Yo!
Another AN, another chapter of "Grimm's Evolution". Happy to see that you all still support this and I hope that the support will only increase as we go (Though with some of the things I'm planning, that remains to be seen). Of course like always this update is delivered to you thanks to willing the previous week's pat-reon poll. The current poll ended with "For Myself" as a winner and as such it will see an update next. Now another poll should be already up when I'm posting this chapter so if any of you want to see "Grimm's Evolution" updated next or just want to support me, then you can visit my pat-reon page. All links (Discord, my original, pat-reon) will be available at the end of this chapter or you can find them on my profile.
With that being said please enjoy this update, we are only 2-3 chapters away from the end of this arc and the culmination of this part of the story.
Chapter 24. First Steps
"I just want you two to know that I hate you," Qrow grumbled as the entrance door to Xiao Long residence slid open. Both Summer and Tai stood in the doorway, not even trying to hide their grins.
"Hello to you too, Qrow," Summer chirped, taking a step back to allow Qrow in. "So I take you didn't volunteer to babysit the girls when we are gone?"
Qrow scowled and headed straight for the couch. He should have known that his two best friends would make fun of him. At least he had a few days to prepare for the inevitable confrontation, not that it made it any less embarrassing. "Ozpin will know pain when I see him again," he muttered.
Tai chuckled as he sat down next to him, while Summer headed straight to the kitchen, a wide grin still stretched across her face. "Don't be so gloom, Qrow," the blond man clapped his shoulder. "Those are your vacations. Smile! You're going to spend some quality time with your nieces."
Qrow's scowl deepened. "I think we have a completely different definition of vacations, Tai," he stated, taking a sip from his flask. "Sandy beaches, beautiful girls in skimpy bikinis and alcohol, lots of alcohol. That's what true vacations are."
Tai rolled his eyes. "You spend way too much time in Vacuo," he deadpanned. "Also should I let the girls know that their uncle would rather party with some random women than visit the only children of his best friends? You know they adore their uncle Qrow."
Crossing his arms, Qrow turned away from his male friend and instead gave attention to Summer who just entered the living room with two large plates in hand. Cookies and tea, bless you woman, Qrow thought as he snatched one of the treats.
"Give the poor man a break, dear. He had a long few weeks," Summer smiled as she took a seat in the armchair across the small table. "Speaking of, what took you so long Qrow? We expected you to be back almost a week ago."
Qrow sighed, digging a hand into the pocket of his shirt. "I decided to stay in Atlas for a few more days, help them with the aftermath and maybe try to scout the ruins of Merlot's base," taking out his Scroll, Qrow swiped his finger across the screen, searching for the right files. Maybe they didn't find much, but it should make Summer's and Tai's mission just a bit easier.
"Dealing with the fallout from the Cure wasn't fun at all, let me tell you that. Those we managed to heal might be human in mind again, but on the outside..." Qrow grimaced and handed his scroll to Tai. "Having one animal feature is something most Remnant already accepted in Faunus, but this? Those people literally have claws, armor, or even body parts that we only see in Grimm. It is a disaster in the making, I really pity Jimmy now. He has to somehow deal with this shit."
When Tai took a deep breath and passed the scroll to Summer, Qrow wasn't surprised when she gasped and one of her hands flew to her mouth. That was the reaction he expected from the soft-hearted woman. Though anyone with at least a bit of compassion in their heart would react similarly. After all, Qrow just showed them a picture of a girl, no older than ten, who according to Ironwood, took to the Cure the worst.
She was a small thing, maybe just a bit taller than Ruby, and the mini-Summer barely reached Qrow's waist. A broken, bone-white mask was attached to her head, stretching across the left side of her face. Crimson eyes, another gift from Merlot's Virus, glared at the camera, while her almost feathery hair fell to her shoulders. And that's only the head, Qrow grimaced, remembering the girl's short claws and bone tail that lazily swished behind her. Then there was the hardened bone armor which, according to the doctors, covered almost almost forty percent of her skin.
"Who is she?" Summer whispered, a lone tear running down her cheek.
