Hoo boy, this chapter was certainly something to write. Hopefully you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I had in writing it.

Chapter 37: Vale, To Be Scarred.

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.(Chapter Start)

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September 14th (Same night, near 11pm)

Saturday

Storms & rain

The first thing that Azura felt as he began to wake up was the rain coming down on him, the next being Yang's hands on his shoulders as she dragged him into a sitting position. The ringing in his ears was still there, but he could hear her trying to talk to him. He could see her in his vision, but his senses weren't clearing up fast enough for her, so she put her hands against his cheeks and spoke louder.

"Focus on me! I need you to be able to defend yourself!" She was yelling at him. When he numbly responded, she smiled in relief for a moment. "Good. Can you move on your own?"

Azura started getting up with a slight bit of trouble, and Yang released her hold on him as she rose as well.

"Yeah, I...I can move." Azura said, shaking his head and holding a hand to it.

He looked around his surroundings, and that was when he realized what he woke up to. People were screaming and running through the streets around them, some of them even running through the plaza that they seemed to have woken up in. Grimm were running through the streets like they owned the place, and alarms were going off throughout the city.

"Please evacuate to the nearest shelter immediately, your safety will be secured." A robotic voice of a woman said from somewhere Azura could not locate.

"Damn it, my scroll is broken." Yang said, ripping his attention away from the madness going on around them. "Azura! Is your scroll working?"

Azura took his scroll out, seeing that it was still functional, and answered the first question that Azura knew she would want to have answered. "All six aura signatures are still active. Everyone is above forty or so...we're both around fifteen."

Yang grimaced. "Not good, not good at all."

Azura took his weapons out as he spoke again. "No time to worry about it. Grimm are noticing our presence now." He nodded in their direction, Beowolves already growling and starting to rush on them. "Try to avoid any aura usage, we need that as our defense."

"Yeah, yeah." Yang said tiredly. "Stay close to each other."

Azura nodded, preparing to defend himself and Yang among the rubble and crashed train cars around them. They stood next to each other as the Beowolves came on them, and the brawl truly began once Yang parried a paw away and punched one Beowolf and pelted another with a shotgun shot from her other gauntlet.

Azura himself weaved through and dodged paw swipes and bites, resorting to a tactic of retaliating after they attacked and left themselves open. He stabbed down on one and let another fall onto his blade as it jumped at him.

"Get down!"

Azura listened to Yang's callout instantly, dropping down as he heard the sound of Yang's gauntlet go off pass over his head, then got back up and started to shoot at the Beowolves as another set of them came rushing towards them, shocking and slowing as many as he could to buy some time. He snapped his head over to Yang as he heard her grunt and saw her pushed down on one knee by two beowolves and he reacted, two-toned rose petals going flying as he flew past them, killing both Beowolves by spinning with his blades as he went by.

He skidded on the wet and slippery ground a few feet from Yang, lightning flashing and thunder rumbling as he regained his balance, and was instantly thrusted into the fight again. He parried a large paw from a Major Beowolf, stabbing both blades into the now exposed chest of it, killing it after ripping the blades back out and Yang was now in front of him, giving a Beowolf a savage kick and sending it away.

"These things never end, do they?!" Yang asked, almost screaming the question in frustration.

Azura took a brief moment to check the battery on the magazines of his dagger, seeing them start to dip past the halfway mark. He frowned, but took his attention away from it as several Ursai joined the Beowolves in attacking them.

There were three Beowolves and two Ursai now blocking his path from Yang. They all started to attack him, and Azura fell into Summer's shadow movements to dodge away and block as much as he could, but was slapped away by the large paw of an Ursa. He groaned as he got back up, seeing the Beowolves already rushing towards him as the Ursa lumbered behind.

With another flourish of Summer's semblance, he threw his dagger at the leftmost Beowolf and pierced its head with it, before feinting to his right and slicing through the rightmost Beowolf, then stabbed the backside of the last Beowolf. He dodged out of the way of one of the Ursai, recollected his dagger, and fired several shots of lightning dust at it, damaging the mask armor on its face.

He ran towards Yang now, who had just uppercutted a Major Ursa right in the head before spinning and using a small flash of her semblance to send it flying with a vicious punch, and shot behind him at the other Ursa, seeing the mask shatter as another flash of lightning took the sky and thunder rumbled shortly after.

