Chapter-5
Ruby, Jaune
"COME. HERE!" The short humanoid yelled chasing Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren through the forest.
"At least it's too slow!" Nora yelled.
"But it doesn't matter if it keeps sniffing us out!" Pyrrha yelled back.
They'd managed to outrun the creature 4 times and had hidden in the forest, only to get caught either by grimm attacking them or the creature sniffing them out.
Jaune, meanwhile, was unable to think of anything but running in fear.
I should have stayed home… Was the only thought going on in his mind.
"Alright! Let's stop here!" Ren spoke as the four reached some ruins. Jaune's panic had slightly subsided by stopping but he couldn't stop shaking in fear.
"Ooh, Renny! Do you see those chess pieces!" Nora exclaimed as the others noticed the chess pieces as well. Pyrrha's eyes widened. "Are those…?"
"T-The relics we were meant to retrieve." Jaune spoke. That cave wasn't even the place they were meant to go.
Jaune staggered as realization struck him. I led myself and them to their deaths…
It's all my fault…
It's all my fault… He thought as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke in concern as she looked at him.
"I-I'm sorry…" Jaune whimpered. "I-I thought t-that cave was supposed to be…I killed us all."
"Jaune." Pyrrha spoke firmly as Jaune looked up. "You didn't know. We could have chosen not to follow but we did follow you. So we all share the blame."
"We do?" Nora spoke before Ren elbowed her.
"Ok, we do!"
"B-But what difference does that make?!" Jaune yelled. "That thing, it's not a grimm! It has intelligence. We don't know how to deal with that kind of creature!"
"But he's a big dumb-dumb! Do you remember all those times we managed to give him the slip?" Nora spoke up.
"Nora, I'm pretty sure Jaune was still reeling from shock while we did that."
"Oh, I forgot."
"But still! It means we can trap him!"
"Does anyone have any ideas?" Pyrrha spoke. Nora and Ren were silent.
"jaune?" Pyrrha asked Jaune. "Do you have any ideas?"
Jaune looked at her and the others. Even knowing they were in such a precarious situation, they were so…brave.
"H-How are you all not afraid?" Jaune asked. "I don't get it…"
"Are you crazy, Jauney? We're just as afraid as you! But we can't really afford that because we'll die! Then me and Renny won't be able to get that respected social position we always wanted and will forever be known as the 'huntsmen who died like idiots'!" Nora spoke as her cheerful face slowly turned to horror.
Jaune leaned back from the energetic girl's rant, now noticing the fear in her eyes as well. They also didn't want to die, but they didn't have a plan to beat that creature.
Jaune felt determination rise within him. They weren't going to die today. Not when they still had many years ahead of them to live.
"What are your guys' semblances?" He asked.
"I can get stronger with electricity!" Nora answered.
"I can mask my emotions as well as others'" Ren spoke.
Pyrrha pursed her lips and looked a bit nervous.
"Pyrrha? Is there something wrong?" Jaune asked.
"My semblance…is polarity. I can control metals." Pyrrha spoke hesitantly.
"Oh, is that how you won all those matches?" Nora spoke.
"…Yes."
"That doesn't matter right now. I think I can do something."
Jaune looked around and a plan formed in his head.
"Ok, guys…here's how it's going to be." Jaune spoke telling the others the plan.
"That's…pretty risky." Nora spoke. "But I like it!" She exclaimed as Pyrrha smiled. "I do as well. You've got a tactical mind, Jaune."
Jaune blushed. "Aw, thanks, Pyrrha." He spoke before his face went serious. "Alright, let's do this."
Ren nodded and ran back to the forest. The creature could still smell them and was moving in the direction Ren was coming to him.
Soon, he could see the creature.
The creature spotted Ren. "HUMAN!" He yelled in glee as he broke into another sprint. Ren did so as well but made sure to keep his distance within the creature's vision.
"Ren…you're going to lead it here. You have to make sure it doesn't bring any grimm with it."
Ren activated his semblance to create a field for masking emotions to ensure no grimm followed him or the creature.
