Setting: Ravine
The air was cold and the world was still. The cavernous ravine was quiet and empty save for the few who stood high atop its walls. Perched above and looking at the ground below, Zinnia and Brenton were scanning the area, making certain their target wasn't on the move.
Arriving three hours ago, The Paragon made sure to keep tabs on the Grimm they've been searching for.
Stay out of sight. Don not engage. Those were her current orders.
They needed to hide their presence. After hearing the rumors about this Grimm, a battle at night was not what any of them desired. Zinnia thought they were lucky enough to find the Grimm's location. Now, they just had to wait until daybreak which wasn't too far behind.
Her eyes were focused on the maw of a cave where the beast resided until she felt her scroll vibrate. She pulled it out of her pocket.
'Is our shift over yet?' Brenton texted her. Talking could stir the Grimm so they messaged each other to communicate.
She rolled her eyes. 'Almost. One more hour.'
That was what she sent, but the look on her face told Brenton there was more she wanted to say. He wondered but didn't pry.
'I'm only asking because it wouldn't be great for us to stay up till morning to fight that thing. Fighting while exhausted only makes the battle twice as hard. Even more, if all of us are tired.'
She understood what he was trying to say and chastised herself for thinking he meant something else. He asked out of concern, not laziness. It wasn't his style and she should've known that.
"If push comes to shove, Monochrome can clean up what we don't finish.'
"That's true. I just hope we can end this soon. I. Need. Sleep.'
This one made her curl her lips. At times, Brenton had his funny moments, but she couldn't risk an outburst. It could stir the Grimm.
"Only a few more hours,"
Inside the airship, the scene between the pair of Champions was being watched from afar. They could be seen from a window in the airship. A small smile on her face and a warmth burgeoning in her heart. Ebony watched her friends with Monochrome by her side. She adored it, but her metal monstrosity wasn't made for conversation.
The ravine wasn't much to look at, but it was peaceful, despite the horrifying Grimm that called it home. The Charming Vantablack doubted she'd ever return to this little spot. She was more fond of the new landmark.
The Glass Plains.
It was the area near Corona created by Zelts and Brenton's epic battle. While it wasn't vast, it served as a pretty place to see and visit.
Her thoughts were drifting again. She needed to keep her head straight for the mission. Eyes focused on the world outside, Ebony chanced a glance at something. A weird blur crossed the corner of vision and she sighed in response.
Now was not the time. It was the worst time for this to happen now.
Ebony ran from her position with Monochrome three paces behind. She couldn't let this happen. No matter how unexpected, she had to get control of the situation.
Outside, the lizard faunus kept his gaze on the moon, looking on with a gentle expression. It was peaceful, but his face turned rigid. He turned to his comrade, "Zinnia."
"I know."
Swiftly, the duo separated from each other, dashing away as something fell on their previously occupied location. What fell wasn't hard for either of them to discern. They've seen it before. The same large, brown, leathery wings he was so proud of. Former comrade turned enemy, Blood.
And if he was here…
Shiny particles began to fill the air and take up the vision of the Champions. It was too late. They were all here.
A finger snap and the particles emitted cold air before unleashing a whirlwind of ice. Brenton and Zinnia were able to get out of proximity to the ice storm, but they were still caught in the attack, partially freezing their bodies. Zinnia's whole right arm, her whip-sword, and her right foot were covered in ice. Brenton was further away so only his left arm was frozen, but he didn't waver.
A quick flash of Oathburner and flames wreathed the blade. The heat they released melted the ice with ease.
Zinnia didn't have his capabilities, but she was just as resourceful. With her semblance, she cloaked her arm and leg in her aura then expanded it, breaking the ice covering it. She retracted Armaments and sensed the incoming attack. She shot out the blade on her wrist device then swung it around only to feel it clash with something metal. Turning to her right, she found her adversary. Bianca had her Archangels on Zinnia's wrist blade, the bayonets holding of the larger weapon.
