What's up everybody? Here's chapter four!
I know I said that this would be the chapter where Grayson meets Ruby and the others but due to a hefty amount of work my town has me doing, fatigue finally caught up to me and I had to shorten this. But the next chapter will have the meeting.
Review time!
Wastel007ander97: Thanks. I kind of wished that NDGO, ABRN and SSSN had more lines and screen time but it was very fun having them interact with one another. The meeting is going to be really hilarious in hindsight since RWBY is more geared towards teens while Bulletstorm is a whole new audience!
Don't get me wrong, Bulletstorm is a fantastic, criminally underrated shooter but the slow mo sequences whenever you leash or kick and enemy always sorta took away the pacing a bit.
Guest #1: Gracias!
37: In the next chapter you will! They still have Grimm and White Fang to deal with.
New Universe Returns: Already answered your review in the PM.
Pinkpower3612: Already answered your review in the PM.
Red John: I'm glad to hear you loved the game as much as I did. Sarrano will be the main villain of this fic and will be a third party.
NRG: I totally understand and something like that might happen.
Colossalblackening: You my friend just accurately predicted what I was going to implement in this story! Congratulations!
Guest #2: I know that. She was communicating via texting.
Guest #3: Don't I wish…
Guest #4: Wish granted! I'm just a very slow updater.
Guest #5: Don't forget the giant dinosaurs and cannibal snipers!
Big Smoke: Absolutely. You have a good idea here but im mostly following the Bulletstorm storyline so that may or may not happen. Some of the RWBY cast might curse but it's not as extreme as the Bulletstorm cast.
PineappleWarrior: I update slowly. It's not a crime to take your time. Read on and find out!
Guest #6: I can't give you an exact estimate but it will be a very long time before I go back to it.
Mastermind: LMFAO! That would be perfect! You can certainly expect some Burnout vs Grimm battles in the future. You're absolutely right; Grayson is going to have to restrain himself if he ever wants help from Ruby and the others.
RWBY and Bulletstorm belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.
Chapter 4
Sacrifices
EMERALD FOREST-OTHER SIDE OF THE PLATAEU
"Listen, I know how this may all look to you-"
"Aliens!"
"Just try to be realistic for-"
"Aliens!"
"If you can just push those childish thoughts out of your heads-"
"ALIENS!"
"WILL YOU LET ME FINISH?!"
Weiss had spent the last several minutes trying to explain to Ruby and Nora that it couldn't possibly be an alien invasion but the two of them were so riled up that it was in one ear and out the other. The others were the only ones who didn't seem to buy the whole "alien" thing that Ruby and Nora were suggesting.
"Weiss is right, you two. Aliens don't exist." Blake said, siding with the heiress.
"So if it's not aliens then what is it?" Jaune asked, almost starting to side with Ruby and Nora.
"I think I may have a theory for that." Weiss announced. "This was most likely a secret project conducted by one of the kingdoms. They must've pooled all of their resources together to build the very first airship capable of interstellar travel as well as create some form of Dust that doesn't evaporate when it leaves the atmosphere. Unfortunately they probably made a critical error regarding the design and their modified Dust which eventually led to the disastrous turn of events that we and probably all of Remnant just bore witness to."
Weiss smiled as she felt highly confident that her theory would surely be agreed upon by the rest of her friends. However, she noticed that they all looked confused.
"That sounds…erm…plausible." Pyrrha answered, unsure of what to make of her explanation. It sounded too far-fetched to believe but she did not want to dampen her friend's spirits
"That honestly sounds even crazier than aliens." Yang said, bluntly.
"Well you guys can stick with your own theories; me and Nora still believe its aliens! It's undeniable proof!" Ruby proudly affirmed as Nora nodded in agreement.
Rolling her eyes, Weiss exited the cave along with the others now that the lunar hailstorm had stopped. They could see numerous craters dotting the Emerald Forest and a massive column of smoke in the distance. It had obviously belonged to the gigantic airship that collided with the moon.
"It looks like it landed right into Grimm infested territory. They'll be swarming to that site in minutes." Blake observed.
"Do you guys think there might be any survivors?" Ruby wondered aloud.
"If there are, I pray they'll be able to evacuate the ship before the Grimm arrive." Ren pointed out. A small gasp alerted their attention and the turned to their right to see Nora staring out into the distance. More specifically, she was looking at Vale which was at least a thousand miles away from and was now just a speck beyond the forest. They could make out several columns of smoking emanating from the city as wells as tiny little dots in the sky that were obviously Atlesian airships.
"Oh man…looks like Vale got hit too!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Jeez, just how far out in the Emerald Forest are we?" Yang commented as she squinted her eyes at Vale City.
"We've been traveling in that Bullhead for long that I must've lost track of time." Pyrrha admitted. "I hope everyone is okay."
Worried about the safety of their friends, teachers and everyone else in Vale, they got out their scrolls to contact the Academy. But to their confusion, all they got on their screens were the words "Service Unavailable."
"The CCT must be down!" Nora fearfully concluded.
"It would seem that the situation has not improved. Without the CCT, we won't be able to communicate with anybody and if the other kingdoms are affected by this disaster then they'll be unable to send out requests for help." Ren grimly informed. A feeling of dread washed over the group. If the CCT had been destroyed then humanity was back to square one.
"Wait! I think I can see the CCT Tower! It's still there!" Ruby said, pointing to the city. She was right; everyone could make out a tall looking building standing near Beacon's own tower. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Well, if it's still standing then that means it's just temporarily offline for the moment." Weiss surmised.
"Guys…we have to go back! Beacon needs our help!" Jaune urgently told everyone. "There's probably a lot of people who are hurt, not to mention the rest of our friends!"
"But Jaune, it would take hours to trek all the way from here to Beacon and the Grimm are most likely swarming the forest!" Pyrrha pointed out.
"That and we have no way to contact another Bullhead to get us back." Blake added.
"So what do we do? We can't head back and we can't just stand here doing nothing." Nora reasoned, leaving everyone stumped. No one said anything for a while.
"I say we keep going and help whoever was in those ships. We still have a mission from Ozpin to complete and there might be someone who's injured or seriously hurt! It's our duty as Huntsmen and Huntresses to help those who are in need." Ruby firmly explained.
"Ruby, I couldn't possible disagree with that statement." Pyrrha agreed as the others nodded in affirmation.
"Sounds like a plan! Once we help any survivors we can try to get to the other ship and head back to Beacon. Besides, we can handle a couple of Grimm!" Yang said eagerly.
"Also, let's not forget that there are multiple hunters teams stationed at beacon as well as a fleet of Atlesian airships and a large contingent of Atlas soldiers, Knights and Paladins. I'm sure they have the situation fully under control!" Weiss proudly reminded them.
"Well then, let's head on out!" Ruby smiled as she and everyone else continued their path to the downed ship. "But a word of advice: don't do anything to make the aliens angry!"
"Cuz' we guarantee you; they will suck out our brains!" Nora finished. Everyone sighed.
Unbeknownst to all of them, had their location been closer to Vale City…they would've heard the gunfire echoing from the city.
GRAYSON'S SHIP
The race to the ship hadn't been easy due to the constant interference of the werewolves but thanks to Grayson's newly acquired Instinct Leash, he and Rell had no problems getting back. Any monster the pair encountered was either flung into pointed rocks or yanked into the air where they were shot out of the sky like an oversized clay pigeon.
The two of them entered their ship via a gaping hole in its hull and backtracked their way through the decimated hallways until they finally found the path to the medical bay. They once again heard the voice of Oliver through their coms.
"Guys! I'm all outta blood packs! One more minuet and he's gone, you hear me?! Where are you?!"
"We're here, Doc! Just hold tight!" Grayson said as he rounded the corner.
"Ishi's lucky I got so much love for him. Not many other folks I'd do this for." Rell dryly commented.
"Doc'll fix 'im, Rell. You'll see." Grayson reassured him. They finally entered the medical bay and went into the room where Oliver was treating Ishi-
They stopped in the entrance of the doorway, staring in horror at what lay before them.
