Chapter 3 - Beware the Forest's Grimm
Now Playing… Lost Jungle (Sonic Heroes)
Today was not Ruby's day. First, she was yelled at by a crabby girl. Then she was told that she actually had to interact with people other than her sister (Oh, the tragedy)! And finally, the icing on the Car-by Cake, she was launched into a deadly, grimm infested forest, and slammed into a birdie. It wasn't the worst day of her life, nothing would ever be able to beat that, but it's still a relatively crummy day.
The second her feet touched the ground, Ruby took off like a bullet, using her semblance to quickly traverse through the forest's tree. And as she did, only one simple thought plagued her mind the entire time… Where's Yang?
"Yang? YANG?!" Ruby shouted, trying her best to find her as quickly as possible. But what happens if she wasn't able to find her, and somebody else teams up with her first? It's not like Ruby can't interact with people; she can, she just has a lot of trouble trying to find a topic that isn't weapons, which a lot of people Or, she just awkwardly stares at the other party, making them both uncomfortable.
Ruby was dragged out of her reverie when she saw a curved, bony blade barreling towards her. Yelping, she bent backwards and fell to the floor, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Unfolded Crescent Rose, she swung, deflected the blade as it came back like a boomerang.
She switched her scythe to sniper-mode and aimed, shooting the first thing that caught her eye. With a bang and a pained grunt, something fell from the trees. "What the…?" She muttered, as a Sir Kibble with bony armor collapsed and disappeared in a puff of black and purple smoke.
"Was that–" She began only to be interrupted when a grimmified Blade Knight jumped up and slashed. In a panic, she brought her weapon up to defend. Sparks went flying as the Blade Knight bounced back.
Ruby put herself in a defensive stance, and from the shadows of the forest, more grimmified versions of Dream Landers emerged: Hot Heads and Mookies and Blade Knights, each of them wearing a grimm mask and their colors and having a muted color palette.
The Mookies moved first, raising their hammer and charging head first, while the Hot Heads took position around Ruby and shot plumes of fire at her. At the same time, Blade Knights jumped up to the trees and dropped down, brandishing their swords made of bones.
Ruby dashed forward, slicing through the Mookies and evading the Hot Head's fire. Quickly, she whipped around and fired ice rounds at the Hot Heads freezing them in place. She raised Crescent Rose and blocked the incoming strikes from Blade Knights and pushed them away, letting her jump and attack. When she finished, each enemy dissolved into a pile of ash.
A rustling was heard, and she jumped out of the way of a bullet. Looking up, she saw Bernards training the blunderbusses–wait, no, revolvers?!–at her while Awoofies ran in from the foliage.
"Why are there so many of them?!" She cried in annoyance, deflected the claws of the Awoofies, and swung her blade. When she did, she noticed the blade was just knocking them around, almost as if they were getting hit by a blunt object. She brought the butt of her scythe upwards, launching the Awoofy into its comrades, making them all disappear in an explosion of gas.
She sidestepped the shots from the Bernards' revolvers, and chopped down the tree they were hiding in. The Bernards landed on their heads and dissolved.
Ruby sighed and wiped her brow. She continued running, avoiding tree branches and overgrown roots. Activating her semblance, she turned into a red blur, easily crossing long distances in a short amount of time, leaving rose petals in her wake.
A couple minutes later, Ruby heard gunshots in the distance, followed by grunting, both human and animalistic. Ruby slowed down and drew her weapon, unfolding it to sniper-mode and taking position in a tree.
Looking through her weapon's scope, she saw the rich girl slicing through an army of grimmified Sir Kibbles, swinging her blade with careful grace and precision. She gracefully leapt out of the way of a Bonker's hammer, and landed on a glyph that propelled her forward. She slashed, reducing Bonker's hammer to a stick. The overgrown monkey sweatdropped, and slowly walked backwards. Wiess stepped forward and stabbed him in the eye, launching himself backwards and being reduced to black mist when he crashed into a tree.
She swung again, and the tip of the sword erupted in flames, scorching nearby Bronto Burts and Cappies. Weiss scoffed, and placed her rapier back to her hip. Unfortunately, she hadn't dispatched all of the enemies yet, as a large snake-like creature made of rocks with ancient text written on it silently stalked behind her.
