Notes: Wow was this a project. It has taken me far longer to finish then I thought it would but I am fairly happy with the end result. This chapter is by far the most action pact I have put out to date. And that is across all of my works. If that is what you are here for then look no further. Anyway I would love to here what you think about this chapter so as always feel free to favorite and leave reviews.
The Mighty Jungle
"I George Bolt in case you haven't figured that out, have met many different types of huntsmen and huntresses throughout my studies and of course I have seen all sorts of weapons wielded by said hunters. Just about everything from a scatter bomb slingshot to a self-destructing helmet… yes a self destructing helmet. I know it sounds crazy on paper but you should have seen the thing in action it was amazing but I am getting away from the point here. I have never seen a weapon like Sophia's Sheila before and I can admit I am very glad their both on our side." George thought as he watched in awe as each of the rockets just launched from Sheila's back side zoomed over his head each seeking out their marks and striking one of berserk War Drums with deadly precision. On impact the rockets released a powerful dust based explosive charge instantly burning away lairs of fur and flesh and causing whole body parts to be blown off their hulking forms before crumbling onto the ground.
The War Drums lucky enough to have not been targeted by the first volley of rockets quickly zeroed in on the source of their brethren's suffering and charged after Sophia and her Sheila suit. "That's right boys come and get me!" Sophia shouted as her already spinning Gatling-guns became level with the approaching horde and a second later the Gatling-guns began to rain shell casings on the ground below while an equal amount of rounds ripped through the Grimm like a knife through butter. The only one of the Grimm resisting the assault was the larger Alpha with its thick armored body. The Alpha roared in complete rage as it leaped at Sophia. Sheila's arms moved into a defensive pose to block the alpha's attack as it slammed both of its heavy arms down on top of the metal arms. The force of the blow cracked the ground below Sheila but left the suit relatively unphased.
The Alpha began to pound its chest and roar while Sophia got Sheila back on balance. Then Sheila's right arm rose up for a counter attack when another War Drum leaped out from behind her grabbing onto her arm and pulling her backward. "What the heck! Let go you damn ape!" Sophia began shaking controls violently to swing the arm back and forth in an attempt to throw the Grimm off but its grip was strong and before she could shake it loose a second War Drum grabbed onto her left leg. "Ok now you're starting to make me mad!" She shouted as she began to rattle the controls even more violently. Then the Alpha slammed its fist into Sheila's cockpit knocking the suit off balance. "You won't take me down that easily!" She shouted as she reached out to grab onto the Alpha with her free arm regaining or balance. The Alpha roared in anger but before it could react, Sophia's aura flared and lightning shot out of her body in every direction casing Sheila's frame to erupt in an electrical discharge. All three of the Grimm in contact with the suit got blown back as the electricity shot through them. Sophia then charged directly at the dazed Alpha and slammed Sheila's massive fist into the skull of the Grimm shattering its bone mask and throwing it to the ground. She then slammed Sheila's heavy leg down on top of the Grimm's chest cracking its chest plating and unloaded a bust from her Gatling-Gun into its unguarded face blowing it apart.
Sophia then spun around to finish off the two she had thrown from her suit a moment earlier to realize that George had shaken off his stupor and had already done the deed. "Oh thanks for clearing up for me. But I could have handled them." Sophia said.
"Clearly, I mean your display just now was very impressive. It's easy to see now that you made it to your second year at Beacon by your own merits." George began.
"Of course I did. I am a genius after all! With my brains and Sheila's brawn we are invincible!" Sophia ranted while George rolled his eyes.
George cleared his throat to get Sophia's attention. "With that said I have I have a few words of warning for you. You're a bit too enthusiastic don't you think? And you seem to rely too much on your weapon. It may be very powerful but it's wasted if it causes you to become over confident and let your guard down. If you do that too much one of these days not even that suit will be enough to protect you. There is nothing worse then losing a fight you shouldn't have." George continued.
"Whatever, what do you know about me anyway? I mean really have you been talking to Robin? I am asking because you are starting to sound just like her. And just when I managed to forget about those traitors too…"
Sophia trailed off leaving George rather confused and very curious. He does recall her mentioning something about having a disagreement with her teammates. "Hey what happened between you and…" Before George could continue his question his head set began to scream at him as Ember's voice came through it. George couldn't quite make out what she was saying. "Hey Ember calm down for a second would you. Now what is going on?"
"Grimm… Lots of Grimm… It's the Black Wings!" The moment Ember relayed that bit of information George began to hear the distant rumble of large Grimm moving their way.
