I got it out in time!
As always: The story idea belongs to College Fool and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.
Enjoy!
"Urgh." The none too gentle shaking of the Bullhead was causing his stomach to perform some interesting acrobatics, much to Jauque's displeasure. While not serious, the mild nausea was distracting and even though he felt fine otherwise his partner had different ideas. "Are you feeling okay Jauque? What's the matter?"
He let out a brief groan before meeting the concerned gaze pf Penelope. "I'm fine Nikos, just a little nauseous from the vehicle. It's nothing to worry about." While it seemed to be enough to convince her, the look never wavered. The bullhead suddenly pulled back slightly before landing in a small clearing. They clambered out of the ship and gave brief waves to the pilot as he took back off before getting a look of their surroundings. Trees arched overhead, lush leaves of an emerald hue with some vines hanging from high branches while bushes covered most of the forest floor, both the same colour as the foliage above.
I can see why this is called the Emerald Forest, it's quite beautiful to look at.
Any inner musings they had where interrupted by the sound of a message being received by Jauque's scroll. Pulling it out of his pocket and opening up his messages, they saw one from the same number that gave them their numbers on the cliff.
'Congratulations on successfully landing. Don't worry, none of the Bullheads crashed. Your first task is to head to the north and locate a cave entrance. More instructions will be given then. Kill any enemies that oppose you. Good luck, Initiates.'
Ryan looked up at the sky, gauging the position of the sun before checking the time on his Scroll. "It's still early in the day. If we keep the sun to our right, we'll be heading north." Jauque nodded in acknowledgement before scanning the forest to the north. "Alright then, Ryan, take point, then Valkyrie, I'll be third with Nikos as the rear guard. Let's get moving." They filed into the forest, keeping the sun to the right and an eye out for Grimm. Not fifteen minutes later, growls emanated from the woods around them which gave them a momentary alert before a couple dozen lycanthropic forms burst forth.
Several Beowolves leapt at Ryan and Natalie while the rest raced towards Penelope and Jauque. The Mistrali girl calmly brought her scope up and placed clean shots through the faceplates of two Grimm before swapping to the blade and parrying another then kicking its feet out. The Beowolf felt only a brief falling sensation before Penelope's sword severed its head from its torso. Jauque focused his shots more towards those not directly engaged, shooting one Beowolf in the chest and three more in the limbs or center mass, crippling but not lethal. Natalie let out a gleeful shout before smashing her blade down on the mask of a Beowolf before cleaving another at the waist with a fierce backhand. She jumped into the mass of black and white while her partner calmly dodged the airborne Grimm while bringing his sword in a reverse grip to slit the throat of the first one then plunging down into the skull of a second. Using the weapon as a pivot, he swung his body parallel to the ground, landing a brutal snap kick which crumpled the skull of a third with a sickening crunch.
The remaining Grimm were dispatched with similar ease and soon the only trace of their existence were smoking corpses littering the forest floor. Penelope sheathed her sword at her waist before facing Jauque. "That was some fine shooting Jauque." He tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you Nikos, you dealt with the Grimm quite efficiently as well." He turned north again, only to find he had gotten turned around in the combat.
"Ryan, can you find north again?" The magenta-eyed boy nodded with a smirk before pointing to his left. They set off again, loosely grouped up rather than single file. Not five minutes later Natalie turned to Jauque with a look of curiosity. "What combat school did you go to, Jauque?" The blonde boy was momentarily startled by the question before gathering himself and drawing from his fabricated backstory. "I didn't go to a combat school, a friend of mine taught me some basic combat for a few years." The bubbly berserker pursed her lips on thought before giving him her trademark grin. "What're your parents like?"
Ryan interrupted the conversation before he could find a way to brush Natalie off. "I believe we've found the cave." A gaping hole of shadow stood out in stark contrast to the beige sandstone the cliff was composed of. Markings were drawn on the right side of the cave mouth, depicting stick figures fighting a large scorpid. Confirming Ryan's statement, Penelope's scroll beeped again. Flipping open her scroll, she opened up the message and read it aloud.
'I suppose congratulations are in order. Now that you have found the cave, your task is to make your way through it and find a spiraling stone staircase within. Your next message will be sent once you have climbed it. Good luck and watch your step.'
