"There there, it's ok now." Ruby stated as she awkwardly patted the taller girl's head as the others looked on. They didn't say anything, just letting Ruby handle things here as they just looked around awkwardly unsure of what to really do. Trying to occupy himself with… something Gales looked at his scroll and flipped through a list of names Glynda had given him.
Ariel Oceanus was one of the eight that had gone missing days ago, and they had found her after the first 30-40 minutes that they had been searching. When they did the poor girl's clothes had been reduced to rags and her weapon had been broken. She looked like she'd gone through hell since she'd been here, and seeing her break down in relief at their arrival honestly wasn't too surprising. She'd clung to Ruby for about a minute now, and it didn't look like she'd be letting go anytime soon.
'Problem is we can't just stay here can we?' Gales thought as he looked to the others and got their attention. With a few looks to the crying girl and the rest of them just shook their heads. They didn't want to be the one to break up the scene apparently. 'Well, I don't wanna do it.' That was one of the things he hated about rescue missions; Being the one to tell everyone to get themselves together and get moving again. 'Thorns much better at it than I am… where is she when I need her?'
"Apparently, a continent away."
"Right~." Gales grumbled as he grudgingly stepped up to the two girls and got a look from Ruby. The best way he could translate it was "help" and just took a breath before kneeling down next to her. "Ariel." He whispered as she caught her attention, getting those tear-stained eyes to look at him. It was more of an unconscious action than anything, but he wiped her tears with his thumb and offered her a light smile. "Ariel, we need to move, it's not safe to stay here." He told her. "There's a camp set up near the cliff where you were launched. If we can get you there, we can finally get you home."
"R-really?"
"Yeah that's what we're here for." Ruby admitted as she got the girl to look a her and helped her to her feet. "We're here to get everyone who's missing and bring them home."
"Yep, we just have to get to the cliff where you were launched from." Nora pipped in as Ren nodded.
"There's a camp set up at the launch point?" Gales just stayed silent for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, our Bullhead was headed towards it when it got shot down." He confessed. "But the teacher that's there set up camp. We just need to get to them and they'll call another Bullhead for you."
"What about the rest of you?"
"We have to find the rest of the students still lost in the forest." Ruby explained as she broke the hug and looked at Ariel. "There's still several other students in here, we can't just leave them."
"R-right." Ariel muttered as Ruby helped her to her feet and she looked at the others. "I uh… I think I know where the launch point is." Ariel muttered as she rubbed her arm. "I - I think I can take you back there." Ruby smiled at the girl as Gales nodded, picking up the broken trident and seemed to stare at it as they moved.
Elsewhere
The black beast squirmed as Atalanta held it up. A frown on her face as she stared at the thrashing creature and crushed its windpipe. "Strange." The girl muttered as she watched the beast seem to disappear in her grip.
"So these things just disappear when they die." Leonidas muttered as he lightly kicked one of the disappearing monsters. "That's convenient."
"Not the word I'd use." Abel muttered as he crossed his arms and stared at the disappearing pack. "I'd go with strange.
"I'd say unsettling." Lacus muttered as she looked at Abel. "What manner of beast disappears when it dies?"
"One not fully tethered to this world." Atalanta stated as she flexed her empty hand. "A beast perhaps not of this world." Lacus rested a hand on her chin in thought.
"Curious, perhaps the Aetheryte sent them here?"
"Maybe…" Abel muttered as Leonidas frowned.
"Either case that isn't our concern." He stated as he looked at the scenery. "We're here for our brother, nothing else really matters does it?"
"I guess you have a point." Lacus muttered as she rested her hands in front of her for a moment. "But while we're here, it wouldn't hurt to explore it." She stated. "I'm particularly interested in what this world has to offer us."
"Why's that?" Lacus just stared off into the distance as she pushed back a few strands of her hair.
"This is untread soil for us. Who knows what might be here." She stated. "New beasts, new people, new policies, new legends." Lacus explained as she looked at Abel. "It would be interesting to bring back some stories wouldn't it."
"I guess it would." Abel got a light smile as Lacus turned to Atalanta as the young woman dropped low to the ground. "So where do we go from here?"
"This road leads to a village not far from here." The young woman muttered. "Farmers village, healthy population… yesterday they sent a caravan down this way." Atalanta stated as she smelled the ground.
"Does she have to do that?" Leonidas grumbled as Abel shrugged. "I swear she always wierds me out when she does that."
