A/N: Hello, all my boodiful followers! Since we've been dropped into the FOREST OF FAILURE.. It's time to fight our losing battle... Or is it a losing battle? Is it? Isn't it? READ AND FIND OUT! But before that.
Santa: I'd like to thank the Academy! ..for getting us ready!.. FOR the academy!
Chained: ...My pessimism is telling me that Bonnie won't make it out alive...welp, I guess Beacon is losing a student! I swear whoever wrote these lines is getting gutted like a-
Santa: FISH for your confidence, Bonnie! And I didn't write those, I promise..
Anywho! Enjoy!
"The name's Ray."
After what seemed like an eternity of wishful silence, Bonnie finally looked up from the passing shrubs and baby trees to find that the obsidian haired young man had finally spoken to her.
Raising an eyebrow at her surprise, he quickly continued, "Don't think we're friends, alright? It's just customary that I give you my name if we're partners."
The girl's demeanor grew dull as she rolled her dark brown eyes. She continued to seemingly claw through vegetation. Never had she really had patience for people like him. Still, as the delay in response grew more stretched out with each passing cluster of seconds, she bluntly spoke up, "Bonnie." It may have seemed to be an odd thing to suddenly say, but the truth of the matter was that she was just answering a question that she knew would likely come with time.
"What?" The young man, known as Ray, questioned, having not heard her barely audible voice -not that he was really listening for it.
"Bonnie..." Her voice had risen a tad, but not really enough for him to hear.
"WHAT?" He prodded once more, his vocals, she found to be laced with a certain air of annoyance.
"It's Bonnie," She finally said loud enough for her partner to accurately hear, although a little louder than she had intended. Wait...That realization was just starting to dawn on her.
Partner...
As in the one she would be spending the next four years with. This ponytailed ball of attitude!
Bonnie slowly draped her hands over her face, letting out a soft, but miserable groan. 'This can't be happening...' She thought to herself, only for it to spill out externally, "This CANNOT be happening..."
Out of the loop, Ray sighed in response, shaking his head in pity, though not pity for her. "Of all the partners in Beacon to have..." He trailed in displeasure, "Why of all people, do I get someone like her?"
Bonnie had half a mind to stop in her tracks and tell the boy off for this attitude of his, but she took a deep breath instead, deciding not to let her anger get the better of her, unlike how it would Chantal.
"I just hope she won't be too mad..." The young female muttered under her breath. Her thoughts were found to be interrupted as she found her foot stepping out onto nothing but air. Hastily backing up, the black haired girl found a cliff leading to exactly where they had wanted it to, "The Forest Temple..." She stayed to herself, walking while now watching her footing. She was already to the temple, and she didn't need any more mishaps that could endager her, or detur the completion of her task.
"Hey, there it is," Ray sprang passed the corner of the girl's eye and into the air, landing farther from her, and within a closer range of the temple.
"That wasn't too hard!" The fiery, spirited female known as Yang Xiao Long chirped energetically to her new partner, Blake Belladonna.
"Well," Blake replied with a slight smile, "It's not like this place is very difficult to find."
The two continued to exchange a grin to one another, and from the display, Bonnie found a small smile to be crossing her lips.
"Hey, get a move on runt," Ray called, shaking his head with a certain irritable impatience.
So much for her short-lived happiness... Shaking her head as well, Bonnie walked over, thinking of what Glynda would think about their very...unfortunate team pairings. Whatever it was, it definitely could not be good. 'Partner up with someone you get along with...' Bonnie recalled from the instructions. She released a sigh whilst grabbing the black queen piece before her new partner could object.
At that moment, a resounding high-pitched scream was heard throughout the area.
"This is so unattractive..." Bonnie muttered, cringing at the voice, and knowing exactly what was to come next.
"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang yelled, stepping away from the small temple, "Blake, what should we do?" It was one thing to scream for help in a forest where one could potentially be killed, but it was another thing if the voice of a seemingly 17 year old male made the shriek of a 14 year old girl.
As Blake's daze prompted Yang to ask more questions, Bonnie's eyes followed the yellow eyed female before tracing them back to the exact opposite direction; Jaune Arc. His destination? Ruby Rose.
"This place is full or idiots..." Ray rolled his eyes as the two crashed into one another, landing far-less-than gracefully on a thick branch.
