Chapter 7: Shielded

Day 8

Ruby and her Team were working on finishing their raft this morning. As soon as Ruby got another level up, she learned how to built a raft, and helped her sister with finishing the project. The raft itself was actually done, and already swimming in the river. The only thing left were weapons, boxes with food and other ressources they could need along the way.

This included wood, stone and fiber, in case the boat would get damaged. They already decided to use Sparkpowder to keep the campfire going, and put the fire itself on a flat stone, so that it wouldn't accidently burn down the raft.

Blake was currently making benches to sit on, while Ruby used the time to make paddles out of wood. Weiss had made hide clothes for everyone, in case it would get too cold during the nights. Yang was putting the ressources on the raft.

Their plan was pretty much standing, with only one question remaining: What about their animals? They'd be able to take Puffy with them effortlessly, but Gran and Baza were a different story. Not only where they a lot bigger, but they also ate way more. On land, the team could just go into the jungle with them, and let the animals eat by themselves. But out on the ocean, that wasn't an option.

"So, what about the animals?" Weiss asked.

"As much as I hate to do it, I'd say leave them here." Yang replied. "They can take care of themselves. They did until now."

"She's right." Blake agreed. "They are still wild animals."

Weiss sighed. She really didn't like the option. "What do you say, Ruby? You've been awfully quiet."

"Huh?" Ruby looked up from the paddle she was building. "I... I don't know. I don't want them to die here."

Yang sat down next ot Ruby, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. They'll be fine. Also, when we get back, we can send an airship here and get them."

Ruby was quiet for a couple of seconds. "Right. We can get them over the ocean later on. The last paddle is done, by the way."

Yang took it, and carried it to the raft. "Okay. Let's go home!"

All of Roman's tribe met around the campfire this morning. It was time for the first change of leadership, from Roman to Cinder. For that, everyone was supposed to talk about how he led them the week, so that they could eventually decide who was the best choice.

"Everyone loved it, didn't they?" Roman asked, and leaned back in his chair.

"Well, you didn't, you know, lead very much." Emerald said. "You mostly relaxed, while we did everything by ourselves."

"Yeah. That's what leadership is about. Telling your people what they shall do."

"But you didn't even tell us what to do. You just let us do our thing." Adam replied.

"And that was wrong?"

"It was." Cinder explained. "As a leader, you have to give orders, so that your people don't fall into anarchy. We didn't get anything done. We were too unorganized."

"What about Amra?" Roman asked, and pointed at the Raptor. It was sitting on the ground next to Neo's hut, and looked up as it was mentioned.

"That was the idea of me and Neo." Cinder said. "Not yours."

"Come on. I did a good job, right Neo?" He looked at the girl. Neo smiled at him, and nodded. "See? Wait, was that a reply to me, or Cinder?"

"Long story short." Mercury said. "I'd not take Roman again."

"Agreed." Cinder, Emerald and Adam said.

"Alright. Let's see if our maiden can do a better job." Roman smirked. "Probably not, but we'll see."

Cinder rolled her eyes, and stood up. "So, as my first order of business, I'm laying down some ground rules. Emerald: Stop using Clyde to steal stuff from Mercury."

"Thank you!" Mercury replied happy, while the thief let out an annoyed sigh.

"Neo: Please, go and skin animals somewhere else. We don't want to see that in the middle of the camp. Especially when we're eating."

The girl nodded, and started to look around for a place that'd suffice.

"Adam: Stop being such a loner. We need help from everyone to get through this. Mercury will help you with your raft, by the way. Maybe this can get us down from this forsaken island."

Adam thought for a moment, and agreed. He and Merc stood up, only to walk down to the beach.

Cinder turned towards Roman. "You and me, we're going to go up the river."

Torchwick nearly fell from his chair. "What? Are you crazy? You know that there's a Spinosaur up there, right?"

"I know. If it attacks us, I can set parts of the woods on fire, and open us an escape route."

