Jaune strode into the forest with the confidence of a man walking into his own home. He could feel the eyes on him turn away once the town left the range of his sight. There was no clamoring at the edges of his senses, no ceaseless activity made by man.
He took a deep breath of the clean air. It was different from the town. It was less cluttered, less full.
Jaune let his shoulders slump as he passed the tree line. Now, here? He was master here.
Jaune was most certainly out of place in the town. He could feel the eyes on him, mostly curious eyes watching a stranger in a strange land. Jaune supposed that it made sense, that the arrival of a huntsman was something to be curious about.
Jaune just wished they turned to team ARBN more than they turned to him. Maybe they did, and Jaune just didn't notice.
Jaune strode through the forest, about to dive into the dark woods and begin his great hunt.
"Jaune!" Arslan called, causing him to suddenly stop. "Are we not hunting together?"
Jaune blanked out for a moment. Oh right, he was hunting with people wasn't he? He turned to face team ARBN.
"Yes, I suppose we are." Jaune said slowly. "I will find and corral a pack to your position." Jaune decided, drawing out his bow.
Arslan blinked, not used to being the person who did not make the plan. "Wait, how will you find us?" Reese asked. If he was out in the middle of the woods, how could he find them?
"I will find you." Jaune said, before tilting his head. He listened to the woods. He listened to the breathing of the trees, listened to the living power of the forest.
The dream was windless, silent. There was no life there. It made for sharp ears to hear what did move there. And sharp ears jaune had grown.
He could hear something moving in the forest. Several things actually, each about a hundred pounds. Jaune spun, leaping into the forest.
"JAUNE!" Arslan yelled, reaching out to grab the ranger. But he was too quick, his cape blending into the dark forest beyond.
Bolin looked unimpressed. "Well, there goes our new found friend." He said, rolling his eyes. Arslan gave a nod. "Well…" She started "he did say he would be hunting. Perhaps he is a solo hunter?"
Bolin stared at the space where Jaune had disappeared to. "I would hope so."
Arslan couldn't help but agree.
Jaune dashed through the trees, scampering up into the low boughs of the oaks.
Jaunes armored boot deftly landed on a thick branch, stopping him on the tree. He leaned against the tree, listening to the pack as it moved. They meanandered at a slow and wandering pace.
Good. B said, smiling as he recalled the forest layout. We have the upper hand. We can approach and pick them at our leisure.
Jaune nodded, tilting his head. A followed the motion, searching for what Jaune was looking for. Team ARBN is to our left, twenty six meters away, at about a two hundred degree angle. . A noted. Give or take. Jaune considered the assessment, reevaluating the measurement.
You're off by three meters. They are twenty three meters away. Jaune corrected, drawing his bow. Good work on the angle though.
Jaune leapt off the branch, clambering and practically flying through the bramble. He circled around the grim, placing them between himself and team ARBN.
He looked at the pack of Grimm, a dozen or so Ursa's milling around. They didn't even notice the silent ranger crouching in the trees beyond them. "Oh wood, Oh bark, oh leaves of green, let those that seek me leave me be, let me disappear into dark, let me know they cannot see what they once could." He whispered, as the magic faded his image into the treeline and his soul melded into the forestry.
They did not notice as the ranger, hidden in the leaves, drew an arrow across his bow.
They did not notice as he lined up the shot, aiming to strike the terrible monster through the eyes.
They were blinded by the silence. They could not hear the ranger.
They could not hear their coming death.
The first ursa was utterly shocked when it felt the arrow break through its skull from the eye. It cried out, a short and deep shriek, cut off from its throat dissolving.
The rest of the bear grimm scattered, scampering away from the sudden death. They turned and circled, rapidly looking for what was hunting them.
It was a strange feeling for the grimm. It was not often that grimm were panicked. Not often was it that grimm were the hunted, instead of the hunter. It was a frightening experience for the soulless grimm. They stamped and trampled, turning and searching for a way to escape. One dashed off to the right, desperately trying to escape from the pack.
Jaune's head snapped to the break away, his bow shortly following the motion.
