Introductory AN:

While I usually don't do this, this is important. In this chapter there is a scene that was heavily inspired by music, and as such I believe that that scene would feel better with the music attached. I'll give the individual Youtube code below and have an asterisk at the beginning of the paragraph to start playing it and two asterisks after the paragraph to end it.

watch?v=ubJXoTpF96s

Chapter 11

Monday

8/10

11:52

"Due to further technical difficulties, the Vytal Festival Tournament will have to be postponed once more. General Ironwood of Atlas Academy assures me that his engineers are working as hard as possible to repair Amity Coliseum and hope to have repairs finished soon. We will keep you updated as we receive new information and will inform you of the new date for the festival as soon as possible." With that, the intercoms in the dining hall cut off and Ozpin's voice was silenced.

"Ugh," Ruby groaned as she let her head fall onto the table. "Postponing it again? Why?"

"They just said why, Ruby," Yang forced through a mouthful of food. "Something's wrong with the Coliseum."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Weiss asked Yang skeptically. "Atlas's engineers are the greatest in the world. They should have fixed the Coliseum by now."

"Weiss, there's no need for the conspiracy schemes," Yang responded.

"She's right, though." Blake looked up from her book and at the two of them. "Though I've had. . . disdain for Atlas, I cannot deny that their technology is the best in the world. It is noticeably strange that they've been unable to repair the Coliseum for nearly a month now, especially since there is a crew constantly checking it and keeping it in good condition."

"Are you guys looking for some sort of secret now?" Yang asked incredulously. "Don't worry about it, they'll fix it when the fix it."

"Ohmygoshwehaveclasswegottago!" Ruby yelled as she hurriedly put her empty dishes on the tray to return to the kitchen. The other three girls followed her example and rushed to class.

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12:05

As Professor Goodwitch walked into the combat arena the entire room quieted. When she reached the central platform, she turned around to address the students. "Now, I'm sure you've all heard the announcement about the Coliseum-"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Yang called out loudly.

"Ms. Xiao-Long! Do not interrupt when I am speaking." Professor Goodwitch adjusted her glasses and looked at her tablet. "I can, however, tell you that the fault is in the drive system. It apparently requires an extensive amount of work, and that is all we know. As I was saying, the postponement of the festival brings up several issues, one of which is the housing and education of students. Beacon is able to handle the large load of outside students the festival brings, but not long-term. In order to rectify this and also encourage inter-school and kingdom cooperation in a similar manner as the Vytal Festival while it is postponed, Professor Ozpin and the other headmasters have decided to temporarily implement a large-scale student exchange program. Such an option has existed in the past, but now it is required for many students. Many Beacon students will be attending elsewhere while the students from the other schools will remain here. You will receive more information on your scrolls, including the teams to travel, in the near future. Now, let us begin class."

As students began being selected for combat, RWBY and JNPR began discussing this new development. "Do you think we'll get to go?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Get to go? I feel like it's more 'have to go'," Jaune said resignedly.

"As strange as it may seem, I agree with Jaune," Blake said. "I'm not sure I want to leave Vale right now, especially with the White Fang and such."

"There's nothing to worry about," Weiss said. "We've taken care of their whole plan. The Dust was clearly for the bomb cars."

"And how can you be sure about that?" Blake testily demanded of Weiss. "How can you be sure that was their only plan?"

"Because I know Dust. It has been part of my lessons for as long as I can remember. I've even learned to be able to sense Dust with my aura! I know how to calculate the yield of a Dust explosion. The explosions from the bombed train cars used up most of the Dust, and what little is likely left isn't enough for anything more than a little ammo or powering a small machine. We've won, Blake," Weiss said softly. "You don't need to worry about them now."

"Maybe you're right," Blake said in a tired voice, slumping slightly.

"I'm sure she is," Pyrrha encouraged her. "We've done good work, you should relax some, Blake."

Blake nodded. "Alright. I will. I'll wait and see whether we go or not and try to enjoy it either way."

"Alright!" Yang cheered, clapping Blake on the back. "Now let's just hope we get a free vacation!"

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13:38

"Oz, I'm sorry, but this isn't your decision. The council placed me in charge of security and I intend to live up to their trust," Ironwood said reluctantly.

"Consider the repercussions of what you are doing though, James," Ozpin said disapprovingly before sipping his coffee. He leaned forward in his chair to better address the image of General Ironwood hovering above his desk. "The Vytal Festival has always been on the same days every time. Delaying the festival will raise questions, cause unease."

"Which is why I'm disguising it as technical problems with the Coliseum. The only people who know otherwise are the technicians I have 'working' on it, you, Glynda, Leo, and myself. Nobody will find out," Ironwood reassured Ozpin.

Ozpin was not reassured. "You do not know that, nothing this big can be kept secret for long. Someone, some nosy journalist or a curious citizen, will find out and will tell everyone. And when they do, people will start questioning why Atlas is faking damage to the Coliseum. Tensions will rise, unease will grow, and that will only feed the Grimm."

"Curse it Oz, there was a Grimmleal in Vale! Right underneath our noses! If those four girls hadn't stopped him the Breach Incident would have been hundreds of times worse. Until I am sure there are no more here, the Festival will be delayed for 'technical reasons'. I'm sorry, Oz." Ironwood's image disappeared and the holographic screen followed him a moment later. Ozpin sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Ozpin turned to face Glynda, who had been standing on the other side of his desk. "I understand he's trying to do what he thinks is best," Ozpin told her. "But it makes his actions no less frustrating."

"That's just the kind of person James is. It's why you pushed for him to be headmaster and recruited him," Glynda reminded Ozpin. "If it's any consolation, I think this temporary exchange program will work during the postponement of the Festival for ensuring peaceful inter-kingdom relations. I've heard several students talking about it, they all seem very excited."

"One can only hope," Ozpin said, turning his chair around to drink in both his coffee and the view.

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18:10

"Girls, we've found it," Weiss declared proudly, slamming the door to RWBY's dorm open. She strutted in, Blake following her more calmly.

"Congratulations!" Yang responded dryly. "Found what?"

