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The forest was quiet and peaceful as they made their way along the base of the great cliff, he and Pyrrha on the forest side while Ren, Nora and Brass walked on the more protected side, against the cliff. Brass had huffed when he told them to take that formation, and mumbled something impolite under his breath, but the others had heard the wisdom in his words and done as he said without much prodding. Whether that was really good or bad, Jaune couldn't exactly be sure just yet, but for now it was useful enough, as they needed someone in control of everything.
And Brass certainly wasn't going to do it, the crotchety old bastard.
"Y'all can relax, ya know." Brass finally rumbled after half an hour of walking, their eyes locked on the forest while the crotchety old man stared boredly ahead. "Ya hear the birds? Oughta mean there ain't no Grimm 'round."
"Is that true?"
"Sure is, Nikos." The man grunted, "Birds'll run when they see 'em, so-"
"Animals aren't afraid of Grimm, Pyrrha." Jaune cut in with a tired sigh, turning to shoot the old Hunter an unamused, agitated look. Turning back to the woods, he kept on, explaining, "Unless they fight for territory or something like that, which is pretty rare but does happen sometimes, then Grimm leave them alone. So animals know not to be afraid of them."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Arc has it on the nose." Brass sighed, throwing his hands up in surrender and then smirking thinly, like he was both bothered and pleased they'd called him out. Walking on, he said, "Good on ya for catchin' it, too. Did the other two dumbasses know, too, or was it just you?"
"Yep!"
"Only larger Grimm, who disturb the trees, cause birds to flee." Ren added as answer, his voice cool and quiet as always, "So watching them is useful, but only if you are hunting larger Grimm. Which we are."
"So then would their not flying away, but instead even singing, not be a sign of safety?" Pyrrha asked, resting her spear on her shoulder as they all walked and looking to Brass curiously. As if expecting him to answer, she added, "Sir Huntsman?"
"I dunno." The man shrugged, "What do you think, Arc?"
"Deathstalkers are ambush hunters, like you said, Brass." Jaune pointed out dryly, taking some small humor in the way the man's eyebrows shot up, "If it's been hiding for a while, then the animals would have started ignoring it already. Assuming they ever stopped. So we can't rely on the birds either way."
"Is that right, Sir Huntsman?" Pyrrha asked quietly, "Is Jaune right, and the animals don't matter either way?"
"If ya say so, I guess." He shrugged, "Ain't my damn problem, end o' the end."
"If he wasn't going to say anything actually useful, then why did he say anything at all?" Mort sighed wearily, the sound, as always, grating up his spine and sending goose bumps along his neck. After a moment, though, the sword added, "Unless… Maybe there's a point he's tryin' to get at-"
"Motion, in the undergrowth!" Pyrrha warned loudly and suddenly as she stepped into him and forced him back with the fist she had wrapped around the haft of her spear as his hands sought Mort Noire's hilt. Snapping her shield up and bringing her spear around to bear, she bellowed what he guessed was as much a warning as a challenge, "I will take the Vanguard! Let them break upon me if they dare!"
"Don't shove-"
"Jaune." Mort cut in, "Now isn't the time. Use her. You can see she wants to be used just like I can, so do it."
"Damn it..." But Mort was right, like he always was when it came down to a fight. Drawing Mort Noire he stepped forward, sword resting on his shoulder while he laid a hand on the Mistralian gladiator's shoulder. To her credit, she didn't flinch, so he ordered, "Nora, put grenades in the tree line. Ren, lookout. Pyrrha and I will be on vanguard."
"But-"
"There's no time, Pyrrha." He growled, pushing off her and stepping up on her shield side, "We argue, we die. Everyone, do what I say or take my job."
"...Righty'o, Big Boss! I got just the thing for it, too!" Nora crowed after a heartbeat, before a quartet of grenades whumped through the air, trailing vibrant pink smoke as they went. They ripped through leaves and brush easily, but silently, and after a second he turned to look at the girl in confusion. She only grinned, extending her hammer and leaning on it, the head resting on the ground, "Just give it a sec, Fearless Leader. Those were some o' my special 'nades."
"Special how-"
He was cut off by the lot of them detonating with a violent, electric crack like lightning. Turning, he saw a flash of trees, rocks and soil spraying out violently, awash in vibrant colors. Pyrrha reacted just as fast as the hail of forest filth fell upon he and his fellows, sweeping his legs out from under him with her spear and stepping over him, feet to either side of his chest. Ren and Nora joined him in a flash, the former dragging the other down as the debris scoured their ground.
Brass, meanwhile, simply… Vanished, off to who knew where.
"Oooh, they did just as well as I hoped!" Nora crowed once the shower was over, bouncing up onto her feet when the other Mistralian stepped aside. As he rose and Pyrrha sauntered forwad, shield raised warily, she explained quickly, "Proxi-bombs. Soon as somethin' big enough runs too close, bam! No more big fluffy."
"Useful, lethal and adorable?" Mort cheered and, Jaune was sure, he would have clapped if he'd had hands to do it with. "Jaune, we have to keep her!"
