JADE'D ROSES
CHAPTER FIVE: THINGS ARE PRETTY GRIMM
It was a week later and Team JADE was finally adjusting to life at Beacon. With help from teams RWBY and JNPR they settled in just fine.
Currently, teams RWBY and JNPR were gathered in the hallways outside their dorms getting ready to head to class.
"Someone should probably get team JADE, they're going to be late and knowing them they'll still get lost." Weiss said coldly. Everybody looked at Ruby expectedly.
"Fine, I'll get them." Ruby said with a sigh before using her semblance to climb up the stairs to their room, which was directly above her own.
She knocked loudly on the door, hoping for a quick response. At first she heard nothing, so she knocked again louder. Then she heard muffled voices for a few seconds before the door opened, revealing Doc in black boxers and a white tank top.
"Ruby, do you know what time it is? It's, like, the middle of the night!" Doc said exasperatedly, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"Um, it's 8:54 in the morning." Ruby corrected. Doc sighed.
"So, it's Saturday!" Doc argued.
"It's Wednesday!" Ruby corrected once more. Doc's eyes widened slightly.
"Well, shit." He said, before slamming the door in Ruby's face. However, she heard him yelling, "Guys! Wake up! Code Lavender; it's not Saturday anymore!"
Ruby chuckled to herself as she walked away.
LINEBREAK
Teams RWBY and JNPR decided to head to class without team JADE, but surprisingly they were only two minutes late to their first class with Professor Port. Weiss was slightly impressed at their timing, considering Ruby had said they were all dead asleep.
"Well, nice of you to show up today. And here I was thinking you didn't want to learn how to fight Grimm." Port challenged.
"We know a good amount." Doc replied.
"Oh really? Then name all the species of Grimm there are." Port demanded
"Uhh, bear… wolf… eagle… T-rex?" Doc answered. Joe rolled his eyes.
"Don't be stupid, it's obviously stegosaurus." Joe broke in. Doc glared.
"Just- just take your seats." Port gave up and sent the late arrivals to the back of the room.
LATER AT LUNCH
"Finally, lunch time!" Joe happily exclaimed as he and his team arrived to the cafeteria.
They spotted teams RWBY and JNPR at their usual lunch table and decided to join them. After Joe got his food, of course.
"We should go over the plan for our mission later." Pyrrha suggested.
"Sure." Ruby said enthusiastically.
"First we'll follow the path through the forest, then we should reach the mountain range close to our destination."
"Mountains you say!?" Joe said coming from out of nowhere.
"Yeah, we have a mission later to scope out a mountain for new training grounds." Yang informed them.
"Sounds thrilling." Erin said sarcastically.
"Mind if we tag along?" Joe asked.
"Sure, but its probably going to be petty boring." Ruby said
"…So, when do we leave?" Alex asked quietly.
LINEBREAK
"Alright, everybody ready?" Ruby asked everybody, as they got ready to leave Beacon.
"Yep, as ready as we'll ever be." Nora said energetically. Joe nodded.
"Yes, onward to the plot!" He cried, pointing at the mountains in the distance.
MORE LINBREAKS
The teams had been making their way through the Forest of Forever Fall, everything seemed peaceful until Ruby heard some rustling from a nearby bush.
"Hold up everyone, something doesn't feel right." Ruby warned them as she paused in walking. Everyone else mimicked her.
"Jaune, go check it out." Yang suggested.
"Why me?" Jaune cried, insulted.
"Well, you haven't done anything this whole chapt- day. This whole day." Joe backed her up.
"Fine." Jaune said with a sigh as Pyrrha elbowed Yang and Joe for being rude.
"It's probably just a squirrel." Yang offered.
"That's just nuts." Joe said, chuckling along with Yang.
Jaune slowly approached the bush, with the group behind him going on edge as well. Just as Jaune parted the bush, a tiny squirrel jumped through and bolted between his legs. Yang sent a smug look at Joe.
"Guess it was just a-" Yang started, before a deafening roar caught their attention.
"What the-" Was all Jaune could say before being trampled by a large Ursa.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried in concern before readying her weapon.
