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 12: Breaking the Thunderous Veil
"Azura. Blair. You two have gone mad." Yang sternly said.
"This is fucking serious, Yang! Thunderjaws! Coming this way! We need to go right now!" Azura told her in a panic.
"What's a Thunderjaw?" Jaune asked, confusedly looking around at everyone.
"Azura. It's too late…" Blair uttered in terror, as she pointed over the bridge.
"Fuuuuuck…" Azura groaned in fear as he and the others turned to look.
Before any of them saw anything, they felt a tremor underneath their feet. At first, it was faint, but it began to grow and grow with each passing second. Then, they saw it. Large Grimm walking out of the ruins with shocking deftness and agility for their size, weaving through the fragile ruins with contemptuous ease. Massive pillar-like bird legs held them aloft on three toed feet. A long, heavy tail counterbalanced a massive, boxy head with thick teeth like railroad spikes. Their skin was slightly scaly, pebbled like tree bark, with only bone armor along their back sparsely and over the top of their head. Diminutive arms with two clawed fingers grasped the air as forward-facing eyes stared at them. Demonic red orbs looking at them with a veiled cunning you rarely found in Grimm.
Soon two smaller, but still massive ones, walked around the circular ruins. While similar to the giant, they were less defined. Their chests were thinner compared to the massive barrel-like chasm of the titan in the center. At best, these smaller ones were a house tall, while the central giant stood easily over two houses. Blood dripped down from their maws, having clearly feasted before reaching them.
"We need to find another way! Into the forest! They'll be slowed down!" Blair cried out, turning to face the forest.
"I don't think we'll get far." Sylver said, his tail twitching. "We've got company."
Azura's eyes widened in horror as Weiss spoke up. "Don't tell me…" She muttered in horror.
Melting out of the bush came dozens upon dozens of man-sized Grimm, sprinting out on thin gangly legs. They then stopped, their long, thin snouts snapping and chirping at our heroes like birds. With their heads, necks, and tails, they were the younger versions of their colossal kin, lacking their bulk and bone armor, but darting back and forth in a line of jaws. Sauntering out behind them came even larger ones, stomping fiercely and noisily as boxy yet long snouts snapped and roared at them. Their jaws lunged on S-shaped necks to snap further at them, as their car sized bodies anchored the line. The smaller ones darting in and out from underneath them like raving chicks.
"It was a trap! We're caught between a Royal, two Princes, and a bunch of Rogues and Sprinters with nowhere to go!!" Azura called out in a panic.
"I'm going to pretend I know what any of that means!" Nora yelled.
Azura and Blair looked at Nora with annoyance as Azura pointed at the titan-sized one. "Royal!" He said before pointing at the two smaller titans. "Princes!"
Blair then pointed at the man-sized ones on the other side. "Sprinters!" She called in annoyance before pointing at the bigger ones on that side. "Rogues!"
"So, what do we do, sugah's?" Dahlia asked.
"Last stand, by the looks of it." Sylver replied as he drew his sword.
"I know it hasn't been long for most of you… but it's been an honor meeting all of you. And Yang… Ruby… Sylver… it's been an even greater honor to call you, my friends." Azura solemnly said, drawing his katana and wakizashi.
Ruby looked around frantically. "There has to be something we can do!" She yelled determinedly.
"Like what?! Die?!" Jaune asked.
"I'm not seeing any way out of here!" Hunter called out, his eyes glowing with what was clearly a Semblance activation.
"You got a plan, Azu?" Sylver asked as he pointed his sword at the Grimm.
"We hold the line and hope and pray that we can take care of the big ones before the smaller ones jump in…" Azura solemnly told them, a sapphire-colored lightning-like aura surrounding him as his eyes sparked with energy of the same color.
Whitley turned to look at Weiss. "What about…" He whispered before Weiss cut him off.
"We can't! It would be too risky!" Weiss snapped at him.
"If you two have a card to play to get us out of this, now would be a really good time to play it!" Yang snapped as she changed her Ember Celica from their bracelet form to gauntlet form.