"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Bonnie heard Blake call. It triggered another round of late realizations that began to slowly come into play.
A barely audible rumbling sound disrupted the ground...
Sister... Someone that one knows extremely well. A friend could also have been classified as just that. The only problem was, where was her friend? As her heart rate began to rapidly increase, the girl had started scowering about for any sign of Chantal. What she found was much worse... She was nowhere to be found amongst the Ursa-riders and Death Stalker runaways.
The rumbling under the earth had gotten slightly worse over the elapsed time, but it continued to evade the capture of everyone's attention.
"I-I'll b-be right back..." Bonnie stammered as she started off in the direction of the forest, tucking the queen piece she had picked up into her pouch while dodging through a number of people.
"Why?" Ray questioned, unaware of her intentions, "The relics are right here."
His words had gone unnoticed. Bonnie had become lost in her own thoughts. 'I freaking told her!' She yelled inwardly, finding herself worrying, 'Anything could go wrong!' The rumbling underfoot began to evolve, beoming a quaking tremor that rumbled beneath the feet of the test-takers, only signaling the build-up before a large, explosion-like sound was heard just behind Bonnie. It was too close for comfort, and as she turned her head instinctively to indulge her adrenaline-forced curiosity, yet another burst in the ground was made behind her, "What?!"
"WHY are you STILL HERE?!"
That voice was music to Bonnie's ears right now! It seemed her friend hadn't gotten into any danger after all. There was the situation of the Ursa -which had become the situation of the Ursai-, but she had managed to come out unscathed with her...Unofficial Partner, who was, as of now, trailing behind her. Boy, how she had hoped she would lose him in the confusion.
"Because we're partners," Iren replied casually, resting his hands in the pockets of his deep gray pants, "I think I've answered that question about five or six times now."
The familiar sound of her friend averted Bonnie's attention forward, to Chantal herself, despite the quaking coming from under her, "Chan?" She was too quiet to effectively be heard, and it seemed as though Chantal had yet to notice her presence -probably being too wrapped up in her own conflict.
"OH? REALLY? Well allow me to repeat myself too!" Huffed the brunette, shifting around and tucking her hands over her abdomen as the blonde just bipassed her in a leisurely saunter, making his way over to the relics. Taking in a deep breath, she readied herself to scream so that he would be able to hear her, even as...not-so-far away as the relics were, "I don't LIKE you!"
An explosion-like burst had interrupted the Bonnie from saying much else in the way of getting her friend's attention, for she needed to cover her face with her arms in protection. She had slipped into a state of momentary panic, however, she quickly managed to do away with such negative exhiliration. Now, with calmer eyes, she managed to assess the situation and act accordingly, which led her to dash away from the area in which the explosion-like force had just occured. It wasn't too far, but it was far enough, and fast enough as well, for only a moment after her transition, the spot in which she had just stood had suffered the same damaging effects of bursting rock and dirt. It seemed she was too far -at the moment- to attract the attention of either Chantal or her partner.
Iren plucked up the Black Queen piece from the risen platform, observing it for a moment, then tucking it under his arm before making his way back over. It seemed none of the events around now, nor Chantal's shouting could faze him. He truly was emotionally unbreakable it seemed,"Is it because I almost killed you?" He referred to the way his teammate had so rudely broadcasted her distaste for him.
"Ahp AHP!" Stomping her foot, the angered Chantal threw her waggling index finger into his direction, growling in response to his question, "We don't SPEAK about that anymore!" It seemed that in all this confusion, Chantal was just as oblivious as her partnered seemed to be. She was set to say more by the look of her distasteful expression towards Iren, even starting her angry sentence with, "Furthermore-", but she found her words halved by the sound of her friend's desperate calling.
"CHAN!"
Chantal turned her head swiftly, her angered expression dropping into immediate seriousness as she stared out across the way. By this point, she had managed to see Bonnie sprinting away from some torn up ground that seemed to be hot on her trail. After witnessing that, the brunette had to start wondering if she had had a little too much coffee to drink this morning, and just happened to be suffering the painful, hallucinagenic after-effects.
The eyecontact between the two friends seemed to be enough to convey Bonnie's delight at having succeeded in grabbing Chantal's attention -though a sliver of annoyance from it having taken so long. Although happy she had some assurance, it was time to use it, so her body -still pumping with adrenaline- in that instant, utilized the momentum it had gained from the screeching halt to turn and face the attacking creature. "Gimme some leverage!" She lowered into the crouch that would most traditionally signify a leap.
"Count on it!" Chantal replied in shout, knowing exactly what Bonnie meant. Call it friend telepathy, or maybe the body language and command gave it away. Either way, as soon as Bonnie had made the jump -which was acquainted with a small flip-, Chantal took a hint, raising her hands to supply Bonnie with the same anti-gravitational blessing that her semblance had granted herself with.
As a result, Bonnie was able to increase altitude, as well as maintain it much better than any normal jump could allow. It was like weightlessness, and it allowed Bonnie to stay out of harm's way while retaining her balance in the air -the latter taking an almost impossible amount of time to learn due to Chantal's lack of concentration being inadequate to sustain her for too long. In fact, back in training she could only keep Bonnie in air for about three seconds.
Concentration wasn't being made easy for the brunette now either though, thanks to the critical sounding blonde just to her left. All she could hear in her ear whilst attempting focus were 'hms' and 'huh's.
"Huh..." Iren uttered again, finally continuing on to speak this time around, "So this is Bonnabel then... Not as Ursa-y as I expected..."
"Shit Sherlock...First name no..."
"Huh..?"
The kind of answer she expected. She really needed to start being a bit more careful about referencing things from her old world, didn't she? "Nothing, dumb-bat..."
"Wow, rude...I'm just wounded...Utterly wounded..."
"You'll REALLY be utterly wounded if you don't let me fucking concentrate."
Giving up on annoying his new partner for now, Iren decided she had a point. It was time to stop goofing off, and maybe kick things into high gear. From what he had observed, Grimm were running rampant around this part of the forest, and not just those simple Ursai or a Beowolves here and there. These were all kinds of -much larger- variations. He watched Bonnie hover just overtop the Grimm, trying to make observations of his own at the same time.
Bonnie, by this time, had slowly flipped upside down by this point, head tilted slightly upwards to clearly see the ground without becoming lightheaded in the process. This way, she could follow the movements of the mystery monster, and maybe get a clue as to what it was. She found swellings in the ground that were made noticeable by the plowed dirt in its wake. It seemed that this monster was circling impatiently below her, resembling a shark circling a piece of meat just out of reach.
She hadn't been the only one to notice this odd movement, however, "Okay...What is that thing..." Iren trailed, narrowing his eye towards it quizically whilst keeping a mildly dull expression otherwise.
"How should I know?" Chantal huffed in reply. She was trying to concentrate. She really was. This pain of a poor attention span was making this ridiculously troublesome, "It won't come above ground..." She never turned to the blonde while speaking, rather she kept her gaze locked forward in strict tunnel-vision, as to avoid any outside attention-grabbing that would shake her focus.
"Maybe it can stay underground," A voice spoke up.
Bonnie and Iren directed their gazes to the owner of the voice to find him running up to Chantal and he.
It was Ray. He looked to the distracted creature in the ground analytically, before peering to the brunette, "That's your semblance, right?"
She was hesitant to answer, and not just because of the usual concentration excuse, but because she -as stated once before- was proud of her memory, and if memory served her correctly, this voice was a difficult one to forget. A sour taste came rolling onto her tongue as she venomously replied, "Yeah."
"Does it work the other way?" He seemed to be referring to adding gravitational pull, rather than just ridding them. It seemed he was putting a good effort forward in terms of the suppression of his impatience.
Finally allowing Bonnie to touch down near the rest of the team, Chantal was able to shift her attention to Ray, an unmistakeably hostile glint in her eye as her eyebrows fell flatly and sharply closer to her eyes, "Why?"
"Ah!" Bonnie turned to her, realization donning on her as she assembled the pieces of Ray's incomplete plan, "Chanie, weigh it down!"
Ray folded his arms, glancing over at the swelling the ground that had come to a complete stop due to the creature's target now being out of sight. Bonnie had nailed his plan on the head, prompting his continuation of her demand, "It won't be able to move that way."
"It shouldn't..." Bonnie mumbled, not feeling very confident in her friend's ability. No, not her semblance ability, but her ability to keep concentration for that long. Since it was mentioned now, though, how was Chantal supposed to keep her semblance up? This plan was already beginning to fall apart in Bonnie's mind, and so she added, "Do it for as long as you can, Chan..."
