A/N: Sorry for being late, so here is a chapter for both stories.
Chapter 06: So Who's David?
Liz leapt over the Goliath as it rushed their position once more. They scattered and tried to deal with the Grimm that attacked them but...there were just so damn many! She turned and fired her railgun at the back of the Goliath's head. The round penetrated, but did hardly any damage and didn't even pierce all the way through the bone plate. The Goliath roared and crashed through the ruins as it bellowed in pain. If it was just the Goliath they might be able to take it down...eventually.
But with all the other Grimm? There were just too damn many. She ducked and started to shift her weapon back into the trident form when an Ursa's swipe managed to nail her in the side. Her aura took the hit, but it still knocked her to the side. As she struggled to rise, a Beowulf loomed over her and poised to swipe when an ear shattering cry split the air. The shout was filled with rage, pain, fear, and every Grimm immediately turned and charged towards the source of the cry. Liseran used her trident as a crutch as she pulled herself to her feet. Fae was at her side and helped her up. But the other girl's terrified gaze never wavered, [What is she staring at?] Liz followed her line of sight and her jaw dropped.
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Glynda shouted into her earpiece, "What do you mean you 'feared as much'!?" Ozpin's face on her tablet remained as composed as ever as he sipped at his coffee.
"It it quite apparent. That young man spent years in the wilderness. Alone. The only contact he had with other people was for materials and supplies to survive and continue his parent's work. But why go to such lengths to continue their work? He acts obligated, if not forced to continue their work. Yet he also shuns all contact even though others may be able to help complete it. I only knew that after his parents lost their lives he started to travel alone. However it's obvious that he blames himself and carries on their work as penance. Since entering the forest and being responsible for another person's life and survival, he clearly displayed a decaying amount of self control. And since a large horde of Grimm pushed him over the edge, it is not difficult to hazard a guess what happened to his parents. "
"He has snapped Ozpin! All the Grimm stopped attacking the others entirely! His distraught emotional state has drawn their full attention."
"He went back into the forest of his own volition Glynda. The choice and the consequences are his."
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Warren tore through the Grimm even in the most literal sense. Dust-fueled flames poured from his claws as he ripped them to pieces. One of the monsters managed to hit him, he wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't sent him through the air. He flipped and landed in the tree line. Immediately the flames went out and he sank into the shadows on the ground. The Grimm rushed him and he disappeared from view. A Beowulf pounced and crashed into the ground. It pawed at the ground in confusion when Warren's claws came out of the shadow and slammed into its face before vanishing back into the shadows. He reappeared under an Deathstalker as he fired round after round of dust fueled bullets. His breath came out in ragged gasps as he moved to continue his attack.
-x-x-x-x-
Liz seemed to snap out of it as she called out to the others. "Quickly everyone, if you haven't already, grab your relic! Start picking off the weaker Grimm! Once we've taken all of them out we'll focus on the Goliath!" One of the guys she didn't know stepped forward as he shouted in disbelief. "You want us to do what!? We should get the hell out of here while we can!"
Liz glared at him and she readied her railgun. "He just saved our lives. I don't know how he did it and I don't care. I'm not about to abandon him fight these Grimm alone!" There was a brief moment of hesitation as the others decided. Gunshots rang out all around her as she heard someone grumble, "We better get extra credit or something if we manage to kill that thing."
-x-x-x-x-
Qrow looked over at Glynda with a questioning glance, a glance she returned with a glare. Qrow raised his hands in surrender as he spoke, "What? I was just wondering if they would actually get extra credit." Glynda rolled her eyes with a light groan. "I still say you should help them." Qrow stretched as he flippantly replied, "Naw they pretty much got this. I mean as long as that pup holds their attention they have a chance to come up with a plan. Plus that purple girl with the sniper can actually hurt that thing. With a few well placed shots they might be able to immobilize it and kill it."
"Qrow." He scoffed as he drank from his flask, and leaned his scythe against his side. "You worry too much. See?" He gestured to his weapon. "I'm ready to get in there and be serious. If things get worse I'll step in."
Glyinda groaned again as she looked back to the display, [I really don't want to know what he'll consider worse. As long as he steps in before someone dies…]
-x-x-x-x-
Oz jogged through the trees. He was able to hear gunshots but he kept his pace constant. If he sprinted there, showed up out of breath and exhausted...he would be no help to anyone. He closed his eyes and used his Semblance again. Almost there, excellent. Warren was still on his rampage. Ah, a Beowulf is about to attack from behind him. Oz hit a few controls on his gauntlet and the shield on Warren's back re-oriented and fired. The Beowulf dropped and before Oz could continue to fire, several Grimm close to Warren also dropped dead. Oz heard the gunshots as he continued onwards.
[The others must be nearby and giving him covering fire.] He decided he was close enough and started to run as he broke out of cover into the field. There were about a dozen Grimm left as well as the Goliath. He grabbed one of the shields off his back and a stack of ammunition clips from one of his pockets. The clips clicked into place in a slot on the bottom of the shield as he tossed it. As it spun it deployed spikes from the underside of the shield. Suspended a few feet from the ground the shield spun and started to fire. He repeated the process for the other two shields on his back before he charged the Goliath.
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Liz shot another Grimm, their number was almost depleted. Ozwald ran up from somewhere and threw on of his shields to the ground when it expanded and started to fire at the Grimm. [His shields are deployable turrets!? That is so cool! I have to ask him how he came up with that!]
A few more shots from the group of trainees and the last of the lesser Grimm fell to the hail of bullets. As Oz dropped his last turret/shield thing, the others looked to Warren. Well, more specifically the giant Grimm that Warren rode as he tried to claw it to pieces while it bashed through the ruins try and knock him loose. The Goliath charged under an archway that was at just the right height to slam into Warren and knock him off the Goliath. Aqua and her partner quickly engaged the Goliath as the others grouped around Warren.
War slowly stood as he panted for air. He took a shaky step forward before he turned started to walk towards the Goliath. "Warren, wait. We need a plan."
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Oz went to place a hand on Warren's shoulder when the other boy twisted violently, his fist flew towards Ozwald when a propulsion round fired from his wrist and stopped the punch inches from striking Oz in the face.
"No one else dies." The others around them mumbled incoherently behind him but Oz tuned them out and continued undeterred as he pushed Warren's fist out of the way and punched his chest plate.
"Duh, that is the starting point for every good plan, don't die. Right now we need a plan to make IT die."
Warren stared at Ozwald for several moments. Liseran watched them closely when Fae made an observation, "My Oum, Warren you're bleeding!"
The others started as they looked at his damaged armor. Sure enough, on his side his armor was rent open. Comparatively it was a small tear in the metal, but the fact that the monsters had damaged the armor to that point and managed to cut him through the aura spoke volumes of the amount of punishment he collected. She marched up in front of him and stated, "Your Aura is obviously nearly depleted. Armor. Off. NOW."
He glared at her and curtly replied, "No. I need it to kill that thing-"
Liseran interrupted, "Actually you've barely even hurt the thing. I probably have the best chance at killing it. Plus those two have been doing just fine at distracting it on their own." Everyone spared Aqua and her partner a quick glance before their gaze returned to the armored faunus. War groaned and complied. The armor opened and retracted which showed holes in his clothes where the monsters had managed to rip through the armor. Fae started to check his injuries as Warren started to call out to the others, "Ok. I have a rough plan. Who has earth dust?"
Oz raised his hand as Warren winced and glared at Fae when she poked a particular sore spot. "Good. Ozwald start making a hole. Leave a cover on it so we can run over it but thin enough so that thing will bust through when it follows. Do it in the ruins so it can't see you working. We need it deep enough to trap the thing to score a killing blow." Oz grinned recklessly as he saluted and ran off. Warren paused a moment then sighed as he said,
"Someone besides Liz go be his look out so he doesn't get himself killed." One of the guys with rustic colors ran off to follow Oz. Warren gestures to the girl who was paired with him. "Hi sorry, didn't get your name. Can you let the two over there know that we need you three to keep playing bait? Keep it busy till Liz and Oz are ready with the trap then lure it over to them."
She rolled her eyes as she drawled, "Sure, it's Ube, by the way." With a wave she ran off towards the 'bait' group.
Lis bounced in place as she asked, "So what is my part?" Before Warren could answer Fae interrupted, "Ok! Hold still." Her aura glowed bright green as she gently touched his injuries. The bruises slowly faded as the shallow cuts stopped bleeding before they too closed and started to fade. To their continued surprise even his clothes were mended. "Great Oum, how are you doing that?"
She made a face and stopped as she put her hand to her forehead. "My semblance. I'll explain later but when I use it on a person, I can only us it to heal them."
[What? Nevermind, later. When we aren't all in danger of dying.]
He engages the gauntlets and asks, "Cana using emergency secondary power what is the duration of usage if only pure combat functions are used on currently engaged pieces?"
"I'm sorry to report, only 43 seconds." Warren winced and pulled out his scroll. He checked the screen and sighed. "Ok Liz! Your part is to shoot it till it dies. Is there anything we can do to boost your shots?"
Liz laughed before she gave him a coy grin, "Got any lightning dust?"
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Ozwald had just finished up the trap when he heard Liz call down to them, "I'm ready up here!" Oz grinned and nodded to Russet. Russet fired a dust round into the air where it exploded. The distraction team changed directions and started to lead the Goliath towards the trap. As an extra measure, he placed a few of his clips along the edges of the trap. Once the Goliath fell through he'd detonate them and hopefully, trap it in the pit long enough to Liz to fire enough rounds to kill it.
According to Liz the extra dust could be used for three super charged shots. She didn't use a lot of Dust as apparently too much would damage the rifle. But in the end, it was her weapon so they trusted her to know it best. Aqua, Ube, and Zaffre crossed the cover of the trap with the Goliath hot on their heels.
As Warren watched he swore silently to himself, [They are cutting it too close!] A moment later, he was proven right. The lid broke as the Goliath fell the into the pit. Luckily Warren was prepared for this. Aqua managed to get clear and Ube used her weapon to propel herself out. Warren dropped after Zaffre and tossed him out before he disappeared into the shadows on the rock wall. Oz waited on baited breath as the beast fell. As soon as he spotted Warren pop out of a shadow on the surface he hit the detonator. The sides of the pit exploded and tumbled into trap after the Grimm when-
-a huge bang filled the air, akin to artillery fire from an Atlas airship. The shockwave from Liz's gunshot cleared the dust in the air. The students looked at the Grimm. It's head was still visible about a foot below ground level, it's skull plate visibly cracked in half. Liz fired the second thunderous round as they watched the bone plate on its head shatter. Everyone held their breath as she loaded the last shot. The Goliath struggled to break free, but with its limbs buried it was a futile effort. The last shot rang out and pierced through it's skull. The creature started to dissolve into shadows as Oz sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned back. The others started to cheer and celebrate.
A shadow fell over him as someone stood over him. He opened his eyes to see Liseran's cheerful face and a beaming smile. Oz chuckled and called out to Warren, "I know we passed before coming back but do you think we'll get extra credit for that?" Warren chuckled as the others fell silent. Liz snapped out of her shock first as she cried out, "We need to finish the test!" Without a pause to see if Fae followed she raced of to the cliff face beyond the ruins. Quickly the others made to do the same as Ozwald and Warren broke down into hysterical laughter.
AN: For those who missed it. The title of this chapter? It is because they faced a Goliath. Like the...Greek myth? Great. Is that one Greek or Roman? David vs. Goliath.
Also
Zaffre(Deep blue) Ladon, Ube(light purple) Erzulie, Russet(dark brown/ reddish orange) Pontus, and Aqua (means water and is a light blue color) Galantaea. Kudos to anyone who can guess the team name. Before the next chapter at least.