Weiss was about to speak when she stopped. She… felt something. Soon the snapping Thunderjaws stopped as one of the Princes began to walk over the bridge. Yet even it stopped halfway when it looked to the sky and bellowed. The young huntsmen hopefuls stood there confused before the sun was covered in a shadow.
"What da hell is that?!" Dahlia called out, pointing at the sky.
"I don't see it!" Hunter shot back.
"It's coming this way!" Ren yelled, pointing to the sky.
"Did someone call in the air force?" Sylver asked in confusion.
Azura's eyes widened in disbelief as it began to come into view. "That's no airship…" He uttered in disbelief.
The Prince Thunderjaw roared and soon the young ones tried to rush forward. Lowering its head, the giant went in for a charge. However, as it neared the end of the bridge it was stopped dead in its tracks by a wall of ice. Everyone stood in shock as the source of the ice landed behind them, cutting the horde off.
"Silf! You scaly bastard! Get out of here!!" Weiss screamed, pushing Azura, Sylver, and Yang aside as she marched towards the dragon.
Everyone else stood in utter shock as they looked upon him. From nose tip to tail, it was easily as long as a semitruck and trailer. Powerful, clawed limbs anchored to a deep chest and stout hip. A long snake-like neck, and an even longer tail bore a great collapsable fin like a swordfish. Silver scales, pock marked with larger nodules of metallic bone, covered the beast, almost blinding both man and Grimm with how illustrious it was. A powerful, regal, yet boxy head bore sharp teeth as long as Azura's wakizashi, unsheathed by its silvery lips. It then turned its head; icy blue eyes stared back at them with intelligence and purpose that further caught everyone else off guard. But Weiss, to their even greater shock, was unphased by the majestic giant.
"Get out of here, Silfrdrengr!! It's too dangerous!" She yelled, like a mother would scold a child.
"Is that…?" Ren asked in sheer disbelief.
"A dragon!! See, Ren?! They are real!!" Nora called out with glee.
"I told you, Yang!!" Ruby yelled, pointing at her big sister.
"Ruby, we are about to potentially die! This is not the time!!" Yang snapped back.
"Why does it look like Weiss knows this dragon?" Pyrrha asked nervously.
"Because he's ours." Whitley sheepishly admitted. "Technically he's bonded to her, but he's effectively a family member at this point."
Ruby gleefully squealed. "My partner is a Dragon Warrior?! Like in the fairy tales?!" She cried in joy.
"I'll explain later, Ruby!!" Weiss snapped back at her partner.
'I'm not going anywhere, Weiss!' Silfrdrengr said into everyone's mind but moved his mouth and lips to match the speech.
"This is not the time to argue!! You're too young to be doing this! You aren't ready!!" Weiss snapped back at her draconic partner.
'I'll hold them off! You guys get to safety! Once that ice wall breaks, duck!' Silfrdrengr roared into their minds.
Before anyone else could argue, the dragon shifted his hip and swung its massive tail at the horde of young Thunderjaws. In the light they saw wide, triangular blade-like barbs on the sides of his tail like a saw. It swung with shocking speed and force, evaporating many of the Sprinters into black mist, while bisecting the few Rogues that failed to dodge. He then let out a massive roar before slamming his tail into the ground, standing between the horde and the Huntsmen-Hopefuls. Then, they all heard the sound of cracking ice.
"That ice wall's gonna give!! We need a plan!!" Jaune called out.
"I think I have one!" Azura called out, turning to look at Silfrdrengr. "Silfrdrengr, right? Whatever you're going to do to that Prince, do it as soon as you can! We'll duck and run over the bridge for more open space to fight!"
"We are not leaving him behind!" Weiss yelled fiercely.
"We're not! We're getting to better terrain for combat! We'll divide and conquer once we're over the bridge!" Azura told her firmly.
"Can we even get there in time?" Rena asked.