"You got company, Yang?" He said breathlessly, his back turned to her as he caught his breath. The Ursai he had shot were recovering from the dust still, and he was relieved to have caught a small break.

Yang had been doing the same, and they were now back-to-back with each other. "Sounds like you do. Need help with those Ursai?"

"Would be appreciated." Azura said, pushing off of Yang's soaked jacket as the Ursai glared at him and began their slower charge towards him.

Yang let out a tired chuckle, spinning on her feet and aiming her gauntlets at both Ursai. Azura did the same with his dagger, already firing and alternating his aim between the two Ursai. As they were further slowed by the ice dust shots, Yang fired off her own shotgun pellets and pelted them down. Azura switched back to the lightning dust and continued his own firing. After several seconds of their firing, the Ursai died and left Azura and Yang with no Grimm at the moment.

They lowered their arms, and Azura sighed heavily. "We don't have the energy or aura levels to keep this up…"

"You're telling me, this shit is beyond exhausting at this point." Yang replied.

Azura had to agree. His hair was plastered to his forehead, and his clothing felt heavy from the lack of energy and how wet it was getting from the rain. His weapons were sleek from the rain, and his grip was the only thing keeping the weapons from falling out of his grasp at this point. He was more than willing to take this moment to be able to take a breather, if only for a moment or two.

Thunder continued to rumble as several lightning bolts streaked across the sky, but there was a sound in between them as well. A very distinct and guttural roar that Azura really wished didn't exist right now. The large and mutated Grimm crashed through a building, destroying it in the process as it stopped in the plaza and roared at them.

The scariest part of the entire situation wasn't the creature itself, or their low aura reserves, but the fact that it was standing still.

"What is it doing…?" Summer asked, already voicing his question.

Another Grimm came floating down, looking completely different compared to any other Grimm that Azura had seen. It was shrouded in a dark hood of sorts, and barely had any visible limbs. A small, claw-like, paw was hanging in the open, while a much larger bone-like blade protruding from the other arm, gleaming from the rain washing down it. It had no visible face, and made no sound whatsoever, but Azura could feel it staring down at him.

It brought fear to Azura's heart, like he was about to be struck down and die any moment now. A shaky hand was placed on his shoulder, and he looked over to see a wide-eyed Luna staring at the creature, terror clear in her yellow eyes. It all clicked then, what he was looking at.

"Nightmare…" He whispered. "The Grimm that killed mother."

"Azura, get a hold of yourself! Think properly first and get Luna out of here! She can't fight like this, and you can't be distracted by her!" Summer mentally yelled at him, and he snapped back to attention and away from his thoughts on the Nightmare Grimm that was currently watching him.

He quickly turned to Luna, holding onto her arms. She looked at him, her shaking more palpable in his grip. "Go, Luna. Please."

She remained where she was, gripping his arms now tightly and shakily. Azura looked over at the Grimm still watching them, the Nightmare holding its long bladed arm in front of the mutated Grimm, and Azura wasn't even sure how one Grimm was controlling another. It simply drove a sharper sense of fear into him, but Summer's determined motivation overrode such fear.

"Go get help, if you can. Get Ozpin, even!" He said to Luna, lighting crackling overhead. "For me?"

Luna shakily nodded, letting go and flying off much faster than he had ever seen her go. Azura knew it was a crazy idea to do this, but he wasn't in the right mindset to care. He turned again, seeing Yang tensed up and silently watching both Grimm with intense focus. His arms were bruised from Luna's grip, but he paid no attention to the slight pain as he watched the Grimm.

The Nightmare Grimm suddenly moved its blade out of the mutated Grimm's way, pointing at Yang. It watched as the Grimm roared again, stumbling towards Yang with only three limbs, much slower and clumsier than it had been in Azura's other encounters with it. Even with that, Yang hopped out of the way and it followed after her angrily, forcing Yang to play a game of cat and mouse with it.

Azura would have gone to help her, but the Nightmare was slowly making its way towards Azura, freezing him in place as his fear gripped at his body. This was the creature that killed his mother like it was nothing, and he wondered if he even stood a chance against such a thing. The feeling of hopelessness was so overwhelming to Azura, but he could feel his grip on his weapons actually tighten.