"The Grimm mystery man," Blake responded, closing the door behind her as Weiss laid several sheets of paper across her desk and tapped her scroll to the room's projector. The projector booted up in seconds, displaying the first slide of a presentation titled "The Mystery Grimm Sorcerer."

"Ugh," Ruby groaned as she turned her desk chair around to watch. "A slide show?" Yang nodded in agreement as she hopped down from her bed.

"What's wrong? I assumed you two would enjoy this, it's got plenty of pictures!" Weiss said, indignant at their ungratefulness.

"I didn't like slide shows in elementary school," Ruby said. "They came with pictures but it wasn't enough to cover up the boring stuff, which was everything else."

"This will be much more interesting, I'm sure, Ruby." Blake stood on the other side of the screen from Weiss, who had obtained a pointer stick from somewhere.

"So," Weiss began. "The reason it took us so long to find anything useful is because we started looking in the wrong spot. We had assumed anything about people being able to control the Grimm would be easily found in the history section. We were wrong." Weiss left off and turned to Blake, allowing her to speak.

"Where we should have been looking from the beginning," Blake continued, "was in the legends section of the library." Weiss advanced the slide to show an image of a heavily stylized drawing in a book, showing what appeared to be several Beowolves obeying the commands of a human with hand oustretched. "Many legends tell of a tribe of people that had 'magical Grimm powers' a thousand years ago."

Weiss picked the tale back up from Blake at this point, shifting the presentation to a new slide of drawings and paintings every so often. "For the most part, this tribe seems to have been nomadic, using their Grimm thralls to attack villages and the predecessors to today's kingdoms for supplies. Other than that, most knowledge of this tribe seems to have been lost. The only other things the legends agreed upon was that they seemed to almost worship the Grimm and the name most people referred to the tribe with: the Grimmleal."

"I'd dismiss it all as a load of bull," Yang said after a moment. "If it weren't for the fact that we saw a guy control Grimm ourselves."

"What happened to them?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Nothing said for sure," Weiss slowly answered, "But one legend mentioned a great crusade undertaken by the major villages. The suggested timing of this crusade roughly aligns with the time most villages combined into the four kingdoms. Perhaps the unity required by such an effort was the reason for the founding of the kingdoms?" she mused to herself.

"At any rate," Blake finished, "the Grimmleal have been dead and gone for nearly a millennium. Long enough for the world at large to dismiss history as legend. And yet, we saw one. Fought one. He was working with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. I don't think this is over yet after all."

"Well if it's not, we'll address it when we come to it," Weiss said definitively.

A chirp sounded from their scrolls simultaneously, alerting them that they had a message. "We've been selected to go to another school!" Ruby cried happily. "Yay!"

"It says here we get to input our preference as to where to go," Weiss pointed out. The team discussed their options, weighing the pros and cons of each of the other three academies. Eventually they decided and responded to the message. Several hours later, they received another message informing them of the acceptance of their preference as well as giving them the travel details.

After they had gone to bed and Ruby and Weiss were both asleep, Yang leaned over the side of her bed to look at Blake. "Hey Blake, you awake?" she whispered.

Blake mumbled back, "No. What's up?"

"Listen," Yang began quietly. "You said earlier that you didn't think this whole thing was over yet. I know this is important to you; because of that, it's important to us too. However, you need to remember not to drive yourself insane. Back when you were going after the White Fang last month, before the train incident, you weren't sleeping, you were barely eating, and we were all worried about you. Just like last time, I'm not asking you to stop, just pace yourself. And rely on us for support, too. Please."

Blake stuck her head out the side of her bunk bed to look at Yang, sounding much more awake now. "I understand your concern, Yang. There's always a part of me that will worry when the White Fang is involved, it's been too big a part of my life to not worry about them, especially with what they've become now. I remember my promise to you not to get dragged in too deep. I want to stay grounded, especially now knowing my tendency to forgo all else. So I've got a promise to ask of you, as well." Blake relaxed, letting her head fall back to look upside down at Ruby and Weiss across the room. "Ruby and Weiss, too." She looked back up at Yang. "If I start to go down the rabbit hole, please pull me back. By force if necessary, but please – all three of you need to pull me back."

"Of course, Blake," Yang said quietly. "You only have to ask. You're my partner and our teammate. And you can rely on us to help, too. We're a team and we're in this together." They smiled at each other before Yang snickered quietly.

"What is it, Yang?" Blake asked curiously.

"A cat Faunus, going down the rabbit hole!" Yang quietly crowed, fighting to restrain her growing chuckles.

Blake gave her a flat look before moving her head back into her bed, not deigning to dignify Yang's joke with a response. This only served to fuel Yang's amusement as her chuckles grew slightly louder before finally calming down as she returned to sleep.

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Tuesday

8/11

09:22

While team RWBY was waiting on the airpad for their transport, team FLMR approached. While they were not good friends, they had become acquainted with each other in the past month, FLMR almost taking on the role of mentors to their juniors. "Mornin' ya'll," Maggie called out.

"Morning Maggie!" Ruby answered back happily. "What are you guys doing here? Are you going to another school too?"

Flynn shook his head. "Nah, we're not. Just going out on a field trip. I assume you're one of those teams? Where ya going?"

"We're going to Shade Academy in Vacuo," Weiss interjected.

"Isn't that where Allen is from?" Lee asked from behind Maggie.

"Yup, that's part of why we're going to Shade. He didn't seem to be doing well when he left nor when we've called him since then," said Yang. "That and it's the kingdom we have the least experience with."

"So you'll be flying over the Great Desert, eh? I've heard it's got some spectacular views," Flynn said thoughtfully. "Can you get me some pictures? I've always wanted to see it for myself but haven't been able to yet."

"Of course we can," Weiss responded. "It would be our pleasure."

"Thanks." Flynn's scroll pinged and he opened it up to check. "Well, it's time for us to go. Enjoy your trip, girls. FLMR, onward!" He pointed toward a transport that had just landed.

Within several minutes, team RWBY's transport to Shade Academy arrived – a cargo airship traveling to Vacuo. The airship was long, with four wings at the front and back, an engine slung underneath each wing. Mounted on the end of each wing was a small-caliber defense turret. Both sides contained a large door opening into the massive cargo bay in the center of the ship, divided into two sections by a wall down the middle. The four girls stowed their gear in the right compartment and boarded the airship, ready to be on their way to the kingdom of Vacuo.

