The Harvest Festival, Part 2!
A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Weiss Reacts! Well, wasn't that last chapter something? It was indeed something, was it not? Well, let's clarify something with Faust, here. Professor Faust did not, in fact, screw up anything; I made that clear in the text, but people are of the impression she did. She was sabotaged- Glynda says as much, Faust actually suspected it and whatever she summoned, it's not a spirit that she'd normally summon or willingly do so.
Now that we've gotten that misunderstanding out of the way, let's get on with the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, otherwise there'd be a Hunter duo based on Hansel and Gretel.
All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.
The Iron Savior plunged into the vortex, engines at full speed, crossing the barrier between worlds.
"WARNING. CURRENT MULTIVERSAL SIGNATURES DO NOT MATCH ANY OF THOSE CURRENTLY IDENTIFIED. ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO PROCEED?" Yamato inquired loudly, awaiting Blake's say-so.
The catgirl looked around at the people on the bridge. "…..you can still turn around now. We're not turning around to go back until we have Professor Faust."
"We said- or rather, didn't say- this already. We're not leaving without the professor." Weiss reminded her. "Anyone want to get off?"
Everyone remained silent. Nobody moved to get up or leave. Blake nodded.
"Alright. Yamato, proceed. Full speed ahead!"
"UNDERSTOOD." The AI responded, before creating a metallic hum signifying his compliance.
The ship continued its voyage, pushing itself completely out of the Kingdom of Vale and into a world unknown.
Weiss blinked, looking over to her teammate. "Wait, multiversal signatures?"
"Weird energy thingies that differentiate different worlds from each other." Blake explained. "That's a simple explanation, in layman's terms. For example, our world has its own, and Ylisse had its own.
So far, I have Ylisse, our world and a couple of others listed down as detected. I also found one which…..didn't fit anything I'd ever seen before, related to that weird amulet Miriel had. Not counting this one, of course. I'm getting off topic. Anyway, point is, we can tell the differences between other worlds easily."
"…..guys!" Yang called out, her face pressed up against the window. "….you know, I'd usually say something like, 'I've a feeling we're not in Vale anymore' or something…..but…..there's something very wrong with this image. I mean, seriously, seriously wrong."
Weiss got up, looking outside with Yang, followed shortly by everyone else.
"…what in the name of Dust?" The heiress muttered, half-surprised, half-confused.
Knowing the kind of creatures and entities Professor Faust usually decided to commune with, the heiress expected something like a giant writhing pile of tentacles or organs, or a realm of the incomprehensible, with colours that the human mind had never seen and could not understand, or weird, unnerving creatures that could drive you insane with a glance, the likes of which had never been seen anywhere in the Four Kingdoms or indeed anywhere else on that planet. Insanity and Professor Faust were intertwined; where one went, the other followed.
This place was not insane. This was something else entirely.
Firstly, the sky was pitch black- blacker than even the night sky in winter with no stars on a new moon. The only light on this plane came from the bright, ivory moon in the sky, its faint light painting the landscape below grey, and from the vortex leading back to Beacon, the tops of the trees in the Emerald Forest just barely visible through the pulsing portal. The ground below was barren and devoid of life, covered with nothing but dust, and was almost completely flat, with what appeared to be a mountain nearby being the only geographical feature of any significance for as far as the eye could see. Not a tree or even a bush adorned the lifeless, grey plain, which extended towards the horizon and beyond. Weiss swore she saw something twitch on the ground, or movement just out of the corner of her eye, but nothing was clearly and plainly visible.
The world was in a state of lifeless, eternal dusk.
Weiss looked over at Blake, surprise painted all over her face. "…what the…there's nothing here! Not even a tree o-or a bush….there's nothing!"
"MY SENSORS DETECT NO BIOLOGICAL LIFEFORMS WITHIN THIRTY-SIX MILES OF THIS POSITION." Yamato called out, blaring over the speakers. "ALTHOUGH THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CHANCE OF INTERFERENCE BY DIMENSIONAL INTERFERENCE VIA KETER-CLASS TEMPORAL-SPATIAL DISTURBANCES."
