Somewhere over the Kingdom of Vale....
3rd POV
A bright white light engulfs the skies. Out of the flash of light comes the Southern Cross. The train speeds through the cloudy skies for a brief minute before slowing down. The train itself appears battered and damaged from a recent battle. Dents and claw marks line various parts of the engine and coaches with the turret car showing the most damage with its first turret missing one of two twin gun barrels. The cabooses windows are either cracked or shattered completely.
Inside the engine's cab, two boys sit on different sides of the engine. A 5'11" tall (h/c) boy with (e/c) eyes wearing blue skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a (f/c) leather vest, sits in the drivers seat with his right hand on the throttle. This is (y/n) (l/n), the driver and captain of The Southern Cross and its crew. (y/n) leans back on his drivers seat as he begins collecting himself after the fight, chase, ambush, and emergency teleport he had ordered Price to activate so they could escape the grimm that ambushed them in an oddly coordinated attack. He looks over to check on the other boy who is inside the cab with him, Price.
Across from (y/n) on the other side of the cab, Price lays back in the fireman's seat as far back as he can go. He closes his eyes as he begins taking very deep breaths, trying to get his body to relax after pushing his semblance towards its absolute limit. Price's black leather jacket along with the white v-neck shirt inside is drenched in sweat as a result of working his body hard during their previous battle. His brown cargo shorts were a bit torn up as well.
(Y/N)'s POV
Ughhh. My head is killing me... I stuck my head out the cab window to try and get an idea of where we were. I knew having Price teleport us and the train away from those griffons would be a gamble as to where exactly we ended up. He hasn't gotten far enough into mastering his semblance yet.
I look down and see what appears to be a forest. I grab a pair of binoculars I keep in the small storage compartment under my seat and look out. I see a pack of beowolves below us but we were high enough in the sky to where they didn't pose a threat to us at the moment as long as the train's gravity dust supplies were not compromised. I look around a bit more and it just keeps getting better; if that is even the appropriate word for the situation we are in right now. Heh, more grimm ranging from Ursai to King Taiijitus with the occasional death stalker. Greeeatttt...
I adjust the settings to get a closer look at an old structure we are approaching.
(Y/N) - "Well if sitting through history class looking over a bunch of maps and books taught me one thing, that specific temple gives me the feeling we are over the Emerald Forest." No wonder the presence of grimm is higher than usual.
I check the status of the trains gravity dust levels in the engine and cars on my scroll. As long as we don't run into anymore trouble until we can find a safe place to get back on ground level, we should be fine as far keeping ourselves airborne was concerned. Then I turn my attention over to Price.
(Y/N) - "Price! Price! How are you holding up?"
Price - *groans but slowly sits himself back up* "I've been better.....let's..just..*breathes in then out multiple times*....not do that again okay?"
(Y/N) - "At least we got away from those grimm. Not to mention Captain Steroids and that fancy pants friend of his. What were their names again? I was too busy trying not to get flattened so I wasn't paying too much attention. And is it just me or were those grimm way too coordinated and strategic in their attacks against us?"
Price - "I thought so too. The guy I fought addressed the big guy as Hazel but that is all I remember. Someone was definitely calling the shots with those griffons. I've never seen or heard of grimm attacking like that."
(Y/N) - "We'll have to worry about that later. I should probably check in on our new friends in the back."
I pull out my scroll again and call Bruce.
(Y/N) - "Bruce! Are you and Callie still in one piece back there?"
Bruce - "We're both in one piece (y/n). Although I can't say the same about the turrets. Turrets one and three are both badly damaged . Turret two up top is still functional but its barely online."
Callie - "Could you please hurry it up on getting us into Vale? My mother is probably worried sick that I haven't checked in with her in a while like I promised. And no offense but I really don't want to get caught up in whatever you guys were doing before that fight. Thanks for defending me back there though. Gods only know what they would have done with me."
(Y/N) - "If this is Emerald Forest that we're flying over than Vale shouldn't be too far away. And it was no trouble Callie, those guys looked like bad news anyway and I'd feel bad for anyone who would have to deal with them."
Callie - "Well thanks again. I'll leave a set of geographical maps of Remnant as a token of my thanks. And don't worry, it is no trouble. I have tons of copies in case I were to lose one of them on my expeditions."
Bruce - "Thanks Callie. How are things up front (y/n)?
(Y/N) - "We're hanging in there. Get yourself and Callie to the quarters coach and patch yourselves up. I'm gonna try getting us to Vale to so we can make repairs and replenish our supplies."
Bruce - "Awesome. We'll see ya shortly."
Bruce hangs up and I begin to open the throttle a little more, increasing our speed a little bit while I move the direction lever on my right to change course for Vale. I wonder if the food there is as good as they say it is. Didn't exactly get to grab lunch back in Mistral.
