Chapter 1

POV: Rocket

We finally managed to get through what all had happened on our various trips, some of us filling in details others missed. Near the end, Qrow joined in. Somehow, he managed to turn his poisoning and near death experience into a bit of comedy.

Rocket: Ok, storytime over. Where are we going now?

Qrow: Well, before Oscar collapsed, he managed to get me a message from Oz. We need to go Shade academy. There, we'll meet the headmaster, Professor Aver Fovos, and the Summer maiden, Elsayf. We'll go ahead and grab that relic, the relic of destruction, and figure out our next step from there.

Ruby: I'm guessing we'll be defending Shade as well?

Qrow: Probably, but at least we won't have to travel by foot! We can probably request an airship, and just fly there.

Rocket: It all sounds so simple…

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Rocket: Why couldn't it be that simple?!

Yang: Just shut up and fight!

We had left Haven on the airships, leaving Kali and Ghira behind to clean up the faunus. Sun had met up with the rest of his team, and they had decided that Sun would come with us, while the rest of them stayed behind to help Blake's parents keep the more rowdy faunas under control. Since that fight with Hazel, Oscar hadn't been able to recontact Ozpin. Now, we were on an airship, an absolutely massive one to fit all 10 of us plus the crew. The flight had been silent thus far. After the group hug, old tensions had reignited. The most severe of these had been between Yang and Blake. Much to our protest, Yang's anger had turned to resentment. Back to the present, though. That airship was falling out of the sky. Nevermores had swarmed the ship after a small argument caused by a group of children with nothing else to do. They quickly destroyed all the other ships in the envoy, which carried all of our food and ammo for the trip. Fortunately for us, we were only a few days out, already being over land.

Qrow: Get the ship to the ground! We'll never be able to fight it up here!

Rocket: Actually, there is one way… Ice missile!

Without looking down, I ran forward and jumped over everyone's heads, and out of the ship. I stopped time to take stock of the situation. Currently, there were 6 Nevermores attacking, with one right in front of me. All the others were either below or behind me. Also, as time was stopped, I noticed 20 sigils open in the air around the grimm. I resumed time, and the slashing began. According to the rest of the team, I was a blur as I moved between nevermores.

Ren: Our weapons are doing nothing!

I landed back on the cargo bay of the ship, alongside the rest of the group. Throughout my attack, they had been firing a constant stream of bullets.

Rocket: Any ideas, Ruby?

Ruby: Well, we took out the one before by… oh…

The realization hit her that I no longer had my scythe, which was much sharper than my current weapon, the red and black wakizashi.

Pilot: We're about to touchdown!

Qrow: Everybody get ready to get off. Once we land, this ship will be a sitting duck.

Right on cue, the ship scraped to the ground.

Qrow: Go! Go!

We all scattered off the ship and trudged through the loose sand underneath us. We had barely gotten 20 feet away when a storm of feathers rained down on the airship. There was a second as the barrage ended, before the whole thing blew up.

Sun: And, there goes the rest of our supplies.

Rocket: Look out!

Everyone had been a bit too distracted by the ship exploding to notice that our group was now the only target within a few hundred meters. At my warning, the group looked up and saw the rain of feathers now aimed at us.

Qrow: Scatter!

We broke apart into pairs. Ruby and I ran in one direction, Sun and Ilia ran in another, Blake and Yang ran in a third, Weiss ran away with Qrow, and Oscar followed Jaune, Nora, and Ren. Focusing back on the Nevermores, they split up to attack all of us. Two followed the group that will forever be referred to as ORNJ, and only one followed every other group. How we'll find each other again, I have no idea. Looking at the landscape, I doubt we could even find our way back to the crash. The stretch of desert around us was filled with identical dunes blocking out all vision past their peaks. With no landmarks, anyone could walk in a circle and never know. We had all been given maps of the area, but that didn't help as much as it might seem.

Ruby: Where do we go? What do we do?

Rocket: Well, first things first, we need to take care of this nevermore.

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POV: Omniscient

Yang: And how are we going to do that?

Blake: First, we will have to get in the air. Since I have no way of doing that, it will be your job.

Yang: And what exactly will you be doing while I'm getting it to ground?

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Sun: I'll be waiting for you to get it to ground. Once we do that-

Ilia: Should be a piece of cake?

Sun: That's one stale piece of cake, but sure. Let's go with that.

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Jaune: Well, it's the only plan we've got, so let's do this!

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Qrow: Be back in a second.

Weiss watched as Qrow changed, just like Raven had. This time, though, it was in reverse. Qrow, now Crow, flew up to meet the nevermore.