Guest: :I dont get the jaune bashing s*** and why he still hangs with jack it like a jew hanging out with hitler
NeoNazo356: Clearly, someone doesn't know the meaning of "nuance".
As for why Jaune is hanging out with Jack, not that you're intelligent-enough to understand, but Jaune Canonically admits to having "stupid macho" tendencies, and with Jack around, he can't actually see that Pyrrha is willing to help him out in the same way as in the Canon; hence, he actively sought out Jack to train him since, given he beat Pyrrha in 1v1 combat, is then-associated in Jaune's mind with "strength", the very thing he wants to emulate.
Of course, it's not like you're intelligent-enough to understand this kind of nuance, so I'll just move onto the next one.
TM11: Lol, I like Jaune's new "training", though I think Jack was bullshitting with his reasoning for it. He's just being the asshole that we all love to read about.
I'm surprised, but pleased, with how you're making Ren act towards Jaune. Most people focus more on Jaune than Ren most of the time, which is sad, really. Ren has more potential as an MC than Jaune in my opinion. And in most fics I've read where Jaune comes clean, Ren is understanding and doesn't give him hell, which I think is bollocks. Just because Pyrrha did it, it doesn't mean that everyone in Team Juniper should forgive Jaune. And I still think Pyrrha is being biased towards him. She's letting her feelings cloud her judgement. Speaking about her and Jaune, I'm not really a fan of Arkos. I mean, I don't mind reading it and even writing it, but I really think they would work well together. A relationship, in my opinion, is about giving and I don't really see what Pyrrha can give Jaune besides training. Another thing is that they don't seem that much alike. If anything, my favourite pairing involving Jaune is Yang or Ruby. I can see Jaune and Blake work too, but that one seems a bit more forced.
Now, Ruby being trash at snipping, I wasn't expecting. I think you're the first person to do that to her. Everyone assumes that, just because she has a sniper, she's a good at using it from a range. I admit to have assumed that too, but, I guess that's a fair assumption to make. Giving it more thought, I guess it is more plausible that she would be trash at it since, according to her words, she was trained by Qrow and he sure isn't a sniper. I think everyone just assumes that she learned how to snipe while at Signal, or that she's the genious that Ozpin makes her out to be. Few people really write Ruby as a younger girl swimming with the big fish and almost drowing, if you get my meaning.
Now, what the hell is Keijo? And what kind of club did Jack and Yang go to? I'm really curious!
NeoNazo356: For the record, Jack was being serious about "vigilance"; if Jaune can't even dodge a fruit, how can he ever hope to dodge a lethal weapon? As for Jack being the "asshole that we all love to read about", given what Jaune did, any "assholery" is completely warranted. Something some people *cough*cough* Guest Reviewer *cough* aren't intelligent-enough to understand.
As for Ren's reaction, it isn't only his life he's worried about, it's Nora's as well, and Jaune's incompetence puts them both in danger. Ren's backstory and lineage have been tweaked slightly (including Canon, not excluding it), so he's more-assertive than the "passive" versions of Ren who "don't give two shits" about Jaune lying about his credentials. And yes, I do believe Ren has more potential as an MC, hence why I've been flushing out his backstory a bit more.
As for Ruby being "trash at sniping", recall if you will the events of Episode 1: Ruby Rose. When she was shooting at who we now know as Cinder, Ruby's "shot group" was all over the place! Sure, at close-range that sorta shoddy marksmanship would fly, but at long range, where a single heartbeat out-of-place can make a shot fly wide by a whole foot… you can see why I'd think Ruby isn't actually versed as a proper sniper. That Qrow is both a drunkard who wields a shotgun, and I thought Ruby's weapon was part-shotgun in the trailer because she insisted on using it at POINT-BLANK RANGE, and it all lines up together pretty well to come to this more-interesting conclusion. That and the fact that Qrow being a drunkard and Mordecai being a sniper while also being a drunkard let me blend elements of RWBY and the original Borderlands together very well.
And yes, Ruby is definitely swimming with the "big fish"; doubly-so since she was abducted from Signal two whole years early meaning she's "under-cooked". This is especially-why her relationship with Jack is so important. Outside the brother/sister-vibe moments, Jack is world-wise like Qrow and cynical like Adam, so he's the sort of person that Ruby needs to give her the "reality check" that'll stop her from doing something completely stupid.
Like ignoring the one-and-only entrance to an underground bunker where a comatose girl behind a pane of glass is utterly-and-completely-vulnerable.
As for "Keijo", there's a rather niche sports manga by the same name, albeit with eight exclamation points, so you'll just have to look it up yourself. Mind you, it's a bit cringey at places, and super-cringey in others, but in a good way; it's a hoot and a half to read, though it's not for everyone. That, and one of the characters looks eerily like Yang, which is why the idea for the crossover "stuck".
As to the kind of club that Jack and Yang went to… You'll have to wait until next-chapter.
Skinnydude911: This was a fun chapter. Can't believe you threw in a Keijo reference in there too with all the clubs, also I did enjoy all the different clubs they all checked out and loved the jojo reference (even if it was obscure for those who don't know the series).
I can kind of imagine Jaune being a wiz in the kitchen and couldn't help but laugh at all the things Pyrrha set on fire by accident. The part with Ruby and the sniper club... that I didn't see coming but loved it. Ren keeping an eye on Nora in the club sounds about right with their relationship, I'm more surprised she didn't discover there was a pancake club. And now I wanna see what kind of club Jack and Yang went to visit.
The part with Vincent being aware (albeit somewhat aware) of the groundhog's day time loop was clever too.
Oh and here's a big thing here I forgot to do a review for for the last chapter, now that Jaune is weapon less in Beacon... will we see him try out new weapons to see which one is the best fit for him as a huntsman? And during that, I can honestly see him pulling a Kevin Hart in Ride Along when he tried a shotgun outside of a video game and gets launched back into a wall from the recoil.
NeoNazo356: Like I might've said before, part of the reason I made a Keijo! Cameo was because one of the characters looks eerily like Yang; and also lines up with yuri-centric character interpretations. The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure reference is also deeper than just a Cameo, but only if you know about Tonio's special ability.
Pyrrha being the one to set everything on the kitchen on fire was because Canonically, she's a little "too perfect", and I figured it'd round out her character more if there was something she was really terrible at. Jaune being great in the kitchen on the other hand is a Kim Possible reference; read: gender archetype reversal ala "Two to Tutor". As for the Pancake Club, if she did join it, than pancakes any other time would be "less special", hence why she passed it up in lieu of something more… physical~ Physical~ Let's get physical~
As for the club that Jack & Yang went to… just keep reading.
Vincent being aware of the time-looping is due in one part to a hyper-sensitivity of his surroundings due to his soul getting the "burn & bleach" treatment. Part two is a passive reference to an IP near and dead to my heart; can you guess which one?
As for Jaune's new weapon, I've already thought about that. I've hinted at what'll happen, but it's very subtle. As for the shotgun scene from Ride Along… that is totally something I wanna do now. Thanks for the suggestion!
*NEW WORLD*
Airships. Mighty vessels sailing through the heavens, freed from earthly tethers.
For generations, these gentle giants, and sometimes not-so-giants, and more-often not-so-gentle, had sailed the airways, sometimes with sails, sometimes without. Though the perils of the land and the sea had been abandoned by these mystic marvels, less-than-mystic as of late, the skies came with their own obstacles. Obstacles that Aeronaut's would spend generation after generation trying to surpass, adding their strength to that of the next generation.
The frigid cold of the night sky. The wrath of the angry heavens. The fury of those that shared the wild blue yonder. Every obstacle was inevitably met head-on, each new Aeronaut making their own entry into the epic saga of air travel.
This, is one such story.
*NEW WORLD*
"Hey Jack."
"Yeah?"
"You ever wonder why we're here?"
"Ugh, not this again."
"Okay, fine, I'll ask a different question," Yang pouted. "Why'd you take that half-buried flier with you from the wall?"
"Why? Would you rather someone else find it?"
" . . . Touché," the blond nodded. "Still, if this really is legit and not just a typo… this could be a huge boon for us."
"Yeah, and take it from me. When you're stranded in the middle of nowhere with a dead pilot, not knowing how to get back into the air sucks ass."
"Wait, did that really happen to you before?!"
"With alarming regularity."
"Oof. That bad, huh?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
"I think you underestimate just what I'm willing to believe," Yang pouted cutely, hands on her hips. "After all…" she muttered, her expression becoming more somber as her eyes drifted to his back. "You opened my eyes to the truth. The truth of what it really is I'll be fighting once I leave Beacon."
"Yeah, well, if all goes well, maybe I'll join you," Jack returned with a smile.
"What're you talking about? Of course you'll be joining me," Yang asserted. "You aren't allowed to die, not on my watch."
"Hahah… I'll keep that in mind," Jack chuckled. "Well… We're here," he said turning his attention to the Waterfall Hangar entrance, humble as ever. "Ladies first."
"Hmhm. Ever the gentleman," Yang giggled in turn, making their way into the depths of the cliff overlooking Vale in the distance. Their elevator ride concluded with little fanfare, the two stepped out into the cavernous hangar, airships coming and going like gentle giants. "Why d'you think they decided to make their hangar in here?" she wondered aloud.
"Well… an Airship is at its most-vulnerable when it's on the ground, especially by airborne Grimm able to slip by sentries that never look up, so when you stop to think about it, a cave hangar is actually pretty well thought-out," Jack hummed. "Plus, with so much rock between this hangar and the open air, it's not like another country could bomb this place. If they wanted to attack the ships in drydock, they'd have to go straight down the throat, and I'm pretty sure those, are the anti-air defenses," he said pointing to a large pair of AA cannons mounted on opposite ends of the hangar opening, pointing outward.
"So I take it you've been around an airship or two in your day?"
"Hey, time is money, and airships save a lot of it if you hitch a ride on a shipping vessel you can hop out of mid-flight. Of course… it does help if you have a proper 'landing strategy'. Not just anyone can make use of airborne assault tactics."
"So wait, you've hopped out of airships before? For your bounty hunting work?"
"Well, sometimes…" Jack shrugged, thinking back to the times where the White Fang would commence bombing raids on CoM slaver camps; where he was the bomb. "That and sometimes it's just cheaper to charter for a fly-by than a full out landing. Sure, VTOLs can go up and down in tight spaces, but going wheels-down in Grimm-infested woods is the cause of half the airships that wind up going missing. That's why Aeronauts sneak in surcharges for that sorta thing," he whispered conspiratorially.
"Wait, for real?!"
"Yes."
"For real for real!?"
"Yes, Yang! They really do that!"
"Oh… Well, damn."
"Yeah. Damn."
"So…" she hummed as she looked at the flier they'd absconded with earlier, the words Flight Club plastered across the top along with details. "You really think this is legit?"
"Well, with all the little airships plastered all over it, I can hardly imagine it meaning anything else."
"Uh huh… Uh huh… Any last-minute advice?" Yang asked as they reached the necessary tier of the hangar.
"Yeah. Whatever you do, do not 'floor it'."
"I take it that's a common mistake made?"
"With alarming regularity."
"A lot of stuff seems to happen to you with 'alarming regularity', doesn't it?"
"Only when you 'get out' as much as I do… Which admittedly had less regularity once I settled down."
A minute later and the two had arrived at their destination; southern wing, top tier of three, second-closest to the mouth of the cavernous hangar.
"So… You think this is the one?" Yang asked as they looked at a D77-TC Pelican sitting atop a large turntable.
"Well, it has the 'Bomb's Away' decal on the side like the flier said there would be, so I think it's a pretty safe guess that this is the one," he said looking at the side of the Pelican to the right of the cockpit window; sprayed across it was the image of a woman in yellow tight-fitting pants with white sneakers, a leather aviator's jacket, brown gloves, and an orange visor, her hair a spiky dark-brown and a blue contrail spilling off of her back like a cape reading Bomb's Away.
"Should we… just go on in?" Yang asked after a moment.
"Cargo bay door's open. As good an invite as any," Jack shrugged, the two walking up the cargo ramp and into the "blood tray". "Hello? We're here for Flight Club!"
"Finally. About time someone showed up," a voice said from the cockpit in an accent Yang recognized. "Be out in a second."
"Well… She sounds nice," Jack nodded after a moment, the pilot stepping out a moment later.
"Hey! I remember you! You were our pilot when Jack went nuts, right?" Yang asked.
"For the record, I'm right here," Jack stated.
"Oh yeah, I remember you. You're the girl with the gun-bracelets," the pilot replied. Obviously the decal on the side of the airship was meant to be her, though at the moment her attire was a standard "Beacon green" flightsuit. Her hair was just-as-spiky as the decal portrayed, her skin fair, and though you could hardly tell by the unflattering clothes, she had legs "for days". "Name's Lena Oxton, but my callsign's Tracer. Nice to meetcha!"
"Wow! Small world, huh?" Yang asked with a smile.
"Sure is!" Lena replied with a smile. "Say, did you happen to see anyone else coming to Flight Club on the way here? You're the first to show up, but I can't wait for too-long before wheels-up."
"Well… When we found your poster, it was kinda… buried under all the others," Yang admitted awkwardly.
"Agh, bullocks!" the pilot swore under her breath. "Whatever 'appened to common curt'sy?"
"I know, right?" Yang asked exasperatedly, guiltily tucking the folded-up poster deeper into Jack's back pocket.
As good an excuse to cop a feel as any.
Jack certainly didn't seem to mind.
"Well… Lemme give you two a tour a the cockpit, and if no-one shows up quick, we'll just have to wheels-up without 'em," Lena sighed, ushering the two of them towards the front. "This right here's the pilot chair; flight instruments are up front. Copilot seat would've been for the gunner 'fore she got retrofitted; now she's for radio and-of-course, the wingman."
"So does it take two to tango?" Yang asked.
"Not really, but it always helps. Most anything can 'appen once you're off the ground," the ace pilot replied. "Most'a the time I do quick in'n'outs, but fate has a way of makin' things turn pear-shaped."
"Hope for the best, plan for the worst?"
"Right-o!" Lena nodded Jack's way. "Ah, but before we b'gin…" she said looking down at her watch, sighing that no other students were turning up. "We're gonna be spendin' a lotta time in the air, ferryin' supplies, movin' the injured on the Frontier, patrollin' for Sky Pirates…"
"Wait, you mean those are real? I though those were just from the old movies," Yang gawped.
"Oh trust me luv, they're quite real, and if they get a good look at ya, well…" she trailed off. "Anyway, the two a' ya seem pretty close, so I'm only gonna say this once. First rule of Flight Club-"
"Don't talk about Flight Club?" Yang giggled.
"Club hours ain't no x'cuse to knock boots, do I don't want ya thinkin' of usin' my craft to join the 'Mile-High Club', you understand me-"
"Oh Lenaaaaa~" a feminine voice purred from the back of the Pelican. "I'm ready for our weekly meeting for the Mile-High Club~"
"Emily! Not now!" Lena hissed, making a slashing motion at her throat with her hand through the open door.
"Hey, c'mon now, don't be such a prude. You never pass up the chance for a good snogging-"
Stepping into the cockpit was a very pretty woman with auburn-colored hair going past her shoulders. Her skin was lightly tanned, her eyes a dark shade of brown, and her attire consisting of what appeared to be a rather provocative take on a flight attendant's outfit. With a flutter of her eyelashes and a sway in her step, it was obvious what she'd come there for; at least if her dialogue didn't make it clear-enough.
Of course, all sensuality on her visage shattered when she realized the two of them weren't alone.
Not in the kinky fun way at least.
"Sooooo, Lena. What was that you were saying? About this not being an excuse to join the Mile-High Club?" Yang asked with a waggling eyebrow, Emily flushing bright red in the background as she buttoned up her shirt, a look of shame plain upon her face.
"Um… Er… Please don't tell Ozzy about this," Lena pleaded in an embarrassed tone.
