"I can help with this," Herleva says, looking at team RWBY who were horrified they seemed to be goblins or rather goblin sized now.
Ruby groans and looks over her form before slouching. "You guys wouldn't happen to have some clothes, do you?" she moans and then realizes she bought that underwear just for Richard, and it's ripped to pieces.
Richard frowns while looking worried at the girls. "You have a potion or simple spell for this?"
"No, but I can do a ritual. It will exhaust me for a few days, but we are close to returning, aren't we?" Herleva asks.
"Should be since we got through most of the city. Maybe there is a portal somewhere to take," Rachel notes. "And we can carry you and your stuff more easily now."
"Wait. What will this ritual do?" Weiss asks, covering herself with a blanket.
"Change you all back to normal size. And since there are four of you, it would take more than I expect out of me. I usually save this in case of emergency," Herleva explains and taps her chin. "Well, huddle up. But not too close," she warns, lightning up her hands with magic.
"Wait…will our skin change too?" Blake asks, referring to their now green skin.
"Green is not a good color for you girls," Richard says offhandedly, and the girls glare a bit to him. "Sorry," he apologizes, looking away and blushing red as he can see Ruby still being her teasing self and showing her plump ass around the towel she has on. Though, she keeps it hidden from the others, so they don't freak out too much.
"This should return you all to normal," Herleva informs, sending her magic towards the girls as a spell circle appears below them.
"I hope I still have my muscle," Yang says before a bright flash of light overcomes all of their vision and leaves them blinded. The rest of them groan and rub their eyes before blinking the spots away to see the four girls as before they were taken, especially with no green skin. "Woohoo! I still got the form!" Yang cheers, inadvertently dropping her towel and giving a strength pose.
Richard seeing this quickly turns away as they were no longer fully covered, which the four quickly realize from the draft. They quickly grab the dropped towels and cover themselves up as best they could while crouching to get as much of them as covered as possible. "Anyone have some new clothes for us?" Weiss asks, embarrassed.
"Luckily, we have your clothes still," Reese says, throwing them a bag with their clothes.
"Oh…Reese, how long have you been…cognitive?" Blake asks as Weiss scrambles for the bag.
Reese gently smiles at them. "When the big man here made breakfast and explained things to me afterward," she says, pointing to Richard, who seems to be interested in a nearby pothole and poking the sides of it. "And you look different by the way," Reese adds before pointing to Yang.
Yang blinks, before realizing what she means. "You must mean my arm and…wait. No," she says to herself as Reese hasn't been personally involved with them. "What do you mean…?" she stops as Reese pokes her wider hips that gives her a slight hourglass muscled form that the green-haired girl tilts her head at. "Oh. Blame the world," Yang shrugs.
"Get dressed, Yang," Ruby says, slipping on her clothes.
Yang smiles before starting to grab some clothes from the bag. Herleva, though, starts to collapse before Rachel and Evie catch her. "I'll get her to the truck," Richard says, picking Herleva up into his arms and strains a little with her armor. Herleva lets out a small smile at the small sword training he had coming into play as he carries her back to the vehicle.
"I vote to kill goblins on sight now," Weiss informs, finishing getting dressed.
"Get in line," Blake growls as her ears flick around.
"Also, girls… I think we owe Richard something for coming to save us," Ruby says, smirking.
"What? We bake for him?" Yang asks jokingly and slips on a shirt.
"…last time you did that, they needed to rebuild the kitchen," Ruby teases.
"How was I supposed to know how much magic fire crystals to throw in the pit?" Yang retorts.
"Thanks," Blake says after walking up to Richard while the sisters do what they were doing.
Richard looks to Blake as he finishes buckling Herleva into the seat. "For saving you? It's no problem. I was worried when you girls didn't come back in the last few days. I swear that I searched in every single house for you, girls. I couldn't even sleep until you were found," he admits before groaning and holding his head. "And…there's the sleepiness…" he slurs out.
Blake smiles with pity before hugging him. "Well, you can sleep now. I guess Rachel can drive us out of here."
Richard tries to stifle a yawn and stay awake, but can't with how warm and soft Blake feels against him. "You know what…that sounds like a good idea…" he starts to trail off.
"Before we head back to the castle, shouldn't we check for a signal on our scrolls?" Weiss asks the sisters.
