Episode 1: Chapter 6: Horde

Chapter 6 of Episode 1 of Order of Seasons

            “Are you sure this is all we can do for the time being?”

            “For now Miles. I definitely think that we need to investigate Aequo a bit more thoroughly in time, but we won’t gain anything by just rushing in blindly.”

            “Blake’s right. Also, if my brother finds out about you and who you are to him, it will be bad. He might even go beyond what happened with Blake today, and not even have any reason to hold himself back. Look, so long as we keep this quiet, Nathan might not go completely crazy, but he probably would be willing to destroy you given what happened.”

            “And my actions regarding you and everybody else wouldn’t help that situation either.” Miles said folding his arms.

            “Right." Blake then turned to leave.  "For now, we just stick to our normal lives. You two will keep this quiet, I’ll poke around some of my old connections, and we’ll solve this conspiracy before it gets too big.”

            “All right then. I’ll head back to the dorms and check up on my brother.” Natalie said putting her hood up.

            “Blake, we should rejoin our teams just so they don’t assume we’ve abandoned them or something.”

            “Suits me fine.”

 

 

 

 

It was a bit of a rainy day, but that didn’t stop Christy from trying to defeat the obstacle course that Beanie had set up for the students. The challenge was to try and get from one end of the room to the other, while utilizing both long ranged and close ranged combat skills in order to hold off opponents. Christy was able to hit targets at a distance just fine, but when the had to deal with close quarters, she knew that if she slowed down too much, then it not only affected her score, but also gave her enemies more time to close in. She tried to fight off the oncoming holograms, but time ran out, and a horn sounded. Beanie walked up with a Scroll with her score in his hand. He pushed a button and transferred the information to her own Scroll, showing she had gotten a B.

            “About what I expected for your first time attempting this course. You were phenomenal when it came to ranged attacks, but your close quarters leaves a lot to be desired. I would recommend a training session with Professor Port as he does have a similar style to your own. He is someone who prefers long ranged to close quarters, but knows enough about both sides that it could benefit you greatly.” Christy didn’t say anything as she headed back up to the stands and sat down next to Evan. She was continually looking over her score, and was frustrated.

            “What’s wrong?” He asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

            “Seriously, some kids barely make it through the course and get a C on the task. I don’t complete it at all and I get a B because I simply exceeded expectations. This is ridiculous!”

            “No, they are just taking into consideration your performance in the Emerald Forest and are creating boundaries for you to surpass.”

            “But I’ve always been held back by these “assumptions”. I’ve worked my way up to this point, and still they think I’m too weak to be taken seriously! Why can’t they treat me like everybody else?!” Evan was tempted to try and say something, but he knew that nothing he could say or do would change her mind while she was like this. He just simply turned his attention back to the next person to run through the maze. Ty was just tearing through the course. Literally and metaphorically. Every single hologram that came at him, he either sliced into a million pieces, or lodged on his sword to throw at other enemies.

            “See, that’s what I need. A strong presence in close quarters combat. That’s what I need in order to get stronger.”

            “I understand you want to get stronger Christy, but you have to think about the fact that we aren’t at Signal anymore. We aren’t just randomly going out on missions at the random whims of Professor Xiao Long and Professor Branwen. We have our own teams now, and I think we should look to what everybody needs rather than our own personal goals.”

            “Oh please. You’re starting to sound like Ren.”

            “I’m just saying, he might have a few points.”

 

 

 

 

            “Now listen well children, I know most of you here have very little experience with fighting Grimm, and you have extreme doubts of my ability as a Huntsman.”

            “Understatement of the century.” Miles whispered to Ty. Professor Oobleck was prepping a bunch of first year teams for their first field mission of exterminating Grimm in the wide plains several miles from Vale. There had been reports of a small pack of Grimm that had been seen marching towards the kingdom, and it was determined that it was a safe enough size that students could take them on together.

            “Now then, each of us will be taking our own airship to deal with and destroy the Grimm that are at this very moment, marching towards us! But fear not, that is why we are taking multiple airships! Each team will take an airship to place them at strategic locations depending on predetermined schematics. Each team is tasked with destroying as many Grimm as they can. It shouldn’t be too difficult, with everybody surrounding the Grimm, this shouldn’t be an issue at all. I assume that we should be done with all of this in about one hour’s time. Now then, make your preparations, go over your assignments, and be ready at all times!” As soon as he finished, each team received their instructions on their individual Scrolls.

            “All right then Team NEMN! We are going to be striking from the right flank once we arrive!” Natalie said with excitement

            “She seems chipper today” Miles said leaning towards Nathan.

            “It makes sense. This is her first real chance to try being the team leader, and she wants to make a good impression on the faculty.”

            “We shall see. There’s a big difference between a small herd of Grimm and a true swarm.”

