Big Issues

AN: Lots of action today! I hope you all enjoy this expanded version of the fights on the train.

Train Wreck

Yang lunges to her much shorter opponent with a right straight at her girls face which was easily dodged with a simple sway. The following left hook and right uppercut met the same fates. As did the left straight and high right roundhouse kick. Another left hook was deftly avoided and the right cross. Another left hook and right straight, left jab at her chest and right straight at her face, a left cross at her body… all only hit air as Neo almost seemed to move as if she knew what Yang would do before she did. All with that damn pink umbrella still open and resting on her shoulder and that creepy smile.

Yang spins with the motion of her right hook and tries to backhand the girl with her left gauntlet, which missed by a wide margin. She used her momentum to jump high in the air to kick at Neo's face, which happened to be the first real reaction by the smaller girl in the form of closing her umbrella and deflecting Yang's kick which had transitioned to a heel drop.

The left straight on landing was blocked by the umbrella as was the right hook. Yang rose once more to tower over Neo, a right roundhouse was performed at the same time, but was stopped by the odd choice of weapon. Neo used the force of the kick to spin herself around and deliver a reverse left roundhouse kick of her own, connecting with Yang's forehead, knocking the already unbalance girl to the floor in a heap.

Yang growls as she pushes herself back up with her arms. Neo took the opportunity to launch herself into a high flip and brought her left foot down hard onto the steel floor with the full intent of crushing the blonde with her boot. Yang dodged the attack by throwing herself into a spin away, using her left fist on the floor as a pivot, and landing on her feet with practiced ease, ready to fight once more.

She did just that, throwing herself back at the ice cream themed girl with near reckless abandon, Yang launches a right straight that Neo ducks under while raising her umbrella. The shorter girl used her weapon to capture the extended arm, pulling it down over her shoulder and holding the gauntlet with that hand, the act also pulling Yang down and off balance. Neo brings her left leg straight up and catches the blonde full in the face and her arm was freed only long enough for the short girl to spin and deliver a side kick to Yang's soft middle with enough force to send her flying several feet.

Yang landed hard as Neo flipped by as she started to rise so that she'd be behind the blonde. Yang growls as she looks for the little pest that was making a fool of her. Spinning around on her heel, Yang delivers a left straight with a shot from her gauntlet. The explosive round was blocked and deflected by the swinging umbrella. The following right straight aiming low with standard buckshot was blocked just as easily.

Neo closed Hush and swung it like a club, missing as Yang threw herself back. Neo was quick to twist her weapon back on target, coming in from a low angle aiming for the blondes' face, which turned into deflecting Yang's counter left straight at her head, the shot passing well over the smirking girls' head. Neo drops low and drives the hooked handle into Yang's gut- making her grunt in pain before twisting her wrist to smack her forehead with the other end.

Still, despite having the wind briefly knocked out of her and reeling from the head shot, Yang was able to jump back from the swing at her chest, giving herself the fraction of a second she needed to recover. Neo closed the gap with Hush open and deflected the left backhand that fired a round on contact and the right straight that followed it that pushed the fist high when the shotgun discharged its shot.

Then the umbrella canopy was shoved into Yang's face without really hitting her, just blocking her view and frustrating the already short fused blonde bombshell. With a growl that transformed into a yell, Yang punches with her right fist as hard as she could at the umbrella, only to miss as it was pulled away and the explosive shell destroyed a section of the floor where Neo just vacated with a flip, that turned into a short series which ended with the thieves' assistant casually sitting on a crate. Complete with legs crossed at the knees and umbrella open and resting on her shoulder, slightly leaning on her left hand resting on the crate looking totally at ease and as though she were a mere spectator rather than one of the fighters.

Blake and Weiss ran through the next two cars unopposed before the third car was filled with the sound of metal-on-metal screeching. Upon seeing the massive man approaching them, Weiss calls over to her teammate. "You go on ahead!"

"Got it!" Blake responds.

