Standing in a new empty plain, the warrior looked around.
"To think there'd be Grimm this...
"To think there'd be Grimm this...
A Deathly Silence (RWBY/Drakengard 3)
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 195
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 473
-
Statistics (472 threadmarks, 1.4m words)
User Total Mortifer 472 -
Loading…
Update 1
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
Standing in a new empty plain, the warrior looked around.
"To think there'd be Grimm this close to the roads..." He muttered to himself. "The people here must be close to despair after all."
It was no surprise, all things considered. Between the sickness going around, and the bloodthirsty bandits who left no survivors, the people outside the Kingdoms had seen more death than usual in the last few months.
Something the Hunter never thought he'd think to himself. The people out here were hardy enough that the death rates rarely changed overly much. Too hardened by Grimm attacks to mourn for long, too focused on survival to leave a weakness for the Grimm to take.
The sickness must have been worse than he thought, then. These people might have been outside the Kingdoms, but they were close enough to request a Hunter to investigate. If things were getting bad enough for people to break away and become bandits, then perhaps he should request backup. A few bandits, the Hunter could take. A gathering of Grimm in the numbers he had just fought, no problem.
But there were this many Grimm gathered in one place. Not scatted around the land, as usual. They were coming together. If the Hunter wandered around and looked for a cave, he'd bet on finding another such collection gathering. And it wouldn't be the only one.
There weren't many people who lived in towns this close to a Kingdom, but those who did had their reasons. Too poor to survive inside the Kingdoms, or too unwelcome. He doubted the people would accept an evacuation, if he thought they were in danger. He didn't doubt that one out of every ten people in there was an exile or criminal of some sort, avoiding punishment or unable to return to Vale. But to leave so many people in the path of danger...
He couldn't do that. Between the plague, the bandits hitting supply traders, the deaths that caused directly and through a lack of resources, and now the threat of a large scale Grimm attack...
The town wouldn't survive if he did nothing. But he couldn't deal with this alone. Too many threats at work. If he stayed to protect the town, the bandits would keep killing and starve them out. If he patrolled for bandits, the Grimm would attack while his back was turned.
With some back-up, a mission like this would be a piece of cake. Which meant, naturally, that the crime spree in Vale was bad enough that official channels didn't have time to deal with a town in the middle of nowhere. Sure, some traders had sent requests for aid regarding the bandits, but whoever was doing the killing had wandered up until now, so it was never the same company of traders complaining. A group would give a complaint, then the bandits would move on, the traders in one group would retract their complaint and get back to business while another group suffered.
But for the most part, the Hunters needed to maintain stability back in the Kingdom. It sucked, but it was unavoidable.
Usually, in a situation, the Hunter would just call in an old friend and request a favour. But that wasn't an option now either. There was only one person he could call on now, with everyone else dead or incapacitated, and he was watching the hunter's daughter after her near-death experience. Calling him in now would mean leaving his daughter unattended, and he couldn't do that. Not again.
Never again.
...There was nothing for it, then. The bandits usually wandered before an official response could be sent in, traders would wise up eventually and hire mercenaries, and it'd take longer for the people to die of starvation than from a Grimm's claw in the back.
He'd just have to get in contact with his old friend and ask him to pass off a message. Find the people who did the trading to this area, give them a message so the traders could get in contact with him. If the traders could get off a warning for him to run too, he could deal with the problem and head back fast enough that the town should be able to fend off the Grimm until he got back.
It wasn't the best solution. People would suffer until it worked, people could die if he made a mistake, and it was all so possible that the trading companies could just get stingy and stop sending supplies until the bandit's were confirmed dead.
But it wasn't like the Hunter could do anything else. He couldn't be everywhere at once, after all.
He just hoped that the illness going around wouldn't spread too far until Vale could send medical support. Otherwise...
A cough came from behind the Hunter, and he turned around in time to watch a woman stumble from out of the trees.
Her complexion was pale and sickly, and he could see her skin cling to her bone in places. Her movements were sickly and unfocused. It couldn't have just been her, either. The Hunter could see her weapon at her hilt, a rather well maintained sword. Someone who could fight wouldn't move like this in an area that had been full of Grimm a moment before, and she didn't look injured.
Another victim of the illness, then?
Taking a step forward, the Hunter called out, and the woman turned to look at him with-
"So that's how they met." She mused. "A strong hunter taking in a dying woman that he found in the woods... It sounds like a real love story! A shame about what it lead to, though..."
"It was good for the man at the time." An older voice mused. "He may have seemed fine back then, but he was still fragile. Someone else to look after really grounded him."
"But considering what's coming?" The girl asked. "Perhaps it would have been kinder if the two had never met..."
"Perhaps." The old man mused. "But you're too young to be this cynical. It is not too late yet. Destiny may spin it's wheels before tragedy, but it's not a lost cause as of yet."
"Hm, you have a point." The girl noted. "Still, it's so sad, isn't it?"
"Then we'll have to hope our next person of interest can make it better."
The girl's eyes widened. "You mean we're moving on?"
"Of course." The old man noted. "We have enough of those two for now. Their role in things is important to understand, but the details won't be important for a time now. For now, who shall we observe? These four hold the power to turn this tragedy into something with a happier ending, but which one?"
The young girl looked over the notes for a moment before coming up with her answer.
[X] "Miss Nikos is in a position to make some important changes soon enough. Perhaps we should watch to ensure this tournament goes well for her?"
[X] "Miss Rose is young now, but in time, she'll be perhaps the most important of them. If she's going to start learning to fight, perhaps we should take the time to guide her development?"
[X] "Miss Belladonna has perhaps the most tragic start, but also the most reason to oppose our enemy. Perhaps her organisation could be guided down a path of our choosing?"
[X] "Miss Xiao Long... The schooling trip outside the Kingdoms is happening soon. Perhaps she will encounter one of the targets, as you predicted. Shall we observe to learn of our enemy?"
"To think there'd be Grimm this close to the roads..." He muttered to himself. "The people here must be close to despair after all."
It was no surprise, all things considered. Between the sickness going around, and the bloodthirsty bandits who left no survivors, the people outside the Kingdoms had seen more death than usual in the last few months.
Something the Hunter never thought he'd think to himself. The people out here were hardy enough that the death rates rarely changed overly much. Too hardened by Grimm attacks to mourn for long, too focused on survival to leave a weakness for the Grimm to take.
The sickness must have been worse than he thought, then. These people might have been outside the Kingdoms, but they were close enough to request a Hunter to investigate. If things were getting bad enough for people to break away and become bandits, then perhaps he should request backup. A few bandits, the Hunter could take. A gathering of Grimm in the numbers he had just fought, no problem.
But there were this many Grimm gathered in one place. Not scatted around the land, as usual. They were coming together. If the Hunter wandered around and looked for a cave, he'd bet on finding another such collection gathering. And it wouldn't be the only one.
There weren't many people who lived in towns this close to a Kingdom, but those who did had their reasons. Too poor to survive inside the Kingdoms, or too unwelcome. He doubted the people would accept an evacuation, if he thought they were in danger. He didn't doubt that one out of every ten people in there was an exile or criminal of some sort, avoiding punishment or unable to return to Vale. But to leave so many people in the path of danger...
He couldn't do that. Between the plague, the bandits hitting supply traders, the deaths that caused directly and through a lack of resources, and now the threat of a large scale Grimm attack...
The town wouldn't survive if he did nothing. But he couldn't deal with this alone. Too many threats at work. If he stayed to protect the town, the bandits would keep killing and starve them out. If he patrolled for bandits, the Grimm would attack while his back was turned.
With some back-up, a mission like this would be a piece of cake. Which meant, naturally, that the crime spree in Vale was bad enough that official channels didn't have time to deal with a town in the middle of nowhere. Sure, some traders had sent requests for aid regarding the bandits, but whoever was doing the killing had wandered up until now, so it was never the same company of traders complaining. A group would give a complaint, then the bandits would move on, the traders in one group would retract their complaint and get back to business while another group suffered.
But for the most part, the Hunters needed to maintain stability back in the Kingdom. It sucked, but it was unavoidable.
Usually, in a situation, the Hunter would just call in an old friend and request a favour. But that wasn't an option now either. There was only one person he could call on now, with everyone else dead or incapacitated, and he was watching the hunter's daughter after her near-death experience. Calling him in now would mean leaving his daughter unattended, and he couldn't do that. Not again.
Never again.
...There was nothing for it, then. The bandits usually wandered before an official response could be sent in, traders would wise up eventually and hire mercenaries, and it'd take longer for the people to die of starvation than from a Grimm's claw in the back.
He'd just have to get in contact with his old friend and ask him to pass off a message. Find the people who did the trading to this area, give them a message so the traders could get in contact with him. If the traders could get off a warning for him to run too, he could deal with the problem and head back fast enough that the town should be able to fend off the Grimm until he got back.
It wasn't the best solution. People would suffer until it worked, people could die if he made a mistake, and it was all so possible that the trading companies could just get stingy and stop sending supplies until the bandit's were confirmed dead.
But it wasn't like the Hunter could do anything else. He couldn't be everywhere at once, after all.
He just hoped that the illness going around wouldn't spread too far until Vale could send medical support. Otherwise...
A cough came from behind the Hunter, and he turned around in time to watch a woman stumble from out of the trees.
Her complexion was pale and sickly, and he could see her skin cling to her bone in places. Her movements were sickly and unfocused. It couldn't have just been her, either. The Hunter could see her weapon at her hilt, a rather well maintained sword. Someone who could fight wouldn't move like this in an area that had been full of Grimm a moment before, and she didn't look injured.
Another victim of the illness, then?
Taking a step forward, the Hunter called out, and the woman turned to look at him with-
~~~~~
The young woman sighed as she looked over the notes."So that's how they met." She mused. "A strong hunter taking in a dying woman that he found in the woods... It sounds like a real love story! A shame about what it lead to, though..."
"It was good for the man at the time." An older voice mused. "He may have seemed fine back then, but he was still fragile. Someone else to look after really grounded him."
"But considering what's coming?" The girl asked. "Perhaps it would have been kinder if the two had never met..."
"Perhaps." The old man mused. "But you're too young to be this cynical. It is not too late yet. Destiny may spin it's wheels before tragedy, but it's not a lost cause as of yet."
"Hm, you have a point." The girl noted. "Still, it's so sad, isn't it?"
"Then we'll have to hope our next person of interest can make it better."
The girl's eyes widened. "You mean we're moving on?"
"Of course." The old man noted. "We have enough of those two for now. Their role in things is important to understand, but the details won't be important for a time now. For now, who shall we observe? These four hold the power to turn this tragedy into something with a happier ending, but which one?"
The young girl looked over the notes for a moment before coming up with her answer.
[X] "Miss Nikos is in a position to make some important changes soon enough. Perhaps we should watch to ensure this tournament goes well for her?"
[X] "Miss Rose is young now, but in time, she'll be perhaps the most important of them. If she's going to start learning to fight, perhaps we should take the time to guide her development?"
[X] "Miss Belladonna has perhaps the most tragic start, but also the most reason to oppose our enemy. Perhaps her organisation could be guided down a path of our choosing?"
[X] "Miss Xiao Long... The schooling trip outside the Kingdoms is happening soon. Perhaps she will encounter one of the targets, as you predicted. Shall we observe to learn of our enemy?"
Update 2 - A Little Ray of Sunshine
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] "Miss Xiao Long... The schooling trip outside the Kingdoms is happening soon. Perhaps she will encounter one of the targets, as you predicted. Shall we observe to learn of our enemy?
It was Yang Xiao Long's third year at Signal Academy.
Really, it had felt longer. Considering how many different students had different semblances and different weapons, the curriculum wasn't able to be too advanced. A year to cover the basics of Aura, the most common weapon types and give students time to decide on and build a weapon, and then another helping the students learn to fight with their weapons.
The third year was rumoured to be where the most benefit was drawn from. The students had time to hone their skills, with both Semblance and weapon, so the teachers could stop focusing on making sure their combat style was sound, and start giving them real combat experience. It was also the hardest year- Where the students who couldn't cut it would be identified and given more training, and those who were skilled enough were sent to Beacon.
And in a sure sign of that escalation, the combat training stepped it up as well. In the first year, the students mainly fought teachers, to measure their skill in using Aura. In the second year, they mainly fought each other, to learn how to use their abilities, and get used to opponents who fought to win.
In the third year, they were finally moving on to the Grimm themselves.
...Well, officially, anyway. It certainly wasn't in the curriculum that students would sneak off to test themselves against a Beowulf in the Forest of Death, though it wouldn't surprise Yang if the only reason people got away with it was because they were allowed to. She was certainly a lot more successful sneaking off than those without Hunter parents, and being sneaky was hardly her speciality.
Really, Yang had it lucky. Ruby too, now that she thought about it. After Yang's poorly thought out plan to find her mother several years ago nearly got her killed, her father and uncle had decided that it might be worth it to teach the two how to defend themselves, and they went into Signal with a decent idea on how to fight already. It gave them a bit of an advantage, but since Signal was designed so that even people with next to no knowledge had a chance of making it to Beacon, it also meant a lot of what was taught was retreading old ground for Yang.
She hoped Ruby wouldn't find it too boring. She was good enough that Qrow had finally relented on teaching her how to fight with a scythe, so the basics on how to use your Aura to minimise damage would likely bore her.
But she could hardly think of Ruby right now. Ruby would be fine. She'd probably work through the boredom by thinking of more weapon designs, that seemed to be what she did when she was bored. Heck, Ruby had put more thought into Ember Celica than Yang had. She'd be fine.
Yang, on the other hand, was going to be taken outside her comfort zone.
She knew, going in, that the third year teachers at Signal would do something like this. Something to throw their students into the deep end, see what they do under pressure, and create more unpredictable situations to see if their combat skills were able to hold up with the unexpected.
But leaving the Kingdom? Not even to go to another Kingdom, but to just wander for a month to see how well a group of students could work in those conditions?
It seemed like a bit of escalation. The Forest of Death sounded intimidating, but the older Beacon students and staff controlled the Grimm population there. Everyone knew what to expect going in.
But outside the kingdoms? That went out the window. You didn't know what to expect out there. Stronger Grimm, Grimm which had learnt that certain environments could be used to their advantage, all sorts of things. And that's not to mention what the people out there could be like. It wouldn't be too surprising if they ended up encountering a group of bandits, or if they invited enough attention that they were swarmed in Grimm constantly.
Which, Yang pondered, sounded kind of fun.
But on the other hand, Yang wouldn't get to see Ruby's first month at Signal, wouldn't get to see her friends much, and depending on what group she travelled with, could end up adventuring with some real annoying people. And if the assigned teacher was too much of a worrywort, they might not even get that many fights out of it.
Well, hopefully, it'd be fun.
The groups were randomised, from what she heard. Three students in a group, plus a teacher or two to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't wander off and get kidnapped or killed.
She had a week until the groups were heading out. A week to get prepared for a month-long journey. Living expenses would be covered by the teachers, but there was still a week, so that things could be rescheduled if one of the students was too ill or injured to go, while letting people gather up some ammo for their weapons so they didn't need to worry about buying too much of it out in the wilds.
She didn't know what students would be travelling with her, but she could ask the designated teacher who was coming. She'd been sent a letter explaining the situation which included the name of the supervisor, after all. She'd just need to talk to them, if she wanted to know who was coming.
But who exactly is the teacher supervising Yang on this trip?
[X] In a show of cross-Kingdom unity, your supervisor is apparently from the Atlas military. Uncle Qrow seems overly amused for some reason.
[X] Apparently, the original person lined up broke a leg a few days ago, so a teacher from Beacon is stepping in to fill in.
[X] This has to be his idea of a joke, right? He swapped the actual letter you got from Signal to make you worry that he was being too overprotective, right?
Yang will make preparations herself for the most part, buti need something to write next updateYou get some special actions which you can get some sort of advantage out of. (Pick 2)
[X] Spend some time with Ruby. Tinker away and upgrade Ember Celica a bit with her, figure out how she's doing with designing her own weapons, sneak some cookies out of the cookie jar, stuff like that.
[X] Spend time with some friends. Most of them are probably too busy preparing, but you could go out for the night with one or two at least.
[X] Get in touch with your teacher, figure out who else is travelling with you.
[X] Be lazy. Watch television. There's a tournament going on around now, isn't there?
[X] Go shopping. Maybe buy something nice. Some higher-quality specialised ammo, maybe. Or a storybook or pun book to pass the time if you get bored.
It was Yang Xiao Long's third year at Signal Academy.
Really, it had felt longer. Considering how many different students had different semblances and different weapons, the curriculum wasn't able to be too advanced. A year to cover the basics of Aura, the most common weapon types and give students time to decide on and build a weapon, and then another helping the students learn to fight with their weapons.
The third year was rumoured to be where the most benefit was drawn from. The students had time to hone their skills, with both Semblance and weapon, so the teachers could stop focusing on making sure their combat style was sound, and start giving them real combat experience. It was also the hardest year- Where the students who couldn't cut it would be identified and given more training, and those who were skilled enough were sent to Beacon.
And in a sure sign of that escalation, the combat training stepped it up as well. In the first year, the students mainly fought teachers, to measure their skill in using Aura. In the second year, they mainly fought each other, to learn how to use their abilities, and get used to opponents who fought to win.
In the third year, they were finally moving on to the Grimm themselves.
...Well, officially, anyway. It certainly wasn't in the curriculum that students would sneak off to test themselves against a Beowulf in the Forest of Death, though it wouldn't surprise Yang if the only reason people got away with it was because they were allowed to. She was certainly a lot more successful sneaking off than those without Hunter parents, and being sneaky was hardly her speciality.
Really, Yang had it lucky. Ruby too, now that she thought about it. After Yang's poorly thought out plan to find her mother several years ago nearly got her killed, her father and uncle had decided that it might be worth it to teach the two how to defend themselves, and they went into Signal with a decent idea on how to fight already. It gave them a bit of an advantage, but since Signal was designed so that even people with next to no knowledge had a chance of making it to Beacon, it also meant a lot of what was taught was retreading old ground for Yang.
She hoped Ruby wouldn't find it too boring. She was good enough that Qrow had finally relented on teaching her how to fight with a scythe, so the basics on how to use your Aura to minimise damage would likely bore her.
But she could hardly think of Ruby right now. Ruby would be fine. She'd probably work through the boredom by thinking of more weapon designs, that seemed to be what she did when she was bored. Heck, Ruby had put more thought into Ember Celica than Yang had. She'd be fine.
Yang, on the other hand, was going to be taken outside her comfort zone.
She knew, going in, that the third year teachers at Signal would do something like this. Something to throw their students into the deep end, see what they do under pressure, and create more unpredictable situations to see if their combat skills were able to hold up with the unexpected.
But leaving the Kingdom? Not even to go to another Kingdom, but to just wander for a month to see how well a group of students could work in those conditions?
It seemed like a bit of escalation. The Forest of Death sounded intimidating, but the older Beacon students and staff controlled the Grimm population there. Everyone knew what to expect going in.
But outside the kingdoms? That went out the window. You didn't know what to expect out there. Stronger Grimm, Grimm which had learnt that certain environments could be used to their advantage, all sorts of things. And that's not to mention what the people out there could be like. It wouldn't be too surprising if they ended up encountering a group of bandits, or if they invited enough attention that they were swarmed in Grimm constantly.
Which, Yang pondered, sounded kind of fun.
But on the other hand, Yang wouldn't get to see Ruby's first month at Signal, wouldn't get to see her friends much, and depending on what group she travelled with, could end up adventuring with some real annoying people. And if the assigned teacher was too much of a worrywort, they might not even get that many fights out of it.
Well, hopefully, it'd be fun.
The groups were randomised, from what she heard. Three students in a group, plus a teacher or two to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't wander off and get kidnapped or killed.
She had a week until the groups were heading out. A week to get prepared for a month-long journey. Living expenses would be covered by the teachers, but there was still a week, so that things could be rescheduled if one of the students was too ill or injured to go, while letting people gather up some ammo for their weapons so they didn't need to worry about buying too much of it out in the wilds.
She didn't know what students would be travelling with her, but she could ask the designated teacher who was coming. She'd been sent a letter explaining the situation which included the name of the supervisor, after all. She'd just need to talk to them, if she wanted to know who was coming.
But who exactly is the teacher supervising Yang on this trip?
[X] In a show of cross-Kingdom unity, your supervisor is apparently from the Atlas military. Uncle Qrow seems overly amused for some reason.
[X] Apparently, the original person lined up broke a leg a few days ago, so a teacher from Beacon is stepping in to fill in.
[X] This has to be his idea of a joke, right? He swapped the actual letter you got from Signal to make you worry that he was being too overprotective, right?
Yang will make preparations herself for the most part, but
[X] Spend some time with Ruby. Tinker away and upgrade Ember Celica a bit with her, figure out how she's doing with designing her own weapons, sneak some cookies out of the cookie jar, stuff like that.
[X] Spend time with some friends. Most of them are probably too busy preparing, but you could go out for the night with one or two at least.
[X] Get in touch with your teacher, figure out who else is travelling with you.
[X] Be lazy. Watch television. There's a tournament going on around now, isn't there?
[X] Go shopping. Maybe buy something nice. Some higher-quality specialised ammo, maybe. Or a storybook or pun book to pass the time if you get bored.
Last edited:
Update 3 - C is for Cookie
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] In a show of cross-Kingdom unity, your supervisor is apparently from the Atlas military. Uncle Qrow seems overly amused for some reason.
[X] Spend some time with Ruby. Tinker away and upgrade Ember Celica a bit with her, figure out how she's doing with designing her own weapons, sneak some cookies out of the cookie jar, stuff like that.
[X] Go shopping. Maybe buy something nice. Some higher-quality specialised ammo, maybe. Or a storybook or pun book to pass the time if you get bored.
"A whole month?" Ruby asked.
"Hopefully." Yang replied. "It'd be a pain if something happened and I had to come back early."
Her little sister made a sad expression. "But... I was finally gonna be able to start working on Crescent Rose! How am I supposed to show her off now?"
"You could try to just contact my scroll?" Yang asked. "I mean, reception outside the Kingdoms isn't the best, but it's usually there."
"Over the phone?" Ruby objected. "That's just not the same..."
With how much sad Ruby was looking like a kicked puppy, Yang had to resist the urge to pat her head. "Hey, it's only a month, and Uncle Qrow's constantly made a point at how hard it is to learn to fight with a scythe. You might not get your weapon in a state you can use until I get back anyway."
Ruby pouted. "...Maybe. But I'm finally going to Signal and you're not going to be there!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Yang replied. "In fact, you'll probably do great. I look forward to coming back to the stories about how Ruby rose to the top of her class."
Ruby blinked, then tried to hide a chuckle. "That's... That's terrible."
"Then why are you smiling?" Yang asked.
Before she could answer, Yang too the chance to use the brightened mode. "Hey, we still got a week before I leave. Want to tweak up Ember Celica a bit? Then we can try to steal cookies from the jar again."
"I think dad's caught onto the whole window thing, though." Ruby pointed out. "And he caught us last time you tried to distract him."
"Don't worry about it." Yang replied. "I've got a plan."
"Not really." Yang replied. "I mean, it felt the same stationary, at least. I haven't had time to test how it is on the move recently."
Ruby looked it over for a moment. "I was just wondering, one of the tweaks I made last time might have impacted the rate of fire, slightly. If I tried a similar change, I could maybe let you fire more often... If the recoil wasn't noticeably different, I should be able to make adjustments- Ah, but if I did that, the firing mechanism would get jammed more often, and fixing that would mean shuffling around plating, and if I did that it could end up too fragile and I'd need to tweak the power behind each shot to keep it from falling apart at point blank-"
"Remember to breath, Ruby." Yang teased. "Maybe save that for after the trip, then, so we an undo it if it's too much of a hassle."
Ruby nodded. "Uh huh. In that case, we should probably leave off the finisher mode-"
"The what now?" Yang asked.
"Oh, didn't I mention it earlier?" Ruby asked. "I was able to cut down on the size of the firing mechanism a while ago, and was thinking of what to do with the extra space in Ember Celica. I was thinking of tweaking the mechanism a bit more, making it a bit bigger but giving it more variety. You'd be able to load more dust into a single shot and cause a bigger reaction, but by putting that much energy into the shot, it's more unstable. Then I realised I could make that a feature, since if it's not going a long distance I could make it a close-range power option, and that means I could tweak the rate of fire and projectile power, tweak Ember Celica to repurpose those mechanisms towards focusing the reaction away from your fist when you fire and do more damage in a single blow when you load multiple dust rounds. But I'd need to adjust the size of the barrel to do that, and while I could make that a shifting function, I'd need to replace a lot of parts and it'd take a while to make sure it's fully functional after all those adjustments so-"
"Smaller words?" Yang asked.
Ruby stopped, and took a moment to remember to breath. "Big changes make big boom but closer." She explained.
"...You stole that joke from dad." Yang accused. "But I get the idea, I think. Too many changes to do now, but if you have time to pull it off I could expend a bunch of dust rounds at once to do a really strong attack?"
"Basically, yeah." Ruby replied.
Yang took a moment to try and process Ruby's longer explanation. "You said you could tweak it to focus the power so I don't get caught in the bigger blast, right? How much work would it be to do that with the smaller shots? A more focused form that lowers rate of fire and range in exchange for focusing the force behind the blast?"
Ruby took a moment to consider it. "I... Could do that. It wouldn't be a large boost in power, but it's still a little extra. I'll need the smaller screwdriver, though. Did you see where it went?"