"Fine. But if we die, it's your fault." Roman stood up, and went into his hut to get ready.

The half-maiden took a deep breath. She hoped that, with her leading them, things would finally start to get better. Hopefully.

Although it wasn't even twelve, or at least that's the time Jaune guessed by the by the position of the sun, it has been a busy day. He and Ren had finished planning the first wall, and Ren was already building it. At one point, he had to built a little scaffolding to reach the upper parts of the wall. The plan was simple: A inner, wooden wall, and then an outer wall, made out of stone. The outer wall was supposed to have spikes in front, and the planned watchtowers. The same thing was to be repeated with the other way leading into the valley.

They also had the idea to put spikes on top of the cliffs, but anything that would survive the fall wouldn't be stopped by some pointy logs. Pyrrha was working on the farm, and was putting down a new crop plot to plant a new berry.

Nora was, like pretty much all the time, tending to the animals. It was quiet. A much needed thing, after the events of the last day.

However, the peace was interrupted by a green light in the distance. One that didn't come from the Obelisk. It looked like something was descending from it.

Everyone of them gathered, and watched the light. "I don't think anyone knows what that is, right?" Pyrrha said.

"Should we investigate it?" Nora wondered.

Jaune thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Sure. Maybe it's something useful."

"Any idea where it came down?" Pyrrha asked.

"I'd say... somewhere in the west." Ren guessed.

"Okay. Nora, Pyrrha? Can you two go there?" Jaune said. "Me and Ren still have work to do."

The two girls nodded, took Greene, and rode away.

"Come on, Ruby!" Yang yelled from the raft.

"Yes, I'm coming!" Ruby yelled back, and turned toward their pets one last time. "Okay, and remember, don't run into any predators." She put her one hand on the head of the Parasaur, and the other one on the head of the Phiomia. "Goodbye."

She left the two alone, and jumped on the raft, where her team and the Lystrosaurus were already waiting. "Okay. Let's go."

They nodded, and everyone stuck a paddle into the water.

Nora and Pyrrha were walking through the lush jungle, into the direction of the light. There weren't many animals around, except for some ants, and the occasional monkey.

Along the way, Nora was talking without even taking the time to breathe. Like always. However, Pyrrha never really answered when Nora asked something.

"And that's how we killed a Taijitu." Nora looked at Pyrrha, and frowned. "Everything okay? You're so quiet?"

"Yes, yes. It's stupid, really."

"Come on, you can tell me. That's what friends are for?"

There was a silence, and Pyrrha sighed. "Alright. But you have to keep it for yourself."

She smiled. "Awwww, is it about Jaune?"

"No. Seriously, don't tell anyone."

"Right. No one should know about your crush."

Pyrrha stopped, and glared at Nora. That way, she knew it was serious. Pyrrha never glared at someone, not even when she was angry. Which, admittedly, was rare in the first place. "I'm not talking about schoolcrush-secret. I'm talking about 'oh my god, I could get executed just for knowing this' secret."

"Sorry. I promise, I won't tell anyone."

Pyrrha smiled. Sure, Nora had a loose mouth, but could keep something for herself if she needed to. "You know the story about the maidens?"

"The old fairytail? Sure."

"Well, what if I told you the maidens really exist?"

Nora stopped, and laughed. "Don't be silly, silly. That's a fairytail. Like the girl in the tower. Or the story about that guy that absorbs dragon souls."

"I'm serious." She kept a straight face, and it only took a couple of seconds.

"Oh. My. God. You're serious. But how- why?"

"Well, you see, when a Maiden dies, her power gets transferred to someone else. Most of the times, the person that was in her thoughts before she died." Pyrrha explained, with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"And?"

"This painted a giant target across their back. So a couple of people removed them from the public eye, and the truth faded into legend." They continued walking, and left the jungle. In front of them was a ravine, covered by grass. Across the ravine was a mountain, covered in snow. They could see a group of Mammoths eating leaves from the trees in the snow. The light they were searching for was a bit north, inside the ravine. "The people that keep the maidens save today are Professor Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch. Just like General Ironwood, and the other headmasters. And some drunk guy."

