As the bullhead touched down RWBY and NPR rushed out, desperate to get their friend help before it was too late. Thankfully they spotted Ozpin, Goodwitch and, surprisingly, Ironwood standing nearby, obviously waiting for them.
"Students, we heard you had trouble during your return." Goodwitch said before looking over them. "Where is Mr Arc?"
Ruby barely kept herself from bursting into tears as she answered. "Professor, Jaune fell into the Deathlands while we were fighting off a horde of flying Grimm. Please, you need to send somebody to look for him now!"
All three teachers' eyes sharpened at this news. "Glynda, please get the flight information from the pilot so we know where this occurred." Ozpin said firmly, Goodwitch immediately hurrying to do so. Then he turned to Ruby. "Now, Miss Rose, please, tell us exactly what happened." Ozpin listened intently as Ruby gave her report, with the others occasionally chiming in with further details. When they were done he nodded. "I see. Rest assured, we are going to do everything in our power to recover Mister Arc. I myself will lead the efforts to get him back."
"Professor, can we help? We can join whoever you send out to look for him." Pyrrha pleaded.
It was Ironwood who answered as Goodwitch returned. "While we appreciate your desire to recover your leader, Miss Nikos, the fact is that the Deathlands are too dangerous for you. If anybody is sent in, they need to be able to focus on their job of recovering Mister Arc, and not on protecting you. Yes, you are talented, but you're still inexperienced, and that would be deadly in that environment. The best you can do for the time being is stay here."
The students looked mutinous at that, but relented and left when Ozpin told them to. Then the headmaster turned to his deputy. "What could the pilot tell you?"
"I have no idea how he made his way so far into the Deathlands, Ozpin. I'd say an inquiry needs to be made, because they made it at least a hundred miles in before correcting their course on Mister Arc's orders. And that's not counting the fact that he was carried off by a Grimm even deeper. I'll work on it and narrow down a likely landing area., but as it is there is no way that young man is getting out on his own. Somebody needs to be sent in, and quickly. Every second that passes reduces the odds of us finding him intact dramatically."
Ironwood spoke up. "I'm willing to send some mechs to help, Ozpin, but I can't go much further. You know the Council's official policy. Anybody that winds up in the Deathlands is officially on their own and no further attempt is to be made at rescue lest more be lost."
Ozpin looked uncharacteristically angry at that. "I don't give a damn. One of my more promising students has landed himself in hell, and it's our duty as his teachers to get him out. I dare say Peter at least will be up for trying to find the young man. He always said he wanted to try his hand at the Deathlands."
"It'll be dark soon, plus searches won't be able to last overnight." Goodwitch said, frowning heavily as well. "It's simply far too dangerous. As much as I don't like it, they will only be able to be out in the field during daylight hours, which will heavily limit our chances of locating him, especially if he's on the move."
Ozpin nodded. "Very well. Glynda, figure out the initial search area while I look for Peter and any other potential volunteers to send out. James, get your mechs ready as well. Every little bit counts. Let's move quickly. Mister Arc is counting on us." The other two nodded and hurriedly got to work.
Jaune was carefully making his way through the trees of the forest, listening carefully for any hint of sound from Grimm. He was unbearably tense, his muscles aching from being tight for so long. But he was finding it very hard to relax.
He found it amazing that he hadn't been attacked by anything yet. There was no way his luck was this good. He'd be getting ripped apart any moment now.
Now that a little time had passed, his shock at the circumstances he found himself in was ebbing away, giving way to panic and terror, which he was trying desperately to stamp down. Such feelings would only make things worse, leading the monsters of the forest straight to him. So he tried to remember things that made him happy, such as his family and his friends. But thinking about those only brought about a feeling of despair at the fact that he likely wouldn't see them again.
"Why is it always me that the universe shits on? Did I do something horrible in a past life, like destroy some towns, burn down some orphanages, kick some puppies?" His self-pitying mutterings stopped abruptly as he heard a growl nearby. He whirled around, clumsily drawing Crocea Mors as he stared in the direction the growl had come from.
Out of the trees came a large beowolf. A large beowolf covered in bone plate. A large beowolf covered in bone plate and bristling with bone spikes all over its body.
