Chapter 4: You Got A Friend In Me
Amber listened close for any noise that moved in the group's direction. She was guarding their six, hands white-knuckled around her staff's smooth shaft. Birds chirped happily in the canopy above, without any care for the armed group below. Their ongoing symphony was rather soothing, slowing her pulse to a comfortable thrum. Sweat dripped down her brow into her eyes from the humidity, the salty liquid burning and causing her eyes to close involuntarily. She wiped them into the short sleeve of her cream colored shirt to clear her vision. This momentary distraction allowed her to take her eyes from their surroundings and turn them to observe her present company.
The tall boy, Yuma, appeared to be leading the group confidently, but she couldn't tell if his stiff shoulders were due to discipline or fear. The awesome looking bat wings on his back were also pulled in tight, so it was most likely nerves keeping the faunus tense. The knocking of a woodpecker drew his attention left, letting her get a good look at his face. His chocolate brown hair was swept back nicely, looking like a crest of thick knives protecting his head. He had smooth mocha skin that went well with his gray colored eyes. His goatee was neatly trimmed, though she could make out a bit of scruff growing in around it.
His clothing choice of black and gray pants and a black and gray long-sleeve shirt confused her. Why would he wear something like that? The windless air felt like it was ninety-five degrees. With his current outfit he should be sweating like a pig, and that was before adding in the overbearing humidity. His right forearm was partially exposed and everything from the elbow down was uncovered on his left arm, plus he was wearing a black glove of unknown material on his right hand. None of those clothing selections were conducive to the Mistralian wilderness.
A strap was attached to each shoulder and his sides with a gold button, though they appeared to just be for looks as nothing was being secured by them. The zipper that followed his sternum stood out amongst the dark material. It was an eye-catching gold that demanded your attention to Yuma's chest. His choice of footwear were sturdy looking black boots suited for outdoor activities. The weapons he carried were rather lackluster compared to his sorta-stylish outfit. Across his back was a carefully slung shotgun and a brown hiking pack, while in his hands he wielded a basic looking assault rifle.
'Not exactly the kind of weapons to have when you're deep in Grimm territory, but it's better than nothing I guess.' It made Amber wonder just who this group of faunus was. Were they a Mistralian militia? A mercenary group? Hopefully she'd get the chance to ask them soon.
"So are we just gonna ignore the whole 'giant Grimm falls out of the sky having a seizure'?" Yuma loudly asked, ending the tranquil sound of the forest around them. "That isn't exactly normal, you know."
Despite their group of five walking for over an hour, no one had seemed keen on bringing up the monster that nearly crushed them. Apparently the bat faunus figured that now was the time to talk, as they hadn't encountered any more Grimm since Amber went wild and started flinging a storm around.
"Not even Leviathans grow to be that big. I've never seen anything like it before. That monster was definitely large enough to be a civilization killer." Trifa kept her gaze on the woods around them, machine gun at the ready. "Not to mention Blake is either dead or worse, she left us for dead."
Amber focused her eyes to Trifa this time and took in the girl's appearance like she had with Yuma. She was on the shorter side at perhaps 5'7", with light skin and silver-blue hair that just reached her cheeks. Her eyes had almost the same shade of silver-blue as her hair, with the right one being covered by said hair. She wore nearly the same outfit as Yuma, except her top was a sleeveless vest with the zipper opened three-quarters of the way. Dark gray lines ran along the skin of her arms and chest, extending past her sight because of the vest and elbow pads the girl wore. The tattoo artist who did her work was clearly an expert and knew how to make something truly unique. 'I wonder how much she had to pay for them.' She thought.
Like Yuma she was carrying a very plain weapon, though instead of an assault rifle Trifa held a heavy-duty machine gun. Across her back was the exact same standard issue shotgun Yuma carried, although her pack was larger than Yumas and appeared stuffed to the gills. Unlike the bat faunus Trifa did have a melee weapon for up close and personal fighting; a lovely double-edged knife with a durable black grip secured to her lower back.
"Blake wouldn't do that. She...she's just catching up to m- us." Adam's retort didn't have the same gruffness as it usually did, his throat wheezing every time he breathed in.
