The Fellowship
With each step, his curiosity only grew.
Besides the Shattered Moon, the land itself seemed to be not corrupted in any way at all, unlike Middle-Earth, where traces of Morgoth's power were still present within its water and soil. Although Sauron found this method impressive, since it made Middle-Earth dependent on Dark Lord well-being and ensured that Valar's can't do anything more than imprison him, in the end, it proved to be Morgoth's undoing, since to achieve such feat, he had to spread his power thin, over the entirety of Arda, which greatly weakened him in the long run, allowing heroes of the Elves and even Humans to directly harm him many times. Clever move, but ultimately, a mistake. And Sauron didn't make the same mistake as his former master, focusing his power instead of spreading it. And thanks to that, he nearly won. Nearly...
With his fists clenched, he walked past the bushes, slightly annoyed that this forest had seemingly no end. He walked for a long time already, and felt like he was walking in circles. What's worse, the forest reminded him too much of the Mirkwood before he settled for a time in Dol Guldur, except this time, evil already crept around him in different form.
Those white-skulled wolves he met in cave kept stalking him ever since he scorched their pack leader, and even tried to pounce at him once, but, with their black fur already painfully burnt, marked by his wrath, the beasts weren't willing to try their luck. From a brief meeting with them he felt that those wolves were not ordinary animals - these monsters for the lack of better term, were driven by near mindless hatred, seemingly aimed not particularly at him, but against humanity as a whole. Even though he was only looking like a human, it was enough for them to attack. In Sauron's mind, those white-skulled wolves were twisted versions of normal animals, made only to hunt and kill without question or hesitation.
"Morgoth would love them." He thought, and he gave the small pack mocking smile, and the wolves showed their sharp teeth in response.
Just when Sauron wondered how he could use them to further his goals, he heard terrified screams of a woman echoeing through the forest, drawing him out of this thoughts. He heard someone screaming above him, and when he looked up, there was a human teenager flying through the air, wiggling his arms and legs.
"For the Fire Imperishable..." Sauron only muttered in confusion as the boy flew away. Black wolfs looked at each other, equally confused.
On the one hand, his hopes of humanity existence were confirmed, but on the other, what a young man is doing in this forest, let alone flying? Without a second thought, he decided to follow the path of human's flight. He highly doubted that any man could survive that, but maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that the boy will live long enough for a questioning.
He traversed through the forest, looking at every tree in a search of a human. It was impressive flight for sure, but thinking how tall those trees were, there was quite a high chance that the blond boy got impaled on a thick branch or crashed against a sturdy bark.
Suddenly, he heard a rumbling behind him, rapidly getting closer and louder, and he quickly reacted by shrouding himself in darkness and hiding under the large oak's shadow, while the stalking pack of wolves finally decided to bail out and run away. And soon enough, the source of rumbling arrived.
Past him run a tall, red-hair teenage girl, wearing brown corset, some sort of eed skirt and armor made of brass, but only partially, since brass only covered her arms and legs. She wore her red hair in waist-length ponytail, and held in her right hand some kind of short spear, while in her left she had a small shield.
Sauron questioned warrior's appearance - Why she is wearing armor on the least important part of the body? Why nothing covers her head? What is a point of wearing impractical armor? So foolish. And, most importantly, ineffective.
Behind her, smashing trees and tearing the ground, run Giant Black Scorpion with White-skull head, just like those wolves from earlier, which instantly caught Sauron's attention.
"Are those beasts related? I will have to look into this." He thought himself just when the Scorpion launched its stinger forward, human dodged it and stinger instead tore down the oak under which Sauron was hiding, revealing him for a moment before he could engulf himself back in shadows. Luckily for him, girl was too focused on running for her life to notice pair of burning eyes in the shadows, while Scorpion was too focused on it's target to sense Sauron's presence. When they were far enough, Sauron left his broken hideout and looked after them.
He needed answers, and he had a feeling that following this girl will give him what he needs to know.
Soon, black Direwolf with lava-like eyes ran after them, carefully maintaining a safe distance.
A path of destruction soon led him to some kind of small glade. He hide behind the large tree and peeked into it.
In the Glade there were ruins of some ancient temple, and there stood pedestals, most empty, but on some still stood large chess pieces, both black and white. And inside the said temple were four humans: One wearing mix of black and white, with black ribbon on top of her head. Beside her, stood tall girl with long, blond hair, wearing, yet again, revealing outfit in hostile territory, not even partially armored.
