Haha not even a two parter. This one will be a bit longer than that I can tell already. If I could stop my penchant for cliffYangers then maybe.. Anyway, here's the first chapter of my newest work! Hope you'll like it! After the episode where Weiss summons part of the Giant Armor I really got inspired to do this. Honestly it was simply on the list before then but when I saw that I was like 'yep gonna do this one next'. A little clarification before we get started. I know the terms Huntsman and Huntress apply to male/female but I use Hunter as a unisex one. Monster Hunter habit. Also if you didn't read the summary, disregard the tags at first glance. The Angst is more on Weiss' part about something else you'll see later on. I'm gonna stop there and let you get to reading before I spoil something so have at thee! Also this is POST volume 3! Barring something insane like Beacon exploding (in the show not this fic) or whatever this'll follow canon.
The Bullhead's interior was silent, save for the bipping and sound effects of someone's Scroll as they played a game on it. Said Scroll belonged to a short brunette dressed in black and red, her trusty and currently compacted High Caliber Sniper Scythe sitting beside her on the seat and a crimson cloak around her body. On the other side was her polar opposite and partner, a girl with snow white hair in an off center ponytail and white/ice blue garb. Right in her lap rather than a Scroll was her prized Multi Action Dust Rapier Myrtenaster, and she was clearly growing annoyed with the other's distraction.
"Ruby."
"..." No response.
"Ruby!"
"..."
With a sigh the female reached over to first yank back her hood and then her headphones. "Ruby!" "BWAH." With a start her partner flailed and slipped off of the seat, whining back as she picked up the device she had been holding.
"What? I was almost done with that level.."
"We're getting close, and you're more worried about some stupid birds than our mission?" Weiss exclaimed in a huff. Really she could be so irresponsible sometimes.. But Ruby was at heart a good leader when she put her mind to it or when it really came time to shine. This she knew, yet it didn't stop her from constantly 'mother hen'ing the younger girl.
"Hey those piggies are evil. Gotta bust 'em all!"
"Honestly.."
"Besides it's just a simple extermination mission. What'd the Request say.." Ruby exited her game, flicking across several tabs and a menu before opening up the order screen. A display of a picture with the extensive railroad that ran through Forever Fall appeared, along with a few points and another picture of some Beowulves accompanying it. "A large pack of Beowulves have taken to stalking one of the stopping stations along the forest of Forever Fall. This pack must be forced away or eradicated to ensure the safety of the station attendants and patrons.. Lien reward, complimentary tickets as a bonus.. What've we got to worry about? It's a low rank request and we can more than handle a few of those Grimm."
"Well what if there are Majors among them, or even an Alpha?"
"We've handled worse."
"That's not the point Ruby Rose. We should treat every Grimm as a threat. Now put that game away and prepare yourself. We'll be over our destination in a minute or-" The sudden beeping of not her Scroll but the Bullhead VTOL they were in would cut her off, proving her point. That was the imminent departure signal and upon hearing that both Huntresses collected their weapons and steeled themselves.
Yang and Blake had already left for a Co-op Request so Ruby and Weiss were left to their own devices, being the former's suggestion that they do something together and the latter's that it be a mission from the board. Recent events had reiterated the fact that they still had room to improve. It was only a month after the completely disastrous attack on Beacon, serving as a harsh reminded of why humanity was to this day still sequestered in what were essentially cages across Remnant. To that end Weiss at least had devoted herself to constant training and perfection of her form. ..Perfection. That word echoed in her mind, tuning out everything else until a certain cookie monster shook her shoulder.
"Hey! Remnant to Weiss! Don't freeze up on me before our mission!
""Free- I swear your sister is a bad influence.." Dust dammit Yang what are you doing to this girl she thought to herself. Ruby tilted her head curiously before breaking out into a gigglefit, just now getting the pun joke she accidentally made. "But anyway, let's go."
"Roger roger!"
"Moving into departure position. Please standby to disembark." Came the automated message. Huh? 'Wasn't this thing supposed to land first?' -is what both of them mutually thought, sharing confused looks before the pilot came over the PA system.
"Sorry ladies, but we can't safely descend to the station. Those wolves are already out in force since a train came by just about an hour ago. They'd pile on before we could even open the hatch." Well shoot. So much for a simple disembarkment.
"You mean dogpile?"
