Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY
Outdoor Training Arena
"Again." Taiyang said as he pressed the red button on the console in front of him. The doors in the arena below opened and twenty combat droids quickly filed out before going on the offensive. each on quickly transformed their arms into blades before leaping at Yang, who was recovering from the last wave. Off to the sides of the arena lay close to fifty destroyed and mangled robots.
Yang quickly went to work dismembering the various robots before her while using her remaining gauntlet to block the incoming blades.
Ruby stood next to her father and watched her sister below with a frown. "Shouldn't you give her a break? This is the fourth wave you've sent after her." She watched as one of the larger robots grabbed her by her leg and slammed her into the ground.
Taiyang stood there with a low glare as he watched his eldest daughter nearly get impaled by one of the smaller robots. "No."
Yang was slowing down from the constant onslaught of combat droids. This had been going on everyday for the past five days since Taiyang saw his daughters fight. She was given very little time to eat, sleep and rest while her father was punishing her. She had been woken up at dawn and been forced to train until dusk each day, and each day's training was more and more harsh.
"But dad, she looks like she's about to fall over! Even her aura can't keep up with all the damage she's taking!" Ruby said as she watched some of Yang's larger cuts stop healing.
"Then she should have thought about the consequences before she acted like a brat when she returned." Taiyang said as he watched Yang dispatch the final small android and go to work against the remaining large ones. Each droid had a different gun and blade combo, and were designed to train adult hunters. The first with a combo of a shotgun and broadsword leapt at Yang. Blocking with Ember Celica she moved the blade away before taking a blast from the gun in her abdomen.
"Dad, are you sure she can handle those? I've seen entire teams lose to one of them, but three?" Ruby said as she watched Yang struggle to her feet.
"I'm not unfair Ruby. They've been programmed to only go after he one at a time. If she can beat these three, I have only got one more robot for her to fight before she can rest." Taiyang said as he patted Ruby on the head. There was a sharp creaking sound that erupted from the arena as Yang lifted a chunk of the arena over her head and threw it at the droid. Catching the large slab of metal the droid threw it aside and turned to see Yang gone. Turing around to look it scanned the arena before looking straight up.
Yang came down on top of the droids head fast and smashed it into the ground causing a large dent to appear in the metal floor. Pushing away from the fallen droid, she turned to see the second wrap a metallic whip around her waist and drag her into the air. She brought her arms to cover her face as she was bombarded by a hail of bullets from the assault rifle on its other arm. Feeling a sharp jerk she was brought to the floor of the arena at blinding speeds before the whip unraveled.
Ruby looked down at the arena with concern. Yang had been hidden with another dust cloud just as she had when they fought. She looked around the arena expecting to see her sister attacking the droid from all angles with her weapon, but she couldn't find Yang. She looked back with surprise to see Yang pulling herself to her feet in the cloud and glaring at the droid.
"She didn't use the cloud to her advantage? In our fight when we made the cloud she destroyed us." Ruby said as Yang leapt at the droid.
"The droid's not giving her a chance to use it. In your fight, you all foolishly surrounded the cloud at a very close range. Yang's weapon favors mid to close range attacks and she was able to press her advantage." Taiyang watched as his daughter was grabbed by the whip again and thrown to the opposite side of the arena. "This droid favors mid to far ranged attacks with the whip and assault rifle."
*Click*
Taiyang and Ruby turned to see Blake walk into the room with them and look down at Yang. She frowned. "How's she doing?"
"She's still being stubborn. She wont admit defeat even though she's exhausted." Ruby said as she turned back to Yang.
Taiyang's eyebrow rose a little. "So, Ruby. You going to introduce me to your little friend?" Taiyang said as he looked at Blake.
Ruby jumped slightly before turning to her dad. "Oh! Right, you haven't met my team yet have you? Dad, this is Blake. She's Yang's partner."
Blake turned to Taiyang and shook his hand before turning her attention back to Yang. She grabbed the whip as it tried to wrap itself around her arm and dragged the droid to her. It began to fire its gun as it got closer and closer to Yang. She took the bullets damage as she gave one final pull that dragged the droid into the air right above Yang. She quickly shoved her fist into its chest and yanked out several circuits as it passed. The droid landed on the ground with a loud thud and sparked for a second before the lights on its face went dark.
Yang turned to the last droid only to narrowly avoid a rocket that had been aimed directly at her. She glanced down at her scroll and saw that her aura was at close to forty percent. She growled slightly as she charged the droid, jumping from side to side to avoid the rockets that came her way. Reaching the droid she quickly moved out of the way as a scimitar sliced into the floor where she was standing. The droid had transformed both of its arms into scimitars and began a relentless assault with the blades. Yang was having trouble blocking and countering the quick strikes.
Yang was being forced back into the center of the arena with each successive strike from the droid. She felt her heel slam into something and she lost her balance. She glanced down and saw that she had tripped over the remains of the first droid with the shotgun and panicked. 'Shit!' She turned back to see the droid she was fighting slam both blades into her chest and abdomen and throw her across the arena.
Yang crashed into a pile of downed droids and grabbed at her spinning head. Focusing back on the fight she saw the droid quickly making its way over to her. She quickly looked to her side and grabbed the gun from one of the fallen droids and aimed it at her attacker. The droid leapt into the air and brought its scimitars down on Yang as she pulled the trigger.
There was a resounding bang as the gun discharged and slammed into the droids head, tearing it off and sending it rolling to the side. The droids body fell don onto Yang before she could roll away.
Ruby cheered Yang on from the stands, shouting praise as her sister kicked the downed droid off of her and climbed to her feet. Yang looked up at her dad with a tired expression.
Taiyang starred back down at Yang with the same look he'd had for the entire training period. "Yang, you leave for a mission with your team in two days. This will be our last session, You have one droid left to fight. but seeing as you only have about thirty percent of your aura left, I leave the choice to you." Taiyang watched as Yang nodded and sighed. "Very well. This will not be a fight you can win." He reached down and moved a box off of a button and pressed it. The center of the arena split and Yang struggled to maintain her balance. In the center of the arena a platform rose form the darkness with a large metal box with the Atlas logo over it.
The box split and a shiver ran down Blake's spine. Her eyes widened as she starred into the face of the same brand of droid that she and Adam had faced the last time she saw him. The Spider droid made a high pitched noise as it sprang to life. Slamming each leg onto the ground it focused its optics on Yang and aimed each cannon down at her.
Yang starred back up at the massive machine with a shocked look. "Shit!" She said as she quickly began to move to the left.
"Begin!"
The droid went on the offensive instantly, firing a barrage of well aimed missiles at Yang. Yang used Ember Celica to propel herself out of the way of the blast each time but she was running out of ammo. Turning quickly Yang dove below the Spider droid and began to assault the underside of the machine with a series of rapid punches to each joint on its legs. The droid quickly slammed itself down on top Yang before kicking her out of the way.
Yang rolled to a stop several meters away from the machine before hearing the sound of metal shifting. She turned to see that the four cannons on the droid had merged into one and began to charge a large blast. She tried to get to her feet before it fired, but she was too late. The Spider droid fired its massive cannon and slid back a few feet. The blast traveled extremely fast and slammed into Yang, throwing her into the wall of the arena with a loud crash. Yang fell to the ground with a thud and watched as the droid walked over to her.
She looked up at the droid as its guns began to charge. "Enough!" She saw the droids cannons power down and the droid stepped back and went dormant. She looked over and saw her father with Ruby and Blake running over to her. She felt herself losing consciousness and let her eyes drift shut. Taiyang and the girls reached Yang and saw that she was unconscious.
"Take her back to your dorm. She needs to rest before your mission." He said as he looked over the arena, and at the mountain of destroyed robots his daughter had left behind and smiled. 'She's just like her mother.'
Guest Dorm
"I can't believe that my mother set me up with you of all people!" Winter said as she marched around the room. Qrow sat on the bed on the opposite side of the room throwing a ball into the air and catching it.
"You know, it wasn't exactly ideal for me either Ice queen." Qrow said as he turned to Winter.
"No, of course not. You were only set up with the eldest daughter of the largest dust producer and exporter in the world. I on the other hand had my mother set me up with some alcoholic hunter with no respect for authority!" Winter shouted as she pulled her clothes from the closet and threw them into a suitcase.
"And having to spend the week locked in a room with a spoiled brat for the past week was certainly on my to do list." Qrow said as he rose to his feet and threw the ball into the hall.
"I am not a brat." Winter said as she clipped her weapon onto her belt.
"Didn't deny the spoiled part." Qrow said as he lifted his suitcase over his shoulder and walked to the door. Winter grabbed her suitcase and followed. They walked through the halls of Beacon on the way to the landing pad.
"So why are we leaving two days early again? I can't see a plausible reason for us to not wait the full week." Winter asked as she trailed behind Qrow.
"Because Ozpin and Jimmy are in a bind with the Nautilus missing, and I want to hurry up and find this all powerful weapon before someone else does." Qrow said as he opened the door to the side stairs. Quickly descending the steps he passed a window and saw the rest of the teams had assembled in front of the Leviathan. The Leviathan was Vale's answer to the Nautilus, each of the four kingdoms had a flagship built for them by the legendary ship wright Geppetto. Vale was the first one to be given their ship, in the form of the Leviathan, while Atlas received the Nautilus, Vacuo received the Argo and, Minstral received the Ark.
Each ship was vastly different from the rest, with the Ark being the largest, the Argo was the fastest, the Nautilus is the most combat ready and the Leviathan is the one which is the most capable of supporting life. The inside of the Leviathan was a maze of terrariums with vast fields of crops and locations for storing livestock. Each ship was under the direct control of the four hunter Academies, as specified by Geppetto, so as not to give the individual councils more power than the others.
Ozpin had allowed for Qrow and his teams to commandeer the Leviathan for the excursion to True Remnant. The Council had numerous objections to allowing Vale's Flagship to leave the kingdom, but Ozpin quickly reminded them who the control of the ship had been given to.
Qrow and Winter walked through the large double doors at the front of the school and followed the path to the landing zone that now held a massive warship that was usually hidden away in the cavern bellow the beacon cliffs.
"I still can't believe that the old story of the Maidens was true." Winter said as she followed Qrow.
Qrow looked back over his shoulder and rose his eyebrow. "You pick now to become stunned by this news? I told you about this three days ago." Qrow saw her face quickly adopt a scowl before turning to look ahead of him again. "But yeah, hell of a thing to learn aint it."
The two walked in silence until they stopped before teams RWBY, JNPR and TLON. He scanned over the group before speaking. "Thank you all for agreeing to leave early. Of course, even if you hadn't agree'd, we would have simply taken you by force." Qrow said as he greeted the teams. Each member looked at each other before turning back to Qrow.
"Now, I don't want to waste anymore time talking, so I'm going to suggest that we board now and everyone be on their way... Ruby, where is Yang?" Qrow asked as he turned to his niece.
