Big Issues
AN: First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming back for another chapter. Second, I'd like to thank whateverman999 for the follow of this series. Third and possibly the most important for this chapter... the contents may be beyond what some are comfortable with in a few ways. You are welcome to skip over those parts as needed.
Disgusting, Revolting, and Wrong
"You know, you didn't need to walk us out." Qrow lightheartedly jokes to Leonardo as they made their way to the airpads.
"I'm not allowed to see an old friend off on a mission?" The lion chuckles. "Besides, it's good for me to get out of the office since my secretary is in today and I don't feel like listening to her nag about staying cooped up."
"Aren't you the one who gave her that job?" The taller man laughs.
"Hmph! She wasn't that way when she was hired, that's for sure."
Behind the men, team RNNJR followed in their wake carrying their packs for what was to come. Earlier that morning, Lionheart had called, much to the irritation of Qrow's hangover, and told him of an important mission that needed to be done as soon as possible. It wasn't the call that the team had been hoping for but it was busy work that would get them out of the house for a bit.
Unfortunately, that also meant that the others had to remain behind as Leonardo has yet to know of their arrival a few days ago. That only made it worse for them as they had to stay out of sight and make the house appear empty, not that they expected Leo to search the place himself.
"Sir, do you know what we are going to face at the town?" Pyrrha asks, focusing on the mission.
"Unfortunately no. We were lucky that communication had been reestablished so that the Huntress stationed there could send for reinforcements. She couldn't identify what it was beyond that it's big, slow, and horrifying." The Headmaster shakes his head as he stops at the edge of the pad.
"Hmm… going in blind." Qrow grumbles with a sarcastic smile. "Not exactly new to me."
"Sorry I couldn't give you more but if things are that bad that she couldn't handle it or even know what it is…"
"Ah, don't worry too much. We'll get over there and see if we can deal with it." Qrow waves him off. "A job like this is better than sitting on our hands as you try to get the Council to go after Raven,"
"I assure you, I am making progress on convincing them to back the mission. In fact, this one should tip the scales in our favor immensely. I know that I have two teams of students who are between missions right now and I may be able to get a teacher or two to help as well."
Qrow rubbed his chin as the teens loaded their packs in the airship. "Normally I'd complain about getting students involved in this crap, especially with what the true motive is… but they should be able to handle common bandits easily enough while I draw Raven and maybe Spring away."
"I'm glad you are on this, for both missions. Few have your skills and experience or can be trusted with such matters." Leo gives him a proud smile.
"Ha! No need to tell me what I already know." Qrow laughs and shakes his head. "See you in a few days at the latest, probably."
"I'll be here waiting. Go help those people." The two men shook hands and the team boarded and left the city.
As Leonardo stood on the pad and watched the aircraft fly out of sight, he let out a massive breath he didn't realize that he was holding. "I just hope that you all stay safe, I don't need more on my conscience."
—-
Several hours later, the aircraft came near the town and they saw smoke.
"Set us down outside!" Qrow orders the pilot who alters the course so that he landed on the road at the crest of a hill a fair distance away but the town remained firmly in sight.
"What happened there? I can't see!" Nora shades her eyes from the mid afternoon sun in a vain attempt to see better at such a distance.
Ruby was tapped on the shoulder by her uncle who held his hand out. "Need to borrow your scope."
Seeing how the man was all business right now, she handed Crescent Rose to him where he opened it and put his eye to the lense.
The town itself wasn't anything too remarkable, simple homes and shops that followed a basic building plan, though different from the usual Mistral style. More functional one might say. Some of the roads are bare dirt while some had pavers, mostly the main streets. Few vehicles sat around; they aren't very common this far from the capitals.
But it was the occupants of the town that made him worry. A spot of civilization this size might hold up to a thousand people and he saw them walking around and doing things. Things that sent a shiver up his spine.
Adjusting his view, he saw more disturbing sights that he wished he wasn't familiar with. But the sight of a section of wall broken and shattered with a trail of collapsed buildings that looked to be ground down by a large weight led him to what he was fearing.
Right in the middle of town sat a massive dark mass that was easily the size of any of the homes around it. It is mostly round with white bony bumps, lumps, and spines randomly spaced around its black skin. Thick tentacles, short for those near the ground and much longer by the top, are just as sporadically placed but there was no doubt that it could reach any point around its body.
Glaring red eyes are suspended on black stalks around the top of the lump, at least seven of them ensuring that it saw everything around it. At the very top of it all, sat what looked to be a crown of sorts made of thick white spines, though they looked like teeth. On the ground around it, a puddle of some sort of slime was formed from what was dripping from its mouth.
In short, a Grimm that made Beowolves and Ursai seem cute and cuddly. It was a true vision of horror pulled straight from a nightmare.
"Ah shit."
"Uncle Qrow? What is it?"
The veteran Huntsman handed the scythe back to his niece and sat down on a large nearby rock where he pulled out his flask and took a swig.