He was not even disappointed anymore.
Near them stood another pair of humans, one woman with short, orange hair, wearing collared black sleeveless vest, under it some sort of white shirt, short pink skirt and pair of pink fingerless gloves, smiling playfully towards another human, a man with black hair, wearing dark green, long-sleeved tailcoat, and light-tan trousers.
"These are... Human children. In the middle of the forest. Wearing no protection whatsoever. In a hostile territory? Are they having a Death wish?"
He noticed the girl from earlier running towards the group, scorpion still chasing closely behind.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker?" Sauron heard one of the humans speaking, and turned his attention to the pair standing in the temple.
"A Death Stalker?" Sauron noted the name human gave this beast. "Fitting."
But when the blonde girl suddenly burst into flames, Sauron's eyes widened in shock.
"Those humans possess magic!?"
"I can't take this anymore!" She yelled, her eyes blazing red. "Can we just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
Whole group stared for two seconds at her, even this "Death Stalker" stopped his chase and looked at her in confusion, much to Sauron's amusement.
"It seems this one possess the gift of speech."
"Yang?" Sauron heard the whisper from the short, black-haired girl wearing matching black, long-sleeved blouse, black short skirt with red lining and red cape. Before Sauron could delve on that matter, he followed girl's finger like the rest of the group and looked at the clear sky.
There, he saw a large, enormous even, Black Raven with claws large enough to cleave human in half. And, between the claws...
"How could you leave me!?" Girl in white dress yelled down to the group.
"I said "jump"!" Girl in black yelled back.
"She's going to fall." girl wearing black and white stated.
"She'll be fine." Girl with red cloak reassured them.
"She's falling." Human in green commented.
Sauron followed the fall of the white-haired girl with great interest, wondering what magic they will use to save the girl. Or will she crash into the earth and die?
Turned out, neither happened, as the blond boy from earlier jumped into the air and caught her. Impressive, he first survived his "flight", and then somehow saved the girl and stopped her fall...
"Just... dropping in?" Sauron heard and shortly after, both fell to the ground with loud thud.
...Or not as impressive.
"My hero." Sauron clearly heard a mocking tone, not showing the boy any sign of gratitude. Acts of heroism are not welcomed in this world? Or maybe they have a history together? He sadly lacked necessary informations to assume anything.
"My back…" Human said in response, and Sauron wondered how both of them could survive that. He blinked, and this time looked at them with more careful look. And his suspicions were proven correct: Humans have some sort of glowing shield around their bodies, each with unique color. And this "barrier" on both girl in white and the boy flickered, probably as the result of the fall.
If this barrier protects them from harm, then they are excused for not wearing any armor. Now, how sturdy this "barrier" is? How much time and effort it takes to break it? Is this a permanent protection, or can it be turned off?
"It's fascinating. And frightening. Humans should not posses such power."
Scorpion smacked the red-hair with its claw, sending her flying towards the group in the temple, and she crashlanded right under their feet.
"Great, gang's is all here, now we can die together!" Human called Yang said, sarcastic even in a face of certain doom.
"Not If I can help it!" Girl in black charged at the Scorpion with immeasurable speed, screaming some sort of battle cry Sauron couldn't understand, and before anyone could react, she struck creatures head with her scythe. Sauron watched how the scythe bounced from the thick bone, dealing no damage at all. Then, now more annoyed than angry, giant scorpion knocked the assailant back.
"Bad move." Sauron remarked as he watched the young girl land on the grass few meters away from the Deathstalker, noticing that despite the power of the strike, her barrier remained intact.
"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" She said while slowly getting back up, quickly turned to the approaching monster, shot it in the skull and started to run back to the group, scorpion chasing after her, while Sauron watched with great interest.
What fascinated Him the most was her weapon - it seemed that the Red Scythe fired some sort of explosive bolts while retaining melee capabilities. Not to mention it packed itself into more portable box. Those humans are certainly far more advanced than Numenorians.
Although, less intelligent.
"Ruby!" Yang run towards the girl, the rest of the group quickly following behind. As both girls run towards each another, Black Bird started to chase after the younger one, and soon it sent wave of sharp feathers at her, missing her body, but pinning the red cape.
Two things worth to note - this flying monster can shoot its feathers, which is a remarkable hunting technique, and that the too long cape might be your downfall in this world. Although he loved seeing humans being punished for their hubris, he wished that the girl called "Ruby" somehow survive this. – Her Ea seems strong, burning with potential, it would be a waste losing her now.