"Alright, alright..." Moving backwards, Chantal raised her hands up in defeat, palms facing the three that looked to her expectantly, "But if I'm weighing that thing down for an indefinite amount of time...I doubt I can just magically skip behind you guys wherever you go!"
Iren turned, nodding his head in understanding, "Leave that to me. Your life's in my capable hands." It seemed he had something in mind; a plan perhaps.
"Right... Like Hell I'm leaving my life in your grubby mitts..." Regardless of her protesting, she sucked in a breath anyway. She had to hope and pray that she could put stock in these guys. Her eyes began to waver as she stared at the mysterious, approaching tunneler, as directed by the tilling ground on the surface. She only said one other thing, "Here we go..." Suddenly, it seemed like the weight around the general area of the underground menace began to have an undetermined fold of increase, beoming intensely heavy and ultimately stopping the advancement of the Grimm. The pieces of soft soil that now lied atop the crust seemed to flatten instantaneously against the ground. Great! So it had worked!
Quickly solving the problem of Chantal's newfound inability to move quickly with ease, Iren simply repeated her own words, "Yeah, here we go." He swiped her up with a strong arm around the waist and pulled her up off the ground with ease, only to pull her securely against his form as he sprinted towards the platform of solid ground near the relics. There, it should have been impossible for the tunneling monster to reach them through the strong material.
"Get off of me!" Chantal growled uncomfortably. She didn't seem to notice that her sudden demand and thrash of discomfort allowed the Grimm semi-mobility, but Iren did.
"Ah ah ah," He taunted in mock disappointment, "Keep focusing." He seemed to shake his head, tsk'ing at Chantal's lack of concentration while his lime green eye darted over to the movement coming from the monster over yonder.
Picking up on his signal, she turned her gaze back slightly. Her brown orbs narrowed in response to her noticing the ground beginning to shake once again, and with a faint, nervous laugh, and a large bead of sweat atop the skin of her cheek, she bit back and swallowed down any lingering insults or stiff demands to regain her concentration.
Struggling for control once more, the monster began to struggle under what seemed to be its own weight. Bonnie found herself staring, likely dazed for a moment, until that state was shattered by the familiar shoulder bump of an even more familiar ponytail wearing young man.
"You comin', runt?" Ray smirked, his hands in his pockets as he continued off to the apparent meeting place where Iren had traveled, which just happened to be where -seemingly- each and every student had gathered.
Ignoring the hissing sounds that emitted from the now frozen Death Stalker and crowing from the Nevermore overhead, the black haired girl couldn't help but marvel at the characters she had come to know and love, even if the series was currently 10 episodes in, what with the time and ages being stopped in their world. Bonnie's head turned to the well-known heiress, and her favorite team RWBY character on top of that, Weiss Schnee, the only RWBY character that she had a soft spot for -even if everyone else despised her. Of course, over the passed few episodes, she had poven herself to be...hate-worthy, but Bonnie knew in her heart that the girl was being misjudged too quickly and-
"Ugh...As if things couldn't get any worse..." The voice of Kara something or another-she could never remember the voice actress' last name- in Weiss' vocal chords. She spoke in a sharp tone, her left hand pinching the bridge of her nose in utter frustration. That was new. After all the times Bonnie had watched the episodes, and had memorized the quotes, even attempting to voice them herself, she had never heard that line before. What was worse, it was directed towards a certain...type of person.
Chantal, still being bound to her duty of staring forward, despite her discomfort in being held by Iren, twitched in movement slightly, her curiosity getting the best of her, "What? What couldn't get any worse? Is it that who I think it is? GOSH, I HATE THAT BITCH!" Speaking of hatred towards Weiss, it seemed like that was a prime example.
"Just focus on your mental problem," Iren scoffed, covering her mouth with his free hand, and thus causing the dull scent of an explosive that lingered from their earlier fight with the Ursai to violate her airways. Curse Iren and his firepower gloves... It had notably sounded like he had attempted to call her challenged though.
