We do not own RWBY or any other copyright content. All rights to it go to Monty Oum (God rest his soul), VIZ Media, and their original owners. We own all OCs.
Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines.
Return of the Dragon Warriors
Volume 1 Chapter 13: A Battle of Thunder and Frost
"Get off me, you little biter!" Jaune yelled as one of the Sprinters leaped up on him, trying to bite at his face.
Jaune tried to get the beast off his face, but between holding his sword in one hand and carrying the strange stone he and Pyrrha found in the other, he was having a hard time. Seeing this, Ren swiped it off Jaune's face with one of his blades before shooting it to death while it was on the ground. Sighing in relief, the blonde knight turned to look at the green-clad martial artist.
"Thanks," Jaune told him with a smile.
Ren nodded. "Anytime." He replied as the two ran to catch up with the others to get a better position.
"There are so many of them! Defensive formation!" Pyrrha yelled, forcing one of the Rogues back with several thrusts of her spear.
Nora smiled as she swung her massive warhammer to clobber the Rogue away from Pyrrha. "Come get some!" She howled with joy as she turned to face the others while she and Pyrrha got into position with the others.
As the four soon stood back to back, the Rogues began to circle them as the Sprinters hopped and leaped back and forth, nipping at them. Pyrrha's eyebrows furrowed as they were trapped. But she then heard a loud noise coming towards them.
"Incoming!!" Came the thunderous, joy-fueled howl of Sylver.
"Duck!" Jaune called out as he and Pyrrha dove to the ground.
"Where?!" Nora asked, forcing Ren to grab her and drag her to the ground.
As soon as they all hit the dirt, a crescent blade of roaring flames scythed through the air and cut through multiple Sprinters and Rogues. The ones that weren't cut in half caught fire and let out howls of pain. Looking up, they saw Sylver standing with Whitley, Hunter, and Dahlia, with all four ready for battle.
"Thought you could use a hand!" Sylver said with a wolfish grin.
"What's up?" Hunter said casually, twirling his crossbow.
"Thanks for the save!" Jaune told them before dodging a leap from a Sprinter and cutting it in half in midair. "Seriously?!"
"They really seem to like ya, sugah," Delilah said inquisitively.
"I wish they didn't!" Jaune snapped.
"Did you take something from them? These things have been known to be territorial." Hunter questioned as he fired a barrage of Fire Dust bolts into a group of Sprinters, killing them all.
"Not these things! I took this rock from a Deathstalker earlier!" Jaune yelled over the growing chaos, swinging his sword wildly at the small sprinters assailing him.
Whitley took a good, long look at the "rock" as he used his sword to cut through any Thunderjaws that got too close. His eyes then widened in shock. That looked just like… "Oh no…" He uttered as soon as he figured it out.
"I don't like the sound of that!" Jaune yelled.
"Arc. I don't think that's a rock. I think… I think it's a Dragonstone…" Whitley replied as he slashed and stabbed Sprinters and Rogues.
"A what?" Jaune asked.
Ren's eyes widened in shock. "A… Dragonstone…?" He asked in shock before slashing through two pouncing Sprinters.
"As in a dragon egg?!" Pyrrha asked in disbelief as she turned her spear into sword form to slash through some pouncing Sprinters.
"Is it edible?!" Nora chipped in, smashing a Rogue's face with her hammer, sending broken teeth flying.
"Nora, no!" Ren called back as he fired into a charging Rogue.
"I demand pancakes later then!!" Nora shot back.
"Wait… if they're targeting the egg…" Sylver muttered, then gave an evil grin. "Arc, get ready! You're the bait!"
"WHAT?!" Jaune yelled panicky.
"You heard me! Now be bait!" Sylver called out, slashing through two Rogues and taking off their heads.
"Why me!?" Jaune wailed.
"Do you see anyone else with a mystical object of unknown bullshit?!" Sylver told him before cleaving another Rogue clean in two diagonally with his claymore.
"Anyone want to borrow this?!" Jaune asked, frantically looking around the group.
"I'll cover you, Jaune! You can do this!" Pyrrha told him, turning her sword back into spear form.
