'Well, I guess this is it.'
If his younger self could see him right now he'd probably have been baffled by what he was doing or maybe questioning his own sanity not that he could blame him, he honestly still couldn't belive ti himself, leaving his home, his life and family behind to go on some great journey straight out of a fantasy novel because the spirit of an ancient wizard that had was apparently living inside his head told him to.
If that didn't sound crazy then he didn't know what did.
"Come now, we've already established you are anything but insane." The voice, Ozpin said to him once more.
"I think a lot of people would disagree." Oscar replied
"Not the ones we're looking for." Ozpin reassured the young man, Oscar hummed in response his thoughts drifting back to the home he'd left behind, he hadn't exactly told his aunt he was planning on leaving, sure he'd left a note behind but... he just hoped she wouldn't worry too much about him.
"I'm sorry." Ozpin said pulling oscar back to reality "I know what you did wasn't easy, but I assure you it was for the best."
"I guess" Oscar muttered, glancing down at his feet before looking up into the sky above storm clouds rolling in over the horizon. "You know it's weird." Oscar quickened his pace down the trail, the last thing he needed right now was to be caught out in the rain." Everything you told me is crazy, me leaving home and heading to the city is even crazier but, now that I'm doing it, it all just seems like the right thing" Oscar chuckled to himself "Or maybe I really am crazy."
"Perhaps we all are in some regard." Some of the allies he'd inducted into his brotherhood over his many lifetimes had certainly been eccentric, to say the least. "In any case, we should press on before that storm has a chance of catching up to us, we've kept Qrow waiting long enough as is."
He still didn't know who that was but wasn't going to argue. "Ok" Oscar replied
/
You know... hindsight was twenty-twenty.
"Ugh!" Yang skidded back on her heels leaving a small rut in the grassy plains, they'd been at this for a few hours now the afternoon sun beating down on them from above. When Lilly made the offer to help train her she'd jumped at the chance, some extra training on top of the regime her dad had started her out on would only help her reach her little sister and the others all the sooner... she just hadn't expected the divide between them to be so... you know.
"Come on!" Her sparring partner slash teacher called out to her snapping Yang back to reality. "Is that all you've got for me today?" Lilly leapt towards the blond brawler, twisting her body midair the yellow ranger unleashed a flying bicycle kick.
Bringing her robotic arm up Yang whether Lilly's kicks, each blow adding more and more to the fire building up inside her, and on the last blow, Yang side stepped Lilly's kick and drove an aura fueled fist into her gut, launching the yellow ranger back into the air.
Just as Lilly touched back down, Yang surged forward and quickly closed the distance between them, unleashing three quick jabs towards lily, the yellow ranger pushed the first two aside and twirled under the third sweeping the blond's legs out from under her. Landing with a huff, Yang's arms immediately shot up catching an axe kick that would have likely caved a normal person head in, the force behind the blow sending a tremor through her body.
Gritting her teeth Yang drew on the last dregs of power she had stored inside her to force Lilly's leg up knocking the Yellow Jungle Fury ranger off-balance. Rolling back Yang launched herself up off her hands delivering an aura fueled double kick to Lilly's chest, her fellow blond gasped in pain and skidded back a few feet on her heels.
Twisting her body mid-air yang landed on her feet in a crouch, pushing her aura into her legs she launched herself towards Lilly, shifting her stance slightly Lilly prepared herself for the oncoming barrage, as Yang reeled her fist back, hair lit aflame. "Hragh!" Yang roared, and Lilly's eyes widened as the phantom image of a snarling beast flashed in front of Yangs face, its fangs bared and fire pulsing in its maw, the dragon roared with her.
Was that...?
A yellow aura suddenly engulfed Lilly's body flooding her with raw power, the world around her slowing to a crawl. Darting forward with unnatural speed she caught yangs wrist, her free hand latching onto the collar of Yangs tank top, without missing a beat Lilly twisted her hips and using Yangs sudden momentum against her slammed the younger woman into the ground, the impact forming a small crater beneath her, Yangs aura flickered and sparked around her.
Lilly released Yang's arm letting them drop back down at her sides, panting for breath, the blond brawler slapped the ground beside her in defeat. "Yeah, I think that's enough for now." Stepping around her pupil Lilly offered Yang a hand, one that the younger blond graciously accepted and pulled herself to her feet with.