"Don't worry, Jack and I aren't nearly at that point in our relationship," Yang said holding up her hands. "Of course, if you don't want me running my gob at mess 'all t'night," she said in a poor rendition of Lena's cockney British accent, "you and Emily here won't mind chaperoning for if the two of us do want to charter a course for the Mile-High Club."
"Are you blackmailing me?!" Lena gaped.
"Nope. I'm just saying I'll tell people things you don't want publicly consumed unless you agree to do something for me in the future. It only counts as 'blackmail' if you're being forced to do something in the present," Yang said haughtily.
"I'm pretty sure that's still blackmailing," Emily huffed.
"Blackmail's such an ugly word~" Yang hummed.
"And neither of us really care that you have 'scrapbooking clambakes' when you do your sweeps of the area. Yang and I just came here to learn how to fly," Jack stated with crossed arms. "Future services rendered… is just the icing on top~"
"You got that right~" Yang said high-fiving Jack, Lena groaning as she held her face in her hands, Emily blushing a storm over in the corner. "Still, I am a bit concerned about there not being any chin gun on this bird," she said adopting a more-serious tone.
"Oh don't worry, this baby's rigged for speed. Every second counts, and if things go south, Lena can whoop any Sky Pirates with her time-hopping Semblance," Emily said proudly.
"Time-hopping?" Yang asked, whereas Jack grew intrigued.
"Well, not actual time-hopping. More like… I'm a skippin' needle on an old vinyl," Lena stated bashfully. "Mum said I got it from me gramps, but I ain't too sure about that."
"Who's your old man's old man?" Yang asked.
"It's not important," Lena said curtly, an edge in her tone that made Yang flinch. "Anywho, seeing as how no-one's shown up, how bout we wheels-up and I give you the introductory course?"
*NEW WORLD*
With Emily sitting embarrassingly in the Blood Tray, Yang sat beside Lena as she ran an instrument-check with commentary, Jack standing nearby grasping an overhead handle. Once the function of each gauge was explained to them, Lena began their taxi toward the exit.
"I've been meaning to ask… How are airships without balloons full of lighter-than-air gas able to actually, you know… fly?!" Yang questioned as the Pelican listed leisurely backwards a yard above its tier, rotating on its Y-axis before listing out the hangar entrance.
"Well, in the old days, lighter-than-air gasses were the only way to get something off the ground. Back then, airships were usually just boats with high-powered internal combustion engines providing the necessary thrust once they were out of the water for the most-part. However, with the advent of Dust-Tech in recent decades, if you apply a negative current to Purple Dust, you're able to 'tweak' the laws of gravity, nullifying the weight of the craft almost-completely," Lena explained. "The most rudimentary form of this principle, back after the Great War, was to have a single giant chunk of Purple Dust actually suspending the ship from within."
"Like a hot air balloon in reverse?"
"I guess you could see it like that," Lena nodded. "Of course, the problem with that design was if you gave it too much power too quickly, like if you tried to ascend too quickly or pull out of a dive too fast, you'd wind up launching your 'Lift Crystal' through the roof altogether, sending the rest of the airship plummeting to the ground while a negatively-charged Dust crystal was getting a one-way trip to the moon."
"Ooh. Yikes," Yang winced.
"Not only was this unsafe if the netting started to fray or the brackets weren't properly fastened, but finding 'Lift Crystals' in that size grew harder and harder. Had it not been figured out that you could get the same result by scattering loads of smaller 'Lift Crystals' throughout the ship's frame, a whole new war could've started over it," Lena went on to explain. "However, because all of the Purple Dust in the ship's framework has to be charged simultaneously, so as to prevent a spinout if too many 'Nodes' one one side were to wink out, proper insulation is a must. While it only takes one or two people to actually fly an airship of this size, it's only through the efforts of the crew both on the ground and in the tower, that these airships are able to get off the ground at all."
"So then it's like… everyone who worked on your ship is flying with you in spirit?"
"Exactly!" Lena said with a bright smile. "Alright, luvs, we're going to making a quick supply run to a village up north, so after a quick pick-up from Vale, we're going to really be bookin'."
"Cool. Road trip," Yang nodded snapping her Aviators onto her face, seeing the walled city of Vale coming up in the distance.
*NEW WORLD*
The airship sailing through the air towards the Commercial District, Yang became privy to the fact that without any head or crosswinds, an airship of that size could "sail" in a single direction almost indefinitely; especially with a favorable tailwind pushing from the rear. Albeit, the word "almost" was a stretch since air resistance would still cause a ship to slow, regardless of whether or not gravity was a factor. For the larger airships, a near-constant pulsing of the engines was required to keep them from listing horrendously off-course, as every unnecessary expenditure of fuel in course-correction cost both time and money.
"Hey, since Airships used to hang from blimps, why not put sails on top of them? You know, catch the wind?" Yang asked.
"Actually, Mistral has the market on sail-aided ships covered. Because wind blowing against mountains and cliffs tends to go up, the sails were actually implemented as a cost-saving measure to reach the settlements up in the mountains and plateaus," Lena answered. "The boat-like shapes let them cut through air like boats through water, of course… without an adequate engine onboard, if the winds aren't in your favor, you could wind up dead in the water. Figuratively speaking."
"Right. And ultimately in those circumstances, you have to choose which is worse; having Grimm able to attack you from every direction but you can see them coming from a mile away, or having Grimm able to attack you from every direction but down in-most-cases and not being able to see them coming," Jack added. "And it's not like you can just take an oar out and paddle your way home, so that's one advantage boats have over airships."
"Wow, there's a lot of nuance to airships, huh?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, and each Kingdom has their own style on what they value most in terms of design sensibilities," Lena replied. "Mistral tends to be eco-friendly with their sail-based designs and electrically-driven turboprops, which results in less Grimm attacks because they 'ave a smaller 'profile'. However, without heavy armor they can't hold out in a protracted battle when they do catch the beasties' attention. The bulk of the Mistrali fleet consists of Second Generation ships falling within the Scout, Shuttle, and Patrol archetypes, and with an abundance of wood they're real pretty ta look at, though the majority of their commerce is still done by sea."
"Second Generation?" Yang asked with a tilt of her head, sensing the capital letters in that statement.
"Airships are organized by the means they use to get off the ground," Jack answered. "Airships that use massive bladders filled with lighter-than-air gasses are First Generation; obviously, the very first Airships ever created once people found out you could get off the ground without 'insta-killing' yourself. These tended to use steam, coal, and internal combustion engines. Airships reliant on a single large 'Lift Crystal' to get off the ground after the advent of electrical engineering are Second Generation. Steam and coal-driven engines were largely outmoded on these since turboprop and turbine engines were getting better and better; that and you weren't holding up an enormous weak-point over your head."
"So then this would be a Third-Gen?" Yang asked looking at the readout on the 'Lift Nodes' scattered through the Pelican's frame.
"Yes. Without a single point of failure, Third-Gen ships became more and more appealing, though the cost associated with their upkeep means that Second-Gens won't be vanishing from the sky any time soon," Lena answered. "And of course, Vacuo is really fond of their First Generation ships, though they've upgraded the engines they've used over the years. The Vacuan fleet has quite a few Yacths shelled out each year because they know how to cater to people's wants and needs, though they have a decent concentration of Bombers, Gunships, and Freighters as well. They don't have that many trees there, so Vacuo tends to use metal most of the time, and because they save every bit they can, any ship that can't fly anymore is stripped for parts which get Frankenstein'd onto other vessels whose shipwrights fancy a trip through The Boneyards."
"And on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Atlesian Fleet is almost exclusively Third-Gen. Yachts, Bombers, Scouts, Transports, Shuttles, Gunships, Freighters, and Capital Ships. It also helps that they're on the forefront of Dust-Tech, and it'd be impossible for any other Kingdom to keep that many Third-Gens afloat, what with Atlas keeping the best tech for themselves until they're ready to sell their castoffs at a marked-up price. Also, with their military backing the SDC, the Atlesian Fleet has a chokehold on all the choice Dust in circulation, while once-again everyone else is left with the castoffs as more and more companies are pushed out of the market as the SDC spreads like herpes," Jack remarked with equal parts admiration and spite. "Design-wise they tend to go with lots of armor, powerful engines, and point-defense cannons, all of which tend to be top-of-the-line for those that can afford it. Of course… because all their tech is so bleeding-edge, they tend to underestimate any ship that isn't theirs, and they're doubly-vulnerable to sabotage because they're almost entirely digital. Hell, one well-crafted computer virus could knock an Atlesian Capital Ship right out of the sky. Or hell, some spiteful bastard out there might cook up a way to make them shoot each other."
