Hey guys, sorry about the lack of new chapters over the weekend, one thing led to another and all of it resulted in no time to write a chapter. Still, here it is and I hope you enjoy it!
Before Skyler fell from the sky, this nightmare happened…
Crimson was bored; bored out of his mind. He was walking through the woods after being flung off a cliff, crashing through twelve feet of tree branches, and landing without so much a hair out of place (Though, it might be a bit hard to tell) and since then absolutely nothing had happened. Crimson walked through the forest, gazing around him without much interest, you see one giant tree, you've seen them all. The noise in the underbrush was mostly made by Crimson himself, his platform boots crushing the mix of leaves and twigs on the forest floor. But, suddenly, he stopped. Not sure why, but a whisper at the back of his mind told him to stay still and wait. So, he stood still and waited. Soon, the sounds of passage not being made by Crimson flowed through the forest, along with the murmur of conversation. The words floated over to Crimson's ears, along with the girl's voice.
"So, Blake, how's the reading coming along? Is it a good book?" The voice was cheerful, but Crimson could hear a heaviness behind that voice.
"I like it." This one, also a woman's voice, was calm, partly good-natured and partly veiled, like the owner was worried that her words would give away a terrible secret. "So, yeah. It's good."
"Cool."
Crimson caught a glimpse of a flowing black ribbon, closely followed by the mere passing of golden hair. The hair pricked Crimson's memory. So, it's you. Crimson recalled the fight on the road, with the girl with golden hair and golden gauntlets. He fingered one of the handles of his war cleavers before shaking his head. No, I shouldn't. Based on the reaction of Ruby on the bridge, I think she would want to be the one to kill you.
Crimson listened and waited as the voices faded into silence. He moved on. Where's Skyler? He has a stupid hat, but, at least, I can talk to him.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Skyler was not having the best of luck in his endeavors in the Emerald forest. His watch chain-whip was singing around his body as he swung it at the multitude of Grimm surrounding him. "DIE!" The whip wrapped itself around the body of a Beowolf, cutting through armor and flesh like tissue paper. Skyler whipped the watch itself into the armored head of the pack Alpha, the force knocked the Beowolf Alpha to the ground where it stirred feebly. The rest of the pack howled in unison as their Alpha begin to dissolve, and charged with renewed vigor towards Skyler who braced himself for the attack...
A squealing bolt of vivid orange Dust energy plowed itself through the pack, causing them to yelp in pain and confusion as one of their members was flung back, deep into the forest with it's chest hair on fire. Everything was silent, except for the growls and yelps of the Beowolves, then a rustle in the trees and Crimson's voice. "QRRRAW-"
"NO SLOTH NOISES!"
"But, you still knew what that was! I'm telling you, I have a gift." Crimson left the tree and stood by Skyler, his duel cleavers in his hands. They were split down the middle of the blade to form what Skyler could only describe as twin energy cannons, a mass of dust crystals in a hollow at the end of the split, near the curved handles of the cleavers.
"So, you want help with the rest of them." Crimson gestured to the mass of Beowolves who were once again organizing and preparing to charge at the so-called hunters. Skyler looked at him, then at the pack of Grimm. He sighed.
"Sure, one more sloth noise, though, and no one will ever find your remains."
"Seriously, Snowball, work on your sloth issues." The Grimm charged, attacking with blood lust, but they were only met by a storm of Dust and metal.
As soon as Crimson emptied the Dust in his weapons, they closed to form the thick blades of the cleavers. He spun in a circle, slicing the Beowolves in a three foot radius to pieces. The almost-mirror-like blades weaving in a arc of death, while Skyler's shining watch sung it's song as it cut through Beowolf flesh. This chorus of death soon reduce the Beowolves to smoking heaps of soulless nothingness. Crimson and Skyler put away their instruments of their rather gruesome trade and sat off to the north.
"Nice watch."
"Thanks, nice...cleavers."
