A/N: Hey Yall author man here, I've read through all of your comments and to those who enjoy this, Thank you for letting me know. Really big motivational boost believe it or not
Another thing is that I've now read the Armored Core AU (Reign of Steel if you want to check it out) that someone said this fic resembled, I admit it really feels similar but to be completely honest, I didn't even know the fic existed until someone mentioned it and I think this story will have enough interesting concepts to differentiate itself from that story
Essiter1987: I really hope someone would be generous enough to make a fanart of RRAs because I really can't draw, I don't have a talent for drawing nor skills to draw but who knows, Maybe I could get it commissioned, Just maybe
Guest (if you are still here): Arkos is and still is one of my favorite ships but I am absolutely horrid at writing fluff, Neither confirming it nor denying it but just saying.
Anyways onto the Chapter
Yang was a confident girl, She was the hottest and sexiest girl that everyone wanted in Signal Academy, She was the Best fighter in Signal Academy, and She held the Record for fastest grimm dispatch in Signal. In fact that's what inspired her SEMs design which relied on confidence in one's fighting proficiency in order to fully utilize it
but
Yang wasn't always confident, She wasn't confident after her mother died, She wasn't confident when she realized that Ruby and her wasn't both from the same mom, And she wasn't confident when she realized that her father was in a mental spiral which meant she had to pick up the slack and become the good role model for her little sister
And in this situation? Yang was not confident in her chances, Confident that she would escape the fight or survive it but she was not confident that this fight would be an easy one. Especially when you are one Pilot against what seemed like a hundred grimms easily, Worst of it all was that she still didn't have a partner to even back her up if she gets overwhelmed
Can't Fuck up here Yang growled to herself as she brought up her fists, Her bracelets expanding over the Vambrace into her weapon Ember Celica, The confidence slowly flowing into her once she felt the familiar rush of adrenaline, Yang felt like- no, Yang knew that she could take on this horde with or without a partner
"BRING IT ONNNNN" Yang roared as her SEMs activated and proceeded to divert energy into her gauntlet, Her entire mech shining brightly as she threw a right hook into a Beowolf's skull plate and absolutely devastating the poor grimm as it's head simply exploded into fine mist before she turned to fire off a few buckshot into the stomach of another Beowolf while she blocked a swing from it's friend
"Overwhelming Grimm presence detected: Break off from Combat, Retreat suggested" Her AI, Zhan, Suggested as she growled before launching another powerful hook into the grimm clawing at her and sending it flying back into a crowd of beowolves, The smarter few of the horde hung back while the rest charged in
Zhan is right, I need to get out of here Yang thought to herself as she tried to keep the grimms at bay with her Gauntlets but for every Beowolf she kills, another took it's place, The horde hasn't thinned even a bit as Yang growled to herself before she caught a glimpse of something infiltrating into the horde before disappearing just as quickly
"Private Voice Channel Permission Requested" Zhan reported dutifully as Yang grinned, the hopes of being able to crush the horde slowly coming back as she immediately granted access to whoever it was thinning the horde with her
"Can you keep their focus on you?" Was the immediate question asked from the channel as Yang responded with an equally quick yes as she immediately called off her SEMs to keep what little charge she had left before firing off more ammo into the crowd, You can't miss the enemy if the enemy is all around you, A quick glance at her ammo gauge showed that she had enough to spare
"Keep going, I'm close to finishing up back here" The voice of the other pilot penetrated through the symphony of grimm roars, shotgun firing and hydraulics hissing. Despite the immense danger Yang was in, she couldn't help but to snicker at the small innuendo that popped up at the back of her mind
"I'm definitely getting wasted when I get out of here" Yang said to herself as she slammed her fist through another Beowolf, Her gauntlet piercing through it's chest like a sledgehammer through drywall before she turned around ready to fire off another shot only to realize that she was the only one left, The horde of Beowolves was finally vanquished
"Jesus... Zhan, Combat Report" Yang sighed as she tried to contact the other RRA but the private channel has already been severed and ended
"Left Core, Operating at 55% compacity, Recharging. Right Core, Operating at 69% Compacity, Recharging. System Batteries, 98%. Armor integrity at 71%" Zhan reported dutifully as Yang almost sighed in relief before something popped up to the right of her, And to this very day, Yang refused any accusation that she had screamed like a little bitch
"Hey, How's your Hunter?" The incredibly distorted voice of the RRA asked as Yang calmed her racing heart before she took a glance at her Partner's RRA, It was filled with scratches and dents that could only be accumulated from years and years of experience, The RRA also looked slightly outdated and replaced in some parts much like a certain other Hunter that she knew
"My RRA is working, None of my equipment is under 50%... How's yours?" Yang reported to the other RRA before waiting to hear her partner's response only for silence to meet her, Yang was just about to dismiss the question when she got her response
