Larger Issues
AN: Welcome back for another chapter of Larger Issues. I had meant to post this yesterday for March 2nd for Jaune's birthday but... there were troubles uploading. Still, it is here and I'd like to thank all of those who have faved and followed this series old and new. Now on with the show!
Snowball
"So… your sister lives in Argus?" Nora asks as they relax in their room now that they couldn't play Ancient Libraries anymore.
That got the resident blonde to perk up as he began to recall that while he may have mentioned his family on occasion to his team, he never had gone into any depth about the subject, especially after learning that Ren and Nora are orphans and not wanting to unintentionally give them any stress.
"Oh yeah! Well… my sister Saphron moved to Argus about a year before I went to Beacon." A smile came to his face as memories of the wedding came back to him along with all of the fun times with his sister. Then again, she hadn't been on the call when he told the rest of his family about his relationship with Pyrrha due to being on a different continent.
"Didn't you say that you have five sisters or something?"
"Nora, he's told us multiple times that he has seven sisters." Ren corrects his best friend.
"Seven!?" The shorter redhead nearly screams. It seemed that she would purposely forget about that tidbit of information. "Damn! Your parents must have been busy! You better watch out if that's how Jaune is!"
"Nora!" All three of her teammates yelled back, two of them blushing bright red at the implications she was making.
Silence reigned for a short time, allowing the teens to recover their composure. But it was Ren who broke it. "Jaune, why don't you tell us about your sisters? I assume we will be meeting one of them once we arrive at Argus."
"Oh, sure! Why not?" Jaune was thankful for the change in subject from what Nora had said, it was difficult to keep his mind from wandering into thinking what it would be like. "Well… I guess it's best to go in order from the oldest." He opens his scroll and finds a childhood photo to show his friends.
"First there's Rouge. She's twenty eight now and she moved out of the family house to another on our land. She's got a little girl of her own and teaches at the hometown school. Then there's Saphron, she's twenty six and she's the one we'll see once we're off the train. Verte is next, she's twenty three and always one to find some way to never sit still like climbing trees and stuff. You have no idea how many times she brought home some bug or snake or something like that trying to make it a pet.
Then there's Bleue, I guess you could call her a nerd, in a way. Always watching documentaries and reading books, top of her class, even moved up a year early on. She's twenty two and taking college classes from home… I forget what her major is. And the twins… Blanc and Noire… if there's any troublemakers in my family, it's them. Always pulling pranks and stuff, keeping things from getting boring. They're about a year and a half older than me and actually helped to keep the bullies off me in school… Nobody messed with the 'Double Trouble' and nobody messed with their family without consequences.
Then there's me then my little sister Violette, she's sixteen now but will have a birthday by the end of the year." Jaune finished, pointing at each of them in turn in the picture. All eight children on a red couch in various ways- Jaune sitting in the middle with Saphron laying on the seat with her legs up the back and her head hanging to look at the camera. Bleue stood next to Jaune on the floor, caught adjusting her glasses while Verte stood on the couch behind her with one foot on the armrest looking to the side, shading her eyes with one hand. The twins were on the other end, Blanc sitting on the armrest and Noire hanging off the back with both of them pulling funny faces. Saffron stood behind the couch leaning over it to ensure that she was in the picture as Violette sat on the top.
Though it was humorous to see that while Rouge had a hand on Jaune's head, apparently comforting the young boy, it was the fact that his short hair had been roughly put up into twin ponytails and he held a little sign with 'HELP' written on it.
"Oh! That is so cute!" Nora gushed over the photo, Pyrrha was content as she had seen it several times before and agreed with the sentiment.
'If we would have children, would they look more like me or him? It seems that his family's genes are very strong.' The Spartan wonders. And if something should happen to either of them during their Huntsman careers, there would be a large loving family to take them in and help out. 'NO! IT'S TOO SOON TO BE THINKING ABOUT THINGS LIKE CHILDREN! WE STILL NEED TO DO OUR BEST TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFER TO RAISE THEM!'
Nobody called her out for her face turning as red as her hair and swaying a little where she sat, though Jaune did wrap an arm around her waist to steady her. That just made the curvy warrior lean into his shoulder with a small smile, glad that he was there for her.
Then the train shuddered violently, spoiling the mood and instantly bringing them all to full alert. As they stood up, Qrow opened their door.
"We've got Grimm attacking! Grab your weapons and let's go!"
Ren stood and took Stormflower from under the pillow on his bed as Pyrrha used her Polarity to pull Milo and Akouo to her hands from where they rested against the wall. Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors from the air, since his girlfriend had brought it up as well. That left Nora to heft Magnhild from the floor on her own but paused as the rest of the team went out the door, opening the closet she grabbed a backpack and put it on her shoulders before running after her team.
Team RWBY were out in the hallway too and armed. Of course, Yang had the easiest time getting around with her weapons and Ruby had to keep hers in storage mode.
"How bad is it?" Pyrrha asks as the combined teams met at the door and were looking out any windows facing the valley.
"I'd say that these will be the toughest Grimm we've fought in a long time." Weiss responds as Dudley comes running into their car through the door.
