AN: Hello again, I did not expect to get this out so soon, but this is my way of making up for the fact that I went AWOL for a week due to summer midterms. Hope you enjoy this chapter, but I got to answer some reviews and respond to some reviews first (whether or not I responded in a PM, others may also be wondering, so I'll also answer them here).
goddy80119: Penny is still an android. However, this is a Penny with almost a decade of experience in human interaction and emotion, so she will be a lot more human than she is in canon.
Soulfulbard: Island's based off of Isla Nubar.
StalinWasBetter (never thought I would ever have to write that): I have not had the fortune of reading the HALO series, but considering your glowing recommendation, I may pick them up soon.
Edit: Last chapter I mentioned Jaune's group had 12 people, I was being an idiot and misreading my own storyboard, its supposed to be 11. I changed this in the last chapter also.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the rightful property of RoosterTeeth
Note: I spell using the British/UK version of English
"Bold & Italicized"- Speech of radio (I may go back and change this in some earlier chapters).
"Normal letters" - Normal speech
Chapter 8: Small Blind
"What you risk reveals what you value."
- Jeanette Winterson
At the centre of a small clearing surrounded by dense foliage, voices roared defiantly over the clash of blades and armoured carapace. It had only been a few hours since they landed their bullhead on this Oum-forsaken island, and Pyrrha had already come to regret it vehemently. The small landing party she had assembled had for the most part been left alone by the 'natives' of the island, but the very moment a certain blonde Faunus had opened his mouth, claiming that he was 'bored', their luck had taken a sudden leave of absence.
"You know, when I said I wanted a bit more excitement in my time here, this is not what I had in mind."
She inwardly grimaced at the blonde beside her, resolving to throw him off of the next cliff she came across. "Shut your mouth, Wukong, and put your mouth where your weapon is." Pyrrha swung her shield quickly to defend herself, narrowly preventing a swift demise by decapitation from the beast in front of her. Realizing its failure to kill its prey, the creature of Grimm lifted itself into air, circling the clearing.
The small landing party of eight that she led had encountered a pair of Griffons, and much to their dismay, they were incredibly old. The one she was currently fighting was larger than a full-sized bus and probably weighted just as much. Yet, it somehow moved with incredible dexterity, swiftly dodging and countering her blows at every turn. If that wasn't perilous enough, it also sported a hardy carapace on its skull, preventing any method, short of directly beheading it, from actually killing the beast in a timely fashion. At least, if one was unable to shatter it.
It deftly swung a heavy claw at her once again, pushing her to remain on the defensive as she received the blow at her center of mass. The blow was incredibly heavy, enabled by the surprising amount of momentum it had gained during its short flight path over the clearing, pushing her back a couple of meters. However, she remained strong on her feet and quickly resettled her stance with a brave smile.
"Sun, buy me some time! Everybody else, keep it contained." The blonde beside merely nodded at her orders, dashing into the fray to assist her crew with a swift flourish of aerial kicks and shotgun shells, garnering the Griffon's undivided attention.
Twirling Miló in a small circle, the Xiphos shifted into a familiar rifle in her hand. She deftly aimed the weapon at the beast's head and fired a burst single-handedly, its aim steadied by her semblance and its recoil severely dulled by the same method. Nonetheless, the dull strains against her grip served as an excellent timing indicator for what she had planned.
With another brave smile and a simple circular wave of her free hand, she poured power into the fired projectiles, manipulating them into taking slight shifts in direction to form a singular file, but never losing any momentum in the process. Then in the blink of an eye, they gained incredible speed. Then in another, a small boom could be heard throughout the entire clearing, followed soon thereafter by the sound of something shattering.
Sun could hardly believe his eyes. He even rubbed them a number of times to ensure that he was not in fact dreaming, but the sight before him had remained the same time and time again. Right before him stood an abruptly dead Griffon, its carapace complete shattered, as a singular bullet hole ran cleanly through the entirety of its skull.
He swiftly turned to the approaching head of scarlet and spoke excitedly, "Now I know why they call you the 'Goddess of Victory'! And that's cool and all, BUT HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?"
The redhead before him merely rolled her eyes at him. "Practice and some ingenuity, Wukong."