George quickly got back on the headset and contacted the rest of his unit. "All members of Team GEAR, RWBY, JNPR regroup we have incoming!" After that he was hit by a wave of "Rogers" and within moments Professor Bolt, Ruin, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren all came rushing out of the surrounding tree line while Ember came floating down from above to land herself on top of Sheila. Sophia didn't seem to care for Ember choice of landing spots but didn't vocalize it. George glanced over the group and took note of their injuries. None of them looked too roughed up giving what they just went through. He guessed they had Sophia to thank for that but he didn't feel the need to add to her ego. "Alright we have a large enemy force heading our way. As you know our main objective is to act as a scouting party. This means we don't have to get our hands dirty. The way I see it, we have two options. Option A, we take up battle positions here and we fight. Or option B, since they don't seem to have us surrounded yet is we get our buts out of here before they catch up. So what do you guys think?" George asks knowing full well what the answer will be.
Everyone with the exception of Ruin seemed to glance back and forth at one another before all speaking at once. "We fight!"
George couldn't help but crack a smile before he spoke. "Alright A it is! Now everyone I want you to…" He was interrupted when an unfamiliar sword entered his field of view from the corner of his eye. George dodged under the blade as it nearly took his head off. "What the fuck!" He said as he leaped out of his crouched position and turned to face his attacker.
A black clad figured in a black Grimm mask stud before him with a single Katana blade in his hand and another strapped to his back. The man seemed to let out a sigh before beginning to speak. "Oh drat looks like I have been spotted. And here I was hoping I could take you all out before the others got here. Oh well I should still be able to kill a few of you before then."
It took a moment for George to recognize the black figure but. Once he got a glimpse of the cat like ears on his head it became very clear. "He's the vanishing cat!" When George spoke these words every member of the group shook off their shock and readied their weapons. "Even for a faunus you would have to be crazy to come at us alone and make claims like that." He said as he drew his own blades and the two began to circle each other.
The cat faunus tilted his head in confusion. "Even for a faunus? I am not sure what you mean by that. Come to think of it, what are you? At a glance you look like one of us but…" As he spoke these words he vanished and reappeared directly behind George and began sniffing him. George spun around and took a swing at him but the cat disappeared before the blades could connect and reappeared back where he was before. "At a glance you look like one of us but, on closer inspection your nothing like any faunus I have ever seen. And you reek of human stink!"
George growled in anger before speaking. "That's because I am human. Or at least I was but, I plan to become much more then that though. I will be the first step in our evolution! Once we all evolve there won't be such a difference between our people! We will finally be able to understand each other and there will be no more need for us to fight!" When George finished speaking Ember face palmed and many others in the group especially Blake gave each other strange and confused looks.
The cat faunus then broke out in laughter. "Wow, you are some piece of work! And they call us freaks! Well I know one thing is for sure…" Before finishing his statement the cat reached for his second sword with his free hand and drew it and quickly flipped it so he was holding the blade upside down and went into a low fighting stance. He began to speak once again in a much more serious tone. "Ideas like that are far too dangerous. For the good of all faunus kind I will have to make sure I kill you right here and right now!"
Ember and Ruin both glanced at each other and they could both see the fury in the others eyes. Ember shot up from her perch and the bracers connecting her machine guns to her arms began to shift and rap around her knuckles. "Like hell we will let you punk!" She screams as she slams down on the ground where the cat faunus was just standing with enough force to completely fracture the ground below but the cat had once again vanished before the blow landed. "For the love of… Ruin, witch way did that cowardly snake run off to!?"
Ruins eyes along with the rest of the groups eyes quickly tracked back and forth for the slippery faunus in question. Ruin soon zeroed in on the target standing on a tree branch above them. He swung his weapon around and leveled it his direction before letting loose round after round each hitting nothing but air as he continuously shift back in forth without moving a muscle. The rest of the group also turned and a let loose a wave of rounds and rockets completely splintering every tree around them. After ward there didn't seem to be any sign of the black clad cat and Jaune Ark chose to vocalize the question on everyone's lips. "Did we get him?" Causing everyone to ether shrug their shoulders or roll their eyes and continue to scan the area.
Then Ruin heard a snarky voice behind him. He quickly spun around to see their opponent standing in the center of their group. "Well that depends on what you count as getting me. I mean if leveling an innocent forest is what you had in mind then sure you got me. But for the record I am no cowered, also it should be clear that I am a cat not a snake, you stupid baboon!" He said while motion towards Jaune and Ember causing Ember to snarl at him. He then turned towards Ruin and Ruby and a touch of quite fury began to creep into his voice as he addressed them. "Secondly I really don't care for snipers. Just something about the weapon doesn't sit right with me. It just seems so impersonal you know? I mean one day you're just walking along minding your own business then…" He said while extending his thumb, index, and middle finger to create the shape of a gun and pointing it at his head. "BANG! Just like that you're dead and you never even know what killed you! How is that any fun? Now these beauties..." He said while displaying his Katana swords in front of himself. "These swords right here, these are the only weapons of a true warrior. After all it is said that the soul of a samurai is held within his sword. I have never heard of a warrior's soul being within their scythe, or their hammer, or their spear, and certainly not their gun. You all carry around those fancy weapons but you have all lost your warrior spirit in the process. I will show you what it means to be a real warrior!"