"Wait, Ozpin is part of some secret order?" Nora asked, and thought for a moment. "Then again, it's not really a surprise."

"The problem is, the last Maiden, the Fall Maiden, was attacked, and part of her power was stolen. And, according to Ozpin, the attacker has bad things in mind."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Island, Roman and Cinder were walking through the jungle, along the river, when she suddenly sneezed.

"Are you getting a cold?"

"I don't know. I hope not."

"Luckily, the Maiden's still alive." Pyrrha took a moment to breathe in, and jumped down into the ravine, followed by Nora on Greene. "But she's in a coma, and won't survive for much longer. And they want me to get her powers."

"So, you want to tell me that Ozpin, Ironwood, Goodwitch and some drunk guy want you to become a Maiden?" Nora asked. "That sounds awesome. Shooting lightning, controlling the elements. Uh, do you get tattoos that glow when you are using your powers?"

"That's not it. All my life I worked to achieve what I thought was my destiny. And then, in one moment, it was in my grasp."

"And you're sad that you won't get it now?"

"Yes. And no. It would have been great, sure. I could help humanity, fulfill my purpose. But I would have to leave everything behind. You, Ren... Jaune." Tears started rolling down her cheek. "I didn't know what to do."

"Did you accept?"

"Yes. I did."

"Well, I'd say that you did the right thing. You shouldn't think about it to much. It doesn't matter anymore. We're on an Island now, full of dinosaurs. We can start a new life." Nora tried to cheer her friend up.

Pyrrha wiped away the tears. Maybe Nora was right. The Maiden stuff was in the past. This was her old life. Now, she had to think about other things. Her attention shifted in front of her. The two stood in front of the light. In it was some sort of grey machine. "What's that."

"I don't know." Nora muttered.

Pyrrha stepped closer, and her implant started to blink. She activated it, and the machine suddenly dissolved, leaving behind a small booklet. Pyrrha picked it up, and was surprised at the content.

"Is that a new dossier?" Nora asked.

"No, it's like a blueprint. It shows how to make a saddle. Step for step." Pyrrha closed the booklet.

"And for what?"

She looked at the cover of the booklet. "For a Triceratops." Pyrrha turned towards Nora, who was already grinning. "Oh god."

After taking off, the water got deeper quickly, until the bottom wasn't visible anymore. Yang would have to lie, if she'd say that it wasn't a bit unsettling. They were still using their paddles, although only for some course correction.

The Island was still visible, and now most of the southern shoreline was visible to them. Close to the Red Obelisk seemed to be another, small Island just off-coast. In the distance, they could see the green Obelisk.

Luckily, the wind has gotten strong enough to keep them moving, and Yang laid down, putting her hands under her head. When she was fleeing from a prehistoric island, she could at least get some tan.

Above them, the occasional Pelagornis flew past. Yang was slowly closing her eyes, when she noticed that they stopped moving. "Hey. What's going on?"

"I don't know." Weiss said. "Maybe we hit a stone. Or an animal." She walked up to the side of the raft, and poked her head into the water. To her surprise, there was nothing under them. "No. Nothing."

"That's weird."

Yang walked up to the front of the raft, and ducked under the sail. Suddenly, she ran into something. "What the-" She put her hand in front of her, and was shocked to see what stopped them. Her hand was touching some sort of invisible field. "What?" She took her hand away, and punched it. Like a shockwave, the shield became visible, before disappearing again. This also got the attention of her teammates. "WHAT?!"

Yang punched again, and again. "No! That can't be!" She started kicking and headbutting the shield, as her hair catched on fire. "NO!" No matter what she did, or how hard she punched, the shield didn't give up. Realising that, she slowly sank on her knees. "No..."