"Dad pushed her really hard today in the arena, so she's already on board the ship recovering." Ruby said as she pulled her bag up off the ground. Qrow nodded and motioned for everyone to board the ship.
The Leviathan
Ruby, Weiss and, Blake walked into their temporary quarters and found Yang sound asleep on the top bunk in the corner. The room was significantly larger than their room at Beacon, and had several desks, and a small area to the right with a couch and television. On the left wall was a door that led to a full bathroom with a working shower and bath. On the Right side of the room were three pairs of bunk beds and a large dresser and closet.
They set down their bags and each selected their own various bunks, with Ruby and Weiss taking the top and bottom bunks of the first bed, and leaving Blake and Yang to each have their own Bunks. Ruby began to put her clothes into the closet when she heard Nora's excited voice through the wall, JNPR's quarters being directly beside their own. From what she could hear, her friends were settling in nicely.
Ruby left her room and walked through the halls of the massive warship. Each of the four ships were the size of a large town, and could easily support over ten thousand people. She wandered the halls before coming to a large set of door that led to the master suite. She could hear two voices arguing on the other side.
"I don't see why we have to share this room Qrow!" Winter shouted as she marched up to Qrow.
"We don't! This is my room! Your welcome to any other room on this ship!" Qrow said as he moved to meet her in the center of the room.
"And why should I not get this room? I am the ranking officer on this mission!"
"How the hell do you think you're the ranking officer?!"
"I am a high ranking officer in the Atlesian military! I out rank you, who is only a civilian!"
"And you seem to forget! I am the leader of this mission, and this is a Vale military ship!"
Ruby opened the door and saw Qrow and winter at each others throats. Both hunters hands were slowly making their way to their weapons.
"Uncle Qrow?"
Qrow and Winter both turned and saw Ruby in the door with a confused look on her face.
"Ruby! What are you doing here? I thought you'd be with your team." Qrow said as he walked over to his niece.
Ruby looked behind him at Winter. "Are you two staying together?" She asked, the confused look becoming ever more present.
"No. She was just leaving."
"I was not!" Winter shouted as they began to argue more.
Ruby closed the door to their room and turned down the hall. She walked past several large windows showing the land below the cliff as the ship hovered just past it. She opened on of the doors and saw a massive jungle before her with tree's that reached the ceiling and vines covered with bananas and cocoa beans. She walked in and shut the door behind her before seeing some movement to her left. She turned and saw several robots tending to the crops and keeping the forest.
'This ship has it's own jungle... COOL!'
Ruby quickly began to climb the nearest tree until she reached the top. Taking a seat on the top branch she saw that there was several windows at the top of the tree that allowed for light to reach the tops as well as the bottoms. She could see the shattered moon low in the sky as day was quickly becoming night. Looking down she saw the streets of Vale.
"Pretty great view huh?"
Ruby spun around fast with surprise as she saw who the voice belonged to. "SUN?!"
"Hey Ruby. What are you doing up here?" Sun asked as he looked down over the edge of his branch.
"What am I doing, What are you doing?! This is a top secret mission! How did you get on board?!" She asked as she panicked, thinking of what he uncle might say when he found out that they had a stowaway.
"Please, I heard you all talking about in your room. You aren't a very quiet person you know." Sun moved his hand which held a banana peel over a few inches then dropped it. He watched it fall all the way to the ground.
"You still haven't told me how you got on board." Ruby said flatly.
"I helped him." She looked down a few feet and saw Neptune hanging on a lower branch trying to get his footing. "Dang it Sun, How do you make this look so easy?"
"Because it is easy." Sun said as he watched one of the robot caretakers slip on the banana peel. "Yes!" He cheered as he watched the robot fall on its back.
Ruby giggled slightly before getting serious again. "But why are you guys here?"
"I can answer that Miss Rose." She turned yet again and saw Professor Oobleck standing on a platform high on the wall.
"Professor?"
"Dr.! I got the PH.D for a reason Miss Rose. Now then, I was asked to accompany your teams on this by a student." Oobleck said as he raised the platform up to Neptune's height and dragged him on to it. "We can't have you falling and hurting yourself now can we Mr. Vasilias."
Ruby gave Oobleck a confused look before speaking. "A student asked you? Who asked you to go with us?"
Oobleck reached into his coat and pulled out his scroll before tossing it to Ruby. "She did."
The screen lit up and Ruby began to smile. "Penny! You're okay!" Ruby was pleased to see her friend again after five months. Last time she had seen her, she had been torn to pieces by Pyrrha in a fight.
Penny kept smiling and nodded. "Hello Ruby. How are you? I see that you have left for your mission already. That is good."
Ruby gave Penny a confused look. "How did you know about my mission?"
Penny continued to smile. "Before my heart was stolen, I uploaded my entire database to the Atlas mainframe. Through that I have contacted The Professor and requested that he assist you."
Ruby could hear Oobleck mumbling something about no one ever remembering the Dr. title before she asked. "What do you mean your heart was stolen?"
Penny's smile disappeared for the first time and she adopted a serious face. "My bodies power source is called 'The Heart', and it was stolen last week. I have no further control of my body."
Ruby scanned her friends face for signs of joking, but she couldn't find any. Ruby turned to Professor Oobleck and asked. "Professor is this true?"
Oobleck had an annoyed look on his face. "I'm afraid so Miss Rose. I was asked by Miss Polendina to find and return her Heart."
"But how can you find her Heart out in True Remnant?" Ruby asked as she handed Penny back to Oobleck.
"You and your team always seem to bump into trouble while away on a mission. And seeing as how the group that stole Miss Polendina's Heart is the same group that you have a tenancy to encounter. I deduced that the fastest way to find her Heart would be to accompany your team." Oobleck said as he turned off his scroll and placed it back inside his coat.
"Yeah, and we just wanted to go on another adventure with you guys." Sun said as he dropped another banana peel.
All at once the ship shook violently as the engine's roared to life. Oobleck grabbed Neptune's collar and held him on the platform as Sun caught Ruby with his tail. The looked down and Saw Qrow and Winter sprint past the room towards the bridge.
"Well, it would appear that we are making an unscheduled departure." Oobleck said as he pulled a lever and the platform began to descend. Sun and Ruby followed suit on the vines before exiting the room and following Qrow and Winter through the halls. On the way to the bridge Ruby saw several more large rooms like the one she found the stowaways in, including a large grain farm, a large water reservoir and a room with countless stables, each holding a different farm animal.
Upon reaching the bridge they saw a large room with close to a hundred monitors, dozens of robots sitting at consoles and one large robot standing on a raised platform in the center gripping a large wheel. Scanning the room she could see Qrow and Winter heading towards the large robot and she could see Yang standing beside it giving it directions.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted as she followed her Uncle.
Yang turned and saw her uncle sprinting up the steps of the platform behind her, with ruby and Winter at the bottom.
"What do you think you're doing Yang?!" Qrow yelled as he grabbed at the large robot. He tried to shut down the robot but nothing was working, and he couldn't destroy it, since the robot was the ships captain. He turned the robot to face him. "Where is this ship heading soldier?"
The Captain rose to his full height and got into a salute. "Sir the Leviathan is currently following the course plotted by Admiral Xiao Long!" The Captain stood completely still as Qrow turned to Yang.
"Admiral Xiao Long?" Qrow asked with an annoyed face.
"Not my fault you didn't meet with the Captain before I did." Yang said as she turned to the Captain. "At ease solider." And the Captain relaxed and turned back to the helm.
Qrow growled slightly. "So, let me guess. He's only going to be listening to you then, hmm?"
Yang chuckled. "Nope, there's a chart over there that shows the ranks. Everything above Captain will be able to give him orders. There's one rank above Admiral, and that's Fleet Admiral."
Qrow turned to the chart and saw that there were five spots above Captain. "So I'll just be the Fleet Admiral then." Qrow said as he turned back to Yang, but she shook her head.
"Can't, I tried. Someone already took that title before I got here." Yang said as she turned down the stairs. Qrow quickly told the Captain that he was the Rear Admiral before descending the stairs with Yang.
"So who's the Fleet Admiral then?" Qrow asked as he caught up to his niece.
Yang turned and pointed to a monitor that had Nova and Leo sparring in the ships Arena. "He is."
Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose. He let out a long sigh before noticing that the ship was quickly moving in the opposite direction of their destination. He turned to Yang and asked. "So where are we going then. I can't out rank your order until I figure out how to reprogram the Captain."
"We're making a quick stop at my old home. I left something behind and I need to pick it up if were going to be fighting seriously." Yang walked past Ruby and into and elevator. The door slid shut and Qrow turned to Oobleck, Sun and, Neptune. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
"I know I should be very annoyed that we have stowaways... But I'm almost certain that Ozpin knew you were going to do this, and as you can see, I have some other little problems to take care of, so go pick out a dorm to stay in and don't cause anymore trouble." Qrow said as he walked into the other elevator.
Ruby wave to the others as she followed Qrow into the elevator. Quickly following Yang down to the hanger they arrived to see Yang speaking with Professor Tyme near one of the smaller Airships. Walking over to the two they could hear the brief conversation taking place.
"You want to take Leo with you? What ever for?" Tyme asked as he put down the wrench that he was holding.
"I need someone strong down on the ground with me while I go and collect the things I left behind. There are a-lot of Grimm on this Island and I will need some strong back up." Yang said as she noticed her audience.
"Why not take the rest of the team with you Yang?" Ruby asked as she walked over to her sister.
Qrow quickly spoke up. "I haven't approved of anyone leaving the ship yet! I still lead this mission and until I say so, you will not leave this ship Yang."
She turned to her uncle with a low glare before turning back to Ruby. "You guys won't be able to keep up with me."
Ruby looked hurt. "We're not weaklings Yang! We've been out on missions to fight Grimm before too!"
But Yang just shook her head. "Remember what Qrow said? 'One day out there is worth a week in here.' Well he wasn't lying. I learned faster how to survive and better fighting tactics in a month outside the kingdom than I did after four years at signal." Yang was dead serious. "You guys have spent the last five months locked up at Beacon doing small assignments and studying. I spent the last five months fighting for my life in a rundown old dust mine."
Ruby looked down at her feet. She was hurt, less because her sister was still mad, but more because she knew her sister was right. Less that a day after she got back she beat both her team and Jaune's team in the arena, and spent one week fighting combat droids with little to no rest. Ruby looked back up to her sister and nodded.
"At least you can acknowledge that you couldn't do this with me."
Qrow was annoyed. Ever since his niece had gotten back she had been acting more and more like her mother did. She had become a very smug and cruel woman while she was away. The last time he had seen her before she had left she was extremely depressed that no one believed her about the fight, and he had asked her if she had met her mother. They talked for a brief period about her until he left to meet with Ozpin about the Fall Maiden.
Now she was being rude to her sister and seemed to be completely ignoring the fact that he was in charge of this mission, before it even got into full swing. "Yang! I don't care how much you think you've learned while you lived out side the kingdom, but when your back within the kingdom we have rules! When your given a mission by a superior then you do that mission without question and you do it while working with the team assigned to you!" Qrow shouted as he grabbed Yang by the shoulders.
