Chapter 5: Small Talk and Big Problems
It was certainly shaping up to be one of Steven's worst morning in recent memory."Steven! Let's go! It's a few hours back to the warp pad and you absolutely cannot be here when it arrives. We'll deal with you once we make it back to the temple." "Wait, when what arrives?" Steven asked. "I'm sure Pearl will explain on the way back," Amethyst said casually, "you know she never misses a chance to show off her big head...I mean brain." Amethyst broke out laughing. Pearl looked outraged, but Garnet held up a hand. "Now is really not the time Amethyst," she said. Steven, bags all packed, stepped through the massive hole where the door had been moments ago. "Wait!" Ruby called to the leaving group. "We'll come with you, as a guide." "Thanks, but we can do this ourselves," Garnet replied. Steven looked up at her. "Garnet, please let them come with us. In fact, I bet they could help on your mission!" "Well Steven," Pearl said, "it's just that we're trained warriors and this group doesn't seem to be the most...mature." She gestured at Yang, who was currently tickling Blake with one hand and pillow fighting Zwei with the other. "But they are warriors!" Steven argued. Garnet thought for a moment. Not wanting to waste any time arguing, she agreed. "Okay, they can escort us. But we leave them behind as soon as they start to slow us down." Ruby looked extremely pleased. "That's all we need. Let's move out Team RWBY!" Behind her, Weiss, Blake and Yang had all somehow gotten fully dressed with their weapons already to go. "Alright! RWBY and the Crystal Gems, move out!" Steven commanded excitedly.
About ten minutes later, the party of nine (Ruby and Sapphire) had just reached the edge of the Emerald Forest. It had been mostly quiet, and any sort of banter was confined to the predetermined groups. Even though it was a beautiful day with a bright and shining sun, there seemed to be an air of urgency and impending doom. "So Pearl, what exactly is the mission here?" Steven asked. "Well, Steven. We discovered that a long time ago, a gem shard somehow landed in this very world. It couldn't produce it's own body, but what it can do is take over the bodies of other creatures. It appears to have taken over the body of some of the local, uhh..." Pearl was at a loss for words to describe those horrible monsters they'd spent all day fighting. "They're called Grimm," Steven provided helpfully. "Grimm," Pearl continued, not losing her stride. "So, normally this would be no concern of ours. But then we looked closer, and we noticed something. The creature was steadily getting more and more massive, and we eventually discovered that it could absorb other...Grimm, in order to strengthen its own body! Now, obviously if home world ever found out that such a creature exists, they'd be quite keen to get their hands on it to use as a massive weapon. So, we have to find this creature, poof it, and bubble it before that happens. This is the sort of thing that Rose would have dreaded: a creature who uses others for its own needs. Even if they are considered to be evil, Rose always believed that every living thing has its beauty..." Pearl rambled on and on, now talking more to herself than Steven.
Behind her, Amethyst was doing her crude impression of Pearl ranting, which caused Yang to break out into a fit of giggles. "Wait, wait, wait, watch this one," Amethyst said. She used her hands and mouth to make a fart noise every time Pearl said her own name. And because she was telling Steven a story about her and Rose, this happened fairly often. "And so," Pearl continued, "Rose said to me "Pearl, *Blarp*... I need you to keep look out while I recover." Of course I agreed, because I knew Rose would only entrust this task to someone she trusted, like her Pearl *Blarp*!" Pearl finally turned around furiously. "Amethyst! For once, could you please keep your anointing behaviour to yourself?" Unfortunately. Amethyst and Yang were laughing far too hard to bother paying any attention to Pearl's scolding. "Yang, please! You are embarrassing me in front of our distinguished guests!" Weiss scowled as she looked at the pair, still laughing. "Oh, umm, distinguished you say?" Pearl said in that voice used when someone's flattered and they pretend not to be. Weiss nodded. "But of course! It's obvious by the way you hold yourself that you, at least, are a gem of, let's see... social grace?" "Oh stop," Pearl said in a dismissive but not really sort of way, waving her hand nonchalantly. She dropped back so that she was right beside Weiss, and the two began discussing the effectiveness of combat skirts.
At the very front of the pack, Blake had ended up walking beside Garnet. "We should be there in an hour," Blake said. "Yes we will," Garnet replied, and the two continued on in silence. Then out of nowhere, a pack of Beowolves suddenly sprang up in front of the group. "Uh oh," Ruby said. "Gems, move!" Garnet shouted. She immediately ran up to the nearest Beowolf and clocked it right on the noggin. Amethyst followed up by spin dashing into the weakened wolf in such a Sonic like manner that the Beowolf exploded from pure 90s nostalgia. Pearl meanwhile weaved gracefully through the pack, hacking and slashing as she went along. Steven saw a Beowolf lunge at her from behind, so he quickly dove in front of it with his shield. Its head with such force that his skull fractured and he ceased to live. Not wanting to look like pacifists, Ruby commanded her team to spring into action. As she whipped out Crescent Rose, she remembered how she thought her team would need Pogo sticks to accurately follow that command. Smiling, she lined up the remaining Beowolves in her scope and open fired. One by one they fell, a blast straight through the head.
