blade. After doing this she threw her two-meter long blade into the air right at the neck of the creature.
The whirlwind of flaming energy seared right through the Beowolf's neck, decapitating it, causing its head to slam into the floor as it started to evaporate into its black fog as the orange blade returned to its owner's hands. As the inky black fluid had started have more creatures being birthed from it. Beowolves, Nevermores, Ursa's, Boarbatusks, though new formations were emerging as well. Ozpin knowing of this facet of the Grimm looked at all of the Remnants, he knew this would be a losing battle if they tried to fight the Grimm here and now so he yelled out to all the Remnants.
"Everyone we need get out of here, Now!" Ozpin yelled, Taiyang and Raven agreed, as did the two Sith, who nodded as they had completed their mission. Though Penny looked down at the battered and now petrified Emerald. The synthetic girl was unsure of what to do about the jade haired woman.
"What about her?" Penny asked quickly, though her voice rang with concern as Ozpin and the other Remnants started to turn around and start running for the exit. Ozpin looked at Penny and said.
"If you can carry her, bring her with us," Ozpin explained. With that said Penny deactivated and mounted the two lightsabers onto her belt and picked up the wounded Woman, quickly scooping her up in her arms then flipping her over her shoulder. She then darted off following the group. She wasn't sure on who to follow. She wanted to follow Pyrrha and Nora, but with Ozpin here she also knew she should go with him. As she and the Remnants ran down the main entrance halls all of those with lightsaber had deactivated them and clasped them back onto what ever held them in place.
As they emerged from the palace, the Remnants saw something that was absolutely petrifying to behold. Nevermores and other various forms of flying Grimm already in the skies above Nar Shaddaa. They were ripping flying vehicles down from the sky and picking up and dropping civilians down the thousands of meters drops between the structures. Many parts of the skyline were smoldering and burning, causing a dense smoke to rise up into the sky and blot out the stars. The Grimm were devastating the city-scape. In the distance the screams of the inhabitants of the world rang through the streets, further accenting the burning orange flames that seared the sky.
Ozpin stopped taking in the horrific sight. He realized in a place like this the Grimm would be unstoppable, so much negativity and life to fuel it, they could become nigh on impossible to fight, as they could reproduce rapidly. He looked back and the rest of the Remnants were also taking in the devastation being wrought upon the world. To the duo of Sith, they were in shock as they realized how truly dangerous the Grimm were. It was at this point Pyrrha took out her scroll and opened it to contact Winter, but she was interrupted by Ozpin.
"We need to leave this planet," Ozpin muttered to all the Remnant around him. As much as he wanted to help, the true power of the Grimm was being unleashed upon this world. This pain and suffering made him sick that he could not help. He realized the Grimm might have been designed to be used to reek havoc on worlds like this, due to the shear amount of damage being inflicted. Though he realized that there was no time to ponder on the purpose of the creatures of Grimm. "Let's go! Our ship is this way" He yelled out. Hearing that they had a ship Pyrrha and Nora looked at each other. They knew they couldn't risk the Specter in such a hostile environment. So the two determined sticking with Ozpin would be the best bet to getting off this planet.
Walking further down the streets all of the Remnants could smell the odors of death and war on the winds. The Grimm seemingly frenzied in all of the destruction. It was this sight that made Taiyang's stomach churn. Though after he stopped for a second he returned saying.
"Ozpin, we need to help these people," Taiyang said causing Ozpin to stop and turn to face his friend, unsure of what to say. He looked around, the skyline was in flames, the sounds of death and Grimm filled the air. Ozpin had seen the devastation that the Creatures of Grimm numerous times before, though, on this scale, the headmaster was demoralized. The amount of destruction was almost quantifiable by Remnant standards. His voice saddened, he responded with.
"Tai, I know our duty, but this is on a scale much too large for us to dream of handling, and right now we need to get out of here, then we can get help for this world," Ozpin explained, he hated that he had to leave a Grimm infested moon, but no force or contingent of Remnants could deal with a situation like this. It was at this point Ozpin spoke again explaining, trying to remind the Remnant's of Remnant with, "Besides this is not our galaxy nor home, we should let the Republic or Empire handle it, we don't belong here."
