Professor Ozpin

Beacon Academy

The broken moon shone brightly in the night sky, the light illuminating the city of Vale in dull white light. Beacon Academy stood watching over the city, a silent guardian, a symbol of hope.

The tallest tower glowed green, assuring the citizens of their safety. No matter what happened, Beacon would give their all to protect the city.

One beam illuminated the grey hair and peaceful face of a man in the tallest tower.

"You're sure about this?" Ozpin steepled his fingers and stared out the window in deep thought. His computer displayed Qrow's face on the monitor.

"I am sure." Qrow's voice came through the speakers. Ozpin continued to stare out at the city.

"How sure? Because if what you report is true…" Ozpin took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"I know what this means Ozpin." Qrow sounded tired. "But it's real and it's happening. We need to strike first before they can gather. It will only get worse from here."

"Our preparation is simply not enough at this point of time. If we act, we declare war and the results will not be pretty. We have only a handful of Hunters that stand a chance, and a few trainees that have the slightest glimmer of hope. We are facing an unstoppable army, led by an unknown Queen. I will not lead Beacon into a slaughter, not willingly." Ozpin's hands balled slightly, the only sign of emotion.

"I realize that and I am not asking you to sacrifice the kids. Ozpin, there is something more. There has been a breach of an SDC base, the Northern Wind to be exact. Atlas has deployed a squad to recon and are planning a full scale breach of the facility."

Ozpin turned back slowly to the monitor. His composition remained as stable as it always was, no emotions making their way past his exterior. "That is indeed unfortunate. Is there any word on who the trespassers are?"

"The consensus is that they are Hunter-trained, capable of using incredible amounts of aura as well as defeating the mercenary hunter that the SDC had hired to protect the mines. Other than residues of aura and unconscious guards, there are no traces of them. All this information is recent as of an hour ago, but I have nothing on anything from then to now."

"Do we have any idea what they would want from the SDC mines? They are obviously not White Fang." Ozpin was combing through his considerable mental database of potentials, trying to see if any of them would have any motive.

"Yes." Qrow sounded slightly regretful, his usual brash voice a little rougher. "Raven."

Ozpin's train of thought stalled for a split second, then continued at an accelerated pace. Ever since her first year at Beacon, Raven Branwen had stood out amongst the bright, excited Hunters-to-be.

Her view on the world had been markedly different than her peers. She called it 'realistic' while Ozpin called it 'overly critical'. She was strong willed and highly independent, with one of the best performance reports that Ozpin had seen during his time at Beacon.

She had come to the school with her brother, both of them as different as siblings could be. Qrow was brash, carefree, and confident. His easygoing nature, quick smile, and sense of humor helped him quickly make many friends at Beacon. He soon became one of the most popular students at school, along with his partner Taiyang Xiao Long.

Raven was very introverted and quiet, preferring her solitude to pursue her personal projects. The only people she tolerated around her had been her team, Qrow, Taiyang, and her partner Summer Rose. Together they formed Team STRQ, which was among the top teams to ever exit Beacon.

Qrow, Taiyang, and Summer had quickly fallen into their Hunter lifestyle very quickly and happily, eagerly completing mission after mission, their fame growing with each one. Raven however, as usual, had been aloof.

She would go out by herself for days at a time, then weeks, then even a couple months, always returning completely exhausted. No matter how much her team chastised her, her solo missions never stopped.

Ozpin had kept an eye on her throughout her time at Beacon, gathering enough information on her to create the biggest file out of any of the students. Ozpin always made sure to have a teacher talk to each student at least once about their reasons for wanting to be a Hunter.

Most wanted glory for themselves, a chance to prove themselves, revenge for others harmed by Grimm, a chance to be a hero, and many other such selfish reasons. There were only a few that applied to Beacon for a selfless reason, but only one so far had done it for themselves.

.

"I want to right wrongs." Raven said confidently, watching the clouds swirl in the sky outside the window. The evening sun illuminated everything in a rare mixture of pink and orange.

Ozpin sipped his coffee as he stood next to her. It had been an expected answer from Raven, she had never been one to do things for others. "What do you mean by that? Have the Grimm ever done you wrong? Hurt someone you loved? Hurt you?" Ozpin knew the answers but he wanted to hear how Raven would answer.

"Nothing like that, thankfully. The reason I wanted to be Hunter is to make a change in this world. There is far too much cruelty in this world, too much prejudice, too much hate and violence. The Grimm are just one facet of it. Look at the Faunus, how they are treated. They act the same as us, feel the same as us, have the same aura as us, but most people don't see that. They look at their physiological differences, the horns, claws, ears, eyes, tails and they see animals. Even a pet is treated far better than many Faunus are." Raven's voice was controlled and even as usual, but Ozpin could detect the emotions underneath.

Ozpin said nothing as Raven continued to speak. It was far easier to understand a person when they were emotional than it was to understand them when they were cold and in control.

Raven took a deep breath and stopped talking and continued to stare out the window.

Ozpin took another sip. "You want to correct human wrongs?"

Raven stayed silent. Ozpin stood silently, sipping his coffee. He knew she would speak, given enough time. That was the magic behind silences, humans always want to fill them when their patience runs out.

Airships crawled around in the sky above the city, looking like birds flying into the sun. The trees rustled and the grass waved in the wind. Students lounged around the grounds, laughing and enjoying their day off.

"If you want to call it that, then yes."

"And why did you apply to Beacon to pursue this? There are much more direct ways of pursuing this goal, like a career in politics for example."

"Politics?" Raven snorted. "Nothing in this world is ever solved by talking about it. Every major decision is a result of action. The Faunus Rights Bill? No one was willing to approve it until after the war. Fair Compensation Act? Again, protests and threats of faunus rebellion forced the politicians' hands."

Ozpin could see where she was going with this.

"So you think force is the answer." It wasn't a question so Raven didn't answer. The silence was enough.

After a long silence, Ozpin took the last sip of his coffee. "Well, I won't say I approve of your decision nor your outlook, but I am not the best person to talk to about making decisions."

Raven continued to stand silently as he walked away.

.

Ozpin nursed his coffee cup as he sat in thought. Ever since she had left Beacon, she had gained notoriety among the criminal world. She had done many 'jobs', be it theft, extortion, even assassinations. Her name was never mentioned explicitly and so Ozpin had decided not to confront her.

Ozpin knew that she was just using

Until one day that she just disappeared. None of Ozpin's contacts could give him any answers about her or her location. It was like she had disappeared off the face of Remnant.