"...is that bad?" Ruby inquired. The catgirl nodded affirmatively.
"Yamato's telling us that this place isn't just a dead husk. Whatever's going on behind the scenes, it isn't going to be fun."
Ren sighed, slipping StormFlower from his sleeves and tensing up for a potential fight. "….alright. Lifeless places are never lifeless, so we'd best get ready for a fight."
"A fight with what?" Weiss pointed out. "For all we know, there'll be some sort of abomination with weird tentacle organs that resists Dust blasts or something. We'd best be ready for evasive action, not for an outright fight."
Ruby frowned. "It won't be that bad, right? What are the chances of-mmmph!"
The reaper suddenly found Yang's hand clamped over her mouth, as the brawler hissed at her to be quiet.
"Geez, what is up with you people?!" Yang cried, panicking. "Seriously? That's, like, the one thing you don't say! People tend to get eaten by giant monsters when they say that! Don't you remember all the horror movies I made you watch?!"
Weiss rolled her eyes dismissively. "Oh, don't be so super-"
Suddenly, as if to vindicate Yang's concern, the Iron Savior's alarms suddenly flew into life, blaring and filling the air with a loud, shrill beep.
"PROXIMITY ALERT. I DETECT A LARGE, BIOLOGICAL OBJECT TO THE STARBOARD SIDE." Yamato announced, with what seemed to be fear filling his metallic drone. "FIRING ON IT."
Blake growled, clenching her fist. "Put it up on screen!"
The frontal window of the bridge was suddenly overlaid by an image of the starboard side. Jaune's eyes widened first, then everyone else as they realised the situation they were currently in.
Something was ramming into the side of the Iron Savior. No, that would be inaccurate.
A Grimm was ramming into the side of the Iron Savior.
Jaune was the first to cry out in surprise. "What the hell?! Is that a…..is that a Grimm?!"
"BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE RESEMBLES CREATURES KNOWN AS 'GRIMM'. HOWEVER, VARIANT CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED AS ANY KNOWN TO OUR DATABASE." Yamato expounded urgently.
Weiss grumbled. "Oh, of course! Of all places to run into the Grimm in, it has to be whatever screwed up realm this is!"
"Oh my." Winter frowned. "This….does not bode well for our rescue attempt."
Indeed, it was no Grimm they'd ever seen before. Its body resembled a giant squid's, all jet-black, with its innumerable tentacles covered in segmented plates of bone and the tips ending with clubs of sharp bone; three of its tentacles were wrapped around the side of the Iron Savior. Its head was covered similarly in plates of bone, with two crimson eyes glaring out each side, malice radiating from them. Underneath its head, in the thick of the writhing mass of tentacles, they could make out a bone-white sharp beak, ramming into the ship's flank.
The Iron Savior had produced several guns from ports elsewhere in the body, hurling green blasts at the Grimm's tentacles in an attempt to force it to remove the ship from its binds, but the blasts almost all but disappeared into its vast blackness, seemingly with no effect until the Grimm let out the most horrific cry any of them had experienced- consisting of a loud, dissonant chittering amidst a high-pitched, demonic pained squeal, and ramming into the ship with greater fervor.
"TAKING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO ENGINE TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS." Yamato announced, his fear very obvious even through his metallic voice. Everyone, of course, needed no translation to figure out what that meant.
Weiss looked to Blake, desperation plain on her face. "Blake! You know how to pilot this thing, fix it!"
"Ggh! Yamato, take evasive actions! Divert the Spiral Engine to repairing damage on the flank and maintain fire on it!" The catgirl ordered hastily. "And try to find us a place to land this thing!"
"What the hell is that thing?!" Jaune cried. "That's a Grimm, but…..I'm not sure I've seen anything like that!"
