Jaune and Tyrian were still gazing at Jaune's arm, trying to figure out what in the world was happening.
I don't think that's normal. A gulped, shaking his head. We're not supposed to be rainbow flavored, are we?
Not normally. Jaune responded, giving his arm an experimental poke. It was indeed his arm that was bleeding stardust. Jaune ran a hand over it, forcing the blood to scab like basalt and the skin to knit with magic.
"Why don't we just forget about that and get back to fighting?" Jaune offered. Tyrian considered it, before nodding. The two squared off again, both halves of Krabkracker in Jaune's hands. It was Tyrian that moved first, the slightest shift in his leg spurring them into combat. The ranger dashed forward, slamming the two hefty blades at his mad foe. Tyrian dipped past it, but the action only invited Jaune to advance his aggression. An overhead chop closed the distance again, forcing a block out of the scorpion. The tail darted forward, bashing into the ranger's shoulder. The armor dented, but it held. The chosen response was another heavy handed swing, dipping his body low. Tyrian rolled over Jaune's shoulder, landing behind the ranger. With a quick kick to the knee Jaune was knocked down. He crumpled, collapsing into a kneeling position. The wrist mounted blade swung at his neck, aiming for the exposed gap between Jaune's breastplate and the line of his mask.
When had he put that on? Tyrian briefly thought to himself, but dismissed it as unimportant. The man bled Dust and breathed fire, he had other things to worry about. Like killing this hunter here and now. The circular blade swung with the aim to decapitate the blonde.
Jaune flicked his head, shooting a pillar of stone roughly the thickness of a soda can shooting from the ground. It created a stalwart physical barrier against Jaune's neck, stubbornly preventing his decapitation. Jaune clicked together the two halves of Krabkracker, forming the massive bladed edge that was the behemoth slayer. He whirled it in a blind swing behind him, warding away the mad attacker. The ranger flew to his feet, a low sloping stance with the massive blade looming over his shoulder. There was a shift in the air as Jaune started to bring forth the full might of the dreaming powers. The air became burned with a rather unnatural feeling, akin, but not quite ozone.
Tyrian, being not one to sit around when he could be ripping apart the innocent, darted forward, in full confidence that that big old sword would make the ranger rather slow. He was stunned when a crackle of electricity sent Jaune flying into the engagement, a wide sweep slamming into the scorpions side. The two forced themselves forward, clashing in a shower of sparks. Leap after leap they bounced upon each other, clashing over and over again. The imbued aspect of arc amplified the ranger to be on an equal level to the most strained efforts of Tyrian Callows. The scorpion hacked at the ranger as best he could, a particularly hard right rook taking out a chunk out of Jaune's mask. He was winding up for the follow up when a deafening crack split the air. A gunshot, one of particularly heavy caliber, ripped through the remainder of Tyrian's aura, shattered past his weapons, and tore through the flesh contained in the wrist. The two fighters' heads snapped towards the source. A man draped in moonlight, a long rifle shining brightly against the night sky. Jaune's face brightened at the sight of the man. With a grunt, he bodychecked Tyrian and dipped towards his teacher.
"Doctor Cortez!" He called out relieved. 'I am glad you came."
The gunslinger growled as he slid down to the graveled arena. "And I am pissed beyond all fucking belief that I have to be here!" He snapped, pulling out his revolver.
Tyrian cackled, excited at the prospect of having the privilege of killing the one and only Sebastian Cortez. "My, my, the goddess really is blessing me today. I get a fine young man who can go toe to toe to kill, I off some unfortunate innocent student, and I get to rip the living legend into pieces?"
Dr. Cortez gave him a level, disappointed look. "Nah, man." he just said, leveling the firearm at him. Two quick shots battered into the mad faunus, only barely blocking it with his bracers. "I, unfortunately, have dumb ass students to take care off." He turned to glare at Jaune. "You had one job." He hissed at him, about to chastise the ranger further. The advance of an impatient foe put that on pause. Tyrian had decided to re-engage the two, both blades aiming for a vertical bisection. Krabkracker was thrust between them, blocking the attack.
