Chapter 10: The cave
(Day 10)
Waking up on a strange Island was a bad thing, at least that was something Ruby always thought. But at this point, it had kind of grown on her. Sure, there was the daily battle for survival, but that wasn't too different from home. Only that instead of Grimm, prehistoric animals tried to kill them.
Thus, waking up this say was just like every other morning for her, but got a lot better when realized that she got a new level up. And this one was something special. She finally reached Level 20, and a lot of useful stuff became available. Antidotes, more saddles for Trikes, Equus and something called Hyaenodon. Additionally, there were metal tools, a smithy, a forge to melt metal in, and a fishing rod.
She decided to first learn the fishing rod, since it needed the bow, and then learned the metal pickaxe.
Ruby was sitting outside and cuddled with Puffy, as Weiss left the house, and yawned. "Morning."
"Hey, Weiss. Did you apply your level up?"
"Yeah. I took the Equus Saddle." The heiress explained, took a piece of fish from the storage, and held it over the campfire.
"What's an Equus anyway?"
"A horse. Nothing more."
Ruby looked at her friend. That was an easy answer, and she wondered why it didn't just say 'horse'. "And a Hyaenodon?"
"It's some sort of extinct carnivore from the Eocene and Miocene."
Knowing that Weiss would probably go into a long story about those two eras when Ruby asked what they were, she just ignored it. "And what does it look like?"
"Like a Hyena." Weiss answered, and took the fish out of the fire. "I'd advise not to go near one."
"I didn't plan on it." Ruby took a long stick, and started working on the fishing rod.
"What are you doing?"
"A fishing rod. I thought Blake might appreciate it." Ruby explained. She used a sharp stone to bring the stick in shape.
In the hidden valley, half of JNPR got ready to depart. With their base fortified enough, and having a decent livestock, they finally wanted to explore the Island a bit more. This had a couple of reasons: First of, they wanted to get more dossiers, and they now needed metal to make better equipment. Sure, there was the mountain to the south, but none of them wanted to run into Apex again.
The two-man team was consisting of Jaune and Pyrrha, who wanted to take Greene and explore the west. When Pyrrha and Nora were looking for the Beacon, they saw the Volcano in the distance, and they guessed that it should be a good spot to get metal.
With all the needed stuff on the Parasaur, Jaune jumped on top, and Pyrrha sat down behind him. "Goodbye you two!" Nora yelled, and waved as they rode off. She turned towards Ren. "If they aren't together when they're back, I'm gonna punch them."
Jaune steered Green to the ravine Pyrrha found the Beacon in, and then south, towards the Volcano. They rode around a smaller mountain, and arrived at a plain area between both mountains. Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus and Parasaurs grazed in the area.
"This seems peaceful." Pyrrha pointed out, and looked up the dormant giant. "Do you think there's a way up the volcano?"
"I'd guess so. If not, then we have to find another area."
They started to walk across the valley, and found something sticking out of the ground. Jaune got down from Greene, and looked at the plant. It consisted of green leaves, and it wasn't hard to find out what it was. "I found cabbage!"
"What?" Pyrrha got down too, and looked at the plants. She took a leaf, and bit into it. "Yeah, that's cabbage. You think we can grow it in our base?"
"We can try." They started to pull out some of the plants, and put them into Greene's pockets. "Wait, what part of cabbage contains the seeds?"
"I'd guess the bottom? I'm not an expert on plantlife." Jaune replied.
They heard a roar, and turned around. In front of them stood a cat, with long fangs.
"Uhm, that's a sabertooth." Jaune said, and drew his spear.
The cat jumped onto him, and he held of its claws with his wooden shield. Pyrrha came to help, and thrusted her spear into the cats side. It jumped off of Jaune, and attacked her. However, Jaune managed to grab its tail, and hold it back. It turned around, and tried to attack him, only to be tackled by Greene.
The beast got back up, and clawed into the side of the Parasaur. Pyrrha tackled the Smilodon, and it lost its grip. It fell on the ground, and she rammed her spear through the cat's head.
Meanwhile, Jaune was putting leaves on Greenes wounds. Luckily, they weren't too bad, and should heal by themselves. Pyrrha looked at the dinosaur. "You think there are more Sabertooths here?"
Jaune jumped on the dinosaur. "I'd rather not find out. But honestly, it can't get any worse."
When he said that, they heard thunder, and it started to rain. "Great."
Cinder, Roman and Neo were looking to the east. Dark clouds were coming up, a bad sign, considering that they actually wanted to explore into the direction. Hopefully, they would move to the south, and not bring them rain. With being right next to a cliff, a lot of water could be catastrophical.
However, a new problem came along by itself. The trees started to rustle, and a giant dinosaur left the jungle.
It had a long neck and tail, which were in a horizontal position to its massive body. A row of small spikes were on its back. In relation to its body, the head was small.
"Great. Is this thing going to attack us?" Cinder asked.
"Don't worry." Roman replied. "They have a skeleton of this guy at the Vale Museum of Natural History. It's a planteater, and called a Diplodocus."
"You're visiting the museum?" Cinder asked him, slightly amused by the thought.
"Well, in a way. If stealing their most valuable exhibits is considered a visit." He looked down to his friend. "That was quite an adventure, right Neo?" He noticed that she was gone. "Neo?"
"There." Cinder pointed at the girl, which was approaching the sauropod.
Neo slowly came closer to the head of the creature, and it looked down at her. She took some berries, and held the food in front of the animal, which gladly started to eat them
"Don't tell me she's attempting to tame it." The half-maiden muttered.
"It could be useful. Think about how much this thing could carry. Or defend us." Roman pointed out. "Especially with our new need of metal."
That was right. Thanks to their new engrams, which featured tools made out of metal, the need for the resource had arisen, and she sent out Adam, Emerald and Mercury to find some. They took Amra and Clyde with them. And a giant dinosaur like that should be able to carry a high amount of ressources. "I agree with you one the carrying thing. But I don't see how this thing could defend us. It doesn't have any claws, teeth or other weapons."
"It's not always about the obvious weapons, my dear Cinder. See the tail? When I remember the exhibit in the museum correctly, it works like a giant whip, and can break the sound barrier."
She looked at the tail. Indeed, it was thin, and long. Even when the Diplodocus was swinging it around casually, it made a whipping sound from time to time. A direct hit from this could easily break through Aura, and kill anyone in one shot. Luckily, it looked like the creature wasn't agressive, and actually seemed to play with Neo.
"And what am I supposed to use as bait?" Blake asked, as she looked at the fishing rod Ruby gave her.
"Maybe you can use small fish, or insects." Yang suggested.
"I can try." The Faunus took a small fish that was in their storage. It was too small to be a good meal, or even a snack, but should be enough to use as bait. Sometimes, those tiny fish were washed on the shore.
She sat down on a chair, and threw the leash into the river. Now she had to wait.
Meanwhile, Ruby, Weiss and Yang started to bring stuff outside into their house, since they could see the dark clouds closing in. Ruby used the chance, and checked how many metal they still had.
It turned out that they couldn't use raw metal, and guessed that the new Refining Forge was used to melt it into usable metal. However, no one of them had enough points to learn it. But after counting it, Ruby knew that they should have enough metal for at least one set of pickaxe and hatchet. She also noticed that they still had some crystals left.
"I've got something!" Blake yelled, and tried to reel the fish in. As soon as it left the water, they saw that it was a big Salmon, and Yang went in to help her with the massive fish. It worked, and they brought the fish on land, where Blake instantly started to cut it open.
When she out her hand into its belly, so that she could rip out all the disgusting parts of the fish, she noticed something strange. Blake ripped it out, and saw a small booklet.
The Faunus went over to the river, and washed the blood off. Weiss sat down next to her. "What's that?"
"I found it inside the fish. I guess it ate it." She opened it, and it descriped step for step how to make a saddle for a creature called Argentavis. "What's an Argentavis?"
"One of the biggest birds to ever life. It had a wingspan of 6.07 meters, or 19.9 feet."
"Yeah, that's huge. You think taming one could be an option?"
"Well, I'd guess that they live around mountains. If we can manage to knock one out, it could be a good flying mount." Weiss explained. "If we can knock out a giant vulture that is."
The rain surprised Pyrrha and Jaune. At first, it only seemed like a small shower, but it soon started to turn into a full storm. In search for cover, the two found a cave, and led Greene into it.
It didn't take long, and the Parasaur couldn't go any deeper into the cave. However, Jaune and Pyrrha were interested. They went in deeper, and came across green glowing mushrooms. From this point, two ways led deeper into the cave. They took the left one, and found a broken stone pillar, with a strongbox next to it. Pyrrha opened the box, and took the dossier. In it was the picture of a giant shark.
"Were it not restricted to the waters, Carcharodon Ultramegalodon might be the most dangeorus creature on the Island. As powerful and dangerous as the Tyrannosaurus is on land, Megalodon is its equal in the water. In addition, it has a speed adantage over any non-aquatic creature. Megalodon's need large quantities of food to sustain themselves, so they attack most creatures immediatly on sight. Smaller fish are the sole exception I've seen; I believe this is because they cost more energy for Megalodon to catch than they would gain. As far as I know, no one has been able to tame a Carcharodon Ultramegalodon. Were someone to tame one, that person would be the undisputed ruler of the oceans around the Island, and would have access to ressources no one else can safely find!"
"Giant monstersharks. Great." Jaune said. "Taming one sounds awesome though."
"Yeah, but we don't have any real access to the ocean." Pyrrha pointed out.
"Right. You think there are more dossiers in here?" Jaune asked.
"Looking for them can't hurt. Let's go." They went deeper in, and found themselves in a bigger room, from where multiple paths went off. White crystals stuck out of the wall, while green mushrooms grew on the ground. One of the paths ended in a dead end, except for some bricks, with a chest among them. Jaune opened it, and found another note, written by Rockwell. There was a drawing of a cage on one side.
"The first round of trials for my new Larzarus Chowder have gone marvelously, but I have found it hard to maintain my enthusiasm. After all, I will never get truly definitive results with only mesopithecus subjects. It is quite frustrating. Even so, I see now that Isabelle was right. Having my assistants take part in the trials would be asking too much of them, and they are too valuable to risk so frivolously. If I cannot find human subjects from the nearby tribes, then I shall have to make do the trials on apes and monkeys. Perhaps it is finally time capture some Giganthopithecus..."
"All right. The fact that he does experiments on living creatures kinda put a dent into my sympathy for him." Pyrrha said.
"I don't know. The big companies back home do it too." Jaune replied. "And at least he's doing it on animals, not humans. Or Faunus."
"That doesn't make it better. At least not a lot. Poor Mesopithecus. Whatever they are."
"Hey, I'm not a fan of it either. Just saying, better than using humans. Come on. Maybe there's more deeper in the cave." They walked down a narrow path, and found themselves in a completely different world.
The cave opened up to a giant room, with plants growing everywhere. Bodies of water were on the ground, and giant, green glowing structures scattered the wall. The sound of thunder and rain was heard from outside, and it was raining into the cave through holes in the ceiling.
"This... This is breathtaking." Pyrrha said, as they walked into the cave.
They saw a green box on the stone, and approached it. Jaune's implant responded, and the crate dissolved, leaving behind a bow. "Well, so much for that." He threw the bow into the water, due to him already having one. Instantly, dozens of fish swam up, and started to bite into the bow, destroying it.
"Okay. Don't go into the water. Got it." Pyrrha pointed out.
They started to walk up a slope, and came across a ball of feathers on the ground. While looking at it, they noticed some distinct features: It had a long tail, and a snout, filled with sharp, hook-like teeth. The body of the creature was curled up. It didn't look too big while sleeping, but after getting a glimpse of its legs, it was clear that this thing was actually pretty big. Its back was covered by a fur of white feathers.
"Do you know what this is?" Pyrrha asked.
"A dinosaur." Jaune replied. "I can't say which one though."
"Didn't you have dinosaur books when you were a child?"
"Yes, when I was a child. That was over ten years ago. I forgot most of the ones that were in there. Even if, I think the books would be horribly outdated." The leader explained. "It's a carnivore though. Maybe we should go before it wakes up."
"Let's get out of here then."
They slowly made their way back, when Pyrrha suddenly froze. "What's going on?"
Jaune followed her sight, and saw the reason: A giant spider was sitting in the corner, and looked at them. Then, a second one came out from behind a rock. And a third one. He slowly stepped back. "Pyrr-" As he looked at his friend, he only saw a dustcloud that resembled her, and slumped down. "Wait!" He ran after her, and back into the narrow paths.
After a couple of turns, he looked back, and saw that the spiders weren't following them. Perhaps they didn't like to go into the narrow areas. Jaune finally catched up to Pyrrha, who was leaning against Greene, and looked out into the rain. "Everything okay?"
She looked up. "Yes... Yes. Everything's okay. It's just..."
