[DISCONTINUED] The Soldiers Of Remnant - (RWBY + Star Wars Crossover)

Chapter 31 - Guilt

Bold Font - Time/Location

Italic Font - Thoughts

Crane felt awful. He had just lost his ship, half of his crew, and nearly every chance they had at going home. Why? Because he was selfish...or selfless enough not to go back home when he had the chance. He had no right to force that decision to stay upon his men, and more importantly no right to leave the war effort altogether. Crane took a deep breath in to calm himself and then took a good look at all of his subordinates. Only twelve gunships, eight starfighters, and eight escape pods survived. Most of the gunships or fighters broke apart on reentry because of the damage they took during the attack. That made for approximately four hundred and sixteen survivors, himself included. They were currently landed in a forest clearing near the sea between Vale and Mistral, luckily one that didn't have much Grimm in it. So far, at least. Crane learned from his mistakes before and immediately began to scan for any other emergency beacons. Much to his disappointment, there were none other than the ones already accounted for.

Crane: "Great...we're back to square one, except worse."

The last escape pod had just landed, so Crane was helping the six men inside pack enough supplies to last for a few weeks. The seven of them formed a chain with the one inside the pod tossing supplies out to the people down the chain, the last of which being Crane. The supplies were tossed into a pile at the center of the camp. After the last of the supplies were unloaded, Cross walked over some rocks and broken pieces of trees from the escape pod landings to talk to Crane.

Crane: "Yes captain?"

Cross: "We've got a headcount."

Crane wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to know how many of his troops were left. He wanted to make sure they were okay, but he didn't want there to be any less than he expected. He decided to swallow the pill and get it over with.

Crane: "How many...?"

Cross was silent for a moment before looking down and handing Crane a portable tablet simultaneously. Crane was shocked and most of all, angry. He tossed the data pad over to his right and put both of his hands on his hips.

Crane: "Are you serious? There's three hundred and twenty one of us left?! What happened to the other, oh I don't know, HUNDRED of us?"

Cross looked back up at Crane.

Cross: "There was...a miscount. Pods three through eight were empty due to a malfunction with the pre-launch systems. They left before anyone could get in them, which drops us by at least thirty six. Gunships two and four were packed with supplies which left no room for anyone, dropping our count another sixty."

Crane: "Some miscount..."

Crane sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his right hand. After a brief moment of irritation he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, sighed, and dropped both of his arms by his sides.

Crane: "Get everyone together. It's time I say something to them."

Timeskip - Mistral Forest

Many kilometers north of the survivors, a familiar team of heroes were walking through a forest. While Ren and Nora were bickering over what the name of the team should be, Jaune was busy scouting the area ahead. He was crouched behind a fallen tree scoping out any potential Grimm.

Jaune: "Guys. We need to focus. Also JNRR (Junior) is way cooler."

Nora: "Exactly!"

Pyrrha: "I agree with Jaune."

Ren: "But Pyrrha is still here."

Ren sighed in defeat and put his left hand over his forehead. Just as he did, the ground began to rumble in a footstep-like pattern. The group was quiet from the sudden disturbance. Jaune looked down at the ground to observe some pebbles vibrating up and down from the tremors. Then he looked back into the forest.

Jaune: "It's here."

After Jaune notified the rest of the team, Ruby darted out from the trees with a trail of rose petals behind her. She jumped up into the air and started shooting with Crescent Rose back into the treeline. As she flew out from the trees, a giant Grimm made of rocks pushed the trees to the side while chasing her. The only identifiable feature that made it recognizable as a Grimm was the bone-like mask with one eye where the head would be along with the red veins stretching throughout the rocks. Ruby was unaware that she was heading off of a cliff, so her inertia from using Crescent Rose carried her over the cliff, along with the Grimm who chased after her. She barely managed to speak while she hit branches from various trees on the way down to the forest floor.

Ruby: "Aaaah! Bad! Landing! Strategy!"

After hitting two branches, she finally managed to successfully land on a tree. Immediately after she landed, she used her semblance and spun toward the Grimm with her signature rose petals trailing behind her. While she began to counterattack, the remaining four students ran up to the Grimm which was currently plowing over trees to find Ruby. Jaune began to run at the Grimm in order to get its attention.

Jaune: "Let's get that thing off her!"

Pyrrha: "Right!"

Jaune sprinted around the edge of the clearing that the Grimm made so it wouldn't have a clear shot at him and Pyrrha switched Milo into its rifle form and she began firing at the legs. Ren jumped off of several trees so he could get up into the branches to spot out any possible weaknesses. Nora looked up at Ren with enthusiasm and prepared her grenade launcher.

Nora: "Don't forget me!"

Nora aimed at the ground and fired, sending her up into the trees with Ren. After she flew around in the air for a bit, she finally landed next to Ren who repeated what Jaune had said earlier.

Ren: "We need to draw it's attention away from Ruby."

Ruby: "Could use some help!"

As he said that, Ruby finally regrouped with the rest of the team and engaged the Grimm with Crescent Rose in scythe form. After slicing it twice and doing no damage, Ruby re-engaged the sniper form and blasted herself away from the Grimm. Ren jumped to yet another tree while Nora stayed behind and gritted her teeth. She armed her grenade launcher and began firing at the Grimm to get its attention, as Ren so brilliantly suggested. Pyrrha also shot at the back of its head. After three shots were fired at the back of the Grimm by Nora and four to the head by Pyrrha, it hunched over and began to randomly slice down a tree that it thought would contain one of the team members. It just barely missed Ren and swiftly cut down a tree that he had just jumped from. The Grimm tried again, but this time is stabbed the tree Ren was at. Ren jumped over the massive stone arm and onto the Grimm, and began to run along the arm's surface. Once he reached the head, he jumped back off the Grimm and into the air. Once he was at the highest he could go, he began to spin like a top with his blades out and rapidly descended toward the Grimm. The Grimm was surprised by this and Ren managed to score many successful hits on the Grimm, but they did nothing as the Grimm was made of stone...obviously. Ren jumped over the head after realizing it would be useless and he landed toward Jaune.

Jaune: "We gotta get in closer!"

Ren: "My blades don't hurt him!"

After taking a moment to recover, the Grimm turned around and prepared to attack Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha. Nora, who was still on the tree, prepared her grenade launcher for more shots.

Nora: "Crap!"