"Thank you, Jaune." Dr. Cortez said, pulling out some dual double barrel flintlock looking firearms. "But I will be taking it from here." He leveled both at his assault, the firecracker sound jolting what few animals remained in the trees. Tyrian jumped back, letting the shotgun blast send the gravel scattering. Cortez pressed some buttons on the handle, triggering two spring loaded bayonets on the end of his weapons. He advanced calmly towards Tyrian. The scorpion faunus charged in a zagging style that made it hard for even Jaune to guess where the strike was going. He sprung up on the left, wrist blades held high. Dr. Cortez just shot his foot out to catch him in the gut. Then the bladed edge of the gun was swung at Tyrian's face in a backhanded motion. The katars? Jaune was going to call them katars, but he wasn't sure if that was the correct term. Anyway, the katars were forced to block the bayonet lest they deal damage to the vital area known as the human neck. The two blades clashed, sending a small shower of sparks across the gravel. The gunslinger wasn't quite done with the engagement yet, using the other shotgun for its intended purpose of punching fist sized holes in people. The shot staggered Tyrian, his purple aura flashing as it took the blow. Sebastian seemed a little surprised. "Your aura regenerates rather quickly." He noted, take a shot at Tyrian's face with the other firearm. He managed to just barely duck it, and caught the left side bayonet to the chest. The two disengaged as the submachine gun fire made some space between them.
"Can we hurry this up?" Sebastian asked, his right eye blinking. "I've only another 45 seconds, and you're starting to bore me."
Tyrian snarled, embittered by the mid combat bicker. he lunged at Cortez. His tail struct downwards, breaking the teacher's guard. The twin katars impaled Sebastian in his ribs, firmly sticking him in melee with the madman. Jaune could hear the grunt that came from his teacher as he was practically carried away with the running charge.
Not to be outdone, however, Sebastian had a trick up his sleeve. Several, actually, as one doesn't get a bounty that was roughly equivalent to the annual GDP of Atlas, without a couple back up plans. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pointed a semi automatic pistol at the man's temple and opened fire. The rhythmic cycle of auto fire pelted his aura to the breaking point, forcing an action that was not simply trying to run the gunslinger over. With a shove Sebastian was forced to the ground. Tyrian fell on top of him, making sure that the gun gripping hand couldn't aim at him. The other hand was dedicated to trying to punch the huntsman's lights out. Trying the operative term, because Sebastian Cortez had apparently changed his name to Muhamed Ali, because his head was bobbing and weaving like his life depended on it. Which it most likely did. The gravel scattered as Tyrian punched it. Jaune moved forward instinctively, already brandishing his massive metal brick on a stick and was ready to backhand Tyrian off of his teacher and into the stratosphere like was playing Super Smash Brothers. And Brother, he was going to be a Gannondorf main through and through. A cold glare from his teacher stopped him in his tracks.
It looks like he's got this covered. A thought, leaning away from the sunbleached teacher.
"Ohh, now I've caught myself a poor little fly, huh?" He cackled, gloating to the teacher. "Shame you're not escaping. Just like that old team of yours. Funny, isn't it? It's almost like Fate decided that you already escaped once, and that was one time too many!"
Dr. Cortez clenched his jaw, cold and level eyes looking up at the mad scorpion. Tyrian continued talking.
"After all, its about the same, isn't it? Funny how the wheel goes around and round? Looping so that the same sinners see the same sins.A wave so large that the fish can't even hope to swim it, nor let it pass so. Such a pity, that you're going to end here. A dead man who escaped his grave five years ago."
Dr. Cortez made a tisking noise, clacking his teeth. He held his free hand up to Tyrian's stomach. With a snap of his fingers, the gunslingers' semblance activated. It looked like the mad scorpion was sucker punched by the sudden jolt he made. With the wind knocked out of him and the sonic blast stunning him, he just kind of slumped onto the ground. Dr. Cortez picked himself up, taking a moment to compose himself. He grabbed Tyrian by his cuffs, lifting him up.
"Tell me, what do you mean?" Sebastian growled. Tyrian just laughed in his face, the small chuckle rolling into a whole body shaking a rancorous roar. "The goddess will consume all." He managed to get out, as though it were the punchline of some great joke. Sebastian rolled his eyes, not at all surprised at the unusable answer. He gave Tyrian a threatening shake, hoping to put a sense of seriousness into his foe. Tyrian's head shook like a rag doll, oscillating to refocus on Sebastian's harsh gaze. His laughter died out slowly, a smugness to the intervals between chuckles, as though there was assurance that he was protected.
