Chapter 4
Road to Mistral – Elway
Jaune charged at Elway at full speed, sword poised to strike. His heavy footsteps stopped as he dug his feet into the ground at struck out with his shield, aiming at Elway's stomach. Elway lowered Bravura to catch the shield, before his eyes widened in surprise at Ren vaulting over Jaune. The two stuck simultaneously, Jaune with Crocea Mors and Ren with StormFlower, Ren aiming for his left and Jaune aiming at his right.
Elway roared, a blue shield covering him and with his Foresight, gritted his teeth and took two consecutive slices on his shoulder from StormFlower before kicking his left leg out and forcing Ren to raise his arms to defend himself, knocking the boy back. He grunted from the slight pain received from the attack before he blocked Crocea Mors with Bravura's shaft, and struck Jaune's chest, sending him flying into a tree. Elway heard the sound of continuous shots, remembering that Ruby was somewhere providing supporting fire. He blocked his front with Bravura, noting that the shots were coming from his left. With Bravura blocking each shot in rhythm with the sound of Crescent Rose firing, he prepared an aetherial axe and leaped into the sky, throwing the axe in the direction of the shots with a grunt, as if using a tomahawk. He grinned as he heard the axe hit home, afterwards hearing a yelp of surprise as the girl hit the ground.
Ren came back at Elway in full force, running and shooting at the Elway, who dodged and blocked stray shots with Bravura. Elway swung out at Ren, who ducked under gracefully and used the momentum to launch a sweeping kick at Elway's knees, knocking him off balance. Elway saw Ren quickly move out of the way as he heard a loud ringing noise, and guessed instantly that Nora was coming. Fast. He looked directly up, seeing the energetic girl coming straight down with Magnhild and matched her grin with his own. Instead of moving, he changed his stance to a defiant one, and swung at the girl's legs with the blunt side of Bravura, knocking her off trajectory and making her fall into Ren.
Jaune and Ruby came at Elway on different sides, Jaune now combining Crocea Mors to make a heavier sword. Ruby used her semblance to jump into the air, and then gain more speed, then using Crescent Rose, slashed at Elway downwards, forcing him to bring up Bravura in a block. The two massive weapons clashed, and Ruby dug her feet into the ground, holding Bravura in place with her scythe.
"Now, Jaune!" Ruby grinned at Elway, sensing victory. Jaune's charge turned into a sprint, holding his sword at his side, already beginning a massive cut aimed at Elway's back.
"Haha! Impressive!" Elway laughed heartily. Ruby looked confused before she noticed she was spinning, yelling in surprise as she tried to keep her grip on Crescent Rose. Elway overpowered Ruby, bringing Bravura up into his regular combat stance, but kept their weapons in their deadlock, and turned his attention to the blonde boy. Elway charged at Jaune, weapon still interlocked with Ruby's as he jumped up, spinning around in a Steel Cyclone, roaring as his chest flared from the pain of Jaune's slash but still blowing both Ruby and Jaune back with the sheer force that the skill had unleashed. Surrounding trees were felled from the attack, and the two fell on each other, subsequently collapsing.
"Ugh… we give up now!" Jaune groaned from under Ruby, raising a white flag that came from nowhere.
"Ow… that one really hurt, Elway!" Ruby complained, still unmoving from on top of Jaune.
"That was the point, I'm afraid." Elway smirked at the team as they recovered, getting up slowly. Ruby got up with a moan and dusted herself off before offering a hand to Jaune, who accepted with a grateful smile. Nora was standing fairly healthily, but had a dizzy looking Ren around her shoulders. Elway rolled his shoulder back twice and cracked his neck side to side as a green light surrounded him establishing Equilibrium and curing his wounds. Elway touched his chest, feeling the fabric of the robe torn. He'd have to mend the material later.
A week had passed in their journey to fix the bandit problem near Mistral. The road to Mistral was still fairly long, and villages had asked help of them every now and then. Along with the search for bandits, the journey was fairly long one. The group had a daily routine of sparring every now and then, but realizing that Elway was much more experienced, decided on a team match against him. Team RNJR needed to stay sharp, after all. And Elway could certainly use the practice.
During the week of their journey together, Elway had learned much about the world of Remnant, as well as the team he traveled with. For one, while aura was similar to aether, he learned that it acted differently. Magic wasn't inherent in the people of this world, but they could use "semblances," which were personal abilities enabled by the person's aura. He found the concept intriguing, but decided against seeking to unlock his aura, guessing that the process to do so would likely be complicated. He was from another world after all. Also, they had a resource named "Dust," which people used to combat the Grimm with elemental properties. It seemed to have many applications, and he admired the fact that it had so many practical uses. The Grimm, he had noticed, were unlike beastmen in that they had no sense of self, and seemed to act completely according to instinct. He remembered the horseman-like Grimm they had fought when he arrived in Remnant, and how it had dissipated into nothing upon death. There was certainly something behind these creatures that people haven't figured out yet.
Also, Elway had grown quite close with the young Team RNJR. Ruby was a girl determined to help as many people as she could, and had the energy and will to do so. She also had a penchant for weapons, and frequently pestered Elway for more details on Bravura, as well as asking if he had any other weapons. Still, he admired Ruby's courage and ability to smile through hard times.
Like a hero, Elway amusedly thought to himself. He genuinely admired the girl's ideals.
Jaune was a natural leader, and cared for his team a great deal. The boy neglected his own health sometimes, and that worried the rest of the team. Elway promised not to tell the rest of his team, but Jaune would stay up most nights and practice by himself. When Elway offered to help, he gave Jaune advice on how to more effectively strike with his sword and shield, drawing upon his days of Gladiator training.
Ren was a quiet boy, but his calm demeanor (mostly) meant that the team always had a pillar of support to help them through rough patches. Though Elway often teased him for losing his cool when they had first met.
Nora had the energy to match Ruby's, and had an unbelievably positive outlook. She had impressive mental fortitude, and while a bit straightforward combat-wise, there was no lacking in physical strength either. And Elway would laugh whenever Nora would bother Ren with her antics, the boy clearly exasperated yet appreciative.
Elway was glad he ran into the team, they were kind as well as strong. And he would certainly do what he could to help them. The vision he saw with the Echo a week ago still weighed heavily on his mind, however. He knew that certain members of the team had issues that were left unsaid.
Elway felt a pat on his back, and turned around.
"Sorry about your clothes, they got torn up in the fight, didn't they?" Jaune looked at the tears in Elway's clothes, feeling a bit guilty.
"Nonsense. It was a fine strike. I can repair my clothes as well, so it is more important that you obtain experience."
"Well, even if it was fine you sure healed quick." Jaune gave Elway a once-over and saw no remaining wounds. "How did you…?"
"Ah, one of my abilities. Your teamwork today was fantastic, by the way." Elway smiled.
"Thanks, we'd been working on that plan for a few days now!" Jaune looked excited, and continued to talk about the fight while the rest of Team RNJR called out to the two, signaling the nearing of a new village.
Maten Village – Ruby
The village was about the same as others, with similar buildings and whatnot. When they arrived at the gates, they asked if they could see the village leader just to ask for a place to stay as well as anything of note. Elway went off to wander the village without saying anything, admiring the surroundings.
Ruby expected there to be some sort of problem that the team could help with, but the village leader just asked that they stay and rest, since they were already taking care of the bandits.
"Aww, you sure? Nothing that you guys need help with?" Ruby asked hopefully.
"Well, on your way to the bandit encampment I'd like for you to be careful. We haven't confirmed anything, but there are rumors of a shadow on the trails. We've received word from other villages that it might be near us, so keep an eye out." The village chief, afterwards directed them to an inn afterwards, offering them free lodging. Ruby and Nora were directed to a room for 2, while Jaune and Ren went to a slightly bigger room of 3 beds.
"The last bed is for your friend, when he returns. We'll make sure he finds his way here." The innkeeper smiled at them and closed the door.
"Sure is nice to have a bed for once!" Nora shouted, jumping onto the bed gleefully.
"Yeah, my legs are so tired, especially after our spar… Let's just sleep forever." Ruby collapsed onto the bed face first.
"Agreed! Night Ru…" Nora didn't finish her sentence and fell asleep instantly. Ruby giggled softly, before drifting off.
Or at least, she would have liked to before she heard a knock on their door.
"WHO?! WHO'S INTERRUPTING OUR-" Nora rose with a jerk, and furiously opened the door, but stopped upon realizing it was Jaune. "Jaune! Even if it's you I won't forgive you for stopping our precious sleep!" Nora got into a mock-battle stance.
"Take it easy, please Nora. Others are probably sleeping already." Jaune tried to calm Nora down while explaining himself. "Listen, Elway still hasn't come back. We're a little worried."
"Oh, yeah… didn't he just go off to explore though?" Ruby replied, still half-collapsed onto the bed.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm still gonna go out and look for him, I'm just feeling a little anxious." Jaune looked at his feet nervously.
"Okay then, I'll come with!" Ruby declared.
"Me too!" Nora raised her hand. She rushed off into the neighboring room, pulling a reluctant and sleepy Ren out by the hand. "And him!" Nora raised the boy's hand against his will.
Twenty minutes had passed since they had decided to look for Elway. The man had a fairly recognizable outfit, so it shouldn't have been too hard, right? But the village was quiet, all the residents had either gone home or were in the process of doing so. Eventually, they decided to scout the outskirts of the village, coming to a road populated mostly by trees. It was getting hard to see the village from here, so the team was getting ready to return until Ren stopped them.
"Wait. Someone's there." Ren held up a hand, sensing something. The group noticed a man in red clothing with an axe on his back, standing in an area clear of trees.
"Oh, it's Elway!" Ruby ran out, waving her hands. "Hey, we've been looking for you!"
Elway turned around to greet her, but flinched and turned around quickly, his eyes scanning the trees.
"Ruby, he's not the only person here, watch out!" Ren called as the rest of Team RNJR ran to Ruby, preparing themselves for a fight.
"Get ba- Guh!" Elway turned his attention to the team, before being rushed by a dark, masked figure. The figure kicked Elway in the chest, then stepped off, jumping away before he could retaliate. In the dark, Ruby couldn't see any features of the assailant, but they stepped back into a patch of light from the cracked moon. She saw a purple hood and dark armor as well as a pair of elegant daggers.
"Ugh, that's enough of frightening me. And the children." Elway scratched his head and sighed. "Even in the dark, I know it's you."
The figure laughed softly. A feminine voice.
"My apologies. It was a jest." The shadowed figure took off the bottom portion of her mask first, revealing a mysterious smile. She then took off the top half, and lowered the hood from her head. The first thing Ruby noticed was her pale, ghostlike skin. She saw what looked like scales, and noticed a white tail. Ruby examined the face of the figure closely, she was beautiful! Her sleek black hair framed her face, and her smile reached her bright green eyes.
A faunus? Does she know Elway? Ruby thought, before Elway spoke up.
"Frightening me aside," Elway shook his head and smiled. He then walked forward, taking the woman's hand in his own. "It's good to see you here. Yugiri."
The woman's mysterious smiled curved up into a beaming one, looking into Elway's eyes.
"Likewise."
Chapter 4 – It's good to see you here
A/N: Hey, I'm back with another chapter! And another person from Eorzea has finally made their appearance! I didn't feel too satisfied with this chapter, but please let me know what you thought! Trying to get a better feel for fight scenes.