The forests around Vale were often revered by birdwatchers for the sheer range of species that roosted in the nooks and crannies of the kingdom. Little did any of these voyeurs that perverted the private lives of Crested Jays know that there was a divine reason for this. Eons ago a group of humans that revered the God of Light made their home in the canyon that divided the Emerald forest from the rise where Beacon stands today. For their constant and earnest prayers, the God of Light bequeathed unto the peoples of the gap a varied fauna. As wolves and bears frequented the woods, he gave them great and colorful birds that they might see flitting from branches in the morn.
It was little salve to Younger Brother that these birds would eat the seeds the people would sow and occasionally cause them to starve. To maintain the balance, he had strategically placed several oversized Grimm in the area that might remind the peoples that not all gods were so kind. When Salem inherited his role as scourge she made sure to maintain his stance on the Emerald Forest, and had fairly stuffed the place with monsters.
She'd left the ruins of that people that once worshipped the God of Light intact so that she might occasionally glower at it balefully and remind herself of how wretched and pathetic those people were. They starved to death without the support of their god, when they could have died with dignity fighting an impossible war against two gods. Really, they chose the easy way out. She always promised herself she'd do away with it someday, preferably with a shard of the moon just to really drive the irony home. However, even with her vast reserves of magic, it wasn't exactly easy to move several million metric tons of moon.
Unfortunately for Salem, the combined forces of team RWBY and team JNPR were going to well and truly fucking destroy the thing before she'd ever get the chance.
Nora and Ren had been running for nearly twenty minutes when they finally arrived at the gorge. The entire time they'd been sprinting, Nora insisting that she had no idea that Deathstalkers even got this big, and that it made sense to make such a huge commotion to find Ren since he'd been playing all bashful and not making sloth calls. Ren had the sense to not argue that perhaps they should have just relied on fate putting them together as it always it did without err, as Nora would just start gushing and this really wasn't the time.
"We should lose it on the bridge." Ren shouted, ducking and rolling forward under a snapping claw that nearly bisected him. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the Deathstalker was truly not willing to give up the chase, it's chelicerae snapping open and shut like some awful grinder. The thing looked hungry, and that was more than a little unsettling. "Could you break it when we cross?"
"Break it?" Nora laughed, whistling as she jumped off one of the claws and did a flip in the air, whooping and hollering like she was having the time of her life. "That old thing? I could smash it to bits!"
Ren smiled, then focused up, focusing his aura before lunging forward, dropping into a dead sprint, Nora following close behind. When they arrived at the near end Nora leapt into the air, pulled a 180, and drove her hammer into the ground. The Grimm, not really operating at a high level of mental processing, blithely attempted to close the distance from the hundred or so feet it had fallen behind. It scurried (as much as something that big can) closer, even as cracks started the form in the great slab or stone.
With a great groan the rock gave way, and Nora gave the Grimm a funny face with her tongue stuck out before backflipping to surer ground. The platform crumbled, and as it did the Deathstalker realized its predicament. With its claws grasping the bridge it curled its stinger backwards, digging it into the soil of the near cliffside. Even as the bridge began to sway it let out an inhuman groan, soil and stone cracking under the pressure of the immense beast's grip.
"It can't fall down!" Shouted a voice from above, and Nora shaded her eyes to look behind her. Standing on a platform a few stories up was a collection of four people, of which the blonde guy appeared to be the one yelling. "If it falls, it could take the bridge down, and the rest of the place with it!"
Nora made a face, not that she thought he could see from that distance, but realized what he was talking about when the bridge began to sway unnaturally. It was lurching forward and back, and while there was support under the central tower, it probably couldn't handle getting bowled over.
As the Grimm struggled to keep itself from tumbling into the void its immense weight was swaying side to side. Nora let out a short screech as she backed away from the hole, unsure what to do.
Just as she was about to panic Weiss appeared beside her, a glyph appearing underneath her to mitigate the impact. The other three landed shortly after, weapons drawn as they warily eyed the Grimm.
"If we can, uh, 'poof' it then we'll be fine." Jaune motioned with his hands towards the void. "But if it struggles too much it'll take the entire place down with it. Either we run back to the other side and knock it in from safety or we kill it from this side. Personally I'm for uh... Running."
Blake dodged a swinging claw, a shade taking the hit as she backed away. "I don't think it's going to let us past easily."
"I can freeze its claws in place, that would give us enough time to cross." Weiss grit, switching the receiver on myrtlenaster to ice-aspected dust. "All I need is-"
Just as she was about to drive her weapon into the ground, Weiss saw twin red blurs approach. Ruby and Pyrrha vaulted over the Deathstalker, soaring over its grasping claws and landing behind the group.
"Oh hey guys how's it going sure hope you found a way out because we're fuuuuuuuuuuucked." Ruby said in a rush as she reached over and grabbed Weiss, dragging her away by her arm.
"There's no way up Ruby, and the Grimm's going to destroy this place we gotta go back!" Jaune insisted, stepping in front of her. "Weiss can stop it and we can go, though now that I think about it you guys jumped over it sorta easily..."
"Jaune I love that plan." Pyrrha breathed, clasping his hands in her own. "But Ruby and I may have made an error."
"What kind of error?" Yang asked, looking from the new arrivals to the Deathstalker. And then to the black hazy splotch that was soaring towards them. "Didn't you guys, like, deal with that?"
"Yeah we totally did that's a new one." Ruby said with a shrug. "Amazing, right? Who knew that just outside Beacon there were two Nevermores as big as a house that could shoot feathers like some sort of horrifying fighter jet."
"It beggars belief." Weiss said, not sounding at all convinced. "But we can still lose it in the forest."
"About the forest..." Pyrrha said, sounding a little sheepish.
On cue, dozens, if not hundreds of Beowolves, Ursa, and Creeps poked their heads out of the woods. The entire section of the forest to the right side of the bridge was teeming with malicious red eyes. Their gazes were firmly fixed on the assortment of students. In the distance a Beowolf howled, and the rest of the pack matched its cry.
"Ruby... How?" Yang asked, leveling an incredulous look at her sister.
"See the thing about Beowolves, is that if they're just a little too smart they know to howl when they see prey and get a whole lot of other Grimm chasing people." Ruby shrugged, as if it was a surprising fact. "Who knew, right? So now the entire forest wants to kill me. Well, us."
"You are... so..." Weiss struggled to properly describe her rage. "This couldn't get any worse! You've killed us all!"
"No," Ruby countered, crossing her arms and nodding her head to the sky. "But that could."
Heads turned to the heavens and they saw a volley of feathers coming their way, rocketing towards them at high speed. Ruby tapped Nora's shoulder and motioned to the stone 'tile' they were on, then thumbed back towards the tower. Nora grinned and nodded, extending her hammer once more. At the same time, ruby grabbed Weiss gently by the shoulder.
"Back everyone up?" Ruby asked, her expression sounding serious for the first time that day.
There was a split second to act, and Weiss didn't respond before drawing a black glyph underneath them.
"Back!" Ruby shouted, launching herself back two tiles, letting go of Weiss and grabbing Jaune at the same time. The group landed on the same tile, aside from Nora who used her hammer to launch one of the bridge sections into the air. Even with her significant strength it only raised partway up, lifting it a few feet off its setting. Right as it reached its peak, Yang dashed forward as a new glyph appeared on it. Weiss' semblance tried to lighten the load, as Yang used her considerable strength to hold it upright. As they righted it, Ruby threw her axe at it, where it lodged itself into the stone, turning black as Pyrrha's semblance set to work on it. Ruby herself rushed to the rock alongside Yang, nodding to her sister as they held the rock in place.
Everyone but Jaune moved to hold the great mass, holding it upright as a great shield. The odd-man-out made to move, but found his limbs felt heavy. As he stood beside a channeling Weiss he wondered at the view in front of him... Four trained fighters holding up several tons of rock to block the incoming attack of a monstrous demon. Ruby leaning against it casually as she joked to Yang, Nora showing off to Ren, Weiss smirking despite herself at the troupe. It was all so... Ridiculous in a way. He felt like he should move to help, but the ease with which they did the impossible seemed... Well. Incredible.
The feathers rained down like arrows, but at the range the Nevermore was firing from the lot were safe. Those that would have hit instead dashed against the stone shield, the ones that went wide falling into the abyss or lodging in the bridge behind them.
"If that falls straight down the bridge might go out without pushing the tower over." Jaune shouted over the din, his eyes locked on the Grimm that were starting to rush towards the far side of the canyon. "It's risky, but if we don't then we're going to get swarmed."
"Retreat to the tower, we'll need to deal with this Nevermore once and for all." Ruby growled as she leapt up and grabbed her Axe, kicking off of it at the same time that Yang heaved forward. The stone tumbled straight forward, knocking out the support below and sliding into the steep embankment. With the section colliding with the column holding up the Deathstalker the Grimm's fate was sealed. With a great growl and flailing of claws it slipped into the abyss. As it fell, the students could see three more smaller Nevermores trailing the big one. "Fine, Nevermores."
The main group fell back while Yang and Ruby caught sight of a Beowolf that had managed to break ahead. As it leapt across the gap Yang grabbed it by its chest and flung it sideways, sending the yipping beast down into the void below. It was just one of many though, and Ruby was starting to regret running the entire way here through a densely populated forest.
"I'm definitely way cooler than this is making me look." Ruby pouted, poofing her axe and turning to run, her sister staying astride her. As they ran the bridge began to sway once more, and Ruby let out a string of harsh oaths that Yang had never heard of before. "I'm not going to live this down if someone gets hurt."
"Hey, I'm we're training to become Huntresses to deal with crazy!" Yang laughed, giving her sister a light punch on the arm. Her comment was accented by the scrabbling of claws as another Beowolf made the jump over the gap in the bridge. "We got this."
Ruby nodded, grabbing Yang's hand as they got to the bottom of the tower, and in a flash of red and yellow they scaled the tower instantly, landing just as everyone else was reaching the top. Weiss frowned at the petals that blew past her, shooting a sidelong glance at Ruby, who merely smiled.
"I read that Nevermores sometimes carry Grimm, is that true?" Jaune asked, looking a little pale as the giant Crow circled above. "Because if so, we're going to have problems."
"Normally they just attack opportunistically, but when there's a Hunt on..." Blake trailed off.
"How about the four of us," Jaune motioned to himself, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, "manage anything that makes it to the ground. Nora can help with her uh... Grenade launcher, but the rest of us can't do anything about flying stuff."
Ruby measured Jaune up for a moment. "You confident you can hold your own?"
Jaune nodded, gripping his sword and shield tightly. He thought of the rest of the group shielding him from the feathers before. "I'm confident enough to try."
"Can we give the big one a name?" Yang asked, readying gauntlets as the Nevermores began their approach. "If we shout out 'get the Nevermore' it's not going to be clear."
"We could call it 'Big Nevermore'." Blake deadpanned.
"Or 'Big Chicken'." Nora offered with a thumbs-up. "Because that's one Big Chicken!"
"You guys are so lame." Weiss sighed after a pause.
"Operation 'Tenderize Chicken' is a go!" Jaune whispered, barely loud enough for the others to hear.
The Nevermores dropped their clutch right as they flew overhead, soaring over the cliffside on their pass, breaking line of sight. The Big Chicken halted early, hovering over the tower ominously, the gale from its flapping wings kicking up dust and pebbles towards the students.
"If I can get over the... Chicken, I can bring it down. If I don't kill it on the way down, it would be close." Ruby breathed, summoning her axe and slinging it over her shoulder. "But it'd be a difficult shot from so high up, and I'd need to get there in the first place."
"Don't take it all on yourself, dolt." Weiss grumbled, watching as their friends ran to intercept the Grimm that had landed. "Give us a plan."
"I knew we shouldn't have just thrown her into the fray." Taiyang said through grit teeth. He was standing in Ozpin's office with Qrow once more, observing team RWBY and JNPR through a large projection coming from the desk. There were many observation drones flying over the forest to keep tabs on students as they performed their tasks. Generally, family weren't allowed to watch the selection but... Ozpin didn't have much of a choice in this case.
"Have some faith Tai." Qrow's expression was dark, eyes creased with focus. "If they can deal with the Nevermore the rest are just fodder. She spent a decade in the wilderness, she's learned a few things."
"Yeah, well, apparently she didn't learn out there that you can't run away from your problems." Tai started pacing, his eyes still on the monitors. "Letting a Beowolf call? Bad move. Not finishing a Grimm when you have the chance? Bad move."
"And just how worried do you think she is about it?" Qrow countered, pointing to Ruby. "She looks like she's taking things seriously for the first time today, but she's relaxed." Qrow glanced out the windows towards where he knew this fight was happening. "If she's like Summer, then she has everything in hand."
Tai was ready to continue his meltdown, but hearing that name stopped him short. "Facing your mistakes head-on didn't help Summer much, did it?"
Qrow didn't answer.
RWBY split; Ruby taking her position near the center-rear of the promenade while Weiss, Blake, and Yang made for the cliff. Weiss leapt from her position to the near corner of the temple's roof, the other two following behind. While she drove her rapier into the ground Blake and Yang again pressed on, leaping for the cliffside. Right as they made contact large glyphs bloomed against the rocky surface, holding them in place.
With gravity sufficiently bamboozled, the pair sprinted to the clifftop, Weiss watching all the while as sweat began to form on her brow from concentration. Blake and Yang waited just near the top of the cliff, crouching so that they were hidden in its shadow.
Yang, curious, pulled a piece of gravel from the cliff and dropped it. She watched it fall sideways away from her and straight down to Weiss where it bounced off the ground a foot away from her. Yang had the humility to look embarrassed when focus faded for a moment and they nearly fell.
With a great shriek the Huge Nevermore set its eyes on the pair, its wings curling back to launch a volley of feathers at them. As it fired the glyphs under Blake and Yang disappeared. Yang flipped the bird off as the pair fell, Blake holding onto Yang as she drove her weapon into the cliff face. They dropped several feet before her ribbon became taught, the two narrowly avoiding the barrage.
Before the Grimm could hope to attempt another attack, Ruby was on it. Appearing from below with a mighty crack, the beasts head snapping back from the force. Before she was too far away to grip the Corvid she swung her axe, lodging it in the beast's breast. Letting out a great shriek the Grimm tried to pull away, but not before Ruby threw herself further towards the beast's maw, flipped over, and drove a fist directly into its eye.
Moments later, three of the Nevermores flew back over the cliff edge to assist their liege. Yang and Blake were ready, and as they flew low nearby, they launched themselves at them. With superior speed, they managed to land on their backs, Blake driving her blade into one, Yang grabbing another by its scruff. As the two closed in on the larger kind, they delivered crushing blows to their mounts, Yang yanking and twisting the neck of one, Blake cleanly severing the head from hers. As their rides disintegrated they leapt to Ruby, who had retreated to the Grimm's back.
"Birds of a feather." Blake breathed as she looked down to see the other birds, which had dropped fresh Grimm on JNPR. "We need to eliminate the rest before the others get overwhelmed."
"I'll keep this thing busy," Ruby smirked, giving the other two a wink. "When you touch the ground tell Pyrrha to 'pull'."
"Should I tell Weiss you're asking for a 'tug'?" Yang asked, eyes squinting. "You're partners now you can't just go asking other people for that."
"And they say I have bad timing." Ruby groused, the full force of her mock shock on display. "Can you believe this Blake?" She looked to the Faunus who was staring off into the distance.
"So that's why he was called Tug-Sensei in book 3..." Blake trailed off, as if something was suddenly making sense.
"Since I clearly have no friends here, I'm going to flip the bird." Ruby paused for dramatic effect. "Literally."
Jerking the Grimm's head from one side to the other, the Grimm lurched partway through a barrel roll, eliciting sounds of surprise from both Blake and Yang as they were dropped from open air... Right onto two more Nevermores that had been flying right underneath.
"Finally some peace and quiet, eh birdie?" Ruby smirked, slipping around the beast to grab her axe and deal some damage.
Far below, Weiss was keeping an eye on the goings-on above while engaging the Grimm on the ground. Her preferred style, speed and precision was serving her well as she leapt from Beowolf to Boarbatusk, delivering one swift strike each, passing each one exactly once. The more heavily armored specimens she left to Nora, who was having the time of her life batting the Grimm off the edge. The fight was going rather well, the smaller Nevermores only able to carry maybe a dozen between them at a time.
On cue, one of the dispatched birds sailed over the edge, its form fading into mist as it silently descended into the gap, followed by another.
"This idea wasn't terrible." Weiss admitted to herself, looking up to see Ruby yanking the... Big Chicken this way and that as the remaining stragglers were cut down. Things were going smoothly all things considered.
"Pyrrha!"
Weiss tensed as she whirled around. She saw Jaune dashing to Pyrrha's side, raising his shield as he did. To their immediate right stood a Beowolf, not considerably larger than the others, with a paw raised to strike. At first, Weiss wasn't concerned, but she realized she hadn't seen Jaune actually fighting yet... He was instead barking orders and calling out enemies as they appeared. With the area near her cleared she started moving towards the pair.
That was until Jaune crumpled.
Weiss' eyes widened as she saw him get knocked clean off his feet from the Beowolf's attack, getting rolled ass over tea-kettle when he hit the ground. Seeing that he was about to make a very close shave by the edge she dashed to him at full speed, grabbing him just as he was about to fall off.
"Jaune?" Weiss shouted, letting him rest on the ground and doing a quick once-over. It looked like he'd hit his head, so she was leery of moving him. Bruises were starting to form on his face, but he was still breathing. Weiss still wasn't sure what to do, she wasn't exactly a combat medic, and the times she did get roughed up back home there were servants or maids to help with meds and bandages.
Pyrrha dispatched the two Grimm she was fighting, then after she was certain the other two could manage she retreated back. Sprinting at full speed she slid on the knees of her greaves the last few feet, coming to a stop right beside the Heiress and her charge.
"What happened? Why didn't his aura take the hit?" Pyrrha said quickly, pressing the ends of her fingers gently against his sides to see if anything was wrong. She didn't feel anything off at first, but when she checked his shield arm she could feel, and then smell, blood. "I don't understand, the Grimm wasn't any stronger than the others."
"He must have forgotten to activate his aura, somehow." Weiss guessed, unsure what else could be the problem. Either that or the man didn't actually have an aura, which Weiss wouldn't be particularly surprised by given how he acted, held his sword, general mannerisms etcetera. That said, he did make it into this school, he should have had something.
"We have a bit of a problem guys." Called Ren, who had been pushed up towards the steps. Pyrrha and Weiss looked to him, and noticed a couple things. Firstly, suddenly there were many more Grimm than before. Secondly, Grimm had somehow managed to bridge to the central tower, as they were now streaming steadily in through an open doorway. "We need to move, now."
Shit. Weiss grit her teeth as she searched the sky for Ruby and her prey. All they had now was the plan, and a lot of that was resting on one brunette's rather cocky shoulders.
AN: It wasn't my intention to do a cliffhanger here, but I realized this chapter was going to be in excess of eight thousand words by the time I was done, so I'm splitting it here. So sorry for the awkward pause, you will be getting the conclusion of the fight as well as wrap-up next chapter. I did a lot of writing for chapters that are four or five ahead of where we are right now, so those ones might actually come out ahead of schedule. We'll see!
Also Jaune isn't dead, obviously, he'll say the Beowolf caught him off guard but those are just Jaunes hah hah hah.