An hour of walking without rest hadn't done Adam any favors, with each shallow breath just enough to keep him awake. His palm was sweaty, knees weak, and arm heavy. Plesskin's support, a literal shoulder to lean on, was surprisingly welcome. Wilt was sheathed inside Blush on his hip, a comforting and familiar presence like an old friend. The bull wouldn't be any help if a fight occurred, but he refused to let anyone else use his weapon.
'I'm pretty sure that chick isn't coming back pal'. Instead of commenting on this, which might cause further tension with Adam, she voiced another opinion that'd been on her mind. "I don't think that creature was a Grimm."
Yuma, Trifa, and Plesskin all looked back at her. Adam's unfocused gaze was on the ground, doing his best to deal with the watery feeling behind his eyes. He wasn't eager to make eye contact with the human, either. A moment went by before the trio of Faunus were back to keeping a lookout.
"White armor, red eyes, black skin. If it looks like a Grimm and growls like a Grimm." Yuma was no expert on Grimm, but he felt it was fairly obvious.
Amber nodded to herself, then remembered the others weren't looking her way. "Yeah, that's true. But I've never seen or heard bout Grimm that breathe, let alone have a seizure or panic attack. Grimm don't behave like that at all."
"Then what do you think it was?" A rustling to the left stopped Trifa in her tracks, machine gun swinging in the direction of a briar patch. The hair on the back of her neck tingled fiercely, her finger on the trigger of her weapon shaking. The brush stood six feet tall, stretching twenty or twenty-five meters down the path they currently traveled. Trifa was taking no chances that something could be hiding within waiting to strike. Several seconds ticked by with no other noise or movement, so she breathed in deeply and slowly eased her finger's tension off the trigger.
Amber hmmed in thought, obviously not sure herself. "Since it was showin' signs of physical stress, and the Grimm attacked it the same as they did us, I think it may have been a kaiju."
"A kaiju?" Trifa turned around to look at Amber, brows dropping in disbelief. "But kaiju have always looked like giant animals in some form or fashion, with scales and feathers and things of that nature. There's never been a documented kaiju that looked like an armored humanoid."
"I'm telling you, it's a Grimm. Probably one that's been hiding away on the Dragon Continent for so long it became super-sized. Simple as that." Yuma chimed in, sure of himself like he was stating the sky was blue.
"Then why did the Grimm attack it? And why didn't it attack us?" Amber countered, pushing that particular point again. "The only things the Grimm attack are us and the occasional kaiju. They don't fight and attack each other, regardless of what some Mantle Sci-Fi Action Film would have you believe. It had to be a kaiju, just a really big sum' bitch."
"A sum' bitch, huh?" Yuma couldn't help but smirk at the brunette, his throat rumbling when she started to blush. "Ya'll seen a lotta dem monsters back home at the trailer park?"
Amber's jaw tightened, teeth grinding against each other. Her caramel eyes widened a fraction when Yuma started to full on chuckle. "Don't make fun of me! I can't help the way ah talk sometimes." Her face started to warm horribly the more her accent bled through.
"You know I've always been curious about something." Yuma had stopped in his tracks now, foolishly not paying attention to their surroundings. "If you had a car would you call it 'mah ryde'?"
"No! Ah only slip up when ah get mad. Like right now. I ain't no redneck hick, so stop making fun of me!" The brunette scowled at his insult, struggling not to point her weapon at him as anger took over.
"I gotta ask, do you have a horse and a cowboy hat at home?" Yuma kept on, not heeding her words or picking up on her irritation.
"No, but I got a can of whoop-ass with your name on it!" Amber stomped towards him ready to beat his ass into next week, and she would have had Plesskin not held out a hand in front of her.
"Enough!" Plesskin harshly commanded the duo, having ceased his own march to deal with the escalating situation.
XXXX
Snake Plesskin was not your average White Fang operative. He'd be the first to tell you that he wasn't a terrorist, but a soldier performing his duty to protect his nation and people. The only reason he even wore the mask was to blend in with the others, a sort of camouflage while amongst his fellow White Fang. He personally thought it was an aesthetically stupid choice and had discarded it without care when their group started traveling an hour ago. Why would you make yourself look like a monster if you were fighting for social reform and equal rights? Showing your face to the world made the statement that you were a living, breathing person and that your life mattered just the same as a humans.