            “I looked at some schematics.” Evan pulled out his Scroll as he said this. “Given the size of the swarm, it’s only about as big as the one we encountered in the Emerald Forest, only a lot more powerful and variant Grimm rather than just simply one type.”

            “Any Nevermores in the sky?” Natalie asked.

            “Not in any of the initial reports. Looks like this should be pretty easy given our numbers.”

            “All right then. Let’s get going.” As they headed for their airship, Evan swung by Christy super quickly.

            “You got your assignment?”

            “Yeah. Me, Ty and Brooklyn are to take some early shots at them from the air, and then Jacob jumps smack dab in the center and we go with Team AQWA to take out the Grimm that get into the crater that will be caused by the impact.”

            “All right then. Just be safe out there all right?”

            “I don’t need you constantly worrying about me Evan.”

            “I know. I just do. You do the same with me.”

            “Fair enough.” The two of them hugged, and the joined their teams on their respective airships.

 

 

 

 

As the airships got closer to the horde, the teams all got in their ready positions.

            “All right students, remember the plan. We begin attacking the flanks, then Teams JCTB and AQWA will take out the center and begin weakening them from the inside. Be ready students! Our first approach begins now!” With that said, the first several airships started to form a circle around the advancing horde. The teams tasked with the front of the pack jumped first, then the side and rear teams jumped down and began their attacks. As Team NEMN made their landing, Natalie instantly rushed right into the thick of things, hacking monsters left and right.

            “I love senseless violence missions.” Miles said with a smirk as he made his way into the fray. “Keeps me from getting bored.” Close behind him, Nathan leapt over the initial wall of creatures, throwing his clubs into a few of them nearest some other students. He then landed and continued to pummel his enemies. It seemed that he was noticing the motions and actions of the Grimm a lot better than usual. Evan was still descending a bit, as he was the last one out of the airship. He fired a few rounds from his rifle to slow his descent and damage the Grimm. He then landed, morphed his weapon into the spear, then threw it right into a line of Grimm, impaling and dissipating them all at once. He then activated his illusion space so he could move unnoticed by the Grimm and reclaim his spear. While doing so, he used his gauntlet to knock more Grimm out of his way and into the blades of his comrades. As soon as he got his spear back, he noticed a Goliath lumbering towards the front line, and the students up there still had their hands full with the Beowolves. He then jumped onto the creatures back, and sent his spear flying right through the creature’s head, causing it to tumble and crush several more Grimm before dissipating completely.

 

 

 

 

Up in the airship, Brooklyn, Ty, and Christy were unloading on the Grimm down below. They had just heard from Oobleck that before they could dive down, they needed to help the students advance at least two lines before they could eject. Brooklyn was sniping Grimm left and right, Christy was hitting every enemy right where she needed to, and Ty was just blowing the life out of the Grimm like no tomorrow. As they did this, Jacob continued to observe the situation and gave out commands depending on what he saw. He didn’t use his semblance as the Grimm were not moving fast or dangerously enough to warrant him doing so. The students had almost reached the second line, but then something happened. The entire ship started veering out of control. Nobody on the ship knew what happened, but then Jacob looked out the other window and saw an airship that was not one of the ships sent out for the attack. The door on the other airship opened, and revealed members of the White Fang. Everybody quickly tried to turn and fire upon their ship, but they were too slow. A White Fang member with a lion’s tail took a rocket launcher from another member and fired it straight at the ship. It directly hit one of the engines, and it started veering towards a nearby grove of trees. The team attempted to jump out of the airship, but then a second rocket knocked them all back into the wall and forced the doors shut. As the ship continued to spiral downward, Ty started bashing the door with his sword trying to get them out of there.

            “Stand back!” Jacob jumped up and stabbed one of his knives into the door, then jumped back. “Blast it Brooklyn! Blank cartridge!” Brooklyn nodded in understanding of this, and fired, causing the knife to explode and opening up the door. Most of the debris hit Ty, but it didn’t faze him. They all jumped out of the airship and into the trees, letting themselves down as best they can. When they landed, they were all a bit rattled, and had to move quickly to avoid falling debris from the airship. They all gathered around and got themselves situated.

            “The White Fang is here. They must have been the ones who guided the horde this close to Vale.” Jacob said.

            “Uh, no duh genius.” Ty said with an annoyed tone. “This is not good. We were one of the last airships in the sky with students in them, but all the others could still be destroyed and used against us. I say our play is get back to the battlefield as quickly as possible.”

            “No.” Jacob started drawing some sketches in the dirt. “The White Fang may have some airships, but they know that unless they take out the students, then it doesn’t matter how many airships they blow up, we can still take them and the Grimm out no problem. They must have a base of operations around here somewhere. I say we try to find them and take them down to force them to retreat.”

            “I’m down with that” Brooklyn said with determination.

