Chapter 18: Time To Move
Even though my lungs burned from my constant panting, and my legs stung from striking various brambles and fallen branches, I didn't look back at the gigantic reptile that continued to pursue me through the trees. Given it's size, it could plough through trees easily, but it would most likely be slowed: the trees of the Blossom Woods were akin to enormous toothpicks; tall, but brittle. Morphing my gauntlets into crossbows, I span the drum on my elbow, setting it to the explosive arrows. As I leapt over a log, I fired an arrow at two trees, each striking into the bark and giving a low hum.
I dived into a nearby shrubbery, wanting to stay and see my handiwork. The giant lizard stopped before holding it's nose in the air, making guttural snorts. As it prowled around looking for me, I couldn't help but be awed at how graceful the creature moved through the forest. Sure, it wanted to have my flesh as a hors d'oeuvre and use my bones for toothpicks, but something about it seemed... intelligent. As if it hunted with more than raw animal instinct. But that couldn't be possible: the Grimm were soulless animals.
Two explosions drew me out of my stupor, and I looked around to see a pair of trunks careening towards the creature. One struck it in the neck, while another pinned it's lower body down. I quietly crawled out of my hiding spot, taking a glance at the thrashing beast, struggling to free itself. Noticing that my trap wouldn't hold for more than a few seconds, I turned and ran.
Leaping over brambles and fallen branches, I looked back to find the Wahtani break free. I stepped on a log, and was about to leap of when I saw that had I continued, I would have plunged into a roaring river, flowing rapidly about 15 metres below me through a wide ravine. Looking back, I heard a loud roar. Hopefully, that monster had abandoned it's pursuit.
As I looked around, a familiar buzzing sound prickled in my ears. I looked up, and nearly suffered a heart attack, as the Strekoza that had forced us out of the air resting on a thick branch, tending to it's wounds, entered my visage. It's wings were ragged, torn in various places, but they would still provide lift. Quite a few of it's spines had disappeared from it's body, replaced by bloody holes.
Fortunately, it was too busy inspecting it's body to notice me. If I could stay quiet, I could still escape from it and the Wahtani. Carefully, I took a step away from the beast, hoping not to alert it to my presence. Unfortunately, my shoe struck a pebble, which tumbled into the ravine, clattering at the stone walls, before landing with a echoing 'ploop' in the water. As I looked up to the dragonfly, it looked down and saw me, giving an angry screech. Flapping it's wings, it lifted off from the branch and hovered in front of me, eying me hungrily. Just as I was about to fight back, the sound of three trees crashing to the ground behind me told me that the Wahtani had caught up with me. As I turned around, the Wahtani gave me an angry glare, roaring loudly in my face.
"Ugh, geez! Have you ever heard the words 'breath mints'?!" I yelled over the din. The Wahtani just gave me a glare, and crouched on it's hind legs, preparing to lunge forwards. Looking back, the Strekoza seemed to quiver slightly, almost as if it was scared. I didn't have time to question further, as the Wahtani let out a roar that shook the heavens. In that instant, I acted before I could think further.
I fired a barb at the Strekoza's tail, and it buried itself into one of the bloodied crevices that dotted the creature. It howled, and jerked back, yanking me into the ravine, and releasing the barb, which retracted back into my gauntlet. At that instant, the Wahtani leapt forwards, maw outstretched, ready for an easy meal. Only, it wasn't me that the jaws closed around.
I didn't need to look up to see the carnage: the single crunch told me all I needed to know. The Strekoza was now the Wahtani's lunch, it's exoskeleton splitting apart like crackling from roast pork between the dragon's teeth. As I fell, I angled my body for a pin drop, hoping that my legs wouldn't break on impact with the water.
The water was freezing, and the current was powerful, sweeping me away with no mercy. Scrabbling at the riverbank, desperate for a handhold, I tumbled over and over in the churning water, with no idea which way was up anymore. My head emerged, dripping hair slapping into my eyes, as I took in a deep breath. My body banged against rocks, adding to the pain. Looking around, I saw a fallen log, floating some ways along down the rapids. I swam over to it, and hauled myself onto it, gasping heavily.
But even though I was now safe from being bruised and battered beyond recognition, my troubles were far from over. The rapids swelled and sank, desperate to reclaim me, but I clung to the log like it was my firstborn child. My shin bashed against a submerged rock, slicing it open and causing my blood to cloud the raging water. Even with my broken body screaming in pain, I hung onto the log for dear life, hoping that piranhas didn't infest these waters. But with a mist materializing in front of my eyes, and with the roaring water grown louder, piranhas were the least of my worries.
Don't tell me. I'm about to go over an enormous waterfall.
Yep.
Sharp rocks at the bottom?
Most likely.
Bring it on.
The log hung in the air for a second, then plummeted, with me still holding on, screaming my lungs out as I fell for what seemed like an eternity. The log speared the water, catapulting me off, and into the pool. Luckily, it wasn't shallow enough to break my back, and I swam up to the surface, bruised and battered, but somehow alive. Paddling to the shore, I crawled on the sandy beach, feeling the exhaustion set in. After some meters of crawling, I rolled over onto my back, the blue sky partially obscured by a sea of pink blossoms. Just as my vision began to darken, I heard a faint roar before I fell unconscious.
"...hink he's okay?"
"He's soaked to the skin, his leg is slashed open, and he's unconscious! Why would you think that, Jaune?!"
Slowly opening my eyes, I soon realised that Weiss and Jaune had managed to find me on the riverbank, and had moved me to the base of a tree. I coughed out some water from my lungs, alerting the duo to my resuscitation. Weiss dashed over to me, and knelt down beside me.
"What happened to you, Darrel?" She asked motherly. I just pounded my chest, trying to get my breath back.
"Flipping Wahtani wanted me for lunch, and I fell in the river some ways upstream." I spluttered. Jaune just wrapped a bandage around my bloodied shin, tying it off into a tourniquet. He extended his hand, and I took it, letting myself fall onto his shoulder, and feeling his strong body support my bad leg. Weiss stood up, and took my other side, and nodded in a direction.
"Come on. Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake found an old temple about a kilometer to the north. We're camping there until we can get help. So far, Ruby, Yang and Nora are still unaccounted for, but we'll find them soon." Weiss summed up. I nodded tiredly, desperate to fall unconscious once again.
After several hour of walking, we finally arrived at the temple. To be honest, it wasn't much different from the ruins of the Emerald Forest. The only major difference was that it seemed to be a little bigger than the temple which housed the relics during our initiation, and it still held it's structure, minus a few gaps here and there. Pyrrha kept a lookout on the roof, while Blake and Ren worked on a fire, with little success. Jaune looked up to Pyrrha.
"We found Darrel, but he's hurt pretty badly! Anything in the medkit, Pyrrha?" He yelled to the Spartan.
"We've got a couple of dressings, some antiseptic, and a few painkillers, but that's it!" She yelled back. Jaune and Weiss set me down near the wall of the temple, and set off in different directions: Weiss towards the campfire, and Jaune to the temple. I just laid my head back, and looked to the darkening sky. Letting my Aura accelerate the healing process was no easy feat, as it didn't seem to be as effective as it was after the Nightmare Maw's attack back during initiation. I just attributed it to the fact that the wound was less severe then. But the bleeding had stopped, and I felt the wound begin to close, leaving a numb feeling in my leg.
Pulling out the comm device from my ear, I was surprised to see it had survived remarkably undamaged. Admittedly, there were a few scratches, but nothing too major. Something must have switched it off between when I first got it, and now. I flipped the switch on the side of the earpiece, and it slowly crackled into life, with the occasional burst of static. Hooking it back onto my ear, I scrolled through the channels, trying to find out where Ruby, Yang and Nora might be.
"...wood's wet. It won't make..."
"What makes you think that..."
"...hope Nora's okay."
"...con wouldn't abandon us. They'll..."
"Nora, watch your flank!"
"...ve been here before. That..."
Wait a minute... What was that last one? I flicked back a channel to hear the perky voice of Yang yelling out orders. I pulled out my microphone, and switched it onto Yang's frequency.
"Yang, is that you?" I asked. A brief pause, punctuated by two slicing sounds and a gunshot, before Yang spoke.
"Darrel? Where are you?! Are you okay?!" She responded, sounding a little panicky.
"I'm fine, Yang. I'm with the rest of RWBY and JNPR. We're at a temple in the north. Where are you, exactly?" I asked. Another pair of gunshots, followed by an explosion and a scream of bloodthirsty joy. Clearly, Nora was having the time of her life on the other side of the comm unit.
"Oh, thank Dust! We're a little south of your position, near a giant cave. I think." She said, her panic giving way to relief.
"Yang, are you in the middle of something?"
"No, not really. Just trying to avoid becoming a little snack to this giant liza-YOU SONUVA! AAARRRGGGHHHH!" She screamed, before the line went dead. Looking up, a massive pillar of fire shot into the orange sky. It didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the teams, who looked up to the disturbance. They all looked at each other.
"Yang?"
"Yang."
Running wasn't easy, thanks to my numb leg, but somehow, I managed to keep up with Ren, Pyrrha, and Weiss, as they sprinted through the undergrowth. If Yang, Ruby and Nora were near a giant cave, it would probably be the home of the Wahtani. I shook my head, hoping it wasn't true: after my last encounter, I didn't want to see it again.
But an earsplitting roar put paid to those thoughts. Ren stopped, as did Pyrrha and Weiss.
"What is it, Ren?" Weiss asked. Ren didn't answer for a second, then he turned to us.
"The Wahtani's up ahead, along with some of it's brood." He answered. Pyrrha's eyes grew wide, while Weiss's expression twisted into an annoyed frown. I was confused.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked. Pyrrha looked at me.
"Wahtanis are murderously protective of their young. We'll need to run when we have Nora, Ruby and Yang, otherwise we'll be bogged down by a furious gigantic lizard." She explained nonchalantly, as if she was telling me the weather of tomorrow. I thought back to my previous encounter with the dragon: if that was it in a normal mood, I didn't want to see it in a rage. But as I looked up, I saw a speck of pink soar through the air towards us.
"INCOMIIIIIING!"
Nora was soaring towards us, hammer outstretched, and the ever present look of glee on her face. The four of us dived out of the way, just in time to feel a pink explosion emanate from where we once stood. As the smoke cleared, Nora was standing in the epicenter of the black scorch mark, Magnhild held across her shoulder. Ren dashed out of his hiding spot, inspecting the new arrival for any injuries.
"Nora, how many times have I told you not to do that?" He muttered. Nora just fidgeted on the spot.
"Nora, what happened?" I asked. She turned to me, grinning.
"Some giant lizard attacked us as we were about to check a cave out! You guys wanna see?!" She asked excitedly, as if it was good news, before turning and running back the way she came.
"That has to be the Wahtani. As long as it's around, we're not safe." Weiss stated bluntly.
"She's right. We need to kill it." Ren agreed. And with a mutual nod of agreement, Weiss, Pyrrha and Ren all dashed off to follow Nora. I fingered the crystal vial in my pocket, remembering what that woman had ordered me to do.
'...the saliva of a Wahtani...instrumental to getting you home...'
But how would it help get me back to Earth? And that crystal... It had to be a piece of the puzzle, somehow. But with everything going on, I couldn't figure it out. Especially not that now my earpiece was resonating with calls for my attention. Shaking myself out of my stupor, I flicked my blades forward, and sprinted forwards, ready to finish what the dragon had started when we arrived.
It was time to show the Wahtani that I was more that just a snack that would only provide a tasty treat.
I was on a mission.
I was ready for a fight.
I was prepared to sacrifice.
I was human.
And most importantly...
I. Will. Kill. It.
Ooh, the next one's gonna be fun...