Hello again. It's been a bit. Once again, this chapter has been done for a while, but I went through a few drafts with this one. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.
At the Storm Border, Da Vinci and the others were monitoring Ritsuka's location.
Goredolf walked up to where Da Vinci was working, "How is Ritsuka's party doing?"
"So far, so good looks like," Da Vinci answered. "They've been slowly making their way up the city."
"Good. Sounds like their mission is going well then."
Da Vinci suddenly noticed something odd happening, "That's weird. Ritsuka and her party are suddenly moving at a greater speed than before. From the looks of it they're…they're leaving the city?!"
The team was surprised by the sudden turn of events. Holmes even raised an eyebrow, curious about this sudden development.
Goredolf became flabbergasted, "L-leaving the city? What for? Contact them immediately. I want an explanation from them."
"I wouldn't worry too much, Director," Holmes said. "This is Ms. Fujimaru we're talking about. We should trust in her intuition."
Da Vinci stepped in, "Yeah, I'm sure she knows what she's doing."
Back on the Argus Limited, Ritsuka placed her head on the table that they were sitting at, "I don't know what to do, guys." She had found the girl from her dreams, but where should she go from there?
"Why don't you just introduce yourself to her?" Mash asked.
"And how should I do that?" Ritsuka asked, getting sarcastic. "I can't just go, 'Hi, I'm Ritsuka. I've been having dreams about you. We should be friends.' Come on, Mash, that would be totally creepy."
Mash looked down at the table, "True."
"Well, there is no rush to make a plan, Master," Scáthach said. "This train won't reach its destination for several hours anyway."
"That's true," was all that Ritsuka replied.
Ritsuka placed her head on the table again. Before she had time to rest, she heard sudden gasp that originated from a familiar voice come from behind her. "Oh my gosh! It's you again!"
Ritsuka looked up and turned around. Her attitude quickly perked up when she saw who was standing behind her. It was that girl again. The one she had been dreaming of. Was this encounter of destiny or something?
"You're the girl I ran into earlier," the mysterious red head said. "I never would've guessed you'd be on this train too. I'm sorry for running into you earlier. You're not…hurt, are you?"
Ritsuka shook her head, "Like I said before, I'm perfectly fine."
The girl sighed, "Well that's a relief. Could I…treat you all to some coffee? Or perhaps some tea? Just as a little token of apology."
Ritsuka looked at Mash and Scáthach for a second to see their nods of approval. She then looked back at the girl, "Three teas would be nice. If you don't mind."
"Great," the girl replied. She went off to the café bar and quickly returned with three cups of tea. She placed the cups in front of Ritsuka and her allies. "There we go, three teas on me. Oh! I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose."
Ritsuka smiled, "I'm Ritsuka, Ritsuka Fujimaru. This is Mash and that is Scáthach." The two greeted Ruby and she greeted them back.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Ruby said with the most infectious smile on her face. "I'd love to stay and chat, but my friends are waiting for me. We should hang out when we arrive in Argus."
"That sounds like fun."
"Great. I'll see ya later then." With her farewell, Ruby walked off to the adjacent train car.
When she was out of sight, Scáthach couldn't help but giggle a bit, "Well, it seems fate once again favors you, Master."
Ritsuka looked down at her tea, "Yeah, seems like it. Well it would be rude to not enjoy this tea that she bought for us."
With an olive branch forming between her and her new friend Ruby, Ritsuka decided to relax for a bit and enjoy her tea with her servants. An hour or so had passed and the temperature had dropped substantially. The once green trees were now had their leaves covered with white snow. Ritsuka looked outside in awe.
"This world actually really amazing, don't you think," Ritsuka said.
"Yes, it is quite breathtaking, Senpai," Mash replied, joining Ritsuka at the window.
Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden bang that caused the train to shake a bit. It sounded like it had from one of the train cars further to the back.
"Senapi, did you hear that?" Mash asked.
Ritsuka nodded, "Come on, it could be more of those Grimm creatures."