She glared right back into his eyes. "Then where the hell was my team five months ago when they decided I wasn't worth the trouble to keep in the kingdom? Where were you and my father when I was banned by every village and all of the other kingdoms on Remnant for a mistake that no one but the academies thought to acknowledge? What I acknowledge is that right now you are people that need my help, and I will give you it. But I will never recognize you, Ozpin or anyone else as my superior ever again." Yang threw his arms off of her and walked farther into the hanger before turning into the door that lead to the arena.
Qrow was stunned. He never expected his niece to speak to him like that. He turned and saw that Ruby had her head down with small tears falling to the floor. He knelled down and gave her a hug before turning her to face him. "You okay Ruby?" He asked as she shook slightly.
"She's right." Ruby said. "None of us questioned the order or tried to do anything to stop it. We didn't even say goodbye to her. None of us could make it to her trial because we were at the festival cheering on Pyrrha." Tears rolled down her face as she shook more and more. "We didn't even volunteer to be one of the teams to search for her."
Qrow rose to his feet and looked at Tyme. "Make sure that she doesn't leave this ship. Have Leo restrain her if need be but they don't leave this ship." Tyme nodded and headed over to where Yang had gone. Qrow lifted Ruby up onto his chest and walked over tot he elevator and hit the button for the bridge. She was still crying quietly as they rode the elevator up.
The doors to the bridge opened and Qrow's mouth fell open. Ren was running around the bridge trying to catch Rear Admiral Nora while Jaune and Pyrrha tried to help the Captain back up to the helm. Qrow whistled loudly catching the attention of all of the teens in the room. They saw him carrying Ruby and saw the serious look on his face.
"Everyone back to your quarters. NOW!" Qrow shouted and they quickly ran out the door heading back to the barracks. He saw the Captain struggle back up onto his station before he turned and ordered the other robots to make sure that they were still heading to Yang's destination.
Qrow walked out of the bridge and past the various terrariums. He saw Oobleck in the jungle terrarium trying to help the staff with the clean up from Sun, as the robots were not programmed too deal with banana peels every where. He sighed as he continued on before stopping in front of RWBY's room. He opened the door and saw Weiss asleep in her bunk with Neptune in the bottom bunk of the last bed, while Sun and Blake were asleep on the couch.
He walked over to Weiss and placed Ruby into the top bunk of the first bed. She had cried herself to sleep. Qrow watched as she curled into a little ball on the bed and let her mouth hang open.
'No matter how many time she denies it, she's still just a kid.' Qrow thought as he walked over to the TV and switched it off. He walked to the door and turned to scan the room one final time before switching off the lights and closing the door. He didn't see Blake open her eye slightly as it shut. Walking back to his room He growled as he saw that Winter was asleep in the bed. He reached into his bag and pulled out his weapon before walking to the door and closing it loudly.
He collected Professor Orion and Oobleck before walking to the elevators in the bridge. Exiting in the hanger he saw Yang, Tyme, Leo and Nova standing by an open hanger door. They quickly made their way over to the group and heard Nova and Yang arguing.
"And I told you I'm going!" Yang shouted as she reloaded Ember Celica.
"And I said You're not going anywhere!" Nova shouted back as she extended her battleaxe to its full length.
Tyme sighed as he watched the two girls yelling back and forth. He noticed Qrow and Orion and turned to greet them. "Hello Orion, Qrow. As you can see, we've kept her on the ship, but talks seem to be deteriorating fast." Tyme said as he guestured to the weapons being drawn.
"ENOUGH!" Yang yelled. "Leviathan! Subdue the insurrectionists!" The ship shuddered before dozens of robot arms shot out of the floor and wrapped themselves around everyone but Yang and Leo.
"What the? GAH!" Nova shouted as she was yanked into the air along with the rest of the group.
"Good. Keep them there until I have left the ship." Yang said as she turned to the airship beside her. "Come on Leo. We're leaving now."
"Leo! Don't you dare go with her!" Nova shouted as she tried to grab the weapon that had been taken from her hands.
Leo looked to Nova, then to Yang, then back to Nova.
"Leo." Leo turned his head to Tyme. "Keep the girl safe on the ground." Leo nodded his head and turned to go with Yang.
"What!? Why are you letting him go!?" Orion and Nova yelled as they struggled to escape.
"He's the only one on the ship capable of overriding her command on these restraints. It is clear to me that since he didn't do it yet, he wants to go and have some fun on the ground." Tyme said as he relaxed in the restraints.
"Or it's just that he's a complete idiot that didn't think that he could reverse the command!" Nova yelled back. She gagged as the arm around her neck tightened and saw that Leo was glaring up at her.
"Good. Alright Leo, lets go." Yang said. Leo grinned and nodded, Quickly sprinting forward he grabbed Yang around the waist and jumped from the ship. Yang had wanted to take the airship down and panicked. "Wait! AHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed as they picked up speed as they fell from the sky.
A sweat drop appeared on the back of Tyme's head. "Then again... Maybe I was a little bit to hasty." The restraints loosened and the group of hunters fell to the floor and grabbed their weapons. Qrow scrambled to the door and looked down to see the two vanish into the canopy before a loud boom echoed through the forest.
"Damn it!" He shouted as he jumped into the airship and started the engines. They sparked for a moment then died. Qrow banged his head against the controls before stepping out of the ship.
"Qrow, look here." Tyme said as he removed his scroll from his pocket. "I have installed a camera in Leo's mask. We can monitor them from here."
Qrow walked over and saw Yang helping Leo out of a crater in the ground. The two brushed themselves off before Yang yelled at Leo and stormed off with Leo in tow. He grumbled something under his breath before sighing. "Fine. We'll pick them up when it looks like they're done. And when they gt back to the ship they're confined to quarters for the rest of the trip!" Qrow yelled as he walked back to the elevator.
Island off the coast of Atlas
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yang was screaming as they crashed through the canopy on the island forest. She felt Leo pull her into a tight hug before they slammed into the ground with a deafening bang. She covered her ears to try to stop the ringing before she got her bearings. They were on the other side of the island from where she had made camp. She looked down and saw Leo had was laying crumpled in the crater.
She scowled ad yanked him out of the ground before brushing herself off. She looked up to Leo and yelled. "I wanted to use the airship! Now we're on the wrong side of the island!" Yang yelled as she turned and began to walk up a nearby hill.
Leo cracked his neck back into place and shrugged. "Oops." He said as he followed her.
They walked for a short time before reaching the top of the hill. They could see a good portion of the island from their vantage point. Most of the island was full of craters and burned forests from when Yang went into a berserk rage. Scanning the island Yang could see several Goliath's in the distance with a pack of Beowolves in the trees below them. She never really bother to come to this side of the island often as she had no reason to explore.
She could see the mountain with the old dust mine on the other side of the island, and knew that it would be crawling with Grimm, but she needed to get to her old campsite there. Looking up she could see the giant Nevermore circling their nest at the top of the mountain. She looked to her side to see that Leo was focused behind them. She heard a deep growl behind them and spun around to see an Ursa Major standing behind them.
The massive beast's red eyes glared down at the two hunters as it let out a loud roar. Yang turned to see the pack of Beowolves running into the forest and cursed. 'It's calling other Grimm!' She thought as she quickly unfolded Ember Celica. She turned to attack the Ursa Major, but Leo stopped her. Walking forward he let his gauntlets wrap around his arms and chest as the metal on his boots rose to meet the rest of his armor at his waist. The armor slid up to his mask and connected with a mouth plate covering his face. Covered head to toe in black armor with gold trimmings he strode up to the Grimm and stood in front of it.
The Ursa starred down at the challenger and roared before raising it's clawed hand to swipe at Leo. As the claw came down at him Leo raised both hands and caught the paw in the air before throwing the massive beast over his shoulder. The Ursa landed flat on its back as it felt the wind get sucked out of its lungs. Leo stood over its head as he began to inhale air. His chest puffed out and he bent down quickly and released a thunderingly loud and primal roar. Yang's hands flew to cover her ears as the roar made the very ground shake.
When the sound was finally over Yang could hear the ringing in her ears again. She looked back to see Leo's armor retracting back to just his arms and lower legs. The Ursa Major was laying in a deep crater on the ground. She turned and saw that the Beowolves had run back down into the valley and the Goliath's and Giant Nevermore's were starring at the hill.
She turned to Leo with a look of shock. "What the hell was that!?" She shouted.
Leo didn't even look at her, just kept starring at the Ursa. "Up!" He shouted and the Ursa rolled over and began to stand. Yang got into a combat stance before Leo raised his hand and touched the Grimm's head. He looked at Yang. "Semblance, I roar, they listen." He said as he climbed on the back of the Ursa. He lowered a hand to Yang who was still stunned that he could tame and Ursa Major. She took his hand and they set off down the hill.
The ride down was quiet enough. Most Grimm stayed away due to the roar and the Ursa that they were riding. Walking into the clearing of the valley she could see that most of the land had been annihilated when she lost it. She could see the Goliath in the distance and saw that they were still watching them. She turned to Leo.
"So are there any Grimm you can't tame?" Yang asked, trying to kill some time. The moon was high in the sky and was the only source of light they had.
"Big ones." He said as they rode along.
Yang's face twisted into a confused stare. "What do you mean 'Big Ones', The Ursa Major is the largest breed of Ursa there is!" She said as she looked down at the beast they were riding.
Leo turned to the Goliath's. "Those big ones." Then he turned to the Nevermores that were perched on the cliffs and starring down at them. "And those big ones."
Yang nodded her head in understanding. The big Grimm that could take on several experienced hunters alone couldn't be tamed. She turned back to Leo. "What about King Taijitu? Can you tame those?" She asked.
Leo shuddered. "Not like snakes. Never get close." He said as he spurred the Ursa to make it go faster.
Yang crossed her arms. She was riding a Grimm with some hunter that she had never heard of until she met him on the rescue ship, and he was not a talker. She had hoped to find some form of conversation in the big brute, but it seemed to her that he was all brawn and no brain. The Ursa shook suddenly and threw her off its back. The creature arched up and roared before Yang heard a loud bang.
She looked up from the ground and saw that Leo had blow the Grimm's head off with his gauntlet. The massive corpse fell to the side before dissolving. Leo got back to his feet and help Yang up.
"What happened to it? I thought it was under your control." Yang said as she brushed her clothes off.
"Effect wore off. I can't control it forever." Leo said as he picked his mask up off the ground. Quickly placing it back on his face he looked down at Yang.
"Your a real fan of that mask, aint ya." Yang said as she looked up at Leo. "I haven't seen you without it ever."
Leo looked away, trying to ignore the statement. Yang sighed and motioned for him to follow her. Walking a short distance they reached the lip of a crater and saw that the Goliath's were just on the other side. They were starring across at the duo of hunters. Yang moved to the right with Leo and the Goliath's followed.
"Damn, they're not going to make this easy on us." Yang said as she shifted her weapons into the firing position. Leo followed suit, his gauntlets shifting to reveal ten barrels on each side with a pair of tubes leading to tanks on his back. A tube came up to the front of his mouth and he quickly blew into it, inflating the tanks. Yang looked at the absurd weapon that her partner wielded and starred.
"Are you going to fight them with Air?" She asked sarcastically.
He nodded.
Yang sighed as she heard his weapons begin to spin before she heard the guns begin to fire. Just like when he had roared the bullets each carried with them a great amount of force, slamming into the Goliath's and causing them to stagger. Yang saw this and made her move. Leaping across the crater with help from Ember Celica she loaded her unstable rounds into the chambers and began to fire at the Grimm.
The first went down with relative ease, as the hail of bullets from Leo kept it stunned long enough for Yang to land on its tusk and place several blasts into its ear canal before leaping away. The explosions inside its skull caused the beast to fall and begin to dissolve. The next Goliath wasn't so easy to fell. Shrugging off the bullets it swung its trunk at Yang and caused her to leap away from the attack. It's partner quickly taking the opportunity to try to impale the small huntress on its tusk, Leo had to shift his focus to the other and didn't notice the Beowolves coming up behind him.
Twisting in the air Yang avoided the tusk and grabbed its trunk, blasting it in the face several times to stun the massive beast. Pushing off she avoided the second Goliath's Trunk which slammed into it's ally, throwing the Grimm to the side. Landing on the ground Yang ran between its legs before firing Ember Celica to grab its tail. Swinging around she managed to throw herself up onto the Goliath's back. She noticed that the hail of blasts from Leo had stopped and looked over to see him fending off a pack of Beowolves.
'Look's like I'm on my own again.' She thought as she started to run towards beasts head. She slid under it's trunk as it swiped past her trying to knock her off. She reached it's head and slid down to it's massive eye's. She reared back and and shot the Goliath in the right eye twice before losing her grip and jumping to the other. Proceeding to do the same to the left eye, she fell to the ground and rolled away from the blinded behemoth. The Goliath stomped around several times trying to get its bearings as she looked back across at Leo.
The tanks on his back had deflated and wrapped themselves around his torso, and his metal greaves had shifted upward to connect with the rest of his armor. His fighting style seemed to be similar to Yang's in the aspect that it utilizes both kickboxing and boxing. Swiftly dodging his foes attacks and then countering with his own blows. When one Beowolf would attack he would grab them by the mask and slam them into their allies. While Yang excelled at quick and precise blows, Leo excelled at the grappling portion of the fighting style.
Dragging the Beowolves around the small area that they were fighting in, Leo would take every opportunity he was given to tear off limbs and masks when they got close enough. Yang turned back to see that the Goliath the had been hit in the face by the other was back and tried to stomp on her. She jumped out of the way and grabbed onto one of the bone chunks on the Goliath's side. Attempting to scale the Goliath's side proved to be rather challenging as the Grimm constantly shook its leg to shake her off.
Finally reaching the top of the Goliath she shot the other Goliath in the side of the head. The massive Grimm turned to her and charged. Having been blinded, the beast didn't notice that it was charging it's ally until it had already impaled it. The Goliath let out a loud cry of pain before falling onto its side and starting to dissolve. Yang leapt onto the blinded Goliath's head and prepared to kill the beast until she heard a voice.
"MOVE"
Yang spun around and looked behind her for the deep voice that she heard before looking and seeing Leo inhaling deeply. Yang wasn't fast enough to avoid the blast as Leo unleashed his Roar. It hit the remaining Beowolves hard and began to tear chunks off of them. Slamming into the Goliath the roar caused it's eardrums to implode and its body to fall backwards at a weird angle. Yang was thrown several dozens of meters with a ringing in her ears.
She saw Leo's armor shift back into his gauntlets before he ran over to her. He lifted her into a sitting position and propped her up against a tree. Her vision was blurry and she could sort of see his mouth moving but all she could hear was the ringing in her ears. She moved her hands to her ears to try to block out the ringing. After a few minutes the ringing subsided and she was able to see straight. She saw that his mask was broken and she could see a deep scar over his left eye.
She reached out and grabbed his mask before lifting it off his face and letting it fall to the ground. She saw a deep 'X' shaped scar running between his eyes. "So that's why you wear a mask..." She said as he helped her to her feet. She was wobbly and had a her time standing. Leo lifted her onto his back and threw his broken mask into his bag, then began to walk towards the mountain. "Not much of a talker are you Leo?" Yang asked as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
Leo glanced back at her. "Nova says I'm not smart enough to talk to smart people." He said as he climbed over a fallen tree. "Says because I never had school I'm not allowed to talk to people who do have school."
Yang scowled, she wasn't a big fan of the older Arc sibling, a feeling she saw was mutually shared by most JNPR. "You listen to everything Nova says?" Yang asked as she lifted her head.
Leo let out a sigh. "I have to. Mr. Ironwood says that I'm a criminal. If I don't listen to my partner then I go back to jail."
This was the first time that Yang took notice of the object between her legs that kept waving back and forth. She looked down and saw a blonde tail twitching back and forth as Leo climbed the rocks. "You're a Faunus. I never knew." She said as she felt him tense. "Don't worry, I don't have a problem with Faunus... My er, my old best friend is a Faunus." Yang said as her mind drifted back to when she had found out that Blake was a Faunus.
Leo relaxed slightly as he continued to climb. "I was in the White Fang." Leo said. Now it was Yang's turn to tense up. She looked up at his face. "My family was with them before they started to be mean. I was in charge of the farms, making sure that everyone was fed." He found a cliff side that led to a cave and Yang climbed down. She was still a little wobbly, so Leo helped her walk into the cave.
Not more than forty yards into the cave was a door that led to an old mine. Opening the door Yang walked into her old home and found that nothing had changed since she left. "I figured that the Grimm would have raided this place after I left." She said as she went around to the various desk's and drawers grabbing papers and maps. She moved a old bed and threw Leo two every large bags. "Careful with those Leo, they are filled with the old unstable dust I collected in the mines." Yang said as she filled another bag with papers.
Leo walked over to the desk and raised one of the photos that he found. "Who's this?" He asked as he handed Yang the photo.
She looked at it for a moment before scowling. "It's my mother. She left when I was a baby, and I've only met her a few times." She threw the photo into her bag and continued to search around for things. Leo walked into the center of the room and there was a loud creaking. Yang spun around fast to see what had happened and saw that Leo had frozen in the center of the room. The room shook violently once more before the floor gave way and Leo and Yang fell into the mine.
The Leviathan
More than six hours had passed since Yang and Leo had left the ship. They watched when Leo tamed an Ursa Major, and saw when he and Yang fought the Goliath's and Beowolves. Qrow seemed to not be too concerned about things even when they stopped being able to see the video feed, but at least they could still hear the audio. They heard when Leo started to talk about his past and Nova seemed to become greatly annoyed when he mentioned her.
Qrow however was not calm when he heard a loud creak from the other side, followed by the sound of Yang and Leo screaming as they fell. Then the audio cut.
"Tyme! What the hell happened to the audio?!" Qrow yelled as he looked over to Tyme. Tyme was fiddling with the wires.
"I don't know! I'm trying to get the sound back, but I think something happened on the other end!"
"I know something happened on the other end! Fix it!" Qrow shouted as he began to move the Leviathan to the other side of the island.
Qrow ordered the Captain to move the ship to the other side of the island and prepare to open the hanger bay doors. The robots working the hanger sprang to life as they went around preparing the fleet that the Leviathan carried for takeoff. Qrow and his group quickly filed into the elevators and went down to the hanger. When they arrived they saw the robots preparing the ships and saw one preparing for takeoff.
They began to walk over to in, but we shocked to see the ship rise into the air and fire upon the other ships. As the ship rose into the air Qrow saw Sun and Neptune at the controls, with Ruby, Weiss and Blake, and all of team JNPR standing in the crew bay.
"RUBY! What the hell do you think your doing?!" Qrow shouted as they rose farther into the air.
Nova threw her battleaxe at the cockpit, but it was quickly diverted into the ceiling. She glared at the ship as she saw Pyrrha walk into full view with a glare focused on her.
"We're going to help Yang." Ruby shouted as the ship began to turn.
"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" Nova yelled as she rose into the air. Her eyes began to glow as she summoned forth her powers of spring. Attempting to call forth a gale failed as Pyrrha used her own power's to nullify the winds. Nova was getting increasingly frustrated with the students and threw a lightning bolt at the ship. It struck the ships side and she smirked, before noticing that all of the electricity was being absorbed by Nora.
Nora walked to the opening in the side of the ship and smile happily. Jaune and Ren followed suit and stood in the opening. Nova growled under her breath. "Jaune! Get off that ship now!" She yelled as she threw another bolt of lightning at the ship. this time Nora caught the bolt directly with Magnhild and absorbed it directly from the source. Her eyes were now shining as she starred back at Nova.
Jaune starred at Nova with a blank face before raising his arm and pointing at his sister. "Bring her down Nora."
"YAY!" Nora shouted as she gathered all of the electricity in her into her palm.
Nova glared at her younger brother. "JAUNE!" Using the wind she retrieved her battleaxe and threw it at him, but it was again deflected by Pyrrha. Nora thrust her palm out as she fired a massive bolt of lightning at Nova. The bolt connected with it's target and sent her crashing into the wall above the elevators. Jaune and Ruby looked down at the group of hunters that had gathered before them.
"This time, we're going to be the ones getting Yang off this island." Ruby said before the ship flew out of the hanger and down onto the island below. Qrow watched with absolute shock. He had been given the task of leading an expedition to True Remnant, to find some all powerful weapon, and bring it back to Vale so that they could combat the Grimm. He had assumed that dealing with a few teams of students would have been simple. Oh how truly wrong he had been.
The group turned to see the elevator opening and saw a tired looking Winter step out before looking around. Her eyes held a fair deal of surprise at the state of the destroyed hanger. She looked directly at Qrow. "What'd I miss?"
Hey guys! How was you week? Things are looking up on my end. This is the first time that I have had such a positive reception to a fanfic on this site. AND I LOVE IT! Man you guys are great! I've started to get a better idea of ways to write this story and I am very excited to see where I can go with this!
Now then...
This chapter I introduced you to Leo and his semblance, and his fighting style. I have based him off of a character from my favorite anime, though extremely toned down. I am honestly curious how many of you can guess where his powers have come from.
Nova, I honestly only added her to have an excuse to use a Maiden and have one of Jaune's family. But I have thought of so many ways to use the character's personality for my story that I just cant ignore her!.
Tyme is an old mechanic. Actually a better way to describe him is that he was the weapons expert in his original team. He enjoys working with tools and feels the most comfortable when he's taking something apart, or putting something back together.
And finally I decided that I love Sun, Neptune and Oobleck too much to not have them here. Thanks to all of you who have followed this story so far, and thanks to all of you who favorited and reviewed. Leave some new reviews and tell me what you though of the newest chapter.