Of Runaways And Stowaways
Out at sea, on a boat that was bound to Menagerie, we see Blake Belladonna looking out at the horizon. The feline faunus was currently wearing a long white tailcoat with dark gray inner linings and a sleeveless black crop top. Across her torso was a strap with a magnetic clip which was currently housing Gambol Shroud. She was also wearing a white belt over black fitted pants. The said belt having a pouch at the side. She also wore thigh high black boots with black heels and gold-colored edgings. Her emblem was at the outer thighs of the boots in white.
"Traveling alone?" Asked a voice, which scared Blake who turned to the voice with her hand on her weapon. It turned out the speaker was the ship's captain who raised his hands in the air, "Now, now. Just here to chat." The old man seemed surprisingly calm considering Blake was staring at him like she expected him to try and kill her.
Still, Blake relaxed and took her hand off of her weapon. "And why is that?" The feline faunus asked in mild suspicion.
The captain put his hands down before leaning at the railing, "Well, not many people travel by boat on their own. Especially long trips like this, and I find that those that do tend to have more interesting stories." At the last part, Blake clenched her fist at basically being a source of entertainment.
But she just leaned against the railing herself as she looked more depressed, "Maybe it's just better for some people to be alone." Then several children ran across the deck right behind them while laughing, making Blake turn around to see them in fright.
This caused the captain to chuckle, "Maybe, but with paranoia like that a few friendly faces couldn't hurt."
"Who says I'm paranoid?" Blake almost shouted in offense.
"No one, miss," the captain said, once again raising his arms in a show of peace. "I'll leave you be," the captain then said before walking away. "But fair warning, these trips tend to be awfully boring." Were the last words the old man said before continuing.
Once the captain was gone, Blake turned back towards the sea. Then she took off her bow, revealing her cat ears to the world. "Won't be needing this," Blake said as she threw the bow overboard before walking to a different part of the ship. Little did she know that three sets of eyes were watching her. Well, one of the sets only had one eye.
In the living room of the Xiao Long residence, Yang was sitting on the couch, idly staring at the turned off TV.
"Are you planning to watch it, or are you just going to stare at it?" Asked Dragunov who had opted to sit on the floor.
"Don't you have anything else to do, like go outside to do whatever?" Yang asked in annoyances.
"I did that already. And no, I don't have anything else to do," Dragunov responded. Well, the truth is he did have something else he could do, but the fire Blade wasn't very keen on leaving his Driver alone right now. "Look…you can't just waste away," Dragunov then said as he took the remote and turned the TV on with the tip of his pointy stone finger.
"Local Huntsmen and construction workers are still unable to start repairing CCT Tower due to the Dragon Guardian still staying on Beacon grounds." A newscaster said, showing footage from Beacon that revealed the Titan that was still laying on the ruins of the tower. Dragunov quickly glanced at Yang who looked annoyed, which the draconic Blade took as his cue to switch the channel. But this time it was about the communications to the outside world being cut off. Another switch, this time about Vale Council having voted about flight politics, but Dragunov changed the channel, not interested in the slightest.
"The perpetrators behind the attack during the Vytal Festival are still unknown. However, eyewitnesses have reported that Adam Taurus, a high-ranking member of the White Fang was sighted at the scene." Both Dragunov and Yang were staring at the picture shown of the bastard that the two had fought. Dragunov with anger and Yang with slight fear as flashes of Perceval invaded her mind. "Any attempts to apprehend him have been met with brutal force." That was when Dragunov decided to shut the TV and throw the remote across the room as he stood up.
"I should have incinerated him at point blank range when I had the chance," Dragunov growled at what he considered the reason Yang was in the state she was in.
"Shut up!" Yang shouted, causing her Blade to flinch, "Just…stop talking." At the last part, Yang placed her hand at the area where that Blade stabbed her. "If only…if only I had…" Yang thought, unable to finish that terrible thought that wanted to break out.
"I'm home," Taiyang called out, having come back from grocery shopping. But as he walked into the living room, he took note of the tense atmosphere. "Did something happen?" the Xiao Long patriarch asked, directing an accusing look to Dragunov.
"No dad," Yang said, bending herself on the couch enough to make upside down eye contact with him. "I just…kinda snapped on him for no reason," the blonde said before returning to her previous position.
"If you say so," the single father said before moving to the kitchen to put away the groceries.
As soon as the man had entered the kitchen, Yang turned back towards her Blade. "I'm sorry I snapped, but…I just don't want to think about what happened," Yang said with a guilty look.
"Fine then," Dragunov sighed in return," But if you ever do feel like talking, I'm here. If only to listen."
"…Thanks," Yang said with a small smile, but part of her still believed that Dragunov was disappointed in her somehow.
Later on in the day, Yang decided to occupy herself by sweeping the porch of the house. She let out a sigh before looking to the woods to see Dragunov returning from whatever he was doing out there. Frowning at the draconic Blade, Yang moved in to confront him. "Drag, what are you doing out there every day?" Yang asked with an almost accusing look.
"Nothing that you would be interested in," Dragunov answered easily.
"If it's nothing then you can tell me," Yang said with an angrier look.
"It doesn't concern you," Dragunov said with a glare that made Yang flinch. Something that made Dragunov instantly regret his method, "Yang, I-" "Forget it," Yang interrupted as she slouched inside with a hurt look. Leaving the fire Blade to beat himself over his blunder. Unfortunately, with Yang the way she is, he just wasn't sure if she could handle the truth right now.
Inside the house, Taiyang saw the exchange and frowned at it. He was going to get to the bottom of this, and that oversized stone lizard will answer for whatever he did to Yang.
Back in the ship, the sun was setting and Blake was still looking out to sea. The ship would reach Menagerie tomorrow. The feline faunus took note of a faunus couple moving on the deck, before moving inside. Most of the other passengers had also moved inside the ship.
Then, Blake felt like someone was watching her, putting her hand on Gambol's katana, she turned towards the direction the feeling came from. On the upper deck, she saw two cloaked figures. "Who's there!?" Blake demanded, but the figures retreated back. Blake was about to go after them when a particularly large wave hit the ship's side causing it to shake a little.
Waves that were caused by a large, long, black and serpentine body that rose out of the water. It was large enough to tower over the ship itself.
"Red alert!" a sailor in the lookout post shouted at the sight of the monster.
"By the gods," the captain said in awe at the sight of a giant Grimm that looked like a sea serpent. The monster roared at everyone on the deck. "All hands to battle stations!" The captain shouted resolutely.
"Sir we've never fought a Grimm this big," one of the sailors said in worry.
"We've never seen anything this big," The captain said before glaring at the monster, "But we'll give her a fight none the less."
Speaking of which, Blake already jumped on the railing in front of the ship before jumping towards the sea serpent, then she used a shadow clone to fling herself further before throwing the katana of Gambol in its gun mode, which allowed her to hook it on the monster's bone plated head. Then she pulled herself right past it, having retrieved the gun and fired at the monster's body, but the shots only seemed to annoy it. With that, the monster dove underwater before circling around the ship. Occasionally jumping over the ship.
As Blake used another clone as a foothold to launch herself back onto the ship, the ship's sides opened, revealing a set of cannons. While the captain was maneuvering the ship so that it wouldn't be hit by the sea serpent when it came back down. But it wasn't easy, every time the beast was close. As this was happening, Blake saw an opening and jumped back towards the monster, slicing at its head, but not doing much damage. Then she saw a familiar black bladed sickle embedding itself on the monster's head with a bandage attached to it. Blake followed the said bandage to the source to see...
"Nox!?" Blake exclaimed at the sight of the dark Blade who had yanked himself towards the monster, retrieving half of his weapon before slicing at its head himself. Unlike, Gambol, Nox's Dual Scythes made gashes across the armor plate, but it still only made the beast angrier. As this happened, Blake was back on the ship with a look of disbelief. Because last she saw Nox, she had ordered him to stay away from her.
Then the cannons fired upon the sea Grimm. The attack made it thrash but it still wasn't too damaged. When it started thrashing, Nox jumped off and back to the ship. Right next to his very angry looking Driver.
"Nox! I told you to stay away from me!" Blake shouted, her ears going flat against her scalp.
"I am sorry, my lady. But that is an order I cannot obey." Nox showed on his scroll, not looking Blake in the eye.
The response angered Blake, but she had to steady herself when the ship shook again.
In the command bridge, the captain was looking out from the wheel. "Hold steady, men. It's not done with us yet," The captain said, before calling out loudly, "Get the heavy cannon loaded!" As soon as the order was given, a hatch opened at the front deck, revealing a cannon with far more firepower than the ones on the sides. "Heavy cannon, open fire!" With that order, the cannon aimed at the beast which had grown red wings and risen to the skies. Then it fired, but the monster dodged the shot. Then the beast moved closer to the ship before charging what looked like electricity into its mouth.