This line upset the Remnants, specifically Penny, Nora, and Pyrrha, who had come to view this galaxy as their new home. While the Taiyang was much more upset that they couldn't do anything to help this world, but to him, Ozpin had a point, there was nothing they could do at the moment, they could not rid the planet of the Grimm, as this planet seemed to deal with their full wrath.
Though overhead they saw the formation of what looked like a mythical dragon Grimm, already flying above. The sight of which made all of those in the group look up in shock. Ozpin knew that these creatures normally took centuries to form, yet he was seeing one already growing. It was at this moment he realized the true intention of the Grimm, they were not a terror exclusive to Remnant, no they were a weapon of mass destruction, constructs hell bent on destroying life. All the while growing stronger as they fed.
They saw the disgusting black fluid seeping from the Grimm Dragon's flesh, which upon hitting the ground spawned even more of the Grimm. Though as this had them distracted and shocked, a crash came from behind from the Hutt's palace. The walls had given way to the brute force of the Grimm. Though what emerged was even more terrifying than the Grimm of Remnant.
Its snaggle-toothed jaw lined with razor-sharp bony teeth. Its piggish hideous face covered by a bony mask covered with red markings, as readied its massive claws on its hands. This creature was massive, each step caused the ground to shake, as its flaming eyes locked on the remnants as it roared out. It looked like the type of thing a crimelord would keep under his main hall to dispose of people he did not care for. Pyrrha and Nora had never seen such a creature. As a matter of fact, none of the remnants had seen a Grimm like this, though Taiyang had seen the form this creature, though he could not remember its name.
When this creature started to charge, Raven walked forward, gesturing back to Ozpin to get the group back to the ship. At which point Taiyang was about to protest but Raven leered back through her mask. It was a look that Tai knew from when they were team STRQ, it was the look of, 'I've got this.' Igniting the stark white blade of her saber Raven smiled under her mask, this she wanted to be the first to kill this new breed of Grimm. Gripping the lengthened hilt in it balance point. Raising the blade up she slid her hand up the hilt and hit the red switch on the control panel. Inside the hilt, the focus crystals altered their orientation, causing the flaming orange beam of energy to lengthen to two meters. As she leaped in the air her blade trailing behind her.
As Raven engaged the creature Ozpin looked at the party and yelled out, "Don't worry she will cover us," though before they could get moving Pyrrha saw another Grimm tear out of the darkness. It looked to be a beowolf at a glance. A part of her chilled heart was struck and she drew and ignited her saber, its flaming orange blade darting through the air as her loose pink hair trailed behind her. Following her friend, Nora extended her hilt then ignited her warbling pink blade as she lunged into the fray.
Raven cursed, as her lightsaber was not doing as much damage as she expected it to. Despite the length of the blade and its power, it seemed the white bony plate of the Grimm hid another interesting secret, an immunity to lightsabers. Though as she realized this fact she barely heard the creature lunge up behind her. Cursing as she broke off from fighting the hideous new form of Grimm. As she darted back the creature behind her was closing its jaws in a harsh snap. If she had moved a moment later her arm or more would be in that foul creature's mouth. Though she saw a swipe of flaming orange that took off the aggressive Beowolf's head. Though before her mind could comprehend what she had witnessed, the hulking beast she just attacked swiped at her with its huge hand slamming down onto the hard duracrete street. Though she rolled out of the way of its next attack, then leaped back up on to her feet to see a blur of pink energy dart by, accelerated by the force.
Getting back on her feet, she saw the two Sith moving in a coordinated attack on the New Grimm form. Their sabers barely scratching the bony plates of the beast, though it was fully capable of harming them and it proved that by slamming Nora back with it large taloned hand causing her aura to pulse its pink hue. Knowing that this foe would not be defeated in the conventional manner Nora began to start pulsing her body with force lightning. Though as she charged up. The beast roared once more, calling more of it's Grimm brethren to its location.
