Chapter 5: Reunification
Mantle, Remnant
When they had planned to reach Atlas via a bullhead. They hadn't realized how both easy it would be, and how difficult it would be. The amount of grimm within the city was proving to be impossible to rebuke now. But almost all the flying ones had left. So even with the mass of ground-based grimm, it still wasn't completely impossible to make the trip to the outskirts of the city.
Finding a bullhead out there was still a challenge however. The aforementioned grimm hordes made it almost impossible to find a vehicle without it turning into a huge battle. Not that they had a choice. By the time they found one most of their ammo was used up and everyone's auras were mostly spent as well.
They had found an out of commission bullhead in the end. No doubt brought down by the thousands of grimm now choking the sky. The grimm whale had already beached itself onto Atlas proper. The nevermores and almost everything else with wings was up there with it. In a backwards way though this was a good thing. The whole of the Atlas military was now distracted, trying to fight it off. Meaning that they couldn't be bothered to try and shoot down an unauthorized bullhead entering the city's air space..
Crazy Diamond's repair abilities proved their worth once again. Within a matter of moments the flying craft was fixed. Some of the fuel had leaked out due to the crash, but there was enough to get up to Atlas with. The real issue was, who could pilot it.
Team JOKR had very little experience with vehicles in general. Morioh was small enough to not warrant cars to travel everywhere. And certainly none of them have ever piloted a flying vehicle like a bullhead. Meaning it was up to Jaune to try and get it airborne.
With the hordes of grimm outside however, it was a struggle to even take time to try and figure out the controls. Jaune knew there was some sort of autopilot built into bullheads, but had no idea where it could be accessed.
Luckily, Rohan's Heaven's Door came to their rescue. With Jaune's permission, he "opened" the teen up and wrote "expert bullhead pilot" onto him. In less than a second, Jaune felt a change within himself. He felt, no, knew he was now a perfect bullhead pilot. He knew the controls like the back of his hand. He knew all the maneuvers and tricks. Jaune truly was now an expert bullhead pilot.
As if he had done it a thousand times, the bullhead roared to life as Rohan and the rest of Team JOKR boarded the craft. Fighting off grimm as they attempted to ground the craft. The vehicle shot into the sky, causing a brief whirlwind of snow.
After they had cleared the surface, Jaune directed the bullhead up to Atlas. In truth, he was terrified. Not because he was about to face even more grimm, but of Rohan's ability. This was the first time he had seen and felt it in action. He had encountered less than flashy semblances before. Stuff kind of like Rohan's Heaven's Door, but his Stand was just so much more. It wasn't suitable for combat, but Jaune could imagine all sorts of things Heaven's Door could be used for outside of it.
Jaune's train of thought was interrupted by a lurch in his stomach. He groaned, Heaven's Door may have made him an expert bullhead pilot, but it didn't cure him of his motion sickness!
A hand reached for his gut while letting out a gasp, this was bad. "I need Rohan to fix this too!"
Before he could say anything however, out of the viewport he saw some flying grimm who seemed to have taken an interest in the rogue bullhead! A moderately sized nevermore raced down to the bullhead, preparing to launch its deadly feathers at the craft. Jaune's instincts took over, maneuvering the bullhead out of the way of the nevermore's projectiles. The Stand-users in the back bounced around, having not strapped in.
Koichi used Echoes on himself, using a much lighter version of Three Freeze to keep himself bolted to the floor. Josuke, Okuyasu, and Rohan had to try and reach out to grab something to keep their balance. As Jaune made a few more maneuvers to try and avoid the grimm, Josuke and Rohan made their way towards the cabin.
"Anything we can do?" The pompadour teen asked while taking in the view. The flying city loomed over them, much closer now. Grimm and now other bullheads could be seen flying about. The massive grimm whale was still beached upon Atlas' edge. Logic and gravity would have said that too much of the monstrosity was leaning over the side. That it should have cascaded down onto Mantle.
But it didn't. Instead it kept doing a strange thumping movement. Whatever it was doing, it was doubtful it was anything good. More attacks from grimm, despite Jaune's new abilities, he couldn't dodge them all. A half-dozen feathers punctured the craft, as a large lancer landed on the roof!
The vehicle began to struggle as the lancer pierced the roof of the craft. Crazy Diamond appeared in order to try and fix the damage as Jaune conducted some more maneuvers to try and get the lancer off the bullhead. The damage was repaired easily but the lancer wasn't letting up. Each time Josuke would repair the damage left behind by the lancer. It would simply poke a new hole in the bullhead.
"Hang on guys! I got an idea!" Jaune roared as he attempted to roll the lancer off the bullhead. The Stand users besides Koichi, who was still firmly planted to the floor, scrambled to hold onto something. They could hear the lancer screech out as it fell off to the side.
Jaune set the bullhead back upright. They had dislodged the lancer but no doubt it was still following them. The blonde clutched his gut again, groaning out in pain as his motion sickness flared up. He felt as if he was about to throw up! He tried reaching around for something to vomit into, as he did so the bullhead had finally crested Atlas' lip and the five of them were finally able to see the almost science-fiction-like city in its full glory.
What they saw didn't fill them with any sort of hope or confidence. Instead, dread and despair filled them like a well. The whale grimm was now entirely in sight, the beast burrowed into the ground like a tick. Its groans and gasps made it as if it was dying. The bones sticking out of it, typical of almost every type of grimm, were shaped and warped into primitive structures. The group, which had assembled in the cockpit, noticed the platforms sticking out of it. Almost as if they were designed for bullheads to land on them. "Maybe they are," Jaune thought.
The thumping motion of the whale could now be seen first hand. Acting as if it was beached, the grimm occasionally would try to jump up, before falling back to the earth. At first, the group couldn't understand why the beast was acting this way, why it felt compelled to try and get off the ground. No doubt Salem was controlling it, so there wouldn't have been a reason for it to do this.
Then they saw the bile, the vomit, the grimm spewed forth as it landed back on the ground. Like a wave hitting the beach the purple-black spit flowed forth for a moment. As it settled grimm began to appear out of it, no, they were made of it. Jaune and the others got to witness first hand just how grimm were "born" into the world. They came in all shapes and sizes. Beowolves, ursas, goliaths, and more. They grew out of the muck and, for only a moment, took time to gain a recognition of their surroundings. Of themselves and each other. Before they all began to charge out across the fields and towards the city proper.
It was then that the group also noticed the Atlesian military. They noticed the soldiers, mechs, and vehicles facing off against the grimm. Attempting to fend off the monsters to try and keep Atlas safe. At any other time, Team JOKR would have found Atlas' technology awesome to behold. Now, it was just a backdrop to the apocalyptic situation the group had found themselves in.
So entranced by the scene that laid before them, that neither Jaune nor Team JOKR had noticed that they had practically slowed down to a crawl. It was enough for the lancer to catch up with them. The grimm slammed into the side of the bullhead with a newfound ferocity. As the craft veered far off to the side, it collided with something. It turned out to be another bullhead as the other craft launched out in front of theirs. Falling out of the sky.
Now all of them were thrown about. Koichi attempted to lock down with Echoes again, but bounced off a wall before he could do so. Jaune attempted to regain control but it was already too late.
The bullhead SLAMMED into the ground, further jostling everyone inside it. It continued to skid for a bit before finally coming to a stop. Jaune was still at the controls as he tried to regain his senses. He noticed the other bullhead they had crashed into had come to a stop in front of them. One of the engines was visibly damaged, no doubt from their mid-air collision. Beyond that, it seemed no worse for wear.
Jaune gasped as he finally lost his lunch. The vomit thankfully missed him or the others, but it did get all over the controls. After emptying his stomach, the blonde looked back to the others.
"Is everyone ok?! Josuke? Rohan? Koichi? Okuyasu?" A series of groans replied back as the group slowly began to recuperate. Jaune got out of his seat and looked out the viewport towards the other bullhead. A few others began to pile out of it, but they were too far away for him to get a good look at them.
Suddenly, something heavy landed on their bullhead. And that's when the hunter remembered the stubborn lancer. He pulled out his sword as Team JOKR got to their feet. The lancer stomped around a bit more before finally coming into view via the cockpit glass. It let out a violent screech as it drove its stinger into the glass. While they were all far enough away to avoid it, it was still far too close for comfort. Crazy Diamond appeared and Josuke closed the gap between himself and the lancer's stinger.
"DORA!" Crazy Diamond cried out as it landed a furious blow to the stinger, snapping it off the lancer entirely. The creature screeched in pain as it suddenly darted away from the glass. It didn't get far however, as it very quickly came under attack from behind! The people from the other bullhead had finally made an appearance as they quickly put down the grimm. It happened so fast that the lancer practically had no chance even to escape.
