Trying
Hey guys, I'm back! I suck at proofreading, leave me alone! .
Formalities:
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, that belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth extensively. I do not own any references made in this Fanfiction (Red vs. Blue, Rooster Teeth) (Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima) (Destiny, Bungie). I do, however, own any and all OCs as well as Twisted Plot.
Future Changes: This Fanfiction is prone to changes sometime in the nearby future, I apologize for any confusion whatsoever.
Respects: Monty Oum will live on in RWBY, Red vs. Blue, and especially in our Fanfictions, whatever they may be.
Announcements: I'm putting down Regenesis for a while, sorry. Now, last chapter, there were a lot of screwups! I'm going to tell you right now, Joan and Patro were the vanguard and Troja and Winter were rearguard AT FIRST during the match in the beginning of the chapter! Positive critiques, shout out references, love the show. Have fun, all o' yall!
Now, for the love of God, let the Fanfiction begin!
-= *Jokes in a Fight* =-
-= *Somewhere in the Sapphire Mountains* =-
-= *Third Person POV* =-
Herra looked down from the mountainside at her partner and twin brother. "Crane!" she yelled down at him as the ball of fire exploded on him. "No!"
She would've jumped down if it wasn't for the claw protruding through her stomach. The black, metallic claw dripped with a green liquid. When she looked down, the same liquid erupted from her stomach.
"No!" Patro yelled, only to quiet down when he saw the liquid, "Herra?"
The helmet visor lifted and showed her face. It seemed pale...smooth, silky even. He was then thrown off when he saw her eyes, a vibrant pink filled her irises. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before..." the claw was removed and she stood there, on her toes. Slowly, ever so slowly falling forward.
"No!" he ran to her, only to be blocked by the Grimm, "You..."
The Grimm lunged at him, and had it not been for Achilles's bladed scope, he would've lost his left arm. He quickly shifted around the claw that he held back with Achilles in his left hand and reeled in a little, aiming with his spike-like pauldron. Once he believed he aimed correctly, he lunged for the center of the Grimm's unusually natural armor and as he plunged it deep within its innards, a claw grazed his right arm, causing him to grunt a little in pain.
"I hate Vex..." he mumbled as he ripped it off of his spaulder. Herra, almost falling over, was instantly caught by her hand over the sheer cliffhanger where she once stood. Hanging over it like that, Patro could barely lift her with his right arm, left still attached to the edge of the cliffside.
"Damn..." he cursed, "You're really heavy..."
"U-uh..." she stuttered, "B-blame t-the arm-armor..."
"Is that a stutter I hear?" he asked coyly despite their situation, "Are you by any chance fat?"
"N-no!" she yelled at him, "M-may-"
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Just get me the Dust up!"
"Wait!"
"For what?!" she tightened her grip when she looked down. Tears almost threatening to come out from her unannounced fear of heights.
"Look, it's the Sawws. They're taking on some Vex Goblins, wanna screw with them and that Praetorian over there?"
Losing her care for heights, she indeed saw the two Sawws taking on the Vex Goblins. Looking over to the right a little, she saw a Vex Minotaur. "That's a Minotaur," she stated nonchalantly.
"It's a Praetorian," he corrected. "See the glint around it?" When she squinted with her eyes, she most definitely saw the glint.
"Yeah, it's a Praetorian, whatever. Now, can we get back up?"
"Newsflash, Herra," Patro said with a grunt, "Can't lift worth a damn! My right arm his shot!"
"By what?!"
"The Minotaur from earlier, it grazed my arm when I stabbed it with my spaulder!" He grunted louder with pain. "What the crap kind of suitcase are you holding?!"
Lifting the suitcase a little higher for him to see, she said, "It's the compact version of Frowny."
"Who the Dust is Frowny?!" Patro repeated the unusual name. He wasn't up for them at the moment.
"My chain gun, silly," she smiled brightly up at him, almost causing him to lose his grip in awe of her smile. "Would you mind paying attention by holding my hand a little tighter?"
Hearing near ludicrousy in her voice, he looked away with a blush evident on his face that did not go unnoticed by her. When he looked back down, she smiled a little brighter, and he grunted as he tried to lift her. "Damn my fetish for chu-"
"What was that?"
"N-nothing?!"
"Hmm..." she hummed, causing him to lift her more. It's working! she mused, Flustering him with my hand makes him work harder? Noted.
She gripped a little tighter, and indeed it was true. Flustering him worked. She would've let her hand linger for a while had it not been for her already being pulled up the rest of the way. "Uh...can I have my hand ba-"
"No." Ignoring the logic in her thoughts, she held it with eyes shut, brows furrowed. After a little while, she gasped a little and reeled her hand back. He quickly grabbed his weapon.
"L-let's m-mess with the S-Sawws a little, e-eh?" she turned to smile brightly at him for a third time, hoping to divert the inevitable conversation. Getting back at her, he took her by surprise by grabbing her chin.
"Nice diversion, but we're gonna talk about it later, got it?" he said with a coquettish grin. She nodded vigorously with both fear and a slight tint of happiness. She just wanted to burst in laughter on his words and his quick change of demeanor from coy, to flustered, to coy once again. But this...grin...threw her off the tiniest bit. Was he implying they should- "Praetorians are known to be smart on positioning their teleportations near the attacker. You need to hang me over the edge so it teleports to the Sawws."
He had cut off her train of thought. She was a little glad she hadn't thought a little further and with a toss of her dark silver suitcase with pink trims, she turned to him and grabbed him by the foot. Yelling, she ignored him and dragged him to the edge of the cliff. Half-throwing him off, she held him tight by his right foot, already knowing of the metal there. She let herself fall off the edge with a "Whee!" evident in her voice as her boots screwed themselves into the edge of the cliff.
"Care to shoot them now?" she asked. Her own kittenish grin appearing on her face as he looked up at her. She could've sworn she saw a smirk on his face before pulling down his weapon and with an aim said something she didn't hear. "What?"
"It's not a Praetorian, you were right. The glint was its armor in the sunlight. It's a Minotaur."
She smirked, "Is that a pout I heard?"
"I don't think it's physically possible to hear a pout."
"I think it is. Shoot already."
"G-got it." He aimed down his sights a little more, stocking his weapon. "You might wanna brace a little...Achilles has one heck of a kick."
Knowing that he was referencing his sniper rifle, "Okay," was all she said.
"Okay..." there were a few moments of silence before he fired, a bullet hitting the Vex Grimm in the foot. The shot's recoil caused the two slam into the cliff and they let out a short grunt in pain for arm and stomach, respectively.
"Nice...but why the foot?"
"Why spoil the fun by making it possible for them to kill it easily with a bullet lodged in its chest. It may impede its movement, but its still one heck of a killing machine with only a damaged foot." As he said that, the Grimm teleported with a blinding blue light to the Sawws who had killed around-
"Ten Vex Goblins. They killed that many under a minute?!" Herra almost yelled.
"Can you pull me up now?" With a nod that he saw when he looked up at her, she easily swung him up, and slowly, ever so surely, pulled herself up with him.
"You're really light, you know that?"
"That's what Pyrrha said when she threw me around like a wrecking ball."
"A-a what?" she stuttered, "And who?"
"A wrecking ball. And my sister. We were in a match, Dustbent on winning. Both three-way champions in the Mistral Tournaments. In the seventh Tournament, we were the last two. So, she beat me by getting a chance at my foot," he pointed to his right foot, "And didn't turn the blade fast enough, severing the foot. Unknowing of the severed foot, she picked me up by my left one and swung me around like a marionette."
"O-oh..." was all she could muster as the two loomed over the edge, curious of the condition of the Sawws. "They look like they're having trouble with it, do you want to help them?"
"Nah," he said, "Let them suffer. Seem like a couple of a-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Nikos." Not needing to hear the harshness in her voice that was no higher than a whisper, he quickly complied.
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
She sighed as the Sawws finally stabbed it through the chest. "Come on, we have to rendezvous with them and make it to the bottom. Crane must be in a world of pain."
"I can fix up your stomach if you want me to," Patro offered, "Won't take too long."
"We can fix it after rendezvousing with the others. And yes, before you ask, I'm a-"
"Don't finish that sentence, Gunn," he glared at her, "You're human...leave it at that."
"R-right."
The two slid off the edge to rendezvous with the Sawws. Both Sawws stood silently and still as a Wyvern approached them.
"Nikos!"
"Yes?!" he yelled as the two slid down the steep cliffside.
"Save them! Shoot the wyvern in the eye!"
"Got it!" he yelled as he was kicked in the back by Herra. He instantly went flying forward, and slid to a stop between the two Sawws, took aim and fired.
"Do you two really want to die?"
-= *Storytelling* =-
-= *Cafeteria, the next day* =-
"And then I said," Anna interrupted, "'Way to ruin the moment, Nikos.'"
Pyrrha nudged him and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "You should've let her die."
"Why? And even if I wanted her to die, what would happen to Iridium?"
"Good point."
"And then I said-" the younger Nikos said as the two teams continuously conversed about the whereabouts and the happenings that went on around them during the field trip from the other day. It had been a week since then, and Troja, along with the Gunns, had gone on a mercenary trip to fulfill the wager made by the Trojan on the terms of forming a single team during the field trip. If Herra had been there during the storytelling at lunch, he would've been as glad as heck he hadn't mentioned that her blood was green, saying it was red instead. And defensibly, not saying anything of the sort of the Gunns and Sawws origins. The Sawws were greatly in debt to him for keeping such a secret.
"I can't believe she left me, of all people, in charge of the team. I've made huge problems with just trying to talk to them! Patro hates me, Joan might think I'm a burden by trying to just get him to stop! It's all wrong! Where is Troja?!" she demanded.
"She already told you by now, yes?" Professor Ozpin asked, "She's on a mission with the Gunns. She'll be back sometime this week."
"I can't wait that long!" Winter yelled back, tears threatening to form in her eyes due to frustration. "When will she be back?"
Acting like a child like waiting for father to come home again, Winter? Weiss mused from around the corner.
"I just said that she would be back this week, Miss Schnee," Ozpin said with his usual calm demeanor, "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a meeting with the Vale Council."
"No!" Winter stood in front of him, "I want her back! Now!"
"How about this..." the Headmaster said slowly, nonchalant again by with a tinge of annoyance, "After I'm done with this meeting, we'll make you and your team take a test to see if she can come back, are you okay with that?"
Oh no, Weiss thought, not that test...
"Deal!" Winter yelled, soon skipping in her step away from the Headmaster. He ran a hand through his hair and was almost startled by Weiss.
"How did you trick her so easily?"
"She was acting like a child, so I made her take bait like a child."
"Is that frustration I hear," Weiss smirked, "That's a first for the 'World-Renowned-Calm-Demeanored-Headmaster-of-Beacon,' eh?"
"Not now, Miss Schnee," he walked away.
"I didn't hear a 'no,' so I'm going to assume it's true!"
Ozpin sighed loudly with two fingers on the bridge of his nose as the heiress ran around the corner, "I don't get paid enough for these students."
"I thought you loved your students."
"Ah, Jaeger Schnee, what're you doing here on this fine day?" Ozpin regained his calm.
"Well, I wanted to check on my daughters...and I couldn't help but overhear-"
"Mister Schnee," Ozpin said with patience no longer, "I was frustrated, and now we have a meeting with the Council, shall we just go?"