Two arms grabbed her, and dragged her back. "Yang..." Ruby said quiet, as she noticed that Yang actually started crying. She hugged her sister.

"I don't wanna do this." She replied quietly. "I don't want to live the rest of my life here."

"We won't." Ruby said. "We can make it out of here."

"You actually looked like you enjoyed the Island." Blake pointed out.

"Yeah, for a short time, it was awesome. But I don't want to stay here." Yang's hair was burning brighter again, and out of frustration, she punched the bottom of the raft. To everyone's shock, wood broke loose, and Yang fell into the water.

"YANG!" Everyone shouted.

Underwater, the girl was holding her breath out of instinct, and looked around in panic. The wind already moved the raft away from her. Luckily, not too far, and she'd be able to catch up. That was what she thought at first, until she saw something closing in. It took a minute, until she realized that it was a giant shark. Even bigger than the Megalodon they sometimes saw out in the deep water when fishing. Even underwater, it's red color was easily visible, and a bit of it's left flipper was missing. Even from the distance, Yang could see that, once it caught up, the monster would just swallow her whole.

In panic, Yang started swimming towards the raft, and finally was at the surface. She turned around, and swam towards the raft again, her friends were yelling for her to come back, and she tried to swim as fast as she could.

"I should have taken more swim courses." Yang said to herself. Behind her, she could feel the shark coming closer. When she was close enough, Ruby took her hand, and her teammates tried to pull her on it.

Before it worked, however, the shark caughed up, and bit into her leg, pulling her back. She could feel the teeth digging into her Aura, and then a pain, as if her leg got crushed under some sort of bulldozer. She kicked the shark. It let go, but the force caused her to turn around. Thankfully, her friends were quick to react, and grabbed her leg. They pulled on it, and managed to drag her out of the water. The shark went in for another attack, and managed to get her hair. Her teammates pulled with all their strength, and managed to get Xiao Long on the boat. The shark, however, managed to get parts of her hair, causing the right side of it to be half as long as the other side.

To everyone's surprise, Yang didn't care. She concentrated on her leg. It seemed like the shark managed to get through her Aura, at least for a moment. There were multiple wounds along the leg, and the whole thing was bloody. There even was blood in the water, which would attract more sharks.

"FUCK!" Yang yelled in pain. With parts of her hair gone, her anger at an unusually high level, and all the things running through her mind right now, her Aura had a hard time to heal the damage. That the fish damaged multiple veins didn't help.

Ruby ran over to their boxes in panic, and searched for anything that could help. She took fiber, and ran back to her sister. She instantly wrapped it around her leg, hoping to stop the bloodloss. She noticed that Yang was crying, and wasn't sure if it was due to the pain, or the fact that they were actually trapped here. She looked into Yang's eyes, and noticed them getting a bit colorless, before Yang closed them.

For a moment, Ruby paniced, and put two fingers on her wrist. Yang was alive. She probably just fell unconscius from the loss of blood. "I think she's okay. For now." Ruby stood up, and looked over at the water. Blake and Weiss did the same, and they saw the fin poking out of the ocean. It was still there, and they couldn't get home as long as it was. It would destroy their paddles, or even worse, their raft. Then it, and the other sharks, would tear them to shreds. Even a huntress couldn't do much in water, unless she took some special training.

Luckily, it seemed like Weiss had an idea already, and took aim at a Pelagornis that was flying close to the surface. It hit, and the bird fell into the water. They saw the fin of the shark turning, and approaching the hurt pelican. "Now!" Ruby yelled, and everyone started paddeling back to the land.

"We're back!" Roman yelled, as he and Cinder entered their camp. The others were already doing things to not get bored. Adam was drawing on a canvas, Emerald was playing with Clyde, and Mercury was working on his skills with a bow. Neo was playing with her Raptor, and tried to get a hang of riding it.

"You won't believe what we found." Emerald said.

"What?"

The thief pointed at a position near the river. "When Neo was taking Amra out for a walk, it found a strongbox. It was appearently burried under the dirt." She took the dossier, and handed it to Cinder.