"Ruby, Get out of there!" Yang run towards her, rest of the group falling behind.
"I'm trying!" Ruby replied while trying to free herself, but it was no use. She turned to face a her death in form of the Giant Arachnid, which rose it's stinger high.
"Ruby!" Yang reached to her in vain as the scorpion rose its tail. Sauron's eyes shined in anticipation, as the human closed her own, preparing for the killing blow…
...With closed eyes, Ruby awaited the stinger, trying to prepare for the attack that will shatter her aura, and in the worst case, split her in two.
But luckily for her, it never came.
"You are so childish." Ruby opened her eyes only to see Weiss standing before her, Death Stalker's tail and head frozen in the ice wall.
"Weiss?" Ruby opened one eye first, first looking at her savior, then at the golden stinger mere inches from her head.
"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss continued her rant, simultaneously removing her weapon from the ice. "And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
"I... - Ruby wanted to answer, but she felt something. This weird feeling when someone is watching you. She tilted her head to the left, and saw glimpse of a large wolf with burning eyes staring directly at her. Her Silver Eyes sparked for a moment, but when she blinked, It was gone. "Huh?"
Before Weiss could say anything or Ruby could voice her concern, Yang finally caught up to them.
"You all right sis? It didn't hurt you, did it?" Yang quickly checked for any wounds, much to Ruby's embarrassment.
"I'm fine!" she quickly answered. "It didn't even touch me, thanks to Weiss."
Yang quickly turned to the girl in white, and atmosphere became more tense in a second.
"Thanks."
"You are welcome."
"Friendship." Girl with orange hair whispered to her friend, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"NO!" Yang and Weiss said at the same.
"Yes!" Ruby joined, and was taken aback by the different response from the other two.
"Is it seriously a good moment to talk about it?" Blake pointed out, and large crack in the ice wall supported her words.
"That's right, enough chitty-chat, let's go away before it breaks away." Yang said pointed her finger at the frozen Deathstalker, the ice already starting to crack under pressure.
"And what about that thing?" Jaune pointed at the flying Grimm. "We can't just ignore it."
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said, looking at the ruins of the temple and the rest of the group also turned to the relics.
"She is right, We just need to grab the relics and made to the cliff." Ruby stated, and nodded to Weiss. "We might be able to outrun them."
"Run and live? That's the idea I can get behind." Jaune said and the whole group run back to the temple, but Ruby suddenly stopped, looked again at the place where she saw the Wolf, but animal was not there anymore. Without giving it more thought, she shrug her arms and run to the temple.
Sauron peeked out of his cover, even deeper in his thoughts. From what he heard, someone sent those children to obtain some sort of "relics", which in reality were just painted chess pieces. When he added two to two, he realized that this must be some sort of initiation, maybe a trial for them to become soldiers of some kind. A warrior caste perhaps? With their powers, no wonder why someone wants to turn them into the weapons of war.
And the one doing this is probably near, watching them. And, what Sauron could deduce already, he or she has more people like this kids at their disposal. Maybe even a legion of gifted humans.
Mere thought of hundreds of sorcerers prepared for battle made him sick.
Clearly a threat he will need to deal with.
He watched as each picked a chess piece, some took exact copy of the same figure - white rook, white knight and so on. While they chose the pieces, Sauron's gaze followed behind the tiny brunette, one called "Ruby".
He was more than sure that when she briefly looked at him, her eyes responded to his glare, like they were about to emit their own light. She was clearly a threat too, since those eyes may prove dangerous, but he still don't know what they exactly were. Maybe he can use them? So many possibilities.
As the group run off with their objectives, he waited with chasing after them, allowing the scorpion to first break free from the ice wall and start its pursue. He would love to not put himself between the giant angry monster and bunch of kids for no reason. And when the Death Stalker continued his chase with renewed vigor, crashing the trees along the way, black wolf started to run behind it. But all the sudden, Sauron stopped and darted his gaze to the side, looking at the nearby tree for some time, tilting his head sideways out of curiosity. He stood like that for a moment, until he started to run again, and left the temple behind.
"They run into the Nevermore AND the Deathstalker." Glynda Goodwitch noted, looking at her scroll.
"You know we can't do anything about it." Headmaster Ozpin replied, seemingly unconcerned, staring at the vast Emerald Forest and holding his mug full of coffee.
