Chapter Three:
The Emerald Forest
Weiss Schnee was not having a good day.
First off, this morning when she tried to convince Pyrrha Nikos to team-up, that Jaune guy came up and attempted, key word 'attempted', to attract her, all the while his attractive friend, who she had yet to get the name of, just stood their and watched along with the Dolt and her annoying sister. Then Pyrrha actually encouraged the behavior, and that's how Jaune got too close for her own liking. It was then when she asked Pyrrha to help her out. It wasn't like she expected the champion to pull out her weapon and prepared to throw it at the blonde dolt.
Only for a large hand to grab the redhead's wrist.
It surprised the heiress how he managed to cover the distance as quick as he did, but Jaune's friend then seemed to have a problem with her. Sure, she asked Pyrrha to help her out, but she never said throw a spear at Jaune! That's what got her upset, but what got her mad was when he threatened to cut off her hair if something like that was to happen again.
The absolute nerve of that brute.
Oh she was definitely going to give him a piece of her mind next time she sees him.
What happened next was when things really started going down hill, though. After landing from where her and the rest of the students were launched, Weiss ended up locking eyes with the Dolt, a.k.a. Ruby Rose, her new 'partner'. Why did this have to happen to her!?
Now, Ruby had sped off without her after the heiress said she didn't want the scythe wielder to slow her down and now she was alone in the woods... facing off against a pack of Beowulves on her own.
What a day indeed.
She had just deflected a swipe with her rapier Myrtenaster as she then slid back before realizing she was completely surrounded. This was gonna be a tough one for her for sure. 'Remember your training Weiss,' she thought to herself as she got into position, unknown to her, one of the Grimm from behind her was slowly closing in. 'Head up, shoulders back, foot forward,' she shifted her body parts into position before sliding her foot back slightly, 'not that forward. Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike...'
Unknown to her, the Beowulf behind her was getting closer to attacking range, but unknown to it... something was closing in on it with full gallop.
Though, Weiss was about to strike her target; "And... now!"
She then launched herself forward, aiming to kill the Grimm with a fire dust strike, but before she could attack, Ruby, armed with Crescent Rose, struck her target first. Her eyes widening, Weiss redirected the strike, which sent a wall of flames towards a tree, making it burst into flames. When Ruby looked up and saw what happened, the Grimm took advantage and swiped her, sending her crashing into her white-haired partner. "Hey, watch it!" Ruby said as she got to her feet.
"Excuse me," Weiss snapped back, "you attacked out of turn. I could have killed you."
"You'll have to try harder than that," Ruby muttered as she then faced the Grimm in front of her, just as the Grimm that was sneaking up from behind finally charged them, but just as it leaped at Weiss, who turned last second to see it lunging, a large horn pierced right through it's chest, which then got Ruby's attention as they both saw what had just killed the Beowulf, and their eyes widened. A large, woolly beast that resembled a rhino yet stood almost taller than an alpha Beowulf. It's what got the attention of the Grimm as they all turned and saw the new beast that shook it's head and grunted and growled, clearly annoyed and ready to fight.
Both Ruby and Weiss were unsure as to what this creature was, but it seemed to be going against the Grimm, but as they prepared their weapons, the tree that got set on fire earlier fell over, spreading the fire throughout the clearing they were in. A good portion of the pack were caught on fire as they moaned and howled in pain, and that was when Weiss decided it was time for them to leave. She turned and grabbed Ruby by the sleeve; "We have to go," she told the younger teen before she proceeded to drag her towards the only exit that was left as the fire spread quickly.
Several Beowulves made a move to intercept the two, but the were quickly gored down by the massive beast that stood in their way before it proceeded to gallop towards the exit, and, much to the girls' shock and surprise, it swept them up with it's head, making them land not so gracefully on it's back before running right through the recently new wall of flames. As they escaped, the howls of suffering caused by the Beowulves in the fire could be heard for miles.
Moments later, the large beast stopped over a hilltop that overlooked the smoke that was now appearing over the forest. He waited for a second before, out of the beast's mouth, words were spoken. "Okay, you can get off now," he said, surprising the two girls.
Both Ruby and Weiss stared in surprise before Ruby remembered something from the day before, making her eyes widen as she and the heiress climbed down from the beast. "C-Connor!?" Ruby asked in surprise, which Weiss only looked to Ruby with a questioning raised eyebrow before she noticed the beast shift until she was looking at the one boy who threatened her this morning.
