Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, RWBY or anything else I may reference
Magic and Remnant
Chapter 10
The Kingdom of Vacuo
"I hate this place" Qrow turned his head amusedly to see his companion as they walked over the cracked yellow sand floor, the kid had just spat another set of sand out of his mouth as he looked towards the ground. The previous night, Nat had ensured that he enchanted his jacket and clothing to stop sand from hitting him, however, that didn't extend to his head meaning that the sand still blew in from the ground and blew itself happily into his mouth. In all honesty, Nat was grateful that he carried sunglasses with him as he doubted he would be able to go for long without having to keep up a magic charm around his entire face as they made their way through the dust capital of the world.
"It's just part of the culture here" Nat gave no reply as he kept marching through what was supposed to be a city, in all honesty with the design of the buildings he couldn't help but keep thinking that he was in the East during the times of the Crusades. Luckily, there was no city that was being fought over for an imaginary friend this time, still, the area was rather hostile to human life, at least compared to the nice green land of the U.K or Mistral. There he wasn't required to keep spitting sand out of his mouth every few seconds, he was honestly beginning to wonder how soldiers from his home country and the U.S were able to handle such deplorable conditions without the use of magic.
And despite him not doing anything to try an attract attention, he was definitely getting stares from the local populace consisting mostly of disapproving looks and anger to the occasional, of friendliness that emanated from the odd Atlas soldier or two. Not that the Atlas presence here surprised him much, Dust was the equivalent of oil here and had to be protected to ensure that it didn't keep getting stolen. If Atlas didn't have the dust shipments coming than the entire kingdom would likely collapse as they had no reserves due to the sheer amount that they kept burning,. Added with a large amount of Faunus in this kingdom, there was a definite fear to the government that if Vacuo was to turn against them then there would be serious trouble back home.
So there were soldiers deployed, not much, definitely not the amount needed to keep the peace in a lawless kingdom. However the soldiers here were located to protect the Schnee Company mines which were an ultimate lifeline to Atlas, Still, soldiers needed something to do when not on duty and so they would occasionally head over to the city of Vacuo for whatever reason. With their relatively light complexion, it made them stand out compared to the others allowing for children of the workers from Atlas to be located easier where they would then likely be picked on due to greater wealth.
As such with his own lighter complexion, there were looks of greed from some of the locals, were likely trying to figure out how much he owned and if he was worth attacking. However, they were holding back, most likely due to the mix that he was armed and the fact that he was accompanying a huntsman. Not to mention that unlike some of the Atlas children he had seen, his clothes didn't look expensive but rather average cost belonging to that of either a working-class or middle-class family. He certainly had nothing of value out in the open like rings or necklaces, he had always been wary of showing off his wealth, as he would rather not have the trouble and preferred to save it for when he would need it in the future.
Still, he kept his eyes flickering back and forth between the many residents, his hand never moving far away from his blade as both a warning and to be ready in case of an attack. Qrow, on the other hand, didn't have this problem of suspicious looks, his skin tanned in the sun not to mention there was the odd bit of sweat on the man as he was still accumulating to the difference in heat alongside wearing lighter and more colourful clothes.
As for their current destination, the Schnee mines were a bit of a distance away from Shade Academy and would, therefore, require a vehicle to reach if they didn't want to be suspicious. While there were a few birds flying overhead, Nat wasn't sure if crows were a common bird to deserts not to mention the fact that the man hadn't visited the Schnee mines before so there was no chance of apparating to them. Also, they were trying to be discreet and if people started following them than it would be disadvantageous to allow possible spies of Salem to know about his ability to apparate, something hey would gather quickly if they kept appearing and disappearing in places so rapidly.
"How did your night at the Pub go, you were late last night" A grin spread among the mans face as Nat forced the man to think about the incredible joyful experience he had gained the previous night when the kid had shut himself off in his room playing with that computer of his.
"Oh it was beautiful, you see there was this redhead with bright green eyes and her shirt had the top three buttons undone, oh and the things she could do with her mouth" Rolling his eyes internally, Nat would have preferred to have gone to their destination in complete and utter silence except he had a feeling that they needed to put up a false front in this location.
"I see your night was enjoyable then" Qrow chuckled once again as he glanced down at his younger companion, it was somewhat funny how he sounded similar to Goodwitch, not entirely the same, he wasn't as strict in tone nor as disapproving, but he also didn't seem to act as normal child should do at his age. If anything the kid was mature especially for a person who had only recently come into the Huntsman business. Normally that type of maturity was saved for people who lived outside of the kingdoms due to the laws of nature being that you grew up fast, or you didn't grow up at all.
