So there's this show called RWBY. I seem to be obsessed with it much like I was in the old days with Teen Titans. This means fanfiction, clearly.
Erroneous Encounter of Energetic Enigmatics
Shots rang out in the heavy mist of the foggy forest, as did the sounds of battle. Larissa backflipped away from her opponent, crouching with both her blades balancing on either side. The girl was undoubtedly good at close range combat. The fluid movements between her body and weapon allowed parries and offensive attacks so quickly that even her own two weapon advantage seemed to be nullified against the girl. Certainly a worthy opponent and a high value bounty if she could find the right person the girl had ticked off.
With the increased distance between them, Larissa took advantage of the thick fog cover for a quick second to flip her hold on her left dagger as an impromptu defense. A second later, she found herself using it to deflect a quick downward slash away from her shoulder and into the soft ground beside her. Lunging up and forward from her crouching position, she attempted to tackle the body that was attached to the other end of the weapon in hopes of restraining her. After all, it wasn't entirely clear who these people were. Unfortunately, the other side of the weapon was devoid of any form, as it's wielder had the foresight to assume her exact attack, and had cartwheeled up to stand on the blade of the scythe, before pulling the trigger to launch both it and the girl towards Larissa's outstretched midriff.
Meanwhile, Larissa's partner Airie was busy holding off a yellow haired brawler with what seemed like a barrel-esque shield held against her right forearm. Judging the girl's strength and deflecting the blows, she could tell the girl was slightly lacking in experience. Her attacks were all straight forward, readable, and completely offensive, and even with the shotgun recoils behind her fists, the blows weren't exactly excessive in force. What she was really worried about though was the white haired support backing her up. About the only thing she had done so far was speed up the brawler's attack time, but without any attacks beyond that, she was still a wildcard. 'Welp, nothing ventured, nothing gained.' Airie thought as she found a moment to retaliate, giving the yellow one a push back to throw her off balance before crouching and leveling her 'shield' like a gauntlet. A large boom rang out just as the brawler put her arms up in the first defensive move of the fight. The large 30mm round went off, not only hurtling the gauntlet into the girl's block and throwing her like a ragdoll a few hundred feet back, but also creating a massive shockwave behind Airie that rattled through the forest and had the other girl ducking from the unexpected explosion.
"Yang!" The girl called out in worry, caught between wanting to check on her companion who was now lost in the fog and defending against the threat in front of her. Airie simply stood up slowly with a smirk, adrenaline now pumping from the concussive blast, and blew the faint trail of smoke from the back end of her weapon. Using her other hand, she unsheathed her forearm from the hollow area in the center of the weapon, and rotated the head ninety degrees before grabbing the handle inside and twirling it around until it extended out a few feet to reveal her actual weapon: a massive sledgehammer.
"Time to get this party started."
Velwynn on the other hand wasn't entirely convinced these outsiders were out to harm them. Sure, everyone took up arms at the drop of a hat, but when was the last time they had encountered hunters/huntresses from the kingdoms; especially ones as young as these. Deciding on a more evasive route, she decided to lead her own opponent through the more wooded areas up the hill. Unfortunately, the blue glow of her orb did little to hide her position in the fog, and she found a tethered knife flying her way with practiced ease and deadly accurate aim. Calling upon her aura to power her semblance, a brief shadow appeared before melting into a flicker of the same light blue of her orb and then disappeared, the knife rebounding just past it's intended mark followed by the sudden appearance of it's wielder who gave a quizzical look before finding her mark now zigzagged a few feet to the left. Questioning turned to determination in her set eyes as she bounced forward from her own shadow to a closer range to try again, this time with a swing rather than a throw. Again, she found the weapon slicing through a phantom that melted to a radiant blue before disappearing, Velwynn again zigzagged a few feet to the right with a smug look on her face knowing her prey was already falling irreversibly into her ploy.
