Author's Note:
Wow, I am kinda surprised I got so many followers right now on this story. Thank you! AS a reward for that, here you go, Part 2 of 'Escaping the Vale'.
Enjoy the chapter and please do go and listen to the kickass song I picked for this one! It's really, REALLY, good!
Grimm Wars
Chapter Two: Escaping the Vale - II
[Start Playing: Kingslayer - Bring Me The Horizon]
Bang~! Bang, bang~!
"Get down!" Rojo yelled.
The diving attack just barely misses the two of them, as the airborne Grimm's long boney white lance just grazed the two teens. But it missed and Yang kept on driving north to the ruined walls of Vale's North-West gates.
While Rojo kept firing at the Grimm as it banked to the left to come back around for another attack run.
The beast looked almost exactly like the textbook stated. A large, fifty-foot wingspan with four jet-like pods. Two on each side. And a long bone-white lance that could impale a person with ease. Although it has no eyes, it dose not need them. Instead, it uses sound to hunt down its prey. At top speed, it could cruise at five-hundred miles per hour. Making one of the fastest Grimm on record thus far.
It more than lives up to its terrifying name.
"What the hell is that?!" Yang called back, snapping Rojo out of his analysis of the Grimm.
"Death Skewer! Newly discovered Grimm!" he responded, not taking his eyes off the beast.
Just as he finished reloading, he raised Red Redemption up to the Grimm, Yang called back again.
"Rojo!" she yelled.
The marksmen snapped his head forward to see what was up. Only for a maw of fangs to greet him. But thanks to Yang quickly maneuvering her bike to the left, Rojo avoided becoming a Beowolf's chew toy.
"Get us the hell out of here! Now!" he yelled as he opened fire at the Beowolf who tried to chase after them.
"Got it!" he heard her respond.
Rojo glanced back at the Death Skewer that was now diving at them. But Rojo was ready for the beast this time.
An idea had hatched inside his mind as he grabbed more rounds to load his weapon with. It was crazy, but if he pulled it off, it would take out the Death Skewer in one shot.
As the Skewer started increasing its speed to impale the two teens, Rojo grabbed hold of his last remaining grenade, pulled the pin with his teeth, and threw it at the Grimm. He knew it wouldn't go off in time to kill the beast. That is unless he gave it some sort of aid to explode sooner.
He quickly loads an incendiary round into Red Redemption, points it at the grenade as it starts its fall to the ground from Rojo's throw. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he took aim at the grenade as it was just three feet away from the Death Skewer.
He squeezed the trigger and the incendiary round came flying from the barrel, soared through the air with a reddish glow, and impacted the shell of the grenade. All within a matter of a second.
KRA-KOOM!
The blast of fire and the force of the shockwave threw the Skewer off course and it was sent crashing into a wall of a building to the right side of Yang's bike. The building crumbled and dust clouds kicked up from the impact.
But Yang kept her bike forward and, by some miracle, the two teens made it through the debris.
"Nice shot, cowboy!" the blonde shouted while Rojo spat out the pin still in his mouth.
Rojo nodded at his handy work, but he didn't relax yet. If what he read about the Death Skewer was true, where there was one, there were usually two more. A noise from above soon confirmed what he read in the books.
Vur-vur!
The sound made him look back in time to see two more Skewers flying side by side before one of them makes a dive at the teens. Rojo shouted at Yang and he felt the bike make a lurch to the right. Just in time too. For the second her bike maneuvered to the right, the bone white lance went wheezing past them. Rojo turned back to the last Skewer and locked on with Red Redemption. As the Grimm dove at them, Rojo unloaded his weapons remaining shells on it.
He was aiming for the exact same spot with each shot. Right in the middle of its armored head.
The first shot dented its armor, the second shot cracked it open like an egg shell. The third and final shot went clean through its body and out the other side. The Grimm, despite going limp, still traveled on its path towards them in a falling maner. Its bone lancer was still dangerous and capable of killing them if it hit the mark.
