"And That, Weiss, Is The Complete History Of The Tsundere Trope." Scythle finished explaining to the white-haired girl sitting across from her as the Bullhead flew through the sky. "Any Questions?"
"Why do you know all of that?" Weiss asked.
Before the purple-haired girl could respond, the pilot's voice sounded from within their cabin. "Alright girls, we're approaching the drop-off zone. This is as close as I can get it, so you'll need to make the rest of the way on foot."
"Thanks for the lift." Ruby said as the ship came to a halt, beginning it's decent. Scythle looked out from the ship towards the mountains they were heading towards. She saw a small smoke cloud form in the air after a burst of pink energy and quickly reasoned it was team JNPR ahead of them. As Ruby began explaining strategies, Scythle's fingers sporadically curled and uncurled themselves, and her eyes darted around in their sockets. After a moment, Scythle stood up, allowing her cape to flow back in the breeze before she grabbed onto it.
"Yep, I Can Make That." Scythle said before looking back at the group. "See You Guys At The Brawl." With that, Scythle took a step towards the open hatch, and Weiss's eyes immediately widened as she realized what the girl was doing.
"No, wait-!" Weiss yelled before Scythle jumped out the door, spreading her cloak out. As Scythle glided out, the cable between her and Weiss yanked the white-haired girl out with her. As the heiress fell, she quickly projected a glyph under her, using it to launch herself after the purple girl. Throwing herself ahead of Scythle, Weiss sent back a scowl at the gliding girl. "Did you not hear me?!"
"Relax, You Can Fly Too." Scythle said as she flew past Weiss, before getting yanked around as Weiss prepared to launch herself again. As Weiss flew out of the glyph, Scythle was pulled up with her and spread her cloak out again in an attempt to catch a draft. "Sorta."
"Give me some warning next time!" Weiss yelled as she adjusted her arks, moving closer to the purple girl in an attempt to make the trip easier on them. As the two flew over the treeline towards the mountains, they heard a loud, piercing roar, the likes of which they had never heard before.
The dark creature let out a shrill hiss that grew into a roar as it reeled a head back, before it fired off at its target in a black blur. Jaune was barely able to jump out of the way before he broke out into a sprint, narrowly avoiding the second head coming in at him. He looked back down from the outcropping, seeing the rest of his team firing off their weapons without hesitation. None of their attacks seemed to even phase the conglomerate of snakes. As the blond narrowly avoided attacks, he racked his brain attempting to understand what the smaller creature had done.
As Nora and Ren focused their fire on one of the tendrils, attempting to break its armor open, they heard a sharp roar as another head darted towards them. With wide eyes, Ren quickly wrapped an arm around Nora's waist, helping the girl to jump over the serpent just moments before fang met flesh. As they ran along the tendril's back, Nora looked back at the creature to see another head coming at them, and quickly fired a grenade at its open mouth in the hopes of throwing off its aim.
The tendril spun into a coil, allowing the bomb to strike its impenetrable scales as it continued to close in. As Ren and Nora jumped up again, the ginger fired a grenade at their feet, throwing them high into the air over the creature. As they flew through the air, they opened fire on the beast once more. As Ren's bullets closed in on a head's eyes, a white member closed over-top of them, easily deflecting the bullets before it shot after them. Nora unfolded her cannon into its hammer form and pulled the weight back, diving forwards to knock the beast away. With a loud boom, her weapon struck the serpent head, throwing it to the side as two more closed in on them. As Nora pulled back her hammer to attack the other two serpents, Pyrrha's shield flew out, bouncing between the armored tendrils in the hopes of drawing their attention. As the metal disk cluttered to the ground, Pyrrha jumped on one tendril's back, scraping her spear along the black scales with as much force as she could put in.
Just as before, the scales held, and as Nora knocked one of the approaching heads away, she realized all too late she was about to fall into the mouth of another. With eyes wide, Pyrrha threw a hand out, focusing on the metal around Nora's waist to throw the girl to the side. The snake missed its chance to bite into the ginger, and as she fell, Nora began firing at the tendril Pyrrha road as Ren slashed along the other. Hearing a loud hiss, Pyrrha looked up to see another black blur darting towards her. She quickly realized the opportunity she had, and allowed the creature to get as close as it could before jumping off of it. As Pyrrha flew away, the attacking serpent closed its mouth around the other serpent's head. As Pyrrha landed, she slid back along the dirt and reached out to recall her shield as she looked up at the serpents. The attacker easily let go of the other head, and the two turned their attention to Pyrrha, none the worse for wears.
