Chapter 21: Skirmish

(Day 21)

The Pteranodon was casually gliding through the air, using the wind currents to stay afloat. Using the skin stretched alongside its elongated arm-bones, it captures warm air rising up from the ground, and thus stays high above the ground, and away from the dangers down there.

Truly, it was the prince of the skies, beaten only by the massive Quetzalcoatlus. However, while those behemoths usually stick to their homes, the northern parts of the Island and the mountain peaks, the Pteranodon has control over the whole Island, flourishing thanks to the abundance of fish, lizards, and carcasses.

Still, even this creature has to rest from time to time. It landed at the tip of a small cliff at the southern shore and started cleaning its wings with its beak. It was full of small insects and parasites, which had to be removed before they could damage the wings.

Halfway through it, however, the creature riled out in pain, as a long metal object stuck out of its chest. Blood erupted out of the wound, and the animal fell down dead, as a prince had fallen.

"Well, that was easy," Ruby muttered, stepping out of the woods. She walked up to the slain Pteranodon and picked up one of its wings. "Are you sure we need them?"

"Yeah, the membranes should be useful for clothes and some other stuff," Blake replied, following her out of the forest. "I'm also thinking about making tanning racks out of them, and some tarps if I can. You know, in case it starts storming again. Though we'll probably need more than one of these things for that..."

"Yeah, sounds good." Ruby pulled her Pike back out and flung it around the get the blood off of it. She grabbed the right wing, while Blake took the left one. "When do you think Neo will wake up?"

"Weiss said she should wake up soon. She has rested enough, so her Aura has kicked in, and started to heal her wounds." Blake replied. "You think Roman's here too?"

"Maybe. Whatever brought us here decided to keep us in our Teams. It probably did the same with them."

"Ugh, Roman worked with the White Fang," Blake growled.

"And? You think there are some White Fang goons here too?"

"It's not the goons I'm worried about." Blake shook her head and looked forward.

"Are you okay? Is there something you wanna talk about?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.

"No. No, there isn't. Watch out for anything you could trip on."

Ruby sighed and continued walking until they reached the camp.

The campfire was burning, while their Raptors were sleeping next to the warehouse. The Parasaurolophus was lying in the water, cooling down a bit. Today was somewhat hot. Not as much as during the recent heatwave, but it was enough to make hard work even harder.

"Ah, you got one!" Weiss yelled over. "How did you get it out of the air?"

Ruby shrugged after putting the corpse down. "We waited 'till it landed, and then took it down. Is lunch ready?"

Weiss sighed, stemming her hands into her sides. "Ruby, how can you be this hungry?"

"You sound like an annoyed parent." Blake joked, grinning smugly while walking towards the campfire.

"Sorry. It's just stress."

"Ah, it's fine." Ruby patted Weiss on the back. "And? How's lunch?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "It's done. You can go and get a bowl of soup."

"Nice!" Ruby said, jumping up in joy before walking up to the campfire. She took the stone pot and filled a bit of soup into a bowl carved out of wood. "Where's Yang?"

"Eh, she thought it to be a good idea to go off exploring," Weiss said, taking a bowl herself. "I've gotta be honest, she's scaring me a bit. Ever since that incident with the Megalodon, she's been strange."

"She's scared, that's all," Blake replied. "I can't fault her. We're caught on this Island without any means of escape. And almost being eaten really doesn't help."

"She could at least help us out with the ship," Ruby said, glancing over to the beginnings of the project: A rough frame, held together by fiber and wood. It was nothing big yet, mostly planning for the final shape of the construct.

"Give her time. We can talk to her about it once the whole situation with Neo has calmed down. Hell, maybe Neo will actually help her out in the long run." Blake said, slurping her fish soup.

"Maybe. I just hope she isn't gonna do anything stupid." Ruby continued eating her lunch, gulping down the mushrooms and poorly cut fish. If there was one thing Weiss would never be, then that would be a chef. How much she would give to have Ren here right now. "Why didn't she take any of the dinosaurs though?"

Weiss simply shrugged in response.

"Okay, Team!" Jaune said, clapping his hands together loudly. He stood in front of his friends, ready to hold somewhat of a speech. Luckily, Nora's plan worked, and Pyrrha got a good night's sleep. The bags under her eyes had disappeared, and she was as energetic as never.