Yang reached over towards it for a moment, before an idea occurred to her. Once it was in her hands, she tossed it to the side, near a pile of scrap metal.
"No idea where it is." She claimed. "Maybe you should ask dad for his spare."
Ruby, who had followed the screwdriver with a confused look, suddenly realised where Yang was going for this. "Oh! Yeah, I can do that."
"And I'll look for it too." Yang said. "Starting with the kitchen."
Ruby nodded. "I'll go find dad, then!"
With a smirk on her face, Yang wandered towards the cookie jar.
Over the years, Ruby and Yang had gone through great lengths to get those cookies when they weren't supposed to. They were kids, after all Why wouldn't they? But their father hadn't sat idle, but had gone through great effort to make it harder and harder.
It had become a game to them, at some point. One Yang refused to lose now.
As she walked into the kitchen, she completely ignored the obvious jar labelled "Cookies" on the bench. It was a trap. Qrow had acquired some sort of device on his travels that would trap your wrist until someone else pulled it out, and Yang had fallen for that enough times. The real cookie jar was hidden behind a shelf, though which one, Yang wasn't sure of. It varied.
Of course, there was an easy way to tell. Her father hadn't realised it yet, but Yang had recognised the pattern. There were three shelves with cupboards beneath them, and three keyhooks near the front door that were just too high for her to reach. The key unlocked the cupboard, and which keyhook it was on showed which was hiding the cookies.
It was always one to the left.
Quickly dragging over a chair and grabbing the key from the leftmost hook, Yang put the chair back as best she could, and moved to unlock the rightmost cupboard beneath the shelf.
There was a large bag of flour there. Yang pushed it aside, and then around a hidden corner, and felt hard glass.
There it was.
Dragging out the real cookie jar, Yang opened it and reached around inside it. After a moment of nothing, her hand touched a sticky note. Curious, she immediately pulled it out to read it.
I owe me one cookie. -Taiyang
...What?
Looking into the cookie jar this time, Yang confirmed her worst fears. There were no cookies. Her dad had eaten them all.
The monster.
"Why the Long face?" A voice asked. Turning in horror, Yang saw her father in the doorway, a smile on his face.
And she had to use most of it buying more cookies, too. That was the rule. If you get caught digging around in the cookie jar without permission, you had to buy more cookies and watch as her father ate them all. Truly, history had known no greater monster.
At least Ruby had kept her part in the plan hidden, so she would end up getting some of the punishment cookies.
Still, she had a lot more than usual on her. Even with the punishment cookies coming out of her own allowance, Yang's dad had given her enough money to buy something nice for the trip outside the Kingdoms. So as soon as she had the time, the girl had gone to see which weapons sellers had the best prices.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sign she didn't recognise. Turning to face it, Yang came face to face with a store which she hadn't seen before.
Huh. She had heard that the old pet shop owner had moved out of town, but she hadn't expected a new place to open up so soon. But hey, it sold some dust. Maybe it had something nice.
Approaching the place, Yang noted that the person manning the counter seemed to be a familiar looking old man.
"Do you run this place too?" She asked.
The old man shook his head. "Covering for a friend."
Yang nodded. "So, will you be manning the fast food place tonight as usual?"
"It's in the schedule." He noted. "You'll want the usual, then?"
"Might try the spicy chicken this time." She replied. "Something new."
The old man nodded, and Yang took a look around the store.
Ooh, those prices were cheap. She could get some slightly more explosive than usual Dust rounds, with more of a focus on kinetic force then flames, and see how that went with Ember Celica. Or pick ones more burny than hitty. She was good enough with controlling her Aura that she probably wouldn't set herself on fire.
As she looked around, however, Yang spotted a box in the corner, with a sign above it.
Experimental Dust Combinations?
As she approaches, Yang noted the much, much lower prices. She could get the good stuff and still try this experimental stuff. Though, there were a few warning labels...
Looking it over, Yang took a moment to decide what to buy.
[X] Experimental Round GB - Might expand and absorb other rounds to get stronger. Might also do nothing.
[X] Experimental Round JJ - Might split into multiple explosive rounds when it hits something. Might also explode in your face.
[X] Experimental Round MP - Untested
[X] Experimental Round ZF -Untested Either explodes in your face or shoots your friends. I'm not sure why we still sell this.
[X] These all seem like poor decisions. Buy that book on puns instead.
The week passes quickly, and before long, Yang finds herself ready to meet her group. The supervisor of the trip, a certain Miss Schnee, was waiting for Yang and her group at:
[X] An airship. They were going to travel in style, apparently.
[X] A boat. Apparently, certain shipments had been delayed, and Signal was also accepting a contract to post guards.
[X] At the gates of the Kingdom. Apparently, modes of transport other than foot are too expensive and a Hunter needs to get used to walking.
[X] Spend some time with Ruby. Tinker away and upgrade Ember Celica a bit with her, figure out how she's doing with designing her own weapons, sneak some cookies out of the cookie jar, stuff like that.
[X] Go shopping. Maybe buy something nice. Some higher-quality specialised ammo, maybe. Or a storybook or pun book to pass the time if you get bored.
"A whole month?" Ruby asked.
"Hopefully." Yang replied. "It'd be a pain if something happened and I had to come back early."
Her little sister made a sad expression. "But... I was finally gonna be able to start working on Crescent Rose! How am I supposed to show her off now?"
"You could try to just contact my scroll?" Yang asked. "I mean, reception outside the Kingdoms isn't the best, but it's usually there."
"Over the phone?" Ruby objected. "That's just not the same..."
With how much sad Ruby was looking like a kicked puppy, Yang had to resist the urge to pat her head. "Hey, it's only a month, and Uncle Qrow's constantly made a point at how hard it is to learn to fight with a scythe. You might not get your weapon in a state you can use until I get back anyway."
Ruby pouted. "...Maybe. But I'm finally going to Signal and you're not going to be there!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Yang replied. "In fact, you'll probably do great. I look forward to coming back to the stories about how Ruby rose to the top of her class."
Ruby blinked, then tried to hide a chuckle. "That's... That's terrible."
"Then why are you smiling?" Yang asked.
Before she could answer, Yang too the chance to use the brightened mode. "Hey, we still got a week before I leave. Want to tweak up Ember Celica a bit? Then we can try to steal cookies from the jar again."
"I think dad's caught onto the whole window thing, though." Ruby pointed out. "And he caught us last time you tried to distract him."
"Don't worry about it." Yang replied. "I've got a plan."
~~~~~
"Hm..." Ruby pondered, looking at the gauntlets. "I tried to adjust the recoil on it last time, didn't I? Was there any noticeable difference.""Not really." Yang replied. "I mean, it felt the same stationary, at least. I haven't had time to test how it is on the move recently."
Ruby looked it over for a moment. "I was just wondering, one of the tweaks I made last time might have impacted the rate of fire, slightly. If I tried a similar change, I could maybe let you fire more often... If the recoil wasn't noticeably different, I should be able to make adjustments- Ah, but if I did that, the firing mechanism would get jammed more often, and fixing that would mean shuffling around plating, and if I did that it could end up too fragile and I'd need to tweak the power behind each shot to keep it from falling apart at point blank-"
"Remember to breath, Ruby." Yang teased. "Maybe save that for after the trip, then, so we an undo it if it's too much of a hassle."
Ruby nodded. "Uh huh. In that case, we should probably leave off the finisher mode-"
"The what now?" Yang asked.
"Oh, didn't I mention it earlier?" Ruby asked. "I was able to cut down on the size of the firing mechanism a while ago, and was thinking of what to do with the extra space in Ember Celica. I was thinking of tweaking the mechanism a bit more, making it a bit bigger but giving it more variety. You'd be able to load more dust into a single shot and cause a bigger reaction, but by putting that much energy into the shot, it's more unstable. Then I realised I could make that a feature, since if it's not going a long distance I could make it a close-range power option, and that means I could tweak the rate of fire and projectile power, tweak Ember Celica to repurpose those mechanisms towards focusing the reaction away from your fist when you fire and do more damage in a single blow when you load multiple dust rounds. But I'd need to adjust the size of the barrel to do that, and while I could make that a shifting function, I'd need to replace a lot of parts and it'd take a while to make sure it's fully functional after all those adjustments so-"
"Smaller words?" Yang asked.
Ruby stopped, and took a moment to remember to breath. "Big changes make big boom but closer." She explained.
"...You stole that joke from dad." Yang accused. "But I get the idea, I think. Too many changes to do now, but if you have time to pull it off I could expend a bunch of dust rounds at once to do a really strong attack?"
"Basically, yeah." Ruby replied.
Yang took a moment to try and process Ruby's longer explanation. "You said you could tweak it to focus the power so I don't get caught in the bigger blast, right? How much work would it be to do that with the smaller shots? A more focused form that lowers rate of fire and range in exchange for focusing the force behind the blast?"
Ruby took a moment to consider it. "I... Could do that. It wouldn't be a large boost in power, but it's still a little extra. I'll need the smaller screwdriver, though. Did you see where it went?"
Yang reached over towards it for a moment, before an idea occurred to her. Once it was in her hands, she tossed it to the side, near a pile of scrap metal.
"No idea where it is." She claimed. "Maybe you should ask dad for his spare."
Ruby, who had followed the screwdriver with a confused look, suddenly realised where Yang was going for this. "Oh! Yeah, I can do that."
"And I'll look for it too." Yang said. "Starting with the kitchen."
Ruby nodded. "I'll go find dad, then!"
With a smirk on her face, Yang wandered towards the cookie jar.
Over the years, Ruby and Yang had gone through great lengths to get those cookies when they weren't supposed to. They were kids, after all Why wouldn't they? But their father hadn't sat idle, but had gone through great effort to make it harder and harder.
It had become a game to them, at some point. One Yang refused to lose now.
As she walked into the kitchen, she completely ignored the obvious jar labelled "Cookies" on the bench. It was a trap. Qrow had acquired some sort of device on his travels that would trap your wrist until someone else pulled it out, and Yang had fallen for that enough times. The real cookie jar was hidden behind a shelf, though which one, Yang wasn't sure of. It varied.
Of course, there was an easy way to tell. Her father hadn't realised it yet, but Yang had recognised the pattern. There were three shelves with cupboards beneath them, and three keyhooks near the front door that were just too high for her to reach. The key unlocked the cupboard, and which keyhook it was on showed which was hiding the cookies.
It was always one to the left.
Quickly dragging over a chair and grabbing the key from the leftmost hook, Yang put the chair back as best she could, and moved to unlock the rightmost cupboard beneath the shelf.
There was a large bag of flour there. Yang pushed it aside, and then around a hidden corner, and felt hard glass.
There it was.
Dragging out the real cookie jar, Yang opened it and reached around inside it. After a moment of nothing, her hand touched a sticky note. Curious, she immediately pulled it out to read it.
I owe me one cookie. -Taiyang
...What?
Looking into the cookie jar this time, Yang confirmed her worst fears. There were no cookies. Her dad had eaten them all.
The monster.
"Why the Long face?" A voice asked. Turning in horror, Yang saw her father in the doorway, a smile on his face.
~~~~~
The walk through the shopping mall was a long one. It was a big place, after all, and Yang only had so many funds on her.And she had to use most of it buying more cookies, too. That was the rule. If you get caught digging around in the cookie jar without permission, you had to buy more cookies and watch as her father ate them all. Truly, history had known no greater monster.
At least Ruby had kept her part in the plan hidden, so she would end up getting some of the punishment cookies.
Still, she had a lot more than usual on her. Even with the punishment cookies coming out of her own allowance, Yang's dad had given her enough money to buy something nice for the trip outside the Kingdoms. So as soon as she had the time, the girl had gone to see which weapons sellers had the best prices.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sign she didn't recognise. Turning to face it, Yang came face to face with a store which she hadn't seen before.
Huh. She had heard that the old pet shop owner had moved out of town, but she hadn't expected a new place to open up so soon. But hey, it sold some dust. Maybe it had something nice.
Approaching the place, Yang noted that the person manning the counter seemed to be a familiar looking old man.
"Do you run this place too?" She asked.
The old man shook his head. "Covering for a friend."
Yang nodded. "So, will you be manning the fast food place tonight as usual?"
"It's in the schedule." He noted. "You'll want the usual, then?"
"Might try the spicy chicken this time." She replied. "Something new."
The old man nodded, and Yang took a look around the store.
Ooh, those prices were cheap. She could get some slightly more explosive than usual Dust rounds, with more of a focus on kinetic force then flames, and see how that went with Ember Celica. Or pick ones more burny than hitty. She was good enough with controlling her Aura that she probably wouldn't set herself on fire.
As she looked around, however, Yang spotted a box in the corner, with a sign above it.
Experimental Dust Combinations?
As she approaches, Yang noted the much, much lower prices. She could get the good stuff and still try this experimental stuff. Though, there were a few warning labels...
Looking it over, Yang took a moment to decide what to buy.
[X] Experimental Round GB - Might expand and absorb other rounds to get stronger. Might also do nothing.
[X] Experimental Round JJ - Might split into multiple explosive rounds when it hits something. Might also explode in your face.
[X] Experimental Round MP - Untested
[X] Experimental Round ZF -
[X] These all seem like poor decisions. Buy that book on puns instead.
The week passes quickly, and before long, Yang finds herself ready to meet her group. The supervisor of the trip, a certain Miss Schnee, was waiting for Yang and her group at:
[X] An airship. They were going to travel in style, apparently.
[X] A boat. Apparently, certain shipments had been delayed, and Signal was also accepting a contract to post guards.
[X] At the gates of the Kingdom. Apparently, modes of transport other than foot are too expensive and a Hunter needs to get used to walking.
Last edited:
Update 4 - Wintertime
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] Experimental Round GB - Might expand and absorb other rounds to get stronger. Might also do nothing.
[X] An airship. They were going to travel in style, apparently.
It was seven in the morning, when Yang arrived at the airship docks. Behind her, her father, uncle and sister followed along, ready to say goodbye. Her dad had insisted on carrying her luggage for her- Some spare clothes, spare ammo, cookies, repair kit in case something happened to Ember Celica, everything she could ever need.
Qrow had insisted on carrying a flask of rum with him for some reason, and as he approached the docks where Miss Schnee's airship was schedules to arrive to, he uncapped it and poured it on his shirt, underneath a vest to hide the stains.
"What are you doing, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.
Yang's uncle smiled. "Don't worry about it, it'll just make this more convincing if she can smell it."
Apparently satisfied with that answer, Ruby returned to just following Yang, humming a song to herself as she did so.
It was weird, Yang thought. Ruby always seemed the sort to enjoy fast-paced, cheery songs. So the way she hummed what seemed to be a slow song was strange. Maybe it sounded my pop-esque with the instrument track, and not just whatever vocals Ruby was humming.
As the group stood around waiting for Miss Schnee's airship to arrive, the other two students assigned to Yang's group arrived as well.
The first arrived on his own, though Yang thinks she heard him saying goodbye to someone before he rounded the corner and came into her line of view.
Yang recognised him from school, even if the two didn't interact often. His name was Blast Yellowstone, and he was...
Well, on one hand, he seemed to have a bit of an ego. He was a showoff, a braggart, and was very open that he only wanted to be a Hunter because he thought it'd be cool.
On the other hand, he knew how to throw a party, was good for a laugh, and seemed to eternally be in the state of having fun. It was a common theory around school that, if Blast was any happier a person, Grimm would just outright melt around him.
"Oh, hey Yang." He called, as he walked over. "What a pleasure it is, to see such a beautiful girl such as yourself here. I was worried that I wouldn't have anyone to admire apart from my own reflection, when in fact, one of my assigned partners is beautiful and can have fun!"
Yang opened her mouth to begin bantering, but as she did, her instincts flared and her eyes darted to the side.
Her father was looking at Blast with a hollow smile on his face.
...Yeah, better save the semi-flirtatious interactions until he was out of earshot.
"You're late, Blast." Yang replied. "You usually like arriving early, just to make a show of it. What, did you take too long looking in the mirror today?"
"Yes." Blast replied. "It had been a good six hours, so the handsome visage staring back at me caught me off guard."
"Oh my god." A voice said from behind the corner. "Blast is here?"
Yang looked back to the source of the voice, and saw someone she didn't know as well. She'd met him once that she could remember, really. All she really knew about Piran Caledfwlch was that his Semblance was really annoying.
She hadn't worked out all the tricks in the five minute match they'd sparred in, but the fact that he could throw a pebble and hit her with a boulder was quiet vexing, at the time. Of course, she'd been able to punch through the boulders she had seen coming, but it took ages for her to figure out where they were coming from.
At the sound of his voice, Blast turned around. "Piran." He said in a flat monotone. "Great. Just what we needed. Yang knows what fun is, so that meant we had to have someone keep the stick up their a-"
Yang coughed, looking over at Ruby. Sure, her little sister probably knew what curse words were already, but as long as none were said around Ruby while Yang was around she could pretend otherwise.
"Is it too late to ask for a different group?" Piran asked. "I'd appreciate if I wasn't stuck someone who ruined a stealth test just so he could fight some Grimm."
"That was one time!" Blast objected.
"You were complaining about how boring being sneaky was for an hour before you saw your chance."
"You weren't having fun either." Blast objected.
"Waiting for a chance for an ambush doesn't fill me with joy, no." Piran admitted. "But I at least know when to hold back my displeasure to follow instructions."
"What a fun group you have, Yang." Qrow noted.
"I'm not sure I like that Blast fellow." Taiyang noted.
Yang saw the opportunity and took it.
"He's just happy to have someone easy to look at on his team." Yang noted. "I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, the attitiude won't blast."
Qrow groaned. "Is it too late to actually get drunk?" He asked.
Taiyang looked at Yang, a real smile replacing his empty one. "Oh? What's this, Yang? Are you aspiran to take my throne as the Pun King?"
Ruby sighed, as she resigned herself to overhearing another one of these contests. Yang would usually stop once getting this kind of reaction, but that wasn't what she was punning for now.
Her father had declared war, and she intended to win.
"Your powers are weak, old man." She declared. "Xiao Long has it been since you were able to dish out some proper punishment?"
"Ha!" Her father barked. "You think you can look down on my pun power? I Schnee-r at your attempts to surpass your master. Admit defeat now, before you are forced to eat Qrow."
In the distance, Blast and Piran had stopped bickering, and where watching the pun-off. Piran had a horrified expression on his face, whereas Blast seemed considerate, giving a reaction to each pun, from a nod of his head to a thumb's up.
"You expect me to admit defeat?" Yang asked. "Yeah, alright. When I walk all over your pun attempts, de-feet will be all you can see."
There was a loud groan from everyone at that, and Qrow suddenly spoke up.
"OH LOOK." He said. "IT'S THE AIRSHIP. LET'S ALL LOOK AT IT. ESPECIALLY YANG AND TAIYANG."
"LET'S." Ruby agreed.
Father and daughter looked each other in the eye for a moment, then out to the sky. Sure enough, the airship was approaching the docks, though still a distance away.
Looking at each other again, Yang's father spoke.
"I'd need time to properly put you in your place." He smiled. "Let's just call this one a draw, then?"
"We both know you're just lion to yourself." Yang replied. "But I'll let you keep your pride."
Taiyang shook his head. "Too quick to change the topic there, my apprentice." He instructed. "You need to make the transition smoother."
By that point, the airship had approached the dock, and Qrow took a step forward.
"Time for the main scene." He decided.
He stepped forward in a drunken stumble, despite the fact that Yang knew for a fact that none of the rum in his flash had touched his lips. And he had denied earlier that he could absorb alcohol through his skin. And he had a class to teach later, and he never got drunk before a class.
What was he doing?
The airship door opened, and a young woman stepped out of the door, momentarily making Yang forget her uncle's antics.
...Man, if Yang looked half as nice as Miss Schnee did when she was older, she'd consider it a victory for her genetics.
The woman looked over the group for a moment, but immediately saw her uncle Qrow, and her expression faltered into disappointment. "Please no."
"Hey, Ice Queen." Qrow slurred. "Howsit hangin'?"
"No." Schnee refused. "I refuse to believe it. It's Seven Thirty. You are not drunk already."
"You'd be surprised." Qrow replied.
Miss Schnee took a moment, smelling the air. "Is that rum?"
"Aw, you do care." Qrow replied.
Schnee looked at him for a moment, before turning to Taiyang.
"Would it bother you much if I cut out his tongue?" She asked.
"I'll hold him down, if you want." Yang's father replied.
"So mean..." Qrow slurred.
"I don't understand." Ruby questioned. "Why is uncle Qrow pretending to be drunk?"
There was silence for a moment.
"...Pretending?" Miss Schnee asked.
"She doesn't know what she's talkin' bout." Qrow muttered.
"Can't you tell?" Ruby asked. "His stumble's completely different to when he's actually drinking, and he only slurs if he's sleepy."
"...If you've picked up on that." Qrow began. "Than I might need to stop drinkin' where you can find me."
"I..." Miss Schnee began. "Are you telling me you're pretending to be a drunken idiot for... What? To annoy me?"
"It's nice that you know me so well, Winter." Qrow replied, his slurring speech gone.
Winter looked at him for a moment. Then, a glyph appeared in front of her, and a vaguely draconic form appeared within it. Said dragon-thing, it's body a semi-transparent white, immediately lunged at Qrow, picking him up before he could react, and began carrying him elsewhere.
"Have fun Yang!" Qrow called, as he disappeared into the horizon.
Watching him disappear for a moment, Winter seemed to smile, before returning her face to a serious expression as she looked over at the group.
"Blast Yellowstone. Piran Caledfwlch. Yang Xiao Long. Please step forward."
The three of them quickly gathered into a straight line in front of Winter.
"What just happened?" Piran asked in a whisper.
"I've found a new role model." Blast whispered back.
Winter Schnee looked at Blast, but seemed to want to put the incident out of her mind.
"The three of you will be with me for the following month." Winter began. "We will be travelling between several villages outside the Kingdoms. At each village, we will deal with whatever problems they have, be it a Grimm buildup, bandit problems, or merely any small job that a newly graduated Hunter would do for funds while waiting for a bigger job to be made available."
Everyone nodded.
"Let me make this clear." Miss Schnee continued. "I do not know how you do it in Vale, but under my instruction, you will be expected to follow orders. If you do not, I will send you back to Vale immediately, and I am told that this will impact on your grade for the year."
Another round of nodding.
"This isn't just for the sake of convenience." Winter went on. "Nor is it because you need to learn how to follow directions. Outside the Kingdoms is a dangerous place, and if you do not do as I instruct, you could find yourself in a dangerous situation which I am unprepared to get you out of. I will not tolerate any of you making this more dangerous than it needs to be. It has been well over fifty years since a student has died on this trip, and I do not intend to ruin that record. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Piran replied.
Winter nodded. "Very well. Has everyone got their luggage?"
"Hold on a moment." Blast said. "I left mine at the desk so I didn't need to carry it around while looking for the right dock."
"Go and get it, then." Winter said. She looked over at Taiyang, who was putting Yang's luggage down at that moment, then at Piran. "And you?"
Piran pulled a small cube the size of his thumb out of his pocket. Then, with a twist of his hand, he threw it into the air, and it expanded in size. "I've got mine covered."
...Just what was Piran's semblance? It obvious had something to do with making things bigger...
And smaller, apparently, as Piran quickly shrunk the box back down to put it back in his pocket.
"Very well, then." Winter Schnee continued. "We leave as soon as Blast returned. Everybody else, I recommend boarding now to save time."
Piran nodded, as he got onto the airship. Turning around, Yang looked over at Ruby and her father.
"I'll see you guys later, then." She said.
"Bye Yang!" Ruby called, waving. "Don't forget to call!"
Yang picked up her luggage from where her father had put it down. "I'll be fine. Hey, do me a favour and don't let dad think he can run around unchallenged pun-wise, okay?"
Ruby paused. "...He can pun all he wants as long as I'm not there."
"I'm hurt." Taiyang replied. "I can't believe my daughter doesn't think I'm punny-"
Ruby groaned.
"I'll miss you, Ruby." Yang said. "You too, dad."
"Be safe." Taiyang said.
Having said their goodbyes, Yang walked onto the airship, and began looking for a room to put her supplies in.
It's going to be a long flight, but Winter Schnee made sure to tell everyone where they were going first, and why.
[X] The town of Critalas, bordering a large forest, was reporting people going missing while scavenging for supplies. The forests weren't too dangerous, so were a good place to start measuring the strength of the students.
[X] A few mountain villages had reported wyvern attacks. While likely misreported, confirmation was needed so that inexperienced Hunters weren't send to deal with it. Winter was going to investigate, and the students were going to keep an eye out for lesser Grimm.
[X] A refugee town was reporting that it's numbers were getting too large for the town to supply, and were requesting Hunters to come in and clear a path to other nearby Towns. The people there had lived hard enough lives, any help they could get would mean the world to them.
[X] An airship. They were going to travel in style, apparently.
It was seven in the morning, when Yang arrived at the airship docks. Behind her, her father, uncle and sister followed along, ready to say goodbye. Her dad had insisted on carrying her luggage for her- Some spare clothes, spare ammo, cookies, repair kit in case something happened to Ember Celica, everything she could ever need.
Qrow had insisted on carrying a flask of rum with him for some reason, and as he approached the docks where Miss Schnee's airship was schedules to arrive to, he uncapped it and poured it on his shirt, underneath a vest to hide the stains.
"What are you doing, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.
Yang's uncle smiled. "Don't worry about it, it'll just make this more convincing if she can smell it."
Apparently satisfied with that answer, Ruby returned to just following Yang, humming a song to herself as she did so.
