Ruby: Skull Island
Chap 4
"ALRIGHT! EVERYBODY UP!" Cayden shouted startling all the people still asleep awake.
"All right. All right. We're up." Yang said annoyed.
"What time is it?" Ruby asked while rubbing her eye.
"About six in the morning. Now get up." Ilona answered.
"Why so early again?" Weiss asked as she got up and stretched a bit along with the others. Only to get irritated when Team CRDL and some other male students wolf whistled at them.
"So, we can maximize how much ground we can cover. Unless you want to stay two weeks on this Oum forsaken island, better get used to it." Caitali answered while aiming her gun at Team Crdl and some other students making them go quiet.
"Are we moving out now or later?" Ironwoods asked.
"In about forty minutes. Still need to eat something. Plus, it would give us some time to scout out ahead to make sure that it's "safe" to proceed." I answered.
"Fair enough. Are you going with your party or alone? Would you mind if I have some others accompany you?" He asked.
"Alone. Ilona has me covered with overwatch. The rest will be keeping an eye on you." I answered before holstering my weapon which is an Artillery Luger Lange Pistole 08.
Not giving him the chance to respond, I turned around and walked towards the edge of the wall we were on. Looking around, I checked to make sure there were no hostiles or threats nearby. Then I checked a second time. And then a third and a fourth. I then turned to Ilona who told me she didn't see anything either. Nodding, I looked down one last time before deeming it safe. Some might call this excessive but the threats on this island are extremely fast that it can be very easy to miss them. Not to mention that some of them can 'blend' into the environment making them even harder to spot. Making sure my weapon we secured and that I had a flare at the ready, I was about to start making my way down when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning to the side, I saw Neo looking down with a curious expression.
'What are we looking for?' She signed. Almost in mocking manner yet, it was clear she was merely joking and finding some amusement in what I was doing.
"Threats that could easily kill us." Illona answered.
'I don't see anything?' Neo signed confused.
"That's one of the reasons why they are so deadly and I'm glad they only exist on this island. And why I can't wait to get off this island. You know how chameleons have the ability to essentially blend into their environment?" I asked.
'Yes.' She answered confused.
"Well, now imagine a creature bigger than us, that while it cannot camouflage, it can easily blend into its environment. On top of that, add razor sharp that can tears the flesh and meat off our bones and easily spill our guts out. And don't think you can easily outrun this creature. In short bursts, it can reach up to forty mph. Twenty-five continuous." I told her.
'I... don't want to meet this creature.' She signed with wide eyes that were full of shock and slight fear.
"Unfortunately, that could very well be the last thing you see. Now, we better hurry and scout out the area. Quicker we get to the temple, the quicker we can leave." Ilona told us as she set up her rifle and began scanning the area through her scope.
"Right. Care to join Neo?" I asked turning to her. She seemed hesitant but her confident smirk appeared a moment later.
'Sure. Might be fun.' She signed.
Sighing, I double checked to make sure I had everything secured. Kneeling down, I grabbed one of the vines and started climbing down with Neo climbing down next to me. After a few minutes, we reached the ground. Taking out my Luger, I scanned the area for even the tiniest of movements. Even making sure the leaves of bushes or other plants were not moving as if something moved through them. Kneeling down, I looked around on the ground to see if there were any foot prints. Seeing that everything was calm and that there were no footprints, I let out a sigh of relief as I stood back up. Hearing the sound of something hitting water, I looked around and saw Neo standing still. Almost as if frozen in pure shock. Curious and concerned, I decided to make sure if she was okay.
"Everything all right Neo?" I asked walking up to her.
'No.' She struggled to sign while pointing to something in front of her.
"Definitely grown since last time." I said when I saw that what she was pointing was a massive foot print that resembled the king of this island.
'IT GREW!' She signed in panic. 'What is it?'
"The foot print of the king. When we were here last time, he was but an adolescent. Seems likes he full matured. Good." I answered as I turned and began to walk away.
'How is that good?' She asked as she ran to catch up with me.
"Cause despite what we may have led you to believe, but the king does not see us as a threat. Unless we start dropping bombs or causing havoc. Then, he will see us as a threat and will not stop until we are eliminated." I explained. Turning back to the wall, I looked and singled to Ilona to let her know we were moving forward. She nodded before adjusting her rifle to batter provide overwatch.
