A/N: First of all, I am very sorry for the wait. I don't blame anyone for giving up on this story. At the end of the chapter, I'll talk more about what happened exactly, as well as what the future of this story will look like from here, but I won't make you scroll through all of that just to get to the actual chapter, so here you go.
Previously, because it's been way too long: Team RNJR and Qrow arrived at Haven and met up with Maria, while Usopp is outside trying to hunt down the Grimm and Pop Green hybrids created by Arthur Watts, as well as using his Observation Haki to find any trace of Cinder. Maria decides to teach Haki to the group in an effort to bring their strength to a level that Usopp can rely on. In Atlas, a megoliath Pop Grimm was spotted, with Franky volunteering to take it out in Penny's place.
Maria, Qrow, and Team RNJR had finished a discussion with Lionheart earlier in the day, and Maria left it feeling rather conflicted. The reason being that she had put the dots together and realized that ever so important Spring Maiden was Raven. It was also in this conversation that she learned the true nature of Raven and Yang's connection that Usopp only had a vague idea of before. With her traveling as a bandit instead of raising her daughter, she couldn't imagine that their relationship was positive. Yet, she would not make that call before talking to Yang herself, who happened to not be present. For the time being now she decided to keep the identity of the Spring Maiden to herself, though that didn't mean she couldn't say what she knew in half-truths.
"Damn Lionheart… What the hell is he thinking?" Qrow complained.
"If I may, he's not exactly wrong about our chances against the Spring Maiden," Maria said, deciding on a compromise. "Usopp and I encountered her and Raven's bandit tribe on the way here, and I fought a woman who is most likely the Spring Maiden."
Qrow widened his eyes. "Are you sure? How dangerous is she?"
"I myself only barely won, and that was because she underestimated me at first. If we were to fight again, I couldn't say how things would go. With Usopp occupied, capturing someone like that by ourselves isn't quite feasible. She's loyal to the tribe too, so trying to convince her to join us wont work either."
"Dammit… This is all just too much… I'm heading to the bar…"
Maria nodded. "For today that's acceptable, but we will actually need your help for training at some point. I'll see how things progress with everyone else after today, but I'm sure you'll speed things along nicely enough."
"Sure… I wonder about that..."
General Ironwood, Winter Schnee, Clover, and Marrow were all waiting as the Manta carrying Franky finally flew up to Atlas.
"We don't have much time to spare Franosuke," Ironwood said, "but I've selected these three to assist you. If possible, let Winter get the finishing blow against this Grimm, but you must prioritize the survival of everyone, including yourself."
"Oh, so you're going to make this a bit more interesting then?"
"Please treat this seriously," Winter said, "Lives are at stake."
"I am SUUUPEER serious, lady. I just promised my niece I'd finish this soon, so let's not waste any more time."
It was hard for Winter to believe that someone heading out into the freezing cold in a speedo was taking anything seriously, but there was not any more time left to waste.
"And one last thing..." Ironwood said, "Winter, if you would..."
"Sir, are you certain?"
"I am."
"Very well."
It seemed that only Franky was confused on what the two were talking about, but no one cared to explain. He was given a backpack with spare containers of cola, and all of the members of the mission entered the designated Manta.
After the Manta took off, Winter stood up and headed over to where Franky was sitting. "Are you aware of just how cold it's going to be out there once we reach this Megoliath variant?"
"Oh yeah, I remember it being quite chilly last time I was out there," he said, and yet he made no moves to change his wardrobe.
Winter sighed. "Luckily for you, it seems that you've earned some of the General's trust… I have been tasked with unlocking your Aura."
"My what now?"
Winter studied the expression on Franky's face, and finding it genuine, decided to explain more. "Aura is the manifestation of one's soul… though from a practical standpoint, it can strengthen you as well as protect you from physical harm and the dangers of the elements."
The manifestation of one's soul… Franky thought, Is that the kind of power Pietro used to create Penny?
