Jaune and Pyrrha easily maneuvered around the Emerald Forest's natural obstacles and kept a steady pace heading North. The sound of their footfalls was deafening as neither said a word to the other as they travelled. At first, Jaune had been worried Pyrrha might have been just as chatty as the others, but he was relieved that wasn't the case. Jogging through the woods like this he thought he could almost forget he was on a mission, he couldn't of course, but he was grateful for the silence all the same.
Pyrrha had spent the better part of the last few minutes trying and failing to spark a conversation. Every time she tried to say something the words would get caught in her throat. How is it that almost every person who approached me back home could pelt me with questions non stop but here I am left helpless?
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he was still focused on what was directly ahead. No, she admonished herself, I'm not helpless, everyone is nervous when they meet new people! He hasn't said a word either! He's probably feeling just as awkward as me, I just have to say something to break the ice…
She moved up next to him and just as Pyrrha was finally about to speak she quickly ground to a halt as Jaune suddenly stopped. "Look," he pointed straight ahead through some brush, "there's a cave just up ahead. This might be the place."
"You may be right," she said, grateful he'd said something first. "We should be careful in case there's Grimm guarding the entrance."
"Good thinking."
Slowly, Pyrrha drew her weapons and followed Jaune as he stepped out. "Anything?"
He listened intently and lightly gripped Auger's hilt, but after a few moments he decided they were alone after all. "It's clear for now," said Jaune. "Let's take a closer look." He stepped closer and when it truly didn't seem like there was anything lurking around, crouched down and began to examine the mouth of the cave. The ground was littered with dead twigs and leaves like everywhere else. It didn't seem like anything had come this way in a while.
Pyrrha put away her weapons and walked past Jaune to look into the cave. From what she could see the cave was pitch black all the way through. "I'm not sure we're meant to go in there."
"I think you're right," he said, still crouched down.
She saw his position and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other beforing steeling herself and crouching down in front of him, "What are you looking for?"
Jaune glanced at her briefly before pointing to the ground, "The forest floor here has leaves, twigs, and so on, but there's no sign of any foot traffic at all."
"How can you be sure? From what I can tell this place is identical to the rest of the forest like you said."
"If we were to backtrack I could probably point out a good chunk of the steps we took on the way here," Jaune leaned back to sit on his haunches. "Snapped twigs, leaves parted where we touched the ground, and of course actual footprints in the dirt. No sign of that here except where we walked."
Pyrrha looked beyond Jaune to the way they came and found that if she took a second and really looked, every sign he pointed was present. "Multiple pairs of students walking around would leave tracks everywhere."
He nodded, "Exactly."
"That's impressive, Jaune!" she complimented. "I admit wilderness survival and tracking are not my strong suit, but you seem to have a firm grasp on it!"
A small smile tugged at the edge of his lips as he stood up fully, "Thanks. Anyway we need to decide what to do from here."
She returned the smile, "I agree-" Pyrrha stopped midway through her sentence before she swiftly drew her weapons and faced the woods again. From the corner of her eye she saw Jaune bend his knees and lay hand on his own sword and she knew he felt the thing. The ground had begun to shake faintly before the unmistakable tremor of something large and heavy swiftly coming their way spurred them to action. The two of them slowly began to inch their way apart and towards the woods.
They heard it well before seeing it and waited, muscles tense as the bushes directly ahead split open to reveal a charging Ursa. Seeing it barrel more towards him than Pyrrha, Jaune stepped to the side at the last second, drew his sword, held it with both hands above his head to slice down, and froze. Time seemed to slow as he made eye contact with a wide eyed orange hair girl whose face was twisted into a near crazed grin.
"WOOO!" she hollered, the sound echoing as she rode the Grimm straight into the cave.
"..."
"...Jaune, we both saw the same thing just now. Right?" Pyrrha's arms hung limply at her sides as turned to Jaune for confirmation.
He stood up straight and put away his weapon "I don't know what I just saw." His head snapped to the foliage as the bushes began rustling again though much less violently Much less dramatically a familiar dark haired boy broke through.
"Nora!" he shouted before spotting them and jogging over. "Did...either of you...see my friend...come this way?" He hunched over with his hands over his knees, clearly out of breath.
Jaune said nothing and turned his head away, so it fell to Pyrrha to offer an answer. "You mean the one we saw riding an Ursa just now? She was dragged off into the cave."
The boy nodded in gratitude, "...Thanks." He said before sucking a breath and jogging past them to follow.
