Two chapters done! But I am exhausted! I may come back and rewrite this chapter a bit. Let me know what you guys think!

"Another day! Another adventure!" Nora said joyfully, stretching her arms into the air.

Ruby, who was walking in between Carly and Jaune, asked her blonde companion, "What's on the agenda today?"

"Walking!" Jaune exclaimed, almost as if he was trying to hype the word and the action it came with despite it not being exciting.

Either Nora was hoping for something different, or didn't seem to mind this and tried to keep the hype up by asking excitedly, "With a side of?"

However, Ren answered instead of his team lead, in a bored voice, "Walking."

At Ruby's sigh in response to that statement, Carly put a hand on her shoulder and said encouragingly, "We'll get there. Every step brings us closer, just be patient."

Her words didn't seem to help much as Ruby said, "Haven is a lot farther away than I thought."

'You're telling me. Especially when in our world where we can just jump to a later episode and be there already,' Carly thought, but couldn't say.

Weeks had passed by since Carly and Sam had found themselves in the world of RWBY and traveling alongside part of the main cast. In those weeks Sam and Carly had built up a better understanding of their semblances, their aura strengthened a little, and they were getting much better at handling their weapons.

While Carly still didn't feel that they were even half as skilled as her travel companions, she couldn't deny that her and Sam were improving at a pretty decent pace.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ren speeding up his pace to walk beside her and Ruby. He looked at Ruby and asked questioningly, "Ruby, how long did you think this journey was going to take?"

Ren fell back as Ruby threw her arms up in frustration, nearly hitting Carly in the process, as the young girl said, "I don't know! I grew up in a small area, I've never been this far away from home!"

Despite the frustration in Ruby's voice, Carly couldn't help but feel a smile tug at her lips at that statement.

Jaune didn't even look up from the map in front of his face as he asked his companion, "Right, but how long?"

Ruby looked slightly embarrassed and said in an almost questioning manner, "Maybe like, uh, two weeks?"

"What?!" Jaune's blonde head finally emerged from being buried in the map to look at Ruby with a look of frustration and shock.

"Okay fine! Three or something," Ruby almost shouted as she, once again, threw her hands up in frustration. This time, she did hit Carly, who let out a slight sound upon being hit.

Ruby turned and blushed at her actions before whispering, "Sorry!"

Carly waved her hand in dismissal, stating, "Surely you didn't think Haven was just a short distance away? It's not that small of a world, and the kingdoms would definitely need some space from one another to create their own academies and even cultures."

Her sort of question wasn't answered as Ruby squinted at something in the distance and asked no in particular, "Hey, what's that?"

Carly and the others turned to watch as Nora ran a little farther ahead, only stopping to hop on top of the fence beside the path they'd all been taking.

Carly and Sam's eyes both widened as they realized what they were seeing.

"That's strange," Jaune said with confusion, looking at the nearby town. He paused and looked at the map for answers, and finding none, looked at his other friends stating, "I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days."

Carly bit her lip as she knew exactly what village they had found, and even worse…

What lay beyond it.

So they had finally caught up with the next part of the story.

'Here we go…' Carly thought. She knew from here on out, things would only get tougher.

She only hoped her and Sam were ready for it all.

Nora said, almost to herself, "Are those buildings…damaged?"

A worried look passed amongst the younger members of the group as Jaune exclaimed, "We should search for survivors!"

Immediately the others bolted toward the town, Jaune dropping the map in his haste to reach the town. Carly bent over to grab it before it blew away and shared a look with Sam. Her friend didn't look worried, but she certainly didn't look calm either. Both brunettes ran after the others, catching up just in time to see them all gazing around at the old broken down buildings.

It didn't look as bad as Shion, but the indication of what happened here, even if it occurred years ago, still brought about an ominous air. It was so unpleasant that Carly felt a horrible shiver run up her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Even Sam looked nervous, her hands almost reaching for her bow and arrow as her head whipped back and forth.

Ruby let out a grunt as she dropped a broken pair of boards to the ground before shouting out, "Anything?"

"Nothing over here!" Nora shouted from atop a broken building. She was scanning the entire village, looking just as worried as the rest of her teammates. She jumped down easily as Jaune shouted back, "No one over here either!"

Nora jogged ahead of the others to keep searching as Carly and Sam walked deeper into the village.

Ren was kneeling on the ground, a calculated look on his face before he stated, "It almost seems like the town was abandoned."

There was a cautious confusion in Ren's words that caused everyone to look around nervously.

Carly spoke, "It does. But something about this place doesn't feel like it was just…abandoned."