Qrow gulped and pushed the guilty away. He knew that Summer would react like that, especially when she had two daughters of similar age to this girl. Still, Qrow wanted to be the one to tell them about the consequences of the Virus and the Cure. It was easier to hear it from a friend than from local news. Besides, they needed to know this as who knew what they would find during their search for Umbra, especially with the intel Qrow had for them.
"Her name is Iris, a nine-year-old girl from Mantle," Qrow sighed, taking his scroll back from Summer. "She was one of the last to receive the Cure, but unlike most of the cured, she reacted to the remedy quite violently. Instead of losing about ninety percent or more of her Grimm features, she lost only half of her mask and some armor. Everything else, as you two saw, stuck to her like glue. They tried to use the cure again, but it didn't do a thing."
Silence descended upon the room as Tai stood up and gathered Summer in his arms. Qrow shook his head lightly, it might hurt them now, but he knew the two for years. Summer was always the strongest of their team, a ray of sunshine that always pushed through whatever problems they met. And Taiyang, while not as strong, he also wasn't as emotional as Summer.
"What will happen to her?" his blond friend asked. "Are there more like her?"
"While not as bad as Iris, there are some who got cursed with more Grimmification than the rest. Thankfully most of them are adults or have other family members that suffered a similar fate. Strength in bonds and all of that shit," Qrow admitted. "As for Iris... Well, her situation is a bit more complicated."
"What is it, Qrow?" Tai asked again as Summer's gaze bore into him.
The Branwen grimaced. "Before all of this, she was an orphan living in one of Mantle's orphanages. No distant family, no friends, nothing," he sighed. "We couldn't send her back to another orphanage and finding her a foster home proved to be just as impossible. Some people might pity her situation, but there was no one who even wanted to humor the idea of raising the girl. That was until Jimmy decided to step in," Qrow finished with a grin.
"The General?" Summer's eyebrows jumped into her hairline. "What did he come up with? Tell me he didn't force the poor child on anyone."
"Nothing like that," Qrow shook his head, the grin still on his face. "In a show of humility I never expected to see from Jimmy, he pretty much approached the little girl and offered to take her in."
"He what?" Tai almost shouted, his eyes wide. Summer wasn't faring much better as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
Qrow chuckled. "Trust me, I was surprised too," he said in between his laughs. "I almost choked on my drink when he gave Iris the offer. Who would have thought that the big, bad General had it in him? Hell, even Ozpin was surprised when I told him what happened."
And wasn't that a glorious moment. The old and wise magician, the one who fought the immortal witch for centuries, gaped at Qrow when he relayed the news to the Headmaster. Not even he expected the stone-cold General of Atlas to adopt a child. Truly, it was probably the only good thing that came out of this entire fiasco.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Summer muttered. "What if he is just using the girl as some kind of political trick and then he will just push the girl into his army."
Qrow laughed again, earning a glare from Summer. "I wouldn't worry about that," he grinned. "Before we departed from Atlas, Glynda gave an almost hour-long scolding to Jimmy, telling him what she will do if she learns that he mistreated Iris. It was magnificent, I had never thought I would see the day where Ironwood acted like a kicked puppy as he promised to provide Iris with everything she ever needed."
His two friends watched him for a moment before they too exploded in laughter. "Yep," Tai chuckled. "That's the scary blond I remember from school. Ironwood better keep his promise."
"Oh he will," Summer giggled. "If not then I will join Glynda in her storm on Atlas. Nothing will stop us."
And I would pay to see that, Qrow mused. The thought of two of the most dangerous women he knew storming Atlas, was hilarious to him. Not that he would share this thought, he didn't need Summer reprimanding him for the next hour, no matter how amusing it would be.
"Anyway," Qrow cleared his throat, searching for another file on his scroll. "The problem of the cured people is currently in Atlas' hands so let's focus on something that might help you two on your trip."
The pair across him quickly lost their smiles. "What did you find?" Tai asked.