With its roar, Ozpin looked at Taiyang, he knew that he would have to assist. "Mister Xiao Long, Get back to the ship and make it ready to leave," Taiyang looked at Ozpin like he was insane, he was not going to leave Raven or the two members of Ruby's team. Ozpin expected as much from a caring father so he pre-empted the expected 'I am not leaving' statement with, "Tai, get Miss Polendina and the wounded girl back to the ship," With that Taiyang glared Ozpin but he understood why he was saying this, he wanted to get the ship ready so he turned begrudgingly though as he did Ozpin had one final order. "Tai, please, if we do not make it get Miss Polendina back to Revan so do not wait more than fifteen minutes after reaching the ship."
"Are you sure about that Oz?" Taiyang said looking back, his voice ringing with concern as Ozpin ignited the green blade of his lightsaber after he took off his sports shades that covered his eyes and dropped his trench coat.
"I am positive Tai," Ozpin said with finality as Taiyang heard this he bolted over to Penny saying telling her to follow him, she didn't want to leave but saw no better option.
By this point Nora had fully charged her body as she leaped forward, her body crackling with blue sparks as she jumped into the air, like a furious storm. As she jumped her legs cracked in a very disconcerting way, causing pain to course through her body as she darted through the air towards the Beast. This caused her sulfur colored eyes to light up with insanity as she smiled wickedly.
Pyrrha saw the pink blur as she tried to exploit a gap in the armor, but a duracrete cracking stomp from the lumbering beasts stubby legs threw the Sith slightly off kilter. Seeing the opening the keen beast had made, it raised its clawed hand to smash, though Pyrrha responded by force jumping backward. Rasing her Orange blade she saw another burning blade dart in with a precise slice on the Arm that just slammed down on the floor. As she attacked her blade lost it's orange flame as the dust emitter lens burned out, causing the blade to shift to stark white mid slice.
After the slice, there was a satisfying thud as the log like forearm fell immobile on the ground only attached to its owner by a thick strand of dark flesh. Though with another quick slice from the now stark white blade it fell completely free from the beast in a smokey death. As the beast roared in pain, a pink blur slammed into its head.
CRACK!
Looking up to see the origin of the sharp crack, all of the Remnants who were their saw Nora stabbing the spiked end of her saber into the beast's bony skull, and the spike of Blodsvard. Though standing atop the beast, they could see that her for arms had taken a distinct, sickly bow to them, as they bent from impact shattering the bones in Nora's arms. In a quick pink pulse and another sicking rattle of cracks, Nora's arms righted themselves, bending back into shape as she kept her balance on the beast's head. Ripping the spike out, she slammed it down again in another loud crack and the beast roared out again as the spike of Blodsvard cracked the bony armor even more.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Each hit accompanied by an increasingly verbose and intense psychotic laughter. Nora herself was trying to hit the shatter point on the Grimm's head plate, though her damaged arms and the creature's movements made it very difficult to hit the exact spot. Though as she raised her arms for another strike, the beserker was slammed by a swooping beast. One that the call of the entire party knew, a Nevermore. Though the swooping Grimm made a fatal error when attacking Nora, the pulsing pink blade of her lightsaber was in the air. Which caused the huge bird Grimm to slice its belly open on the blade as it slammed her down.
Nora's aura took the brunt the impact onto the Duracrete as her saber was launched out of her hands. It's safety being engaged as it flew, deactivating its blade thought the point embedded itself. As she rolled out the way of the falling corpse of the Nevermore she found herself face to face with a snorting boarbatusk. Lunching back, Nora began charging her muscles yet again with more lightning. She blasted forth and slammed the Grimm with a sharp kick to the head which took it straight off of the dark creature's body. Though the kick gave the sandy orange haired Sith a sharp pain in her leg as the bone shattered even more. After which Nora retrieved her weapon.
While Nora dealt with the boarbatusk that engaged her, Pyrrha and Raven kept up the pressure on the now furious one armed beast. Raven was attempting to deal beast by attempting to attack it's other remaining arm. This was while Pyrrha was trying to exploit gaps in the armor with minimal success. As she just dodged another attack one of the sith spirits tethered to her spoke out,
"Noxcaedis, stow your saber and draw The Blade," The spirit's voice said, calmly then the rest of the ancient voices came forward, echoing and chanting, "Draw the Blade!" Pyrrha heard them and lowered her saber as she leaped back. Disengaging her saber and slotting it onto her belt. After which she slotted onto her belt. Then she reached around to grab the base of her scepter, and pulled out the concealed blade. Though as she unsheathed the blade a green blur of a blade darted past. Moving extremely fast, the blur connected with the Grimm's monster's skull. Crack, Crack CRACK. Pyrrha connected the speed to something likened to Ruby but it was different it was like what she was watching was accelerated, normal moments moving so much faster than they should. Though the most shocking thing was, who it was. It was Ozpin expanding Nora's breach of the skull like mask with his cane, at which point he rotated the weapon down and shoved the blade of the saber down into the beasts head. as it gave one last pained roar before it's existence was snuffed out by the green blade. Ozpin withdrew the blade as he rode the disintegrating Grimm to the duracrete with a loud thud.
As they look past the corpse the saw a tide of Grimm approaching from behind known forms and new forms unseen by the Remnants, even a few more of the same beast they just saw roared through the streets. They ripped down the street toward the Remnants, even the two Sith even realized they were no match for such a tide. Ozpin then yelled out, "Pyrrha! Nora! Follow us, we have a ship!"
Raven hearing this, realized that running from this type of onslaught would be suicidal. There were simply too many Grimm to run. Accessing her semblance prepared her ability as she focused her mind on the location of the thunderclap. As she established the connection, she yelled out"Ozpin, let me handle this!" as she opened the vortex to the ship, the red vortex swirling to the vessel's interior. Signaling the three remaining Remnants, Raven stood near the portal as Ozpin darted through the crimson vortex. Nora and Pyrrha looked at each other, then the growling and snarling horde of Grimm then back at each other once again to confirm their action. Both Nora and Pyrrha realized their only option as they didn't want to risk a landing from the spectre and they had the ability to escape another way and bolted to and through the vortex.
They all ran through, the sound of duracrete beneath their heels was soon replaced with the metallic clacks of the interior of a starship. Looking around the two sith realized the must be in some kind of Cargohold. They looked around the brightly lit room as Ozpin and Raven bolted through the door down the hallway and quickly tore around the corner they hear Ozpin yell.
"Tai, are we ready to leave yet? we need to get going now!" Ozpin yelled out as he ran. They could hear his reply but they could not make it out. With a quick glance they realized they should follow, and thusly they did. Walking down the hall that looked like the entrance to the ship, then up to the main hold, which they saw plenty of doors around the perimeter of the room. Though they saw a second set of stairs next to the hall they just came from. Figuring they went up those stairs they walked up into the dull red light of the cockpit as Taiyang was clacking away at the controls as the engine spooled up.
Outside the vessel, the engines roared to life as the repulsors lifted the vessel off of the landing pad. Though above the ship the something took notice of the movement, a few larger Nevermores, and a growing Grimm Dragon. Though as the engines roared to life they all began to swoop downward.
Inside the vessel, Penny was in the medical bay as Emerald was secured to the medical bench under Taiyang's orders in case the ride got bumpy. Penny had packed Emeralds wound and any residual bleeding was staunched. Even though the jade haired girl was unconscious, she was muttering slightly something about the Grimm. At that point, Penny was thankful for her medical analysis programs as she could tell the extent of the damage.
The synthetic girl could not believe what was happening, after these few years. Emerald and Mercury had been her friends, yet today she saw them for what they truly were. They had not changed since that day at Amity, and they had betrayed her. This thought was ended when she heard Ozpin yelling as he ran through to get to the cockpit. She sighed they thankful they did make it back, looking out she then saw Pyrrha and Nora run past, she was thankful they had made it as well, though she did not fully trust them either as they seemed to have changed so much. They, after all, were allied with darkness, yet they showed her mercy.
Since Emerald was secured, Penny walked out of the medical bay as the engine came to life. Sighing, Penny realized she would finally be leaving this planet, this planet which she spent all of her time in this new galaxy. She had been on a few ships to help 'resolve disputes in pay and trade,' with Mercury and Emerald but nothing outside the system. She was told it was a custom on this world to do that kind of work for the Hutts but she knew what they made her do put blood on her hands, but she felt like she was going to get a second chance, as it seemed all in this galaxy had some kind of blood on their hands.
Walking up the steps to the cockpit, she saw all of the Remnants were there, as she ship propelled through the smog and smoke filled sky which could be seen. Though, the console started to chime beep and make multiple warning sounds. These alarms stole Taiyangs attention, causing him to glance down at the console. Looking at the radar and scanner he cursed, He had numerous contacts tailing him. Clicking a switch, he further cursed as she saw numerous flying Grimm swarming toward the ship. Seeing a break in the Skyline, Tai ripped controls, causing RCS controls to fire to pull the ship towards they sky, as he did this he cursed this ship for its lack of rotary turrets.
"Hold on this could get rough!" He yelled out as the ship angled to the stars. Outside the ship, the Grimm flock grew large and dove into the pitching upward ship. Nevermores, Griffons and even one of the large Dragon, threw themselves at the ship. Sinking their claws into the hull, holding on like they would to a Remnant Airship, peeling off the paneling. Their claws severing large swaths of systems as they ripped into the ship. Though one nevermore that took hold near the Engine did the most damage as it stabbed it's beak into the section above the hull, causing a fatal outward blast that blasted the Grimm raven's head clean off its body. This blast caused the engines to start to belch out black smoke. With the loss of power, the ship began to tumble down, back into the cityscape below.
A/N: Ugh, I am sorry this took so long to do, life is life, and life can be annoying at times. Considering I am back at college now. Alongside this I have been very concerned about how I wanted to handle this Chapter, I wanted it to include another half, but I am going to hold that back till after the next chapter, so sorry once again for the cliff hanger, but I have some interesting plans for the for the continuation chapter.
As for the next Chapter, I think I left some unresolved ocular trauma to occur at Waldstahl, that needs some explaining. With that in mind off to the Review Responses.
thepipehasbeengobbled: On Remnant, they may not be much of a threat, due to the very low Population of the planet, around 100 million I would say as my best estimate under the best circumstances. but on a Moon built up to the ludicrous amounts of Nar Shaddaa which could easily have Billions all of which having fear and terror that can be exploited, I think the Grimm could have a bountiful feast and with other factors in their aid, they could overwhelm a world very quickly indeed, as the Grimm have a few secrets to them in my story.
Sani2341: Oh I love it when people call out errors like that I made, cause it gives me so many good ideas to correct minor issues like that, I mean I could just retcon it to phrik, but where is the fun in that, I will explain where he sourced from it in the next chapter. Needless to say, it was taken from somewhere and the material itself could be considered an artifact. Just some fun hints.
Buzzsaw935: Yeah, she is doing some very interesting things as a Jedi.
JS Clark: I may take my time and life may get in the way but I don't plan on stopping anytime soon! As for Cinder that is going to be a wait and see plan as she is known for her planning so it very well could be interesting.
hornofdesolation: Thank you as always!
Guest: I was just saying that as most games and movies don't really depict how long it can take.
With all of that out of the way, Thank you all for reading, if you have any comments, critique, suggestions or corrections, feel free to leave a review or PM me if you can, anything can help the Story. Now then, please everyone be safe and may the force be with you all and thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting, and sharing RWBY: Dark Side of a Rose!
Blitzing Raptor
