AN: First real arc, gaed I love hat oc's with apassion.
Ps" I loved that movie
"BIOPLASMA! BIOPLASMA! BIOPLASMA!" The loud, frantic voice of the fourth year students yelled viciously as a giant green ball smashed into a line of charging students melting them into puddles in an instant. As Jaune sprinted up the battered mud-filled hillside blue eyes wide and fearful as he observed the scene around him it was hellish.
The hillside was awash with light as a bolt lightning cracked down from the night sky illuminating the raging battle between Bastion's students and wild he printed up the hill he was pelted by large tennis ball sized droplets of rain. Each drop felt like he had been struck by a first as he sprinted the final yards and leaped for his life.
OOF! Jaune yelled as he fell on the strong organic barrier that was impeding their journey. It was a dark inky black construction. Organic in nature and resembling a black coral reef. As jaune felt the hard seemingly brittle structure. Ruby leaped onto the structure behind him as another fat drop of bioplasma careened from beyond the barricade smacking into the ground tearing a bullhead sized crater inside of it.
"We have to get past the barricades!" A voice shouted as Jaune struggled to see through the blinding rain. To his left, Kage sat idly on the barricade his red armor was slick with mud and filth while Mika patiently carved out a hole into the barricade with her hatchet.
As they laid there among the shouts, gunfire, hurling biological ordinance and the yelling of fighting and dying students around them on voice struck out harder and clearer than the rest. As the second half of students his the line. As a new line of students ran into the lien Jauen saw several carrying large plastic sack with groups of large long light green tubes sticking out of the students hit the line Jaune instantly went to help them as they worked quickly under the sheets of rain as they worked to unwrap their vital cargo.
"Bangolars!" A booming voice yelled as Jaune worked quickly with an I class student unwrap the long light green tubes from their protective casing before handing them out to the surviving students who put them inside drilled holes in the black wall. Dexterous hands quickly as they unwrapped and forced the object into the walls at predisposed locations alongside the barricade.
"Fire in the hole!" A voice yelled as Jaune and ruby cupped their ears as their world went white and the wall shuddered. Jaune was the first to get up and sprint for the walls, as he saw the aftershow of the explosions that had blown holes large enough to drive a truck through head been blown into the barricade as students began to spring inside.
Another bolt of lightning flashed across Jaune vision as he saw the things responsible for their current hardship. Spitter Grimm. There were three of them. Each a giant bloated monstrosity with small stumpy black legs and dark beady red eyes hovering over a little nasty mouth with long serrated teeth.
Although that was not what was their actual distinguishing feature. That went to the massive vat of organic plasma also know as bioplasma that they housed inside of themselves and hurled at approaching enemies.
As the student charged their enemy, the Grimm roared in defiance but they were too cumbersome to move as the lead spitter was struck on its side as its flesh ripped open, as the thin mucous membrane that housed its bioplasma reserves. Drenching a rather unfortunate initiate in translucent green plasma.
The unfortunate student let out a gargled scream as Jaune watched horrified as he saw his armor, clothes and then finally flesh dissolve into nothingness in front of his eyes before the initiate fell into a pool of goo.
Enraged by the loss of life Janue charged at the second spitter who fumbled vainly to get away from him stabbing its mucous membrane with Crocea Mons as the creature hissed in pain as Jaune ran in front of his bale spilling the things life essence out of it and onto the cold, unfeeling mud soaked ground.
As Jaune killed the spitter the remaining students swarmed the remaining two and quickly dispatched them securing the hillside for Bastion.
As the last Grimm feel "I want cables!" A large towering fourth-year student yelled as he shouted to the assembly Bastion students. The students listened instanly as they dragged up large slive platforms and worked tirelessly as the rain pelted down on them. In thick sheets of water the size of first nearly knocking some of them over as they drug, built and strung up their tools.
As Jaune looked on with the students as he looked dead down into the pitch black yawning maw of the crater that housed their objective.