A whistling arrow shot forward, striking the Ursa in the leg, sending it tumbling. The second arrow found the spinal column, severing the monster's connection from the brain to the rest of its body.
The rest of the pack scrambled as Jaune started picking them off one by one. Only the oldest of them knew what was happening. The glowing ones had come for them.
The oldest Ursa roared, trying to regain control of the pack. If they found the glowing man, they could kill him.
But he must have been far away, if the ursa could not see him. The ursa began scouring the tree line, searching for the telltale smell of negativity. There was some scents a fair difference away. Too far to be the hunter shooting them.
The ursa gave another desperate growl, hoping to regain some semblance of control over the pack. Those closest turned to look at it, calming down that someone was taking control. Good. Perhaps there was hope
Jaune watched from his tree as one of the larger Ursa's began making noises, as though it were trying to command the grimm.
Jaune aimed his bow, drawing the string tight. That's our target. Jaune confirmed as the grimm began to slowly regain some composure.
Kill him now. That's the oldest grimm. B marked the grimm that was "speaking". A nodded, mimicking aiming a sniper rifle. That means it's the smartest, bucko.
"And it's the smart ones that are dangerous." Jaune whispered out loud, before closing his eyes and letting out a breath. "Dalu, guide my blade. Let it spill blood, let it still hearts. Let it fly true by let it smart." He muttered, letting the magic fall from his lips and onto the shaft of the dream born projectile.
Jaune let go, letting the enchanted arrow fly. Not that anyone could have, or would have noticed the prayer's magic. The arrow splintered into an infinite multitude of versions, scouring and searching the timelines in which the arrow struck true. Some missed, some hit but did not kill.
Almost a hundred it went through before the magic found what Jaune was looking for. The arrow flew forward through the crowd of ursa, striking the leading ursa in the throat. It gurgled as it felt its own blood pour down it's windpipe. It choked, the feeling of drowning overpowering the dissolving sensation, like it was turning to sand, that ment their doom.
Jaune watched in satisfaction as the grimm broke into another panic at the death of their rallying force.
There would be no moment for them to recover. No moment to rest. Jaune was Master of this hunt, and he wound not let his quarry rest, much less escape.
Another grimm broke off, dashing away from the desired direction that Jaune was hoping to herd them in. jaune shook his head in a disapproving manner. "No, no, no! You fool! You have only hasten your death!" Jaune cackled in a scolding manner. He shot the grimm, knocking it dead with a single blow.
The rest of the grimm ran away, in the opposite direction of which the last two arrows had come from. Jaune's eyes rolled up in relief. "About fucking time." He muttered, knocking another shaft onto the bowstring.
B nodded as Jaune started to move after the pack, ready to herd them back onto their path. Now is the time to see if ARBN was up to snuff. B said as they chased their quarry. Jaune assumed that they were, if everyone was roughly on the same level as Arslan.
Arslan stared at the spot where Jaune had disappeared into the forest. With a sigh, she started to march after him, muttering small curses under her breath. "Damn it, jaune. I should have expected that." She grumbled. Of course Jaune was a solo hunter. He had been on an exodus, whatever that meant, for at least a month. Probaby much much more than that. He had been, for the most part, alone on his hunts. Of course he would naturally go off on his own!
Bolin made a tisking sound. "What do we do now?" He said, his annoyance not hidden at all.
"We go after him." Arslan responded, as though that answer was obvious. Bolin took in a breath, as though he was holding in his exasperated anguish. "Of course," he sighed. "We go after the stranger, who just dashed off into the forest for no reason."
Reese flicked her pistols, the slight green glowing from the clips denoting the wind rounds loaded in. "He did say he would corral the grimm to our location." Reese said as she looked over her firearms. "So maybe we should, you know, wait here for grimm? Or don't move that far?" the skater suggested.
Arslan would have considered that, if she had known jaunes capacity as a hunter and a ranger. She didn't doubt that Jaune was at least moderately skilled in the hunt, but was unaware of his actual reliability. She had only known him for a day or so. "A fine idea." Arslan admitted. "If I knew what Jaune was capable of, I would take that advice."