The three exited and headed to the top of the train car. With a clear view of the outside, Ritsuka's hypothesis proved true. Creatures of Grimm were tailing the train from the sky. "We've got to stop them." Ritsuka ordered.
"Right, entering Combat Mode. What are your orders Master?" Mash asked as she deployed her shield and put on her visor.
"Scáthach, go on ahead of us. Take out as many Grimm as you can. Mash, stick me with."
"Right," the two servants said at once. With her orders in place, Scáthach used her speed to dash to the back of the train. Ritsuka and Mash followed behind Scáthach, with Mash taking the lead in case any Grimm tried to attack them along the way.
Meanwhile, near the back of the train, Ruby and her team were already ready preparing to engage the Grimm.
"What's the plan, Ruby?" Yang asked.
"Don't let anyone else-" Before she could finish, a gust of wind blew up from behind and past them. Except it wasn't the wind at all. Scáthach had dashed passed Team RWBY and towards the Grimm. As she approached, she used her Runes to give herself flight. She jumped from the train flew straight at the Manticore with her spear out ready to strike. The Manticore slashed at Scáthach as she approached, but her speed and reflexes were too great. She easily read the Grimm's movements and dodged the Manticore's attack entirely. She then followed with a counter slash from her spear, killing the Grimm in one strike. She then continued to slash and pierce through as many of the Grimm as she could. Some of them tried to dodge her attacks, but their attempts were futile against Scáthach's keen senses in combat. With a fair amount of Grimm taken care of, Scáthach landed back on train and looked out towards the remaining Grimm.
"Hmph, a shame that these Grimm aren't all that tough," Scáthach said to herself.
Meanwhile, Ruby's team was left in shock and awe. Her speed and strength were nothing like any Huntsman or Huntress they had ever seen before. The way she took out the Grimm with little effort and in almost the blink of an eye was befuddling to everyone. It was almost unheard of that a Manticore of that size could be taken out so easily by a single person.
Ruby's uncle, Qrow, looked the most surprised, "What just happened?"
"She…took out all those Grimm in a flash." Ruby answered.
"Like it was nothing," Weiss added.
"She also just flew. Was that her semblance?," Blake added as well.
Their amazement was cut off by more Grimm appearing from the snowy fog. Yang snapped out of her amazement of Scáthach and loaded shotguns, "Well, we can't let her have all the fun."
Yang used the guns on her hands to launch herself towards the incoming horde of Grimm. Blake followed behind her, as did Qrow. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other and took fighting positions.
"Guess you're with me, Weiss," Ruby said.
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Weiss replied.
Before they could engage the Grimm, the two heard someone calling to Ruby from behind them. They looked back to see Ritsuka and Mash running up to them. Ruby smiled when she saw who it was and ran towards the two to meet up with them. Weiss, confused on what was going on, quickly followed her partner. After a short run, the two groups caught up to each other.
"Ritsuka!" Ruby said, "What are you doing up here?"
"We're here to help," Ritsuka replied.
Weiss quickly observed Ritsuka and noticed that she was completely unarmed, "And how do you plan to help? You don't even have a wea- wait a minute…aren't you the girl that Ruby-"
"LOOK OUT!" Mash exclaimed out of the blue.
A Sphinx swooped down towards Ruby and Weiss, but Mash quickly reacted and blocked the Grimm's attack. Stunned from impacting the giant shield, Mash used the opportunity to counter the Grimm with a strong bash. The blow sent the Sphinx flying down into the trees below.
"That was close," Mash said.
"Nice save Mash," Ritsuka complimented.
Mash smiled after hearing her Senpai's praise. Meanwhile Ruby and Weiss were once again in stunned by Mash's performance just now, especially the former heiress.
"That was so cool!" Ruby exclaimed, pumped up after seeing what Mash just did. "You were like…BOOM and that Sphinx went flying into next week."
Weiss remained silent. She was still processing what she had just witnessed. "Her strength is impressive," she thought to herself. "She's swinging a giant, heavy-looking shield with such great efficiency."
"That was pretty good," was all Weiss said.
