Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.
This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.
The Prowlers
"-so that should run you anywhere between three kegs of Grog and... a real quick feely right behind the tent over there."
"Sounds good, but I don't think I'll be following you into any dark corners Bubol."
The name tickled at Yang's subconscious, the rest of the conversation popped in and out but that name immediately made her attempt to growl in fury.
"-also came with these lovely things which I'm just generous enough to leave with you as 'er new owner and all." Bubol spoke up again
"These seem pretty nifty actually, they'll look great on my belt."
There was a slight pause, before the brawler heard that damned archer say "Really?"
"What do you mean 'really'?"
"Well its just that I was hopin' you'd try 'em on just for lil' ol' me." Bubol's pleads apparently fell on deaf ears
"Yeah no," whomever he spoke to replied with nary a hint of worry "going on the belt, buddy."
"Well didn't I hear from one of ya handsome little entourage members that Ratlug's been goin' haywire lookin over all the weaponry you guy's been collectin'?"
"I don't plan on letting him anywhere near these bad boys, if it's so necessary for his research then he can speak to the Grand Shaman himself."
Able to see a bit more, Yang spotted the plague-ridden form of Bubol shrugging woefully "Eh whatever darling, I suppose someone as big and important as you doesn't need mindful advice from 'is poor, rejected ol' friend."
"Are you... crying?"
"No no!" Bubol cried out as he dramatically leaned against what Yang could only imagine to be a door "Just leave me to wallow in my overwhelmin', soul crushin' loneliness, love."
"Jeez Bubol, I don't really know what you want me to say." the archer's unfortunate business partner replied with a nonchalant shrug "Whenever you get like this it usually leaves me feeling pretty guilty so... I dunno, maybe you can come to the fights I put her in, I could have a few words with Mozu and-"
"Is 'at so?" Bubol stalked over and leaned dangerously close to his partner, who casually leaned out of the way of the Archer's overwhelmingly bulbous boils. The buyer simply nodded, prompting Bubol to reach out a boney hand and pat him on the shoulder "Good to know ya still lookin' out for the little guys, sweetness."
With that he made for the door "She hits pretty hard with those beauties, be fun to see how hard she hits without 'em." were his final words before departing. Now alone with what she could assume to be the Uruk that diseased rat just sold her to, Yang twisted her head to get a better look at him. It was unnecessary, as he gave a sigh after Bubol's exit and immediately turned to walk over to her.
Her vision was still blurry, but she could easily make out the strangely white-looking skin of his with what could only be blue stripes running on him. He knelt near her and leaned in close before gripping her chin with his hand lookin' her over.
"Hey there, how ya feeling?" he asked as if he was asking her at a bus stop and not right after purchasing her like a fruit from a store.
She tried to voice her appropriate response in the form of some choice swears she'd picked up in her long time of sagely partying, but found that whatever they'd gagged her with was more than apt at holding back her profanities. Though it momentarily made her question why he asked her anyway, it seemed her murmurs were enough to satisfy him.
"Good, nice to meet you Yang. The name's Krosh, now how's about you get some shut eye?" he offered with a simple tilt of his head "Because you're going to need that energy all too soon."
Vacuo- Desert Tower: The Shanties
"So where'd you get it?"
Ishga glanced up from the incomplete gate towards Maku, who had limbed on top of a nearby crate and was looking over the great number of hastily structured buildings around them. The shanty town located at the base of the desert tower, it looked much worse up close than it needed to be. Ishga knew that with their time and resources they couldn't exactly complain too much, if Hork was right about anything it was that this shanty town was suitable for the location. Still sandy and uncomfortable, but it was only a small change from the dirty and uncomfortable Ishga was used to back in Uruk's Hollow.
"Get what?" he finally asked as he turned away from the Warmonger
"The wood, I see signs of wood in plenty of these buildings but not a tree for miles." his brother turned to him with a cocked eyebrow
"Eh, most of that's from the useless furniture we found in the tower." he said as he resumed working on the Gate "Unnecessary stuff like some doors, paintings, parts of that exceedingly long dining table."
Maku could practically hear the other spear-thrower audibly roll his eyes at that one, and simply nodded before pulling something from his pocket and opening it as his brother got to work. Ishga heard tapping, but focused on finishing the Dreamer Gate. Once he was, he turned around to confirm it only to pause at the sight before him.
Maku was holding something up in both hands, aiming it around and tapping at it every once in a while. Their original goal temporarily paused to the side, Ishga pointed towards the device "Brother, what are you doing with one of those human trinkets."
"You mean my scroll?" Maku asked without looking away, taking several more pictures as he continued speaking "The Grand Shaman wished for all Warmongers to be able to find some use in these contraptions, I suppose I was the one who discovered its ability to instantly paint images into itself."
"Hork's soldiers always just toss those things in with the rest of the pilfered goods," Ishga mumbled "I had assumed they were unimportant.
The Warmonger smirked at that "The Bladesmith's been going mad with contraptions like this, trust me when I say these toys hold far more value than the trinkets of the menfolk of our realm were. Shaman plans on having all of the Storm using these if Ratlug can figure out how to more easily explain them."
Ishga simply watched for a moment before turning and placing some kindling upon the gate. Several moments later the Dreamer Gate bubbled for a moment, distorting as the two Spear-throwers looked on waiting for it to finish. In only a few seconds an image popped in focus. One of a bound Human tied to a chair with the sounds of wind entering an open window nearby.
Before their eyes, Tarz the Surgeon stepped into view next to the subdued human, looking back at them in awe "It DOES work, what a treat, eh?"
He cackled sickly before reaching for his apron and drawing a filthy pencil, stolen from a particularly wordy captive. He wrote some stuff on a piece of paper lying on a nearby table, then began moving the table out of the way.
"Now Tarz I expect a proper explanation for why we had to set up the other end of the portal here." Ishga spoke up as he watched the Surgeon move about, narrowing his eyes as he hadn't expected them to be using human subjects just yet.
"Soon. Now you'll believe me when I say that this'll be one of the greatest things you've seen in your years, pal." Tarz smirked back at the camera before drawing a small blade from his apron and walking out of sight, "Might wanna' stand clear of the portal soon."
The Spear-throwers glanced at each other for a moment before backing away from the Dreamer Gate. As they did so, Maku seemed to have a revelation.
"Oh, so that's what he's doing." the Warmonger said before folding his arms.
"What?" Ishga looked to him with another questioning glance "What exactly is this?"
"No real trouble, Ratlug tried something similar during our trials." his brother stated before looking up.
Getting the idea, the Red-themed Uruk followed his counterpart's gaze upwards to see something falling towards them. Coming at great speeds, the object fell almost perfectly into the center of the Dreamer Gate. The familiar sound of metal on flesh reverberated for only a second as the two hunters leaned back over the Dreamer Gate to see Tarz looking over the subdued human, who now had a knife protruding from their skull.
The Surgeon whooped and hollered "I didn't think it'd be that perfect, haha!"
"Wasteful!" Ishga accused as he pointed towards the foul-faced Uruk "We could've used that Human to see if it melted their flesh off or something, see if its hazardous to living creatures."
"We still can." Tarz said with a chuckle before grabbing hold of the corpse's chair in both hands.
