Chapter 9: The Battle of Beacon
The fairgrounds, at the same time…
"I don't believe this." Weiss remarked as she and Blake looked around at the carnage that was unfolding:
Grimm were swarming the fairgrounds, which themselves were alight with fire as Atlesian soldiers fired desperately in an effort to down them all.
People were cowering in stalls not yet on fire, trying their hardest to shelter from the Grimm swarming the area.
Others weren't so lucky, as one poor soul found himself tackled to the floor and screamed in agony as a Beowolf tore a bloody chunk out of his shoulder and neck, killing them as the Grimm feasted on their flesh.
Weiss grimaced at the sight, whilst Blake reached for her scroll, seeing Yang was calling.
Answering, Blake said: "Yang, are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Yang declared via scroll, asking: "Is Ruby with you?! She's not answering her scroll!"
"No, she isn't." Blake said sadly. "Yang, I'm sure she's fine. She's our leader. She can take care of herself."
Yang was silent for a worrying number of moments, until finally, she said: "Right."
"This can't be happening." Weiss said, looking at Blake worriedly. "Penny…" She added, eyes narrowing sadly, knowing full well how Ruby must be feeling after witnessing that happen to one of her closest friends besides Weiss herself.
She was distracted as Yang continued over the scroll:
"I'm heading to the docks near the courtyard. The White Fang are releasing Grimm into the school."
At the mention of the White Fang, fear gripped Blake. But she remained composed as could be and asked: "The White Fang is here?!"
Before Yang could answer, the bonechilling sound of gunshots could be heard.
"Yang!" Blake shouted into the scroll, desperate for an answer, only to be answered with more gunshots.
"Ugh! I gotta go!" Yang finally said. "Be careful!" At that, her image disappeared from the screen, indicating that she'd hung up.
At that moment, the realisation that the White Fang were actually there at Beacon struck Blake, and a horrifying epiphany struck her too in that moment:
If the White Fang were here, then so was Adam.
Fear began to creep in, and Blake looked away as she realised that all that could be happening was because of her leaving.
"Blake, what are we going to do?" Weiss suddenly asked.
Before Blake could respond, her scroll beeped again. Looking at it, her heart sang with relief as she saw who was calling: "Nathan…" Blake muttered, answering: "Nathan; where are you? Are you okay?"
"I'm good. Where are you?" Nathan replied, relief evident in his voice.
"I'm with Weiss at the fairgrounds. We're both okay." Blake said. "Is Ruby with you?"
"Yeah, but she's in shock over what happened to Penny. She's alright for the most part, though." Nathan replied. "We're in the arena right now, but we have a giant Nevermore about to break through, so I can't keep calling for too long!" Pausing, Nathan said: "And Blake… I-I'm sorry about earlier. I was angry, upset, stressed, and-"
"Nathan… it's okay." Blake interrupted. "I don't blame you one bit." Sighing, Blake added: "I'm just happy to know you're okay."
"Me too, Blake." Nathan stated. "And mark my words; the second I am on school grounds, I will find you!"
"Not if I find you first." Blake said with a smile. "Nathan… I love you."
"I love you too, Blake." Nathan replied. "And when I find you, I will plant so many fucking kisses on you that your only escape will be kicking me in the balls."
Blake laughed out loud at that and said: "I won't need to. Be careful, Nathan."
"You too, Blake." Nathan said. "Stay safe, and when this is over, we'll go to dinner at that fish place you said you wanted me to take you on a date to someday."
"I'd like that a lot." Blake said with a warm smile. "See you soon, Nathan." At that, she hung up. Looking at Weiss, Blake said resolutely: "We're going to the docks. And we're doing our job." At that, she lifted her scroll and started typing in the necessary commands.
Before long, her locker hit the ground behind her, opening to reveal Gambol Shroud ready and waiting to be used.
She looked at Weiss, whose facial expression became one of sheer determination as she brandished her own scroll, summoning Myrtenaster as she did.
Both members of Team RWBY retrieved their weapons, and rushed into the fray, knowing their home was at stake.
With Nathan, Amity Colosseum…
The Nevermore above them screeched once again, as another warning filled the air:
"Warning; safety barriers failing."
Nathan watched as the Nevermore took flight once again and circled the arena, before his eyes once again settled on Pyrrha, who was back to staring at the lifeless body of Penny.
"PYRRHA!" Jaune shouted from near Nathan, calling out to their shellshocked teammate. "Pyrrha, that thing's going to break in, you gotta move!"