She charged at the Ursa with her spear. The Ursa tried to swat her with its huge paw. Pyrrha dodged by hopping over it, using its arm as a springboard to land on the creatures back. She then thrust her spear into the beast neck, killing it instantly.
Pyrrha confidently walked back to the group, as if nothing had happened.
All of team JADE just looked at Pyrrha with wide eyes.
"…Damn." Doc said still in awe of what just happened.
"Well that was a thing." Yang added.
"Indeed." Joe continued. Alex decided to socialize. For once.
"Well at least it's all over now." Alex said, relieved
Suddenly, as if trying to prove him wrong, multiple Grimm started emerging from the forest.
"Dammit Alex!" They all exclaimed, drawing their weapons.
Ruby charged first, Crescent Rose already in motion to propel her forward in her attack. She easily slashed past a beowolf, cutting it in half before being surrounded by several more. She prepared another attack, but it proved unnecessary as Yang charged through, gun-lets blazing, Ren picking off multiple beowolves and Joe rapidly swinging his ore at single one.
Meanwhile, Doc was beneath an Ursa trying to hold it off while Blake sat atop its shoulders trying to steady herself. Weiss, noticing Doc's struggle, placed a dark-red glyph under him in an effort to give him strength. It seemed to work when Doc managed to flip the Ursa over onto it's back, causing Blake to jump off into the air and land a decisive blow right onto its midsection.
In another part of the clearing, Pyrrha, Erin, and Alex were finishing off the last of the Grimm. As Erin and Pyrrha were fighting multiple beowolves, Alex transformed into a Ursa Major to hold off two other Ursa advancing towards Erin and Pyrrha. Erin switched out her red dust crystal and put a yellow one in its place. A long whip made of yellow energy sprouted from the handle. Erin then whipped at the ground and suddenly the earth beneath the Ursa caved in, trapping them in a large sinkhole.
Erin sees the opportunity to swap her now dull crystal for a new vibrant one, the first having been completely drained from her last attack. Erin struck the top of the crater, caving in the hole crushing the Grimm inside.
"Took you long enough." Nora's voice called. Everybody turned to see her sitting casually a top of a King Taijiu's head.
"When did she- where did she- how did she-… Where'd the giant snake even come from?" Joe asked in rapid succession.
"While you guys were playing around, I was taking care of the real problem." She lectured, pointing her hammer at them all.
Ren looked up into the sky.
"It's going to be dark soon. We should set up camp." He suggested. Everybody else nodded.
LINEBREAK
Later that night, with the camp completely setup, with all three teams huddled around the fire conversing with each other contently.
"Man, I wouldn't want to live out here for the rest of my life." Ruby said suddenly. Yang grinned.
"Come on, sis, don't be such a… birch!" She said, pointing at a nearby tree. Everybody groaned, except Joe, who smirked.
"Yeah, I wood not want to be anywhere else!" He quipped back happily.
"Joe, please don't do this." Erin almost begged. Joe shot her a look.
"Leaf me alone, dammit!" He cried, the smile never leaving his face.
"It seems like your puns are… wilting. You should really… branch out." Yang suggested back. Joe glared.
"Please, that last one make me sycamore to my stomach." He retaliated. Yang opened her mouth to reply, but Doc cut her off.
"Guys, please, this conversation is becoming… un-bear-able!" Doc said, pointing at a dead Ursa from earlier that day.
Everyone turned to Doc wearing deadpanned expressions.
Erin face-palmed.
"Doc, just no."
"Yeah so was your joke." Joe said back. Everybody that was left chuckled, except Doc.
"Screw you guys, I don't have to take this!" Doc said as he got up and stormed towards his tent.
As Doc was nearing his tent he noticed Blake sitting on a stump reading one of her books, avoiding the conversation and bad puns.
' She looks too busy to insult me, might as well try and be social" Doc thought to himself.
Doc began to walk over to Blake, who was to immersed in her book to notice.
"Sup Blake, Whatcha got there?" Doc said curiously
"A book" Blake said pointedly, not looking up from her book
"What's it about?" Doc asked politely
"The plots too complicated, you'd get bored real quick". Blake said trying to avoid conversation.
