Red Like Roses, Green Like NINJAS!

Chapter 2: Forest

"You mean the entire fortress is gone?"

Lil' Miss Malachite liked to think of herself as a patient, understanding woman. But as leader of one of Mistral's most dangerous criminal organizations, she also had a reputation for delivering unspeakable horrors to those that failed her. That's why the mook calling her from a payphone to her private line spoke with trepidation.

"No…not like that. What I mean is the huntresses that crashed a Grimm into the building called a kingdom patrol to arrest Bertilak…and everyone else those green freaks knocked. I only got away because I managed to escape from where they locked me up. I would have called sooner, but they took my scroll…anyway, I don't think we'll be able to use the castle anymore…"

Malachite snorted and took another spoonful of curds and wey. Those "green freaks" had been a thorn in her side for about two weeks, taking out gang members and raiding hideouts. And now because of them, she had lost what should have been an ideal storage for stolen goods. Not to mention Bertilak. He was the ideal huntsman, in her opinion. Strong, but easy to lead on. Only Atlasian Special Ops were more capable of being manipulated. Luckily, this latest disaster had a silver lining.

"Well, thank you very much for alerting me," Malachite said smoothly, pulling out a pen and paper. "What did you say your name was again?"

It took a very long time for Team RWBY to get back to their room at the inn. After reporting the discovery of what was probably a gang's hideout, making sure Bertilak and the other Spiders were suitably restrained and giving their report to the Mistral police squad that showed up to take them all in, the girls slept very soundly.

Once they were up in the late morning, they busied themselves with the questions gone unanswered;

"Who the heck were those weirdos?!" Weiss groaned after polishing off her eggs.

"They called themselves, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'," Yang couldn't help but snicker, "Whatever that means."

"Exactly!" Weiss massaged her forehead, "I mean, is it too much to hope they were just a group of faunus and they only looked like turtle-men because of the adrenalin rush from yesterday?"

"Faunus look basically like humans with one animal trait," Blake asserted, "Those guys had green skin, shells, and weird heads."

"Maybe they were just wearing realistic costumes?" Yang suggested, "I mean, enough stage make-up and prep time can really sell an act."

"I got a good look at one of them," Blake said, "Unless they had access to some very good cosmetic surgery, they were definitely not wearing costumes."

Weiss sighed, "What do you think, Ruby?"

Ruby had been busy with a second helping of pancakes, and thus unable to join the discussion. But after swallowing the last of the maple syrup, she said, "Maybe they were from the Ever After?"

Yang hummed, looking up at the ceiling. Blake drummed her fingers in thought. Weiss just groaned.

"I hope not. I thought we were done with that weird place." The white-haired girl grumbled.

"But if they are, why are they here?" Blake asked, "And what were they doing in a gangster's hideout?"

"Maybe 'Lil' Miss' caught 'em and was gonna put 'em on display in a zoo." Yang suggested, "And they were just busting out when we came along."

"But what about that ship they went off in?" Ruby asked, "I mean, it couldn't have been a coincidence that one would fly by just as they were leaving."

"And you're sure it was a Manta?" Weiss asked.

"I think so, but it was dark out," Ruby replied, "It sounded like a Manta, though."

"Maybe…maybe that's where we can start," Yang suggested, "Tracking these guys by the ship."

Yang turned on her scroll's GPS, and projected the image into the air.

"All right, Ruby, which way did you say they went?" Yang asked her sister.

Ruby thought for a moment. She held out her hands, gestured in one direction, while muttering to herself. "Okay, I was like this, and they went like that…" She looked at her team. "Did we make a hole in the castle's south wall?"

"More like the south-east." Blake replied.

"Well, then I think I saw the Manta go off towards the north, north-ish."

Yang adjusted the view and moved it northward. A dot soon appeared, indicating a town.

"There's another village in that direction," She stated.

"A small, out of the way town would be a good place to hide from attention." Weiss noted.

"So we go to this village, and see what we can turn up." Ruby decided, "Let's pay our bill and see if we can get any transport."

It seemed like an odd coincidence that right around when there was a surge in Grimm activity, strange turtle-men would pop up. If there was a connection, then they had to figure out how to stop it. Mistral was still low on Huntsmen, and the kingdom wouldn't last if it kept getting attacked by monsters.

Somewhere in the woods, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sat around what was going to be a campfire. They had their eyes closed and legs crossed, deep in thought. Their meditations were broken by a moderate gurgling.

"Mikey…" Raphael growled.

"Actually, that was me," Donatello confessed, "I guess we shouldn't be doing this before breakfast."

"It's not like we can do anything else until April gets back," Leonardo said, "We need to figure out how to fight people with superpowers if we're going to have any chance of beating the Spiders. Even all four of us combined couldn't even take that guy with the mace. There might be more where we're going."

"Man, it's too bad we don't have superpowers," Michelangelo sighed, lying on his back. "Can you imagine how awesome that would be? We'd be like superheroes!" Mikey flipped onto his feet and began to make body-builder poses and talk in a deep voice. "Super-Turtle! With powers beyond any ordinary mutant turtle!"

Raphael rolled his eyes and threw his sai at a nearby tree. The blade impaled the trunk and went halfway deep.

"Aw, who needs superpowers?" Raphael remarked as he pulled his weapon out, "We get by just fine as is."

By this point, Don had pulled out the scroll they lifted from that one Spider and began to fiddle with it. "Sure, Raph. That's why we needed four teenaged girls to bail us out."

"Yeah, they were pretty awesome too," Mikey laughed, "That girl with the black hair was so fast!"

"Oh? So you guys have been meeting people? What about 'staying low and not drawing attention'?"

The Turtles whirled about. Approaching them was their good friend and figurative big sister, April O'Neil. She had a bag slung over her shoulder, and a short sword hanging from her belt in its sheath.

"Jeez, April! I almost leapt out of my shell," Raph groused, "Where'd you learn to sneak up like that?"

"From you guys, remember?" April said as she joined the Turtles. She laid out the sack on the ground. "I'm surprised you didn't notice me coming back."

"We were just a little distracted." Leo defended.

They unfolded the sack and began to pull out several cans and assorted vegetables.

"Were you able to get a good deal for the stuff we picked up from the last Spiders place?" Mikey asked, taking a bite out of an apple.

"I hope so," April said, "But honestly, I consider myself lucky I was able to get as much as I did. Still trying to get used to this world's money system."

"Well, you got enough for a decent meal," Raph commented, forcing a can open with his sai. "I'd call that a good deal."

Leo looked up from a bag of chips and his face fell. "And I'd call that an uninvited guest!"

A snarl caught the rest of the group's attention. Lumbering out from around a tree was another Creature of Grimm. It was more bear-like in shape, but had the familiar skull-like face and spiky protrusions sticking out of its body. The Turtles and April were quick to get on their feet, and brought their weapons out.

"That's the one problem with going camping," Don remarked, "You can't have a meal without attracting the wildlife."

"Too bad no one put up a 'Don't feed the bears' sign." Raphael snarked.

"Well, he certainly looks meaner than the average bear!" Mikey gulped.

The Ursa Major charged at the group. They spread themselves out and encircled the monster. The Ursa looked from one to another, as if trying to decide on which of them to maul first. Likewise, each member of the Turtle team kept moving, making so it couldn't find a target. Raphael, at 12 o'clock, decided to be the point man and jammed the points of one sai directly into the Ursa's hindquarters.

Blake lifted her head up as the sound of a faint howl made her cat ears twitch.

I wonder what that was… The faunus thought, It sounded like a wounded animal...

Team RWBY was currently on the move, heading up to where they assumed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Whatever that meant) had gone. Thankfully, they didn't have to go on foot, as they had managed to hitch a ride with a farmer making a delivery in those parts in his pickup truck.

Unthankfully, what the farmer was delivering happened to be a very large supply of 'fertilizer'. And while the truck did move faster than they could walk, it wasn't fast enough to keep the stink off. The girls had tried to pile as much of the smelly bags of 'fertilzer' towards the back and keeping themselves close to the cabin as they could, but it was no good.

"…so one day I thought, 'Cliff, instead of lettin' it pile up, why not put it to good use?'" The farmer rambled as he drove, "And before you knew it, I had m'self a right little side business."

"I suppose that's one way of dealing with number two." Weiss gagged,

"That's not funny." Yang moaned, making her prosthetic hand spin like a wrist-mounted fan.

"I…I guess you got used to the smell, huh?" Ruby asked, her eyes beginning to water.

"Actually, ever since I inhaled that bad smoke in high school, I can't smell a thing," the driver admitted, "Guess that's why I was always put on stable clean-up."

Needless to say, when the truck reached the village, the first thing Team RWBY did was check into an inn and showered. Three times. While waiting between cleanings, the other three girls would try to do research on the Ninja Turtles. Because the town was a bit further out, scroll signals were not the best, but they were still able to read certain blogs.

"Hey, I found something!" Ruby cried as Weiss came out from her third shower.

"What is it?" Yang asked as team gathered around their leader.

"It's this page on vigilante activity happening in Mistral," Ruby said, "According to this, suspected members of the Spiders have been found in alleyways and other places beaten to a pulp."

"So, what makes you think this has anything to do with those big turtle-men?" Weiss asked.

"Well, they were fighting a guy who worked for the Spiders back at the last town, I figured there was a connection," Ruby said, "Plus, check out this photo!"

Ruby zoomed in one photo. It depicted a few shadowy figures leaping across a rooftop. The quality was a little blurred, but the lumpy backs might have been shells, and the heads did look a bit like the Turtles' dome-shaped noggins.

"Okay, so these guys have been going at it agains the Spiders for a while, huh?" Yang asked, leaning forward for a better look. "For a few weeks, I'm guessing?"

Weiss hummed, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. A thought occurred to her and she pulled out her own scroll. She asked, "Ruby, does this article say where these incidents have happened?"

Thankfully, it did, and after a few minutes of web-searching, Weiss said, "I thought so."

"What?" Now it was Weiss' turn to have Team RWBY gather around her. She felt a little awkward considering she was only in a towel.

"Well, each place where some Spiders have been taken down has had an increase in Grimm attacks," Weiss pointed out, "So if we might be able to track them if we keep an eye out for Grimm."

"I heard some sort of noise before we reached the village," Blake pointed out, "It's a long shot, but do you think…"

"…That a creature of Grimm attacked someone just as we were approaching this village?" Ruby finished, sounding "That'd be a weird a coincidence…"

"Why don't we just ask around town if they've seen or heard anything before we get lost in the woods?" Yang suggested, "Maybe a villager can point us in the right direction."

And once the team was clean of the fertilizer's stink, they set out to do a little probing. Unfortunately, the people of this rural village was rather unwilling to trust outsiders, and some were more than a little bigoted towards faunus. While some did admit to hearing what sounded like an aircraft flying by last night, most took one look at Blake's cat ears before giving Team RWBY the brush-off. Finally, they managed to make some headway with the man running the local trading post. He was an old man that reminded Ruby of the fellow that owned the Dust to Dawn shop back in Vale, only with a tiny mustache and beard and a nice hat.

(Think the Vale Shopkeep, but in stereotypical Chinese-look)

"Well I can't say anything about airships," The shopkeeper said, "But just recently a strange woman came by to barter."

"A woman?" Ruby asked, "What kind of woman?"

"A normal kind…I think," The shopkeeper scratched the back of his head, "There was somethin'…off about her."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged odd looks. Behind them, Yang comforted Blake.

"You mean…like a faunus?" Weiss asked awkwardly.

"No, she was human…but she looked…" The shopkeeper gestured just as awkwardly, "Somethin' about her eyes didn't seem right."

"But, did she act wrong? Or something?" Ruby prompted.

The shopkeep waved at a basket in front of the counter. "She didn't have any money. Just a bunch'a stuff which she traded some food for."

Yang and Blake joined Ruby and Weiss in perusing the trade-ins. They recognized some of the items as goods from the Spiders' hideout. Team RWBY went into a huddle.

"A strange woman comes in and sells swag from a gang base," Yang summarized, "Kinda grasping to connect to the Turtles."

"Maybe she knows them?" Blake guessed, "I mean, someone had to have been piloting that Manta."

"We can't just make assumptions," Weiss argued, "It could be that she's a member of the Spiders herself."

"If she is, she might know something about the Turtles," Ruby pointed out, and turned back to the shopkeep to ask, "Any idea where she went?"

the shopkeep just shook his head. "No. But she was askin' about a place called Wind Path."

"Wind Path, huh…?" Ruby nodded, "Well…thanks anyway, mister."

Leaving the shop, Team RWBY got lunch from the only noodle stand in town for a lunch-break.

After finishing her bowl, Ruby asked her team, "Did that guy in the shop look familiar to you?"

"Not really," Blake said, now perusing her scroll, "According to this, the only Wind Path worth noting is another village away from here."

"Ugh, so we have to leave already?" Yang groused, "We just got here!"

"I doubt we could find transport out right now," Weiss pointed out, "Let's keep looking around. Maybe something will turn up."

"I just wish we had more to go on," Ruby muttered after swallowing another bite. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way."

"So, what should we do instead?" Yang suggested, "Go find a pond and see if the Turtles are swimming in it?"

The girls went silent as internal light bulbs turned on. The gears turned in all of them as a sarcastic suggestion transcended into an actual plan.

"Yeah…if they are around, they wouldn't be able to stay in town," Blake said slowly, "So they'd have to hide someplace where they could live off the land. A large source of water would be a good place to check."

"I'm pretty sure I saw a river as we were driving up," Weiss said, "We can start there, and search around."

"Does the river go into the woods?" Yang asked, "That'd be a great place for people in hiding."

"I guess that's better than slumming around town and hope something pops up," Ruby decided, "Where'd you say this river was?"

"I'm tellin' ya, Raph," Mikey said, "There's a reason why you don't actually rip a guy a new one."

The Ursa was gone. Its body dissolved after being destroyed. However, it didn't go down easy. The landscape around the campsite looked like a rugby field after a championship game. The Turtle crew were finally able to enjoy the food April had gotten them.

"Hey, we killed it, didn't we?" Raph replied, swallowing a handful of vittles. "No harm, no foul."

"Pretty sure blows beneath the belt count as a foul." Don said, then took a draft from a juice box.

"Bears don't wear belts." Raph retorted.

"No, but if you hadn't sent it into a frenzy, we might have be able to take it down faster." Leo chided.

"Yeah, yeah, keep tellin' yourself that." Raph grumbled.

The group ate a little bit more before they got down to more practical matters.

"So, April, got directions to that Wind Path place?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, it's up north," April responded, "But I'm not certain if our ride can take us the entire way, though."

"But can't you and Donnie rig something up?" Mikey asked hopefully.

"The technology here is too different from what we're used to," Don sighed unhappily, "The basic circuitry is one thing, but the crystal-power engines are too cumbersome to learn about through by tinkering. I'm worried that if we mess around with them too much, we might break them by accident."

"Great, maybe should just trade it in for an oldsmobile." Raph snarked.

"Hey, why don't you try working on the ride?" Don shot back, "We're doing our best!"

"We know, Don, and we're not asking for any more than that," Leo said appeasingly, shooting Raph a Look. "We're just wondering if there's anything else we can do."

"Right now all we can do is keep going forward," April said, "And hope something comes along."

"Not exactly the plan I'd like to rely on," Leo sighed, "But I guess we can't do anymore than that. Once we're done eating, let's get back to the ship and get moving."

After reaching the river Weiss mentioned, Team RWBY ventured forth into the forest hoping to find any sign of the Turtles. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they realized that maybe wandering about and hoping something to turn up wasn't really a plan so much as it was wishful thinking.

Ruby used her Petal Burst to fly up to the top of the tallest tree in the vicinity, then used the scope on Crescent Rose' to look around.

"It's no good!" She called back down to her teammates, "The trees are so packed together I can barely see anything through the branches!"

"Do you see an empty clearing, or something?" Yang yelled back up, "Like, a place you can land a Manta in?"

"No! I mean, yeah," Ruby replied, "I think I see something like that at the edge, but it looks like there's a giant pile of branches and mulch so there's no room for- Ohhh!"

Weiss slapped her forehead while Yang laughed. Blake took the middle ground, shaking her head while grinning in spite of herself.

As they headed towards the clearing, Team RWBY decided on their battle plan.

"So what are we gonna do if we run into these guys again?" Yang asked, "I mean, we've been so fixed on finding them, what about after?"

"Well, I guess we're going to ask them what's going on." Ruby said.

"I just hope they're in a mood to talk peacefully," Blake pointed out, "Given how quickly they were to leave last night, I doubt they'll be willing to give an interview."

"I just hope the Turtles are there," Weiss pointed out, "And if they are, they stay there long enough for us to-"

A loud roar filled the air, cutting Weiss off. This wasn't the roar of a beast, or a Creature of Grimm. It was an engine starting up. Team RWBY watched as a Manta rose took off into the air.

"You had to say it." Blake remarked.

"Oh, you have got to kidding me!" Weiss yelled in frustration.

"No! Come back!" Ruby shouted, and Petal Burst into the air to fly after them.

"Ruby! Wait!" Yang cried out to no avail- for another ear-splitting shriek filled the air.

With Don and April in the driver's seat of their airship, Team Turtle was ready to make the trip to Wind Path. However, they heard the cry of some angry beast before they could get good elevation.

"Uh, what was that?" Mikey asked, looking around fearfully.

"Ya hafta ask?" Raphael growled, and looked out a window. "Angry bird at 9 o'clock!"

Leo and Mikey looked as well, and saw what looked like a giant black bird wearing the same kind of white mask all Grimm had. A Nevermore. And the terrible beast was flying in their direction.

"Don, April, veer to starboard!" Leo ordered, "Maybe we can avoid this one!"

"Hang on!" April shouted as she and Don pulled their yokes to the right.

The manta did a hard right and went almost sideways as it curved around. Thanks to this, the Nevermore passed by them harmlessly.

After righting the aircraft, Don cried, "Woo! That was close!" He looked back and asked, "Everyone okay?"

The remaining three Turtles were sprawled all over the manta's interior. Raphael shoved Michelangelo's foot off of his face.

"Peachy." Raph growled.

Out the air, the Nevermore turned about and made another charge at the manta.

"It's coming back!" April reported, "So much for ignoring it and hoping it'll go away!"

"Then let's give it something it can't ignore!" Don declared, "Firing missiles!"

A missile launched out from the front of the manta, flying at the Nevermore. The missile struck the fearsome bird monster, causing the beast to cry out in pain. It fell, but the Nevermore quickly regained its footing (So to speak) and resumed its charge at the manta. The manta fired another missile, but the Nevermore swung around the ballistic.

"Uh-oh." Don muttered.

"Uh, don't take this the wrong way, Donnie," Mikey gulped, "But I think big bird's better at ignoring you than I am."

Ruby watched as the obtuse dogfight continued from the tree tops. The manta flew around trying to avoid the Nevermore's attempts to dive bomb it. The fact that the Creature of Grimm dodged the missile was a bad sign. It was proof that the monster was a mature Grimm, one that had developed survival instincts.

"Ruby!"

Ruby turned and saw the rest of her team catching up to her.

"This whole thing where you charge off on your own is getting real old, y'know." Yang said angrily.

Ruby chose to ignore that statement and pointed at the battle going on in the air. "They need our help!"

"It looks like they're doing fine right now." Blake commented.

The girls watched as the Manta fired another missile. The Nevermore flew around it- and was immediately struck by the second missile fired. The Nevermore screeched, and with a beat of its wings shot a slew of feathers at the aircraft. The projectile plumage struck the Manta dead on, and the craft being to emit smoke from the engines as it started to fall out of the sky.

"You were saying?" Weiss groaned, already having Myrtenaster out and ready. She had first-hand experience on how easily a fight against flying Grimm from a aircraft could change from good to bad.

"Weiss, you and Yang try to keep from crashing too badly," Ruby ordered, "Blake and I can fight the Nevermore!"

"On it!" Yang said, and fired her Ember Celica behind her to rocket away towards the Manta. Weiss was close behind her, using her Glyphs as stepping stones and springs. Once they were close enough, Weiss sent out a several larger Glyphs to catch the Manta and slow down its fall.

Yang, meanwhile, rocketed on top of the Manta and slammed both fists down on the back. This caused the aircraft to level out, allowing it land on its belly when it hit the ground. The force threw Yang off of the Manta.

"Yang!" Weiss cried, and jumped down from the tree tops to check on her friend.

Yang was lying upside down against a tree…that was now missing its top half. She gave Weiss a shaky thumbs-up. Before Weiss could really assess how much damage Yang had take, there was another crash as the doors to the Manta fell open and its passengers stumbled out.

"Okay, I'd like to get whoever said any landing you can walk away from is a good one!" Raphael groaned, before spotting Weiss and Yang. "Oh, geez."

"You guys again!" Weiss cried as she helped Yang up.

"That's our line," Leo said as he steadily stood up, "You're those girls from the last town. What are you doing here?"

"Right now, saving your butts," Yang said, and opened her Scroll. "Blake, Ruby, everything's fine here. How are things with you?"

"Could be better." Blake replied.

Ruby and Blake fired into the sky. The dust in their ammunition creating an impromptu fireworks display as it exploded against the Nevermore's body. The Creature of Grimm shrieked in fury as it flew around to avoid or at least mitigate the shots. As the two huntresses paused to reload their ammo, the Nevermore took the opportunity to dive bomb at them, forcing the girls to jump away. The part of the treetops hit by the Nevermore ended up looking like a freshly mowed lawn. The Nevermore swung back up and turned around, flying back towards where the Manta had crashed. Ruby Petal Burst into the air, and fired the recoil function on Crescent Rose to launch herself at the Nevermore like a buzz-saw. Just before she could reach, the Nevermore tilted on its side, causing the young huntress to miss entirely. Ruby landed on another try top, and when Blake caught up to her she had a very cross expression on her face.

"It's too mobile in the air!" Ruby groused, "If we could just bring it down, this would be so much easier!"

Blake fired twice more from her Gambol Shroud, which did little good. "We need something stronger than normal ammo if we want to slow it down."

A light bulb turned on in Ruby's head. She opened her Scroll and asked, "What's the condition of the Manta?"

"Way ahead of you."

On the ground, the Turtles and Yang were working together to push the Manta around so its front was pointed roughly in the direction of the Nevermore. Weiss was generating a Glyph beneath them to weaken the gravity, making the aircraft lighter and easier to maneuver.

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Donatello groaned as he shoved, "This thing must weigh over a thousand pounds!"

"Yeah, that's cause we've got magic to help us!" Mikey replied, gasping, "Try to keep up!"

"This isn't magic," Weiss said, "It's a Semblance."

Raphael shot Weiss a look and growled, "The last time we shot that thing, it didn't stick! What makes you think it'll work this time?"

"Because we're going to give it an extra kick," Yang said, a bead of sweat running down her forehead. "Let's just hope this thing isn't too banged up to do any more."

Once they had turned the Manta around, Yang and the Turtles backed away. The frontal landing leg came out, pushing the Manta so it's nose was pointing in the air. Weiss then summoned several Glyphs in front. In the cockpit, April was standing by and getting ready to pull the trigger.

"April, was it?" Weiss called out, "Just get ready to fire on my mark…fire!"

The missile flew out, and shot forward with increasing speed as it passed through each Glyph. The Nevermore was getting closer, but that just meant the missile reached its target in less time. The missile was going so fast that when it struck, the Nevermore was pushed back slightly. It didn't have time to recover, as Ruby was instantly on top of its wing, driving the blade of Crescent Rose down and deep. She triggered the recoil, and sliced off the wing. As the Nevermore screeched in pain, Blake threw Gambol Shroud into the bird's beak, hanging onto the end of the ribbon. The faunus tugged, and the Nevermore, already weakened from the missile and loss of wing, went down.

"Look at it go!" Mikey cheered, "That was awesome!"

"Yeah, but it's not over yet!" Yang cried, and rocketed towards the Grimm.

The Nevermore landed on the ground, knocking over several trees. It recovered fast enough, though it could no longer fly. When it saw Yang, it shot a slew of feathers from its remaining wing. Seeing the barrage of feathers heading her way, Yang punched the ground in front of her, changing her momentum to the right to dodge. Yang landed, followed shortly by the rest of the team. The girls proceeded to fire endlessly at the Nevermore, who screeched and flung more feathers at Team RWBY. The girls dodged, and tried to get in close, but the Nevermore was now on the defensive. Even missing part of one wing, the Grimm refused to let the huntresses approach, constantly shifting its position and shooting feathers to keep the girls from delivering a heavy blow.

At one point, Weiss was gliding across and line of smaller Glyphs when she hit a tree root and fell over…just as another slew of feathers was shooting towards her.

"Weiss!" Ruby cried in alarm.

However, Weiss saw something green get into her field of vision, followed by several "Thunk!" sounds. Looking up, she saw that it was one of the Ninja Turtles, the one with the orange mask.

"Hi," Michelangelo said cheerfully, "Come here often?"

Team RWBY stared in shock at Mikey's appearance, and that his shell had been able to block the Grimm feathers. A glint of steel zipped through the air, and the Nevermore shrieked once again. Ruby saw that there was a ninja shuriken sticking out of the Grimm's neck. Looking up, she saw that Donatello was hiding in a nearby tree. He gave her a thumb's up.

"We'll give you an opening!" Don yelled down, "Just get ready!"

Ruby nodded. From another bush, Raphael flung his sai, which nailed the Nevermore right in its eye. The bird howled from having its gaze pierced, but before it could retaliate, Blake ran in and slid under its belly, using ice dust with her Shadow semblance that froze the Nevermore's talons to the ground. As the Nevermore struggled to break free, Leonardo came and sliced at its remaining wing with his swords. Yang delivered by landing a solid uppercut on the Nevermore, which then became trapped in a Glyph summoned by Weiss. Ruby then swooped in and swung her scythe at the extended neck and cut the Nevermore's head off. The bird gave one last pitiful warble before disintegrating. Once it was gone, the Turtles and Team RWBY regarded each other.

"So…thanks for the assist," Leonardo said, "I'll guess we'll be seeing you?"

"Actually…" Ruby said slowly as the adrenalin rush faded, "We'd like to ask you some questions."