"Today, we'll get to the next step of developing our base. While our Triceratops proved useful to transport goods, it has problems with effectively felling trees. However, Nora and Pyrrha mentioned the existence of a creature much more useful for this task."

"Yep," Pyrrha said while nodding. "Over in the west. When we were out a few days ago getting that Beam-thingy, we saw a herd of mammoths in the cold areas."

"And, as we know, Elephants have been used as a workforce for hundreds of years, especially around Mistral and Vacuo," Ren added. "There's no reason to suggest a Mammoth couldn't do the same."

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but how are we gonna knock one out? Those things aren't exactly weak, you know." Nora pointed out.

"Yes, that's a problem we have to think about first," Jaune muttered and sat down on the grass. "Additionally, it's possible that those things are as intelligent as modern-day Elephants, which means they would defend their knocked-out brethren."

"Seriously? They're just animals, ya know?" Nora said.

"Elephants are incredibly intelligent," Ren explained. "There's evidence that they can even count, have burial rituals and so on. Additionally, they are one of the few animals that are targeted by the creatures of Grimm. That's one reason they were easy to tame for early inhabitants of Mistral and Vacuo."

"You've gotta stop reading books..." Nora muttered and closed her eyes in thought. "If I just had my hammer... I could knock one out easily."

"There was the small ravine at the edge of the snow area..." Pyrrha remembered. "We could try to use that."

"Yeah, could work. But first, we need the equipment to knock one out. Ren, can you make narcotics and arrows?"

"Sure."

"Pyrrha, can you go and scout out the area? I don't want all the preparation to go down the drain just because the Mammoths have left the area."

"Oh, maybe we can use the Trike?" Nora suggested. "We could dig out a pit or something."

"I doubt we'll get her away from her young," Ren said, glancing over to the enclosure. The Triceratops was sleeping, while the newborn was resting in a corner and munching on ferns.

"Still, the pit would be a good idea. Pyrrha? When you go scouting, can you take a ball of paint with you? Maybe you can find a good candidate, and need to mark it."

"Yeah, I'll do that."

"In the meantime... Ren, can you make a design for a trap? I'll try and make some crossbows with Tranquilizer."

"Of course."

Jaune clapped his hands together. "Good. Then let's go, Team!"

Emerald, Roman and their Raptor arrived at the beach in the shadow of the Red Obelisk late morning, as the sun stood high up already. A few Trilobites were crawling around in the sand, while Ichthyornis and Compies tried to crack their hard outer shell.

"This was where we met those Allosaurs," Emerald said and jumped off the Raptor. "Any idea how to get past them if they're still around?"

"The Raptor is faster than them."

"But just running through won't help us in finding her."

"We only have to run if the Allosaurs actually attack. Otherwise, we simply have to keep an eye out on the jungle."

"Ugh..." Emerald climbed back onto the Raptor, which started walking towards the jungle, past a pile of Parasaurolophus bones. "You think she's alive?"

"Neo won't die that easily," Roman replied, stirring the raptor alongside a track of broken foliage and twigs.

Eventually, the track ended in front of a large lake, with a river flowing out of it to the south. A few Stegosaurus were eating around the edge of the forest, while a group of small monkeys was gathered on a few stones.

"Well, those Allosaurs are probably not here. It's too quiet." Emerald noted and jumped off the Raptor again. She walked up to the edge of the cliff and looked down. "The tracks end here. You think she jumped down?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. If I were running from those things, I would do it too." Roman looked over the edge of the lake, searching for anything that could give them a hint. However, everything looked as it should, with not a single hint of Neo anywhere. "Maybe we should follow the river."

Emerald looked over to the river, with the ocean in the back. It was clear where the river water goes. "Yeah, good idea. Maybe she passed out when landing..."

Thus, the two followed the river, passing a herd of Triceratops. Roman sighed, hoping that Neo was all right.

The sun hung high in the sky, though it was partially obstructed by the trees in the Forever Fall Forest. Red and brown leaves covered the dirt ground, and a cold autumn breeze blew through the entire forest.

