And thus the Battle transitions. Keep reading until the end. It'll be worth it.
Disclaimer: RDF1 doesn't own RWBY, WATCH THE SHOW!
(Chapter Begin)
(Recap)
Ruby landed after a few seconds of falling, her Aura taking a light brunt of damage.
"HALT!" shouted a voice behind her.
"Where did she come from?" asked another as she turned around to see two White Fang Members.
"Take me to your leader," said Ruby, smirking up a storm.
"Cute, but not wise, smart mouth," said one of them, grabbing on her arms rather roughly.
"You don't know just how smart this mouth can be," replied Ruby, as the other one grabbed her other arm and guided back through the doors they entered and down to the ground level of the underground location. Ruby noted multiple things at once, Bombs on a Train, more Atlasian Paladins, and several other containers of what most likely was dust, given the combustive nature of it if dealt with wrong, 'Well, these guys are real idiots, didn't even knock me out. I've just deduced their plan in seconds and I was right to ask for backup before we left.'
"Hey Boss, we got something you need to see," said one of the members holding onto her.
"Is it good or bad, Perry," came a VERY familiar voice to Ruby, "Because let me say I have had a day."
'Oh the irony,' thought Ruby.
"It's a little girl," replied Perry.
Roman stuck his head out, instantly recognizing Little Red, and sighed, "Yeah... That would be bad," he said, taking out his cigar and flicking it away.
(Recap End)
"We've got to stop meeting like this, Little Red," said Roman, walking up to Ruby, and grabbing her chin, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're stalking me. What WOULD your parents say?"
"I wouldn't worry about my parents," said Ruby, 'Though they'd kick your ass and make it look like a parent spanking a naughty child while they're at it.'
"And what makes you say that?" said Roman, before roughly letting go of Ruby, sending her to the ground.
"Let's just say there's someone far closer with far less restraint," started Ruby, when the area started to shake a bit, "Someone who doesn't like when her little sister 'falls' in with a bad crowd. She tends to get mad and wrecks that bad crowd."
The shaking got even stronger as Ruby sped away. Roman, not one for letting Red get away again, used his grappling hook on the handle of his cane to try and grab Ruby back. Ruby, noticing this, blurred into petals, dodging the handle.
"Roman, if you give up now, I may convince my sister not to mess up your fancy suit," informed Ruby, as members of the White Fang came around the corner.
(AN1)
Ruby turned back around and seeing them, quickly knocked each of them to the ground, seeing her team, Zwei, and Doctor Oobleck racing up to her, Yang scooping her up into a bear hug only a sister or mother would give.
"Yang... too much..." choked Ruby, before Yang let her sister go.
"Don't scare me like that again," said Yang, placing Crescent Rose in her hands, "You're sweetheart would be very sad to lose her mother."
"I'm sorry, my darling," said Ruby to Crescent Rose, before putting her away, "We may have forced their hand already. Roman and the White Fang have several train cars worth of weapons and Mechs, even bombs."
"EVERYONE ABOARD! THE TRAIN IS MAKING AN UNSCHEDULED EARLY DEPARTURE!" came Roman's voice over an intercom.
"That would be ridiculous," said Oobleck, "The tunnels were sealed off years ago. They're nothing but a dead end now."
"Hence the Bombs," said Ruby, "I saw them load them on the back Train Cars. Time to call in backup."
Ruby pulled out her Scroll and dialed Jaune's number. It rang for a few seconds before cutting out due to low signal.
"Plan B," said Ruby, pulling Crescent Rose back out into Scythe Form, "We are stopping that Train."
WBY and Zwei grabbed onto Ruby and Oobleck respectively as both sped off to get onto the train. Their arrival wasn't unnoticed as members of the White Fang exited from some of the cars, and more Mechs hopped up onto cars further ahead. That wasn't the worst of it though, since the bomb on the last train car activated as well.
"This isn't good," said Ruby, as they headed towards the next car. Blake jumped down to detach the car, but it separated on its own, "And that's just icing on the cake."
"No, it's worse than that," said Oobleck, seeing another bomb on the car they just jumped on, which activated as well, "All these cars have bombs!"
"GET THE HUMANS!" one of the members called out, getting their attention.
"Move forward. Ignore the Bombs, just stay ahead of the last train car. We need to take them down," ordered Ruby.
Ruby turned to Blake, who sighed, but nodded. They needed to stop them. They can't worry about saving everyone in this situation. RWBY moved forward and engaged the White Fang. Oobleck turned back to see the second car that had decoupled explode, revealing an opening to the surface above, an opening a flood of Grimm were all to keen on taking advantage of, especially with the Negative Emotion Buffet the White Fang provided, giving them a target to chase.
