-Chapter 11-

Building Confidence Part 1

Ellix's group arrived to Ender Woodlands. The pilot said his good luck message to the trio as he flew off.

"So, this place is Ender Woodlands." Alice said.

"That's right." Ren said. "The relics we seek are at a ruin, somewhere in this huge, dense woodland."

"With three of us, we will be fine. Let's do our best, guys." I said. We entered into the unknown environment that we have never set foot before.

Alice looked nervous, so she stick around with me as she walked behind me. "Don't worry, Alice. You have two masters. Besides, you are combat ready, aren't you?" I asked.

"Ye—yeah, I am, but this mission is still kind of scary to me. I mean, this is my first time on a real mission before." Alice admitted timidly.

"It's alright. We may have more experience, but this is my first time being here, too." Ren said.

"Me, too." I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but you guys are much stronger and braver than me. I am not sure if I can show my best as I should." Alice said.

I turned around and face her. I padded her each shoulder with my hand. "Alice, do not worry. If anything happens, I will protect you."

"You will?" She asked.

"Of course. We are friend and right now, we are partner and a team. However, you must stay strong and be more confident in yourself. Do not let other people think you are otherwise so."

Alice shed some tears, but she sniffed and wiped them away. "Thank you, Ellix. You are just as encouraging when I first met you."

I smiled. "Your welcome, Alice. Besides, I know you are strong or else, you would've not even come here this far. Nonetheless enroll at Beacon."

Ren nodded in agreement. "I agree with Ellix, and you are not alone. If there is a problem, you can always ask either of us."

"Thank you, Ren. Thank you both." She said with a genuine smile.

"Yes, and now we need to handle with these guys." I said, glaring at multiple Beowolves that have surrounded us.

"Woah! Where the heck these guys came from!?" Alice gasped.

"Well Alice, get your weapon out quick because now, you will experience the first time for what it likes to fight a Grimm." Ren said as he posed into a martial art stance.

"Indeed." I agreed as I summoned my gauntlet with a sword out.

"Um! Right!" She said as she activated her weapon. Similar to Yang, her weapon was gauntlets, but the color was pink with red heart for the hard plating on each. The arm guard for each gauntlet was little bulky and had white outline with a small pink heart with angelic wings for the symbol. She posed in a brawler stance, but still looked nervous as sweats drip down her face.

One of the Beowolves howled, causing all of the other Beowolves to attack. Ren kicked and punched each Grimm as they ran forward him. Alice punched at her as they approached her while I supported her back with my gauntlet in its sword form. I summoned out the second gauntlet, which now I was fighting with two swords.

I activated the gloves underneath my gauntlet, transforming my sword into one fire sword and the other one the ice sword. I burned and freeze the Beowolves. I stopped fighting with the swords and then transformed my gauntlet into its machine gun mode. I began shooting them with rapid energy bullet.

Each of them cried in pain as I shot each of them. Alice punched each of Beowolves in their face, and surprisingly she was doing not bad.

"I am doing it. I'm actually fighting well!" Alice said. However, I noticed one Grimm sneaking up from her behind. She had not notice it. I quickly teleported myself to her and slashed the Grimm before it lay its filthy claw on her.

"Ellix!" She shouted.

"Thanks me later! We still have more to go!" I said as another type of Grimm appeared; Creeps. They joined into the fray as each Creep launched at us. I punched and even kicked each of them as Alice did her, but I was doing a lot faster.

I transformed my gauntlet again into its gun mode. "Alice, duck!" She did what she was told as I began shooting at the remaining Grimm. Most of them got shot, but the rest of them retreated.

"Is it safe now?" She asked timidly.

"Yes, Alice." I offered her a hand. She accepted it. Ren joined us, but I noticed something strange about him.

"Good job, Alice. You did well…on..your first try. Gah!" He knelt down and collapsed to the ground, but I caught him. I noticed that he got injured around his abdomen area.

"Ren!" I yelled.

Later the day, Alice and I made campfire. Luckily, I found herbs and used it to heal and patch up Ren's wound. I used my scarf to patch his wound.

"There you go, Ren." I finished.

"Thank you, Ellix and I'm…sorry for let this happen to me, even though we just started this mission." He apologized humbly.

I shrugged. "No, Ren. It is OK. You just rest and we move on tomorrow."

"No, Ren. It is all my fault." Alice spoke. "I am the one who caused you to get hurt."

"Alice, you didn't do anything to harm me. It is not your fault at all." He said.

"No, it is! If I only helped you out in that fight, you wouldn't be hurt like you are right now." Alice said sadly.

"Hey, cheer up, Alice. It is not your fault. You did all you can. Besides, it is the Grimm that hurt Ren whose fault." I said.

"Ellix is right, Alice. I will be alright, so you don't need to feel sorry." Ren assured her.

"I…I will get some more firewood." She said, walking away from the scene. However, I knew that she purposely ditched from the scene, so we won't see her crying.

I got a flask and drank some water out of it. "Hey Ellix." Ren spoke. "There is something I want to talk with you about. It's about Alice."

"Yes, what's about her, Ren?" I asked.

"This is just my assumption, but I think Alice, she may have a feeling for you." Ren admitted.

Ellix stared at him for a moment, but then grinned. "I see. Well to be honest, I…kind of have had that feeling she does. But, of course, I have Yang for my girlfriend, and she should know."

"She does. Perhaps it is best to tell her your feeling." Ren suggested.

"I may have to, but not right now. However, I think her feeling over me and jealousy over Yang may encourage her to become stronger. Let's keep this our secret and watch her grow. As masters to her, it is probably the best way for her to become stronger Huntress." I explained.

Ren looked little surprise to my logic, but he understood what I mean. "If you say so, Ellix, then I will let this slide."

Alice came back with more firewood shortly after our talk was over. "I brought more firewood, Ellix."

"Good job, Alice. That will be enough to keep us warm for the night. How about you go to sleep while I watch for the night?" I said.

"Um, OK, but are you sure? Don't you need some sleep, too?" She asked worryingly.

"Don't worry about me, Alice. Tomorrow is a big day, so get some rest." I assured.

She nodded in agreement. "OK, Ellix. Well, goodnight."

She and Ren went to slumber for the night as Ellix watched over them and anything else in case of danger.

The next day, the sun rose up as its light beamed through the woodlands and over the sleeping huntress. She woke up as she stretched her arms, and got up. Soon after, Ren woke up, too. They noticed the fireplace was still burning, but Ellix was nowhere to seen.

"Ellix? Where is he?" Alice asked.

Before she went into panic, they heard footsteps and saw him with a dead dear on his shoulder as he holds it with his arm. "Good morning, you two. I got our breakfast."

"Ellix! Oh, it's good that you are alright, and…wow, are we seriously going to eat that?" Alice said, also wondering at the big meat that he caught.

"It tastes good after we cook it. OK, Alice. Help me prepare this deer." He said decisively.

They cooked the dead dear and ate its meat. They enjoyed the cooked dear meat, which tasted different from cow, pig, or chicken, but it was delicious in its own way.

"That was actually good." Ren commented.

"It really was." Alice nodded.

"Glad you two like it. Well, we better get going. Also, Ren, I will carry you." I said, "So Alice, you will be in charge of keeping an eye on things. We will be in big trouble if another Grimm pops out at us."

"Um, sure. I will do it!" Alice said determinedly, although looked little bit nervous.

They resumed their mission, heading to the location for the artifacts or relics. Unfortunately, since Ellix was carrying Ren on his back, their movement slowed down, but surely. The sun was already up in the air, probably around 8 or 9 AM possibly.

Alice watched from left to right to check if anything will happens, but at the same time, looked at me from behind as she looked worry and somewhat still sorry for the possible suffering I am going through with Ren.

"I wonder how Nora and the others are doing. I hope she is not causing your teammate, Laura some troubles, Alice." Ren spoke.