"Oh it was the best, what about you though, there were a few lively ladies when we went downstairs, did you enjoy the night with any of them. You do know that without a council there aren't any laws of consent right, you could take advantage of that and enjoy yourself, not to mention in this heat sex is a brilliant way to relieve stress". Nat for his part just kept looking left and right, reading the very surface thoughts of everyone's eyes he met attempting to find anyone who was too interested in the conversation they were having.
"No I have better things to do than waste my time on such an activity" Qrows ace made a look of shock horror, he made a few steps back as if the teenager had said something that had grievously offended him to some deep level. After that, as Nat expected came the man speaking in a mock offended tone.
"Waste your time, how can you waste your time at sex, believe me at your age I was finding every single hot girl and could and bringing her back to my bed and waking up Raven whenever I could" Nat considering the mans past, didn't know if he actually wanted to look into the man's memories of the subject, having been in a bandit clan for his early life there was no telling what he might have done to his victims when he was younger and stupid. "You're a teenager, fourteen you're supposed to be finding girls and going on dates and having as much fun as you can, do you know how many teenagers just come to Vacuo for that very purpose. Besides, do you even know the utter joy you can get from having a good busty woman and absolutely"
"I get the picture, as for your question, no I have never once thought about it besides when I was first educated about the subject or when somebody else mentions the topic in conversation. There are far more important things to worry about when a person is young such as their education if one fails that then they shall doom themselves for their entire lives. I would rather throw my youth away to set myself up so that I am in a strong position in the future rather than wasting by rushing off for only some momentary pleasure. As for the question that you are inevitably going to ask, No I have not and am not interested in sex point blank. So do not try to set me up with someone for your personal enjoyment".
"Spoilsport, you need to lighten up a little, make some friends drink some booze and find somebody to have fun with. You're too young to be all serious and grumpy" It was said jokingly as if to try and tease the kid even more, but it didn't do much as the wizard just carried on walking his eyes every darting too the many residents of this sandy kingdom. He had far more important concerns at this current moment than sex or fun, he was on a different planet with very little. There were no documents of him which could prove problematic at the problem, he had little in terms of cash to sustain himself, and there was nowhere he could really go to, that might be able to try and put himself into a kingdoms systems and give him a full education enabling him to progress further into whatever career he wished. It was why his book was so important; it would hopefully provide a steady source of income for him in the future if things went poorly. The other reason was to try and subtly suggest some military tactics to Irownwood, without a modern war they relied more on the line and fire technique of musketry.
After all, he didn't plan on being a glorified mercenary forever, Remnant unlike Earth had lots of free land which could just be taken and lived upon due to the Grimm. If he so wished, then he could find a nice spot in the mountains or something and makes himself comfortable with no one interfering, it was the same with most of the land as the kingdoms just did not possess the power to police them effectively. As seen with Mistral where while there were many towns, they were essentially city-states, therefore nothing was preventing him from in the future once he got more used to this world creating his own.
Plus despite his current allegiance with Qrow he wasn't too sure if he would keep it forever, Salem was a threat there was no doubt about that, but he wasn't the type to be permanently a part of secret organisations designed to protect the planet. Being a Huntsman was an extremely dangerous job that involved hunting what were essentially demons for life, it was something for young and fit people but not for when a person got older. He had his future to think about, and trudging through the mud day after day just wasn't one of them. Still, though for now, he would work to become a huntsman, at least for the education, the money and the ability to explore the world allowing him to learn more about it and give him vital information for the future when he did decide to eventually retire.
Perhaps he could even start creating his own personal home sooner rather than later, There was bound to be a lot of prime real estate in this world. All he would have to do is find it and start building whenever he had free time. He wouldn't have much trouble with anything due to magic, and anything he needed to pay for could be sorted by the cash he earned by becoming a Huntsman. With apparition he would never be too far away from home, also if it was needed as possible future home could act as a safe house for him and perhaps Qrow and Ozpin if things went incredibly poorly in the future. Yet he knew he couldn't just pop off now and go exploring for a nice place to plunk a house down, he needed to stick to Qrow in the meantime and get to a certain position with his book. T was a nice idea though, one that he would have to look into more when he had any free time. The idea of being that lone wizard in a tower on top of a mountain was somewhat amusing.
"I think we need to focus more on buying those apples don't you think" Perhaps Nat thought, that some people would consider him incredibly paranoid by not saying directly where they were heading, but he didn't care not in a place like this. The purpose for their visit was to deal with an information broker in the Schnee dust company who was giving information to the White Fang who was then using that info to attack Schnee trains to take the dust and use it for their own purposes. While there was no definitive proof of the White Fang working with Salem, if the Grimm woman was as cunning as Ozpin said she was, then the woman would likely try to use them in some sort of way to achieve her plans one of which seemed rather obvious and had to be dealt with as fast as possible.
With the Faunus of this world ostracised and treated how they were, it was to be expected that something like the White Fang would eventually spring up, using fear and attacking humans to try and achieve their goal. Just like how when a terrorist group attacked people back on Earth it caused the attacked people to foster large hatred against the group doing the attacking, however unlike back home where the leader of the country was visible and elected, the leaders of Remnant were not. The minority would always represent the Majority and that was true of everything, after all with world leaders one person which was a minority of people would represent their country which was the majority of their people. It was where opinions came from, since when one person did something major like attack other people that were a representation of their entire people and how they would be viewed. It was the same with the Irish in Britain during the troubles, the opinion changed heavily against them, however eventually with time, the most hated group would always change when a new group took up the mantle.
The White Fang was that current group in Remnant, they were turning the humans and Faunus to hate one another. With hoe bad emotions brought Grimm to places, that was an incredibly deadly weapon. What was worse, is that if they worked with Salem's agents than they could deliver precise devastating strikes that could lead to a massive war leaving Salem in a far stronger position to do what she wanted. The White Fang was a dangerous group to be allowed to exist, with her desire to blow up the Huntsman school they posed a massive defence risk to the world that had to be dealt with. Except Nat knew that the White Fang would be unwilling to talk to and come to a peace, not with people like Adam Taurus who a lot of the White Fang had a healthy respect for. No, he would wish to enslave humanity at best and commit a holocaust at worst.
To stop Salems plans, the White Fang had to be destroyed before it was too late else they would face a massive risk in an upcoming war. The only problem was that certain people would have to be killed first, and he wasn't sure how well he could handle Adam Taurus especially if the man had warning. Rather Nat knew he needed extensive training and the support of not only Ozpin but also of Ironwood to hunt them down and eradicate them from the face of the planet. It was a shame it wasn't earth if it had been then the U.K and the U.S would have already started giving free air shows with courtesy high explosive devices dropped from the air to deliver to all the good terrorists. It would likely be effective against the weaker level grunts of the White Fang but he didn't know about leaders like Adam Taurus.
Aura was as much of a hindrance as it was a help if the man didn't have aura than it would be an easy victory for Nat, a single spell to one of the man's arms and he could kill the man easily with explosive spells. But with a protective barrier, it got harder as it gave the man a lot of annoying protection that could give the man the ultimate advantage in a fight. There was no way of knowing if the Faunus would be able to shrug off powerful spells and if he did then it got a lot harder, still, he would find out in the future. For now, though his and Qrows goal would be to try and hide the White Fang as much as they could without drawing too much attention to themselves.
Soon enough, Nat and Qrow eventually reached the vehicles on the edge of what was supposed to be a city, something that was made even more obvious by the increased amount of sand spitting Nat was doing, he really hated this blasted kingdom. The car wasn't anything fancy, it wasn't like what Nat had expected with it being some type of land rover variant or something that variety but rather what appeared to be just an ordinary car that one would fin in the city. For some reason the very thought of having to drive through the desert in this rusty dented sand covered vehicle made him think that he could hear the words of three certain pillocks nearby.
"On Top Gear Tonight" Jokes aside, what made the people of this kingdom honestly believe that such a beaten up vehicle would be the appropriate car of choice to go speeding around a desert to get to places, quite frankly it was just made and a sign of just how poor Vacuo really was. If he was honest, Nat was of the opinion that the entire kingdom should just be torn down entirely and rebuilt, since at least that way there would be a semblance of a Kingdom which was supposed to be safe from grim and a harbour of civilization, rather than just some seedy town on the outskirts of the world.
He didn't say anything though as Qrow walked up to the owner of the vehicle and began haggling for the price of the car that was going to drive them to their destination. With it being a large desert and unbearably hot, it was smarter to make sure that Qrow did not get lost if he turned into a bird, not to mention the fact that Nat couldn't also turn into a bird and flap around the open sky, something which there was no guarantee of if he did ever become an anamagaius. With their current mission in tow, Qrow would need him just in case something went wrong, if the man was attacked and left for dead, then there was no certainty that the man would be able to call him using his scroll for him to pick him up in the middle of the desert. Finally, it had the advantage of getting the wizard out of that blasted place the residents called a kingdom.
