0137 hours, Emerald Forest

For the second time, Roy woke up feeling nothing but pain. This time, however, it was everywhere. He grunted while he tried to unfasten his seat's harness. As he reached for his rifle in the rack to his left, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. Something wasn't right with it. Probably broken. Breathing too much was painful, some ribs were probably fractured, too. Roy put his rifle on his back, grimacing from the pain, and looked around. He noticed that some weren't in such a good state either. Four of his comrades were still unconscious. Two of the marines were already outside, weapons drawn. A blonde in armor was checking on Eizan, one of the ship's mechanics. She had a medical satchel, a medic then. Roy disabled his magnetic boots and checked on the man to his left. Seaman El Rahid. The man was in his twenties, maybe his early thirties. He had a pulse and no visible injuries, which meant that he was probably safe to transport. Roy unfastened the man's harness and carried him outside. He left El Rahid next to a wounded marine and walked around the wreck. The cockpit was open, with a concerned Hot Dog looking at it. The pilot was smoking a cigarette, seemingly lost in thought.

"Well, talk about a bumpy ride."

"Mmmhh, can't say it's my worse landing, skipper."

"Somehow this doesn't surprise me. How's it looking?"

"Well, apart from the empty fuel tank and fried antenna, my girl's still in good shape. We skiffed for a good hundred meters before dropping from that cliff. Landing gear took a beating, but those trees took the brunt of the impact." Hot Dog pointed behind him at the trail of broken trees going all the way to a cliff. Roy could've sworn he saw a small figure up there. "Engines soaked up quite a few branches, too. Not sure if they'll work right now, but we build tough stuff."

"Okay, what about casualties? Some of us don't seem to be in a good shape."

"Well, no one died so far. Some broken bones and concussions, but everyone's alive. Medic's checking to be sure, but I think they'll be fine."

"Good to know. Nice work out there."

"Yeah yeah, just doin' my job, skipper."

Hot Dog was probably in his thirties. He didn't sound like he took Roy seriously. Maybe he never really took anyone seriously. He did earn his call sign, after all. That ought to be an interesting story. He never looked at Roy, his eyes still throwing a blank expression at the painted teeth below the canopy. Roy turned around and walked back towards the newly-made clearing right outside the passenger cabin. Two marines were standing guard while the rest were setting up a perimeter with glow sticks. Roy counted six of them. Nine if he counted Eizan, the wounded marine and El Rahid leaning against some tree stumps. With him and Hot Dog, that made eleven, so two were already missing. Roy checked back into the aircraft to be sure, but the cabin was empty, some cargo crates in the back and a few bandages and empty syringes lying around. At least everyone's awake now. Roy turned back toward the clearing and noticed that one of the crates, an emergency kit, was open and lying in the middle. That crate contained a few useful things like some glow sticks, flares, food, but most importantly, an emergency broadcast beacon.

Roy unsealed his helmet with a hiss and dropped it next to the beacon. The night air was refreshing, smelling of wood and leaves. He took his purple beret from one of his chest pockets, looking at the insignia. Federal Rangers, it said. To protect mankind, his mind thought. That was their motto, their raison d'être. Rangers were more than elite infantry. They were the guardians of peace, and above all else, of human life. They were usually sent to the most unstable colonies, not to enforce laws, but to enforce human rights. Fighting against organized crime, rebel groups and rising dictatorships with subtlety and swiftness was their specialty. To become a Ranger, you'd have to serve for five years and reach the rank of Staff-Sergeant of higher, among other things. Roy was the exception. Shaking off his thoughts, Roy donned his beret and activated the beacon. He then approached one of the marines guarding the area. With their suit's multi-spectrum visor and built-in motion sensor, if anything happened out there, they'd know.

"Hey, uh… Mike, right?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I only count eleven of us here, know where uh… the last two went off?"

"Oh, sure, Ben needed to take a shit and Farid escorted him into the woods, y'know, just in case."

As Mike finished his sentence, the sound of fleeing birds and gunshots forced everyone to draw their weapons. Something wasn't right, the first shot wasn't one of theirs, it was a firearm. The last firearms Roy ever saw were in a museum, decommissioned decades ago.

"Shit, this never ends, does it?"

Roy nodded to the marine and walked toward the center of the group.