Unfortunately, all the commotion had caught the attention of a four Ursi. "Team RWBY, Ursi!" Ruby shouted. Her teammates quickly shifted their attention from the almost defeated Beowolf hoard to the oncoming bear like giants. Yang lead the charge, plowing into the first Ursa and repeatedly giving it the old one two combo. The bear was helpless against the constant barrage of gauntlet and dust blast, and soon Yang was standing victorious on its corpse. Meanwhile, Blake had two Ursi lunge at her at the same time. However, she'd tricked them with a semblance clone and they ploughed into one another. While they were dazed, Blake finished them off with a few quick strikes from Gambol Shroud. Finally, there was only one Ursa left, and Weiss was facing it off, waiting for it to charge. It did, and Weiss smiled as she selected her dust type on Mytenaster. Just as the oncoming Grimm swiped at her, Weiss quickly side stepped and slashed the monster's back before letting loose a blast of fire dust. The monster, however, remained standing, if a little banged up. "Urgh, fine," Weiss said, mildly annoyed. Surrounding the creature with glyphs, Weiss speedily lunged from one to the other, hacking at the Ursa with each pass. She went in for one final strike. With everything she could must, Weisss brought her rapier down so hard she cut the Ursa completely in half. Panting slightly, her and the rest of team RWBY smiled as they admired their handy work before turning back to look at the Gems.
The Gems were just standing their, mouths completely agape at the level of combat these four girls had displayed. Even Steven, who'd been hearing of their heroic exploits all of yesterday, stood in amazement. "Well, uh, should we keep moving?" Ruby asked innocently. Her team nodded, and they resumed their march to the warp pad. The Crystal Gems, still in a slight daze, ran to catch up with them. The group continued in silence for a few minutes. "See, I told you they're good fighters," Steven said, partly to the Gems and partly to himself. "Ah, shucks," Yang said, pretending to blush, "thanks, little man. It was nothing." "No. Your technique with your Gauntlets is quite extraordinary. Especially for someone your age," Garnet said. She walked a little faster to catch up with Yang, and the two began discussing various combos and strategy when using gauntlets. Pearl, meanwhile, had once again started walking beside Weiss, trying to control her enthusiasm for her fighting style. "It's just so, elegant. It's more like your dancing than fighting," she exclaimed, gushing slightly. Weiss, pleased that someone finally appreciated her delicate fighting style, was more than happy to drone on and on about it.
The group continued to make this kind of conversation right up until they finally made it to the clearing. "Well, here we are. Come on Steven, we don't have much time left," Pearl said, almost begrudgingly. "Well, we'll be back momentarily," Garnet said, "and Steven, you can come back as soon as we've poofed the monster. Steven smiled as the Gems stepped onto the warp pad. "Wait! You forgot your duffle!" Yang called, as she'd been carrying it for him. "Oh right!" Steven said. He quickly stepped off the warp pad and ran to grab his bag.
All of a sudden, a deafening shriek was heard. Over head, a giant shadow appeared and covered the clearing. "STEVEN! LOOK OUT!" Pearl screamed. Flying over top of them was the Crystal Grimm they'd been waiting for. It was huge, with wings the size of a bridge. It's body looked similar to that of a Beowolf, and it appeared to have two heads as well as a giant stinger on its backside. Before the Gems could react, the monster let loose a monster ball of fire right at the warp pad. "Guys!" Steven cried. He ran to protect them with his shield. But before he could, the ball blasted the ruin, completely covering the warp pad in flames. Without hesitation, Steven activated his bubble and he rolled into the flames. When he reached what remained of the warp pad, he saw that all four Gems had reverted back to their gemstones. Steven reached his hand and grabbed them. However, he was badly burned in the process and almost lost control of his bubble. He quickly rolled out and collapsed on the ground, gems in hand. "Quick!" shouted Weiss, "we've got to move!" "This way!" Yang shouted back. The small party ran as fast they could while keeping out of sight of the circling Goliath. They eventually made it to the cave that had once housed a certain death-stalker. But before they could get inside, the Crystal Grimm spotted them. It immediately flew towards them with the speed of an arrow. "Inside, quick!" Steven shouted. The group dove inside, just as the monster reached them. But because it was unable to change direction quick enough, it slammed into the top of the cliff. This brought several tonnes of boulder crashing down, completely blocking the cave entrance.
Too tired to care at the moment, Weiss, Steven, Yang, Blake and Ruby all fell down around a dim source of light from a hole in the cave, completely exhausted.
Author's Note:
I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to feel a little burnt out. That's not to say that I've run out of ideas, because I know exactly where this story is going. However, I don't think I'll be able to keep uploading a new chapter everyday. So as of this, I'm going to start releasing the next part every other day. As always, thank you to all my beautiful followers for supporting this strange crossover. Stay fabulous!