Not that it mattered to those silently spying on the encampment of the White Fang. The Atlas soldiers were kneeling in the foliage around the open area, led by Winter Schnee and Qrow Branwen.

Winter taps onto her ear. "Mister Wukong, do you have a visual?"

"Yep. I see the main tent. Almost all of them are gathered around it."

Winter nods silently. "All right. Everyone, we will go in. Remember the plan: Kill only when necessary. We need as much information as possible."

"Can we charge in now, Ice Queen? Every second we waste is another second she can kill him."

"Soldiers! Go!" Winter yelled, and every Atlas soldier that hid in the bushes charges out. The few White Fang soldiers that were still walking around were quickly dispatched.

Qrow and Winter stormed out behind the soldiers, making a beeline to the main tent. A few White Fang goons tried to get in their way but were taken down quickly by both Huntsmen.

At the tent, Team SSSN was already dealing with the White Fang, quickly dispatching most of the forces, with only a few putting up more of a fight.

Qrow and Winter ran past them, into the tent. And, immediately upon entering, the blade of a chainsaw swung over their heads, cutting through the side of the tent.

In front of them was a massive Faunus, carrying a large Chainsaw as a weapon. Black tattoos covered is sleeveless arms. Unmistakeably their target.

"It was only a matter of time until Atlas would try to wipe us out." He growled.

Winter drew her sword, but Qrow stepped in front of her. "Listen, bud. We're not here to kill you or anything like that. We've been sent here by Ozpin and James to save 'ya."

The Faunus started laughing. "Save? You will just arrest me."

"Trust me, we won't. Your boss, that Taurus guy, has been dealing with some seriously dangerous people. And now they want you dead."

"Even if that were the case... I can deal with them on my own. I don't need humans to protect me." The Faunus swung his chainsaw at Qrow, who ducked under it and rolled to the side.

"Welp, negotiations have broken down." Qrow deadpanned and drew his sword. His blade clashed against the chainsaw, sending sparks flying through the air.

The Faunus tightened his stance, and put more might into his chainsaw, slowly overpowering the Huntsman.

A small flock of tiny white Nevermore flew towards him and started to attack. He quickly swatted them away but stopped paying attention to Qrow.

Qrow charged in, transforming his sword into its gun mode, and took a shot at the Faunus, hitting him right in the chest. The shell sent the Faunus flying through the back of the tent but wasn't enough to knock him out.

He got back up and stared at Qrow and Winter.

"Stop it," Winter yelled sternly. "You can't win this."

"Shut up, Schnee." The Faunus reached into his pockets and pulled out a set of colorful vials. "Let's see how you like your own medicine." He shoved the vials into his chainsaw, which started to glow yellow and red.

Sparks came out of the saw blade, and a few seconds later, small lightning strikes left the weapon. He charged in again, forcing Qrow and Winter to dodge as the dust set the tent on fire. A strike of lightning hit the table, shattering it into pieces.

"Any idea, Ice Queen? I'm gonna get shocked if I hit that." He cringed, thinking about the devastating effects electricity had on Aura.

"Give me cover."

Qrow nodded and ran behind the large Faunus. The White Fang member threw his chainsaw around, hitting Qrow right in the chest. His Aura flickered, and he flew back into the burning tent. The shock had taken off eighty percent of his Aura. He wouldn't survive another hit.

The Faunus held up his Chainsaw, ready to cut Qrow in half, as something grabbed him from behind.

Winter was kneeling in a large glyph, and a pristine white, ape-like Grimm had grabbed the Faunus by the shoulder. The Faunus was flying before he knew what was happening and got slammed into the ground.

At that second, the dust in the weapon ignited, blowing the weapon up in a large ball of fire and lightning. The Faunus let out one huge scream, as he was flung into a tree, and passed out.

Winter ran up to him and pushed two fingers on his wrist. "Still alive."

"That was more of a mess than I hoped." Qrow sighed and walked up to the Faunus, glad that his Semblance worked in his favor this time. He heaved him up, throwing him over his shoulder. "Can you call the Bullhead?"

"I will. Make yourself useful and gather everyone." Winter replied, and walked off with her Scroll.