Brenton jumped back into the air to avoid a claw that erected from the ground below. Emerging along with the appendage was Ghost. This was going to be tricky for the King of Flames. His attacks and fire wouldn't be able to reach him. However, he could make it just as hard for his opponent. He released more flames until it danced around his body, cloaking himself in flames, protecting himself from any attack Ghost attempted. It would even ward off Blood.
They were in a stalemate, but Brenton didn't want to engage in battle. Neither did Zinnia.
The mission would be compromised in the worst possible way.
How could they diffuse the situation?
"This is not the best time for me. Could we reschedule this get-together?" Ebony requested with a furrowed brow and her lips in a thin line. This really wasn't what she wanted.
Standing at the inner threshold of her airship, just a couple steps away from the exit, was Ebony with Monochrome by her side and Clair and Azura in front of her. How did they get inside without anyone noticing? Clair's Enforcers were another group she couldn't overlook.
"Why? Right now seems like the best time to me," Clair retorted with an air of triumph.
Azura pulled out elemental staff and Monochrome viewed her as a potential threat. The machinery beneath its exterior could be heard shifting by Ebony and she was losing patience. She couldn't let things escalate, but Clair wasn't making it easy.
"How am I supposed to do this? Charm is out of the question. She's probably mentally prepared for it. Same goes for Azura... Maybe the truth will work,"
"If I tell you fighting right now would put us in danger, would you believe me?" Ebony asked, breaking her serious tone for a more level, reasonable one. She prayed her cousin would listen.
"And why is that?" Clair spat back, keeping her aggressive stance.
It wasn't a no.
"It's a good guess you know we're hunting certain Grimm, but this Grimm is very dangerous. We can't let it spot us."
There wasn't much, but Ebony caught the tiniest twitch of Clair's eyes. Her stalwartness was wavering by the smallest of margins. Maybe Ebony could salvage her plan after all.
Clair crossed her arms and had a suspicious look, "And what's going to happen if it does?"
"It will probably kill us all. That thing can't be fought-"
An explosion could be heard outside. How did it happen? Who caused it? The sudden boom sent Azura did not sit well with Azura as the Sky-Blue Warrior armed herself with her weapon and that sent Monochrome to defense mode. With its built-in jetpack, the droid barreled toward the Cobalt warrior and tackled her, carrying Azura through the airship's exit door, literally through it, breaking through the door and leaving a hole in Ebony's vehicle.
The Charming Vantablack couldn't find the words to express how upset and disappointed she was with everything unraveling like this. It was a given her enemies would come and face her, and she was ready for it, but this was the only bad time for them to come. And it wasn't even VRSZ! There were too many unknown variables for Ebony's liking.
Another finger snap and the Stardust particles ignited in flame, creating an explosion that covered the area in front of her. Bianca backed away from her own attack and saw an extended blade cut through the smoke and came for her. She nimbly ducked away from the blade's tip and rolled to her left while keeping an eye on Zinnia's location.
Never lose sight of your mark.
Ghost and Brenton danced around each other, making no wasted moves. Ghost used Purgatory to literally claw and swipe through Brenton's flames, but the intense heat was too much for him to bear and he couldn't remain tangible long enough for him to land a blow. The same could be said for Brenton. He swung his sword whenever Ghost attacked, hoping to land a blow when Ghost was tangible, but Oathburner kept going through him. They were in a vexing stalemate with no one giving an inch.
Zinnia had the short end of the stick in this fight as she had to battle Bianca and Blood. After failing to hit Bianca with her whip-sword, the Paragon opened her field of vision and found nothing. Instinctively, she weaved her head down diagonally, feeling a rush of air graze her fiery hair. In her blindspot, a fist came flying and it belonged to Blood. He missed his target and was feeling frustrated. She didn't avoid and didn't do anything else. Her right hand had her whip-sword as it retracted back to her and her left hand was bent till it faced her backside, aiming the wrist weapon's barrel at Blood's torso. She fired and a bolt of lightning hit him point-blank and Blood felt electricity violently run through his body. He was stunned and Zinnia dashed away from him and Bianca.