There was no reason for the disappearance, none at all. She had her team back home, even a young daughter she had with Taiyang. Her team waited for three months before growing worried. They eschewed missions they otherwise would have taken, searching the wilds of Remnant in an attempt to locate her and bring her back. Yang, her daughter, had been confused at the time, repeatedly asking for her mother.

Two years passed, and the fight went out of the three. There was no sign of Raven, no call home. Taiyang managed to move on and settled down with Summer Rose, eventually having a kid they named Ruby.

And now she's back. When did she decide to meddle again? Why hasn't she contacted her family again?

Qrow was still waiting for a response. "You are sure? How did you figure this out?"

"The team sent in by Atlas scanned the aura residue left behind. I only managed to get a glimpse of the images before I left to give this report to you. The aura was most definitely Raven's."

Ozpin didn't question Qrow's judgement. "You said there were two infiltrators? Who was the second?"

Qrow grimaced. He hated reporting speculation, it undermined the overall validity of his information. But if what he thought was true, it would change things.

"A solid white aura, unchanging and static like a wall or a shield. I have seen such an aura before, and I daresay you have too."

"Jaune Arc." Ozpin's voice was as calm as usual, but his minds whirled with thoughts. "Are you sure? He would have had to leave his room without alerting his teammates, escape the base, make his way to the mining camp, and sneak his way in, all in the matter of a few hours."

"Well, the trip to the mining camp would've only taken a few moments, as long as Raven had been there before."

"Let's take this one problem at a time. How and why did Raven contact him?"

"I don't know about the how, but the why is pretty obvious. The kid's got brains for days."

Ozpin already knew the why, but the how bugged him. He thought back to all the times that Jaune had been unsupervised for lengths of time.

"The kidnapping. Jaune must have either been kidnapped on her orders, or she managed to somehow talk to him during his supposed escape."

Qrow laughed. "I knew that story of his was a load of crap. Managing to escape Torchwick and his mute companion? Not a chance."

"With an experienced Huntress like Raven, infiltration of the mining camp would've been easy. Jaune's expertise with computer would have come in handy in hacking the surveillance network, which explains the lack of an alarm."

"But if Jaune has left the base, that must mean he is no longer in his room with his team." Qrow mused out loud. "We can simply ask for a team report right now, spin it as an exercise for the future. God knows how many times I've been asked to report in at the oddest hours. Plus, we can determine his location if he picks up."

Ozpin thought about it for a second and then opened another channel, this time contacting Jaune's scroll. The two men waited tensely as the calling icon shook gently. A minute or two passed before the call went to voicemail.

Ozpin shut the call down and contacted Pyrrha's scroll next. This time, the call was picked up within the minute.

"Hello? Professor Ozpin? Is something the matter?" Pyrrha's hushed voice came through, sleepiness evident in each syllable.

"Ms. Nikos, I am sorry for waking you up at such an hour, but this is practice for the field, where you may be asked to report in at any stage."

"I understand Professor Ozpin. Would you like a report right now?" Pyrrha's voice got its confidence back.

"Yes please, Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha started a quiet description of what they had been doing as a team for the past month or so. She told Ozpin about the progress they had been making as a team, how their team maneuvers had gotten more varied and complicated, with many different attacks and defenses for all sorts of scenarios and threats.

She described Jaune's work with Victor Polendina, how Nora had gotten much more focused and deadly with her hammer and semblance, able to fulfill the support role the team needed. Ren had gotten better at channeling his aura through his attacks and infuse it into his weapons. Pyrrha had practiced against countless types of weapons to develop strategies against each. She told him about the couple of Grimm missions they had gone on recently, which had all been easy. The Grimm population had dropped miraculously, freeing up plenty of time to practice.

"Professor, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Ms. Nikos, what is it?"

"Why did you contact me instead of Jaune?" Her voice dropped in volume. "Is it because of the maiden thing?"

"No Ms. Nikos. If all goes well you shall never have to make that decision. Just focus on your own skills, I will handle that side of things. The reason I called you directly is because your team leader Mr. Arc seems to not be picking up his scroll. Do you mind waking him up? I think a reprimand is in order, no?"

Ozpin heard Pyrrha groan slightly. "Yes Professor. I've trying to get him out of the habit of sleeping so deeply but he never learns. One second. Pssst, Jaune wake up. Professor Ozpin is on the line. Jaune! Wake. Up."

Ozpin waited patiently while Pyrrha attempted to wake up her leader.

"Uh, Professor, he isn't waking up. Generally, he feigns sleep to try and get some more sleep but this is just weird."

So Jaune is at the military base still, but somehow his aura left residue at the mining camp. Could he have come back already?

"Professor! Something's wrong!" Pyrrha's voice sounded panicked. "I can't feel his aura! I double checked with my scroll and it's almost completely gone!"

Ozpin's eyes widened. "Pyrrha, monitor its progress and make sure it doesn't drop any lower. I shall contact the base and tell them to send a medical unit."

"Yes Professor. Shall I alert the rest of the team?" Pyrrha's voice was reigned back into tenuous control.

"Yes Pyrrha I think you should. I'll keep the line open, just ping it if anything comes up." Ozpin muted himself and sat back in his chair, absently sending an urgent request to the military base. No aura? What could have caused that? Does it have something to do with his little excursion to the mining camp?

"Qrow, I assume you heard what happened, yes? I want you to continue to stay at the mining camp, keep an eye if the two come out or if the recon squad finds something. Report to me directly."

"It's going to be a little hard to pass off a crow in a mile-deep cave as natural, but I'll try. Qrow out." Qrow's drawl came to a halt as the line died.

Ozpin sat for a minute mulling over the new developments taking place when a ringer interrupted his thoughts. Oobleck's face appeared on the screen. Oobleck? Is there trouble in Mountain Glenn?

"Professor! We have an emergency here! A series of large explosions have mobilized thousands of Grimm! They are now swarming their way to the tunnels leading to Vale! Team RWBY and I require immediate backup!" Oobleck's speech was as hurried as always, though there was a tinge of panic.

"Acknowledged. Send me your current location, I shall direct the reinforcements to you immediately." A packet of data came in and the line went silent. Ozpin scanned the location and sent it on its way.

A coordinated attack on Mountain Glenn to incite the Grimm, an infiltration of an important SDC mine, what else?

His scroll started ringing again as his screen lit up with a half-dozen high importance calls.

Wonderful. I just had to say it.

