Chapter 5
Jaune could safely say that everything was only down from here. The trees, the ground, his life. All of it rushing up to meet him
There had only been a moment for him to ponder his life decisions after Ruby was fired into the air before it struck him he was next. Unlike the others, he had not braced, and immediately began to flip and spiral in an uncontrolled fashion. Occasionally he'd catch a glimpse of Ruby's red streak, somehow climbing ever higher and further away between the swathes of green and nausea.
Then his mind went into panic mode. "What do I do? All I have is this stupid shield! Alright, calm down Jaune, maybe there is...I got nothing."
It was a better plan than falling without trying.
Gripping the handle, he felt the shield expand, and suddenly he flipped, the shield now facing behind him. But more importantly, he felt himself slowing down. If only mildly.
As he flew, he could feel the strain in his arm as the wind battered his shield, but he struggled to keep it flat against the wind. Glancing towards the ground, he could see the trees arriving and realized his shield was facing the wrong way to protect him. Collapsing the shield again, he held it close to his left side as he curled up, expanding it again, hidden behind it. Facing towards the wind, it prevented him from flipping the same way.
When he crashed through the first tree branch, he curled tighter, feeling the leaves shoot past his feet, and moved his hands to hold his head. The next branches were blown apart much easier, and he was just beginning to feel good when the ground hit next.
Suddenly, Jaune was shunted against his shield, and managed to halfway roll when the unwieldy balance cause him to spiral out, rolling across the ground painfully. He found himself lying on his back, surprisingly intact. "Meant...to do that."
Sitting up, he was surprised to feel only a little sore from the impact, and he carefully checked himself for wounds. Smiling to himself, he realized he must have gotten lucky with the landing. Grunting as he stood, he looked around at the forest, the dense trees on every side blocking his view. Not too far away, he could hear the sounds of guns and crashing trees; likely the other students.
"Well, here goes nothing," he muttered to himself.
Nora kept her eye on Ren the whole time as she flew. The lighter boy was able to soar gracefully through the air, while she had already started to slow by the time he reached his apex. Even so, she knew he wasn't going to rush off on his own. At least, she was fairly certain he wouldn't.
Her descent was fairly easy. A couple of rounds from her grenade launcher cleared the path to the ground, not to mention slowed her descent, and a last minute slam with the hammer killed most of her remaining momentum, while simultaneously allowing her to springboard into a stand.
Looking back, she took a second to admire her handiwork; namely the massive crater she had left in the ground, which Magnhild now marked the epicenter of. Skipping over, she pulled it out of the earth before looking around, making sure nothing had been attracted by the noise.
Seeing the coast was clear, she slung the weapon back into its holster and began jogging towards where Ren had been going. There were bound to be other students around, but she knew Ren, and that was just a safer bet.
Idly, she thought about what the Headmaster had mentioned, namely the bonus points. She knew Ren wouldn't care; if it were up to him, they would probably just camp in one spot, and wait it out. Probably meditate for a large portion of it.
But she wanted those bonus points. Even one bonus would be enough to get her noticed. Not that she super cared about what the teachers thought, but if she could get even that, it would be a reason for other people to talk to her, and by extension, Ren.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a growl, and she brought up the haft of Magnhild in time to block the massive claw of an Ursa Minor. She smiled to herself as she twisted the hammer to the side, before jabbing forward with the head, knocking the monster back slightly.
She transitioned into an underhand backswing, bringing the end down on its head, where she felt the bony armour on its face shatter. It tried to swing with the other paw, but she just blocked it with her armoured bracer, easily able to stop the disoriented attack.
Gripping her hammer with both hands, she pulled the hammer from its unnatural flesh, backing up as it tried to lunge, albeit weakly. Tightening her grip, she saw no sense in prolonging the encounter, and swung down again, crushing its skull. Picking up the hammer was easier this time, since the body began to disintegrate around it.
Pushing passed the body, she stepped into a clearing, smiling slightly as she saw Ren sitting on the ground, eyes closed in meditation. He kind of looked like a cute little bird, perched on its branch. Then, the bird stirred and flew away. As she stepped in, he opened his eyes, colour being restored to his body.
"Left that one for me?" she asked with a laugh. "You shouldn't have, you know how I love Grimm presents."
Ren didn't laugh, but smiled slightly. "Nice to see you too Nora."
"Come on, let's see if we can't meet up with some of the others and take out one of those bonus point things," Nora offered, waving for him to follow her. Ren nodded, standing up, and falling into step behind her.
"If you say so."
Ruby bobbed and weaved her way through the trees as she rushed passed them in a blink. Each 'jump' was a momentary risk as she rushed towards the ruins she had seen earlier. Somewhere far behind her were Weiss and Pyrrha, but she was not too worried about finding them. She was the scout after all.
It had been her suggestion to go ahead of them, and try and scope the location out, trying to figure out whether it was a potential target or not. Weiss and Pyrrha hadn't objected, saying they would continue towards the area in as straight a line as they could manage.
Ahead of her, she could see the trees thin out, and slowed to a halt, stumbling into cover behind one of the trees. Peering out, Ruby sucked in a breath at the sight. The ruins appeared to be crawling with Beowolves, and not young ones. The ruins climbed the hillside, surrounded by a destroyed wall. It almost looked like an abandoned village. The more she looked, the more she realized it probably had been.
The object was likely somewhere in the village, but with the amount of Beowolves, she wasn't so sure about it. There were three of them, and both of the other two were quite skilled, so maybe they had a chance. Quickly, she got a rough estimate on the number before turning around, rushing back to her team.
It only took a minute before she found them, skidding to a stop in front of the surprised duo. "I think I found it, but there's at least a dozen adult Beowolves around it. I think it might be a pack."
"There will be an Alpha as well," Pyrrha noted.
"What did the ruins look like?" Weiss asked.
"Like a village, a really old one. Everything was made of stone, and there was a ruined wall around it."
"Any buildings stick out? Anything tall?"
"Uh, let me think," Ruby said, closing her eyes. She hadn't paid as much attention to that. There had been a few of what looked like buildings, but most of them had been ruined. But there had been a couple standing. "I think there were a couple still standing."
Weiss nodded before pulling out her Scroll. "I want you to draw me as accurate a map as you can."
Ruby nodded, dutifully scrawling out a rough map of the village. She had to pause a couple of times to adjust the scale, but tried to be fast about it. Handing it back to Weiss, the white haired girl regarded it. "Alright, here is what I am thinking."
She angled it so they both could see, and she began making marks and notes on it. "Pyrrha, you don't have as much in the way of area attacks, so we need to get you where you can have control over their approach. The nearest intact building is here, but that is too far to jump in one go. So, what I'll do is put a glyph here and here, and you can use them to mount one of the buildings."
Pyrrha nodded, pointing to the one near the tree line, tracing a line to the one on the wall. "So I should run at it?"
"That would probably be for the best," Weiss agreed, tilting her head slightly to focus on Ruby. "Your weapon takes more space to use than hers, but has more area defense. If we get you in the town square, you'll have all the room you need, while I stand on the house opposite to Pyrrha, and use my glyphs to limit their angles."
"If need be, I can throw Milo. Magnetism," Pyrrha explained, briefly hovering her weapon above her hand in demonstration. Weiss nodded, closing the Scroll.
"Alright, we have our plan. Ruby, lead the way," Weiss instructed. Ruby nodded, turning to jog. She could hear the others keeping pace with her, though this time it took a bit longer to reach the site than on her own. She slowly transitioned to a creep, sliding into place behind a tree. Turning to look at Weiss, she nodded, pointing towards the village.
Weiss nodded back, taking a half step back, watching Pyrrha back even further. "The second I summon the glyphs, they'll know we're here. I'll have to summon the second one a moment before you land. Ruby, you'll follow her a moment later. Everyone clear? Alright, three, two, oneā¦"
Jaune regarded the other students quietly. He had been surprised to see so many of them in one place.
He had stumbled across them far easier and sooner than he had thought, and a lot...more of them. It was practically a small camp. In fact, that was exactly what it was.
As he stepped in, he could see them look up at him in almost bored disinterest. He couldn't see Ruby, Pyrrha, or Weiss among them, but considering how far they had flown, he was not surprised.
He was surprised when Yang suddenly appeared in front of him. "Did you see where my sister went?"
"Woah woah! She was going deeper into the forest while I was falling," Jaune answered quickly, stumbling backwards. "From what I saw, she was hot on the heels of Pyrrha and Weiss."
Yang muttered something that he couldn't hear, but offered her hand to help him up. "Sorry about that. I was sure she would have just landed the first chance she got to meet up with me."
"I wouldn't worry. If she's safe with anyone, it's those two," Jaune offered, unsure of what to say. Still, it seemed to help, as Yang relaxed slightly going to sit back down. "So what's going on here?"
"Not all of us want to go on a wild goose chase," a gruff voice answered. Jaune turned to face the speaker, and his eyes widened. The "boy", if Jaune could even call him that, was several times bigger than him, in dark grey armour, with a heavy flanged mace at his side. It took everything Jaune had not to flinch under his gaze. "So we decided to camp it here. We figure a bunch of the later students will be in the same boat, so we all just hang out here until morning, and leave. You only have to survive after all."
