The Adventures of Team WA Vol. 6

Railway Manticores

White Fang Main Headquarters

He smelled it before he saw it, the scent of blood lingering in the air as he walked down the long red carpet which led to what was basically the throne of the White Fang's leader. 'Well what's left of the White Fang anyway,' thought Exo as he took a quick look around the familiar room. Two stone walls lined with columns gave the rectangular room a bit of an isolated feeling as torches illuminated the scene before him. Red banners with the White Fang's symbol hung above the throne itself, which was a large, red chair with a high back covered in gold runes with what appeared to be two, spear-like projections jutting out of either side.

But what really grabbed his attention were the bodies of a dozen White Fang soldiers, all of varying ranks, lying dead on the floor in puddles of their own blood. Exo knew very well that it was a sword that inflicted such wounds, not that he needed to guess, given that the culprit was sitting right there on the throne in front of him, lost in his own musings. "Well you seem to have been quite productive here," said Exo as he approached a little closer, nudging one of the bodies with his foot, "Any still alive in this building by chance?"

"I gave them a choice," said Adam Taurus as he shifted position on the throne a bit, his sword resting by his side, "They chose wrong."

"Well it's not like I'm here to judge," said Exo as he crossed his arms, "But I do got to ask if there really is any one left in the White Fang willing to follow you after Haven?"

"You're here now, are you not," said Adam as he leaned forward a bit, "Unless you've come to tell me that you're done following me as well."

"And here I thought you knew how to speak mercenary at this point," said Exo as he held up a lien, "In my dictionary, loyalty is spelled L-I-E-N. If you can still pay me for my jobs, and if you don't piss me off too many times, I'll work for you even if I'm the only one in the organization. Though that does lead me to the real reason I'm here."

"And that would be," questioned Adam, failing to hide the irritation in his currently foul mood.

"Two reasons actually," said Exo as slipped the lien back into his pocket before holding up two fingers, "Reason one: now that your organization is on the verge of collapse, assuming it hasn't already, do you still have the lien to keep paying my fee? Reason Two: I've brought a message from the boss of my other boss, Cinder." Exo quickly produced a sealed envelope from a pocket in his armor which he tossed to the White Fang leader, who snatched it out of midair.

"Is this boss of hers another human?" Questioned Adam with a bit of venom in his voice.

"Oh she ain't human," replied Exo with a bit of a smirk, "or Faunus for that matter. She isn't like anything you or I have ever seen. You see, she needs that little bauble that was taken from Haven. Why, doesn't matter to me so long as I get paid and get the added bonus of going up against those Ursario brothers again. And you just might get a little vengeance on that cat girl that's been causing you so much trouble, what was her name again?"

"Blake Belladonna," said Adam in a monotone voice. There was a bit of a pause before he spoke next. "I will need time to consider this."

"Well you know how to contact me," said Exo with a slight bow, "I'll be waiting for your answer to both questions." The mercenary warped away then as Adam pondered his current situation. But the reminder of his failure at Haven and of Blake Belladonna fueled his rage once more as he stood and drew his sword, slashing off part of the throne he'd been sitting upon. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" His screams of rage filled the hall for some time after that.

Argus Limited Station in Mistral: Two Weeks since Haven

'It's really only been two weeks,' thought Wayne as he sat on a bench in the massive lobby, tinkering with his left wrist wire while waiting for their train to start boarding. The station itself was quite impressive, with numerous ticket booths, small cafes, walkways going over the tracks and decorative fountains in the middle of the food courts. It was all designed with ornate, Mistraltan designs which lined the columns and walls, as well as Mistraltan themes for all of the restaurants and gift shops. And all around him, sat his brother and his friends who were all passing the time in their own ways as a mass of people moved around them going to one destination or another.

'In a lot of ways, everything that happened was pretty surreal, from arriving by a crashing airship to having an unpleasant meeting with Yang's mom who we later wind up fighting along with Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, that bulky Hazel guy and a traitorous headmaster. Add on to that, Blake and Aegis showing up with a small army of Faunus from Menagerie and me going toe to toe for a short time with a maiden.' He still personally couldn't believe that it was really him that had done that, and in a way it wasn't.

