A/N:
Believe it or not, I wanted to upload this weeks ago. I just got sidetracked by finals and other things.
Feedback, as always, is appreciated.
"So lemme get this straight," Savannah spoke up, still wrapping his head around what Weaver was telling the group. "This Salem chick, all depressed that the love of her life died from a cold, begged literal gods to bring him back."
"Yep." Weaver responded, popping the "p."
"Not to mention the guy for Four-Eyes, who's been reincarnated for what, centuries now?"
"Uh-huh."
"And in her infinite wisdom, decided to fight the Brothers when they didn't resurrect the guy."
"Hey, love makes you do crazy things sometimes."
"When that failed, Salem Thanos snapped everyone?"
"No, no. The God of Darkness wiped everyone out."
"Yeah, whatever. And now she's back, all evil and shit, and wants to destroy the world or something?"
"That's about the size of it."
"God, who came up with that?" Hex interjected. "That was the most cliche backstory I've ever heard."
The group was flying above the sprawling wilderness and mountain ranges of Anima. Weaver was in the gunner seat of the Hunter piloted by Hex, with Savannah lagging behind in the Buzzard. Aside from swatting down a couple of Nevermores that got too close and avoiding passing airships, nothing exciting had happened. To pass the time, Weaver explained the lore of Remnant to the best of his abilities. Considering they're stuck here indefinitely, having the others knowing a bit about the world wouldn't hurt.
Night had gotten around and poked around through the game files. Surprise, surprise, he didn't find anything that explained how they ended up in Remnant or means to return their games back to normal. Considering there still hasn't been any mentions of this phenomenon anywhere on the internet, it's safe that whatever was happening was isolated to them only. All of this got Night thinking, though. Considering he was able to spawn the Railgun and Hunter without issue back in initiation, he began experimenting with his mod tool to see what else he could do. From the progress he made so far, Night said the results were promising. Not to mention, without needing to worry about Rockstar's oversight, Night was free to explore more options he wouldn't normally consider.
As for Hex's usual gunner, Night was back in Vale decorating their new property. As it turns out, the listings specified it wasn't gonna be furnished, which Weaver overlooked when he bought it. Seeing an opportunity to test his mod tool and finally putting that interior design class he took back in high school to use, Night took the mantle of "sprucing" up their new house. He wasn't on the call with the others as he didn't want unneeded distractions, but the three could pull him back should anything happen.
As to why the rest of the group were back in Mistral, Weaver just remembered that he wanted to check on Shion: the village the Branwen Tribe razed to the ground in Volume Four. Thankfully, the place was still in one piece when they arrived at Weaver's relief. Knowing Raven, she wasn't going to take that humiliation at Holz lying down and probably will try to redeem herself at some other settlement. As the others didn't want to stick around for long, Weaver offered a hefty sum of Lien to bolster their defenses. Understandably, Shion's inhabitants were reluctant to accept as they thought it some kind of trick, but after someone recognized the three as the ones responsible for repelling the bandits and Grimm at Holz, they accepted. Truth be told, the group completely forgot about Holz's existence after initiation.
Speaking of Holz, Weaver received a call from Oliver: a guy he vaguely remembered talking to back at the settlement.
Thanks to Weaver's funds, the settlement managed to not only hire additional Huntsman to defend their place but also secured much-needed supplies from the capital. The first several shipments arrived without a problem, though the recent ones didn't show up as anticipated. Worried, Oliver reached out to Weaver, to which Hex questioned how he managed to get Weaver's cell, if the group could seek out the missing shipments. Curious, Weaver asked why they didn't task one of the Huntsmen they hired to search for it, to which Oliver blatantly stated that they had more faith in the four to accomplish this than ordinary Huntsman. Weaver had to be honest: he wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Opening the map, Weaver saw they were coming up to a stretch of road the trucks were meant to take, as evident with the narrow yellow search area encompassing the route. Zooming out, Weaver saw that they had quite a lot of ground to cover. He let out a groan. If this search was gonna take forever, they were gonna call it a day.
After what felt like an eternity of mindlessly flying over the snaking dirt road, the three noticed a new search area, now taking the shape of a circle, ahead of them. This prompted Weaver to readjust himself in his chair.
"Hold up, we're coming up on something."
"Is it the shipment?" Hex asked eagerly, already sick of both the search and listening to Weaver drone on about the show.
Taking control of Hunter's nose turret, Weaver swiveled it towards the direction of the area and zoomed in. Instead of seeing the vehicles, Weaver spotted something obstructing the road.
"I don't think so." Weaver responded with uncertainty. Something wasn't right.
Hovering over the area, the group saw that a tree had fallen over and blocked the dirt road. Still seeing the search area marked on the map, the trio disembarked their choppers and began investigating on foot.
"Guess that explains why the shipments didn't arrive." Weaver thought aloud as he inspected the fallen tree. The three were constantly stepping on twigs and leaves scattered all over the ground.
"Yeah, but where is it?" Savannah added.
"Maybe they went back to Mistral?" Weaver said. According to the map, this was the only route connecting Holz to the outside world.
"Aren't we already in Mistral?"
"I mean the capital."
"So the Kingdom and the capital is named Mistral? That's dumb."
Meanwhile, Hex was walking around when he saw a prompt briefly pop up in the corner before disappearing. Retracing his steps, Hex saw the prompt again. Now seeing it as an option to inspect the stump of the tree currently blocking the road. Pressing right on his wire controller's D-pad, Hex's character holstered his Special Carbine and aligned himself to the stump before looking over it intently. After a few seconds, he regained control of his character as a message popped up.
This stump shows signs that an axe had been used to chop the tree down. Find additional clues in the area to uncover what happened.
"Yo, check this out." Hex hollered out as the other two came over and saw the same message.
"Somebody chopped this down? Oh, the plot thickens!" Savannah said amusingly as the three began combing the road and part of the forest. This dull mission just got more interesting.
It didn't take long for the others to find the rest of the clue. Hex stumbled upon the remains of a campsite in the trees with a clear sight of the road. Near the road, Weaver found a paper map stuck in a tree branch — presumably got picked up by the wind by the looks of it. After finessing the map back onto the ground involving an AP Pistol to literally saw off the branch, Weaver picked it up and saw the route of the shipment highlighted. This, coupled with the campsite Hex found, it seems that somebody knew when and where these trucks were going. Furthermore, he noticed an area south of their current location circled. Judging from the doodles of houses, it could be another village or a hideout. As for Savannah...
"Hey guys, you... you might wanna see this." Savannah said.
"What is it?" Weaver walked over to where Savannah was and noticed something sticking out of the ground. Looking closely, it was the tip of a boot. It immediately clicked what Savannah found. "Agh, Jesus..."
Shallow graves, and from the bulges in the ground, they were four bodies. Seeing a prompt, Savannah's character knelt down and began scraping off the thin layer of dirt, soon revealing the pale bodies. All four had entry wounds in their foreheads, with Dust lingering around the wounds. These guys were killed with a gun pressed against their skulls, execution-style.
Looking at their apparels, none of the four were Huntsman. Given how Hex and Night practically wiped out the Grimm population in the area the last time they were here, it seemed these guys figured they were fine without them.
After Savannah regained control of his character, the search area they were in disappeared as new search areas popped up as well as a message.
An unknown group has ambushed the trucks carrying the supplies. Venture out to the new areas of interest and locate the culprits.
Opening the map, there were two new search areas: one that continued down the dirt road heading east and the other over a settlement of some sort given the boxy silhouettes and gray lines. Bringing the cursor over the second area, Weaver's heart skipped a beat when he saw the name in cursive at the bottom of the screen.
"Kuroyuri…" Weaver muttered. Guess now he knew what was circled on the map he found earlier.
"You know the place?" Savannah inquired.
"Yeah… it used to be a settlement that got overrun by Grimm. Place has been abandoned as far as I can tell."
"Abandoned, you say?" Savannah clicked his tongue. "Alright, let's go."
"What do you mean?"
"You said it yourself. A place like that, destroyed by and probably crawling with Grimm, nobody's gonna wanna anywhere near it. A perfect place to hide out."
"Oh yeah, I did say that." He noticed a trend while rewatching the show: places like Mount Glenn and Oniyuri that, once overwhelmed by Grimm, had no attempts to reestablish. Not to mention the former was used by the White Fangs as a staging area for the Breach, so a place like Kuroyuri was perfect for whoever was responsible to lay low.
"Hex, follow the road. We'll head to the village and check if anyone's around." Savannah ordered as the three ran back to their choppers.
"Will do," Hex acknowledged as he climbed back into the cockpit of the Hunter while the others boarded the Buzzard. Once the rotors gained momentum, they ascended above the trees and splitted off in different directions.
/ / /
Weaver was lost in his thoughts. It never occurred to him to visit the place where Nora and Ren came from. Remembering what had transpired, Weaver brought it up that they could encounter the Nuckelavee as this area was its stomping ground. To which Savannah retorted that if it was around, they would promptly unload half-a-dozen homing missiles into it. After all, they've killed hundreds, if not thousands of Grimm ever since their arrival. What makes the Nuckelavee any different?
"Alright, we're coming up to the place." Savannah announced, snapping Weaver out of his train of thought.
Looking up, Weaver saw Kuroyuri slowly coming into view — what remained of the village contrasting the vibrant and lush surroundings. For some reason, he felt tense as he scanned the ruins below him as the Buzzard orbited high above.
"I don't see anything." Weaver reported.
"They must've stashed it inside the buildings. Smart." Savannah admitted. Considering the number of airships that they had to fly around just to reach Anima, one of them would be bound to spot the trucks. "Okay, I'm landing this thing and we'll go from there."
"What about the Nuckelavee?" Weaver asked. He was still concerned about encountering the Grimm.
"You're seriously still worried about that thing?" Savannah retorted as the Buzzard descended onto the main square of the settlement just in front of the dead blossom tree — the rotors kicking up dead leaves and debris as the two exited the helicopter.
The place didn't look any different from what Weaver remembered, though he couldn't help but feel uneasy. The dilapidated buildings and charred ruins were what Weaver expected, but for him to look around himself, it felt... eerie. It didn't help that there was overcast, adding more somber to this place than it already needed.
"Man, this place looks morbid." Savannah said aloud as he looked around.
"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious." Weaver remarked. Savannah just had to ruin the moment.
"Whatever," Savannah rolled his eyes as he opened his map. "This place is bigger than I thought. You stay here and search this side of the canal. I'll hop over and check the other side."
"Sounds like a plan," Weaver agreed as he watched Savannah sprint towards the edge of the dried-up canal and disappear from view. Looking over, Weaver saw him running around the collapsed wooden bridge before clambering over the embankment on the other side.
Turning around, Weaver noticed a pair of crates below him. He had a gut feeling he had seen this before. Dropping down onto the smaller crate, Weaver turned around to face the main square.
'So this is where Ren saw the Nuckelavee,' Weaver thought as he stared at where the beast lurked in the flashback. He then swapped to the Heavy Sniper and zoomed into the clearing underneath one of the raised buildings. 'And that's where he spotted Nora hiding.'
After contemplating the significance of this spot, Weaver climbed back onto the ground level and began strolling down the cobblestone path, slowly taking in his surroundings.
Eventually, Weaver stumbled upon a house that was miraculously still standing and cautiously approached as he swapped to the Assault Shotgun. There weren't any red blips on the map, but that didn't assure anything. For all he knew, the culprits were inside, waiting to spring a trap the moment he stepped foot inside.
