As the caravan crashed through the sea of trees, the two passengers sitting at the front were trying their hardest to make sure that they weren't accidentally decapitated as their party of eleven were trying to escape from the pursing forces of Numb Mountain prison.
"Would it kill you to steer this thing more carefully?!" shouted the ship captain as she nocked an arrow into her bow. A moment later, the woman stood up from her seat before loosing it at a nearby guardsman on horseback, the arrow hitting its target dead in the center and sending him tumbling to the ground below.
"Oh, I'm sorry about the rough journey, captain!" Jaune shouted as he whipped the reins on the horses once more, "I'll just smoothen the road ahead with my earth magic, shall I?!"
"That red-haired chick in there knows how to do that! Why are you out here instead of her?!" Coco shot back as the two of them ducked under a fireball thrown from one of their enemies.
"First, she has a name. It's Pyrrha. I suggest you carve it into your memories." Jaune said as he steered the caravan away from a giant boulder, "Secondly, her mana's spent from trying to break all of us out of prison so no way am I going to let her put herself in any more danger than she already has!"
"Then we're Fucked with a capital 'f'." Coco said, a frustrated sigh leaving the woman's mouth as she loosed another arrow that struck the target without even looking their way, "Because unless you have a trick up your sleeve to get us out of here fast, I don't see us keeping our heads in the near future."
Before Jaune could respond to the woman's question, the slit behind them slid open as Nora appeared.
"Hey, captain!" Nora shouted out.
"Yeah?!" Jaune and Coco asked as the two of them rounded on the woman at the same time.
"She was talking to me." Jaune said as stared at Coco with narrowed eyes.
"Why would you even be a captain?" Coco argued, "You don't even have a ship!"
"You don't need a ship to be a captain!" Jaune shot back, "There's no law - written or otherwise - that says you do!"
"Ugh, whatever! This is a waste of time!" Coco shouted as she and Jaune ducked under a ball of lighting before it exploded a few feet to their left, "Please tell us you've got good news for us, ginger lady!"
"No dice, I'm afraid." Nora said with a shake of her head.
"Worth a shot." Jaune said with a shrug, "What do you have for us, Nora?"
"Back of the caravan is busted, no way we're getting out of here as fast as we did Argus." Nora said as Jaune cursed their bad fortunes.
"Looks like our options are run and hide or stay and fight, huh?" Jaune asked as he considered their options.
"If we stay and fight, it won't be long before they overrun us." Coco said, "And that's without factoring all that Grimm they can apparently control. Seriously, how are they even doing all that?"
"Questions for later." Jaune said as he waved off the woman's concerns, "We can't exactly go with the first plan, either. The horses are bound to lose speed, eventually."
"That and they're carrying all this weight behind them." Nora added from within the caravan.
"Luckily, night is descending fast and there's no moon tonight." Jaune said, "That means we'll have the cover of darkness on our side."
"What about all those Faunus guards they have?" Coco asked, "Last I checked, they have pretty good eyesight, to say the least."
"Then we'll just have to hope Lady Luck is on our side tonight." Jaune said, earning a snicker from Nora, "Shut up, Nora."
"What do you want me to do, boss man?" Nora asked.
"Do we still have anymore dust orbs?" Jaune asked.
"I think we still have half a crate left." Nora said, "Ice and a few fire. Maybe ligthning."
"Good. I want you to throw it at our pursuers. Scatter them." Jaune said, the blonde turning his attention to Coco as he steered the horses to make a sharp turn to the left that nearly toppled the caravan over, "And I need you to keep an eye out for any place we can hide safely in."
"Anything specific?" Coco asked as the left side of the caravan was bombarded with a few more magical attacks.
"A cave, a hole in the ground, even under a goddamn rock." Jaune said as he whipped on the reigns, "Anything that will get us away from these assholes!"
"Sure. Sounds simple enough. Or rather, it would be if it wasn't for all these fucking trees!" Coco shouted as a pair of guards on horseback caught up to them.
"Stop right there, criminal-!" was all that came out of one of the guards' mouth before he and his companion swiftly found an arrow sticking out of their heads.
"Shut up, you goddamn scrub!" Coco shouted, fury in her eyes as she glared at the two lifeless bodies that had just fallen to the ground.
[~]
"Right, then. Would anyone care for some more refreshments?" Ren asked as he, Velvet, Pyrrha, Fox, and Ilia were gathered around the table.
"Oh, I would. Please and thank you." Fox said, accepting Ren's offer as the sound of an explosion coming from outside the caravan reached their ears.
