With her equipment with her, Sangue remained still for a brief moment before quickly adapting to her surroundings.
Swimming was never a forte of Sangue’s. That much was clear when her Grimm Studies class tasked the students to fight the Megaladeus. Admittedly, it was probably because of the prosthetic she carried around that weighed her light body down. In this case, however, swimming wasn’t particularly the focus of the class.
All they had to do was make it to the other side.
The students around her quickly acted, and in response, so did she. As soon as her eyes fell upon the Grimm, she quickly began analyzing them. A second passed before she let her prosthetic open up and reveal a sharp claw, its chains coming out of the palm. Raising it behind her, she swung it like a flail a single time before tossing the claw at one of the Grimm, throwing it uncontrollably to push off the Grimm from further damaging the ship for a moment.
It was clear that their numbers wouldn’t be dwindling, and with so many students around, there was bound to be something else to do to help with the situation. Her focus was always at its peak during combat- almost unnaturally so.
We need something to carry us over to the island, she thought.
She then remembered that one drama Mark showed her at the bar’s small television.
“…I should hold them off,” she spoke quietly, her words carefully mended together. She knew she had to speak and act faster, even if it was still troubling for her tongue.
Some of the students went to go grab the lifeboats, so she wouldn’t need to go through the hassle of trying to find things. According to Gren, they didn’t have much time. His dripping wet boots implied so just as easily as his words did. Her eyes remained sharp, though they were mostly because she wanted to help everyone get off the sinking structure.
Sensible people wouldn’t overthink about appearances when Grimm were trying to sink a ship. Perhaps some people would, but she didn’t.
Her gaze fell upon Emerald, who quite literally rained bullets on the Grimm like a raincloud of guns. Taking notice that she was more or less focusing on distracting the Grimm from their attacks, Sangue unsheathed her blade as her prosthetic’s palm opened once more.
She then remembered Gren. He made her an entirely new arm- it didn’t seem wrong to plan something with him.
“Gren,” she called out to the man in question.
“I… think I need your help.”
Gren’s trip inside the ship was unfortunately unfortunate. He found some towels and one life jacket he could fit into and tore off a first aid kit from the wall, but aside from that the place was flooding too fast for him to delve further without proper preparation. No backup and no plan would mean he’d essentially be walking into a water grave, so he returned to the deck with his meager bounty.
Then figured his next best bet would be to find those lifeboats and protect them. That should be something he could easily do. But before he would go he heard Sangue’s quiet voice call out to him. This was a bit of a surprise, as he didn’t expect her to initiate a conversation. Trying to lighten the situation up a bit he cracked a joke.
”Things must be real bad if you’re asking me for help. What can I do for you?”
Needless to say, Sangue didn't understand the joke. She didn’t have anything to ask about it, however, so she pointed at the side of the ship with her blade. Several Grimm could be seen approaching to ship from afar, though some were most likely going to approach from below as well.
“Can you… hold onto this?” She asked as she looked away from the edge and lifted the harpoon that slid out of the prosthetic’s palm. Looking up to the man who towered over her, she continued carefully,
“...I’m... going to jump off and deal with some of them. ...But I don’t want to damage… the ship.”The extra effort she put into speaking could be noticeable, but she didn’t celebrate that at the slightest. She made far more mistakes and left out more information when she spoke faster, like how she didn’t mention that her original plan was to spike the harpoon on the ship before going out on her own.
Going out on her own could risk the Grimm attacking the chains. Though it was a simulation, she did not need to treat it as such and laze around while everyone was doing something. Working with others was key to making the most efficient work of an objective, as Ben always told her, so she followed his very words.
As much as her first thought was to ask Lauren for help, she figured that Gren would know how her prosthetic worked the most, considering he was one of the people who made it.
Gren looked at Sangue’s honestly surprised this time. Not that she was not only talking to him, but had a plan too. She didn’t seem the type to do that but then again he didn’t know her, so he just smiled and grabbed her harpoon.
”Got it! Go and slay em Sangue, I’ll make sure nothing jumps at you from behind.”Once Sangue was ready, Gren went over to the side of the ship and activated his semblance to allow him to kneel on the side of the ship. He stuck the harpoon onto his chest and also used his semblance to ensure it was stuck firmly to his body. This way, both of his hands were free to wield his gun, which for now he’ll call Annabeth, and provide covering fire for Sangue. His helmet snapped over his head as he got ready to fight and looked to the crimson haired huntress.
”I’m in position. You’re good to go at anytime!”
Thankfully, Gren agreed to help her.
...I really need to think of something to give him, she thought, remembering that she had plans in paying him a favor. For now, however, she decided to make use of his help.
Walking over to the rail, she glanced over the ship, taking note of the Grimm. Some of them seemed stronger than the others, though most of them were threatening due to their numbers more than anything.
Moving away from the edge, she took several steps back and watched Gren… stick the harpoon on his chest. She presumed it was safe for him to do so, seeing how she herself couldn’t do that. As he readied his firearm, so did she with her blade.
With a bit of poison remaining in the prosthetic pauldron, she grabbed her blade with the prosthetic as venom oozed onto her blade. She slid the artificial hand across the whole weapon, the katana redder than its usual form. It could slow down any Grimm enough for Gren to finish off easily if she happens to not kill them in one blow.
Nodding at Gren, she took a brief moment to remain still.
She then leapt off the ship.
By no means did she have a power of flight. But she had someone to back her up, and it was enough to convince her to jump.
Her body now airborne, her prosthetic fingers abruptly clenched the chains. As she stopped moving further from the boat, her feet lightly landed on its side as she instantly beheaded two weak Grimm attacking the boat.
And she ran. Slashing with a fervor that could easily be mistaken for anger, she ran and ran, cutting apart the Grimm almost effortlessly. She stabbed one of the Grimm straight in its head before slashing in a perfectly parallel line to the side of the ship she ran on, slicing a weaker Grimm in half. While she did run quickly, it wasn’t to the point where it wouldn’t leave room for Gren to shoot down some of the Grimm that began to follow her trail.
One of the Grimm shot out of the water to attack her. Unfazed, she kicked herself off the ship before ramming her foot straight into its face, sending the thing into the air as she promptly landed and continued running. The plan did not seem like much at a first glance, but its goal was to grant breathing room for the lifeboats.
As she ran, a darker shadow approached Sangue from below, refusing to immediately lash out as it waited.
“Pull!” Sangue called out to Gren, much louder than before as she flipped her blade so that it faced behind her.
Laughing maniacally, Gren gunned down the Grimm with gusto. They chased after Sangue like bait, only to run into a hail of bullets from Annabeth. It was a good thing Sangue was drawing them to the surface, as he didn’t prep his underwater ammo. Still his usual bullets would be more than enough to shred the monsters that dared leave their murky depths. As he was shooting her heard Sangue about to him. It must have been something very important if she shouted loud enough to be heard over the roar of Annabeth.
Gren tossed his rifle towards his feet, where his semblance made sure it didn’t fall into the water. Grabbing the harpoon with both hands Gren yanked the chain with all his might, pulling Sangue up towards him as hard as he could, and hopefully enough for whatever Sangue needed.
”Everything okay Sangue?” The boar faunus shouted to Sangue.
Right before he pulled, Sangue dipped nearer to the water as her eyes sharpened.
And as soon as Gren did pull her, a Grimm that almost bore the resemblance of a Megaladeus popped out. It was much smaller and clearly less threatening than one, however, but having something like it around would be annoying if it got in the way of the boats. She couldn't lure it out safely because her chains would retract too slowly on their own, but Gren being around made it a different story.
Pulling her legs up as her skirt flapped wildly, she quickly plunged the katana between her stretched legs, stabbing the Grimm in the neck. Time froze for a moment for her as her eyes remained locked onto the creature that attempted to attack her- particularly at the direction of her chains.
As soon as she violently twisted the katana in the Grimm’s neck, Gren’s raw power threw her out of harm’s way as the sharp blade sharply cut upward across the Grimm’s head. The separated head dangled loosely as it fell on top of some of the Grimm.
As her feet landed on the ship again, this time much closer to Gren, she began to retract her chains before eventually hurling herself back onto the sinking ship. Water drenched her body, hair, and dress, making her somewhat heavier than before. She had focused mostly on one side that the Grimm could attack from, which would hopefully slow them down before their numbers grow again. They were still formidable enemies, regardless of whether they were considered weak or not by people.
Steadying herself, she unsheathed her weapon and looked back over the ship. There were still some of them left, though it would take a bit for more to gather, especially after Gren had shredded apart many of them. Emerald’s distraction proved to be useful since some of the Grimm were noticeably disoriented.
“...Thank you,” she told Gren, her voice quiet once more.
“We… should get with the others.”
Gren smiled widely as he saw Sangue cut down the Grimm just moments before he pulled her up. That was quick thinking on her part. Once Sangue landed onto the deck he deactivated the friction on her harpoon so she could retracted it back into her hand. Gren picked up Annabeth and fired upon any stranglers, but for the most part this side was mostly clear. He was tempted to shoot some rockets into the water but refrained. Grimm weren’t the smartest creatures, but they could be cunning too. Last thing he needed was for them to grab his rockets and use them to damage the ship so he just kept shooting until he needed to reload, swapping out one huge crate of ammo for another on Gren’s back.
He got back to the deck and could feel the ship’s sinking slow down just a hint. It’s still going to sink, but Sangue brought them some time at least. The big green guy gave her a thumbs up.
”That was some hot stuff there Sangue. Good work! Now that you’ve thinned out the grimm it should be a bit safer for us to take the lifeboats off this deathtrap. Speaking of boats, let’s head to the lifeboats. Pretty sure I saw them near the backend of the ship.” Gren motioned towards the lifeboats waiting to see if Sangue wanted to go.
”Oh, and take this too, if you want. It’s a life vest. Too small for me but it should work fine for you.” It looked like a normal rubber vest at first, not something that could actually keep Sangue afloat. But there was a bright red tag in the chest that if Sangue pulled, it’ll inflate the vest and help her float to the surface. It was simply in its compact form right now.
Gently taking the vest, she nodded as she held it close to herself. It would help if things turned for worse, though she doubted the students would let that happen.
“...Thank you,” she repeated, though her expression softened for a moment. Her serious look quickly returned as she headed to the other students who had prepared the lifeboats with Gren. They had to leave the ship as soon as possible.
