I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. All rights go to Monty Oum, RoosterTeeth, and all other respective owners. The only thing I own is my OC.
Now, it's time to respond to some reviews!
Nightraze: Thanks! I try to do that with a lot of my fanfictions. I don't usually throw in a character sloppily. As for pairings, I'm not sure if I'll write any in or not. I'll probably put in some implied romantic tension between a few characters, but like I said, I'm not sure.
blitzxs: Heehee! Glad to know I'm writing something you enjoy! Thanks!
Hipoisthebest: Well, I can see why you'd want a better description of what Cori looks like. That's why I'm working on drawing a picture of him. Hopefully it will be done soon and I can post it. I'll probably make it my profile pic when it's done.
And now, back to the story!
Chapter 4: Trial by Fire
I could hear the sounds of combat as I drew closer. At least Ruby and Weiss were fighting back. I zoomed through the maze of trees and shrubbery, constantly willing myself to go faster.
Suddenly, just as the noises grew to their loudest volume, the tree directly in front of me burst violently into flames. Diving to the side and stopping behind a tree slightly to the right of it, I took a few deep breaths. What the heck was that?! Looking around the side of the tree, I found my answer.
Ruby and Weiss were being swarmed by Beowolves, one of them being considerably larger than the rest. Weiss was shouting at Ruby again, though I couldn't her very well over the growling of the monsters and the crackling flames of the burning tree. From what I was able to make out, Weiss must have tried to launch an attack when Ruby got in the way. That's when she lit the tree, when she had to redirect her attack.
The Beowolves were starting to close in on them, but Ruby was ready for them, expectantly reloading and readying her weapon. Weiss, however, didn't seem quite so eager, looking around at the mass of monsters before them.
The burning tree fell to the ground in front of them, separating the girls from the Beowolves. The flames crackled viciously as the monsters backed away from the burning tree. Weiss quickly grabbed Ruby by the wrist and pulled her away, fleeing as fast as they could. The Beowolves howled angrily at the new obstacle in their way.
One of the creatures tried to chase after them, making its way to the end of the burning tree.
"No you don't!"
BGM start: Wolves
by Mallory Knox
Rushing out from behind the tree, I shot a blast of fire out in front of the creature, cutting off its path to my friends. The monster now turned his assault upon me, rushing straight for me. Firing my weapon behind me, I shot forward and cleaved the creature in two, coming to a stop directly in front of the rest of the hoard, which snarled angrily.
Slowly, I rose to my feet, having blocked all routes to Weiss and Ruby. They'd have to deal with me now. I turned to face them, readying my weapon and addressing them directly.
"You're not going anywhere."
They let out an enraged, unified howl as they charged forward. I held my ground, the flames licking at the branches of the nearby trees behind me. The first of them tried slashing at me from overhead. Just before its claws made contact with me, I raised my blade and blocked the attack. With the creature still pressing against me with its last attack, I fired back over my shoulder, driving my weapon along the Beowolves' arm and through its torso.
As the flames dancing behind me continued to spread, I charged forward and swung through several more of them. One of them tried to attack me from behind, but I back-flipped over it. Switching my grip on my sword, I brought the point of the blade down upon the center of its neck, slicing it in half as I descended. Firing ahead of me, I launched myself back as two more tried to claw me from either side. They only succeeded in clawing each other, falling to the ground in a heap.
Skidding to a stop, I spotted several of the Beowolves attempting to rush me from all sides. Stabbing through one of them, I swung myself down to avoid a strike from another. I slid underneath the one I just stabbed and fired to the right, slashing up at a few of them. Firing again, I continued the follow-through of this swing and leaped into the air to introduce my blade to yet another Grimm, who was attempting to cut me down from above.
Spinning around in midair, I launched a short volley of fireballs out at them, thinning their ranks. Landing on one knee, I quickly approached the largest of them. It snarled menacingly as the last two of its fellows started after me. Ducking underneath the claws of the first, I kicked him away from me. I spun around and slashed away at the second creature. After several strikes, I swung up and turned my grip on the blade, shoving my blade behind me and into its chest. The other Beowolf had risen up and began its assault again.