Qrow shook his head and looked over to the camp. Most tents had been destroyed in the fight, and a few flames were spiking up. It was definitely the end of this White Fang group. Though he wondered what the Leader of the White Fang would think of this.

He walked back into it, looking after the other people. The White Fang goons were tied up, the wounded soldiers were being treated by a few medics, and Team SSSN was mocking one White Fang member.

All in all, it seems the mission went well. Happily, he put down the Leader and tied his legs together. One of the medics rushed over and began treating his injuries.

"Well, well, well. Looks like Vale actually was here before I was." A strange, male voice called out. Qrow and the soldiers turned to the forest, where a scrawny man in a brown trenchcoat was standing atop a tree branch.

"Who're you?" Sun asked. "Is he one of you?" He looked at the White Fang member next to him, who simply shook his head.

"I'm insulted! Comparing me to those lowlifes!" The man replied and grinned. "No, I am not here to defend them or anything. I'm only here to give out the punishment they deserve."

"No way..." Qrow growled. "You are-"

"Huh? Ah... Ahaha!" The man started laughing maniacally. "Oh man, oh man! To find you of all people here! Qrow Branwen! Oh my, oh my! Our goddess is still pissed at you, you know? Bringing her your head will greatly please her."

"Qrow... Who's that creep?" Neptune asked. He, as well as the rest of Team SSSN, grabbed their weapons.

"I don't know who he is, but I know who he's working for."

"Salem," Sage added and drew his sword. "Looks like we were just in time."

"Well, yeah. Sadly, that is true." The man says. "Also, fighting without introducing yourself's rude, don't you think? Name's Tyrian. Tyrian Cowels." Blades extended from his wrists, almost like the pincers of a scorpion. "An I'll make sure that name's the last one you'll ever hear!"

He lunged forward, directly at Qrow, who pulled up his sword to block the attack. The blades connected, and sparks flew through the air as metal ground against metal.

Neo quickly opened her eyes, as a cold breeze hit her face. She tried standing up but noticed that she was tied up with thick ropes and vines. The girl wiggled around but was unable to get out of the binds. Whoever tied those knots was experienced with stuff like that.

She looked around and saw that she was sitting inside a camp on a beach, specifically inside a cage made out of bamboo, and wood. A campfire was burning in the middle of the camp. A half-finished spike wall was behind her, marking the edges of the compound.

The next thing that caught her eye was the Parasaur, as well as the two Raptors. They were on a leash, and thus unable to get to her. She mentally let out a sigh of relief.

"Are we finally awake?" A voice called out.

Neo looked to the side and saw a petite girl sitting on a log. She wore a shirt made out of dinosaur hide over a long, dirtied white dress. That combined with the platinum-white hair left no doubt: That girl was Weiss Schnee.

In response, she simply nodded.

"Ugh, thank the Gods. I feared Yang might've punched you too hard."

Right. That's what happened. Neo tried to find some food and ran into that blonde bimbo she fought back on the train. And was knocked out.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Weiss asked in a concerned voice.

Neo nodded. She wasn't as hungry as before, so someone must have fed her while she was out.

"Ruby! Can you bring the stuff Blake made here?"

"Coming!" A second later, a girl in red and black leather clothes, came around a corner, her red cape flying in the wind. "Oh, Neo woke up?"

"No. She's sleepwalking." Weiss deadpanned. "Come on, she's hungry."

Ruby sighed, and brought the food over, before sitting down next to Weiss. "'Sup?"

Neo ignored her and looked at the stone plate. On it was an assortment of berries and fish. It did look tasty, and the water started collecting in her mouth.

Weiss rolled her eyes, and opened the cage door, pushing the plate inside, before locking it again. "There."

Neo raised an eyebrow and gestured towards her still bound hands.

Ruby jumped up and walked up to the back of the cage. "Right! Sorry 'bout that." She quickly untied the knot, though she gave off a few annoyed sighs while doing so. "Dang it, Blake. Why you gotta make them so tight?"

The ropes fell down, and Neo started eagerly shuffling the food into her mouth. The berries perfectly fitted the taste and of the salmon, which in turn was cooked to perfection. Whoever made this was an expert at cooking fish.