"Dog- Cheeky, I like that. Anyway, you two will have to figure out a landing strategy. We'll swing by once you give the signal, hopefully to a clear LZ."
"Understood. We've had practice with that before anyway." A smirk was shared now as they stepped towards the side, Ruby again giggling as the pilot said something about opening the 'doggie door'. With more serious and determined looks upon their faces now they jumped from the edge. Crescent Rose was fully engaged, several shots of the large caliber gun inside slowing her descent considerably before she reached one of the treetops. Taking a page from Lie Ren's book she hooked the scythe blade into the trunk and spiraled down like a screw. Weiss on the other hand would have a more lofty approach, several dark gray Glyphs forming the semblance of a cylinder with long gaps between each 'level' that did pretty much the same thing as her partner's gunshots, except without the violent jerking that came from the recoil. Each pass reduced her overall speed by a large margin until finally touching down to the last Glyph, an emerald one that sent a gust of wind spinning in place upon approach. The Air Dust brought her to a hovering stop until it settled, and upon smoothing out her dress/combat skirt she'd pace over with a grumble towards her leader.
..Who was currently stumbling around like her uncle Qrow on one of his sorrow drowning soirees, trying to reach for the four? Weisses she saw and for Crescent Rose at the same time. Currently it was stuck about fifteen feet from the ground at the end of the very long spiral trail it had dug in from her attempt at landing. "Too.. Much.. Spinning.. I think I'm gonna hurl.."
"What'd you do, let go and slip off?"
"Something like that.." The disoriented Huntress said before stumbling. Thankfully Weiss was close enough by now to catch her.
"Really, you dolt. You should've just done like last time. ..Hellooo."
"...Weiss, did you get another scar?" Drop.
The alabaster heiress walked away with a huff, leaving her partner in a pile of leaves before using a white Glyph to propel herself up by Crescent Rose, stabbing Myrtenaster into the tree for a handle so she could try and wrench the scythe free. She could hear the howls nearby and was starting to get a bit worried. There were a lot of them. Soon as the weapon was removed she dropped it towards her teammate so she could catch it, having recovered now from her dizziness.
"Better?"
"Yeah. Note to self, stick with what you know.."
"Smart cookie. Now let's go. We've got to clear out that station." Weiss stated, breaking into a run for the currently empty complex as the staff had all retreated into the underground. There had been no Hunters on duty there recently and the meager station guard was only staffed by the older model AK robots, so they weren't capable of stopping a full on attack. Only deterring the would be offenders that neared every now and then.
...
...
It was at least two hours later. Both of them had been quite exhausted by the extensive battling, having to plow through at least fifty Beowulves each. Not to mention the Alpha and its Major bodyguards. That had really pushed the two Huntresses, and right now they were waiting for their ship to get back. Having finally gotten a chance to rest Weiss was laying out on a bench while her partner sat beside her on the concrete, once again on her Scroll to distract herself.
"So, happy now? We got it done."
"..." Apparently the heiress was upset about something as she crossed her arms and looked towards the back of the bench.
"C'mon Weiss, are you STILL hung up about that? It happens to everyone!"
"I freaking TRIPPED. ME. Tripped! It was humiliating!"
"It wasn't like anyone saw. Your pride is just hurt more than your Schnees."
"I'd so smack you if I wasn't so tired.. Our ride should be here soon. They're making a stop to pick someone else up." She grumbled, rubbing her face. Suddenly several screams rang out from across the station, the two of them jolting and snatching up their weapons.
"There!" Following the brunette's extended finger towards where a group of Atlesian Knight-130s were fighting.. Something. Weiss would narrow her gaze to it, Myrtenaster's Dust chamber clicking as it spun. It was no Beowulf that was for sure. Several of the patrons and staff started running for their lives, jumping across the track to the opposite side as Ruby and Weiss went past.
"The heck is THAT?" The former exclaimed as she peered through the smoke and machines. Two were standing back only making the cloud larger as explosive Flame Dust munitions were pumped into the center from their arm gatlings. At the same time the clash of blade upon blade could be heard within before several of the remaining AKs were thrown back one after the other. In pieces for they had all been bisected either at the waist or shoulder-to-side. Some missing heads and limbs even. One such head rolled to a stop at Weiss' feet as the Creature of Grimm emerged into sight.