He stood even with Adam at 6'4" and his build was quite similar to the redhead. His thick, brown mullet just touched the bottom of his neck. Emotional sky blue eyes contrasted with his serious demeanor. A light beard covered the lower half of his face ear-to-ear, although his facial hair was thankfully absent from his neck. The beard did nothing to hide the bright yellow and green scales running down his cheeks and neck that disappeared under his shirt. Unlike the black and gray outfits that Trifa and Yuma wore, Plesskin's outfit consisted of a sleeveless black top tucked into gray and white camo pants and black, knee-high armored boots. He also had a leather gun belt around his hips with an empty holster on each side. Like the others he was carrying a hefty travel pack on his back filled with supplies for survival.
Plesskin had stayed silent for most of the trip since the giant creature appeared. Helping Adam to stay on his feet required most of his focus so he'd hoped that Yuma, Trifa, and Amber would take the initiative of keeping the group safe. The three teens had actually done a decent job so far. Sure Trifa was too tense and kept swinging her machine gun around too much, Ambers ready stance with her staff was amateur at best, and Yuma appeared a little too lax considering he was the head of their formation. However, everyone had remained vigilant so far and that was most important.
At least until Yuma decided to start acting like an ass and putting them at risk by not keeping his comments to himself.
"Yuma, you don't like when people ask if you're blind or eat grasshoppers all day, so why do you keep making fun of her?" Plesskin's tone was blisteringly dry, conveying his wish for the senseless teasing to stop so the three could get back to work.
"That's not the same," Yuma stopped in his tracks, the corner of his mouth turning down at his third-in-command. "That's assholes being racist and believing stupid stereotypes. You can't compare that to me poking fun of the way she talks. It's apples and oranges."
"No, it's not strictly the same," Plesskin surprisingly agreed, which caused Yuma to smile. "But you're making fun of her for being different, and she's asked you to stop. Clearly it bothers her, just like others thinking you eat bugs bothers you. Not wanting people to make assumptions is the same." And like that Yuma's smile died a painful death.
Amber nodded to him in gratitude, turning her eyes back to Yuma. "And I don't think just cause you have bat wings you'll act like an animal. I was raised better; to respect people for who they are and how they act, not what they look like or where they come from."
The conversation had brought the group to a halt, everyone looking at each other silently. Adam paid none of them any attention. He was so lightheaded he couldn't take his eyes off of a purple amaryllis struggling to grow underneath the shadow of the treetops. The stem was a pale green, unable to fully support the bulb, bent over at a forty-five-degree angle. The petals were horribly shriveled, wrinkled, and dehydrated to the point they were curled inward. The normally erect stigma lay flat along the petals, practically dead. His analysis ended when Yuma broke the silence.
"I… uh… I'm sorry for making fun of your accent." Yuma rubbed the back of his head, ashamed of his teasing words. "It was rude and uncalled for. You didn't deserve that."
Amber frowned at him just a moment longer, her eyes hard as granite, before breathing in deep and nodding in acceptance. "Thank you. My accent has always been something I try my best to hide. People hear it and automatically think I'm either an uneducated, racist bitch or that I fuck my cousin. After a while, it really starts to get to me."
"People really called you a cousin-fucker?" Trifa couldn't help but feel a wave of empathy for the other girl.
"Yeah… " Amber looked away, grabbing her arm tightly. Everyone wisely dropped the subject, wanting to soothe over the previous sour mood.
"Now that that's settled, let's start setting up camp." Plesskin gently sat Adam on a large rock, handing his leader a canteen of water that was still half-full. He pointed to Yuma, causing the boy's back to straighten in response. "Get a fire pit dug and grab the big pot so we can make a stew, then go gather some firewood"
"On it!" Yuma accepted the order without issue, setting his weapons and pack down next to a tree stump. He pulled out a small entrenching shovel that had been issued to him back in Menagerie to start digging.
Plesskin turned to Trifa next. "I want you to do a quick check on the surrounding area for any stray Grimm or people. Fifty yards should be fine. If you find any edible herbs or berries on your way back grab 'em so I can add them to our dinner."
"You got it." Trifa was all business, sitting her pack and machine gun down a few feet away from where Yuma's gear lay. She opted to take her shotgun instead, along with her ever-trusty knife.
"Amber, give her some backup," Plesskin politely requested-slash-ordered. "Can't be too careful this far out from civilization. Safety in numbers and all that that entails."