"But-"
Interrupting his line of questioning though was a shout echoing above them, "YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, SOMEBODY GET ME OFF OF THIS STUPID THING!"Looking up into the sky, a smirk formed on his face as a familiar head of light-blue could be seen struggling fervently between the claws of the other Griffon they had encountered.
"We can talk about this later," Pyrrha let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head, "and as much as I would love to leave your partner up there, we need him at the moment."
He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly, wondering just how his best friend had survived so long in their particular line of business.
100 km upriver from landing site…
"I think I hear something." Blake said, her ears twitching wildly in the wind.
"Probably somebody in the car behind us, don't worry about it."
"Yang…" She spoke exasperatedly, her eyes narrowing at her partner.
The blonde in question merely laughed at her display and continued driving, if it could even be called that. Yang's driving was insane as evidenced by the numerous mud puddles they had purposefully run over, repeatedly. The path along the river had proved to be an excellent route deeper inland, albeit a somewhat testing one. As they continued upriver, the path in question had steadily become narrower and more hazardous, resulting in their small convoy of three ending up as a single file. Currently, it was their FAV taking point, followed by the troop transport driven by the Schnee heiress, and tailed by the other FAV driven by Nora.
She grimaced internally at the thought of the bubbly ginger's driving, unsure about who unnerved her more behind the wheel of high-speed vehicle, her daredevil partner or the hyperactive Atlesean.
"Hey, Blake? What's going on over there?" A voice directly above her asked.
Turning her head to answer the question, she found herself looking upwards at her newly appointed captain, one Ruby Rose, who was currently hanging precariously off the side of the FAV's caged structure. "What's what, Ruby?" She replied.
"Over there, the treetops are shaking."
Blake turned to follow her captain's gaze and her eyes widened slightly at the sight. Although some distance away, the movements of treetops could be obviously seen, and more alarmingly, coincided almost perfectly with the direction of sound she had heard earlier. "Yang, stop the car."
"What? Wh-"
"Yang. Stop. The. Car." She gritted her teeth and glared at her partner, amber eyes meeting lilac in silent opposition.
"Alright." The vehicle eased, losing momentum steadily until they came to a full stop, and soon the others followed suit.
"This is Captain Arc, everything okay up there?" A voice echoed out from the FAV's radio transmitter, static occasionally interrupting the transmission.
"Warrant Officer Merah here, Ensign Belladonna has requested to stop the convoy." A strong hand moved beside her to answer the question, its owner's strong gaze looking to her for an answer.
Merah was a medium-built, but stocky member of the Atlesean forces. With short, combed dark-brown hair and matching dark-brown eyes that gave off a strong sense of maturity, the serious man was the stereotypical picture of an Atlesean naval officer and hunter, bolstered only by signature attire of standard issue white and grey. He was someone who had clearly experienced quite a bit in the field, honing his instincts to the utmost degree, and it had obviously told him that whatever Blake had noticed was probably important.
The man handed her the receiver with a curt nod, and she spoke into it with a small sigh, "Captain, this is Ensign Belladonna. Captain Rose and I have noticed a disturbance in the tree tops just across the river west of us. I've also picked up sounds from whatever it is, and at the moment it's definitely getting closer."
"How close?"
Blake once again and tilted her head towards the captain above her. She mouthed the question to Ruby, who promptly nodded at her and pulled out a pair of binoculars.
"Blake, they're getting faster. Give or take two minutes." Ruby's reply was somewhat rushed, but nonetheless effective in transmitting the necessary information cohesively.
"Two minutes tops, captain." She relayed the information, a feeling of urgency increasingly growing within her.
"Keep your eyes peeled then, we move at the first sign of danger." Jaune spoke hoarsely into the receiver, his hands now hovering above the hilt of the rifle conveniently placed beside him.
Putting the receiver down, he turned to face the rest of the group, signalling Nora to prepare for a quick getaway if necessary, while for the rest of them to ready themselves for the worst possible situation. The small squad of four readily complied, tensing their bodies and sharpening their senses in anticipation.
Flynt had pulled out his silver trumpet, inserting various canisters of dust into a set of mechanical valves and turning off the safety, readying a quick blast of whatever battle support they would ever require. Beside him, Neon stood vigilantly, utilizing her superior senses as a Faunus to continue watching the tree line, while blue neon nunchucks glowed eagerly at her sides.
Aside from the two more eccentric Atleseans, there sat a more conservative officer with weapons armed and ready. Master Chief Biru easily towered over the rest of them at a height of just over 1.9 metres, allowing his short but messy black hair and heavy build to serve as an excellent indicator of his presence wherever he went. The clothes on his back could scarcely contain the mountain of a man they contained, while the trimmed beard on his chiselled jawline only multiplied the blatant display of masculinity.
Jaune had have known Biru for a good while, the man was wise, loyal, and truly a force to be reckoned with in any situation. He was a heavy hitter in every sense of the word, his weapon smoothly shifting between battle-axe and automatic shotgun whenever he deemed fit, usually resulting in an infinite trail of Grimm in his wake, especially after being one of the brave few who had served extensively on the surface, repeatedly.
"Captain Arc…" The man's voice was throaty and deep, further compounding his incredible masculinity.
"Biru." Jaune's reply was quick and curt, as he guardedly watched for any sign of approaching movement.
"I know this may sound odd coming from me, but I think we should run."
Jaune's eyes widened at the man's words, anxiety digging deeper into his stomach. "How can you tell?"
"Gut feeling," Biru grunted out, fingers tapping rhythmically on the trigger of his weapon.
"Wha-" Interrupting Jaune's train of thought, several trees directly across of them had toppled harshly into the river, followed quickly by the sound of a visceral trumpet and heavy thumping. Directing his head towards the foreign sound, his eyes widened harshly and his mind kicked into overdrive, as a large mass of black hurriedly crossed the shallow bend of the river after them.
"NORA, DRIVE!" His voice boomed over the sight and he pulled the receiver close, speaking hurriedly into it, "YANG, SCHNEE, WE'RE BACKTRACKING. NOW. PENNY, SEND A MESSAGE TO THE SHIPS, WE'RE GOING TO NEED AN EVAC."
The sound of tires squealing reverberated all around them, as the small convoy did a systematic U-turn and accelerated forward. Engines roared and brakes screeched in protest as the vehicles were pushed to their physical limits by their respective motorists. The convoy of three swiftly rounded corners deeper into the forest, harrowingly weaving around obstacles of every kind, fallen trees, standing trees, rock formations, and at more precarious times, each other. They continued to blaze hazardously through whatever path they could find (or make) downriver, utilizing narrower and more hazardous paths in an attempt to shake their pursuers off. Nora was currently leading the pack with a toothy grin on her expression, followed closely by an exasperated looking Schnee rigidly gripping the wheel in slight panic, trailed hurriedly by a certain blonde brawler and her colourful choice of language, and all the while pursued by an angered herd of Goliaths with blatant bloodlust chasing after them.
You know, a typical day for Captain Jaune Arc and his merry crew.
"Dammit Cap', Command told us they'd be almost no Grimm here." Flynt was the first to speak after their swift change of direction, tightly holding onto his fedora and preventing it from flying off into the wind.
"It wouldn't be the first time Command has given bad intel based off of assumptions." Biru soon grumbled out, hand still wrapped around his beloved shotgun.
"AHAHAHA," Neon laughed vivaciously beside him, an infinitely large grin plastered on her face, "in their defense, they did say the older and larger species were possible residents of the island. I told ya that adventure goes wherever you go, cap'!"
"Well, I'd like to make it stop! And since I can't get a restraining order against it, we're going to have to deal with whatever it throws at us." Jaune half-shouted his response to the Faunus, gritting his teeth in solemn indignation. His hand remained tightly around the receiver as he hurriedly spoke into it, "Captain Rose, how many are following us?"
"We've lost most of the herd in the forest paths we were using earlier, but we've still got trio of big ones over here. Monty Oum, they're probably two, three stories tall."
Jaune internally swore at their predicament, his mind contemplating their options. For one, speed was definitely not an option for them, as the foliage was much too dense to reach the vehicle's maximum velocity, alongside the fact that they couldn't leave the much slower troop transport behind without jeopardizing the mission. The Goliaths themselves were also unwilling to slow down, as their larger mass and superior strength allowed them to go through obstacles rather than around them. That left either brute force or ingenuity, and considering the Grimm's preferred method of dealing with obstacles, he preferred not to take on any of them directly, let alone all three of the bastards.
