Chapter 11: The Thinnest Point
When Weiss had dismissed Harry, she was walking over to her training area, when she, along with the rest of team RWBY, heard that unmistakable howl. All four girls rushed out, weapons at the ready. The Grimm may have made them warriors indirectly, but they would not harm this world and force others down the same path
Getting outside, they heard the howl again, coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Rushing in, they realized they were on a very familiar path. This was the way they came when they first got here. The further they got, they started to see something unexpected. Dust crystals, growing right up out of the ground.
Weiss knew this wasn't natural, as Dust grew underground normally, then again none of this was normal. Still, moving on, they saw a very large pack of Beowolves. The whole team was scanning the clear the Grimm appeared in, and what they saw stopped them in their tracks.
60 Beowolves had appeared near the area they had came in at. Looking over the crowd, Ruby switched out for a cross clip, while the rest of Team RWBY ready themselves.
"Blake, take the right side, Yang take the left. Weiss, hang back and provide cover for us." Ruby gave her team the orders, and once her team gave acknowledgements to the orders, the little red reaper gave them the order to charge, and charge they did.
Blake tore the right to shreds. Gambol Shroud swung through the pack with ease, the beowolves stood no chance. and when they got to close to use the chain part, Blake simply switched to her blades. Katana and cleaver made short work of her part of the pack. She hadn't even needed to shot the Grimm. By the time her section was cleared, she was covered in Grimm blood, and her bow was lost, her cat ears exposed to the world.
Yang's section to the left, was almost nothing but ashes. A beowolf early on had gotten a piece of Yang's hair, and well, the beowolf, and most of the left side of the pack, were nothing but ash. Ember Celia had put in over time, along with Yang's semblance, to decimate the pack. and the blond huntress in training did just that.
The middle of the pack however, was not there anymore. Ruby had simply ran circles around them, Crescent Rose leaving them in bits and pieces. The Alpha, which was easy t see by its size, was saved for last, and Weiss nailed it with a well placed dust spell.
With the pack now taken care of, team RWBY could inspect the area, and what they found was, shocking to say the least. Dust crystals, growing right out of the ground. Weiss knew this wasn't right, as Dust crystals grew underground and had to be mined. Hence the need for Dust quarries.
Looking around, they found crystals of all types. Fire, ice, water, lightning, it was all here. This gave Ruby some ideas for weapon modifications, mainly for her student's, but that would be later. Right now they needed to get back to the castle and tell the headmaster about this. Dumbledore could use this in the fight against Voldemort, and Ruby could make ammo for the two teams, as she figured team JNPR might need some as well.
"Weiss, we need to head back to Dumbledore, but we need someone to stay here. Think you can do it?" Ruby asked, only to get a volunteer.
"I'll do it. The centaurs might not like a human in their woods, and I'm not fully human, so that should keep them off our backs, for now." Blake said, twitching her cat ears to emphasize her point.
"Alright. Come on, we need to talk with Dumbledore before some of the student's get their hands on any of this Dust." Weiss said as the group, minus Blake, headed to the old wizard's office.
They didn't need to go far, as all four heads of house, Umbridge, and Dumbledore, met them on the grass. The teachers wore faces ranging from shock for the heads of house, disgust from the toad, and Dumbledore was curious.
"Sir, we may need you to come and inspect something we found in the Forest. The rest of you can come, but don't touch anything. It's highly volatile." Ruby said, trying to emphasize the last part.
"Very well, you can explain just what it is you found, and why you look like it was raining blood on you three." Dumbledore said, trying to figure it out. It couldn't have been Death Eaters, and there was that howl, followed by large explosion like noise. That might explain it better.
"Just what is the meaning of this of this? We hear howls, explosions, and then you three turn up covered in blood? Where is the third one? she get caught in an explosion?" Umbridge said, disgust at these muggle-dressed girls.
The toad would find something sharp pressed into her back. "Talk about my teammate like that again, and i won't hesitate. Make my day." Weiss said. She was pissed at this toad for daring to talk about her teammate like that.
The other teachers, while wearing frowns at Weiss reaction, besides Snape he seemed smug about it, wouldn't mind injury to Umbridge. KIlling the toad would cause more problems than needed.
"Ms. Shnee, I would kindly ask that you put away your weapon. There is no need to make death threats to a fellow teacher." Dumbledore said, still following Ruby. "Now Ms. Rose, could you explain just what happened?"
"Well, our class had just finished, and we were doing some weapon maintenance in our classroom, when we heard that damn howl." Surprise was on the faces of the teachers. This little girl was one to never curse, and not one to be so angry it seemed at anything.
"Knowing what that howl meant, me and my team rushed here, and well, this was the after result." Ruby said, as they had finally gotten to the clearing, and it was drenched in Grimm blood. Parts of Beowolves were here and there, ashes mixed in, and some burned trees as well.
"Ms Rose, might i ask as to what warranted this amount of violence? It seems a bit, unnecessary." Snape, of all people, asked. He wanted to know just what caused what he wrote off as girls filling an adult's job to be killing machines. And effective ones, if the field was any evidence.
"Simple. Something from Home followed us, somehow. And it is needed. We leave any of them alive, and they would just come right back, with more. We almost ran out of ammo, at least me and Yang did. Thankfully, they also brought something else as well." Ruby said, being cryptic, throwing everyone but her team off.
"Just what is it that warrants this?" Umbridge said. She wanted answers, so she could report them back to the Minister.
"The Grimm. Soulless beast with only one thing in mind, kill whatever isn't another Grimm. It was a pack of beowolves that were here. we wiped them out for you. If left unchecked, they would overrun the forest, and then the school would be hard pressed to defend itself from these creatures. Theory wouldn't do jack against a claw." Yang said, explain what it was that they wiped out, and getting in a dig at Umbridge.
"You brought them here? How dare you-" Was as far as Umbridge got before Blake appeared, blade at the toads throat. "What did I tell you before? My head's already ringing from a knock to the head, your voice doesn't help. And we wouldn't bring them with us. Dust yes, Grimm no. Now, you will be quite, or so help me I will kill you." Blake said, about ready to snap.
"Lets all calm down. Now, Ms Belladona, you mentioned something called Dust?" Dumbledore intervened, before he had to find a replacement for the Defense position.
"Energy is crystal form. Its forming above ground somehow. Normally it forms below ground, and the location determines the type. Of course, the Dust mines are easy targets, and Father never cared for the workers in them. Cost him in the long run." Weiss said, explain a bit on Dust, this time without the bottle shaking.
"Why is this Dust so important? and why have we never heard of it before?" Mcgonagall asked. something like this Dust would have been useful in the hands of the Order, or a nightmare in the hands of Voldemort.
"Its not from this area of the world, and a well kept secret, along with the Grimm problems, back home. Both can lead to untold chaos in the wrong hands." Blake answered. A former White Fang member, she had first hand knowledge of what the power of Dust can do to a person.
"Now, with the explanations out the way, best thing to do is gather as much of this as possible and store it somewhere safe. All four of us use Dust in our weapons, and I'll need to make more ammo." Ruby said.
"Might it not be best to store it in your classroom, as it where you four sleep, and I doubt you would let a student get their hands on any of this." Snape suggested. The fact that this would help the girls threw the other teachers off, just a tad.
"I believe that is a splendid idea Severus. We will let the Professors Rose, Shnee, Belladonna and Long collect their Dust, and do with it what they need to. Now, lets leave them to do their work." Dumbledore said, getting the other teachers off RWBY's back. Even Umbridge couldn't respond, mainly because she didn't want to end up dead. The team just took it in stride waiting for the other professors to leave first.
"Alright, seeing as how the crystals are above ground, and in dirt, we should be able to pull them up without setting them off." Weiss said, demonstrating doing so. After that first crystal, it took the girls another two hours to comb the area around their landing point and find all the crystals. They had made quite a few trip to and back from the castle to gather it all.
After it was said and done, the team designated Weiss to make the powdered form of Dust,as the other three had no clue how to do it, and Ruby would need to powder form to make more ammo for the gun parts of Crescent Rose, Ember Celia, and Gambol Shroud.
It would be a long night for the heiress, and Ruby would still need to find a workshop to make the ammo, and the upgrades for the weapons her students used. With the large amount of Dust they had, Ruby could implement those upgrades.
AN: Thanks to Luke Dragneel for the idea of having the Dust show up. I was in need of a way to make sure the teams didn't run out, and this worked. Also, the Grimm will make a larger plot point, but much farther down the line. Also, thanks to everyone who has read, favorted followed, and reviewed. A couple of the review's I've gotten have helped to shape some of the events in this story, and i would reckon made it better. Thank you, and this Lone, signing off. (Time Stamp: 4/24/14)