Chapter 6

Land... Oh glorious dirt... How much did Weiss love the feel of dirt beneath her feet.

"Worst landing ever... of all time." Jace looked like he was going to puke up a lung by the way his face looked. Many of the other lucky passengers were also feeling a bit worse for ware.

" Hey my landing wasn't that bad..." Weiss turned the the golden haired girl who stood in front of an escape craft that was currently missing a wing, upside down, and was on fire. She could see Yang had a giant smile on her face while everyone else just looked on in pure contempt.

Gideon just glared at the crazed blonde girl as he contemplated on what he was going to say to her. Despite his massive desire to tell her off in his native faunus tongue; using words that were not to be used in mixed company; he held off just due to the fact that at the moment they were vulnerable. " Next time we have to abandon an aircraft; I'm flying."

Weiss could only look on in total frustration at Yang who seemed to be enjoying the fact that they were now stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food, water, or a way to call for help, and worst of all in their night cloths. Weiss already could feel the cold night wind blowing up her night gown and could tell by Blakes expression that she was having the same trouble with her yukata.

"Ok girls, gather your things. We're still about twenty miles from our destination and knowing my team; they should be waiting for us at the coordinates." Gideon looked towards Jace and they both nodded to each other. Weiss could tell that those two already knew what to expect and were already expecting the worse.

" Could you two give us a second to change. Will be kinda hard to get anywhere in our pjs." Weiss didn't know what was worse; being stuck outside in her night gown, having those two men see her in her night gown, or that they both were still in their uniforms.

Jace locked eyes with her and gave her a stoic look. " Sorry, we don't have time. Right now, whoever shot down those ships are going to be looking for survivors. And that burning ship right there is going to be a nice big beacon for them. We're more than likely outmanned and outgunned in this wilderness. So our best bet is to make as much distance as we can away from the ship until the sun lights up the sky."

" But but... we're in our pjs..." Weiss' eyes started to tear up as she hated the fact of having to walk across rugged terrain barefoot with just some light material protecting her from the elements.

Gideon turned to her coldly and stared daggers at her. " Just be glad your not naked. Keep that thought burning in your gut and you should be fine..."

"But but..." She could see that there was no more chance to protest as the two men led the other three girls forward. All she could think about was at least she wasn't the only one having to suffer such an indignity.

Oh the indignity... That was the only thing that was going through Furions mind. In front of him sat that freak Robin; the faunus born without an animal feature. The best he had was those pointy ears of his. Furion wondered why Robins' parents didn't just let the poor child die out in the wasteland; that would of been a merciful death. With his curse; all Robin could be was a weapon for whoever so chose to weild him. At the moment that weilder was their leader Ajani Nacatyl...

The only amazing think about Robin was that he had an unattainable mastery of dust and sand control. That young pup could do things with both that Furion thought was impossible. The latest shows of his strength was the destruction of those pale skinned mongrels airships. Not only was he able to him them from such distance but the destruction of four of them outright was quite impressive. The fifth one however was a challenge due to some amazing piloting skills by its crew; yet even that one eventually fell.

But a part of him felt hollow. Furion never cared for the efficiency of whole sale slaughter with one attack. He prefered a blood bath with him knowing when each and every person he killed; exactly died. To him this was too impersonal. His only consolation was that soon they would have the bracer and then he will get his hearts content of slaughter.

He could see Ajani step forward from the corner of his left eye and take his place at Robins side. " Good Robin. You have performed above and beyond any of our expectations yet again. When our new world is born; you shall have a seat among those that have always been your equals. And those who cast you low shall find themselves at your mercy."

Furion could only scoff lightly under his breath. Everyone knew that once Ajani took his place as the rightful ruler of this world; that Robin would be discarded just like the rest of the riff raff. Empty words belittled such a great man.

" Unfortunately boss the girl isn't dead yet." The voice came from behind Furion this time. Cold as ice and as empty as the emotions that were slain inside of him; Lestats' remark caught them all off guard. They had hoped that the cat eared faunus girl would of been in one of the lead ships. Lestat had marked her with a blood seal when he stabbed her out of caution when they first fought. He was always cautious when it came to his enemies; that was why he had survived some hellish fights.