This caused everyone to glance at her with slightly more worried looks. Of course, Carly had a better idea of what had possibly happened here, but she couldn't tell them. Nor could she act like she knew more than she did, otherwise she would be suspicious.

The wind whistled by everyone as the dark clouds above them only seemed to make the situation worse. Carly couldn't help but want to reach back and grab her hobby horse weapon, despite the fact that she knew there was no threat around at the moment.

In the distance, Nora shouted, "Hey! I think I found something!"

Everyone rushed over to reach Nora, who was bent over, examining what looked like a central sign of the town. Vines curled around the rotting wood and faded sign, resulting in the ginger haired female to have to brush them out of the way to read the writing.

"Oniyuri," Nora said aloud. After a heartbeat, she put her hands on her hips, still examining the sign, and stated, "Never heard of it."

"Me neither," Jaune added. He looked at Sam and Carly who both shook their head in denial of knowing the place.

Carly glanced at Ren to see the young man closing his eyes with a somber look. Despite this, he spoke clearly, "I have."

When everyone turned to look at Ren for clarification on the current state of the village, Ren opened his eyes, though he kept his gaze on the worn down sign.

"You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed," Ren started, an aged, faraway look in his eyes as he explained to his travel companions.

"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 maybe even become its own kingdom," Ren paused, looking away, an almost angry look on his face before he continued, "Many thought it would be the future."

Once again he paused, but he wandered over to one of the abandoned buildings and said in a voice that, despite being monotone, spoke volumes, "I know my parents did."

Ruby asked nervously, after a moment of no one saying anything, "What happened?"

Ren brushed away some layered dust, revealing a ragged black scratch mark, stating, "What always happens."

"The Grimm…" Jaune concluded despondently.

Ren turned and his hands balled into fists, a deep hatred in his tone, "Not just anyone."

Carly, out of the corner of her eye, saw Nora's own expression struggle to remain neutral, despite her knowing exactly what Ren meant.

Subtly, Carly moved closer to Sam, feeling protective for her friend, as well as trying to secretly take comfort in her friend's presence.

Ruby questioned Ren's previous statement, asking, "One?"

A flock of birds from a short distance away flew up into the air from the trees, disrupting the tension filled air enough that Carly let out a soft gasp and turned to the direction of the noise, Sam following suite.

Said aviaries flew over their heads as the others watched, seeming just as startled as Carly had been.

Jaune spoke, his voice slightly tense, "Come on, let's just get through here. This place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, let's not spend any more time here than we should," Carly agreed, moving to follow the blonde. Nora and Ruby exchanged a glance before Nora continued walking as well. Carly paused and looked back to see Sam standing beside Ruby as Ren began to move as well. Sam seemed to be encouraging Ruby to keep up with the others, putting her arm around her shoulders. Carly didn't move until Sam and Ruby were closer, as she didn't want to leave either of them out of her sight.

The air was quiet and filled with tension. No one seemed to want to speak or try to brighten the mood. Carly couldn't blame them. The village of Oniyuri was quite large, and Carly was looking forward to getting out of the abandoned town as soon as possible. Everything about the place felt unsettling.

Ren slowly took charge of direction as he seemed to have a better understanding on how to get through it. Carly and Sam took up the rear, glancing around every once and a while. They had just passed a dried up fountain when Ren stopped and held up a hand, signaling everyone to halt.

Carly frowned in confusion as the others abruptly stopped with startled looks. She knew they were nowhere near the part where they had to fight off the horrible Grimm. They still had to deal with…

Oh crap.

Crap crap crap crap crap!

She totally forgot about Tyrian! This was the part where that nutcase would jump in and attack.

Carly looked at Sam with a worried look, knowing her friend would remember this part too. Sam's face twisted into a worried frown as she reached back to ready a bow for her arrow. Carly pulled out her hobby horse hammer as Ren grabbed his own weapons, resulting in the rest of the team to ready themselves. They all looked around with a focused expression, searching for what Ren was hearing.

Despite knowing that Tyrian would pop up, Carly had no idea from where he would appear exactly. The man just sort of jumped in from above. All she knew for sure was that he would be particularly after Ruby. With that in mind, Carly moved closer to the red hooded girl.

Sam seemed to have the same thought process and stood closer to their youngest companion.

Not even a second later Ren looked up and Carly saw a figure fly through the air and land a short distance away from her and Ruby. And there he was, looking just as creepy and crazy as he did through an internet screen. He looked up and the blades attached to his wrist weapons activated. He let out a crazy laugh to match his crazed expression as he charged for Ruby.

