I woke up to Lapis poking me in the head.
"Why. The. Poking?" I growled out.
"Because it wakes you up quickly." Lapis said.
I opened my eyes and saw my team surrounding me. Carli sat at the foot of bed, Lazuli standing next to her. Lapis was standing next to me, STILL poking me. I swatted her hand away.
"What!" I growled.
"Spill. How was the date? What was the date?"
I sighed and told them everything.
"Awwww Ox, I didn't know you knew how to be so romantic." Lapis said.
I hit her with a pillow.
"That's is shockingly romantic Ox." Carli said.
I raised the pillow again and she turned invisible.
"No fair." I said, going over to the coffee pot and pouring about half of it in my cup. She reappeared next to Lazuli.
"Get dressed. We need to head out in an hour." Lapis said.
I drained my cup and grabbed some clothes.
I took a quick shower and dried off quickly, or at least, as quick as you can with fur, and headed back to the room. My weapons were already there, due to me upgrading my hammer. Now, I can deploy and retract the extended handle with just a flick of a switch.
I came in a saw Velvet sitting on my bed, laughing with my team.
"Hey babe." I said.
She smiled. "Hey sweetheart."
She came over and gave me a quick kiss. "I just stopped by to tell you good luck with your mission. And that last night was the best date I've ever had." She said, whispering the last part.
I blushed. "Thanks. I'll meet up with you when we get back. Shouldn't be too long. I hope. I still don't know what it is." I said, looking at Lapis.
"I'll...tell you on the plane." She said.
"I'm not going to like it am i?"
"Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to have an open mind."
I sighed. "it's going to be a long day." Velvet laughed. "Be safe love."
"Kiss for luck?" I asked.
She pretended to think it over before dramatically sighing. "Oh, I guess."
I grinned and bent down. When we, finally, broke apart, she waved at the others.
"Bye guys. Be safe."
"Bye Velvet." Carli said.
"Let's go." I said.
As we headed for the landing pad, we ran into Team JNPR.
"Hey guys." I called.
"Hey Ox. how'd the date go." Nora asked.
"Really well." I said.
"Ooooh."
"Everything ok Jaune?" Lapis asked.
"I don't know. I got a call from Ruby last night, but it cut off after a couple seconds and I couldn't make out anything."
"Weird." Lapis said.
"Probably a butt dial." Nora responded.
"Team RWBY has always performed superbly in past." Ren said. We all nodded.
Then we heard the sirens go off.
"Change of plans." Jaune said.
We all ran into their transport.
The town was in chaos. There was a giant hole in the ground and Grimm were surging out of it. Yet despite all that, I smiled. This was familiar. This was what I was good at. This...was going to be fun.
"OPLL!" I yelled and watched my team form up. "See that alleyway?"
They nodded. "Carli, Lapis use your guns and start corralling Grimm through it." They nodded. "Lazuli, extend your whip over the entrance as much as you can about knee and chest height."
"Got it."
"I'm going to lead them your way and force them into the blades. Or knock them into them with my hammer. Lapis and Carli, if you see something about to blindside me, please shoot it."
"On it."
"GO!" I said and we scattered.
Carli and Lapis led several Ursa, Boarbatusks, and Beowolves into the alley. I smiled.
"OVER HERE UGLIES!"
A Boarbatusk jumped up and spun my way, a razor ball of death. I hit it with my hammer into the head of an Ursa. It cut the Ursa in half and sent the Boarbatusk into Lazuli's web, where it was diced.
I switched on my cannon and set it to buckshot. I opened fire in to the mass,shredding Grimm until I ran out of buckshot, but there was still six Beowolves and two Ursa left and I didn't risk using another ammo type. There was a chance I could hit Lazuli.
They roared at me and I roared back. They had issued a challenge and I responded. I did something I didn't do in training. I let my mind slip. The alley was too closed in to effectively use my hammer, so I sat it down and drew my knife.
"Lapis, Lazuli, break off and help the others." I saw Lazuli's sword retract.
I charged at the Grimm. I decapitated one Beowolf without much hassle, checked my swing, and sent the knife through another's skull. One charged at me from the back, but I kicked out and sent it flying into one of the Ursa. I spun around and used my momentum to decapitate another Beowolf. The other Ursa swiped at me but I blocked and stabbed it in the stomach a dozen times and sent it flying into two of the Beowolves, which got impaled on its back spikes. That left one Beowolf and one Ursa. The Beowolf jumped at me. I lowered my head and it landed on my horns. The force of the impact threw me into the wall. The Ursa charged at me. I rolled out of the way,flipped the knife in my hand and stabbed it in the back of the head. I pulled out my knife, sheathed it, and retrieved my hammer.
Carli landed beside me."Nice going partner."
"Years of practice. C'mon."
We ran out and saw Lapis and Lazuli trying to deal with two Death Stalkers.
"GUYS! MOVE!" I yelled while switching my ammo type to High-Explosive.
They ran towards us and I fired several shots that completely blew apart one of them but ran out of ammo for the second. I dug into my bag and pulled out an ice grenade.
"First field test." I said and threw it at the creature. It exploded and froze the stinger to it's back.
"Lapis, can you cut off it's tail?" She grinned and switched her rifle to axe mode.
"Just get me close enough."
"Lazuli, you and me will be the distraction. Carli, hide Lapis long enough for her to get in close."
They nodded. The armor on this thing was tough and my slugs barely pierced it. Lazuli kept lashing out with her whip, both of us avoiding the pincers.
Suddenly, I saw Lapis and Carli appear and with a great yell, Lapis cut off the tail. Carli than ran across the body and stabbed its eyes with her swords. Lapis than ran up and fired shot after shot point blank into its skull. I finally saw the thing quit flailing around and die.
Lapis and Carli rejoined us. I shot a couple more Beowolves and we got ready for the next wave, right as a bullhead flew by and Team CFVY jumped out.
I saw Yatsu take out a dozen Beowolves by swinging his sword into the ground and any doubt I had that he could kill me if I hurt Velvet disappeared immediately.
I saw Velvet and Fox take on a few Beowolves and saw Fox take on and FREAKING EXPLODE an Ursa with his bare hands.
Now I was really scared of those two. I'm good, but I've never blown up a Grimm with my bare hands.
Then I saw Coco beat up four Beowolves with her purse before jumping back, having a small conversation with Velvet, before turning her purse into a minigun and blowing apart a Death Stalker,three Beowolves, and three giant Nevermores.
Well, I might as well marry Velvet now, because if I ever break her heart, no one will be able to find my body.
The battle around us seemed to be stopping and it looked like we were winning. I saw three Creeps charge at us. Carli shot one, Lapis shot one, and Lazuli cut one in half.
We spent the next several hours clearing out all the Grimm before meeting up with teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY,and Sun and Neptune. I went over and wrapped my arm over Velvet and she cuddled into me.
"I don't think we're getting around to our first mission today." I said.
"Considering it was going Grimm hunting with me, I think this will be an acceptable substitute." Professor Port said.
"Wait. What?" I turned to Lapis. "You picked Grimm hunting?"
"Yeah. It was my way of apologizing for everything."
I was shocked. I went over and hugged her. "Thanks."
I went back to Velvet.
"Now what?" Jaune asked.
"Sleep sounds good." Yang said.
"Amen to that." Lapis said.
We all loaded up in the bullhead and headed home. I looked down at Velvet cuddled next to me, both her hands holding one of mine.
Two thoughts crossed my mind.
I am completely in love with her.
And that's amazing.