She snapped a salute to him. "I'll watch her back." Tossing her own small pack next to Trifas, Amber ran to catch up with the other girl.
"And as for you," Plesskin said as he kneeled down to check on Adam, forcing the canteen up to the younger man's lips. "Drink."
"I… I'm not thirsty." Adam tensed and tried to pull away, but weakened as he was, it was a useless gesture.
"You lost a lot of blood back there. If you don't stay hydrated you will die." Plesskin tilted the canteen just enough for the water to pass Adam's lips. "Drink."
XXXX
Adam offered no more resistance and relished the cold liquid passing down his throat. The cooling sensation traveled down his chest, settling in his stomach heavily. He downed three more mouthfuls before putting the canteen down. His stomach felt bloated from the sudden intake, but he had to admit the water made him feel a little better.
Yuma hummed some unknown tune as he finished digging out a three foot fire pit. He reached into his pack and pulled out three long pieces of metal. Two of them were four feet long and U-shaped at one end, while the other was a plain bar two-and-a-half feet long. Yuma stabbed the four foot long bars into the pit, U ends pointed in the air. He placed the shorter bar atop the others, then grabbed the pot out of Trifa's bag, hooking it on the horizontal bar. The pot was two foot deep and two foot wide, meaning they would have plenty of stew once the fire got going.
Gathering firewood didn't take any time at all. Grabbing a handful of foot-long branches and smaller sticks, Yuma worked to get the fire started. He crushed a palm-sized Fire Dust crystal, sprinkling it in a circle around the wood. He wouldn't need to light it until the pot was filled with the ingredients for the stew. Plesskin was the one that usually cooked their meals, always trying to do something different so they didn't have to eat the same thing each time.
Standing up, he walked towards Adam and Plesskin, the snake faunus checking the tourniquet cinched around Adam's arm. "So, what's our next move?"
"We head south. Since Lake Matsu is where that thing went, heading east is no longer an option." Plesskin looked over the dressing covering the severed end of Adam's arm, grimacing at the red that had soaked through. The soiled bandage would needed changing before night's end. "We'll head to Shion to stock up on supplies, maybe stay for a couple of days to decompress."
"Yeah, we've been in the wilds for almost three weeks. Ammo is running low, and I'd like to have some soap again. Standing in a stream or pond can only do so much for my wings." To prove his point, Yuma stretched his left wing out. The fine hairs coating it shined with a week's worth of built-up oil.
"Sounds….good. And what about the human?" Adam drew in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs like precious cargo. He let it out slowly, counting to ten as he exhaled through his nose this time. His heart thundered in his chest, each contraction a jab against his sternum.
Yuma opened his mouth to give his opinion, but Plesskin cut off whatever he was going to say. "What about her?"
"Just because I'm grateful she helped us against that horde, it doesn't mean I want her hanging around for longer than needed. We haven't encountered any Grimm for over an hour, so she can leave once she and Trifa get back." Adam knew that his suggestions were to be taken as orders. He didn't need the human's help, didn't want it. Agreeing to it initially was only because his vision had gone double for several minutes. Since then, he'd come to his senses. His warped, stupid senses.
Plesskin said nothing for a moment, his narrowed eyes boring into Adam's mask. His gut clenched involuntarily as the words spun in his mind. He roughly ran his right hand through his mullet, nails tearing into his scalp. Then he stopped, nodding to his boss.
Spit went flying when Plesskin struck Adam's face with his open palm. His hand burned from the slap, but he couldn't care less. Yuma stood there with open mouth, eyes widening further and further. He took a step back, fingers tensing as he waited for the coming slaughter. Any second now Adam was going to kill the older faunus in a bloody and spectacular fashion.
"How dare-" Adam's tirade was cut off before it could begin.
"Just because we haven't seen any Grimm for an hour, you think it's suddenly going to be smooth sailing? Are you fucking stupid!?" Plesskin could not believe the pure idiocy that Adam was showing considering their current circumstances.
"Obviously we're safe here. We don't need that damn human helping us. We've made it this far on our own. Or do you think I should bow down to a human like our ancestors did!?" Adam chewed the inside of his mouth just hard enough to cause a bit of pain in an effort to keep another wave of nausea in check.
