Chapter 5
Micheal has been running non-stop for about five minutes. His shoulder still hurt but was he could deal with it. It hurt more when he moved his arm. The wolf faunus took a small break. He put his hands on his knees and took a couple deep breaths. Micheal then smelled the air to smell what was nearby. He could smell a lot of things but he couldn't tell what exactly they were, whether they were human, faunus, grimm, or plant. He could smell something burning to his right but couldn't tell exactly how far away. Suddenly he heard a scream to the north. The grey-haired boy grimaced. That is the direction he needed to go. He wasn't up for the idea of fighting grimm yet, but he had to fight them at some point. He ran in that direction and readied himself. A couple of minutes later, he arrived at where the scream originated. Micheal found himself in a small clearing. He sees a grimm eating the body of its recent kill, a human male initiate. It was just a few feet away. The grimm is different than what he was expected though. He expected a Beowolf or an Ursa, but instead of a werewolf or bear looking creature. He surprisingly sees a raptor.
The raptor stands four feet tall and is about ten feet in length. It has a slender body and a long snout. It has two short muscular arms with five longs claws on each. The back legs were longs and muscular with three talons on them, also have the raptor's signature sickle talon. The grimm has the bone mask and some bone plating on its back. The bone mask covers the upper half of its head. The bone plating went down the spine and few inches it went down the side of the body a little bit. That bone plating didn't look very thick, except for the bone plate on the head, so it looked like it's more for show than armor. Its body is covered in black scales. The raptor's back is to Micheal. The initiative's neck and stomach are torn open and the raptor is tearing out intestines. The wolf faunus strapped Order onto his arm and drew its sword. The drawing of the sword made a sound that got the raptor's attention. It lifted its head with a piece of liver in its mouth. It turned its head and saw its intruder. It snarled and opened its mouth. The liver dropped to the ground. Its mouth is full serrated teeth that curved back. It made a deep cawing noise. Micheal guessed it was calling for its pack. He would admit that the grimm scared him and it scares him even more now that a pack would be on its way.
Micheal readied himself for the raptor. He took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. The raptor stopped cawing and crouched down. It jumped at Micheal. It jumped eight feet into the air. The wolf faunus put his shield up above himself and braced himself. The raptor landed on the shield. Micheal was surprised the raptor weights a lot more than it appeared. He barely kept his footing when it landed on the shield. The raptor jumped off the shield and landed a few feet away. Micheal turned around as he saw the raptor land and turn towards him. He backed up a bit to put some distance and give himself more time to think and react. It reared back and hissed, and then charged. It was fast, extremely fast. Micheal barely had time to put his shield up. The grimm slammed into the shield. It knocked Micheal off his feet and he hit the ground. The grimm was shaking its head from the impact and wobbling. Micheal got up as fast he could. The raptor was still wobbling a bit but stopped shaking its head. There is a crack in its bone mask. The raptor snarled and jumped at Micheal again. The grey-haired boy noticed it was a jumping a little to his left. He sidestepped and the raptor landed on the ground next to him. He slammed into the raptor with Order. The raptor fell on to its side with claws and talons facing away from him. Micheal saw his chance and flipped the sword in his hand. Now holding the sword in a reverse grip, he stabbed at the raptor's head. He felt the pain in his shoulder return and slowed his arm. It hit the bone mask and unfortunately got stuck in the bone mask. The raptor screeched in pain as the sword stabbed into the side of its head. It tried to get up but Micheal hit with his shield. He instead began to beat the raptor's neck with the bladed part of his shield. The blood splattered on Micheal's face and shirt. The wolf faunus eventually severed the head and the raptor's body went limp. He took a breath and pulled his sword from the bone plate. He held his shoulder and felt the pain when he stabbed at the raptor's head was still there.
In a nearby tree, a female initiative watched Micheal. She sat on a branch a good ten feet above the ground. She leaned her back against the tree trunk. She frowned "The mutt could have sliced the Ripper's neck after it landed, but instead he wasted time beating the ripper with the shield and soon the pack will be here, why is he holding his shoulder, did he not use his aura to protect himself while landing, I want to see how he handles the Ripper pack," and her fox ear twitched at the sounds of rapid feet approaching. She heard the feet coming from behind her.
