Ladies and Gentlemen, Lads and Lasses, Beautiful People I am Kurt the Mortician and I have no idea why I am the one writing this author's note. Seriously this chapter is my amazing partner's brain child, and I love it so. Still this chapter has a lot going on, and with the end of the arc approaching, this story seems to be getting longer and longer as we go further and further into the school year. I love writing this, and I'll go out on a limb and say my partner does too. So on that note, we had way too much fun writing this, and it actually went through a couple of rewrites. But the end result, we couldn't be happier with. Please sit back, read, and enjoy.
First off, only the huge ass (seriously it's like half the chapter) fight that I don't want to spoil is my brain child. Most of this chapter is another example of fantastic collaboration between myself and Kurt. Seriously all the feels stuff was him, I'm just the fight guy. All I'll say, make sure your body is combat ready!
Arc 1: Rules of Nature
Chapter 6: Up in the Air
Team ANCY, organized chaos, wrapped in loyalty. These four students, still learning and growing, but still in occasional disarray, will they be able to succeed?
Given how many times throughout the year that students were sent into the Emerald Forest most teams were now adept in their landing strategies, some even being able to land relatively near to one another. Team ANCY was definitely one such team.
Celes was able to use her dust glyphs to easily hop across the tree tops, before pulling herself onto a nearby branch with her whip once she had managed to slow down enough. Crouching for balance, she looked up to see her team following shortly behind her.
Rain and Phoenix both took a similar approach in their landing, each stabbing their swords into the trunk of a sturdy looking tree.
Phoenix stopped with the same familiar sharp jolt that she was used to, her sword instantly coming to halt as it embedded in the thick wood of the tree. Rain received a gentler landing, the whirring chainsaw blades on his sword's edge cutting through the bark slightly allowing him to reduce his speed gradually instead of coming to a dead stop like his teammate.
The two had landed on trees somewhat close together, and within a few precarious jumps were now stood on the same large branch halfway up the top of a very tall tree. A few minutes later Celes bounced over to them with the aid of her glyphs, joining the other two on the branch as they waited for their leader. If past experience was anything to go by, he may be a while.
While it is true that as a surfer Citri was adept in the water, his weapon meant that he had an exceptional level of control in the air as well. Far more so than many other students.
While it was no contest that his partner, Rain, was the team's weapon buff, Citri's weapon, Bao, was surprisingly complex. The multiform staff was able to compact to a reasonable carry size, no bigger than the average sword handle, while telescopically extending to being almost as long as Citri was tall. From each end a blade could extend, with multiple reserve blades stored within the shaft. Not only this, but both blades were able to be fired and reeled back in the manner of a harpoon gun. Or as the dreadlocked boy was currently using it, a grappling hook.
Using both blades in conjunction, Citri was able to propel himself in one direction before quickly making a radical shift in another.
Orange eyes shimmered with joy as the staff, which was still clipped to his belt, pulled him with surprising speed towards a tree. With a twist of his hips and a click of a button the second blade fired out to the side of Citri, and as soon as he felt the cable begin to pull he disconnected the first one, pulling a dizzyingly fast ninety degree turn.
Using the momentum from the twist, Citri disconnected the cable almost immediately, allowing himself a few seconds to enjoy the sensation of weightlessly twirling through the air before firing off another blade into the canopy before him and flying towards the trees.
This is how the rest of his team now saw him. Grouped together on the high up branch looking over the forest, they saw their leader speeding through the tree tops, expertly avoiding any collisions with graceful spins and impressive maneuvers.
Realising that there was no way Citri would spot them at the speed he was travelling, the three adopted the standard attention grabbing procedure that they had devised during their third team trip to the forest.
Phoenix gently waved her sword in a flowing manner before her, allowing the metal filings and dust mixture stored in the handle to cause a small ashes to float around her. Then Celes, with a dust induced glow, propelled the ashes into the sky in a manner not unlike a rescue flare.
Swinging in a pendulum motion, Citri launched himself vertically into the air in order to see the source of the noise and light behind him. Mid backflip he was met with the upside down sight of his three team members all perched on a branch and waving frantically for his attention.
Not deterred by the fact that he was currently upside down, Citri fired off in the direction of his teammates, weaving around the higher treetops as he did so.
The three friends were forced to hop to the side as Citri came sliding in from the end of the branch, coming to a halt alongside the others a manic grin plastered to his face.
Phoenix was less impressed.
"Done wasting time there?" she asked with a hint of venom.
"Never!" was the glee filled reply as Citri shot a blade straight down and rappelled down to the forest floor.
Smirking, Rain dived after his partner, followed by Celes and finally a reluctant Phoenix.
"Okay, so while I was up there, I spotted a clearing not too far away. Should be over here." Citri explained as he led his friends through the trees.
"Like you could make out anything the way you were moving." Phoenix jabbed, making sure to keep voice at least partly joking. The two might've been abrasive towards one another most of the time, but she didn't really mean any ill will towards their leader.
"Don't be mad just because he's more observational than you," Rain chipped in with a cheeky grin and a twitch on an ear. Phoenix was about to retort when Rain spoke again, but this time it wasn't aimed at her. "You okay, Celes? Seem quiet."
