Ruby ran with Weiss following her. Christoff was still ahead of them as they out-manoeuvred a Taijitu that was chasing them. It smashed through a tree before it realized Weiss had waited for it and it's head was blasted off by a fireball as she stabbed her rapier into it's eye socket.
Ruby rushed back as the second head moved to strike the open back of her girlfriend, using her semblance to cut the second head off of the creature with her scythe's blade.
The creature started dissolving as they replaced their weapons and kept moving.
The crystal the old troll had given them seemed to be glowing slightly brighter the farther they went toward the top of the mountain, but Weiss estimated at least a dozen kilometres before they'd get to the top.
A bone chilling howl sounded in the distance, giving the huntresses pause as they listened intently to the forest. Christoff remained silent as he waited for the girls to resume following and Ruby felt a chill run down her spine as the air suddenly took on a frosty temperature that was ill suited for their current altitude.
Weiss exchanged a glance with Ruby who pulled out the crystal. It was now fairly bright and the returned nod was all she needed.
"This way." Weiss spoke for Christoff's benefit as she and Ruby led the man toward the growls and cries of the dark creatures that echoed strangely in the trees.
The journey was short and Weiss was greeted with a picture of a clearing that led up to a cliff. In the side of the cliff was what appeared to be a cave and the grimm were all focused on getting inside. Ruby could feel the crystal in her pocket getting colder, so she handed it to Christoff as he stepped up beside her.
"Find a place to hide." She told him quietly, lest the grimm take notice of their group prematurely. "We'll clear these guys out and then you can join us again. Just be careful about making any noise."
"Right." Christoff stepped back and away as he started climbing a nearby tree.
Weiss looked to Ruby who checked her weapon's clip with a frown. She swapped her magazine to the last one she had on her hip and then nodded.
"Need to resupply soon." Ruby replied to the unspoken question and Weiss felt the extra cartridge she had at her hip. It wouldn't be much but it would help in the case that they couldn't get more dust soon, meaning that their return trip might have to rely on her as the primary combatant.
"Let's go. Make the call." Weiss said as she cycled her cylinder.
Ruby swung her weapon around and sunk the blade into the forest floor. She pushed her weapon's bolt forward, locking her first round in place as she sighted down her scope at a line of a few beowolves and an ursa that were conveniently pushing their brethren forward. The round ripped through all four of the dark creatures, sending all of them to the ground even if it hadn't killed the Ursa.
"White Rose!" Ruby ordered as she chambered the next round and sighted the closest targets. Weiss's glyphs rose at the end of her barrel and she fired off six rounds in quick succession, freezing as many grimm in solid ice in the process. Weiss dropped her glyph as Ruby pulled her weapon out of the ground. All the grimm that had been focused elsewhere were now paying attention to the two huntresses, and Ruby grinned as she slowly walked forward away from her teammate. "Strawberry Smoothie!"
Weiss grinned at the mention of the new move she'd developed for her partner, and moved to get into place. Ruby had come up with the name, and Weiss hadn't felt up to arguing it that week. As a result, she hoped that they wouldn't discuss it in the presence of others. It felt so childish, but at the same time perfectly descriptive.
Weiss summoned glyphs around most of the nearby grimm, blocking them into a temporary cage as Ruby sliced her way to the center of the rest of the creatures. Weiss watched for any newcomers as Ruby started to spin with her blade. She picked up speed until the velocity pushed the scythe out straight as the springs relented their hold on the head of the weapon. There was suddenly a lot of smoke as countless beowolves and ursi met their end at her partner's blade, but more were still waiting.
"Here's more!" Weiss called to give Ruby a heads up as she tossed the grimm one at a time at her leader with more glyphs, who cut them down as they flew past, leaving a smoking pile of limbs and bodies around her.
Weiss continued until there were only two beowolves and an Ursa left. One of the beowolves took a round to it's head as Ruby switched her weapon back to it's compact form, and the other Beowolf retreated at a run, leaving the Ursa.
"I'm out." Ruby announced as she placed the weapon at her back. She pulled out a pair of dust infused daggers from her belt and spun them as she considered the Ursa that was slowly approaching them.
"I've got this." Weiss assured Ruby, stepping forward as the Ursa lunged. She pulled up a glyph, blocking it's attack and prepared to stab her weapon into it's chin in the next second when she heard a loud cracking noise like thick ice breaking.
She watched as the Ursa slumped and started evaporating as she let her glyph down. Behind the Ursa, just visible against it's smoke was the translucent blue of ice. More specifically, a spike of ice that grew from the ground where there had been nothing before. Weiss and Ruby moved to the side to get a better view and found themselves facing two women in very different attire.
Where Ruby and Weiss were wearing jackets over their normal insulated versions of their combat outfits, these two were wearing what could only be described as formal wear. The light blue and grass green dresses stood out against the white snow and dark trees behind them, but what caught Weiss's attention was the blue sword and shield that the one in the green dress held. The weapon looked to be emitting smoke, and both the items were glowing faintly in the shade of the canopy.
"Who are you?" The one in the blue dress spoke, her hand held out straight as if threatening to shoot lasers from her palm. The other girl had clenched the hilt of her sword as well and moved half a step closer to her companion.