"This guy is so full of crap that if we poked a hole in him he would probably explode!" Sophia stated before the monitor in the inside of her suit zeroed in on the cat faunus. The screen then read missile lock. "Dodge this scumbag!" She then let loose another volley of rockets all direct at the black clad cat. The cat grinned before vanishing into thin air once again. The rockets quickly redirected themselves as the target reappeared a few yards away.
The rockets quickly surrounded the faunus once again catching him off guard. He quickly swatted one of the rockets away with his swords and vanished again, and again, and again. Each time he teleported the rockets would scatter and continuing their case. "Smart rockets huh? Let's see how smart they really are." He thought to himself as he teleported right next to his attacker putting them right in between him and the rockets.
Sophia's motion sensors instantly picked up the enemy that just crept up behind her. And she could see the rockets bearing down on her along with the warning messages indicating this. "You think your so smart don't you, you stupid cat!" Her aura began to glow as she moved the controls to raise her hand in the direction of the incoming rockets. Right before they made contact electricity shot out from Sheila's hand creating a electromagnetic force field around her. The rockets all seemed to stop in their tracks as they made contact with the shield and she closed Sheila's open palm causing all of the rockets to cluster together into a ball. She then grabbed hold of the explosive sphere and spun Sheila around before throwing it at her enemy. "Take this dick!"
A look of shook came over Cheshire's face as he just barely moved out of the path of the death sphere. A second later the ball struck behind him and both Sheila and himself were engulfed in a massive dust explosion. Moments later a slightly crispier Cheshire appeared several feet away. He quickly dropped down on his knees and began gasping for air. "Monty that was close, was she trying kill us both!? What a crazy bitch!" He then had to jump out of the way as gun fire erupted from the smoke cloud that still covered the blast zone.
"Who are you calling crazy! I am not the one picking a fight they can't win!" The impossibly loud voice of Sophia shouted as Sheila appeared from behind the smoke. The suit was slightly burned but otherwise undamaged. "Isn't that right guys?!" She said as Cheshire was quickly flanked by the remaining hunters.
"Crap!" Cheshire shouted as he blocked a swing of Ruby's scythe with one sword while deflecting gun fire with the other. "I can't keep this up forever I need a plan!" He thought to himself. He then glanced over to see one person who hadn't lifted a single finger during this whole fight. The man was large but didn't seem to be wielding a weapon and was dressed more for a experiment then a fight. "Alright let's go with that then!" He said as he vanished and reappeared behind the man. The man seemed to notice his presences but did nothing to stop him as he pressed both of his blades to the man's throat. "Alright that's just about enough! Everyone stop where you are!" He shouted.
"Dad!" George shouted as he reached for his throwing knifes.
Cheshire noticed this action and pressed his blades closer. "I wouldn't if you want your dear old dad to keep his head!"
"You son of a…" George began.
Then Professor Bolt broke into a spirited chuckle. "Hey son look I am being held hostage! I guess that saying is true after all. There is a first time for everything! Hmm I thought that only applied when you were in college."
Confusion quickly came over Cheshire as the strange Professor spoke. "What the heck is this guy on about? Is he crazy? I mean humans in general are crazy but this is really too much!" He then noticed the man's eyes were now glancing back into his own.
"Listen here boy, once you get to be my age excitement like this becomes a rare treat. For that I would like to thank you. However if you really think I will be of any use to you as a hostage you are sorely mistaken." The Professor said while letting out a light chuckle.
"Is that right!? Want to test that theory!?" Cheshire screamed as he raised one of his blades preparing to stab it into the man's chest. The Professor just shuck his head before his aura flicked to life and instantly his body seemed to harden like a rock causing the blade to bounce right off. "What the heck!"
"It's my semblance boy. I can make my body completely indestructible but. It kind of makes my body really stiff so I can't really move when using it which makes it a bit useless in combat but perfect for watching Grimm and dealing with stuff like this." He said while chuckling.
"Crap on a cracker!" Cheshire shouted as he noticed the grin on the quickly approaching George's face. "Dang it, he doped me! Oh well no matter I have already won anyway." He thought as he clashed with George's blades. "Hey there poser, you really got me good! I will have to make your death painful to get you back for that one."
George and Cheshire's blades crashed again and again at increasingly quick speeds. While at the same time they spat insults at each other. "Like you can even hurt me cowered! All you have been doing this whole time is running away."
"I never run away, I just perform tactical retreats you stupid faunus wannabe!" Cheshire said before slashing at George's face and creating a small cut on his cheek as George dodges away.