She tried to avoid conflict as much as possible, but it was impossible with this group. It was only a matter of time.
It was going to awaken.
Suddenly the sound of an engine echoed throughout the scene and Monochrome was flying above everyone with Azura in its arms. She used her dust tattoos to cover the droid's arms in as much ice dust as possible, preventing it from transforming its arms.
A weakness of Monochrome; the robot was created in Vacuo so it was designed to resist intense heat, but the machinery slows down in intense cold. A note from Onyx's blueprints.
Legs imbued with lightning, Azura kicked the robot in the face as hard as she could, knocking its head back and separating the two. She was falling but positioned herself so she was falling feet first. Changing from lightning to fire dust and small jettisons of flame erupted beneath her feet, propelling her upward and allowing her to fly. It was from this high vantage point, she could see the landscape, and more importantly, she sees what's coming to them. Her eyes widen in shock.
Zinnia was evading Blood's fist as her former teammate engaged her in close combat. To avoid his Paralysis, she made sure to block his blows with her weapons. Getting her movements slowed wouldn't end well for her. Even against a high caliber fighter like Blood, the Paragon was holding her own while keeping tabs on Bianca behind her. If the gunwoman entered the fray, she was ready to counterattack.
A fist was coming her way, but for some reason, Blood halted his action. In a flash, she gave him an uppercut that sent him back a couple of feet. She turned to face Bianca next, only to find something new on the scene. Something big, black, and terrifying. Brenton and Ghost stopped their battle when they saw it too.
On the edge of the ravine, towering over everyone, was a massive Grimm. It was reptilian in appearance with a long body and bones with red markings covering its head. Red frills underneath its neck and tendrils around its nose. The head and neck were all that could be seen by the warriors on the ground.
Azura was the only one in the air with a better view of the monster. The ravine was tall and the Grimm was large enough to climb it with ease. The body was long and it had two of each limb, including a tail which was slender and whip-like. Besides its head, the rest of the Grimm's body lacked bone plating. It was sleek and black with red markings along its back.
Azura had never seen a Grimm like this before. Her astonishment was interrupted when she was struck in the shoulder and the force was felt throughout her body. Monochrome returned and body-slammed Azura, sending her falling to the ground, crashing by the airship. The droid ceased combating the Cobalt when it detected the greater threat in its vicinity: the Grimm.
Ebony ran outside and cursed in frustration. This was what she wanted to avoid. "Why couldn't you just leave?!" she screamed at her cousin who stood behind her. All the calmness she had left her face and Ebony was truly enraged. Furrowed brows, flaring nostrils, and clenched teeth. Ebony was visibly infuriated. Clair has never seen this before.
"That thing can't be fought at night!"
Seeming to answer the question Clair was about to ask, Bianca used her semblance to send a thick cloud of Stardust the Grimm's way then snapped her fingers. All the particles crackled with lightning and consumed the Grimm ripping and scorching its body with bursts of lightning that left its face burned and the bone plating cracked. The reptilian Grimm wailed in pain, but something was happening with its body. The scars and burnt marks began to mend and repair themselves at a rapid rate. Even the bone plating was being restored back to its original state. All the damage Bianca just did vanish like it never got hit. The gunslinger didn't understand how it was possible.
The next to attack was Monochrome who released a volley of missile that hit the Grimm on its left, bludgeoning and exploding its arm and neck and making it lose its grip. The Grimm fell to the bottom of the ravine, but all of its wounds were healing. Nothing was damaging it.
"What kind of Grimm is that?" Ghost asked in confusion.
"One of the really bad ones," Brenton answered, clearly upset with the interference of the Enforcers.
"That Grimm can't be killed at night," Zinnia clarified for everyone. "No matter how hard or how quickly you strike its body, it will heal instantly."
