Here we are at Chapter 33. This stories definitely going to be longer than I first thought, but that's a good thing in my mind. Anyway, time for a little surprise in this one. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 33. Enjoy.
Chapter 33: Train Takedown
As the train begins moving away from the underground site, Team RVWBY along with Dr. Oobleck manage to make it onto the train. Just as one White Fang member looks back at them while standing inside the back car, Velvet comes up and kicks him off the train. Seeing that the coast is currently clear, the group moves onto the top of the train car they're on, and Oobleck opens up a hatch on top for them.
"Hurry children. We must get to the front and stop this train!" he says.
"Uh, Professor…" Weiss begins.
"Doctor," he corrects her.
"What's that?" she asks, pointing to a gray cylinder object with red and blue wires on the side in the car they're standing on.
"That, my dear…appears to be a bomb," he answers, making them all reel back from the object.
Ruby then looks ahead of them, "We've got baddies," she says, pointing ahead.
They see many White Fang soldiers coming up onto the freight cars ahead of them and start walking towards them.
"Well, at least it can't get any worse than-," Yang begins before they all hear a sound below them and look down to see the bomb inside the car switch on. "-this…" Yang finishes.
"You just HAD to jinx us, didn't you?" Velvet says, glaring at the blonde.
"We'd best get off this train car, now!" Oobleck instructs them, but then stops Blake. "Blake, detach the caboose! It will kill us all!" he says.
"On it!" Blake replies and jumps down in between the two cars. However, just as she's about to cut the link, the caboose suddenly detaches itself from the rest of the train. "Huh? It detached itself!" she yells up to Oobleck.
"What?" he asks.
"I guess he REALLY don't want us on this train!" Yang adds.
Oobleck looks back to see the car explode a moment later, hitting the ceiling of the tunnel and creating a giant hole to the surface.
"That's not good," he says, slowly shaking his head.
"Good? We're on a train filled with White Fang goons, and we almost got blown up by an exploding train car. I'm pretty sure 'good' is off the table at this point," Velvet notes.
"We got another problem," Ruby says ahead of them as she and Weiss open up another car.
"Another bomb?!" Blake exclaims.
"And now 'good' has officially left the building," Velvet adds.
Oobleck thinks for a moment before he starts running ahead of them, "No. No. No!" he says as he runs to the car ahead of Ruby and Weiss, and opens the top door to reveal another bomb inside it. "They all have bombs!" he screams.
The bomb in the car the team is on then switches on. They then look up to see their car getting decoupled like the first one. They run and jump off it and land on the car Oobleck is on and look back to the decoupled car.
"This doesn't make sense!" Yang says.
"Roman's a criminal. Do you really think he's gonna care about what makes sense to us and what doesn't?" Velvet sarcastically asks.
They all look back to see the White Fang members getting closer to them. The girls take their stance and prepare to fight. One goon goes after Yang, but she trips him up, winks in slow motion, and then smashes him through the train car. Blake dashes forth, creating a flurry of steal with her sword as she slashes at a few enemies around her, knocking them all off the train. Weiss, using her semblance, skates across the train cars, leaving ice shards in her wake as she clears a path through their enemies. Meanwhile, Ruby prepares to fire her scythe behind her, but then Velvet activates her demon claw and positions it like a spring board for her. Ruby jumps onto the claw, and then Velvet launches her straight at some White Fang goons. Ruby fires her scythe behind her, sending her spinning as she slices through them all, taking several opponents down. The few that do manage to stay on, end up getting blasted off by a fire arte from Velvet, who then moves in close and swings her claw at a few enemies before grabbing the skull of one soldier and smashing him through the train car. She then fires off another fire arte to take out the rest that stood in her way.
Meanwhile, Dr. Oobleck looks back at the decoupled car behind them, watching it explode and hit the ceiling above it. From the giant hole above, numerous Grimm appear, including Creeps, Beowolves, Death Stalkers, and a large King Taijitu. The Grimm roar as they pursue the train.