Leaning against the pillows of the couch, Qrow placed the scroll on his lap. "As I said earlier, I stayed for a bit longer to search through Merlot's base, or rather what was left of it," he stated. "It was a boring and tedious task, but with Atlas' equipment and some hard work, we managed to dig out the remains of data servers. There wasn't much to recover there, Merlot made sure of that, and yet Ironwood's people found some files that can help us find both Merlot and Umbra. If they are even alive that is."
With that Qrow tapped his scroll a few more times before passing it to the pair. "Two locations, two presumed hidden bases on Sanus. I'm sure there are more, but that is all we found, well expect some bits and pieces about experiments that Merlot performed in his Atlas base. If you can find them, then you might also find more information about Umbra or the dragon. And even if you don't, then any information about Merlot or his bases will be useful in our future operations. We need to wipe out any traces of Merlot's influence on Remnant."
The duo nodded as they inspected the files on Qrow's scroll and transferred them to their own. Apart from the bases' location, Qrow attached some information on what they should expect from both Umbra and Merlot's creations. He knew that Ozpin had probably already given most of this information to them, but like they said 'Forewarned is forearmed'. And Qrow wasn't taking any chances with his best friends.
"Alright, we will make sure to check out these two locations," Tai said as he stood up. "I take that a Bullhead is waiting for us in the village?" Qrow nodded. "Good, I will go prepare our gear. Summer can you get the girls?"
Summer only smiled and Tai evidently took it as an acceptance as he immediately left the room. Turning back to Summer, Qrow gulped at the hard stare the short woman gave him.
"Qrow," she declared. "I hope I don't need to say what will happen if I find out that you did something dangerous with the girls, hmm? No weapon training, no Grimm hunting, and definitely no drinking. Do you understand?"
Qrow nodded as quickly as he could, not daring to question a word Summer just said. He remembered well the day when he decided to show the girls some moves with his scythe and their mother found them. Yeah, he wasn't risking that anytime soon.
"Good," the devil woman smirked as she also stood up and approached the staircase. "Girls!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the entire house. "Come down, Uncle Qrow is here."
As soon as those words left Summer's mouth, Qrow winced as shivers ran down his spine. For a moment his eyes darted to the entrance door and he couldn't help but think if he shouldn't just dash away and never look back. Unfortunately not a second later, two voices answered Summer's call and Qrow whimpered, knowing that his fate was sealed.
"UNCLE QROW!"
The night was dark, only the distant howls of wolves and screeches of Nevermores accompanied me as I sat in the small forest clearing under the mountain. My huge form towered almost every tree in the distance, but I cared not for it. I kept my eyes closed, steadily breathing in and out as I reached into the deep pool of my mana.
At once lightning sprung out of my body, a soft crackle filling the air. I let it flow freely, gathering in the palms of my claws. The power grew with every second and when the output became too much, I placed my claws on the ground and opened my eyes as the lightning dashed forward, following my will.
Dark violet bolts jumped across the earth in a controlled matter, scorching the already barren ground. Never stopping, I pushed more lightning out, my mana reserves finally feeling the drain as over three hundred MP disappeared in a blink.
Ever so slowly, a figure made out of lightning began to form in front of me. First came the clawed feet, short legs following a moment later. I grunted as my element tried to escape my hold. With a sharp tug, I wrestled it under my control and watched as the legs connected together, a torso and a tail forming in a matter of seconds.
Now to finish you, I grimaced, knowing that I was still far from finishing my creation. Nonetheless, I gripped the magic coursing through my arms and kept on channeling it into the body of lightning in front of me. It quivered and I was almost prepared for another failure, it happened many times before during the last week. And yet, the mass of lightning became steady again and so I continued my work.
With surgical precision, I guided the lightning to grow into two long arms, ending with wicked claws. Then came the last step, the head. It formed slower than anything else, minutes stretching into hours as the lightning shaped itself into a wolf-like snout and two sharp ears. Now to slowly release the connection without destroying you.
Gulping, I closed my eyes and focused on the river of mana that connected me with the construct. Steadily I began to lower the output, lessening the flow from a raging river into a clam stream. I didn't stop there though and continued with my actions until no flow remained. Please work.