"That… thing… is one of the most vile Grimm anyone can ever come across." He pauses as he takes a deep breath. "That is known as a Gluttony."
"A Gluttony? I don't remember ever seeing anything like that in our textbooks." Pyrrha muses as she glances at the town where she couldn't make out any details but the Grimm was easy to spot.
"That's because it wouldn't be." Qrow gives them all a hard look. "Something like that… not only are they rare, very rare… but extremely dangerous to anyone who comes near them."
"Um…how dangerous are we talking about?" Nora asks as she recognizes the severity of the situation.
"Put simply, that thing is on the same level as the Nuckelavee." That made everyone shudder as the memories of how strong that beast was and how close they had repeatedly came to losing any of their team.
Jaune was the first to snap out of it and focus back on the mission. "Okay, since you know about it and what that thing can do, what's your plan? How can it be beaten?"
"Beaten? By us?" Qrow let's out a bark of sarcastic and harsh laughter. "There is no easy way to hurt that thing. Your swords and bullets will barely scratch it and it will see you coming from everywhere but under itself. Those tentacles will snatch up anyone who gets close and it WILL eat them on the spot."
"So… we keep our distance?" Ren asks.
"Hmph! There's one more thing that thing has on its side: it has what seems to be a semblance of its own."
"A semblance! How?! It would need a soul to do that!" Ruby nearly screams her surprise.
"Trust me kid, it does have one… or at least something like it."
"Then what does it do?" Ren was curious.
"Hunger."
"Hunger?" The teens ask as one.
"Yeah, Hunger. Any living thing near it is taken over by that feeling and it drives them into an insatiable state where they eat anything edible, sometimes more." Qrow explains and watches as their faces change from worry and curiosity to horror. "First it's the prepared food, then the ingredients. Livestock usually comes next along with any animals that can be caught. Then… they turn on each other and the Grimm finishes off the last of them."
They were pale and green but standing yet when he was done.
"We need to kill it." Ren states.
"That we do. And that thing won't move from there until it wants to. We need to call for a bomb to be dropped on it."
"But the town!"
"Can be rebuilt. Those people down there-" Qrow points at the settlement "-are almost gone and if they know what they did… look, sometimes the best choice isn't the easiest but the hardest. And for them… it would be quick."
Ruby glares at her uncle. "There has to be a better way!"
"Do you think people haven't tried in the past? Those who have ran into its influence to pull out victims, some falling prey to the Hunger, some successful and the rescued person turns suicidal because of what they did… assuming that they survive whatever they ate." Qrow's eyes weren't hard anymore but softened by sympathy. "It's just a simple fact that the best solution for everyone involved has been to wipe the slate clean."
Silence hung over the team for a few minutes as the points sank in. None of them had delusions of grandeur about their chosen profession but it was the hard decisions that were rarely brought up at all. Perhaps if they had gotten further in their classes, they would have covered how to handle these sorts of problems.
While the teens were deep in thought, Qrow discussed his plan with the pilot who picked up his radio to call Mistral.
—-
"Please don't tell me that we're going to sit here and play games all day until they get back." Raven groans as she watches as three blondes play games on the television in the basement.
"That's certainly something we agree upon." Weiss states as she sits with her arms crossed.
"Lunch is ready!" Talon calls down the stairs prompting the gaming trio to pause and save.
"I wonder what they made, we're not supposed to leave the house." Weiss gives the air a sniff.
"Whatever it is, it better help you be able to do more than fifty pushups." Yang teases as she lifts her own arms up to flex, though her own plushness made the image more amusing than inspiring. That's not to say there wasn't a lot of muscle on her arms, just that the hard bundles were encased in soft pillows.
"Hmph! My combat style is more about speed and precision, not brute force like you."
"Hitting your target's weak spots is only good if you hit them hard enough to hurt them." Raven comments as she climbs ahead.
"That is something I teach in my classes." Tai jumps into the conversation. "Also helps if you can create a weak spot; get them off balance, open their guard, catch them unexpectedly, use the terrain… that sort of thing."
"Hmmmm." Weiss could only think of the advice given as they made it to the dinner table where the grand feast of rice and ramen sat waiting for them.
"We're gonna be kinda limited on what we can make until we don't have to hide that we're here." Talon admits as they all sit for the meal.
"We have enough that we can switch up the menu for the rest of the week." Anya adds.
"Smells great! Let's dig in!" Tai was all smiles as he began to eat.
"Oh wow, how did you get beef like this?" Yang asks as she chews on a piece that was very tender.
Raven takes a bite and chews with her eyes closed. "Northern mountain herbs and southern coast spices." Talon and Anya sat shocked with wide eyes as Raven continued. "Is that a hint of Menagerie chili pepper? And the beef… I'd guess that it's a Vale breed that was raised on Anima."
The rest of the table sat in silence as they stared at the bandit queen, their own meals seemingly forgotten. And that was what Raven saw when she opened her eyes to get her next bite.
"What?"