Though a lot of things had to be omitted for the official report that was given to the local news sources. As far as the rest of the world knew, the attack on Haven had been an attempt to topple the CCT tower. An attempt which had been thwarted by Ghira Belladonna and his Faunus militia group from Menagerie, with some help from some students and huntsman that just happened to be visiting at the time. The one part Wayne didn't like about the report was that it stated Leonardo Lionheart had died 'defending' his school. 'By the looks of his body when we found it, the man wasn't hardly capable of defending himself in the end, at least not from the likes of Exo and whatever weird Grimm he'd smelled there.'

One thing that was definitely true about the report, unfortunately, was that all those involved in planning the attack had escaped, save for Cinder who was currently a frozen statue at the bottom of an abyss. As for them, they'd managed to get the relic of knowledge out of the vault thanks to one heck of a mother/daughter argument, with a couple of Wayne's own comments thrown in, while Raven fled to who knows where. Now, as per Ozpin's instructions, they needed to get the relic to Atlas and by the sound of it, the sooner the better. Hence why Wayne was sitting here with his brother, Oscar, two members of team RWBY and team JNR. Though the urgency of the situation didn't stop some members of their party from taking the occasional little detour.

A sudden rush of wind and rose petals signaled the arrival of one such individual, who was now standing happily by the bench with a bag behind her back and an adorable smile on her face, Ruby Rose. "And," Questioned Yang as she ceased her conversation with Aegis to see what Ruby was so happy about. The red-hooded girl could barely contain her excitement as she held up a bag from one of the station's gift shops, practically squealing as she did so.

"So it was basically a huge waste of-," Weiss started to say before she was cut off by Yang.

"What did you get me Ruby?!" Questioned Yang enthusiastically, seeming almost as excited about the gift as Ruby.

"But that's the fun part," Ruby sang, "You have to wait and see!" She ended this cute little display by spitting out her tongue at Yang.

"No fair sis," said Yang as she made a few unsuccessful swipes for the bag in Ruby's hand before Nora intervened.

"I just think it's great we're getting a train ride to Argus!" Exclaimed Nora as she bounced from one position to another, "Just imagine all that beautiful northern coast. Do you think beach season's started yet?" This question seemed to be directed at Lie Ren who, surprisingly, seemed to like the idea of going to the beach. But, he also knew now probably wasn't the best time.

"It's, unfortunately a bit early still," said Ren, as his vision of a beach ball disappeared.

"I still don't see how anyone can stand all that salt in the air," said Wayne as he rolled his sleeve up, his tinkering done for the moment, "Every time I go to a beach I gotta sniff something else strong to clear the smell out of my nostrils. And let's not even get started on how the water tastes."

"Well despite that," said Ren, "We'll be one step closer to making it to Atlas."

"I'm glad you all seem to be excited about it," said Weiss, who'd donned some extra leggings and a red scarf for the trip, "But I don't think you truly appreciate the trouble I-," Wayne interrupted her briefly by clearing his throat, "That 'we' went through to leave."

"All I know is Jacque Schnee's art collection never looked better," said Aegis as he flipped through the pictures Wayne had sent him of his little 'additions.' He hadn't kept count, but he was sure his brother had looked through them at least a hundred times now.

"I know you're a little worried Weiss," said Ruby, "But your team's got your back. We won't leave your side for even a second."

"You ladies won't need to worry about a thing with us around," said a rather smug sounding voice. Everyone looked over to the source to see a light-skinned man with a blue, military style coat, grey pants and brown gloves with a spiked mace on his shoulder sauntering over to them. Next to him was a man with tanner skin, a blue, button-up vest over a white undershirt, and black pants with grey chaps over them. This guy was carrying a type of modified lever-action rifle on his shoulder and both of them wore clearly overconfident smirks on their faces.

"And you guys are, who exactly?" Questioned Nora, though Wayne really wished she hadn't.

"Why only Argus Limited's very own huntsman, Dee and Dudley," replied the man with the mace, clearly making a show of it. "We'll be keeping things safe on the ride to Argus."

"Oh I wasn't worried about safety one bit," said Wayne as he leaned a little further back on the bench, "Until you two walked over that is."

"Well then you're in luck," said Dudley, the man with the rifle, "You see for a generous tip, we'll provide your passenger car with extra special security." He accentuated the last part with a wink, which made everyone else either sigh or frown.

"Yeah sure," said Aegis, "Just give me a sec to write out the check. Uh, what was the name again, dickhead and dumbass of Argus Limited." This got a snicker out of the rest of the group. The two huntsmen were about to retort when another voice interrupted them.