"Oh dear," he says as the Grimm race after them. "He's leading Grimm to the city!" he yells to the others.
"WHAT?!" Weiss shrieks.
"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!" he replies.
"That's insane!" Blake shouts.
Oobleck looks back as another car decouples itself from the main train.
"We have to hurry!" Oobleck yells and starts running to them. "Yang, Weiss, Blake! You go down and take care of those bombs!" he instructs them.
"What about us?" Ruby asks, gesturing to herself, Velvet, and Zwei.
"We're going to stop this train," he says, trying to look cool.
"Yeah, I know. I said that earlier," Ruby reminds him, making him lose his cool.
They all then run ahead while a few White Fang soldiers get in some Atlesian Paladins a few cars ahead of them, powering them up. They jump onto a car behind them and start running towards Ruby, Oobleck, Zwei, and Velvet.
"Up ahead!" Oobleck says, pointing to one mech running at them. The mech jumps up, smashing through a walkway above the train before landing in front of them. "We've got a problem!" he says.
Oobleck takes a drink out of his thermos before extending it and lighting a fire at the end. Zwei barks in front of him, and then jumps up, rolling his body into a ball. Oobleck winds back his weapon and swings it, hitting Zwei. Zwei then flies through the air while encased in fire, spinning like a ball until he slams into the Atlesian Paladin in a fiery explosion, sending it off the train. Zwei lands, unscathed, and watches the falling mech crash and roll on the ground before exploding. Suddenly, a second Paladin stomps next to him and he looks up as it aims its guns at him. Suddenly, a fireball nails the Paladin, making it stagger. Zwei looks back to see Velvet, with her demon claw activated, as she jumps up and punches the machine hard, making it reel back just barely keeping on the train. Finally, she spins around and swings her claw at the mech's legs, knocking it off its feet and sending it off the train. Zwei jumps up into her arms and starts licking her face again, much to her annoyance.
"Zwei, this isn't the time!" she yells as she pushes the dog off of her.
Zwei gets down and Velvet looks to see another Paladin coming their way. She's about to fight it, when out of nowhere, several fireballs fly over her and slam into the mech. Next, Dr. Oobleck jumps over and swings his thermos around, still on fire, and knocks the machine off the train, landing with style.
"…Show off," she says with a deadpan look.
Ruby comes up from behind her, and the two nod to each other as they race across the train cars, heading towards the front of the train. As they're running, they see a pair of Paladins running at them. Velvet takes out and absorbs another wind Dust crystal, giving her demon claw a silver-like color. She focuses her energy and sends out a huge twister towards her enemies. The twister starts to push them back, but they use some stabbing mechanism in their feet to keep them on the train cars. Velvet grits her teeth and runs at them. The machines fire their cannons at her, but she evades each shot as she gets closer to them. When she gets right up to them, she swings her claw, using the wind coming off from it, to knock off one leg and then uses the rest of the energy to blow the first Paladin off the train car. Just when the second mech goes to crush her, Ruby and Oobleck jump over her, hitting the machine with their weapons. They then move onto opposite sides of it and fire off their weapons. The resulting explosion sends the Paladin flying off the train. Just as they're about to keep moving, Velvet stops and looks back, feeling like something is off further back.
"Ruby, Dr. Oobleck, you guys go on ahead. I'm going to check on the others," she says and runs back.
"Velvet, wait!" Ruby calls out to her, but Oobleck stops her.
"Trust your teammate, Ruby. I'm sure she'll be alright. Right now, we need to focus on stopping this train," he says.
Ruby hesitates, but eventually nods and they both move on ahead.
…
Meanwhile, Velvet jumps down into one car and looks between going forward, and going backward. She eventually decides on going backwards and moves into the next car. When she gets into the next car, she sees Weiss, on the ground as a White Fang Lt. wearing a different outfit than a normal member stands over her and raises up a large chainsaw, ready to finish her off. Velvet quickly moved and fires off a few shots at the Lt., making him reel back from Weiss. He looks up just in time to see Velvet's steel boot impact his face, sending him back.