"And you're going to unlock this 'Aura' thing for me? How does that work?"
"Just close your eyes and focus within yourself, it won't take long."
Franky did just that, and Winter put a hand on his giant mechanical shoulder and recited a short chant. It didn't take long for a light blue field to shimmer around Franky's massive frame.
"Whoa girl, this is like a forcefield or something!" Franky yelled with stars in his eyes.
"It… could be called that, I suppose. Anyways, you better appreciate how much trust the General put in you to give you this power."
"Yeah yeah, anyways, where is this Grimm we need to fight?"
"We'll be in visual range in about twenty minutes," the pilot responded, "Considering the danger, I'll have to drop you off from a high altitude. Will that work for you, Franosuke?"
"Of course!"
It wasn't long before the truly massive Megoliath became visible to the four man team sent to dispose of it. The mammoth-like creature was large enough to be able to step on a normal sized Megoliath, and that wasn't all that was strange about it. Its back was much like a porcupine's, but rather than normal barbs, it was covered in black bamboo spikes that were deceptively large. The beast's trunk was also replaced with what appeared to be a massive venus flytrap, whose 'mouth' was dripping with a black fluid.
"That thing is more than half the height of Oars," Franky said.
"Wait wait, hold on a moment, you've seen something bigger than that?!" Marrow asked.
"Well, it was taller, but this thing's much wider. But you don't need to worry about that."
The pilot brought the Manta high above the strange Megoliath, and Franky got ready to drop. "I'm going first, like we discussed, right?"
"Yes, please be sure to distract it so the rest of us can drop in and surprise it. This should go without saying, but don't get yourself killed."
"You can SUUUPER leave it to me! I'll take whatever it can dish out head on!"
Franky jumped out of the Manta, plummeting towards the ground. He was small enough in comparison that the massive Grimm didn't even notice as he hit the ground, letting him get his bearings and charge up a powerful laser attack.
"This Aura really is protecting against the cold... In any case, EAT THIS YOU STUPID ELEPHANT!"
The Megoliath turned it's head towards Franky, only to see the cyborg's hands brought together, with a light charging up between them.
"Radicaaaaaal… BEAAAAAAAM!"
The laser hit one of the beast's knees and exploded, carving out a large enough hole that the leg could no longer support the massive creature. It let out an ear piercing screech as its balance was disrupted, toppling forward for a bit.
"That had to get its attention… Yeah, it's definitely doing something."
"GRAAAAAAHHHH!" The bamboo barbs on the creature's back that normally faced backwards were arcing up and all started to point straight at Franky. A few seconds later, the huge spikes were shot off in a barrage of death that would be impossible for any normal person to deal with.
Of course, Franky was a Straw Hat. Normal wasn't even in their vocabulary.
Catching one of the spikes with both hands, Franky grimaced. "These things are almost as big as I am! And they keep regrowing on that thing's back… But I guess I should thank you for the construction material!"
Using a variety of tools built into his body, Franky cut all the dark bamboo that was surrounding him into neat planks, which he then used to build a makeshift staircase. At the same time, he deflected any incoming projectiles with the bamboo spear he caught earlier.
"Just how is he doing that?" Winter asked no one in particular, "Ah forget it, thinking about this will only get in the way. It's time for us to go as well."
Clover and Marrow both nodded, and the three dropped in themselves out of the creature's line of sight.
Meanwhile, Franky's physics defying staircase was about to collapse, but it had served its purpose. From the height he had gained, he was able to use the giant bamboo spear he picked up to pole vault all the way towards the Grimm.
The carnivorous trunk tried to open its mouth and intercept, but it was suddenly frozen in place. Franky recognized it as the ability that was once used on him, and smirked as he realized his backup had arrived. With his path clear, he got right up to the Grimm's head and managed to let loose a barrage of punches. "Franky Iron Boxing!"
