Chapter 15: Metalwork
(Day 15)
The sound of metal and stone clashing against metal was echoing across the entire camp. Earlier this morning, Ruby opened up her implant and saw that she had a level up, and was now able to learn new weapons: The Crossbow and Pike.
She still wanted to build something resembling their usual weapons, but the ways they had to process materials simply weren't enough to do that. The only possibility they had was using a hammer they made out of wood and stone, as well as meld forms. And that meant that the metal wasn't high quality. Even now, while she and Yang were shaping the metal to make a hatchet, splinters broke off, making some of the bars useless.
However, they could always put those splinters back into the forge. So there wasn't that much wasted metal. The Forge itself was powered by Sparkpowder, which was incredibly potent as a source of fuel.
"Shit!" Ruby screamed, as one shrapnel broke off at high speed, and buried itself into her hand. Her Aura quickly healed the wound, but it still hurt like hell. "We really need to make some gloves out of wood or something."
"Agreed." Yang put the hammer to the side and held up a sharp metal object. "The first Pikehead is done."
"Great. Put it outside so it can cool down a bit." Ruby said and gritted her teeth as she started to bring the next one in shape. To do that, the metal had to be hot, or it wouldn't change its form. And that meant that it hurt to simply touch it.
Yang opened up the door, and the fresh air from outside filled the room. The insects were buzzing around outside, thanks to the particularly moist weather today. Through the door, Ruby was able to see Blake working on the barricades in the distance, while Weiss was missing.
She went out earlier this day to go hunting with their Raptors, and Ruby hoped that her teammate would find something useful along the way, even if it was just another note or Dossier.
Outside, Yang put the metal object into a little basket Blake made out of wood, and in which they wanted to collect little parts to use them later on. All the resources they gathered from their trip to the Cave really paid off, as the obsidian was already used in a pair of scissors, which in turn were occupied by Weiss, the only one who really cared about her hair right now.
The sun was shining on their camp from a near 90-degree angle, implying that it was already noon, and thus the hottest part of the day. Luckily, there hadn't been a heat wave since a couple of days ago, and the temperatures stayed at a nice summer climate.
However, that meant that it was time for Yang to interrupt her metalworking, as she was on food duty. Thus, Yang went over to their depot, and took a bit of fish Blake caught in the morning, and started up the campfire, before impaling the fish on a stick and putting it over the fire.
"I smell fish," Blake said, suddenly standing next to her.
"Yes, I'm making lunch," Yang replied.
"When is it ready?"
"Geez, I just put it on. Have some patience." Yang said. It looked like Blake didn't have any breakfast.
They looked to the side, as they heard footsteps coming toward them. Two Raptors entered the camp, one saddled by Weiss. "I'm back."
"Did you find anything useful?" Yang asked, while turning around the fish on the stick, and hitting Blake's hand, which tried to steal some of the fish.
"Notes? Nope. Only some meat."
"What did you even hunt?" Blake asked.
"Dodos. And a Pachy. Should be enough for the time being."
"Can I get any of it?" Yang asked.
"It's barely enough to get our Raptors through the next three days," Weiss explained. "Unless you somehow get a Brachiosaurus worth of meat, then no."
Yang sighed, and took the first piece of fish from the Campfire, and gave it to Blake. The Faunus snatched it and bit into it like a wild animal.
"Blake's really scary when hungry," Weiss muttered.
"Yeah... Let's make sure she eats enough. I don't wanna wake up with an ear missing."
"Hey, if anyone's gonna fall into cannibalism, then Nora," Weiss replied. "Then again, I don't think it'd be cannibalism if Blake ate you."
"Can we not talk about people eating me." Yang interrupted Weiss' thoughts.
"Sorry. Where's Ruby?"
"I'm here!" Weiss turned around and immediately jumped to the side, as a long object dug into the ground next to her.
"Ruby!"
The leader stepped out of the small hut and picked up the Pike. "Sorry. Wanted to try it out."
"Can't you try it out on an animal?" Weiss asked, and behind her, Coral suddenly looked up and stared at Weiss.
"They don't have Aura. It wouldn't have killed you."
"It can still impale me!" Weiss replied angrily. "You realize Aura only helps so much, right?"
"I said sorry." Ruby pleaded. "The next one's gonna be yours, okay?"
Weiss crossed her arms and scoffed. "Alright. But don't think I'm not angry at you anymore."
"You notice how those two are like an old couple sometimes?" Yang asked, but didn't get an answer. "Blake? Blake?" She turned around and saw that the other two pieces of fish were missing, and a trail of footsteps led into the jungle. "Dammit Blake!"
Mercury and Cinder sat on a log near the cliff, looking at each other. Obviously, this wasn't Cinder's idea, but Mercury had sworn to help her and dragged her here.
"Okay, Cinder. Time to teach you some social skills. Be happy, you're learning from the master."
Back in the camp, they could hear Emerald laughing. "I can't believe I agreed to this." Cinder said while burying her head in her hands.
"Hey, you asked. Now, where do we begin?" He thought about that for a moment. "Oh, right. You're always an asshole to everybody."
"And you aren't?" Cinder replied.
"There's a difference between 'Bitch' and charming asshole," Mercury said, and once again, Emerald's laughter was heard from the camp. "Anyways, I think it might be a good start to say something nice to Roman."
"Why should I?" Cinder asked angered. "He's Roman."
"And up to this point, he was the one holding us together. He's the most logical out of all of us right now. Except maybe for Neo, but I'm not so sure about her."
"How is he the only..."
"You're a power hungry Bitch, Emerald's obsessing over you, I'm just here for fun and Adam's Adam."