"COME. HERE!" His spine shivered hearing the creature's voice but he kept himself calm. The creature was ugly, but it didn't inspire as much fear as that did.
Don't think about it, Ren… Ren thought. If he remembered it again, he would lose his cool.
Soon, Ren reached the ruins where Jaune was standing in front of a massive stone pillar.
"Jaune! I'm here!" Ren spoke before breaking off.
"I noticed the creature is able to sniff us through aura. The stronger the aura, the stronger the scent." Jaune spoke. "So, I'll bait him to me."
The creature, predictably, ran to Jaune instead of Ren. "YOU. SMELL. BETTER!" He yelled as he continued to get close to Jaune before a bronze shield hit it in the back of the head.
"AGH!" It screamed as Jaune ran away, turning off his aura while the creature turned around to see Pyrrha.
"Once it's at the spot, get it's attention, not just with bullets, but say…throwing your shield to hit and then freeze it in spot, Pyrrha." Jaune spoke.
Pyrrha shot a volley of ice dust rounds that started incasing the creature in ice.
"ICE!" It yelled laughing, sounding oddly happy despite being completely stuck. "ICE!"
Ren, meanwhile, ran to Nora for the finishing blow. He shot lightning dust rounds at her to charge up her semblance.
"Once it's frozen, knock down the stone pillar I'm standing in front of to crush it with your semblance."
"YOU CHOSE THE WRONG TEAM TO MESS WITH!" Nora screamed as she hit the pillar with her hammer. The creature was still laughing in the ice as the pillar came down on it.
But then, it's white eyes glowed and all the ice covering him suddenly formed into a shield, taking the brunt of the pillar and destroying it while leaving the creature unharmed.
Jaune's mouth opened. "What the…?!"
"WHAT?! IT HAS A SEMBLANCE TOO?!" Nora screamed as well.
Ren was also surprised. That should not be possible. Cryokinesis could only be done through semblances, which only normal humans can use. This creature was not human. So how did it control the ice?!
"HUMANS. STUPID! ICE. GOOD. FOR. TRÖLL!" It yelled in flee before the remains of the ice shield covered its club to form ice spikes.
"NOW. I'VE. GOT. YOU!"
"W-We have to run…" Jaune spoke.
Pyrrha shook her head. "Jaune, we're getting exhausted. We won't be able to fight if we keep running. We have to fight it here."
"Yeah! We just have to figure out its weakness or simply take out those eyes!" Nora spoke. "come on!"
Jaune stayed back while the three of them charged at the creature. The creature swung its spiked club to crush them, only for them to dodge. However, the club smashing against the ground knocked them off-balance. Pyrrha was the first to recover and hit the creature with a series of slashes to leg that made it stumble. Ren tried to go for it's eye but an unexpected swing forced him to back off while the creature, tanking Pyrrha's blows, backhanded her away. Nora took over, hitting its chest with her hammer but only sending it skidding back.
"YOU!" The creature roared at Nora but a series of rounds hit its face as Ren slipped into his role of breaking the creature's focus. In fights, he would do this strategy to open up the opponent for Magnihild to knock them out. But again, the blow didn't seem to make any good difference.
"Hah!" Jaune yelled as he charged in from the side suddenly, slashing at the creature's leg.
"GET. AWAY!" The creature roared swinging its club…
…And Jaune was too late to dodge.
"JAUNE!" Pyrrha screamed as the club slammed into Jaune's chestplate sending the boy flying back.
Nora hit the creature again while Ren looked towards Pyrrha running to the boy.
"My aura's gone…" Ren heard Jaune mumble.
"Thank goodness you have a lot fo aura. I don't think me, Ren or Nora would have lived if we got hit."
With that, Pyrrha came back into the offensive with a vengeance, working with Ren in staggering the creature while Nora hit it with devastating blows, although getting hit by some back hands by the creature.
Soon, a hit from Pyrrha's shield brought the creature to one knee. Seeing the opportunity, all three of them went for its head.
Suddenly, the creature raised its head, it's white eyes glowing and mouth open as temperature dropped to freezing.