The girl in question did not respond, instead opting to shrug and look away.
"Pay no mind to Ilayda, we'll sort it out once we get back." Citri said, still leading the group towards the clearing he had seen while airborne.
"Nothing to be done about it now." Rain added, offering support to the still unconvinced girl.
"I just can't believe she'd accuse me of such a thing!" Celes protested.
"Like I said, can't be helped at the moment." Rain continued, helping out his close friend.
Before Celes had a chance to reply, Citri took the opportunity to further help out the worried girl, "Look we'll talk to them later okay. We got your back." Citri remembered the almost-fight at breakfast, which had very nearly become a team on team fight, though the twins seemed hesitant to get involved, and Vic and Ilayda clearly weren't on the same side. "Come to think of it, we all got your back." Citri continued, "The twins didn't really want a fight, and Ilayda was at Vic's throat."
He remembered the apologetic look Vic had given him when he added his own sword to the fray and how willing Vic had been to back down the first time Citri convinced everyone to put their weapons away. Yeah, now that he thought on it, whatever was going on was more personal between the two girls than a full team affair.
"Say, what was that about anyway?" He turned to face Celes, not breaking his stride and continuing to walk backwards for the rest of the exchange.
"It's not really important." Celes mumbled to herself, not too keen to pursue this topic. It was personal to Vic, and she knew he was big on privacy. Probably best she didn't blab about this.
"Nuh-uh. I almost got a sword in my face," He briefly shot a slightly annoyed look at his partner, "You gotta tell us why."
"It really isn't my place." Celes continued her refusal, trying to think the best, most vague way of explaining it. For all ANCY knew Vic and Ilayda were still together, she shouldn't be the one to say otherwise.
"From what I heard, wasn't Ilayda accusing you of sleeping with Vic or something?" Phoenix chipped in, clearly oblivious to her partner's reluctance.
Celes merely nodded, before realising that now she really did have to explain. At very least to clear her name.
"I didn't-" she was cut off by a unified chant from all three of her team
"No shit!"
Well, at least they had her back. Kind of. "Anyway, Vic was just asking for help. He and Ilayda have been having...trouble, lately." Celes finished, making it clear that she wasn't willing to pursue this any further.
Citri simply shrugged, happy enough with the answer. Rain nodded in acceptance, and despite clearly wanting more details, Phoenix didn't press any further.
So the four carried on, Citri now walking the right way as he led the group towards the clearing that he had spotted. It wasn't very far away now, and sure enough it was only a few minutes before the trees suddenly dropped away to reveal a large circular patch of ground, sunlight no longer blocked by the thick canopy above.
"Okay, this is a great place to rest up. Might make an okay camping spot as well if we stick near the centre?" Citri addressed the team.
The three teens all nodded some form of agreement, before sitting down in the middle of the open area.
"So what's the plan?" Phoenix asked, eager to get down to business.
"Not sure yet. Just keep our heads down and camp out for a few days?" Was the leader's response.
"Good in theory." Celes chipped in.
"We'll need food." Rain's contribution, of course.
"We'll need shelter." Phoenix was less charitable in her tone.
"Okay, okay I get it. How about you guys plan out what we'll need, I'll scale a tree and get a better look of the area?" Citri sighed, hating how complicated the plan was going to become. Why couldn't they just camp out? Have a little fun.
It was by the by, as the orange eye's boy had already shot off into the trees above.
"What do you see?" Rain called up to their leader, who was dangling from the top of the tree, secured in place by his belt mounted staff tethering him with both blades at once.
Citri looked out over the forest ahead, scouting for anything of note and making sure to avoid clearings, lest they have a repeat of the first day. "Not a whole lot," He yelled back, "Just a bunch of trees and-"
He stopped mid-sentence, clicking one of the buttons on the staff and allowing the cables to shoot out further, giving him a quick but secured decent down the mountainous tree. He was at the floor in only a few seconds, meeting his curious team with an unfamiliarly serious expression. "We might have a problem." Citri began, noticeably flattening himself against the trunk of the tree.
"What's the problem, boss?" Celes inquired, confused at her leader's actions.
"Nevermore. Not sure on size. Looked big. Kinda close. Getting closer. Maybe saw me." In between each short sentence, Citri threw his eyes upwards through the dangerously sparse canopy above them. If it flew overhead it would see them for sure.
"Maybe saw you?" Phoenix repeated, definitely annoyed at the potential situation and their leader's attempt to try and remove any blame that might be put his way. However, before the orange eyed boy could retort an almost comically large black feather, perhaps twenty feet in length and bladed at the quill, embedded itself into the tree above Citri, who gave an indignant yelp in response.
"Definitely saw me," He corrected, "Run!"
Needless to say, nobody had to be told twice. The four bolted away as fast as they could. That was, however, before a large barrage of those deadly feathers created a wall in the rudimentary path that they were running along.
Turning backwards to the way they came, the four teammates were met with the sight of a colossal Nevermore landing with a flap of it's ridiculously huge wings. It was easily three times the size of a giant Nevermore, and far more terrifying. Like most of the 'upper-tier' Grimm classifications, it had significantly more bone plates than its smaller relatives. Each of these was covered in the same red markings as always, but the increased quantity of blood red and bone white gave a haunting look, akin to that of exposed muscle. This horrific effect was made worse by the scars that lined the creatures body. Like any top of the chain predator, it had clearly fought for dominance within its life, and there were patches that were laden with fleshy crimson lines, or in some cases even a complete lack of feathers.
It was like something from a nightmare, a gigantic bird skinned in appearance, whose very presence seemed to darken the skies and create a hellish fog. The Nevermore's glowing red eyes locked with those of the awe-struck teens before it, as it leaned back and gave out a fierce screech.
They were cornered. To either side the shrubbery was far too thick to make for quick movement, and the trees were far enough apart that they would still be seen and most likely followed. Hell, given the size of that thing, a few trees probably wouldn't stop it trying to grab them.
The Nevermore just stayed there, watching, waiting for it's prey to make the first move.
"So we're fucked, right?" Phoenix asked, ever the optimist.
"Totally fucked." replied Rain.
"Totally fucked." Confirmed Citri.
Celes didn't even chide them, she was frozen in place. Though had any of the others been focused enough to look at her, they would see that it wasn't out of fear. No. It was rage. Once again her hatred of Grimm was overriding any sense of reasoning.
Her fists were clenched to the point of the colour draining from her knuckles as she grasped the handle of her whip. The other three were so busy trying to find an escape route, they didn't even notice as Celes began to walk towards the colossal Nevermore.
It was Rain who finally noticed, not that he had a lot of say in the matter, given that the Nevermore swung its wing into Celes and knocked her back into Rain, taking both of them off their feet.
Phoenix and Citri's respective heads each snapped in the direction of their partners, who were currently a tangle of limbs on the floor. Turning their attention cautiously back to the Grimm, they were met with a strong gust of wind as the behemoth of a bird took flight.
"Quick, into the trees!" Citri ordered, helping Rain off of the ground as he did so.
"I don't think that's going to-" his partner began to respond.
"Just run!" Citri bellowed, leading the charge into the foliage. "Celes, get these guys some glyphs. We need to get out of the bushes." Celes complied, creating a step for Phoenix, then Rain then finally herself to get up onto the branches above the unclearable mass of plantlife that lined the forest floor. Citri, naturally, was grapple-hooking his way from tree to tree, keeping his speed down so as not to abandon his team.
Noticing Rain's ears twitching as he jumped from branch to branch, Citri pulled himself in alongside the mouse faunus. "We're totally being followed by that thing, aren't we?"
"Yep." Rain didn't even need to look back, sensitive ears picking up the beating wings that were only getting closer. The canopy above really didn't offer much visual protection.
"Phoenix!" Citri called to the team's most academic member, who was one of the top Grimm Studies students. "What are our chances of fighting a Nevermore?"
"A normal one?" Phoenix responded, eager to put her knowledge to work. "Hell, you could probably take one solo at this point. Or at least duo with Rain. That one? Yeah not a fucking chance."
"We might not have much choice. You got anything useful?" The leader responded, somewhat more irritated than he would have liked.
"Hit the patches without feathers or between the plates and fucking pray?" Was the equally irritated retort.
"Fuckin' great. Rain, my boi, you ready to die?" Citri asked his partner, hoping the playful wording would take the edge off of the realism of the question.
"Good a day as any." Was accompanied by a cheeky smirk.
"Girls?" He asked the others, genuinely unsure of their responses.
"Long as I take him down with me." Only Celes could have that determination when facing death-by-Grimm.
"Doubt I have a choice." Considering it was Phoenix, that was about as light hearted as it was going to get.
"In that case, I think I have a plan. Rain, you're going to have to go on the offensive." Citri called out to the three tree hoppers, knowing that his idea was iffy at best.
"Cit', we've been over this." Rain responded, sounding somewhat disappointed.
"Eh, it was worth a shot. Okay, if you can't do that, how about you be the distraction?" Citri offered. Somehow, that didn't sound too appealing to the faunus, however he was willing to hear his friend out. After all, Citri's plans were often surprisingly complex, and 'distraction' probably enclosed a few roles.
"What do I need to do?" He enquired, remembering a joke that Ilayda had once made to ANCY at lunch about being able to refuse suicidal orders. Phoenix had followed up with a snarky remark. Something about twice a week?
"Primarily, you need to keep the bird's attention. Stop it from attacking us. You'll also be scouting out and watching for any other Grimm. One is more than enough to handle." Okay, so yeah, basically just distraction then. Fuck it, might as well hear the whole plan first.
"What will you be doing?" He inquired, though he was fairly certain that he had drawn the short straw.
"I'll be zipping about. Attack it when I can, but I doubt I'll do too much damage. More about harassing it. Cele's will use her dust to hit it from a distance, and the two of us will use my staff and her glyphs to keep Phoenix in the air as much as possible. She'll be the heavy hitter I guess."
"There is no way that will work." Phoenix deadpanned, blatantly unimpressed.
"Yeah I know. Ideally, you'd be the distraction and Rain would be the hitter. That chainsaw sword would chew through the unarmoured parts man. We both know it." Citri pleaded with Rain, hoping that he could put personal issues aside to give the four of them something of a shot at saving their own skins.
"I'll do it." He said with a reluctant sigh.
"Then gimme your hand!" Citri beamed at his partner, ensuring that he had a tight grasp on the teen's wiry arm. "Celes, get Phoenix up there. Blind it with the ashes!"
And just like that, Citri's convoluted battle plan began to take place.
There was a rustling as Phoenix burst out of the canopy, a glyph exploding below her feet and propelling her straight upwards, directly in the path of the flying Grimm who spotted her immediately.
As it drew nearer, Phoenix thrust her hips horizontally, forcing her body into a sideways spin which when coupled with her drawn sword created a flurry of sparks right in the Grimm's face. Phoenix stopped her spin just in time to twist her way out of the now disorientated Nevermore's path as she lost her momentum and fell back into the tree's below, saved by a series of glyphs that led her to a tree branch alongside the one which Celes was taking aim on, preparing to launch her artillery of spells.
Nearby, Citri was swinging around trees with Rain holding on for dear life, trying to find the best angle. "Celes, now!" He ordered his teammate, and was met a mere second later with the crash of dust explosions. "Ready, man?" He asked Rain, whose ears had long since flattened against his head. He took the high pitched squeak as confirmation and fired out the second blade, aiming it at a much sharper angle than the other one, which he detached as soon as the momentum had transferred cables. Suddenly, the two teens were no longer darting from tree to tree, but swinging in a vertical pendulum.
As planned, Rain let go of Citri and flew at the Nevermore, chainsaw-sword training behind as he glided towards the monstrous enemy. As soon as the two let go of one another Citri fired off another blade, landing it directly in the body of the Nevermore.
Rain felt the wind displace as Citri's blade shot past him, barely getting a reaction from the bird who was still unable to fully make sense of its surroundings. While the laws of physics may still have been weeping at the manoeuvres that Citri had been pulling, Rain decided to let them take over, turning his body so that the Nevermore would collide directly with the blade.
As this was happening, Citri removed the staff from his belt and readied himself to begin striking the Nevermore while Rain sliced into it with that terrifying sword of his. Using the powerful winch inside the shaft, Citri pulled himself ahead of Rain, raised the staff above his head and used the angle of the blade to launch himself into a blinding spin, Citri made first strike against the Grimm. The whirlpool hit barely did anything, but the dreadlocked boy was undeterred. Firing off another blade into the creatures body, he readied himself for another pass, planning on following up once the Nevermore had flown into the oncoming Rain.
Unfortunately, while this is exactly what the gargantuan Grimm did, the effect was less than they were hoping for. The most Rain was able to do was slice through the feathers that lined the Nevermore's shoulder. A few flecks of blood could be seen splattering out, but if it caused the beast any pain then it wasn't showing. Worst of all, the collision had removed all of Rain's momentum, and he was now falling, with Celes preoccupied priming another glyph for Phoenix.
Branches lashed at his back as Rain tumbled through the canopy, his aura forming a protective glow around the falling boy.
Taking action, Citri changed his course. Firing off the second blade towards his partner, ANCY's leader shot off to save his falling friend. He sped into Rain's side, winding the boy but throwing him to the side in the process. The two ended entwined between the branches of the tree which Celes and Phoenix were preparing to attack from.
"Your plan's working well." Phoenix called up to her leader, who was trying to free himself and Rain for the spider web of broken branches and knotted cable.
"Cit' face it. Nothing's getting through that thing." Rain said, as he dropped down out of the tangle and took his place by Celes on the tree's limb.
Citri gave up on unwrapping the cable from one of the branches and instead used a built in back up mechanism within the staff. A small inner blade severed the cable, and within a few seconds a large pin like slither of metal has extruded from the end of the staff, with a final click it fanned outwards, creating a perfect replacement of the blade that had been attached to the now severed line.
Testing to ensure that the new blade was properly attached to its own cable mechanism, Citri fired off into the trees, letting out the breath he had been holding when he felt the line go taut and then pull him in.
Not wanting to stay in the same place for long, the rest of the team took off after their leader, jumping left and right in unpredictable patterns in an attempt to shake off the colossal Nevermore still following them.
"We just have to keep trying!" Citri commanded to his team, picking up the earlier discussion.
"What, until that thing tears us apart?!" Phoenix responded, reluctant to continue fighting such a formidable foe.
"It's not like we'll be able to escape it," Citri started, thinking up the best possible plan on the fly, "Look, we've hit it once. And it kinda worked. Just got to keep at it."
"Whittle it down." Celes echoed her leader's idea. At least someone was backing him.
Rain, given confidence by the Celes' support of their leader's decision gave a confident nod.
"Great." Phoenix rolled her eyes, "What's the plan?"
"Keep doing what we're doing," Citri brought himself closer to his team as he hooked from one tree to another, keeping them within earshot, "Phoenix, we're going to need to go on the offensive as well. Celes, you'll have to focus your spells on the head to compensate."
Both girls gave a synchronised nod at their leader's strategy, hopping to the side to begin taking up positions.
"Ready, Rain?" Citri asked as he pulled up directly alongside his partner, arm outstretched towards him. The mouse boy simply responded by firmly grabbing his friend's forearm.
"Alright then, going-" Citri's blade once again shot above the two teens at a steep angle, "UP!"
The two burst out of the canopy, and were met with the sight of Phoenix jumping from glyph to glyph slashing and burning the Nevermore as much as she could. Occasionally in between glyphs, Celes would fire off a dust spell, temporarily giving Phoenix a small window to make a more precise strike at one of the less armoured parts of the beast.
Just as she was landing on a glyph, the boys each zipped past her. Citri anchored his staff into the Nevermore and began to circle it, adding swift cuts with each pass. While this was happening Rain continued to use the momentum from Citri's slingshot manoeuvre to barrel towards the Grimm.
"Rain! The nape!" Citri yelled, having noticed an unarmoured patch at the back of the bird's neck.
Twisting to correct his aim, Rain headed just off to the side of the Nevermore's shoulder with the intent of cutting across once in line.
For a fraction of a second, Rain and the Nevermore locked eyes as the boy flew past the side of the Grimm's beak. Now! Rotating his entire body, Rain rolled in mid-air, creating an even horizontal slash across the featherless nape of the bird.
A flash of blood smeared up his arm, but as Rain landed on the Nevermore's back and began to sprint down the abdomen towards the glyph materialising nearby it became apparent that the Nevermore was very much still alive.
Jumping onto another glyph Rain saw Phoenix reluctantly clinging onto Citri as he swung past the Nevermore, allowing her another few slashes at it's back before jumping off. Knowing that it would be straining for Celes to maintain two glyphs at once, Rain jumped towards a nearby branch.
Celes noticed straight away, and formed a glyph below Phoenix to catch her as Citri began to dart around the Nevermore. Not wanting to give the Nevermore a break from the slew of attacks, he shot a blade into the stomach, using momentum to swing around the underside, slicing as he went. Once he was level with the wings, the other blade was fired and this time Citri spun downwards towards his foe, cutting into it with a twirl of the staff and then quickly grappling away.
As Citri displayed a mastery of inertia and twirled around for another strike, Rain called over to Celes. "Get Phoenix up there then get over to me. I've had an idea!"
The dustcaster nodded before bouncing Phoenix skywards with a pulsing glyph. When she broke through the canopy, Phoenix saw that the Nevermore was directly above her. Stabbing into it's stomach Phoenix clung on, calling out to Citri who had just bolted over the top of the Grimm's head.
Citri, staff held aloft, arced his way over to his teammate. As he passed underneath the Nevermore, Phoenix pulled her heated sword free with a searing slice that caused a small trail of steam to pour from the cut. The dreadlocked leader effortlessly caught his friend as she fell, though the bridal style of carry caused the two to each gain a dusting of pink across their cheeks which remained for a few seconds even after Citri had released Phoenix and set her gliding back towards the Grimm in the same pendulum swing he had used with Rain.
"Cit' how's it looking?" He heard Rain call out as he darted around the trees to prepare for the next offensive.
"Good! Hit that spot on the neck once or twice in passing, and Phoenix is aiming for it now!" No sooner had he spoke than Citri rose above the height of the flying Grimm and saw a steaming gash in the cut that Rain had opened up on the nape, Phoenix expertly rolling down the wing of the bird and jumping off as the massive wings flew upwards.
"Think one more would do it?" Rain asked his leader, jumping to nearer branches in able to try and maintain a consistent distance between the two.
"As long as you make it a good one!" Citri said with trademark enthusiasm, the look in his eyes saying he was enjoying defying death a tad too much.
"In that case, you're going to want to build up some speed!" Rain replied, planning out his idea. It would have to be direct, it would have to be fast and it would have to hit hard. "I'll tell the others!"
Citri nodded in approval as he leaned into the cable, tucking his body into a more aerodynamic shape and speeding into the brush.
Rain landed behind Celes on a branch and began explaining to her, "Get Phoenix up there once more. Tell her to blind it like the first time. As soon as her feet leave the glyph, use as many spells as you can manage."
"No problem." The girl nodded in reply, steering her glyphs back towards her so she could relay the information to the final member of the team.
Right on cue a brown blur shot past and wrapped its arms around Rain. Citri had opted to keep the aerodynamics just in case, and so instead of holding his partner by the arm Citri was now hugging him to his chest, allowing Rain to trail his sword to their side. "No homo," Citri said over the sound of cutting wind, Rain could practically feel the cheeky smile in the back of his neck.
Meanwhile, Phoenix launched directly in front of the colossal Nevermore. Identically to last time, at the height of her jump she began a fierce spin, creating a shower of blinding sparks directly in the Nevermore's eyes.
As soon as this happen Celes unleashed with a flurry of lightning stikes, each erupting from the crack of her whip. For the first time all fight, the beast let out a roar of pain, as it was barraged by an unseen attacker.
This time Phoenix had enough momentum to roll straight over the creature's head, stumbling slightly as she skidded across the back of the gigantic bird monster. Her main worry as she tumbled was the lightning strikes that were getting worryingly close to her.
Everything came together at once, as when Citri and Rain burst out of the trees, Phoenix had only just cleared the Nevermore's head. Citri released his partner, aiming for a side on attack straight across the already cut line in the nape.
