A/N: Thanks as always to my good friend qazse for help with reactions.
A hunter with a hammer was shown fighting a Velociprey on a black and white film reel. "A blood-sucking monster..." Rage began with an ominous echo as the hunter and Velociprey were blitzed by something too fast to see before everything went black. "A nightmare invading... A terror on the waves... The extinction of species... Be afraid. Be VERY... AFRAID." Rage explained in terror as the beast was shown striking the hunter as well as the Velociprey and their Drome with its tongue, which even appeared to stab and latch into them, before everything went black once more.
A few audible gulps filled the room when they heard this beast was a blood sucker. "I REALLY don't like where this is going. What if it's like a lamprey from the Cave creatures, but GIANT!?" Pyrrha said fearfully, picturing
"Honestly, from the little glimpses we just got, I'd say that's pretty accurate." Jaune said, feeling a bit squeamish.
"Not to mention the part about being an extinction species. That's usually only something you hear about something at or just below Elder Dragon levels." Emerald said in concern.
"And is it attacking with its tongue?! Like some kind of evil chameleon monster?!" Weiss shrieked.
"I mean, we saw Chameleos do that, too, but at least it could whip it around its own body. And I think I even saw that thing STAB one of the raptors with its tongue! That's not normal!" Ilia pointed out, wrapping her arms around the head of her Chameleos, greatly preferring her monster's tongue attacks to that of this new monster.
The hunter was now armed with a sword and shield as he ran up on the monster as it stood before the carcass of a small monster, its tongue impaled into it. But oddly enough they also heard the sound effect of a person slurping through a straw. "Hello, my fellow hunters and welcome today as we talk the Blood-eating Wyvern, Baruragaru. This is- I mean, where do I begin? He is honestly in contention for just- most purely terrifying monster- definitely creepiest and 100% the goriest. He is all about blood. I mean- literally, HE CAN FIRE A BEAM OF IT!" Rage declared as the hunter and monster began to fight, before he then showed a picture of the monster shooting the blood beam he just mentioned.
However, this terrifying intro was quickly ruined by the sound of slurping through a straw. This caused several less mature students to burst out in laughter. "Okay, of everything I WAS expecting, that was NOT one of them!" Coco giggled.
"I know, right? No matter how menacing you are, you CANNOT be scary slurping from a straw!" Yang laughed.
"Reminds me of Raven back in our Beacon days. Boys would come up and try to flirt with her and she'd tell them to 'get lost or die', then start slurping from a milkshake. They looked at her like she grew a second head!" Qrow chuckled at the memories.
"Yeah. The creepy vibe is just DEAD now. All I can picture is this thing holding a big gulp, drinking from a straw." Ruby said, giggling a bit herself.
"You guys, it's probably drinking the blood from those poor raptors!" Velvet told them.
"Exactly! That straw is draining those things of the blood they can't live without!" Summer agreed, almost in disbelief that her family could be so oblivious.
"But wait. It's using its tongue on them. Does that mean it's drinking their blood WITH ITS TONGUE!? That's so gross!" Neo shrieked. This managed to bring the sense of dread back...
... At least until the blood beam was fired. "That is the most metal thing I have ever seen!" Qrow said in awe.
"It's morbid, but it's so cool!" Ruby cried out.
"My girlfriend is SO weird." Cinder groaned quietly.
The fight was shown again as Baruragaru slammed into the hunter. "So, yeah- that's a... That's a thing. So what is going on here? Well, he is a Leviathan and an invasive one at that. His discovery was the answer to a mystery- that mystery was why the local populations of Genprey, of Ioprey and of Velociprey and their Dromes were radically dropping." Rage explained as the images of the aforementioned raptors were shown one after the other with a ding sound effect. "In fact, hunters reported finding FIELDS of them dead, littered... And the weird thing was that every single one of them was drained of blood." The host dropped the bombshell as the Leviathan burrowed underground, the screen going dark with a dramatic horn sound. "Every single drop. Lifeless husks in the truest of sense. But the culprit was not discovered until one brave Guild scout had a VERY, very close encounter." Rage went on as a camera laying on its side on the ground showed a fleeing scout retreating from the beast as it roared while chasing him, everything going black with a squishing sound effect.