Ishi lay across the metal stretcher but the whole left half of his body had been replaced by fully cybernetic attachments. His leg and arm were replaced by prosthetic limbs and half his chest was encased in metal armor. In pace of his eye was a cybernetic replacement which glowed blue. The skin around his eye was a rushed, disturbing looking skin graft and the left half of his head was encased in a metal skull, which had several lights that glowed blue as well.
Rell puked.
"What the FUCK did you do him?!" Grayson roared at Oliver who was standing beside Ishi. Oliver looked down at his feet, unable to look Grayson in the eye.
"I did what you told me to do, Gray." Oliver answered. Grayson stomped over and grabbed him by the collar, making Oliver face him.
"I told you help him! Not turn him into Igor Fuckin' Frankenstein!" Grayson raged.
"I did what I could to keep him alive! This was the only to save him!" Oliver countered.
Grayson gritted his teeth and let go of Oliver. Balling up his fists, he looked down at Ishi's unconscious, half robotic form. Ishi would probably never let this down or forgive him if he ever woke up.
"So is he gonna be alright when he wakes up? I know I wouldn't!" Rell asked as he finished wiping off the vomit from his lips.
Oliver sighed. "Only one way to find out. Plug that cell right in here." He explained as he gestured to the console next to Ishi. Rell walked over and slotted the fusion cell into a small port on the side. A dull hum echoed throughout the room as technologically advanced medical instruments descended from the ceiling and hovered over Ishi.
"Alright, you two need to git on out. I have to bioweld millions of neurotransmitters into what's left of Ishi's head." Oliver told them.
"What does that mean?" Grayson asked.
"Half of Ishi's brain was fucked to hell in the crash. I have to graft some artificial tissue to bring back his basic thinking and cognitive functions, as well as restore everything else that was lost. He most likely lost some IQ points too so I have to use the bioweld to repair his lost neurotransmitters and I'll also have to download the AI from the ship to his brain to make up for anything else I can't fix." Oliver explained in great detail.
"We're shoving artificial intelligence into Ishi's noggin? Are sure that's a good idea-" Rell started but was interrupted by Oliver before he could finish.
"You want him alive or not?!" Oliver barked.
"Alight, alright, we get it." Grayson said as he and Rell exited the medical bay and stood guard by the door. They watched Oliver operate on Ishi from the window in silence.
40 minutes had passed and Oliver was successful in the artificial brain tissue graft and the bioweld. Now all that was left was downloading the ship's AI into the part of Ishi's brain that was cybernetic.
"So far so good…" Grayson commented.
"Hey, I'm just wondering, does that leash thing come with a map?" Rell asked.
"Probably. Why?" Grayson replied.
"Well, we might as well try to figure out where we are. I'm kinda itchin' to know what that city was doin' all the way outside Confederate territories."
"Yeah, same here. Let me see what I can do."
Grayson fumbled around with the buttons until he finally figured about how to access the map function. A holographic projector shone from the device and displayed the planet they were on.
"Now let's see where we are exactly…" Grayson said as he tapped a button. The planet started to pan out father and father until the projection showed the entire Milky Way Galaxy. But the most shocking thing they two of them saw was that they were all the way over on the other side of the galaxy.
The very end.
Unexplored space.
"Sweet shit snacks! We're that far out?!" Rell shouted in confusion.
"But that's insane! No one would be that crazy to establish a colony all the way out in the Dark Plains!" Grayson said, just as flabbergasted as Rell.
"Why the hell did Ishi warp us out his far?"
"Not sure. But we'll find out when he wakes up-"
RRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLL
The pair was almost knocked off their feet as low rumble rocked the ship. Then they began to hear banging throughout the whole ship like someone was trying to get in. But it soon turned out to be something as snarling and growling could be heard all around them. It didn't take a genius to know that that was and from the sound of it, they were almost in!
Grayson rapped his hand on the window to get Oliver's attention. "Doc, you gotta hurry it up! We might be lookin' at visitors!"
"I just need a few more minutes!" Oliver replied as he feverishly typed away at his console. "Patience is a virtue!"
"Not right now it isn't!" Rell yelled over the banging.
"Procedure in progress. Sterilization mist deployed." The computer announced. As a white mist began to fill the room, a grate from the ceiling fell to the floor along with one of the werewolves!
"DOC! BEHIND YOU! IN THE ROOM!" Grayson shouted!
Doc turned around to see a wolf-like creature advancing towards him! The last thing Grayson and Rell saw before the mist fogged up the windows was Oliver plunging a scalpel into the werewolf's eye. An eerie silence befell the room as they squinted their eyes to try and see through the mist covered windows.
Oliver suddenly slammed against the window, his whole body covered in deep, bloody gashes! The werewolf came up from behind, bit into his neck and tore out his jugular! A gout of blood erupted from the hole in Oliver's throat and splashed all over the window as the sounds of flesh being rendered could be heard!
"OLIVER!"
"SWEET JESUS, NO!"
CRASH
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGG!"
Grayson and Rell whirled around to see more of the werewolves emerging from air ducts!
"Light em' up! We have to get to Ishi!" Grayson ordered as he and Rell opened fire upon the monsters. Inside the fogged up room, the Beowulf had just finished eviscerating its prey. Ignoring the stinging pain from its eye, it turned around to the prone human. It snarled as it sauntered up to its new target and raised its claws to strike down the defenseless-
THWOCK
A metal fish smashed the Beowulf straight in its face and sent it flying across the room. The Grimm slammed into the wall and fell to the floor. It tried to get up only to have the human yank its entire spinal cord out of its back! Meanwhile, Grayson and Rell were still mowing down the horde of werewolves that had now begun to increase in size as they swarmed through the ship and straight into the medical bay like army ants.
"C'MON YOU FUCKS! GIMMIE SOMETHIN' WORTH DYING FOR!" Rell snarled as he booted a werewolf straight in its face while blasting the others with his Peacemaker.
"LET'S SEE SOME FIGHT, YOU SAVAGE COCKSUCKERS!" Grayson raged in fury as he leashed a werewolf by the neck and flung it into a bundle of electrified wires.
As they fought the horde of monstrosities closing in on them the whole medical bay started to shake and the doors to the operating room began to swell inwards.
"WARNING. PRESSURE LOST. SYSTEM OVERLOAD. SYSTEM OVERLOAD. SYS-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
EMERALD FOREST-OTHER SIDE OF THE PLATEAU
SEVERAL SECONDS EARLIER
Ruby blocked the downward swipe of an Ursa and followed up by severing its legs. As it collapsed to the ground, Yang and Nora rushed over and smashed its head into paste with their weapons. On their way to the ship, the teams had encountered a horde of Grimm en route. It mostly consisted of Beowolves and Ursa' but since they had so much experience fighting them, they didn't really have that much difficulty disposing of them. Ren finished perforating the last of the Beowolves with StormFlower leaving about 20 or so Grimm bodies lying around them.
"I think that's the last of them." Blake observed. "Lets keep moving. We shouldn't be too far from the crash-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
A massive explosion rocked the entire plateau and nearly deafened the group! The turned to the left just in time to see a giant plume of fire and smoke erupt into the sky! There was no doubt in their minds that had to have come from the ship that crashed there. They all watched the plume in silence as a feeling of dread began to dawn upon them all.
"You don't think…" Jaune began.
"We ain't calling it until we see a body. Let's hurry over there before-" Yang and everyone else was alerted to the sound of more Grimm coming up the plateau could be heard. Multiple Beowolves began to scale the rocky cliffs and towards the Hunters/Huntresses!
"Before more Grimm arrive?" Ruby asked Yang.
"Bingo." Yang tiredly replied as she rolled her eyes.
EMERALD FOREST-BASE OF THE PLATEAU
Emerald and Mercury had traveled a fairy good distance since they had gotten a head start and they had just arrived at their destination when they heard a thundering explosion.
Mercury whistled as he looked as the rising pillar of smoke. "You think anyone survived that?"
"I have a better question. Why are you still carrying me!?" Emerald snapped.
Mercury had actually been piggybacking her the whole trip.