Scáthach returned from slaying Grimm to give Ritsuka her report. "Master, your friends and I are managing to keep the Grimm at bay. However, their numbers don't seem to be dwindling. As we eliminate them, more seem to take their place."
The group looked up to see more Sphinxes and even another Manticore had joined in on the attack. Ritsuka looked to see Ruby's team still fighting with all their might. She took a deep breath, "Well, we can't give in now. Let's keep at it."
"Yes, Master," Mash and Scáthach said together.
Scáthach once again dashed into the fray of Grimm to join Ruby's friends in their attack on the Grimm. She used her skills in Magecraft to summon duplicates of her legendary spear, the Gáe Bolg. The crimson red spears floated around the Celtic warrior, waiting to strike her enemies. Once ready, Scáthach pointed her hand towards the flying Grimm and on command, the spears launched from their positions towards her targets. The spears moved at such great speed, the Grimm she fired them at had no time to react. One after another the Grimm were completely impaled by the spears, causing them to dissolve immediately afterwards.
Ruby and Weiss were still amazed by Scáthach's abilities in combat, but they quickly snapped out of their awe when they saw several Sphinxes flying down at them. The two nodded at each other as if in sync with what the other wanted to do. Ruby aimed her scythe at the oncoming Grimm. As she did, Weiss activated a Glyph in front of her partner that boosted the power of her bullets with Dust. Ready to attack, Ruby began firing at the incoming Grimm. Ruby's shots hit their targets with incredible accuracy. She managed to take out a few of the Sphinxes with some well placed shots to their critical areas.
As the remaining Grimm approached, Ruby felt they were too close to fire at again. She looked at Weiss again, who made it clear she knew what to do with another nod. The white haired girl created another Glyph, which Ruby used as a platform to intercept the charging Grimm. With a well timed slash, the Sphinx was sliced in two by her scythe. Unfortunately, another Sphinx took advantage of Ruby being in the air by charging at her from her blind spot.
Seeing the Grimm coming in from the ground, Weiss called out to her, "Ruby!"
Ruby turned around and saw the Grimm flying towards her. She had no time to react; all she could do was scream and prepare for the worst. Before the Grimm could take her out, a flash of magical energy hit the Sphinx, temporarily distorting its senses. Ruby looked and saw Ritsuka with her hand out as if she had just fired a projectile from it. Surely that must've been her doing. Ruby wanted to be excited, but there was no time for that. With her opportunity now made, Ruby took her scythe and sliced the Sphinx in half before it had time to regain its senses.
With their targets eliminated, Ruby landed back down on the train. Seeing her friend safe, Ritsuka gave a thumbs up to indicate she had her back. Ruby responded with a smile of gratitude before turning her attention back to Weiss and the new horde of Grimm that decided to come out and play.
Ritsuka watched as Ruby and her teammate worked together in fighting the Grimm. She was impressed by their coordination and their ability to cooperate so well with each other. It reminded her of her and Mash. That being said, Ritsuka couldn't hold back either. She had to do her part in helping keep the Grimm away from the train.
As she fired spells at the Grimm, they quickly turned their attention towards the young Master. They prepared their claws as they swooped town to tear her to pieces. As they did, Mash would intervene and take them out with her shield. It proved to be an effective tactic, bait them in, and then take them out when they got close. Even the occasional spear would be fired by Scáthach from a distance at any Grimm that tried to catch them by surprise. With her servants by her side, any Grimm that dared to get close to Ritsuka would meet their demise.
"Senpai, Scáthach was right. There doesn't seem to be any end to these Grimm." Mash said in a concerned tone.
"You're right," Ritsuka replied. "We can't let up, but we can't keep this up forever. Guess we have no choice. Mash, I'm going to have Scáthach activate her-"
Ritsuka's plan was interrupted by someone yelling further up the train.
"TUNNEL!" the person called out.
Ritsuka and everyone else currently on top of the train looked towards the front and saw that the train was heading for a tunnel that cut into the mountain. Sticking around would obviously mean death.