"Ugh, freezing this thing is taking so much that I'll have to be strategic about this," Marrow complained.
"Count yourself lucky that it works at all, " Clover retorted.
The monster's bone plate protecting its skull shattered, but before much more damage could be done, Marrow had to undo his Semblance. Taking a moment to realize it was freed, the mammoth's bamboo barbs became flexible like whips and all slammed into Franky, knocking him into the snow covered ground. Soon after, the plantlike trunk arced down to consume the cyborg. A fishing rod line hooked on Franky's arm and pulled him away before such a thing could happen, and he reunited with Marrow and Clover. Winter was still nowhere to be seen.
"You alright Franosuke? That had to have hurt at least a bit."
"Eh, that all hit my metal front so I'm fine… Ah I totally forgot to use that Aura thing to protect myself, but enough of that. This thing's actually pretty damn tough… I'll try weakening it with the Radical Beam, but I might have to shoot it in the head if this gets too dangerous. But first I'll try taking out all that bamboo on its back!"
"Just keeping it frozen is taking a lot of Aura. I'll have to time using my Semblance once your laser is charged, if that's alright." Marrow said.
"And I suppose I'll take the role of keeping it distracted," Clover said, "Lucky me."
"Sounds like a SUUUUPEER plan guys! Let's go!"
Clover ran forward and managed to hook one of the monster's eyes while Franky charged his Radical Beam once more. A flock of small but white-blue Nevermores could also be seen harassing the Grimm. At the moment that Franky was ready, Marrow activated his Semblance, assuring that Franky's laser could not be evaded.
"Radicaaaaaal… BEAAAAAAAM!"
"Do you really have to say it like that every time?" Marrow asked.
"Yes."
The laser carved out a chunk of the mammoth Grimm's back, destroying about half of the bamboo at the roots.
"RUuuuUURGHHAAAAaasAH!" The beast howled out, now missing major parts of its body.
"Alright, a few more of those and Winter will be able to go in and finish it off!"
"We gave you spare cola, so don't be stingy!"
Franky nodded at Marrow and started to prepare another laser before he saw something strange happen. The venus flytrap trunk of the mammoth was detaching itself from the head of the monster. It was gruesome, as it seemed to not care how much damage it did to the host Grimm by tearing its roots from the monster's head.
Snap!
Snap!
Snap!
Black fluid oozed out of what was left of the Megoliath's face. The now detached trunk used its roots to make a massive leap to land behind Franky and Marrow, while the heavily injured Megoliath turned away and started to flee.
"Oh shit, Stay!" Marrow yelped, "Franosuke! Clover, Winter and I will deal with the trunk, you don't let that thing get away!"
"I got it!"
Franky caught a fishing line sent from Clover, and he pulled the man over to help Marrow fight against the trunk. Meanwhile, Winter jumped down from a summoned Manticore above the former trunk and cut into its 'mouth' deeply. She expanded the cut as much as she could while the plant was frozen by Marrow's Semblance, and then she surrounded the plant with Fire Dust infused Glyphs. They all activated as Winter jumped away, engulfing the plant in a superheated blaze. She landed next to Clover and Marrow, on guard to what the plant might do next.
"Good luck you guys!" Franky said as he changed his legs into tank tracks and started to chase the injured mammoth Grimm.
"That's why I'm here," Clover said with a smirk.
Franky gave the three a glance as they faced off against the burning Grimm. Considering it was a plant, he figured that they probably just had to survive until it burned to death, or just apply more fire. Still, even with only three working legs, their target was moving faster than Franky was, so he knew that he'd have to take out another.
"Third time's the charm, eh? Get ready for another RADICAAAAAAL… BEEEEEAAAAAAAM!"
Franky aimed for another kneecap, destroying it thoroughly and making the Grimm fall completely on its side. It still seemed to try and crawl forward, but it was much slower.
"You've got determination, I'll give you that. But it's a bit too late to realize you're no match for us."
