Author's note: Not much to say here, enjoy.
Sirena walked out of the portal and into Raven's new camp in Kuroyuri, with the former bandits being scared and cautious about what might follow. The portal closed and the bandits relaxed a bit again, honing that that was the end of it.
"Thank you," Sirena said, "Now, send me to Argent. I have important matters to attend in Menagerie." Raven opened another portal and Sirena walked through, certain that Salem would send Grimm after her, which would only serve to prove that Project Alpha was important.
~o~
A few days after killing all the dust crystal monsters, Weiss, Blake and Yang woke up to an alarm siren blaring through Atlas academy, and they got a notification on their scrolls, calling them to the front of the academy. They all got dressed and hurried to the entrance, where they met with the rest of their group, the Ace-Ops, James, and Ilia.
"Ilia, what's wrong?" Blake asked.
"I realized something," Ilia answered, "Something is digging towards this city."
"Wait, really? What?" James asked.
"The two Rakshasa and the Cenitaur," Ilia answered, "They are digging this way, and will soon reach an underground area. From there, cold tundra air will be sucked into the city."
"Penny, where are the mines going?" Weiss asked.
"Here is a map," Penny answered and held up her scroll, showing a holographic map of all the mines and air vent systems.
"What do you think?" Harriet asked.
"Where is the toxic fumes coming and going?" Weiss asked.
"Here, and there," Penny answered, changing the map to include the vents and show red lines with arrows.
"Those are the caves where they're digging," Ilia said and pointed at the portions where the fumes were gathering.
"Alright, here's the plan," Jaune said, "Ilia, Penny, you two figure out where they'll connect to which part of the city. Blake, you set up incendiary-dust shards to harm them when they get close. Weiss, use this wall semblance you copied in front of each cave entrance with steam-dust and have it harm Grimm on contact."
"Who made you the boss?" Clover asked.
"No one, but we don't have time to worry about this now," Jaune answered, "If you have another idea, let's hear it."
"I say we do his plan," General Ironwood said, "I'll have my surveillance team keep an eye on the tundra, and inform us if anything unusual happens." They all went to deal with their respective missions, though most went training, or stocking up on ammo in case they needed to fight. While scouring the tundra for problem, one of the support staff found dozens of plant-dust monsters in the crater left by the Apophis when it woke up.
~o~
Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Maria, and Elm were on their way to the crater, which had begun filling with snow, but was also full of wood chips and leaves now, with the monsters roaming the place. They had a crystal-like body, robotic arms and legs, and their wrists were covered in leaves, while their ankles were covered in armor-like wood plates. Weiss, Jaune and Maria had charged Nora's aura, allowing her to make large lightning-dust crystals.
"Alright, here they come," the pilot said as they approached the monsters, who opened fire with a storm of leaves from their wrist cuffs.
"Get them close together," Yang said, and the pilot adjusted the course. When a few monsters were close enough together, Nora started throwing the crystals, which triggered on impact and dealt considerable damage. The Manta landed and a couple Knights disembarked, opening fire with assault rifles.
"And remember, no fire," Weiss said, "We don't want this whole thing going up in flames." She created a water Glyph in front of an ice Glyph, and coated her sword in air-dust. As soon as several monsters came within reach, she swung her sword horizontally and sent a wave of freezing cold water vapor through the monsters, chilling them and slowing them down.
"Alright, no fire," Yang said. She loaded water-dust shells and started beating the monsters, soaking them with each strike. One of the monsters stomped its foot and sharp wooden spikes shot out of the ground in a straight line.
"Where did those come from?" Nora asked, just barely dodging the spikes.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Yang said, "We just need to bait the attack again and force friendly fire."
"Yang, what are you talking about?" Weiss asked, but Yang rushed off into the enemies. She punched water bursts at a monster and ran sideways as it shot leaves at her, keeping her eyes on its legs.
"Weiss, throw one behind me," Yang called out. Without thinking, Weiss acted and used a gravity Glyph to launched another monster behind Yang. Just as it landed, the one she had been attacking stomped its foot. Yang shot two air-dust bursts below her and jumped out of the way, and a series of wooden spikes hit the other monster, killing it. It turned into a plant-dust crystal and triggered immediately, turning into a pile of wood.
"Guys, a little help," Jaune said, swinging his sword and sending aura arcs through his special disk's shield to push back the storm of leaves. Elm took a monster out with her rockets, and the Knights switched to rocket launchers as well.
"I've got you," Yang said and ran towards the monsters giving Jaune trouble. Behind her, one of the monsters pursuing her stomped its feet, and Weiss yanked her out of the way, just as a series of wood spikes hit the monsters attacking Jaune. Two additional Manta came flying by and dropped bombs on the monsters, taking out a few of them as well, and kicking up the leaves and wood chippings. One of the monsters grabbed Elm and tried to pick her up, but she rooted herself in the ground.
"Elm, let go," Weiss called over to her. Elm deactivated her semblance and the monster threw her into a nearby wall. Weiss created a series of glyphs, allowing Elm to slide in an arc and use the momentum against another monster, killing it. Suddenly, Amity appeared behind the corners of the crater, and its metal tentacles shot energy beams into the hole, seemingly creating more monsters, which were made from fire-dust crystals and had flamethrower muzzles for right hands. Before anyone could react, the monsters set the leaves on fire, forcing the group to retreat to Atlas as the entire crater was engulfed in a blaze.
~o~
James and Penny were walking through the military's weapon factory, where Knights were finishing the last adjustments on the assembly lines to bring the older 130 models and the 135 variant back into business as primary combat units, while the 200 models would be reserved for support roles.
"Thanks Penny, you were a great help upgrading the weapon systems," James said.
"You are very welcome, sir," Penny said, "But to be honest, it was quite the task." She had another hiccup.
"Was it really?" James asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not really, sir," Penny answered, "In truth, there were so many problems, finding things to improve was like trying to find slave labor in pre-war Mantle."
"Well, alright then," James said and asked, "So, what exactly did you upgrade?"
"I had my sister train the combat AI," Penny answered, "I also implemented aura channeling circuits in their melee weapons, as well as armor, and added an aura disk launcher to the chest piece for additional ranged capabilities. The aura circuits modify ambient aura to generate a specific frequency, allowing the disks to reduce enemy defense, which will conserve ammunition. They are programmed to open with the disks for that reason."
"Modifying ambient aura?" James asked.
"Yes, my mother looked into it a few years ago," Penny answered, "It is all around us, after all, and she found it a waste to not use it."
"What about remote control?" James asked.
"That is still an option," Penny answered.
"Alright," James said, "Be sure to run performance checks every now and then, to make sure they're ready for combat."
"What kind of tests did you have in mind?" Penny asked.
"Whatever you can think of," James answered, "Just make sure they can handle tough opponents and perform well in any situation."
"Understood," Penny said and quickly compiled a list of possible scenarios, though there were still various variables she needed to solve for before she could run any simulations to find the most ideal testing conditions. However, she did know that the robots would have to succeed in an uphill battle, while not draining the military's resources too much. After compiling a psychological profile of everyone she knew for certain would remain in the kingdom, she just needed to solve for all the variables. Just as she was done compiling the base plan to work off of, sirens began blaring, and the security cameras showed poisonous smoke rise from the manholes across Mantle.
~o~
Blake, Ilia, Elm and Marrow stood in the mines under Mantle, which were connected to the sewers and subway tunnels, prepared to face the Rakshasa. Blake had placed incendiary-dust clones augmented with Deathzone across the tunnel system, and as soon as a clone was attacked, it would explode into glass shards.
"Here they come," Elm said and got ready, using Poisonous Roots to cover one tunnel with poisonous spores. A crack formed in the stone, and air blew out of the wall, carrying toxic fumes with it. The crack widened, and two Rakshasa burst out of the stone wall, one using the bear as host, and the other the doctor.
"Stay," Marrow said and stopped both Grimm with his semblance. As the fumes hit him, his throat started to burn, and his eyes teared up. The Cenitaur appeared behind him and delivered a swift claw swipe, releasing the Rakshasa.
"Marrow!" Elm called out. The bear Rakshasa attacked Blake, only to hit a clone, spraying glass shards everywhere. Every second, Deathzone dealt damage to the Grimm, triggering Spectral Assault. Ilia hit all three Grimm with Power Whip, augmented with ice-dust. Marrow got back up and shot the Grimm, and Elm blocked an attack from the Cenitaur, then threw him into the corridor she had secured. The spores dealt considerable amounts of damage just by how many the Grimm hit, each hit triggering Spectral Assault.
"I'm sorry, this is it for me," Marrow said, half coughing, and used Petal Burst to leave the tunnel. Cobweb bats appeared, using their acoustic attacks to disrupt the Rakshasa's possession ability and forcing them to retreat. Blake, Elm and Ilia put their weapons away and returned to the surface as well, heading to their designated points to help coordinate evacuations.
~o~
The streets of Mantle quickly filled up with toxic fumes coming from the manholes, and the people began coughing, and panic broke out as everyone tried to get to safety. Repurposed camera drones hurried to bring air-dust crystals to various locations and triggered them, creating a small area of fresh air, and a tunnel for the civilians.
"This way," Harriet called out and led a group of people towards the corridor. When everyone was safe, the area was locked off with hard-light barriers, and steam was pumped into it. Throughout the city, areas were sealed off in a similar manner, and within a few hours, the crisis was averted and everyone gathered in Atlas.
"What now?" Yang asked, looking around the people. Many were still hurt from the poisonous fog, and doctors, nurses, and their assistants went around taking care of their irritated eyes and giving them something for their throats, with Atlesian Knight 200s carrying the supplies for them.
"Now, we'll kill Grimm," Clover said, and everyone realized what had just happened. A city-wide panic, with chaos and confusion, and literally no one left unharmed. Even without casualties, this was the most effective attack on any city measured by how many civilians were harmed. Everyone got ready to fight, and a swarm of Scavengers came running down a road.
"I've got this," Vine said and swung his vines like whips sending two horizontal aura arcs through the enemies and killing almost all of them and creating a bunch of healing orbs through Spectral Healing.
"My turn," Nora said, put her hammer away and ran along the road, emitting electricity as the orbs recharged her aura. Whenever a Scavenger came close enough, it got hit with electricity, while a small lightning-dust crystal formed between her hands.
"Wait for me," Yang said and followed Nora, charging up the disk in the palm of her right hand. Nora turned a corner at the end of the road and tossed her dust crystal in the air, hitting it with a palm thrust when it came back down and sending a lightning into the swarm of Scavengers. Chain Lightning caused the entire pack to be electrocuted, and Spectral Assault created a white orb for every Grimm. Yang turned the other corner and shot her special disk into a pack of Scavengers, taking down over a dozen with the exploding disk. Daybreaker caused explosions of golden flames, and Spectral Assault created more orbs, wiping out the whole pack in one hit.
"Let's go," Blake said, and she and Ren followed their friends when they continued down the roads to make sure more Grimm wouldn't follow. On the crossing, Blake created an Incendiary-goo clone and made the shards harm any Grimm within fifty meters. While Blake followed Yang, Ren followed Nora, but they both turned a corner where their friend had gone straight ahead.
"There," Ren said to himself, sitting perched on a rooftop and being invisible to Grimm. He loaded crystal bullets into his weapons and shot the Grimm below, sending crystal shards everywhere and taking out the whole pack, while creating a bunch of healing orbs. In another part of the city, Blake created another incendiary-dust clone, killing a whole pack of Scavengers with the glass shards and Deathzone, and setting up numerous orbs to attack any Grimm that may come close.
"Say hello to your doom," Nora said when she found a Beowolf, and imagined kicking it in the gut, followed by an upwards hammer strike, and then ending with a horizontal swing to send it flying backwards. However, just as she started her combo, her foot went right through the Grimm, killing it.
"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Maria asked herself, running through the streets of Mantle. She stopped on a crossing and drew her weapons, planning to cut up the approaching pack of Sabyr. However, when they got closer, a series of traps sprung, courtesy of a soldier's Slipsnare semblance, and a length of rope manifested, wrapped around the enemies' legs. When the Grimm hit the ground at full speed, and the others ran into them, they all just died.
"Hey, guys?" Yang asked over communicator, "Is it me, or are these Grimm super weak?"
"I thought it was just me," Ren said, "They're dropping faster than me in a sparring match against Nora."
"I didn't even get to land a hit," Maria said, "They tripped over each other and literally died on impact with the road."
"Alright everyone, head back," Jaune said, "Penny can take care of the remaining ones. And if Blake uses Deathzone on some air-dust crystals, we can add that to the camera drones' air purification systems and deploy them as necessary."
"On it," Penny said and prepared Atlesian Knight 130s, and had them load crystal bullets before moving out. She also had the 200s collect the materials to modify the remaining camera drones, and would get started once Blake was done with the dust.
~o~
Two days later, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Ren and Nora met in a training room for a little sparring match. Blake had spent most of the previous day using Deathzone on the military's reserves of air-dust, keeping her busy for quite a bit.
"Let's do this," Yang said, and Maria gave the signal to start. Weiss rushed Jaune with a flurry of blows, and Jaune blocked them with his shield, activating Retaliation to whittle her down as well. Yang rushed Nora and delivered a series of blows, using the explosions from the shells to hide the explosives all around them. Blake rushed Ren, but he attacked first, forcing Blake into defense, and she activated Retaliation as well. Yang charged her special disk, and after Nora blocked a punch, fired it at Ren. Blake jumped away, and Ren went flying.
"Ren!" Nora screamed and kicked Yang in the gut, followed by an upward swing with her hammer. She jumped and hit Yang into the ground, landed and hit hit Yang with a horizontal swing when she bounced back up, sending her into the wall. Yang left a dent in the wall and fell to the ground, but got back up, glowing yellow.
"Wait, what?" Jaune asked when he saw Yang glow as if someone was recharging her aura, and took another series of hits from Weiss, pulling his attention back to his own fight. Nora and Ren ganged up on Blake, who used a fire-dust clone to dodge and get some distance between herself and them.
"Got you," Yang said and punched a torrent of fire towards the duo, knocking them back a bit. Jaune began charging Nora's aura, allowing her to create a dust crystal to boost her strength. She dashed towards Blake, taking on both her and Yang, who has stopped glowing. Ren shot a volley at Weiss, but she blocked it with a Glyph without even looking. She charged the Glyph with lightning-dust and prepared to shoot a bolt at Ren, but Nora jumped in the way. As Weiss dealt the final blow to break Jaune's aura, she created an earth-dust Glyph in front of the lightning one and shot an energized boulder at Ren and Nora, slamming them both into a wall.
"Awesome," Yang said and asked, "How did you do that?"
"Being without mind," Weiss answered, "I can do it for a while now, but not too long."
"Hey guys, you alright?" Blake asked and went to help Ren and Nora out of the rubble. Yang checked their auras, but saw that Ren's was still half full. Before she could warn her, Yang watched Ren kick Blake in the chin, sending her to the ceiling. She came back down and stopped her fall with Flight, but her aura broke shortly after and she dropped to the ground.
"What? How?" Weiss asked. Ren charged her, and she created a Glyph to protect herself. However, Ren rushed around the barrier. Weiss landed a series of blows, but they had little to no effect.
"It's Energy Burst," Yang answered, "Fireblossom's semblance. Stop hitting him." Ren hit Weiss with both his weapons in a pincer motion, breaking her aura, and then went to focus on Yang, taking her out in a few heavy blows as well. He came to a stop, catching his breath, and looked around the room, impressed that he managed to take down three of his friends so easily.
~o~
Sirena left the portal and met up with Argent, Niob and Talia on the plot of land Argent had bought in Menagerie. Argent held a large box, and everything was ready for Project Alpha. The land had a foundation for a large building, and the box had the rest, which Talia had magically shrunk to make it fit.
"Hello, Niob," Sirena said and asked, "How was your death?"
"The abyss is collapsing," Niob answered, "I thank you for allowing me to help you." After nightfall, when the people were asleep, Argent opened the box and Talia pressed a button on her scroll. Half a dozen pieces came flying out of the box, grew to their full size and assembled into a large tower with four support beams around the base, and a satellite dish at the top. Two other segments assembled into a dorm not too far away, and small robots made sure everything was connected before the segments set down. The team entered the building and waited. When the first people woke up, they saw the giant structure, and gathered in front of it, mostly in confusion and curiosity.
"Let's go," Argent said when the crowd had grown enough. He opened the door and stopped in front of a pedestal, facing an increasingly confused populace, and his team took up position behind him.
"Well, here goes nothing," Sirena said to herself.
"Faunus of Menagerie, welcome. As some of you may know, I am Argent Star, a huntsman from Vale," Argent said, "This here behind me is the result of three generations of hard work and planning. My grandfather, Rost, realized that children don't have that many good images of faunus. In recent years, this issue has only become more apparent. To combat this, he envisioned this right here behind me. Alpha Academy, Menagerie's very own huntsman academy. Here, my team and I will train whoever is interested, and help them become huntsmen and huntresses that can go out into the world, and give the people a more positive image of the faunus, by becoming the heroes children look up to. Of course, we will also offer primary training, extending the education from the average four years to five." The crowd began to murmur among itself, and Argent had Sirena take the stage.
"Hello everyone, I am Sirena Blue," Sirena said, and all eyes were on her and the murmuring stopped, "I may not look like it, but I am a faunus as well. My gills are just more hidden than other traits. I understand that some might say I'm privileged, since I can easily pass as a human and avoid scrutiny and discrimination. However, I plan to create a world where passing as a human isn't necessary for a faunus to get the same respect as humans, and Alpha Academy is a big part of that plan. I have already talked with the councils of Vale and Mistral, and they agreed to accept the huntsmen trained in this academy the same they would the huntsmen from the other academies. Additionally, if anyone is willing to join, I can unlock their auras right away." The crowd murmured again, as people discussed whether to join or not. Talia tucked Sirena's tank top to get her attention, and pointed her towards the ocean, where she saw a mass of Grimm in the distance approach the shore. Sirena let Argent take the stage and moved her tongue to pass on a message through his seismic sense.
"In my years as huntsman, I have learned one important thing," Argent said, "Whatever you think, no place is safe from Grimm. They may not be drawn here right now, because everywhere else has more negative emotions, but if the other kingdoms fall, this island will be their target. In fact, there is already a small force on the way here. It was too sudden to prepare a larger force, but we will do whatever we can to keep you safe. I promise." The crowd got nervous again, and Argent wondered what Sirena was going on about, when the first Grimm reached the shore. The crab-like Beach Breachers walked onto the beach, and Argent immediately got his guns ready, charging at the Grimm. Sirena and Niob followed him, with Sirena preparing to shoot ice-goo from her trident and Niob drawing his shotgun axe, having lost his twin pistols in Atlas.
"We've got one minute," Talia said and started counting down while running after them. Argent and Niob both shot lightning-dust rounds, and the sea water conducted the electricity, bypassing the Grimm's high defense. Argent strafed to the right, while Niob angled to the left, and they circled the Grimm, with Sirena following through in the middle. Every hit Argent landed, a new healing orb was created. Sirena shot a barrage of icicles, freezing the Grimm in place by freezing the water under their legs.
"I'll handle the backup, you finish off these ones," Sirena said. She activated her semblance and ran over the Grimm, poisoning them as she passed, and dived into the ocean, preparing to shoot water-goo from her trident. Argent and Niob continued fighting the Grimm, while Talia kept counting down. Sirena blew away several Grimm trying to reach the shore, and they all focused on her. Just as she was ready to launch another attack, an energy blast shot past her and tore through the Grimm, and she turned around to see where it had come from.
"H- Highness?" Afon asked. The battle mage swam up to her, followed by a few guards he was leading. He wore a blue tunic, and had shoulder-long black hair. He gestured the rest of the guards to finish off the Grimm.
"Hello, Afon," Sirena said, "Why are you up here? I specifically ordered our men to stay lower."
"Well, King Srebro revoked that decision," Afon answered, "He decided that we needed to improve relations with the surface, beginning with the faunus of the world. But, I'm confused as to how you are here. We were told you had died."
"I see," Sirena said, "And yes, I did die. However, I returned to life, thanks to the surface-dwellers' medical knowledge."
"That is… close to what Miss Rose told us," Afon said, "I still cannot believe it, though. But, by royal decree-"
"Srebro is too young to be king," Sirena said, "He is my regent, while I still maintain the final authority. But I must go now. The people here need me." She went back to fighting Grimm, and her men returned to the depths after the fight was over. When she returned to the land, she found that Kali and Ghira had already voiced their support of the academy, and the faunus were lining up to join, with mixed expressions. Some only joined out of a sense of obligation, or to stay with friends, while a select few were very clearly enthusiastic about the whole idea, and rearing to go.
Author's note: The Grimm that attacked Mantle were literally created from the panic, which is why they're so weak. The negativity was spread too thin, resulting in Grimm that were barely able to maintain their form.
Also, finally a reveal of what Project Alpha is: A school to train faunus huntsmen so that humans gain a more positive association with faunus.