"HOW BIG IS THIS FOREST?!" Crimson shouted at the sky as they backtracked for the third time. "THIS IS BEYOND RIDICULOUS!" He stalked back down the path, followed by a much calmer Skyler who looked at Crimson with something very like amusement on his face.
"There's not a time limit, you know?"
"YES THERE IS! IT"S CALLED NOT BEING THE LAST OF THE IDIOTS TO REACH THE CLIFF! AND WE STILL DON"T HAVE A RELIC!"
"My dear Zombie boy, calm down."
Crimson turned around to face him. "Look here, I-" A light whooshing sound murmured on the air as a feather the size of the giant trees that made up the forest swung in to land in between the two teens. They stared for a moment then Crimson looked up. Skyler continued to stare in half-shock-half-horror at the giant black feather. "Why? Why does this thing exist?"
"Mmm..." Crimson continued to look up at the foliage of the forest, a ceiling of green above their heads. "Skyler, I'm going for a climb." And with that, Crimson rapidly scaled up a tree truck and into the canopy, his boots the last thing Skyler saw before they vanished into the waving leaves. Skyler rolled his eyes and leaned against the tree truck, minutes past, Crimson was still somewhere above.
"Crimson!" Skyler yelled into the treetops. "This is not going to help us reach the cliff before everyone else! Get out of the tree!"
There was a rustle, then a crack, then an assassin dropped to the ground from the canopy. There was leaves in his hair and a thin scratch on his cheek, but Crimson was smiling. A wide insane smile of someone who might not have the sanest ideas in the world. Skyler started to feel uneasy. "So, what's going on?"
Crimson's smile widened. "First, how good are you with that watch?"
"Extremely good, why?"
'Great, now come on."
Crimson walked back over to the tree and begin to rapidly climb it, Skyler stayed where he was. "Crimson, why?"
Crimson turned his head back, he was already half way up the tree. "If you follow me, I can show you."
"I don't want you to show me, I just want you to tell me!"
Crimson looked back down at him with a frank expression on his face. "Skyler, you're sucking the joy out of what's about to happen. Now, get in the tree and follow me." He climbed the rest of the way, disappearing once again into the canopy of the forest.
Skyler shook his head at the fact that most of his teammates were either crazy or hiding deep dark secrets. He started to climb the tree.
"You have me in the tree, what is it that you were so desperately trying to show me." The sky above the trees was turning gray with approaching storm clouds. Crimson's upper body popped out beside him.
"It should be making another pass soon."
Something begin to dawn on Skyler...
"Any minute now."
A very important thing that he should have realized long ago...
"Aaaand there!" Crimson pointed to a huge black shape in the sky, a shape that was getting lower and lower, and closer and closer. The winged shape of a Nevermore. Skyler looked over at Crimson.
"Ok, so you showed me the monster whose feather nearly crushed us, it's very interesting, and now we're going to climb down and continue to walk to the temple...right?"
Crimson cocked his head. "Well, you can." He looked at the incoming Nevermore. "I, on the other hand, am getting a bird's eye view of the forest...Grimm's eye..whatever. The point is that our winged friend over there is faster then walking." He gazed at the massive beast. "Much more dramatic as well, how many people do you know who ride in on a Nevermore?"
Skyler's eyes twitched. "What?"
"How. Many. People. Do. You. Know. Wh-"
"STOP!" Skyler raised his arms out of the leaves. Skyler had known, since he first met Crimson, that the eccentric assassin was a bit crazy, but Skyler didn't realize that he was completely out of his mind. "ARE YOU INSANE!"
"Yes."
Skyler's voice got even louder. "THAT"S NOT COMFORTING!"
Crimson shrugged in a what-can-you-do? type of way. "Oh, I need your watch."
At these words, little flames appeared in Skyler's clear eyes. "NO! You can ride on all the monsters you want, but nobody touches Timelash!"
One of Crimson's thin eyebrow's raised. "Timelash?"
"Yes, that's her name."