Making his way into the front passenger seat, he stopped himself from giving a look of disgust at the state that the vehicle had been left in, obviously, the owner had no care for the vehicle and only used to shuffle people back and forth. However, with the car in its current state, he had no idea if the car would even be able to drive them to where Atlas mining headquarters were located. As he kept glancing around the inside of the car, he noticed a red stain on one of the seats, somebody had tried to go over it and hide it from view, but it was still obvious that somebody had been bleeding rather heavily. Turning his eyes towards the dealer, he managed to catch the dealers eye which was all he needed to invade the man's memories and discover the cause of such a stain. Soon enough the deal between Qrow and the dealer was reached leaving a disgusted looking Qrow to jump in the driving seat, he was still partly drunk and Nat knew he could drive, but he would allow the older man to take the wheel this time as they set off.
"Avoid the route the man gave you, he's in collaboration with some bandits, every now and again he gives the wrong directions so the bandits come and loot the people who paid for the car every now and again before returning it. I have the safe rout in my head so just follow my instructions" Turning his head to his apprentice, Qrow nodded his head, having been in the Huntsman business for a long time, he had grown expected to certain things, being ripped off was one for those things and was why he was very pleased that he had a kid who could read minds and act as mechanic everywhere he went, it saved him a lot of annoying time having to rapier things due to his semblance. Still, he was waiting for something to happen to the kid that would bring him out of commission for a while.
"Figures, I pay for the one vehicle which belongs to a bandit tribe, hey do you think you could sort this car out, it's disgusting". Bringing out his wand, Nat with a simple flick managed to clean the entire car while it was moving, getting rid of the stains and bad smell that had wafted from the old seats to sorting out the dents in the car to also repairing the thin rubber wheels that had not been replaced in who knows how long. As thanks, Qrow gave a polite nod before placing his booze int eh recently remade cup holder to his side while the wizard started to pout himself a cup of tea using magic much to the amusement of Qrows as he occasionally glanced his eyes to the floating cup of tea in front of his apprentice. "We're in the middle of the desert and your drinking tea?"
"Firstly I'm British, second Tea is mostly flavoured water added with some milk, thirdly what else do you suppose I should drink". It was said so nonchalantly that Qrow couldn't entirely believe what he was seeing, normally whenever he visited Vacuo, they either drunk alcohol or water, the first to try and forget their problems that were mostly caused by Atlas fucking up their once beautiful oasis and the second since it was needed to sustain themselves. The sheer idea of drinking tea, a drink that would have to be grown in places like Mistral and would be incredibly difficult to transport to Vacuo and drink it in the middle of the desert without a care in the world couldn't help but slightly solidify the stereotype of a typical Atlesian.
Atlas people always brought their luxuries wherever they went even if meant making them look obnoxious and extremely wealthy. Something which if he knew about the history of the British Empire especially in Africa since it was the closest thing that the British had compared to Vacuo would make a lot more sense. The only difference is that the kid didn't have a flag, nice men dressed in bright red coats and the most powerful navy in the world with him currently.
"Yeah, and how the dust does being British have to do with drinking tea everywhere you go, seriously I never seem to see you without a cup of tea. Don't you think you need to calm it down a bit" It was only after Qroqw had stopped talking when he realised what he said, Nat could likely blame the sheer heat of this place, unlike him who had magic to keep his body temperature down Qrow hadn't asked for such magic allowing the heat to affect him.
"This coming from a man who regularly drinks his own weight in alcohol" The calm look forced Qrow to blink before sighing as he looked at his booze and then towards the sun straight after he looked at the wizard with a bit of a bargaining look on his face as he realised that there was a threat to his drink. Seeing this, Nat applied a freezing charm to his flask so as to stop the risk of the booze warming up in the burning African sun, still it meant that he was forced to watch as the scenery around them was an endless yellow.
"So how are you finding Vacuo" It was about half an hour later when Qrow brought back the conversation, Nat had since moved to continue writing his books as he had nothing else to do. The sole road that they were on currently was worn and beaten with no foot traffic, at any moment Nat was expecting to see some type of camel out in the distance with some nomads, thankfully they hadn't yet.
