Chapter 5
Ryuki had woken up cold. Looking around, he saw Aegis simply hovering over his bed, reading a book.
"Damnit Aegis, how long have you been here?" Ryuki groggily asked
"An hour or two" the SoulAlly simply replied
"And you didn't even think of waking me up?"
"I did. It just took longer than usual"
"Mhm, right. Did you find anything out?" Ryuki asked as he got up and began stretching
"I found out a lot. Apparently Amber, that girl from the Lighthouse Academy who helped us, she's apparently the Fall Maiden" Aegis explained, not once taking his eyes away from the book he was reading
Ryuki and Aegis had decided that Aegis would stay back and gather some information, as such, they were forced to leave the Spirit of Valor behind when Ryuki and Jaune left Ozpin's office last night. They honestly couldn't have known that Ozpin would have some secret group or that they would be present at the time. Looks like they got lucky.
"So that whole Fairy Tale about the Wizard and the Four maidens were true then huh" Ryuki pondered
"Not only that, apparently she's been attacked by that Cinder person that we captured a few days earlier . . . "
"Who also escaped and is still at large" Ryuki cut in
". . . and that Amber's apparently been hurt and is currently being kept somewhere in the school" Aegis finished
"Look, I care for the girl and all, but that's not the important thing here" Ryuki grinned at Aegis
"I'm not liking that smile, what are you getting at?" Aegis asked
"If the myth about the Wizard and the Four Maidens are true, then that means the other fairy tales could also be true. Particularly ones that involve getting us back to Lore" Ryuki answered "Come on Aegis, I think it's time we cheered on our dear Jaune"
-[Remnants of Lore]-
Jaune was currently flying through the air, shield out in front of him, with Crocea Mors still sheathed. He had to admit that initiation was nothing like he would have expected, but he immediately understood the meaning behind it. He understood that "coming up with your own landing strategy" as Ozpin puts it, tests your critical thinking skills, as well as your adaptiveness to sudden situations. Nothing he wasn't already used to doing being on the road with Ryuki
He was about to draw his sword when a familiar red and orange spear came soaring towards him in his peripherals, which he easily caught again, that spun him around a few times in the air. He then focused in Aura on his shield, until a large green wolf head formed.
"Nightbane's Fury!" Jaune screamed, as he used that wolf head to chomp down on a branch, spinning over the branch a few times before letting the wolf head form go, flinging him up a few feet back into the air where he then used the spear to stab at the tree allowing him to land on higher tree trunk.
"By no means does this make us friends" Weiss voice echoed below her
"Partners!" Ruby exclaimed
Jaune noticed the two walking away as he jumped from tree to tree, trying to find Pyrrha. He had heard the pack of beowolves attack the two girls, but figured that they could probably handle it. He had to find Pyrrha first, knowing that one can only last so long in a Grimm infested forest without a weapon, even if you were a four-time tournament champion
It didn't take long for Jaune to find Pyrrha, as the redhead was also headed towards him. She didn't notice the beowolf a few feet behind her. Everything happened in a matter of a few seconds
"Look out!" Jaune screamed as he jumped from his branch and actually met the beowolf in the air mid-pounce, stabbing it through the head with Milo, already pulling out Crocea Mors in the process, keeping the shield in its scabbard-form strapped in his belt
The rest of the Beowolves pounced as Jaune hit the ground, Jaune rushing out to meet them. He ran past the first two, slashing them in the neck and moving on, letting them bleed out as he rushed towards the third beowolf coming at him dead center. Jaune threw Milo right at it, hitting the Grimm between the eyes. He then used the dying creature as a stepping stone, grabbing Milo in the process, he jumped up and met the last two grimm of the pack in mid-air again, spinning as he jumped and sliced the two beowolves in the neck along the way, he landed facing towards Pyrrha both hands out wide holding the two swords, Pyrrha could only stare in awe
"That wa-" Pyrrha was cut short as she saw her own weapon being thrown at her in spear-form no less. She quickly rolled out of the way, looking back to see her weapon now jutting out between the eyes of yet another beowolf "Looks like Weiss owes you an apology" she commented looking back at Jaune, who was now walking towards her
"Sorry about Milo, I've always wanted to do that" Jaune apologized, scratching the back of his head in the process
"No it's fine, I suppose it was careless of me to throw away my weapon like that" Pyrrha replied
"True, but I'm sure you would have been fine with Akouo"
"Oh? So you DO recognize me" Pyrrha asked, smile slightly faltering
"I was actually their during your last tournament. It was a sight to behold" Jaune answered, reminiscing on the fight "The way you handled those four guys at once, it was almost as if you were dancing"
"So why act like you didn't?" she asked
"Because I figured you wouldn't want to be partners with someone who saw you as the Invincible Girl" he replied
Pyrrha was speechless. He had hit the nail on the head, and it almost brought her to tears, finally having someone who understood her. Turned around and composed herself for a few seconds
"Why don't we start over. Hello, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, it's a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to being your partner" Pyrrha introduced, with as much sincerity and joy as she could put into the greeting, holding her hand out for a shake
"Likewise, the names Jaune Arc, and I have a feeling that we'll get along swimmingly" he said, as he took her hand and shook it
Back at the headmasters' office, Ozpin and Glynda had been watching this very scene unfold
"It looks like two of arguably the best candidates we've had are now partners. Don't you think it'd be a little unfair for the others Professor?" Glynda asked
"Probably, but if I'm reading those two correctly, their partnership is less about their fighting ability, and more about their interpersonal relationship" a voice came from in front of the two
What they saw was Ryuki standing in the middle of the room, with a portal closing behind him
"Uhhhh sorry I let myself in" Ryuki raised his hands "But you and I need to talk Ozpin"
Glynda and Ozpin gave a sigh of relief and let their guard down somewhat
"Perhaps Ryuki, but please, should you need to talk to us we'd very much appreciate you using the front door" Glynda quipped adjusting her glasses
"Nevertheless, I'm afraid the talk would have to wait, as you can see we are currently overlooking the initiation" Ozpin added
"Don't worry, I know. I'm here to see my buddy in action" Ryuki moving closer to the screen "Don't mind me please"
Jaune and Pyrrha, after introductions, had stumbled upon a cave and were currently wandering inside
"Pyrrha, stick close, and be ready to run" Jaune warned her, holding the torch he had made, up to further illuminate the dark cave
"Don't worry Jaune, I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever happens next" Pyrrha assured him
They walked until they stumbled up a corpse weather a dark blue and brown leather armor and what looked like a blue beret on top of the skull slump up against a wall
"Jaune w-what is that?" Pyrrha cautiously pointing towards the now lit corpse
"I don't know, but there's something suspicious about this corpse" Jaune said, handing Pyyrha the torch "here keep a look out" Jaune said, as he walked towards the skeleton
There wasn't really anything too special about the remains, although he did find this somewhat rusted silver pin with a rose symbol on it
"This can't possibly be it?" Jaune thought aloud "but it's exactly how he described it" Jaune said, still looking at the pin with curiosity
They heard a clicking sound, both Pyrrha and Jaune turning to the direction and saw a glowing shard seemingly just floating their
"Jaune, do you think that could be the Relic that we were asked to search for?" Pyrrha asked as she took a step closer
"Pyrrha wait!" Jaune exclaimed, quickly grabbing Pyrrha's hand "That's not the relic!"
Pyrrha stopped and turned to Jaune, not noticing the ten glowing red eyes that the glowing shard now illuminated, Jaune grew wide-eyed, only now realizing what those red eyes mean
"Pyrrha RUN!" Jaune screamed, grabbing Pyrrha and running out of the opposite direction back from where they came
They ran for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was only a few minutes they came upon a clearing with some ruins in the distance that had some pedestals
"Heads UUUUUUUUUP!" Jaune looked up to see Ruby falling tens of feet in the air and a giant nevermore flying up above
"Pyrrha, your shield, I'm going to need a boost onto the Deathstalker chasing us. I'm going to try and catch Ruby" Jaune said, talking to Pyrrha as they ran for their lives, "I want you to run to those Ruins, there are some other students their you guys could take this thing out"
"Got it" Pyrrha understood and immediately stopped running and readied her shield
Jaune stopped running a few feet ahead of Pyrrha and immediately began running back towards her, jumping on Pyrrha's shield and onto the scorpion-grimm's stinger, weighing it back like a catapult. After a few seconds, the tail righted itself, flinging Jaune into the air and catching Ruby mid-fall and onto a tree branch. Ruby was still bracing for impact in his arms
"Hey Ruby, nice of you to drop in" Jaune joked, causing Ruby to look up and see Jaune carrying her bridal style
"Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed "Thank you!" before hugging him
The moment was cut short however, as a few seconds after he heard the sounds of explosions followed by
"YEEEE-HAW!" they both looked down and saw a ginger-haired girl wearing white and pink skirt and a black-haired boy wearing green and white pants riding an Ursa until the Ursa had finally had enough and collapsed to the ground dead, causing the girl to roll off and the boy to fall off to the side
"Aww its broken" the girl whined, looking at the now dissolving grimm
"Nora, please" the boy said, getting up and panting, "don't ever to that again" he told her in between breaths, not noticing the girl already running off towards the ruins
"Man these students are weird" Ruby remarked
"NORA!" the boy screamed getting the girls attention, who was now holding what looked like a chess piece, specifically a white rook that she took from one of the pedestals
"Coming Ren!" Nora called back, making her way towards the boy
"Those must be the relics!" Jaune exclaimed
Then the sound of trees falling over cut through the air as the students turned to Pyrrha who was still being chased by a giant deathstalker jumping and rolling inches from the Grimm's claws
"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed, as she saw her partner up in the tree with Ruby
"Head for the Ruins!" Jaune screamed, looking to the ruins to see Yang and Ruby along with the black haired-girl, as well as Ren and Nora
A commotion apparently broke out as Yang suddenly screamed
"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again!" Yang screamed in rage
Exactly two seconds passed before
"How could you leave me!" Jaune heard Weiss scream from above, looking up he saw her dangling from one of the Giant Nevermore's Talons after a few more seconds she was falling as well
Jaune leapt up from his branch and caught Weiss bridal style, flipping in the air a few times before landing on the ground without effort
"Just dropping in?" Jaune teased
"My hero" Weiss teased back, rolling her eyes. Jaune noticed the slight tint of red on the girl's cheek though
Pyrrha was still running when she looked behind her and saw the Deathstalker gearing up for a giant swing. Thinking she could use this, she readied her shield and jumped up and curled up into a ball with her shield in front of her as she took the giant claw with her shield head on, sending her flying and flipping a few times before rolling and landing near the rest of the group, where Weiss and Jaune have also made their way
"Great! The gangs all hear, now we can die together!" Yang joked
"Not if I can help it" Jaune heard Ruby say before the scythe-wielder ran past them all and straight towards the Deathstalker
"Ruby wait!" Jaune and Yang both said at the same time
But it was too late, Ruby had already started to battle with the Deathstalker, but it was too strong for her on her own. She tried to retreat, but the Nevermore attacked her with some sort of feather attack, sending giant feathers stabbing the ground, catching Ruby by the cape and blocking Jaune and Yang from getting to Ruby
"Ruby get out of there!" Yang screamed
"Leave the cape!" Jaune shouted
"I'm trying!" Ruby called back, pulling on her cape. She saw the Deathstalker's stinger come down on her
And all of a sudden Weiss was in front of her and a wall of ice had trapped the stinger
"You are SO childish!" Ruby heard Weiss scream at her
"Weiss?" Ruby asked
"Any dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit . . . difficult. But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this . . . together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be . . . nicer" Weiss said
"I'm not trying to show off, I just want you to know I can do this" Ruby told her
"You're fine" Weiss simply replied, before walking back to the others
Ruby took a few seconds to marvel at the ice wall that trapped the stinger mere inched from her face, before heading back as well, who was greeted by Yang with a bear hug
"So happy you're okay!" Yang said
All of a sudden a loud low screech cut through, causing all the students to look up and see the Nevermore still flying in circles above them
"Guys, that thing is still circling back, what are we gonna do?" Jaune asked, one hand on his sword, the other pointing towards the Nevermore
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying" Weiss cut in, then turning towards the pedestals with the chess pieces, "Our objective is right in front of us"
"She's right" Ruby interject "Our mission is to grab a relic and make it back to the cliffs" giving a nod to Weiss, who nodded back, "There's no point in fighting these things"
"Run and Live, that is an idea I can get behind" Jaune added, as he took a white rook piece off the pedestal and Ruby took a white horse
"Time we left!" Ren told the group
"Right" Ruby looked back to the other seven students "Lets go!" she told everyone, before she ran towards the direction of the cliff, followed by Jaune and the other students
They ran forward, coming up to some more ruins, where the nevermore had followed them and cut them off, flying above the ruins the lead up to the cliff. The stairs leading up was on the left side, on the other side of the ruins. The giant nevermore had perched itself on top of a run down toward that stood in the middle of the ruins
The ruins themselves were somewhat of a mystery, as they were still standing in the middle of a giant chasm that falls into nothingness. These ruins are the only things that bridge the two sides. And the group had chosen to hide from the nevermore's line of sight
Just then a loud roar cut through the air. The group turned to see a giant ape like creature climbing up from the chasm and roared even louder again. None of the other students had seen a grimm like this before, except for Jaune and Ren as well as Nora, who didn't really know the proper name for this grimm
"Oh come on! A Beringel!?" Jaune exclaimed
"It looks like an Alpha too!" Ren commented, noting the battle scars all over the girmm's body
"Well that's great, it can't possibly get any more worse now!" Yang joked
A single wolf howl answered her, followed by another, and another, and another until it was a chilling and frightening symphony of howls, roars, growls and screeches with some clicking in the mix
When it died down, the woods behind them erupted as the giant deathstalker burst through, leading a horde of beowolves and ursas, forcing the group to form together back to back in the middle of the clearing.
A giant Beringel drumming his chest blocked their path to the bridge that led further into the ruin, where on top of the decrepit tower a giant Nevermore perched, flapping its wings. Behind them was a giant Deathstalker that seemed to lead, what looked like an army at this point, of Beowolves and Ursas
"You just had to say didn't you" Jaune grumbled, as he and the rest of the group prepared for the fight of their life
-[Remnants of Lore]-
And that's it for this week's chapter, Its a little short i know, but i promise that the next chapter would be longer. I just had to cut it here so i don't leave you guys with much of a cliffhanger. that and i wanted the entire fight in one chapter. so basically chapter 6 is going to be about the fight, and chapter 7 is going to be about the results, as well as more plot :)))
Anyways, thanks for reading and sticking with my until now. feel free to leave some feedback and/or comments ^_^
next chapter should be up soon (considering I'm already writing it as you read this), absolute latest upload would be on the 27, although in all honesty i might end up posting it earlier than that, as i am a little bit excited to write this fight out XD