Peaking with one eye, I looked down and grinned when the mass of lightning still stood there, its form unchanged. Lowering my head a bit, I watched as the little Beowolf — barely as long as my arm — titled its head while its tail waggled wildly, sending violet sparks in every direction. Cute, I thought, quickly casting 'observe'.
Lightning Beowolf, Golem | Level: N/A
HP: N/A
MP: N/A
Tier: N/A
Additional Info: A lightning Golem created by Umbra and thus it will listen to every order of its creator. It possesses a wide array of uses both in battle and outside it. It will live as long as it possesses mana, isn't destroyed or dismissed by its creator.
"Well, that was the most useless 'Observe' I ever performed," I grumbled, my eyes still glued to the small monster. I had been trying to create any kind of lightning golem for the past week or at least ever since I found out that my evolution added two new techniques to my elemental skill. Unlike any other skill before, this time the System only gave me tips on how to form golems and so it took a few trials and errors to find out the correct way.
The other technique? I would rather not talk about it. I attempted it once and almost knocked myself out when it drained my entire mana in one go. Only after planting my head into the ground did the System decide to tell me that my reserves were too small to complete the skill. Annoying? Definitely. Understandable? Kinda, considering the effects of this particular technique.
[Special Elemental Technique:
-Call of the Storm: Summon the storms to your aid by connecting yourself with the magic of the world. If the storm is under your control, you gain an additional +20% boost to your physical attributes, and the cost of your element is lowered by 50%. Required for the use of a wide variety of different lightning techniques.]
Yep, I will get you sooner or later. The gains are way too high to just dismiss it, I grinned before directing my gaze toward the golem. Now what to do with you? I would love to test your combat capabilities, but I don't want to wake Neo up in case you just explode... Oh well, I will try again tomorrow, for now, goodbye.
As soon as I thought that, the lightning that made the golem faded into nothingness, like it was never there. Huh, I expected something more flashy... Whatever, time to go back and prepare for Neo's first hunting trip, I sighed, my wings already carrying me towards our cave. Dear God, why did I even agree to this? She shouldn't be out there with me...
Still, I knew very well why and yet, it didn't make any more sense than the last time I asked myself this question. I could deal with those bases alone quite quickly, just like I did with three of them when Neo was asleep. A simple in and out was all they required as neither of the three had any humans inside with only a few Grimm running around. Add some explosive dust to collapse them, and sixty percent of the quest was completed, just like that, without putting Neo at risk even once.
And it is not like Neo needs to know that there were supposed to be five bases, not two, I reasoned as I shrunk and slid through the small hole to enter our cave. There, I glanced at the tent in the back of the chamber and grimaced, guilt pushing against my mind. I promised to take her with me and even if tomorrow we would fly out of here together, I still lied to her.
It was for the best.
That's it for today's chapter.
To be honest, I expected it to have much different content, but then the first scene got way out of hand as I just wrote the interactions between the SQT team. Hell, it would have been even longer if I didn't cut out the interaction between Qrow and the girls (I will save it for later).
Next, we have a short PoV of Umbra where I finally present you with his new elemental abilities, something I forgot in the last chapter, oops? Besides that, I wanted to show you that even if Umbra agreed to take Neo with him, he won't unnecessarily risk her life. Still, the next chapter will see them finally go out and Umbra trying to recompensate Neo for leaving her, even if she doesn't know that.
With that being said I'm sorry if you expected more from this chapter, but I blame everything on the first scene, it was just so pleasant to write, even if it took me a few days to get it right...
Anyway, that's all from me, and like always don't forget to check out my original story, just like here it is about evolution (With the gamer system) and a broken world so you all might like it. You can find a link to it under my linktree under "A Universe of Bloody Evolution". Also if you want to support me, become part of my community, or vote for the next updates then consider joining my discord or pat-reon.
Pat-reon (Voting for the next chapter): (standard pat-reon link as you can't type it on FFN)/chaos65 | All links in one (Original here): linktr .ee/Chaos65 | Or just Discord invite: b7JaQcpuc7
Have a good day/night.