Chapter 21: Who Let The Brakes Out?!


"Ruby what's going on what is that thing?!" Blake asked confused gesturing toward the near fifty-foot tall paladin.

"We don't have a lot of time guys. I don't know what's on that train but it's not good." Yang said tapping her wrist's imaginary watch.

"Tsk tsk, ignoring your elders, didn't they teach you manners at Beacon?" Roman mocked. In truth he didn't particularly want to kill them, they were kids and even criminals have some morals. He couldn't say the same for his 'associate' piloting the mech however, she was one of Adam's lackeys who got roped in with his crew as part of the job.

Nova felt his eye twitch, he personally hated adults who flaunted their authority around like it gave them the right to do whatever they pleased. He knew Roman was just trying to piss them off but it was damn well working.

"Guys get to the train," Nova said aiming Asura at the bowler hatted man sitting atop the mech.

"What about you?!" Ruby yelled concern evident in her voice.

"It seems someone has to teach this old man a lesson," Nova spoke, anger trembling in his voice.

Winter wasn't sure when she started following orders instead of giving them, it was like this kid commanded an authority far superior to her and she subconsciously felt it. If she hadn't mentally shook herself in that moment, she'd have followed him unquestioningly. Dr. Oobleck must've been feeling the same hence why he wasn't issuing orders as a professor.

She looked back and forth and had to rally her thoughts before she spoke, "Dr. Oobleck, get them onto the train, I'll stay with him." Winter finally reaffirming she was the more experienced huntress here. Oobleck also seemed to snap out of it as he pushed up his glasses, "Affirmative, come now we must not hesitate!" He said walking off.

"I'm staying to!" Luna said, her voice cracking slightly from the pain. Nova looked her over and his eyes went wide, finally seeing the sorry state she was in.

"Holy shit, you look like you got hit by a nuclear bus. I'd ask what happened but I'm just going to assume whoever did that is rotting in the grave... if not just point me in the direction and I'll make sure they are." He seethed cursing the person who hurt his precious little sister. "You are in no condition to be fighting a mech right now, you're best bet is to stay with them." Nova said turning back to face his enemy.

"But!"

"No buts! Dr Oobleck, take her and get out of here!" He yelled and the professor complied, carefully picking up the blue girl and placing her on his back.

"Ruby!" Nova yelled back, causing the red hooded girl to look at him. "Take care of her please," he said, his voice cracking from worry. She silently nodded and led off the charge.

"Oh no you don't!" Bell yelled from inside the mech as she attempted to knock them back.

"Like hell you are, GET GOING NOW!" Nova yelled as he let out a barrage of anti-tank rounds, his semi-auto sniper wasn't built for large ammunition and he was pretty sure he just ruined the barrel. The bullets didn't damage the mech, but the force of impact knocked the metallic appendage aside.

As he watched team SHNRWBY disappear, his worries increased the more he thought about the magnitude of Luna's injuries. Aura usually healed a lot by now, but her bruises didn't look any better, but he'd have to just hope to Oum she would be okay.


"Now then," he turned back to Torchwick and Bell, "Where were we?".

"Two on two? Seems fair," Roman commented looking at his nails and then back at them.

"Winter?" Nova said alerting the specialist. "Could you shut him up please?"

"With pleasure," the elder Schnee said, with an almost blinding speed she knocked Roman off the mech before he could react.

"Good now that just leaves the two of us," Nova turned to face down the mech, cracking his neck and stretching himself.

"Hmph, I don't know, it seems like it's just me!" Bell yelled lunging the machine forward, the smooth sounds of mechanical joints rotating effortlessly as the great mech thrust its arms forward. Nova easily sidestepped it without moving from his position, narrowly avoiding the lunge by a fraction of a hair. Normally this wouldn't be possible for a human, or a Faunus, he however, was no ordinary Faunus.

The nanomachines flowing through his blood not only stabilized his powers, but they enhanced his already sharp senses. It was like taking a sword that could cut really well, and making it even sharper.

The machine swung multiple times each faster than the last but Nova dodged all of them as if he could see in slow motion.
Bell made a sound like 'tch', "Alright then pretty boy, see if you can dodge this!"

