Ch9 You will be falling
Song recommendation: Offspring-Have you ever
No one was less prepared than Theodore. Despite being raised by a huntsman, his training was very limited growing up. Ms. Goodwitch had positioned them all on four launch pads. He was on the far left of the order with the girl to the right, followed by the blond boy, with Fenrir taking last place. His palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy. The trees below them acted as a canopy for a pit trap of monsters, and they were about to be thrown in.
"Oi mate. You alright?" The girl beside him had asked.
"Um, yeah. Just thinking about a landing strategy."
"I wouldn't worry about it much. Falling isn't the thing you're gonna die from."
"Yeah, it's everything else down there that we have to worry about."
Fenrir looked over at Theodore as the pad sprung. He extended his swords in a backwards grip. Spreading his arms and pointing the tips to his shoulder blades, he glided down into the forest below. He landed in a slower glide as he neared the ground, like pulling a parachute. A Beowolf was walking by when the fallen leaves elevated before it. The two looked at each other for a minute, not a hint of animosity between them. Fenrir figured they would have cameras hidden all around the wildwood, so he might as well put on a show. He fired an arrow at the beast, the tip piercing an eyeball as it slumped to the ground. He started to the path behind him, hoping to meet up with his companion, and thinking of other acts to perform.
The knighted boy was next. Springing from the cliff, he cut through the canopy of branches below him, and swung across them with his axe, rolling forward in a golden ball shield, before sprinting into the thicket in front of him. The girl pulled out her pistols and put her left leg behind her, right knee forward. She was armed and ready for this fight.
"Thing about landing strategies is that you don't need to look cool or know what you're doing. So long as you can land you can stand." She winked at him before shooting her guns as the pad boosted her into the sky. She flipped till she was looking at the ground below her and shot down into a crash down under. Unfortunately for her, there was a pack of Grimm that surrounded her.
"Bollocks."
Theo was the last to stand on the cliff. The turning clicks of the square under his feet sounded like a rocket countdown in his head. He took deep breaths and ran his thumb on the heatshield of his gauntlet. He had an idea on how to land, just not a full plan. He was going to need to improvise, and fast. The clicking stopped and he jumped in surprise, yet he remained on the cliff.
"Oh good. Looks like I'm too heavy for this thing!"
He screamed that last word out as he had stepped off the device. It sprang under one foot, and he was sent tumbling to the wood at the edge of the plateau. Branches broke most of his fall in painful smacks and breaks. He extended his wrist knives and drove them in the nearest trunk her could reach. Sliding down it in a slow screech at the bottom. He opened his eyes and released a sigh of relief as he removed himself from the tree. But his troubles had only begun.
An ursa as large as a minivan growled at him from a few feet away. It stared at him with burning eyes, fangs bared in a snarl. Theo raised his hands in a fighting position, Right fist in front of the other. The beast barreled toward him, yet he stood his ground. As the creature neared him in preparation for a ram, he quickly sidestepped the monster and punched it in the head with full force, right behind its skull plate, popping his claws on impact. It flopped on its belly, black smoke rising from the corpse. Theo breathed out his tension, before walking off. The sound of gunfire in the distance, urged him into a run.
He didn't have to run far. The girl leaped out from the brush with a trail of Beowolves behind her. She had shot most of the horde, but she pulled the triggers of empty guns as the last wolf rushed her. The creature swung its long claws at her, and she rolled out of the way to its left, Theodore rammed the Beowolf and body slammed it to the ground, mounting and punching away at the beast until smoke started to rise from its bashed skull. He rose and helped her to her feet.
"Thanks for the save. Never got to properly introduce myself, Names Barbara Boomer, pleasure to meet you Mr."
"Arkades. Theodore Arkades. And anytime." They set off for the woods to find their other new teammates.
Meanwhile, Fenrir raced through the Emerald Forest, giving the Grimm a wide berth. He passed a clearing where the blond from earlier had slain a group of Grimm. He cut an arm off a Beowolf with the axe, putting the blade against the neck and transforming it back to its sword form as he kneeled. The feathered knives that made up the blade decapitated the adversary on it's decent down as it closed to create the guard. A Boarbatusk spun towards him, and as Fenrir neared the distracted man, he forced the air from under the pig to launch upwards. Fenrir cut through its belly in a vertical slice. The armored lad rose to meet him.
"Good show, my friend. Let us join forces and join our comrades."
"Sound like a plan, just make sure you can keep up." He glided across the earth as his new acquaintance chased behind him.