Their objective here was to destroy a Grimm nest that had grown too large in recent days, and they were sent to exterminate every last one of them. As Jaune with kage's help hauled up a large silver hook that was soon tamped into the ground with large silver steaks as ropes were hauled up to it here being stung up and stung up on it.
"All right! You all know what we're here so let's get to it!" The loud voice of the fourth year student yelled and the rain pelted off his silver combat armor. He was a tall boy with suntanned skin and a bald head. As he pointe to the student." C'mon I wanted us down there yesterday!" The boy yelled as Jaune and Kage nodded to each other silently Blue eyes meeting brown as they hooked themselves into the ropes and descending into the yawning mouth of darkness.
It was pitch dark as Jaune rappelled down into the cavernous depths of the Grimm hive. The wind had stopped, and the cavern was suspiciously quiet. As he kicked off the wall, the thing made a wet squelching sound as the foreign organic material that the walls ware coated with attempted to hold his boots to itself making Jaune's stomach heave.
As he rappelled down his saw a flash of red above him as he saw Ruby doing the same thing above him to the right and Kage was somewhere below him. Knowing How to rappel apparently, he had gone down first and was below Jaune at that point. Jaune head no idea where Mika was. As all around him, the falling black shapes of students rappelling down into the cavern chasm filled his vision.
As he forced his way off another particularly sticky part of the wall Jaune was grateful that the biting rain could finally no longer reach him as his armor and hoodie were both thoroughly soaked with rainwater, his entire ensemble of clothing was drenched and stuck to his skin with tenacious determination as the wet cloths bite into his skin.
As the sound of falling velcro and plastic filled the air Jaune remembered the plan. It was a simple plan really their impromptu leader Horatio or something Jaune thought guessing the bald student's name. He had quickly assumed direct control of the mission instructing the other students on setting up and fixing the large rappelling hooks onto the crater that led into the Grimms next. Horatio had demanded that roughly eighty percent of the attack force would rappel down the hole into the hive with the goal of exterminating the Grimm within while the remain twenty percent mostly I class hunters would secure the top preventing any remaining enemies from encircling them and trapping them within the hole.
As Jaune descended the dim light of the initial rappeler base camp came to his field of vision as his journey ended as he steps his feet off the thick sickening slick, sticky walls and onto the equally treacherous base.
"Finally!" Jaune said as he stepped off the walls onto the floor, as he unhooked his cable nodding to the anchor at the ground as the cable zipped off to the top of the hive to ferry down an additional student.
"Alright everybody listens up!" Horatio called out as the gathered student of the attack force finally descended down and were now gathered in the dim made lighting of the base of the hive.
" Ok everybody I know this was a rough start, but we got this far so we can do the rest. I want to belay any fears of the mission being too hard for you right now; I will have you know that everybody here was selected by me because you bring something to the table. Whether it be ranged weaponry, tactical awareness, sheer talent or merely another body to throw into the grim you all have a job to do, and I expect you to do it!"
Horatio said as he stood by and a long cavernous piece of earth that led into a winding cavern of caves and pathways that led into the heart of the hive. "Here's how it's going to work. Initiation class student will make the individual caverns for demolition. I'm going, being honest with you there will be Grimm in these tunnels, and there will be a lot of them here. Luckily!"
For once we actually have a detailed description of the bastards. Today's special guest that will no doubt though not if I can help it, having us for dinner are called cacklers! They are bipedal monsters around nine to twelve feet tall, long arms with serrated claws and a dog like a snout with very long teeth!"
"Remember Cacklers are a bit strange when compared to you basic grim as these things can mimic human speech! They can recall what hunters of humans they fight say and will repeat that last thing they heard from their victims. That and laughing like mad if they have yet to kill a human recently
Whether or not they are actually speaking to you or only trying to shake your moral is unknown so if you hear any talk that is not from a recognized source or is not coming from a place we know do not listen and act with caution. These things are ambush predators by nature and will take advantage of it."
"Cacklers are a rare breed are their desperate cries for help tend to lure countless civilians to their deaths in the wilds very year. So we're here to clean out their hive. We dealt with the colonies defense the spitters, and now we just have to clear out the main tunnels while the Initiate Class blows the side ones before we finally clear the main cavern and collapse it."
Horatio said as he smashed a fist into his palm. "If there are any questions ask them now if not, we are going to file out by rank. I Want punishment first years up front followed by second years of either class while I handle things back here making sure the initiates know how to blow the damned tunnel with taking us down with them."
Horatio said waiting for a question form his gathered group. Jaune stared hard at him trying to find a glaring flaw in the strategy. While he did not want to go in the front, he saw no issue with it, and the plan seemed sound.
Horatio was detailing how they would make a strong push into the chasm clearing out any Grimm they can find until their scrolls told them they reached the central cavern of the area. At that point, they would rig that cavern to blow, and the inmates would blow the enter substructure of the hive collapsing it and burying any remaining Grimm under a mountain of rubble. It was a sound plan, and Jaune only nodded as Horatio nodded once before dismissing them as the group moved out.
"The hell is this place?" Jaune asked his group as they walked through the dark caverns of the mountains. Jaune was immensely grateful that they were now on solid rock instead of the terrifying organic material from before. As he heard the sound of rocks crumbling under his boots as he leads his team down a tunnel. It was a maze of winding labyrinth like tunnels with shifting corridor with some minor holes int there ids the raged form door sized to minivan size all covered in pitch darkness.
"Abandoned mine shafts. Place used to be a major mining complex before the grim overran it. Some of these tunnels are reminiscent form then." Kage replied in the same monotone vice Jaune head come accustom to hearing from his teammate and friend? Jaune was still unsure where he and kage stood on their friendship level.
I mean Kage head been friendly enough but he seems so distant and unwilling to make connections beyond what was necessary to function, making it hard for Jaune to get a good read on him.
As he turned his head to see his red armors new added shoulder lamp illuminating the pitch black tunnels with a sickly yellow light as the walked through an abandoned mine shaft. Unfortunately, the first years had drawn the short sick of being the ones to map out the possible routes to the main cavern.
Their group had walked around for a few minutes of the barely illuminated tunnels before the first of three paths head been shown to them. From here the scrolls were equipped with a mapping app that would echolocate the tunnels as they walked through them so upon arrival the rest of the group would know the quickest most efficient route to the main cavern.
Which meant that the already diminished group of first years had been split again in three this time as the majority of the punishment first years were told to wait for them topside.
Apparently, the first year's punishment class students had somewhat of a reputation for being less than reliable in a fight somewhat about saving their skins before anyone else's and refusing to follow orders, so they were usually either left behind or sent to the front on the dangerous but not critical roles.
Apparently newly minted criminals who are being forced to battle against their own will did not take well to orders of any kind, who knew?
Jaune asked himself as he moved through the tunnels. The dark blue pulses from his scroll telling that it was mapping the tunnels for them. As they walked their shoes kicked up puffs of air illuminated by the light from either Kage's chest light or one of the lamps on his heavy pistols, the only light source for their current mission.
Mika had suggesting rather in a rather un Mika like manner that they use their scrolls built-in flashlight app for light. This was acutely a good idea an unexpected suggestion from the girl Jaune viewed with mistrust and vague suspicion. He had vetoed the idea as the damned flashlight function tended to eat up power like it was going out of style. And since they had no idea just how long they would be down here he would rather them keep their scrolls at full.
"This is taking forever! Why can't we go any faster?" Mika asked as she tossed her flamethrower over her shoulder like a nap sack. Holding the medium-sized weapon on her shoulders as her thin form was barely illuminated as her paper like skin barely stood out in the darkness of the mine shaft.
"You'll just have to wait like everyone else," Kage said as he ignores his friend's complaint.
"BAH! Where's the fun in that?" Mika said as she spits in annoyment as she looked left and right the dust from the floor was collecting on her collection of furs like a thin layer of snow.
"I can scout ahead if that would make any difference." Ruby offered, thinking of her speed. Sprint at super speed in a dark unknown territory with any number of large dangerous an unknown Grimm? "That's a bad idea, Ruby," Jaune said as he went to stop the reaper form making a potentially fatal mistake.
"No it's fine I can do it!" Ruby said trying to sound helpful went about trying to stop her it happened.
It happened so fast he couldn't even react as one second ruby was standing there in front of them barely illuminated by Kage's shoulder lamp the next thing Jaune knew she as gone. Kicking and screaming as a large black shape bore her down Jaune froze. As Ruby screamed for her life as slobbering jaw and arm length claws ripped at her throat. As kage's flashlights desperately tried to get a bead on it
"Get out of the way! I Can't get a shot!" kage shouted as the thing clawed at Ruby, Jaune felt himself leaping forward drawing his sworn as he drew his sword and lunged at the Grimm.
SCHLK! A blur of white come from his left as Mika let up and planted her axe into the creature's throat decapitating it in one strike and sending her axe straight into the cavern floor.
"AHH!" Ruby screamed as she desperately pushed the grime off of her shaking terribly as she unfolded her weapon to is sniper front. Despite her claim to the contrary Crescent Rose was not suited for close-up tunnel fighting.
"You ok?" Mika asked helping Ruby up to her feet as the quicken reaper looked traumatized the disappearing monstrosity.
'The hell was that!?" Jaune asked as he poked the thing with his sword. It was a tall creature that walked on two legs with thick leathery skin. It had two thickly muscled arms two and two equally muscled legs with long reaching arms with equally large hands that had claws stretching about a quarter of its arm's length out.
Its face was resembling that of a feral dog. WIth a long snout and long sharp teeth as it disappears Jaune swore that he heard the thing laughing "that was a cackler." Kage said as he shines his sickly yellow lamps on it, " And a damned big one if I have to say so myself" Kage admitted as the monster vanished Jaune instantly went to see Ruby.
"Ruby are you ok!?" Jaune asked as the small girl instantly shot herself out of Mika's grasp and jumped into his arms. "Jaune!" Ruby shouted as the smalls girl quacking form leaped into his arms holding him closely. Jaune had to grimace internally as despite her small stature Ruby agave some truly terrifyingly strong hugs.
As the young reaper lept into his arms. " I really do not want to break up your moment, but we need to keep moving." Kages said as he pointed his yellow lights around them defensively "I really do not want to wait in a dark enclosed tunnel for another damned cackler it comes and try to make me lunch alright?" Kage asked as Jaune nodded before ordering them into a wedge formation and pushing further down into the tunnel system.
"What in the world?" Jaune asked as they stepped into the mouth of a cavern his scroll said was the main one. As the group walked in this cavern unlike the other tunnel was well lit with a bright blue light and seemingly in pristine condition as they walked inside of it. "It's a type of bioluminescent algae. It grows naturally on the walls here and gives the mine its light." Mika explained to him as they stepped into the large cavern.
There was a massive support pillar holding up a ceiling that was anchored on an island of bedrock in the middle of a yawning chasm. The pillar was the target and was a massive piece of rock holding up the large cavern; it was what their scrolls marked it for destruction.
Taking down the pillar would collapse the entire support system and send the whole mountain falling in a titanic cave in.
"Let's go!" Ruby shouted as she used her speed to run out the central column as Jaune herd his scroll beep in confirmation that they had reached their destination and would begin sending information back to their group, they should be here sometime until then Jaune simply had to have his team wait it out.
As Ruby dashed forward to the pillar. 'I'll look out for her."Kage said as he shrugged his shoulders as a sigh left his lips as he trotted off after the hyper reaper.
"That's surprising…" Mika murmured staring at Kage as he sauntered after Ruby disappearing form.
"What's surprising?" Jaune asked as they both began to walk down the long road to the island.
"Kage is being really nice to Ruby. I never thought he would." Mika admitted to him as the pair walked side by side.
"Why wouldn't Kage be nice to Ruby?" Jaune asked making Mika smile widely as she flashed her green eyes on him and showed off her perfect white teeth.
"Because she's a girl duh!" Mika said as she giggled softly making Jaune frown.
"Are you saying that Kage doesn't like women?" Jaune asked making Mika skip two steps ahead and turning blindingly fast to face him stopping on a dime
"No way! He's a verified Misogynist! The fact that he's acting so nice Ruby Is really strange!" Mika sad in her perpetually peppy tone of voice making Jaune pause.
"Wait if he is a misogynist then why is he so nice to her?"
"Beats me! Although I am rather irked! By it, he's only supposed to be nice to me! Not some random charlatan!" Mika hissed through gritted teeth.
Before he could ask any more question Jaune realized de need to say something far more important first. "Mika about back in the tunnels… What you did saving Ruby's life thank, I wanted to say thank you an-"
" No problemo mister boss man! It's what best friends do after all!" Mika said making Jaune felt a cold tendril drip around his neck like a slimy appendage.
"Best friends? When did you and Ruby become best friends?" Jaune asked cautiously not wanting to anger her or irk her in some way that put Ruby in harm's way. He had read the girl's psych profile and it was not good reading. Especially the whole murdered her past teammates part as the girl in question coked her head to him.
"What do you mean Jaune? Me and Ruby have always Been best friends! Ever since we first met! It was true friendship at its best!" Mika added making Jaune nod in agreement. I don't think Ruby thinks so but that a battle for another day. Preferably when our lives are not on the line, and we are in a more public area.
"What do you mean he's a misogynist? I don't think he is." Or at least he hasn't shown anything to me to demonstrate that he was a sexist. Jaune asked making the girl smile in a way the steadily unnerved him.
Mika had that ability on her to make the brightest friendliest smiles that made you feel welcomed but having the distinct feeling that a hand was steadily creeping up behind your back holding a kitchen knife.
" Oh that's a long story! And a fun one as well! Long story short he's had some bad run-ins with women in the past mainly me! That shaped his vision of them!
Miak added before speaking again. "It's what I Like about him so much! It's fun know how much your partner loves and hates you simultaneously! "
The girl said as the made it to the island
"Mika, are you an Kage together?"
"Nope! But it's not like I'm not trying you know!? I practically throw myself at him every chance I get you know what he doses? He ignores me! Can you believe that Jaune!? He ignores me, Mika Smith, in fact, he's paid more attention to Ruby in the past two days than he ever did me!" Mika added, and before Jaune could talk, he found an axe on his jugular and Mika glaring at him the joviality in her eyes gone replaced by a cold malice that chilled him to the bone.
" I do not want her getting any about him Boss. Kage is my property. He belongs to me. Make sure she knows that okay?" Miak added before returning to her natural happy go luck self as beckoned him forward.
"Come on! Come on! There's so much to look at!" Mika added as Jaune walked to join them he file like his legs were made of led.
"All right, people lets get this thing rigged to blow so we can all go home!" Horatio said as he watches the lines of I class students rigging he supports column. As he watched, Jaune was busy applying a heightened vigil to Mika as she hung around Kage's should swinging her legs back and forth as she smiled a laughed making Kage just look annoyed.
"Are you ok Jaune?" Ruby asked as she came up to her best friend. "You seem tense is it the mission? If it is I think you're doing a great job as a leader! Our team is even acting like a team!" Ruby added making Jaune felt his heart freeze. Before he could tell her to give Kage some space and look out for Mika he heard it… At first was just a background noise. Something that was a rising irritant but not it was growing louder an louder, an ow Jaune could hear it. Clearly, it was laughter…
"The hell?" Jaune asked aloud as what was something he swore was mere background sound now manifest itself to the drowning sound of human laughter.
"AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH"" the sounds came and bounced off the walls making Jaune griped his sword and shield.
"The heel!? This should be impossible!" Horatio cursed as he gripped his scroll.
"Topside do you copy? Topside do you read me!? Shit!" Horatio spat as he tossed his scroll to the ground. "What's going on?" Jaune asked him as the tall fourth year turned to face him.
"It looks like it's going to be a real shit storm in a few seconds!" Horatio said pointing to the one way onto the island as the sound of laughter grew louder and louder making Jaune's heart hitch in fear.
" You hear that? Those are cacklers kid. And it looks like were cut off." Horatio said as he barked orders to the students to form a circle.
"What do you mean were cut off?! What happened to the top side team?" Jaune demanded as he felt his breathing hitch and heartbeat increase in rate.
"You're looking at the kid! We cleaned out the Grimm on the way here. We made sure that the tunnels were clear of Grimm before we got here. And if those sounds are in any way representative of numbers those things came from the surface, and that means our topside guys got wiped out."
"Wiped out!? You mean they're dead?!" Jaune asked as the sound of laughter resonated even louder in the tunnels making the students grab their weapons and begin to form a rough circle around their objective.
" I mean they got killed! I left Nera in charge of them The hard bastard would have killed the entire group before he let one Grimm come in those tunnels. If they're here, then the entire top is gone, and that means we have to fight and live or fight and die. Either works for me!"
Horatio Said as he left Jaune wanting answers before running up and down his line of subordinates shouting orders and demand turn of attention.
"Boss! What's the plan? We go out in a blaze of glory or not? Cause fi we are I would really like one last smoke,"
Kage asked as Jaune witnessed the first of the cacklers emerge from the main tunnel. They were like the ones in the shaft before tall with midnight colored leathery skin. Burning red eyes long sharp claws and dripping fangs. Although despite their terrify appearance what really unnerved Jaune was how happy they looked. There were many words of describing Grimm, terrifying, horrible, shock-inducing but happy was not one of them.
The fact that not only was happy currently beings use but it was probably the single best description of them set Jaune teeth chattering as the things charged them
The grim ran at them throwing their head back in laughter and letting out squeals of glee and what sounded like people having a great time. As they charged,'
"Kage get up there! Hold them back while we rig the pillar to blow! Even if we die we will take some of the bastards down with us!"
Horatio barked as Kage ran forward " Boss what's the play? We fighting here or are we trying to make a break for it and leave these guys as fodder?"
Kage asked as he took the first shot with his pistole CRACK! The first cackler was blown in two as its head was ripped off by a massive reactive shell sending it flying off into the chasm below.
'" We fight, we have nowhere to run to anyways." Jaune said making Kage nod as he ran forward blasting away at the grim with remarkable ease.
As he fired the other students with ranged weapon opened fire blasting large holes into the Grimms ranks.
As Jaune watched the cacophony of them firing tear into the Grimm ripping into bodies tearing limbs from torsos and taking heads off in puffs of red mist. As the student's fire Jauune witnessed Mika sprint into the center of the road before making a wall of fire impeding their progress.
As the wall of flame erupted, Jaune noticed that half of the grim before even reaching the wall of flame jumped off the road into the chasm below.
" Tthe hell are they doing?" Jaune asked as he saw grim jump into the chasm before he heard Kage shout. " Oh hell! Somebody take those bastards down!" kage yelled staring up at the ceiling and making Jaune freeze as he tracked his gaze upwards.
The ceiling was approximately seven stories above them filled with long stalagmites, or stalagtites whichever one of those things facing down! Either way, the sharp needles of rock were now infected with the bodies of swinging cacklers.
Jaune froze as he watched the wither black mass swing towards them. Looking little more than dar orangutangs before the monsters filly reached the top of the group and dropped.
Less than two seconds after touching down twelve initiate class students were dead. Their bodies ripped in tow tore or bitten clear in half as the Grimm cut into them the terrible sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh filled the air. Jaune watched in shock as their mad laughter stopped and the screaming started...
"Kage take them down!" Horatio yelled making him wince.
Jaune saw the problem they were facing instantly. The Grimm had launched a double attack. The ones charging them in the front had been a distraction while the bought times for the ones on top to climb into place and drop one the students splitting their group in half
But that was only the beginning. Most of the students here were of the initiate class. Meaning they usually had ranged weaponry a fact that had bought them precious time as the cacklers failed their initial push of volumes of firepower. Which was their second problem firepower?
Out of all the guns that could kill cackler only Kages' gun could do so with anything resembling reliability. His massive pistols almost guaranteeing a kill whenever he hit. Which so far was all the time, in fact as far as Jaune knee Kage he never missed a shot.
As the battle picked up Jane was already in motion running toward a pair of cackler that had surrounded a paralyzed Ruby.
Jaune had no idea why Ruby just had to freeze in the literal middle of a fight, maybe seed those children some younger than her getting their intestines ripped out was too much for her to deal with. Even if she had seen death before that was under extraordinary circumstance. This was the regular mission here at Bastion.
As Jaune sprinted toward them, Grimm h jumped forward shield up high and sword in hand. As he tacked Ruby, he felt the impact from one cackler almost break his shield arm as Jaune took the legs off at the shins of the one next to him. It growled in anger as it sprayed his face with thick, foul tasting viscera as he spate out he blood in disgust a searing pain shot through his body as a massive pair of close smacked his like followed by a huge jolt. Gripping his shoulder making him scream in agony.
Jaune yeeld allows as te feel te cackel lodge its teeth into Jaune neck before a burst of air was heard followed by a loud CRACK!
The things head exploded in a puff of blood as a heavy shell hit its head pulping it into bright red mist and sending the thing backward before second round killed the other cackler as Kage sprinted forward pistols blazing as Juan slid with Ruby on the ground.
"Boss you ok!? You don't look so hot!" kage said as he dropped tow magazines out of his pistols before deftly reloading them from the spare magazine he carried in his armors sides. As he aimed his guns in the sky, he resumed firing with every level of enthusiasm. As Kage lade into the enemy Jauen gripped Ruby.
"Ruby, you can't freeze like that in the battlefield! if you keep doing this, you are going to die alright?" Jaune asked his best friend before she nodded once. The typical serious face she got whenever danger was involved returning to her face as she shifted her weapon into scythe form and dashed into the fight in a flurry of rose petals.
" Boss! Your area" Mika yelled drawing attention to Jaunes rapidly depleted aura as Jaaune chopped off the arm of a grown what he presumed to be adult cackler. Taking the limb in a shower of blood before stabbing it's that and shield bashing it to the face sending it flying backward laughing horribly as he did.
As the monster did Jaune finally saw it and his heart stopped. Ruby was going to die. Not instantly but very soon and very painfully. As he says the reporter, who had been up until now an unstoppable force on the battlefield as she darted in and out of combat as an area in a blur of flying limbs and flashing silver.
She had stopped to decapitate a downside Grimm before two others flanked and circled her sides. Normally this would not be a problem as Jaune would simply yell out a warning to her, but the cacophony of combat made that impossible.
Making a bad situation worse was the fact that there were two cacklers charging him from the front. This was not a problem to him as he learned that cacklers were ambush predators. And while they were strong and muscled most of their danger came from their speed and tactics as they were quite fragile as grim would go.
Moving without thinking Jaune let his body dictate his actions as he tossed his shield at Ruby smiling broadly as the cloud of sparkle that flew off it as a cackler claw was deflected by it allowing Ruby to see the threat and kill the other one removing the danger for now.
If only the same could be sad for Jaune. As he stabbed the throat of one cackler only to feel the lack of shield became apparent as the monster stuck its clawed into his stomach. There was a flash of blue as his aura filed and time stopped.
"GUHA!" Jaune spit out blood as he felt his vision fade as lances of searing pain filled his body. Snarling in defiance Jaune spat a was of blood at the Grimm making it sneer before Jaune stabbed out its throat.
As the most fell, it took its claws down with it. An unfortunate side effect of its death as when the Grimm removed the claws from his stomach it took his intestines out with it. Jaune gasped as he felt his body instantly trying to cope with an evisceration in public he took a step back the two then three. As his balance over the edge Jaune shifted and hung in the balance before finally breaking off apart f the island and sending him into the chasm below. The last thing Jaune remembered hearing was a voice yell "Jaune!" Then it all went black….