Chapter 13: Magnanimus
(Day 13)
It was already noon on the Island, as Team RWBY was preparing their big project. With the Refining Forge finally done, they had a new goal: metal. Pyrrha and Jaune left early in the morning, so that they could be back in their valley this day. Ruby and Yang gave them the bit of metal they had, so that the two wouldn't arrive home empty handed. In turn, the two gave them some of the cabbages they found.
The project they were planning, was to go back into the cave, and get some ressources, and hopefully dossiers, from there. A good amount of preparation has gone into this, including a hunt for two Raptors, which was thankfully not hard, due to the fact that there was a small pack behind the jungle. Weiss has noted that one of the Raptors was female, while the other one was male. They also planned a daily hunting trip, to get the food for the Raptors.
The female one had green feathers, while the male had beige ones. Both had a brown hide however. Ruby had the duty to name the two new dinos, and decided to call them 'Verm', for Vermillion, and 'Carol', for Coral. Both animals were already saddled, although they were meant as extra firepower against the animals in the cave, not as mounts.
"Everyone remember the plan?" Ruby asked, as she walked up in front of everyone.
"It's not hard to remember." Weiss said.
It really wasn't. Weiss, Blake and Yang were suppossed to go in and take care of the inhabitants, while Ruby was staying in the first room, waiting for all the bats to be dead, and then come in and take the ressources, together with Baza and Gran as packmules.
"Yang? You have what I asked for?" Weiss asked.
Yang pulled out a couple of flints, with a bit of leftover metal. "Flint and Steel is ready to burn down some spiders."
That was one of Ruby's ideas. Not only could they use the improvised weapon to set an area inside the cave on fire, they could also use it to make burning spears and arrows.
"Okay. We are ready to go then?" Blake asked, and everyone nodded.
"All right. Team RWBY is off to their first official mission!" Ruby yelled excited. "Let Operation Spiderhole commence!" She bumped her fist into the air, before mounting Verm. Blake jumped on Carol, while Yang took Baza and Weiss Gran.
Together, they made their way to the cave. The way there was rather peaceful, with only a group of Dilophosaurus attacking them. As they arrived at the entrance, they double-checked their equipment, before entering the cave.
Unknown to them, five little dinosaurs stood above the cave, watching the four going in.
Inside, everyone dismounted their animals. Like planned, the Phimia and Parasaur stayed with Ruby, while Yang, Blake, Weiss, Carol and Verm went into the cave.
Cinder and her group had postboned their plans to travel into the snow. The new level up they got enabled them to built armor made out of fur, which should be more than enough to keep them warm in the snow. Sure, it needed metal, but they had found a bit of it on a nearby hill. The only thing they'd need was fur, wool or hair.
Of course, Roman suggested to cut someone's hair to use it, but not only was no one okay with that, they guessed that it wouldn't give them enough hair to make even one full set.
The one who had learned the armor, or at least the chestpiece, since it costed a lot of points, was Cinder.
"The Forge is done." Emerald said, as she and Mercury joined the planning Cinder and Roman.
"Great. Then the only thing missing is the fur." Cinder said.
"And the metal." Mercury pointed out. "It takes some time to melt."
"Who's looking over it?" Roman asked.
"Adam. Took some convincing though." Emerald said. Clyde, who was sitting on her shoulder, purred.
"Do you have a plan to get the fur?" Mercury wondered.
"Well, you said you saw Mammoths in the ice?" Cinder asked.
Emerald and Mercury looked at each other. "Yeah. But, you know, they are in the ice. We would need their fur first."
"We think that we maybe able to draw one out of the Ice." Cinder said. "Then, we could easily take it out, and take its fur."
"And how are we supposed to get it out of there?"
"Maybe a well placed arrow works." Cinder explained.
"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Mercury asked Emerald.
"Nope."
Weiss, Yang, Blake and their Raptors were going deeper into the cave, until they arrived at the point they had ran out from last time. Yang took a peek down the ledge, and noticed that the spiders weren't there anymore. Still, she had her doubts that those monsters abandonded the cave.
"So, should we jump down?" She asked.
"How would we get back up?" Blake asked, and Yang nodded.
With that, they took the only other way. After a turn, it led them to another ledge, overlooking an underground lake. Thanks to a Supply crate in the water, they were able to see Piranhas and a Sarcosuchus inside the water.
