Chapter 3
"Hello partner!" Ruby exclaimed. The white haired heiress sighed in exasperation. She had not expected to have to be partnered up with the little girl that had tried talking with her the day before, but she also didn't have any real problems with it. She had just met her yesterday after all.
"We should start heading towards the ruins." Weiss told her partner. The red cloaked girl nodded and followed the heiress, even though she really had no idea of where the ruins were.
A rustling from the nearby bushes put both girls on guard. They stood facing the bush, their weapons out and ready to slice through any attacking Grimm. The person who had caused the rustling heard the sounds of their weapons, and so walked out with her hands up, exclaiming "Hold on I'm not a Grimm!"
Weiss lowered her Myrtenaster and stood there, confused. Ruby folded and put away her scythe, smiling. She shouted "Hey Ochre!" And ran over to the brunette. Weiss just stood there bewildered. "You know her?" She asked Ruby. Ochre didn't even have time to blink before the red cloaked girl was on her, hugging her tight. She returned the hug, and waved to Weiss, who came over to her as well.
"I'm sorry, Ochre was it? But me and Ruby are already partners." The heiress points out. Said girl faces the heiress and replies "Yeah, I can see that. Um... Would it be okay if I went with you guys until I find someone else without a partner?" Weiss thought about it for a minute while Ruby whispered "Please say yes Weiss. Please say yes." Finally, the white haired girl looked up at Ochre. "Yeah, I suppose that's fine. After all there is safety in numbers." Ruby sqealed joyfully, and Ochre smiled warmly. Weiss started to lead them toward the ruins, but...
"Um Weiss... The temple is in that direction." Ochre pointed in the opposite direction that Weiss was going. The heiress blushed and stammered as she tried to cover up her mistake. Ochre muttered "Someone had control issues growing up..." Unfortunately, Weiss heard this and started yelling indignantly, which Ochre tuned out as she led the way towards the ruins.
They couldn't have been walking for more than a few minutes before they heard more rustling bushes. The three huntresses in training stood back to back, ready to take on the threat. Weiss and Ruby took out their respective weapons. Myrtenaster and Crescent Rose reflected the sunlight, leaving an awe struck Ochre just standing there, mouth agape.
Weiss glared at the brunette. She whisper yelled "What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Take your weapon out or something!" Ochre snapped out of her reverie and got in a ready stance, facing towards one of the rustling bushes.
Finally, the things that were causing the bushes to rustle stepped out and confronted the girls. A small pack of beowolves. Their otherworldly red eyes glowed as they stared down their prey. Ruby and Weiss stood fearlessly, confidently, their weapons at the ready. Meanwhile, Ochre stood in a ready stance seemingly confident, but on the inside, she was trembling. For, as many times as she had seen the creatures of Grimm through her tablet screen, it did nothing to prepare her for a fight against a real, live one.
The four beowolves stared solely at Ochre, no doubt sensing her fear. And they begun to advance, circling their prey, sizing them up, waiting for the right moment to strike.
At last, one of them pounced, right into a slash from Ruby's scythe. Weiss prepared a glyph, and charged, impaling another. Ruby's Crescent Rose took care of the third.
While this was happening, Ochre ran at the fourth. She pulled out the knife she had taken from the kitchen, and held it in front of her as she ran. The Beowolf swung when she got close enough, and she twisted her body to the side, avoiding the claws. She slashed at the arm, and kicked the beowolf off balance. She then stabbed it in its head, but before it could die, it made a last attempt at injuring her by once more slashing at her with its claws. All she could do was step back, but she couldn't fully avoid the claw. As she had no aura, one of the claws scratched her chin, leaving a small cut there. The Beowolf then promptly evaporated.
The three girls turned toward each other. Hearing no more Grimm anywhere around them, they took a moment to rest, and to figure out which direction to go. "Does anyone remember what direction we were going in before the fight started?" Weiss asked. Both Ochre and Ruby nodded 'no'. Weiss stomped around, trying to figure out where they had to go.