"RUN!" Ritsuka shouted. Everyone currently on top of the train began to run to get to safety in between the train cars.
In another spot, Ruby offered her hand to Weiss, "Weiss! Take my hand."
Without hesitation, Weiss took hold of Ruby's hand. Ruby quickly activated her semblance and dashed the two of them towards the open gap of the train car.
"Mash, take Master," Scáthach ordered.
"Right," Mash replied.
Mash quickly swept Ritsuka off her feet and began to run with her towards the closest safe area. Thanks to Mash's speed, the three made it safely and avoid a painful experience of slamming into the mountainside. Mash entered the train car with Ritsuka still in her hands. Once they were completely in the clear, she let Ritsuka down.
"Thanks, Mash. You okay?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Mash replied.
"Good. We should check on the other passengers. Make sure they're okay. I'm sure they're shook after all the commotion outside."
The three hurried through the other trains cars to make sure no one was hurt after all the action that had just happened up top. Luckily, it seemed all the passengers were okay. The train they were on was a lot sturdier than they had expected. Seeing that the passengers were unharmed, Ritsuka headed back to check on her new friends. She trusted they were fine. They seemed like a bunch that knew what they were doing. Surely they could handle their own against the Grimm. As they were walking back, Ritsuka spotted Ruby briskly walking towards them.
"Ritsuka," she called out.
"Ruby! You all okay?" Ritsuka asked.
"We're fine," Ruby answered. "Listen, we have an idea to get rid of the Grimm. Do you think you can tell everyone to move up to the front cars?"
"Um…yeah, sure. No problem"
"Great. I really appreciate it."
Without another word, Ruby ran back to the car she had come from.
"What do you think her plan is?" Mash asked.
"I'm not sure," Ritsuka replied. "But whatever it is, I'm sure it'll work. Let's just do what she asked of us for now. We'll get more details later."
Mash nodded. The three began requesting that the passengers head towards the front cars of the train. They were surprised that everyone on board was so willing to listen to them. They thought they would be more reluctant to follow them. Ritsuka guessed that it was probably smart to follow the advice of those who had experience in fighting the Grimm. Once they had gathered everyone, they made one final check to make sure that no one was left behind.
"Okay. It looks like that's everyone," Mash said.
"Alright, let's meet up with Ruby and see what she wants us to do next," Ritsuka said.
Before they could go any further, Ritsuka felt a presence come over here. It wasn't threatening, but rather…calming. She looked to her servants, "Mash, Scáthach, do you feel that?"
"Yes," Mash answered. "It is another attack?"
"I don't think so," Scáthach replied. "It feels like something similar to Magecraft, but this is definitely not like any Magecraft from our world. I wouldn't worry about it right now, Master. It doesn't seem like an immediate threat. Let's just see what your friend has to say."
The three started walking to the back of the train, but quickly realized that something was wrong. Nearly half of the train had vanished.
"Wh-what happened to the train?" Ritsuka asked. "Where's the rest of it?"
Scáthach chuckled a bit, "So that was their plan, huh?"
Ritsuka and Mash looked at Scáthach to listen to her explanation.
"It seems your friends cut off part of the train to use themselves as bait while the rest of us escape."
Ritsuka's face suddenly took on the form of worry. She looked out into the snow, concerned about her new friend. She wanted to go after them, but she knew that would be a bad idea. It wouldn't be smart to just go out into the snowy wilderness without a plan, let alone without any knowledge on the layout of the land or proper resources.
Scáthach tried to cheer up Ritsuka, "Worry not, Master. If your new friend is as capable as you believe she is, then I'm sure she will be able to find her way."
Ritsuka smiled a bit, "I know she is. Well… with the Grimm gone, seems our part is done. I guess for now we can just relax until we get to our destination. Wherever that is."
Scáthach and Mash agreed. The three walked through the remaining cars until they found some available seats. Now finally able to rest, Ritsuka took a moment to reflect on everything that had happened. She managed to find the girl she had been dreaming about and even managed to befriend her. But now she was gone again. Ritsuka still wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that the connection between them would be important. She could be the key to finding whatever is draining the Mana from their world. Either way, Ritsuka was certain that the answers would eventually reveal themselves.