"Okay," Jaeger said, walking with Ozpin towards their office. "But what of the Iris," he asked, "Didn't she finish her mission yesterday? Why did you lie to poor Winter?"
"Troja asked me the moment she got back, she said-"
-= *Training Room* =-
"Ugh! No, Patro! Left Vanguard, not the right! Like the first Combat Class we had with Troja!"
"Be more specific next time!"
"Pay attention, Patro!" Iridium yelled and Patro was forced to the ground for the umpteenth time.
The Sawws agreed to train the Trojans once again but to no avail. For long moments at a time, Winter, time and time again, tried her best to coordinate her team, only to be met with failure.
"That's like, the seventeenth time you guys failed to overpower us," Anna said nonchalantly. Winter only lost more and more confidence every time Anna counted their losses.
"Don't say that, Anna," the Nikos for once defended them, "We're trying our best. We have a Troja-in-training over there," he pointed to Winter, "And she's still doing a damn better job than any of us would on our first week!"
The second he finished that conversation, he yelped as Winter put her hand on his shoulder. Ignoring the yelp, Winter looked up at him as he looked back, "Thank you...for that."
Remembering Herra's words back at the Sapphire Mountains, he visibly blushed, all but barely a bright pink.
"Is that a blush, Nikos?" She continued to barrage him.
"N-no! Let's just try this again, Snowflake!"
"Stop giving me nicknames!" she chased him around in circles as Joan tried to find a way to stop a fight between the two before it started. The Sawws just laughed at their expense.
They're doing better than before... Ozpin mused as he leaned against the frame of the door on the inside of the Training Room, Should I call them out now, or should I just muse at their expense? Go, Winter! Rip his hair o- that's unorthodox. Better stop them now, before I start thinking lewdly. He coughed loudly.
The cloud of white and maroon soon lifted as everyone stared up at Ozpin who slowly approached them from the door. Winter had Patro in a headlock with a free hand grabbing at his hair.
"It's time for that test I talked about. I'm done with my meeting, Winter. Come on. Let's go, Trojans."
"Wait," Patro spoke up as he pushed off a tumbling Winter and stood up, "What test?"
"Did Miss Schnee not tell you?" Ozpin asked.
"Oh, right!" Winter got up quickly and acted like nothing happened, "I forgot to tell you! He said if we take this test thing, Troja can come back!"
"What's impeding her return?" Patro continued. Winter shrugged and looked at Ozpin who visibly gulped. Patro was the only one who noticed this.
"She and the Gunns are stuck in a cave east of the Emerald Forest," Ozpin said quickly, alibi forming in the back of his head and rolling off his tongue like it was practiced, "They have been cornered by a King Taijitsu known as: 'Queen Aranae.'"
"Aranae?" Joan spoke up, "Isn't that like, a spider name or something?" She shivered immensely.
"That's the thing," Ozpin said, "It killed the occupying spiders the day before Initiation and we've had travelling problems because of it. It also killed the spiders' queen, Queen Arachne."
"O-oh..." Joan meekly replied.
"Why is the King Taijitsu named the Queen Aranae?" Iridium asked.
"We found out it was female."
"Do Grimm really have...parts...that visibly separate Gender, though?" Anna spoke up herself.
"Y-yes..."
"What 'parts?'" Winter asked loudly, causing the heiress to stop her advance just outside the door.
"OZPIN!" Weiss yelled, finally bursting through the door, "WHAT ARE YOU TELLING WINTER?!"
"I-it got o-out of h-hand! R-run!"
Soon Ozpin and the three teammates of team Trojans ran out with him.
"You two..." she said quietly, looking at the Sawws who gulped loudly, "Speak."
-= *The Maw of the Queen Taijitsu* =-
-= *The Eastern Edge of the Emerald Forest* =-
Winter panted as the others ran as far as they could with the Headmaster.
"Headmaster..." Patro grunted out, "Don't ever do that again..."
Ren's eye twitched in the distance.
The Headmaster simply gestured at the cave in a business-like stance quietly and waited for the team to just enter at their own risk. He sipped loudly from his cup.
"Is this it?" Joan asked. Ozpin only continued to point at the cave. Leaning in, they could barely hear him breathing quickly.
Troja facepalmed in the distance.
They had ran several thousand meters through the Emerald Forest. Winter being the only one with small stamina barely making it with the others continued to pant as the other two quickly found their bearing and their breathe. Winter sighed as she slowed them down once more. What good am I if I can barely keep up with the people I have been entrusted to command. Big Sis would probably do a better job than I have.
Weiss sneezed loudly, but couldn't place her finger on why.
"Look..." Winter barely said as she slowly got her breath back, "We should...enter it as...quickly as possible. Like...right now."
"Winter, you're tired. We should re-"
"And let your friends die to the Queen Taijitsu?" Ozpin finally spoke up with a sip of his coffee once more. Everyone staring at him, he didn't lose his calm demeanor this time. "I would recommend doing what your Acting Captain has told you to do." He gave a slight tilt of his head towards the cave as he said so, before sipping on his mug again.
"R-right," Patro stuttered. "Let's go..." he mumbled something inaudible.
Herra smirked in the distance.
"Did you say something about Herra?" Winter asked curiously, but obliviously.
"N-no!" Patro yelled, "L-let's just get Troja and the Gunns or the Sawws will be all up and down our a-"
"Let's just go, guys..." Joan interjected.
"Okay!" Winter beamed before the headed into the cave.
I hope Troja can- Patro tried to think.
"I hope we can get Troja out of here..." Winter said as they coursed through the caves. It was rather dank and dark.
"This is absolutely disgusting!" Patro yelled, echoes ringing through the cave.