"Oh!" A girl in the front of the crowd of students called in a delightedly bitter tone, the most prominent feature being the animal ears that were perched atop her head, "That was towards us, wasn't it? So I'm guessing you're not too fond of the Faunus, huh?" Putting her hands on her hips, the girl sassily sauntered over to the white haired female, her thin tail waving mischeviously behind her. A smirk crossed the Faunus's face as Weiss proceeded to roll her eyes and folding her arms.
"I don't have time for this nonesense," She replied peevishly at both females who had made a comment. A new tone was evident in her voice; one of anger, which confused Bonnie to no end.
'I...don't get it...' Bonnie said inwardly. She honestly didn't. In the episodes she had seen, Weiss had shown no type of animosity towards Blake, who was a Faunus herself. Well, that hadn't exactly been confirmed as of yet, but the bow twitching that Bonnie had noticed in all of her times watching the videos had to mean sometihng, even making it painfully clear to Chantal, who had already shut the idea down completely. They both had their theories, it seemed. More importantly, one of the two females had spoken out of turn, causing Bonnie to give a lazy glare to Chantal, who was one of them.
Fortunately for the chartreuse girl, her attention was still on the one she was weighing down, so the brunt of the glare went unnoticed. Regardless, she still managed to catch a glimpse of the act itself through her peripheral vision, so she was compelled to keep quiet.
"Uh, guys..." The voice of Miles Luna filled Bonnie's ears as the increased number of students turned their heads to Jaune Arc, Bonnie's least favorite character. How he even managed to get into the school, she would never know, "That thing's circling back...what do we do...?" Finally, the boy was proving his worth by setting the odd plotline back on track. Now, all that was left was...
"Is that Jaune? Is Jaune actually talking and being listened to?" Okay, so it was fine to have criticism now, right? After all, she kept it quiet and to herself, outside of the public's earshot, "Oh, this has gone to shit." Her murmuring was giving her a little amusement. She sort of needed it, just to get a grip on a more relaxed nature. After all, the overuse of her semblance was forcing a headache, and the concentration was getting a little difficult to maintain. What gives anyway?! This was supposed to have been a momentary halt to draw the thing out of hiding once they were safe on solid ground! This conversation made that original purpose run over!
"Look," Weiss started, proceeding to complete her line, despite being on delayed schedule, "Th-"
"No, no," The Faunus from before yelled, smirk growing wider as she interrupted the white haired heiress, "We don't need you saying anything, now do we?"
"Ugh," Weiss chided, turning her nose upward into the air, "Can you even hear yourself right now?" She was obviously not happy about being interrupted, and neither was Bonnie.
'T-th-th-the storyline!' Bonnie shrieked in her mind. Everything was being ruined by some unknown force trying to ruin her life! Maybe the girl was just being a bit dramatic, but if the teams didn't get back on track in the next minute, they would have a whole lot more problems, most of which were much more severe than arguements.
"Oh, I can hear myself just fine, girly," The Faunus's smirk grew even wider, until a pair of sharp fangs embedded with the rest of her teeth came into view, "The point is-"
"Ah...g-guys..." Jaune urged, taking glances at the Death Stalker and Nevermore before looking back to the assembled partnerships that had all gathered.
For once, Bonnie agreed with the boy she deemed as useless; they needed to get a move on now. But how? Weiss led up to Ruby's line, but what could they do if the memorized quote was-
Bonnie paled -though there was not much color leaving her dark skin- as she came to the realization of what she would have to do, "Um...ah..." The girl mumbled almost inaudibly, fiddling with her fingers. Finally clearing her throat, Bonnie spoke out, "L-look, there's no sense in dillydallying. Our objective is right in front of us."
All chatter dimmed into silence, and all the heads of various heights, genders, and hues seemed to turn simultaneously to glance at Bonnie, some of their heights easily towering over her.
Her skin color gew even lighter as her eyes widened. At once, she quickly pointed to the chess pieces, turning her gaze to the groud in fear as her heart rate quickened.
The silence shattered just then, changing to the sound of Chantal's hysterical laughter. She just couldn't resist the urge to crack up, mainly at the awkward silence that had risen after Bonnie's impersionation! Not being able to see it maybe just made it all the more funny! Her laugh was slightly muffled by Iren's gloves, but she laughed so loudly that it was still at a decent volume. Unbeknownst to she, nor the others, her lack of concentration had forced her to release the gravitational ties she had kept to the underground creature. Its struggling came to a halt, and it was free to move. For Chantal, there came a much-needed feeling of relief that washed over her. It was refreshing, especially since she had began feeling the slightest bit light-headed.
"She's right," The voice of Lindsay Tuggey-er...Ruby Rose's speech finally began, luckily taking the unwanted attention away from the dark skinned female -aside from two of three side glances still coming her way-, "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs...there's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live," Jaune the coward piped up nervously, "That's an idea I can get behind."
'I bet it is...' Bonnie mentally rolled her eyes, taking care to keep her sigh light so that she could prevent any further attention cast to her.
The freed creature was letting its presence become known as the remaining students began to take the pieces of their choice, for the underground monster practically slammed into the stone of the forest temple, forcing the stone to jolt abruptly, and some to even lose their balance.
"Damn it.." Chantal trailed quietly to herself. She hadn't the strength to regain her hold on the beast. It was like with the physical strain, concentration was near impossible. In fact, she was beginning to feel a little disoriented, but would never show it.
"Time we left," Lie Ren began, much to Bonnie's glee.
"But..." A concerned student hesitantly began, "What about-"
"We'll handle it," Ray stepped up to reply for them collectively, a raised brow and smirk present on his features, "Go ahead."
Bonnie's head darted over to her ponytailed teammate in disbelief. Was the boy actually serious!? Of course, he could only speak with himself and his partner -even though it was likely that Iren and Chantal would stick around-, but she didn't think that the two of them could honestly handle something as violent and -seemingly big as that underground creature! He must have gone insane for even thinking such.
"Right, we'll leave them to you," Ruby smiled, a determined air in her voice that became their team support. The leads now began to leave with a 15-year-old leading the front. At the moment, Yang and Blake disappeared from view, Bonnie shot a cold glare at Chantal, who was immersing herself with an engaging conversation with Iren.
"We'll fight too, right, partner?" Iren, questioned, looking down at Chantal, whom he had finally set down, and nudging his shoulder against her, much to her disdain.
She passed him a dangerously sharp gaze, raising a brow, "I don't think I want to fight with you...Last time you almost..."
"I thought...we didn't talk about that?"
"I CAN! I was the one you almost KILLED! That grants me PERMISSION!" If only she could drag this altercation out for a bit longer, she could recooperate from the brief rest time.
"Touchy touchy...Geez...I'm sorry," Huffed the fair haired man through his trademarked sarcasm.
Turning her head to the side, she uttered a couple of chords in a quiet, sing-stong tone whilst fighting the urge to smile, lest the severity of her words be practically nulled, "It's too late to apologi-"
"Chantal Marissa Aidens," Bonnie sternly interrupted, causing her friend to jolt in shock.
Immediately, having her name being called, the brunette slowly stopped her lyrical and stiffened as she turned to Bonnie as though looking at her own mother, "Uhm...Y-Yeah...?"
"Pffft...Marissa?" Came the sound of the gray-wearing male's subtle snorting at the expense of his new teammate.
Whipping around at a seemingly inhuman speed, she shot him a surprisingly nasty glare with her brown eyes, "Keep fucking laughing, Iren. You just keep laughing, and I swear I will come across this nonexistent table and-"
"Muck up the rest of the storyline?" Bonnie had asked quietly enough so that Iren wouldn't be able to hear, but she would.
Iren, managing to take a hint, moved over a little, meeting up with Ray, whom had moved near him.
Seeing that Iren had walked away now, the black haired girl had even more leway to display her displeasure. She seemed to an await an answer though, tapping her steel-bottomed boots on the ground with an audible clanging sound as she recollected the memories of Chantal's comments to Weiss. Completely uncalled for an unnecessary? Definitely. When no answer came, Bonnie continued, her tone light and airy, despite the scolding look in her eyes, "Realize that with every sentence, you distort the plotline, mkay?"
"Yeah, yeah..." Huffed the scolded girl, as she folded her arms and motioned as though shamefully kicking at a pebble. It would leave the two males in the dark -if they attempted to eavesdrop-, but hey, they shouldn't have been eavesdropping in the first place.
CRACK-ACK
The abrupt sound of chipping stone and hard ground falling loose filled the air, faint at first, but growing louder with each passing moment. It seemed, being freed, the seemingly forgotten creature had gotten fed up with awaiting its pray to just step off of the harder ground of the temple, and decided to take a more direct approach. Its body shot out of the ground, sun peking through the clouds to shed some light on this creature.
