Okay, so I've been gone for forever because I'm in the last semesters of my program and it's just project after project and when I'm not sleeping due to sheer exhaustion I'm working on projects and doing what I can for fics when I'm inspired kinda...jigsaw puzzling them...so here's the latest installation of HunterXRWBY and hopefully more are to come with this weekend as I'm going to be taking a break from my job (They cut my hours) to work on this.
Chapter 10- Desert Rats
After hearing their challenge to cross the Vacuo Divide, everyone's tensions run high as they are paired off in groups of two and given two packs; one with supplies and the other with rocks. Stripped of all but the packs, their weapons, and the clothes on their backs Ruby and her friends make their own treks across the perilous desert. Those who rushed out during the day either have a plan for crossing in the desert heat, or were coerced by Taurus and Rabbit to run. Ruby and the few who didn't run now begin their trek during the twilight hours, but even come nightfall the desert is dangerous. During the day the heat is your threat as you can see the pits and monsters, but at night you must rely on all your senses to not be consumed by the beasts in the sand. What will Ruby do?
Team Pyron
"Whew, can't believe we traveled 50 miles today!" Pyron said taking a hefty bite out of the lizard he'd cooked, "Not bad considering your aversion to heat." He taunted at David, as he surveyed the endless dunes that surrounded them. The night sky was so clear and full of stars it was like a mural, and using them he and David had plotted their course for tomorrow and gauged the time.
"We should keep moving." David said, "It's cooler now and I've had some time to rest, we can easily make it to the halfway point and sleep for a while before the next nightfall and make it to Vacuo City." David spoke as he ate part of a cactus he'd picked clean of needles, "Besides why'd they give us two packs and seven days for a trip that would barely take four or five?"
"Not knowing what is in the pack is to cause discourse." Pyron spoke as he stoked the fire, "Food isn't easy to find out here unless you know what to look for like I do, so that'd cause some fighting between partners over food and water, plus not many can keep a level enough head under the desert heat and desert beasts to realize 200 miles can be traversed in about 72 hours of continuous movement." Pyron said as he finished his lizard and went to drink some of the cactus water they'd squeezed out, "Besides unless you have a tolerance for the hallucinogens in a decent amount of desert cacti you begin to take a serious trip." He chuckled sipping the water to ration it.
"Joy." David said as he continued to eat and drink his cactus, "My tribe used many similar plants for spiritual rituals, such as the Spirit Root that feeds on life force and provides one a Sight of the Life in all things. It was such Sight that saved me in battle against many of my foes in the prison." He spoke as he felt the sand beneath him rumble like the growl of a fierce beast, "What is this!?"
"Sandworms are up." He said thinking to the Goliath Antlion pit they almost fell in earlier, "Sandworms are mostly nocturnal, but this is why I wanted to not move at night. More predators are out, and we would have limited visibility." He finished as he downed his cactus water, "It's gonna be an interesting night."
Team Newt
"Holy shit!" Luxus cried as the large worm burst from the dunes behind them with a screech and dove at them it's rows of teeth rotating to grind them into a red paste, "We're so screwed!" He said turning to face it with his pistols popping off a few rounds towards its eyes. "Do you have a plan!?"
"Keep running!" Newt screamed at him as they took off at full speed over the dune, running to avoid the predator seeking them.
"Where to now!?" He cried as they reached the top of the dune looking out over the area with seconds before it came down on them.
"I-I don't know!" She screamed looking around as the worm came down on top of them with blinding speed, she looked for a solution, but Luxus tackled her out of the way as they tumbled down the dune, rolling towards a pit that slowly opened revealing a Goliath Antlion. "Are you kidding me!?" She roared looking around as they slid through the sand to the maw of the great beast, spying a cave to their left off in the distance. "Way out!" She cried as she tried to pull herself free but the sand dug her deeper, "Shit, shit! No!" She roared at the animal as Luxus bit his lip.
"I'm gonna regret this." He said pulling a large red revolver from his jacket and plunging it into the sand beneath them, "Run on go."
"Wait what!?"
"Go!" He said pulling the trigger as an explosive round blew the sand apart sending them flying from the maw of the creature to the sand in opposite direction, ears ringing, and burn marks on their bodies. Newt staggered to her feet, taking in the carnage as the disoriented beast fled underground thinking it was under attack by a larger predator, and the sand it was upsetting was about to bury Luxus alive.
"No. Give him back." She mumbled as she staggered to him and pulled him from the sand using every ounce of strength to fight the tide to pull the pack with him. After yanking him free and dragging him to the cave she settled against the stone wall and looked out to finally take stock of their surroundings now that they weren't being hunted for the time being. She saw the moon bright in the sky painting the dunes a silver and black hue, as the stars illuminated the sky but not the dunes, it wasn't surprising they'd missed so much in the dark, she could see it now the areas where the dunes had been disturbed, the faint scent of blood in the air, and the smell of steel and gunpowder in the air. They'd barely traveled 20 miles and already they were almost incapacitated because of these stupid backpacks and this damnable desert, though due to the heat she was irritable, her skin was drying out fast and she needed to bath in a lot of water to replenish her stamina.
A mumble came from behind her as Luxus came to, "Your back." He said pointing out the torn cloth and the large scar running from above her hip to the small of her back, "Did I do that?" He said semi-consciously.
"No, that was...from a long time ago, stay still while I treat your wounds." She said going for his jacket as he pulled away from her.
"Not this…" He said removing it, as he pulled off his shirt in deep pain and tried to tear it as he kept wincing.
"You've broken your arm, sit still." She said as she tore his shirt apart to make a sling and started bandaging his burns and cuts as best she could. It took her while, but she realized in doing so that the boy himself was built rather athletically despite his goofy nature, and he even had his own share of deep scars around his lower abdomen and upper back. "How'd you get these?"
He chuckled, "It was from a long time ago." He said mockingly before answering truthfully, "My dad. He's a strict businessman, and stricter father." He joked, "So I'm here to get a Hunter's License and buy out the bastard." He said as he rose to his feet weakly, "We need to move."
"We're not going anywhere until you're better." She urged pushing him against the wall, immediately regretting it as his chest was oddly firm.
"Your hands are incredibly dry and you've been making a smacking noise with your lips every couple of words, we need to find water and since we can't open these fucking packs we need to move." He stepped out to the entrance of the cave and checked his pockets pulling out a coin on a string and dropping into a crouch above the sands.
"What are you doing?" She asked curiously as she checked the dunes for enemies that could attack them while they weren't paying attention.
"Just getting a read of the land." He muttered shooting up like a rocket and pointing to the North-West, "Water is that way, about 40 miles, if you feel like a brisk run we could make it there in time for the sunrise and margaritas." He said drawing his revolver, "You'll have to carry my pack though." He smirked.
"How are you so calm?" She asked hefting it on her back.
"Simple, humor is what's keeping me from the spine chilling reality of death and the blinding amount of pain I'm in from these burns and cuts coupled with the dry desert air." He said with a nervous chuckle. "So let's get moving before I curl up in the fetal position and cry in order to obtain moisture for survival."
She was taken aback, but simply nodded and hefted her hammer up on to her shoulder, "Race you?"
"You're on." He said reloading it as the battered pair ran across the sands now wary of their surroundings.
Team Ruby
"Wow, this is fun!" Penny said as she flipped high above the sandworm spreading more of her Nen thread in order to bind the creature, as she reached the vertex of her parabola drew her arms wide which lynched the string around the creature dragging it into the sand. "Get it Ruby!" She called to her companion who with a battlecry drove her scythe into its underbelly and ran from tip to top cutting the beast open. "Whew!" Penny exclaimed patting Ruby on the back, "We make a good team!"
"Yeah." Ruby panted not wanting to reveal that the fight with the monsters had exhausted her while Penny seemed right as rain. "So how far till this oasis you were talking about?"
"Oh right!" She said flicking a string straight into the brain of the dying creature and the string seemed to shimmer more as Penny eyes flashed neon green for a half second as the thread dispelled itself, "About 25 miles that way." She pointed to the West, "But this one had apparently eaten some others who were on their way there, two older men, I don't know if we want to go there."
"No, we'll need water and food to cross, and it'll be good to spend some leisure time at the oasis for a few hours just cooling off." Ruby said stretching as she lifted her scythe off the sand. "So if you don't mind me asking, how does one use this power, let alone see it?"
Penny pondered it for a minute before coming up with a decent response, "Well your perception is unusual to me as one must open their Aura Nodes in order to be able to see let alone wield their energy, so the best I can relate it to is that you have some sort of near bestial instinct that lets you sense and perceive the energy we use. To wield Nen though, a person must learn to harness their own life-force or aura and turn it into a tool for their own survival. Usually these tools or abilities are tailored to the person's preferences or personalities, although sometimes an idea one has may fall outside the realm of possibility making it much harder to grasp their own potential. So it's usually best to stick within your skill-set, for example my father is a brilliant scientist and is able to create constructs of Aura to fight for him since he does a lot of tinkering with advances machinery and knows how to assemble it. Myself, I've always had a love for puppets and string so this was the easiest way to utilize my skill-set in combat and bolster my power."
"So that thing you did just then." Ruby asked remembering the worm.
"Mind Marionette. It allows me to tweak a person's neural pathways to put them under my control or to glean information, but it requires delicacy and patience not to damage their brains. The worm was on it's way out so I simply ripped free the information we needed." She said casually which upset Ruby.
"Uh, yeah." She said her thoughts drifting to her father and uncle who hadn't told her anything about this part of being a Hunter, to be this cruel or callous, to wield an unnatural power to use on people like her, and to have to kill. But taking in the scent of the sand, being surrounded by this much death she realized that this path she chose would be covered in more corpses before she was anywhere near through. It would be a long and painful trip but she had to know what happened to her mother, Summer Rose, and for that information she'd pay any price.
With the first night coming to a close in only 3 hours and the sand already drenched in the blood of many Hunter Hopefuls, our Heroes press forward with their own agendas in mind. This leg across the desert will be one of the most perilous yet as morals will be questioned, friendships will meet their untimely end, and in the darkness schemes will be hatched to further the agendas of parties darker still. The current number of candidates is 62.
Good, could be better I agree, but the main reason that detailed landscapes weren't something I included here like the other chapters is because in the character's mindset the panic is making it hard to take in details except for when they're stationary like Pyron and David. And I've noticed some review about the lack of death as seen in the Hunter Exam in HunterXHunter, well that's because I have my own plans for things. I know who's passing this exam and who among my OCs will live and die, so please...watch and wait.