Roughly concurrent with Chapter 5

The Unterseeboot Position of Power registered several bumps, despite being in the open ocean. The many wheels, knobs, and pipes coating the walls shivered with each disturbance.

"Sir," said a technician, "there's something hitting the hull."

"What is it?" Branwen asked. The were well above the bottom, and too low in latitude for icebergs. Could another submarine be ramming them? But the bumps weren't that strong. More as if something was trying to get their attention.

"I'll try the periscope. One moment please."

"Oh, I think I know who it is," said Celtic Crown.

"It's a Balaenoptera Musculus," said the technician. "Tapping on the hull with flippers."

"Balena what?" asked Branwen.

"A Blue Whale," said Celtic. "I knew it. Let him in."

"You can't be serious," said Branwen. "We can hardly fit in here, let alone a Blue Whale!"

"Not like that," said Celtic, "but you'll see."

Branwen sighed. "All right, fine. I'll open the airlock."

Soon the giant whale vanished from the periscope, and the humanoid Blue Whale King walked into the cramped control room.

"This is just too weird," Branwen muttered.

"Nice to meet you too," said Blue Whale King.

"Hello, Whale," said Celtic. "What brings you here?"

"The Society for Arc-Nikos Support needs your help. EnTAIre Team and EnTAIre World are attacking us. We may have already lost the city of ArcTanic. Arkos of Erusea, our most important stronghold, will be the next target."

"I'd love to help," said Celtic, "but I'm trying to lay low for the moment. Whenever I get involved early and make a lot of noise, it ends badly. I don't want to make a huge target of myself."

"Count me out for sure," said Branwen. "My goal is Avenging the Deaths of Adam and the Motorcyxle, or Team ADAM. Arkosian drama is too messy and dangerous. Plus Link told me he was going over there and I don't want to get caught with him."

"Then you should go to shore and represent Team ADAM at Nachbar's meeting," said Blue Whale King. "It will be at the Cemetery of the Deleted. As for you, Celtic, r/ArkosForever is only a side theater of the war. Once we mop up the rebellions, we can join the larger conflict here. If you're over helping us until then, no one on r/RWBY can target you."

Wait, why are people targeting Link?

"That is a good point," said Celtic, "but I'm not convinced. Got any other incentive?" He's going to get me over there one way or another, so I might as well make the most of this.

"Yes. If you help Team SANS, the Hiatus Busters will forgive your debt from that incident you caused a week ago."

Celtic scratched the back of his neck and cringed. "I was drunk. Probably should stop doing that actually. But the Hiatus Busters are no more, Draztco, Kazehh, and Jelo were killed in the Catastrophe. Their leadership is gone."

"Strike and I were next in command," said Whale. "That means the Hiatus Busters now fall under what's left of Arkos, which is Team SANS."

"Well, you got me there. I'll come with you."

"After you drop me off on the shore, that is," said Branwen.

"I'll take you to shore," said Blue Whale King. "Then I'll lead the submarine to the portal to r/ArkosForever."

"What portal?" Branwen asked.

"The Kingdom of Blue Whales built a huge network of ocean portals between planets after the Whaling Era and the Last Great Time War," said Whale. "Essentially folds in spacetime that allow for fast travel."

"I think I remember you saying something about that," said Celtic. "Very interesting."

"We'd better hurry though," said Whale, and left through the airlock. Within moments he was back in his full-sized whale form. Branwen climbed out the conning tower and onto Whale's back. A few minutes later, Whale returned to guide the submarine.

The journey to the portal was much longer. The submarine followed Blue Whale King for about an hour, long enough for several other vessels to follow behind them unnoticed.

The portal itself was almost invisible, just a slightly discolored patch of sea. But once Whale and Position of Power entered it, they found themselves in the ocean of another world.

The port city of ArcTanic had routes connecting it all over the world, land and sea. It was the second largest coastal city after the now destroyed capitol of Jaunrrha, and had a river leading inland to Arkos of Erusea and a road through the mountains to Miraculous Arkos.