The cracking ice gave way as they saw the massive head of the Prince Thunderjaw shatter it like glass. Letting out a triumphant roar, it began to wind up a charge, its footfalls booming like thunderclaps. Unfurling his broad wings, Silfrdrengr took off, effortlessly rising with great speed. Everyone dropped to the ground to allow him to go over them as with a few short wingbeats the dragon built up speed. The Thunderjaw arched its head up to try and snap at him, but Silfrdrengr dodged with a powerful wing beat rising above. Then Silfrdrengr dropped onto the Grimm's back, sinking his talons deep into its back.
Roaring in pain, the Thunderjaw Prince thrashed and snapped at the dragon, but it was too late. Wings beating hard, Silfrdrengr dragged the monster across the bridge, lifting it off the ground just barely. With one final great heave, they smashed through the bridge's railing, and the dragon let go. Roaring as it tried to get its footing, the Thunderjaw couldn't stop its momentum, and it swiftly plummeted off the bridge. Wailing as it disappeared into the clouds below. Banking into a hard right turn, Silfrdrengr landed on the side of the ruins, putting itself next to the Royal Thunderjaw and the other Prince. Unfurling its wings and roaring, he began to distract the monsters by shooting balls of frost at their feet, freezing them.
"Time to move, people!" Rena snapped as she leapt to her feet.
"And hurry! That ice won't hold for long!" Sylver called out as he got running.
"How can Silf take on two of those things!?" Whitley yelled as he followed the others onto the bridge.
"He can't! He's just stalling for us! So, keep moving!" Weiss explained.
"The babies are after us!" Jaune yelled as he began to run faster.
"The Rogues too!" Blair called out, motioning as the Rogues gave chase.
They looked back as they ran, seeing the horde charge at them with shocking speed. The Sprinters lived up to their name as they swiftly began to catch up to them, with the Rogues' greater bulk slowing them down. However, as they rushed into the ruins and made their way past Silfrdrengr, he swung his tail again, further killing some Sprinters in a cloud of black mist. However, some had grown wise to this, ducking under or even jumping over the massive tail as they ran. The Rogues too sprinted past before the dragon could wind up another swipe.
"We aren't going to be able to outrun them!" Pyrrha yelled.
"Ugh! Fine, then we'll have to fight! Call it Azura!!" Weiss called out in frustration with the whole situation.
"Alright! Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blair! You four help Zhan, Rena, Ember, and I separate the Prince from the Royal so Silf can hold that one off! We'll take out the Prince while Silf holds off the big one! The rest of you, cull the Sprinters and Rogues! Don't get separated or they'll pick you off one by one!" Azura called out.
"You heard the man! Let's get cracking!!" Ruby yelled.
With a set of nods waved across the group as they split into groups of eight. Ruby and Azura led their group to turn around back towards the ruins, as Jaune and Sylver led the others to force the young Thunderjaws to follow them. As this happened, the big Thunderjaws broke free of their ice. With a snap of its jaws and a slight turn of its head, the Royal forced the Prince to follow them. Silfrdrengr growled and swung its tail at the Prince, only for the Royal to block the blow with its head. The blow connected with thunderous force, causing a slicing wound on the Royal's face.
'Take that!' Silfrdrengr roared.
However, the Royal's wound soon sealed up as its black blood hit the stone below. As soon as the droplets of blood hit the stone, they began to boil and bubble. Then, they began to expand like balloons, rapidly taking form. The black ooze congealed into the forms of small Thunderjaws the size of chickens, and their eyes swiftly glowed as soon as they were opened. With small clicks and chirps, they followed the Prince after the Huntsmen-Hopefuls.
'Try not to spill too much of their blood!! It looks like that just makes more of them! We need to take them out as quickly as possible or we'll be overrun!' Silfrdrengr called out to the others.
'Be careful, Silfrdrengr.' Weiss's voice said worriedly into his mind.
The dragon recentered himself as the Royal Thunderjaw looked at him. 'I'll try…' He muttered…
To Be Continued…