Forever Falling: Part 2

A booming roar echoed through the forest, the leaves and grass being pushed back slightly. The sticks perked their heads up from their makeshift sleeping bags, having slept in after settling down in the Forever Fall. "Sounded like one of those weird bears we fought," Aichmire said.

"I could use some target practice," Arcusan stated, a cocky grin forming on his face.

"Just don't die out there," Frounus said, getting up to put on his helmet.

Aichmire nodded to Arcusan and ran into the woods, the archer quickly following suit. "Bloodthirsty, aren't they?" Ekrixir said, rising to his feet.

"Swordwrath and Archidons at least share that trait," Frounus said. "Stavros!"

The flying arbalist jerked himself upright.

"We're going to investigate the settlements we saw from the skies," Frounus said, picking up his spear from the ground.

"Wait, right now?" Frounus gave a simple nod before walking south. The crossbowman looked at Elena, and she just shrugged.

Sighing, Stavros got up and put on his flying gear. 'Who put you in charge?' he thought.

Jaune rolled to the side, dodging the swipe from the Ursa. He slashed at the beast's thick fur, blocking a strike coming towards his left flank with his shield. He parried another blow with his sword before getting hit by a claw to the face. Quickly getting up, he checked his Aura on his scroll. 'In the yellow, gotta end this fast.' He brought his shield up to block an overhead strike from the Ursa, rushing in to stab his sword into the Grimm's body. Thrusting his blade into the beast, he neglected to block his side as he was struck down by a well placed claw.

He pushed himself back upright, bashing the beast's brain with his shield before pulling his blade out of its chest. 'Thank you for teaching me that, Pyrrha.' He stepped to the side, slashing at the bastard's back as it charged at him. He moved to parry an incoming strike from the Ursa's right, knocking the claw away with a sharp clank. He had followed up with a swift riposte, stabbing the Ursa in the gut, making it falter backwards.

Shaking its head, it leapt straight at Jaune, leaving its neck completely exposed. Finding his chance, Jaune ran straight at the Grimm, drawing his sword back to slash. He felt his shield be pulled up by something, and it managed to block an incoming strike. He slashed at the Ursa's neck, decapitating it in an instant. 'Didn't expect that.' He looked at his shield, and then at Pyrrha, who had a sheepish grin on her face. He smiled back, before something rang out through the forest.

A strong roar. Not one by Grimm or normal animals. It sounded like a Human.

Jaune turned around to face where the noise came from, before hearing metallic screeching and normal yelling. "Someone's in trouble!" Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose.

"Wait, Ruby, we don't know what we're fighting-" Weiss was interrupted by Ruby as she sped off into the distance. Weiss grunted in frustration before reluctantly running off after her. Pyrrha and Jaune shared a look and nodded to each other, running with the first half of RWBY.

As Jaune ran through the forest, he heard another roar in the distance, though sounding more like a war cry than Grimm. Speaking of, the four of them encountered an entire pack of Beowolves headed towards the source of the roar. Ruby acted first, decapitating one of them in a flash. The rest of the Beowolves turned their heads and pounced.

Pyrrha bashed one away with her shield, stabbing another through the head with her blade. Her sword and shield fell out of her hands as she fell to the ground, feeling a heavy weight on her back. She elbowed the Grimm in the gut before rising back to her feet and unfurled Miló into its rifle mode. She shot down three Beowolves before she repositioned behind a tree, a group of Beowolves chasing after her. She rapidly mag dumped the incoming Beowolves, dropping them all one by one.

Weiss rapidly thrust her rapier into the incoming horde, stabbing multiple to death from a distance. She shot off a volley of ice crystals, impaling and freezing multiple Beowolves on their way through. She felt a burst of wind fly by her as she activated her weapon's fire Dust. A smile crept across her face as she followed up with a fire blast, engulfing the beasts in flames.

Before she could continue her assault, a screech from above interrupted her. She covered her ears and looked up, seeing a Nevermore fly above them. 'It got attracted too,' she thought. Another war cry shot through the forest louder than the last; the source was getting closer. She looked around for Jaune and Ruby, eyes darting around with the speed of her leader's Semblance. 'They're gone.'

"Pyrrha! Where's Jaune?!" Weiss said.

Pyrrha looked at her from behind her shield. "You tell me! More Grimm on your six!"

Weiss spun around to stab a Beowolf in the head. 'The others better get Goodwitch here fast.' She lit her blade ablaze and charged into the next wave of Grimm.

"Why is there a Death Stalker in the Forever Fall?!" Jaune said as he dodged a body slam from the overgrown scorpion.

Ruby shouted, "I think we should be more concerned about what came with them!"

Jaune looked at Ruby with an eyebrow raised before he noticed the two thin creatures duking it out with the beast. "Oh god, they're everywhere we go!" he shouted out.

Ruby dashed in to fight, parrying a claw strike with her scythe and spinning the monster backward with a swipe. "Don't just stand there, help us out!"

