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CHAPTER 14
Winter and Weiss both held confused looks on their faces as Charles embraced the female Guardian. Charles had told them he had had his children in his late thirties, yet this woman was easily more than half his age. She looked more like his younger sister than his daughter.
"Aly, what are you doing here?" Charles asked bewilderedly.
"I'm not sure, to be honest." the Guardian replied, releasing her father from her crushing hug.
"I- I don't mean to interrupt..." Weiss found her voice. "But if you're his daughter, how are you so-"
"Old?" Alyia finished. "I can't give you any sort of scientific explanation, I guess time doesn't flow at the same rate between Earth and here." She stopped for a moment as a thought struck her. "Ah, sorry, where are my manners? Alyia Wheellock." She held out a hand.
"Winter Schnee. This is my sister, Weiss." the older snow-haired sibling shook the Guardian's extended palm friendlily. "And this is Anise." The small girl eyed Charles' daughter curiously from behind Winter's back.
"Wait." Charles interjected. "'Wheellock'?"
"Oh... yeah..." Alyia reddened slightly and rubbed the back of her head. "You're kinda... a grandfather now... twice, since Jerloh had Lex..."
"I-" Charles replied numbly as his brain attempted to process. "Now I feel old."
"You're only as old as you think you are, Dad." the Guardian quipped, causing the other assembled girls to chuckle.
"Perhaps we should find a better place to talk?" Winter suggested. "Instead of standing out in the middle of the road?"
"Sounds like a good idea." Charles agreed. "I'd like to hear what's happened back on Earth."
"Did you hear that?" Emerald asked, jumping slightly and pointing one of her two sickle-like weapons at a crimson bush.
"No, I can't say that I-" Pyrrha began to reply before whipping around at the sound of a snapping twig.
"Cut it out, you two." Anika said placatingly. "There's nothing there." Arthur nodded in agreement, though he continued to watch the dark red forest carefully. Ever since he had begun to sense that familiar energy, Emerald and Pyrrha had become progressively more jumpy. The Guardian had never once seen either of them lose their composure so easily. Whatever it was, it seemed to have left both Arthur and Anika alone, while messing with the Remnant girls' heads.
"That energy just keeps getting stronger." the Guardian noted. He made sure to pat Emerald's shoulder reassuringly as she stuck closer to him. "What do you think? Should we go searching for it?"
"... You mean 'go looking for trouble'." Anika translated. "Count me in for that."
"If it stops making me jump at my own shadow, I'm all for it." Emerald added.
"I agree. We should locate whatever is causing us to feel this way." Pyrrha nodded.
"Well, sounds like that settles it." Emerald hooked her arm around Arthur's and gave him a wink, though the Guardian could still detect a glint of unease in her eyes. "Lead the way, Lightbulb."
"Alright... From what I can tell, it should be in this direc- down!" Arthur began orienting himself, but suddenly stopped and ordered the others to crouch low with an urgent whisper.
"What is it?" Pyrrha whispered, loading a fresh magazine into her weapon. Her inquiry was answered on its own, as a massive masked beast trudged through the trees ahead of them. The quadrupedal creature stood twenty feet in height at the shoulder, and a pair of draconic wings sprouted from its back even higher into the air. The maned head of a lion scanned the trees and sniffed for its prey, while a scorpion's stinger waved passively on the beast's rear. The four students paled at the sight of it. They had only ever heard about these Grimm.
"An Arch Manticore... and a really big one..." Emerald gulped. "I really hope it didn't see us."
"I hope it hasn't smelled us." Pyrrha muttered. "Professor Port said these Grimm have incredibly heightened senses." Thankfully, the massive creature seemed to have overlooked the four students. Its giant maw opened as the Manticore gave a loud yawn, bearing fangs larger than an arm. Then, the creature thudded of through the trees, leaving Arthur and the others to let out sighs of relief.
"Why the hell would something like that be here?" Anika asked clenching her teeth from the tension. "It is related to that energy?"
"Possibly. Grimm are drawn to negative emotions, after all. There's a chance that whatever's making Em and Pyrrha nervous is attracting bigger and bigger Grimm."
"... and we're still going to go looking for the energy anyway..." Emerald said in a deflated voice.
"Not exactly my first choice," Arthur replied, wrapping an arm around the mint-haired girl's shoulder, "But we need to figure out what's going on."
As Arthur and the others continued to follow the energy, they noticed more and more smaller Grimm milling about in Forever Fall's trees. The usually hostile creatures seemed to ignore each other as they all moved in the same general direction. There was no doubt in the students' minds that the Grimm were being attracted to the same energy they were following.
"Hey is that-?" Anika asked, as her ears picked out a sound. Arthur and the others stopped and took a moment to try to detect the noise. A series of sharp, rapid cracks could be heard in the distance, amidst the roars of Grimm.
"Gunfire." Pyrrha affirmed. The students quickly cut their way through the thick trees in the direction of the noise. As they drew nearer, Arthur spotted flashes of violet light. The group came to a clearing and was met with the sight of a mess of Grimm all attempting to overwhelm a vehicle. A single man stood against the horde while the vehicle itself had been knocked onto its side. The man wore an armored trench-coat of some kind. Arthur and Anika shared a look of shock.
"Is that-" the EDC sniper began.
"I think it is." Arthur answered, drawing his staff from his back. Wthout another word, both of the Earthlings had run from their hiding spot and engaged the Grimm horde. Pyrrha and Emerald shared glances of confusion before the latter simply shrugged and went to assist her team. Pyrrha shook her head with a small smile, then brought her weapon up to her shoulder to offer fire support.
With the sudden addition of four allied fighters, the man in the coat had no trouble thinning the rest of the Grimm with his two large revolvers. After several minutes of chaotic fighting, the local populace of Beowolves and Ursas lay dead with large holes and slashes through their bodies. The corpses began their process of slowly disintegrating into thin air.
Arthur caught his breath while Emerald patted him thoughtfully on the back. The man they had helped walked over. For a moment, the students mistook him for Charles. The resemblance in their weapons, armor, and builds was immense, the only obvious difference was the fact that this man's armor was far newer looking. The man's masked visage traveled over the four students in front of him, freezing suddenly on Arthur.
"Holy crap!" the man exclaimed. "Is that you, Judge?" Arthur's face became a mix of confusion and shock as the man referred to him by the name he had been called as a Guardian. Arthur suddenly realized who the man was.
"Jerlo- OOF!" Arthur started before being pulled into an incredibly crushing hug.
"Arthur! I can't believe you're alive!" The man laughed. "Looks like the last twelve years treated you way better than they did me." Arthur managed to wriggle free and take a breath.
"Wait, twelve?"
"Yeah, ever since you and the others-"
"Hate to interrupt, Jerloh." A woman's voice said as one of the doors on the overturned vehicle was kicked open. "But a hand would be nice."
"Oh, right. Hold on, Marcie." Anika watched as the man pulled both the woman who had spoken and a small girl from the wreckage. In an instant, the woman in EDC uniform caught the sniper's eye. She was certainly older than the last time she had seen her, but it had to be-
"Marcia?" Anika spoke up, causing the woman's head to snap to her.
"Jerloh, did we die?" the woman asked. The man quickly checked himself over.
"I don't think so. All my arms, legs, and organs are still here."
"Then somebody needs to explain why one of my dead teammates is standing there.
Chaos stirred from his sleep, becoming vaguely aware of the still-screeching voice in his head. He felt... good. Not great, now that the voice's incessant ranting was filling his mind again, but it had been a long time since he had slept so well. It took a moment for him to realize how odd this thought was. He had spent time sleeping on cave floors for the last two years, what made the last night any different?
"Mornin'!" Melody greeted cheerfully from where she was sitting nearby.
"Oh." Chaos muttered, good mood continuing to evaporate. "You're still here. I'd hoped that maybe I'd just imagined you."
"Aw, don't say that." She replied. "Besides, not like you can get rid of me." Chaos' response was to swing his arm in a slashing motion in her direction. When no shadowy blades sprung from his shadow to attack the girl, he shrugged.
"Apparently my powers have still not returned..."
"Don't worry about that." Melody smiled. "Here. I found some food." Chaos reacted quickly as the girl tossed him a cloth bag. He peered inside to find it filled to the brim with colorful berries. He hesitantly picked one of the fruits up between two of his fingers to examine it. This girl wasn't smart enough to try and poison him, was she? Upon seeing Melody pull out an identical bag of berries from behind her and dig into the fruit without hesitation, Chaos decided they should be safe to eat. He popped the berry in his hand into his mouth, surprised as an overwhelmingly sweet flavor filled his mouth. He eyed the silver-haired girl oddly. Why on Earth was she still here? Any normal person would have turned tail and run from him by now, never mind being kind to him. Chaos settled it in his own mind. Melody was crazier than he was.
A/N: So, unfortunately, life has decided to throw me a curveball, and I will have to take a break from writing Bloody Evolution for a while. So, I'm sorry to announce that this story will be on hiatus for at least a week or two before I can get back to it. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I assure you all that I will return as soon as possible and get back on schedule.
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