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12:52

They were three and a half hours into their five and a half hour trip and the boredom was slowly getting to them. Blake had already finished the book she kept with her; she had greatly overestimated the time it would take to finish. Yang and Ruby had been playing a game on their scrolls but when the batteries began to run low they had to put them away. Weiss. . . had actually been handling the boredom rather well, simply sitting in her chair with her eyes closed, either deep in thought or napping. Yang suggested it was the latter and decided to put this theory to the test by gently poking Weiss in the ribs. When that brought no response, she poked again harder. Finally Weiss reacted.

"What are you doing?" Weiss demanded of Yang, gripping her wrist before she could poke Weiss again.

With a grin on her face, Yang answered helpfully, "Poking you."

"Yes, I can see that!" Weiss said in an irritated voice. "Do you mind? I was trying to -" What she was trying to do would remain a mystery, because she was interrupted by a screeching siren from the cockpit, a dull thump noise, and the airship swaying.

*This was worrying on its own, but what made it worse was the shout of surprise and distress from the cockpit. It was quickly followed by, "You four girls have your weapons handy?"

"Yes, why?" Blake asked worriedly, hand already moving towards Gambol Shroud on the seat beside her.

"Cause we're in a bit of a Grimm situation! Look!" The pilot pressed a button in the cockpit and the side door of the room opened up, revealing sand dunes as far as the eye could see and a horde of black flying things in various sizes, ranging from a large toddler to a full-grown man. After a second a repetitive firing noise indicated the auto-defense turrets had come online.

"What are those?" Yang cried out in shock and disgust. Ruby slung Verdan's rifle across her back and looked through her sniper rifle's scope at a Grimm. She began describing the Grimm in the hopes that someone else would know what type of Grimm it was.

"It's got an ovalish body, with a long whip tail and a long neck as big around as the head! It's got compound eyes and two fin things sticking up off its head behind its eyes. It's got four narrow wings, two per side, that are clear. It's got two arm/hand combos that are one oval thing." Ruby looked back at the other three. "Anyone know what they are?"

Weiss and Blake, the two most likely to know looked at each other and shrugged. Neither of them had ever heard of or seen anything like these Grimm. "It doesn't matter," Ruby said. "We still have to fight them off." Weiss grabbed her rapier as Yang deployed her gauntlets. "We'll take it by partners. Blake and Yang, you guys take that side." The craft shook again, causing the four girls to stumble momentarily. "Weiss and I will guard this side. Hurry!" Blake and Yang rushed through the bulkhead to the cargo bay on the other side of the aircraft.

The ship shook once again, but Ruby and Weiss were prepared and holding on to the wall, allowing them to remain upright. Ruby completely unfolded Crescent Rose into the scythe form, using the blade as a monopod for her sniper rifle, firing into the rapidly growing mass of Grimm. Weiss was firing rays of Dust energy, not taking the time to select a particular variety in favor of sheer speed and quantity of firepower.

The girls noticed the strange way in which the Grimm were flying. While most of them were flying in a sphere around the ship, every so often a few would break off and fly at the cargo ship, raking the surface with their claws as they passed. "Okay, we've got a serious issue!" the pilot called out of the cockpit to the team. "They're starting to damage the structural integrity of the plane and the control surfaces! I can't fly as fast without ripping us apart and it's already getting hard to control anyways. Can't you girls drive them off quickly?"

"We're trying!" Yang shouted back, firing her gauntlets at the swarm. "For every one we kill, two take its place!" The swarm was indeed growing larger and was pulling off some acrobatic and aerodynamic feats. They were flying in every direction around the airship yet were managing to match its velocity at the same time. The aircraft began to shudder and shake more and more as the mysterious Grimm increased the pace at which they rammed the aircraft.

"They just won't die!" Yang grunted angrily as she paused to reload. "What are we going to do, shoot all the way to Shade?"

Blake threw her blade out at a Grimm before whipping it back with the ribbon, severing the Grimm's wing and causing it to crash to the ground, sand spraying up from the impact. "It's not like we have any other options right now," she answered, throwing the blade out again.

"How far are we from Vacuo, anyways?" Ruby yelled through the door connecting the two cargo bays.

"I'm not sure!" Blake yelled back. "Pilot! How far away are we?"

"Still too far for a CCT distress call!" the pilot answered, the tension of flying with the Grimm swarming the aircraft evident in his voice. "I'm putting out an SOS but we're still several miles out of range! It'll take us a few more minutes to get into range and at least two hours to actually reach Vacuo!"

"We're in serious danger of running out of ammunition!" Weiss cried out. "Some of my Dust types are already running out, what are we going to do once we're all out?" At this point, the swarm had grown so dense that it was dimming the light and obscuring the view of the desert outside. The noise of the guns had dwindled down and stopped as the four guns were rammed into and torn apart one by one. The aircraft was shuddering every few seconds as Grimm rammed it and slid off.

"We're not about to tear apart yet but we will be soon if something doesn't change here!" The pilot updated the four girls.

"We'll just have to think of something!" Ruby said, answering both Weiss and the pilot. "Is there any ammunition for anything in any of these supplies?" she yelled in the direction of the cockpit.

"Nada!" the pilot answered tersely. "These are just basic imports: movies, foodstuffs, books, etc. I'm not cleared to carry ammo!"

"I can make do without ammo," Blake yelled to Ruby. "I can throw my sword and pull it back with the ribbon, it's what I've been doing."

"Keep doing that then! We'll just have to figure something out." Ruby fired her weapon twice more, but after that it began clicking. "Oh no. This is bad!" As she folded Crescent Rose and pulled out Verdan's rifle she heard the sound of tearing metal. With the last of the four defense guns silenced, Ruby running out of ammo, and Weiss slowing down her rate of fire to preserve her last ounces of Dust, the Grimm were able to get in close and begin clawing at the sides of the cargo door opening.

