Part sixteen of my RWBY series "Pollination: The Bumblebee and White Rose"
I would hate to be a snowflake. Just one glance into the air reveals that it's chaos. Millions upon millions are falling like paratroopers. They all meet the same fate, and yet, no two are alike. I suppose there's nothing of substance to philosophize over, but it is something one might wish to think about during a moment of silence.
And, silence is what the four of us maintain as we slowly march through the forest that is our battle ground. Ruby is in the lead, refraining from darting between the trees. A trail of roses marking our position is the last thing that Team RWBY needs, especially if we are to evade and thwart Team JNPR. Weiss is to her right, watching her respective flank and maintaining constant vigilance. She is an ideal second-in-command. I am watching Team RWBY's left flank, equally as vigilant. I wonder if Weiss has such moments of philosophy as I do. And finally, Yang is in the back of our diamond formation, watching the rear.
We need not worry about covering our tracks. The snow is doing a fine job of that. Inhaling slowly, I smell the three scents of my team members. All I sense are their auras, and some small animal auras. "Team JNPR is playing this very smartly." I mutter.
Glancing, I see Ruby treading forward just as slowly. "They know we have the advantage." She reasons.
"Because I'm the one with the faunus lover." I hear Yang chuckle.
Weiss scoffs, "Sweet lord, Yang. Such perversity."
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Yang jabs. I sense Weiss's aura flare briefly.
"Weiss." I remind her. Her aura is covered again. Even though we know that all four members of JNPR are human, the idea of this war game is to maximize our chances of success against any and all enemies, grimm, faunus, or human.
"Anything, Blake?" Ruby asks me.
"Nothing." I answer. "I would think that Nora would have pop up at least once by now." Sniffing the air again, I glance around just to verify. If only the trees had eyes. "They're getting good."
"They might be surrounding us." Yang adds.
"Nonsense." Weiss scoffs. "You can't surround one army without a bigger army." Hannibal would disagree, but I keep that to myself.
"They might try something like that regardless of the disadvantage, just to throw us off." I remark. "This is Jaune Arc we're dealing with." I reinforce.
"Yeah, he just might." Ruby agrees. "He's got a sword and shield. If his team is going to fight united, he's got to get in arm's reach of us."
We come ten yards from a clearing. Ruby stops, halting our advance. "Want me to scout ahead?" I whisper.
"Please and thank you." Ruby smiles at me.
I nod and proceed to scale the tree. My thermal skintight clothing actually makes climbing much easier. I'm at the top and hop from branch to branch, barely touching the wood as I make my way to the edge. I grab onto the highest branch in sight and hang from it. My vision is slightly obstructed from snow-covered leaves that hang down in front of me, but I get a good view of the terrain.
It's mostly a pass. The other side is just as wooded. To the left is a river frozen over. To the right is a sharp incline of hills. The pass would be a slaughter house for any Roman-styled army. I smirk.
I quickly descend and retreat back to my unit, so to speak. "We might be able to use this." I inform them as I bunker down behind a tree trunk. They do the same, awaiting my words. "Thirty feet to the north is a small clearing about forty feet wide and twenty feet long. Its northern border is heavy woods, just as its southern border." Obviously. "To the west is a frozen river that divides the clearing which continues on in that direction for about another eighty feet. The east is high ground, about fifty feet high at a forty degree incline." I pause for breath.
"What's the plan, love?" Yang asks me from behind her tree trunk. We're still in formation. We didn't even realize it. I smirk.
We're getting good too. "We can play to JNPR's disadvantages." I have a few ideas in mind. "If we draw them out into that opening, it will be child's play."
"And how do you plan on luring them out?" Weiss asks. "They're intelligent. They won't fall for a giant mouse trap, you know.
I smirk. "We send them an invitation." I motion towards the river. "We come from the south. They either come from the north, west, or east."
"Well, that narrows it down. Kinda." Ruby's not getting it. I smile at her.
"Right now, they're hiding their auras, and they intend to hide them well, because they KNOW that Team RWBY has a faunus." I smirk. "But any loud noise might startle them into powering up."
I see Weiss is beginning to catch on. "We make an explosion?"
"A BIG one!" Yang gasps in joy. She raises her hands. "Permission to make some noise, captain?"
Ruby nods. "Granted. Blake can move up to the hills and get a better bird's eye view. Weiss and I can remain here, and Yang can join up with Blake." She'll be a good leader. I smirk.
"And then when JNPR reveals their location, we hunt them down." I like this idea. It was mostly mine, but she'll be coming up with them on her own some day.
"Then let's go hunting." Yang chuckles as she hugs the tree line and makes her way to the river.
"I'll be ready in twenty seconds." I inform them as I immediately scale my tree. Reaching the top, I begin to hop from branch to branch up to the eastern section. Of course, we're banking on Jaune becoming startled at the loud noise. THAT in itself is assuming that JNPR is close enough.
We're confined to a fifty acre plot of land. I think they'll be close enough.
I'm at the top now. I can see Yang sticking her head out of a bush. That woman, I swear. She scans my tree line and waves blindly. At least, I hope she waves blindly. She couldn't possibly see me from this distance.
She dashes out into the open and leaps into the air. I close my eyes and concentrate.
The explosion is massive, and I can feel the trees shake ever so slightly as they're hit with the shockwave. Immediately, I detect an aura spike. It is to the west, across the river. I was afraid of that. We're going to have to swim.
I quickly descend and start running across the opening to Yang who is now wet. At least she wasn't hit by one of the massive chunks of ice that now litter the ground. "To the west!" I shout to Ruby and Weiss who leap from cover and follow me. I kneel next to Yang and grasp her shoulders. "Can you fight?"
She pulls wet hair out of her face. Smirking, she asks, "Can I?"
I stare at her. "Can y-?"
"Yes! Of course I can!"
I peck her on her cold, cold lips. She can't ignite her aura without giving away our position. A shame, but she'll live.
"Across the river?!" Weiss asks as they link up with us.
"We have no choice." Ruby sighs, holstering Crescent Rose. "Team RWBY, roll out!" She leaps in and starts swimming. I'm going to regret this, but we must maintain the advantage. I leap in after h- COLD COLD COLD COLD!
Amidst our splashing, I hear Weiss and Ruby jump in after us. Sooooo cold.
Weiss is burning hot compared to this cold. It is such a shame that we cannot stay warm with our auras. Curse you, tactics.
It's a twenty foot swim, but we manage to make it without freezing solid. Ruby's immediately jumping up and down, trying to regain warmth without the aid of her aura. "BRRRR!" She immediately clutches Weiss. "Hug me, Weiss, before I FREEEEEZE!"
"Ack! Ruby, you're getting me even wetter!"
"Bow-chicka-bow-w-OW!" Yang flinches as Weiss kicks snow in her face.
I'm shivering, but we have to press on. "Yang, you okay?" I ask as I quickly wring my hair out. Ack, my bow didn't stay on. My ears are freezing.
She's soaked. Her hair is only going to make it worse. She nods, though. She still manages to smile.
I summon all of my concentration and close my eyes. "Three to five acres... forty to sixty degrees to the north." We charge into the woods. The signal is slowly receding. We'll close in, but they know we're coming though. I did not believe that Yang would destroy the entire ice sheet. This complicates things. "We'll have to move fast."
It's getting harder to run. Snow is clinging and freezing to my legs, and the falling flakes are adding up fast. Breathe. I sniff the air. "They're together, but they're spreading out. Jaune's fading." Pyrrha is no doubt at his side, calming him and getting his aura under control.
We're slowing down. We'll need to use our auras or risk freezing. But if we do, we lose our advantage and practically gift wrap the victory for the enemy. Ruby stays strong. She leads by example. A very fine leader.
So cold.
"Slow down." I warn. "We're in the vicinity."
"Assume formation." Ruby manages to order amidst her chattering teeth. The four of us form our diamond.
I sniff the air. We agreed on a signal. One finger means Jaune, two mean Pyrrha, three for Nora, and four for Ren. Holding up one finger, I motion to the north, and I repeat with two fingers. I should have known that those two would be together. "Holding." I whisper.
They all nod in understanding.
Holding up three and then four fingers, I motion to the east. "Flanking around." I whisper.
I sniff the air again. They're getting close. One shot from Nora's weapon could be all she needs, especially if we're bunched up.
We agreed on a similar code for Team RWBY. Ruby holds up one and then two fingers. She motions to the north. I nod. Weiss will accompany her and engage Jaune and Pyrrha. Ruby then holds up three, then four fingers and motions to the east. Yang and I shall engage the would-be stealth team.
I nod again and Team White Rose takes off. Yang begins to move from tree to tree. She's slow. The cold is getting to her. I begin to scale the tree that I took cover behind. With luck, I can leap down and tag Nora without her firing a shot. Yang can hit Ren with a single paint blast and be done with all of this.
Yes, we're using paint rounds. What, did you think we were using live ammunition? Blades are also wearing rubber covers.
I hop from branch to branch, looking down. I sniff the air. Ren is ten feet in front of me. Perfect. I kneel down on my branch. I won't even need my weapons. Just hop down, give him a good slap on the back, and he'll be marked KIA. A forty foot drop will be a piece of cake too. Another sniff. He's five feet from me. I smirk.
Any second now.