She retracted the robot's arms and took a stance like a mobile artillery. Sure enough, two large Gatling guns popped out from the shoulders and began spraying Nova in a shower of bullet. The sheer force of the torrential rain of gunfire desecrated the concrete ground, causing a mix of smoke and dust to cover the area where Nova stood.

Combat experience told her to run a thermal scan of the smoke, to ensure he was dead. Pulling up the infrared display, she analysed the area of focus. She expected the blue colour of a corpse lying on the floor but what she got was fully orange and red body that seemed to be radiating heat, standing perfectly upright.

"Phew, so you really do have guns on that thing," Nova said as the smoke cleared, he dusted the stone off his clothes.

"I-Impossible, how…" Bell stated in alarmed confusion. She wanted to believe her sensors were wrong and her ears were playing tricks on her but no, there he was standing perfectly fine, not even a scratch on him.

"The funny thing about nanomachines, they don't tell you just how much aura your defence gets, plus that and my semblance." He said brushing himself off.

"How?! Even with absurd amounts of aura, I just shot yah full of like, three hundred bullets!" She exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah that's the thing, my aura probably tanked the first fifty? Powerful stuff those bullets, but by that time I had already adapted bullet proof skin from my semblance. They don't even faze me," to prove his point he pulled out his own sniper and, grinning like an absolute madman, shot himself in the head, the bullet just harmless bounced off.

Bell just looked at him incredulously, her face breaking out into the type of smile you get when you're faced with the impossible. "Yer a damned monster," she said her voice shaking.

"No, I'm a dragon," He responded, before flashing Asura back into its scythe form and smashing directly into the mech. Unfortunately, it did almost no damage, even with his enhanced physical strength.

"Your attacks only tickle this thing; it was redesigned by the greatest engineer Remnant has ever seen!" Bell cackled madly, trying to regain her control over the situation. They were practically at a stalemate no matter how one looked at it. Nova was bulletproof and the mech didn't carry enough variety to face him, but it was also too tough to damage.

"Well, if that's the case then I hope you don't mind me testing its limits." Nova said before launching a barrage of attacks onto the mech, each bouncing harmlessly off the shield. Bell cackled again, "See I told you it was useless…" she started only for her eyes to bulge when she monitored the shield gauges.

Nova's attacks were rapidly increasing in speed, until he became a white and red blur striking the machine from all sides like some kind of viscous tornado. The shield was crumbling, though not that fast.

"This is exhausting... looks like I'll have to take a different approach," Nova said stepping down and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Hey is the inside of that machine thermally insulated?" he asked, to which Bell just looked confused, he could've sworn the machine tilted in bewilderment.

"Yeah why…" she responded hesitantly; the battle had become more of Nova testing his abilities on a training dummy.

"No reason," he said cheerfully. Bell brushed it off and tried attacking again, this time aiming the arms in cross to limit his escape routes but to little avail. He just blocked one arm with Asura easily and kicked aside the other.

He ducked and ran at the mid-section of the machine, targeting where the shield battery was most likely located, he then did what Bell honestly didn't expect. He conjured up a massive flame, the skin on his hands turning to red-orange scales as the air around it combusted. The strangest thing was that the heat was so intense it was causing the metal crates several meters away to start groaning and expanding. He aimed the flame at the mech and channelled its intensity. The shield desperately tried to protect but the sheer power of the flame was melting it. A dust shield, a non-physical attribute was being melted by a flame that looked like it was conjured by hell itself.

"What the fuck?!" Bell screamed as the Atlesian Paladin was also being affected by the heat. The armour plating was built to withstand up to three thousand degrees, but it was being melted. As soon as the shield was depleted and the limbs of the machine were glued to the floor from heat, rooting the mech to the floor.

Nova's barrage of fire eventually stopped. He instantly collapsed with his hands on his knees, gasping for air. His aura was depleted completely now, he hadn't controlled the amount of energy he put into his power and it ate away at his aura like a small battery.

"Note… to... self…" he said in between gasps, "Control it before it burns through my aura."