I pulled the middle trigger and my sword shot forward and into the creature, the pommel striking it in the stomach and staggering it. I rushed forward and took hold of the blade before slashing up at an angle, sending the creatures torso into the air. Firing back, I jumped into the air and planted my feet firmly on the Grimms chest. Using every ounce of strength I had, I pushed off as hard as I could from my spot in the middle of the air and fired behind me, zooming down at the last creature with blinding speed. Spinning around, I cleaved through the monster, resting with my blade behind me as the Beowolf fell to the ground.
As I came to a stop several feet away from the spot where it fell, I was suddenly shocked by the presence of flames surrounding me. I tried to find an escape route, but found none, jumping back as the flames danced dangerously close to me. It was just like Ozpin said; Without proper control, someone's powers could end up hurting someone. I had mine under control, but I hadn't taken Weiss's burning tree into account during the fight. Now, I was trapped.
Then, I had an idea. It was my last hope to get out of my blazing prison. Please! I screamed in my head. This has to work! Bringing my free hand back, I slammed it down onto the ground at my feet as I let out a desperate cry.
"Hrrraaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
A field of solid ice shot out all around me, dousing the fire and disappearing a second later in a shower of tiny, snow-like chips of ice, which melted as they hit the ground. I rose to my feet and looked around, watching these cold white flakes drift to the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief, dispelling my weapon and falling to my knees.
BGM end
I felt tired after my battle with these monsters, finding my breathing had become rather short. I remembered how exhausted I'd been after my fight with the Grimm in the forest where I met Ozpin. I used my elemental attacks much more then, but I was using them back to back and at full strength. That wasn't the case this time. I guess I couldn't use it recklessly, or I'd end up starting to tire out.
With this knowledge in mind, I got to my feet and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. To my surprise, I had unintentionally headed north. I guess I was rather lucky, finding Ruby and Weiss where I did. I hoped they were okay, but I wasn't too worried. They were Huntresses-in-training, so I was certain they could handle themselves.
I probably shouldn't have helped the girls escape, but Ruby was my friend. She and Jaune were the first friends I ever made in my new life. I wasn't going to just let them die! I already lost any friends and family I had from my past life; I wouldn't let that happen in this one!
Turning back to the north, I began to make my way through the forest, after my assigned objective this time. I was heading for the shrine at the end, so I could help the team I found there with the retrieval of their artifact. I wasn't too sure if I'd be able to become a Huntsman, or even if I'd be a good Huntsman if I did, but
I knew one thing; I was going to find out!
l gradually started working my way north. I couldn't tell exactly where I'd end up. Hopefully, it'd be the shrine Ozpin talked about. The sooner I was out of here, the better.
I must have been working my way through the Emerald Forest for at least an hour, but it felt like I wasn't making any progress. It felt like I was going in circles and constantly winding up at the same exact place. I walked and walked until I couldn't walk anymore. After fighting off so many monsters, I needed a rest.
Picking out a tree, I sat down and took a well-deserved breather. It gave me a chance to think for a bit. Gazing up at the dense coverage of leaves overhead, I let my thoughts wandered.
I came back to the many unanswered questions that had been echoing in the back of my mind; Why was I so strong? Why did fighting feel so natural and instinctual, almost like second nature? Was it something I was born with? Some sort of natural ability to fight, maybe? And then, there was my weapon.
As I thought of this, I summoned my sword and held it up before my eyes, gazing at it intently. Why was my sword able to absorb into my arm, and why was I able to summon it at will? I didn't need anyone to tell me to know that wasn't normal. Was it connected to my powers in someway?
That was another big one; Why was I ale to blast fire, ice, even electricity, out of my hands at will? Why did I suddenly tire out after doing it too much for too long? Why did I have these powers in the first place?
My past was the most questionable thing of all. Why did I wake up in that ruin? What happened to that place that caused it to collapse? Why was there a file with my name and picture? Why couldn't I remember anything? Did something make me forget? And, of course, was there any way for me to get my memory back?
Maybe I was panicking. Just because I hadn't remembered anything yet didn't mean I'd never remember it. Ozpin said my powers were strange, but he didn't seem too concerned. Maybe the other students had some special kind of powers, too. I mean, Weiss conjured that gliph earlier, right? That sure wasn't something you'd see an average person do.