"What about Vale? What do we got?" Yang asked.
"Well, as the center of trade and commerce between the other Kingdoms, the Valian Fleet has the largest concentration of Transport and Freighter vessels out of the Four Kingdoms since Vale tends to send Airships in all directions. We've got our fair mix of Scouting Vessels, Shuttles, and Gunships too, and since we're a bit of a melting pot of cultures, you'll see everything from First through Third-Gen in our skies," Lena answered. "Of course, because of the stigma against First-Gen Airships after the one ship filled with Hydrogen of all things 'appened to go up in flames where everyone could see it, you won't actually see many Firsts above Vale proper. They're usually redirected to the surrounding towns instead of the capital, though Beacon can accommodate them in emergencies."
"Which reminds me, have you ever seen the Hindenburg footage?" Jack queried. "Just, absolutely breathtaking… until you realize everyone's completely screwed."
"I… think I'll pass," Yang shuddered. "Looks like we're coming in for a landing."
"Well, I am the one flying this thing, so I do know that," Lena said with a flat look as they came in for a descent at a large shipping company, a small airfield for small-sized vessels on the roof while anything bigger was mitigated to the lot in the back. "If you want you can help out. The sooner we get loaded up, the sooner we can be back in the air."
*NEW WORLD*
Between Jack and Yang's own monstrous strengths, Lena's vessel was back in the air in record time and outstanding form, set to reach their destination well ahead of schedule.
"So… Where're we going?" Yang asked.
"A little hamlet on the other side of the Foreverfall Forest," Lena answered as she turned away from the controls, the vessel flying on its robust autopilot. "If a village can make it ten years without being completely wiped out, the Kingdom will recognize it as a fully-formed settlement. Most of the travelling nomads tend to settle in the middle of nowhere around a massive natural resource cashe, but the people at Amber Creek were some of the smart ones that put down roots with a few of the other towns relatively nearby. They're not entirely self-sufficient, but the goods they make with the Red Sap they get from the Foreverfall Forest let them trade for the essentials in the competitive market."
"They got a wall?"
"And a few auto-turrets. The Ironclad Guild is always happy to help where they can, since the best and the brightest of us can come from just about anywhere," Lena nodded. "Necessity is the mother of invention, after all."
"Makes sense. If entire villages can go up in smoke overnight, it's actually quite prudent to play 'the long game'," Jack hummed aloud. "And you're right, the best and brightest of us can come from just about anywhere. Which has me wonder, where are you from?" he asked; it didn't take a genius to see that the aviator could make a Pelican 'dance' through the sky in ways few could.
"Middle 'a nowhere. My parents tried to settle outside the Kingdom… Didn't make it."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, I'm over it for the most-part. I'm a little miffed at my gramps for passing us over for the more-important towns when an economic downturn or some such caused the Grimm to get all ant'sy, but now I understand… it was one of those impossible choices people in power have to make," Lena sighed tiredly, a morose look coming over her features.
" . . . You know what? I think you could use a good snogging," Jack stated, causing Yang to sputter and Lena to turn red in the face, Jack continuing before she could speak up- "Why don't you keep Emily company for a bit? I can man the controls while you… decompress," he offered, causing Lena's anger to deflate from what she'd assumed was a come-on but was actually an accommodative gesture..
" . . . Okay. But no peeping," Lena said sternly.
"I'll only have eyes forward," Jack said holding up his hands. Lena, getting up from her chair, backed toward the door, pointing her fingers at her eyes and then jabbing them in his direction before the door whooshed shut behind her.
" . . . Well that was nice of you," Yang hummed as she turned her attention away from the two hot lesbians canoodling in the back. "Let's hope they don't get too graphic in there. These walls… are not all that soundproof."
"You think you have it bad? Imagine being me," Jack said with a slight dusting of red on his cheeks as he hopped into the pilot's seat and grabbed the controls, Yang's mouth forming an O as she remembered he had twice as many ears as she did.
*NEW WORLD*
"Oi! Raunchy room of two! We're almost there!" Jack said pounding his fist on the cabin door, the sound of bodies scrambling and clothes shuffling heralding the door whooshing open a few hurried moments later. Lena's hair was a mess, going every which way instead of its usual left-to-right, her flight suit was a roadmap of wrinkles, and there was smeared makeup all over her visage; hers and Emily's.
"Um…" Lena paused, seeing Jack significantly red in the face. "How much of that did you actually hear?" she asked, seeing as how before there weren't any warm bodies in the cockpit when she and Lena had… 'club meetings'… and thus had no idea how loud they were actually being.
"Less than I wanted to, more than I wish I had."
Those walls were not very soundproof.
"Oh… Well… I'd be a hypocrite if I said you an' Yang couldn't do much the same," she admitted awkwardly.
"Don't worry, Jack and I are here to lean, not get hot-and-heavy," Yang stated over her shoulder. "For nowww~"
"Riiiiight… So, we're almost there?"
"I can see it now," Yang said pointing out the window.
The town of Amber Creek, while still in its infancy, had an abundance of infrastructure you wouldn't find in nomadic settlements. A large amount of land had been cleared of foliage with a wall erected surrounding a town of wood, brick, and plaster. The wooden walls themselves were reinforced with stone towards the bottom, metal at the top, with sentries and auto-turrets dotting the walls. Running past the town was the titular "Amber Creek" the town was probably named for, though was more-called that because of all the amber-colored leaves floating downstream than the actual color of the water. There were a few roads jutting away from the town proper with the foliage similarly cleared away, so trade between there and other towns was a possibility, but for necessary supplies in bulk it was actually faster and more cost-efficient to have them brought in by air.
Heck, the people of Amber Creek had even cleared out enough space for a small airfield; or at least one able to accommodate VTOLs. Better than having to go outside the walls where the Grimm could ambush you.
Lena shutting off the auto-pilot and assuming manual control once more, the cargo-laden Pelican came to a stop above Amber Creek, slowly descending with landing gear down, the ship shuddering as it finally came to a stop, the villagers venturing towards the airfield to receive their needed supplies. Cargo ramp hitting the packed dirt with a *thud*, Jack and Yang got to work hauling one of the large pallets of supplies out of the cargo hold even before the village's one forklift arrived.
"Cheers, luvs," Lena greeted in the wake of many expectant faces.
"The cavalry's here!" was the booming conclusion of the gathered villagers.
"Well that sounds like it's practiced," Yang muttered.
"Maybe it's a greeting? Or a tradition for 'mail call'?" Jack offered as the home and shop owners began to gather around to receive their allotted supplies; which were cheaper to order in one bulk shipment instead of every family or business owner paying shipping fees individually.
"Thanks for the help you two, but you can let the boys take it from here," Lena said as the forklift drove into the back of the Pelican to move the remaining supplies. "Jack, Yang, this here is Amber Creek, the 'Village Elder' if you will," she said gesturing to an elderly woman making her way towards them.
The thusly-named "Amber Creek" was an aged woman with a hunched back, tanned skin marred by wrinkles with age, silvery hair with the occasional strand of dark brown in it, and lighter-brown eyes behind thick glasses. Her clothing was humble without being too "colonial", an off-white bluse and long green skirt with a green hooded cloak thrown over her shoulders, her gait aided by a wooden cane topped with a red Dust crystal rounded from years of handling.
"Well, that's a freaky coincidence," Yang hummed, only for Jack to rib her in the sides.
"Oh, no, no dearies, it's no coincidence at all. My son founded Amber Creek so I'd have a nice, quiet place to retire to once these old bones couldn't work anymore, and I have to say, I appreciate the lifestyle away from the big city," the elder replied with a fond smile.
"But… what about village expansion?" Yang asked looking around. While by no means crowded, give it a couple years (or enough randy teenagers) and elbow room could come in short supply.
"Oh, I'll be dead long before we can get that kind of capital. At the moment we're just staying afloat. Rather comfortably at least," she smiled. "So, I see you and Emily finally decided to adopt?" she asked turning to the pilot and her girlfriend, whose attire was more-respectable not that she was among mixed company.
"Oh, nonononono," Lena said with a blushing face. "Jack and Yang here are some of my students. I'll be teaching them to fly in our off hours so they can land a shuttle without crashing it after getting it into the air."
"Oh. Well, it's important to expand one's horizons while you're young," the elderly woman replied, her hand going to her mouth to cover a ragged cough, only to brush it off like it'd never happened. "I'm sure the long journey here's left you all exhausted."
"Some more than others~" Yang purred, causing Lena to shoot the girl an irate glance over her shoulder.
"So why don't you stick around for lunch? It's the least we can do for getting these much-needed supplies here so expediently," the elderly woman continued. "Other pilots just don't seem to care about that sort of thing, taking their sweet time and whatnot."
"Well, when you come from a little hamlet like this, I guess it's just easier to care," Lena shrugged. "Sure, we'd love a free meal."
"We would? Don't we have to get back to Beacon?" Yang asked with a tilt of her head.
"Can you fly a D-77 TC Pelican without crashing it?" Lena asked poignantly.
"Well… no, but-"
"Then I guess that means I'm still your ride home," Lena said with a small smirk.
"Unless you'd rather hoof it," Emily said with an equal grin.
Probably from the "some more than others" comment earlier.
"What's on the menu?" Jack asked.
"Breakfast for lunch, I'll admit," Amber replied, a tiny hint of embarrassment on her features. "The young just came back with some fresh Red Sap from the woods, so we'll be having waffles. The dimples are better for that sort of thing. Not like pancakes, which we 'round these parts call 'the lazy man's waffle'."
"Don't tell Nora about this place. She might have a conniption," Jack chuckled as the four of them were led into the village proper.
That Lena was willing to leave her airship unsupervised with total (or maybe not total-total) strangers showed the great trust she put with these people.
*NEW WORLD*
"So… What might the two of you be going to school for?" Amber asked as the five of them ate in the gazebo outside the village matriarch's home. True to form, it was breakfast for lunch, their plates piled high with waffles slathered with red sap and a dusting of powdered sugar, a bit of bacon on the side that tasted slightly of Red Sap; maybe from the pigs' original diets out in the woods, or something that their domesticated cousins raised in the village proper were being fed.
If you could use root beer to raise the quality off kobe beef, why not Red Sap with pigs?
"The two of us are going to Beacon to become Hunters!" Yang said with a grin showing off her guns, both literally and figuratively.
"That's nice. My granddaughter also went to school to become a Huntress," she replied.
"She did? What's her name? We might know her from school," Yang hummed.
"My son named her after me. Looks just like me when I was her age," the elderly woman hummed. In response, Jack and Yang racked their brains but came up blank.
"Um… sorry, we don't know anyone else named Amber," Yang apologized.
"Well, that's okay. When that nice man with the clockwork cane and glasses came to get her, he said it was going to be a working, independent study," Amber (Sr.) replied.
'Clockwork cane and glasses?' Jack thought, an image of one such man immediately coming to mind.
"Oh, I think I have a picture of her on me," Amber said patting her pockets. "Ah, here we go," she said holding a yellowed photograph out for them to take. "If you ever come across her, tell her her gran-gran misses her."
Jack and Yang holding a corner of the photo each, the two of them saw the image of a young teen around Ruby's age; at least at the point of time the picture was taken.
The girl who was also named Amber had a light brown complexion with shoulder-length straight brown dark hair cut just above the shoulders. There was a beauty mark below her left eye, both of which were a dark brown, her attire consisting of a long green hooded cloak on top of an off-white blouse accompanied with a brown vest, corset, and pants. She had a gold bracer on her left arm, twin gold bracelets on her right wrist, and a pair of golden armored leather boots, a golden pauldron on her right shoulder and a leather strap with item pouches slung diagonally across her body. In her hand was an extendable staff with a large pointed Red Dust crystal at the top and a smaller White Dust crystal on the bottom, both held to the body of the staff with twining root-like extensions.
"Wow. She sure is a looker," Yang nodded appreciably before realizing the girl's grandmother was literally sitting right across from her. "Uh, I mean-"
"Oh don't worry about it, dearie. Little Amber had loads of boys pining after her, that sentiment isn't anything new," Amber chuckled sweetly.
Of course, the way she held out her hand to get the photo back hinted that she didn't appreciate the bluntness of such a statement.
Whether or not part of the reasoning was because said statement came from another girl wasn't something the two of them really chose to dwell on.
"So…" Yang hummed awkwardly as she ate into her "Red Sap Bacon", turning toward Jack and away from the doting grandmother she may've offended. "What do you think the others are doing right now?"
"I dunno. Probably eating lunch, same as us," Jack shrugged.
*NEW WORLD*
Elsewhile, at the Beacon dining hall…
"Omigod! Everything's floating!"
"It's the Beacon Poltergeist!"
"Someone call the Ghost Crackers!"
"I DON'T WANNA DIIIIIE!"
*NEW WORLD*
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Jack added with a matter-of-fact nod.
"Yeah, I mean, what's the worst that could happen while we're out of town?" Yang asked aloud.
*NEW WORLD*
"Well, it was real nice having lunch with ya, but we've gotta get back to Beacon, work in a few more lessons 'fore the day's out," Lena stated back at the airfield.
"That's okay, dear, I understand," Amber nodded. "An' you two," she said turning to the younger of the group. "You see my gran'baby, you tell her to come on back, ya hear? She doesn't write, she doesn't call…"
"I'll keep an eye out," Jack replied.
"Hey, what about me?" Yang whined.
"You don't get out enough to make that kind of promise."
" . . . Okay, you got me there," she conceeded.
"Oh, but before you leave, some gift baskets for the nice couples," Amber said kindly, a pair of strapping young men carrying wicker gift baskets laden with Red Sap-based products making their way towards Lena and Jack.
"But, Yang and I aren't-"
"Hush, Jack. We're getting free stuff," Yang said putting a finger to his lips in what was outwardly a romantic gesture.
"Well… as long as you're offering," Jack reiterated as he received the offering graciously, his nostrils flaring as he took in the sweet scent of Red Sap in its new and varied forms; candles, soaps, syrups, candies, gum, and medical dressings.
He'd have to hide away the raw sap somewhere otherwise Ruby would chug it all down in one go.
Her or Nora.
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Creek," Lena replied kindly. "But, you don't have to keep doin' this for-"
"Hush, Lena. We're getting free stuff," Emily said putting a finger to his lips in what was outwardly a romantic gesture.
*NEW WORLD*
"Now remember, Yang. Flyin' an airship is like ridin' a bicycle," Lena said soothingly as Yang held the controls, the auto-pilot disengaged once they'd left Amber Creek.
"Yeah, except this one moves in three dimensions, weighs a hundred and forty metric tons, and you can reduce the population of any standing structure to zero if you happen to kamikaze it through the top floor."
"Uh… Could you run that by me again?" Lena asked looking at him.
"This one moves in three dimensions?"
"After that."
"Weighs a hundred and forty metric tons?"
"After that."
"I'd rather not."
"It's okay. He's just messin' with ya," Yang replied. "Besides, if he really had done that last thing, he'd've been reduced to a grimy paste."
"Yes. That's why."
"Ever the kidder," the blond chuckled, the ship letting out a horrible shudder a moment later that threw those standing to the floor, their additional passenger letting out an undignified cry. "It wasn't me!"
"How could it not've been you? You're literally holding the yoke," Jack said flatly.
"Guys! We've got a problem!" Emily said frantically as the door whooshed open, the woman hastily pointing to the ceiling.
"Aarrrr. This whale be harpooned, be she," Yang said seeing the large spear-like implement impaled through the center of the roof, four large prongs keeping it in place.
"That tone only works if we're at sea," Jack said as he looked at the speedometer. "Shit," he grunted as their speed began to drop. "Keep this bird steady. I'm heading up to the roof."
"Here. Take these mag-boots with you," Lena said passing them over from a wall compartment. With an appreciative nod the Faunus affixed them over his sandals before ascending the ladder beside the cockpit and lifting the emergency hatch. The wind rushing into the Blood Tray loudly, Jack climbed halfway out of their vessel and looked over his shoulder before stopping in his tracks.
"Um… Guys… We've got a bit of a problem."
"Problem? Like what?" Yang asked as she fought the controls.
"In case the big-ass harpoon wasn't indicator enough… SKY PIRAAAAATES!"
Cue Battle Chasers: Nightwar OST - Loftbuckler
The sun at its back and the clouds parting around it, a massive First-Gen airship, its bladder covered in metal plates and its gondola a hodgepodge of guns and armor plating, if the fact that they were being attacked unprovoked wasn't indicator enough, the massive fabricated skull split between its bladder and gondola was all the evidence you needed to know this wasn't a trading vessel.
"Sky Pirates! Oh crap!" Yang yelped.
"Lena, keep this thing steady! Emily, stay in the hold! Yang, keep 'em safe!" Jack said as he stepped onto the roof, his hair whipping against him.
"No way! I'm coming up there with you!" the blond argued.
"You got mag-boots?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then stay down there. A hottie like you will have these guys salivating; and I don't mean from their mouths."
"Ugh. Gross," Emily retched.
"Yeah, no shit," Jack bit out as he approached the cable, drawn taut as the zeppelin overhead reeled them in. "Yang, lock up behind me! We've got a boarding party!" the Faunus shouted as four raiders mounted the cable with Sky-Hooks and descended. "HRAH!" Jack roared as he popped his claws and slashed the cable, sparks flying but none of the fibers broken. "Shit!" Jack swore, the raiders whooping and hollering as they cleared the first third of line. "Let's try something else!" he said rolling up his sleeve and running a slash down his left forearm. "Blood Arte: Crow Claw!" he intoned as a scythe-like blade made of blood spilled out of his arm, which he swung out at the cable harpooning the Pelican.
The raiders' hooting and hollering stopped as their cable shuddered, half the fibers whipping out madly as they were cut, the buckling of the Pelican enough to throw Jack off were it not for the mag-boots.
"Double-time it boys! He's cuttin' the line!" the raider in the lead shouted, hitting the trigger on their Sky-Hooks.
"No you don't!" Jack roared as he slashed the cable once more, this time freeing the Pelican and the raiders' zip-line going slack. The one in the lead had built up enough speed to land feet-first on the tail-end of the Pelican, rolling into the landing. The raider behind him struck it chest-first and fell back but was able to grab onto a groove in the metal. The third raider struck his head on the tail with a sickening *CRACCK* and tumbled to his doom, dead before he hit the ground, while the fourth never so much as grazed it, letting out a blood-curdling cry of panic on the way down. "Looks like it's just you and me now," Jack said levelling his eyes at the remaining raider, sporting an impressive looking shot-gauntlet on his right arm; which was also mechanical.
*Clunk*
"Don't worry Jack! I've got your baAAAAACK?!" Yang yelped as she leapt onto the roof only to start tumbling as the wind hit her, her body striking the second raider just as he'd pulled himself up, Yang unironically-enough gripping the same groove in the metal he had; before she'd sent him plummeting to his doom at least.
"God damn it Yang!" Jack swore as he moved to help her, only for the raider to step forward and take a swing at him. The Faunus deflecting the blow, Jack stepped back a moment later as the raider swung at him with his Sky-Hook in his off-hand, the scooped blades whirling wildly.
"Not so fast, boy!"
"YOUUU RACIIIST BASTAAAAARD!" Yang swore as she clung to the Pelican for dear life, her hair creating an insane amount of drag her monstrously-strong fingers could barely compensate for.
"I AM NOT RACIST-AGH MY ROBOT ARM!" the raider swore, the mistake of turning his back on Jack costing him aforementioned arm as an upward slash of the Faunus' blood-borne blade took the mechanical limb right off, the prosthesis pinwheeling through the air before Jack caught it by the shoulder and back-handed the raider in the face, sending him for a loop as his Aura took the blow.
"Nice shot-gauntlet. I'll take it," Jack smirked as he wrenched the implement from the stolen arm, slipping it over his own arm.
"Waitwaitwait-"
"Nope!" Jack chirped happily as he swung the top-of-the-line Two-Step Goodbye into the guy's right knee with a loud *BA-BOOM!*
The raider's kneecap exploding into a bloody mist as the high-end explosive left the barrel and overwhelmed his Aura, as pain exploded up Jack's arm and the Faunus recoiled, the raider let out a blood-curdling cry as he whipped backwards in the wind with only one leg to stand on. His body bouncing up and down on the roof as his remaining mag-boot held him in place, Yang fired her right shot-gauntlet backwards and flung herself onto the roof, grabbing the raider's arm and using him like a lifeline, dragging her body unashamedly over his as she made her way back onto the Pelican.
"Need a hand?" Yang heard, looking up to see Jack extending the raider's robot arm out to her.
"Jack, that was terrible. I would never make a joke that stupid," Yang said as she took the proferred hand and let herself be pulled up, the Faunus wrapping his left arm around her waist and holding her against his body as he reared back the Two-Step Goodbye. Arm visibly trembling from the recoil, Jack grit his teeth as he strode forward.
"I hope you liked those titties, cause they're the last titties you're ever going to see," he said drawing his arm back.
"Nononono!"
"Buh-bye, BITCH!" Jack swore as he blasted the raider's other knee out, the top of the Pelican getting another blood stain as the remainder of the landing party was sent plummeting over the tail of the Pelican, plummeting to his doom as blood poured out where his legs once were. "Agh… Fuck!" Jack swore as he dropped to a knee, arm trembling and blood dribbling over the stolen shot-gauntlet. "Rrgh. Yang, hold on a little longer. I've almost got it," he said flipping the mag-boots off and wrenching out the Human viscera one leg at a time before passing them to Yang.
"Isn't this a little… morbid?" Yang asked as she secured the mag-boots over her footwear, stabilizing herself atop the Pelican.
"If this really bothers you so much, you could always go the way of the lemmings."
"Nothankyou!"
"GUYS!" Lena shouted over the ship's speaker systems. "Whatever you did up there must've really brassed them off, cause I've got missile lock!"
"Yeah! We noticed!" Yang shouted as she looked up, spying four missiles screaming out the raider airship towards them, her Ember Celica firing rounds one after another on intercept; all sans one that took out the back right engine pod. "Lena! What's the damage?!" she asked as the ship shuddered beneath her feet.
"Well we ain't outrunning them, that's for sure!"
"Then we've got no choice… I'll have to board them," Jack said taking a step forward, only to recoil as pain exploded horrendously up his arm.
"Jack, you're hurt!"
"No shit, Sherlock!" Jack swore as his right arm spasmed. "Fuck! Must've re-broken an old fracture…"
"Well no wonder your arm's fucked! That's the Two-Step Goodbye, the only melee weapon the Torgue Corporation ever made! Even Mr. Torgue thought it was dangerous to make anything stronger than this!" Yang gawped at the sight of it. "I always wanted one of those, but the price tag was too high."
"You want it… it's all yours," Jack said holding out his arm, the blond slipping off her right Ember Celica and swapping the two, testing the weight of her new shot-gauntlet while Jack's arm hung lamely at his side. "Well you certainly know what you want…"
"Thanks, Jack. You're the best, mwah!" Yang smirked as she planted a wet one on his cheek, cocking the Two-Step Goodbye and checking its ammo. "Don't worry about me, with my Semblance, this'll be the perfect weapon for me! Instant power-boost!"
"Glad you're having a good time… Lena! Take us up! Emily! Find something to splint my arm with! I need to be combat-ready by the time we're at the raiders' cruising altitude."
*NEW WORLD*
Jack dropping to his knee in the blood tray, Emily worked frantically to splint Jack's broken arm, the Faunus funneling as much Aura as he could into the break to accelerate its recovery. While this was going on, Yang squared her feet on the roof of the Pelican and intercepted the follow-up missiles sent their way. Those she couldn't stop were re-directed with the flares Lena launched. By the time Emily's work was done, the Pelican was level with the raider airship's gondola, the deck lined with blood-lustful raiders.
Cargo door opening, Jack leapt out onto the enemy deck while Yang joined him, Lena pulling the Pelican away so none of the raiders could jump onto it, though by the catcalls Lena's girlfriend had already been seen.
"Lena! How's that SOS coming?" Jack said into his earpiece.
"No good. Sky pirates must be jamming us. Best hope is we get close-enough to Vale that someone sees us and we force them to break off."
"Well, keep trying," Jack said more for her benefit than his as he and Yang sized up the raiders before them. All of them tanned and clad in wind-worn canvas and leather, their eyes were shielded by tinted goggles and they carried a myriad of weapons on their persons. In total they numbered well over a dozen. "Yang, you ready for this?"
"I was born ready!" Yang whooped as she cocked her Two-Step Goodbye back.
"Oh I know what you were born for!" one raider whooped. "My dic-"
"Blades of Blood!" Jack shouted as he slashed out with his right arm, crescent blades of deepest red screaming through the air at random, deep gashes left in the wooden deck while the weakest of the raiders, three in total, were dropped in halves. "Three down, seventeen to go."
"And who knows how many more there are below deck!" Yang said as a large man wielding an enormous sword ran at her. The blond stepping inside his swing and punching him with the Two-Step Goodbye, embers exploded off her hair as the recoil hit, the follow-up blow sending the greatsword-wielding raider flying into one of the missile pods with a deafening *CRACK-CRUNCH*, breaking it from its mounting. Two more raiders wielding a sword and an axe rushed at her to avenge their fallen comrade, but the flying roundhouse kick, empowered by her semblance, broke the two of them in half as it connected sending them hurtling over the side of the gondola. "I know how I get off my… kicks."
"Booooo!" one of the sky pirates booed.
"Shut up! That was funny and you all know it!"
"This is the girl I chose to fight Sky Pirates with," Jack sighed as he strode forward, the raiders taking a collective step back as the large scythe-like blade of blood formed from the wound on his left arm. "Alright boys…" he said unfurling the Ember Celica on his right arm. "Who's first?"
Cue Battle Chasers: Nightwar OST – Battle Chasers Theme
One of the raiders throwing a tomahawk through the air, Jack caught it before returning it to sender, the other sky pirates charging forward as their comrade's face became intimately familiar with the business end of his own axe. The raiders fanning out to surround Jack on all sides, Jack dug his heels into the deck and swung his Crow Claw in a circle. Hexagonal perforations beginning to dot the blade, its reach extended while its mass remained the same, clipping two and bifurcating a third, the rest of them abandoning their initial assault. The raiders levelling their firearms his way, Jack cocked back the Ember Celica and blasted a hole into the deck, dropping down as bullets whizzed through his mane of hair, some of the raiders caught in the crossfire.
On the other side of the deck, the raiders closing in on Yang paused in their tracks as they recognized the weapon on her right arm. Choosing instead to level their firearms at her, right as they fired Yang launched herself into the air, flipped, and kicked off the bottom of the balloon above her, divebombing a man with a sniper rifle. The girl literally crashing headfirst into him, his Aura shimmered from the blow but doing nothing to stop the concussion from the hit, Yang kicking up the rifle into her hands. The busty blond wielded it by the barrel and swung it about like a baseball bat, the power-boost from the TSG's recoil letting her blows break bones and send unfortunate souls into the wild blue yonder.
Elsewhere, as the raiders were debating who would dive into the below-deck to go after him, a clawed hand burst from the deck and dragged one unfortunate soul at the edge of the group into the depths below, a panicked cry turning into a gurgling *SQUELCH* The raiders gathering around the new hole and firing downwards, as another called them all idiots for firing into the cargo hold where they kept their gunpowder and Dust, a severed head flew out of the first hole and struck one of them in the head. The raider looking over his shoulder to see a familiar face and little else, his eyes widened in horror as he saw one of their IEDs crammed into the decapitated head's mouth. Before he could warn the others that the pin was missing, the bomb exploded killing him, burning others, and sending another unfortunate soul flying overboard.
Yang's blood pumping as the battle raged around her, one raider with brass knuckles managed to get a lucky shot on her left cheek. However, instead of sending her to the deck like hoped, the blond's mane exploded once again with embers, her eyes snapping to crimson as she rounded on the raider, her TSG striking him in the gut and blasting a perfectly-circular hole through his stomach like something you'd find in Fatal Kombatants. Another raider coming at her with a spear, Yang leapt onto it and drove the end into the deck, applying her weight to the shaft and pinning the guy's hands to the ground, allowing her to execute a perfect bicycle kick to the chin knocking him out, blasting another two raiders coming at her from the sides with a blast of her Ember Celica and Two-Step Goodbye.
Elsewhere, the survivors of Jack's earlier volley, some of them sporting human teeth in their shrapnel wounds, saw the Faunus from before bursting from the hold, the bright red barrel he brought up with a jagged white circle painted on it filling them with a sense of dread. The barrel lazily rolled toward the recovering pirates like a bowling ball, the Faunus cocked his right arm back before firing a shot from his shot-gauntlet, raider eyes going wide as those that survived the first blast were taken out by the second. Though these tactics were hardly fair by any measure, Jack wasn't about to get into a scrap with a dozen dudes while sporting a broken arm, even if he was stronger than most of them in a 1-on-1 setting.
A few minutes into their battle, the giant double-doors to the cabin were kicked open, a large rotund man with a giant red beard and a bald head with scars stepped out into the open. His attire consisted only of loose parachute pants with pinstripes, his left arm replaced with a massive Automail limb.
For convenience's sake let's call him "Red Beard".
"This is what I had to leave my 'me-time' for?" the man that was obviously the captain asked as he surveyed the deck, eyeing the bodies before turning to the two Beacon students. "Part of me's real pissed at what you did to my men, but I appreciate ya trimmin' the fat a little," Red Beard said as his eyes roved up and down Yang's body, the girl crossing her arms and shuddering in revulsion as the man hungrily licked his lips.
"Hey, eyes over here!" Jack shouted as he grabbed a discarded axe and chucked it.
"A Faunus, huh?" the captain said aloud as the weapon deflected harmlessly off his metal limb. "Oh don't worry, I know just how to deal with your kind," he said as his hand folded down and a cannon barrel slid out, a loud *BOOM!* issuing out and sending Jack flying into the bow, ears bleeding and ringing from the sonic cannon.
"Jack!" Yang cried as she ran toward him, only for a meaty hand to grab her by the hair and haul her off her feet.
"Well now… Aren't you a fine specimen?" the captain asked as he held her aloft and appraised her, the girl's eyes flashing red as she swung her left arm out at him, his Automail hand catching her left causing her to cry out in pain as the metal hand smothered the explosion atop her own. "Got a little fire in your belly. I like that. Of course… I can think of somethin' else I'd like to put in there, heheheh…"
"Hands off! She's mine!" Jack shouted as he shakily got to his feet. His monochrome hair wavering, his impressive mane coiled itself around his bad arm, the tips of his hair hardening into spikes around his clenched fist.
The Faunus rushing at him, arm drawn back as he leapt into the air, Red Beard smirked as he positioned Yang's dangling body between them as the Faunus threw his fist out. To his shock however, the mane around the Faunus' arm unfurled itself, flowing around the blond's body like two streams of water before meeting back up, coiling into a spike that shot up into the raider's right arm. A yowl of pain spilling out his lips as he released his captive, Yang flung herself into the air before shooting her Ember Celica upward, a furious yell and a pinwheel of embers heralding the blond's mighty axe kick into the man's skull, the deck rippling underneath him as the two separated.
"So… I see you picked up on your uncle's trick," Yang said as Jack's hair coiled back around his bad arm and supported it.
"It was in the spur of the moment," Jack replied, eyes turning up as Red Beard began to recover from the blow. "Yang, you ready for a tag-team?"
"You bet I am!" the blond smirked. "SUNNY BADGER!"
"I can't believe Ruby called it that!"
A couple meters away, right as Red Beard recovered from the blow to his skull, he looked up to see that the Faunus had coiled his hair around the blond's left arm, swinging her in a large circle like a flail and building up momentum. The blond letting out a furious yell as she was flung, the sky pirate captain was able to raise up his left palm to catch the TSG's blow, a panicked yowl leaving his lips as the blast sent fingers flying in every direction. Skidding back another couple meters, the Faunus rushed forward and held out his right arm to Yang, the girl holding him at the wrist and putting her own spin on things. The distance closing, Jack loosed his Crow Claw, the incredible sharpness combined with Yang's Semblance-aided strength cutting through Red Beard's Aura like a hot knife through butter, muscle and fat cut even as the man leapt back, his fingerless automail hand going to his ruptured gut to hold his entrails in.
"STRIKE THREE!" Jack howled as he lunged forward.
"YOU'RE…" Yang bellowed following suit.
"OUTTA HERE!" the two shouted as they struck the staggered captain in the face with one Ember Celica apiece, his Aura shattering as he was sent tumbling across the deck, his back striking the stern with a powerful *CRACK*
END OST
"Sooo…" Yang hummed once she was sure none of the raiders would be getting back up again. "I heard what you said about me back there~" she said leaning forward, a cheeky smile on her face as she tantalizingly displayed her cleavage for him to see. "You said I was youuurs~" she cooed.
"Just so I could get the fat fuck's attention," Jack countered.
"You looooove me~"
"Yang…"
"You wanna kiiiiiss me~"
"Yang…!"
"You-mph!"
The blond's words were cut off as the Faunus grabbed a fistful of her hair and mashed his lips into hers. Tilting his head to get a better fit, Yang found her eyes closing as she leaned forward to wrap her arms around him. Before she could close the gap however, the Faunus pulled away right as things were about to get good. The taste of Red Sap and honey lingering, a disappointed whine left Yang's lips as the Faunus left her hot and bothered after the heat of battle.
"You talk to much," the Faunus stated with a cheeky smile of his own, Yang blinking owlishly before breaking out into a huge grin, throwing an arm over his shoulder and burying his face into her cleavage.
"You know you love me, my little Sunny Badger," the blond chuckled, knowing that now she had her own kiss-and-tell story to share with a certain heiress.
*NEW WORLD*
Wall Patrol at Vale had seen many things in their day, but never had they expected to see a D-77 TC Pelican guiding a Sky Pirate Blimp, bereft of its crew, back to the Kingdom like some sort of prize on the tail-end of its winch. Patrol craft deployed, one of the fleet captains conversing with Lena about what had happened, those that boarded were privy to the sight of a battered Faunus cross-referencing faces to any standing bounties with his Pocket Scroll, tossing those without any into a pile.
And that was just from the bodies that were relatively intact. Some of them had been reduced to piles of steaming meat; the scorch marks and smell of gunpowder on the deck told the tale.
Of course it wasn't all blood and murder up there. A few of the raiders, bruised and battered as they were, had obviously surrendered and let themselves be restrained otherwise they would've just been tossed overboard, out into the Frontier where no-one would ever find the bodies, as was the right of anyone on the right side of the law who found themselves fighting Sky Pirates.
From the cabin was a busty blond cackling gleefully, gaudily covered in gold and jewels she'd looted. At the very least she had the decency to look embarrassed after being caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Not unlike her compatriot who was ripping out any golden teeth he found with a wicked-looking set of pliers.
"Hey, you there."
"Y-Yes?" one of the patrolmen yelped as the Faunus turned up at him.
"Come here a minute," the Faunus said crooking his finger at him, the other Skyway Patrol giving the man a shove. "Listen, I need you to keep my teammate away from the captain's cabin."
"A-And why's that?" he whispered to the blood-spattered Faunus.
"The captain mentioned 'me-time' and came out here with only his pants on. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out what he was doing before we kicked his ass. Right?"
"Y-Yeah… I figured…" the man replied, since this was quite obviously a Sky Pirate vessel, and there were loads of horror stories in circulation about them. Cautionary tales to keep people vigilant once they left the ground.
"Good. Just because she'd heard all the same horror stories you have, doesn't mean she's ready to walk into a sex dungeon. Especially on a Sky Pirate vessel."
"Hey Jack, what're you talking about over there?" Yang asked from across the deck, heading his way like she wasn't covered in stolen gold and jewels.
"Just handing off the prisoners to the Valian Fleet for a fair-and-impartial trial," Jack waved off. "You make sure these dirtbags never make it off the ground ever again, you hear?"
"I'll pass that sentiment onto my commanding officer."
"Good man," Jack said patting him on the shoulder. "Yang, I think that's quite enough. We'll leave the rest of the looting to the fleet, and get our cut from the Hunter Union."
"Sweet. So when do we take ownership?" Yang asked looking around.
"It doesn't work that way, miss. All seized airworthy vessels become property of the Kingdom they're seized in, not individualized property," one of the patrolmen replied.
"Awww…" Yang pouted.
"Come on, Yang. Let's go home," Jack said as the Pelican listed over to the deck.
"Do I still get to keep my loot?" Yang asked as she gestured to the gold and jewels decorating her person; and weighing her pockets.
"You'll have to put that stuff back, but as the capturing party you'll have first pick of any unclaimed loot after everything is accounted for," one of the patrolmen replied. "It's quite rare for a pirate vessel to be seized in any working order, so I'm sure you'll be able to get your 'spoils of war' in a couple weeks."
"Oh… fine," Yang groaned.
"Don't worry. In the meantime you can help me carry these severed heads to the bounty office," Jack said holding out a blood-stained bag.
"EEWWWW!" Yang retched.
"Don't worry. You'll get your cut too."
" . . . Still gross… but I'll take it," Yang sighed as she took one of the bags, Jack carrying two as they made their way back into the Pelican.
*NEW WORLD*
AN:
The idea behind how Airships were built in the "days of yore" was largely inspired by The Aeronaut's Windlass, the first novel of The Cinder Spires series written by Jim Butcher, a steampunk fantasy series that mixes steampunk technologies, magical wars, and intelligent cats.
It's as wild a read as you would think.
I originally happened upon that hidden gem when looking for Audiobooks to listen to on my daily commute to work (before I learned there was an App I could use to get Audiobooks from the Nashville Library free-of-charge), and the story had me hooked beginning to end.
As for the Sky Pirate attack, that was inspired by Battle Chasers: Nightwar, a hidden gem of a game I happened upon at GameStop based on a 1990s comic books series that was crazy popular back in the day but never ended in a satisfying fashion with the game itself being the "soul successor" to Joe Madureira's famed work. The game by itself can be standalone and still enjoyed but if you've read the 9 issues that came out back in 1998 (through 2001), you'd have some of the context to understand the background lore and interpersonal dialogue that runs when you stay at the Inn (The Disemboweled Traveler) a bit better.
Anyway, since the story up to this point was mostly teen drama and humor, I was glad to be able to get to the action of it that we all know RWBY for (Volume 7 airing on November 2nd 2019). I've received complaints that this story has "gone from a OC RWBY fic that had both action and comedy to a bashing/crank fic for humor and drama value alone", and I acknowledge that. However, the detour from what some of you really wanted was necessary because without the interpersonal dynamics and the growth (and more importantly changes of those dynamic), I wouldn't actually be able to work in the growth of the characters beyond the Canon leaving them to stagnate.
Plus, if I just skipped to the point where Blake goes AWOL, the story'd be pretty boring, wouldn't it? Timeskips deserve love too you know.
P.S.
In the event anyone wants to complain about "too many crossovers", I mainly do this so that way my stories don't become too over-saturated with OCs. In Jack's case he's like medicine; he's good in a prescribed dosage but toxic in excess, which is why Male Leads (especially in a female-dominant cast like in RWBY) like Arthur Asimov and Vincent Valentine (OC) become necessary, in addition to the Character Expansion on Ren and Cardin's parts beyond the bounds of the Canon.
Anyway, since this story had a mix of Drama, Humor, and Action, I hope to get lots of Reviews for this world-building World of Remnant special.