"Stay put, we got this handled." The tall man orders as he lifts the scroll in his hand and types in a command, causing all of the windows to be covered over by crossing steel bars granting them additional protection. Outside of the train where they couldn't see, plates on the sides shifted upwards to reveal that they are additional armor in case of a side collision. The presence of the Grimm had sent the protectors of the train to go from the bragging and somewhat bumbling men to actual professionals doing their jobs the best they could.
Up at the engine of the train, Dee had the armor shift to cover more and pods on the top of every car opened to allow a turreted gun to rise. Another command ensured that they would target the Grimm and begin firing. And those guns? Fifty millimeter grenades with timed fuses, programmed by the rangefinders on each individual gun so that they didn't need to have a direct hit to destroy their targets,
Needless to say, with thirty cars the opening salvo sent the flock of Grimm scattering after nearly half of them were blasted away.
Yet more flew down from the surrounding mountains… and had their own way to return fire- quite literally as they launched fireballs from their mouths.
"We need to do something!" Ruby shouts from the door as she tries to unlock it.
"I have it handled!" Dudley yells at her. "All of the train's defenses have been activated; armor plates, barred windows, turrets, the works. Either the Grimm attacking us will die, give up, or we outrun them. No matter what, we'll be safe here."
"Are ya sure about that?" Qrow identified the Grimm outside. "They seem to be trying pretty hard to knock on the door."
"It's fine! This isn't the first time we've dealt with these things." Dudley fires back, watching as a Grimm tries flying in close to the train only to get hit by two grenades at once to vaporize it. But he instinctively flinched when a fireball hit the side close to a window, flames briefly washing over the glass and the car shuddered from the impact.
"Right." Qrow drawls before turning back to the Huntsman. "Got any platforms on this thing we can help shoot back from?"
"Why would we have that? It's too cold most of the year to be outside!"
"Humor me."
Ray chimed in at that point. "Trains like this have small platforms between cars to allow passengers and crew to move from one to another. We could occupy those spaces to shoot back."
Oscar held up his scroll to show a picture of the train, notably the last car that did have a covered platform where several people could gather comfortably. "And there is one place like you asked for."
"Hmm… you're being more helpful than Diddly Dum." Qrow wisecracks as he checks the picture for himself and compares that to his own mental map of the train and their position on it.
"RWBY! JNPR! We're gonna spread out through the train! Take a car and defend it as best you can and keep the people calm!" Qrow relays the plan to the others.
"Alright, got it!" Jaune shouts back, the car shaking from another attack.
"More are coming!" Nora shouts from the window as she spots a group barreling for the cars ahead.
"Go! We'll cover the front end!" Jaune orders, Nora dashing ahead to do her job, followed by the others.
"Okay RWBY! We'll cover the rear!" Ruby shouts… before a small snort was heard. "What?"
"N-nothing!" Yang stammers as she walks by to follow after JNPR.
"What was so funny?" The young girl asks as the rest of the team moves, only to be slowed down as Weiss and Blake had to squeeze their bottom heavy frames through the doors. "Oh."
Meanwhile, Qrow and Ray went to the last car, leaving Oscar to defend their belongings, and found the platform.
"Cover me, I can only shift back and forth so often before I get dizzy." The Huntsman says before taking avian form and flying out towards the Grimm, battling the mountain winds and falling snow as he went.
'He learned that early on with his team, I believe.' Ozpin says from within Ray.
"Ah." Despite the knowledge coming with the merger between Roman and Ozpin, the man was constantly finding himself surprised by what he was learning. And seeing a man shift species like that, there was a certain amount of appreciation for the former Headmasters plan for the twins to use those forms to get around unnoticed.
Still, he lifts his cane as a Griffon swoops down at him, blasting it in the face with an explosive round. "That was satisfying." He grins, having no desire to tempt fate with a second round with such a beast.
Further up the train, Jaune was having his own troubles thanks to the lack of range he had with his weapons. From his position between cars and the fact that the train was making a right turn, he could see his teammates and their weapons firing at the Grimm as they drew close, acting more as a deterrent and distraction to allow for the turrets above to target those Grimm and kill them.
At least Ren and Pyrrha were. Nora had the firepower to outright kill the beasts thanks to her grenades. And the sound of her laughter carried through the wind from the car ahead of him.
Looking back into the car he had chosen to protect, he spotted a young boy with a slingshot in hand and another passenger who looked to be quite well off with a number of Dust crystals in a box in her hands.
"Mind if I use these?" The blonde points to the items in question.
The kid looked almost excited at the prospect, his father was apprehensive but allowed it.
"Thanks! I'll sign it for you once we're out of this mess." Now the kid was almost bouncing in his seat, trying to move to the window so he could see what a Huntsman could do with his toy.
"Do you have any idea how much these are worth?!" The woman was indignant, reminding Jaune of how bad Weiss was when they first met.
So he went for the blunt approach. "Are they worth risking the lives of the others on this train?" A fireball hitting the outside seemed to punctuate his words.
She wrestled with herself a few moments as eyes from everyone in the car fell on her. "Very well, here. At least try to return what you don't use."
"Thank you."
That said, he took the Dust and dumped it into a small bag, attaching that to his belt before going back between the cars.
"It's been a little while, let's see if I lost my touch."