"Its this way!" She walked off to the right. Then she turned around and walked to the left. "No its this way!" She walked back to Ruby, who was examining a leaf. "Okay its official. We passed it." She stated, sounding unsure. Ruby wasn't fooled. "Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Weiss snapped back, "Oh be quiet! You don't know where we're going either!" Then a thought occurred. "Hey wait a minute... Where's Ochre?"
Almost immediately after she said that, the brunette landed in between them. This surprised both of them, but Weiss quickly recovered. She started screeching at Ochre, wanting to know where she'd gone. The moment she stopped speaking, the brunette launched into an explanation. "I climbed a tree and got up high enough to see that the forest temple is in that direction." And she pointed due North. She and Ruby walked away from the heiress. Needless to say, she didn't like being left behind, and she quickly followed her partner and her partner's friend.
Ochre looked back to see Weiss looking upset, so she slowed her pace until she was walking right next to the heiress. Said girl barely acknowledged her presence, so she tried to start a conversation. "Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company huh?" She awkwardly said. Weiss stiffly looked up at Ochre. "Yeah..." She trailed off.
Finally, they came into a clearing. A large open field ending with a cliff, and a kind of gazebo lookin' thing. "Those are the ruins!" Ruby excitedly yelled. Then she zipped off towards them. Ochre and Weiss followed, though more slowly.
Upon getting closer, they could see more people inside the ruins, and they could see pedestals with what must have been the relics. Ruby had already grabbed one, so they turned towards the two people in the ruins.
Ruby zipped over to Yang and started squeezing. Yang was obviously happy to see her sister, but she was also happy to see Ochre. "So Ruby, is Ochre your partner?" Weiss walked over and told Yang who Ruby's partner was. But Yang was confused as to who Ochre's partner was.
"I uh... Don't have a partner yet." Ochre said I response to Yang's unasked question. She turned around and tuned out Yang and Weiss's conversation. Watching the edge of the forest, she searched for any signs of Pyrrha or Nora or Jaune. A loud, high -pitched scream was heard.
Finally, a large Ursa lumbered into the clearing, then immediately collapsed on itself. A girl jumped off from it and exclaimed her disappointment. Another boy climbed off the Ursa and exclaimed his disapproval. Both made their way to the temple to pick up a chess piece.
A blond haired boy flew through the air and crashed into a tree. A red haired girl came out of the forest being chased by a humongous scorpion.
All completely normal in the World of Remnant.
Ruby was about to run to face the deathstalker, but Ochre grabbed the hood of her cloak, stopping her from moving. "What are you doing Ochre?! Lemme Go!" Ruby yelled. The brunette pulled her until they were facing each another. "Going out there by yourself is suicide. There's no way you are going to be able to beat a humongous Deathstalker and Nevermore without help." She glared into Ruby's silver eyes, and the younger girl knew not argue.
The whole group had heard what she said, but only Blake asked the question. "What do you mean? There isn't a Nevermore out there." The black haired girl stated
As if on cue, they all heard a loud cawing, and few feathers fell down from high up in the sky. They could all clearly see the humongous Nevermore circling above the ruins. "I guess there is now." Ren pointed out. Yang narrowed her eyes at Ochre. How did she know the nevermore was gonna be there? Again, that feeling that Ochre wasn't exactly who she said she was.
Weiss fired some of her ice dust at the deathstalker, freezing it in place. She and Ruby convinced the rest of team RWBY and JNPR that they didn't need to fight, and so they all ran away from the Grimm.
They took shelter behind the ruins of some huge building. Nora fired grenades at the nevermore, and the deathstalker started chasing everyone towards the far cliffs. They reached a bridge across a humongous chasm that was too small for the deathstalker to follow. But the nevermore could still attack and charged headfirst for the bridge, breaking it down the middle. Now Team JNPR was separated from team RWBY, with Ochre on team JNPRs side.
She got into a ready stance, and pulled out her knife. The deathstalker was 5 times her size and probably 10 times the weight of all of Team JNPR, but she wasn't going down without a fight.