It was weird, Yang thought. Ruby always seemed the sort to enjoy fast-paced, cheery songs. So the way she hummed what seemed to be a slow song was strange. Maybe it sounded my pop-esque with the instrument track, and not just whatever vocals Ruby was humming.
As the group stood around waiting for Miss Schnee's airship to arrive, the other two students assigned to Yang's group arrived as well.
The first arrived on his own, though Yang thinks she heard him saying goodbye to someone before he rounded the corner and came into her line of view.
Yang recognised him from school, even if the two didn't interact often. His name was Blast Yellowstone, and he was...
Well, on one hand, he seemed to have a bit of an ego. He was a showoff, a braggart, and was very open that he only wanted to be a Hunter because he thought it'd be cool.
On the other hand, he knew how to throw a party, was good for a laugh, and seemed to eternally be in the state of having fun. It was a common theory around school that, if Blast was any happier a person, Grimm would just outright melt around him.
"Oh, hey Yang." He called, as he walked over. "What a pleasure it is, to see such a beautiful girl such as yourself here. I was worried that I wouldn't have anyone to admire apart from my own reflection, when in fact, one of my assigned partners is beautiful and can have fun!"
Yang opened her mouth to begin bantering, but as she did, her instincts flared and her eyes darted to the side.
Her father was looking at Blast with a hollow smile on his face.
...Yeah, better save the semi-flirtatious interactions until he was out of earshot.
"You're late, Blast." Yang replied. "You usually like arriving early, just to make a show of it. What, did you take too long looking in the mirror today?"
"Yes." Blast replied. "It had been a good six hours, so the handsome visage staring back at me caught me off guard."
"Oh my god." A voice said from behind the corner. "Blast is here?"
Yang looked back to the source of the voice, and saw someone she didn't know as well. She'd met him once that she could remember, really. All she really knew about Piran Caledfwlch was that his Semblance was really annoying.
She hadn't worked out all the tricks in the five minute match they'd sparred in, but the fact that he could throw a pebble and hit her with a boulder was quiet vexing, at the time. Of course, she'd been able to punch through the boulders she had seen coming, but it took ages for her to figure out where they were coming from.
At the sound of his voice, Blast turned around. "Piran." He said in a flat monotone. "Great. Just what we needed. Yang knows what fun is, so that meant we had to have someone keep the stick up their a-"
Yang coughed, looking over at Ruby. Sure, her little sister probably knew what curse words were already, but as long as none were said around Ruby while Yang was around she could pretend otherwise.
"Is it too late to ask for a different group?" Piran asked. "I'd appreciate if I wasn't stuck someone who ruined a stealth test just so he could fight some Grimm."
"That was one time!" Blast objected.
"You were complaining about how boring being sneaky was for an hour before you saw your chance."
"You weren't having fun either." Blast objected.
"Waiting for a chance for an ambush doesn't fill me with joy, no." Piran admitted. "But I at least know when to hold back my displeasure to follow instructions."
"What a fun group you have, Yang." Qrow noted.
"I'm not sure I like that Blast fellow." Taiyang noted.
Yang saw the opportunity and took it.
"He's just happy to have someone easy to look at on his team." Yang noted. "I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, the attitiude won't blast."
Qrow groaned. "Is it too late to actually get drunk?" He asked.
Taiyang looked at Yang, a real smile replacing his empty one. "Oh? What's this, Yang? Are you aspiran to take my throne as the Pun King?"
Ruby sighed, as she resigned herself to overhearing another one of these contests. Yang would usually stop once getting this kind of reaction, but that wasn't what she was punning for now.
Her father had declared war, and she intended to win.
"Your powers are weak, old man." She declared. "Xiao Long has it been since you were able to dish out some proper punishment?"
"Ha!" Her father barked. "You think you can look down on my pun power? I Schnee-r at your attempts to surpass your master. Admit defeat now, before you are forced to eat Qrow."
In the distance, Blast and Piran had stopped bickering, and where watching the pun-off. Piran had a horrified expression on his face, whereas Blast seemed considerate, giving a reaction to each pun, from a nod of his head to a thumb's up.
"You expect me to admit defeat?" Yang asked. "Yeah, alright. When I walk all over your pun attempts, de-feet will be all you can see."
There was a loud groan from everyone at that, and Qrow suddenly spoke up.
"OH LOOK." He said. "IT'S THE AIRSHIP. LET'S ALL LOOK AT IT. ESPECIALLY YANG AND TAIYANG."
"LET'S." Ruby agreed.
Father and daughter looked each other in the eye for a moment, then out to the sky. Sure enough, the airship was approaching the docks, though still a distance away.
Looking at each other again, Yang's father spoke.
"I'd need time to properly put you in your place." He smiled. "Let's just call this one a draw, then?"
"We both know you're just lion to yourself." Yang replied. "But I'll let you keep your pride."
Taiyang shook his head. "Too quick to change the topic there, my apprentice." He instructed. "You need to make the transition smoother."
By that point, the airship had approached the dock, and Qrow took a step forward.
"Time for the main scene." He decided.
He stepped forward in a drunken stumble, despite the fact that Yang knew for a fact that none of the rum in his flash had touched his lips. And he had denied earlier that he could absorb alcohol through his skin. And he had a class to teach later, and he never got drunk before a class.
What was he doing?
The airship door opened, and a young woman stepped out of the door, momentarily making Yang forget her uncle's antics.
...Man, if Yang looked half as nice as Miss Schnee did when she was older, she'd consider it a victory for her genetics.
The woman looked over the group for a moment, but immediately saw her uncle Qrow, and her expression faltered into disappointment. "Please no."
"Hey, Ice Queen." Qrow slurred. "Howsit hangin'?"
"No." Schnee refused. "I refuse to believe it. It's Seven Thirty. You are not drunk already."
"You'd be surprised." Qrow replied.
Miss Schnee took a moment, smelling the air. "Is that rum?"
"Aw, you do care." Qrow replied.
Schnee looked at him for a moment, before turning to Taiyang.
"Would it bother you much if I cut out his tongue?" She asked.
"I'll hold him down, if you want." Yang's father replied.
"So mean..." Qrow slurred.
"I don't understand." Ruby questioned. "Why is uncle Qrow pretending to be drunk?"
There was silence for a moment.
"...Pretending?" Miss Schnee asked.
"She doesn't know what she's talkin' bout." Qrow muttered.
"Can't you tell?" Ruby asked. "His stumble's completely different to when he's actually drinking, and he only slurs if he's sleepy."
"...If you've picked up on that." Qrow began. "Than I might need to stop drinkin' where you can find me."
"I..." Miss Schnee began. "Are you telling me you're pretending to be a drunken idiot for... What? To annoy me?"
"It's nice that you know me so well, Winter." Qrow replied, his slurring speech gone.
Winter looked at him for a moment. Then, a glyph appeared in front of her, and a vaguely draconic form appeared within it. Said dragon-thing, it's body a semi-transparent white, immediately lunged at Qrow, picking him up before he could react, and began carrying him elsewhere.
"Have fun Yang!" Qrow called, as he disappeared into the horizon.
Watching him disappear for a moment, Winter seemed to smile, before returning her face to a serious expression as she looked over at the group.
"Blast Yellowstone. Piran Caledfwlch. Yang Xiao Long. Please step forward."
The three of them quickly gathered into a straight line in front of Winter.
"What just happened?" Piran asked in a whisper.
"I've found a new role model." Blast whispered back.
Winter Schnee looked at Blast, but seemed to want to put the incident out of her mind.
"The three of you will be with me for the following month." Winter began. "We will be travelling between several villages outside the Kingdoms. At each village, we will deal with whatever problems they have, be it a Grimm buildup, bandit problems, or merely any small job that a newly graduated Hunter would do for funds while waiting for a bigger job to be made available."
Everyone nodded.
"Let me make this clear." Miss Schnee continued. "I do not know how you do it in Vale, but under my instruction, you will be expected to follow orders. If you do not, I will send you back to Vale immediately, and I am told that this will impact on your grade for the year."
Another round of nodding.
"This isn't just for the sake of convenience." Winter went on. "Nor is it because you need to learn how to follow directions. Outside the Kingdoms is a dangerous place, and if you do not do as I instruct, you could find yourself in a dangerous situation which I am unprepared to get you out of. I will not tolerate any of you making this more dangerous than it needs to be. It has been well over fifty years since a student has died on this trip, and I do not intend to ruin that record. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Piran replied.
Winter nodded. "Very well. Has everyone got their luggage?"
"Hold on a moment." Blast said. "I left mine at the desk so I didn't need to carry it around while looking for the right dock."
"Go and get it, then." Winter said. She looked over at Taiyang, who was putting Yang's luggage down at that moment, then at Piran. "And you?"
Piran pulled a small cube the size of his thumb out of his pocket. Then, with a twist of his hand, he threw it into the air, and it expanded in size. "I've got mine covered."
...Just what was Piran's semblance? It obvious had something to do with making things bigger...
And smaller, apparently, as Piran quickly shrunk the box back down to put it back in his pocket.
"Very well, then." Winter Schnee continued. "We leave as soon as Blast returned. Everybody else, I recommend boarding now to save time."
Piran nodded, as he got onto the airship. Turning around, Yang looked over at Ruby and her father.
"I'll see you guys later, then." She said.
"Bye Yang!" Ruby called, waving. "Don't forget to call!"
Yang picked up her luggage from where her father had put it down. "I'll be fine. Hey, do me a favour and don't let dad think he can run around unchallenged pun-wise, okay?"
Ruby paused. "...He can pun all he wants as long as I'm not there."
"I'm hurt." Taiyang replied. "I can't believe my daughter doesn't think I'm punny-"
Ruby groaned.
"I'll miss you, Ruby." Yang said. "You too, dad."
"Be safe." Taiyang said.
Having said their goodbyes, Yang walked onto the airship, and began looking for a room to put her supplies in.
It's going to be a long flight, but Winter Schnee made sure to tell everyone where they were going first, and why.
[X] The town of Critalas, bordering a large forest, was reporting people going missing while scavenging for supplies. The forests weren't too dangerous, so were a good place to start measuring the strength of the students.
[X] A few mountain villages had reported wyvern attacks. While likely misreported, confirmation was needed so that inexperienced Hunters weren't send to deal with it. Winter was going to investigate, and the students were going to keep an eye out for lesser Grimm.
[X] A refugee town was reporting that it's numbers were getting too large for the town to supply, and were requesting Hunters to come in and clear a path to other nearby Towns. The people there had lived hard enough lives, any help they could get would mean the world to them.
Last edited:
Update 5 - My Kind of Town
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] A refugee town was reporting that it's numbers were getting too large for the town to supply, and were requesting Hunters to come in and clear a path to other nearby Towns. The people there had lived hard enough lives, any help they could get would mean the world to them.
"Have you been watching the Mistral Tournament?" Blast asked.
Yang shrugged. "Been busy, and the finals aren't for a bit longer anyway. Why, did I miss any good matches?"
"A few." Blast replied. "It's been fast this year. Nikos has been tearing through them as fast as usual, but there's a few newcomers that might actually give her a challenge."
"Really?" Yang asked. "I mean, she still hasn't been touched, so people actually think she could lose this one?"
"She's still the favourite." Blast replied. "But her next round is against another one of the favourite. Newcomer explained his Semblance before the first round, and it's bullshit."
"Oh?"
"His Aura regenerates in the sunlight fast enough to be effectively infinite."
"...Some people get all the luck." Yang complained. "That's got to be a pain in the ass to fight, isn't it?"
"Only if the weather's good." Blast noted. "But it's the match everyone's looking forward to at the moment. People are surprised it's happening before the final round."
Yang shrugged. "Maybe they know something we don't? Maybe the weather's gonna be terrible when the finals come around and they want to get the fun fight out of the way when they can."
"Maybe." Blast considered. "But on the bright side, judging by the predictions, most of the most likely final rounds are going to be a some cute girls beating the hell out of each other. I really don't wanna miss that."
"If you want to watch pretty people get into fights, just wait a moment." Yang replied. "Winter should be done evaluating Piran's skills in a moment, and I don't mind people watching me fight."
"It's not about pretty people fighting." Blast corrected. "I get that all the time when I fight. There's just something special about two girls, the same age and general level of skill and power, punching each other. There's just so much beauty, you know?"
"So, are you saying you don't want to see me fight?"
"I didn't say that." Blast replied. "I'd love to. I can only admire my own beauty for so long, you know? I need someone else to admire, to contrast and better appreciate how good looking I am."
"You think you look better than me?" Yang asked. "You must be delusional."
"Oho? Doth the fair maiden think so highly of thouself?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how you talk old timey." Yang pointed out. "Also, I have no idea what you're trying to say."
"I'll be more simply about it, then." Blast decided. "You're pretty, but I'm prettier. More beautiful. More handsome. Whatever word you want to use."
Yang looked at Blast for a moment. Then, slowly, deliberately, turned her gaze towards the window, where her reflection was vaguely visible.
"...Nah."
"Shall we seek a third party opinion?" Blast asked, just as the door opened.
Piran walked in, panting in exhaustion. Yang and Blast turned to him.
"Tell them I look better." They said, in unison.
Piran blinked, and looked at them for a moment.
"...You're both pretty, ladies." He said. "And I'm tired. So I'm leaving. Yang, Winter wants to test you next."
"Cool." Yang noted. "Come on, Blast."
"She also said she didn't want watchers." Piran continued. "Something about keeping the test a surprise."
"Aw." Blast complained. "In that case, I guess I'll just annoy Piran for a while."
The boy groaned. "I hate you. I hate you so much."
"Don't let him bother you, Piran." Yang noted. "If he gets too annoying, just put a mirror in front of him and run while he's distracted."
"So mean." Blast complained, as Yang walked away.
Walking through the door of the airship, Yang found herself in a large room, with dents and scorch marks covering the walls and floor.
In the centre, Winter stood, completely untouched despite the poor state of the room.
"This is going to take a while to fix." Yang noted.
"No matter." Winter replied. "This room was built to be easily fixed. Once the month is up, it can get repaired."
"What's it made of, if it got damaged so easily in the first place?" She asked.
"Easily?" Winter asked. "Oh, it wasn't any small amount of force that did this damage."
A glyph appeared at her feet, and from it, a great number of ghostly Beowulf's appeared.
"You will fight until you cannot anymore." Winter declared. "I want to see what you're capable of. You will not be given time to rest between rounds. Begin."
And as one, the ghostly figures dashed at Yang.
Caught off guard, Yang jumped upwards. It was a good thing she'd listened when Winter recommended keeping her weapon on her at all times. Ember Celica shot downwards, propelling Yang further into the air, as well as forcing away the closer figures.
She knew the proper method of dealing with swarms of Grimm up close. Stay mobile, never get pinned down, and never be surrounded. Unfortunately, Winter already took away that first point by summoning the Beowulf's everywhere in the room, but as long as she had a way out they couldn't cut off, she would be fine.
The closest ghostly Beowulf found Yang's foot hitting her face, a second before she leapt off it, pushing down on it to knock it to the ground and firing at it as she did so. The propulsion this time was more vertical, allowing her to really get moving.
It was easy enough, keeping mobile from there. Winter's replica Grimm seemed to be holding back, and weren't really working hard to hit her. Which made sense. This was testing what Yang could do, and was just the first round. She shouldn't have to worry about them getting tactical until Winter got a taste of Yang's abilities.
As the Beowulf's numbers began to thin, Yang decided it was safe to set foot on the ground again. Before she could fall to her feet, though, she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.
Turning her head to face it, Yang was just in time to see the Boarbatusk charging at her position. Quickly firing at it, Yang used the explosion to move out of the way and land elsewhere, even as the shot failed to harm the Grimm through it's armour.
Round two was starting unannounced, then.
Three more Boarbatusk's appeared around Yang, and the girl dodged out of their path, firing at them to keep them distracted.
She wasn't strong enough to damage the boar Grimm, or to knock them over and hit their unarmoured stomachs. But she couldn't let herself get hit by one. Normal Boarbatusk's were smart enough to grapple with someone and keep them pinned, and ones controlled by Miss Schnee were definitely going to be smarter than normal.
...Which just meant she needed to damage herself to her use her Semblance.
Standing still for a moment, Yang waited, baiting the Grimm into charging at her. She took the moment to fire at the leftover Beowulf's, thin their numbers. Then, as the first Boarbatusk approached, she jumped at it. Skimming over the top of it, she fired downward, hitting both it and herself with a small explosion.
The Boarbatusk was unharmed, but Yang was able to use the propulsion to fling herself higher in the air. At the peak of her ascent, she fired Ember Celica upwards, propelling herself down.
A second before she hit the ground, she slammed down her fist and fired again. Between the gravity and the explosion, her Aura had taken some damage.
Good.
Another Boarbatusk charged at her, and Yang ran at it. It's tusks moved to lock in her arm, but her Semblance had kicked in. She'd taken damage, and now she was stronger. Once it was within arms reach, she was able to kick upwards against it, sending it into the air with the force and leaving in vulnerable to an Ember Celica shot to the stomach.
Ready for the next opponent, Yang looked around, only to realise all the Grimm had disappeared.
"...Is it over?" She asked, turning towards the Schnee.
Winter didn't reply, and a moment later, Yang heard a roar behind her.
Whipping around, Yang barely dodged out of the way of a large Creep, easily three times her size. She jumped under it's legs when she saw it coming, and took a moment to get a good look at the apparition.
The white ghostly being that Winter had created had an odd greenish tint to it, and was bigger than the usual Creep. Which meant it was probably stronger.
Before another thought could pass through her mind, the Creep detonated, sending out an explosive force that sent her slamming into the wall.
"That's enough." Winter decided.
"...Nah." Yang replied, picking herself off the floor and breathing heavily. "I'm still good."
"I've seen enough." Winter replied. "You're competent. Able to deal with lesser Grimm, and make plans to deal with stronger ones. You know how to take advantage of your Semblance. But an unexpected threat left you unprepared.
"Since when do Creep's explode?" Yang asked.
"Not the point." Winter replied. "This isn't the Emerald Forest. The Grimm there are culled and controlled, under the assumption that Signal students would sneak in before they are meant to on dares and bets. The Grimm there are ones you are expected to know about."
As someone who had sneaked into the forest near Beacon based on a dare once, Yang didn't need much convincing that people would be prepared for that.
"Anything you encounter outside the Kingdoms could be a surprise." Winter continued. "Did you know there are Grimm that use weaker Grimm as bait to lure people into trap? Variants of Grimm that disguise themselves as weaker forms to catch people offguard?"
Yang didn't reply, catching her breath.
"Consider this a lesson." Winter continued. "If you assume you understand a threat, it will have consequences. Don't grow complacent just because you think you recognise the threat. Outside the Kingdoms, assume nothing about your foes."
Looking over Yang for a moment, Winter nodded.
"Regardless, you are competent enough." She declared. "If you encounter something too powerful for you, with the level of competence you have shown should suffice for you to either escape or survive long enough for me to arrive."
"Thanks?" Yang questioned.
"You are excused." Winter decided. "It won't be long until we arrive at our destination, and I have yet to test Blast Yellowstone. Please send him in."
Yang nodded, and left.
"Yang." The boy said. "Is there something you wanted?"
"Not much." She replied. "Just wanted to talk."
"If this is going to be something as annoying as Blast was talking about-"
"Not here to tease, for once." Yang said. "We're stuck together for a month, so we may as well get along."
"...A decent point." Piran admitted. "Perhaps this month will be tolerable after all."
"I know a bit about Blast." Yang went on. "But not much about you. What do you do for fun?"
"Now's hardly an appropriate time for 'Fun.'" Piran replied. "This may be a training trip of sorts, but it's still a mission. People's lives rely on our success. Don't they deserve to know that we're taking this seriously?"
"I mean, we're not on the mission yet." Yang replied.
"Perhaps." Piran countered. "But it's still something that's coming. I'm not the sort of person who would just be able to relax while knowing that lives hand in the balance depending on my coming actions."
"That's a kinda cynical outlook." Yang pointed out. "If you thought like that, you'll never stop worrying."
"I can relax later." Piran replied. "After the mission. But.. It just rubs me the wrong way, to not focus on what's coming. You and Blast can do what you want, but don't try and drag me into your banter when I'm trying to focus, please."
"...If you insist." Yang relented. "But once we help these people out, I'm dragging you to a party or something. No buts."
"Fine then." Piran shrugged. "Sounds like fun."
"We should be approaching the refugee village now." Yang pointed out. "Want to go see if we can see it from the cockpit?"
"Sure."
It was a short walk there, and the cockpit was empty when they arrived. The autopilot on the thing was good enough to get from point A to point B, though there was still a control panel for someone to manually control the thing in emergencies.
"Can you see it?" Yang asked.
"Not yet." Piran replied. "But there's a timer here, see? Just another ten minutes."
"Cool." Yang said. "Should we go tell Winter and Blast that we're nearly there?"
"Winter should know." Piran replied. "She's probably keeping track of..."
He trailed off, and Yang looked at him, concerned. "Is there a problem?"
"Yang." He said, a tone of worry in his voice. "Is it just me, or is there smoke on the horizon?"
It took another moment for the town to be close enough to confirm, but there was no denying it.
The town was burning.
[X] This isn't just some accident. This is an attack. Find out who's leading it and take them down.
[X] There's got to be people in there. Find anyone still in there and get them out of the path of danger.
"Have you been watching the Mistral Tournament?" Blast asked.
Yang shrugged. "Been busy, and the finals aren't for a bit longer anyway. Why, did I miss any good matches?"
"A few." Blast replied. "It's been fast this year. Nikos has been tearing through them as fast as usual, but there's a few newcomers that might actually give her a challenge."
"Really?" Yang asked. "I mean, she still hasn't been touched, so people actually think she could lose this one?"
"She's still the favourite." Blast replied. "But her next round is against another one of the favourite. Newcomer explained his Semblance before the first round, and it's bullshit."
"Oh?"
"His Aura regenerates in the sunlight fast enough to be effectively infinite."
"...Some people get all the luck." Yang complained. "That's got to be a pain in the ass to fight, isn't it?"
"Only if the weather's good." Blast noted. "But it's the match everyone's looking forward to at the moment. People are surprised it's happening before the final round."
Yang shrugged. "Maybe they know something we don't? Maybe the weather's gonna be terrible when the finals come around and they want to get the fun fight out of the way when they can."
"Maybe." Blast considered. "But on the bright side, judging by the predictions, most of the most likely final rounds are going to be a some cute girls beating the hell out of each other. I really don't wanna miss that."
"If you want to watch pretty people get into fights, just wait a moment." Yang replied. "Winter should be done evaluating Piran's skills in a moment, and I don't mind people watching me fight."
"It's not about pretty people fighting." Blast corrected. "I get that all the time when I fight. There's just something special about two girls, the same age and general level of skill and power, punching each other. There's just so much beauty, you know?"
"So, are you saying you don't want to see me fight?"
"I didn't say that." Blast replied. "I'd love to. I can only admire my own beauty for so long, you know? I need someone else to admire, to contrast and better appreciate how good looking I am."
"You think you look better than me?" Yang asked. "You must be delusional."
"Oho? Doth the fair maiden think so highly of thouself?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how you talk old timey." Yang pointed out. "Also, I have no idea what you're trying to say."
"I'll be more simply about it, then." Blast decided. "You're pretty, but I'm prettier. More beautiful. More handsome. Whatever word you want to use."
Yang looked at Blast for a moment. Then, slowly, deliberately, turned her gaze towards the window, where her reflection was vaguely visible.
"...Nah."
"Shall we seek a third party opinion?" Blast asked, just as the door opened.
Piran walked in, panting in exhaustion. Yang and Blast turned to him.
"Tell them I look better." They said, in unison.
Piran blinked, and looked at them for a moment.
"...You're both pretty, ladies." He said. "And I'm tired. So I'm leaving. Yang, Winter wants to test you next."
"Cool." Yang noted. "Come on, Blast."
"She also said she didn't want watchers." Piran continued. "Something about keeping the test a surprise."
"Aw." Blast complained. "In that case, I guess I'll just annoy Piran for a while."
The boy groaned. "I hate you. I hate you so much."
"Don't let him bother you, Piran." Yang noted. "If he gets too annoying, just put a mirror in front of him and run while he's distracted."
"So mean." Blast complained, as Yang walked away.
Walking through the door of the airship, Yang found herself in a large room, with dents and scorch marks covering the walls and floor.
In the centre, Winter stood, completely untouched despite the poor state of the room.
"This is going to take a while to fix." Yang noted.
"No matter." Winter replied. "This room was built to be easily fixed. Once the month is up, it can get repaired."
"What's it made of, if it got damaged so easily in the first place?" She asked.
"Easily?" Winter asked. "Oh, it wasn't any small amount of force that did this damage."
A glyph appeared at her feet, and from it, a great number of ghostly Beowulf's appeared.
"You will fight until you cannot anymore." Winter declared. "I want to see what you're capable of. You will not be given time to rest between rounds. Begin."
And as one, the ghostly figures dashed at Yang.
Caught off guard, Yang jumped upwards. It was a good thing she'd listened when Winter recommended keeping her weapon on her at all times. Ember Celica shot downwards, propelling Yang further into the air, as well as forcing away the closer figures.
She knew the proper method of dealing with swarms of Grimm up close. Stay mobile, never get pinned down, and never be surrounded. Unfortunately, Winter already took away that first point by summoning the Beowulf's everywhere in the room, but as long as she had a way out they couldn't cut off, she would be fine.