He gave the band a few pulls to test the strength, surprised that it needed some effort. Plucking a crystal from the pouch, Fire, he slipped it into the sling and pinched it in.
A Griffon swooped in, passing under the range of the turrets. Jaune saw it and took aim, adjusting for the wind and distance and released as the Grimm screeched as its talons reached for him.
BANG!
The Dust made impact with its shoulder, the abrupt agitation destabilizing the power of the Dust so that it erupted violently.
The Grimm was briefly enshrouded in flames but it emerged just to turn away, the feathers on its wings trailing smoke and its body burning.
From inside the car, cheers could be heard.. leading to Jaune smiling and growing in confidence as he readied his next shot.
—
Yang had the misfortune of her car being attacked by a Manticore- a large Grimm with a cat-like body, feathered wings, a skull mask that not only had frills that formed a mane of sorts but also has a pair of horns that pointed forward. But most worryingly, besides its height of roughly ten feet at the shoulder, its tail is that of a scorpion.
And was it mentioned that they coughed up fireballs?
But the one she was trying to deal with had gotten below the range of her turret and her own shots were doing little as it clung to the side of the train, threatening to tip the car over and quite possibly derail the entire train to fall into the valley below.
"I hate the cold." The girl grumbles as she climbed up onto the roof, finding it extremely difficult to keep her footing with the wind and ice. Maybe it was a good thing she did weigh so much or she could have been blown off as soon as she climbed up.
Quickly, she found one of the massive paws and delivered a heavy punch punctuated by a pair of shells discharging into the limb.
The resulting roar/mewl was almost funny, though the Grimm lost its grip thanks to that and it hit the ground next to the tracks. The friction there tore the Grimm from the train completely and Yang watched as it tumbled down the mountainside, eventually crashing into a boulder.
Now with her hair and coat whipping in the wind and her boots slowly starting to slide on the icy metal, she made her way back to the ladder and inside the car to warm up.
—
Pyrrha kept Milo in rifle mode, her Fire Dust rounds doing decent damage so long as she ensured that she waited for the best opportunities to shoot. Her bullets weren't killing the Griffons or Manticore but they did serve as deterrents and distractions for the turrets to deal the real damage.
A Manticore landed on the side of the train and reared its tail back, preparing to smash in the window with its stinger. Quickly, the young Huntress used her Polarity to draw herself to the metal wall of the car and used it to help her crouch sideways and hurl Akouo as the Grimm struck.
The shield knocked the stinger off so that it slammed into the solid wall of the train, denting it, but its shock left it open for several rounds fired into its flank at close range. The bullets hurt it enough that it let go of the car just in time for the shield to come back and clip its wings, disrupting the strokes enough that it floundered and hit the icy rocks before it could recover.
Catching her shield and sliding herself back to her platform between cars, Pyrrha needed a few moments to calm herself as she had never used her Semblance for so long or in that way before. It didn't help her nerves to know that she had slid down on her return trip as her focus began to wane. A few more seconds and she would have joined the Grimm in the snow.
—-
Weiss had less trouble having to get out of her car. For one, she was used to and didn't mind the cold as much as others. Secondly, she had her glyphs to help her stay anchored and even to act as shields and platforms when needed.
But the Manticore proved to be tougher than the Griffons to go with their size. That didn't include the part where she had nearly been stabbed by the tail by one of them.
"I just healed from the last time I was run through! Not again!" She shouts before kneeling on the roof and summoning her Queen Lancer. "Go! Take them down!" She commands and her Grimm flies out with a screech, firing its stingers at the nearest Manticore.
The train's turrets thankfully didn't target her creation but the distraction provided kept the Grimm from going after the train as much and thus left them open to the turret's attacks.
Seeing that she was successful with her idea, she dropped back down between the cars and out of the worst of the wind.
—-
Nora was having a lot of fun blasting the Grimm away, if her laughter was anything to go by.
Nothing could withstand her grenades, usually by their wings being destroyed and they would fall to their doom. In fact, she was keeping a mental tally of her kills versus the turret on her car and so far they were fairly even.
—
Blake had no idea how she'd fight off the Grimm going after the train. Her pistol lacked the punch required to do more than irritate the Griffons and Manticore and trying to take the fight to the Grimm would be a suicidal action. Jumping at the Sea Fei Long last year had been incredibly foolish but she had water to land in if she fell. Here, she would have a rocky mountainside dotted with trees.
The turret on the roof did everything for her and once Weiss summoned her own Grimm, there was even less for her to do. Pretty much the best she could do was stay on guard and help keep the civilians calm.
On the other hand, she was finding very quickly that she would have gotten new clothes for the colder weather. It was a mistake to keep wearing the same outfit that was good in Menagerie to try going to Atlas in it. It was only her aura that was holding back the worst of the cold but even then it was a constant slow drain.
—-
Ren found himself almost bored. Almost.
Nora was enjoying herself while Pyrrha had her car secured. Jaune, he noticed, had found a way to fight at range with Dust. Yang and Weiss were doing well while Blake didn't have much going on. Ruby was all over the place.
Yet he had little to do thanks to the turrets, Nora, and Weiss… so he could relate with Blake. Even when he did have to use his weapons, they lacked the punch of Blake's pistol yet would fire much faster making up the damage output with quantity. It was enough to drive off any Grimm that came nearby and that would have to do.
—-
Ruby let herself get drawn into the fight as she was near the back of the train, darting around with the use of her Petal Burst for any Grimm that came near. Often, she would hit the Manticore and Griffons before the turrets could target them, rarely doing significant damage that would take them out of the fight but it would keep them away. But she had to be careful not to lose the train. Yet the cold was draining her aura as the use of her semblance made it drop faster, forcing her to retreat back to the car and use her rifle.
Despite all of this, there was a smile on her face as this was the kind of thrill she lived for.
—-
Qrow flitted between Grimm, keeping an eye on where the nearest turret was pointing, returning to human form and aimed for the wings with Harbinger, clipping them so that the Manticore would drop from the sky or become easy targets for the grenades to finish them off. When he could, he'd push off one beast to another to avoid having to switch forms.
It proved rather successful and he saw that Ray was doing well enough adding his own firepower to keep the Grimm at bay, at least until Qrow felt the need to join his youngest niece on top of her car.
"Ruby! You should get down out of the wind!" He shouts over the rushing winds.
"What about you?!"
"I can handle myself!"
"So can I!"
"No license!"
"Umm…"
"Exactly. Get down and stay safe, I'll be going down too." The veteran Huntsman tells her, noting that all of the others were down between their cars already. He already figured Yang would avoid the cold if she could help it, never been one who could stand it for long.
"Fine." Ruby relents and moves to the edge of her car, ready to drop down to the platform, when she gives her Uncle one last quick look to find that he was watching her with a smirk. "Look out!" The girl shouts as she points behind the man as a Manticore swooped in and tore off the turret from the last car under the cover of three Griffons serving as cover, only one of them being killed in the attack.
One of the Griffons flew too close and Qrow bisected the beast with his sword. "Ah shit, that's not good." He mutters as he then has to dodge the twisted metal falling onto the roof where he had been standing. The next turret took out the Manticore but another group swooped down and removed another turret from the train.
"Damn it! We need to get rid of these things!" Dudley climbed onto the roof with them and used his rifle to fire explosive rounds into the nearest Grimm, cheering when he took the head off a Griffon with a single shot.
Qrow turns on the man. "Working on it but we can only do so much in these conditions!"
"Get off my train!" Dee roars as he runs over the roofs, swinging his massive electrified, spiked club at a Griffon, nearly tearing it in half at the waist in a single swing. A Manticore landed in its place and had its leg shattered, responding with a fireball that was dodged only to have the club crush its left wing. The Grimm fell off the train, left to slam into the ground with a crunch of snow and bones.
Another Griffon landed on the roof, only to get beheaded as a red streak burst out from the gap between the cars it was standing over.
Ruby appeared on the roof as the body slipped off with Crescent Rose over her shoulders and smiling. Qrow smirked as he dodged a fireball but the happiness was ripped away like the next turret was by a Griffon.
"Dudley! We're losing our guns fast!"
"I noticed, Dee!" Another Grimm fell to his rifle as a Griffon landed by the melee fighter of the pair and lashed out with its talons.
The Grimm grabbed the weapon that intercepted the attack but found that to be a mistake as it was electrocuted. It took off as a reaction to the pain but it's claws were locked into the shifting sides and the spikes dug into the flesh, so the weapon was taken with it. And Dee refused to relinquish his weapon, taking the time to increase the power and frying the beast.
But by that time, he was far above the ground and away from the train, the dead Grimm only starting to fade to smoke and dragged him down to the rocky slope of the mountain.
"No! Dee!"
The niece and uncle could only watch as the tall Huntsman lost his friend, it all happened so fast and they had been distracted by a fresh group of Grimm joining the attack, one of them a Sphinx.
Nearly twice the size of the Manticore, the Sphinx shared many of the same features with the wings and feline body, though its mask lacked the horns and has long hair coming out from the back. And that didn't include that its tail is actually a snake, reminiscent of the white half of a King Taijitu made slightly smaller.
All of the fresh group fell into formation behind the train and with a commanding roar from the Sphinx, they all launched fireballs at the train.
They erupted in a huge explosion of flames, though the train was fine thanks to Ray shoring an explosive round into the swarm and causing a chain reaction that saved his car from damage, though the blast wave threw him into the wall behind him.
"Is this as fast as this train goes?!" Ray yells as he rolls his shoulder after the impact.
'In these conditions and with the turns… yes.' Ozpin tells his host.
"Damn it."
Qrow swung down onto the platform just then. "These guys are persistent, I'll give them that much." He glares at the Grimm following them as the other Manticore and Griffons continue to attack the train and are killed by turret or Huntsman. "Any way to shake these guys?" Fireballs were shot at them, though they missed or fell short, partly due to Ruby and Dudley returning fire with her rifle.
Oscar burst out the door beneath the rotund Huntress. "Ruby! Get down now!"
"What? Why?"
"There's a tunnel coming up!"
