Going towards South Vale
"Alright team! Since the Bullhead has finally moved, we might as well introduce ourselves!" the purple huntress announced. "I'll go first, my name is Lilac! But you can call me Lili for short."
Nichole could already tell her name would have a purple theme, given all the purple she wore.
"The name's Crystal, and I wouldn't necessarily call ourselves a 'team.'" The reptile faunus responded coolly.
"Aw come on friend, we're working together on this mission, yes?" a hunter in green nodded. "My name is Jack by the way."
Crystal rolled her eyes and looked over at Nichole. "And your name is?"
"Nichole." the red huntress replied with a smirk.
"Nichole? That's a wonderful name for such a wonderful person!" Lilac exclaimed, grabbing her hands. "I also love your outfit."
"Uh, thanks?" The red huntress looked a little uncomfortable but accepted the complement anyway.
"Settle down Lilac, you're scaring her." Jack tried to calm his teammate down.
"But, it's true!"
"I know, I know. But I think that you should save all that energy for the mission."
Nichole let out a small sigh. Her eyes wandered to the other person who was standing in the corner, quietly analyzing his surroundings. She wanted to call him a hunter but his military uniform says otherwise. Although, there are a couple of huntsmen out there who rock the military fatigues and are affiliated with no one. But for him, his uniform looks a little more "professional" than the others.
Maybe he's from the Atlesian military. Nichole mused. But it doesn't match their colors.
"Hm? Is there something wrong?" the soldier asked.
"Oh no, there's nothing wrong. I'm sorry for staring." the red huntress looked away.
He looked at her for a moment before staring into space. There was a small pause between the two before he spoke up again. "The name's Arian by the way."
"Oh, well ni—"
"Nice to meet you, Arian!" Lilac popped up unexpectedly.
The two couldn't even process what just happened because she appeared so randomly.
"N-nice to meet you too." The militaristic hunter responded, covering his mouth with his arm.
Nichole chuckled when she noticed what he was doing. He was trying to hide his cute little blush. It was fruitless however since the tips of his ears were getting pink. He was beginning to resemble a drunkard.
While watching the other huntsmen talk amongst themselves, the red huntress couldn't help but think about what the mission will bring them. It seemed simple enough from the description but knowing the Grimm, there might be a few setbacks here and there. Not to mention that her teammates are an interesting bunch to say the least. They didn't even bat an eye about her being an adult. Or they think that she's a huge teenager. If that was the case then she would be very flattered.
But as the old saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover.
"Attention huntsmen! We are reaching South Vale in five minutes!" The pilot said over the intercom. "Repeat, we are reaching South Vale in five minutes!"
"Five minutes already? I thought this trip would take longer." Lilac pouted.
"What do you expect? We are on a Bullhead, of course we're gonna get there in a matter of minutes." Crystal rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but we could've had more quality time together."
The reptile faunus got up and cranked her neck. She walked over to the door and grabbed onto the emergency handle. "No offense but the quicker we finish this mission, the quicker I can get my reward and get out of here."
"Oh…" The energetic huntress looked at the floor, stumped.
"Cheer up, Lilac. I'm pretty sure we'll have enough quality time on our way to the nest." Jack patted her shoulder.
"Exactly," Nichole nodded. She then eyed Crystal and Arian. "Whether we like it or not."
Even though she was facing the door, Nichole could see her tense up. As well as Arian, who was looking out the window the whole time.
"Right." Arian mumbled, adjusting himself.
Not long after, the Bullhead landed on the ground and Crystal was the first to hop out. Lilac was amazed by her agility and did the same, followed by Jack and Arian. Before jumping out, Nichole made sure that there's no one else left. Don't want anyone randomly popping out on her like Lilac does.
"We'll be back in two days at the same spot. If you're not here by 8 AM, you will be left here!" The pilot shouted.
"8 AM got it!" Nichole repeated, making a mental note of the date.
The pilot gave a thumbs up and flew off. The huntsmen looked at the sky for a moment before turning their attention to the destroyed city in front of them.
Nichole took out her scroll and pulled up the map. Her brows furrowed, looking at the coordinates.
Jack was right, it was going to be a little while until they reached the nest. If they start moving now, they should be closer to it and even find some shelter for the night.
"Where should we go first, boss?" Lilac popped up right next to her, causing the older huntress to jump back and clutch her chest.
"Jeez, kid. You gotta warn me before you do that!" Nichole panted, slowly catching her breath.
"Ha ha, sorry about that." the purple huntress rubbed the back of her head. "I'm just so excited, that's all!"
"You don't say. Well, if you want to so badly, we're going straight into town first." Nichole sighed, putting away her scroll.
"Alright! To the city we go!" Lilac declares while running off, leaving the others behind.
"Hey, wait up!" Nichole shouted, running after her.
Arian, Crystal, and Jack looked at each other for a moment before following her into the city.
When reaching the entrance, Nichole caught her breath. She had to give it to Lilac, she's pretty fast. Too fast. But, that is a good asset to have when going against the Grimm.
"Wow! I've never seen a place like this before!" Lilac exclaimed, looking at surroundings in awe. "Y'all have to come see this!"
The four huntsmen looked at each other and proceeded into the abandoned city. Upon entering, they noticed a lot of destroyed buildings and other establishments riddled with weeds and vegetation.
"Woah, she wasn't kidding." Crystal gasped, reaching for her whip. "This looks like some kind of ghost town."
"That's…" Arian paused for a moment, trying to choose the right choice of words. "Actually not a bad comparison."
"I've seen worse." Nichole sighed. There are countless horrors she's seen during her travels around Remnant. It could be as tame as seeing a corpse to watching someone turn into a Grimm. That still gave her nightmares and chills.
Speaking of which, she got a few chills from the lifeless city. Before the Grimm appeared, South Vale used to be a place of prosperity and livelihood, but that soon changed when those creatures took over and forced the people to move to the north. It's a shame that it ended up like this.
"Me too." Jack agreed.
That earned a silent reaction from Nichole. She wasn't expecting him to say something like that.
Lilac noticed that her teammates didn't share the same enthusiasm and looked a little confused. "Why are all y'all lookin' like that? Isn't this cool?"
There was a short pause until Nichole decided to give her what she wanted.
"Yeah, it's cool." the older huntress gave a forced smile.
Lilac was too excited to catch onto her faux attitude. The others gave a faux response as well to keep their teammate in high spirits.
"There we go, that's what I'm talking about!" the purple huntress clapped her hands. "For a second, y'all looked like y'all seen a ghost."
Seeing ghosts is putting it lightly. Nichole thought, rolling her eyes.
"Where do we go now?" Jack asked, pulling the older huntress out of her thoughts.
"If I remember correctly," the red pulled up the map again. "Okay, we're now in the city, we should take a left at the Ember building, which will lead us to the forest."
"Seems simple enough." Crystal smirked.
"I guess you can say that." Arian noted, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "If all the buildings weren't destroyed."
"This is going to take forever!" Lilac groaned loudly.
Nichole let out a tired sigh. This is why she doesn't like going on missions with kids. They're already complaining and the mission didn't even start yet.
"Alright everyone, let's chill out." Nichole cut in. "I'm pretty sure that the building is closer than we think."
"Or farther." Crystal hissed.
"You're not helping."
"Whatever."
Jack placed a finger on his chin, thinking for a moment before speaking up. "Nichole, does the building have some sort of insignia on it?"
"Uh, lemme see." Nichole pulled up the map once more and zoomed in on the building, squinting her eyes a little. The other three waited eagerly for an answer. "No, there's no insignia."
They all collectively groaned at the answer that was given. Nichole shared their same attitude but a groan didn't escape her lips.
"Come on, guys. The more we pout, the more time we waste here.'' The red huntress tried to motivate her teammates but they were too irritated to listen. It was now her time to groan as she looked at the horizon. The sky was dimming as the sun was beginning to set. They should be looking for shelter and worry about finding that Ember building tomorrow. "Alright, let's camp here for tonight." she spoke up again.
"Cool, which fucked up building should we choose first?" Crystal spat. "That one over there or the one behind that one."
Before Nichole could retort, Lilac jumped up proudly. "Ooh! Ooh! Can we sleep in the one behind us?"
Nichole looked at the building that the purple huntress was talking about. It was still intact if they disregard the broken windows and kicked down doors. But that shouldn't be a problem since they're the only ones there. Minus the Grimm.
"Yeah, that's fine." Nichole answered, earning a small cheer from Lilac and an eye roll from Crystal. "Let's set up camp there."
The others complied and followed her into the building. One foot in and the smell of mold and dirt hit their noses. It wasn't a bad smell per se, but not a welcoming one.
"Aw cool!" Lilac said in amazement. She tossed her weapon aside and began rummaging around the place, like a little girl discovering a new bedroom.
Even though the others didn't share her reaction, they all came up with a silent agreement that the building was "suitable" for the night.
Nichole noticed a few lanterns on the counter and reached to grab them. Upon inspection, they were a little old but can still be of good use.
She searched her pockets, hoping to find a set of matches or a lighter but to no avail. Arian must've seen her struggle and went over to give assistance.
"Allow me." the hunter said, pointing at the lantern in her hand.
"Oh, okay." the older huntress handed it over for him to light. A coy smile formed on her lips. "Look at you! Mr. Gentleman!"
A light scoff was his only reply. Arian reminded her of that pesky green thief, Keijo back in Argus. He also got quite flustered when she teased him from time to time.
"Here you go." Arian said, handing the lighter back to Nichole.
"Thanks." She placed the lantern on the table and sat down at one of the "stable" tables that were available.
The other huntsmen were unpacking their things and getting ready to retire for the night. Even though it wasn't mentioned, Nichole decided to stay up for a little while. Watching over them to make sure no random Grimm pops out of nowhere. She knew that those chances were slim, but she would always make an effort to be prepared. Especially now.
With every passing minute, sleep crept on Nichole and it was hard to keep one eye open. But she had nothing to worry about. At least for now. She glanced over at her teammates who were fast asleep and smiled faintly. It's best to follow their example and get some rest.
The light flickering in the lantern was the last thing that Nichole saw before the darkness took her vision.
Let's see what the new day will bring.