Jaune then looked down at the stone. "Stupid stone." He grumbled, before running.
Resisting the urge to scream at the top of his lungs, Jaune immediately began to sprint as fast as he could away from the scrum. As soon as he did, the horde of theropod Grimm turned their heads to look at him. With roars and squawks, the large mass of teeth and fury attempted to run after the young blonde huntsmen hopeful.
"Hold on tight there, blonde knight dude!" Dahlia called out as she put her index and middle fingers together on each hand.
Beginning to twirl her two fingers together on each hand, spall drills made of gold-colored Aura manifested around each spinning finger. The Aura drills began spinning faster and faster as she leaped at charging Sprinters, her small drills boring into their eyeballs to blind them. Howling in pain, they stumbled back before Dahlia put her hands into twin spearhead hand positions. Twirling her wrists, she manifested larger, more darkly-shaded Aura drills around her hands. Punching forward with her Drills, Dahlia pierced a large hole each through two Rogue Thunderjaws as they howled in agony before collapsing over.
Hunter's eyes glowed purple as his pupils turned into star-shapes. Using his eyes, Hunter scanned the Sprinters and Rogues as shining spots appeared on their bodies like little constellations. Smirking, he split his large crossbow into two smaller ones, each small enough to be wielded one-handed. Aiming his crossbows, he rapidly fired upon the Thunderjaws. Each bolt made contact with a "star" in the constellations on the dinosaur-like Grimm's bodies, easily piercing through their hides as the beasts howled and squawked in agony before disappearing.
Using his sword in one hand, Whitley slashed and stabbed into approaching Rogues while using throwing daggers to cut down the Sprinters. Smiling, Whitley couldn't help but mentally appreciate Sylver for his eccentric training methods as he cut a path through the Thunderjaws. 'That training really paid off. It may have nearly killed me multiple times… but now I'm strong enough to stand beside Elder Sister Weiss as an equal.' He thought as he continued carving his way through the reptilian beasts.
Speaking of said wolf prince, Sylver slashed and stabbed his way through the Thunderjaws with his claymore. Cutting them in half, running them through, and decapitating them, he smiled a bit. "They may not be strong, but there sure are a lot of them!" He called out as they kept killing Grimm.
"I know! It's worse than bop-a-beaver!!" Nora yelled as she kept smashing them one by one.
"You only say that because the arcade won't let you use Magnhild." Ren dryly replied as he slashed through and shot down Sprinters and Rogues.
"Oh sure! I break four retro arcade games and I never will hear the end of it!!" Nora groaned, before sending a Sprinter flying like a golf ball.
"We need to focus! We can't let any of them get past us!" Pyrrha called out as she slashed and stabbed through the charging Thunderjaws.
As soon as Pyrrha said that, a large number of Sprinters and Rogues barreled past them, heading right for Jaune. Turning, the blonde knight's eyes widened as he used his sword to cut and slash through any that got too close—trying desperately to defend himself and the egg. However, soon his blade was knocked from his hand. Throwing his hand up in self-defense as a Rogue lunged at him, Jaune failed to notice white and green electricity dancing up along his arm to his hand. Before he could react, a veritable miniature storm of lightning shot from his hand, frying and vaporizing most of the Thunderjaws in an instant.
Jaune looked on in shock as the storm from his hand died down. "Whoa!! How'd I do that…?" Jaune remarked excitedly before looking down at his hand in disbelief.
Shaking himself out of it. Jaune grabbed and picked up his sword, holding it ready to keep fighting. As the others caught up, they all formed ranks as the Thunderjaws closed in. Nora smashed and crushed them with her hammer when they got through close, Ren slashed through and gunned them down. Jaune and Pyrrha slashed and stabbed with their blades while Pyrrha used her shield to help Jaune defend himself and the egg. Pyrrha did her best to limit her swings to avoid hitting Jaune or the egg while using her shield to guard them.
Meanwhile, Sylver cackled with joy as he slashed, stabbed, and hacked through Thunderjaws from the other side of Jaune, clearly having the time of his life. Whitley slashed and stabbed with his sword while using his throwing knives to pick off the Sprinters. Dahlia used her drills to punch holes in any that got too close to her. All while Hunter targeted the "stars" in the constellations he saw on their bodies, punching through their hides with his crossbow bolds and bringing them down.
