A/N: Chapter 5 of REKT. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters of my OC teams: REKT, GTSY, KACE and DAZE.
Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.
Chapter 5: Emerald Forest
On the cliff...
"Our last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda said as she looked at her own portable monitor, coming up right next to Ozpin's side. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Ms. Nikos." With the press of a button on the side, she brought up Pyrrha and Jaune on screen and continued watching.
"Hmm..." Ozpin grunted as he glanced at her from the side of his spectacles.
"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." She turned off the machine, tucked it underneath her arm. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which," She turned to look at the man's back in curiosity. "what did you use as relics this year?...Professor Ozpin?"
"Hmm..." The man mused as he continued watching the pairs and focused more on Weiss and Ruby.
"It's definitely this way." Weiss's voice floated through the machine as the white-haired princess walked on and off screen. "I mean...this way!" The pair was currently settling somewhere trying to find their way. "It's definitely this way." She stopped pacing and stood in front of Ruby who was busy looking at a few leaves. "Alright, it's official, we passed!"
"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby asked as she stood up, brushing any sort of dust and leaves off her clothes.
"Because I know exactly where we're going!" Weiss replied with a huff, crossing her arms with a small scowl. "We're going to...the Forest Temple!"
"Ugh!"
"Oh, stop it!" Weiss berated when Ruby released an annoyed groan. "You don't know where we are either!"
"Well at least I'm not pretending like I know everything!"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're a big stupid jerk and I hate you!" Ruby shot back.
"Oooooooo, she better place a ice on that burn." Karios whispered to me and added a chuckle at the end. As we were wondering around, the sound of arguing voices caught her attention so we ended up detouring from the right path much to my protest. What we found were Ruby and Weiss arguing like a married couple.
"Wow they are really annoyed with each other." I said, feeling some hot vibes coming off both of their bodies in rolling waves; they were definitely hot and bothered so trying to put them in the same room was like waiting for a nuclear meltdown to occur.
"Ugh! Just keep moving." Giving up on trying to talk to her partner, Weiss turned around and walked off.
"Oh, just keep moving!" Ruby joked, imitating Weiss by making her voice go higher than normal. "Hurry up! Wah, watch where you're going!" Then her voice went back to its rightful state as she planted her hands on her hips. "Why are you so bossy?"
"Those two are hilarious." Kairos commented, leaning her body forward to rest her chin on top of her propped up her knee. "Too bad we don't have popcorn for this show."
"I'm not bossy!" Weiss shouted, turning around in anger. "Don't say things like that."
"Stop treating me like a kid!"
"Stop acting like a kid!" Now the two of them were standing toe to toe, angrily yelling at each other.
"Well stop acting like you're perfect!"
"I'm not perfect!" Weiss countered before muttering under her breath, "Not yet. But I'm still leagues better than you." With that scathing remark, she turned and walked away.
"You don't even know me..." said Ruby in a small voice.
"We should get going as well." I said curtly after sensing that the quarreling was over. "It's not nice if we end up being the last group."
"Fine, I had my fill of amusement for today." Stretching her arms way over her head, Kairos took the lead and we disappeared.
Elsewhere...
"Think this is it?" Yang asked as she and Blake finally made it out of the forest. Blake didn't say anything but the look she gave the yellow-haired girl answered her question. Descending until level ground, the two of them prowled around what looked like chess pieces standing upon a bunch of pedestals. "Chess pieces? Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."
"Well...I guess we should pick one." Blake said nonchalantly, not caring which one they choose but as long as they have something to present when they head back.
"Think this is it?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha stood in front of a cave. Deciding to check it out the two of them stepped lightly through the damp environment, the humidity was making their skin crawl.
"I'm not sure that this is it." Pyrrha commented as she looked at the blank walls that were illuminated by the fire that Jaune created. The boy all but sighed with agreement...or annoyance.
"Pyrrha, I made the torch." He said promptly, indicating the flamed stick in his hand with his other hand. "Could you at least humor me for maybe 5 more feet?" No sooner had he finished speaking he tripped, dropping the torch in the process. The fire hissed as if it came into contact with something wet and the entire cave fell into darkness. "Ow."
"Do you feel that?" asked Pyrrha whose green eyes were the only things that could be seen through the dark veil.
"Soul crushing regret?" Jaune replied.
"No, it's..." She pauses to make sure she was describing what ever she was feeling right. "warm."
""Hmmm..." Yang mused as she looked at the pieces on the stone pedestals carefully, eyeing one in particular that struck her fancy. "How about a cute little pony?" She asked, picking up the golden knight piece and raising it up in the air like a trophy.
"Sure." Blake replied, looking off to the side to quell a rising laughter that threatened to bubble from her chest at the girl's child like antics. She smiled nonetheless.
"Well, that wasn't too hard." said Yang as they stood side-by-side, the knight piece held tightly in her left hand.
"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."
"That's the relic!" Jaune said excitedly when he and Pyrrha came face to face with a giant yellow glowing...thing. Navigating through the dark was quite a thrill especially when there are things that could be easily tripped upon. He slowly reached out with his hand in an attempt to grab it but it moved just out of his reach, taunting him.
Huh? Pyrrha blinked at the sudden and bizarre movement in confusion. Did that thing just, move? Relics aren't supposed to move right?
"Hey!" Jaune huffed angrily. "Bad relic!" He tried a couple more times before finally getting both hands on it. "Gotcha!"
"Jaune..." The red-head warned as the boy was slowly lifted off the ground. He soon found himself face to face with the owner of the cave, a massive creature with a lot of glowing red eyes. It released a low hiss, prompting Jaune to let out a really loud and girly scream.
"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang said, her ears detecting Jaune's cry for help in a heartbeat. "Blake, did you hear that?" The dark haired girl didn't reply but simply looked up at the sky so it was unclear if she even heard what her partner said.
Pyrrha immediately ran out of the cave which echoed with Jaune's continuous shout for help. The creature burst out from the cave, letting out a loud roar with the boy still dangling from its stinger.
"Ahhh! Why?" Jaune squealed as he held on for dear life. "Ahhh! Pyrrha! Ahhhh! Pyrrha! This is not the relic!" Suddenly the tail started to thrash around, making it hard to get a strong grip. "It's not! Ahhh! Do something!"
"Jaune!" The red head shouted back to him, clutching her weapon tight as she faced off against the creature. "Whatever you do, don't let-" Before she could even finish, the Grimm promptly threw Jaune over the treeline. The boy screamed as he disappeared from her line of sight...again. "...go." She turned around to face her enemy alone, or so she thought.
"What's this? Only a measly Death Stalker?" Kairos asked as she peered at the creature with a bored look. "How lame."
Basically a Death Stalker has a jet-black exoskeleton underneath several white, bone-like plates upon its back, which are adorned with red markings. One of the more prominent attributes of this Grimm is the glowing golden stinger on its tail that it uses as a lure. It also has a pair of large pincers that it uses to defend itself and grab or cut into its targets. The Death Stalker's ten red eyes and unique markings can also glow in the darkness when it chooses to reveal itself to its prey.
This particular one has what appears to be moss or grass growing on its claws and torso, indicating that it had been laying dormant in the cave for a long time. It also has visible scars on its carapace, signifying its advanced age. This is possibly reinforced the crude drawings made on the entrance to the cave.
"A Death Stalker?" I asked as I stood beside her. "What's that?"
"Hey!" Kairos called to Pyrrha, ignoring my question for a minute. "We'll handle it from here, you go chase after that boyfriend of yours. You're worried about him right?"
"B-Boyfriend?!" Pyrrha spluttered, her face turning a lighter shade of red as she mulled over the thought. "W-Well okay then. I'm sorry!"
"Now then..." Kairos grinned as the Grimm turned its attention to us, clicking its pinchers together with anger. "Ready to play big boy?"
"It could possibly be a girl too you know." I commented.
"Who cares. In the end, I get to kick its ass."
Back to where Yang was...
"Blake, did you hear that?" Yang repeated as she looked around, not getting a response out of her partner for some weird reason. She turned to look at her partner in hopes that she wasn't going crazy. "What should we do?"
"Heads up!" Ruby's voice caught her attention and she finally looked up to see the said girl falling out of the sky.
