"Sharlie dearest, we can't very well bolster Amnesia's membership if you keep scaring off the locals, you know?"
Although the boss' voice sounded calm and reassuring from her scroll, Scharlachrot knew that their recent plateau in growth was beginning to frustrate the Consortium's leader. Not that it was her fault, mind you.
"Oh, would you get off my case already?!" The redheaded girl tossed the stack of invitation papers onto her room's coffee table. "I don't recall you having all that much success on the recruitment side of this shit either, Paradox!"
The woman, "Paradox," sighed from the other end of the call. "No need to remind me, I assure you. Sharlie, all I ask is that you give it another go tonight. I'll be meeting with quite a few reputable company heads and investors this evening, so I won't be able to keep in regular contact."
"Oh yeah, among them are the SDC and Kirijo Group…" Scharlachrot thought to some of their previous business partners that they'd been in contact with. "I know that Junior is our contact for Torchwick and S7, but what about that weird cult guy? Takaya, or whatever his name was?"
Paradox chuckled. "Don't you worry yourself over that nutcase. Though he isn't easy to work with by any means, I'm sure that he'll be cordial in contacting me at an appropriate time, at least." Without allowing for further questioning, the boss began to wrap up the call. "Alright, I need to get myself ready for this evening's formalities, which means I need you to keep trying to recruit more people. I've gotten plenty of techies and gearheads, but you know as much as anyone here that we're still short on muscle after the turf wars with the Bankikai and Spiders. I'm counting on you to come through for me, alright?"
Without allowing for even a fraction of a proper response, Paradox hung up, leaving the young Amnesia member with her mouth agape in annoyance. What the hell, boss?..
Slumping down on the leather couch beside her bed, Scharlachrot grumbled to herself. When she first joined Amnesia, they were little more than a glorified street gang, trading blows with other gangs, selling D-Hop's (a less-than-legal antidepressant with hallucinogenic side-effects), and even stealing tomes and artifacts from the Holy Church.
However, around the time that Greed left the group, something began to change within their leader. She was already ambitious by nature, but somehow she'd come across something in those tomes that had truly set the sparks of her ambition ablaze. Alongside her displays of pure power against their rivals, Paradox began to recruit both those from former gang's, as well as working with various legal businesses to expand into a genuine Consortium, with its hands in Dust mining, appliance production, scroll coding, web development, and so much more. Their members, who had once figured themselves to be useless outside of fighting, were taught various skills and trades, and had real chances for occupational advancement at Amnesia.
Scharlachrot was happy for her friends, no doubt about that. But still, I miss how things used to be. Everything was so much more simple back then.
"Yo Red, you in there?!"
A loud knocking followed from the door to her room. Ugh… of course Roger would pick now of all times to bother me.
"Nope, not here!" She sarcastically called out to her colleague, "Come back never!"
"C'mon Red, I'm asking for your help here! I saw the perfect guy to bring on for the boss yesterday! You're way better at this recruiter stuff than I am, so why not jump on this opportunity?"
Because it's fucking idiotic, that's why… "Go ask Mongrel or Junior. Hell, I bet that mute bitch'll probably do it if she's got time."
A groan rumbled from the other side of the door. "Those two are busy working on renovations to that fancy bar… or, I guess they turned it into a cabaret club after that blondie trashed it? As for Neo, I doubt she'd take a job from grunts like us. Not unless Roman gave the okay." Red could feel the guy's energy picked back up as he switched gears back to his original request. "Which means, the perfect candidate for my quest is the girl who should totally be unlocking this door so she can lend me a hand!"
"Is this guy seriously worth getting my ass up to help you? Better question; Do you even know where he's at now? For all you know, he could've skipped town."
"Totally worth it, trust me! As for where he's at, I think I have a pretty good idea…"
Fan and buckler collided as the two women clashed under cover of the massive tree branches overhead, leaving little sunlight to creep through as the flashes of Erika's flames struck against Yumi's freezing blows.
Parrying an attack from the Shinobi, the Sister thrust her blade towards her opponent's exposed arm, forcing Yumi to step back to avoid the blazing tip. Pressing the sudden advantage granted to her, Wagner charged forward, igniting the air around her as Ancile became a moving wall of flame, pressing against the enemy before her.
Forming a half-cylinder of ice around herself, the gray haired woman skated backward along the ground as she attempted to defend and reposition at once. However, the two-pronged defensive method only indicated to Erika that the advantage was hers.