"Ruby! What's happening?" Yang yelled. The door between the two sections did not line up with the cargo doors, preventing her from seeing the cause noises. "The Grimm!" Yang heard. "They're tearing the door frame – aiee!" Milliseconds after Ruby screamed, a spiraling Grimm tore through the dividing bulkhead and flew out the open door on the other side, knocking both Yang and Blake. Yang was disoriented from hitting the floor but was coherent enough to see a bundle of red in the mass of black. "Ruby!" Yang cried, reaching for her sister futilely.**

Blake helped Yang up and they along with Weiss watched as the creature stabilized its flight, shifting its grip to hold her by her arms, preventing her from grabbing Crescent Rose or her Gauss gun, which was dangling by its strap from her arm. As it flew away the swarm dispersed almost instantly, the Grimm leaving the girls to themselves. Yang made to jump out of the ship before Blake and Weiss held her back. "What are you doing?" Weiss shouted incredulously.

"Let me go!" Yang writhed and fought to escape their grip and did manage to escape Blake momentarily, but Weiss's traction glyph held her tight. "Let me go! I have to help her!"

"You can't help her!" Weiss yelled back. "Not like that! You'd go running after a flying Grimm and do what, shoot at it? You'd hit Ruby!" Yang stiffened then sagged in their grip. "That's not the way to do it," Weiss said softly. "This is the way to do it." She faced the cockpit door. "Pilot! Chase that Grimm!"

"No can do, lady!" The pilot stuck his head out of the cockpit to address Weiss. "The Grimm pulled enough of us apart that any major turns may just make us fall apart. In addition, there's enough to the wings and body that it's a struggle to maintain lift. I'm trying to go fast enough to keep us up but slow enough to stay together. I've barely got any control surfaces so we can't really turn, just keep going in a straight line until we reach Vacuo. We can't set down either. The next time we land is the last."

With every word the pilot said, Yang went limper and limper, her thoughts on her sister and her uncertain fate. "Wait, there is something we can do," Blake said suddenly. Yang looked up at her with a desperate hope in her eyes. "We can call Shade, they're sure to have ways of tracking things in the desert." The look of despair on Yang's face was slowly replaced by one of determination.

"Well, we are in range of the CCTS, finally," the pilot said. "After the Grimm leave us, naturally, but we're in range."

Weiss dialed the number for Shade Academy on her scroll, only to get a loss of signal tone. She whirled about and stormed to the cockpit. "You said we were in range!" she angrily called out, sticking her head in the cockpit.

"Oh, whoops. I'm in range, my communication system is stronger than the scrolls. Here, give me your scroll, I can set it up so you can piggyback on the ship's signal." Weiss handed over her scroll. She impatiently waited as the pilot flipped several switches and changed several settings on her scroll and the aircraft before handing it back. "Here ya go, just make it quick."

Weiss dialed the number for Shade Academy again. After a minute she gritted her teeth and her grasp on her scroll became a death grip. "Would you believe it? The phone system is down! Something about an upgrade and temporarily out of service. Of all the times!"

"Now what?" Blake asked quietly, slumping into a seat.

Yang snapped her fingers suddenly. "I betcha Verdan can help! He lives here, he probably knows things we can do!"

Weiss dialed Verdan on her scroll, switching it to video mode so they could all see him and he them. The scroll rang several times before Verdan answered. "Oh hey, Weiss. You're not one to call out of the blue, what's up?" On the screen of Weiss's scroll it looked like Verdan was driving some sort of vehicle with only a skeletal framework for a roof, blue sky and buildings visible behind and around him.

"We're flying to Vacuo for a new program that is taking the place of the Vytal Festival until the coliseum is repaired and we were attacked by Grimm and they took Ruby and flew off into the desert somewhere and our ship is damaged so we can't follow them and the school's phone system is busy so we can't call them for help so can you help us?" Yang exhaled. Verdan glanced towards his scroll so he was facing the screen.

"Yang, is that you? What? I couldn't understand most of what you said, can you repeat it?" Verdan asked extremely confused.

"Long story short, we are flying to Vacuo and were attacked by Grimm, one of which kidnapped Ruby. We can't contact anyone from the school to help, can you track her?" Blake quickly summarized.

"A Grimm kidnapped Ruby?" Yang nodded emphatically. "And you want me to track it?" Verdan asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry, but you're our only hope," Weiss somberly informed him.

Verdan sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "No promises, but I can try. I'll meet you girls at the south air dock, be ready to go as soon as you land." Verdan reached closer to the camera before the feed cut out, indicating he had hung up on his end.

Weiss poked her head into the cockpit. "Sir, can you get us to the south air dock in Vacuo?"

"Get you to Vacuo? Yeah, I can do that," the pilot told them. "It's about the only thing this ship can do anymore, but I can get us to Vacuo." Weiss sat down on a crate and put her face in her hands as Yang started pacing along the length of the cargo bay, fiddling with her bracers.

"Yang, are you alright?" Blake slowly asked her.

"No, I'm not alright," Yang said, seeming oddly calm. "I just saw my sister get kidnapped by a Grimm – something that has never been known to have happened ever – and we can't go after her right now. Instead, we need to go the rest of the way to the kingdom in the hopes that someone our age who has about as much training as we do can help!" Yang was yelling by the end of her tirade. After that, however, she sat back down and ran her hands through her hair.

"I'm sorry," Yang apologized to the others. "I just. . . I can't lose Ruby. I don't know what to do and I don't like feeling helpless."

"It's okay, Yang," Blake said, sliding over to hug Yang. "None of us know quite what to do. But don't worry, we'll get Ruby back."

"Of course we will," Weiss said, putting her hand on Yang's shoulder. "Knowing Ruby, she'd be fighting her way out and we'll eventually meet her halfway."

Yang leaned back against the bulkhead. "Thanks guys."

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15:07

The cargo ship slowly lowered itself towards the pad, settling down with a ponderous 'thunk'. The side doors opened and Yang, Blake, and Weiss slowly climbed out. A short distance away, near the entrance gate, stood Verdan. He was leaning against some sort of dune buggy-type vehicle with a small cargo box on the back and some extra seats.

