A/N: What's up, everyone! Sorry it's been so long, it's just been one thing after another for me. I've got one of the latest final exam schedules in the country, too, so I'm having to deal with that as well. I won't be posting again until at least June, and if I do it'll be just one more, and then I'll have to finish the last half of Episode 9 before I post again. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! See you at the bottom of the web page.
Chapter 8- Strength in Leadership, Part 1
Ruby and Weiss had managed to hitch a ride on a Nevermore, a decision Weiss now regretted going along with.
"Ruby! I told you this was a bad idea!" Weiss said, shouting to be heard over the wind.
"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby shouted back.
"Oh, I am SO far beyond worrying!" Weiss said.
"In a good way?" Ruby asked hopefully.
"In a bad way! In a very, VERY bad way!" Weiss said impatiently, still shouting.
"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby retorted.
"What are you, INSANE?!" Weiss shouted incredulously. However, she never got a reply; Ruby had already jumped.
"OH YOU INSUFFERABLE LITTLE RED-"
"Blake, what is-" Victor started, but cut himself off once he saw Ruby.
"HEADS UUUUUP!" Ruby yelled, panicking and about to hit the ground.
Victor began trying to move under her to catch her when, suddenly, a black-and-blue blur with blonde hair flew into Ruby from one side, knocking her off course and slamming both of them into a tree about twenty feet away.
"Ugghhh... What was that?" A dazed Ruby said, sitting on a tree branch and rubbing the back of her head.
"Ahem."
Ruby looked up to see none other than Jaune, hanging upside-down from a branch just above her.
"Hey, Ruby..." He said, still recovering from whatever had launched him in the first place.
Back on the ground, everyone was just staring at the tree in absolute befuddlement.
"Did... Your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang.
"I..." Before Yang could continue, everyone's attention was turned to the forest ahead of them as an Ursa crashed out of the brush, roaring and swinging its claws. Before any of them could even ready themselves to engage it, the monster was hit in the back by a blast of pink energy. It crashed to the ground and deposited its rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" Nora cheered as she killed the enraged monster, rolling off of its back. She got up and groaned.
"Aww... Now it's broken..." She said sadly, then quickly dashed onto its neck and began inspecting the carcass.
Just then, Ren emerged from behind the dead monster, breathing heavily and leaning on its side.
"Nora... Please... Don't ever do that again." He panted.
The boy looked up to find that Nora had disappeared. He began looking around frantically, trying to find his partner. Nora, as it was, had dashed over to the Relics and was inspecting one of the white rook pieces.
"Oooohh..." She said excitedly, suddenly grabbing the Relic and dancing with it.
"I'm queen of the cas-tle! I'm queen of the cas-tle!" She sang, giggling.
That got Ren's attention. "NORA!" He yelled in exasperation. She stopped mid-dance, the Relic balancing on her head, then gave a salute, dropping the chess piece into her hand, giggling.
"Coming, Ren!" Nora said, skipping back over to her partner.
Chamele, Victor, Yang and Blake just stood there, disbelieving.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked again.
"I..." Yang was cut off yet again as a screech came from their right.
They all turned in time to see Pyrrha run out of the forest with a Deathstalker in close pursuit, uprooting entire trees in its chase after her. It swiped at her with its giant pincers, which Pyrrha jumped between, narrowly dodging the attack.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha calls to her partner, currently disentangling himself from the tree branch.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called back, seeing her plight and beginning to fumble with his hood as he tried frantically to free himself and help her. Just below him, Ruby stood up and saw the monster.
"Woah." Ruby gasped in awe. She then ran off the branch, landing with a somersault on the ground.
"Ruby!" Jaune whined, being left behind again.
"Ruby!" Yang called out to her sister, happy to see her unharmed.
"Yang!" Ruby called back, reaching her sister and reaching her arms to give her a hug.
"Nora!" Nora exclaimed gleefully, springing up between them and knocking both unsuspecting sisters off balance.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked yet again.
At this, Yang's Aura flared in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" The blonde exclaimed in exasperation.
Two seconds passed in complete silence, in which time Ren made his way over to a ditzy Nora, while Blake and Ruby looked up. Once the time was up, Ruby tugged on her sister's sleeve and pointed skywards.
"Um... Yang?" Ruby said nervously. Yang looked up and saw Weiss, hanging onto a talon the size of her entire body. A talon belonging to a gigantic Nevermore.
"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" Weiss called down to Ruby.
"I SAID, 'JUMP!'" Ruby yelled back.
"She's gonna fall." Blake deadpanned.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said.
"She's falling." Ren deadpanned as well.
"You know, you'd think being the heiress to the biggest Dust company on Remnant that she'd freaking use one of her Glyphs to break her fall." Victor said, trying again to move under Weiss to catch her. Just before he jumped, Jaune, who had finally extricated himself from the tree, flew out from the leaves, catching Weiss in mid-air, bridal style.
"Just dropping in?" Jaune said, grinning. Weiss just looked at him, eyes still wide with fear. Then Jaune looked down and realized why she seemed so panicked.
