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-CHAPTER START-
Realm R38Y
"Okay…" Ruby looked at her copy of the map. "The next town is… uh…"
"Next is the town of Shion" Jaune said. "My family used to visit all the time."
"Oh yeah," Ruby recalled something, "don't you have, like, four sisters?"
"Uh, seven" he admitted.
"…You know, that actually explains a lot" Nora chimed in.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"So, what did you guys do there?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, all kinds of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over there is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. …Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair."
Pyrrha stifled a giggle. "Didn't like the look, Jaune?"
"Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a "warrior's wolftail" kinda guy."
"That's just a ponytail" Ruby said.
"I stand by what I said."
Kirara was in the lead, and thus she was the first to get around the trees and catch sight of their destination… and so, the others saw as she stopped in her tracks, hands coming to her mouth and eyes widening in horror as she let out a whispered "My God…" Concerned, the rest of the gang hurried forward, and beheld a scene of devastation. Shion Village was in ruins. Smoke clouded the sky. Lampposts were askew, buildings and structures were crumbling, and the ground was littered with rubble and corpses.
"Let's move!" Jaune said. "There could be survivors!"
The team sent out their Pokémon to aid the search; Kirara sent out her Furfrou, who quickly took in the carnage and turned to his owner.
"Try and sniff out any survivors" she told him. "As well as any clues as to who did this…"
Nodding, the canine Pokémon sniffed the air for several seconds, and then barked and took off running toward the fountain at the middle of town. The humans followed suit, and soon realized that the 'corpse' in light armor leaned against a broken building wall was still breathing. A weapon lay bent and broken at the young man's side, stained with its owner's blood. Ren knelt by the man's side as the man held a hand at a bleeding gash in his abdomen; judging by the amount of blood he'd already lost, he didn't have much time left.
"A Huntsman!" Ruby cried.
"What happened?" Jaune asked. "Who killed all these people?"
The dying Hunter coughed. "Bandits" he rasped. "The whole tribe. They only killed people who… who tried to fight them… but, with all the panic…"
"Grimm" Ren surmised.
The man nodded weakly. "B-Big one. Old. Strong. Huge. Smart. Alpha, maybe even… Elder. All this… by itself. I didn't… s-stand a chance…"
Ren stood and walked a few paces away, placing his hands on his head, while the others stepped back to talk.
"Alright" Ruby said. "We can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!"
"Yeah" Jaune nodded. "Ren, Pyrrha, and I can take turns carrying him there."
"I don't think he'll survive the trip" Pyrrha said solemnly. "He's lost too much blood…"
"He will" Jaune said. "He has to."
"If we get going now," Kirara said, "we'll have a better chance. Ruby's the fastest; she can scout ahead for help."
"Guys…"
They all turned at Ren's sudden call, and saw that the wounded Hunter's struggles and ragged breaths had stopped. Kirara's Furfrou whined softly, resting his chin on the dead man's leg for a few moments.
"Should we… give him a burial?" Nora asked.
"No time" Ren replied. "We need to leave. It's not safe here."
He walked away, and Nora & their Pokémon followed them.
"So, we've got murderous bandits and a high-level Grimm in the area" Jaune summed up. "We're gonna need to move carefully."
"Scy…"
The call from Ruby's Scyther brought everyone over to something the mantis Pokémon was staring intently at, down at the ground. Seeing it, Ren and Nora's eyes widened with horrified recognition.
"A hoofprint?" Ruby murmured. "But… I've never seen a horse big enough to leave a track like this. And what's the black gunk…?"
"…Oh, Gods" Pyrrha went pale. "I think… I know what did this. Everyone who lives in northern Mistral has heard of it, even way up in Argus where I grew up. The Demon of Animus Forest… They say it's a borderline Alpha/Elder Grimm that's well over 100 years old, as smart as a human or more, a patient and sadistic hunter. It's claimed to be responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths, and to have personally killed dozens of Hunters. It's been spotted by aerial reconnaissance aircraft, but they've never gotten a good look at it because of the thick foliage and dark caves it usually inhabits or travels through; but, it's huge. …Judging by this print, it must be an equine-type Grimm."
"Nobody knows for sure?" Kirara asked.
"…Nobody who's ever been close enough to get a good look at it has survived to tell about it."