"…that is a Kraken." Winter suddenly spoke, her voice hushed and her normally calm face looking more concerned, but not outright afraid. "…..it is a legendary Grimm, supposedly having been killed off by the legendary Atlesian mariner Davion Jonas. It was feared for being able to fly and taking down air and normal ships alike until it was rendered extinct."
Ren took in the information, before speaking. "So what is it doing here then?"
"I haven't a clue."
Onscreen, the Kraken had taken some damage from the blasts, with some of its tentacles having caught aflame, but the gargantuan creature was still ramming its beak into the ship's side, letting out another pained cry. With one mighty peck, one part of the Iron Savior caught flame, and a large explosion roared out from the side, sending bits of shrapnel and balls of molten metal into the Kraken, visibly damaging the Grimm.
"MaJOR DaaaaaMAaaage to AI CoRerRERe…." Yamato called out, his voice fluctuating and rapidly disintegrating. "AAAAAAUotamatic CoNTROL is BEing TURnEd OfF…..MmaaaaaaaNuAL CoNTROL aActivaTED. S-SHUTDOWN IniTIAted to PppRevent FurTHER DaMAGE.
IIIIIII…..I aPOLOgise Fffofofor FailiNG you….Miss Belladonna."
Suddenly, the display at Blake's table suddenly shut down. The catgirl's eyes widened in horror as she attempted to re-establish control.
"Yamato! Yamato! Activate!" Blake implored, but it was no use. "Dammit!"
"Is he dead?" Yang asked, shocked.
"He can't die." Blake reminded her. "He's an AI, he'll live as long as there's a backup of him somewhere; which I installed. However, he's not turning back on until we have the ship repaired, and we need to get out of this situation to do anything about that!"
Ruby flailed her arms in the air. "Guys! The Kraken! It's hitting our thrusters!"
"What?!" Blake cried, craning her head towards the screen.
The Kraken had dislodged from the Iron Savior, having dealt a grievous blow to the craft, with most of its body in flames or embedded with shrapnel. It let out one more terrible cry, before swiping at the thrusters of the ship with its club-tentacles.
A loud boom echoed through the ship as it shook from the blow and the ensuing explosion, throwing almost everyone out of their seats.
"Dammit!" Blake yelled, barely holding on to her seat, clenching tightly with her hands. "Everyone hold tight! Our engines are blown! We're going to crash!"
"CRASH!?" Weiss cried, staring at her. "What do you mean crash?!"
"Do I really need to spell it out for you?!" Yang cried out, before grabbing her and Ruby, pressing herself to the side of the ship and flipping over to press them into the sides, casting her body over them. The reaper then pressed Weiss underneath herself, putting herself between Yang and the heiress.
"What are you doing?!" The heiress yelled. Yang grumbled.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! Just shut up and brace yourself!"
Winter had curled her head into her lap, placing her hands over the back of her neck to protect from falling objects, while Jaune and Pyrrha had whipped out their respective shields, crouching down and pressing together to protect themselves. Ren had followed Winter's suit, as a faint white glow surrounded him, signifying he'd temporarily sent his Aura into overdrive to shield himself from blows. Finally, Velvet shielded Vivi by curling up in her seat, protecting the plushie with her body.
Blake was the last to brace herself, curling up.
'If…..we don't make it all out…..I'm sorry-wait, no. Screw that. We're all making it out of this!'
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" The catgirl roared, as the Iron Savior first tipped, then dove, pointing straight down at the ground- and the ground came up to meet them-
…
"….ugh." Weiss was the first to come to, rubbing her forehead. Somewhere in the intervening events, she'd been knocked unconscious. "…..what the….."
The first thing she realised was that Yang and Ruby were no longer on top of her. Yang was nowhere to be seen, but Ruby-
"RUBY!" The heiress cried, kneeling down by the reaper, who was lying on her side, her eyes closed, blood streaming down her forehead.
'No.' Weiss pleaded. 'No no no no no no. Ruby, you're not doing this to me. No. Don't you dare!'
"Ruby! Get up!" She cried, shaking her vigorously. "Don't you dare die on me, you idiot! Get up!"
'Ruby, I won't forgive you if you die on me right this instant. If you love me, you'll get back up.
Get up, you idiotic, stupid dunce…please…..'
"…..huh?" The reaper's eyes blinked open rapidly, as she jumped away from her, blinking. "Wah! Who?! What?! Who's dead?!"
Weiss immediately glared at her. "…y-you idiot! What were you doing?! You scared me half to death! I almost thought you were dead!"
"Oh…." Ruby blushed ashamedly, looking away. "S-sorry-"
"Don't apologise to me!" Weiss cried indignantly, glaring at her fiercely. "….y-you idiot! You stupid, stupid idiot!"
Ruby flinched at her vitriol, before looking in her eyes. The heiress normally clear blue eyes were welling with tears. She softened.
"…I'm sorry that I worried you." The reaper drew her into a hug. Weiss continued breathing heavily, not returning the hug instantly. Instead, she let out a choking sound, before returning the hug.
"You dunce….." Weiss muttered. "…..you had me thinking you were dead…..and t-that's not something I'd ever forgive.
Y-you stupid dunce, don't you dare ever make me worry like that again, understand?"
"I won't. I love you too." Ruby responded, before pulling back and facing her girlfriend. Weiss closed her eyes, her lips slightly agape.
The reaper responded by closing her own, leaning in and-
"If you two aren't busy sucking faces, we have a bigger problem than Ruby having a small cut on her forehead." Ren remarked, causing both girls to pull away from each other, blushing intensely.
"How long were you watching?!" Weiss snapped, her eyes immediately returning to their usual glare. Ren rolled his eyes.
"I just helped Blake out of the chair. If you two mind, we're trying to figure out what to do right now."
Suddenly, Weiss realised, she hadn't actually noticed the extent of the damage done to the ship itself, being too concerned with Ruby's injuries to care.
The bridge was relatively intact, with only some of the consoles damaged, the frontal window destroyed and the side windows cracked. Compared to what she'd expected, it was almost nothing.
The heiress looked over to her left, surveying her other companions; Yang and Blake were busy on the remaining undamaged consoles, attempting to get something running on the damaged ship without much success, Jaune was busy bandaging Winter's bloodied arm, with the lady, clearly pained, trying to remain resolutely calm through it, and Pyrrha was looking concernedly at Nora, who was sitting in her chair, staring into nothingness with wide blue eyes. Finally, Velvet herself was poking around the console, trying to pull Vivi out of a crevice she'd gotten herself stuck inside.
"Pipipi!" Vivi yelped, her stubby arms flailing in the air.
"Vivi, stay still! I can't pull you out if you keep jerking around!" Velvet warned.
Weiss stood up, looking longingly for one moment at Ruby, before strolling over to Blake and Yang. The heiress glared at the brawler first.
"What were you thinking, Xiao Long?!" Weiss snapped, as the brawler turned around, facing her.
"Hm?"
"Your sister looked like she was dead just two minutes ago! Why didn't you help her out?!"
"She has her Aura, and it was a small cut. Besides, I checked over her before you came to, she was fine." Yang pointed out. "I only didn't wake her up so I could concentrate on helping Blakey fix the ship."
Weiss turned to Blake. "And what about the ship?"
"It's…..not looking too bad, but we're still in a bad way." The catgirl muttered, not turning to Weiss as she frowned at the console. "We took some serious damage to the AI core, our engines, and the Spiral Motion Cannon's out of commission, too. Everything else still works, but the ship's downed.
We managed to get the Emergency Spiral Repair program on, and we're currently repairing the damage, but it'll take a while."
"How long?"
"An hour, two tops."
Ren frowned as he walked up to them. "We can't wait that long. If that Kraken thing nearly destroyed the Iron Savior, who knows what's happened to Professor Faust?"
"Do we even know where the professor is?" Ruby inquired. "Or did we come in here without a way of finding her?"
"Luckily, that stupid tank-obsessed heathen Isara was good for more than one thing." Blake responded, producing the USB marked 'Wukong-Gunther Signal Clarifier'. Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"So?"
"I managed to add the ability to detect Aura onto the program and installed it on my scroll." The catgirl continued. "According to the Clarifier, Faust should be in or near the mountain, which should be about twenty minutes away on foot."
"We might have a problem." Pyrrha called out, drawing everyone's attention. "Nora hasn't moved since we crashed."
Ren frowned, drawing up to her. "Nora? Are you in there?"
The berserker didn't respond. The gunslinger's frown deepened, and he waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Nora?"
"…..again! Do it again!" Nora called out, bursting into life and whooping for joy. "That was the best ride EVER!"
Ren facepalmed, sighing in relief. "…..of course. She's fine, Pyrrha. Then again, I didn't expect otherwise."
"Ren! REN! Can you tell Blake to do that again?! Oh, but more explosions this time!"
Blake sighed. "Nora, the ship's too damaged to fly right now. We're going to need to get there on foot."
"Awwww….." The berserker whined, looking down. "But that was fun…."
"I never want to be in that girl's head." Weiss remarked darkly.
Jaune and Winter approached the group, with the knight's hand stained red with the lady's blood from bandaging her wounds.
"I must say, you are…..quite experienced with bandaging others." Winter commended Jaune, although her normally confident smile was somewhat strained. Jaune shook his head.
"It's nothing. It's a skill you learn when your sisters get into fights for your sake in school." The knight admitted. "...you sure you can handle it?"
"I go where my sister goes." The lady responded resolutely. "This injury is only a flesh wound."
"Tis but a scratch!" Yang and Weiss announced at the same time, before staring at each other.
"….you know that reference?" The brawler responded, blinking.
"…I'm surprised you do. I thought it was a little highbrow for you."
"As soon as you two lovers are done squabbling, we need to go over the plan." Blake remarked, clearing her throat. Weiss and Yang both glared at her, reassuring the catgirl she'd gotten their attention.
"Right. Are all of you ready to go? Once we get out of here, we're not turning back until we have Faust."
Nobody, again, said anything. The catgirl nodded.
'Just as expected. Nobody could ask for a more badass crew, not even Kamina himself.'
"Alright." Blake clapped. "Excellent. Well, it's not much of a plan, but, as I intended to blast whatever had the professor captured to death with the Savior's cannon, I had to improvise a little.
We head to the mountain, locate her, try to get out without pissing off whatever dragged her, get back, hold out until the ship's fixed, and get out of here. Sound easy?"
"Knowing our luck, it'll be easier said than done." The heiress remarked darkly. "But, we have no other choice."
Jaune nodded, exhaling deeply. "I don't like it either, but it's all we got. We just have to get to the mountain, right?"
"…..easier said than done." Yang pointed out. "I mean, we might have to fight that Kraken thing again, and who knows what other weird extinct Grimm are out there? But, we don't have any other plan."
"Alright." Weiss nodded at the catgirl. "Lead the way. You've got the Clarifier thing."
Pyrrha held up a finger. "Wait. Does this place even have a breathable atmosphere?"
"…..you've got a point, actually…..but I actually analysed the air outside." Blake responded. "It's a little thinner than Vale, but we can breathe it easily enough. Long as we don't end up climbing the mountain to the summit or something.
Anyone else want to bring up concerns so we don't instantaneously implode the moment we walk outside? No? Alright. Let's go!"
Minutes later…..
Everyone trudged across the grey dust, their feet grinding and cracking it under their feet. The Iron Savior lay behind them, green energy sparking at the damaged areas and leaving the mended result behind them, and in front of them was the shadow of the mountain, with the solid white circle of the moon bearing down over them.
Apart from them, however, there was nothing around. In the distance, they could just hear the tortured screams of the Kraken, presumably fleeing to lick its wounds, but after a few minutes, even that faded, and the deafening nothingness filled their ears.
For the first fifteen or so minutes, nobody spoke. They were all focused on retrieving Professor Faust and getting out of there as fast as possible, although it was clear that they weren't scared; the opposite, even.
Nora, unsurprisingly, was the first to break the silence. She took in a deep breath, and started singing.
"IIIIII am the very model of a slothist crazed berserker, I've information megatherine, explosive and whimsical, I know the kings of Vale and I quote the fights so quizzical…."
"Man, today, everyone seems to be quoting the weirdest things ever." Yang remarked, chuckling. "Never knew you were into Gilbert and Sullivan."
"Who?" Nora stopped singing, staring at her.
"Y'know, the guys who came up with the Major-General Song? Pirates of Penzance?"
"…eeeehhhh?"
"The Mikado?"
The berserker frowned. "…..I don't know what you're talking about."
Ren chuckled, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Nora."
"I don't like not knowing things! It makes me want to eat more!" The berserker complained. "Reeeeeeen, make her explaaaaain!"
Winter smiled. "My, my. I find myself a little…..envious."
"Huh?" Jaune blinked. "Envious?"
"…I must confess, you and your friends share a camaraderie myself and my team have…never had." The lady mused, sounding somewhat sad and looking down. "You all act so comfortably around each other, much more than I've seen any other team do."
"…..thanks, I…guess?" The knight rubbed the back of his head. "….I'm sorry to hear that. That must be a little hard."
"I suppose." Winter sighed. "…sometimes, I wish I was part of your group of companions. Even if my sister counts herself as part of the group…..I confess, even in this situation, I feel a little estranged from her…."
"You're one of us. No way you aren't."
"Huh?" Winter looked up at him, confused. "What do you mean, Mister Jaune?"
"Well, you hang around with us, fought with us back in Ylisse, you talk with us a lot…..and you're here now." The knight reminded her. "I mean, even Velvet's not all that much with us, and she's just as much as one of us as you are."
"…your words are kind." Winter responded, smiling tenderly at him. "…any lady would be lucky to have you by her side."
"E-eh?!" Jaune blushed slightly. "G-gee….you didn't need to say it like that. It's nothing, really!"
"Pipipipi!" Vivi's shrill cry suddenly filled the air, causing everyone to look towards her and Velvet. The plushie was standing on her shoulder, jumping and yelling, pointing at something in the distance.
Velvet looked over. "What's going on? Vivi?"
"…..oh. That's just ridiculous." Weiss remarked.
A pack of tiny Grimm creatures was surging towards them- about fifty or so Grimm. From this distance, they appeared to be about their height, but the shape was not easily discernible. A loud shrill cry came from the pack of Grimm, sending a chill down everyone's spines.
Everyone drew their weapons, getting ready for a fight. Weiss blinked.
"What are those things?" The heiress inquired, looking over to Winter. "Sister, do you know?"
"…they appear to be…..Nyctoraptors." The lady responded, squinting. "Yes…..Nyctoraptors. They were prehistoric Grimm that went extinct around the time humans gained access to Dust."
"….Raptors? As in…..dinosaur raptors? Like Lyserg dinosaur raptors?" Yang inquired, blinking. Winter nodded.
"They would be about Sir Lyserg's height, yes."
"Uh oh." The brawler swallowed, and the pack of Nyctoraptors was finally close enough to identify.
They were, indeed, similar in body shape to Sir Lyserg, with red markings across their jet-black body, and their heads were crowned with a mask of bone, reaching across their snout and trailing large fangs down to where their mouths were. Around their necks, a crown of razor-sharp crimson feathers was arrayed- and one of the raptors stood out, with larger feathers marked with white streaks around the base of the feathers. It stood at the front of the pack, seemingly acting as the leader.
The Grimm creatures hissed at the interlopers in their realm, before leaping into combat, with the one in front heading in first.
…..
Yang met the alpha Nyctoraptor with a yell followed by delivering a powerful punch to its face with Ember Celica, throwing it aside with one blow.
"Gotcha!" The brawler roared. "Come on! Bring it!"
To her side, Weiss and Ruby stood back to back, Myrtenaster and Crescent Rose out, and red and white flashed and tore through the Nyctoraptor pack, throwing them aside with equivalent ease. The heiress flicked her chamber around to fire Dust, stabbing her rapier into the front of one that had attempted to leap at her. The Grimm screeched, before burning up into ashes in front of her.
"Tch. Easy." Weiss remarked dismissively. "Barely a challenge to deal with these creatures."
"Don't get too cocky, Weiss!" Ruby reminded her, twirling her scythe to decapitate a pair that was attempting to tackle her from the side before planting the blade forward in the ground, using it to stabilise herself to blast another raptor in the face, leaving nothing above the neck.
Velvet was yelling somewhere nearby, cleaving raptor by raptor in two with her chainsaw axe. Behind her, Vivi stood with her mallet that towered over her by several factors of magnitude, sending many flying.
"Pi! Pipi! Piiiii pipipi!" Vivi yelled defiantly, pumping her chest proudly with her stubby arms, looking up to the bunnygirl, who smiled.
"You're doing well, Vivi!"
"Piiiiii!" The plushie squealed, before continuing to assist her in destroying the pack.
Around them, the party was managing decently enough with their enemies. Pyrrha and Jaune were managing to beat them back, with the spearmaiden bounding off of his shield to deliver a piercing thrust into one of her opponents, while Jaune, holding her up, swivelled around with his sword to cut the leg of one of the Grimm attempting to attack him, tossing it aside. Meanwhile, Winter shot one of the Nyctoraptors with Frauenmantel, before flicking it gracefully into her arms and shifting it into its lance form to resume her rampage; all without losing her ladylike smile.
"My, my. I haven't had a fight this fun for a while." The lady remarked, looking over and nodding to Nora, who was laughing as she batted more of the raptors aside with Magnhild.
"Yes! Finally! Someone who speaks to my very soul!" The berserker cried. "I'm touched!"
"It seems you're taking quite a lot of pleasure here, huh?"
"I just like blowing stuff up! Pleasure has nothing to do with it!"
Ren, who was behind her and calmly putting bullets in the heads of the Nyctoraptors, sighed. "She meant you enjoyed it."
"Oh! I do! I really do!"
Meanwhile, the brawler picked up the alpha, placing it under her arm and preparing to pummel it into submission.
"I gotcha, you little lizard!" Yang roared. "Come on, haven't you got better than that?"
The alpha Nyctoraptor suddenly stared at her closely, its red eyes staring at her closely. Yang paused briefly, staring at it.
"What the-"
Then, it let out a loud, piercing screech, shocking her into dropping it. Weiss stared at her, confused.
"What was that?!" The heiress yelled, stabbing one of the raptors trying to hit her from the side casually.
Yang started to speak. "I have absolutely no-"
And then it hit her.
Suddenly, a much larger pack of Nyctoraptors appeared over the horizon, charging straight at them, returning the loud piercing cry.
"…ah." Yang raised a finger. "That."
Weiss looked to Blake, who was pulling Gambol Shroud from the rapidly fading corpse of her last opponent. "Where's Faust?!"
"She's inside the mountain! If we can find a cave, she's likely in there!" The catgirl called. "But those newcomers are going to be upon us before we can get inside!"
"…..dammit, this is gonna suck." Yang cursed under her breath, before looking up. "I'll be your distraction!"
Ruby stared at her. "What?! No!"
"Well, you need to get in there, and I can do this!" The brawler reminded her. "Besides, me and Winter are the most experienced Huntresses here!"
"Then let me do it." Winter offered. Yang shook her head.
"No way. That arm wound of yours, you'll get swarmed quickly. I'm hale and hearty." The brawler responded. "Trust me, I'll be back."
The heiress growled. "…..tch. We can't do anything about this. For Dust's sake…..fine! You'd better come back, you idiot!"
"Heh. Who the hell do you think I am?" Yang winked at her, before grabbing the much-abused alpha. "Besides, I've got a plan."
"What kind of-"
"Hey, chucklenuts!" The brawler remarked, clambering onto its back and yanking at its feathers. "COME ON! GET MOVING!"
The nyctoraptor hissed and attempted to buck her off as it started running. Yang, however, managed to hang on for dear life, waving at her comrades as she rode off into the distance on the back of a feral Grimm chased by even more feral Grimm.
Blake blinked. "….wow."
"Wow indeed." Winter nodded slowly. "…..that was…..unconventional."
"Well, you guys! Come on!" Weiss yelled. "Into the cave! Go!"
Ruby frowned. "…I hope Yang'll be okay-"
"Of course she'll be okay! She's too much of a dunce to die that easily!" The heiress vehemently remarked. "Now, go!"
Blake nodded quickly. "Right! Follow me, I know where the cave is!"
The group, sans Yang, finally stumbled into the cave- the one opening in the side of the mountain.
The cave was somewhat wide, and very long, with the very end of the cave lying in darkness. Blake whipped out a flashlight, tossing it to Ruby, who flashed it down the cave to find-
"Professor Faust!" Ruby called over. "She's alive!"
Indeed, the professor was sitting there, drawing some sort of ritual circle with her wand. She looked up at the mention of her name, adjusting her glasses and peering calmly at her rescuers.
"…..ah. You're here." She noted. "…commendable actions. I guess Miss Belladonna got you here."
"On the biggest ship ever!" Nora announced proudly. "And the most awesome one, too!"
Ruby motioned to come to her. "Come on, Professor, we've got to get out of here!"
"…no. Not yet." The witch shook her head. "There's…something here."
Weiss folded her arms. "You've done enough with ritual circles today, Professor. We're here to-"
"This ritual circle is intended to seal this cave off as soon as I leave it. There's a reason for that." Faust cautioned her. "…..you did see the Grimm here, correct? The Kraken, the Nyctoraptors…..possibly other Grimm that don't exist in our world anymore?"
"…wait a second." Jaune held up a finger. "What do you mean about those?"
"The nature of this dimension is not an eldritch beast." Professor Faust started, adjusting her glasses and finishing off her circle with one last flourish, before it flashed briefly. "At least, not the usual eldritch beast as you and I would define it. I realised this when it showed me…..images."
"Images?" Weiss tilted her head. "Wait, it showed you images?"
"Images designed to impart despair upon their viewer. As you know, the Grimm feed on negative emotion." Faust explained hastily. "….you must know what this dimension is.
You know that the Grimm grow stronger with age, correct? This Grimm is ancient, and older than I."
"Whoa, whoa." Blake paused. "What do you mean this Grimm?"
Professor Faust adjusted her glasses, breathing in deeply.
"This dimension did not simply come into existence.
A very powerful, very ancient Grimm created it, and one which seems to be the oldest, if not one of the oldest, of its kind. Its kind is one of which we barely speak of today- we had thought they were wiped out or had fled the world of man and Faunus. We refer to it by many names in our legends, but it has no consistent name.
It prefers to call itself the Grimmfather."
To be continued…..
A/N: Will Yang be okay? Will the Iron Savior be saved? Will Pyrrha/Jaune/Winter be ever resolved? And what in the name of Dust is the Grimmfather? You'll find this all out next chapter!
So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, comments, criticisms, thoughts, reviews and suggestions, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!