We sped through the sunny skies using only 60% of the engine's power. If we keep this pace up we should be in Vale quicker than I originally planned. I didn't want to run full throttle again so soon after what happened earlier. Seriously, what was up with those guys earlier back in Mistral? Callie clearly had no business with them in any way. Price was handling fancy pants rather well but Bruce and I were damn near killing ourselves just to even leave something as minor as a paper cut.
Suddenly I hear loud screeching in the distance around us and I immediately get put on alert. Price gets up out of his seat and throws some more fire dust into the firebox before grabbing Maverick Striker.
*scrreeeeeeeccchhhhhh*
(Y/N) -"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me...."
Price -"WE GOT NEVERMORES INCOMING AT EIGHT O'CLOCK!!"
A flock of Nevermores begins soaring towards the Southern Cross. One lets out another screech before they begin trying to tear apart the train."
(Y/N) - "Go back and man the .50 cal. Knock them all out of the sky! Tell Bruce to start blasting and have Callie remain in the quarters coach away from the windows and doors!"
Price -"Got it!
Prices POV
I jumped up and climbed across the tender and entered the quarters coach. Bruce looked up from his bunk after wrapping a bandage around Callie's arm.
Bruce -"What's going on?"
Price -"Nevermores and there's a bunch of them. Mind helping me blast them out of the sky with your arm?"
Bruce -"Thought you'd never ask."
I make a run for the baggage coach and mount our only functioning .50 cal. Gods I feel like a badass shooting this thing. Too bad our other one got damaged in our last battle otherwise Bruce can finally understand why I love firing these things so much.
Price -"Alright you winged assholes. TIME TO CLIP YOUR WINGS!"
3rd POV
The Nevermores begin flying around the train from every direction trying to land the finishing blow. (Y/N) puts the Southern Cross at full throttle and tries to lose them in the clouds but they manage to keep the train in their sights. Out of the baggage coach emerges Price on a locked and fully loaded .50 cal aiming at an attacking Nevermore.
Price - "YEAAAAAAAAAAA! *cocks gun and begins firing* WHAT YOU GOT BITCHES?!? WHAT YOU GOT?!? AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
Price opens fire on the Nevermores and starts picking them off one by one. Bruce stands on the baggage cars platform and begins alternating positions between the left and right side of the train taking out Nevermores with his arm cannon; taking careful aim while waiting for his Grimm-Buster to charge up for another shot.
Callie opens the door from the quarters coach next to the baggage coaches platform that Bruce is standing on. Callie sees Bruce shooting down the Nevermores and suffice to say is kind of confused and scared.
Bruce -"Leave some for me Price come on!"
Callie -"Why are you guys shooting?!"*finally sees a Nevermore fly just past Bruce before Bruce blasts and kills it*
Bruce - "Some grimm decided to come out for round two!"
Callie - "WHAT?!? WHY?!"
A Nevermore turns and flies directly for Bruce and Callie. Bruce charges up his blaster and kills it seconds before it reaches them.
Bruce - "Probably the same reason the last batch of them were trying to kill us!"
Callie - "THIS CAN'T POSSIBLY GET ANY WORSE!"
Bruce and Price continue to shoot and kill the Nevermores surrounding the train. (y/n) starts firing lightning dust rounds at their attackers using Soul but mostly misses due to having to multitask between firing one of his guns and maneuvering the Southern Cross out of harms way as much as possible. (y/n) pulls back on another lever and the train starts to ascend higher into the sky in an attempt to once again lose the enemy grimm in the clouds or at the very least provide some cloud cover for whatever protection they could get. A nevermore flys over the train before quickly coming back around to ram the train. Price notices this and focuses his machine gun on the rapidly approaching grimm. The grimm manages to avoid the barrage of gunfire and collides head on into the turret coach. The gun barrels on turret three become mangled and damaged from the impact due to the combined damage that they took from the current situation and previous battle. The gun barrels begin to break off and plummet down towards the awaiting ground below. Another Nevermore manages to slam into the fuel tender, the combined force pushes the train back sideways. (y/n) sees the train about to tip over to its side and stabilizes the train.
In the cab, (y/n) gets an alert on his scroll and sees an alert appear: "Gravity dust power distribution system compromised. Flight modes shutting down. Land immediately."
(Y/N): "SHIT!!"
Price is thrown off of his .50 cal back into the baggage coach. Bruce and Callie are hanging onto the quarters coach and baggage coaches platforms for dear life before they finally manage to climb back up inside the quarters coach.
Price: "Woaaaahhhh Gods!!!!"
Bruce: "CALLIE GET BACK INSIDE NOW! I'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"
Callie climbs back into the quarters coach with Bruce following shortly behind.
Bruce: "(y/n)! We're in trouble!"
(Y/N) reaches for his scroll and calls Price and Bruce.
(Y/N): "Attention, this is your captain speaking. I got good news and bad news. The good news is we'll be landing immediately! The bad news is.....we're crash landing!"
The Southern Cross begins to descend with the engine beginning to face towards the ground with the rest of the train following suit.
(Y/N): "Bruce! Get to the turret coach and arm turret two with wind dust rounds!"
Bruce: "What the hell am I even trying to hit?!?"
(Y/N): "TRUST ME! DON'T FIRE UNTIL I GIVE YOU THE COMMAND!"
Bruce runs and climbs his way through the quarters and baggage coaches. Opening up the door to the turret car, he begins loading all three barrels of the last functional turret with wind dust rounds.
(Y/N): "Raise turret two by five degrees and fire!"
*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*
The wind dust rounds blow ahead of the train from above. The train is suddenly shot back up a little bit before resuming its rapid descent.
Callie: "WHAT ARE THOSE TWO DOING?!?" *panicking*
Price: "They're trying to slow us down as much as possible before we hit the ground!"
(Y/N): "RELOAD AND FIRE!"
Bruce loads another set of rounds into the turret and fires again. The train once again jerks back from the blast before continuing its descent.
(Y/N) looks out ahead and begins to see the small but getting progressively bigger shape of Beacon Academy. (Y/N) pulls back on the altitude lever and begins to slowly pull the train up to be a bit more level with the ground.
(Y/N): "BRUCE! FIRE ALL THE WIND ROUNDS WE HAVE LEFT."
Bruce: "Come on baby!"
The cannons continue firing as the train slowly begins to pull up with the airship docks and main avenue coming up fast. (Y/N) begins blowing the whistle rapidly to warn the people populating the avenue below. A random student suddenly looks up and gets his friends' attention before everyone eventually takes notice as well and scatters to avoid being in the crash zone. (Y/N) throws the forward/reverse lever to reverse before setting the engine to full throttle in reverse. The driving wheels begin to spin in reverse fast in preparation for the improvised emergency stop.
(Y/N): "This is either gonna go really well or really badly!"
Price and Callie look ahead through one of the windows and their hearts sank almost immediately at the sight of Beacon being in their path.
Price: "Oh."
Callie: "Crap."
(Y/N) begins to slowly push forward the altitude lever trying to line the train up with ground level.
(Y/N): "Gently now we just want to kiss the ground... A smooch like you're kissing your sister!"
The wheels of the engine make a loud slam making contact into the hard pavement. The cars proceed to slam slightly harder into the ground one by one.
(Y/N): "So much for kissing it!"
Smoke starts billowing from the engines driving wheels from the friction of the reverse running driving wheels and the forward motion of the train against the pavement. People in the area continue to scatter out of self preservation as the Southern Cross grinds closer to the building.
(Y/N): "Well this is not how I planned to be arriving in Vale for the first time ever..... *reaches for scroll* ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
The train continues to slow but inches closer to the academy before coming to a halt with only a couple of feet to spare.
(Y/N)'s POV
(Y/N): *closes the throttle to a full stop and lets out the deep breath he was holding in* "Oh thank the gods..." *relieved*
I look out around the cab and see people starting to form a crowd around the Southern Cross. Some were murmuring to one another, others were just staring in surprise and shock, and some who happen to have got out of combat class or something had their weapons drawn at the ready waiting for us to attack. How can I blame them? We just literally crash landed on their front doorstep without warning. I'll be surprised if we don't have to face any consequences for this.
I see Price and Callie step out of the quarters coach and climb up to the cab. Bruce climbs into the cab shortly after. I guess he decided to hop off and take the fun way past all of the people gawking at what we just did. I guess this is what we get for falling with style.
Price: "(Y/N)! Are you alright?"
(Y/N): "I damn near soiled myself. How do you think I'm doing?"
Price: "So pretty good then?"
(Y/N): "Shut up."
Bruce: "Do ya think we'll get into trouble for this?"
Callie: "I doubt we'll get off easy."
I step up and hop off the cab. Gods the amount of stares and weird looks I'm getting is already enough to give me an idea of how this might go. I noticed a silver haired man and a blonde woman with a crop walking towards us.
(Y/N): Well judging by the looks we are getting and what looks like two members of their staff with the blonde lady looking like she's ready to beat the living crap out of us with that crop of hers. I'd say...yea...we are probably in for it.
*PAUSE with DJ Record Scratch Stop Noise*
(Y/N): YUP. That's me. By now you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Before we move on to me and my friends getting cussed out by Ozpin and Glyndie over there. Let's backtrack a little bit so we're all on the same page. It started about 8 months ago when my home village was attacked and destroyed by grimm. I'll save us the time and energy of going through the entire 8 months and cut to the good stuff.
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Well here is the start of it all. Things will pick back up from here after the next couple chapters. But first we'll start with how (Y/N) and Price set off on their journey around Remnant.