Rojo singles Yang to move to any side with a pat on her shoulder and the bike lurches to the left.
The Dead Grimm crashed into a nearby store where the building caved in and crumbled in on itself, kicking up dust clouds and spitting out bricks in the process. But Yang kept her cool and weaved around the debris like a professional stunt driver.
As they exited the dust cloud kicked up by the falling building, they finally spotted the northern gate, but there was a problem.
Yang quickly pointed out the issue, "The gate's still closed!" she shouted.
Rojo's mind quickly raced to find a solution to their problem. If they stopped for even a moment, they were dead. The Grimm would overwhelm them in seconds. They had to get through the gate and they had to get through it now.
That was when an idea hatched in his head. For just a moment, his memory went back to when they were at Mountain Gleen. When he first unlocked his Semblance. And how large of an explosion he caused when he threw that rock at the serpent like Grimm constraining Yang.
Then it clicked.
He snapped his head down to one of his high-explosive rounds for Red Redemption. He grabbed and started channeling his Aura into the round. He then loads the HE round into the rifle, aimed it at the gate, and pulled the trigger.
BOOM~!
The Aura infused HE-round was more than enough to blow the gate wide open.
With the way now clear, Rojo shouted, "Go, go, go!"
Yang pushed the Dust engine as far as it could go while Rojo dared to glance back at the Grimm chasing them. This proved to be both a smart and dumb idea rolled into one. While he did manage to get a rough idea of the numbers of Grimm gunning for the two of them, he didn't expect that many chasing the two teens. If he didn't do something now, the Grimm were going to keep chasing the two of them for a long time.
Luckly, Rojo had one more HE-round left and a little Aura left to infuse it with. Loading the round into his rifle after pouring the last remnants of his Aura into it, he waited.
Just as the motorcycle passed the now destroyed gate doors that connected to a tunnel which led to the outside world, Rojo pointed Red Redemption at the over archway that the gate doors were attracted to, and pulled the trigger.
The resulting explosion caused the archway to crumble and collapse onto the horde of monsters chasing them.
[End Playing: Kingslayer - Bring Me The Horizon]
The two teens made their way down the tunnel and, eventually, the light at the end of the tunnel gave way to reveal the outside of the walls of their former Kingdom.
Yang brought her bike to a stop after a little more driving and let out a sigh of relief, which Rojo shared quickly after her.
"We made it out…" she said simply.
Rojo nodded, not trusting his words at the moment.
"So…?" the blonde asked, "What do we do now?"
Rojo looked around, taking in every tree as he started talking, "To be honest Yang, I don't have a clue. But I do know that we can not stay here. We may have escaped the Grimm at the moment, but we are now officially inside their domain now. There could be a Grimm behind any one of these trees."
He glanced at her with serious eyes, "So, for now, we-"
Suddenly, catching both teens off guard, Rojo's scroll started to ring. He looked at his pocket before pulling out his scroll to look at the screen.
To his surprise, it was Jaune of all people.
The marksman quickly answered the call.
"Jaune?"
"Rojo?! Oh, thank the Gods! You're okay!" he heard the knight say in gratitude.
Rojo smiled and laughed, "Nice to hear you too, Jaune."
"You too, man… hey, uh… I heard from the last airship that made it out of Vale that you-."
"Yeah, I did. I went back and found Yang. We are now both out of Vale." he answered Jaune's unfinished question, guessing his next question as well.
On que, "Hey, vomit boy!" Yang chimed in a chipper voice.
He heard Jaune sigh in relief, "Oh thank you! We were all so worried…" he said, but his voice was not as enthusiastic anymore, which Rojo caught.
"Jaune." Rojo said in a serious voice, "What happened? How screwed is the situation at Patch?"
Yang fell quiet at that sentence and waited for Jaune to speak.