"No…" Ren spoke up. "Nora and I have."
That got everyone's attention, with Jaune gasping in shock. "Ren… You and Nora survived a run-in with this 'Demon of Animus Forest'?"
The quiet youth nodded, with Nora looking fearful and placing a hand on his arm, his Mienfoo and her Emolga clinging to them in support. "I was just a kid. That thing showed up at our home village one day, no warning or other Grimm ahead of it, and it just… it slaughtered everyone – every last man, woman, and child, including my parents. Nora and I only survived because we hid under a house, and I awakened my Semblance to mask my & her presences from the thing. I… I didn't get too good a look because of the fog that night, plus the smoke from the attack, but… I remember its silhouette. It looked like it was actually two Grimm – a huge horse, being ridden by a skinny humanoid Grimm with super-long arms and big… horns or a headpiece or something. It was… It was so damned big, it shrugged off everything that anyone threw at it, and… it took its sweet time killing people. It wanted them to die terrified."
"And we're in the thing's territory…" Jaune realized, rattled.
"Then I say we keep moving and get through this forest ASAP" Ruby said. "Before it realizes we're here…"
-Break-
The sextet kept pressing onward over the next several days, spending the night at settlements that had sufficient protection to deter most Grimm attacks. They encountered occasional small groups of Grimm and/or feral Heartless, drawn by Ruby's status as a Keyblade-wielder, but easily carved through the darklings. Continuing their way eastward, they found themselves following a mossy stone path that cut through the forest.
Ruby sighed. "Man, Haven's a lot further away than I thought…"
"Ruby?" Ren spoke up. "How long did you think this journey was going to take?"
"Maybe, uh… Two or three weeks? …Hey, what's that?"
Up ahead, they could see a settlement wall, a building poking up from behind it.
"That's… odd" Pyrrha checked the holomap. "I didn't think we'd run into another village for another few days…"
"Are those buildings… damaged?" Nora asked.
Jaune ran forward. "We should search for survivors!"
They all hurried into the village, but not only did they not find any signs of battle or bloodshed, but no signs of any habitation whatsoever.
"Rather than being sacked," Kirara said, "this place looks like it was abandoned without the construction even being finished. Like, maybe the settlers started setting up shop, ran into too much trouble with local Grimm to be worth it, and packed up & left?"
"I found a town sign!" Ruby shouted.
Everyone ran over to where an old wooden sign was covered in ivy. Nora moved the ivy aside, revealing the town name: "ONIYURI".
"Oniyuri?" she tilted her head in confusion. "Never heard of it."
"Me neither" Jaune added.
"I have" Ren said, drawing the others' attention. "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city, with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could even become its own kingdom. Many thought it would be the future." He walked away. "I know my parents did."
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"What always happens" he replied while brushing dirt off a low wall's stone border, revealing marks from huge claws.
"The Grimm" Jaune said.
"Not just any Grimm. The Demon of Animus Forest."
Wary, the group proceeded through the abandoned village, eager to get out of this creepy place. As they moved on, however, Ren suddenly sensed something. He held out a hand, bringing everyone to a halt, and closed his eyes in focus. After a few seconds, he drew his weapon, and everyone else followed suit, Kirara transforming and everyone's Pokémon coming out.
Then, a figure leapt over a nearby high wall, letting out an eager, unstable laugh and drawing weapons. It was a man with a tall, lean-muscled build, a narrow face with yellow eyes and a thin, pointed chin, his dark-brown hair tied back in a long, thin segmented braid with a curled tip, making it look like a scorpion's tail, wearing brown knee-high boots over tight white pants, a white sleeveless jacket (open to reveal blade scars across his chest) with leather belts strapped to it, a strange-looking belt wrapped tight around his waist, and cream-colored bandages and leather vambraces on his arms. Going with his scorpion-tail braid, he had a set of dual wrist blades that bore marked resemblance to a scorpion's pincers attached to his vambraces, small-caliber weapon bores sticking out between the blades.
The man immediately went on the attack, rushing straight at Ruby. Her Scyther got in his path, striking with a whirling barrage of scythe-blade slashes that the mystery assassin expertly blocked and parried. Ren came in from the side with his Stormflowers' blades, but the man blocked both assaults and then kicked boy & Pokémon hard enough to launch them several meters back. Ruby charged in, but the assassin easily dodged her scythe swings and knocked her back with a kick to the arm so strong that even through her passive Aura defense she felt it rattle her bones. Jaune came at the man, who leapt over the youth's thrust and landed on Jaune's shield, grinning creepily right in his face. The assailant then leapt high to avoid a swing of Nora's hammer, landing a few meters away.
