Episode 1: Chapter 7: Taking Steps Forward

Chapter 7 of Episode 1 of Order of Seasons

Ruby was just twiddling with her thumbs when her Scroll went off. It was blasting a loud alarm, and was flashing red. She tried to turn it off, but then noticed the same thing was happening with her sister’s Scroll. Blake and Weiss then rushed in, the same thing happening to theirs as well.

            “Any idea what’s happening Ruby?”

            “No idea Weiss. But I think we should try heading to the courtyard to find out.”

            “Not a bad plan” Yang said. “I’ll see if this noise actually woke Nora up and get Team JNPR with us in a few minutes.” As soon as she said this, a hologram of Professor Goodwitch appeared.

            “Attention students, there is an urgent situation regarding the Grimm horde that the first years were tasked with defeating today. The White Fang has appeared on the scene and outnumbers out Huntsmen. We need all available students to get aboard dropships and begin making their way to the Great Plain. I repeat…” Ruby put her Scroll away as soon as Goodwitch finished the first time.

            “Yang, punch Nora awake if you have to. I think we’re going to need all hands on deck for this one.”

            “On it.” Yang then quickly ran over to their neighbor’s room while the others quickly got changed into their fighting outfits and started heading for the airship docks. They quickly jumped on board and waited a few seconds for Yang, but she didn’t show up.

            “Where the heck is she?!” Blake was starting to get impatient. Then Ruby noticed her sister was running towards them at full tilt spinning her finger in the air telling them to take off.

            “Pilot, get us off the ground!” Ruby yelled.  The pilot nodded and started taking off, as to which, Yang launched herself towards the open door and landed perfectly right inside.

            “All right then sis, what’s the plan?”

            “Not sure yet.” Ruby said waving her Scroll around annoyed.  “I’ve been trying to turn off this stupid alarm system so I could see what Professor Oobleck’s 3D battlefield could show us.”

            “Maybe once we’re clear of the school it will turn off. It makes the most sense.”

            “Weiss is right.” Blake said loading her weapon.  “Besides, it’ll be about twenty minutes at most before we reach where the horde was last spotted. I’m sure we’ll find out what we need to know in time Ruby.”

            “I hope so Blake. I just pray none of our friends are in any trouble.”

 

 

 

 

            “We are so dead” Brooklyn said as Team JCTB continued to walk through the forest.

            “Brooklyn, the whole point of a stealthy approach is to NOT be seen or heard!”

            “Jacob, that isn’t exactly helping” Christy whispered. “Let’s just focus on what needs to be done. I’m pretty sure I just saw an airship take off in the distance. We find out where it came from, we find the White Fang’s base of operations.”

            “Fine. Let’s keep moving.” They all shut up and continued forward, soon seeing a clearing infested with White Fang members, and the airship from earlier touching down. As the door opened, out stepped an old man with a flowing red robe and white hair. As soon as he was clear of the airship, it took off and flew away from where the camp was set up.

            “Lord Memoriare. We are honored by your presence.”

            “Enough with the pleasantries lieutenant. I’m only here because Adam was unable to find what we needed in order to attain what we desire. Let me see the map of the surrounding area.”

            “Of course sir. According to our schematics, the temple with the runes should be somewhere in this grove, but we’ve already checked these different spots, and still no sign of it. We still have these areas here, here, and here to check, but with the early arrival of the huntsmen academy, I’m afraid we might be forced to flee in a short period of time.”

            “Don’t bother. I think I know the quickest way to solve this problem. I will check the area about three clicks from here, you will investigate the area closest to us, and if we are both unsuccessful, we will meet in the middle with the final location. And if one of us is successful on our first attempt, we will meet at that location if the other does not arrive in the middle in a set amount of time. But we don’t have much time to waste now. Lets get moving.”

            “Yes sir.” The Lieutenant folded up the map, grabbed a second copy and gave it to Memoriare and the two of them headed off into the forest.”

            “What should we do Jacob?” Ty whispered. “Should we take out the camp or should we follow them?”

            “You three stay here. I’ll follow the robed guy. Once we are about fifteen minutes away, start attacking the camp. I’ll be back.” As soon as he said that, he started moving towards the robed person, and soon vanished into the foliage.

            “Ugh. I hate waiting.” Ty groaned.

