Prologue I: Cracked Earth
A/N: Hello. Before we begin this epic quest, I would like to thank my friend Johnny for co-writing this with me. I also would like to give my thanks to Monty Oum who inspired me to write this as well as give me countless hours of anticipation and happiness with RWBY and RvB. RIP
I've been in a lot of precarious situations, but none as bad as this, Tera thought to herself as she sat on the ground tied up to the rest of the monks back to back.
Tera was never a normal girl even by nomad standards. The Adobe Nomads were all about "harmony" and "devoting oneself to the earth," but Tera never felt any connection to the earth unlike the rest of the monks. She was rambunctious, and the monks noticed this, and they dissuaded her from fighting. The monks did this to restrain her and her whimsies, but they'd never thought her hostility would be used for good.
Tera sat their in her clay colored shall and red and brown robes, similar to the rest of the monks. "Faja Uublum, can I kick their asses now?" Tera asked annoyed at how a band of robber attacked a bunch of peaceful nomads for no reason, "Come on, this desert sand is starting to chafe." The nomads had made their camp atop a plateau very high off the ground in the middle of the Vacuo desert. The robbers are ransacking the makeshift camp looking for something of value.
"No Tera, I'm sure that are just hungry, and they are afraid we may be dangerous," the oldest of the monks, a man with a bald head and a long grey beard replied, "We must guide them for we are people of the earth."
"I understand this, but not only did they tied us up to one another, but they walked past our campfire which is cooking stew openly without so much as a glance. Not to mention that they are armed to the teeth with the best blades and guns I've ever seen, so I don't think they're hungry." As she finished her statement, a man a tall man dressed in desert army fatigues and combat boots with an eye patch walked out of one of their tents.
The man began talking with a thick accent, "Now, Faja is it? You and I both know you've hidden it some-vere. If you vould kindly give it to us, then ve vill leave and never come back."
The old monk looked at the thief for a moment, "I have absolutely know idea what you're talking about," he shrugged.
"Hey boss, I think I found it!" said a man poking his head out of a tent holding a golden orb over his head, "It was hidden under the ground."
The commander of the robbers snatched the orb out of the man's hands and inspected the intricately crafted sphere made entirely of gold. He looked at it as if it was his long lost relative. "I have finally found it! After ten long years of searching and vading through this god forsaken desert to finally find the relic. Now come boys, ve have vat ve came for."
Faja Uublum looked at Tera, and he had to make the decision. She shouldn't have to face this, its not her job, he thought. But he made a decision, "Go Tera. Stop him, before he escapes."
"What can I do about it?"
"We know you've been practicing even though we told you to stop. You've become very good, and now we need your skills."
Tera nodded and slipped out under the loosely tied ropes. She started sneaking to her tent to grab her weapons, ducking behind object to avoid being seen by the patrolling gunmen. She was nearly to her tent when someone spotted her, "Halt! Don't move or we will shoot!" There were two men with their rifles aimed right on her. She was just a few yards from her tent, so she dove inside and searched for her weapons. The gunmen opened fire and bullet holes riddled the tent. The gunmen finished firing and waited for a response but none came. They were about to celebrate their victory when they felt cold brass pressed against the back of their heads.
"Drop the guns, I can't miss," Tera said to the men with ferocity shoving her dual shining brass pistols into their heads for emphasis. The shooters quickly obliged, dropping their weapons and raising their hands. Then, Tera heard the sound of rifles cocking into place, and she noticed she was surrounded by a dozen goons all carrying rifles or scimitars.
"I vould very much appreciate it if you didn't shoot my men in the back of the head," the man with the eye patch said, "and I'd be even more appreciative if you vould return to your little friends. Ve vouldn't vant you to get separated from them, vouvld ve?" He pulled out a long black revolver and aimed it at her, "Now vill you come with us quietly?"
Tera looked around to see there was no chance of escape, so she decided to fight. She jumped on top of the two men she took hostage and leaped off their heads into the air. As she flew, she spun her pistols around her finger, transforming them into rigid brass knuckles. She raised her metal covered fists over her head and slammed them into the ground as hard as she could. The impact site created a shock wave that knocked all of the gunmen off there feet, and sent spiderweb-like cracks all along the ground which sand began to flow into. She used the confusion of her foes to transform her knuckles back into pistols and opened fire on the gunmen. Every shot she took hits its mark dead on incapacitating all of the gunmen until swordsmen started to charge her.
She flipped her pistol into brass knuckles as the first swordsman reached her. He swung at her head, but she crouched under the blade and punched the man in the kneecap causing him to fall to his knees. She stood up, spun around, and backhanded him onto his back. Two more goons rushed in, but she dodged one sword and grabbed the hilt of the other. Then, she elbowed the one goon holding the sword, knocking him unconscious. The other swordsman struck again, but before he could finish his swing he was jabbed in the gut then immediately uppercut into the air.
After that, a very big man carrying two scimitars walked up to her. He swung both his swords horizontally in an attempt to behead the girl, but she had miraculously managed to catch them on the indents of her knuckles. She moved they blades away from her and deliver three devastating left and right hooks straight to the man's jaw, then a rib cracking jab at his torso causing him to double over, and finally, a bone crunching uppercut straight in his nose leaving a trail of blood as he flew threw the air.
Tera turned around to see the man with the eye patch staring at her with a very large black Bowie knife in hand which once must have been his revolver. He was observing Tera when he said, "It appears you are stronger than anticipated, for a nomad. Who taught you how to fight and shoot like that? Certainly not your pathetic Faja over there?"
"Self taught," Tera replied, ready to switch to her pistols at a moments notice, "Must suck knowing that all your big bad goons were taken out by a rookie huntress."
He laughed, "Oh, a vanna-be huntress. How adorable. Listen girl, I already have the artifact, and you cannot beat me."
"Oh yea?" Tera said thinking of a way to retrieve the artifact. She saw that the sand was starting to flow into the crevasse in strange periods and knew what she had to do. "Ok, let's have a duel. Who's the faster shooter huh? Just like in the movies."
"Fine little girl, however you vish to die is fine by me. On the count of three. One." Tera was searching for a good place to fire, a place where there would be enough room for error, but quick enough to raise her guns. "Two." There needs to be something, and then it hit her. She just needed to look to the ground. "Three!" He shouted and flipped his knife turning it into a revolver, but before he could get the shot off Tera had already transformed her guns and began firing several shots straight into the cracks in the ground. The robber was very confused until he felt the ground begin to shake underneath him. He aimed the kill shot at Tera, but before he could fire, a set of giant teeth emerged from the ground under him as a giant black worm the size of a house with white armor plating and red decals jumped from the underground sending both the gun wielders into the air. The worm-like Grimm had already began to bellow toward the ground, and the man with the eye patch attempted a landing maneuver and barely made it. Then, he noticed a shadow block out the light and looked up to see Tera flying towards him, her arms in smashing position. He didn't have time to get out of the way before the full on force of the ground pound went straight into his face, dropping him immediately.
Tera grabbed the orb from the barely breathing robber, and began walking back to the rest of the monks. As she walked away, she noticed the worm start to bury itself back into the ground.
A/N: Yay! You made it to the ending! For scheduling, I'm gonna try and release one every month, but that may not be possible what with work and school and whatnot. Thanks for reading and any feedback is appreciated.