Jaune, Blake and Kali were all just enjoying their breakfast while chatting with each other. The two had somehow gotten past the embarrassing start of their morning with the Faunus mother asking about grandchildren. Blake was now just talking to her mother with a smile that was just full of contentment. He smiled at that, happy to have been a part of getting Blake to reconnect with her parents and for the family to be reunited after all these years.
It wasn't too long before they all heard the front door open and someone come walking in. They all turned and weren't surprised to see that Ghira had returned. He saw his family and Jaune all sitting down to eat and he smiled at them all. "Good morning." He said happily as he walked over to take a seat next to his wife.
"Good morning, Ghira." Jaune said respectfully.
"Good morning, Dad." Blake said happily.
As he sat down, he helped himself to a cup of tea. "How did your meeting go, Dear?" Kali asked.
Ghira took a sip before lowering the cup with a sigh, "Very well, honestly. No need to move any of the guard around and most of their weapons and armor are in good shape, so we won't have to add more to their budget for repairs or replacement. And I did get some information for you, Jaune." He finished as he turned to him.
He nodded, "Kali did mention you were going to look into that. You have a lead I take it?"
He nodded with a serious look on his face, "Saber did mention that Grimm have been lower than normal as of late but a few guards have noticed a few of them acting strangely to the north."
"Strange how, exactly?" the huntsman asked.
"A number of Grimm have been sighted over the last week or so but they have been ignoring the village. Not even looking in our general direction before walking further into the wasteland."
Jaune looked to the side as he rubbed his chin, "If a Drake was going to form it would make since that Grimm would be pulled to a more general area to begin the culling… so we may be able to stop it before it happens." He muttered to himself. "Unless…"
"Unless what?" Ghira asked, having overheard his muttering .
He looked up to see a serious expression on the Chieftain's face and slightly worried one on his wife's. He took a breath, "Unless the Drake has already formed and is summoning more Grimm to it to further its evolution."
That floored them both, "It can do that?" Ghira asked.
He nodded gravely, "Some of them have that ability. It's rare but its possible." He started to rub his forehead, "Too many questions to ask." He then lowered his hand with a sigh, "I guess it would be better to go investigate myself. I know the signs and other people may've overlooked what I would be looking for."
"Would you like me to ask some of the guard to accompany you out there?" Ghira asked.
He shook his head, "As much as I appreciate the offer, I don't think they would be up to taking on a Drake or Draco. And there is no guarantee that I'll find anything concrete. It may be better to keep them here to do there jobs if this does turn out to be nothing."
Ghira nodded after a bit, "Very well."
"Will you be leaving soon?" Kali asked in concern.
Jaune nodded, "The sooner the better." He then turned to Blake who was just giving him a look he knew all too well. He just grinned, "I'm not even going to bother to ask since I know the answer."
She just gave him a smirk, "Good. You're learning."
He shrugged, "Not really. I just know you'd follow me anyways. This is less of a headache." He replied with a smirk.
She just narrowed her eyes at him and he just kept smirking. She eventually sighed, "Why do I put up with you?" she asked out loud.
He just chuckled, "Because you love me?"
She just smiled at him before giving him a peck to his lips and leaning her head against his shoulder, "Yeah. I really do." He just grinned and gently wrapped his arm around her, pulling her just a bit closer to himself.
They stayed like that until they heard a sigh. They looked up to see the patriarch and matriarch of the Belladonna household just looking at them. Ghira had a conflicted look as he had his arms crossed over his chest. Meanwhile Kali had her hand on her cheek and an ecstatic look in he ryes. "You two are just the cutest thing. You remind me of Ghira and myself when we were younger."
That made the young couple just look at her before turning to Ghira, who was actively trying to not make eye contact with them and drinking his tea. That made them all share a laugh before the two got up to grab their weapons before heading out for the day. Jaune grabbed both his APSs and his sunglasses, not bothering to put them on just yet. He left his cloak considering the heat and started to make his way to the front door of the Belladonna household. As he was moving, he used Void to disguise his hair and eyes once again.
He met Blake there and noticed that she had two canteens over her shoulder. As he got closer, she handed him one of them to him which he turned to her with a grin in thanks, "You're certainly prepared."
"Well we don't want to be stuck out there with no water. Especially if it gets as hot as it usually does. Trust me." She told him seriously.
"Always do." He said before smiling, "Ready to go?"
She nodded, "As I ever will be."