Cinder Fall

Cinder stood amongst the ruins of the city of Vale, enjoying the sight. Buildings lay collapsed on top of each other, fire ravaging through the glass and metal. The smoke hung low over the spectacle, creating a smoky taste that stung her tongue deliciously.

"All this corruption and greed, this filth that mankind has cultivated as good, all of it gone, destroyed, never to be seen again. This vision never gets old."

"And soon, it shall be a reality, Cinder. But we must be patient, our enemies are more meddlesome than they appear." The voice as usual was omnipresent and echoing, full of malice.

Cinder slightly flinched, despite her best effort. Somehow even after all these meetings, her voice seemed to incite something primal in her, a buried fight or flight response that urged her to take action.

"Even an ant is meddlesome but it is easily taken care of." Cinder responded, composure returning almost immediately. "What have they done now?"

"That is for me to handle. What you need to do is finish the job I have assigned you to do. How far along are you?"

"The plan proceeds faster than ever. With the weapons I bought from the Prometheans, I have made our alliance with the White Fang even stronger. Guns and equipment make terrorists happy, who knew? Now with even more equipment and men, I estimate we can start our assault as soon as favorable."

"Excellent work, Cinder, excellent. Have you started the Mountain Glenn assault? If we can get Vale to focus on the tunnel system, an attack from the inside will be the last thing they will expect. "

"The Mountain Glenn assault goes well. We even have some of the meddlesome brats from Beacon there. Even now the fools think they can stop the horde of Grimm and are trying to fight. The Grimm shall overrun them soon." Cinder preened, pleased with herself.

"No, ensure that none of them die."

Cinder gazed around in confusion. Had she heard her right?

"I will take them all."

Cinder smiled.

Ruby Rose

Mountain Glenn Ruins

"Above you!"

Ruby ducked at Yang's exclamation, watching a Beowolf lunge through where her head had been a second ago. A burst of bullets peppered the beast as it flew through the air.

"Thanks guys!" Ruby called out, swinging her scythe through another Beowolf and cutting it in half.

The four of them, along with Professor Oobleck, were standing in a ruined intersection, surrounded by the dissolving bodies of the Grimm. Beowolves stalked around in the shadows of the empty streets.

"That was their first attack. They will regroup and try something new soon." Professor Ozpin clutched his thermos. "Ruby, you're the leader of the team, what is the necessary thing to do in this situation?"

Ruby looked around at the ever increasing mass of Beowolves. The longer they waited, the longer they would have to fight. This many Beowolves were no match for the huntresses-in-training even if Oobleck hadn't been there. The only concern was time and effort.

Ruby thought back to the leadership classes that all leaders took back at Beacon.

Number one rule when dealing with the Grimm, know their motive. I still don't get how that's more important than staying alive and on top, but apparently Glynda can never be wrong. Focus Ruby!

The Beowolves had started harassing them when the 5 of them had started on their daily patrol of the destroyed city. It had started off normally, a group or two trying to attack and then failing to run off.

Soon the number had increased dramatically, from a group every 15 minutes or so to almost a constant stream. They had reached the intersection when they realized that the Beowolves had led them into an ambush.

Around 20 beowolves had been in the first wave, but the five of them had made short work of the pack. Somehow, despite the viciousness of the attacks, it didn't seem like the Beowolves were trying to kill them, just keep them surrounded in the intersection.

There were four streets out of the intersection. Two were narrow and easily defended while the other two were wide and easy to move around in. They would be hardest to defend, but the easiest to escape through. Unless they could somehow get onto the roofs…

"You guys up for some climbing? There's that pile of rubble we could use to hop into that hole in the store over there, making our way to the roofs. We can kill a good chunk of Grimm on the way there and then escape. If we hoof it, we can stay ahead of the pack and get to Hunter Base Harmony 5 kilometers away. Sound good?"

Weiss and Blake nodded silently, Oobleck looked at her approvingly and Yang slammed her fists together. The team was ready.

"Weiss, boost me. Yang and Blake, soften them up. Let's get 'em!" Ruby exclaimed. She switched Crescent Rose into its longer, sleeker version, the blade's tip pointing at the enemy.

Weiss waved her rapier and a glowing white glyph formed under Ruby's feet. Ruby jumped, the glyph shooting her forwards. Petals swirled around her as she hacked and slashed, heads and limbs flying as she cut her way through the ranks of the Grimm.

She heard Blake's guns and Yang's shotguns firing and hitting the Grimm all around her. With a final motion, Ruby skewered a Beowolf and used its body as a pivot to spin up and around, landing on the roof.

Blake and Yang were already there, along with Weiss and Oobleck.

"Solid distraction sis! Way to go!" Yang cheered and swept Ruby up in a bear hug.

"Great job Ruby! That was some excellent control over your weapon and yourself. Splendid, absolutely splendid!" Oobleck praised her, taking a sip from his thermos.

Ruby took one last look at the carnage she had left behind, red rose petals laying on dissolving black corpses. Even now the survivors were sniffing around and growling as they searched for the team.

"Alright, let's go before…" A loud roar interrupted her, the cry followed by 5 more, each sounding closer than the last.

"Yep, before that." They all turned and sprinted away from the noise and towards the Hunter Base.

Jaune Arc

Jaune sat down in the bright, lava-lit cave, letting the ground take his weight. His legs ached and his head swam. His aura was dangerously low and he only had one aura crystal left. He had been saving it for an emergency to use it on either him, or Raven if things got that desperate.

He watched the crystal, light refracting and reflecting in it, giving it an iridescent translucence. He turned it over looking at each face, thinking about the encounter he had just escaped from. Everything had happened too fast to process in the moment.

Firstly, where had he ended up? It fit the locale of the base, if it snowed twice as much around the base. He had seemingly trekked for half a mile or so, sprinting using aura for most of the time.

Then there was the question of the temple.

The structure was rundown and ancient, and looked like it had been there for millennia. The story that had been written on the walls, Jaune could remember everything about them but the actual images and the meanings behind them. Something about an ancient battle, but beyond that there was nothing.

The podium was the next point of interest. It felt eerily out of place in the ancient temple, like finding a ringing cell phone in the middle of a pyramid. He still couldn't remember putting his hands on the podium. He remembered everything before that, but the actual act was still out of mental reach.

After the podium had activated and sent that burst of light to the closed door, the door had seemed to come apart, as if the energy contained inside it was quite literally burning it away. Someone or something had started communicating after the door had fully opened.

It had called him Aurawielder, which meant that whatever it was, it knew about aura and that Jaune could use it. The jury was still out on how Jaune had managed to understand it. It could've been speaking English, or Jaune understood it the same way that he had somehow understood the paintings on the walls.

The word Aurawielder stuck in his head like a burr on a sweater, irritating him irrationally. The term hadn't seemed general, it had sounded like a personal title, a proper noun. And the way the voice had said it made it sound almost like an insult.

Jaune groaned into his hands. These goddamn mysterious voices and their agendas. Gaaaah.

Jaune had managed to escape whatever thing he had summoned. Despite his exhaustion, Jaune smiled. Irritating the thing had been fun. It sounded like keeping Jaune in that domain was the thing's intention and Jaune's escape had caused him great anguish.

Jaune put the crystal back in his bag and stretched in place. His wounds had all but healed, his aura stable at 35%. He looked back out at the lava, seeing platforms in the direction he came, as well as platforms in another direction. He would have followed that path had it not been for that pillar of lava that had caused him to fly into the hole.

Jaune squatted and watched the lava closely, trying to see anything off. He could barely see in the glare of the molten rock, but from what he able to see, nothing seemed to be any different. Nothing moving beneath the surface but gas bubbles, no sign of a buildup that would explain the sudden burst.

Jaune frowned and went back to Raven. There were times he wished he could just store everything he wanted in an inventory in some pocket universe, just so he could lug around his equipment wherever he wanted. But we couldn't all have what we wanted, now could we?

The trip back would be a huge pain because he would have to somehow boost all the way up to a hole in the cliff, which would take an immense chunk out of his aura. Jaune did calculations, trying to see how he could shave weight off the trip. He piled his used aura crystals and used Dust crystals on the floor. The Dust could still be used, but it wouldn't be as efficient as fresh Dust which he had plenty of.

He took off the smaller, less-necessary items of armor, things like joint protection. His helmet was important as it fed him all the sensory information that he relied on. His sword had to stay with him, and so did his chest piece.

There really wasn't much he could take off, he had designed the entire ensemble to be light and he had done it well. He was loath to part with his gloves, but they were way too heavy to consider flying with. If he had more aura, he would have taken them. He removed the vials from inside the metal carefully and slotted them under his armor, making sure they couldn't be hit accidentally. He removed most of the explosives and gadgets from his belt. They were the heaviest thing after his armor and sword, and thus had to go.

He put the pouches in a small pile on the ground along with the rest of the discarded items. He rechecked everything, making sure that everything that he could afford to take off was gone. Now for the hard part.

He walked to Raven's side and kneeled next to her unconscious body. She didn't wear much armor, and whatever she did was undoubtedly selected to be crucial. He also didn't feel comfortable taking clothing off an older unconscious woman.

Her sword and sheath both were quite important to her, but not useful in the current scenario. Jaune had his own sword to fight with. If Raven was in any situation to fight, she would teleport the two of them out before taking part in the battle itself. The amount of Dust that Raven had packed into her sheath caused it to weigh a disproportionate amount.

He set the sword and sheath on the ground next to the pile and turned back to her. The only other thing that had any chance of being non-crucial was her mask. Jaune stared at it. Raven had never taken it off in front of him before. It was obvious she was comfortable around him and had no reason to be apprehensive, which made him question the reason she needed the mask.

As far as he knew, the mask didn't do much other than conceal her face and give her night vision, but she had to be wearing it for some reason, right? It didn't look like the most comfortable of masks, what with all the spikes and sharp edges. He doubted she put velvet and satin inside.

The mask itself looked like it was made of metal, the Grimm-flavored design and colors giving her an ominous, foreboding, and even terrifying look, something the White Fang tried to with their masks but just couldn't pull off. If Jaune hadn't known her, he would not have dared get anywhere near the wrong side of her.

Jaune's hand hovered over the heavy-looking mask, thinking over his decision. Was taking off the heavy mask worth risking her ire? Jaune rechecked everything else still not discarded. All of it was essential to the mission. Jaune chuckled. Out of everything today, this was the hardest decision to make?

Jaune unhooked the clasps on the back and moved them to the side. The back unfolded and moved to the side like two wings, completing the Nevermore motif. Jaune heaved slightly and pulled the mask off, setting it aside and trying not to look at her face. He respected her choice of not showing her face and the least he could do was not to consciously look himself. There was no advantage in looking and there was the risk of drawing her ire if he looked. Easy decision.

Jaune closed his eyes and picked her body up, setting her over his shoulder as he had before. He turned back to the chasm and rechecked his calculations. Everything checked out. If everything went right, then he would only have to use 5% of his aura, 7% max. Jaune took a running start and jumped into the heat and light.

Shard Tiran

Shard watched the graph on her scroll, bored despite the strange circumstances. They had been dug in for half an hour, the place silent as a grave.

Jacques had commanded the squad to maintain absolute silence, leaving Shard alone with her scroll while the others scouted up and down the tunnel, carrying probes and watching for movement.

The graph hadn't changed much while they were there, nominally decreasing as the aura residue slowly spread and got diluted.

She caught Mau's eye as he returned from his patrol down the hallway. He gave his report in a low voice, showing the commander something on the scroll. Jacques' expression tightened slightly as Mau flicked through, pointing at certain things.

Jacques took the scroll and approached Shard, still flicking through what Shard assumed were pictures Mau had taken. Shard got to her feet and stood at attention, waiting for Jacques to start speaking.

"Shard, how long until the reinforcements get here?"

She blinked, trying to remember the estimation she had been given the last time she had requested backup.

"Around 20 minutes on the long side, 15 if they hurry."

Jacques just nodded and handed her the scroll. "These pictures show some sort of barrier that was blasted by our perps."

Shard focused on the pictures that showed the hole in the metal. "Looks like a chemical explosive, any use of Dust would have made a cleaner hole, not to mention the immense cost of using that much aura."

"So that confirms they didn't use aura. Now we need another theory to explain this." Jacques took the scroll back and tapped a few times, sending a data file to Shard's scroll. She opened the file and almost did a double take.

"Sir, is this data accurate? I mean…" Shard was lost for words.

"It is accurate as far as we know. There were no error messages from the probe, rather, there was one from the communications array." Mau spoke up, sending her another file.

Shard read the contents of the error message and then reread it to make sure she had read everything right. "So the reason Mau didn't send this data to us from the site was because of the concentration of aura residue there? I have never seen this before."

"Well Corporal, looks like we have a unique situation on our hands. Keep a level head, and we'll get out of this just fine. Mau, run more scans of the area, try to see if you can get some samples for Shard to examine. Shard, continue keeping an eye on the graphs. I want immediate notification if anything happens." Jacques went to take another report from a team that had been sent to the surface.

Mau grinned as he turned to leave. "Like he said, keep a level head and we won't screw this up too badly."

Shard smiled and nudged him. Mau was right, as long as they didn't make any mistakes, they would have this in the bag. They had backup, and the two perpetrators didn't. Everything was going to be fine.

Ruby Rose

Ruby jumped into the air and slashed a Beowolf in half as it leaped at Weiss, the two halves of its body landing on the roof of the building and sliding off. Weiss nodded at her as the team leaped across a gap between roofs.

Ruby pulled out her scroll with one hand, very slight use of her semblance allowing her to catch up to her team whenever she got behind. She had contacted the Hunter base to request an artillery or air strike on their location to cover their escape, as well as a shuttle to evacuate the city.

There had been no reply yet, no matter how many times she had sent the distress signal. The message was going through since there was no automated error reply. Ruby stashed the scroll away again and sprinted to catch up to her team.

There was a kilometer left until they got to the base and Ruby decided that they would see what to do after they got there.

Yang punched a Beowolf out of the air and its shattered body slammed into the ground beneath the blonde brawler who didn't even break stride. The attacks were getting more and more frequent as they kept going, almost as if the Grimm knew they were coming and had sent Beowolves to intercept.

Not that it did anything. The four of them were one of the best teams in their year, and maybe in the first two years at Beacon. The Beowolves, rather than hindering them, actually helped them by keeping them focused and combat-ready.

The trickiest part was the terrible state of the buildings under them. Most of the time they had to run along titled slabs of roof that were littered with cracks and holes. Some buildings had survived relatively unharmed and those were the ones where they would gain the most ground and where she would check her scroll.

Ruby slashed another Beowolf in half with a twirl of Crescent Rose while Blake embedded her cleaver in another's brain, spinning to decapitate it. Oobleck hadn't said anything to them yet, something that was slightly off-putting to anyone who knew the Professor.

They continued running in silence, killing Beowolves without a second thought. The scenery flew by, the destruction quickly losing its shock value. They occasionally saw some larger Grimm stalking around on the streets and deftly avoided those areas. Taking on a pack on Beowolves along with assorted Major Grimm was not a good idea.

The buildings were now 10 stories high, making each jump slightly riskier. Going off of the change in scenario, the base should be…right there. They stopped on the edge of the hollow skyscraper and looked at the bright base that was situated near the edge of downtown. Turrets were active and turning to scan the surroundings and the fence around the perimeter hummed dangerously in the quiet night.

"Normally a Hunter base would establish contact and let us enter by verifying our scrolls, but due to the circumstances, "Oobleck pointed at Ruby's scroll. "We're going to have to break in. The turrets are only configured to attack Grimm targets; though physical barriers will still block us."

"You mean we're literally breaking in?" Yang sounded way too excited.

"Yes, Ms. Xiao Long, we're breaking in."

Yang laughed and cocked her gauntlets. "Don't worry Doctor, I think we got this."

Jaune Arc

Jaune landed on the platform roughly, his legs absorbing most of the shock. The jump hadn't been that bad, but then again it wasn't a very high jump. Now Jaune had two options: right, to where he had originally been teleported to, or left to places unknown.

The choice would have been obvious, but he had no idea what was going on with that corridor he had landed in. It had seemed to loop in on itself, making a closed loop while still having an opening. Jaune wasn't sure if he wished to go back and break his mind trying to rethink every concept of topology he knew.

But he had no idea what lay along the other path. The path could end up going on farther than he could physically travel, it could loop in on itself, it could teleport him to another cavern, there was no way of telling.

99% certainty of dead end vs 100% unknown path? Man, this was not how I thought my day would go. Cue laugh track and applause.

Jaune stretched while he thought. There would have to be another path out of this place, the platforms seemed to have been placed very deliberately which meant that they had some purpose. The cave he had been redirected to by that very strange pillar of flame was off the path of platforms and didn't look like a destination, more of a side path.

Jaune, after some calculations and estimations, decided to venture forwards for a couple platforms and then return if it looked hopeless. He sprinted and leaped to the next platform, the maneuver easy to execute now. He could feel the aura drain sap his strength but he ignored the exhaustion creeping over him.

He leapt off the platform to the next. The general pattern of this path seemed to be a gentle curve, like a horseshoe around some central point to his right. There only seemed to be a wall in the distance beyond the haze and Jaune decided to follow up on it after he got all of the day's craziness figured out.

Another wall appeared through the hazy air as he leaped onto the third, and it got clearer as he leaped to the fourth. Jaune saw another hole in the cliff wall ahead and he gathered his aura to assist in his jump up to the hole. It was much lower than the other two which made the jump much easier. There was another platform at right angles to the path he had currently followed, but Jaune ignored that for the time being. If his slowly forming hypothesis of this chamber was right, the hole in front of him would be the only path he would need to take.

Jaune sized up the distance and size of the hole and adjusted course appropriately, lowering his height and speed appropriately. The hole was about three meters in diameter and Jaune cleared the edges easily.

The bright red glare of the chamber gave way to darkness as Jaune skid to a stop. He let his sensors adjust to the change in lighting and took a look into the passage. It seemed like the others had, just rock walls continuing into the distance.

He looked behind him, the chamber appearing the same as it had been. No matter how many times he checked to confirm that nothing had changed in the chamber he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was missing something.

Eh, nothing I can do even if I forgot something. I'm lucky that path wasn't much longer, I'm already at 25%. Forgot to take cooling Raven's body into account.

Jaune walked down the tunnel as it curved to the right, the light from the lava chamber fading into obscurity quickly. Too quickly to be natural.

Pyrrha Nikos

Pyrrha felt sick as she sat in the ambulance. It careened through the base to the army hospital, headlights bright in the predawn darkness.

Jaune lay on a stretcher in the middle of the ambulance, needles jammed into his body to monitor his vitals. He looked like he was completely unharmed, healthy, definitely not someone who would suddenly go comatose.

The paramedics had assured the rest of JNPR that there was nothing wrong with his vitals, it was just his aura that had completely disappeared. The medics had assured her that the doctors on site were experienced with aura related conditions and had seem a wide range of them.

Nora and Ren had decided to contact Beacon and update them about Jaune's relocation. They would be coming to the hospital separately as to not crowd the ambulance.

Pyrrha held Jaune's limp hand in her hands as the ambulance made its way through the base. His face seemed to be peaceful at first glance, but to someone who had spent the better part of a year with him his expression was just blank. Nothing indicating pain, exhaustion, or even calm.

Pyrrha had seem many injuries during her life, including many to Jaune himself. Hell, she had seen him almost die from a bomb just hours after she had met him! It was just that this time there was no threat to fight against, nothing that she could use her lifelong training on to help.

And she hated that. She hated being useless, hated not knowing what to do. It wasn't that she wanted to be the hero of the situation, the center of attention. No it was far from that; she was just not used to being helpless. She had faced struggles in her short life, from winning the Mistral Regional Tournament thrice over to convincing her parents to let her go to Beacon, her life had never been easy. Sure, her gift for combat had made it easier to get better, but she had reached heights few had.

Even when people at school had gotten severely injured fighting Grimm, she had always been able to help out in some way or other. Even when Jaune had gotten severely injured at initiation, she had lead the search for his body even if she had nothing to do with his actual recovery.

But here, it was completely different. She hadn't even noticed that Jaune had fallen into that condition, it had been Ozpin telling her to check on Jaune that had alerted her to his condition. It had been Ozpin that alerted the medics to come and take Jaune away. All she had done, frankly, was nothing. And she felt terrible for it.

The ambulance came to a stop and the back doors opened. Pyrrha sat back in her seat as the paramedics carried Jaune's stretcher out. She numbly followed a nurse out of the ambulance and into the hospital. They followed the stretcher as the doctors wheeled through the hallways.

A door opened and the doctors took the stretcher in. Pyrrha moved to enter but the nurse blocked her with an arm, shaking her head.

"Ms. Nikos, I am sorry but you cannot enter. The doctors need all the space they need to work."

"But…" Pyrrha tried to come up with something but she understood the logic. Not that she liked it. "Fine. Where should I wait?"

"Head down the direction you came then turn right. Take the second left and you should see a sign that will take you the rest of the way. Not the best layout for visitors, sorry." The nurse opened the door and went in, closing the door with a click.

Pyrrha followed the nurse's directions and soon found herself in a comfortable looking room with two couches and a TV that was playing the local news. She sat tensely on the soft seat and called Ren.

"And that's the weather for today. Over to you Maria for the early morning news."

The TV switched views to a young woman sitting in a studio with a screen behind her. 'Maria Lavender' read the banner under her face. The Lavender twins were quite famous in the news business, having risen through their respective kingdoms' news networks quite quickly.

"Thank you Trevor. First a public service announcement. We have received reports of Grimm gathering beyond the borders of Vale. If you or anybody you know are planning on travelling to Vale or Mistral in the near future, please exercise caution. And now for our first news story."

Pyrrha tuned out the TV as Ren's calm voice came through. "Pyrrha. Has Jaune been admitted?"

"Yes he has. Have you talked to Ozpin? What did he say?"

"I managed to contact him but he said that there were other important things that required his attention. He said that as soon as Jaune starts recovering he's extracting us back to Beacon."

"Makes sense. When are you guys coming here?"

"In about five minutes. I'll talk to you later. Nora!" The call shut off, leaving Pyrrha smiling at her teammates' antics. She loved her team and their little quirks.

"We have breaking news. There have been large explosions reported by residents living near the tunnels to Mountain Glenn. Authorities have made connections to a similar explosion a few months ago in a release posted just minutes ago. They urge everyone to remain calm and say that like the last event, they do not expect events to escalate. There has been no comment from the Hunter Association or Beacon Academy. Stay tuned for more info after this break." The TV switched to a commercial of Pumpkin Pete's Chocolate Puffs.

Pyrrha tuned out the terrible acting of the newest winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament and leaned back on the sofa, using the breathing exercises she had been taught as part of her training to relax. She could almost physically feel her worries leave with each breath.

Breath in. Breath out. Mysterious explosions? Gone.

Breath in. Breath out. Ozpin being distracted by something worse than a mysteriously injured student? Gone.

Breath in. Breath out. Jaune's condition? That one was harder.

Breath in. Breath out. She gently floated down into the dreamless dark.

Jaune Arc

The tunnel continued to curve gently like a staircase, but in an inverted cone-like shape. He continued upwards with his helmet providing him with the night vision to avoid bumping into the walls.

One step soon started blending into the next, each echo sounding the same as the last. Jaune tried to focus on the task at hand but the wicked combination of his depleted aura, exhaustion, and the tedium of the walk fought against him.

He even caught himself nodding off midstep as his legs continued to move on their own accord. He pinched himself twice or thrice but it was a temporary relief as he found his eyelids closing once more.

Jaune rooted around inside a pouch and pulled out a syringe of a mixture of glucose, caffeine, and other chemicals that his body could derive energy from. He had been saving it for later but that later was probably now.

He jogged forwards as the drugs kicked in. His head buzzed, his eyesight felt bolstered, and his skin felt warm. He started pumping his legs faster and faster in the now only slightly curving corridor, Raven's deadweight almost as light as a feather.

He came around a bend and slowed gradually to a halt as another wall appeared in the distance. It looked identical to the one they had found deep in the mine before. Jaune walked carefully up to it and placed a hand on the surface.

It seemed to ripple ever so slightly under his touch. Jaune was not even phased by this; a dragon could walk through the door behind and he wouldn't even be surprised. A combination of the day's events and a syringe worth of drugs coursing through your blood did that to you.

Jaune remembered what Raven had told him she was doing. He sent a little probe of aura down his arm and into the metal and watched the white spark disappear into the metal. Jaune backed off a couple feet and waited for something to happen.

He held out his hand and a little aura sprang from his hand into the metal, like metal filings jumping to a magnet. He moved his hand away but the aura streamed out even faster. What had started as a trickle now looked like a firehose. Jaune's arm burned in a non-physical way as if the definition of his arm was being eroded away.

Something started hammering on the back of his head, beating a staccato rhythm. The hammering got harder and harder as the aura flew out his arm. His HUD went in and out of focus as his eyes burned. He dropped Raven's body as the hammering escalated to a full on migraine then something resembling Exploding Head Syndrome.

He shut his eyes but it didn't stop the colors pulsing in his vision. His limbs spasmed and he saw the ground come up to his face in a blaze of colors. He rolled over onto his back as all the muscles in his body seized up painfully.