"They are facing two elder Grimm." Glynda responded, her scroll first displaying a large Nevermore, and then the Deathstalker. "This is unusual situation, maybe we should intervene this time."
"That would cause more problems for them in the future." Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "Everyone would look down on them."
"But..."
"I understand your worry, but all of them are promising candidates to become a Huntsmen. I am sure they will be fine."
"Of course." Glynda begrudgingly replied, watching on her scroll how Jaune Arc tripped on the root, only for Nikos to catch him before he fell. "All of them are…"
She swiped the scroll to look at different camera, watched how the Deathstalker released itself from the ice and started to run after the group. She only hoped they made enough distance from it, so they can somehow deal first with the Nevermore, then with the Deathstalker, not believing they can defeat both monsters simultaneously. Just when she wanted to swap the camera back to the group, a large black wolf appeared on the screen, chasing after the Grimm.
It was as large as an Alpha Beowolf, but unlike alpha, beast was covered entirely in the black fur, no white bone anywhere, and, more importantly, it was alone. She wasn't as specialized in Grimm subtypes as Port, but she knew enough that beowolves always run in packs. It's to big to be a mere wolf but it's clearly not any grimm she have ever encountered.
Then, to her surprise, the Direwolf stopped, and looked directly at the camera.
Glynda's green eyes looked directly into the red, lava-like eyes of the beast, feeling that it somehow, somewhat knew she is staring at it. It tilted it's head sideways, never breaking the eye-contact with the camera, and she felt that the beast is curious? Amused? Suspicious? She didn't know why, but air around her become colder, darker…
"How in the world…" She muttered before the Wolf started to run again. She took a deep breath, realizing that she held it the entire time.
"Is something wrong?" Ozpin asked with concern when he finally noticed her pale face, but Glynda didn't answer, only gave him a terrified look.
Way of destruction the scorpion made gave him a clear path through this accursed forest, and from the sounds of battle ahead he assumed that he is near his destination. After he finally reached the end of the treelane, his objective – the cliffs – were finally in sight. They said that someone will wait for them there, so he just needs to get up there before the children, and follow their transport.
This should not be a challenge.
He looked at the circling Black Bird, which started another strafing run at the group, only for some sort of lightning to hit its head, forcing it to abort it's attack. Sauron quickly traced the source of lightnings – the orange hair from earlier, using strange weapon to fire more strang projectiles at the flying monster. Just when the Deathstalker was about to impale her, girl in black and boy in green slashed their weapons against its shell, distracting it for a moment, long enough for the woman, who now Sauron knew as "Weiss", to land beside the ginger, and using yet another form of magic, jumped away from danger.
He didn't knew lot about them, but he already liked their abilities – they had some power he didn't understood. Yet. What are those weapons firing exactly? Some sort of explosive? Maybe unknown material? From where they got their magic?
He will certainly study that, after he leave this forest.
"Go, Go!" The red head turned her weapon, fired few shots at the incoming monster, but nothing could pierce its thick white carapace. Enraged scorpion tried to swipe the fleeing humans with it's claws, missed entirely, and the whole group run as fast as they could to the stone bridge, on which Death Stalker was way too heavy to stand. And while they were getting away from the Scorpion, maybe for a moment, they thought they are safe.
Why all this happened, Sauron was making his way to the bridge, jumping from cover to cover, remaining undetected, using the blasts from the human's weaponry and the roars of the monsters to hide his movement. He stalked around the stone walls, trying to get to the bridge unnoticed while humans fought both beasts, peeking sometimes to see where is everyone.
Then, just when the humans finally managed to outrun the Deathstalker, the giant raven rammed into the bridge, shattering it into pieces and separating humans into two uneven groups.
"Damn useless thing!" He cursed, staring at the Nevermore with rage. "I wanted to use this bridge too!"
Sauron didn't know that at the time, but creatures of the Grimm are naturally drawn to humanities darkest emotions – anger, hatred, sadness, grief. They react just like the sharks to the blood in the water, and just like more blood sends sharks into even greater frenzy, more anger sends Grimms into rampage. But emotions showcased by maia's are far more than any mortal could possibly feel, which means his anger is way greater – if human rage is like campfire, the maia's one is like an entire forest in flames. And both beasts instantly felt that.
To Sauron's surprise, giant raven twitched, its eyes widened in fury, and left even more terrifying shriek, powerful enough to shake the entire structure, then circled back at the humans, bloodlust taking away whatever remained from its reasoning, leaving only desire to not merely kill, but tear their bodies to shreds, massacre them, utterly destroy everything...