"Do you need help? Either of you?" she asked.
"No no. I can't handle this on my own," and the boy quickly disappeared into the void.
When he was gone Jaune turned to Pyrrha, "We should leave now," and he began to march off.
"Wait. Shouldn't we stick around just in case?" Pyrrha glanced back at the cave.
"No. He said he could handle this didn't he? We should just move on." The redhead looked uncertain for a moment, but before she could settle on a decision the heavy footfalls were approaching again. This time much quicker. They jumped apart as the creature rushed past now carrying two passengers.
"You're coming with me, Renny!" Nora shouted.
"N-nora! I can't-" Ren's limbs swung wildly as Nora carted him off by the scruff of his neck before they galloped back into the wilderness.
All at once a much more intense rumbling than before shook the ground and dust and debris fell from the cave ceiling. "Jaune…" Pyrrha called out. Her weapon shifted into her javelin form and she held it above her with the tip pointed towards the entrance, shield interposed between it and her. She could make out a glowing yellow orb getting larger and brighter.
Jaune drew Auger and held the curved blade with both hands in front of him, "It's big...get ready for anything!"
The mouth of the cave exploded outwards in a shower of dust and dirt that impacted Pyrrha's shield and partially blinded Jaune. Through the haze of dust and tears Jaune could make the largest Deathstalker he'd ever seen. It's several eyes flitting back and forth between them, mandibles clicking and chittering. It's gaze locked on Pyrrha as she made the first move.
The tournament champion broke in a sprint and ran around its flank, deftly avoiding the large glowing stinger aimed at her and diving into a roll. Quickly shifting her weapon into its rifle mode, she crouched in a shooting pose and fired round after round into it, but it's natural bone armour easily defended against it. The Grimm shifted focus to Jaune now that it's first target was no longer directly in front of it.
Jaune ducked as low as he could and felt the wind sweep his hair aside as the creature's enormous pincer sailed overhead. He mirrored Pyrrha's actions and rolled to the side to evade the large stinger once more. The creature was ancient however and with time came intelligence as evidenced by the way it had another pincer already poised to strike where he was about to stand.
Another gunshot rang out and Pyrrha's javelin rocketed towards it and skidded off the armour dangerously close to one of its eyes. Jaune saw how the weapon seemed to hover in midair after bouncing off before shooting back towards Pyrrha's outstretched hand. "Run, Jaune! I'll distract it!" The Deathstalker mandibles chittered as it turned to face its previous target.
His mind was racing, That girl led it to us! No wonder she left so quickly. She didn't even stay to help fight it!" Jaune was fuming and Pyrrha saw the way his eyes lit up and electricity arced around him. The Deathstalker froze mid turn and all its eyes instantly snapped to the side in unison as it flattened its tail and swung back at Jaune as it reared back around. "Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled.
Jaune saw it whirl around and sucked in a breath before he jumped off the ground to let the tail fly underneath. As he landed he raised the blade and swiftly braced against it with the back of his armoured gauntlet as the Deathstalker attacked with a backswing blow from it's pincer. His heels sank into the ground and he glared angrily as he angled the blow above him to duck underneath. The pressure lifted without warning and he stumbled forward straight in the path of the second pincer.
Thinking fast, Pyrrha pulled her left arm back and launched her shield at her partner. The shield curved around the Deathstalker and Jaune felt his arm reach towards it against his will and watched it secure itself against his arm just as the pincer hit him. The shield and combined with his semblance dampened the blow immensely, but the force behind the attack was staggering and Jaune was launched high into the air.
Jaune spun uncontrollably through the skies, the shield having been torn from his arm and thrown in a random direction. He tried his hardest to right himself, but the forces jostling him were too strong to fight against. The world was a spinning mess of green and blue with the sound of his clothes flapping in the wind. As quickly as he'd been sent flying it all stopped as he impacted something in midair. The collision slowed his momentum before he crashed into a tree with the thing in tow. Finally, after falling through countless branches he managed to land on one strong enough to support his weight.
He opened his eyes and shook leaves and debris from his hair before raising his closed fist above his face. The curved, guardless blade so reminiscent of his teacher's was still locked in his grip. He sighed and tentatively stood up on the branch before sheathing his sword and checking his gear. Verrreaux was still attached to his belt and his sash was still intact. Looking around, he couldn't see much through the canopy except the leaves around him and the ground directly below.