Carly raised her hammer as he advanced quickly onto them, but Ren quickly moved in between Ruby and the mad man, attempting to swipe at him with the blades of his weapon. Of course, Tyrian dodged easily, using his weapon to block the kick Ren attempted on him. As Ren leaned back to try and shoot him instead, Tyrian took the opportunity to lunge forward and try to hit Ren with his blades.

When Ren blocked it, Tyrian raised his own leg for a kick, which Ren avoided by flipping to the side. But Tyrian kept moving and jumped back only to surge forward to strike again, much like a scorpion. Despite Ren blocking the sharp blades, he was hit with enough force that he was thrown a good distance away.

With Ren out of the way, Tyrian charged for Ruby again. Sam released her arrow and readied another one as Tyrian dodged it. Carly raised her hammer and swung at Tyrian, getting in between him and Ruby.

Tyrian leaned back from the swing before lunging forward to slash at her face with his wrist blades. Carly didn't know how her body reacted fast enough to raise her hammer to block the attack, but she did, resulting in Tyrian way too close to her face.

Ew.

She grimaced both at his at his insane laugh and expression, before he jumped back as an arrow flew past his face. Sam stood still as Ruby and Carly jumped to attack Tyrian.

While Carly was able to block another attack from Tyrian's wrist blades, she didn't have quick enough reflexes to stop the kicks he hit her with. He moved fast enough that she flew back and landed next to Sam who was firing arrows as quick as she could.

Tyrian was able to dodge many of Sam's arrows, he even caught one in his mouth with a maniacal grin before spitting it out with a laugh. He then attacked Ruby, who seemed to be struggling to fend him off. When Ruby got hit hard enough to fall back, Jaune and Carly leaped forward. With Jaune being closer, Tyrian's next attack on Ruby fell onto Jaune. However, Tyrian seemed prepared for this as he simply leapt onto Jaune's shield, hunching over it.

Carly moved to stand next to Ruby with her weapon ready as Tyrian leaned forward to get a closer look at Jaune, making a curious sound as he did. The young blonde seemed just as uncomfortable as Carly did with having the mad man that far in one's personal space.

Nora ran up to the two men only to stop when Tyrian leaped from Jaunes' shield onto her hammer, resulting in the blonde male falling back. Nora didn't have time to react as the mad man leapt once more into the air and crashed into a nearby building. Dust billowed from the hole Tyrian made into the building and the sound of falling boards and bricks filled the air. Carly didn't take her eyes off from where Tyrian had flown himself into even as she stretched a hand out to help Ruby onto her feet. Sam kept an arrow aimed as she ran and stood on the other side of Ruby.

As some of the dust disapparated, Tyrian's form could be seen as Jaune shouted, "We're not looking for a fight!"

Ren, who had reached Jaune's side moments ago, called out, "Who are you?"

The dust finally settled enough to where everyone could see Tyrian as he let out a soft chuckle, the same crazy smile still on his face. The man leaned forward and circled through the air till he landed on his feet. As he straightened himself, he said calmly, "Who I am matters not to you," he pointed to Ren then Nora, "or you," then he pointed to Sam and Carly, "or you, or you, or…" he paused when glancing at Jaune, a curious look came over to his face, "Well, you do interest me."

Jaune cringed in fear and Carly let out a soft growl, already hating the man for attacking these kids. Tyrian let out a chuckle at this exchange before saying softly, "No, I only matter…to you."

Everyone turned as he pointed at Ruby, who was standing just behind everyone with Sam and Carly on either side of her.

Ruby's expression changed from one of focused determination to one of innocent confusion as she echoed, "Me?"

Tyrian let out a surprised laugh, even going as far as to double over in laughter before throwing his head back in humor. He recovered himself enough that he said through his giggles, with his hands up in an almost shrugging manner, "You-you haven't the slightest clue, do you?"

The faunus brushed some hair back from his face as he said excitedly, "Oh, how exciting this must be!"

Thankfully no one else seemed to share the same sentiment as Ruby growled out, "What do you want?"

At her aggressive reaction, Tyrian let out a dramatic gasp, "Oh, the rose has thorns!" he took a step closer to Ruby, to which Carly gripped her weapon tighter, "My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!" He explained with a sweep of his arm, as if it wasn't unusual or creepy.

"Dude, no one would want to go anywhere with a nut-job like you!" Carly growled out as Nora stepped closer to Ruby, "So move your crazy ass and go back to the insane asylum where you belong!"