Scorpion wasn't any better – first wary to get on the stone bridge, not wanting to fell into the abyss, now under duress of the sudden outburst of anger, it started to make its way to the group remaining on this side of the ruined structure, hissing and attacking with its tail and claws.
He wasn't sure why those beasts suddenly became more bloodthirsty, but thanks to that, he got a perfect distraction, for humans attention is now entirely focused on two mad monsters, while he will traverse the canyon. He thought how to get to the cliffs without a bridge, and after considering his options, he chose the most simple one. Luckily for him, Morgoth returned that form too. To some degree.
Large bat fell deep into the canyon, wanting to disappear in the clouds, reach the other side of the cliff, climb it unnoticed and wait on top when the humans are finally done for.
"We gotta get over there! They need help!" Jaune pointed with his sword at the three remaining people fighting against enraged Deathstalker.
"Let's do this!" His newfound companion prepared her weapon, but the blond boy took a look into the abyss with uncertain face.
"Yeah well... I can't make that jump." He stated, and realized too late that the girl beside him started to smile diabolically. Before he could utter a word, she pushed him back, and turned her weapon into a hammer.
"Oh, wait!" He wanted to stop her, but before he could do anything more than raise a hand, she jumped from the bridge, smashed it with her hammer and, fired him like a catapult, right above the bottomless pit.
"No, No, NO!" He yelled as he flew, while the girl fired a grenade from her hammer, and soon she flew right behind him with a gleeful smile.
Deathstalker tried to snap one of the humans in half, but the fired shot drew the beast's attention, and it rose its head to check what is going on, just in time to receive a powerful blow from the hammer, which cracked its skull upon the impact. In a great pain, monster struck a new attacker with its tail, but the girl fired another round form her hammer, directly into the Grimm's exposed hide, sending her far away from deadly stinger, but also she accidently knocked away the girl in black from the bridge.
Enraged, bloodlusted and now in even greater pain, Scorpion started to violently smash the bridge with its claws, trying to tear the entire structure down.
Meanwhile, the Blake opened her eyes, and saw the Nevermore performing another strafing run, this time trying to catch Ruby with its talons, but the girl disappeared in cloud of rose petals, and after the creature missed, it tried to fly lower, into the clouds, to avoid the incoming fire. from Yang and Weiss.
She threw her weapon on a long ribbon, it stuck right into the stone, used it to swing herself right at the passing Grimm, and before the beast could react, she slashed it's beak and head with her weapons.
Bird screeched and started to climb into the air to shake her off, but the girl in black landed on bird's back and started to mercilessly slash it, but after few strikes she noticed that her weapons had little to no effect.
She jumped from the beast and landed right beside Yang, while the Giant Raven flew higher and higher.
"It's tougher than it looks." She commented, and reloaded her pistol.
"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang replied while relaoding her gauntlets, Ruby aimed her Scythe and air around Weiss started to shine with multiple colors as she swinged with her rapier.
Nevermore briefly disappeared in the clouds above, and from there, pair of red, bloodthirsty eyes looked at the ruins.
Did they hurt it much? No. Did they cause it pain? A lot. And monster wanted nothing more than to tear them to shreds.
With another shriek, it folded its wings and started to fall right at the structure, rapidly gaining speed like a falling bomb, and from the ruined temple four girls fired a barrage of projectiles, but nothing seemingly pierce through the feathers of the creature.
When the bird was fifty meters from the structure a perfectly aimed explosive shot landed right under its right wing, spreading it a little, just enough to send the giant raven into uncontrollable spin.
Elder Grimm ultimately hit the structure, but not the place when it initially wanted to, crashing just below the four girls instead. As it fell with debris, they jumped from one falling stone to another, either gracefully and jumping from rock to rock like Weiss and Blake, brute-forcing her way up like Yang or using combination of speed and firing her gun from time to time like Ruby.
Sauron flew under the structure, between the stone columns of buildings which once upon a time probably served as human quarters. As he flew forward, he heard the commotion above him, looked there, just in time to see falling debris.
He started to maneuver, desperatly avoiding falling rocks. Right, left, up down, and then one mad dash to avoid the falling giant bird.
When he finally got away from the danger, he stuck himself to the wall and took few deep breaths.
"That was inconvenient." he muttered, then heard the beast shrieking and flying back into the fray. He followed the bloodthirsty monster with his gaze, greatly displeased – They are just children. They might have magic and strange weapons, but they are still young, this should be easy for this Black Raven to kill them.