"So quick to give up ground, Yumi of Oniyuri!" The Flame Tyrant taunted her opponent as she advanced, melting the frozen path before her as she charged with blade and buckler at the ready.
Leaping into the air, Yumi flung a flurry of small ice spears forward as she vaulted over the pyromaniac's head, swinging her fans at the woman's back in a crescent motion as she pivoted mid-air to keep her eyes toward the target.
However, Erika proved capable enough to deflect the slash, twisting to meet the projectiles with her left-hand defense, and taking blade to fan with her right side. Yumi lost balance in her attempt to land and strike at once, falling backwards and tumbling back towards the makeshift camp and fire pit.
The Tyrant showed no hesitation, leaping toward her vulnerable enemy who was attempting to rise back to her feet. Raising her leg to deliver a crushing mid-air blow, something suddenly knocked her back. Like a wave or pulse of energy, it sent Erika backwards, causing her to land on her back into a puddle of mud.
Just what the hell did that Shinobi pull?! Scrambling to pull herself out of the muck, Wagner realized that the force leveled against her was not from her opponent, but from the Morgenstern, a wand-like staff wielded by her teammate, Kati. It seemed as though their fight had woken her, as she leveled her own weapon against her ally.
"I don't know what you two are fighting about, but you need to drop it, now!" Kati's previous carefree and jovial attitude gave way to a stern, annoyed expression as she kept her unconventional weapon leveled at the Sister. Despite her wariness, Kati briefly looked down towards the Arc boy. "Something's wrong with this guy! His skin's turning all dark and flaky, and there's weird stuff growing near his ribcage!"
Erika's eyes widened. "Wait, that can't be right. I could've sworn he wasn't even concussed, let alone—." She stopped herself. No, we shouldn't assume anything until I've taken a look myself.
Just as she sheathed her blade, Erika noticed the ninja hop back to her feet, running towards the boy in question as she called out to him. "Jaune, what's wrong?!" The woman was clearly unbothered by the muck which had adorned her white kimono as she dashed towards the boy's side. Honestly… all that worry for such a dope. Well, let's hope it's not what I think it is.
Joining the three she would reluctantly consider "teammates", Erika needed only but a moment to have her hopes dashed by a cold splash of reality. With his chest plate removed and sweater pulled up, the three girls could see just how bad things were. From a black, necrotic blotch of dead skin between his ribs, to the flaking skin and vein-like tendrils surrounding it… there could be no doubt about what had entered his body while they were busy fighting against one another.
"I can't believe it…" the Sister looked on in horror as Yumi began to panic, with Kati checking his pulse and breathing. "He's infected with a Nightmare…"
After confirming that his breath was still steady, Kati let out a momentary sigh of relief, checking her bag for anything that might help them. "I've… never actually tried to remove a Nightmare before… How would I even go about it?"
Shaking her head in response, Erika looked over the darkened skin. "Removing one of these abominations by force would be incredibly dangerous. At best, he'd be left paralyzed from the neck down."
Yumi choked back tears as she ran her hand against the necrotic flesh around the Nightmare's entry point. "Please don't tell me that the worst-case scenario ends with him dead! I wasn't sure at first, but... now that I've realized that we'd met before, I can't just lose him like this!"
Sighing at what she perceived as melodrama, Wagner responded with yet another shake of the head. "I'm sure you've probably lost many important people to the Grimm, but I assure you that if we leave him as-is, the end result would be far worse than death."
I swear, when that psycho gets back I'm decking him right in the jaw!
Teeth grinding at the mere thought of Ragna appearing before them, Hyde imagined all the things that he'd totally do once Ruby and that jackass returned. All the camp prep was done, and he was healed up enough that he could no longer distract himself with rest.
Of course, Yu wasn't so keen on letting his teammate stew in that negativity. "Hyde, we've got just under three hours left before the DES security guys get here. Assuming that those two get back here before the time limit is up, you'll need to reconcile real quick."
"The only thing I need to do is break his freaking teeth, dude!" Hyde snapped, agitated by the day's events. "Why the hell does a lunatic like that have to be in our team, anyways?"
Yu sighed as he took off his shoes and crawled into the tent he'd been staying in. "We don't make the rules Hyde. I get it, he's a bit much for what you're probably used to, but I think that whole thing earlier was just reactionary. That might not make it okay, but I don't think he actually meant to hurt you."