Unfortunately, this also made it more vulnerable to attack. As Whale and the Position of Power approached the city, they saw it was up in flames and surrounded by enemy forces. A large aircraft carrier labeled EnTAIre World was entering the mouth of the river, while fighters and a couple of small capital starships flew overhead. Soldiers and tanks filled the streets.

"Whale!" said Strike over the radio. "It's about time you showed up. Link returned to help but we already lost ArcTanic. The Air Force had to retreat, we lost a lot of planes and took heavy damage to the rest. They're heading to Arkos of Erusea next."

Whale transformed back into his humanoid form and climbed back onto the submarine. "Damn it! We should still have space superiority. What about the Protect and the Eliminate?"

"I can't get a clear shot," said Vulpix, captain of the Eliminate and Advisor to the Oligarchy. "We'd be destroying our own people and forces as well."

"My ship is out of commission," said Vaniellis, captain of the Protect. "They hit us with an EMP. It's all I can do to keep the radio and life support systems online, it'll be a while before the shield projectors and weapons are back."

"So we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way," said Whale. "All air, land, and sea forces must converge on EnTAIre World. They must not reach Arkos of Erusea!"

The villains had a response to this. Atop the tallest building in the ruins of ArcTanic, two figures stood cackling with glee. One wore an Egyptian Pharaoh style white robe and crown, and dark skin the color of fine ebony. The numbers 02837282 were branded on his forehead.

The other wore a black combat suit and had pale skin like a sheet of paper. His eyes glowed red, and his hair was a sickly shade of yellow. Both held megaphones.

"Listen well, followers of the Fallen Goddess and Sunken Ship," said the second man. "This planet is now the property of the Dust Alliance. Pyrrha is Still With Us, Asses to Ashes, Bust to Dust, and Dusted Romance will sweep you away like the dirt you are! Your ideas of a Utopia, your pretentious dreams of rewriting the Canon, and your sad devotion to a destiny never realized end now! Sink your knees and weep with despair!"

"The TAI Legions stand with the Dust Alliance," said the sphinx-like man. "Your children will be slaves of our empire! The chains of EnTAIre World will circle your entire world!"

The members of Team SANS and their supporters eyes widened in shock.

"GENERIC!" Blue Whale King shouted at 189 decibels. "What's happened to you? Do you still have HIATUS in your system from Character Survivor?! Stand down at once, I thought we'd moved past this!"

"I am not Generic, I am Generix, from the timeline of endless bloodlust and insanity! Your Generic is dead, I am here to fulfill what he failed and destroy you!"

"Yeah! What he said!" shouted the man with numbers on his forehead.

Whale and the others were silent for a moment. Finally, Whale said, "We've survived your attacks before, we can do it again. No matter which version of you."

"We're with you, Team SANS!" said Link, who was crouching in a ruined building and firing a sniper rifle at targets on the deck of EnTAIre World. Still, it continued to advance through the river.

"Strike," said Vulpix, "is air support ready yet?"

"We're just boarding the fresh batch of fighters and concluding what repairs we could to the old ones," Strike replied. "We'll be in the air in a few minutes."

"What about Rodents?" Whale asked.

"They're all over the battlefield," said Vulpix, "swarming over the enemy soldiers and infiltrating their vehicles. The leaders of the Collective are working to sabotage the EnTAIre World. They're maintaining radio silence for now, but they're still listening in."

Whale climbed back into the Position of Power. "Celtic, did you catch everything?"

"Yes," he replied. "I suppose we should warn the Rodents before we uh, t-torpedo the enemy ship?"

"Of course," Whale said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Celtic, "just working to get over my fear of torpedo tubes." He then gave an order to the crew. "Fix our position, and submerge. We're going to attack the aircraft carrier."

The U-Boat lowered itself beneath the waves and started moving into the river.

