A/N: Hoooooooooowdy ho! Sorry for another delayed chapter. Alot happened in this one and overtime at work as gotten crazy. But, I am pretty happy with how this turned out. Next chapter, we can finally start following team CARD exclusively, rather than having them shoehorned into scenes ripped from the show, so look forward to it!
One thing to note, I wrote the fight scene this chapter to fit with this FANTASTIC theme that I commissioned from Halusatwin on Youtube(Remove all spaces to view): htt ps/ / : bit . ly / 2Ao36pX
Not a whole lot else to be said, except I hope you all enjoy, and don't forget to leave feedback!
"So, exactly how far can you see with your... Shadow sense?" Dylan asked his companion as they traveled along a path to the the forest temple.
"Don't call it that. And right now, in this dark forest at his time of day, I can see clearly for about 300 feet in any direction. If it were nighttime, it would be even further."
"Seriously? Not gonna lie, that's pretty- Oof!" Dylan cried out as Ravyn suddenly put a hand to his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "Uuuuhhh, is now really the time to be feeling up my chest?"
"Shut up..." Ravyn seemed deep in thought. She then suddenly grabbed her partner and dive into the nearest shadow with him.
"WHAT THE-"
A few moments ticked by, the sound of crashing growing louder and louder until suddenly Athena, Cynthia, and the Arachne burst through the trees.
"Y'know, I think I liked it better when you hated me!" Athena yelled. "We're kinda running for our lives, can't you take this seriously?!"
"Sorry Serious Cynthia is reserved for stuck up bitches." Cynthia replied.
As the girls bickered, Ravyn and Dylan emerged from the shadows and landed on the Arachne's back.
"OH SWEET MERCIFUL GODS, LIGHT! NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!" Dylan cried.
"Don't be such a drama queen." Ravyn said as she stood up on the beast's back.
"Hey, you just dragged me into the Shadow Realm with NO WARNING! I will be as dramatic as I want!"
"Don't call it that."
"I WILL CALL THE SOURCE OF MY TRAUMA WHATEVER I WANT!" Dylan exclaimed, finally getting his bearings as he stood up. "Are... We on a giant spider?"
"We are. And your friends are being chased by it." Ravyn told the boy. "Any ideas how to slow it down? I don't like the idea of letting my classmates die."
"Uh..." Dylan observed his surroundings for a moment. "Ah, I got one."
Meanwhile, Athena finally took notice of the two as she glanced back at the monster. "Huh? Dylan, Ravyn?"
"What about them?" Cynthia asked.
"They're on top of the Arachne."
As Athena said that, Ravyn withdrew her daggers and fired the whip from them, the long tethers circling around the head of the spider. When the whips were wrapped tightly, she jumped further back, pulling tight on them, causing the Arachne to rear up on its hind legs. Dylan used this chance to leap from the creature's back and join the two girl on the forest floor.
"Hey, you guys alright?" He asked.
"Been better. But thanks for the save." Athena said to the boy.
"Oh, eeeeeverything's alright when you're around, cutie." Cynthia said, winking at Dylan and causing the teen to blush.
Athena gagged and looked to see Ravyn steering the Arachne like a horse. The beast fought for some time, veering left and right trying to shake the girl off before she forced it to head right, crashing through the trees.
"C'mon, we gotta give her a hand!" Athena said, chasing after the spider tamer.
Before long, something came into view. Several other students appeared to have found the Forest Temple and were gathered in front of.
However, just as they broke through the treeline into the clearing, another student arrived. Pyrrha Nikos. And she wasn't alone. A massive Death Stalker trailed behind her, swiping at her.
Ravyn continued to steer the Arachne further past the temple before she suddenly let go of her makeshift reigns and tossed the handles into the shadows, only for them to reappear and fly towards her. She caught them and repeated this process over and over again until the beast was caught in her own makeshift web made of her whips. She leapt off the beast's back and joined the others by temple.
