ㅤㅤㅤ
To Live and Learn
CHAPTER 4
"I've got 99 problems and they're all Grimm."
-A Huntsman's Testimony
Although I've visited several of them before, I've never been fond of forests myself. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate their lush beauty but some of them can be unsettling. I'm talking about the thick ones where it is easier to get lost and are riddled with Grimm. Those are types of places any person in their right mind wouldn't want to be at night, and I should know. As I traversed through The Emerald Forest, it was quickly becoming one of those places.
"So Jaune, where are you from?" Pyrrha asked, taking the point as we searched the forest. Because of her being a superior fighter and probably having better Huntsman experience, it made sense for her to take the lead.
"Pucelle. It's an isolated fly-over county somewhere in the Gallican province that's full of swamps and bayous. I don't blame you if you never heard it," I answered, thinking she would be unaware of the events that happened there recently.
"Huh, Pucelle? I've been hearing that place a lot on the news lately. It's something about—a bandit lord, I think."
Oh crap, she's on to me, I thought. So I changed the subject as quickly as I could.
"So... I heard you're from Mistral?" I asked before she was able to ask anything more about my hometown. She looked at me and nodded. "What can you tell me about it?"
"Well, I cannot describe it in one sentence. They say it's a place with rich culture and history. The landscape is pretty beautiful too, especially during autumn." She answered. That wasn't exactly what you would call news as she only gave a fairly typical description of Mistral, but I didn't expect much as I only wanted to sway her attention away from Pucelle to save me the trouble of talking about it.
"That's nice. I've actually visited there a few times during vacations. I was just wondering what you have to say about it, I said."
She smiled, seemingly forgetting about her musings about that fiasco, which is a relief. Unneeded questions about how I got my underserved reputation were something I didn't need while trying to stay alive in a Grimm-infested forest.
We continued to trek through the forest. It was mostly silent, with the sounds of footsteps and the occasional bird tweeting being the only sounds that could be heard, until we were able to pick up the sound of a gunshot from a distance. "Did you hear that?" I questioned, halting for a second.
"Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy," she stated, vigilantly glancing at her surroundings. With that, I put my right hand on my sword handle, making sure to keep my guard up for any incoming Grimm while keeping my emotions in check in order not to attract them too much.
Our journey through the forest carried on while I tried to track the source of the gunshot since I intended to team up with the other pairs so I could have more bodies standing between the Grimm and myself. I got lost in my train of thought that my face ended up getting hit by an oncoming branch. "Ow! Stupid—"
"Are you alright?" Pyrrha turned back and came to check on me.
"It's nothing," I said, quickly getting back up. "Just got a little careless there, that's all." It wasn't something my aura couldn't handle, but getting smacked in the face even if you don't feel any pain was irritating especially since it didn't stop the burning sensation in my face.
She sighed and turned back as I continued to follow her, hoping that little blunder didn't make her think any less of me, it was too soon for her to discover that I was nothing short of a fraud.
We soon heard another noise, this time it was the sound of a bush rattling. Pyrrha raised her fist as we came to a halt. We readied our weapons, scanning our surroundings before seeing a shaking bush.
"On your guard," she advised. I positioned myself in a defensive stance, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself for imminent combat. We continued to stare at the bush before a pair of Ursa Minors came out, confirming our suspicions. "You take the one on the right!" she said before we charged at our respective targets.
I took a moment to glance at Pyrrha as she charged for her kill before I blocked an oncoming claw from the Ursa. I then lunged at it, bashing my shield to its head before cutting it down with a few slashes, making it fall as it vaporized with an animalistic shriek. Pyrrha was just as done when I finished mine.
"See? You're a natural!" she complimented. "With combat prowess like that, I'd say you'd make a great Huntsman."
It wasn't as impressive as she described it. It was only a single Ursa. I could've waited for Pyrrha to get rid of hers before getting her to kill mine, but it wasn't the best course of action; I had to act out of instinct and avoid the possibility of serious injury even with large aura reserves since they have a chance to fail inconveniently. [1] "Let's not celebrate just yet. We still have a temple to look for." I reminded her.
"Right. The temple," she nodded.
With that, we resumed our hike, and after a few more minutes of uneventful walking and looking around in case of any Grimm nearby, we saw what appeared to be an entrance to a cave from a distance.
"Huh, a cave." Pyrrha turned to me. "Want to go check it out?"
Since I was getting bored of walking through the forest and considering the possibility of the cave leading to something interesting, and maybe even the temple, I saw no reason why not to.
As we approached the cavern entrance, we saw primitive drawings on the walls depicting men armed with spears and bows engaging a giant scorpion, which may or may not be a Deathstalker. Or at least I thought it was Deathstalker. I was about to find out soon enough.
"You think this is it?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Is this even the right temple?" She answered skeptically.
"Well, we headed north," I looked at the ground and picked up the first stave I saw. "Did we?"
"I'm sure we did but…" Her voice trailed off, figuring that there was something off. "I have a bad feeling about this."
She wasn't alone in that regard especially when I look at its sinister, dark entryway but I had made up my mind. If movies taught me anything, it's that tombs and relics can be found in places like these, my only concern then was that I wouldn't have to involve us getting chased by a giant boulder after we took out the prize. I'm perfectly aware that knowledge from movies tends to be unreliable, but it felt like a good idea at the time; besides, I had Pyrrha with me in case things go wrong.
"Temple or not, I'd say it's worth checking out," I declared, pulling out a piece of cloth from my pocket which I prepared before the initiation in case of situations like this, and wrapped it around the top of the stave. I picked up some coal and used them to put fire on my torch. "We should find something here. Maybe it could lead us to the temple and even if we don't, we could always head back out."
She nodded as she followed me inside. I took the point because I was the one holding the torch. If only I was aware of what was waiting for me, I would rather have continued to look for our way in the woods and even happily fight an Ursa Major with only my bare hands. There's an opportunity for a lame bear pun there, but I'm afraid I'll have to digress because I have standards.
The cave became increasingly darker the deeper we went to the point that the fire from my makeshift torch became the only light source we had. The only things that could be heard aside from our footsteps were the scuttling of some small insects and small drops of water dripping from the top of the cave. I was beginning to regret coming there but my urge to search for anything unusual told me to press forward.
I ended up tripping with my torch falling into a puddle of water; extinguishing it and thus depriving us of light, making everything almost pitch black.
"You okay?" Pyrrha asked out of concern.
I pushed myself up, making sure that I still have my equipment as I tried to reassure her. "I'm fine."
"Did you feel that?"
Soul-crushing regret was the only thing I felt during that time. Other than that, I had no clue what she was referring to. "Feel what?" I pulled out my scroll and turned on its flashlight. I don't know why I bothered making the torch if I could have done this in the first place. Well, you got to practice your survival skills sometimes, right?
"Feel something… warm," she said, barely giving enough context for me to figure it out.
I continued to lead on and found something glowing. We went to the place where the glowing is being held to investigate and saw a golden orb of sorts. My initial assessments almost led me to believe that this was the relic. Panning down my scroll flashlight, I saw the frightening sight of a large scorpion's face with all its eyes closed.
Pyrrha reached for her sword once she recognized what it was. "Is that…?!"
…A Deathstalker?! No, that can't be it, I thought because a Grimm this huge and dangerous couldn't have been allowed in initiation for fresh recruits, no matter how ludicrously skilled students need to be to attend. [2] It had got to be some sort of prank Ozpin set to scare off students who attempted to explore that cave because it didn't take a genius to know that only dead-serious Huntsmen and Huntresses go after these things and even then they still struggle against it.
The golden orb turned out to be a stinger for the scorpion. It opened all of its red and lifeless eyes, confirming that it is indeed a live Deathstalker. And I made what I could only describe as the most un-masculine scream I've ever made in my entire life.
=o=
1. While aura is activated by default during tense combat situations, they have a rare chance of malfunctioning, and thus not being able to protect the user from harm especially if their aura is lacking in willpower. This is why Huntsmen are often encouraged not to be over-reliant on aura. I received a scar on my left eye because of this.
2. Professor Ozpin did not intend for the Deathstalker to be part of the initiation. He simply did not notice it getting past the security and forgot to dispatch it after a group of unfortunate students encountered it. Afterward, the cave where it was residing remained uncharted before being explored by Jaune and Pyrrha. When Ozpin realized this he disregarded it as another challenge the initiates have to confront.
We quickly stormed out of the cave, fleeing from the provoked Deathstalker with indecent haste. At that point, I preferred to have a huge boulder chasing us out instead of one angry, giant Grimm insect. I panted after leaving the entrance while Pyrrha unsheathed her sword and shield, facing the entrance in case it came out. I really should have listened to every red flag planted when entering that cave.
I prayed that the Deathstalker would take a hint and stay in its nest since its size should be too big to fit out of the cave entrance, but unfortunately, it was able to break through it, showing its full glory as the cave collapsed behind it.
Like any other right-thinking individual would do, I turned tail and tried to run, only for me to look back to see Pyrrha attempting to engage the Deathstalker. I was almost tempted to leave her fighting while I fled to safety, but I needed my partner alive if I were to pass the test and I wasn't going to take the chance of her dying. If she found out that I tried to abandon her, she would doubt my reputation as a hero and I might get on her bad side, and I can't have any of that.
"Jaune, would you help me out here?!" She blocked a claw with her shield. She has got to be incredibly overconfident if she believes that we'll be able to defeat a Deathstalker by ourselves. It was going to take more than a world-class champion to bring that thing down.
"Pyrrha, we can't take that thing down on our own! We need to get out of here and find the others!" I argued, hoping she'd come to her senses. She tried to hit it a few more times, only to find out that its exoskeleton was too thick to be penetrated, it was then she decided to take my advice and followed me as we routed out.
We ran as fast and hard as we could through the forest with the Deathstalker on our tails, crashing into everything it passed. Eventually, we managed to find the temple, with two figures there already who happen to be Yang and the girl with the huge bow whose name I haven't got at that moment. As soon as we saw them I did not waste any more time and called them the first chance I got.
"A little help here?!" I yelled, still running from the Deathstalker. They glanced at one another for a moment before they both shrugged and stormed toward the giant scorpion, with Yang using her shotgun gauntlets to boost herself while the other girl grappled towards it.
We stopped and looked back as we watched Yang and her partner attack the Deathstalker for a second. "Go help them hold it off, I'll get the relic," I told Pyrrha. She nodded as she once again unsheathed her shield and xiphos went to assist the duo in distracting the Deathstalker.
I sprinted toward the temple and saw that the 'relics' turned out to be chess pieces; that's probably the only thing Bleu failed to mention the day before this. The chess pieces were standing on platforms, some of which were empty, indicating that others managed to find the temple before we did. I noticed that there were two for every piece making me figure out that whatever pair that is holding the same piece as yours will be your teammates. Aside from that, I don't think the type of piece matters outside of meaningless symbolism so I just took the piece which caught my attention the most, a golden knight piece to be exact.
I looked back to see Pyrrha, Yang, and the bowed girl taking their time to fend off the Deathstalker. So far they still have yet to even weaken it, even with Pyrrha's skill, Yang's strength, and the other girl's nimbleness, it's clear that this wasn't going anywhere without some sort of strategy.
As I was about to call Pyrrha to tell her I got the relic and that we should leave, I heard Ruby's voice calling my name. "Jaune!"
"Ruby?" I looked back and saw her from a nearby tree branch before jumping off to my position. She looked around and saw the ongoing battle between the three stoogettes and an overgrown bug that had no right to be as powerful as it should be. [1] "Is that Yang?" She noticed her sister riding the scorpion while trying to punch through its abdomen while it chased Pyrrha and the raven-haired bowed girl, with the latter shooting it with her pistol while running.
Looking closer at the latter's gun bothered me. Why does her weapon's pistol function have her blade pointing towards the user's face? You can easily mistake that she's about to stab her own face if it wasn't for the gun barrel on the crossguard. [2]
"Yep," I replied.
She turned to the temple and saw the chess pieces standing on platforms. "Are these the relics?" she questioned, sounding so perplexed over the so-called relics that she didn't seem to be concerned about her sister's safety.
"Mmm-hmm."
"Huh." She grabbed the nearest piece, a golden rook, I think. "So what now?" she asked, looking back at the trio fighting.
Before I was able to say something, an Ursa came out of the forest, swinging its claws. I was about to pull my sword out of instinct but then I saw a pink spark coming from its back and saw Nora mounting on it before it fell to the ground. I'm not even kidding.
"Yee-haw!" Nora rolled off from the bear's back. "Aww, we broke it."
Ren showed up a moment later, panting and leaning at the Ursa's corpse. "Nora?" He took a few breaths. "Please… don't ever do that again." Unfortunately for him, she doesn't seem to have heard him because she was already at the temple when he said that. To be fair, I didn't notice her get here that quick either.
"Ooh~!" she stared at the golden knight piece. "A cute little pony! Yay!" She squealed, taking it before engaging in a perky dance with it. If I'm not mistaken, her taking the same piece as mine means that I'm going to be teammates with her and Ren, for better or for worse. I could only hope that it's the former.
"NORA!" Ren yelled, calling her out.
She stopped, giggling, and had the piece fall from her head before catching it. "Coming Ren!" She saluted before skipping to her partner.
"Did she just ride in on an Ursa?" I asked Ruby, making sure that I am not seeing things.
"I… think so."
I turned my head and was startled to see that Nora was suddenly beside me with a child-like grin. "GAH!" I screamed.
"So, what relic did you get?!" She leaned in front of me, very curiously I might add.
I hesitantly reached out to my pocket and showed her the golden knight piece I took. "Oh? This? Well, we have the same piece then."
She blinked for a moment before she made a grin. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
I could only give her an uncertain stare as I tried holding off a nervous grin twitching on my face.
"You and Pyrrha are chess-piece buddies with me and Ren!" She bursted into excitement. "We are going to have so much fun together!"
Oh boy. Apparently, I'm now teammates with a hyperactive adoring fan and her quiet friend. If I didn't know any better, I would have been more unsettled. On the bright side, those two seem to be very capable in a fight from what I've seen. So as crazy as those two may sound, especially Nora, it might be the type of crazy I needed to get through this academy. I'll just have to get used to it then.
Ren ran to our position and continued to pant. Thinking about it, everyone here came with a partner except Ruby. It's unlikely that she went all this way without one. "Hey Ruby, where's your partner?" I asked.
"Well…" She slowly faced the sky. I looked above and saw Weiss hanging from a Nevermore which is another Grimm that shouldn't be on this initiation. Calling it a giant Grimm bird doesn't fully describe it, that thing was tougher than it looked. I heard that it usually takes more than three professional Huntsmen teams to get rid of it and that's only with minimum casualties. The fact that it's airborne only makes it a bigger pain to deal with. I was more disturbed by its presence than the fact Weiss was in danger and I was confused over where these large-class Grimm were coming from. [3]
"RUUUBBBYYYYYY!" Weiss yelled as she tried to hold on to one of the Nevermore's talons.
"Well, I told her to jump," Ruby told me.
"She's gonna fall!" Nora exclaimed while she stuck her thumbs to her index fingers to make some binoculars as if that would give her a closer look.
"She'll be fine," Ruby shrugged just before Weiss's grip failed her and fell from the sky.
"She's falling." Ren nonchalantly pointed out the obvious.
Without thinking, I ran to where she was descending to and attempted to catch her bridal style. While I did manage to catch her when she finally dropped, she ended up crashing into me and I tumbled to the ground thanks to the impact of the velocity of her fall. If it weren't for our auras, I wouldn't be able to use my arms for a few days and Weiss would have a broken back. I admit, this wasn't exactly my best rescue but in the end, it did the job even if it wasn't exactly an ideal execution. "Oww," I moaned.
"Ugh. Thanks a lot, hero." She groaned in pain.
"Yeah, don't mention it," I returned the sarcasm. Politely, in the loosest sense of the word.
We recovered after a few seconds, my arms still felt a little sore, though. I pushed myself back up and went back to the others. Pyrrha and the girl with the bow retreated from the Deathstalker while Yang was still trying to find a way to kill it.
"It's no use!" The raven-haired girl said. "It's tougher than it looks!"
