Chp. 32: Screaming Woods
Kigali, Rwanda
Mount Kigali
Up in Mount Kigali, outside of the Rwandan capital city of Kigali, Weiss, Ricky, Jaune, Pyrrha, Velvet, Coco, Kendra, Scarlet, Nolan, Roy, Britney, Hera, Doctor Oobleck, Steel, Zwei and four Rwandan soldiers were all hiking up the mountain viewing the surroundings around them.
Oobleck was wearing a long brown great coat, a khaki buttoned safari shirt and a pith helmet, all of which appear to be properly worn and tucked in and such, unlike his earlier attire. He is also carrying a large backpack.
"So what is our mission here exactly?" Ricky asked.
"The Grimm are migrating out from Eastern Africa. Rwanda is starting to have sightings of Grimm. Our mission is to stop the Grimm from advancing further until the Rwandan military can establish some security for Kigali," Oobleck explained.
"Our mission will be done when the Rwandan military has their security set up, which won't be until later tonight," Steel said.
"So until then, we'll hunt down Grimm. Got it," Jaune said.
"Shouldn't be too hard," Kendra said.
"But you must always be on guard, Ms. Tanner. You'll never know if we will run into some form of trouble of the utmost difficulty," Oobleck said.
"Of course, Professor Oobleck," Weiss said.
"Doctor!" Oobleck corrected.
Zwei happily barked at the history teacher.
Mount Kigali Forest
A couple hours had passed as the group hiked into Mount Kigali Forest. The students were all starting to get tired from hiking around Mount Kigali.
"This is starting to get really, really boring," Hera groaned.
"Oh, suck it up, Karen. Shit like this takes time," Ricky said.
"Yeah, so quit your bitching and keep a lookout for Grimm," Coco said.
Suddenly a scream echoed out around them, and everyone felt a little sluggish.
"What was that?" Velvet asked.
"And why am I so tired all of a sudden?" Scarlet asked.
The screaming sounded off again as everyone then felt a little more tired.
"Where is it coming from?" Roy asked.
'The screaming sounded off once more as Velvet's rabbit ears perked up.
"It sounds like it's coming from this way," Velvet said, pointing into a thick part of the forest.
"Let's go and check it out," Steel said.
They all ran into the thick woods. They ran through the woods and soon approached some thick shrubs. They moved the shrubs aside and saw they were standing in front of a steep slope and down below it were a large group of Grimm, slowly walking down a dirt path.
The large group of Grimm are all humanoid in shape, somewhat similar to the Imp, but are very tall, with long arms that reach down as far as the ground and extremely long fingers. They have hideous faces, resembling skulls, some even lacking nostrils, and low-hanging jaws. There seem to be at least four variants to the Grimm's appearance, two being extremely hunched back, whereas the others stand taller. They are known as the Apathy.
"Crap! Apathy!" Jaune said.
"I guess that explains why we got a little more tired after hearing the screaming," Kendra said.
"And it looks like they're all heading to the city," Nolan said.
"A lot of civilians will literally lose so much of their will, that they'll lose their will to even live," Steel said.
"We can't let them get to the city. Let's get down there and take them out," Hera said.
"In case you have forgotten, we can't get close to them because they'll just drain our willpower away, and not to mention they are also resilient to gunfire at fucking point blank range," Britney said.
"But they are weak to fire," Weiss said.
"Then we should lure them into a trap," Pyrrha said.
"That's exactly what we will do, students," Oobleck said.
The group huddled around the Beacon history teacher to formulate a plan.
Several minutes have passed as the Apathy continue to slowly walk down the path they were all on.
"Hey, fellas!" a voice called out.
The Apathy all turned their heads to the side to see Britney, Scarlet, Nolan, and Roy waving at them in front of some shrubs.
"Come and get us!" Roy called out to the Apathy.
One of the Grimm lets out an ear-piercing scream at the four students, causing all four of the students to struggle to stand. Britney, Nolan, Scarlet, and Roy turned around and ran through the shrubs and deep into the woods as the Apathy slowly pursued them. Soon after, the four students ran into an open area where the others were waiting, while Steel and two of the Rwandan soldiers were pouring large canisters of gasoline all over the ground.
"You all remember what the plan is?"
"Yeah, lure the Apathy into this location that's soaked in gasoline and Professor Oobleck will light them on fire," Jaune answered.
"Doctor, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck corrected with an annoyed look.
"So for now, we all sit back and relax for a moment," Hera said.
"I still don't get why I can't just use my semblance to decimate them all," Coco said.
"Because the Apathy might drain your will to use your weapon before you can use it," Weiss said.
"Good point," Coco said.
"Guys, look!" Velvet shouts, pointing upward.
Everyone looked up to see what the rabbit faunus was pointing at. Floating up in the air was a black figure that had bone-like spikes on its back and ribs on its upper body, with long, skeletal forearms and sharp fingernails. It lacks a lower body, instead floating through the air while leaving behind a black smoke trail. Its face consists of Grimm markings on a mask-like bone plate with a single eye. This Grimm is known as a Geist.
"Aw, shit! One problem after another!" Ricky said.
The Geist flies into a large boulder, leaving only the Grimm mask exposed on the surface of the boulder. The boulder starts to float up into the air, along with other smaller boulders. The boulders shifted and moved around which form a central body and four levitating limbs, a pair of arms and legs. Through the Geist's influence, the boulders gain red vein-like markings. It has now formed into a Petra Gigas.
"Damn it!" Jaune cursed.
"Weiss, we could use one of your summons right now!" Britney said.
"On it," Weiss replied.
She plunges her sword into the ground and creates a large glyph in front of her, summoning an Arma Gigas. The summon charged over at the Grimm and swung its giant sword at it, but the Petra Gigas swung its arm, parrying the sword away. The Arma Gigas swung its sword down at the Petra Gigas as it caught its attack with its boulder arms. Before anyone else could run in to help, the sound of hissing. They all turned to see two King Taijitus accompanied by a horde of Beowolves, Ursai, and a couple of Death Stalkers all heading towards the group.
"Really?!" Hera shouted.
"Get back," Coco ordered as she stepped up to the oncoming Grimm.
She transforms Gianduja into her minigun and with the combined aid of her semblance, opens fire and slaughters the advancing horde of Grimm, including the two Death Stalkers. Pyrrha, Britney, Scarlet, Ricky, Kendra, Steel, and the other Rwandan soldiers pulled out their guns and started to shoot at the Grimm as well. Velvet creates a copy of Gianduja from Anesidora and starts to shoot at the Grimm, alongside the others, while Roy hurls his saws at the Grimm as Hera shoots lightning at the Grimm with her claymore. Ricky would also grab some rocks on the ground and use his semblance on them, before tossing them at the Grimm, and the rocks would explode, killing more Grimm. The two King Taijitus however slithered away from the gunfire. The two Grimm tried to strike At Coco, Ricky, Roy, and the Rwandan soldiers from their sides, but Britney, Nolan, and Hera rush in at the Grimm on the left, and Jaune, Pyrrha, and Kendra rush at the Grimm on the right.
Nolan jabs the white head of the King Taijtu's face with his cattle prod, electrocuting it, then whacks it in the side of the head, knocking it to the ground. Britney rushes over to the black head of the Grimm as she transforms Geminos into her katanas. Just as she was about to strike at its head, Hera rushes in front of her and slices the first head off as Britney forces herself to stop as she nearly struck at Hera.
"Hey, watch it! I could have hit you!" Britney shouted.
"Then stay out of my way!" Hera replied before running to the Grimm's remaining head.
"You're the one that got right in front of me, stupid!" Britney retorted as she followed behind Hera.