Either this bird is a walking embarrassment of its kind, or those children are powerful. And slowly Sauron started to lean towards the latter.
He sticked to the wall, again enshrouded himself in shadow, and started to climb the rocky surface with the incredible speed.
'
"None of this is working." said Weiss, watching with irritation how the Nevermore is again circling around them, trying to align for another attack run on Yang, who fired at it with her gauntlets.
Ruby fired few shots at the monster, but then gave it a more distinctive look. Her uncle said numerous times how to face Grimms – If they have bone armor, she won't be able to pierce it with her scythe, and she needs to crack it at range. But if they lack it, her Scythe should have no problem with slicing its skin. Or feathers in that matter.
If only she could pin the Nevermore in place just for a moment…
She watched how Blake whipped from one stone pillar to another with her weapon, then at Yang who stood on another pillar and continued her relentless barrage at the Nevermore, keeping it distracted. Ruby then turned to the cliff and this gave her an idea.
"I have a plan! Cover me!" She said to Weiss and then run to Blake.
In the different part of the ruins Deathstalker continued to smash against the stony structure, slowly destroying what was left of it, and Jaune quickly noticed how the remains of the bridge starts to violently shake with each hit. Knowing that if they stay on it any longer, they will soon fall to their death.
"We gotta move!" He took an initiative, pointed his blade at the Death stalker and rushed at it, the rest quickly following suit. The immediately responded with its claws, first attack was deflected by Pyrrha, and the second strike was thwarted by Jaune, who blocked it with his shield. Both then dodged the incoming stinger, but before Scorpion could retract it, Ren got on it, and discharged both of his twin pistols directly at the base of it, throwing the monster into a violent tantrum.
It started to swing its tail in the attempt to shake him away, while also covered its head from the incoming grenades.
Seeing the small gap in the Deatstalker defense, Pyrrha threw her javelin directly into one of the monsters eyes, making it screech in enormous pain, but with the last swing of it's tail, the Deathstalker was able to shake off the human, throwing him right at the wall.
"Ren!" Girl with the hammer yelled with worry after seeing her friend collapse on the ground, then attacked the Deathstalker with renewed vigor, relentlessly firing grenade after grenade at the Deathstalker's fractured carapace, shattering it further.
The beast rose one of it's claws to protect it's skull, while the other claw tried to grab and pull out the javelin from its eye, giving both Jaune and Pyrrha time to think. After a second he noticed how the stinger is now limply hanging from its tail, and wasted no time.
"Pyrrha!"
"Done." Pyrrha hurled her shield at the stinger, sliced it off and making it fall directly at the Deathstalker head, and the stinger stuck deep in its skull, sending it into frenzy, but it was not enough to kill it.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune said after Pyrrha caught back her shield.
"Heads up!" Pyrrha made a platform for Nora with her shield, then Nora fired her weapon to send herself even higher. When she reached top of her flight, she started to fall at the Deathstalker, firing her weapon few more times to gain even more momentum. With joyful smile she slammed into the stinger with force strong enough to completely shatter the monsters bones, head, entire body and bridge under it, sending Pyrrha and Jaune flying above the monster. Mid-air Pyrrha managed to catch her javelin after the Deathstalker's corpse started to turn to black ash.
She landed on her two feet, Nora on her bottom and Jaune on his back. Seconds after their landing, Nora started to giggle like an overexcited child.
"I want one more time! One more!" She exclaimed with a gleeful smile.
"That's… enough for today Nora." Ren stumbled to the group, still feeling dizzy after slamming into the wall. "Maybe… Another time." He collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
"Ren! Don't die on me!" Nora run to check on him, and maybe shake him a little bit, while Jaune kept laying on his back, adrenaline now pouring away.
He is, somehow, still alive. He faced two giant Grimm in one day and survived. In comparison to that, school seemed like a piece of cake.
Suddenly, he noticed a hand reaching for him.
"Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, and after a moment of hesitation, he took it so she could help him rise back on his feet.
"Yeah, few bruises few and there but nothing to worry about." He replied while shaking of some dirt from his trousers.
"I guess we make a good team." She said with a smile while Jaune looked at Nora and Ren.
"Enough sleeping prince, get up!" Nora tried to pull him up, but Ren remained on the ground.
"Just one minute." He replied, and Nora groaned with annoyance.