"Good to hear, A claw caught me in the face and my mic is damaged, But other than that I have little to no damage. We shouldn't stay here unless you want to take out another horde" She responded as the two readied themselves before making their way towards the Ruin site marked on their RRAs
"talking about the horde, How do you just slip in like that? I was only surrounded by three at a time and even then I had some trouble but you... They just ignored you" Yang asked as her partner stayed silent before a distorted sigh came through the proximity line
"It's my SEMs. I don't feel like elaborating much but it lets me do what I do. Name's Blake by the way, Nice to meet you" The mysterious pilot responded, short and curt as always, No more than three sentences as Yang sighed to herself in amusement
Introverts amirite or amirite She thought to herself before grinning in anticipation for the upcoming years with her partner, She would break through that shell one way or another
"Nice to meet you Blake, Name's Yang"
"The temple shouldn't be far" Pyrrha noted as Jaune nodded, the two keeping pace as their synchronized footsteps echoed through the incredibly quiet forest, Something Jaune realized as he stopped and drew his weapon. The ringing of the blade being drawn quickly prompted Pyrrha to do the same
"Something's wrong, It's too quiet" Jaune explained as Pyrrha shifted her weapon into a rifle and aimed into the forest, The two waited... and waited... but nothing happened, At this point the tension was almost unbearable
"Can you scan the area?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha stilled before spinning around to fire off a shot that pinged off the carapace of an gigantic Deathstalker, An extremely pissed off Deathstalker as the duo looked at each other before turning tails and bolting towards the Ruins in hopes to find others who could help them fight off the ancient grimm
Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT Was the only thought going through Jaune's mind while they were being chased by the Deathstalker, Their RRA's motors screaming as they pushed it to the limits, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the grimm chasing them but to no avail
"TEMPLE UP AHEAD"
"I SEE IT" Jaune screamed as Pyrrha jumped from the cliff with Jaune not far behind her, The Deathstalker however stopped at the edge and hissed at the two Pilots before backing away
Shit Shit Shit Shit Fuck Jaune thought as he slammed into the ground, His Alarm blaring for a mere second before it regulated but that didn't stop the pain of jumping off of a thirty foot cliff and slamming into the ground from disorienting him
"Ugh, Jaune you alright?" Pyrrha's voice echoed through his helmet as he nodded before he felt her hands on his shoulder and righting him while he gave her his thanks, He would not have made it this far without Pyrrha
"Yeah Yeah, Really need to improve this old Hunter though" Jaune waved her off as he winced in pain, the Hunter wasn't the only thing he need to improve, He also needed an entirely new set of Aurora because even through his half assed aura he could still feel the strain being put onto his body
"Well, with how we are doing. You might be able to" Pyrrha stated as she swiped off a relic from the Ruin and contrary to popular media belief in Vale and Mistral, Beacon initiation is rather tame, with only two ways to pass the initiation which is to either fight off an ancient grimm or collect a relic that was present in the ruin that was disclosed to everyone prior to the initiation
"WOOOOOOOOO" The cheerful shout of glee drew the pair's attention as they turned around to witness a sight that they thought would be impossible, A bright pink RRA riding in on an Ursa who seemed to be begging for the sweet release of death and in that moment Jaune wondered what shocked him more, a RRA riding grimm or said grimm wishing for death
"...I think we found our team partners?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha nodded slowly, Still shocked at the sight of the RRA riding on top of what should have not been abled to be mounted, as the duo processed the scene in front of them, another Hunter appeared to the right
"Nora, Please stop running off without telling me" The grey and green Hunter shook them out of their shock as they were approached by Nora who's grimm ride has now faded into nothingness, Even with the three hundred pound of death machine that they call RRA, She could pull off a really convincing sad robot look
"Renny, it died" Nora said with such faux sadness that even Pyrrha felt a sharp stab of pity for the girl but for Renny, it seemed to be just another part of his everyday life as he sighed and shook his head before turning to the two that have been watching from the sideline. Too shocked and confused to do or say anything
"Please excuse her, My name is Lie Ren and her name is Nora Valkyrie" Ren introduced himself and Nora with an accompanying shout of 'I'M THE QUEEN OF THE CASTLE' coming from Nora in the background, Apparently Nora was loud enough to shout through the metal helmet which was a thought that terrified Jaune
"So... Do we head back now?" Jaune asked as the group, excluding Nora who was still running around in the ruin and inspecting other pieces on the pedestals, looked at each other before nodding and Ren fired off a flare with Pyrrha firing hers not far behind him. Both colored a bright green as another team of four rushed into the ruins
"GET DOWN" Was the only thing that Jaune heard before instincts screamed at him to duck and he followed, Luckily so as a Nevermore's feather flew past where his head was a second ago before embedding itself into the stone cliffside behind him