The camp echoed with another harsh slap, no Aura to stop Plesskin's hand from striking Adam's face. "I think you should pull your head out of your ass and listen to what I'm trying to say." Plesskin shook his hand to mitigate the stinging sensation in his palm. "We. Are. In. Grimm. Territory. You are severely injured, in case you somehow forgot. Someone has to watch over you, and the three of us just aren't enough. For however long we're out here we can't risk sending her away."
"I'll kill you when this is over," Adam swore as his teeth broke through his cheek, his mouth now awash with blood with a thin line trailing down his chin.
"You're going to kill me because I'm trying to keep us all alive? It's no wonder Blake left your sorry ass." At this point he was through arguing with this idiot.
"You don't-!" Adam shouted as he shot up to his feet, instantly wishing he hadn't. His blood pressure dropped so fast his head felt like he'd just been dunked underwater. Plesskin pulled him close before he could fall, the rough material of his coat groaning. He gently helped him to sit back down, then glowered at him.
"If you're so desperate to be away from a human that fought away an entire horde when she got serious, just because she's a human, then we will happily leave you in this forest, alone. It will take at least a week to arrive at Shion, so long as we don't come across any large groups of Grimm or a kaiju." Something about the man's tone told the two listening to him that he was not joking. "I will not gamble with my life, nor the lives of my comrades, because you can't learn to set aside your prejudices for the betterment of others. I'm getting our group back to civilization one way or another, even if I have to go through you to do it."
Adam said nothing to rebuke the older faunus. Instead, he tipped the borrowed canteen, which somehow hadn't been knocked over, to his lips. The water was swirled around, then spat onto the ground between him and Plesskin. The water was now a light red, blood and saliva mixing with the cool liquid. It was partially to clean out his mouth and partially an act of defiance against Plesskin.
"You'd go that far for us?" Yuma's whisper broke the silence smothering the camp. "Seems kinda… I mean, you don't even know me. You don't know Trifa or that Amber chick. You don't owe us anything." The young faunus' wings twitched, betraying his discomfort.
Plesskin shook his head, eyes keeping Adam sitting down. "I don't have to know you to keep you alive. Taurus here is being looked at by High Leader Sienna for a serious command position. I was assigned to your group to gauge each of your skills and report back on Taurus' leadership. So far, you've more than proven you have no place leading any of our people. Once we get to Shion, we'll get stocked up, then get on the first cheap flight to Menagerie. If you have a problem with that Taurus, keep it to yourself."
The snake faunus reached into his large pack, pulling out a machine pistol. Unlike the standard weapons Yuma and Trifa carried, these were customized by someone who knew their way around guns. The machine pistol had a nearly foot-long sound suppressor screwed to the muzzle, which itself had a rifle scope secured to it. The weapon was equipped with a magazine twice the size of a regular one, extending three inches below the magazine well. A curved blade was attached to either side of the gun body that pointed forward like a sword guard. Plesskin was deathly serious about his threat to Adam, clearly having enough of the teen's shitty attitude.
Adam stared at the weapon for a moment, then looked to Yuma. The two seventeen-year-olds said nothing, and Yuma looked between him and Plesskin in fear. Adam finally broke the stare and looked at the dirt between his feet. He breathed in deep, opening his mouth to speak, yet no sound escaped. He bowed his head ever so slightly, giving up without having to say the poisonous words.
"Now that we have that settled..." Plesskin started to walk west, weapon at the ready. "I'm going to get our dinner. Don't cause any trouble while I'm gone."
Yuma stood awkwardly next to the fire pit. The pot was still empty, two cans of beef broth lay unopened next to it, forgotten during the dressing down that took place.
"So, uh, I guess I'll just get this going now." Yuma backed away towards the fire pit, afraid he was about to see Adam lose his shit.
But it didn't happen. Adam said nothing in response. He just kept his gaze to the ground. Flaming shadows danced across his face, an image that might've been cool if he wasn't currently brooding. The bull squeezed Wilt's handle 'til his hand was shaking, the pure rage over the entire situation thundering in his chest.
This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
XXXX
"Another batch of mushrooms?" Amber tried to hide her disappointment, but she couldn't help but frown at the sight of more capped fungus.
