Gales wasn't really one for coffee; at least not without kelbi milk, a ton of honey or half a pound of ground sugar thrown into it, otherwise it was too bitter. That said, Gales took a drink as stood next to the Bullhead and watched the others walking up to him. They looked good, but it was obvious they didn't sleep as well as they would have liked. Then again neither did he, hence the coffee. Knowing that he'd been given a job to find a missing person usually resulted in him not sleeping well. Especially when he was already a few days behind in the search. Normally he'd head out the moment he was given this job, but making sure they were all prepared was a good idea too. Rushing off ill prepared to find a person could have led you making the situation worse… or cause you to head in the wrong direction.
So they used the time Ozpin had given them to get ready; he'd found out how many people were missing, where they'd be searching, they'd all done some shopping, and mentally prepared themselves as best as they could.
Just a bit too bad none of them - him included- got as much sleep as they did. "Well we can toss my coffee around if need be."
"Morning Gales." Everyone said as Gales just returned the greeting and held out his coffee.
"Drink?"
"What is it?" Pyrrha asked as she took the thermos and stared at it.
"Coffee, black coffee; no honey, no milk, no sugar." Pyrrha made a face but drank a bit anyway before offering it to the others. Ren raised his hand in no thank you, Nora reached for it but he stopped her. Jaune did not complain till he took a drink.
"Ugh, bitter."
"I said no honey, no milk, no sugar." Gales repeated as he saw Jaune pass it to the others. Weiss copied Ren, raising a hand.
"No thank you, I had some when I woke up."
"Me too." Blake stated as Gales looked to Ruby and Yang. Ruby looked unsure, though whether that was because coffee wasn't her "cup of tea" or not was beyond him. Still she took a drink, scrunched her face up and stuck out her tongue before passing it to her sister who drank with less reservation. "Thanks." The drinkers muttered as Gales just smiled.
"No worries. So everyone ready?" Each of them adjusted their bags and more or less nodded. Gales just did the same. "Alright, let's get airborne, It's gonna be a short flight."
When they boarded into the Bullhead they barely wasted any time getting settled and taking into the air.
"So… where's the Professor?" Jaune asked as he looked around the airborne Bullhead, the outside showing Beacon already a good few feet away from them. "They are having a professor come with us right?"
"Glynda said that our professors is already at the drop point waiting for us." Gales states.
"Oh, so which Professor are we going to be working with?"
"Professor Peach." Gales stated after a while.
"Oh she's nice." Ruby said as she grinned. "So what else did Professor Goodwitch say?" The rest turned to Gales as he got to his feet and started looking around the ship for a moment.
"Alright here we go." The beast-eyed teen stated as he gestured for everyone to gather around as he dropped onto the floor. Unravelling the ships map Gales showed them the layout of the Emerald Forest.
Wow… that's how big the Emerald Forest is?" Jaune asked as he looked at it. "It's huge."
"Mh, I've seen bigger." Gales stated.
"So are we going to search the entire Emerald Forest?"
"Nah, Glynda says they broke it into sectors. So well just be checking out one while we're here." Gales admitted as he ran a finger over the map. "This is the sector we'll be searching; Sector 13." Everyone listened as Gales continued. "It's one of the bigger areas, a nest for Beowolves, Ursa, King Taijitu and Rogue Ligers." Gales paused.
"Exactly how do you know that?" Weiss asked.
"Well yesterday I asked Glynda what to expect while we're in this area." Gales admitted. "You guys didn't think she'd toss us into a rescue mission without any clue what to expect did you?" Gales was met with silence as the others stared at one another for a moment.
"Well…" Jaune began.
"Ozpin did." Nora finished.
"Yep." Gales just stayed silent for a moment as he opened his mouth, closing it a moment later as he thought back. They were right after all. Ozpin had thrown them to the wolves that day…
"Fair, but Glynda isn't Ozpin." Gales stated. "I don't think Ozpin can pull off that skirt and heels."
"Yeah I don't think so either." Jaune admitted. "The skirts one thing, but it's really hard to walk in heels." About two thirds of the group looked to Jaune.
"Uh…" Ruby started them off.
"How do you know that?" Yang just looked at the others as he scratched his head.
"Uh… well… my sisters used to have me play dress up with them."
"Oh… you have sisters?" Nora asked curiously.
"Seven actually, I'm the only boy in the family." Jaune explained. Gales whistled at that.
"Impressive… they ever get you in a dress?" He asked as Jaune released a nervous smile.
"It's alright Jaune." Ruby said as she patted Jaune's back. "You are among friends, we will not judge you."
"Let's face it; we've all done it at some point when we were little." Gales stated. "There were times when my master came home when I was trying on her stuff." Gales smiled slightly. 'I was still in training and we didn't have male armor at the time…'
"I tried dressing up in one of my mom's yukata once when I was a kid." Ren admitted as he thought back, a relatively fond smile on his face before it crossed over into melancholy. 'She thought I was adorable in that yukata…'
"Ruby and I used to dress up as our dad and uncle clothes." Ruby nodded happily at Yang's words.
"My mom used to let me dress up in her old clothes." Blake stated.
"I… may have dressed up in Winter's old uniform when I was younger." Weiss admitted quietly.
"See no one can judge." Nora stated as she hit Jaune in the shoulder and caused him to stumble.
"Thanks…"
"So anyway, back to the mission." Weiss stated in order to get everyone on track.
"Right well." Gales coughed into his hand as he stared at the map. "We're going to be dropped off around here." He pointed at a certain spot. "It's where all of the initiates were launched and where they were supposed to gather after their own initiation was over and done with. The professor is supposed to have set up camp for us, so we can retreat their if we're tired or if we run out of supplies."
"It's also likely where we'll be bringing everyone we find." Ruby stated offhanded.
"You're right." Gales admitted. "They'll be using the Airships to lift everyone out. Course depending on how many we gotta send home, it's bound to be more than one trip."
"So some might have to wait a while." Jaune admitted as Gales went silent for a moment.
"If that's the case… we might have to…" The teen started as the others looked at him.
"What is it?"
"Nothing." Gales muttered before shaking his head. "Anyway we're looking for 8 people, that's two teams worth of people." He continued before looking up. "Jaune, Ruby, where do you think we should start looking once we land?"
"Hm, why are you asking us?" Jaune asked as he looked at Ruby who shrugged in confusion. Weiss just rest her face on her knuckle.
"Honestly…" She began. "You two are our team leaders. Of course you should help with the planning."
"Oh." Jaune scratched his head. "Right."
"Well um… maybe we should ask the Professors where they already looked?" Ruby looked at Yang who gave her a smile and a thumbs up. "That way we at least know where not to look."
"Right, that's a good idea." Jaune muttered as he started to think of something to add. He had nothing at the moment. Pyrrha rested a hand on her partner's shoulder as she gave him a reassuring look. "Actually… uh if we're done with the map, what do you say we go over what we all brought?"
"That's not a bad idea, good idea to know who brought what with them." Gales just nodded as Ruby reached into her bag in order to start them off. Ren though just raised an arm to stop her as he looked elsewhere. "Ren?"
Gales put a hand on the back of his neck as he got to his feet. "You feel that?"
"Feel what?" Ruby and the others looked at the pair while Ren just nodded. "Ren? Gales?"
"We have company…" Ren began as Gales' eyes widened and he ran to the front of the Bullhead.
"LOTS of company! We got a flock of Nevermore heading straight towards us!"
"Everyone brace yourselves!"
Thirty Minutes Later
- Beacon
Glynda frowned lightly as she looked at her scroll, swiping her fingers across the screen as she checked the screens. On it was a map of the Emerald Forest, each area sectioned off and numbered, most carrying a check mark above them as a sign that the Bullheads had reached their destination. "Most of the teams seemed to have made it to their destination." She noted as she leaned back in her seat. "But it looks like several are still on their way." she tapped her finger on her desk for a moment before looking at one. "But Bullhead 13 should have reached the drop zone by now." The woman grumbled as she looked at the map, staring off into space as she tapped her foot on the ground. She tapped the icon meant to represent Bullhead 13 and phoned in on the pilot.
Emerald Forest
- Sector 13 (Exact Location Unknown)
"Ah~ damn…." Gales grumbled as he opened his eyes and rested his hand on his face. "That hurt." The teen muttered as he tried to sit up,only to find a weight on his chest. Looking down he found a familiar strands of white hair resting on his chest. Weiss was sleeping on top of him. In itself that wasn't a bad thing, after all Weiss was pretty 'cool', but he did not remember getting to "first base" - or was this "second base" - with her last night. Definitely wasn't third - his clothes were still on but that was besides the point. Why was he sleeping with Weiss? Did they get drunk last night? "That can't be it… I haven't had a drink since I got here so why~?" The teen muttered as he heard the young woman on top of him start to groan and pull herself from her apparent nap.
"What happened?" Weiss muttered as she raised a hand to her throbbing head and let the other spread out before her. When she did though she patted the teen's chest before looking down. "Oh wow these are hard enough for my butler to grind meat on."
"Thank you." Looking forward Weiss found the beast-eyed hunter giving her a smile as she blinked. She looked down to what her hand was fondling then the hunter and then back again. She jumped like she was bit by a Theropod bird wyvern, dusted herself off and apologized.
"My apologies."
"No worries." The teen stated as he sat up and rubbed his head.
"What happened?" Both took a moment before and looked around. They recognized this interior, it belonged to a Bullhead, just… it was a mess. Their circle of friends were unconscious and scattered about and what looked like lightning sort of crackled around them for a moment. Gales immediately remembered what had happened not to long ago and groaned in annoyance.
"We crashed." Gales muttered as he looked at Weiss for a moment as she met his gaze for only a few seconds before looking away. "The pilot tried dodging a flock of Nevermore and… we went down…"
"I see." Weiss muttered as she stepped forward, walking up to the others and made to wake them up. "Ruby, Ruby wake up."
"Urgh~" The young girl groaned as she rolled over and opened her eyes. "Five more minutes Weiss…"
"Now's not the time to be sleeping Ruby, we need to make sure everyone's ok."
"Kay~" Still groggy, Ruby sat up, her head throbbing as she looked around. Immediately she turned to her sister as she headed toward the unconscious blonde. "Yang!"
"Pyrrha, up and at em." Gales said as he nudged the redhead. When her eyes fluttered open he moved on to the next. When they managed to get everyone awake the group gathered outside the Bullhead. Gales pulled the pilot out the wreckage and set him next to their transport. "Ok I got good news and bad news." He stated as he walked up to the group. "Bad news is the pilots out cold, and Bullhead's toast." He began. "The good news is nobody died."
"That's always good to hear." Yang stated as she put her hands on her hips.
"Yeah but… what now?" Jaune asked as he looked around. All he could see was forest; a collection of broken trees and a trench scarring the ground. "Where exactly are we?"
"We're need to be, and at the same time, where we aren't supposed to be." Gales muttered as the others looked at him. "We're in sector 13, but we're nowhere near where the pilot was supposed to drop us off." He stated. "That Nevermore flock must have really knocked us of course."
"Oh well what should we do?" Ruby asked.
"I guess we go by foot for now. Make our way towards where we're supposed to be dropped at." Gales admitted. "Who's up for a stroll through the woods?"
"I am." Yang stated as she patted her legs. Yang said as she patted her leg for a moment. "These boots were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do."
"And one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you." Nora finished as the two shared a grin.
"We'll search the forest while we walk, if we find anyone we'll pick them up and escort them to the safety zone." Gales stated as he walked up to the pilot and hoisted him on his back. "The Professor should be able to get us another Bullhead to get us all home. We'll just have to warn them about that flock in the sky."
"Good idea." Ren muttered as he turned his gaze to the sky for a moment. "Where should we start looking?"
"Good question." Gales muttered as he crossed his arms. "If we could find a high enough tree to climb we can check to see if we can spot the cliffside we're supposed to be at."
"I have a faster idea!" Nora stated as she pulled out Magnhild. "Pyr~rha." The red head just nodded and grabbed her shield as she braced herself. Without much warning Nora charged her, jumping as she brought the hammer down. Ren Jaune and Gales recognized this improvised maneuver from the Deathstalker fight and watched as Nora was launched skyward with a squeal.
"Yeah, I guess that works too."
"Ren catch me!" When the young huntress came down she crashed into Ren as he smashed into the ground. Most of the teem winched at Ren's pained expression, though Nora seemed oblivious as she just popped up.
"I'm ok!" Putting Magnhild back on her back Nora saluted the team with a smile. "I have found a cliffside Captain, it is that a way!" With that same arm she pointed in a random direction.
"Nice work." Yang high-fived Nora as Ren took a moment to fix his back. "So, now that we got a destination, let's get a move on people." The team agreed as Gales just took a glance back at the sky.
'I wonder what sent that flock our way. It looked like they were in a hurry.'
"Gales you coming?" Looking back to the others Gales just made a noise and followed close behind.
"Be right there."
Elsewhere
"You know, when I was told we'd be taking the Aetheryte to a different world." The teen stated as he crossed his arms. "I expected to see something exotic; architecture that baffled our minds, tribes that looked near alien..." He continued. "All we get are dull woods."
"At least they smell nice." The young woman states as she walks on. Abel just sighs, but nods in agreement. The woods do smell nice. Almost like the woods at home, only they were less massive. A Rathalos could not rest in these trees without snapping them under their weight.
'Then again those mountains look more promising for a den.' The teen thought as he shook his head. There was the "Hunter" in him acting up, telling him where to find the largest beasts and what to look out for. 'You aren't a Hunter though Abel. Let that part of you lie slumbering.' He told himself.
"Still we're here, where do you think we should start looking? Our lost brother could be anywhere." The young woman, Shell asked as she rested her hands over her waist. "And we have no clue where to start searching."
"We'll seek out the nearest city." Abel stated as he looked at his sister. "It's the best place to start searching for anyone. We can ask around, see what they know."
"Sounds like a plan." The other male teen, Leonidas stated as he put his hands behind his head and stared off into space. "We just need to find out where the cities are..." He uttered as the forth member of their team stopped, staring off into space as she shook her head. "Atalanta?"
"We're being stalked." Their sister muttered as she continued staring off in the distance.
"That so..." Abel muttered as he reached for his dual blades and stared in the direction she was facing. Not long after he did, was there a series of growls coming from the woods around them.
"Well, what have we here?" Staring at the masked, wolf like creatures Leonidas just put a hand on his hip as he made a noise. "These must be the local critters."
"They're not like any that I've seen though." Lacus just made a noise as she stared at the wolves. "Then again, we are in another world. Mother Nature must have made her creatures take a route different from what we're used to."
"They're not connected to Nature." Atalanta muttered as she watched the smoking wolves circling around them.
"What do you mean?" Leonidas asked.
"I sense them... I see them... but I can not... they are like apparitions. Ghosts given false - temporary flesh." Atalanta mutters as she frowns.
"Ghosts huh. If that's the case, what do we do, can our weapons even hurt these things?" Leonidas asked as he watched them charge.
"Only one way to find out."