Nadir nodded. "But because we don't know, we aren't taking that chance?" he confirmed. Arslan gave him a nod.
"Great." he sighed, anxiously shouldering his rifle. "You know what? I-i like Reese's i-idea. Let's stay here." He quipped with only a small stutter.
Arslan raised an eyebrow at him, but smiled none the less. Well, Arslan thought, At least he is trying. That was good for him.
She set off into the forest, hoping that she could find Jaune before he got into too much trouble.
He's probably ok. Arslan thought, recalling how he fought the last time she saw him in action. He fought like a second year, or perhaps even a third year.
Reese looked around, her fingers resting on the trigger of her pistols. "Can't you use your super smell or your semblance to find him?" She asked, glancing around for any sign of the ranger. Arslan sighed, shaking her head. "My semblance has a limited range, which he is beyond at this point. And my nose isn't that good." Arslan responded.
Reese rolled her eyes. "Coming from the person who can tell what we have in the fridge from the next room over." She muttered. Arslan rolled her eyes in return, scanning the forest for any signs of Jaune.
"Reese!" Arslan called out, her single word already conveying what she wanted out of the skater. Reese threw her pistols, locked together into her hoverboard, at the ground. She skated forward, gliding gracefully through the trees. The skater did not make it far before she was halted by a scrambling pack of Ursa's.
"Nope, nope nope nope, not going there." Reese said, quickly turning around and back tracking. "JAUNE SUCCEEDED!" She yelled back, desperately accelerating to get out of the range of the pack of grimm. "HE FUCKING SUCCEEDED! URSA'S IBMOUND!"
Arslan's eyes widened as Reese came back from the forest, dipping her board for her pistols. The four assumed a basic formation. Arslan and Bolin in front, Reese and Nadir in the back. Nadir shouldered his rifle, aiming down sights at the forest. A crashing sound came from in front as the pack of Ursa burst forward. Nadir opened fired upon the grimm, triggering the rest of team ARBN to engage. Bolin danced through the grimm, his staff slamming and bashing the grimm that surrounded him. He flowed like water through the grimm, ducking and weaving past them like a stream. Fitting for his blue theme.
Arslan took a different approach, instead letting the tidal wave of grimm break upon her like a river upon the mountain. Her fist slammed into the grimm, knocking it down to the side. It skidded off the ground, landing in front of Reese. Reese leveled her pistol at the grimm's face and shot it twice. The gun flicked up to the horde, as she unloaded the rest of her clip into the tanky grimm.
Reese started to skirt to the side, flanking the pack's left side. She aimed her loaded pistol at the side pack, using the cover fire as a chance to load her right sidearm. The Trurman K-IV Blaze round mag, denoted by the Truman Firearms company logo in red. Below the logo the words K-IV, and a small fire symbol with a circle around the bottom of it sat, emblazoned in that bright fire dust glowing red color.
Reese aimed, hoping to set the pack ablaze with the incendiary explosive rounds. Then she saw that Bolin was in the thick of it. Well within the blast radius of the dust packed rounds. Reese grumbled, backing up as a normal clip of ammo replaced the specialty rounds. Bolin spun, his staff whirling around like a whirlpool. It struck one of the monstrous bears in the head, sending the creature reeling. Bolin capitalized on the stunning strike, giving it a firm kick to the ribs. It wheezed as the aura infused blow struck it. He saw Arslan punch a grimm in the face, shattering the bone plating with her burning fists. He let out a sigh as he gazed at his closest friend. She truly was beautiful, contained and calm. Never wavering or argumentative. Her hair flowed through the wind, as gentle as she was.
Arslan pulsed her semblance, getting a feel for the battle field. She saw Bolin's aura surrounded by the dark holes of the grimm. One of the silhouettes raised a paw, ready to strike
She dashed towards him, hoping to intercept the blow and save her teammate. Her aura infused forearm rose up in an overhead block. The massive claw slammed down on her aura. She could feel the dip in her aura, as it flashes bright orange.