" So... how'd I do?" Yang asked rubbing the back of her neck with a small groan as they walked back over to the porch.
"You're defiantly better than you used to be." Lilly replied unscrewing her water bottle she took a few long gulps, the last few seconds of their spar replaying over and over again inside her mind, more importantly, the moment the image of the spectral beast manifested in front of her pupil. She wasn't about to jump to conclusions just yet, but if she was right well... it would be ironic, to say the least given her name. Pushing those thoughts aside Lilly shifted back into her role as an instructor. "But you're still relying too heavily on your semblance, I saw you take a lot of blows there you could have dogged or countered pretty easily."
"Seriously?" Yang raised an eyebrow "I'm just using my semblence, I mean even you used your powers in that fight, what's the difference?" Yang took a seat on the front step of the porch, glancing down at her prosthetic she gave the metallic limb a once over, the thing was supposed to be able to stand up against a beating from a goliath but that didn't mean she wanted to push it that far.
"Yes I did use my powers, but I'm not saying using them in battle is a problem." Lilly explained, "It's relying on it in every fight, that's the issue." Lily sat down on the step above Yang. "You should know raw power alone doesn't mean squat in a real fight, you've gotta be smart and stay on your toes, what if you put everything you have in one big hit and that fails? Not only is that time you spent tanking blows wasted, but all the energy you built up as well, and on top of that now you've made yourself an easy target." Lilly Explained.
There were more than a few rangers in their early days who relied more on raw power, rather than any actual combat skill, sometimes it was all too easy to let the power, the rush of it all go to your head, to see yourselves as invincible. "Your goal shouldn't be to take hit after hit, and drag a fight out just so you can pull off some massive one-hit finisher." Lilly went on. "Your aim should be to finish that fight as decisively as possible, that way you're ready and able to keep going if they have some back-up."
She and her team had been knocked on their butts by Dai Shi's goons more than enough times to have that lesson engrained in the back of their minds. In battle, you had to be able to adapt on the fly, if something wasn't working you didn't just keep up the same old song and dance number, you change things up and tried going at the problem from a new angle.
"Ugh, you sound like my dad." Yang groaned, they'd had the same conversation when she'd started out her regime again.
"Good" Lilly playfully swatted Yang across the back of the head. "That should tell you we're both onto something."
"Fine, fine I get it, just watch the hair alright." Yang said shaking her fist at the yellow ranger, who raised her arms up in mock surrender before the two burst into laughter
"Okay, okay. No touching the hair message received." Lilly glanced back towards the forest. "How have things been at home, you mentioned you'd started training with Tai-Yang a little earlier" Her voice grew stern "You better not be overexerting yourself by coming out here." Their training was supposed to be tuff but manageable given her current regime with her father, if Yang was pushing herself beyond that it would only do more harm then good.
"No, don't worry about it I'm good." Yang waved her off, despite popular belief she wasn't that bone-headed. If she wasn't able to handle this, she'd have said something already.
"Hmm" Lilly hummed turning her gaze upwards towards the afternoon sky. "We've still got a few kinks to work out, but if you keep at it like you are now, you'll be ready by the time it comes for us to head back out on the road." Lily took another sip from her water bottle "Speaking of which, I noticed your boyfriend isn't out here with you today, something I should know?"
"Nah" Yang waved her off "Dad just asked him to lend a hand taking care of some Grimm that's popped up near town, he's fine."
Lilly clicked her tongue, and shook her head in what she could only assume was pitty "What?"
"When I was at your house I got the distinct feeling your dad isn't all that fond of Koan." Lilly explained, during the time she'd talked to him, Tai seemed like a genuinely easy-going guy, and yet when they'd gone inside the house and he'd laid eyes on the blond shapeshifted and his daughter together, his mood defiantly took a sudden shift, if the passive aggressiveness she'd felt off him that day was anything to go by.
"You were there for like ten minutes." Yang pointed out.
"True." Lilly admitted. "But during that time, and the others between now can you say he hasn't seemed a little bit hostile towards him." Yang opened her mouth to retort, but no words came... okay yeah, her dad might have still been angry about Koans involvement in Ruby running away, hell she'd given him a good earful herself when she'd found out. But it'd been months since that happened, enough time for her dad's temper to cool and move past it all.