Larissa knew all too well and far too quickly that she had miscalculated this girl's tactical finesse. But despite the scythe blade shrinking the inches away between it and her abdomen, she'd be damned if she would let a small mistake cost her anything here without going all out. Mentally scolding herself for having to use her semblance against a mere human (a singular and tiny one at that) she channeled her aura into her semblance, and directed it towards her feet. Uncalculated as it was, her feet seemed to rocket off in the direction they were headed, swinging her body around and tossing her ungratefully on her stomach a few feet away. Well, at least she could be grateful for two things: one, that pathetic looking display was hidden from most of the others by the thick fog and two, a few small scratches and dirt were a hell of a lot better than purportedly being sliced in half by a little girl.
Stabbing the ground with one of her daggers, Larissa stood up; a quick brushing of dirt off her front side with her other dagger at the ready while waiting for her opponent to return. Silence fell upon her as she readied herself again, faint shotgun blasts and deflections coming off to her right, no doubt Airie with her own opponent. A gust of wind whipped past her to her left, what looked like a faint trail of rose petals in it's path. She snickered.
"Not bad, Red. I'll give you points for keeping me on my toes, but it ain't over yet. Quit tiptoeing and fight me."
Another gust of wind passed from her right to her front. Then silence again. "What's wrong? Get lost in the big bad fores-"
This time, the gust passed low and just to her left, the rose petals giving away her path. The girl had slid to her knees, expecting to pull Larissa's feet out from under her with her scythe, but Larissa was more than ready this time, using her semblance to force a front flip over the blade at the last second. With the girl coming to a stop just behind her, Larissa saw a chance as the confused girl looked back to see why and how she had missed her last strike. At the top of her flip, she threw the remaining dagger in her hands at the red cloak while it was still close to the ground, propelling the weapon just ever so faster with her semblance to secure the hit. Sure enough, the dagger sank into the soft dirt to it's hilt, both pinning the cloak to the ground and tugging at its owner's neck as she was halfway to standing, throwing her off balance. With a much more graceful landing this time, Larissa snatched her other dagger out of the dirt at her feet, and lunged at the unfocused girl. Still, she was too slow to fully catch her off guard. The caped girl managed to parry the lunge with the handle of her scythe before firing her weapon to assist in an upward twist that allowed her to cut her cape from its captor a few seconds later. With only one dagger at her disposal, Larissa grasped it with both hands and braced for the incoming block against the airborne girl. Sure enough, a bone jittering twang rang out as the two weapons collided, both girls putting their all into the struggle.
"What are you doing here, Red? You and your gang finally out to hunt us down? It's a pity they only sought to send in the new recruits."
"What?" The girl responded, slightly confused, and the pressure lessened ever so slightly. "You're the one's who-"
Suddenly, a concussive blast rang out in the forest, pulling both their attentions towards the source and the sounds of wildlife scattering away from it. Fortunately, the sound was all too familiar to Larissa, and she took the moment to guide her semblance into a spin that wrenched the girls scythe from her bare hands. Now defenseless, she continued the spin and wrapped the girl into a restraining hug with her dagger across her neck. pointed her dagger at the girl with a cocky smirk. With a cocky smirk, she whispered into the girl's ear. "Sounds like your friends are in for a world of hurt."
Velwynn's goal was just ahead. With their climb up the hill, the fog and trees had cleared out, and her vision was back on even ground with her opponent. Drawing her hand fan out, she took note of the position of the trees and turned 180, coming face to face yet again with a tethered blade. Smirking, she deflected the blade into a tree to her right with a thunk and immediately teleported away. It wouldn't stop her for long, but it would be enough of a distraction to catch the girl off guard.
The girl came to a cautious stop, deciding to recover her blade and hold her ground. "Come out and fight me, you coward!"
'Oh?' Velwynn thought, curious at the lack of worry coming from the girl. 'Perhaps playing a bit more will prove entertaining.' With that, she teleported from her latest perch to a different branch to get a new angle on the girl. What she didn't expect was a bow to twitch and a slice of energy from the girls blade to immediately find her position. With a leap to the next tree before the one she had arrived on was sliced in half, she decided her tactics might not be as stealthy as she thought, and the ground was a far safer place. With a few hops between tree trunks, she dropped down a few feet in front of the girl.
"My my, so we're a faunice are we…." Velwynn sighed, fanning herself with her fan. "and here I thought I'd have an advantage over sight and sound." The girl readied her blade and stared her down. "And what of it?" the girl asked "why are you attacking us?"
Again, Velwynn sighed. "My my… silly girl. You're the one who's done all the attacking, have you not?" The girl looked confused for a moment, looking for an answer to reply with when a large boom rang out, garnering the attention of both her ears and head. This was the distraction Velwynn was looking for, and took the moment to use her semblance to appear behind the faunice, catching her off guard, grabbing her by the neck, and pinning her to a tree. She tilted her head with curiosity. "What are you after, kuroneko?" Velwynn's appearance changed and her orb glowed brightly, a smirk of victory showing on her face as the trees and her visage melted into something much more demonic. Her hair flickered and rose into flailing snakes of orange flame, her teeth turned to fangs, and her tails multiplied with the same burning effects. Her nails turned to claws that dug into the girl's neck, and as the sinewy trees seemed to enclose around them, blocking out the sky, they also began binding the girl's legs. "Tell me why you're here." the voice seemed to echo from every direction around the girl, including inside her head as her struggles only grew more frantic with the increasing fear she was subjected to.
The girl in white had set her decision, and Airie stood her ground casually, waiting for the first strike.
She began with a forward thrust. Though Airie wasn't too surprised, she still found herself amused at how readable these kids were. With a few swings of her hammer, Airie blocked the girl's next few slashes, again buying time to learn her opponent. Perhaps the girl didn't expect her to be so quick with her weapon, as most seem to mistake the first time around. True, she wields a hammer meant for large, heavy hits, but she deliberately crafted it as hollow and light as possible for this exact purpose.
After a few swings and blocks, she made an offensive move, swinging her hammer to the ground where the girl stood seconds before, which resulted in a decent thud in the ground and a small crater. What she hadn't accounted for was the glyph the girl created in her mid air flip to change her direction back towards Airie. Before she knew it, the girl had sunk her rapier into the ground and encased not only her feet, but her hammer in ice before she could even recover.
Taking a few steps back, the girl raised her rapier to Airie's face. "Hold it right there!" she ordered. Airie smiled and gave a small chuckle.
"Nice tricks you got there... Ice Princess." The girl gave a small 'hmff' and a smile of confidence at the praise. "However…." Airie continued, the Ice giving way around her hammer. "That won't do much to me!" Breaking free of the ice prison, she swung her hammer right at the girl who only had time to put up a block before the hit connected, sending her backwards and head first into a nearby tree.
That's when Airie heard a scream of rage and saw the growing glow of yellow approaching her. With her hammer raised, she focused on her feet, trying to free them before the inevitable attack. Apparently, this 'Yang' was tougher than she looked if she was already up after such a hit from before. A fist connected with the handle of her hammer, and she found her focus immediately pulled away from her feet to her weapon. That punch was a lot stronger than before. So much so that it broke Airie's feet free from the ice and had her digging her heels in and sliding back a few feet. 'Is there a fifth member supporting them?' Airie thought, searching for a reason behind the sudden power increase.
She swung her hammer a few times in an attempt to keep the girl at bay. Her hair was different she realised. It was glowing since she had made her return from the fog. Yang continued her attacks, reaching in closer and closer as Airie was forced to block her swings and reduce her range. Airie smirked. "Finally. A challenge." With that, she swung horizontally, causing Yang to give up her forward offense to meet the head of her hammer head-on with a fist. Airie cringed with the impact as it not only stopped dead, but the metal of her weapon gave in to a dent as the girl stood her ground. The adrenaline was getting to her; her thoughts no longer as clear or connected as before.