"You shall not die this day. I swear it, Azura." Summer said, urgent and firm. "Ready yourself, I will be by your side."

Azura nodded, fear still holding him still as the Nightmare continued to float towards him in an uncaring manner, like it already succeeded in killing him.

"Do not think of the fear." Summer's soft voice whispered to him from within. "Think of living, of seeing Luna again."

With Summer's support, Azura was able to break out of his own mind, pushing his fear away. He jumped back, weapons at the ready, and blocked the large blade of the Nightmare Grimm as its speed increased beyond casual floating. He pushed back, still struggling to do so with little strength or energy to work with, but it seemed that the few reports of it were true. It was not too physically strong, and preyed on the weak who could barely defend themselves.

The Nightmare pushed back in, arm and blade reared up as it slashed towards him again, and Azura dodged to the side, then it slid the blade along the ground as it spun and reached forward to grab Azura, which forced him to jump back at the now surprisingly good speed it had. Azura readied himself again, then jumped towards it as it raised its open arm and clenched its hand as a black moisture rose from its body and spat out towards a group of three Boarbatusks.

Within an instant, all three of them were charging at Azura. It was like any interest they had in running past him was gone instantly. Azura dodged out of the way of the first one, then jumped up to have the other two run under him. Raising his blades, already aware of what would happen, he felt the large bladed arm of the Nightmare slam into his weapons, and send him flying through the window of a nearby building.

He scrambled up, rolling backwards as the bone-like blade reached through the window and jammed into the ground. Shattered glass was everywhere, but his concern was with the fact that he heard the door below him slam open and the cry of the three Boarbatusks rang out. As they began to race up the stairs of the building towards him, he turned and ran, jumping through the window behind him and forcing his aura away to take the fall normally.

He hissed in pain as he landed on his shoulder, but quickly got up as the Nightmare came up on him, a quick use of Summer's semblance allowing him to dodge out of harm's way as it sliced through the ground he was on. The three Boarbatusks leapt through the window, one of them dying just from being crushed by the other two.

"You have to be kidding me…" Azura said. "Give up, you two!"

He dodged out of the Nightmare's way again, firing off lightning dust at the Boarbatusks, stunning them. Running forward, Azura ducked under the Nightmare's grabbing hand, and grabbed the horns of one of the Boarbatusks. He then flipped it over onto the back of the other Boarbatusk, killing them both.

"Doesn't fight on its own ever." Summer said in his mind, as he dodged another slash. "We can't evade forever...we need to get back into the plaza!"

Azura jumped back, just out of the Nightmare's reaching hand, and made a dash for the plaza, only to get knocked back as the building he jumped out of exploded, bricks and glass going flying. He landed on his back, the wound on his head bleeding again, and groaned as he began to get up. He gazed wildly around his surroundings, seeing that it was a Goliath that had gone through the building, and that the Nightmare was reaching down towards him.

Another use of Summer's semblance propelled him backwards, and he flew through an alleyway before crashing onto another street. No Grimm were in sight as Azura got up, and the only sound that he could hear was the rapid thumping of his own heart. He shook his head, trying to ignore the slowly creeping exhaustion.

"Stay with me, Azura, stay with me." Summer said. "We'll figure something out."

Low on aura and in the middle of a fight with what one could say is a rather powerful Grimm given its assumed age, Azura wasn't so sure of Summer's reassurances. Once he saw that the Nightmare had yet to appear, he quickly scrambled to look at his scroll. Yang was actively regaining a small amount of aura, which inferred that she was not active in battle. She was still conscious, she had to be, if she still had aura.

"What's going on, Yang?" He asked himself.

Ruby and Blake were both in their thirties for aura levels, while Weiss and Oobleck were just below them. Azura felt some relief and energy come to him upon seeing that team Juniper was active, their pings coming to Vale itself hopefully meant that more huntsmen were coming.

He slipped it back into his pocket as the Nightmare entered his vision, slowly floating again. It was like it knew that Azura was on his last legs at this point, which made an unsettling feeling pool in his stomach. This Grimm was smart and clever, Azura noted.

Readying his weapons again, Azura breathed in and out raggedly. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Alone with Summer, and with almost no chance in coming out on top in a fight, the only thing he could do was play a game of cat and mouse and hope that he bought time, whether it be to get Yang out of the way or to maybe get rescued. He wasn't hopeful, as the mere presence of the Nightmare seemed to suck out any positivity of those around it. It dug at his mind like the never-ending ticking of a clock, slowly degrading at him.

Azura dodged out of the way of a wide sweeping slash, jumping back as it reached out to grab him again. He landed, dodging again as it slashed out again. Several Beowolves raced out onto the street, and after Azura blocked another slam of the Nightmare's blade, it backed off to the other side of the street, and the same black moisture rose from its body. The Beowolves howled as they convulsed on the ground, slowly vanishing as they seemed to turn into black liquid themselves and started combining with the Nightmare.

Azura's eyes widened in shock, and he started a slow run towards the Nightmare to try and stop it. Whatever it was doing would not be good for him, and he built up the power of Summer's semblance to leap towards the Nightmare, throwing his dagger ahead of time to try and stop it. The dagger landed, but did not stop the Nightmare. As Azura flew like a rocket towards the Nightmare, he was stopped just as he reached his mark, ready to strike a blow, grabbed by the Nightmare's arm, the clawed bones covering its hand squeezing around Azura throat.

Azura choked, gasping for any air, trying to slash his sword into the Nightmare's arm, failing as the Nightmare slapped the weapon out of Azura's hand with the bone blade it had, nearly snapping Azura's wrist in the meantime. Azura's vision was dimming now, and he could only feebly grab at its arm with his left hand.

"Azura! Azura!"

Summer's voice was hard to hear, and Azura could barely make out what she was saying. The world was starting to fade out, and the Nightmare's blade was raised, poised to strike the final blow on Azura. As his grip began to weaken, he could feel Summer's shadow movements almost force his hand to remain where it was. Several emotions flickered through him, none of which were his.

That was when she screamed. It pierced through his mind, making Azura alert for only a brief moment as a burst of a very foriegn energy emerged from within him. From within Summer. His left side burned with the energy, and the darkness that was his vision flared up like a flashbang. The next thing Azura knew was that he hit the ground hard, and he coughed and wheezed. His left eye felt like it was on fire, a blazing silver aura emanating from it, visible to Azura.

The Nightmare was retreating, its shroud burning in the same silver color, making the first noise to come out of its mouth a screech that sounded creepily human. Azura shifted as he kept gasping for air, seeing black tendrils of thorns that looked like tattoos wrapped around his left arm and hand. As the silver color vanished, Azura felt as though he had just been set on fire purely on his left side. He screamed hoarsely, coughing up blood as he convulsed on the ground. He continued like this for several horribly long moments, before feeling arms come onto him, constricting his movement. They were ice cold, wet, and nothing felt better to Azura as he recognized the feeling of the cold rain coming down on him again.

"Azura!" An accented voice called out, sounding close.

Azura's vision was cleared up for the most part now, recognizing Coco's face in front of him, as though she was examining him.

"He hears your voice, Velv, so he's clearly still with us." She said, and Azura saw Yang stumble behind her, looking as wet as a used mop, and looking at him in what he thought was concern.

"Thank whatever is watching over us right now…" The same accented voice, Velvet, said.

"Well, we killed whatever that other thing was, so perhaps he should thank us for finding him after." Coco said, a grim frown on her face.

"I suppose…" Velvet replied, shifting her grip on Azura slightly.

Hearing her voice reminded Azura of someone. Someone who would be in danger at this very moment.

"Aurora…" He croaked, attempting to get up from Velvet's grip. When he was held back, he spoke again. "Please...she needs...us…"

Coco frowned, looking past him to Velvet. "Your call, bunny."

"We have to, Coco. He's right." Velvet said. "Lu can't possibly do it herself, no matter her past."

"Then, off we go. Me, Velvet, and Fox will go and get those little guys secured." Coco said, standing up and turning. "Yatsu, stay with them and call for evac of two students. Join up with us later, if you can."

"Of course." A new voice said.

"Yang, could you…" Velvet began to say, though she stopped as Azura felt a new pair of hands grab onto him. "Thanks." She finished, before she quickly entered his vision and spoke again. "Aurora will be okay, I promise."

Azura didn't respond, his throat burning as blood trailed down his chin, mixing with the water on his face from the rain, though he felt relieved. He could hear Summer faintly, as if she was trying to talk to him, but his focus was on Yang's face, which was just above him, looking down at him tiredly. He paid no mind to the tall and muscular man nearby on his scroll, just preferring to sink into unconsciousness in relief of Yang being okay and alive.

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.(Character Shift/Line Break)

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Ruby pulled the trigger again, seeing another Beowolf's head snap back from the sniper round. The rain pattered onto her crouched body, though she paid it no mind as she swiveled her scope across the city plaza she was in, shooting an Ursa this time to stun it as Blake ran in and decapitated it. It was a system that worked, Ruby knew, but she wasn't a fan of sitting still while Blake did all of the physical work. They would switch positions soon, but she was anxious while she crouched down next to the unconscious form of Torchwick, who they were forced to defend from the Grimm.

Not that she would have left him for dead, but he was needed alive. Arrested, yes, but alive.

"Ruby, on your left!" Blake called out to her, landing on the ground after launching herself off of an Ursa.

Ruby turned her body, dragging Crescent Rose with her as her hood stuck to her hair, and aimed in on the Beowolf closing in on her. She took her shot a moment later, sending it crashing to the wet ground as its foreleg evaporated, then she shot again to kill it. She turned back to see Blake send her leg crashing down onto a Beowolf's head, smashing it down onto the ground, then shooting it several times to kill it.

Ruby scoped back in, taking care of Beowolves dashing through the hole in the ground one at a time, ignoring the lightning and thunder going off around her as rain crashed on her hood and backside. She needed to be patient and calm, so she tried her best to be. She unscoped again, reloading, and looked around her surroundings. Blake was still fighting, taking on an Ursa now. The girl jumped up onto it, grappling the ribbon of Gambol Shroud around its neck to choke it. The Ursa let out a strained growl, wildly shaking its body to try and shake her off, before standing on its back legs and smashing its back into the crashed train car nearby, stunning Blake.

Ruby's eyes widened, and she quickly scoped in, though it was too late as the Ursa shook its body violently. She had taken her shot, killing the Ursa, but Blake had been stunned and then thrown off by then. Ruby was about to run out and go to her before she saw Blake roll a few times and skid to a stop several feet in front of her.

"Blake!" Ruby called out, her voice cracking as concern spiked in her mind.

Blake's grip on her weapons tightened, and she got up as fast as she could, making it over to Ruby and crouching down. "Ursa...Major Ursa!"

Ruby grit her teeth, getting up. "Stay here, we're switching." She ran off before Blake could respond, mecha-shifting Crescent Rose back into its scythe form and activating her semblance to pick up speed. She raced towards the Ursa Major, dodging to the right and stopping right behind it as it swiped in front of itself, then triggered her semblance again as she hooked the blade right around its arm, twisting it, then fired another shot to rip right through its arm as it staggered to the side. Ruby landed with a slide, digging Crescent Rose's blade into the ground and firing another sniper round to launch herself at the other arm on the Major Ursa. using her semblance to spin in the air and slice through the other arm like butter.

She launched herself backwards this time, twisting and turning her momentum to go left, sliding to a stop in front of it. With no way to defend itself, Ruby launched directly at the Major Ursa, readjusting her grip to spin the scythe head into the Ursa's stomach and ripping through it to complete the spin and fully kill it.

There was no other Grimm in sight within the plaza or the area around it, and Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, though she did not sheath her weapon. That was when the ground began to rumble, and Ruby looked around her to try and find the source of it. The rumbling kept growing, louder and louder, and she eventually fixed her eyes onto the large hole that they had come from.

A moment later, and the loud thumping and rumbling turned into a loud crash as the ground was ripped asunder and thrown about. Ruby, using her semblance, was forced back to avoid the debris flying her way. As the dust began to settle, a loud trumpeting noise was heard, and a Goliath Grimm was seen. Ruby audibly gasped in shock, not having expected such a thing to appear.

"GOLIATH!" She screamed.