Seeing where the doorknob was located on the wooden door, Weaver fired his shotgun just above it as the door swung open and waited for a response. Nothing was showing up on the minimap. That was a good sign. Hearing an unsuppressed shotgun ring out and seeing a door burst open would've at least elicit some kind of response for anyone inside. Still, he didn't know what was inside and needed to tread carefully.
Rolling through the door frame, Weaver aimed his Assault Shotgun and scanned the inside — the flashlight on his shotgun illuminating the dark. Seeing another door inside, Weaver fired another shell at it as the door swung open. Peering in, it was an empty bathroom.
Looking around, Weaver noticed he was in the living room, judging by the large wooden table at the center, a fire stove against a wall, and what appeared to be a portrait hanging over a shelf. Though Weaver couldn't tell what was framed there as most of it was charred, presumably from a fire that started during the Grimm attack.
His attention was then drawn to the debris blocking off a narrow corridor that leads to two separate rooms, according to the map. Looking at the rubble, it seemed that the roof had collapsed on that segment of the house.
Nearing the debris, Weaver heard something snap beneath him and quickly rolled back and aimed his shotgun at the ground. That's when he saw a skeleton pinned underneath the piles of shingles and wooden support beams. The bones and green dress corroded and tattered with the passage of time and exposure to the elements. It took a second for Weaver to piece together who this person was.
"Damn…" Was all Weaver could say as he lowered his Assault Shotgun.
"Found something?" Savannah asked.
"No, it… it's nothing." Weaver brushed it off before heading out. There wasn't anything else he needed to see here.
Watching the show, he knew what happened to Ren's mother, though seeing her like that somehow made him feel nauseous. Prompting Weaver to mute himself to take a few deep breaths.
Part of him felt responsible for letting this happen. Had he shown up a couple years earlier, he could've averted all of this. He could've stopped the Grimm from leveling this place and prevented Ren and Nora from experiencing such a traumatic experience. He could've stopped Cinder from stealing the Maiden Power from Amber. Hell, Weaver might actually find out what happened to—
'No, what happened happened.' Weaver stopped himself. There's no point in dewling about the past. He's here now. He can still prevent the shitshow at the end of Volume Three from coming to fruition. Shaking his head, Weaver unmuted himself and proceeded to the next house.
/ / /
For the next ten minutes, Savannah and Weaver continued searching the village while Hex followed the trail in the Hunter. Neither group found any leads that would help in locating the missing supplies or the people responsible. Eventually, Savannah did stumble upon what appeared to be a temporary hideout in one of the houses, as evidenced by the bedrolls and small campfire. A message did pop up when Savannah entered the area, saying that whoever was here left in a hurry. Beyond that, it didn't help in finding the missing supplies.
To make this whole experience less excruciating, the group was idly chatting about all sorts of things. Savannah announced that his little sister just finished elementary school and will start at the same middle school the four first met. Hex began talking about some obscure cryptocurrency that he believes will be the next big thing. Even Night dropped in for a moment to tell the others that he re-added the Mechanic into their contacts and conversed for a bit before leaving. All except for Weaver, who tuned out of the conversations as he continued exploring Kuroyuri.
Maybe it's because of the significance of what this was once was, but Weaver felt compelled to find more things about what happened to the people of Kuroyuri. More than actually the missing supplies. Sure enough, he found more skeletons of all sizes dotted around and even some old family photos in the few houses that were still standing.
Looking through all this made him feel both excited and disheartened. Exciting as he could view the place in a new light, but crushing that he saw the actual fates of some of these people. No doubt there were more instances of this in the world that the show didn't delve into. This thought only enthralled Weaver's motivation in fixing Remnant.
Suddenly, a mission failed message was plastered on all their screens — citing that the trucks they were seeking had been destroyed.
"Okay, who destroyed the trucks?" Weaver demanded.
"Wasn't me." Savannah responded.
"Hex..." Weaver gritted.
"Oi, don't look at me." Hex retorted. "It was destroyed when I got there."
"Wait, what?"
Not far from Kuroyuri, Hex was sifting through what's left of the convoy. The four trucks were either turned to scrap or a smoldering wreck. Dozens of crates and their contents ranging from food to medical supplies littered everywhere on the ground. Even the landscape has been turned over. Quite frankly, it's as if a tornado had come through here. All of this wasn't even accounting for the bodies. So far, Hex counted seven, but it was to distinguish with the amount of body parts scattered everywhere.
"Someone or something tore through the trucks. I don't see anyone moving." Hex reported with ambiguity.
"Great, just what we needed." Weaver muttered. Giving how Oliver sounded on the call, they needed these supplies. Hopefully, this mission was still salvageable. "Any ideas what jumped them?"
"Well, the supplies are still here so I'm guessing it was Grimm." Hex responded. After seeing two jagged claw marks that went the length of one of the trucks. "Yep, definitely Grimm alright."
"Okay, what about the people? Do they look familiar?"
"How the hell should I know?" Hex retorted.
"Just send me a pic. I'll see if I recognize them."
"Okay, then." Hex responded in a somewhat mocking manner as he began sifting through the wreck for a relatively intact body. "Be my guest."
A couple of seconds later, Weaver's phone chimed and saw a text notification from Hex on the lock screen. Opening the message, Weaver saw that Hex just took a picture of his monitor. There was some glare, but it didn't obscure what was shown.
The photo showed Hex's Online character standing over one of the bodies slouched against a tree with a massive hole in its trunk. Examining closely, Weaver saw that the guy had a gaping hole in his chest that looked about the same size as the one in the tree. Whatever killed this guy, it had some serious punch.
Looking at the body, Weaver realized why Hex was acting like an asshole. This one didn't look any different from the guys from the attempted train hijacking or the bodies they recovered from Holz. Looks like he'll have to cross-reference this photo with the show to see if these guys are from the Branwen Tribe or some other group.
Staring at the picture, Weaver then noticed some kind of imprint in the ground. It was mostly cropped out, so he couldn't tell if it was tire tracks or... something else. "Hex, do you see something on the ground?"
"Ummm..." It took Hex a moment to see what Weaver was talking about. "Oh, yeah. There's a giant ass hoof print in the ground."
"Shit, it was Nuckelavee then." Weaver said. He wanted to be surprised, but considering where they were, it was hard not to be.
"Welp, this blows." Savannah spoke up as he opened the pause menu. "Alright, let's bail. Let's check out what Night has done to the mansion."
"Wait, hold up, that thing is still out there. We need to kill it." Weaver protested
"Dude, seriously? Weaver, we've wasted hours finding these stupid trucks, and now you want to track down this stupid thing. That thing is probably long gone by now." Savannah retorted.
Usually, Savannah wouldn't mind killing Grimm, but as it wasn't marked like the countless Search and Destroy missions they undertook, finding the Grimm was gonna be like finding a needle in a haystack. Something that required time and patience, both of which were straining from this now pointless search.
"Look, the Nuckelavee has a cave nearby in the mountains. We can—"
"I already know where this is going, and the answer is no." Savannah interrupted. "If you really want to find this thing, then you can do it yourself."
"Then at least help me find the cave. Please?" Weaver pleaded.
Savannah grunted as he took his head. "Why do I even bother? Alright, fine. We find this stupid cave, and then you're on your own. Hex, get back to us. Weaver's gonna borrow the Hunter."
"Ugh…" Hex groaned. He had to do more unnecessary flying.
Back at the village, Savannah and Weaver met back up at the main square. However, the two noticed that the Buzzard wasn't there.
"Where's the chopper?" Savannah asked as he came to a stop as he turned towards Weaver. "Did you move it?"
"No, I definitely didn't."
Opening the map, Savannah searched for the personal aircraft icon. "Okay, for some reason, it's a couple of blocks down."
"How did that happen?" Weaver asked.
"I dunno. Maybe it got dragged by the wind." Hex suggested.
"Must be some strong winds to move the Buzzard that far."
"Not to mention nonexistent. There was barely any breeze here." Weaver added as he whipped out his Assault Rifle equipped with the extended mag. "We're not alone."
"Hex, get back here now." Savannah ordered as he pulled out his Carbine Rifle as the two began heading towards the location of the Buzzard.
"Oh, thank god." Hex said, almost sounding relieved, as he boarded the Hunter. "Finally, some action."
/ / /
While sprinting towards the Buzzard, Savannah and Weaver kept a keen eye on the minimap for any changes. Even though the two did search a good chunk of the village, with Savannah covering more than Weaver, they still didn't check every nook and cranny.
Eventually, the two were nearing the intersection where the Buzzard was marked on the map. Aiming his Assault Rifle and facing the direction of the chopper, Weaver peered around the corner of the building in third-person. Weaver saw the Buzzard, but that wasn't the only thing. He saw it — the Nuckelavee in the flesh dragging the chopper. One of its long arms wrapped against the tail rotor of the aircraft. The beast wasn't facing them but seeing it was enough to send Weaver into a panic.
"Oh, shit! Back up! Back up!" Weaver whispered as he receded back into cover. "The Nuckelavee is right there!"
"Really?" Savannah said nonchalantly as he walked out into the road. "Oh dang, that is bigger than I thought."
"Are you insane, Sav?! Get back into cover!" Weaver hissed.
"Calm down, Weaver. It's not even looking our way." Savannah tried assuring. It seemed to work as Weaver got the Nuckelavee back into view, albeit was still hugging the wall as cover.
"What is that thing doing?" Weaver asked.
"I think it's taking the Buzzard with it." Savannah suggested.
"Why though?"
"Why are you asking me? Aren't you the expert here?"
Weaver clicked his tongue. He honestly couldn't think of any logical reasoning for the Nuckelavee's odd behavior. All the Grimm they encountered would try to maul them alive. Though looking at the worn spears and arrows lodged in the Grimm's back, Weaver remembered that this is an old Grimm. One that had survived for years and had gained some degree of intelligence. Still, that wouldn't explain why it's taking the Buzzard.
Or was this Salem's doing? Given how much Grimm they've killed ever since their arrival, not to mention Weaver's intervention at the robbery, Salem must've known of their presence by now. Was she trying to lure them? Send a message? Nah, he was overthinking it.
"Okay, on three." Weaver then swapped to his Heavy Sniper and trained his reticles over the Nuckelavee's humanoid head. "One, two, thr—"
Weaver was then abruptly cut off as Savannah whipped out a Minigun and fired at the Nuckelavee. The Grimm letting out an agonizing screech as its bulky form was perforated by a stream of bullets. A few seconds later, it collapsed onto the cobblestone path and released its grip on the Buzzard.
"Alright, it's dead." Savannah announced as he swapped back to the Carbine Rifle and approached the Grimm.
"Yo… you just killed it." Weaver was in disbelief.
"Uh, yeah?" Savannah turned around to face Weaver. "You sounded disappointed."
"No. it's just..."
"What, were you expecting some action-packed fight?"
"Well... I… um... yeah, yeah, pretty much." Weaver sheepishly confessed.
"Sorry to break it to you, reality is often disappointing." Savannah shrugged as he checked on his personal aircraft to see the tail was bent to all hell and white smoke coming out of the rear fuselage. "Crap, it's already smoking. Guess we'll call in a—"
Savannah never finished his sentence. One of the Nuckelavee's long elastic arms sprouted out and swatted Savannah into a nearby building — the impact killing him instantly and leaving a spider web crack in the wall.