"Oh, why do you ask? Does your teammate like, well cause trouble? She seems to me very energetic and brave person." Alice said.

Ren smirked. "It's true. She is energetic and brave. I know her since our childhood, and we've been friends for a long time. I cared so much for her…, but not in the way that we are couple. If anything happens to her, I don't know what I will do…"

"I am sure she is fine, Ren. Who knows, maybe she is riding on an Ursa in rodeo style right now." I joked.

Ren chuckled to my joke. "Yeah, that's probably what she will do…most likely."

We laughed together as Alice grinned and giggled a bit. Suddenly, that joke became into reality. I stopped, causing Alice to ponder why I did. Ren also had a sense, too.

"What's wrong, Ellix?" She asked.

"Listen, Alice." I said.

She listened to her surroundings, hearing something thumping and big. The sound was coming close and it was heading to their direction.

"Run!" I yelled as I turned back. Alice followed my lead quickly before an Ursa popped out of nowhere with a familiar orange-haired girl on the back.

"Yeeeeehhh-haaaaaawwww! Ride them cowgirl style!" Nora screamed joyfully. Suddenly, the Ursa stopped moving, and sat its belly on the ground, dead.

"Oh man. It's broken, just like the last time." Nora whined.

"No—Nora!?" Ren exclaimed.

Nora finally noticed us. "Ren!?" She jumped off from the back of that horrible bear beast. "Ren, what happened to you!? Are you OK?"

"Relax, Nora. He got injured yesterday when we were attacked by pack of Beowolves and Creeps, but I performed medics on him. We will be heal completely soon." I said, reassuring her.

"Ren…" She said before she put up a smile. "You need to be more careful of yourself!"

"Me?" He replied. "You are the one who needs to be MUCH more careful than me!"

She giggled innocently, although causing him to smile warmly.

"Nora!" A voice yelled. Her partner, Laura Tangerine, joined in with us.

"Laura!" Alice exclaimed.

"Alice." She noticed. "I see you are doing well with your masters. For me, my master Nora here is well…too energetic."

"Sorry for her to cause such trouble to you." Ren apologized.

"Hey! At least we are having fun!" Nora said with her arms out in the air.

"Right…." I sighed. "Anyway, now that there are five of us, it is best to stick together for now and find the ruins."

"Actually, we believe that we found it." Laura said. "We found an entrance to a cave, and I have an hunch that the relics or artifacts are in there. We would be in there right now if Nora here has not caught an Ursa and just rode off away."

She scoffed at her superior which she replied with a cheeky smile.

"Well, do you remember where it is?" I asked.

"Of course. Follow me." She said as she leaded us to the cave entrance.

They arrived to the entrance of the cave in less than 10 minutes (same one that Kuro and Pyrrha discovered).

"So, this is it." I stated.

"Yes. I believe that the relics are in there, somewhere." Laura said.

"I wonder if anyone else found it." Nora said.

"Are we seriously going to go in there?" Alice gulped, shaking in fear.

"Yes, we must." Ren nodded.

"Don't worry, Alice. By sticking together as unified team, we will be fine, but stay alert. This cave is big enough for any Grimm to dwell in. Let's go!" I said as we entered the cave.

It was cold and damp inside the cave. Alice shivered a little, even though she was more clothes covered than Nora. Nora didn't mind at all as she happily hummed to herself (which strangely she was humming the lyrics for "This Is the Day").

As we walked deeper into the cave, I noticed something up ahead. It was someone, laying on the ground and looking unconscious. He had two black car ears, and I knew for fact it is.

"Kuro!" Alice, Laura, and I exclaimed. Everyone ran up to him as I walked little bit faster, but don't want to run because I was still carrying Ren.

"Kuro, wake up!" Alice said as she held his head on her lap. He slowly opened his eyes, and noticed Alice.

"Uuuu-oof, my head." He slowly got up, and looked at each of us. "Huh? Where did you guys came from? How long was I out?"

"We just came into this cave, but what happened to you?" Laura asked.

