Here's chapter 85, everyone.
Winter wasn't sure what she'd be able to do with the assignment she was told to handle, as she looked more into the kind of animals she was to investigate. At the moment, she was in Anima, and with several others with her, also assigned to investigate the strange sightings of abnormally large animals in several areas of Remnant.
"You three, keep your scouting to the southwest quadrant of this island. Keep your weapons at the ready at all times, and don't hesitate to take out any Grimm you find either." Winter ordered, and the three soldiers nodded, taking off not a moment later as she turned to face the other eight with her. "You two," She looked to a man and woman. "You're with me."
They both walked up and got on both sides of her, while Winter picked out another from the remaining six to split up into two teams. "Be sure to contact me as soon as you spot any of these… Animals. Group B, you're to go to the northwest, Group C, to the southeast." The Atlas Specialist looked to the two soldiers she picked to go with her. "You two will accompany me to the northeast, and if needed, I'll have a few of the Knights to any location as soon as possible."
"Yes, Ma'am." The two soldiers respectfully said as they started following Winter to their quadrant of the island they were on.
Winter knew that a more open area in the middle of the island would be best searched with more than three people, so she'd converge there if none of the others found any sightings of the abnormal animals she was tasked to investigate.
"Whether I like it or not, this is still something I've sworn myself to do. Still, I mustn't forget, any threat is a threat."
"Ma'am, if I may ask, what kind of threat do these creatures hold? It sounds like they are just larger animals." One of the soldiers with her stated, not finding it that worrisome like Winter had.
"It's unusual, but even so, we can't ignore this. Larger animals like Elephants have never been much of a threat, but the thought of a house sized Lion could be, so we can't underestimate what these creatures are." Winter explained as she walked along the grass of the island she was on.
The one who asked stayed quiet, only nodding as he knew asking more questions would result in a similar answer. With that in mind, the two soldiers Winter brought along with her were more on the alert, after hearing the idea of a house sized Lion possibly being something to fight.
The Atlas Specialist, while focused on the mission, did wonder however how her little sister was doing, especially after what she learned days ago.
"Remind me again on how durable that ribbon is on your weapon…" Yang remarked after having tried out a team attack with Blake, which consisted of her grabbing the ribbon from Gambol Shroud for Blake to swing her around.
"Enough is the answer." Blake said, teasing Yang a bit, who was a bit dumbfounded at how she was able to be swung around for a punch with the ribbon on Blake's weapon.
"Huh… Well okay. Just saying, don't blame me if it ends up getting torn up if we use that attack again." Yang noted.
Blake shrugged. "Again, it's durable enough to last."
Weiss walked over, still grimacing the idea of being flung by her partner. "I'm honestly surprised you two were okay doing that sort of attack. It doesn't seem… All too safe in my opinion."
Yang chuckled and patted her friend on the back a few times. "Sometimes you gotta take risks for a pretty good reward, and I know the moment I slam my fist into the unlucky Grimm or moron who's in the way, they'll end up knocked out or even dead… Uh, hopefully not dead if they're not a Grimm that is."
The white haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, Yang, we all needed that clarification."
"Hey, you never know. Some people can take things way out of context sometimes." Yang countered, and Weiss shrugged. "Anyways, you wanna work on a team attack with me, Ice Wolf?"
Weiss looked over her shoulder, seeing Ruby thinking more about another team attack she and her could do, and just the thought of the other suggestion she had made her shudder. "Yes… Right now, before your sister ends up trying something even more dangerous."
"Heh, you know you'll have to work on something with her again at some point, Weissy, but sure, I'll keep you safe from one of Ruby's plans for the time being." Yang joked.
Blake simply let out a smile as she walked past the two, feeling like she and Ruby should maybe try out a team attack as well. "Still thinking of ways to frighten Weiss?" She asked her team leader as she got to her.
"Hmm?" Ruby was sat down at the moment, so she looked up to see it was Blake asking her that question. "Oh, hey, Blake… Uh, I'm not trying to scare Weiss. What made you get that impression?"
"Seeing as you keep telling her how great it would be to throw her at Grimm to pounce on." Blake chuckled as she sat next to the rose girl.
"Oh… Huh, I guess I just thought it would be a really strong attack." Ruby commented as she looked over at Weiss and Yang, both seemingly discussing their potential team attack, though at that moment, Weiss had recoiled back from something Yang suggested, and Ruby giggled a little. "I guess I probably should tone down the momentum of attacks."
"Yeah, might be a good idea." Blake agreed with a smile.
Ruby rubbed the back of her head, and even with how her other attack idea seemed to be one to not be done, she was still happy. "I'll come up with something safer for everyone. Gotta look after the team I'm leading after all."
While her words were said in that pure innocent sort of way, Ruby was serious about it. She wanted to be a good leader, and making sure her team was safe was just another job she had to take upon herself to commit to.
"Hmm. Try not to worry too much about us too, Ruby. We look out for you just as much as you feel you should look out for us." Blake reminded.
Ruby continued keeping that happy expression on her face as she nodded to agree. "I know, trust me, I do, but I meant what I said." She gave the cat Faunus a reassuring look. "I'm gonna make sure you guys can always count on me, no matter what."
Knowing Ruby was two years younger than everyone else was impressive to Blake, and hearing her continue to speak in such a way was just more evidence that she really could count on Ruby, just as much as Yang or Weiss. "I can't say I'm worried then, Ruby." She let out a smile. "Thank you."
"Huh? What are you saying thanks for?" Ruby asked.
Blake stood up and pulled Gambol Shroud out. "Being a good leader. Now how about we work on a team attack of our own?"
Ruby's eyes shined and she jumped up. "Right!"