"Did anyone bring a torch?" Joan asked.
"Nope!" Winter kept on going unfazed, "Use your Semblance to copy Ozpin's."
"Ozpin's?" Patro asked, "Do you know what his is?"
"Clairvoyance," Winter answered.
Ozpin coughed just outside the mouth of the cave.
"I can only copy people's Semblances if they're in twenty meter's length of me," Joan said. "I can't copy his Semblance from here."
"Well, we're going in blind then," Winter said with a sigh.
"Someone at least make a little light with their Aura," Patro tried.
They all looked to Winter, if she was at all visible.
"I don't have a really big Aura..."
Yang uncontrollably giggled in the distance. When she stopped, she asked herself, "What the Dust?"
"Just use echolocation," Patro said nonchalantly." It's easy, look." He began to yell through the cave as the three stopped.
"Echolo-what now?" Winter asked.
"Echolocation is when you use sounds to find the position of objects when you can't see..." Joan summarized. "Or something like that..."
"You're close, but still correct," Patro agreed, "There are two paths ahead of us. Queen's in the left one."
"What's in the right one?" Winter asked.
"A secondary path to a whole load of..." he trailed off. "Wait."
"Wait for wha-" cutting Winter off, he yelled loudly towards what she believed would be the right fork.
"Eggs..."
"Eggs?" Joan asked, "I don't think King Taijitsae lay eggs..."
"What about female ones?" Joan asked.
The three of them gulped loud enough for it to echo through the cave system.
"There may as well be hundreds of them down there...we should kill the Queen quickly and high tail it out of here with Herra and the others..." Patro said. No one seemed to notice he said Herra instead of Troja, much to his happiness.
"R-right! Left Vanguard, Patro?" Winter tried smirking.
"Whatever. Let's just go. This way." He grabbed both of their hands and walked towards the left path, dragging the two girls away.
They may as well have been down there for a few seconds before multiple hisses sounded. The three of them stopped.
"Echolocation isn't going to work against these things in pitch black," Patro said. "Think up something for light! Quickly!"
Winter gulped. She wished she brought something down there with them. "Wait, Patro!" she beamed happily.
"What?"
"Don't two swords make sparks if they're rubbed together on the bladed sides? Like last week during our first fight against team Chains!"
Patro was quiet for a moment. "Yes, but only if a blade has Ignition Dust! I don't have any!"
"Here," she nudged a phial on his side, "This should help you." The snakes around them continued to hiss even louder.
"What's this?"
"Ignition Dust. You can thank me later."
"Okay, then..." he opened the phial with a light pop, confusing a few snakes. Hesitation stopping their advance of hisses that successfully creeped out the trio as Patro rubbed Ignition Dust on the bladed side of his scope after he mechashifted Achilles into its sword mode.
"Are you done?" Winter asked.
"Yes. Joan," he nudged her, "Your turn."
"Got it." She unsheathed Lux and Patro found her blade, nearly cutting his fingers. He placed the blades together.
"Alright, we need to slice on three, got it?"
"Got it." Joan repeated.
"One..." Patro sounded.
"Two..." Winter continued.
"Three!" Joan yelled as the two sliced their swords together causing sparks to fly. What they hadn't taken into account was the old wood around them.
"Wood?" Winter asked. Sheathing her weapon with the other two in confusion.
"Yes!" Patro yelled frantically, pulling the both of them as the wood ignited, "Flammable and support beams can kill humans easily!"
"Wha-Ahhhh!" the two girls screamed as they were dragged past the burning mini Taijitsu. One caught on Winter's arm.
"Aw..." Winter said as she scratched the bottom of its neck. It hissed in enjoyment of the feeling. "Can we keep it?"
"As long as it doesn't kill us later." Patro said. The snake hissed twice with nods.
"Okay!" Winter beamed once more, allowing the snake to wrap around her arm loosely. "Uh..."
"What is it?!" Patro yelled, still dragging the girls with him.
"Does it strike you odd that the Taijitsae here are red and blue instead of white and black?"
As soon as they made it to the end of the wooden path, he let the two of them rest a little. Picking up a piece of wood as a torch, he brought it down to the snake, and it was indeed red and blue. "It might be...an indication...of gender..." he let out.
The Taijitsu nodded twice with hisses in approval.
"Hmm, she seems to understand what were saying..." Joan said.
The Taijitsu, once again, nodded in approval.
"Should we name her?" Winter asked, continuously stroking the snake. "I call Medusa!"
"Wasn't Medusa-" the snake cut off Patro with two nods and hisses.
"I think she likes it," Joan said with a smile.
"Well, then, Medusa!" Winter yelled, "What do you think of Queen Aranae?"
Medusa hissed angrily.
"I don't think she likes her own queen," Patro said as Medusa nodded.
"Well, then!" Winter yelled again, "Lead the way! We want to kill'er!"
It began to slither quickly off of her arm, then deeper into the cave. "Wow," Patro yelled, dragging the others with him, "She's fast!"
Joan and Winter simply giggled loudly, causing Patro to laugh on his own. Soon, with the torch, they made it into a large, chamber-like room. Rounded at every edge, giving off a circular feel to the room. Curves here and there, and the occasional crater in the walls indicating a large creature's attack. "I don't think whoever's gone in here survived for very long..." Joan said truthfully.
"Heh," Patro chuckled, "Gunns can handle anything. And if Troja is with them, they're sure to survive. Now, where's Medusa?" As he asked that, Medusa slid up Winter's arm who giggled playfully with the hissing lunatic. "There she is..." Why am I agreeing so easily with this Taijitsu. I guess they could be friendly if reasoned wi-
He was cut off as a larger, more menacing hiss reached their ears within the rooms. He threw the torch to the middle. Nothing.
"Do you think it was afraid and slithered off?" Winter asked. Medusa only shook her head as a 'no.' It tilted its head towards the torch. The three of them looked more closely. Soon the dirt in the area looked like it was shifting around in small mounds. Showing lines of them, moving around the torch. As they saw this, they unsheathed their weapons.
"What do you eat, Medusa?" Patro pursued in conversation in boredom of the situation. She nudged his shoulder. "Humans, huh...hehe...do you eat other Grimm?" It nodded happily.
"Patro," Joan said. "I don't think this is the time for conversation."
"Sorry...wait...why does Medusa only have one head?" They all looked towards Medusa and, sure enough, she only had one head. Patro continued, "Does Queen Aranae only have one head as well?"
Medusa nodded vigorously.
"Is that it?" Patro asked, pointed at the mounds still pacing around the torch. She shook her head. "The tail, then?" She nodded.
"This conversation seems a little one sided...eh?" Joan said with a smile, causing the others to laugh with Medusa happily hissing on her own.
"Wait..." Patro stopped the laughter slowly, "What happened?" The mounds stopped slithering around the torch and the three looked at each other.
"Oh, sh-" Patro couldn't finish his sentence as the Queen burst out of the ground, hissing at them loudly. A white vortex appeared behind it, pulling it back. With resistance, the creature kept its head far from it.
"I don't have a lot of time! Run!"
"We're not leaving you!" Patro yelled, "Joan, copy and try to cut its head off, I'll distract it!"
"Got it!" Joan yelled.
Winter watched in lament as the other two disobeyed her command. "I told you to get out, dammit!" she yelled, "Troja put me in command for a reason! Not to-"
"She put you in command so we'd live, dammit!" Patro cut her off, "Now keep it down! We're decapitating the damn thing!" He mechashifted Achilles into a rifle and began to fire at it, shooting out its right eye. Screaming in pain, it tried to move forward, but to no avail as Joan jumped up on it. She mechashifted Lux into a sickle and brought it around the Queen's neck. She hung lowly beneath its neck using gravity to help cut through its thick hide, and with her free hand, created a blue vortex beneath her, pulling her sickle with her with more powerful strength.
Despite all the pulling, the Queen began to fare brightly as it began to push forward towards Winter. Patro, noticing the vortexes beginning to die down, stopped firing. He mechashifted his rifle's scope into a blade and grabbed Medusa, throwing the hissing snake to the side.
"What are you doing?!" Winter yelled as her vortex broke.
"Saving you!" he stepped in front of the Schnee before the Queen rebounded and attacked her. Blocking the attack, Patro was flung to the side into a wall when the Queen came around with a rounded attack. Joan was flung around its neck, sickle still in hand, and flung back near the torch.
"Patro! Joan!" Winter yelled, "Ah!" she yelled louder as she cringed and waited for the Queen to dig its fangs into her fleshly figure. Only to hear an electrical crackle and a pained hiss. She stayed there for a moment, eyes still shut and whimpering could be heard from her.
"You have got to be kidding me..."
"Huh?" Winter opened her eyes that were glued to the floor in her feeble stance. She looked up to see a block of blue light protruding from the floor. The occasional silver gleaming over it. She looked up further to see Troja, arms locked high in an x-block, holding up the block of energy that so protecting her from the fanged beast. "Troja!" she yelled, clinging to her.
"Don't worry, Winter," Troja said as she let go of her, "We got this. Gunns!" she yelled, "Our turn!"
"Already?" one came from the shadows.
"Crane?" Winter asked his burly voice through its radio.
"Yup. Come on, Herra." he said nonchalantly. Herra came out from the other side.
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." The two planted their boots to the floor, screws digging into the dirt. Their chain guns began to rev up.
Joan slowly got up to see the situation, "Troja?" She then passed out.
"Ugh, we'll get to her later. Winter, go pull out your boyfriend!"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Just pull him out while we handle this," she turned back to the Taijitsu who was angered beyond limit, "Fire."
"Have a nice day," Crane said, "or else."
"Turn that frown," Herra said, "upside down."
The revving ceased into a long whir before they fired at the Taijitsu's neck. The Queen's necks showed nicks here and there from the sheer barrage of bullets. The Taijitsu, vulnerable, was met with the large block of pure energy from earlier as its head was knocked clean off from it. Leaving the corpse on the ground.
"Well..." Crane said.
"That was anticlimactic," Herra finished as the Grimm quickly turned into a black smoke.
Both of their boots unlocking, Crane helped Troja with Joan and Herra headed over to Patro, who Winter was having trouble with.
"I got it..." Herra said, grabbing his waist.
"What are you doing?!" Winter yelled.
"This is how you get people out of walls like this," she said calmly as she pulled him out with a grunt.
"T-thank you, Herra..." he said as he grabbed her outstretched had to pick him up.
"No, problem. And I still owe you for both saving my life and Crane's...actually..."
"It's one-one, now," he said with a chuckle.
"Who's keeping count?" Herra asked.
"I am." The two smirked at each other. Well, Patro couldn't see hers because of her visor, unfortunately.
"What just happened?"
The two tensed up at Winter's words. "I thought I told you that I saved her life, as well as Crane's, Winter."
"Oh, yeah!" she yelled, "I just didn't care!"
The two of them facepalmed, one skin against skin, the other metal against metal.
"Winter," Troja said, walking over. Winter visibly flinched, "I have successfully evaluated your leading skills. I'm going to teach you more about it later, understand?"
Winter thought for a moment before trying to answer, "Are you telling me you didn't go out on a mission at all and used it to stalk us with permission?"
Troja flinched more incredibly than Winter had, glad that the cave was too dark for anyone to see her blush. Before Patro could jest or Troja could retort, Ozpin finally made it through the cave. "Yes and no..." a snake slithered up his arm and wrapped around it loosely.
"Medusa?!" Winter yelled, going over to pet the happily hissing creature.
"That's what you named her?" asked Ozpin. "I was trying to think of a name for so long..."
"Wait," Patro said. "Medusa belongs to you?"
"Yes, I picked her up once walking by here. She's really friendly, isn't she?" The trio nodded.
"Wait, so you're telling me," Troja said, "That you had a pet snake all this time and you didn't tell me?!" Troja went frantic, petting the snake every which way. The snake continued to hiss happily at the attention it got.
Crane chuckled slightly as Herra walked over to Patro. "Now you have to deal with this!" she said jokingly with a pat on his back and gesture with her free hand towards Troja.
Patro only chuckled, "More of a problem than you are!" He slapped her back hard, making her slam a foot on the ground to keep her from falling.
"What?! What did I do?!" Herra yelled.
"Nothing! That's the thing!" he pulled out his Scroll and let her see pictures of odd angles of the two hanging over the cliffside. "Professor Peach sent me these!" His smile soon became coquettish, causing her to blush immensely from behind her visor.
"Oh, no you don't!" Herra yelled as she chased him in circles around the dying flame in the middle of the chamber, "Com'ere!"
"Gah! Stop!" Patro pleaded but to no avail. She took him in a headlock and scratched his head with her knuckle.
"How do you think Anna felt!"
"I don't know! It was hilarious at the time!"
"Not as hilarious as this, right?!"
"No!" Patro tried, "No, it wasn't! Now lemme go~!" He caught her off guard by slamming a backhanded fist into her right foot, causing her to fall. A wall of a dark pink lifted as clashes of metal and screams of pain were heard eliciting from the cloud.
Troja sighed at the sight, "What's the fastest way out, Professor Ozpin?"
"Up and out," he said nonchalantly as he walked to the middle and kicked the torch to the side. Its almost dying, Ozpin aimed the bottom of his cane towards the ceiling. "This should work nicely..."
He fired and a bullet took out the ceiling, leaving the room as dusty as can be with a fog with tan. Light trying its best to pierce through the thick cloud.
Patro, with Herra in a headlock, looked up towards the ceiling with her. "We were that close to the surface?!" Patro yelled.
"Yes," Herra said, lifting him off his feet as he lay on her back. Patro let go of her neck in a headlock and changed it so he could keep a hold on her.
"What are you doing?!" he yelled as she walked towards the hole in the ceiling. Ozpin got out of the way.
"Giving you a piggyback ride." She jumped as Patro gave out a girly scream.
"Some girl's in trouble!" Raven yelled, as she looked east of her position in the Emerald Forest. Professor Peach facepalmed.
"My turn!" Joan yelled, jumping on Crane's back.
"W-what the Dust?!"
"Ride, my slave!" Joan yelled happily. Troja deadpanned at her change of heart.
"Quirky and then sadistic, huh?" Troja mumbled with a large shiver.
"Hya! Hya!" Joan yelled, hitting Crane on his lower back with the flat side of her blade, "Go, my slave!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" he yelled, running to the hole and jumping out. Ozpin jumped after them.
Troja looked at Winter who had pleading eyes. "Oh, heh. No, you're on your own," Troja said and walked to the hole, jumping out.
"Fine..." Winter said quietly. She walked to the hole in the ceiling and jumped out.
What they didn't notice, were the spiders seeping in through the small entrance and popping in through the walls.
-= *Physical Touch* =-
-= *Dust Physics, Eighth Period* =-
"And that, is how you create Ignition Dust," Professor Vermillion informed the class as he picked up the red Dust off the table with a plate. "Please do not mix this with Fire Dust unless you specialize in Explosive Dust," he glanced at the blonde brawler for a moment and she giggled a little. "Are they any questions?" he looked around for a moment, "Yes, Miss Iris?"
"When are we going to mix Ignition and Explosive Dust, Professor?"
"Tomorrow," he said, "I need to talk to Professor Peach. She has the Dust I require to properly teach you tomorrow. And, Miss Iris, please rest well tonight. I need you especially for tomorrow's class."
"Why?" she tilted her head.
"I need a shield..." he gestured towards the blonde brawler.
"What?" the blonde brawler asked.
"I don't get it..." Troja said.
"Ugh, for the love of Dust!" he exclaimed. "Yang Xaio Long specializes in Explosive Dust and I don't want her to blow up the bloody classroom!"
"He's British!" someone yelled in the back of the room.
"Miss Sustrai, do you mind specifying in...whatever British means?"
"It's a type of person from the Forgotten Era with an unusual accent in English, despite being the ones who created English itself."
"How smart of you, Sustrai..." Patro said with disgust, "For once..." he mumbled.
"What was that, strawberry?"
"That's it!" Pyrrha yelled, "You can insult my friends! But you cannot insult my little brother!"
"Pyrrha," Patro said, "Let me handle this."
"Aw, your big sister is looking out for you," the Sustrai said with mockery.
The entire team of Trojans and Pyrrha began to clench their fists.
"Now, now, students," Professor Vermillion said, "Let's not get hasty here..."
Feeling the cold Auras finally lift, he sighed. "Don't want another catastrophe like last year..." he mumbled as the bell rang. As the students packed up to leave class, he yelled at them, "Remember to read chapter seven of our Dust Physics books by tomorrow! And your homework is to create your own Ignition Dust for class tomorrow. I'll have the Fire Dust ready by then!"
The students let their scattered acknowledgments echo through the room as they poured outside of the classroom. As it was the last class, the students headed back to their dorms.
"Dust, she annoys me to the fullest!" Patro gritted his teeth in agony. He was easily enraged by an upperclasswoman and he just...wanted to gauge her eyes from her very-
"Patro..." Herra said from behind him with a placating hand on his shoulder. This calmed him down easily, much to his chagrin when he realized she noticed this. "Calm down...we can get her later during Fourth Period tomorrow. I'll get Professor Goodwitch to rig the match-"
"I look out for me and mine," he said curtly, pushing her hand off. "That don't count you unless I conjure it does! Now," he turned fully to her, "You stuck a thorn in the White Fang's paw." He referenced the job she had gone on with Troja the other day, "That tickles me a bit. But that means I have to step twice as fast to avoid them. And that means turning down plenty of their job offers! Even the honest ones."
He finally brushed her off and stormed off to his room, leaving cracks in the floor in his wake. "Herra..." Crane called from behind.
"Nothing, Crane..." she walked in the opposite direction Patro did. "I'm fine," She added sternly.
"How come all the awkwardness turns to me every time?" he complained, following Herra to their dorm room quietly.
"What an odd bunch of students..." Professor Vermillion mused aloud, only to be startled by Troja.
"I know..." she said, "But they have their problems to deal with, they just don't know who to turn to for help...leaving it on their captains for the deciding factor..." she sighed. "Why do I have to deal with bullies?"
"You don't..." Professor Vermillion said, "Bring them out on a mission tomorrow, eh?" he punched her shoulder lightly, "I'll even recommend it to Ozpin, who'll undoubtedly agree. They can let off some steam. Just take tomorrow off, and I'll have Miss Xaio Long try to teach you later."
"Thank you," Troja said with a smile at him as she walked away. "Needed to blow off some of my own steam as well..."
"You could ask me before recommending my...undoubted...permission to my students..." Professor Ozpin said, coming up from behind the Professor who turned around briskly.
"It's a common thing said amongst the teachers, my good sir!" Professor Vermillion said.
"Teachers teach children, professor."
"I know, I know, Ozpin."
"Oh..." his voice began to garble out like a messed up radio. His figure seemed to turn into pixels as his body turned extremely different. Landing on an all familiar- "Am I really Ozpin, though?"
"T-Torchwi-"
"Shh..." Roman put a finger on his lips. He retracted them, "Phase Three has begun. Cinder's orders."
Professor Vermillion scoffed, "You can't possibly believe I'm going to follow that crazed woman once again!" He nearly yelled, "I'd rather die!"
"Permission granted," he bluntly said, lifting his cane. "I read a line from ancient text back in the Forgotten Era. Want to hear it?" The ever present cigarette in his mouth gleamed brighter at the end for a few seconds.
"What?" Professor Vermillion said slowly after a long pause.
"Hasta la vista..." he placed his finger on the trigger, "...baby..."
Before he pulled the trigger, a blackened blade that seemed to harbor black scales, went through the man's body. The man groaned as the blade was pulled out of his body, soon falling.
"Cind-"
"Roman..." she cut him off. "I specifically told you not to screw with him."
"I'm sorry, Cinder!" he defended. "This disguise is so fun!" She glared at him. "Watch!" His form changed into pixels before it turned into Cinder. "I'm a big, bad girl, who can't handle Roman's d-"
With a slash, she broke the wristwatch, causing him to turn back into Roman.
"Aw, you're no fun today..." he barely got out before she turned to walk away.
"Let's go, Torchwick," she said curtly. "We have a lot of work to do..."
"So pushy..." he mumbled, walking out after her, leaving the dead body behind in his tracks.
-= *Dusty Old Qrow* =-
"This landing is going to get pretty interesting!" the pilot yelled to the back of the Bullhead.
"Define 'interesting,'" a dusty old crow yelled back.
Taiyang, along with the rest of his team that still lived, were in a Bullhead heading towards the central Vacuonion Desert in search for remains of White Fang information in old ruins. They had flown over hundreds of miles of desert to no end, looking for the damned ruin.
"Oh Dust, oh Dust, we're all gonna die?" he called back to Qrow.
"Was that the primary buffer panel?"
"It did seem to resemble-"
"Did the primary buffer panel fall off my Dustdamned ship for no apparent reason?"
"Looks like!" Taiyang called back. Qrow ran a hand through his hair, pulling back his black hood, revealing his red hair with black highlights. Or more like...darklights...
"I thought Raven checked the Cold Dust reserves last week!" Qrow complained. "I have a very clear memory of it!"
"If she doesn't get us extra Cold Dust to engines we...might..."
"Might what?!" Qrow yelled.
"I don't know for Dust's sake!" Taiyang yelled back angrily. "Explode?!"
"Raven!" Qrow called.
"Yes, little brother?"
"Ugh!" he groaned, "Don't call me that! Anyways-"
"What were you two even on about this time?" she asked annoyed. She had to deal with the two's antics ever since she divorced Taiyang looking for some damned prize somewhere in Atlas when they said they discovered something big. Turned out it was a dusty old-
Qrow seemed to cut her off. "Stop interrupting me!" he yelled angrily. "I thought you said you checked the Cold Dust reserves last week! Primary buffer panel just came right off!"
"That was six months ago, Qrow!" she yelled as she neared the back and opened a compartment.
"My Bullhead doesn't crash!" he pointed at her as she turned around. "If she crashes, you crashed her!"
She scoffed as she climbed outside of the vehicle. "Doesn't look good," she barely yelled over the oncoming winds. "We might crash!" she yelled with an awkward smile.
Qrow then walked back to the cockpit. "We crashing?" Taiyang asked.
"Crashing," Qrow confirmed. "Just get us on the ground."
"Oh," Taiyang chuckled. "That'll definitely happen!" The Bullhead began to increase in speed. Qrow went back to check on Raven.
"Are those incendiary Dust explosives?"
"Yeah, what of them?" Raven asked curiously as she stacked them on their belt. "I get pretty excitable with my options open." She placed her weapon into her sheath.
"No explosives."
"What?!"
The ship seemed to slow down, but was ever so slowly moving forward.
"No grenades!"
"Qrow!" Taiyang called from the cockpit. Qrow came up.
"What?"
"We're stabilized now. I'm heading back to ready up."
"Got it." Qrow then switched positions with Taiyang as he headed back to ready up.
"Those explosives?" Taiyang asked Raven.
"Yeah, Qrow doesn't want them."
"Raven," Taiyang said with annoyance. "We're raiding the place, not occupying it."
With a sudden whoosh, the entire Bullhead seemed to stop instantly, causing Taiyang and Raven to tumble around the ship a little before it briskly landed on the ground. Qrow came from the cockpit.
"So, if you two are done...messing around...we can get a move on, yeah?"
The two looked at their position. Taiyang quickly pushed off a straddling Raven. "Whatever..." Taiyang mumbled. "Never letting you take driver's seat ever again."
Qrow smirked a little before the three of them headed into the sandstone ruin. Evidently a castle, the ever present cracks running up and down walls...left and right. The occasional tower looming on by as they crossed the area, weapons raised.
"This place doesn't feel right..." Taiyang said.
"Sure as Dust something ain't right," Qrow agreed.
"Quiet!" Raven half-yelled, quieting the two. The three of them halted in low stances against a wall, aiming their weapons at a large, olden wood gate from around the corner. The usual dark metal fastenings on them. The door lightly creaked open.
"Drezhah!" something quietly called from the inside and the door quickly shut with a slam.
"I think I know what the White Fang ran from..." Raven mused aloud.
"What?" Taiyang asked.
"Fallen..."
"Damn..." Qrow said, "I hate these guys...Vex, more so."
"Agreed," Raven quickly said as she readied her weapon. "We need a ranged guy up here. Tai, do you mind?" she looked at him.
"Oh, you know me so well, Raven!" she scoffed at his mockery. "Now..." Taiyang readied his gauntlets. "I'm-I'm gonna die!" he lost his cool.
"Taiyang..." Qrow growled.
"Watch," Raven said, ignoring Qrow. "It's easy!" She got up and shoved him in front of the door which was some thirty to forty meters from him.
"Raven!" Qrow yelled as Taiyang began to become pummeled by pulse rounds from the door.
"Watch," she said unfazed by the Qrow. He shook his head angrily and did as she said.
Taiyang got up from the attack out of the wall he was pummeled into by the pelting pulse rounds. Confused growls elicited from the creatures that loomed behind the door. "You ripped my favorite shirt..." they looked down at his all too raggedy yellow tee he wore. Anger present on his face. His lilac eyes stayed lilac as his blonde hair turned into a fierce crimson. "DIE!" he yelled as he ran into them.
Qrow loudly facepalmed.
"He takes after so well to his daughter..." Raven said with a slight sob.
"Wait...I thought the saying was the other way around..." Qrow said he heard pain growls coming from the door as more and more Dust Rounds went off from his weapon.
"Shut up," Raven said fiercely. "You're ruining the moment."
"What mom-" he was cut off as Raven put a hand in front of his face. The shooting and the pained growls stopped for a moment, before Taiyang was heard screaming.
"There it is~!"
"She takes after her daughter too well!" Qrow yelled.
"She takes after me, Dustdammit!" Raven yelled at Qrow.
"Yang would actually agree with me, Raven..." Qrow said with another facepalm.
"Would you like to test that theory," she said sternly.
"No..." he quietly answered as the two got up to aid the wailing Taiyang.
"What an idiot..." Raven said as they approached the now half-ripped door. As they walked in, two large, humanoid figures loomed above Taiyang. Poised for a kill, the creature took notice of the two other intruders and leaped for them, only for Raven to stab the creature in the chest with a white blade. It froze the area around the wound, and with a twist, the area crackled and shattered, killing the creature. The other had its head blown off by Qrow's rificle...scyfle...whatever it was.
"Vandals are present, too," Raven said as she threw the creature off her weapon.
"Got it," Qrow said, running off to check the area. Gunshots, slicing and pained growls could be heard from around the corner. "Got it!" he yelled, "Perfectly fine!"
"He takes after Ruby, too..."
"I heard that!" he yelled as a few vandals began to liter the floor beneath her feet. "Captains are here, too!" a larger version of the vandals soon landed in front of her.
"Let's hope Hive Grimm aren't present!" she gave him a yell.
"They'd be fighting each other," Qrow yelled back. "It's not very possible."
"Define 'possible!'"
"Don't you dare copy me!" Raven merely chuckled as she leaned down to Taiyang.
"Are you going to get up yet, you big baby?"
"Ugh..." he groaned, "They got a cheap shot in..." he said as he slowly got up.
"Tai! Tai~!" Qrow yelled from around the corner.
"Ugh...every raid he's got to start callin' my name..." Taiyang growled.
"Tai, we got Reavers!"
Raven and Taiyang's eyes widened as Qrow rounded the corner with a Reaver Captain behind him.
"And Shanks!" Qrow added as he ran past the two, who soon joined him. Avian class Grimm flew around the corner. Small, but farfetched when it came to the vulgar liquid that could spew from the maw of its tiny mouth. Said liquid was highly acidic.
"Dammit!" Raven yelled, "Right when we had them! Be nice to have some grenades, don't you think?!"
"Whatever!" Qrow yelled back, "Let's just run~!"
-= *End of Chapter Two* =-
Well, then. That was longer than expected.
I'm still thinking about Omakes in the future!
Now, for the love of God, let the next Fanfiction begin!