His mind continued to race about for a solution, shuffling through a seemingly infinite mindscape for any semblance of a plan that wouldn't get all of them killed in the next hour. At that point, images of their charted river and a familiar set of glyphs came into mind.
"Nora, how far are we from the narrowest part of the river?" Jaune turned quickly to the driving engineer.
She lifted an eyebrow quizzically at the question, but nonetheless brought up the vehicle's digital navigation map. "From what we've charted in the past few hours, we got five minutes before we hit the closest one, shallowest one of the bunch too, but it's a set of rapids. Why?"
He displayed a grin at the question and winked, "I got a plan."
"You always do, fearless leader." Nora chuckled amusedly, a brief respite in a situation fraught with tension.
Picking up the receiver once again, he brought it close and let out a large sigh, "Lieutenant Schnee, I got a plan to get us out of this, but we're going to need your glyphs."
"How-" She stuttered, surprise evident in her voice before he promptly cut her off.
"Just listen for a moment, you can ask questions after we've figured out how to avoid death for another day, alright? Alright, we need a path of gravity glyphs to form a bridge and propel us across the rapids to the other side of the river, and our window of opportunity is fast approaching, so can you do it?"
"OF COURSE NOT, YOU DOLT! The weight of the troop transport would be much too taxing on the integrity of the glyphs, let alone the additional FAVs."
Jaune's ears rung unpleasantly at the resulting screech, causing him to harshly grit his teeth before stubbornly continuing, "What if we could empower them?"
"With what? An Aura battery?"Her voice was laced with blatant sarcasm much to his amusement. After all, she wasn't far from the truth.
"Yes."
"You know what? I'm not even going to ask." A small exasperated sigh could be clearly heard through the transmission, "What do you need me to do?"
"Get onto roof of the troop transport. I'll meet you there."
"Wha- Fine, whatever, just do what you need to do."
With that out of the way, he once again turned to the engineer beside him with a smile, "Nora, can you get us right beside them?"
With a quick nod, she shifted gears and brought the FAV into pace with the heavier transport behind them. The path had widened for some time, but with a brief look ahead, it was clearly not going to stay that way. Foliage had once again encroached closer towards the river beside them, steadily narrowing the path to barely fit one vehicle across, leaving little time for hesitation.
After a subtle turn of the wheel, the FAV moved closer towards the transport, steadily keeping pace with it over the multitude of depressions and bumps in the road. From the front passenger, Jaune prepped himself for the jump, steadying himself by tightly holding onto the cage of the vehicle as it shook.
"Cap', whatever you're planning to do, you better do it quick. They're gaining on us." Flynt's spoke anxiously, gaze remaining on the incoming mass of death approaching them.
He nodded curtly at the man's statement and turned towards them to address them quickly before his jump, "Neon, get in contact with Yang and brief her over the plan. Nora, after I jump, slow down and stay at the back of the pack. Flynt use that opportunity to buy us some time with your weapon; some Ice Dust frozen over could rob them of some traction, slowing them. Biru, assist Flynt in whatever he plans to do, put those shotgun shells to use."
Breathing out the last of his orders, a feeling of urgency quickly returned with a vengeance in the pits of his stomach, stifled only by the fact that had jumped at the same time as its resurgence. His hands flailed awkwardly about as he soared, impacting the hard armoured surface rather harshly. However, faith smiled upon him for once, as his hands landed perfectly onto the roof of the transport and gripped its edge instinctively, allowing him to pull himself up with relative ease.
"Took you long enough," an annoyed voice echoed out above him as he reached the top.
He rolled his eyes under her disapproving glare and warily stood himself up, "Lieutenant Schnee, ready?"
"No, but it doesn't look like I have much of a choice."
"Well then, our target's in sight, rapids 100 metres ahead." He said, half-shouting.
"You better not get me killed, Arc."
"No promises."
Unsheathing her familiar rapier, Weiss skilfully shifted the Dust chambers with practiced ease, aligning the barrel with the necessary black-coloured dust that may either be the key to their survival or their watery graves. She felt the weight of the weapon grow heavier in her hands, probably in correlation with the weight of lives and futures that hung in the balance.