The closest ghostly Beowulf found Yang's foot hitting her face, a second before she leapt off it, pushing down on it to knock it to the ground and firing at it as she did so. The propulsion this time was more vertical, allowing her to really get moving.
It was easy enough, keeping mobile from there. Winter's replica Grimm seemed to be holding back, and weren't really working hard to hit her. Which made sense. This was testing what Yang could do, and was just the first round. She shouldn't have to worry about them getting tactical until Winter got a taste of Yang's abilities.
As the Beowulf's numbers began to thin, Yang decided it was safe to set foot on the ground again. Before she could fall to her feet, though, she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.
Turning her head to face it, Yang was just in time to see the Boarbatusk charging at her position. Quickly firing at it, Yang used the explosion to move out of the way and land elsewhere, even as the shot failed to harm the Grimm through it's armour.
Round two was starting unannounced, then.
Three more Boarbatusk's appeared around Yang, and the girl dodged out of their path, firing at them to keep them distracted.
She wasn't strong enough to damage the boar Grimm, or to knock them over and hit their unarmoured stomachs. But she couldn't let herself get hit by one. Normal Boarbatusk's were smart enough to grapple with someone and keep them pinned, and ones controlled by Miss Schnee were definitely going to be smarter than normal.
...Which just meant she needed to damage herself to her use her Semblance.
Standing still for a moment, Yang waited, baiting the Grimm into charging at her. She took the moment to fire at the leftover Beowulf's, thin their numbers. Then, as the first Boarbatusk approached, she jumped at it. Skimming over the top of it, she fired downward, hitting both it and herself with a small explosion.
The Boarbatusk was unharmed, but Yang was able to use the propulsion to fling herself higher in the air. At the peak of her ascent, she fired Ember Celica upwards, propelling herself down.
A second before she hit the ground, she slammed down her fist and fired again. Between the gravity and the explosion, her Aura had taken some damage.
Good.
Another Boarbatusk charged at her, and Yang ran at it. It's tusks moved to lock in her arm, but her Semblance had kicked in. She'd taken damage, and now she was stronger. Once it was within arms reach, she was able to kick upwards against it, sending it into the air with the force and leaving in vulnerable to an Ember Celica shot to the stomach.
Ready for the next opponent, Yang looked around, only to realise all the Grimm had disappeared.
"...Is it over?" She asked, turning towards the Schnee.
Winter didn't reply, and a moment later, Yang heard a roar behind her.
Whipping around, Yang barely dodged out of the way of a large Creep, easily three times her size. She jumped under it's legs when she saw it coming, and took a moment to get a good look at the apparition.
The white ghostly being that Winter had created had an odd greenish tint to it, and was bigger than the usual Creep. Which meant it was probably stronger.
Before another thought could pass through her mind, the Creep detonated, sending out an explosive force that sent her slamming into the wall.
"That's enough." Winter decided.
"...Nah." Yang replied, picking herself off the floor and breathing heavily. "I'm still good."
"I've seen enough." Winter replied. "You're competent. Able to deal with lesser Grimm, and make plans to deal with stronger ones. You know how to take advantage of your Semblance. But an unexpected threat left you unprepared.
"Since when do Creep's explode?" Yang asked.
"Not the point." Winter replied. "This isn't the Emerald Forest. The Grimm there are culled and controlled, under the assumption that Signal students would sneak in before they are meant to on dares and bets. The Grimm there are ones you are expected to know about."
As someone who had sneaked into the forest near Beacon based on a dare once, Yang didn't need much convincing that people would be prepared for that.
"Anything you encounter outside the Kingdoms could be a surprise." Winter continued. "Did you know there are Grimm that use weaker Grimm as bait to lure people into trap? Variants of Grimm that disguise themselves as weaker forms to catch people offguard?"
Yang didn't reply, catching her breath.
"Consider this a lesson." Winter continued. "If you assume you understand a threat, it will have consequences. Don't grow complacent just because you think you recognise the threat. Outside the Kingdoms, assume nothing about your foes."
Looking over Yang for a moment, Winter nodded.
"Regardless, you are competent enough." She declared. "If you encounter something too powerful for you, with the level of competence you have shown should suffice for you to either escape or survive long enough for me to arrive."
"Thanks?" Yang questioned.
"You are excused." Winter decided. "It won't be long until we arrive at our destination, and I have yet to test Blast Yellowstone. Please send him in."
Yang nodded, and left.
~~~~~
"Hey, Piran." Yang greeted, sitting down in a corner."Yang." The boy said. "Is there something you wanted?"
"Not much." She replied. "Just wanted to talk."
"If this is going to be something as annoying as Blast was talking about-"
"Not here to tease, for once." Yang said. "We're stuck together for a month, so we may as well get along."
"...A decent point." Piran admitted. "Perhaps this month will be tolerable after all."
"I know a bit about Blast." Yang went on. "But not much about you. What do you do for fun?"
"Now's hardly an appropriate time for 'Fun.'" Piran replied. "This may be a training trip of sorts, but it's still a mission. People's lives rely on our success. Don't they deserve to know that we're taking this seriously?"
"I mean, we're not on the mission yet." Yang replied.
"Perhaps." Piran countered. "But it's still something that's coming. I'm not the sort of person who would just be able to relax while knowing that lives hand in the balance depending on my coming actions."
"That's a kinda cynical outlook." Yang pointed out. "If you thought like that, you'll never stop worrying."
"I can relax later." Piran replied. "After the mission. But.. It just rubs me the wrong way, to not focus on what's coming. You and Blast can do what you want, but don't try and drag me into your banter when I'm trying to focus, please."
"...If you insist." Yang relented. "But once we help these people out, I'm dragging you to a party or something. No buts."
"Fine then." Piran shrugged. "Sounds like fun."
"We should be approaching the refugee village now." Yang pointed out. "Want to go see if we can see it from the cockpit?"
"Sure."
It was a short walk there, and the cockpit was empty when they arrived. The autopilot on the thing was good enough to get from point A to point B, though there was still a control panel for someone to manually control the thing in emergencies.
"Can you see it?" Yang asked.
"Not yet." Piran replied. "But there's a timer here, see? Just another ten minutes."
"Cool." Yang said. "Should we go tell Winter and Blast that we're nearly there?"
"Winter should know." Piran replied. "She's probably keeping track of..."
He trailed off, and Yang looked at him, concerned. "Is there a problem?"
"Yang." He said, a tone of worry in his voice. "Is it just me, or is there smoke on the horizon?"
It took another moment for the town to be close enough to confirm, but there was no denying it.
The town was burning.
[X] This isn't just some accident. This is an attack. Find out who's leading it and take them down.
[X] There's got to be people in there. Find anyone still in there and get them out of the path of danger.
Last edited:
Update 6 - Two
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] There's got to be people in there. Find anyone still in there and get them out of the path of danger.
"We can't afford to delay." Winter said, as she walked the airship. Everyone followed her, as she lead them to the drop point. "Once we get above the city, we'll jump out. Aim for the tallest building in case something goes wrong, but my summons will get you down without using your Aura."
"Yes ma'am." The voices echoed.
"It's likely the culprit responsible for this is still in the village." She continued. "We have no idea who they are, how many there are, or how powerful they are. The three of you will avoid confrontations."
"But-"
"No buts." Winter interrupted Blast. "I will deal with the enemy threat. You three are to minimise casualties. Get people out of the village, out of burning buildings, whatever. Am I understood?"
"Loud and clear." Piran said. "My Semblance lets me manipulate the size of things. I'll make sure all there's nothing blocking escape routes, like collapsed pillars blocking a door."
"You do that." Winter said. "I'll have some bird summons look for people and guide you to them. I won't be able to manually control them so they won't be too smart, but they'll get the job done."
Winter stopped in a room, and the wall began sliding up.
"Don't try to be a hero." Winter said. "If you can't save someone without sacrificing yourself, do what you have to do. There'll be other people to save."
Yang was silent, as she looked down at the village. There was fire everywhere, and with the wall removed, she could hear the screams.
...There was a lot of reasons Yang had wanted to be a Huntress. Fight Grimm. Have an excuse to walk the world and find her mother. The thrill of it. But none of that mattered right now.
People were dying, and she could stop it. Right now, how she felt didn't matter. Even if she'd rather follow Winter and fight the ones responsible, peoples lives were at stake.
"Let's go." Winter said, and in a flash, she was gone. Three ghostly Nevermores formed around her as she fell, and as Yang followed, one swooped underneath her.
"Down." She said. She couldn't afford to delay. In fact, she didn't.
In the five seconds it took the ghost Nevermore to lower her to the ground, Yang had prepared herself. Leaping off it, she hit her mark and rolled into a window. Glass shattered, and she entered a burning building, but there was no issue there.
She took a moment to listen around. There were no screams from nearby. Everything was too distant. But, in the distance, she could also hear gunfire.
...Winter better hurry.
"Anyone here!" Yang screamed out.
Nothing. The building was empty.
Spinning around, Yang refused to waste time. Ember Celica fired at the wall, and the detonation left a big enough hole for her to open.
Leaping from the building, Yang rolled on the ground for a moment before spinning around.
Part of her wanted to search building by building, but she couldn't waste time like that.
Just find the closest scream.
Dashing around the town, following the first scream led her to a wooden building on the verge of collapse.
Making a hole in it could damage it too much, so to her frustration, Yang went around, searching for the door.
"Help here!" She called. "Where are you?"
The nearest scream faded for a moment. "Over-"
The young girl's voice broke off into a cough, and Yang paled.
The smoke. People weren't able to breath in here.
Running through towards the voice, Yang quickly found the person in question. A girl, easily half Ruby's age, with a pair of fox ears on top of her head. She was huddled to the floor, away from the flames, trying to stay low.
"It's okay." Yang said, as she ran through the flames, her Aura protecting her. "I'm here to get you out of her."
"...Who-"
"Don't talk." Yang said. "Just... Close your eyes for a moment, okay?"
She couldn't carry the girl through the flames, but she could try something. The faunus closed her eyes, and Yang picked her up with one arm, facing the wall with the other.
Running towards the wall, Yang turned at the last second, bursting through the burning wood while covering the child. The fox gave a cry of fear, and the building creaked as it began to collapse, but the two had gotten some distance by the time it finally fell.
Yang slipped back as she tried to alter her momentum, landing on her back and sliding on the ground for a moment. Groaning, Yang lifted her head. "You alright?"
The girl opened her eyes slowly. "Am... Am I dead?"
"I hope not." Yang groaned. "You're about as alive as I am."
The girl gave a small smile, which instantly faded away. "My mother..."
"Where is she?" Yang asked. "I can go and get her-"
"She's..." The girl began, but instantly trailed away, tears in her eyes.
...Oh, shit.
"It's okay." Yang said. "Everything's going to be okay."
A small ghost bird flew by, and Yang followed it with her gaze.
Someone else to save-
She paused, and looked at the Faunus.
...Crap. If the town was still under attack, Yang couldn't just leave the girl by herself. But if she escorted her to the town walls or somewhere safe...
"Hold on." Yang said. "I need to get more people, so hold on tight, okay?"
The fox girl looked confused, and didn't respond, but held on to Yang regardless.
Nodding, Yang set out on a run, following Winter's bird.
In a moment, she came to another building, with the doorway collapsed with burning wood.
"Stay here a moment, okay?" Yang said, as she put the fox girl down. The girl didn't respond, just sat there and cried.
Trying to push the thought of the child crying because Yang was too slow out of her mind, the teenage Hunter-in-training looked at the wall of burning wood, and ran at it.
The wood was shoved away, and Yang took a moment to evaluate her current level of Aura.
...Yeah, it was sufficient.
"Anyone in here?" She asked
"Up here!" A woman's voice replied, from on top of some stairs.
Sprinting for them, Yang ignored the flames lapping at her Aura again. "Who-"
A bullet bounced off her Aura, and Yang froze.
The woman who had spoken was outfitted in some sort of uniform, a gun in one hand pointing at Yang, and another holding a boy by the throat.
"Don't try anything clever." The woman hissed. "You're gonna get me out of here, or the boy gets it."
Yang stared at her. "You..."
"Yes, I did this." The woman hissed. "Me and the rest of the Freelance Fighters. This little town here got too far behind on it's payments, y'know? We put in a lot of effort keeping the people safe, and they couldn't even spare the change to pay us for our efforts. Can't let word spread that we're easily conned into free work, can we?"
The yellow-haired girl felt her anger boil over as she glared at the woman. "Put. The boy. Down."
"So you can kill me?" The woman asked. "I'm not that much of a fool. You might be a bit smaller than me, but now that there's Hunters here, I'm gonna need a way out. Those clothes of yours will make a good disguise. Giv-"
And suddenly, a wail thundered through the village.
Yang took a step back, her hands reaching for her ears as the loud, yet melodic, sound echoed in her head. The boy clearly struggled against it too, and the mercenary woman dropped him in her effort to cover her own ears.
And then the wall exploded into flying bricks. Yang looked up as she heard it, and saw the interruption just in time to watch the slab of iron impale the woman. There was a cry of pain, and a snarl of anger, before the giant blade twisted and the woman's midsection was torn apart.
The bloody chunks that remained fell to the ground, and Yang caught her first glimpse of the wielder of the sword.
She was older than Yang was, by a few years at least. Or at least, she looked that way. She was tall, with her sword the length of her long legs and as wide as her torso. Her hair was short and blue, and she wore gloves that covered most of her muscled arms. In fact, all of her clothing was blue, from her rather revealing top to her high heels.
She looked at Yang for a moment, letting Yang observe the mark on her forehead.
II
Roman Numerals, for the number two.
The moment passed, and the blue-haired girl turned to the boy.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Don't worry. Auntie Two's gonna look after you, okay?"
The boy nodded, and the girl- Two- Picked him up, before turning back to Yang.
"Get the girl outside and follow me." She said, before running back out the hole she had made.
Yang watched her go, then shook herself out of the shock.
That... Had been close. Thank god that Two girl had come along, she didn't know what to do with that woman.
As her thoughts drifted that way, Yang looked down at the woman.
She was dead. As the blade had twisted through her, on it's way out, it had stuck up at her heart. She had died in the moments it had taken Two to look at the woman.
Yang... Didn't know how to feel about that.
But she could think on it later. Two had said to follow her.
Leaping out the wall herself, Yang saw Two waiting on the roof of a building nearby. Hitting the ground near the crying girl, Yang picked her up again.
"We're gonna get you somewhere safe." Yang whispered. "Don't worry. It's all going to be okay."
Seeing her grab the girl, Two ran off again, and Yang struggled to keep up.
Down this street, through that alleyway, pausing momentarily so Two could go into a burning building and save an old man, delaying just long enough for the old man to tell them to go ahead without him, down another street, round a corner, to the wall.
The buildings this far in were devastated and gone, but one stone building was still relatively intact. Leading Yang into there, Two put down the small boy.
Following her, Yang let the fox faunus go, and looked around.
There was a ton of people in here. Mostly children, but some older people as well. One man in the corner was trying to treat children with burns, while a pair of women in the middle of the room tried to cheer the children up by singing them a song.
"Two?" A girl's voice asked, and Yang turned to face them.
By the doorway, the blue-haired girl was talking to a red-haired one that looked about Yang's age. Her right arm was bandaged, and her clothes were bloodied, but she held a large hammer in her left.
"Nora?" Two asked. "What are you doing? Where's Ren?"
The orange-haired girl looked at Two. "He... He ran out. When you left. He said he'd caught a glimpse of their leader when he broke my arm, was going to go finish this."
Two shook her head. "No, no, no, he can't do that, he's hurt too, he'll..."
"I have friends out there." Yang said. "An experienced Huntress from Atlas, too. She went to confront the leader of these fu- Mercenaries. She'll save your friend, don't worry."
Two looked at her for a moment. "But what if she's too slow? Cent's out there looking for the leader as well, but I'd know if he'd have found the guy. I need to-"
"Miss Two?" A voice asked, and a small girl pulled at the hem of Two's skirt. "Did you... Did you find my papa?"
Yang could watch Two's heart break as she looked down at the girl. "I..."
Stepping closer, Yang spoke again.
[X] "I'll call my friends, tell them to bring people here. I'll help you find the guy in charge."
[X] "Get in contact with this Cent guy if you can, I'll call Winter. Co-ordinate the efforts against the leader while we keep looking for people."
[X] Write-in.
"We can't afford to delay." Winter said, as she walked the airship. Everyone followed her, as she lead them to the drop point. "Once we get above the city, we'll jump out. Aim for the tallest building in case something goes wrong, but my summons will get you down without using your Aura."
"Yes ma'am." The voices echoed.
"It's likely the culprit responsible for this is still in the village." She continued. "We have no idea who they are, how many there are, or how powerful they are. The three of you will avoid confrontations."
"But-"
"No buts." Winter interrupted Blast. "I will deal with the enemy threat. You three are to minimise casualties. Get people out of the village, out of burning buildings, whatever. Am I understood?"
"Loud and clear." Piran said. "My Semblance lets me manipulate the size of things. I'll make sure all there's nothing blocking escape routes, like collapsed pillars blocking a door."
"You do that." Winter said. "I'll have some bird summons look for people and guide you to them. I won't be able to manually control them so they won't be too smart, but they'll get the job done."
Winter stopped in a room, and the wall began sliding up.
"Don't try to be a hero." Winter said. "If you can't save someone without sacrificing yourself, do what you have to do. There'll be other people to save."
Yang was silent, as she looked down at the village. There was fire everywhere, and with the wall removed, she could hear the screams.
...There was a lot of reasons Yang had wanted to be a Huntress. Fight Grimm. Have an excuse to walk the world and find her mother. The thrill of it. But none of that mattered right now.
People were dying, and she could stop it. Right now, how she felt didn't matter. Even if she'd rather follow Winter and fight the ones responsible, peoples lives were at stake.
"Let's go." Winter said, and in a flash, she was gone. Three ghostly Nevermores formed around her as she fell, and as Yang followed, one swooped underneath her.
"Down." She said. She couldn't afford to delay. In fact, she didn't.
In the five seconds it took the ghost Nevermore to lower her to the ground, Yang had prepared herself. Leaping off it, she hit her mark and rolled into a window. Glass shattered, and she entered a burning building, but there was no issue there.
She took a moment to listen around. There were no screams from nearby. Everything was too distant. But, in the distance, she could also hear gunfire.
...Winter better hurry.
"Anyone here!" Yang screamed out.
Nothing. The building was empty.
Spinning around, Yang refused to waste time. Ember Celica fired at the wall, and the detonation left a big enough hole for her to open.
Leaping from the building, Yang rolled on the ground for a moment before spinning around.
Part of her wanted to search building by building, but she couldn't waste time like that.
Just find the closest scream.
Dashing around the town, following the first scream led her to a wooden building on the verge of collapse.
Making a hole in it could damage it too much, so to her frustration, Yang went around, searching for the door.
"Help here!" She called. "Where are you?"
The nearest scream faded for a moment. "Over-"
The young girl's voice broke off into a cough, and Yang paled.
The smoke. People weren't able to breath in here.
Running through towards the voice, Yang quickly found the person in question. A girl, easily half Ruby's age, with a pair of fox ears on top of her head. She was huddled to the floor, away from the flames, trying to stay low.
"It's okay." Yang said, as she ran through the flames, her Aura protecting her. "I'm here to get you out of her."
"...Who-"
"Don't talk." Yang said. "Just... Close your eyes for a moment, okay?"
She couldn't carry the girl through the flames, but she could try something. The faunus closed her eyes, and Yang picked her up with one arm, facing the wall with the other.
Running towards the wall, Yang turned at the last second, bursting through the burning wood while covering the child. The fox gave a cry of fear, and the building creaked as it began to collapse, but the two had gotten some distance by the time it finally fell.
Yang slipped back as she tried to alter her momentum, landing on her back and sliding on the ground for a moment. Groaning, Yang lifted her head. "You alright?"
The girl opened her eyes slowly. "Am... Am I dead?"
"I hope not." Yang groaned. "You're about as alive as I am."
The girl gave a small smile, which instantly faded away. "My mother..."
"Where is she?" Yang asked. "I can go and get her-"
"She's..." The girl began, but instantly trailed away, tears in her eyes.
...Oh, shit.
"It's okay." Yang said. "Everything's going to be okay."
A small ghost bird flew by, and Yang followed it with her gaze.
Someone else to save-
She paused, and looked at the Faunus.
...Crap. If the town was still under attack, Yang couldn't just leave the girl by herself. But if she escorted her to the town walls or somewhere safe...
"Hold on." Yang said. "I need to get more people, so hold on tight, okay?"
The fox girl looked confused, and didn't respond, but held on to Yang regardless.
Nodding, Yang set out on a run, following Winter's bird.
In a moment, she came to another building, with the doorway collapsed with burning wood.
"Stay here a moment, okay?" Yang said, as she put the fox girl down. The girl didn't respond, just sat there and cried.
Trying to push the thought of the child crying because Yang was too slow out of her mind, the teenage Hunter-in-training looked at the wall of burning wood, and ran at it.
The wood was shoved away, and Yang took a moment to evaluate her current level of Aura.
...Yeah, it was sufficient.
"Anyone in here?" She asked
"Up here!" A woman's voice replied, from on top of some stairs.
Sprinting for them, Yang ignored the flames lapping at her Aura again. "Who-"
A bullet bounced off her Aura, and Yang froze.
The woman who had spoken was outfitted in some sort of uniform, a gun in one hand pointing at Yang, and another holding a boy by the throat.
"Don't try anything clever." The woman hissed. "You're gonna get me out of here, or the boy gets it."
Yang stared at her. "You..."
"Yes, I did this." The woman hissed. "Me and the rest of the Freelance Fighters. This little town here got too far behind on it's payments, y'know? We put in a lot of effort keeping the people safe, and they couldn't even spare the change to pay us for our efforts. Can't let word spread that we're easily conned into free work, can we?"
The yellow-haired girl felt her anger boil over as she glared at the woman. "Put. The boy. Down."
"So you can kill me?" The woman asked. "I'm not that much of a fool. You might be a bit smaller than me, but now that there's Hunters here, I'm gonna need a way out. Those clothes of yours will make a good disguise. Giv-"
And suddenly, a wail thundered through the village.
Yang took a step back, her hands reaching for her ears as the loud, yet melodic, sound echoed in her head. The boy clearly struggled against it too, and the mercenary woman dropped him in her effort to cover her own ears.
And then the wall exploded into flying bricks. Yang looked up as she heard it, and saw the interruption just in time to watch the slab of iron impale the woman. There was a cry of pain, and a snarl of anger, before the giant blade twisted and the woman's midsection was torn apart.
The bloody chunks that remained fell to the ground, and Yang caught her first glimpse of the wielder of the sword.
She was older than Yang was, by a few years at least. Or at least, she looked that way. She was tall, with her sword the length of her long legs and as wide as her torso. Her hair was short and blue, and she wore gloves that covered most of her muscled arms. In fact, all of her clothing was blue, from her rather revealing top to her high heels.
She looked at Yang for a moment, letting Yang observe the mark on her forehead.
II
Roman Numerals, for the number two.
The moment passed, and the blue-haired girl turned to the boy.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Don't worry. Auntie Two's gonna look after you, okay?"
The boy nodded, and the girl- Two- Picked him up, before turning back to Yang.
"Get the girl outside and follow me." She said, before running back out the hole she had made.
Yang watched her go, then shook herself out of the shock.
That... Had been close. Thank god that Two girl had come along, she didn't know what to do with that woman.
As her thoughts drifted that way, Yang looked down at the woman.
She was dead. As the blade had twisted through her, on it's way out, it had stuck up at her heart. She had died in the moments it had taken Two to look at the woman.
Yang... Didn't know how to feel about that.
But she could think on it later. Two had said to follow her.
Leaping out the wall herself, Yang saw Two waiting on the roof of a building nearby. Hitting the ground near the crying girl, Yang picked her up again.
"We're gonna get you somewhere safe." Yang whispered. "Don't worry. It's all going to be okay."
Seeing her grab the girl, Two ran off again, and Yang struggled to keep up.
Down this street, through that alleyway, pausing momentarily so Two could go into a burning building and save an old man, delaying just long enough for the old man to tell them to go ahead without him, down another street, round a corner, to the wall.
The buildings this far in were devastated and gone, but one stone building was still relatively intact. Leading Yang into there, Two put down the small boy.
Following her, Yang let the fox faunus go, and looked around.
There was a ton of people in here. Mostly children, but some older people as well. One man in the corner was trying to treat children with burns, while a pair of women in the middle of the room tried to cheer the children up by singing them a song.
"Two?" A girl's voice asked, and Yang turned to face them.
By the doorway, the blue-haired girl was talking to a red-haired one that looked about Yang's age. Her right arm was bandaged, and her clothes were bloodied, but she held a large hammer in her left.
"Nora?" Two asked. "What are you doing? Where's Ren?"
The orange-haired girl looked at Two. "He... He ran out. When you left. He said he'd caught a glimpse of their leader when he broke my arm, was going to go finish this."
Two shook her head. "No, no, no, he can't do that, he's hurt too, he'll..."
"I have friends out there." Yang said. "An experienced Huntress from Atlas, too. She went to confront the leader of these fu- Mercenaries. She'll save your friend, don't worry."
Two looked at her for a moment. "But what if she's too slow? Cent's out there looking for the leader as well, but I'd know if he'd have found the guy. I need to-"
"Miss Two?" A voice asked, and a small girl pulled at the hem of Two's skirt. "Did you... Did you find my papa?"
Yang could watch Two's heart break as she looked down at the girl. "I..."
Stepping closer, Yang spoke again.
[X] "I'll call my friends, tell them to bring people here. I'll help you find the guy in charge."
[X] "Get in contact with this Cent guy if you can, I'll call Winter. Co-ordinate the efforts against the leader while we keep looking for people."
[X] Write-in.
Last edited:
Update 7 - Help is on The Way
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] "Get in contact with this Cent guy if you can, I'll call Winter. Co-ordinate the efforts against the leader while we keep looking for people."
Two nodded at Yang's suggestion.
"Yeah, this'll work." Two said. "Cent can make sure Ren survives and nothing bad happens, I can save everyone else, everything will be fine."
She nodded vigorously, as she pulled out a scroll and activated it. Following her example, Yang reached for a pouch on her belt.
Signal had wanted to make sure nothing went wrong on the trip, so each of the supervisors had been assigned some special scrolls. Linked up to each other primarily, with the ones for the students hooked up not to communicate with anyone else by default. It' be easy enough to hook up another number if needed, but as they were, it was designed to have good reception to getting in touch with anyone else on the trip. Primarily Winter, but also each other in case something happened.
Yang's scroll didn't take long to get in contact with Winter's, but it kept ringing for a while. Winter must have been busy.
Two's scroll answered first. "Two? What do you need?"
"Hi, Cent!" The blue-haired girl cheered. "Hey, everything's alright on your end, yeah?"
"So far." Cent replied. "I've had some... Polite conversations with our attackers. Haven't found their leader yet, but give me time. How about you?"
"Mostly good." Two replied. "Safe place is still safe. Ren's run off to go fight, though. Could you keep an eye out for him?"
"Ren? The one who always wears green, right?"
Two looked up at the orange-haired girl with a broken arm, who nodded. "Yeah, that's him."
"I'll find him." Cent said. "I'll drag him back to you after I deal with the mercenaries."
Yang's scroll finally stopped ringing, and Winter's voice spoke. "What's the situation, Yang."
The huntress in training cleared her throat. "I've gotten in contact with some locals, and some of them are hunting the merc leader as well. I thought it'd be a good idea to trade off any information we have."
"Oh yeah." Two said. "Cent! We've got help from the Kingdoms!"
"More help?" Cent asked. "I'm going to have to be more impressive than usual now, Two. We can't have your Disciple looking anything but his best in front of outsiders. I'd hate to reflect poorly on you."
Two blushed slightly, but Winter spoke up, louder, so as to make sure Cent caught the message.
"You're hunting as well, then?" She asked. "I've been sweeping the village, but haven't had much luck. The thrust of the attackers seem to be gathering to the north right now, so I suspect the leader will be leading the charge there."
"I wouldn't be too sure." Cent replied. "I encountered an attacker who had an unfortunate sword accident and was missing a leg. He seemed eager to trade information in exchange for not dying. He said the leader would be using the attack as a cover to do his own business elsewhere."
"Well, he's not to the east of the bakery, at least." Winter said. "My summons have swept the area, and it's empty."
"I've checked the treasury in the centre of town." Cent replied. "It was damaged, but the people near it weren't important, so I don't think the leader's just gonna try and pillage it while people burn elsewhere."
There was quiet for a moment. "The buildings over here are rather damaged. Burning, some explosive remnants... Have you encountered anyone who could be responsible?"
"There was a guy with a fire Semblance." Cent replied. "But nothing that could have caused an explosion."
"And the area to the north looked rather damaged as well, from the airship." Winter mused. "So I'd say the one in charge would be marking out areas right now, getting ready to detonate places ahead of their men hitting the area."
There was quiet for a moment. "There's only a few places left undamaged, and those people have probably run by now, so there's hardly a point in looking for them. I'll sweep the north, keep an eye out for anyone suspicious moving in. You said you had summons? Keep them sweeping the area. Have any more specific ideas?"
"The mercenaries seem rather focused on ensuring no survivors..." Winter noted. "And if they've gone out of there way to cause so much devastation... If they really wanted to ensure maximum casualties, their next move would be taking down any walls keeping the Grimm at bay."
There was quiet for a moment, as everyone processed those words.
"...Well, shit." Cent said.
"I'll head south." Winter said. "If they're gathering in the north, that seems the most likely place for them to devastate. If you have any information you need to pass on... Yang, I'm sending my scroll's contact information. Pass it on."
A number flashed on the screen, which Yang quickly read out.
"Did you get that?" Yang asked, once she had finished.
"Got it." Cent replied. "My information should come through once I enter this in, right? That's how this new scroll stuff works?"
"Seems right." Yang replied.
"Let's get moving." Winter decided. "I'll pass this information on to the rest of the group, Yang. Keep getting people to safety."
"Got it." She nodded. The line went dead.
"Bye Cent!" Two called. "Hey, hey, come back soon, okay?"
"Miss me?" Cent asked. "In that case, I'll make this quick. It shouldn't take too long, if I stop being sneaky about it."
"Be safe!" Two ordered.
"Don't worry, Two." Cent replied. "I said I'd never die on you, didn't I?"
"Yeah-"
"And I've never lied to you before, have I?"
Two nodded. "Don't start now!"
"I won't, my love. After all, if I died now, I wouldn't be able to admire your beauty anymore."
Two stammered for a moment, blushing heavily, before the line went dead.
"...Man." Yang complained. "What have I got to do to find a guy like that?"
Two shook away her embarrassment, then looked over at the crowd. "Okay, everyone, I'll be back soon. Don't worry, okay? I'll find everyone I can."
The children waved goodbye, and Two turned to leave.
"Hold on." Yang said. "Hold up your scroll for a moment?"
Two stopped, and did so. Yang tapped the two devices together.
"Give me a call if something goes wrong." Yang advised. I'll be looking for people two, okay?"
Two nodded, not reacting to the pun, and Yang ignored her disappointment.
"Be safe!" Two called. At the front of the group, the orange-haired girl with the broken arm nodded, holding up her hammer as it quickly changed form into a gun.
...That didn't look like something that could be fired one-handed, but who knows.
Giving a quick salute to the crowd as well, Yang set off a moment after Two. Taking note of how Two was heading to the left, Yang ran towards the right, to cover more ground.
The empty buildings around Yang were close enough to the safe space that they should be empty, so she headed back towards where she had found the girl, before encountering Two.
Hearing a gunshot nearby, Yang quickly changed path, heading towards it to see what was going on. It took a few moments to get there, but eventually, she slid into a large street.
Standing there, holding a weapon in the opposite direction to Yang, was Piran. Behind him, a group of survivors was resting. They were injured, down the the last man. That guy had a strip of cloth bandaging his arm. That woman was being propped up by other so she wouldn't have to walk on her bloodied leg. Those children were covered in burns and bruises.
"Hey!" Yang called. Piran reacted, but didn't turn around.
"Watch out." He said. "Invisibility Semblance."
Yang froze, a distance from the ground, and immediately fired Ember Celica downwards. The resulting explosion kicked up some dust around her, but nobody grunted in pain or became visible through the dust.
Good, nobody around to ambush her.
Piran's scroll vibrated at his side, but he didn't reach for it. "Did you check the message from Winter?" He asked.
"It's just a note of where the mercenary leader might be." Yang said. "Can you handle thi-"
Piran interrupted her by quickly firing his pistol down the street, the bullets striking the ground in the distance.
"...Got away." He grunted. "Can't go on the offensive, I'll miss him coming closer, I won't be able to cover people."
"I can take them to a safe place?" Yang offered.
"Not while he's still on the move." Piran rejected. "He might follow you and take advantage of the opening."
He slowly swept his gaze around, from one building to another. "Did you hear a door open, Yang?"
The girl blinked, and shook her head. "No, sorry."
He pursed his lips. "Might've been the wind. Might've been the guy moving. Keep an eye on the left, I'll keep an eye on where he was."
Yang kept an eye open for a moment, before an eye came to her.
"I can go on the attack, if you want." Yang said. "You watch people, I'll go in and search.
Piran took a moment to consider. "Go ahead, Yang. Give me a shout if you find them, I'll provide covering power."
Yang smirked, hitting her fists together. "If I find him, just get the people out of here. There's a safe place nearby, and the old man should still be heading there. Find and follow him, you'll get there."
Piran considered it for a moment. "If you wish, Yang." He replied.
The girl didn't wait any longer, running in towards the building Piran had looked towards.
The door swayed in the breeze for a moment, and so Yang went through it. She didn't look around much. Her Aura was strong, getting hit would only make her stronger, and if she baited the invisible man to hit her-
...She was assuming that the blow would be something she could take. Winter had just chewed her out for this.
Stopping her run, Yang looked around.
Nothing.
Walking slowly towards the door out, Yang kept an eye open. Any footsteps she could hear, any traps she could see, anything being moved as if someone was moving near the-
There was wire covering the doorway.
She'd nearly missed it, but there was a wire in the doorway. A tripwire, it looked like. Taking a step away from it, Yang fired Ember Celia at it.
The wire snapped at the explosion near it, and a moment later, the area outside the doorway detonated.
The explosion rocked forth, collapsing the exit of the stone house, and Yang had to brace herself to avoid being pushed back.
That was some powerful explosive. Looks like being careful had it's benefits.
"Good work." Said a voice, from a direction Yang couldn't pinpoint. "You didn't trigger that trap. Looks like we're doing this the hard way."
A stab of pain his Yang from the left, as her Aura pushed away a blade she couldn't see, but whoever caused it was gone before she could counter-attack.
"Too slow, too slow." The voice said again. "What will you do no-"
"In the room?" Yang asked, reloading Ember Celica.
Then she spun, firing as quickly as possible to hit everywhere possible. Left, right, on angles towards the roof, in front of her, behind her, everywhere. There was the sound of movement from-
Above her!
Slipping backwards, Yang heard the sound of something hitting the ground, and fired again. There was a grunt of pain, and her attacker became visible.
...He was younger than she was suspecting. Only about her age, with a whip in his hand. The end of the whip was bladed, and it was long enough and thick enough that he could probably bring it around to make it seem a blow had come from any direction.
A moment passed, as the surprisingly youthful boy gave her a look, one that reflected terror. He stumbled back, as sharpnel from Yang's blast hit him in the arm, drawing blood.
...His Aura was gone?
"Give up." Yang said. "If you come quietly-"
"You'll have me executed without a fight?" The boy asked. "I don't think so."
He spun his arm around, building up momentum with the whip. More blades emerged along it, and a beeping sound filled the air.
He let it go just in time to throw it at Yang, the whip travelling at an angle intended to ensnare her. She leapt back, avoiding the obvious explosive, and shielded her eyes as it detonated.
The roof collapsed, and on the other side of the room, she could see the boy laugh as he ran.
...Damn it.
As the rubble stopped falling, Yang quickly ran over it, but by the time she got through it and out of the building, the boy was gone.
Turning around, Yang saw that Piran and his group had left. Must've run as soon as he heard the first explosion.
Good. The people needed to get out of there.
Yang's scroll started vibrating, but before she could reach for it, a voice came from it anyway.
"Emergency override." Winter stated. "We've got problems. Grimm are pouring in from the south of the village, and my summons have found groups stalking around the village looking for more ways in. This village is as good as lost. I'm calling the airship in to land in the centre of the village, get everyone you can there so we can get them out of harm's way. Respond immediately."
"I copy!" Piran's voice called immediately. "I've got wounded with me, so if the Grimm get in, I'm gonna have problems. Requesting assistance."
"Sending summons." Winter replied. "Yang? Blast?"
"On my way." Yang said.
Blast was silent.
"Blast, respond." Winter said. "Blast?"
"Damn it." Yang swore. Blast was off the radar, people would need escorting towards the airship, Winter might not be able to hold all the Grimm in the south for long, the people to the north were still...
...Blast went north, didn't he? The most threats, the most glory for pulling people out of danger's way up there...
Damn.
[X] Go North. Find Blast, make sure he's safe, meet up with Cent and try to find Ren. It'll be dangerous, but she couldn't leave them up there alone.
[X] Back up Piran. There were a lot of people in the safe place, and Piran, a girl with a broken arm and a few summons wouldn't hold for long.
[X] Head for the centre of town. The airship would be landing with nothing but whatever automated protections it had. Having someone guard it would make sure no Grimm or mercenaries got any clever ideas.
Two nodded at Yang's suggestion.
"Yeah, this'll work." Two said. "Cent can make sure Ren survives and nothing bad happens, I can save everyone else, everything will be fine."
She nodded vigorously, as she pulled out a scroll and activated it. Following her example, Yang reached for a pouch on her belt.
Signal had wanted to make sure nothing went wrong on the trip, so each of the supervisors had been assigned some special scrolls. Linked up to each other primarily, with the ones for the students hooked up not to communicate with anyone else by default. It' be easy enough to hook up another number if needed, but as they were, it was designed to have good reception to getting in touch with anyone else on the trip. Primarily Winter, but also each other in case something happened.
Yang's scroll didn't take long to get in contact with Winter's, but it kept ringing for a while. Winter must have been busy.
Two's scroll answered first. "Two? What do you need?"
"Hi, Cent!" The blue-haired girl cheered. "Hey, everything's alright on your end, yeah?"
"So far." Cent replied. "I've had some... Polite conversations with our attackers. Haven't found their leader yet, but give me time. How about you?"
"Mostly good." Two replied. "Safe place is still safe. Ren's run off to go fight, though. Could you keep an eye out for him?"
"Ren? The one who always wears green, right?"
Two looked up at the orange-haired girl with a broken arm, who nodded. "Yeah, that's him."
"I'll find him." Cent said. "I'll drag him back to you after I deal with the mercenaries."
Yang's scroll finally stopped ringing, and Winter's voice spoke. "What's the situation, Yang."
The huntress in training cleared her throat. "I've gotten in contact with some locals, and some of them are hunting the merc leader as well. I thought it'd be a good idea to trade off any information we have."
"Oh yeah." Two said. "Cent! We've got help from the Kingdoms!"
"More help?" Cent asked. "I'm going to have to be more impressive than usual now, Two. We can't have your Disciple looking anything but his best in front of outsiders. I'd hate to reflect poorly on you."
Two blushed slightly, but Winter spoke up, louder, so as to make sure Cent caught the message.
"You're hunting as well, then?" She asked. "I've been sweeping the village, but haven't had much luck. The thrust of the attackers seem to be gathering to the north right now, so I suspect the leader will be leading the charge there."
"I wouldn't be too sure." Cent replied. "I encountered an attacker who had an unfortunate sword accident and was missing a leg. He seemed eager to trade information in exchange for not dying. He said the leader would be using the attack as a cover to do his own business elsewhere."
"Well, he's not to the east of the bakery, at least." Winter said. "My summons have swept the area, and it's empty."
"I've checked the treasury in the centre of town." Cent replied. "It was damaged, but the people near it weren't important, so I don't think the leader's just gonna try and pillage it while people burn elsewhere."
There was quiet for a moment. "The buildings over here are rather damaged. Burning, some explosive remnants... Have you encountered anyone who could be responsible?"
"There was a guy with a fire Semblance." Cent replied. "But nothing that could have caused an explosion."
"And the area to the north looked rather damaged as well, from the airship." Winter mused. "So I'd say the one in charge would be marking out areas right now, getting ready to detonate places ahead of their men hitting the area."
There was quiet for a moment. "There's only a few places left undamaged, and those people have probably run by now, so there's hardly a point in looking for them. I'll sweep the north, keep an eye out for anyone suspicious moving in. You said you had summons? Keep them sweeping the area. Have any more specific ideas?"
"The mercenaries seem rather focused on ensuring no survivors..." Winter noted. "And if they've gone out of there way to cause so much devastation... If they really wanted to ensure maximum casualties, their next move would be taking down any walls keeping the Grimm at bay."
There was quiet for a moment, as everyone processed those words.
"...Well, shit." Cent said.
"I'll head south." Winter said. "If they're gathering in the north, that seems the most likely place for them to devastate. If you have any information you need to pass on... Yang, I'm sending my scroll's contact information. Pass it on."
A number flashed on the screen, which Yang quickly read out.
"Did you get that?" Yang asked, once she had finished.
"Got it." Cent replied. "My information should come through once I enter this in, right? That's how this new scroll stuff works?"
"Seems right." Yang replied.
"Let's get moving." Winter decided. "I'll pass this information on to the rest of the group, Yang. Keep getting people to safety."
"Got it." She nodded. The line went dead.
"Bye Cent!" Two called. "Hey, hey, come back soon, okay?"
"Miss me?" Cent asked. "In that case, I'll make this quick. It shouldn't take too long, if I stop being sneaky about it."
"Be safe!" Two ordered.
"Don't worry, Two." Cent replied. "I said I'd never die on you, didn't I?"
"Yeah-"
"And I've never lied to you before, have I?"
Two nodded. "Don't start now!"
"I won't, my love. After all, if I died now, I wouldn't be able to admire your beauty anymore."
Two stammered for a moment, blushing heavily, before the line went dead.
"...Man." Yang complained. "What have I got to do to find a guy like that?"
Two shook away her embarrassment, then looked over at the crowd. "Okay, everyone, I'll be back soon. Don't worry, okay? I'll find everyone I can."
The children waved goodbye, and Two turned to leave.
"Hold on." Yang said. "Hold up your scroll for a moment?"
Two stopped, and did so. Yang tapped the two devices together.
"Give me a call if something goes wrong." Yang advised. I'll be looking for people two, okay?"
Two nodded, not reacting to the pun, and Yang ignored her disappointment.
"Be safe!" Two called. At the front of the group, the orange-haired girl with the broken arm nodded, holding up her hammer as it quickly changed form into a gun.
...That didn't look like something that could be fired one-handed, but who knows.
Giving a quick salute to the crowd as well, Yang set off a moment after Two. Taking note of how Two was heading to the left, Yang ran towards the right, to cover more ground.
The empty buildings around Yang were close enough to the safe space that they should be empty, so she headed back towards where she had found the girl, before encountering Two.
Hearing a gunshot nearby, Yang quickly changed path, heading towards it to see what was going on. It took a few moments to get there, but eventually, she slid into a large street.
Standing there, holding a weapon in the opposite direction to Yang, was Piran. Behind him, a group of survivors was resting. They were injured, down the the last man. That guy had a strip of cloth bandaging his arm. That woman was being propped up by other so she wouldn't have to walk on her bloodied leg. Those children were covered in burns and bruises.
"Hey!" Yang called. Piran reacted, but didn't turn around.
"Watch out." He said. "Invisibility Semblance."
Yang froze, a distance from the ground, and immediately fired Ember Celica downwards. The resulting explosion kicked up some dust around her, but nobody grunted in pain or became visible through the dust.
Good, nobody around to ambush her.
Piran's scroll vibrated at his side, but he didn't reach for it. "Did you check the message from Winter?" He asked.
"It's just a note of where the mercenary leader might be." Yang said. "Can you handle thi-"
Piran interrupted her by quickly firing his pistol down the street, the bullets striking the ground in the distance.
"...Got away." He grunted. "Can't go on the offensive, I'll miss him coming closer, I won't be able to cover people."
"I can take them to a safe place?" Yang offered.
"Not while he's still on the move." Piran rejected. "He might follow you and take advantage of the opening."
He slowly swept his gaze around, from one building to another. "Did you hear a door open, Yang?"
The girl blinked, and shook her head. "No, sorry."
He pursed his lips. "Might've been the wind. Might've been the guy moving. Keep an eye on the left, I'll keep an eye on where he was."
Yang kept an eye open for a moment, before an eye came to her.
"I can go on the attack, if you want." Yang said. "You watch people, I'll go in and search.
Piran took a moment to consider. "Go ahead, Yang. Give me a shout if you find them, I'll provide covering power."
Yang smirked, hitting her fists together. "If I find him, just get the people out of here. There's a safe place nearby, and the old man should still be heading there. Find and follow him, you'll get there."
Piran considered it for a moment. "If you wish, Yang." He replied.
The girl didn't wait any longer, running in towards the building Piran had looked towards.
The door swayed in the breeze for a moment, and so Yang went through it. She didn't look around much. Her Aura was strong, getting hit would only make her stronger, and if she baited the invisible man to hit her-
...She was assuming that the blow would be something she could take. Winter had just chewed her out for this.
Stopping her run, Yang looked around.
Nothing.
Walking slowly towards the door out, Yang kept an eye open. Any footsteps she could hear, any traps she could see, anything being moved as if someone was moving near the-
There was wire covering the doorway.
She'd nearly missed it, but there was a wire in the doorway. A tripwire, it looked like. Taking a step away from it, Yang fired Ember Celia at it.
The wire snapped at the explosion near it, and a moment later, the area outside the doorway detonated.
The explosion rocked forth, collapsing the exit of the stone house, and Yang had to brace herself to avoid being pushed back.
That was some powerful explosive. Looks like being careful had it's benefits.
"Good work." Said a voice, from a direction Yang couldn't pinpoint. "You didn't trigger that trap. Looks like we're doing this the hard way."
A stab of pain his Yang from the left, as her Aura pushed away a blade she couldn't see, but whoever caused it was gone before she could counter-attack.
"Too slow, too slow." The voice said again. "What will you do no-"
"In the room?" Yang asked, reloading Ember Celica.
Then she spun, firing as quickly as possible to hit everywhere possible. Left, right, on angles towards the roof, in front of her, behind her, everywhere. There was the sound of movement from-
Above her!
Slipping backwards, Yang heard the sound of something hitting the ground, and fired again. There was a grunt of pain, and her attacker became visible.
...He was younger than she was suspecting. Only about her age, with a whip in his hand. The end of the whip was bladed, and it was long enough and thick enough that he could probably bring it around to make it seem a blow had come from any direction.
A moment passed, as the surprisingly youthful boy gave her a look, one that reflected terror. He stumbled back, as sharpnel from Yang's blast hit him in the arm, drawing blood.
...His Aura was gone?
"Give up." Yang said. "If you come quietly-"
"You'll have me executed without a fight?" The boy asked. "I don't think so."
He spun his arm around, building up momentum with the whip. More blades emerged along it, and a beeping sound filled the air.
He let it go just in time to throw it at Yang, the whip travelling at an angle intended to ensnare her. She leapt back, avoiding the obvious explosive, and shielded her eyes as it detonated.
The roof collapsed, and on the other side of the room, she could see the boy laugh as he ran.
...Damn it.
As the rubble stopped falling, Yang quickly ran over it, but by the time she got through it and out of the building, the boy was gone.
Turning around, Yang saw that Piran and his group had left. Must've run as soon as he heard the first explosion.
Good. The people needed to get out of there.
Yang's scroll started vibrating, but before she could reach for it, a voice came from it anyway.
"Emergency override." Winter stated. "We've got problems. Grimm are pouring in from the south of the village, and my summons have found groups stalking around the village looking for more ways in. This village is as good as lost. I'm calling the airship in to land in the centre of the village, get everyone you can there so we can get them out of harm's way. Respond immediately."
"I copy!" Piran's voice called immediately. "I've got wounded with me, so if the Grimm get in, I'm gonna have problems. Requesting assistance."
"Sending summons." Winter replied. "Yang? Blast?"
"On my way." Yang said.
Blast was silent.
"Blast, respond." Winter said. "Blast?"
"Damn it." Yang swore. Blast was off the radar, people would need escorting towards the airship, Winter might not be able to hold all the Grimm in the south for long, the people to the north were still...
...Blast went north, didn't he? The most threats, the most glory for pulling people out of danger's way up there...
Damn.
[X] Go North. Find Blast, make sure he's safe, meet up with Cent and try to find Ren. It'll be dangerous, but she couldn't leave them up there alone.
[X] Back up Piran. There were a lot of people in the safe place, and Piran, a girl with a broken arm and a few summons wouldn't hold for long.
[X] Head for the centre of town. The airship would be landing with nothing but whatever automated protections it had. Having someone guard it would make sure no Grimm or mercenaries got any clever ideas.
Update 8 - Dance with the Devil
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] Back up Piran. There were a lot of people in the safe place, and Piran, a girl with a broken arm and a few summons wouldn't hold for long.
...Blast would have to take care of himself.
Sure, he was in danger, but that Cent guy was up there, and Blast should be smart enough to run if things start looking dicey.
Piran and the survivors? They didn't have it as lucky. There was too many of them. If they came under attack, they wouldn't be able to just run for it.
"Yang, Piran, focus on the people that need to be evacuated." Winter ordered. "I'll contact Cent and ask him to keep an eye open for Blast. It's too dangerous for either of you to go up their yourselves. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Yang replied.
She didn't like it. She was leaving an ally somewhere dangerous without so much as trying to get them, and leaving them without knowing what was going on. But she couldn't just abandon Piran and the evacuees either. And they needed her more.
"Piran." Yang quickly called over the scroll. "Is there someone called Two with the rest of the evacuees?"
There was silence for a moment, probably Piran double-checking. "Another person with Aura? No, they're not here. Why?"
"Never mind." Yang replied. "I'll get in contact with her. Focus on getting people to the ship, I'll catch up."
"Understood." Piran replied. "Over and out."
Flicking through her scroll quickly, Yang found Two's information in but a moment. It took another moment for Two to answer.
"Hello!" She said. "Hey, now's not a good time, there's a lot of people trying to kill me right now..."
"Just a heads up." Yang said. "Grimm are coming in, so our leader's called in the airship to the centre of town. My teammate's helping people get there, and I'll be with the group in a moment. Don't panic if you go to the safe place and nobody's there."
"Thanks, Yang!" Two called. "Hold on a moment, just let me..."
