In the center of a small settlement in the desert wastelands of Vacuo, Kagami stood at the ready across from a tanned Faunus with the bandana her father had given her over her face. She had a dark green sleeveless shirt on along with a pair of black jeans that were covered in dust already. Over her shoulders she wore a short muddy green cloak that wrapped around her neck. It was torn and tattered and just like her pants it was covered in sand. Everything was covered in sand.
The settlement was silent and only the low howl of wind could be heard stirring the sands in the distance. Her sword was latched to her left hip while the pouch on her right held Dust for her bracer. Her hand just barely pushed back her cloak to reveal a leather strap tight around her right thigh but didn't show the weapon it held. Taking a deep breath, she narrowed her eyes as a small cloud momentarily blocked out the sun. It was a blessing and a relief from its relentless assault.
Narrowing his eyes back, the Faunus wiggled his fingers above his hip which holstered a pistol that looked like it doubled as a crossbow with a bayonet. He slowly breathed in and out while baring his teeth. Sweat trailed down the side of his face just as the cloak moved away and sunlight beamed down onto him again. Tensing up, he gripped his weapon tight and drew it.
Twenty-four hours earlier, in the rubble of a crashed airship, Kagami kicked a panel away and stuck her head out. She squinted at the sudden rush of light before hissing at the overwhelming heat. Slowly, she retreated back into the ship. "Okay. I have good news and I have bad news." She pulled herself away from the light shining through the hole and sat down.
"What's the bad news?" Elise asked while stripping down into her green flannel shirt and black shorts. It was already pretty warm inside the ship. She unbuttoned her shirt halfway and started to roll up the sleeves.
"I can't even see any mountains on the horizon. It's all flat. And it's all desert." She took a deep breath and leaned her head back. "And no clouds. It's all sunshine."
"So the good news is...?" Cheyenne trailed off. She had taken off all her leather padding and had on her pants and wolf hood with a white shirt.
"We're not dead." The jadette closed her eyes and took another deep breath.
"We're all going to fucking die." Kris blankly huffed before whimpering. "That crazy bitch from Vale is just salty we kicked her ass! And now we're going to burn in hell!"
Frowning, Kagami looked over. The redhead was definitely not born for high temperatures. She had ditched her pants and was laying on the floor in just a green T-shirt. She didn't even have her headphones around her neck.
Looking down, the jadette eyed her hoodie. She grabbed it and slowly exhaled. She didn't even know why she tried to wear it anymore at this point. First Elise stole it. Then Cheyenne needed it while in Atlas since she couldn't take the cold. Reaching behind her, she pulled it off and tossed it over. "Here. It's magic, remember? It should help regulate your body temperature."
"Huh?" Kris glanced up just barely before grunting loudly for no reason as the hoodie fell on top of her. She laid there for a moment before groaning as she slowly sat up. "Thanks..." She practically whispered with a softer tone as she pulled it on.
"But you gotta put something on your legs." Kagami crossed her arms and leaned back in a green shirt. "I can cut your pants into shorts if you'd like."
"Please do." She mumbled back while pulling the hood up and laying back down.
"So..." Cheyenne glanced around. "What is the plan?" She hesitantly asked.
"Well the pilots are dead. Though I think they deserve that." Elise grumbled. "This is their fault after all. But... What do we know about living in Vacuo besides it being hot?"
Silence fell across everyone.
Closing her eyes, Kagami let out a frustrated groan and moved her head back to hit the wall of the ship. She struck it a second time before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Getting angry wasn't going to do a single helpful thing.
"There should be tribes somewhere in between us and the Kingdom. All we can do is start walking and hope we stumble upon one." She glanced at her friends. "Once there, we can get a flight back to Vale and deal with Sanguine."
"But what about the Ancient Monomane?" Elise furrowed her brow.
"Later." Kagami took a deep breath and stood up. "I'll see what we can salvage and take with us. We should start walking as soon as we can."
"Wonderful idea." Kris grumbled softly.
Sighing, Cheyenne shook her head as she eyed her leader. "She's just uncomfortable and angry."
"I know." The jadette nodded back. "We all are."
As she roamed through the crashed ship, she tore off the sleeves of her shirt at the seam. It was getting hotter and hotter inside the ship without the air conditioning running. Finding the bags they had brought tucked away with cargo, she quickly went searching through them. She put all the food and water into one and hauled it over one of her shoulders. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
She went to leave but paused for a moment and stared at a green blanket she tossed aside into an unneeded item pile. Thinking for a moment, she set the bag down and flexed her wrist to extend the blade on her bracer.
Coming back to her friends with a makeshift cloak and hood on, Kagami froze in place and blinked a few times.
"It's too Gods damn hot for this!" Kris shouted while wearing her pants turned into hotpants. With the blade extended on one of her candy cane weapons in one hand, she grabbed a handful of her shoulder length hair and began hacking it off unevenly.
"Okay." Kagami nodded slowly as she turned towards Elise and Cheyenne who had the same expression. "Well, we have a little. If we ration well we should have enough for a few days."
"Maybe we'll find something to hunt." Elise mumbled as she put her hair up in a higher ponytail. "What wildlife is out here?"
"I think there's a type of crab." Cheyenne glanced over while putting her hair in a low ponytail. "Doesn't help Kris though."
"Then we'll try to save the beans we have for her." Kagami nodded while tightening the straps of her backpack. She ran her hand under her braided hair and partially smiled. She was so grateful her father had taught her to do it.
"Okay." She took a deep breath. A very deep breath. "You ready, Kris?" She looked over while picking up her sword. Noting the bag on her back, she decided to place it around her waist.
"I guess." The redhead slowly breathed in and out before pulling up the hood of her leader's hoodie. It did feel better, surprisingly. Placing her weapon with its pair, she pulled them both onto her back. "How far... do we have to walk?" She slouched.
"I don't think we have an answer for that." Cheyenne picked up her rifle and slung it onto her back before placing her warclub on her hip.
"Just don't think about it." Elise spoke up and tightened the leather strap of the knife Cheyenne had made her to her ankle. "Just space out and keep walking." She snatched her rifle up and pulled it over one shoulder.
"Who knows, maybe a tribe will find us." Kagami faintly smiled before they all headed into the blazing wasteland. They walked for hours and hours across the sands. Sand that got everywhere. Eventually, the flatlands turned hilly but no one knew if it was because they were getting farther or if the landscape was shifting from the wind.
Walking by a sand dune, Elise blinked a few times and stopped walking. She raised her hand and shielded her eyes from the sun as she stared. "Did you guys see that?"
"See what?" Cheyenne looked back while softly panting.
"The ground... it moved." She swallowed.
"It's probably just the sun and the heat making those little waves." Kris wiggled her fingers around. "You know how it does that on a street when it's warm?"
"Yeah but that's definitely not what I saw." The brunet furrowed her brow before quickly stepping back. "There! It did it again!"
Raising an eyebrow, Kagami turned around. "You sure?" She asked while adjusting the straps of her backpack. Blinking, her eyes widened too as she saw the ground shift. Slowly, she took a step back. "Oh..."
"Oh is right." Cheyenne saw it too this time and slowly moved away from the dune.
Suddenly, the entire dune began to tremble and shake which made both Elise and Kris quickly back up.
Bursting out of the ground in an explosion of sand, a crab larger than an Alpha Ursa, possibly as large as a Goliath, scrambled around on its multiple legs as it looked around.
Kagami stared in awe for a moment with her mouth open before quickly closing it when she tasted sand. "What is that?!" She shouted while dropping their bag of supplies and drawing her sword.
"This is not what I was expecting when you said Vacuo had crabs!!" Elise hissed as she ran to the side out of the way and pulled out her rifle. "This is NOT a crab I can hunt! I don't have a hunting dart for this!" She readied her rifle with her baton and made a double bayonet.
"How was I supposed to know?!" Cheyenne eyed her with wide eyes before back flipping away from a pincher larger than her body. "I've. Never. Been. To. Vacuo!"
