A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with chapter three! I wanted to upload this a few days earlier than I did, but I got way too fucking busy, unfortunately. Even so, here it is!

The First Battle

Faster. It was the only thought that consumed Ruby's mind. Faster. Faster! She fired shot after shot behind her, quickly becoming a red streak across the sky. Her friends, her comrades, her home was in danger. She had to reach it before it was too late. The wind began to tear at her face. Faster!

"Ruby!" Weiss' voice yanked her from her thoughts. She glanced back over her shoulder, eyes widening slightly in surprise at just how far ahead of the remainder of her team she had pulled. Ruby spun Crescent Rose so that it faced in front of her and pulled the trigger once, cutting her speed back to match that of her team.

"I'm sorry," she began once she was in line with them again. "I didn't realize how fast I was going."

Weiss shook her head as she propelled herself off of another glyph, Blake close behind. "You dunce. Still as eager as ever to rush headlong into battle."

"I just wanted to get to Beacon as fast as I could. We don't know what kinda situation they're in over there."

Blake spoke calmly, her tone as level as always, "Calm down, Ruby. We're all anxious, but we need to stick together."

"I know, I know...god I suck as leader today."

"You're just really anxious," Yang brushed off her concern while blasting herself forward with Ember Celica. "It's a situation we've never faced before. At any rate, I'm sure Beacon can handle itself fine without us for a bit longer. It is the top combat school in all of Remnant, after all," she added with a cheeky smile.

Ruby almost smirked, but she couldn't. "But the professors aren't there, Yang. Ozpin took nearly all of them to that conference in Vacuo, remember?"

Yang's eyes narrowed slightly. She had forgotten that, actually. "Well, whatever, the students will hold their own, at any rate. Besides, there are still a few professors left, right? Port's still there. That old geezer seems like he could put up a hell of a fight."

"Yang!" Weiss admonished. "Professor Port is a veteran Hunter, not to mention one of our mentors. Show some respect!"

Yang rolled her eyes. "I'll show him some respect when he stops winking at me and making that weird noise with his mouth every time he sees me."

Weiss opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by their leader. "Guys, not really the time for this." Her partner's mouth closed, and Yang grinned. She wasn't adverse to taking a victory that she didn't technically earn.

"Ruby has a point though," Blake said, drawing the team's attention. "The professors are away." Yang was familiar enough with her partner by this point to know that Blake wasn't finished, so she wisely kept her mouth shut, despite her burning desire to say 'duh'. Blake continued, "Doesn't the timing of this attack seem a little too convenient? It just so happens to fall on the one Saturday that many of the teachers, not to mention the headmaster, are away from the school."

Ruby bit her lip, feeling the fist of apprehension in her chest clenching that much harder around her lungs.

Weiss looked like she was trying her hardest to deny the reality of Blake's statement. "I'm...I'm sure it's just a coincidence." She certainly didn't sound sure, though, and a silence took hold of the four girls. Ruby looked ahead, squinting her eyes, hoping against hope that she could see something of Beacon, of what was going on.

She couldn't find anything familiar though. There was a giant smoke cloud in the distance that was blocking her view. It wasn't until she noticed just how close to the cliffs it was, and how it choked out of the light of Beacon's tower that she realized the obscuration was Beacon. She made a small cry of despair, and her team followed her gaze. Weiss cursed softly while Blake's eyes narrowed.

Yang grit her teeth, the smile from before long gone. "Those bastards," she seethed. Her hair began to burn and she launched herself forward faster than before. The rest of Team RWBY followed suit, doubling their speed to try and reach their school faster. It was in trouble, and they were going to do their damnedest to defend it.

The battle, Ren mused to himself, was not going well for them. The Grimm had come on too fast, taken them too much by surprise. The students were too slow to react to the threat. Bleeding, broken human bodies lay scattered about the grounds. At this rate, Beacon would fall within the hour.

Ren was ripped from his reflecting as a clawed hand swiped a few inches in front of his face. He jerked back, startled. Get ahold of yourself. This is no time to be daydreaming. He fired a short burst from each of his pistols into the offending Beowulf's eyes, causing it to snarl in pain as it raised its arms to guard against his weapons. Ren took one large step inside the Grimm's guard, crouching low. He brought both his arms upwards, slashing clean through each of the Beowolf's shoulders. The clawed arms fell to the ground, already beginning to dissipate. Before the monster could react in defense, say, biting Ren's face off, Ren reversed his hands direction, bringing them back down across the wolf's torso in an 'x' shape.