Ajani turned to Lestat and growled deeply. " I thought you told me that you could track her with that seal of yours..." He snarled his words out more as a comment than a question.

Lestat just looked at him coldly and scoffed. " I can track them by the pull of the mark. But it's not like I can home in on it fully from this range. You're thinking of it as a bright light when you should be thinking of it as a ping in silence. Even under the best conditions; getting a complete read on her is nearly impossible from this kind of range."

Ajani could only glare at him with a burning hatred in his eye. All he wanted to do now was strangle the bat faunus and snap his neck like a twig. Out of all his pawns; Lestat continued to be the most painful.

" If she's still alive then we should give chase now. They are right now confused and quite vulnerable to attack. We must end this quickly cause we don't know when their reinforcements will arrive." Syllabear was always the most level headed one of the group and kept the other members from kiliing each other on more than one occassion. " Now Lestat. Can you give us a good starting location for her?"

Furion just couldn't help but grin at how with just a few words; Sylla had them all working together again. With a much needed breather; they were off again to track their ill fated prey.

She hated the dirt. It was cold and rought and right now here feet were covered in it. Then there was the whole stepping on leaves, twigs, and rocks. She missed wearing shoes. To make matters worse was that her legs were freezing cold and had that cold burn you get when you hold a piece of ice to your skin for a long period of time.

This march of theirs' had taken them deeper and deeper into the woods; following the coordinates to the meeting point. Weiss couldn't even tell how long they have walked; had it been one mile or one hundred. All she wanted right now was a nice warm bath, hot food, and a nice comfy bed.

What seemed to be hours passed as finally Gideon raised up his hand and caused them to stop. He signalled a hand gesture to Jace who immediately went towards a rock formation with guns drawn. Everyone kept their eyes focused on the formation while gripping their weapons tightly.

Eventually a form came out of the formation and walked back towards them. Gideon let his guard down as he recognized the man as one of his soldiers. They both exchanged softened greetings before this new man escorted them to the formation.

As Weiss stepped into the formation; she noticed that it was more than just an ordinary formation but also an entrance to a cavern. Wow, what a cave too. Even from the entrance Weiss could see that the cavern expanse was massive. The chiselled stairs she could tell were hand crafted but everything else seemed to be that of nature.

"Wow, just... wow." Weiss took in the amazing view. Even though she had spent more than her fair share in her companies mines getting taught how to manage; seeing an untouched cavern such as this was still quite a sight.

Jace turned towards the girls with a devilish smile on his face. " Well girls; let me be the first to welcome you to our passage way home; welcome to Wyrmwood."

"Niiiiicccccceeeee... but right now I could go for a hot shower, food, and to put on cloths other than my pjs." Weiss had been called ice princess more times than she would care to admit, but right now all she wanted to do was get warm and stab anyone who dared threaten to call her that; repeatedly.

Both of the men looked at each other than back at Weiss with a blank look of surprise on their faces. Since the unfortunate meeting of these young girls; they had to deal with so much um 'uniqueness' of their character. Neither men could tell how such whiny, self absorbed girls could ever call themselves soldiers. No not soldiers; huntresses.

'What a stupid title for a stupid, short sighted race.' That was the first thought that came through Gideons' mind the first time he heard about these huntresses and huntsmen. They spent so much time training to defeat the Grimm; yet let their skills at solo combat suffer. If it wasn't for Jaces' hardwired belief that there was stregnth in diversity; then he would of just cut off the girls arm at the museum and be done with it.

Right now they were so divergent from their mission parameters that the entire mission had already gone six ways from sideways. Deep down he knew that this whole mission was going to go tits up and he would be stuck cleaning up the mess... again.

Even as he watched Jace escort them to a secluded alcove to change; all Gideon could think of was how this mission had already jumped the shark. Their mission was simple; go grab the artifact Titanias Bracer. He was given a higher than normal number of soldiers due to the fact that Ajanis' team was likely going to appear to take the bracer as well. Then there was all those humans with their superiority complex.

