Abstaining? Not a smart idea. But I AM aware of Grimm Eclipse, and I've played through early access on Steam. Though whether or not I'll actually put it in my story has yet to be decided.
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 38: Mountain Glenn
Exiting the amphitheatre, we all had worried looks on our faces. Not only did we have to find the White Fang, we also had to dedicate ourselves to this mission, lest we be sent back to Beacon empty-handed. Not only that, but I was quite distracted, very worried about certain turns of events. Namely, the vision I had seen. I thought about pulling out the Fragment, but I decided against it. If people saw me with what was potentially a highly volatile Dust crystal, then I'd be in a heap of trouble.
"Well, that wasn't exactly uplifting." Yang sighed.
"But it's the truth, isn't it? We all knew that this would be a challenge." Blake stated.
"It's gonna be tough, but I'm sure we can do it!" Ruby cried out, trying to keep our spirits up. But before anybody could confirm whether such encouragement had succeeded or not, I looked up to see a familiar sight.
"Hey, isn't that Team CFVY?" I pointed to the crowd, where students were clamouring around a group of four people, one of whom was very familiar to me. The brown rabbit ears, I would recognize anywhere.
Velvet Scarlatina, in her combat outfit.
We all rushed forwards to try and get some conversation from her. Blake reached her first, and grabbed her shoulder, causing her to turn to us.
"Velvet? Are you okay?" She asked. Velvet just smiled, and gestured to one of her teammates, a towering male with dark skin, lime-green armour, including a five layered shoulder pauldron which seemed vaguely Asian in origin, and a gargantuan longsword strapped to his back.
"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me." She answered. Weiss reached her next.
"Your mission was supposed to end weeks ago! What happened?" She asked, genuine worry seeping out. Velvet's smile faded, as she explained.
"N-nothing happened. It's just… there were so many…" She trailed off, looking down.
"So many what?" I asked. Velvet jerked her head up to look at me.
"I-it's nothing you need to worry about, Darrel. Besides, I can't say what we were doing. Professor Ozpin had us agree to nondisclosure. Sorry." Velvet explained. I sighed, my face falling. Well, at least I tried.
"Oh, but you don't need to worry. You're just shadowing a Huntsman, so you shouldn't be in too much danger." She tried to reassure us. Yang gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, you're right."
"I should go. Be safe, okay?" Velvet smiled one last time, and gave me one last lingering gaze, before she turned to follow her team away.
"Velvet's right. We can do this. We've never backed down before, and we're not gonna back down now." Ruby tried to reassure us again. This time, she was more successful, as all our faces were now devoid of doubt and apprehension, and now determined.
"Right."
"Besides, it won't only be us out there! We'll be fighting alongside a genuine Huntsman!" Ruby grinned. We all smiled in response, eager to meet our 'genuine' Huntsman.
Unfortunately, our 'genuine' Huntsman that we would be shadowing hardly lived up to our expectations. In all honesty, we had expected a battle-scarred, gruff warrior with more scarred flesh than pristine skin, and wielding a weapon of intricate design, which Ruby would fawn over more than the mission. Instead, we were greeted with a horrifying sight, enough to cause all of us to have a sick feeling in the pits of our stomachs.
Blake was leaning forward, shocked disbelief plastered all over her face, while Weiss simply stood next to her, eyes a blank white and wide with shock. Ruby and Yang had simply settled for expressions of broken terror, whereas I felt the colour drain from my face and my knees threaten to give out. To complete the image, my hands flew up to my head, and my head arched back, creating the impression that I was about to scream out my frustrations to the heavens. Which, to be honest, wasn't that far away from becoming a reality.
We had all expected a Hunter who would inspire an entire village to fight when all hope was lost. We had all expected a Hunter who would kill Grimm with his bare hands. We had all expected a Hunter of legend.
Instead…
"WHY, HELLO, GIRLS! WHO'S READY TO FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES?!"
Yep. We were shadowing-
"Professor Oobleck?!"
The caffeinated history teacher. This was like meeting your idol and discovering that they were something along the lines of a crazed killer, or a drug junkie.
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And…" Professor Oobleck paused mid pace, and turned to us, before quickly zipping up to Weiss with a hard glare.
"It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!"
Weiss looked to Blake, before giving a vocalisation of confusion. No one got to interject, as the good doctor dashed back to his earlier position, getting our attention once again.
"Come now, children! Already we are now three minutes behind! …schedule!" And with that, Dr. Oobleck crossed the distance between the courtyard to the helipad where our transport was awaiting. Ruby perked up.
"Well, alright then! We're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck… yeah, it sounds worse when I say it out loud…" Ruby started off joyfully, but quickly grew depressed as she spoke. She wasn't kidding. Thinking it was bad enough, but saying the words was like acid on the tongue.
"SAVE THE WORLD?!"
Nora's voice caught our attention, as Team JNPR approached from the courtyard.
"You're going on saving the world missions… WITHOUT US?!" Nora cried out melodramatically.
"I'm hurt! Sad! …and maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though… REN?" She growled at her partner, who gave a huff, folded his arms, and turned away.
"Sounds exciting. Where you all going?" Jaune asked, turning the attention away from Nora.
"Oh, just somewhere outside the kingdom…" Ruby smiled. Nora jumped into the conversation.
"Hey, so are we!" She grinned. Pyrrha just rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village. We don't leave until tomorrow, though-"
"Hey, then you can party with us!"
Neptune and Sun walked up, grins on their faces, and I felt the subtlest change in aura from Weiss and Blake.
"We're shadowing a crime specialist in the city. All CSI-detective stuff. And the best part? We get junior badges!" Neptune bragged, while Sun nodded excitedly.
"We normally see the city when we go in with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk… so we figured it'd be a good time to see the kingdom when it's a bit more, y'know… normal." He grinned.
"Hey, we don't mean to cause trouble, Sun. Trouble just happens to find us." I defended. Sun laughed, before being cut off by a yell behind us.
"FOUR MINUTES, LADIES!" Oobleck's voice rang out behind us, cutting me off. Looking from the airship and back to Sun, he gave me a grin.
"Well, uh… wish us luck!" Ruby flashed a thumbs-up at the group, before we all turned away, and trudged to our respective destinations.
Ten minutes later, our airship was soaring over the clouds, and we had engaged in a hearty conversation with Dr. Oobleck.
"Well, I guess I never saw you as much of a fighter, Doctor." Yang stated. I nodded in agreement: to me, Dr. Oobleck had only been seen lecturing Cardin and Jaune about the importance of history, and how we could learn from it.
"Yes, well, I admit I fancy more of myself as an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I have had my fair share of tussles." The doctor responded.
"Like the mushroom?" Ruby asked in confusion. Blake leaned over.
"Those are truffles." She stated.
"Like the sprout?" Ruby asked again, scratching her head confusedly. Yang leaned over.
"Those are Brussels." She clarified.
"Like the chocolate?" Now Ruby was really confused. I turned to her.
"Truffles again, Ruby." I answered.
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!" Dr. Oobleck stated.
"Um, Professor-" I began, before he gave me a harsh glare.
"DOCTOR Oobleck."
"Sorry. Doctor Oobleck, forgive me for asking, but what could history have to do with this mission?" I asked. Doctor Oobleck looked at me, as if I had asked him some kind of inane question.
"What a preposterous question, you silly boy! Why, history is the very backbone of our society today! And the liver. Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager…" He answered, before descending into personal thoughts for a moment, trying to figure out which bodily organ would be a fitting analogy for the importance of history. I rolled my eyes.
"And that means…?" Weiss asked. Snapping out of his trance, Doctor Oobleck turned to her.
"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but! It is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!" He answered.
"Mountain Glenn?" Ruby piped up. Looking at her, Doctor Oobleck gave the leader a warm smile.