"Wait, that's not what- Don't you even think about it, worm!" the Blood-Storm yelled as the Surgeon walked out of sight with the chair and corpse. He growled right before feeling Maku tap him on the shoulder. Jerking his head towards his brother, Ishga watched him point upwards before following his finger up towards the significantly larger object spiraling down towards them from the tower. The Red-Themed Uruk groaned disdainfully as he and his brother quickly gave distance to the Dreamer Gate, right before the Chair and human combo haphazardly smashed into its edge before gravity dragged it inside.
The impact had shattered parts of the chair, sending bits of blood and wood which flew past the hunters and clattered against the walls of nearby shanties.
Grumbling, Ishga stepped back towards the Dreamer Gate to see Tarz nearly doubled over in laughter.
"You imbecile," he growled towards the Surgeon "I don't think I have to mention the significant difference between a corpse and a living, breathing human. We should-"
"You're absolutely right." Tarz unexpectedly halted his laughter as he stood straight and stared at Ishga with a smirk whilst raising a finger in apparent revelation "We should toss some living tarks out there and see what they scream on the way down!"
"That's not the point I was trying to-" the Blood-Storm yelled even as Tarz bolted from sight, presumably to find more of their useless slaves to waste.
Watching his brother groan, Maku smiled and patted him on the back as he walked past him "Take comfort, he still isn't as bad as Ratlug."
"Oh," Ishga queried as he straightened up "how so?"
"Well, Ratlug tried Uruk trials first, then tests for the wild animals we could've been eating, then followed that with Pinkskins and followed that with Dark Beasts."
"And by dark beasts you mean..."
"Grimm, wanted to see if we could stuff some into the Gates without incurring adverse side effects."
The two were silent for a moment.
"How'd that go?" Blood-Storm finally asked
"About as well as one could expect from a plan such as that." Maku sighed, shrugging as he glanced off to the side "I got set on fire and was nearly crushed to death. But the Grand Shaman found it quite entertaining, so I can't really complain."
The Vale Wilderness
Ruby's head tilted to the side as her eyes twitched, probably in response to whatever dream she was currently experiencing. Weiss had been watching her for some time now, having spent far more time checking on her injured partner than she should've allowed herself. Blake hadn't come to mention anything, so perhaps she also knew how troubling it was to see your partner in this condition. In that regards, Weiss knew she should feel more guilt, she still had her partner. There was no telling what that disgusting wretch had done with Yang. As if the mere thought of what happened to her sister drew forth fury, Ruby's face contorted into one of anger for a moment as she muttered her sister's name in her sleep.
After defeating the rest of his underlings, Blake and Weiss had made sure that the hostages were in fit condition to travel. Blake had insisted leaving them restrained, as the sheer amount of fury they held in their eyes whilst staring at the heiress easily rivaled that which they held towards the malformed archer that had been no-doubt planning to torture them. Therefore, it had taken far longer than it should've to go searching for their missing partners. The last thing either of them had seen was Bubol tossing Yang off a cliff, immediately followed by Ruby taking him over the side with her as she raced to aid her sibling.
Weiss had been conflicted in that moment, as a Huntress-in-training she had sworn that protecting the people of Remnant would always come first. Despite the resentment she had felt radiating off both the archers and their prisoners, she could even convince herself that the Fang members took priority as the actual target. If the Uruks made off with the prisoners whilst she or Blake aided their fellow huntresses, it would probably eat at her. But knowing that she wasn't there to aid her teammates, losing one teammate and having the other incapacitated, that ate at her as well.
When they had found Ruby, the scene was a mess, torn trees and rose petals scattered about with two odd casings that Weiss had seen Bubol ejecting during their encounter. All with Ruby's unconscious form lying right in the middle of it. Having been unable to locate Yang, they had guessed either she'd been swept away by the current or taken by Bubol himself. They could only hope at this point that Yang was alive, but had other matters to deal with. After securing Ruby, they'd made quick to move her and the hostages from the area, as the White Fang members produced far too much negativity to risk staying in one spot for long.
With not many other options available, the two had hurried the prize back to the closest location they could think of, Yires Village. Many villagers were too stubborn to even attempt leaving the village, despite the risks, but those who had already planned an exodus immediately offered to take them along.
Weiss was now in the back of a wagon, a fairly large one at that. Made of wood and metal, the entire interior seemed more like a cart than a carriage. It would make sense, given the sheer amount of supplies stacked along its interior edges, strapped down thoroughly and moved to the sides to provide ample room for Ruby. The other carriages were far to full of either fleeing villagers or supplies, luckily the owner of this carriage was more than willing to make room for the injured huntress-in-training.
Knowing she had spent far too long inside the cart, Weiss finally parted ways with Ruby. Opening the rear doors of the well-built wagon, Weiss looked down to see the trail passing underneath her. Climbing out onto the wagon, she made sure to close and secure the doors before climbing atop the wagon. On top, Blake sat with her feet dangling off the edges, eyes intently scanning the tree line.
"How is she?" the Faunus asked without letting up in her surveillance.
"Still muttering Yang's name." Weiss said with a sigh before giving a faint smile "But other than that staying as stubborn as always."
Blake nodded "Good, after we get her to Beacon, we'll need to ask her what that Archer did with her sister."
"Of course, maybe learn of where he might have taken her."
Blake didn't respond to that for some time, eyes still locked onto the nearby canopy "Yeah... if he did take her."
"Blake, I know its... taxing," the Heiress began as she glanced own for a moment in contemplation "but I have a feeling that Yang isn't-
"You don't know that." Blake interrupted evenly "I don't want to think about it Weiss, but you of all people should know that I have to be ready for if these... suspicions, become reality."
"I often try to be the realist," the Schnee admitted before hardening her gaze "but I don' think Yang would just let herself be killed by some bolt-firing pervert."
"That bolt-firing pervert nearly put Ruby in a coma."
"Yes, Blake..." Weiss lowered her tone a bit "I noticed."
"Don't get so defensive," Blake spoke up, finally turning to meet her White-Haired teammates eyes "you offered a safer solution and we took the one of greater reward, then paid for it."
"Don't say it like that."
"But it's true!" Blake turned back to the trees with a sigh "If we had gone back and gotten help from professionals, things would've gone differently. Instead we rushed in and got half our team put out of commission, tell me I'm wrong. You know someone like Glynda or Oobleck, people with years of experience on us, would've had much less difficulty rescuing those captives."
"That's a crass way of putting it, Blake. True, I disagreed immensely, but you all admittedly acted as Huntresses. Putting those you believed to be in peril above your own safety, whether it was a knowledgeable plan or not, it was quite...heroic."
"Weren't you guys telling me about how dangerous heroic sacrifice was just a couple months ago?"
"I'm just trying to help make you feel better." the Heiress sighed.
At the sight of her teammates exasperation, Blake tilted her head at the passing foliage "...I know."
They sat in silence for a while, precious conversation having taken a bit out of both of them, until Weiss's eyes drew to the trees as well "See anything interesting."
"We're being followed." Blake mentioned
"What?!" Weiss stood straight immediately
"Since we left Yires, something's been following us." the Faunus turned back to Weiss "I can't tell what it is, its been keeping just out of sight and occasionally dissaparing but I can hear it moving from tree to tree. It could be a rather bold Grimm, but I can't be sure until I catch sight of it."
"How far behind is it?"
"Its been consistently trying to keep fifteen to twenty yards behind us."
"Do you think that it-"
"Hey!"
A yell from up ahead interrupted them, drawing their eyes to the front of the carriage. At the Driver's seat was Mr. Malts who was nervously glancing between the two beacon students and the wagon in front of them.