The massive man before them hefts his weapon of choice, and equally large chainsaw with a hilt like a sword out the back of the engine and the standard handles around the power source that doubled as a guard. The engine is brought to life, filling the car with the echoing din of the small but powerful motor.

Weiss dashes ahead of her friend with her rapier drawn, only to pull up short as the faunus swung his saw blade down at her. Reacting quickly, Weiss jumps back into a handspring as Blake pauses long enough to strike the saw with the full weight of Gambol Shroud from below, briefly knocking the man somewhat off balance. The white-themed girl leaps back into the fray as her partner dashes off, striking the man in the shoulder with a thrust and kicking him in the face with her hefty legs, causing him to grunt in pain.

The heiress lands and immediately had to block a swing from the saw before transitioning into a stab that was blocked by the saw tuned to catch her tip on the bar. A swipe at the man was blocked by the hand guard of the saw as was the quick thrust at his chest before Weiss crouched low and rose quickly to use the extra force behind her low to high swing to hit the weapon and send the man onto his back hard enough to roll over his own shoulder.

Blake looked back at the result of the rapid exchange to see Weiss giving her an encouraging smile before she ran through the next door. As the door closed, the White Fang Lieutenant rose back to his feet with weapon in hand, laughing with a rumbling voice. "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee."

Weiss' response was to slip into her fencing pose and raise Myrtenaster, reselecting her Dust cylinder in the process.

Blake ran into the next car only to find Roman Torchwick standing there waiting for her, causing her to grit her teeth in anger at the sight of him. She kept her distance from the nonchalant man.

"Hello, Kitty Cat. Ya miss me?" Roman's tone was light and playful but carried a dangerous undercurrent as he spun his cane in his hand by the hook. "Looks like someone's been hitting the cream and tuna pretty hard since we last saw each other." He laughs a bit at the weight she put on since the night at the docks, he had been a bit distracted the night of the rally to really notice, but when someone doubles their weight in a few short months you tend to notice. His cane comes to a stop resting on his right shoulder. "You know, we really ought to stop meeting like this, people are going to talk. Might think I'm fattening you up… like a pig."

As if Blake wasn't angry enough at simply seeing the man, his comments really were getting under her skin. Especially when he compared her to livestock. Blake growls and surges forward, Roman dropping the act and stalked towards her.

Roman winds up to swing his cane and as he does Blake draws the katana half of her weapon and fires a Dust round, incorporating it into her semblance, leaving a flaming clone behind. It was too late for Torchwick to stop from hitting it and doing some caused it to explode, sending him flying over Blake's head. The faunus took advantage of his helpless state, jumping up to deliver a slash across his torso as she rose with the complete Gambol Shroud, another across his chest that sent her into a spin, and finished with a spinning horizontal strike that propelled the man into the floor, impacting hard on his back and flopping onto his front.

Blake landed with grace most wouldn't expect from a girl her size and her compression pants under her shorts and leggings stabilized her well. With a twirling flourish, she separated Gambol Shroud once more. Roman rose to his feet quickly enough and aimed Melodic Cudgel at the cat girl, immediately firing off an explosive round. Blake, in turn, used another Dust round with her semblance to create a stone clone that she took cover behind, jumping back to avoid the worst of the blast that shattered the top half of her statue.

Landing in a crouch, she ran at the man and jumped high in the air to gain extra force, twisting for more. The thief swings at her, only to find that he had hit a regular clone that faded away. The use of her semblance dropped Blake to the floor a few feet back from Roman but she leapt at him swinging. Like before at the docks, their weapons clashed multiple times, the man easily keeping up with her twin weapons with his singular one. At least until he found an opening and struck at her head.

A quick act of using another Dust round with her semblance created an ice statue that trapped the cane within its chest, a small display of the force he had struck with given that he was able to push it so deep as the ice was forming within the fragile aura construct that was Shadow. Blake used the momentum of being pushed back by her semblance to flip back to gain distance and upon landing she saw the results of her new trick. She launched her self at the man, deftly sheathing Gambol Shroud once more as she gathered her aura into her blade. With a small spin as she stopped and a yell of exertion, a violet blade of aura erupted from her weapon and tore through the air and floor alike, shattering her ice sculpture and Roman's aura almost at the same time.