The three girls ran to him, eager to get Ruby back as soon as possible. Yang was the first to reach him. "Thank you for helping us, Verdan. I know you don't want to be involved in Huntsman stuff anymore." Yang sounded despondent, something that simply sounded wrong from such a usually energetic person.

"Of course! I would be a terrible person to just refuse to help." Verdan stood up off the buggy. "I'm hoping you girls have a record of where this happened?"

Blake held up her scroll, map application open. "Got it right here."

"You're my navigator," Verdan said, pointing at Blake. "You get passenger seat. Yang, Weiss?" They looked at him in anticipation. "You two will just have to sit in the back. Hop in everyone, we don't have time to lose."

By the time they were all seated and ready to drive off, Yang seemed to have regained some of her former energy. "Go fast, Verdan! Step on it!"

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17:07

"Wait, wait, wait," Verdan said in an irritated voice. "Flying Grimm? Flying Grimm? You neglected to mention that they flew! I can't do anything to find flying Grimm!"

The group of four had arrived at the coordinates Blake had recorded, the approximate location of Ruby's capture and the cessation of the assault. It was there that a critical piece of information was revealed to Verdan, one that had fallen by the wayside up until that point – the attack was by flying Grimm.

"We told you we were flying! What kind of Grimm did you think it was?" Weiss was incredulous. What else could have attacked us?

"I thought you were attacked by Catapult Stalkers or something! But flying Grimm? I can't help you there, I can't do anything!" Catapult Stalkers? Weiss mouthed at Blake, only to receive a shrug in return.

"But you live here!" Yang yelled back at Verdan. "You've mentioned before you have experience in the desert, including tracking Grimm!"

"Yeah, but those are Grimm that leave tracks!" Verdan retorted hotly. "I can't trace something that doesn't exist!" He kicked the ground angrily, sending sand flying everywhere – and something that sparkled blue in the sunlight. All four of them turned to look at it, the sparkling thing catching their attention almost automatically.

Blake was the first to it and picked it up. "It's. . . a piece of Dust," she said as she held it up for them to see. "It's carved like a bullet, though."

"Wait, let me see that," Verdan said as he rushed over to her. Blake handed it over and he turned it around in his hand, examining it before closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he turned to look at Yang. "Did Ruby have my gun?" he asked intensely.

"What?" Yang asked confusedly, thrown off by Verdan's odd question.

"My rifle that I gave to Ruby. Did she have it when you were attacked?" Verdan asked quickly.

"Uh, I don't-" "Yes, she did," Weiss interrupted. "Crescent Rose ran out of ammo and she was switching to your rifle when she was abducted."

A slow smile started growing on Verdan's face before he started chuckling and spinning around, looking for something. "Clever girl! Oh clever, clever girl!"

"What is it, what are you looking for?" Blake asked him. "Why's Ruby so clever?"

"This!" Verdan said, standing still for a moment as he held the blue Dust bullet up for all to see, "is one of my Dust shots. While I'm sure there's at least one other Huntsman on Remnant who uses Dust crystal ammunition, this has been magnetized by me. It's never been used; my shots shatter when they hit something. I'm pretty sure I've never been in this area before either, or at least not dropped any ammo in the area. That leaves only one option: Ruby dropped this! She's left us a trail!"

Yang started grinning. "That's my Ruby! So, how do we find this trail, o master desert tracker?"

"I'd need to know in what direction it leads, so we need to find the next one. Everyone spread out and look for another shot like this one! It could be red, blue, yellow, white, practically any color. Just be careful not to kick sand over it or we might never find it!" Verdan directed them as he started pacing back and forth in one direction, examining the ground.

The four teens spread out in a vague circle, carefully combing the desert for the sign dropped by their lost comrade. Each took careful steps, occasionally lightly brushing the sand from side to side in case the bullet was somewhat covered up. After a couple minutes of searching, Weiss found what they were looking for. "I've got it!" she called out, holding another blue Dust crystal above her head. "It was over here!"

"Excellent! Stay right there!" Verdan called back before turning to Blake. "Blake, go stand where we found the first one!" Blake nodded and moved back closer to Verdan's dune buggy. Verdan moved to stand midway between Weiss and Blake, Yang following him.

"Alright Verdan," Yang asked him. "What's next?"

"Well," Verdan began as he held his arms up at his sides, pointing them at the other two girls and looking back and forth. "If this is a straight line, we follow it, watching for more Dust along the way. If we lose track of the trail, we backtrack until we find where we went wrong." Verdan put his arms down and pulled out his scroll, walking to Blake and then back to Weiss.

"How would we do that?" Yang asked as Verdan waved her and Blake over to himself and Weiss.

"Do what?" Weiss asked, not having overheard Verdan's previous statement.

"Lose the trail and find it again," Yang supplied, peeking over Verdan's shoulder at his scroll.

"I could probably sense it again if I got close enough," Weiss suggested offhandedly. The other three slowly looked up at her.

"You can sense Dust?" Yang asked in a confused tone.

"If I'm close enough, yes. It's an application of my Semblance that was, naturally due to my position as heiress, trained extensively," Weiss answered her, slightly falling back into her 'heiress persona' as her friends had dubbed it. "I thought I'd told you guys this before?"

"Now that I think about it, you have," Yang remembered.

"That explains why you found the bullet so easily," Blake realized, a look of sudden comprehension dawning on her face.

"Exactly." Weiss looked rather pleased with herself. "Now that I know exactly what Verdan's magnetized Dust feels like in the sand, it should be a bit easier to find if necessary."

"That answers that question, then." Verdan looked up and tossed his scroll to Weiss, who nearly fumbled it. "You're my copilot, Weiss. Let's get a move-on!" They quickly returned to his buggy and got settled in for the ride. "I've got a line drawn on that mapping app that we'll be following. I'll need you to tell me if I'm drifting off course. I'll need all three of you to watch for Dust crystals as we go, make sure the path matches the prediction. Weiss, if you could mark the map when we pass Dust crystals I'd appreciate it." Verdan punched in the start-up code and the four were off.