"Well she cant help it… I think." Abel grumbled. "Either way Atalanta, we'll head to this town and get some answers. Might help us figure out where we are in this world anyway."
"Right.
Emerald Forest
"Any word from the Bullhead that's supposed to be coming in?" "Professor Peach asked as she looked to one of the assistant teachers that had been assigned to her camp. The other teacher just shook his head as he started messing with his scroll.
"I'll call Glynda, see what's keeping them."
"Thank you." Professor Peach said happily as she stared out into space. "Oh actually hold that call."
"Hm? Why?"
"Professor Peach!" Ruby cheered as she jogged up to the teacher as the others followed. Professor Peach was a tall woman with braided peach colored hair and a figure that would make most aspiring huntresses green with envy. Her hips were full and her bust was large. Entire group seemed to have trouble figuring out where to look.
Gales just whistled as Ruby waved her arms comedically as Professor Peach hugged her and patted her head; the poor girl being sandwiched in between those wonderful marshmallows she called boobs.
'Those things can't be real.'
'I'm weirdly jealous right now.'
'Can I get a boob-hug too?'
"Ruby! I'm so happy your ok!" Professor Peach squealed as she broke the hug and let Ruby breath… for about 5 seconds before she sandwiched the poor girl in between her chest. "I was so worried I thought something bad happened to you!"
"Can't breathe… can't breathe…" The poor girl gasped as Yang snickered.
"But what are you doing coming out of the forest, what happened to your pilot?"
"We got hit by a pack of Nevermore." Gales explained as he and the others made themselves known. Ren showed off the unconscious pilot he had been carrying for the past hour and passed him to a few of the medical staff before stretching. "Our Bullhead crashed and we had to trek it by foot."
"Oh dear are you all alright?" Ruby went limp in the womans grip only for Yang to finally pull her free.
"Yep, we're great." Yang stated as Ruby gasped for air.
"I live~"
"We managed to find Ariel on our way here, so she came with us." Gales explained as he looked around for a moment. "Can you get her out of here?" Gales looked to Ariel for a moment before looking back at the woman before him. "She's been through a lot these past days."
"Of course, I'll call Glynda right away to sent another Bullhead." Professor Peach stated as she quickly got on her Scroll as Gales own went off.
"Neo -
I'm bored."
"Huh, it's Neo. Haven't heard from her in a bit." Gales stared at the screen on his Scroll as he texted something back. "Hi Neo."
"Neo -
What's ya doing?"
"At… Emerald Forest…"
"Neo -
Why are you there?"
"School rescue."
Neo didn't respond for a moment as Gales looked to the others. "Gales?" Pyrrha asked as she stepped up to her closest friend. "I see you've figured out how to work your scroll."
"Hm? Yeah, after you and Glynda showed me a few things I started fiddling with it a bit." Gales stated as he looked at the newest message on his scroll. "I swear this thing is really helpful."
"Neo -
You work at Beacon?"
"Attend… school… actually."
"Who are you texting?" Pyrrha asked as Gales made a noise.
"Neo."
"Is that another friend of yours?"
"I think so… she just sort of shoved her number in my scroll, but she's not that bad." Gales paused as he responded to another text. "I think."
"Alright!" Professor Peach spoke up as she looked to the gathered students. "Glynda knows the situation. She's a tinnie-tiny bit mad but she'll send another Bullhead our way." She cheered as Nora joined in."It'll be a bit before she can get it prepped, so you'll need to wait a bit."
"That's fine." Gales admitted as he looked at the others for a moment. "We still have to find the others lost in here, so we got time to kill."
"Oh that's a good point; in that case I should show you this" Professor Peach muttered as she was handed a map and showed it to to the group. "We's checked the entire right half of our sector, so you don't need to look there. You'll just have to search the left half."
"Did you find anyone?" Ruby asked as Professor Peach just nodded her head. "We found two students wandering the grounds and Ms. Ariel makes three."
"There were only eight missing right?" Jaune asked and got a nod. "That means we only have to find five more people."
"Yep." Ruby beamed as Gales made a noise.
"Professor?" He began as Professor Peach turned to him. "We ran into a few Grimm on our way here, and we spent a bit of ammo. Can we resupply before we head back out?"
"Of course." She said with a smile. "Take whatever you need."
"Thanks." Gales admitted as Professor Peach started leading Ariel off. "Oh and Professor?"
"Hm?"
"Has anyone reported in on seeing a Rogue Liger?"