"Don't hurt my friend," she warns him as she activates her gauntlet blade.
The Lt. shakes off the first strike, "Any friend of a Schnee is an enemy of mine. First you die, then she dies," he replies as he readies his chainsaw.
The two run at each other, and the Lt. swings his chainsaw at her side. However, Velvet twirls over it and swings her arm blade at his face again, making him stagger as she lands behind him. The Faunus swings his chainsaw at her again, but Velvet jumps over it goes for another blade strike. The Faunus grabs her arm though and throws her at some crates. However, Velvet lands on the side of them feet first and then pushes off of them right back at her opponent. She thrusts her arm blade at her opponent, who meets the attack with his chainsaw. The two weapons send sparks flying before Velvet flips over it and lands on the Lt.'s right side. The Faunus throws a left kick at her, but she sidesteps it and swings her left foot blade at his chest, nailing it, and then fires off a few gauntlet shots that make him stagger. She then activates her demon claw just as he regains his balance. He raises his chainsaw and then swings it down on her, but Velvet encases her claw in fire and grabs it, increasing the intensity of the flames to melt away the chain from the saw. With his weapon out of commission, Velvet grabs his skull and absorbs his strength until he passes out from having barely any energy left. With the threat over, Velvet moves to check on Weiss.
"Weiss, you okay?" she asks, concerned as she kneels next to her teammate.
Weiss groans as she holds her head and slowly gets up, "Ugh…V-Velvet, what happened…Wait…I guess I lost, huh?" she says.
"Don't worry. You did fine. I just finished off what was left of your opponent. Can you still fight?" she asks as she helps Weiss up.
"Uh, y-yeah, I should be fine," she says as she checks her rapier.
"Good, where are Yang and Blake?" Velvet asks.
"Blake went up ahead to try to get to the front of the train while I fought against that Lt. Meanwhile, Yang stayed behind somewhere in the back to fight against that girl that saved Torchwick back in Vale," Weiss says.
"I see. You go up ahead to help Blake. I'll head back to find Yang. We'll meet you guys at the front of the train," Velvet decides.
"Okay. Just be safe," Weiss says, to which Velvet nods, and then the two go in opposite directions.
Velvet goes through a few train cars, not finding anything or, thankfully, no enemies to get in her way. Eventually, she ends up in one car and finds Yang on the ground unconscious. Standing next to her is an older unknown woman. The woman is wearing a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. A feather-like object is hanging from the right side of her skirt. She is also wearing black, thigh-length boots with a red splatter pattern. Covering her face is a fearsome full-face mask resembling a Creature of Grimm, with four eye slits, and appears to have long, somewhat spikey black hair. Her scabbard is blackish gray, with a rotary chamber filled with six types of dust, being held in her left hand. Velvet looks around and doesn't see the pink haired girl from Vale anywhere, so she thinks that girl must have retreated. However, this woman is an unknown and she can't quite tell if she saved Yang, or was about to finish her off before Velvet showed up.
"What did you do to Yang?" Velvet questions her as she activates her arm blade. The woman looks straight back at Velvet, but says nothing as she begins to turn around and walk away. "I didn't say you could walk away!" Velvet says and charges the woman.
The mysterious woman unsheathes her blade, a long red odachi sword, and quickly swings it around to block her attack. The blades clash for a moment before the two female fighters jump back. Velvet readies her blade while the mysterious woman decides to take a combat stance, wielding her blade with one hand while the other holds onto the scabbard. Velvet runs at her opponent, firing off a few shots as she gets closer. The woman easily deflects each shot with her blade before sheathing the blade. The rotary chamber spins around to a yellow Dust chamber, and then the woman swings it, sending out an arc of lightning at Velvet. Velvet flips over the strike and then twirls her body around while simultaneously activating her foot blades as she swings her right foot blade at the woman's face. The woman, however, easily blocks the strike, and then counters Velvet with a swing of her sword aimed at Velvet's neck. Velvet just manages to duck under the strike, but can't avoid the second strike and gets knocked back.