Jumping out of the way of yet another attack, Jaune looked down at his teammates to see the heads closing in on Pyrrha, a third entering the fray to surround the girl. As the heads burst towards her, Jaune's eyes widen, and he reached out towards the red-haired girl, as if he could somehow put the inevitable tragedy on pause. "PYRRHA, NO!"
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Before the heads could dig into their meal, bullets struck into their mouths, ricocheting against their gums and tongues before streams of blue struck their scales, casting them in a coat of ice. The creatures' aims were thrown off, and their assault slowed just enough to allow Pyrrha to jump out of the way. The red-haired girl quickly looked up to where the shots had came from, before catching a set of figures gliding through the air, coming to land on Jaune's outcropping.
"Do Not Fear, You're Protagonist Has Arrived!" Scythle yelled as she and Weiss stood before the blond. After a brief second of basking in non-existent glory, Scythle cracked an eye open to look at JNPR's leader. "By The Way, Jaune-Ie-Boy, If You Steal Anymore Of My Screen Time, Ya Sleeping With The Fishes." Before Jaune could question what the purple-haired girl was talking about, Scythle glanced over at the creature the group was fighting. As Weiss fired off another shot of Dust at it, Scythle's eyes widened before she darted over to the cliff face for a better look. "Whoa, No One Said Anything About A Hydra! Not Gonna Lie, That's Pretty Kick-Ass."
"Hey, Scythle," Weiss said, quickly slapping the side of Scythle's head to get her attention. "Less chit-chat, more combat!"
"Sorry, Weiss, Every Battle Comes With A Five Quip Minimum." Scythle said, before kicking off another set of shots against the wriggling mass.
"Where's the rest of your team?" Jaune asked, scouring the sky for any incoming tendrils.
"Blame this idiot." Weiss said, pointing towards the girl she was tethered to. "She decided to jump ahead of the others and dragged me along with her."
"Well, how long till they get here?" Jaune asked, and before Weiss could answer, the ground beneath them began to crack. In an instant, a snakehead burst out from the ground, throwing Weiss and Scythle back and Jaune into the air. As the creature closed in on the blond, Scythle reached for her staff and quickly threw the purple rod into the beast's mouth. It lodged itself just below the fangs, and Jaune quickly grabbed onto it before he could fall into the beast's throat. As the metal began to bend, Jaune quickly jumped out of the beast's mouth, tumbling to the ground as Weiss and Scythle began firing at it.
Their shots either faded across its black skin or ricocheted off. The shots climbed higher and higher up the tendril, attempting to reach its eye before a membrane covered the red orb, deflecting the shots. With a snap, the metal bar finally broke, allowing the beast to close its mouth before turning its attention towards the two. "Oh, Come On." Scythle whined as the beast wound up to strike. "I Just Got That Fixed!" The monster quickly fired down at them, once more digging its head into the ground as Weiss and Scythle jumped over the strike, quickly running along its back as it came out the other end of the cliff, arching around to strike the two. Glancing behind them, Scythle and Weiss's eyes widened as they saw the beast coming in, before Scythle quickly darted to the side, pushing Weiss out of the way in a cloud of purple petals. The creature bit into its own skin once again, failing to do any damage, just as before.
As Weiss and Scythle landed, a loud roar echoed through the air, and Weiss cast a set of glyphs under them before throwing herself and Scythle into the air, narrowly avoiding another strike from another head. Spinning around to face the creature, Scythle pulled out her pistols as Weiss aimed her sword, spinning its chamber over to Yellow Dust. As Scythle opened fire, lightning jumped out of Weiss's blade, and the attacks once again bounced off the creature's skin as it turned its attention to them. Scythle looked to the side and saw another head closing in, and quickly grabbed onto the girl beside her before firing a shot out of her leg. The two shot down, allowing the two heads to strike each other. As they fell, the two spun around to fire off at the heads, once again proving their weapons were ineffective.