"Ren, do we still have those sweets from Atlas?" Pyrrha asked, the woman looking paler than usual as she munched on a piece of biscuit, "The one with the powdered sugar."
"I'm afraid we're all out, Pyrrha." Ren said before jerking a hand towards Nora, "No rewards for correctly guessing who was responsible."
"Ah, that's certainly a shame." Pyrrha said with a disappointed frown.
"We do still have these lemon bars we bought from the market at the capital." Ren said as he offered some to the other three people around the table, "Would any of you like to try some?"
"Oh, that would be-" Velvet started to say before Yang interrupted their impromptu tea party.
"Um, excuse me?!" Yang shouted before four pairs of eyes turned to look at the blonde, "What the fuck do you guys think you're doing?!"
"Having refreshments…?" Ren replied as he tilted his head at the blonde-haired woman.
"No, I get that but why are you choosing to do that now?!" Yang asked, "Shouldn't you be helping the rest of us trying to stop these guards from catching up?! Maybe even help Nora with all those dust orbs?!"
"Nora actually doesn't like it when either of us handles the orbs." Ren said as he took a sip of tea, "Isn't that right, Nora?"
"Damn straight." Nora said before she opened a hatch on the caravan's ceiling. With a dust orb in hand, the woman poked her head out before chucking the orb at a group of guards that was a little too close for her liking.
"She is our resident magic and dust expert, after all." Pyrrha said with a shrug of her shoulders as she passed a lemon bar each to Velvet and Fox, "Who are we to argue with her?"
"How are you guys this relaxed?!" Blake asked as she paced around the caravan, "We are literally being pursued by a group of armed guards and their pet Grimm!"
"Which, might I add, is insane!" Shionne added, the woman looking as pale as Pyrrha as she leaned against the caravan's inner walls, "You can't tame Grimm."
"Apparently, you can." Fox commented from the side, earning a glare from the woman.
"I understand why you're upset but there is simply no reason for panic." Ren said as he placed his cup of tea down, "It's simply the inevitability of the situation. At the end of all this, either we are successful in evading our pursuers and we can proceed to Vale with the help of Captain Coco and her ship or-"
"-we are cornered and are forced into another battle." Pyrrha said, finishing her companions' sentence as the caravan rumbled around them, "Only this time, it will be during the dead of night where our vision is greatly impaired."
"Not me." Velvet said as she popped a lemon bar into her mouth before pointing to her rabbit ears, "Faunus, remember?"
"You could at least prepare yourself for that second outcome." Weiss said as Nora rushed past her and towards a nearby open crate.
"Crap, only two left." Nora muttered to herself as she reached into the open crate before pulling out an orb filled with ice dust and another filled with lightning dust, "Better make this count."
"We are. By eating all these food, we are making sure that our stamina and energy reserve for the coming battle - which may or may not happen - is sufficient." Ren said as Nora rushed past them, the woman poking her head out of the hatch before chucking the lightning dust at their pursuers while cackling madly into the night air.
"Nora! Careful with that!" Jaune shoted, his voice from the front of the caravan reaching their ears, "You almost singed off half of my hair a moment ago!"
"Sorry, Jaune!" Nora shouted back.
"So, would you like a rice ball?" Ren asked as he gestured towards the food laid out before him.
Letting out a defeated sigh, Yang shrugged her shoulders before accepting the man's offering.
"Yeah, alright." Yang said, blonde choosing a rice ball with meat filling.
"Yang?! What are you doing?!" Blake asked, disbelief in her eyes at her companions' actions.
"They make a good point." Yang said as she took a bite out of the rice ball, "Whatever happens, happens."
"As a wise woman once said, 'Que Sera Sera'." Ren said with a nod.
"What does that mean?" Ilia asked as she refilled her own cup of tea.
"Whatever will be, will be." Shionne said as Blake sat down to her right.
[~]
"So, good news or bad news. Which one do you guys want first?" Jaune asked as he stepped into the caravan followed closely by an irate looking Coco.
"Good news. Always." Yang said.
"Well, good news is we managed to shake off our pursuers." Jaune said as he swiped a biscuit from Nora's hand, "Bad news is that Juniper took a lot of damage during our escape and she'll need to be repaired soon."
"Well, that's gonna be a problem." Ren said as he sifted through the supplies they currently had on hand, "There isn't anything we can use here that can effectively repair Juniper if - or rather, when - it suffers too much damage."
