A/N Alright, chapter 2 up, as promised, on a Tuesday. Lol it's going up on a Tuesday… I just had my last summer class yesterday, so I've never loved Tuesday so much... So, I tried updating this, but the site was going all weird on me, so I'm just re-updating this. Moving on, here's the next one!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of the characters involved, with the exception of the four minor OCs and the story.
Chapter 2
"Blake, see anything?" Weiss asked.
"All clear so far!" Blake called from her high vantage point.
"IT'S NOT CLEAR BECAUSE THERE'S TREES! THIS ISN'T A GRIMM-DAMNED FIELD!" shouted the elderly Feirdon.
"Dad, it's an expression," the younger man deadpanned from the driver's seat of the caravan.
The motley crew had been travelling for a good part of the morning without any incident. Surprising enough, since the patriarch was constantly yelling nonsensical babbles and obscenities while his wife shrieked back at him with as equally irrelevant phrases or expletives.
You'd think all that negativity would attract Grimm, but we haven't been attacked once. Ruby thought as she scanned the area.
The forest was beautiful: bronze and golden coloured leaves adorned the tall trees, full and healthy; green shrubbery was scattered among their surroundings, blending with the rest of the foliage. Red berries dotted the bushes whilst lime-green grass bent at the weight of their footfalls. The soil was dark and slightly moist, but compacted easily as they trudged along. The Feirdon caravan carved two gouges in the earth where it rolled along, behind the four teenagers.
While the setting was pleasant, the vehicle they were protecting was rather out of place. The caravan itself was a rectangular object with four wheels, each a meter in diameter and half as thick. The chassis resembled that of a standard commercial mini-van. However, where normally opaque metal would covered the steel frame, there was instead a semi-transparent glass/metal hybrid alloy of a sort, created by the Feirdon family. "Secret family recipe" Donna had said with a mischievous wink. Ruby could see the two elderly members arguing inside, right through the body of the vehicle at that moment, along with all the supplies, materials, and equipment of their independent business, neatly packed inside the prototype van.
An ominous growl emanated from the bushes. Everyone quieted immediately. Ruby quickly leapt in front of the vehicle, drawing her beloved Crescent Rose out, staying in a low defensive stance. Her teammates did the same for each side of the vehicle. Weiss circled around the rear of the vehicle, brandishing Myrtenaster, her multi-dust action rapier, in a series twirls and thrusts. Spinning the adjustable dust cartridge to red, she stood at the ready. Blake held the right side, drawing Gambol Shroud and holding both sword and cleaver/sheath in each hand, its ribbon hanging slack on her upper arm. Her hand fingered the trigger on Gambol's hilt, announcing her readiness to switch to its firearm mode. Yang assumed the left guard, dropping into a boxing stance with Ember Celica equipped. A loud cha-chuck came from each of her hands, signalling the loading of its shotgun shells.
A black blur dashed out of the bushes, approaching the front of the car at high speed. Ruby took aim behind her, and fired Crescent Rose's trigger, launching herself into the air, above the beast. Another shot fired into the air allowed her to fall at a controlled, accelerated rate. Swinging her scythe downward with the momentum, the blunt end of Crescent Rose caved in the creature's skull with ease. It twitched twice, then stayed still. Cautiously, the reaper walked up to the corpse. Her team stayed wary for other potential surprises from the unknown wilds.
"It's just a beowolf." Ruby analyzed. Amidst the black smoke rising from it, the body was furry and easily twice as tall as her, with a humanoid appearance, but oversized canine paws as its feet and sharp claws for hands. The most distinctive feature was the wolf-like white bone skull atop its body with empty eyes and blood-red lines drawing from the sockets towards the back of the skull and down its spine.
"A single beowolf? Where's the pack?" Weiss questioned.
"Maybe it was a lone wolf?" Yang suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. It earned a glare from all three of her teammates.
"Jokes aside, I don't see why it would be alone. Let's just keep moving before the rest show up." Blake urged.
As if on cue, howling emanated from all around them. Evil red eyes glowered with hatred at the group in the small forest clearing. Slowly, the red gleaming shifted, to show a mass wall of black fur, dotted with white bones. They were surrounded.
"Speak of the devil…" Weiss huffed.
"YA WANNA PIECE OF THE OLD F SQUARED EH?! WELL COME AND GET SOME!" The patriarch cried from the van, attempting to get out of the sole safe shelter for miles around. The boisterous man was cut off by his wife putting a cloth over his mouth, instantly knocking him out, shrieking at his unconscious form many a cuss about needless risk and too much activity.
"How many are there?!" Jorum asked.
Yang dropped her stance and attempted to count, "eh, about twenty-ish?"
"Twenty?!"
"That doesn't seem fair." Weiss criticized.
"I will risk my life if need be! For my family!" he cried, standing up at full attention, like a military man and even drawing a dust rifle and saluting with it.
"… I meant not fair for them, but thank you anyways." Weiss mumbled, not wanting to bruise the man's pride.
"We've got this! Team RWBY go!" Ruby cried, as she and her team leapt into action.
With some help (read: little to none) from Jorum Feirdon and his own dust rifle guarding the caravan, they made quick work of the pack and continued on their way, reaching the extraction point without any more incidents and half an hour earlier than was expected.
As team RWBY was getting on the bullhead, their leader was pulled aside by the younger Feirdon couple.
"We couldn't help but overhear this morning that it was your birthday…" Jorum began.
"And we wanted to give something, not just as a birthday present, but a gift of gratitude." Donna finished, holding out a colorfully wrapped box.
"It's not much, but we figured you could find some use for it. If not yourself, then someone else." Jorum explained.
Ruby gave them each a quick hug with appreciation, "Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Feirdon! I'll make sure to open it when I get back to Beacon!"
She turned around to walk back, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Donna with another package in her hand, wrapped in plain manila-coloured paper.
"Wait! Before you go, we have something else. Well not us specifically…"
Jorum stepped in, "Before you young ladies stepped in to help us, there was another man, a Hunter, beforehand. He said to give this to the leader of our escort…" He took the box from his wife and gave it to the now-sixteen-year-old, who had a puzzled look on her face.
She looked down at the box, wrapped in generic brown paper, and noticed a white slip sticking to it. It read 'Do not open until 22:00 today'.
Unsure of what to do, Ruby looked back at the two adults, "uh…thanks?" They both shrugged their shoulders. They were as clueless as she was.
"Ruby come on! Let's go home and celebrate!" She heard Yang call.
She zipped towards the bullhead and got on. Standing near the opened hatch, she could see the innovative Feirdon family on the ground, looking back up and waving goodbye to her. She waved back with a smile on her face as the aircraft receded further from the clearing. They were heading home.
A/N Oh, the return to Beacon, what I have in store for you guys… Anyways, if you read it and liked it, leave a review! If you don't like it or have ideas, also leave a review! Either way, some feedback is all I'm looking for. Until next time!