The Nevermore shrieked yet again, before taking to the skies, seemingly leaving, only to dive straight for the shielding.
"Fuck this!" Nathan snarled, jumping over the railing just as Jaune did, ignoring Nora's horrified pleas for them not to.
"PYRRHA!" Jaune yelled as he and Nathan ran to her. "Pyrrha, please SNAP OUT OF IT!"
"You got incoming, Pyrrha, fucking move!" Nathan shouted at the top of his lungs, his thumb already on the activation switch of his lightsaber.
Their words fell on deaf ears, and the Nevermore soon plunged through the defensive shields and landed right in front of Pyrrha, sending her and Jaune flying.
Nathan used the Force to negate the shockwave, but was soon sent sprawling as Pyrrha collided with him. "Oof!" Nathan exclaimed as he and Pyrrha hit the floor.
The Nevermore spread out its wings and shrieked at the three members of Team JNNPR, as Nathan defiantly got to his feet.
Raising his lightsaber, Nathan ignited it, and the signature snap-hiss of his lightsaber igniting filled the air as Nathan adopted a Soresu combat stance taught to him by the master of said lightsaber form: Obi Wan Kenobi himself.
Nathan stared down the giant creature of Grimm, saying: "You're not gonna hurt anyone of my friends, you hellspawn piece of shit!"
The Nevermore responded by charging with an infernal screech, preparing to swallow Nathan whole.
Nathan steeled himself, and unleashed a short Force Push to stop the Nevermore in its tracks, and moved to attack when a wave of red zipped by him and collided with the Nevermore, causing it to stagger back, shrieking in pain.
Nathan was left briefly flabbergasted until he heard Pyrrha's voice weakly say:
"Ruby…?"
Nathan looked, and saw Ruby staring daggers at the Nevermore, one of Penny's discarded swords in her hand.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ruby shouted, her face a mask of determined rage as she pointed the sword towards the Nevermore.
The Nevermore responded with a loud shriek as Nathan joined Ruby, this time adopting a different stance, lifting his lightsaber in an Ataru-esque stance, one he'd heard was popularised by the Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn, who'd died before Nathan had gotten a chance to speak with him.
The Nevermore then took flight, circling Ruby and Nathan as they readied themselves to battle the giant winged beast.
The creature of Grimm soon swooped down, surging towards them in preparation, when suddenly, it cried out in pain as locker after locker collided with it, pinning it to the floor as it came to a stop in front of Nathan and Ruby.
Shrieking once more, the Nevermore went still, seemingly dead for good.
Nathan lowered his lightsaber, watching as a multitude of students from Beacon, Haven, Shade and Atlas all retrieved their weapons and smiled, thinking: That bitch on the speakers wanted to divide us. Look at us now, cunt.
Suddenly, the ground shook as another infernal shriek filled the air.
"Fuck's sake." Nathan muttered as the Nevermore lifted itself up.
Only for Ren to suddenly appear and slash through its left eye.
Arslan; one of the people Team RWBY had defeated in the first round, swung down from above the Nevermore and lifted Yatsuhashi of Team CFVY into the air, all while Sage of Team SSSN leapt into the air of his own volition.
Finally, Nora came from above the Nevermore and slammed Magnhild down hard onto the Nevermore's head, knocking the beast flat.
Grinning, Nathan leapt into the air alongside Sage and Yatsuhashi, descending and driving his lightsaber up to the hilt through the top of the Nevermore's head, just as Yatsu and Sage came down with their swords, beheading the Nevermore with a single strike, finally killing them.
Nathan leapt off of the Nevermore as it dissolved, finally switching off his lightsaber and attaching it to his belt. Taking a deep breath, Nathan turned and walked over to Ruby, who faced a now crying Pyrrha.
"Ruby, I…" Pyrrha said, before looking down at a piece of fabric from Penny's dress in her hands, tearing up even more. "I am so sorry." She added, trying her hardest not to cry.
"Me too." Ruby said, bowing her head sadly. "But it wasn't your fault." She added.
"She's right." Jaune said as he joined the three of them, holding Miló and Akoúo̱ in his hands, a stern, determined look on his face as he approached Pyrrha. "Whoever was on the microphone… they're the ones that did this." Holding out Miló and Akoúo̱ for Pyrrha to take, Jaune added: "And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else."
"Jaune's right. You may have struck the fatal blow; but you're not the one who killed Penny. That bitch on the microphone fixed the match so you would." Nathan said. "Now it's up to us to take her and any goons she has lying around, and leave them wishing they'd never fucked with us."
Pyrrha hesitantly took her equipment from Jaune, looking him in the eyes, before her face became one of determination too.
Jaune's eyes then met Nathan's, and they shared a nod as the rest of the students prepared themselves for combat.
At which they heard more Grimm roaring from above, looking up to see a fair few on the roof.
"Griffons." Ren said, recognising them as they swooped in.
"Anybody got a plan of attack?" Neptune asked as he readied his rifle.
"Sun!" Ruby suddenly called out. "I need your scroll."
Nathan looked and suddenly remembered Ruby's scroll was destroyed by Mercury during their fight. "Give it to her, Sun." He said firmly.
Sun scowled reluctantly at the fact it was Nathan asking, but used his tail to toss it towards Ruby anyway.
Ruby caught it, typed a few commands into it, and before long, a new locker joined the numerous that dotted the arena floor.
It opened, and there in all its glory was Crescent Rose.
Nathan joined Ruby as they headed towards it, only for a Griffon to appear on top of it, roaring at them both. "Fuck off!" Nathan snarled as he prepared to throw his lightsaber at the beast.
Only for a gunshot to ring out, hitting the creature of Grimm and prompting it to retreat.
Both Ruby and Nathan spun on their heels to see Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck had joined the ragtag group of students.
"Students…" Port said, lowering his axe-rifle, referred to as Blowhard. "I think it would be best for you to leave."
Ruby's face fell. "But we c-" She made to protest, but was interrupted by Oobleck:
"Miss Rose… This day will surely go down in Remnant's history." The history teacher said grimly. "I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."
"The Doctor's right." Nathan replied. "They can handle the Grimm here. The rest of us can do a whole lot more good by getting out of their way."
Ruby smiled and nodded before taking Crescent Rose from the locker. "Let's go!" She called out to everyone.
Everyone headed off save for Ruby and Nathan, the latter of whom asked:
"You okay, Rubes?"
"I'll be okay when everyone else is." Ruby said, just as a flash of light caught their attention:
Both looked to see Velvet had snapped a picture of them both, before joining everyone else.
Nathan and Ruby shrugged and headed off with the others, hearing Port's bellowing laugh behind them:
"ONE FINAL MATCH, BARTY! PLACE YOUR BETS!"
Nathan silently hoped it wasn't their final match. He liked Doctor Oobleck a great deal, and respected his historical knowledge. And while Professor Port was a boresome teacher, he was the source of a great deal of insight of how to best fight different versions of Grimm, when one bothered to pay attention to his long stories about his exploits as a younger man.
Nathan banished the thoughts from mind though. His goal now was simple as could be:
Find Blake, and make sure she was safe.
Even if that meant fighting and possibly killing anyone that got between him and that goal.
Outside the arena…
Nathan had only seen such chaos as he saw outside Amity Colosseum a handful of different times. But the one that struck him as the most similar was the Battle of Coruscant, mere months before the end of the Clone Wars.
People were running towards the ships in a complete panic, wanting to get out and get to safety ASAP.
Nathan could hardly blame them. Amity Colosseum had become a warzone, as had Beacon, he imagined.
Taking a deep breath, Nathan then caught sight of several Bullheads flying in.
The bay doors open, releasing even more Grimm into the fray.
Nathan scowled before rushing towards one of them, a Beowolf, and hurled his lightsaber towards it, severing the creature's legs at the knee. Summoning his lightsaber back to his hand, Nathan beheaded the Beowolf, letting it dissolve.
A Creep then came running towards him, but Nathan halted its advance with a quick Force Push.
Only for a familiar red and bronze spear to pierce it within moments of him doing so.
Nathan turned and smiled as he saw Pyrrha behind him. "Feeling better?"
"Getting there." Pyrrha replied. "Let's get down to Beacon."
Nodding, Nathan rejoined the rest of the group along with Pyrrha, spotting General Ironwood staring down an Alpha Beowolf.
Nathan watched as Ironwood started charging the large beast head on, thinking: Holy shit, what's he thinking? Doesn't he have a gun or some shit?!
With a roar of absolute determination, Ironwood promptly produced a revolver from beneath his coat, and slid beneath the Alpha, firing several shots that stunned the beast, only for it to charge him once again.