Many groaned as he went into his usual incredibly gruesome details of the monster's slaughter of the Raptors. "Why does he always have to be so detailed?! How many people does he really think want that creepy, sick image in their head?!" Glynda questioned in exasperations.
"Right? This is starting to sound less like an animal and more like something that stepped out of a horror movie." Roman agreed.
"It definitely FEELS like we're watching a horror flick right now. And I like it!" Nora said excitedly, most of the crew questioning her sanity once again.
"That's just more fuel to the fire. Knowing how horrible your end will be if it manages to get the better of you will push you harder so you don't get the life sucked out of you. Few motivators are better than fear." Adam declared.
"Exactly. Conquering your fears and getting stronger than the thing you're afraid of can push you to new heights." Hazel agreed.
"Or get you killed!" Blake said, in disbelief of the mindset of her former mentor and former enemy.
"Can we pause for a moment and recognize the bravery and accomplishments of that one scout? I hope he was sufficiently awarded for that discovery and how dangerous it was." Winter said.
A scout was then shown peeking around the corner of a cave to film the creature as it moved into the center of the cavern. "Why they appeared, though... is still quite the mystery- all that's known is that they DID. A leading theory is that captured individuals were being transported, before a wreckage at sea freed them back into the ocean. They then made for the nearest shorelines, which had them appearing in the water-filled areas of deserts, marshlands and jungles, which are full of various types of Prey. Literal prey. And then it started its gluttonous rampage." Rage explained as the scout continued to film the beast, even slowly and stealthily crawling after it to get a closer look as it decimated an Ioprey and drank its blood.
"That would make them an invasive species, then. And much like many other invasive species, they are clearly damaging to the ecosystem around them, which is not suitably prepared to handle them." Ren pointed out.
"And being Leviathans with more highly developed legs like them gives them a greatly diverse range of habitats they could enter. Basically anywhere with decent access to water and land is an option for them, depending on their temperature tolerance. And waterways in general could lead them to any number of different environments they could inhabit, meaning they could become a problem almost anywhere." Penny added in concern.
"All the environments he mentioned seem to be very hot or humid environments. That and their appearance would suggest they likely don't inhabit colder climates." Ozpin noted.
"Well, at least Atlas won't have to worry about them. Still, waterways would need constant monitoring and surveillance in order to ensure a Baruragaru isn't able to enter the area." Ironwood already planned out scenarios to prevent the monster from entering any Kingdoms that it could become a problem in.
The Leviathan then spotted the scout, leading to the chase seen earlier. "You see, a quirk of Mr. Baruragaru over here-" Rage began. before everything suddenly went black. "-By the way, every time I say this monster's name, I feel like I've seen something really impressive, like 'Oooh!', but at the same time I'm being tickled, so it's like 'Baruuuuu ragaruuuuu!'" Rage admitted with an echo to his voice, before breaking down and giggling to himself.
This got a few laughs out of the students and served to lighten the mood. "That is a pretty crazy name, though." Emerald admitted.
"For real. I'm impressed Rage is pronouncing it properly. I wouldn't be able to." Jaune agreed.
"I know, right? How did they even come up with that?" Weiss questioned.
"I wonder why anyone would come up with a name bigger than three syllables." Nora said.
"Did you forget about Yatsuhashi?" Coco asked in annoyance.
The hunter was shown fighting the monster again, leaping and spinning through the air as it attempted to tail whip him. "This monster has quite the little- let's say 'quirk'- in that it doesn't just feed to satiate itself, not just a basic nutritious necessity. No, it will feed in self-defense. That's because it's actually quite the fearful creature. It is at its strongest when it has freshly gorged on that ichor of life and at its weakest- well, when it is parched. Yeah, this guy plays by vampire rules and that's pretty cool." Rage admitted as the hunter dodged the beast's attacks. "So he will go to extreme lengths-" He began as he attempted a classic Dracula accent, only to break down in laughter as everything went black again. "I can't even do a vampire voice!" He laughed at himself with an echo to his voice.
Ruby gasped when she heard Rage do the Dracula accent. "I loved dressing as a vampire for Halloween!" Ruby said, draping her cape over her mouth. "I vant to suck your blood!" She declared, getting laughs from her family.
Summer giggled and wiped a tear for her eye, looking to her youngest. "So, when did you learn about vampires, Ruby?" Summer asked.
"Oh, Uncle Qrow used to let us watch old black and white monster flicks back in the day after you disappeared." Yang explained.
Summer gasped at this. "You mean the ones back when age ratings weren't a thing and ANYTHING could be put in those videos?!" Summer asked, glaring at Qrow.
"N-now Summer... I made sure to cover their eyes if it was too scary or naughty..." Qrow said nervously. (Yang, you traitor!) He thought to himself.
An Iodrome tried to pounce on the hunter, but was whipped away by Baruragaru's tongue. "He will go to extreme lengths to make sure that he is always fully armed, which kind of involves decimating entire populations of local fauna in order to be well-armed on that sweet, sweet, red, sticky stuff. So, hunting was a-go against Baruragaru in order to preserve- Well, the ecosystem itself, an important role of every hunter. So battle was joined and the quirks of this cavern crawler were eeked out." Rage declared as the hunter was knocked down by a body slam from Baruragaru.
"So, the big walking nightmare leech feels scared, so it drains everything's blood to keep a full supply. Not sure if that makes it more sympathetic, since it's just scared, or lame because it can't go five minutes without filling back up. Seriously, how much blood can it go through in such a short amount of time, unless its shooting blood with every single attack, which it clearly isn't." Ilia pointed out.
"I agree. Its size alone should deter most predators from attempting to eat it. Leaving entire fields full of raptors drained of their blood feels entirely unnecessary." Glynda agreed.
"I suppose creatures will do some very strange and extreme things if it means they will survive." Ozpin said.
A clearer image of the creature was then shown front and center. "He is a very powerful leviathan in terms of his physicality: he is not fragile, he is not the lithest, he has forelimbs that have the strength to dig as well as swim. He has tiny, little, tentacle-like hairs covering his entire body to retain a layer of moisture, but also to increase his grip and power... Which, again, is very, very freaky- Honestly, look- Let's focus on the word: freaky. Look at this goddamn face!" Rage exclaimed, zooming in on th creature's face with a woman screaming in the background. "I mean, it is just awful to look at- I mean AWFUL! It's ugly, it's not a cool-looking monster really, but... That's the whole point, isn't it? He's supposed to be... Well, unnerving. You're supposed to feel a big wave of 'Ugh! Oh, it's awful! It looks just... Awful!' But that awfulness makes you scared of him, makes you want to stay away from him, which keeps him safe, so in this case, that awfulness is AWESOME." Rage admitted as he analyzed the creature's appearance.
"Hey, I dig this thing's look. That purple stripe is sick." Coco defended the monster.
"It does have some strange beauty to it in a morbid way." Ren admitted.
"Yeah. It's pretty cool in a morbid, creepy way." Neo said.
"Yeah. Kind of like you when you get that psycho look in your eye." Roman said. This earned him that very look he was talking about. "Yeah, that one." He confirmed.
Baruragaru then knocked away the hunter and Ioprey with wild whipping motions from its tongue. "So, our friend here is uniquely, INCREDIBLY good at processing foreign substances in his body. So, essentially, he is one of the few monsters who is all but immune to every single status effect. You inject him with poison and he will break it down and render it useless in a matter of moments. Which would imply that careful study of the physiology of this creature would lead to incredible breakthroughs in medicine. If you could recreate whatever he does to so effectively render deadly substances inert, you could arm hunters on a whole other level of medical supplies in the field. The issue is, on death, the Baruragaru's special organs deteriorate rapidly, breaking down and rotting away. Extraction and preservation because of this is near impossible. Frustratingly so, at least to the Guild." Rage explained as the creature repeatedly snapped at the hunter.
"It's immune to status effects!? That's just cheating!" Nora complained.
"With that knowledge in mind, it has the potential to be immune to our dust ammo." Winter realized in shock.
"But the true shame is how it rots so quickly after death." Penny said.
"Agreed. All the potential medicines we could make from it, not to mention antidotes that counteract poisons and such. The list is endless. What an absolute waste." Ironwood said.
The creature once again started to drain blood from a fallen Ioprey. "It can go beyond that, too, but before we get ahead of ourselves, this is a particularly potent Water Sac at its base. Various monsters have the Flame Sacs, Thunder Sacs- the way they generate their elemental onslaught. Well, as a natural water-swimming Leviathan, his Water Sac is- well, a Water Sac, as you might imagine, but it's incredibly larger and more potent and... Well, more adaptable then- Well, nearly every single other one. It will first give him access to water attacks when filled with water, when he's had a recent swim, when his body is shining with its layer of mucus that it uses to keep itself moist and wet..." Rage explained as the hunters fought the beast as it dove into the water. "So that's fun..." Rage said blankly as everything went black, before returning to the fight.
"Oh, good! For a second, I was worried it couldn't get any more disgusting! But nope! It's covered in slimy, wet mucus." Blake said with a shiver.
"I already never wanted to get close to it, but now, I want to get even FURTHER away from it." Velvet agreed.
"You girls need to toughen up. Being a Huntress is gonna get messy sometimes. You can't be afraid to get a little dirty." Qrow told them.
"Exactly. It's just slime. It'll dry in an hour. Two at most." Cinder agreed.
The beast was then observed in the swamp, shooting globs of water at everything around it. "And he will fire out the usual beams, but also he can do a wave of globs all around him, resulting in puddles on the floor- and you might be like 'Well, why does that matter? It's water, right?' Well, the thing is... He can turn the water just that little bit acidic by combining it with chemicals he naturally produces, melting armor and basically giving you a REALLY bad rash that you REALLY don't want." Rage explained as the scene changed to show Baruragaru leaping from the water and body slamming to send more globs of water across the ground.
"It can melt armor but can only leaves hunters with a rash?" Adam questioned.
"Well, a bad rash can still slow you down significantly. As well as limit your movements if it's in a particular area, as the pain it causes will subconsciously prevent you from moving to the fullest so you don't further agitate the rash." Hazel said.
"But if it can melt armor, what would it do to Penny? Would it be as bad as Almudron's gold fluid?" Ruby asked in concern.
"I have made a mental note to only engage this monster at a distance with laser fire." Penny declared.
The fight was now taking place in a cave as Baruragaru burrowed underground. "But this is just the beginning. This is the least of what you might face when you go up against him. Remember the decimated, bloodless populations of Prey? Well, let's talk about his most significant feature: the long, tubular tongue, that while being incredibly vulnerable, is an incredibly potent weapon. Physically, it can flail 'round in all directions lightning quick, slapping and slicing as it darts through the air, knocking all away around him, but that's not its primary function. No, it's primary function is to latch on and suck... Drain... Consume... Oh, yes..." Rage said darkly as the hunter was knocked down, before being impaled by the tongue, which began to drain them of blood as the red liquid slowly covered everything. "His tongue, then, acts like a big, old flesh straw! And how often do you get to say the word 'flesh straw'? I'm so lucky. It will latch onto its victims- essentially, imagine if the end of its tongue was kinda like a lamprey eel." Rage explained as the terrifying eel in question was shown.
"So we were right about it drinking blood through its tongue!" Yang said.
"I don't know if that's impressive or disgusting." Emerald wondered.
"I'm leaning more towards disgusting." Blake groaned.
"Can't it be both?" Coco asked.
Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Weiss both cried out in horror at the sight of the lamprey. "Why must he show those disgusting things?!" Pyrrha cried out, looking away in disgust.
"They look like disgusting worms with the grossest mouth ever conceived!" Weiss cried out in agreement.
The monster was shown drinking something's blood once again, its back turned to prevent its victim from being seen. "And once latched, it's not coming off and you will feel yourself growing weaker and weaker and weaker until the black spots coat your vision and then darkness falls, never to lift again as you become- well, like I said earlier, a true lifeless husk." Rage explained as the view changed to look like someone's eyes were slowly closing and struggling to stay open, alongside the sound of a heartbeat. "The force at which it does this draining is ridiculous, slurping something dry in a matter of moments. It will do it mid-combat. So those Iodromes, Gendromes and Velocidromes, yeah... If they have the unlucky misfortune to bump into your fight, they will get caught and used as light refreshment. Oh, and so will you! Yeah, he's one of the monsters that can grapple or grab you, pinning you down and being literally fed upon from this tongue as you are used to power up your opponent!" Rage said as the Leviathan drank the hunter's blood once more.
"I don't want to get my blood drained out!" Velvet cried, hugging Coco fearfully.