They noticed that Ghira and Kali had followed them, "Good luck you two. And please stay safe." Kali said to them. Ghira nodded along to what his wife had said.
"We will, Mom." Blake tried to console her mother.
"We should be fine." Jaune added. "I don't plan on this being a battle. Just reconnaissance to see what we are dealing with. And if we do find something then we can figure out the best way to take it down."
Ghira nodded, "Regardless, do be careful."
Blake nodded, "Be back soon, Dad." And with that, she turned to the door before opening it. Jaune nodded to the two parents, following out the door right behind her. They walked down the front steps as the rays of the sun were heating their forms, already getting the feeling that it was going to be a very warm day. They turned towards the northern part of Kuo Kuana to meet up with the Guard there before they would head out to see what they could find. As they were walking there, she spoke up again, "So, what's the plan going forward?"
He thought for a few seconds, "First we are just going to see what is going on out there. If we are lucky and the Drake hasn't formed, we can try to dispose of the cannibalistic Grimm over the few weeks we'll be here. We could probably clear them out so a Drake won't manifest here."
"And if we aren't lucky?" she asked.
"If the Drake has formed then we have two options: If it is the Inferior Drake, we'll have to prepare ourselves and try to take it down immediately. The last thing we want is for it to get too close to the village. If it is the Superior version, we may have some time to plan."
"Is that a good idea?" Blake asked. "Couldn't it just storm the village with an army of Grimm."
He nodded, "Possibly. But if these Grimm want to continue their evolution, they need to consume more Grimm. And since they call and control other Grimm, it would make sense that it would just draw in more to continue feeding. It would be risky but if we waited for the moment it would transform into a Draco, I could use a good chunk of Void to end it before it fully forms and gain consciousness. Would probably do a number on me though."
"And if you fail, we have to battle a Draco with you exhausted." She added.
He nodded, "Yeah. That would be the big risk."
They were silent for a bit, "And what if the Draco is already formed?"
He sighed, "That would be the worst option. We could possibly observe it for a while. See what unique abilities this one may have and figure out what to do about it. But it'll be more dangerous since it'll be looking for aura to push it further to its next stage." He looked at her, "Besides us, do you know who has aura unlocked in the village?"
She thought for a bit before shrugging, "I haven't been here in a while so I really don't know. Maybe a few of the Guard and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the White Fang here have their aura unlocked either. The only person I know for sure…" She stopped as her eyes went wide. Jaune just looked at her in concern. "My dad…" she said in concern and a hint of fear.
Jaune put his arm around her and gave her a brief hug. "Don't worry, Blake. We'll stop whatever we find out there. We've handled things like this before. We got this."
Blake nodded before returning the hug. They stood like that for a bit before Blake pulled away while taking a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go." Jaune nodded before the two continued towards the north. It didn't take terribly long before the northern wall that protected Kuo Kuana came into view. They saw several Guard on top of the wall and looking out towards the untamed wilds, all armed. There were a pair of large doors towards the bottom and two Faunus were standing there.
They saw the two coming closer and one walked forward with their hand raised, "Stop." He said sternly. "What is your business?"
Jaune reached into his pocket for his scroll before bringing up his ID. He showed it to the guard as he spoke, "My name is Rien. I'm a Huntsman sent here by Headmaster Ozpin."
The guard read the ID before nodding, "Right. Chieftain Ghira was here earlier with the Captain. He mentioned you would be coming by. What is this about?"
Jaune pocketed his scroll, "There could be a new species of Grimm out here. I was sent to see if this theory is true or not. And to take care of it if it is."
The guard nodded as he turned and walked towards the door. The two now seeing that he had a long, grey tail with a white tip trailing out behind him, possibly feline. "I don't know about Grimm. We haven't seen any in a few weeks and any that do show up, just go off in the opposite direction."
Jaune nodded, "That is what is most troubling. I'm hoping I'm wrong but if not, I doubt you all could take on this Grimm without many casualties."
He looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow, "That bad?" he asked. Jaune nodded and his eyes went over to Blake who gave a single nod. He turned back to look where he was going. "Damn. Hopefully, you're wrong or you can do what you're saying you can do."
"It was the main reason why I was the one sent." Jaune told him confidently.
He walked to the massive doors while nodding to his co-worker. She in turn nodded and they worked together to open the doors enough for the two to get through. He then motioned north, "Last few times we've seen them, they've all turned to head further north, maybe north-northwest but we'd lose sight of them after a couple miles."