Their travels continued for several hours, the three girls able to spot the Dust crystals easily most of the time. Occasionally however, they did lose track and have to start from an earlier spot. Thankfully they were able to do so rather quickly when this happened and get back on track soon. In the late afternoon, the trail ended and they arrived at their destination – the lip of a canyon system. This region was not well mapped, and therefore it simply appeared as a flat tan spot on their CTS app.

"Alright, my work here is done. Here's where you girls take over, I'll be here when you get back." Verdan engaged the hand brake in the buggy and relaxed in his seat.

"You're not going with us? Ruby's your friend too!" Yang declared hotly.

"Yes, she certainly is," Verdan patiently agreed. "However, you seem to forget – I'm not training to be a Huntsman anymore. I'm staying out of this stuff."

"But it's not like you've forgotten what you've already learned!"

"You're not wrong there either, but I hardly have a high-quality weapon anymore. Plus if I go down there with you, odds are something very bad will happen. I can't help you here. I'm sorry."

Yang looked to Weiss and Blake for backup but they both shrugged. Clearly they didn't know how to convince him to help either. "Coward," Yang snarled under her breath, irritated that Verdan would sit back like that. With a glare, she hopped out of the bag of the dune buggy and set off towards the edge of the canyon and a possible way down she had noticed earlier, Weiss and Blake close behind her.

Yang was correct, there was a path down the side of the canyon there. The three girls descended to the canyon floor, Yang muttering very uncomplimentary things about Verdan under her breath practically the whole way. They looked in both directions when they reached the bottom of the ravine, unsure of where to go. "Which way should we go?" Yang asked.

"I don't know. I don't see anything that stands out in either direction," Blake answered her, sword and cleaver in hand.

"The whole system seems to extend farther in that direction," Weiss pointed out as she indicated their left side. "Odds are, those Grimm will have their nest deeper in the network." Yang and Blake looked in that direction before nodding their assent and setting off.

"Okay, now that we have a moment, has anyone else noticed how weird it was for the Grimm to kidnap Ruby like that?" Blake asked. "I've never heard of anything like that happening before."

"I have." Weiss broke the silence after a few seconds. "It was in some of the stories I found that mentioned the Grimmleal; there were a couple mentions of abduction by Grimm as well."

"You think it has anything to do with the guy we saw with the train and the White Fang last month?" Yang sounded slightly uneasy to think that they may have been targeted because of what they did, particularly that Ruby was kidnapped because of what they did.

"Maybe. I don't think there's a good way to tell one way or the other right now. Let's just find Ruby and get back out of here."

D Insert Scene Break Here D

18:00

"Whoa. . ." Yang trailed off, craning her neck upward to see the top. The three girls had been searching through the canyons for nearly an hour now, Verdan calling them half an hour ago to make sure everything was okay. Turning one of many corners, they had come face-to-face with what looked almost like a temple carved into the cliffside. There was an opening that served as a door, beyond which was a tunnel leading into the depths of the cliff. A sharp turn shortly after the entrance obscured what was beyond. Decoration was carved all around it, even carving pillars and the front of a roof. Statues of armored men, many times life-size, stood between the pillars. It was massive, practically as tall as the whole cliff. "What is this place?"

"It looks like some sort of temple," Weiss theorized. "You think the Grimm might have nested inside?"

"Door's big enough. Let's check it out." Yang stepped forward, pulling out her scroll and turning the flashlight on. Weiss and Blake followed her, Blake keeping watch behind them.

After a minute of walking, their footsteps started making a clanging noise that echoed – the floor was now made of metal. Looking around, the three girls could see that the tunnel was no longer carved with uneven walls, floor, and ceiling. It instead looked manufactured, with flat surfaces and right angles. The walls were made of poured concrete and patches of paint were left in spots, though the color was indiscernible because of dirt and discoloration. Metal pillars that were in surprisingly good condition reinforced the ceiling at regular intervals.

"What is this place?" Yang asked in wonder.

"It looks like a modern building for the most part, but the outside looked very old and weathered. There doesn't seem to be any power in here either," Weiss pointed out, shining her flashlight at the ceiling and the translucent panels that were likely lights.

Within another minute, they reached an empty elevator shaft, with the doors pried open and several cables running down the shaft. "Do you think it's worth looking down there?" Weiss asked.

Blake looked over the edge, bracing herself against a door. "Maybe. I see light down there."

"Does it look like sunlight or a flashlight?" Yang asked.

"I can't tell. It looks like it could be either." Blake looked back up. "I say we go."

"Yes, let's." Yang walked up to the doors as Blake moved away, grabbing an elevator cable and tugging on it to ensure its safety. Satisfied of its security, Yang grabbed the cable and slowly slid down it. Blake followed her and Weiss created a series of platforms on which to jump. They exited the shaft onto the landing from which the light hand been shining, the actual elevator still far below them.

When the reached the bottom they were in another hallway with several others branching off to either side, as well as doors with some sort of scanner by the handles, similar to the scroll readers they had on their dorm doors back at Beacon. The hallway was in a similar style as the one they had just come from, except that the floor was concrete instead of metal. One of the hallways yards down and to the right had light spilling from it, giving the three girls enough light to make out their surroundings without their flashlights.

Weiss jiggled the handle of the door nearest to them. The handle was rusty and so required some force to move properly. The door would not pull open no matter how much she tried, though. "Must be deadbolted." She gave up and stepped back.

"Nah, you're just a wimp." Yang chuckled and took Weiss's spot, tugging at the door. "It's probably just rusty." She pulled at the door to no avail. Even holding onto the handle and throwing her weight back or trying to push off the door frame with her leg did nothing. Until the handle snapped and let her collapse to the ground like a sack of potatoes, that is. "On second thought," Yang groaned as she got up, "you may be right."

Weiss passed her scroll in front of the scanner next to the handle, seeing if it would trigger something. There was nothing. No beep, no red light, nothing. "There's no power, Weiss." Blake sounded faintly amused. "What did you expect to happen?"

"I know there's no power!" Weiss was more than faintly indignant. "I just wanted to see if something would happen, if these had Dust built into them instead of running off a central source."

"What do you say we go check out that light?" Yang pointed to the lit-up hallway, disrupting Weiss and Blake's discussion before it could escalate. "That might be sunlight, which means the Grimm might have their nest there."