Tyrian turned to look at her with an annoyed expression, "You don't seem smart enough to understand, woman, that whether she likes it or not, the rose will be coming with me."

Carly let out a snarl, baring her teeth as Jaune stepped in front of the females surrounding Ruby, "We're not going to let you do that." The finality in his tone made Carly smile, proud of how strong Jaune was becoming.

Tyrian closed his eyes before opening them with a sigh, whispering joyfully, "Good."

Quicker than anything she'd seen, Tyrian dashed behind Jaune, raising one of his blades to strike the blonde.

Ren shouted out Jaune's name as he raised his pistols and shot at Jaune's shield, causing the bullets to deflect onto Tyrian, who blocked a few with his wrist blade and dodged the others by jumping onto Jaune's shield, twirling on it with the tip of his weapons blades. The mass of his enemy was enough to pressure Jaune down to his knees as Ruby darted forward to try and attack the braided male. However, Tyrian landed back onto the ground and sent Ruby flying with a powerful rapid kick.

Using the position he was in, Jaune attempted a slash at Tyrian, only for the crazy man to bend over backwards into a backflip, twirling on his blades again and landing a hard kick to Jaunes head. Jaune let out a cry at the hit, only for it to be cut short as Tyrian struck him with another kick, sending him flying next to Ren.

Seeing Nora raise her hammer, Tyrian went for her next, charging at her with incredible speed.

But Ruby was faster.

Carly saw Ruby, out of the corner of her eye, shoot an electric Dust bullet not at Tyrian, but at Nora with a smirk.

The bullet whizzed past Tyrian and hit Nora hard enough that she flew backwards a bit, almost appearing hurt. Electricity ran along her body as Tyrian ran a hand over his face, belting out a crazed laugh, doubling over again. As he continued to laugh, Carly and Sam and the others smirked.

Tyrian wiped a tear from his eye as he calmed to state, "Well, if that isn't ironic!" As he put his hands on his hips, he noticed everyone smirking at him, unaware of Nora slowly standing up behind him.

The smile on the braided man's face fell upon registering the looks he was getting. His face turned into an annoyed scowl as Nora readied her hammer and leapt toward the man. As Tyrian turned to look behind him, Nora circled around him, avoiding his gaze and leaped into the air to hit him with a lighting enhanced blow.

The hit was hard enough that a small gust of wind flew over the terrain, causing everyone to raise their arms to block out the cloud of dust from the attack.

However, when everyone looked up, they saw that Nora's attack was stopped by Tyrian's scorpion tail, causing the man to be unharmed.

The dark haired mad man giggled and let out a gleeful, "Surprise!" before twirling into the air and dealing two powerful kicks to Nora, resulting in her flying back. Tyrian back flipped into the air and landed on a small house, his green and black cloak falling off and flying away.

As he stood atop the worn building, his scorpion tail curled around, the poisonous tip almost glinting from its sharpness.

Ren gasped and said in surprise, "He's…a Faunus!"

Ruby, exasperated, called out, "What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?"

Tyrian's smile remained on his face as he said disdainfully, "Plastic soldiers and pawns!" He paused, his tail twitching back and forth. His next words were spoken with reverence as he raised his arms to the sky, "My heart and body belong only to our goddess!"

Ruby's hand clenched into a fist as she whispered hatefully, "Cinder…"

Carly could understand the hatred toward Cinder. The woman was just as awful as Tyrian, and just as insane and annoying. But she didn't have time to think about that as Tyrian let out a scoff and snarled, despite the growing maniac smile on his lips, "Only in her wildest dreams!"

He used the guns from his wrist blades to shoot himself off the building. He landed just in between Ruby and Jaune and Ren. The scorpion Faunus twirled around, pushing Ruby's scythe down with his tail and using his momentum to aim a kick at her head. Ruby was able to dodge the kick and even tried to swipe at him with her scythe. But he bent backwards before he sent her flying with a powerful hit to her scythe handle.

Tyrian then turned to Ren and lashed his tail at the young huntsman. Ren let out gasps as he avoided the strikes, but was sent flying by a powerful kick Tyrian hit him with. Nora and Jaune attempted to tag team him by coming from different angles, but he used their weapons against them by kicking them and sending them flying back as well.

Carly and Sam rushed to Ruby and pulled her up.

"Any ideas, Carly?" Sam asked, shooting an arrow at Tyrian while Ren tried to attack him again. Tyrian's scorpion tail blocked her arrow as he sent Ren flying again with another kick.

Carly wracked her brain and just as Tyrian turned and rushed at them, she thought of something that would either result in aiding her or possibly putting her in more danger.

"Use physical attacks!" she yelled to her friend and charged at the Faunus. She didn't have time to go into detail on what she had said, and she also didn't want Tyrian to catch onto her plan, so she hoped Sam understand what she meant. He laughed maniacally as he swiped at her with his blades.

Carly did her best to hold her hammer with one hand and as he kicked it to the side, leaving her wide open, Carly took her gamble.

She leaned forward and punched his face.

Holy shit, she actually hit him!

Tyrian let out a yell and growled at her, but as he lunged for her, Sam tried to swing her bow at him. He deflected it, causing her to slide and have her back to him, resulting in him kicking her hard. Sam let out a cry as she was flown into a building.

Tyrian turned back to her and struck her with both blades, causing her to need both hands to block his attack. Once again, he used this to advantage and shoved it to the side. But Carly was able to recover quickly and delivered another punch to his face.

This only seemed to frustrate Tyrian as he sent rapid kicks at her, causing her to lose her weapon as it went flying through the air. She dodged a kick and was able to punch him again, but he dodged the second one she threw at him. He smiled and grabbed her arm with his tail, pulling her down far enough that she was too low to regain her balance. He kneed her stomach and sent her tumbling to the ground with a kick.

'Where is that bird brained man?!' Carly yelled inside her mind as she tried to get up, seeing Tyrian deal blow after blow to Ruby. She remembered that this was around the time a certain drunk uncle would show up to protect Ruby, but there was no sign of the man yet.

Sam climbed out of the rubble of the building she had been thrown into and said, "What happened?"

Before Carly could answer, she saw Tyrian hit Ruby hard enough with a sweep of his tail that the red hooded girl soared through the air.

As he dashed to where she would land, Carly tried to use her semblance. She already felt protective of Ruby, she just had to make it strong enough to shield the girl.

As Tyrian twirled to deliver a powerful kick to her abdomen, an orange shield appeared between him and Ruby, causing him to hit the shield instead. He leaped back a pace and took in the barrier that appeared in front of him. Ruby had hit the shield too and tumbled to the ground, looking exhausted.

Tyrian zipped around the shield to try and get another blow in but Carly was just quick as adrenaline pumped through her veins. Another shield formed and just as Ruby was looking up in shock, Tyrian let out an aggravated yowl. Sam rushed forward and was able to surprise Tyrian with a punch of her own to the side of his face.

He recovered quickly and despite Sam trying to hit him again and block his attacks with her bow, he seemed to have upped his aggression. His kicks and strikes came quicker and the next thing she knew, Carly was watching as Sam got kicked to the wall. As she fell to the ground, her aura shattered and she struggled to get up.

Carly growled and forced herself up to charge at Tyrian as Ruby looked for her scythe that she dropped. Carly tried to hit Tyrian with a punch but he smirked and dodged it. He then quickly twirled and landed a powerful blow to her from his tail, sending her to land next to Sam.

Carly felt her own aura shatter as she rolled on the ground, groaning.

She looked up with despair as she saw Ruby, who had tried to use her semblance to reach her weapon. But just as she was about to grab it, Tyrian wrapped his tail around her waist, pulling her toward him. As she got close, he released her and hit her with a powerful enough kick that shattered her aura and had her falling to the ground.

Ruby looked up as Tyrian walked over to her, laughing crazily. She looked terrified as his tail curled up around his shoulder.

As Sam got her bow and arrow ready, Carly forced herself up with great difficulty. But Carly knew that she wouldn't be able to aid Ruby in the state she was in, and she was too far away to prevent any blows Tyrian would strike her with.

She could only pray that a certain huntsman got here quick.

As Tyrian belted out a laugh, he lashed his tail at Ruby.

Only for it to be stopped by a huge blade wielded by ash black haired man with wine colored eyes that came bursting from a building.

Carly let out a breathe of relief as she saw Ruby smile at the man before her. This gentleman would keep her safe from Tyrian.

"Hey," he said softly to Ruby.

Qrow Branwen had arrived.

Authors note: Tyrian is kinda fun to write. Haha. I noticed that Tyrian seemed to receive more damage from physical hits, so that's what I'm guessing works best as a strategy for him. I wanted to give Carly and Sam a chance to partake in defending Ruby before Qrow came in. But like the Grimm, I wanted them to struggle because Tyrian is a crazy strong opponent. Enjoy!

Second note: I changed the writing just a bit, so if it looks different, just know that I edited it. I wasn't too happy with some of the writing I had made, but I feel better after making the small changes.