"The train cars detach and explode, leaving openings for Wild Grimm to enter into the tunnel!" informed Oobleck, "He's leading them into the city."
"But that's insane!" exclaimed Blake.
"What's the plan?" asked Yang.
"Weiss, Blake, Yang, get below and try to deactivate the bombs," ordered Oobleck, "Ruby, you're with me. We need to stop this train!"
"Yeah, I already said that, Doc," replied Ruby, twirling her scythe, "So let's go already!"
Ruby and Oobleck stayed on top of the cars to fight the White Fang, while WBY moved forward to the front cars, trying to deactivate the bombs so more openings won't appear. Thanks to their superior speed and skill, plus Zwei's invulnerability to Dust, Ruby and Oobleck battled their way through the remaining members of the White Fang on top of the train.
'Ironic that Yang said she wanted to see Oobleck in a fight, and here he is fighting, yet Yang isn't able to witness it,' Ruby couldn't help but think, considering how different Oobleck is in combat, minus the speed.
Before too long however, Ruby felt a new presence, one she recognized and before Oobleck could even react, she sped off, hoping to get there in time.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang jumped down into the Train Car, looking for more bombs.
"Well, I guess this is what we trained for," said Yang, only to hear two groans beside her, "Wait, that wasn't actually an intended pun!"
"Whatever," said Weiss, pulling out a slide of dust vials, "Blake, this should give you an advantage."
Blake nodded as she accepted the Dust and placed it in the handle end of her sword, already thinking of a strategy between the dust and her semblance.
As they headed forward, the girl from before, the one who helped Roman escape, appeared before them.
"Go on ahead, this one is mine," declared Yang, before using a shotgun blast to distract Neo while Blake and Yang headed onward to the next car.
'Sorry Yang,' thought Neo, smirking at Yang as she approached her, 'I promised Ruby I wouldn't kill you if we ended up fighting, but that doesn't mean I can't take you down a few pegs, especially with your lack of sleep.'
Yang went for an over the shoulder punch, only to be knocked back by Neo's Umbrella.
'Come on Yang. I know you're tired,' thought Neo, who kept up her smirk, 'but you can do better than that.'
Yang let out a flurry of punches, only for Neo to dodge most of them, before deflecting a few more with umbrella, smoothly transitioning into a roundhouse kick that sent Yang to the floor.
'Sorry Yang, but I'm kinda your hard counter,' thought Neo, 'I know exactly how your semblance works, and how to not feed it.'
Neo went for another kick, but Yang managed to dodge it and got back on her feet, some fatigue already showing. Yang went for another punch, only for Neo to grab and pin it while using her umbrella to get another hit on Yang in. Yang continued to try to hit Neo, only for Neo to dodge and deflect everything, even using the Umbrella to block the Shotgun shots. Neo eventually backflipped for some room and sat on a small box, still smirking.
'Tut, tut, Yang,' thought Neo, 'I know you can do better than that. Ruby speaks so highly of you, I thought you'd still be able to do better, even as exhausted as you are.'
(AN2)
Weiss and Blake continued forward, only for another White Fang Member, a Lieutenant if Blake remembered right, to appear before them.
"I'll handle him, you keep going!" informed Weiss, as she and Blake blocked the Chainsaw the Lieutenant was welding, allowing Blake to move ahead.
"Finally, I get to kill a Schnee," grinned the Lieutenant, though it wasn't viewable under his mask.
"You're not the first Fang to try and bite me," said Weiss, holding up Myrtlenaster, "What makes you any different than them?"
"You're about to find out!" shouted the Lieutenant, bringing up his Chainsaw to attack again.
(AN3)
To his credit, he was no amateur with a Chainsaw, which much like Ruby's Scythe wasn't the most common, or easily mastered weapon. Weiss had to pull out everything she's trained in to stay alive against the White Fang: Her shield, Elemental Dust, even Time Dilation and rapid strikes. But the Lieutenant must have Aura comparable to Yang's. It was able to take everything Weiss through at him and managed to grab onto her as her Time Dilation wore off, and slammed her into the ground. Weiss recovered but was sent into the air, to where she barely blocked the Chainsaw from hitting her directly, but enough to still send her back. One more solid kick sent her through the door, to where Blake managed to defeat Roman before coming to help her. Checkmate Lieutenant.
Meanwhile, Neo kept smirking at Yang, taunting her. Yang lost her patience and tried to attack her again, only for Neo to still be in full control of the fight. Yang tried grabbing her and throwing her, but Neo kept her balance and turned it around on Yang, slamming her into the ceiling before landing rather roughly on the floor... KO.