"Oh, fuck!" Weaver exclaimed as he witnessed all of that in front of him. Looking at the minimap, the large red blip reappeared as the Nuckelavee got back up before both the horse and humanoid head tilted their heads towards him. Its whole body was riddled with holes.
Weaver brought up his Heavy Sniper, not even bothering to aim down sights, and took a couple of potshots at the Grimm. The Nuckelavee staggered from the micro explosions that impacted its body as Weaver retreated.
"Hex, where are you?!" Weaver demanded as he reloaded his sniper while running away. Looking over his shoulders to see the Grimm recovering.
Weaver soon got his answer as he saw the Hex's Hunter looming in the distance as it let off a couple of homing missiles followed by a barrage. The combined attack enveloping the beast in a thick blanket of explosions. Just as Hex was about to unleash another barrage, one of the Nuckelavee's long arms extruded out of the smoke and reached towards the attack chopper. Hex didn't react fast enough to avoid it as the claws pierced through the cockpit's window and sank into Hex's chest. The arm reeled back as the Hunter began losing altitude as it spun out of control, eventually crashing off in the distance with an explosion following shortly after.
Once the smoke had dispersed, the Nuckelavee was still standing, albeit with vast portions of its body blown off or scorched and parts of its bonelike armor cracked. Even one of its arms was dangling by a thread. Seeing the billowing smoke from the Hunter's wreckage, the Nuckelavee let out a screech that echoed throughout the air.
However, this was short-lived as Weaver seized this opportunity and landed a couple more shots from his Heavy Sniper at the beast. This time, from a safe distance before retreating back to the main square. Seeing him, the Grimm began galloping after him at a startling rate. God, Weaver keeps forgetting how fast this thing actually is.
Now back in front of the dead blossom tree, Weaver turned around to see the Grimm not far behind and fired off his remaining explosive rounds. Nearing his position, the Grimm triggered the five Proximity Mines Weaver placed earlier as the explosions detonated under its hoofs. Weaver forwent his sniper for the Minigun and began spraying the Grimm. Unlike last time, the Grimm was barely unfazed by this onslaught and, with its other intact arm, grabbed Weaver and pinned him against the tower.
"Guys! This thing's got me pinned!" Weaver shouted.
"Spawned on the other side of the village. You're on your own." Savannah responded.
Seeing he was out of options, Weaver gritted as he stared at the Nuckelavee. The humanoid head twitching erratically as it stared back at him.
'God, that fucking twitching.' Weaver thought as he felt a chill course down his spine. After all these years, he still found it unsettling and it didn't help that the Grimm was like five feet away from him.
Given how far the others were from him, Weaver knew he was gonna die. Even though he'll just respawn, he'll feel disappointed that he got bested by this thing despite knowing everything about it. No matter, this thing was gonna die today.
Just as it recoiled its dangling arm to for a swipe, the Grimm's back was engulfed in a giant fiery explosion as it released its hold on Weaver as the Nuckelavee let out an agonizing scream. Looking over, Weaver saw Hex in his matte desert tan Khanjali barreling towards him while firing its railgun.
Seeing that Hex wasn't stopping, Weaver quickly ran out of the way as the Khanjali rammed the Grimm and pinned it against the tower as the beast winced in pain as it was being crushed. It tried breaking free, but with Hex continuously hitting the throttle and the tank's heavy weight, these attempts proved futile.
Wanting to end this, Hex redirected the tank's main gun and pressed it against the humanoid's head before fully charging the railgun. The Nuckelavee let out another screech as it stared down the barrel, electricity dancing around the magnetic coils, before the tank fired, point-blank. The explosion enveloped the humanoid's head as the entire tank jolted backward. Shortly after, the Nuckelavee went limp as the red blip disappeared from the minimap. The humanoid head had been completely eviscerated as a massive column of black smoke began exuding out of the body.
Seeing that it was definitely dead now, Weaver leaned back in his chair and took several labored breaths just as Savannah arrived on the scene.
"Is it actually dead?" Savannah inquired, pointing his Carbine Rifle at the disintegrating corpse.
"Ye-Yeah, it's dead." Weaver answered as Savannah lowered his rifle. "Hex, you there?"
No response.
"Hex? Hex? I think your mic is muted."
"Aw, goddamnit! I was muted the whole fucking time!" Hex whined. Guess now they knew why he was so reticent. "I said this one line before I shot it and I was like— Ugh, it would've so badass if you guys heard it."
"You know, you could still say it if—"
"Nope, nope. The moment is gone now." Hex responded depressingly as he backed the Khanjali away from the Grimm before getting out.
Ping
"Oh hey, Night. What's going on?" Savannah greeted.
"Hey, are you guys done with that search?"
"You could say that." Weaver responded as he glanced over at the column of smoke. "Why?"
"Get back to the mansion. There's something you guys need to see."
"Well, what is it?"
"Trust me, it'd be easier to explain if you see it for yourself."
"Pfft, alright. You heard him." Savannah snorted as he opened his Interaction Menu to store his Buzzard before bringing up the menu to find a new session. Moments later, his Online characters fizzled out of existence and spawned back in Vale.
"Hex, aren't you forgetting something?" Weaver reminded him, after noticing the Khanjali was still there even though Hex was already in the menu.
"Huh? Oh, right." Hex responded as he stored his Khanjali before finding a new session. Both the tank and Hex flickering out of existence as well.
Spawning in their mansion's spacious entryway, Savannah already noticed Night had done a lot to the place. He also noticed that one of them was still back in Mistral. "Weaver, you coming or what?"
"I'll catch up later. I need to tell Oliver about what happened." Weaver said. After all, they were here in the first place to find the trucks, which was in a million pieces right now.
"Yeah, have fun with that." Hex sarcastically remarked as the three left the call one by one, not wanting to hear that conversation.
Ping
Ping
Ping
Sighing, Weaver opened the Interaction Menu and requested for his personal Hydra. After waiting for it to spawn and seeing its icon on the other side of the village, Weaver sighed again. Even in Remnant, the spawn system is still complete garbage.
Just as he was heading towards his personal aircraft, Weaver peered back at the Nuckelavee's remains. Part of him regretted not allowing Ren and Nora the opportunity to enact revenge for what this thing did to them years before. He then quickly shook his head before running to his Hydra. No, if Beacon still stands, they wouldn't need to go back here.
Kinda lackluster, I'll admit. Just going down the list of things I wanted to write down.
warrlod: Thanks.
Guest: You may or may not have given me an idea.
Yukkikage666: Thanks.
Widonto: Not gonna lie, that made me laugh for a solid minute. Yeah, my upload schedule is complete shit. I know.
LichLord: Oh, man. I'm sorry about that. Personally, I imagine seeing a blend of both GTA graphics and RWBY animation. They see everything in the show's aesthetics but everything GTA-related, their Online characters, vehicles, etc. still retain their familiar appearance (if that made any sense) though I could see the arguments for the other perspectives. I guess it would ultimately boil down to whatever suits you the best.
Again, I do have to apologize for my abnormal response. Not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that.
Skeletalrepublic: I appreciate your interest.
PrisonDictator: Oh shit, I didn't expect to see you here. What up?
Mendoza249: Thanks.
D.O.F: I appreciate the feedback. I will definitely try to broaden the perspectives and introduce more GTA-related shenanigans. Again, writing isn't my forte, so results may vary.
And yes, those two are the quintessential examples of craziness and humor.
NoelRahlis7: Thanks.
TkeleChoG: As I said before, all credit goes to PrisonDictator for inspiring this. Before reading GTR Online, I wouldn't have ever thought such a crossover would be doable. Nevertheless, thanks.