The Grimm's growl turned into a death whimper as it collapsed to the ground in multiple pieces. Ren barely spared it a glance before plunging right back into the fight by leaping up and implanting both of his blades into the back of an Ursa's neck. It let loose a roar of protest, twisting violently from side-to-side, trying to reach the young Hunter with its paws and, when that failed, to dislodge him. It lifted its head to glare at him with a glowing red eye.

Its mistake. Ren pulled both triggers on his weapons. Stormflower may not have been the strongest weapon when it came to firepower. That went to either Ruby's Crescent Rose or Nora's Magnhild. However, at point blank, in a constant, focused stream, it didn't matter what type of defenses the Grimm had. The Aura-infused bullets vaporized dark flesh as if it were tissue paper, and the Ursa suddenly found it had two new holes to breath from in the front of its throat. It gurgled before falling forward onto its face. Ren rode it down, somersaulting off of it whenever it hit the dirt.

He almost smirked at his hypocrisy, recalling a time when Nora had done something very similar, and he had asked her to never ever do so again. A loud boom rang in his ears and flash of light out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Speaking of which. He turned to see his partner beset upon by a small group of Beowolves, four in all. She had just caught one up under the chin with Magnhild, blowing its head clean off.

Its corpse was still flying lifelessly through the air as the other Grimm approached her. Nora spun, smiling widely, at the first one that pounced. She slammed her hammer into its sternum, crushing the life from it instantaneously. One of its packmates must have thought this would be a grand opportunity to try and get the lightning warrior from behind, because it tried to do just that.

Ren saw what was going to happen before it did. Nora pulled the trigger, firing her weapon, and launching it in the opposite direction of the swing that had killed the first Beowolf. The spiked end of the hammer came flying back around in a semi-circle, burying itself in the Grimm's eye socket with a crunch so loud that Ren nearly winced. The fourth Beowolf suddenly seemed to realize that if it stuck around, it was going to meet the same fate as its brethren. It turned tail and tried to flee.

This time, Ren actually did let a small smile sneak onto his face. He had learned, in his many years of being beside Nora on a rampage, that you never, ever, ran away from the hot-blooded woman. Nora transformed Magnhild back into a grenade launcher and fired three shots with a cackle. The first one exploded at the fleeing enemy's feet, tripping it up. The second sent it tumbling into the air. And the third, though Ren would never understand how Nora could predict her grenades' effects this well, sailed right into the Beowolf's open mouth as it flew through the air. There was loud, too brightly colored explosion, and the Grimm's legs crashed to the ground. Only its legs.

His partner glanced over at him and smiled, tilting her head. Ren nodded, before turning his attention back toward the gates. Still quite a distance away. At this rate, they would never make it there in time to make any sort of difference. He looked back over his shoulder to the second half of his team, and took heart in the fact that they seemed to be faring alright. Better than alright, in fact. Jaune and Pyrrha seemed to be an unstoppable force at the moment, moving precisely through the battlefield, dispatching whatever enemies were near them along the way.

Ren marveled at their teamwork. They would block with their shields for each other while the other one came around or under the opponent's guard and finished them. They continued swiftly through the chaos like this, making beelines for any and every student they could find, especially the ones who were in trouble. Ren watched as they reached a pair of female third years that he vaguely recalled having been in a class with. Pyrrha beheaded the Beowolf that was harassing them and switched Miló into its rifle form, laying down a field of covering fire for her partner. Jaune helped the girls to their feet, tearing off a strip of his shirt to give to the one to staunch the bleeding from a gash on her arm. Ren couldn't hear what was being said from this distance, but he guessed Jaune was asking if they were alright.

A Beowolf came barreling toward Ren, causing him to leap back, his attention drawn from his leader. He flipped over the Grimm as it rushed under him, striking with a single palm thrust into the back of its neck as it did so. He forced a small burst of Aura through his hand, and the wolf's neck vanished entirely. He landed, crouching immediately to dodge the claws of another Beowolf. He extended his leg and spun, knocking the beast's feet out from under it. As it fell, Ren straightened, spun, and rammed the blades from his pistols into its chest.

His eyes darted from side to side, and upon realizing he was in no immediate danger, cast a glance back to Jaune and Pyrrha. What he saw surprised him. Somehow, in that minute he had been distracted, Jaune had managed to gather together a sizeable group of students, all of whom looked beaten and bloodied, but had a look of fire in their eyes as they focused on whatever Jaune was saying. The blond boy motioned with his sword, and said something fiercely. All of the students whipped out weapons and gave a yell before flying back into the fray.

