RWBY: Black Cat

Chapter 16

"Though she be but little, she is fierce."
- Shakespeare

Ruby swung crescent rose in an arc as another pair Griffons approached her, driving them back, making wide, sweeping circles with her weapon's blade. She gritted her teeth, pointed the weapon at the ground, then pulled the rifle's trigger, the recoil launching her into the air. She lashed out at an airborne Griffon, making an attempt to slice through its neck, but it ducked, snarling angrily, then flew forward. Ruby fired at its face, then kicked off it with both feet, whizzing back through the red foliage, using her semblance to put on more speed as she charged away, towards a trio of Griffons, who, taken by surprise, were decapitated by the huntress in training in quick succession.

There was no telling how many Griffons were attacking. She came lightly back down to the ground, catching Weiss's eye, falling into position, back to back with her partner.

"Like we practiced?" Weiss checked.

"Like we practiced."

They proceeded to hack at any Grimm that came towards them, watching each other's backs. Neo and Blake were fighting four of them, and Raven was trying to beat off a particularly large one, her back against a tree, her blade an almost invisible blur.

Ruby looked up in alarm as Yang shouted, "Nevermore!" She glanced upwards to see the giant bird circling above them, just visible through the red foliage. It let out a harsh screech, and attacked with a series of feathers. Glynda blasted them away using her semblance, but a Griffon leapt at her, and she was preoccupied when the next lot rained down on them, not a second later.

Weiss protected herself and Ruby with a glyph, and the others dodged, but Raven, backed against the tree, could hardly move, and one of the missiles went through her clothes, pinning her in her place. She gritted her teeth, and narrowed her eyes as she stabbed the Griffon in front of her, slicing right through its head, pulling at the feather as the Grimm dissipated in front of her.

Suddenly Weiss disappeared - Ruby glanced around wildly to see her running to fetch Myrtenaster, which had been dislodged from her grip, lying on the ground a few meters away. Now, Grimm surged towards Ruby from all sides, and she ducked and weaved between them, swinging crescent rose nonstop.

Blake suddenly streaked across her vision, dashing towards Weiss as they both fended off a series of Griffons together. They exchanged a quick word, then Blake was propelled into the air with one of Weiss's glyphs, presumably to take on the Nevermore. They'll be fine.

Yang was fighting a pair of them on her own, faring quite well. Glynda was practically a killing machine, slamming Griffons into trees, into each other, into the ground, until they died. Raven, despite being stuck in one spot, killed any Griffon before it could get terribly close to killing her.

Ruby kicked off a tree, into the air again, and propelling herself forward with the recoil of her gun, and landed on a Griffon's back. She hooked Crescent Rose's blade around its neck, decapitating it quickly, jumping off the dissolving corpse and reloading the gun as she swung into another tree, switching her gun to rifle form, and shooting at the ones on the ground.

She stiffened as she spotted Neo, just below her, surrounded by five of them. The small huntress slipped neatly between them, landing hard, fast blows where she could, but their ferocious beaks and claws were coming dangerously close to her, and her expression was laced with panic. Ruby leapt down from her branch to help, but was intercepted by an airborne Grimm, flying past. She ducked out of range of the Griffon's snapping beak and was forced to watch as Neo continued to fight them. Why doesn't she call for help?!