Micheal's ears twitched as he heard rapid feet approaching from behind him. He turned to see a terrifying sight, six Rippers approaching from across the small clearing. One of the Ripper is bigger than the others. It looks almost the same as the other raptors except for being two feet taller, ten feet longer, longer claws with the middle claw being the longest, the talons are also bigger especially the sickle talon, has more bone plating on its back and it went down to the tip of the tail. The bone plating covers more area on the back and still has the bone plate stripes; it also appeared to be thicker. The final thing is the large crescent-shaped crest on top of its bone mask. The Alpha Ripper snarled and roared at its pack members. The regular Rippers quickly moved to surround Micheal. He backed up as fast he could and found himself with his back to a tree. The grimm surrounded Micheal in a half circle with him in the center. They stood only a few feet away from him. The grey-haired boy knew he couldn't rely on dust due to it not always working with him. His right shoulder hurt too much for him to have a decent powered swing. The wolf faunus took a couple deep breaths and looked around.
Micheal could see the Rippers in front of him and to his right. They were evenly spaced out amongst each other. The Alpha Ripper stood in front of him. Order blocked his vision to his left side. Micheal couldn't see the exact positions of the Rippers on his left side. The wolf faunus moved his shield slightly lower. He saw that a slightly larger gap between two Rippers, it wasn't that much bigger than the other gaps, maybe by an inch. Micheal knew he was probably still gonna get hit by something if he ran through there. The wolf faunus thought 'the least I can do keep myself from being bit and held in place' and sighed. Rolling his right shoulder to try to subside some of the pain and readied Order. He put it at an angle to cover his left from the Ripper soon to be on his left. Micheal charged at the gap as fast he could. The two raptors he charged at hissed. The Ripper to his left tried to bite at him but couldn't get around the shield. The Ripper on his right side went to bite at him. The grey-haired boy slashed randomly at the one on his right despite that it hurt his shoulder. He just wanted it back up. He managed to cut the bottom of the jaw. The Ripper closed its jaw, but the raptor clawed at him and managed slash at his side with its claw. He hissed in pain. Micheal turned around and saw the grimm turning towards his new position. The wolf faunus looked at his new wound. There are four slash marks running along his ribs at a diagonal. He could feel his blood flowing from the wound. It stained his shirt and jacket. Micheal began to slowly back up again.
"Hmm, not bad, running through a small gap like that, he's took a hit but got away from being surrounded, he's got good eyes, and maybe some good instincts, but his lack aura use still bugs me, but I do want to know how he survived, I'll give him a chance," Hitomi said and pulled out a black PSG-1 from its holster on her back. She looked down the sights and aimed at the closet Ripper to Micheal. She took in a deep breath and held it. She pulled the trigger. A loud bang and the fox faunus exhaled as she saw the top half of the Ripper's head disappear in flash of blood. She smirked at Micheal's look of shock at both the sound of her rifle and the dead raptor falling over. The fox faunus saw him looking her way. He mouths "Cover me," and Hitomi huffed but went with it. Micheal shouted and charged at the closest living Ripper. The grimm charged at The wolf faunus. The two slammed into each other and were pushed against each other. The raptor wasn't pushing all that much due to slamming headfirst into the shield and getting dazed from the hit. Micheal managed to overpower the Ripper. Then he pushes it over on to its back and then a shot rang out. The Ripper's head exploded. Then two Rippers moved to charge at Micheal from both sides. He held his shield at angle unintentionally. Then a shot rang out and a clink could be heard on the other side of his shield. Micheal quickly looked over his shield and saw the Ripper's head severed from its body. The wolf faunus turned to concentrate on the other Ripper. It then jumped at Micheal. It was good five feet in the air. The grey-haired boy ran towards it and lowered his body. He lowered his profile. The grimm sailed over him and landed a couple feet behind him. Micheal quickly turned around and charged at the Ripper. The raptor didn't turn around in time.
Micheal stabbed the Ripper in the thigh of its right leg. He pulled his sword out and the Ripper limped back a couple inches. It squawked as it limped back. The wolf faunus then reared his shield arm back and swung shield at the Ripper's head. It connected and knocked the raptor off its feet. There is now is scar going through the bone mask and into the head a bit. The grimm struggled to get up. Micheal then flipped his sword in his hand. He then stabbed into the scar and into the brain of the Ripper. Micheal hissed a bit from the pain in his shoulder. The raptor went limp. One more shot rang out and Micheal heard a thud behind him. He looked behind him and saw the last of the younger Rippers on the on its side a few feet away. It was missing the upper half of the head.
Micheal looked around and sees the Alpha Ripper was missing. Hitomi lowered her rifle to look for the Alpha Ripper. She felt a sharp pain in her leg. Then she found herself falling to the ground. She hit the ground hard and closed her eyes on impact. Her aura managed to prevent any broken or fractured bones. The fox faunus heard her rifle land next to her. She opened her eyes and saw the Alpha Rippers jaws coming at her. Grabbing her rifle and she shoved it into the Alpha Ripper's jaws. The alpha moved its claws to Hitomi's shoulders and stabbed into them. Hitomi felt her grip on her rifle becoming weak from the pain. The alpha's jaws moved closer. She heard footstep rapidly approaching and the sound of mechanical parts working. Then a huge silver axe hit the Alpha Ripper's body and sliced it from the head, legs, and arms. The alpha's body went flying away. The raptor's head fell onto Hitomi's chest. Micheal pulled the claws out of her shoulders. The fox faunus grabbed the head and threw it away. The legs were lying down on to each side of Hitomi. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her wounds. Her body was surrounded in a magenta colored light. Micheal got a good look at the fox faunus.
Hitomi is taller than Yang but shorter than Pyrrha. She stood at a height of 5'10 feet tall. Her body is slender and curvy with an ample chest. She also has long legs. Her hair is long and straight and went halfway down her back. Her hair color is a bright orange color. Hitomi's eyes were more vertically oriented, but due to her eyes being closed, Micheal couldn't see her eye color. He noticed her ears and long, bushy were similar his except Hitomi's are the same color as her hair. The more that the wolf faunus looked at them the more it looked like a red foxes' fur color. It was described to him on Wikipedia as he read a couple times, a reddish-rusty color with yellowish tints. Hitomi is wearing a magenta shirt. She also wears a small onyx leather jacket with a magenta fur on the collar and three magenta feathers coming out the right side of the collar. The shoulders were stained red due to blood from the wounds. Hitomi wears onyx jeans and onyx military boots. She has one piece of jewelry, a gold necklace with the kanji for hope on it.
Micheal stared in awe as the wounds closed shut. Hitomi stood up, brushed the dirt off herself, and put her rifle away. She opened her eyes and stared at her person of interest. The wolf faunus sees that her eyes are oval and forest green in color. "How did you survive," Hitomi asked. Micheal went with the lie he said to Blake.
"I was in an orphanage near Vale till I was five, and then I got adopted," The wolf faunus said. He felt himself being picked up and slammed into a tree. He dropped Chaos when he was picked up. He hissed in pain due to his shoulder hurting even more from the impact. The slash wounds burn a little worse as well.
"Impossible, our kinds were isolationist, neither one of our kinds grew up or lived outside out towns, at least before the massacre," Hitomi retorted. Micheal took a few breaths. He waited for the pain to subside a bit before responding.
"I was told that your towns got visitors for people who were lost or injured, maybe I was kidnapped from my family or from an orphanage in the village," The wolf faunus said. The fox faunus thought about this. She knew that people would be injured or get lost nearby. Both wolf and fox faunus would have taken them in and take care of them. They were isolationist, but they weren't heartless. They take care of the injured till they could take care of themselves. The lost were allowed to stay for the night. When the time came for them to go came, they were given food, whatever ammo they could spare if they had guns and directions to the closest major city.
Hitomi couldn't remember anything about a kidnapping. Then again, she has an extremely hard time remembering anything about the town she was born in. She was really young when she lived there. The only thing she could easily remember was her family and the massacre of her kind. The fox faunus sighed and let Micheal go. The wolf faunus slid down the tree holding his shoulder. Hitomi sighed "Mutt, what's wrong with your aura, why isn't it healing your wounds?"
"I don't know, sometimes it's on due that I have used dust before, but there have been times I couldn't use dust, so it must be turning on and off, I don't what's going on," He answered looking away. He steadily got up.
"I have never heard of an aura that turns on and off, hold still," the fox faunus said with a raised eyebrow. She put her right hand on Micheal's chest and her other hand on his shoulder. She glows a dark green and her face became even more confused. Micheal could feel a strange feeling inside his body. He guessed it was Hitomi's aura inside his body. It was hard to describe what it felt like, the feeling of another presence inside his body.
"What's wrong," he asked.
"It's hard to say, I'm not sure how to describe it, it's like it's want to be active but can't, I'm just going to unlock it myself," Hitomi said. Micheal felt a different feeling in his body, a warm feeling spreading from his heart to every part of his body. It felt relaxing. He now sees a light green light around his body. There were bits of white in the light green. Hitomi stopped glowing and let out a huge huff. She fell down a bit and Micheal caught her. The fox faunus stood up and shook his arm off. "Alright, I just unlocked it, and might I say, your aura is strong, extremely strong," The fox faunus said. Micheal smiled as felt almost all the pain leave his body. He pulled up his shirt and jacket and saw the slash wound heal completely. He touched his shoulder and he still felt a shock of pain but nowhere near as bad as before. The green glow died a second later, but the feeling was still there.
"You've got a bone bruise, your aura should numb the pain enough for you to fight at full capacity at least," Hitomi said. Then the orange haired girl climbed up the tree she sat in earlier.
"What are you doing, we should at least properly introduce each other," Micheal said as a large black sheathe fell out of the tree. It landed in front of Micheal a few inches from his right foot. It got stuck in the ground. The wolf faunus jumped back in surprise. The sheath looked like it is meant for a large katana, a long nodachi more precisely. The entire nodachi is about five feet long. The handle and guard of the katana were black. The strap of the nodachi sheathe is magenta. Hitomi climbed down the tree and jumped next to sheathe.
"Why we know who we are," She asked.
"It's just how I grew up, I was told to properly introduce myself to people, it helps to make a better impression with people," Micheal said scratching his head. He held out his hand "I'm Micheal Canus Law," and his new partner shook it.
"Hitomi Hunters," she said. Micheal smiled with his tail wagging a bit. He let go of Hitomi's hand and walked over to Chaos. Hitomi slung the nodachi sheathe over her shoulder. The wolf faunus turned Chaos back into Order and walked over to the initiate's corpse. Hitomi asked, "Are you overcompensating for something?"
"No," Micheal sighed turning to Hitomi. The wolf faunus turned back to the corpse and he pointed his shield at it. He thought 'come on; work with me just this once, a small fireball please' and the miniature shield flicker red. A second later the miniature shield glows a constant red. A small fireball came out of the shield and hit the corpse. The corpse burst into flames and Micheal sighed. He said quietly "I'm sorry, I wish I could give you a proper funeral, but I have no time, this is the best I can do," and then said a silent prayer. The wolf faunus turned to Hitomi. The fox faunus looked at him with a sad look. Micheal said "Come on let's go get our relic," and he and Hitomi began to walk north.
"How much combat experience do you have and have you ever fought a grimm before, be honest with me," the fox faunus asked and her new partner sighed.