"Unfortunately," Trifa groaned in agreement. "I don't dislike mushrooms, but when that's all you're eating each and every day, Plesskin offering you a cooked snake becomes fine dining." Grumbling alongside her temporary partner, Trifa stuffed five dark brown mushrooms into a pouch on her hip. Her shotgun was readied when she stood to cover the duo's left, while Amber had the right with her Dust-tipped staff. She enjoyed the moment of silence, listening for anything indicating something near. Her ears might not be as good as Blake's dual-auditory hearing, but she could still pick out distinct differences disturbing the area.
"So, hey." Trifa nearly pulled the trigger of her weapon when Amber's loud whisper startled her. "Oh, sorry."
Amber did look like she meant it, but still. "What is it? And why are you whispering like that?"
Trifa didn't expect Amber to stare at her confused. "Well, you looked like you were really concentrating, so I didn't want to make any loud noise, but I also needed to get your attention. So… anyway, I just wanted to know something."
"Um, ok? What do you want to know?" Trifa tried to bring her focus back to their surroundings.
Another cluster of mushrooms drew Amber's attention. She walked over to grab them and put them in her own pouch. "Who did your chest tattoos?" she called from over her shoulder.
Trifa's right hand left her weapon, desperate to cover the gray veins marring her chest. "You think that's funny!?" Her eyes narrowed, burning an imaginary hole in the brunette's back.
The human girl stood up and looked at her in alarmed confusion. "Whoa, hey now, I was just curious about them. No need to bite my head off." Amber was shocked by the sudden switch from the faunus. It seemed like such an innocent question, so why the hostility?
"'Just curious'?" Trifa had heard that excuse one-too-many times since she was a kid. Ignorant human's always said the worst-
"Yeah. I think they look pretty cool. When did you get them done?"
'What?' Did the human really believe the veins traveling across her skin were tattoos? 'I've never had anyone say that before.' Now that she thought about it. Trifa didn't think Amber was slow, so could it be that she truly didn't know? But she'd seen Plesskin's face and neck, and she hadn't said anything about them.
"These aren't tattoos." She quietly admitted to the human.
Amber's lips turned down in confusion, "They aren't? Are they scars?"
Completely baffled at this point, Trifa moved her hand from her chest to her hip, exposing the veins again in the process. "Have you ever seen a faunus with skin traits before? Like Plesskin and his scales?"
"I've never seen a faunus with traits like that. A little extra hair is the most the faunus couple in my town had." Amber looked at the veins again, before looking up at Trifa's frowning face. "But I still think they're cool!" She was quick to assure her patrol buddy.
"Cool?" None had ever said such a thing about them. "Do you know how many times I've had humans just stare at my chest? If they were perving on me I'd at least be able to legally smack them." She moved closer to Amber, her weapon thankfully not aimed in the human's direction. "Instead, I either get people that look disgusted when they see these veins or people that look at me in pity, as if I should be ashamed I have these marks!"
Amber held up her hands, trying to calm the other girl down. "I'm not like them. I swear. I'd love to have something like you do. A natural tattoo with a neat design! Looks dope."
Trifa blinked and looked at the human before her. There wasn't any indication she was lying or taking the piss out of her. Amber appeared sincere and rather calm with a shotgun barrel not two feet away. Slowly, a soothing warmth spread through Trifa's chest. A feeling of… something she couldn't identify. Happiness? Maybe relief? Trifa had worked herself up to the point she'd almost attacked the brunette.
"I, um, appreciate it. It's… I never get any compliments about them. Thank you, that means a lot." Trifa's face burned red, but she pushed on. "And I'm sorry. Yelling at you like that, when you were being nice to me... that wasn't right."
Amber nodded to her, happy that they were on the same page now. She held out a respectful hand to the other girl. "You're good. I'm defensive about my accent, so I totally get where you're coming from."
The warmth she felt continued to spread through her chest. A human treating her like anyone else, no matter what she looked like. A human that saw their differences, and appreciated her anyway. It was an experience that was strange and confusing for her seventeen-year-old mind. Instead of an open hand, she held hers out in the shape of a wolf. Her middle and ring fingers were touching her thumb, pointed forward while her index and pinkie fingers pointed to the sky.
Amber's brow raised at the strange gesture, pausing to consider if she was supposed to do the same. Trifa shook her hand encouragingly. Amber worked her fingers to match the wolf shape and brought her hand even with Trifa. The 'mouths' of their wolf heads met, and Trifa opened her fingers when they separated.