            “Let’s do it.” Ty said in agreement.

            “Fine. I’ll heal everybody up so that we’re ready to go if we do find them.” Christy then took her hands and started going around healing everybody up to full, then they all drew their weapons and began making their way through the forest.

 

 

 

 

The battle continued to rage on bellow, and Leo Odi was sensing the tide was flowing towards the humans.

            “Has there been any word from anybody actually leading this mission?”

            “Not recently sir. Our scout ships are still scanning the area for the information that he wants.”

            “Again with his personal vendetta! He’s going to destroy the White Fang from the inside before the Kingdoms even get close to finding us! Patch me through to him!” The Lieutenant nodded, and handed him the radio.

            “What news do you bring me Leo? Are THEY here?”

            “No Adam. Team RWBY is not here. According to our scouts, all the students out here on this battlefield are first years at Beacon with a few Huntsmen helping out to make sure they don’t die easily.”

            “Fine then. Start taking down their airships; I’ll start sending our ground forces against their strongest to start breaking them apart.”

            “About time” Leo said under his breath. “We’ve got eyes on an airship with students blasting Grimm from the sky. We’ll take them down first. Leo out.” He hung up and relayed information to the pilot, who deactivated the cloaking mechanism, and started heading towards the airship, getting a few bazookas ready to take them down after initial contact.

 

 

 

 

As the White Fang started moving out in transportation vehicles, Adam walked over to his tent and placed his hand on the giant map. The map lit up, and then from the wall, a little slot appeared with a tiny indent in the middle. Adam then pulled a ring off his finger and inserted it into the slot, revealing a video panel.

            “This is the direct encrypted line. Make this fast Taurus.”

            “My assumption was wrong. It turns out that there were more students than previously anticipated. This puts the side objective at risk. I request some backup in order to accomplish this.”

            “That will not be necessary Adam. This was foreseen so we have someone coming in to help you with the plan.”

            “With all due respect,” Adam said raising his fist in protest, “I can take care of the mission on my own. I don’t need some random member of the Order coming in to…”

            “You misunderstand Adam. A member of the High Council is coming to assist you.” Adam immediately lowered his fist and took a step back.

            “Which one is it?”

            “The situation caught the attention of Lord Memoriare. Given his abilities, he can find what we are looking for, and do so much quicker than if you just search for it by yourself. Also, given your profile with the Four Kingdoms, you could draw much more attention to you rather than our real target. Prepare everything. He will be arriving soon.”

            “Of course.”

 

 

 

 

It was clear that the Grimm were starting to become fewer, but the fact that a random airship was flying around attempting to take down other airships started concerning Miles. He rushed over to Natalie who was just finishing off a Griffon type.

            “Hey, you seeing what’s been happening in the skies lately?”

            “I did, but I’ve been a bit too busy to do something about it.”

            “We need to take action. I’m thinking maybe I fly up there and slice it right in half.”

            “That could work. Get it done, we need to make sure we have a way of getting home once we finish these things off.”

            “On it. Give me a speed boost?”

            “Right.” Natalie then jumped into a squatted position, and Miles landed on her back, then Natalie fired a round from her weapon propelling Miles to terminal velocity towards the enemy ship. He made contact easy, slicing the airship in two pieces, and quickly adjusting their trajectory to crash into the Grimm still unaffected in the middle. But it was only a brief victory, as Miles started descending, he noticed that there was a large group of people starting to pour out of the forest where the airship crashed. He immediately recognized the White Fang masks, and noticed that the commander he had knocked out of the airship was not only White Fang, but also the lion tailed soldier that he fought against the night he met Blake. Miles adjusted his fall towards his teammates and landed right on top of a Beowolf and killed it quickly.

            “The White Fang is moving in!”

            “What?” yelled Nathan. “What could they possibly gain from doing something like that?”

            “Beats me, but we need to start cutting through these creatures a lot faster. The White Fang is going to hit our own flank rather quickly, and I don’t think they plan on fighting the Grimm as well as us.”

            “All right then.” Natalie twirled her weapon around and faced the direction the White Fang was advancing from on the other side of the Grimm, and blasted herself forward while twirling like a propeller, destroying the Grimm and creating a path for her teammates to follow. As they started making their way through, Adam emerged from the forest.

            “Bringing them to their knees is not enough with these fools. Eradicate them without mercy!” He then drew his sword and got ready to start engaging some of the students of Beacon, with a sick smile on his face.

            “Time to take the first step.”

Author's Note

Please review/enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

then it doesn’t matter how many airships they blow up, we can still (take out them) and the Grimm no problem.

Another awesome chapter with White Fang deployed against the students. I can't wait to seee what will happen and see what eh White Fang are up to. Love the detail and the pace of the story. Moving on to the next page. Please be kind and return the love.