"An Madhimoni" Blake asked "What kind of Grimm is that"?
"It isn't Grimm, it's a wild animal that has digested Dust" Lurmina explained.
"I find that hard to believe" Weiss argued "Dust has been used for many things even infused into human bodies. It should be no different for animals".
"That is correct" Lurmina agreed with the heiress "But the keyword is infused not digested. Have you ever eaten Dust Weiss"?
"Of course not. Who in their right mind could eat a Dust crystal"? Weiss sounded offended by the question.
"Have you ever questioned why"? Weiss stayed quiet for a moment. While the Schnee Dust Company had it on their labels for she didn't actually know why.
"Probably it will damage your digestive system"
"A little but nothing you can't recover from" The teacher said "Imagine you girls eating a Dust crystal". The girls did that and their faces turned sour fast.
"You're repulsed by the thought but you have no idea why, right"? The brown haired Faunus asked the team. They nodded. Some with a little hesitation. "The reason for that is because your stomach digest food into energy for you to use. The same happens to Dust just on a much larger scale. You would get such a boost that even the most lazy man in Remnant would be bouncing of the wall for a good seven hours. And that is with weak Dust. With your standard crystal it would be much worse".
"While I understand the danger now it doesn't explain why an animal would go crazy"? Yang asked after her horror vision.
An Dust up Ruby.
She repressed the shivers.
Lurmina nodded. "That brings us to the biggest difference between humans plus Faunus and animals. Self-awareness".
Weiss wanted to ask why that made the break but Lurmina was faster. "If an intelligence creature gets hyped if will either do something stupid or do an enormous amount of work. With a creature that uses instinct those instincts will go sky high driving them insane".
"And the moment its insane it will attack everything in sight" Blake finished for Lurmina, having realized the answer. The teacher gave her a thumps up.
"Say teach how dangerous are these Madhimonis"? Yang asked.
"There is no plural" Lurmina corrected "Depends on what kind of Madhimoni you're dealing with. But most can destroy a village or two before stopping".
"How come I have never heard about this"? Weiss asked.
"They happen mostly outside the kingdoms walls so the councils of Remnant don't care about it. And when it does happen in the kingdom, which is really rare, it's mostly a dog so they blame it on rabies".
"How do we fight them"? Ruby asked.
"Killing them or keeping them busy till the Dust is out of their system" Was the reply. Ruby fidgeted on her seat. She wasn't comfortable with killing animals. Grimm were no problem but animals made her think about Zwei. She couldn't do that.
"Anyway we're about to land so get ready". Lurmina stated "I have been to this village so I know where the mayor's house is. Just let me do the talking so we can get this mission done fast".
"Say teach back at your lesson on Friday you said something about crypts and not to take anything form them. Does that mean you believe in ghosts"? Yang asked.
"Yeah I do" Was the short reply. Yang smiled teasingly.
"So you use Ouija boards to summon ghosts and demons"? Yang's grin grew larger. The Faunus however was not amused.
"Most of the people who used Ouija boards are idiots. Most of the time they fool themselves".
Of course they fool themselves" Weiss interrupted "Ghosts don't exist. I find it strange that someone of your position would believe in them".
"Lots of people believe in many different things" Lurmina began " So long you don't actively annoy them or cause harm then you could be able to believe in whatever you want, even if it is ridiculous. That said the reason why people who used Ouija boards are idiots is because they don't follow the rules of the board".
Team RWBY looked confused. "Those boards have rules"? Blake asked. Lurmina let out an sigh.
"Yes they have rules. And the most important one is to close the session properly"
"Maybe it's too long for them to do it then" Yang suggested.
"It take ten second at max" Lurmina deadpanned.
"And how do you close the session"? The black haired member of team RWBY asked.
"Spell goodbye on the board"
"That is supposed to stop ghosts" Weiss didn't look convince in the slightest.
"You can see it as not pressing the end call button we you finish a scroll call" The teacher explained "The repercussion of that is you have a huge bill at the end of the month instead of a ghost haunting you".
"I still have don't believe that a piece of cardboard can summon the dead to speak with you" Weiss said. Lurmina smiled mysterious.
"Get ready ladies we are landing"
Herind wasn't what the girls had expected. They thought that the buildings would be made out of wood. Instead they were made inside massive trees. If they had flow over it they would never had thought there would be a village here. But the strangest things was that the village had no walls.
That thought hadn't crossed their mind yet as they stared in awe. Some expressed their emotions more than others.
"Yang there's a blacksmith inside that tree"!
No point for guessing who said that.
"Hurry up girls" Lurmina clapped her hands "I know it place is breath taking but we aren't here to sight see".
How is this possible" Weiss wondered "There is no way those trees can still be alive after they have been hollowed out".
"Except they are alive Weiss" Lurmina said.
"How"?
"I have no idea" The Faunus teacher admitted "The only ones who know how are the inhabitants of Herind. And their won't tell their secret to outsiders".
The group walked further into the village. When Lurmina walked towards one of the trees it didn't have anything to make it stand out. When they went inside they saw that the interior was carved out of the three. The team followed their teacher up the stairs. Their eyes taking in the fantasy place they were in. When they reached the next floor they were greeted by a man behind a desk that was connected with the floor. The man looked up from his work. The man had red hair and had freckles across his face with light brown eyes. His clothes consisted out a black jacket with a white shirt and black trousers.
"Good day, How may I be of help to you"? The man asked.
"Good day" Lurmina answered back " We're replying to your request for the Madhimoni".
The man looked passed Lurmina to see team RWBY. He looked back at Lurmina.
"With all due respect great Huntress but I don't believe it would be wise to take children out on this mission". The team mood dropped drastically. This guy just insulted their pride.
"They are here to learn how the take down Madhimoni" Lurmina explained "I will take full responsibility for their actions".
The man had still had doubts written all over his face. "If you say so great Huntress. May I know your full name to fill in the paperwork"?
"It's Lurmina William Arc". The man suddenly perked up.
"I understand now. The mayor is on the next floor". The group walked up the next flight of stairs.
"You seem to be well known Miss Lurmina" Weiss said, her mood still sour because of the man's comment.
"I have done quite a lot of requests for this village".
"Why hasn't Jaune told us about this place. It is awesome". Ruby said exited.
"That's cause he has never been to Herind" Lurmina said.
"But he has been traveling with you for years" Ruby yelled.
"Inside voice Rube" Yang said.
"That's cause he wanted to get physically stronger and this place is to beautifully to destroy for training. Add that the locals really don't like if you start destroying trees so I avoided this place".
They had reached the next floor. The mayor seemed to be waiting for them. The mayor of Herind was a woman with brown hair with grey streaks with a slightly wrinkled face. She wore a simple white shirt and a black skirt.
"Hello Lurmina it's been quite some time since we last met" The mayor said with a smile.
"It sure has Agrath" Lurmina greeted back "Has Cornir resign as your secretary"?
The now named Agrath let out a sad sign. "No he got killed by the Madhimoni".
"My condolences, he was a good man. Way better than the guy you have now"
"Gilles is new to this. I'm sure that in a few months he would be a great secretary".
"Maybe" Lurmina said " Anyway can you give us more details about the Madhimoni and what was his last location"?
"It's last know location was northeast of the obelisk of remembrance. It seems to like that place for some reason. It's specie is a bear and it has eaten a lighting Dust crystal".
Lurmina grimaced. "Great, one of the more harder ones to fight".
Team RWBY and their teacher were walking through the dense forest. Thick underbrush prevented them of a fast and easy trip.
"Why is this part of the village in such a poor state"? Weiss asked grumpy.
"Cause we aren't in Herind anymore" Lurmina answered.
"What" Weiss was catch off guard "But we didn't see any form of protection on the way here".
"Herind doesn't have walls or outposts" The Faunus teacher said "It's treehouses don't register as manmade structures to the Grimm".
"That doesn't make any sense" Blake entered the conversation.
"It doesn't" Lurmina agreed "But that is the reality. Probably has something to do with how they make their homes".
"Urrgh How long till we get to this obelisk" Ruby wined. She wasn't used to walk long distances through thick underbrush.
"It's just up ahead" Was the rely. That said it still took five minutes to get there. When they arrived they were in a clearing with a giant stone, shaped like a pencil, in the middle. Vines tried to grow over the structure but you could see that someone was trying to keep the obelisk in good shape. A smaller stone stood in front of the obelisk with what look like writing. Yang walked over to the smaller stone to see what was written on it.
Non dimenticare mai i guerrieri che hanno dato la vita per fermare il male.
"Weiss you know what is written here"? The blonde asked her teammate. She wasn't stupid but that made no sense to her.
"I have no idea" The heiress said after a small pause. She had been taught a lot as the heiress of the SDC but ancient languages wasn't one of them. They both turned to their teacher but Lurmina answered before they say a word.
"No I don't know what is written there. My best guess is that it is a war monument from a time long passed". Lurmina clapped her hands "Anyway we aren't here for a piece of rock, we're here to takedown a Madhimoni. Good luck". Team RWBY looked at the Faunus in confusion.
"Uhm You're going to help us right"? Yang asked.
"Fine" Lurmina signed out "Northeast is that way".
"I meant helping us fight".
"No".
"Why would you not help us"? Weiss yelled "This is highly irresponsible for a teacher"!
"Making students learn new things is a teacher's responsibility" Lurmina lectured "And the best way to do that is first-hand experience".
"Have fun girls, don't take too long" Lurmina said as she jumped back into the forest. Ruby tried to chase her down but lose her almost immediate.
"Alright Team RWBY let's show how great we are" Ruby cheered out. Her team agreed with her. A fire was lit to prove their teacher how good they were.
That fire was snuffed out fast. The forest made it hard for the team to navigate through. To make matters worse it started to rain, making the ground slippery. Already Ruby had slipped once and Weiss twice. She complained quite a bit about that. The forest was getting humid even if it was still raining, making the girls sweat a lot. They were all frustrated and were yelling at each other. All while they still hadn't seen a clue of the Madhimoni.
"I think we have been here already" Blake said to her teammates. That said she wasn't sure. This entire place looked like every tree was a clone from each other.
"Fan-fu-Freaking- tastic" Yang yelled. She almost swore but she still had a grip on her temper. But the conditions weren't making it easy for her.
"No need to yell, I can heard you" Weiss growled out". Yang wanted to yell at her but bit her tongue.
"I wonder if it's raining at Beacon" Ruby mumbled.
"Your skill to notice when it will rain still amazes me" Jaune said as he and Sun were on a Bullhead to Beacon.
"It's a skill you need to learn if you want to life in Vacuo" Sun said "But this one came out of nowhere, it must suck to be outside in this weather".
"How long will continue" Jaune asked his friend.
"An hour or two".
"I guess a tour of Vale will have to wait".
"I will probably do that when the rest of my team arrives" Sun said "Anyway you have to introduce your team to me".
"Like I would forget that".
"I thought you knew where we were going" Weiss said angry. Being wet, sweaty and covered in mud with no results to show for, she was pissed.
"I don't see you helping in anyway heiress so shut up" Blake hissed back. Team RWBY was falling apart.
"Ok girls let calm down" Yang tried to mediate even if she was getting angrier by the minute "Getting angry with each other is going to get us AHH". Yang slipped and landed face first into the mud.
"Arrrgh I hate this fucking mission" The blonde raged, forgetting that her little sister was here "I wish we never took this stupid mission"!
"Stop yelling or we will never find this bear" Blake hissed. The team were fighting once again. Ruby stood there looking nervous.
"Guys please stop fighting" Ruby pleaded. This mission wasn't going like she thought it would. She thought she and her team would fight a horde of Grimm, winning and be rewarded with lots of cookies. Not this mess.
"Shut up Ruby" Weiss and Blake yelled at the same time.
" Hey no one yells at my little sister" Yang looked ready to beat the black and white part of team RWBY up.
They were arguing so loud they didn't take notice of their surrounding or the creature that was stalking them.
When Lurmina left team RWBY she had high hopes for them. They were a good team that participated a lot in her lessons so she thought they would do pretty well in the field.
Her hopes were destroyed fast.
They just walked the direction she pointed out. They were lucky that she actually pointed them in the right direction or they would have walked away from their objective. Then they walked after each other in a line. It would be smart to have Blake in the lead because she was a Faunus but the rest of the team didn't know that. They didn't spread out while keeping in each other's vision. They didn't look for evidence that the Madhimoni was in this area.
They even walked right passed its droppings an half hour ago.
Lurmina was squatting on a tree branch. She didn't pay the rain any mind. She was observing the team falling apart as they got dirtier and angrier with the minute. Weiss and Blake were the worse contestants at that. That said she herself was getting mad herself. The sheer incompetence of this team was insane. They didn't try to make the best of the situation or change their strategy.
'When we get back to Beacon I'm changing the way I'm teaching these kids' Lurmina thought. If this was the results of what active participating students, then the thought of what the students that didn't go to her lessons scared her.
They would get eaten by the Grimm. Quite literally.
As she thought things couldn't get any worse it did. The Madhimoni was sleeping and the team was walking right towards it. But because they were complaining so loud they woke it up. It circled around them and it was now stalking the team now without them even realizing that it was less then forty meters away from. Blake should've notice that yet she was now arguing heated with Weiss about the SDC Faunus working force and that they were underpaid.
While she agreed with her, this was neither the place or the time to have that kind of conversation.
She decided to help the team by alerting that the Madhimoni was behind them. Normally she wouldn't have done that but this one was acting strange. When it woke, it should have charged straight at RWBY but it didn't. She grabbed an acorn from the tree she was in. she threw it with some speed, nailing the beast right behind the ear. The beast roared in pain, alerting the girls of its location. It charged at them now that the element of surprise was gone.
Now Lurmina hoped that they at least knew how to fight as a team.
"It because of the SDC that the Faunus have it so hard! It's no wonder why you get targeted" Blake yelled at the white haired girl.
"My father's company has nothing to do with the suffering of the Faunus or why the White Fang is a terrorist group" Weiss yelled back.
"Can you two stop yelling" Yang ironically yelled "I can't even hear myself think"!
Ruby didn't know what to do. Every time she tried to stop the fighting it only got worse. A little push more and weapons would surely enter the fight.
RRROOOAAARRR
Suddenly an enormous roar cut through the forest. Everyone turn to where it came from.
A big brown bear was standing just a few meters away from them. What was strange about this bear was that its eyes seem to glow a light blue colour that looked like it could jump from its eyes. Lighting was circling around the bears paws. Its fur looked more like spikes than hair. When it looked at them it roared again while lighting escaped from its eyes.
"It's the Madhimoni" Ruby yelled while turning Crescent Rose into scythe form "Battle positions"!
The rest of team RWBY had unholsterd their weapons. Their fight with the Madhimoni had just began.
SoWriteIt here. It looks like team RWBY isn't doing great. Not surprising because they never had to use their survivals skill without someone who knew what they were doing. A few lessons won't fix that. Getting no results in a few hours hard work isn't fun. Bad weather only makes things worse. Being in the rain for a few hours will make anyone really annoyed. Till the next chapter.