"This isn't working!" Weiss yelled. "We don't have the firepower to breach its scales!"
"Well Then…" Scythle said as the heads separated, allowing a smirk to grow across her face. "I Guess We'll Just Have To Kill These Things From The Inside-Out!"
"Scythle, no!" Weiss yelled out as the heads shot towards them, pulling Scythle out of the way of the strikes. "We are not going to do that only to find out their insides are just as tough as their outsides!"
"Oh, Boo, Weiss." Scythle complained. "No Need To Be Such A Bore."
"Well, sorry I like being alive!" Weiss yelled, spinning her Dust chambers again, trying to figure out which Dust would be the most use. Glancing back up at the serpent heads, Weiss and Scythle saw them pulling back, once again readying itself to strike at the two. Scythle folded her back her pistols and slipped them back into her sleeves, unfolding her Scythleg as she did so, staring up at the two beasts, waiting for their attack.
The beasts quickly launched themselves into the ground, causing the duo's eyes to widen before the heads burst out in front of them, kicking up most of the ground as it tried to bite into them. Weiss cast another glyph as Scythle let out a shot, throwing the two back away from it. As they fell off the cliff, the looked towards the center of the beast, before seeing a set of heads zig-zagging towards them. Weiss cast a glyph beneath them, throwing the two back up over the first head. Letting out a shot, Scythle spun around Weiss, slashing the next head away before the white-haired girl swung her sword, sending out a wave of fire at the next approaching head. The flames rolled across its skin before its mouth sprung open, ready to swallow the pair whole.
Before it could, though, a streak of yellow slammed into the head, crashing it into the ground. Finishing her next glyph, Weiss launched herself and Scythle back up towards the cliff-face, and as the two landed, found Ruby and Blake firing their weapons at a head attacking them.
"Hey, Sis, Took Ya Long Enough." Scythle said as Weiss looked back off the cliff-face, seeing Yang beating into the creature before the head flicked her off. Just as it was about to strike her, Yang jumped at its face, firing another set of shots into it before throwing herself up towards the rest of her team.
"What is this thing?" Yang asked as she skidded to a halt, throwing a set of shots into the head attacking her sister and partner. "Or these things or whatever? I thought we were fighting Taijitus."
"I've never seen anything like this." Blake said as she threw her kama out at another tendril, seeing it scrape across the black scales as Ruby began firing at one of the heads.
"So What's The Plan, Sis?" Scythle asked as Weiss scanned the area for any attackers. "Wait Until It Gets Bored And Leaves?"
As Ruby let out shot after shot, she skirted over to the edge of the cliff, peering over at the battle below her to see the remainders of team JNPR fighting the serpents. She took quick note of the effectiveness of each of their weapons and looked back over each attacking serpent before turning her attention to her team. "Yang, switch to implosive rounds." Ruby said. "If this thing can take Nora's explosives, yours won't do much."
"Got it." Yang nodded as she shook the rounds out of her gauntlets.
"Same goes for the rest of you." Ruby ordered, reaching into her magazine pouch for her Cross Clip before throwing it to her sister. "Has anyone seen Jaune? I need more info on this thing."
"Over here!" Jaune called out, poking out from behind a rock.
"You guys keep that thing busy." Ruby said to her team. "Try not to die." She finished, before shooting over to the blond leader.
"Well Then," Scythle said as she slipped in the red magazine, before quickly skirting over to the edge with a grin on her face. "Have At The!" Scythle yelled before firing the rounds into the mass of serpents, before the rest of her team followed suit.
As the bullets connected with the black mass, the tendrils spasmed before its head turned to look at the group, letting out a shrill hiss as it launched at them. The group jumped out of the way, Yang and Blake throwing themselves off the edge as Weiss and Scythle began running along its back. Scythle shifted behind Weiss to pick the girl up, taking the heiress by surprise before firing a shot into the tentacle beneath her. As the two flew through the air, Weiss spun her chamber again, creating a series of glyphs in the air before launching various Dusts into them.
"Scythle, aim for those glyphs!" Weiss yelled, and Scythle quickly spun around to launch her bullets into the glyphs. As the bullets exited the glyphs, they carried with them the energy trail of the Dusts they were enhanced by. As they struck the tendrils, the bullets let out flashes of red, blue, yellow, and white, causing the heads to shoot up, reeling in pain.
"Sweet, We Did Something!" Scythle said as she spun around again, landing just outside the tree line.
"Yeah, but I don't think I have enough Dust to do that constantly." Weiss noted as she was let down. She and Scythle turned their attention towards the mass of heads, before seeing one coming at them. Before they could do anything to stop it, Yang flew in from the side, punching the side of its head before jumping back. As the head flew into the tree line, Yang reached for her arm, clenching her fingers.
"Oum, I felt that one." Yang said, looking back up at the snake to see it pulling itself up. "And it didn't even phase the thing!?" Yang yelled. "How thick is that skin!?" The head launched off towards Yang, and the blonde barely managed to launch herself over it before she began firing shots into it.
"I don't get it, how can something that tough and strong be so fast?" Weiss asked, before seeing another head coming at her and Scythle. The purple girl quickly stepped forward, spinning herself around to slash her blade across its skin. It managed to push her and Weiss out of the way, and as she spun around, Scythle shot another set of heads circling Nora and Ren. Seizing her opportunity, Nora lifted up her hammer and brought it down on one of the beasts with as much force as she could manage. The creature easily pushed the hammer off of itself, and Ren and Nora had to quickly jump out of the way of the other.
"This is useless, we can't hurt that thing." Weiss commented before she and Scythle jumped over another incoming snakehead. Scythle looked back at the seven other heads of the creature, trying to figure out what to do before her eyes fell on the cliff behind the beast.
"I Know Something That Might." Scythle smirked, before turning her attention to the ginger of team JNPR. "Hey, Nora!" She yelled, catching the girl's attention before pointing to the mountain behind the beast. "What Do You Say We Bury This Thing!?"
"What?" Weiss asked.
"That sounds awesome!" Nora yelled before jumping over another head, shooting a grenade at her feet to launch her over the creature. Before Weiss could question the purple-haired girl further, Scythle folded her Scythleg back up and dashed out, racing around the giant Grimm in a blur of purple rose petals. After almost falling to the ground, Weiss cast a glyph at her feet to hover behind the girl before Scythle came to a stop next to Nora. The two gave each other a quick nod before they aimed their weapons at the cliff. As they fired at the stone, large explosions ran across it, digging large holes into the mountain as cracks began to run along it.
Eventually, the cliff split open, and large rocks rained down into the clearing below. As the rocks began to fall, Scythle, Weiss, and Nora all darted out of the way, aided by one of Weiss's glyphs before a head launched at them. Barely missing them, the serpent looked up to see the crumbling mountain, and its eyes widened as it let out a loud hiss before the stones collided with it. As the group landed, Scythle and Nora looked back at the crumbled cliff and settling dust, watching the Grimm beginning to thrash against the rubble entrapping half its heads. With toothy grins, Scythle and Nora bumped their fists together. Weiss was about to dig into the pair for their recklessness, before a red light at the Grimm's center caught her eyes. Narrowing her eyes for a better look, Weiss could make out what looked like a Grimm mask, and her eyes widened as she realized what it was.
"Is that… A possession Grimm?" Weiss asked, catching Nora and Scythle's attention.
"A What-Now?" Scythle asked.
"A possession Grimm." Weiss repeated, pointing towards the mask. "I fought one before coming to Beacon, but I never knew they could possess other Grimm."
"Come to think of it," Nora began. "Something did pull all those Taij… Teijo… Tippy-toe-"
"Taijitus." Weiss said.
"Yeah, Tongue-Twisters." Nora said. "Something pulled them into that thing."
"Think We Can Kill Them If We Kill It?" Scythle asked.
"Maybe, but it'll be as strong as the rest of it." Weiss commented.
"Hey, Ruby, We Found A Fuck-Me-Light!" Scythle yelled out into the battlefield. Only the creature's roars and the sound of gunfire answered her call, causing her smirk to falter. "Sis?! Can You Hear Me!?" She called out as she began looking around.
"Uh, Scythle…" Weiss began, pointing towards the familiar red of Crescent Rose, sticking out from the rubble.
Within the rubble, Ruby held onto her weapon, trying to pick herself up, only to find she was incapable of climbing to her feet. Rubbing the dust out of her eye, Ruby looked down at her right leg to find it trapped beneath a large stone. As she went to push it off of herself, the rocks around her shook, before a head shot out from the ground. With wide eyes, the red-haired girl immediately pulled up her weapon and slashed at the beast as it closed in on her, only for the scythe to be knocked out of her hands and into the air.
"NoNoNoNoNo!" Scythle said before darting forwards, once again dragging Weiss with her as she pulled out her knifes. As the head looped around to attack the red-haired girl, Scythle slammed into it, throwing off its aim and causing the head to slam into the ground. As the creature was picking itself up, Scythle unfolded her Scythleg before spinning around, scrapping the blade across the creature's face. Sparks flew off its scales before it pulled itself up, and wrapped up in her cable, Scythle tried desperately to aim her weapons at the beast. As the beast prepared to launch itself at the three, Weiss threw her hand out to cast a glyph, before Yang smacked into the back of its head, climbing over to its mouth.
"Hope you're hungry!" Yang yelled as she pried the creature's mouth open, before she began firing shots into its throat. As the creature was distracted, Weiss and Scythle turned their attention to their buried leader and began attempting to push the rock pinning her down off.
"Guys, what happened?" Ruby asked, before coughing up a bit of dust as Weiss cast a glyph under the rock while Scythle unwrapped herself.
"Blame your sister." Weiss said, pointing towards Scythle as she threw the rock off. "But the good news is we know where its weak point is." Weiss pointed towards the mask at the center of the tangle of snakes while Scythle helped her sister up. "The whole thing should die if we land a good hit on that."
"Okay…" Ruby said, beginning to think of their strategy. "Okay, if we do your Glyph-Dust-Bullet trick with one of Crescent Rose's shots, it might be able to-" As Ruby began to stand up, she immediately let out a groan of pain, reaching for her leg, wincing as pain shot through it as more weight was put on it.
"Are you okay?" Weiss asked, helping her leader to stand.
"I'll be fine." Ruby said. "Don't need my legs to shoot. Just find Crescent Rose."
"We need to get you somewhere safe first." Weiss said, looking back up towards the cliff to see a remaining bit of land. Weiss once again cast a glyph at her feet, quickly aiming the shot before giving the cable between her and Scythle a tug. "Okay, Scythle, get ready for-"
"It Hurts…"
Weiss's eyes widened as she looked back at the purple-haired girl, finding Scythle hunched over her Scythleg, clutching at her knee with gritted teeth. Seeing her sister, Ruby immediately pushed herself out of Weiss's arms and knelt down in front of Scythle, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. "Amethyst, what's wrong?"
"It Hurts…" Scythle groaned again as she felt several small snakes biting into her stump.
"What happened?" Ruby asked, looking between her sister and her partner as the ground started to shake. Before Weiss could answer, another head burst out of the ground, quickly looking down at the three, ready to strike before pink explosions ignited on the side of its head. Weiss didn't bother looking over at Nora as she got closer to the two sisters. With the provided distraction, Weiss cast a glyph under them before throwing them into the air.
Flying over the monster's head, the three landed on the remains of the outcropping rather harshly. Pulling themselves to their feet, they looked back at the monster. Another head burst out of the rubble, and Ruby looked around the area to try and find Crescent Rose. Looking up the mountain, Ruby found her weapon, its blade impaled into the rock, far out of reach. Looking back to her pained sister, Ruby realized they were in no condition to go up and get it, before looking down at Scythle's signature weapon, loaded with one of Ruby's magazines.
"Amethyst, you need to do this." Ruby said, shaking her sister's shoulder before Scythle cracked an eye open. "You have my bullets, it should be enough to break its armor."
"I…" Scythle groaned, before clutching her stump tighter, trying to fight off the snakes that weren't there.
"Don't worry, we're here for you." Ruby said as she picked up her sister's leg. Scooting the girl over to the edge, Ruby aimed the weapon at the center of the beast, trying to hold it steady as her sister shook in pain. Once she had it lined up, Ruby nodded at her partner, who cast glyphs along the way to the beast and threw Dust into each one of them.
"Okay, sis," Ruby said, glancing back at her sister. "We're ready for you." With a pained groan, Scythle pushed herself up to look down her weapon, seeing the battle scene before her. She took in shallow breaths as her hands dug into the dirt, attempting to steady her mind before she pulled one last, deep breath.
Before she could let out the shot, another shot of pain ran through her, causing her to jerk back and throw her weapon up, firing the shot into the air. With wide eyes, Weiss quickly threw her hand out, casting another glyph along the bullet's path. Catching the black blur, the glyph threw the shot back at the three, before Weiss formed another glyph in front of them, throwing the bullet into the trail of glyphs. As it passed through each glyph, a new trail of energy was added to the bullet, causing it to glow brighter and brighter before it came to the creature at the center of the monster.
As the bullet dug into the creature, it let out an explosion of colors. Fire, lightning, ice, boiling water, and gusts of air danced out of the black and white flash. Scales were thrown off the beast as the heads all let out one last scream. This time, a scream of pain. As the smoke faded, the heads fell to the side, team JNPR, Yang, and Blake dodged the heads one last time as the tendrils fell around the crater that was once their center.
The group let out a sigh of relief as they realized they had won. As black smoke began to rise from the corpses, Ruby looked back down at her sister, seeing Scythle still writhing in pain. "It Hurts…" Scythle groaned, and Ruby grabbed her hand as she leaned in towards the girl.
"Sis, what happened?" Ruby asked. "Why does it hurt?" Scythle cracked an eye open, looking at her worried sister as the pain continued to shoot through her. Scythle opened her mouth to tell her sister it was nothing, before another shot of pain ran up her, causing her to reach for her stump once again.
Watching the scene before her, Weiss let out a sigh. "You see, Ruby," She began. "It's like this…"
"'Phantom pains?!'" Ruby continued to rant as her team got off the bullhead, walking across the landing strip back towards Beacon. "Seriously?! You've been having phantom pains, and you're only now telling me?!"
"Look, Ruby, It's Not That Big A Deal." Scythle said, no longer hunched over her lost limb as the pain killers numbed her leg.
"I'm pretty sure my sister's well being is a very big deal!" Ruby said, before looking to her partner. "And you, how long have you known about this?"
"I just learned it last night." Weiss said, already reaching to unhook the cable binding her to Scythle. "I had to take her to the medical wing to get her checked out. That's why we were late for the mission."
"Well… Thanks." Ruby said. "But why didn't you guys tell me sooner?"
"Her idea." Weiss said, pointing over to the purple-haired girl.
"I… I Didn't Want You To Think I Was Weak." Scythle said, finally breaking eye contact with her sister as she looked down at the ground.
"'Weak?'" Ruby repeated, before putting a hand on her sister's shoulder rather harshly as she continued to scowl at her. "Amethyst, I've seen what you can do, you're not weak; and even if you were, you're still my sister. What made you think I would hold this against you?"
"I… I Don't Know." Scythle said, looking back down at the ground once again. "I'm Sorry."
Ruby let out a sigh before wrapping her arms around her sister, pulling her into a soft hug. "It's okay, I'm just glad everything turned out alright."
"How's Your Leg, By The Way?" Scythle asked, looking down at Ruby's previously injured leg.
"Aura has it all fixed up." Ruby said, pulling back from the hug as she continued onwards to Beacon. "Come on, we still need to report in to Ozpin."
"Can we get something to eat first?" Yang asked, placing a hand over her stomach. "I'm starved."
"I can also do with a meal." Blake said, to which the other two members of team RWBYS nodded in agreement.
"Fine, I'm sure he won't mind." Ruby shrugged.
The thin beams of light filled the tunnels as the White Fang members marched through the darkness with their prisoner, who's eyes darted from one side of the tunnel to the other. Even with his ability to see in the dark, L'eaudmere knew the Grimm would have the advantage here. Aside from their flashlights, there was barely any light for them to see with. Even they had trouble with how dark it was. The Grimm could easily ambush them, and with how small the group was, it wouldn't take long before they were completely overwhelmed. Even with his wheels to carry him, L'eaudmere was starting to grow tired. He could only imagine what it was like for the rest of the group as the trek seemed to grow longer and longer.
After hours of travel, they finally approached another large metal door, and one of the grunts took out another canister of Garugoylian Gold, swallowing its golden liquid. After a moment, he grabbed onto the door, throwing it open with a tremendous amount of force, kicking up dust as the clang echoed up through the tunnels. Peering out through the doorway, Adam finally let out a smile, made all the more sinister by his mask as he and his men stepped out into the cave.
"We're here." Adam said, and as L'eaudmere followed after them, his eyes widened as he saw the cave before him.
The underground city of Mountain Glenn.
It was just as the reports described it, a concrete jungle populated by Grimm, filling the dead streets. Sunlight trickled down through many holes in the stone ceiling, creating areas of light for L'eaudmere to see the terrible creatures searching the dead city for another meal. Where there was darkness, L'eaudmere made out their silhouettes, marked by the red glows of their masks. Their snarls and growls echoed and distorted off cave walls, leaving the group unable to determine how many of what Grimm infested the city.
"This… This is ludicrous!" L'eaudmere called out as he wheeled out in front of the group, getting to Adam's side as the rest of the group reached for more Garugoylian Gold. "Look at this place! It's overrun! We can't get rid of all that!"
"Watch us." Adam said as he pulled out his sword. As the leader walked out towards the abandoned city, L'eaudmere looked back at the group of grunts, preparing to drink the golden liquid to give them a fighting chance. Glancing back out at the city, L'eaudmere once again noted the amount of Grimm infesting the streets, before heaving out a sigh.
"Wait." L'eaudmere said, getting the group's attention before approaching one of the grunts. He took the canister out of the grunt's hands, before grabbing the top of it with his clawed gloves. Twisting the portion of the container, a needle shot out of the bottom, shining with all the light it could catch before he handed the container back to the grunt. "A direct injection will yield more immediate and pronounced results. You're probably going to need it."
The grunts nodded before they extended their needles, sticking the metal into their veins to let the drug run its course. As the golden liquid filled their veins, they clenched their fists, feeling their muscles growing stronger before the dim glow of their Aura covered them. "I still think this is a bad idea, for the record." L'eaudmere commented, looking back at the leader.
"You can think that all you want." Adam said, before turning back to the Grimm infested city. "We're still doing it." As the group continued to the city, one of the grunts tapped L'eaudmere's shoulder, before handing the captured criminal a large rifle.
"Stay safe." The grunt said, before he began to rejoin the rest of the group. "We still have use for you after this." As the group proceeded to the city, L'eaudmere glanced at the tunnel behind him, quickly debating whether he should risk getting mauled by Grimm in the forest and escape back to Vale or risk getting mauled by Grimm in Mountain Glenn with the White Fang.
It was an easy debate, safety in numbers. With a sigh, he continued after the group of terrorists as they began exterminating the Grimm infesting the city.
The Ultra Jump RWBY manga is… Okay… At best.
I'm honestly not sure what I can say on it, really. Mostly because I didn't actually finish reading it. Everything past Chapter 11 wasn't posted on any manga websites I could find, with the exception of one that just skips right to chapter 15 and called it chapter 12. I had to use a WordPress website called Remnant Scans to read most of the manga, but it dropped novelizing it after chapter 13. And again, I still refuse to buy anything RWBY related even if I could, so I can't read the stuff officially.
From what I have read, though, not a lot happens in it. The first half of the manga is mostly re-runs of the first RWBY trailers with a bit more story. The only exception to that is the Red trailer, which instead focused on a sparring match between Ruby and Cardin – Which I needed to remind myself happened. Though it did fix up some issues with the Yellow Trailer's portrayal of Yang, so there's one positive. Then the second half of the manga is just one big fight against one big Grimm which… Might have been better than the main show, I'm not sure. Again, I missed out on most of the artwork that would have told the battle.
Having said all that though, the manga clearly wasn't for an American audience already familiar with RWBY. It was written for a Japanese audience to help hype up RWBY in Japan… Which turned into a huge flop, seeing as how they stopped translating it after Volume 4. So from the Japanese perspective, the serious just up and died and might never continue. The lucky ones.
With all that out of the way, we're finally ready to move on to Volume 2, ladies and gentlemen. I'll see you all next time.