Inside the book was the picture of a small, bird-like animal.

"Microraptor Gnarilongus is one of the smallest non-avian dinosaurs on the Island. Incredibly fast for its size, Microraptor is a voracious carnivore. Aggresive towards anything its size or smaller, Microraptor fancies itself an Apex Predator. It will attack humans on sight, especially if it's not alone."

"Sounds like an annoying little bugger." Roman noted.

"When hunting, Microraptor's speed is only one of its assets. While not quite capable of sustained flight, its wings allow it to stay aloft for several seconds while jumping. This allows Microraptor to attack its prey's vulnerable areas, as well as searching for small river fish. While not a powerhouse against armed enemies, Microraptor is particularly suited at bringing down enemy riders. Microraptor's natural tendency to attack weaker creatures means they ignore the mount while attacking the rider with leaps of fury."

"Those things sound annoying already, don't they?" Emerald asked.

"They do." Cinder said, and closed the book. "Maybe we can tame one. They should be useful if we go to war."

Everyone who heard that looked at her in shock. "War? We don't even know if there are other people here."

"But if there are, we have to think about strategies to take them out, should it come to that. Who knows, maybe we can even get the dominant group on this Island." Cinder walked into her house, and closed the door, leaving behind a confused Roman, Emerald and Neo.

"So, we don't even know if there are any other humans, or Faunus, on the island, and Cinder is already thinking about annihilating them?" Emerald muttered.

"You still think she's gonna be a better leader?" Roman asked, and sat down on a log.

Team RWBY arrived at the shore, and practically crashed the raft into their base. Although Baza and Gran were still there, no one paid attention to them. Ruby, Weiss and Blake carried Yang on the shore, and laid her down on the ground.

Blake felt her leg, testing how much it was damaged. It was easy, seeing as the shark took her boot. She felt bones under her fingers.

"The bone is definitely shattered." She explained. "Her Aura should heal it eventually, but it could take a while." Blake took Yang's leg, and put it on a stone, so that it could rest. "I hope she wakes up soon."

All of them sat down around the fire, and Puffy waddled up next to Ruby. "So, can we talk about the forcefield now?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I said that it wouldn't work." Blake mentioned. "Admittedly, I didn't supsect that."

"At least we now know for sure that someone, or something, is holding us, and all the animals in here." Weiss said. "We don't know why, but we know that it's true."

"But there must be a way to get out of here." Ruby said. "We just have to find it."

"I have an idea..." Weiss muttered, and looked into the direction of the red Obelisk. "I think I know where we should go tomorrow."

Blake and Ruby looked at the Obelisk, and nodded. "And when it doesn't work?" Blake asked.

"Then we'll have to face the truth." Their leader answered. "The truth that we may have to spend the rest of our lives here."

"We want answers. Now." Sun said angry, as he led his fist down on Ozpin's desk. Behind him was his team, and Team CFVY.

"Please, mister Wukong, let me assure you that Team RWBY and JNPR are perfectly fine. They're just stuck at the airport in Atlas."

"Stop lying, Professor." Coco spoke up angry. "We've checked the flight times. They could have been here five days ago."

Opzin sighed loudly. "Well, I knew this day would come." He stood up. "Follow me, please."

Without any words, the eight teenagers followed him into the elevator, and then to the landing pads. From there, they took a Bullhead, leading straight to Amity.

"So, what do you think happened to them?" Neptune asked Scarlet.

"Maybe a new type of Grimm got them."

The Bullhead landed at the Colloseum, and Ozpin led the kids inside. "Did you ever wonder-?"

He was interrupted by Velvet. "Why we're here?"

"No. Why Amity Colloseum is still in the air above Vale?"

Sage shrugged. "We thought it had to be repaired? Maintenance and so on?"

He nodded. "Well, yes. That too. But there is another reason."