"Only a little bit and that was my first grimm," and Hitomi groaned. She said "well I had guess as much, you relied too much on ramming things as your main attack, I get that shield is thick and heavy and your shoulder was hurting you , but that won't always work, especially against large grimm, you'll just end up as lunch for them, so sometimes you just have to tough it out and use your bad arm, but you did seem to remain calm, despite that being your first grimm, and you seem good at noticing little gaps to get through to put yourself in better positions, even if you were to take a hit, you have either good eyes and maybe good instincts, also you seem unbothered by the state of the corpse, it was torn open and you could see the internal organs, you didn't even flinch, and why didn't you use dust now that I think about it, " and Micheal turned to look at Hitomi. He decided to tell some truth about himself and still be able to keep up his lie.
"I grew up near rough neighborhood and unfortunately went to school in that neighborhood, I saw violence there fairly often, I had to always make sure I could find a way out of bad situations, even if the opening was small or dangerous, and I've had enough bad things happen in my life growing up to not be bothered by copse," The wolf faunus said.
"Like what," Hitomi asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Death, I've seen and heard enough of it growing up, as for dust I can't really use it that well, so I try not to use it all that much," Micheal said and Hitomi just nodded.
"I see you're good on a mental level, but I still don't like your lack of experience with aura and combat, but you're workable," the fox faunus said and returned her attention forward.
"Hitomi, please don't tell anyone yet of my lack of experience, once we get our team then you can tell them, but for now it's better for everyone that they don't know," and Hitomi just nodded. Micheal went to looking forward and to their destination, an abandoned temple. Hitomi looked at Micheal with a confused looked 'your aura is strange, I think it's better that I say I unlocked all of it, even though I didn't unlock all of it,' and returned her attention forward.
On top of Beacon cliffs
Ozpin stood looking at a scroll with Glynda walking up behind him. She also has a scroll in her hands. She stood beside him and said "Our last pair had been formed sir, Hitomi Hunters, and Micheal Canus Law," and taped a picture on the scroll pulling up footage of Micheal and Hitomi. Glynda said "It seems those two were fated to partner up, but it would seem that Mr. Law has a lack of experience with combat and aura," and Ozpin just gave an "Hmm," in response. He is still looking at his scroll. Glynda sighed "But it seems on a mental level, he can handle this kind of combat, but I guess we'll find out soon enough" and closed her scroll. She begins to walk off "At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes, speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year, professor Ozpin," turning back to Ozpin. Ozpin didn't respond, he is still looking at his scroll. He made an "hmm," noise as he touched a picture, going from Ruby and Weiss to the Grimm surrounded by smoke.
Author's Notes: As always, criticism is good.
Hitomi has gone through five reiterations for design and purpose. I got the name from playing Dead or Alive. I love playing Hitomi, my main, in that game and decided to use it. She was originally part of the people who were going to hate Micheal when I thought of doing the wolf-fox hybrid. Her coloration is based on the Gore Magala from Monster Hunter, both her clothing and weapon. Her melee weapon is the long sword from Monster Hunter. Her melee weapon was originally going to be the insect staff/glaive but got abandoned. I haven't scraped the idea though. I wanted to give her Gore Magala's insect staff, but I couldn't figure out how to describe it. I could have used the first insect staff, like how I used the first charge axe for Micheal.
As for how the insect staff/glaive would work. It would work mostly the same, except for the insect, and no essence buffs. The back of the staff has two dust vials, one is wind dust that allows the wielder to vault into the air, and the second is specialized dust that marks the target hit with it. The insect would instead be some kind of gun that fires explosive rounds. The explosive rounds follow the dust. It would explode upon contact with anything though, even if it's not the target. The explosions wouldn't be powerful though.
Rippers are based on Velociprey and three different types of raptors. The three raptors are Velociraptor, Deinonychus, and Utahraptor for different sizes Rippers. The two sizes in this chapter are Deinonychus; although it's probably still a little bigger than Deinonychus, and Utahraptor, the alpha ripper. I was originally was going to give each Ripper a crest on their head with the Alpha having the biggest. I decided to keep it unique to the alpha. The name isn't the greatest, but it's simple. It also fits raptors as they rip things apart with their claws and teeth. I looked up educational shows and watched Jurassic Park again to see how raptors would fight. It's a mix of a lot of jumping, some biting, some slashing, and a little bit ramming.