"Come on, it cant be that bad. Let me see."
Doc plucked the book from Blake's hands and began to read the first line he saw aloud.
"No wait!" Blake attempted to stop him
"Oh Serena, my loins ache for you. I can hold back no longer I need your sweet touch" Doc read with shock, his mouth agape.
Blake's face turned a dark shade of red as she attempt to hide in her hands in embarrassment.
"Its- Its not what it looks like!" Blake tried fruitlessly as she snatched the book from his hands.
Doc looked at the book her hands and read the cover "Ninjas of Love."
"Oh….My..God." Doc looked at Blake with wide eyes. "You read NOL to?!" Doc asked excitedly.
"W-What? You read it too?" Blake questioned him
"Every edition." Doc said smugly
"Even volume 5? I looked everywhere but could never find it."
Doc reached into his jacket and pulled out the book in question.
"Wow, your so lucky Ive been dying to read it." Blake said with envy
Doc without hesitating shoved the book in her face. "Here, you need to read this."
"Really?" Blake looked at Doc with disbelief. "Thanks Doc, your not as big of an asshole as everyone says you are."
"I aim to please." Doc said playfully.
"Now if you'll excuse me I have a book to read, goodnight." Blake excused herself and began to walk towards her tent.
"Night." Doc responded, before making his way to his own tent.
LINEBREAK
"Ugh, it's too early for physical activity." Joe complained. Weiss shot him a look.
"Then you shouldn't have volunteered your team to come on a mountain hike." She said.
"And leave you guys with all the fun? No thanks." Joe retaliated. Doc huffed.
"Except there has been no fun this whole trip except the murdering of the local wildlife." He said angrily. Ruby looked at him weirdly.
"You mean the Grimm?" She asked, confused.
"Sure, they're animals too, aren't they?" Erin asked back. Ruby stopped in shock.
"But they always taught us Grimm were, like, the physical manifestation of evil?" Ruby questioned again.
"They could be, but what if they're also just souls in general, not just evil souls? Just because something is big, dark and scary doesn't mean it's evil. Alex is all of those things but he hasn't tried to kill any of us so far." Joe lectured.
"Well, there was that time when-" Erin started, but Doc broke in.
"We don't talk about that time, Erin." He said quickly.
"Oh hey, look, we're here!" Jaune interrupted next, pointing at the mountains in front of them.
"So, how do we get to the top?" Ren asked, curiously, looking around for a path of some kind.
"Well," Doc started, unsheathing his axe. "The only way is up."
"Down for a race?" Joe asked pulling out his ore and disconnecting it from the middle, making two one-sided ores.
"No, but I'm up for one." Doc replied, smiling at his own joke. Joe glared.
"I'm going to leave you in the dust." He stated. Yang looked interested.
"Let me get in on this. I'll smoke the both of you." She requested. Joe and Doc shrugged in unison.
"Sure." They said.
"Starting positions!" Joe cried, lining the three up at the wall.
Joe was prepared to use his now-twin ores like a pair of climbing picks in order to scale the wall, while Doc reached into his jacket and loaded his axe with a rocket and Yang pointed her loaded gauntlets downward.
"Erin, start us off with a count-down!" Joe yelled to her.
"No!" Erin replied. She went to continue, but Joe cut her off.
"Go? You heard the lady, go, go, go!" Joe cried back, starting to ascend.
Joe got a running start and leaped onto the mountain, jabbed his ores into the cliff and started climbing rather quickly.
Doc secured the rocket to the opening at the end of his axe, aimed it at the ground and fired, propelling him at the rock wall. Using the momentum he jammed the axe into the wall and began to climb.
Yang, similar to Doc, shot at the ground and launched herself at one of the protruding rocks sticking out of the wall. She repeated this process over and over until she ran out of edges to land on. Thinking quickly, she fired at the wall in order to create on of her own, which succeeded. But it also started a rockslide. Which was heading straight for Joe and Doc.
Thinking quickly, Joe jammed one of his ores deeper into the mountain and readied the other. He then began striking and swatting at the boulders, deterring them away for the most part. Doc did not have such luck, the boulders began to collect more, making it harder for Doc to send them off course but he managed to avoid the brunt of the damage, defending with his brass knuckle.