With a reversal of her swing, she swung around and down, aiming for Yang's feet, making the girl hop back and retaliate with some explosive shots from her wrists which were just as easily avoided by Airie's own backflip. As the girl gave suit, Airie ran towards a nearby tree, using it as a springboard to reverse direction and launch herself into a full bodied downward swing on her pursuer. With her arms crossed over her head, Yang stood her ground yet again, blocking the hammer in it's path as the two glared daggers at each other. In the back of Airie's mind, there was a faint recollection of the girls eyes not being red before, but it was far from anything she could focus on at this point. Instead, she steeled herself and continued to push with all her might, finally pulling the trigger on her weapon. Again, the 30mm round went off, ripping a shockwave through the forest canopy, and causing a large crater around the two as Yang struggled not to kneel before the force exerted upon her.
Airie was rapidly closing in on her limit, finding her aura nearly drained from reactionarily exerting her semblance so much against this immovable object before her. It wouldn't be long before she turned into the glass cannon she strived so hard to avoid. Perhaps sensing this, or noticing the ever more intense burn of her opponent's hair, the adrenaline high she was riding went into a quick, harsh withdrawal; bloodlust switched to fear, and her mind was racing a thousand times a second, scanning and overloading itself for a way out. Yang seemed to notice the quick weakening and hesitation, and took action. She pushed the hammer up, before taking an upward swing at it, only to find the weapon quickly withdrawn from her path. The empty swing put her off balance some, and the two paused. A few more swings, and it became much more clear. Airie was avoiding contact altogether.
'The more I hit her, the stronger she gets.' Airie deduced. The fear slowly faded back into confidence as she focused on deflecting and avoiding any and all blows to buy some time. Almost as if contagious, the other girl's demeanor was becoming more desperate and fearful as the time passed. However as the fight continued, the two failed to take note of the red eyes of approaching grimm.
Larissa's hold on the girl's neck grew tighter in hopes of keeping the fight out of her.
"B-but we're not- here- to fight you." The girl said as she struggled. "At least I don't think there's a reason to fight you."
"What do you mean? Anyone from the kingdoms is up to something. You're back to oppress us more, right? Need more land, now do you? Need to keep the riff raff from organizing?"
"Whaat?" the girl completely caved in; any fight or struggle left suddenly gone. "Look, I don't know what we did or why you're so worked up, but we're not here to fight you. We're here to find somebody."
Larissa eased up a little bit, though she was still suspicious. "Then why fight us?"
"Well-…" the girl responded, "we're not exactly sure wh-" she stopped short when the white member of her group flew past them and head first into a tree. "Weiss!"
The girl began to tug away from Larissa to rush to her friend's side, but Larissa squeezed tight once more. Sure, she looked knocked out, but even if Airie could take care of her, the outcome of the last battle had Larissa worried about a sudden two on one that she'd most assuredly lose.
"You're not exactly what?" Larissa refrained.
"I don't know!"
Between where, why, and how, it seemed to be the only phrase Velwynn could get out of the girl. Despite being overwhelmed by her tricked senses, the girl seemingly couldn't give a straight answer. Giving in, Velwynn gave back full control of the girl's senses, though she kept her pinned to the tree.
"What are you doing then?, What is your mission?" The girl took a second to recover from the visions and tingles that had suddenly vanished from her body.
"We were just following somebody. We walked through a portal, and wound up… wherever here is."
"A portal you say…" Velwynn's interest was piqued, and she decided to release the confused girl.
"That's what it seemed like anyway." The girl bent over and leaned against the tree to catch her breath and rub her neck. "One minute we were following her, and the next we were here."
"And here is…" Velwynn piped up with a mysterious air, raising an eyebrow and waiting for an answer.
"I told you, I don't know. Some forest south of Vale?"
Velwynn raised her fan to her face and giggled. It was a short giggle, but it quickly turned to a chuckle, and finally an all out malicious sounding cackle by the time she dropped her fan from her face. After finally collecting herself, she gave the girl a pitied look. "Ara, ara. If you think you're still in Vytal, then you've most severely been mistaken." With a flash of her open arms and a wiggle of her fan, Velwynn curtsied as she valiantly said "Welcome my dear, to Menagerie."