When the typical black smoke of the grimm dissipated the group was presented with a pair of familiar faces and a slew of new ones. New to Josuke and the rest of his Morioh friends at least. There were five of them, all wearing white and dark blue uniforms with red highlights.
The first was a relatively tall woman with pale skin, unnaturally white and silver hair tied up into a ponytail. The curtains of hair helped with highlighting her sapphire blue eyes.
The next one was another giant of a woman, with tan skin and chocolate hair tied up into a bun as well. The third one was a smaller woman, with a similar complexion to the giant. The sides of her head were shaved, with the front of what was left of her hair dyed blonde.
The fourth had even darker skin, with not only black hair but black dog ears as well. The fifth and final member of their group had very pale skin. His head was shaved down and head had what looked like tattoos on his face.
Beyond the quintet were two people everyone inside the bullhead knew. Yang Xiao-Long and Lie Ren. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs, but beyond this they looked no worse for wear. Though their irritation with their predicament was noticeable.
Speaking of being noticed, the uniformed posse had deducted that the bullhead that the lancer was attacking wasn't empty. As the woman with the silver and white hair stepped forward. Josuke assumed she was the leader.
"There might be some survivors inside. Elm try the doors."
The big woman, Elm Josuke assumed, began to march up to the bullhead. In response, Jaune went into a combat stance, much to the confusion of Team JOKR.
"These guys are the Ace-Ops, let's just say they wouldn't be too friendly to either you guys or me."
Josuke looked to his friends for a moment before letting out a snort. Soon enough he was laughing along with Okuyasu and Koichi. Rohan even had a smile on his face. Jaune meanwhile looked at them as if they had all grown second heads.
"Don't worry, I have a gift for getting people to like me. Okuyasu when I first met him tried to kill me! Now we're best friends!" Josuke exclaimed as he and the others calmed down. Before anyone could get another word in there was a loud banging on the door to the bullhead. Everyone turned to it, like out of a Superman comic, parts of the door crumpled into balls as suddenly the door was yanked off! The woman from outside, Elm, grunted as she tossed the door off to the side. As she turned her gaze back to the inside of the bullhead she zeroed in on Jaune.
"Heh heh," the blonde gave out an awkward chuckle. He then dashed forward, attempting to put Elm off balance. He gave it his best shot but she quickly maneuvered around him and grabbed him by the hood of his hoodie before tossing him towards the rest of her group. She then turned to the rest of Team JOKR. She didn't get very far however, far as fast as lightning, a fist met her face!
"DORA!" Once again Crazy Diamond was out as his punch connected with the mountain of woman was knocked over and few back. Josuke and the others quickly piled out of the bullhead as the other hunters and huntresses rapidly reacted to the violence. Elm had already recovered while her companions pulled out all manner of weapons, their leader stepped forward.
"You're under arrest for assaulting a member of the Atlesian Military. Come quietly or you'll regret it."
"Now hold on lady," Josuke began. "I know what it looks like. But we've been having one hell of a day. Hell there is a literal hell only a kilometer away from us! There are quite literally bigger fish to fry."
He pointed towards the giant whale grimm which hadn't so much been fazed by everything that was going on around it. It simply continued to spew forth a literal river of monsters.
"So like, how about you let our friends go," Yang and Ren from behind the Atlas soldiers looked at each other. "And we can all forget about this. What do ya say?"
The reactions of the Atlesian soldiers varied wildly. The bald man with the tattoos had no reaction other than a very minute squint at the pompadour teen's suggestion. The shorter woman with the strange hairdo looked irritated. The faunus had a mixture of both irritation, and thoughtfulness, in his eyes. Elm was just angry.
Then there was their leader. The woman also seemed genuinely conflicted. As if she was honestly considering what Josuke had suggested. After a moment, the others on her little team turned to look at her. They seemed to expect a command from her, or at least for her to say something. By this point Jaune had gotten off the ground and made his way over to where Team JOKR was standing off.
That's when everyone remembered that they were in the midst of a battlefield filled with grimm. As a handful of said monsters opted to make their presence known. This is when Team JOKR got to see how a full team of huntsmen acted.
"It's like a crazy action movie!" Okuyasu thought. Before he or any of his friends could do much of anything most of the grimm were already down. They clearly had the experience and had a long history with each other. Only with the ones who were directly coming at them did they have to take down. A simple swipe of The Hand and a beatdown by Crazy Diamond was enough to destroy them.
With that they were back to where they had started. Facing each other down. Though in the brief skirmish Elm had retreated back over to the rest of her team. They were all looking at their leader again.
"Cut Ren and Xiao Long loose. Just… just let them go. Besides, we can't stick around here. We need to accomplish the objective Ironwood outlined."
"And what about them!" Elm pointed towards Josuke and his friends. "He literally hit me with some kind of ghost fist. Either he has the world's weirdest semblance or it's another bit of magic. Either way ironwood needs to know about this."
"And he will Elm. But he won't be able to hear anything we have to say unless we can get back into communication with him. And that starts by us getting out of this combat zone."
"We won't have time to do any of that Winter. Not with the bullhead trashed." The woman with the frosted tips grunted out as she, very reluctantly, released Yang from the bonds. The faunus did the same for Ren as both of Jaune's teammates moved to where he and Team JOKR were standing. The bald men then tossed a pair of braces and another pair of guns their way.
"Wait!" Jauen asked. "You're just gonna leave us here?"
Winter looked at him. "Would you rather us take you in? Besides, your friends seem to think Oscar is somewhere inside that monstrosity." She jerked her head towards the grimm whale.
Jaune turned to look at Yang and Ren as Winter and the others turned and began to march back towards the city proper. They didn't get far before Josuke spoke up again.
"Hey wait! If you guys need a ride back, I can help!" He dashed over to the bullhead Winter, Ren, Yang, Elm, and the others had come out of. While none of them had stopped walking away, they did slow down to see just what this stranger was going to do.
When he approached the bullhead Josuke summoned Crazy Diamond again. Now fully visible to everyone, they were a little surprised by the Stand. But once it began to repair the bullhead, that surprise turned into full shock. In a short span of time, the bullhead was in almost perfect condition. There was still some notable damage on the craft.
"I opted to not fix it all the way. That way this Ironwood guy could think that these two," Josuke gestured to Yang and Ren. "Got away legitimately, as opposed to you guys letting them go. Thanks for letting them go by the way. And sorry for punching you in the face, Elm? Was it?"
The woman dumbly nodded and she and the others approached the bullhead. Winter put her hand up to it, inspecting the craft, before turning to the faunus.
"Marrow, get inside and see if this thing really works."
The now named Marrow nodded as he stepped inside and moved towards the controls. A few moments later there was a puttering from the engines, before they roared to life. With that, Winter turned to Josuke.
"Thank you, and good luck." She then gestured for everyone to get on as they boarded the bullhead. A few moments later they were off. Flying towards the horizon, careful to avoid any more unnecessary entanglements with grimm.
Josuke turned around and looked toward his friends. The old, the new, and the very new. He began to make his way over to their bullhead, summoning Crazy Diamond on the way over. Soon enough once again their bullhead was in working order. Though Josuke feared that the amount of fuel was now critically low.
"Alright guys, the bullhead's fixed. Let's get out of here!"
Josuke turned to look at everyone but from the looks of things nobody had heard him. Jaune, Yang, and Ren were locked into a conversation while Koichi, Rohan, and Okuyasu were hanging out in the periphery. Eying the skies as well as the trio of native
Remenantians.
"Hey we going or what?" Josuke asked as he looked at Jaune and the others. At that the two hunters and huntress turned to Team JOKR.
"We can't leave for Atlas, not yet at least," Jaune began. "Oscar is in there. This is our chance to get him out. We're right here! I don't think we'll have another chance."
Josuke, Rohan, Okuyasu, and Koichi all looked up towards the giant grimm whale. There were clearly ways to get into it, the fact that there were seemingly a bunch of entries into a "living thing" was morbid enough. But the thought of what could be lurking inside it wasn't much of a better one. At least one of Salem's minions for sure, maybe even the big bad bitch witch too.
He wasn't afraid, well, maybe he was a little. He was a little afraid of fighting Kira after all. And by all accounts, Salem seemed like both a bigger threat and a bigger asshole. He still didn't want to tangle with her though if it could be avoided. However, it seemed like the choice wasn't his alone to make.
"Guys I know I, we, are asking a lot. But saving Oscar is a necessity. If we don't then who knows what Salem will do to him. Please!"
Josuke paused for a second before turning to his old friends.
"We've never backed down from a fight before. And we always help our friends. Right guys? So why should we stop now? We'll help you get Oscar out of there."
Jaune, Yang, and Ren all smiled as they and Team JOKR turned to look up at the grimm whale. They had all succeeded in getting here, but the real challenge was about to begin.