Death from below
"How 'bout a cute little pony?"
Blake rolled her eyes at her partner's enthusiasm. "Sure."
Yang wandered closer. "So now what, we go back?"
"Well, I-"
"SCREEEE!"
"Mother of Oum-"
"This was a terrible idea-"
The two turned to the tree line, where two people were pelting towards them, followed by a...
._.
Diablo panted, sliding to a stop at the ruins before looking back to where Kindle was following at a far slower pace. "Get moving, fireface!"
"Exercise...isn't... My strong suit." Kindle growled back, reaching him just as the Nevermore that had been hunting them since they met launched a hail of feathers. She grimaced, readying her staff, but a flurry of concussive blasts intercepted the worst of the attack. From their source: "Did those two just outrun a Nevermore to get here?" "I..."
"Whatever you do, don't shoot the bird." Diablo panted. "There are people on top of it."
Yang blinked. "What? Who would be crazy enough tooooh my god Ruby! Get down from there!"
From the top of the circling Nevermore came a muted "Okay!"
And a small red blob detached itself from the giant black bird.
In a vaguely surprised monotone, Blake asked "Did your sister just jump off a flying Nevermore?" "I..."
"Heads uuuup!" Ruby plummeted towards the ground, and the world seemed to slow as she grew closer... And was intercepted mid fall by a gangly blonde who rammed them both sideways and into the trees.
"Hey Kindle." Diablo asked. "What are the odds of two people on random fall vectors colliding in mid-air?"
There was a high pitched scream as a white blur began to fall towards the ground. Diablo recognised it as Weiss, that one girl who-
A blur of white, brown and (pogo stick?) crashed into Weiss, sending both into the opposite tree line.
"Uh... What are the odds of that happening twice?"
"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Screamed the blonde one.
A kid in a blue jacket was carefully deposited beside the group by a large white hand. "Oh, believe, me, the readers have no clue either." He stated, boredly.
Diablo spun on him. "And who are you?"
"I'm Mire. My colleague is Tiram."
"Your who?"
The brown and white blur had detached itself from the trees and sprinted to in front of Mire, now rapidly sending off hand signs indignantly.
"Did I say short-cut? I meant vantage point." Mire replied to the not-speech. "What, you thought I could wander in the wrong direction and just end up here? Yeah, so did the readers...Yes, I did throw us halfway across the forest, but so did the headmaster."
When a giant Deathstalker crashed through the nearby trees after a spartan looking girl, Diablo twitched. "Alright screw this. Pogo, magic hands, you're with us. Kindle, grab two relics, and don't look so indignant about it! We're gonna go kill a Nevermore. Blondie, your little posse can take the scorpion."
Crash. "Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" "I..."
"And We're Leaving NOW, Before This Gets Any WIERDER!"
._.
The four ran towards the cliff, where a ruined bunch of pillars climbed partway up the precipice.
"Mia!" Diablo yelled. "Lob a tree up there, Kindle needs something to set on fire!"
"Mire is spelt with an I-R-E, and I'm on it." Kindle jumped onto a small oak as a giant white hand uprooted it and dropped it onto a tall stone platform. The Nevermore swooped in, launching another flurry of feathers. Mire nodded at Tiram, who leapt up to a vantage point and began blasting the missiles from the air. Mire then boosted Diablo up to the ruins, before lifting himself. Diablo grimaced as he looked at the giant circling creature. It was a lot bigger than the one at the riot. "Aim for it's wings!" He called. "Damage them and it crashes."
Kindle set the tree alight, Diablo knelt down and hefted the flame sheath over his shoulder, Tiram braced against a pillar and raised all four limbs, and Mire conjured a half dozen bones.
Then they all fired.
The Nevermore flew directly towards them and was struck by a hail of attacks, it squealed as small gashes appeared on its feathers. Then it was upon them, and Mire smashed a glowing hammer-fist on it's head, causing it to crash through the pillars beneath them. Their platform crumbling, the group were forced to execute jumps and leaps to land on the lowest stone platform as most of the ruins collapsed around them.
"Diablo." Kindle growled. "Better plan, please..."
Diablo looked at the Nevermore, which had landed at the bottom of the cliff before them, screeching in defiance. Squinting... Diablo could just make out...It's skull plate's cracked...
"Alright!" He yelled. "Better plan concocted."
._.
The Nevermore flapped its wings, attempting to return to the skies.
But it couldn't. It looked down, beady eyes searching for the source of the problem, and saw a large white hand gripped around it's tail.
"Move fast." Mire growled, undamaged eye glowing as sweat broke out on his forehead from the effort. "I can't keep this up forever."
The other three charged forwards. Diablo blasted ahead of the others, drawing his lightning blade, and in a flash of light carved his way up the stomach of the Nevermore. Reaching his peak just above it's head, he slashed at the bone skull, widening the webs of cracks on it, before leaping backwards, just as Tiram leapt in on his stick. Landing on the skull of the Nevermore, he gave it a wink, and fired, blasting himself away even as the bone skull shattered. The Nevermore howled in pain and shook it's bare head, but was unable to escape, as Mire, with a Herculean effort, also pinned it's wings to the cliff with bones. Diablo landed on the ground and knelt, as Kindle jumped onto his back. Standing, he propelled her upwards, providing extra boost with a shot from the wind sheath.
And Kindle, a trail of flame behind her, jammed her staff into the Nevermore's unprotected head, and channeled fee into it's brain. The creature spammed, feathers catching alight from the heat of it, and it's head exploded, the body, no longer supported by Mire, crashing into the distant ground.
The team regrouped at the bottom. No one spoke. Until. "So...How do we get back up the cliff?"