Rojo's question was rhetorical, he already knew the situation was messed up as it stands. He just wanted details on the situation and if Weiss and Blake made it to Patch.
After an exhausted sigh, Jaune spoke, "Rojo, it's bad. While we made it to the island of Patch, according to the teachers, only about 65% of the transports made it out of Vale." Rojo clenched the device in frustration as Jaune continued on, "The Red Wolves now have full control of Beacon Tower, the Grimm are crawling around every street in Vale, and to top it all off, Ozpin has gone missing."
"Great…" Yang mutters, no donut putting two and two together, much like Rojo was.
But, just to confirm what he already had a hunch on, Rojo then asked, "So in other words, shit has hit the fan?" his tone of voice, sarcastic.
"Bassically, yes." was all Jaune needed to say.
'Shit…' was the only thing that came to Rojo's mind at that moment. As he processed what had happened while he and Yang were hiding in the abandoned Kingdom, he first pondered about the Red Wolves owning the Tower of Beacon.
Tactically, it made sense.
The CCT System was the linchpin for long range communication. Without the four towers of Remnant, everyone would be plunged back into the old days of long range communications, typically via handwritten letters or messengers.
So when the Cross Continental Transmit System was built after the Great War, it was free communications across the world without the worry of the Grimm interfering with your message reaching your intended target. That, as well as monitor as many communications across Remnant to make sure no other Kingdom could try and start another war.
One of the many things Rojo learned when he was kid and took it for granted.
What all this meant now was that the enemy now could monitor communications (maybe even this one) and intercept moves before they're even made.
He chooses not to wonder about the people who didn't make it out of Vale. He already saw what happened to them. Evident by the body he saw at the raided Dust shop.
He wanted to worry about Headmaster Ozpin, but Rojo had something else he needed to make sure of.
"Jaune, please tell me that Weiss and Blake made it to Patch…" he said.
There was an eerie and long pause before Jaune spoke again. That made both Rojo and Yang grow worried with fear. But when Jaune spoke again, it only confused the two teens.
"Well… yes and no." is what the blonde knight told them.
"Huh?"
"What?" Rojo quickly followed up on Yang's confusion, "Jaune, you're not making any sense."
"While I can assure you both that they did make it to Patch… they are no longer here at Patch at all." Jaune explained, "Weiss and Blake are both gone."
"What?!" Yang yelled.
Rojo couldn't believe it yet, he had to make sure, "Jaune… what do you mean they're 'Gone'?"
Jaune stuttered and continued at the words Rojo said, "N-No, no, no! They're not dead, or anything like that!" he explained, "I'm telling you that they are literally not here at Patch anymore!"
There was a long pause between Rojo and Yang before Jaune continued, "W-Weiss was taken back to Atlas by her father… by force I might add. He thinks it'll be safer in Atlas than out here."
In the split second when her heard it, Rojo Toro almost dropped his scroll at the shocking news.
Weiss's father took her back to Atlas? He thinks it's safer there?
"A-and Blake?" Yang asked in a hesitant voice, getting Rojo's attention.
Jaune sighed before saying, "Blake… she ran away… we don't have a clue where she went off too. Sun saw her off, but that's all we know."
Rojo closed his eyes at that piece of news.
As much as he hated to admit it, he too would have done something similar. That feeling he felt last night? For a split second, he shuddered at the thought of feeling it again. He was so scared for a moment that he didn't know what to do but grip his weapon.
So he was honestly not at all surprised that Blake ran off on them.
Which left what to do next all the more obvious to the marksmen.
Resolve filled his heart as Rojo started talking to Jaune again.
"Jaune, listen to me," he said in a stern voice, "I need you to do something for me. And after that, stay off the scrolls until I contact you. We are officially going radio silent for now." he told the knight.
Jaune, surprisingly, responded with his own serious tone of voice, "Roger that. What do you need?" he asked.
