Egle Rising
I
Team JNPR sat in silence as their Bullhead VTOL zoomed above the Emerald Forest, on their way to perform a secret scouting mission deep in the wilderness. Jaune read his orders from Ozpin with a concerned look on his face. The mission was originally meant for Team RWBY but they had yet to return from another mission so it was handed off to him and his team a few days later than Ozpin had hoped for. The documents in his hands described detailed reports from Team CFVY about a tribe deep in the forest that they had made a deal with in exchange for supplies and shelter during a series of violent storms. The deal was fairly simple, find the tribe and take their chief's son back to Vale. The report went on to explain that the young man they were to extract had a very unique semblance that Ozpin was highly interested in. There was something about their mission that didn't feel right to him and it was starting to show. Pyrrha reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"We'll be fine Jaune, this is just a simple recon mission to see if we can find the tribe CFVY made contact with." Pyrrha said as she took the orders from Jaune, placing them on the seat next to her. Jaune was always quick to worry but she hadn't seen him this concerned in a while. Even as she tried to reassure him she couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong about their mission as well. Why was Ozpin so concerned with this tribe and their chief's son? She couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into the unknown here.
"Both of you should just relax already. Coco said the tribe didn't move around much and that Ozpin didn't seem too worried about their request. Besides, it's been awhile since we got a mission like this so just try to sit back and enjoy the flight." Nora said as she stretched in her seat. It always seemed like Nora couldn't be phased by anything. Even Ren was taking a nap beside her while they flew towards their drop off point. Jaune sat back in his seat with a sigh as he thought about how maybe he was just overthinking things. But at the same time the fact that he could sense worry in Pyrrha's voice didn't help his mood. There was nothing him or his team could do now as they were getting closer to their area of operation.
Just as Jaune was about to attempt to fall asleep himself the pilot reported that they were five miles from the drop off point and that everyone needed to get ready. Nora poked Ren awake as she moved to the door of the Bullhead with her Magnhild in its grenade launcher mode to cover their landing into a small clearing. Jaune took a deep breath before exiting the aircraft with the rest of his team. He gave the pilot a thumbs up as it ascended back into the air, he then joined the rest of JNPR at the tree line nearby.
"Alright everyone the tribe should be about two miles to the east of here. Pyrrha, you take the lead with Ren while Nora and I bring up the rear until we get to the village." Jaune said as he walked up to them with a map of the area in his hand. Now that he was on the ground he started to fill more confidence with his mission and team. After looking at the map and determining their location they started their two mile hike to where the tribe's last known location was. Maybe I was really overthinking things. Thought Jaune as he took his position behind Ren and Nora behind him.
The team carefully made their way through the forest towards where the village should be. This area of the forest was known to have beowolf packs in it along with other Grimm. Nora hummed cheerfully behind Jaune as they walked along, the only other sound being the occasional bird or small animal running through the forest. Jaune slowly felt more and more at ease as he shook the fears he had felt in the Bullhead from his mind. He could tell that the rest of his team had started to relax a little as well which was comforting.
After about an hour Jaune couldn't help but notice how there was no longer any sound to the forest around them. There were no birds chirping or small animals rustling as they made their way closer to the edge of the village. He also started to notice that there were no village scouts or hunters moving through the forest. He started to get an uneasy feeling when they reached the edge of the village he noticed that they had never even came into contact with any tribal scouts. Pyrrha and Ren stopped dead in their tracks as they came into the village. They turned around to look at Jaune and Nora with looks of dreadful terror on their faces. Jaune started to ask what was wrong when he looked past them into the village at the remains of a fierce battle.