 

 

 

 

Miles sliced through another Creep as he continued to make his way towards the White Fang members. The horde was starting to thin out, but it was clear that with the White Fang present, there were going to be a ton of casualties.

            “Hey, we need to get over to those White Fang members sooner rather than later!”

            “Look, I know that they are a problem,” Natalie said while slicing a Beowolf in half, “but without the middle of the horde strike team, things are starting to fall apart at the seams here.”

            “Fine then. How about you three take care of the Grimm while I make sure we don’t lose anymore students to that lunatic?”

            “Forget that.” Nathan jumped over from one of the fallen Deathstalkers. “The four of us should be able to take those losers, and then the other students might be able to deal with the Grimm for us.”

            “Not a bad idea” Evan chimed in. “Plus, by continuing that way, we get closer to where Christy’s ship crashed, and I want to make sure she’s all right. I mean I’m sure she is but…” While he was saying this an Ursa leapt up and tried to slice him in half, but Miles threw one of his swords smack dab into the middle of its face.

            “Less talking more doing. I’m going.” With that said, he pulled his sword out from the dissipating monsters head, and started running towards the White Fang. Nathan bashed the head of a Boarbatusk and rushed after him.

            “No way am I missing this!” As soon as he rushed after Miles, Evan followed in suit.

            “You know, I AM the team leader here…” Natalie fumed as she sliced another Grimm in two before following after them.

 

 

 

 

The airship began making the approach to the battlefield, and then another started flying right next to them, filled with more White Fang members, but Yang reacted quickly, blasting one of the engines with her shotgun gauntlets, causing it to spiral out of control and land smack dab in the middle of the Grimm horde.

            “Good reactions sis! Now then, it looks like the Grimm are the least of our worries now. So I think we should take out the White Fang moving in over there.”

            “Yeah, no duh Sherlock.” Weiss said jokingly.

            “Weiss, there’s a time and a place for that.” Yang said reloading her weapons.  “Not right now.”

            “Excuse me princess.”

            “Princess? This from the lady who probably defines a modern princess?”

            “Yang, Weiss, this isn’t helping our friends. Lets just get down there.” Blake said drawing her weapon.

            “Blake’s right." Yang said loading her weapons.  "Pilot! Take us over to where the White Fang is pouring out!”

 

 

 

 

Jaune looked down at the giant horde of Grimm and swallowed nervously.

            “It’s okay Jaune. We’ve dealt with a lot worse about half a year ago now.”

            “You almost died last time Pyrrha. That isn’t a very pleasant thought.”

            “Oh don’t be silly Jaune!” Nora said with a smile as she morphed her hammer into gun mode and shot a nearby Griffon in the sky. “We’re here for cleanup! It’s not like we have to fight from beginning to end like last time!”

            “Nora’s right.” Pyrrha said pulling out her shield.  “Besides, we’ve got our own specific orders from Professor Oobleck. We need to find Team JCTB and help them out with whatever they need.”

            “They have a healer on their team, I’m pretty sure they don’t need an evac.” Ren said with confidence.”

            “They could use help though Jaune. Besides, judging by the positioning of the White Fang troops, their current base of operations could be hidden within that foliage.” As soon as Pyrrha said this, something exploded within the forest.

            “Well, I don’t think we’ll have a hard time finding Team JCTB.”

 

 

 

 

Miles was slicing up White Fang members left and right when suddenly the ground started shaking, causing several of his enemies to lose their footing and fall over. But what caught his attention was the fact that only two people didn’t fall over. The first was the stranger with the lion tail, and the second was Adam Taurus. Gritting his teeth, he rushed forward and clashed with the red haired leader of the White Fang, causing sparks to fly from their two swords.

            “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

            “So, we meet again. I’m sorry…” as he said this Adam did a quick maneuver knocking Miles to the side. “…but my true opponent is here.” As he said this, something landed and exploded in the middle of all the White Fang troops that were coming out of the forest hoping to flank the rest of Team NEMN. Out of the flames rose Yang, rushing forward and beating up anybody who stood in her way. Landing in the devastation she left behind was the rest of Team RWBY.

            “Ice flower!” As soon as Ruby said this, Weiss created a glyph in front of the sniper portion of Ruby’s scythe. Firing a few rounds, the blasts created blocks of ice trapping several White Fang members as well as hitting a few Grimm behind them as well. Meanwhile, Blake immediately started dealing with White Fang members in the immediate area. Adam smiled, and started walking towards her, preparing his sword with energy to slice whoever was in his way.