"Too long!" She started to poke him under his shoulder, and Ren left few annoyed grunts, while Pyrrha left a chuckle and Jaune smiled.
"Yeah, I guess so." Jaune said after moment, and then, an angry shriek draw their attention back at the flying Nevermore.
The beast flew around the second group under constant fire from Yang, its focus entirely on that pesky human. After one lucky shot exploded on its head, it finally snapped and flew directly at the annoying Blonde girl, its beak wide open to swallow her whole.
And she actually jumped into the open maw.
Suddenly the bird found itself unable to close its beak, the woman forcing it to keep it wide open as she started to fire directly into ithe beast's innards. Explosive shots tore the beast from the inside, and after the beast realized what is happening, it tried to either close the beak or throw away the unawanted meal.
"I! Hope! You! Are! Hungry!" Yang taunted as she continued to fire into the beast's maw, then looked back, quickly measured the distance between the Nevermore and the cliffs, fired few more shots into the gaping maw and then jumped from it, landing safely on the bridge while the dazed Nevermore couldn't control it's flight anymore, remaining on the collision course with the cliff.
Meanwhile Sauron climbed up the cliff, his excitement grew with each meter passed, for after this cliff, he will reach the civilization, and there, he will…
Suddenly, he felt the incoming danger and turned around to find the source of it, just in time to see the quickly incoming monster.
"You got to be…" He said before the Nevermore smashed into the wall, crushing him with its body. Then, it fell on the ruined structure underneath, and shortly after, large black bat fell right behind it.
"You pathetic…" Sauron looked at the monster with hatred, but falling stones silenced his curses and covered him in thick layer of stone.
Nevermore rose back on its two legs, screeched from both anger and the grievous pain. It tried to fly into the air again, but all the sudden, it's tail was frozen in place by Weiss, who then backflipped and swiftly run back to the group. While the Nevermore tried to free itself, trashing it's body around, Yang and Blake finished a makeshift sling, and Ruby quickly jumped on the center of it, bending the flexible material right into Weiss's Black Glyph.
"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss remarked.
"Think you can make a shot?" Ruby asked in turn, fully focused.
"Can I!" She smirked in response.
After a hearing that, shadow of doubt appeared in Ruby's mind.
"Can't?"
"Of course I can!" Weiss answered, annoyed that this kid didn't get an obvious irony.
Sauron rose from the pile of rubble, his bat body now set on fire.
"First, I will burn you to ash." He proclaimed. "Then... " He stopped after seeing four girls preparing some kind of attack against the pinned monster.
"Wait..." He muttered, not believing his eyes for the first time in eons. Are they truly going for the killing blow? Their attacks proved ineffective before, what makes them think this will…
The Black glyph holding Ruby in place turned red, and shot the Scythe-wielder with the earth-shattering force, directly at the trapped beast. Sauron watched in silent amusement as she slammed into the monster, pinned it to the wall, her scythe placed on creatures neck. Then, path of white glyphs appeared, probably thanks to "Weiss", and, yet again, girl surprised him even more when she pulled the Raven higher and higher, screaming on top of her lungs and firing her weapon to give herself more speed. And when she reached the top…
She severed the creatures head.
Sauron blinked few times, still processing what he just saw. They won. He looked at the three girls still in ruins, all cheering at this victory.
They won. Despite all odds.
He focused himself and looked for the rest of the humans and yes, they won too.
They fought two large abominations, and won.
It was surreal. It was like an band of goblins killed and old and wise eagle. Without loses.
And they are still children.
He looked up the cliff, and noticed "Ruby", standing on top in a slightly heroic pose, waving to people down in the ruins.
If now they are able to perform such feats, what they will become in the future? Mighty warriors? Leaders? Rulers?
Heroes?
Sauron chuckled. Now, it was more clear than ever.
He already found this world's fellowship.
"…And you actually made that jump!" Nora said after helping Jaune climb up.
"I could have died! You should have warn me before you did that!" Jaune retorted.
"And where is fun in that?" Nora replied with a cheeky smile.
"Forgive Nora, she is always like this." Ren said to him, and Nora, after letting go of Jaune's hand, leaned to Pyrrha's ear.
"And he LOVES it." She said to her, and while Pyrrha blushed, Ren just left a sigh.
"You are unbelievable and you know it." He simply said, and Nora brightened even more.
"You didn't deny!" She said with a grin.