"Let's hope we don't run out of space," said Celtic.

"No need to worry," said Whale. "The river is ocean navigable all the way up to Arkos of Erusea." A moment later, he added, "and if we do get stuck, I can get out and push."

Link called on the radio. "You should hurry, they're picking up speed. They'll be at Arkos of Erusea in less than an hour."

"We're losing them," said the crewman at the periscope. "We're at maximum submerged speed and they're still getting away."

"We'll have to surface and accelerate," said Celtic. "Hopefully the forces in Arkos of Erusea can cut them off so we can get a clear shot."

In the ruins of ArcTanic, Link fired the last rounds of his sniper rifle at the EnTAIre World just before it sailed out of range. He'd taken out several soldiers on the deck and done damage to their planes, but it was nowhere near enough to stop them. "I've done all I can do," he said over the radio. "Good luck."

Down in the engine room of the aircraft carrier, the leaders of the Rodent Collective were scurrying over a boiler, trying to undo the rivets.

"Ow ow oww," said the Squirrel. "This is too hot on my feet."

"Quiet," said the Porcupine. "We don't want to get caught."

"I'm with the Squirrel," said the Field Mouse. "We're going to get badly burned."

"We can heal our feet later," said the Porcupine. "But for now, be quiet!"

"Who're there?!" shouted one of the engine workers.

"AAH! Vermin!" cried another.

"Crap," squeaked the rat.

"Begone, pests!" shouted a soldier, and started shooting at the Rodents.

"Run," said the Porcupine. All of them jumped to the ceiling and scurried into the ventilation. They had escaped.

The boiler was not so lucky. Between bullet dents and the Rodent's sabotage, it cracked open. The water spilled onto the burning coals and flashed into steam, spraying coals and hot steam everywhere. One boiler was out of commission.

"You idiot!" shouted a worker, surrounded by screams of those who'd been burned. "Now we can't reach top speed!"

"Sorry," said the soldier, wincing at having to talk with blisters all over his face.

"They're slowing down," said the crewman at the periscope of Position of Power, "but we're still losing them."

Back at the hangar of Arkos of Erusea, Strike and his squadron were finally ready to take off.

"Blaster, you are clear to launch," said Air Traffic Control.

"Roger that," said Strike, maneuvering his blue-winged fighter jet onto the runway. He turned on the afterburners for the fastest possible launch, and rocketed into the sky. The rest of his squadron did the same.

Up in the air, he saw that EnTAIre World had almost reached the city, it would only be a couple more minutes before its cannons were in range of the walls.

"We cannot let them harm Arkos of Erusea," he said to his squadmates. "Sink that aircraft carrier at all hazard."

They went to open fire on the aircraft carrier, but two enemy squadrons of planes flew up from its decks. Strike maneuvered the best he could and managed to shoot down three enemy fighters, but they were still badly outnumbered.

"There's too many of them," said F-off Cinder, one of his wingmen. "I can't get close eno- AAAGGHH!" A missile hit F-off's plane, tearing it to shreds before he could eject.

"DAMNIT!" Strike shouted, swerving to avoid another missile.

Down in the river, the submarine Position of Power was falling further behind. "They'll be in range of the city before we can catch them," said Whale, looking through the periscope.

"At least Strike's up in the air," said Celtic.

"True," said Whale, "but he's too badly outnumbered. We need a miracle."

Soon the EnTAIre World was within a few hundred yards of the gleaming city of spires that was Arkos of Erusea. Its deck cannons began to fire, putting dents in the mighty walls.

"Today, Arkos of Erusea falls! shouted Generix, who had somehow ended up on the ship while no one was looking. "Your gleaming crossover metropolis will be naught but a Citadel of Ash!"

"NO!" Strike shouted, hitting the throttle. The aircraft carrier's machine guns fired at him and riddled his aircraft with bullet dents and punched several holes in the wings, but he didn't retreat until he had used all of his missiles, bombs, and bullets against the enemy. He left a large crater in the deck, but EnTAIre World stayed afloat.