Franky managed to close the distance at a good pace, and the Grimm tried to use what was left of its bamboo spines to barrage him as he got closer. Such resistance was in vain, as he managed to punch them all out of the way without fail.
"I guess I should deal with that before dragging this thing to that Winter lady… Franky Fireball!"
A massive fireball came out of Franky's mouth and started to burn what was left of the bamboo into ashes.
Back with the three Franky had left behind, they watched as the plant Grimm writhed in agony as it burned. It seemed to not really understand what was happening to it.
"Uh… I honestly expected it to roll in the snow as soon as I released it," Marrow said.
"For such a massive Grimm, it sure acts like it was born yesterday," Clover said.
"Don't let your guard down just yet!" Winter ordered.
Sure enough, the Grimm eventually noticed that parts of its body that were brought underneath the snow were no longer on fire, and it soon buried itself completely.
"This thing really must have not existed for that long… It can learn fast, but it hasn't had the chance to," Clover commented.
Black roots shot out from underneath the snow, but the trio were well aware of that possibility. With agility, grace, and perhaps a bit of luck, they all managed to avoid or cut down the deadly roots that emerged from the snow.
Marrow managed to pelt the Grimm under the snow with Fire Dust rounds, causing it to rise up and try to focus on killing him first. "Stay!"
The manticore that Winter had summoned earlier swooped down on the 'mouth' of the Grimm and used its claws, fangs, and stinger to try and cause as much damage as possible. At the same time, Clover threw several incendiary grenades that lit the creature ablaze. Finally, glyphs once again surrounded the creature, but these didn't have Fire Dust in them.
Winter jumped between each of the glyphs, boosting her speed and leaving a cut on the Grimm with each jump. Marrow also did not relent his barrage of Fire Dust bullets even as Winter was in the way, trusting his skill enough to not hit his teammate.
After leaving upwards of thirty slashes on the monster, Winter landed on the ground and sheathed her sword which was ruined by the creature's dissolving fluids. Marrow's Aura finally gave out and released their target, but it fell into pieces and disintegrated.
"Hah…hah…hah… Good work everyone," Winter said, out of breath.
"Gah I'm cold! My Aura's all gone, get the Manta back down now!" Marrow said
"Wait, Franosuke's coming back with the main body of that Grimm now," Clover said.
Sure enough, Franky was dragging the massive Megoliath body back by its tail. This tail was too high up for him to reach normally, so he had to use the arm that could be extended with a chain.
"Hey guys, you good on your end?!" he yelled out.
"Yeah man, hurry up and get back here so we can get back on the Manta already!" Marrow yelled back.
"This thing isn't exactly light, you know!"
Winter idly wondered if she'd have to borrow someone else's weapon to finish off the creature, but she didn't have much longer to think as what Franky had assumed was incapable of fighting further suddenly roared and stood up on two legs in a final act of defiance.
"Still have some fighting spirit, eh? I guess I'll have to kill you after all."
"Hold on a moment, Franosuke." Winter summoned a massive glyph the size of the creature's head, and out of it came a white-blue version of the 'trunk' she had finished slicing to pieces moments earlier. This new summon promptly devoured the Megoliath's head before both creatures disintegrated. Winter's own Aura shattered and she fell to the ground.
"Winter!"
Winter woke up on the Manta with a blanket wrapped around her. Clover and Marrow were playing a card game against each other, which Marrow was losing if the expression on his face was anything to go by. Franosuke was standing behind Marrow, laughing.
"Wow, your cards suck."
"Don't tell him that bro!"
"You guys…" Winter muttered to herself.
"Oh hey, Winter's awake! Why don't we call this a draw?" Marrow said, trying to salvage the game.
"Winter needs to rest, let's not bother her and just continue."
"Gods, how did you convince me to play against Mr. Lucky again?!"
Clover shrugged.
Winter allowed herself a small smile at the scene. She wanted to say that if they wanted her to rest, they should quiet down, but she decided to let it slide.