"Owwww." He spun around and froze as Ruby slowly sat up from where she had been leaning against the trunk just a few feet behind him on the same branch. She shook her head and slowly opened her silver eyes to meet his blue ones. "...It's you!" She nearly slipped off the branch as she rushed to stand up before righting herself again. "Um...hi…" Suddenly the leaves and branches were more interesting and Ruby pointedly looked away from him. She risked slipping by how much she was fidgeting.
Jaune saw all this and was more than a little confused. She was acting like a whole other person than the night they met. She was so timid he doubted she could look smaller than she did at that moment. Yang's words rushed to the forefront of his mind and he considered them in silence before ultimately sighing. "Hi, Ruby."
Ruby froze at the sound of her name before looking up at him, "You remember me!"
He nodded, "I do. It'd be hard to forget given how we first met," Jaune shifted his weight to his back leg and rested his off hand on Auger's hilt.
"...Y-yeah I guess you're right. That was a pretty crazy night, huh?" She gasped, "I just realized I never asked you your name!"
He couldn't help but smile at the sound of panic in her voice, "My name's Jaune."
"Jaune… Great, I'll for sure remember it now. Um...so what's up?" She offered a weak smile before sharply looking away from him again and wincing.
"What's up? Uh, not much I - Pyrrha!" Jaune spun around, eyes darting every which way.
"Pyrrha? The tournament champion? What about her?" Ruby surveyed her surroundings as well.
"We were fighting a Deathstalker before it launched me and we were separated. I need to help her."
Ruby cocked her head to the side, "It launched you? How?"
"Ruby! Are you up there?" Ruby and Jaune looked up in unison as the familiar voice rang up from the ground.
"I think that's my sister, Yang. Oh, people don't usually believe me when I tell them we're related, so don't be surprised when you see her."
"We've met. Sorry, but I need to go." Jaune walked towards Ruby and jumped down the tree past her.
"You have? Oh! Okay." Ruby watched him drop then squeezed the sides of her face, "What's up? Really?" She shook her head before jumping down after him.
"Ru-! Woah!" Yang jumped back as Jaune touched the ground just in front of her. "It's you!"
"It's me," he said, striding past her. There were quite a few people here he realized, but they didn't matter right now. He peered up frantically, looking to see if he could spot where he broke through the canopy so he could start retracing his steps. Everything was identical though and there's no way to tell which direction he came from. His pulse started rising and he could feel panic creeping in. Taking another look back he saw several pedestals and someone familiar standing nearby as well. He began to march towards them.
"Hey wait!" Yang called out. "Was Ruby up there? Did you talk-" Just then her younger sister landed next to her.
"Yang! It's so good to see you!" She ran up and wrapped her arms around her. "Oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe what Weiss and I got up to after we partnered up. Ooh, also! I ran into you know who in the tree!"
"Ruby!" Yang shouted back. "I'm glad you're safe," she returned the hug before seizing and wrapping an arm around shoulder to turn her away so they could huddle. "You met him? What was he like? Was he a jerk?"
"What? No! I mean, he was nice enough, I guess. I don't know. I didn't really know what to say and things got weird again like they always do." Ruby looked nervously over her shoulder at Jaune as he walked towards the group of people she sorta recognized. "I didn't really ask him about what happened that night, but he wasn't mean or anything."
Yang smiled, "He was nice, eh? That's good to hear."
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, but he also said he knew you? When did that happen?"
"Hm?" Yang locked eyes with Ruby before looking pointedly to the side.
Ruby stepped out of the huddle and looked up at Yang, eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Yeah… When I told him it was you who was calling me he said that you two met before."
"I don't know what you mean. Are you sure he said he met me specifically? He probably thought I sounded like someone else he knew and was confused.
Ruby stared hard at her, "Hmmm. Yeah, that's probably it then. Jasper's really worried about his partner, so he's probably not thinking straight. Hey, I know! We should offer to give him a hand!."
Yang cocked her head to the side, "Jasper? I thought his name was-" Yang winced and sucked in a breath through her teeth but it was too late.
"Ah ha!" Ruby pointed a finger accusingly at her, "Jasper's the name from one of my friends at school! You did talk to him before."
"No! I-I-I um-" She looked here and there for an excuse but under Ruby's heated glare she caved. "Okay. Okay. Yeah, we had a chat."
"Yang!"
She waved her hands in front of her, "I know. I know. Look, I just wanted-"
Ruby shot forward past her and Yang spun around to see what the fuss was about. Over near the relics Jaune was arguing with another girl and if her eyesight wasn't suddenly failing, sparks were literally flying.
:X:
Jaune walked forward with purpose, past the girl wearing the black bow who wordlessly stepped back. The pedestals he saw had different black and white chess pieces on them though some were empty. His focus was on the orange haired girl from before and he called out as he came into earshot. "You!"
"Huh?" Nora turned from her conversation with Ren to find a livid Jaune glaring daggers at her.
"You lured that thing to us. It could have killed me and it could be killing Pyrrha right now! How am I supposed to help her all the way out here!?" He gestured towards the clearing the relics and their pedestal sat in.
Nora's eyes widened, "W-what? Lured what to you? Slow down!" Nora took a step back and Jaune took a step forward.
"Don't play dumb with me! The Deathstalker in the cave! It's the largest I've ever seen and you lured it into attacking. The cave was probably it's lair. Now, it's out there attacking Pyrrha and now I can't do anything to help her!" Every word cranked the dial up even higher and it showed in his semblance.
"I-I wasn't trying to lure anything to anyone!" Nora took a step back.
"Then why didn't you stay and fight!?" Jaune's hand went to his sword and he stepped forward before a mass of green stood in his path. His breath hitched as he stared into the face of Ren.
"Nora didn't mean to cause you any trouble. Please, accept our sincerest apology," Ren bowed his head briefly before looking up at him again.
"I-I…" Jaune had seen Ren was there next to her when he walked up, but he ignored it in the moment and now he was caught off guard.
Ruby dashed onto the scene taking in the sight of Jaune glaring at two students she'd seen but not met. "Hey what's going on!?"
Jaune was about to snap at her before seeing who it was. "… Nothing, Ruby." He looked past her to see Yang and the other girl standing off the side and looking his way, clearly interested. His semblance faltered before disengaging completely as he took a step back. He focused on the space just beside Ren's head, "Because of her we were attacked and I got separated from Pyrrha. I'm supposed to just let that go?"
"It wasn't intentional," Ren insisted. "Nora would never purposefully endanger anyone's life like that. She had no way of knowing what was lurking in that cave."
He stayed quiet for a moment and Ruby chimed in, "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but Nora doesn't seem like a bad person." Ruby walked past Ren and up to Nora who was wringing her hands and took them. "Hi, my name's Ruby Rose."
Nora looked down at their joined hands before smiling briefly, "Hi, my name's Nora Valkyrie."
Ruby smiled, "Nice to meet you. Nora, you look really beat up over what happened and really regret it. Does that sound right?"
"Ha. It's true… I'm not really sure what to do with myself right now." Nora squeezed Ruby's hands, "Um, the cave was pitch black when I rode in, then I saw something glowing and the Ursa turned right around. I couldn't really control it and then I saw Ren going in so I just pulled him along for the ride. I'm really sorry."
No one said anything as they awaited his reaction. Ren turned to face Jaune again and raised an eyebrow. Ruby did the same with a smile. Jaune sighed before walking past them and stopping in front of one of the pedestals and grabbing one of the remaining rook pieces. He walked to another and pocketed the last rook as well before facing the group, "Sorry or not she put us in danger. I'm going to look for Pyrrha."
As he made to leave a shadow flew overhead and Ruby gasped and pointed at it, "Weiss!"
The group looked up and saw an enormous Nevermore soaring high in the clouds. A shock of white clung to its side and held on valiantly before it was forced off. Weiss flapped her arms desperately for any sort of purchase, but she continued to plummet screaming as she went. "Somebody help me!"
"I got this." Yang sauntered forward before cracking her fingers and flicking her wrists. Jaune saw the large bracelets unfold and expand into yellow gauntlets. All at once she dashed and jumped as she stuck out one of the gauntlets underneath her and a gunshot propelled her into the air. She fired once more to get the right angle before she met Weiss in mid air and they fell back down to Earth.
They dropped harshly, but Yang maintained her grip. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you. Would you kindly put me down now?" They had landed with Weiss bridal style and Yang grinned before gently setting the heiress down.
"No problem." The Nevermore screeched and it began to circle overhead. "That on the other hand…" Moments later a red haired figure sporting bronze armour ran out from the treeline before the trees were promptly uprooted by the giant Deathstalker giving chase. "What's going on!?" In response, something snagged on Pyrrha's foot and she was hurled by the Grimm right near the group's feet.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune immediately knelt down to help her up. She looked more or less unscathed except for the sweat and grime on her face and clothes.
"Hello, Jaune. I'm relieved to see you well." She smiled and gratefully took his outstretched hand, planting her javelin in the ground to steady herself. She'd been running for what felt like hours and her legs didn't quite feel all the way there.
Jaune immediately froze and stepped back causing Pyrrha to stumble forward before righting herself. She looked at him questionly, "Is something the matter?"
The blonde looked between her and the other sets of eyes glancing his way before the approaching Deathstalker grabbed everyone's attention.
"Great," sighed Yang, "Now none of us have to worry about dying alone." Ruby darted past her and shot forward, trailing rose petals as she went.
"We're not dying yet!" she yelled, using her weapon to propel herself toward the Grimm.
"Ruby!"
"Wait!" Jaune and Yang broke into a sprint but we're much too slow to catch up. Ruby jumped high into the air intent on bringing down her scythe, but Grimm's pincers rose up to meet her. Air was forced out of her lungs as the massive beast knocked her back and Ruby jumped to her feet, eyes wide. Switching tactics, she brought her scythe and fired off multiple shots, but they bounced off its natural armour.
The Nevermore in the air screeched and flapped its wings forward and rained down several dozen sharp quills. Each one was bigger than Ruby and all were aimed at her as she turned to run away. She managed to dodge the ones that fell right in her path, but a lucky shot snagged her cloak and pinned it and her to the ground.
"Get out of there Ruby!" Yang was still too far off to help and the Deathstalker was guaranteed to reach her first. Jaune willed himself to run faster but he wasn't going to make it either. The massive scorpion Grimm reached Ruby and it's sickly yellow stinger rose high in the air before shooting towards Ruby. From behind, a white blur darted between Jaune and Yang and suddenly an explosion of white and a chill breeze buffeted them.
Yang, Ruby, and Jaune opened their eyes to find a trail of stalagmites formed through ice dust ramping up higher and higher into a jagged ice structure encasing the tail just below the stinger. The tail was still poised to string Ruby, but it was frozen before it ever got close and kept there with thick ice sheets.
"Weiss!" shouted Ruby, relief evident on her face.
"Don't you 'Weiss' me!" The heiress spun on her heel and glowered at Ruby's position on the ground. "How can you be so reckless as to charge a Grimm of this size on your own?"
"I-"
"I want nothing more than to give you a piece of my mind right now, but it will have to wait once 'this' is dealt with. I know I can be...difficult, but if this is going to happen then we'll have to do it together. If you quit trying to show off then I'll...try to be...nicer."
Ruby looked into Weiss' cold blue eyes and stood up, "I wasn't trying to show off. I wanted to show you I could do this."
"Hmph. You're fine." Weiss began walking past Ruby just as Yang finally caught up. She stopped to embrace her sister, but Jaune didn't slow in the slightest.
Semblance active, Jaune darted around them and the ice chunk and jumped high into the air before drawing his sword and bringing it down on the exposed stinger. The beast roared and stumbled back several feet, tail writhing and leaking dark fluid from where it's stinger used to be attached.
"What are you doing!?" Weiss readied her rapier, "I had it immobilized!"
"I'm going to kill this thing!" Jaune yelled back.
"What!?"
Ruby spoke up, weapon also drawn, "But there's no point in fighting this thing! All we have to do is grab the relics and leave!"
"You can leave if you want, but I'm going to stay. This thing tried to kill us!"
"That's what Grimm do!" Weiss shot back, "We may be Huntsmen in training, but that doesn't mean exterminating every Grimm we see equally as mindlessly."
That was all Grimmm did, but being separated from Pyrrha like that had filled him with a sense of panic he wasn't expecting. He didn't think he'd be as angry as he was when he saw Nora again either. It all started with this thing though and for now all he had to do was focus on it.
"Why did he do that!?" Nora echoed everyone's thoughts as they watched Jaune free the Grimm.
"I'm going to help!" Pyrrha began to move forward before Nora called out.
"Wait! Ren and I can help too...if you want I mean?"
Pyrrha stopped and looked between Nora and Ren who simply nodded. "Of course," she said smiling. Nora sighed with relief before brandishing the grenade launcher on her back and grinning. "What about you..um?"
"Blake, and yes I'll give you a hand. My partner needs my help as well."
"Thank you."
Once more the entire group heard the screech of the Nevermore flying overhead as it rained down more quills on them. Jaune cursed and the group scattered to avoid the projectiles.
"What are we going to do about that!? I don't suppose you're going to cut that thing from all the way down here?" Weiss flourished her rapier and three white glyphs formed behind before they angled upward and launched icicles at the flying Grimm.
"Hey it might be better to just cut and run after all!" Yang fell into her stance and punched the air, discharging bullets with every move. The Deathstalker would be charging them any minute and with the Nevermore overhead there would be now way he could focus on one without getting hit by the other.
"You two lead it away!" Ruby collapsed her scything into it's rifle mode and also fired at the Nevermore. "Weiss and Yang you two have range. I'll here and fight this one with-with um. Oh no! I never asked you your name!"
"What? No! Your weapon is better than mine at range. I'll stay here or better yet come with me! I'm not gonna leave you here!" Yang thrust out her arms and ejected the spent shotgun shells before tossing in two more sets.
"Whatever you're gonna do, decide now it's coming!" The Deathstalker had regained its senses and seeing the one responsible for it's missing appendage began to charge Jaune. The trio heard a whistling in the air before two canisters trailing pink smoke impacted the colossal Grimm and exploded into pink smoke clouds.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha came up behind the trio with Ren, Nora, and Blake following suit. "We're here to help."
"You're kidding me. Fight with her? She's the reason we're in this mess!"
Nora stepped forward, "I can make it right! Let me help!" More explosions went off behind him.
"There's no time to debate this," said Ren.
He looked to Pyrrha and glanced between Nora firing and Ren watching him, "...Alright. I guess you three are with me."
"Great!" Ruby chimed in, "Weiss and I spotted some more ruins when we were in the air in that direction. We'll fight the Nevermore there, it should be far enough away!"
Yang locked eyes with Blake who nodded, "Right, lead the way sis."
The Deathstalker saw the party split into two groups and tried to lunge for Ruby's team before Blake turned around and ran at it. The Deathstalker reared back and impaled Blake who's entire being began to glow red before exploding into a cloud of fire and smoke. The Grimm screeched and swung wildly through the smokescreen.
"That was so cool!" Jaune heard Ruby shout as her group ran off, taking pot shots at the Nevermore to help lure it away.
:X:
To his left Jaune saw Ren nod and Nora give a hesitant smile. "We're with you, Jaune," He heard Pyrrha say from his right, sword and shield at the ready.
He fell into his stance, "Its legs aren't armoured, attack it from opposite sides." He didn't have time to confirm if they understood him as the scorpion-like Grimm advanced. Jaune and Pyrrha darted to the right as it swung its pincer forward to skewer them. Pyrrha ran ahead and slid into the attack, bone grinding against her shield as she maneuvered past it. She dug her foot in the ground and slashed upwards at the same appendage, unable to get past the armour but creating an opening for Jaune to slip under.
The other pincer reared back to strike her before a hail of bullets impacted it's carapace as Ren made his move with two bladed guns in his hands. The creature instead raised its arm and held the flat side towards Ren to block his onslaught. Suddenly, he broke off to the left as a shadow went above him.
Nora came from the sky, her grenade launcher now an enormous hammer, and brought it straight down on its improvised shield. The pincer buckled from the force of the blow before the end of the hammer exploded in pink smoke and the pincer was pummeled into the ground. She used the recoil to launch herself safely out of its reach.
Ren fired blindly into its left side as he closed the distance. He let loose a flurry of blows from his blades and jumped back as the Grimm lurched in his direction. The cuts were shallow, but numerous. Its mandibles chittered as it turned and swung at Ren who ducked under the blow and continued to rain bullets on it as he created distance.
As Ren attacked from the left Jaune ran under its massive claw and went for one of its many legs. He drew Auger and slashed twice. His attacks bit deep into the leg, but hadn't severed it as he intended. The leg lifted off the ground in response to the abuse and Jaune backpedaled to avoid being stepped on. His semblance came to life and drew his sword again, cleaving the appendage off this time around.
Back at the front Pyrrha jumped on the claw partially buried in the ground before leaping onto its face with her spear in both hands and angled downward. The Grimm's sudden movement threw off her aim and instead of piercing its eye it bounced harmlessly off its carapace. Its eyes shot to her and Pyrrha backflipped off of it as it reared up. In the air she brought her spear forward and a gunshot rang as it sped through the air between the pincers that had been about to run her through. The Deathstalker screeched as the point sunk into an eye.
"Make some room!" Nora shouted. Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha scattered as she let loose grenade after grenade. Pink explosions dotted its body and while it was showing wear and tear it was clear they would be at this for a while.
The trio swiftly regrouped as Nora kept it at bay with explosions just ahead of them. "We're not finishing this quickly anytime soon," said Ren.
Pyrrha had regained her javelin and gave Nora back up with its rifle mode, "I'm open to any ideas."
Jaune wracked his brain, The explosions are wearing it down, but Nora would probably be running out soon. No one else has anything stronger, they would have used it by now. He stared at the creature through the pink cloud as it tried to swat the grenades. It's tail poised uselessly above its head without its stinger. His eyes widened and he looked behind them to where the stinger rested, still partially frozen in ice.
"I have an idea! Ren and I will attack it from the front. Pyrrha, Nora, circle around and drive it towards us. Back off if it starts to turn away from us, it needs to stay focused on us." The girls in question looked at him and nodded. "Before you go, Nora."
Nora seized up and hesitantly turned, still apprehensive despite the danger they were in, "Yeah…?"
"First, I need one of your grenades."
"O-okay." Nora opened up her grenade launcher and handed him one of her canisters.
Jaune took and held it in his offhand, "Second, when I give you the signal I need you to hit it with everything you've with your hammer. One decisive blow, no pulling your punches. You'll know to attack when this goes off. Do that, and we're square."
"R-really?"
"Yes! Go already!"
Nora grinned and together with Pyrrha, who looked slightly confused, ran forward and split apart to get the Deathstalkers backside. "Come on Pyrrha, let's show that thing what girl power really looks like! I've got an idea…" The explosions resumed and it wouldn't be long before it gave up and started attacking blindly at the first thing in sight.
Jaune began to jog forward, "Ren, for this to work we need to keep it trained on us despite whatever the girls may do. We don't have to kill it, stay just outside of its reach. If it charges us then it may move out of position and ruin everything."
Ren's stoic face gave away nothing, "You'll really forgive Nora just like that? You were ready to attack her just a little while ago."
Jaune's eyes flashed, "Just do what I say! Don't bring that up right this moment."
Ren switched out the magazines in his guns, "Fine." He was distrustful, but not so much as to ignore his orders. For now at least.
"Let's go!" Together the duo charged the Grimm just as the pink cloud obscuring its vision dissipated. It screeched and was about to lunge forward before yet another explosion went off on its back. It would have turned if not for Ren pelting it with a hail of bullets. It swung towards him and he quickly backed off.
Jaune mirrored his actions and ducked underneath swings and out from between its pincers while slowly luring towards the ice. He was more daring though staying closer and taking swipes at its eyes while Ren supported from the rear. Each blow glanced off, but the goal was to keep it locked on him and it was working. It was a dangerous dance and one wrong move could see it fall to pieces.
More bullets pelted it from behind and once more it made to turn, but Jaune sprinted between its appendages and jumped onto his face. He stabbed downwards at an eye and it thrashed, dismounting him, but further enraging it. Ren reached over and pulled him to his feet and together continued to lead it. Before long their backs were nearly to the ice.
Ren tried to move away, but its pincer came down and barred his path, "What now?"
Jaune drew his sword and slash upwards with all his strength. The creature raised its pincer again more so to attack again than as a result of any real pain."Now we run! Go!"
Ren ran in front of him, but before he could follow suit the Grimm lunged forward and cut him off by dropping its pincer in his path. Seeing this, Ren tried to turn around to help but the pincer suddenly came barreling towards him instead and flung him several feet away.
The Deathstalker, seeing its prey isolated, moved forward. They got it this far though so the plan would go and he turned towards the ice. Upon reaching the structure he ran around the other side and started to weave through the taller stalagmites. It was a tight fit, but once he reached the other side he could see the Grimm's warped reflection through the ice. Going with the most direct path, the creature reared upwards as its legs settled among the spikes and hovered just above them to get at Jaune.
It raised itself much higher than the stalagmites though and at this rate it would clear the ice before the others would get a chance to attack. He needed to hold it one spot long enough for them to act on the signal. Instead of dodging out of the way of the pincer when it came for him next, Jaune activated his Semblance and took the blow head on.
The pincer clamped down on his abdomen and the pressure nearly forced the air out of his lungs and would have bisected him completely in not for his Semblance. Thankfully, he had raised his arms before it could trap them against his body and in his hand was Nora's grenade. Past the creature's tail he could see Pyrrha and Nora were not far off.
He grit his teeth and the Grimm raised him above his head to peer at him with its remaining eyes. Jaune squeezed the canister and forced his aura into it. Everyone knew that dust was triggered with aura and thankfully he had plenty to spare. The pink heart on the container glowed a dull pink before swiftly turning bright neon. Jaune closed his eyes and seconds later the Deathstalker's pincer erupted in a pink explosion.