The girl and Huntsman turned to look ahead and indeed the train was about a minute from entering a mountain. Quickly, Dudley dropped down to the platform, pulling his scroll out and had all of the remaining turrets retract back into their pods on the roofs. Meanwhile, Ruby saw that Weiss was standing on top of her own car, too focused on her summoned Queen Lancer to notice the oncoming obstacle.
Instantly she reacted, using her Petal Burst to zip ahead and pluck the older girl from the roof and dive between cars just before they entered the tunnel. Outside, the white Grimm faded away just after it stabbed its stinger through a Manticore.
The red and white blizzard of petals crashed onto the platform to reveal Ruby and Weiss holding onto each other. The former from having grabbed her best friend to save her, unconsciously extending her semblance to her in the process. The latter held on out of shock, completely surprised by being grabbed AND having been split apart and reassembled, not to mention the high speeds at which they moved and that they were twisting as they went.
It was so much that she didn't even realize that they were in a tunnel for a few seconds as she got her bearings again.
"Wh-what w-was that?!"
"What was what? I move like that all the time."
"You don't notice?"
"The part that I move really fast? Yeah."
Weiss had to pinch the bridge of her nose, this wasn't the time for this sort of discussion and if what she noticed did happen, more tests were needed… once they were out of this mess.
The door slammed open and Yang nearly ran into the pair. "Woah!" The blonde caught herself on the doorframe, taking a moment to calm herself and look at what was in front of her. "Well… I was going to check if you two were okay but it seems that you are in good hands."
Blake peeked over Yang's shoulder to see the two holding onto each other yet. "What happened?"
That question made the girls separate as the blonde waved them into the car, the closed door drowning out most of the noise echoing through the tunnel. JNPR came in a few seconds later with their hair disheveled from the wind.
"The Grimm took out two of the turrets from the back of the train and started focusing their attacks there." Ruby explained quickly but kept her voice low so the other passengers wouldn't panic from overhearing her.
"Well, we're not going to be in this tunnel for long." Jaune states as Qrow and Ray walk in. "Do you think we lost them?"
"Not likely, kid." Ray scoffs as he leans against a wall. "Some of them are running after us here in the tunnel. Others flew around the mountain."
"If they're in the tunnel, we can leave a trap for them!" Nora grins widely as she reloads her grenades from the backpack.
Qrow gave her an annoyed glare. "And risk bringing the mountain down on us? No thanks."
Ren sets a hand on the girl's shoulder. "And it would be bad if we destroyed the tracks in the process." Those points made her grin falter.
"So… what's the plan if they are still coming after us?" Yang asks as she looks around.
Pyrrha steps forward. "We should move the civilians to the front of the train where the turrets are still functioning, especially if the Grimm are focusing on the end like you're saying they are."
"They are." Ray confirms.
"JNPR." Qrow garnered everyone's attention as the plan came to him. "We'll need you four to get everyone to the front cars. Tell them to grab their stuff and bring it with them. Pack them together as you need but nothing too bad."
Jaune was quick to catch on. "The dining car is in the middle of the train, we could move them ahead of that."
"Good, get started with that." The Huntsman nods.
"What about you?" Nora asks, worry etched across her face.
"Isn't it obvious? We're hangin' back to pick them off. We'll just need you to make sure the civvies stay out of the way." Ray smirks as he twirls his cane despite the tight confines.
"And Nikos?" Qrow says, his tone becoming even more serious than before, ensuring that his words were to be heeded to the letter.
"Yes?"
"Be ready to split the train if I say so." All of the students' eyes widened at what he implied before accepting that he was right. "Now get to work, we'll buy you time."
—-
"Hey there kiddo. Are you traveling by yourself?"
Oscar turned around at the sound of the aged voice from behind him. There stood an elderly woman a little shorter than himself, though that seemed to be from being hunched over as she seemed to need the cane in her hand with an ornate blue skull on the top. The woman herself has skin a few shades darker than his own, long silvery hair pulled back into a braid running down her back. She wears a blue dress with three layers of frills with the highest just above her knees, and a darker blue cloak with silver pauldrons and edged with lighter blue and white triangles. A beaded necklace with a small skull as the centerpiece hung from her neck as thick brown boots and gloves adorn her extremities.
But what really got his attention were her eyes… or rather the lack of them as she wore what looked like grey goggles with glowing blue lenses, complete with shutters that rotated and blinked to imitate real eye expressions and actions.
"Umm… n-no madam. I'm with friends."
She seemed to notice the cane in his hand. "You're with the Huntsmen who're fighting off the Grimm, hmm?"
"Uh, yeah, I am."
"You look a little young to be an Academy student… but there have been special cases made over the years." The woman smiles.
"B-but I'm not a student! I just have a bit of the combat training that my friend showed me over the past few weeks." Oscar insisted.
"Ha! Better than most people these days." She laughs. "The name's Maria, what's yours?"
"Oscar Pine."
"Glad to meet ya, sonny." Maria takes a few steps in the room with Oscar. "Though would you mind letting me take a seat? I make this trip to Atlas every few years to get my eyes calibrated and it's good to have someone to talk to."
"Umm… sure, go ahead." He couldn't refuse the old woman some mild comfort or such a simple request, even if he saw her have no problems moving to the nearest seat and hopping onto it. "My friends should be back soon, I think the Grimm are gone."