While still thinking, her ears caught wind of someone mentioning the name "Ruby." She quickly looked up and saw that it came from a trio of folks that were sitting not too far from them. Perhaps they were friends of hers as well. It didn't hurt to find out. Ritsuka got up and decided to approach them. Curious, Mash followed close behind her.
"Excuse me," she said, interrupting their conversation. "Did you just mention someone named 'Ruby'?"
The three looked at Ritsuka a bit awkwardly, hesitant to respond to a random stranger. "Yeah…?" replied the blonde young man. "Do you know her?"
Ritsuka nodded, "We met earlier. We were helping her and her friends fight the Grimm on top of the train earlier."
"That was you?!" the orange haired girl that was with them yelled out. She analyzed Ritsuka for a moment, taking the girl aback a bit. She looked over at Mash then at Scáthach. "Hey yeah, it is you. Guys! They're the ones who were kicking Grimm butt earlier. You three were pretty awesome."
Ritsuka got a bit bashful, "Thanks."
The young blonde man got up from his seat, "Well, if that's the case, a friend of Ruby is a friend of ours. I'm Jaune, by the way. Jaune Arc."
The boy's name caught Ritsuka's attention. Jaune Arc? It was strikingly similar to Chaldea's self-proclaimed big sister, Jeanne d'Arc. Maybe they were alternate variants of one another. She laughed at the thought in her head.
"I'm Ritsuka, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Those are my companions, Mash and Scáthach," Ritsuka replied.
"A pleasure to meet you," Mash said.
The energetic girl with them grabbed Ritsuka's hand and began to shake it aggressively, "Pleased to meetcha. I'm Nora and that's Ren."
Once Nora released her hand, Ritsuka checked it to make sure that it wasn't broken or anything. Nora did have quite the grip on her. After confirming that her hand was fine, she looked back and saw Nora had a care free smile on her face. Totally oblivious to the pain she had caused Ritsuka just now. Ritsuka could tell that she was the type that would fit right in with other cast of characters currently residing in Chaldea.
"Nice to meet you all," Ritsuka said, still recovering from her hand. "So, how do you all know Ruby?"
"We were classmates with her at Beacon Academy," Jaune answered.
Ritsuka tilted her head a bit in confusion, "Cool. What is that? Some kind of school?"
Jaune and the others were bit surprised by Ritsuka's response. How had she not heard about Beacon? Especially after what had happened some time ago? Then again with the Communication Towers down, a lot was still unknown to the public about what had happened that day. Only those who were there knew the whole truth. Jaune and his friends being some of them.
Nora jumped in, "You haven't heard of Beacon? What, do y'all live under a rock or something?"
Ritsuka could tell that not knowing about this Beacon Academy was incredibly strange, but it wasn't her fault. Not like she knew much about this world in the first place. For now, she would just have to play dumb and see if she could get them to explain it more to her.
Ritsuka laughed nervously, "Eh heh heh, sorry, it's just that-"
"We're not from around here," Mash intervened.
"I see…" Jaune said, finding their ignorance a bit strange.
There was an awkward silence among the group again. Ritsuka didn't want them to look more suspicious, so she tried to ask about Beacon, hoping they would answer her question.
"So, would you mind telling me about this Beacon? It sounds really neat. What was it like?" Ritsuka asked.
"It was actually quite interesting," Jaune said replied.
"Interesting is putting it lightly," Nora added.
Jaune began explaining what Beacon Academy even was. It was a school for training young folks to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, the people who fought the Grimm to keep Remnant safe. The fact that this world had whole schools and dedicated just to fighting against the Grimm quickly caught Ritsuka's attention. Before arriving at Chaldea, she would've thought such things were only possible in anime or manga. Now, it seemed pretty logical that this world would have ways of combating the Grimm.