"What do mean 'What?'" Talon nearly slammed her hands on the table as she rose to her knees. "I've never heard someone break down an ingredient list from simply tasting the food like that before!"
"Oh, here we go." Denko mutters as his teammate raved about the woman's pallet.
"You're… really passionate about food, aren't you?" Raven now had the shorter girl in her face and tried to gently push her away.
"Are you kidding?! Cooking great food is my dream as much as being a Huntress!" Talon reluctantly backed off but began to bounce and twist in a way that even Nora would have to try to replicate. "Going around slaying Grimm, collecting recipes from wherever I find good food and ingredients…" She trails off as she gets lost in her own mind.
"She wants to take over our Mom's restaurant when she's ready to settle down. She was a Huntress herself before becoming a cook and mother." Anya explains.
"Hey Yang?"
"Hmm?"
Weiss fidgeted on her cushion. "I know I missed your birthday but when we can get out and move around the city… how about dinner? I'll pay."
"Really?" Yang was surprised as the girl would rather pay for her own meals and had the rest of the team pay for themselves as it would promote discipline on their spending. None of them called her out for buying expensive things since she had the cash to pay.
"Yes."
"Hmm, okay!" The blonde chirps happily. "Oh! You know Ruby's birthday day is coming up soon, right?"
That made Weiss blush. "I know and I'll pay for her too…after all, it wouldn't be right to do so for only one teammate and not another." She adds quickly.
"Ha! That's a relief to my wallet!" Taiyang laughs and Denko snickers at that.
"I'm not that bad!" The blonde woman tries to argue as her face turns red.
"C'mon Yang. Some of those times at home you stuffed yourself so full you could barely waddle to the car and needed the backseat so you could lay down." Her boyfriend teases and pats her belly. That led to his hand being caught in a vice-like grip.
She leaned in close so only he could hear her whisper. "Keep that up and we'll have to settle this upstairs. Now act scared."
Immediately, he sat up straight. "Yes madam!" He declares with his eyes facing directly forward.
"Good." She released him with a smirk and they returned to their meals.
The rest of the table watched in silence before eating again. Though Raven had her own smile, having been able to read her daughter's lips.
—-
"Damn!"
"Qrow, what's wrong?" Jaune was quick to rush over to the elder Huntsman as the others watched.
"What's wrong is that we have no signal to Mistral from here. Either there's some interference or the booster tower in the town is disabled." He glanced at the town but was too unfamiliar with it to pick out where the booster may be or had been.
"Doesn't the ship have weapons? Aren't they enough to hurt that thing?" Ruby suggests, still trying to keep the damage to the people low.
"We'd run out of ammo long before we did any real damage to that thing, kid." The pilot squashed that idea.
"And if we go down there…" Nora sadly looks at the town and the people.
"They'd likely see us as a meal." Ren finishes.
"There must be something we can do." Ruby whines at her seeming helplessness.
Jaune looks around at what they have available. "Hey Qrow?" A plan was coming to him but he needed some clarification first to finalize it. "You said they use bombs to kill these things, right?"
"Yeah, it's the easiest way to take out something that big and tough. Pretty much only a Goliath can compete with it for durability… aside from a few other rare ones."
"How much Dust do you think we can spare?"
—-
"I see you're settling in nicely."
Vernal opens her eyes to find Cinder blocking the sunlight, flanked by Emerald as usual. "What do you want?" She kept her tone neutral but tinged with annoyance.
"Just checking in on how my current business partner is doing." The taller woman says with no shortage of haughtiness. "I have to say, you've done well to keep your men in line these past few days."
There were a few incidents where some of the Branwen Tribe broke out into fights with each other or even with Emerald and Mercury. Each time, Vernal had responded by jumping in and forcing the fight to end. One of those times, she had caught Mercury in mid-kick that was aimed at one of them, which had raised the assassin's opinion of her a fair bit. And if she didn't, Tater got involved and the massive man could stop a fight with his mere presence.
"I still want you to remember that we are leaving once this job at Haven is over."
"As you've said every day since we've met." Cinder waves her warning off with her hand. "But I assure you that I have every intention of letting you and your merry men go after that."
The women pause their conversation as Shay walks by, giving them his 'charming' smile.
"If I may ask, just how long do you think it will be before Raven returns to her tribe?"
"She's been gone for days at a time before to scout out new targets. This is no different."
"Going for a lovely warm beach to ride out the winter?"
"Got a couple options. But I'll warn you now, you don't want to see these guys in any fewer clothes than what they have now."
"I'll take your word for it." Cinder only mostly suppresses the shiver that ran through her when she noticed that Shay was still close… and staring at her. "I should check on Arthur and find out why we are sitting here yet."
"Hey Cinder!" Vernal calls before the curvy woman could go too far.
"What is it?" She looks back over her right shoulder.
"Just between us, if scrawny over there gets whacked at any point, I consider it a win." Vernal gives her a sincere grin.
Cinder couldn't stop her own smile from becoming genuine. "I'll keep that in mind." And she walks back to the Bullhead that served as her base.