"Which is why we were tracking it and not attacking it," Ebony continued with an edge in her voice, "It's completely helpless in the day. In bright light, it's extremely vulnerable."
Clair could feel the pit in her stomach grow deeper and deeper. This was not what she was expecting, but who could anticipate dealing with such a bothersome monster. Her hands began to tremble from uncertainty. "How long until daybreak?"
Ebony glanced her way and dryly said, "Three hours."
That's how long until sunrise, how long they needed to survive.
An ear-splitting screech was heard from below. The Grimm's bellow shook the airship and reverberated everyone's bones. It was angry.
Ebony pulled Trois Reines from its scabbard and walked forward. Clair walked by her side with her pen-sword. It didn't need to be said. This was a temporary truce until the biggest threat was taken care of. The Enforcers and the Champions understood as well. Everyone needed to stall for three hours.
Zinnia took the lead. She rushed to the edge of the wall to see the Grimm was on the ground and getting up. Its blood-red eyes went directly to where she was and is focused on her. It had every intent to fight.
Its large body betrayed its speed as the Grimm was moving quickly. It was already scaling the wall and halfway to their location. The Paragon lashed her whip-sword across the gap until it pierced the wall opposite to hers and leaped off the wall. She swung through the air while keeping a tight grip on her sword's hilt. She watched the Grimm almost reach the others who began to take action. She aimed her bracer at the Grimm with the barrel pointed at it and fired five burning projectiles that were like cannonballs. All of them hit their mark as the Grimm's back was bombarded. The pain was fleeting as the darkness of night healed its wounds in an instant.
She couldn't harm the Grimm, but her little attack did grab the reptile's attention as it turned its head to her.
"Perfect,"
Soaring through the sky was Blood who dove down to the Grimm. If they needed to stall, then his abilities were the most needed. As he flew, the bat faunus felt something move past him at high speed. He found Monochrome with nodes appearing around its body. It tackled into the Grimm and it was strong enough to knock the Grimm off the wall. It fell to the ground again with Monochrome on its neck and the nodes surged with electricity.
To everyone still atop the wall, they saw a bright light, electricity running wild, and heard the Grimm shriek.
Undaunted, Blood continued his path, watching the Grimm grab Monochrome with one of its arms and slam it into the ground. It was too focused on the robot, so Blood swooped down and began striking its body, rapidly delivering Paralysis. After many blows, Blood flew away from the Grimm to see the results of his work. It seemed to take effect as the Grimm's body appeared to be slowing down. Even the whipping of its tails was sluggish. Its body was slow, but it didn't weaken its grip on Monochrome who was pinned down. It did, however, give the others time to fight back.
Azura flew down with fire beneath her feet propelling her toward the Grimm. She landed on the ground and used the ice dust in her wrist to create two ice javelins. She hurled them at the Grimm and pierced its neck with both. It was moving slowly, but it started to yell. Azura approached the Grimm while it was slow, but she learned something terrible.
The darkness of night was healing all of its wounds, including its aliments. Paralysis wore off in a few seconds.
The Grimm whipped its two tails and one of them smacked into Azura. She was sent flying several meters before she started sliding on the ground and finally stopped. She felt humiliated for being the only one taking heavy hits. Blood went back to check on her, feeling pressured learning his semblance would do little good here.
Stardust particles surrounded the Grimm and Bianca used snapped her fingers, transforming the particles into a violent blizzard that covered the Grimm and everything in its vicinity. The ground and walls were covered in ice and snow. The Grimm stood with its jaw wide, but that's all it did. It was frozen solid with Monochrome still its grasp and frozen with it.
No one moved closer to the sight. Zinnia landed at the bottom of the ravine and kept her eyes on the frozen Grimm. Was the ice enough to hold it back?
The two members of the Vantablack family remained on the cliffside, watching from afar until Ebony walked away. Her choice of action befuddled Clair who watched her cousin return to her airship.