After a short pause for dramatic effect, she looked up to find the girl just staring at her. Slightly confused, she tilted her head. "I... realise it must be somewhat of a shock, but surely not that-" It was then that she realised the girl wasn't staring at her, but at something over her shoulder. Not only that, but she was drawing her weapon too. Another large boom rang out in the distance, followed by fluttering birds, shortly followed by the crack of twigs behind her. Turning around, she saw what the girl had been staring at this whole time; a pack of beowolves outlined by the multiple pairs of red eyes closing in on their position. With a dejected snort and smirk, she regarded the grimm "Heh, welcome to the Menagerie alright". Crouching into position, she found the other girl recovered and ready to fight. "Think you can trust me enough to cover me for a few seconds?" The two stared face to face for a split moment, and the girl nodded her head.
"Let- me- go!" The red cloaked girl demanded.
"Not so fast Red." Larissa warned, struggling to keep the other girl in check. Finding it increasingly difficult, and wanting to control the situation, she twirled a bit to pin the girls back against the nearest tree. After an awkward moment of ceased struggling and face to face closeness, she sunk her dagger into the tree, pinning the girl's hood above her head. "Just.. stay put." she tried to say in the closest thing she could muster to calming assuredness. "I still don't exactly trust you yet." As she stepped away, the girl seemed to decide to at least play the part and obey for now, hanging limply from the tree trunk.
A few steps later, and she was looming over the girl's white themed partner, who was no doubt out cold if the trickle of blood from her forehead was any indication of her last impact. A second large boom came from the direction Airie was obviously in, still hidden from view by the thick fog surrounding them. This drew Larissa's attention towards a slight shimmer nearby, and she picked up the metal object that had been dropped by the unconscious girl. A rapier. Not just any rapier though, as it held canisters of what could only be dust; some of which she'd never seen in person before. Upon closer inspection, and a quick twirl to test it out, it was clear that it was no longer straight, but bent from a massive force inflicted upon it that also seemed to have jammed the revolving dust canisters. 'That's a little bit overboard, isn't it Airie?' she thought, peeking back the girl who didn't seem all that threatening. Then again, she was out cold.
"Uhhh…" The hung girl muttered cautiously as Larissa continued her inspection. Testing the point towards the unconscious girl she did an 'en guarde' pose before withdrawing the blade.
"Hey. You. Psssst. Get me down from here" the hung girl ushered with a forced whisper.
Nudging the girl at her feet with a soft kick, Larissa attempted to wake her up. "I told you to stay put, Red. If what you said is true, the fighting will stop soon." Squatting down, she patted this "Weiss'" face with the back side of her hand. "C'mon sleepy head, wake up." No response.
"Uh… you might want to grab a weapon. And if you could, mine." The girl urged once more. Having enough of the girl's interruptions, Larissa stood up and twirled around to face the nuisance with her newly acquired rapier. "And why would I-"
"Gri-..."
A flaming arrow flew past Larissa, just a few inches to the left of her face. Grasping for words, the squeal of a creature behind her made all the points click. Several more orange specks appeared through the fog, only to land and hit their marks seconds later. Rushing to the girl, Larissa grabbed her dagger from the tree, releasing it's captor who practically teleported to her teammates side in a trail of roses.
Seconds later, a voice seemed to barge into their heads. "STOP FIGHTING. THEY'RE NOT ENEMIES. MIND THE GRIMM, AND REGROUP... Q-..7." While the girl in red seemed to wince and grasp her head, Larissa went about retrieving her other dagger still stuck in the ground with part of the girl's cape wrapped around it.
"Wha-"
"Guess that's it then." Larissa responded with a smirk. "You heard the woman. Grab your-" she paused to stab another grimm who made the mistake of leaping into her dagger. " your sleeping beauty and let's split. Just follow my lead."
The girl hoisted up her friend, trying her best to get the girl in a good carrying position. Hurrying as best she could, she set her sights on Larissa for instruction only to find a quick shimmer fly past her face with a trail of red behind it. "Catch" Is all she heard before Larissa followed suit of the thrown dagger, and tossed her friend's rapier her way.