A few dozen feet back Nora and Pyrrha had followed Jaune's instructions to the letter. Battering it with bullets and explosives when it tried to maneuver around the boys and backing off so they could retake its focus when it started to lose interest. Slowly, they herded it right towards the ice and once it seemed like they had it where Jaune wanted it, waited with bated breath.
Nora and Pyrrha saw from a distance the pincer come down then rise high in the air, Jaune in its grasp. "No!" Pyrrha yelled, trying to rush forward, but seconds later the explosion rang out. The creature screeched and reared up.
Nora looked just as worried, but kept the plan in mind, "Pyrrha's that's the signal! Let's do it just like we talked about!" Pyrrha still looked like she wanted to rush ahead, but kept to the plan and crouched down and poised her shield above her. Nora ran forwards and landed on it, crouching down next to her hammer. Pyrrha braced herself and the next moment another explosion went off above her as Nora was propelled high into at an angle towards the Deathstalker.
Once gravity began to take hold again Nora pulled the trigger on her hammer and a gunshot sounded off as she used the recoil to gain even more downward momentum. Going into a spin, she brought the hammer down onto the Deathstalker's head and forced it onto the stalagmites it was standing over. Another blast for good measure and Nora was launched off the Deathstalker, landing in front of it.
The creature struck out with its pincers Nora, but it missed wildly. It's legs skittered against the ground, but they no longer had the strength to hold it up before eventually the light in its eyes went dull. Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora released the breath they'd been holding as Grimm slowly began to sublimate.
:X:
The trio quickly converged on the Deathstalker's body with Pyrrha first to speak up, "Where's Jaune!?"
"I don't know," said Ren, "I saw him get grabbed, but I wasn't fast enough to catch up."
"He has to be around her somewhere, Ren you look over there, Nora, there." They began to fan out, but there was no need as a few feet away in a taller patch of grass Jaune stumbled to his feet. His clothes were filthy, but other than that he was very much in one piece.
"Jaune!"
He took a step back as Pyrrha and Nora stopped short of his face with Ren bringing up the rear, "If you're all here then does that mean it worked?" The group split apart to show the Deathstalker over the ice and not moving. Relief washed over him followed by immediate satisfaction.
"Are you alright though!?" Nora blurted out before clamping her hands over her mouth. The group looked at her in surprise at her sudden outburst. "I mean...it grabbed you and then you blew up! How are you standing around like nothing happened!?"
Jaune turned to Pyrrha as she spoke, "She's right, Jaune. That sort of punishment would have maimed or even killed many other prospective Huntsmen."
"It was your Semblance, wasn't it?" The others turned to look at Ren before they all turned on Jaune curiosity burning in their eyes.
He took another step back and crossed his arms, "It was, but we have somewhere else to be right now, don't we?"
"Ruby's group!" Nora gasped, "We have to go see if they need help!"
"That's not what-"
"I agree," Pyrrha cut him off, "Jaune, can you track them?"
"Wait," said Ren, "Jaune's aura must be gone. Perhaps it would be best if he hung back and not risk permanent injury."
Pyrrha whipped back around, "Of course! I can't believe I forgot so easily. Jaune, I'll protect you so stick close to me. I'll take-"
Jaune cut her off, scowling, "I'm fine I don't need you 'protecting me.'" A light yellow shimmer ran across his body before it faded, "I'm low, I'll give you that, but I'm still far from helpless. Why don't you stay behind me and I'll lead the way. Now come on, they went in this direction."
"Oh! I didn't mean to imply…." But he was already moving. Pyrrha turned to the other's but neither had anything else to add besides a shrug from Nora.
Their pace was brisk as Jaune quickly picked up on the trail left behind by the other four girls. They had just come up to the edge of a decimated bridge to see Weiss pin the Nevermore's tail with ice before regrouping with the other three. It flapped its wings uselessly in front of a cliff face. Blake and Yang clung to two adjacent pillars and held a black band taught before Ruby launched herself at it and pulled it back.
Weiss formed a glyph behind Ruby and after a brief exchange launched Ruby at the Nevermore. Gunshot after gunshot rang out and Ruby used the momentum from her rifle and the help of more glyphs from Weiss as she ran up the cliff face, the Nevermore's neck in her scythe. She dragged the Grimm up the cliff before cresting at the top and cleaving its head off. Jaune soaked in every detail.