But the more she thought about it the more she began to notice the little things, the disapproving looks, his chipped tone when they talked and the passive-aggressiveness he'd shown around the blond shapeshifter.
Did her dad hate her boyfriend?... And had she unwittingly left the two of them together... while they went out into the wood... to hunt Grimm. "You don't think he's..." Yang trailed off a hint of worry in her tone.
"Using the time your away, to put him through the wringer" Lilly finished a thoughtful look passed over her for a few minutes before she gave her reply. "I doubt it, Tai probably just had something he needed a spare set of hands with." While Tai-Yang seemed like a rather doting father, she doubted he'd go that far. "Although it is possible our resident shapeshifter is being forced to whether the dreaded, stern fatherly disapproval while he's working." Lilly said waving her hand out dramatically.
"Hmm" Yang nodded slowly and took another sip from her water bottle, she knew Lilly was probably right but that didn't help calm the bad feeling churning in her gut. Reaching into one of the pockets on her belt she pulled out her scroll "Maybe I should call anyway?" Yang muttered as she skimmed through the contact list, her eyes hovering over Koan and her father's numbers.
Shaking her head slightly, she collapsed her scroll back into its compact form, who was she kidding they were both adults, her dad always went on and on about her solving her issues without resorting to her fists, and she had faith that her old man practiced what he preached.
/
Ducking under a swipe from the Ursa Major, Tai delivered three swift jabs to the creatures of Grimm's shoulder and upper tricep, the limb flopping lifelessly to the side while its owner roared in anger, throwing itself forward the Ursa attempted to crush the huntsmen beneath its functional paw, Tai knocked the limb aside and delivered a swift aura fueled uppercut knocking the Ursa head back with a sickening snap, shards of its bone-white mask and drops of black ichor raining down on the cave floor around him.
The Ursa toppled back like a falling tree and landed with a mighty thud, a cloud of black ash already flowing off its body and into the air. Tai coughed into his fist while wafting the cloud away with his free hand, before glancing around the cavern at his handy work, nodding to himself he turned back and started making his way back through the winding tunnels leading out of the dark cavern.
A low snarl echoed down from the tunnel ahead, Tai grimaced and started jogging towards the light ahead... the kid had one job. Stepping out into the light of the afternoon sun, Tai found the cave entrance surrounded by the disintegrating bodies of six Beowolves, the seventh lay a few feet ahead of him beneath an all too familiar black and red tiger-like being, its jaws locked firmly around the Grimms throat and tightening by the look of it, Tai winced as the kid twisted his head to the side a low crunch echoing through the surrounding valley.
The Grimms body went limp its head flopping back against the dirt as Koan released it from his Jaws, looking back over his shoulder at the blond dragon Koan gave a low huff, suddenly the Panuncians form was consumed by a bright crimson light, the beast that had torn through the creatures of Grimm was replaced by the young man who'd been staying with them, over the last few months.
Tai shook his head, the sudden change between man and beast the kid could pull off always threw him for a loop, how Yang had grown so used to the sight he would never know. "Caught a few stragglers trying to make a run for it." Koan said gesturing towards the fallen Grimm as he approached the old dragon. "We all good in there?" He asked
"Yeah, jobs done." Tai replied patting the young man on the shoulder as he passed "Come on, we're still a little outside of the CCT's range, once we get closer to town we'll be able to check-in with Signal."
"Cool." Koan replied, glancing back over his shoulder at the Grimm den as he and Tai-Yang made their way back through the forest, he could have sworn there hadn't been any signs of a Grimm nest here the last time he was out on patrol. Koan furrowed his brow, the more time he spent out here hunting them the more he'd come to draw parallels between the Grimm and cockroaches, just when you thought you were done with them the bastards just popped right back up again.
"So..." Tai-Yang said glancing back over his shoulder at the young man following behind him. "You mind telling me where you and Yang have been sneaking off to over the last couple of days." Yang had been progressing a lot faster in her training, a lot more than he'd expected her to be able to in the time since they'd started training again. "And yeah I've noticed how you've both been sneaking off in the afternoons and coming back hours later looking like you just wrestled an Ursa."
He wasn't a fool, he knew when his daughter was hiding something from him and judging by the bruises she'd been trying to hide from him he was starting to get an idea of what was going on. And the suddenly nervous look the young man was giving him all but confirmed he was onto something.
"Ohh...uhh, whatever you think we've been up too I swear you've got the wrong idea" Not that he wouldn't have been against it, quite the opposite actually, I mean beautiful didn't even begin to describe Yang, she was kind, confidence and had a great sense of humour to boot, any guy would have been lucky to end up with her.
But their relationship had only just started to pick up and neither of them wanted to rush things and end up doing something they'd regret down the line. "Yang and I are taking things slow so you don't have to worry about-"
"You say that now, but you've still been taking her out on those patrols you've been doing around the island, haven't you?" Tai narrowed his eyes at the young shapeshifter disapprovingly. "You know she's still getting back into the swing of things, putting her up against the Grimm when she's not back at her full strength, is just asking for trouble."
Koan blinked once, then twice before his eyes widened in realisation 'Ohh, that's what he meant' Coughing into his fist the blond shapeshifter quickly recomposed himself. "No, no, no." Koan waved off "I haven't been having her fight Grimm, we've just been working out the kinks with some extra spars here and there, that all." Koan sighed, it was the closest to the truth he could get without revealing Lilly's involvement "She just wants to get better, so she can go find Ruby, that's all."
"And who's fault is that?" Tai-Yang muttered under his breath.
Koan caught it all the same and slowly nodded along with the elder dragon. "Mine." He replied, he didn't have a lot of memories left about his own parents, but he hoped they were at least somewhere up there with Tai-Yang, his first priority was always what was best for his girls, he loved them and would probably fight to his last breath to keep them from harm. "I'm sorry I put you through that, I should have tried talking her out of it, but she just seemed so sure of what she was doing I-"
"Heh, I bet she did." Tai-Yang chuckled to himself, shaking his head in mirth the elder dragon glanced up towards the sky with a solemn smile 'She always did take more after you, huh Sum.' Sighing Tai glanced back at the young man following behind, he'd been hard on the kid since that day, horrible as it was to admit if Yang hadn't needed him around during that time he'd probably have kicked the kid out on his ass.
Looking back on it now, he was glad he didn't. Not only was the thought of his Sunny little Dragon hating him for it like a shot through the heart, but he doubted Yang would have opened up as quickly as she had over the last few months without him, not to say there weren't any ups and downs, but having him around defiantly kept Yangs spirits up... Still.
Tai-Yang paused at the foot of the trail "I can't blame you for Ruby running off like that." He turned back to Koan. "I also can't forgive you for hiding it as long as you did." Tai stepped forward placing a hand on the young man's shoulder "But... I'm grateful for all that you've done for Yang up till now, I know I come off as a little over-protective, but my girls mean the world to me." Tai-Yang tightened his grip on Koans shoulder. "So I need you to promise me something"
Koan nodded back.
"If you and Yang are serious about going after Ruby you have to promise me something." The same promise he'd made to someone very important to him a long time ago, locking eyes with the young man he watched Koan meet his scrutinizing gaze head-on. "I want you to swear to me right now, that while you're out there with her and once you find Ruby, that you'll keep my girls safe."
"I can do tha-"
"Say it like you mean it." Tai-Yang demanded.
Koan straightened up. "I swear."
Tai-Yang stared into Koans eyes for a few moments, searching for any sign he was lying or worse, wasn't taking this seriously. He found none of that, instead, there was a fire burning in his eyes, a conviction he'd hadn't seen in someone his age before, he knew right then and there, the young man in front of him would keep his word.
"Good." Tai-Yang replied, turning back towards the trail he waved for the blond shapeshifter to follow. "Come on, we still got some ground to cover."
/
"Damn it" Adam cursed under his breath as he took in the sight of the ruined town around him, the villages outer walls had all but collapsed in on themselves with the interior having hardly faired any better, half the buildings were little more than burned-out husks with those spared from the flames looking less than structurally sound and that was him being generous, still he couldn't give up on the hope they might find something that could help him.
Pausing to adjust her grip on Qrows stretcher Ruby looked towards Pyrrha hopefully. "Do any of these places look like an infirmary?" Ruby asked, her silver eyes scanning over the decimated street in search of anything that looked remotely like the remnants of a pharmacy or maybe even an infirmary if they were lucky.