Finally it had to be their weapons that he couldn't stand. Seriously, who would build a death scythe that was also a high powered rifle. That weapon has so many design flaws and weak points that with a perfectly times blow to any of the exposed joints and that weapon will become useless.

Then there was the shotgun gauntlets that the big chested, bimbo blonde used. Only a blonde would think that it was a good idea to put multiple highly explosive rounds right on her arms. It's like she saying 'Please sir, pierce one of these shells with an electrically charged tip so I can then live as the girl with no arms.' Gideon mused at the fact that her brain was getting blood deprived due to her giant chest requiring so much attention. Like seriously, that rack just seems to ignore gravities pull.

Let's not even get started with the albino with her toothpick sword. The design itself wasn't that bad but the fact that you couldn't slash effectively with it was such a waste. There was just so many Grimm out there that you can't just poke at. Not to mention the Devourers; she would never be able to pull that toothpick out of one.

At least the domesticated girl knows how to build a decent blade. The only down side is the pistol handle. But that just goes to show that faunus have always been the better weapon builders.

This was one of the few times in a long time that Ruby was actually glad to be out of her pjs and into her combat skirt. As she looked around; she noticed the rest of her team finally slipping out of their own sleep garments and back into more combat centric clothing. Then something caught her eye; Weiss was putting on some off white over frost blue colored pants with a black belt with a silver snowflake as the buckle. She then tossed on a platinum colored tank top with a greyish colored jacket. She finished off with grey combat boots.

Both Yang and Blake also noticed Weiss' changed attire with Yang grinning profusely. " So Weiss, didn't know you were getting rid of your use of a combat skirt."

Weiss turned sharply towards the three girls with her face flushed red. Having all three girls watch her change had really gotten her nervous. " I... I... Didn't any of you listen to the briefing before we left. About half the landscape there is sand; and not the type of usable Sand either. I would rather not have my skin damaged by sand filled wind current; thank you very much."

Now it was the other girls' turn to look foolish. Both Ruby and Blake were putting on their stockings; which would probably get torn if they faced any heavy sand winds while Yang had no protection for her exposed legs. Weiss as usual was always thinking ahead.

" You girls almost done in there? Not to rush you but we need to get going asap." There was no mistaking Jaces' upbeat voice. Out of all the men there; he was the most upbeat. The others just seemed to be going through the motions.

Ruby looked around and made sure that all of them were dressed and presentable before replying. " Yep we're done."

The girls walked out of the alcove and back to the main part of the tunnel where all of the men stood. In total only three of Gideons' men survived their ride down while the others along with the Altesian soldiers all unfortunately died.

' There it was again.' Ruby told herself as she looked upon Gideons' face. He had that look of utter disgust on him since the day that they decided on taking Blake back to their capitol city to get that bracer off. Something about the look just unnerved her though. She thought this way due to the fact that in the end everyone was going to get what they wanted. Blake was going to be free from the bracer and get to see a kingdom ruled by faunus and that same kingdom will have that bracer for safe keeping. Everyone wins. So why does she feel like there is more going on then what is on the surface.

Who ever thought calling these the Wyrmwood tunnels must had been a sadist. Yang didn't know what was worse; the cold of the tunnels or the fact that they had been walking for what seemed like hours without knowing where the hell they were.

Finally a light broke at the end of the tunnel to a massive cavern. Multiple paths merged and diverged from one another into multiple routes leading to lord knows where. She just wanted to get out of here and back to open air. Unfortunately, when they got to the middle of open aired path; Gideon signaled them to stop.

A familiar voice echoed through the cavern and sent a tinge of fear down Yangs' spine. " Welcome, Gideon. Welcome to your deaths..."

From about them on a different path stood five faunus males; looking down on them with sadistic glee. In the middle of them stood the mirrior opposite of Gideon; his twin brother Ajani. " Now let's finish what we started at that museum..."