"An Alpha. Of course it's an Alpha. Fuck you too, universe." Jaune muttered despondently.
The beowolf roared as it launched itself at Jaune, who desperately brought his shield up to bock the monster's charge. It impacted heavily against the heater shield, sending Jaune flying back with a cry. He desperately swung his sword once he, surprisingly, landed on his feet, the blade skittering off the beowolf's bone armor. It growled and swung one of its large arms, slamming into Jaune's chest. It thankfully hit his armor even as it once again sent him flying against a tree, but Jaune could tell that he was already down a substantial amount of aura, even with his large reserves.
Jaune desperately tried to think of a way out of this. He may die in this Oum-forsaken forest, but there was no way it was going to be to the first damned Grimm he saw! He was not letting Pyrrha's training go to waste like that!
Coming up with an, admittedly simple, plan, Jaune moved in front of a large stone and held his shield up, waiting for the beowolf to attack again. The Grimm snarled as it glared at the wannabe Huntsman before pouncing on him again. Rather than try to tank the attack once more, Jaune sprang to the side in a roll, immediately twirling on the spot. As the Grimm hit the stone, actually moving it slightly due to the force, Jaune launched himself into a thrust with a yell, putting all of his weight behind his sword and aiming for one of the few patches of black on its back.
Thankfully, his aim was true and the blade sank halfway into the monster's flesh. Unfortunately, the Grimm whirled around with a howl of pain, batting Jaune away, making him lose his grip on Crocea Mors.
Jaun groaned in pain where he landed for a moment before looking up at his enemy, wondering why he hadn't been cut to ribbons yet. He was gratified to see that it was preoccupied trying to get the sharp piece of metal out of its flesh rather than continue attacking him.
He quickly got up, trying to think of what to do now. He looked at his shield before sighing and charging at the distracted beowolf with a cry, shield held in front. He bashed the Grimm's head, making it snap to the side. Then he tried to strike its neck with the edge of the shield. It worked, slightly, digging about half an inch into the exposed flesh, making it snarl.
Jaune quickly moved away before the beowolf could hit him again, which would most likely bring his aura to zero at this point. Then he shifted his shield into its sheath mode and held that like a blunt blade. The Grimm advanced, ignoring the sword still stuck in its flesh for the moment. Jaune ducked a swing by the beowolf and swung with his blunt weapon, smacking its arm further away. The he tried to get to his sword, but his opponent moved away at the last moment, not letting him reach it, and swung again. Jaune quickly extended his shield again, tanking the hit much better than before, managing to keep on his feet.
He then slammed against the beowolf once again, driving it towards the rock he'd tricked it with before. The thing yelped as this forced Crocea Mors to move inside it, damaging it even more. It snarled, but Jaune moved back before once more slamming it against the rock, doing even more damage. The beast flailed about, but one final, desperate slam forced the sword the rest of the way in, and the beowolf went limp, already turning to smoke.
Jaune, panting, fell on his ass, panting in exhaustion and from the adrenaline. Then, slowly, he began to laugh euphorically. He'd done it. He'd won! "Take that, Cardin! I just beat an Alpha Beowolf in the fucking Deathlands. You can fucking bite me!"
Slowly his laughter abated and he groaned, tired as he came down from the adrenaline high. But he wasn't stupid, so he picked up Crocea Mors and got ready to move again. Just because he beat one Grimm didn't mean he was safe, after all.
He looked up at the sky that was visible through the branches of the trees. It was starting to get dark, and there was no way he'd make any progress in the night without getting himself horrible killed. His best option was to start looking for someplace to spend the light.
He made his way through the forest, hopefully looking for shelter.
Ozpin stood once again on the landing pad for the school bullheads. Night had fallen, and he'd received news that the search party was returning. He knew it was beyond optimistic to hope for news when they'd only been out for a couple of hours at most, but he needed to hear it for himself.
The bullhead holding the search party landed as Goodwitch made her way to his side. She looked a bit drawn. She was often one of the harshest teachers on Jaune, but he knew that's because she cared to make sure he survived. Knowing that one of her students was in hell on earth must be wearing on her.