The other two waited until she was finished. "So... I suppose you've woke up on this Island too?" Weiss asked.

Neo nodded.

"And are you alone? Or are there others with you?"

Neo sighed silently and shrugged.

"Wait, you can talk, right?" Ruby asked. Neo shook her head, drawing out a gasp from Ruby. "Okay, wait a sec. I've got an idea." She ran off and returned a few seconds later with a few wooden shields and charcoal. "You can write, right?"

She gave her the wood and charcoal, and Neo started writing. "There are others. Though I'm surprised you're here too."

"Well, we didn't really choose it. We were just... teleported here, or something like that." Weiss replied. "You... You don't have any idea what is going on, right?"

"No, none of us have. We found some notes and stuff, but nothing that really helped us out. We also tried to build a raft and escape that way, but we were attacked by some giant fish."

"Yeah... About that, we tried the same. There's some sorta forcefield around the Island." Ruby replied.

Neos eyes went wide. So all that was for nothing? But why's there a forcefield?

"Also, the ocean seems pretty dangerous," Ruby added. "Yang almost got killed by a Megalodon, and there are giant reptiles underwater. So going out there without a good ship is a dumb idea."

"On another note, why did you try to steal our food? Were you kicked out of your tribe or something like that?" Weiss asked.

"No. We tried to investigate that Red Obelisk, but on the way back, we were attacked by a pack of dinosaurs. I drew them into the forest to give the others a chance to escape, and fell unconscious after jumping into the water."

"Ah, so the water brought you to the shore. Wait, Obelisk?" Neo nodded. "We were there too, a week ago or so. I think we even ran into the same dinosaur pack. Those were Allosaurus." Weiss explained. "Where... Where is your camp exactly?"

Neo raised an eyebrow. "As if I'd tell you."

"Okay, fair enough." Ruby sighed. "Listen, Neo. We don't want you any harm."

"You knocked me out and locked me up inside a cage."

"I see where you're coming from, but that whole knocking out thing? That was Yang, and after what happened on that train, you can't really fault her. And we weren't sure how you'd react, so we thought to lock you up was the safest thing to do."

"All right, that's a good point. Are you going to let me out?"

"See... That's the thing..." Ruby started scratching the back of her head. "No. We kinda need you. Your tribe's probably looking for you, and we need you to make sure they aren't hostile."

"Again, you knocked me out and locked me up."

"Thank you!" Weiss yelled. "I told you that plan was stupid."

"Aaaanyways, we can't let you out. Sorry, but you kinda tried killing us once. And you worked with the White Fang. And you let Grimm into Vale." Ruby explained. "So, we kinda need to keep you in there. As a bargaining point, as Yang suggested."

"I'm impressed. I didn't expect something like that from you."

"Eh, it was Yangs and Blakes idea. You can give them the credit."

"Where's that bimbo anyway?"

"First off, rude. Yang's out hunting for hide and meat, and Blake's taking a walk along the beach." Weiss explained. "If you want to complain, wait until they're back. And while I don't particularly agree with the plan, I'll play along for now. I really, really don't trust you."

Neo didn't fault them. She didn't trust them either, and if the situation was reversed, she'd keep them locked up too. And, as it stood, she was trapped. The bamboo was sturdy, so she could break it, especially with the limited space inside the cage. Her Semblance was of no help either, and she had doubts that a Brontosaur would stomp by and break the cage.

She sighed. This was really one of the worst, and most humiliating outcomes. She didn't doubt that someone was searching for her already, but if they found her was another question. At least she wouldn't starve or die of dehydration.

But being captured by her enemies is something she found incredibly humiliating. And once she was free, she'd return the favor and capture every single member of their team.

Qrow quickly jumped back as Tyrian brought his blades down onto him. He only hit the side of the tent, effortlessly cutting through the tarps. He quickly spun his sword around, but the enemy swiftly dodged the heavy blow.

And, in the same motion, he avoided the entirety of Team SSSN who came charging at him at once. He brought his foot down on Sun's back, forcing his head into the ground while kicking Scarlet away in the same motion.

Qrow went back in and tried to hit the enemy with an upward slash, which hit for once. It forced him to step back a couple centimeters but did not break through his Aura.