Jaune nodded, "Thanks, that'll help. We should be back later today. Would you mind letting the next shift know if we're not back by then?"
He nodded, "Yeah, no problem. Wouldn't want you to be stuck out there tonight. That would be beyond cruel."
Jaune nodded, "Thanks." He then turned to Blake, "Let's get going." She walked out before him and he was directly behind her before they started to walk out into the distance. They could hear the doors close behind them as they continued out into the wasteland that was most of Menagerie.
It didn't take long for them to get to where the initial guard had told them where to go. They looked around and could see signs of Grimm coming through and heading towards the more northern part of the island. Blake drew the katana half of Gambol Shroud and Jaune pulled one of his APSs as they moved to follow the tracks the Grimm had left, staying on guard the entire time.
The two followed the tracks and general direction they were heading in for the better part of two hours. As they were going along, Jaune was starting to feel a slightly cold but prickling sensation on the back of his head. He tried to ignore it at first but the further they went inland, the stronger it was getting and slowly expanding down the back of his neck. This was a new development and he was starting to wonder just what this meant for him.
By then, it was approaching around midday and the heat was starting to get unbearable. In a unanimous decision, the two quickly found a grouping of several trees that created a decent area of shade beneath. Both quickly got into the relative reprieve of the shade before each taking a draft from their canteens. The still cold water being nothing short of a godsend.
Jaune sighed as he leant against the tree behind him. "I chose the wrong time to wear black."
That made Blake laugh a bit, "As least you left the cloak behind." He leant against the same tree a few inches between them. They wanted to be close to each other but it was too hot for them to be overly close. "We've definitely made some ground but we still haven't seen any Grimm."
"Which means the Culling will be happening further in or worse." Jaune said simply as he started to rub the back of his neck, trying to alleviate the now slowly becoming painful feeling.
"Are you alright?" Blake asked and he turned to see her giving him a concerned look.
He sighed before he lowered his arm. "Yeah. I just have this feeling in the back of my head. It's been getting more intense the further we go along."
"Should we head back?" she asked as her hand gently took hold of his inner arm.
He smiled and shook his head, "I appreciate the thought but no. It's not bad, it's just annoying. I should be fine."
She gave him this analytical look before she nodded, "Alright, as long as you're sure."
He gently took her hand in his own, "I am. I honestly just want to know why it's happening is all."
"Well we have some time. We'll have to wait through the midday hours out here, otherwise the heat may affect us. Even with aura." She told him.
"Did you bring a book?" he asked.
"No." she answered as her ears wilted slightly, "I didn't think it would be important."
"Guess we'll have to figure something else out then." He said before he remembered something from their trip to Menagerie. Without saying anything, he pulled upon his Wind Semblance, changing his eyes to a light green. He then started to reach his Aura out to Blake like during the fight with the Sea Feilong. Blake gasped as she felt her Aura connect with another. Both her eyes shifted to the same shade of green as Jaune's before a green, almost ethereal, flame started to rise from her right eye. She turned to him and saw him giving her a small grin, his left eye holding the same flame-like appearance. "Well, it looks like it wasn't just a onetime thing."
Blake just blinked a few times, trying to let this information set in, "Are you saying I'm also a Pseudo-Maiden?"
He nodded and cut off their connection and their eyes went back to their usual color. "Looks like it. But unlike Yang, it looks like you can only access the wind element of my Semblance."
"So, you can teach me like you did Yang." She said with a slight hint of excitement to her voice.
He nodded, "I can but not now. But we can when we get back to your parent's house."
She nodded with a small smile before she took another sip from her canteen. They were quiet for a while until she spoke up again, "But how is this happening? How do both Yang and I have a connection with your Aura?"
He shrugged helplessly, "I honestly don't know. I thought it was by chance that Yang absorbed some of my Aura but with you having it too, there must be something that caused…" His sentence started to drift off as his eyes widened in realization. That was when he smacked his forehead with his hand, "I'm an idiot."
"Jaune?" she asked in concern.
He groaned, "There is one time both you and Yang were exposed to my Aura. A large amount of it." He looked back to her, "When you five broke through my Void and allowed my Semblance to 'reset'." Her eyes widened just as his did a second before. "When you all did that, my Aura erupted out from me and over all of you. That has to be when you two somehow absorbed some of my Aura."