"That is probably a good idea," Reese points out as Ruby gets out her scroll and starts to check.
Richard yawns again, now hugging Blake and nuzzling his cheek against her ear. "So soft…"
"I got a signal!" Ruby calls out.
Richard groans against Blake and picks his head up to look at the rest of them with a sleepy expression. "Who?"
"Don't know, but we should check it out before heading back. I will navigate," Ruby informs, getting into the front seat.
"Everyone settle in. Let a cop drive for this one," Rachel calls, getting into the driver seat as everyone piles in.
"All good," Yang says, taking the seat by Blake, who is in Richard's lap.
"Hey," Richard says to Yang as they were on watch, having stopped to rest for the night.
"Something on your mind? Maybe a certain kitty cat?" Yang teases while everyone sleeps inside the truck, which is surprisingly comfortable even to be pointed out by Herleva. "Or a certain skirted red-headed?" Yang keeps going, grinning all the while.
"Was wondering about you, and if you were al…no, that's not the right word," Richard says mostly to himself.
Yang hums and leans against the side of the vehicle. "Come on. Spit it out. We got all night anyway."
"I am worried about what happened to you," Richard says, finding no other way to say it.
Yang smiles as gently as she can. "Richard, I am fine. And so are the others. You can stop worrying about us this much."
"Doesn't mean I am not worried about you," Richard says sincerely.
Yang sighs and hangs her head. "And you will worry to no end even if we are back in our world and kicking grimm ass."
"Yes…" Richard says, trailing off.
"You got too close, haven't you?" Yang asks, smirking to him.
Richard groans and holds his face in his hands. "Dammit, all."
Yang smiles and pulls him up to her eye level. "You are too kind sometimes," Yang says before moving his hands down and kissing him.
Richard surprises her when he starts to kiss back a little harder than the few times she kissed him. He wraps his arms around her before he breaks the kiss and takes a deep breath. "Sorry," he apologizes and moves away. "I really shouldn't be doing this. Besides, you might head back home one day. And with your arm back no less so you get a double bonus out of it. I don't want you to have regrets," he painfully admits as he looks away, trying not to see any sign of her.
"That's for me to decide, isn't it?" Yang asks before picking him up and holding him close.
"Yang…" Richard starts as he tries to push her away out of her strong grip, but she just smiles at him while keeping him pinned. "You…you really shouldn't…please…" he begs now, starting to tear up as he fears what might happen to her and the rest of the girls, especially after what happened just a day ago with the goblins. He can't even get the image of the girls being raped like that out of his mind.
"Hey, you know me. I choose how I live my life. Or is this about you sleeping with my sister?" Yang asks bluntly.
Richard twitches, now trying to get away from her as he has a feared expression on his face.
"Wait…you don't know how we do relationships in our world, do you?" Yang asks, now a bit suspicious. Richard gives her no response and still tries to get out of her hold, basically confirming it. Yang sighs and loosens her grip to make her relax now. "Ease up. I am not going to hurt you. You see, in our world, as long as both sides are ok with it, they sleep together like you and Ruby. With the grimm, we don't have time to worry about the ceremony and stuff, as we never know when the last moment will come. So we enjoy it while we can," Yang explains to Richard, petting his head.
"Wait…what do you mean?" Richard asks, staying in pure shock.
"It means accept how I feel," Yang informs, putting his head onto her shoulder and starts to rub his back.
Richard stares out into the distance as he sees the cars and scores of people who tried to leave the area on the highway. But all the doors opened, and some vehicles covered with blood on the inside tells a different story than most would expect. And now they are driving on the rough ground beside the highway to buy them time, but also where to go for now. "Yang…are you sure about this? I don't want to hurt or push you into something."
"If I wasn't sure, would I have kissed you?" Yang asks, smiling.
Richard keeps staring towards the highway while becoming deep in thought. Though, he slowly grips Yang's side and buries his head into her shoulder.
"Let's park the car outside the town just in case," Ruby says as they near the town, which looks all blown to hell or at least rundown with how Rachel and Richard know these towns.
"Strangely enough…this looks like a regular ghost town. I say it's been abandoned already before the monsters came in," Rachel explains as she parks behind a large enough rock. "So watch your step. These buildings could come down at any moment," she warns the rest of them.
"I got a bad feeling about this place," Reese says, bringing out her weapon.