Hyde sat down by the edge of the tent, his body still slightly aching as he rested near the other Initiate. "Assuming you didn't pull that one out of your ass, what makes you think that he didn't do it on purpose? It's not like he even tried to apologize."
Chuckling, Yu made some room for his new teammate. "I guess you could call it a hunch, though I've met someone before who was kinda like that. Quick to anger, and wouldn't let people help him before things escalated out of control…"
"Sheesh, you must keep some wild company in your personal life." Hyde laid down beside Yu, enjoying the comfort of the built-in air mattress far more than the hard ground outside. "Was that person just as violent as this Ragna guy?"
Hesitating, Yu exhaled before responding. "He was more than just violent. He was selfish, narcissistic, juvenile, and blamed the world around him for all his problems. The things he did… the things he tried to do… most people couldn't forgive that, and none of us could forget."
"That… that sucks, dude." Hyde knew it wasn't his place to pry further, so he decided not to change the subject. "At any rate, I guess we just need to relax and wait for those two to get back here… Y'know, when there's no Grimm hanging around, it's actually somewhat peaceful around here."
"Oh, totally!" Narukami nodded in agreement. "Without the clangs and gunshots, you can hear every bit of nature. The wind, the chirps of birds, the cicada's, and even the—." Yu stopped, suddenly far more alert than he'd been before. "...Distant screams?"
"Looks like you were right about those tracks, Seth." Ren pointed towards the large cave entrance as they watched a massive Grimm skulk outside of its den, likely roused by all the noise from outside. Luckily, the chances of it noticing them was seemingly low.
Seth kept his eyes locked on the beast as it readied its stinger, as if anticipating an attack at any moment. From atop their perch on the large tree's thick branch overhead, they had a decent view of it while still able to stay out of the Grimm's sights. "Setting a trap for it beforehand was the right call. A conventional ambush would backfire all too easily against a Death Stalker's armor."
Another agile teammate leapt to them from another nearby tree, a satisfied look on her face. "Blake's in position by the trap," she said, doing her best to keep her voice down. Pulling a scroll out of a small pack by her waist, she held her finger over a text chat with their fourth member. "She's ready when you are!"
Both boys nodded in response, signaling for the girl to hit "send". Moments later, gunfire could be heard in the distance. The sound was undeniably from Gambol Shroud, signaling the next phase of their plan to deal with this hidden threat while the other teams fruitlessly assaulted the empowered Nevermore that had been harassing the Initiate's.
Taking the bait, the Death Stalker skittered through the forest, cutting through any foliage and vines that blocked off its path toward the perceived threat.
With the beast in their sights, the three began bounding from treetop to treetop, with Asuka, the girl in contact with Blake, leading their pursuit of the target from well above its view.
Although the Princess of the Night Blade had ordered him not to hunt the Nightmare directly, it was an unexpected turn of events for Seth to be working within a team of prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses. For what it was worth, they were proving to be fairly capable in their craft, though it nonetheless was unusual for him to be working within a team. His role within the Night Blade had previously been focused on solo missions, whether it was scouting other factions' territory, intel gathering, or even assassination.
But this? This was a different field of expertise altogether.
Princess… are you certain that this is where my abilities are needed?
As they neared the trap's location, they saw it trigger as the false ground and shrubbery they'd placed beforehand gave way to a massive trench, with wooden pikes strewn about the inside. The Death Stalker let out an ear-piercing wail as it fell into the trench, its more vulnerable undercarriage skewered upon the sharpened wood. Flailing about in desperation, the panicked creature swung its massive stinger about, attempting to get in one last strike upon anything in its path.
Finally, its attempts slowed, and the Grimm finally succumbed to its wounds, its body melting and evaporating away.
Swinging down from the tree opposite of them, Blake landed by the edge of the trap. The others followed suit, and Seth with them, though his eyes wandered to the slowly melting creature.
"Great work, Blake!" Asuka gave her teammate a thumbs up. "Looks like that's one big boy done and dusted!"
Blake lightly chuckled in response. "All I did was draw that thing in. It would've been a much trickier day for us if we had to take it head on."
Nodding in agreement, Ren added that "planning ahead was a good call."
Though the others seemed satisfied with the results of their effort, something was bothering Seth about the Death Stalker they'd managed to cull. At first, it seemed to be dissolving in the typical manner that Grimm would… Yet, from beneath where its spine was once located, something began to grow. Swelling and pulsating, like some sort of living pimple.
…ready to pop.
"GET BACK, NOW!" Seth yelled out to his team as he hurriedly leapt backwards. As he suspected, whatever was inside that Grimm was ready to burst out. As he launched himself backwards, he watched the bubble inside burst, with some sort of bulky creature leaping out of it, away from the others and back into the forest.
Seth breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Asuka and Blake land safely nearby, though said relief was far too short-lived, as he witnessed Ren tumbling towards them, grasping his arm as he yelled out in pain. As his team rushed to his aid, Seth noticed what appeared to be second-degree burns on Ren's arm.
A corrosive?! That thing that grew from the Death Stalker… it's entire body must've been stored within that acidic growth. But what kind of Grimm would grow within another like that?...
"Crap, I don't have any aloe or disinfectant for his burns!" Blake began cutting away the burnt sleeve on Lie Ren's wounded arm, careful not to agitate the wound more than it already had been.
Asuka kept her guard up as she looked off in the distance, readying herself for a possible ambush. "I don't think his wounds are our only problem, guys! Whatever that thing was, I think it's still got its eyes on us!"
If the Shinobi was capable of deducing the creature's killing intent, then the alarms blaring in the monochrome assassin's head were not to be taken lightly. Whatever that thing was, its nature was clearly that of an ambush predator: One which capitalizes on a target's most vulnerable moment's.
So it means to make us Hunters its prey? Though they were caught off guard, Seth had no intention of allowing the creature to take further advantage of its surprise against them. "I'm pursuing that thing." Without any further warning or explanation, he drew the Eliminators, dashing in the direction of the mysterious creature. Channeling his Semblance as she ran, two Kerykeion orbs deployed alongside him as he saw the obscured figure of the creature off in the distance between the trees and brush.
Though both the girls protested, Seth saw little room for further planning or a unified assault. Their focus needed only to be on aiding their wounded comrade. He, on the other hand, would track and eliminate the immediate threat, as he always had before.
"WAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
Despite having navigated in the correct direction, Ruby realized far too late that she'd been accelerating far too quickly, as if her normal burst speed had been drastically accelerated. This increase in speed would normally be a boon, but the increased burden on her Aura had drained her completely, leaving Ragna and her to face whatever obstacle would be the first to meet their current inertia.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?!" Ragna called out as he spun uncontrollably through the air.
"I SWEAR THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!" The younger of the two Initiates wasn't in any better of a situation, flailing about as she desperately tried to keep her grip on Crescent Rose. She certainly wasn't lying, as all uses of her Semblance prior had allowed her far more controlled bursts of speed. The enhanced output when carrying Ragna was less like a sudden burst, and more akin to strapping herself to a jet engine.
As they began to pitch downward into an open clearing, something seemed to grasp around their respective waists; a large figure adorned in a dark gray coat descended alongside them, slowing their fall as it miraculously defied gravity, safely bringing them down to the ground below. Looking up at the masked figure, Ruby's expression shifted from one of panic and confusion, to sheer elation. There's Yu's Persona, again! I didn't know these things could fly! That's so cool!
The moment was short lived, as the mysterious Persona disappeared right as they touched the grassy soil, leaving the two of them to greet the other two members of their team that were hurriedly approaching.
Barely catching his breath, the gray-haired boy jogged the rest of the way to meet with Ruby and Ragna. "Oh thank—cough—thank the Gods I was able to send out Izanagi in time…" Given how well timed the arrival was, Ruby could only count her blessings that she had someone with such a convenient ability on her side.
But more importantly:
"That Persona was crazy!" Ruby exclaimed, almost staggering her team member as her volume and expression grew in equal measure, her eyes and smile practically shimmering with visible delight. "You called it 'Izanagi', right? As in the Creator-God from that old fairy tale?! Can you call him out again, I want to get a better look at it now that—!"
"Give the guy some space, kid!" Ragna cut off the overly enthusiastic girl, dusting himself off as he approached Yu. "Hey, so…" He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, apparently struggling to find the right words. "Sorry about earlier, not sure where my head was at back then… and thanks for not letting this chick and I eat the dirt. I doubt there's a single 'Landing Strategy' on this damn planet that would've kept our bones from turning into a modern art display."
Chuckling at the remark, Yu gave a simple thumbs up. "Hey, that's what friends are for, right? Although you might want to save your apology for a certain someone." Gesturing to the last of their team, Yu indicated that it was Hyde who was still awaiting an apology. The bleach-haired boy stood with his arms crossed, an expectant look across his face."