Ren's mouth fell open as his body burned from the sheer cold of the wind he took. His muscles froze up and Ren collapsed, frost forming on his face. Through the pain of the cold, Ren noticed Pyrrha and Nora in the same shape. The giant walked up to Nora and raised its club.
"FINALLY. FOOD!" It yelled. Ren had seen what the club did to Jaune. If it hit Nora, she was dead. The cold was subsiding, but it wouldn't be enough time to get to Nora.
"Nora…" Ren spoke desperately. "No…ra!" He exclaimed as he raised his daggers in their pistol forms and fired one last lightning dust round in desperation.
It hit the creature's back and didn't seem to do any damage before the creature screamed with more pain than before.
"LIGHTNING?! LIGHTNING. HURTS!" It yelled.
Jaune perked up at that as he finally got up from the hit he took.
"Lighting…?"
"IT'S WEAK TO LIGHTNING DUST!" He shouted as the others got up.
Pyrrha began shooting the creature with lightning dust, now doing much more damage as the creature began going on the defensive. He rushed to Nora and Ren and helped them up.
"He's weak to lightning…?" He heard Nora ask. "THEN THAT'S PERFECT!" She screamed before pulling out more lightning dust and crushing them. The electricity raced through her body and turned pink as Nora raised her hammer with a wide grin.
"Ren! Go for its left leg!" He exclaimed as Ren, taking more dust from Nora, shot at the creature's left leg, whittling down the rocky skin covering it.
"Pyrrha! Break it's left foot!" he ordered
"Done!" Pyrrha threw her shield to break off the left foot and bringing down the creature.
"FINISH IT OFF, NORA!" He yelled as Nora ran forward.
"DIE. DIE. DI…"
"NORA…SMASH!" Nora yelled as she straightened her feet, brought her lightning-charged hammer back and smashed it against the creature's face.
The creature flew through a few tress before stopping, it's head a gruesome mess with blue and red blood flowing down its corpse that made Jaune gag.
The four teenagers were breathing heavily. "We did it?" Jaune asked.
"WE DID IT! WE TOOK IT DOWN!" Nora screamed in celebration.
Ren smiled in exhaustion. "That…was difficult."
Pyrrha rubbed her stomach. "I don't think I've gotten hit as hard in my life as by that creature's backhand."
We actually did it… Jaune thought. He had lost so much morale when the creature had controlled ice to stop the pillar from crushing it…but Ren's desperate shot had uncovered it's weakness.
Sounds of running alerted them as they turned around, only to see Professor Saber emerge.
"Where is it?" He asked, his usual calm voice having a bit of anger and concern.
Pyrrha looked over to the corpse. "It's…dead."
Professor Saber looked at the corpse and his eyebrows rose up. "That is…impressive."
"Do you know what this is, professor?" Jaune asked.
"Not now. I'm glad you four are safe. Stay here, take the relics and head back to the cliff."
"What about the grimm?" Pyrrha asked.
"The other professors have already moved in to clear the area. You four and the other four are the last pairs remaining in the forest. Now, go!"
"other…Ruby!" Jaune exclaimed. He'd completely forgotten that Ruby and the other three were also fighting a creature like this one.
"We need to get them!"
"If the other one is what I think it is, then you four will get yourselves killed. I will get to them as quick as I can." Professor Saber spoke.
"But what if they…"
"No." Professor's Saber cut through Jaune's protest. "That is NOT going to happen."
Yang was the first one to act. She jumped at the creature, swinging her right fist at it when it brought up its club to block her strike.
Yang's smile fell. "Huh…?" She spoke before the creature pushed her back.
"So you're a tough one, eh? Then take this!" Yang spoke before punching the creature's leg. The creature stumbled back. Yang went for a volley of punches
It swept its hand as Yang crashed into an invisible wall and the creature swung its club to knock her away.
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed in worry as Yang flew into the bushes
"Hold on! I have a plan!" Weiss spoke. "Keep it distracted!" It spoke as Blake threw her mistralan scythe attached on a rope to snag the creature's legs and attempt to pull it down. The creature pulled back and Blake lost her footing. Ruby immediately shot the creature in the face as it snarled at her before looking behind her. Ruby did so to see Weiss standing there with a massive ice spike emerging out of a glyph.
"Out of the way!" Weiss exclaimed before shooting the massive spike at the creature's chest.
Before it reached it, it suddenly stopped as the creature's eyes glowed before breaking it into smaller spikes and shooting them back at the three girls.
Ruby, Blake and Weiss swiftly dodged the spikes.
"Wha…it can create ice?!" Weiss spoke. "But that's not possible! A creature can't have a sembl…"
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Ruby screamed as she shot the creature's face to distract it from smashing Weiss.
"Stop daydreaming and fight, Schnee!" Blake snapped as Weiss as the creature looked back at Ruby.
"YOU!" It yelled going towards Ruby. Ruby ducked under its swing, rolling between its legs to swing crescent Rose and break them, only for it to dent the rock instead of cleaving through it.
Ruby dodged the kick that the creature sent at her to join up with Weiss.
"Okay, I'll have to…" Weiss spoke readying another glyph before bullets struck the creature, making it move out of the way.
"What're you doing?!" Weiss yelled at Blake, who'd shot the bullets.
"You're just going to give it more ammunition against us, Schnee!" Blake spat as she led the creature to her in front of a tree.
The creature swung down on her, only to hit a clone as Blake climbed up the tree and swung her weapon to create a wave of energy striking the creature's head.
"She got a hit!" Ruby exclaimed as Blake smirked, only to yelp as the creature grabbed her by the waist and opened it's mouth to eat her. Blake used her semblance to get out of the creature's grip.
"Just how tough is its skin?! Not even an Ursa should have been able to shrug of a dust wave to the face!"
A scream erupted as Yang came out with her hair in flames towards the creature. The creature raised its club as ice encased the brawler before steaming and melting. Yang burst out and continued charging the creature. The creature's club formed ice spikes before it swung at Yang
"GRAAAH! Yang bellowed as her flaming fist and the ice on the creature's club collided, sending a massive shock wave that knocked both of them away. The shockwave also sent ice shards at the others, making Weiss yelp as she blocked them all.
"Is she mad?!" She screamed.
"How'd you like…oh gods damn it! How are you still standing?!" Yang yelled at the creature which had only flown back a few metres before righting itself.
"We need to retreat!" Ruby yelled to her teammates. "We're not going anywhere with this!"
The other three stared at her before nodding. They turned to run when…
"RUBY! Yang yelled as something landed right behind Ruby. Ruby looked back to see an ice spear pinning her cloak down.
Ruby frantically tried to remove her cloak before a shadow loomed over her.
"NO!" Yang screamed as Ruby raised her hands in fear, only to see Weiss standing in front of her holding back the creature's club with a glyph. The creature smashed its club against the glyph as cracks started appearing.
Yang quickly smashed the ice spear to pieces as Ruby looked at Weiss in concern. She was clearly straining to maintain the glyph as her face was getting red and sweaty from the exertion.
"RUN!" She yelled as Weiss pushed the creature back with her glyph before running off with the others.
"COME HERE!" The creature screamed sending more spears but Weiss produced more glyphs to block them.
The girls soon reached a ravine with a stone tower rising out of its misty depths.
"Now what?" Blake spoke.
"Now what? Why did you lead it away! I could have hit it with more spikes! Even if it controlled one, it wouldn't be possible for it to control multiple!" Weiss yelled at her.
"And what if it did! You'd be giving more ammunition to it!"
"Then what should I have done! Send a dust wave at it? Oh wait! It wouldn't have worked, because it has tough skin! You saw it tank Yang's punch! So what was your plan's point?!"
"At least it was better than giving it ammunition!"
"You…!"
Ruby looked at them in dismay. She'd made them retreat because all of them were interrupting each other's attacks and making no progress in taking down the creature. Maybe some time to rest would cool them down but no, it made their temper even worse.
