Authors Note: New chapter, enjoy.
Beta: GeneralMayhem, kpmh2001
The moments after the explosion were a blur. Pyrrha, along with Fox and Velvet, had all been thrown from their feet as the building exploded outwards in a mixture of elements that was no doubt visible across the entire city. A distant part of her brain acknowledged how bad that was, not failing to put together the details and the fact that the Headmaster would almost certainly know something was up.
It took her mind a moment more to realize that the authorities would also have been notified and were no doubt scrambling to arrest them at this very moment.
Shaking her head as she sat up, Pyrrha realized she couldn't hear anything aside from an intense ringing in her ears. She looked around slowly, first searching for danger and, once she knew the coast was clear, began looking for Team CFVY. She spotted Velvet and Fox laid out a few feet away from her, both clearly still alive but in similar states to her own but in the process of getting to their feet.
Looking towards the remnants of the building, it wasn't hard to tell why. She hadn't certain what kind of dust the Atlesian Paladins ran on, but from what she could see it was likely a mix of several different kinds. The building, what was left of it that could be called such, was entirely engulfed in flames and there were several new rock formations that were clearly neither natural nor used in the construction of the building, judging by their odd shapes and sizes.
"Vel, Amber, you two all right?" Despite the ringing sound, she could hear Coco clear as day.
"I'm fine." Pyrrha mumbled softly in response, only realizing after the fact that Coco had sent her message not spoken it. A quick glance around showed no sign of the girl. Locking eyes with Velvet, Pyrrha nodded her head once before looking away.
"We're fine Coco."
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking." Fox sent, for the first time since she'd met him actually sounding something aside from teasing.
"We wouldn't be communicating if you weren't Fox." Yatsuhashi explained.
"So you can wipe that look off your face." Coco added.
Looking over, Pyrrha watched as the pouting look on his face fell away and was replaced by a slightly embarrassed expression.
"Well… you could have at least asked."
"I'm sorry. Fox, are you all right?" Coco's voice cared the tone of a mother giving her child the exact attention they seemed to be craving.
"I am, thank you for asking."
Velvet approached her slowly, offering a hand and helping Pyrrha to her feet with a surprising amount of strength. That was when she realized how sluggish she felt, the drain from having used the Maiden powers having finally caught up with her. While it wasn't enough to knock her out fully, she knew she didn't have much more to go for that became a serious risk. Her rather liberal use of her magic having been far beyond anything she had trained for.
Looking around, she managed to find her weapon, taking a few shaky steps over before getting her bearings and slowly leaning down to pick the blade up. Pyrrha sighed contentedly at the knowledge that they had won. There was no way anybody could have-
"We have a problem!" Coco sent in a panic, causing both Pyrrha and Velvet to jump in surprise.
Pyrrha was about to ask what the problem was, only to remember she could. She turned to Velvet, who seemed to get her idea well enough. Just before she could send her message however, there was another, much smaller and more controlled, explosion from the other side of the building. Along with gunshots. A lot gunshots.
Pyrrha spared a glance with Fox and velvet before starting off in the direction at a light jog, slowly speeding up into a full on sprint as the fighting only seemed to intensify. She was the first to round the corner and see the carnage.
One of the Paladins, likely the one Coco had said was on its way out of the building, had managed to survive the blast. Though it was clear it had seen better days. The metal was charred black in most places, and the white paint had been all but melted away, revealing the dull metal underneath. Its damage appeared to be affecting more than just it's appearance, as it sputtered slightly as it moved, its arms slow to respond to its pilots commands. Despite that fact, it was still a dangerous weapon.
Coco and Yatsuhashi were fighting a retreating battle. Yatsuhashi having no real way to fight the Paladin and so elected for distracting it's pilot and giving Coco the time to shoot it. Coco used the opportunity well, but despite unleashing a massive barrage of gunfire into the mech, she seemed to be accomplishing little. It's heavy armor was designed to resist attacks from even the largest and most powerful Grimm, but now it served to provide a nearly unassailable defense against the very people it had been built to defend.
