The Next Step.
In a pool of black slime in a dark red and purple land, a large paw emerges from within the slime and a Beowolf gradually crawls out, slime sliding off of it and onto the ground. Several more of such pools can be seen, and many Beowolves emerging. Around these pools are a mostly dark and desolate land made up of red ground, purple crystals, and a red and black clouded sky. This was the land of the Grimm.
Mercury and Emerald are looking at the sene through a window from inside a high building. Emerald has her hand to her mouth while Mercury seems slightly disgusted. Then Cinder lifts her hand and snaps her fingers, signaling them to return to her side and they obeyed.
Three men and a woman sits around a table, waiting for their leader to arrive.
One man has short black and gray hair. He also has a mustache and green eyes. He wears a dark blue overcoat with yellow linings, with a yellow-buttoned black undercoat, yellow dress shirt, a black necktie and brown fingerless gloves. His name is Arthur Watts.
Another man had pale skin and has brown hair braided in ponytail and he has gold eyes. He wears a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it along with white pants. His jacket is left open, exposing his bare chest, which is criss-crossed with prominent scars. His arms are covered with purple bandages and leather vambraces. He also wears leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards. His name is Tyrian.
The third man is very muscular. He has brown short hair, a beard and hazel eyes. He wears a gray and brown coat with yellow buttons and linings on it, and a large belt. His arms are hairy and appear to have some scars on both arms near his sleeves. He also wears brown boots and black pants. His name is Hazel.
And finally the woman. She didn't look much older than Cinder, 2 or 3 years at most. She has long white hair, and on her ghostly pale face she wears a black and white mask with horns. She was an black armor which highly resembles the one Líf wears, and she wears red skin tight clothing underneath her armor. Her name, was Thrasir.
Cinder sits quietly, while Mercury and Emerald move to her side. Emerald nudges Mercury out of her way so that she can be directly next to Cinder. Líf was currently absent from meeting due to an incident during the fall of Beacon.
"Yes, yes, keep your posse in check" Watts mocked, Mercury grunts and makes a move toward Watts, but Emerald holds him back "You hear that? Silence" Hazel gives Watts an unimpressed sideways glance "I've half a mind to thank the little girl that bested you".
Thrasir glanced at him "If you want to bully kids, Watts. You could've become a teacher".
Watts chuckled "Please, only insecure fools bullies others. I only state facts".
"If I were you, I'd hunt her down" Tyrian began but pauses to snicker before he continues "Find her and, well, she took your eye, didn't she?".
Cinder only stares at Tyrian while he cackles at her. Cinder tries to speak but only manages to make quiet exhaling noises. Emerald leans in to hear her.
Watts looked very unimpressed "Pathetic. Why did you even—".
There is a sound of a heavy metal door being unlatched. The doors open and everyone stands just before Salem enters. She glides alongside the table with soft footsteps before reaching the head of it, jewels jangling from her hair. Salem stops, facing away from them and toward a candle and crystal display.
"Watts" She finally spoke as Watts straightens, looking toward her as she turns around "Do you find such malignance necessary?".
She gestures for all to sit down. Which they do, minus Watts and Salem herself.
"I apologize, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure" Watts said as he and Salem sit simultaneously.
"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She's become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So I'm curious, to what failures are you referring?" Salem asked.
"Well, the girl with the Silver Eyes" Watts reminded.
"Yes. We've dealt with their kind before. How is it a novice was able to best one of us?" Hazel asked.
"My thoughts exactly. Even without her new power, it should have been effortless" Watts said.
"It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness. Which is why you will remain by my side as we continue your treatment" Salem said and Cinder is unhappy about this and lowers her head. Emerald looks at her in sympathy "Dr. Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral".
Watts nods "Very good".
"Tyrian, I want you to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden" Salem continued.
Tyrian laughs "Gladly".
"And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting. The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same" Salem told the large man.
Hazel nods "As you wish".
Salem then looks at Thrasir "Now Thrasir, how is Líf doing?".
"His urges are under control for now. But if I may speak freely..." Thrasir paused and Salem motions she can speak her mind "I warned you sending him to destroy Beacon was to risky. His blood lust was completely out of control and he ended up slaughtering more of our allies than our enemies. Until he learns to focus his blood rage, it's to risky to send him out again. You should've let me handle Beacon".
"Don't missunderstand me, Thrasir. I do not doubt your capabilities. But your focus was needed elsewhere. Speaking of, have you confirmed our suspicions?" Salem asked.
Thrasir nods "It was her, She is still alive... And she has a child, named Lucina. A child who carries the blood of the Hero King".
Salem smiled at what she heard "That is good news indeed. Lucina... what a lovely name for such an important child".
"Shall I capture Eir for you, my lady?" Thrasir asked.
"No. Not yet at least. For now, I am more curious about her child. She could be far more useful" Salem answered.
Cinder raises a finger. Emerald fails to notice this gesture for a moment, before she quickly leans in to hear her. Cinder rasps into her ear, before Emerald straightens.
"Speak, child" Salem gestured.
"She wants to know..." Emerald began but hesitates for second "What about the girl?".
Watts scoffs "What about her? Seems to me that this is Cinder's problem, not ours".
Cinder slams her fist onto the table and glares at Watts, who grins at her.
"That's enough. Tyrian?" Salem spoke.
Tyrian looks at her "Yes, my lady?".
"Spring can wait. Find the girl that did this to Cinder" Salem began and Tyrian giggles elatedly and claps "And bring her to me".
Tyrian freezes, groans disappointedly, pouts for a second, then looks back up at Salem with an acquiescent shrug.
"And if Lucina is with her, you are to bring her back as well. I want her alive and preferably in good health if possible" Salem said before motioning to the rest "Because of your efforts, Beacon has fallen. And Haven will be next".
Everyone rises.
Tyrian snickers at Cinder and points to his left eye laughing wickedly "Eye for an eye".
Tyrian goes into an uncontrollable fit of manic laughter, while Cinder grits her teeth.
Elsewhere in a forest our heroes were on the hunt for a particularly dangerous grimm... But Nora seemed far more focused on something else.
"Come on! We need to think of a good name for our team" She said to her partner.
"But how do we make a name for a five member team? I think our teams only had four members for a reason" Ren said.
Nora groans in frustration "Urgh this is so annoying! I'm glad we are all together and all, but it makes it so hard to come up with a name that doesn't sound stupid! Come on Lucina, pitch something for us!".
Lucina was leaning on a tree before looking up when Nora spoke to her "How about team RNJR?".
"No way! 1: It wouldn't be a good name because there is more there is three of us and only one of you and Ruby, so JNRR would've been better. 2: You didn't include yourself in the name! You are part of this team too!" Nora said.
Lucina smiled at her "Thank you Nora. But I'm afraid I don't have a name for a five member team".
"I kind of like RNJR. If we just find a way to work Lucina in to the name" Ren said as he rubbed his chin.
"Guys!" Jaune spoke up making them turn their heads toward him "We need to focus... But yeah we do need to think of a good name" There's a rumble "It's here".
Suddenly, Ruby comes flying backwards from trees, firing Crescent Rose in the direction she came from. A collection of floating boulders with a Grimm mask moves the trees aside, clearly chasing her. Ruby falls, crashing against tree limbs along the way.
"Bad... landing... strategy!" Ruby lands on her feet on a big tree branch strong enough to hold her weight. She uses her Semblance to fly past the Grimm. The others arrive and look up.
"Let's get that thing off her" Jaune runs toward them. Ren jumps up into the trees.
"Don't forget me!" Nora pulls out Magnhild and shoots it at the ground, propelling herself into the air with excited whooping. She lands right besides Ren in his branch.
"We need to draw its attention away from Ruby!" Ren said
A stream of rose petals appear as Ruby flies past them "Could use some help!".
Nora shoots the Grimm in the back. Ren hops around on branches. The Grimm tries to hit Ren. Ren runs up its rock arm, flies into the air, and comes down upon the Grimm, striking at it with StormFlower. It's ineffective. Lucina jumps and stabs in to it's stone arm, but is forced to jump of.
"Gotta get in closer!" Jaune said
Ren lands beside him "My blades don't hurt him!".
The Grimm turns, standing upright.
"Crap!" Nora said.
"How about this?!" Ruby loads a magazine with an image of a lightning bolt on its side into Crescent Rose and fires.
Electric bolts encase one of the Grimm's arms. The red lines on the arm glow brighter, and the Grimm slams it into the ground. All are sent flying backwards, but Ren, Nora, and Ruby manage to land on their feet. Jaune tumbles along the ground painfully until he hits a boulder between his legs and falls forward.
"You'll be fine without a weapon. You're the strategist" He said weakly.
"That's it!" Nora runs forward, tossing Magnhild into the air and transforming it into hammer mode.
She jumps into the air and hits it, breaking its arm apart. A large piece flies straight toward Nora, but Ruby gets between them and knocks it away. The Grimm uses its other arm to strike at the two girls. Jaune straightens and stretches and soon has to dodge a barrage of rocks.
"Wha? Whoa! Wha? Ho! Hey! Be careful!" A rock the size of his head hits him in the face and sends him into a tree. Jaune lands in a crouch and shakes his head to clear the pain. The Grimm continually tries and fails to hit an evasive Nora. Jaune stands up and looks up at the Grimm "Ah...".
The Grimm's armless shoulder gains a glowing red circle with a symbol of an eye in the middle. The circle spins, and then a black, elongated arm with clawed fingers emerges from it. The arm rears back.
"Uh-oh" The Grimm shoves its new arm into the tree Jaune was leaning against and lifts it from the ground "His arm is a tree! His arm is a tree!".
Ruby spins Crescent Rose and loads another magazine into it - this one with imagery of fire on its side. She fires, and the flaming projectile swings around to the tree arm. Jaune fist pumps. The tree arm swings around to him, on fire. Jaune loses his smile.
He putts his hands into his hair "Big mistake!".
The Grimm chases Jaune, swinging the flaming arm at him. It misses twice, but then Jaune falls. One of StormFlower spins through the air and makes a cut across the Grimm's mask, making The Grimm fall. Ren lands beside Jaune and catches his gun. Lucina, Ruby and Nora come up behind their teammates.
"Okay, how do we do this?" Jaune began to think.
"His body is too thick to break through" Ren said.
"It doesn't care about its body" Jaune noted.
"Plus it can keep grabbing new limbs!" Nora said.
"But it keeps protecting its face" Jaune said.
"We can't break it!" Ruby said.
"There must be a weak spot" Lucina said.
"Ugh, if we knocked all of its limbs off at once and went for the..." Jaune's eyes light up with an idea and he turns to face his team. Behind him, the Grimm gets up "Guys, I got it! We hit it harder!".
Ren looked confused "Is that it?".
"No, seriously. It's trying to keep us from its face. If we kill the limbs, we'll have a shot to kill the whole thing!" Jaune said.
"Alright! Come on, team, let's do this" Ruby declared.
"Yeah!" Nora agreed.
Ren got ready "Right!".
"Ren, left. Ruby, right, Lucina flank it" Jaune ordered as Lucina, Ren and Ruby depart as told "Nora, ready to try out the new upgrade?" Nora nods and runs "Right. And I will—".
Jaune gets hit in the back by the Grimm. Ruby attacks the right side. Ren attacks the left, and Lucina from behind. Nora activates a mechanism that generates a current of electricity across the hammerhead of Magnhild. Jaune runs around to make himself a target, waving at the Grimm.
"I'll take over here!" The Grimm goes after Jaune but switches targets as Lucina, Ruby and Ren attack it.
Nora charges Magnhild even more and braces her feet "Ready!".
Ruby lands next to Jaune after another attack and he speaks up "Use everything you've got!".
Ruby uses her Semblance to fly at the Grimm, taking Nora with her, and the red and pink swirls go right for the tree arm. Ruby slices the tree in half, opening the way for Nora to hit the mask with Magnhild. The rock body shatters and the ephemeral Grimm rises out of it and flies off.
Ruby aims a shot at it, but before she could fire, Lucina's sword flies through the and sliced the grimm in half, killing it. Everyone looked and saw Lucina had thrown her sword to kill it. It was a nice throw, but Ruby did not look to pleased.
"Oh come on! I was finally going to win! You stole my kill!" She complained.
Lucina smirked at her "There are no rules in war, Ruby. You were to slow".
Ruby growled before jumping at Lucina, who just put her in to a one armed head lock before using her free hand to ruffle Ruby's hair, much to the younger girl's annoyance as she tried to break free. Their friends smiled at the sight, they looked cute when they were joking around with each other.
Later that day Ruby shakes hands with the town Mayor.
"We truly can't thank you enough" He said sincerely.
"Just doing our job, sir" Ruby said.
"That Geist had been plaguing our village for weeks. We were beginning to wonder if we'd have to relocate" The Mayor said.
"Well, we are on our way to Mistral. You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe" Ruby offered.
The Mayor looked amused "Ha. I take it you're not from these parts. Anima is a large continent. I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the Kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more".
"Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient" Ren assured as her and the rest bows respectfully.
Later in a shop, a counter, a burly man with horns sets down a set of armor "There you go, son. It's going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws".
"Wow. That-eh. I don't know what to say" Jaune said in amazement.
"Don't gotta say anything! Just put it on! I'll go get the rest" The Faunus blacksmith said as he turns and goes out back.
"So, what are you waiting for?" Nora asked.
"Oh, uh, right! "Jaune takes off his old chestplate "Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually".
"A sign of progress" Ren said.
"Progress" Jaune turns around, and Ruby gasps then covers her mouth and tries not to giggle "What is it?".
Ruby points to his chest "What is that?".
A bunny emblem is on Jaune's chest "What, my hoodie? I've always had this".
Ruby began snorting "It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!".
She began laughing as Jaune tried to explain "It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?".
Ruby tried to speak in near hysterics "What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?".
Jaune turns away "Yeah! Fifty!".
Ruby continues to laugh hysterically, her head stylistically expanding, before she falls onto the floor. Lucina gave her an amused look, finding Ruby's reaction much more funny than Jaune's hoodie.
Ren shrugs "Well, I suppose we don't have to grow out of everything".
Ruby chortles from the floor, feet in the air, and Lucina decided to speak "Keep it up Ruby, and I might need to give you mouth to mouth".
Ruby quickly jumps back to her feet, blushing madly, and now it was her turn to be laughed at.
The blacksmith returns from out back "Can't have a Huntsman without his weapon" He sticks a wide sword sheath into the countertop "Made all the modifications you asked for" The blade expands into a shield "That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?".
The design on the bottom was reminiscent of Pyrrha' circlet. Jaune looks at it with a sad smile "From a friend".
Lucina looked down, she missed Pyrrha, they all did... But she knew someone who was hurting a lot more. Minutes later, Lucina Ruby, Ren, and Nora wait outside the shop. Jaune comes out wearing the armor. He pulls out the sword and expands the shield.
The Blacksmith stood by the door "He cleans up alright, don't you think?".
"He certainly does" Ren agreed.
"I still think a grenade launcher would've really brought the look together" Nora said.
"It looks fine, Jaune" Lucina said.
"Nothing's gonna stop our Team now!" Ruby declared.
"We need a name!" Nora yelled in frustration.
"It doesn't matter what we're called. As long as we're together" Jaune said, earning some smiles.
"You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town" The Blacksmith said.
"Sorry, but we've got another mission" Ruby said.
"Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what" Nora added.
"We've heard the next village over has a working Airship" Ren said.
The Blacksmith thinks "Mmm, no way to know for sure. Scroll signals were weak enough out here back when Beacon Tower was still up. Haven't heard from Shion Village in a while".
"Well, there's only one way to find out" Ruby declared.
With a wave, the Team turns and leaves. The blacksmith waves back and grunts. As They walked Jaune goes over their check list.
Jaune "Food?".
Nora "Check!".
Jaune "Water?".
Nora "Check!".
Jaune "How about ammo?".
"Locked and loaded! Thank you, Schnee Dust Company!" Nora cheered.
"Got the map?" Jaune asked.
"Ren's got it" Nora answered.
"No, I don't. You have it" Ren said.
"Wait, what?" Nora asked.
"Guys, please tell me you're joking" Jaune said and Nora laughs nervously "Guys! Guys? Guys...".
"Nope" Nora said.
Lucina shakes her head before she noticed Ruby is looking down sadly. Knowing why she was sad, Lucina put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby looked at her for a moment, before taking Lucina's hand and held on to it. Lucina smiled and allowed it, since the others were to busy to tease them.
And with that, their journey continued.
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Tell me what you think.