"Guys…" She spoke up.
"Then you two should have stood back and let me handle it." Yang spoke. "I staggered it."
"Yes, you merely staggered it with a punch that would obliterate an Ursa Major. While IT was able to take out a chunk of your aura with a strike not even at its full strength! Fighting it in close combat is near suicide!" Weiss snapped.
"Hey, don't get mad at me! I didn't even criticize you!" Yang retorted.
"Guys…" Ruby spoke
"But you were keeping me and Blake from hitting it! You had no care for the surroundings around you like a typical brute!"
"What did you just say?!" Yang spoke getting upto Weiss' face.
"Guys…" Ruby spoke again in desperation. Why were they fighting? She couldn't understand it.
"You have nothing inside that brain of yours, Xiao-Long! You almost got us injured with that last reckless attack of…"
Weiss fell back as Yang's fist hit her nose.
"STOP IT!" Ruby screamed at the two. "Why are you fighting when we're getting chased?!"
"HUMANS!" The creatures loud voice came from the distance.
"Hear that? That thing is stronger than any grimm we've faced! Instead of working together, we're fighting each other!" Ruby yelled.
"We came here to train to be huntsmen and huntresses! We all have dreams that we want to follow! We can't do it if we get ourselves killed! SO PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!" She screamed as the others looked at her in silence.
"You're right." Weiss spoke up. "Now is not the time. But we still have to figure out how to beat it!" Weiss spoke. At that moment, the creature came out of the forest.
"FOUND. YOU!" It yelled in glee before running towards them.
"Get to the cliff side of the ravine!" Ruby order as the four ran to the bridge. The creature chucked a massive ice spike that hit the bridge and destroyed it.
"Jump!" Ruby yelled, the four girls undeterred by the loss of the bridge and jumping off the edge. Ruby used her semblance to fly across the ravine and reach the other side, Yang blasted Ember celica to boost her to the other side with its recoil, Weiss creates a path of glyphs to run across while Blake swung around the pillars.
The creature jumped to land on one of the pillars
"Bring that pillar down!" Ruby yelled as the girls shot what they could. The pillar broke down under the fire, forcing the creature to jump onto another pillar and climb up to its top.
"WON'T. WORK. HUMANS!" It yelled laughing mockingly. "NOT. AS. STUPID. AS. BROTHER!"
"Well, it's smarter than it looks." Yang commented as the creature prepared to throw spikes.
"Weiss! Block those spikes!" Ruby yelled as Weiss created a glyph to block them.
"Yang! Do you still have some power left ?!"
"Yep!"
Ruby nodded before flying to a pillar and shooting at the creature to distract it.
"Blake! Send dust waves at the pillar it's on!" Ruby order as Blake sent dust waves to cut through most of the pillar while the creature was focussed on Ruby.
"Weiss, launch Yang at the creature! Yang, Operation Flaming juke!" Ruby yelled dodging the spears.
"Got it!" Weiss spoke launching Yang with a glyph.
Yang flew towards the creature with a smirk. The creature brought up its club to block, expecting another punch when Yang blasted ember celica to change her direction towards the pillar.
"I wasn't going for you~" She sing-songed before punching the pillar. The creature was caught off-guard and screamed as the pillar collapsed, sending it falling into the misty abyss.
Weiss caught Yang on a glyph and brought her back.
Ruby smiled in relief. "WE DID IT! WOO HOO!" She screamed celebrating before something rumbled.
"What…?" Weiss spoke as the creature rose from the ravine on a tree growing at an abnormal speed.
"It can use ice, and it can use trees?!" Yang exclaimed.
"DIE!" The creature yelled as multiple ice shards shot at Weiss, who was too exhausted to put up another glyph.
Ruby's eyes widened. "NO!"
She didn't have enough to conjure another glyph.
No, This can't be the end… Weiss thought. Whatever Ruby's strategy was, it had managed to send the creature down into the ravine. But it never expected the creature to be able to come back from that. Now, she watched her death come closer and closer.
She couldn't leave her family's legacy in the hands of the wretched man that is her father.