Turning once again to the blonde captain beside her, she received a curt nod and a brave smile, one that she was only able to return with a slight grimace. She strutted determinedly towards the front edge of the roof and lifted her blade towards the direction of the rapids, pouring Aura into the metallic construct that served as her weapon and her semblance's conductor.
Black glyphs sprouted quickly on the surface of the river, stretching from one side to the other, while just large enough for one vehicle to pass through at a time. Each sported a large intricate snowflake as a personal insignia of her work, rotating slowly and humming with breathtaking power.
The transport was first to hit the pseudo-bridge, accelerating forward at an incredible rate, causing her and the captain to crouch and buckle down due to the sudden shift in momentum. For a moment, she was hopeful that all would be well as the vehicle continued onwards, but steadily growing fissures of failing power could be felt within her mind. Sounds akin to cracking glass could be heard around them as the rest of the convoy reached the bridge. She almost instantly crumbled underneath the newfound weight, straining desperately to keep the glyphs active as the pressure pushed against the limits of her soul. It was excruciating.
Then in the outer reaches of her mind, a song simply came into existence. The tune was not a complex piece, far from it actually, nor was it the most harmonious or well-orchestrated, but the simple melody it carried was serene and incredibly empowering. The burden on her mind gradually began to lessen, allowing her to regain her footing. But, the sight she now witnessed was almost shocking enough to buckle her knees once again.
She could feel the fissures in her power closing rapidly, causing her to gape at the sight of her black glyphs. They had been altered and repaired, now sporting a familiar golden glow within the original scheme of black and white, humming with amplified power. As she slowly regained more feeling in her body, the light touch of a strong hand could be felt on her shoulder. Its owner exuded an ethereal glow of golden Aura, power embodied in glowing musical notes that flowed freely, almost whimsically around him and then towards her, infusing directly with a white glow of Aura that surrounded her. The sight was beautiful.
The bridge held strong as they reached the other side with little to no harm, followed closely by rest of the convoy, who all had similar expressions of awe at the sight before them. Soon thereafter though, just as quickly as they had appeared, the golden glow and serene melody faded into nonexistence, her glyphs shattering along with them.
As the bridge shattered in their wake, the Goliaths were left with no method of crossing the rapids, preferring to silently watch them across the river. Yet, as they once again unsheathed their weapons and waited in tense silence, they creatures of Grimm simply lost interest and walked away. They had survived.
AN: Hope you enjoyed another chapter of my little story, quite a bit happened. So I'll talk about them here too:
1. Did I just imply that Pyrrha broke the sound barrier with her semblance? Yes. Is this possible? Theoretically maybe. I mean if a semblance's power is directly correlated with the strength of a person's Aura and their experience with it, a decade of practice and regular use could allow people to do some crazy things with their innate abilities. Plus, if Aura is a representation of one's soul, it should grow and change according to age and experience, so a Pyrrha with this much battle experience could in theory be powerful enough to do this. After all, so far the only limitation I can realistically see is weight, not necessarily how much momentum she is able to pass onto an object with any method of her choosing. (Besides its a work of fiction, somewhat grounded fiction, but still fiction).
2. Two OCs, Biru (Blue in Indonesian) and Merah (Red in Indonesian), were introduced this chapter. Don't worry, they're not going to stay for too long and they're not really a big part of the main story, maybe a cameo or two if I need extra characters to round off a group.
3. Pay attention to how Weiss narrates her experience with Jaune's semblance, note how different it is to the way Pyrrha felt it and note the similarities. If you don't want to, let me just state it then, DIFFERENT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE HIS AURA TRANSFER UNIQUELY. This is related to how Aura is unique to every person, and how his Aura blends/mixes with another's causes some rather unique experiences to transpire.
4. Neptune fans, he's not going to be the butt of all my jokes, don't worry.
Well that's it for now then, hope you enjoyed the chapter ladies and gents'. As usual, if you want to say something, leave a review, whether good or bad. If you liked it consider giving a follow or fav. Thank you again for taking the time to read this, and I hope to continue entertaining you.
