Chapter 5 - Let's talk Landing Strategy
A bird was flying peacefully through the sky, but Ruby came by and completely obliterated it.
"Birdy, no!" Ruby screamed as she soared through the sky.
She shot the sniper form of her scythe to slow herself down and then used the scythe itself to spin herself on a tree branch. Weiss was gracefully gliding through the air. She was still at the tops of the trees when she made a glyph appear to hop off of it. Ren used the blade on of his guns to swirl around a tree and land calmly. He proceeded to wipe himself off as he heard Yang up above. She flew through the air as she used her gauntlets to give her more lift. As Yang soared through the treetops she was happier than ever to have fun as she was preparing to land. She kicked off two trees and rolled on the ground, then kept moving
"Nailed it." She said as she ran from her landing point.
Pyrrha was flying through the air and using her shield to break through the trees that were in her way. As she landed on the branch of one, she turned her weapon for the short sword to its rifle form. She aimed and looked around. She found Jaune falling through the sky down into the forest. She turned her weapon into its spear for and made sure her accuracy was just right. She launched it in the direction Jaune was falling. After a few seconds he was tacked to a tree in the forest.
"Thank you!" He shouted.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha shouted back and waved, but she knew he couldn't see her.
As for Sai, he was super chilled as he was just lazy boying through the air. He then got bored of going through the air that and decided to actually land. He used his chains to hook onto on of the tree branches and back flipped to the ground, landing perfectly. Serena elegant jumped from treetop to treetop, using her fans to light spin through the air. She got the tree branches and hooked her legs onto one of them. Serena then descended elegantly used her fans to create a slight torrent of air to have herself land gently on the ground.
"Now, where's Selene? I wanna team with her." Serena said as she made her way through the forest.
Selene was still in the air and was heading for the trees. As she got to the trees, she kicked the branches that were in her way. She jumped off a few branches and landed on the ground like a ballerina./p
"Okay, now I'm in the forest by myself, but that's okay. I can easily defend myself." Selene said to herself as she looked around holding her bladed tonfa in a battle ready manner.
"Nice landing, Selene." Serena, said from a tree.
Selene looked up to see the not much older girl jump from the tree and land in front of her. She then hugged Selene happily.
"Serena, not out here." Selene said, getting embarrassed.
"Aw, why not?" Serena asked.
"We aren't alone, and we can't do what we want out here. We are going to be evaluated for what we do, so we have to take this seriously." Selene explained.
"Alright, alright." Serena said as both of them started walking.
As for me, I had been jumping from tree branch to tree branch, making my way down. I swung from tree branches and kicked off of tree trunks. There were two branches in my way, one high, one low. I jumped toward them and dove through them and front flipped to the ground, landing perfectly. I looked up to the sky to see fireballs exploding in the air. I knew who it was.
"I can see Sai landed already. And from where those fireballs are coming from, I wouldn't hazard to guess that he's somewhere east in the forest." I said as I started walking.
Ruby had finally landed and there was only one thing going through her mind.
"(Gotta find Yang. Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find...)" She repeated in her head until.
"Yang!" She yelled, completing the sentence she started in her head. "Yang!"
As she was running through the forest she was only concentrated on finding her sister.
"(This is bad. This is really bad. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first? There's always Jaune. He's nice. He's funny, but I don't think he's very good in a fight. Oh, what about Blake? So mysterious, so calm, plus she likes books. Then again, I don't think I can hold a conversation with her. Okay, who else do I know at this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, and...)" She continued on in her mind as she kept running through the forest.
She then started stopping herself to avoid running into a certain girl. That certain girl was Weiss Schnee. They both looked at each other as if they were thinking of something. Ruby smiled slightly, but then Weiss turned and took her leave.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" Ruby asked as she somewhat went after her, but she stopped short, disappointed as the first person she made eye contact with was walking away. (To be honest, I saw that coming when I saw the third episode. I have watched all of RWBY, which in case, yes, both Volumes.) "We're supposed to be teammates..." Ruby said quietly, kicking a little dirt as Weiss walked away.
Weiss made her way through the forest, grunting and moving greenery out of her way. She then locked her gaze to Jaune, who was trying to get himself down from the tree he was tacked to by Pyrrha's spear. He caught Weiss in his sights and nervously waved at her. She turned and walked back in Ruby's direction. Jaune sank his head in depression.
"By no means does this make us friends." Weiss said, grabbing Ruby's hood and dragging her along.
"You came back!" Ruby shouted gleefully as she was pumping her fists in the air.
Weiss and Ruby started disappearing into the forest to Jaune's misfortune.
"Wait! Come back! Who's gonna get me down from here?!" Jaune said as he had given up trying to get himself down.