"It's not my pick for a holiday location" The location of the mines were some distance from Vacuo, and therefore by extension, so were the offices they were trying to reach, something that was incredibly advantageous to the Schnee Dust Company. Vacuo did not like Atlas and by having the mines spread over desolate sandy deserts, it made it harder for protesters to gather and threaten the Schnee dust company and its profits. The workers lived on sight apparently in what were supposedly small barracks that happened to be under guard. If there was an easy way to access the Schnee mines for ordinary citizens than the company would have a crisis on their hands as the citizens of Vacuo would likely try to steal the mines away from them for their own personal use. Added to this the Schnee executives stayed far away from Vacuo and tried to put any money they could back into their own communities around the mines so as to prevent Vacuo from gaining enough money that would be needed to arm themselves. Something that worked well for defence, but annoying for two people trying to get to the company as they made their way over the blistering desert.
"Yeah well the people here are great, if you can survive hear kid then you're welcome, no shit about whether your human or Faunus everything is just about one's own ability" Despite the huntsman's respect for the people who dwelled in the desert, Nat just couldn't see it that way, rather he saw Vacuo as a group of people who refused to try and actively set up a government and proper kingdom, as they preferred to live in their what he considered to be less civilized society.
The people often complained about how Atlas took advantage of them, however, they never did anything about it, they refused to work together to create a more stable society that with time would be able to benefit them. With a unified government, they would be more of a threat to Atlas to the point of perhaps forcing the Schnee dust company change its business practices, their problems with a lack of medical care could be dealt by having a system similar to a national health surface. This wasn't the U.S where the sheer amount of bureaucracy, lobbying and large amounts of reservations from normal citizens could actively stop the creation of an efficient national health surface. If the people of Vacuo came together than a lot of the problems that a lot of the people could be dealt with, or lessened to a state where it would be more bearable for people.
Even if they didn't implement more social policies that were typically found in European nations than a single government could help sort out minor problems such as police and the defence of the kingdom and its citizens. Vacuo was not the U.S where most people argued about big or small government since most people of the U.S would still likely say that the government did have to play a role in the lives of citizens, even if it was only a minor one. Vacuo in his opinion desperately needed to unify and strengthen them if they wanted to survive the coming years since as of currently it was slightly above anarchy in the city.
From what he had gathered, physical strength was defiantly required to survive in this backwards kingdom, the strength to take from others when needed, the strength to defend oneself if they are attacked, the strength to intimidate or bribe. If one was weak ion Vacuo then they suffered and died or left, some would say it was a good thing but in reality, it was a terrible concept for the people to live how they were. With such a large emphasis on physical strength, it took away time that could be used on other vital subjects, such as education. If the people had the time to develop the solutions to problems with technology and science than everybody would be able to live better preventing mostly the reason for physical confrontation as there would be no need to.
In all honesty, Vacuo was worse than city-states were back in Ancient Greece, back then there was a strong government that dealt with problems such as trade, defence, education. It was due to this why the city-states managed to endure since the people knew that in general, they didn't have to be afraid of their own neighbours since they had what was equivalent of a police. Unless the people of Vacuo sorted out their differences and banded together then they would forever suffer and never regain the glory of that time when they were an oasis amongst a dessert. And until that happened, Nat was not afraid to admit that he looked down on Vacuo as a kingdom, compared to the other three Vacuo was a disgrace and should be considered a kingdom at all with the only reason being due to Shade academy. Rather Menagerie which while small was civilised and structured should instead be called the fourth kingdom.
"To each, their own" Qrow narrowed his eyes at that, he had heard other people insult Vacuo before due to its antic's, it was annoying that his apprentice couldn't see the benefit and the harshness of the people living in this warm desolate place. However, his thoughts soon turned to another matter, one which was brought on by the sound of a loud bang from what was supposed to be the engine. Soon before Qrow could even speak to his companion he smelt smoke, then he felt something incredibly wrong in front of him before he could leap from the window he felt that familiar feeling in his gut as he was seemingly forced through a straw landing harshly on the desert with a thump.
Boom
From his position standing next to Qrow, the dull purple eyes of the wizard drew his wand and aimed it towards the vehicle as it exploded into an orange and red fireball. Somehow the sudden explosion of the vehicle had sent the car skyward flipping mid-air spilling nice hot tea and Qrows flak hurtling towards the ground. Despite the car who had suddenly decided that it wanted to be a rocket, Nat focused more on the ground where the road had been, the tip of his wand glowing as he felt the dark and demonic presence of Grimm approaching.