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby boasted. "I'm coming, Yang!" She then charged toward the Deathstalker.
"Ruby, no!" I screamed. If a four-time champion was barely able to fight off that bug, then she won't be able to hold it off either. It was too late, she fired her sniper to boost herself to the scorpion, only to get swiped off when she got close enough.
"Ruby!" Yang cried out.
Ruby got up and insisted on fighting the Deathstalker. "Don't worry, sis! I got this!" she took a few shots on its skull, as usual, it didn't do jack. "…Or maybe not." The Deathstalker was provoked and gave a monstrous roar.
Sigh, this was exactly what I was worried about. This is exactly why I think trying to be a hero is a bad idea.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Yang turned around before running back toward the group. Ruby followed her, folding her scythe. The Nevermore flew in and cowed. Firing several sharp feathers at their area. One of them managed to impale Ruby's cloak, trapping her.
"Ruby!" Yang halted and rushed back to her sister, helping her pull out of the feather. Unfortunately, the Deathstalker was getting close to them. Yang tried to slow it down by firing at it with one of her gauntlets but it was no use.
"Oh for the love of—!" I heard Weiss yell before she used a glyph to fly off to the sisters. I was a little concerned that she was going to add more problems to us than we already had. But to my surprise, she was able to stab the scorpion's stinger with her rapier when it was about to hit Ruby. Then she fired a round of ice dust to freeze it neat as you please. It seemed like it did the trick as it was able to hold the Deathstalker for a moment. I have to admit, that was quite impressive, her bratty attitude almost made me forget that she could make a competent fighter.
"Weiss?" Ruby opened her eyes and gazed at the Ice Queen.
"You hyperactive, red-caped dimwit!" Weiss called out, pulling her rapier from the ice she casted. "Don't you know what you put us through?!" she yelled before taking a deep breath. "Look I know I can be a bit...difficult."
Gee, don't you think?
She continued "But I need you as a partner, and I can't have a partner if you're dead. We need to do this together. So please stop trying to show off and I'll try to be... nicer."
"Huh, coming from you, that actually sounded nice," Yang commented. My thoughts exactly. Who knew that Princess Snowy could sound reasonable?
"Can it, I'm doing this for the best of us," Weiss replied.
"I didn't mean to show off, I just... want you to know I could do this," Ruby spoke up.
Weiss stared at her for a moment. "You're fine," she stated before walking away. That's a compliment if I ever heard one from her. Quite an achievement for Ruby if you ask me.
Ruby sighed in relief, she then looked at the Deathstalker to see it in its frozen state. Yang went in closer to her and gave her a sisterly hug.
I smiled at the sight but then I heard Big Bird[4] caw again as it flew around above us, reminding me that I need to get out of this mess, and I'm going to need everyone to cooperate to the best of their abilities to do so.
"Alright, everyone gathers around," I ordered before all seven rounded up. "Does each pair have their relics?" I inquired, showing the golden knight piece I took.
"Oh yeah. Blake, you still have it?" Yang asked her partner.
The bowed girl—Blake by the sound of it—showed her golden rook piece. "Here it is."
"I still have mine—I mean ours!" Nora brought out hers, a golden knight piece, the same one I have.
"Yeah, we do. Why did you ask?" Ruby asked, pulling out another golden rook piece, which all but says that she and Weiss are going to be teamed up with Blake and Yang, the same way Pyrrha and I would be grouped with Ren and Nora
"Then we got what we came for. We can't keep wasting our time with two high-class Grimm any longer, we already got our objective, and now it's time for us to get out of here." I told them. Truth is, I could have left with my team once we got our relics but I could use some extra protection and manpower so I chose to wait for the others.
"Huh, that's actually not a bad idea, Arc." Weiss of all people concurred, seemingly impressed. Looks like I was able to get another glimpse of her good side. I guess there is hope for her after all. Hopefully, she'd learn to be nicer because I doubt we'd be an effective fighting force if all we do is bicker around each other for too long.
"He's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point fighting these things," Ruby vouched. Good, it seems that even she had the common sense to know that. Saves me the trouble of having a needless discussion with someone hot-blooded enough to insist on fighting these two giant pests.
We overheard the Deathstalker's cries as it was now breaking free from the ice. Signaling us to make haste. "Time we left!" Ren said.
"Right." Ruby agreed. "Let's go!"
We all ran out together, heading to our next destination to finish this initiation once and for all.
=o=
1. Considering that the Deathstalker has been in the cave for a long period, it's safe to assume that it has grown to be the most intelligent Grimm in the forest, thus becoming the most dangerous threat during the initiation.
2. It's worth noting that the Gambol Shroud does not necessarily need its blade to be adjusted to use its pistol function but it would be needed in order to properly aim down the pistol's sight. Still, she could have chosen a better position for the blade when using the weapon as a firearm.
3. Once again, the fortifications fail to prevent another unauthorized Grimm from entering the forest during initiation. Despite its status, Beacon was not exactly known for its security.
4. Jaune's nickname for the Nevermore during the initiation, named after a character from a popular children's program.
All eight of us left the forest. The Big Bird, unfortunately, followed us as we were approaching what appears to be the ruins of an Old Imperial civilization that was situated before the cliff. We hid behind some stone blocks as the Nevermore stood above it before screeching at us. The stubborn overgrown featherbrain was beginning to annoy me, and to make matters worse, the Deathstalker caught up, breaking through trees as it exited the forest.
"What do we do now, Jaune?" Pyrrha held her rifle, preparing to aim and shoot if necessary.
Trying to put it down didn't work before so continuing to flee was the only sensible option at the time. "Run like hell!"
Pyrrha followed me as we rushed straight into the ruins. The Nevermore shot some sharpened feathers before Nora managed to avoid them all before launching grenades at it to suppress the Nevermore for a brief moment. I looked back and saw the Deathstalker getting increasingly closer, causing me to pick up the pace.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha said as we reached the bridge, stopping to temporarily inhibit the Deathstalker's movement so that Blake and Weiss may be able to catch up.
We continued to cross the bridge when Big Bird came and crashed at it, splitting the party with Pyrrha, Blake, and Weiss on the other side, having to face the Deathstalker.
Although the path to finally leave the forest was clear for me and my other teammates to cross, I wasn't going to leave my good-looking cereal mascot of a partner, someone needed to get Pyrrha from the other side of a broken bridge quickly. "We gotta get over there, they need help!"
"We got it!" Ruby and her sister jumped toward the gap, hitting the Deathstalker on the face as she unsheathes her scythe then slashing it a few times before dodging its claw, unfortunately, Pyrrha was beside her and it ended up pushing her to the edge, and making her fall. "Oops!"
"Pyrrha!" I yelled, actively trying to reach toward her. Luckily she quickly recovered and grabbed a nearby pillar as she fell, slowly sliding down before launching herself onto the passing Nevermore. She gave the giant Grimm bird a few slashes before leaping off and landing safely at the top of a tower.
Me, Ren, and Nora quickly ran toward her position. Ren climbed and ran the walls to the top while Nora launched herself using one of her grenades, unharmed either due to her aura or for some sort of specialized, non-lethal explosives. [1] This was where my limitations became more apparent, although I did my best to keep myself prepared, I still lacked something that would get me that high enough without the use of any tools, and I didn't think my aura-jumping was refined enough to reach that tower's peak. "Uhh, guys?"
Pyrrha looked down at me. "What is it, Jaune?"
"I hate to break it to you but…" Before I was able to finish what I was saying, I heard Big Bird screech as it went closer to the tower, making my team focus on trying to gun it down while I just stood there, hunkering down when needed. I was the only person there without a ranged weapon, and it was probably the dumbest mistake I made since I needed to extend my range and be able to hit anyone without having to be close to them. I knew I should have 'borrowed' one of Rose's guns before getting to Beacon. I barely had any problems using a sword and a pistol at the same time which made me wonder why I didn't take one with me.
The Nevermore crashed through the tower, making everyone who was standing above it fall. Everyone was able to recover quickly and got back to the ground except for me. I was falling into the pit screaming for dear life, and just about when I thought I was going to meet my end, I suddenly stopped mid-air, feeling some sort of magnetic sensation coming from my armor. I found myself floating for a second before getting thrown into the air and then dropping into the solid ground near my team. I checked my body to see if I was alright, not having a clue about what just happened.
"In case you're wondering, that was my semblance! I can control magnetism, so I pulled you on your armor when you were falling," Pyrrha clarified. That was one way to learn about your partner's semblance. In any case, thank goodness for that. I didn't want to die falling into a pit. "Well, then thanks."
"You're most welcome," she nodded, followed by Nora saluting.
"We're right behind you!"
I smiled back at them. There was no time in appreciating their superpowers yet though, we still had an avian pest to deal with. The problem was we lacked a decent strategy against it, especially in a place like this nor do we have the time to think one as we go. If anything, Ruby's team would have been much more appropriate dealing with the Nevermore as they are much more mobile and have the better skill-sets to counter it. Our few options were to gun it down until it fell and maybe wait for someone to jump at its back again, hold fire and let them melee the Nevermore until it took enough damage and landed on the ground, rinse and repeat until it was dead. It was do or die, the only thing we could hope was that it works.
"Keep firing!" I raised my fist before pointing at Big Bird while staying behind their rears. They obeyed as they fired their guns at it. It angrily shrieked as it flew toward us again, giving us the chance to attack it head-on. "Nora!"
We went out of the way as Nora changed her weapon to its hammer function and used it to slam on Big Bird's face when it flew in range, causing it to fall. I exhaled out of relief, taking a time to breathe. It would turn out that putting my guard down for a couple of seconds turned out to be a mistake. Before I knew it Big Bird soared back up behind me and it grabbed me with its talons before flying away with me.
"JAUNE!" Pyrrha yelled as Big Bird sent me higher into the air. Ruby's team, after apparently having defeated the Deathstalker, noticed me being grabbed by the Nevermore while it was flying off, they tried to save me by trying to shoot the bird while my team was doing the same.
Bullets ran past me as I continued to hold onto the Big Bird's talons. There wasn't much solid ground below me if the Nevermore loses its grasp on me and everyone was only making matters worse. "Stop it! You're gonna make me fall!" I yelled before they ceased firing.
I was too busy trying to figure out a way to get myself out of that predicament that I barely felt any air sickness during the flight. I thought of waiting for it to take me into its nest but I am not going to risk myself fighting a bunch of baby Grimm birds while dealing with this one alone, plus it's likely far away that I'd be presumed dead when I get back. So I quickly thought up a better idea and found one. I'm not sure if it's going to work nor would it end well but considering how desperate I was, it was better than doing nothing.
I struggled out of the Nevermore's grasp, almost falling after doing so but I held on to the talons as it was now trying to shake. I gritted my teeth, climbing up to the bird's back with all the strength I could gather. It was tricky because the bird would shake every couple of seconds but I was able to get on to its back as I climbed near its head.
Keeping a grip on the bird's hair, I tried to convince myself that it was like riding a pony. Not exactly a fond memory of the last time that happened but that wasn't important when my life was on the line. I gripped the crown of its head, using it to steer the Nevermore as it flies. It took some strength to do it, but seeing that it works, I was able to use it to my advantage. I made it fly towards the top of the cliff as I unsheathe my sword and stabbed its head a few times causing it to descend faster. As it reached the edge of the cliff, I sliced Big Bird's head off and then jumped to safety.
"Bye, bye, birdie," I huffed, panting heavily as I stared down the Nevermore as it turned to no more. I anticipated vomiting but I didn't throw up for once, probably because it was a short ride. And this was only the very beginning; my second day and I already had to deal with two large Grimm that nobody warned us about. Not a good sign, if you ask me.
Standing up, I walked toward the edge of the cliff and looked at the figures who were all gazing at me and the Nevermore's dead body. We stared at each other in silence for short few seconds before I could hear Nora clapping loud enough for me to hear her from such a distance. "I knew you could do it!" I noticed everyone staring at her for a brief moment before accompanying her in applause.
I could only sigh. I did it again, didn't I?
=o=
1. Most likely the latter. There are some specialized explosives made to safely propel their users into the air without suffering any physical harm, though they're only recommended to be used for Huntsmen with functioning aura.