"Oh, god, NOOOOOOOO-" Jaune yelled as both he and Weiss fell out of the air. Jaune landed on his stomach, and then Weiss landed on Jaune's back, breaking her fall.
"My hero." She deadpanned.
"My back..." Jaune groaned.
Just then, the Deathstalker swatted Pyrrha with its pincers, launching her a good distance. She landed on her side at Yang's feet.
"Well, we've got two enormous Grimm hunting us, and Nick and Luxia are nowhere to be seen. Can this get any freaking better?" Chamele said, sarcastically.
At that exact moment, almost as if to answer her, Nick flew out of the forest from their left, carrying Luxia. Before anyone could comment on this good fortune, they saw just why Nick was moving so fast. An Ursa Major, easily the size of a two or three-story building lumbered out of the forest behind them, snapping full-grown tree trunks in its way. It looked very angry.
"SHE WAS F****** KIDDING, DAMN IT!" Victor swore as Nick and Luxia reached them. Nick was breathing very heavily, and looked like he was going to be sick from the strain of running from the Ursa.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang commented sarcastically.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said, giving a battle cry and dashing towards the Deathstalker.
"Ruby, no!" Yang yelled after her.
Ruby, still yelling, fired off Crescent Rose and charged at the oncoming Deathstalker. Once Ruby was in range, she swung Crescent Rose, trying to stab it through its head. The Deathstalker was unimpressed, swinging its pincers again and knocking Ruby back. Ruby slowly got up.
"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" She said unconvincingly as she straightened up.
Ruby turned back towards the monster and gave the monster a final, fleeting shot in the skull, which simply ricocheted off as Ruby ran away and sheathed her scythe. The Deathstalker, now even angrier than before, began pursuing Ruby instead. Yang ran forward, trying to get to her sister.
"Ruby!" She called out, running as fast as the brawler's powerful legs could carry her.
Meanwhile, Victor had a similar problem. The colossal Ursa that had followed Nick and Luxia was now slowly lumbering towards them. Victor focused and activated his Semblance, onyx-colored eyes flashing.
"I've got this," Victor snarled, rushing towards the monster.
"Victor, no! It didn't even register when I hit it with my Dust blasts, you'll get yourself killed!" Nick yelled after his friend, too tired to stop him. Luxia was in a similar state, and Chamele was confident that he could smash through its skull as he had with the Deinigrum.
Victor simply ignored Nick's warning and reached the Ursa. He leaped up, firing his miniguns, using the recoil for maximum height. He raised both fists high above his head, ready to choke-slam through the over-sized bear's skull... And was promptly swatted back by the monster's enormous paw.
"Guk!" Victor grunted as he was sent careening through the air, landing about 50 feet from the monster, face down.
He got up slowly and with difficulty; vision foggy, legs unsteady and lungs aching for breath as the huge Grimm lumbered closer and closer towards him.
"VICTOR!" Nick roared.
Nick began trying to run to his friend's aid but stumbled and fell, still exhausted from the exertion of utilizing Glyphs repeatedly for the better part of an hour. Chamele dashed forwards, intending to get Victor and dragging him to safety as Luxia helped her partner up.
Just then, the Nevermore, who had circled back around, not pleased at Ruby or Weiss for hitching a ride, gave a caw and forcefully flapped its wings once. Sharpened feathers began hailing down on all of them, point-first, forcing Yang and Chamele to fall backwards to avoid being impaled, and catching the cloak of Ruby's hood, effectively pinning her down. Luxia managed to cast a weak shield, which deflected most of the feathers from Victor and the others. Victor was stumbling slowly, the Ursa just behind him.
"VICTOR, GET OUT OF THERE!" Chamele yelled, Yang doing the same for her sister.
"I'm trying!" Ruby yelled in panic, unable to extricate her cloak from the feather that had embedded itself in the ground.
Victor just shook his head, trying to clear his vision and began running, only to trip and fall on his face.
"VICTOR, NO!" Nick and Chamele yelled simultaneously.
The Ursa had reached Victor, just as the Deathstalker reached Ruby on the other side of the clearing. Victor rolled over onto his back, seeing the Grimm raise its paw, ready to crush him into the ground, and raised both his arms. Ruby did likewise, seeing that the Deathstalker had raised its stinger. Both Grimm started simultaneously, the final blow making its way towards their targets. Just then, Luxia abandoned Nick, rushing towards Victor, transforming Springsting into its crossbow form, fired several explosive-tipped bolts behind her as she jumped, sailing over Chamele as a green blur, and raised her arm.
BOOM
Victor's first realization as his head finally cleared was that he was still alive. He opened his eyes and saw a dome of greenish energy, with the Ursa's paw resting on top of it. He sat up, confused. He saw that he was surrounded by a spherical shield of greenish energy, which appeared to have been driven into the ground. Luxia was lying beside him in a baseball-slide position, her arms up and holding the shield.
"Luxia?" Victor said, confused.
"Listen, we don't have time. I really can't hold the weight of this damn thing for much longer. I need you to get your giant ass up and get us out." Luxia said, gritting her teeth.
Victor nodded, face becoming more serious. He reached into his belt and pulled out two sky blue Dust crystals, which he inserted into Hellfang, focused, and, eyes flashing from cobalt to onyx once more, held his arms up.
"Luxia, let the shield go." Victor said.
"Victor, you're out of your damn mind! This thing nearly killed you, there's no way that you could hold its weight! Now hurry up and come up with a real plan, we've got about twenty seconds!" Luxia said impatiently.
"Luxia, I was nearly killed earlier today by a Deinigrum. You want to know how I killed it?"
Luxia looked at him.
"I punched it in the chest and shattered its armor. I am more than able to hold this thing for a few seconds. Besides, that's not all there is to my plan. Now, let the shield go or you're going to be incapacitated until we reach Beacon again. I can't help both you and Nick. Now, LET THE DAMN SHIELD GO!" Victor yelled forcefully.
Luxia, with a look of defeat on her face, complied. The paw dropped down and Victor caught it, bending his knees, ground cracking beneath him, and then slowly straightened up. Luxia looked at him in awe.
"Don't just stand there, GO!" Victor said impatiently. Luxia swore she thought his eyes flashed red for a moment, but she didn't say anything about it. She dashed out of the small crater that the paw had left when it had driven her shield into the ground, making her way back towards the group. Once Luxia was out, Victor grinned, and then narrowed his eyes.
"I hope this works..." He muttered.
Then, with a roar of effort, Victor bent his knees again, and jumped with every ounce of strength he had, lifting himself and the paw off the ground and knocking the Ursa off balance, stumbling away from him. Victor landed in the crater, and ran out.
Upon clearing the edge of the crater, Victor looked for the Ursa's other paw, and upon seeing it, opened fire. The rounds from his gun were now an icy blue, and peppered the Ursa's other paw. Very thick ice immediately began forming, trapping the paw in place and causing the still off balance Grimm to fall, roaring and straining against the ice. Victor quickly reached the others. Nick, who seemed to be recovering, shoved him.
"That was easily the most retarded thing you've done, you freaking idiot! Next time you do something like that, I'll kill you if the Ursa doesn't! The last thing I need is my bro getting himself killed." Nick berated him.
Victor frowned, and said, "I'm sorry, dude. I didn't see any alternatives, and I didn't think there was time to come up with any. I just saw that you weren't able to fight and I knew that I could at least slow it down if I hit it. I was trying to keep all of you safe."
Chamele, unable to reach Victor's shoulder, grabbed his forearm.
"The operative word being 'if.' I'm with him. That was unbelievably reckless, and you and Luxia could've both been killed. But we don't have time to worry right now, we need to move." Chamele said, pointing in the direction of the Ursa, where there were loud noises of cracking ice.
As if to further emphasize her point, Jaune, who had recovered from his fall with Weiss, pointed at the Nevermore.
"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we going to do?" He said nervously.
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said, indicating the Relics.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab a Relic and go. There's no sense fighting these things unless we have to." Ruby agreed.
"I definitely agree," Victor said, rubbing his head and wincing slightly.
"That thing packs a freaking punch. I doubt that ice will hold forever, for the Ursa or the Deathstalker, and I'm pretty sure that the Nevermore isn't much better. The Nevermore we may be able to deal with together, but I don't like the idea of having to fight all three of those things."
"Run and live," Jaune said with a relieved smile, "that's an idea I can get behind!"
The remaining pairs who hadn't grabbed a relic walked over. Ruby and Weiss picked up the remaining white knight piece, Jaune and Pyrrha took the white rook piece, identical to Ren and Nora's. Luxia and Nick decided to pick the other black knight piece that Victor and Chamele left. As Nick and Luxia picked up their piece, more cracking noises were heard, this time from the Deathstalker, which Weiss had imprisoned in a similar way to how Victor had trapped the Ursa. The sound of cracking ice began getting louder from the Ursa's direction, as it got closer to freeing itself.
"Time we left!" Ren said urgently.
"Good idea." Luxia said, eying both Grimm and the approaching Nevermore warily.
"Right," Ruby agreed, waving to the others and starting to run. "Let's go!"
Everyone followed after her except for a smiling Yang and Blake as the latter approaches her partner.
"What is it?" Blake said, looking at her partner.
Yang just stared proudly at Ruby as she leaped onto a boulder and motioned the group onward.
"Nothing..." Yang said after a few seconds, still smiling and beginning to follow after the group. Blake gave a small smile as she realized why her partner seemed so happy, and left after her.
A/N: Sorry guys, I know you probably wanted to see the big Grimm fight, but the chapter was just way too long, So I decided to split it in two. You won't be waiting too long for it, hopefully! Also, interesting fact, apparently I'm still growing at 19. I was 6'5" two months ago, now I'm up to 6'6". Who knows, maybe I'll end up as tall as Victor after all! Anyways, I've also had a commission made to one of my friends to draw Victor, Nick, Luxia and Chamele in the classic RWBY-end-of-trailer sign fashion. It should be done soon, and I'll post my DeviantART name in my profile when it's done. Alright, that's pretty much all the news I've got for you guys, I hope you all liked the Chapter! Please review, it would really help me improve my writing, and I'd love to hear from you guys! Have a good one, Victor out.
~VA