Blake glared at the monster, but before she could do anything, something stepped on her and used her as a stepping stone to jump. Nox had a similar thing, but he grabbed whoever jumped on him by the feet and launched them forward. Then the two figures dropped their cloaks, revealing them to be...
"Sun!? Wu!?" Blake exclaimed at the sight of the monkey Driver and Blade.
The said simian duo found themselves on the head of the beast with Sun pulling on its whiskers. "Not today, pal!" Sun exclaimed as he pulled harder, making the monster tilt it's head just as it fired a stream of electricity, which meant that it missed the ship. Meanwhile Wu had moved on its back and separated his Trick Pole into two nunchuks before beating on the serpent Grimm's body. The beast was struggling against the two aggressors as it flew around erratically in an effort to shake them off. But Sun had a firm grip on the whiskers, while Wu had a firm grip with his feet on the beast's body.
"What are you doing!?" Blake shouted out to the monkey boy who was having an aerial rodeo with the Grimm.
"Oh, you know. Just…hanging out!" Sun screamed as he held on to the whiskers like his life depended on it.
"Seriously!?" Wu shouted, pausing in trying to inflict pain on the oversized angleworm.
Then the beast seemed to have had enough of Sun and released an electric shock into its whiskers, which made Sun let go and fall off.
Blake saw where Sun would fall and used Gambol to swing herself towards him using the lookout tower. Blake managed to catch the monkey boy and land on nearby rock formations, ironically, having Sun in a bridal carry.
"My hero," Sun said with a grin and a hand to his heart for the effect.
Blake was not impressed, "You're not supposed to be here!"
"Oh, yeah!" Sun shot back," Well it looks like you could use all the help you can get." That latter part was emphasized by pointing at the flying sea serpent which was trying to fire at the ship, but it kept missing. Possibly from whatever Wu was still doing on its back.
"Urgh!" Blake growled as she dropped Sun. "Shut up and fight!" with that angry declaration, Blake jumped from islet to islet to get back onto the ship.
"Yes ma'am," Sun replied having laid down on the ground comfortably.
Meanwhile in the command bridge, the ship shook again. "Starboard defenses are down sir," one of the sailors informed the captain.
"We still got the heavy cannon?"
"Aye, but it's moving too fast," Another sailor replied, "We can't get a hit."
The captain grumbled at that little problem, "How about the engines?"
"Fully functional," the first sailor said, having checked a console for statistics.
This made the captain narrow his eyes on the Grimm," Well alright then."
Outside, Blake had managed to get back onto the ship, just when the serpent Grimm finally fired straight at the ship, right where Blake was. The attack would have hit if Sun hadn't come in to disperse it with his staff, but even if he hadn't Nox had already moved in to get Blake out of the way.
"Huntsmen!" The three heard from behind which made them turn towards the captain who had come outside.
"If you can clip it's wings and lure it towards the bow, we can take it," the captain informed them. As this happened, Wu landed back on the ship before the monkey Blade turned to glare at the monster.
"Well…you two got the sharp weapons," Sun said with a shrug, earning an annoyed look from Blake.
Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. "My lady, please." was the text that greeted her and Nox offering his weapons to her. Letting out a sigh, Blake replaced Gambol Shroud with the Dual Scythes and the affinity link was instantly formed.
"Now or never!" Sun shouted as he jumped to the bow before using three clones to launch himself into the air.
Blake got the message and jumped on one of the clones, which gave her a boost. While Wu gave Nox a boost by planting his staff before balancing himself on it as Nox jumped on the trickster's feet which launched the dark Blade into the air where he saw Blake being boosted by another one of Sun's clones in midair. Taking advantage of this, Nox was able to land himself on the said clone and use it as a stepping stone to jump higher.
With Sun, he had his arms spread as he was ready to give Blake one more boost. But the feline faunus decided to use the monkey as a stepping stone instead to jump higher. This made Sun fall until Nox landed a solid punch on the falling monkey's chest. The poor faunus had barely enough time to register the pain before Nox was able to get on his back to use the momentary stop of the fall to use Sun as a platform again. This was barely enough to get him next to Blake who gave her Blade a brief glance before nodding. With that, the two began their decent towards the serpent Grimm that was now trying to fire at them. However, Nox and Blake were able to maneuver themselves enough to avoid the blasts. Apparently, the beast didn't like it so it fired a continuous beam of electricity, which Nox opted to block with a barrier. Which also allowed Blake to fall past him and onto one of its wings. Then Blake stuck both Scythes into the webbing and started traveling down along the wing, with the monster crying in pain and stopping its firing. Which allowed Nox to sail past it. Then, as the two fell back down towards one of the rocky islets, Blake braced herself for impact. But then Sun appeared beneath with a grin, before catching Blake into a bridal carry.
"This is the part where you say it," Sun joked, causing the feline faunus in his arms to roll her eyes in annoyance.
All the while Nox gave Wu a nod of acknowledgement for catching him and saving the pain of the landing. "You're welcome," Wu said simply, just as the islet shook when the Grimm that wasn't able to fly anymore rammed into it.
Which Blake took as her cue to jump from islet to islet, with Nox immediately following.
"Okay, maybe later!" Sun called after her, earning a whack from Wu's staff.
"This is not the time, banana brain!" the monkey Blade shouted as he too jumped off the collapsing islet, with a miffed Sun following.
With that, the four were jumping from islet to islet, with a very angry serpentine Grimm chasing them. Destroying any of the rock formations in its path. Back on the ship, the captain was following the situation through a spyglass before powering the engines to full throttle.
With the escaping foursome, Sun jumped over one rock formation, but the Grim smashed through it, ready to take a bite out of him.
"Oh, no you don't," Wu shouted as his staff turned into a nine sectioned nunchuk which the trickster used to whip the side of the monster's face which forced it to turn just enough to avoid Sun who was moved to the side by Blake. Then, as the two stood on another islet, the very much annoyed sea monster charged another electric blast at the two faunus Drivers. But Nox moved in front of them to create a barrier to block it, Wu moving beside the dark Blade to add his own to the mix. This proved unnecessary, because the ship's bow rammed into the serpent's body at full force, interrupting it's shot as it was now impaled on the tip of the bow. And just as the monster turned around, the heavy cannon fired on its head, blasting the whole thing off. With that, the headless Grimm was now disintegrating. With the ship's crew hollering in cheers at the kill.
With the Driver's and Blades, Wu and Nox dropped the barrier while Sun hollered at the win.
"Up top!" Sun cheered at Blake who now turned towards Sun with an annoyed look. The monkey faunus waved his upraised palm invitingly, which earned him a high-five from Blake. To his cheek.
Later on, in the evening, Sun had just finished reassuring a faunus couple that they would be safe now while Wu was crouched on the railing. Blake watched on with an apprehensive look, while Nox stood a little to her side with his head hung low.
"Phew, you'd think they've never seen a fight before," Sun said as he walked back towards Blake.
"What are you doing here Sun?" Blake then asked, still annoyed at the unwelcome presence.
"Digging the new outfit by the way," Sun complimented, instead of answering the question which made Wu roll his eyes while Nox glared at the monkey. "Never did like the bow." It seemed like Sun either didn't notice or care at the increasingly annoyed look Blake had.
"SUN!" and Blake was done with his non-sense. "Have you been following me?" Blake all but demanded.
At this moment, Sun realized that this was serious, "I saw you run off. The night the Beacon Tower fell." Blake looked surprised to hear that. "After we landed in Vale you made sure everyone was alright and then ran off without saying anything," Sun said as he looked towards Nox, "And according to him, you even ordered him to never come near you again."
Blake glanced at depressed looking Nox before leaning at the railing, "I had to. You wouldn't understand."
"No, I get it," Sun said with a smile, earning a hopeful look from Blake. "You're going on a one-woman rampage against the White Fang."
"…What?" And now Blake looked just about ready to explode.
"I mean I get it, you always felt that the Fang was your responsibility, and after what happened to your friends it would only make sense that-OW!" Sun was interrupted by Wu bonking his head with the Trick Pole. "What was that for!?" Sun demanded as he nursed his head. Wu responded by pointing at Nox, which Sun turned to. The dark Blade looked like he wanted to tear something or someone apart. This made Sun chuckle nervously at the chill of death that went up his spine at the look in Nox's X-shaped pupil.
As Sun cowered at Nox's murderous demeanor, Wu turned towards Blake, "Leaving your friends without saying anything is one thing, but what I don't understand is why you would leave him behind." At the last part, Wu inclined his head towards the dark Blade.
"…You wouldn't understand," Blake said again, looking out towards the sea.
"Was it because he's a worthless failure?" Wu asked, snapping both Sun and Nox out of their moment.
"What?" Blake asked the monkey Blade, utterly confused.
"His words, not mine," Wu said while pointing at Nox who looked angry at being thrown under a bus.
Now Blake turned towards her Blade, "What is he talking about?"
Nox looked hesitant before rolling out his scroll, "You wanted to abandon me, because I failed as your Blade. I already obeyed you when you wanted to destroy yourself once. I cannot take such an order a second time. So please my lady, give me a chance to redeem myself. I beg of you!" At the last part, Nox dropped on his knees and pressed his head against the deck.
Blake looked at her pleading Blade with multitude of emotions running across her face. "You're wrong Nox!" Blake shouted, "It wasn't about you not being there! I just…I don't want anyone near me ever again!" After that, Blake also turned to Sun with an angry look, "And I'm not going anywhere near the White Fang!"
"Huh?" Sun sounded out, scratching his head.
"I need to work some things out," Blake then said, holding her arm.
"Well why not work with your team?" Sun then asked, earning a snort from Wu.
"You're one to talk," Blake shot back, "Unless Neptune, Sage and Scarlet are hiding in the ship."
This made Wu chuckle more from his perch," You think we could get Neptune on a ship?"
"Yeah, what he said," Sun confirmed before sitting on the railing himself, "They went back to Mistral, I told them I'd catch up. Besides, it's not the first time I left them to catch a boat." A moment of silence passed before Nox stepped up to show his scroll to Blake.
"My lady, it may not be my place to question, but where are you going?" was the text that greeted Blake.
"…Home, to Menagerie," Blake replied.
"Well I'm coming with you," Sun said with a resolute grin, before taking a more serious expression, "The Grimm are getting worse, you saw it yourself. And besides, just because you're not going after the White Fang doesn't mean they won't come after you."
"And I'm here because someone needs to keep this idiot out of trouble," Wu spoke as his tail swished idly, earning an annoyed look from his Driver.
"Says the guy who almost got us arrested from stealing an officer's wallet," Sun shot back.
"I told you it was an accident!" Wu shouted back in protest.
"Sometimes I wonder," Sun said while giving a hard look to his Blade.
As the two had a staring contest, Blake looked towards Nox. "Nox…why did you disobey even after what I said?" Blake asked, remembering what she shouted at him when he finally showed up.
"It is as the monkey said, the White Fang might still come after you. And that is not even counting 'everyone you love' as that demon said." Nox showed on his scroll anger flashing in his eye at the last part. Blake looked down in guilt at remembering Adam's threat. "Do not worry, I warned Dragunov and the others before I left." Nox put his scroll into Blake's field of vision.
Blake's eyes widened for an instant at not realizing that the Fang might also go after her friends regardless, before she weakly smiled at her Blade, "Thank you." Blake didn't realize it, but for Nox this meant that he had taken his first step towards redemption.
During this exchange, Sun had decided that his Blade wasn't worth the trouble and instead returned his attention to Blake, "Never been to Menagerie before. This is gonna be great!"
Blake rolled her eyes, this time with a mildly amused look. "There's no stopping you is there?" the feline faunus commented.
"Nope!" Sun said with a winning smile. "This'll be a regular trip to the east! Yeah…I kinda like that!"
For some reason, Wu felt like he should be annoyed at Sun for some reason, but couldn't figure out why.
In Shion village, Rex and Pyra were screwed. How so? Well once they reached a room with multiple beds where Rex was currently staying at, Roze noticed movement within Rex's helmet and insisted on investigating, despite Ruby's protests. And after a small scuffle with Rex, the rose reaper had pulled out a white fuzzy creature which was struggling in the grip.
"Waaah!" Ruby gushed as she picked up the struggling creature and started cuddling it," So, cute!"
Meanwhile Rex and Pyra looked at the scene with trepidation. Both of them having the same thought. "Please don't make a sound Azurda/Gramps."
And then Ruby hugged the creature just a little harder. "Let go of me this instant, young lady!" was the shout that surprised Ruby enough to bring the creature at arms-length and Roze's eyes widened.
"Dammit, Gramps!" Rex shouted out.
"I couldn't help it, Rex. She was crushing me!" the creature in Ruby's arms argued having an annoyed look on its fuzzy face.
"You can talk," Ruby asked, causing the creature to stiffen. "WAAAAH! That's so cool!" Ruby had stars in her eyes, causing Rex and Pyra to stare at the girl who was now hugging the poor creature twice as hard.
"Put me down!" poor thing felt like he was dying.
Which snapped Rex back into attention, "Hey! Let go! You're hurting Gramps!" Rex yelled as he moved in to try and pry Ruby off of the suffering being.
Roze took pity on the two before doing something that he knew he was going to get yelled at. "Ruby, there's a crack on Crescent Rose," Roze said in as convincing surprise as he could
"WHAT!?" The effect was instantaneous. Ruby let go of "Gramps" and took out her baby to check the damage. Which wasn't there and that caused Ruby to look at her Blade with downright murderous look. Which the poor Gramps took as his cue to get back inside Rex's helmet.
As Roze tried to ignore his Driver, he decided to ask Rex and Pyra about something he noticed, "That creature had a Crystal on its chest, but I don't think he's a Blade. So, what is he?"
"Architect save us," Rex grumbled at the impasse he was at, which made things click in the reaper Blade's head.
"…You're from Alrest." It wasn't a question but a statement.
And then Ruby also snapped at attention, the evil of her Blade forgotten for the moment. "Is that true?"
"You know about Alrest?" Pyra asked, hope filling her for the moment.
"All Blades know about Alrest," Roze responded," But Atlas has explained it as a 'glitch in our system'." Roze did air quotations at the last part.
"Do you know why those breaches open and why they suck in anything in the area?" Rex then asked with hope at perhaps getting more answers.
"Wait, they suck whatever is in sight?" Ruby asked, now even more curious.
"How much do you know about these holes that open?" Rex then asked slightly less hopeful.
"Well-" "Ruby, wait," Roze interrupted as he thought of something.
"What is it?" Ruby asked, not liking being interrupted.
"I think we should get the others, this could be very important," Roze said, earning a look of realization from his Driver.
"Oh! That's right!" Ruby said, returning Crescent Rose to the magnetic clip on her back before slamming her fist against her palm in realization.
"Wait, what others!?" Rex asked in slight worry, with Gramps peeking from the helmet carefully.
"Our friends," Ruby replied easily, "Don't worry, they also know about Alrest." Of course, Ruby had decided to inform the remaining 3 members of JNPR with Penny's help about the truth of their Blades' origins. She felt that they deserved to know. Thankfully the Drivers didn't think of their Blades any differently and actually felt that them being essentially aliens made more sense than Atlas making something as wonderful as them (Nora's opinion on Electra).
"…I don't know," Rex said wondering if even Ruby knowing would be a problem.
"Rex," Gramps piped up from his helmet, "This girl and her friends might have clues to the mystery behind these breaches. Besides, with all of our friends and allies at who knows where, getting new allies won't hurt."
"Azurda is right Rex," Pyra agreed, "Besides, even if they don't know anything new, they could help us get to Mistral."
"Hmm…that's true," Rex mumbled to himself, crossing his arms as he did. "Alright, I'll stay here with Pyra and wait for your friends. I'm supposed to be resting anyway." With those words, Rex sat down on one of the beds.
"Okay!" Ruby exclaimed in excitement before vanishing in a flurry of rose petals.
"Ruby! Don't use your semblance in a confined space!" Roze called out after her, before letting out a weary sigh, "Sometimes I wonder how I haven't reverted into a Crystal yet."
In Menagerie some of the local law enforcers were on a lookout tower and looking out to the desert that housed very dangerous wildlife. Occasionally some of them come too close, and they were forced to use whatever defenses they had to repel them.
"Those Beringels are getting too close," one of the look outs said with slight worry. These Grimm aren't the most dangerous of what's out there, but still troublesome to say the least.
"Don't worry, our little back up should be here soon enough," another said as he picked up a rifle and prepared to shoot as soon as those things got close enough.
"Yeah, for someone so small, she's been kicking ass," the first one said even as he kept an eye on three Beringels that were slowly approaching.
"Yeah, although that Blade of hers can shove it if you ask me," the rifle holding lookout said as he was ready to fire.
"According to her, he's like that to anyone," the first one said, before starting to sound worried, "I really hope she gets here soon because those things are about to cross the safe line."
Sure enough, the ape-like Grimm were approaching the border.
"Let's hope I can off them before they get here," the rifle wielding lookout said with his hands now on the trigger.
Then the first one looked down to see a yellow jump-suit wearing cat faunus riding on a white tiger towards the approaching the monsters. "She's here," the look out said in relief, but his look soured a little as he saw the asshole not too far behind. Then again, the guy was willing to put himself on the line for them so he supposed he could tolerate the Blade's ego. Besides, the guy is apparently very respectful towards their Chief, so that's a plus.
AN: Alright, so Blake isn't the only one with issues here. Nox feels like he had failed his Driver and now seeks redemption. Yang's and Dragunov's relationship has a strain now. Team JNPRR is about to talk to the first proper Alrestian. And a certain kitty cat is in Menagerie.
