Not my best work, but I got in that third update I promised this week.
"*Groan* My… everything hurts." Jaune moaned as he lay spread-eagled in his bed. He had been learning under both Natsu and Pyrrha for almost a week now after all and he honestly couldn't say who was a more hellish teacher, his redheaded partner or the pink haired fire user.
Natsu's lessons were longer and made him use every part of his body constantly with very little rest, but while Pyrrha focused mainly on more stationary methods, she actually had to hit him to train him, and she hit hard. And they haven't even begun using swords yet!
"Oh don't be so grumpy fearless leader!" Nora happily exclaimed as she jumped on her bed, "We have a field trip tomorrow, meaning no classes! Isn't that great?!" She told him backfliping into a lying position of her own.
"It's not a free day Nora," Ren reminded her, "we still have an assignment to complete while we're there."
Nora's reply was cut off by a loud crash from across the hall, the third one that night.
"What are they doing in there?" Nora couldn't help but ask.
"Natsu said something about family night." Pyrrha supplied, causing Ren to raise an eyebrow.
"Then why don't they have it in Natsu's room? He doesn't have roommates." He pointed out.
Blushing slightly Pyrrha stuttered out an answer, "W-well his room might not be exactly clean." She told him vaguely. In truth she and Natsu had tried incorporating chocolate sauce and whip cream into their last rendezvous and it got a little out of hand.
Despite Ren's climbing brow, Pyrrha refused to elaborate.
"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Professor Goodwitch told her students as she led them through the red forest known as Forever Fall.
The trees there were a special breed that produced a thick sap that could be used to make burn salves, rash cream, different kinds of ointment, or high quality syrup. The forest however was full of Grimm so collecting the sap was considered too dangerous for civilians to collect, hence why they were there. The majority of the sap they collected would be sold by the school to different companies for processing and the revenue would be funneled into the school.
At the back of the group Natsu and Jaune were carrying several jars and boxes of taps to use to collect the aforementioned sap, leaning over to whisper to the blond Natsu asked him, "How much you want a bet she does jack all the whole trip?"
Paling slightly Jaune tried to defend their teacher, "Oh come on Natsu, I'm sure she'll help us if we need it."
Rolling his eyes Natsu kept silent and continued walking. It was no secret to anyone at that point that Natsu wasn't too fond of the Beacon staff, a sentiment that was shared by many equalists after they found out the reason for the enmity the pinket showed some of the teachers.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap," Goodwitch continued, ignorant of the conversation between the two, "however, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvou back here at four o'clock. Have fun." She told them before walking off to Monty knows where.
"Come on guys!" Ruby called out, "Let's go get us some sap!" She said marching off.
Meanwhile team CRDL were going over their leader's plan for revenge, "Okay Dove you got the extra jar right?" Cardin asked.
"Yeah, I got it right here." Dove assured him.
"Good, as soon as those morons have some of their jars filled, throw it at them. Then we let the Wasps out and let them do the rest."
Sky however wasn't so sure, "Are we sure we want to do this? I mean Rapier Wasps are kinda poisonous, what if someone gets seriously injured? We'll get expelled for sure."
Cardin just snorted, "So what if one of them is hurt? That's the whole point! This will teach those bastards Xiao Long, Nikos, and Belladonna not to insult me." He growled, "And don't worry about being found out, they have no way to pin this on us, and even if they did I'm untouchable." He boasted.
Russel decided to play devil's advocate, "Um… what if someone dies?'
"Then they were too weak to be in this school." Cardin bluntly stated to the concern of his teammates. They knew Cardin wasn't the nicest of guys, but to be so passé about potentially causing someone's death? This may have gotten a little out of hand. They were all for causing them pain and humiliation, but to kill them?
Before they had a chance to change their minds however, Cardin saw the perfect opportunity, "There, they got most of their sap collected, and that Valkyrie girl has plenty on her face Dove, hand me the jar." He told his teammate.
Casting aside his doubts, Dove handed his leader the extra jar of sap they collected before turning back to face the people who were responsible for humiliating team CRDL.