Sebastian tightened his grip on the man. "What do you mean?" One could have called him insane, by the usual saying that's thrown around. Doing the same thing and expecting different results. Tyrian, of course, just cackled again.
"I told you once already. THe goddess's will will consume you all. This town, this mountain, your students. Everyone. Everything. It is all for the goddess to rip into shreds." He smiled toothily. Dr. Cortez gave him a hard glare.
"Since you've decided to waste both your words and my time, I don't suppose you'll be needing this." He said as he let out a pulse of air through his nose. His fist slammed into the wide eyed man's face, cracking his sickly purple aura. His head snapped back like a crash test dummy, bouncing once it hit the maximum range of rotation that was found in the human neck bones. The second punch broke through Tyrian's front teeth, sending a shattering effect through the purple aura and a pulse through the sandy yellow one of Dr. Cortez. The scorpion tail shot forward to stab the gunslinger, but it only bounced against his aura and hardened leathers.
"For a man that talks so much, you really aren't very useful." He proclaimed, coldly. His victim tried to say something through the fist in his mouth, but it was unintelligible. "If your begging for mercy, you're a little late." His foot raised, pressing itself against Tyrian's chest.
"I'll be taking this now, Mr. Callows." The gunslinger simply said, like he was picking up a wheelbarrow from a neighbor. The foot pushed forward, pulling away Tyrian from Sebastian's hand. There was a steady glow of yellow aura as the man with a whole ass fist in his mouth bit down, trying to disengage as best he could in his position. WIth a mighty shove, Tryian was forced to the ground. Jaune saw the sight before he heard the sound. A kind of wet ripping sound squelched through the midnight air, making lesser stomachs hurl. Tyrian, with blood gushing down his chin, looked up at what the blond gunslinger held in his hand.
A fleshy bit of dripping red. One ripped straight from the scorpion's mouth.
"My thong! Yuou whipped out my thong!" Tyrian sputtered through the blood, outraged and horrified and shocked at the same time. Sebastian Cortez looked at the thing in his hand with disgust, throwing it to the ground. Reaching under his coat, he pulled out one of his chest holstered pistols.
"Now, you go run back to your goddess and tell her that she can suck my cock and take her immortal ass and die in the ditch whence she came. Scram, before I take mercy on you and give you a superfluous asshole in the middle of your forehead."
Tyrian did the smart thing and scampered away, tripping over his own blood stained stones as he disappeared into the crevices of the mountain. Jaune, seeing that it was relatively clear, strode up to his teacher.
"WHo was that?"
"Tyrian Callows." The gunslinger responded, reloading his spent firearms. "A high ranked serial killer that specializes in Huntsmen in particular. He has a flee on sight order on his bounty. A cool 22 billion Lien paycheck attached to his head. It gets bigger if the rest of his body is attached. One of the few people that has a bounty bigger than my own" Although, I'll admit, that felt a little too easy… Dr. Cortez squinted, suspicious that something wasn't quite right. Eh, the feeling would pass. He hoped.
"Why didn't you kill him?" He asked, glaring at the place where Bolin's assassin disappeared too.
Damn, 22 billion is a lot of money. A thought. We could buy a house in downtown vale with that kind of cash. Hell, in this economy we might even be able to buy two!
B was slightly focused on other things. How big is his bounty then? And why exactly does he have a bounty for? It's under 22 billion, with a b, dollars. But he said that that was one of the few above his own…
Dr. Cortez pulled out his scroll, flicking it open. Jaune raised his eyebrow, curious as to what was happening. There was a radar app on screen, with a little green dot moving away from the center. It eventually vanished off the screen.
"I took the liberty of putting a small tracker on him. It doesn't have great range, but it will send out a long range message log once it dies of all it's data. Plus, gives us a heads up when he gets close." The teacher explained, before turning to look at his unconscious student.
"How is he?"
"Stable." Jaune said, looking down at his handiwork. "For the most part. I did what I could to heal him, but venom has never been my strong suite." The ranger admitted, scratching the back of head a little sheepishly. Dr. Cortez just waved him off.