This time, though, they had a plan. they were organized and they were supporting each other. They held their own against the Grimm, even managing to push back the beasts a little. Ren shook his head with a wry smile. Seriously, his friend was becoming one hell one a leader. He had managed to take a battered group of terrified teenagers and turn them into a effective fighting unit.

Now it was his turn. He turned, his worries for his teammates assuaged, narrowing his eyes at the large, metal doors hanging wide open across the field. He couldn't slog his way through the battlefield. That wasn't going to cut it anymore. Jaune may have rallied the students, but there was no way they could hold off an unrelenting, fullscale assault with a ragtag group of fighters for very long. They needed to close those gates now. Ren began running through a list of possibilities in his mind, before he settled on one that he knew he was going to regret. Yet it seemed to be the only choice.

Just as he made up his mind, he felt a presence sidle up behind him and a back pressed against his. He smiled lightly. Somehow she was always knew when he needed her.

"Nora..."

She glanced back over her shoulder at him with a cheeky grin, turquoise eyes sparkling with glee. "Operation Ren-Cannon?"

He sighed and closed his eyes before nodded weakly. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. "Operation Ren-Cannon."

Nora let out a whoop of victory and spun her weapon, converting it into its hammer version. She held it out horizontally and pulled the trigger, sending the back of the head arcing toward Ren, who jumped into the air and angled his legs back toward his partner. As he felt the soles of his feet come into contact with Magnhild's metal surface, he crouched, hunkering down like a coiled spring on the end of the hammer. Nora, with a final laugh, pulled the trigger once again, Ren extended his legs at the same time, letting Aura blast through his lower boy as he did so. This, combined with the sheer force of Nora's swing, sent him hurtling over the battlefield as little more than a streak of green.

As he neared the left gate, he extended his arms, gritting his teeth at the pain he was sure would follow. His pistol blades hooked around one of the bars on the top half of the gate. Despite the Aura he had reinforced his muscles with, the abrupt halt to his momentum nearly tore his shoulders from their sockets. He let out hiss, but managed to maintain his grip on his weapons. Although slowed, he continued to fly forward, pulling the gate shut behind him. It slammed closed with a hollow, reverberating gong. Ren swung himself up and onto the top of it.

His feet had barely touched the dark grey metal before he was dashing forward and leaping into the air toward the other gate. He somersaulted in the air, extended his one leg over his head as he reached the other side of Beacon's entrance. He pushed a large quantity of his remaining Aura into his foot, and brought his heel down onto the door with as much force as he could muster. The impact left a small crater in the metal, and the giant slab of metal swung shut, and the magnetic seals activated, locking the entrance closed. Ren thought he saw a dark shape dart through the opening between gates right before they closed, but he couldn't be sure.

He dropped the thirty feet to the earth. His feet hit the ground and he stumbled a bit, collapsing to one knee. His breathing was heavy and his vision was swimming slightly. His shoulders and foot were screaming in pain. I used too much Aura too quickly. He tried to stand, but ended up on his hands and knees again, panting as sweat dripped from his face.Need to get up, help everyone finish this battle. I can rest afterward. Ren looked up through half-lidded eyes at the battle, noting with surprise how much better things seemed to be going now.

Jaune was yelling commands at the students, who were swiftly putting down groups of Grimm under his direction. Ren also noticed that the few professors who had remained at Beacon had joined the fray. Professor Port was wielding his blunder-axe with an agility that belied his age. He watched as the portly man cleaved straight through two Beowolves with one swing, then spun his weapon and delivered a point blank blast from the shotgun end into the underside of an Ursa's chin. Its white-masked face evaporated and its body lumbered lifelessly to the dirt.

There was a white and green blur that seemed to move endlessly through the fight, never stopping. Ren guessed that it was Oobleck, though he couldn't get a very clear view, so he couldn't be sure. Whoever it was, everytime they passed an opponent, the creature would suddenly sprout a few new holes and gashes over its entire body. The blur passed by Professor Peach, and Ren felt his eyes widen slightly. He had never pictured the platinum-blond haired teacher as much of a fighter, but there she was, face full of concentration and ice-blue eyes narrowed in anger.

She wielded some sort of staff that's upper half was thicker than its lower half. She smacked back a few enemies, and fired off a shot from the gun that must have been hidden in the middle of the shaft. It wasn't the only thing her weapon was hiding though. Professor Peach twisted the lower half of the staff, and suddenly the top half opened up into four separate arms, each with two joints and three sections. It's like it has fingers. Suddenly the arms of the weapon began twisting and firing in every direction. ...Fingers that have guns for tips. Ren had no idea how she could control all sections and the guns within them separately, but she was, and she was raising complete hell on the Grimm around her.

"Ren!" a panicked cry reached his ears, and he turned to see his partner sprinting toward him.

He began to raise a shaking hand to let Nora know he was alright when he caught the look on her face. Fear. The only time he had ever seen fear on her face was whenever he was in danger. He put two and two together and rolled clumsily to the left. Not a moment too soon, as something crashed into the ground where he had just been. He got a glimpse of a round, pupilless eye that glowed crimson before he realized how big of trouble he was in. He managed to roll backward, knowing the second attack was coming.

Sure enough it did a second later. The gleaming white fangs barely missed him as the second head, too, furrowed into the earth. Ren managed to pull himself to his feet, holding his pistols at the ready as the Grimm reared up, staring at him. Two heads. Four eyes. Black and white. A King Taijitu. Ren didn't have the energy for this, and he knew it. Still, he was a student of Beacon, and he'd go down fighting, if nothing else. Both heads shot out to the side and forward. He crouched, preparing to jump. With any luck, he could get the heads to smash into each other, and hopefully buy him a bit of time for reinforcements to show up.

The snake, however, seemed to have anticipated this action, and when he leapt, and black head angled upward with him, smashing into his right side and sending him careening to dirt a ways off. He slid across the ground, leaving a small trench in his wake. The Grimm followed him closely, slithering across the ground, the white head leading. It reached him as he was just managing to shakily push himself to his elbows, gasping desperately to try and reclaim the air that had been knocked from his lungs. It reared back, opened its mouth, and dove forward.

Ren closed his eyes. He had to admit, of all the ways he thought he might die as a Hunter, being swallowed alive by a King Taijitu on Beacon's grounds had never really occurred to him as one of them. There was a kind of poetry about it though, he supposed. A King Taijitu had been his first real fight after gaining admittance to the school, and now it seemed like it would be his final one as well.

Suddenly, there was a rushing sound, following by the sound of metal tearing through flesh. He heard a high-pitched keening, that was abruptly cut off by another slicing sound. He felt a person land beside him, and a hand gently cupped the back of his head, resting it gently in someone's lap. He inhaled, and smiled as the scent of roses and strawberries filled his senses. Magenta eyes cracked open to look up into worried silver ones.

"Ruby," he greeted.

She stopped biting her lip and smiled, relieved that her friend was alright. "Hello, Ren." She said gently. "Glad to see you're not dead. Though," she gave his appearance a once over, "you could certainly be doing a lot better for yourself."

He chuckled. "Nice to see you too." He pulled his head from her lap, struggling into a sitting position, aware of her hand on his back the entire time. A warmth radiated from it that he found comforting and relaxing. The King Taijitu's headless corpse lay beside them, slowly deteriorating. Ren nodded at it. "Thanks."

Her smile got wider. "Of course."

"The rest of RWBY?"

"Helping everyone finish off the last of the Grimm. C'mon, let's get you up. I can see Nora losing her shit over there." Ren nodded and grimaced, pain spiking through his body as Ruby hauled him to his feet. He put an arm around her shoulders, and she kept a firm grip on his waist, taking as much of his weight as she could.

They limped back to their friends, the remainder of the Grimm having been defeated with the arrival of team RWBY. Black mist rose all over the Beacon grounds as the soulless bodies faded away. Students were standing or sitting, some even lying, around, breathing heavily. Others were crying. The battle had not been without causalities. Ruby and Ren made it to the collective grouping of their two teams and professors Oobleck, Port, and Peach.

A relieved Nora threw her arms around Ren's neck the instant Ruby released him to stand on his own, causing everyone to smile.

"Good to see you, Ren," Jaune said. "When we saw the Taijitu hit you..." he trailed off, leaving it obvious what they had suspected. Jaune shook his head, putting aside the depressing thoughts. "Anyway," he started, drawing in the attention of his friends and professors. "Does anybody have the slightest clue what's going on?"

Ruby sighed, glancing at her teammates while running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, we do. And you're not gonna like it..."

A/N: So, what did everyone think? I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I feel like it flows much better than either of the other two chapters thus far. But I'll leave that up to all of you to decide. I hope I did the combat proper justice. Also, longest chapter for this story yet. Woots!

Anyway, please review! Reviews make me happy :D

PS - Totally changed my penname, in case that was confusing anyone. The old one was getting, well...old