"You!" Weiss said, but before she could continue, Connor held a hand up, surprisingly silencing her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you're a bit mad about this morning," Connor said before rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment, "I was out of line with that. My instincts tend to make me rather... defensive when it comes to my friend."
Weiss blinked in surprise at the sudden apology, but before she could reply with anything, Ruby spoke up. "Look, Connor you can apologize later, but right now..." she turned and looked towards Weiss; "What was that?! That should've been easy!"
"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the smallest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes," Weiss shot back with a glare, "I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"
Ruby scoffed at that; "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just surprised that someone who talked so much would communicate so little during an encounter," Weiss told her. Connor raised an eyebrow as he watched the argument that was happening before him... Were these two seriously stuck with each other for the next four years?
'Oum help us all,' Connor said as his left eye began to twitch.
Ghast replied simply with; 'I doubt that even he could help us with this.'
'You're probably right,' was the young man's response, sighing mentally to avoid getting brought into this, only to notice something coming from the other side of his two companions.
"Well I'm sorry that you need my help to win a fight," Ruby said with her arms crossed, "I'm just fine on my own-"
Both girls were then surprised when a saber-tooth cat leaped, with a roar, in between them, and immediately tackled a Beowulf, that had been stalking them, to the ground, and before the Grimm could even get up and prepare to fight back, the large cat was on top of it. The struggle only lasted about thirty second as saber-like canines proceeded to bite into the neck of the monster before it went motionless. After that, the cat then stood up and turned back into Connor before leveling them with a silencing glare.
"Quite honestly, I don't give a shit if you're just fine on your own," Connor said as he looked directly at Ruby, who flinched slightly, when he said this part, "you're not just here to fight monsters, Red, you're here to know how to operate as a team. If you can't do that then go home. Same goes for you, Snowflake. Both of you need to work on communication, and before you say it, I know I do, but with your constant bickering, Grimm will be coming after you, and I highly doubt either of you know where your going... so stick with me, we'll get this over with."
He then started walking off, but not before Weiss commented; "And why, pray tell me, would we follow you?"
Connor stopped and looked over his shoulder; "Because I can track Grimm with ease, and I'm the only one here that isn't wishing they're strangling the other two... yet," he then gave a bit of a teasing smirk, "besides, do you even know where you're going?"
Ruby, who had remained silent for the most part (mainly due to thinking over Connor's words and being a bit hurt by them), looked to the heiress with her arms crossed, also wondering if her 'partner' knew where they were going. Weiss then noticed they were both looking at her questionably, so she knew she had to answer, or they would know she didn't know. "Of course I know exactly where we're going! We're going... to... the forest temple!"
Both Connor and Ruby then glance at each other before looking back at Weiss with raised eyebrows before Ruby gave out a frustrated sigh. 'Wow,' Ghast thought in Connor's head, 'that was totally convincing.'
'Yeah, totally,' Connor thought back, sarcasm heavily in his tone as Weiss glared at Ruby again.
"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either!" the heiress told the scythe wielder as Connor weighed in his options. He could put up with this despite the constant bickering, or he could just simply back away slowly, to where they probably wouldn't even notice him gone until he was at the temple. He then looked at his wrist to check the imaginary watch for the time and then finally sighed as he pulled out his headphones and placed them in his ears. It was then basically mute as he then selected one of his rock songs and watched as the two girls argued.
"I wonder if Jaune is having better luck than I am," he muttered before he waited a few more moments and saw that they were still arguing. With a silent and frustrated growl, he slowly turned and walked away, unplugging the headphones and letting the song 'Highway to Hell' play out loud, which finally seemed to get the two girls' attention as they saw he was leaving them.
Ruby was the first to call out as she sped after him; "Hey Connor, wait up!"
On the other hand, Weiss only rolled her eyes in annoyance as she then proceeded to follow the dolt and the brute through the brush.
Five minutes later, the trio was walking in a relative silence, with Weiss trailing a bit from behind as Ruby was walking beside Connor. The fifteen year old had something ringing in her head from what Connor said as she then looked to him and asked; "Do you really think I should go home," she said, a bit dejectedly.
When Connor heard this, he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Do I really think you should go home?" he echoed before replying; "No, I don't think you should. What I think both you and Snowflake should do is try to have a decent conversation for once because ever since I've met the two of you, whenever you are in close proximity, it turns into a female version of a dick measuring contest, at least in my opinion."
Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the comment, despite it being directed at her and Weiss, but before she could respond, Connor continued. "One thing about your partnership is that, like it or not, Ruby, you're stuck with her. Ozpin made it perfectly clear that the first person you make eye contact with is your partner, and well... here you two are, stuck in the woods with a guy who can turn into stuff neither of you could comprehend."
"I just... I'm trying to be friendly, but no matter how hard I try, she just acts like a big, stupid jerk and I hate it!" Ruby said in frustration. That made Connor think about it before he decided to try something.
"Look, I get it, I can tell that she seems a bit," he looked over his shoulder at Weiss for a moment, "standoffish, but it can't hurt to try and look it from her position. If I remember correctly, she is the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, which means she's used to standards way higher than us common folk could even imagine."
Ruby looked at him confused; "What do you mean?"
Connor was in thought for a moment; "How do I explain this, hmm... she doesn't know what it's like to be a normal teenager. All she knows is to try and be perfect at everything she does, and she's never had any other choice, because that's all she knows. If I could guess she was always handed everything she wanted for the longest time, and probably had this perfect plan mapped out for her, but well... life has a way of telling you to throw away the plan, believe me... I know. So what I'm saying is just give her time, Ruby, she'll come around eventually."
"You sure," Ruby asked with a hopeful expression.
That got a grin to escape from the Chimera; "Yeah I'm sure," he replied before asking Ghast mentally; 'Are you sure that's what I should've told her?'
'I believe so, I mean look at the Ice Queen, she's probably wearing a dress about three grand at the least,' Ghast replied as Connor mentally rolled her eyes. It was difficult for him to instill knowledge in someone since he himself was basically the mouth piece, but he would one day understand it, at least Ghast had hoped he would. Over a billion years of knowledge passed down onto a teenage boy, can't really blame him if it all becomes a headache.
Unknown to either of them, Weiss heard most of what they were talking about, and the bits she heard made her more curious of Connor more than anything else. Sure some of the things he said weren't... entirely true, but they weren't entirely wrong either. He wasn't exactly bad mouthing her either, though, which was something she was surprised about due to the fact people who usually talk about her family are either bad-mouthing them or being jealous of their wealth, but he was just simply telling Ruby to be patient... due to her 'standards'. So she had mentally decided to learn more about this brute after the initiation is done.
After all, she'll have plenty of time to do so.
A few more minutes later, Connor stopped as he was over a little hillside and looked down and seemed to have seen something up ahead. "Why are we stopping?" Weiss asked as he crouched down, as if to avoid being seen.
"Beowulf up ahead," he said simply as he pointed towards some open brush down a small hill, "seems to be alone, can't trace any other ones nearby. Figured Ruby can just snipe it before we go on."
Ruby then got an enthusiastic smile as she brought out Crescent Rose, it didn't take her long before she got the wolf-like Grimm in her sight, and just like that, shot it right in the eye, dropping it dead before it turned to ash. Connor couldn't help but whistle, impressed, while Weiss, though she wouldn't admit or show it, was impressed with her partner's marksmanship. "Are we done now?" Weiss asked impatiently.
Connor looked to her for a moment before he stood up and looked to the sky.
"I'm gonna check on how much further we have to go," Connor told them as he shifted into his Haast's Eagle form, "you two... try to talk things out." With that, he shifted and flew up above the trees and then found one that is slightly taller than the ones he was currently above. Perching on one of the taller branches, the raptor proceeded to scan the surroundings before he saw an opening not far from where they were, and at the edge of it was their destination.
Unknown to him, a Nevermore, larger than the one he took down earlier, took to the sky not far from where he left the girls, making quite a breeze that made the eagle ruffle his feathers a bit. "Sure is windy today," he said to himself, unaware of the large Grimm that just took off before he took off and made his descent.
Connor then flew back to the ground before changing back; "Alright girls, we should be there in the next few... minutes..." He looked around and saw that neither of them were there and he wasn't even sure where they could've gone, but it was then when he saw something that made his eye twitch in frustration, a Nevermore feather. "They didn't," he growled out lowly as he then looked up and spotted the large, raven-like Grimm, and saw just the two dimwits he was looking for. "They did!"
Before he could change and go after them though, he heard a very unmanly scream, which got him to turn to his left. He sighed as he knew damn well who that was... "Jaune," he muttered, but before he could do anything though, he heard growling coming from behind him and he turned and saw a rather large Grimm, an Ursa Major, looking down at him.
Frustrated, Connor asked the Grimm a simple question; "I don't suppose we can talk this out, can we?"
A roar to his face was his response, but Connor only had one good response for that; "You want a bear fight? Then fine, bring it!" It was then when he changed into a large bear, one that was slightly larger than the Grimm in front of him. It resembled a large Grizzly, but only a lot bigger, both due to it being a larger species and the fact Connor made it bigger due to his abilities. The beast reared back on his hind legs, and towered over the Grimm before unleashing a blood-curling roar
"Blake, did you hear that," Yang asked as a teen girl about her age, with amber colored eyes and raven black hair. She was dressed with black, low-heeled boots, a black buttoned up vest over a white sleeveless undershirt, she was also wearing white shorts with stocking that fade from black to violet. She also had black ribbons wrapped around her arms and a big black bow on her head.
This was Yang's partner, Blake Belladonna, who she had met after going a bout with a pair of Ursa Minor. They've been at the ruins for a few moments before they heard a girlish scream come from one direction, but what really got their attention was the loud roar that came from the other, one that sounded a lot closer than the girl's scream was.
Truth be told, Blake could've sworn she's heard a roar like that before, and that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up if it was here.
Yet, despite that, Blake's attention seemed to be less from the noises around them, and more like up... in the sky. Yang then waved her hand in front of her partner, who then proceeded to point up, but before Yang could comment again, she heard someone yelling, and looked up, her eyes widening as she saw her sister falling from the sky.
Yes, Ruby Rose, who had the brilliant idea of getting to the ruins before Connor could to surprise the shapeshifter, had somehow convinced Weiss to hop on a Giant Nevermore and take off. The heiress had then complained about the reaper's idea, with the latter then suggesting they jumped, but the only problem was a special element that Remnant has a lot of... gravity.
"Heads up!" Ruby shouted, her eyes bugged out as the ground got closer to view, and then out of no where, Jaune Arc, who had been sent flying by a Deathstalker after thinking it's tail was a relic, crashed into her and they were both painfully sent crashing into a tree. When Ruby managed to regain her bearings, she saw that both herself and Jaune were stuck up in a tree, with the blonde hanging over a branch above her. "Oohhhh... What was that?" Ruby wondered as she was still somewhat dizzy.
"Eh-hem!"
Ruby looked up and saw Jaune hanging there; "Hey Ruby..."
Back on the ground, both Yang and Blake were staring at the tree in shock before Blake asked Yang; "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
"I-"
Before Yang could continue, she was cut off by the sound of Grimm growling and trees falling as an Ursa Minor came out of the woods, reared up and swinging it's forelimbs wildly before an explosion of pink electricity went off from behind it, with a girl yelling "Yeehaw!" before it collapsed, revealing a girl with short, orange hair and aqua eyes. She was dressed in a collared black, sleeveless vest with a blue center and red accents, with a white, sleeveless, t-shirt under it with a heart cut in over the breast line. She also has white ankle boots with pink soles, a pink combat skirt, and white sleeves connected to pink fingerless gloves.
The girl then rolled off as the beast landed on the ground and she had a sad look on her face; "Aww. It's broken." As she then proceeded to inspect the now decaying Grimm, another student, this one a boy, rushed out of the brush.
He has black hair with a magenta streak in his hair, with eyes that are the same color as the streak. He wears a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar. Along with this, he wears a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit and light-tan pants with black shoes. He ties his hair back in a low ponytail.
"Nora!" The boy said as he tried to catch his breath; "Please... Don't ever do that again."
When he then looked up, he realized that Nora was not where she was before, which made him look around frantically, only to find that the ginger was at the ruins, inspecting a golden rook piece before proceeding to grab it and for some reason start singing; "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"Nora!" the boy shouted from back by the Ursa corpse.
Nora only smiled as she then saluted and replied with; "Coming, Ren!"
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked Yang as the two were just watching on.
"I-"
Once again, Yang was interrupted as a loud screech was heard to their right and out of the forest came Pyrrha, with a Giant Deathstalker on her tail. The giant Grimm scorpion uprooted trees and everything else in it's path as it tried to catch the redhead. One claw nearly got her, but Pyrrha rolled out of the way before she kept running, and that's when she noticed Jaune up on the tree. "Jaune!"
Still on the tree with Ruby, Jaune notices Pyrrha being chased by the Deathstalker and couldn't help but be a little concerned for his partner. "Pyrrha!"
"Whoa," Ruby said, now standing up on the branch she landed and and seeing the Deathstalker, before she leapt off, leaving a disappointed Jaune, who was hoping that the scythe wielder would help him off.
"Ruby!"
When the red cloaked girl landed on the ground with a roll, gaining Yang's attention; "Ruby!" the blonde said, happy to see her sister.
"Yang!" Ruby said with her arms up about to give her a hug.
Before they could hug though, Nora appeared between them, taking them both off guard and yelling out her own name; "Nora!"
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked as she was paying attention to the Deathstalker that was still chasing Pyrrha.
It was then when Yang, who has had it with all the random things happening all at once, erupts into a burst of flames, her eyes flashing red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
Two seconds later.
"Umm... Yang?" Ruby said as she and Blake were looking up with Nora and Ren now over beside them. It was then when the blonde sagged before she looked up, with Ren and Nora looking up as well, and all five saw the Giant Nevermore... with Weiss hanging by the talon.
"Why did you leave me!?" Weiss yelled towards Ruby as she hanged on for dear life, but her grip was slipping.
Ruby yelled back up to her; "I said 'jump'!"
"She's gonna fall." Blake said.
Ruby waved it off, "She'll be fine."
"She's falling." Ren deadpanned.
As they watched the heiress fall, Jaune had finally recovered and noticed Weiss falling as well. He grins to himself as he sees this as an opportunity to win Weiss over, and before you know it, he jumps off of the tree and catches Weiss in his arms. He smiled to himself, but before he could even say a word, gravity cut in as they were still in the air, and what happened next was Jaune face-planting into the ground with Weiss then landing on top of him. "My hero," Weiss said mockingly, as she was not pleased whatsoever.
"My back," Jaune groaned out in response.
It was then when Pyrrha was knocked in the back by the approaching Deathstalker, which resulted in her landing in front of the rest of the group. "Great," Yang said with great sarcasm, "The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"
Ruby then raised her hand and brought something up; "Well... that's not exactly true."
"She's right..." Jaune, who had recovered from the fall, and being landed on, groaned out as he and Weiss approached the group, "Where's Connor?"
Before Yang, who still was unaware of Connor's name, could even ask who that was, it was then when roaring was heard and two large beasts crashed through the undergrowth behind them. One was an Ursai Major, which was then pinned under the larger beast, which none but Jaune recognized as Connor in his Cave Bear form. The Grimm tried to crawl away from the larger beast, but it was then grabbed by the leg in a powerful set of jaws.
"I'm not finished with you!" Connor yelled through gritted teeth as he then reared up and, much to the surprise of all but Jaune, lifted the Ursa over his head and slammed it hard into the ground before letting go and rearing up again, and that's when two giant paws smashed the skull.
Taking deep breaths to calm down, the bear then turned to look at them, causing everyone, but Jaune, to get a bit defensive due to being between a giant bear and a Deathstalker, but they were all surprised, other than Jaune, to see the bear shrink down and was now Connor, who was looking past them at the Deathstalker. "Uh... is someone gonna do something about that?" Connor said as he looked and pointed to the large arachnid.
It was then when everyone turned and looked at the Deathstalker, with Ruby grinning, seeing an opportunity to prove herself in front of the older kids. "I got it!"
With a battle cry, she was off towards the Deathstalker, making Yang's eyes widen at her sister's actions. "Ruby wait!"
"Dammit, Red," Connor muttered under his breath. Sure, he did ask, but he was preferring if there was like a plan involved with it, not a 'rush head first' kind of situation. He looked on as Ruby propelled herself forward with her scythe, firing the sniper to make her go faster, and just as she was about to swipe at the Deathstalker, it basically backhands her away, making her crash to the ground.
Ruby then got up while yelling out unconvincingly; "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" She then proceeds to shoot at the arachnid-like Grimm's skull, but it was ineffective. Then she started to run out of panic, all the while sheathing her scythe, with the Deathstalker giving chase.
"Ruby!" Yang yelled out in concern as she then charges forward, but as she was making her way to help her sister, the Giant Nevermore caws from above and behind the Deathstalker, and then unleashed a barrage of sharpened feathers, which do two things; one was to stop Yang from making her way to Ruby, and the second was to catch Ruby's cape, trapping her. "Ruby, get out of there!" Yang said as she knew she wasn't going to get there fast enough.
"I'm trying!" Ruby yelled back as she was struggling to get her cloak unstuck, just as the Deathstalker was closing in. It then raised it's stinger high in the air, and was about to use it to possibly impale the helpless girl.
"She's not gonna get away in time," Connor said as he was getting ready to assist, but before he could, he noticed something. Weiss, using her glyphs to charge forward like a white blur, shooting past Yang, and just before the stinger could pierce Ruby, the heiress fired a large wall of ice, freezing the tail in place and that caused everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Ruby, who was still expecting the stinger to have done the deed by now, opened her eyes to see that the Deathstalker's stinger was encased in ice. "You are so childish!" the heiress said as soon as she turned to the reaper.
"Weiss?" Ruby said in slight surprise that Weiss was the one to save her.
"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss berated as she removed her weapon from the ice; "And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby admitted; "I want you to know I can do this."
"You're fine," Weiss told her before she walked back towards the group. As the heiress returned to the group, she saw the smirk on Connor's face, which said a thousand words. "I'm still mad about this morning," she told him before sighing, "but if you can try and keep those 'instincts' under control, I think I can forgive you."
"If that's what it takes, Snowflake," the Chimera replied with a grin, "then that works for me."
The heiress then raised an eyebrow at the nickname; "You plan to keep calling me that, do you?"
That got a shrug from the Chimera before he grinned again; "Maybe. Maybe not. You'll just have to wait and see now do you, Snowflake?"
The group has now regrouped, and with the Nevermore circling them. "Guys? That thing's circling back?" Jaune said as they all turned to look at the giant Grimm bird.
"What a great observation, Jaune," Connor said with a hint of sarcasm. "You get a gold star."
"Really," Jaune deadpanned, with his best friend only shrugging in response.
Weiss then got everyone on track; "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us."
"She's right," Ruby said, nodding towards her partner; "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live," Jaune said with a smiel; "that's an idea I can get behind!"
That was then when a louder roar was heard from in the distance, and that immediately got the group's attention, and with eagle-like eyesight, Connor identified the cause, and his eyes widened when he saw what it was. "First off, these kind of things always ends in a fight, and second... isn't that thing a more northern species?"
They all looked to see what he was referring to, and both Weiss and Pyrrha recognized it immediately. It was a large Grimm resembling a lion with eagle-like wings, and a scorpion tail. The bony armor on it's head resembled a lion's mane, with bull horns coming out from the forehead. It was something that surprised those who recognized it. "A Manticore," Weiss said in shock and recognition.
It was then when they heard the ice start cracking as the Deathstalker was attempting to break free, which prompted Jaune and Ruby to snap to action as they grabbed their respective pieces. Then a loud caw was heard as the Nevermore seemed to begin to close in.
"Time we left," Ren said, which got nods from the rest of the group... well all except Connor.
"Yeah, you guys leave." That got the collective attention from the group as Connor stared down the approaching Manticore.
Ruby was the first to speak up; "You aren't coming with us?"
"I'll take the Manticore," Connor said as he saw it beginning to descend, "the rest of you get out of here. If the Deathstalker and the Nevermore follow you, then take them out, I'll catch up once I'm done."
That got a shocked look from the group, and that was when Yang exclaimed; "Are you crazy!? That thing could kill you!"
His sapphire eyes then met her lilac ones and Yang could see the confidence radiating through them. "I've handled bigger before, Goldie," He said calmly as he looked at her, grinning: "so you guys just worry about the bird and the bug, I have the hybrid handled."
"And how do you plan to do that?" Weiss couldn't help but ask. She has seen him shift into four different creatures, but none of them seemed to be a challenge for a Manticore, not even the bear or the rhino.
Connor looked at the charging Manticore before smirking, taking off his necklace before looking to Ruby. "You wondered what this tooth belonged to, right?" he asked as he gently tossed it to her, with the cloaked reaper catching it. She looked at it for a second before looking up up and she, along with the rest of the group saw the now wild look in his eyes; "Let me show you."
With that said, Connor began to grow in size, bigger than the bear, bigger than the rhino, and turning into a creature that no one but a select few on Remnant would have ever seen before. The beast stood over twenty feet in height, was longer than most buses and was supported under two large, three-toed, legs. It did have small, yet muscular, arms with two clawed fingers. It's head was the main attention though, as it was huge, with jaws filled with the very same teeth that was on the necklace. The eyes of the beast were those of a creature that was to be respected and feared, and much to the surprise of the group, it caused the Manticore to slow it's charge at the sight of it's new opponent.
This beast was also covered in red downy feathers, which went down it's back, with some black feathers also being noticeable, especially for the feathered crest that was on the top of it's head. What this creature was is known from where it comes from is the Tyrant Lizard King... Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"What on Remnant is that!?" Weiss nearly screamed as the rest of the group had a similar reaction, except for Blake and Jaune. Jaune because he had seen Connor turn into this before, and Blake because she knew very well what this thing was... and it wasn't the best of circumstances on when she met it.
Jaune then formed a grin as he Connor now stood at the ready as the Manticore slowly now began to descend. "That... that's what he calls a T-Rex," and then, as if on cue, Connor unleashed a roar that seemed to go through every living creature that was in the valley, signaling the arrival of a king. "And that... is our signal to get going."
"Are you sure he'll be alright," Yang asked in concern.
Pyrrha had to agree on that; "Manticores are very formidable."
That made the knight shrug as he jerked his thumb at the tyrant lizard, "So is that."
Ruby then spoke up before any more discussion could be made; "If Connor thinks he can handle it, then I believe him. Right now we need to go!"
Connor glanced behind him as he saw the eight teens taking off towards the cliffs, just as the Deathstalker had broke free of the ice, and the Nevermore seemed to ignore him, either out of fear or seeing 'easier targets', and went after the others, with the Deathstalker following from the ground. That just left one issue to deal with... and it landed about twenty feet from him.
The Rex knew how his best chance of winning this fight would be to take out the tail and wings before anything else, keeping it grounded and unable to use venom would render it just an easy target. To do that however, he'll need to get it to try and strike him with it's tail.
He then unleashed another thunderous roar as he charged forward, the Grimm doing the same, and in a matter of seconds, the two titans clash, with the Rex grabbing one of the horns in his jaws as he then slings the Manticore to the side before easily biting the horn off instead of simply throwing it. The Grimm roared out in pain as it made the mistake of turning it's back, only for it's tail to be seized in a mighty pair of jaws. Before Connor could snap it off though, the Manticore turned and swatted him in the face, and nearly got him in the eye, which caused him to let go.
Taking advantage of the momentarily separation, the Manticore charged forward and took to the sky, and then struck Connor with it's forepaw again, but before it could fly out of range, one of it's wings were grabbed by a bone-crushing bite before it was pulled back to the ground. Growling in contempt, Connor then rammed into the now grounded Grimm, knocking it off balance before biting the back of it's neck while it struggled to get away.
It was over a second later as a very audible crunch was heard and the Grimm dropped dead a second later with a victorious super predator standing over it. Truth be told, it wasn't his first time fighting a Manticore, and this one was actually a smaller one. A newer one from the looks of things, so that explains why it was alone, and easier to take down. Rustling from the brush made the Rex look up as a pack of Beowulves were staring at him through the tree-line, but none of them came forward, as they seemed to actually fear this beast, and Grimm weren't known for being afraid.
Standing up to full height, Connor looked right at them and growled in challenge, if they want a fight, he would give them one. Though, instead of charging him, they began to back off, disappearing back into the woods. Once the last of them disappeared, Connor let out a disappointed sigh; 'Ghast, how come Grimm seem to either hesitate or fear the T-Rex?'
'There was a reason all the dinosaurs feared the T-Rex,' Ghast said in amusement, 'and they were a lot more durable than some of the Grimm that you've faced as the beast.'
Snorting, Connor then turned his massive head towards where the others went before shifting into his Haast's Eagle form; "Well then, let's go catch up to the others then, bet they already have things handled." With that, he was off in the air, only slowing down so he can pick up a relic in his talons before he was ascending over the trees.
When he found the group moments later, he arrived just to see Nora drop the hammer on the Deathstalker, who's stinger was stabbed in it's skull before it falls down the cliff, and when Ruby was sent running straight up the cliff, something that took Connor by surprise nearly as much as the fact she was dragging behind her the Nevermore by the blade of her scythe, and the second she reached the top, the giant bird-like Grimm was decapitated before it proceeded to fall to the bottom of the cliff. Even though eagles can't whistle, Connor couldn't help but do so in his head. "I feel like I missed some good action," Connor said out loud before he began to descend, aiming for where Jaune and his group was and without any warning, he shifted back and landed softly on his feet before he spoke up...
"So," he said, making Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora jump in surprise as they didn't expect him there; "What did I miss?"
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," Ozpin announced as the screen on top of the stage showed the profiles and the four bouys mentioned stepped up to it. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
The crowd gave an ovation as the four teens walked off, all the while Connor only leaned against the wall behind where the rest of the group were waiting their turns to go up. When they explained what happened to him, he was impressed. He has seen and heard of Hunters and Huntresses who have had issues with both types of Grimm, and he'll admit that Deathstalkers suck fighting against. Only a few of his transformations can get through that armor, T-Rex being the main one.
Though, imagine their surprise when he told them how he managed to take down the Manticore. It wasn't hard to be fair considering how inexperienced that Grimm was compared to others of it's species, but it was still impressive to the others. Still, he marveled at how quickly these people became his and Jaune's new friends, or is that what he was allowed to call it? Connor wasn't one to just make new friends just like that, but they seemed nice enough.
It was then when Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora made their way up the stage and stood in front of the Professor as he then spoke up again; "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR."
This time Connor clapped as well as the rest of the students, happy that his friend was another step closer to his dream. Then came the real surprise in...
"Led by... Jaune Arc!"
"Ho. Ly. Shit," Connor said in surprise as he saw that Jaune was as surprised as him. The Chimera knew Ozpin knew that they forged their transcripts... so this probably had something to do with the reason he was allowing them to stay, but it wasn't a bad thing. Jaune was a good strategist, always was, now he could use it for leading a team. It made Connor smirk at the concept as he nodded towards his blonde friend, who was still shocked.
"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune managed to get out.
Ozpin nodded; "Congratulations, young man."
It was then when Connor couldn't help but chuckle as Pyrrha playfully punched Jaune on the shoulder, only to knock him down on accident. He couldn't really be mad about that, he's done it to the blonde enough times to know. 'You seem to be more tolerable all the sudden,' Ghast couldn't help but comment.
'Because I know who I'm gonna help Jaune out with,' Connor replied with a grin, and Ghast gave a chuckle as the immortal now knows what his host means by that.
A minute later, the now named Team JNPR left the stage, and now the girls' were taking their place before Ozpin; "Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"
That... was a surprise to Connor, and from what he could tell, his words about Weiss having things planned seemed to be true as she looked just as surprised as him. She'd have to live with it though it may seem, so would Ruby, who was being crushed in a hug by her proud sister.
As Connor then made his way to the stage, as he passed by Team RWBY, he gave the new leader a smile. "Congrats, Red," he said as he held out his fist for a fist bump, one she returned a second later.
"Thanks Connor," Ruby said cheerfully as she and the rest of Team RWBY made their way to where Team JNPR was currently as the Chimera then walked up on the stage, hands in his jacket pocket.
"And lastly," Ozpin said as footage of Connor was then showed, replaying him taking down the Nevermore, and then his battle with the Manticore. "I will be the first to say that this student surprised me with what he could do, but Connor O'Riley, as you were the only one to collect the black king piece, and you're the only one without a team, I will let you choose what you want to do."
Connor nodded and for a moment went over his options. He could easily join either Team JNPR or RWBY, but there is one thing he has to consider.
How fair would that be?
If he really wanted to, he could take on a whole team by himself, and with the tournament at the end of the year... he would at least want to give other teams a fighting chance.
"I think... I think I'd be on my own team if that's not to much to ask," he admitted to Ozpin, all the while hearing disappointed sighs from both previously mentioned teams, though Blake's sigh was actually a sigh of relief.
"Very well, that is how it will be," Ozpin said with a nod as the crowd cheered for Connor as he turned and walked towards the stairs, all while the Headmaster thought; "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."
Oh if only he knew.
AN: I'm not gonna lie to you guys... I think I fucked it up here, but I want your opinions on it before I go on. It also took longer than I thought to type, and I can blame my lack of wifi for that...
Anyway, if I didn't manage to fuck it up, then I have come up with a solution for the pairing as I believe I already set both into motion. I'm gonna pair Connor up with both Weiss and Yang.
It's going to be rather interesting as well as quite the challenge, but I also plan on them both being slow burners. Who will he get with first though? Well, just wait and see.
(Update: If you haven't noticed, I decided to try out Connor with the entire Team RWBY for three reasons:
One: It was tied for first in the polls.
Two: I got another story in mind where it will just be OC/Weiss.
Three: I want to try out a slow burning harem story, because I've never really tried it before.)
Another thing, Connor does have a semblance, but it's one he rarely uses, has no control over, and well... it's brought him a lot of pain.
So with that out of the way, how did you guys like the chapter? Like I said, let me know if I did indeed screw up, but if I didn't then thank God. I'm going to try and have a new story out sooner or later, what it is will be a surise, and I'm still waiting on Renegade Justice so it will be a bit for that.
So don't forget to review, and if you have questions, you're welcomed to PM me.
Peace.