Cinder nodded. "Fair enough. So, what should I say to him?"
"First, it has to seem convincing. Luckily, Neo provided some help." Mercury reached behind his log and held up their Dodo. "There, imagine this is Roman."
Cinder stared at the Dodo for a second, before sighing."Roman. Although I find your style of fashion atrocious, and your personality even more so, I have to admit, you've been a great help in our plans, and the only reason we haven't already killed each other on this damn Island."
"That was... okay," Mercury said, putting the Dodo down next to him. "Although it might be better to cut down on the insults, or built them in more."
"You literally called me a bitch a few minutes ago."
"I was just being honest."
"I was too."
Mercury sighed. "Listen, if you want me to help you, just trust me on this."
"Fine. What now?"
"You're going to practice at the Beach." Mercury gave her the Dodo. "One our. Not more, not less."
Cinder grunted annoyed and left. Emerald walked up to the smirking Mercury. "So, how long until she realizes you're just bullshitting her?"
Mercury shrugged. "I'm going to give it three more sittings."
Ozpin was, like always, taking a big sip from his cup of coffee. He was standing in the middle of a giant cave, surrounded by busy scientists, collecting all sorts of evidence. After Team CFVY gave their report on the cave, Ozpin, and Oobleck, decided to investigate, considering that those ruins were entirely unknown up to this point.
The thing he was interested in the most was a little side room they found after removing some rubble. It looked like the people that once lived her used the room as some sort of archive. More or less. The 'recordings' were all drawn on the wall, and depicted multiple events in their history, although most of it was undecipherable.
Partially due to erosion, partially thanks to the green and white blob speeding from one drawing to the other. "Yes, yes. This is all very interesting."
"Did you find something, Doctor?"
"Of course. This place is a well of ancient knowledge. It's like a time capsule, considering all other records have been destroyed by the Grimm."
Ozpin stepped up to one of the drawings and looked at the three colored triangles. "I find this one particularly interesting."
"The triangle?" Oobleck asked, and stood next to him in not even a second. "Yes, we've seen this symbol in other places too. It probably held some significance to the ancient Valians."
Ozpin sighed. It looked like something he had seen once before, but he couldn't pin down where. "Continue collecting from here, Doctor. Call me if you find anything significant."
"Of course." Oobleck replied, and zipped away, as Ozpin turned back to look at the Rune, and took a sip from his mug.
"Pyrrha would be happy about one of those..." Yang muttered as she inspected her Pike.
"I'm pretty sure they've learned them too," Blake replied. She pointed at the Spikes, that surrounded the area in the back of their camp. "Most of the Spike walls are done. But I need some more hide."
"That's why you two want to go hunting?" Weiss asked. She was using a stone to scrub their Phiomia.
Blake and Yang were standing behind Weiss, both holding one of the four new Pikes in their hands. Ruby and Yang managed to finish them in the afternoon, and now it was time to test them out.
"Can we count on you two to take care of the camp?" Yang asked, and nodded towards Ruby, who was playing with Puffy.
"Sure. If anything happens, just yell real loud. If you're lucky, we'll hear it."
"Yeah, thanks. We appreciate it. Come on Blake."
With that, the two left the camp, going into the jungle. It was already late afternoon, so most of the small insects were out right now. "So... is there anything in particular that you want to kill?" Blake asked while pushing away some plants.
"Not really. I think we should just go for the first thing we see."
"Unless it's a Rex," Blake replied.
"I think if one of them is close-by, then we'll be dead anyway."
After making their way through some of the thick foliage, they arrived at a clearing in the woods. They glanced over the surrounding trees, making sure that no predators were waiting. "Look!" Blake said and pointed at something at the edge of the Forest.
It was a Triceratops, and it breathed heavily. It's feet and side were bloody, and broken trees laid around it. Yang and Blake slowly approached the dying creature and kneeled down. "What happened here?"
Blake led her hand go over the belly of the animal. "Maybe it's sick."
"From what?" Yang asked, and looked the creature in the eyes. A white, milk-like film was over them. "Plants? Animals?"
"Both are likely." Blake took a better look at the hide of the creature and found a little, round mark on the bottom of the feet, where the hide wasn't as strong as it was on the rest of the body. "Nevermind, it looks like it was bitten."
"What are we going to do now?" Yang asked as she stood back up.
"Let's kill it," Blake said.
"What?"
"It's suffering. It'd be best to put it out of its misery. At the same time, we can get a good amount of hide and meat."
Yang closed her eyes and sighed. "You're right." She held up her spear, and one second later, it was stuck in the head of the Triceratops, while Blake's was sticking out of where its heart was. It was an instant death for the already weakened creature.
"Stay here," Yang said and retrieved her weapon. "I'm gonna get Ruby and the Raptors here to help us skin it."
Blake nodded. "Sure."
And Chapter 15 is here finally.
Looks like longer time between Chapters is becoming the norm. Well, it can be hard to find something for them to do. And yes, this one was a bit short, but it is mostly build-up to the next one.
And I know that JNPR didn't make an appearance this Chapter, but that's just because they are waiting for the egg to hatch.
Anyways, now to replies:
alaxbird: Thanks
A New Challenger: Yes, I've seen both, and they are canon. Part of why this Chapter took a bit longer was so that I could figure out how to work them in, and I had to rethink the entire ending I had planned. And I think it should work out well. As for Salem, no, she doesn't know about the ARK-Network.
Dev the Snake Faunus: Uhm... What?
Lloyd RPGFan: Thanks.
Dennisco: Yep, the first Giga is going to appear soon.
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios