Stardust
Chapter 14
Move
Team CCTS immediately scattered in different directions as the Grimm attacked.
The battle was a little slow going because they were having hard time attacking their large girths and these were being cautious about covering their more tender points. So it was taking some time.
It didn't really help that Cerise wasn't focused as he probably should of been and was clearly attracting their attention with his dour mood.
Then Cerise took a hit bringing him to his knees for a moment, Citrine had to come to his partners defense, and then Cerise finally started paying attention.
Using his glyphs he knocked them into the air and Citrine used his spear to skewer them. Smoke and Titania started herding them and before long the monsters were disintegrating around them.
As soon as the last one was down Cerise turned around sharply and said "okay you're right. I should've talked it over with you. Granted I could have said no but Headmistress Blank was pressuring me to take this as I know how the Crushed works personally and firsthand information works better than secondhand ideally, and stuff like IS what Huntsmen and Huntress actually do. So yes I accepted but I am your leader and you guys should put your trust in me for stuff like this. But still I'm sorry for not talking this over with you fair?"
After a moment Smoke nodded and said "fair." Titania and Citrine nodded.
Cerise let out a breath and then said "good" then looking past his team he said "Smoke wall up."
The three turned around and saw red eyes in the gloom of the forest and immediately leapt back to Cerise's side who already had his fan open and arms spread wide his glyph spinning under his feet. And as soon as the three were on top Smoke raised his hands sending out those streams of smoke which quickly formed a spinning wall around them.
This wall trick was something they had developed in the more recent months and had done some testing in the field with professors. It served as a good short term defense as while the Grimm want to attack the smoke makes them a little leery.
From their positions the trio were looking up at Titania who her wings out and was peering out over the top of the swirling wall and said "we've got about 16 Beowolves out there and we are now surrounded."
Citrine groaned, Smoke looked annoyed, and Cerise said with a scowl "we do not have time for this."
He looked at his partner and asked "fifty-two pickup?"
Citrine looked at him and nodded "sure."
Cerise looked at Smoke and said "disperse with the first wave."
The faunas nodded as Citrine pulled out his desk of cards and shook it and somehow 4 cards fell out but instead of just falling to the floor like a magnet each one landed on one of the four cardinal directions on one corner and started to spin. As they did lines and strange symbols etched in the light of Citrine's aura that were related to ancient alchemy and some other things they hadn't quite placed but why they did this was something none of them had figured out yet. Then Cerise and Citrine each pulled out two dust crystals and dropped them but before hitting the ground they stopped and hovered upright in a sphere composed of the same glow as their auras as Titania swooped down and picked up Smoke while Cerise and Citrine stood back to back held their tools in front of them and raised them up slightly and as they did so cards made of energy materialized around them each one of different colors of the crystals used.
Then bringing their weapons down slightly they sent the cards out as projectiles in a full 306 directions around the two as explosions of fire, ice, lightning, and wind exploded with the attacks making their marks. Then the smoke cleared as the two raised their hands again with more projectiles appearing a slight wave and away the projectiles went while the crystals down by their feets being reduced to small chips. Then raising their hands they summoned the last wave of projectiles and as the crystals vanished and with a wave sent them out in one last wave where upon after the two dropped to their knees as they gasped from the sudden energy drop. And that was the combo CCTS had discovered and named fifty-two pickup. How they discovered it… involves an incident that there really bears no need for elaborating.
Of more concern was the one Beowolf that had survived the attack albeit very much signed and injured. Thought of course Titania dropped Smoke who rushed forward sword raised and finished it off rather easily.
Titania dropped down to earth her wings vanishing as she looked around and whistled at the sight of the forest around them.
Luckily nothing was on fire though there was certainly a lot of charred markings everywhere along with plant damage but the main things hit were the Grimm.
"That combo sure comes in handy though" Titania looked at Cerise and Citrine who were slowly recovering "it sure does take a lot out of you two."
Cerise said tiredly "it has its uses."
Then Smoke said "maybe so but if it was just you two you'd have been in slight trouble. And this sort of danger kind of just emphasizes my concerns over taking this mission Cerise!"
Cerise just let out a sigh of relief as he felt some strength return as he said "but we weren't alone we have each other and again Smoke this is just supposed to be a scouting mission."
Before Smoke could comment on that though Titania cut him off by asking "hey what's that?"
The trio looked at Titania who her upper body tilted at an angle something in the forest having caught her attention. After a second she walked towards it and after a moment Citrine followed her.
Cerise and Smoke exchanged a look before following their partners.
Quickly reaching what had attracted Titania's attention, Citrine and Smoke found themselves fascinated by the target. Cerise though…
"Oh haven't seen one of these in a while."
Titania and the others looked at him "you know what this is?"
Cerise's reply was direct.
"Nope."
The current focus being a rock about their size large and roughly a round shape. It was multicolored and just looked strange altogether.
Cerise gave a slight shudder "those things are strange to be around or just to even touch."
After a moments musing Titania reached out and knocked a fist against it and pulled it back to her chest her other coming up to rub it. "I see what you mean, it almost feels hollow and yet solid at the same time."
Smoke looked at Cerise and said "so how do you know about these?'
Cerise said "I would see them traveling with my former group from time to time."
Citrine then asked "how often would you see them?'
Cerise crossed his arms and thought about the question before uncrossing them and saying "I'd say about semi-frequently." Looking at his teammates who were staring at the stone in fascination and asked "is this something people in the kingdoms haven't seen?"
In unison all three of his teammates chorused "yes!"
Cerise blinked, rolled his eyes, and sighed as Titania took a photo of it with her scroll. However as he looked away he spotted something that made his eyes light up as he said "guys look! There's the town we're looking for."
As one the trio turned to look and spotted the shapes and lights of houses through the trees with smoke drifting through the air that they could now smell.
Cerise walked towards it gesturing for the other to follow saying "this is where the missions starts."
Author's Note: ladies and gents that's chapter 14! It's not much though it did cover one of the scenes in Stardust I've been looking forward to writing and doing a picture of. That being the 52 Pickup combo attack. That's been something planned ever since I started writing this years ago. The whole fight and the combo performed felt a little clunky but I had my friend look it over and they said it works so here it is. With this chapter the end of Stardust is in sight so at this point the next chapter for Stardust may be a bit in coming as I want to give my other stuff a bit more attention for more details on what'll be next you can check my journal page on DeviantArt or my Tumbr blog for more. There is a drawing that goes with the chapter that's up on DA and that I've actually inserted into the chapter on Ao3 so you can check that out. Not much else left to say. I hope you like this. I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own. Reviews welcome.