The aura stream ended and Jaune felt some control return over his body. But something was off. He moved his right arm but it seemed to struggle against his commands. He tried to walk forwards but he felt as if molasses coated him from head to toe.

He dragged Raven behind him to the door and slammed his hand onto the metal in a desperate attempt to try and stop whatever was happening to him. The ground started to pull his feet in, becoming like quicksand. The air got hard to breath and he panted trying to get some oxygen to his lungs.

He felt his brain growing distant from his body as if something was pulling him away from reality itself. His vision grew narrower and narrower and the world started feeling as if he was watching it through a TV.

He glanced around and saw nothing. Pure nothingness. It couldn't even be called black because that implied there was something material to compare that to. It was more accurately described as an experience than a color.

Jaune tried to will himself back in control of his body but some invisible barrier blocked him from moving any further. He pushed harder at his view of reality in an attempt to regain control of his misbehaving body when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Aurawielder, surely you have understood the mistakes you have made here today?"

Jaune spun around at the deep booming voice, yet he saw nothing. The grip on his shoulder increased slightly as that grating laugh came from everywhere at once.

"She was right, as usual. The once mighty Aurawielder has grown weak and senile, much like Ra back in the day. You do remember Ra, Aurawielder? It was great fun destroying his creation together, you and I."

Jaune closed his eyes and focused on the words themselves. It was obvious that the, whatever it was, had hitched a ride in his mind from whatever prison Jaune had unknowingly opened. And it seemed awfully familiar with him, even engaging in banter.

And what was that about Ra? Does he mean the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun?

Another booming laugh. "You do not remember Ra? Aurawielder I must say you are just a shell of whom you once were. How humiliating it must be for you, falling from such great heights, to this." The voice dripped with contempt. "I think I'll have fun destroying those close to you. And guess what? There's one right here! It must be your lucky day; you have first row seats to the show!"

"No! Stop, I want to talk more. First of all, what the hell is all this Aurawielder business? How do you know me?" Jaune tried to stall for time and information while he figured out what to do. He searched through everything in his power to change his actions. He had no control over his body so he couldn't stop the thing from doing whatever he wanted.

His aura was almost gone, not enough to do anything meaningful. Though there was still one thing he could do…

"Your attempts at trying to distract me our as transparent as water. If that is the best you can do, then you deserve nothing but pain." Disappointment was dripping from its voice.

Jaune got ready for his last ditch attempt, collecting whatever scraps of aura he could get. He bound them together, stitched them into one cohesive unit. As the web got larger he could feel the Dust on his belt start to resonate.

He sped up his attempts as he watched his arm rise into the air, sword gleaming from the light of the now activated metal barrier.

"Hey, ancient thing!" Jaune called out one last time to distract it, all the while preparing his aura.

"Aurawielder, you were doing an excellent job at nothing. Why don't you keep it that way?"

"Well, all I wanted to say is that you did an excellent job at making me think I escaped you back there at the temple." Jaune conceded. "But you must be even stupider than you sound if you think you have declawed me. Let's review your mistake, shall we?"

Jaune didn't wait for the voice to respond before channeling a lance of aura into a Wind crystal in his arm and another into one in his chest. He watched his body fly backwards away from Raven's supine body and towards the metal door.

His body passed through the metal and bright white light overwhelmed his senses, rendering his view of the outside worthless.

"You still retain some of your obnoxious skill of ruining others' plans. I was planning on letting you stay alive and watch as I destroyed all you hold dear. After that stunt, I think I shall have to dispose of you. A shame, but it has to be done."

"I would say farewell, but I think a 'screw you' is more appropriate. So screw you." Jaune grit his teeth as spikes seemed to press into his very being, squeezing him and distorting the idea of him.

Jaune wiggled mentally to attempt to escape the crushing attacks of the being, but all it did was lessen the pressure at one point. Hate and misery seemed to press in from all sides. Jaune could feel it hate radiating all over him, the deep seated wish of the being calling for the end of Jaune's existence.

Jaune in response took his own will to survive and pushed back at the ontological pressure surrounding him. He held back the tide for a few moments before the being reasserted his will and pushed him down harder.

This guy must really hate whoever he thinks I am. Gotta escape, the pressure is getting too much, but how?

Jaune concentrated harder on not being sent into oblivion when an idea struck him. He gave a little ground to the being to make it seem as if he was losing the battle. He let his self be compressed further and further, his shield seemingly weakening by the moment.

In reality he was simply shaping it into a pure concentrated spike to drive it into the being at the right moment. He waited, his concept of himself distorting.

The right time came a few seconds later as the being let up slightly, presumably to issue one final push to seal Jaune's nonexistence. Jaune capitalized on this and slammed the spike into the pressure around him. He heaved it out and shot it forwards again.

The world came rushing back to him as the pressure eased up. He could see his eyes staring at a crowd of Atlesian soldiers gathered around his body. He could still feel the being sharing his mind recovering from the sudden counterattack. Jaune moved his head around to make sure that Raven hadn't made it.

It was a shame that the Atlesian soldiers would recover the body, but there was nothing else he could do. He gave up control and ejected, giving the comatose and aura-less body over to the being and heading back to his original body.

Shard Tiran

There was absolute pin-drop silence in the cavern. All the Atlesian soldiers stared at the body lying in a heap in the middle of cavern. Its right arm was scorched and blackened, the sleeve burned right off.

It had a helmet on that obscured its face along with armor over its torso. Its pale flesh shone startlingly in the light from their flashlights.

It carried a sword on his hip, and had a collection of pouches wrapped around its wrist. What looked to be Dust crystals were embedded in the armor.

There was a symbol carved on the individual's chestplate. It was charred but with a tilt of the head and a squint, Shard could just barely make out the symbol. A burning P on a map of some kind.

"A Promethean. Hold your fire and keep your distance!" The commander called out. The squad moved backwards slightly, the front row crouched and aiming their guns at the prone figure.

"Why don't we just pump him full of bullets right now? I mean, he's unconscious, can't do much when you are knocked out." One soldier spoke up.

Another soldier almost instantly quipped. "Yeah, you would know a thing or two of not being able to do certain things when knocked out, eh Mikey?"

"Shut it, the both of you. We cannot declare an unknown a hostile without explicit orders." Jacques opened his mouth to issue more orders.

"Both of you were right." The distorted and maniacal-sounding voice came from behind the helmet. "But now is not the time to look at the past. This is time to talk about the future. The future of how I kill every single one of you."

Jacques barely had time to yell "FIRE!" before he had his throat slashed wide open by an impossibly fast swing of the Promethean's sword.

The foe managed to kill the soldier next to Jacques before the squad managed to start firing. The man started to slash his sword erratically, bullets pinging off of the metal and ricocheting back into the squad.

The figure dropped to the ground and cut straight through the legs of one soldier, using the body to block the continued hail of bullets. As the body slumped to the floor dead, the Promethean leaped into the air, shield in hand.

He landed crouched on the ground at the wall of the cave, the shield blocking his entire body from harm.

Shard was kneeling by her equipment on the far side of the cavern, having not moved since the attack had begun. She started sending distress signals along with starting other mayday procedures on her equipment. This would send a backup of all her readings and data to Mission Control, who would forward the data to the relevant groups.

She was about to start sending a message describing the Promethean and his insane speed and strength when a rock spike shot up from the ground skewering her equipment. She gasped and scrambled backwards on all fours, adrenaline coursing through her.

A rumbling laugh came from behind the shield, if you could call it that. It sounded like a laugh that someone who had never spoken before would create, a warbly, cracking cacophony.

"Crying for help? I have but killed three of you. I have not fought in years; I think you guys can overpower me. Give it a try, live a little." The figure got up and twisted suddenly. A sword came flying out from behind the shield and skewered a soldier standing mere feet from Mau.

Shard couldn't think straight through the sheer panic and adrenaline flowing through her. Her hands tried to get a grip on her weapon but they kept slipping.

The figure made a motion with his hand and the sword came flying back to him. The dead soldier's body slumped to the ground with a wet thud. The Promethean crouched once more and the leaped into the air over the bullets ripping the air apart. So far only few had managed to even hit the Promethean and none had managed to penetrate the armor.

He swung his sword in a scything motion and cut the soldiers down like wheat. He moved from body to body with ease. Blood flew through the air in rivulets coating every surface with the dark red fluid.

Shard managed to get a grip on her gun as she watched the Promethean slaughter her allies, ducking, weaving, and blocking their shots with his shield. He had managed to kill 10 by now with nary a scratch on his armor.

Back on base, she had heard that they were quite formidable fighters, managing to break into the criminal underworld with ease to deal with some of the most dangerous masterminds Remnant had seen. She had obviously dismissed these rumors as being the products of a bored group of soldiers with naught to do but gossip.

However, now she took back all the scathing remarks she had made against her comrades. This enemy was a beast, able to easily overpower an entire squad in close quarters combat.

Shard raised her weapon with shaky hands as the Promethean got closer and closer to her. He was covered in blood, gore, and viscera from the soldiers he had just killed and looked like Death incarnate.

Shard aimed her weapon at the fast moving Promethean and managed to peel off three shots at the swordsman before sprinting away to the other side. The remaining portion of the squadron were still dumbstruck and were panic-firing at the enemy, feet firmly planted.

Shard started shooting once more, managing to score some hits at the armored figure's undefended back. They simply ricocheted, but it was a good morale booster. Shard started to calm down and her brain responded, her vision focusing on the figure in her sights.

And that was why she almost didn't notice the Promethean's sword skewer Mau through his side. When the sight finally registered, the sword was already out and through another's neck. But Shard didn't care. She didn't care that she was going to die a mile under the ground to this unfairly powerful fiend. She didn't care that she still had most of her life ahead of her.

All she cared was that Mau was dying. She dashed forwards and skid to his side, cradling his head in her lap. She stroked his hair as he coughed up blood, eyes desperately trying to focus on her.

"Oh Mau, ssshhh, there there." She tried her best to comfort him through his last moments. Tears flowed down her face and dripped onto Mau's ravaged chest and mingled with his blood. She gripped his hands in her own as she felt his weak pulse stagnate and stop completely. A sigh escaped his mouth and his head fell limply backwards, his blank eyes staring at the dark ceiling.

"Weak, the lot of them. Terribly sorry for interrupting your mourning, but are you done? I have some more business to attend to."

Shard just dropped her head. The fight was gone from her; she had no will to live anymore.

"You're a monster, you know that? You could easily have escaped but you had to stop and kill us all. You just had to…" Shard swallowed the lump in her throat. "You're no human, you're just an animal."

"Well, you're right about the first, I'm most definitely not one of you degenerates." The Promethean's voice dripped with hate and contempt.

Shard didn't hear the sword move through the air but she did feel the cold steel slide between her ribs. She gasped in shock and pain as the Promethean twisted the metal and withdrew it. She crumpled to the ground, vision growing blurry as blood poured out of her. Her last view of the world was the towering Promethean wiping his blade on a piece of grey cloth, and then Shard was gone from the world.

?

The Promethean finished wiping the blood from his sword and sheathed it once more. No matter how disappointed he was in the Aurawielder's new state of being, he had to admit that his skill with weaponcraft was still as sharp as before.

The armor had been flexible enough to allow his enhanced reflexes and movement skills to maneuver exactly how he wanted to, barely taking any direct shots from those he slaughtered.

The sword had remained sharp, carving through flesh and bone alike with ease. The silly crystals that the Aurawielder had implanted in them seemed frivolous but most likely served some purpose so he refrained from ripping them out.

He stepped over the still warm corpses of those he had just killed and started walking towards where the body's memories told him the elevator to the surface lay.

Aurawielder, I hope you survived evacuating this body. I would hate to not be the one bringing about your death.

Lisa Lavender

Vale News Network

5:06 AM VST.

"Breaking News. We have been getting reports of Grimm attacks on the outskirts of the city of Vale, near the residential area. The Vale Police have assured us that Hunters have been deployed to the site to contain this attack. Stay tuned for details."

5:17 AM VST.

"We have received more news of Grimm attacks on the city of Vale, this time at the Docks. The Hunter Association has declared a state of emergency within one kilometer of the docks and has advised everyone within this area to evacuate immediately. The Vale Police Department are on site to assist."

5:30 AM VST.

"Beacon Academy has now lit its titular beacon, signaling a kingdom-wide state of emergency. Citizens are advised to move to their nearest safe houses and stay inside. Hunters from Beacon shall be assisting those nearby and request you not to hesitate to ask them for any help. Professor Ozpin could not be contacted at this time."

5:37 AM VST.

"This is the last broadcast of the VNN. We implore you to stay calm and stay safe while the Hunters take care of things. The Hunter Association assures us that the breach will be handled and cleaned up within the day and regular activities can resume within the week. Thank you for listening, I am Lisa Lavender and you are watching Vale News Network."


Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!