Pyrrha was joined by Velvet and Fox, and it was only then that she realized that she had stopped in place after rounding the corner. The sight of the Paladin in action had sent horrible memories racing through her mind, but the knowledge of knowing that she wasn't alone gave her the reassurance that she needed to focus. The Pilot of the mech hadn't noticed them yet, which meant that they still had the element of surprise on their side.
She considered using the maiden power to blast the Paladin from behind, but merely thinking about it had her swaying from exhaustion. As it was, she doubted she could manage a solid hit. The Paladin was remarkably agile and fast for its size, and it's large plates of armor would make it difficult to actually knock the Paladin out of the fight. She would have to do this the conventional way, or at least save her last bit for an emergency.
Fox and Velvet both seemed to be waiting for her to make the move, although why they looked to her, she couldn't fathom. If anything, they should have been asking Coco for directions, but as it was, she seemed to be fairly occupied. Shaking her head, Pyrrha tightened her hand on her sword before charging forward towards the Paladins legs.
"We're gonna hit it from behind, keep its attention on you!" Velvet warned Coco and Yatsuhashi as she followed closely behind.
As they reached the Paladin, Pyrrha jumped off the ground and up towards the suit's knee, taking great care to avoid being crushed as it continued to move. Placing both her hands on the handle to her sword, she struck down with all the force she could manage, no doubt dulling her blade considerably in the process. The suit lurched forward slightly, and the leg seemingly buckled under the sudden force from behind, but no real damage was done.
As Pyrrha's jump reached its peak, gravity began to bring her back down. She attempted to land in a roll, but she misguided the distance, and landed hard on her back. A lance of pain shot through her back, but her Aura stopped any concern of true damage. Her momentum wasn't gone however, and she managed to roll with it somewhat, flipping herself over and getting her arms under her before pushing herself off the ground into a low crouch.
The Paladin noticed her once she had struck the ground, and it moved one of its legs to step on her. It missed by mere inches thanks to her less than graceful landing, and sent tiny rocks and chunks of concrete up into her face, knocking her back slightly and disorienting her.
The Paladin reared its leg back once more, only for another strike to its leg to cause it to nearly topple over. Velvet came flying in from behind the Paladin, managing to land in the way Pyrrha had intended. Wounded pride aside, Pyrrha's attention was focused on something else entirely.
Velvet held a weapon in her hands, however it was unlike any Pyrrha had ever seen. She recognized the design, appearing to be an exact copy of Yatsuhashi blade. Looking back she could still see he had his sword in hand and that it was pointedly not transparent.
Shaking her head, Pyrrha pushed her questions aside and focused on the fight to come. Getting to her feet, she looked up into the glass the pilot sat behind.
"Fox, you should stay out of this one." Coco sent as she unleashed another burst of gunfire towards the Paladin. This time, she aimed for the glass, no doubt the weakest part of the Paladin. The pilot raised one of the mech's arms to block the shots, preventing the bullets from doing any real damage, but also blocking his vision of them. Giving Velvet and Pyrrha time to pull back to where Coco stood.
"I can still use Ada." Fox replied. Despite his objection, he followed Coco's instructions and put some distance between himself and the Paladin.
"I know you can, but I'd rather not chance it with this thing." Coco explained. "Just leave it to the rest of us, ok?" He didn't respond, but that seemed to be confirmation enough for Coco. "Yatsu, you and Vel try to circle around it and see if you can repeat Amber's success."
Velvet nodded and stepped back, Pyrrha echoed her move as there was little good that she could do to help. There was a pause in fire from Coco as she waited for her weapon to cool, allowing the Paladin to lower one of it's arms in the direction it had been coming from. A barrage of fire from one of the Paladin's numerous weapons tore apart the ground around Pyrrha and tossed stone shrapnel in all directions. She grit her teeth as she felt several of the bullets, as well as a good chunk of the shrapnel, slammed against her aura.
The Paladin ceased its fire however, as both of its legs gave out underneath it. Velvet and Yatsuhashi had managed to successfully strike both of the legs at once, buying Pyrrha the moment of safety that she needed. The Paladin's pilot managed to catch themselves on one arm, preventing themselves from falling over entirely, while using its remaining free arm to strike and swipe Yatsuhashi and Velvet away.
The strike was close to hitting Yatsuhashi directly, but he managed to back pedal enough to get his blade up between him and the strike. The force still launched him backwards, but he was able to quickly dodge the several follow up shots from the Paladin's numerous guns. It was back on its feet not a moment after, having sustained no true damage.
Coco took another shot at the glass, and managed to score several hits before the Pilot could turn away and direct its attention at the two students that had struck it from behind. The moment that the mech turned around however, another torrent of gunfire struck it's cockpit. Velvet was now holding her own minigun, and like with her clone of Yatsuhashi's sword, this weapon was also composed of solid light. Again, Pyrrha was dumbfounded by what she saw, but forced herself to focus on the fight at hand.
She could see the back of the Paladin's legs from where she was, and she could see that they hadn't been doing any real damage to it. Some of the metal looked dented and damaged, but unless they had several days, it wasn't going to be enough.
Coco seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Got any ideas?"
Pyrrha shook her head. Team RWBY had managed to fight one, winning due to Yang's semblance and smashing it into a massive concrete pillar. Team CFVY didn't have either of those. If Pyrrha still had her own Semblance she may have been able to pick the Paladin up and throw it, but unfortunately for all of them, Amber hadn't had the same Semblance.
She bit her lip as Yatsuhashi took another strong hit on his sword, having stepped in between Velvet and the Paladin to take the hit that had been meant for his partner.
Pyrrha was still struggling to think up a plan, but as the Paladin moved to take another swing at Yatsuhashi, she realized that there simply wasn't enough time and that she had to act. She rushed into the Paladin's line of fire to try and get it's attention, but before the Paladin could react to her sudden arrival, a series of rapid explosions erupted across the Paladin's shoulders, throwing it back slightly and drawing its attention away from Velvet and Yatsuhashi, who seemed to be struggling to stand after his latest hit.
Surprised by the sudden assistance, Pyrrha looked up to see one of Beacon's Bullheads circling around the area, its weapons trained on the Paladin. There was a slight pause before the Bullhead fired another burst with it's chin-mounted weapon, which resembled a far larger and heavier version of Coco's minigun.
"That would be our back up!" Coco sent. "Certainly took her long enough!"
The Paladin took several shots at the Bullhead, but none managed to connect as the airship dodged everything that was thrown at it. Given a moment to breathe, the group pulled back and attempted to come up with a plan.
"Velvet, how's Yatsuhashi doing?" Coco sent.
"I'm fine." Yatsuhashi replied but, even if Pyrrha didn't have a way to read their Auras, she knew his had to be low.
"I didn't ask you. Vel?"
"He took a pretty big hit back there." Velvet answered.
Coco swore loudly. "Hang back and catch a breath, we'll take it from here."
"Very well." Yatsuhashi sounded annoyed, a fact that surprised Pyrrha somewhat, since she had rarely seen him show any sign of negative emotion, but he followed his leader's instructions.
"Amber, Velvet and I will circle around to the front and see if we can get a shot at the pilot. You stay behind it and see if you can take its legs out from under it." Coco didn't wait for Pyrrha to nod before rushing off, not that Pyrrha had planned to complain. As far as plans went it was fairly simple, but it was better than anything she could think of.
As Coco and Velvet moved, they gave the Paladin a wide berth, being sure to stay as inconspicuous as two teenagers with miniguns could be while also staying out of the line of fire from their own air support. All the while, the fight between the Paladin and the Bullhead waged on, despite the fact that the Bullhead landed nearly all of its shots, neither side seemed to be truly capable of damaging the other.
Pyrrha stayed behind, watching closely for an opening that she could take advantage of, as luck would have it, a plan practically formed itself in her mind. While she and team CFVY weren't doing any real damage to the mech, if she could damage the Paladin's legs, it would stumble and slow down. That would give the Bullhead above the opportunity to get behind the Paladin and hit it in the rear, where the armor was noticeably weaker. Of course, the plan relied on their Bullhead's pilot being able to recognize the opportunity that they were given, but without a way to communicate with them, Pyrrha was left no other choice but to hope that they saw the opening and took it.
She got her moment as both Velvet and Coco began firing, which forced the Paladin to stop in place and protect it's cockpit with both of it's arms. The Bullhead held its fire and began to fly over, attempting to get behind like Pyrrha had hoped. The Pilot of the Paladin wasn't stupid however, and had already started to turn around, leaving it's legs exposed for Pyrrha to strike.
Pyrrha sprinted up, leaping off the ground once more and striking in the same place that she had before, putting all of her weight behind the strike to compensate for her faltering strength. Her sword landed true, the force of the strike denting the hydraulics of the legs even more, causing the Paladin to stumble forward. She managed to land properly this time, eventually coming to a halt as she spun around to look up into the cockpit of the Paladin as the Bullhead lowered itself to get a firing line on the now exposed back of the Paladin.
As the Bullhead was moving into position, Pyrrha saw something slide up on the back of the Paladin, a small cylinder shaped metal canister. The top of it split off, and a torrent of small missiles shot out from it. Placing her hands down, Pyrrha flipped backwards to dodge, stopping after no attack came. As she landed back on her feet, she realized that the attack hadn't been aimed at her in the first place.
One of the Bullhead's wings had been blasted off as it quickly fell to the ground in a tailspin, the pilot losing complete control over it. Looking in the direction it fell, Pyrrha's eyes widened. Velvet had frozen in place as she watched their backup come hurtling towards her.
Pyrrha reached out her hand, a familiar flame burning in her eyes as she desperately called on the maiden power, summoning a powerful gust of wind in order to throw Velvet back to safety. Velvet unceremoniously flew into the air, not having been prepared for the sudden force, and Pyrrha lost sight of her as the Bullhead smashed into the ground.
The battlefield was quiet for a moment, the only sound she perceived being her own heartbeat.
"I-I'm okay." Pyrrha let loose the breath she had been holding, having failed to notice as her lungs burned. Velvet sounded unbelievably scared, but she was alive. Fox and Yatsuhashi were both already moving towards their downed teammate, and Pyrrha turned her attention back to the Paladin, only to see that it had not been idle.
The Paladin had managed to get itself into a perfect firing position for one of its larger arm-mounted guns, aiming it in Velvet's direction, both Fox and Yatsuhashi still had their backs turned, and were oblivious to the incoming strike. With no other option, Pyrrha once again tapped into the maiden powers. Holding out her hand, she attempted to mimic what she had done to clear the stairwell. She felt the flame burn in her eye as the briefest of fires sparked to life in her hand before swiftly being extinguished.
Pyrrha felt the familiar pain of over stretching her ability, the burning in her core warning her that she had nothing more to give. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as she watched the Paladin start to fire.
Coco yelled a warning as the mech fired, her words being drowned out by the sound of gunfire. A second later however, every other sound around them was completely overshadowed by a cry of fury, pain, and anguish as a jet of fire blasted against the Paladin's armor. The flames completely engulfed the mech, and the heat only intensified more as the mech was pushed back. The scream continued as the flames amplified more and more, as new colors of fire that Coco had never seen before joined into the hellish bombardment that was unleashed upon the Paladin.
Coco wasn't sure how long the fire lasted, but it and the screaming eventually slowed, before ceasing altogether, revealing the charred form of the mech. She held her breath, waiting for it to attack, but it never did. As the seconds dragged on, it began to steadily lean backwards, before eventually crashing into the ground in an undignified heap.
Sparing a second to find her team, Coco could see Fox and Yatsuhasi moving over to the downed Paladin as Velvet ran past it entirely.
Following her path, Coco spotted the issue. Amber was down on her knees, leaning on her hands in clear pain. Coco got there about the same time Velvet did, both hesitant to touch their downed friend. Unsure of what to do.
"Are you okay?" Coco asked, mentally kicking herself at how stupid that sounded.
Despite that fact, Amber looked up and forced a smile on to her face. "Y-yeah… I-I'm fine." Velvet offered her a hand up and she took it, briefly standing before collapsing forward. Only managing to avoid hitting the ground due to Velvet catching her.
Coco moved over to Amber's side, pulling one of her arms over her while Velvet did the other. Amber tried to help them, trying to put as much weight on her own legs as possible but it was obvious how much pain she was in.
Glancing at her hands, Coco winced at the burns. Fox had mentioned something about Amber's Semblance being based around fire but… she hadn't expected something so powerful. The Paladin had taken a pummeling from the Bullhead, sure but it was still in the fight.
"I… I need to sit down." Amber winced as they stopped. "I'm sorry."
Coco rolled her eyes. "Only you would apologize for being in pain."
Amber's face was already red, so she couldn't guarantee it, but Coco was sure the girl was blushing now. As they set her down, Amber groaned in pain. Coco looked up in search of Fox and Yatsu, satisfied to see them pulling their Bullhead pilot out of her wreckage.
"Is she-"
"Fireball's fine, Beacon knows how to make 'em," Fox Sent. "How about Amber?"
Coco looked her friend over slowly before answering, seeing that Velvet had sat down next to her in order to offer Amber something to lean against. The latter was clearly trying to fight off her exhaustion and failing. "Alive."
"So… easy mission to kick off the summer break?" Fox teased her, Coco turning to glare in his direction despite the fact he couldn't, and would never be able, to see it.
Despite everything. They had made it through in one piece. Now came the hard part. Coco looked back at the destroyed building, then looked between the mech and Bullhead. Now they had to explain all of this to the Headmaster.
Coco's shoulders sagged despite herself. I am so not taking the blame for that.
Pyrrha awoke slowly, the voices and conversation happening around her start as an incomprehensible blend of sounds before slowly taking on meaning.
"-nk the Headmaster wanted to-" Velvet's voice cut off suddenly as Pyrrha groaned. "She's awake!"
Pyrrha heard the conversation die as several people moved over to her bed. The first thing she noted upon opening her eyes was that she was in one of Beacons medical rooms. The second thing was how bright it was, she moved a hand to cover her eyes and groaned once more. When that proved insufficient to block the light she attempted to sit up, only to have a firm hand press down on her shoulder, halting her progress before she could.
"Woah there, take it easy kiddo." It took her mind a moment to place the voice.
"Qrow?" Her voice sounded weak and scratchy. She attempted to clear her throat but ended up coughing instead. "Do you ha-" A glass of water was pushed into her face before she could finish her question.
She took the glass quickly, tipping her head back and closing her eyes to block out the light. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, although she was still forced to squint her eyes to avoid the pain. By the time she finished the water, her throat was feeling much better. "Thank you. How long have I been here?"
"Just a couple days." Coco took the glass from her hands, setting it down on a nearby table. "How ya feeling girl?"
Pyrrha took a moment to think of her answer. She didn't feel any pain, but she could feel something wrapped around her hands. Bringing them into her view she could see bandages wrapped tightly around them.
"You burnt your hands up pretty bad when you lost control of your Semblance." Qrow filled her in on the lie they had told team CFVY, making sure that her own story would add up with their own. "The Doc said there won't be any lasting damage to your nerves, but that your skin might be discoloured for a while." She supposed that part was true at least.
"That's quite the Semblance." Coco lowered her sunglasses somewhat. "A heads up would have been appreciated."
"Coco!" Velvet elbowed her team leader, ignoring her yelp in response. "What she means to say is... good job."
"Your Semblance is powerful, but clearly dangerous." Yatsuhashi cautioned. "I am glad everyone came out mostly unharmed."
"And I thought team CFVY was stacked." Fox chuckled from beside the door. "Add you into the mix and we might as well conquer Beacon."
"I do believe that would be a poor decision, Mr Alistair." Pyrrha froze at the words. The person she least wanted to see having walked through the door to see her bed ridden.
Any hope that Pyrrha had somehow escaped the Headmaster's notice died the moment their eyes met. While his face wore a subtle smile and his body was relaxed, his eyes seemed to pierce her and she looked away in shame.
"Team CFVY, if you wouldn't mind giving Amber and I a moment of privacy." The Headmaster looked towards Coco smiling in assurance. "There are matters we need to discuss."
"Oz, I don't think now's the ri-"
"Miss Adel, please?" The Headmaster stepped aside from the door, gesturing politely.
Coco looked confused, sparing a glance for Pyrrha; she didn't miss the panicked look on her face. "Headmaster, sir, I don't know if-"
"They're gonna find out sooner or later Ozpin." Qrow interrupted her. "You might as well break the news all at once." Pyrrha winced at the bitter tone of his voice. "They deserve to know."
The Headmaster remained silent for a moment, watching them all closely. Setting his hands back on his cane he sighed. "Very well."
Coco clicked her mouth shut, stepping back slightly and making room for her team to all stand in front of the Headmaster as he addressed them. Pyrrha appreciated that they stayed close, making it almost feel like she wasn't the sole center of attention and, were she not laying down, it might have soothed her.
Ozpin looked back at the door. "General, if you would."
General Ironwood stepped through the door, driving the air from Pyrrha's lungs as he did so. He came to a stop right beside the Headmaster, carefully examining each of the teenagers standing in front of him before giving one last look towards Amber. "I wanted to thank each of you on behalf of Atlas. Those Paladins posed a serious threat to not only the people of Vale, but all of Remnant. You have my personal gratitude as well." It was high praise, each member of team CFVY's smiles burned brightly at it.
Pyrrha could only dread what was to come.
"You will each be compensated fairly as there was a reward out for the return of the Paladins. While that was meant intact, I personally believe you all did the right thing." He looked towards Pyrrha as he finished before looking back towards team CFVY. His words said, General Ironwood steeped back behind the Headmaster.
"You came all the way from Atlas for that?" Coco asked in confusion. "I'm grateful Sir, as is my team, but aren't you a little high up for a thank you mission?"
"I'm afraid that isn't the only reason I'm here." The General looked to Pyrrha as his face adopted the subtlest of apologetic expressions.
"General Ironwood has come to take Amber to Atlas, where she will study for the foreseeable future." The Headmaster's words were bombshells, everyone in the room falling silent as they processed what he had said before the room exploded into chaos as team CFVY adamantly argued against the idea.
As they did Pyrrha struggled to breathe. She had known what was coming from the instant that the General had entered the room, but actually hearing the words had been like a punch to the gut. She had hoped that she was wrong, hoped that he had been bluffing with his threat, and that hope had been crushed.
She looked up towards Qrow, the two meeting eyes for the briefest of moments. She could see the guilt on his face and the pain behind his eyes. He had promised her that this wouldn't happen and despite his best efforts he had failed. He looked away from her in defeat.
"Kitsune has cleared you from her care," The Headmaster spoke over the chaos bringing the room to silence, all the while ignoring the death glares from team CFVY. "Take time to say your goodbyes. You'll be leaving with the General tomorrow."
Author's Note: Hmm, she was caught. The giant explosion didn't go unnoticed? Who could have guessed?
Just a heads up that I might take next weekend off to relax, maybe. This chapter was really difficult to get out and it may be because I am exhausting myself with the upload schedule. Depending on how I'm feeling next week it may be a skip. Hopefully not, I enjoy writing this story as much as you all hopefully enjoy reading it, but a break may be in order.
Hope you enjoyed and as always don't forget to review.
Sincerely, SE