"Which means another resupply run." Pyrrha added with a sigh as Ren nodded at the woman's words.
"We can't do it anywhere near the capital on account of, you know," Yang said as she gestured to everyone around her, "On account of everyone here now being a wanted criminal."
"Sheesh, Blake, not even a week of travelling with you and I'm already wanted by the authorities. Talk about unlucky." Ilia said as Blake elbowed her in her side.
"Shut up, Ilia." Blake said.
"Well, if we can't go to Mistral, then I guess it's lucky that we just so happen to be friends with someone who has a ship." Nora said as she stared at Coco, "Isn't that right, Captain?"
"First of all, we're not friends." Coco said as she angrily chewed on a piece of biscuit, "Secondly, if you want my help then it's going to cost you."
"I believe the terms were set when we helped you and your party escape from prison." Ren said as he and Coco stared each other down.
"And I believe that your boss over there," Coco said as she pointed at Jaune, "Owes me a lot after I saved his life from all those guards that were trying to kill him after we escaped."
"You-"
"Ren, it's alright." Jaune said, interrupting his raven-haired companion with a wave of his hand, "She's right. Who knows what would have happened if she wasn't there at the front. Thank you, Captain."
"D-don't mention it." Coco said, the woman taken aback by the blonde's sudden honesty, "Just pay us what we're owed and we'll gladly take you to Vale."
"Fine. How does ten gold coins sound?" Jaune asked.
"Deal. But first, we have to get to my ship." Coco said, "There's a cove northeast of here. If I know Yatsu, he'd have done the smart thing and brought it there the moment he saw we were missing."
"Who's Yatsu?" Jaune asked.
"My helmsman." Coco said, "Big guy, big softie, too. You'll love him."
"Okay, then. I guess we're staying here for the night." Jaune said before beckoning Nora over with a wave, "Nora, come help me get a fire going."
"Aye, aye cap'n!" Nora said with all the cheer in the world.
"Me and Coco will take first watch. Everyone rest as best as they can, especially you two." Jaune said as he pointed at both Shionne and Pyrrha, "We move out at first light."
[~]
"You know, for ten gold, I at least expected the ship to be at least somewhat…" Jaune said, the man letting his sentence trail off as he and Ren finished strapping their caravan to the ship's deck.
"Aesthetically pleasing?" Ren suggested.
"Unsinkable?" Nora added from the side as the last of Yang's party made it hopped on board.
"Safe?" Pyrrha asked, the floorboards beneath her feet creaking with every step she took before one inevitable snapped under her wight. Thankfully, the woman was quick to react as she immediately jumped away to avoid falling into the hole that had just popped up.
"Apologies for that." Yatsuhashi, a giant of a man with tan skin and shaved hair in a pair of brown pants said as he made his way to the ships' helm, "There were more pursuers than I'd have liked. As good a helmsman I may be, even I was unable to prevent the Blind Rabbit from suffering major damage to it's hull and mast."
"Pft, don't sell yourself short, big guy." Coco said as she gave the man's back a hearty slap, "You did a great job. Besides, this isn't anything a few hammers, nails, and wooden boards can't fix. Ain't that right, Velvet?"
Velvet, in response, simply looked at their customers before saying, "I'd advise all of you to start working on your last wills and testaments now."
"Preferabbly before we set sail." Fox added.
"Jaune, if I die on this trip, I'm totally haunting you." Nora said.
"Alright, well… Now that everything's settled, when do we set sail?" Yang asked as Ruby and Shionne delved deeper into the ship.
"Well, first of all, we can't leave this place without first fixing what needs to be fixed." Coco said as she tossed the blonde a hammer before dropping a few wooden boards at her feet, "Secondly, where's Ilia? I don't see her anywhere."
"Ilia left." Blake said as Coco let out a frustrated sigh.
"Of course she did. Fucking Ilia." Coco said, "Well, whatever. I'll get my money next time. In the meantime, let's get to work. The sooner we fix this beauty back up, the sooner we're leaving."
"I wasn't aware that we had to do any sort of job with the amount we paid." Ren said as Fox handed him a saw.
"I didn't say you weren't going to be doing any work, either." Coco said as she handed Jaune a hammer, "Learn to read the fine print next time."
[Chapter END]
A/N: Bit of a short one this time around. Sorry about that, true believers. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this one. Next time, we'll see our intrepid band of heroes out at sea doing… whatever it is people out at sea do. Stay tuned for that.
As always, faves, follows, and reviews are always appreciated.
NoXIV signing off.