As Neo moved in to check on Yang, a rather foreboding feeling travelled down her spine. A very familiar feeling as she heard thunder crash from not too far off. She turned in time to see a portal appear. Neo barely managed to avoid a slash from Raven herself.
'Nope! NOT EVEN!' thought Neo, extremely fearful right now, 'Ruby, I don't care what your issues with her are, but I am NOT going to be part of them!'
As if thinking of the devil would make her appear, Ruby landed next to her, her eyes focused solely on Raven.
"Neo, get out of here," said Ruby, placing Crescent Rose over her shoulder, "She's mine."
Neo, not looking the gift horse in the mouth, GTFO of there and off the train, retreating back into her office. Neo wanted NOTHING to do with Raven.
(AN4)
Raven looked a Ruby, an unreadable expression on her face under her mask, which it made it even harder to read, but Ruby wasn't going to let this opportunity go.
"I know who you are, Raven," said Ruby, "And I know you know who I am. So I am giving you this one chance. Come back home to your family."
Raven glared, even Ruby could tell that through the mask, before she flicked her sword and opened another portal.
"Raven, you step through that portal, you are dead! It doesn't matter where you go, or where you hide. I will find you and end you if you step through that portal. Don't make me lose another family member to death."
Raven actually stopped. As much as she wanted to say Ruby was bluffing, there was nothing to say that Ruby actually was. If Ruby was anything like her mother, Summer, then she would follow through on that promise. Staying would be better than the alternative. Also, losing the Spring Maiden Powers, giving them to Vernal, Ruby, or Yang wasn't gonna help anything.
Yang was regaining consciousness at this point and Raven had to make a decision. Leave and risk death by her own stepdaughter (though she never actually adopted Ruby), or stay and face Tai and Yang after all these years. A few more seconds of weighing the options, Yang finally noticed her, and Ruby placed her hand on Yang, stopping her from saying anything right away.
'Damnit,' sighed Raven, closing the portal, 'I really don't want to face Summer, and death would ensure that I do.'
"Fine," said Raven, speaking for the first time since getting there, "I won't leave. But don't expect me to be happy about this."
"I don't expect anything from you other than following orders," stated Ruby, giving a hard stare at Raven.
"Ruby..." said a stunned Yang. Her search... it was over. She found Raven. Now she can get her answers.
"Yang, Raven, let's get topside. I have a feeling we're almost to the city," ordered Ruby.
Yang headed up, but Ruby waited a moment when Raven didn't move. Ruby's eye twitched as she pointed to the roof. Raven rolled her eyes, hard to see as her mask was still on, as she followed her daughter onto the roof, followed quickly by Ruby. They were joined by Weiss and Blake seconds later, noting Raven's presence but not saying anything for now. Ahead, less than five miles ahead, was the seal between the tunnel and the city.
"Raven, transform, it'll reduce the space needed," ordered Ruby, much to Raven's irritation, "Weiss, we need the strongest Ice Shield you can muster. NOW!"
Raven transformed into, yes, a raven and landed on Ruby's shoulder. As RBY huddled around Weiss, she called forth her Dust to create an Ice Shield which formed mere seconds before the train hit the barrier, breaking on through to the City on the other side.
Ruby groaned as she forced herself to stand. There was no time to rest, and only they, and Raven, stood between the Grimm and the Civilians in the city. Until the other Huntsman and/or the Atlas Military gets to their location, they were the only line of defense. Taking a breath, her Silver eyes glowed, ready to take down the Grimm.
(Chapter End)
Seems like the Mountain has the advantage this round. Ruby has now come face to face with Roman for a third time. What will happen? find out next chapter! :)
Author Notes...
AN1: Remember the dry cleaned comment from the Mech battle?
AN2: Insight into Neo's thoughts. Even still, that smirk on Neo's face says it all anyways.
AN3: Let's be honest, Weiss could have totally said that, because she doesn't even flinch at those words. This isn't the first assassination attempt against her or her family.
AN4: Let's be honest here: regardless of whatever theory or connection Neo might have (had) with Raven, the bare minimum is that Raven is a true threat and did NOT want to be anywhere around her, not even with a 50 ft pole.
I told you things would split. Raven didn't leave, mainly because she didn't want to risk the Maiden Powers, and now is going to fight alongside RWBY against the invasion of Grimm. Sorry this is so short, kinda need it to be, sadly. Next two chapters will be informative, at least one will while the other will be entertaining... I hope...
Thanks for reading.
Until then...
Later,
RDF1