"Too sweet." Trifa smiled as she looked around one last time. "What do you say we get back to camp now?"
"Might as well. Kinda sucks we didn't find anything except mushrooms, but it's better than nothing." Amber happily returned her smile.
-snap-
Trifa's turned around so fast her back cracked. She aimed her shotgun at the dense foliage with a shaky grip. The stick or twig or whatever it was that snapped sounded close, within twenty or thirty feet possibly. She couldn't see any movement, animal or otherwise, but nonetheless moved forward. Neither Trifa nor Amber dared breathe for fear it might startle whatever was waiting for them.
Trifa's hands were shaking so bad now the fore-end of her shotgun was rattling. Amber appeared at the edge of her vision to the right, wind dust-end of her staff pointed forward and shaking just a bit. The duo stood motionless as they waited for the slightest signs of life. Were they not so focused on what was in front of them, they might have noticed how the forest had gone dead silent.
The bushes were pushed down with the barrel of Trifa's weapon. The duo expected to see a Grimm waiting to ambush them or perhaps a hungry predator thinking them an easy meal. Either of those options would have been a preferred outcome. Their eyes widened when instead the remains of a large egg lay in several pieces before them. The cream-colored shell would've been five feet tall were it still intact. Even worse the inner lining of each piece was still moist with amniotic fluid.
Next to the broken egg were a set of three-toed tracks heading right and curving around in the direction… behind… them. Trifa turned her head towards Amber, her scared blue orbs locking with stunned brown.
'grrrr'
They slowly turned their bodies to see what was standing behind them. Trifa took a hurried step back from the reptilian creature, her shotgun teleporting up to point at its face. The creature stood at nearly five foot three on two muscular legs. Its body was covered in tough-looking scales that were in two distinct colors of midnight purple and lemon yellow. The royal color ran down the back of the creature's head and neck, then continued over its back, the back of its arms, the outer portion of its thighs, and the top of its tail. Yellow covered the throat and abdomen, the inner arms and three-clawed hands, the inner thighs and legs from the knee down, and the underside of its thick tail.
A single line of bony nubs protruded out of the back of its skull and ran all the way down its spine, ending at the tip of the creatures tail which itself was covered in a pointy piece of bone. The beings head was triangular in shape with two yellow eyes staring them down, and a mouth full of sharp, carnivorous teeth. It leaned forward and began curiously sniffing at the girls, thankfully making no signs of aggression towards them yet.
Trifa pointed her shotgun squarely at its nose. In response the creature started sniffing the end of the barrel, even sticking its tongue out to taste the metal. The residual gunpowder left from days without cleaning the weapon must have tasted horrible for its lips pulled back in a displeased grimace. Trifa curled her finger around the trigger, about to blow the things head off were it not for Amber's hand on her shoulder.
"Wait. Don't shoot it yet." The brunette moved closed to the newborn kaiju with both hands held up.
"What are you doing!?" She hissed in shock.
"I'm testing something." Amber whispered back to her.
Amber inched her left hand forward to the kaiju's snout, moving slowly so as not to startle the baby. The growl that rumbled from its throat wasn't particularly aggressive, more of a light warning really. Amber ceased moving then and let it come to her. A few sniffs of her hand and a curious lick was all that happened. It didn't try to bite her hand off or go for her throat, so she decided to go for broke.
Trifa watched in morbid fascination as Amber gently rubbed the kaiju's scaly snout. It appeared to be the right thing to do as the newborn eagerly leaned into the contact. The spider faunus stood motionless, unsure what she should be doing at this point. That confusion faded when the kaiju started to mewl from the attention it was getting.
She reached forward and allowed the newborn to sniff at her hand too. Whatever scent she carried was approved of, and Trifa was rewarded with a nuzzling by the kaiju. This situation felt like some kind of fever dream. The best thing they could do right now was to leave the newborn and return to camp. No more crazy shit if she had her way.
"Who's a good Gorosaurus? You are! Yes you are! Gimme' a kiss-kiss." Amber was now full-on scratching the baby kaiju under its chin and talking to it like it was some kind of dog. She looked over towards her with a dopey smile, "We are so keeping him."
Of course Trifa didn't get her way.