Ragna looked annoyed at having to say sorry twice, and half-heartedly responded. "Ugh… Yeah, that shit was uncalled for. My bad."
"Now that's an understatement." Dissatisfied with the older Initiate's response, Hyde grit his teeth. "You sent me careening into a damn tree, and that's your half-assed response?"
Rolling his eyes, Ragna blew his teammate off, walking past him with a look of complete disinterest. "That's the most you're getting out of me, so just drop it already."
"Oh, hell no." Hyde clasped something in his palm, which glowed a dark red. "I'm not just gonna take that shit from you, asshole! I'm seriously about ready to take the damn gloves off!"
Looking over his shoulder, Ragna rested his hand on the hilt of his blade, meeting the angered expression of the other guy with an aggravated gaze. "Go ahead and try, clown."
As their staredown intensified, Ruby found herself once again a bystander to an escalating verbal battle… now with the added pressure of being between two people that she was supposed to be teamed up with. Again?! This is the same situation as last night with Makoto and that other girl! Not to mention those pricks from Hyde's old school, or that pigtailed girl who kept throwing tantrums while the rest of us were trying to sleep! How do people here keep getting into fights over nothing?! This is all so… just so…
STUPID!
"Are you two jerks fucking SERIOUS right now?!" Ruby yelled out, managing to catch the attention of all three boys at once. In unison, it became clear that they didn't expect the youngest member to blow up on them out of nowhere.
Of course, their bewilderment was not enough to quell the young Initiate's sudden outburst, as she continued without giving any room for interjection. "I just wasted the last couple hours trying to get everyone back together, having nothing to eat but this crappy knockoff brand protein bar, nearly fell to my death for a THIRD time today, and now I have to watch you two idiots get into a fight over… God's I don't even know at this point! Honestly, I was hoping I could get into a team with my sister, or at least some quiet, nice people who don't lose their cool over LITERALLY NOTHING!"
After her brief tirade capped off, there was a momentary pause, her teammates in shock after the emotion-charged release. However, the first response was certainly not what Ruby had expected; Yu began clapping, an impressed look on his face as he nodded in approval. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Ruby! There's no point in wasting our energy bickering over nothing. We just need to hold out for a bit longer until Initiation is wrapped up."
Hyde and Ragna glanced at each other, neither looking eager to drop their guard. However, after a few seconds, the former finally relaxed, the red energy dissipating from his palm. "Oh screw it, you're both right. This is stupid." Hyde began walking back toward the campsite they'd set up.
It was all on Ragna at that point, who finally sighed in defeat. "Whatever…"
Satisfied enough with that result, Yu moved on. "I guess that means we can figure out what to do about our other big problem."
Ruby frowned in response. "Wait, what do we have to deal with now?!"
Raising one eyebrow, the white-haired guy motioned up in the sky. "You talking about that giant fuck-off Nevermore earlier? That thing's fighting way smarter and faster than I've ever seen one do before. Yeah… As much as I'd like to leave that thing to literally anyone else, I doubt that most people here are equipped to deal with that thing."
"So what, you'd rather us go against it?" Hyde scoffed. "We're a bunch of swordsmen, right? Aside from Ruby, I wouldn't exactly call us the walking definition of anti-air."
"I don't suppose you've got enough ammunition to take it down alone?" Yu looked to the young girl, though he already had a good idea of that likelihood.
Ruby did a once-over through her pouches, a pained look growing on her face as she counted the rounds. "Just under two magazines worth of anti-personnel, plus a couple incendiary's… but that's all."
The boys scratched their heads in contemplation. It seemed as though their options were limited, and given how little time remained, they knew that it may be wise just to leave the other students to figure out a solution on their own.
No, we can't just ditch them just because it's convenient… what would dad and Yang think if I did that? Come on, think! What can each one of us do to make this work? I've got plenty of range of speed, Ragna can hit crazy hard, Yu has his Persona, and Hyde…
Wait, what does Hyde do?
Pointing towards her teammate's hand, Ruby called out something she had noticed earlier. "That glow from earlier… is that a weapon, or some sort of Semblance?"
Though briefly taken aback by the question, Hyde cleared his throat, then began to manifest some form of crackling red energy in his hand. "Heh… well, I guess it's about time I filled you guys in on Insulator."