They entered the Arena, and saw the tents and machines standing around everywhere. Atlesian Knights and Soldiers guarded almost every part of the structure. At this point, it looked more like a military base than an arena.

"What's going on here?" Velvet asked, as they descened into the Arena.

"Your friends have not just been teleptorted away by a failed experiment. As far as we know, they've been taken away. Completely. From all of Remnant."

The eight stopped in their tracks. "You mean Aliens obducted them?"

There was a silcence for a couple of seconds. "It's not outside of the realm of possibilities." Ozpin answered.

"What? Are fucking kidding us?" Sun asked, getting slightly frustrated.

"I know, it's hard to understand, but I assure you, our best scientists are working on getting them back."

Yatsuhashi looked over the Arena, and noticed a familiar girl walking around. "Isn't that this Penny girl?"

"Yes, Miss Polendina is kind enough to assist our efforts. And I hope you'll be too."

He led them into a small room, which has been outfitted with monitoring equipment. "Now. As you may know, RWBY and JNPR aren't the only ones missing. We know that a couple of criminals have gone missing too, in the same way they did."

"Please tell me Torchwick is gone." Sun pleaded.

"He indeed is. Along with Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black, who you might know from the first final round."

"Wait, are you saying they are evil?" Coco asked. "We fought them!"

"You did. As far as we know for now, Miss Fall and her henchmen tried to use the Festival as means to lead Grimm into Vale, and destroy Beacon."

Everyone stared at the headmaster in shock. "You're kidding, right?"

"Sadly, I'm not. While searching for data of the event, we even found a virus in the systems of the CCT. After analyzing it, it revealed most of their plant to us."

"That's insane. Why'd they do this?" Neptune asked.

"Because Salem wants the relic."

"Salem? Relic?" Sage asked. All of them were just getting more questions than answers.

"What I'm about to tell you is top-secret. No one who isn't in this room, is allowed to know any of this. Not even your families. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, unsure what was going on right now.

"There is an evil being, called Salem. We don't know much about her, but that she tries to gain control over Remnant, and in turn, wipe out humanity and Faunus. Cinder Fall was working for her. But now, their carefully constructed plan has failed." Admittedly, Ozpin had to smirk at that. He wanted to see her face when she found out about it. "And that's where you come in. We think that they might try to tie up loose ends."

"Loose ends?"

"People that helped them. Intentionally or not. I'd like it if you could try to help us. Those people need to be saved, since they could hold valuable information." The headmaste explained.

"And who'd this be?" Sun asked.

"Specialist Schnee is currently working on a list. When it's done, I'll call in a meeting. Until then, you're free to spend your time however you want." Opzin left the room, leaving the eight confused teens alone.

"So, this is a thing." Wukong deadpanned.

Velvet sank into a chair. "I can't believe all of this. What else is he keeping as a secret?"

"If he's withholding information, we'll get it out of hime eventually." Coco assured her. "I still can't believe that. What should we do?"

"We should help." Neptune answered. "Our friends are missing, and the least we can do is helping out."

All of them agreed. Still, most of them had their suspicions that this might end badly.

Well, and here is Chapter 7.

Yes, the Megalodon that nearly ate Yang was the Alpha Megalodon, which doesn't have a name yet.

Also, from now on, every chapter will have at least one part dedicated to the events on Remnant. I've also decided to split the whole story into four acts. With this chapter, the first one ends, and the second one begins.

Now to reply to some reviews:

Crazy Old Walter: Well, I have no idea what happened there. I'd guess that the site fucked up somewhere.

A New Challenger: Qrow and Winter won't go to Scorched Earth. After all, it's funnier if they have to get along on a small Island, than in a giant desert. (I'd also clash extremely with how Scorched Earth is going to be involved.)

The Multiversal Writer: Yeah, I've seen that depiction of Troodon often. Honestly, when I was a kid, I got nightmares from it. And yes, they are going to use simple tools, meaning sharpened stones and other stuff animals like birds use as tools.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios