Going nuts! [Complete]

[Amber Veritz]

The cat girl looked back as she walked out of the Ninja Village. Her new friends were little specks in the distance mixed in the crowd now. She hoped that would become strong and that they would soon meet again. Amber followed the trial of dirt that led them here to Mokugakure. The river ran peacefully by to her right, sometimes splashing slightly at her as the water hit the bank. Though she had been raised out in the woods, they weren't as calm on the outside as they were back home. It was warm here and the birds chirped their little songs. Looking past the skeletons and orcs she had fought to get to the ninja’s hidden village, this verse was very liveable. Although, that might be a quick judgement for a newcomer of the verse.

An hour past peacefully, nothing had attacked her thankfully. She decided to take a break from walking. She never took the time to admire the scenery around her here in the Omniverse. Most of it from the being seemed more like hell on earth. This was by far the best world she had been to yet. Though the Frozen Fields will always be her home. The cat girl swiped her dark brown hair out of her face and looked up into the trees. A squirrel sat on a branch with what seemed like a nut or an acorn probably. Too hard to tell from this distance.

She came back to her senses when she felt the stomping of something rather large approaching her direction. She quickly stood and drew Razorback from it's sheathe. It could be more of those damned skeletons.

The group of shadows down the trail were large, so it couldn't be more skeletons. In fact, they were a group of the orcs that had attacked her earlier in the day. About five of them, bigger than the ones from earlier. “Of course they came to get revenge.” Amber sighed as Razorback’s gears hummed loudly, switching to rifle mode.

“Der! Chief dats one-a dem girls dat took down our ‘ole group!” One of the orcs yelled out pointing his finger to the cat woman. He looked pretty beat up with deep wounds horribly bandaged. If he were to take the gauze off his organs might fall out. The one he was speaking to wore something on his head, like a crown made of rocks and wood. It seemed to be pieced together with hardened mud.

“Well den is only polite dat we show ‘er what a eye fer a eye mean, eh? Git ‘er boys!” The bigger orcs raised their weapons in unison and, with a loud battle crying roar, charged towards Amber with vicious intent. The cat girl kept her cool. No back up this time, so no screw ups. She fired shots into the small party of orcs. The bullets hit, but they looked much tougher than they appeared. The rounds hardly pierced their green skin. Quickly, pressed the mode change button on her rifle, switching Razorback to it's zweihander form. The leader of the pack brought his makeshift club over Amber’s head. The trained huntress reflected it to the side with a parry by sweeping her sword over it. She followed up quickly with a kick to the abdomen, sending the orc tumbling back onto another one. The next one came, an axe in hand. He swung horizontally into Amber, learning from the mistake of his friend. Unfortunately, his axe was stopped by Razorback. The orc was more surprised than anything.

“Little girl very strong.” He said with his jaw hanging out. Amber balled up a fist and shot it towards that jaw. Teeth flew from his maw as he fell back, knocked out cold. Only two orcs stood now, the chief and the injured orc. The chief panicked and took off in the opposite direction.

“Retreat!” He yelled loudly as the two stumbled and followed his lead. The injured one also followed suit, but was too injured to get away. He fell to the ground in pain as blood dripped through his bandages. Amber approached the helpless sod and knelt down to him, placing Razoback’s blade at his throat. 

“Shall I end your suffering now?” She said quietly to him. “The pain can go away with a quick slash.”

“The chief will find you again, girlie. He’ll fix you up right good.” Amber stomped on the end of the blade, pressing the tip into the dirt.

“I'm always ready to draw blood.” She responded taking her other foot and stomping the hilt down. The blade traveled down and split his head from his torso like a guillotine. Blood spewed from the opening in his neck on both sides. Amber stepped down off of her swords blunt side and picked up. A few loose swing cleaned most of the blood from the blade. She returned it to it’s holster and continued down the path to the gate.

As she came nearer to the gate, the area looked scorched and burned, like a forest fire had happened just recently. How she didn't see this when she first entered, she would never know. The trees were scorched at the bark and most their leaves had been turned to nothing but ash on the ground. Amber wasn’t totally surprised with the devastation, but it was still depressing.

“I wonder who did this. Probably those damn orcs, this seems up their ally.” Amber said to herself. An older voice rose from behind her, a woman.

 “Actually it was from the Blight the ravaged the Tangled Green.” She said as the cat girl quickly twirled around to view her. She was wearing some kind of robe, like she was a witch or something and her skin was slightly pale. She looked old, easily noticeable by the wrinkles and grayed hair.

“The Blight?” Amber questioned, looking at this creepy old woman oddly.

“Yes, the Blight. Horrifying Darkspawn ravaged the land of the Tangled Green, scarring the world with their taint as they destroyed much of the forest. I am one of the few people who have been attempting to reclaim the land, and return it to once beautiful beginning.” She answered, swinging her wrinkly hands around as she explained. “Efforts are slow, but I am making progress, you see! I am making a special kind of fertilizer that may be able to return the soil to it’s old fertile self again.”

“That sounds great.” Amber replied, “hopefully the fertilizer works. The forest is quiet amazing beyond this area.”

“Well, it would go much smoother, but I seem to be missing an ingredient to complete it. It's not a rare material but I will need quite a few of them.” She said looking at her old and worn down body. “It's just that these old bones have seen some mileage. With the orcs wandering around this area, it’s dangerous to go hunting for what I need.”

“I can do it for you. What item are you looking for?” Amber said, eager to finally do something to help.

The old witch chuckled. “I couldn't possibly ask you to help me dearie. This isn't your problem.”

“It is now because I have made it my problem ma’am. Please allow me to help you.” Amber pleaded.

“Well,” she scratched her head and dug out a piece of paper. It marked the materials she needed to make the fertilizer, with many of them already marked out. “If you truly insist, I need acorns. As many as you can collect.”

Amber was a bit shocked about the mundane item she needed. Well, every blade needs steel and every gun needs bullets. It makes sense. “Alright, that’s easy enough.” She said with a smirk.

The old woman smiled at the youth as she replaced the slip of paper. “Wonderful! I will await you here once you have collected what I need. Take this bag to carry them in.” Melody hand Amber a threaded bag with drawstring at the top to seal the contents. It was well made but slightly in disrepair. Dirt marked the bag with a few small holes that poke through the threads.

“Alright, don't worry, I'll get you your acorns.” She said taking off down the trail she came through.

“Please do be careful! Those orcs are still around!” The old witch yelled out to Amber she disappeared into the trees, determined to complete this menial task no matter how unimportant it might be.

Word Count: 1440/5000

[Amber Veritz]

The trees flew by as the cat girl ran through the forest. She looked for a good spot to start looking around. She turned off the path and drew her claws into the bark climbing up the tree. Before searching the branches, Amber pulled the bag she acquired from Melody off her side.

“Acorns. It's so simple, but someone’s gotta do it.” She said looking around the branches for her mark. The closely knit branches between trees allowed her to walk from tree to tree. It made it easy to search for the acorns. She gathered a good twenty or so before she filled the back completely full. Any more would cause the bag to overflow.

Judging by the how much the sun had shifted, it had taken her about an hour to find some decent sized acorns in the trees. She dropped from the trees, bag in hand, to return to the trail. It was smooth sailing. This was one of the easiest jobs she'd ever taken. Most of her work as a huntress in Remnant required killing some kind of huge Grimm, like an Alpha Beowolf.

As she approached the trail, she felt it. Someone- No a lot of someones were watching her. How long, she didn't know but she was sure she knew who they were: The Orks. The amassed around her, at least ten of them.

“Right den.” Said the chief who’d run from earlier. “Git ‘er!” Just as earlier the orks raised their weapons against the cat. Clubs and axes of stone and wood. Amber pulled Razorback from it's holster again and threw her hard work to the side. They kept the heat on her, swinging viciously and relentlessly one after another. Even with her decent speed it was hard to dodge the attacks. She had to wait for the perfect moment to strike or would taste the dirt for sure.

She bobbed and weaved through clubs left and right. A wide swing caught one of them off balance. Amber didn't hesitate a second. She swung Razorback at his legs, knocking him off his feet and putting a huge gash in his ankles. He yelled in pain as the steel tore at his tendons. Before he even hit the ground Amber spun quickly on her heel and kicked his falling body back into the others, knocking two or three on their asses.

Another cocky one charged her. He swung his hefty axe over head to the cat girl, who stopped it with her giant sword. After a few seconds of a stalemate struggle, she tilted her blade diagonally, causing the orks weapon to slide down and bring him with it. His body smacked the dirt and Razorback’s steel cut through his spine. A clean cut through the bone ensured he wouldn't be standing back up.

Razorback hummed when Amber pressed the button to switch it to its rifle form. The blade swung back and she took aim, firing a few shots into the crowd. Just as before, bullets seemed to have a worse effect than straight out brawling. The bullet dug into their skin slightly, but not enough. The closest one intended to drive her skull into the earth. She quickly jumped back, getting some distance and reloading. The ork only followed, after pulling his massive weapon out of the ground. With a deep breath and a lot of focus, Amber took a shot at his head, nailing him in the eye. The massive green man dropped his weapon in pain and fell to the ground.

“Aw yeah! Headshot!” She said in pride. Although trained to use a rifle, Amber was nothing more than a decent shot, so it was fulfilling to land a shot like that. Her glory was cut short by an axe. The ork stepped over his comrade to avenge him. Razorbacks gears whirred again, switching to a sword. She swung heavily into his swing, knocking the axe from his hand. Following up with a left side swing into his abdomen that made blood pour onto the soil.

Amber watched as he dropped to the ground bleeding to death. She'd already killed four.

“Anyone else?! Hunh?! Come on you pussies! ‘Er you right scurd of a lit’l girl?” She mocked them in a similar voice of their kind.

The orks knew she was not to be toyed with. She could obviously handle herself, even against a group. They made a tactical maneuver in the opposite direction, falling back. Amber smirked and sheathed Razorback.

“That's what I thought. Bunch of weaklings and losers.” She said as looked for bag of acorns. A few minutes of searching entailed it was gone. Had she thrown it too far? No, even with her strength it wouldn't be far. She found the place she stood when she threw it, and that's when it hit her: The orks stole it. “Those cheeky asshats!” She screamed out, ramming her fist into the tree bark. “They stole my fucking nuts!”

One of the orks laying on the ground hung onto life. He groaned in pain as blood spewed from his wounds. Amber quickly walked up to him and pointed her finger in his face.

“Where is your stronghold you little shit?” She said, “Tell me now!” The cat's blood was boiling. Sure the work wasn't anything she could do again, but now it was completely personal.

“An’ wat do I git fer tellin’ ya?” The ork replied, unable to fight back and hardly able to speak.

“Less broken bones. Maybe a chance to live? Maybe a chance to end what already is killing you? Depends on how generous I feel if you cooperate.” She replied back.

The ork simply chuckled at her statements. “Well, ya can fergit it.” He said “I ain't givin’ ya nuthin’”

“That’s cute, and honourable. But unfortunately, it's also painful for you.” She grabbed him by his arm and twisted it with her foot on his shoulder. The bone snapped loudly and the ork yelled out in pain. “You sure you don't want to reconsider?” She asked politely.

“Go fall off a cliff.” He muttered under his breath, trying to remain conscious. Amber only grabbed his other arm and repeated the process.

“You've got a lot of bones mate. Make it easy on yourself.” She said stepping on his knee joint and grabbing him by the foot.

“If yir gunna kill me, kill me.” He said shallowly.

KER-SNAP

The broke loudly and could be heard even over the ork cries of pain. “Tell me where it is now!” Amber yelled out.

“No! I wo-”

KER-SNAP

“Gahhh!!! Ahright! Follow the path to de west! Iss near da river!” He screamed out in a mix of pain and heavy breathing.

“Thank you. Now let me end that pain.” She said taking Razorback and sinking it into his chest. The blade pierced his heart and killed him almost instantly after he coughed up blood. Amber swung the blood off her blade and ran down the road to the river. Those orks were about to feel her rage firsthand.

Word Count: 2650/5000

[Amber Veritz]

The information provided by the dying ork was enough to find her way to the ork’s stronghold. Amber trudged down the sunny forest path in the direction her enemy pointed her to with Razorback in hand. Saying she was pissed would be an understatement. They’ve brought this on themselves numerous times, launching poorly planned attacks on them and recklessly fighting a prime of Amber’s strength. This time, they wouldn't get a chance to suck.

The path was a bit further than Amber anticipated. She hoped that she would not get lost making her way there, because if she could not find those orks, she would have to collect another bag of acorns. Fucking nuts. Confident she would find her target though, the faunus pushed on angrily.

Her furry ears perked up not much further up the road. Water. She could hear it rushing in the river. The current was strong, or so it sounded, so this river must be big. Past the small tree line, the road split into two: One path led up ther river in one direction, the other was bridge made of solid stone to cross the rushing rapids. Amber looked up at the sky. Judging location was a bit difficult here in the Omniverse but this world reminded her of Vale. Lots of trees and sun. The suns position helped her find which way was east.

Crossing ther bridge and turning right, she continued to rush next to the water, running against its current and being splashed every so often. The wind was starting to pick up slightly, too. None of it bothered Amber though.

In the distance was a wooden structure. It started to pop out from the trees as Amber neared it, just a few ten feet away from the river. This had to be the stronghold. Poorly designed with a primitive nature about it. A greenish figure stood out in front of the wall of wood, probably a guard for the orks. As soon as he saw Amber in the distance speeding toward him, her opened to large wooden gate, quickly making his way inside. Not too much sooner a horn blared loudly. Must signal and assault to ready their forces. Let them come. Amber has dealt with hordes of Grimm. A small group of orks would is child's play to that.

Amber neared the gate. The wooden structure was made up tightly wound wooden poles with edged tips to keep out intruders. When she got with with in fifty feet, rocks bigger than her head came after her. They were throwing them over the walls to try and take Amber out before she even arrived. It was actually kind of cute, their determination. Too bad it was in vain.

Slashing stone out of the air and dodging roughly was enough to keep the rocks at bay. She slowed her approach in order to focus on the rocks. Taking a hit would not feel good, so it was best to approach slowly and carefully. Soon she was too close to the wall for them to throw the rocks at her. The worried cheiftain ordered them to barricade the door. Every able bodied ork started to take their pile of rocks to the door. Planting them in front of it to bar her passage. As always, the determined faunus would not give up. She slammed Razorback into the wooden gate sending splinters of wood flying in every direction. “Anyone home?!” She yelled out to the orks. They ignored her, obviously, fixing the stones that had fallen off the pile and continuing to load it with more stone.

Another load splintering crack sounded on the other side of the gate. “Come on! I just want to borrow a cup of sugar!” The wood split completely this time, sending one of the poles making up the gate tumbling down. With the gate weaked, the piled up rocks weighed on it. The wood gave into the weight of the stone, making the gate come crashing down. Amber jumped back as the rocks spilled out in front of her. A perfect path into the stronghold.

The orks gathered in the middle of their fort. The most of them got ready to defend their chieftain. As the cat stepped over the stones, she smirked and looked down on her prey. “Hey neighbors.” She said. “Thought we could get together and play a game. I call it Slaughter.” An odd aura surrounded the faunus, outlining her body in red glow. She jumped off her rock mountain and charged into the bowling pin group of orks. She was landing a strike on this set.

Power coursed through Amber’s veins like never before, not even since that adrenaline shot back on the Stranded Island. While it made her feel more aggressively alive, this power was raw and completely untamed. She sliced through orks like they were butter, cutting through their clubs and even slicing the green dudes into two pieces. She was too fast. Running through the group taking down any enemy that dared to raise a weapon against her. Her reckless attack made her take a few nicks here and there, and they hurt, but nothing was going to stop the bloodshed she had begun.

“Ten, eleven, twelve,” she counted as each lifeless body fell to the ground. She made it all the way to twenty-seven before the remaining orks were either all dead or too afraid to get near her. The chieftain still remained though, and it was going to be a glorious kill. Although, it would be better if he was not a coward like the remaining orks. He climbed over the rocks and was trying to make an escape, with her nuts as well. Amber’s blood boiled, and with a blood curdling howl she sped after him at high speed.

“Give me back my acorns you rotten shit!” She yelled at him. Unfortunately, the poor ork had no chance of escaping her. She raise her weapon over head when she was within a few yards of him and tossed it at his back. The steel dug into his spinal column very unpleasant like and he fell to the ground, blood poured from the open wound. The now calmed down Amber walked up to her prey, pulling her sword from his back. Blood spewed like a fountain out of the wound. The bag of acorns was dropped not so far away from where he fell. Amber retrieved them quickly. While it seemed fitting to leave the chief to sit there and bleed to death, she knew that if she didn't kill him now, he'd come back. The faunus strapped her pouch of nuts to her side and took Razorback in hand again, twisting it to it's blunt side. With a hefty downward swing and enough force to break concrete, she obliterated the orks skull into nothing more than a pancake of blood, bones and brains. Not so much brains though.

Amber took a sigh of relief. “Finally I can fucking relax.” She said sheathing Razorback in its holster. “It's about damn time too. I need some rest after that skirmish. Wonder how I did that glowy shit. It felt awesome.” She exclaimed about her new found power. The feeling was like nothing she experienced before. Primes are really the big tits here with powers like this. She took a moment to catch her breath and take a look at her wounds. Nothing more than a few bruises on her arms and one on her chest, which she was just now starting to feel. A small jolt of pain flowed into her shoulders from her chest. A little rest and it should heal up. First priority is to get the acorns to the old lady though. Maybe then she would head back home and take a proper cat nap.

The walk back was longer than expected. It seemed much shorter when she took it opposite. Though, at that point she was extremely angry and running. Now she was calm and walking. At least there was nothing to worry about though, nothing was trying to kill her anymore since she entered this giant forest. Good change of pace.

Word Count: 4031/5000
Amber used her Animal Instincts at the stronghold to quickly take down many orks in a huge fatal swoop. It ended when she killed the chief. SP count: 2/3

[Amber Veritz]

What a day it had been. Amber had met three new friends, learned death has punishment, fought abyssal skeletons and fool hardy orcs, and had selflessly completed a job to gather such mundane items for an old woman Melody. The thin dirt trail went on forever. Maybe the faunus had turned at some point not realizing it. Her survival skills in Remnant’s wilderness had taught her a thing or two about hunting and gathering though. One thing you should always remember in a giant wood or forest is to stay as close as possible to the trail. Unless you had to go deeper in the forest, it was a sure fire way to get lost.

The bruises in her legs started to sting a little. It would be a good thing to hurry along. She picked up the pace to a slow jog watching her feet to make sure she didn't trip on rocks of something stupid.

Within a few minutes, Melody’s shack appeared in the distance. The recognizable wooden structure was in slight disrepair so was not hard to miss. She closed in on the elderly woman’s house with spoils in her hand yelling out to her contract.

“Hey, Melody!” She screamed. “I got the acorns!” Waving the bag around in the air like a flag.

The witch, stewing something together in a big pot or cauldron of some kind turned toward the teenagers voice. Confused at first she scratched her head wondering who this person was before remembering she was gathering supplies for her.

“Oh, it’s you!” Her shrill voice emanated from the distance. “Your timing is impeccable, young lady!” She said as the cat girl finally got close enough to stop and take a breath.

“Really?” She asked between breaths. “Why is that?” The faunus bent over leaning on her knees to catch her breath.

Meldoy’s voice got even more jovial as Amber handed her the bag. “I'm working on something that should help with the corrupted fire scars in this area. If I'm correct, a few pinches of grounded up acorn should finish the elixir.”

“No shit? Good thing I got you I huge supply. I fit as many as I could in that bag for you. Hope they last awhile.” Said Amber who had found her breath finally stood up and observed the bubbling purple liquid. “Looks like alchemy.” She said amazed with the weird gooey substance.

“They don't call me an alchemist for nothing dear.” The old woman said as she grabbed her mortar and pestle. “Could you crush one of those acorns for me young lady? You look far more physically fit than I to do so.”

“Sure thing.” Amber said taking one of the nuts from the bag and crushing it into dust and hard pieces with her bare hands. The old woman held out the small cup-like item and the faunus disposed the dusty bits into it. She ground the acorn into a finer dust. It looked like dust from Remnant by the time she was done, only there was no dust she knew of with a brown hue.

The witch added the dusty bits into the gooey shit, and after stewing it together the liquid turned from purple to a dark green that matched the tree’s leaves. A smile grew on the witch's face.

“Perfection.” She said as she stirred it together. “I think we're ready to try this formula out.”

“Freakin’ tits, let’s do it.” Amber said eagerly wanting to watch the potion affect the destroyed and corrupted soil. It not often you watch dead nature come back to life. The old woman went inside her shack, coming back with a wooden spoon or ladle of some kind and a glass vial. One of those vials with the really slim opening that reach down into a bigger volume.

“Now, a full glass should be enough to help the land grow back in on spot. Just need to pour it onto the soil and see if we get any results.” She said filling the vial up slowly trying not to spill any of her brew, which was pretty much impossible with her old shaky hands. After the vial was filled up with enough of the potion, Melody slapped a cork on it and wiped off the the drops that slid down the glass, missing the opening, with a rag.

“If I'm correct this should work just fine.” She said holding it up in the light to make sure it was the right color of green.

“It’ll fix the burn scars?” She asked with a bit of hope in her voice. “It would suck to see it fail after I just collected all those acorns for you.”

“Oh don't worry about that dear. If it doesn't work we merely go back to the books and try something else. Alchemy is a trial and error game.”

“Fair enough.” Amber replied. The two took the vial over to a blighted spot on the ground. Melody looked at it closely, making sure it was not too big for the vial they have.

“Start small, then if it works we know it will work on the larger areas.” She said. Pouring the liquid around the scarred area, emptying the entire vial into the soil. “Should take about five minutes to get some affect.”

“That pretty quick. You must be really good at alchemy then.” The faunus said watching the burnt ground for any signs of recovery.

“Yes well, even I can make mistakes. It might work, it might not. It might take effect in ten seconds, it might take effect in ten hours. We’ll just have to see.” Melody returned to her setup to cleanup the mess while Amber sat down and watched the ground for any changes.

Fifteen minutes went by with no solid effect. The soil hardly changed beyond adopting a slightly less black hue. “It looks like it'll need a larger dose.” She said. “It’s working but not very well.”

“I will have to increase the potency then.” Melody said. “I will work out a solution as soon as possible. Thank you for all your help young lady. It's good to see such bright young people around this world.”

“No problem ma’am. It was more an obligation than an option.” The faunus said standing up and stretching out her muscles. “Good luck with the future attempts.” With a wave and a goodbye, Amber continued toward the gate to the Nexus. Time to head home.

Word Count: 5139/5000 Quest Complete!