"I don't know" Pyrrha replied, even she could barely tell the buildings apart most of the signs or marking they once bore had either rotted away or served as fuel for the flames that consumed half the village. Never the less they couldn't afford to give up "Let's keep looking further in, if they had an infirmary, it's likely they kept it near the centre of the village."
Ruby nodded along slowly before glancing back over her shoulder at the black ranger "How is he?" She asked.
Adam glanced down at Qrow his face scrunched up in worry, whatever he was hallucinating about earlier seemed to have passed and he'd slipped back into unconsciousness, though judging how his face would twitch and scrunch up in alarm every few seconds, whatever was going on inside his head right now was anything but peaceful. "He passed out again, but he's breathing."
Rubys frown grew, glancing off to the side she noticed an old rusted bicycle big enough for someone half her age, half-buried under the ruins of a house. "I'm starting to see why Ren didn't want to come here." She said.
"Hey" Adam spoke up "We'll find something." They couldn't give in to despair, not now.
"It looks like the town square is up ahead." Pyrrha called back to them, true to her word at the end of the street, sat what they assumed judging by the size of the building compared to the other homes was the town hall, the buildings around it defiantly looked to be in better condition than the ones nearest the outer walls.
"We should find somewhere for Qrow to rest then have a look around." Adam advised. If the Psycho Rangers had resumed their pursuit, they didn't need Qrow being caught in the crossfire of the ensuing battle.
"Pyrrha can you run ahead?" Ruby asked
Pyrrha looked back at them in concern "Are you sure?" she asked
"If anything was going to attack us, it would have done it by now." Adam assured her, any Grimm in the area that might have been attracted to them would have already made a move, so it was safe to say they were fine for the time being. "Either way, the sooner we can get Qrow under some cover the better."
"Alright." Pyrrha nodded, collapsing her shield and holstering her weapon across her back Pyrrha jogged off down the street, hopping over a fallen roof beam she closed in on the interior wall dividing the lower residential area from the upper section of the village. Approaching the gate Pyrrha drew Miló off her back and hugged the wall.
Leaning around the opening she shouldered her rifle and began scanning the inner courtyard and buildings surrounding the town hall, with no Grimm insight she edged through the gate, her head moving on a swivel, a gentle breeze wafted through the courtyard blowing her hair out behind her as she approached one of the nearest buildings, the front door had been broken off its hinges, the claw marks surrounding the frame leaving little to wonder about the one responsible, those that hadn't been able to escape the village had likely fled inwards, inadvertently boxing themselves in.
Shaking her head she stepped away from the opening and moved onto their neighbours, she took one look at the collapsed roof before scratching that one off the list as well, walking the perimeter for a few more minutes she found most of the buildings were in a similar state as the first two, though some still looked structurally sound... they'd just have to make sure they were clear first.
Deciding enough was enough, Pyrrha stepped away from the buildings and made her way to the steps of the town hall, she didn't want to imagine what these people went through that fateful day, what they'd felt in their final moments as the Grimm bore down on them, for someone raised behind the walls of the kingdoms the situation outside their safe haven hadn't even crossed her mind, yet as she grew older and began her training as a huntress it had always been there in the back of her mind, the worry that should such a day come, it may very well be her last.
"Pyrrha!" Her teammate's voice snapped her back to reality, turning back towards Ruby and Adam, the latter knelt beside the black reaper and checked his pulse his face twisted in anguished as he eyed the blackened bandage covering Qrows abdomen once more, he turned and said something to Ruby, although she was too far away to hear.
Ruby looked back a the Black ranger and nodded, drawing Cresent rose off her lower back and moved to her uncle's side. Adam stood and moved to meet the Emerald spartan halfway "Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, glancing past the Black Ranger towards her partner and her uncle.
"He's still out of it." Adam explained while glancing around at the buildings lining the out perimeter of the courtyard."You find anywhere that looks promising?" He asked his dark eyes scanning the surrounding rooftops and alleyways for any sign of movement, after a few seconds without an answer the black ranger looked back to Pyrrha. "Hey?" Adam shook her lightly, pulling Pyrrha back into reality
The red-haired girl blinked a few times, her eyes darting between Qrow and Ruby before looking up at him, her once bright emerald eyes having lost some of their light "...He's going to die, isn't he." Adam started back down at the younger girl for a few seconds, trying to come up with the words to reassure her, to say she was wrong but, he didn't have any.
Swallowing Adam looked away. "If we can't find help soon..." Adam sighed and tilting his head back towards Ruby, rubbing his brow Adam looked back towards Pyrrha, a feeling of melancholy washing over them, as the likely outcome of their situation began to raise its ugly head. "Then the best thing we can do is hunker down and make him comfortable." His grip on her shoulder tighten "So, I'll ask again, did you find anywhere?"
Biting her lip Pyrrha tore her eyes away from her partner and pointed back towards one of the houses across the courtyard. "Most of the buildings seemed to have been demolished in one way or another" She explained "But that one seems to be the most structurally sound, I was just waiting for the two of you to arrive so we could begin clearing it."
"Then let's not waste any more time." Adam said summoning his power axe into his free hand, he started making his way towards the building. Adjusting her grip on Milo, Pyrrha sent one forlorn glance back towards Ruby and Qrow, before falling in step behind the Black ranger.
'I'm sorry Ruby, I'm so sorry.'
/
Ren stared at the cave ahead forlornly, his pink eyes narrowed scanning over the darkened entrance for any sign of movement within so far they hadn't seen any signs of the creatures of Grimm, nor had he been able to sense any in their general area, though that didn't help the foreboding air that hung over this part of the mountain.
"We never get the easy jobs, do we?" He called back to his partner
Nora strolled up alongside him, crossing her arms behind her head she stared down at the cave entrance below, grinning to herself she flicked her head down towards the entrance "Well, easy never was the fun way huh?" she asked earning a small hum from the green-clad ninja.
While he might not have agreed with her on the last part, Nora did have a point. Admittingly the trek up the mountain had been far more taxing then he'd originally expected, even if he hadn't been all that fond of the idea at the time, splitting up had probably been for the best, he didn't want to think how far they might have made it had they brought Qrow along the winding mountain paths
Her smile falling Nora reached out to her partner, gripping his arm "You okay?"
"Mhm." Ren nodded before asking "And you?"
Nora smirked, bumping his arm with her own. "I've got you here with me, don't I." Ren looked back at her strangely. While yes he was up here with her, that didn't really answer his question.
"Come on." She said, stepping past Ren she waved down to the cave entrance below a cocky smile spreading across her features. "There's more than one way to climb a mountain." Jumping off the ledge she jogged down the winding mountain path towards the cave entrance, Ren watched her go before smiling and moving to join her.
"Hey" Nora called back to him from beside the entrance "I can feel a draft coming through here." Without a second thought, she strolled through the opening and into the cave. Ren picked up the pace arriving at the entrance a few seconds after he entered, standing in the mouth of the cave he stared down into the darkened tunnel ahead.
"Think it might lead to the peak?" Nora asked.
"I suppose their only one way to find-" A sudden gust of wind passed through the mouth of the cave, slapping a piece of fabric into the green ninja's face. Rens tumbled back swatting at the air, Nora giggled into her hand at her partner's bad luck. "Yes, yes" Ren said, reaching up he pulled the cloth off his face, shaking a few leaves that had been spiked up along with it out of his hair "Verry funny."
Glancing down at what hit him, Ren froze in place, his eyes glued to the emblem embroidered into the cloth. "Hey, What's wrong?" He heard Nora ask.
"This..." Ren studied the emblem intently for a few moments, he knew he had to be mistaken and yet. "This is the symbol of Shion Village" Ren replied
Nora's eyes widened"Shion? That's the place we found the huntsmen." Moving beside her partner, Nora took one end of the cloth in hand she stared down at the emblem in alarm "It's weeks away from here!"
Eyes widening Ren dropped his half of the banner and darted off into the cave "Ren!" Nora called after him, tossing the banner aside she sprinted off down the cave after her partner "Hey wait!" Racing down the twisting tunnel further into the cave the duo soon came upon a large cavern, an opening in the wall opposite to them allowing some of the fading daylight into the otherwise pitch-black cavern.
Axes, swords, spears even a few pots and pans were scattered throughout the cave, its floor and the weapons themselves stained with an all too familiar black ichor. "Oh my gosh." Nora whispered as she took in the sight of what could only be a Grimm nest, and judging by the "Decorations" an old one at that. without a word, Ren moves further into the cave his eyes drawn to a single object resting a few feet away.
Kneeling he picked up a discarded arrow, studying it intently. Nora on the other hands eyes remained glued to the massive hoofprints leading across the floor and out through the opening to outside. Rising back to his full height Ren followed the footprints towards the opening the feeling of dread in his gut, growing by the second.
Arriving at the edge, the two stared down at the forest below "No" Ren muttered with Nora instinctively taking his hand one by one the trees trembled and fell as a great mass lumbered away from its den uncaring of the destruction it left in its wake only the new source of growing despair it felt growing withing the once desolate village it and its brethren had laid waste to in years past.
The likely source of what had drawn the nightmarish creature of Grimm from its den was not lost on the two members of RRVN. "W-we have to warn them!" Nora said pulling away from her partner, digging into her jacket pocket Nora pulled out her scroll and frantically dialled her young leader's number.
A warning flashed up on the screen 'Error: CCT connection unavailable.'
Nora screamed in frustration, pulling at her hair as hot tears welled up in her eyes. Not again, they couldn't let it happen again they couldn't just hide like they did when they were kids, they were huntsmen now, they had to do something! A sudden wave of calm washed over Nora, her frustration and fear pushed aside as her appearance lost most of its colour, courtesy of Rens hand on her shoulder, who himself had lost a few shades of colour.
"It's alright." Ren said letting his semblance wash over the two of them for a few more seconds, allowing her despair and his fear to dissipate while also ensuring the Grimm hadn't noticed them as well. "There's still time for us to warn them, if we leave now we can beat it to the village."
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Nora nodded back to her lifelong friend before drawing Magnhild off her back and shifting it into its hammer form "Let's go." The two leapt through the opening and into the forest below racing off towards Kuroyuri, once before the monster in this forest had taken everything from them, they wouldn't let it take anyone else.
/
Digging through the half-rotten cupboards Pyrrha worked her way through the house's kitchen grabbing anything useful she laid her eyes on, she'd already gathered a few spare cans of food from the two to her right, but beyond that, her search had been all but fruitless. Stepping back from the cupboard, she moved to the cabinet near the back of the room, pulling open the doors her eyes were drawn to a few of the bottles near the top shelf.
Unscrewing the cap she took a whiff of its contents, her nose scrunched up as the unmistakable scent of whisky assaulted her senses, screwing the cap back on she rolled the bottle in her hand's eyes glancing over the faded label.
She'd heard some alcohols could be used to treat wounds and even prevent infection when mixed properly with water, though she doubted that would be much use to Qrow in his current state, however, if worst comes to worst, they could at least make things a little easier for Qrow at the end.
After a moment of thought, she set the bottle down on the bench beside the cans before quickly retrieving the other two from the cabinet as well, she was probably breaking a thousand different rules of medicine by even considering this, but if it could help even if by just numbing the pain by a little it would be worth the risk.
She heard the front door down the hall slam open her hand instinctively went for Milo, only to pause as the sound of heavy boots thudded down the hall. A familiar red-cloaked girl rushed into the kitchen behind her, catching herself on the door she leaned around the edge panting softly "Did you find anything?" Ruby asked
"Not much." Pyrrha called back, gesturing back at her meagre findings forlornly, the younger girls eyes shifted to her findings her silver orbs lingering on the three bottles resting on the counter.
Recognising the uncomfortable expression on the younger girls face Pyrrha was quick to add "We're not giving him any." she said much to Rubys relief, though the word 'yet' went unspoken. "But if the alcohols strong enough, we can use it to keep his injuries clean and the bandages we have sterile for a little while longer."
"Oh, Right." Ruby sighed before pulling her backpack off her shoulder "Anyway come look at this!" Ruby called back to Pyrrha as she pulled a small black case from her bag along with three tincture glasses. "I found these inside one of the houses, there was a back room with a table and a bunch of stuff that looked like something a doctor would use." The whole place had been trashed, most likely by the Grimm but she'd still managed to find a few of the glasses scattered around the room "If we need more I can run back."
"Stay here for now" Pyrrha replied accepting the case she immediately unzipped it checking over its contents with a keen eye, two syringes and another tincture glass 'insulin' she read from the label, it was of no use to them but the syringes on the other. "Adam!" She called out, before gesturing to the tincture glasses Ruby was practically clutching to her chest with a beaming smile. "Let me see those." Ruby handed the first two off to her and set the other one down on the counter beside them.