Nathan looked on as Ironwood dodged all but one swipe of the Alpha Beowolf's paws, catching it in one hand. Whoa… Nathan thought to himself.
Ironwood promptly snapped off a round at the creature of Grimm's feet, sending it up into the air. Still holding onto the one paw, and with unbelievable strength, Ironwood slammed the Beowolf down onto the floor with a crash before shooting it in the head with his revolver, taking it down.
Ironwood then joined the group as Ruby said:
"What's going on?!"
Ironwood took a moment to glance over them all, focusing for a moment on Nathan before saying: "Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang has invaded Beacon. And to make matters worse, some… vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control."
"That's just great." Nathan remarked. "Means we're going in with no air support."
"Indeed." Ironwood said. "So I'm-" He paused to shoot a Creep about to attack the rear of the group. "Going to take it back." Turning, he made to join the troops in a nearby waiting ship.
"What should we do?" Jaune suddenly asked from next to Nathan.
Ironwood stopped before turning to face them, placing his arms behind his back. "You have two choices." He said firmly. "Defend your kingdom and your school… or save yourselves."
An uncomfortable silence fell upon the group of students before Ironwood said softly:
"No-one will fault you if you leave." Turning, he said: "Let's move out!" Boarding the ship and flying off.
A small silence descended on the students as random chatter broke out:
"I mean.. come on." Sun said.
"We can take a ship to Beacon." Jaune said, his strategic mind figuring out a plan as always.
"Good idea, Jaune." Nathan said. "Everyone; on me and Jaune!"
At which the entire group headed off in search of a ship.
Nathan paused when he noticed Ruby wasn't with them, looking back to where Ruby was standing, looking in the direction Ironwood was flying off in. "Hey Ruby, you coming or what?"
Ruby looked and said: "Yeah, just coming!" She called out as she ran over to Nathan, before the two of them rejoined the others at a nearby ship.
"Everybody here?" Jaune called out as Ruby and Nathan joined them.
"Are now." Nathan said. "What're we waiting for, anyway? All the girls to start striptease dancing? Let's get moving!"
Jaune nodded. "Right." He said. "Come on guys, let's get moving!"
At that, the entire group of students piled into the ship, as it took off towards Beacon.
Nathan promptly joined Pyrrha and Jaune, the former looking a lot better. "You okay, Pyr?" Nathan asked.
"Much better, thank you, Nathan." Pyrrha replied. "Maybe that's just because I have you and Jaune here with me."
"Good." Nathan said. "Look; once we hit the ground, I'm going to look for Blake and make sure she's okay. You gonna be okay while I do that?"
"Of course, Nathan." Pyrrha said softly. "Blake's your girlfriend. Why wouldn't I be okay with that?"
"Good to know." Nathan said softly, hugging Pyrrha.
A loud explosion from somewhere outside drew their attention, and Nathan rushed to the front of the transport to see a familiar looking ship starting to descend.
Nathan's heart sank. Ironwood was on that ship, he thought to himself. As much as he disliked Ironwood; he recognised Ironwood was trying to do some good by taking his ship back. And with him gone-
"Ruby, what are you doin'?!"
Nathan spun to see Ruby darting out of the passenger room. "Ruby!" Nathan shouted, but to no avail. Ruby was already gone. "Fuck!" Nathan spat as he looked to the others. "That's just fucking brilliant." Taking a deep breath, Nathan hoped Blake was okay.
With Blake and Weiss, Beacon Courtyard…
Blake swung Gambol Shroud around her like a flail, sending numerous White Fang soldiers flying whilst Weiss dealt with the rogue Atlesian Knights, making mincemeat of them both due to their superior training as Huntresses.
Blocking one strike from a random foot soldier, Blake flipped backwards, readying herself as more came at her.
Nathan, please come soon, Blake thought worriedly to herself, just as Weiss appeared next to her, using her glyphs to send the White Fang soldiers flying.
They stood side by side, before they looked to see a group of Atlesian soldiers fighting a rogue mech, which smashed them aside without much issue.
"Come on!" Weiss urged, beckoning Blake to come with her, when they saw a damaged Bullhead coming in for a crash landing, whilst a large Grimm exited from its storage bay.
A loud roar echoed from the landing area, meaning it was one thing: An Alpha Beowolf.
Blake met Weiss' gaze, and they quickly came to a silent agreement: Blake would handle the Alpha, whilst Weiss dealt with that mech.
"Be safe." Weiss said softly. "I'd rather not have to explain to Nathan how you fell."
"You too, Weiss." Blake replied, before hugging her teammate tightly. Despite their many differences in the past, Blake was happy to call Weiss her teammate, and one of her best friends. "Tell Nathan where I am if he comes by."
"Will do." Weiss said before they both went their separate ways.
Rounding the corner outside the dining hall, Blake looked around briefly before looking up to see the Alpha jumping onto the wall above her.
Blake prepared to attack, only to hear a cry of pain from inside the dining hall. She looked inside, only to immediately wish she hadn't. "No…" Blake whimpered, fear beginning to grip her once again as she saw who it was:
There was no mistaking it; the black blazer jacket bearing a wilted rose on it, the blood red hair, and a sinister White Fang masked more decorated than normal ones, indicating the wearer's high rank.
"Adam…?" She murmured, not wanting to believe it.
Adam looked and saw Blake, a sinister smirk crossing his face. After a brief pause, he said: "Hello, my darling."
With Nathan, Beacon Academy Courtyard
With a barbarian yell, Nathan came charging out of the transport first, lashing out with a vicious Force Push that hurled every Grimm in the vicinity away before hurling his lightsaber at the nearest ones, cutting them all down. Recalling his lightsaber to his hand, Nathan let out another war cry as he closed with a Beowolf, using the Force to pull it towards him and impale it on his lightsaber, slashing through that one in order to behead a Creep advancing on Nathan from behind the Beowolf.
An Ursa descended upon Nathan from above, swiping at him hard.
Ducking, Nathan rolled backwards to avoid the attack, before leaping over the Ursa and slashing at the nape of the bearlike Grimm's neck, partially beheading the beast and killing that, too. Landing on his feet, Nathan soon spotted Weiss fighting some Grimm nearby. Rushing over, he shouted: "WEISS!"
Weiss turned to see Nathan, and her face lit up. "Nathan!" She said happily. "Are you okay?"
"Been better." Nathan replied. "Where's Blake?"
"She went off to take down an Alpha." Weiss said. "Last I saw of her, she was rounding the corner over there." Gesturing to the dining hall. "Where's Ruby?"
"No idea." Nathan said. "She saw a ship carrying Ironwood and some robo-goons go down, and left the transport. Force knows where she is now!"
"Ugh, Ruby…" Weiss groaned.
"What about Yang? Thought she was meeting you guys here?" Nathan inquired.
"She was. But I haven't seen her at all." Weiss said.
"I'll go find her." Nathan said. "Then I'll go find Blake."
Weiss nodded. "Be careful, Nathan." She said. "Good luck."
"I make my own." Nathan replied as he rushed off in search of Yang, reaching out with the Force to single her out.
Before long, he sensed her a block or so away from the courtyard, and so rushed to find her.
Only for the ground to shake beneath his feet. "What the-?" Nathan muttered as he looked around. "Vale never has earthquakes." He said.
The ground shook again, and Nathan began thinking of finding somewhere secure to take shelter.
Until he promptly sensed a great disturbance in the Force as something dark awakened nearby. Something BIG and dark. And it was coming from Mountain Glenn!
Leaping onto the tallest structure he could find, Nathan's eyes widened as he watched Mountain Glenn explode, and a giant Grimm exploded out from within with a loud scream.
Before starting to fly towards Vale. And Beacon.
Nathan's heart sank. This battle was about to get a lot more difficult.
Indeed it will.
For Nathan, especially. All I'll say is that Nathan will definitely be tested in this fight. Don't expect him to 1v1 the Grimm dragon or something insane. You want something like that, play God of War. But the next few chapters will be ones to look forward to; mark my words.
With that said; let's answer some reviews, shall we?
april-551: Well; Sun always has been very loyal to Blake. So anything or anyone that hurts Blake is going to deal with him in some capacity. Penny was trying to resolve the situation peacefully, whilst unintentionally being rude to Nathan. As for Mercury getting his ass handed to him by Nathan, that was always on the cards. Nathan showing just why he's a superior fighter to Mercury in a few simple moves. With reference to future events, I will remain silent.
keybladelight: Nathan vs Adam will happen. Just not yet.
With that all said and done; thank you all for reading. If you enjoyed the chapter, you know what to do.
I shall see you all next week for chapter ten, which sees Nathan looking for his girlfriend's best friend, coming across some familiar and new foes along the way.
T-Rock14