No plan survives first encounter with the enemy. Their History Professor Oobleck had repeated over and over during his lectures and as the group set the charges in several locations, Weiss tried to find consolation in those words, but on recalling the "plan" they had more hastily cobbled together, she shook her head and continued.
It's certainly better than going in unprepared at the very least.
"The charges will bring the generals to us," Blake began, she had formed most of the plan since she was the only one with any workable knowledge of the Fang, "We have a code that the highest-ranking individuals will leave last, while the others retreat."
"Not very intelligent," Weiss remarked.
"It isn't, it's more of an honour thing. Either way, we'll each single our opponents out."
"General Sheena is incredibly skilled and swift, but she lacks stamina. Therefore, Yang and I will fight her, since we're the best close quarters fighters."
Blake noticed her team leader's look of protest, but opted to ignore it; this plan was the only conceivable way of coming out alive against
the generals.
"General Banesaw is incredibly powerful and barrels through his enemies easily," she continued, "We'll need Ruby's speed and sniping ability as well as Weiss' versatility to beat him. As far as he's unfocused, he should be easy to take down… hopefully."
"I know you aren't happy with it, but this arrangement is the one that has us most likely to come
out on top, trust me."
"Fine," Weiss agreed, trusting that Blake wanted to take the Fang down as much as she did, "But I
want her alone after we're done."
"Uhm guys," Ruby joined in, raising her hand as though she was in a classroom, "What about
Roman? He may not be as threatening as the generals, but he still has a canon."
"I'll take care of him," Weiss said with a small smile, "He's a crook, and all crooks have a price."
The plan was a little optimistic, but she believed that it would work. Calling it a plan was the truly optimistic part though, it was more like wishful thinking and a crate of dynamite.
Cardin, Whitley… Castle. I'm so close.
"We have trespassers," came Banesaw's booming voice, as he walked in on Roman and the Malachite sisters' card game with his co-general next to him.
"Any specifics?" Roman asked without raising his eyes from his deck.
"There are four of them, not sure how powerful, but they were very fast, hundreds of metres in in
mere seconds."
"Let's just send out the troops then."
"No," Banesaw objected stonily, "We have to assume the worst-case scenario; that they're here for us and have contacted Vale. Although the signal interference will certainly buy us time."
Just as he said this, the entire tunnel they were in started to shake terribly, almost unbalancing the
group.
"They seem to have incredible fire power," Sheena commented tersely, "This isn't good at all."
"Let's peel then," he said as he dropped his cards and did a small victory dance in front of Melanie
and Militia.
"Not an option," Sheena's response came, "In the Fang, the highest-ranking members leave last.
We don't cower."
"That's a stupid tradition."
"A little bit," Banesaw admitted, "But we can escape instantly, the rest of the troops can't, so we
have to buy them some time."
"We'll outnumber them," Melanie commented snarkily "You don't need to worry about messing
up your nails, Roman."
Roman simply clicked his tongue in response, before turning towards the
pair of generals.
"Lead the way then."
"They're here!" both Weiss and Blake shouted from their positions atop one of her glyphs,
"There's a problem though."
"What is it?" Yang and Ruby asked as the pair descended.
"There's five of them," Weiss said, biting her lip in frustration, "The generals, Roman and two girls
I can't recognise."
This announcement made the group worry gravely; they had been pushing their
luck even with a number's advantage earlier, but now…
"So it's just you," Banesaw stated dismissively once the students were in their sight, and then,
looking straight at Blake, he said: "I thought you to be a coward, it seems you aren't. Although I
can't say that you're all that bright."
"Don't be cocky just because you outnumber us," Weiss bit back, angered by the very sight of their
Grimm masks.
"Schnee," Banesaw said with an almost savage drawl, "You'll be my opponent, follow me." Weiss
looked at Blake for some sort of reassurance, the black-haired faunus nodded at her, signalling her
to go along; Weiss was the best suited among all of them to fight him. Yang could take damage,
but not Banesaw damage, not long enough for someone to come and assist her. At least Weiss could slow him down long enough for... she wasn't sure what for.
"You girls really thought this one out didn't you?" Sheena asked, seeing their degree of
preparation.
"No answer?" Sheena asked with a small smile,"Fine then, follow me." The cat faunus did as she
was asked without question; they were distancing themselves from the others to avoid
interruptions, a move that benefitted team SYBR more since they were outnumbered and didn't
have synergy as good as the Generals or the Malachite sisters.
"Wait a minute!" Yang exclaimed on seeing the pair who were with Roman and the Generals, "I remember you two. I kicked both of your butts at Junior's night club."
"You got lucky that time around," Melanie basically scowled out, "We were drunk."
"Sure you were," she derided with a smirk as she cocked Ember Celica, "Rubes, you and Ice Queen
concentrate on those two, I'll be done with these clowns in no time."
"You shouldn't be so cocky," Melanie shrieked in anger as she covered the gap between them and
shot a kick at the blonde. Yang evaded the blow easily but that didn't stop Yang from being flung into one of the decrepit ruin buildings although.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted after her sister, as she made to run to her.
"That's not your fight though," Militia whispered almost shyly, suddenly behind the silver-eyed
student. Luckily, Ruby had already been ready to activate Blossom Burst and was able to evade the
other sister before she could strike her with Malice.
"Get out of my way!"
"I'm afraid that that will not happen," she apologised as she drove her to the same building that
Melanie and Yang were fighting in.
Roman was left without any opponent or any inclination to help his associates. "It seems we're
alone," he declared despite the fact that he was by himself, "Isn't that right, old man?"
Dr Oobleck wasn't a swearing person, but the colourful vocabulary of expletives he had learned
from Port, Qrow and especially Glynda, was a tempting option now. The professor rose from his
hiding place, he had been hoping that Roman would leave so that he would be able to render aid to
his students, that plan was a bust now.
"I'd rather not fight you," Dr Oobleck declared as he handled his thermos, "The Atlas military will
arrive soon, you have an opportunity to escape."
"Tempting," Roman acknowledged,"But there's more going on than you can understand, so that's
not an option."
Immediately the red-haired fiend finished his sentence, the Doctor sprung forward, his thermos
now in its full form and blasting balls of fire at his opponent. Roman reacted quickly, twirling in
between the blasts, and evading them all with a smug smirk. Suddenly, he saw a club descending
towards his beautiful face; the green-haired professor had hidden behind one of the fireballs, using
it as a smokescreen, putting the criminal in a spot he couldn't escape from.
Weiss danced around her opponent, her Time Dilation enabling her to dodge his powerful and
reaching weapon and strike him severally. So far, the battle was leaning in her favour.
Banesaw was at a disadvantage; her almost seamless conjunction of Dust and her glyphs made it nigh impossible to mount any sort of defence. There was only one flaw; it was almost seamless,
she was still a child, her mind was weak and her moves were routine. The harder he pushed, the
more move sets she would burn through and the more panicked she would become.
He stopped for a second and strapped his chainsaw to his back and pressed on a button that
disassembled the weapon's frame and let the cutting chain free from the guide bar. The chain split
vertically into several slimmer, flexible blades that were whip-like and scarily sharp. Weiss had
stayed back for a few seconds to observe what he was planning; more than enough time for the
transformation to be completed.
It was time to push.
Yang tried, and often failed to defend the flurry of kicks she was exposed to with every moment of
her fight against Melanie, she didn't remember them being this tough. Melanie knew that each hit
was charging up the girl's Semblance, that was why she aimed for the vitals with every strike she
landed.
Back of the neck, she thought as she twirled around Yang's punch and delivered a knee to
her spine.
Chin, this time, she dodged her rebound and clipped her chin with her heel. That was how she slowly deconstructed her opponent.
I'm going to rip you to pieces! she shouted manically in her head, belying the impassive face she wore as she fought her opponent.
Suddenly, Yang grabbed her leg mid-air, absorbing all the force of the incoming hit in her palm
and her hair lighting up with the rage and power of Burn.
"Bang, bi-" the second part of her
statement was drowned out by the sound of Ember Celica blasting her opponent, bringing their
dance to an early close.
The following scene astonished the blonde warrior; instead of her opponent being flung across the
ruins, she stood there, unscathed, her green eyes peering deeply back into lilac ones. She was
separate from the destruction that Yang had just caused and that scared her.
"What's wrong?" she asked, strutting slightly and showing off her weapons, Manic Marcher, "This fight was meant to be easy wasn't it?"
Ruby was having a similar problem; her opponent just wouldn't let up, she exploited Ruby's weakness in close quarters combat and continually attacked within her range, rendering Crescent
Rose useless.
Still, Ruby was faster, and she separated herself from Militia several times and showcased her sharpshooting capabilities. However, her shots still scarcely landed, she seemed to be evading all of them in a way she couldn't understand.
"Stay down and it won't hurt,"Militia urged as she launched herself towards a
shocked Ruby, making as though to give her a new haircut with Malice. In the last second though,
she was able to evade and strike out with her scythe, certain on connecting this time. Alas, the
blade seemed to pass through its target, effecting no damage.
What's happening? The Beacon sisters asked simultaneously, at the end of their ropes.
This was the twins' ability: Phanta Morgana. They could manipulate the space between objects, although by less than a metre. That was why the punches and shots seemed to pass through them.
"You should have held still," Militia chided sadly, as she fiercely stabbed towards Ruby, ready to
end the main character.
Aiee! A scream was heard a few metres away, drawing Militia's attention to the direction of her
sister who, instead of finishing off the Xiao-Long, was flying towards her sister with a shriek.
Militia was thrown off her feet by her sister's impacting form, but the pair managed to stabilise
themselves mid-air and execute proper landings. Their attention was drawn towards a red fissure in
the space behind the Xiao-Long girl. A heeled boot was sticking out of it, the same one that had
sent Melanie on an ill-prepared for flight.
Out of the fissure came a tall, black-haired woman with a great sword and a mask that evoked a
little terror in the hearts of the twins. Still, the pair readied for battle, readying their weapons.
"You are children," the woman's voice projected from behind her mask, "You don't need to die
now… but you will if you insist on fighting me."
The pair looked at each other, there was no way that they'd be able to take her on. Her Aura spoke
of falls of blood, it was chilling to even hear her voice.
"Mel," Militia whispered to her sister, "We
did our part, let's retreat with the troops." Melanie hesitated, her green eyes quivering, but staring
straight at the woman either way. Still, her arrogance gave into the dread the woman was exuding
and they retreated.
The fight was supposed to be over by now. Oobleck knew this, and so did Roman, and yet here
they were, still circling each other in the dance of battle. Oobleck remembered when he tried to
land that opening hit to gain a serious advantage:
The green-haired professor had emerged from the flames, Antiquity's lamp ready to give Roman a
concussion. Suddenly, he moved out of the way, only narrowly dodging the projectile that was
certain to strike his temple a second ago.
Number six, he said to himself as he raised Antiquity's Lamp's heat, the weapon boosting him and
allowing him shoot forward with superb speed, Roman once again unable to dodge in time. Still,
the projectile interfered, and he needed to change direction at the last second. Roman had
anticipated the direction to which he would dodge and let his Melodic Cudgel sing the professor a
tune. Oobleck was hit, but able to use his weapon to take the brunt of the damage.
"And this," Roman exclaimed, "Is why I love you, Perry."
Oobleck was aware of this Perry, but he was simply too evasive for the history professor to catch.
The doctor was beginning to doubt that speed was the answer, and even if it was, how much Aura
could he waste finding out? He still had four students to assist.
I wanted to avoid this, he said to himself, pulling out a vial of Dust, These ruins are a great cultural landmark after all.
Suddenly, the professor turned into a green blur, circling the red haired thief, who was at a complete loss on how to counter him, but decided on unloading his cane-non either way. What resulted was a large explosion and an even larger cloud of smoke. The professor had set Dust
on the floor, knowing that Roman would fire at it and raise smoke, obstructing Perry's vision so
that he could deliver a blow to Roman without interference.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't work that way; the man had clearly underestimated Perry's perception
as the faunus could detect even the slightest of shifts in the smoke. When he came, the pair would
be ready. Roman waited for several moments, but no attack came. It didn't make any sense; the
smoke was already clearing, he had lost the only advantage he had.
Did he escape? Roman thought to himself, running forward to see if he could catch sight of him.
After clearing the smoke, Roman was met with a shocking scene; the Huntsman had Perry
straddled unconscious across his shoulder.
"Wh-"
His question was interrupted by a sudden strike to his midriff, causing him to crumble to the
ground.
"I surrender," he managed, being a to spit out words of cowardice despite the fact he was
trying to catch his breath.
Oobleck regarded him coldly and threw him a pair of cuffs. The fiend put them on obediently and
followed him as he started to walk towards where his closest student would be. As for how he had
defeated his opponents, that was easy.
The professor's Semblance; Innersloth Hack, allowed him to map out any area perfectly and
identify the objects within it under certain names. Before they entered, he had marked his students
as 'Friendly' the Grimm were 'Hostile' and anything else would be registered as 'Unknown'. So,
even before Perry's first interference, he had been aware of the faunus and his location. He had
tried severally throughout the battle to attack him, but the sniper was one truly worthy of the name
and was able to evade him despite him knowing his location exactly.
Luckily, with the area mapped, he also had mastery of the topography. He had known that Roman
would aim at him, activating the Dust he had set during his blitz. This in turn would hit a fault in
the ground that connected to the particular part of the ruins the sniper was situated on, unbalancing
him long enough for Oobleck to finish him. And in the smoke that had resulted, Roman would be
none the wiser to the plight of his partner.
"I hope Port got the message across," he said hopefully as he moved through the ruins.
Earlier that day, in Vacuo's Shade Academy, a pair of boys waited for their teammate. The tall one
with rusty brown hair and a mace that looked like it was meant for creatures thrice his size, tapped
his foot impatiently,
"Move it," he said in annoyance, "If you make us late, that your family
heirloom is going to become a part of you, permanently."
"Yeah," a shorter, tanned one with a pair of perked up dog ears and bright eyes urged, "Let's go
already, I thought you missed Beacon."
"Shut up guys," their partner shouted back, staring at his opponent. The Boarbatusk, a metre or two
away from him, glared back at him, agitated and gearing up to charge him. The beast rolled
forward, spinning like an angry tyre and determined to run him over.
Dodge its rolling attack, he thought, recalling what he'd been taught in Grimm Studies. He recalled this, but his posture belied that fact; he stood there, shield positioned before him as though planning to take the attack head-on.
That was exactly what happened, the Grimm struck his shield with a manic momentum, ready to
turn the boy into a smear on the ground. It seemed it would succeed, as he gave up inch
after inch of ground, being pushed backwards. Suddenly, he adjusted his posture, pushing against the creature suddenly and actually pushing it back. He followed it up, smashing his shield into it once more, this time, the blow moving a foot or two back and discombobulating it.
Wait for it to expose its unarmoured underbelly or hind quarters, once again, he played the lesson
in his mind and yet seemed determined to ignore it. Instead, he delivered a ferocious shout as he
made a great leap, about twice his height, and descended with his still sheathed blade onto the
beast's armoured head. One of its most armoured parts.
CRACK! The sound of the blow was testament to how hard it had landed, and conclusive proof
that not even the Boarbatusk's hide could save it. The creature's head was caved in, even its rapidly
disintegrating cadaver unable to hide the fact.
"That's the best I've been able to do with Cardin,"he said with a smile as he replaced his sword on
his hip and flexed his arms.
"Let's get moving then," the Winchester heir responded in annoyance before giving his teammates
a crooked grin, "Beacon's not ready for this."
"Yeah," Jaune said with a bright smile, as he looked into the distance, ready to come home after
what had felt an eternity to him, "Beacon, here we come."
"Professor Asche said we should meet her first though," Shouter stated, bringing the other two to a
halt, "Apparently, we can't leave looking the 'way' we do."
Weiss was in a tough situation. If the heiress ever heard anyone describe her having to rapidly
dodge the rain of attacks from the White Fang General as just tough, she would be offended to the
point of violence. With every attack she dodged, she almost didn't and every one that hit impacted
her Aura greatly. If only her attacks had the same effect; Banesaw tanked every Dust round and
when she tried to be clever with tricks like Gravity and Mirage Dust, he displayed speed and agility
that she was insistent wasn't for individuals of his size.
Suddenly, his attacks came to a halt, the sectioned blades retreating towards his person.
"I sense a grudge within you," Banesaw called out to her, "I can feel your hate with every blow we
exchange."
"You think you have scars?" he queried in anger, his voice cracking to a near shriek despite the
fact that he'd promised himself that he wouldn't crack his stoic façade. Despite the emotion in his
question, the heiress remained silent, the moniker of Ice Queen seeming appropriate for her.
It wasn't that Weiss didn't want to answer, she had to swallow her enraged heartbeat, had to keep a
clear head despite the blood rushing to it. Not only because she was too exhausted, but because
she needed to concentrate.
Instantly, a glyph appeared beneath Banesaw's feet, gluing him to the floor. The General turned to
his opponent, who had already launched herself at him. Weiss didn't have much time, a glyph
could only last a few seconds at most, and in her state, it may not even. This was her only chance t-
The heiress' thoughts were cut short prematurely, and her feet were lifted off the ground.
Banesaw's grin was evident even from behind his mask. The General had discreetly latched a link
of his weapon to her leg and with the help of his chainsaw motor, it was pulling her towards him
rapidly.
The good news was that she'd definitely get there before the glyph disappeared. The bad news was
that it was much too sudden for her to orient herself properly for an attack. Banesaw couldn't move
from his position, but his cocked fist was ready to compensate either way, colliding with the flying
Schnee and using her body to further collapse their section of the ruins.
After sending her on a trip, the glyph beneath him dissolved and he walked towards the now
unconscious Beacon student.
SWOOSH!
Banesaw dodged to the side, only barely dodging the huge sword that came at him from behind.
An Arma Gigas, he thought, as he scanned the creature that had nearly cleaved him in two, Why is it so...large? Could it be…
He hadn't expected that someone so young could use one of the more powerful Schnee glyphs.
Still, it was just a minor setback.
"Come on!" he shouted as the summon as it charged him.
Blake was confused; she had sustained several injuries all over her body, and she was almost out of
the Dust she had gotten from Weiss, but that wasn't the reason for her confusion.
General Sheena was clearly exhausted, the opening of the fight had been an insane flurry of strikes that Blake had barely dodged and countered, even with her shadows.
But now, Sheena was keeping up a tired defence that Gambol Shroud would break through any time soon. The General wasn't a tank like Banesaw, but she still had more endurance than that. Blake and Yang, the two members with the most endurance and durability, would still have been stretching it for a victory against her.
What could possibly the reason?
Damn it! The General shouted in her mind.
With everything she was doing simultaneously, her stamina was way low.
Will I need to use that? she asked herself, getting desperate as Blake's blades
made contact with her neck, the kiss of the two edges being a sufficient threat for her to stand down.
"Hey there ladies," came Banesaw's call from behind Blake, his mask cracked at the side enough
to show the edge of his malicious smile and his hand gripping the Schnee's skull.
"Sorry… Blake," Weiss managed tiredly, her eyes unfocused and tired.
"She isn't supposed to be awake now," he declared, swinging her "She exhausted herself thoroughly, especially with that last one. If she doesn't get some attention soon… well, you know
the effects of over-drafting your Aura, don't you?"
Blake was in a difficult position. She couldn't as well let Sheena go, especially since Banesaw
would certainly not spare either one of them.
CRACK!
The sound of Weiss' arm being shattered and the heiress' subsequent attempt at a scream were enough for her teammate to falter for second, the tears streaking down her face making Blake lose focus long enough for Sheena escape and disarm her, knocking the princess to her knees.
"That was embarrassing," Sheena said sourly, "Could you drop her? I want to see something."
Banesaw obliged and dropped the heiress onto the floor.
"Schnee," Sheena called out to Weiss as
she snapped her fingers to get her to focus, "You want this right?" Castle's sabre was dangling in
front of her now. "So far as you can get it, it's yours."
The General was just over a metre away from Weiss, ideally this would have been no challenge. In her current state though, could she do it?
The heiress desperately clawed with her one good arm towards the blade. Her manicure, an Argus
blue that contrasted with the lighter hues in her clothes was ruined in the process, her fingers
bleeding from dragging her weight over the terrain of the ruins.
I'm nearly there, she said to herself, ignoring that her body was protesting so violently that she had to stop sometimes in a near seizure.
I'm…
She collapsed, her desperate struggle progressing her less than half a metre.
"That's…disappointing," came Sheena's sincere declaration, before she turned to her partner, "Could you let them go?"
The General knew he had misheard her; they couldn't take Blake at the moment as it would be the
perfect avenue for the Belladonna family to slow their progress. As for the Schnee, she was a
valuable hostage, the benefits of taking her now were immeasurable. But Sheena knew this, and
yet she had asked. Bane simply nodded in agreement and offered his hand to his partner and
carrying her in retreat.
"The troops can't outrun an Atlesian fleet," he said to her as manoeuvred through the ruins with her
on his back, "The Wave has already started?"
"Yeah," she responded, relaxing on her partner/taxi, "Soon, the city will be flooded with Grimm,
distracting them too much to grab us here."
Back in Vale, there were preparations were being clearly made, with Atlesian Knights evacuating
civilians from the city. The students within range had also been called back, including team
AMEN, the sudden recall allowing them to be spared from a scolding from their supervising
officer.
"Alright students," General Ironwood called out to students, whose nerves were admittedly shaken
by the sudden events, "We have information that leads us to believe that there will be a Black
Wave emerging from an underground channel soon."
"The Atlesian fleet here is more than enough to take care of it," he reassured, calming the mass
before him, "However, your headmaster thought it'd be a good exercise; you facing an actual
invading Black Wave. I agree with him, so here we are."
"You needn't worry," he declared, addressing the stir that had started among the students again, "I
will have professors and Knights positioned properly to assist you and yes, they'll take most of the
hoard. However, you are all Huntsmen in training, you can't expect to back out from this. Be alert
and the chances you'll walk out of this intact are ridiculously high. For glory! For Remnant!"
"For glory! For Remnant!" came back the cheer, echoing throughout the streets.
"Penny," James said into his comm as he walked down from the platform he had been addressing
the students, "You'll sit this one out."
"Yes, General," she whispered back, sad but understanding the General's caution.
This was Beacon. A place where catastrophe could be turned into a class. It was dangerous, but
definitely worth it.