"She's up to something." Tater rumbles out as he steps from behind a nearby tree.
"I know she is. We'll be ready." Vernal glares at Cinder's retreating back… and wider backside.
—-
"Here they come!" Qrow shouts as they run towards the Grimm.
The team had just dropped in from the airship after a large meal, hoping that offsetting their own natural hunger would buy them time. And as expected, the townspeople in the area turned on them with wild eyes.
"Keep moving!" Pyrrha shouts as she collides with a pair of men with her shield, bowling them over easily with her mass. That didn't stop her from noticing that they already had broken and missing teeth and more than a few scratches around their mouths.
Nora smacked away a woman who leapt at her with her mouth open. If it wasn't from seeing that everyone's stomachs were distended from whatever they had eaten, she would have been afraid that she had hit a woman with child.
Qrow spun around a trio of two men and a woman, expertly hitting them in a way to knock them out while Jaune plowed through a group with the finesse of a truck.
While the four of them dealt with drawing the attention of the villagers, Ruby had snuck up to a rooftop and hid behind a chimney. There, she had a good view of her teammates, the airship overhead, and the Grimm.
"Don't we have to worry about other Grimm attacking us?" Ren had asked once the plan had been made.
"The Gluttony is a solitary beast because it affects other Grimm as well. If there were any with it, they were either eaten or killed by the people hoping for a meal." Qrow explains as he is the expert Grimm slayer and retired teacher.
Deploying Crescent Rose, the pudgy sniper put her eye to the scope and scanned the Gluttony from this much closer vantage point.
"Ugh, that thing is just disgusting." She grumbles as she aims higher.
Bang!
Jaune looked up at the Gluttony in time to see one of its seven eyes exploding from the round that Ruby hit it with. The creature let out a deep scream of pain and the remaining eyes swung around to track down the assailant, finding the team on the street quickly.
With eyes now focused on them and relatively still, allowing Ruby's next shot to take out two.
"We must keep moving!" Pyrrha shouts as she kicks a woman aside and uses her spear to smack a man in the head to knock him out. The woman she had kicked expelled the contents of her stomach that the Spartan blocked the majority of the stream with her shield, though what looked like a rat that had been eaten whole flopping over the edge of the barrier made her own stomach churn. "Revolting." Was all she said as she slammed the vomit coated shield into the woman hard enough that she hit the wall of a building and slumped down unmoving.
Nora felt the twinges of Hunger within her as she fought, though given her past living on the streets with Ren, she was used to it and could push through. But even with her own stomach full and she had been more than satisfied when they began this attack, she felt the primal need to consume.
Maybe the full stomach was helping, or the focus on the mission. Perhaps her aura was mitigating the effects of the Gluttony's Hunger. Whatever the case may be, she could feel it growing stronger and that was more than likely due to both the prolonged exposure and getting closer to the source.
What she did find useful, besides knocking the people out, was that hitting them so that they'd throw up. Doing so would force them to stop pretty much everything for a short time as they emptied themselves. Unfortunately, some of them would renew their attacks with even greater fervor than before while others saw an easy meal and either went for the vomit or those who were immobilized.
"This is just wrong." She mutters as she throws a man into an alley where a group was running at her, knocking them down like pins but unfortunately started a cannibalistic frenzy between them.
The more they saw of what this Grimm did to the town, the more they understood why the Kingdoms had resorted to bombing the places. It wasn't out of lack of care but empathy, the pure desire to put the victims out of their misery as quickly as possible so they would no longer suffer.
They didn't want to think if these people that they had to fight through still retained any of their true selves any longer, forced to watch but unable to stop their own bodies from acting on primal instincts.
—-
Ruby shot out two more of the eyes, leaving it with just a pair remaining but she had attracted the attention of the villagers. They began scrambling up the side of the house and climbing on top of each other to reach her, though by the time she noticed them thanks to her focus on the Grimm, a man was already grabbing a meaty bun under her skirt.
"Eeeep!" Unsurprisingly, she screamed. "Hands off, you jerk!"
Ripping her scythe from the roof and swinging it in an arc in a single fluid motion, she repelled the groper, smacking him and the trio closest to him away with the blunt side and hopped away for distance.
But there were more people joining her on the roof, all with nothing in their expressions but the insatiable hunger directed at Ruby.
"Umm… I'm here to help you?" She backs to the edge of the roof as the people come closer. Looking down, there were more below her.
"Pork!" "Ham!" "Fat!" "Beef!"
Maybe there was something left of the people's minds.
Two of the closest dive at the rotund reaper with their mouths open hoping for a bite, missing as she jumps away and lands on the next roof across an alley. She watched as one of the men fell to his death and was immediately set upon by the others.
The other managed to grab hold of the roof as he fell and began to pull himself back up. That was short lived as the others on the roof pushed him off the edge in their rush to get their prey.
From there, some made the jump successfully while more fell, creating a scene of barbaric chaos that spilled out into the streets.
Or she had simply tried to find words in their grunts in a desperate hope that they could be saved. And it didn't help that the Hunger was affecting her and that's why she thought that they were saying those words.
Running across the rooftops faster than anyone would think a girl of her girth should, and most importantly, faster than the townsfolk could ever achieve, Ruby made her getaway and moved closer to the Gluttony, one of its eyes firmly locked on her as the other tracked the team.
—-
For Qrow, he hated that he was doing this but he would readily admit that options were slim and he'd rather be more proactive to fight this Grimm and not in a way that would involve flying all the way back to Leonardo to ask for a bomb to remove this town from the map.
At the same time, he was the more observant fighter on the team. That meant that he saw the bite marks on the people, some leaving nothing but tooth marks or bruises, some having skin torn away or more.
But that wasn't as disturbing as the lack of anyone attacking them that wasn't at least in their mid teens. There weren't any to be found that he could see.
And was fairly certain that he knew why.
That was the reason that Grimm like this weren't generally known by the public. Why the Huntsman Academies didn't teach their students about them until their fourth year. Why this Grimm called for the eradication of the entire settlement when it was found.
To protect the psyche of those who had to learn what it did. In the past, it wasn't just the victims of the Gluttony that needed to be euthanized out of mercy, but those who had their boots on the ground to try cleaning up the carnage left behind. Early retirement was the best option that they had and needed. Suicide watch was required and psychiatric exams were frequent. Too many were lost by slipping through the cracks of the bureaucracy.
It was a difficult choice but for the greater good of the world it was something that had to be done.
Now with the team going about this in a more old fashioned way, he could only hope that they could cope with everything they experienced here.
—-
High above the town, Ren watched the movements below. The airship was too high to make out any individual person, however the tiny specks congregating in certain areas were the best indicator of where his team and friends were.
Of course, the Gluttony was the easiest thing to locate but even from this height he could see that something had its attention.
"Hey, are you ready for this?"
The green clad boy looks over his shoulder at the pilot who kept the craft flying in a circle over the town. "It's just… odd, I guess, having to sit back and watch rather than fighting with them."
"Yeah, I get the feeling. Been flying Huntsmen and soldiers all over Mistral for sixteen years. Always felt bad that I was just dropping them off to fight and going home, especially when some don't come back."
"How do you deal with that?" Ren had to know.
"By knowing that they chose to be the ones to do that job. They knew the risks, trained for years, and they do their best to take care of problems before more can get hurt… usually.
And I do my best to get them to where they need to go as fast as possible, whether that's going on a mission or bringing them home. I'm a glorified delivery boy and I'm proud of what I do."
"That's…" Ren couldn't find the words.
"Humbling. That's what you're looking for."
"Thank you."
"Meh, no problem. Not the first time I've been asked about that, not likely to be the last." He checks his fuel level and finds that he could make it back to Mistral yet with some to spare in the tank, so long as they don't run into storms or get into an air fight with Grimm.
Ren looks back down at the fight and hopes for the best for the team. Then his shoulder is clapped.
"Worried about your friends?"
"It's hard not to be."
"Well, if half of what they say about Qrow are true, he should be good. And you kids are the ones that took down the Nuckalavee… that's the main reason why we didn't just go back to Haven."
"Umm… I just feel so useless waiting up here."
"Maybe for the main fighting but your girlfriend made that blight on Remnant a little gift." The pilot jerks his thumb back to where a cylinder-shaped hunk of metal sat and was strapped to the floor… complete with a pink bow on the 'tail' and a crudely drawn face resembling Nora's manic grin on the front.
"W-we're not…"
"Ah, still working things out?" Ren could only nod in response. "You're both still young and obviously very close, so take your time."
"Thank you."
"But I will say this, don't wait too long and if there is an opportunity where you think it would be a good place, ask her."
Ren nodded as he remained silent, splitting his mind to think on the words of advice and on the mission while he could.
—-
Jaune barreled through another group of villagers with his shield raised, knocking them all down. They were less than a block away from the house-sized Grimm and already needed to look up to meet its gaze.
One of the fallen people rolled over and grabbed his leg before biting, though only getting the leather of his boot. A smack with the flat of his sword made the man release his jaws but it was the following kick that really got them away.
"Pyrrha!" He shouts as he lifts his shield.
"On it! Nora!" The Spartan moved behind the blonde with Akouo above her head and braced it with her other hand.
With that signal, the hefty hammer girl ran at the pair and jumped, using their metallic barriers as steps for greater heights, jumping off of Pyrrha's for the Gluttony with a boost from the Champion herself.
Nora flew through the air at the Gluttony and managed to flip herself over one lashing tentacle but another was about to intercept her.
In a burst of speed, Qrow was able to jump up and slash through the appendage, clearing the way for Nora to continue her flight. Using her spin and momentum, she used all of her considerable weight and strength to slam Magnhild into a spine that was longer than she is tall.
The Gluttony let out a gasp as the base of the spine was driven into its flesh. The result was the bone white spike had been pushed in roughly two feet deep while the same length of the tip was shattered. The rest of the spine was full of cracks and clearly could not take another hit like that. Black smoke wafted from the body as it 'bled'.
Qrow landed on the ground and immediately struck at one of the 'legs', putting in a deep cut and eliciting a screech of pain.
"Watch out!" He heard Ruby shout as a burst of rose petals flew by and a smaller tentacle was removed.
"Thanks!" The man shouts as he looks to his niece, only to find her eating the part she had cut off like a thick noodle. "Ruby!"
That shout combined with the final gulp and bad aftertaste shook her from the Hunger induced haze that had temporarily gained control over her.
"Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!" She panics even as she jumps away from another lashing. Landing beside her uncle, her belly jiggled and she let out a large belch… one accompanied by a puff of black smoke. "I'm sorry!"
"Just try to keep your focus!" Qrow tells her, feeling the Hunger gnawing at his mind. He glances at Nora who was pushing through the hunger pains and smashing bony plates and spines and tentacles alike, but her resilience was nearing its limits.
Meanwhile, the armored couple were holding back the townsfolk who had essentially trapped them between the starving mob and the Grimm.
"This isn't looking good!" Jaune yells as he kicks a man back into the crowd. At least for him, his fear was overwhelming the Hunger, for now. Pyrrha was maintaining her focus but it was wearing down much like her stamina after this long, grueling, and horrendous battle.
Ratatatatatatata!
The airship came swooping in and unloaded several dozen rounds into the Gluttony's side, making it roar in pain. Several tentacles reached for the craft but it was well out of reach as it pulled up. Yet they achieved what they were hoping for; the mouth to open.
The maw is a scene of horror itself, a vast pit that looked as though it was the entirety of the creature's insides. Ringed by the five massive spikes at the lips, the inside had rows and rows of serrated teeth, larger fangs at seemingly random places, and more tentacles lined with barbs that would ensure that whatever went in would stay in.
Black smoke poured from the holes in its hide as flakes of armor fell from the spines and shell pieces.
Qrow saw the airship banking, getting ready to drop the bomb into its mouth. But so did the Grimm as its two remaining eyes tracked the craft and the humans fighting it.
And it rolled.
"Run now!" Qrow shouts as he sprints away from the black, crushing mass and the tentacles whipping at him.
Ruby used Petal Burst to scoop up Nora, cutting through more black whips as she did, and they retreated to a nearby rooftop. Jaune and Pyrrha were lucky to be further away, giving them time to dart into an alley with a blackbird just before the beast rolled by, crushing and scooping up its victims that were left in its path. The sheer bulk, spines, and tentacles ripping apart building faces as it went down the street, its mouth closing on a large congregation of people.
Back on its base, those that were still alive were trying to eat the tentacles holding them all the way until they were dropped into the cavernous maw. Others were grabbed where they lay or stood and suffered the same fate. Even parts of the destroyed buildings weren't spared from consumption.
Qrow transformed back to human and whipped out his scroll, already connected to the airship. "Drop that bomb into it now! It's our best shot while it's distracted!" Damn he was glad to have a special frequency but it was only good at very short ranges.
"Do it kid! Those people are already gone!" Qrow could hear from the other end.
"I'm sorry."
Those words made Qrow's stomach drop.
—-
"Did we ever get to know what the mission was that the others went on?" Taiyang asks as he leads a workout routine that kept everyone guessing on what would be worked on next. After some quick stretches to loosen themselves up, push ups were followed by squats, then some rather intense stretches.
Yang struggled to touch her toes without a push on her back thanks to all of the padding she had in front of her. Likewise, Weiss had problems when it came to bending sideways as her wide hips would stop her from going as far as she used to when she started at Beacon. She did find herself lucky that bending backwards simply meant that her spine traced the curves of her ample backside.
The others had no such troubles, Denko being surprisingly flexible and Talon nearly capable of twisting herself into a pretzel. Age was starting to show for the estranged couple though, finding that old injuries were starting to catch up to them and simple wear from the decades.
"Nope." Anya responds from the corner where she lifted some weights.
"They got the call from Lionheart who told them to prepare for a mission." Raven shrugs as she pulls herself up on a bar, her daughter next to her doing the same. While not exactly what one would call a bonding moment for them, it was something.
"Meh, I guess they will have a good story to tell once they get back." The elder blonde shakes out his arms from doing his third set of fifty pushups.
—-
The Gluttony was engorging itself on the many victims when something it didn't grab fell into its mouth. Something large and hard but it paid it no mind as it continued to feast on the rapidly dwindling number of former inhabitants of this town.
The four that had been attacking it had done more damage than the other when it had arrived, a pest that was quickly eaten. Now it just had to finish what was easily available then go after those who hurt it. It did not miss that three of them were quite plump… it might control its urges to save them for last.
—-
"No." Jaune saw what had successfully landed in the mouth of the Gluttony but there was no reaction from it. He nearly fell to his knees where a tendril was slithering its way towards him, only to be cut short by a gold and crimson spear.
"Jaune." Her voice was weak as she struggled against the Hunger, her stomach nearly growling for food.
"H-hang in there Pyrrha! There's… there's gotta be something we can do!" He moved to comfort her but a villager raced down the alley at them, screaming wordlessly. The knight deployed his shield and flipped the woman over his head and made her pass by Pyrrha in her flight.
The woman hit the hard ground and the impact stunned her momentarily but she rolled over onto her hands and feet in a crouch with her mindless eyes staring at the couple. She sprung at them with a scream, only to be stopped short by the tendril from earlier wrapping around her leg. Before any of them knew what was really happening, she was yanked away and tossed into the Grimm.
"No! We-we have to save her!" Jaune yelled as he reached for the air where the woman had been.
"It's too late!" Pyrrha managed to regain control of herself, at least enough to focus on the blonde knight. "We will have to help the survivors once this is over! But we need to eat this thing first!"
Jaune was shaken back to their task by her words but then he caught what she had said at the end. He was about to mention that when he spotted the tendril coming back for them.
The Spartan noticed the change of focus and turned to see the black appendage coming at them fast.
And Jaune stared in shock at what happened next. "Umm… Pyrrha?"
"Hmm?"
"Are… you eating that?"
Indeed, the redhead had bitten the tendril when it went for her face and tore it off. Then began to devour it like a sausage.
However, her boyfriend's question combined with the taste shocked her out of the Hunger enough to spit out what remained of it. And tears began to leak from her eyes as she realized what she had done.
"I'm so sorry!"
Immediately, the blonde embraced her tightly. "It's not your fault, I feel it too." One hand slipped down to her stomach and gave it a pat through the armor. "The sooner we kill this thing, the sooner we can get some real food."
How much of that was the Hunger affecting him was up for debate but the chance to be alone, safe, and having a good meal together was enough to help them both focus.
—-
Ssssssllluuuurrrrppp! BELCH!
If Ruby hadn't just done the same thing just a short while ago, she would have questioned Nora. Though the fact that she seemed temporarily satisfied after watching a large tentacle raised some concerns.
"The bomb didn't go off!" She yells as she was horrified that the people they were trying to save were eaten and they weren't showing the least bit of concern about it.
"Ugh, nasty." Nora complained. Before coming to the edge with Ruby. "What?! My baby didn't blow!?"
"How are we going to kill it now?"
Nora responded by converting Magnhild from hammer to grenade launcher form. "See if it's stuck in its teeth!"
Catching onto the plan, Ruby jumped off the roof and burst into rose petals that circled over the Grimm. The Gluttony tried to catch her but given that there was no real body to grab ahold of, she almost effortlessly slipped through its attempts before landing next to Nora again, panting from the expenditure of aura and trying to fight the Hunger.
"It's on our side near the middle!"
"Got it!" Nora adjusted her aim and fires, hoping to make these last six grenades count as the rest were now part of the bomb.
A tentacle smacked the first, destroying itself in the process but the explosion was nowhere close enough to force the bomb to detonate. The second and third went off in the maw but failed to hit the real target, only breaking teeth and making the beast hiss and growl even as it continued to eat.
The next two were unsuccessful as well, being intercepted. Then the last one flew at the bomb… only to fall short and fail to make it go off.
"No!" Ruby squeaked before getting angry and emptied her own magazine of rounds into the mouth to oblivion. While none of the large bullets even came close to the bomb, they did shatter more teeth and the wounds fed more smoke into the air as Nora's grenades did earlier.
Ratatatatatatata!
The airship came around again for another strafing run, adding more wounds but nothing too serious, Ren's bullets doing little to nothing noticeable beyond making some tentacles twitch in pain.
Meanwhile, Qrow stood on another rooftop assessing the situation.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." He sarcastically drawls before using Harbinger to shoot at the Gluttony, taking chunks of the tentacles with every shot and even one of its eyes.
The resulting screech was grating on the ears but he had its full attention now.
"Watch the birdy!" He quips as he jumps from his perch and transforms into his corvid gift, flying straight at the remaining eye. The stalk tracked him and tendrils lashed out only to miss as he proved to have mastered flight with the stunts he pulled off, circling the eye once before putting some distance between them.
That didn't last long as the crow circled back and went straight for the mouth as it tipped its way towards him. Once past the lips and outer teeth, Qrow was back and had his weapon aimed at the bomb as he fell sideways.
"This is gonna hurt." And he pulled the trigger.
The buckshot hit true, piercing the housing and setting off the Dust inside. The various elements contained in crystal form were released violently and reacted in ways to amplify their effects. Not only was there Dust in the bomb but a number of grenades and hundreds of bullets that were pushed from their confines before they too went off, spreading the damage even further as the jaws shut.
Ren watched as Qrow flew into the mouth of the beast and it soon swelled like a balloon from the inside, gouts of pressurized air and smoke billowed from the mouth and erupted from holes in its hide. Jaune and Pyrrha were forced to duck down behind their shields as one of the holes was directed down their alley.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby could be heard screaming as she fell to her knees.
The Grimm slowly began to deflate, great billows of black smoke rising into the air, signifying that it was now dead. But that was lost on the cloaked girl as she was held by Nora as she grieved over the loss of her family member.
The airship came down to land in the nearest open area, the next intersection a short walk away, and Ren sprinted down to his friends. "Jaune! Pyrrha!"
"Ren! What happened? We couldn't see before it blew up!" Jaune asks almost frantically, he and Pyrrha leaning on each other for support.
"Qrow flew in and set it off!" That sent a chill down their spines, and it got even worse when they heard the sobbing from above and Ruby was being comforted by Nora.
"No!" Pyrrha gasps at the sight. "We need to get up there."
A few minutes later after climbing the debris, the team was now gathered on the roof as Ruby continued to cry. The fact that they no longer felt the Hunger anymore was a small consolation.
No words were spoken as they gathered to help the girl through this time of hardship.
"Save the waterworks, will ya? You're not that lucky to get rid of me so easily." A rough voice is heard from behind them.
The team turns to find Qrow on the next roof over, limping and holding his right arm, looking more than a little dirty and singed, but alive.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby used the last of her aura to use her semblance to cross the gap and tackle the man to the rooftop.
"Oof! Damn that hurts!" He gasps from the impacts to his body aggravating his injuries .
"I-I-I thought I saw you blow up!"
"Haha, Yeah… Well, it seems that being a bird got me through a hole just in time before I really got cooked." At least his humor was still intact. At least that building was easier to descend from than the one they climbed to get to Ruby,
"Hey! You're gonna want to look at this?" The pilot calls them over to where the final remains of the Gluttony was still fading away into smoke. He was carrying a pair of pistols, though one was holstered yet and they seemed to be the only people currently still standing.
"What is it?" Ren asks as he and Jaune support Qrow across the distance.
"Looks to me like a jammer. No idea how it got here or how it stayed intact in that Grimm." He raises a pistol at the device that was still clearly working. BANG BANG! Sparks flew from the new holes and the machine lost power.
"Sshhhkkk! Hogan! Do you read me? Please respond!"
"Ha! I knew it!" Hogan cheers before responding on his radio. "Glad to hear you worried about me, Daisy!"
"Hogan! What the hell happened? I was tracking your progress and you just disappeared and I feared the worst!"
"Oh boy, that's a story to tell you when I get back." He shakes his head. "But for now, just know that there was a jammer in the area that we just deactivated."
"And the mission? Are the kids alright?"
"The team is mostly okay, at least physically. The town… get word to the General that a Gluttony was here."
"A-a-a GLUTTONY!"
"Don't have to be so loud about it!" Hogan rubs his ear. "But yeah, there WAS a Gluttony. The town… will need a cleanup crew to search for survivors."
"I'll message her immediately!"
"Good. We're gonna be leaving soon and bringing the jammer with us. Maybe the techs will be able to figure out where that came from."
"That's a five hour flight! Are you sure you're good?"
"I'm fine. See ya later tonight."
"It will be morning."
"Meh, it'll be morning once the sun rises. Hogan out."
—-
"It seems that the Grimm wasn't as successful as I expected it to be." Watts reads a copy of the report that was sent to Leonardo from the team.
"How much did you think it was going to do?" Mercury sat nearby doing some routine maintenance on his legs.
"In truth, I had hoped that at least one of them would have been eaten but all it managed to do was hurt Branwen. He'll be laid up for a few days at best."
"Getting back on his feet just in time to knock him down again, huh?" The assassin smirks.
"It would seem so."
"Can't wait."
—-
Nobody said the first day of boot camp is easy, anywhere. For the Faunus leading the exercises and drills for this fledgling militia, they weren't sure if that was meant for them or the recruits. While some had combat training in the past of some sort and were raised in the 'ranks' because of that, there were so many that nearly had to be told how to hold a stick that it was driving them nuts.
Speaking of nuts, the stress drove Blake to eat a bit more than she should have that night but there was so much to do and rest to get, neither she or Sun were able to do more than cuddle. For Ilia and Itazura… they may have been awake a bit longer.
AN: Thanks to everyone for reading and I hope that you didn't have to skip too much. Now as for the creation of the Gluttony... I wanted to have something to work in a somewhat similar manner as the Apathy... make them a set of sorts. I even have another idea for a Grimm to add to that collection that may be used later. At the same time, no doubt many of you have noticed that I don't exactly make the Grimm to be jokes and have them live up to their hype as terrible creatures of darkness and destruction, and with the Gluttony that may have been cranked up to 11 for a bit.
Still, another notch for the team that killed the Nuckelavee and had petrified the Wyvern at Beacon. The real question is how long can they keep up that win streak?
Should have a nice relaxing chapter next time before things heat up for a while. That's gonna be a doozy to write. Reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!