Bolin thrust his staff out, knocking the grimm up in the jaw. Arslan saw the opening that Bolin had provided, and slammed a blazing fist into the ribcage of the bear. Her fist buried itself into the carcass, all the way up to her elbow. With a wrenching motion, she ripped out the Ursa's heart from the ribs.
A little overly brutal? Yes, probably. But it was also very, very effective at rendering that particular grimm a non threat.
A grating burst of loud gunfire sparked Arslan's attention. The sound of Nadir's rifle was a distinctive one, due to its unique form factor. Most hunters and huntressess used mechashift weaponry, like Reese's pistols. Nadir, however, used a full forged rifle. No shifting parts beyond the trigger and gas chambers. Very unlike the modern hunter. The reason behind the unique sound of Nadir's fire was that the barrels of most all mechashift weapons were segmented, as they were too long to be kept in one piece. One huge problem for mechashift in their early days was that these segmented barrels would let the exploded dust gas, the propelling force of the bullet, escape the metal tube through the segmentations. That was until someone, namely a gunsmith of the name Sebastian Cortez, had the ingenious idea of putting what was essentially a condom on the inside of the barrel. It wasn't really a condom, but closer to a flexible tempered thin rubber tube.
So essentially a gun condom. A gundom it you will.
Nadir pondered this as he listened to his AK-42 fire off round after round. It was different from the other weapons he heard. He knew the reason: That rubber tube bounced the gas from the bullet around differently, giving it a more acoustic sound. It sounded more like a rubber band being sprung than Nadir's harsher, more simple and rubber lacking rifle.
He knew why it sounded different than everyone else's.
He pivoted, crouching behind the slowly dissolving corpse of an ursa that Arslan had snapped some important part of and thrown behind her. He would have to thank her for the temporary cover later. He pulled the trigger again, the gun clicking empty. I lost count. He thought, quickly trading out mags. I should not have done that. I should not have done that at all. He went over as the metal alloy rectangle clicked into place.
He pulled the trigger again, the rifle kicked back to life. A clear booming cannon heralding death to everything that dared stand in front of it. Nadir looked down his iron sights, seeing that ARBN was doing their part in tearing the pack apart. There were only a few Ursa left in the pack, and they were being dealt with. Nadir Shot at one that dared to lumber towards Reese, who was running around on the flanks like the wind. The rounds impacted, punching holes into the Ursa's side. It fell over, bleeding out it's thick black ooze that it called blood. Nadir scanned the battlefield, looking for an enemy that was not being dealt with by Arslan or Bolin. That seems to be all of them. He thought as he watched Arslan crunch one of the Ursa's skulls in between her clenched hands. Like a coconut.
Nadir shuddered, real confused as to what Bolin, or anyone really, saw in Arslan. She was a fine human being, sure. But he didn't understand the whole "I want her to step on me" vibe that people seemed to be obsessed with.
He didn't understand a lot of things about the "vibe", as Sun called it. To be honest, he didn't understand the "vibe" at all. Why did there have to be a "vibe"?
What was the "vibe" anyway? Was it the appeal of companionship? Was it the appeal of the flesh? Was it-
GROWL.
Nadir froze, his blood turning to ice
That was not a good sound to hear from behind you. Arslan spun around when she heard that sound, her eyes wide with panic. A towering Ursa rose onto its hind legs, looming over the pink haired hunter. Reese leveled her guns, about to shoot the ursa away from her friend.
There was a flash of frosty silver as something whistled past Nadir's head. An arrow materialized itself within the Grimm's chest, burying deep into the hide. There was a soft twanging sound, a rapid following of four snappings followed. Another four frosty silver sparks followed, landing in a perfect arc in the threatening grimm. The grimm swayed, it's growl dying into a confused grunt as it fell backwards. The four of them stared at the fallen grimm. There was a soft fwuft sound as a grey cloaked figure fell from the trees. Jaune looked around at the handiwork, before turning to Nadir. "Are you alright?" He asked, his voice seemingly unmuffled by the wooden mask.
Nadir gave a shaky nod. "Was-was that you?" He asked, nodding to the arrows. Jaune gave a silent single nod, slow and almost a bow to the gunman.
"Thank you." Nadir gulped, giving a side ways glance to the precise bowshots.
Jaune walked over to the corpse, looking down at the spread of his arrows. Not that anyone could see it, but was frowning at the arrow placement. That is… interesting. Jaune thought as he gazed at the semi circle carved out in arrows.
B agreed, crossing his metaphysical arms and squinting at the cluster. I don't think that is how we shot those at all.
We didn't. Jaune agreed. We were aiming for the chest, but arrows don't fly like that. Jaune crouched down, gingerly touching the wood shafts, as though they might dissolve. It did not, but rather remained sturdy. Jaune pulled them out, one by one and wiped the dissolving gunk off on his cloak. That is not natural. Not at all.
Jaune turned to Nadir, about to ask him about it. He saw that Nadir had already skittered away to the safety of Arslan and Reese.
It can wait. A said, watching the grimm dissolve still. There are more important things to do.
Jaune raised an eyebrow at his brain renter. Like food?
A nodded vigorously. Of course. I saw a cute bakery on our way out, and I've been craving a cannoli.
Jaune nodded, considering the suggestion. You know, going to a bakery does not sound like a bad idea. The ranger admitted. He had forgotten what a bakery smelled like. He knew that they sold breads of various forms.
Arslan looked at the handy work they did. "For such a small town, that should be all the grimm within the area." She said, as though asking the group to confirm. Jaune just mentally shrugged.
I dunno. What is the standard ratio for a per capita? Jaune asked his tenants.
B shrugged. You are using per capita as a unit of measurement. He said.
A made a confused expression at that. You mean it's not? He asked with a head tilt. B shook his head.
Nope. he continued. Per capita is a designation of measurement, but not a unit. Like per capita of ten versus per capita of a thousand. I think the standard is one?
Jaune nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." He muttered, moving to scratch at his chin.
Reese turned around to the sedentary Ranger. "YO, Jaune! We're heading back!" Jaune jolted at his name being called, his head snapping to look at the skater. Reese almost flinched as the mask stared at her. It was really weird, knowing that someone was behind that mask, but not really being able to see it.
Even with the mask off, it felt like she was looking at a slightly grumpy wax statue rather than an actual human face. It didn't seem to move the way most people did, or should.
She wondered just exactly who he was. He had mentioned being on an exodus to Arslan, and that he was a hunter going to Haven now, but was at Beacon.
He used swords, and apparently a bow? Not an uncommon combination, but very, very medieval style. He was about two hundred and thirty something years stuck in the past. It was like she was looking at a walking museum exhibit. Jaune started to move, his armor, which should have made at least a small clinking sound, moving silently along the forest floor. Reese looked at his feet, squinting at them. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn that the leaves under his feet were having the color leached out of them.
Reese shook her head. She would mention it to Arslan later, out of his earshot.
Jaune nodded, walking towards them with a strong stride. "Good. I have things to do."
Bolin made a choked look. "What things does he have to do?" Bolin asked, in a hushed whisper. Reese shrugged, not entirely sure if she wanted to find out.
Oh my god this was so hard to write. I'm not sure why, but this chapter is really short and was a slog to get through. But I needed to get a chapter out soon and this and the next chapter are honesty filler until Jaune get's picked up
Anyway, chapter notes:
We see ARBN's fight as a complete team in a fight, a long with how Jaune approaches a fight, when he is left to his own devices. We have also seen everyone's semblance, except Reese's. We also see where each team member prefers or ends up being, and how they approach battles.
I tried, i really tried, to give a hint to Bolin's character. the chapter i get rid of him, i will have a character analysis at the notes, but that hasn't happened yet. We also see another hint of Nadir's character, and I'm pretty sure some characterization on everyone, and most everyone's viewpoints.
As always, please leave a comment. What you think of the story, constructive critism, what you think will happen, what you think should happen, character arcs and plot points that would be cool.
Someone mentioned bringing blake into the story, considering these implications that are now there with team RWBY, which is a fantastic idea that won't quite come into play, but jaune and blake will meet again at beacon.
Anyway, I will see you all sometime soon? i guess?