Here's chapter 16, everyone.
"Missed me!" A girl with orange hair yelled as she swung her hammer into the Taara she was fighting, easily dodging the beast as her swing was powered up by the Taara's lightning to the point where her swing shattered the beast's bones and killed it when it hit against the rock wall. "Just wasn't a good match up for ya."
"Nora… Could you please wait up for me for once…" A boy with black hair and one pink strand in it said as he panted while finally catching up with his friend.
"Hehe." Nora chuckled. "Sorry, Ren, but I was just clearing this spot out. Finish off the others?"
Ren nodded, reloading his guns as he looked over at the Taara Nora killed. "Is that what you call… Clearing out?" He asked, clearly with sarcasm in his voice.
Nora stuck her tongue out at the boy in green, but before she said anything else, Ren noticed something and quickly pushed her to the side, making the swing of a Singe's attack miss. "Whoa! A Singe?! Here?!" Nora was positively shocked by seeing that kind of monster.
The twelve foot high red furred gorilla in front of them looked intimidating, as the fire emitting from its arms and back grew stronger. "Keep your aura up even more than usual. You know how strong their fire can get." Ren warned as he was prepared to dodge any attack the beast had ready for them.
"This should be a better challenge than those Taaras." Nora grinned, clearly not satisfied with the easy fight she just had.
"Only because they're the worst match up for you. Don't keep your guard down with this one though." Ren kept his eyes trained on the Singe, watching as it smashed a tree down, confusing the two partners, but their eyes widened when it grabbed it with both arms, lighting it on fire and taking a swing at the two.
Ren jumped back, narrowly dodging the flaming lumber, while Nora decided to try and swing at the tree, taking it on with her hammer, but the force of the the Singe's swing overpowered the girl, since her semblance's powered up state lost its charge.
Nora was sent flying passed her partner, who gasped when he saw her sliding against the dirt. He had no time to check on her though, since he saw the Singe turn around, showing its back to them as a large blast of flames shot out from it, so the boy in green had dodged again, but the Singe moved so the flames would follow him,
As he kept running to keep the flames away, he ducked behind a large rock, watching as fire was shot around him, but luckily the rock was enough cover. He looked over at Nora, seeing her slowly getting up and looking annoyed.
"Nora, don't-." He couldn't finish his sentence as the girl swapped her hammer to its grenade launcher form, firing her lightning canisters at it, effectively shocking the Singe and making it huff in anger.
Angering a Singe was the last thing you wanted to do, as its entire body was engulfed in flames, making Nora gulp a little. "Whoops."
Ren had to think fast as he watched the Singe roaring, causing a small firestorm to go straight for Nora. He looked at the rock he hid behind and swapped ammo. Once he was ready, he jumped back and aimed his guns at the rock. "Nora, run!" Ren yelled out to her as the orange haired girl did her best to dodge the firestorm, but unlucky for her she got hit in the arm, making her gasp in pain as she got behind Ren. "Are you okay?"
"A little burned… Got any ideas?" Nora asked as she held her arm that was partially burned.
"Lightning. Get ready to charge yourself with it, and I hope you know what to do with the rest." Ren said to her as Nora spotted the kind of ammo he was using.
She grinned in response and nodded as she got out some lightning dust from her pocket, using it slightly to shock herself as the Singe continued shooting more fireballs at them. "Ready!" She swapped her weapon to its hammer form and prepared herself.
Ren nodded and began shooting at the large rock, making it float up a bit, but he continued to fire to keep it floating. The Singe looked at it, confused by the floating rock, giving Nora enough time to swing her hammer at it, sending the large rock flying right at the Singe and trapping it between the rock and a tree that was behind it.
"Did we get it?" Nora asked as she looked over her friend's shoulder, seeing the rock smashed against the Singe. "Oh… Yeah I think we got it." She grinned and put her hammer on her back. "Smart thinking on that rock idea!"
Ren sighed and dusted himself off, but after a second went by, he turned to her and examined her arm. "Your aura." He pointed out, reminding her to focus on it so it could heal the burn.
"Oh, right." Nora chuckled and focused on her aura, watching as the burn mark on her arm faded. "Gotta love pocket healing."
"You know using our aura to heal takes a good portion of it up, Nora. Please try to be more careful from this point on." Ren pleaded as he looked around the area, making sure they were safe. "It doesn't seem like we have anything else to deal with for now, so why don't we rest for a bit. Let your aura recharge some."
"What? Ugh, no way. I wanna find that relic and get back before the others." Nora whined, showing Ren her arm. "See. It's all fine now."
Ren sighed, facepalming at her tenacity. "Alright, but don't use any of your lightning dust. If we run into more Taaras, you can use your semblance, but no more than that."
"Yes!" Nora was pumped up and jumped for joy. "You won't regret it, trust me!" She got her hammer back out and started sprinting off without her friend, the boy sighing to himself as he followed her deeper into the forest.
"Feeling any better?" Raven asked the white haired woman who was eating her cooked fish, and the black haired huntress watched as she set the stick down and sighed. "Okay, I'll bite. What is it this time?"
"Have you spoken to Summer?" Willow asked, surprising Raven a bit.
Raven shrugged. "Not that long ago I guess. I don't really see why you're asking me though."
"I was just wondering if you spoke to her about Ruby and Yang going to Beacon," Raven tensed up a bit at the mention of her daughter. "I was just thinking of Weiss myself…" Willow explained.
"Uh, well we already talked about that. The kids are in school now. So?" Raven tried to play it off like she didn't feel it was all too important, and Willow caught on.
"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Willow assured as she took another bite of her fish. "I just thought it would be nice to have some small talk."
Holding her blade down on her lap, Raven looked down at it. "What can I really say? She's going to Beacon now. It's where she'll learn how to survive. It's where I learned after all."
"Like mother like daughter." Willow smiled, setting her stick down as she crossed her leg over the other. "What was it like going to a hunter academy? Being a student there I mean."
Raven lifted her head up, giving her a surprised look, like she wasn't expecting to be asked that. "Well, like a normal school… But with the studies of elemental monsters, and hacking them up into pieces."
"Is that right?" Willow was a bit intimidated by the hacking up into pieces part. "What about the dorms? Were they homely?"
"Depends on your preference. I never really cared all that much myself." Raven answered, and she felt her scroll vibrating, so she reached into her pocket and pulled it out to see who was calling her. "Speaking of Summer."
She tapped the screen and her friend appeared on it. "Raven! I just got the best news!" Summer exclaimed loud enough for Willow to hear. "You need to guess though. At least once."
Raven sighed. "Okay? Did you get another job or something?"
"Come on, make a better guess than that!" Summer whined, making Raven groan as Willow started to chuckle at her two friends.
"Ugh, fine." Raven thought about it for a moment. "Are you… Pregnant?"
Willow's eyes widened at that, but then she heard Summer beginning to laugh really loud, so she held her hand on her heart, taking a breath. "You two almost gave me a heart attack." The white haired woman said, Summer hearing her.
"Is Willow there?" Summer asked, clearly excited. "Tell her to come over and sit next to you."
Raven looked over at Willow, pointing at the log she was still sitting on, not saying a word. Willow sighed and walked over, sitting next to her trainer as she waved at the screen. "Hello, Summer."
"Hey, Willow." Summer grinned as she had her goggles over her head and some dirt smudged on her right cheek. "It's good that you're here too. I've got awesome news!"
"Oh I could tell seeing as you shouted so loud I would've been able to hear you from my own home at this point." Willow joked.
"Hehe. Well I think I have a right to be really excited for this, Willow." Summer sighed happily. "I was offered to work for Beacon as the school's blacksmith!"
"Really?!" Willow gasped happily at the news. "That's so great, Summer!"
Raven crossed her arms, looking unimpressed, but not at Summer. "Took that old fool long enough to hire you." She got a frown from Summer. "What? You know it's ridiculous at how long that man hasn't offered you that position."
"I don't think it's about how long it took, Raven. He knows that I wanted to be with my family… Our family." Summer stated.
"Stop. You had it right the first time, and I'm just saying that you could've been offered this years ago and not accept it. Recognizing is still respectable enough, but that man-." Before she could continue, Summer cut her off.