"Well, I have lighter prosthetics which means I can run faster and last time I checked, you can't keep up with me. Not to mention that I recently installed some boosters into them and if I remember correctly, you're the one that suggested i-"
"If you so much as breathe a word of this to Cinder, I will personally castrate you and force feed you your own testicles." Emerald hissed.
"Wow. You don't date often, do you?"
WHOK
GRAYSON'S SHIP
Every bone in his body ached. Darkness clouded his vision. The only thing he could hear was muffled snarling and roaring.
Grayson's vision started to come back and his slight slowly came back to him and saw that the whole medical bay was bathed in fire. Everything was in shambles as sparks rained down from above. A low rumble echoed throughout the ship, a sign that it was ready to collapse in on itself. He suddenly started to hear pained yelling and growling. He sat himself up and was treated to a nightmarish sight.
Five of the werewolves, including a werebear, had completely surrounded a horribly bloodied Rell. The man was covered in lacerations and most of his blood had begun to pool around him. The werewolves slashed at his body and slammed him around with their large paws, seemingly relishing in his pain and toying with him all while completely oblivious to the flames around them.
Grayson tried to get up and save Rell but his legs were numb and it hurt to move. He spotted his Boneduster lying next to him and he felt that he still had Ishi's HeadHunter slung across his back. He slowly grabbed Boneduster but then one of the werewolves noticed him move and snarled to its brethren. The creatures turned their heads towards Grayson and began to menacingly approach him, moving away from Rell's motionless (and presumably dead) body.
As Grayson aimed his weapon at the pack, he suddenly felt something tightly grab his shoulders. He looked upwards and was surprised to see that it was Ishi! The cyborg unslung his sniper rifle from Grayson's back and took aim with steely determination. Grayson did the same but then he noticed something moving a few inches away from the pack.
Rell was still alive! Despite the massive blood loss and the searing pain, he crawled over to several barrels filled with highly explosive chemicals and tightly grabbed one. He turned to Grayson and Ishi and gave them a weak smile.
"It's been an honor servin' with ya, guys…" He croaked as blood dribbled from his mouth. The werebear noticed Rell and let out a throaty roar. It grabbed Rell by the waist and sunk its teeth into his collarbone!
Rell screamed bloody murder but still maintained his grip on the explosive barrel! "SHOOT ME, BOSS! DO IT!" He shouted!
A knot formed in Grayson's gut as he was forced to make a difficult choice. But he knew that there was no other alternative. He turned to Ishi who had the same pained look as he did an aimed Boneduster at the barrel with regret.
"Godspeed, Rell." He pulled the trigger Just as the werewolves pounced upon him.
BAKOOM
The whole room was engulfed in flames as an enormous explosion reverberated through the plateau.
To be continued…
Pretty damn heart wrenching, huh?
In my earlier drafts, I was originally going to have Oliver and Rell live but that would mean taking away the impact and ramifications of Grayson's booze fueled decision to attack the Ulysses so I left their deaths in.
One change I made to the story was having the CCT be the primary source of communication through the whole planet. In the original series, long range communication was no longer available but from what I could tell, short range still worked. But with the change I made, and you may have to resort to using messenger birds now that the CCT is down.
For those of you who were confused at the last part when The teams left for the crash site, it means that they are too far away to hear the battle in Vale City. Same goes for Mercury and Emerald.
Another change I enjoyed doing was having Mercury install Dust powered boosters into his prosthetics. He can't fly but he can run at amazing speeds. I wanted to give him and Emerald a way to quickly reach the crash site of Grayson's ship.
One more special thing I want to share with you all is that im adding in a sense of deepening mystery. In this universe, humanity has colonized half of the Milky Way Galaxy but there is still an insane amount of planets that they haven't colonized yet and nobody would ever dare to venture out into unknown territory due to too many risks. Remnant is located all the way at the very end, the last planet in the galaxy. But why is it the only planet with human life? How did it manage to thrive for so long this far out away from any known settlement? The answers will continue to be a mystery as the cast tries to shed some light on Remnant's origins.
I once again apologize for not making this the chapter where they meet the RWBY cast, the next one will. I promise.
Don't forget to review but please don't flame.