'Yeah, yeah, you can't be good at everything." He drawled as he picked up Bolin by his shoulders. "Now help me get him back to the inn so I can chew out the both of you."
Jaune was about to counter argue, but let it drop. He dutifully picked up Bolins feet, and started to carry him back. The three of them were greeting with a concerning scene. Somewhere along the line, Jaune just decided to pick up Bolin in his entirety, carrying him like a backpack. He protested slightly, but really wasn't in a position to argue. He still had a golf ball sized hole in his stomach after all. The rest of team AMBR was standing at the door looking like . Dr. Cortez gave them a very concerned look.
"What is it now?" He deadpanned, looking rather tired. Jaune thought he looked one bad messenger away to screaming. Team ABRN gave quick glances to each other, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. Reese eventually spoke up.
"So, you promise not to be mad at us?" She said, batting her eyes innocently. The scowl that Dr. Cortez gave her would have shaken a lesser man.
"If team Sun decided it was a good idea to take a midnight stroll, I am going to cripple them." He growled, looking to the heavens for some moral support. Whatever god up there clearly wasn't cheering for the ten man team, as nothing of particular notice happened. "Hit me with it."
Nadir started wringing his fingers together. "Well, the dude we brought back woke up, and wasn't really all that coherent, so he was mumbling and cutting himself off. But he really wanted to tell us something. He was very adamant that we listen to him. But we really couldn't understand him, if we did we would have called you-"
Reese let out a huff, putting a hand on Nadir's shoulder. He flinched, jumping at the contant. "Nadir, get to the point please. We're kind of on a time crunch." She reminded him.
"Right, anyway-"
"We have a shit tonne of nasty beasties heading our way." Reese finished for him. Nadir looked at her with a pursed mouth.
"I was getting there." Nadir said, crossing his arms. Reese just waved him off. Sebastian groaned, his hand running through his hair. "Fuuuu- ok. If you tell me that you're lying, and I will only, only give you several years of detention."
Arslan shook her head. "Sorry professor." She sighed. "But we're not joking. Our unfortunate friend upstairs told us about a large pack of Grimm coming in from the north."
Dr. Cortez closed his eyes. "Fuck." He grunted under his breath. "Fuck." He said, his head bouncing with the word. "Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!" The last one practically yelled. "God fucking damn it!" he cursed. Shaking his head, probably suddenly remembering that he was a teacher, and had students looking to him for command. "Ok. this is what we are going to do." he said after collecting himself. The students learned to listen, hoping that he had an actual plan that whatever they had formulated in their heads.
"This mission has gone from really fucking bad to infinity fucking worse." His words were solemn and serious. "And we are going to get full details and make a full battleplan tomorrow morning, but it will likely be something along the lines of calling for help and holding up somewhere defensible." He said, before straightening up. "Alright, now go to bed. Get some sleep. Everyone will be needing it." As they left, Jaune could hear his teacher mutter under his breath. "Of course, Of fucking course the migration comes early. The one time I think it will be safe, we run into a flee on sight warrant. And now the Migration comes early.. I fully blame Crow." He paused for a moment, looking at the bar. "...I'm getting something to drink."
Jaune was tempted to join him, but instead made his way upstairs, barely even registering Bolin on his back. He dumped him off into ARBN's room, laying the passed out man on a bed. Jaune moved to one of the few spare rooms. He was pretty sure it was originally supposed to be a broom closet, but had been converted as a small private room for additional lodging. He knew that technically he was supposed to be splitting a room with team ARBN, but they already had a bed taken up by the injured huntsman they found. So he had decided to take the liberty of obtaining himself a little private room. He was chipping away at a chunk of malachite, delved from the worthless riches of the dream. The candle was burning, providing light in the dark night when the window peeping moon failed to brighten his desk. It was late when he heard the pattering of feet at his door, like someone shifting from side to side.
Lighter weight, probably about a hundred and forty pounds. Light on their feet, so neither Dr. Cortez or Nadir. Team SSSN is both too heavy and too drunk. Bolins out, and… Jaune unbidden hoped out of the two other possibilities, it was the darker one. He couldn't imagine Reese coming to see him in the dead of night.
