Disclaimer: RWBY is the brainchild of the late great Monty Oum and belongs to Roosterteeth, as Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm and Disney. Please support the official release.
"Hurry! Get out of here!"
Despite the furious hail of bullets, Velvet heard Coco's words and listened to them. She listened and ran as fast as she could on her quick feet, bobbing and weaving through the surrounding trees.
Out of the corner of her eye, Velvet noticed her teammate, Fox, running alongside her through the blurs of brown and green. She could see the young man's bladed gauntlets and a mop of red hair on his head, though the rest was barely noticeable, thanks to a third and unconscious figure slung over his shoulder.
As she ran, her ears twitched atop her long, brown hair. Normal humans did not possess the capacity to hear long distances. Being a Faunus, Velvet's rabbit ears picked up sounds. From meters away came the howls of Grimm being cut down by bullets and the pounding of swords.
Don't look back, Velvet told herself to suppress her curiosity. Keep going.
She could hear bullet shells hit the ground, almost deafened by wide slashes and strikes. She wanted to turn. She wanted to know the rest of the team would be fine.
Don't look back… Don't…
Giving in, Velvet looked back.
In the distant trees, dust power and bullet shells flashed in the shadows. The sparks came in rapid succession to reveal Coco, leader of team CFVY, firing her machine gun at the Grimm in her way. Not too far from Coco, the tall silhouette of Yatsuhashi bashed the monsters away with his giant sword.
Even further from two, a large haze of smoke. It was where the team found the stranger lying near it. Soon, the Grimm were drawn towards the smoke, and the rest was history. The fastest ones sped off with a would-be meal, while the heavy hitters mowed down anything with fur or scales.
A loud howl whirled Velvet's head to her front, where she now saw a giant black, furry hound twice Velvet's size and of an unmistakably familiar type. A Beowolf!
Velvet and Fox avoided a swipe of the Beowolf's long arm. Fox went under and skidded safely. Velvet went over and sent a roundhouse kick to the Grimm's muzzle, making it double-back. Her feet touched the ground, and she jumped back up for her attack.
Velvet's legs slammed into the Beowolf, cracking porcelain-like mask with one foot and kicking off with the other. When she landed beside Fox, Velvet had the pleasure of watching the Beowolf fall, never to get up.
The two were back on their path, dashing through the forest faster than they had before. Fox led the charge, but he was slower than he usually was. The reason, Velvet saw, shuffled on her teammate's shoulder.
Moving forward, the duo saw the group of trees up head ahead split apart to a large clearing. There was little to no sign of Grimm, large or small, as of yet. They would be out of danger, soon.
That would have brought some relief Velvet, if her ears had not twitched. There was something crawling in the forest; a faint rustle met with a hiss here and there in an eerily familiar pattern. She noticed Fox has slowed down, no doubt picking it up too with his own heightened hearing.
Just as her curious teammate stopped, a big and black body slithered out of the trees. It stretched for several feet and coiled around the clearing. Velvet trailed down the long form, and her widen eyes when she saw an opened mouth coming towards her blind friend.
"Watch out!" Velvet shouted.
Fox jumped back, and fangs struck air. Still, he tumbled upon landing, the mystery weight dropping from his shoulder and rolling out of view. "Fox!" and Velvet rushed to her teammate, the stranger no longer her concern.
The snapping of a whip stopped Velvet, and she crouched under a swiping tail. Another big scaly head, this one white, snapped at her. She dodged to see the big snake of a King Taijitu, the more lethal predators of the Grimm. The white Taijitu sprung forward, and Velvet sprung upwards. She hopped over the head and onto its connected body.
Her feet slid on the slimy scales, sliding down the loops and humps, until they bounced off mid-way. Velvet rolled on the ground to break her fall, and she continued her way to Fox.
Ahead, the literal darker counterpart of Velvet's Taijiti leveled itself at Fox and lunged. The human, already on his knees, grabbed the fangs in his hands. Struggling, Fox rose on one foot and pushed against the weight of the hissing Taijitu, giving Velvet much reason to quicken her pacing.
More hissing from behind Velvet kicked in more of her Huntress training. She leapt to the right, then left, and each time, the fanged mouth missed with the red bulge of an eye in sight. Leaping again, Velvet jumped over another swipe of the head, and kicked her two feet downward. The white Taijitu's mouth dug into the dirt with a loud crunch, and Velvet kicked off and shot towards the wresting contest.
Velvet glided, twisting in the air and extended both of her feet. They connected with the Taijitu's black head. The fangs snapped off and a pained cry rung with the Taijitu's body knocked against a tree trunk. Velvet touched ground, seeing and saw the black body convulsed and collapsed on the ground.
Velvet quickly rushed over to Fox and grabbed his arm. "Are you alright?" she asked, helping a nodding Fox stand on his feet.
A loud hiss whirled the two around. Fox and Velvet tensed while the white Taijitu slowly scaled upwards, its red orbs staring upon them. The thin tongue slithered out, and, with a loud screech, it lunged. Velvet and Fox prepared themselves, ready to dodge or counter the attack.
Suddenly, its entire body was flung aside.
The Taijitu crashed through the trees, and Velvet and Fox flinched from the wood and leaves flying all over. Soon, they saw the Taijitu lying limply on damaged tree trunks, branches, and grass.
Surprise and confusion flashed across the duo's faces as they both thought the same thing: What just happened?
Velvet's ears rose, picking up something new, and she turned. Lying some feet away was the man her team had rescued, now awake and raised on his left arm. His right hand, covered in a black glove, was held out in a strange gesture before it dropped to the ground.
Velvet brought herself out of her shock and towards the man. She crouched down and scooped her hands under his right arm with Fox grabbing the other arm.
The two heaved up the man on his weak legs. He wobbled and unknowingly bore his weight more on Velvet. "Woah!" Velvet yelped a little. She managed to handle the extra weight, partially thanks to Fox pulling on the other arm. "Take it easy. You're going to be alright."
"Ohhhh…" the man groaned, placing the gloved hand on his blond head. "Quid agis? U-ubi ego sum?"
Velvet's ears and eyebrow rose. She looked to an equally perplexed Fox for answers and was given a shrug. Neither of them knew what the man just said. The language was not anything they had heard. Not in Vale, anyway.
More noise turned them away to the forest. There were no more cries, bullet shots, or sword swings. Instead, trailing down the path they were running away from were Coco and Yatsuhashi. The former gave a familiar smile. "Nice to see you two are good," Coco proudly proclaimed.
Seeing her two other teammates brought relief to Velvet. She could not avoid noticing the state of her friends. "Coco, you're clothes," Velvet sadly noted.
For the fashionista, there were slits on her black pants and the corset was held together by loose strings. "I know," Coco sighed, glancing down at her damaged clothes. "Shame. And I just bought them."
Yatsuhashi, his own clothes and shoulder guard scratched, stepped in. "We did took a bit of a beating, but we will be good," he said, he sheathed his giant blade on his back. "That was the last of them so we don't need to worry about more."
"Let's hope so," Coco spoke, resting her black bag against her hip. "So, how's our friend?"
Mention of him made Velvet unable to answer fully, remembering what just happened. "Well, um…" Velvet looked off to the side.
The other two turned to the ruined trees and dead King Taijitu. Yatsuhashi's eyes widen, and his surprise broke his calm tone. "He did that?"
Coco whistled, then she looked to the man between Velvet and Fox. "He really must be something if the Grimm wanted to…"
"Coco," Velvet cut in, "sorry, but I don't know how much longer Fox and I can hold him up."
"Right," Coco pushed up her. "Let's head back to camp. We'll try to get him patched up."
No one argued, or said anything more. They all went down the left, carrying the strange man away. As they did, Velvet's eyes and everyone else's wandered to the dissolving corpse of the white Taijitu.
AN: Hey all. This is a new story I plan to put up. Not now, but after a couple chapters have been completed. I hope that will be soon, maybe in a few months. We'll see. For now, I'll leave this preview for you guys.
Raika out.