The Mantis, an extremely swift and deadly fighter it was. Not that either knew of its classification for this species was not from the borders. No, in fact it was from the outskirts of what were called the Grimm Wilds. The spaces beyond the reach of the Kingdoms. Outside of the main cities of each Kingdom, humanity occupied a rather small portion of the landmass via settlements and bases so there were parts that they had yet to even touch foot upon or see with their own eyes. Parts where unimaginable horrors lurked, Creatures of Grimm undocumented. Why this one was out so far was perhaps due to the recent events at Beacon Academy. All the darkness and negativity had drawn things like the Shadow Drake from slumber or out of their usual territories, so Remnant was dealing with a bit of an uprising still due to the aftereffects.
It stood relatively tall, at least a dozen feet and longer than its height. White carapace covered the grayish wings along its thorax as well as the tips of its four walking legs like cone-shaped thimbles, with a spindly but sturdy body black as night. Right up to its compound eyes that were bulging slightly from the white and round-cornered triangular white mask that covered its head, glowing red with black dots in the center. Its deadly and intimidating raptoral claws were almost entirely white as well except at the halfway point of the first segments, covered with the same Grimm bone material. The edges along the bottom of the second were serrated, with the third being honed to very lethal and large scythe blades and a black whip-like extension reaching out a few feet from holes in each.
Using the whip to great effect it snapped at one of the gunner mode AKs, ripping it in half while blocking the other's shots with the broad side of its scythe. Then in a single slash it took off both arm gatlings, impaling through it to the ground before withdrawing. Both girls appeared a bit nervous once it turned its gaze upon them, but the taller white-haired one seemed to shrug this off as she stepped forward.
"Weiss.."
"Relax. I have a plan. It's not like 130s are very dangerous. I'll wrap this up and we'll go home." Overconfident much, though her logic wasn't too incorrect. The now discontinued (except in cases of perimeter defence) Atlesian Knight-130s while a match for lesser Grimm in decent numbers, were little threat to the more powerful ones or to a relatively passable Hunter. Barring large numbers of course. The heiress was making a grave mistake however, and it was ironic that earlier she had been the one warning Ruby of the dangers of underestimating the Grimm whereas now the brunette was the worried one and Weiss the lax.
"What's one more lackey to a Huntress like myself anyway? Watch and learn Ruby, you might pick up something."
"Hold on, let's do this together! We need to be careful, I've never seen a Grimm like this before."
"..Fine. I suppose that'd be the smart thing. Just back me up alright?" Weiss asked, taking point with Myrtenaster at the ready as Ruby switched Crescent Rose back into rifle mode.
"I've got your back! Trust me on that!"
"Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less." A smile was sent back before she stopped, staring down the Creature of Grimm. It'd hiss, folding its arms in the typical 'praying' posture before taking a stance of its own. Nearby onlookers that had either refused to go back inside or wanted to watch were waiting with bated breath to see who would move first. Flicking her MADR back, the W of RWBY fired a burst of white energy marked with dark blue towards her partner's weapon. Upon reaching and impacting it the weapon began to glow white, a single white Glyph appearing directly in front of the muzzle with concentric rings of pale blue circling it.
"Ice Flower!"
Yeeaah I know I prefer White Rose myself but they used Ice Flower in the show. Something I did differently is instead of enhancing her shots from a single point, Weiss has imbued the sniper scythe itself with cold shots so she can stay mobile. Not as powerful as Crouching Fire/Siege Mode- *stops, realizing this isn't Monster Hunter and Ruby's not wielding a Heavy Bowgun* -as powerful as the immobile version but hey. The Ice Queen wants to be little miss badass and take this thing by herself with her leader lending a hand so.. Handy. Y'know what they say though. Pride comes before a Fall. ..Get it. Forever Fall? No? Bah. Anyway. Some of you might guess what Ruby is playing. Some of you would be correct in thinking it's Angry Birds or a Remnant equivalent. Very few of you might be wondering why. Well it's an easy funny reference and I can't use the game Angry Birds was probably inspired by called Crush the Castle (hey at least I'm not raving it's a ripoff) because nobody would get that one.. So.. Yeah. I mean Angry BIrds is fun and all but how the heck did that one become a multi-million dollar franchise (seriously I work at a carnival so I see Angry Birds (and the MineCraft (I can haz Terraria?) and the Minions and the Frozen yaddabladda) merch ALL the time) but Crush the Castle didn't? Not that it really bothers me but I just find it funny. Alright..
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