"Just keep an eye on it for now." Weiss turned back to Blake
"I wasn't planning on letting it try anything." the Faunus replied as the Heiress waked along the top of the covered wagon and knelt near the edge to speak to the Baker
"What's happening?" the heiress asked.
"Not quite sure," Malts said before nodding towards the wagon in front of them "Brix had some trouble with one of them White Fang Fellows."
"Ya damn right I did!"
Weiss looked past the two horses pulling their cart to the much more traditional cart ahead of them, packed in the back were the restrained White Fang members and a rather angry man with excessively wild hair.
"Caught the small one gnawing through her bindings!" Brix growled before raising his hand "Told her to knock it off and she bit me!"
"Wouldn't have bitten you if you didn't threaten to hit me!" the perpetrator yelled
"So pointing a finger is a threat of violence?!"
"Everything you humans do is a threat of violence." Another member grumbled
Brix looked as if he was physically restraining himself, until finally he turned back towards the Heiress and the Baker "Why exactly we have to haul these terrorists again."
"Listen, I can see your reservations." Malts spoke sympathetically "but you and your brother are literally the only ones with that much readily available space in your wagon."
"Yeah," Weiss supported before a thought suddenly struck her "wait... if you two didn't have that much to travel with anyway then why do you guys even have a wagon?"
"If we had a couple more weeks before this lot," Brix turned his glare to the White Fang members for a moment before turning back "decided to lead a gang of rampaging monsters into town, then we'd have been all set to go on the road making millions selling our wares. But lo and behold just guess what happened before we could get around to that?"
The Baker next to Weiss gave a small sigh, and when he saw her questioning look, he merely said "Those two have been talking about that plan for years, they never even got past the Wagon part."
"Hey! What are you suspiciously whispering to her about?" Brix asked
"Probably how to kill us without having to get her three million lien dress dirty." said one of the White Fang Members, prompting mocking laughter to erupt from the rest of them.
"Wonder how many innocent families her daddy threw out on the streets to get her that dress?" More laughter
"Maybe she and her sister turned a few tricks for his big shot colleagues to pay for it and all their fancy crap!"
The Heiress rolled her eyes as the other Terrorists began joining in on the new Jeer-a-Schnee game they seemed to take to immediately. As Malts looked over to her with a sympathetic shrug, the Heiress realized just how long this return trip would be...
...then promptly allowed Brix to tape the Extremists' mouths shut.
Vacuo-The Sandy Expanse
Several forms trekked through the blazing desert, sun beating down on their heads as they traveled over dunes and through ruins towards their goal. At the head of the group was Tuka, who crested yet another dune before bringing a hand to his head and scanning over the environment.
"Hm, it appears we've found the remains of an old drilling station." the Berserker commented, the structure was definitely smaller than what he'd heard was possible for the Pinkskins of this world. Appearing similar in size to a two-story residence instead of the behemoths of technical ingenuity he'd heard of.
"Perhaps we may take shelter there for the time being, recuperate for a day and resume our travels after we've gone over our location."
"That sounds lovely," Zog said from behind him "But first can we talk about that sack you wanted me to carry?"
"You shield barers are trained to carry three times your weight," Tuka said with a sigh as he continued looking over the desolate station "I expect you not to find issue with such a small burden in comparison."
"Yeah well, I didn't really mind at first." the singer admitted "But it doubled in weight while we was walking and such."
"What?" The berserker turned towards the shield-barer in confusion, immediately catching sight of Uthug hanging on Zog's back "What do you think you're doing?"
Uthug immediately jerked in shock at being so easily discovered, but Zog seemed quite confused "Hn? Whatcha mean by that exactly?"
Tuka narrowed his eyes "Sorry, it would seem some pest has made your back its home." the Berserker commented as he glared at Uthug reaching to one of the Axes on his back "If you'd like, I could try swatting it off."
"Come on!" the Musket-wielder finally shouted, causing Zog to stumble in surprise "You're really gonna make me walk through this damned sand for this long?!"
"Uthug?!" Zog exclaimed as he regained his footing "What in Sauron's name are you-?"
"Quiet down fat boy," the warrior hissed as he poked Zog in the back of the head "eyes forward, don't want you takin' a tumble with me on 'ere."
"If we have to walk, it only seems fair that you suffer along with us." Tuka said as he folded his arms
"You two got like three feet on me each!" Uthug muttered before pointing to the back of the singer's head "And this one's trained to carry tons! One of you should be contributing their skills properly, so unless you enjoy the idea of doin' it..."
"Actually I rather enjoy the idea of lobbing off both your legs and leaving you out here for the sand to swallow." Tuka admitted "So how about you get back to walking before you won't be able to anymore, hm?"
Begrudgingly, the angry warrior climbed down from the shield-barer, straightening his tattered White-Fang uniform and hefting his stolen musket over his shoulder.
Tuka nodded "Well then, unless anyone else wishes to try my patience this day?"
Zog gave a questioning hum before shifting the sack on his back and glancing at the woman wrapped under his right arm "Hey lass, feel like given' him a go?"
When he only received nothing more than resentful glare, he looked back towards Tuka and nodded "All set!"
"Then we move," the Berserker responded before beginning the trek down the dune "come on."
As Zog and Uthug followed behind, the shorter warrior felt the need to continually voice his displeasure "Guh, this entire trip's just shrakh all around."
"Ya know," Zog drew his attention "it'd probably feel better if ya took off that hood."
"Wh-no!" Uthug practically growled before patting his free hand on his chest protectively "I won this fair and square killin' tarks, you probably just wanna steal it!"
"You mean like you did?" Tuka asked as they reached the base of the dune
That was enough to revive the warrior's anger "What was that?"
"Just came to mind that you and I served under Captain Ashgarn for years," the Berserker said as the station slowly drew closer "and in all that time I ain't seen you engage an enemy once."
"You don't know th-"
"And yet somehow you keep finding all these battle prizes? Just seems a bit suspicious."
At that Zog snapped his fingers "Oh!" he said before turning back towards Uthug "So you's a scavenger then!"
"No!" the Warrior barked before gesturing towards Tuka angrily "How dare you take this thick-headed shrakh's words to heart!"
"Not engaging in a direct battle and still claiming trophies, scavenger does sound far more apt."
"Just because you ain't seen me in action ain't my problem! You's probably too busy suckin' up to the captain to the notice the work I put in." Uthug huffed as he glanced away for a moment "What about the Ordeal? The caragors I've slain!?"
"Oh yes, because there's no possible way to rig one of those." Tuka rolled his eyes as the station began looming over them.
"Lot of slander you feel like slingin' today I see." Uthug mumbled as the three Uruks stood before the old structure. The massive doors to the station were gone, probably removed by either scavengers or traveling Grimm. The main structure was metal all around, with the upper portions of the drill completely gone.
"Starving beasts probably had a field day with this place." Zog mumbled as he glanced about excitedly "Think there's any left inside waiting for us?
"This wasn't done by Grimm," Tuka stated before pointing towards where the upper parts of the structure previously were "too clean, Pinkskin machinery."
"So maybe there's some tarks in there," Uthug grunted before smirking and walking towards the gaping hole where the doors used to be "been a while since I killed a Pinkskin properly."
"You can't kill which you never fight." the Berserker commented
"Psh," Uthug turned towards them "just wait till somethin' else gets in our way! You'll see who the real fighter is!"
Tuka glanced behind him and let a grin spread across his face as his hands went to his axes "Seems like you're in luck then."
The warrior just gave him a questioning glance before turning back to the gaping hole to find himself staring into quite a number of red eyes. His mouth proceeded to drop as the massive form the eyes were attached to shifted inside the abandoned station.
The Vale Wilderness
"They keep glaring at me."
Mr. Malts's eye shot up in question as Brix spoke, "Say what now?"
"The captives keep glaring daggers at me."
The baker sighed "Well they're just a bit agitated that they can't continue speaking ill of the huntresses, give them some time and I'm sure they'll find something else to glare at."
"Yeah about that," Brix jerked a thumb towards his brother, who was driving their particular carriage "I had a chat with Brine a while ago, he was reading the maps and saw that there was a much shorter route to Vale coming up."
"Through the old Talos Mining lot, yes." Malts confirmed
"But the guys from the cart ahead of us are saying that we're just passing it by!" Brix exclaimed before folding his arms "What's all that about?"
"Now Brix, you know that place was used by Grimm as a nest-"
"Yeah, but the Huntsmen cleared most of it up last year, we could cut four hours of travel into two hours nice and easy."
"The Grimm tore the place up," Malts said solemnly "the whole area's too hazardous to take a convoy of this size through."
"He's right."
The Baker and the Brother turned to Blake, who had decided to speak up "I don't like being out here as much as the next person, but there are too many civilians and precious cargo here to risk going through an old quarry that could collapse on us at anytime."
"But what if those things track us?" Brix asked "Do you honestly think the two of you could keep everyone in this convoy safe if that happened?"
Blake didn't in all honesty, if a sizeable force attacked them then the idea of keeping every individual safe was nigh impossible with just the two of them. If Ruby was up and zipping about then maybe, but as they were they could only hope that their luck kept up.
Malts seemed to sense her worried thoughts, intervening to save her from admitting to her troubles "Patience please, my boy." he said to Brix
"Don't call me that."
"Look, I'm just saying that concerning ourselves with things we have no control over is just going to leave us drained. Instead, we should focus on what we'll do when we get to the city, morale and such."
Blake raised an eyebrow at that suggestion, but Brix seemed to go for it. The craftsman smirked and jerked a thumb towards his brother "Brine's and I got a cheap plot of land there, we were gonna use it for a branching location but... it'll make a good home till we get a new shop up and running."
It hadn't been lost on Blake that the brothers seemed to have a lot of plans which they never followed through on. She wouldn't bring it up out of decency, but she couldn't help but think about how hard it'd be for them in the future if they kept up with that particular habit.
"Good to hear," Malts commented with a smile "My sister's been trying to get me to move in with her for years, guess now I have no choice really."
"Does she want you closer to the family, then?" Blake asked
"That's what she says, yes." the Baker nodded before turning to her with narrowed eyes "But in reality, she only wants into my recipe book. I know it to be true."
"Oh... so she's a baker too."
"She's a businesswoman, that's all." Malts said with a sigh as he turned back to the path before them, he was silent for a moment before piping up once more "So what about you girls, I take it there's quite the bit of activity awaiting you back at Vale."
Blake glanced towards the back of the cart, where Weiss had disappeared to check on Ruby yet again "That's an understatement."
The Faunus slowly turned back to the baker "Reporting what happened is going to be a nightmare alone."
"Good thing you've got a hearty pack of eyewitnesses here then." Malts said as he gestured to the carts ahead of them "Between us and those White Fang fellows you brought by, I mean."
"But its not just that." Blake insisted before taking a breath and nodding back towards the back of the cart "When Ruby gets up we'll need to hope she's got enough information that can help us locate my partner... in whatever state she may be in."
Malts frowned at the way she said that "Now look, I may not know much about warriors and fighting and such. But I do know Yang."
Blake glanced towards him as Malts turned to look at the nearby woods "She's too stubborn to let something keep her down for long. One time she and her sister came to Yires and found the Inn they planned to stay at had risen its prices while they were gone. Luckily there was still one place cheap enough for them to stay at, only problem was that paying for their stay would leave them near broke. They'd have literally no way to afford any of the things they'd come out for."
"Like your marble cake?" Blake interjected, to which Malts responded with a cheeky grin.
"Of course, delicious as it may be it was mighty hard to create. As such, as much as I wanted to, a momentary lowering of prices for the poor dears was out of the question. Oh, the sorrowful eyes the little redhead gave me nearly shattered me on the spot! Luckily, her sister caught wind of a bit of thievery troubles going on around town and had become set on claiming the bounty on the perpetrator and using the money to fund the rest of their trip."
"Oh?" Blake wasn't really that surprised
"Indeed, the two spent the entire day searching for the perp, and eventually found one of the younger boys to be the culprit."
"How'd they catch him?"
"Ruby spotted him slyly pickpocketing his way through a crowd, the young man had some form of semblance which let him slip in and out of pockets with ease. She seemed to be the only one who could spot him in the act, and soon after telling her sister the boy was apprehended in what might have been one of the greatest tackles I've ever seen a girl Yang's size ever commit."
"I take it they had a blast afterward then?" Blake asked, cat ears twitching within her bow as she heard the sound of the cart's back door opening, she turned and breathed easy as she saw Weiss begin climbing up while closing the door behind her.
"Oh that's an understatement." Malts laughed "It turns out our little thief was the son of the Inn's owner, and had been using his father's establishment to store his foul taken goods. Outraged at his son's crimes, the Owner cut the price for their stay in half in thanks. There was quite a party held for them, afterwards."
"For who?" Weiss asked as she stepped closer to them
"Oh, just hearing a story of Yang and Ruby's sisterly adventures." Blake commented as she nodded towards Malts and turned to face the Heiress "How's she doing?"
"Still fine," Weiss said with a bit of a pout before locking eyes with the cat Faunus "Is that thing-?"
"Still following us." Blake confirmed "It disappeared when you hopped in back, but came back a few minutes later."
"Bandits?" Malts asked
"Maybe," Weiss admitted with a shrug "we entertained the idea of it being an Uruk."
"Like those raiders?" Malts asked a bit more hesitantly
"Like them, yes." the heiress nodded "But until it gets closer it could be anything from Grimm to White Fang."
"We are about overdue for one of those monsters." The Baker admitted with a sigh
"Yeah," Blake said "I was expecting at least one Ursa or Beowolf wandering this path or close by at least."
"Perhaps the Bandits ran into the Grimm and ended up killing each other." Weiss said with a sigh "If only we were that lucky."
Their guessing was interrupted by the sound of muffled laughter, they turned to see Brix glaring at the sound's origin. Another one of the White Fang captives seemed to have found something incredibly funny, as he was currently doubled over with laughter. Brix glanced back to the huntresses with a questioning, prompting the two of them to share a look before Weiss sighed "Let's hear it."
Brix removed the gag from the Faunus, who coughed and immediately glared at them with a sick grin "I hope you two enjoyed chaining us up like always."
"Significant differences between those situations and the current one." Blake mumbled
He ignored her, "Because when those things catch up with us, I can take full consolation in the fact that a Schnee and a domesticated slave get to die with me."
Blake narrowed her eyes at the harsh jab, but kept silent as Weiss stepped forward a bit "Things? As in plural?"
"Yeah, those things'll probably mount your skull on something." the White Fang Grunt mumbled before sighing "I can only hope to live long enough to see it happen."
Weiss turned to Blake, who shrugged before nodding back in the direction of their distant pursuer "I've only been able to hear the movements of one."