Aaaany second now.
He's still five feet from me. I look down harder, hoping to see him. Perhaps he's holding position behind a tree that hides him from me. Did Nora get Yang? Did Yang get Nora? Is she giving him a hand signal? Why has he stopped?
"Ahem."
I look up and see Ren hanging upside down from a tree branch that is about… five… feet. He's aiming his pistol right at me. He hits me once in the chest, just to add injury to insult.
I sigh and try to wipe the green paint off of my thermals. Wait, shouldn't that have hurt?
I'm shivering. Oh yes, that's why. Numbness tends to do that to one's senses.
"Smart." He mutters before dropping down onto a lower branch and begins to hop away.
"You too." I say to myself. That man is good. At least now I can start warming myself up with my aura.
Since I'm technically dead, I should be staying where I "died", but I can't help it. I wish to see how Yang fairs against Team Sloth. Hopping from branch to branch, I sigh with relief as I stave off the cold completely. I'm as silent as a cat and land on a branch above Yang.
She's moving quietly, but even more slowly. I cannot sense her aura. Dulled senses combined with two-to-one odds? that combination makes for a poor fight.
Ren joins me. He aims his pistol at Yang and pulls the trigger. A single shot, in the back. Yang doesn't even flinch. She looks up and sees the two of us. She groans and sits down in the snow. At least she's using her aura now. Ren and I hop down and join her.
"Hold still." I speak softly to her as I smear off most of the paint. "He outsmarted me." I inform her.
"WE outsmarted you." Nora giggles as she strides out of cover from behind a tree ten meters away. "I didn't even have to fight."
"You got lucky, girlfriend." Yang declares, refusing to accept the defeat.
"Jaune doesn't deal in luck." Ren informs us. We turn to him as he continues, "As we speak, he's playing scapegoat for Ruby and Weiss while Pyrrha snipes them from the trees."
"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Ruby's voice echoes throughout the woods.
Yang laughs. "We had the advantage, though!"
The four of us start walking to meet them. "You startled Jaune." Ren admits. "Pyrrha quickly came up with a plan to draw the four of you in." Clever.
"Impressive." I remark.
"Not particularly." I look at him.
"I beg your pardon?" I demand. Is he insulting us?
"We knew that you would use the trees, Blake." He looks at Yang. "And we knew that you would assume that Blake would have your back covered." We were predictable.
Nora pulls both Yang and me into a side-by-side hug. "But don't worry!" She adds cheerfully. "It wasn't too bad! Ren figured that you'd be focused on trying to get rid of me!"
"We just got played." Yang realizes, groaning in defeat.
"You used my own heightened senses against me." I scoff. "You are a dangerous man, Lie Ren."
"Thank you." He smirks. I feel a somewhat strong desire to smack his head and shake his hand at the same time. How odd.
We come across a small clearing with the remaining four members. Ruby and Weiss are trying to pull green paint out of their hair. Pyrrha is good. VERY good.
Jaune leans against a tree, sword and shield holstered. Pyrrha sits in a tree branch directly above him. "Hello!" She waves to us.
"That- She-!" Weiss snarls. "Just splat! And another splat! No combat! NONE at all!" She stomps her foot in the snow.
I sense that everyone is using their auras now. At least we won't wake up tomorrow with colds. "Team RWBY was decimated." Ruby informs us with a pout.
"There's always next month's war games." I inform her with a pat on the shoulder. "Green looks good in your hair." I comment. "It's very… festive."
"Ugh, this is unacceptable!" Weiss groans. "We were behind cover too!" It appears that everyone can scale trees these days. "We'll get you next time, Jaune!" She points an accusing finger at his smug face.
He laughs. "As captain of Team JNPR, I decree that we all get some Weiss-cream to celebrate!"
Pyrrha and Nora have a good laugh at that. Ren and I even chuckle at the pun.
Yang's aura just flared up, though. "You. Dare." She remarks and steps forward. "You take my lover. You take my life." She grabs him by the shoulders and holds him up. "And now you take my PUNS?!"
"Ack! Not fair! Not fair!" He screams, kicking his legs about. "You're dead!"
"Consider this your haunting!" She yells and throws him into the snow. THAT gets a good laugh out of everyone.
I cannot help but smile and scoop up a snowball. Pyrrha doesn't belong in the trees anyway.
I hit her right in the face. "ACK!" She falls and lands in the snow. Ren and Nora rush to their team's side and take up positions behind the trees and begin to return snowball fire. Ruby and Weiss retreat and link up with Yang and me.
Amidst all of the snowballs, I see Jaune use his shield as cover and moves to Pyrrha's position.
It's a four versus four now.
Reporting back to Beacon can wait, I suppose.