"You play dirty." Doc yelled once most of the bounders stopped falling. "I like it."
Yang, who was about to launch away again, winced and gagged. Doc shrugged.
"She must not have appreciated that." He said, looking for Joe who was no longer in sight. "Now where'd that asshat run off to? He probably fell off, guess she must've rocked his world." He continued climbing along, chuckling to himself.
Yang and Doc, now approximately even in their race, were barreling towards the ridge of the cliff. They both overshot the edge and landed together, each smiling in victory.
"Ha! In your face, I totally won!" Yang declared. Doc rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, right. I definitely won that." Doc retorted. Yang glared, about to counter, when a familiar voice broke in.
"Actually, the only winner here is I." Joe said smugly, leaning on his ore that was now back in one piece. "But if I hadn't already been here, it was totally Yang."
"You only say that because you think her tits are da-bomb." Doc said sourly, before Yang shoved him over the cliff. But, using his axe, he was able to hook himself onto the top easily.
"You see the others down there? Are they on their way?" Joe asked, unconcerned for his teammate's safety.
"No, it's an empty cliff." Doc replied before hauling himself up. Joe shrugged.
"Guess Yang really rocked their worlds." He joked, chuckling with Yang. Doc glared.
"Oh come on, I already used that one." He said angrily.
"Didn't hear it, doesn't count." Joe said, easily brushing Doc off.
"We're right here, by the way." Pyrrah's voice carried over.
"Okay so maybe you didn't win after all." Doc said smugly to Joe, who rolled his eyes.
"No I did, they just cheated. They took the path." The ore-carrying boy said, strapping the ore to his back once more. Doc shot him a look.
"There was a path?" Doc said, his eye twitching with anger. "I almost got killed by falling rocks, and there was a path?"
"Sure, right next to the wall." Joe said, shrugging.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Doc yelled at him.
"Because then you wouldn't have taken the fun way, duh." Joe replied. Doc glared and muttered something along the lines of 'damn straight' before making his way to the rest of the group.
"We're taking the path this time, oh fearless leader." Doc declared, moving to the path that would take them the rest of the way up the mountain.
They didn't last five minutes on the trail before they were ambushed by a hoard of Grimm. Almost everybody drew their weapons, ready to fight, but Ruby had other ideas.
"It's too dangerous to keep the fight on this path. There's no room here!" Ruby cried, before speeding up the rest of the path to the top. Weiss sighed.
"Not again." She complained to herself, before taking off after her leader. Everyone else soon followed.
LINEBREAK
After running and catching up with Ruby, they reached a large open clearing only a level below the peak of the mountain. It was surrounded by mountain walls on both sides, the only paths out being the way they came and a small trail on the other side, which was right next to a cave that was easily the height of the wall which made the other cave openings that littered the surrounding walls seem like doors in comparison.
Immediately following them were the Grimm creatures that, despite being dwindled on the way, were still quite numerous.
Pyrrha, with help from Jaune, were making short work of the incoming beowolves. Jaune began to become overwhelmed with the increasing number of Grimm, forcing Pyrrha to focus more on protecting Jaune than dealing with her enemies.
Yang, along with her sister, was battling a pack of Borabusks, which were wheeling towards them. Ruby caught them mid-roll and flung them towards Yang, who intercepted them in mid air with one of her explosive punches. Ruby, in the process of flinging one, is barreled over by another from the side. Yang, abandoning the already flung Borabusk, attempted to reach Ruby only to be whipped away by the tail of a King Taijiu.
Alex was slashing, keeping the Beowolves at bay with his knives until he saw an incoming Borabusk. Taking immediate action, he transformed into a gorilla and used his newly found strength to swat the pig-like Grimm into a line of Beowolves, which freed Ren from their onslaught. Ren shot at the Beowolves that surrounded him before being quickly piled on once more.
Blake, right in the path of an incoming Ursa, intercepted it using the whip-like function to tie it's front legs together. Weiss then took the opportunity to freeze its back legs to the ground, before quickly going back-to-back with Blake to each fend off an Ursa of their own. Blake managed a quick hit to the stomach, resulting in an easy kill, while Weiss easily switched her sword to use wind dust, causing the Ursa to be blown back into a wall. Before they could celebrate, the previously incapacitated Ursa broke free and continued its charge, causing the two to break apart.