"Did you just-" A black-haired girl began.
"Ride an Arachne through the forest like a horse and catch it in my own web? Yes." Ravyn completed the sentence.
Yang suddenly exploded, her eyes turning red and flames flying around her as she yelled. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! CAN EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR 2 SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!?"
Yang heaved and huffed as everyone, save for a bouncy redheaded girl only slightly taller than Cynthia, went silent, a boy in a green outfit with a pink streak through his hair joined them, catching his breath.
"Um, Yang?" Ruby tapped her sister and pointed up. Cynthia, Athena, and Dylan all looked up as well, finding themselves looking at Weiss Schnee dangling from the foot o a Nevermore.
"How could you leave me!?" The albino-haired girl cried.
"I said jump!" Ruby replied, raising SO MANY questions for the new arrivals.
"She's gonna fall."
"She'll be fine."
"Sheeee's falling."
Sure enough, Weiss's grip was lost shortly as she plummeted toward the ground. However, before she could land, the blond-haired boy Athena remembered from the airship and the locker room leapt out of a tree and caught her valiantly in his arms. The two seemed to hang in the air for a moment before realizing they were NOT in a cartoon and dropping like a sack of potatoes, Weiss landing on the boys back with an audible crack, causing Dylan to wince, remember his earlier incident with Ravyn.
Suddenly, the Deathstalker caught up to Pyrrha, swiping at her and sending the girl flying to the feet of the group by the temple.
"Great! The gang's all here. Now we can die together!"
"Not i-" Ruby started, but was swiftly cut off by Ravyn.
"Actually, I'd prefer to die alone. Can you all go die somewhere else?"
Everyone stared at the girl, not quite sure what to make of that comment, with Ruby deciding to ignore being cut off and charge straight at the Deathstalker.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang cried after her sister, to no avail as Ruby fired her weapon behind her to rush towards the beast, being knocked away like a piece of paper in the wind and hitting the ground.
The Grimm closed in its pray, prompting Ruby to beat a hasty retreat, the beast following close behind her. To make matters worse, the Nevermore had now joined the chase as Yang rushed to help her sister. Athena and Dylan joining her.
The Nevermore fired a massive barrage of razor sharp feathers that pinned Ruby's cape to the ground and stopped her would-be rescuers in their tracks. Athena and Dylan tried to rush through the maze of projectiles, but the Deathstalker was gaining on the helpless girl fast.
"We're not gonna make it!" Athena cried, igniting her blade to make cutting through the feathers easier.
"C'mon, c'mon! We're coming, Rubes!" Dylan yelled to his friend just as the Deathstalker raised its tail to strike.
"RUBY!" The three cried as the beast struck...
And a cold wind blew past all three of them.
When next the three looked, a massive ice wall had been created between Ruby and her attacker, freezing its tail in place. And between Ruby and that wall, Weiss Schnee, who seemed to be chastising the girl for her brash behavior before walking off, Ruby mumbling something about knees as Yang rushed to hug her sister, relieved for her safety.
"That... Was a bit too close for my tastes." Dylan said to Athena as he sheathed his weapons.
"No kidding." Athena replied, just as the Nevermore circling overhead cried out.
"Guys, that thing's circling back." The blonde boy pointed out. "What do we do?"
"I say we remember our goal here." Athena said, rejoining the group at the temple. "Our quest is to collect an artifact and get back to the cliff."
"She's right. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby added.
"Run and Live." The blond boy said. "That is an idea I can get behind."
Each of the partners split up to grab a relic from a pedestal.
"You pick ours. I need to go get my weapons." Ravyn said to Dylan.
"Won't that set the Arachne free?" Dylan asked, absentmindedly grabbing one of the black Queens.
"It will. But I can slow it down." The girl then walked off to collect her weapons.
"You should pick ours, Red." Cynthia said to her partner. "My instincts have done nothing but get us lost."
Athena chose to ignore the fact that she hadn't graduated to her actual name being used, grabbing the other black Queen. "Well, least you can admit your flaws."
"Don't push it." Cynthia replied as everyone began making their way to Beacon cliff, all three Grimm in hot pursuit.
"Hate to break to everyone, but we're kinda cornered here!" Cynthia called out.
The twelve teenagers had retrieved their artifacts and quickly made their way to the cliff at the edge of the Emerald Forest.
However, they were far from safe at this moment as the Nevermore perched itself upon a crumbling structure and the Deathstalker and Archne charged them from both sides.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren said as he dove from behind his cover and made a break for the bridge.
Nora obeyed, shifting her weapon into it's gun mode and firing dust grenades at the Nevermore currently firing a barrage of massive black feathers at the group.
"You guys move, I'll hold this thing off for a second!" Dylan said to Athena, Cynthia and Ravyn, who nodded and made a break for it while Dylan charged the Arachne, slashing at it's sharps legs and bared fangs with is scimitars. He managed to slash one of it's many eyes, sending it reeling and giving him his own chance to run.
Dylan and the three girls were the last to make it onto the stone structure, which was beginning to fall apart even more. The Nevermore had destroyed part of the bridge in pursuit.
Ravyn fired the blades from her daggers, embedding the in the stone tower structure behind the gap and with a mighty thrust pulled herself to the other side.
Cynthia switched her weapons into their gun mode and fired at the ground as she jumped, easily clearing the gap with the added momentum.
Athena retracted her sword and did a quick leap forward, landing on her hands at the edge of the gap and firing her weapon to give herself more momentum, landing again on her hands on the other side before flipping back to her feet.
Dylan ran at full speed and at the last moment embedded his blades into the stone, lifting his feet from the ground and just crossing the gap.
The other 8 students had begun engaging the Nevermore and Deathstalker as the Arachne stayed in hot pursuit, easily clearing the gap and nearly causing the other side of the bridge to collapse under its weight.
"Ravyn, Dylan, get to the other bridges!" Cynthia ordered, the two teens obeying, Dylan going left and Ravyn swinging to the left bridge. "Red, stick with me!"
"I've got a name, but whatever." Athena said, turning around to face her pursuer with Cynthia, extending the blade from her gauntlet. "Probably a bad time to mention I'm arachnophobic."
"All gotta face our fears sometime." Cynthia said before running forward and sliding underneath the creature, taking the chance to slash its exposed underside.
Athena jumped into the air and landed on the beast's face and stabbing one of its eyes while Dylan and Ravyn laid down some cover fire. She then ran along its body, slashing every inch before jumping off its rear and rejoining Cynthia.
"Don't suppose you've got any red dust?" Athena asked the Faunus.
"None that's not already loaded." Cynthia replied, firing at the Grimm as it began to turn around for another attack on the two girls.
"I've got some, heads up!" Ravyn suddenly cried from the other bridge. She embedded her weapon into the stone structure again and ran along the wall, tossing a vial of fire dust at the redhead before joining Dylan on the other bridge.
"Jackpot!" Athena leapt into the air and swiped at the vial with her blade, setting of an immediate explosion.
"Athena!" Dylan cried, afraid his new friend had just blown herself to smithereens.
However, a moment later, he stared in awe as the girl suddenly burst out of the cloud of smoke, steam rising from her body as she charged the spider Grimm with blinding speed, severing one of its fangs as she slashed and spun, faster and with more ferocity than before.
"Whoa..." Cynthia stared in awe as Athena laid into the beast before retracting her blade and punching it in the bone mask and firing a shot from her gauntlet, sending it flying.
However, it was sent flying directly towards the bridge Dylan and Ravyn stood on. The creature just managed to dig its legs into the stone structure, a stray leg swiping Dylan's legs out from under him, sending him plummeting into the waters below.
"DYLAAAAAAAN!" Athena cried out, her eyes fixed on the spot where her friend had sunken into the watery depths.
However, her worry did not last long, as, right before her eyes, a swirling torrent of water burst forward, and at the the tip of the spiral, Dylan, riding what appeared to be his own scimitars formed into a surfboard.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" The boy cried out.
"Holy crap." Athena said, Cynthia walking up beside her.
"Dibs." Cynthia said, tapping the girl on the shoulder with the back of her hand.
Dylan rode his wave to the same height as the tower before releasing whatever power he held over it, covering his swords in water and slashing as he descended, sending razor sharp discs of ice flying at the creature which severed two of its legs.
Cynthia and Athena quickly joined the other two on the bridge, crossing the gap using their weapons as for momentum.
"I think we need a plan here!" Athena said as the beast recovered and began to charge them.
"And I've got one!" Cynthia rushed forward, firing her weapons behind her to gain speed. "Ravyn, be ready to restrain it!"
"Got it." Ravyn readied herself to fire her whips into the shadowy underside of the bridge above them.
Cynthia continued to charge forward, increasing her speed with each step as she fired her weapons. Suddenly, she tucked herself into a ball, firing again to begin spinning like a saw blade. Just as she was about to collide with the Arachne, she fired her weapons toward the ground, sending her into the air.
She quickly shifted her weapons back into their blade form and dug them into the creature's body, just at the edge of its bone mask.
Still holding momentum from her spin and in the middle of a backflip while still holding blades, Cynthia put all her weight into it and pulled the Grimm off the ground, throwing it into the stone pillar behind it.
The girl turned her weapons back into their gun mode. "RAVYN, NOW!"
Ravyn fired her whips into the bridge above them, the tips disappearing into the shadows and reappearing above the Grimm, shooting toward it and entangling it's legs, leaving it unable to move and exposing its vulnerable underside.
"OPEN FIRE!"
Dylan and Athena obeyed, following Cynthia as they unloaded every bullet they had into the defenseless Grimm.
"Out of ammo!" Athena cried, extending the blade of her weapon. "Dylan, if you've got any red Dust, give it to me!"
"Grab one from my belt!"
Athena did so and began running towards the beast. Once she was sure she had enough distance between herself and the others, she threw the vial to the ground, creating another explosion. She charged through, coming out the other side with more steam rising from her body.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The girl leapt into the air and dove at the Grimm, her aim true as her blade penetrated the section between the beast's head and rear, splitting it in two.
"Hah... Hah... Hah... Gods, I hate spiders." She said to herself, just in time to hear what sounded like Ruby screaming from the direction of the cliff.
Cynthia and the others joined her and looked towards the source to see Ruby running along the side of the cliff on Weiss's glyphs, her scythe hooked around the Nevermore's neck.
Her scream grew in intensity until she reached the top of the cliff and cut the Grimm's head clean off.
"Whoa." Was all Athena could say before she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked to see Cynthia at her side.
"Dibs."
Athena smiled for a second before looking back to Ruby... For only a split second before what Cynthia had said sunk in and she looked at the pink girl with a look of confusion.
"Athena Solaris, Dylan Wave, Cynthia Selene, Ravyn Nightengale." Ozpin spoke in an almost uninterested tone as the four teens gathered on the stage of main hall. "The four of you retrieved the black Queen pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as team CARD. Led by..."
Athena swallowed a lump in her throat, not sure if she was ready to lead if her name was called.
"Cynthia Selene!"
However, she was even LESS ready for that.
Cynthia crossed her arms and grinned. "Team CARD, huh? I like it. Always thought of myself as a bit of a wildcard."
"Hey, congrats, Pinkie!" Dylan moved in to high five his new leader.
"Aw, no need to be so shy, cutie." The girl suddenly pulled the boy into a tight hug. Once again staining his cheeks red. "Hey, c'mon guys! Team hug!"
Athena and Ravyn reluctantly joined in on a group hug. The first of many for team CARD.