"Girls?" Weiss yelled, and the two went to her. She was looking at a smooth, black rock. "I think this is the Obsidian we've been looking for."
"Can we mine it?" Yang asked.
"Later. Remember the plan?"
"Right. By the way-" Yang was unable to finish her sentence, as something jumped on her. It looked like a giant lizard.
Blake went in, and stabbed the creature into the head with her spear. With the monster distracted, Yang managed to overpower it, and throw it over the ledge, into the water. The Piranhas and the Sarco made short work of the reptile. "What was that thing?"
"Looked like a Megalania." Weiss explained. "I didn't know that they were able to hang on the ceiling, but well..."
"Blake? You have night vision. Can you keep an eye out for them?" Yang asked. The Faunus nodded.
They went down the path, and it led them to a couple of plants. As they were preparing to enter a narrow path, they noticed something sleeping on the ground. "Weiss? What's that?" Blake asked.
"I think it's a Megalosaurus." Weiss guessed. "And it's sleeping. We better don't wake it up."
"So what now?"
Weiss looked around, and noticed multiple plants growing across the lake. "We should get over there."
"Weiss? Have you noticed the giant fucking crocodile in the water?" Yang asked.
"Technically, it's not a crocodile. Sarcosuchus are clasified outside the Crocodylia."
Yang's eye twitched. "Okay. Have you noticed the ten feet, human eating lizard that's swimming around in there?"
"Of course I noticed it." Weiss looked into the water. "Maybe we can draw it out."
"You mean with those?" Blake asked, and grabbed her bow, together with an arrow.
The heiress nodded. "Exactly. Then, Carol, Yang and Verm can take it out."
"Why me?" Yang asked.
"Because you're the most expandable." Weiss said with a smirk.
"Okay. Wait, what?"
"Now!" Weiss yelled before Yang could say anything else, and Blake shot the arrow.
It pierced the hide of the Sarco, and it turned towards them. They waited until the monster left the water, and both Raptors jumped on its side. Their claws dug into its body, and it tried to shake them off. Yang jumped on the Monsters head, and grabbed its upper jaw. It struggled with her, but Yang managed to keep its mouth open. Blake and Weiss used that chance, and both shot an arrow in its mouth. The hits caused the Monster massive pain. Bones cracked, and Yang managed to break its upper jaw. The creature tried to flee, but fell down thanks to its injuries.
Yang jumped down, and dusted herself off. "That was pretty brutal."
"It worked though." Weiss said.
"I just wanna point out, this won't work every time." Blake threw in. "Now, what about the Piranhas?"
"I've got an idea." Weiss said, and held the tail of the Sarco into the water. Quickly, a couple of Piranhas bit on it, and she dragged the tail out again, with the help of Yang. Outside of the water, the Piranhas were struggling, and Blake took them off and threw them on the ground. It didn't take long for them to die.
Ruby was still waiting at the entrance for the signal that the bats were all dead. She was sitting down, and leaned her head against Gran. The animal was surprisingly comfortable as a pillow.
Suddenly, she heard something coming through the entrance. She looked up, and saw a small, bipedal dinosaur. It's body was covered by feathers, and two of its toes ended in sharp sickle claws.
"Uhm, nice dinosaur." She said, while grabbing Bazas and Grans leeshes.
The dinosaur tilted its head, and two more entered the cave. "Yang!" Ruby yelled.
Suddenly, one of the small Raptors let out a loud screech, and all three jumped on Ruby. Baza and Gran fell into panic, and ran deeper into the cave. Ruby felt the small, but sharp teeth of the dinosaurs going through her Aura. She screamed, but noticed that she was getting weaker. Before long, she passed out. The last thing she saw were the three dinosaurs gathering in front of her. Two more came to their aid, and the biggest one of them barked into the direction of the deeper cave, and the other four ran in.
Yang, Weiss and Blake finally managed to take out the last of the Piranhas. It wasn't hard, thanks to their strategy, and they were swimming across the lake. While Weiss and Yang went on the other shore, Blake dove down, and retrieved something from the supply crate.
"And? Was there something useful in there?" Weiss asked.
Blake gave her a booklet. Weiss opened it, and saw a description of how to built a bow. However, it looked more refined than their normal ones. Thus, they kept it, and looked around. There were rocks full of metal and obsidian everywhere. There were even crystals growing out of the wall. And even more interesting, a stone pillar with a strongbox next to it.
Weiss opened the box, and took the dossier, which she gave to Blake. Thanks to her night vision, she could read it without using a torch. That,in turn, meant less attention from any animals.
She opened it, and saw the picture of a four legged reptile, which looked a lot like a crocodile.
"A smaller relative to the Sarcosuchus, Kaprosuchus Paludentium is a water-based carnivore primarly found lurking amongst the Island's swamps. When attacking, Kaprosuchus uses two main tactics. First, it patiently waits below the water surface and when the target is sufficiently close by, will perform a lateral jump that it uses to quickly close distance with its prey and drag it underwater. Secondly, its attacks the prey's vital areas specifically to drain its stamina. These two techniques effectively prevent most creatures from escaping Kaprosuchus once an assault has begun."
"A jumping Sarcosuchus." Yang said. "Great. Is there anything else?"
"A naturally fast runner that is even faster in the water, it is a solitary hunter that picks off small-to-medium creatures, especially those isolated from their pack. Survivors are generally split about the usefulness of Kaprosuchus. Some love its speed both in and out of the water, essentially making it among the fastest small-sized all-terrain mounts when travelling through the wetlands. Others do not like how relatively frail Kaprosuchus is, and do not think its high speed and ensnaring attacks make up for its shortcomings."
"I have to agree with them." Yang said. "Why tame something that dies from one bite."
"Well, speed is sometimes the saving factor though." Blake pointed out. "Then again, you're all about brute force anyway."
They heard some sort of faint barking echoing through the caves, and looked around. There was nothing visible, and they started to go ahead. They arrived at two more lakes, seperated by a stone way. A lot of plants were growing on them, turning it into a small forest, and a hole in the ceiling let in daylight. It would've been peaceful, if it wasn't for the group of bats that was lurking around.
The mammals flew towards the five, and Carol jumped. She grabbed one of the bats, and took it down, ripping it apart on the ground. Verm repeated the process, and Blake threw a spear, hitting the third bat into the abdomen. Suddenly, they heard something hissing, and turned around. A large snake was slithering through the stones, closing in. They took their bows, and aimed at the head of the Boa.
Four arrows later, the Snake stopped moving. At least those things were frail.
Weiss noticed another strongbox, and opened it. This time, she was able to read it, thanks to the hole in the ceiling. It showed a survivor on a raft, surrounded by shark fins. This brought back some unpleasant memories.
"So, in addition to all of the oddities I found with wild Megalodons here's the real cherry on top: Taming them is a piece of piss."
"Does this mean its easy or hard?" Yang asked, but Weiss ignored her.
"A bit of training, and they're more obediant than the family dog. Now, I've heard of sharks rudimentary training over a year or so, but not to this extent. Certainly not so easily. Sharks aren't mammals or even avians, they're fish. They rely more on instinct, or to put it simply, they're not very smart. You shouldn't be able to ride one like a jet ski. I'm trying to keep an open mind like Rockwell, but this just feels wrong."
"Huh. So you can tame Megalodon?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, that was already in the dossier Jaune showed us." Yang pointed out. "But the rest is interesting. Is it written by the same person?"
Weiss took the Kaprosuchus dossier, and compared the hand writing. "Yeah, it's written by the same person."
They heard the barking again, and turned around. They noticed four small dinosaurs coming out of the bushes. "Uhm, Weiss? What are those?"
"Uh, Velociraptor maybe. Or Troodon." She saw their big eyes. "Yep. Definitely Troodon."
"And?"
"Well, they're the smartest dinosaurs." Weiss explained.
One of the Troodon lunged forward, and bit Blake into the face. However, Blake disappeared, and came out from behind a rock, kicking the Troodon into the side. It flew against a wall, but seemed like it wasn't injured.
"What?" Yang gasped.
"Uh-oh." Weiss said. "I think they may have Aura."
"What?" Yang yelled, and the other Troodon attacked. Yang managed to punch one out of the way. "Come on!" They started to run back, until the arrived at the big lake.
The Troodon were still behind them, and jumped on Verm. They quickly bit it, before jumping off again. The Raptor's attacks slowed down, before it fell.
"Verm!" Yang yelled.
"It's still breathing!" Weiss said, and pointed at the Raptor. "Come on!" She created a glyph on the water, and everyone jumped on. Yang managed to grab the unconsciuss Verm, and dragged him with them, as Weiss made the glyph glide over the water.
As soon as they were on the other side, they wanted to leave the cave, but saw that the Troodon had planned this. They were waiting along the way, ambushing them. One jumped on Yang, and tried to bite her. Yang managed to grab its mouth, and hold it shut. However, the claws still managed to hit her, but weren't coming through her Aura. She threw the small animal away, and right into a web. A giant spider woke up, and started to wrap a net around it.
To their surprise, the other Troodon let go of them, and came in to help their comrade. They attacked the spider vigorously, before freeing the other Troodon.
"Well, this isn't what I was expecting." Yang said.
As fast as they attacked the spider, the Troodon were back on attacking the three girls and two Raptors. Even Coral had her problems with the things, and tried to hit them. Their Aura kept them going, and they eventually overpowered Coral, knocking her out.
"Shit!" Weiss yelled. One of Troodon jumped, but was blocked by a Glyph. Weiss tried to stab the creature with a spear, but it dodged, and dug its teeth into her leg. She felt venom entering her body, but was still awake. She grabbed the animal by the neck, and threw it against a wall.
Even though both sides were evenly matched, the Troodon's venoms made them a bit more fearsome. They managed to corner the girls, and prepared their attack. Without any other options, Yang took one of her arrows, and set in on fire with her Flint and Steel. She shot into the general direction of the Troodon, and noticed that they were keeping their distance to the fire.
That gave Blake and idea, and she took a torch, igniting it on the wall. She then held it in front of the Troodon, and they started to go back, while barking at the torch. "They're afraid of fire."
Yang smirked, and cracked her knuckles. "Then let's heat thing up a bit."
Ruby was slowly waking up again. She tried to move, but wasn't able to. As she looked around, she noticed that, whatever attacked her, wrapped spider webs around her arms and legs.
There was one of those things left. Judging by its size, it was the leader of the pack. She wasn't able to see much of it, but could make out that it was missing its right sickle claw.
However, there was one other question on her mind. Why did they leave her alive? Not that it was a bad thing, but why? They were organized, so they clearly had some level of intelligence. Maybe they preferred their food fresh, or, worse, she was part of some form of trap.
Suddenly, she heard barking from inside the cave, and the big one responded, before going in.
Now was the perfect time. She tried to use her Semblance, but whatever venom they injected kept her from using it. Then, she felt something pulling on the webs, and looked around. There was a beetle, with a big horn. It looked like some form of Dung Beetle. It gnawed on the nets, and Ruby guessed that they were part of their diet. Shortly after, the strings broke, and she was able to move one of her arms. she quickly untied her other one, and then her feet.
Ruby took a last glance at the Beetle, which was swallowing the cobwebs, before running deeper into the caves. She had to find Baza and Gran. And, more importantly, her team.
She ran through the halls, until she arrived in a big, open area. There, she saw Weiss, Blake and Yang at the cave wall, keeping the creatures off of them with fire. Carol and Verm were unconscius, but not for long. She saw how Verm was slowly getting up, and ran towards him. "Hey buddy." She patted his back, and took a torch, which she ignited with a flint. She then tied it to his arm, and proceeded to do the same thing with his other one.
After looking at her work, she send him towards the dinosaurs. They looked at Verm in panic, and stepped back. Yang looked at Ruby, and smiled. They all took a torch, and started to shoot burning arrows at the Troodon. Their leader barked, and they all ran out of the cave in panic.
"Looks like we did it." Yang said happy.
"They were surprisingly strong." Weiss added. "At least for their size."
"What were those things?" Ruby asked.
"Weiss said they're Troodon." Blake explained. "Are you staying with that guess?"
The heiress nodded. "Still, they're more intelligent than I thought. I doubt that they're done with us."
"You mean they'll come back?" Yang asked.
Weiss nodded. "And probably better prepared."
"But we'll be prepared too." Ruby said. "By the way, have you seen Baza and Gran?"
"No, why?"
"They ran into the cave when the Troodon attacked." Ruby explained.
"You think the Megalosaurus got 'em?" Yang asked.
Weiss shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we would've heard that. Also, they'd have to go past here."
