Coco pirouetted out of the way as one of the dragon heads slammed its beaked face into the expressway, punching through and sending the entire section down to the ground. A second head snapped after her, but she batted it away with her gun.

Neptune slid under one of the heads, quickly righting himself and switching his weapon to its trident form in order to vault himself over the newly-created gap. Landing cleanly, he ducked and rolled as yet another head swooped down after him. He swatted at the head, knocking it back before joining Coco.

Tsuruya found herself struggling to hold back her laughter as she danced around the swirling masses of scaly monster necks. Sensing it coming, she jumped just as one of the Hydra's heads broke through the street beneath her. Sword glowing with her aura's energy, she slashed under her. The monster roared in pain, bursting through the concrete as she landed running. It fixed its eyes on her back, lurching forward in a rage.

The three joined up, standing back to back as six Hydra heads closed in on them. Coco grimaced. She had her gun trained on one of them, but it wasn't powerful enough to put the head out of commission. Even if it was, the others would immediately be on them. There was no way to take out all six heads before they could close in. It was already too dangerous, but she knew above all else that they couldn't afford to take out the heads.

"They're all around us." Neptune observed.

Coco nodded. "Coming up from all sides. Means the body is directly under us."

Tsuruya glanced over her shoulder. "Stab the heart?"

Coco smiled. "Stab the heart. Let's drop the whole thing on it first."

She smashed the back end of her weapon into the street. At first, the six heads drew nearer, but they stopped when the street continued to crack and crumble. Sensing the danger, they backed off. Coco grinned victoriously as she hit the ground again. The entire section shattered, rock and dust falling down with three Beacon Rangers in amongst it all.

Landing solidly on the ground, Neptune and Tsuruya looked up to see the massive Hydra before them. The monster spread its myriad heads in a display of its terrific might. The necks stretched twenty meters. Tsuruya made very good note of the fact that there were currently ten heads. The body was bulky and long, as long as a city block and tall as a five story building even without the heads.

Aiming his gun at the beast, Neptune wasn't sure which part to shoot first. "This is very bad. Where'd Coco go?"

Tsuruya looked down at her sword and beck up to the Hydra. "This isn't going to work. It has four more heads now. Did it just not show the other four or did we screw something up?"

Neptune sighed. "No. If I remember correctly, Hydra have ten heads by default. They grow more throughout a battle and shed the extra afterward. But, man… this is not good. It's a big one, and I've never heard of a Hydra fight without casualties."

Tsuruya nodded. "Yup, and I bet they always had more than three people, all better trained than us, and without the threat of more Grimm joining the fight at any moment."

He glanced over at her. "Oh, you read those files?"

She grinned. "Nope. Just watch a lot of anime. You ever see Beserk? That's what I'm thinking."

"Is that good?"

"Lotta people died in that anime."

"Forget I asked." Neptune shook his head. "Let's do this."

Tsuruya grinned. She charged the beast alone. "Leroy Jenkins!"

Ten heads made to intercept the charging girl. A rain of bullets from a nearby rooftop stole the attention of half the heads, and they turned to go after the source of the biting pain. Coco sprayed the Hydra from her high vantage point, ever muscle tensed and ready to run the moment it reached her.

Down below, the first head reached Tsuruya. She threw her sword, sticking it into the beaked face, and jumped over its attack. Grabbing the hilt of the sword while still in midair, she wrenched it free and landed on top of the beast. Disregarding its loud protest, she ran along its neck towards the body, slashing red lines into the flesh every step of the way. Another head bore down on her, missing narrowly as she danced out of the way. Its strong jaws instead clamped down on the neck of its brother.

Two more heads went in after her. She jumped over the first as it swooped in, then landed and rolled under the second. Suddenly, she backpedaled, leading a third attacker back through the same route. Under one neck and then over the next. The one she was running along turned back on itself to continue the chase, only to have her jump off and lead it through the now-tangled mess.

Knowing it wouldn't take too long for the five heads to sort themselves out, Tsuruya continued her charge on the ground. She made her way to the body just as the first of the five managed to free itself and follow her. Streaks of blue shot past her, punching holes into the body and pursuing head. It turned on Neptune, screeching for the others to take the blue-haired boy.

With time undeniably short, Tsuruya angled her sword toward the beast's right side. An aura of orange energy appeared around her, shooting down the blade and piercing the monster's scaled chest. The Hydra's back blew open in a shower of red and black. The ten heads shrieked in agony and began to spasm, thrashing wildly about and slamming into each other and the ground. Tsuruya barely managed to dodge out of the way before being crushed to death as the gigantic body fell to the ground.

Coco leaped down from the building and ran to Tsuruya's side. "How did you do that? That was amazing!"

Tsuruya looked along the length of her sword. "Uh… I just kinda did it. I projected my aura through my sword and shot a beam of awesome at it."

The body of the Hydra was already beginning to disintegrate. Neptune cautiously approached, prodding one of the long necks with his trident. Coco motioned for the two of them to move into position, snapping them out of the daze.

Pyrrha's voice cut the silence. "Looks like you got it. Velvet's coming in for a landing."

Coco tapped a radio device wrapped around her ear. "Understood. Come in to cover us. We're heading in."

While they waited for the others to join them, Tsuruya thought of something to ask. "Hey, do you guys have normal schools here?"

Coco looked back over her shoulder. "Normal?"

Tsuruya shrugged. "Yeah. Like, you have combat schools like Beacon and Signal, but do you have normal schools for people who want to be, like… a florist or… a plumber?"

Coco laughed. "Yeah, of course we do. Beacon has students from around the world, and the attendance is still much lower than any other school. It's very prestigious, so only a handful of teams get in every year. Combat schools like Signal get more students, but not by a very large margin. It's usually around seventy students a year for schools like that. The, uh… normal schools have a much higher attendance."

Tsuruya nodded. "Alright. So what do you think the global population is? I mean… was. Before the Grimm attacked."

Neptune spoke up. "I think I remember reading about that. It's not a statistic that's brought up much, but I believe the estimates were around six or seven million. That's including both Human and Faunus."

Tsuruya stopped, taking a moment to count something on her fingers. "Million… that's three less than a billion, right?"

Neptune was busy keeping an eye on the sky when he answered. "No… a billion is quite a bit bigger than that."

Tsuruya shook her head. "I mean, the number of zeroes. Million is six zeroes, and billion is nine, right?"

"Are you really asking me this?" Neptune turned to face Tsuruya. "Yes. Yes it is."

"Well my world has more than six billion people."

Neptune nearly dropped his gun. "Wha- six billion? That's more than the higher estimations for the Grimm population! I mean… geez, that word really just sounds incredible, doesn't it? You say 'billion' and you've pretty much lost credibility. That number is just… it's unfathomable."

Tsuruya nodded. "Yeah, it is pretty amazing."

Coco called over her shoulder. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't explode my team's brains while we're on a mission." She froze suddenly, every sense on alert. Tsuruya and Neptune froze as well. A moment later, Coco motioned ahead of her. "Grimm! It's underground! Coming up right there!"

Tsuruya looked where Coco had indicated and spotted a manhole cover. Coco and Neptune had their guns pointed at that very spot, ready to blast whatever popped its head up into a billion pieces. They didn't have long to wait. The manhole cover flew into the air, smashing through the wall of a nearby building. The creature that crawled out was hideous, but laughably small after the Hydra.

It looked vaguely Human in shape, with only its legs still under the street. Its torso and head made it about two meters tall. Its long arms stretched down from hunched shoulders to the ground, three fingers on each hand gripping the pavement with suction-cupped tips. A mess of black tentacles squirmed on the back of its head, barely visible behind its flat, featureless face.

Coco grinned. "I got this one." Stepping forward, she opened fire on the Grimm. A constant stream of charged dust encased in hot lead shredded the seemingly defenseless creature, punching holes through its body and blasting off its limbs. Within a few seconds it was hanging out of the hole, limply sprawled across the street with its lower half still in the hole. Coco turned back to her team. "That was cathartic."

The street exploded behind her. Shocked, she only managed to turn around just in time to see the thing she'd blasted into oblivion hanging from a long appendage. It had no legs. It was attached to a massive gaping toothy maw that was now bearing down on her.

Coco disappeared from view as the maw snapped shut. Concrete and asphalt filled the air when the monster smashed through the street, showering Tsuruya and Neptune with debris. The force of the impact knocked them off their feet. Rearing its head, the massive Grimm made to roar at its prey. When it opened its mouth, however, only a wheezing gurgle came from it.

Tsuruya gasped. The monster was struggling, trying to close its mouth. In between its two jaws, Coco stood. Her weapon gone from sight, she held the mouth of the beast open with her bare hands. One hand pressed against the roof of its mouth, and one of her feet was jammed in between two teeth of the lower jaw. Her other hand was gripping a jagged tooth on the upper jaw, blood running down her arm. There was blood coming from her forehead as well.

The Grimm had had enough. A few thunderous coughs and one shake of its head later, Coco found herself forcefully removed from its mouth. She was hit in the side by a heavy, rock hard tongue. The jaws closed with crushing force right behind her. Coco crashed through the side of a building, smashing through the opposite wall as well before hitting the street with enough force to crack the pavement and send pieces flying in every direction.

The Grimm monster, finally without something stuck in its mouth, reared its head again and roared. The sound was deafening. Tsuruya had to cover her ears, and still it was overpoweringly loud.

Just as it was finishing its angered roar, several metal arrows struck the beast and exploded into flame. It drew back, large red eyes searching the ground for its attacker. More arrows, along with a barrage of rifle fire, peppered its thick hide. Then a sword flew through the air and stuck into its left eye.

On the roofs, Pyrrha and Cinder glanced over to Jaune. Pyrrha sighed. "At least you hit it."

Jaune laughed. "Yeah, didn't expect that." He called down to the others. "You two get Coco back to the bullhead! We'll take care of this thing!"

Author's note: One giant Grimm falls and another rises! This is the work of Beacon Rangers! The hoo!