Crimson's mouth twitched. "Bringing us to my next question. Your watch is a girl?" His voice broke at the end and threatened to dissolve into hysterical laughter.
"GET BACK ON TOPIC!" Skyler took a deep breath. "Why do you need Timelash?"
Crimson pointed to the Nevermore, who was flying over them to make another circuit of the part of the forest. "I need something to snare monster bird up there, like a lasso." He saw the Nevermore flying over them and frowned.
"No, I'm not waiting another circuit." He pulled out one of his cleavers and reloaded it with a single Dust crystal. "HEY, BIG BIRD!"
He pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of fire Dust into the belly of the avian Grimm. The creature screeched in pain and rage...mostly rage. And swooped back around towards the two tiny persons that had stung it's belly. Skyler looked at the rage-full, mass of man-eating horribleness, his eyes twitching again.
"You absolute moron."
"YOU IDIOT!" Skyler held on for dear life as he was swung around the Nevermore's leg wildly. Skyler had indeed helped Crimson "board" the giant monster by lassoing it's leg; not that he had a lot of choice in the matter as the Nevermore was about to eat them. Crimson had clambered up the golden chain and was somewhere on the Grimm's massive body. Now, muttering, Skyler started to inch his way up the chain before the metal cut through the Grimm's leg. He clambered onto the thigh of the creature and made his way onto it's back. Skyler spotted Crimson crawling his way towards the Nevermore's head. Clutching handfuls of black feathers, Skyler set off after him. "CRIMSON! CRIMSON!"
The rushing wind made it impossible to attract the Deathrocker's attention. "ZOMBIE BOY!" Not that Skyler stopped trying. He crawled faster and soon was right behind Crimson, which was unfortunate given that Crimson's trench coat was flapping so wildly that Skyler was whacked about a dozen times in the face before he manged to hold it down. "CRIMSON!"
The pulling on his coat made Crimson turn his head around to face Skyler. "WHAT?" He yelled into the wind.
"WHAT ARE WE DOING?"
Crimson rolled his eyes. "MAKING OUR WAY TO THE NEVERMORE"S HEAD! I NEED TO SEE AROUND!" He pulled his coat out of Skyler's arms and moved on down the spine. Skyler moved on with him, out of the way of the leather coat.
At the head of the beast, Crimson gazed around, while Skyler prayed to who ever was listening that the Nevermore didn't realize that the two humans who had shot it in the stomach were sitting on top of it's head. If they just stayed quiet, they should be fine.
"THERE IT IS! YES! I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!"
Oh, dear God.
The Nevermore screeched in rage as Crimson's voice was yelled right be it's head. It twisted it's body, trying to throw off the pests on it's back. The spy and assassin held on for precious life as the monster did a barrel roll towards the surface of the earth. The pure force exerted by the dive causing the human's grip to loosen on the feathers. "CRIMSON! IF WE GET EATEN, I WILL MURDER YOU!" Skyler tried to re-grip on the feathers, but was nearly blown off as he loosened his grip. "I HOPE YOU HAVE A PLAN, ZOMBIE BOY."
Crimson scrunched up his eyes. Planplanplanplanplan- "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO JUMP!"
"..."
"SKYLER! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO JUMP!"
"THIS IS INSANE!" But Skyler inched his way to the edge of the Nevermore's neck and peered over. "THAT"S AN AWFUL LONG DOW-AAAHHHGGGAAAAHHH!"
Skyler felt a push from behind and was sent plummeting down. He rolled over awkwardly, so he was facing back towards the Nevermore. Crimson waved from it's back and prepared to jump, but something happened, something rather...unfortunate. As Crimson jumped, the Nevermore saw the flicker of his coat from the corner of it's eye. The monster whipped it's huge head around faster then Crimson could swerve to dodge it.
"OH, YOU FUCKER!"
Yep, that was the last thing Skyler heard before Crimson was sucked into the maw of a hungry Grimm.
