Here is the third last chapter for their trials here in the Emerald Forest! I hope you enjoy!
Lost and Found...
"... Oh come on you guys!" Yang whined. "That was comedic gold and you know it!"
"That's a low blow sis." Ruby frowned with her arms crossed.
"It was rather uncalled for." Pyrrha added.
"You guys are no fun..." The blonde brawler grumbled as her back slumped.
"I still don't get what the blonde lady was talking about." Nora stared blankly with her head tilted to the right.
"D-don't worry about it Nora." Jaune groaned with his stomach still on the ground. "Though could you help me up again? I don't want any more things falling on me."
"Okee dokee Jaune-Jaune!" She quickly hopped to her partner's side before pulling him back to his feet. While that was happening, the two siblings decided that now would be a good time to catch up.
"Soooo hows my little sis's initiation been treating you?" Yang started out.
"I should be saying the same thing to you Yang." Ruby commented happily as she gave her sister the hug she never got the chance to do.
"Well besides blazing across the sky, nailing the landing and beating up a dumb bear that messed with my beautiful hair, it's been pretty decent so far." Then something clicked inside of her brain as she remembered something. "Oh! You haven't met my partner yet! Ruby, this is my partner!"
"Hello." Blake waved with her hand. "It seems I'm going to be stuck with her for the next four years."
"Hi Blake!" Ruby chirped happily. "I'll leave my sister in your care. If you need any help with something about her, feel free to ask."
"Now you're making me sound like the kid Ruby..." Yang whined.
Blake had to stifle a chuckle at the comment. "Sure, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Speaking of which, whose your partner Ruby?" Yang paused before suddenly flaring her aura. "Is it a boy? Because it better not boy or else I will turn them into a girl if he does anything to-"
Ruby patted her on the top of her head to calm her from raising the temperature with her semblance. "Don't worry Yang, it's a girl." She could hear her sister sigh in relief as her hair began to cool down. "My partner is actually-" She suddenly stopped speaking when she realized something was amiss. "Uhh, Jaune? Nora?"
The two in question turned their heads to the red-headed huntress with their attention directed towards her. "Yeah Ruby?" Jaune called back from underneath a nearby tree.
"Uh... Did my partner fall along with us yet?" She asked quietly as she twiddled her thumbs slowly.
Nora hummed in thought before shaking her side to side. "Nope! I was following you when you jumped off!"
"Wait a minute..." Jaune called out. "If she's not here, and we're all down on the ground... does that mean that she's still..." He didn't need to finish that sentence as he could clearly see the look on her face.
"...OH NO!" Ruby cried in horror. "I can't believe that I left her all by herself! I thought that she jumped along with us! She's gonna kill me!"
"What are you talking about?" Yang wondered as she was startled by her little sister.
"I abandoned my partner!" Ruby wailed as she began to walk back and forth rapidly. "I was just so excited that we made it to the Forest Temple that I was just caught up in the moment that I completely forgot about her!"
"Whoa, whoa there Ruby. Take a few deep breaths." Yang instructed as she attempted to relax her panicking little sister. "Calm down, then tell me what you are talking about."
After a few deep breaths, Ruby finally spoke. "Remember when you guys wanted to know why we were falling from the sky?"
"Yeah?"
"Well it all started whe-"
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed throughout the forest causing a certain blonde knight to be paralyzed in fear. "I-It's back!" Jaune wailed as he hid under his shield.
"What's back Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked curiously. "Is it the Noramobile?! I call being the driver!"
Ruby knew what he was talking about before looking up into the sky once again. Her eyes stumbled upon a black winged terror soaring directly above them. And on that winged beast was a rather distressed white speck.
"RUBY!" She screeched as she hung onto the Nevermore's talon for her dear life. "How could you leave me?!"
Everyone quickly turned their attention to the girl up above with a mix of emotions on their faces. "Who's that?" Yang wondered.
"I think that it's Ruby's partner." Pyrrha informed from nearby.
"She looks familiar..." Blake commented.
"I said jump Weiss!" Ruby shouted back. "Don't worry! You'll be fine!"
"Oh that is real comforting Ruby!" Weiss sarcastically remarked.
"...In a good w-"
"Don't make me repeat myself again you insufferable little Red!"
"Oh! I can catch her easily!" Nora commented proudly. "I played softball when I was little!"
"Uh Nora was it?" Pyrrha called out. "I believe she's far larger than a baseball."
"Oh we didn't use baseballs when I was playing." The bubbly bomber reassured. "We used watermelons instead!"
"... Can that even be called baseball?" Jaune inquired.
"Yep!" Nora exclaimed as she pulled out a pink baseball glove, ready to make a winning catch. "The nice thing about using a watermelon is that you get to eat it when the game was done!"
"Wait, wait, wait." Yang stated loudly with her arms waving in front of herself. "Ruby, are you telling me that Snow Angel up there is your partner?"
"I can still hear you!" The heiress shouted. "And stop calling me that blasted nickname!"
"She's going to fall." Blake pointed out.
"Ah, uh... She'll be fine?" Ruby comforted with mild uncertainty.
"I'm not so sure about that Ruby." Yang pointed out.
"It appears that she is falling." Pyrrha warned.
"D-don't worry! We're going to catch you!" The young scythe wielder reassured. "Nora! A-a little help here?"
"Coming!" She sung happily skipping towards Ruby.
So here they were, two short huntresses scurrying about the Forest Temple to catch their falling companion. It was quite a sight to see for the remaining three women who were still situated at the ruined pillars.
"Should we... assist them?" Pyrrha wondered.
Yang continued to stare at her little sister and chuckled when she saw her forehead collide with the bubbly bomber's face. "Nah, they've got it covered."
"Who are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?" Blake commented blankly.
Jaune sweat-dropped at the sight of these women who were doing nothing to help the falling heiress. He directed his attention towards his other two friends... who were now on the grassy ground, groaning and cupping their injured heads and faces. He shook his head at his partner and friend before heading towards his fallen comrades. Although he was still recovering from his most... recent wounds to his manhood, his inner gentleman overwhelmed him and forced him to lend a hand.
"Ruby? Nora? Need a hand?" The two fallen girls nodded their heads as they grabbed one of his extended arms.
"Thanks Jaune-Jaune!" Nora shouted as she and Ruby whacked the lingering grass from their combat skirts.
He was about to say you're welcome when he heard the desperate cries of Weiss screaming at the top of her lungs. The three misfits gazed upwards to see the white fencer fall closer and closer to their direction.
"Weiss! Hold on!" Ruby shouted.
"I don't want to die!" Jaune panicked as he ran away from the two huntresses.
"I've got her!" Nora called out as she bent her knees and leaped high into the air.
Weiss was scared. Was this how she was going to meet her end? By falling from a giant bird because her partner convinced her to. Man, her father would have a fit if he saw his daughters grave. As she continued to scream, she suddenly felt something catch her. She looked towards her savior only sputter when she saw who it was. "N-Nora?!"
"Don't worry Weissy!" Nora reassured. "We are saving you!"
"NORA! Over here!" Ruby shouted as she waved her arms. "Pass her here! I can catch her!"
"Nora, don't you DARE throw me or e-" She never got to finish her demands as the bubbly bomber hoisted her onto her throwing arm. Mind you she was doing this all in mid-air! "N-NORA!"
"Think fast Ruby!" Nora warned as she winded her arm before tossing her with all her might.
"I'VE GOT HER!" Ruby called out. "I'VE GOT HER! I'VE DEFINITELY GOT H-" The poor heiress flew at dangerous speeds towards the little red huntress her stance. Just when she was ready to catch her beloved partner, her nose suddenly started to itch as he inevitable started to happen. "Ah- AH, *ACHOO!*" The young huntress sneezed as she bent forward, missing the flying heiress that soared directly above her. She straightened her back as she looked for signs of her partner. "Weiss?" She looked at her empty hands when she suddenly heard the sounds of a particular girlish scream of pain. "Wait... never mind. Jaune's got her... JAUNE!"
Weiss had her eyes closed tight when she had crashed. Was she dead? Was she in heaven? Because if she was, she must have been sitting on a cloud. Though, it was a rather strange cloud since it was moving... Was it groaning in pain? She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her supposed cloud... only to see a particular blond dunce crumpled beneath her.
"H-hey... Weiss..." The cloud groaned.
"Wah!" She cried as she quickly scurried to her feet. "J-Jaune?!" Before she could begin her rant, she was glomped by her partner.
"Weiss! Oh thank goodness you're okay!" Ruby cried out happily. "I'm sorry that I couldn't catch you! It's just that when I was about to catch you, something got inside of my nose and then I sneezed and then I miss and I'm super sorry that I-"
"Ruby... Let go..." Weiss complained all while clawing her throat for air.
The girl in question was quick to comply as she saw the heiress desperately gather air into her lungs. "Whoops... Sorry Weiss."
Jaune slowly forced himself onto his back so he could face his two friends. "So... We're all finally reuni-" Jaune's brain began to malfunction as his face held wide eyes and a furious dark crimson blush suddenly began to form.
The two short huntresses were startled by the look the blond bow was giving them. "Jaune? Are you okay?" Ruby asked curiously.
"B-black laces?" He blurted out loud before quickly cupping his mouth to silence himself.
Ruby was confused as to what he was talking about and could only tilt her head. "What?"
"Is he talking about shoelaces Ruby?" Nora wondered as she made her way towards her partner.
"I don't know Nora." Ruby called out. "If he was talking about shoes, why is he looking like that?" She gestured her thumb back towards the blonde knight who was still on the ground. For some reason though, his once crimson skin slowly began to pale as if he was look at one of the scariest Grimm's known to man. She was completely unaware of this transition as the two huntresses were working their minds into overtime. "Say Weiss, what's your take in this?" Her reply was only met with silence. Also, the temperature around them rapidly began to drop. "Uh, Weiss?"
Ruby and Nora slowly turned their attention towards their white clad member only to see something was off. She was beginning to shake angrily as her once pale face was burning as bright as her partner's cape. Her hand was placed upon her rapier and her sight was set on a rather threatening pest that dared to anger the heiress. "W-Weiss?" Jaune stuttered quietly.
"Y-you vile, degenerate, perverted, RAPSCALLION!" She shrieked before fully drawing her rapier and conjuring the most powerful launch glyph she could muster. The glyph's patterns covered the ground beneath the injured knight in a one meter radius causing the audience around her to slowly back away. Jaune didn't have that sort of luxury due to his injured back. Now he had seen his fair share of cartoons to figure out what was going to happen next. If his intuition was correct, he wasn't going to like it one bit.
"N-now hold on Weiss!" Jaune cried out in fear. "Y-you're going a bit overboard with this! Sure I may have accidentally looked up your sk-aaAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He wasn't able to complete the rest of his sentence as the heiress couldn't tolerate his perverse nature any longer! So she quickly flicked her wrist and activated the glyph sending the blonde boy high into the sky.
Everyone could only stare in awe as the poor soul soared high above their heads screaming like a little girl before beginning his descent back into the forest, several hundred meters away from the Forest Temple. Once they heard a thud along with several birds flying away, they all slowly turned their attention towards the heiress who was mumbling the lines of, "T-that incompetent s-swine! I should have locked him in the dungeons for a million years for such humiliation!" all while calming down her blush. Once her blush was within acceptable levels, she turned her attention towards her partner... who was no longer there. She turned her head and was quite startled with the remaining huntresses giving her a wide variety of emotions. "...What?" Weiss called out as she sheathed her weapon.
A few seconds before the blonde launch...
"I think I've lost it for now." A young man stated as he attempted to catch his breath. Ever since he was separated from his partner by that strange Ursa, he had been left all alone while trying his hardest to escape the Death Stalker's deadly grasp. With his strength slowly returning, he continued his trek forward towards the Forest Temple.
As he navigated the woodland maze of the Emerald Forest, his ears had heard the sounds of a girl in trouble! Her cries were slowly getting louder causing the young gunman to be on high alert. Was it a damsel in distress? Was it his childhood friend? He quickly surveyed his surroundings and from above he could see their blonde hair snap against the wind. With his amazing depth perception, he prepared himself to catch the poor girl that soared through the sky.
After a few seconds, the blonde girl had landed with their eyes close shut. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a girl at all! She was far too masculine and heavy. Speaking of heavy... The sheer weight of this 'woman' in his arms caused them both to tumble onto the grassy ground with an *Oof!*.
After a few seconds of silence and groaning, Jaune decided to speak up. "Am... Am I dead?"
The young gunman could only chuckle at his response before pulling himself and the silly knight. "Nope, you're still alive."
Jaune was curious as to who saved him from meeting yet another painful crash and slowly opened his eyes... and saw his hero.
He looked as if he was around his height making him rather tall. His green tailcoat and white pants made him look as if he was of Eastern descent not to mention that it made him look rather handsome in his opinion. The young man in front of him also had a bright pink lock of hair with a pony-tail tied at the back. The feature that struck him the most were his bright pink irises. 'Wait a minute...' Jaune thought to himself. 'Tall, Asian, male, handsome, a long black pony-tail, the tailcoat, the white pants, the pink lock of hair, his eyes! If memory serves me right, he looks just like the guy that she was looking fo-'
"Um, are you okay?" The Asian gunman called out. "You've been looking at me oddly for a while now. To be honest I'm starting to feel a bit creeped out."
Jaune, realizing of what he was doing, snaps out from his gaze waving his arms madly. "S-sorry about that!" he cried. "I-it's just that you look like the person my partner had been searching for ever since we started this initiation."
The man in question slowly raised his brow questioningly at this blonde knight's statement. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Jaune confirmed as he looked him right in the eyes. "And if I'm correct, you wouldn't happen to be called Ren?"
The boy now revealed as Ren was taken aback by his clever deductive skills and narrowed his eyes. "And you know this... how?" He question with mild curiosity and suspicion.
"Well... Your childhood friend Nora has been looking for you ever since she partnered up with me and we've been looking for you ever since!" Jaune confessed before suddenly recalling his misadventure with the bubbly bomber ever since they partnered up before shuddering at all the pain had transpired up till now.
Ren, now realizing that the young huntsman before him was his friend's new partner, had a look of sympathy for the young man in front of him as he relaxed his posture. He slowly approached him and gave him a comforting pat on the back. "Don't worry." He started out. "You're doing fine if you were able to last this long."
"T-thanks." Jaune sighed all while rolling his sore shoulders. "With all the thing's she's done so far, I've surprised even myself! And you've known her since you were kids?!"
"...Yep." Was the gunman's reply as he too remembered his so called adventures with the wild Valkyrie. He would never be able to look at rubber ducks the same ever again.
"... Want me to take you to the Forest Temple? It's only a short walk from here. Not to mention that she's been missing her best friend." Jaune offered as he jerked his thumb in the general direction of the Forest Temple.
"That would be nice." Ren graciously accepted. "The sooner we complete this initiation, the sooner we can go to bed."
The two boys sighed simultaneously at the thought of a comforting bed enveloping their sore, tired bodies. As they were blissfully day-dreaming about their desires for a nice warm bed, they were rudely interrupted by something loud crashing behind them.
The two huntsmen slowly turned around to face this interference only to see a faint red light shining underneath the looming shadows of the trees. Then ten red orbs began to ominously glow underneath. As it shattered the last few standing trees in its path, it revealed a monstrous Grimm creature that look like a scorpion.
"W-what is that?!" Jaune asked quietly, his legs buckling uncontrollably in fear.
"That is a Death Stalker." Ren informed as he signaled the blonde boy to slowly walk away from the creature. "It's been chasing me ever since that Ursa kidnapped my partner."
"You're Pyrrha's partner?" The blonde knight questioned all while following the green huntsman's lead.
"I'll tell you more about it later." Ren answered back.
"Ah, I see... Um, d-do you think we could take this thing on?" Jaune wondered as he slowly drew out his weapon.
"That Grimm's bony exoskeleton is next to impossible to crack. Not to mention that one hit from its sharp claws and poisonous stinger would spell will most likely kill us." The gunman bluntly replied all while quickly unveiling his dual semi-automatic green pistols and pointing them directly at their newest adversary.
An audible gulp could be heard as they continued their standoff against the terrifying creature. "Uh... If that's the case, should we-"
"Run for our lives screaming like a little girl seeing a cockroach?" Ren completed as he faced the other huntsman.
Jaune pondered what he was told before a small smirk was on his lips. "... That does fit our situation doesn't it?"
Ren couldn't help but smile at his sense of humor. "When you've been with a wild girl that causes you to almost scream like that every day, it comes to you naturally."
"Huh... Well shall we?" Jaune suggested.
With the two nodding their heads, they quickly sheathed their weapons before running away sounding like terrified women, the Death Stalker hot on their tail.
Author's Notes!
And finish right here! I've decided to cut the chapter here since they still need to interrogate the Heiress for placing another hunter's life in perilous danger! Yes, yes I know. I was supposed to submit this yesterday but I was unable to do so thanks to summer events that took place. So I hope you liked how this chapter turned out and leave a review or any constructive criticism to ensure that this story gets better and better!
And with that all out of the way, this is Nutshop saying:
Stay Handsome and have a Nice Day! :D