"It's okay, don't worry." He sat down next to her. "Everyone's afraid of something. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Right." Thunder was heard, and the outside was brightened by lightning, as the two fell asleep.
Cinder and Roman were staring at Neo, as she led the Diplodocus into the camp. She really managed to get it to trust her, even if it took more than three hours. At least the others were back, without any results. However, the animal was too big to fit into the camp, so Neo had to park it next to the base.
Adam came up from the beach, and looked at the creature in shock. "What is this thing?"
"Our new packmule." Cinder replied, and turned to Neo. "Can you try to make a saddle for it?"
She nodded, and went to a table to plan the saddle, using a note and mashed berries as color.
"And Roman. Did you make any progress with the 'Healing Potion'?"
"Well, I'd like to say yes, but I have no Idea. There's nothing to test it on." He said. "And I'm certainly not going to test it on any of us."
Cinder thought for a moment, and looked down at the beach, where a couple of Trilobites had crawled up onto the shore, something that happened often in the evening. "Then we have to find you some test subjects. Maybe some sort of monkey."
They all looked to the east, as lightning struck in the distance. It seemed like the storm was coming into their direction. "Roman! Adam! Warn Emerald and Mercury! We have to secure our supplies!"
Both nodded, and ran down to the shore.
Team SSSN was gathered in Ozpin's office. And they were slightly pissed, since they were already waiting for two hours. The constant ticking of the gears above them didn't help, and they wondered how Ozpin was living with the sounds.
The more they were relieved, as the headmaster finally entered, Winter and General Ironwood at his side. "I have to apologize for the delay. There were some matters to attend to in the colloseum."
"You could have called us, you know?" Sun replied. "Anyway. What's the matter?"
"You remember what we told you? About Salem trying to tie up loose ends?"
Neptune shrugged. "Sure. Did you got the list ready?"
Winter stepped forward. "Here it is." She put a scroll on the table, and a hologramm appeared in the middle of the office. It showed a couple of names with locations.
"Hey. I know that guy!" Neptune said, and pointed at someone with black hair and red sunglasses.
"This are the loose ends. From tomorrow on, we want you to visit each of them, and make sure they are okay." Ironwood explained. "Winter, please."
The specialist nodded, and brought up the profile of the man Neptune pointed at. "This is Hei 'Junior' Xiong. He runs a nightclub in Vale, called the 'Dancing Bear'. He sold some of his henchmen to Roman Torchwick."
"Yang knew him." Neptune pointed out. "Appearently she was visiting his club from time to time."
"Yes, we are aware of Miss Xiao Longs visits there. Especially the first one." Ozpin said. "When you're visiting him, try not to stick out too much. Not only is he a skilled fighter himself, but he has two powerful bodyguards, with the names of Melanie and Miltia Malachite."
Winter brought up the next profile. They couldn't see his face, since it was hidden behind a mask of the White Fang. However, he appeared to be muscular. "We don't have the name of this person, but we know that he was the right hand of Adam Taurus. This makes him a primary source of information for us."
"So, we have to defend a member of the White Fang?" Sun asked.
"Exactly. We know that he won't be willing to cooperate easily. In fact, he already fought Miss Schnee on the train, at the day of the breach. So be prepared."
"We won't let you down, Professor." Sage assured. "Are there more targets?"
"Not for now." Winter replied. "We are still looking through all the available data, but we thought that it would be a good idea to send you to those two already."
"No problem. So, it starts tomorrow?" Sun asked.
"That's right. Please, use this night to sleep well. You'll have a busy day." Ozpin answered, and took a swig from his mug.
And Chapter 10 is up. Finally, I can get to the new engram system, which will make the whole thing a lot easier.
And if anyone wonders what happened to the other creatures in the cave: Either the Megalosaurus ate them, or the sounds of the storm caused them to retreat into the deeper parts.
Now to replies:
Thorfaxdragonkin: Depends on the Grimm.
Shadow-Proclamation8: Well, only time will tell. (Or the next Chapter).
The Multiversal Writer: I will try to add them in, but it's not easy to find a good spot, or role, for some of the animals. Also, if you can't wait to see their reactions to the leeches, just wait until they tame their first Liopleurodon.
A New Challenger: Maybe. I won't say that now, since it will be revealed in the next Chapter anyway.
Crazy Old Walter: Toilet: Yes. Dung Beetle: Not for JNPR.
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios.