Rewatching parts of RWBY with a friend; i still don't get why they wanted Weiss involved in the adam subplot
Adam KNEW Weiss was on the team and didn't really go after her so uh
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Unlike the other team, where silence was more prevalent, Weiss' group found themselves in much more of a loud environment. Russet had said that the caves could be a good place for the Grimm hide, but he didn't know just how right he was.
Entering the cave was easy, but once they were deep enough in, the Grimm practically came out of the woodwork to attack them. The caves were large enough to be considered an untapped mine and, as such, plenty of Grimm could make their homes there. Weiss quickly stabbed through the open jaws of an ice-coated baby Ravager.
"I think...that's the last one," Weiss huffed. That was the fourth swarm of the bat-like Grimm the group had cleared since they entered the cave.
"If there's not an orb in here," Blake sighed, "we'll at least know why the Grimm haven't been seen in months. They were all down here."
"So, these orbs attract Grimm, right?" Ceres asked. "Maybe we can reverse engineer one to repel Grimm. Could be a good thing for towns like this."
"Maybe," Weiss agreed, "but we don't know how they attract Grimm to begin with."
"Maybe it emulates all the negative emotions from a human?" Yang asked.
"That'd be impossible." Ceres said. "Nothing can really copy the true essence of a human."
Blake looked away.
"So if it's not that...what is it? I've heard rumors that Grimm are attracted to outstanding Aura levels, prioritizing them over other targets, but I don't think that's it either," Weiss said, trying to make sense of this, "There has to be something we're missing. Some...part of their construction, maybe?"
"It's baffling." Ceres said, as they trekked through the cave. "The Grimm are just as alien to me as they are to you- there's no real way to explain how they work, mainly due to the fact they don't leave behind any remains to properly study. And studying them alive is...dangerous."
"More like disastrous," Yang said, "If Jacques' little 'taming' program wasn't enough, people back in Vale tossed around rumors that Mountain Glenn fell because of that. Which...I guess are more than just rumors now, really."
"He had to take 'inspiration' from somewhere," Weiss sighed.
"Maybe the orbs are an offshoot of that?" Ceres hypothesized. "Someone trying to pick up the work of Jacques ISN'T unfounded, especially with what's happened in his wacky race towards the council."
"Maybe..." the heiress sighed, "I haven't really been paying attention to that as of late, though. He hasn't dropped out?"
"Nope. He's dead-set on it," Yang rolled her eyes, "Guy's stubborn to a fault."
"Ugh, how is he still doing this?! He was exposed twice now, putting the entire city in danger! First with his whole 'Nesmith' plan, then this?!"
"Well, he did throw Nesmith under the bus for the first one," Ceres added.
"Maybe his PR team got paid extra to try and smooth it all over?" Yang joked, "Give 'em a raise for an impossible task."
"Politicians work hard, but their PR teams work harder..." Blake muttered.
That's when something in the distance moved. Blake could see it- her eyes worked better in the dark than anyone else's. She held up her hand.
"Hold up."
"What is it?" Ceres asked, getting her weapons ready.
"Something just moved up ahead. I think we've got more Grimm ahead..." Blake whispered.
"Really weren't kidding when you said this is where all the Grimm went off to hi-" Yang began, before something blindsided her. A Sabyr had managed to flank around the group and pounced on the brawler. She held the Grimm at bay, keeping its snapping jaws away from her face.
"Yang!" Blake called out. She shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and took aim, only for her aim to be thrown off by a Swindlen leaping onto her back from above.
"Wha-?! Get off!" Blake jumped in surprise, before the Swindlen slashed at her back with its tiny claws. She managed to grab it by the scruff of its neck and threw it to the ground, taking a few shots at it to put it down. Of course, that was just the start. Ceres was about to go help Yang, only for three more Sabyrs to charge out from deeper in the cave. Ceres fired out some shots at the nearest one, while Weiss spun the cylinder in Mrytenaster to the yellow Dust chamber. The rapier blade crackled with electricity as the second Sabyr charged the heiress. She slashed at it from the side, a trail of lightning following the attack's movement.
"Where are these little freaks coming from!?" Weiss yelled, as she slashed at a Swindlin.
Ceres slammed her gauntlets, and bashed the closest Sabyr in the face. It flew through the air, slamming into another Sabyr near Yang.
Yang managed to hold the Sabyr's mouth open long enough to aim one of her gauntlet's down the monster's throat.
"I hope you're hungry, bitch!" Yang yelled out as she fired a barrage of shots into the Sabyr, incinerating it from the inside out. The brawler jumped back to her feet and fired off another barrage of bullets at the nearest Grimm, another sabertooth-Grimm. The rounds slammed into the Sabyr's side and knocked it into a wall, killing it before it even thudded to the ground.
Weiss summoned her knight behind her, and began to fight alongside it- the duo quickly rushed down a bunch of the annoying Sabyr's and Swindlin around. Weiss hated these things- so damn pesky.