"They could be outside." Blake suggested.
"All right, I'm going to take a look." Ruby said, and dashed off.
"So, are we done with the cave?"
"We got some dossiers. I'd say we pack some metal and obsidian, and go home." Weiss explained.
"I'm gonna get the snake up here." Yang said. "Snake leather is pretty good, right?" She ran off, leaving Weiss and Blake alone.
They waited, and gladly saw Ruby coming back with their two packmules. "They were outside. Also, I've found some footprints. It looks like the Troodon ran off into the jungle."
"Good. Come on, lend us a hand." Blake said, and Ruby nodded.
They all took their pickaxes, and started to mine obsidian and metal, while putting the ressources into the saddles of Baza and Gran. It didn't take long for Yang to come back, and she threw the dead snake over Baza, before helping out the others.
"We're back!" Pyrrha yelled, as she and Jaune re-entered the valley.
To their surprise, they were greeted by a new arrival. Apparently, Nora had tamed one of the Iguanodon while they were gone.
"Hi!" Nora greeted, and stepped next to the Iguanodon. Danny was sitting on her shoulder. "Can I introduce: Azur."
"Nice." Jaune mentioned.
"Did you find any metal?" Ren asked.
"Nope, but something even better." Pyrrha said with a smile. "We've found Team RWBY."
Both looked at them in shock. "They're here too?"
"Yep. And they've got their own base too." Jaune explained. "We've decided to stay seperated, so that we could cover more ressources and dinosaurs."
"That's great." Nora said happy. "Wait, did something happen between you two?"
Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other in confusion. "No. Why-"
Jaune was interrupted, as Nora punched him, knocking him out in one punch.
"Uhm, Nora?" Pyrrha muttered in shock. Nora knocked her out with an uppercut.
"Was that necessary?" Ren asked.
"I said I'd punch them if they wouldn't be together." Nora said, and cracked her knuckles.
"There is one..." Cinder muttered. They had taken cover behind some plants, on the beach close to the ice area. There was a lone Mammoth close to them, drinking water from the frozen ocean.
They had prepared a trap, consisting of a pit, with plants above.
"You think we can take it on?" Emerald asked.
"It's just one Mammoth. We've taken down a Carnotaurus, haven't we?" She took her bow, and took aim. A second later, the arrow soared through the air, hitting the Mammoth into the side. It turned towards them, and let out a loud sound, before charging. They waited until it was closer, and jumped out of the way.
"Now!" Roman yelled, and Neo pulled a rope on the ground. The ground under the Mammoth broke, and it fell into the pit they dug. It still stuck out, but wasn't able to move. Everyone grabbed their spears, and threw them into the creature.
It took some time, but the giant finally died, and they worked together to drag it out of the pit. Neo instantly started to skin it, and used a sharp rock to cut off the pelt.
"Well, that was rather easy." Roman muttered.
And Chapter 13, the first big appearence of the Troodon.
To explain them: They aren't the only pack on the Island, but the only one that has Aura. They'll appear from time to time, and practically take the role of this Arcs main advisary for Team RWBY.
Fact of the day: The Troodon was actually just as intelligent as a bird, even though it's often shown with nearly human-like intelligence.
Now to replies:
Frisky Arctic Ice Fox: Yeah, a Bronto works well for that. Good to hear that you got rid of the Therizinos.
The Multiversal Writer: I actually didn't know how the science of Dragons is called. Good to know.
alexkehling: Yeah, that's what I always say. The whole Wyvern or Dragon thing is even more useless when talking about Kevin in Volume 3, considering that he is neither, but a Grimm.
About taming the Titanosaur: You have to remember that there are eight huntsmen and hutnresses, Adam Taurus, Roman and Neo, and Cinders crew on the Island. I think they have it a bit easier than the average player.
And mistaking Gigas for Rexes is pretty normal I'd say, especially in the jungle or the night. It's even worse when you're running around with a Thylacoleo.
Guest Infinity: Yeah, meat would make more sense than milk, and is probably less disturbing.
terrence fernando: Don't worry.
Don Orbit: Yes, the meeting is gonna be chaos. Especially between Blake and Adam.
Crazy Old Walter: I think I'd be better to ask that on an Ark forum, not in the reviews of a fanfic.
Undead Terrorist: Always good to hear from new readers.
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios