Chapter 12

Whispers in the trees

Week 6: Day 39

Rojo was ahead of the team as we walked through the Forever Fall forest. Blood red leaves littered the area as we made our way through the woods. Goodwitch was ahead of us as teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL walked through the forest. CFVY was back at Beacon. Me and Rhode wore our armor, both heavily armed. She kept her assault rifle in her hands while I kept the rocket launcher on my back, energy swords by my hips, and pistol ready just in case. Rosa was behind us keeping an eye on our asses. We unofficially brought up the rear to keep any ambush away. I asked Velvet to watch Azula while I'm gone. Just to be sure she won't escape and raise hell. Rosa and Rojo had their collars on, to keep track of them when I give the command to hunt. They need to hunt every now and again, it's in their blood, they are natural hunters. If they don't hunt they'll get stir crazy. I kept my eye on CRDL. I trust Cardin about as far as he can throw me. He's been a little too quiet lately, but now Jaune is following him with a box of glass jars. My gut is telling me to be cautious and so I will. Rhode was a bit taken back by this place's beauty, as were most of the people here. I can hear her taking pictures with her Helmet's camera.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die doing so." Goodwitch explained. Don't need to worry about my team. Rosa and Rojo can smell Grimm a mile away. They'll let us know if any gets too close. Plus they can disembowel them if they want to fight. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

With that everyone started splitting up. RWBY and JNPR stayed together. Yet for some reason Jaune stayed with Cardin rather than his own team. I won't judge Jaune. Cardin hasn't bugged Velvet since I stopped seeing Jaune near his team dorm a lot, too coincidental. But Cardin hasn't been hurting Velvet. So that means either he found a new punching bag in the form of Jaune, or he has some type of blackmail material on Jaune. I'll find out later. Focus on the mission at hand.

"Rosa, your turn to take point. Rojo cover the rear. Rhode Island you help keep watch for the objective, set your motion tracker. We're staying near the main group." I ordered. Rosa eagerly jumped ahead as we changed direction. Rojo changed positions and brought up the rear. I kept my hand on my pistol yet my eyes on my motion tracker. Rhode island kept her finger on the side of the trigger as we walked. As we walked through the forest, Weiss started going slower and walking beside me.

"Hey Johnathan." She greeted. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot." I replied

"What did you do before you came here? I lived in Atlas my whole life and I've never seen anything remotely like what you have." She asked. Really ice queen, took you this long to figure it out? I never explained to anyone but CFVY briefly and the few from RWBY and JNPR very briefly about my past. Less they know the better.

"Let's just say for the sake of simplicity, I was a gun for hire but also an explorer. Leave it at that." I answered keeping my attention on my surroundings. Motion tracker didn't catch anything outside our group. Rosa kept sniffing ahead but didn't signal that any hostiles were inbound. Good news, good news.

"Then what did you show Ruby and Blake yesterday? Ruby won't tell me anything, Blake and Ren ignore my questions, not even Nora would tell me anything." She probed. This time, Rhode Island stopped her and had her look right into her visor. I can feel the temperature fall under Rhode's cold glare.

"Be thankful he showed anyone at all rather than keeping it all bottled up. Half the stuff he's done I wouldn't wish on anyone." She coldly replied, then kept walking with her attention all around her. Thing about Rhode Island is that she is pretty protective of her friends and family's well being, both physically and emotionally, similar to me only she knows her limits. I am forever thankful I am on her good side. Rumor has it that she severed a guy's head from his spine when they tried to kill York during a raid. I am not joking either. I've seen her do that to an Elite major more than once on missions. Don't mess with her family, worse than messing with Liam Neeson.

"What could he possibly have done?" She asked.

"For starters, having to kill my best friend to stop her from suffering a fate worse than death." I replied walking faster. I didn't want to answer any more of her questions. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I look back to see it was Blake with a small look of concern.

"I never got to thank you for that story. If you ever need someone to talk to, RWBY is always here to listen." She informed.

"Blake; I highly appreciate the offer, but you're much better off not knowing. Sometimes it's better to remain blissfully ignorant." I replied shrugging off her arm as I moved up close to Rosa. I'm not sure I trust RWBY with my full past yet, I'm not even sure I trust Velvet with my full past either. All the things I've seen, all the beings I killed, all the stuff I've had to do. Any reasonable person would run like hell away from me or lock me up in a psychiatric ward and throw away the key. We continued in silence till found the target area. A large grove with several red bark trees. I quickly glanced at my motion tracker. Nothing out of the ordinary. Rosa and Rojo sniffed the air a few times to be sure. Rosa barked once and purred. Time to get to work

"Rosa and Rojo, circle the area." I ordered motioning to them as a twirled my hand in a circle. Rosa and Rojo barked in sync and began walking the parameter. I'm so glad Owen taught them how to understand English and Spanish commands. So much easier to give them orders. "Alright, let's get that sap."

Hour later

"So, what do you think Jaune is doing with Cardin? Shouldn't he be with his team right now helping them instead of someone who's abusing his polite nature?" Rhode asked handing me another empty jar I swear I filled earlier. Our helmet's were off to get some fresh air and she had a small trail of red sap running down her chin. I raised an eyebrow her as I took the empty jar and gave her my full one, she sheepishly chuckled as she licked the sap off her chin. I was knelt down at the base of the tree with a spigot in it. Rosa and Rojo kept their noses up and eyes peeled. I'm not making accusations but I got a good guess as to why we're not done with a simple job that should have taken us ten minutes.

"I can only think of two things. Either Jaune's gay and has a seriously messed up sub/dom kink with Cardin, or Cardin has some form of blackmail on Jaune." I answered turning the spigot and more sap poured out into the jar. Turning my attention from her for a quick moment. "If I were a betting man, I'd say it's . . . . . Ah HAH! I knew it!" I announced turning around quickly and pointed at Rhode, who was currently drinking the sap straight from the jar. She blinked at me and quickly gulped down what she had before wiping her mouth and held up a single finger while trying to think of an excuse.

"Okay, I admit I shouldn't be eating our assignment. But in my defense, this stuff is like honey. Try some." She offered pointing the jar my direction. I looked behind her to see Ren in a similar position. Can't say I wasn't expecting this. Rhode does have a bit of a sweet tooth so her and Nora get along perfectly. I'd hate to be their dentist.

"Oh what the hell. You only live once." I replied taking the jar from her. I looked into the jar at the viscous red liquid. Quick sniff tells me it's like maple syrup almost. I wiped some off the lid and licked it. . . . "Well I'll be dammed. That's not that bad. This might taste good on waffles." I noted. Tasted like a mix between honey and maple syrup. Yet had a distinct cherry like after taste. "Let's collect a few more jars full for the dorm. I want to experiment with this stuff." Suddenly Rosa snapper her head toward the large hill and sniffed it's direction violently, where JNPR and RWBY was near. Rojo soon followed and screeched, Rosa started barking that direction. That ain't good, they found something. Blake raised an eyebrow as Rojo clawed the ground ready to charge.

"What is it, what do you smell?" I asked setting the jar down. Rosa jumped as she started barking excitedly. They found something to hunt. Good news for me. "Guys, you may want to take a few steps to the side. They want to hunt, and they smell something." I warned. The two teams got out of the way of the raptors as I pointed toward the hill. "Sic' em." They didn't need to be told twice as they shot toward the cliffs at high speed and barked all along the way. They jumped over the hill and out of sight. Running down the hill was three members of CRDL. Only Cardin was missing. What could make these morons run so fast without their leader in tow? Better question is where is Jaune? He was with them last I checked.

(Jaune's POV)

I am going to die now! No way around it, I'm going to be dead soon. Facing off against a Ursa major, while trying to protect the school bully, with only a sword and shield, that I barely know how to use. If that doesn't say 'I'm dead' then I don't know what does.

I stood in front of the Ursa with my shield out. Cardin was on the ground scared because the only thing preventing him from being a bite sized snack was me. It roared at me mightily and swung it's paw. I raised my shield to counter it. My chest still hurts from the Rex bite, not entirely healed inside. I never told anyone but it's nothing they need to worry about.

Before it could reach me something hard pushed me to the ground making it miss us. I looked up to see Rosa standing between me and the Ursa. She screeched at it as Rojo flanked the right and roared very loudly. The Ursa roared as it tried to take a swing at Rosa. She pounced over it's arm and on it back, using her sickle claws to dig it's way into the skin. It roared in pain as Rojo now jumped on it's back and started digging away at it.

"Come on you've got to go." I said picking Cardin up, I won't leave someone to certain death, that's not who I am. I also won't let others fight my battles, I'll help them when I'm sure Cardin is not going to die. The Ursa threw Rojo off and by us. He just thrashed around, got back up and right back into the mix. Rosa ripped off a bit it's black fur before sinking her claws deep into its wound. The Ursa roared more thrashing around trying to get the raptors off.

"Where did they come from?" He asked.

"I don't want to know." I answered now charging the Ursa.

(Johnathan's POV)

I was running as fast as I could, which thanks to Halsey and partially Carolina is pretty damn fast. We all saw the video feed from my scroll and bolted toward them, I just happen to be in front of everyone. A Ursa major is a bit too much for them to handle without a beta or alpha. They will sure as hell do a lot of damage to one, but can't kill one without Me or Azula there to command them. I dodged a random tree branch and kept running. I need to keep them safe. They were apart of my team, I don't leave one of my own behind, not anymore.

I burst into a clearing with my pistol ready to fire. Trees were knocked down everywhere. Rosa was hooked deep into the back of this monster. Rojo was on the side ripping chunks of flesh out. Cardin and Jaune were trying their best to deal with the Ursa. I'll forgive Cardin a little for his past actions if he doesn't hurt anyone and helps me kill this damn Bear.

If I payed enough attention to Port's class, the bone plate was bulletproof and really thick. Too risky to ignite a energy swords with the raptors so close, rocket launcher was out of the question. So my options are narrowed down to my pistol, knives, and fists. This was going to be a very stupid plan.

I took aim and fired three shots. They all hit home and the new dust rounds burrowed deep into his skin then exploded. Had Ruby make me the pistol rounds with fire Dust in the tip, nasty little bastards those ones are now. Turns out Dust makes the bullet travel faster than conventional gunpowder. So the rounds travel farther and inflict more damage, I won't complain.

The Ursa roared in pain as it took a swing at Cardin. Cardin ducked under its paw and smashed it with his mace. All that did was piss it off more. It slammed it's back into a tree and threw Cardin aside with it's other paw, knocking him unconscious. Rosa fell off and the Ursa got ready to take another swipe at her. I fired another round, it's face ignited in an orange fireball. It roared as it focused its attentions on me.

"Come at me Yogi! You wanna to get to the picnic, you have go to through me!" I taunted. Rosa and Rojo quickly ran up to my side and roared in unison at the giant bear. It bellowed as it started to charge us. "Scatter!" I ordered. Rojo and Rosa jumped in a random direction as I went over the beast. It collided with a tree face first. Too dangerous for the raptors now, they can get very hurt now that i know the beasts strength. "Find Rhody, don't come back for me." I ordered the raptors, heard two barks letting me know they got the orders. I look behind me to see Jaune hoisting Cardin's motionless body up by his feet. Kid has a heart of gold, I can respect that. "Jaune, get Cardin out of here ASAP. I can handle Smoky the rabid bear." I ordered. He didn't argue as he started slowly dragging Cardin, taking the rockiest path I can see. I looked right a Ursa with fiery intent. It let loose a terrifying roar.

"System, play sound file 3." I ordered. Almost immediately, my speakers emitted a roar twenty as terrifying, ten times as ferocious and a hundred times deadlier. The vicious roar of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. But not just any old Rex, this one was recorded from THE most well known Tyrannosaurus Rex on the entire fucking planet Earth, Rexy the queen of Isla Nublar. The Ursa backed up a bit and roared again. I played the recording again and as we both charged each other.

It swung its left paw hoping to slice me a pretty new scar. I ducked under it and grabbed the big bear by his waist as I smashed him through a few trees. We fell to the ground with the bear on it's back. I quickly punched it in the gut hard as it tried to kick me off. I looked at my motion tracker to see we were the only two beings around. My vision started going red as my mind started slipping faster than I can think. No I can't slip now, I can't slip now. Must resist, must resist. Must not lose control. Must not lose control.

Using this time of weakness the Ursa smacked me through a tree. After that something snapped inside. My vision went completely red and my only instinct right now was to kill the beast in front of me. I picked myself up and looked right at the Ursa with full murderous intent coursing through my veins. It growled at me and ran at me full force.

I threw my rocket launcher aside and stood my ground. The beast kept running full speed toward me. It slammed it's paw trying to crush me. I jumped back as it's paw hit the ground and kicked up dirt. Quickly ran up it's arm and used it's face as a springboard to pull off a back flip, as it staggered. I dug my hand into the ground to stop myself from going too far back. The Ursa shook it's head as I ran up close and pulled my knives out. I quickly jumped to the side as its other paw came up to crush me. I jumped aside and then on his back. It thrashed around trying to get me off. I plunged my knives deep in it's head. It screamed for help as I pulled the knives up. It gave one last shriek for help as I ripped it's head from the rest of the body. It fell over forwards as I jumped down pulling my knives out of it's head and wiped the blood on it's fur.

I looked up to see RWBY, JNPR, CRDL with Cardin still out, and my team looking at me with their jaws dropped. Few even dropped their stuff looking at me. I wasn't that good was I? Yang had her scroll out, I'm sure she was recording the whole damn thing. Rosa and Rojo looked a bit confused as to why the humans around them are quiet.

"That was EPIC!" Nora screamed breaking the silence running up and bouncing like she had a million gigawatts of energy to burn. "You used the Ursa to do a awesome back flip and ripped it's head off! Where did you learn to do that? Can Elizabeth do it too? Can you teach me?" She rapid fired questions.

"Nora." I replied calmly. "Let's not discuss what occurred today. Best we forget about it." I replied calmly walking away from the corpse and toward my fallen weapon. I had a bad feeling in my gut as a oddly strange sound started echoing throughout the forest. Sounded like a combination of a fox bark and a growl. I look around to see the trees moving. Rosa and Rojo growled ferociously as it got louder. Everyone had their weapons at the ready. I look toward the direction of the sound and stood still. Please tell me it isn't what I think it is.

"What. Is. That." Weiss calmly stressed each word as a bipedal fox entered the clearing. It stood as tall as human, had four ninja knife shaped bones out the side of each arm, ninja scarf flowing in the wind. Rosa and Rojo both stood at my side and growled at the new creature.

"Everyone stand down. We don't know what it is." I ordered as they started tensing up. "System: Analyze." An old feature I had inside the helmet's systems. It scans the creature in question, searches all known data banks I input from home or anywhere, and gives me a description of what it is. Extremely useful so I don't have to remember countless beasts, what they can do, and their weaknesses. Small ding later a screen popped up beside it as it growled at my raptors back, along with the sounds of several more as the air around us echoed with a chorus of fox like yips. I paled at the results. "We're fucked."

~Creature analyzed~

Species: Kitsuninja (Kit-Su-Nin-Ja) ; Creature Grimm

Threat level: Very high.

Combat tactics: Hit and run, ambush, guerrilla warfare

Suggestion: Avoid at all costs! Run and pray it never catches you!

~Description: Highly intelligent, very fast, extremely territorial, never found alone! Lives deep in the foreverfall forest. Very rare, very little is known about the Kitsuninja. Few are brave enough to hunt this creature, even fewer live to tell the tale. Do not engage at all costs! They are the stalkers of the shadows, whispers in the night, they are always watching, always one step ahead, ALWAYS READY FOR A FIGHT!

(Velvet's POV)

Twenty minutes later

I was currently sitting in my dorm watching the paint on the ceiling dry. Coco decided that the ceiling needed a change of color so she painted it a deep chocolate brown. No warning, I just walked in on her painting the ceiling with Fox and Yastu in the library reading who knows what. Coco was not far from me thinking of what else to do.

"What time does Goodwitch get back again?" She asked.

"Sometime past two, why?" I answered. I looked at my watch to find it was half past noon, they have been gone for like three hours. I hope Johnathan and his team are doing alright. I know our trip there ended in a huge disaster.

"Just want to have a small chat with 'Freelancer'. I might need a pack mule later." She joked chuckling a bit. I rolled my eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"What do we do? We got almost two hours to kill." I asked. Just as I thought she was going to answer, my scroll rang surprising both of us. I reached to grab it but Coco was faster and answered it already putting it on speaker.

"Hello Johnathan, how is your field trip going?" She asked. Almost immediately I heard the distinct sound of gunfire and explosions. He's having a busy day.

"Fan-fucking-tastic. Just love being ambushed by these god damned ninja foxes, oh did I forget to mention we're surrounded as well Coco." He answered with another explosion and more swearing. "If it isn't too much trouble, please put Velvet on the phone."

"You're on speaker." I replied.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it. I'm ass deep in a rapidly growing shit storm right now. I might not make it out of this one unscathed. I...ouch god damn it, fucking bone knives." More gunshots were fired as he swore more. "Can't get a good hit on them, bastards are too fast and unpredictable."

"Language Johnathan." Coco scolded.

"When you're under attack by I think thirty Kitsuninja and trying to keep Rhode and my raptors alive, then you can call me out on my language use." He warned. My heart stopped. Tell me He's joking.

"Slow down. Did you say...Kitsuninja?!" She asked taking her glasses off.

"Yes, I got a clan of these little shits attacking us. Rosa and Rojo are busy holding their Alpha off but won't last too much longer, Rojo is hurt badly and Rosa can't keep up. I sent RWBY, JNPR to get Goodwitch, think they are lost or under attack right now. CRDL is down with two bleeding very badly, other two are knocked out." He answered as another explosion filled the call.

My heart sank deep. We've face Kitsuninja once, we barely made it out alive. Ten first year teams went into the forest that day for our field trip, only one came out alive and sane. They are very smart, begun picking us off one by one before we figured out we were under attack. Only reason we survived was because a meteor fell from the sky and exploded over us. It diverted their attention long enough for us to get out of their territory and to the safety of Dr. Oobleck.

"If we don't survive this Velvet, I want you to know that I….." He tried to say but all we got was static. I looked Coco dead in the eye. She looked as if she already know what I was thinking.

"I've got to do something." I declared vaulting myself off my bed and out the door. Coco jumped out of her bed and raced to follow me.

"Velvet, what are you thinking?" She asked

"Going to get them back up. I know just who too." I answered.

(Johnathan's POV)

I stood behind the dead Ursa's body shooting the tree tops. I had several bony throwing knives sticking out between the armor pieces I need to take out. They got damn good aim, I'll give them that. And the damn things are sharp enough to penetrate titanium nano-weave, not a good sign. Rhode was beside me keeping her rifle leveled on our southern flank, not a single knife in her because I was using myself as her shield. Our meat shield was full of bony throwing knives from these crazy things. I swear they grow them out of their body as fast as they are throwing it. Only other sound beside of our guns firing was the yips and barks of the Kitsuninja and shrieks of the raptors.

We're both exhausted and almost out of rounds. It started out smoothly, quickly turned to a shit storm. Had to move CRDL to under the Ursa's paws and fat. Rocket launcher was out of ammo, wasted them trying to get a easy first strike in. I am very stressed right now. I tried calling Velvet, but my helmet's battery is dying quicker than i thought. I had to divert power from the tachyon trackers and the motion tracker to even keep the HUD running and visible. I wanted to tell her something personal, but short range communications is now down to conserve power.

I shot at a Kitsuninja on our left. Like the past three times, it moved faster than the bullets and I just wasted ammo. The tree on the other hand wasn't spared as the incendiary made a fireball and burned most the bark off the tree. I turn around quickly to find another bony knife sink itself deep in my shoulder right between the armor plates again. I winced in pain as I fired the last round in the mag at my right flank.

"You okay Johnny?" Rhode asked as I pulled the bony knife out of my shoulder and threw it at a tree.

"I've been through worse." I grumbled as I reloaded my pistol. "Last mag." I announced as one of the Kitsuninja rushed by and threw one of the bony knives from their arm. I quickly got in front of Rhode and took the bullet for her, so to speak. It bounced off my armor but the sheer force of it made me wince in pain. I turned and fired. The bullet caught the Grimm right in the side and tore through it. It flew through the air and went out of sight. It yelped as I heard it scamper off.

I can't fucking believe it right now. Two highly trained spec op Freelancers being outsmarted by a bunch of ninja foxes. Either we're losing our touch, or they are are very smart. I swear if this is what finally does me in, I might be a little pissed off. I'll be haunting someone's ass for this, I'll figure that out when I am a ghost.

"What did you want to tell Velvet earlier? Sounded like you were going to say yo . . . ." She tried to tease as one of the Grimm's bony knives hit the ground next to her. She shot a few rounds that way, all missed or hit bark. Damn these things are annoying.

"Not the best time Rhode. Tease me all you like if we survive." I ordered throwing one of the knives back. This time it hit one of them in the knee. It fell out of the tree top. Me and Rhode both reacted and opened fire. Five of her rounds tore through it while one of mine blew it's head off. "One down, rest of the clan to go." I replied. I have no idea how many are left. Pretty sure I recounted a few of them.

The air was soon filled with the pained scream of Rojo. I looked up to see one of the Kitsuninja about to impale his chest with it's knifes. Rosa was knocked out under a tree full of scratch marks and cuts. Rage filled my blood as I jumped from my cover and ran toward his aid. He screeched for help as the Alpha turned toward me and threw an arm full of knives toward me.

I dodged it's first barrage of knives as I tackled him to the ground. I brought my fist up and tried to smash it's face in. it dodged it and kicked me right in the groin. I winced as it got out from under me and readied two knives for a fight. I unsheathed my trench knives and charged it still in pain. Surprisingly it pared and counted all my strikes as I did with his.

(Velvet's POV)

I pushed open the doors to Azula's holding cell in my combat uniform, my box off to the side ready to use. Ozpin had it remodeled from a old training ground. She was currently ripping apart a training dummy while growling loudly before looking right at me. She let go of the dummy and jumped toward me, only to hit a pair of metal bars.

Johnathan needs help, I have no idea where in the forever forest he is at. Can't get a signal on Goodwitch to ask her for help. No clue how long it would take her to find him, from what I heard with his tone of voice he is in really deep trouble. Azula is my only option right now. She's the only one I know who can track him from miles away. Coco wasn't too far behind me, just in case things turn deadly.

"I know you want to kill me right now." I calmly said. She hissed at me and walked away. "I also you want to kill Johnathan." She perked her head up and looked at me. "He's in trouble, and I don't think you want something else to kill him." She purred a bit as her eyes stared at me full of murderous intent. I calmly pulled a lever on the wall. The metal gate between me and her went up. She walked forward and softly hissed at me. I could feel my heart race as she closed the distance between me and her. "You help me find him, you can rip apart whatever is hurting him, but you leave him alone." I bartered. I can't believe I'm trying to make a deal with this thing. I have no idea if she wants to kill me, help me, or go attack the dummy again. She looked down a bit as if she was thinking.

"I really need your help Azula." I informed. She purred as she moved past me and moved down to my waist. Was this a deal or no deal? She barked motioning her head in an 'let's go already' fashion.

"Really?" I asked. She softly barked and looked a bit agitated. Hesitantly I climbed on her back. She lifted me up like it was nothing. She let out a soft growl and raced out of the door over a surprised Coco. I held on to her neck tightly with a light squeal. Hold on Johnathan, the cavalry is coming.

(Azula's POV)

The weird looking human was hanging onto my neck as I raced out of the building's doors on to flat ground. I know what my prey's scent is, memorized it. If anyone was going to kill him, it's going to be me. I won't let anything less even get the satisfaction of even hurting a hair on his head.

He broke my Alpha's heart, he needs to pay for what he did. I want him to pay for the tears he made her shed, all those nights I kept her from hurting herself, but I want him to be able to defend himself. No fun when it is too easy.

I jumped over a few humans and kept running with the rabbit one on my back. Rosa and Rojo are my responsibility, anything happens to them I'll tear someone's throat out. Who's throat I don't care, I will protect my pack members. I won't let nothing hurt them as long as I'm still breathing.

(Goodwitch's POV)

Few minutes later

"Sounds like someone is having a lot fun." I commented as the sounds of gunfire and explosions filled the air. More than likely someone found a Grimm to kill and they are using it as practice. Happens every time we come here. I'll give it another...ten minutes before it ends or I'll need to get involved. We have to leave so. Still have a fair trip back to Beacon.

I was watching my scroll, leaning on the side of a Bullhead that brought us. Kids would be fine, I seen what the team leaders can do. Unless they came across a high ranking Grimm, not much will be able to hurt them. Strangely only CRDL's aura is down. I have no way to track 'Freelancer' so I can only hope they are as good as they say, no doubt Johnathan will protect his team. RWBY and JNPR are still in the green. I'm not too worried, CRDL probably got in a fight with another team and got their butts handed to them. More then likely 'Freelancer'.

I do find Johnathan as a strange student. The way he fights is unbelievable, his fight with Cardin seemed like nothing more then child's play to him. the way he fights with the other students, he holds back a lot more potential then he let's us believe he has. His skill with his swords is interesting to say the least. I've seen his rescue mission for Miss Locke. He tore through the horde of Grimm like high ranking Hunters and Huntresses could. All to save his friend, I would not pity the poor soul who decided to hurt one of his friends or allies. Ever since he showed up things have been getting weird. Well Alice was here first but things got crazy after Johnathan, like with Miss Scarlatina. She seems a bit less timid or shy around him. Then again he did save her life twice, so it is understandable that she grow more comfortable around him and act out of the ordinary.

"GOODWITCH LOOK OUT!" a frightened female voice yelled. I looked up to see one of Johnathan's Raptors jumping over me and bolted down the forest screeching out of sight. I could swear I saw someone on the back on it.

"What the hell was that?" I mused.

(Johnathan's POV)

I paried another strike from the Alpha, I used every ounce of strength I can muster to keep this one away from Rojo's injured body and Rosa's unconscious one. With every strike, every slash, every punch, I felt my muscles practically screaming for me to stop and let them rest. Only thing that didn't hurt was my robot arm, and that is because I can't feel jack shit with it.

I'll admit when a opponent has skill, this thing obliterates the mindless killer stereotype for Grimm. It is pretty highly skilled with it's knives, has damn good aim, and is about as smart a Raptor. Hope CFVY sends some help, I'm going to need it.

My combat suit was beyond torn, armor paint was full of scratches. I was bleeding from multiple places with the bony knives sticking out of me. But I forced myself to keep fighting. Giving up is not an option, giving up means Rhode will die, Rosa will die, Rojo will die. I must keep fighting for them. I punched the Grimm in the face but allowed it to get another slash at me. This time it slashed at my neck, I felt every millimeter of the cut burn and bleed out more. It was moved back a bit but kept it's knives in the ice pick grip.

Just as it moved to attack again, a familiar bark caught all our attention. Racing through the trees was Azula, on her back was a very scared Velvet. Velvet jumped off Azula as the raptor shrieked and collided with the Alpha Kitsuninja. She ran over to Rhode as did I.

"Damn it's good to see you." I greeted Velvet as she lifted the Ursa's paw to block an incoming knife.

"Well I wish it was under better circumstances." She replied dropping the paw holding her hand out. Her box immediately went to work and crafted a hard light duplicate of some type of ball. About the size of a soccer ball yet looked like it was made out of chicken wire. So that's what her box does, good to know.

"You may want to cover your eyes." She warned. I listened as she threw the ball into the air. All I heard was a distinct hum and a bunch of thumps. I open my eyes to see we were under a eight foot hard light bubble shield dome. Like the one North uses only a bit more clear with a not so blinding ball of light between us keeping it up. "That should hold for a while. Enough to formulate a plan. We all heard a loud pained bark, looking over our shield. I wasn't too surprised

Azula locked her jaws around the Kitsuninja's throat and started wildly shaking her head. The Grimm kicked and clawed at Azula to get her off. It finally kicked Azula off but not without getting a chunk of it's fur off. Azula screeched at it as it barked. The yipping and barking from the trees stopped. One by one several Kitsuninja jumped down from their respective trees and surrounded the two leaders, few had the spikes on their arms slowly growing back, guess they threw them all at us. Azula growled slightly as they surrounded her. She looked back at the Alpha Kitsuninja and barked. It responded with a bark of it's own.

"What's going on?" Rhode asked. To be honest I have no idea what is going on. The Alpha held his hands out in a 'bring it' motion with it's knives in an ice pick grip. Azula barked and got in the pouncing position with her claws out and teeth bared. The two charged each other in a tangle of limbs and claws. The surrounding Grimm appeared to be cheering as the two fought.

"Think she challenged the Alpha." I guessed.

Azula sunk her teeth in the Kitsuninja's arm as it tried to stab her. She wildly twisted her head and a loud snap was heard. The Kitsuninja yelped in pain as it dropped it's knife. Azula let go and kicked the wounded Alpha across the circle. She screeched and charged it again. This time she knocked the fox on his back. She took her sickle claw and impaled it in just below the top of the rib cage, and slowly dragged it down. The Kitsuninja howled in pain as the members of it's pack grew dead silent. Azula quickly grew bored of tormenting the beast, she clenched her jaws around his neck and lifted it up. In a desperate attempt, it reached out to it's pack members for help. But it was too late. Azula twisted her head and severed it's spine. It fell to the ground dead as Azula screeched as the other Kitsuninja backed off. A new one came up and growled at Azula. She growled back and narrowed her eyes.

(Azula's POV)

Translator on

"I defeated your alpha, now back off! This is my prey!" I yelled at the beast in front of me. The black fox walked up to me and stood as tall as I did. From his smell it was the Beta, I guess new Alpha, of their pack. I readied myself for another fight.

"You are a worthy warrior, demon. Very few survive a fight against an Alpha, let alone kill one." He greeted in a deep and wise sounding voice. Surprisingly, it put it's paws together and bowed at me. What the hell kind of creature does this to someone who murdered their leader. "As promised, after the ancient art of the duel, we'll allow you and your clan to live. We'll be taking our leave now. May our paths never cross again."

"Feeling's mutual." I replied. He barked to the other fox things like him. They all quickly ran away. He slowly walked toward the nearest tress, but not before giving me one last glance.

"Remember one thing. A stubborn oak will get uprooted by the hurricane of change, but a flexible willow adapts and bends to ride out the storm. Which one will you be when the time comes?" He mused like a wise teacher before jumping into the trees. I blinked a bit thinking about what he told me. I looked behind me to see the humans look at me amazed. Before I could take a step, the false alpha was already running up to me. He pushed me out of the way on one of the bone things hit between his back plates. He fell to the ground and threw his helmet off, wincing in a lot of pain. A loud smack and one of the fox things fell from a tree with a blade in it's throat.

"Johnathan!" The rabbit eared one and tan one yelled trying to pull him up. He had several of the weird bone things sticking out of him. All in bad areas. I picked myself up and looked over to the rest of my pack.

"Ouch my head hurts. What did I miss?" Rosa asked getting up from the tree shaking her head. She looked at the blue one and panicked. "Our Alpha's hurt! Rojo call someone!" She screamed rushing over to his side with Rojo barely walking behind her.

"Be thankful he loves us Azula, you owe him your life. Please don't let your blind hate cloud your judgment of him." He said walking over to Rosa's side. Seeing my prey in this state, I felt a bit angry; angry someone else hurt my prey but me. Yet deep down inside, I felt a tinge of forgiveness for the fool. He willingly took a blade for me, after all I done to him. I shook my head of those thought and kept my guard up. I felt a bit jealous that the man I hated the most was getting more love from my pack then me.

The blonde teacher ran up to my prey with a group behind her. I moved out of the way as the short red one raced by and looked very concerned. I looked at my feel to see his helmet rolled by it. I looked at my own reflection through his visor, and I don't like what I saw in my own eyes. I saw the hollow shell of a girl who spent her hatchling years trying to please an Alpha who was never impressed, a girl who fought with someone who tried to help, a girl who spent weeks trying to cheer up her Alpha and get her to smile again. A girl who was left alone to die in a hellish world by the very Alpha she grew to love and know. I saw the same girl unleash her frustrations out on the world, doing everything she can to look to the light of things. A monster of a being. I kicked the helmet away and looked back to the man who took a knife for me. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought. I looked at to the sky to see one of the flying machines lower down something down to lift him up. This still doesn't forgive his past actions to my Alpha. Emily was, and always will be my true Alpha. He still needs to pay by my claws, but maybe not as bad as I thought.

(Emily's POV)

Jurassic world sub-verse #25

"Commander Riley get that portal ready." I yelled into my modified comm-link. Meta was behind me with a Juvenal Indominus Rex in his arms, tranquilized but the park staff really wanted to keep this little runt, it was no bigger than a goat. We were running in the forest away from this runts cage. Several security personnel raised their shock rifles at us. I extended my hand for

"Just a second sir." He replied as a portal erupted in front of us. I jumped inside and rolled across the ground of the Deathstar. The Meta followed soon and growled as he handed the kid to the nearest Stormtrooper.

"Step one complete. Time to move to step two, get that runt in a holding cell. Begin pumping it full of growth hormones." I ordered as the trooper took the runt out of sight.

"If I may, why did we waste time to steal a kid? Hardly seems able to hurt anything?" Sigma asked.

"Think of it as a contingency plan if Plan A fails. Once the runt is fully grown, it will serve it's purpose." I answered looking back at Commander Riley. "Now set a course for Halo-verse #25. Try getting it on Sanghelios if possible. Got a few people there I need to 'convince' to join our cause. Hope the Covenant Remnant will cooperate." I smiled as the commander went to work. His armor was like the rest of the troopers, only it had a little red mixed in. Seems fitting considering the line of work he's going to be used for later. I got some muscle, I got a killing machine. Now all I need is a few mere pawns to get a set of coordinates for me from MERC. Not all of them need to live, just one to give the Intel to me. He knows we're coming, he'll be prepared. I want him to think he is ready, but I got a change in plan. I'll go after what he loves most first, his sister and daughter, then I'll get him while he's broken and weak.

Alright that's a wrap on chapter 15. Some progress made with the plot, we see Johnathan's darker side a little, raptor fight, and a canon event. I realized a small change with the event with something I put in place. It will change Jaune's character a little but not a lot. Think I gave Jaune his selfless act of bravery when he lured the Rex away from Ren. Of course it was going away anyway, but he didn't know that so he did what he thought was right, counts as something right?

The Rex bit Jaune and threw him in a building. He is going to be pretty sore for a lot longer than a month. He may not show it but on the inside he will be hurting a lot. Plus Pyrrha wasn't near to use her semblance to move the shield.

So I sat here and wondered 'How do I use this change for the better?' then it hit me. Johnathan is the key, I show a bit of his darker side and show off Freelancer training. The backflip thing came to me after playing Halo 4 again. Alright game, last scene was pretty sad and almost had me in tears. The death of a beloved character we come to know and love through four games 'dies'. Not bothering putting a spoiler alert because every Halo fan this side of the galaxy knows it one way or another.

Before I forget. The Kitsuninja is a Grimm OC by LongSean22. They are basically ninja fox from what I can gather. If the creator is reading this, please feel free to give me more knowledge on them. Main thing I want to know is basic attack patterns when discovered, their intelligence level compared to a human/faunus, and is there a way to survive an attack from them without kill all of them. Really home I pronounced it right.

Raptors didn't fight like real ones from Jurassic park/world do because Rosa and Rojo are a bit domesticated toward people Johnathan likes, they don't fight like they should because of that. Azula on the other hand is far from domesticated, so she fight a lot like a Raptor. She does not fuck around when it comes to her prey. Now time to answer some reviews.

Gr33444- Maybe, but the terminator I have in mind can take the TX in a one-one fight easy. Only hint I can give is '***** is a living, breathing death threat, nobody messes with *****'. And it is not Tex, someone to can kick her ass as far as they can kick a football.

Ww1990ww- Okay I get what you're saying now. I will not be using the Disney canon of star wars for Emily's force abilities. I will use the extended universe's force abilities. I only read a few books from the extended universe, so I'll limit her abilities to some of which I read about. Like from Red Harvest, X-wing mercy kill, ext...

That is all I have for today. Hope I cleared a bit of confusion with ww1990ww. Next time please explain a bit farther if it is a area I am not familiar with too well. I'll let you know if I am not familiar with it. Any question please let me know through the PM. I'll leave the reign of editing over to WetworkzNinja. See you all later.

~Dgreen20

I'm fairly amused at the T-rex roar vs the Ursa roar thing. well played Green. some minor character development as we see John's dark side with him RIPPING THE URSA'S FREAKIN' HEAD OFF! yeah, if you couldn't tell I kinda liked that :P