            “BLAKE! LOOK OUT!” As Blake turned as per Ruby’s warning, she noticed that Adam had completely charged his attack and was heading straight for her. She tried to ready her defense, but a sharp pain hit her leg as Leo had thrown one of his knives into her leg, causing her to lose her balance, leaving her wide open. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, but she didn’t feel anything. All she heard was a loud clang. Looking up, she saw Miles, blocking Adam’s sword with both of his.

            “Your battle lies with me, Taurus.”

            “Such a pain. Fine. Leo, take care of the traitors friends. I’m going to swat this gnat off of the face of Remnant once and for all.”

            “You will try.”

 

 

 

 

Christy was just enjoying herself like there was no tomorrow. The White Fang were easy opponents. While they did help that surprise was on their side, it did feel great to just whale away on opponents at close range without fear of being hurt or surrounded. At one point even, she thought she was going to be completely overwhelmed by the enemies at close quarters, but managed to fight them all off with relative ease. Ty and Brooklyn were having relative success with their opponents as well, sending anybody in their path flying all the while launching blasts at dangerous weapon depots to create even more havoc amongst the camp. The White Fang members that were present had no idea how to retaliate, but started pulling themselves together. One of them even grabbed a sniper rifle and aimed straight at Brooklyn’s head, but never managed to fire a shot before Nora smashed her hammer right on his head. The rest of Team JNPR landed as well as an airship containing Professor Goodwitch and Beanie. Beanie jumped out of the airship and used a giant bubble of water to slow his descent, and when he reached the ground, he started sending out water blasts that swept not only the enemy away, but the camp and weapons as well. As soon as that was finished, they started wrapping up with defeating the last of the White Fang members and arresting every one that was still alive. While this was happening, Pyrrha was looking all over the camp.

            “Where’s Jacob?”

            “He tailed some guy in a red robe that arrived here about twenty minutes ago” Brooklyn said. “They went off in that direction.”

            “Hopefully we can find them quickly. Let’s get moving.” As soon as she said this, a flare went off deep in the grove that was high enough to see for miles.

            “We might want to start there. I’ve got the lead.” Ty morphed his weapon back into a sword and started moving forward at a great pace, with everybody else right behind him.

 

 

 

 

            “Do you really think you can protect her from me you pathetic imbecile?”

            “Don’t get coy with me Taurus. I don’t care about your vendetta with anybody except me. I’m going to kill you myself and destroy the White Fang starting with you.”

            “Such a pathetic goal for somebody who can’t even lift a finger to my power” Adam said as he sliced at Miles, forcing him back. Miles gathered himself and prepared for another bout, but then Nathan jumped past him, his aura burn a deep red, and was strongest around his weapons.

            “Nathan! Don’t hit his sword!” But Blake’s warning came too late as he hit Adam’s sword right in the middle giving Adam even more energy to prepare for his next moonslicer attack.

            “MY FAMILY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!” Nathan yelled at the top of his lungs. “FIRST THAT FOOL ATTACKED YOU LEADING TO ALL THEIR DEATHS, AND THEN YOUR FLUNKIES KILLED MY TEACHER! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL THEY ARE ALL AVENGED!”

            “But who do you really blame, me or the person who provoked me?”

            “SHUT UP!”

            “What does it matter really? I was going to kill those fools no matter what happened. Perhaps you should thank that fool who provoked me for ending their suffering quicker.”

            “I SAID SHUT UP!” Nathan continued to try and bash Adam to a pulp, but Adam remained calm and continued to fight off his attacks. Others tried to help Nathan, but the remaining White Fang members and some of the Grimm that had peeled off from the horde and started advancing towards the big battle off to the side. Natalie was completely overwhelmed by the number of Grimm coming in, Team RWBY had fallen back to Blake to make sure she wasn’t injured more than she already was, Evan was busy fighting Leo, while Miles was trying to find an opening to get back into the fight with Adam. Then, a flare went off within the forest, causing both Adam and Leo to abandon their opponents and try to wave down an airship. As soon as they did, Leo punched the ground creating a huge dust cloud around everybody in the area. Weiss quickly countered this by using a glyph to blow away the dust, but by that time, both Adam and Leo were on an airship heading into the forest.

            “Blast. I can’t reach them in time.” Miles collapsed on the ground next to Blake, who was still wincing from her leg injury.

            “Don’t worry about it. If there’s one thing that Adam has learned from me overtime, it’s running away.”

            “Never took you for the fearful type.”

            “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

            “OH FOR PETE’S SAKE GET A ROOM!” The two of them looked up angrily expecting to see Yang, but it was actually Nathan. “Seriously, we can’t go five seconds without you two having to talk to each other?”

            “See Blake? This kid gets it.” Yang put her arm around Nathan and gave him a noogie.

            “Yang, I swear, shut up.” Blake said glaring right at the two of them.

            “I will end both of you if you don’t shut your mouths.” Miles said grasping one of his swords.

            “Oh no, mad Blake and emo little Miles.  Whatcha gonna do to me? Cut my arm off?”

            “Don’t tempt me lady.” Everybody continued to laugh, leaving Miles and Blake once again, slightly embarrassed.

            “Hey, I hate to break up a fun time” Evan jumped in with earnest. “And even though the Grimm horde is pretty much gone at this point, can we please see if Team JNPR found the others? I’m worried for everybody.”

            “That’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard in the last few seconds” Miles said with a sigh of relief. “All right then, let’s get going.”

 

 

 

 

Ty and Pyrrha continued to slice through whatever foliage was in their way. An airship had passed over them a few minutes ago, and they knew if Jacob were in trouble, there would be a chance that he could be captured. As they continued forwards, the sound of the airship’s engine was growing louder.

            “Brooklyn! Chirsty! Get ready to blast whoever is out there! We have no idea how much time we have in order to stop them!”

            “Right!” The two ladies said this and morphed their weapons to ranged form. As they got closer to the engines, they saw a clearing ahead, but couldn’t make out what was happening. As they broke through the tree line, they saw the red robed man with his hands clasped on Jacob’s head, as if he was interrogating him or something. Not thinking twice, Brooklyn took a shot at the stranger’s head. But as she pulled the trigger, he jumped away from Jacob and fell backwards.

            “No no no no! I still have work to finish!”

            “Lord Memoriare! We have to go now!” Looking over at the airship, then back at the oncoming group of fighters, he gathered himself, and rushed over to the airship as it began taking off. Brooklyn and Christy attempted to shoot down the ship, but it either missed important areas, or Adam and Leo blocked the shots with their weapons. The airship took off leaving everybody to go over to where Jacob was lying unconscious.

            “Jacob! Are you okay?”

            “Don’t think he can hear you Pyrrha. He’s out for the count.”

            “Ty’s right. Let me see if I can’t help wake him up. Or at least reduce some of the pain he might feel when he does.” Christy then placed her hands on his head and let the healing powers flow right into him. But when she did, she only did so for a few seconds. She looked at him and at her hands completely confused.

            “Is something wrong?”

            “Well the thing is, usually it takes a lot of aura out of me in order to heal somebody fully. I’ve hardly used any and his body doesn’t need any more.”

            “Maybe that’s a good thing. Lets get him back to Beacon and let him rest up for the night. Ty, can you carry him?”

            “I just destroyed a terrorist base and ran almost two miles in the past half an hour. I can definitely carry my team leader to an airship.”

 

 

 

 

Jacob woke up with a crazy headache, not sure where he was. Observing his surroundings, he was in the infirmary back at Beacon. Pyrrha and Jaune were right next to his bed on a couch, sleeping peacefully. He decided not to wake them, but rather fell back asleep. When he woke up again, the doctor was looking over him.

            “Aha. He’s awake. How do you feel Mr. Strohl?”

            “Like something was ripped out of my head.”

            “How do you mean?”

            “I’m not really sure. It kind of feels like a headache, but also like there’s nothing there to hurt at all.”

            “Well at least there wasn’t any lasting damage.” Pyrrha walked over to Jacob and placed her hand on his shoulder, Jaune was right behind her.

            “You kind of gave us a scare there man.” Jaune said with a smile.

            “Shut up blondie.”

            “Oh, I hope Yang didn’t hear that.” Pyrrha joked.

            “I did, but Jauney boy is a better weapon in my pun arsenal!” Yang said as she walked in.

            “Good to know” Jaune said as he lowered his head in humiliation.

            “How goes it fearless leader?” Brooklyn smiled over Jacob looking relieved at his recovery.

            “I’m doing all right. I just don’t really know how to feel right now.”

            “Well that guy in the red robe looked like he did a number on you.”

            “He did? I don’t remember fighting him.”

            “What’s the last thing you remember?” Looking up, Jacob saw Miles had walked into the room and had just asked the question.

            “Well, I was following him through the forest, and then we reached these old ruins. There was some kind of zodiac symbol on the ground. I couldn’t make out what was on it, but I do remember that the robed man was translating something from said zodiac.”

            “What did he say?”

            “I’m not sure…it’s a little fuzzy. Like the memory is corrupted or something.”

            “What CAN you remember?”

            “I think he said something like, the four of the seasons, the children of the sun as different as night and day, and…. and…. I can’t remember anything after that.”

            “Well, that’s about as much as we need for now. Professor Goodwitch is letting you take a few days off from class to recover. We took some pretty bad losses out there yesterday. And we’re going to need everybody at full strength now that we know the White Fang isn’t going to sit idle anymore. Take it easy man.”

            “I will. Thanks.” With that, everybody except for Pyrrha and Jaune cleared out.

            “Jaune darling? Will you please give us a few minutes?”

            “Sure Pyrrha. I’ll be waiting outside.” Jaune left and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes.

            “I’m sorry about all this. I would have been there sooner but…” but before Pyrrha could finish, Jacob held his hand up to cut her off.

            “You should stop beating yourself up Pyrrha.” Pyrrha looked over at Jacob, slightly confused.

            “But if I had just moved a little faster to trying to help you…”

            “Look, you can’t continue blaming yourself for everything. What happened yesterday wasn’t your fault. And also, I don’t have to forgive you for what happened at the Vytal festival last year because there’s nothing to forgive. I was so wrapped up in the idea that I needed to please my parents that I forgot what inspired me to become a Huntsman in the first place.”

            “What’s that?”

            “Your kindness. You just stood out to me back then. While my parents were constantly pushing me to follow the rules and follow guidelines and only cared about my own status, you were somebody that despite having all that praise continued to focus on what was right. That’s something I admire. At least I did until I got all vengeful and stuff. Once I started at Sanctum, I felt like I had to make a name for myself. I had forgotten what was most important to me. I mean, for almost all my life, my goal was beating you. That’s not the honorable thing to do in the slightest. We’re both on the same side here. I’m sorry about what I did and said a few weeks ago.”

            “That’s fine Jacob. You were just letting off some steam, which I can understand. I would probably have felt the same way if I were in your shoes. Also, I seriously believe you and Jaune might have more in common than you realize.”

            “I think you might be right. Tell me, does he play chess?”

            “He’s played a bit against Ren. Why do you ask?

            “I think that would be a great way for me to get to know him.”

 

 

 

 

            “Well, all’s well that ends well I guess.” Nathan said with a smile.

            “Not a bad first field day as team leader. I’ll give you that kid.” Miles said punching Natalie in the shoulder.

            “Just call me Natalie. Please?”

            “Fine. Fair enough Natalie.” Natalie cracked a smile as Miles said this.

            “So, what do we do now?” Blake asked.

            “Not sure Blake." Miles said placing his hands behind his head.  "Until we know what exactly happened to Jacob, we should just proceed with what we talked about a while back and continue to take things one step at a time.”

            “That makes sense to me.”

            “Whatcha doing?” Yang leaned in over Miles’ shoulder.

            “Talking, which YOU seem to be fluent in.”

            “Oooh. Feisty. Hey, can I borrow Natls for a second?”

            “I guess. We were almost done anyways.” Natalie walked over to Yang and whispered something in her ear, which caused Natalie to giggle a little bit.

            “This can’t be good.” Blake said rolling her eyes.

            “Why’s that?” Miles said, now growing slightly concerned.

            “The last time Yang did something like this and got Ruby to chuckle like that, our friend Neptune ended up floating on a mattress out on the school lake.”

            “Maybe I should sleep on the ceiling tonight then or something.” Yang and Natalie walked over to the two of them, grinning from ear to ear.

            “So Blake, Miles, want to go into town with everybody tomorrow?”

            “Huh?”

Author's Note

Please read, review, and enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

Now what are those guy's up to, meaning the White Fang and the two love birds? Another Awesome chapter. which is full of information and another battle scene. Well played by the way. Lots of detail and lots of fun to read. moving on to the next page. Please be kind and return the love,