A deafening string of gunshots fired out, each loud enough that Yang was hearing them twice- One from the scroll, the other echoing through town a fraction of a second later. Or at least, she assumed so. There was enough per second that it was hard to tell how long the delay really was.
"Last warning!" Two shouted. "Step away from the children!"
There was muffled movements for a moment, and some sobbing, before Two spoke again.
"Centre of town, you said?" Two asked. "I'm close to there. I'll take these kids there now and keep it safe while you and your friend get everyone else in, okay?"
"Got it." Yang said, but Two had already moved on.
"It's okay, it's okay." She said in a soft voice. There was a thud, like a scroll falling to the ground, and Two's voice grew more distant. "Just close your eyes and don't look, okay? It's going to be okay. I won't let anything bad happen."
Feeling that Two was done with the conversation, Yang ended the call and put her scroll away, and started running.
As she ran, Yang observed the area around here.
This village was surprisingly big, all things considered. A lot of buildings with multiple floors, probably home to a good number of people. It had to have been well populated, must have gotten a lot of refugees from other places. The reason they'd been called into the town in the first place was because it was having a population issue, so it was likely there was more people here than the number of buildings would initially imply.
All things considered, the amount of survivors she'd seen at the safe place was rather low.
...Maybe more people had gotten away. Maybe some had found vehicles somewhere and had made a run from it at the start of the attack. Maybe some of them had hidden away where nobody had found them.
The thought didn't help much. With the Grimm approaching and the smell of burning flesh in the air, it was hard to appreciate the idea that there could be people here that Yang didn't know about.
And right on cue, Yang heard a squawk. Looking into the air, her worst suspicions were confirmed.
Nevermores. Multiple, of various sizes, but there was at least one giant one there. The giant was just big enough to swallow a human whole, but even if it was on the smaller end of giant Grimm, it was still enough of a threat that Yang couldn't deal with it.
Hell, Signal had taught that it wasn't unusual for a team of first-year Beacon students to have trouble with a giant Nevermore. That, plus a few smaller ones that still managed to be about Yang's size?
She couldn't kill that.
She could fight it, maybe survive, buy time for people to get away, but this was the kind of threat that led to stories of career-ending injuries, in more optimistic cases.
It was fortunate, then, that Winter was well above the level of a Signal student.
With a ferocious roar, a few ghostly draconic figures rose up from the horizon, making a beeline for the Nevermores. The Nevermores swooped away and fired some wings at the attackers, who spat out phantasmal fireballs and continued on the attack. One of the Wyverns was hit in the wing and began to fall before fading appear, but several of the smaller Nevermores fell as well, and the larger one was pushed into a retreating battle.
It'd be a close fight, and Yang didn't know who would win, but it'd take long enough and take the Nevermore far enough away that it shouldn't be a threat, for a bit longer at least.
When she had more time, Yang would have to take a moment to complain about how experienced Hunters were so far ahead of her. Maybe tell Ruby the story, she'd love hearing about the more battle-focused aspects of this. The mass death, not so much, but the fighting, sure.
Continuing her run, Yang heard the sound of combat somewhere nearby.
Piran, probably.
Turning direction slightly, Yang made a dash for the sound of combat, hoping that everything would be fine. Bursting out of an alleyway, she took a moment to figure out what was going on.
Another mercenary was here, battling Piran. The boy was fighting in the street, keeping the merc away from another alleyway, which was probably where the evacuees were.
Not wasting any more time, Yang broke in.
"Sucker Punch!" She shouted, punching at the air and firing Ember Celica at the sucker. The mercenary turned and drew a line in the air in front of him. The projectile hit the line, split in two, and hit either side of the mercenary.
Before Yang could fire again, Piran took a step forward, throwing something. In the air in front of him, a log of a tree suddenly appeared, spinning as it grew until it covered the length of the street.
The mercenary saw it at the last second, turned and traced another air line, but it was a moment too late. The downward line had gone down the distance between his head to the centre of his chest before the giant log hit, and Yang lost sight of him as he and the log travelled into the distance.
"Neat trick." Yang noted. "Looks like your bark and bite aren't that different."
"Nice to see you, Yang." Piran noted. "Terrible puns aside, thanks. I'm not sure I could've thrown that fast enough if you hadn't distracted him."
Yang looked over at the giant log. "You, uh, gonna fix that?"
"Too big." Piran replied. "It'd take too long to get a good enough grip."
"You need to hold it to shrink it?" Yang asked.
Piran looked at her. "Oh, I never explained just how my Semblance works, did I?"
"You can tell me on the way to the airship." Yang said. "Let's go."
Piran nodded. "Follow me, we'll go around this street."
"There does seem to be a fallen tree blocking the way." Yang noted, as she followed him. "Maybe you should call emergency services to have it moved."
"I imagine they'd be busy." Piran noted drily.
"How'd it go?" Asked a voice from within the alleyway. As Yang stepped into it, she saw it was the orange-haired girl.
"I won." Piran replied. "Now let's go, Nora. No time to delay."
The Nora girl nodded, and turned to the group.
"Alright everyone!" She declared. "Everyone stick with your buddy! Especially the kids! If you get lost, I'm eating your dessert!"
Yang smiled slightly, as the girl marched ahead, leading the group out of the alleyway.
Yang and Piran followed from the back. The group was small enough that they'd be able to get to the front of the group in a heartbeat, and unlike Nora, they were intact enough that a blow from behind wouldn't take them out of the fight.
"So, how does your Semblance work?" Yang asked.
"I can only control the size of things I can spin." Piran replied. "Spin something clockwise, it gets bigger. Anticlockwise, it gets smaller. If it's too big for me to get a grip, won't move or something I can't touch, it doesn't work."
"Huh." Yang noted. "Must be a pain, spinning things."
"It's still useful." Piran replied. "And I don't have to be directly touching it, as long as I made it spin while it's close enough for my Aura to work. My gun's set up to spin bullets if I pull the trigger the right way, and that works. And besides, don't you need to get hurt for your Semblance to work?"
"I do get stronger as I take more damage, yes." Yang replied. "Speaking of which, how's your Aura?"
"I'm good." Piran replied. "Haven't taken too much damage. I'd estimate about... Seventy, seventy five percent?"
"That much?"
"I don't have that much to start with." Piran replied. "And I only lost that much because invisible bomber caught me off guard."
"Ah." Yang noted. "Speaking of, he got away. His Aura was out, and it only took one hit to down him and knock his Semblance off, but I don't know if he's one of those people who can use their Semblance while out of usable Aura, and he might still have explosive traps."
Piran nodded. "I had expected as much. I had warned everyone here to keep an eye out for the explosive wire. Notice how Nora's walking a good distance in front of the group?"
Yang looked ahead, and saw that she was. "Is that safe?"
"Her Aura's fairly strong." Piran noted. "She's confident in being able to take a hit, and thinks it's better her than someone who can fight."
There was a sudden sound on Yang's scroll, and the girl reached for it. A message from Two.
"Yang!" The blue-haired girl called. "I'm at the airship, but so are the bad guys!"
"What's the problem?" Yang asked immediately.
"Well, I got all the children on board, but as soon as I did the airship's turret thingy started firing into a building, I ran in to investigate, but then the building blew up and I had to stop and use my Song to stop the rubble from hitting the airship."
Yang took a moment to process that. "Stay near the ship." She advised. "If the other buildings go down-"
"I know, I know!" Two called. "But making a shield the right size and shape to protect the ship and send the rubble away so I can take it down later is hard, and I can't fight like that! Can you hurry up and get here, in case the next building comes down while we're under attack?"
Taking a moment to calm her breathing, Yang agreed. "Be right there."
"Be right where?"
Yang turned upwards at the voice, looking up to the roof of the ruined building she was walking by.
At the top of it stood a man in the mercenary armour. No, not exactly the same. His was fancier. A sign of importance if Yang had ever seen one. His armour was bulkier, more fancy, and included a helmet that exposed his face, and a rather impressive if sinister moustache and beard. He looked down at the group, and Yang felt a sudden worry.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"The man this town cheated out of his payment." The mercenary replied. "I wouldn't have had to order this if they just kept their promise, you know?"
The leader had stepped out of the shadows.
"You bastard." Yang growled. "You didn't get your pay, so you decide everyone has to die?"
"A Kingdom dweller, I assume." The man replied. "You'd understand if you had lived out here. My men fought and died to protect the people of this town from Grimm attacks. If they didn't have the resources to afford our service, they should have protected themselves."
Yang curled her fist as she looked up at the man.
She couldn't just let him get away with this.
...But she didn't know if she could beat him, either. If he was the leader, odds were he was the strongest.
But that was fine. She didn't need to win. She just needed to hold the line long enough that the survivors were able to get to the airship.
But first, she needed a plan.
[X] Attack immediately. Put him on the defensive, push him away from the group, and keep his attention.
[X] Bait him into a monologue. If he was distracted, some more people might slip away, and then he could be hit mid-sentence.
[X] Run for it. Try to lure him away. If it doesn't work, you can double back and try for a sneak attack.
Of course, Yang isn't the only one present. Even if people have to run for the ship, she will get help somehow. But how?
[X] Nora stays behind and provides covering fire. She won't help much, but Piran needs to guard the airship more.
[X] Piran sends the group ahead and fights at Yang's side. Nora will be less useful at the airship, but Yang will have a better chance.
[X] Both leave, and Piran sends a message to Winter requesting Summons to assist Yang. But until they arrive, Yang will be alone.
...Blast would have to take care of himself.
Sure, he was in danger, but that Cent guy was up there, and Blast should be smart enough to run if things start looking dicey.
Piran and the survivors? They didn't have it as lucky. There was too many of them. If they came under attack, they wouldn't be able to just run for it.
"Yang, Piran, focus on the people that need to be evacuated." Winter ordered. "I'll contact Cent and ask him to keep an eye open for Blast. It's too dangerous for either of you to go up their yourselves. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." Yang replied.
She didn't like it. She was leaving an ally somewhere dangerous without so much as trying to get them, and leaving them without knowing what was going on. But she couldn't just abandon Piran and the evacuees either. And they needed her more.
"Piran." Yang quickly called over the scroll. "Is there someone called Two with the rest of the evacuees?"
There was silence for a moment, probably Piran double-checking. "Another person with Aura? No, they're not here. Why?"
"Never mind." Yang replied. "I'll get in contact with her. Focus on getting people to the ship, I'll catch up."
"Understood." Piran replied. "Over and out."
Flicking through her scroll quickly, Yang found Two's information in but a moment. It took another moment for Two to answer.
"Hello!" She said. "Hey, now's not a good time, there's a lot of people trying to kill me right now..."
"Just a heads up." Yang said. "Grimm are coming in, so our leader's called in the airship to the centre of town. My teammate's helping people get there, and I'll be with the group in a moment. Don't panic if you go to the safe place and nobody's there."
"Thanks, Yang!" Two called. "Hold on a moment, just let me..."
A deafening string of gunshots fired out, each loud enough that Yang was hearing them twice- One from the scroll, the other echoing through town a fraction of a second later. Or at least, she assumed so. There was enough per second that it was hard to tell how long the delay really was.
"Last warning!" Two shouted. "Step away from the children!"
There was muffled movements for a moment, and some sobbing, before Two spoke again.
"Centre of town, you said?" Two asked. "I'm close to there. I'll take these kids there now and keep it safe while you and your friend get everyone else in, okay?"
"Got it." Yang said, but Two had already moved on.
"It's okay, it's okay." She said in a soft voice. There was a thud, like a scroll falling to the ground, and Two's voice grew more distant. "Just close your eyes and don't look, okay? It's going to be okay. I won't let anything bad happen."
Feeling that Two was done with the conversation, Yang ended the call and put her scroll away, and started running.
As she ran, Yang observed the area around here.
This village was surprisingly big, all things considered. A lot of buildings with multiple floors, probably home to a good number of people. It had to have been well populated, must have gotten a lot of refugees from other places. The reason they'd been called into the town in the first place was because it was having a population issue, so it was likely there was more people here than the number of buildings would initially imply.
All things considered, the amount of survivors she'd seen at the safe place was rather low.
...Maybe more people had gotten away. Maybe some had found vehicles somewhere and had made a run from it at the start of the attack. Maybe some of them had hidden away where nobody had found them.
The thought didn't help much. With the Grimm approaching and the smell of burning flesh in the air, it was hard to appreciate the idea that there could be people here that Yang didn't know about.
And right on cue, Yang heard a squawk. Looking into the air, her worst suspicions were confirmed.
Nevermores. Multiple, of various sizes, but there was at least one giant one there. The giant was just big enough to swallow a human whole, but even if it was on the smaller end of giant Grimm, it was still enough of a threat that Yang couldn't deal with it.
Hell, Signal had taught that it wasn't unusual for a team of first-year Beacon students to have trouble with a giant Nevermore. That, plus a few smaller ones that still managed to be about Yang's size?
She couldn't kill that.
She could fight it, maybe survive, buy time for people to get away, but this was the kind of threat that led to stories of career-ending injuries, in more optimistic cases.
It was fortunate, then, that Winter was well above the level of a Signal student.
With a ferocious roar, a few ghostly draconic figures rose up from the horizon, making a beeline for the Nevermores. The Nevermores swooped away and fired some wings at the attackers, who spat out phantasmal fireballs and continued on the attack. One of the Wyverns was hit in the wing and began to fall before fading appear, but several of the smaller Nevermores fell as well, and the larger one was pushed into a retreating battle.
It'd be a close fight, and Yang didn't know who would win, but it'd take long enough and take the Nevermore far enough away that it shouldn't be a threat, for a bit longer at least.
When she had more time, Yang would have to take a moment to complain about how experienced Hunters were so far ahead of her. Maybe tell Ruby the story, she'd love hearing about the more battle-focused aspects of this. The mass death, not so much, but the fighting, sure.
Continuing her run, Yang heard the sound of combat somewhere nearby.
Piran, probably.
Turning direction slightly, Yang made a dash for the sound of combat, hoping that everything would be fine. Bursting out of an alleyway, she took a moment to figure out what was going on.
Another mercenary was here, battling Piran. The boy was fighting in the street, keeping the merc away from another alleyway, which was probably where the evacuees were.
Not wasting any more time, Yang broke in.
"Sucker Punch!" She shouted, punching at the air and firing Ember Celica at the sucker. The mercenary turned and drew a line in the air in front of him. The projectile hit the line, split in two, and hit either side of the mercenary.
Before Yang could fire again, Piran took a step forward, throwing something. In the air in front of him, a log of a tree suddenly appeared, spinning as it grew until it covered the length of the street.
The mercenary saw it at the last second, turned and traced another air line, but it was a moment too late. The downward line had gone down the distance between his head to the centre of his chest before the giant log hit, and Yang lost sight of him as he and the log travelled into the distance.
"Neat trick." Yang noted. "Looks like your bark and bite aren't that different."
"Nice to see you, Yang." Piran noted. "Terrible puns aside, thanks. I'm not sure I could've thrown that fast enough if you hadn't distracted him."
Yang looked over at the giant log. "You, uh, gonna fix that?"
"Too big." Piran replied. "It'd take too long to get a good enough grip."
"You need to hold it to shrink it?" Yang asked.
Piran looked at her. "Oh, I never explained just how my Semblance works, did I?"
"You can tell me on the way to the airship." Yang said. "Let's go."
Piran nodded. "Follow me, we'll go around this street."
"There does seem to be a fallen tree blocking the way." Yang noted, as she followed him. "Maybe you should call emergency services to have it moved."
"I imagine they'd be busy." Piran noted drily.
"How'd it go?" Asked a voice from within the alleyway. As Yang stepped into it, she saw it was the orange-haired girl.
"I won." Piran replied. "Now let's go, Nora. No time to delay."
The Nora girl nodded, and turned to the group.
"Alright everyone!" She declared. "Everyone stick with your buddy! Especially the kids! If you get lost, I'm eating your dessert!"
Yang smiled slightly, as the girl marched ahead, leading the group out of the alleyway.
Yang and Piran followed from the back. The group was small enough that they'd be able to get to the front of the group in a heartbeat, and unlike Nora, they were intact enough that a blow from behind wouldn't take them out of the fight.
"So, how does your Semblance work?" Yang asked.
"I can only control the size of things I can spin." Piran replied. "Spin something clockwise, it gets bigger. Anticlockwise, it gets smaller. If it's too big for me to get a grip, won't move or something I can't touch, it doesn't work."
"Huh." Yang noted. "Must be a pain, spinning things."
"It's still useful." Piran replied. "And I don't have to be directly touching it, as long as I made it spin while it's close enough for my Aura to work. My gun's set up to spin bullets if I pull the trigger the right way, and that works. And besides, don't you need to get hurt for your Semblance to work?"
"I do get stronger as I take more damage, yes." Yang replied. "Speaking of which, how's your Aura?"
"I'm good." Piran replied. "Haven't taken too much damage. I'd estimate about... Seventy, seventy five percent?"
"That much?"
"I don't have that much to start with." Piran replied. "And I only lost that much because invisible bomber caught me off guard."
"Ah." Yang noted. "Speaking of, he got away. His Aura was out, and it only took one hit to down him and knock his Semblance off, but I don't know if he's one of those people who can use their Semblance while out of usable Aura, and he might still have explosive traps."
Piran nodded. "I had expected as much. I had warned everyone here to keep an eye out for the explosive wire. Notice how Nora's walking a good distance in front of the group?"
Yang looked ahead, and saw that she was. "Is that safe?"
"Her Aura's fairly strong." Piran noted. "She's confident in being able to take a hit, and thinks it's better her than someone who can fight."
There was a sudden sound on Yang's scroll, and the girl reached for it. A message from Two.
"Yang!" The blue-haired girl called. "I'm at the airship, but so are the bad guys!"
"What's the problem?" Yang asked immediately.
"Well, I got all the children on board, but as soon as I did the airship's turret thingy started firing into a building, I ran in to investigate, but then the building blew up and I had to stop and use my Song to stop the rubble from hitting the airship."
Yang took a moment to process that. "Stay near the ship." She advised. "If the other buildings go down-"
"I know, I know!" Two called. "But making a shield the right size and shape to protect the ship and send the rubble away so I can take it down later is hard, and I can't fight like that! Can you hurry up and get here, in case the next building comes down while we're under attack?"
Taking a moment to calm her breathing, Yang agreed. "Be right there."
"Be right where?"
Yang turned upwards at the voice, looking up to the roof of the ruined building she was walking by.
At the top of it stood a man in the mercenary armour. No, not exactly the same. His was fancier. A sign of importance if Yang had ever seen one. His armour was bulkier, more fancy, and included a helmet that exposed his face, and a rather impressive if sinister moustache and beard. He looked down at the group, and Yang felt a sudden worry.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"The man this town cheated out of his payment." The mercenary replied. "I wouldn't have had to order this if they just kept their promise, you know?"
The leader had stepped out of the shadows.
"You bastard." Yang growled. "You didn't get your pay, so you decide everyone has to die?"
"A Kingdom dweller, I assume." The man replied. "You'd understand if you had lived out here. My men fought and died to protect the people of this town from Grimm attacks. If they didn't have the resources to afford our service, they should have protected themselves."
Yang curled her fist as she looked up at the man.
She couldn't just let him get away with this.
...But she didn't know if she could beat him, either. If he was the leader, odds were he was the strongest.
But that was fine. She didn't need to win. She just needed to hold the line long enough that the survivors were able to get to the airship.
But first, she needed a plan.
[X] Attack immediately. Put him on the defensive, push him away from the group, and keep his attention.
[X] Bait him into a monologue. If he was distracted, some more people might slip away, and then he could be hit mid-sentence.
[X] Run for it. Try to lure him away. If it doesn't work, you can double back and try for a sneak attack.
Of course, Yang isn't the only one present. Even if people have to run for the ship, she will get help somehow. But how?
[X] Nora stays behind and provides covering fire. She won't help much, but Piran needs to guard the airship more.
[X] Piran sends the group ahead and fights at Yang's side. Nora will be less useful at the airship, but Yang will have a better chance.
[X] Both leave, and Piran sends a message to Winter requesting Summons to assist Yang. But until they arrive, Yang will be alone.
Update 9 - You Might Die Trying
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] Bait him into a monologue. If he was distracted, some more people might slip away, and then he could be hit mid-sentence.
[X] Both leave, and Piran sends a message to Winter requesting Summons to assist Yang. But until they arrive, Yang will be alone.
Stepping forward to be the closest to the man, Yang put her hands together and cracked her knuckles. As she did so, she tilted her head to the side. It was subtle, but hopefully, it was enough for Piran to notice.
It was a hard line, between gesturing in a way that made it obvious to allies but unnoticeable to enemies. If she didn't get her meaning across...
Well, no matter. Piran should be smart enough.
"So, this is all your fault?" Yang asked. "You're the reason that there are children without parents right now?"
"They made the decision to harm my people to advantage theirs." The man in black said. "And in these lands, letting such an insult go unanswered is an invitation to be brought low. If I allowed these people to get away with conning me and my men, then anyone who heard of it would try the same. After all, what reason would they have not to?"
"Yeah, because that'll be good for business." Yang replied. "Killing your clients is usually great for your reputation, I hear."
"You speak as someone who has never lived outside the Kingdoms." The man replied. "The people of this land are reliable in one thing only. They will do anything that gives them a better chance of survival. This village will be an example. When dealing with us, keeping your bargains is the path to survival."
"Just an example to you?" Yang asked. "So the lives of these people mean nothing to you?"
"It means as much to me as my life is to them." He replied. "Which is to say-"
There was a cry of pain, and Yang spun around.
Standing there, behind the crowd of people which had began to shuffle away towards an exit over time, was an exact duplicate of the man in black armour. The only difference was in the colour of their equipment- While the man on the rooftop was covered in black plate, the second was clad in complete white gear.
The man clad in white had a hand held upwards, grasping a small child by the throat.
Yang's eyes widened, and she took a step towards the scene as the crowd scattered, running from the sight, only for a movement out of the corner of her eye to give away the movement of the man in black.
She spun around again, bringing up her arms to cover her vitals, just in time for the man's own fist to strike at her, knocking her down.
Jumping to her feet before the momentum finished pushing her away, Yang looked up in time to watch a projectile fly at the man in black, who moved to bat it away. It exploded on contact with his hand, and the explosion, plus subsequent cloud of dust, covered Yang's vision.
Looking towards the man in white, Yang saw Piran lunge at him, only for the man to tighten his grip around the child's throat.
There was a snapping sound, and when the white armoured man threw the body at Piran, it crumpled lifelessly.
Stepping out of the cloud of dust, the man in black held a hand to the side. The gauntlet on his arm began shifting, and with his other hand, he reached for what looked like a harpoon on his back.
Yang fired Ember Celica at him, as she ran at the man in white. As she passed Piran, who was gently moving the corpse that had landed on him, she spoke.
"Run!" She called. "I'll hold them off!"
"But-"
There was a scream, as the man in black threw his harpoon into the crowd. There was a splash of blood, as they ran, and the man in white ran after them.
Yang fired Ember Celica at the one in white, and Piran, watching, dashed towards the crowd.
"Don't you dare die!" He shouted, as he pulled something out of his pocket. Then, with a twist of his hand, he threw it on the ground in front of him.
The boulder which grew on the street quickly blocked off the passageway, leaving Yang alone with the two identical armoured figures.
For a moment, nothing happened. Yang kept an eye on both figures, quickly flickering her gaze between one man and the other, watching for one to make a move to get past the boulder. After a moment of neither moving, the man in white began walking away from the escaping civilians.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Yang asked, snarling. She'd seen the man fire into a crowd, and even if she hadn't, there was a corpse right in front of her, of someone who looked like they never made it to double digits.
The man didn't respond, either of them.
Yang's eyes lingered on the body in front of her. Someone who had died, who she hadn't saved. Because of this fucker.
Looking up with red eyes, Yang charged at the man in white.
The white-armoured man caught her fist, then let go when Yang fired Ember Celica at him. She heard a footstep behind her, and quickly moved to the side as the man in black kicked at her. Before she could dodge further, however, he levelled his arm with her, and his transformed weapon fired.
The harpoon hit Yang in the arm, a rope trailing behind it, and she could feel her Aura strain keeping it at bay. When it didn't fall away, she moved to rip the harpoon away, but the man in black pulled at the rope, and Yang went flying towards him.
The harpoon fell away from whatever grip it had on her Aura just as Yang passed underneath the man, who punched her down into the dirt. Before she could react further, the man in white was at her side, and his kick sent her into a building.
The wood cracked and broke on the impact, and she rolled inside, through the flames, before she was able to stand. Just as she did, however, the man in black was at her side again, holding on to her arm and throwing her out again.
The man in white caught her, and his grip shifted around her throat, putting pressure on her Aura as it struggled to protect her vital organs.
The man in black stepped out of the burning building a moment later, lining up a harpoon shot as Yang was held immobile. He fired, again straining her Aura, and when the harpoon reeled in again, the man in white slammed her into the ground and held her in place.
Grinding against the floor, Yang was stretched for a moment, until the man in white began walking closer to the man in black. Grinding her against the ground with increasing amounts of force, Yang struggled to stand for a moment.
After a moment, she felt a hand against her throat again, and Yang quickly found herself slammed against a wall. Looking forward, she could see the man in white glaring at her.
Feeling the pressure at her neck increase, Yang wheezed to talk. "There's... Two of you..."
"How observant." The man in black said.
"But you're both here..." She groaned out. "Fighting me, not killing..."
The man in white tightened his grip as the man in black drew closer.
"And what of it?" The black-armoured man asked.
"Semblance..." She wheezed. "Can't... Be distant..."
"Is that the last thing you're ever going to think?" The man in white asked. "My Semblance?"
Yang tried to laugh, even as her Aura began struggling to protect her.
"Enjoy your last joke." The man in black ordered.
"I will..." Yang replied.
If this was a spar back in Signal, her Aura would have been well past the point where the match was called. She didn't think her Aura had ever been this low. Another hit from that harpoon would punch right through it and draw blood.
In other words, Yang had never been stronger.
Pulling her head forwardly slightly, Yang closed her eyes and slammed back, headbutting the wall as hard as she could. Almost instantly, it shattered, and the man in white stumbled forward due to the force he was using to pin Yang to the wall.
Feeling the hand around her throat loosening, Yang smiled, and aimed her fists at the man's face.
Ember Celica fired, both fists at once, and the man fell right into the blasts. He was sent backwards, and as Yang hit the ground, she quickly rolled through the building and out of the line of fire.
Before the man could seek her out, she dashed through a wall, breaking through it as if it wasn't there, and reached the man's side with a burst of speed that she wasn't capable of before. The sudden increase caught him off guard, and before he could react, she hit him in the face, firing Ember Celica again as she did so.
Yang had the momentum for this moment, but she couldn't keep it. Not when the man had two bodies. She could pressure one, but the other would blindside her. And even as she was, she couldn't fight two people on this level for long.
But she didn't have to. She just had to buy time, for Piran and the civilians to get away. However long that took, she didn't know. But her win condition was never walking away with this guy on the ground.
Firing Ember Celica again, this time at the man in white, Yang hit the man in black again, before reaching for the harpoons he had on his back.
Those things were the biggest threat, right now. The man was strong, but she'd be able to take another hit or two without being taken out of the fight. The harpoons? One good shot with those, and she was dead.
Taking the harpoons, Yang threw them into the distance, over the burning buildings and away from the fight.
There. Threat weakened. The only issue now was if-
Yang rolled to the side, as another harpoon flew out from the burning building. It hit the wall of the building against the street, and the rope attached to the end of it shot to the side, as the man in white began running.
Ducking under it so it wouldn't entangle her, Yang watched the rope fall as she ducked under it, and saw the man in white reaching for another harpoon. She rushed at him, dashing left and right as she did so to throw off any aim of his, before reaching punching range.
Her fist flew at his face, and the man caught the fist. There was a brief struggle, before Yang fired Ember Celica, and the man ducked out of the way of the shot. Taking the opportunity, Yang brought her knee up, hitting the white armoured man in the face, before ripping the harpoon out of his weapon.
She heard movement behind her, and turned just in time to see the man in black armour make a throwing movement. Her eye's widened, as she saw the projectile.
It was a severed arm from the child's corpse.
Staring at it for a moment, Yang only moved to sidestep it as she took into account the implications.
The bastard was mutilating a corpse to hit at her.
Snarling, Yang ran at him. A shout escaped her lips as she punched at him, and the man blocked the blow with the palm of his hand., and recoiled when Ember Celica fired. Bringing her left hand around as well, Yang moved to repeat the manoeuvre, but spike of pain through her back stopped her.
Trying to fight through it, Yang moved to punch again, but was suddenly reeled back, and hit the ground. The spike of pain increased as whatever it was drove deeper in on impact, and after a moment, Yang steadily stood.
"So easily angered." The man in white said, and Yang looked at him just in time to see him pull a rope. She cried out again as she was pulled off her feet, and with a sudden terror, she realised what was causing her pain.
Looking around at her back as she laid crumpled on the floor, Yang saw the harpoon embedded in her flesh, just below her ribcage.
"You..." She whispered, before a foot came down on her back, in line with her ribs. Yang cried out, as she heard the sound of snapping bones.
"You had nothing to do with this, girl." The man said. "These were not your people. They had done nothing for you. You had not crossed me before now. But you chose to oppose me, child."
There was another spike of pain, as the man pulled the harpoon out of Yang. Her vision was getting fuzzy.
The foot moved from her back, and a hand reached around her neck. The white armoured man held her in the air, gently this time, and held her to face the man in black. As he approached, the man in black picked up the harpoon which had stuck Yang from the back.
Before he could prepare for a finishing blow, however, an explosion behind him distracted him, making the man whirl around.
"So you're the leader." Said a voice recognised, but couldn't identify through the pain. "Well then. I suppose it's a good thing I came in person, then."
A ghastly white figure blurred out of the building, striking at the man in black. The man in white saw this, and tightened his grip around Yang's neck, trying to crush her throat before her saviour could stop him, but some force from outside of Yang's perspective struck at him, and as he stumbled forward, Yang saw an opportunity.
Ember Celica fired again. Without her Aura, Yang couldn't take the blast without consequences, and she felt the force break something as she fell, and there would definitely be burns over this. But it was enough that the pressure around her throat vanished, and when Yang fell to the ground with a sickening thud, she was still alive.
Badly hurt, but alive.
The two men who had attacked her were fighting something else, but Yang saw none of it. After a moment, she felt someone wrap their arms around her, and in a flash, she was being held on a rooftop above the fight.
"Yang." Said a voice, and taking a moment to look through the pain, the huntress in training saw Winter holding her.
"Ma'am-" Yang croaked out, before coughing.
"Save your strength." Winter ordered. "You did good down there, Yang, Just rest now. The airship has medical equipment, and these wounds are fresh. We can have you as good as new in a week. Just save your strength, and don't let yourself pass out until you get there."
"But-"
Winter closed her eyes, and Yang heard a Summon manifest behind her. The Schnee shifted, and Yang felt herself being placed on the back of a ghostly Nevermore.
"Try to hold on." Winter said. "I'll finish this."
Winter let her go as the Nevermore shifted, keeping Yang balanced on it's back, and prepared to take off. Looking to the side, Yang saw Winter step off the building, and move to end the fight.
...Rest sounded good. It sounded real good, right now...
[X] ...No. She'd started this fight. She wasn't leaving it until that bastard was beaten. Roll off the Nevermore. She can still shoot.
[X] Just need to rest... (Temporary Perspective Change)
-[X] Look through the eyes of Winter Schnee
-[X] Observe the actions of Piran Caledfwlch
-[X] Watch the performance of Blast Yellowstone
[X] Both leave, and Piran sends a message to Winter requesting Summons to assist Yang. But until they arrive, Yang will be alone.
Stepping forward to be the closest to the man, Yang put her hands together and cracked her knuckles. As she did so, she tilted her head to the side. It was subtle, but hopefully, it was enough for Piran to notice.
It was a hard line, between gesturing in a way that made it obvious to allies but unnoticeable to enemies. If she didn't get her meaning across...
Well, no matter. Piran should be smart enough.
"So, this is all your fault?" Yang asked. "You're the reason that there are children without parents right now?"
"They made the decision to harm my people to advantage theirs." The man in black said. "And in these lands, letting such an insult go unanswered is an invitation to be brought low. If I allowed these people to get away with conning me and my men, then anyone who heard of it would try the same. After all, what reason would they have not to?"
"Yeah, because that'll be good for business." Yang replied. "Killing your clients is usually great for your reputation, I hear."
"You speak as someone who has never lived outside the Kingdoms." The man replied. "The people of this land are reliable in one thing only. They will do anything that gives them a better chance of survival. This village will be an example. When dealing with us, keeping your bargains is the path to survival."
"Just an example to you?" Yang asked. "So the lives of these people mean nothing to you?"
"It means as much to me as my life is to them." He replied. "Which is to say-"
There was a cry of pain, and Yang spun around.
Standing there, behind the crowd of people which had began to shuffle away towards an exit over time, was an exact duplicate of the man in black armour. The only difference was in the colour of their equipment- While the man on the rooftop was covered in black plate, the second was clad in complete white gear.
The man clad in white had a hand held upwards, grasping a small child by the throat.
Yang's eyes widened, and she took a step towards the scene as the crowd scattered, running from the sight, only for a movement out of the corner of her eye to give away the movement of the man in black.
She spun around again, bringing up her arms to cover her vitals, just in time for the man's own fist to strike at her, knocking her down.
Jumping to her feet before the momentum finished pushing her away, Yang looked up in time to watch a projectile fly at the man in black, who moved to bat it away. It exploded on contact with his hand, and the explosion, plus subsequent cloud of dust, covered Yang's vision.
Looking towards the man in white, Yang saw Piran lunge at him, only for the man to tighten his grip around the child's throat.
There was a snapping sound, and when the white armoured man threw the body at Piran, it crumpled lifelessly.
Stepping out of the cloud of dust, the man in black held a hand to the side. The gauntlet on his arm began shifting, and with his other hand, he reached for what looked like a harpoon on his back.
Yang fired Ember Celica at him, as she ran at the man in white. As she passed Piran, who was gently moving the corpse that had landed on him, she spoke.
"Run!" She called. "I'll hold them off!"
"But-"
There was a scream, as the man in black threw his harpoon into the crowd. There was a splash of blood, as they ran, and the man in white ran after them.
Yang fired Ember Celica at the one in white, and Piran, watching, dashed towards the crowd.
"Don't you dare die!" He shouted, as he pulled something out of his pocket. Then, with a twist of his hand, he threw it on the ground in front of him.
The boulder which grew on the street quickly blocked off the passageway, leaving Yang alone with the two identical armoured figures.
For a moment, nothing happened. Yang kept an eye on both figures, quickly flickering her gaze between one man and the other, watching for one to make a move to get past the boulder. After a moment of neither moving, the man in white began walking away from the escaping civilians.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Yang asked, snarling. She'd seen the man fire into a crowd, and even if she hadn't, there was a corpse right in front of her, of someone who looked like they never made it to double digits.
The man didn't respond, either of them.
Yang's eyes lingered on the body in front of her. Someone who had died, who she hadn't saved. Because of this fucker.
Looking up with red eyes, Yang charged at the man in white.
The white-armoured man caught her fist, then let go when Yang fired Ember Celica at him. She heard a footstep behind her, and quickly moved to the side as the man in black kicked at her. Before she could dodge further, however, he levelled his arm with her, and his transformed weapon fired.
The harpoon hit Yang in the arm, a rope trailing behind it, and she could feel her Aura strain keeping it at bay. When it didn't fall away, she moved to rip the harpoon away, but the man in black pulled at the rope, and Yang went flying towards him.
The harpoon fell away from whatever grip it had on her Aura just as Yang passed underneath the man, who punched her down into the dirt. Before she could react further, the man in white was at her side, and his kick sent her into a building.
The wood cracked and broke on the impact, and she rolled inside, through the flames, before she was able to stand. Just as she did, however, the man in black was at her side again, holding on to her arm and throwing her out again.
The man in white caught her, and his grip shifted around her throat, putting pressure on her Aura as it struggled to protect her vital organs.
The man in black stepped out of the burning building a moment later, lining up a harpoon shot as Yang was held immobile. He fired, again straining her Aura, and when the harpoon reeled in again, the man in white slammed her into the ground and held her in place.
Grinding against the floor, Yang was stretched for a moment, until the man in white began walking closer to the man in black. Grinding her against the ground with increasing amounts of force, Yang struggled to stand for a moment.
After a moment, she felt a hand against her throat again, and Yang quickly found herself slammed against a wall. Looking forward, she could see the man in white glaring at her.
Feeling the pressure at her neck increase, Yang wheezed to talk. "There's... Two of you..."
"How observant." The man in black said.
"But you're both here..." She groaned out. "Fighting me, not killing..."
The man in white tightened his grip as the man in black drew closer.
"And what of it?" The black-armoured man asked.
"Semblance..." She wheezed. "Can't... Be distant..."
"Is that the last thing you're ever going to think?" The man in white asked. "My Semblance?"
Yang tried to laugh, even as her Aura began struggling to protect her.
"Enjoy your last joke." The man in black ordered.
"I will..." Yang replied.
If this was a spar back in Signal, her Aura would have been well past the point where the match was called. She didn't think her Aura had ever been this low. Another hit from that harpoon would punch right through it and draw blood.
In other words, Yang had never been stronger.
Pulling her head forwardly slightly, Yang closed her eyes and slammed back, headbutting the wall as hard as she could. Almost instantly, it shattered, and the man in white stumbled forward due to the force he was using to pin Yang to the wall.
Feeling the hand around her throat loosening, Yang smiled, and aimed her fists at the man's face.
Ember Celica fired, both fists at once, and the man fell right into the blasts. He was sent backwards, and as Yang hit the ground, she quickly rolled through the building and out of the line of fire.
Before the man could seek her out, she dashed through a wall, breaking through it as if it wasn't there, and reached the man's side with a burst of speed that she wasn't capable of before. The sudden increase caught him off guard, and before he could react, she hit him in the face, firing Ember Celica again as she did so.
Yang had the momentum for this moment, but she couldn't keep it. Not when the man had two bodies. She could pressure one, but the other would blindside her. And even as she was, she couldn't fight two people on this level for long.
But she didn't have to. She just had to buy time, for Piran and the civilians to get away. However long that took, she didn't know. But her win condition was never walking away with this guy on the ground.
Firing Ember Celica again, this time at the man in white, Yang hit the man in black again, before reaching for the harpoons he had on his back.
Those things were the biggest threat, right now. The man was strong, but she'd be able to take another hit or two without being taken out of the fight. The harpoons? One good shot with those, and she was dead.
Taking the harpoons, Yang threw them into the distance, over the burning buildings and away from the fight.
There. Threat weakened. The only issue now was if-
Yang rolled to the side, as another harpoon flew out from the burning building. It hit the wall of the building against the street, and the rope attached to the end of it shot to the side, as the man in white began running.
Ducking under it so it wouldn't entangle her, Yang watched the rope fall as she ducked under it, and saw the man in white reaching for another harpoon. She rushed at him, dashing left and right as she did so to throw off any aim of his, before reaching punching range.
Her fist flew at his face, and the man caught the fist. There was a brief struggle, before Yang fired Ember Celica, and the man ducked out of the way of the shot. Taking the opportunity, Yang brought her knee up, hitting the white armoured man in the face, before ripping the harpoon out of his weapon.
She heard movement behind her, and turned just in time to see the man in black armour make a throwing movement. Her eye's widened, as she saw the projectile.
It was a severed arm from the child's corpse.
Staring at it for a moment, Yang only moved to sidestep it as she took into account the implications.
The bastard was mutilating a corpse to hit at her.
Snarling, Yang ran at him. A shout escaped her lips as she punched at him, and the man blocked the blow with the palm of his hand., and recoiled when Ember Celica fired. Bringing her left hand around as well, Yang moved to repeat the manoeuvre, but spike of pain through her back stopped her.
Trying to fight through it, Yang moved to punch again, but was suddenly reeled back, and hit the ground. The spike of pain increased as whatever it was drove deeper in on impact, and after a moment, Yang steadily stood.
"So easily angered." The man in white said, and Yang looked at him just in time to see him pull a rope. She cried out again as she was pulled off her feet, and with a sudden terror, she realised what was causing her pain.
Looking around at her back as she laid crumpled on the floor, Yang saw the harpoon embedded in her flesh, just below her ribcage.
"You..." She whispered, before a foot came down on her back, in line with her ribs. Yang cried out, as she heard the sound of snapping bones.
"You had nothing to do with this, girl." The man said. "These were not your people. They had done nothing for you. You had not crossed me before now. But you chose to oppose me, child."
There was another spike of pain, as the man pulled the harpoon out of Yang. Her vision was getting fuzzy.
The foot moved from her back, and a hand reached around her neck. The white armoured man held her in the air, gently this time, and held her to face the man in black. As he approached, the man in black picked up the harpoon which had stuck Yang from the back.
Before he could prepare for a finishing blow, however, an explosion behind him distracted him, making the man whirl around.
"So you're the leader." Said a voice recognised, but couldn't identify through the pain. "Well then. I suppose it's a good thing I came in person, then."
A ghastly white figure blurred out of the building, striking at the man in black. The man in white saw this, and tightened his grip around Yang's neck, trying to crush her throat before her saviour could stop him, but some force from outside of Yang's perspective struck at him, and as he stumbled forward, Yang saw an opportunity.
Ember Celica fired again. Without her Aura, Yang couldn't take the blast without consequences, and she felt the force break something as she fell, and there would definitely be burns over this. But it was enough that the pressure around her throat vanished, and when Yang fell to the ground with a sickening thud, she was still alive.
Badly hurt, but alive.
The two men who had attacked her were fighting something else, but Yang saw none of it. After a moment, she felt someone wrap their arms around her, and in a flash, she was being held on a rooftop above the fight.
"Yang." Said a voice, and taking a moment to look through the pain, the huntress in training saw Winter holding her.
"Ma'am-" Yang croaked out, before coughing.
"Save your strength." Winter ordered. "You did good down there, Yang, Just rest now. The airship has medical equipment, and these wounds are fresh. We can have you as good as new in a week. Just save your strength, and don't let yourself pass out until you get there."
"But-"
Winter closed her eyes, and Yang heard a Summon manifest behind her. The Schnee shifted, and Yang felt herself being placed on the back of a ghostly Nevermore.
"Try to hold on." Winter said. "I'll finish this."
Winter let her go as the Nevermore shifted, keeping Yang balanced on it's back, and prepared to take off. Looking to the side, Yang saw Winter step off the building, and move to end the fight.
...Rest sounded good. It sounded real good, right now...
[X] ...No. She'd started this fight. She wasn't leaving it until that bastard was beaten. Roll off the Nevermore. She can still shoot.
[X] Just need to rest... (Temporary Perspective Change)
-[X] Look through the eyes of Winter Schnee
-[X] Observe the actions of Piran Caledfwlch
-[X] Watch the performance of Blast Yellowstone
Update 10 - Cold as Ice
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] Just need to rest... (Temporary Perspective Change)
-[X] Look through the eyes of Winter Schnee
Her Nevermore flew off, carrying the injured girl on it's back, and Winter Schnee put the thought of Yang Xiao Long out of her mind.
She could be concerned about that later. For now, she had an opponent to kill.
The two identical figures, differing only in the colour of their armour, looked at Winter.
"A Schnee?" The one in black asked.
"That hardly matters." Winter replied. "You don't need to know anything about me. You will be dead momentarily."
The two men ran at her, flanking her so that one approached her left and one her right. Winter waited for a moment, to allow them to approach, before calling forth her Summons.
Twenty Beowulf's weren't a threat to someone of this level of power. but it was still ten each, and it would take them time to bash through the bodies. The only weapons they seemed to possess was their gauntlets and the harpoons she could see on their backs, and that meant their range was low when they weren't shooting.
It was an interesting Semblance, being able to possess two bodies. But it was also an ability that was predictable. In essence, fighting him meant you were fighting two foes at once. Against a single foe, that could be deadly. But against Winter, it was pointless. The main advantage was that the foe she fought would outnumber his enemy most of the time. Winter, however, could reverse that in a heartbeat.
The one armoured in white fired a harpoon, which ripped through the ghostly Beowulf's and came within a hair of striking at Winter, but her blade deflected it before it could strike at her.
It only took a few seconds for the two figures to slay most of the Beowulfs, but in that second, Winter had prepared her next move.
Swarms of weaker summons wasn't the best tactic against singular powerful foes. Against the Grimm she had fought to the south, it was fine, but even then, once the more powerful Grimm started approaching, their usefulness faded. For more powerful foes, she needed to make use of more powerful summons.
The white-armoured figure came into range of Winter, and threw a fist. Winter's sword clanged against his armour, as the arm was forced to the side. The man stopped his momentum before he could stumble forward, and Winter shifted her arm, striking the man in the face with the hilt of her sword. Then she took a step to the side, and looked upon the new summons coming forth.
A humanoid shape carrying an oversized axe dashed at the black-armoured figure, and slashed the weapon into the dark armour. The man grunted in pain, but took the shaft of the axe in his hand, and squeezed hard enough to shatter it. The axehead faded away, and a fist through the summon's chest ended its existence. A large cut was left in his armour, but not enough to expose flesh.
Winter waved her blade, and a glyph appeared before her. Birds began emerging from it, firing at the white-armoured figure with force equal to one of her blows. The incredible number of blows forced it on the defensive, and taking the opportunity, Winter dashed at the figure in black.
A glyph appeared under her to increase her speed, and the sudden burst of increased speed caught the man off guard. He moved to catch Winter's blade as she approached, but a moment too slow. Her blade stuck at the gash in the armour, smashing through it and striking at flesh. The increased danger of the blow drew more Aura from the man than before, and Winter the pain etched on his face was enough to let Winter know she had an opportunity.
Another glyph formed underneath his feet, and Winter pulled out her blade and jumped back just as it took effect. The black-armoured man ran at her, but the glyph took effect, and his movements slowed to a crawl.
That particular glyph would make it difficult to damage the black-armoured man while he was within it, but it also kept him out of the fight for a while, leaving only one body remaining.
Winter looked at the white-armoured man, blade in her hand. With a brief gesture, several more summons rose up before her, all of which charged as she pointed her blade forward.
The first summon, a humanoid figure with bull's horns, stepped into range first, jabbing forward with a spear fast enough that dodging wasn't an option, with enough force that blocking forced the mercenary leader back, putting him in a position where he had to walk back to avoid being overwhelmed. Then, as he approached the wall, the man dashed to the wall, running up it, before coming down on the bull man and crushing his skull with a fist. As the summon faded, the second came into reach.
The second form, a sort of amphibious Grimm that Winter had fought years ago, was slow to move, but the spearman had served his purpose well enough. By the time he had died, the spearman had brought time for the Grimm to get into range, lunging at the mercenary and unfolding it's tentacles. Suction caps attached to the man all over, and the ghostly Grimm slowly squeezed, pining the white-armoured man's arms to his side and trying to crush him through his armour.
The man in white struggled agains the grip for a moment, slowly pulling his arm away from his side, but it took too long, giving time for Winter's next summon to make it's move.
The last two of the group summoned, the giant Creep and the Cerberus, ran at the man at once. The three-headed hound reached him first, scooping up both man and Grimm in a single bite, and began chewing. The other two heads moved the body as it focused on keeping the man contained and in pain, walking towards the slightly green-glowing Creep.
As it did so, the Cerberus' centre head bowed, and the Creep crept onto it. A moment passed, and Winter prepared to order the Creep to detonate.
Then there was a crunching sound, and a fist emerged from the Cerberus' fangs. Acting immediately, Winter detonated the Creep, but the dark figure escaped the jaws and leapt to the side at the last moment.
...The dark figure.
Looking back at her glyph of slowed movement, Winter saw that it was empty. How-
The Creep and ruined Cerberus head faded away, revealing an incredibly injured white-armoured figure. But then, as if in response to her gaze, the white-armour blinked out, and the man in black walked forward a step. As he did so, the man in white appeared where he had been standing a moment before.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" The man asked.
In response, Winter leapt into the middle of the two men, pulling at her blade as she did so. The second sword hidden within folded out, and Winter struck at both men at once. They blocked, and then moved to attack. It was trivial, redirecting their blows away from her, and Winter's blades danced as they repelled fist after fist, from either direction.
A pair of glyphs appeared under Winter's feet, and her speed increased, allowing her to strike faster, allowing her to punish every wrong move from her opponents. They still had the advantage, but Winter would hold out long enough for the plan to work.
She had one more summon, not within range of the fight, that had accomplished it's mission. And even now, it was on it's way.
The blades gave a graceful dance as they struck at armour and diverted fists, but her opponent's movements were pragmatic and controlled. Every blow against her could have been devastating if it hit, every blow only left an opening that could be quickly covered, and the blows kept coming fast enough to prevent Winter from taking the initiative. The one in white pulled a harpoon from his back and moved to stab Winter, but was easily disarmed. The harpoon fell to the floor, and Winter quickly moved her left hand to block a blow from the man in right behind her.
Enough time had passed.
The Cerberus resumed movement at last, ignoring the loss of it's middle head as it charged at the battle. The man in white turned to deal with it, loading and firing a harpoon through the gap between heads and plunging into where it's heart would be. Winter took the chance to bring both blades against the black-armoured warrior, who took a step back and was put on the defensive.
Winter's Cerberus faded from the killing blow, and the summon that had approached behind it suddenly became visible. Before either man could react, the ghostly Nevermore took flight, grabbing the white-armoured man with both talons and flying off with him. Winter activated the second rune under her feet, creating a barrier around her and the man in black, and stabbed forward again.
Some sort of bond connected the two identical figures, and as the white armoured man was dragged out of range, the man in black was forced back into the invisible barrier, crying out as he did so.
Winter felt her Nevermore lose it's grip on the white armoured figure, and a hand emerged from the chest of the black-armoured man. Perfect.
Making a hole in her barrier and stepping out of it, Winter quickly created another Creep within it, just as the man in white fully emerged from the man in black.
Before either could react, it exploded. The barrier shattered and faded, and there was a cloud of dust for a moment.
Winter looked over it for a moment, then slowly stepped forward. The man in black stumbled out of the dust, and Winter took a blade to his throat.
Aura shattered, and the mercenary leader gurgled on blood as he collapsed. Behind him, Winter heard another thud, of someone falling. It appears as if defeating one had defeated the other.
Stepping away for a moment, Winter pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and wiped her blade clean of blood.
A tough foe, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before. Yang had done a surprising amount of damage to his Aura, so it was easier than it could have been, too.
Looking over at the corpses as the dust faded, Winter took a moment to consider what to do with them.
She cared nothing for the man. He was a criminal, and a murderer. Not a particularly famous one, either. There wasn't likely to be a bounty on him, so proof of death was of no use to Winter.
But, perhaps Yang Xiao Long deserved some sort of trophy for this battle. She had done remarkably well, for a child of her age. It was the level of quality that Winter's father had always expected of his children, and he had the funds to buy the services of the best mentors, to train perfection in every action.
Yes, her performance certainly deserved some form of recognition. It wasn't uncommon for Hunters to take trophies of their victories, at least for a smile time. Perhaps Yang would take his gauntlet or armour as a token of her victory. Or perhaps she'd use the more... Barbaric trophy, of a skull on a stick.
Either way, she deserved something for doing as well as she did. Especially considering the circumstances. Piran had informed her that Yang told everyone else to run, so she had known she couldn't defeat him alone, and yet still fought...
As she sheathed her swords, Winter manifested another two summons, both Beowulfs, to carry the corpses. Even if Yang didn't want a trophy, it was still possible that Winter was wrong and there was some form of bounty for the man. She could take that instead.
But, time was of the essence now. She had delayed the Grimm for long enough, but she had left them some time ago to slay the mercenary leader. By now, there was likely only a small amount of time before the village was overrun. It would be wise to have the airship on it's way out before Grimm started trying to take it down.
The boulder blocking the street took a moment to run around, but it wasn't long at all, before Winter reached the airship.
The ship was surrounded by rubble, but the airship itself was unharmed. And standing on top of it was-
"Hey!" A voice called, and the blue haired girl standing on top of it jumped down, landing in front of Winter. "You're the one in charge, right? I'm-"
"Two." Winter interrupted, looking at the familiar mark on her forehead. "I've been told about you."
The blue haired girl nodded. "Yeah? Good things?"
Winter looked at her. "Nothing bad." She said, after a moment.
Two beamed. "Good! I've heard good things about you, you know!"
"Is everyone here?" Winter asked.
Two nodded. "Your ghost-thing carried Yang back ages ago, Piran followed her into the airship after driving off explosion boy 'cause his arm got hurt, and Cent arrived with everyone from the North just a few moments ago."
"Then we leave immediately." Winter said, walking past Two onto the airship.
"Huh? Oh, okay, off we go!"
As Two followed Winter up, the airship door began to close.
...Two was different to what Winter had expected, she thought as she pulled out her scroll.
With a few button presses, the airship began to rise. Just as the doors began to close, Winter gestured out of it, summoning a bunch of flying summons in the process. "How many survivors are there?" She asked.
"Didn't count." Two said. "A lot of kids. A lot of badly hurt ones, too. Your medical area's filled up, Piran refused to have his arm looked at so people could get their wounds healed up first."
Winter's Beowulf's threw the mercenaries corpses over the doors just as they closed, and then they faded. Two looked at them for a moment, her smile growing framed.
"That's him, then?" She asked.
Winter nodded. "That's the leader."
Two looked at it for a moment. "Hey, d'you mind if I search the body? He might be dead, but people want a name, and I might be able to find on eif he had a wallet or something on him."
"Feel free." Winter permitted. "I'll be seeing my students in the medical area now. If you need me, just say so."
Two nodded, then looked over to the bodies. For a moment, Winter considered whenever or not she wanted to have the conversation now, but decided against it. Two may be permitted to hear what she had to say, but right now, there was too much of a chance that someone walking past and overhearing too much classified information.
Leaving Two with the corpses, Winter looked over her scroll a bit more, then quickly typed out a message to be sent home. A report on what had happened so far. This was bigger than she was expecting, so sending a report early would be a smart idea.
Once her report was done, Winter put her Scroll away, and stepped into the medical bay.
Yang was on the closest bed to the door, unconscious. Her wounds were being patched together, her breathing and heartbeat were being monitored and regulated, and there was a dust generator sitting nearby trying to kickstart her Aura, to assist in the healing.
She'd be out for a while. Winter would speak with her when she regained consciousness.
Standing near her was Piran, who had an arm wrapped in bloodstained bandages.
"Piran." Winter spoke, and the boy quickly looked up at her and gave a salute.
"At ease." The Schnee ordered. "What happened with your arm?"
"Invisible bomber." Piran replied. "Well, he was a bit less invisible without his Aura, but he still had a lot of traps. He kept bringing down buildings, so I had to injure him to force him away. Got caught in an explosion to do it, broke through my Aura, and my arm took the brunt of it.
"And why aren't you having it tended to?" Winter asked.
"I can live with it." Piran replied. "I'm a Hunter. I signed up to get hurt for the sake of others. Those kids didn't. Even if it means having this arm be useless for the rest of the month, it doesn't matter."
"Don't be a fool." Winter ordered. "Putting others before yourself is admirable, but if you leave yourself short a limb for the month, you're as good as dead."
"...As you command, ma'am." Piran replied.
"As you were, then." Winter replied. Piran nodded, and went back to watching Yang.
...He did run from the fight at her order, didn't he? Piran probably felt responsible, to some degree, for what had happened.
Winter took a moment to look around the cramped medical bay. Off in the corner, she saw an orange-haired girl talking excitedly to a boy in a...
...Well, the shirt looked like it was initially green, but there was a lot of blood covering it. He struggled for a moment to sit up, before the girl pushed him back down. Likely wise. Winter could see a cut in that shirt that was surrounded by the majority of the blood. He seemed badly hurt, and too much movement could cause more bleeding.
Sitting close to them, wearing an open jacket and a rather excessive amount of belts, was-
"Blast Yellowstone." Winter ordered. "Report."
Blast looked up at her. "Not too many injuries', boss." He said.
"Why are you in here?" She asked.
"Just having the machines check up on me. Broke a finger bone, but that's it."
"What did you do after your deployment?" Winter asked.
"My Semblance is a bi- , uh, pain." Blast said. "I mean, it's really cool in a fight, but it also usually leads to a lot of fights, y'know?"
...Right. His Semblance. It bore a rather uncanny resemblance to a certain old man who never failed to get on Winter's nerves, despite her best efforts.
"What exactly happened?" Winter asked.
"Well, I heard gunshots." Blast explained. "So I went to investigate, and ended up in the north of the village. Saved a few people from attackers, but then some woman with lightning abilities tried to fry me. Naturally, my Semblance kicked in then, and it helped me block the attack. It's just that, uh, I didn't realise until after I got away that I blocked it with my scroll, which is kinda busted..."
Winter looked at him.
"...Is there any spares?"
She was rather tempted to turn it into a glare.
"Well..." Blast continued. "After that, I got into a lot of fight. Beat up some people. Turns out, they were gathering in the north. Most of the chain of command was up there. Then I say that Ren kid take one of them out, but then the rest jumped on him, and, well, I could hardly leave him alone to fight a dozen people like that."
"I see." Winter said. "So you jumped into a near impossible fight with no way of knowing if you could survive it."
"...Well, I won, didn't I?"
"How?"
"...Okay, I got back-up." Blast admitted. "That Cent guy saved the day, was pretty cool. But me and Ren were fighting for a while before that, and I probably could have gotten away if I didn't have to carry Ren around after he got hit like that."
Winter nodded. "I understand."
"You do?"
"On our next deployment, you are not to be out of my sight."
Blast groaned. "Why does every authority figure do this to me..."
Winter left him to his complaints, and turned to leave the medical bay, when a certain blue-haired girl walked in.
"Two." Winter said. "Is there something you wanted?"
Two nodded. "Where's the airship landing?"
"...I was going to take it near the forest." Winter said. "Of our objectives, it's the closest one to us. Why?"
Two held up a small scroll, one outdated decades ago. "I found this on the mercenary leader guy."
Winter took the offered scroll, and browsed through what Two had left open.
It was a picture of the mercenary leader, with a girl that looked a lot like him riding on his shoulders.
"What is this?"
"He was a bad guy." Two said. "But it looks like he had a daughter."
Winter flicked through the images, seeing a lot more of the girl. Her hair was black, and she was... Rather thin. Skin was not meant to cling to the bone that much.
"Even if he deserved bad things, well, I don't want to leave someone out here alone." Two said. "We should go find her, shouldn't we?"
Winter considered it for a moment.
"We'll be landing in a village not far from here." Winter said. "The airship doesn't have supplies to carry too many people across too far a distance, and we'll stay there for a bit to give people time to properly recover in the medical bay. After that-"
She paused. On the one hand, Signal had given her a path, and it would reflect poorly on her and Atlas if she deviated too much. On the other...
Winter's eyes flicked up to the roman numerals on Two's forehead.
...Winter's obligation regarding the Intoners was more important, in the end. With the sort of power the known Intoners had demonstrated...
Well, the message had been sent, and Winter had heard that Yang had acquired Two's contact information. Two would want to stay in contact once Winter shared the information she had, so monitoring her in person wasn't exactly a requirement...
Thinking it over for a moment, Winter decided.
[X] "-We'll help you look for her." Follow Two, monitor her, and talk to her when the time is right.
[X] "-We'll let you look for her." Let Two do her own thing, but get her alone to talk to her as soon as possible.
(Yang will awaken and be the viewpoint character again next update)
-[X] Look through the eyes of Winter Schnee
Her Nevermore flew off, carrying the injured girl on it's back, and Winter Schnee put the thought of Yang Xiao Long out of her mind.
She could be concerned about that later. For now, she had an opponent to kill.
The two identical figures, differing only in the colour of their armour, looked at Winter.
"A Schnee?" The one in black asked.
"That hardly matters." Winter replied. "You don't need to know anything about me. You will be dead momentarily."
The two men ran at her, flanking her so that one approached her left and one her right. Winter waited for a moment, to allow them to approach, before calling forth her Summons.
Twenty Beowulf's weren't a threat to someone of this level of power. but it was still ten each, and it would take them time to bash through the bodies. The only weapons they seemed to possess was their gauntlets and the harpoons she could see on their backs, and that meant their range was low when they weren't shooting.
It was an interesting Semblance, being able to possess two bodies. But it was also an ability that was predictable. In essence, fighting him meant you were fighting two foes at once. Against a single foe, that could be deadly. But against Winter, it was pointless. The main advantage was that the foe she fought would outnumber his enemy most of the time. Winter, however, could reverse that in a heartbeat.
The one armoured in white fired a harpoon, which ripped through the ghostly Beowulf's and came within a hair of striking at Winter, but her blade deflected it before it could strike at her.
It only took a few seconds for the two figures to slay most of the Beowulfs, but in that second, Winter had prepared her next move.
Swarms of weaker summons wasn't the best tactic against singular powerful foes. Against the Grimm she had fought to the south, it was fine, but even then, once the more powerful Grimm started approaching, their usefulness faded. For more powerful foes, she needed to make use of more powerful summons.
The white-armoured figure came into range of Winter, and threw a fist. Winter's sword clanged against his armour, as the arm was forced to the side. The man stopped his momentum before he could stumble forward, and Winter shifted her arm, striking the man in the face with the hilt of her sword. Then she took a step to the side, and looked upon the new summons coming forth.
A humanoid shape carrying an oversized axe dashed at the black-armoured figure, and slashed the weapon into the dark armour. The man grunted in pain, but took the shaft of the axe in his hand, and squeezed hard enough to shatter it. The axehead faded away, and a fist through the summon's chest ended its existence. A large cut was left in his armour, but not enough to expose flesh.
Winter waved her blade, and a glyph appeared before her. Birds began emerging from it, firing at the white-armoured figure with force equal to one of her blows. The incredible number of blows forced it on the defensive, and taking the opportunity, Winter dashed at the figure in black.
A glyph appeared under her to increase her speed, and the sudden burst of increased speed caught the man off guard. He moved to catch Winter's blade as she approached, but a moment too slow. Her blade stuck at the gash in the armour, smashing through it and striking at flesh. The increased danger of the blow drew more Aura from the man than before, and Winter the pain etched on his face was enough to let Winter know she had an opportunity.
Another glyph formed underneath his feet, and Winter pulled out her blade and jumped back just as it took effect. The black-armoured man ran at her, but the glyph took effect, and his movements slowed to a crawl.
That particular glyph would make it difficult to damage the black-armoured man while he was within it, but it also kept him out of the fight for a while, leaving only one body remaining.
Winter looked at the white-armoured man, blade in her hand. With a brief gesture, several more summons rose up before her, all of which charged as she pointed her blade forward.
The first summon, a humanoid figure with bull's horns, stepped into range first, jabbing forward with a spear fast enough that dodging wasn't an option, with enough force that blocking forced the mercenary leader back, putting him in a position where he had to walk back to avoid being overwhelmed. Then, as he approached the wall, the man dashed to the wall, running up it, before coming down on the bull man and crushing his skull with a fist. As the summon faded, the second came into reach.
The second form, a sort of amphibious Grimm that Winter had fought years ago, was slow to move, but the spearman had served his purpose well enough. By the time he had died, the spearman had brought time for the Grimm to get into range, lunging at the mercenary and unfolding it's tentacles. Suction caps attached to the man all over, and the ghostly Grimm slowly squeezed, pining the white-armoured man's arms to his side and trying to crush him through his armour.
The man in white struggled agains the grip for a moment, slowly pulling his arm away from his side, but it took too long, giving time for Winter's next summon to make it's move.
The last two of the group summoned, the giant Creep and the Cerberus, ran at the man at once. The three-headed hound reached him first, scooping up both man and Grimm in a single bite, and began chewing. The other two heads moved the body as it focused on keeping the man contained and in pain, walking towards the slightly green-glowing Creep.
As it did so, the Cerberus' centre head bowed, and the Creep crept onto it. A moment passed, and Winter prepared to order the Creep to detonate.
Then there was a crunching sound, and a fist emerged from the Cerberus' fangs. Acting immediately, Winter detonated the Creep, but the dark figure escaped the jaws and leapt to the side at the last moment.
...The dark figure.
Looking back at her glyph of slowed movement, Winter saw that it was empty. How-
The Creep and ruined Cerberus head faded away, revealing an incredibly injured white-armoured figure. But then, as if in response to her gaze, the white-armour blinked out, and the man in black walked forward a step. As he did so, the man in white appeared where he had been standing a moment before.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" The man asked.
In response, Winter leapt into the middle of the two men, pulling at her blade as she did so. The second sword hidden within folded out, and Winter struck at both men at once. They blocked, and then moved to attack. It was trivial, redirecting their blows away from her, and Winter's blades danced as they repelled fist after fist, from either direction.
A pair of glyphs appeared under Winter's feet, and her speed increased, allowing her to strike faster, allowing her to punish every wrong move from her opponents. They still had the advantage, but Winter would hold out long enough for the plan to work.
She had one more summon, not within range of the fight, that had accomplished it's mission. And even now, it was on it's way.
The blades gave a graceful dance as they struck at armour and diverted fists, but her opponent's movements were pragmatic and controlled. Every blow against her could have been devastating if it hit, every blow only left an opening that could be quickly covered, and the blows kept coming fast enough to prevent Winter from taking the initiative. The one in white pulled a harpoon from his back and moved to stab Winter, but was easily disarmed. The harpoon fell to the floor, and Winter quickly moved her left hand to block a blow from the man in right behind her.
Enough time had passed.
The Cerberus resumed movement at last, ignoring the loss of it's middle head as it charged at the battle. The man in white turned to deal with it, loading and firing a harpoon through the gap between heads and plunging into where it's heart would be. Winter took the chance to bring both blades against the black-armoured warrior, who took a step back and was put on the defensive.
Winter's Cerberus faded from the killing blow, and the summon that had approached behind it suddenly became visible. Before either man could react, the ghostly Nevermore took flight, grabbing the white-armoured man with both talons and flying off with him. Winter activated the second rune under her feet, creating a barrier around her and the man in black, and stabbed forward again.
Some sort of bond connected the two identical figures, and as the white armoured man was dragged out of range, the man in black was forced back into the invisible barrier, crying out as he did so.
Winter felt her Nevermore lose it's grip on the white armoured figure, and a hand emerged from the chest of the black-armoured man. Perfect.
Making a hole in her barrier and stepping out of it, Winter quickly created another Creep within it, just as the man in white fully emerged from the man in black.
Before either could react, it exploded. The barrier shattered and faded, and there was a cloud of dust for a moment.
Winter looked over it for a moment, then slowly stepped forward. The man in black stumbled out of the dust, and Winter took a blade to his throat.
Aura shattered, and the mercenary leader gurgled on blood as he collapsed. Behind him, Winter heard another thud, of someone falling. It appears as if defeating one had defeated the other.
Stepping away for a moment, Winter pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and wiped her blade clean of blood.
A tough foe, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before. Yang had done a surprising amount of damage to his Aura, so it was easier than it could have been, too.
Looking over at the corpses as the dust faded, Winter took a moment to consider what to do with them.
She cared nothing for the man. He was a criminal, and a murderer. Not a particularly famous one, either. There wasn't likely to be a bounty on him, so proof of death was of no use to Winter.
But, perhaps Yang Xiao Long deserved some sort of trophy for this battle. She had done remarkably well, for a child of her age. It was the level of quality that Winter's father had always expected of his children, and he had the funds to buy the services of the best mentors, to train perfection in every action.
Yes, her performance certainly deserved some form of recognition. It wasn't uncommon for Hunters to take trophies of their victories, at least for a smile time. Perhaps Yang would take his gauntlet or armour as a token of her victory. Or perhaps she'd use the more... Barbaric trophy, of a skull on a stick.
Either way, she deserved something for doing as well as she did. Especially considering the circumstances. Piran had informed her that Yang told everyone else to run, so she had known she couldn't defeat him alone, and yet still fought...
As she sheathed her swords, Winter manifested another two summons, both Beowulfs, to carry the corpses. Even if Yang didn't want a trophy, it was still possible that Winter was wrong and there was some form of bounty for the man. She could take that instead.
But, time was of the essence now. She had delayed the Grimm for long enough, but she had left them some time ago to slay the mercenary leader. By now, there was likely only a small amount of time before the village was overrun. It would be wise to have the airship on it's way out before Grimm started trying to take it down.
The boulder blocking the street took a moment to run around, but it wasn't long at all, before Winter reached the airship.
The ship was surrounded by rubble, but the airship itself was unharmed. And standing on top of it was-
"Hey!" A voice called, and the blue haired girl standing on top of it jumped down, landing in front of Winter. "You're the one in charge, right? I'm-"
"Two." Winter interrupted, looking at the familiar mark on her forehead. "I've been told about you."
The blue haired girl nodded. "Yeah? Good things?"
Winter looked at her. "Nothing bad." She said, after a moment.
Two beamed. "Good! I've heard good things about you, you know!"
"Is everyone here?" Winter asked.
Two nodded. "Your ghost-thing carried Yang back ages ago, Piran followed her into the airship after driving off explosion boy 'cause his arm got hurt, and Cent arrived with everyone from the North just a few moments ago."
"Then we leave immediately." Winter said, walking past Two onto the airship.
"Huh? Oh, okay, off we go!"
As Two followed Winter up, the airship door began to close.
...Two was different to what Winter had expected, she thought as she pulled out her scroll.
With a few button presses, the airship began to rise. Just as the doors began to close, Winter gestured out of it, summoning a bunch of flying summons in the process. "How many survivors are there?" She asked.
"Didn't count." Two said. "A lot of kids. A lot of badly hurt ones, too. Your medical area's filled up, Piran refused to have his arm looked at so people could get their wounds healed up first."
Winter's Beowulf's threw the mercenaries corpses over the doors just as they closed, and then they faded. Two looked at them for a moment, her smile growing framed.
"That's him, then?" She asked.
Winter nodded. "That's the leader."
Two looked at it for a moment. "Hey, d'you mind if I search the body? He might be dead, but people want a name, and I might be able to find on eif he had a wallet or something on him."
"Feel free." Winter permitted. "I'll be seeing my students in the medical area now. If you need me, just say so."
Two nodded, then looked over to the bodies. For a moment, Winter considered whenever or not she wanted to have the conversation now, but decided against it. Two may be permitted to hear what she had to say, but right now, there was too much of a chance that someone walking past and overhearing too much classified information.
Leaving Two with the corpses, Winter looked over her scroll a bit more, then quickly typed out a message to be sent home. A report on what had happened so far. This was bigger than she was expecting, so sending a report early would be a smart idea.
Once her report was done, Winter put her Scroll away, and stepped into the medical bay.
Yang was on the closest bed to the door, unconscious. Her wounds were being patched together, her breathing and heartbeat were being monitored and regulated, and there was a dust generator sitting nearby trying to kickstart her Aura, to assist in the healing.
She'd be out for a while. Winter would speak with her when she regained consciousness.
Standing near her was Piran, who had an arm wrapped in bloodstained bandages.
"Piran." Winter spoke, and the boy quickly looked up at her and gave a salute.
"At ease." The Schnee ordered. "What happened with your arm?"
"Invisible bomber." Piran replied. "Well, he was a bit less invisible without his Aura, but he still had a lot of traps. He kept bringing down buildings, so I had to injure him to force him away. Got caught in an explosion to do it, broke through my Aura, and my arm took the brunt of it.
"And why aren't you having it tended to?" Winter asked.
"I can live with it." Piran replied. "I'm a Hunter. I signed up to get hurt for the sake of others. Those kids didn't. Even if it means having this arm be useless for the rest of the month, it doesn't matter."
"Don't be a fool." Winter ordered. "Putting others before yourself is admirable, but if you leave yourself short a limb for the month, you're as good as dead."
"...As you command, ma'am." Piran replied.
"As you were, then." Winter replied. Piran nodded, and went back to watching Yang.
...He did run from the fight at her order, didn't he? Piran probably felt responsible, to some degree, for what had happened.
Winter took a moment to look around the cramped medical bay. Off in the corner, she saw an orange-haired girl talking excitedly to a boy in a...
...Well, the shirt looked like it was initially green, but there was a lot of blood covering it. He struggled for a moment to sit up, before the girl pushed him back down. Likely wise. Winter could see a cut in that shirt that was surrounded by the majority of the blood. He seemed badly hurt, and too much movement could cause more bleeding.
Sitting close to them, wearing an open jacket and a rather excessive amount of belts, was-
"Blast Yellowstone." Winter ordered. "Report."
Blast looked up at her. "Not too many injuries', boss." He said.
"Why are you in here?" She asked.
"Just having the machines check up on me. Broke a finger bone, but that's it."
"What did you do after your deployment?" Winter asked.
"My Semblance is a bi- , uh, pain." Blast said. "I mean, it's really cool in a fight, but it also usually leads to a lot of fights, y'know?"
...Right. His Semblance. It bore a rather uncanny resemblance to a certain old man who never failed to get on Winter's nerves, despite her best efforts.
"What exactly happened?" Winter asked.
"Well, I heard gunshots." Blast explained. "So I went to investigate, and ended up in the north of the village. Saved a few people from attackers, but then some woman with lightning abilities tried to fry me. Naturally, my Semblance kicked in then, and it helped me block the attack. It's just that, uh, I didn't realise until after I got away that I blocked it with my scroll, which is kinda busted..."
Winter looked at him.
"...Is there any spares?"
She was rather tempted to turn it into a glare.
"Well..." Blast continued. "After that, I got into a lot of fight. Beat up some people. Turns out, they were gathering in the north. Most of the chain of command was up there. Then I say that Ren kid take one of them out, but then the rest jumped on him, and, well, I could hardly leave him alone to fight a dozen people like that."
"I see." Winter said. "So you jumped into a near impossible fight with no way of knowing if you could survive it."
"...Well, I won, didn't I?"
"How?"
"...Okay, I got back-up." Blast admitted. "That Cent guy saved the day, was pretty cool. But me and Ren were fighting for a while before that, and I probably could have gotten away if I didn't have to carry Ren around after he got hit like that."
Winter nodded. "I understand."
"You do?"
"On our next deployment, you are not to be out of my sight."
Blast groaned. "Why does every authority figure do this to me..."
Winter left him to his complaints, and turned to leave the medical bay, when a certain blue-haired girl walked in.
"Two." Winter said. "Is there something you wanted?"
Two nodded. "Where's the airship landing?"
"...I was going to take it near the forest." Winter said. "Of our objectives, it's the closest one to us. Why?"
Two held up a small scroll, one outdated decades ago. "I found this on the mercenary leader guy."
Winter took the offered scroll, and browsed through what Two had left open.
It was a picture of the mercenary leader, with a girl that looked a lot like him riding on his shoulders.
"What is this?"
"He was a bad guy." Two said. "But it looks like he had a daughter."
Winter flicked through the images, seeing a lot more of the girl. Her hair was black, and she was... Rather thin. Skin was not meant to cling to the bone that much.
"Even if he deserved bad things, well, I don't want to leave someone out here alone." Two said. "We should go find her, shouldn't we?"
Winter considered it for a moment.
"We'll be landing in a village not far from here." Winter said. "The airship doesn't have supplies to carry too many people across too far a distance, and we'll stay there for a bit to give people time to properly recover in the medical bay. After that-"
She paused. On the one hand, Signal had given her a path, and it would reflect poorly on her and Atlas if she deviated too much. On the other...
Winter's eyes flicked up to the roman numerals on Two's forehead.
...Winter's obligation regarding the Intoners was more important, in the end. With the sort of power the known Intoners had demonstrated...
Well, the message had been sent, and Winter had heard that Yang had acquired Two's contact information. Two would want to stay in contact once Winter shared the information she had, so monitoring her in person wasn't exactly a requirement...
Thinking it over for a moment, Winter decided.
[X] "-We'll help you look for her." Follow Two, monitor her, and talk to her when the time is right.
[X] "-We'll let you look for her." Let Two do her own thing, but get her alone to talk to her as soon as possible.
(Yang will awaken and be the viewpoint character again next update)