"As soon as we finish up with these little ones, we need to head over to the other teams!" Pyrrha yelled, skewering a running Sprinter.
"Agreed! That Prince is going to be a royal terror to bring down!" Whitley chipped in.
"Was that a fucking pun?!" Sylver called out happily as he kept cutting down Thunderjaws.
"... Yes, master!" Whitely regretfully replied, throwing one of his knives through the chest of a Sprinter.
"I am so proud of you!" Sylver called out as he cleaved a Rogue in half.
Meanwhile: With Ruby and Company
The eight stood in a concave line as the Prince walked out of the ruins to face them. As it approached them, they felt its weight. Each step was a thunderous footfall, its column-like leg shifting iron hard muscles into place with each step. Soil and gravel settled under its weight. Its eyes scanned over them with contemptuous ease, the shape of its skull making it literally look down its nose at them. A low rumbling growl emanated from its throat as it began to chomp its mouth at them. Each motion made a clamping, echoing popping noise.
"What's the plan, big blue…?" Yang asked, readying herself as best she could.
"It's top heavy and only has two points of balance! If we can take out a leg, it won't be able to move and we can pick it apart! Provide cover fire with Crescent Rose! Keep its attention on you!" Azura called out before turning to Ruby.
"Got it!" Ruby yelled as she transformed Crescent Rose into its gun form.
"Blair, Rena! Hit it on its flanks however you can! Split its attention between you two and Ruby! We need to keep this thing from planning a counterattack!" Azura told them.
"On it!" Rena yelled.
"Let's hope it's enough," Blair replied as she drew her sword while using the sheath as a second blade.
"Zhan, Yang! Attack one of its legs! Try to bring it down! If you can't do that, try to soften that leg up for a big strike from me! Weiss, Ember! Target the other leg in case Yang, Zhan, and I fail to take our leg out!" Azura told them, drawing his ōdachi.
"Got it!" Weiss and Ember said as they started to move to one side.
"Bigger they are…" Zhan said with a smile as he readied his axe.
"Harder they fall!" Yang continued, punching her fists together.
"After we bring it to one knee, I'll charge up the biggest move I can and go for the neck! Zhan, Yang! I'll need you two to make sure I can get a clean hit once I'm ready! Let's do this, people!" Azura called out, finishing up his explanation.
"And don't get bit!!" Ruby yelled out.
"Thank you for the hard-hitting commentary, Ruby." Weiss sarcastically said.
Ruby lined up the shot, putting the Prince Thunderjaw's head in her sights. Then she pulled the trigger. The Dust round rocketed towards it as dust was picked up from the sheer force of the shot. In the blink of an eye, the round slammed into the robust skull of the Grimm, creating a fiery explosion across its face. The Grimm bellowed as it shook off the round. Ruby, however, kept her sights on its head, sending round after round into it, despite only annoying the behemoth before her.
Meanwhile, Blair and Rena rushed in and split up, each taking one side. Coating the head of her spear in Lightning Dust, Rena stabbed and thrusted into its side with the electrified spearhead. As she did, Blair slashed with her blades to unleash crescent-shaped projected slashes of pure Aura on its other side, raining hell down on it to force it to split its focus. However, this did little more than annoy the beast, which began to turn its attention to Blair.
As this happened, Zhan and Yang got behind it and began attacking its right leg. Zhan slashed and hacked into it with his ax while Yang lit Ember Celica ablaze and slammed into it with explosive, fiery punches. The beast roared and whipped its tail to try to hit them, each slam of its tail shaking the ground like a small earthquake. While this was going on, Ember turned her tetsubō into a bazooka and began firing rounds on the other leg while Weiss used her Glyphs to launch fireballs of Fire Dust into its leg. Seeing that the plan was already falling apart, Azura turned to look at Ruby as sparks of electricity began coming off him.
"Ruby! Any ideas?!" Azura called out, preparing to rush in.
"Just one! Rena! Jump on its back and start stabbing it! Get its attention off of Blair!" Ruby yelled as she reloaded Crescent Rose.
"I'm on it!!" Rena called out as she leaped onto the back of the beast.
Raising her electrified spear, the Atlesian spearwoman began thrusting down repeatedly onto the beast's back. While her attacks barely pierced its hide, the lightning coming off the spearhead shocked it enough to distract it from Blair as it began turning its attention to Rena. Seeing this, Ruby finished reloading Crescent Rose.
"Now, Blair! Cut into the back of its knee! Then you two fall back and tag team that side!" Ruby ordered before firing at the Grimm's head again. "Weiss, keep freezing its legs! Ember, fall back and start shooting it!"
"Got it!" Weiss and Ember said, as they broke off the attack on their flank.
"On it!" Blair and Rena briskly replied.
Rushing for the back of the left knee, Blair turned her sword into a ribboned kusarigama-like form and latched it onto a tree, yanking on it by the black ribbon on the pommel. Pulling, she used the momentum to whip herself back before pulling again to launch herself forward. As soon as she was launched forward, Blair pulled her weapon free of the tree and returned her main weapon to sword form. Slashing with her two blades, Blair brought the back of the beast's knee down from under it. With its sheer bulk, the creature barely managed to keep itself from toppling over.
Seeing this, Rena leaped from the back of the Prince Thunderjaw as she and Blair began slashing, stabbing, and thrusting into the knee of the left leg. Readying Myrtenaster, Weiss raised it as it became covered in cold energy. Pointing it forward, she fired a barrage of missiles formed from Ice Magic from the rapier into the legs of the Grimm. It roared in pain as it tried to move forward, the barrage of attacks keeping it from moving too far as the ice slowed it down even more.
However, as he began zipping around it and slashing at the Grimm, Azura began to notice something. All of their attacks did very little, if any, actual damage. If anything, it seemed as if they were just annoying and pissing off the Thunderjaw. It was then that he noticed something else. Every time a piece of Grimm matter came off from the beast from one of their attacks, excluding the frozen or burned pieces, the Grimm matter began wiggling and writhing on the ground. However, soon the Grimm matter began contorting and taking on new shape, forming into Thunderjaw Sprinters right before Azura's eyes.
"Fuck!! Be careful, everyone! Unless you burn or freeze them, any Grimm matter that comes off from this thing's injuries just makes more of them!" Azura barked out to the others.
"We can't get slowed down by them! Rena, join Azura in attacking! Blair and Weiss deal with the Sprinters! Everyone else, just hammer it as hard as you can!" Ruby ordered, catching Azura off guard by such a bold strategy.
"I don't think I've ever seen you take charge like this, Ruby!" Azura called out as he kept zipping around the Royal to slash and stab away at it.
"We can't keep tip-toeing around this thing, Azura! We have to start hitting it, or we are gonna get chomped!!" Ruby yelled back before firing into the Grimm's head again.
Azura nodded. "Agreed! I'm just saying that I'm proud of you! And I know Sylver will be too!" He told her as he kept attacking.
"Azu, you can be proud of me later when it's dead!" Ruby yelled as she put a round into its neck, causing a fiery explosion that made it bellow in annoyance.
Rena then joined Azura as she thrusted and stabbed into the underbelly of the beast, where its hide was at its weakest. Roaring in pain, the Thunderjaw stomped on the ground where Rena was, forcing her to leap back. Unfortunately, this mistake cost her as it whipped its telephone pole-like tail and slammed it into the Atlesian spearwoman. Rena cried out in pain as she was slammed through two trees, rattled by the force of the hit.
"Rena!!" Azura called out in concern before looking up to see the beast's jaws coming down on him.
Diving aside, Azura barely avoided being eaten as its jaws were planted around a chunk of earth. Pulling its head up, the Thunderjaw snarled around the chunk of rock before crushing it into chunks of rubble with a single bite. Our heroes paled as they kept attacking, not wanting to imagine what those jaws could do to a human body, Aura or no Aura.
Weiss and Blair weren't having it their way either. Boxed in against a rock face, the ever-growing number of Sprinters had them hemmed in. Every time Blair attempted to acrobatically her way in and out of them, their numbers allowed them to nip at her, chipping away at her Aura. Weiss, however, kept her from getting swarmed with her Ice Glyphs. Weiss skewered one that attempted to jump her, before turning to look at the wreckage of Rena's flight.