"If you don't mind," Blake slowly began talking, "I'd actually like to explore some of the rest of this place first. While I do think this is likely where the Grimm are nesting, listen." She cupped a hand to one of her cat ears underneath her bow to emphasize her point. "It's quiet. Don't you think we'd hear the Grimm and/or Ruby? For some reason, I don't think they're back yet. Until they do get back, we might as well spend our time looking around. Who knows, this place looks faintly military. There's a slight chance we find some sort of forgotten weapon that could help us."

Yang slowly nodded, dragging a hand down her face and sighing. "Yeah, guess you've got a point. We can't go charging in to save Ruby if she's not there, can we?" She started chuckling, which Weiss and Blake quickly realized was becoming quiet crying. Blake immediately began comforting Yang, hugging her and talking to her.

"Hey, calm down. It's going to work out great. As soon as the Grimm get here, we will rescue Ruby. If we have to slaughter every Grimm in that swarm, we will do it. Do you hear me Yang?" Yang looked up, sniffling and wiping her face.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm good." Yang breathed in deeply and let it out. "You're right. Until we can save Ruby, let's go exploring."

D Insert Scene Break Here D

18:08

Verdan was starting to get a little worried. About five minutes previously, all three of his friends signals had disappeared from the team tracker on his scroll (they had re-added him to the system when they were leaving the airfield). He wasn't sure what had happened, but odds are it wasn't good. Now he was struggling between the desire to go find out and possibly help and the knowledge that if he went down there, something bad would almost certainly happen if it hadn't already.

If I go help, somebody's likely to die, Verdan thought to himself. Every other time I've gotten involved in a situation out of the ordinary it's happened. I can't have someone else's blood on my hands.

Quit your pity party, a more logical voice in his head countered. Nobody's died because of you, Nicole and Leo made their own choices. And you were training to be a huntsman, of course there's a risk! Verdan sighed, he supposed he was right. Look, at least one of your friends needs your help and possibly three others. Even though you're not training as a huntsman anymore, you still can fight!

Verdan hopped out of the driver seat, pocketing the key. He walked around to the cargo bin in the back, opening the lid and pulling out a small metal shaft about a foot long and a metal plate about one by two feet. Giving each a quick flick, they extended into a six-foot spear and a four-foot tall tower shield, each dark gray with blue paint stripes along the top and bottom of the shield. Guess I should do something.

D Insert Scene Break Here D

18:26

Verdan slid down the elevator cables, tower shield strapped to his back and spear in his hand. The last known coordinates of Weiss, Blake, and Yang had led him to this underground facility. The outside and inside looked incredibly anachronistic. I'll have to tell Dad about this place, he'd love to get a team here, he noted. This place can't be too old, else these cables at least would have rusted out.

When Verdan reached the top of the elevator, he let go of the cables and looked around. There had been a floor with what looked like natural light, but Verdan had decided to investigate from the bottom up, reducing the chances of his possibly missing the girls. A foot or so above his head was a landing for what looked like it might be the lowest floor. Verdan retracted the spear and clipped it to his belt, freeing his hands to pull himself up onto the landing and out into the hallway.

Verdan began walking down the hallway, weapons held at the ready. He tried opening several doors, finding them locked. Inducing magnetic fields in the deadbolt and frame to repel each other was child's play, but there was nothing interesting so far. Every room had simply been a bunkroom, if the many bed frames in them was any indication. There weren't any mattresses but there were several spots that looked uncomfortably like old bloodstains.

Eventually Verdan gave up on checking the rooms and simply walked down the hallways. There was no sign of anyone else so he returned to a stairwell he had previously found. It turns out this was not quite the lowest level, there was at least one more floor below him. However, the stairs had collapsed and were covered with debris, leaving him with only the option to go up.

The next floor wasn't much different except for the fact that there were fewer doors up here than below, indicating the rooms were larger. There were no windows in these doors either and the signs had faded and cracked enough that they were illegible. Verdan didn't bother opening any of these doors either, merely checking if they were locked or not. If they weren't already unlocked then his friends certainly weren't inside.

Suddenly, the sound of a bouncing rock echoed down the hallway, followed shortly after by indistinct whispering. Verdan readied his weapons, holding his shield up and his spear pulled back. He slowly walked towards the next corner, the source of the noises. He reached the corner, slowly breathed in and out, and dashed around the corner – slamming his shield into Blake Belladonna by accident.

"What the heck?" Blake's voice was a mix of irritation and lack of air as she picked herself up off the ground. "You just decide to run into me for the fun of it?" Man that hurt! By that point, Yang and Weiss had run up to the two after waiting behind for Blake to scout ahead.

"What was that noise?" Verdan collapsed his shield and strapped it to his back but kept his spear out.

"I uh, tripped over a chunk of debris," Yang slowly admitted, looking around in embarrassment.

"And the whispering?"

"That was likely Weiss yelling at me," Yang responded, getting over her embarrassment. "On a completely different note, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to get involved?"

Verdan sighed. "Your signals disappeared from the team tracker; I didn't know what might have happened. I decided that, even though something bad is almost certainly going to happen now, I might at least be able to help you three if you were in a bad situation already." He straightened up, his voice sounding much less depressed. "Seeing this place, I guess your signal just cut out from interference. What is this?"

"It seems like some sort of military base," Weiss answered. "I've had to tour various Atlas facilities as Schnee heiress and this looks pretty similar, only in one facility instead of several buildings."

"That actually makes sense,"

"Are you implying I normally don't?" Weiss interjected, sounding rather insulted.

"No, I'm not," Verdan continued, "And I was about to ask if you three have had any luck finding the Grimm or Ruby?"

"No, nothing." Yang looked both sad and mad. "We did see what might be their nest, but it was silent so we decided to clear the rest of this place while we wait for them to get back."

"Wait, you never actually saw the nest?" The three girls glanced at each other before shaking their heads 'no'. "And you never thought to look anyways? Maybe they were asleep."

Yang dropped her head in shame as Weiss facepalmed. "We're idiots," Blake said, summing up all three's thoughts. After a moment of stewing in their own juices, Yang shook her head and looked back up.