The larger blade of the Knight cleaved through one of the Sabyrs with ease, letting both halves of turn to ash.
"Here's hoping," Yang fired off another shot that turned a Swindlen to ash, "Ruby's doing better than we are right now!"
"Don't jinx your sister from this distance!" Ceres frowned. "That means shit's just gonna somehow get worse for her!"
"It'll be fine!" Yang grinned, catching two Swindlen in each fist before tossing them into the nearest wall.
From an outsider's perspective, Crossed would have been the perfect example of a town that time forgot. The ruins of civilization were already being reclaimed by the harsh northern environment. In such a ruined remnant, Ruby and Ben felt the dread in the air, it was almost palpable.
"...this is not fine," Ruby muttered to herself.
As the group ventured further towards the center of town, they found two signs of big trouble for the other settlements in the area. The first were the tracks. Down one of the streets of the ruined village, the four found a series of large, circular tracks that lead out of the village. Those same tracks were all over the place near the center of town, along with tracks from fleeing villagers and pursuing Grimm. It was easy enough to figure out what left them, though. In this climate, there was really only Grimm that left tracks like that: Megoliaths. They were some of the heaviest hitting Grimm in Solitas' territory, next to Sulfur Fish swarms and Ice Trolls. The former had numbers on their side and were relatively weak on their own, while Trolls were limited to nocturnal attacks only because of poor eyesight. Megoliaths had neither drawback, with strength to match a whole team of Hunters and senses just as sharp as their smaller kin.
The second bad sign were the bodies. The further in they trekked, the more bodies they found. Each one was either laying in the snow or in their own bed, totally untouched by the Grimm, just like the first one they'd discovered closer to the outskirts.
"Spent the past, what?" Kylie yawned, "Four hours searching for any trace of that orb? Found nothing."
"I mean...yeah, but we know there's a Megoliath around now. If that thing gets anywhere near Essen, it'll be chaos," Ruby explained. Though, for some reason, even she felt a little tired. Maybe it was because Kylie yawned, but she found herself yawning as well. She didn't feel tired before, though...
Ben shook his head. "I dunno if it's just the cold, but...I'm not feeling all too awake, guys."
"Same..." Rex yawned. "I can't...stop...yawning..."
"How long were you guys working?" Ruby asked.
"When you showed up? We were hitting hour...what? Three?" Kylie asked, leaning against the well.
"Something like that, yeah," Rex shrugged.
Ben furrowed his brow. "Then we need to stay warm." Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, and transformed into Heatblast. "Keep close to me. I wanna test something..."
"Uh, okay..." Ruby said, suddenly feeling more awake.
"Why not?" Rex shrugged again and walked over near Ben. When Kylie started to move over...something immediately felt off. She still felt inexplicably tired, but before she moved over next to Ben, she looked around the ruins. She saw a curious Swindlen looking at them from the ruins, but it wasn't attacking. Just watching.
I'm more tired than I realized, Kylie thought to herself, Starting to think the Grimm knows something we don't around here.
"Kylie. Trust me on this, okay?" Ben said. Kylie nodded. "Walk a few steps away from me right now."
"O-okay." Kylie nodded, as she took a few steps away. The further and further she got from the heat source, the more tired she felt. By the time she was only a few steps away, she felt read to pass out.
"And I think I know what killed them." Ben frowned, as the group got closer. Kylie felt herself regain energy. She shook her head, and blinked a few times.
"I felt...really, really tired...like I just wanted to pass out in the snow." Kylie said.
"And that's how this Grimm kills." Ben said.
"Grimm? What Grimm?" Rex asked. "There's nothing else out here."
"Maybe we just don't see it." Ruby said. "We just need to be near it. In the winter, we create more melatonin, which can affect our mood and make us feel exhausted. Maybe this Grimm...somehow affects us on that level."
"What, a Grimm that...induces exhaustion just by being near it?" Rex asked, "Never even heard about something like that."
"...the Swindlen," Kylie realized.
"What about them?" Ben asked.
"Isn't it weird that they haven't been attacking us? They only go crazy when we get too close...but outside of that they're just watching. No, they're waiting."
"Can...Grimm even do symbiosis?" Rex wondered, "That's what you're suggesting right? Little guys wait for the big guys to kill then they swoop in and get...food or something?"
"It's mutualism." Kylie said. "A lot of shark species do it with certain kinds of fish. The fish remove parasites, and the shark protects it from other predators. In this case, there's a net gain for both sides...food."
Ben frowned. "So, where's the big guy?" Multiple weapons went up, and aimed around the area. Kylie's eye scanned the area like a hawk, and Ruby spied through her scope.
"I don't see anything," Kylie said as she scanned the surroundings.
"Same here," Ruby admitted, "So then whe-"
Before she could finish, a chorus of inhuman screams echoed out from seemingly everywhere, as if they were disembodied. The group immediately felt exhausted, struggling to even stand. When the echoing screams died down, a veritable swarm of the Swindlen emerged from the ruins like the little Gremlins they were. An Alpha Swindlen, sporting a large mohawk of ice-matted white fur, locked onto Rex, especially with his BFS build out.
"Is that the big boss?" Ben said.
"Probably- biggest of the bunch, made a bunch of little guys run, and it's got a creepy mohawk." Rex said. "There's our culprit."
Ben didn't hesitate to react- but yet, he couldn't. He tried firing some fire, but he just felt tired. "E-ergh..."
The Alpha seemed to let out a few chittering sounds before it and a small pack of other Grimm swarmed Rex. The Alpha crawled up to the Ace-Op's face and head-butted him, knocking him off his feet. The attack wasn't that powerful in any way, but with how exhausted Rex was, it was enough. As soon he thudded into the snow, the other Grimm began tearing apart his BFS. More Swindlen raced in and knocked down the other members of the team. While Ruby and Ben were being searched by the scavengers, Kylie was being dragged over to the well by a larger group, including the Alpha.
Kylie tried to stay awake the best she could. She began to weakly produce nitric oxide- it permitted cerebral blood flow and regulates neuronal metabolism and dendritic spine formation via intracellular signaling.
Shorter words? It was keeping her awake. "W-where the hell are you taking me..." Kylie groaned, still out of it.
The Alpha Swindlen hopped up onto the rim of the well and grabbed Kylie by the hair. With the help of its packmates, it worked to throw Kylie into the well.
Kylie gasped, adrenaline suddenly running through her body from the shock. As she fell, she quickly realized.
Wait, that Alpha Swindlin ISN'T the big boss... She thought, as she transformed into gas. It's underground!
She barely had enough to turn to gas as she floated down into the well. That quick burst of energy faded and she solidified again, thudding onto the hard ground at the bottom of the well. The Alpha Swindlen looked down at Kylie from above, its eyes not even moving away from her.
It wanted to watch what happened next.
Kylie remained frozen in fear, but kept on producing a certain kind of gas. She listened around her for the subtle things, breathing heavily and carefully.
There's something BIG down here...
And then she heard what sounded like a bone breaking. Kylie turned around and, at the far end of the tunnels she saw something gripping the man-made stone walls. It was a hand, thin, spindly, very humanoid. Its three clawed fingers scraped against the stone and a hunchbacked form began slowly walking out of the shadows her. The yellow and red Grimm eyes looked onto Kylie, followed by several other pairs illuminating from the darkness. More skeletal figures began shambling forward, some tall and sinewy, others resembling the first creature but with larger spine bones jutting out from their backs.
What the hell is that!? Kylie thought, eyes wide with fear. She shook her head. No...matter...just...pull the trigger!
Kylie took aim and fired off a shot from True Rebel. One shot to the head and the first of the skeletal Grimm fell back and turned to ash. Ok, they weren't very durable! Good to know! Especially when that shot ignited the gas that still filled the tunnel. When Kylie was thrown down into the well, the specific gas she had had turned into...was methane. One spark was all it took to start a fire.
Back up top, Rex was struggling to shake the Swindlen off his sword arm, but he couldn't muster the strength to do so.
The explosion, however, was loud enough to snap him out of it. He shook his head, and looked the Swindlen right in eye. "Second...wind!" Rex yelled, as he reformed his sword and slashed it in half.
The Grimm cried out in pain before turning to scattered ash. All of the Swindlen jumped back in surprise chittering like the gremlins they were. Rex managed to jump back to his feet and ready his blade.
"Wanna try that again?" Rex threatened.
Kylie's gambit had (sort of) worked. With a majority of the weird Grimm taken out, the team had regained some of their strength. Ben's head sparked again, blazing with new life.
"You're in trouble now..." Ben grinned, as he threw the sharp fiery projectiles again. This time, they cleaved right through the Grimm with ease.
Crescent Rose shifted into its scythe mode and, in a flurry of petals and blades, at least five of the gremlin-Grimm had been sliced apart. Ruby landed back on her feet with a confident smirk, looking at the pack of scavengers. Today just wasn't their day, was it?
Ben and Ruby hacked and slashed like crazy- while the Gremlins had advantages in numbers, they didn't have them in strength. The duo felt more alive than just a few moments ago!
Kylie flew out of the well, shaking her head. "Ugh. Migraine's gone...so, it worked."
'Whatever you did," Rex said, "that really did the trick."
"Killed a bunch of crazy skeleton Grimm in the well," Kylie explained, "Now...where's the one with the mohawk?"
"I saw him go that way-" Rex pointed right, and Kylie activated her 'dark mode'.
"All I needed to know." Kylie said, propelling herself away.
"Let's see how you handle a fair fight, asshats," Ruby smirked.
If Grimm could even formulate the idea of fear, they'd be feeling utter dread right now.
Kylie quickly located the alpha, and her eyes lit up. She reloaded her gun with gaseous bullets, and landed on the ground in front of it.
"Hey." Kylie said, before coldly shooting the Alpha in the eyes. The beast recoiled, before it began to blindly swing around its weapon. Kylie easily cleaved it in half with True Rebel, before she rushed at the Alpha's legs.
She quickly cleaved the legs from the rest of the beast's body. It squealed and thrashed about with its claws. A few more shots from True Rebel put the gremlin down. It might have been an Alpha, but Swindlens were, by definition, fragile as hell.
Kylie deactivated her gas, and sighed. "For an alpha...you went down like a beta." Kylie said, before she twirled her gun around, and put it back in her holster.
She then looked around.
"Aw, no one heard my lame one liner."
Well that may not have been entirely true. Before she made her way back to the others, a loud trumpet sounded off in the distance.
"...oh shit," Kylie gasped, recognizing exactly what that meant.
My explosion probably reverberated across the area, and attracted one of THOSE to the area! Kylie realized. She reloaded her gun, and rushed towards the others- they NEEDED her help!
The Swindlen heard that trumpeting as well and scattered.
"Oh...you've gotta be kidding," Ruby realized.
Kylie regrouped with the group, and held up her axe. "Ben, you might wanna bump up your weight class."
"If I have one." Ben said, tapping the dial. In an instant, Ben was replaced with Four Arms. He grinned. "I can work with this!"
"Where is it? You'd think a giant elephant would be easy to see!" Rex said.
"That...yeah, I don't like that," Ruby mentioned, racing back to the outskirts of the village.
The group followed suit, chasing after Ruby. They were ready for any sort of fight, especially with a Grimm like this.
The Goliath was one of the largest, heaviest and most intelligent Grimms known to mankind. These Grimm bear much resemblance to modern day African Elephants. They have a primarily black body, with giant, white tusks and a white and red patch on their foreheads. Like most Grimm, they have bony, white protrusions on their bodies, with a massive row of them going down their spines. To take one on by yourself is suicide. A group of 4 superpowered teens? They could fare better, but it could be worse.
A Megoliath was a different beast though. It retained the same general look as its cousins, but with noticeable differences. Megoliaths sported two sets of eyes protected by its seemingly thicker bone-mask and four tusks, with the front two, etched with red Grimm markings, pointing forward and ready to gore any poor soul that was unfortunate enough to be in the way and the back two pointed off to the sides.
The odds were still stacked against the four of them, but one part of this scenario made everything much, much worse. The Megoliath wasn't paying attention to them, nor were any of the other smaller Grimm that flocked around it.
"...oh, that's not good," Rex said.
"These things are acting weirder than usual." Ben frowned. "I'm confused, annoyed...and just kinda scared."
"A whole range of emotions with these things, huh?" Ruby frowned.
"Emotions..." Kylie repeated. And then it clicked.
"Oh no. Guys...we've been thinking about this the wrong way! Whoever set up the orb, if there was one here, I don't think they put it at the center of town. They put it at the outskirts and let the natural panic of the Grimm drive them further!" the Osmosian yelled, "And where did we not check?!"
"The outskirts...of...Essen..." Rex realized.
"That...that old windmill we saw. Oh my god," Ben realized, "Ok, power's not what we need right now, we need speed!"
"Then come on!" Rex yelled, morphing into the Rex Ride. "We gotta book it to the outskirts!"
"Let's just hope I still have a good speed alien." Ben twisted the dial, and morphed into another new form. Ben blinked, as he looked down at his hands. Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure iguanas fit in the tundra." Ruby quipped upon seeing the new form. The new alien's appearance somewhat resembled an iguana. He had small spikes around his face, three dorsal fins reaching down his back and white gills on the sides of his head. He had white pants and a black open-front shirt with white cuffs and he wore the Omnitrix symbol on his left hand.
"Woah," The alien said. "No time for a new guy, Omnitrix..."
"The heck does this one do?" Ruby asked, getting on top of it.
"I dunno!" Ben shrugged.
"Swear to god if he's not fast," Rex muttered before he revved up the engine and raced after the horde.
Weiss' group emerged from the cave, exhausted, but none too worse for wear.
"How long...did we spend in there?" Ceres asked.
"Felt like days," Yang answered, "and no sign of an orb."
"At least we're all in one piece." Blake said. "Wonder if Ben and the others had-"
The sound of a 'trumpet' screamed "no, they didn't have any luck." Blake made a face, and sighed.
"Oh please no," Weiss sighed.
"Yang...what did we say?" Ceres asked.
"Oh, like I knew we'd go out and meet a damn Megoliath out here!" Yang countered.
Ceres rolled her eyes. "Come on- let's see if we can cut it off or something!" Ceres yelled, as she began running.
The others followed behind the Archimedian, but they were too slow to cut off the Grimm. The people of Essen ran to shelter as Russet drew his blade and rushed to defend the village. A Beowolf was about to lunge at the nearest villager, but the viking-themed guardian stabbed the Grimm in the mouth from the side. It thrashed about on the blade before it went limp and turned to ash.