Landing on her feet, Velvet watches her opponent warily, who remains stationary and calm. A second later, Velvet runs at her again, and with all her blades, throws a tempest of steel at her opponent. Though there are three blades coming at her in quick succession, the woman manages to block each one. At one point, the two clash their blades as they stare closely into the eyes of one another. Velvet couldn't see it, but she could feel the woman smiling behind her mask for some reason.
"Ah, those eyes. I like those eyes. Those are the eyes of one who does what's necessary to survive. One who has KILLED to survive. I guess we have at least one thing in common," the woman says.
"You don't know a damn thing about me! I don't care who you are, but you're going down!' Velvet yells and then activates her demon claw.
The woman actually looks a little surprised at this, but manages to evade the attack when Velvet swings her claw at her. She then fires off a fire arte at the woman, but she slashes right through the attack. Next, the woman sheathes her blade again, with the rotary chamber spinning to a fire Dust chamber, and then swings out an arc of flames at Velvet. However, Velvet just raises her demon claw, and when it gets close, absorbs the attack into her. This surprises the woman even more.
"You can absorb Dust? Interesting. Even I didn't expect something like that," the woman notes.
"Whatever. Now, what did you do to Yang?" Velvet questions her again.
"Me? I saved her from that girl. After all…Yang is my daughter," the woman admits.
Velvet's eyes widen at hearing this and glances back between the woman and Yang, "You're Yang's mother? This whole time, she's been looking for you, and yet now you just show up, while she's knocked out! You owe her some answers!" Velvet yells.
"I saved her life today. That's about all she's gonna get from me," the woman says and swings her sword to create a red-black portal behind her.
Just as the woman goes to leave, Velvet runs at her, "You're not getting away-," she begins until the woman's blade is suddenly an inch away from her throat.
"Sorry, but I have better things to do than to babysit you kids. However, you interest me. What is your name?" she asks.
"…Velvet Crowe," Velvet replies.
"Velvet Crowe…Hopefully, we'll meet again. You have potential, but only time will tell if you'll live up to it," the woman says and sheathes her blade.
The woman walks through the portal, and it disappears. Velvet grits her teeth as she deactivates her demon claw, but then hears some groaning behind her and turns around to see Yang already getting back on her feet.
Velvet walks up to her, "Yang, are you alright?' she asks.
"Velvet? What are you- what happened?" Yang asks.
"Quite honestly, I have no idea. However, we need to move up front. The others are waiting for us," she says.
Yang nods and the two race up to the front of the train. They open up one hatch and climb up onto on car as they regroup with the rest of the team. However, they then see that not too far ahead of the train…is a dead end.
"What'll we do?!" Blake shouts.
Ruby looks at Weiss, who smiles and then stabs the ground in front of them. The team then gets encased in ice to protect them just in time before the train hits the dead end and everything goes dark. After a moment, Velvet slowly opens her eyes and groans as she holds her head and looks around. A little dizzy, she sees Weiss, Blake, and Yang okay, though in the same state as her. She looks to her right to find Ruby, unharmed, next to her and shows a small smile at seeing that she's okay. Looking around, she finds them all in the city square of Vale, with civilians all around them, wondering what happened. However, things quickly go bad when swarms of Grimm suddenly burst out from the hole in the ground and start attacking the civilians. Ruby and Velvet look at each other for a moment before getting a determined look on their faces.
"It never gets easy for us, huh…" Velvet mentally notes.
And that's the chapter. What did you think about Velvet meeting Raven? I thought it would be interesting. Anyway, we're almost done with Volume 2. Can Team RVWBY stop the Grimm? Until then, please Read and Review.