Nolan jabs his cattle prod at the King Taijutu's other remaining head, electrocuting it. As Hera was about to cut its head off, Britney dashed past her and Sliced the Grimm's other head off, killing it. Nolan turns his head at Britney.
"Thanks," he said before running off.
Hera runs up to Britney with a scowl on her face.
"Hey! I had it!" Hera shouted.
"I know you did," Britney said with a smirk on her face before walking away.
Back with Jaune and Pyrrha, the couple were currently fighting off the other King Taijitu. The two heads lunged at the two members of JNPR, but Jaune and Pyrrha bashed their heads away with their shields. Jaune stabs the white head of the Grimm in its right eye as Pyrrha plunges the top of the top of the black head of the Grimm. Kendra charges in with her poleaxe and with one strike, hacks off both heads of the King Taijitu as it then slumps to the ground and dissipates. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Kendra turned their heads at each other and smiled.
As the Petra Gigas was holding back the Arma Gigas, Weiss created glyphs around the Grimm and shot ice shards at it. Oobleck steps up with his thermos, Antiquity's Roast as Zwei walks up in front of him. Oobleck takes a sip from his thermos before transforming it into a torch with a small flame burning at its tip. Zwei barks, prompting he's ready for an attack. He jumps and flips in the air, and Oobleck bats him, turning him into a small fireball. As the Petra Gigas continue to try and push back against the Arma Gigas, it gets knocked over by the combined attack by the history teacher and the corgi. The Grimm gets back up and looks down at Zwei getting ready to smash him, but the Arma Gigas swung its sword at the Petra Gigas, knocking it down again. Weiss runs up to Zwei, kneels down and pets him.
"Good boy, Zwei! Who's a good boy? You are, that's who! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!," Weiss cooed as Zwei happily barked in response.
Just as Oobleck approached Weiss and Zwei, they heard the sound of rumbling. They turned their heads to see the Petra Gigas getting back up. Ricky stops shooting once the horde of Grimm was all killed. He turns around to see the Petra Gigas towering over Weiss, Oobleck, and Zwei. Before the Grimm could attack, Ricky ran up as he grabs a rock from the ground, focuses his semblance on it and throws it at the Petra Gigas, making it stagger backwards.
"Thanks, Ricky," Weiss said.
The Petra Gigas regains its footing and looks back at Ricky, Weiss, Oobleck and Zwei again. Before the Grimm could try to attack again, the Arma Giga came up and slashed at the rock body, causing it to shatter to the ground. The Geist rises out from the rubble and just as it was about to fly away, Weiss launches herself up into the air with a glyph and slashes at the Grimm, killing it instantly.
Everyone else gathered around and before anyone could say anything, a loud scream was heard, causing everyone to struggle to stand. They all turned to see the Apathy had finally caught up with them. Coco aims her minigun at the large horde of Grimm, but one of them screams causing everyone, including Coco to slump to the ground.
"Spring... the trap... Doctor... They're just... in the... right spot..." Steel tiredly said.
With one arm Oobleck lifted his flamethrower, and blasted fire at the gasoline soaked ground in front of them. The ground was set on fire, including all of the Apathy that were on it. Weiss gets back up and creates glyphs all around the fire and creates an ice wall around it, preventing the fire from spreading and trapping the Apathy inside. Everyone gets up off the ground and watches from behind the ice as the Apathy burns away into nothing.
"Nicely done, students. That should hopefully be the last of them," Oobleck said.
"I hope so," Hera said.
One of the Rwandan soldiers had been talking into his radio before putting it away and facing Steel and Oobleck.
"I just got word from our superiors of the RPA. They have reported that defenses for the capital have finally been set up," the soldier said.
"Then that means we can all head back?" Scarlet asked.
"Yes, we can all head back now," Steel answered.
"Finally!" Hera spoke with relief.
"Come along, students. Let us get back," Oobleck said.
The group all then start walking through the woods and begin to make their way back to the city.
Kigali
Hôtel des Mille Collines
Later at night back at the hotel, Pyrrha, Weiss, Britney, Kendra, Coco, Velvet, and Hera were all in a hotel room talking about what they all plan to do for the rest of their stay in Kigali.
"You girls got any plans for tomorrow," Britney asked.
"Me and Jaune are heading out into the city for a date," Pyrrha answered.
"Will it end with a fuck session?" Kendra asked.
"N-No! Jaune and I agreed to just go out. No sex in the end," Pyrrha answered.
"I'm heading out to look at what clothes this city has. Bun-Bun here is joining me," Coco said as she pulls Velvet in to her side.
"So... you two are dating now... or...?" Weiss asked as she trailed off.
Velvet cheeks turned red as she looked away from all the girls, while Coco looked neutral.
"I enjoy her company," Coco answered.
"Okay?" Britney shrugged before turning over to Weiss. "What about you, Weiss?"
"Just playing video games with Ricky," Weiss answered.
"I'm still surprised you're becoming a gamer," Velvet said.
"So what are you and Kendra planning to do tomorrow?" Coco asked.
"Make plans to take Jacob and Robert out when we get back home," Kendra answered.
"With those two in Afghanistan, we feel like they're gonna need some time with someone," Britney said.
"Yeah, I can imagen," Velvet said.
"I'm sure Jacob doesn't need someone like you for company," Hera finally spoke.
All the other girls turned their heads to face Hera as Britney scowled at her.
"Oh? And why is that?" Britney asked.
"I'm just saying that he should be with someone who knows what's best for him and lead him down the right path," Hera answered.
"No, he wouldn't. You would just dictate what he can and cannot do. The relationship between you and Jacob would have been toxic and maybe even abusive on your part," Britney argued.
"Please. I'm sure he can handle a little adjustment once I get him back. Men can handle anything," Hera said.
"And why would he take someone who fucked her own brother?" Britney retorted with a smirk.
"He and I did not fuck! My cherry is still pure!" Hera shouted.
"Whatever you say, princess," Britney said as she turns around. "By the way, about the the whole 'men can handle anything' comment you made, you have no idea how wrong you are."
Britney walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind her.
Meanwhile in another hotel room, Jaune, Ricky, Scarlet, Nolan, and Roy were all practically doing the same thing as the girls were doing, making plans for the rest of their stay in the city.
"Hey Jaune. I heard that you and Pyrrha were going in the city for another date," Ricky said.
"Yeah, we are. We're just gonna be touring around the city, looking at some landmarks and stuff," Jaune said.
"I still can't believe that you're actually dating the Invincible Girl herself. And she fell for you because you didn't even know who she was. And you were originally head over heels for Weiss," Roy said.
"Yeah, but I got over Weiss, and it ended up working out for me in the end with Pyrrha," Jaune said.
"So what are you guys planning on doing?" Ricky asked the other three boys.
"Nolan and I are going out to see the city tomorrow," Scarlet said.
"And I'm just checking out some sights in the city," Roy said. "What about you, Ricky?"
"Me and Weiss are just gonna stay and play on my Nintendo Switch that I brought with me," Ricky asked.
"A Schnee? Playing video games? This is some strange shit I'm hearing," Nolan said.
"Weiss have been gaming a lot more often. She's even been playing online with other players, and it gave her quite a mouth," Ricky said.
"That I would like to see," Roy said.
"That's something anybody would want to see," Jaune said.
"True," Scarlet shrugged.
"Hey Ricky, quick question, what's up with you and Weiss?" Nolan asked.
"What do you mean?" I think he's asking if you and Weiss are dating," Jaune answered.
"Dating? Well, no we aren't," Ricky answered. "Why do you ask?"
"You and her have been hanging out a lot more often and we thought that you two are a couple or something," Roy explained.
"Just because we've been hanging out, doesn't mean we're dating," Ricky said.
He soon then thought about the idea of him asking out Weiss, wondering if it could work out or not.