"Oh yeah? Well someone who's spent as long as you have rolling over for humans would undoubtedly have lost most of her natural intuition I guess." the Grunt commented before taking a whiff of the air "You might hear one, but I've smelt at least one other keeping tabs from the other side occasionally, maybe three."
"Three?" Weiss muttered before placing a hand to her chin "Occasionally..."
"They may be what's been keeping bandits and Grimm off us." Blake offered, trying not to side-eye the Smirking Faunus in the carriage ahead of her "If those two move off course every time something gets near then-"
"But if they're trying to kill us why not let the Grimm or Bandits take shots at us then move in?" Surprisingly, it was an agitated Brix who brought up that point
"Maybe they don't wanna risk them killing us?"
"What?" the craftsmen said unconvinced "That sounds stupid."
Though it was odd, it was entirely possible. The reasoning behind such a method of pursuit could be a number of things. But before they could continue conversing on the nature of their pursuers, something came flying out of the nearby trees.
The Talos Mine
Sitting in a small crevice of no more than 9 yards deep, separating the grassy lands between the Forests and mountains near Vale, was a handful of rickety buildings stationed near a large hole leading into the ground. Most of the buildings were ruined, mauled by either the vicious weathering of time or their previous Grimm inhabitants, except for one.
What had previously been a repository for metals taken from the mine, hardy and built to withstand, now rose above the wrecks which surrounded it. Though whatever ores were left had been taken by scavengers long before, and its roof had multiple gashes from serving as a post for several Nevermores to cling to for some time, it was this building which a single Uruk stumbled towards.
Dressed in a hood and a black cloth which covered his mouth and mostly hid his oddly darkened eyes, both articles of clothing seemed to have the tusks of animals sewn into them. With a strap of throwing knives and vials attached to his chest and matching dark trousers, this Uruk struggled to catch his breath as he stumbled through the double doors which were covered in claw marks. Past a series of tables, chairs, and even a caged little bird then up the stairs he went, reaching the third floor he immediately pushed his way into what may have once been an office. Now it served as the planning room for him and his fellow Prowlers, the desk having been shoved out the window and a regular table dragged up from the first floor.
Around said table were four chairs, and upon it laid a hand-sketched map of the surrounding area. The Uruk refrained from sitting despite his obvious exhaustion, placing both hands upon the table as his eyes went over the map. There were several rocks lying upon the map signifying key items, the main one being a series of rocks lying upon a trail.
He knew it was no longer in the same location, he had been gone for several hours killing Grimm. Ensuring that the filthy creatures would not be the ones to steal his target from him. He had left the pursuit of the convoy of tarks to his two underlings, hoping they'd somehow manage not to screw it up in the time it took him to work through the Beowolf pack and several Ursai.
The Humans hadn't chosen the path he'd expected, opting to go straight for the city instead of aim for one of the other villages instead. Despite leading the Prowlers, the Uruk was not as good at tracking things as his subordinates. He could kill anything that ever dare to step in his path of course, just needed his followers to point him in their direction. In exchange, he had to take care of literally everything else. Good as they may be at tracking, proper soldiers the Prowlers were not. If they weren't the only ones who stood with him he'd have killed them all ages ago just to be free of their incessant stupidity.
"Captain Gundza!"
The Uruk groaned as the unpleasantly familiar voice reached him. Turning, his gaze immediately settled on a scrawny Uruk in similar dark attire who stepped in through the window, similar in everything except for the fact that a White Fang Rifle was slung over his shoulder.
The new Uruk looked his captain up and down before stating "Oh, you're still in there I see."
"Dush," Gundza said with a sigh "weren't you tailing the convoy?
"Correct!" Dush said with a raised finger before reaching towards the strap on his chest and producing a rolled up parchment "Right here."
His Captain gave him a strange look before unrolling the parchment and reading it "Average height with pale skin and a hair length of about- What is this?"
"Well sir, seeing as I had been following our quarries for some time I figured it'd be most beneficial for me to properly analyze the target." the rifle-wielder said whilst placing a smug hand to his chest "I took the liberty of composing a list of qualities which-"
He was interrupted by the parchment flying in his face.
"I already know what she looks like, this is useless!" Gundza shouted before gesturing towards him "And where's Ogbur, you two were supposed to be diverting them here!"
At that Dush raised a finger as he slowly opened his mouth to speak "Now I have an answer for that... though I must insist you lower your temper first."
"No... No! There shouldn't be any answer! We went over this plan this morning!" Gundza roared before turning towards the map and moving rocks around "They come along this path here, Ogbur play dead, distract them, then you attack from this location here. Ogbur snatch villager and draw them here taking advantage of their common hero impulses. Then I kill the the dark one, bring the white-one bound and gagged to the Warchief and get welcomed back into his folds with open arms after killing all of you!"
He spun on Dush "It was foolproof!"
"Obviously not if this shrakh managed to muck it up like he 'as."
The two prowlers turned to see a larger prowler standing in the doorway, a small blade protruding from the side of his head.
"Ogbur! please tell me you managed to lead them here!" Gundza begged
"Well boss, turns out grabbin' a Pinkskin's harder to do without support from our ranged bastard 'ere." Ogbur said as he stepped inside and plopped down in one of the chairs "I throw myself in front of their cart see, waiting for the shot so I could go grab' one o' them Village folk. Never heard it, next thing I know I'm gettin' lifted out of the way by that dumb paleskin's magic, then tossed off the path like a sack o' Caragor Dung."
"And you didn't try apprehending one after that?" Dush asked
"Well gee, I suppose that should've been in the plan if ya wanted me to try it." Ogbur said with a sigh before jerking his thumb towards his captain "By the way, how long's he been in there?"
"So you're both telling me that in the time it took me to kill off more of our competition, you not only managed to fail both of your duties," Gunda began
"Hey, if he was there-" Ogbur began pointing towards Dush
"But also left the convoy completely unattended?!"
The larger Prowler paused for a moment before slowly shrugging "Well shite, guess I might've been able to not let that happen. Sorry boss. But ya gotta admit you was gone for some time now so..."
The two then watched their Captain raise both his clenched fists and smash the entire planning table in half out of pure rage.
Ogbur raised a finger "Uh, sir... I think we might need that-"
"What's the point of making all these plans if you worthless Shrakhs keep outright screwing them?!"
"Now sir," Dush attempted to intervene "I know it may seem as though I acted improperly, but I think I may have a new plan which could go along even better!"
"Damn it Dush I swear on the Dark Lord's name-!"
"Wait no," Ogbur halted him "I actually need's me a good laugh after gettin' tossed about, let's hear him out."
"We simply remember where she's heading- now follow me here!" the Rifle-Wielder insisted "-then we head back to the Tower."
"No."
"Tell the Warchief."
"No!"
"Beg for forgiveness."
"No!"
"And forget about this catching her on our own thing."
"By the Dark Lord, do you even hear yourself?!" Gundza pointed towards Ogbur "You, beat some sense into him!"
"Sorry Cap'n, Gimub's usually the one to take care o' that."
"Useless, all of you!"
"Sir, why do we specifically need to capture her, anyway?" Dush asked
"Not we, ME!" Gundza pointed to himself "Catching her and bringing her in for judgment for her crime is just what I need for the Warchief to finally see I've changed my ways."
Ogbur raised an eyebrow as he finally decided to pull the small knife from his skull and toss it aside "No you haven't."