Their mission was a resounding success after all.
Not only was the extremely dangerous Grimm monster taken out before it could cause casualties in Mantle, but she added several powerful summons to her own arsenal. The Mammoth part probably would take too much Aura to be summoned at its full size, but it was formidable regardless.
All of this was possible thanks to Franosuke's help. While they might have been able to destroy the large monster without him if they dropped a powerful bomb on it from above its visual range, that wouldn't let her summon the defeated creature.
Every little bit will help in the fight against Salem, after all.
I wonder… Does the General plan to let Franosuke in on the secret? He had me unlock his Aura, so he clearly trusts him far more than he used too. Despite his many quirks, his value as an ally is tremendous. Both for his technological contributions, and his power as a warrior.
Though it might just be too soon.
Pietro and Penny were just exiting the movie theater when a Manta flew down in front of them. Franky dropped from the Manta onto the ground, and he waved at the two. "I told ya I'd be back!"
Penny shot right over towards Franky and gave him a super powered tackle that would have sent anyone else reeling. "Uncle, you're okay!"
"Of course I am! No measly Grimm's gonna give super ol' me any trouble, ya know!" He couldn't help but burst into laughter as one arm hugged Penny towards him.
Pietro just sighed. "She was worried for the whole movie, I'm afraid we'll have to go see another one someday. Hopefully with you this time."
"Ha ha ha, sorry about that. I'll have to make up for it later, but for now let's get home and have a SUUUPEER party!"
"A suuupeer party!" Penny repeated.
Franky continued to laugh, but one of the movie posters caught his eye and made him stop immediately. The others caught on to his strange behavior and looked at where Franky was staring at.
"A documentary about the Fall of Beacon… Is it not too soon for such a thing?" Pietro asked with a frown on his face.
Penny was simply silent.
However, Franky was more concerned about the picture on the poster. "Impossible… Is that… Usopp?"
Penny nodded. "That does appear to be him."
"Yeah, it's hard to tell from the shot, but that slingshot is-" Franky started before he could get the chance to process what had been said, "WAIT, WHAAAAAAAT?!"
A/N: You might be curious why this story wasn't updated for almost three years, and I will say that is entirely on me. So much time has passed that I can't really pin it just one thing, but I'll try to explain: I got a job, which gave me less free time, which made me fall behind. The longer it took for me to write a chapter, the more anxious I got about even posting anything in the first place. I got certain ideas in my head, like if I didn't write a 10k word chapter or something, people would feel like they waited for nothing even if I did post. This chapter had actually been written for a while, but I didn't trust myself to get the next chapter done in a reasonable time.
And there was another glaring reason I found writing this difficult: I kinda messed up in the planning and ran out of Usopp content for now. You might have noticed a lack of Usopp in this chapter. It wouldn't have been a problem if I had a normal posting schedule, but for the comeback chapter after a multiple year hiatus, that would be extremely disappointing. However, there was still a lot of Franky content to chug through before I could continue with the meat of Volume 5, and honestly his plotline is taking longer than I thought it would. As much as I love Franky, Usopp is supposed to be the main character for this fic, and I don't want to forget that.
At the end of the day, I decided not to worry about any of that and just post a damn update. I'm sorry if this is not what you wanted or expected, however I do have some good news!
First, the next chapter is already done, and will be posted in two weeks. Next, my current plan is to try and maintain that schedule, so from now on, I will post new chapters once every two weeks(Stop laughing, I can hear you!). I decided on this schedule mainly because I seem to be the type that can't function without a deadline.
Finally, I have no plans of stopping this story even if RWBY never gets a Volume 10 (I'm crossing my fingers really hard, please get picked up by a new studio!). Things are going to change, so the plot of future volumes isn't pivotal. Should RWBY not continue, Salem's defeat is the only thing I will absolutely have to tackle myself, and I have a backup plan in case it comes to that.