Just as the Coily Rattler opened its mouth to strike, Ruby fired, breaking the orb on its forehead. It gave out a shriek of pain as it collapsed and fell to the floor, writhing. Weiss whipped around to see the rock snake disappear in a puff of smoke, and then turned to where the shot was heard Ruby jumped down from the tree, smiling nervously.
"Okay, I know we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, but– HEY?! Where are you going?!" Ruby cried, extending an arm as she watched Weiss huff and walk away. "We're supposed to be teammates…" Ruby's arm slacked as Weiss disappeared. She sulked, sitting on the floor cross legged and sighing deeply. "What did I do wrong?" She asked herself.
Ruby's head snapped up when she heard some sticks snapping. Moments later, Weiss reappeared, running as fast as she could, to Ruby's surprise. "You came– Oof!" She yelped, as the other girl grabbed her hood and forced her to feet. She created a glyph beneath her feet, and launched herself forward while holding Ruby in a bridal carry.
"What the heck?! What's going on?!" Ruby cried in confusion.
"MR. FROSTY!" Weiss shouted back.
"...Mr. Who?"
Now Playing… Plundering Beast Battle (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
A giant ball of snow appeared in front of them. Weiss quickly created another glyph, and launched herself to the ground, dropping Ruby. Both girls landed on their feet as a giant white walrus creature wearing black overalls and a bony grimm mask showed up, roaring loudly.
Mr. Frostbite
"Umm… hi?" Ruby chuckled awkwardly. Mr Frostbite roared again, and Chillies and Mookies appeared behind him, the monkeys grinning wildly. Ruby drew Crescent Rose, and Weiss readied her rapier, Myrtenaster.
The Mookies raised their arms and started throwing their hammers. Weiss stepped in front of Ruby and created a glyph in front of them, acting as a shield. The Chillies moved next, sliding as if they were on ice, creating sharp icicles in their and launching them like missiles. The glyph started cracking, making Weiss shout, "Move, MOVE!"
With one more icicle, the glyph shattered, and Ruby and Weiss rolled away in opposite directions. Mr. Frostbite howled, and created a giant snowball in his hands, throwing it at Ruby. It left a trail of sharp icicles in its path. Ruby yelped, put Crescent Rose in sniper-mode, replacing the ice cartridges with fire ones. One blast was all it took to evaporate the snowball, but in doing so larger icicles were formed, rushing in at high speeds towards the girl.
In a panic, Ruby pointed her weapon to the ground and fired, the blast launching her into the air and into a tree. She breathed a sigh of relief, only to open her eyes and make eye contact with a Mookie. It laughed, and then slammed its mallet into her face, knocking her down and into the icicles left behind by the snowball.
Weiss noticed this and started running towards a group of snowmen who were busy creating more icicles, but was interrupted by Mr. Frostbite. Mr. Frostbite threw a slow moving punch, which Weiss easily sidestepped, and then slashed with her rapier, flames dancing along the blade. Mr. Frostbite whined, but didn't flinch. He attacked again, kicking her in the chin and then headbutted her, knocking her to the ground.
Without much time left, Weiss created a glyph above the icicles, much to the Chillies' displeasure. Ruby landed with a thud, groaning, and quickly rising to her feet when she noticed the Chillies climbing atop one another to reach her. Ruby jumped away, using Petal Burst to increase the distance of the jump. She jumped back to the Chillies and swung her scythe, popping a few snowmen.
Mr. Frostbite slammed a snowball into the ground, which Weiss narrowly dodged by rolling away. But as quickly as she avoided it, Mr. Frostbite came back just as fast, slamming more and more snowballs into the ground. Weiss created a glyph underneath him, and the sudden boost in speed made him trip, belly flopping into the ground. Weiss raised Myrtenaster to attack, leaving her open to a hard blow to the ribs, courtesy of a Mookie.
Weiss grumbled and created another series of glyphs to propel herself forwards. She slashed through a small number of Mookies, and landed on the trunk of a tree, using another glyph to launch herself towards Mr. Frostbite.