"Will they help?" Ruby asked as Pyrrha quickly read over the labels, the first ibuprofen, not exactly what they were looking for but was good nonetheless, at least now they wouldn't need the alcohol.
"What's going on?" Adam called from the door.
"Look, look!" Ruby said shoving the last tincture bottle into his hand, adam glanced down at the bottle, his eyes widening, bringing the tincture to his eyes Adam read over the label... and his hopes dropped ' Penecilin', good against infections but wouldn't do anything for the toxins rushing through Qrows veins...wait?
"Was there any more of these around where you found this?" He asked
"Yeah, like a whole cabinet." Ruby nodded back frantically.
"Run back and grab as many of them as you can, then come back here." Not needing to be told twice, the red-clad reaper disappeared into a cloud of rose petals and rocket back down the hall and out into the village.
He didn't know how long the medicine had been sitting there or the conditions it had been stored but they had a chance now, hopefully, there might be some antidote for scorpion venom or something like that among them, if that made him a racist for assuming a Faunus venom could be similar to the actual animals, he didn't care. He was grasping at straws here, he knew that, but right now nothing they gave him could make their situation any worse than it already was.
An earsplitting shriek shook the house to its foundations.
'Ruby' Adam rounded on Pyrrha "Protect Qrow!" he didn't wait for her response, summoning his power axe Adam barreled out off the kitchen and down the hall, slamming his shoulder into the front door, the decayed woodwork gave way showing the doorway and path outside in splinters. His eyes zeroed in on Ruby, the young reaper stood in the centre of the inner courtyard, crescent rose in hand and head on a swivel shifting from the gate in front of her and to her right.
"Ruby!?" Adam called out to her
The young girl sighed in relief at the sight of the Black ranger "You heard that right?" She asked her panicked Silver eyes darting around the courtyard in search of the monster stalking hunting them.
"Guys! Hey." Looking back over his shoulder Adam caught sight of Ren and Nora rushing down one of the side streets leading into the courtyards, Ren panting heavily, the combination of using his semblance to mask himself and his partner from there Grimm's presence, and the foot race back to the village seeming to have taken its toll on the young man.
"What are you doing here?" Ruby yelled as the duo jogged across the courtyard towards them.
"Warning you, we have to go now!" Nora replied, glancing around the courtyard in search of the missing members of their group. "Where-" tried to say
The red-haired bomber was cut off by an all too familiar shriek. "No" Ren muttered and fell to his knees, he could feel the creature of Grimm drawing closer by the second, they were too late, he and Nora had been too slow... and now there was no escape.
"Ren?" Nora asked as the unmistakable clop of hooves on stone greeted their ears announcing the arrival of the beasts, tilting his head up Rens tared across the courtyard with a look of fear, the three turned following their friends gaze, Ruby paled while Adams grip tightened around his power axe, and Nora gripped her friends shoulder tightly.
The grim stood almost two stories tall, a warped and twisted amalgamation of a man and a horse, bone-white plates covered the majority of the body of the house around its upper chest neck and head, its ribcage displayed for all to see. Its rider of one could even call it back, grew from the horses upper back, its long spindle black arms trailing behind the horse. Like its mount, the rider's ribs were exposed for all to see while its upper chest and shoulder were protected by a series of segmented bone plates the weapons of its previous victims protruding from its back.
The upper portion of the riders head was hidden behind a skull-like bone mask decorated with glowing red markings and two long cure horns sprouting from its forehead, wisps of black mist leaked between the thin tendons connecting its upper and lower jaw, its dark red eyes pulsed with pure hatred.
Whipped its head back the rider unleashed an almost defeating roar into the sky above, letting all those within reach know.
The Knucklavee had found its prey.
Dun, Dun, Dun. cliffhanger!
Well I'll be the first to say that chapter got a little dark near the end there, I know, I know, you'd all prefer a little more original content in these stories than just following the canon path Rooster Teeth laid out for us, but I always thought this scene was one of Ren's more defining moments in the series, like what we saw in the latter half of volume 8, with him facing his demons, accepting his mistakes and part in driving a wedge between the remnants of JNPR.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Psycho remnant, feel free to leave a review if you're up for it, I like reading your thoughts on my work good or bad.