Skyler woke up with Neo nudging him with her foot. Her ever-changing, mismatched, eyes looking at him curiously. "You alive?"
"Thank you so much." Skyler grumbled as he sat up. "Be sure to remind me to put you up for team medic." Neo rolled her eyes and helped him up. They walked over to Ruby, who was standing away from a pair of partners, Skyler recognized them as Weiss Schnee and Ebon Winters. Mmm, Neo must be in a good mood today. Skyler thought, noting that Ebon was not on the ground, bleeding.
"Can someone please get me out of the tree now?" Jaune's voice sounded a bit hopeless as Skyler turned and regarded the boy in the tree. "Hey, Jaune." Turning back to Ruby, Skyler shrugged. "Sooo..what now?"
It wasn't the best thing to say, but Skyler wasn't at his best at the moment. Ruby put her hands on her head and full-body twitched at the stress of the fact that one of her partners-in-crime got himself eaten.
"I don't know! I never really thought of this of a possibility! I mean, riding a Nevermore; sure! But being eaten by one?! Who saw that coming?!" Neo and Skyler just looked at her. Ruby dropped her hands and pinched the bridge of her nose. "We should be fine if-" Ruby was cut off by fierce growling coming from the forest. Trees fell as a huge Ursa plowed itself through the brush, snarling. Suddenly a electric glow struck it behind and it collapsed forward.
"Yeehaw!" A girl with short orange hair rolled off the Ursa's back and stood up smiling, she spun back towards the Ursa where the smile faded a little. "Aww, it's broken."
She hopped on top of the fallen body of the dead monster and bent down to look at it. "Eeeeew..." A frizzled-looking teen with black hair came running up to the body. He put a hand on the Ursa's shoulder to steady himself.
"Nora?" He panted. "Please, don't ever do that again."
Nobody was really sure if Nora heard him as she was already going from relic to relic, looking them over.
"Ooooo.." She bent over a golden rook. She snatched it up and placed it on her head, then-
"NORA!"
"Hehehe, coming Ren!" She saluted and bounded back towards him. Ebon and Weiss stared in semi-shock at her. "Did that girl just ride in on a Ursa?"
"Sure seems like it." A voice said from behind Ebon. She turned around to see Yang and her new partner Blake. "Hi, guys!"
Skyler stepped back from Neo and Ruby. "Easy now, it won't do if you kill them." Though both Neo and Ruby tightened their grips on their weapons and glared at the thing in front of them, they stayed where they were. Yang's eyes swept the rest of the group before landing on a figure draped in a red cloak. You could almost hear her heart stop as Yang Xiao Long once again saw Ruby Rose. the blonde's smile froze in place, stopping dead in her tracks, she stared with widened eyes at the girl she "killed" so long ago. The two stared at each other. Hate and...other things, unexpected things, bubbled up between them. Yang stepped forward, earning the sound of weapons being drawn from Neo and Ruby. Yang hesitated. "I-"
"GRRREEEOOLL!" The insect-like screech sounded from the forest, throwing everyone into a defensive postion, suddenly Pyrrah Nikos ran from the cover of trees, closely pursued by a a very angry looking Deathstalker who knocked trees down like twigs.
"Jaune!" She shouted as she leaped through the snapping pincer of the giant creature. She rolled across the ground as the monster swiped at her body.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted, finally out of the tree.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked.
Ruby pinched her nose again. "Is there anything else? Anything at all to make this day more-" Neo stopped her and pointed up. Ruby and Skyler looked. Skyler sighed while Ruby seemed to have a blood vessel pop.
"Looks like my friend, Sir-eat-a-Crimson is back."
Sorry for not adding the fight with the Deathstalker and Nevermore, that will sadly have to wait until next chapter which should be out by tomorrow evening, maybe. The forming of teams and the official Beacon fun should start next chapter as well, which will be awesome. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and to all the people who have been reading this story so far, thank you! See you in the next chapter!
