Disclaimer: The following is a fan based work. RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum.
Location: Vale-Forest of Forever Fall
Time: 1:10 P.M.
They had gotten Dove to safety. That was the good news.
Being the fastest one among them, Ruby quickly managed to bring Dove over to Cardin, who was now relatively healed. After handing him his weapon, he carried his downed teammate to the remnants of Teams RWBY and JNPR.
Was it risky sending off a recently healed person who was also carrying an unconscious person? Of course. But Jaune knew that despite his crude personality, Cardin was nothing if not resilient, and could push on through, of that he had no doubt. Cardin would see to it that he and his teammate would be safe.
The same, however, could not be said for the Representative and his makeshift team.
"This…" Jaune gave a sigh as he brushed his hair with his right hand. The once gold luster was now matted with specks of dirt and sweat. His clothes had small tears and red grass stuck to him. "...Is going to take a long while."
He liked to believe that they did some significant damage to the Ursa Major. Far ahead of him, the Grimm stood, content with observing them as it used the small respite to recover. Its right eye was shot out from a sniper bullet, cracks on its once pristine, white armor was bludgeoned and cracked, and heavy slash marks scarred its vulnerable skin.
Despite all that, its remaining eye glared at them with such energy and vigor. Jaune wished he could have the same amount of energy, but regarded his friends.
To his left were the sisters. Ruby planted the scythe end of her Crescent Rose into the ground, the barrel trained on the Grimm, and was acting as sentinel. It also served as a support as Ruby took in gasps of air. Yang's hair had lost its fire, now more like the last embers in a dying fire. Her eyes returned to its original shade of purple, exhausted.
To his right was his own partner, Pyrrha, who was in slightly better condition. She also had Milo trained on the Grimm, but he could tell from the tenseness of her shoulders and slight shaking that she was beginning to tire.
"It's unlike any Grimm I've ever faced before." The redheaded champion spoke. "I can't believe how tenacious it is."
"Stubborn prick… Is more like it…" Yang had her hands on her knees, catching her breath. "Bastard just… Won't go down…"
"Are we gonna die?" Ruby asked nervously. "Not that I'm saying we're gonna die or anything, but are we?"
"No one is dying," Jaune assured her. "We just… need to find a way to end this fight."
"I am all ears for suggestions." Yang stood up and rubbed her sides, a futile attempt to ease the ache. "Anyone?"
Jaune hummed as he brought a hand to his chin. "Well, if its too tired to give chase, we could run away and escort Cardin and Dove tp where everyone else is. But that's a very risky chance. If it does give chase, we'll just be endangering them."
"Swell," Yang said plainly. She reluctantly held Ember Celica in front of her face, taking a stance. "So we stick to just killing it to death?"
She watched as Jaune hummed once more. "...I suppose I could stay behind while the three of you escort Cardin to everyone. Once you do, you could find Miss Goodwitch and guide her back here. And if I'm not dead by the time of arrival, we could rally together and finish this off."
Jaune took a moment to see the looks on everyone's faces. They all held a blank, neutral expression. Yang slowly limped over to him, and promptly smacked him in the side of the head.
"Ow."
"Yang, smack him for me too." She did.
"Ow."
"Me as well, if you would." She did.
"Ow." Jaune rubbed the the part of his head where he was hit three times in a row. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry." He supposed he deserved it, making light of his death right in front of them.
"Yeah, you damn well better be," Yang huffed. "Rep or not, we're not just gonna run off and leave you alone. Either we run away together or we fight together, there is no in between."
Jaune looked at the hard, resolved expression on her face, along with Ruby and Pyrrha. They, all of them, were going to see this to end no matter what. He sighed, but appreciated the strong sense of companionship.
"...We're in this together." Jaune conceded. He looked over at the Ursa Major, which seemed to have gotten its energy back. "And it looks like he isn't giving us much of a choice."
"That's fine." Yang cracked her knuckles and reloaded Ember Celica. "We just need to beat it to death," she stated offhandedly.
"If only it could be that easy." Pyrrha sighed as she switched Milo into its sword form, and readied her shield for the second brawl.
Jaune rubbed his neck, before calling upon his Semblance once again. He felt his Aura shift, and called to mind the spells that he needed.
[Enhancement], [Enchant: Strength], [Enchant: Speed], [Healing].
Not only did he apply it to himself, but to his friends as well. They felt a rush as his Spells took effect, and slightly recovered them. He mentally checked his reserves and found about 70% left. Although relatively high, it was only going to go down as he used his Semblance. He would have to make it count.
Jaune felt wisps of fire form within the palms of both hands, ready to lash out.
"Here we go again."
The four of them rushed forward. The Ursa as well.
Jaune used [Teleport] to evade a strike from the towering limb. He reappeared behind it, and brought his hand forward, sharply. The wisps of fire formed a whip and lashed at the legs, causing a roar of pain from his enemy.
Yang was quick to capitalize on the opening. She brought her arms close to her body and sprinted until she was directly under the Ursa's head. With a yell of her own, she kicked off the ground mightily and drove her right fist into the jaw. The head snapped up, and the Grimm staggered back, rattled and dazed.
Ruby seemed like a blur as she sped and sliced at the side of the Grimm with Crescent Rose. Petals danced everywhere in a violent, erratic storm as she moved in and out of cuts and swings. Any attempt the Ursa tried to swipe at her, she was just too agile.
Distracted by the red reaper, Pyrrha took this time to deliver a heavy slash with Milo. With all her might, she swung at a vulnerable section of black flesh, causing a large gash to appear. Without a moment's hesitation, she switched Milo into its rifle form and jammed the barrel inside the gash. Her finger fell upon the trigger.
BANG!
The Grimm roared once again, and set its hateful eye on Pyrrha. The girl quickly retracted Milo and brought Akouo up, bracing herself. With a swing, a large, lumbering limb struck the shield. Pyrrha grit her teeth, before she found herself flying backwards.
"Pyrrha!" Everyone shouted for her.
She tumbled in the crimson grass, the power from the hit causing her to roll a long distance. All of a sudden, she planted the bladed end of Milo into the ground, stopping her travel. She slowly took a kneeling stance before lifting her head up. A burning fire was in her emerald eyes, and she took a stance once more, and sprinted back.
The Ursa growled as it eyed her, but was interrupted from doing anything further as Jaune acted faster. With another [Teleport], he appeared on the back of the Grimm's neck before the wisps of fire in both hands formed tendrils. They reached around the giant's neck, before Jaune pulled.
The whips of fire dug into the neck, burning it and suffocating at the same time. The Grimm might have roared if it wasn't being strangled. Yang and Ruby, who were nearby, could hear the sizzling of flesh as it burned. They backed off as the Ursa began to smash its limbs into the ground and buck and jerk violently in every direction, trying to launch the young Representative off itself.
Jaune for the most part grit his teeth as he felt himself losing and regaining balance over and over again, along with the harsh movement causing the wind to whip his face at every moment. Finally, with one last violent thrust, Jaune was sent flying forward.
The young man grunted as his face made contact with the dirt and rolled across the field, but not to the same extent as Pyrrha. The momentum ended, and he was now facing the blue, cloudless sky.
"Jaune!" he heard Ruby call out his name in concern. "Are you alright?!"
He closed his eyes and gave a slow thumbs up. "Just… Give me a moment."
He sighed as he brought his hand back down. He felt the rather cool grass on his skin, and the sun bathed him in a warm light. It was a rather nice sensation if he had to admit.
The roars and gunfire definitely lessened the atmosphere though.
Jaune reluctantly got back up again, and prepared himself once more.
"I really hope everyone else is doing better."
Location: Vale-Forest of Forever Fall
Time: 1:10 P.M.
"I think… That was all of them…"
Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, using it to support herself as she greedily took in air. Around her was the freshly dead corpses of Grimm, which were now beginning to vaporize into a black mist. She would have taken better care of her weapon, but her exhaustion had won out in the end. Wave after wave of Grimm descended upon them in only ten minutes, far more than what she, a Dust specialist, could prepare for.
Nearby, Blake wiped the sweat from her forehead as she stood over the corpses of her own Grimm. Each one was sliced and lacerated at vital areas, some of which were cleanly beheaded. Ren was sat down on the ground, relieved that the battle was over, and his best friend Nora was busy poking the smoldering arm of a Beowulf with a stick. Russell himself had been forced to fight as well, the green teen having killed any Grimm that got too close to his unconscious teammate.
"Let's not jinx it," Blake said plainly as she sheathed and walked to the center of the clearing to check on Sky. "Can't believe he actually slept through all that."
Sky, though still unconscious, no longer had a look of discomfort or pain. His breathing was calm, the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest made that evident. But most importantly, the gaping wound that once marred his shoulder seemed to have completely closed up, Jaune's potion having recovered him and his own Aura slowly returning.
"...Always was a heavy sleeper," Russell gave a tired smile and dry laugh as he attempted a joke, either to lighten the mood or distract himself, the four of them weren't quite sure. "Never really understood how he could sleep through Cardin's damn snoring."
"Cardin snores?" Nora asked as she skipped on by to them. Ren was also on his feet now, and was not too far behind.
"Guy's as loud as a damn truck." Russell sat down on the red grass, bringing his knee up so that he could rest his arms and chin on it, but his eyes were focused on Sky's shoulder and arm. He kept talking. "Like one of those really old ones that you need to turn the key a few times just to start."
"Hah! I can totally top that! One time, I stayed up extra late when Ren told me not to, when I stay up late I start to snore, I don't know why, and Jaune had to get up and use his wizard Semblance on me just to get me to stop." Nora took the conversation and rolled with it. Ren sighed as he was reminded of the event.
Nora, somehow managed to not only wake up in the middle of the night without any of JNPR noticing, but spent the next hours playing whatever games she had on her scroll, along with any movies. On a school night no less.
Believing Nora went to sleep early, Ren had forgone the need to put on any noise cancelling headphones, and had to deal with the snoring for the next hour or so. Even Pyrrha was beginning to lose patience until Jaune was actually incentivised to use his Semblance just to stop Nora from snoring.
It may have muted the sound, but it did not bring the lost hours back.
Weiss looked on incredulously at the scene; Russell and Nora just talking back and forth with each other despite having killed Grimm not even ten minutes before, as if nothing happened at all.
"Are the two of you seriously going to-" Weiss tried to bring them out of it, only for Ren to raise his hand towards her, gesturing her to stop. As his friend and Russell chatted, Ren walked over to Weiss.
"Sky was just recently pulled out of danger, and we still don't know where Cardin or Dove is," Ren whispered to her. "I know he has problems, but let's just let him have this moment."
It took Weiss a moment to comprehend what Ren was trying to say, but it finally clicked for her. Russell trying to make a joke and Nora, who had once been more than willing to break Team CRDL's legs, was taking this time to talk to him. Simple conversation about anything to try and remove the stress and fear. To bring a sense of normalcy about themselves. To remind themselves that they were still alive.
Weiss was unsure if Nora was aware of what she was doing or not.
"...Of course Ren," Weiss relented as she came to be aware of the fragility of the situation. Ren smiled gratefully.
"...tried to prank Cardin by putting slime where his shampoo bottle was." Russell continued on with another story.
"What happened next?" It helped that Nora, given her personality, was actually intrigued by what Russell had to say. No one knew if she did it just so that Russell could keep talking, to distract himself from everything.
"Cardin kicked open the bathroom door, tackled me, and then body slammed me on the bed."
"Sounds fun!"
"Yeah?" Russell scoffed. "Try saying that when you're the one getting body slammed by him. He's a big guy even without his armor. Dove called the both of us dumbasses before we turned on him and Sky got the slime bottle. It was his time to get the goo."
Nora laughed at that while Ren and Blake both rose a brow at the seemingly strange torture method. Weiss shook her head and tried to banish the very, very subtle subtext that Russell didn't elaborate whether or not Cardin was naked or wearing a towel during this time.
"Then Sky, for whatever reason, decided to cover himself with the slime and tackle all of us. At that point all of are screaming, covered in slime and trying to wrestle each other." Russell paused in his storytelling. "In a totally heterosexual, bro kind of way. Not at all what any of you were thinking."
"We weren't," Ren made to assure him, despite the smile on his face. Weiss sighed at the crude humour while Blake leaned to the side and put a fist to her mouth to cough.
"If that wasn't bad enough, we hear a knock at the door. Cardin, who apparently left his brain in the shower, opened it even though he was covered in slime and wearing a towel."
Weiss sighed in relief.
"...And sure enough, it's Goodwitch herself."
At that, everyone's eyes widened, and suddenly they focused on his story.
"That's… something…" Ren could only say simply as he brought a hand to the side of his cheek in disbelief.
"Are you serious?" Weiss was shocked and appalled.
"How are the four of you even alive?" Blake asked.
"Cardin opens the door, Goodwitch peers in, sees all of us, and asks what we're doing. And how does Cardin, our brave and wise leader respond?" Russell asked but wasn't looking for an answer.
"Hanging out. We got detention for three days. It was annoying as hell."
"Wow," Nora said as she rocked back and forth on the ground, a smile on her face. "You guys sound like really close friends."
Russell stilled at that. It looked like he was trying to say something, but just couldn't find the words, merely opting to look at the ground in silence. Everyone watched as he seemingly drew into himself, before he gripped his arm tightly.
"...Yeah," Russell said quietly. "They're… they're my friends…"
Russell seemed to breathe heavier, before standing up and began to pace back and forth. He brought a hand to cover his eyes, so no one could see his expression or the look on his face. Weiss, Blake, Ren, and Nora could only watch uncertain of what to do next.
Finally, Russell stopped in his pacing, before walking back over to them. As he dropped his hand, they saw his slightly red eyes and tears that were yet to be shed.
"Look, Cardin's…" Russell paused to swallow. "Cardin's not the easiest person to deal with. Dove's a dumbass whose brain breaks down everytime he tries to solve 1+1. I don't even need to explain Sky. And me?" Russell laughed in a self-deprecating way. "I'm the guy who ran away just cause he told me too. And now he and Dove are… they're probably…"
Russell couldn't finish his sentence. He looked down at the ground and closed his eyes tightly, along with a clenched fist. Everyone had a solemn look as they watched the guilt ridden teen breakdown before them. They wanted to console him, but anything could set him off even more.
Russell slowly fell to his knees, his once clenched fists now laid in his legs, void of energy. His face was one of defeat and fear and sadness.
"We're all jerks. We're racist, bullies, bottom of the barrel type of hunters. But still, I… I don't want any of them to die…"
At last, the tears Russell held in were flowed freely down his face.
"I don't… want my friends to die…"
…
No one really knew what to say. They were seeing a whole new side of Russell that they never would have ever seen at Beacon. The bully now being reduced to tears at the thought of his friends, awful though they may be, dying alone.
"...The hell is all this?"
Everyone jumped as a new voice came from behind them, and quickly turned around. They would have drawn their weapons, if not for the fact that pure shock overtook their minds.
It was Cardin.
It was Cardin carrying an unconscious Dove on his shoulder.
It was very much alive Cardin carrying an very much alive, though unconscious Dove on his shoulder.
Russell gaped as he saw his teammates. He was still in his kneeling position, too shocked to do anything else. "...Cardin?"
The gray armored teen raised a brow. "You mistake this face for anyone else?" Cardin scoffed, before looking closer at his green friend's face. "...Are you crying?"
That was what snapped Russell out of it.
"W-what?" Russell scrambled up on shaky legs. "N-no. I'm not crying." He wiped at his face that was once crying, getting rid of the stray tears. "You're crying."
Cardin blinked. "...Okay literally what the hell is going on?"
"Indeed," Another voice made itself known and everyone looked over. A woman marched over to them, her heels not at all hindering her. Her emerald eyes were narrowed sternly behind her glasses.
"I too would like to know what is going on." Professor Glynda Goodwitch demanded.
"Professor!" Weiss greeted while everyone else sighed in relief. Goodwitch nodded at Weiss and the rest of her students, before looking over Sky and Dove. Her stern look became soft with concern.
"But before any of that, I believe Team CRDL is in dire need of aid."
Location: Vale-Forest of Forever Fall
Time: 1:20 P.M.
Jaune sent another [Lightning Bolt] at the Ursa, stunning it briefly and allowing Yang to launch a strong right at the side of its jaw. Ruby and Pyrrha gunned it down from a distance.
"Alright," Jaune breathed out as he hastily stepped back. "We've got the upper hand. Just need to push on a little more!" He tried to keep the morale of his friends up, and it helped that the Ursa Major was finally beginning to lose steam.
The giant of a Grimm breathed raggedly as it swayed from side to side, its muscles and flesh cut extensively from Ruby and Pyrrha's melee assault. The bone armor that once decorated its body was shattered even more, and some of it even seemed to be violently ripped off the body.
Yang delivered a quick jab before rearing her fist back once more and fired an explosive round. She used the recoil to gain distance from the Grimm. "About time," she said as she waved her hands back and forth to shake off the sting. "That was the last of my explosive rounds."
"I only have 12 shots left," Ruby said as she switched Crescent Rose to its scythe form.
"I'm low on ammunition as well." Pyrrha was the same as she switched Milo to its javelin form.
"Then we need to finish this now." Jaune and Yang backed up to the two of them, and the four retreated into the woods to plan. They observed the battered and bruised Grimm.
Guooooooh…
It let out a low growl, possibly because that was the loudest sound it could make at the moment.
And yet the infernal red glow in its eye still regarded them with such a fury.
"So," Yang began. "Any ideas on how to wrap this up?"
"This Ursa Major is unlike any other Grimm we've seen before," Jaune analyzed. "It's durable even for an Ursa variant, and whittling it down with melee and bullet attacks is going to take too long. We need to finish it off in one last assault."
"And how do you propose we do so?" Pyrrha asked as she readied herself. The champion watched as her partner and friend huffed and brought his mouth to his chin as he thought.
"...It needs to be incredibly powerful but at the same time cost the least amount of energy to perform. All of us are running low on Aura at the moment, and we can't bring out this fight any longer. Even if we do, who knows if other Grimm will converge on us. Something that causes large damage over time…"
The three of them watched their blonde friend as he contemplated the next course of action.
"...Fire?" Ruby suggested quietly from where she stood. Jaune raised his head and turned to look at her, which caused her to blush slightly at the intense gaze. Jaune snapped his fingers and pointed at her.
"Fire."
Jaune called upon his Magic and opened [Storage]. Everyone watched as he drew out an obscene amount of small, round flasks, each one the size of a clenched fist. All of them held a clear liquid within them. But strangely, an odd smell began to waft over. It smelt like…
"Is that alcohol?" Yang was the first to ask, immediately recognizing the smell from her night life before Beacon. Yet this seemed strong even by her standards.
"I use my Magic sometimes to enchant ordinary water to give it magical effects or just turn it into something else. Don't worry about it." Jaune said as he continued to bring out more flasks.
"...Why were you making alcohol?" Pyrrha asked her partner in concern, as he was bringing out a lot of flasks.
"Don't worry about it," Jaune repeated. Pyrrha would worry about it. She grew even more worried as her partner handed each of them a number of flasks.
"...So are you telling us to get smashed or…" Yang trailed off, confused as to why Jaune was giving her of all people alcohol, but not at all opposed to it.
"We." Jaune gestured to all of them. "Are going to throw all of these." To the flasks. "At the Grimm." He pointed. "And then I will light it on fire." A wisp ignited in the palm of his hand. "Simple as that," Jaune said.
Everyone stared at the rather simple but violent plan, expecting something different. Then again, all of them also wanted it to be over already, so they agreed silently.
"Y'know what? Sure, let's go for it." Yang attached the flasks to her hip and tossed one up and down in her right hand. "I'm up for pitching."
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to try," Pyrrha said as she also readied her flasks.
Ruby had finished attaching her flasks, and held one in her hand and swirled it around. "Jaune? How much alcohol is in this?" Ruby asked curiously. Even she knew that an alcoholic mixture burned because of how much alcohol or ethanol was in it.
"Hm? Oh, I'd say about 180 proof, which is 90%." Jaune turned his back on his friends to observe the Ursa, not noticing their shocked looks.
As [Force] came to mind, Jaune's flasks levitated behind him.
"Now then, is everyone ready?" Jaune asked. Everyone shook off their confusion and prepared themselves. Jaune took it as an affirmative. "Alright then. Let's go!"
And with [Teleport] Jaune vanished.
Whoo~ Whoo~
Jaune whistled as he appeared behind the Ursa, which immediately turned to look at the sound. Jaune whipped his arm forward and threw the flask in his hand directly at the Ursa's face, [Force] hurling the other flasks at the body.
RAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!
The Ursa roared in pain as the alcohol entered its wounded eye. A wild swipe was sent to Jaune, who only narrowly dodged it. It left four long carvings in the red ground. And he absolutely did not yelp as he dodged.
"Over here big guy!" Jaune taunted as he aimed to become the main focus of the Ursa as his friends crossed the field in the distance. Though it worked, he considered what he had just done. On one hand he had the Ursa's attention.
On the other hand he had the Ursa's attention. Jaune also noted how strange it was that despite how wounded the Ursa, was it still had enough energy to come lumbering at him with surprising speed.
"Oop!" Jaune scrambled back as he dodged a falling limb that would have crushed him even with his Aura. He opened [Storage] and grabbed another flask, promptly smashing it on the clawed limb.
"C'mon! This way! This way!"
The Giant Ursa would have charged at him, were it not pelted by another flask.
"Hey there big guy!" Yang said as she unclasped another flask from her hip. "Miss us?!"
Yang swung her leg up into the air, before it landed on the ground with a mighty hit. Her arm whipped forward and the flask speed across the clearing and hit the Ursa square in the face.
Ruby dashed forward in a flurry of petals, and met the side of the Ursa with a swing of her scythe. The beast roared as it swung at her, only to catch air and petals. Ruby dashed back and fired a few shots.
'One, two, three,' she counted before dashing off to the front of the Ursa, now the focus of its attention.
It growled angrily as it tried to swipe at her while also being harassed by Yang and Jaune, unaware of Pyrrha sneaking up behind it.
She deftly grasped the remaining, shattered bone plating and climbed up, the Ursa to enraged and engaged with the others to notice. She climbed and walked as softly as she could before reaching her mark: one of the bone spires that protruding from the back.
She unbuckled her belt that held the flasks before wrapping it around one of the spires, and tightened it. A damn shame, it was fine belt, but this needed to be done. With a grunt, she made sure that it was firmly secured in place, and sighed at her handiwork.
She promptly proceeded to remove any form of stealth and stabbed the Ursa right in the spine with Milo.
The Ursa roared and proceeded to violently buck as for the second time, an assailant was on itself. Seeing this, Ruby, Jaune, and Yang proceeded to hail all the flasks that they had onto the Ursa.
Seconds had passed, and soon enough, all of them ran out of flasks. The fur of the Grimm was now drenched, and the alcohol dripped off the fragmented armor. The odor was rather strong as well, and Pyrrha was beginning to think that maybe putting herself on the alcohol covered target was not such a good idea.
She pulled out Milo and with a mighty kick off, leapt off the Grimm and rolled off the ground before sprinting off.
Seeing his partner escape, Jaune turned to Ruby.
"Get the legs!"
At his command, she and him dashed forward. A great sword formed between Jaune's hands which he proceeded to slash at the one of the limbs. Ruby moved further in as she brought her Rose down on the back legs one after the other, and vanishing as quickly.
The Grimm roared as it's legs gave way, unable to support itself anymore, and collapsed.
But it was not enough. Jaune stepped back and began to spin in a circle, the greatsword cutting through the air as he did. It was with a yell that Jaune released his grip.
The greatsword sailed into the Ursa's neck.
SHINK!
Finally, the head was knocked to the ground, and the beast had fallen.
"Everyone get back!" Jaune ordered, and they did so. He walked in front of the downed Ursa Major's face, it's only remaining eye glared hatefully, even as it began to close. Jaune stared back.
A wisp of fire in his hand sprang forth, small and fleeting. It seemed to be only enough to light a small candle.
But it would be enough.
"Show's over."
He threw the ember forward and with a thought, he vanished.
The ember landed. And all there only fire.
BOOM!
Location: Vale-Forest of Forever Fall
Time: 1:30 P.M.
Even from this distance, they could feel the heat.
They watched as the corpse burst into flame and send a wave of force over the clearing. It was a bit morbid watching a Grimm slowly be consumed by fire, the black flesh shriveling up and exposing the insides before turning into a black mist.
But more than anything they were relieved that it was over.
"Hah…" Yang was slumped over against a tree, her younger sister resting her head beside her. She absentmindedly stroked her red hair. Pyrrha was nearby, kneeled as she took steady breaths of air to energize herself.
And Jaune?
He laid upon the cool, red grass that comforted him from the heat. The shade of the trees gave him respite from the sun, and he took his deep, relaxing breaths.
"...Do you think everyone's alright back there?" Jaune asked. Even after all that, always showing concern for others.
"Jaune, no offense," Yang started. "But I really don't want to think about anything right now and just rest. And to answer your question, I doubt they had it as bad as us."
Ruby mumbled in agreement.
Having enough rest, Jaune sat up and brought out his scroll from his pocket. With a click of a button, he was greeted by the home screen before checking his team profile.
Team JNPR
Jaune Arc: 20%
Nora Valkyrie: 65%
Pyrrha Nikos: 15%
Lie Ren: 50%
Jaune made a slight his as he realized how close he and Pyrrha were to losing all their Aura, rendering them defenceless. Still, they had managed to survive on what amounted as scarce. That had to count for something, at least he thought so.
Jaune closed the team profile before opening another application. It was a screen that had his teammates names with words and texts displayed next to them. A group chat.
He began to type.
Wizard: We're finally finished with the fight.
Wizard: Did Cardin and Dove manage to get to you guys?
Slight fear gripped his heart at the possibility that Cardin might have not arrived at all. Pyrrha noticed how her own scroll was ringing, and opened it up before she realized what Jaune was doing.
For a brief moment, there was no response.
Ping!~
Ah, there it was.
Queen of the Castle: OMG!
Queen of the Castle: YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE!
Queen of the Castle: YAY!
Lean, Green, Mean Machine: It's nice to finally hear from you.
Lean Green Mean Machine: And yes, Cardin and Dove along with Russel and Sky are in safe hands now.
Both Jaune and Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief.
Tall Red and Dangerous: We're glad to hear that.
Lean Green Mean Machine: Indeed. Miss Goodwitch noticed the flare Jaune had sent up and came to us as soon as she could. Right now all of us are on the airship waiting her to retrieve you four.
Queen of the Castle: It was awesome! When we were walking back to the ship, a few Grimm tried to get but she was all like BAM! POW! And then they died!
Pyrrha chuckled at Nora's excited attitude.
Wizard: How long ago did Miss Goodwitch leave to come find us?
Lean Green Mean Machine: About a few minutes or so. We pointed her to where the four of you dashed off to, and she should be approaching soon. This is a trained Huntress after all.
Wizard: Thanks.
Queen of the Castle: Oh!
Queen of the Castle: BTW!
Queen of the Castle: Russell was telling us all about how he and the rest of CRDL were slimed up and wrestled each other!
Tall Red and Dangerous: What?
Wizard: What?
Queen of the Castle: But don't worry it was all heterosexual!
Queen of the Castle: Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Queen of the Castle: Jaune, this is Weiss, please ignore whatever Nora just texted.
Queen of the Castle: Also, are Ruby and Yang okay?
Tall Red and Dangerous: Yes Weiss, they are fine.
Tall Red and Dangerous: Tired, but fine.
Queen of the Castle: It's Nora again!
Queen of the Castle: Weiss took my scroll so I licked her hand and made her drop it
Queen of the Castle: ShE is slAppI!ng m#
Queen of the Castle: AkjiwmdWQij*65
Lean Green Mean Machine: Please come back…
Jaune sighed, but gave a genuine smile. "I missed this."
"What's up?" Yang asked.
"Weiss just wants to know if all of us are alright."
"And it seems that all of your are."
They all turned to look at the new voice that made itself known. Sure enough, it was Miss Goodwitch.
Everyone stood up to attention.
"Miss Goodwitch!" Jaune was the first to respond. "Thank you for coming all this way to get us."
"It's quite alright Jaune," Goodwitch assured, a slight frown on her face, more for herself is anything. "I should have gotten here sooner, but I was preoccupied. If anything, the fault is mine to bear."
"Everything is fine," Pyrrha made to assure the teacher. "We were just messaging between our teams to make sure everyone was alright, after all that happened…"
"Indeed," Goodwitch pushed up her glasses as they regained focus on the subject. "Team CRDL is already on the airship receiving medical aid. All the teams have been recalled and you are the last four remaining. In any case…"
The aged professor gave the four of them a gentle smile, unlike the usual stern look they had grown accustomed to.
"I am glad to see that all of you are safe and sound. Now, I believe it's time for all of us to head back."
Jaune smiled along with Pyrrha. Yang cheered at finally going back to the dorm while Ruby held unto to her older sister for support, but still smiled regardless.
It was time.
I would like to sincerely apologize to all of the readers who have decided to invest their time to read this story and chapter only to find a rather lackluster finish. I would also like to apologize for being inactive for so long.
Fight scenes are just something that escapes me and is hard to envision. Everytime I write a scene, despite how much time I spend into it, it always comes up short and anti-climatic. I will try and put more effort into it, but I can't guarantee that it will be better.
On another note, I have decided to remove the locations and time markers next chapter. It is just too consuming and makes events seem too long or short.
Once again, I apologize and I will try to do better next time.