"Jaune?" Ms. Pyrrha Nikos called. "Do you have any spots left on your team?" She asked looking up at the blonde haired boy
"Very funny." He said, folding his arms across his chest and looking away from her.
Jaune then turned his head back to Pyrrha and smiled. She smiled as she looked at him.
*Back to me*
I was making my way to my friend, but then I heard some noises that weren't exactly close, but they weren't exactly distant either. I decided to ignore it for the time being and then I heard...
"~I believe I can fly~!" I heard a familiar voice sing. Looking up, I saw Sai fly over me. I heard rustling in some trees not to far away, meaning he landed in the trees.
"So, he launched himself back into the air just to do that? That demon has some real issues .Oh well, wish granted." I said, walking towards where he landed. I got there just as he jumped out of the tree. "Do you always sing when you get sent flying like that?" I asked.
"I was a little caught up in the moment." He admitted."Of course." I said, rolling my eyes, but then looking at him. "Anyway, we'd better keep moving before we run into-" I started, but then we heard a loud, monstrous roar close by. "Trouble." I said.
"You know, This may be a bad idea, but let's go check it out. I've fought some of these monsters before and that doesn't sound like them." Sai suggested, slowly and cautiously walking into the bushes ahead.
"If I wind up regretting this, so will you." I warned him before following him.
For once, I have to say Sai was right. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Roared a student who could pass for a monster, but wasn't. He was clearly a faunus: a person with animal parts. But in this case, he looked more like an animal. He was a full foot taller than me and Sai, had thick, green, scaly skin, giant muscles, razor-sharp teeth and a huge tail that almost looked like a log. He was clearly a crocodile faunus. He was dressed in torn black jeans and a biker jacket, his hands and feet were covered by clawed gauntlets and greaves, his tail also had a spiked metal coat over it and his teeth were even covered by metal. But currently, the most important thing about this guy was, he was protecting another student who was clearly injured from a huge group of monsters, some looking like really big wolves and others looking like bears. What they all had in common was they were all black except for some white plates on their back and what looked like white and red masks for their faces.
"Alright, I admit it Sai, you were right." I said, cringing as I said it.
"It happens every so often. Okay, let's go help him out!" He said, about to go, but I stopped him.
"Wait. I wanna see what this guy can do." I said.
Sure enough, the guy didn't disappoint. The wolf monster's main method of attack was either rushing in or jumping at him. Either one got them smacked and sent flying face-first into the trees. One of the bear monsters then rushed forward and tried to slash at him with its front paws, but he caught them both, took a bite out of its right shoulder and lifted up his right foot, slashing the monster from its hip all the way down its left leg. He then managed to push it back a bit, pulled back his left fist and crushed its head with one punch, picking up its body and throwing it into the rapidly decreasing crowd of monsters. "I won't let you hurt her!" He roared.
I then looked at the girl. She was laying on the ground on her left side, holding her upper body off the ground and I could tell from here that her right leg was broken. She was wearing heeled boots, dark blue leather pants with knee pads, torn just below the knee, fingerless gloves like mine and a small leather vest that revealed her mid-riff. She had long, dark red hair and her weapon appeared to be a rather large pistol with a long scythe blade on it. She shot at the monsters where she could, managing to pick off a few of them, but the big guy was still doing most the work.
There were now only 4 monsters left. 3 of the beowolves and a REALLY big ursa, even bigger than him. The 3 wolf monsters ran in first all together and jumped at them, but the big guy spun, slamming his tail into them and sending them into a tree, breaking them in half when they hit it. The bear monster had run in as the guy had spun, but he wound up facing the same way as he started, looking at the giant monster and clasping his hands together, his gauntlets moving and combining into a huge cannon as he did so, finishing just when the monster was within arm's reach, then he stuffed the cannon into the monster's roaring mouth. "Surprise, bitch!" He shouted. Boom.
"Wow... Head go bye-bye." Sai said in minor shock and disbelief.
"Along with the entire upper half of its body." I agreed in surprise, nodding slightly, before coming back to my senses. "Come on, let's help them." I said, running in.
"Oh, right!" Sai said, snapping out of it as well and rushing in.
"I'm fine. But she is hurt." The big guy said, turning towards the girl.
"I'll be fine." She said, revealing she had a Russian accent (Sai likes the Russian accent, sue him), trying to stand, but instantly started to fall back until Sai caught her from behind.
"Really?" He asked. She glared at him, but he just smirked. "Nevermind. You'll be fine in just a second." He said, setting her back on the ground. He held his hands near the leg where it was broken and red energy came from his hands. Suddenly, green energy formed around her leg for some odd reason and I could visibly see the broken parts moving back into placing and completely healing.
"That's amazing, thank you." She said.
"No problem. We should introduce ourselves. I'm Sai." He said.
"Damion Castro." I introduced myself.
"Natalia Kalsinov." The girl said.
"I am Kraken Crushjaw." The big guy introduced himself.
"So, what happened here?" I asked.
"I messed up my landing and broke my leg against a tree. I tried to go on my own for a little, but then I was attacked by the Grimm. But then Kraken came and saved me." She said, smiling to him.
"Maybe we should continue together." I suggested.
"Good idea. The more the merrier. Besides there's strength in numbers." Sai agreed, then leaned in towards me. "And in that guy." He whispered, obviously referring to Kraken.
"I heard that. Crocodiles have great hearing. All of our senses are powerful." He explained.
"Oh... Sorry." Sai said, shrugging, to which I rolled my eyes.
We wandered around for what felt like an hour before Sai finally broke the silence. "Do I really have to be the asshole who says we're lost?" He asked.
"Yeah. Too bad there aren't any clear guidelines." I agreed.
Suddenly, Kraken began to smell the air. "I smell gunpowder and hairspray." He said, following the smell. He lead us to a clearing and picked up a few strands of blonde hair.
"Yang!" I say worriedly.
"Girlfriend?" Natalia asked Sai.
"Something like that." He said in an "I guess" tone.
"She is fine. I smell no blood. I can follow the scent. Maybe she made it to the ruins already." Kraken suggests.
"Good idea. Let's go." I said, closely following Kraken as he lead the way.
*Back with Weiss and Ruby*
"What's the hurry?" Ruby asked.
"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow." Weiss said, walking through the forest, with Ruby behind her. "I swear if I get a bad grade because of-" Weiss started.
Ruby then zoomed in front of her and was like a cat pawing at its new owner.
"What the?" Weiss said in surprise.
"I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me." Ruby said happily.
"When did you-" Weiss started.
"Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters." Ruby said.
Weiss looked unimpressed.
"You're about to see a whole different side of me today Weiss." Ruby said, wrapping her arm around her. "And when it's all over, you're going to be like "Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool. And I wanna be her friend." Ruby told Weiss before she ran off.
Weiss swiped at the rose peddles that Ruby had left behind. She was still unimpressed.
"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Weiss said as she heard noise.
As she heard the noise, Weiss began to get cautious.
"Ruby?" She said, getting more cautious. "Ruby?" Weiss said again.
She then came to realize that the monsters of Grimm surrounded her. A beowolf came out from the bushes.
"Ruby!" She shouted.
The monster roared loudly at her.
Sai, Kraken, Natalia, and I heard the loud roar, but continued toward the temple. As for Serena and Selene, they were lost in the Emerald Forest. As they were walking through the forest and trying to find the temple, they heard rustling coming from the nearby bushes and readied their weapons.
"Who's there?!" Selene and Serena asked at the same time.
"Wait, don't attack! We're fellow students!" A girl said as the two who made the noise stepped out to reveal themselves.
The first girl was 5'-9" in tight black leather pants, a purple tube top, and tough looking stilettos. She also had waist length purple hair, red eyes, and carried a naginata, with a ballistic knife launcher on the end, which fits, as she wore a belt lined with ballistic knives. And one important detail, this girl was a faunus, having wolf ears and tail. She was the one that spoke in their defense.
The next one was also a girl. She was around Serena's height, which is 5'-4" in an all dark blue outfit. It consisted of combat boots, glossy leggings, tight rubber pants, a belt across her upper body, which contained three kunai, and fingerless gloves. She also wore a kabuto, which is a helmet that samurai wore back in the Edo period of Japan. She had orange eyes that matched the color of Nora's hair and had long silver hair like that of the memory deity Sephiroth. Her weapon being a buster sword and not only was it large in height and width, just like the on Cloud has. Directly in the middle of the blade was a minigun.
"H-Hello." The second girl said shyly.
"Don't worry, she's shy at first, but she opens up pretty quickly." The first girl said dismissively. "My name is Umbra Lupis."
"I'm Naomi Azashi." She said less shyly than before, bowing her head to both Selene and Serena.
"I'm Selene Castro." Selene said pridefully.
"I'm Serena Blade." Serena said smiling.
"Do you need help getting to the temple?" Umbra asked.
"Yeah, we kinda got lost trying to find our way to it." Serena confessed.
"Don't worry, when we were shot off we saw exactly where we'd have to go." Naomi said.
"Awesome, then you and Umbra should lead the way." Selene said.
"Right." Umbra said, leading the group in the direction of the temple.
Right now, Sai, Kraken, Natalia, and I as well as out sisters and their two new friends were trying to get to the temple, but we knew that we'd encounter creatures of Grimm. We were more than capable of handling them.