RWBY: The Hidden Grimm Book 2

Chapter #2 Dust up

After breakfast, I left Rei and the inn so that I could look around town for provisions and any possible bounty so that I can get some extra cash. I buy some small boxes full of bread, cheese, and cured meats. I refilled my canteen at the inn so I'm not worried about water. After buying my food I notice the blacksmith's shop and walk-in search for any modifications I can make to my gear. I'm greeted by a man with big horns coming out of his forehead. "Welcome traveler what can I do for you today." The man asks.  "Hello sir, I was wondering how much it would be for modifications of my gear." I explain. "Well, we have been having problems with bandits that have made camp not too far from here so if you can help drive them off then I would gladly call that payment for whatever modifications you want son. But before that let's see what you got." He says. I put all of my weapons on the counter in front of him and he looks them over. "Well, well, you've got quite the arsenal son but this one here looks a little out of place." He says as he points at the rifle that I picked up yesterday. "It doesn't fit with the wolf-like engravings your other weapons got." He says. "Yeah, I picked that one up just yesterday from an unlucky bandit. I've been needing a long-range weapon for a while so I figured why not take this beauty." I explain. "Haha can't say no to a good weapon huh, haha I like you kid." He says as he laughs. "Now about these bandits, what should I be expecting here." I ask as I take my weapons back. "They're mostly small fry but they got numbers to compensate, not to mention their leader. He calls himself the woodsman, he's not too smart but he's as strong as a mountain and he shows it to with his massive axe." He explains. "Got it, thanks for the tip. I'll be back by sundown." I say as I turn towards the door. "Wait just you? Didn't you hear me say they had large numbers." He says in shock. "Oh I heard, now you may want to keep that forge hot for when I get back." I say as I leave the shop. I leave the town and go back to the fork in the road I saw yesterday. "Alright, Elaina you stay here and wait for me to come back, okay girl." I say as I put her by the sign. She whimpers but she sits down and waits as I walk down the other road. I walk down the road for a few minutes when I hear leaves and branches move, five attackers jumped from the bushes in a surprise attack. "Woo look what we have here boys some fresh me-" I quickly shoot him and the face. "Anyone else want to run their mouths?" I ask as the man's body falls to the ground.  "N-No sir." one of the goons says in fear. "Good, now let's cut to the chase, shall we. Take me to the woodsman." I order. "What, why would-" I cock my gun and point it at him. "Is that backtalk I hear?" I say as I keep the weapon pointed at his head. "N-No sir, right this way!" the goon says nervously. 

The four goons lead me to their camp and open the gates. "T-There now please don't kill us." a goon says in fear. "Stay out of my way and I won't." I say as the goons runoff. "HEY!" A deep voice yells from just ahead. I see a titan of a man walk out from what I assume is the main tent of this camp. "Who is this guy?" The man says as he grabs his massive axe off of his back. "Ah, you must be The Woodsman. A pleasure to meet you sir I am Ben Cutler, and I have been hired to put you and your merry band of brothers 6 feet under.  But as I don't want to waste the time and ammo I am willing to give you a chance. We can do this the easy way and you all get to live or we can do this the hard way and I get to enjoy hearing  all of you scream as I gut you all." I say as I look around and see the hundreds of men grabbing their weapons. "HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh, I must thank you little man I haven't had a laugh that good in years. But if you are serious then I must ask you, just what do you think one man can do against an army and a titan." he says as he wipes tears from his eye. A bullet land just in front of me as all of the others take aim and keep me in their sights. "Thank you for choosing the hard way." I say as I draw Death's finger and fan fire the last five shots. The bullets ricochet and take out all of the riflemen that had me in their sights. The woodsman stares in awe as I now stand among the bodies of his men. "Well don't just stand their you idiots GET HIM!" The woodsman yells as what remains of his me charge me with spears, swords, axes, and more. "Whelp now the real fun begins." I say as I pull out my axe. I fight my way through the hoard of grunts while slicing, punching,  and shooting my way through until the only ones left standing are me and The Woodsman. "Last chance big man, leave now and I won't have to bury this axe in that bean bag of a gut." I say as I pull my axe out of a body. "That's it!" He yells as he throws his axe in the air and it turns into a cannon. He fires at me but I move to all of the other tents for cover but they are quickly destroyed. After the last tent get's destroyed he runs out of ammo and turns his weapon back into an axe. "Where did you go?" he says as I sneak up behind him. I prepare to strike his back when a stick breaks under my boot and the big guy turns around. "Well shit." I say before the Woodsman grabs my face and smashes me into the ground. "So this is what it feels like, ow." I say as I make contact with the ground over and over again. He winds up the final smash but I turn Hellsing back to gun mode and shoot him in the gut. "AH! Ugh, your gonna pay for that you little-" I quickly fire again once I get back on my feet and continue shooting until hellsing is out of ammo. The last shot sends the titan to the ground as breaks his aura. I quickly load two gravity rounds and fire one at the ground to send me airborne and fire the second one once I reach maximum height to send me towards The woodsman. With the added momentum I take out the rifle and aim the bayonet at the Woodsman's head. Right before the blade makes contact the Woodsman swings his axe at me and hits me in the gut leaving a massive wound as I'm sent sliding face-first on the ground for about 30 feet. Once I stop sliding I turn onto my back and see the massive wound in my gut is full of stones from the slide. "Oh, that's probably infected" I say as I clench my stomach. I grab the rifle and take aim but the woodsman grabs me by the head and throws me. "Good riddance, ugh I'm gonna be sore for a while better hit the road before Grimm come." The woodsman says as he limps off into the forest as I fly through the air and land in a river. I land on a rock and get knocked out as my body just floats down the river until the Innkeeper finds me. 

I wake in a bed with Elaina nudging my hand and Rei asleep in a chair next to my bed. "Ugh, well that could have gone better." I groan as I pet Elaina. she yelps in excitement which wakes up Rei. "Ben you're awake!" she says as she hugs me. "Ow ow ow watch it I've got lead belly haha." I say as I laugh through the pain. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" she yells as she slaps me. "OW what the hell Rei!" I yell in anger. The door swings open and a doctor walks in with a bag. " Ms. Long please, I believe he has been through enough. Now I must ask you to leave as this next part will not be pretty." the doctor explains. "Rei pouts and walks out of the room. "What's up Doc, hehe ow" I groan. "Ugh must every patient make that same joke. Anyway I am Dr. swine and I must warn you that I have to remove the stones and disinfect the wound." he explains. "You don't have any pain killers do you." I say knowing his answer. "Unfortunately not I used the last of it just this evening." He explains as he opens his bag. "Hey, Rei you still there?" I yell out. "What is it?" she says as she pokes her head out from the hallway. "Do you have any whiskey?" I ask. "in the nightstand just next to you" she says. I pull open the nightstand and grab a full bottle of whiskey. "Are you even old enough to drink?"  the doc asks. "Doc I have a rock-filled slash in my gut and you're about to go digging in there with no pain killers to give me, I need something here." I say as I open the bottle and start drinking. "Very well. Now let me know when your ready." he says as he grabs a pair of forceps. I give a thumbs-up as I continue drinking and the doc gets to work. Two hours of pain later the doc finishes and stitches up my wound. "There you are good as new, now I realize your traveling but I would recommend at least taking it easy for a few weeks." He says as he packs up all of his equipment. "I'll take it slow for a while Doc, thanks for patching me up. So how much do I owe you?" I ask as I sit up. "Since you rid us of those barbarians this one is on the house. I can finally get more medicine for the town." The Doc explains. "Oh thank the gods. Hey, I forgot to ask but how long was I out?" I ask as I get on my feet. "Ms. Long found you just last night when your little friend here fetched her and brought her to you." He says as he points to Elaina. " Hehe, I guess I owe you a few treats then don't I." I say as I pet Elaina. I look around the room after putting my clothes on and notice that my weapons are gone. "Where is my gear?" I ask. "Oh the Blacksmith said that while I worked on you he would work on your weapons, he should be done by now so if you can walk I would recommend stopping by." The Doc says as he walks out of the room. "Huh, well let's get our stuff." I say as Elaina climbs up and rests on her usual spot. 

I walk over to the Blacksmith who I could her working in the back. "I'll be right with you!" He yells from the back. A few minutes later and he walks out with all of my gear. "Figured you would be stopping by once I saw the Doc was done with you. So here you are all new gear and with a few new tricks too." He explains. I look at all my shiny new gear in awe as I stow it all away. "That pistol of yours is a fine piece so I didn't change too much save for a better hammer and a longer barrel. Fan firing will be a lot smoother with that now as well as the badass new aesthetics that fit with the whole lone wolf thing you had going. Now that shotgun axe was a fun one to play around with, so let me explain what I did. So you've probably already noticed the two barrels that are over and under each other, so I broke down that Rifle and combines it into this. It's a little heavier now but it's worth it. Like this, it will still serve as normal but if you switch it to axe mode now the handle is longer, you have a blade at the bottom of the handle for some extra melee opportunities, and last but not least you can shoot the rifle from the very top of it. Now I had to make it a bolt action instead of a lever-action but trust me it's gonna be a lot better this way.  You can also shoot both in its shotgun mode to if you hit the second trigger I added down there, and don't worry I set it up so that Lever will reload that to once it's fired." He explains. "Damn this is some good stuff." I say as I try all of the modes. "I know. Now the rest are just some minor changes like that dagger is now serrated and you can infuse it with dust via the hole in the hilt. Those claws you had in your gloves I made stronger and a little longer as well as little dust slots on them just in case you want flaming claws or something of the like. Now last but not least I made a little contraption in your boots so that if you click your heels the blade will come out but if you do it twice it will active gravity dust so that you can climb up walls, stick to a piece of land that's falling, or stay on a fast-moving car, ship, or what have you. Oh and before I forget here these are for the dust slots and this is a pack for the rifle ammo." He says as he plops a bag of dust and a pack that I can hang on my belt on the counter. "Thank you very much, now I know we agreed that the bandits being dealt with was the payment but for all of this I owe you one." I say as I stow away all of the new gear. "Just don't get yourself killed out there. I would hate to see my beautiful work in the hands of some idiot who got lucky." He says as I leave the store. With all-new gear I leave the town and hit the road once more.