"Raven… Please stop." Summer pleaded. "I want you to come with me to Beacon. Please."
"Huh? Why do you want me to go?" Raven inquired.
"I was hoping to surprise the girls, and… I thought it would be nice for you to see Yang while we're there. Willow, I was gonna ask you to come too. What do you both say?" Summer asked, her smile returning.
Just the chance at seeing her snowflake again made Willow perk up, so she nodded immediately. "I would love to. When would you be going?"
Right as Summer was about to answer her, Raven spoke up. "Willow and I still have her aura training to do, Summer. Sorry."
"O-Oh…" Summer looked like a kicked puppy when she said that.
"W-What? No, we can take a few days off from it." Willow stated, trying to take the scroll from Raven, but the black haired huntress held her back. "Raven, I am not missing out on seeing my little girl."
Raven groaned and held her hand up to Willow to stop her from trying to get the scroll. "Look, it's not good to skip out on this stuff. You're the one who asked me for help, so-."
"It wouldn't be for two weeks…" Summer interrupted, making both women look at the screen. "I don't know if you'd let her take a small break from training in that time, but I just thought you should know when it is."
As she looked to Willow, she saw how much she was begging with her face, so Raven took a breath and nodded. "Alright, two weeks… From today?"
Summer shook her head, again, regaining her smile. "Two weeks from friday. I told Tai about it and he's happy for me, but I'm also only working on weekends there, since, y'know, I can't leave my workshop alone to gather dust."
"Hmm. Okay. Well I guess Willow will see you in two-." Raven was cut off again.
"You don't want to come… Do you?" Summer assumed, getting a sigh from Raven.
"She doesn't need distractions, Summer." Raven reasoned, but felt a tug on her arm from Willow. "What?" She asked the woman when she turned to her.
"If I can make more than one glyph without almost passing out before Summer has to go to Beacon, would you consider going?" Willow offered the deal.
Raven was taken aback by the proposal. "I-I don't know…"
"Come on. If I can get more than one glyph out in front of me, you can see your daughter." Willow reasoned.
Summer remained quiet, letting her friend handle it. After a few moments of considering, Raven shrugged and gave up. "Alright, you win, but only if you can hold up your end of the deal." She handed her the scroll. "You two talk about whatever you want. I need to get some rest." The black haired huntress got up and walked to the cabin, shutting the door behind her.
Willow rubbed the back of her head, looking at the screen with Summer smiling at her. "Uh… I'm not one hundred percent sure that was what I should've done."
"If it helps you feel better, I think it was." Summer replied.
"It kind of does." Willow said, but then her thoughts went to Weiss again, bringing her smile back. "I'm really glad you got this job, Summer, but… I won't lie, I'm very happy that you invited me to come along."
Summer gave her a thumbs up. "Like I'd leave one of my best friends behind. And I know how excited you are to see your daughter. In truth, I'm the same way."
Willow looked over at the cabin, wondering if Raven wanted to see Yang herself, or if she was purposely punishing herself for what happened in the past. "Yes… Well, I should probably get back to trying to use my aura better."
"Right. Good luck, Willow!" Summer waved her off and Willow returned it.
As the call ended, the white haired woman sighed to herself and walked inside the cabin for a moment. She looked over to see Raven sleeping on one of the beds, so she walked over and placed the scroll on the table next to her.
With that, she walked back outside, determined to get her semblance working in a better way than it has been. Finding there was another reason for her to achieve that goal.
More types of monsters to work with. It's mostly because during the time of writing this, I juggled the idea of new monsters, or just different Grimm. It'll be explained in later chapters. Though it isn't like a major plot point. Just a fun side idea I threw in.
To Star- I can see what you mean. Honestly, I have pre-written a lot of this before I posted chapter 1. So looking back, yeah that would've been better. I appreciate the advice on that.
To JJ- Teacher Raven is still really fun, and also there are going to be moments where even Raven herself will need to learn something. And there are more new Grimm to work with. Without spoiling her semblance reveal… You'll see soon enough.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 16. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 17.