Every deed ever done has an upside and a downside, and my current situation as a prime example. The upside of shoving Pyrrha out of the way of a lunging incarnation of evil is that she doesn't immediately die, and I don't lose my partner. The downside… is that I am now in the direct path of some very long, and very sharp claws.
I try to raise my shield to block the attack, but only succeed in redirecting it to my right by several inches, so it gouges into my right shoulder, rather than decapitating me. Unfortunately, the blow knocked my arm to the side, making me drop my sword. The grim strikes again with its other arm, but this time I block it successfully. By this point, Pyrrha has had time to regain her footing. She shifted her sword to its spear configuration, and threw it, hitting the attacker directly in the center of its chest. The beast goes down, but not before unleashing a roar of pain.
The monster starts to dissolve, so Pyrrha walks over and collects her spear, and I find and re-sheath my sword.
"You okay?" I ask, as I adjust my right sleeve to hide the damage. She nods.
"I am well. Are you injured?" she asks, concerned. She must not have seen me get hit.
"Not bleeding. Now, whe- "I, interrupted by a different growl, and turn.
A house-sided white and black scorpion with glowing red eyes is quickly approaching from our left, claws snapping. It must have heard the howl. Being the wise guy I am, I subtly suggest a course of action.
"RUN!"
I have no sense of direction whatsoever, so I look for Pyrrha while running away in a random direction, which happened to be the opposite from where she was going. I shift direction to catch up to her, but I slip and fall. I stand up as quickly as I can, but I'm not fast enough. The grim scorpion's stinger plunges down, hitting the metal plate of armor across my back, and crushing a few of my ribs with an audible 'crunch'. The stinger rises, and falls again, this time piercing my hood, which had settled to the left side of my head. The scorpion lifts its stinger, and flings me very high, and very far away.
'How many times is this going to happen today?' I think to myself. Am I turning into a bird? From my vantage point, (The air), I can see a clearing with ruins and two dots of familiar colors, one yellow and one black. At this point I realized that was flying in their general direction, and when I crashed into a tree, but not just any tree. No, this was a special tree, that allowed its branches to break, slowing my fall, therefore allowing me to hit the ground without liquefying my brain and creating a nice, brown shower.
I, with no small amount of effort, make it to my feet. That aura stuff helps slightly, slowly mending my damaged nerves, muscles, and bones, but I still look like a guy that jumped off the Empire State Building. Yay, knowledge! My diaphragm is still pretty much mush by now, so I can't call out to them, so I shamble in their direction, hunched over, and looking every bit the zombie I am. Half way across the clearing later, I stop when I hear a noise.
"Heads uuuuuuuup!" I look up, seeing a falling Ruby Rose directly above me, just in time for her to collide with my back, breaking it and knocking me down again. I don't even want to know what my insides look like right now, but I'm pretty sure that if I put a hole in my side, they would flow out like tree sap.
"Oh, my Oum! Are you okay Jaune?" Ruby asks, concerned. I can't stand up until my spine reattaches, so I just (try) to respond, 'I give up, just leave me to die.' Of course, what really came out was more along the lines of "Groaaaaaaan."
The girl in black who smells like a cat asks Yang,
"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" 'Oh, well just ignore me then,' I think.
"Uhh," was Yang's articulate reply.
The sounds of explosions appear on my right and I turn to my right, and see a bear grim waddling forward, trying to reach something on its back. The grim collapses, showing that hyper orange haired girl on it, laughing maniacally. The bear stops moving, and the orangette's mood instantly changes, now she's disappointed, like she got no cake at her birthday party.
"Aww, it's broken," she looks heartbroken. Her friend in green appears from behind the bear monster.
"Nora, please… Don't do that ever again," he panted out, but the now named Nora was already standing over by me, starting at me intently, with squinted eyes.
"Are you dead?" she asks, completely serious. I shake my head.
"Are you sure?" she asks again. I give her a shaky thumbs-up. Apparently satisfied for the time being, she zips off, and starts singing about being the queen of the castle.
'What was that about?' I wonder, but before I can continue that line of thought, my spine abruptly snaps back together with an audible 'crack.' I shakily stand up and hear a loud noise from my left. I turn, and see Pyrrha running into the clearing, with the giant scorpion thing close behind her. She jumps upward, avoiding being caught in one of its claws, but is smacked by the other one, sending her flying towards us, more specifically, directly at me. 'This is not my day,' I think, as a flying crimsonette crashes into me.
Hey, author note: Sorry for the long time to update. Not Dead! Not sure how I want to write this story, so will probably rewrite several times until it good, but will just continue for now. As always, leave a review or suggestion, and have a good night!