Dear readers,
I'm amazed at the interest in the story. I hadn't planned to actually get this chapter done for a while, but as the views, favourites, and follows streamed in I felt that it was my duty to provide you with at least modicum of entertainment.
Yes, the main character will be rude, and a bit racist. Don't expect a faunus hater though, I mean he was able to deal with literal talking lizards and cats so who cares if a chick has bunny ears.
Yes, the Gamer! part is coming soon.
And yes, I love fried chicken.
"Fucking stupid body."
"That's no language to be using, Jaune."
"I'm not fucking JAUNE. How many times do I have to say to you that is not my bloody name! It never has been, it never will be, and FUCK THIS FOREST."
Phyrra raised a palm to her head in exasperation.
We had been walking for about half an hour now, all of the running was tiring me out and as I was her 'partner', she was forced to stick with me. I guess it was something along the lines of a shield-sister, but I didn't trust her at all so I treated her as I would any mercenary. Namely, with an ever-present assumption that they had no idea what they were doing.
"It's not far to the temple, this will be over soon."
"Which is what you said an hour ago!" I replied, slapping branches out of the way. "Seriously, how do you even know where it is? Unless this 'aura' of yours makes you able to see through fucking trees, you're just as lost as I am."
"Aura doesn't work like that, not-Jaune." I growled at her. "Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt like you were being watched, even when nobody was there?"
"All of my life…" I muttered. "So what?"
"With time, effort, and a lot of practice, your Aura can act as your shield. Every living thing has it, even animals." She explained.
"Except the Grimm." I noted.
"Correct. The Grimm are the darkness of Remnant, and we, as huntsman and huntresses, are the light."
"Nothing is that certain. Each side must have both darkness and light, to deal in absolutes is to deal in ignorance." Experience had taught me that.
"Also correct. Everyone has some of both. All of the equipment that hunters utilize in our work are conduits for that aura. It will enhance your speed, strength, and will allow you to endure attacks beyond the capability of the human body. Close your eyes."
I snorted. "Not a chance, Imperial. I won't let you do any magic on me."
"It is not magic, it is simply the projection of your being, of your soul! To neglect something like that out of ignorance is as bad as believing in the sides of darkness and light!" She seemed frustrated. "Just let me help you help yourself!"
"How I just help myself, and you can go fu-" Loud noises echoed through the forest rapidly, as though small strikes of lightning were nearby.
"It seems our classmates have encountered the enemy." She said sullenly. "Shall we continue?"
"Fine." I ducked under another branch and walked for about ten seconds before coming up to a cave. With a grin I turned around. "Temple discovered. Is there any of those creatures in here?"
"I do not know. Let me take the lead, at least I will be able to take the hit if we come across one."
"Sit down, shut up, and let me make a torch."
I ended up shedding that stupid hooded garment. I had a white shirt that was unbearably soft underneath, so I simply tucked that into my belt and threw the measly armor back on over top. The black fabric was torn and wrapped around a sizable bough from a nearby tree, though I had to get Phyrra to light it. Stupid mages.
Stupid Imperials.
Torch lit and emitting light, I ducked into the entrance of the cave. After a minute or two, the Imperial, as they are wont to do, had to make her opinion heard. "I don't think this is the forest temple."
I wheeled around. "'Forest Temple'? Why the hell didn't you say that earlier? Why the fuck would a forest temple be underground?"
She looked down. "It was your idea."
"Based on your intelligence!"
"Don't blame me! I just sat down, shut up, and let you make the torch."
"Well I'm going to keep checking this place out. In my experience, caves always have something interesting to show." I turned back around and promptly whacked my face off a rock. With my armour, that wouldn't have hurt much at all. Instead I got a sharp bit right to the brow, which i instinctively recoiled away from and tripped over a rocky protrusion on the ground. The torch fell out of my hand and landed in a puddle that I could have sworn wasn't there before, extinguishing it.
"Damn-it Phyrra, you had one job."
She was silent, and as I looked at her face from the ground, I could see she was staring down the tunnel. Then I realized I could see her, and my extinguished torch, but just barely.
"You still there?" I tried again.
"We need to leave." She said monotonously. "We need to leave right now."
I turned to see what she was staring in horror at, and it was a moving, glowing light. Moving erratically, which meant it was clearly magical or biological. Given the only things that I've seen around here were Phyrra and Grimm, the decision wasn't hard.
It was made even less difficult when the light started moving towards us with a skittering sound I'd long since associated with the giant spiders that inhabited the caves and forests of Skyrim.
I scrambled to my feet and took off down the cave, cursing leaving the torch behind. With my lack of armour, I was able to get up to quite a speed despite the fatigue in my body. The sound was quickly gaining on us, however, so I made a decision that, again, I had made many times before.
I drew my sword and turned around to fight. Not a great idea in the darkness of the cave, but the only source of light was this Grimm that was quickly approaching us so I really had little in the way of options. It was either run away in the darkness or stand and fight in the light.
Then I was lifted off the ground and started floating down the cave.
"What the fuck! Help!" I shouted, for despite my many adventures this was completely new.
"I am, now let me concentrate!" Phyrra shouted back.
I did as she asked. Not because I accepted her as a leader but because she… knew what she was doing. I was very reluctant to admit that to myself, but survival was in my schedule.
We shot from the mouth of the tunnel and I found myself launched into the air as a black pincer clicked shut just underneath me. I had just enough time to identify the Grimm as a giant scorpion before its glowing yellow stinger flashed out and impacted my breastplate harder than any arrow I'd been struck by before. Again though, the armor held, and instead of being impaled I was sent flying through the air much too fast for my liking. I saw Phyrra continue in her sprint, dodging swipes and stabs from the beast without even glancing behind her.
