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Beta: CrowSkull
YBWR
Chapter 6- Pieces and Players
"This is the cave that you saw earlier?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune led her practically by the hand. She'd be more embarrassed about it if she wasn't the one sticking so close to him she may as well be made out of glue and Jaune the paper. Jaune looked at her with that usual charming smile of his and nodded.
"Yup," Jaune said as he slowly slid Crocea Mors out of his shield. "I saw it on my way here like I said before. I just didn't bother checking it out since I was coming to go get you. Now that you're safe and with me, however, this seems like a good spot to hide a relic, no?"
"Perhaps," Pyrrha agreed halfway. "It seems to be a place someone would think obvious to place this relic that Salem referred to. But that could work as a way to repel anyone who'd think that the obvious was too obvious. I don't exactly think that there is a time limit for initiation anyway, is there?"
"Nope, not that I know of. And I would know if there was one,"
"Right, so I suppose it can't hurt to at least check." Pyrrha nearly stumbled as she took out her own weapons from behind her back. Milo, it was stuck in its spear form again, not that Jaune needed to know that, and her shield Akouo. It was rather similar to Jaune's choice of weapons now that she thought about it. "Say," She tapped on Jaune's shoulder as she peered around him to get a better look at his sword and shield. Remembering Ruby and Yang's reaction to her own weapons earlier, she couldn't help but be curious. "What kind of weapons do you have? A sword and shield, of course, but is there anything special about them?"
"Well, other than being a family heirloom that was passed down from generation to generation over the course of two centuries, not really," Jaune laughed nervously as he recalled a tale. "To keep it short, Crocea Mors is the shield and sword and it was first forged around two hundred years ago give or take. I know you don't know much about my name, the Arc's, but we were some of the first huntsmen to ever be born. Years and years before even the huntsmen academies popped up after the Great War, which was eighty years ago."
"Oh wow! So you're related to the first huntsmen of Remnant before they were even called as such?" Pyrrha's eyes flickered with awe. "That's so cool!"
"Heh," Jaune heard that a thousand times, but when it came from Pyrrha he couldn't help but blush ever so slightly. "I suppose it is rather awesome. Anyway, fast forward a few hundred years of seeing some action and it got passed down to my father after my grandfather helped end the Great War, and now it got passed down to me and, well, here we are."
Jaune flourished Crocea Mors with pride and joy in his eyes. "What about you?" He asked suddenly."
"Eh?" Pyrrha stammered. "Mine? Er, well, they're called Milo and Akouo. Nothing nearly as special as yours… It's just a spear that can shift into a lever-action rifle and a sword and a normal shield-like yours."
"Oh really?" Ugh, did Jaune have to look so impressed for some reason!? "That is interesting, is there any history behind it?"
"Behind these?" Pyrrha laughed at her own expense. "Not nearly as extensive as yours. They were forged recently by my sister, and they were originally going to be sold to a Huntress named Scarlet but…" Pyrrha sighed sadly. "That Huntress perished on a mission before she could come to retrieve them. Once I decided to become a Huntress myself... I also decided to take on those weapons in honor of my sister and Scarlet."
"I see," Jaune gave her an apologetic look. "I am sorry to hear that, were they close?"
"They were dating,"
"Oh," Jaune felt his heart drop. "Oh… Okay, now I feel bad about bringing it up. Um..."
"Don't worry about it," Pyrrha waved away at him, giving him a kind smile as he seemed to shrink in on himself. "That was some time ago and while it was hard before, it certainly isn't now. Anyhow, shall we enter this cave at last? I feel like we've talked more than we've walked."
"Hah, you wouldn't be wrong for thinking so," Jaune said as he stepped closer to the entrance of the cave. "Hm, it's dark in here. We can either make a torch or use our scroll's flashlights."
"I'll take out my scroll," Pyrrha said, quickly fishing the device out of her pocket. After fiddling with it for a moment, a bright white light illuminated the entrance to the cave. The light bounced off the shiny and reflective dark brown stone walls, which came to show just how moist it was in there.
"I'll go first," Jaune said as he strolled on in without a worry in the world.
"R-Right," After getting through the nerves, Pyrrha stepped into the relatively claustrophobic cave next. It started out more than wide enough for them to walk through unhindered, but as they continued walking deeper into the cave they found themselves having to walk one after the other instead of at each other's side. Since Jaune was in the front, he offered to take the scroll with the light from her and kept his shield out before him just in case anything jumped out at them. Although in a space like this, there were only two directions a Grimm could jump out at them. Either from the back or the front.
"A-are you sure we are heading toward a relic?" Pyrrha asked as they walked in darkness, the scroll in Jaune's hand offering the only source of light.
"We have to be," Jaune said. "The professors must have cleared out the forest of the most dangerous Grimm if they were so willing to launch us into it. It's probably meant to scare off anyone who isn't confident enough to try this path."
"I can barely see the entrance to the cave now, Jaune." Pyrrha pointed out. "How much further do we have to go?"
"It can't be that much further," Jaune said. "Have a little faith, I have a hunch here, a good hunch. Humor me a little will you?"
"I'm already humoring you."
"Well, humor me a little more."
Pyrrha pouted indignantly but ultimately went along with Jaune's hunch. She had no reason to do otherwise in all honesty and, well, he was the strong one here. She didn't think she could survive without him as she was now.
"It's uh… getting a little harder to breathe here." Pyrrha pointed out. "It feels like the air is getting too thick to breathe."
"Yeah, I'm getting the same feeling," Jaune said, breathing a little harder himself. "Alright, maybe I was wrong, I don't see anything here."
"Should we head back?"
"That might be the best choice. If the air gets any thicker and a Grimm attacks us that'll just make this too dangerous, even for me. We don't want to suffocate because our lungs would get too weak to breathe in this air."
"Agreed, let's go- Woah!" Pyrrha stumbled and tripped over something. She instinctively grabbed onto Jaune who wasn't expecting a girl wearing nearly full armour bumping into him so violently like that. He staggered to the side and dropped the scroll as he caught her. The scroll cracked on the ground, shattering, but the piece that held the flashlight was still bright and stayed on. A tribute to how tough scrolls could be, especially since Huntsmen were the ones that relied on them the most to check their auras and for other uses like this.
"Are you okay?" Jaune asked as he helped her stand upright.
"Y-yes," Pyrrha sighed, angry with herself. "I'm sorry, I should have watched where I was going."
"Don't worry about it," Jaune replied quickly. "As long as you're okay."
"Thanks… my scroll," Pyrrha trailed off. "It's broken."
"I'll get you a new one," Jaune easily offered. "And don't give me that look, you can talk to me about it later. Come on, I'll take my scroll out and-"
"Wait," Pyrrha held a hand up as she looked down at what she tripped over. "This is what I tripped on, look at it."
"Hm," Jaune followed her gaze, taking in the sight that Pyrrha gestured to. It took a moment for it to register but when it did Jaune felt his eyes widen. "It's a feather of a Nevermore," Jaune said as he bent down to pick it up. "And a big one at that, it's longer than my sword and twice as wide."
"Nevermore?" Pyrrha tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't that some kind of bird Grimm?"
"The most common one, but one this big is very rare," Jaune explained. "It must be ancient, which means that it has to be massive."
"But what's a bird Grimm doing in a cave?"
For once, Jaune didn't have an answer to her question.
"Pyrrha, we should leave. Now." He said instead, turning serious.
"R-Right…"
The instant they turned around to start running to the exit of the cave is when they heard the hiss. It made them stop in their tracks. Jaune was the first to turn around and ready himself while Pyrrha stumbled backward, eyes wide and open with fear.
Illuminated by the broken scroll light Jaune dropped, a massive beak easily the size of Pyrrha's entire body prodded forward at them. Red, glowing eyes blinked open and steam blew out of the Nevermore's nose as it raised its head in that very deep and claustrophobic cave. It looked at them with what looked like a curiosity at first. Jaune couldn't blame it, with how big it looked it seemed like it's been trapped there for decades, unable to move due to its size. How it got there in the first place he couldn't figure out. Not that he cared at the moment. That curiosity turned into a screeching squawk so loud it made his eardrums ring painfully.
"Run!" Jaune exclaimed, turning around and grabbing Pyrrha by the hand and yanking along with him when she froze up.
The Nevermore roared like an animal it wasn't and the cave began to shake. Jaune sprinted and pulled Pyrrha along behind him. He missed his chance to kill it instantly when it woke up and looked at him. To his shame, he froze up as well. He'd seen and even killed Grimm before, but nothing close to an experience like that. His grip tightened around Pyrrha's hand as they ran and ran, getting closer to the exit of the cave.
Behind them, he heard rumbling and he dared to look back. His eyes widened when he saw that the Nevermore was right on their tail. How!? The creature had to be massively basing it off the sheer size of its head, but then it hit him. The Grimm are powered by their angry and bloodlust for the human race. When there was none around it for however many years it took for the Nevermore to grow, it must have just flown in and sat in that cave. Until they walked in to check for a relic. How many times was this cave avoided by past students and initiates? Of course, it had to be them to wake it up. Why wouldn't it be? It wouldn't make sense if it wasn't because of them.
Jaune's legs pumped faster than ever. Funny how even in the best shape of his life he never ran faster than now. They just made it outside of the cave when they heard the Nevermore breakthrough as well. Jaune and Pyrrha fell forward as the Nevermore shattered the entrance of the cave and screeched so loudly it had them covering their ears with both hands.
Looking up at it was like watching a scene from some kind of massive monster movie. It spread its wings for what had to be the second time in its entire life, and Jaune knew that he was wrong. It was even bigger than he thought it was. Its screech died off as it stretched its neck and body and looked down at them, its first two prey in its entire life.
Jaune glared right back at it and readied Crocea Mors. "Heh, when I asked for a challenge I wasn't aware Fate would throw one at me right away. Pyrrha, are you ready?" When there wasn't a response at first, Jaune looked over his shoulder to see what was wrong. "Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha was still on the ground with wide green eyes. They were full of fear, and she couldn't move. Jaune recognized it as fear paralysis. With a mumbled curse, he stood in front of Pyrrha and raised his shield, adamant in defending her. "Pyrrha, get up!" He called to her as he held his ground. "It's going to charge at us!"
"I-I…" Pyrrha stuttered. All she could see was the massive Nevermore beaming down at her with its blood-red glowing eyes. Its beak was so sharp, it's feathers were even longer than the one that she'd tripped over before. It just kept glaring at her. It wanted to kill her brutally and terribly. She knew that she had to stand up but… she just couldn't move. "I-I'm sorry… I-I can't."
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted. "You have to take control of your emotions! It senses your-"
It was too late, Jaune had to react as the Nevermore squawked and leaned down to try and scoop the girl up in its beak. She was a beacon of negative energy, which was the one thing that the Grimm used to track down humans and kill them. It was why they were so much more deadly against civilians than Huntsmen. Soon enough, Huntsmen could learn to control their fears. They were still afraid, sure, but not nearly as much as a normal person on the side of the road. Most people had never even seen a Grimm before, and right now, Pyrrha had the look of someone who was terrified for their life.
"Shit!" Jaune cursed as he threw himself between the Nevermore and his partner, he grabbed Pyrrha and pushed her out of the way, but couldn't fully get out of the way of the Nevermore as it bit down on his arm painfully.
"Crap!" Jaune exclaimed as he activated his aura and semblance, amplifying and hardening the aura around his arm before the Nevermore could bite through it or tear it off his body.
"Ah, Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she held on to Jaune's arm, trying to pull him out of the Nevermores beak.
"Pyrrha, let go!" Jaune exclaimed. "It's going to take off!"
"I won't let you go!" Pyrrha shouted back.
"No, you don't understand, it's going to start-"
The Nevermore confirmed his fears as its wings stretched out and flapped once, sending them all into the air as it started to take flight. It turned from Pyrrha trying to pull Jaune out to Jaune having to use his free hand, still attached to his shield, to save Pyrrha from falling to her death. In almost an instant, they were hundreds of feet off of the ground.
"Hold on!" Jaune shouted as he tried to get his sword, still being gripped by the hand that was currently inside of the Nevermore's mouth, and tried to do some kind of damage to it. He stopped before he could try, realizing that if he hurt it'd likely drop him and Pyrrha. Thankfully, his aura and semblance were strong enough to make sure that the Nevermore wouldn't tear his arm off, but it also put them in a stalemate. He couldn't attack the Nevermore without it dropping him, and the Nevermore couldn't break through his aura.
"Well…" Jaune said as he listened to the whistles of wind and the screams of Pyrrha as she held on to his arm for dear life. "It looks like we're going to be up here for a while…"
"We're lost," Yang pointed out as she watched Blake walk in front of her, pretending like she knew where she was going.
"We are not lost," Blake replied as she cut through some bushes with her weapon. Pretending that she did know where she was going.
"Yes, we are." Yang insisted. "Trust me, I know the look in someone's eye when they know that they've realized that they're lost. Why don't you let me lead the way? I had a good teacher to show me how to navigate through a forest." Raven wasn't a good teacher per se, but she was the best around considering how she literally grew up in a tribe full of bandits and needed to learn how to navigate forests at a very young age. Her and Uncle Qrow. After being ported into the forests of Patch and being told to make her way back home before dinner was ready she learned. Oh, she learned...
"Please, if I let you lead the way we'd get even more lost."
"You just admitted that you're lost."
"I did no such thing!" Blake's face going red at the accusation made Yang believe otherwise. "But if you are so adamant about proving me wrong for some reason then please, be my guest. Show me where we should go."
"Well, since you asked so nicely," Yang smirked as she licked the tip of her finger and stuck it up in the hair to feel the direction the wind was coming from. "Since the sun is still rising that means that right now we are facing east, which means that since the Emerald Forest is East of Beacon we are heading away and further from the location that the relics would hypothetically be held since I'm sure Salem doesn't want her initiates getting too lost in the forest. We are probably getting close to some sensors that would send someone to come find us if we get too far away. Also, see that mossy rock over there? It's a myth that it always grows facing the North, but that is only partly true. In this case, it actually is true. But going North isn't really the best option right now since we'd just be heading a path directly parallel to the school. So really, we should be heading West or South-West. That way we might actually find some relics before the sun goes down."
"How did you…" Blake didn't finish her question but Yang knew what she was going to say. Her smirk took a cocksure tone as she shrugged her shoulders sassily.
"I just know a thing or two about navigation. My mother did grow up on a tribe after all. I picked up a few things from her after she left me in the woods a few times." Yang explained.
"Hmph, she was probably trying to get rid of you."
"Hey, you know what?" Yang shook her head. "Fuck you."
"What?" Blake wasn't ready for such an outburst and was surprised when Yang started walking West and away from her. "What are you doing? Hey! Where are you going!?"
"West," Yang sighed loudly. "Since you want to keep being bitchy then I'll just head in my own direction. Follow me if you want, I don't care if you don't."
"Excuse me!?" Blake stomped up to her with a glare in her eyes. "This is coming out of nowhere! Are you seriously that sensitive-"
"Oh my God just shut up!" Yang shouted at her, turning on her heel as her purple eyes flashed red. "All you've been doing this entire time is insult me and make things difficult for both of us! I tried to prove myself to you earlier and all it did was make you content with me. I let you take the lead even though I knew you were going in the wrong direction and every time I tried to help you just blew me off or just straight ignored me! Not to mention you don't even call me by my name. I've been trying Blake, I really have, but what did you expect?" Blake stood there, shocked and wide-eyed and for once didn't have any retort. "I've been patient with you, as much as you might hate to believe that. I've been trying, but since you don't want to try either then honestly, fuck off and try to find a new partner."
Yang sighed, shaking her head and blinking as her eyes turned purple again as she calmed down. "Even if Salem forces us together, it's not like we have to stay as partners. I'm sure we'd be able to convince her to let us part ways and go to different teams. That's what you want, right?"
"I didn't…"
"Didn't what?" Yang laughed. "Are you seriously going to say you don't want to split all of a sudden? Because if you are, that's sad, really."
"No, it's just. Ugh," Blake shook her head and gestured forward. "Go, lead the way, I'll follow you."
Yang raised an eyebrow at her.
Blake sighed. "You want me to give you a chance? Go, lead us to the relic."
"Us?" Yang raised her eyebrow further.
"Yes," Blake stressed the word. "Us. I… may have been holding too strong a grudge, I admit."
"You think?"
"But I am willing to give you your chance," Blake went on. "So yes, us."
"Hmph, about time." Satisfied, Yang turned back around and pointed in a direction. "About a mile that way I saw some kind of stone structure. I didn't say anything about it before, but, well, that's probably where the relics are going to be. So to your credit, we did get somewhat close."
"Fantastic," Blake thought about it but didn't call her out on not saying anything about it before. Progress. "Then let's go."
"Ooooh, hold on a second," Yang said as she came to a stop.
"Stopping already?" Blake asked. "We just started moving."
"No, it's not that. Don't you feel the vibrations in the ground?"
"I… yes actually, I do."
"Something is chasing us."
"Yes, you seem to be correct."
In the distance, about a hundred meters out they saw several trees get knocked over. A roaring screech had Yang and Blake swallowing a nervous lump down their throats.
"So," Yang turned back to Blake. "Race you to the temple?"
"Sure," Blake said, already walking backward and preparing to break into a sprint. "Sounds like a plan."
"Hmm…" Ruby hummed as she crouched down before a strange-looking object that resided on a low pedestal. "You think this is one of those relics, Weiss?" She asked her partner.
"It may be," Weiss said as she looked at a different one. "These look like… Letters? Letters engraved into different kinds of stone disks. What does that one say?"
"It's in a language I don't know," Ruby said. "Or seen for that matter. I can try to pronounce it though… Contrarium? Oh god, I probably butchered that horribly."
"Most likely," Weiss said as she inspected a different plaque. "I am curious as to why the headmistress would use a dead language on these things, but they have to be relics. I don't see how they can be anything else."
"Agreed," Ruby replied, nodding. "Do we both need to grab one or do we only need this one?"
"I think one is sufficient, although… it wouldn't hurt to keep two to ourselves just in case."
"Heh, I like the way you're thinking," Ruby winked at her, did Weiss ever meet Raven? She already knew that her surrogate mother would like her just from this display of mild selfishness. "But if we do only need just the one, then I'd like to give our extra to my sister just in case she doesn't have one. Fair?"
"Fair," Weiss said as she pocketed the one that she took and then reached for another.
She stopped when she heard something break through the treeline on the other side of the temple, after sharing a look with Ruby they both nodded and readied their weapons. Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into its sniper form and Weiss revolved the dial on Myrtenaster until it landed on fire dust. Together, they made their way around the walls of the temple and stood in front of the main entrance, peering out to the forest where they saw the trees shake and some even getting knocked down.
"Well then," Ruby said as she crouched down and looked through her scope. "It seems like something is on its way to us, something big."
"I've noticed," Weiss replied. "Ready for a fight?"
Ruby smirked, cocking a bullet into the chamber. "Always."
Ruby almost shot her sister when she came sprinting out of the woods with Blake on her heel, both of them were sweating profusely, probably because of how fast they've been forcing themselves to run and for quite a distance at that. Ruby called out to her sister but didn't even get to finish as Yang blew past her and grabbed the spare relic in Weiss' hand.
"Hey, Ruby! Hey Weiss! This is my partner, Blake, and long story short we are getting chased by something really big. It's uh…"
"A Deathstalker," Blake said for her as Yang sucked in a clean deep breath for the first time after minutes of sprinting. "It's a Deathstalker. Really big, covered in moss. Hey Yang, are you sure that it's pointing North due to your little skill?"
"Heh," Yang chuckled. "You just called me by my name for the first time."
"Oh shut up human."
"Eyes up!" Weiss exclaimed, gesturing to the treeline and the set of bushes that were rustling violently. "Something's coming!"
Instead of an ancient Deathstalker with moss growing on it an Ursa came swinging wildly and at nothing, roaring painfully as the person riding on its back used their weapons, which were stabbed into the creature's shoulders all the way down to the hilt. Yang felt shocked to see the friend that adopted her at first sight and gave her his scroll number, Ren, cheering happily as the Ursa finally ran out of strength and keeled over, dead from its wounds.
"And that's how you make an entrance, right Nora- Woah!" Ren cut off as Nora grabbed him by his collar and lifted him over her shoulder and proceeded to continue running for both their lives.
"Sorry Ren, sorta still being chased here," Nora panted as she ran up the hill. She met Yang's eyes and called out to her, along with the rest of the girls there. "Deathstalker on the way-"
"We know!" Ruby exclaimed, shifting her aim off of them and aiming back toward the shaking woods before them. "Is something I can shoot going to burst out of those trees or what? I feel like the suspense is getting a little too dragged out at this point, what's next? Is Pyrrha coming out?"
"Er, is Pyrrha a girl with red hair by any chance?" Ren asked as Nora set him down when she finally made it up the hill. The ginger then proceeded to fall over and decide to take a break next to one of the pedestals.
"Yes, she is," Yang replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Huh, is that her?" Ren asked, pointing up to the sky.
Ruby wondered why there was a shadow looming over the forest when there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. All of the girls - and one boy - looked up at once to see a Nevermore, bigger than any that they have ever seen before, flying over their heads. It had something in its beak, and after Ruby aimed Crescent Rose to see what it was through her scope she let out a gasp. That boy that Pyrrha talked to in the locker room was being held by his arm in the creature's deadly jaws, and Pyrrha was hanging on to dear life onto his shield hand as her weapons flapped wildly on her back.
"Help!" Jaune could be heard in the distance, having spotted them as well.
"On it!" Ruby exclaimed as she adjusted the zero distance on her rifle and took a position that was never going to be comfortable. She cursed when she realized that the shot she'd have to make had to be carefully aimed or else she might miss, or worse, accidentally hit Jaune or Pyrrha. She sucked in a deep breath and relaxed, panicking at a time like this when she needed to make the best shot of her life was not the right time.
"Here, let me help." A white glyph appeared at the end of her barrel, Ruby looked at Weiss with a questioning gaze. "That should accelerate the velocity of your bullet tenfold, assuming that the bullet can handle it."
"Heh, in that case, I might as well be using a hit-scan character from a video game," Ruby said with a confident grin on her face. "Thanks," She mumbled as she looked back through the scope.
Time slowed as she activated her semblance, her perception of time causing the shift. Her scope was rightfully zoomed in, the zero distance was set, and now with the help of Weiss' glyph, she needn't have to worry about aiming ahead of it and accounting for the wind either. Slowly, she started exhaling, and as she did, she pulled the trigger.
"What a shot!" Jaune exclaimed as he started falling out of the sky.
"WAAAH!" Pyrrha thanked her in her own way.
"Human, can you use one of those glyphs to slow them down!?" Blake asked as she stretched out the ribbon on Gambol Shroud.
Weiss glared at her but nodded her head in confirmation. As much as she already despised her, she wouldn't let that hate potentially be the means to the end of another human life.
"Good, try to direct them to the temple, I'll catch them there."
"Alright," Weiss pointed Myternaster to the sky and activated her semblance. In front of where Jaune and Pyrrha were going to fall, a black glyph appeared. Once Jaune and Pyrrha hit it, their trajectory slowed down significantly. Next, Weiss created a gravity altercation glyph and pushed them toward the temple, and just in case she created one more to prevent them from overshooting.
Blake jumped onto the top of the temple and waited for them to fall to a certain height, once she deemed it time she threw her ribbon across and it stretched much farther than it had any right to. "Speed human!" She exclaimed, tossing the other end to her as she tied the ribbon on the other side. "Make a net with the temple."
"Okay, thanks for warning me about this earlier!" Ruby exclaimed as she shoved Crescent Rose into Yang's hands as she caught the ribbon and burst away into a flurry of rose petals. Within seconds of it being too late to catch them, Ruby had managed to make a net with Blake's ribbon.
The net stretched and stretched as Jaune and Pyrrha crashed into it, breaking their fall. Yang pushed Crescent Rose into Ren's hands as she realized what was about to happen if she didn't intervene. She grabbed the centermost part of the net and then grabbed on to one of the other pedestals to ground herself. She had to use all her strength to prevent the net from whiplashing and acting as a trampoline to send Jaune and Pyrrha right back into the sky.
"Come on, we're good now!" Jaune said as he wormed himself out of the net and helped Pyrrha do the same.
As soon as they were safe Ruby used her semblance again to untie the ribbon, giving the slack Yang needed to safely let go of it.
"Are you okay?" Jaune asked as he held Pyrrha's shoulders.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," Pyrrha said, looking down, ashamed. "I'm sorry about before, I froze up and almost got you killed."
"I forgive you," Jaune said easily, smiling confidently as Pyrrha looked back up at him. "It was the first Grimm you've ever seen and a pretty damn terrifying one at that. I'll help you learn how to get past that fear, sound good partner?"
Pyrrha laughed and nodded her head, affectionately patted Jaune's forearm as he pulled his hands away.
"Oh, don't worry about thanking us," Weiss said as she placed her hands on her hips. "We just didn't act within ten seconds to save you two from falling to your deaths."
"Sh!" Yang shushed the white-haired girl. "They were having a moment! It was so adorable!"
"Ergh," Pyrrha and Jaune suddenly realized what they meant and stepped away from each other, blushing madly.
"Annnd now it's ruined, great." Yang rolled her shoulders as Blake bent down to pick up and reel in her ribbon. "Good to see ya Pyrrha, Jaune. Mind telling us how the hell you managed to get caught up in a Nevermore's mouth like that?"
"Hehe, that's a funny story," Jaune said.
"Hey, give me back Crescent Rose!" Ruby shouted in the background, tackling Ren to the ground.
"I was gonna!" Ren cried.
"No, you weren't! You were taking selfies with it!"
"Just give it back, Ren," Nora said as she stood back up and grabbed the relic sitting at the top. Ren pouted as he did so, saying how everyone was against him that day. "By the way, those are the relics, make sure you grab one."
"Right," Pyrrha said as she went to do just that.
"And I opt to tell it another time," Jaune continued. "By the way, I saw something chasing you as the Nevermore carried us."
"That would be that thing," Weiss pointed out as the Deathstalker they've all been waiting for finally burst out of the forest, screeching madly as its pincers snapped at them like a mother who relied on her chancla to instill discipline.
"About time it showed up," Ruby muttered as she shifted Crescent Rose back into its scythe form."
"I'm not running away from it this time," Yang said as Ember Celica shifted over her fists.
"Ahem," Blake coughed.
"Fine, we are not running away this time."
"Let's work together to defeat it," Weiss added, stepping beside her own partner.
"That's not all…" Nora mumbled as Magnhild shifted into its launcher form.
As the Deathstalker screeched and began to charge, the Nevermore from before charged right along with it, coming from the air and flying low, obviously not pleased with the new hole it had in its beak, chipping it and making it painful to even open it. It screeched and glared at its former target, the redheaded girl who was once again being guarded by her partner. However, Pyrrha didn't let herself freeze up this time, she walked out from behind Jaune and stared it down as well, she was still scared of course, but not enough to the point where she'd let herself freeze up like that again.
"There's a more open area to fight them nearby," Pyrrha pointed to the extension of the ruins behind them. "We can use that area to battle them."
The group looked at her and nodded, following her lead they all ran together in two teams of four that just formed out of instinct. Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby ran more to the side toward the near-ruined stone bridge. The Deathstalker saw them and with a screech, chased them down that same bridge. Pyrrha wanted to go follow them but stopped when Jaune gently pulled her in the other direction. She looked at him and they both nodded. Yang's group would be able to handle themselves, right now, the Nevermore from the cave was just starting to dive at them with an angry screech echoing throughout the sky.
"I'll knock it off balance!" Nora exclaimed as her grenade launcher aimed up at the sky.
"Get ready to attack it the second it touches the ground!" Pyrrha exclaimed, then looked at Jaune. "You said you have the most aura out of everyone out Remnant, right? Then you'd be best fit for taking a charge, just in case the - what's your name again?"
"Nora," Nora answered.
"And I'm Ren!" Ren added.
"Then Nora, keep doing what you're doing, and Ren," Pyrrha spared a glance over his choice of weapons, which was what looked to appear as just two machine pistols with sharp blades at the end of them. "Try to shoot out its eyes."
"Heh, will do!" Ren said as he flourished his weapons. "I love shooting eyeballs out of Grimm's faces!"
"That's fantastic," Pyrrha said as she raised her shield and propped her spear over her shoulder and stood several feet behind Jaune, who took up a solid defensive stance as his white aura shielded his body from every direction, it was still transparent and with seconds to spare, Jaune glanced back at her with a pleasantly surprised expression on his face.
"This is more like it," Jaune nodded at her. "What's your role going to be boss?"
"Please don't call me that," Pyrrha stammered. "But after you deflect the charge I aim to try to stab it with my spear, pretty much. I'll just try to make sure it won't be able to take off into the sky again."
"Solid plan," Jaune said as he turned back to the Nevermore. It reared up and roared at them once more, and when one of Nora's grenades struck it flush against its side and exploded in a mirage of pink and green fire, it actually stopped mid-air and simply hovered for a moment. Instantly, Jaune knew what it was about to do.
"Shields up!" He shouted, feeling Ren touch his shoulder as he took cover behind him, he could only hope that Nora did the same to Pyrrha.
The Nevermore flapped its wings violently, sending its feathers at them like missiles. Jaune's shield blocked and deflected each one, but some of them exploded against his shield, muffling his vision with black steam as the pieces of the Nevermore died against him. He assumed something similar was happening with Pyrrha but was concerned for her as her shield wasn't nearly as wide or as thick as his was. In an act of desperation, Jaune pushed forward until he was underneath the Nevermore, then with Ren still behind him, pointed him up at the creature.
"Shoot it and get its attention!"
"On it!" Ren did as he was told and unloaded both of his clips into the Nevermores stomach. None of the bullets actually penetrated through the Nevermore's feathers or it's hard to hide, but it certainly managed to piss it off. It looked directly beneath itself and saw both of them, reared up, and dive-bombed at them.
Jaune pushed Ren out of the way and struck the Nevermore's beak with his shield. For a moment, the two battled against each other in a contest of strength, with Jaune winning out as he shoved the Nevermore to the side causing it to roll over itself. The Nevermore quickly righted itself and tried to snap at him, but another one of Nora's grenades caught it in the side of its face. It screeched in pain and used one of its hind legs to rub the fire out, and screeched again when another grenade exploded under its head.
"Go, go, go!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she ran toward the giant bird. "Don't let it take off!"
Ren loaded his weapons in seconds and charged at the creature alongside Jaune. Jaune took the slash of its claws with his shield and let Ren vault off his shoulder and land on the creature's head. With one blade he stabbed it deep into one of the Nevermore's feathers, and nearly fell off as it bounced off of its skull, causing him to lose balance for a moment. Jaune saved him by thrusting his sword up into its snout, causing the Nevermore to throw its head up and actually impale itself on Ren's blade. Ren gave Jaune a quick thanks before one again unloading his entire clip directly into the creature's eye.
With one eye bleeding, a wound underneath its chin, and in its head, the Nevermore stood on its two feet and screeched so loud it made Jaune and Pyrrha wonder if they were somehow in that cave.
Pyrrha staggered as the creature prepared to flap its wings, reacting on instinct and a random idea that just popped into her head. She placed her shield behind her back and aimed with her javelin. She never actually threw the damn thing, but she's seen it done in movies all the time and Jaune just unlocked her aura, if she could just put the necessary power behind it that she needed, then perhaps…
Closing her eyes and hoping for the best, Pyrrha threw her spear as hard as she could. The bullet that fired from her rifle at the same time made her fall forward in surprise, but it was a good surprise.
THUNK
The Nevermore fell out of the sky just as quickly as it got back into it, now with a red-bronze spear stabbing through one of its wings and pinning it to its body. With one side of its body being so much heavier than the other all of a sudden, it couldn't keep its balance and fell over onto the spear, pushing it deeper into its body.
"Nice shot!" Nora cheered from behind her.
"N-Now!" Pyrrha shouted as she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Kill it!"
It seemed that 'kill it' was sufficient enough orders. Nora shifted her grenade launcher into a huge Warhammer, Jaune held his sword with both hands as his shield shifted back into a scabbard and proceeded to lop big chunks of flesh off the Nevermore's body, and Ren, still attached to the things head, just stabbed and stabbed away with his weapons.
By the time Pyrrha even made it to the Nevermore it had already given up on life as a dozen fatal injuries were dealt with it at once. But Pyrrha still didn't think it was enough or didn't know it was enough, using her shield, she went over to her spear which was stuck poking out of the creature's side by a few feet, and smashed her shield into it. Burying the rest of the spear deep into the Nevermore's heart.
The Nevermore let out one final death screech before it finally died. Causing Pyrrha to let out a massive sigh of relief as she fell backward onto her butt.
"Woohoo!" Ren exclaimed as he picked himself up after finally letting himself fall off its head. "We won!"
"We certainly did," Nora added, pleased with herself and with her new friends. "We just took down an ancient Nevermore in our initiation. If this doesn't get us into Beacon, nothing will."
"Agreed," Jaune said as he rolled his shoulders and sheathed his sword. "Great job Pyrrha, without your orders any of us may have gotten hurt back there."
"M' sorry," Pyrrha mumbled as her chest rose up and down rapidly. She was still tuckered out, it seemed.
"What are you apologizing for?" Jaune laughed, extending a hand to her to help her back up. "We won, the big monster is dead, we have the relic, and now all we have to do is help the others kill that Deathstalker."
Pyrrha let Jaune help her up as she realized that initiation wasn't over until her friends were safe as well. Though, as she looked toward what was happening on the other side of the temple, she hesitated.
"I don't think Yang and them need our help…"
"Woo!" Yang whooped as she blocked another pincer attack with her forearms, even as she slid back from the force, she didn't allow herself to fall over. "That's right big guy, keep coming at me! I'm the biggest threat in the room!"
"You wish…" Blake muttered as she jumped from pillar to pillar above her, with Ruby doing the same on the other side. Once again the ribbon of Gambol Shroud found itself in her hands, she knew what Yang was trying to get them to do, and she was trusting them to help her end the fight before the Deathstalker could push her off the collapsed part of the bridge. She still thought she was an idiot for refusing to dodge any of the Deathstalkers attacks and only doing so when the stinger got involved, but she couldn't argue with the results. She had to admit, despite wielding a brutish fighting style, Yang knew how to take a hit and keep getting back up.
On the other side, Ruby nodded to her and leaped off of the pillar. She disappeared into a flurry of petals and Blake could barely keep track of her, but she caught sight of the red hooded girl once she stopped and propped herself up on the railing of the bridge, waiting for the signal. The signal that Yang swore they would all recognize instantly.
Weiss waited behind Yang with Myrtenaster at the ready at the far end of the bridge, she didn't know what she was supposed to be waiting for and was about to go against her part of the plan as Yang continued to block or take every single heavy strike that the Deathstalker was dishing out. She just kept coming too, even when it was clear that she would be the one to fall first in a straight tank battle like this.
"What is she doing!?" Blake called out to Ruby as she hopped to the next pillar. "She's going to lose her aura and get herself killed!"
"It's her semblance!" Ruby called back without even looking at her. "Trust her and you'll see!"
Blake grit her teeth but ultimately decided to do so. As much as her partner was annoying she didn't want to see her get killed and would intervene if she saw her aura go out. For now, she'd play her game.
Yang grit her teeth as the pain rattled all the way down her skeleton. It didn't hurt as much as it used to before, as she has had plenty of time to learn how to harness and control her own semblance. She was building up power with each and every strike dealt with her, and while she was sure that they could probably be beating this thing in another way, this was just the first one that came to mind. She was waiting for the Deathstalker to make a certain move, even as she continued to block its pincers and break its charge with a charge of her own, she waited and waited for the perfect time to strike.
Until then, it finally came. One claw overextended just a little too far and she gripped it with so much force she felt her fingers crack through the outer shell. Now in pain, the Deathstalker hissed and tried to behead her with it's other claw. Only for Yang to catch that one as well and grip that one just as tightly. The Deathstalker tried to pull back, but that was its second mistake.
Yang's eyes turned red as her hair caught bright yellow flames as she pulled so hard she threatened to rip the claws right off of the Deathstalker's arms. Screeching and finally using its deadliest weapon, Yang let go of the claws at just the right time and prepared to catch the stinger.
"No!" Blake exclaimed, just about to throw her ribbon.
"HAH!" Yang shouted as she punched the stinger so hard it caused the Deathstalker to do a full one-eighty and knock it off balance.
"Now!" Weiss exclaimed, firing a beam of flames toward the creature's back. The Deathstalker screeched as flames licked it's backside and burned it's belly as it waved below its body. Causing the creature to jump forward and stumble to the ground in an effort to put out the flames.
"No, you don't!" Ruby exclaimed as she sliced off two of its front legs, she came to a sliding halt, waiting for Blake to pull the next move.
Blake knew what that was supposed to be when she noticed the stinger of the creature still waving side to side, now knocked loose from Yang's punch. She tossed her ribbon as hard as she could and yanked hard when she saw it wrap around the tip of the stinger. The Deathstalker roared painfully as the stinger threatened to get pulled right off, but it still hung on and for all her own strength Blake just couldn't pull it off.
"Hah!" Weiss exclaimed as she dove forward with Myrtenaster, summoning a row of glyphs in a path before her. Her speed suddenly matched Ruby's, and with one quick slice as she flew past the Deathstalker, it's stinger came flying off, smashing the Deathstalker into the ground as it screeched and flapped it's missing two legs and stinger-less tail as black blood spilled everywhere.
Yang used Weiss' glyphs to catch up to the creature and leaped into the air. She got in front of the sun, her semblance causing her hair and eyes to seemingly glow just as bright as the star. She reared her fist back as she started falling down toward the Deathstalker as it started picking itself back up and off the ground.
"Nope!" Ruby exclaimed as she dashed forward in her semblance, slicing off the two front legs on the other side of the Deathstalker. "You're going to stay right there and take your punishment like a… well, Grimm."
Yang roared a mighty roar as she slammed her fist, now super semblance enhanced, into the Deathstalkers carapace above its head. Her fist impaled into the creature and struck the floor as her entire arm went through it. The full force of her punch and the weight of the Deathstalker caused the already crumbling bridge to start falling apart. "Woah!" Yang yelped as she ripped her arm out of the Deathstalker's body, quickly losing balance as she staggered back and forth.
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, already on the way with her semblance. Though she knew it in her mind she wouldn't be able to catch Yang in time. She could run and move faster with her semblance, but she couldn't fall faster with it.
A ribbon tied around her waist right as Yang began to scream. She held onto the ribbon as a literal lifeline as she dangled over a cliff that she couldn't even see the bottom to. After letting out a sigh of relief, she felt herself start getting pulled back up to what was left of the bridge.
Blake grabbed her hand as she grabbed onto the ledge and helped her up the rest of the way. From there, all of the girls sat down and let out a sigh of relief as Yang laughed and laid flat on her back.
"Heh… so, that was a thing," Yang said as she took in a long deep breath.
"You could have gotten yourself killed," Blake berated her. "What were you thinking?"
"Awe, Blake, showing concern for me already?" Yang teased as she sat back up, patting Blake on the cheek as she did so and causing the faunus to flush and glare at her. "There is hope for us yet if it is true!"
"Shut up, just because we had problems before doesn't mean I want to see you die."
"I don't see why you're complaining anyhow," Weiss muttered. "She was the reason we were able to kill it."
"You-"
"Bah!" Ruby stopped them before they could begin to argue again. "No arguing! No swearing! No more of that! At least not until we get back to Beacon."
"Ruby's right, let's just enjoy what we just achieved," Yang said. "We just passed initiation!"
Blake and Weiss seemed to realize that as well, and silently agreed to push their next argument back on their schedule and opted to smile and feel pride for themselves instead.
Unbeknownst to both parties, a camouflage camera winked off as they regrouped and started making their way back to Beacon.
"Interesting," Salem said as she put her scroll away once turning the cameras off. "Very interesting. Do you see now why I brought her in so early?"
"She is impressive, I'll admit." Cinder allowed. "As are the rest of the girls. So I'll let you chalk that one on the board as one of your terrible plans that ended up working out. However, I have doubts about the Nikos girl. She clearly doesn't belong here, if her earlier displays of ignorance and inexperience has anything to say."
"Come now Cinder, she was still able to lead her own group into defeating that Nevermore and honestly it was about time someone bumped into the thing. Did you know that I was the one to trap it in there myself?"
"Were you now?" Cinder blinked at her. "How long ago was that?"
"Fifty years ago, give or take," Salem said, blinking her still tired features as she yawned. "I didn't think it would take this long, but I'm glad some initiates were able to take it down before I had to go fix my mistake before it spiraled too much out of control."
"That was reckless," Cinder pointed out. "After all that time it got big enough to pose a threat to even a fully trained Huntsmen. You're lucky the Arc boy was there to protect her or else we'd have to be announcing the death of an initiate to the world."
"Except we do not have to," Salem pointed out, smirking as Cinder rolled her eyes at her. "Trust me on this, Cinder. I know what I am doing and I can say with a clear conscience that this will all work out perfectly."
"If you say so, Headmistress."
"Now, we should go congratulate our new students, shall we?" Salem said, beckoning Cinder to follow her as she turned and began walking away. "You know what that means, don't you?"
"Time to come up with Team names that we should have started thinking about an hour ago?"
Salem winked at her.
"That's exactly right."
This came out a bit later than I intended it to, but hey. At least it's out now. I was going to finish it when the error with the website was fixed but all of a sudden as I was taking my time my friend and Beta CrowSkull just happened to comment that it was fixed at around 10:50pm last night. I wrote most of this around the 1am-3am hours, but hey, it's finally done and posted now right?
I certainly hope so, I didn't stay up until four in the morning writing this for no good reason, right?
R-Right?
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