"Correct, Ms. Rose! As I'm sure you're all aware, Mountain Glenn was originally an expansion of the main kingdom of Vale." Dr. Oobleck confirmed, while Yang looked to me. I gave her a desperate look, and mouthed 'Help me.' I knew nothing about Mountain Glenn, and I'd appreciate any knowledge I could gain from this conversation. She nodded, smiled, and looked back to the group.
"Yeah, but it was overrun by Grimm, and it's been abandoned ever since. Fenced off from the rest of the city." She clarified. Dr. Oobleck nodded.
"Correct. And to this day, it stands as a dark reminder." He finished. I sighed silently, thankful for the information that saved me asking about later.
"Sounds like a likely place for a hideout." Blake muttered.
"Precisely!" Oobleck finished, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose with two fingers. The airship began to turn, and the side hatch opened, revealing a decimated town. Half-erected buildings cast looming shadows over the streets, and abandoned debris cluttered the foundations, a fine layer of dust coating the rubble. Letting go of the handhold above me, I followed the rest of Team RWBY out, falling about three meters or so, before my boots hit solid ground, and my knees buckled into a forward roll. I tumbled back onto my feet, and readied my weapons, a sword on my right gauntlet, and a crossbow on my left. Beside me, the others were also ready for battle, except for Dr. Oobleck, who simply stood tall, and took a long sip from his thermos. I glanced around the area, taking in the destruction. And to be honest, it was not pretty. With crumbled buildings, abandoned toys, and dead plants as far as the eye could see, I couldn't help, but think of what was to come.
'The Reckoning…'
While I had told the others about my origins, I decided against telling them that I was brought here to prevent the apocalypse. It was already crazy to think that an alien human could somehow travel the cosmos, let alone one with the knowledge that everything that we all knew as a stable society would soon crumble to ash. I'd just send them into a panic, and I'd be bombarded with questions about what was to come. Besides, Kimba had already asked me to keep my mission a secret for now. Best to indulge her.
"Ladies! Mr. Conway! You may still be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Hunters has begun! From this point onward, you are to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" Dr. Oobleck stated. We all turned to look at him, and nodded. As he glanced at each of us, his gaze lingered slightly on Ruby, and I.
"Ms. Rose, and Mr. Conway! I thought I told you to leave your bags at the Academy!" He scowled. I swore under my breath. If I lost this rucksack of mine, then I'd lose the Fragment of Arcadia, along with Adam's diary. I didn't trust either object in the safety of anything else, and I would sooner have my balls ground to dust. Ruby just looked at me, before looking back to the Doctor.
"But… uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't." She said nervously. I just nodded in agreement. Oobleck looked away, deep in thought.
"She's not wrong…" He muttered, before turning back to us.
"Very well, you two; leave your bags here, we can retrieve them when our assignment is concluded."
"But I, uh…"
"Er… that's not going to-"
Before either of us could protest, Doctor Oobleck rushed forwards, and leaned over us, his height adding to his intimidating glare.
"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with…" He asked, before being interrupted by a rustling sound that seemed to emanate from Ruby's backpack. The zipper opened by itself, and a familiar creature emerged.
The head of Zwei.
As we all looked to the uninvited tagalong, Ruby looked to her pet.
"Get back in the bag…" She hissed, to which Zwei just let out a happy bark.
"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle… teeming with hostility and potential death… and you brought… a dog?" Dr. Oobleck asked. Ruby just twiddled her fingers nervously, trying to come up with an explanation.
"I, uhh-"
"GENIUS!" The doctor exclaimed, much to our surprise. Instead of a lecture, Ruby was receiving praise for stowing her dog away? Ruby looked to us, and gave a shrug, before Oobleck rushed past her, snatching Zwei out of her bag, and causing Ruby to spin around and fall dizzily to the floor. Oobleck just spun around, Zwei held aloft in his arms.
"Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for hunts such as ours! I wish I had thought of this plan myself, Ms. Rose!" Dr. Oobleck grinned, while Zwei barked happily in his hands. Ruby turned to us, with a smug smile on her face.
"I'm a genius!" She stated. Weiss and Yang slapped their hands to their foreheads, while Blake and I just looked to each other in utter befuddlement.
"However! Mr. Conway, this still doesn't explain why you have seen fit to bring your own luggage on our hunt. What might you be carrying that's so important to you?" The doctor asked me, Zwei still held aloft in his arms. I rubbed the back of my head meekly.
"Umm… It's…" I tried to find the words, but I just couldn't explain. Not without revealing my secrets. I sighed.
"Doctor, what I'm carrying may not seem important to this mission, but it's very important to me, so much so I don't want it leaving my sight. So with all due respect, I need to keep my bag with me." I explaining, hanging my head. Doctor Oobleck looked at me, and nodded.
"Very well. The choice – and consequences – are yours to bear. Now, onto more pressing matters. As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behaviour, one of which being… Grimm." He explained. Ruby scratched her head at the redundancy.
"Uhh, wha?" She asked confusedly.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment." Doctor Oobleck pointed down the street behind us. We turned, and saw that he was indeed correct. A Beowolf was prowling a ways down the street, pawing at the ground, as if searching for something. Without another word, we all readied our weapons, but before we could charge, Doctor Oobleck spoke, diverting our attention from the targets in front of us, and turning it to him.
"Hold a moment, children. There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, but the most likely cause is their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harbouring ill intent." He explained. Ruby looked back to the Beowolf.
"So… what now?" She asked.
"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to its prey." He explained, never taking his eyes off of the Beowolf.
"And how long do we wait, exactly?" I asked.
"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from their packs for months on end- and there's the whole pack." He answered. Turning back to look at the lone Beowolf, there was now five more like it sniffing behind the one we had seen.
"And now they've seen us."
"What?!"
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Doctor Oobleck shouted, right into Weiss's ear, somehow mistaking her vocalisation of shock for one of inquiry. Ruby looked to the doctor.
"Sooo… I take it tracking them is out of the question?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Kinda hard to track something when it's baring down on you with slobbering teeth…" I stated, looking to the charging Grimm.
"An excellent observation." Doctor Oobleck agreed with me.
"So what's the plan then?" Yang asked. Doctor Oobleck looked from us to the Beowolf pack, and back to us. Finally, he spoke.
"Show me what you are capable of." He stated, backing away to safety. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose, and buried it's blade into the ground, pointing the barrel at the encroaching monsters. In the meanwhile, the rest of the team scattered, each taking a portion of the pack with us in hot pursuit. I heard a series of grunts and gunfire, as Yang, Blake, and Weiss each killed their own share of Grimm. I rounded a corner, and leapt onto a fire escape ladder, beginning to climb. As I reached the roof, the Beowolves chasing me emerged from the street into the alley, and looked around confusedly, sniffing the air and looking for me. But their attempts were cut short, as I jumped down, landing in a crouch and burying my blades into the backs of their necks, killing them instantly. Behind me, I sensed another Beowolf approaching, ready to devour me. With a grin, I raised my arms, and fired two arrows out of my gauntlets, aiming at my sides. They buried themselves into the wall, and with a click, I rolled forward, and watched as the Beowolf fell into my trap. The arrows sparked, and began to unleash a storm of electricity right into the Beowolf. One of these "shock arrows" was enough to stun a Grimm, but two would kill any weaker Grimm, while stunning a stronger one, like an Ursa Minor.
Behind me, a fourth Beowolf emerged, and lunged at me. Spinning around, I folded my crossbows to pincers, and gripped my adversary tightly, one loop of metal around its left arm and shoulder, the other around its torso. Spinning around, I threw the Beowolf away, but it simply rolled back onto its legs, and let out a roar before charging. Smiling, I did the same, and we crossed paths, stopping a few feet away from each other. Breathing heavily, I heard the Beowolf let out a pitiful whine, before it slumped to the ground, dead. Sheathing my weapons, I walked forward, never once looking back at the chaos that had unfolded.
I hoped Oobleck had seen that.
Fairly short chapter, but I had to put one out since Grimm Eclipse was just released today. Anyway, Darrel's reasons for becoming a Hunter up next. And I have a bit of an idea for that...