"Alright there kiddos, up and at 'em!"
Several groans rose from the campsite that the Hunters had inhabited as their commander, a teacher from Mistral by the name of Professor Major, yelled at them to pack and start moving.
Team RWBY and JNPR had been assigned as one of the front line skirmishers when assignments had been rolled out, each team given rations and equipment and sent on their merry way.
Or should they say… they were sent on their grim way.
Yang suddenly snickered out loud for no reason at all, making some of the students beside her jump a little in surprise. Jaune glanced over to see Yang grin and apologize before he turned his attention back on marching towards the destination Professor Major had pointed to. Apparently the hold from the Grimm were weak there, which was a pretty weird thing to think about seeing as they're mindless monsters. But apparently the only large-scale fighting anyone knows how to do is against other humans, which required strategy.
It worked… sort of. Sometimes commanders, many of which didn't want to enter a battlefield, forgot to factor in that Grimm were in fact, not human, and made mistakes such as assuming that Grimm would retreat or try and become cautious when facing overwhelming forces.
They never did.
The Grimm fought until the last beast had fallen, trying to take as many of the living with them as possible.
The fighting… it was hard, to be honest. The students had trained pretty much their whole lives to fight Grimm, but no one was ever prepared to fight waves and waves of them at once. A team could handle several packs at once if they had good teamwork but…
When looking out onto the horizon, and seeing black covering the landscape, it was pretty hard to remember that most of the students could wade through and cut down dozens before tiring. Even the experienced Hunters, like Professor Goodwitch, had a hard time looking at the bright side of things.
The hardest part of the fight was remembering that there was no ceasefire. When the United Army went through a whole day of fighting and slaughtering thousands of Grimm, they still had to remember that there were more behind the ones that they destroyed, and those Grimm had no sense of self-preservation. At the end of the day, the students had to learn to retreat, even though they pushed the front back, and set a constant guard to make sure no wandering Grimm would stop by and raise havoc.
Jaune wasn't sure if it was Imaar's plan or not, but the Grimm were more coordinated than they should have been for the mindless forces of darkness, and attacked in waves. When the sun came down, every hour or so, there would be hundreds of Grimm appearing near the camps. Not enough to rouse up the full force of a campsite, but enough to wake up more than half of it, causing a steady decline of healthy sleeping.
By the end of the first week, most of the students were paranoid, jumpy, low on morale, and very sleep deprived.
Luckily there was some good news in that there hadn't been very many sightings of Imaar, who had seemingly disappeared from the fighting early on, and with the combined forces of the United Army and Atlas as the anvil to their hammer, the Grimm forces had weakened just enough that Atlas was able to survive. The kingdom was stagnated, and slowly crumbling, but it was still alive and kicking, which is a lot better than the desolate wasteland that Vacuo was a week before.
All in all, the Hunter units weren't unhappy with their results, but they certainly weren't happy with them either. After a good week of this, even the younger students were starting to pick up on this, and that didn't help morale either.
In fact, as Jaune and the others were moving to their next destination, Jaune was actually contemplating that, trying to rack up an idea that could be used to speed up the fighting.
I mean, I know I'm just one kid, Jaune thought internally, arguing with Vedrahgol, but I have you, I mean can't you think of anything that would make the fighting faster? Vedrahgol snorted loudly, making the cavern he inhabited shake a little.
Of course. Send in a dozen of my brethren in and this war would end quite quickly. Vedrahgol said drily. Jaune rolled his eyes, knowing that Vedrahgol knew that wasn't really an option. After letting out the momentary snark that he usually didn't display, Vedrahgol let out a sigh before shaking his serpentine head.
Unfortunately, with the resources that you humans have now, this is the best way that you can fight against Imaar's forces, at least until you get close enough to Imaar himself.
Jaune's lips thinned a little at the thought of the dragon rider.
A flash of wind rustled Jaune's clothes for a second, making him turn to look at a tired Ruby, who was sporting a small smile. With most teams dissolved into larger groups commanded by grownup Hunters, leaders were relinquished of their control over their teams, which wasn't something many of them enjoyed doing, but had no choice in doing. Without the role of leader to define them, they were picked apart for their other talents, and put to use on the field under different positions then they were used to.
In Ruby's case, along with being a scout and a sniper, she was used more often by the teachers as a messengers, as her speed allowed as instantaneous of a message as possible when scrolls couldn't be relied on.
"Hey there Ruby." Jaune greeted, knowing that she was probably working herself to the bone, and hadn't had much time to rest and talk to a friendly face. "You doing alright? You look a little tired." Ruby rolled her eyes, waving her hands casually.
"Psh, Yang said the same thing. I'm alright. I like helping." Usually when Ruby said something like that, it was accompanied with a large smile and a hop. Today was different, Jaune instead greeted with a strained smile that said I like helping because it takes my mind off of the war overall than it did a simple I like helping. Jaune wanted to say something else, try to find a way to bring her spirits back up, but guessing that if she had spoken to Yang already, Ruby had probably heard everything Jaune would say to her.
"Well, what do you need from me?" Jaune said, mustering up as much warmth and friendliness one could muster after a half day of constant fighting. Ruby nodded and closed her eyes, trying to recall the message that she needed to recite to the blonde knight.
"Professor Goodwitch wants to talk to you, and she's saying that the fast you get there, the better." Ruby opened her eyes and looked seriously at Jaune. "Whatever she wants Jaune, she seems a little concerned about it, so you should probably hurry." Jaune nodded, thanking Ruby, who saluted briefly before disappearing in a rush of wind.
Message burning clearly in his mind, Jaune slowly fought his way out of the mass and started to walk in the opposite direction, heading towards the back of the ranks, where several professors were heading up the rear, making sure that there would be no ambushes catching them unawares.
Even though Jaune was walking in the opposite direction, with the simple numbers that were marching, it would still probably take him a good few minutes before he reached the back. With that in mind, Jaune started to jog, breathing steady.
You know, Vedrahgol said thoughtfully, This would be a good time to work on your shouts. I've got one in particular in mind.
Jaune nodded, I think I might know which one you're thinking of.
With a deep breath, Jaune focused himself and went through the routine of focusing on a shout's words and the power that lay under it, feeling something shift very slightly in his lower stomach. After so many days of simply just practicing how to muster the power of the Voice, Jaune could do it almost unconsciously, which made Vedrahgol smile with pride. Knowing just exactly how long it usually took for a complete novice to master something like this, Vedrahgol was happy with the progress that Jaune was making.
Then again, Vedrahgol was forced to be pretty happy with any progress that Jaune could make.
Finally able to touch the power of the Voice, Jaune recalled the Words that he needed to shout, and infused the power with his vocal cords, making even his calm incantation shake the air, and seemingly gravitate attention towards him.
"Wuld Nah Kest!"
In almost an instant Jaune turned into a blur, causing many of the people watching him to yelp in surprise, before appearing several meters away, crossing what would take a normal Hunter at least a half minute to cross in a mere second.
The sudden deceleration wasn't something that Jaune had accounted for though, and when he stopped abruptly as the shout ran the end of its course, Jaune simply flew, head over heels before landing on his back.
Jaune simply lay there, face twisted in brief pain as he ignored the hushed laughter coming from the onlookers.
Alright… apparently no one told me I was supposed to be compensating for the lost speed. Jaune thought, a little accusingly towards the dragon-soul. Vedrahgol shrugged, giving an excuse about how dragons did it naturally, unlike the lowly humans that simply stole their voice. Jaune ignored the last part and picked himself back up, scowling as he took a deep breath in, feeling his throat start to relax.
Another thing that Vedrahgol was teaching him, to monitor when it would be safe for him to Shout again. It would be handy if Jaune was able to monitor when he could use his Semblance again, and vital for him to be able to do it in battle. Jaune hadn't quite managed to get to that point yet, but he was working on it.
Taking in another deep breath, Jaune tried again, a little bit faster this time as he once again blinked and zoomed forward, not unlike what Ruby would look like using her semblance. This time though, when Jaune felt himself slow down, he kept himself at the ready and managed to keep himself upright as the shout ended. Given, he still stumbled a bit, but at least he didn't land flat on his face.
With a few more tries, Jaune was finally able to manage keeping his feet underneath him, and was even able to pull Crocea Mors out and swing it at the end of the final Shout that he performed.
Giving himself a little bit of time to admire the maneuver, Jaune sheathed the sword and looked at the professors, many of which had a faint impressed expression on their face.
"Ruby said you needed me for something Professor?" Jaune asked, turning about-face to continue marching with everyone else, making sure to continue pacing with the witch. Professor Goodwitch nodded.
"Mr. Arc. Good, you've come earlier than expected. Let's wait for a little while longer for the other leaders arrive so that we can begin."
Jaune nodded, and continued to march alongside the stern woman silently. It would've been awkward, but Jaune was able to retreat back into his mind and discuss with Vedrahgol, talking about strategies and techniques that Jaune would need to learn to continue to improve.
It didn't take much longer before Ruby appeared, the speed slightly ruffling her hair.
"Reporting for duty!" Ruby declared, saluting before starting to walk. Goodwitch nodded, repeating what she had said to Jaune moments before. Again the three of them walked in silence, save for Ruby's nervous outbreaks of quiet questions and observations that punctuated what Ruby thought was an awkward silence.
Jaune took his time to answer a few questions directed towards him, and nodded alongside any other statements that Ruby bothered to make, but was able to devote most of his mind back to his conversations with his closest (literally, I mean the thing's inside him after all) ally.
Finally, after a good bit of time passed by, the crowds parted for an exhausted looking Cardin, who was panting slightly and had his hands on his knees.
"Reporting… for… duty." He said in broken bursts, trying to gather some of his breath. Apparently, Cardin hadn't learned that it was probably a better idea to step out of crowds before trying to run through them.
"Ah Mr. Winchester. So glad you could finally make it." Professor Goodwitch said as if nothing was amiss, continuing to walk. Cardin had to pick himself up and jog a little more so that he could get up alongside the other three, confusion in his eyes as he spotted Jaune and Ruby.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I asked you to be here." Professor Goodwitch said, looking so casual, as if she was talking to them during class while they were in Beacon.
"The fact of the matter is that we cannot continue to fight Imaar like this." The statement, while on the three students' minds, was delivered bluntly enough that they didn't have time to really react to it, instead looking a little bit dazed as the professor continued to speak.
"We need another way to help us gain a foothold in this war, and we've thought up of a temporary solution."
Professor Goodwitch paused as she heard Professor Major yelling out, telling them to stop and hunker down for the night.
"As I'm sure you've heard, while we haven't encountered any of them recently, Grimm of… bigger proportions have been causing enough trouble for us to have a hard time advancing."
Professor Goodwitch was talking about the dragons of course, something which was obvious to the students as they've heard enough rumors floating around on how Dragons seemed to single-handedly half the Army's advances. The fact of the matter was that it took too many people to take down the dragons, as their thick hides and incredible intelligence was more than a match for even the most competent of commanders.
There could be a lot said for Imaar, but he was a sound tactician, placing several of these monsters around and near points of the landscape that was impassable, preventing the United Army from moving any further until they put down the dragon.
It didn't help that there usually was more than one, causing many forces to simply not even attempt to fight and instead retreat, finding another avenue to advance upon.
Something that was getting progressively harder as time went by and Imaar somehow got a hold of more and more dragons, sending them out into the country-side.
The blonde professor resumed talking.
"We've decided to form a small force that will focus primarily on fighting these dragons, primarily the ones that are holding chokepoints." With a wave of her riding crop, a map sketched itself on the floor, with arrows pointing to three specific places on Atlas.
The Mountains of Sorrow, high and steep mountains that were impossible to climb over except for a few select tunnels and a larger pass, all blocked by large masses of Grimm and one particularly large dragon.
The city of Neige, which was a town surrounding the south entrance of the Frozen Wall. The town had fallen rather quickly when Imaar started the siege, the town falling into disarray and Grimm occupying it now.
The final point, taken the most recently, was the center of Atlas, the city of Kalte Nacht, surrounded by dozens of dragons and most likely where Imaar was residing as of this moment.
Professor Goodwitch let the information sink in before continuing to speak.
"We'll need to handle this one by one of course. No need to worry about Neige or Kalte Nacht before we get through the Mountains, which will be our first assignment."
"Assignment?" Cardin said, face scrunching up in confusion.
"First?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.
"We?" Jaune echoed, eyebrows shooting up to his forehead.
Professor Goodwitch nodded, not really agreeing nor denying anything until she spoke.
"Yes. Starting today, Teams JNPR, RWBY, and CDNL will be joining as Dragon Hunting Unit ARC. Any questions?"
There were a ton, but the three leaders were too preoccupied with what the professor had said just moments before, instead just standing there like limp noodles. Professor Goodwitch nodded.
"Good."