Nora, meanwhile, had launched herself into the air in order to slam her hammer down onto the back of a large Death Stalker. With the scorpion-like creature down, Erin used the whip-like properties of her whip to attempt to burn it only it's armor was to resilient and it easily emerged from the ground and attacked with its stinger. Nora, in an attempt to block her fighting partner from the blow, was thrown away.
Doc was handling himself against two Ursa with the help of his large axe, which was handy in keeping them at bay. The axe-wielding teen was doing good, fairing against to of them. He had one on the ropes, pushing it back by jabbing it with the top part of his axe to get it into killing range. Next Doc went for the killing blow, only the Ursa managed to back away in time leaving Doc with his weapon stuck in the ground once more.
Joe, right behind Doc, was fighting a Kin Taijiu of his own. The large snake was circling him, leaving him to try and follow it's movements. When it finally stuck, Joe was ready and deflected the snake's head with his ore but the snake tried again. This time Joe changed the angle of his ore and the snake managed to hook it's fangs through it, but the ore was enough to keep it from biting the team leader. The snake, frustrated, shook it's head violently to get away, yanking the ore from Joe's grasp and sending it flying into the air and only skidding to a stop once it entered the largest cave.
Eventually, once everybody found themselves at a disadvantage, they slowly formed a circle with one another in the center of the clearing with the Grimm surrounding them on all angles.
"Come on guys, as long as we stick together we can still get this done!" Ruby cried, trying to encourage her teammates.
"Uh, any ideas Pyrrah?" Jaune asked over his shoulder. The warrior girl shrugged.
"Look, I know things are looking pretty Grimm, but we have to keep level heads if we want to-" Joe tried to lecture, but Doc broke in.
"We're beaten, disarmed, low on ammo and you're going to make shitty puns?" He asked a bit miffed.
"Yes of course. What better time to do it?" Joe asked back with a shrug. Yang shot him a look despite her earlier chuckle.
"Probably not when we're all about to die." She told him. He shrugged.
"Alright, I think I have a plan guys." Jaune said suddenly. Everybody looked at him. "I say we split up into three teams of four, and try and drive them back from as many angles as we can."
"Worth a shot." Ruby said. "Everyone ready? Let's do this!" Ruby cried as her friends rushed towards the surrounding Grimm.
Yang and Pyrrha were on the front lines, the first two to charge the Grimm with Jaune and Ruby following close behind.
"Pyrrha, give me a boost!" Yang yelled to her battle partner.
With no other warning, Yang jumped towards Pyrrha who luckily knew what she wanted to do. Yang landed on Pyrrha's raised shield and let the red head launch her straight into the air only to come back down with a surprising force that sent nearby Grimm into the air. While the Grimm were still in the air, Pyrrha quickly transformed her spear into her rifle and quickly shot the Grimm out of the air. Ruby and Jaune readily killed the remaining Grimm not affected by Yang and Pyrrha's combo move.
In another part of the clearing, Ren, Alex, Weiss and Blake gathered together to fight against an advancing mob of Grimm.
"Blake get ready to cover me. Ren and Alex, be ready to attack" Weiss commanded.
Blake took a defensive stance next to Weiss as Ren and Alex prepared to charge. As the two broody boys neared the Grimm, two bright yellow glyphs appeared at their feet, courtesy of Weiss, which enhanced their speed until they were too fast too see. They zipped around in unison, striking down every Grimm in their path.
In the center of the clearing, Joe, Erin, Doc, and Nora seemed ready to put a plan into action. Joe unholstered both tasers and began to pick off the grim, paralyzing them with electricity. While Joe was dealing with the Grimm Doc called for Erin.
"Erin, can you get my axe?" He asked, pointing to his weapon still lodged in the ground almost completely across the clearing.
Erin rolled her eyes at her teammate but flicked her whip towards the oversized weapon, wrapping around the handled and jerking it back in their direction. Doc raised his hand to catch his weapon.
After they felt like Joe had stunned enough Grimm, Erin inserted a green dust crystal into her handle and created a whirling sucking the Grimm closely together.
"Doc, Nora!" Joe called to them. "Take them out now!" He said pointing at the cluster of disabled Grimm.
Doc and Nora looked at each other; each had a wide grin across their face at the thought of killing so many Grimm at once. They loaded their weapons and opened fire on the Grimm, resulting in a large explosion killing and dismembering the unfortunate creatures. The two high fived as they marveled at their work.
The remaining Grimm began to retreat down the mountain as the huntsmen and huntresses were eliminating the stranglers from the first wave.
"Damn, I can't believe that actually worked" Joe said slightly surprised.
"Yea, that performance really… blew me away" Yang quipped, her friends all groaning at the horrible pun.
"Please Yang, we've had enough bad puns for a lifetime already" Erin pleaded
"Well, I'd say that's a wrap on this mission. How about a group high five?" Ruby said holding her hand out already. Everyone just shrugged and stretched out their hands. Just as Joe was about to high five Alex he suddenly froze.
"Oh shit my ore!" Joe exclaimed as hightailed it over to the large cave where his unconventional weapon was thrown, leaving everyone hanging.
Joe entered the dark cave and was looking around for his ore. He spent about three minutes searching in total darkness for it until he found his weapon wedged between two rocks.
"Finally found you." Joe said talking to his ore. "Don't you ever leave me again."
Joe attempted to pry the ore free, but he pulled with so much force that the ore easily became free and headed straight for his face. It smacked right against Joe's face, leaving a large ore shaped mark.
"Fucking shit!" Joe yelled in pain, rubbing his face.
Suddenly a loud roar came from the depths of the cave followed by loud thumping.
"Is that a cave rave happening? Who the hell decided that? Just because it rhymes doesn't mean it works." Joe complained to himself. He suddenly heard the thumping grow louder and closer to him.
"Um, fuck that." He said, pointing in the direction of the noise before sprinting back the way he came.
LINEBREAK
The teams were growing restless waiting for Joe to retrieve his ore, they began to collect themselves before they started for the path again. Just as they were about to leave Joe came running out of the cave going on about some "cave rave."
"Joe, slow your roll. Now what happened in there?" Erin questioned him
"Cave rave." Joe said simply, panting.
"Come on now, just because cave and rave rhyme doesn't mean that works." Yang said, disappointed.
"Yeah, that's what I said." Joe replied immediately.
Suddenly the thumping returned and was fast approaching.
"There it is again." Joe said, dancing to the beat
"Sounds like dub step." Jaune added
The thumping grew to full force and sounded like it was closing in. Then suddenly a massive creature emerged from the cave entrance. Closely resembling both a Grimm and a T-Rex.
"WTF that's not a rave!" Joe said, surprised and a bit disappointed.
"Is that a Grimm? It looks ancient!" Pyrrha questioned
"So it's a dinosaur?" Yang asked
"I knew it! I told you all it was real!" Doc shouted. "Take that Professor Port!" he said shaking his fist at the air.
The large Grimm let out a massive, earthshaking roar forcing the students to cover their ears in pain. A large rumbling began back towards the path and the Grimm that had left previously had returned, hearing their master's call.
"Guess we're not done yet." Blake said, unsheathing her weapon once more.
"Don't worry guys, I got this." Joe exclaimed as he aimed both of his tasers at the giant Grimm.
Two small torrents of electricity came out of the tazers and struck the Dino-Grimm directly in the jaw. The gargantuan Grimm was unaffected and seemed to ignore Joe's attempt at an attack.
"Well that didn't work, anyone else got any ideas?" Joe said looking around at his teammates.
"Well there's only one thing to do, Charge!" Ruby exclaimed as she dashed forward, her team following behind her.
Just as team JADE was about to enter the fray, a loud screech was heard from above. Looking up Joe spotted the form of a large Nevermore flying above.
"I want it and I want it now." Joe said determinedly.
"Uh, you okay over there?" Pyrrah asked, unsure.
"I've just never seen anything so… majestic. Ima fly on it." Joe decided. Everybody else sweat dropped.
They were sectioned off into groups again, thanks to the sheet amount of Grimm. Nora, Blake and Yang were handling themselves against a fairly large group of them, until the T-Rex joined the brawl.
"We gotta take this thing down!" Yang cried, rushing the T-Rex's legs as she repeatedly unloaded her weapons at it. They had no effect, however, against the Grimm's armor and her shots merely ricocheted off.
Blake attempted next to slay the Grimm, by attacking the legs again this time with her sword. Just like Yang's bullets, the sword couldn't penetrate the thick scales of the animal. After bouncing off, Blake was almost stomped on by the Grimm, but she managed to narrowly avoid the large foot.
Nora followed up by shooting off some grenades at the large creature, but even the explosions seemed to have no effect on it. It seems to only be angry, swiveling around quickly and swatting Nora with it's large tail, that she shouldn't avoid in time.
"Nora!" Blake and Yang called in alarm, racing towards their fallen comrade, but they were stopped when the T-Rex stepped in their way.
Noticing her teammates in peril, Ruby quickly rushed to their aid followed soon after by Erin and Pyrrah, and the five girls quickly teamed up on the large Grimm. This time the combined efforts seemed to get them somewhere, scoring multiple strikes on the beasts skull.
Meanwhile, Joe, Doc and Weiss were just finishing up with their own group of Grimm, even if most of Joe's attention was still on the skies.
"We have to get over there, they need our help." Weiss told the boys, who nodded their agreement.
"Hold on, I think this bird's gonna land soon." Joe claimed, not looking away from the flying Grimm.
"Dammit Joe, if we make it back to school I'll build you a plane but now is not the time." Doc said annoyed.
"We need a plan of attack." Weiss decided, looking back at the battle. Doc's gaze followed to see Yang's fist collide with the T-Rex's faceplate, leaving a decent sized gash in the beasts face.
"I think I might have one, but we have to get over there quick." Doc told Weiss, the duo both turning back to face Joe. "Joe, we need to- what the frilly hell is this?"
Doc and Weiss looked back to see Joe on the ground, wrestling with a Nevermore. He had it in an improvised head-lock, the ore locked around it's neck and Joe's grip fastened on both ends. The creature screeched in annoyance and tried to break free, but Joe just held on tighter.
"Two coach seats now available on Wise Airlines!" Joe cried, only to be almost thrown off. The Nevermore began to break free; taking off the ground with Joe still on it's neck. Doc acted quickly and scooped Weiss over his shoulder despite her protests.
"Coach? Please. We're flying first class." Doc said, leaping onto it's back and making it just in the nick of time even with Weiss yelling profanities in his ear.
They were only in the air a few moments before Weiss decided she had enough with Nevermore's thanks to a particularly awful incident thanks to her leader and thought it best to be with the others holding back the monster Grimm. The heiress stood up and prepared to jump, until Joe called to her.
"Don't do it Weiss! You have so much to live for!" Joe cried exasperatedly, grinning all the while. Weiss just glared.
"Dolts." She said, before jumping off deciding that anything was a better fate than this.
"And she didn't even pay for her ticket." Joe quipped once more, struggling to contain the bird for much longer. He elbowed it's neck roughly as Doc called out to him.
"Really? I know you don't take things seriously but now is not the time. Can't you stop for once?" Doc lectured. Joe grinned wider.
"Nope, nor do I plan to." Joe said, kicking the Nevermore's chest. "So," He grunted. "Got any ideas?"
"Actually," Doc said, looking down at the battle that was taking place. "I do."
"Enjoying the window seat, eh?" Joe said, glancing back and seeing Doc's eyes wandering downward. Doc thought it best to ignore him.
"I need you to stun it for me. Think you can manage that?" Doc asked, looking warily at Joe, who nodded.
"I may have a trick up my sleeve." Joe said, maneuvering himself so that he was standing on the Grimm as well. He looked down at the battle scene, zeroing in on his target when his eyes seemed to dance with electricity and became almost completely yellow.
He repositioned his ore, as if aiming down, and the rowing instrument began cracking with electricity itself until it eventually resembled a lightening bolt. Not hesitating any longer, Joe hurled his odd weapon down towards the T-Rex. Joe's idea seemed to work, if only for a little while, as electricity crackled along its body, effectively paralyzing it. Joe quickly turned back to Doc.
"What's the rest of your plan?" Joe asked interested.
"This." Doc said simply, already leaning at a forty-five degree angle over the side of the large bird. He surrounded himself in what he hoped was enough aura using his semblance for his plan to work. "I wish I could say it's been an honor," he started, leaning further. "But I'd be lying!" The end of his statement echoing as he fell through the air and rapidly descended onto the battlefront.
"And I let that asshole fly first class." Joe muttered to himself, going back to choke-holding the Nevermore. He began to fly around in large circles above the battle.
Doc, meanwhile, had channeled all the aura into one large fist that stretched yards beyond the end of his right arm. Just as he had hoped, Joe managed to get him right above the dinosaur Grimm and that combined with the force of his punch and the weak spot Yang had created was more than enough to topple over the monster, effectively shattering it's faceplate and revealing it's fragile flesh.
"I should've been the leader of this goddamn group." Doc complained, limping up to the others cradling his fist trying to hide the pain. Yang rolled her eyes even as the T-Rex stood up again and roared. Everybody else grimaced.
"Ugh, this thing just won't stay down!" Jaune complained. Yang's eyes shined.
"What we need is a plan so crazy that it just might work." Yang decided for the team.
"Already on it!" Joe's voice called but the only thing visible was a Nevermore.
"What's that?" Alex asked, confused. It was Blake that answered first.
"It's… a bird?" She said, confused.
"According to Joe, it's a plane." Doc offered.
"No, it's just an idiot." Weiss concluded, looking very uncamused.
Everybody watched the skies as the Nevermore quickly flew overhead, turned around and went into a nose-dive straight towards their main enemy. Joe, now standing on top of his makeshift missile, smirked.
"Please keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times until we've reached a complete stop! Emergency exits are on your left and, as always, have a safe trip!" Joe cried before jumping off the back of the Nevermore right before it collided with the now-battered T-Rex and landed in the middle of his fellow classmates.
"Thank you for flying Wise Airlines." Joe said, a little groggily. "We hope to see you again… never." Was all he said before he dropped to the ground, his body having finally depleted itself of energy.
"Man, he really picks the best times to… pass… out…" Doc criticized lazily, before he collapsed as well. Erin rolled her eyes a bit.
"Well at least now you guys know they're good for something." Erin weakly defended her teammates.
"Are they…. Will they be okay?" Ruby asked hopefully. "What happened?"
"They fainted." Blake answered. "They probably used too much aura too quickly, or they just completely exhausted all of it, which I wouldn't put past those two. Just like Nora earlier."
Everybody froze when they heard a rumble, and realized that the beast wasn't dead yet. Acting quickly while they had it weakened, the group unloaded the rest of their ammunition and weaponry onto the beast, surely finishing the job.
"It's finally over…" Yang said weakly, before smiling wide. "Let's get the hell out of here before something else tries to kill us." She continued, effortlessly hoisting Joe and Doc up to either of her shoulders as everyone began their long trek home.
LINEBREAK
Joe and Doc were laying in their respective hospital beds, two days after the mountain incident, recovering. Joe had simply been exhausted beyond belief, having exerted too much aura even for someone of his semblance, while Doc, in addition to exhaustion, had managed to break every bone in his right arm.
"I regret nothing." Doc told Joe, who nodded. "Did it at least look cool?" He asked. Joe nodded again.
"As cool as a blue firework that screams in pain can get." Joe replied. Doc nodded his acceptance and they fell into a natural silence, until the med-bay doors hissed open and Professor Ozpin strolled in.
"You're mission was a success, I just thought you'd like to know, since everyone else involved was told when they returned. Construction of the training ground will proceed within the month and I've also had a chat with Professor Port about adding a new species of Grimm based on a T-Rex to the known species list." Ozpin explained, before looking at Doc. "I see it only fit that Mr. Doc, one of the only believers, gets to name this newfound species."
"I hereby dub this species…. the docosaur."