"Blair! Help Rena and get her behind Ruby! I'll handle these things for now!" Weiss ordered.
"Are you sure?" Blair asked.
Soon, Myrnaster glowed bright with light blue energy, and with a horizontal swing, she created an icy wave towards the Sprinters. Those that failed to get out of the way were frozen solid. Then Weiss looked back at Blair wordlessly. Getting the hint, Blair rushed over. Navigating through the downed trees and limbs, she found Rena on her back, groaning in pain. Checking her over as she picked her up, she could tell her Aura was still up, but she could barely move from the pain of the blow. Rushing towards Ruby as fast as she could, Blair gently set her down against a rock before leaping back in to help with the Sprinter Horde.
"How the fuck did my father beat these things…?" Azura asked in disbelief before refocusing. "New Plan! Blair, Weiss! Do everything you can to mow down the Sprinters! Ruby, Ember! Cover fire together! Yang, Zhan! I don't care how you do it but take that leg down without getting hit!" He called out.
"That thing's leg is tougher than steel!" Zhan yelled back as he got his bearings.
"Then I've got no choice! Try to weaken it while I charge something up! If I can get this off on the leg, I can give you two the opening you need to take it off!" Azura called out before dropping sheathing his ōdachi and dropping into a stance with his knees bent.
Pulling his sheathed ōdachi off his belt, Azura pulled it back behind him as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Electricity sparked off him before arcs of lightning roared to life. Then, opening his eyes, Azura's eyes began to glow with sparking electricity. Electricity that started azure-blue, then slowly changed to sapphire. With that, a lightning-like Aura, the same color as the electricity from his eyes burst forth around him as arcs of azure lightning scarred the ground around his feet.
"Just don't get too close just yet!" Ember yelled as she loaded a rocket into her the backside of her tetsubō.
"That thing is a rocket launcher!?" Yang yelled.
"Bazooka, actually!" Ember replied.
Hoisting her weapon over her shoulder, Ember tapped the side of the weapon with a front grip and trigger popping out. She then hefted it over her shoulder and aimed as Ruby continued to unload clip after clip into the titan. Then the shy girl pulled the trigger. Smoke and fire came out of the end as the rocket blasted towards it at blinding speed. It then slammed into the face of the Thunderjaw, blinding it in a far more powerful blast of fire and smoke.
"I'd buy that for a lien!" Ruby yelled with admiration.
"It costs a hundred lien per rocket!" Ember yelled back.
The ground near Azura began to rumble as Yang and Zhan began to make their move. Aiming for the back of the knee, they both hit it hard simultaneously. This nearly buckled its leg out from under it as Azura roared out.
"Get back, you two!!" He called out as he used the thumb of his hand to push the blade of his ōdachi a bit out by its guard while gripping the hilt.
"What!?" Zhan asked in shock.
"Azu, you can't be serious!!" Yang added.
"Hurry!" Azura called out as he prepared to move.
Seeing little other choice, the two disengaged and made it back as far as they could. In a flash, Azura shot forward like a bullet from a gun, breaking the ground beneath his feet as he seemed to turn into an electrified blur. Drawing his blade as he approached the leg, Yang and Zhan felt a burst of air pressure push them aside as Azura zipped past them. Slashing with his blade, Azura cut deep into the right knee of the beast. His blade carved deep into its flesh as he passed it before ripping a massive chunk out of it.
"Thunder Soul Style: Rumbling Thunder!" Azura called out as he came to a stop while the beast struggled not to fall over. [1]
Turning around, Azura lit his blade ablaze with flames before slashing down and igniting the chunk of flesh he cleaved from the beast. The flesh burst into flames as the Thunderjaw roared in furious agony from the chunk of flesh that was shorn off its leg, Azura panting lightly from exertion as he turned to look at Yang and Zhan.
"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!!" He called out to the two of them.
"Dog pile!" Zhan yelled, hefting his ax high.
"Let's bring this thing down!" Yang roared as she reared her flaming fists back for a big hit.
Zhan swung his ax downward with all his might while Yang aimed her punch at the back of the ax. The explosive force of Yang's blow increased the momentum of Zhan's swing. Combined with the added momentum from gravity, the force of the attack slammed into where Azura cut the leg of the beast. Finally, they lopped off its entire leg, causing it to bellow in pain as the dinosaur Grimm toppled over. The mass of the monster caused a colossal thud that rattled the ground.
"Hey, Azura! Got enough in the tank to chip in!?" Yang yelled as she and Zhan were torching the severed leg.
Azura smirked at that. "Plenty! Stand back, everyone!" Azura called out as he dropped into the same stance from last time.
Soon, a massive amount of lightning arced off his body as he sheathed the blade of his ōdachi. As those closest to the Thunderjaw moved away, everyone was confused about what exactly his plan was. But judging by the sheer amount of power emanating from him, it was something big. Leaning forward, Azura prepared himself. In a flash, he rushed the Thunderjaw at high speed with the ground all but exploding beneath his feet.
The air pressure from his dash nearly flipped up Ruby, Nora, and Weiss's skirts as he rushed past, moving so quickly that only Ruby could track his movements. Everyone had to cover their faces from the debris from his speed. It was then that he appeared in front of the Prince Thunderjaw, blade drawn and already cutting into its throat.
"THUNDER SOUL STYLE: THUNDER GOD SPEED: LIGHTNING CUTTER!!!" Azura roared out as he swung his blade with all his might. [2]
With a buzzing zap and a boom of thunder, Azura cleaved its head from its neck. A large wave of lightning erupted from the slash and exploded as the force of the slash sent its head flying. Everyone looked on in shock at the sight as the Grimms' body slowly began to disappear while its head came screaming down like a black and white comet from the heavens.
"Oh shit!" Zhan yelled.
"EVERYONE SCATTER!!!" Ruby screamed, and soon everyone ran as far away as they could.
The head slammed down onto the ground with the impact of a small falling meteor, kicking up debris as shards of stone were scattered everywhere by the impact. Everyone looked in shock at the crater from the impact as the head disappeared bit by bit. Looking up from the crater, they saw Azura panting with his back to them, the dark-colored kanji characters for "Azure Tiger" on the back of his trench coat-style haori visible as the haori fluttered and flapped in the breeze. Standing up, Azura slowly caught his breath before taking a deep breath as the aura and arcs of lightning faded away.
Ruby popped her head up from behind the rock she had hidden behind. "Azura… when were you gonna tell us about that!?" She snapped.
Azura turned back to look at the others. "When I could do it without damaging my blade." He replied, looking down at the cutting edge of his sword as the others did the same.
All along the previously pristine blade, there was now a dulled and slightly warped mess of melted chipping. As he sheathed the weapon, they all heard a horrible grinding screech as it made its way in.
"Well, there goes more of the edge…" Azura grumbled. "And that was my favorite ōdachi, too…"
"Azura. How long have you been able to do this?" Yang asked.
"That's a question for a different time. When we're safe." Azura replied as he walked back over to them, carefully avoiding the crater.
Yet as soon as he walked back to the group, and the rest of their allies rushed over, they were all hit with a horrible sound. The crushing of stone, wails of pain, and the tramp of titanic feet. As they all knew what that was. The true titans still were at war, and it was a war they were losing…
To Be Continued…
[1] Raikon-ryū: Gōrai: Japanese for "Thunder Soul Style: Rumbling Thunder/Roaring Thunder". A high-speed Thunder Soul Style Battōjutsu (Quick draw and resheathing, basically a combat equivalent to iaijutsu) technique where the practitioner rushes their opponent head-on and, upon getting in close, draws the blade and slashes into the left leg, aiming to either take out or cripple the opponent's ability to evade and move quickly with one stroke.
[2] Raikon-ryū: Raijinsoku: Raikiri: Japanese for "Thunder Soul Style: Thunder God Speed: Lightning Cutter". A super high-speed Thunder Soul Style Battōjutsu technique where the opponent rushes the target, drawing the blade and slashing with their sword with tremendous force.