"I don't want to BE IN Vacuo!" Kris groaned as she drew her weapons. She went to fire several rounds only for the bullets to ricochet off its thick outer shell. Seeing its black eyes lock on her, her shoulders fell. "Oh..." She blinked. "I really hate Vacuo."
As the creature charged at her, Cheyenne readied her rifle and took aim.
"Wait!" Kagami held up a hand and whistled towards Elise before eyeing Kris.
Nodding, the brunet dashed beside the redhead in a blur of smoke before dodging away just as the crab's claw smashed through faint trails of smoke and into the ground.
Flashing her leader a confused look, Cheyenne held out her hands.
"We don't know when we'll be able to get Dust again. We need to save your rifle's ammo." The jadette answered the unspoken question and took a deep breath. "That being said, I have a plan."
"Well let's hear it!" Kris shouted while carefully watching the mole crab chitter around and look between all of them.
"Elise!" Kagami called out. "Catch." She smiled while tossing her sword over.
"Ooh." The farm girl's eyes sparkled as she caught it in her left hand.
"Chey, take one of Kris' weapons. You're on claw duty." She stepped around to stare down the large creature. She held out her arms and showed herself being unarmed.
It bounced its legs around and put its body weight on its front legs. It thought for a moment before suddenly charging at her.
Smiling, the jadette didn't even flinch as it came closer and closer. Suddenly, its claws were hooked by Kris' weapons before being pulled into an x in front of its body. The momentum toppled the mole crab as it fell into the sand and skidded to a stop.
It began to thrash around and both Kris and Cheyenne struggled to hold back the pinchers. Both their feet dug into the sand so deep that the sand was starting to spill into their boots.
Aiming with her bracer, Kagami fired two quick knives into each of its eyes. A white liquid squirted out of them and it howled in pain.
With it blinded, Elise ran up. Raising her hands, she jumped up slightly and drove her leader's sword straight through its skull.
Everyone grew silent and everything fell still. After a moment, the mole crab collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud.
"Well..." Panting, Elise pulled the sword and flung off the clear blood. "I feel like that could have gone worse."
"Well, I'll take a rain check, boys." A male voice spoke up and made all four girls quickly look over. Standing on top of an actual sand dune, a dark skinned man with a large battle axe smiled. He was missing his right canine and had a large scar across his right cheek. "We've been tracking this thing all morning and struggling to kill it. And your four just waltz right up here and off it."
Behind him, several others eyed team MACE. They were judging them. "Where you from?" A woman white hair slicked back asked.
"People." Elise stared and blinked a few times. "People." She repeated under her breath.
"You kids deaf?" The leader of the hunting party chuckled as he placed his weapon down in the sand. He then stumbled as he felt something latch onto his leg. Looking down, his eyes widened.
"Our ship crashed and we're lost!" Kris looked like she was about to cry as she clung onto his leg like her life depended on it. "Please help us!"
"Uh..." He glanced at his friends who all backed away quickly.
"She's um, having a hard time with the weather here." Cheyenne spoke up as she leaned over and pulled the redhead away.
"Right..." He nodded slowly.
"Our airship did crash though. There was a Grimm attack." Kagami spoke up as she slid her sword away. "We thought we'd at least try our best before heatstroke got us."
"You didn't think that we'd survive, did you?" Elise scowled before being pushed away by the jadette.
"Sounds like you're down on luck then." He eyed the dead mole crab before faintly smiling. "Why don't you bring that back to camp for us and maybe we can help you out some."
"You want us to-" Kris' eyes blazed with fury hotter than the sun before Cheyenne placed a hand over her mouth.
"Don't. In Vacuo, you have to prove your worth. We need to show them we're an asset and maybe if we're lucky they'll help us." The Faunus whispered before slowly removing her hand. "We'll just have to manage."
"At least we're not mindlessly walking." Kagami took a deep breath. Eyeing the bandana her father had given her, she untied it from her sword and placed it over her face. She was so tired of sand. "Let's get to it."