"Someone you shouldn't be threatening." Weiss responded coldly, making a show of sheathing her weapon as she took a step forward. "But I'll let that go for now."
"Uh… Hi, I'm Ruby." Ruby said, stepping around Weiss as the woman in the green dress sheathed her own weapon, but the one with the blue dress didn't move to drop her hand. "We're looking for someone who is on this mountain."
"And who might that be?" Ms. Blue dress asked coldly. It was clear she didn't trust the two huntresses.
"Someone who pays attention!" Weiss shouted, noticing too late what she'd thought had been a trick to her eyes. "Ruby!"
"On it!" Ruby shouted in reply, her semblance already carrying her past the pair of girls as Weiss launched off a glyph directly at them.
Weiss pulled up a protective glyph just in time as something white shot from the hand of the girl with the blue dress. It hit her glyph and ricocheted off into the forest and she tackled the two girls to the ground before the one in the green dress had time to draw her sword.
Weiss felt rather than saw the black creature pass over them as she heard the thump of it's companion hitting the ground. She scrambled to her feet, drawing her blade as the two girls she'd tackled attempted to catch their breath from the impact.
The Griffon swooped back toward them and Weiss ran the creature through with her rapier, stopping it before it's claws could come within range of the girls. She tossed it's body with the help of a glyph before turning and offering her hand to the one in the blue dress as Ruby helped the one in the green dress up. She saw Christoff approach and wrap the green-dressed girl in a quick hug the second she'd released Ruby's hand and had to smile at the almost fatherly action as he started to check her for injuries. She looked back to the ground as she continued to offer her hand.
"We're huntresses." Weiss stated as the girl with long blond hair and glowing blue eyes looked up at her in grudging thanks. "And we're looking for a queen."
The blond hesitantly took the offered hand and Weiss pulled her to her feet. She dusted herself off from the powder that coated her backside as a means to buy time as she decided on how to answer. She saw that Anna was still too preoccupied with Christoff's concern to pay attention to the other two women. Had it not been for the huntresses, Elsa knew she would have been jealous of their interaction after the previous night's revelations, but with the two wild-cards in their midst…. Well, she wasn't going to put her back to either one of them. Especially after the display of prowess in dealing with the demonic creatures.
Elsa brought her focus back to the girls who had now joined up again. Ruby was whispering quietly and Weiss's head nodded as she pulled out some form of package and passed it on. Elsa didn't concern herself with it, but it did leave a question mark in her head as a few oddities stood out. The first and most obvious one was the difference in their weapons compared to those of the Arendelle Military and even the more varied but still equally normal weapons of the Militia. Next was the abilities both girls had shown while in combat. Ruby could move faster than should be possible, especially with a heavy weapon such as the scythe she used, and Weiss had a power that seemed to be of a more esoteric nature. And the last thing that struck her was the blatantly short skirts that accompanied their dresses. She'd encountered many studies of fashion in the library of Arendelle Castle, but not one made mention of short skirts. Elsa combined all these facts and decided it might be worthwhile to ask a few questions as they all rested.
"I never caught your name." Elsa said, approaching the white haired girl as the one named Ruby moved over to a tree and started fiddling with something at the side of her weapon.
"I never offered it." She replied, turning to face her as she spoke. "I never caught yours either."
"I never offered, either." Elsa replied, earning a slight grin from the other girl which was quickly hidden beneath her neutral mask.
"Fair enough. I'm Weiss. That thing over there is Ruby-" Weiss looked over just as Ruby looked up in mock hurt.
"Hey! I resent that!" Ruby huffed, sticking her tongue out before smiling and returning to her work.
"Case in point." Weiss smiled as she turned back to the other girl. "It seems you most likely know this… Christoff judging by his reaction to your friend. And that leads me to believe that you're Elsa."
"How would you…" Elsa trailed off as Weiss pulled a small blue gem from her pocket. It's glow was not just bright, but blinding as she held it equally between them. "Grand Pabbie."
"If that's the name of that old rock creature, then yes." Weiss turned back to see Ruby sliding rounds into her weapon's magazine. "Are you almost finished?"
"Yup, good to go. Just don't let me shoot you. They're all in random order." Ruby said as she slammed the magazine home and replaced the weapon back under her cloak.
"Christoff, Anna, let's get moving. We're most likely sitting on a migration path." Weiss ordered as Ruby started shuffling the two forward. Turning back to the queen, Weiss found her looking at her without much trust, so she decided to elaborate as they moved. "We're getting you back to that old troll before the grimm decide to run us out of ammunition. From there, my partner and I have a favour to ask."
"What makes you think I'll agree to this favour?" Elsa asked as she started following Weiss as she saw Ruby fall in line with Christoff and Anna right behind them.
"You're a queen, right?" Weiss asked, hiding her smirk as she realized how easy it was to pull strings when you knew nothing of the other's politics, and in this case, world. "I'd assume there are very few strangers who would fight through an army of unknown creatures to find you. I'd think that you'd like to know why."
Elsa remained silent as the argument sunk in. She was either happy to finally have someone who responded to her as her sister did, as if her powers meant almost nothing, or she was very angry that this person seemed not to respect her authority. At the moment though, she decided to accept that Weiss's argument was academically sound.