Sorry, this should have been posted yesterday, but some matters came up and I couldn't bring myself to do much of anything. Regardless, this is the first of a wave of chapters, Amnesia is coming up by nights end Hell or high water, with Cataclysmic coming tomorrow or Tuesday (personal matters permitting).

On that, I give you the second to last chapter of Downed! Enjoy.

Edit: Made a change after someone pointed out an error. Thanks FiercesomestDefenestrator (hope I got that name right) for pointing it out!

"And so that's what happened." Yang said, finally finishing her explanation to everyone. She had said what happened to Ruby and Blake, but didn't go in depth. Here, she went all in, explaining every minor detail. She emphasized one thing, though:

The Crokolisks.

The Crocodile Grimm that had almost taken Ruby for a snack infested the swamp. They were more dangerous than Ursa were, mainly for their massive size. Their jaws alone had well over 3000 pounds of pressure behind their bites. Human bones would be powder under that kind of force.

These creatures were dangerous and they all knew it. Yet, they were very rare, too. Only in humid, swampy regions, would you find these hell spawns.

"Ok," Ruby said, clapping her hands, "I make a proposal!" The others began to look at her intently, "We need to go to the crash site and see what we can salvage, if anything. Maybe, if we're lucky, something could be intact."

"I don't know, Ruby," Weiss said, "After crashing, bursting into flames, falling towards the earth then getting rained on... I'm not sure what there could be for use to salvage?"

"You never know." Blake said, "It's an idea. It's either that or we wait here for a rescue that may not be coming for a few days. We may be able to find some rations there."

The prospect of food peaked Yang's interests. It had been since breakfast, almost ten hours ago, since she, or the rest of the team even, have eaten. "We're going." She deadpanned.

"Alright, then it's decided." Ruby declared, "We're going to examine the crash." With that, everyone began to rise, until the heard a cry of pain. The team turned to a certain white-clad heiress, holding her stomach in pain."Wow, she must really be hungry."

"No, you dunce! I'm not hungry! I'm far from it!" Weiss shouted, wincing with every word. Blake began to look over Weiss' stomach, and found heavy bruising.

"Yang?" Blake called, "You said we were on your shoulder when you jumped, right?"

"Yeah? Why? What happened?"

"Well... It looks like Weiss suffered an injury for it. I don't know the extent, but there's some bruising," She poked the heiress' abdomen and was gifted a pained cry, "And some pain to go along with it..." After she took her hand away from Weiss' belly, Blake whispered into her ear, "That was for Ruby." Blake backed away just in time to see the glare given by Weiss.

"You... I'll deal with you later. And you!" She pointed to Yang, who raised an eyebrow. Weiss had to be very careful with this. Not only was Yang still clearly pissed, but she was also the girl to save the entire teams lives. "I- Uhg." Weiss gave up, figuring no argument.

"Well, damn." Ruby muttered under her breathe, "We can't just leave her here, she can't move too much... How the hell are we going to do this?" She kept her fingers under her chin, trying to figure out the teams next move. "Ok, I got it."

"To protect Weiss' overall safety and make it easier for use to find the crash site, Yang will be out. Weiss, clearly, will be staying. Blake, I leave you a choice. Do you want to go with Yang or stay with Weiss?"

Blake thought about it, then turned to her leader, "Think you could help her?" She pointed to Weiss. Ruby deflated and shook her head, rather embarrassed at the fact that she simply didn't know what to do. "Then I'll stay here. No big deal. You go with Yang and bring back what you can. If you need help then we can trade spots." Ruby nodded and turned to Yang.

"Lead the way!" Yang nodded, picking up her scroll before leaving. "Stay safe you two!" Ruby called.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Yang winked, then left, Ruby following closely. Leaving Blake and Weiss to a very awkward silence.

"So..." Weiss said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Yeah." Blake replied. "Damnit." She muttered, "I forgot to have Ruby leave me her scroll." Weiss looked at Blake quizzically, "Oh, right, you weren't awake for that. She has a number of stories saved onto her scroll. I read some earlier. I was going to now, too. Was, anyway."

Weiss nodded, laying back. "How long you think they're going to be? Ruby and Yang?"

Blake sat back against the wall and thought for a moment, "Probably ten, twenty minutes. Maybe thirty. Probably thirty."

"Yeah, thirty sounds about right." Weiss agreed. "It's going to be a long thirty minutes." She sighed.

Ruby followed Yang's almost feeble attempt at backtracking. They hadn't even found the hollowed out tree from earlier, let alone the Bullhead. "Yang," Ruby sighed, "We're-"

"Nope!" The eldest sister declared, "Not yet! Nope nope nope nope nope!"

Ruby sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hand, then continued to follow Yang. Although she herself wasn't sure why she was still doing that at this point. It was clear that they had no clue where they were at.

"It was this way! For sure! This was where we killed that first Crok asshole. Which means..." She thought, "The tree has to be this way!"

"Hey, it's a miracle! She has a thought of where she's going!"

"Hey," Yang shot back in mock pain, "What gave you such an attitude?"

"I- It's nothing." Ruby waved her off, "Forget it." Yang was about to press on, but instead chose to save it for a later time. Their downed craft was more important than someone's attitude.

After a moment of running, Yang stopped and looked around, Ruby close behind. "What? Do you see it?"

"No..." Yang said quietly, "No but it should be right here! Right here!" She pointed at the ground beneath her.

"Are you-?

"Yes! I'm sure, Ruby." Yang's head was spinning so fast, Ruby began to fear that she would get whiplash. "I don't understand... How-"

"Yang!" Ruby called, "Is that it over there?" She pointed in the distance to a large oak tree with a gaping maw at the base of the trunk. Yang wrapped her sister up in a massive bear hug.

"Good eyes, sis! Let's go!" She carried Ruby all the way to the tree, despite the younger's protests. When they finally arrived, Yang put Ruby down, who kept a stern glare on the former. "Oh, you look so cute when you try to be mad!" Ruby opened her mouth for a retort, but gave up and sighed. "Ok!" Yang clapped her hands, "If the tree is here, then the Bullhead should be..." She began walking, "Right... Over... Here!" She pointed towards the distance, noticing burned tree's and a scorched landscape.

Yang began to rush the crash site, Ruby still following closely with Crescent Rose ready. Climbing over the massive branches and vines, the duo found what remained of their downed craft.

The wings had been torn off, engines appeared to have been melted by the immense heat. The fuselage of the craft had been leaning against another massive tree, though had been torn apart; the tail was shattered, the body had cracks and missing parts, while the cockpit seemed to be in moderate condition.

The sisters looked at each other, worriedly. "It's gonna be tricky getting in there, Yang." Ruby commented.

"Yeah, I know. You wanna cut the tree down? Maybe make the Bullhead a bit more evened out?" Ruby thought about this idea for a moment. The one issue seemed to be whether or not they wanted to risk further damage. If anything was bumped even slightly in any direction, it could have very negative repercussions.

"It's a risk..."

"One we have to take, Ruby. We're not going to be able to walk in that ship, it's on almost a ninety degree angle." Yang stated blandly. Ruby knew she was right. Extending Crescent Rose to its full scythe form, she began to move toward the giant tree. Yang, too, readied her weapons. They both walked to one side of the tree, nodded to each other, then began to fire into the tree.

After a few shots, it fell over, taking the bullhead with it. Both hit the ground with a massive thud. The sisters smiled at each other, then began to examine the downed craft. Walking in, the smell of smoke still permeated the air. Yang turned to the hull, while Ruby turned to the cockpit, letting out a gasp.

Yang turned to see Ruby, hand over her mouth and against the wall, sliding down. "What's up?" She asked tentatively. Ruby shook her head and pointed inside, indicating it was something in the cockpit. Yang nodded and went to see what caused such a reaction. It didn't take her more than a second to get why:

There charred corpses of the pilots sat there, wet from the rain. Yang took a deep breath, walked out, knelt down next to Ruby and rubbed her sisters head. "It's ok, they... It'll be ok..." It was tough for the older to find words. How can you say 'They're dead, don't worry about it.' without sounding like an ass? Yang decided not to pursue it, leaving her statement as is. "Take a moment. I'll take the cockpit, you keep us covered in case any Crok's show up, ok?" Ruby nodded, and pulled out Crescent Rose.

While Ruby took the door, Yang went back into the cockpit. She was hoping for something to still be working, preferably a radio. Looking around the panel, she weaved through the corpses of the pilots, which was very uncomfortable. She started hitting random buttons, hoping for any kind of response. Alas, nothing.

As hope was beginning to dwindle, a small light caught Yang's eyes. It flashed once, making her think it was her imagination. Then, it flashed again, then again and again. Yang fixated on that light, moving to a terminal on the co-pilots side. She tried to read through the smoke damage, and only made out a few words: 'EME NC RAD O'

"Emergency Radio! Ruby, I found it!" Yang declared.

"That's great, Yang, but we have an issue!" Ruby called back, distress in her voice. Before Yang could react, a number of shots rang out. Yang bolted outside, only to see Crokolisk's beginning to surround them. "Yang, take whatever you found, and let's go!"

Yang nodded and charged back in. She looked at the radio, praying it was portable. Her luck held out as she lifted it, detaching it from the terminal completely. She looked to the side and saw a battery life, which read seventy two percent. "Close enough." Yang mumbled. "I got it, Ruby! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Ruby nodded and charged out, Crescent Rose at full extension. The younger carved a path of death in front of her, leaving Yang a window to move. Yang bolted, following her sister. It wasn't long before they found the hollow tree, where they took a moment to regroup.

"How did they find us?" Ruby asked, slightly out of breath.

"I'm not sure. But we can't get held up by it. I have what we needed, and thank the light it's still safe. This is what I was hoping we'd find! Let's get back to Blake and Weiss before those things catch up."

With that the sisters left, running at full speed back to the cave.

They could not get there fast enough.

The time Blake and Weiss has been spending had been mostly quiet. The two sat against the wall mostly, the only one to move was Blake when the fire got too weak. Weiss' injury wasn't getting worse, but it wasn't getting better either. Blake wasn't sure what caused the bruising and why Weiss hadn't healed it. Unless she couldn't?

Maybe she didn't want to?

"Hey." Blake called.

"Yes?"

"Why haven't you healed yourself, yet?"

Weiss lifted her head, stared at Blake, opened her mouth, then closed it. Whatever her response was, she knew it was going to be a lie at first, so Weiss decided to, instead, tell the truth. "I- I probably hurt Ruby, didn't I?"

Blake was taken aback. She didn't know if Weiss was trying to change the subject, or what? "What do you- Oh..." It finally hit her. Weiss was referring to when she slapped Ruby. "No, no I don't think so, Weiss. She didn't show any signs of being hurt when I checked on her. I think Yang was more emotional over it than Ruby was for sure."

Weiss nodded slowly. "But, I mean, we know Ruby doesn't really like to show it... You know?" Blake nodded, "Do... do you think I actually hurt her?" Weiss voice was sincere, she actually cared for Ruby.

"Weiss," Blake laughed, "I'm going to be honest with you. With everything you say to her, all of the names and such, a little slap like that won't do much to hurt her."

Weiss nodded, wincing when Blake mentioned the name calling. She had to admit, she did do it far too much to the others.

"Besides, she told me herself that nothing you do or say really effects her anymore." Blake deadpanned, "She's become so desensitized to your crap."

Weiss' head whipped around to meet Blake's gaze, "Wha- Bu-... How? I- I'm... Speechless."

"I noticed."

"Wait? When did she tell you this?"

"Oh, I think it was about a month ago, something like that. She admitted after the first half semester she really started to not care, unless what you said was really hurtful."

Weiss leaned back, not really sure how she should feel right now. In a way, she could abuse this fact, but that might be taking things too far. "So... Did Ruby tell you anything else?"

Blake blushed mildly, trying to hide it, to no avail. "Uh, nope. Nothing."

"You sure?" Weiss asked slyly. Blake knew she royally messed up. "It doesn't seem like it was nothing."

"No, no. It was nothing. Trust me." Blake tried to recover, all she had to do was...

"Guys!" A call from outside. It sounded like Yang, from quite the distance away. Blake got up to go see what the commotion was. "We got it!" Blake saw both Ruby and Yang running at full speed toward the cave.

Ruby stopped by doing a front flip and a roll, eventually sliding inside the cave. Yang did a baseball style slide and stopped on a dime.

"Ok, welcome back." Blake said, smile on her face. "Now, what did you get?"

"We got an emergency radio, and I think it's still in working order!" Yang almost screamed with excitement as Blake helped her up. "I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens. Wish me luck!"

As she started to work, Blake walked over to Ruby, who had a glazed look in her eyes. "Hey, you ok?"

"Blake," She said, her voice quiet and meek, "We have Grimm. Big Grimm. I think they might have followed us. Yang thinks we lost them... I don't know..."

The two heard another voice join in on their conversation, "Whoa, hold on, back up. What?"

Ruby turned to face Weiss, "I think we may have lead some Crokolisks here... I'm not sure, but..."

"But we can't be too sure. Those things will tear us apart if we let our guard down." Blake said, realizing why Ruby was acting the way she was.

"Right, Weiss, your still hurt, right?" Weiss nodded to her leader, "Ok, stay with Yang and protect that radio at all times. Blake, stay with me. We're going to keep watch outside for anything and everything, ok?" Blake nodded and ran outside with her teammate. Weiss went to Yang, telling her what was going on.

"Alright, so you're my cover, eh? That's good, at least here I can watch you." Yang said, smile on her face.

"Yang, look, I feel really bad about that. I overreacted and-"

"Did you apologize to Ruby?" Yang asked sternly. Weiss shook her head, solemnly. "When you do, then I can truly forgive you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get into contact with Beacon."

Weiss nodded and kept a mild distance, giving Yang room to work. Eventually Yang got the radio on, and started making the call.

"Hello? Is anybody there? This is Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY; We have crashed in the swamplands near the Waldrike Mountains and are seeking emergency help. Mayday, SoS, whatever, someone, respond!"

It took a few minutes, mostly static filled the airwaves. Yang was about to make another go at it, until a voice was heard.

"Xi- Long, Co- N. Do you read? Yang Xiao Long, come in!"

"Yes, yes! I'm here, hello?"

"There you are. We've been looking everywhere for you. Miss Xiao Long, this is Professor Goodwitch, can you give me a status report?"

"Yes. All members of Team RWBY are accounted for. The pilots... Dead. We have one wounded, and are in a Crokolisk infested swamp."

"Pardon me... did you just say, Crokolisk infested?"

"Yes."

"Miss Xiao Long, we have a rescue on the way. Estimated arrival will be in one hour. Can you hold out until then?"

"We've been able to hold out without issue until now. I don't see why not." Yang said with an honest smile.

"Very good. We'll be there soon. Stay safe." With that, Professor Goodwitch's voice cut out. Yang turned to Weiss and smiled. Weiss heard everything and returned the smile back.

"We're going to make it, Weiss."

"Yeah..." Weiss said, almost choking up, "We are... Aren't we?"

"Guys!" Yang called to Blake and Ruby, "Rescue's coming! One hour!" There was no response from her teammates. Yang looked around, trying to find where they went to. "Weiss, you see them?"

Before Weiss could answer, a shot rang out and a scream was heard. Yang turned to the source, then to Weiss. Weiss gave a nod and Yang was off. She found Blake and Ruby fending off massive Crok's. The beast's came out of nowhere, the water, the tree line... It was endless.

"Oh, shit."

Oh shit. Well, that took a turn for the desperate.

I feel as though I could have written this chapter better... I don't know. Something was missing and it was probably me not being in the right mindset. Regardless, it's up and I'll have it finished this week.

Not really much to say, though someone did ask about the Scroll's battery life: Sorry I'm not going to look for your name, but you know who you are. I have no clue about Scroll battery life, I'd assume they'd have a pretty damn long life, if it's for hunters and whatnot.

Also, everyone got a kick out of Weiss nearly being charred. I like that. That wasn't even supposed to be in the story, but I threw it in last second and I like that you all enjoyed it.

On that note, I'm going to cut this off. Thanks for reading. One chapter to go!

Until Next Time.