A moment later, Blake came up beside her. She was staring at the Goliath as it struggled to fully get out of the hole. "We have to kill it now! While we can!"

Ruby nodded, readying Crescent Rose. "Black Rose, Blake!"

Blake sprinted in, latching onto the top of the Goliath and jumping up, sending a fire dust-infused clone down onto the Goliath as Ruby triggered her semblance and jumped onto the horn, then onto the head, leaping up into the air as Blake came back down, setting up three more clones infused with fire dust. She rolled off the Goliath and Ruby bounced on each clone as she sent them back down, also crashing into the Goliath's back.

Ruby hit the peak of her jump as she let her body manifest again, scythe head high above her as lightning crackled across the sky, then she rocketed herself down towards the Goliath. As she came within inches of landing a heavy blow, the Goliath broke through and Ruby smashed into its back unexpectedly, rolling off as she let out a cry of pain. She winced as she landed on the ground, then rolled away and regrouped with Blake as they backed off from the Goliath. It roared this time, trumpeting its trunk after.

As it began to charge and Blake and Ruby prepared to jump accordingly, a voice came from high above as the sounds of a bullhead entered Ruby's ears.

"Look out below, ha HA!"

Ruby looked up, seeing Nora flying out of the bullhead, energized with electricity, spinning as she thrusted her hammer into the Goliath's armored head like a bat, staggering it away as the armor cracked. Ren was quick to join her, with Pyrrha landing on her shield and sliding towards the two partners, hopping off and using her semblance to pull her shield back to her.

Jaune and Pyra landed next to Ruby, with Jaune looking rather serious next to a grim Pyra.

"You called?" He asked.

"Doesn't matter right now! We have a Goliath to deal with." Blake responded, running off to join in the fray as Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were calling out to each other as to how they would take it out.

Jaune nodded, sparing Ruby a glance as he joined them as well. Just as Ruby was about to join as well, she was stopped by Pyra, who's blue eyes were dulled by the dark sky and stormy clouds above.

"Where is everyone else? Azura?" She asked

"Don't know, we got separated down there before we crashed here." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Haven't checked aura or the tracker yet."

Pyra frowned, but nodded. "What happened?"

Ruby tapped her fingers along Crescent Rose's grip, getting antsy. "Enough questions, please! Go and make sure Torchwick remains where he is!" She said, jerking her head in his direction.

Pyra nodded, though she seemed displeased. As nice of a person as Ruby was, she had her own limits. Especially in times of crisis. She rushed forward, seeing Pyrrha and Nora on top of the Goliath while Jaune, Blake, and Ren kept it distracted in the front. Ruby quickly analyzed everything that was happening, Jaune blocking the Goliaths' huge trunk as it slammed into him while Ren dashed around shooting it with Blake supporting him in that effort. Pyrrha was helping Nora to try and break the already cracked face armor from above.

Looking at the Goliath, the armor on its back legs were less protected compared to other parts of its body, and Ruby decided her next course of action. She triggered her semblance again, red rose petals scattering in the wind and rain, and shot off towards the closest hindleg. She hooked the scythe head around the leg, firing her sniper rounds to dig into the leg and slice along it. The Goliath let out a noise of pain, forcing Ruby to dodge as it kicked back to where it thought she was. She was quick to run back in, jamming the scythe head into the open wound and gripping onto Crescent Rose very tightly as she fired off the final rounds she could to rip the wound open even more, which made the Goliath stumble down and halt in trying to defend itself.

"Now!" Jaune yelled.

Ruby saw Nora jump onto Pyrrha's shield, then be sent flying into the sky. She was holding something in her mouth, and she cracked down and spit out the remains of what Ruby now recognized as lightning dust. Nora sizzled with electricity now, and her grin was wide as she came back down with a raised hammer.

"Down you go!" She yelled as she slammed her hammer heavily onto the Goliath.

And down it did go, toppling over as Pyrrha jumped off and landed on the ground. Ruby saw all of team Juniper regroup as the Goliath began to evaporate, and they were all soaked already despite being here only for a minute or two. She shook her head, joining them beside Blake, though any idea of joining in on their talk was gone as howls were heard and a large group of Beowolves came running in.

"Looks like we're just getting started." Pyrrha stated, raising her shield and sword.

"It only gets more fun from here!" Nora exclaimed, readying her hammer. "Cracking Grimm skulls and defending Vale!"

"She's...not wrong." Ren said, calm as ever as he reloaded.

"Alright, team Juniper! Time to show our worth in battle." Jaune said, twirling his blade and readying his shield.

Blake simply looked at Ruby and nodded.

Ruby nodded in return, readying Crescent Rose as she joined team Juniper's side to face the Beowolf horde they now had to deal with. "Let's get it going again, then!"

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.(Character Shift/Line Break)

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Weiss was beginning to hate her luck. As the rain pelted her and ruined her ponytail, her hair straightening out as it became further undone, she had just seen Oobleck launch a dog, specifically Zwei, like a cannonball and kill an Ursa like it was nothing. Only she would be so unlucky as to be one-upped by a dog as the city she had come to know was crumbling around her and the horrible weather made it even worse.

She twirled her rapier again, sending a volley of ice dust crystals into the group of Beowolves coming from every which corner of the street, and eyed Oobleck as he whacked an Ursa in the head, letting Zwei headbutt it with more force than she honestly felt such a small creature should have.

She shook her head, dispelling such thoughts away as she stabbed a Beowolf like a kebab. She couldn't help herself, she was in disarray and full of a familiar sense of concern and worry for her teammates, and the only thing she was able to do was stand her ground with Oobleck and kill the endless amounts of Grimm around her. The numbers were thinning, yes, but she was really hoping they'd end sooner. Her aura was low with how much she was forced to use her semblance, and without aura, she'd be a sitting duck waiting to get eaten up.

She had never understood the meaning of a 'glass cannon' as much as she did right now. She was that glass cannon, and she really did not like the feeling.

"How much longer, Doctor?!" She asked loudly, sending a volley of fire dust towards a group of Grimm as she launched a glyph towards an Ursa to send it flying until the glyph came out of range and vanished.

"Only a few moments more, my impatient teammate of the moment!" He called back, irritating Weiss with his almost aloof answer.

She bit her tongue, choosing to believe him and remain silent. Not that she really had a choice, standing on a raised platform as she fired off more fire dust from Myrtenaster. Oobleck and Zwei were her primary defense if any Grimm got past her barrage of dust, which she appreciated, but she really only had so much dust to use, and her semblance was limited by her aura.

Another flick of her wrist slowed down an Ursa Major with her time dilation, primed for Oobleck to strike down. Keeping it in the corner of her vision, she turned her attention to the four Boarbatusks rushing towards her. As she dropped her time dilation glyphs, she stabbed Myrtenaster's tip into the ground and pulled the trigger to release ice dust out in a cone, freezing the ground over in ice. The rain helped to make it slippier than usual, and the Boarbatusks skidded around, three of them falling off and falling on their side while the fourth seemed to give up with its spread legs clattering on the ice as it slid on its stomach.

Summoning a glyph around her blade, she fired out more fire dust with rapid precision and killed three of the Boarbatusks easily enough. The fourth was not alive much longer as Oobleck slammed it with his own weapon.

This process of killing Grimm continued only for a few minutes more, and the rain was beginning to let up, though the dark clouds remained. Weiss was tiring from the constant dust and semblance usage, but the Grimm were also becoming less and less frequent. After stabbing a Beowolf that had gotten too close for comfort, she and Oobleck were now next to each other. Weiss wiped the hair out of her face, taking the brief moment of rest to clear her vision. Two Ursa Majors rumbled into their vision as she did so, and Weiss readied Myrtenaster again as Oobleck brought his coffee-capsule-turned-weapon up. Zwei growled between them, and the Ursa Majors rushed forward towards them.

Just as they were about to attack the bear Grimm, the two creatures froze in place with a familiar purple glow. Weiss was shocked that they finally got their backup, turning to see Goodwitch calmly walking through the now drizzling rain, riding crop in hand also glowing purple. Port was running ahead of her, grunting as he lifted a giant axe and took a mighty swing at one of the Ursa Majors, cleaving its head right off. The other one was harshly brought down to the ground for Port to raise his axe again and decapitate the other one as well.

Weiss almost couldn't believe what she had just seen. "I guess not every story is false…" She commented softly.

Oobleck chuckled, placing a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "When it comes to Port, they never are."

"I wouldn't go that far, Bartholomew." Goodwitch said from behind, speaking again once Weiss and Oobleck turned towards her. "You both are free to retreat back to Beacon. Early reports are saying that the main sources of the breaches have been cleared of Grimm, so all first wave defenders are being brought back and a fresh wave of Huntsmen are already finishing up what you and others have started."

That brought relief to Weiss's heart, and a genuine smile to her lips. "Thank you, professor."

Goodwitch merely nodded before she looked past Weiss and over to Port. "Come along, Port. We've got a city to finish defending and start repairing."

She walked off, Port coming along to catch up with her, and spoke once more. "Transport is still safely landed for you two. Oobleck, report to Ozpin once you get back to Beacon, please."

"Of course, Glynda!" He replied, then turned to Weiss. "Well, Miss Schnee, shall we?"

Weiss nodded, feeling tired to her core. "That would be great, yes."

.

.(Character Shift/Line Break)

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Yang was exhausted, but unable to fall asleep on the bullhead. Too many thoughts in her head, plus she couldn't help herself at this moment. She felt like she needed to be watching the condition of Vale right now.

From this point of view, with the drizzle of rain in front of her, the city was not in as terrible of a shape as it seemed when she had been on the streets herself. Some buildings had taken obvious damage and, on a darker note that refused to exit her mind, people had died. Blood had been spilt because of their failure to stop the trains.

She wished her worry would be about the price for repairs or how the opening days of the Vytal festival will have to be pushed back to give time for said repairs. But, as a young adult training to be a Huntress, she had to worry about the people that had died and how she hadn't been good enough to stop that. How she had naively believed she was good enough to stop something like this.

Yang sighed, feeling as worn down and disheveled as she looked. She had yet to let go of her grip on Azura. One arm around his shoulders and gripping his damp sweatshirt, careful to avoid his left arm, which was injured more than anything else. Which made her think of two things, one of them being her teammates. Her other arm had her scroll, still viewing the aura levels of everyone. Azura being at a scarily low two percent, Ruby and Blake in their low thirties, Weiss just below fifteen, Oobleck about twenty, and herself dipping down to five percent in total.

And the other thing on her mind, outside of her sister and friends, was Azura's wounds. Not the bruised coloring of his throat or the dried blood from his left temple, though they were concerning enough, but the wounds that looked anything but natural. His eyes were closed, but it was easy to see the black looking coloration that stemmed from his left eye, like roots sticking out. They were small and didn't extend far, but they didn't look like a wound one would get in battle. More concerning was his left arm and hand, wrapped up in tattoo-like marks that seemed like burns. They looked like thorns you would see on a rose stem, and Yang wasn't a fan of the idea it brought her.

She gripped his sweatshirt a little tighter, and her scroll whined slightly from the pressure her other hand was applying. His weapons laid on her lap, and she sighed heavily as she looked back out at Vale, getting further and further away as other bullheads flew behind them.

"Just what happened between Azura and mom to cause this to happen to them?" She whispered to herself. "And why do I feel like it's also something I won't get an answer to?" She finished, thinking of the mystery woman that Azura briefly mentioned before they crashed into Vale.

The only thing she could do was hope that the others were on one of those bullheads. It was frustrating how useless she felt right now. She was anxious to see her sister safe and sound, to see Weiss and Blake again, and for Azura to wake up the same as he was. She had come to terms with Azura basically sharing a body with her deceased mother, but she wasn't sure if she wanted it to go further than that.

She hated the fact that the only thing she could do was hope. It made her feel weak, like her strength didn't even matter. But it seemed like hope was all she could do at the moment. Hope and wait.

.

.(Chapter End)

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And there it is. The Nightmare Grimm finally emerges in the midst of chaos, where everyone is at their weakest. I hope that I didn't drag out the whole "drop hints of 'this' creature or object" too much in regards to it. Beyond that, I'm sure you guys know what happened in that moment where Azura was about to faint and die, or know what Summer basically triggered. I know it might feel like a bit of "plot convenience", but it makes sense to me that Summer would have more 'control' of that stuff.

Anywho, have a nice day/evening!