"They aren't gone, just unable to attack right now." Maria's tone shifted from the playful she had been using to one far more serious. "Give them a minute and they'll be back." She adds just as they emerged from the tunnel, the bright light momentarily blinding them.
—-
"Dudley, activate those turrets." Ruby says as the last of the passengers walk by carrying their bags and with Yang and Blake assisting their children to follow.
"That's the last of them. We have everyone moved, then it's just our car and the big cargo car that has Yang's bike in it." Weiss states to her team leader as Qrow and Ray had returned to the cargo car to prepare for the next round of Grimm attacks.
"Little Red, you better get your friends back here if we're gonna make it to Atlas." Ray spoke over the scroll, sounding a touch surprised. Above them, they heard the turret start to fire.
"I still can't believe we are working with Roman Torchwick." Weiss shakes her head as they wave for the other half of the team to hurry up and follow.
"Better than working FOR him." Ruby shrugs. "But he's Ray now."
A minute later, Team RWBY stood on the platform of the last car and watched as the Grimm led by the Sphinx chased after the train. Even the turrets taking out Manticore and Griffons didn't make the huge Grimm flinch.
"So… did we ever come up with a way to beat that thing?" Weiss asks, flinching as a fireball hits the tracks a little too close for comfort.
"I know I'm a dog person but…" Yang trails off. "I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to take this with that." She points at the Sphinx taking note of the blend of feline, snake, and avian.
"Hit hard?" Blake suggests. The others looked back at her with odd looks.
"Get down!" Ray shouts as once again the entire flock of Grimm launch fireballs at once and he responds by shooting an explosive shell once more.
The blastwave that was created rocked them all to their cores but they were at least prepared for it. The Grimm flew through the smoke, the first Griffon to emerge receiving a sniper round to the face, making it drop to the ground and tumble in a tangle of limbs.
"Draw in the Sphinx! We kill that and the others will give up." Qrow tells them all. The team spread out the best they could with Blake and Ruby crouching down to fire their weapons. Yang, Ray, and Qrow stood over them to use their own while Weiss was left to hang back and use her Glyphs to hurl fire and ice.
The combined attacks had the desired effect of pissing off the Grimm, making them charge in blindly and forgetting that they were in range of the turrets and the humans and Faunus took out their fair share. The Sphinx roared and several Manticore broke off to flank the train.
"Get up top! Don't let the turrets be taken out!" Qrow orders as he fires his shotgun at a Griffon that nearly reached the platform. The girls scrambled up the ladder to the roof and quickly having to dodge as a turret bounced by, by chance smashing into a Manticore that flew too low to the tracks.
"How are we supposed to fight? We'll just slide off!" Yang yells over the noise of the wind and wheels on the tracks.
"I'll handle that!" Weiss crouches and a series of Glyphs were produced that covered the tops of the next four cars. "Just don't fall off and cover me."
Yang was quick to test the aura construct knowing that the heiress had used them many times in the past to jump on and off of. "This will do." She grins and charges forward to meet a Manticore running at her with its horns ready to gore the young woman.
They clashed with the blonde grabbing the horns as her momentum was reversed for a short distance before she found steady footing and wrenched the head to the side, taking advantage of the exposed neck to discharge Hiryu Shoten to tear out the Grimm's throat.
Ruby was much more efficient in her first fight, zipping ahead and sliding under a claw swipe and letting Crescent Rose rise to gut the Manticore before getting fancy and jumping to the next and used its head as a stepping stone to flip and cut off the wings, landing on the tail so she could aim her rifle back and shoot the head, killing the beast.
Blake ran out and used a Shadow to confuse her Grimm when it tried to ram her with its horns, reappearing overhead and used the ribbon from Gambol Shroud to tie the wings and tail together, making it roar in frustration. Spotting the heavy cat next to it, it released a gout of flames only for her to dodge by swinging under it, not only unbalancing it with her weight but by using her cleaver to cut into its front legs.
It tried to burn her again but she jumped and threw the cleaver down into its neck before landing on the back of the blade with her full weight, decapitating the Grimm.
Qrow flew out and slashed through a wing on an airborne Manticore, causing it to fall and miss the train.
—-
Inside with Oscar and Maria, they could hear the fighting going on above them but stayed in the room while being alert for any of the Grimm to attack the car itself. They did see the massive bodies falling off so that kept their hopes up.
Caw CA-Caw!
"What was that?" Oscar couldn't help but to ask as he peeks out of the room to see a white bird hopping into JNPR's room.
"Don't let it go through their things." Maria advises, watching as the boy hefts his cane and creeps over to the room.
Once there, Oscar found the bird hopping around on the beds looking around before darting to the closet to see what was in there. Convinced that the bird was distracted enough that he could sneak close enough to catch it, Oscar slipped in and reached in slowly with his gloved hand while it had its head behind a bag.
Then the bird lifted its head and Oscar saw it for what it is- a Grimm. A small white Nevermore complete with the usual mask and four red eyes.
"Oh no!" With those words the Grimm flew out with a screech, forcing him to duck to avoid the clawed feet.