"YOU ALL PISSED OFF AN ANCIENT NEVERMORE?" Jaune screamed in terror as he spun around to face the other team of four and much to his surprise, He recognized two out of the four
"We have to get rid of the Nevermore, The bullhead will be torn apart if the Nevermore sees it" Ren said as Jaune clicked his tongue in disappointment, He was really hoping that they could just wait out the entire thing and let Beacon do everything else
"Well this will be good on our record if we can take it down" Ruby offhandedly mentioned as she brought out a red metallic box, Jaune was momentarily confused before the metallic box turned into an wicked looking scythe that Ruby held up proudly, before said Scythe fired off a powerful round that penetrated through the Nevermore's armor with an explosion
"Uh-oh" Ruby said as the Nevermore screeched in agony and rage before firing off another cluster of feathers towards the group, everybody immediately went in different direction except for Jaune, His RRA would never have enough time to dodge the cluster due to it's age and everybody seemed to know that as Pyrrha and the rest of the group looked on in horror as the feathers engulfed the poor blonde's location and kicking up dust. Obscuring their vision and leaving the state of Jaune up to their imagination
"JAUNE" Both Ruby and Pyrrha screamed worriedly as they waited for the dust to settle down before the crackle of static reached their ears, Their breath hitched as they waited for something that would let them know that Jaune wasn't dead
"I'm fine" The weak and tired voice was barely heard by the group but it was enough as the group morale skyrocketed and the eight Hunters focused their attention onto the Nevermore
"Anybody have any way to bring that thing down?" Ruby asked as she fired off more ammo at the Nevermore, Serving nothing more than to pissing the big bird off but it did make her feel better, The bird did try to kill her first friend at Beacon and she wasn't about to let it off scot-free, She wasn't going to let off any grimm scot-free
"I can hook it... But I need to get up there first" Blake stated as she extended a piece of what seemed like fabric from her vambrace and connected it to her Katana which she then transformed into a Scythe, the group stayed silent before Weiss stepped up
"I can get you up there but we need a plan once we get this Nevermore grounded" Weiss stressed as she prepared Myrtenaster, Spinning the chambers inside her weapon before landing on a specific one
"Well... We ground it, Pyrrha, Ruby and I could sever the wings and then we could, I don't know, Kill it?" Jaune helpfully added as he drew Crocea Mors, The group stared at the new addition of the deployed Shield from his armor before nodding slowly
"Blake, Weiss, Do your thing. We'll buy you time" Yang stated as the Nevermore's roar could be heard, The grimm was coming in again for another strafing run, This time, Instead of only Ruby firing at the bird. There were Grenades, bullets and other incendiary objects being flung at the skyborne grimm. Some connected while others missed as the Nevermore screeched in rage, Never noticing a particular Hunter
"GOT IT" Blake shouted as she dug her weapon into the nape of the bird before swinging around and forcing the humongous bird into a nose dive, The giant grimm shook and spun to shake her off but Blake held on for dear life before jumping off at the last possible second, Her armor cushioning her as she crashed into the ground
"WE GOT IT" Jaune shouted as both he and his partner rushed in, Their swords ready by their side while they charged at the disoriented grimm, It's beady red eyes filled with confusion and anger before the duo dug their blades into their respective wings, The grimm screeching in pain as Pyrrha cleaved her portion clean off while Jaune got through only half way
"JAUNE, BACK OFF" Yang shouted as Jaune gritted his teeth, Refusing to back down as he roared and pushed forward, His blade slowly making progress through the wing even as his AI warned him about the motor overload
"I GOT IT" Jaune screamed as he finally cut through his portion of the wing and causing the Ancient Nevermore to stumble into the ground again at the loss of it's other wing, a pitiful roar escaping it's throat as Yang and Nora jumped into action. A SEMs powered Punch and rocket-fueled Hammer smashing into the skull of the Nevermore and putting it out of it's misery with a well timed explosion
"Warning Grim-" The warning almost went unnoticed by Jaune as he spun around a expanded his shield just in time to block the blow, but the sudden attack caught all of them off-guard as he was flung away from the group, Pieces of his armor cracking and ripped off by the force of the impact
"Warning, Armor Integrity low, Core Exposed. Exert caution" Jaune heard the warning but it was no use, He was pretty much out of the fight with how much his vision was swimming, He could barely make out the trees and his partner fighting the Deathstalker
Is this... Is this how I die? Jaune thought as he tried to breathe, Only to find immense pain immediately flood his chest and causing him to wheeze, Before long the sound of combat sounded like it was taking distance from miles away instead of mere meters and his vision no longer swam but started to turn black. He was losing the fight to keep his consciousness and he was losing the battle fast
I wonder how dad is doing
3,100 Words
Uh-Oh, Jauney boy is in trouble now, what will happen to him? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Signed ChaoticNumbness