"The bold are helpless without cleverness."
-Euripides
Blake put her hands on her knees and panted. She heard the crunching of leaves come from behind her and saw Yang burst through the tree line, into the clearing. "Yang!" She called, "I'm over here!"
The fiery-haired girl slowly made her way across the clearing with a slight limp in her step. "Blake," She said, her chest heaving with exertion, "We've got to keep moving, at least for now." Her partner looked behind her, fearing she would see the beast that was pursuing them.
Blake nodded, finally getting her breath back, "How's your leg?" She asked, noting the red mark running down the blonde's upper thigh.
Yang made a shooing motion with her hand, "Don't worry about it." They heard a roar rip through the forest, shaking the trees. Their eyes met as Yang said, "Let's go."
They couldn't help but glance over their shoulders periodically, fearing that the infernal thing after them might be behind every tree. They walked long into the night, as they did not want to risk stopping for rest. Eventually, however, fatigue set in and they found a spot to bed down for what remained of this haunted night.
Blake all but fell to her knees, then her back. She gazed up at the trees above her, only to see their thick trunks fade into the inky blackness of night. She lifted her head and saw Yang propped up against a tree, eyes already closed. Blake was thinking of taking the first watch when her eyelids drooped closed and she drifted off into sleep.
They were startled awake by a roar. The terrifying sound that they had been trying to escape. It was too close. Blake shot up to her feet and whipped around to face the sound, drawing her blade as she did so. She heard Yang get to her feet and load her weapons, "We've got to fight!" The black-haired girl heard from across the clearing.
Another roar sounded to Blake's right and she turned again, feeling Yang step up next to her. She grimaced as the sound pounded her eardrums, and it was all she could do to not slap her hands over her ears. The beast finally showed itself, smashing a tree to pieces as it shoved its massive head into the clearing.
The Grimm was utterly huge. Its head alone was the size of an Ursa major. The thing had massive jaws and wickedly sharp teeth. Its serpentine neck whipped around as the beast smelled its prey. A Drakon. Blake had only heard of them in bedtime stories intended to scare children to sleep. This one was real, and it was hungry.
Blake saw the beast open its mouth and dove to the side, rolling away from the jet of flame that shot at them. She got to her feet and looked across the clearing, seeing that her partner had dodged the attack as well. She ran at the beast, splitting her weapon into two blades. She launched herself high above the creature and came down on its head.
She drove her blades down towards the Drakon's neck, hoping to at least injure the Grimm. She cried out as the impact jarred her arm, sending the wider blade flying off to the side. She changed the remaining half into pistol mode just as the beast roared and shook its head violently.
Blake was thrown violently off her perch. She twisted her head to see a tree approaching far too quickly. She blinked and looked back, seeing the afterimage of herself quickly fading away. She shot by the tree and managed to get her feet under her. Her feet hit the ground and she slid, reaching down with a hand to stabilize herself.
She raised her pistol and fired a few shots at the Drakon, which only roared in anger. She saw her partner attempt to charge the beast before being turned away by a massive leg that smashed down in the clearing. "Yang!" She called, "We gotta go!"
Blake looked around and found the lost half of her weapon. She rushed over and retrieved it, returning it to her back. She then looked back up to Yang, who was running over to her. Blake raised her pistol and fired some shots over her partner's head, trying to cover their retreat. Yang reached her, and they both ran hard as the Drakon let loose another blast of flame towards them.
They scrambled out of the way, running hard for the relative safety of the forest. They ran for a long time, just as they had the day before, before finally coming to a stop. "Are you alright?" Blake managed to ask in between breaths.
"Yeah," Yang replied, "You?"
Blake nodded, "We have to find a way to defeat that thing." She said, "Otherwise…" Her voice trailed off as she left the sentence unfinished.
She saw Yang shake her head, "Don't worry," The blond-haired girl said, "Everything has a weakness. This thing is no exception."
They walked for a moment in silence before Blake replied, "I hope you're right."
They walked for another hour before they made themselves stop to rest. Blake worked on starting a fire while Yang was out trying to gather food and wood. They had been separated from their supplies a while ago, and needed something to keep them going. When Yang got back to the campsite, Blake had a small blaze going. "Yang," She said, "Have you noticed the direction this Drakon is going towards?"
Yang frowned and said, "No, I thought it was just chasing us." She placed down a few rabbits she had managed to shoot, along with a couple small logs for the fire.
Blake replied, "That's what I thought at first too, but it seemed to pass by where we slept, then came back when it had our scent." She looked into the fire, "It was heading towards the city before it came for us."
Blake was worried. The mere thought of the Drakon reaching the city sent a shiver down her spine. She wondered if anyone had heard the huge beast roar. I hope so, otherwise they'll have no warning if we fail.
The two girls just sat there in silence for a while, pondering this new piece of information. "Well then," Yang said, putting on a defiant smile, "I guess we'll just have to stop it."