"Where are you going?" Clair asked in confusion.
Ebony turned her head to Clair and quickly said, "To get insurance." Clair could only look more baffled at her response.
Ghost phased through the cliffside and shifted down it to reach the ground with the others. Bianca stayed above so she could use her semblance without the worry of being hit. She already judged this Grimm possessed no long-range capabilities and relied on its speed to close any gap between it and its enemies. Learning Blood's semblance had little effect made her worry even more. She was a necessity to slow it down. But could she keep using Stardust until dawn?
The ice began to crack and everyone got ready. Cracks covered the Grimm and with a flex of its body, the Grimm broke free, sending shards flying around it. No one moved from their spots and they waited for the Grimm to make its move.
The first thing the Grimm did was hurl Monochrome across the ravine until it crashed into a stone pillar, smashing through it and being buried under the fallen debris. Monochrome was extremely durable, but he had no aura.
Everyone kept their eyes on the Grimm, but it was still incredibly fast. It didn't run toward them, but the two tails extended toward them like vines. Its targets were Blood and Ghost. The former jumped back to evade the tail and used Spectre to let the tail pass through his body and hit the ground. Still, Ghost backed away as the tail took up a large majority of his body. As it attacked them, the Grimm sprinted toward Zinnia with its jaws wide open. The Paragon did not move or flinch when she saw the literal jaws of death come her way. She was too calm and for good reason.
The Grimm reached her, but it never clamped down. A huge orb of fire came hurtling toward them and it collided with the Grimm's head, burning it and knocking it to the side until it crashed into the wall. Zinnia confidently flicked her eyes to her left and found Brenton with a smoking Oathburner. He aimed his weapon at the Grimm while it was rocked and pulled the trigger, unleashing a large torrent of flame at the Grimm once again. He burned it mercilessly and with no sign of stopping. He continuously pulled the trigger of Oathburner, knowing it was healing as it burned.
His flames began to consume the entire Grimm who howled for the longest time. The King of Flames watched his fire carefully for any sign of movement. Once he saw the flicker of the Grimm's body, he activated Boost and increased his firepower, changing them to blue.
It continued to scream even louder until it stopped. The flames still engulfed it, but it didn't make a sound which made Brenton wary. Suddenly, the fire all over the Grimm was moving, lifting off its body and levitating to a certain point. The Grimm's jaw was open and the blue flames were converging in front of it, forming a fireball no bigger than a person. The sheer concentration of fire in that small form disturbed Brenton and those around him.
Then, it swallowed the blue fireball.
The light from the burning orb could be seen every time the Grimm opened its mouth. It didn't seem in pain, it never seemed in pain, and its head was turned toward Brenton. He knew what was coming.
"Shit! Everyone get away!" he shouted for everyone.
Like in many fairy tales, the Grimm took a deep breath and spewed the blue fire it swallowed like a dragon. The flames covered the whole floor and were six feet high. Brenton cursed himself for his tremendous strength being used against them.
Ghost used Spectre and dove into one of the walls of the ravine, Blood flew upward to avoid the attack entirely, and Zinnia shot out her whip-sword, had it connect to the cliff and reeled herself up. Brenton didn't have the ability to avoid as the others did. Instead, he cloaked his weapon in flames and waited for the fires to reach him. The best he could do was counter fire with fire. He was ready to swing Oathburner but a wall erected in front of him, a glassy-blue wall made of crystal.
"That's the best a king can do?" Brenton heard from behind. A taunting familiar voice. The lizard faunus turns and he is stupefied.
Alexandrite stood there with crystals emerging from her feet. She stood with a left hand on her hip, the other holding her halberd, and her eyes changing to blue. She had a grin on her face that said, 'you owe me,' and Brenton still couldn't understand his predicament. Was he safe or was she saving him for herself?
"What the hell is going on?"
Alexandrite gripped her halberd and aimed it at Brenton. He guesses he had his answer.