The walrus picked itself and created a non-living snowman, throwing it at her. Weiss easily cut through, and when she did, she let out a gasp upon realizing that Mr. Frostbite had disappeared, and had been replaced by Mookies. Hammers knocked her into the ground. She landed on her stomach and stumbled to her feet, a bruise forming right next to her scar. She put up a defensive stance as Mookies and Chillies swarmed around her. The first set of enemies charged, and she quickly parried and thrusted, destroying another set of rotund monkeys and snowmen.
Ruby, meanwhile, was having trouble with her own set of Chillies, hopping from tree to tree and slicing as many as she could. No matter how many of them she cut down, more Chillies seemed to appear out of nowhere. She landed and started firing, taking down as many Chillies as she could before running away.
Unfortunately, she ran into the belly of Mr. Frostbite, who attempted to take a bite out of her shortly after. Ruby jumped backwards and swung her scythe, cutting Mr. Frostbite a dozen or so times. But just like with Weiss, Mr. Frostbite did not flinch, and managed to power through the hits as well. He ran and tripped, belly flopping on top of Ruby, who let out a comedic "ACK!"
More Chillies appeared, and with icicles in their hands, slid their way to the fallen Ruby and attempted to drive their sharp ice through her head. Ruby flailed, accidentally kicking Mr. Frostbite in the butt with enough force to knock him away, somehow. She ran away, milliseconds before the first Chilly could stab its ice into her eye.
Weiss and Ruby regrouped, standing with their backs turned to each other, eyes narrowing at the surrounding enemies. Mr. Frostbite recollected himself and started stomping the ground, letting out an angry roar as steam poured out of his ears.
He howled, and a ball of energy left his mouth. It flashed brightly in the sky, and created a snow storm. The sharp winds felt like they were cutting against Ruby and Weiss' skin. To make matters worse, giant icicles the size of humans started crashing down every couple of seconds, forcing Ruby and Weiss to take shelter under a glyph the rich girl created, but even it wouldn't be able to protect them for long.
"Now what?!" Ruby asked as an icicle caused the protective glyph to shatter, forcing them away and back into the line of sight of the grimmifed Chillys. The cursed snowmen breathed snow particles, turning the grass into pure ice. Ruby fired another fire round, melting them.
"Mr. Frosty created the snowstorm, so if we beat him, it'll disappear. Probably. I'll create an opening, and you take him out!" Weiss answered, creating another glyph to propel them out the way another series of icicles.
"Got it! Who's Mr. Frosty?"
"THE WALRUS, KILL THE DAMN WALRUS!"
"Alright, alright! You don't have to shout…"
They separated, and Weiss created another glyph in above her, this time angling it so that the icicle would bounce off, destroying a large amount of Chillies and Mookies. Then she charged forward, parrying every strike that came her way, slowly approaching Mr. Frostbite. The walrus roared, and charged as well, running over his own minions. He raised a fist backwards and swung, hitting Weiss in the stomach on knocking the air out of her lungs. Just as he did, he was suddenly launched upwards and into the sky, by own of Weiss' glyphs. Quickly, Mr. Frostbite turned around and created another snowball, throwing at the girl below with a triumphant roar.
His victory cry was short lived, as a blast destroyed the snowball. Confused, he looked to his right, and flailed around when he noticed Ruby swinging her scythe downwards, slashing through Mr. Frosty's thick blubber.
Plundering Beast Battle - End
The overgrown walrus cried out, more out of frustration instead of pain, and popped like a balloon, letting out clouds of dark and black gas. Ruby landed protectively next to Weiss, who was breathing heavily and carefully rubbing her stomach. A few seconds later, the icicles and snow stopped, and the sky had cleared.
The remaining Chillies and Mookies glanced nervously at Ruby. One of the monkeys waved awkwardly. Ruby scowled, silver eyes shining menacingly (not that she noticed), and scaring the living daylights of the enemies. They ran away, cowering back into the forest.
Ruby let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, and collapsed to the ground next to Weiss, both of them staring into the sky and breathing heavily.
"You okay?" Ruby asked.
"Nooo…" Weiss whined, gasping for air. They lay there in silence for a few moments, breathing heavily while letting their aura heal them up.
"I admit, I may have… misjudged you when we first met," Weiss hoarsely mumbled. "You're a good fighter," She admits, making Ruby blush.
"Thanks, I guess," Ruby said, picking herself up and dusting off her skirt. She extended a hand to Weiss, who stared at her curiously. "Does… this make us friends?" Ruby asked tentatively. Weiss glared at her with narrowed eyes, and let out a sigh of defeat. "We are partners," she corrected, grabbing Ruby's hand.
The red girl pulled her up. "I can live with that," she said, chuckling half-heartedly. "So, now what?"
"Well, we still need to find our way to the temple, but we have no idea where we are…" Weiss muttered, placing a hand on her chin and looking through the dense forest around them. Ruby did so as well, whining.
"We're lost, aren't we?"
"Yes. Yes we are," Weiss admitted. She looked around some more, and nodded. Then, she walks off in random direction, leaving Ruby behind.
"Man… I hope Yang is doing better than me…" Ruby mutters as she runs to catch up to Weiss.
Floating above the forest, a figure wrapped in a purple cloak dotted with stars carefully monitors their progress.
—
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Yang shouted, walking away from a pile of black and purple ashes. "Hello? I'm getting bored here!" The fight with the beowolves and grimmified Poppy Bros was fun while it lasted, but the excitement quickly wore off.
Hearing rustling from a bush, Yang quickly turned around. "Is someone there?" Walking over, she pushed the foliage aside to look through. "Ruby, is that you?" She asked hopefully.
"...Nope." Yang muttered, popping the P.
Now Playing… Bouncing Boss Battle (Kirby Triple Deluxe)
She rolled out of the way of a sword slash, quickly rising to her feet and activating Ember Celica. From the bushes, two Gigant Edges with darker color pallets and curved, bony swords emerged, both making a warbling sound, almost like some sort of yell.
Twin Grimmal Edge
Both Grimmal Edges charged, thrusting their swords forward as they ran. Yang sidestepped the first Edge, and punched the second one in its stomach. To her surprise, the Grimmal Edge didn't even flinch, or even seem to take note that it had been hit. Taking advantage of her shock, it slammed the flat of its sword into her, knocking her into a nearby tree.
Yang grunted and breathed deeply. "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, have you?" Yang asked with a strained smile. Both Edge's growled, and the first one stepped forward, and then threw its sword like a boomerang. Yang jumped over the blade and and thrust her fists backwards, firing Ember Celica and launching her forwards, and landed two consecutive kicks into the Grimmal Edge.
"You could just say no," She huffs. The second Grimmal Edge jumped into the air and dropped like a rock, driving its sword into the ground to create a shock wave that Yang back flipped over. She landed next to the first Edge, and ducked under the returning sword. It swung again, and Yang easily sidestepped the attack. She fired Ember Celica, the round exploded against the Grimmal Edge's visor while the recoil launched her backwards.
Yang smiled again, feeling the adrenaline course through veins. "Jeez, you two could hit the broadside of… a…" Slowly, a piece of her hair fluttered downwards. Yang's eyes darkened. Confused, the twins looked at each and shrugged.
"You… YOU BASTARDS!" Yang yelled, hair flaring and eyes turning fiery red. Using Ember Celica, she propelled herself forward and straight towards the first Grimmal Edge. The giant knight hid itself behind its spiked shield, knocking Yang away upon impact. The second Grimmal Knight charged like a bull, driving the hilt of its sword into Yang's chest.
Yang, with her back on the floor, quickly went into a handstand as the Grimmal Knights slashed downwards, and pushed herself away when they tried shield-bashing into her. Using Ember Celica, Yang maneuvered herself behind a Grimmal Edge, punching and kicking furiously into its back.
With one final strike, the Grimmal Edge was launched into a tree, and then popped like a balloon. The other knight stomped on the ground furiously and roared, drawing its sword and leaping into the ground. Yang launched herself upwards with her gauntlets, rearing a fist back to punch the bone blade. Before she could land the hit, a ribbon was wrapped around her long and pulled her downwards.
Yang landed on her feet, glaring at the girl with black bow. "What the hell?" She shouted, only to be silenced by intense yellow eyes.
"Calm down," She said. Her arm was slightly bruised, and covered with bite marks. "What happened?" Yang asked as her hair and eyes returned to normal.
"Scarfies," The girl answered, her aura slowly making the bruises go away. "Scarfies? You mean those adorable floating things?"
"Don't be deceived by their cuteness; they're monsters. And they weren't even grimm." Blake said, shuddering at the mere thought of them.
Before Yang could ask how they managed to hurt her, the two were interrupted by the incoming Grimmal Edge. Blake used a shadow clone to propel herself away, while Yang flipped out of the started hammering punches into the knight's armor. It shoved its shield into Yang, and knocked her back. Blake soon came in afterwards, slashing the Grimmal Edge with her sheath and blade.
Grimmal Edge threw its blade, which sliced through the tree like butter. Blake and Yang quickly evaded. As it boomeranged back, Yang fired ice rounds from her gauntlets, trapping the blade inside a wall of ice.
Both girls looked at the Grimmal Edge with hardened stares. Yang cracked her knuckles and laughed softly. "Oh, you are so done!" She said. She wound her fist back, only to get struck by the Edge's own fist. Blake approached the monstrous knight, but had to retreat due to the Edge's shield bash.
Grimmal Edge ran back to its sword and easily shattered the ice with its shield. It glared back at the two girls and roared, causing the giant sword to ignite, red hot flames dancing on the blade. Yang gawked, while Blake took a cautious step backwards.
Grimmal Edge charged, the flames on its weapon causing some nearby pushes and grass to catch fire. Yang jumped to the said and kicked, knocking the Grimmal Edge of course and causing it to stab his sword into a tree. The tree was turned into a pile of ash in an instant. It turned around and sliced downwards. Blake was about to approach, but the sword created a pillar of fire, the intense heat forced Blake to back away.
The giant knight swung its flaming sword, and Blake flipped over each swing. She brought a foot downwards and launched herself upwards, using the sword like a lever while using a shadow clone to absorb any damage. Blake threw Gambol Shrouds at the Grimmal Edge, and stuck it into the monster's helmet.
Grimmal Edge let out a confused grunt as it raised a disembodied hand to grab the sheath, while struggling to pull it out. Yang ran forward, pummeling the knight with fast punches and powerful blasts from her gauntlets.
Yang landed a haymaker, knocking the knight off its feet. In the air, Grimmal Edge threw its sword downwards, creating another pillar of fire as it crashed into the ground. Blake jumped from her spot in the trees and rapidly fired bullets into the airborne knight. She turned the pistol into a blade, and slashed. Grimmal Knight grunted as its body darkened to pure black. A few seconds later, it popped like a balloon.
Bouncing Boss Battle - Fade Out
Blake landed next to Yang who looked proud of herself. "I could've taken both of them," She said confidently, earning an eye roll from Blake. "What?"
"Nothing. Let's just put out the fi… re?" Blake turned around, expecting a raging forest fire behind them. But the only thing she could see was a thin layer of smoke and some burned bushes. Her bow twitched (something went unnoticed by Yang), and Blake swore that she could hear something moving underneath both of them.
"Huh? Maybe the fire is tied to its powers or something?" Yang said dismissively. "Besides, that means we don't have to clean up its mess, and we can get to the temple in record time!" She exclaimed and started dragging Blake away by the arm.
"You wouldn't happen to know where the temple is, do you?" Yang asked. Once again, Blake rolled her eyes.
"Yes. I think it's over that way," She said, pointing to the left. Yang smiled brightly. "Great! Let's go!" Yang said. Blake's gaze shifted to some overgrown roots lying on the floor. Those definitely weren't there a couple of minutes ago.
"Excuse me, but–"
"Oh, names Yang, by the way!"
"Blake. We really shouldn't be charging headfirst without a plan," She warned, causing Yang to scoff. "Pfft! What's the worst that can happen?" Yang asked sarcastically, unaware of the roots shifting underneath them.
—
Opponent: Grimmal Kirby-stiary
Information - It looks like Kirby isn't the only Dream Lander who was brought to Remnant! Hey, wait a minute… These guys don't just look like grimm, they are grimm! Unlike their monstrous counterparts, the Kirby-stiary are more content on pranking people; setting your house on fire, kidnapping your dog, or–gods forbid–stealing your lunch money. These guys are very territorial, so if you keep a safe distance away from them, you'll be fine. But, it looks like these guys aren't the only new grimm in town…
Instead of dissolving, the strongest of the new grimm melt away until all that remains is a black sphere with orange frills. The cores pop soon after their body completely melts away.
Next Chapter…
Boss Battle - A Test Given by a Tree!