Neptune and Sage took the chance and charged back in. Tyrian kicked Sage's sword away and blocked the shots Neptune fired with his rifle. A second later, he was already in front of Neptune and kicked his leg away.

"Man, I expected more from a full Team."

Sun got back up, spat out dirt, and wiped off his sweat. "You're okay, kid?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He brought out his gunchucks. "Any ideas?"

Tyrian didn't let Qrow talk. he charged in, and slashed at the older huntsmen, tearing through his shirt. Qrow immediately retaliated and kicked Tyrian in the gut.

Suddenly, a brown stinger came down towards him, and he managed to dodge it just in time.

"He's a Faunus?" Sun gasped. A long, brown scorpion stinger was coming out of Tyrians coat, swinging around in the air.

"Oh, is that a problem?" He asked.

"Uh, well, no. Makes it harder to fight you, though." Sun fired his gunchucks at Tyrian, who blocked every single bullet. The two engaged in a battle, quickly blocking the others blows, none of them leaving any opening.

"Sun!" Sage jumped in and blocked the stinger coming down from above with his sword. "Dammit, you've gotta be more careful."

He was, once again, kicked away by Tyrian, who in turn jumped away from Sun. Multiple barrels came out of his wrist blades and opened fire upon Sun. The barrage quickly overwhelmed him, and his Aura started to flicker. It broke with a kick to the back, throwing him into the side of a tent.

"Now, I think we can do this alone. Sorry for the interruption." He laughed, looking at Qrow.

Qrow growled and charged at Tyrian. Both traded dozens of blows, their weapons turning into grey blurs.

However, that ended, as the sound of a spinning barrel echoed over the camp.

Both sides stopped fighting and looked up. Two bullheads were coming closer, the machine guns mounted under them aimed at Tyrian. They fired, tearing up the ground.

The eyes of the Scorpion Faunus went wide, and he fled towards the forest, using the slow turn time on the machine guns to evade the hail of bullets. "You're lucky it wasn't my duty to kill you!" He yelled while disappearing into the woods.

The machine guns firest into the forest for a few seconds, tearing up the trees and foliage before they came to a hold.

Winter jumped out. "What was that?"

"One of Salem's underlings." Qrow caught his breath. "We gotta tell Oz and James."

"Agreed. He dispatched Team SSSN without any trouble... And he put up a fight against you too."

"Yeah. Load everyone up. We need to get out of here before he comes back."

"Understood." Winter nodded sternly and went to help her soldiers with bringing the wounded onto the airships.

Qrow looked into the forest and sighed. He had never met that guy before, so how did he know his name? Salem probably told him, but then again, he might have watched them for some time.

In any case, he couldn't let his guard down in the future. Now that the White Fang Lieutenant was under their possession, there was no telling when he might try to kill him. But he stopped that thought for now. That was something to discuss with Ozpin and Ironwood. For now, he would head back and find a good place to get some booze.

And here's Chapter 21. The big search for Neo has begun. Though, as the title says, the main thing in this Chapter was the fight against Banesaw and Tyrian. Man, that one took a while to figure out. Translating Tyrian's movements into writing isn't an easy task, but I hope I managed it.

Anyways, to the replies:

Guest: Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely add them. I was planning on adding more fish species anyways, so the Materpiscis is perfect for that.

Dev the Snake Faunus: Good to hear. Good luck with yours.

lordrednight: Thanks.

Starblitz13: Probably. As I said, I already settled on a backstory and connection between Remnant and the Arks before Extinction came out, so there are quite a few things that won't be in here, though I'll try to fit as much in as possible.

Eliza211: No, there's no such thing as a respawn. Like normal people, they die when they're killed. I feel like having one would take out tension.

r4d6: Yes, she'll have one.

Random sunbro: Well, Dark Souls is great. Probably one of my favorite RPGs out there.

Guest: The Titans won't make an appearance, sorry.

SuperSaiyanDiclonius: It'll probably take around 3 weeks from birth. At first, I wanted to convert the ingame days it takes, but then I ended up with something over a year, so yeah.
And no, CFVY ending up on the Ark is not planned.

OmniverseGazer: You will.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Studio Wildcard.