Ch.3: Team aRBn
I thought I would be used to rude awakenings since I have an alarm clock in my head constantly reminding me to wake up for training but hearing a gunshot and seeing a Grimm flying in front of me is much more alarming. It lands on the cave floor and starts to disappear. My scream is drowned out by the sound of more gunfire. I grab onto my cane, Long Memory, and run outside.
I see four Huntsmen battling a giant rock monster. It has boulder arms and millions of pebbles for fingers. Its steps make the ground shake. The Grimm mask is clear on its stone. I learned all I know about Grimm from Ozpin and sometimes Qrow when he wasn't drinking. I think I did a okay job memorizing them but this is the one I always forget, so I call it Spooky.
A dark skin woman is slinging from tree to tree with bandages, evading massive swings from Spooky and sending snow falling to the ground. She keeps its attention by shooting fireballs from her bandages. One huntress with a hoodie and face paint on floats around on a hoverboard, trying to freeze its leg but it keeps breaking away.
"I told you the ice dust won't work. It's not strong enough" The dark skin woman says.
"Maybe if you stopped heating it up then it can work." The hoverboarder says.
"Don't worry girls, I got this." A man crouched in a tree says. He kinda looks like a monkey doing that, even though he isn't a Faunus. He leaps off with his staff aimed at the Grimm's mask. Blades come out of the ends of his weapon. However, one fireball comes very close to hitting him and he misses his mark. "Come on Arslan I almost had that." He says, landing on the ground.
"I told you and Reese to stick to taking out its legs." The dark skin woman says. She must be Arslan.
"We can't take it down, we have to–ugh!" He is swat away by Spooky's massive hand.
"Bolin!" The hoverboarder says, then rides off after him.
"Reese wait. Oh, whatever. I'll handle this myself." Arslan says.
"They certainly are not organized." Ozpin says.
"Yea, Ruby and Jaune never had their team like this."
"Well, they certainly had their growing pains but I always taught my students teamwork first. Leonardo must have taught something different."
Leonardo Lionheart. During our fight he looked so scared, that's why he barely put up a fight. He was working with people that ended up killing him. He must have felt so alone while he was with Salem. Scared and alone. This really isn't the time to get too introspective
"I got to help them." I ready Long Memory.
"Remember what I taught you."
"Right." I sigh, then straighten my back and hold the cane in one hand. I dash off. Arslan is still in the trees, but now she is sending more fireballs at Spooky. In front of me, I see gunfire coming from deeper in the forest. Another man, with pink and black hair, is crouched behind a boulder. He concentrates his sub machine gun bullets at the Grimm's right leg. It plinks off, barely leaving a dent. His eyes get big when he sees me run up to him.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"Don't worry I'm a huntsman in training." I technically lie. "How can I help?"
"Help me take down this thing's legs."
"That won't work. He's been firing at it since we woke up. Not a dent has been made." Ozpin says. I just noticed that this guy was here. How Ozpin saw him first is beyond me. As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. One look at this situation and you'll know it's pointless.
"Maybe if we get to the treetops like the other huntress then we could hurt it." I say.
"I guess that can work." He says, lowering his head and gun. "I hope I won't be bad at that too." He mumbles the last part.
Suddenly, we both feel a drastic change in temperature. Heat can be felt above us. When I look, all I see are trees burning above me. The crackling fire sends burning branches fall around us, melting the snow.
"Never mind. Looks like she has it." He sits down while looking at the fire above.
"Huh?But the Grimm, the fire, we can't just sit here while all of this is happening."
"Arslan will handle it. Trust me."
I shake my head then go back to the clearing. On a burned-out tree, Arslan has a humongous burning Lion in her hands above her head. all the fire from the trees converge on that one point, making the golden flames from the Lion burn brighter and grow bigger. It's as if she holds the sun in her tiny hands. She yells and throws it at the Grimm. It takes it full on, trying to push it away but it can't withstand the heat. The Grimm's body starts to melt into lava, breaking apart bit by bit. The heat is intense, melting all of the snow in the area and forcing me to back up. Arlsan gathers more fire from more lit trees and chunks even greater Lions at it than before. In one last toss, the Grimm is nothing more than a lava spill.
Arslan jumps down, panting and dusting her hands off. "And that's how you take down a Grimm. Who are you?" She asks, pointing at me. Before I get the chance to answer, the huntsman who was knocked away comes running in. He sees all the burned trees with embers on them and the lava that is oozing forward. His eyes bulge then he tosses water coming from his body at the lava, turning it into molten mold. His breathing is rapid and face tense; he looks livid.
"Why did you do that?!" He screams.
"What? You mean take down the Grimm we were supposed to?" Arslan says.
"I'm talking about the trees. You didn't have to set all of them on fire."
"I needed a bigger source of fire. Besides, there just trees."
"Um, guys..." The pink and black hair huntsman came back. He's talking too low for anyone to hear him. The hoverboarder comes in too, grimacing along with the arguing man.
"Aren't you from Mistral? You should respect nature more than this." The man says.
"Yea! Who's the kid?" The hoverboarder says.
"Guys?"
"I respect our school and upholding the mission at all costs. Where's your sense of duty? Did you want that Grimm to go back to the town?"
"Of course not."
"Bolin would never want that. He's too nice."
"Guys."
"Clearly he does if he wants to protect trees over innocent lives.
"That's not–
Ozpin takes over while I'm distracted. He back flips, covering more feet than I could in a regular jump, then lands on the Grimm that I thought was dead. "That was a Geist." He speaks over all of their yelling and instantly gets their attention. "A Grimm that controls inanimate objects. Just because you kill the body doesn't mean you killed it. I expect you all knew that; why else would you waste time arguing?" Ozpin says.
"Ozpin, I thought I told you–"
"Not now Oscar." He whispers. I try to gain control but it's like pushing against a barn house. This is impossible now but just a few days ago I had him fighting me for control. What happened? Or we merging even faster than I imagined? How long do I have left in my own body? "While all of you were bickering, this Grimm could have gone off and hurt the people you are trying to protect."
"No way, my Golden Lion should have incinerated all of it."
"But it didn't."
"Excuse me, who are you?" Arslan gets closer to Ozpin. Her angry face looking down at Ozpin's calm one. Still half a head taller than me. This really wasn't fair. Someone else getting mad at for because of Ozpin. Just like Qrow, Yang and Hazel. Is she going to hurt me too? Once I thought that, I stop trying to seize control. If he's going to put us in this, he has to get us out.
"A huntsman in training from Beacon."
She's taken aback, but quickly goes back to her angry look from before. "Whatever." She bumps past me, going deeper into the burned forest.
"Sorry bout that. The name's Bolin." He comes up and holds out a hand. "That's Arslan. She's like that with everyone so don't take it personally."
Ozpin returns the shake. "I've certainly dealt with my fair share of people like Ms. Arslan." He says. "So, what are the rest of your names?"
"Yo, I'm Reese." She holds out a fist to fist bump. Ozpin responds smoothly. I thought he didn't even know what a fist bump was.
"Over here is Nadir. He's a bit shy." Bolin introduces the pink and black hair student. "We're team ARBN, although I think it should be team BARN."
"Bolin, we're not farm animals. Being in a barn sucks." Reese says.
"What's so bad about barns?" Ozpin and I say. I'm surprised to see him getting offended as well.
"Nothing, nothing, it's just smelly and quiet and there's poop everywhere. I think, I've only been to one." I couldn't argue with her there. But after a while all that grows on you. Not the poop though. Ozpin laughs, then turns his attention to Nadir.
"You knew what that Grimm was. Why didn't you say anything?" Ozpin says. All eyes go to Nadir.
"I could have been wrong." He looks away from us, to the ground. That's something I tend to do a lot.
"But you weren't. Your information can save lives. You should trust it."
"Yea, listen to the kid. He has a galaxy brain."
"Wrong time for that one Reese." Bolin says. "Anyways, what's your name Pipsqueak?"
Ozpin leaves me in control. The sudden change makes me stumble a bit. Not a heads up or anything; is he trying to avoid me? "Uhh, Oscar."
"What brings you out here?" Bolin asks.
"I was separated from my team. I spent the whole day yesterday trying to find them but no luck."
"That's rough buddy. How about you come back to Elsinore with us. The mayor there might be able to help you out."
"Wait, how did you change your voice like that? Are you a voice actor?" Reese asks.
"It's just...something I do sometimes." Once I feel that sudden social anxious pressure of everyone looking at me, I turn my head away.
"Don't point out people's quirks." Bolin says. "Come on, let's go before our 'leader' leaves us."
Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I decided to put team ARBN in this since it would make sense for them to be in Mistral right when team RWBY was about to leave. Also I want to play around with the concept of disorder in teams and they seem like a good fit. I mean, just look how long they lasted in the Vytal fest. One other interesting tidbit about this chapter is that I changed what the Geist was going to be three times. Went from trees, to a giant, glob of water then finally settling on stone. I ended up changing it so much since I wanted to change it up from the first time it appeared in the series and I needed certain fight scene moments to make sense.
Anyway, please leave a review of what you think. I use all of your reviews to fight crime with. Because I! Am! The night! *Grapple hooks away when you're not looking*