The door of the bullhead opened and Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck stepped out. Ozpin had been gratified that most of the staff had volunteered to help, but at least for the moment he had just sent the two, plus Ironwood's mechs as backup.
"Any news, gentlemen?" Ozpin asked, voice calm.
Port shook his head. "No. We didn't have much time to look. And no offence to Glynda, but the initial search area is large. We don't know exactly where he landed. It didn't help that the bullhead was harassed by Grimm annoyingly often." He stroked his impressive mustache. "We did fight some rather rare Grimm. The land's reputation is well earned, as far as I could tell." Realizing how his words sounded he continued on boisterously. "But Mister Arc has a good head on his shoulders. He'll be fine till we can find him, I'm sure."
Ozpin turned to Oobleck, who had been uncharacteristically silent. "What do you think, Bartholomew?"
Oobleck started. He'd obviously been lost in thought. "Ah? Well, Peter is right. As long as Mister Arc keeps a cool head he should be able to hopefully at least avoid confrontation. Still, we need to find him quickly."
"What is it?" Goodwitch asked as she saw the look on Oobleck's face.
"I spotted what appeared to be ruins in the area we flew over. I hadn't heard anything of any settlements there before, no matter the history, so I'm puzzled. I'll need to consult my books." Oobleck replied.
"You think they could affect Mister Arc's odds?" Ozpin asked.
Oobleck shrugged. "I don't know. Doubtful. Still, don't worry, I won't let my academic curiosity get in the way of finding our wayward student."
Ozpin nodded. "Well then, let's get inside. We'll be sending somebody out to search as soon as the sun rises." The others followed him back into the school, each hoping Jaune was okay.
Jaune was sitting on the large, high branch of a large tree. Unable to find a cave or something similar to hide out in, he figured his best chance was to get high up, away from any Grimm roaming the ground.
He was trying to relax, though he was finding it incredibly hard. Every noise made him twitch. The only light came from the moon, which gave everything an otherworldly feel.
He sighed softly and leaned against the tree trunk, trying to get comfortable. In the middle of his shifting his stomach growled loudly, making him freeze, fearing something would be attracted to the sound and devour him. After a minute of nothing happening he managed to relax again, holding his stomach.
He thought wistfully of the pack he'd left behind on the bullhead, which was full of supplies, including rations. Thankfully he'd managed to slake his thirst at a small stream he'd encountered, so that was one less problem. Though he wished he had his canteen so he could carry some water with him.
He closed his eyes. He doubted he'd be able to sleep, but he needed to rest as much as possible and save his strength. He was just managing to fall into a light doze when his eyes snapped open at the sound of rustling. He gazed down at the ground beneath his tree, holding his breath.
Below him something very large was moving past the tree. It made a skittering noise as it traveled, and Jaune realized it was due to a huge number of blade-like legs hitting the ground. He watched with bated breath as a huge Grimm centipede, as long as a couple of train cars and heavily armored, moved past.
He didn't dare breathe for a while after it finally disappeared deeper into the forest, simply staying stock still. Finally he slumped, a cold sweat covering him, and almost whimpered.
He wanted to get out of this horrible forest, and he wanted out now.
Hello all, and welcome to the newest chapter of Survival.
Poor Jaune. It's only going to get worse. But if he survives he's going to have bragging rights for life.
Not much happened in this chapter. I decided to start it slow, though as shown by Jaune's close encounter there are plenty of nasties around. He's just gotten lucky so far.
As I stated in my latest Dragon chapter, this was always going to be short. This fic is essentially what I do on the side when I've got time between chapters of Dragon and Brightest.
Hope it's good anyway though.
So everyone is aware, my update schedule is going to change, as my work schedule is changing. Before I posted chapters on the weekend, as I worked Tues-Sat and I write at work when I have nothing else to do. Now my schedule is changing to Fri-Tues, so I'll most likely be posting new chapters of my stuff during midweek. So expect a new chapter of Dragon in a little over a week.
Don't really have much else to say… Oh, thought I'd give this fic an official theme song. It's going to be 'I May Fall' from the RWBY Volume 1 Soundtrack. It seemed appropriate.
Till next time, thanks for reading, and please review.