"Good work, Nora." He smiled, looking over the crater she'd left in the forest impressedly. After a moment, he asked, the hairs on the back of his neck rising, "But, uh, that was really loud. Wasn't it?"
A long, bestial bellow answered him and, silently, they fell into their formation once again, he and Pyrrha out front with the other two behind and just off to the side. The trees of this forest were thick and tall, with wide canopies that blocked a lot of light and left the ground under them dark and shadowy. The thick brush and bushes, all full of thorns he knew from their walk along its edge, only made seeing into it even worse. Which was perfect for the black furred Grimm.
Less so for any of them, though, unless one of his slapped together team happened to be a Faunus and hadn't told them. Or he could always use one of Mort's spells again, if he needed it. But he didn't need Faunus night vision or Dark Vision to see the Grimm coming for them. Its form shadowy, but massive, ripping trees and shrubs aside roots and all as it came, hurling them high into the air as it came.
"It has to be a high class Grimm." Mort warned quietly, already pouring power through his blade form body in preparation for it, "The size of it… Maybe an A class? Another Hunt's target, perhaps?"
"Nora!" He called, heart hammering in his breast, "Get your bombs ready! Something big!"
"I have my Cracker-"
"Nora, go as big as you can! Just get. It. Ready." He ordered as the earth under him began to tremble under them. From her maniacal, wide grin and Ren's even wider, terrified eyes, he figured that was a dangerous thing to say.
But he was less scared of her than of what emerged from the forest, ripping aside a pair of trees three times Jaune's size and hurling them away. The Grimm stood just taller than those very same trees, and as wide as two of them. Its legs were stocky and it stood hunched over, longer arms resting great fists on the ground. Thick armor plating covered the outside of every limb and its muscled chest, scarred from countless battles and with arrows, ruined sword blades and spearheads still embedded in it.
It was like a gorilla the size of a house, mixed with an armored knight… Its head even had a sort of helmet, like a gladiator's with two small horns resting on its forehead.
"By the Gods of the Arena…" Pyrrha murmurd, actually stepping back as the red-eyed monstrosity looked across the small clearing at them. "It's an Armored Kong…"
"Pyrrha, it's alright." He reassured her, wrapping both hands tight around the grip of his sword and holding it out to the side almost horizontally, ready to cut deep when the time came. "We can deal with it if we-"
"I will take its head!" She cheered, slamming her shield up and raising her spear high, into the air. "For the Gods of the Arena!"
"Pyrrha, wait-"
She was gone before the words left his mouth, her shield locked in front of her as she charged and let loose her own bellow of challenge and pride. The great Grimm snarled madly, raising its fists high overhead and then bringing them both down with titanic force. Pyrrha dodged deftly, though, side-stepping them both and pivoting on a heel to bring her shield around. Soil and rock showered her shield and peppered the entire clearing, stinging all along Jaune's exposed skin and filling his mouth with dirt.
He choked on the dirt and spat it out, shielding his face with his arm.
"Jaune!" He heard Nora call from off to his side, just before something heavy and made of metal slammed into him at full force, bowling him over.
"I-I'm sorry." Pyrrha coughed, rolling over and staggering upright, one hand snapping up to reorder her helmet. "It surprised me with a kick from behind. I could not-"
"Ren, use your submachine gun and skirmish away. Aim for its eyes." Jaune ordered loudly, standing and shoving the Mistralian fighter aside with an elbow. "Nora, what do you have for that?"
"An idea!" She babbled, covered in dirt and hefting a bandolier of grenades in one hand and her hammer in the other.
"Our signal flares…?" He murmured, "What are you going to do with those?"
"Grimm have to breathe, Big Boss!" Nora laughed, smiling a wide and muddy smile, "We get 'em in his mouth and- Oh lawd, he comin'!"
Ren didn't say anything, opening fire on the Armored Kong's face and sprinting away. As the rounds peppered the soft flesh between his armored face plating, and his eyes, the monster roared and raised an arm to shield itself. Ren kept the fire up, though, firing in short bursts as it lumbered around towards him and snarled. The shots only sparked off its armor, but they did the job of distracting the big, dumb thing for them.
"Nikos, protect Ren."
"But I must-"
"Protect! Ren!" He snarled, swinging around to get in her face, "Before he gets killed! Or one of us, do! You're a Mistralian warrior, right? Be his shield! Distract him, somehow, but keep its eyes off of us so Nora and I can get those smoke grenades in its mouth!"
"...Right." She nodded, slipping by him and sprinting across the ruined ground to join the man. Seeing her come, Ren turned and ran back, further along the treeline, to let her take the brunt of its attention while he looked for better shots. Slamming her spear around and into her shield she called out, "Come and try that trick of yours again, you pathetic monkey! Let us see how well it does you!"
Not hearing the sound of gunfire any longer, the beast lowered its arm and roared, before a spear slammed into its eye. The roar died in a pained, wet bellow as the Grimm backpedaled, pawing at its face pitifully. Gripping Mort Noire in two hands, he took off, Nora hot on his heels with her great hammer slung over a shoulder while her other hand slipped the bandolier over her other shoulder.
"It's knees!" He ordered, "You take one, snap it! I'll burn through the other!"
"Hint taken, Jaune!" Mort spoke, the sword humming intensely as it glowed, sigils lighting all along its length before it burst into white flame, wicked green tinges dancing along the cooler edges. "Slice and dice! I want my giant monkey medium well!"
"Got it, Boss!" Nora crowed excitedly, sprinting past him to the closest knee and spinning on her heels, pouring all her strength - and the hammer's own weight - into a devastating blow.
He heard the plating and the beast's bones crack like lightning, the knee snapping back to bend the opposite way it was meant to go. It bellowed and nearly fell, one arm coming back to support it as Jaune closed with the other. Normally, his sword didn't do well against armor, but with Mort's enchantment, it could melt through it. And melt it did, white bone bubbling and oozing away as he pressed into the material.
And then through it, nearly severing the limb entirely as the creature roared and fell back.
As it landed, he and Nora leapt away, but even maimed as it was the monster was still a Grimm. It flailed, broken limbs and whole ones ripping up dirt and soil and spraying it everywhere as it sought to land something on them. In the spray, it was hard to see, and he heard Nora cry out as it no doubt landed a blow on her and knocked her away.
"Did this big, furry bitch just hurt my brand new Nora?!" Mort bellowed in his ear, nearly setting them both to ringing. The sword's vibrating spiked suddenly, so much so it almost jerked out of his hand, and the spirit demanded, "Take his damn head off! Teach him to mess with my shit!"
It was a big ask, literally given the flailing monster's prodigious size, but Mort only swore that much when they were genuinely angry… So he couldn't say no.
Ducking under an arm as the ape raised it to slam it down, he leapt, clinging onto armor plating and broken weapons left in its hide to scale it. The Grimm felt him doing it, too, slamming a fist down into him so hard he felt his bones rattle through his Aura. A second blow nearly knocked him loose, before he felt himself yanked up and into the air. He crashed down onto its belly at Pyrrha's feet and rolled over, forcing himself up.
"How-"
"Unimportant." She snarled, "Let us take the head!"
"Well, alright then…"
That was easier said than done, though, because now the monster was focusing on them. An could see them, from its good eye, by raising its head to glare at them. It bellowed, bringing its arms up to crush them against it, before the sound of a gun firing split the air once more. Half a dozen shots bored into its good eye, blinding it fully and setting it writhing and roaring once again. Blinded it may have been, but it could still feel them on its chest and brought its great fists up once again, intending to crush them under them.
As they came down, though, they exploded into bone and black smoke, courtesy of a pair of little pink balls that stuck onto its wrists for a moment before detonating in bright puffs of smoke.
"Woo, stickies!" Nora crowed eagerly, running along behind them and shifting her launch rinto a hammer. She was bruised, her top torn in half a dozen small places and blood leaking from a cut on her forehead, but she was smiling maniacally as she called out, "Gonna drive that nail home for ya, P-Money!"
"What nai- My spear?!"
"Yep!" Nora laughed, chittering all the way as she spun, bringing her hammer around with the front down. Then, with the pull of a trigger, she soared high into the air, spinning to bring the head back around and shrieking, "Boop boop right back at ya, mothafuckaaaa!"
The hammer connected with the end of the spear and drove it down, into the monster's skull. It stiffened suddenly, and stayed that way for a moment, before relaxing and flopping on the forest floor. A sblack smoke trailed, Jaune relaxed, feeling the magic drain from his sword now that the Grimm was dead and Mort knew Nora was very much not.
"I'm in love…" Mort murmured wistfully as Nora bounced on its head and then swooned, just in time for Ren to catch her. Grinning, she pecked him on the cheek and proclaimed him her 'knight in way to much clothes. "Jaune, I need a favor."
He thumped Mort's gem.
"Come on, Jaune!" Mort crowed, "Just a tiny bit of murder for your best pal!"
"Box…"
"For Nora, any box is worth it!" Mort vowed, before, anxiously, adding, "B-But, uh, on further consideration, I would never, ever hurt Nora's feelings that way!"
"Good shit!" A familiar voice called as the beast dissolved, Brass sauntering out of the trees with a wide smile. "Wrong bitch, though. C'mon, after that show, I can 'least find the actual damn target for ye."
"How?" Jaune asked, curious as he dropped down off of the Armored Kong.
"You'll find out in a bit." The old man promised, "Just c'mon."
Sighing, and more than happy to get away before something else big and pissed off showed up, they followed the old Hunter eagerly enough.
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SD Phantom :
Glad you're enjoying this! And yeah, I made Pyrrha a positive UNIT. Or, well, a different kinda unit, I guess, lol.
Mog the Gnome :
Glad you liked it!
Bukkake no Jutsu :
Yeah, that was fun to lay out and explain. And totes isn't foreshadowing, nah.
Ravill Aqim :
Glad you liked it! And yeah, I understood the gist of what you were gettin' at, no worries.