Still, I couldn't think of anything to explain why my weapon could appear and disappear into my arm. No matter how you looked at it, that just wasn't normal. Ozpin said een he had never seen anything like it. Just thinking about it gave me an uneasy feeling. I "sheathed" my sword and stood up, attempting to shake the thoughts from my head.
I needed to get my mind off of these questions. Deciding I had rested long enough, I "sheathed" my sword and stood up, attempting to shake the thoughts from my head. Straightening my jacket, I moved on, heading north in search of the shrine once again.
Shortly after resuming my search, I came across what appeared to be the entrance to a large cavern. It was almost twice as tall as I was, and just a wide. There was an almost ominous silence as I looked at it through the dense shade.
Maybe this is it? I thought to myself. As I came to the mouth of the cavern, I saw just how utterly dark it was inside. There was no light anywhere. I couldn't even see what was five feet in front of me. I didn't have a flashlight or a torch to help me see, so how was I gonna check the place out?
Just then, I heard something shifting from within the cavern, and a small, faint light appeared from deep within. Not sure if I should investigate further, I drew my sword and walked inside with one hand against the wall, serving as a guide. As I approached, the light slowly got closer and closer. What was it?
After a few more minutes, I worked my way to the source of the light. A bright beam of light was shining down on a single raised spot at the end of a large chasm-like chamber. A large singular hole in the roof cast the light in from the outside. A large black mass seemed to be piled in front of the raised structure, which seemed to be nothing more than a large circle of stones. All throughout the room, there were strangely-shaped boulders and rocks, as well as a few small puddles of what seemed to be rainwater.
Venturing in farther, I climbed over the black mass piled up in front of the structure and walked up the steep slope to the top of the structure. The space at the top of these stones was a large, smooth, rounded crater, littered with broken tree branches and enormous black feathers.
"What the heck?" I quietly asked myself. "What is this?"
Just then, I heard something above me and quickly looked up to see what it was. My eyes widened with shock as I took a step back. An enormous Grimm that looked like a raven opened its wings and let out a monstrous cry before taking off. The Nevermore flew directly overhead for a moment before soaring off into the distance and out of sight. I snapped back to my senses. What the heck was that thing?!
Suddenly, it all clicked in my head. "This," I said to myself, "This must be that thing's nest. It was taking off just now, so it was probably going to hunt or something. It looked like it was headed north, but-! Wait a minute." My head snapped up in shock. That thing was headed north, towards where the shrine was. That could only mean-
"Oh no." I turned around to the entrance, my mind racing. "The others."
I leapt off the edge of the stone nest, soaring over the black mass that lay in front of it, before landing on one knee in front of the entrance.
"I've gotta go warn the others!" Suddenly, I heard a loud, almost strangled sound. Turning slowly, I saw that the black mass of what I had previously taken to be rocks, moss and tree trunks, was something much worse. I turned just in time to see the King Taijitu uncoil and rear its enormous black head.
"Oh no..." I stepped back away from it. The creature stared at me with unblinking eyes for a few moments. Just as I took a third step away from it, the creature let out a loud, menacing hiss and lunged at me.
...Aaaaaand, fade to black! This update took much longer to come out than I would have liked. I can't tell you just how upset about this I am. But, I was dealing with finals and had little to no time to write. Sorry.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've decided to keep working on it through the summer, though that may be a bit difficult if I end up getting a new job. This could be especially tricky, because the next chapter is going to be a full chapter. This means that I won't be updating the chapter to contain the second half later, but will move on to the next chapter instead.
Also, I'll be starting up a few new stories, too! I'm working on two different ones at the moment, one for Sword Art Online and one for The Legend of Zelda. These two will probably end up being updated less frequently than this story, but I intend to have at least one chapter done for each by the end of summer vacation.
In the next chapter, we find out what happens to Cori and the others! (Oooooh, the suspense!) Don't forget to review, as I love to hear from you guys, and remember to check back often for the next chapter! Thanks a lot for reading, guys, and look forward to the next chapter.
See you then!