"Like Laura said, what exactly happened to you and where is your partner, Pyrrha?" Alice asked, looking a bit worry.

"Prryha?" He repeated, then widened his eyes and got up quickly. "Damn! That Sparta Girl, she is one who knock me out cold!"

"What!?" Nora and Ren gasped.

"Kuro, please explain. What happened to you and Pyrrha?" I asked, sounding a bit more serious.

-Flashback-

"These Grimm are such annoyance!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"Arachinore." Kuro said. "They are very pesky about territorial invasion, which I can relate to, but they are very troubling Grimm when they are fighting as a group."

Suddenly, more of its kind climbed down from the ceiling. The spider Grimm surrounded the duo. Pyrrha and Kuro took out their weapon, ready for battle.

"I take it now that this cave is their home, and I bet your knight in shining armor leader, Jaune and his partner/my teammate taken away by these guys. Let's hope they have not got eaten or something." Kuro said as he growled at the spider Grimm.

"Let's hope not." Pyrrha replied. "Are you ready?"

Kuro snouted, but smirked to her. "Hmph! What do you think? I am Blake Belladonna's worthy rival. You remember how I fought during that great battle."

Pyrrha smirked back. "Good point."

They strike at the spider Grimm as they cried their battle cry and the spider Grimm did the same.

-Flashback ends-

"However, more of them came as we fought hard. That damn Sparta Girl knocked me out cold, most likely to save me and sacrificed herself." Kuro explained.

"Oh no! Prryha, could she…!" Nora said.

"Relax, bubble girl. I did not say she is dead…well I don't know, but I bet she hasn't, at least hopefully not yet." Kuro said. "The last thing I saw is that those stupid spiders Grimm took her deep into the cave as their hostage. Most likely, they did the same with your leader and Roy."

"Roy!" Laura exclaimed. "We got to save them."

"Right." I nodded. "Let's go team!"

With Kuro as the lead, we went deeper into the cave quickly as possible. About a minute later, we approached to a huge, wide cavern. There were some fallen pedestals, but I also noticed some cobwebs on them and the walls.

"So where is she, Kuro?" Nora asked.

"Wait." He said as he sniffed around. The smell stopped here, so they must be here. I momentarily looked up and I was quite shock.

"Guys, look up!" I said. Everyone looked up, and they were surprised.

Human-sized pods made of web were hanging on the ceiling. I noticed few of them revealed a familiar face while others I don't recognize their face covered by the webs, but it must be the other teams. I hope none of them is Yang.

"Ruby!" I yelled.

"Pyrrha! Jaune!" Their teammates yelled, too.

Ruby was the first person to open up her eyes "Mmm, where am I?"

"Ruby, down here!" I said loudly.

She eyed down, and noticed me. "Ellix…Ellix!"

"Hey, it's you!" The hanging web pod next to Ruby was Rudy, who was tied up, except for his face. "Lucky that you guys found us."

"Hey, it's that Rudy guy." Kuro said. "How is the Sparta Girl and the wimpy blond?"

"Ku—Kuro?" Pyrrha woke up.

"Pyrrha! We are here, too!" Nora exclaimed.

"Nora. Ren." Pyrrha noticed. "You guys, get out of here! This place is dangerous!"

"Which is why we're here to save you guys' asses!" Kuro replied.

"What do you mean that this place is dangerous!?" Nora asked.

"I think I know what she means!" Alice said, shaking in fear. Suddenly, more of those Arachinore crawled down from the ceiling. Some even walked down on the walls while few more entered the cavern from the cave hole we went through.

"Nora, protect and stay with Ren." I said to her.

"Got it!" She said as she carried her old friend on her shoulder with one arm and her hammer in the other hand.

"Guys, get ready to fight! This situation is going to be…sticky." I said.

One of the spider Grimm screeched, a very horrible cry I ever heard. Some of them strike on us. I summoned my gauntlets into the sword mode, burning in fire. We strike back. Kuro shot lightnings at each Arachinore coming at him. Nora protected Ren as she slammed her hammer at each creature that approaches her. Laura used two orange Yo-Yos to fight against the Grimm. She fought them in a very unique way; using different type of Yo-Yo trick, like walking the dog to spin fast like a chainsaw to cut the spider Grimm's face off. I just slashed and sliced each Grimm with my two swords while Alice stayed close to me as she punched any of them approaching me from the backside.

"Damn it! There is too many of them! We got to help Ruby and others, but these guys get in the way!" I exclaimed.

"What are we going to do!?" Alice said panicking.

"I could shoot fireball at them to release them, but like you said, Ellix, these damn spiders are such annoyance!" Kuro nodded before he focused back in the fights. "Neeaaw!"

Suddenly, there was no need for us to do with the captured teammate. A white boomerang flew over us as it cut each pod, dropping down to the ceiling. I caught one that Ruby captured in while Alice caught two; one with Rudy in it and another one with Roy. Nora, and Ren caught Jaune and Pyrrha respectfully. The other pods just slammed and squished over the three Arachinores that was approaching Kuro, which he smirked to that.

The boomerang returned to its rightful owner, revealing to be Aron alongside Blake, Yang, Luke, Weiss, and Giovanny.

"Yang!" I yelled.

"Ellix!" Yang yelled.

"Yang!" Ruby cried.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled.

"Weiss!" I yelled.

"Ellix!?" Weiss yelled.

"Blake!"

"Ellix!" Blake yelled.

"Nora!" She interrupted.

"Enough!" Luke yelled.

"Don't ruin the moment." Yang said to her partner before she ran up to me and Ruby.

I used my sword to cut Ruby out of the web pod. She gave a big hug to her sister as she hugged her. "Yang! I am happy to see you again!"

"I am glad that you are alright, Ruby!" Yang said before she turned to me. "Ellix, thank you for finding her."

I smiled. "No problem, Yang, but you should really thank to Kuro. His nose led us here anyway."

"Hmph! Whatever." He huffed with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

"Is that so?" Blake spoke as she approached us.

"That is right, Blake Belladonna! I saved all of these guys' asses." Kuro stated.

"Right." She said sarcastically, causing Kuro to growl at her.

Alice smiled warmly to the moment until we all heard a big cry. Suddenly, a giant Arachinore crawled along down the wall. Unlike the smaller one, this one had white armor plating on each leg and the back with red markings along the plate. It also had a red marking that makes an angry face on its butt.

It hissed loudly, causing some of the stalactites fall down to the floor. "Well, look at that, guys. It is our friendly neighborhood, Spiderman and he grown huge." I joked.

Queen Arachinore hissed louder, specifically to me. "Oh, sorry. You are Miss Spiderman. I'm really not an expert in spider gender-ology, so sorry that I offended you."

Yang giggled under her hand and Nora, and Ruby laughed while Weiss just facepalmed. Luke looked impatient as he tapped his finger while crossing his arms.

"OK, ok. I had enough joke." I said, going back into serious mode. "Let's defeat the boss."

As everyone except for the ones who were in the web pods, got into their respective fighting pose. Alice looked nervous, but she joined in with everyone else as the fight began.

Author's Note: I decided to upload the two new chapters early in the morning because I think I might come home late in the afternoon. I have an appointment with my career counselor today. What do you guys and gals think for this chapter and previous chapter?

Remember; I have a poll in my profile. I am gathering some votes to determine if you guys want to see one last filler chapter or start the first, actual plot chapter for Chapter 16. The poll will opened until Tuesday. I will close it on Tuesday, and based on the votes, I will either write a filler chapter or plot chapter. Filler chapter is similar to like filler episode for an anime while the plot chapter is actual chapter with a plot for the volume. Either way, we will be seeing something more for this Volume, which set up something in the future volume. So, please put in your vote.

Next times in Tales of Ellix Knight 2, Ellix, his teammates, and friends will face the Queen Arachinore and its army of smaller Arachinore. See you guys in the NEXT CHAPTER.