Jaune held back his response, especially seeing as the other boy did not seem to be in a good mood. He had to admit, looking around the amount of weaponry made him feel safe. If any Grimm did show up, they would be severely outnumbered. It was almost tempting.
But he needed those extra points more than anyone else here. He wasn't happy about the idea of having to go back out there and face Grimm to get them, but he wasn't about to give up now. "Well, I think I'm going to go have a shot at finding one. Anyone up for it?"
Jaune put on his best smile, trying to exude confidence, but knew it was likely falling flat. However, to his surprise, the heavily armoured girl from earlier sprang to her feet, looking excited of all things.
"Sure, Ren and I'll come with you! We've been trying to get these sourpusses moving for a little while now. Come on Ren!" Jaune could barely contain his surprise as she marched up beside him, the lanky boy coming with her. "Name's Nora. Lead the way!"
"Guess I might as well come if there's going to be some others," another voice interrupted. Jaune was surprised to see a dark skinned girl approaching him. Her green hair and outfit had made her blend into the forest, but now that she was standing next to him, he was able to see her more clearly. Namely the dual pistols she wore in the small of her back.
"Glad to have you," he said, recovering from his surprise, offering his hand. She smiled and took it, giving a rather light shake. He regarded his companions for a moment before turning to Yang. "You coming with?"
"I'm probably going to try and find Ruby," she declined with a shake of her head before thinking of something. "Give me your Scroll."
Jaune handed it to her, and she quickly typed in something. "If you see her, call me and let me know, okay?"
"Sure thing. She was roughly in that direction," Jaune explained, pointing into the woods. Yang nodded her thanks.
"Come on captain, lead the way!" Nora encouraged, elbowing him.
"Uh, I guess we should probably head this way," he guessed, aiming to a different part of the forest. "Ruby and her team are likely going to hit any objects in their area, so we should look somewhere else."
"You heard the man, march!" Nora yelled, taking point with enthusiasm. Jaune could only watch in surprise for a moment before realizing they should stick together. Well, at the very least, he wasn't going after the objects alone.
"So uh, I'm Jaune," he offered, looking between his companions nervously. "Figured we should exchange names if we're heading out together."
"As you heard, I am Ren, and that's Nora," Ren offered.
"And you?" Jaune asked, turning to their other companion.
"Oh, my name's Emerald."
"Nice to have you on the team," Jaune replied, summoning his best smile. Emerald half-smiled back, though he couldn't tell what was on her mind. Maybe she was just nervous.
Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was beyond nervous. But he wasn't going to let that stop him.
Ruby could feel a state of focus fall over her as she hit the first glyph. Ahead of her, Pyrrha had already hit the second one, causing several Beowolves to look up in confusion as they saw a gold blur go by.
For a moment, she whipped inches above their heads towards a normal section of wall, but a glyph appeared moments before she landed, immediately springing her the remaining distance to the town square. By the time she landed, she had already extended her scythe, readying her stance.
The first of the Beowolves howled, signalling their intent to attack.
She quickly took stock of her situation. She had her back to an old, ruined fountain, which somewhat protected her, while the buildings around her made it so that it would drive the Beowolves into small areas, easily small enough to chop through with her scythe. The building to her right had Pyrrha on top of it, which meant she was less likely to get flanked there, and the building to her left had Weiss, which meant she only had to focus forward and back. No big deal, just a horde to deal with.
She would have to aggressively hold the line, and she set up to do just that. There would be a moment before the Beowolves hit strike range. "Pyrrha! Speed me up!"
"Right!" Pyrrha's off-hand glowed with a black energy and Ruby felt her scythe begin to spin around her without her assistance. In a moment, she had achieved max speed, and was just keeping it going with careful motions. The instant she was maintaining it under her own power, she heard Pyrrha get to work, the sound of a shield smashing through the hordes signalling the first counter strike.
To her left, she heard the sound of Beowolves getting thrown back and blasted by Weiss' glyphs, sending them tumbling into the other enemies, but she barely paid attention as she gripped the weapon tight in preparation for first impact. The lead Beowolf mistimed its jump, and earned a scythe to the skull for its trouble. Ruby dug her heels in, and heaved the scythe around in order to keep speed, smashing the dissolving corpse into the next one. In a flash, she cut the head off the next one, and surprised another with a half-step forward into a fade back. But that was only four of dozens.
To her right, she heard the sound of Pyrrha's spear rapidly piercing Beowolves at ranges and speeds that varied beyond tracking, occasionally punctuated by the ringing of her shield smashing into a particularly resilient target.
Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the true threat. A Beowolf Alpha. It stood beyond the wall, glaring at them in contempt under its heavily armoured skull. The larger, meaner Grimm was snarling at the others in a dark mimicry of orders and commands. Its howl seemed to bolster the smaller ones, who began to come in swarms, leaping off each other in order to get at her.
Finally, the assault was too much, and she had to jump over a swing at her legs. She took advantage of the moment to fire a shot, the gravity Dust ripping a small line through the Grimm. Some died instantly, while others gripped at damaged limbs, or stepped to the side, stunned. The shot sent her back with great force, but she clipped the tip of the fountain with her scythe, forcing herself back down. She couldn't afford to give too much ground. To her surprise, she could see a bit of water beginning to leak out the top of the fountain, now that the top was ripped clear of moss.
"Weiss! Can you use ice?" Ruby demanded, yelling over the din of howls. The Beowolves were beginning to flank from behind, and she was having to use both parts of her swing to fight, which meant a lot more throwing Grimm into or against other Grimm, rather than clean cuts.
"Yes, but I only have so much!"
"On my signal, hit the fountain!" Ruby yelled, smashing the Beowolves in front of her with as much force as she could muster. She jumped up, kicking off the Beowolf that tried to get behind her, before swinging the scythe down, back side first. The heavy back smashed down the body of the fountain, breaking all the way down to the base. The shrapnel flew in all directions, bouncing off her Aura, but ripping through the nearest Grimm, buying her a moment. She quickly unclipped her cartridge, replacing it with Aero Dust. Aiming down, she planted her feet on the sides of the blade before firing, flying up in a spray of water. "Now!"
Weiss reacted instantly, slinging a white bolt from the tip of her rapier down to the water. The reactive Dust instantly blossomed outwards into a huge wave of ice, encasing the nearest droves of Grimm in its cold grasp.
Ruby, meanwhile, flipped Crescent Rose above her as she fell, going into a spin. Moments before she hit, she slammed the heavy head into the ice, the force causing it to fracture and splinter outwards along the ground. The encased Grimm that hadn't died of impalement were killed as the pieces flew out at different rates, crushing or spearing them, and the ones that had escaped it in the first place were shredded. Particularly towards the Alpha, who was now open to attack.
"Pyrrha! Take out the Alpha! Ruby, you and I will back her up!" Weiss demanded, springing off the building to the ground. Ruby nodded, rushing forward with an assist from Weiss' glyph, swinging her scythe down one line of stunned Grimm. A moment later, Pyrrha rushed passed her, slamming her shield into the Alpha, causing it to rear back. A Beowolf tried to jump at her, but a glyph stopped it, allowing Pyrrha to continue her assault unhindered.
Pyrrha's spear was a blur, rocketing forwards and back with Semblance enhanced strikes, ripping through the Grimm's unprotected belly while Ruby viciously tore through the other Grimm. Occasionally, when she had to overextend in order to hit a dodging Grimm, she would feel a force tug her back, and always see a fading white glyph where she had been standing.
Pyrrha's spear swung in an arc, taking out the Grimm's legs before she rammed the hilt into its neck, sending it flying backwards. "Weiss!"
"Backswing!" Ruby yelled, and Weiss reacted instantly, leaping towards her. Ruby sliced through a Beowolf, and as she swung back, Weiss placed a glyph on the head of the scythe. A moment later, she pushed off, flying up and towards the Alpha, while the kickback drove Ruby's scythe clean through the next Grimm, allowing her to start spinning, and shredding the rest.
Through the gaps in the sea of black, Ruby was able to see Weiss rocket down towards the Alpha, her blade extended in what Ruby could only assume was some kind of trained form. Still, she could not argue with the satisfying sound that her blade made going through the thing's chest, a burst of white light briefly crashing out with the impact.
The death of the Alpha had a rippling effect, and the other Beowolves seemed to suddenly lack confidence, keeping their distance. Ruby hefted her weapon, trying her best to look menacing, which was helped by Pyrrha taking stance beside her. After a moment of staredown, the Beowolves seemed to think better of it, edging away into the forest.
"Alright, now that is dealt with, let's fan out and look for the object," Weiss commanded, pointing to the building. "Pyrrha, can you feel any metal?"
Pyrrha closed her eyes, lifting her hand towards the buildings. Her hand glowed an eerie black for a moment, before she let it fall to the side. "Only some. Mostly wood and stone."
"Just how old is this place?" Ruby wondered aloud.