"It was so AWESOME!" Ruby shouted, still reliving defeat of the Nevermore "We were like 'oh no!' We need to run!' but then we were like 'whoosh!' and I was like..."Aaa! and with proud smile, Yang rubbed her sister's hair.
"We know Rubes, we were there!"
"It was... thrilling." Blake admitted.
"All thanks to my leadership." Weiss announced, and Yang rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, you lead us well after vomit-boy had to save your butt." Weiss's face turned red in an instant.
"How dare..."
"Ekhem."
All eyes turned to Professor Goodwitch, who looked at them with a mixture of relief and respect.
"I'm glad you all survived the initiation." She said calmly voice when she approached them. "And taking unusual circumstances into the account, the extraordinary time it took you to get the relics is acceptable."
"We are the last?" Ren asked in disbelief.
"But certainly the best!" Nora cheered him up, while Professor fixed her glasses and pointed at the Bullhead.
"There is a ceremony awaiting you in the Academy, so get to the ship. You may get some rest once we get there.
"Professor Goodwitch, about the team formation..." Weiss run to Professor, who looked at the Schnee with indifferent look. "Could It be possible that I and Pyrrha will be in the same team?"
"That's for the Headmaster to decide." She pointed at the open transport. "Patience, Miss Schnee."
"Don't worry Weiss, we will make a great team!" Ruby said with a cheerful smile, but Weiss rose her nose, turned away from her partner and walked towards the airship. Before Ruby could ask what's wrong, Yang wrapped her around her shoulder.
"Don't worry about the Ice Queen, we just need to break some ice first." She said, patted her sister's shoulder, then walked past her sister and towards the airship, Blake walked slightly behind, and when she past Ruby, looked at her and gave her a nod.
"Umm, guys?" Jaune asked Ren and Nora. "If you want, there are still free places in my team. Maybe you would like too..."
"I think..." Ren thought about out loud, only for Nora to decide in an instant.
"Of course!" Nora hugged Jaune tightly, and he yelped when he felt all of his bones are being crushed. "We gonna have so much fun together!"
"Nora please, don't crush another spine." Ren left a heavy sigh of defeat while Juane desperately struggled for air.
"Maybe just a little..."
"Nora No!" Ren said when Jaune's face turned purple, and she finally released him. Before Blond Boy fell half-conscious, Pyrrha took a hold of him and helped him get to the airship, where he sat on the nearest seat and finally passed out, and couldn't notice that Pyrrha sat right beside him. Weiss tried to sit next Pyrrha, but Nora was way faster and took seat for both her and Ren. Weiss clenched her fists, then looked back at Yang, who patted the seat on her right, while Blake sat on her left.
"Your "throne", Ice Queen." She teased with a wide grin.
"Don't call me that." Weiss said, yet sat on it with a defeated expression.
Ruby stood alone at the edge of the cliff, her red cape floated thanks to the wind, sun illuminated her face, and despite aching muscles, she never felt more alive. Although the black clouds slightly spoiled the image, nothing could ruin this moment for her.
For today, first part of her Dream was fulfilled. Now, to the next one.
But, to her dismay, her eyes sparked once again as she watched the clouds, forcing her to rapidly blink.
"Ruby!" Yang called from the airship, snapping her back from this trance.
"Coming!" She run to the airship, and after she got there ramp closed behind her, the airship lifted itself into the air and flew back, towards the Academy. As the ship became smaller and smaller dot on the horizon, dark cloud opened its Eye and followed it from afar.
This humans are so fascinating, they somehow invented flying without wings, portable weaponry, use strange, unknown source of magic...
What else do you have in this world stored for me Melkor? Sauron wondered out loud, flying through the air like an omen of the storm.
He would never admit it, but he was relieved. Sure, those humans may prove troublesome bunch, perhaps even unpredictable from time to time. However, he has all the time in the world to bring them to his side, manipulate them to do his bidding, or simply crush them if necessary. But one thing was certain - he should not underestimate them. He will take each and every single member of this "Fellowship" seriously.
After all, You can't fool maia with the same trick twice.
Authors corner
Of course, I do not own RWBY or LoTR.
Fun fact - This site says that on this story (at the moment when I upload this chapter) I have 19 favs etc.
Yet it also says this story has 0 views
What kind of trickery is this?
Jokes aside, I have a plan for this story, and to adress a certain concern:
No, it won't be "Jaune power fantasy", don't worry about that. In fact, I have plans for each character, some more clear, others are still on the drawing board, but my plans reach far into the future.
See you next time, when I decide to post another chapter.