"What in the name of Remnant was that?!" Bell said deciding to abandon the mech by popping out of the cockpit. She was genuinely confused, and quite scared. The control of fire was a lot like Cinder's, but much, much more intense. If Cinder was a raging wildfire then this guy was a burning firestorm with the heat of the sun. The fact that there were two infernal monsters running around Remnant scared her senseless.

"Your boss aint the only one with the power to control fire," Nova said finally gaining his breath back, he reared Asura and pointed it in its ninjato form at Bell.

The blonde chuckled awkwardly, she didn't know whether this guy was a monster or a demon. Still... she had to try and reason her way out of this situation.

"What's a devil like you doing fighting for the humans? Is your loyalty to Ozpin so high that you would turn against your own kind?" Bell spat on the floor hoping to psyche him out and look for an opening. She wasn't usually one to play the 'race' card but... when in doubt...

He was a bit confused as to why she was using his race as a topic. When she straightened herself, his confusion dissipated when he saw a pair of bright purple monarch butterfly wings unfurl from behind her. She was indeed a Faunus.

Her words fully registered to him now..."Loyalty? To Ozpin? Pfft HAHAHA!" Nova began manically laughing.

Bell looked at him confused, "Am I missing something here?" she asked. She was trying to get him to lower his guard so she could fly off, if she did now then he'd just catch up to her or shoot her down with a fireball.

"Clearly you never got the memo. You guys turned on me first, or have you forgotten who your Prince in waiting is…" he said darkly.

"Turned on yah? Some Prince yah are... those piss poor excuses for parents of yers sold us out! Or have YAH forgotten why the high commander had to do what he did?"

Nova just rolled his eyes, it was as if they were all being brainwashed, fed lies by that lump of faecal matter that they call a High Commander. "Did you find that out yourself? With hard evidence? Or was that information passed down by your precious leader?"

Bell felt herself falter in response... He was right. She'd never seen any hard evidence before, no concrete proof to justify their attacks on the Dragon family. She'd just been following orders...but her High Commander would never lie to her... right? If what Nova was saying was the truth... then their entire organization was built on a lie... Yet how could she just believe what he was saying?

"Just an FYI, I hold no loyalty to Ozpin, nor do I feel any love for the humans. My own kind abandoned me when they turned their guns on my family. Humans are no better, they're racist, self-centred, closed-minded people that scorn those that are different from them. My 'relationship' with Ozpin only goes as far as the fact that I just attend his school." Nova outstretched his arms while speaking.

"Honestly the whole reason I took this mission was because I was informed that Onyx would be here, all I got were his lackeys and disappointment. I am grateful to Oz for not kicking me and my friends to the curb when we entered and I do still feel indebted to him. At the end of the day however, if I had to make the choice between him and my friends, I wouldn't hesitate to turn my blade on him." Nova concluded, expressing the ideas he had that no one else seemed to be aware of.

Bell was stunned, "So yah aint loyal to the humans and yah aint loyal to your own people, what are yah loyal to then?"

"I'm loyal to my sister, to the friends I hold close like family. I do not hate our people for what they did to us, nor do I hate the humans for treating us like garbage. In my eyes both sides are in the wrong." He said, the aura he was emitting manifested something metaphysical behind him. A bright red and orange flame, he was an intimidating figure.

"B-But if yah had to choose... if that girl... Red... if she ever turned on yah. What then?" She stammered out through her fear. Nova visibly flinched and Bell felt herself gain confidence. "I saw how yah looked at her. You're in love. If yah turn yer blade on Ozpin and she turns hers on yah... what happens then?"

Nova hesitated, his aura wavering. It took him a few moments but he bit his lip and steeled himself again, "She would never turn on me. I... we've been through too much together... besides... I trust Ozpin. Even if one day our agendas conflict and I become his enemy, then it would be for good reason. I don't claim to know what the future will bring me but I'll just cross those bridges when I get there."

He inhaled sharply and steadied his uneasiness, "Why am I even explaining myself to you? You're just stalling for time..." He began raising the air temperate around them, causing Bell to visibly sweat from both fear and heat.

She was honestly too scared to even attempt to attack him now, Nova took advantage of that and took her out with a swift punch to the gut. He dusted himself off again, he really disliked getting his clothes dirty. Spinning Asura around before sheathing it, he glanced around just in time to see Winter return empty handed.

He gave her a raised eyebrow, "Where's Roman?".

She slumped her shoulders and sighed, "He ambushed me with a hoard of soldiers before disappearing, I have no idea where he ran off to."

"Well never mind him, we need to get to the others," Nova said stretching out his legs.

"How do you propose we do that? They're on a moving train that took off several minutes ago…" she said as if the idea was silly. Nova's brows furrowed for a moment a pout forming on his lips and Winter had to do a double take to ensure she was looking at the face of a boy, his features were still manly but there was a subtle… femininity behind them that only began showing itself now. What changed? All he did was use his new amplified powers…

Nova glanced around until his eyes landed on something, "Winter, you know what's something I learned from Uncle Qrow?" he began sauntering up to a rather large minecart and he posed with his hands on his hips, head tilted to the left and his hips to the right. Winter paled.

"It's how to improvise," he pulled the Elder Schnee onto the minecart and shoved it onto the track, before she could ask how they were expected to move, he hooked Asura to the back of the cart and began using it as a medium to channel his fire like a rocket booster.


-With team SHNRWBY Minutes before they left-

"Are you sure they'll be alright?" Blake asked worriedly, glancing back only to see blurs of light and flashes. She had a soft spot for the older dragon, not only did he know of her Faunus heritage from the start but he chose to keep quiet about it. He was someone she could relate to, on the run from the White Fang.

"If there's anything I know from my years with Nova, it's that he is ridiculously strong and a survivor. He'll come back to us, plus Winter's with him," Nitro said running behind them as they made their way over to the train.

Luna looked down from her perch on the back of Dr. Oobleck, Ruby who was leading the charge, was solemn.

"Ruby," Luna croaked out raising the red-hooded girl's attention, "My brother will be fine, really, have faith in him," she smiled a lopsided grin.

Ruby looked deep into those cyan blue eyes and saw the unwavering resolve and she understood. Nova would be okay, but the mission needed to come first. "ARF!" Zwei barked attempting to console his owner.

As the team neared the train, a certain multi-colour haired individual spotted them. Ellie had seen the havoc that these kids had caused, this base was done for, and these kids were her ticket out of here.

She had no idea where her husband was, if he was even on this facility in the first place, the train wasn't prepped to leave for another ten minutes so she had time.

A terrible idea wormed its way through her mind and not for the first time in her life did she curse her genius. If she made it look like she was dead, then they wouldn't look for her, nor would they dispose of her husband.

Acting quickly, she tore off her lab coat and any identifiable clothing, tied her hair in as neat of a bun as possible and pulled one of her beanies over it, she kept a few around in case of the cold.

Analysing her office for supplies, the small room was not much different from your average doctor's office, except instead of medical books, she also had numerous circuit boards and project plans. Eyeing the scalpel mixed in with her medical supplies she breathed a heavy sigh.

This is going to sting… she thought as she used the tool to tear a deep gash on her arm, dripping large amounts of blood onto the lab coat in various splotches. Next, she took hauled one of the soldier corpses she had stored for experimentation, Oum knows why they let her keep them around. Carefully, she selected one that most accurately resembled her features, wrapped it up in the coat and set the corpse on fire.

The scent of burning flesh was horrid, her wolfish sense of smell didn't aid her case either. She let the corpse burn and tore down the cabinets and files that lined the wall, setting them ablaze as well, successfully creating the illusion that she had burnt to death. She eyed Ruby and the others from a distance until they entered the car, and like a ninja, she slipped in behind them and stowed away in the train car.


The teens split off with Dr. Oobleck keeping watch over Luna, her condition was too delicate for extreme movement. He was no medical doctor but even he could tell she suffered some severe internal damaging, and her aura was not healing her. He sat her down and tried his best to keep her stable while the rest of them broke off, taking out multiple White Fang members at a time.

"Any idea where this train is going?" Yang asked as she looked around for some indicator.