"She's got a good point. Besides the danger of getting your blood drained in seconds, if you do survive, the monster just became stronger. How are you supposed to deal with that?" Summer asked.
"By bringing in a Deviljho and making IT deal with it." Jaune said.
"That is NEVER a good idea. Bringing in one animal to deal with another animal usually just results in the new animal becoming a problem along with the old animal. And Deviljho is a problem ANYWHERE it goes." Winter told him.
The fight was now taking place in a cave as the hunter tried to avoid both the Leviathan and the Ioprey, plus their Drome. "Once this blood has been ingested... Well, then that organ I was talking about can get to work. It will filter out any impurities and then it will convert the Iodrome's poison fluid, it will render it inert, understand it, absorb it and weaponize it, its Water Sac now taking on a Poison twist." Rage said as romantic music strangely began playing as the Baruragaru had an Iodrome pinned under foot, looking down at it.
"Fascinating. But also terrifying." Glynda said.
"If only we could find a way to replicate that effect. Imagine if we could turn something like the acid of a Centinel back against it." Ironwood idealized.
"Sounds like a big step to fighting this would be either wiping out or baiting any raptors it could get blood from out of the area before it shows up. That wouldn't be easy." Qrow theorized.
"Especially since most hunts happen after a monster has been in an area for a good amount of time." Penny pointed out.
The Leviathan was seen drinking the hunter's blood once again. "It will do this just the same with a Gendrome's paralytic mixture, it will do it just the same with a Velocidrome's potent blood and then it will modify this attacks based on this new injection of power." Rage explained as an image of each Drome was shown once again. "And you can tell what is currently being used by carefully observing the creature. The very sides of it will glow and change hue to match its current meal. Purple, of course, for the poison, a deeper, darker red for the pure blood and a more orange-y yellow for the paralysis." The host continued, focusing on the stripe along the beast's body. "In every case, it can fire out beams of the stuff: poison, paralysis, blood- you know! The classic trio! He can fire out blobs of them in all directions, leaving very, very hazardous pools all around him, like liquid mines and he can fire them all out as an expelled fog, as mist. Yes, this creature can cover the entire area in blood mist." Rage explained as the creature indeed released a blood red mist from its body.
Many more squeamish students quickly began to feel nauseous. "Vomit buckets, please." Weiss pleaded. The buckets then appeared before her, Velvet and Pyrrha, who immediately emptied the contents of their stomach.
"How is that even possible!? And does it stain suits!?" Roman cried out.
"It's gross, but really cool at the same time." Ruby said.
"I know, right? You can't get more metal than that! That should be on the next Unnerved album cover! I mean, it's disturbing, but also epic! Like a horror show in the best way possible!" Yang cheered.
The hunter leapt at the leviathan's face just before it unleashed a 360 spinning attack. "Anyway! Yeah, that's Mr. Blood-Wyvern, he has a lovely diet of- well, the Drome monsters, will take in their blood, mix it with his own, convert it in his Water Sac organ and use them as weapons. He will slaughter entire populations to ensure his supplies are always maintained and he will do everything in his power to make you the next item on the menu. In fact, just getting a sample of this guy's blood is near impossible, because it is so mixed, tainted and mingled with all of his victims. It's kind of ridiculous, honestly. I'm honestly curious what would happen if some found their way to the New World, likely via the beach of the Ancient Forest. What would he feed on in place of his usual Dromes? What monsters might he face as enemies or rivals for territory? Perhaps Jyuratodus in the Wildspire. There's just so many options and I wish we would see him in the New World to see what he would do and what he would be capable of." Rage admitted as it unleashed a blood mist once again.
"Why would he WANT to see that thing anywhere?! Even among monsters, it's an absolute monster!" Neo cried.
"Because he's not afraid of a challenge! I'm not either! I'd totally take on one of those!" Nora declared.
"And by the time you've found it, it would have likely wiped out all the small monsters in the area." Ren pointed out.