"Please tell me they're on their way back," Russet muttered as he went to go fend off more of the swarming monsters.
Ceres and the others were the first ones to get to the village, and they made a very exciting entrance. Ceres punched a Beowulf before it could hurt a child. Weiss and her knight made sure that people didn't get hurt any more. And Blake and Yang were fighting an Alpha Beowulf.
The Alpha howled and slashed at Blake, only for its claws to pass right though the Faunus. It tilted its head in confusion, only for Gambol Shroud's ribbon to tighten around its ankles. With a quick pull, Blake tripped the Grimm and let it slam to the ground. Yang rushed in and punched the Beowolf several times in rapid succession.
"Now!" Yang called out.
With a nod, Blake spun and threw the Alpha into the nearest group of Grimm. The Beowolves turned to look at the flashing lights on their Alpha's chest and before they could react, the sticky-rounds detonated and took out the Alpha and six other wolf Grimm.
"The swarm's really hectic. Would be more manageable if a Megoliath wasn't on the way." Blake frowned.
"Adds onto our stress. If we don't take care of the smaller groups right now, then we'll be too distracted to fight the real threat!" Yang said.
Weiss dodged a goring charge from an ice-covered Boarbatusk, letting it stop right on a summoned Gravity glyph. The black sigil launched the boar Grimm skyward, letting Ceres launch up and grab it by the tusks. With a quick move, the Archimedian slammed the monster back into the ground, turning it to ash.
"Here's hoping Ruby and the others know about this," Ceres said, "Otherwise we might need to evacuate."
Weiss looked to distance, and heard revving- she recognized the noise. "I think they already do."
Rex and Kylie made their entrance by slamming into a Beowulf that Weiss hadn't noticed was behind her. Rex deactivated the Rex Ride, and immediately shifted into the Blast Caster. He whipped the Beowulf away while Kylie sniped some in the distance.
"Okay, there's two of them- then where's Ben and Ruby?"
"Something went wrong with the watch," Kylie said, morphing True Rebel into axe mode, "He got another new alien right as we were about to head off. Since he's not here, I doubt it's a fast one."
Just as Kylie said that something hit a tree. Kylie turned around to see a sideways 'ramp' of ice. She tilted her head, before something yelled in the distance.
"MAKE WAY!" Ben's new form yelled, as it flipped through the air.
"Or it can do that!" Rex yelled as he leapt out of the way. Ben...really wasn't known for sticking landings when it came to new forms.
Ben flipped off the ramp, and landed on a wall. Didn't crash into it- landed. Ruby looked rather frazzled by the whole ride.
"Hey, guys. Sorry we're late!" Ben opened his maw, and unleashed a beam of frozen energy. The energy hit a nearby Beowulf, freezing it solid.
"You got a Polar Manzardill?" Ceres asked.
"I guess! How does the name 'Absolute Zero' sound?" Ben asked.
"Boooooooooooooooring!" Ruby sighed. "How about...Arctiguana?"
"Yeah, that's cool too!" Ben grinned.
"Find anything out there?" Weiss asked, not taking her eyes off where the Grimm were going and launching off barrages of Glyph darts to impale the monsters.
"Aside from nightmare fuel? Nope. You?" Rex asked.
"Nothing but a Grimm nest," Blake answered, shooting down a charging Beowolf, "Any sign of the Megolaith?"
"Just the trumpeting," Ruby morphed Crescent Rose into its sniper mode and began taking quick shots at any Grimm that got caught in her crosshairs.
"I've got the hang of this guy now...maybe I can try climbing up the mountain and see if I can locate it." Ben suggested.
"Do it!" Ceres said, firing off a barrage that annihilated a spinning Boarbatusk.
Ben started to climb the mountain, carefully jumping from place to place. Arctiguana could climb like this thanks to his 'hooves' and large inner ears that helped him balance.
Ben and Ruby reached the top of the mountain, and Ruby looked through her crosshairs. "Do you see it?" Her 'steed' asked.
"Looking...looking..." Ruby muttered, scanning the horizon until, "There! Found it! Its at the windmill on the outskirts of town!"
Indeed, the Megoliath had, for one reason or another avoided the rest of Essen entirely, instead focusing on an old, barely spinning windmill on the edges of the settlement. Its four eyes quickly focused in on the object of its obsession and, with a loud trumpet of fury, it raised itself up on its back legs before coming down and stomping something to pieces underfoot.
"Contact the others to meet us there." Ben said, as took a deep breath. "And hang on tight!" Ben began to propel himself with ice breath, letting him 'surf' down the mountain.
"Woooo-ah!" Ruby called out, quickly grabbing hold of one of Arctiguana's back spikes. She quickly brought out her Scroll as they descended and called up the team.
"Everyone!" Ruby called out, "The windmill at the west outskirts! That's where it is!"
"The west end?" Weiss asked, "It ignored the entire town?"
...
"The orb!" the others all realized in unison.
Ben and Ruby flipped through the air, using ice ramps to navigate the forest. This alien was incredibly different from Big Chill, despite their shared cryokinesis power. If Ben had to describe it, Artiguana was like...a more 'ground based' Big Chill.
"I think I can get an opening shot from here," Ruby said, "What do you think? Usual ice and fire combo we use with Big Chill or something new?"
"I want to try out this guy's ice breath a little bit. Can we do the combo attack "Hugs 4ever"?" Ben asked.
"With this dude? Okay, that seems strange. Kinda doable." Ruby said.
The Megoliath trumpeted in victory, as if it had just killed some great challenger to its authority, totally unaware of the duo's approach.
Ruby held onto Ben's back. "Okay, Ben! Things are about to get really, really SPINNY!" Ruby suddenly used her Semblance, and pulled Ben into it. Red and blue petals flew from her wake, as Ben launched a 'spinning' beam of ice from the tip of their attack. The beam hit various places on the Megoliath's body, such as its body, legs, eyes, face- the attack was blind, but effective in restraining it.
It trumpeted out in rage, its trunk lashing out and trying to clear away the ice that covered its face and eyes. If it could see, then it could at least fight. The ice around its legs began to crack thanks to its pure strength.
Ben and Ruby landed on the ground, and they popped right into action. Ben started to refreeze his legs, as Ruby started to 'strafe' it, shooting around its body as she sped around it.
In retaliation, the elephant Grimm swung its trunk around, trying first to swat away Ruby as if she was just an annoying fly. The strikes were much too slow, letting the red-hooded huntress race out of the way. Ben, though, wasn't so lucky. A quick strike from the trunk knocked the icy lizard alien off his feet and sent him thudding to the ground.
Ben grunted. "Okay, now I kinda wish I was Big Chill..." Ben paused. "Oh, God, this thing doesn't lay eggs too, does it!?"
Ruby landed next to him, and helped him back up. Ben reverted back to normal, and looked at the Omnitrix. "I dunno who I really have left, so it's gonna make taking this thing down even harder. I doubt I have Way Big. Otherwise I'd just step on this thing."
"Try to sti
ck to the familiar faces." Ruby said.
Ice shattered around the Megoliath's legs, letting it turn to the humans that would dare try to bring it down. It trumpeted its challenge and lowered its head, readying its tusks for a goring charge.
Ben slammed down the Omnitrix, and morphed into Cannonbolt. "Oh, so you wanna do that, huh?" Ben quickly curled up into a ball, and shot towards the Megoliath. The two juggernauts charged at each other, before Ben snuck in-between its legs. Ben began to spin violently, making a tornado of snow and ice around his body- it smashed into the underbelly of the beast.
The Grimm let out a yipe of distress as it was thrown into the air, sliced at by the ice and gale-force winds. When Ben came to a stop, rolling away, he watched as the giant elephant came hurtling down with a loud thud. The Grimm tried to get up, but its legs gave out from under it and it fell back down, seemingly dead.
"Huh...guess they can't handle heights," Ben quipped.
"Good thing you have a bunch of classic aliens." Ruby said, walking over. "You're probably the most skilled with them."
"Debatable, but, yeah." Ben nodded.
It was around then that the rest of the team showed up, most of them arriving on foot while Rex, Kylie, and Ceres showed up on the Rex Ride.
"What? Already?" Rex asked, "How?!"
"Ice tornado," Ben grinned.
"That's stupid, but at least it's down." Weiss huffed.
"I'm shocked you guys took it down with only two people," Blake noted. "This usually takes a group of this size."
"Yeah, well...Cannonbolt hits hard!" Ben beamed.
"Either way," the feline Faunus yawned, "I'm ready for a break."
Unseen by the group since their backs were to it, the red and yellow eyes of the Grimm opened and it began to rise. The monster reared back its trunk and prepared to strike.
"That makes two of u-" Yang started, before she noted the shadow of the trunk on the snow, "LOOK OUT!"
Ben grabbed the group and leapt away. The trunk crashed into the ground, smashing up the Earth. Ben landed a few feet away, and set them down.
"Good save." Ceres said.
"Thanks. I always forget how agile Cannonbolt is out of ball form." Ben admitted.
The Megoliath trumpeted and got ready to charge, stomping the ground like a bull. The group all readied their weapons and the Grimm began to charge...but then four portals appeared around the elephant Grimm. Vines emerged from the portals and wrapped around all four of the monster's legs, bringing it to a screeching halt.
"Huh?" Ruby asked.
"Hold it there!" a new voice asked, drawing the group's attention. They saw two figures off to the side, near some of the older buildings flanking the windmill. One was wearing a one-piece forest green jumpsuit, a khaki asymmetrical corset belt fastened around her jumpsuit by a dark brown leather belt studded with gold spikes with matching belt buckle. On top of that, she wore a large, loose two-tone sleeveless avocado green leather jacket with gold spikes studded across a bright tan notch lapel, and a pair of opera length fingerless dark brown gloves with a tan slim strap on the tops. Topping her outfit off are a pair of dark brown knee high boots that were digging into the snow as she struggled against the giant elephant Grimm. The "vines" that bound the beast in place were actually her weapon, a whip that heavily resembled a thorny ivy vine.
"What do you think...I'm doing?!" the whip-wielder hissed at her teammate.
"Ok, keep holding it there then!"
"Ruda, just GO!"
"Alright, alright!" the second person rushed out towards the Grimm. This redheaded girl was wearing a charcoal-colored cropped T-shirt that exposes her midriff underneath a similarly cropped, lime green turtleneck sweater, presumably a pair of two-tone black and desert white pants, underneath two overlapping dark green belts, the larger one overlaid over the smaller belt wrapped diagonally from her top left to bottom right, adorned with gold spiked studs, and gunmetal gray belt buckle, while the smaller one inverts direction from top right to bottom left. She leapt into the air and held out her hands, both covered by her weapons, a pair of drill gauntlets. It was pretty easy to see what was going to happen. Instead of revving up the drills, though, Ruda seemed to phase into the ground, surrounded by an outline of orange energy. She basically swam through the ground, leaping up and striking the elephant Grimm with a powerful drill-enhanced uppercut.
Ruda chuckled mid-air before she fell back into the ground, narrowly avoiding another trunk swipe from the Grimm. Ruby and the others watched on in awe, before their attention was drawn to the side again. A burst of flame passed by Ruby and Yang, stopping on the other side of the thrashing Megoliath. A third new girl had shown up, sporting dark skin and dark red eyes that matched her hair, which was stylized as large, twin dreadlocked pigtails tied together at the back with gold spiked ring headbands. She was sporting a white strapless leotard with a red triangle, black shorts adorned with gold spikes at the sides, a black spiked collar with matching black spiked underarm pauldrons and long black gloves with large gold cylindrical cuffs. and a pair of dark black trapezoidal sunglasses that were a bit lowered to show off her eyes.
Her weapon was a bit bulkier than the other two's, a massive wrist-mounted flamethrower. The weapon's chemical tank was fastened horizontally by a belt and studded leather straps on her waist attached onto a hardpoint that worked to support it. The new woman's hair suddenly turned bright crimson, the tips turning to a more fiery yellow, almost like her dreadlocks were fuses. She smirked and let her weapon roar, firing off a wave of fire at the Megoliath. The Grimm trumpeted out in pain, its heavy coat of fur catching fire or just outright burned away in some spots.
"...that feels way too similar," Yang muttered, only for Blake to nod in agreement.
"You all catch your breath," a final new voice said, shoving her way past Ruby and Ben, "Let us handle this."
This platinum blonde woman must have been the leader of the group. She wears a two-tone white and gray sleeveless tank top and brown studded leather pauldrons that match her brown studded pants. The pauldrons themselves are connected with brass o-ring pieces that the leather wraps over, with brass studded tassels hanging at the bottom of the pauldrons, and a white cape hanging from the back. The center o-ring that connects the pauldrons together hangs unsuspended on her collarbone, while a second o-ring where her midriff would be is sewn at the bottom hem of her tank top, fastening up a leather strap that holds her studded pants up.
She twirled her weapons in her hands, a pair of reflective prism-like daggers, so that the blades were facing outwards. The blades flashed with light and the visages of two of her appeared in the blades. One more spin for one of the daggers and the flamethrower-user's reflection appeared in the glass-like blade. She rushed forward, surrounded by an orange energy outline before diving into the ground like Ruda. She leapt out just in front of the Megoliath and then opened a portal on the singed body of the Grimm. She then dove into the Megoliath's body, her silhouette still visible inside the monster. The elephant Grimm trumped out in pain as rainbow-hued light, not unlike that of Chromastone's attacks, began seeping out of the Megoliath's body and eyes, drowning out the red and yellow coloration. In a flash, the Megoliath was bisected from the inside, as the new leader tore herself free. Four portals surrounded her, each one releasing a copy of the green-clad girl's thorny whip.
"...woah," Rex muttered.
"That was..." Blake began.
"Amazing," Ruby gasped.
Ben's eyes widened as he watched the girls go. Never before had he seen such semblances or teamwork- even Team RWBY on their best days weren't as great as they were.
"I dunno who these girls are, but they're great." Ben noted.
Around then, the four newcomers grouped up and turned to look at the people they'd stolen the kill from.
"Huh, looks you were right, Bianca," the flamethrower-wielder said, "Newbies."
"Oh greaaaaat," Ruda sighed, "What are they even doing here?"
"Um...you know we can hear you, right?" Kylie asked.
"Oh look, they talk," the whip-user chided.
"What a catty bunch." Ben frowned. "Sorry, Blake."
"There wasn't any need to apologize..." Blake sighed.
"Rich coming from an overgrown tennis ball. Is your shell made out of foam or something? Cuz your attack did NOTHING." The whip-user taunted.
"Don't antagonize them, Ivy," the platinum blonde leader, Bianca, ordered, "Remember, they're new."
"Not really an excuse but fine," Ivy huffed and crossed her arms.
"Others coulda been faster though," the dark-red haired girl shrugged, hefting her weapon.
"Sorry, we were a little busy with the rest of the horde down there," Yang emphasized the back half of the sentence.
"Oh, so you did most of the work? Thanks! Makes OUR job easier." Ivy smirked.
"Ivy..." Bianca sighed.
"Who are you guys?" Ruby asked. "Are you like, a special task team for Atlas for something?"
"Atlas? Pfft, wouldn't be caught dead working for Ironwood," Ruda scoffed.
"Then who-?"
"HEY!" a new voice called from behind the assembled Outcasts. A man angrily stormed over towards the four newcomers. The owner of the voice, a man with light brown messy hair, and a matching beard, was very well dressed, sporting a red jacket with golden accents, and golden brooches on the shoulders, with the left brooch connected to the lapel of his jacket by a golden chain. Beneath the jacket was a black vest with similar gold accents tucked in beneath his beige slacks, with a white dress shirt and a darker red tie under the vest as well.
"I told you to never come back here! You've terrorized us enough! So go on, leave us alone, already!" the man ordered.
The four newcomers shared a look of surprise, but it was Bianca who acquiesced to the demands.
"C'mon girls," Bianca began, "We're done here."
With that, the newcomers turned to leave. Ruda dove back into the ground and "dug" away, Ivy lashed out with her whip and swung away using a windmill blade as an anchor point, and both Roane, the flamethrower wielder, and Bianca flew away, propelled by flames from their weapons. The former was just because her weapon was meant to, while the latter was copying Roane.
Ben reverted back to human. "They seemed nice." Ben turned to face the angry man. "You're not gonna yell at us too, are you? They showed up after we did."
The man sighed and composed himself a bit, adjusting his tie.
"Far from it. In fact, I want to thank you for aid in Essen's defense. The Grimm, thanks to you, were pushed back and the people were saved. Some injuries, but no casualties," the man said.
Ruby hummed. "You're Thornemane, aren't you?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "How could you tell?"
"I dunno. Your clothes give you an air of importance compared to everyone else here." Ruby said.
"Ah...well, old habits die hard, I suppose. But yes, Bram Thornmane at your service," the well-dressed Huntsman saluted, though it was different from the Atlesian one, right fist over his heart instead of the usual military salute, "I am sorry you had to see me like that. Those four are no better than bandits."
"O...kay? But that still begs the question," Weiss began, "Who are they?"
"Rogues. Mercenaries. They mock Atlas Academy by calling themselves 'Team BRIR," Thornmane explained, "They offer protection to villages like ours...for a price. An extortionate price. This was probably them trying to discredit me and my guardians, prove that they're 'better' than us."
"Bounty hunters, huh? That explains some of the sass." Ceres said. "Well, they made our job easier, so, can't complain there."
"I have to say, it's pretty great that you've been operating some services out here. It's nice to see someone taking care of the jobs hunters usually overlook." Rex said.
"It only made sense," Thornmane explained, "Otherwise, what good were all those Ace-Op training regimens for?"
"Heard that it didn't pan out," Ben said.
"Unfortunately, yes. But that story's neither here nor there," Thornmane began, but he trailed off when he noticed the wreckage over by the windmill. The former Huntsman moved over to it and examined it, picking up one of the shattered pieces and turning it over in his hand.
"What is this?" the would-be Ace-Op asked.
"We were hoping to find that out ourselves," Ruby asked, "We found another one of 'em in the mountains north of Mantle. You recognize it?"
"No...not at all. Hmm...tell you what. I'll take care of it, make sure the general sees this himself. Still on speaking terms with him, at least."
"Actually, mind if we take a piece of it with us for analysis?" Ben asked. "My Omnitrix is sorta on the fritz, and I have to wonder if this thing is responsible for it."
"Hm? Oh, of course." Thornmane said.
The former Atlesian operative handed over a piece of the device to Ben, letting the Omnitrix wielder take...something. The piece itself was incredibly twisted and mangled, thanks to the sheer pressure the Megoliath put on it. But then again, most of the orb was in a sorry state.
"Give the general my regards when you see him, will you?" Thornmane asked.
"We will, sir." Ben saluted. "We should work together on this case, if it'll help you think it'd help."
"If I can offer my services, I will. For now, I have a village to check up on," Thornmane nodded and gave a salute back to send the team on their way. The group turned and started making their way back to the Manta so they could head on back to Atlas and give the general their own report on everything. Maybe they'd catch a break and Pietro would have finished reconstructing the first orb they found.
As the group walked away though, Thornmane examined another piece of the device, turning it over in his hands, humming in thought.