"Why are you attacking us?" Ren asked. "Who are you?!"
The man chuckled. "Who I am matters not to you. Or you, you, or… well, you are a little interesting. But no. I only matter to you."
Being pointed at, Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "Me?"
The man broke out laughing. "You- You haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be."
She glared. "What do you want?'
He took a dramatic pose. "Oh! The rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!"
"And if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora brandished her hammer.
The man stared for a moment. "Well, then I'll take her."
Pyrrha and Jaune readied their shields, standing between him and Ruby. "We won't let you" she decreed.
The man closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then gave a delighted bloodthirsty grin. "Good."
He then vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing directly behind Jaune. Ren moved faster, though, firing a shot that ricocheted off Jaune's shield and came at the assassin. Blocking with his weapon, the man leapt onto Jaune's shield and then launched himself off it, unbalancing Jaune and also dodging the Brutal Swing the boy's G-Farfetch'd tried to hit him with.
Cure Twinkle came in from above with a leaping heel-drop, and when the assailant leapt back to dodge her heel cratered the ground where he'd just been standing. Using one of the new tricks she & her friends now had, she drew her 'Crystal Princess Rod' and channeled magical power into it, and with a flash of light a long blade of orange-yellow magical energy erupted with the rod as the handle. She lunged forward with slashes, stabs, and kicks, and the assassin skillfully gave ground, deflecting her blade strikes and dodging her legs. Her Furfrou came in from behind, snarling as he lunged at the man with fangs out, but the assailant then leapt and used a midair spinning kick to knock them both away.
Pyrrha's Treecko and Nosepass fired Bullet Seed and Rock Throw projectiles at the man, giving cover for her to close in. The 'Student Champion of Mistral' matched the assailant blow for blow, using her Semblance on his weapons (and indirectly, since they were strapped to his vambraces, his arms) to subtly redirect his strikes at her that would've hit so that she could evade or block them and striking back with lightning-fast and efficient stabs, slices, and swings of her shield. However, he soon adjusted to her fighting style and started pushing her back, her Aura Defense flashing as he landed a couple blows.
Then, Nora came in, her Emolga clinging to her back. The little Electric-type had charged her Trainer up, electric power crackling across the girl's body and hammer. Pyrrha leapt clear just as Nora brought the hammer down, an explosion of power kicking up a wave of dust. When the dust faded, however, the man was crouching, and his "belt" had unfurled and reached up to block Nora's hammer, leaving him totally unharmed.
"Surpriiise " the hostile Faunus grinned, brandishing his Aura-reinforced, chitin-armored scorpion tail.
He kicked the stunned Nora in the fact and then leapt up & away, landing on a nearby roof in a theatric pose.
"What is this about?" Ruby asked. "The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?"
"Ha!" the man threw his head back and spread his arms wide. "Plastic soldiers and pawns! My heart and body belong only to our goddess!"
Pyrrha growled as she put the pieces together. "You're an agent of the Three Sorceresses."
The man laughed. "Correct you are, little knight! I am Tyrian Callows, disciple of Lady Salem! Her Grace has demanded that Little Rose be brought to her alive… but, well, she never said anything about the rest of you…"
He leapt back into the fray, rushing at Ruby only to fake out and suddenly go for Ren instead. Ren's speed and agility were barely enough to narrowly dodge Tyrian's attacks, and his own blows barely put a dent in the scorpion assassin's Aura Shield. Ren's Mienfoo came to his Trainer's aid, hitting Tyrian from the side with a Force Palm, not doing much damage but distracting Tyrian enough for Ren to get some distance. Ruby switched to her Keyblade as she charged in, battering at Tyrian's guard, while her Scyther attacked from above & behind. Tyrian was fast enough to keep pace with both of them, dancing around their attacks and staggering them with his own blows; he wrapped his scorpion tail around Scyther and slammed the Bug-type into his Trainer, sending them both reeling.