"Not a bad idea Aegis," said Qrow as he walked over, having finished his little task of sending a letter to Ironwood, "Remember to initial it as 'buzz off.'"

"Hey, you do realize you're talking to-," Dee started to say before he was interrupted.

"A pair of professional huntsman," said Qrow as he held up his Huntsman's license, "Clearly Mistral's scraping the bottom of the barrel these days. Case in point, the staff entrance at the back of the caboose is currently wide open. May wanna take care of that, or you might lose your jobs before they even start." The two huntsman were at a loss for words as they realized that Qrow was right, before they finally turned away squabbling about which one of them left it open in the first place.

"You know," said Oscar, who'd been relatively quiet up to this point, "This whole saving the world business seems overwhelming sometimes, until people like that come along and make me glad it's not their job to save the world." Everyone nodded in agreement to that statement as Qrow turned to Ruby and Yang.

"Alright, everyone set, the bikes stowed away and all that?" asked Qrow. Yang and Ruby both responded with a simple 'yep.'

"We're just waiting on Blake now, as per the usual," said Weiss.

"Says the person who spent an hour trying to pick out a scarf," commented Wayne.

"Finding clothing that is both functional and fashionable is difficult," Said Weiss, "It's not my fault they didn't have the shade of blue I was looking for."

"Oh yes, they only had eighty four shades to choose from," Said Aegis, "Your options were so limited."

"You'll understand one day Aegis," Said Weiss, "Especially when you're trying to sneakily buy something that's clearly not for you but someone else." All eyes were on Aegis now as he laughed nervously.

While this was going on, Blake was saying her last good byes to Ilia and Drake on one of the many walkways above the tracks. "I still feel like I didn't really earn the pardon your parents gave me," said Ilia, who was now wearing red pants and a black jacket over a gray shirt which cut off at her midriff.

"Well you'll just have to live with it Ilia," replied Blake with a hand on her hip, "Since Haven was saved by a lot of Faunus, it's had a huge impact on how we're viewed in Mistral. Now you'll have to take that progress and keep going with it."

"And try not to feel too bad about the White Fang," Said Drake, who was currently wearing a new, silver jacket with a panther symbol on the back of it, along with dark pants and boots, and a pair of visor-like sunglasses, "It was a good organization once that let its purpose become corrupt. I had to get my ## whooped twice before I realized it had changed."

"Well with Ghira leading a new movement, I'm feeling more faith then I've felt in a long time," said Ilia with a smile. She hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and embracing Blake. "Thanks for everything Blake, I wish you didn't have to leave."

"I know," Said Blake as she released her friend from their hug, "But my team needs me now. We still need to find the ones responsible for the attacks on Beacon and Haven." Ilia simply sighed as it was her turn to put a hand on her hip.

"All these messes you've gone through and you're still trying to save the world," said Ilia.

"Oh far more than you realize," said Blake as she leaned against the rail, "But Drake should be able to lend you hand if you need it."

"You can count on me," said Drake as he also gave Blake a quick hug, "I still have a lot to make up for, and it's been too long since Ilia and I have worked together."

"Speaking of worked together," said Ilia, "Your parents have already seen you off but where's-."

"Sun Wukong," said the monkey faunus who'd just now shown up behind Blake, "He's right here. You didn't think I'd miss your big send off today did you?" This question was quickly answered as Neptune popped out from behind his friend.

"He definitely woke up way late and almost missed the whole thing," said Neptune, basically undermining Sun's cool moment. The irritated monkey faunus turned to his friend, making a 'shushing' motion with his fingers all while Blake chuckled happily at the two of them. "Now would you hurry it up, we still have an entire trip of our own to plan and-oh, Ilia's here, I'll give you two a moment." Neptune took that opportunity to try and flirt with Ilia, which Blake tried to stop but was a little too slow in her attempt.

"Not the right tree," commented Blake as she turned back to Sun.

"Oh he'll figure it out, even if you or Drake don't tell 'em," said Sun as he and Blake leaned on the railing to continue their earlier discussion.

"So you're really heading back to Vacuo," said Blake, more of a statement than a question.

"Well I realized something after seeing you and team RWBY get back together," said Sun, "I suck at being a team leader. I mean sure, me and the guys don't mind a little hiatus every now and then, but we're still a team and we need to work together a little more. So I figured since Shade Academy isn't in as bad of shape as Haven or Beacon we could make it work. Plus, I'll get to show the guys around my old stomping grounds."

"Well it's still going to be a little strange for me," said Blake, "I might've been getting used to having you around."

"Ah, you know me," said Sun as he struck a heroic pose, "I go where I'm needed! And you don't need my help anymore." Blake's ears drooped a bit at his statement.

"When you put it like that, it's really kind of sad sounding," said Blake. Sun quickly put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Hey it's not that it hasn't been fun and all," said Sun, "You know despite the drama, fighting and a number of attempts on my life. But you're back where you belong." Blake knew he was right as she glanced down at her friends, who were engaged in another ridiculous conversation by the looks of it.

"I, I don't think I can say thank you enough Sun," said Blake as she looked away sheepishly, "I guess I'm-."

"You've still got a few things to work out," Sun finished for her, "And you can work it out with them. Besides, with all the off the wall stuff that's been happening lately, I'm sure you haven't seen the last of me." Blake couldn't help but smile as she gave Sun a small peck on the cheek.

"I sincerely hope not," said Blake as she made her way back down to her friends. Drake watched this whole exchange with a small smile of his own as Ilia finally got the message through to Neptune that she wasn't interested.

"So what do you think of him?" Questioned Ilia as they both headed towards the exit of the station, "Not exactly the kind of person I thought Blake would be interested in."

"Blake was like a sister to me once upon a time," replied Drake, "So naturally, I didn't like him when I first met him, old habits. But given everything that he's done to help her up to this point, maybe I'm warming up to the idea and besides," Drake smiled as he saw May standing and waving at them from the entrance, "I've found that love can be a pleasantly unpredictable thing sometimes."

Aboard the Argus Limited

"All I'm saying is between the two, I made it farther on an airship before it crashed," said Wayne as he was stowing one of his books into his duffel bag which was currently sitting on a shelf provided with the passenger cabin they were in. The cabin also came with two sets of bunk beds on each side, the bottom of which contained some drawers for storage.

"But I still think it's an unfair comparison," said Aegis as he propped himself up on an elbow on his bunk, "The last train we were on crashed in less than half an hour because it went barreling into a sealed off doorway, and even if it hadn't, we were trying to crash it in the first place."

"While true, it also illustrates that trains are far easier to stop than an airship because all you gotta do is take out some track and boom, even fully functional trains can't go anywhere," Wayne pointed out.

"I'm still amazed to hear that you've fought on a train and an airship," said Oscar, the only other occupant in the cabin with them at the moment, given that Qrow had already wandered off to find the train's bar, "Though that does make me wonder about our luck when we're all traveling together."

"Ah, don't worry too much," said Aegis, "Even if something does happen, we've got all of teams RWBY, WA, most of JNPR, a serious professional huntsman and your ever expanding cane skills to rely on. So the train might get roughed up but I don't think it'll crash like the last on-." The sound of a thud on the floor interrupted Aegis as they both looked over at Wayne, who was currently grasping the area where his shoulder and neck met. Doing his best to suppress the grimace on his face, Wayne bent down and picked up the scroll he'd been trying to fish out of his pocket.

"Still bothering you a bit," questioned Aegis as Wayne sat down on the bunk underneath him.

"Just a little sore," said Wayne, "That happens sometimes when Grimm claws dig into your shoulder. I thought it would've been fully healed by now though."

"If that scar came from a regular Grimm," said Aegis, "given that it came from someone wielding the powers of a maiden, you're lucky that's all you got from the fight. Which reminds me, try to be a little smarter the next time you jump into an almost certainly suicidal situation."

"I'll try," said Wayne, "especially given that you, Ruby, Weiss, Jaune and Qrow have all gotten on to me about it now."

"Didn't Yang also get on to you about it," Oscar pointed out, "I'm sure she had a few things to say about you jumping down that hole."

"She didn't have as solid of an argument," said Wayne, "Given that she also jumped down into the hole, Ruby's orders notwithstanding."

"Though that does remind me," said Aegis as he shifted position where his head was peeking over his bunk to look at Wayne, "What's up with Weiss lately?"

"How do you mean?" Questioned Wayne, "She's just being a little extra friendly lately. Not surprising considering she was at death's door not too long ago, I personally wish she would take it a little easier."

"A little extra friendly to you," said Aegis with a raised eyebrow, "she brought you portions from breakfast while you were recovering in the nurse's office. She also stood in asking if there was anything she could do every single time you were getting that wound looked at. And let's not even talk about how she seems to freak out a little every time you show the slightest bit of pain."

"I'm surprised you managed to pay this much attention to what Weiss is doing," said Wayne with a slight smirk, "given that you've been learning all you can about how Yang's arm works in case it ever needs to be fixed. And that's on top of helping her whenever you see an opportunity, sure it's understandable you'd both like to work on your bikes at the same time but you even offered to go out to help her with clothes shopping. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think you were competing with Blake for her affection."

"Who's competing," Said Aegis defensively, "Blake and I have absolutely no reason to compete. Yang is a very dear friend to the both of us."

"So you deny that you're competing, but you don't deny that you're trying to earn her affection," questioned Oscar as he raised an amused eyebrow.

"Yes, I mean no," said Aegis as he quickly corrected himself, "Yang will give her affection to whoever she wants, and when did this become about me, you still haven't answered my first question!" Wayne and Oscar got a good laugh at that when the sound of commotion drew their attention.

"Uh, what's that?" questioned Oscar as they poked their heads out to look into the hallway. A number of people were hurrying around in a frightened manner and if Wayne strained his ears, he could hear what sounded like gunfire.

"That, would be trouble," said Wayne as he donned his helmet and pulled out his Crescent Fangs, "We'd better get out there." Aegis and Oscar also pulled out their respective weapons as they made for the nearest exit to the outside of the train. The difference in temperature was immediately noticeable to Wayne and Aegis as they climbed up onto the roof of their car, while Oscar went to get JNR. Bits of snow and wind whipped by their faces as they got a look at the situation.

Flying around near the back were large, lion-like Grimm that were at least twice the size of the animal they resembled. These particular Grimm also had wings, white manes which accompanied the masks on their faces, horns on their heads and tails with stingers. 'Manticores' thought Wayne as he noticed that team RWBY and Qrow were already on the roof a couple of cars in front of them. "It's bad enough that they're lions," said Aegis, "Why do they have to fly too?"

"Just think of the wings as extra targets," said Wayne as he fired off several shots at a manticore that came swooping in at them, damaging its face and causing it to crash into the cliff near them. Another flew at them from the side, shooting a fireball out of its mouth, which was deflected by Aegis's weapon before he buried a flaming ax in the manticore's head, splitting it down the middle and causing it to dissolve. A sudden yell attracted their attention then as Aegis caught the mace that Dee had been carrying. The huntsman had apparently been snatched up within the first couple of minutes and dropped his weapon after being yanked into the air.

"So much for the professionals," said Aegis as the other one, Dudley, came running by.

"Does that weapon have any tricks at least?" Questioned Wayne as he shifted his weapons to sickle mode. Aegis flipped a switch on the mace, causing it to open up slightly and start rotating, causing an electrical current to emanate from it.

"Fry and tenderize," yelled Aegis gleefully as he spun the cylinder on his weapon and formed electrified glass spikes. The half Faunus charged at a manticore that landed right in front of them, wielding a weapon in each hand as he batted away a stinger and knocked it upside the head once, twice, then a third time with both weapons, breaking the manticore's bone mask and knocking it off the train. Wayne followed this by jumping over his brother and deflecting a fireball before releasing a crescent slash with a kick from his right leg, knocking another manticore out of the sky and onto the train. Wayne finished it off by planting both of his weapons in the Grimm's skull, causing it dissolve.

The two brothers readied themselves for more of the flying Grimm when extra fire started coming from the cars in front of them. 'Turrets,' thought Wayne as he glanced over his shoulder, 'plus extra armor on the train. That could prove useful.' The manticore Grimm clearly disagreed with this thought, because instead of avoiding the cars with the turrets, they started flocking towards them. 'Or it could draw them all towards the cars with the passengers.'

They didn't have time to worry about that, however, as a pair of manticore landed on the front and back of the car they were on. "Spinning porcupine," said Wayne as he joined his weapons together, heating up the blades with fire dust he'd loaded.

"We really need to change that name," said Aegis as they switched positions with Wayne deflecting another fireball while Aegis knocked aside a claw swipe from the other manticore. They kept switching as Wayne slashed the eye of one manticore while Aegis blocked the stinger and bashed the ear of the other. With one final switch, Wayne beheaded his manticore while his brother used a one-two combo to knock the other manticore off the train.

"You know I would change the name, but Ruby picked the name and you said yes after she gave you the puppy dog eyes," said Wayne.