The scene was swept away from my vision both by my tumbling and from the trees that extended in every direction. The tumbling was almost serene, if not for the fact that I would soon reach the ground and without reinforced armour, would end up like many of the bandits I had shouted from the walls of their 'fortresses'.
I had asked for a new adventure, new enemies to face and villages to save. New allies to bring back to Jorrvaskr, and new weapons to outfit my group with. The irony was not lost on me as I found myself with a woefully under-equipped body and against lightning-fast foes. Such was fate, and if it was mine to be sent to Sovngarde on this day then I was content.
I briefly noted a section of the forest ablaze and was wondering how it had happened when I collided with something else, shedding my speed and likely leaving heavy bruises across my body. In a flurry of green, red, and black, I impacted a tree and briefly lost consciousness.
When I came to, I was draped across a thick branch and high up in a tree, with someone shaking my shoulder.
"Jaune! Wake up!" A young girl's voice yelled.
"Ugh.." I groggily mumbled. "Not.. Jaune."
"Oh!" The voice said again, and the presence of her disappeared. Looking beneath me I saw I was only about 15 feet off the ground, so I slid off the branch and landed on the ground. Looking around I saw myself on the edge of a clearing, with a stone ruin in the middle of it and a few more girls in colourful outfits standing in front of it.
I rolled my shoulders and began walking towards them, determined to find out exactly what was going on. I made it about three steps before a loud screaming came from above me and I was driven back to the ground by yet another teenaged girl in white.
"My hero." She sarcastically said, before hopping off and taking off in a run towards the group.
I scrambled back to my feet, ribs bruised even more. "What the FUCK is going on!" I shouted.
There was no chance for me to answer, as the trees on the other side of the clearing crashed to the ground. Phyrra ran towards what I assumed was the temple, with the same giant scorpion in relentless pursuit. As she was the only person I knew, I drew my sword once more and ran towards her.
My attempt at rescue was cut short as she was finally hit be a claw right into me, sending both of us tumbling to a stop in front of the temple.
"Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together."
"Not if I can help it!" I heard the same voice that roused me from my sleep, and saw a girl in red and black run towards the giant scorpion with an absolutely massive sickle. She held it behind her and as it let off another bang like the ones that Phyrra's weapon used, she was propelled forward at a tremendous rate of speed.
Her efforts were in vain, as the scorpion simply knocked her out of the air with a pincer. She landed and rolled back to her feet. "Don't worry, I'm totally fine!" She shouted back to us, firing another shot from her sickle. Apparently weapons in this place all could fire these projectiles. Unlike with the beowolves, however, this shot simply glanced off of the bone-plate on the scorpion's face, and the girl turned to run back towards us with the creature hot on her tail.
One of the girls, clad in brown and yellow, shouted out. "Ruby!"
She took off towards the red girl, who I assumed was named Ruby. From the looks of it, she wouldn't get there in time.
This belief was reinforced when I felt a familiar rage build in my body at the sight of a massive bird diving down above the scorpion. This bird was clearly another creature of Grimm, with it's red-marked bone-plating, but its resemblance to a dragon left me angry. Not because it was there, but because in this state I was too weak to fight it.
My heart dropped as with a flap of its wings, a rain of giant feathers whistled through the air at Ruby. She managed to dodge the first few, but luckily -or unluckily in her case- one managed to pin her cape to the ground. Why she wore a cape in combat was beyond me, those stupid garments weren't necessary in a climate this warm, and from the way it had been flapping behind her, it wasn't nearly thick enough to retain heat in any case.
The feathers continued well past Ruby and almost speared the girl in yellow.
"Ruby, get out of there!" We have a genius among us, clearly Ruby's goal was to stay pinned by a giant feather.
"I'm trying, Yang!" Good, now I've got two names. I also noted that the yellow girl's name started with a Y, while the red girl's name started with an R. Easy to remember, at least something around here was practical.
With a blur the girl in white sped off, rune traps forming underneath her feet but not exploding. Yet another mage, it would seem. In the split second before Ruby was skewer and poisoned on the end of the scorpion's stinger, the girl in white slammed her thin sword into the ground and cast a very impressive ice wall spell, that solidified and trapped the scorpion.
Then, as girls are wont to do, they started talking, completely disregarding the circling dragon-bird and struggling scorpion, both of which were much larger. Then the girl in yellow decided to stop and talk too and I couldn't hold it any longer.
"MOVE!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs, though my stupid body decided to have it's young voice crack.
Luckily the colour co-ordinated trio ran back to us as we stood there doing absolutely nothing except for waiting for them. The other girls around me were content to stand still, but my hands were continuously re-adjusting their grip on my weapon. I couldn't help but feel like I was under-prepared, even more so than I was earlier.
I mean, Phyrra was managing to kill those other Grimms with one shot, and Ruby's weapon was quite a lot larger. In weapon terms, it packed a much larger punch. Only the mage had managed to do anything effective, and from the looks of it the giant scorpion's prison wouldn't last much longer.
I noticed that at least Phyrra was restless. I nudged her with my elbow. "Some test, huh?"
"You can say that again."
I smirked and tried to say it again, but my voice wouldn't work. I tried to breath in, only for my breath to catch. Red-hot pain shot up my spine as I coughed once, then couldn't stop spitting up blood. I think we were moving, I couldn't be sure. I was confused, things were blurry, sounds were muffled, I could taste copper and honey.
The only thing I was certain of was the 2 giant black feathers speared right through both my knee and gut, then I fell.