Fortunately for Phoenix, her fears were unjustified since as soon as Celes saw Phoenix pass the wings she called off her lightning and prepared a landing glyph.
As soon as he let go of Rain, Citri fired off into a nearby tree, continuing his aerial display and ensuring he was always in a position to jump to the rescue if things went south.
Which they did.
Something happened that no-one expected. Time slowed as Citri was suspended in between cables, Phoenix falling towards the tail feathers and Rain rocketing in a straight line for the left side of the Nevermore's shoulders.
The Nevermore turned. Suddenly and unexpectedly it's whole body jarred to the left, knocking Phoenix completely off of it's back. Rain was no longer headed for the side of the bird, but headed directly for it's gaping beak.
Time remained frozen like this even after the beak snapped shut with an echoing boom, Rain's tail barely clearing the razor edge as he was swallowed whole.
The three remaining members of team ANCY were wide eyed in fear as time continued to draw out.
That was when the second unexpected thing happened. The back of the Nevermore's throat erupted in a shower of crimson as a blood soaked mouse faunus corkscrewed his way out of the creature, chainsaw-sword pointed ahead.
As Rain exited the back of the Nevermore's neck, he decided to make sure it was dead once and for all. Taking a page out of Citri's aerial manoeuvers book, Rain threw his body into an axel spin as aggressively as he could, sword extended the whole time.
The result was a furry saw-blade effect directly through the already shredded neck. As Rain broke the spin, body and head separated and the now beheaded Nevermore began to fall as it's titanic body went limp.
Jumping into action, Citri shot off to catch his falling teammate, who had lost all momentum in the attack.
Without the large Grimm above the treetops to use as an anchor point, Citri had to skirt around the higher out cropping in order to finally grab Rain in a manner not unlike he had saved Phoenix with earlier.
"You stole my moves." he said casually, unable to keep the smile from his lips as he looked down at his fantastic, brilliant, living partner.
"Yeah well, you got them all from that cartoon anyway." Was the exhausted reply from the faunus.
The two came to an action-landing not far from the girls, Citri helping his partner to stand for the first few steps until he was confident that Rain was able to walk on his own.
"You guys alright?" Celes asked, showing concern when she saw the state Rain was in.
"We'll be fine, you two?" Rain responded, eying Phoenix after having spotter her falling.
"I'm good, thanks." the girl in question replied.
Slowly, the four began their trek across the forest, now ever on the look out. They assumed as defensive a formation as they could. Celes up front, Rain and Phoenix guarding the sides and Citri bringing up the rear with his staff fully extended.
This was how the four of them carried on for hours. They occasionally stopped when passing a bush of tree bearing fruit that they were sure was edible, and honestly they probably ate quite well considering they weren't purposefully finding food.
They were still walking when the sun began to taint the sky a deep orange as it vanished over the horizon.
"Here looks good enough." Citri commented, gesturing to a large nook in between two bushes. It wasn't ideal, but it was cozy and after the day they had had it was unlikely anyone would sleep too much anyway.
They took turns sleeping in pairs, with each set of partners rotating out after a few hours while the other two tried to get some rest. More often than not, however, the two on watch would be joined by one if not both of the two who were trying to sleep.
By about midnight they had all given up, and instead went back to walking through the forest.
It was pouring. The torrential flow of water falling from the sky had sent Team ANCY treading cautiously and quickly into the inky blackness of the Emerald Forest. It was in most likely the early hours of the morning, their second day of initiation had begun. The four all walked hands resting on their weapons, Citri opting to take the lead, as Celes and Rain watched their flanks, and Phoenix brought up the rear.
They had managed to remain silent for a while before finally Citri stepped on a branch, and the snap caused all four team members to draw their weapons and prepare for a battle only to be met with silence.
The four slowly were relaxed out of their combat stances but kept their weapons drawn, Rain being the exception for fear that the sound of the blade's motorized blade would attract Grimm. It was quiet, almost eerily so. But over time they relaxed, and continued walking the downpour becoming so terrible that ANCY found themselves being soaked even under the canopy of the forest.
Then a noise broke through the sound of heavy precipitation. A howl. Then movement in the trees surrounding them. The sound of a pack of beowolves surrounding the team, red eyes glowing in the darkness.
Citri and Phoenix drew their weapons nervously, the sound of a staff extending and a sword being drawn rang clearly in the night. Celes looked almost furious to be surrounded like this, unfurling her whip as she adopted a look of disgust at the Grimm. Rain was silent as he drew his blade, the sound of the chainsaw edged katana filling the air as he did something none of his teammates expected.
He charged headfirst into the enemies before him.
Rain whirled around the first beowolf performing a flurry of slashes reducing the creature to a pile of bloody, furry , meat. He continued to dodge as he cut down the other beowolves surrounding the one he initially charged. His team stood for a brief moment in shock. Rain always defended, they had never seen him go on the offensive until today.
Celes had responded in a similar fashion to Rain, lashing out at the beowolves with her bladed whip smiling sadistically as she cut them to ribbons. Occasionally firing off a blast of dust, obliterating whatever beowolf had been in her sights.
Citri and Phoenix decided to stick together, taken aback by their teammates' reveling in a carnival of carnage. Citri kept the Beowolves at a fair distance with his staff, Pheonix sent flurries of burning metal ash from her flaming blade. The two may have argued often, but their styles occasionally coincided well. But kept their eyes on their respective partners. Phoenix knew Celes had a bone to pick with the creatures of Grimm, so she had become used to her sadistic fighting style, but neither her nor Citri had ever seen Rain fight like this. He was laughing as he butchered the beasts around him.
Rain had become absorbed in the fight around him, before he knew it, he was smiling, then laughing at the display of blood spurting and limbs flying around him. His cherished blade was no longer a simple katana, it was an arc of death, destroying all in it's path. His white and blue clothes were stained with blood. His beloved Benihime, and he had become who they once were.
Citri, Celes, and Phoenix had noticed the number of beowolves thinning as they continued to bash, slash, and blast the monsters to pieces. Finally as the fight drew to a close, they turned to see their mouse eared teammate cleave the final beowolf's head in two. The downpour began to slow to a drizzle as Citri approached tentatively, concerned for his partner after witnessing his somewhat psychotic moment. He tried to get his friend's attention by calling out to him. "Hey Rain, I think they've-"
Citri stopped mid sentence as he saw his faunus partner turn towards him, arms, hands, and face covered in blood. He looked sad, almost disappointed as he said, "More."
Citri was unsure how to reply so he asked, "More what?"
Rain flung the blood from his sword in a swift swing and answered, "I want to fight more."
This simple sentence sent team ANCY into silence as they stared at the mouse faunus. Celes spoke up first nodding and walking over to Rain, saying, "So do I, but we probably should find a place to sleep."
Rain gave a curt nod in agreement, as Citri and Phoenix walked over. Phoenix looked a little scared as she put both Citri and Celes between herself and her bloodsoaked teammate. The four put away their respective weapons and continued to walk as the sky cleared to reveal that the sun had risen during their battle. They walked in silence, three of the four had the same question on their minds. Citri was the first to ask it. "Rain, what happened back there?"
The faunus' ears flattened against his head before returning to their original position, he tried to deflect the question, "Just another fight-"
Phoenix quickly interjected, "You normally don't laugh at the sight of ripping Grimm apart, Celes maybe but not you."
Citri followed up her comment, "Yeah man, we just want to make sure you're okay."
Celes quickly tried to add in her own thoughts, "I just want to know where that kind of offensive fighting came from."
Rain looked over to his team, his friends and allies. He let out a sigh. He answered them all with a single sentence, "We'll talk about it after graduation, it's a long story."
The three teens seemed to understand that this was the most they were getting out of him for now. They would focus on just finding shelter until day three. Suddenly Citri let out some kind of sound of realization. The other three members of team ANCY turned to face their leader. He had his trademark smile on, and met their inquisitive faces, with one sentence, "I have an Idea."
"This is the worst plan ever. Of all time" Phoenix said, as the four teammates sat in the branches of a rather large tree, roughly 70 feet off the ground.
"It isn't very well thought out." Celes said, reluctantly agreeing with her partner. Kicking her feet as she dangled them over the branch she sat on.
"Name at least 20 problems with this idea." Rain responded playfully, his eyes closed as he laid across the tree branch he had chosen. After a minute of silence as Phoenix glared at him from the branch she stood on, he continued, "See can't think of anything wrong with this plan."
Citri answered Phoenix's concerns in trying to reassure the silver haired girl, "We have shelter, a good vantage point, and a distinct advantage in combat, what more could you want?"
"Food and water." Phoenix replied grouchily, her stomach growling as she said this. As if on cue, the other three members of her team all felt their stomachs groan at the mention of food.
"Okay might have overlooked that, but still I can just go to find some stuff to eat, Celes wanna come with?" Citri said trying to calm down the angry huntress in training. Celes gave a polite answer of, "No problem."
The two took off into the trees leaving Phoenix and Rain, standing and laying respectively on their own branches. After Citri and Celes were out of sight Rain said, "You shouldn't be so hard on him."
"How can you say that? He's lazy, reckless, goofy, and never takes anything seriously." Phoenix shot back almost immediately
"Well, that may be true." Rain replied, causing Phoenix to nod and look rather pleased with herself until Rain spoke again, "But he does lead us in battle, He's loyal, and he's done nothing but try and be nice to all of us."
"Maybe, but-" Phoenix tried to refute the faunus' argument found herself interrupted.
"But nothing, when you were failing combat classes he was the first to volunteer to help you. And yesterday he saved our asses, You can't just target him because-"
"We're not going there with this conversation." Phoenix immediately cut Rain off. She took a breath and continued, "But you do make a point, I'll lay off him. For now."
Rain knew this was the best deal he was going to be able to broker for his dreadlocked partner and leader. He simply replied "Alright." before returning to try and sleep.
He was quickly interrupted by Phoenix asking him the one thing he didn't want to be asked, "What did you mean by a long story?"
Rain let a sigh. He should've expected this from her. Celes may have been all about helping people, but Rain and Phoenix often shared their trouble's with one another. They had a...unique friendship. "Look it's way too much for me to get into now, but know one thing,"
Phoenix looked over at Rain as he sat up and looked her straight into her eyes, as he said, "I will never raise my blade against the three of you."
Phoenix nodded in acknowledgement, for a while now she was worried about Rain, but this state ment had restored some of her faith. She could trust what he told her. She sat down and Rain returned to trying to sleep, after a few minutes she could half hear the sound of little squeaks coming from Rain's tree branch. She felt herself smile, and she hoped that she would be able to get a shot of Celes' reaction to the sounds Rain was making.
Soon Celes and Citri appeared through the trees, both holding armfuls of fruits. Phoenix made a gesture to remain quiet as the two landed on her branch. She whispered, "Rain's sleeping, so what did you guys find?"
Celes answered, "We found that fruit tree from a little while-"
Celes immediately stopped and began staring at the slumbering mouse eared boy as she heard the little squeaks Rain let out in his sleep.
Her response was nothing short of what the two watching expected at this point. As per usual upon seeing something adorable, Celes tilted her head downwards and buried her face into her hands. Her cheeks almost forced her eyes shut, and from beneath her hands sounds that vaguely resembled affection could be heard gushing out.
"So...uh. 'Bout that earlier." Citri began, Celes ignoring him completely and Phoenix turning to face him with a serious expression, her conversation with the subject of Citri's concern still fresh in her mind.
"I don't think it'll be a problem." She replied simply, knowing that Rain would explain when the time was right.
"I don't either, I trust him. I'm just worried." his eyes rolled over the sleeping boy. Celes hadn't moved. "Never seen him like that."
"...Yeah." Phoenix finally admitted, the events of the past few days taking center stage in her mind. "It is a little...off-putting?" She asked, not really sure on the word.
"I know what you mean," Citri said with hesitation, he himself unsure of how to phrase his feelings at the situation, "It's, like, I just don't know."
Phoenix merely nodded in agreement, before jumping with a start as Celes spoke up, "We trust him though. Don't we?" her tone almost pleading. Citri and Phoenix knew that the two had an almost sibling like bond. Celes was definitely unfazed by the recent actions of the faunus. As much as they were uncertain by what had transpired over the course of graduation, Citri and Phoenix had to agree for the most part.
While they would certainly treat their friend with a hint of caution in the near future, he was still just that. Their friend. And they had faith in him.
Well, mostly.
As day broke over the top of the tree which team ANCY were currently residing in, the four teens saw themselves faced with the task of returning to the cliff face and meeting Professor Ozpin.
"Hate to break it to you. But I can only carry one." Citri said as they all prepared to make their way over to their final graduation point.
"Partner-dibs!" Rain called, pushing Phoenix aside to stand next to Citri.
"I can...try taking two?" Celes offered, although given the circumstances she didn't have a whole lot of choice.
Reluctantly, Phoenix hopped onto Celes back in a piggy-back style, with Rain quickly mimicking the action with his own partner.
"Would a race be unfair?" Citri asked the girls with a devilish grin.
"Well kind of-" Celes was cut off as the boys jetted away, she could vaguely hear 'tough' echoing across the tree tops as she summoned her first glyph and hopped in the direction Citri went, using her aura to help support the extra weight of Phoenix.
When the two girls were finally at the bottom of the cliff face, they saw Rain and Citri sitting idly on a nearby branch above, idly waiting for them.
"Going up?" Citri called down to the girls.
Celes was too busy catching her breath to reply, but Phoenix fixed him with a stern gaze.
Citri gave a quick 'alley-oop' before firing a blade straight upwards, grabbing Rain and once again abandoning the two girls.
However, this time Celes was not to be out done, and she used her last remaining energy to create a series of glyphs each of which propelled her and Phoenix upwards when jumped on.
The two girls went flying upwards at a surprising speed, so quick infact that they managed to-
Oh shit!
They collided with the still ascending Rain and Citri in mid air, causing an instant tangle of limbs which shot to the top of the cliff.
The four members of Team ANCY graduated from their first year of Beacon Academy at the feet of Professor Ozpin quite literally, as the bundle of students crashed into the ground in front of the headmaster who gave no reaction at all.
Embarrassed, the four set about untangling themselves from the pile of body parts they had formed.
And so it was done. Team ANCY endured the most challenging battle yet, in their careers, but much like their odd of success were, several things in Team ANCY are still up in the air.
OH MY GOD. Now this was a chapter. Rain revealing a bloodthirsty side, the reason for Phoenix disliking Citri almost being revealed, and let's not forget, The Colossal Nevermore fight! SEriously Lilo and I had a field day with that one. Well that's really all I have to say now, so My name is Kurt the Mortician, and I hope this laid your worries, fears, and troubles to rest. Almost forgot, this chapter is the longest thus far at 8.9K+ words!
So yeah, that was a chapter. Rain went a tad psycho, Celes showed off her surprising attitude to Grimm, Phoenix ALMOST gave us a reveal and Citri mastered the 3D maneuv-I MEAN HARPOON-STAFF. About that, I'm sorry if I beat you all in the face with the AoT references (or SnK if you want to be that way about it) I kinda got a tad carried away. Please give feedback as usual, ESPECIALLY any to do with the Nevermore fight, I really want to know what you guys thought about it. Lilome out!