"This is bad," said Whale, back in the Submarine.

"I wish I could do something," said Vulpix over the radio, "but it would destroy the city in the process. I'll continue scanning for their base."

The aircraft carrier and its remaining planes continued bombarding the city. They hadn't breached the walls yet, but it wouldn't be long. The gleaming white surface was marred with soot and deep craters, and the structure was showing major cracks.

"They've stopped," said Whale. "But By the time we catch up with them, it will be too late to save the city."

"Revenge is still better than nothing," said Celtic. "And even that's hard to get on the best of days."

Just then, a small flotilla of boats came up the river.

"EnTAIre World, you're blocking our way," said Metas M. Petivero. "Your time is up! Tick tock."

"For the history books!" Slip-Snap shouted.

The newcomers in the boats opened fire on the aircraft carrier with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, doing more damage to the enemy ship and its contingent of fighter planes. Slip-Snap scored a good hit before one of the machine guns tore him into a bloody mess of limbs. But still, it continued besieging the city walls.

A new voice came over the radio.

"Blaster, this is Captain Futtlescish of the Ustio 6th. I brought reinforcements, plus your trainee on her first combat mission."

Another squadron of fighter jets flew out of the city, including a brand new custom plane.

"I'm glad to fly alongside you in combat, my love," said Rosa Cossette D'Elise.

"Rosa! Futtlescish! Thank Monty you're here," said Strike. "Let's finish them off."

The fresh squadron wiped out the rest of the enemy planes, leaving the aircraft carrier alone.

"Whale, we're finally in range," said Celtic. "Would you do the honors?"

Whale knew Celtic just didn't want to go near the torpedo tubes, but he wasn't complaining. He lifted a massive torpedo into one tube, while the submarine's other crew filled the other.

"Fire," Whale and Celtic said simultaneously. The torpedoes launched, streaking through the water and detonating against the side of EnTAIre World. The aircraft carrier finally stopped firing as it sank into the depths of the river.

"Nooo!" shouted Numbers as the deck went under from beneath his feet. "My EnTAIre World is gone!"

"At least we still have EnTAIre Team," said Generix, as the two swam to shore. "This is not over yet."

"Ah, right, EnTAIre Team," said Numbers, glancing at the small capital ships hovering over the ruins of ArcTanic, their crew currently looting the city for child slaves. "We'll have another chance to attack. They'll be weakened from this one."

"Exactly," said Generix. "Let them think they've won, for now. Have their little circle-jerk. Then, we strike, pun intended, when they think they're safe."

That night, Blue Whale King handed out medals to everyone who fought to protect Arkos of Erusea, no matter the reason. Vulpix gave one to Whale in turn. The leaders of the Collective of Various Rodents dried themselves off by a fire, having floated to shore on the inflated trench coat. After the feast, Celtic returned to the submarine and left for r/RWBY. Metas disappeared to who knows where.

And some late arrivals joined up with those on the other side of the river.

"Who are you?" Generix asked, looking at the mech which had walked up to their camp.

"I'm Tragic Solitude of Mechanical Might."

"And I'm Ebullient Prism of Mechanical Might."

"I'm here to obtain Strike at any cost," said Tragic. "Even if it means razing that city to the ground and slaughtering every man, woman, and child who gets in my way."

"Easy there, Yandere Chan," said Prism. "No need to be gratuitous."

"What did you just call me?!" Tragic exclaimed, swiveling to face her right-hand officer.

"He's right," said Numbers. "If we kill everyone, there won't be anyone to enslave."

"I'd prefer not to enslave anyone either," said Prism. "But I'm still up for attacking the city."

"Whatever it takes," said Tragic. "Strikey will he mine."

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun together," said Generix.

Every motivation is corruptible. Especially love.