"I will not stand insubordination!"
"Sorry, its just that ya still as angry and self-centered as ya were back when we's got exiled and all."
"If it makes you feel better sir," Dush interjected "I've been noticing your rage has been more productive instead of destructive lately."
"It doesn't." Gundza stated with a hiss
"Then why not hop outta there for a moment?" Ogbur suggested while pointing towards his leader "Even the bookworm over there can agree that slidin' in like that makes ya far more pissy than usual."
"No!" the Captain barked before slowing down to take a deep breath and reaching down to pick up the map from the broken table "Let's... just... focus on the target. Now where should they be at this point?"
Dush clapped as he strolled over "Considering how long it took us to get here, I can deduce that they should be right...about..." the scrawny Prowler raised a finger and slowly brought it onto the map "Here!"
Gundza looked at the position indicated to him, glancing up to give them an incredulous look before nodding towards the map "Here?"
"Yes Captain, at the rate they were going it seems they should be nearing this position within the next twelve minutes."
Gundza's odd-looking eyes twitched at this revelation, and as his began seething his hands seemed to automatically shred the paper in his hands.
Ogbur quirked an eye as Dush backed up in fear "S-Sir?" the scrawny Uruk began as his Captain clenched his fists hard enough for his own nails to draw blood.
"That's within range of those damn towers!" Gundza yelled before placing his hands on both sides of his head
Dush and Ogbur gave each other confused glances as their leader rammed a fist into one of the nearby walls "Uh," the larger of the two began "and by towers you mean..?"
"Those signal towers! The CC-whatever the shrakh those damn Pinkskins call them!"
"Mhm," Ogbur slowly nodded "and that means-?"
"They have access to literally any assistance they require once they get a signal, and you two worthless shrakhs let them just stroll right there unmolested!"
"Well okay sir... I can see that you're about three steps from choking on all that rage," Ogbur began "so how about you step out of there? Then we can try and catch up with-"
"No!" Gundza hissed before pointing at the two of them "You two get to stay with Gimub, right here! Clean this damn place up while I hunt the Tark myself, seeing as you two incompetents hardly seem capable of clothing yourself let alone following a single Shrakhing order!"
"I don't think I've heard him use Shrakh this much in years." Ogbur said as Dush stepped forward
"Now Captain, I know that abandoning us may see like the logical route at the moment, but hunting tarks all on your own well... we all remember what happened when you tried hunting down that escaped slave."
"Don't your dare bring that up near me." Gundza grumbled as he grabbed hold of his shoulders and began pulling "I'm going after them on my own, and if I catch wind that any of you took one step out of this mine, then not even Sauron will be able to put you back together-Ack!"
At the end of sentence, Gundza's body was flung to the ground as something pulled itself out of it. The thing wasted no time in angrily stomping out of the room as the Uruk on the ground writhed. Ogbur took a step towards the downed Uruk as Dush calmed himself down after their leader's outburst.
"Oi! Gimub, you okay there?" the larger Uruk asked
"Hehe," the writhing Uruk chuckled in a dazed manner "Cappie was inside me!"
"Hm," Ogbur turned towards Dush "what're the odds that long use o' the Cappie's thingie got some kind of ill effects?"
"I hope the Captain sees fit to forgive me once he's completed his task."
"Yeah maybe you could suck him off a bit more, see if that helps." Ogbur sighed before kicking Gimub, "Get up, Captain's plannin' on leavin' us here and I need ya help convincin' him out of it."
"All up inside me like a funny little rodent!"
"Yeah, he was an idiot before but at least he was a legible idiot." the large prowler glanced back to the scrawny one "Hey, mind usin' them fancy words to help talk the boss outta this?"
"Can't talk me outta nothing!" came Gundza's voice as the odd looking figure came back holding a bird cage "Leaving you shrakhs behind was the best idea I've had since we got here!"
"Sir!" Dush cried out as his Captain made his way towards the window "Let me just say that I've already got ideas for the apology letter I plan on dictating."
"Dictate this! Dictate that! Dictate humor with the blood of a cat!" Gimub laughed
Gundza's strange form stepped towards the window and reached for the cage door, then paused before pointing towards his followers "Not a STEP, from this place!"
And with that he reached into the cage.
As Ogbur helped his still-laughing comrade from the ground, he jerked his head towards the sound of the cage colliding with the floor. He turned to see the bird formerly housed within now perched within the broken window. It turned towards them with an odd look in its beady eyes before violently chirping at them and taking off. The three Prowlers watched it disappear in the distance.
Vacuo- Abandoned Drilling Station
Uthug screamed as he slid out of the way of another pincer swipe, the Deathstalker's mandibles snapping as its attention was once again captured by Tuka. The Berserker blinked onto the creature's head, slashing his axes across its bone carapace before blinking away as its tail swiped at him. The tip grazed its head, eliciting more agitated mandible clicking as the Grimm felt more rounds impact against its frame.
Now at a safer distance, Uthug had tried his luck with the musket, finding its bullets infuriatingly ineffective against the creature's tough hide.
"What in Sauron's name are you doing!?"
Uthug swallowed his nerves and glanced up at Tuka, who had blinked to the roof of the station and was angrily shouting at him.
"This stupid thing's worthless!" Uthug grumbled as he fired at the Deathstalker, which now began crawling its way towards him
"Aim for a weak point!" the Berserker shouted "Its got glowing targets for eyes damn it!"
"Not my fault I didn't get enough practice in with this thing!" the Warrior grunted as he stood and turned to run as the beast closed in.
Before he could get out of range, its yellow stinger suddenly shot forwards. Uthug glanced back just in time to wince at the sound of the stinger impacting with wood. Zog had worked his way in between the two and caught the stinger mid lunge. The appendage was stuck in his shield, and the Singer laughed to himself as he fought to keep his shield steady as the appendage wiggled around trying to free itself.
As the Deathstalker yanked its tail back, finally freeing it from the Singer's shield, Zog quickly jerked forward and plunged the tip of his spear in one of its eyes .
"Like that?" he asked his comrades before the Deathstalker swung its pincer and batted the defender off his feet. Though his Aura saved him from the brunt of the attack, he still struggled to get up as the Grimm closed in. Before it could keep the pressure on him, however, Tuka blinked in front of it and raked one of his axes through two more of its eyes before blinking to its tail.
As the Grimm writhed in either pain or anger, the Berserker leaped from the tail and smashed his axes on its head once more. Though still not enough to puncture its armor, the force alone seemed to stun it. Tuka leaped off as the beast swung its deadly appendages in a mad fury.
He landed next to Zog, who was still struggling to regain his breath after that battering he'd taken. Uthug skidded to a halt beside them, also panting.
"Both of you are disgustingly out of shape." the axe-wielder muttered
"Sorry, spent most'a my time standin' in one place guarding stuff back in Mordor." Zog said as he stretched
"Yeah!" Uthug agreed
"You're a warrior, you don't have an excuse." Tuka said as he stood straight and watched the beast steady itself
Uthug grumbled, but ultimately decided to prioritize "So, how we do this without a bunch of worms to distract it?"
"Simple, go be loud and distracting. Shouldn't be hard for you." the Berserker replied instantly before glancing at Zog "You make sure it doesn't bisect him immediately, both of you take out as many of the beast's eyes as possible."
"How dare-!"
"Gotcha!"
"All on the same page, good, because its about to take another swing at us."
The two Uruks regained their battle stances as Tuka blinked away once more, Uthug scrambled back as the Deathstalker swiped at them. Zog raised his shield, absorbing most of the blow and only getting shoved aside as the Deathstalker's tail flew towards Uthug once again. It didn't reach its target, as Tuka suddenly blinked on top of the stinger mid-attack and began running along it whilst slashing the appendage repeatedly.
The Deathstalker roared and swung its tail to the side to dislodge the Berserker, only for him to blink away before he could lose his footing. The Tail was halted in its swing by a spear which punctured straight through the appendage as Zog drove it in as far as he could. The Deathstalker raised its claw to stab him whilst he tried extracting his spear, only for Uthug to crouch under the sharp limb and jab the barrel of his rifle into another eye before pulling the trigger. He jumped to the side just as the Grimm slammed its pincer back down, then instead violently swung it to dislodge Zog. The defender lost hold of his spear as he tumbled away, the weapon remaining in the beast's tail as it turned on the dazed Uruk.
Uthug turned to look as Tuka's guerilla tactics continued, frowning as he watched the Berserker slice out the last few eyes with his axes as Zog stumbled out of the beast's range. Blinking beside the warrior, Tuka grumbled as he watched the now blind beast flail wildly in Zog's direction.
"Okay, thing's blind." Uthug muttered "But we don't have anything capable of piercing that armor!"
"Shut up, I'm thinking."
"We can't just leave it, it could destroy the station in this state! I'd like a semi-decent roof over my head for Sauron's sakes!"
In the midst of the Warrior's complaining, Tuka was suddenly hit with a revelation. Standing tall once more, he turned towards Uthug "Just shut up and draw its attention!"
The warrior just watched as Tuka blinked away to aid Zog, then groaned as he glanced to the side of the station. There lay both the human Zog captured, and that sack Tuka seemed adamant on hauling with him, along with the few edibles they had picked up along the way. They had tossed the possessions there once the beast had attacked, and now Uthug considered how quickly he could grab the tark and the food before hightailing it out of this seemingly unwinnable situation.
Before he could make up his mind his attention was once more drawn towards the monster, who was skittering along the sand towards Tuka. The Berserker glared at him in what was obviously a silent demand for him to start shooting. Swallowing his next angry comment, Uthug hefted his musket and began firing as Tuka blinked out of sight. The blinded Grimm drew closer to the source of the rounds, and as Uthug prepared to run once more he felt a pair of arms heft him up. Head spinning around to see Zog's casual grin, Uthug cried out in annoyance as the defender swung him around and launched him into the gaping hole of the station.
Skidding along the ground, the warrior groaned as he stumbled to his feet whilst shooting a glare back at the singer. Zog gave him a thumbs up before backing out of the way...
...letting the blinded deathstalker come thrashing into the gaping hole after him.
The warrior's black heart leaped into his throat as he realized that his so-called comrades had ousted him, with the beast covering the exit it would get its claws on him eventually. The significance of that little thumbs up became more insulting as Uthug backed across the trashed floor of the station towards the opposing wall, hoping that he could survive if he put enough distance between himself and the monster.
The station looked even more ruined on the inside, what with most of the machinery having been removed save for a few catwalks and the remains of what seemed to be a cargo lift designed to transport any blockage that would be removed for the drill to continue digging hanging above. With the drill gone and the hole it formerly dug through covered, the loader hung there uselessly like the rest of the place. Besides the loader, there was a maintenance hatch off to the side, but the handle seemed to have been completely removed. Movement from above caught Uthug's eye, and he could see Tuka linking across upper catwalks hacking away at metal cords.
Distracted, his feet kicked a piece of broken metal, the Deathstalker's mandibles immediately turned in his direction. Giving a small yelp of fear, Uthug lunged back as the Grimm approached at a renewed pace. His back soon pressed against the wall, and he frantically searched for an exit as the pincers came down towards him. Almost immediately the loader detached from the ceiling and crashed into the wounded Deathstalker's head, crushing it and sending dark blood spraying from its body.
Uthug stayed frozen, unwilling to risk moving even after getting sprayed by the creature's blood. He had gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, and only after several seconds went by did he begin to slowly open them. The Deathstalker wasn't dead... yet, but with the amount of damage it had sustained Uthug was positive that it wouldn't last long. It slowly lifted one of its claws and struggled to bring it closer to the Warrior.
"Okay," Tuka suddenly blinked atop the fallen loader with his axes ready "One of you lugs help me find out where to cut this thing."
"Y-You guys-" Uthug began before being heavily patted on the back by Zog
"Nice job out there, made quite the usefull little piece of bait, eh?"
Uthug's eyes slowly narrowed in fury "Y-you tried t-to-"
"If we can get it to disappear before nightfall we can probably set up a campfire for the night." Tuka muttered before turning towards the other two Uruks "Zog, go grab the tark and the sack. Get 'em in here before-"
"GRETCHEN!"
The Uruks paused, with even Uthug biting down on his mounting fury as they all turned towards the sound of the voice. The hatch he'd spotted earlier was open, and popping out of it was an Uruk no less. Light green-skinned with red trousers and a single armor vest, this bald Uruk's green eyes were widened to nearly comical proportions as he looked on in horror.
"Wait a sec." Zog narrowed his eyes as the green-eyed Uruk scrambled out of the hatch and raced towards the Deathstalker.
"Oh Gretchie, baby what'd they do to you!?" he said with several sniffles as he wrapped his arms around the Deaqthstalker's twitching head and squeezed "Stay with me darlin' please! Don't scurry into the light you beautiful beastie!"
The three other Uruks watched on with mixed feelings "Is..." Uthug jerked a thumb to the sickeningly tender moment "Is anyone else seeing this?"
"Oi lads," Zog leaned towards the other two without taking his eye of the grieving Uruk "I think that's Borgu the Poet."
"Ugh," the musket-wielder rolled his eyes "last thing we need is another damned lyricist."
"Borgu!" Tuka called out to the red-themed Uruk "What in the dark lord's name are you doing?!"
"Stop crying and tell us why ya here ya damned fool!" Uthug shouted as well
"hush!" Borgu turned to raise a finger to silence them "You monsters hurt my dearest Gretchen, you should all feel ashamed of yourselves!"
Before they could question his sanity, a noise none of them were expecting began. It almost sounded like... like one of them stringed tark instruments playin' in the background. Immediately they searched for whoever it was playing it, but a glance over the surroundings revealed the four of them and the dying Grimm to be the only occupants of the ruined station. In fact, Borgu seemed to be the only one unaffected by the inexplicable tune, instead opting to comfortingly rub the deathstalker's head and mutter encouraging words to it.
As he did so, Zog noticed the Grimm raising the claw closest to Borgu and immediately stepped forward to pick the smaller poet up and back up as the creature weakly stabbed where he previously stood.
"No no darling!" Borgu insisted "Save ya strength!"
"That beast just tried to kill you." Tuka pointed out
"Its not her fault! Its just how she says hello."
As the Poet struggled to justify the Grimm's craving for his death, the beast in question began to stop moving. Eyes jerking back to 'Gretchen', Borgu watched in voiceless misery as the Grimm began to dissipate into black mist.
"No." Borgu began, as that ethereal instrument soon became a miserable symphony.
"Zog," Tuka massaged his eyes, the sheer volume of the music grating on his nerves "just go grab that stuff already."
"No!" Borgu continued as the unseen music rose
"By the Dark Lord, what is that!?" Uthug shouted as he covered his ears "I hate Tark music, I hate it, I hate it I-!"
"NOOOOO!"
Vale-Beacon Academy
"Guys?"
The small, exhausted voice caused both Weiss and Blake to immediately turn from the doctor towards the occupied bed. Ruby was awake, or at least not unconscious despite how tired she looked.
Her two teammates were at her side in an instant "Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed before tempering her excitement and letting her face shft into one of concern "How do you feel?"
"... Like a...whack-a-mole game...played by Nora." The young huntress said slowly as she fought to keep her eyes open
Besides the random corpse they encountered on the path, the procession back to the City of Vale was surprisingly uneventful. Once within range of the CCT Weiss had taken the liberty of calling Beacon's Medical Staff, Ruby had almost woken up during the journey, but for the most part she had only gotten somewhat stable. Once reaching the city, the two huntresses had made a point to thank the Villagers of Yires. They helped turn in the White Fang Grunts for detainment and questioning before splitting off to take a transport ship with Ruby back to the Academy.
"Try not to move too much," Blake said to her leader as the smaller girl shifted her head to look at them.
"I-Is Yang...with you?" Ruby asked
Weiss and Blake glanced to one another before the Heiress slowly shook her head.
Ruby turned back to the ceiling as she let it sink in "Oh... then I guess...he..."
Her eyes began closing, and soon the red-head had to struggle a bit to keep them open.
"Yeah, your friend's aura got blown out pretty violently." the doctor said as a nurse walked over and showed him a clipboard "She'll be fine soon enough but she'll need some proper aura treatment before she can get out of here, so get comfy Miss Rose."
"You... got it." Ruby sighed before letting her eyes droop closed.
"But like I said, she should be back up and running soon enough." The doctor then turned on the two huntresses "You two on the other hand need to get prepared.
"Prepared?" Blake questioned, eyes shifting a bit before settling back on him "You mean for Headmaster Ozpin?"
The Doctor nodded and rubbed the back of his neck "Yes, the Headmaster's been really busy lately, seems like every other day someone's calling on him for one thing or another. But ever since I've known him I've not seen many instances where he wasn't there for a student after something like this. He'll be calling on you eventually, I recommend taking time to rest and think on what you two will be telling him once he does."
After that, the two found themselves making the trek back to their dorm
"We just say what happened," Blake insisted "tell them everything, apologize for... for letting that happen to Ruby and Yang then..."
Blake paused a bit longer at this one, prompting the heiress to finish for her.
"Then we can offer our complete assistance in getting her back, I know." Weiss glanced to the side at a pair of passing students.
Blake sighed, "If she's still... around... then yeah, we need to do that. But let's not lose track of what the main issue should be here."
"The Uruks?"
Blake nodded, but before she could follow up they were both halted by the sound of Weiss's scroll chiming. Not expecting a call so soon, the two were stunned for a moment before the Schnee retrieved the device to see who was calling her. Seeing a familiar name, she gave a small breath before turning towards her faunus teammate.
"Its just Jaune." she said before answering "Hello?"
"Weiss?" she heard the boy say in a worried tone "Oh my god, we just heard you got back from your trip! We were planning on getting the teams back together at first for a welcome back party but then I just got off a call with Fox and he said that Ruby's in the infirmary and-and Yang's not with you-!"
"Jaune, calm down." Weiss insisted "Things have been a little hectic for us in the past few days, we're kind of trying to-"
She paused as she heard something smashing in the background, Blake evidently heard it as well as the Faunus gave her a questioning look.
"Guys please! I'm kinda in the middle of this- gah!"
"You can't beat me!" they could hear Nora yell in the background "Seven year champion going for eight!"
The Faunus and the Heiress looked at the scroll for a moment before Jaune's voice returned "Sorry, I rushed to call you guys after speaking with Fox, things have been kinda hectic here as well while you guys have been gone."
Weiss narrowed her eyes "Hectic in what way?"
"Well, your friend from Vacuo has been pretty active since he showed up. Now I'll admit that when I first saw him I was a little skeptical, but now I can legitimately see why you guys hang out with this guy."
"Friend from Vacuo?" Weiss turned towards Blake for a moment before looking back at the scroll "You mean Sun?"
"What?" Jaune seemed a bit confused for a second "No no the other guy! Showed up a few days ago for a visit and-"
"Nora!" Ren culd be heard in the background as the sound of more things falling over cut off Jaune "You both need to stop before something-!"
"Jaune look out!" Pyrrha's voice yelled out before Jaune's yelp of surprise ended the call.
Blake and Weiss gave concerned looks to one another before they doubled their speed to reach their dorms. Several minutes later they spotted Jaune and Pyrrah standing outside of Team JNPR's room, Jaune was doubled over and panting as Pyrrha alternated from patting him on the back to peeking into their room.
"Jaune!" Weiss got the blonde's attention as the two approached
"You got cut off in the middle of the conversation," Blake said as they slowed to a stop "are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah no I'm fine." Jaune said as he caught his breath, "It was a bit touch and go in there but Pyrrha pulled me out before things could get bad."
"What?" the Faunus glanced towards the door "What exactly is happening in there?"
"It's nothing...toooo serious, I think?" he said unsure before turning back to Pyrrha "Hey, how serious does it look in there?"
"I'm not quite sure," the Champion peaked inside once more "I believe that depends on whether or not Ren can keep them from breaking another bed."
"Yeah," Jaune turned back to the two members of Team RWBY "okay long story short that friend of yours and Nora got kinda competitive lately so..."
Before Jaune could finish Pyrrha tensed and leaped back from the door just before it slammed open, knocking Jaune of his feet and causing the two RWBY members to back up as he fell forward before them.
"Good battle there," Nora's voice could be heard coming from within the room "a viscious one for the next generations to speak of for centuries!"
"Sorry I couldn't try a wee bit harder, maybe next time we'll actually have a winner!" A giddy, uncannily familiar voice followed.
Both the Heiress and the Faunus had both of their eyes glued to the massive figure which stepped from Team JNPR's room, covered head to toe in thick clothing which concealed everything but the eyes visible inside his hood, the figure blinked at them before smiling under the various wrappings which concealed his facial features from view.
But even with his appearance hidden, the voice was more than enough to make both of their eyes widen in disbelief.
"Oh hey guys, didn't think you'd be back from ya trip yet!" Krimp said to them as he gave a hearty laugh and gestured towards them with a gloved hand "How'd that go by the way?"
AN: This took far longer than I feel comfortable with, seeing as I had the beginning and the end figured out pretty much since the last chapter was posted. It probably had something to do with technical issues forcing me to restart halfway through and redo the whole thing. But I can't really excuse myself for something like this. Hopefully I can get out the next chapter within a week or two and not have to suffer a delay like this again.
Now that that's outta the way, guess I'll take about some other thing. The Prowlers were a certain category of Uruk Captain that may appear in-game seemingly randomly, now I've encountered many over my time playing but only three really stood out to me. And they stood out due to sheer consistency. Once those three showed up they'd be the only captains in the entire area to ambush me, which they did insanely frequently. They'd often ambush together too, with one of them showing up only for the other two to appear while fighting him. Besides that they weren't much of a problem, even together they were only slightly more challenging than regular Uruks, just annoyingly frequent enemies who had to be taken down multiple times.
But they were the ones that eventually led me to Gundza, who's in an entirely different ball park. But that's a story for another time.
Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.
Next Chapter: The Warmonger