Jaune shook his head to clear his thoughts and rushed at the Death Stalker with his shield up. He bashed the beast's tail as it tried to pierce him, countering with a slash to its armor. He saw an arrow whizz past him and dashed to the side instinctively.

Looking backward, he saw something humanoid with a bow and arrow. He opened his mouth to speak before the Death Stalker slammed the ground with enough force to shake the arena. Questions for later, he guessed.

He blocked an attack from the Stalker's tail with his shield and tried to slash the beast away. It didn't really care, retaliating with a pincer strike that knocked Jaune onto the ground and disarmed him. He gripped the part of his body that got hit; he didn't need a scroll to tell him that his Aura took a huge hit. He reached for his shield, only to see it get swept away by the Death Stalker.

Turning to face the creature, he quickly snatched his sword from the ground near him and parried its pincers as it tried to strike him. Ruby rushed in as the Death Stalker was staggered, chopping one of its pincers off. Another arrow came in and hit the Grimm dead in the eye, outraging the beast as it swung its pincers indiscriminately.

Jaune gulped and ran for his shield, wiping the dirt off of its front. As he turned to face the Death Stalker again, he had his thoughts taken out of his head when he heard a war cry on the other side of the Stalker. A thin creature similar to the archer in the back leapt above the monster and plunged its sword into its tail. Ruby rushed in and struck the base of its tail, chopping it off completely. Another arrow flew into its other eye.

The swordsman mounted its body and cracked its carapace with a well placed strike. Jaune ran at the Death Stalker headfirst with his sword raised and brought it down on the creature's damaged armor. A sickening crunch covered their surroundings.

Jaune wiped the sweat off of his forehead and minimized his shield. He locked eyes with the swordsman, Grimm red eyes meeting his. 'Are that thing's eyes burning?' Jaune gave a nervous wave to the weird looking warrior, feeling more intimidated when it gave a small smile in response.

"Jaune!" Ruby sped over to her temporary teammate. "Where'd Weiss and Pyrrha go?"

Jaune stared at her for a moment before looking around. "Shoot, they got left behind!"

The archer tapped Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby turned around. "Huh?"

The archer pointed to the sky, a Nevermore flying above them.

Ruby rubbed her temples before saying, "Okay, we need to get back to them. There's no way we can beat that thing without help."

Jaune looked at the two unnamed creatures with them. "What about them? They helped us out, can't leave them here." Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but was hushed by a sword to her mouth.

"We'll be fine. Just don't tell the others that we were here." Ruby hurriedly nodded at the swordsman.

The two strangers turned to leave. "Wait!" They turned their heads. "Could you at least tell us your names?"

They looked at each other, sharing a shrug. The swordsman turned back to the girl and said, "Aichmire, he's Arcusan. Go, the rest of your class is probably waiting for you." They left without another word.

Jaune walked through the halls of Beacon, on his way to lunch after their Forever Fall visit.

He bumped into Cardin's shoulder.

Cardin opened his mouth to say something.

Jaune shot him a glare.

Cardin closed it quickly.

V kicked through the cargo box and looked around. Creatures armed with weapons, he assumed. They looked similar to the stickmen that populated his world. More of them were coming in, alarm evident in their eyes. "What are you?!"

V looked down at his glowing white hands. Unfamiliar to them, he supposed. He teleported up to the top of their ship. "Fire!" the man shouted.

He punched his way into the bridge of the vessel, bullets coming from below. The seaman on the bridge was crouched on the ground to avoid the sheet of metal flying at him. He looked through the windows. The ship was near land. V formed two clones of himself and sprinted back outside. The two clones dropped down and began their assault. One grunt was kicked off of the ship. Another was disarmed and knocked unconscious, one more flung into the air.

V watched as his clones dispatched each of the troops on the ship. "Get us some help!" He turned his head towards the seaman on watch. "There's this glowing thing on deck that's broken through the bridge-"

V kicked him quiet. He tried taking control of the ship, a bullet striking him in the arm. "Hey! Off the bridge!" A man stood in the doorway.

V outstretched his other arm towards the grunt. "W-what're you doing-" V's arm turned into eldritch tendrils as a dark sheen enveloped the grunt, forcing him to drop his gun.

The grunt dropped back down to the deck and began attacking his allies. "Hey, I'm on your side-!" She said, getting knocked unconscious. Another grunt in the distance started firing on the rogue member. He got tossed off the ship by a V clone. The other clone kicked the rogue grunt down, his body returning to normal. Up on the bridge, V's arm reformed as he pulled out the bullet. He flicked it to the side and started steering towards land again.

He recalled the clones. As they walked back to their master, V looked through the windows of the bridge. Ready to dock. He walked outside and reabsorbed his clones.

"Hey! Hands in the air!" More men greeted him with weapons on standby. He locked eyes with one, a cane in his hand rather than a gun. Tonight would be eventful.