'How far are we going for scouting?' Neo signed.
"Just up ahead. We just need to make sure this area is clear. If we can make it past here, our tine to the temple will actually be cut in half. But the area is infested with dangers. And while not all would try and kill us, we can easily be killed by them." I answered,
'It's getting pretty annoying on how none of you are giving us actual answers and being vague as hell. When are you going to tell us?' She signed annoyed.
"I rather show you. Just about ahead." I told her. I then heard the walkie talkie on my buzz to life. We grabbed these as our scrolls don't work out here which is fairly obvious. "Yes."
'Jaune. You and Neo better finish scouting as the others are just starting to finish up. Ironwoods, Ozpin and many others are starting to become impatient.' She told us.
"Okay. We're just about done. And once the others are done, have them start climbing down as its safe." I told her.
'Understood out.' She said before cutting off comms. Putting away the walkie talkie, I turned to Neo to asked her something that has been on my mind.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" I asked.
'Only if I get to ask something in return.' She answered.
"Sounds fair." I said after giving it a thought before asking her. "Where is Roman?"
'Ugh. The idiot. We were brought along because the kingdoms thought our skills in would be good in scouting out ahead. As payment for our services, they would wipe clean our records and even give us a house along with enough money to live comfortably for a couple of months until we find a legal stable job.' She answered.
"Wow. Talk about an offer of a life time. But I feel there was a catch." I said surprised and already knew where this was going to go.
'Well, not exactly how you are thinking. It was basically don't steal anything while we are with them nor step out of line. And as you can probably tell, he did so within minutes after setting sail from Remnant. He is currently locked up behind bars on the ship.' She answered.
"Seems obvious now that I think about it. The fact that he stole something or step out of line that is. The deal kind of surprised me. Speaking of which, is it still on the table for you?" I asked.
'Better. All the money that would have gone to Roman now goes to me. They initially thought I was with him or was planning on breaking him out. But I convinced them I wasn't part of the plan nor going to break him out. But the cherry on top was that Roman was finally going to jail and I never have to see him again.' She answered. This caused me to raise an eyebrow in surprise as every story I read about them seemed to signify that they were really close partners.
"You don't seem too fond of Roman. Why is that? I thought you two were close or something?" I asked. At this, she rolled her eyes.
'That's just the papers. I honestly hated him and always wanted him to rot in jail forever. But be because he offered a roof over my head along with food on the table. The being able to do whatever we wanted was just a bonus. Not something I wanted nor cared for. I didn't mind being a bad girl.' She answered.
"Wait. Are you an orphan?" I asked before wincing a bit when I realized how insensitive that sounded.
'Yeah. Don't worry though. I was actually born into an orphanage. By that I mean my birth mother gave me up for adoption as she had some serious problems. And when I was around eight, the orphanage was shut down due to financial problems. After wondering the streets for a while, Roman found me and took me in.' She explained.
"Okay. Sorry for brining that up." I quickly added.
'Don't worry. It's fine. Now my turn. What is the real reason you hate the necklace I showed you yesterday?' She signed. I felt my eye twitch a bit but I quickly calmed myself down. Taking a deep breath, I began to tell her.
"Okay. When we first came here, I was about ten, eleven. With me was my sister and a friend. A special friend. Despite us being young, I had feelings for her. Deep feelings. I was even planning on asking her out when we got back. Even my sister encouraged me to do so. But after landing here, we tried to make a hasty retreat after discovering the locals and some of the predators that lived here. But the natives somehow managed to get on our boat and kidnapped both of them. We raced back to the island to try and rescue them. Unfortunately, we were too late. My sister was sacrificed to the king while my friend was eaten alive by the natives. We tried to find my sister and rescue her. Eventually, we did find her. Only to realize that it was her the upper part of her dead corpse that we found. Initially we thought that it was the king that did this. But that was quickly disproven when a giant alligator came charging through some bushes. In its mouth was the lower half of my sister's body. We made a hasty retreat back to the ships. But not without hefty losses. The rest is history. And it all started with the natives placing those necklaces on them." I answered. My fists clenching halfway through the story. But by the end I unfurled them as I felt a heavy weight from my shoulders lift from my shoulders. Whether it being from telling someone the story or something else I could not say. But I did feel like I could breathe better now.
'Wow. Damn. Sorry you had to go through that.' She signed shocked at what I just told her.
"It's fine. Let's just finish this scouting this area and head back to the others. I'm pretty sure Ironwoods is already bitching to the others about how long we are taking." I told her. But it was then I noticed exactly where we were. And more importantly, what was in front of us. "You said you wanted to know what me and the other were talking about. Right?
'Yes.' She signed.
"Look." I said pointing in front of us.
She seemed confused by this but did so anyway. And needless to say, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock at what she was seeing. What she was seeing was essentially the definition of seeing is believing. In front of our very eyes were living breathing dinosaurs. These ones being long necks currently grazing on all the vegetation that was around them. It seemed like they had not noticed us yet which was a good thing.
'This is amazing. How are they still alive? I thought they went extinct?' She signed.
"We were not kidding when we said this is an island lost in time where monsters exist and that Oum himself does not want anything to do with this island." I answered.
'So, we just need to pass them and out travel time to the temple would be cut in half?' She asked. 'Seems a bit difficult with all of them around.'
"They're herbivores. Meaning they only eat fruits and vegetables. And the only danger is getting stepped on them as we pass by. They also don't see us as a threat. Honestly, they would only become a danger if they become startled and start stampeding." I answered.
'That's good. Now that we know it's safe, we can head back.' She signed. But I didn't answer as I strained my eyes as I thought I saw something. Looking closer, I saw something that made my blood run cold.
'What's wrong?' Neo asked while waving her hand in front of my face.
"Remember those creatures that you said you don't want to me?" I asked her. My heart pumping faster when I noticed that the long necks began to grow scared. As evident by them looking around. Straining my eyes even more, I saw for a brief second the creatures I told Neo about.
'Yeah.' She answered confused.
"I also said the long necks were really only a danger if they start stampeding." I added.
'Out with it. What's wrong?' She signed getting annoyed.
"You are about to meet those creatures and the long necks are about to stampede." I answered.
Her eyes widened as she quickly looked back to the long necks. And sure enough, they started to stampede. Not wasting a second, we turned around and quickly ran away from the area. Unfortunately, the long necks decided to stampede in our direction. And since there was no other pathway nor enough time to climb the walls, we just had to out run them. But not just them as I could hear the blood curdling sounds of the damn velociraptors chasing the long necks hoping to get a meal out of them. Soon, we came upon the others. All of them impatient and irritated. But they all became confused when they saw us running towards them panicked.
"Jaune? What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked worried.
"And why was Neo-" Ironwoods began but I cut him off.
"RUN YOU SONS OF BITCHES! STAMPEDE AND RAPTORS!" I shouted as a I passed them.
"What?" I heard Ironwoods and Ozpin ask confused. But as soon as they asked this, the walls and ground started to shake along with the walls starting to crumble a bit.
"RUN FOOLS! RAPTORS!" Cayden shouted before running away as well.
"STAY HERE AND YOUR DEAD!" Caitali shouted before running as well.
The others still were unsure by what we meant or were getting at. But it became clear when they saw the long necks turn to the corner. They screamed before running away as well. Only for a whole bunch of them to get killed by being crushed under the long neck's feet.
"IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED IRONWOODS AND OZPIN!?" I shouted as I jumped over some vine that were protruding from the ground.
"SHUT UP!" Ironwoods growled while panting.
I would have flipped him off but I decided to focus more on surviving and blocking out the pained screams of death of the soldiers, scientists and researchers. Pumping my legs faster, I tried to put more distance between me and long necks as they were quickly catching up. Looking to my left, I saw Neo struggling to keep up. Only to nearly fall when she tripped over something. Luckily, I managed to grab her before she could fall to the ground. She quickly nodded her thanks when I helped her back to her feet. Hearing something coming up from my right, I turned and saw that Pyrrha and Blake had reached us well.
"What caused them to stampede?" Blake asked panting. I was about to answer when but was cut off when another Vale researcher ran up to us.
"COMING THROUGH!" He shouted as he pushed Blake and Pyrrha to the side.
"WATCH-WHAT THE FUCK!?" The began about to curse the researcher but screamed in shock when a velociraptor jumped from nowhere and pounced onto the researcher and killed him instantly.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Blake asked shocked and traumatized.
"A raptor. One of the deadliest and smartest predators to ever exist-WATCH OUT!" I answered before ramming into a raptor that was coming on their side about to attack them. Pushing it away from them. It tried to attack them again but got crushed by a long neck as they reached us.
"THIS IS INSANE!" We heard Winter scream as she did her best to avoid getting crushed.
"REMEMBER! YOU ALL WANTED THIS SHIT!" Cayden shouted as he used a pistol, he had to kill a raptor that was going for Glynda.
"ANOTHER TIME CAYDEN!" Ilona shouted.
We continued to run away from the long necks and avoid getting crushed or attacked by the raptors. While I didn't exactly how many there were, I knew there were at the very least two dozen remaining. Soon, other students reached us as well including team CRDL that are somehow in the lead. As we ran, we wondered how exactly we were going to escape from this. But we realized a new danger was about to happen. This time being in the form of a cliff with a thousand-foot drop.
"EVERYONE GO LEFT! CLIFF EDGE!" I shouted as the cliff was quickly approaching us.
Unfortunately, or rather fortunately depending on who you are asking, Team Crdl did not hear my warning in time and barely managed to avoid falling off the cliff. But they were sent flying off when the rest of us turned to avoid the cliff. And because the long necks are clumsy creatures, they could not turn in time and ended up pushing Team Crdl off the cliff to their deaths. And if the thousand-foot drop did not kill them, then the few longs necks that fell off the edge as well and would most likely land on top of them will.
"WATCH YOUR STEP! THE GROUND IS GIVING WAY!" Glynda shouted.
This snapped my attention to the ground and made me realize that the floor was giving way due to our weight. This also caused the long necks to lose their balance and slide of the edge and off the cliff. Taking even more lives with them as well. Luckily, this did not last long as the path led us back to more solid and stable ground. Unfortunately, the path became a very steep decline that made it extremely difficult to remain upright. And it seemed like fate was not done with us as a couple Atlas soldiers passed us. We ignored them and continued running but to our horror, as soon as the Atlas soldiers were a bit ahead of us, Ironwoods gave them an order we could not believe he was stupid enough to give.
"SHOOT THE LEGS!" He ordered the soldiers.
"WAIT! DONT!" Cayden shouted.
But it was too late. The Atlas soldiers started blindly shooting blindly at the long necks. And because they were shooting blindly, they also killed some scientists and students as well. Though, they did manage to hit the long necks in the front enough times to cause them to fall over in pain. This, unfortunately, caused a chain reaction as the long necks behind the ones in the front could not stop in time and started to trip over each other. Essentially causing an avalanche of long necks. Some even flying momentarily in the air due to their momentum. And crushing anyone unfortunate enough to be under them when they landed.
"WATCH OUT!" I shouted as I pulled Neo, Blake and Pyrrha to the side and against the wall to avoid getting crushed by the long neck that landed where we just were. We stayed there for a few minutes and moved once everything calmed down and no more long necks were flying over our heads.
"Thanks." They all said in relief. But the panic and fear quickly came back when we heard a raptor screech at us. Turning around, I quickly pulled out my luger and emptied the entire clip into the head of the raptor killing it.
"Don't thank me yet. We still got more of these guys on our ass. We better move now." I told them.
They nodded as we immediately ran away again. While also helping anyone that got hurt or was on the ground dazed. But we could not save everyone as they were either crushed, too far gone or attacked by some raptors that we were too slow to take out before they killed the person. Looking around, I saw that there was only one escape. And that was up a rocky hill that had a steep incline. Since raptors couldn't climb that well, it was our only chance as there was no way to climb the walls and the long necks were blocking the only other exit.
"MOVE! UP THE HILL! DON'T LOOK BACK!" Caitali shouted as we began to climb up the hill.
Holstering my gun, we all began to climb up the hill to try and escape the raptors. Unfortunately, because of the steep incline, a lot of gear had to be abandoned. Luckily though, none of it were essentials. Soon, we were nearing the top of the hill with the raptors still giving chase but were struggling to not fall down from how steep the incline is. This gave us a chance to fire to provide covering fire and kill of most of the raptors. Unfortunately, we were forced to stop when we saw one of our own running towards us.
"WAIT!" The voice of Ruby shouted as she and some other students and scientists fought through the raptors that turned their attention to them.
"SHIT! PROTECT THEM!" Ilona shouted as she took out her rifle and began to fire as quickly as she could. Though she did miss a couple of times as raptors are extremely fast. This led to some of the students and scientists dying.
"RUN RUBY!" Yang shouted in fear at seeing the raptors quickly surrounding them. This caught the attention of some of the raptors. Knowing they were going to try for us again, I decided to give them a hand.
"Um, what's that for Jaune?" Blake asked worried when I took out a stick of dynamite.
"Just a little something-something." I answered as I lit the fuse before throwing at the base of the hill. Blowing it up and making it harder for the raptors to give chase while killing a few as well.
"NOW RUBY! USE CRESCENT ROSE TO ESCAPE!" Yang shouted.
"ON IT!" Ruby shouted as she readied her weapon. She then aimed it at the ground so she could use the recoil to escape. But this is where fate decided to intervene and say her life ended here.
"RUBY!" Many shouted in shock and fear when a raptor bit down on crescent rose. While it did not scratch weapon, it did something worse. The force behind the bite and the momentum of the raptor caused the weapon to move. Changing the direction, the recoil would send Ruby. Instead of sending her to us, she was sent flying into the wall.
"OW!" Ruby shouted in pain as she hit the wall and fell to the ground dazed. But her vision quickly cleared up when the raptors started surrounding her. "Hey."
"RUBY!" Yang shouted as the raptors started tearing her sister apart. And it was hellish and made some of the others throw up.
The thing with raptors they don't know about is that they never kill off their prey immediately. Unlike a lion who bite the throat of its victim killing them. Raptors would make the whole process as painful as possible. They would either cut the chest or stomach deeply. And if they chose the stomach, the intestines would be spilling out. Essentially, you are still alive while they are eating and killing you.
"HEL-" Ruby shouted but went silent when a raptor used its claw to silence her by slitting the throat before breaking the neck using its mouth.
"NO!" Yang shouted with tears in her eyes as she activated her gauntlets and raced down to try and save/avenge her sister.
"NO! YANG!" Taiyang and Raven shouted. They were about to go and help but were held back by Cayden and Caitali.
"Don't. She lost." They told them as they struggled to hold them back.
"NO! We have-" They began but were quiet when Yang's pained screaming was heard.
Looking towards her, we saw that she managed to fight her way to Ruby's corpse. She immediately lost it when she saw the state it was in and started attacking the raptors. Killing some of them with a single rage fueled punch. Unfortunately, this is where another thing everyone learned about raptors. They were pack hunters. They love to herd their prey into a kill zone or into a state where they think they have control. And this is exactly what they did. As Yang was taking out the ones in front of her, three raptors came up from behind. One bit her leg while the other bit her arm. She screamed in pain. But her anger allowed her to ignore the pain. She then tried to fling the raptors off but that was when the third raptor came in and bit her neck before twisting it quickly and violently. Breaking the neck and killing Yang in an instant. He dead body well to the ground where the raptors then dragged it off to somewhere. Finally, content enough with their food to leave us alone.
Everyone was silent at seeing two young huntresses in training killed so easily and quickly. Picking up our stuff, we left the area to find a secure and safe spot to do a head count, assess injuries and see what equipment we still have left. But needless to say, no one is going to be forgetting this experience as it was traumatizing for everyone. Even Raven who basically abandoned Yang and Ruby when they were young, is now crying uncontrollably.
'And we still have worse danger to face yet.' I thought as I saw pretty much everyone who hasn't been here before walk stiff and tense like. As if another attack will be coming from. And they are right in that regard.
Note:
The Reading Dragon 666: No, most of them will die as well in one way or another.
Next chapter will have a T-rex (only one) and Skull Crawlers.