"Alright people, take defensive positions and get the wounded back in the Raven."

Once again, crates were stacked hastily to form a makeshift barricade, while others took cover behind rocks and tree stumps. Ben ran out of the tree line, catching his breath. Shortly after, an explosion illuminated the forest behind him, exposing a massive black shape.

"Fuck, it's big! It's BIG! Farid, he's… he's..."

The seaman didn't get to finish his sentence, as a massive black bear-like claw sent him flying. The beast was truly enormous, maybe four meters high. Its red eyes and white bone plates were the only thing keeping its silhouette clear in the night. The creature roared at the group of soldiers, standing on its hind legs. Mike stood next to Roy, his hands struggling to keep his rifle aimed steadily at the creature.

"I…I don't think our guns are big enough for that one."

"There's more of them! Look out!" said another marine.

He was right, more red eyes appeared in the tree lines. Three, five, a dozen. This wasn't going to end well. The tree lines weren't lighted very well, hiding the creatures behind shadows.

"Mike, fire off a flare, give us some light. Mike?"

"Right. Flare, on it boss."

Roy looked back at Ben. The man was lying on the ground, unconscious or worse. One of the new, smaller, canine creatures approached him. It raised its claw, but before it could deal the finishing blow, a shot to the head staggered it back. It wasn't dead, but Roy kept shooting while running for Ben, the adrenaline dampening the pain from his ribs.

"Open fire! Kill the bastards, light 'em up!"

0140 hours, Beacon Cliff

Ruby was standing where Prof. Ozpin stood just weeks ago. Now, there was a large trench dug where the launch pads used to be. Ruby was looking down below the cliff, into the forest. There was a trail of broken trees leading into the aircraft, its shape still recognizable under the moonlight. It wasn't a bullhead, the cargo bay opened in the rear and not the sides. It wasn't sleek and grey either, it looked more like an Altesian craft with its angular shape. With her speed, Ruby reached the cliff first. It would take a few more minutes for her team to arrive, and even longer for Ms. Goodwitch and Prof. Port to arrive by air with medical teams. Ruby wasn't sure what to do, so she just watched through her scope at the crash site. Some people in armor were walking around, taking off their helmets and scanning their surroundings. Next there were a few in unfamiliar dark uniforms carrying some crates. Ruby noticed that all of them carried weird rifles. They were similar to Atlas's service rifle, so maybe they really were Atlesian special forces. Ruby was growing excited. She pulled up her Scroll and called her sister.

"Yang, how long until you get there? These guys look pretty serious. Atlas special forces maybe?"

Ruby could hear her sister running through the speaker. She wasn't expecting Weiss to answer, though.

"Did you just say Atlas specialists? Is there a woman with them?"

"Uh… yeah, I think so, a blonde, she's treating the wounded."

Weiss mumble something, not loud enough to get through the Scroll. This time it was Yang's voice.

"We're almost there Ruby, is there any Grimm yet?"

Ruby looked through her scope again. No Grimm near the crash site. A couple of the men wandered in the woods. One of them pulled down his pants near a bush.

"Eeeww gross!"

"Ruby?"

"Uuuhh, nothing, not seeing any Grimms."

"You sure?"

Ruby looked again and saw an Ursa coming up behind the man standing guard. Ruby didn't hesitate. With a smirk, she pressed Crescent Rose's trigger. The dust round impacted on the Ursa's claw, buzzing right above the soldier's head. The man had good reflexes, as he rolled out of the way when he noticed where the bullet went. He shouted something to his friend and fired his weapon while backing off. It wasn't a firearm, and the sound was unfamiliar. Ruby watched as the man shot the Ursa to death, but quickly realized that other Grimms were surrounding him, with an Ursa Major among them. She jumped off the cliff, hearing her sister's voice through her Scroll.

"Ruby? Ruby! What's going on? What kind of Grimm is it?"

"Ursai and Beowolves, lots of them, hurry!"

"We're almost there, leave some for us Sis'!"

With that said, she closed her Scroll and deployed Crescent Rose, running toward the lone soldier. With a cute yell, she severed in half the first Beowolf she encountered and looked around. To her horror, the man was gravely wounded in an Alpha Beowolf's claw, shooting his captor with one hand, and carrying a grenade in the other. The alpha, seemingly annoyed, was about to tear the man in two when the explosion engulfed both of them in a white purple-ish ball of fire, leaving nothing but a burnt crater in its place. Frozen in place after witnessing the man's death, Ruby barely managed to block a Beowolf's claw with her scythe. Focusing on the battle, she fired into the creature's face, killing it and giving her some breathing space. Shortly after, a yellow explosion followed by a joyful Woohoo sent another Beowolf flying.

"Hey what did we miss, Sis?"

Ruby threw a sad look at the burnt crater, and Yang quickly lost her grin. They didn't have time to exchange words, as more yells, explosions and gunshots broke the silence. Ruby looked back at her team, her eyes full of determination.

"We need to get there, now!"

Ruby vanished in a cloud of petals, while an exasperated Weiss spawned a trail of glyphs while mumbling.

"Oh, you insufferable dolt, do you have any idea how painful those high heels are?"

0146 hours, Crash site

For once, Roy's leadership wasn't taken lightly. The dark forest was soon brightly lit by the red flare in the sky, allowing everyone to pick a target. It was like a light show, a red background with bluish flashes and black shadows.

"Woooo! Take that you fucker!"

"Look out! To the left!"

"Shit, kill it! Kill it!"

"Fire in the hole!"

Roy could hear many yells in addition to the gunshots and explosions behind his back, but he couldn't afford to look back. He was dragging Ben back toward the group, firing his pistol at the dark wolf-like creature. It stood on its hind legs, like the giant bear-like creature. It was taller than a man, maybe two meters high. Its sheer size made it difficult to kill. His shots were clearly effective, putting some holes in its flesh and bone plates, but didn't penetrate deep enough. The sheer kinetic energy was keeping it at bay, which was enough. Now that he was back to the group, Roy dropped Ben and took aim. He breathed out and fired three shots into the beast's head. The first cracked the already damaged bone plate, the second went beneath the eye and the third blew off half of the creature's head, who dropped on the ground, its body disintegrating in small, black particles. To his surprise, there wasn't any blood or organs.

Roy didn't have enough time to think about it. He reloaded his pistol and looked around. The situation was bad, really bad. The largest creature was down, but so was half of the group. The wolf-like creatures were much faster and overwhelmed the defenders. When someone went to kill one of those that broke through, another would jump into the new breach. They weren't going to last long if this kept going. Roy couldn't accept this. Surviving an escape in high orbit only to be eaten by the local wildlife? That's embarrassing, to say the least! They were soldiers, damn it, how could it end like that? They mastered the power of the sun, weaponized gravity itself and a bunch of over-sized wolves was all it took to take them down?

Roy turned around and shot another creature in its mouth while it roared. The effect was quite spectacular, as its head literally blew up, leaving a gaping hole down its throat. There still wasn't any blood, though, which was worrying. The lieutenant, satisfied with himself, looked to his left and saw Mike lying on the ground, one of the creatures clawing its way through his torso. His eyes filled with hatred as the lieutenant fired again and again, each shot staggering the beast back until it rolled on its back. Roy stepped on its throat and emptied his weapon in the creature's roaring mouth. His pistol now empty, Roy threw it away and grabbed Mike's bloodied rifle. Before he could use it, however, a massive claw swiped him off the ground and sent him flying into a tree.

Dazed, the lieutenant tried to get up, but didn't have the strength to do so. He tried to reach for his weapon, which landed close by, but the pain from his ribs prevented him from doing anything. He was lying there, unable to do anything as he watched his team getting slaughtered. He didn't even notice that the sounds were slowly getting muffled when he suddenly saw a red blur flying across the battlefield, leaving cleaved monsters and red petals behind. When the blur stopped, Roy saw the most beautiful grim reaper he could imagine, coming straight from a comic book. A red-hooded girl wielding a massive red scythe, dressed in a Gothic-style corset highlighting her slim figure and with black hair whose color gradually shifted to red towards the tips. She wasn't alone, as he saw yellow explosions and white circles popping up everywhere. The red girl seemed satisfied with the chaos, and Roy felt his strength leaving him. THAT was their rescue team? And those monsters out there were the local fauna?

"Where the hell did we end up?" he said as he lost consciousness.