The Nevermore flew into the room he'd left where it found Maria, the woman swinging her cane at it but missed. Several more attempts were made but it flew erratically, causing her to nearly hit Oscar when he ran in and she did hit the closet door just as the car rocked and there was a flash of flames washing over the window.
And with the car rocking, things fell from the closet… including a golden lamp with blue glass.
The Nevermore dodged a pair of canes swinging at it and landed on the lamp to peck at it once before releasing an ear piercing screech and exploded in a flash of red light and black mist.
"Oh, that can't be good." Maria states as Oscar collects the Lamp and holds onto it.
—-
Back outside the team had dealt with most of the Manticore and Griffons, though some of them had been attracted to the front of the train where JNPR and the turrets picked them off. The Sphinx launched another fireball, this one striking the side of their car and rocking the entire thing with the force, making them all grateful for the Glyph under their feet.
"Hurry up and kill it, I can't maintain my Glyphs for much longer." Weiss calls over the wind just as the Sphinx flies overhead, passing her by as she didn't seem to be a threat or in any position to be one as it could see that she was wearing herself out just to help the others.
"On it!" Ruby shouts back as she starts firing, the bullets doing little to such a large creature. Yang had just as much success with her shotguns and the same applied to Qrow and even less for Blake. The only one who seemed to do any meaningful damage was Ray.
"Try to keep it from moving!" The former thief suggests. "Watch out for its tail!"
Yang resisted the urge to roll her eyes since she had to keep them on the snake that served as the tail of the Sphinx. The damn thing acted independently from the rest of the creature, guarding its flanks and rear by covering its blind spots. Moving in, the blonde rolled to the side to avoid the fangs in a mouth big enough to swallow her.
Reacting quickly, she used all four guns to hurt the snake as much as possible as it was extended, managing to remove a few scales and making it 'bleed' black mist that was lost in the wind as fast as it appeared. Blake darted in and slashed with her blades, doing as much damage before having to back off as the Sphinx moved. Then the snake struck at the girls again.
On the other end, Qrow and Ruby tag teamed the head while dodging claws, teeth, and fire. But one thing that they noticed was that there seemed to be a sudden shift in the Grimm from being careful and patient to a near frenzy just a few seconds ago. Whatever caused it, they didn't know but they did their best to keep the attention on them rather than letting it target Weiss, even if she was being guarded by Ray.
"Over here Ugly!" Qrow shouts as he slashes across the Sphinx's face with his sword, leaving a gash across its mask. Landing near the edge, he couldn't help but to scoff. "Damn thing has a thicker skull than most Huntsmen I know."
"Is that why you've been hurt everywhere but your head?" Ruby quips as she runs by to gain the Grimm's attention, leaving its flank open for him to attack.
"So you do listen to your Dad!" Qrow shot back as he took the opportunity presented to him but his attack was thwarted by the wing. Yet he still managed to lodge his sword into the limb deeply, eliciting a pained roar before he pulled out and backed off as the snake struck at him.
"Oh no you don't!" Yang shouts in anger as she jumps onto the base of the tail and unloads every shell she had left in Ember Celica as fast as possible, the wound being a large burning cavity that smoked heavily as the snake convulsed in pain.
"Yang!" Blake calls up as she tosses the shuriken with attached ribbon to the blonde who caught it and quickly guessed at the plan.
The cat ran under the snake, drawing its attention and ire and it struck, missing but the ribbon snagged on a few scales. Seeing that and because she was out of room, Blake turned and smirked as the snake twisted so that the ribbon wrapped around more of it, and again and again. The next time it struck, it fell far short as it was tangled. The red eyes glared back at the base and found the smirking blonde that had hurt it so much holding the end of the ribbon before a weight pulled on its head thanks to Blake swinging herself like a wrecking ball with her combined swords at the ready once she was above the immobilized snake.
"Finish it!" Yang shouts as Blake fell and swung, putting her weight behind the strike.
With a yell of exertion, Blake nearly severed the head of the snake from the rest of the tail, but that was more than enough to 'kill' it.
Ruby managed to zip her way above the claws to come down with Crescent Rose on the other wing, extending the blade into a true battle scythe so she could have maximum penetration and the wing was crippled permanently. It retaliated with a fireball that only hit rose petals.
"Good job!" Her Uncle congratulates as his niece reformed next to him, her cloak slightly smoldering from the close call. "Now let's finish it off!"
Yang ran under the Sphinx and slammed her right elbow into the front leg with a shot from Hiryu Shoten, causing the knee to buckle. Blake, now having the ribbon rewound, used her sword to hamstring the rear leg while it was distracted.
Qrow had Harbinger change to scythe mode as he ran to one end of the car as Ruby took the front end. Ray shot an explosive round into the gaping wound on the tail, removing it completely this time and causing a greater distraction for the crippled Grimm.
The Uncle and niece ran towards each other where the Sphinx was in the middle with their blades ready to act as a large scissor. Yet the Grimm still had fight in it, smacking Yang to the side where Ray had to catch her from rolling off the train and releasing a fireball at Ruby, the girl briefly allowing it to pass 'through' her in a timely use of her semblance, said fireball striking a car further ahead.
But nobody paid attention to that as the pair passed each other under the Grimm's chin, shortly followed by their weapons cutting into flesh. As the resistance grew on their blades as the neck proved to be tougher than expected, both fired a round from their respective guns and used the recoil to assist their remaining momentum to decapitate the Sphinx.
Sliding to a stop, Qrow and Ruby looked at their handiwork with smiles as Blake moved out of the smoking remains path as it collapsed and began to fall off the train. And with that danger gone, Weiss let her Glyph fade away so everyone could properly stand on the roof.
"Finally!" The heiress gasps as she falters only to be held up by Yang and Ray. Looking ahead, the team could see the other Grimm starting to give up on their attacks with only five of them left.
"I think we have a problem." Blake points out that the car that had been hit was on fire. Specifically, it was the food car and it held Dust and gas to cook with.
"Ah man, I don't want burnt food." Yang whines as the adrenaline rush of the fight begins to wear off and make her aware of the cold once more.
"Not the time to worry about your stomach." Blake chides her as her nose picks up smells of some of the things that were burning… particularly the Dust that was growing stronger as the flames grew visible.
Ray was quick to call up Pyrrha on her scroll when he saw the flames growing. "Nikos! Release the dining car! It's going to blow!"
"O-On it! What about you?!" The Spartan could be heard asking from the other end.
"We'll follow the tracks to Argus! Tell them to send a rescue team to pick us up part way!"
"If you insist! RRAAAGGGHHH!" Her grunts were accompanied by metal grinding against itself and soon the team felt their segments begin to slow.
The biggest problem was now that the rest of the train was pulling away, more air was blowing into the food car and fanned the flames so they burned hotter and spread further in the kitchen.
"Awww…. Crap." Qrow groaned as he saw that bit of oversight. "Everyone off the roof!"
They didn't need to be told twice, barely bothering with the ladder as they simply swung over the edge of the roof onto the platform and ran inside the car. And while they were slowing down, they were still moving quite fast as even a horse would have trouble keeping up at full sprint.
"Guys! You won?!" Oscar greeted them though he looked worried.
"Yeah kid but we have other problems. Better hold onto something and brace yourselves." Ray warns as he grabs Oscar and holds onto the bunk bed.
Weiss and Ruby were back at a corner and held onto each other and a railing, kneeling on the floor. Yang was next to them almost taking the position of a human shield as her right hand gripped the rail. Blake lodged herself in the other corner with her arms against the wall while Qrow braced himself in the doorway of the room, idly noting the elderly woman sitting on the one bed and that Oscar was holding the Lamp.
A few seconds later, explosions ripped through the food car, thoroughly mangling it and damaging the tracks with debris so the other cars behind it derailed and they rolled down the steep slope into a deep ditch, their greatest saving grace being that the area was clear of trees and large boulders that would have torn open the cars, instead they had deep snow drifts that they plowed and rolled through until they came to a stop.
—-
Pyrrha watched from the door as the burning car drifted further back, the slight turns of the track making it harder to see as the gap between them grew wider. Then she saw the explosion tear the car apart, making her glad that they had all of the civilians with them but that was tempered by knowing that her friends and Ray were back there.
"Do… Do you think that they are alright?" Nora asks quietly, hoping that they weren't hurt.
"We'll see them at Argus. There's no way that should hurt them too much." Jaune answered with conviction.
Ren pats the knight and Valkyrie on the shoulders, silently offering his support.
Jaune took a deep breath before letting it out in a big sigh. "Come on, we should make sure the rest of the passengers are okay." A few minutes later, he found the woman he'd gotten the Dust from and returned the few that were left.
"Huntsman!" She called out before he walked too far, making him stop and turn back to her.
"Is… there something you need?" Jaune wasn't sure what she would say, especially after how she was at the start of the battle.
"Yes, I need to apologize for earlier." Her words were sincere and she held out the bag that he had returned. "And take these back, consider them payment from me for the protection you gave us all."
Jaune didn't know what to say to that but his mothers teachings made him accept the Dust with a nod of appreciation. Turning around, he found the boy from earlier who he borrowed the slingshot from.
"Wow! Did you really kill Grimm with it?"
Now Jaune couldn't help but to smile as he took the weapon from his waist and held it out in front of himself. "Yeah I did. And with help from the nice lady for providing the Dust." He gestures to the woman who blushed at being pointed out.
"Can you sign it? My friends won't believe me if I just tell them what happened." The kid asks.
"Hehe, sure. Got a pen?"
A few minutes later the boy was sitting with his father staring at the slingshot in his hands as he read over the words written on it in permanent ink.
Jaune Arc
With this slingshot he killed
Seven Griffons
Four Manticore
May the days of Tobi Tori be bright
AN: And how was that fight?! Yeah, there was a fair bit that was changed from the original such as adding a lot more Grimm and not having the teams fighting on top of a moving train in a snow storm, but I think this was plenty enjoyable for you all. Plus we got a good bit of insight into Jaune's family and a unique skill he has that for some reason was never explored. Be sure that will be brought up later by his team.
But it seems that Team RWBY and ROQ have been put into a bad situation with their half of the train derailing and leaving them stranded in the snow. But we'll have to see how they fare next time as we check in with the other teams to see the results of their own attacks.
Until next time, reviews are welcome!