I can't die… She thought in fear and closed her eyes.
Something slammed into her and knocked her away.
"KYAAH!" A scream filled with pain reached her ears.
Weiss opened her eyes to see Ruby, her clothing stained with blood as many shards took out her aura while the rest cut her body or sank into it. Ruby coughed out blood as she fell to her knees.
"RUUUBYYY!" Yang screamed in horror.
"Weiss…" She spoke in pain. "Go…"
"Ruby…" Weiss spoke in horror as she stood still. She didn't register as Blake took her away from the girl.
The idiot saved me… was the only thought going through Weiss' mind.
When she was small, Ruby had once cut her finger with a piece of broken glass and it had hurt a lot. This…felt like that except it had happened to her whole body.
There were too many cuts for her aura to close and the ice shards that penetrated her body could not be removed.
She stared at the creature.
Maybe we should have just run… She thought. But well, it wasn't in her to do such a thing.
The creature kept laughing. "ALRIGHT. THEN. YOU. DIE!" It yelled as another wave of ice spike formed to finish her off.
At least I'll get to see mom… Ruby thought before something stopped it.
"THURISAZ!" A familiar voice yelled as a lightning bolt struck the creature.
Ruby looked at the direction it came from to see Professor Saber standing there with a glowing symbol in front of him.
The creature screamed in pain as it jumped off its tree and onto a pillar. It's back was steaming as chunks of it was blown off.
"DRAGON!" It yelled looking at professor Saber, who jumped really high and landed beside Ruby.
"You're badly injured." He spoke before inscribing something on Ruby's chest and saying something like 'Oorooz'? "This should keep you in shape for the moment. Now," He spoke looking at the creature calmly as it shot ice shards at him, only for them to bounce off his chest.
"My armor, even if slightly weakened, will take a lot more than that to be penetrated." He spoke turning to the others. "USE LIGHTNING! IT'S WEAK AGAINST THAT!" He yelled as the three girls nodded before Blake and Weiss shot lightning dust rounds at the creature. Unlike their last encounter, the rounds were effective against the creature.
"Can you stand, Ruby?" Professor Saber spoke as Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, whatever that glowy thing you did. It…makes me feel better."
"Good. Shoot at it while I handle it." Professor saber spoke before jumping pillar to pillar to reach the creature while the girls kept shooting.
As Professor Saber neared, the creature swung its club at him. Professor Saber also swung his sword gram and cut the club into two halves.
"WHAT?!" It yelled before Gram cut through its leg and bringing it down. Professor Saber then stabbed out its two eyes with his knives while dodging the creature's swings.
The tree sent branches at Professor Saber who cut through them while the creature jumped and barely made it onto a pillar.
"You're not escaping…" Ruby spoke before jumping at flying towards it, pushing her semblance to move at immense speeds. She saw Professor Saber punch Gram to cut through one of its arms before it could jump again.
"AAAAHHH! The creature screamed as its jump was interrupted, giving Ruby her chance.
"TAKE THIS!" She yelled coming out of her semblance as Crescent Rose shifted up into a spear form, coming out to go straight through the creature's chest. With a missing foot, Ruby's momentum carried the creature off the pillar as both slammed into the ground back onto the Ravine's plain side.
Ruby got up from the creature's chest and pulled out Crescent rose with its heart stuck on its blade.
"KILL…" It spoke before it stopped moving as a pool of blue and red blood formed around its corpse.
Ruby stumbled off the giant corpse as she noticed Professor Saber come up with Weiss, Blake and Yang.
Suddenly, her body felt like it was getting torn apart as her cuts opened up again.
Ruby collapsed to the ground as Professor Saber rushed to her side.
Her vision went blurry as she couldn't hear what Professor Saber was saying.
"I…did it…" She spoke before losing consciousness.
A/N: Chapter-5 is here. I was dreading this chapter because I never wrote chapters completely focused on fights before. But, it all worked out and I managed to write JNPR and RWBY vs the two phantasmals without making them look too much like the canon fights with the nevermore and deathstalker. Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated.