[X] After searching for a while,Yang spots a figure silhouetted in the snow in the distance.
Walking up a path leading up the mountain, Yang looked around.
"Is it just me, or is the snow getting heavier?" She asked. "It's getting a bit hard to see into the distance."
"Not much." Winter replied. "It's still within a safe amount. If it gets much heavier, we may have to return to the airship, but we can still search in this."
"Are you sure?" Blast asked. "It's rather cold out here."
"Maybe you should've worn more than a few new belts." Yang pointed out.
"I understand those words individually." Blast said. "But in that order, they mean nothing to me."
"I'll use small words then." Yang teased. "More belt not good for cold."
"More belt... Not good?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "You are insufferable."
"You know you love it." Blast replied with a smirk.
"I mean, yeah, but Winter looks like she's about to stab you in the throat."
Blast considered it for a moment. "You have a good point."
"So does her sword."
Blast chuckled. "It's such a shame we've already driven the "Winter's rather cold" puns into the ground, the way she's refusing to look at us is the perfect opportunity for a Cold Shoulder pun."
"You're saying you ruined your chance, Blast?" Yang asked. "In other words, you blew it?"
Winter stopped walking.
"...Boss?"
"These mountains are dangerous." She said. "There is a risk of Grimm attacks everywhere, and the snow makes it difficult enough to determine what is happening. It would be for the best if we all focused on monitoring our surroundings so we don't walk into an ambush."
"Is this your way of telling us to shut up?" Blast asked.
"Talking to each other would distract each other and create a greater risk." Winter replied. "So for the interest of the mission, stop talking."
"Yes, boss." Blast replied, smirking a bit. "Sorry, Yang. Orders are orders, so we'll have to save the puns for when we get back to the ship."
"Indeed." Yang replied. "I'll save them all up for them, we can have a Punfest tonight."
Winter ignored them and walked on.
Despite having her fun, Yang was quiet after Winter's orders, actually paying attention to things around her and not talking.
...And she thought the ship was boring, there was so much white here that it was look looking at that dull roof.
The mountainous path opened up to a snow-covered forest, wide enough and with enough trees that seeing through them was difficult.
"Search the forest." Winter replied. "We'll split up to cover it better, but call out every few minutes to confirm that you're within earshot. If you can't hear anyone respond, regroup immediately. Understood?"
Yang and Blast didn't respond.
"...You can talk to answer me."
"Yes, ma'am." Yang replied, smirking.
"She really is related to that old drunk..." Winter muttered under her breath, before speaking up. "Yang, search towards the left. Blast, take the right. We'll head forwards to wards the end of the forest. There should be another cliff to climb over there."
Yang nodded, and waved a hand. "I'll shout in a minute or so."
And with that, the group split up.
Yang walked through the trees for a few minutes, having a look at all of them.
These were some old trees, covered in snow, and with the clouds partially blocking the sun, the area seemed rather ominous to walk though. If it was much darker, like it would be at night, this place could have the looks of a horror movie to it. Probably one of those dumb B-movies, though. Like the one about a serial killer who ate Grimm-flesh and became a cannibal monster thing.
Walking past some trees, Yang gave a quick shout, and got a reply from Winter and, more distantly, Blast.
Okay, she was till fairly close. Time to wander a bit more.
Heading away from the group some more, Yang walked in a direction that didn't take her closer to the cliffs for a while, just to cover more ground. After a while of that, she resumed her path. Should probably wait until she knew if she was still in earshot before she wandered much more.
Looking around, Yang saw something flit through the trees out of the corner of her eyes. Pausing her search, Yang turned towards it, circling the tree blocking her view.
In the distance, walking through the trees, was some form of figure. The snow was falling heavily around them, making it difficult to see who they were, and they were far enough away that Yang had to move every second or so to get a clear line of sight on them. But it was a person.
"Hey!" Yang called, trying to get their attention. When they didn't react, she turned in the direction of Winter and Blast.
"Person over here!" Yang called out. "Come over here, I'll investigate!"
"If they're hostile, run this way!" Winter called in the distance, before shouting something towards Blast. Satisfied, Yang walked towards the figure in the distance.
Keeping a distant pace through the trees, Yang nevertheless found herself falling behind. Every time the person disappeared behind a tree, they seemed to move ahead in their path a larger distance than Yang would have expected when they appeared again.
Maybe it was just a trick of the eyes. It was fairly difficult to see them as it was, so Yang might have misjudged the distance.
Picking up the pace again, Yang called out once more. "Hey!"
The person looked back at her, and stopped moving.
Oh good, they had heard her.
Rushing forward a bit more, Yang darted through the trees, slowing down a bit as she approached the figure. As she drew closer, she took note of what she could about their appearance.
They seemed rather slender, and didn't seem to be wearing many layers. They had some form of hood on, but unless they were really skinny for their height, they didn't appear to have much to wear regarding the cold at all.
"Are you from around here?" Yang asked. "Me and my group are looking for someone who does. A little girl, and maybe some other children?"
The person didn't respond, but didn't move either, as Yang drew closer.
"...Hello?" Yang asked, as she stepped closer. "Can you hear me? Can you understand me?"
There was a small clearing in the trees as Yang approached, and Yang was close enough to notice that the snow seemed to be parting around the person. Said person- Who, Yang could tell from this close, was definitely a woman- Seemed to have a Semblance to help in that regard. Though, it did make it hard to see much about them in detail...
"Is there something wrong?" Yang asked, not drawing any closer. She was still two or three metres from the person, and the fact that they weren't reacting was suspicious. If it wasn't for the fact that they weren't holding a weapon, Yang would think she had stumbled into a trap.
The person obscured in the snow seemed to twist their head to look at Yang.
"Not for me." Said a monotone feminine voice. Before Yang could react, the figure vanished, and a blue trail of light twisted around her.
"What the-" Yang started, but before she could react, the snow underneath her feet parted, and she fell into a small hole. Then, it crawled back over the top of her, burying her completely.
"Freeze." A voice whispered in her ears. "Die for her."
Closing her eyes, Yang focused her Aura as she felt a sudden surge of anger.
This person was just trying to kill her? For no reason? What gives her the right?
Focusing that anger and her Aura, Yang moved her arms together, and let her Aura blaze up. Flames appeared around her, and the snow around her for quiet a distance melted and evaporated in an instant.
More snow started hurtling towards her, but burning as she was, Yang could simply allow it to melt off of her. Turning around for the person responsible, Yang fired Ember Celica towards the bluish light that they had become.
The light moved out of the way, and started circling in the air above Yang, out of reach. The snow around her stopped falling, hovering in the air for a moment, before forming together to make hail and firing off into Yang. She burned, melting the ice as it came at her, but not fast enough to remove all of it. As small and weak as it was, Yang felt her Aura be pelted by dozens of icy projectiles, each eating away at her Aura bit by bit. Not much, yes, but it also hurt like a bitch.
Turning from the floating light, Yang ran back towards Winter. Whoever this was, they were hostile, and Yang did have orders to regroup if she encountered a hostile.
As she ran, another piece of hail hit Yang in the back of the neck, and a second before it melted away, it expanded outwards with explosive force, knocking Yang to the ground. The snow beneath her had melted, but before she could stand, more and more of the hail began hitting her and expanding. Even as that melted away, there was more and more to replace it, covering Yang and trying to entrap her.
Not willing to stick around in a confined area while her flames burnt up the oxygen, Yang fired Ember Celica from her position on the ground, shattering the glass towards her legs and letting Yang slip out of the trap. As she looked up, Yang realised that the bluish light was hovering near a tree. Aiming her fist at it, Yang fired slightly below the light, and when her projectile hit the tree, it explodedd.
The bluish light hit the ground, and morphed into a humanoid shape. It looked over at Yang, and the girl got a good look at her attacker.
That wasn't a hood, they were wearing. It was attached to their body, an extension of their skin, in a way that almost, but not quiet, hid their long, pointed ears. The woman looked at Yang with a face that vaguely resembled a fish, and snarled at her.
"What the hell?" Yang asked, jumping back. That didn't look like a Faunus. Faunus usually had only one animal feature and were otherwise humanoid. This thing looked more like a monster, but it's majority blue body didn't resemble that of a Grimm at all.
The thing looked at Yang, and the snow around it started hovering, before melting into water. That water flew at Yang like a fire hose, and even with her flames heating it up and evaporating it, it struck at her with enough force to send her backwards. More hailed rained at her, expanding differently now, hitting her like a pebble and then expanding like a knife into her Aura, and the water did it's best to extinguish the flames of Yang's Aura.
Yang rolled to the side, through the snow, and then quickly jumped up before the snow could start consolidating into ice to trap her. Heading up into a tree, Yang fired at the branches to shake as much of the snow off of it as possible, and did her best to avoid the ground.
The area around her was rather devoid of snow now, actually. Most of it had been turned into a weapon to try and attack her with. Gritting her teeth, Yang fired at the woman, but again, she turned into a stream of light.
From the angle she was at, Yang noticed that it seemed rather snakelike, in it's form and movement. And with a clear comparison, she noted that it seemed to flow like water. Except glowing, and with sparks of blue light flying off from the head.
Yang moved to dodge when another jet of water came soaring at her, but a glyph appeared in the air between the water and Yang, and the water bounced off the defensive shield.
"Ma'am." Yang said, looking down at Winter. "Excellent timing."
Winter didn't respond, looking at the water-light-snake-thing dancing through the air.
"An Undine?" She asked. "Here? I thought they all lived in the oceans. What is one doing here?"
"You know what I am?" The snake-thing asked in it's monotone voice. "No matter. Die for her."
Spikes made of ice flew at Winter, who shattered them with ease as they flew at her.
"Her?" Winter asked. "So there's someone here that you're with. Perhaps the reason you're not in an ocean right now?"
The Undine didn't reply, and Winter pointed a sword at it.
"Whatever the reason, I don't appreciate you attacking me or my student." She said. "If you surrender now, perhaps your containment will be pleasant. Otherwise, this will be quiet painful for you."
With the ultimatum delivered, Yang stared at the Undine as it hovered about, waiting for the moment it would strike out against Winter.
Preparing for a fight, Yang planned out her next action.
[X] Stay in the tree and take potshots, allow Winter to do the fighting.
[X] Try and grapple with the water-snake-thingy. If she can get a hold of it, she might be able to hold it still for Winter to contain.
[X] 'Her.' Who is 'Her?' The Undine might not be alone. Slip away from the fight and look around for who 'Her' might be.