"Oh yes, we had a few reports." The Professor admitted as she seemed to think. "A few search parties ran into them and pushed them back."
"Pushed back huh…" Gales looked to the others as they shared a look.
"Why do you ask?"
"We ran into a Liger ourselves, a scout. It tested us." Gales explained as he put a hand on his hips. "I think there's a Tyrant hiding out here somewhere."
"Oh dear." he Professor began as she made a noise. "That is a problem. Thank you for telling me, I'll pass it to the others so they know." She admitted as she looked to the others before smiling. "In the meantime, you should get ready." She got a series of nods before she started walking off.
"Alright you heard her." Gales stated as he turned to the others. "Let's get whatever it is we need and head back out."
"Right."
About 3 minutes later
Jaune just looked around awkwardly as he watched the others getting themselves together. Ruby and the others were getting bullet magazines for their weapons - though in Nora's case it was more along the lines of grenades for Magnhild. Part of him questioned how they had the exact type of ammunition the others would need, whereas the rest of him didn't bother question it to much. Saved them time in trying to find what they needed. As for him… well since he didn't have a gun of any sorts he just… sort of loitered around. Watch everyone just get their weapons reloaded as grab a few prepared lunches.
"But uh… what can I do?" He muttered in defeat as he looked over to Gales and watched him mess with some kind of tone bowl. Seeing the other sword user just sitting around, Jaune walked up to him and awkwardly scratched his head. "Uh hey Gales." Hearing his name the one-eyed teen looked up and smiled.
"Oh hey, you ready?"
"I guess." Jaune muttered as he looked himself over for a moment. "I mean… there's nothing really for me to do." Gales gave him a confused look before he set the bowl in his lap and patted the ground.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I don't have a gun so I can't start grabbing bullets you know." Jaune admitted as Gales went back to his stone bowl for a moment
"So?" Gales stated as he looked up at Jaune and continued to work. "You can always find something to do till we're ready to head out."
"Like what though?"
"Have you sharpened your sword lately?" Gales asked as Jaune looked to his weapon for a moment and unsheathed it.
"Uh no I mean… I'm allowed to sharpen this?"
"Well yeah, you don't want it going dull right?" Gales stated as he stopped messing with his bowl and reached into his pouch for a moment. "When the edge is dull or chipped it won't cut as well as you want it to." Gales admitted as he pulled out a whetstone and held it out to Jaune. "Here, you can borrow my whetstone."
"Thanks." Accepting the stone with a weak smile Jaune looked at it and his sword for a moment before sitting next to his counterpart and tried working his weapon. "Um… I'm doing this right aren't I?"
"More or less." Gales admitted as he watched Jaune work for a moment before going back to his bowl. "I could show you the proper technique later if you want."
"Thanks." Jaune muttered as he looked at the bowl and the blue paste Gales was meshing up. "So uh… what are you doing exactly?"
"I'm making a salve."
"A salve?"
"Yeah, you know, an ointment to help with treat wounds and injuries." Jaunce stared in surprise as he looked at the bowl and then to Gales.
"Y-you mean you know how to make something like that?" He asked half in shock as Gales made a noise.
"Yep. It's practically a mandatory lesson for Hunters where I'm from." Gales explained.
"How'd you even get the stuff to make that?"
"Oh that's easy." Gales said as he finished working on his salve and scooped it into small wooden container. "I found what I needed while we were walking here. Shoved em in my pouch and just needed a few minutes to get them together."
"Wow…" Jaune muttered as he watched the younger teen just close his container and start working on his second batch of salve. "You… you're really amazing you know that?" Jaune muttered as he got Gale's attention again.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… I'm don't really know anything about being a Huntsman compared to you."
"Why are you comparing yourself to me?" Gales asked as he set his bowl aside for a moment.
"I mean, look at you, your strong, your smart." 'Admittingly kind of handsome.' Jaunee didn't voice that last part. "And you seem to know so much about being a Huntsman, I mean you can make ointments, you know how to lead…"
"I just have experience that you don't at the moment." Gales stated as Jaune looked down at his sword for a moment. "You'll get this kind of experience later on."
"Yeah I guess…" Jaune muttered a he looked at him and he others. "But look at you - look at them, you all know what to do right now. I wasn't even aware I had to sharpen my sword to keep it in good condition." Jaune said dejectedly. "You guys are all so far ahead of me."
"We all go at our own pace." Gales said as he leaned back and stared upward. "We're not expecting you to move at ours, it doesn't work that way." Jaune looked at the younger teen as he was given a smile. "You find your own pace, you find your rhythm, and when that happens you'll do fine in this line of work."