"I need you to give me Sun's contact info, I have to ask him for a favor. And remember Jaune, only use your scrolls if you absolutely have too. We can't give out too much information right now." Rojo said.
"Understood. Just be sure to give updates every now and then, please." Jaune said, "Me and my team will stay here at Patch to make sure it stays Grimm free and to protect the civilians."
"Got it." Rojo said before a few more personal thoughts crossed his mind, "And Jaune?"
"Yeah?"
Rojo paused before speaking, "Two more things: Please tell my Papi that I will send him updates also as soon as I can. And tell Professor Branwen I said that he was right. It is harder losing a second family…" he paused before continuing, "But I intend to fix what I destroyed."
"... You got it man." Jaune said after a moment of silence.
"Thanks, Jaune. Over and out." Rojo finally said before hanging up his scroll and putting it back in pocket.
Yang finally spoke up after the conversation between the two boys ended, "Wow… you guys are really taking this in stride."
Rojo looked at her, "I'm just trying to keep us focused on other thing so we don't lose our minds on how fucked things are at the moment." he explained.
Yang looked at him surprised for a moment before smiling with determination, "Yeah… you're right." she said before rolling her neck and shoulders, "Okay Rojo, what's the game plan for us?" she asked.
Rojo grinned at her in return, "We're going to save our stolen Princess." he said simply.
Yang's grin grew all the bigger, "Gotcha." she replied.
"Then let's get moving, Yang." Rojo ordered.
Yang and Rojo settled on the back of Yang's bike, Bumblebee, and were about to head out… when suddenly Zwei the corgi started barking.
Crap, Rojo nearly had a heart attack! He completely forgot the little dog was still in his lap. But the marksmen ignored his near heart attack, in favor of Zwei's barking.
The barks were not that of anger, meaning he was not barking at a Grimm, but something else. And the direction he was looking in… he was barking at something to their left, towards the ocean.
Rojo followed his gaze, as did Yang, and the leader of Team RWBY nearly DID have a heart attack at the sight he saw.
Sitting on the ground with their back against a nearby tree, was a young woman, most likely no more than eighteen or twenty, with brown hair and tanish skin. She was barely wearing any clothes at all, aside from a white top and white pants. She looked like a hospital patient, evident by the nasty looking scar over her left eye.
Rojo quickly got off Yang's Bike and hurried over to the woman. He first checked for a pulse. After a moment, he perked up in surprise.
"She's still alive."
~o0o~
"My Lord," Flinch said to her master, "the girl has been picked up by two Trackers. They are now heading north as we speak."
The Overlord of Grimm nodded its approval, before turning its attention back to the thing in front of its new throne with a glare of fury. Flinch also diverted her attention to the Dustling in chains before them with her own irritation and anger.
"Alright you…" she said in puiet rage, "We kept our end of this little 'Agreement'. Where is the information you said you would tell us?" she demanded.
Headmaster Ozpin, looked up at the Overlord with his own glare, before he relented and said, "Very well."
"I will tell you everything I know…"
Author's Note:
That's it for now, people. You have to wait for more.
Now I know what you might all be thinking: "Amber?! ALIVE?!" That's right people! She is going to live… for now anyway. *Evil Laugh*
Now, onto the Grimm Bio I promised! That's right, I am bringing that back for any new Grimm introduced to this story! Have fun!
-Death Skewer-
Unlike other Grimm, who seem to be manifestations of mythology and other living creatures, Death Skewers seem to be a counter to mankind's high-speed aircraft in the Atlas military.
Clocked at speeds reaching over 500 miles per hour, only the fastest aircraft can outrun it. With most airborne transports being only able to reach speeds of 200 miles per hour.
With its strong, bone white lance, it's more than capable of impaling a man with ease.
More Information required.
I hope you like the little bio on the Death Skewer! And yes, it WAS based on the 2005 Discovery Channel Movie-Documentary: 'Alien Planet'.
Peace out, y'all!