Before Tyrian could go for Ruby again, everyone else attacked him at once, trying to overwhelm him with numbers and multiple angles of attack. Unfortunately, the veteran assassin and serial killer was able to fend off the group attack, blocking and dodging with fluid movements, even redirecting their attacks into each other. Knocking them all away with a spinning breakdance kick, Tyrian came at Ruby again, ducking under a swing of her scythe and landing a right hook to her face and a left blow to her midsection, her Aura Barrier shimmering from the hits. He knocked her into the air with a swing of his tail, then dashed forward and kicked her in the gut before she could hit the ground, sending her tumbling. Approaching the downed girl, his eyes glowed purple as he raised his stinger… and then he suddenly jumped back to avoid being cut in two as Qrow Branwen came in from out of nowhere, sword splitting the pavement where Tyrian had just been standing.
"As I live and breathe…" Tyrian grinned. "Qrow Branwen!" He gave a mocking bow. "A true Huntsman has entered the fray!"
Ruby groaned softly as she used Crescent Rose to help herself stand. "Uncle Qrow, be careful! He introduced himself as Tyrian Callows, and he's one of Salem's agents!"
Qrow's eyes widened as he fought a chill in his bones. Not only were they up against one of the most dangerous, bloodthirsty, unhinged serial killers in all of Remnant, but said murderous nihilistic nutjob was now serving Salem. The scorpion Faunus giggled briefly.
"Her Grace has assigned me to bring your little niece in alive. So, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."
Qrow frowned, letting his Absol out of her PokéBall, the 'mon immediately on guard as she sensed how dangerous Tyrian was. "Kids, get back. We'll handle this."
"If he's that dangerous," Ruby said, "you'll need backup. Plus, since they're after me, this is my fight, too."
"It's not that. My Semblance causes bad luck and misfortune in an area-of-effect around me, but it can't distinguish friend from foe. It's always active to some small degree, and I'm gonna be cranking it up while I fight this guy; if you get involved it'll hit you, too. Absol's "disaster sense" can let her work around it, but the rest of you don't have that luxury."
Tyrian gasped softly, an interested grin on his face. "A probability-altering Semblance! Fascinating! Oh, I have a science-minded colleague who'd probably love to perform some experiments with your ability. Ah, but that is for another time. I believe we've had enough talk now, don't you?"
Qrow scoffed. "You took the words right outta my-"
Tyrian lunged forward blades-first, cutting Qrow off. The veteran Hunter immediately reacted to block Tyrian's opening strikes, following with a wide slash that Tyrian leapt back to avoid. Laughing with glee at a good fight, Tyrian rushed back in, the two experienced warriors moving like lightning, the clang of blade on blade echoing out over and over, sometimes multiple times per second. Qrow dodged a few stabbing thrusts of Tyrian's stinger tail, and then made a heavy downward slash that Tyrian blocked with his blades, the cast-off force shaking the earth and severing part of a building several meters behind him. Grinning, Tyrian deployed the gun barrels from between his wrist-mounted pincer-blades, one set pointed right at Qrow's chest. Right before he fired, however, Qrow's Absol hit Tyrian's left forearm with a rising Slash that made his shots go wide and gave Qrow the chance to knock the assassin back with a kick.
Tyrian started running in a wide circle around Qrow while firing the submachineguns in his gauntlets, with Qrow expertly moving his blade to deflect the rounds. Absol went on the attack, head-blade and foreclaws alight with black & purple energies as she struck at Tyrian with a flurry of Night Slash and Shadow Claw attacks, matching Salem's assassin blow for blow and even pushing him back; the two Absol who'd chosen DDF Trainers (Itachi Uchiha and Qrow Branwen) were both skilled and experienced Pokémon (and Absol could live over 150 years, more than enough time to become skilled and powerful warriors even without human help), well accustomed to defending their territories and the Pokémon within them from dangerous poachers & other criminals and powerful hostile wild Pokémon, and given even further training (and TMs & TRs) by their new Trainers. Qrow's Absol danced around Tyrian's stinger tail strikes as she landed a Night Slash across his chest, making his Aura Barrier flare, and then she stepped back as her Trainer rejoined the fray, keeping the pressure on.