Rumbling loudly, the sand where the road had once been, collapsed entirely, falling downwards incredibly quickly taking anything that could have been stood upon down a deep dark treacherous hole. It only got worse from there, a large white claw emerged from the recent sink whole, the large white claw with red highlights rapidly leaving the giant hole was held aloft by massive legs. Bright glowing malice filled red eyes were then made prevalent as the rest of the creatures black and white armoured body became apparent, which was soon found by another and then another until what seemed to be a whole colony began seeping upwards. In response, Nat simply turned to Qrow who had since stood up and uttered a few words to him.
"I really fucking hate your semblance"
"You and me both kid, You and me both" Instantly flashes of light raced out of the tip of the wizard's wand, hurtling down towards the dark creatures, upon coming into contact, the smell exploded with great force tearing apart the first death stalkers exposed head turning it into a bloody paste. Upon its fatal death the deathstalkers body began to fizzle into the dark substance that they were created off, before any of the other death stalkers even had a chance to recognise what had happened, more of the exact same spell had crashed into more of the exposed creatures skulls blasting them into meaty chunks that stained the sand red.
Nat refused to let go of any of the momenta he had gained, as he constantly hurled powerful blasting cruses towards the Grimm as they continued to pour endlessly out fo what had to be some kind of nest. These creatures were not as armoured as he had expected, sure their bone-like appendage protected them in theory, but having fought in the duelling circuit, he was used to putting more power into spells than a normal witch or wizard would. As such his spells cracked the boy armour and went straight through to the skin. He refused to waste time with other spells like cutting curses since they would waste time and the effects were unknown, therefore using a spell which as currently quite easily clawing its way through the monster's armour was the better option, even if it was rather gory.
Qrow for his part was also easily slicing and dicing his way through the deathstalkers as they advanced, with his extra strength and experience, it was easy for him to evade the large claws and stinger enabling him to thrust his blade straight into one of the eyes of the creatures and directly into their brain. When that didn't work though, he changed his target to the joints of the deathstalkers legs and sliced through them leaving it on the floor of which he would then cut the top of the creature's tail off so that it would drop and crack the hard skull of the Grimm and kill itself. Turning his attention back to the next, He saw that the creatures were still coming in an endless stream that soon found themselves either sliced by him or turned into a fine puree by his apprentice.
Speaking of which, the kid wasn't too bad in an actual fight, unlike when he was constantly thrown to the floor in a sword match due to his lack of proper training and experience. This time the kid showed his worth, he moved constantly apparating and then dissipating to give himself the best advantageous positions allowing his spells to blast chunks out of the deathstalkers from all angles and utterly confusing the creatures. It only got slightly more amusing, when the kid managed to turn himself invisible leaving jets of light coming from all over the place and striking the deathstalker's. It was almost like there was an invisible fairy of death who was making its way around all the bad little Grimm and leaving a little treat of a powerful explosion for their own personal pleasure.
Still, despite the ever-increasing body count, the Grimm were not dying fast enough, Qrow was forced to move back from his position to prevent himself from being surrounded the by the despicable creatures. As for Nat, he was doing the same thing with the distance to the sink whole increasing as he made sure that his flank wasn't left exposed for some lucky pincer. With what appeared to be a never-ending horde of Grimm, both fighters came to the conclusion that they either had to fall back to Vacuo or find a way to contain the current threat. An idea soon struck the wizard.
"Keep them distracted, I'll deal with the pit" Before the experienced huntsman even had time to object so such a plan, the wizard since apparated away, appearing over the entrance of the giant hole in the ground as he grabbed the deathstalkers attention. Turning his wand towards the sides of the hole, he unleashed powerful blasting curses on the sides of the hole forcing it apart with loud explosions like that of a heavy artillery bombardment.
An avalanche of sand poured from above, surprising the deathstalkers as the suddenly lost their grip on the hardened sand that they had been climbing. With the loss of grip, they fell down harshly, plummeting towards the ground thumping into other death stalkers all the while the deathstalkers above it crashed into the first group. Before the creatures had any moment to recuperate, however, the sand soon fell upon them like a tidal wave, smashing into their bodies beginning to bury them in a tight formation. Large amounts of squirming between the creatures were attempted but it was of no use as soon enough the entire sinkhole had been filled entirely leaving a dent in the natural area where some screams and noises of the creatures could continue to be heard.
"Great work kid, now lets deal with these freaks and then we can sort out our other problem" With a new sense of vigour, Qrow went back to his job of slicing and dicing the now stabilised number of Grimm with his blade as well as occasionally shooting them with the barrel that had been attached to his sword. For nats part, he carried on what he had been doing, targeting the heads of the deathstalkers, specifically the large exposed glowing eyes and making them explode due to magic, although as of now he was curious about something.
These Grimm were similar to dementors as in not having souls and generally attracted to dark emotions, in response to the first threat the Patronus charm had been invented and used to fend off against the demons of the magical world. It had at first been considered an incredibly difficult spell to learn, however, Harry Potter had learnt it when he was thirteen and defended off against a heard of the dark creatures. Since then the spell had become a mandatory one for Aurors, as such his father had taught him how to use the spell just in case. Of course, he had never once used it on a dementor since he had never encountered one or a lethifold, so he had no experience with using it under stress. But perhaps, if Grimm were similar enough to dementors, then perhaps it could be a useful spell in dealing with the creatures. The only case was, was that he hadn't had the opportunity to discover whether that theory would be true, he knew that magic did work on the creatures thankfully it would be a disaster if they didn't, but there was no telling if the spell would repulse the creatures or do anything more.
Dementors could not be killed, not by Patronus or killing curse, hell not even by nuclear weapons had worked when there had been a secret deal with the muggle government. They had placed a Dementor in the middle of one nuclear test when muggle Britain had been experimenting with nuclear weapons only for nothing to happen. Dementors for all the knowledge of the magical world were un-killable demons who could only ever be forced to retreat, something that was far from the opposite with the ugly but lethal creatures in front of him. Grimm could be killed in any number of ways, as such if a Patronus did work, then there was the possibility that it would kill the vile creatures especially against a powerful spell which relied on the power of the soul to protect oneself from attack.
He could always try the spell later when they had captured a lower level Grimm like a Beowulf, however, the Patronus charm would be of no use to him if it could only fend off one opponent at a time. He was a duelist, he had far more lethal spells in his arsenal for a one on one duel or fight to the death than a fancy blue light, no something like the Patronus charm would be of more use to him if it could fend off against multiple Grimm at once. Apparating so that he was nearby Qrow in case anything happened, he stopped his blasting curses and aimed his wand at the amassed Grimm and began to think on his past.
He wasn't sure that he possessed any incredibly powerful memories, he had achieved some things he was proud off, but nothing of a ridiculous effect that he could call upon. Happy memories of his sister popped up, the ones of her pride when he had achieved something great in his duelling career, her smile the words of encouragement, they were good and he could start to feel himself casting the spell. His wand began to emit the light smoke of the Patronus charm, however slightly tp his confusion the spell was not the colour that he had expected it to be. There was no beautiful light blue smoke that was being created, but rather that of a dark dull violet, it still glowed but it was not of the colour that he would have expected to see of such a spell that required powerful emotions to wield. Quickly it seemed to harden into that of a small shield in front of him however beyond that there was nothing else, just like normal, he couldn't get past a defensive barrier.
The Deathstalker didn't care about the strange glowing purple shield in front of the soul that it so wished to destroy, rather it just approached and banged its left pincer on the shield only to stop suddenly. Pain wracked through its body, unbelievable pain more than anything that could explain, like millions of scolding hot yet freezing cold knives had struck it. Soon it couldn't contain its pain as it screamed out in agony, staring in fear at the purple soul that had injured it so. As it did so, it began to panic, the pain was spreading rapidly through its body seemingly setting his entire body ablaze despite there being no sign of anything wrong, upon reaching its brain, the creatures dropped to floor dead, however instead of turning to ash and smoke as other members of its type did.
Its corpse instead seemed to glow with purple energy, soon it was encompassed, entirety leaving it as a glowing purple corpse before then the entire body disintegrated entirely at once leaving little sparkles of glowing purple in the sky like glittering confetti before vanishing one by one. Unfortunately, there was no time to admire the show and it instead brought the wizard's attention back onto the approaching death stalkers that he began to fire at with his normal repertoire of spells for this scenario.
It wasn't long before the battle came to a result as the bodies of the grim dissolved into the air, Qrow slipped his hand into his pocket only to stop as he couldn't feel the metallic container anywhere. Looking towards his partner hi panic, he began to search the ground with his eyes for the container only it was nowhere to be found. Seeing the problem, Nat silently cast a summoning charm. He expected the flask to fly in from the distance however he only watched as the container shot out the ground and smashed into Qrow's face like a rocket before landing on his chest.
"I'd suggest finishing quickly, we're in the middle of a dessert with a deathstalker nest beneath us, we need to move rapidly" The car that they had taken here was all gone, and any of the remaining parts of the car were also gone leaving no vehicle. Normally this would present a problem, however, it was a simple matter for the wizard to bring out a few marbles he carried with him and transfigure them from some hardened pieces of glass into a pair of horses.
The creatures weren't anything spectacular, definitely not the type that breeders would take, but they would do the job of lugging him and Qrow around. Especially since he then conjured some food muzzles around the horse's mouths and filled it with apples and water. With the creatures happily munching on some of the apples that Nat had bought earlier, the wizard then conjured some saddles onto the creatures allowing the two of them to sit comfortably, at least in theory.
"Uh kid, you do know to ride a horse right?" It could almost be considered a somewhat comedic thing as Nat shook his head slightly, he had never once ridden a horse in his life. He had no lessons or info on the subject and neither did Qrow. The reason he had created horses was simply that conjuring a fully functioning car hadn't been done before and he didn't have a clue how to do so, and he wasn't in the mood to try, as such horses had come to mind as the next best form of transport. Except neither of them had a clue on what they had to do.
Getting on the creatures was the easy part, Qrow with his experienced easily leapt into the air before landing in the saddle whereas Nat simply apparated onto the beast before promptly grabbing the reigns of the horse. From there, things got more complicated. Horses didn't have ignition switches or key he could turn and pedals to operate but rather they were a creature and had to be directed as such, not that it did him much good. Thinking back to the odd film he had seen, that had horses he remembered seeing that riders had flipped their leashes to get the creatures to move forward like a whip lost.
He didn't know if it would work, but still, he gave it a try, lashing the reigns to go forward, it worked, too well. Seconds later the horse bolted forwards, thankfully Nat had placed a sticking charm to the saddle so he wasn't thrown off, however, he wasn't used to this sort of thing and promptly lost control as the horse raced over the hot sand. Even if he was stuck in the saddle, he could feel every bump as the horse went up and down, soon enough he decided to abandon the plan entirely. A quick jet of light and he was met with a marble as it returned to his hand.
Screw horses, he didn't have a single clue how to control the bloody things and he didn't have the time to learn, rather he would have to use a different method of transportation, something which would be far easier to control. Images popped into his mind of people he had seen on the tv once, they had been using a parachute and some type of massive fan on their back to propel them forward, if he was able to replicate something like that, then perhaps he could move across the desert with more speed than a beaten up car.
"All right move you stupid animal" Qrow was not having the best time, after managing to get on the horse, he had not been able to move the damn thing. Unlike the kid who had bolted off over the horizon, his horse had stayed put munching on the apples that had been put in its mouth pouch for its consumption. At the rate things were currently going, it would appear that they would have no choice but to apparate back and use a new car dealer or for him to fly and return back to the kid with the memories he needed. "Move" With the intense heat above him, it was difficult to not get angry with the current circumstances, however, things quickly changed when he heard a sound in the distance.
It was a strange sound at first, however he was soon able to recognise it as the sound of propellers in the distance, this sound became louder and louder as it approached his portion until with a l=jolt of energy, Qrow witnessed some type of machine or boat fly upwards after a dune before then falling and landing on some type of black bag. After landing, the vehicle got closer and closer until Qroq could make out the driver of this strange vehicle which happened to be his apprentice as he slowed the vehicle down to a full stop directly in front of him.
"What is this kid" The vehicle didn't exactly look like a vehicle, there was the inside of a small wooden lifeboat, with a black bag that it sat on, finally at the back were two large propellers which was attached to the ship with a piece of wood and was seemingly driving by themselves.
"It's a makeshift hovercraft, should be better than anything else we have and far better than any horse". While it wasn't a professional hovercraft with all the electrics, the vehicle compared to anything else was incredibly easy to make, just conjure an empty boat add a bad underneath it full of air and some propellers stuck to the back using magic to power them and whoila, a fully functioning hovercraft that would let the two of them move quickly over the sand and reach their destination.
Qrow didn't waste much time in jumping in, compared to the horse the boat looked far more friendly not to mention he wouldn't have to control the damn thing instead he would be able to just sit down and relax. Seeing that the man was comfortable, Nat wasted no time in transfiguring what had been the man's horseback into a marble before restarting the propellers as he moved their makeshift vehicle to the Atlas dust offices, hopefully, Qrow's semblance wouldn't fuck up anything when they were there.