The Leviathan whipped its tongue back and forth once again, sending the hunter flying. "I really would enjoy getting whipped by his flesh-straw. How often do you get to say that? He is an incredibly aggressive monster. He feels only safe when nothing around him is alive and he will go to great lengths to make it that way. Hell, even his tail acts as a syringe that he can stab and inject the various mixes of toxins that he's currently working with. It's just really quite brutal. It's also really cool he's more of a land-based Leviathan, kind of like Mizutsune, he can exist in water, but he has limbs more suited for land traversal. I wish more Leviathans were like that. And when feasting on Velocidrome blood, his attacks can lower your sharpness and corrode gunner ammo. He is just an amazingly badass monster." Rage finished as the hunter avoided the beasts lashing strikes and finally brought it down with a final, well-placed sword strike.
Many of them did a double-take at Rage's desire to be whipped by the leviathan's tongue. "Okay, seriously, is this guy insane or what?" Blake asked.
"He's definitely more than a little out there, that's for sure." Summer said.
"I would HIGHLY advise against letting the tongue make ANY form of contact with you." Penny advised.
"I think we all already knew that. But thanks for confirming it." Cinder said.
"Still, he's not wrong, it is one of the more... unique leviathans we've seen. Unique amongst any monster, really." Ozpin admitted.
"If by unique, you mean 'creepy and disgusting', sure. Let's go with that." Qrow said.
"So?" Katana asked, looking for their thoughts as always.
"I found it deeply disturbing." Glynda said, finding herself shaking a bit.
"Agreed. The way it can drain blood in mere seconds... It must be a horrifying and agonizing experience." Ironwood said, deeply disturbed.
"Not to mention it would almost immediately cause serious problems to the ecosystems with how it drains everything of their blood. And when the ecosystem falls, any neighboring civilizations will no doubt be horribly impacted." Winter added.
"I think it's badass!" Neo said. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. "Well, you know, in a creepy, morbid way." She explained.
"Yeah. And it sounds like it'd be a super hard fight, which would be super fun!" Nora declared.
"I just like it's kind of like a vampire. It brings back good memories." Ruby said nostalgically.
"I'm with Neo, honestly. It's got a pretty sick look and, in a creepy way, it is sort of stylish." Coco admitted.
"No, it's creepy in a creepy way and I don't want to be anywhere near that thing!" Velvet disagreed with her partner.
"I have to agree with Velvet. It's looks are already creepy enough, but the fact it drinks blood and does it with a tongue like a lamprey is WAY too creepy for me." Pyrrha said, shivering slightly.
Yang then looked to the hostess. "Katana? Can you put at least ONE Baruragaru on Remnant? Please?" Yang asked hopefully.
This took everyone by surprise, including Katana herself. "Excuse me, whaaaat?" The Ice Demon asked.
"What are you thinking!?" All the more mature and responsible members of the crowd asked, looking at the blonde brawler as if she were insane.
Yang held her hands up. "Okay, here me out: if we could tame it, it would be the ultimate movie monster to star in our own horror movie!" She explained, before creating a flashlight in her hand, the room getting darker as she held the flashlight aimed up at her face from down below. "A hiking team would be trekking through the swamp, when they start getting picked off one by one, the rest of the team finding their bodies drained of all their blood. Now they have to make it out of the swamp as the monster hunts them down." Yang said dramatically as if telling a scary story at a campfire. She then turned the light off as the room brightened back up. "And in the climax, they could get lost in the blood fog!" She explained excitedly.
A few members of the crowd were impressed and even won over by her ambitions. "Okay, not gonna lie. You've got yourself a solid plan, Firecracker." Qrow praised his niece.
"I'm on board." Nora agreed.
"I'm usually not big on horror movies because of Velvet, but yeah, I'd pay to go see it." Coco agreed.
"That would be so cool! And Penny could work the green screen and special effects!" Ruby said.
"I would be happy to help, Ruby!" Penny said eagerly.
"Sorry, guys. But I'm still gonna have to say no. Those things are too dangerous and drink way too much blood. If it ever escaped, it would decimate the local ecosystem." Katana told them.
"Aww..." The pro-movie crowd groaned in disappointment.
"Thank goodness..." The rest of the crowd sighed in relief.
Meanwhile, Summer covered her face with her hands in embarrassment at her family's questionable antics. "How did they get so crazy while I was gone?" She asked herself.
"So, what's next?" Emerald asked.
"Next? Oh, well... The next monster is an absolute mystery. In fact, you could say it's entirely... Unknown." Katana said as she started the next video.