It was a long day for the team, but they managed to get a good bit of their team attack training done, and at the moment Zwei was following them back to the dorm. "Remind me to come up with how some of these team attacks go…" Weiss commented.
"What? I'd say our team attack was pretty good." Yang remarked, while Weiss rolled her eyes.
"I have to be able to jump away in time, or else you'll end up hitting me in the head, Xiao Long." Weiss complained, almost having been hit when she had used ice on the ground for Yang to punch into, so that the combined ice and fire would cause mist to surround the area.
"Eh, I know you can easily jump away before I land, and besides, I'm not an idiot, Weiss. I won't dive in until I know you're at a good distance." Yang assured, and Weiss knew she wouldn't lie about that, since she wasn't the kind to hurt her own friends.
"Hmph, fine, but I still don't get why you call it Freezerburn." Weiss said, her arms crossed as she gave Yang a questioning look.
Yang chuckled. "Really? Come on, Weiss. I know you're smart enough to get it."
"W-What do you mean? It sounds ridiculous is all…" Weiss blushed, feeling that she should get what Yang was going for.
"Freezer, you and the ice, Burn, me and the fire. Duh." Yang explained, and Weiss stopped in her tracks, feeling like she failed a simple math problem, so the other three looked behind them as they saw her defeated look.
Weiss hung her head in embarrassment. "Oh…"
Yang snickered a few times and walked back, wrapping an arm around her. "Hey, don't worry about it, Ice Wolf. I come up with some weird names sometimes. And besides, yours and Ruby's team attack name is even easier to get."
Ruby smiled, remembering the face Weiss had when she told her their team attack name was White Rose.
"S-Shut it…" Weiss grumbled as she was led back over to the team, and Zwei barked a few times, trying to brighten up Weiss' mood, so the embarrassed teen looked down and smiled. "Good boy." She leaned down and rubbed his ears, while Ruby was glad her girlfriend wasn't gonna be mopey for long.
As they got to their dorm though, they were greeted by Team JNPR. "Hey, guys." Ruby greeted, wondering why they were outside their dorm. "What are you doing out in the hall?"
Nora was the first to walk up, looking a little upset with something. "Um, can we talk with you guys for a bit…"
Team RWBY was honestly surprised by how Nora was speaking, seeing as she was always the energetic one in the group. "Yeah, sure. Everything okay?" Ruby asked.
Jaune rubbed the back of his head, while Ren looked equally as upset about something. "It might be best to talk about it in our room if that's okay with you."
"Okay." Ruby watched as Jaune used his scroll to open the door, and when they walked inside with Team JNPR, Nora and Ren sat down on one of the beds.
Yang was the first to speak up. "Is everything really okay? You two don't look-."
"It's our home… Well, where we grew up I mean." Nora said in a sad tone, while Ren was just as distraught over some news they had heard. "It… Was called Kuroyuri."
"Was?" Weiss repeated as a question, fearing the worst as Nora nodded.
"Yeah… It's been abandoned for years, but we always like to keep up on it… Y'know, for memories." Nora sighed, but then she pulled her scroll out and extended it to Team RWBY.
Yang took the scroll and saw a an article about the town of Kuroyuri. "It's… Completely destroyed. Like, more than an abandoned village should look like."
"Apparently there were several large Grimm that ended up going through it, resulting in a battle with some hunters." Pyrrha explained, while the others felt bad for Nora and Ren. "We were thinking about maybe going there."
Blake's ears perked up at that. "Wouldn't that be too much of a risk? If Grimm were able to go through it and cause that much damage, then-."
"We'd make sure not to go in without knowing how many Grimm were around at the time. Once we know it's okay, then we can go into our village." Nora commented, as she held Ren's hand.
Jaune had to speak up for his team at that point. "We've all agreed to go together, and I thought about… Asking you guys if you could maybe come with us too. Just in case."
Weiss wasn't exactly sure about that, as it still seemed like a huge risk. "Jaune, I don't want to say no, but wouldn't it be better if you asked trained huntsmen and huntresses to help?"
Nora scoffed at that. "Like anyone would help with Kuroyuri…"
Ren sighed and squeezed her hand. "Nora, we already discussed this before." He looked to Weiss. "Kuroyuri has been abandoned for years. No one wants to retake the village, so we would go to it every year. Now that it's gotten more violent Grimm around, then we know we can't go alone."
Ruby felt bad for the two, so she took a step forward, nodding to them. "If that's the case, I'll go with you too." She then looked to her team. "Weiss, Blake, Yang… I won't speak for you three here, since I won't ever force you to do something you don't want to do, but-."
"Hey, you don't gotta say another word, sis. I'm in." Yang assured, and looked to Nora and Ren. "You guys can count on us to keep you covered." Ren and Nora simply nodded, thankful to their friends.
"You know, we may get in trouble for going to a place that hasn't been secured… But I suppose if we're careful about this, there shouldn't be too much trouble, so I'll come with you all to make sure no one does anything stupid." Weiss said, earning a smile from her girlfriend.
The only one that hadn't said anything was Blake, but when Ruby looked to her, she sighed a bit. "I can't exactly say I'm thrilled about going to a village with the chance of running into much stronger Grimm. Still, I'll go with you all too. Just to add to the backup." Secretly she wanted to go to make sure Yang wasn't going to get hurt.
"Then it's settled! Team RWBY is going to be your backup!" Ruby cheered, and Zwei barked happily, while Team JNPR was grateful to them.
Winter is on the move, and I was really wanting to have the town of Kuroyuri in, so with that in mind, the team has another mission to go on, in a way. A personal one, but a mission nonetheless.
To JJ- Yeah, Jacques is the kind of person who wants to live above the rules with his money and influence, even if it affects his family in the process. Glad you noticed the ice sculpture moment. Their team attacks will hopefully come into play soon enough.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 85. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 86.