"You sure?" Gales just rested a hand on Jaune's head and grinned.
"Course I'm sure. When you find your rhythm, yours set. It's one of the four main things you need in this line of work."
"What are the other three things you need?"
"Friends." Gales admitted as he looked to the rest of team JNPR and RWBY before turning back to Jaune. "It's always better to have friends with you in this line of work. Someone to watch your back when the going gets tough." Gales looked at one of his palms, staring at the scar on it and smiled whimsically. "Sure some prefer hunting alone but I believe a Hunter's true power can awakened only when you fight together."
"Together huh?" Jaune thought about that for a moment. In a way it made sense, after all he'd heard about how most experienced Huntsmen and woman stayed in teams for whatever reason. "Yeah I guess so… what's the other two?"
"Gales! Jaune!" Gales made to tick off his fingers as Ruby called out to them, catching the two off guard as she and the others walked up to them.
"Hy, you guys ready?"
"E'yup." Yang stated as Nora nodded fiercely.
"Refueled and reloaded."
"We're ready to go when you two are." Blake spoke up as Gale looked at the second set of Salve he was still in the progress of making.
"Sorry Jaune, later?"
"Yeah, later's fine." Jaune muttered as he handed Gales his whetstone and watched it disappear into his pouch. Both stood as Gales covered his bowl and put it away.
"Then let's get moving. We got a lot of ground to cover and a lot of Grimm to kill."
"Yeah!" Weiss wasn't sure who sounded more enthusiastic; Ruby or Nora.
1 Hour later
"Guys I'm bored." Yang whined as Blake looked at her.
"You just punched an Ursa not 10 minutes ago, how are you already bored?"
"I get bored easily."
"She does." Ruby stated as she looked at her sister. "She constantly needs something to entertain herself with."
"Usually that thing is something I'm punching." Yang stated as Weiss rubbed her temples.
"Of course it usually is." Gales just smiled at the sight before coming to a stop. A muted noise left him as he stared off into space. "Gales?"
"What's wrong?"
"We're being followed." It was Ren that spoke up as he looked in a random direction and the others looked around.
"What?" Jaune spoke up as he grabbed his sword. "How can you tell?"
"I had a feeling when the Nevermore first rammed into our ship. But now I'm certain…" Gales stated as he looked to Ren. "Ren, you're like me aren't you? You naturally have ESP." Ren just nodded as Ruby's eyes started to glimmer.
"ESP, you mean like in those comics?" She almost squealed hadn't Weiss slapped a hand over her mouth.
"That's impossible." She began. "ESP is just a made up trait used in stories, it's not real."
"It's real alright. Gales began as he stared in a random direction before walking on, leaving the others to catch up with him. "ESP manifests when your senses are magnified for whatever reason. Training, flared survival instincts, a mutation in the brain." Gales paused for a moment. "Back home we typically use types of herbs and drugs to stimulate the senses to cause it to manifest, for a while at least."
"Drugs?" Weiss gave him a look. "You use drugs?"
"Well I don't, but I'm just stating a fact. ESP is real, and we got something tailing us."
"What should we do?" Jaune asked as Gales just rocked his head from side to side in thought.
"What do you guys want to do?" He asked as he looked back at them. "We can leave them, hope they go away, or we can confront them and see what happens." A scream caught the group's attention as Gales looked skyward. "Or we could look into that." Gales didn't even get a response when the others ran in front of him and he crossed his arms to smile. "I'm glad we're all on the same page." The teen thought aloud and raced after the others. "Is that smoke?"
Elsewhere
They got odd looks. Abel realized as he and the others walked down the streets and folded his hands behind his back. 'I guess we do stick out a bit.' Raising his arm he looked at his armor and made a noise. 'Hunters in farmland, of course we stick out a bit…' Letting that thought echo in his head for a moment Abel shook his head before taking a breath. "You're not a hunter anymore Abel." He muttered before clenching his fist. "No you were never a Hunter…"
"Abel?" Lacus drew him out of his thoughts as he looked at her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He grumbled and looked elsewhere. "We should split up, see what the locals can tell us about this place. Maybe get ourselves a map."
"Of course." Leonidas muttered as he patted his belly. "To be honest I'm getting kind of hungry. We should find something to eat too."
"That is if we can." Lacus admitted as she pulled out a small bag. "Gold is priceless in our world, here it may be worth a few feathers."
"Or it may be worth a city." Leonidas stated as Atalanta continued looking around.
"This place smells funny." She muttered as she turned her attention elsewhere for a moment.
"Funny how?"
"Hard to say." Atalanta stated as she started walking off. "Going for a walk." She muttered. "Talk to you later."
"Hey should we just let her wander off like that?" Leonidas was met with a shrug from Abel and a smile from Lacus.
"It should be fine, she knows to stay out of trouble." Lacus admitted as Abel turned in a random direction.
"She likes to wander anyway." Abel grumbled as he rubbed his head. "Now let's look around. We didn't come here just to stand here."
Atalanta stayed silent as she looked around, her attention not really focusing on anything as she moved. City was… familiar in a way, Not in the sense that she had been here before, but she did remind her of some place - some town a world away. A peaceful place, one that admittingly smelled better. That in mind she rubbed her nose, sneezed as she looked around. "Smelly." The young woman muttered as she looked around before stopping. Smelling the air again she frowned slightly before walking in a seemingly random direction and grabbed a person by their sleeve.
"Huh?" The young boy questioned as he looked around, turning to look at the silver haired girl staring down at him. "Uh can I help you?" Without warning Atalanta leaned over and sniffed the boy, both to his confusion and disbelief. "Uh what are you doing?"
"You smell… different from the others." Atalanta muttered as she stared at the boy for a moment. "You… your name. What is it?"
"Uh… Oscar. Oscar Pines."
Emerald Forest
Where there was smoke, there was usually fire; and where there was fire there was usually trouble. Usually that trouble involved something flying. "This is usually the second thing that usually happens to me when I follow smoke." Gales muttered as he stared at the charred and smoking ground before them. What appeared to be burning corpses on the ground as everyone just stared at the area.
"Oh my god…" Weiss muttered as she put a hand over her lips and choked. "What in Remnant… happened here?"
Gales just stepped forward as the others chose to play catch up carefully following him into the charred land as he looked at the area. Crouching before a charred body the teen said nothing as he raised a hand to next."
"Are they?" Gales just lowered his hand as he pulled himself to his feet. Ruby had just enough time to turn around as she threw up, Jaune wasn't so lucky, but no one cared at the moment. They just looked at the sight as Gales scratched his head.
"Three dead." Gales stated with a frown as he looked at two other bodies. "You can tell because of their size."
"What… what about the others?" Blake asked as Gales just ignored the question and just stared at the slew of burning bodies, watching them disappear into dust as the fires started to die off. "Grimm?"
"The Grimm cornered these three, then something else got wind of things, took them all out." Gales muttered as he ran up to one of the trees and found an uncharred body before nudging them. "Hey… hey, you with me?" All he got was a cough from the young huntsman-in-training and they looked up. "Alright… we got one." Gales muttered as he reached for his pouch and froze.
"Is he alright?"
"For now." The Hunter muttered as he pulled his hand out of his pouch and got to his feet. "He needs to get medical attention and fast, otherwise he won't survive the hour."
"Then let's get him out." Jaune made to lift the teen as Gales turned to walk past him and grabbed his weapon.
"Leave him." He ordered as he stared skyward. "He'll just get in the way at the moment."
"Get in the way?" Weiss asked with clenched fists.
"How can you say that?" Yang grit her teeth as she put a hand on Gales shoulder. "We came here to rescue these guys, we're not just going to leave him."
"We're not." Ren spoke up as he grabbed his arm to Nora's confusion.
"Ren… you're shaking."
"Something here. Something big."
"You mean the Tyrant Liger and its pack?" Pyrrha looked to the woods as she nodded her head.
"We're surrounded." She muttered as she grabbed Miló and Akoúo̱. "They completely boxed us in."
"Damn so they set a trap?" Yang muttered as she released her grip on Gales' shoulder. "They wanted us to come here huh."
"We'll have to clear them out if want to get him out of here." Blake muttered as she grabbed Gambol Shroud.
"That's the least of our worries." Gales stated as he kept his gaze skyward. "They're not attacking… because they don't know how to respond to him."
"Him?" Ruby turned her gaze skyward as she slowly lowered Crescent Rose. The others soon followed as they looked upward. "Guys?"
"No way."
"Is that a…"
"The one that sent that Nevermore pack running in our way." A scarlet claw landed as a new creature made itself know. "The King of the Skies; Rathalos." The ear-numbing shriek that filled the air was heard for miles.