They were silent for a few more seconds, "That makes a lot of sense actually." She agreed. "But that also means…" she started.
Jaune nodded again, "There's a good chance that Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha have the same connection to me." He sighed in defeat, "So all of you could now be Pseudo-Maidens. I'm not even sure if this is a good thing or a gods awful scenario."
Blake shrugged, "Well I think Ruby will be over the moon when she finds out. Weiss and Pyrrha will probably be shocked but I doubt either of them would be too against it. Besides, this just means we'll have another option to fall back on if we get into dangerous situations and be more prepared when we have to fight alongside you."
"Well, you do have a good point." He said with almost a defeated tone. "I just hope this doesn't put a target on your backs." She didn't answer him but she just took his hand in hers. They settled into a period of silence as they waited for the day to cool.
About an hour or so later, the sun had gone down enough out of its zenith that the two of them felt it would be safe to continue on with their journey. Both were back on guard for potential Grimm. As they moved further and further, the signs of Grimm became more constant but also very erratic. But it made sense considering how chaotic these Grimm could get during the Culling.
At this point, the random placements of vegetation and trees were becoming less and less until it was nothing but sand and rock outcroppings. As they got into this desert, they were wondering how they were going to track them any further in the shifting sands. That was when Blake's ears stood straight up and she held her hand out to him to be quiet. He watched as one slowly turned a bit to get a better angel before she pointed over to a larger outcropping going almost twenty feet into the air.
He nodded and the two slowly and quietly started to make their way towards it. As they got closer, Jaune was beginning to pick up what Blake had heard. It sounded like fighting but not people fighting. It sounded more primal. As they finally got to the massive rock, they pushed their bodies against it before slowly skirting around to the left to try to see what was making all the noise. As they peaked around, using the rock as cover, they saw what they were looking for and not what they wanted to see.
They saw three Beowolves trying to fight this massive Grimm they had never seen before but with characteristics that were familiar to them. It was quadrupedal and the body was more canine shaped. From the ground up to it's shoulder, it's maximum height, it was ten feet tall. While from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail was about the same length. The legs were all about the same size and length as compared to the last one they had fought. The outsides of the upper legs and the entirety of the lower half of them were covered in thick bone armor. Each foot came to an end with three eighteen inch claws.
The entirety of its back was covered in thick armor with the same glowing markings they had seen previously. With several long bones spikes extending up about a foot and a half to two feet from its spine. The neck wasn't as long as the last of its kind they had fought and its head was a perversion of a dog and a crocodile, leaving it with this wide and terrifying maw as it opened it's mouth to reveal dozens of sharp teeth. From above the bloodthirsty but intelligent glowing red eyes were two sharp horns that extended up and slightly behind its head, almost looking like ears.
But the real threat was the tail of this Grimm. From the base of the spine to the tip of the tail was probably fifteen feet in length at a minimum. It wasn't covered in bone but was made of thick hide and muscle. And at the very end was a long glowing red almost spear like stinger that was two feet long.
As the two observed it, the tail whipped out with a speed and precision they wouldn't expect it to have and skewered one of these Beowolves through its stomach. As it was run through, it whipped it to its jaws to bite down upon it's brethren. As it swallowed, it didn't even look as the tail whipped to the other direction and slicing another Beowolf in half as it cried in pain. It continued it's journey before impaling the last Beowolf through the head, killing it.
This Grimm, this Draco, slowly looked around for any other Grimm or intruders but appeared to find nothing. As it started to slowly walk clockwise in a circle, like a dog about to go to sleep, more sand was being displaced to reveal armor, clothing and weapons that were buried beneath. It showed that it wasn't just Grimm it had been feeding on but Faunus as well, which meant it was well on its journey to evolving further. So, Blake and Jaune were left with only one option: Killing it. Here and now.
A/N- I'm alive! Sorry for the long wait for an update and my absence. I spent a good chunk of the end of 2020 trying to update my other story Endless Pages Leads to Endless Worlds and after that I decided to take off December to just refresh myself after the Hell 2020 was. With the new year, I updated a few other of my less chronically updated stories and now I'm trying to get back into my usual update schedule.
With that out of the way, I hope you'll look forward to the next update. This Draco has an ability I've had planned for a LONG time and I can't wait for you all to see. I'd like to thank you all for your patience and the next chapter should be out in the next month or so. I hoped you all enjoyed and I'll see you all in the next update!