Natalie immediately went to rush headlong into the caverns but a firm hand on her shoulder, courtesy of Ryan, held her back. "We should be careful in these caves. I would be surprised if we got through them unopposed. As well as the fact that we need a source of light." Jauque nodded in agreement and turned on the flashlight function of his scroll. He looked at the rest of the team, motioning to the darkened hole. "I will take point, Ryan will be second, Valkyrie third with Nikos bringing up the rear. Any questions?" Wasting no time, he ducked his head and entered the darkness.
He could not make out much past where the beam of his scroll illuminated, however he could tell that the ceiling of the cave was about ten feet above him, as well as the fact that the path seemed to stay quite straightforward for a little while. He began to make his way further underground, his footsteps joined by those of his teammates to echo about them in disconcerting fashion. He abruptly halted about 100 feet in, hearing Natalie and Ryan grunt as the shorter girl bumped into his back. He shone his light on the wall to his left before briefly aiming at the floor. His suspicions confirmed, he aimed it back at the wall, speaking as he did so. "I think there's a trap here. These holes seem too regular to be natural and the floor ahead is higher up than the rest." He looked about the floor at his feet for a decent sized rock. After he found one, he tossed into onto the potentially trapped floor.
SHIIK! THUD!
Spikes slid violently out of the holes in the wall before retracting upon hitting the far wall. He narrowed his eyes in thought after the spikes had fully retreated. "Judging from the sound they made when they hit the wall, I would assume that the spikes are made of wood." A grunt of agreement from Ryan cemented his plan. "Valkyrie, go stand next to the left wall and get your sword ready. I'm going to toss another stone to activate the trap and I want you to break as many spikes as you can." She headed over to the place he specified and drew the blade sheathed across her back. He located another stone and lobbed it onto the pressure plate.
SHIIK! CRRRRK!
The tip of Natalie's blade carved an arc through the stale air as it cleaved through the impaling spikes. The severed ends clattered to the ground as the stumps retreated in an almost sullen manner back to their holes. They crossed the now harmless trap and continued forward. A divergence in the path a little while later caused them to stop and attempt to find out which route led to the surface. Jauque looked back at the other initiates before extinguishing his light. "The path splits here, guys. If we turn off the lights, we might be able to see daylight from the staircase."
The passage was plunged into an impenetrable black that removed all sense of direction. The right hand tunnel remained a stygian abyss however to the left, a pale blue light shone like a beacon. He illuminated his light again but kept in much dimmer than before. "There seems to be daylight if we go left. Turn your lights on but keep them low, we don't know what's up ahead."
They slowly headed towards where they thought the staircase was. It wasn't a far distance and it was only a few minutes before they found the source of the light. All four of them halted upon entering the cavern as two things caught their attention. The first was the cavern itself as it dwarfed anything they had seen before, some 200 feet long and half that wide. The ceiling vaulted overhead some 70 feet high and vaulted like the halls of antiquity. Numerous stalactites and stalagmites dotted both ceiling and floor, with a few having joined to create sturdy pillars. There were two other entrances to the cave: a large passage that seemed to slope up and curved sharply to the left as well as a tall, spiraling stone staircase that rose into the ceiling at the far end of the room. A beam of light shone down into the room from the top of the staircase, refracting on the veins of quartz that streaked through the rock surrounding the cavern, filling the cavern with a pale light.
The other thing that caused them to stop in their tracks was the occupant of the room. A Deathstalker lay in the center of the room, seemingly asleep as it showed no signs of reacting to their presence and it's multitude of eyes were shut. It was an older Grimm, it's size alone proved that as well as the moss covering patches of it's yellowed plating. It was huge too, at least 30 feet in length and a stinger the size of Jauque's torso.
"Is it... dead?" Penelope voiced her thoughts in a hushed tone. He turned to the other two members of the team to see Ryan shaking his head. "If it was dead, it would be dissolving. It's merely asleep so we need to be careful." Jauque bobbed his head towards the other boy before starting to creep forward. "Alright, we just sneak by it and up the stairs. Shouldn't be too hard."
A hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around to see that an oddly calm Natalie was the one to grab him. Before he could caustically ask why she did that, Ryan spoke up next to her. "I can make this a lot easier Jauque. My Semblance allows me to alter the state of mind someone is in, including extreme calm, which makes us much harder for Grimm to detect us. We would still have to sneak normally but it would lessen the chance of it waking up."
A Semblance allows you greater self-control and to become nigh undetectable by Grimm? That is quite powerful.
"That sounds like an excellent plan Ryan. You lead, with Valkyrie and Nikos following you. I'll be in the back." The black haired boy clasped Jauque's upper arm with a look of concentration before exerting his Semblance. A peculiar feeling washed over Jauque, like cold water flowing through his nerves and veins before retreating, leaving behind a sensation of tranquility. It was not long before they were parallel to the Deathstalker and although Jauque subconsciously held his breath in fear, it didn't stir from slumber. Upon reaching the spiral staircase, they noted that it was mildly cracked from age and not as sturdy as it looked from across the gallery.
Penelope looked up at hole that lead to the surface and a frown crossed her face. "I don't believe that this will hold all four of us. Two at most should go up at a time." She wasted no time in scaling the steps, gracefully ascending to the surface. When she was about halfway up, Ryan started to climb as well then Natalie followed up when Penelope reached the top. Once he saw Ryan give a thumbs up, Jauque began to make his way up the stairs after the chipper girl. He was about 50 feet above the cavern floor when the corner of the step he was on cracked off and plummeted downwards. He watched in horror as it clattered shockingly loudly and the massive Grimm roused itself with a bone rattling screech. It turned to the source of the noise and it's many eyes fixated on the blonde frozen on the stairs. It let out another screech and charged into the stairs, its sheer bulk causing them to crumble on top of it.
Jauque began scrambling up the second he saw the scorpid begin to barrel towards him and he managed to clear ten feet vertically by the time it crossed the cave. He managed two more steps before he felt the stairs give way and he gave a last ditch leap to the hole, arms flailing. An iron grip caught his outstretched wrist as Natalie saved him from certain death. She hauled him into the room above the cave as the Deathstalker roared in fury below.
The room they were in appeared to be an abandoned cellar, dusty and with cracks webbing across the walls. A narrow staircase led upwards and once at the top of it, they saw a doorway that lead outside as well as another spiraling stair that led up. "We should head up, get a vantage point and see where this cave led us." Jauque saw nothing flawed with Ryan's statement and began leading the group up the steps. At the top of what they could assume to be an old watchtower, battlements lined the edges and the Emerald Forest stretched about all around them. Far to the south-east, they could just make out the cliff where the bullheads took off from but to the west, a large avian form was circling as well as occasionally diving down. In all its circular motion, it was also gradually making its way to the tower they were gathered upon.
Since they had their bearings, they descended the stairs and exited the building. Jauque squinted as the mid-afternoon sun was blinding after the time spent in the caves. His scroll made another beep, signalling more instructions from Ozpin. The action of pulling open his messages was quite regular now as he read out the new directions.
'Well done in making it through the caves. Your final test is one of combat: the team assigned to the sector neighboring yours has encountered a Grimm of equal difficulty as the one you have found. Your task is to join with them and slay both Grimm. Complete this and you will all be students at Beacon, however failure will not have a fortuitous outcome. Good luck."
We have to do WHAT?!
The expressions on his teammates faces seemed to convey similar thoughts as they all appeared shocked at the orders. The tension was broken by Natalie jumping into the air with a jubilant shout. "We get to fight two super hard and super dangerous Grimm? That is... AWESOME!" Ryan frowned, clearly troubled by something. "How will we get to the Deathstalker though? Aside from making our way back to the cave entrance, that is."
Jauque's attention was grabbed by a quartet of figures sprinting headlong towards them as they were pursued by the flying Grimm they saw from the top of the watchtower. He recognized the four being chased easily: Rebecca was in the lead with rose petals faintly trailing after her as she urged Weiss to keep going while Jamie and Blair kept pace easily with the white haired heiress. The Nevermore reared up, sending a volley of large feathers towards the girls with a mighty flap of its wings. Blair vaulted to one side, a clone appearing to take the hit for her while Weiss gestured with her blade to create a glyph midair that shattered the feather hurtling towards her. Jamie gave a shout of exertion as she narrowly slid away from two and Rebecca blurred towards them, effortlessly weaving through the storm of feathers. Jamie was the last to arrive, stooping next to Jauque to catch her breath before giving him a tired grin.
"Fancy meeting you here, Ladykiller." He smirked at his fellow blonde, caught off guard yet amused by her ability to make a joke seemingly anywhere. He gave a sidelong grin before turning to the others, "I'm guessing this is what the message meant."
Weiss gave him a curt nod before focusing back on the Grimm circling them. "Indeed, but where is the second Grimm it mentioned?" Penelope gave her tense smile, clearly on edge with such a large Grimm nearby. "Big Deathstalker in a cave below us. Kill this thing then get it?" The rest of them gave shouts of agreement as they readied their weapons to bring down the Nevermore. Blair and Jamie started firing at it to grab its attention and as Jauque raised his rifle to join them...
The tower wall behind him exploded outwards as the Deathstalker busted through with another bone rattling screech.
He whipped around in time to dodge the stinger that lanced downwards and he skipped backwards to put some distance between himself and the beast that managed to somehow make its way out of the cave. "Where the fuck did that thing come from?"
Jamie's exclamation of shock mirrored his thoughts perfectly as the scorpion raised both pincers and tail with a cry of hate. "Nikos, Valkyrie, Ryan! You guys help me with the Deathstalker. The four of you deal with the Nevermore." His teammates rushed over in response to his command while Weiss gave him an imperial stare. "Very well Jauque, we will deal with the bird."
The Nevermore reared back in preparation of another storm of feathers however its foot became encased in ice, courtesy of Weiss, and it was pulled towards the ground and off-balance. Weiss shouted a command as she formed a glyph directly beneath the Nevermore. Blair and Rebecca swapped their weapons to the blade and stood on the glyph which launched them into the air towards the wings of the Grimm. They rocketed upwards at a blistering speed, reaching their apex well above the Nevermore. They began to accelerate downwards and when they drew level with the bird they impaled their swords into the wings to slow their descent. The Grimm let out a screech of pain as its wings were clipped and it plummeted to the earth, flailing wildly as it did so. Both Blair and Rebecca were thrown from the Nevermore and while the faunus girl managed to use a clone to right herself mid-air before landing with cat-like grace. Rebecca had no such luck in gaining control of her fall and was hurled directly into Weiss, sending both girls sprawling across the ground.
The Deathstalker fixated its gaze on the nearest target and charged forth, stinger piercing downwards in murderous intent. Ryan smoothly dodged to one side before gripping the joint where stinger met tail, allowing the Grimm to lift him into the air and out of danger. The scorpid swung both of its pincers towards the rest of them as the figure perched on its tail began to fire rounds into the joint. Jauque retreated again, laying down covering fire towards the eyes, as Penelope and Natalie stood their ground and met the pincers with attacks of their own. The champion angled her blade and struck a weak point, which caused the pincer to slam into the dirt next to her as Natalie merely met the incoming hit with one of her own, her crazy strength sending the claw reeling back. A stream of Jauque's gunfire pierced directly into one eye which lead to the Deathstalker thrashing its tail in agony and throwing Ryan to the ground next to it, stunned. Sensing an easy kill, it battered the girls away from it before turning on the fallen boy.
"Over here, you overgrown bug!" Jauque slid behind the Grimm with a cry and sliced at one of the spindly legs in an effort to pull its attention from Ryan. It rounded on him in fury and he noticed the stinger sway with the motion, held on by only a shred of flesh. Penelope clearly noticed this detail as well, as she whipped her sword into the air before extending her left hand. Her blade became surrounded in a black glow as it doubled in velocity before shearing through what was left of the stinger's joint then boomeranging back to its wielder. The heavy amber-coloured spike fell onto the back of the Deathstalker and embedded itself slightly into the plating. The Grimm screeched and turned towards the redhead, confused and enraged by the multi-directional assault. It spun in place, leaving an opening behind it that Jauque wasted no time in exploiting. "Valkyrie, end it!"
The berserker nodded and sprinted at the Deathstalker, leaping into the air as she neared it. She soared through the air, passing by the shortened tail and over the severed stinger. Landing on its head, she let loose a fierce battle cry before plunging her blade downwards with both hands. The point of her sword pierced through one of the eyes before embedding itself in the brain of the Deathstalker. The scorpion collapsed to the ground silently as Jauque aided Ryan to his feet. The four of them turned from their fallen foe to see how the fight against the Nevermore was faring.
The avian Grimm was struggling under the weight of the ice pinning its wings and tail to the ground. Weiss stood shakily on her feet, blade extended in preparation of casting another glyph, with her free hand pressed against her ribs in pain. Rebecca and Blair were slashing at its torso while Jamie was perched on the beak of the Nevermore, eyes red and swinging wildly. The bird gave a screech of agony as the blonde girl sliced one of its eyes, rendering it half blind. The ice holding one wing down exploded outwards as the beast thrashed wildly, knocking Rebecca away with one wing and sending Jamie flying as it whipped its head around. Both girls rolled on the hard packed earth, although the shorter girl recovered easily, her sister let out a groan of pain as her sword clattered from her grip.
Rebecca blurred over to the fallen girl, checking that she was okay before snatching up Jamie's sword in her free hand. The silver-eyed girl raced towards the Nevermore, who had turned towards Blair, shouting a warning to the agile fighter. "Blair, duck!"
The onyx haired girl dropped to the ground as her smaller teammate flew over her, both blades drawn back over one shoulder. The edges sheared through the feathers protecting the Grimm's throat before slicing through the throat as well. She landed in a somersault to bleed off momentum as the Nevermore collapsed next to Blair with a gurgling cry and glazed eyes.
Blair got to her feet and rushed over to Jamie, attempting to help her to her feet. The lilac eyed girl began to rise before one leg crumpled beneath her. Jauque knelt down next to her and draped her other arm over his shoulder. "Hey, you doing okay, Xiao Long?"
His fellow blonde flashed him an exhausted smile as her weight settled on him and Blair. "I think my ankle's twisted but aside from that I'm fine. How's Rebecca?"
Jauque glanced over to where the gradient haired girl was making her way over, chatting enthusiastically with Natalie. Ryan and Penelope supported the slumped form of Weiss, aiding her in joining the rest of the group. In his pocket, his scroll gave a familiar 'beep'. He managed to awkwardly fish it out and read the message he had received.
'Congratulations on a job well done. A bullhead is on its way to pick the eight of you up.'
He looked up at his fellow students and gave a tired grin, "Well, ride's on its way guys."
"Carson Winchester, Dave Bronzewing, Ross Thrush and Sam Lark. Together, the four of you passed the trials you were given during initiation and while you are at Beacon, you will be known as team Aerie. Named after the battle for Raven's Aerie Pass which was critical in the defense of the settlements on the southern coast of Anima. Your leader is Carson Winchester"
The newly christened team Aerie filed off the stage, shoving each other playfully before returning to the audience in front of the stage. Jauque gave a small sigh of exhaustion as he followed Penelope up the stairs and onto the stage in front of Ozpin. The headmaster gave them all a small smile before turning to the audience. "Jauque Arc, Natalie Valkyrie, Penelope Nikos and Ryan Lee. The four of you worked together to surpass the obstacles you faced during initiation. While at Beacon, you will be known as team Dragon, named after the battle for Dragon's Point, a crucial battle to secure the north-eastern coast of Sanus. You will be led by Jauque Arc."
As he walked off stage, one thought arose in Jauque's mind.
Is it some sort of sick joke that I lead a team named after the battle my parents died in?
He watched the stage as Rebecca, Weiss, Blair and Jamie walked into the spotlight next to Ozpin. The four of them were clearly tired yet excited as the silver-haired man announced their success. "Rebecca Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blair Belladonna and Jamie Xiao Long. You all excelled at completing the tasks given to you during initiation and together, the four of you will be known as team Frost. Named for the siege of Frost Keep, which stopped an incursion of Grimm from breaking through to the northern settlements of Atlas. Your leader is Weiss Schnee."
Man, this was a fun chapter to write. It flowed nicely and the fights practically wrote themselves at times.
I like to listen to music for ambiance while I do homework or write and as I was writing out the Natalie badassery, my playlist switched to a song called 'Valhalla'. If that ain't perfect coincidence I don't know what is.
So, chapter 4 will be posted at the earliest next Sunday as I have several tests and a lot of homework from university this week, cutting heavily into my time used for writing.
As always, reviews are appreciated.
See you next chapter!
