Chapter 3: Third Move
Glynda let out a closely held breath as she watched the duo narrowly escape notice of the Death Stalker which continued deeper into the forest. Of course, it had been the Arc's son who'd happened upon the thing in the first place.
"That poor boy..." she murmured, focusing on Lie Ren, who was currently resting on a branch high above the ground. The girl, Nora Valkyrie, was one above him, giggling her head off at the encounter. "I know they came from the same school, but still..."
"They balance one another quite well, I think. Such teams always go far together."
Glynda grimaced before schooling her features and turning to her long time boss and commander.
"I suppose you'd like to use the Arc boy and his partner as the perfect example?"
"I'm glad you agree, Glynda," he replied with a smile. He was still focused on his scroll however, sipping his coffee lightly.
"Yes, Pyrrah Nikos is as close to the perfect Huntress candidate as possible and Jaune Arc is the farthest. I completely see the balance."
"I distinctly recall another young hunter candidate that you didn't think so highly of, and he turned into one of the finest Beacon has ever seen. He was quite popular with the ladies as well."
Glynda barely held back rolling her eyes. She seriously couldn't win with this guy.
"Please, Oz, the only woman you haven't chased off is me and you know where I stand with that."
"Indeed I do," he chuckled. "How are our potential students doing?"
"Only twelve students have not partnered up yet, though their individual positions make it unlikely that they will find one another anytime soon," she began, scanning her scroll for the statistics. "Out of all the students, partnered and not, thirty-two of them have failed on account of injury or disregarding the eye contact rule. Twelve groups have obtained their relics."
"Your projections?"
"By day's end... Thirty-five, possibly forty pairs." Glynda scanned the forest below. "It is impressive on its own right, eight years ago a quarter of that would have been noteworthy."
"Twenty teams..." Ozpin frowned.
"Shall I signal Oobleck to stir up the Nevermores, Sir?"
"Please."
Xx~~xX
"Looks like that's been taken care of."
Yang watched as the out of sight Death Stalker crashed through the trees, the sounds becoming fainter and fainter.
"But that Death Stalker will kill them," Blake protested, clearly concerned. "It looked fast."
"Oh they're fine," Yang said easily, waving away her new partner's concerns with her hand. "They're hiding above us."
At that moment two people dropped out of the dense canopy above them, a boy in green and a girl in pink, both landing easily and making Blake jump slightly.
"I still think we could have taken it," the girl argued.
"Perhaps, but fighting anything like that without a large group would be unwise," the boy returned patiently, as if he'd done so a thousand times in the past. "I'm glad we were able to mislead it."
"Well, you two got friendly pretty fast," Yang interjected with a small grin.
"Oh, hey," said the girl, apparently just noticing them for the first time. "See, Ren, we had backup."
"I doubt that they would have been happy to fight a battle we started." Ren looked between them and bowed his head slightly. "Though I do appreciate your being here, coincidence it may be."
"Of course," said Blake after a second, still looking from Ren to Nora. They were an odd pair.
"Come on, Nora, the relics are just ahead."
"Right! See ya!"
It was a little while after the two had disappeared that Blake spoke again.
"You know, I think I'm okay not having my team be random. More than okay, actually."
Yang just laughed, taking the lead once more as they moved for the stone monument.
Xx~~xX
"Chess pieces?"
Ruby glanced over at Weiss who was staring around in confusion. It was understandable though. They had been tasked with retrieving a relic from the forest temple and the were surrounded by-
"They actually are all chess pieces…" Weiss continued, walking over to one. The temple had upwards of fifty chest high pedestals, all bearing a single chess piece, though there were dozens of different colors. No two pieces were alike.
"Nothing more suiting of a Winchester than a king!"
Ruby's eyes drifted over to another pair of students that had arrived shortly after they did. The taller of the two, who was currently holding up a red king piece, was eyeing the thing with a gleaming smile.
"Stuff it, Windbag," snapped Weiss, not even looking at him as she considered the pieces before her. "You got your relic, beat it."
"Wha- who do you think you're talking to?"
"Cardin, forget it, let's get back," said the other boy. "We have to get back to actually pass this thing."
Cardin considered his partner for a second before pocketing the king piece. "Very true, Russel. Let's get back. There's more people showing up anyway, they can handle this bitch."
"Ruby, freeze."
Weiss's voice cut the air like a knife. Ruby stopped moving, her hand already inches from Cresent Rose. The boys stopped moving for a second as well, but quickly continued away from the temple and back in the direction of the tree line.
"Rule number eight?"
Number eight? Oh man, we just went over this...
"Don't... waste bullets?"
Weiss frowned for a second before replying. "While that is somewhat applicable to the situation, no, that is rule four."
"Umm…"
"Do not attack, maim, or kill someone just because they insult your partner," Weiss interrupted, walking back over to her with a piece in her hand. A white queen. "That, is rule number eight."
"Oh, yeah…"
It had come up, actually, while they were walking. Weiss had been going through her rules one by one, with detailed explanations, when she'd suddenly paled and gave both rule seven and eight, which were essentially the same thing. Don't kill people just because they make you mad.
Honestly, she liked killing Grimm, how did that translate to people at all?! She'd just wanted to get the annoying boy in the leg once. Enough to make him limp-
Oh wait that was maiming. Dammit.
"Sorry," Ruby added, knowing she'd already apologized so many times that day. It wasn't that Weiss demanded it of her or anything, it was just…
Weiss was really, really cool.
Though she'd never hear it from Ruby, Weiss's passionate speech about becoming partners and Huntresses had put the proverbial stars in the younger girl's eyes. Ruby had never really had the opportunity to become close to anyone at Signal other than Qrow, and he was a professor and her Uncle. That didn't really count. So now she just wanted to do her utmost to be the best partner Weiss could ever ask for.
"It's fine, I wanted to blast him too," Weiss admitted with a smirk. "But neither of us did anything because we are…?"
"...Ladies?" Ruby tried tentatively.
"Good enough," Weiss accepted. "Now, let's see if Pyrrah wants to team up for the trip back. I'd recognize her armor anywhere. Her partner though…"
Xx~~xX
"Hey there, Snowflake, did you miss me?"
"Oh come on…"
Weiss had her gaze pointed skyward. Someone, somewhere, was doing this to her, she swore it.
"Hello, Weiss, glad to see you in one piece," Pyrrah said pleasantly, finally catching up to Jaune as he had run the last couple of yards when he realized who exactly was waiting ahead. "Oh, your partner is the girl from earlier?"
"Ruby," Weiss said automatically, gesturing.
"Nice to meet you officially then, Ruby, I'm Pyrrah Nikos."
"Ruby Rose," the scythe wielder replied, shaking the offered hand. Weiss knew she was the only one who'd noticed the girl quickly check her hand before putting it out, likely for blood.
Felt nice to see a lesson stick.
"Jaune Arc, at your service," Jaune added with a small bow. For the first time since arriving he looked somewhere other than at a girl and took in his surroundings. "Chess pieces?"
"I guess expecting over fifty actual relics from some age or another would be unrealistic," Pyrrah said reasonably, moving to a nearby pedestal and picking up a black rook, looking at it closely. "This will do then."
"There are two more groups coming." Ruby's voice brought them all around.
"RUBY!"
"One is Yang's," she added with a sigh.
"Hey isn't that the girl who was shooting the Death Stalker?" Jaune asked, pointing to the girl with the pink skirt.
"How did you end up getting chased by that thing, anyway?" Weiss asked Pyrrah. She and Ruby had watched the entire affair from the temple along with Winchester and his partner… whatever his name was.
"Ah well…" Pyrrah actually looked a bit embarrassed. "We went into a cave that ended up being its lair. I suppose it wasn't exactly the best idea, in retrospect, but…"
"Say no more," Weiss said dryly, leveling a flat look at Jaune.
"W-what?" he said apprehensively.
"Nothing, just make sure he reads lots of books, Pyrrah. He'll need it."
"Oh, that's right!" Pyrrah actually looked delighted. "Jaune, I can help you study if you need it. We are partners, after all."
Jaune looked surprised, but certainly not unappreciative. "Uh, yeah that's great. Thanks, Pyrrah."
Turning away from the now radiant girl, Weiss forced down a half gag and watched the four newcomers finish covering the distance to the temple. Somehow she knew that she'd be getting a headache pretty soon. Still, if it helped her and Ruby get back to the school any safer there was really no reason to not give it a shot.
Xx~~xX
"You want to team up?" Blake asked in surprise. Well, she hadn't expected that from anyone. Least of all Princess Schnee.
"I think it's a good idea," Ren agreed with a nod. "Nora?"
"Only if I get to name the team!" she sang from the top of the broken temple wall, juggling a couple of the relic chess pieces. Theirs was securely in Ren's pocket.
"If it makes you happy," Weiss shrugged, rolling her eyes.
"Yang?" Blake nudged her partner with her elbow. The girl was chatting with Ruby quietly.
"Of course," she said at once, sparing her a glance over her shoulder. "We're already on the same side, you know? Good practice anyway."
"Well then, I guess that settles it," said Blake. Yang was a crazy amount of insurance, but having the extra support certainly would be welcome.
Suddenly a harsh cry cut the air, lingering for far longer than it ever had a right to before continuing over the forest. Everyone had frozen, even Nora in the middle of her juggling.
"Nevermore."
Ruby was easy to hear, despite the low tone in which she had spoken. The sound of shoes hitting stone announced the arrival of their hyperactive teammate. Her grenade launcher was resting on her shoulder.
"Ready to rumble."
Ren just sighed, shaking his head. "Only if we have to, Nora."
"Trust me," Yang's words cut off whatever Nora had been about to say. "We'll have to."
Xx~~xX
Cardin Winchester was having a very bad day. Objectively and subjectively. That's right, things were all around sucktacular. Why?
"Why the hell is there a giant damn ravine here!?" he shouted in annoyance. He couldn't even see down to the bottom, it just became obscured with a white fog after a hundred feet or so.
"You know, that would explain why we were launched into the forest," said Russel, also observing the unknown depths. "That is a pretty crazy gap to think about jumping. I can't believe we didn't notice it at the start."
"Well, at least climbing the other side won't be an issue," Cardin admitted. He had more than enough strength and stamina to do it unaided, given the time, and Russel would just use his Semblance to stick to the side. Handy thing, that. "But how do we get there-"
SCREECH!
"-with that damn bird flying around?" he finished with a shout at the Nevermore that was circling above them. It wasn't a big one. It couldn't have been larger than a few Ursa put together. But damn did it make climbing a cliff rather difficult for two otherwise close range fighters.
"Wait, Cardin!" Russel was pointing at something far off to their right. "What about that?"
It took him a second to let his eyes adjust to the extreme distance he was trying to focus on, but yes there was something there, in the fog…
"Oh…" Cardin grinned. "That'll work perfectly. Come on, Russel!"
Xx~~xX
"Okay, usually I'm all about the charge in guns blazing… though I don't actually have a gun so I don't really know-"
"Jaune!"
"I'm just saying I think this is a really bad idea!" he finished quickly.
Yang sighed silently, exchanging a quick look with Blake. She could tell that the girl was getting antsy as well, listening to the majority of the group plan out their course of attack. Okay, so they weren't the most experienced group, but at least they were trying. Actually, it was way more likely that Blake was annoyed that Yang was being so passive despite being the obvious leader of the entire group. Not like she'd been pushing that little fact on any of them.
"There are three, count them, three Nevermores," Weiss said bluntly. "If we even want a chance at making it up the ruins to the top of the cliff then we'll have to do something about them. Unless you know how to fly over a bottomless pit?" Her tone was still one of affront, as if the thing had done her an injustice.
I love how no one ever notices that thing.
"And what are you grinning at?"
The aggressive comment only made Yang grin a little wider.
"It's nothing, I'm just feeling a little nostalgic."
"Fighting Nevermores while trying to cross a foggy pit of death makes you nostalgic?" Jaune said slowly, giving her an apprehensive look.
"I-"
"Yang completed her initiation at Beacon two years ago," Ruby interrupted, not even looking at them. Instead she was laid out on the ground with Crescent Rose expanded into full sniper form, blade still retracted, one eye against a small scope. She had been the one to give them the details on the relative ages and potential danger of the three avian Grimm.
"Wha- two years ago?" Weiss exclaimed in shock, though she wasn't the only one who did so. She made to say something else when she paused, looking from Yang to Ruby. "Are you two related by any chance?"
"Sisters," they chorused, both smiling slightly.
"Of course you are." Weiss let out a sigh. "Well then, back to the matter at hand. I'd like to take a shower relatively soon. Any suggestions?"
"Well, anyone who gets the attention of all three of them at once will probably be toast," said Yang. "At least at long range. Those feathers of theirs are brutal. Up close though they are a little more manageable."
"Then we should remain hidden for as long as possible before getting any of their attention," Pyrrah agreed. Easier said than done, of course. They had only made it partially into the ruins by the cliff before needing to hide away. There was very little proper cover before reaching the edge, and the Nevermores would easily spot them at this distance.
"I can distract them," Nora chirped, patting her weapon. Range and boom, all in one.
Crash!
...
"Did anyone hear that?" asked Ren, looking back towards the forest in confusion.
CRASH!
"KEEP RUNNING LARK!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
For the second time in months, Yang felt the strong urge to blast something with her gauntlets. Instead however she took immediate action, springing to her feet.
"Ruby!"
"Roger!"
The unmistakable bang of a high powered sniper rifle ripped through the air, the startled cries of a group of teens and three Nevermores joining the din.
Make that two Nevermores.
The lead one, and smallest of the three, suddenly dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, the sound of it crashing into the cliff wall and disappearing into the fog below resonating long after it vanished. The other two were already circling overhead, crying out in a clear challenge. Seconds later the group of shocked teens turned back to the forest as, in what would certainly be classified as a great deal of deja vu, two students emerged from the tree line with a very pissed Death Stalker hot on their heels.
"Oh man, we've gotta move!" Jaune said quickly, already making for the open ground. They were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Stick to the sides where there's cover!" Blake shouted, following right behind him.
"Nora!"
"On it, Ren!"
In a display of surprising agility, Nora dashed into the open, narrowly avoiding the immediate rain of deadly feathers before shooting a volley of grenades high into the air. The explosive force did little to harm the beasts, but it was enough to split them up, unable to attack in favor of keeping in the air.
"Wait, don't leave us!"
Yang hesitated for a second before turning to Ruby and Pyrrah, the only two who had noticed that she hadn't been making to run ahead with the others.
"Go on, I'll take care of this."
"Understood," said Ruby, dashing off. Pyrrah looked like she she wanted to argue but Yang cut her off.
"Move it!" There was no room for debate in her voice. Pure and simple it was a command, and one she expected to be followed. Pyraah nodded and made to catch up to the others.
Yang let out a sigh of relief. The more of the group that fought the Nevermores, the less of a chance that she'd be picked off from behind by a feather attack. She knew it wasn't the safest idea, but she also knew that her sister would never let it happen.
"What are you standing there for?! RUN!"
Yang turned to her self delegated task and stretched slightly.
"Help the others," she said simply as the two boys ran past her. She knew they'd heard her. "Now…"
A subtle change in her grip was all it took to activate Ember Celica, the golden metal growing to cover her tightened fists, both raised in a loose boxing stance, ready to meet the roaring Grimm bearing down upon her.
"Bring it."
Xx~~xX
"Weiss, on your left!"
Weiss lept back just in time to avoid a giant black wing cleaving into the stone bridge she was standing on. Her feet had barely made contact with the stone again when it gave way as well, dropping her into free fall. Suddenly a hand caught her by the wrist, swinging her back onto a still stable piece of the bridge.
"Watch your step there, Snowflake."
"We really need to have a talk about this nickname you've been calling me..." Weiss said flatly, well aware of the fact that the intent would go right over the boy's head.
"Would that be over coffee or tea?" Jaune replied immediately, making the girl sigh. Even in the middle of a battle the guy still found time to do this...
"Would you two stop flirtaaaaaaahh!"
"Watch your step now," Weiss said sweetly, using a glyph to help propel herself to the next level of the ruins. She wasn't sure which of the two newcomers she'd sent flying with an absent flick of her wrist, but either way suited her just fine. What was it with people being so damn aggravating?
"Weiss, are you okay?"
Pyrrah was close by, voice steady as she put shot after shot into the Nevermore that was giving them such a hard time.
"I'm fine. Have you done any kind of damage yet?" She herself had been rather unsuccessful.
Pyrrha shook her head, though her rate of fire never faltered. "Their feathers are impossibly durable. I'm still amazed that Ruby was able to down one in a single shot."