As Jaune continued, he talked about what their first day was like. He mentioned how he had met Ruby that same day too. Jaune told Ritsuka about their orientation too, being launched into the Emerald Forest to fend for themselves right out of the gate. Ritsuka couldn't help but burst out laughing after hearing what had happened to the poor kid.
"That's crazy. They launched you off into a forest just like that?" Ritsuka asked while still calming down from her previous laughter.
Jaune chuckled a bit, "Yeah…I guess it's pretty funny now when you think about it. Although, I probably would've gotten hurt or worse if Pyrrha hadn't saved me."
"Pyrrha? Is she another friend of yours?" Mash asked.
Jaune looked down at the floor, "Was."
Jaune mood quickly turned sour. Being reminded of Pyrrha always brought back tough memories. Scenarios of what could've been if he was stronger at the time played through his mind. The guilt of not realizing what he meant to her all that time. Would things be different? Would she be here with them right now? Possibly, but who was to say?
Nora and Ren rested their hands on Jaune to comfort him. Ritsuka and Mash could tell this Pyrrha person was a touchy subject for the three of them. Whatever her story was surely didn't have a happy ending.
Ritsuka didn't want her new friends to be uncomfortable, "If…you don't to talk about her then it's-"
"No, it's okay," Jaune replied, sounding a lot more serious than before.
Jaune began to describe his late partner, Pyrrha Nikos, to the two of them. To Jaune, she was "a beautiful, red-haired warrior whose skills in combat were second to none." He mentioned how she had saved him from crash landing in the Emerald Forest, her incredible fighting skills, and, despite all her talent, was one of the kindest people he knew. Talking about her created a light smile on Jaune's face. That is, until, his story got near its conclusion. Jaune didn't want to go into too much detail. The memories were already painful as is. He told them that Pyrrha had been helping to save Beacon from being destroyed. Tragically, she had been killed while trying to do so. Nora and Ren once again put their hands on Jaune in order to console him. The three of them mourned the loss of their precious friend together.
Rituska and Mash now had sad looks on their faces. Hearing about Jaune's friend reminded the young Master of all the servants who had given their lives in order to help her stop the Singularities and Lostbelts. In a way, she understood, especially that feeling of helplessness.
"Your friend sounds like she was an incredible person," Ritsuka commented.
"She was," Jaune said. His throat getting choked up as he tried to hold back tears.
"Though I feel 'incredible' is underselling her, honestly."
"How horrible," Mash said to herself. "To lose someone you care about like that."
"Yeah, well…it is what it is, right?" Jaune said, doing a poor job at brushing off the subject.
Ritsuka could tell that Jaune's mood was getting gloomy from talking about Pyrrha. She decided it was better to leave them be for the time being. Her attempts at gathering more information on Ruby and her friends could wait.
"Well, I feel we've taken enough of your time. We're gonna go ahead and rest now," Ritsuka said.
"Of course," Jaune said, finally lifting his head back up while giving a clearly fake smile. "We should arrive in Argus soon. We can chat more then."
"Yeah, we should totally hang out once we get there," Nora suggested, trying to lighten the mood again.
"That would be fun," Mash replied.
With that, the two groups separated for the time being. Ritsuka began thinking about everything that Jaune and his friends told them about. It pained her a bit to hear about their friend. She could tell that they were all really close. It reminded her a bit about her own team in Chaldea and how close they've all gotten.
"Did you learn anything new, Master?" Scáthach asked.
"A little bit," Ritsuka replied before giving a yawn.
Scáthach took notice, "You're tired, Master. I suggest you and Mash take a quick nap before we arrive. It's been a quite a day and you two have earned it after how well you did out there."
Ritsuka and Mash decided to take Scáthach's advice. They sat on each side of the Celtic warrior and rested their heads on each of her shoulders. Scáthach couldn't help but smile as she watched her Master and Mash sleep.
"While this world has provided no challenges for me yet, it is certainly interesting," Scáthach thought to herself. "I look forward to seeing what else this world can throw at us."
Well that's all I got for now. Hope you enjoyed. Look forward to the next chapter.