"Well come on then, let's get going!" Yang ran to the staircase, Blake, Verdan, and Weiss right behind her. They took the steps two at a time, eager to get their friend back as soon as possible.

D Insert Scene Break Here D

18:41

"What in the world?" Weiss was incredibly confused, as were they all. They had expected to charge into either an empty room or a room filled with sleeping Grimm. What they had gotten was neither. It was instead half a dining hall, suddenly terminating in a barrier of the deepest black. There was a large hole in the ceiling in the middle of what room was there, leading to the surface – that was the source of the sunlight.

Verdan and Yang walked up to the barricade, Verdan leaning in close to get a good look at it. "Hey, can I see your spear for a second?" Yang asked him. He nodded, extending it and handing it over to her. Yang took it and bounced it in her hand, appearing to get a feel for its weight. She then turned to face the barrier before slamming Verdan's spear into it with both hands several times, producing a clanging noise each time.

"Whoa whoa whoa what the heck?" Verdan fell backwards at the first strike and scrambled backwards on his behind to get away. "You didn't tell me you were going to do that!" Yang shrugged and tossed him his spear back. Verdan closely examined the tip. "Well at least it's not bent or broken. But seriously, what were you doing?"

"Testing this thing's strength. Answer: very." Yang turned around to face them. "Anyone else got an idea?"

"I think so," Blake said slowly. "I think I've seen this before. It looks like the same field that was around your cage when you got captured, Verdan. Remember that?"

"Yeah, hard to forget. When you and Sun busted me out of there and there was that giant mech involved?"

"Exactly that. So if this is the same thing, then who's putting them up and what's behind this one?" Blake asked.

Verdan walked back up to the barrier again. He started poking at it and put his ear right against it. After a moment, he collapsed his spear and stuck it to his belt before putting his face right in front of the barrier, cupping his hands around his eyes to shield them from the light. "Well, they certainly seem to be the same thing. That barrier was impenetrable to sight and sound, and this one seems to be the same. If the Grimm are somehow on the other side, that would explain why you didn't-" The barrier dropped and Verdan was staring down the barrel of a semiautomatic Dust rifle.

The four quickly readied their weapons, facing down a line of gunmen in black and red clothes and armor, white helmets obscuring their faces. "Who are you?" Weiss demanded. When no answer was forthcoming, Weiss continued. "Whoever you are, are you sure you wish to stand in our way? We are searching for our missing friend. If you obstruct us, those who help us will know where to concentrate their efforts. Knowing that, do you still wish to block us from continuing?" Yang cocked her gauntlets to emphasize Weiss's words.

A female voice spoke up from behind the line of gunmen. "Now now, everybody. Calm down and lower your weapons, there's no need for violence! We can just talk like civilized people." Yang, Weiss, and Blake quickly lowered their weapons and relaxed from their battle stances, though they seemed not to realize their compliance with the mysterious order. Verdan had dropped from his battle stance too, though he seemed more stunned than truly relaxed.

The gunmen also lowered their weapons and the line split down the middle to reveal a tall girl who appeared the same age as Yang and the others, hands on her hips. She wore black and red coveralls with purple and gold accents. On her back and arms was a metal framework of some kind, with black cables running down the back of her arms to her gauntlets. Her black hair was rather short and her pale eyes were unsettling.

Just behind the girl was a man equally tall, hands held behind his back. His shirt and pants had similar designs as the girl's clothes. In addition to this, he had white armor on his torso and arms. He also had a helmet and mask designed as a stylized skull and a sword on his hip.

Scattered throughout the rest of the room, behind the two strangers, were various people in various types of clothing, all with the same color scheme of black, red, purple, and white. There was one noticeable spot of red and black, though, amongst the rest: Ruby was there, slumped against one wall, head down. Two men, apparently soldiers, stood on either side of her, guns held at the ready.

"Excellent, you're all here. Now, if you would like to start this discussion off right, you three can take at least ten steps away from who is mine!" The girl said cheerfully.

"Who is. . . Who are you and why do you have my sister?" Yang angrily yelled back.

"What – but – how – you're," Verdan stuttered several times. He kept trying to start a sentence but could never find the words to continue it.

"Oh, have I not introduced myself? I'm sorry, how remiss of me. My name is Nicole Tesla, it is a pleasure to meet you three!" The girl clasped her hands in front of her excitedly.

Authors Note: Wow, this is certainly late isn't it? Partially as an apology, this is about 50% longer than most of my chapters at least. Part of the reason this is so late is because I had a concept for another story, a shorter story, that I wanted to write out completely before I continued this. Unfortunately, inspiration petered out after the first couple chapters back in late February, so I returned to Ancient Wonders. This chapter has been in the works since then.

I really wanted to make a Jurassic World reference at the part when Verdan finds out the Grimm were flying. Y'know, the quote about "I was in the Navy, not the Navajo!" Unfortunately, Verdan's not one to see movies so he couldn't make the reference, and the only one from RWBY to make the reference who was present would have been Yang, who wasn't exactly in a state to make references. I was able to slip in a Jurassic Park reference since it works as a normal phrase and not a reference, though!

CTS means "CCTS Triangulation System" which means "Cross-Continental Transmit System Triangulation System." Isn't acronym-ception fun? Since they don't have space capability, they can't have satellites, meaning they can't have GPS. This is the most likely option for their location system.

Verdan's not crazy near the end, when he's having a conversation with himself. That's just him weighing his two viewpoints as a conversation. What, you've never done that?

I realized that I never explained team FLMR's naming scheme when I introduced them. Well here ya go:

Flynn Wagoner is named for the red Radio Flyer wagons, "Flynn" sounding similar to "flying".

Maggie Abel is named after the Magic Eight Ball, which is always black. This is also why she was the one to give Verdan advice a few chapters ago.

Lee Goate is named after "Lego", which are well-known for being quite colorful.

R. Meman is named for "army men", which are nearly always green. I'm still not quite satisfied with her name, though. That might be adjusted.

As you can probably tell, their name theme is toys.

Thanks to AndyH and AfiddlingSnail for beta reading.