Weiss said nothing to that, instead looking to where her partner fought, scythe spinning in a blur of black and red.
"We'll need to work together to take this one down," said Weiss firmly. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can help Ruby out. She'll be fine for now."
Inside, Weiss scowled at herself. She was leaving her partner to face a monster liked that on her own. It wasn't that she didn't trust the girl's abilities. In fact she had a great deal of confidence in them despite only knowing her for so long. It was that regardless of what the situation was, she had left her partner in immense danger, simply because it was the easiest course of action.
I hate myself.
"Pyrrha! Weiss!"
Both girls looked up just in time to see Nora drop in on them lightly, her grenade launcher turned hammer draped over her shoulders. The Nevermore was now out of their range, giving them a short breather. It wouldn't last long though and they all knew it.
"Ren has an idea to take this guy down but he needs you both. Jaune too," she added, nodding at the blond who had finally climbed up to their level.
"Great!" he said in relief. It had really been like running into a brick wall the entire time. "Let's regroup and-" He cut away as his gaze moved back towards the forest where they had come from. "Woah..."
"What-?" Weiss turned only to pull up short herself at what was going on back on solid ground. Immediately she returned her attention to the group around her. "Stop gawking we need to kill this thing!"
With that they moved off to converge with Blake and Ren, though not before Weiss stole one last glance behind her.
Definitely sisters.
XxxxX
The Death Stalker was having a very bad day. The all-around kind. Why? Well...
ROAR!
SLAM!
"I dare you to come within three feet of my hair with those big scissor hands of yours again!"
Because there was this small human who was currently swinging it around by his tail, slamming it repeatedly into the ground. It really should have just stayed in its cave.
Suddenly it was flying, covering ground far faster than it had ever done so before. Fortunately the forest was there to slow it down.
"Get back here, I'm not finished with you!"
Definitely time to go.
XxxxX
"There she goes," Blake muttered in amusement, as Yang chased the Death Stalker back into the forest. Really, why be surprised anymore? That was just how Yang operated.
"Your partner is formidable," said Ren, taking a moment from his gunfire to speak. They were doing their best to support Ruby as she fought the second Nevermore head on, but neither of them were doing much of anything to it other than occasionally distract it, something that the scythe weirder capitalized on every chance she got.
"She does have a bit of a head start," Blake returned after a second. She could see that the others were moving to their position. Nora had clearly delivered the message safely. "You sure about this plan of yours? You could seriously hurt yourself."
"I think that could easily be said for everyone here, don't you?" Ren said with a shrug. "Continue to support Ruby, we will join you as soon as the other Nevermore is dealt with."
"If there's anything left of it by then," Blake added before leaping away to bring herself closer to the battle. The funny thing was that she honestly wasn't sure if she'd been joking or not about it.
XxxxX
Ruby let out a small breath as she took a moment to reload her weapon. It had been quite a while since she had last needed any kind of serious ammunition, hence the situation she found herself in now. It was a stroke of luck she'd even had the single bone-bullet on her person when they'd discovered the Nevermores blocking their path. Uncle Qrow had taken her small stock of them for hunting purposes.
And so here she was, down to her second to last clip of rounds. The other two she'd begun the day with were mostly nestled in the Grimm beast flying above her. Still, not enough for any lasting damage. She'd need the blade for that. Unfortunately- Ruby promptly vanished, the area she'd been standing in moments before suddenly becoming peppered in deadly feather projectiles -the Nevermore seemed to be of the mind that getting close to her was a bad idea.
Annoying.
Light gunfire drew her attention to Blake, who had been assisting her from afar for most of the battle. There was no way the girl thought that she was doing any damage to the bird, so the fact that she continued in spite of it either meant she wasn't that bright or was just trying to distract the thing some. Probably the latter.
Taking the opportunity, Ruby emptied the clip into the distracted Nevermore's face, scoring a damaging shot in one of its eyes. The Grimm roared in pain and fury, it's flight path suddenly curving down sharply. Blake immediately cleared the area as it crashed through the supports of the path she'd been standing on.
"Ruby!"
Blake's shout was unnecessary however, as the girl was already moving rapidly to intercept it. She might not get another chance this good again. Using Crescent Rose to move to upwards, Ruby launched herself at the Grimm, aiming for its back. However, the Nevermore saw her coming, and in an effort to avoid her, barrel rolled to the side, taking it out from under the girl. Of course, having tucked into a spin, it never saw the upwards turn of the girl's lips.
Retracting her scythe, Ruby pulled out the other weapon she'd been asked to hang onto for the duration of the initiation, the whip cane, holding it out sideways before snapping it out at the Grimm. The metal blades caught on the tough feathers easily, allowing Ruby to safely swing on its back just as it finished its roll. The metallic sounds of a weapon unfolding whispered through the damp air.
Haa... gotcha.
XxxxX
"Nora, Pyrrah, you ready?"
"Ready!"
"Let's do it!"
"Ren, it's on you!" Jaune shouted. Their Nevermore had just come about for another pass, screeching their death to any that would listen. It was now or never.
"Weiss, with your assistance..." Ren muttered to the girl beside him. He had moved his focus far from the battle and deep within himself. If there was ever a time where he needed his all, this was it.
"Right."
Barely a thought and three consecutively smaller glyphs appeared in the air before the boy, glinting with a light blue hue, cackling with power.
"Strike!"
Ren's open palms slammed forwards into the first glyph, which magnified and altered the emission of pure Aura, chaining into the the next which chained into the last.
The Nevermore never knew what hit it as suddenly it was blasted along one side by a beam of blue that instantly froze everything it touched, including a small section of the ruins and the cliffside behind it. Screeching, it took a slow dive over them to the solid ground with a mighty crash.
"Jaune!"
"Crocea Mors!"
A heartbeat later Jaune's sword had slammed deeply into the Nevermore's skull, aided by the careful application of Pyrrah's polarity.
"Enjoy the afterlife, birdie!"
Nora's cry was immediately followed by her hammer slamming directly into the handle of Corean Mors, driving it straight through the Nevermore's head and into the ground beneath.
"Hell yeah!" she shouted gleefully from atop the slain Grimm. "Ew though, that sword is going to be nasty."
"Ugh…"
"That girl seriously has no off switch," Weiss grimaced. "You all ri- woah!"
"That took... all of my strength..." Ren gasped, barely keeping to his feet as Weiss supported him. "I didn't expect that to happen."
"Neither did I," Weiss admitted truthfully, opting to help the boy take a seat. She'd never really experimented with applying her glyphs to the abilities of others before, Winter being the only exception. Winter was generally the exception for just about everything actually.
"That was awesome!"
"Yeah, great work team!"
Weiss looked over at the late comers of the battle. Sky and Dove, as she'd ended up discovering somewhere during the fight. As to who was who however...
"Did you even consider doing anything?" she shot at them, her voice easily carried through the air now that it wasn't filled with the sounds of fighting. They'd both been running around like chickens without their heads the entire battle.
"You had it all under control, why mess with the rhythm, you know?" the one she decided was Sky replied, getting an agreeing nod from his partner.
"Wasn't there another one though?" he asked, looking around.
Ruby.
Weiss turned quickly to where her own partner had been fighting. The lack of sounds like there had been earlier could only mean it had ended as well, but as to who had won-?
"Oh man, that's brutal." Larks words only got another silent nod from Dove.
Ruby was standing atop the final Nevermore's back where it was resting, quite separated from its head, on the grass below. The immense puddle of red that surrounded the entire area was hard to miss as well.
Weiss just sighed, leaving Ren to be helped by Pyrrah and Jaune as she made her way down to her own partner, stopping well away from the red grass. Now that it was finally over she could use a small rest before they made their way to the top of the cliffs. Even Yang was taking her time as she strolled back towards the group from the forest, a satisfied grin on her face.
Ruby vanished for a moment before reappearing in front of Weiss, arms out as if in surrender.
"I'm clean, I swear!"
Unbidden, a snort of laughter bubbled its way out of the white clad girl, her stern expression cracking into a half smile. And she had four years of this to look forward to?
Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.
"Let's go, Ruby, I want that shower."
XXXXXXXX
Author's Note: A common theme you'll see in anything I ever write is that I tend to do things simply on a much larger scale than the canon. That's about all I have completed so far, so if you've enjoyed it so far let me know.