"A Tommelise..." Things seemed to move in slow motion, and in that split second, Bonnie realized what the creature was almost instantly thanks to Emmett's teachings. They would almost always be in hibernation, though loud noises could trigger their early awakenings. It all made sense now, or at least all but one thing. Bulky and large, and resembling a mole, of course, while having the traditional Grimm mask laced over its face. These creatures were haters of light, and very violent in nature. So why would it just jump straight out of the ground and into broad sunlight? She could only guess that it was a rash decision on its part out of impatience and irritation.
Like most animalistic creatures could, this Tommelise had spotted the weak link, causing it to dive inwards towards Chantal -who was luckily standing on the inside of her gathered teammates-.
"Don't think so.."
Almost out of nowhere, Iren shifted his body to move swiftly into a 180 degree turn. His gloves, which appeared simple and sleek, bulked up in a moments noticed, their base color -gray- being blotched with bright, lime colors. His thumb pressed inwards, against a hidden button towards the palm area of his weapon, triggering a new effect that was different from the usual hard-hitting punches he dished out on a usual. With this, when he made the punch forward towards the Tommelise, a green colored beam shot out. It was thin, almost nonexistent, and faded away as though it were nothing, but a second after, when the monster had gotten around a foot closer, the now vanished beam was replaced with an enormous, round but thick and rigid beam that crashed directly into the underbelly of the Grimm. From that one large blast -which hadn't been enough to do away with the Grimm, due to its large size and thick hide-, a string of fluid, smaller bullets began to fire out from Iren's punching motions, flying out from his knuckle-area.
The blast sent the Grimm flying backwards, yes, but it also forced it into spinning, which made hitting a vunerable spot that much more difficult, being that it was in constant rotation between the thick but bare underbelly and plated, protected top. This also meant that the bullets he sent -now six and counting- were either smashing against the plates and ricoheting off, or hitting the more vunerable spot. It seemed almost like Iren had no aim anymore.
Chantal stood, gripping her chest and breathing out a heavy exhale. To think that thing was that close! She would have thanked Iren...but no, she wouldn't have. She would just...repay him by passing up her next chance to insult him.
"That should keep it above ground," Ray concluded, bending his knees deeply into a crouch, as to ready himself for a highspeed sprint. In a moment's notice, he was off, running across the ground, and never even being tripped up by the toiled up ground, though it slowed him only slightly. He ran around the Grimm, taking in the situation from each angle so that he could look for an opening to strike.
"HEY!" Chantal called out, cupping her hands whilst maintaining a slight glare, "You can't join Iren right now! He'll kill you!" It was a state of mind that she referred to as Trigger Happy, the condition that nearly killed her when they had fought with the Ursai. It's like an uncontrollable pop that sparks to life when his first shot had been fired. From there...Well, unless Ray wanted to end up nearly killed, or worse, he probably shouldn't interrupt him, "You can't interfere until he's fired all 25 shot-"
CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK
The sound of the cracking and shrieking not only snapped Bonnie from her trance, but also jolted Chantal into attention. She hadn't paid any attention whatsoever to the other present Grimm, and Bonnie had merely forgotten it while daunted by the appearance of the Tommelise.
KSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!
"H-Hey, Bonnie!" Chantal called, "What do we do?"
By then, it was too late. The Death Stalker, which it had mercilessly shattered the ice prison in which it had been frozen, was free, and it started to move about, searching for its next victim.
A/N:
Santa: Well.. At least we picked up the same pieces..? But I guess that's pretty insignificant if we don't make it out. :T Deathstalker, Tumbledore, and Iren all want us dead... And I want Ray dead...Along with Iren.
Chained:Well that's not very nice...and...Tommelise...
Santa: That's what I said! The Tumbleweed!
Chained: Tommelise...
Santa: Tumbly?
Chained: ...Tomm-i-lese
Santa: TUMBLR!
Chained: TOMMILESE.
Santa: Tumbleesic..
Chained: Tommilese
Santa: Thumbelina...
Chained: Tommi...LESE!
Santa: SCREW IT! IT'S TUMBLESHIT.
Chained: ...Oh Elsword...
ANYWAY! We hope you've enjoyed this and stuff. G'bye snowflakes!