"Oh yeah," said Aegis as they noticed that team JNR and Oscar had joined the fight on the train. Oscar ran past the both of them, yelling for Dudley to switch off the turrets, per Qrow's orders. Wayne didn't hear the whole exchange, given that he was deflecting more fireballs and slashing the wings off another couple of manticores, but given the fact that the turrets were still firing, he guessed that Dudley 'dumb ##' was not listening. Then something unexpected happened, the manticore Grimm all fell back to glide behind the train. 'That's strange,' thought Wayne, 'Grimm don't retreat unless there's something they instinctively know is a problem.'

"TUNNEL!" yelled Oscar, breaking Wayne out of his thoughts as everyone's heads turned towards the front of the train. 'Yeah, that would make some Grimm fall back,' thought Wayne as he saw the quickly approaching wall of the mountain enclosing around the train. None of them needed to be told what to do as they all jumped into the gaps in-between the cars, entering back into the train just as the darkness of the tunnel cut off their view of the mountain range.

Everyone regrouped in the back cars where Oscar had managed to drag Dudley after the genius had managed to slam his arm against the tunnel because he hadn't been fast enough to leap in-between the cars. This didn't stop Qrow from stomping over to him and demanding that he shut off the turrets. Dudley still refused, however, stating that the turrets were the only thing keeping them alive. As the argument went back and forth, Wayne grabbed Dudley's rifle which had been propped against the wall and checked to see if it was still functional and loaded.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Questioned Blake, who was the first one to notice what he was doing.

"Mostly buy us a little time," Replied Wayne, "I peeked out the window and saw the Grimm flying down the tunnel behind us. For the moment, they've got no room to maneuver and should be easy to pick off. But we still need a plan for when we exit the tunnel, so contact me by scroll when you have something."

"You're not planning on going outside the train right now are you?" Questioned Weiss.

"Won't need too," said Wayne, "Just need to open a window or two in the back car. Kind of like holding off train robbers." The ex-heiress still looked like she wanted to protest such an action, but couldn't come up with a realistic reason as to why it was a bad idea. In the end, she, Blake and the others nodded their heads as Ruby went to talk to Dudley while Wayne headed into the back car.

As expected, the back car gave him a clear view to see the manticores behind them, and for whatever reason Argus limited didn't add armored windows to the cargo cars like they did the passenger cars. It gave Wayne a good mount for the rifle as he pushed up the window and took aim. He waited until just the right moment as he inhaled, let out a slight exhale to fully steady his aim then fired. The shot nailed the nearest manticore in the eye, causing it to fall out of the air and hit the tracks beneath it as the formation of the other manticores became disorganized.

Repeating the same process as before, Wayne fired and shot the horn off another manticore, which affected it temporarily but didn't drop it, requiring him to shoot it a couple more times. This continued for a few minutes, becoming more difficult as time went on, given that while the Grimm's numbers were decreasing, each fallen manticore gave the rest more room to maneuver. As he was about to take another shot, his scroll rang, causing him to swear under his breath as the last shot missed. "Please tell me we got an idea," said Wayne as he answered the call on his scroll.

"We're gonna use Ren's semblance while Jaune's amplifying it to cloak all the passengers," said Yang, "between that and the turrets being off, the Grimm will leave that part of the train alone."

"I'm sensing a 'but' in that statement," said Wayne, noting the tone of his friend's voice.

"We're sending JNR on with the passengers while we decouple the cars and handle the remaining Grimm," said Yang, "Turns out this relic we've been carrying attracts Grimm."

"Seriously," commented Wayne, "It's bad enough that I learned a technique with that drawback, now we're carrying something that attracts them twenty-four-seven!"

"Well the big question now is whether or not you want to head on with JNR or stick with us," said Yang.

"My semblance will be more effective with you guys," said Wayne as he began focusing his energy to his right hand, "Besides, I'm already at the back car anyway."

"Figured you'd say that," Said Yang, "Meet us on the roof as soon as we exit the tunnel."

"Will do," said Wayne as he heard the call terminate before turning his attention back to the problem at hand. 'Gotta really lower their numbers now.' "Scattering Moonlight!" Several orbs flew from his hand out the back window, impacting against the gathered Grimm and knocking a few of them down. Wayne didn't have time to celebrate the success of the attack as the car was suddenly flooded with light again, meaning they'd just exited the tunnel.

Scrambling onto the roof once again, Wayne was met by all of team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar and Aegis. "Blake's just cut the rest of the cars off from the engine," Aegis informed him as they readied their weapons once again, "The Grimm will keep on us while Ren masks the passengers in the escaping cars."

"Well it's not the first time we've been bait," said Wayne, "So let's tear 'em up!" Aegis smirked at that as Ruby gave the signal for Ren to mask the passengers. The result was incredibly fast as the passenger cars pulled away from them while the remaining manticore Grimm headed straight for their car. The Ursario brothers moved away from each other as if on an invisible cue with Wayne joining Blake and Aegis helping out Yang as he slammed into a manticore that she'd flipped over.

Blake took point against another manticore and used her clone to dodge its stinger, allowing Wayne to cut it off as she flipped over and spun, slicing the Grimm's back up with her blade and ribbon. They finished it off by charging forward, slashing opposite sides of the manticore at the same time and dissolving what remained of the Grimm. The two then leapt back to back as they switched their weapons to gun form with fire dust rounds and began shooting the other incoming Grimm. Aegis and Yang were in a similar position as Aegis formed a large stone shield while Yang fired at the manticores swooping down their way.

Whenever one of them got too close, Aegis would knock their attack aside with his shield, allowing Yang to come in with a heavy hit of her own. At the same time, Aegis also helped block fireballs while his blond compatriot shot back with her gauntlet and arm cannon. Ruby and Weiss kept an eye on Oscar, lending the occasional hand with some of their own combo attacks while Qrow handled what Wayne described as the boss manticore, a sphinx Grimm which had a serpent instead of just a stinger for its tail. At least, Qrow was holding his own for a bit until it managed to get a hit on him with its tail.

"We need to ground it!" yelled Ruby as Wayne and Blake managed to slam another manticore into the side of the mountain with a combination of her ribbon and his sleeve wire. Wayne nodded to Blake as she and Yang rushed over while the Ursario brothers moved to cover Oscar, knocking away one that had attempted to swoop at him from behind. He didn't see the whole spectacle after that, but enough to be impressed once again by RWBY's team work as they used Blake's ribbon to hold the sphinx Grimm to the train while Weiss took the opening to use her glyphs to freeze its wings. And the finishing touch came when both Qrow and Ruby charged in from opposite sides, using the same spinning maneuver with their scythes to cut the sphinx clean in half. Wayne and Aegis would've let out a short cheer if not for one thing.

The lead Grimm, in its dying moments, fired off one last, large fireball which soared over their heads and blasted apart the track several feet in front of them. "Oh here we go again!" Aegis couldn't help but comment as Weiss quickly used her black gravity glyphs to hold them all to the train. With a massive lurch, the train jumped the tracks where the fireball had hit, causing it to careen onto the snow covered hillside below. The momentum of the cars caused it to slide a surprising distance as the back cars came loose and tumbled in a few other directions, throwing out parts, bits of cargo and debris before it all came to an earsplitting halt in the snow.

After a few moments of blurry vision and a bit of back pain, Wayne managed to stand back up, brushing off bits of snow that had collected on his coat before removing his helmet. Everyone else followed suit as they brushed the snow and debris off themselves. "Everyone still in one piece?" Questioned Qrow as he finished brushing snow off his cape.

"We're alright over here," said Weiss, answering for the rest of team RWBY.

"Believe it or not, that crash actually went better than our first one," said Aegis as he replaced his weapon on his back.

"And I'm doing surprisingly well myself," said a voice that none of them recognized. Looking over at the nearest downed train car, an old woman with silver hair and tanned skin came hobbling out, supported by a blue cane with a decorated skull on top. She wore blue robes designed for the winter climate as well as a heavy, furred cape draped over her shoulders. The most noticeable feature about her was the strange, high-tech goggles she wore which seemed to adjust like actual eyes. "That was quite a close one now wasn't it."

'And the good news just keeps on coming,' thought Wayne, 'what a way to start to our trip up north.'

At last, RWBY has returned to us with a new volume and with it, the tale of team WA can finally resume! Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the new volume as we get this story rolling again. As before, my updates to this story will, hopefully, follow shortly after the newest chapter of RWBY, but it will be a chapter behind the main story given that I don't have a First membership. In the meantime, feel free to comment or review on what you liked/disliked or if you got any cool ideas to make the story better. Be sure to stop in next time as the secret of the relic of knowledge is finally revealed to team WA and the rest of our heroes. 'Til next time.