Backstepping to dodge Qrow's swings, Tyrian lashed out with his tail, and Qrow raised his sword to block… and the tail wrapped around the blade and, with a mighty tug from Tyrian, the sword was ripped out of his grasp and sent spinning through the air to end up impaled in an abandoned building's wall. Before Tyrian could capitalize on the opening this made, Ruby and Pyrrha started sniping at him from a rooftop, distracting him long enough for Qrow to regain his bearings and move in with a right straight to the face that sent Tyrian reeling. A few more heavy blows and a roundhouse kick sent Tyrian staggering back, stunned, and Qrow then went for his weapon. Recovering, Tyrian tried to intercept, but Absol got in his way, a quick Double Hit knocking him back long enough for Qrow to reach his sword.
The moment Qrow grabbed his sword, Tyrian got past and rushed at him, only for Qrow to flip himself up and balance atop his weapon to dodge Tyrian's low stab. Partially transforming his weapon, Qrow then fired an exploding shot, letting the force wrench his weapon free of the wall and propel him & it up onto the roof. Tyrian leapt up after him, the two matching blades in another high-speed clash. They seemed to be evenly matched, but then Qrow caught sight of a damaged wooden beam visible through a hole in the abandoned house's roof. Leaping to the other side of the hole, Qrow gave a taunting grin, and Tyrian leapt at him… landing right on the damaged beam, which immediately gave way under his weight, sending the surprised assassin plummeting. However, Tyrian managed to wrap his tail around Qrow's ankle on the way down, pulling Qrow in as well.
The abandoned house rumbled and shook, the walls starting to crumble as the fight continued outside. Soon, a hole was blown out the front wall, and Qrow came flying out. He tossed his blade so that it dug into the stone pavement, and then landed on the angled weapon feet-first, letting it slow him to a safe stop as his Aura Barrier flickered. He came to a halt right next to where Ruby had relocated. Seconds later, Tyrian rushed out, his own barrier flickering, and engaged both of them before Ruby could get distance. The two of them managed to keep Tyrian on his toes for a moment, but then the assassin got behind Ruby and kicked her hard enough to break her already-taxed Aura Barrier and send her tumbling to in front of the ruined house. As she got back to her feet, a loose wooden beam above gave way suddenly, falling toward her.
Qrow rushed in, slicing the beam apart before it could hit Ruby. Then, as uncle & niece shared a look, several things happened in rapid succession. Tyrian thrusted his stinger tail at Qrow in his moment of distraction, only for Qrow's Absol (alerted by her "danger sense" and Quick-Attacking into position just in time) to deflect it with an Iron Tail, saving her Trainer from a venomous scratch. The next instant, Ruby reacted to Tyrian's brief unbalancing by bringing Crescent Rose around, hooking it just beneath the stinger part of Tyrian's tail, and pulling the trigger. The assassin screamed as his tail stinger was severed, blood and bright purple venom staining the ground, the latter sizzling as it ate into the stone.
"You bitch!-! I'll gouge your eyes out for that!-!"
Qrow and Ruby began to advance, and the off-balance Tyrian tried to back away only for Team JNPR and Cure Twinkle to box him in from behind. Qrow prepared to finish the agent of Salem off… and then, they all became aware of a growing whistling sound, turning to see a missile shooting in from somewhere in the trees. Instinctively, the heroes scattered, while Tyrian took the chance to start fleeing. Qrow growled and tried to give chase, only for several more missiles to come streaking in. Cure Twinkle stepped up and cast a Full Moon Humming shield to block the incoming warheads, gritting her teeth as the moon-themed shield spell shuddered and flared from the detonations. By the time the explosions stopped and the smoke cleared, Tyrian had escaped.
Pyrrha sighed angrily. "One of the Sorceresses must've sent backup just in case that psycho got in over his head."
Cure Twinkle frowned. "Probably Pete; a missile launcher sounds right up his alley."
Jaune came over to Qrow, who was panting and sore as the adrenaline started to wind down. "We already know the bare bones about Salem and her 'friends'," he said, "but maybe you can fill us in a little more? Since we're targets now…"
Sighing, Qrow nodded. "Let's set up camp. I hope you kids know your fairy tales…"
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Some mythological explanations, and another epic battle. And by the way: to compensate for the heroes' extra manpower (Pyrrha, Cure Twinkle, Pokémon, Qrow not being injured/poisoned), the fight against the Demon of Animus Forest will be more difficult than in canon…