The technique threw the criminal into the door front first and upside down, dropping his weapon as he fell to the floor, bouncing his back and head on the stairs until he came to a stop on level surface. Roman tried to sit up but a heeled boot attached to a thick leg stomped on his chest, driving the air out of his lungs with a grunt of pain. The boot never left as the thick girl simply leaned towards him to press down harder, the smaller katana half being pointed at his face.

Unexpectantly, he began to laugh, though there was no joy in it as he kept his hands up by his head. "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side and you know it."

The White Fang Lieutenant roared as he charged at the young woman who was part of the family he longed to destroy. In turn, Weiss twisted Myrtenaster in a circle, readying for his attack and falling back in a lunge position. The massive chainsaw was stopped by a hard light shield, the many rotating blades creating ripples over the surface of the pale blue barrier that separated the fighters.

Just as the shield was failing, Weiss spun in closer and used her pommel to knock his weapon high, the unexpected move sent the man stumbling back a step. He recovered quickly and brought his weapon down on the girl, which she was able to guard against by holding her rapier vertically with the tip down and braced with her shoulder as the saw ground itself down the blade to the floor.

Weiss took the momentary lapse of his ability to move when the saw dug into the steel floor to spin slightly away from the roaring weapon and use the centrifugal force to power her slash against his chest, making the large man stumble back and tear his weapon free of the floor. As he was just catching his balance once more, Weiss performed an acrobatic and twisting leap over his saw-sword, striking him with her own blade across the mask, causing him to stumble another step. Weiss landed perfectly and saw how the man twisted to swing his chained sword, performing a back handspring under its path to dodge. She could almost feel the wind through her leggings from each small blade as they went by, it was that close.

As she finished rotating to her feet, her blade lashed out and caught one of his hands, forcing him to let go instinctually. She changed her momentum by twisting on her heel to land another strike to his masked face once more. He recovered quickly, fast enough that he was able to block her stab with the armored housing of the motor. Another pirouette gave Weiss the force combined with striking upwards to his face once more to knock the much larger man to the floor.

Almost tauntingly, Weiss cartwheels over the fallen body, catching the Lieutenant's attention. Without a word he sits up grabbing his blade with one hand and twists himself as he rose, the fully extended swing was dodged by the heiress bending over backwards and twisting to avoid the overhead swing that carved out another chunk from the floor. His flowing backhanded swipe was blocked by Myrtenaster but the force behind the attack was enough to push the bottom-heavy girl back and stumble to her knees. She was barely able to jump away in time to avoid the kick that smashed a crate into the wall with ease.

Weiss managed to reach the ceiling and land on it long enough to take aim and nearly spear her opponent, creating another small hole in the floor before she was able to retract it as she fell and rolled out of the dive. Immediately she struck at the saw before it could really begin to swing, arresting the momentum long enough for her to spin away and backflip, catching his chin with her heel before landing with a twist that drove her blade point first into his open waist, his aura taking the brunt of the stab but the he was knocked down once again and rolled over his shoulders to his feet as if nothing had really happened.

Weiss used the opening to take the time to concentrate on her semblance, specifically her time dilation glyph, the gold glowing clock spinning wildly under her feet. Time began to slow for the girl as she ran at the White Fang officer, casting several more glyphs around him, much to his confusion. The six white platforms born from her aura combined with the speed granted to her by her earlier glyph, allowed the girl to strike the man from multiple angles too fast for him to dodge or even block, the strikes hard enough to lift him from the floor and twisted like a rag doll.

Her last jump leveled her with her opponent where she slashed him once again across the chest and used his body as a platform to jump to the ceiling. He crashed to the hard steel with a loud thud and grunt as the air was knocked from his lungs, somehow still holding onto his saw. Weiss created another glyph to jump from and stabbed down with her weight behind her blade, just barely missing the mans' torso when he was able to recover faster than expected and roll himself over his shoulders to his feet.

The Huntress immediately drew her blade from the floor and leapt to be eye level as she prepared to thrust at him once more. Then he looked up to lock eyes through his mask. "Come 'ere, princess!" Once again proving he was faster than his size and build would suggest, his hand lashed out and grabbed her head, nearly covering her face completely in a vice-like grip. He pulled back on her head to swing her behind himself and raised high before slamming the back of her head into the floor with his full weight and strength behind the attack. Weiss was left in a crater as the steel caved in around her head and shoulders, aura barely holding on.

The White Fang tank of a man wasn't done yet. He never released his grip until he pulled her out of the hole and tossed her high in the air where she flew limply, too stunned to move. The Lieutenant reared back his right arm and brought it back in a wide arc, aiming for the falling Schnee.

Yang was angry. This little girl was making her look like an amateur in hand-to-hand combat. She had been the best in Signal in that field as a student when she graduated. There were only two others who could reliably give her a run for her money- her dad, who had taught and trained her in that form of combat and Denko when he was still there. Everyone else, they caved to her strength and skill. Even at Beacon, she was one of the best in unarmed combat, having been top of the first years with only Pyrrha as competition and both of them looked to the older students for a challenge when the other wasn't available.

Speaking of which… Pyrrha. She likely would have transitioned to a more defensive combat strategy when she felt that she was getting overwhelmed until she found an opening to exploit. And Denko… he could be just as bad as this munchkin during their training sessions, always managing to seem to know how she'll attack and dodge or counter it with ease…

He did try to train her to fight like that a few times when she was getting too frustrated at her inability to beat him in the spars. Sure, she was glad that he was helping her but she was far too used to being the one to attack and smash through her opponents. It was… difficult… to change her style so drastically but she did manage to get more hits on the young man than before. Worth it to see his surprise and smile as she got better.

Two could play that game. It was just a matter of timing.

Yang marches across the train car, her boots clanging on the bare steel, her face full of determination to wipe that smile off of the shorter girls' face. As if on cue, the tri-colored girl cocks her head innocently and her smile widens a bit more. Yang rears her left arm back as she came within range, a growl on her lips. Neo leaned back to avoid the haymaker and kicks out with her left leg, launching herself in a small spin that had Yang back away slightly as the girl rose up so she was only on her hands as she spun on the crate.

Then she twisted herself down to the floor, keeping her momentum, a quick kick lashing out to keep the blonde away before Neo jumped and used the spin to add force to her kick, another that Yang managed to dodge as she kept shuffling backwards. Once Neo landed, she was able to twist swiftly enough to lash out with a low kick fast enough to catch Yang's boot, though it did little as the larger girl was already backing away again.

As soon as the blonde caught her feet again, she fired off another explosive round that was easily blocked by Hush as it's wielder had her back turned to the blast. Yang tried to use the flames as cover to cross the distance and land a leaping punch to bring her considerable bulk to bear but the pint-sized ice cream girl almost danced out of the way, leaving the blonde to recover upon landing.

Neo was quick to strike back this time, swinging her umbrella at Yang's face that was blocked by her right gauntlet though the handle was used to block the blondes left punch aimed low in retaliation. Another quick left jab was stopped by the tip of Hush being jabbed into her elbow before the umbrella was swinging through the air again, the right gauntlet being brought up to shield the tubby blonde. An upwards attack from Hush had Yang pull her arm back but throw out her left for balance, the umbrella spun into her wrist and the shot from the gauntlet flew high over the short girls' head.

With Yang's arms knocked back and exposing her large and soft middle, Neo took the opportunity to spin for a right roundhouse kick. One that Yang was able to catch by grabbing the boot itself just as the leg was about to lash out at her. Neo was caught open and off balance, literally in the hand of someone much larger and stronger than herself. Yang pulled on the foot in her grasp and her left grabbed Neo's thigh to ensure she had a good hold before pulling the whole girl around in a quick spin and throwing her to the ground, her right fist now speeding at the smaller girls' face.

The punch landed just as her head hit the floor and Neo's head… shattered… like glass. Yang found herself hunched over with her fist in a large dent and surprised when Torchwick's sidekick launched herself off a nearby crate to drive a knee into her face, sending the larger woman stumbling from the unexpected attack. Neo didn't let up though as she leapt up and over the off-balance blonde, the hook of her umbrella catching the collar of her jacket and she pulled as hard as she could, throwing Yang over her shoulder into a stack of crates that collapsed on top of her. No doubt that if they were wood rather than steel, they would have broken under her weight.

Yang manages to push a crate off of herself and roll over onto her hands and knees, trying to catch her breath and stand up. Looking up, she just manages to see Neo flip up and out of her sight before feeling the girls heel smash into the back of her head and her face hitting the steel. Then… nothing.

Neo straightens up with a smile as she takes a small walk around the blonde, examining the hefty girl from different angles, content to take her time.

Weiss was having the fight of her life. To be more accurate, it was a fight for her life. The White Fang officer she was facing was deceptively fast, was as strong as he looked, and was even tougher than that. It didn't help that his weapon was fully meant to tear down a target's aura with its many small blades moving rapidly and unrelenting, and then tear at the flesh once that broke. There would be no quick or painless end if or when it would strike unprotected flesh. It was simply a weapon meant to inspire fear through the roar of its engine, the dozens of sharp teeth, and the damage it could inflict without killing immediately.

As it was, Weiss was fully on the defensive. She was barely able to twist her sword around to take the brunt of the hit when sha had been thrown, the result was her being launched into the wall. Her use of her semblance was extremely limited due to her low aura, it was bad enough that she had the least of her team and friend group. But now she was just managing to maintain the defensive barrier, recovery wasn't an option as she had to keep running away from the giant man who kept swinging that torturous weapon at her and kicking crates in her direction. Her counter attacks were few and far between, nothing seemed to slow the faunus down. Not even dropping a crate on his head from the top of the stack.

And the longer this went on, the more he began to laugh. He was getting pleasure from watching her run scared. "Come on out, Schnee!" He yells as she had managed to slip out of his sight for a moment long enough to hide behind a crate. "I want to hear you squeal like the pig you are." His chuckling sounded far too close to the rumbling of his saw to be comfortable for the heiress to listen to.

A crate was tossed at the one she was concealed behind and she was forced to roll out of the way or be crushed by the steel container. He moved in once again and she was forced to roll out of the way from a series of swipes that cut chunks out of the floor. Shards of steel and dust covered her dress, turning it from white to grey. A glancing blow from a backhand was more than enough to send the girl reeling and knock off some of the dirt.

The saw came around again and Weiss had to brace Myrtenaster with both hands just to deflect the weapon. Even that took all of her strength, the girl falling to one knee from the force. Once again, the saw tore into the floor and showering the area with sparks and metal shards.

Then his other hand grabbed her by the neck and held her up high. Far too high for her feet to hope to touch the ground. Myrtenaster being held in a weak grip, being swung at her torturer and possible executioner, but the blade barely fazed him and her strikes grew weaker with every swing. The more she struggled, the more he laughed, more than content to watch her squirm in his grip and suffer.

The hand holding her sword dropped to her side, refusing to let go but too tired to do anything more. Her other hand struggled to tear his hand from her throat or at least relieve some of the pressure of having her weight suspended by a part of human anatomy that was never meant to carry anything more than the head it was attached to.

She found one last ounce of strength before her aura gave out, the spiderweb of white energy shimmering over her form. That strength powered her left leg to swing her foot… into his crotch. As tough as the man was in all other respects, few could take such a hit and not react negatively.

His reaction was to throw the hefty heiress at the door with all of his might as he growled through the shock and pain.

Roman tried to sit up. Tried being the key word as he still had a heeled boot attached to a thick leg holding him down. "Do you really think that it would be so easy? Going to some fancy Academy thinking you can save the world?"

The boot rose a little and he took the chance to rise. He didn't get far as Blake slammed her foot back down on his chest and put the tip of her black blade to his throat. "Oohh… still feisty." The words nearly sent shivers down her spine coming from him, not the good kind. Then the thief kept talking as if he weren't held at hostage.

"So, what are we gonna do now? Do you really think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget what you were? What you've done?" The last part was said accusingly and a trace of a threat.

Blake could only grit her teeth as the man kept talking, his words echoing in her head, joining with her subconscious guilt. The sound of the door behind her opening caught both of their attentions, Blake turning to look and inadvertently pulling her sword from her captive's neck. But it was seeing Weiss tumbling through the door limply and rolling a few times that got her worried. Her fears increased as the Lieutenant stalked through the open portal with his saw-sword at the ready.

She knew him well enough from her time with Adam in the Vale cell of the White Fang. As much as she was his partner in everything, that Behemoth of a man was Adam's right hand and most trusted. He had absolute loyalty to the White Fang, and even more to Adam himself. It didn't help her feel better knowing that from the first time she met him, he had a strong desire to destroy any human in his path with the entire Schnee family at the top of his list with their company a close second.

Perhaps it was foolish of her to forget about that when they encountered him on this train but it was Weiss' confidence in her to go on after Torchwick combined with Blake's trust in her friend that made her go on. Her target was down but Weiss was in extreme danger now.

"So, what's it gonna be Blake?" Roman asks, drawing her attention once more.

Her decision was simple, sheath Gambol Shroud on her back, push off his chest with her foot while bringing the other around to kick him in the head, knocking off his hat and knocking his lights out. More than that, he finally shut up.

Blake ran over to the fallen Heiress, who apparently had just enough energy to roll herself over into a sitting position while holding her sword, or was it her sheer stubbornness? Either way, Blake found herself having to catch her head before Weiss could fall backwards any further.

The massive man revved up his chainsaw sword and charged at them, thinking that this was his lucky day to kill a Schnee and a traitor. Perhaps he wouldn't kill them just yet but bring them both back to Adam and let him share in the fun. After all, the Belladonna girl had done more harm to the man than she realized.

Seeing him charge with saw at the ready, Blake wrapped an arm around Weiss' thick waist and dashes off with the girl, hoping to outrun the man behind them.

Neo completed her lap around the blonde laying prone face down on the floor. To the short, ice cream themed girl, she looked almost bovine with her huge udders and bulging gut. Her smile changed from amused at the thought to cruel and sadistic as she unlocked the hidden sword from within Hush, withdrawing the thin blade from the canopy with deliberate slowness as she approached.

A step away, Neo flips the blade around by the curved handle with a flourish, almost savoring the moment before raising her arm high with the full intent on plunging the blade through the blonds back. Neo's face nearly split from her smile when the sound of a slashing sword from the front of the car caught her attention, her expression shifting to shock as a figure in black and red with a white, bird skull-like helmet dropped from a swirling black and red vortex. As soon as the figure hit the floor, they jumped straight at Neo.

A horizontal slash from the draw had the would-be killer backing away with a hop, a twist of the wrist and that became a vertical cut that nearly split the girl from crotch to head. The follow up slash aiming for her shoulder was barely blocked by her own sword and she was pushed back by the force of the attack along with the hop meant to take her backwards anyway.

The figure, no… woman, sheathed her blade before slowly rising from the slight crouch to stand tall. She looked down at the fallen blonde before the slits turned to Neo, giving the smaller girl her full attention, the red eyes within showing no fear, that mercy would not be given, and death would be the outcome should the fight continue. The woman turned to reveal her sheath held many different blades. Blades made from Dust or at least metal with extremely high concentrations of Dust, all held within a rotary chamber that was now cycling through the selection until one was chosen.

Unlike the bright red blade that was used earlier, this one was much darker, like blood made solid as she slowly withdrew the blade. Once the blade was fully drawn and held before her, the blade nearly doubled in length and the masked warrior leveled the sword in front of her, ready for any attack that may come.

The speed and power that the woman possessed made Neo visibly worried as she sheathed her own sword and opened her umbrella to be a shield if needed. All before she leapt backwards and disappeared in a flash of light like the sun reflecting off a window.

The swordswoman lowered her sword a bit as she relaxed and turned her gaze to the blonde on the floor once more. It was a long look, as if trying to sear the image into her mind. Carefully, she used her foot to roll her over to clearly see her face. The staring continued until the blonde began to stir a few seconds after being rolled. Deliberately, the woman slashed at the air and a black and red swirling vortex appeared not far away. She spun her sword in her hand and the blade shrank once again before being sheathed.

Slowly, the woman began to walk backwards to keep her eyes on the blonde until she was right next to the portal when she turned around to walk into it normally. Yang began to sit up and opened her eyes just in time to see the woman take the last two steps and the portal vanished with the woman that made it.

Yang blinked a few times, unsure of what she just saw. But the pain in her skull and face were enough of a distraction that she raised her hands to feel for lumps and bruising. Not finding anything obvious but sure she'd be feeling them in the morning, she shakily stood up and made her way to the door to follow after her teammates. Hopefully they wouldn't be too far away.

On the roof of the train, the battles were no less intense. Dozens of Faunus who attacked the Huntsman, Huntress-in-training, and dog with guns, swords, and mechs were taken down as swiftly as possible but the enemies kept coming.

Oobleck took a few seconds to consider how many lives were lost today. He knew that the girls below had fought through plenty of the White Fang as they progressed through the cars- he could hear them occasionally. But the cars continued to detach and explode, all but ensuring that they were killed. Any that survived the blasts by some form of luck or miracle were immediately seized upon by the growing horde of Grimm following the train. As it was, six cars have been destroyed since the team divided and he had engaged with more than a dozen Atlesian Paladins so far.

That number rose once again as another Paladin slammed onto the roof behind him. Turning to face the new threat, he saw that the mech had raised its hands and were bringing them down to crush him. A simple flick of the wrist and a press of a trigger, Oobleck enhanced his already fast movements to dodge with a jet of flames from Antiquities Roast, leaving a burning trail behind him.

The mech stood upright to find that he was no longer there but by the side of his pupil, though as soon as its movements paused, the Doctor quickly climbed on top of the machine and let loose a large blast into a vital looking cavity in its upper back that created an explosion as he jumped away.

Landing on the roof, Oobleck and Rose twirled their respective weapons and took aim at the left leg and fired, the resulting detonation sent the machine careening off the train to tumble alongside the tracks, guaranteeing the death of the pilot.

The battle had taken the odd trio further up the train than what the White Fang had desired, the car carrying the Paladins was now several lengths behind the Huntsman and Huntress. Another mech began to race up the mobile battleground as fast as the space allowed. "Ruby! You go on ahead!" Oobleck orders the young girl as he points in the direction of the engine.

"But- "

"Don't worry Ruby. Its time I teach them a lesson." The man had complete confidence in his abilities and the recent rounds of fighting had given him plenty of experience on how to deal with the mechs. Not to mention that his voice now carried a hardened edge that the Huntress normally would not associate with her odd but caring teacher. He didn't give her any chance to argue as he ran at the pair of Paladins stomping their way to him in turn.

Ruby turns to follow his orders but Zwei not moving and giving a sad whine made her look down at her pet. A few seconds of the two staring at each other allowed the girl to make her decision. "Go." She says sadly but encouragingly. The dog instantly perks up and runs after the Huntsman with a bark. Ruby watches the combatants begin to engage, the nearest mech trying to punch the man only for him to leap onto the metal fist and jam his torch into the 'armpit' of the machine and release a gout of flames into the socket.

Then she turns to run to the front, her cloak whipping behind her in the high winds.

Blake ran as fast as she could from her pursuer while carrying Weiss. At the moment, the girl was essentially dead weight, barely having the strength to hold her own wrist to lock her arms over the Faunus' shoulders. They had a few seconds of reprieve where Blake had taken the time to adjust how she carried the Heiress, so now she rode piggyback on the cat. Not for the first time, Blake found that her larger behind was making itself useful for more than padding as Weiss' weight could settle there. Her thick thighs though, were a bit of a pain to wrap around her own growing middle without trying to force the exhausted girl into a split.

It was the best they could do at the moment and that's what was needed as the saw finished cutting through the locks and hinges, the attached door being kicked in by the man who saw them long enough to see the girls duck behind a large stack of crates that soon toppled, then another, followed by the sound of the door closing and being locked.

The Lieutenant growls as he begins to shove crates out of the way. Nothing was going to stop him from claiming his prize. Torchwick being left unconscious on the floor in the last car… at least shut him up and made sure that he was in charge of the operation.

Yang had decided to climb to the roof to check on Ruby and Oobleck's progress, coincidentally popping her golden mane over the roof just as her sister was about to jump to the next car.

"Yang! You scared me!" The younger sister accuses though she waited until the blonde had finished hauling herself up to give her a hug born from relief.

"Glad to see you too, Sis." Yang returns the hug, looking back to see the Huntsman and dog fighting the Paladin's several cars back. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"Doctor Oobleck? Yeah, he'll be fine." The girl shrugs it off but looking forward she sees that they don't have far until they would be at the engine. "Wait, where's Weiss and Blake?"

"They ran ahead while I dealt with an old friend." Yang answers before looking upset. "It… it didn't go well."

"But you're okay, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Let's keep moving."

Two cars later and the roof hatch opened to reveal Blake looking around before the worried looking girl noticed the sisters. "There you are! Help me with Weiss." Before ducking back down.

Their eyes widened with fear as they ran to the hatch to see Blake helping the Heiress up the ladder by taking some of the weight off of her… by pushing on her bottom with one hand as she climbed up below her. Thankfully, Yang was able to take the burden off of the cat and haul the snow-themed girl up and out by her arms. Blake was somewhat worried for the future when she saw that Weiss only had a few inches to spare as her hips cleared the opening. She did accept Ruby's hand as she climbed out onto the roof.

But now that the four of them were up there, they took notice of yet another problem- the massive solid steel gate that sealed the tunnel was closed and approaching fast.

"What do we do?" Yang asks no one in particular, idly wondering if they should just get back in the train and brace themselves.

No words were spoken as Ruby and Weiss shared a glance and the Heiress summoned up all of the aura she could scrounge up from her battered body and pumped it into one last glyph with the addition of Dust from Myrtenaster. Soon, layers upon layers of ice were created into being and surrounded the girls in a thick shell, the space inside forcing them to duck and squeeze their bodies together.

Two car lengths ahead and a few seconds later, the engine struck the solid barrier, crumbling in on itself and severely denting the door before the engine exploded- sheering the blockage into useless scraps as the rest of the train continued through. The second car had buckled and ripped more of the gate apart and the third car carrying the ice shell plowed through the remains of the car and engine ahead of it… as well as the old station that carried what was left of the car and shell to the surface. More cars followed, some in better shape than others.

One thing that was certain… Vale had been breached.

AN: Well, things went from bad to worse since the train crashed through into Vale. On the other hand, I hope I did the fights justice as they were a pain to try to get right as I had to watch the scenes at half speed over and over again for the details. Speaking of the details, I hope you all enjoyed the additional details I worked in along with the slight changes. Kinda different that Ruby didn't get much focus this time since she had it for the last one.

Nobody tried the game to guess what Denko and Anya's semblances are from last time. I have provided hints as to what they are through the chapters if that would help with finding the answers. They will be getting a full reveal during the events of V3 so my readers will get the answers eventually... it'll simply be in a few months.

Constructive criticism and reviews are welcome to help me improve my writing.