Richard groans as he steps out and grabs his rifle. "Not only monsters, but snakes, wasps, bees, and maybe wild dogs. Abandoned towns are a nest of them. Monsters may have added to that mix," he points out. "So if you see a large nest with bees and wasps flying around the home, don't go near it. They are very territorial."
"Something smells off," Herleva says, getting her sword out.
"You're the monster expert," Richard speaks up with the rest of them following the knight through the streets. "Something familiar, maybe."
"I can't place it," Herleva says as Blake feels her hair stand on ends for a bit.
"Some sort of canine," Blake says, switching to gun mode as well as they lock Evie inside the car.
Richard groans. "Please don't tell me wild dogs or rabies-infected ones. Or is it…" he stops as he thinks to maybe Herleva sensing the magical aspect of the air and Blake noticing a canine air and marks left behind. "Hellhound…?" he squeaks out.
"Here they come," Blake says, getting ready as her ears twitch. Her body flinches as if wanting to run to jump away and hide, but she grits her teeth and aims down an alleyway as everyone else takes up other directions.
Loud snarling rips through the air and hits their senses as a heavy stench and musk make them cover their noses. "Damn. It smells like something died, went to hell, and came back just to die again," Richard coughs before pinching his nose.
"You are not far off," Herleva groans before the two-headed beast runs around the corner of a building and charges at the knight. Herleva grunts and swings her sword across the air. The hellhound then falls and slides past her, cut in half. Two other dogs than land beside her in a heap, only having one head each on them as she seems to have gotten them when they were trying to sneak up on her. "So it is not just two heads," she notes to herself before readying her weapon as they all hear howls coming from all around them.
"Light them up," Ruby says as more started to charge from everywhere, and most of them start to shoot at the charging demon dogs.
Yang grunts as she punches one into the air before throwing another that makes the canine's head spin around with a loud crack. The body then goes flying into another one that is charging at her before stumbles and falls as it trips over its packmate. Then it flies into the air from a bad chance of jumping and correcting itself to end up being punched into the back by Yang, cracking its spine to send it flying away into a building with a splintering crash.
Blake ends up shooting anything that came close at her, usually hitting with either a bullseye to the head or a staggering shot that makes the hound trip for a second to land the shot to kill the beast. Her ears remain alert as it listens to all the gunfire, dust, and magic blasts coming from them all. The barks and howls of the hellhounds almost cover the noise, but she focuses on those that are approaching her to shoot them down before they can reach any part of her. At the rate they are going, they might win this round for once in this miserable mess.
'This is going good enough. But why do I feel there is way more to this pack than just small hellhounds. And if it's the alpha, we might have a better chance of taking that thing out first,' Richard thinks to himself as he keeps aiming and shooting. He then kicks away one getting too close before smacking it on the heads with his rifle and pulls the trigger. A sharp and fast shot escapes his barrel, disintegrating the monster to pieces.
"Oh, nice piece. Mind if I check it out sometime?" Reese asks, shooting another hellhound multiple times.
"You're asking this now?!" Richard demands, shooting past her at a dog trying to pounce on her from above.
"Why not?" Reese asks, laughing a bit.
Richard swings his rifle towards her and catches a two-headed hellhound by the jaws as it gnaws on the barrel. "Because we are under attack, these are demonic hellhounds, and they could have whoever you girls found. You think this is an excellent time to make jokes and laugh?" Richard scolds before hitting his knee into the dog, and it whines in pain as it falls to the floor in a crumpled heap. "And got big dicks. Don't forget that part," Richard adds on as he sees the dog trying to clutch itself pitifully before kicking it away into a building.
Reese points her guns at the retreating form before opening up on it, not letting it get too far. "So far, this is easier than dealing with beowolf grimm," Reese informs.
"Please never say that again," Richard requests groaning as he aims down his rifle again and fires a shot to hit two more dogs coming around a corner.
"Why should I?" Reese asks sarcastically.
A loud howl sounds out that rattles all of their bones before it turns into heavy growling from behind a sizable intact building. "Because it's bad luck," Richard sighs as an even larger hellhound step around the corner before it sees the group. Only, it has three heads that all bark at them. "A…cerberus?" Richard breathes out as the other hellhounds either turn and run or rush straight into the blade and bullets. "Suicide charge. Big mistake grouping up," Richard says, aiming before firing, and his rifle shows it's piercing power and shreds a straight hole through a line of them.
The rest of the hellhounds soon catch on what they are facing and start to separate, going off in separate directions of each other. Some even jump off old buildings and cars to pounce on the group. Yang catches one by its throat before an audible snap is heard. Weiss stabs her blade into the street, making a glyph appear around them before the outer ring sends a shock wave of force out, making all the hounds stagger in place. This gives a chance for Blake to whip her rope around and snag one of the hellhounds before pulling it towards her. She then ducks, and Yang punches it from above her head, sending the corpse into another hellhound to make it fall onto its back.
"Let's see how you react," Richard asks, aiming at the cerberus.
The cerberus barks and lowers its front half to the ground, all three sets of mouths bearing its teeth and frothing away. The rifle sparks and builds power along its entire body before Richard cries out as a powerful shot rips through the air. But the cerberus rolls over and lets the shot fly past it, hitting a broken fountain behind it. The explosion that blinds them all dies down to let them all see there is only a small crater left behind. The cerberus seems to give off some chuckling barks and growls as it turns back to everyone.
Herleva cries out as she suddenly appears behind it and stabs her blade into its back. The cerberus growls and tries to shake her off, but the sword is left deep in enough before she is thrown off and crashes through the roof of a building. "Thanks a lot," Richard says gratefully before shooting again, causing the cerberus to roll again but realizes too late he was aiming at the ground and gets bombarded in all three faces with debris. The cerberus whines and tries to wipe at its face before howling as Richard lets out another shot that screams across the air to blow a hole than where the left dog head was. It then rolls over, kicking its legs in pain and whining to no master.
Ruby has to admit to herself. This cerberus would not be a good minion to have. Too damn weak…but if another friend of hers is here, then maybe more hellhounds exist that are young enough to imprint on Ruby and whoever they have.
"Ruby, you mind finishing it?" Richard calls having to pull out his sword for another hellhound.
Ruby grins wickedly and uses her semblance to rush over. She then brings out her scythe and catches the canine's neck before firing off a heavy shot. The blade presses and then cleaves through the slimy skin and bones before Ruby lands and smiles to herself. She then watches as the other two heads roll past her to end with leaning against a wall with its tongue limping out of its mouth.
"Push now. Their numbers have dwindled greatly!" Weiss calls as she and Blake cover Rachel as she reloads her pistol.
Ruby jumps off one of the heads and flys by their view, slicing apart anything as she spins like crazy and sends limbs flying everywhere. Yang jumps into the crowd of hellhounds and starts to punch them away when they try to pounce on her. The rest of the group keeps firing where they could, as Richard's vision becomes hazy. Richard groans and stumbles in a step but quickly rights himself and fires off another shot.
As the explosions and metal hitting flesh starts to slow down and subside, loud panting is heard from the group. Richard groans again and leans against an old streetlamp. "What the hell? Do the hellhounds have something to cause this?"
"Looks more like mana exhaustion," Herleva notices as she walks up with her sword. "You need to rest up and let your energy recover, and that exhaustion should be gone."
"Come on you," Yang says, helping him along back to the car.
Richard nods, letting her help him and wrap an arm around her. "Thanks, Yang."
"Alright, while that happens, we should search for other monsters or the ones who own the scroll we got a signal from," Ruby says.
"And we start where?" Rachel asks tectonically before all the girls take out their scrolls. "How much power do you girls have?"
"Before we do that, shall we first check the building the cerberus came from?" Herleva asks.
"What? You think there would be food?" Reese jokes a little, smiling away.
"Victims," Herleva clarifies.
"Oh," Reese voices before pointing down the street. "I think it came from down that way."
"Could also be more," Blake says, really not liking this place.
"Then let's hurry," Rachel says as she starts to walk down the streets. She keeps her pistol at the ready as the others follow right behind her. Their steps are quick enough, but also quiet to not make it past the first round of houses.
Richard watches from the window as the girls head down the street before jumping in his seat as Evie climbs into his lap. "What are you doing?" he asks, trying not to appear bothered.
"Trying to get a better look," Evie says innocently while looking out the window.
Richard shakes his head before slowly wrapping an arm around her and pulls her close. Evie hums happily and wiggles her hips against his lap as she keeps watching out the window. "Then you better get comfortable. It's going to be a while."