Natsu let out a sigh as he stood up with his freshly filled jar, it was tedious boring work, but he was finally done and from the looks of it so were the others… except Nora who seemed to have eaten all of hers. Natsu shook his head and held in a laugh, it was times like this, surrounded by family and friends that he was reminded of his time in Fairy Tail doing small miscellaneous jobs to help Lucy pay her rent.
Before he could walk to far down memory lane, Natsu felt something hit him in the back. It didn't hurt as his Aura and Dragon Scales had shielded him from the blow but he still felt something sticky clinging to his back. Something that smelled oddly sweet.
Did someone just throw a jar of sap at me? Looking around to see if he could find the one who threw the jar at him, Natsu was able to make out team CRDL on the top of a small rise not far from where he and his friends were collecting their sap. I must have let my guard down Natsu thought, there was no other way that Cardin of all people could have snuck up on him, he didn't have the Aura or the emotional control to sneak past his sensory abilities for even a second otherwise.
Before he could ponder it any farther though Natsu saw something that made his blood run cold. Team CRDL had just opened a box full of Rapier Wasps, a breed of insect the size of his thumb and armed with long stingers that contained a venom that caused intense pain. A venom that his younger sister was highly allergic to. If Ruby got stung by any of those things, there was a good chance she would die.
"Yang, cover Ruby!" Natsu quickly called out to his twin.
"What? Why?" The blond asked as she turned to face him only to see the cause of his order for herself. "Shit!" She screamed dropping her jar of sap and running over to her little sister who was now petrified with fear. Ruby could face the biggest badist Grimm there were with barely a flinch but she had been terrified of wasps since the first time she got stung, an event that had her in a hospital bed for three days.
While Yang ran over to their sister Natsu lite his hands on fire in preparation of fighting the insects that luckily seemed to be focused mainly on him. Good, if they all come after me that means Ruby won't get stung. He thought as he punched the first bug with his flaming fist, killing it and sending its now burning body into the rest of its brethren.
Soon team JNPR as well as Weiss and Blake joined Natsu in fighting off the wasps. After seeing how violently he and Yang reacted to their presence, they knew it was bad even if they didn't know why.
Unfortunately other than Ren and Natsu no one was having much luck fighting the insects. The small size of their targets made them hard to hit with Blake, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha's swords and they were too fast for Nora to hit them with her hammer. Only Ren using his weapons knife sized blades and Natsu with his burning fists were able to hit the wasps which were now spreading throughout the clearing after their forgotten jars of sap were knocked over in the confusion.
"Where did these things come from?" Ren asked in his ever controlled way of speaking, "I did not see a nest anywhere near here."
"It was Cardin," Natsu told them, "He let out a box full of these things after pelting me with a jar of sap." He explained.
"When this is over I'm gonna break his legs!" Nora declared once more swinging her hammer in an attempt to hit one of the wasps.
"I hate to be that guy," Jaune spoke up, "But why are you and Yang panicking so much about a bunch of wasps? I mean they hurt but it's not like they could kill ya." Jaune questioned.
"Because they can kill Ruby." Natsu told him, "She's highly allergic to Rapier Wasp venom."
Hearing this caused those previously not in the know to pale. If even one of the wasps were to make it to the red themed girl her life was in serious danger.
The seven of them redoubled their efforts doing all they could to keep any wasps from getting past them, the few that did quickly taken care of by Yang. But it was a losing battle, with only three of their number able to touch the bugs one of which was more occupied trying to get her frozen sister to run and dozens of wasps doing all they could to get to the sources of the delicious smell that attracted them, they would be overrun within the next two minutes. Not helped by the fact that at this point they all had some amount of sap clinging to their clothes and bodies, both from collecting it and spilling it during their rush to help their friend.
Fuck this, Natsu thought, "Everyone get back!" Natsu called out. Not knowing why their red eyed friend was telling them to do such a thing but not questioning it, the six fighters quickly backpedaled behind the middle sibling.
Pulling his clenched fist back, Natsu pored all the power he could while in his sealed form into his fist. Then in one straight punch unleased all of it in a blazing inferno like he had done to defeat Fiore's 'strongest' guild all those years ago.
The effect was more than he could hope for. The turret of fire engulfed every wasp that had been swarming them, the flying insects too slow to escape the fast moving flames, and thanks to Natsu's increased control the forest didn't catch fire which was a bonus.
Panting heavily from the strain of using so much energy in his sealed state Natsu couldn't help the grin that slowly overtook his face. "Ha! Showed those little turds whose boss!" He cheered while the others stared at him with slightly widened eyes. Sure they had seen him do far more impressive feats during initiation, but that was with the aid of Dust (as far as they knew) this however was purely his own power and he just produced a blast of fire strong enough to sing their arm hair from several feet away!
They were broken from their shock by Yang's terrified cry, "Oh Monty, RUBY!" She cried. Turning to face her everyone instantly saw what had caused her to scream, and felt a deep sense of fear grip their hearts.
Ruby's skin was blotchy and discolored, her face and throat badly swollen and she was sweating profusely. She had been stung.
"SHIT!" Natsu screamed running up to his sisters, "Yang where's her epipen?" He demanded.
"I don't know!" She panicked, "I checked her pouches and I couldn't find it!"
Swearing profusely, Natsu quickly dug through his sisters pouches himself trying to find her medicine and praying to Mavis that Yang had just missed it in her panic.
"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Where in the name of Mavis is her damn pen?!" (For those of you thinking his reaction is too much, remember that his little sister is currently on a ticking clock dying in front of him)
Unable to find it Natsu began to panic just as much as his twin, there was no way they could get Ruby back to Beacon in time to get her spar pen and even less of a chance to get her to a hospital in Vale.
Wait a minute, we don't need a hospital.
Bringing his hands up in front of his face, Natsu clenched them tight and tried to concentrate despite his fear of losing his sister. "Come on come on come on." Natsu told himself, he had to do this, if he didn't Ruby would die.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, Natsu's hands erupted in soothing green flames, Healing Flames. As soon as he was sure that the fire wouldn't go out, Natsu gently placed his burning hands onto his sister's swollen neck.
"What are you doing?!" Weiss shrieked, "You're making it worse you imbecile!" She yelled at him, trying to yank him away from the clocked girl.
"I'm saving her life!" Natsu shouted back, shoving the short girl away from him with his shoulder, his hands never leaving his sisters now much smaller neck.
Before she could continue her rant Ren grabbed her shoulder, "He's right Weiss. Look, her swelling is going down." He pointed out. And indeed it was, not only had Ruby's face and neck gone back down to roughly their original size, but she was breathing easier as well.
Those present slumped in relief, she would live, she was going to be okay. CRDL on the other hand. Natsu thought turning his head to look at the four hiding teens, won't be.
Okay I don't really feel like giving a recap this chapter, so I'm not going to instead lets go straight into the other stuff.
Due to me being reminded to take out that filler chapter from a few weeks back this is now labeled as the fifteenth chapter just like how the last one was before the deletion of the AN so I'm not sure if members will be able to review this chapter. If members can't and still want to leave a review (Please do) then they will either have to leave it under a different chapter and just say its for this one or log off and leave one that way (if you put your account name instead of 'Guest' I'll be sure to answer you through PM like I usually do).
Also, the poll for the category for the fan choice story is now closed with RWBY winning, however due to how close the second option 'crossover' was there will also be crossover options in the next poll: The Plot. And before anyone asks, Mawaru Penguindrum's resident Yandere is a stalker... or so I'm told I never read the manga or watched the anime. Point is that option means Ruby is a stalker. Please take the time to cast your votes.
Finally, for those of you who care, an update for 'Dragon of the Hearth' will be posted either before or on Saturday.
Don't forget to Review,
Wingd Knight out
PS: I know this chapter wasn't the best, but please remember that this is the third one I posted for this story over the past 5 days so I didn't spend all that much time on it I just wanted to get it done. Thank you.