Oobleck placed his hand on his chin, "When this city was developed, the railroad was built to connect it to Vale for supplies... but since the collapse, the tunnels have been sealed off for years! But... there isn't anywhere else it could possibly be going."

"So, their plan is to ram a train into a solid wall of rock?" Nitro asked curiously.

"Perhaps... but they aren't stupid... to break that wall they'd need some highly dangerous explosives..."

"Uh guys?" Weiss turned their attentions to her as they stood around one of the train cars. "What's that?" she pointed to a strange device that had a red beeping light with blue and red wires.

"That would be a bomb Ms. Schnee," Dr. Oobleck said calmly.

"Ah a bomb… A BOMB?!" She yelled incredulously.

"You don't think…" Hex started.

"There's one on every train car is there?" Yang finished.

"Only one way to find out," Ruby said ominously. "If there are bombs then this train isn't a supply train or a reinforcement train…"

"It's like an explosive battering ram…" Luna coughed out, to which all members of the team shot her a concerned look, Ruby reaching down and checking on her injuries.

"You sit this one out okay, you did well, you've earned some rest." She ruffled the blue girl's hair. Luna felt like a younger sister to Ruby even though they were barely the same age, the height difference was probably the biggest factor.

SHRWBY were on the top of the train, gauging the exact length and how many cars they had to deal with, while simultaneously fending off multiple White Fang soldiers that came after them. Hex knocking away her seventh enemy spoke up above the loud air flow, "How many of these guys are there?!"

Yang glanced forward toward the seemingly never-ending train, "Bout a few," she shouted chuckling, earning a smack from her girlfriend. Hex gave all of them short range communication devices, one of the many gadgets she had stored, "We should split up and cover more ground, I'll take these first two cars, Yang, Blake you should handle the rest." Hex gestured at the respective cars earning a nod from them.

"I'll head for the front, I'm the fastest so in case I need to make a quick move I can," Ruby said disappearing into a flurry of petals.

"Right I guess that leaves me and Weiss to take the back cars and protect Dr. Oobleck and Luna?" Nitro asked, Hex nodded in response. They dispersed once more.


As Yang was about to check her first car, a solid pain shot through her back as she was flung forward, not far enough due to the momentum of the train and the resistive wind. "What the fuck?!" She lifted her head to see a short girl wearing what Yang could only describe as an ice-cream themed outfit.

"You're Roman's sidekick, right?" Yang asked raising her fists, prepping Ember Celia. The girl said nothing, simply sporting a smug smile, spinning a pink, frilly parasol behind her as though it were her weapon.

"Not much of a talker huh," Yang said, Neo's response was a swift kick, faster than Yang could register, sending her flying into the open hatch within the train car. "Holy shit for a munchkin you sure do move fast," Yang grumbled getting up to see the girl floating down.

"No chance we can settle this peacefully huh?" Yang asked. The girl simply smiled again and walked up sizing herself to Yang, she stood nearly two heads shorter. Yang moved to attack, throwing out her first only for her to fly backward from the force of the girl's umbrella.

Yang was furious now as she let out a series of blows only for them to all be deflected or parried by the extremely flexible girl. Yang threw out some shots only for Neo to dodge them by backflipping and coming to a neat seated position atop a wooden crate, with her legs folded. The smug aura was driving Yang crazy.

The girl tapped out a series of letters on her scroll and showed it to Yang, 'I'm Neopolitan and Yes, Roman is my boss, so why don't you just take a load off blondie, you can't beat me,'. This sentence infuriated Yang even further, the blonde striking out multiple times, her hair glowing yellow and her eyes turning red.

Neo used this to her advantage and easily tripped the angry blonde and knocked her out cold. She was about to deliver the final blow with a sword hidden in the sheathe of her parasol when a figure appeared out of nowhere. She had black hair and wore a Grim mask, accompanied by dark red and black shirt. She wore a dark skirt and thigh high boots, strapped to her waist was an extremely thick sheathe, larger than the one Nova used for Asura, multiple coloured blades on a rotating rack were laden inside. She sheathed her sword and drew it back out with a red Blade, aiming it at Neo. The ice-cream haired girl's eyes grew wide with fear, as if recognizing the individual, she disappeared in a flash of light in a last-ditch effort to escape whoever it was.


Yang groggily woke up from her unconscious state, her aura healing whatever injuries she sustained during the fight. Peering through her half-opened lids, she could barely make out the red and black figure, walking away and then disappearing into nothingness. Barely registering what was going on she bolted upright, remembering Neo. Strangely enough the heterochromatic girl was gone, she surmised it had something to do with that figure from earlier, either way she had a mission to get to.

Pulling up her communicator she relayed a message, "Any luck on your end guys? My cars gotta bomb in it," She said as she spied one lying neatly in a tucked away crate.

"YANG! THANK GOD!" Hex radioed back, the worry so evident in her voice. "You dumbass, do you have any idea how long we've been trying to reach you?! I thought something happened…" Hex's voice said across the line, cracked and shaky. Yang cringed at this, she felt really bad for making her girlfriend worry so much, "I'm alright babe, I just encountered one of Roman's cronies, she was really tough and I got knocked out for a bit."

"WAIT?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" This time it was Ruby who yelled through the frequency. "Yeah, I'm fine, when I came to someone had saved me… it looked like… mom…" Yang responded the word 'mom' was like venom on her tongue when referring to the one who birthed her. In her eyes, the only person who truly deserved that title was Summer.

"As in…" Ruby continued hoping that by some miracle of the world she meant their real mother. "Sorry sis, not Summer." She said as if the mere mention of the name brought on sadness. The young leader simply sighed, knowing fully well what she originally meant, still she had hope. "Alright, what are going to do about these bombs?" Ruby returned.

"What?! There's even one in the front of the car?" Weiss radioed over, finally finding an opportunity to intervene, the tension in the comms were high.

"Yeah, I tried to find the conductor but no one's driving this thing, it's on autopilot!" Ruby said frantically.

Weiss cringed, the situation was worse than they thought, "Blake anything on your end?".

Blake pulled up her radio to respond, just as she cut down the last of a hoard of bots, " Yup, I'm counting two."

"Shit, if Dr. Oobleck is right and this thing is running straight into Vale then it's going to breach the walls." Nitro responded. "Hey why don't we disconnect the train cars one by one and see if that helps?"

"It's worth a shot," Ruby confirmed. Without wasting a moment Nitro made his way to the car connectors and unlatched it, hopping off the back car and moving to the 2nd one, as he was about to unlatch it a strange woman came out of it waving frantically.

"WAIT! I'm still on this thing!" She yelled, Nitro, not knowing how to react, simply outstretched his arm from the car where Luna and Oobleck were resting, the lady made a mad dash from the car and leaped just barely enough for Nitro to catch her and pull her inside. She collapsed on the floor of the car exhausted.

"WHAT THE FUCK LADY! I Thought there wasn't anyone on there! How did you hide from our detection, who are you?" he pointed his weapon down at her. She got up from her collapsed position and steadied herself against the wall of the car, Dr. Oobleck stood protectively over Luna, eyeing the newcomer.

"You're one of Ruby's friends, right? Don't worry I'm on your side, just hear me out," She raised her hands in surrender. Nitro eyed her for a second before radioing the young leader, "Ruby I got some lady here saying she knows you."

"Lady? I don't…" she began to say before a loud voice came through the comms. "RUBY?! IS THAT YOU? It's me Ellie," apparently she had somehow pried Nitro's communicator from him. He was comically trying to get it back from her.

Ruby's eyes lit up, "ELLIE! It's good to hear you, I was worried you wouldn't find us…" she tried to make an excuse as to why couldn't find her but the woman just laughed. "It's alright dear, I was watching the entire thing unfold, besides it's not like they would just let me leave anyway."

"How did you get on?! We couldn't find you at all!" Ruby responded.

"Ruby you know this lady?" Nitro finally said after wrestling the communicator from Ellie.

"Yeah she's the one that fixed me up when I fell down here," Ruby explained.

"Ruby we don't have much time. This train is going to crash into Vale perimeter in approximately five minutes!". Everyone on board paled.

"Madam, I believe you mean seven," Oobleck tried to correct her but Ellie laughed, "You forgot to carry the two."

Oobleck placed his hand on his chin for a moment and then slapped himself, " HOW COULD I BE SO FOOLISH!".

"No time for panicking we need to stop this thi-" She was interrupted when a massive explosion shook the cavern behind them. All members of the team filed on top the train to see the two bomb cars that had been detached had exploded. Letting in hordes of underground Grimm. Several packs of Beowolves, bands of Ursai and one massive King Taijutu were barrelling toward them at breakneck speeds, just in front of them was a single minecart?

Ruby rubbed her eyes and all members did a double take. Perhaps the most peculiar sight amidst the army of Grimm was a rocket propelled minecart carrying one Nova and Winter.

"Hi guys!" Ruby waved after recovering from the shock, she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing them.

They didn't see her waving as they were too preoccupied outrunning the Grimm.

"Ugh we have no time for chit chat, we need to stop this train NOW!" Ellie ordered.

"Brakes are a no go, detaching the cars results in more Grimm and risking blowing up Ruby's crush and my sister. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Weiss screamed as they all reeled back trying to think of a plan, turning to the Professor and the Doctor.
Ellie and Oobleck looked at each other, "I was hoping you guys had a plan." She said sheepishly.

Everyone felt a sweat drop. "Great so we're all going to explode in a fiery blast of glory and Vale will be overrun by Grimm. This is not how I expected my life to end, I really thought I'd get married and have Hex be my best man," Nitro said sadly.

Hex just smacked him. The feeling of impending doom lurking over their heads as the seconds ticked by.

"I-I have an i-idea…" A small voice said weakly. They all turned to see a bruised and slightly pale Luna struggling out of the hatch onto the roof.

"Miss Flareheart you shouldn't be moving!" Oobleck instructed sternly.

"I-I'm fine, I've had enough rest. I'm going to use my powers to stop the train." Luna said kneeling down and placing her hands atop the train car's roof.

"Are you sure this will work? You're hurt, and your powers use aura, if you use all of it you could die!" Nitro asked extremely concerned, Ruby moved to stop the girl but she used galaxia and pushed her back.

"If I don't do this, even more will die…" she said focusing her power onto the train. Her frame glowed a bright neon blue as she focused on the vectors of the train. She struggled, reversing as many as she could, the train was beginning to lose pace but not nearly enough. She had to try harder.

Ellie felt a deep ache in her heart as she watched the girl begin coughing out blood as she desperately tried to stop the train. Instantly she rushed to her side and began channelling her semblance on the small girl. The extent of her injuries ran deep and in almost an instant her aura was depleted. She recoiled in shock, "Her injuries should be... stable for now but... they're too grave, I just barely managed to keep her together... it's like trying to stitch paper..."

Nitro could take no more, he placed his hand down on the train and used every ounce of his aura to increase the friction coefficients of the wheels. The train began making a heavy screeching sound and the rest of the team had to cover their ears as sparks began flying everywhere from the wheels. The force of the train was too great for two almost aura depleted persons.

They wouldn't make it, the solid wall was fast approaching and they would all die. Luna passed out from exhaustion, blood leaking from her mouth, Nitro to was out for the count. The train had slowed considerably from the breakneck pace it once had, but it was still going to hit.

"Weiss Freeze us NOW!" Ruby said as before Weiss could ask why, she and everyone else were swept up in a wave of rose petals. Realizing just in time, Weiss encased them all in ice as they were flung from the train, crashing into a rocket propelled Nova and Winter.

Winter barely had time to react, using her semblance to secure them onto the cart.

"Brace yourself this is going to hurt!" Nova yelled as they watched the train collide with the wall resulting in a massive explosion, that swept up everyone. The rest was haze and white noise.


Our heroes have overcome one hurdle... but the fight's not over yet. With Luna in critical condition and an incapacitated Nitro, how will they fend off the massive Grimm invasion?

Seriously though, you have to forgive me if I miss some spelling errors or repeated words, I try to proof read these like 20 times before I upload but my eyesight isn't the best and Word doesn't exactly pick up on everything either.