George wipes the blood from his cheek and charges forward once again pushing aura energy into his blades causing them to extend. He then slams his blades into Cheshire with enough force to push him back onto one knee. "Oh is that so! Well why don't you make a tactical retreat right now huh?! I bet you can't, can you!? You must be running out of gas!"
Cheshire began to snicker to himself as he suddenly vanished. This caused George's blades to slam into the ground and making him stager forward. Then Cheshire appeared above the young huntsmen with his blades bearing down on him. "Don't underestimate me you dirty human!"
Then they both heard the scream of Ember as rocketed out of nowhere. "No don't you underestimate us!" Before ether George or Cheshire could react Ember rammed into George's cat eared attacker and slammed them both down into the ground. With Ember now mounted on top of the cat faunus she activated her semblance and rapidly increased her weight not only making her impossibly to throw off but making her fists much, much heavier. "I hope you are ready for some pay back!" She shouted as small thrusters on the back of her bracers began to fire allowing her to slam her fists into the faunus punching back below her that much faster. Cheshire of course braced himself for the impact and tried to block but it did little to reduce the savage beating being delivered to his face. Each blow causing his aura to flare and another piece of his mask to be broken off until finally his face was bare and she stopped for a moment to glance at the face of the monster below her. He had Black hair, amber eyes, a light complexion, and he very young. He is almost as young as her and her team.
The thought of them being so close in age was some what disturbing but it did nothing to quell her rage. He needed to pay for his crimes and she was going to make him. Ember raised her fist into the air once again for a finishing blow but was shaken when she realized that the two of them had switched locations. Cheshire began to chuckle as he spoke. "You called me a snake when we first met each other. I may not be a snake but I do get along with them quite well. How about I introduce you to one of my favorite!?"
"What are you on about where am…AHHHH!" Before she could finish a massive King Taijitu sprang from the forest and tried to sink its fangs into her. She fired her thrusters and leaped from off of the cat faunus and went into a defensive stance as the snake Grimm slammed into her. She stud her ground and slammed her weighty fist into the Grimm's jaw sending it reeling backward while the second head of the beast came around for another try. She went into a fighting stance to face the creature but soon found it unneeded as a pair of glowing aura blades soon sank into Grimm's head and pinning it to the ground. "George, how!?" She shouted in surprise.
"Hey Ember, that jerk over there teleport you both into the forest to get the drop on you. Luckily I followed your cent." While he was speaking the first King Taijitu head had recovered and was bearing down on George but quickly eat a dust rocket to the face finally putting it down. George looked back at the Monkey faunus in front of him that just saved his but. "Thanks monkey girl."
"You're welcome monkey boy. Now then let's finish this shall we!?" She said while motion towards the cat faunus who has no struggled to his feet.
Cheshire began to chuckle once again. "I am afraid it won't be that simple kids. It's a shame I couldn't kill you myself but your time is up!" At that moment a clock looking glyph appeared below him and began to spin backwards. While the clock hands moved his injuries began to disappear.
"What the heck! He's a caster!?" George shouted.
"No, up there!" Ember responded while pointing upward towards a hovering Nevermore. On top of the bird like Grimm stud a small white haired rabbit faunus holding a old silver pocket watch.
Now that Ember and George were focused on the girl they could her small voice as she spoke. "What would you do without me you stupid cat. Now then let's get this over with so I can get back to my Mistress, haste!" When she spoke that last word the spell glyph around Cheshire switch direction and the hands began to spin rapidly.
"Prepare to die!" Cheshire shouted as he readied his weapons and charged forward at blinding speed.
George just barely managed to dodge out of the way when his headset began to scream at him. "This is Ruby of team RWBY. The enemy has us surrounded!"
"What!? How did they surround us!? Wait unless…" George puttered off as he glanced at the cat coming back around to attack him again. This time he chose to block the attack. George's blades clashed with Cheshire's causing sparks to fly from them. "You, don't tell me you had this planned the whole time!?"
"What, you're just now figuring it out!? Of course I wouldn't try to kill three hunter teams all on my own. But it would be easy enough to stall them long enough to let my forces catch up. You fell right into our trap stupid human!"
Meanwhile above the battlefield Alas looks down at the pair and shakes her head. "That cat talks to much, he should just kill that boy already." She then hears a rumbling sound and glances over to see a rocket heading straight for her. She then begins to swing her pocket watch around and chat some kind of incantation before releasing a energy blast from the watch to intercept the explosive. "Well that was quite rude!" She stated.
Ember hovered in front of her bearing her fangs. "You were not invited to this battle so you're the rude one here. You got in the way of my fun time, so I will have to pay you back for that."
The rabbit faunus sighed before opening her watch to check the time. "Alright if you insist but, I don't have much time. Witch means I will have to make this quick."
"Don't worry, it will be!" Ember shouts as she slams her fists together.