"Ms. Altan. Come in, if you wish." He called to the darkness. The door opened, showing a rather tired looking Arlan, the soft candle light making her look slightly blurry, framing the camera shot in that soft, moody feeling light. Jaune thought it was a good light on her, and rounded out some of those hard lines that the stress and muscle had carved into her.
"How did you know it was me?" The lioness asked. He shrugged, opting to look down at the small ball of green rock in his hands. Arslan walked in, sitting down on the single bed there.
Not even looking up from his work, Jaune broke the momentary silence between them. "So, what brings you to my humble abode?"
She sighed. "I just… I don't think I can be in the same room as Bolin right now." She admitted. Jaune remained quiet for a moment, prompting her to continue. "It's just… He almost died today. He almost got you killed today! He actively put you, and himself, in danger just to… what? Prove a point?" She slumped down into the bed. "He's not the person I grew up with." This sentence was wistful, longing almost.
"He was different when he was younger?" Jaune asked, ripping off a chunk of the stone. It landed in his lap, brushed away back into the little pocket dimension where little lost things that ended up in Jaune's pouches went. Arslan nodded, looking up at the ceiling.
"Yes." She started, before thinking for a moment. "And no. He… he was more manageable when we were kids. His obstinance wasn't such a defining trait back then." There was a small pause between the moments, stretching unto eternity betwixt them. A moment where the silence was deafening, but also comforting. Maybe it was the soft light of the candle, maybe it wsa just that strange aura Jaune carried with him, where silence was king and dust was gold. Arslan's head turned to look at the shape Jaune was carving.
"What are you making?" She probed the ranger. His knife stopped, the rhythm broken.
"You should get some sleep." he answered, placing it in his bag of tricks. Standing from the chair, the wood creaking as it sprang back into its unladen position, it was returned to under the desk.
Whohh. The candles went out, and Arslan didn't think that she could ever wish she could turn off her night vision before now. But as she watched Jaune methodically strip out of his cloak, unstrapping his armor into a neat little pile at the foot of her bed. Then she watched him take off his underpadding, which was a rather thick looking hoodie. It dragged his shirt with him, revealing in the infrared based vision an impressive and terrifying cross hatching of scars laden like the roads of a map across some concerningly thin and pronounced abdominal muscles. Arslan watched, somewhere between horrified and spellbound as Jaune set up a blanket onto the ground. She made mental notes of each scar, theorizing as to where each one came from. Dissected, disemboweled, burned, firearm wound, impaled, acid damage, lightning… the list went on. Arslan bit her lip as to not say anything, desperately hoping that Jaune was one of the few faunus types that did not have night vision.
God, what happened to you? Arslan thought, partially dismayed. And do you think that kissing them would make him feel better? A more sultry side of her asked, a cheshire grin across her face. She didn't know where this side of her had been her entire life, but she absolutely didn't appreciate it deciding to show up now. Jaune bent over, likely to set something in its proper place on the floor. Arslan's eyes went wide, the angle Jaune unwittingly chose was a front row view for the lioness.
Ohhh, yes. The lioness mentally growled appreciatively. Arslan, on the other hand, could feel the steam start to build in her ears.
"Good night Jaune!" She squeaked out, her voice being much higher and more embarrassed than she wanted it to be. Jaune gave her a quizzical look.
"Good night?" He asked, settling down on the floor. He was out almost as soon as his head hit the ground. It had been a long day after all.
Whoo, getting this one done before finals start ramping up. I'll be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of the actual fight I had for Tyrian. I don't think I did him justice, but it's really hard to have Jaune legitimately fight for his life. Because he can just, you know, smite someone with a pillar of Salt if he wants. But that's boring to write, so I don't write it.
Poor Dr. Cortez, this really hasn't been his day, has it? He really tried to plan this mission to be a cakewalk, but no. And for those wondering, Dr. C has a 20 billion bounty on him.
Speaking of people suffering, I'll be honest, having Arslan struggle with having sexual attraction towards someone is really fun to me, and I just had to write something in this chapter, even if it was just a little nightcap.
Anyway, we approach the climax of this mini arc, and are "rapidly" approaching the area where this fanfiction collides with "cannon" RWBY. as best it can when jaune is a bloodborne character. But yeah, tournament arc is coming up basically after this one.
Thank you for reading, and as always, feel free to comment on the story so far! I love reading them!