As the voice boomed through their heads, Airie watched as Yang's flailing offensive abruptly stopped so she could grab her ears, and her burning hair lost it's glow. Resting her weapon on the ground, she curiously took note of the change in the girl's eyes as well. "Not enemies, huh?" she pondered thoughtfully. The word grimm echoed faintly in the back of her mind, and she refocused to the woods around them, noting the glow of multiple red eyes.
"What was-"
"Explanations later I suppose. Though it was a fun sparring match, we need to move." When Yang looked up to her in confusion, Airie nodded towards the increasing number of grimm. "Let's grab your ice friend and boogie on out."
Though seemingly confused and out of it, the girl seemed to understand the situation, and backed away from the encroaching grimm. After a few more moments of realising Airie wasn't going to attack, she hesitantly readied herself. "Lead the way."
The two cautiously made their way in the direction of the 'ice girl' by Airie's lead, keeping an eye on the rapidly multiplying red eyes of grimm. As they came up behind an ursa, the two paused, looking to each other as they readied for a surprise attack.
"'Rie!" The two heard the squeal of a boarbatusk as Larissa called out. "Rie, get your ass over here!" Following the sounds of battle, she wasn't far away, in fact Airie wouldn't have been surprised if she was staring down the ursa right then. Taking a step forward, Yang snapped a twig which caught the ursa off guard. Reeling it's head, she raised her foot.
"Heh, nice teddy." She said as an ice arrow landed at it's feet, holding it in place.
"Now!" Airie yelled, and the two charged in. Swinging her hammer, she deflected the ursa's swipe at Yang, allowing her to throw a few good punches. Continuing her motions, Airie swung around and up into a downward swing on it's head, knocking the grimm out.
With the creature out for the count, the two took a quick second to catch their breath, Airie especially seeming more worn out. She folded up her hammer and placed it back on her right arm as a shield once more. "That's all the offense you're gonna get out of me for a bit." she said, still grasping her knees for support.
Yang chuckled. "That's fine with me as long as you can get us out of here." Looking up, she saw the outline of a figure. "Weiss! Let's go!"
"Yang?" a familiar voice called out. "Over here!" Both Yang and Airie followed the voice as the figure disappeared once more.
"'Riss! Are we good to go?" Airie called out, knowing the figure was most likely her.
"Ruby! What happened to Weiss?" Yang asked, finding her white teammate draped over the red one's shoulders.
"She's unconscious. Think you can carry her?" Ruby attempted to re-adjust the girl on her back, but it was clearly a struggle. With a tempered look towards Airie, she agreed to trade places with her teammate.
A few more arrows filtered through the trees. "South 'Rie, follow Ely's arrows!" Larissa came back into view, a Death Stalker and a few human sized Nevermore's on her tail. "Someone ticked these guys off!" The gang turned towards the origin of the mysterious arrows and took off. Ruby however, looked distraught until she saw what was in Larissa's off hand.
"And that person wouldn't be you, huh?" Airie jabbed as Larissa joined the group.
"Not in the slightest." Larissa winked back before tossing the scythe to the girl in red. "Catch" The moment the two connected, the girl was hugging it as tight as possible, much like a long lost puppy while muttering something about crescents and roses.
Velwynn opened her eyes again as she switched her focus away from the comm burst and back to the battle at hand. Surprisingly, the girl had not only held off the grimm, but taken out quite a few already on her own.
"Not bad kuroneko, not bad. However I suppose now would be a good time to leave." Apparently, the girl had already grown used to her voice inside her head.
"Q7?" She asked, firing a few rounds into a charging beowolf.
"If there's one thing you'll learn here in Menagerie, it's that backup plans are a must." Velwynn smirked. "Especially when your teammates are split up." Hopping up and teleporting to the nearest tree branch, she looked back down at the girl who was just realising the weight behind those words. "Think you can keep up with another game of catch?" The girl's introspective look turned up with a smirk of her own.
"You bet."
Hope you enjoyed, and didn't get too lost with all the location swapping. If I find the time between work and school, I'll probably try to continue this, but don't hold your breath or bug me about it. That said, I'd love to hear feedback, what you think of the characters, if it's intriguing enough to want to learn more, etc.