Chapter 102:

A/N: Hello again everyone, it's good to be able to release another chapter again. I hope you're all doing well and staying safe through this whole pandemic. I want to give a special shoutout to my wonderful girlfriend for helping get me motivated to write again. She's more than I deserve some days. Now that, that has been said, its on to the chapter. Hope you all enjoy, Rhino out.

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Don: "So ya want to know how Topaz and I met, well that is a tale worth reliving."

Don gets the airship into the air as the others settle into the back. Once the flight was in motion, Don clears his throat and starts his story.

Don: "So this was a few years ago, that strange day. Was a day eerily similar to today, clear skies and not a bit of wind. I was out testing a new flight module when out of nowhere it gave out and I came crashing down in the middle of nowhere. I could see a couple of beowolves comin' towards me so I tried movin' to get away from 'em. Issue being… I broke my left arm on impact. Thought I was done for until somethin' landed on the roof of my airship. Thinking it was another beowolf, I closed my eyes and waited to meet the brothers."

Nova: "So how did you meet Topaz then with the beowolves?"

Don: "I'm getting' to it kid, hold yer horses."

Nova: "Ah, sorry."

Scarlett: "That is so like you Nova."

Don: "Back to the story. So after havin' my eyes closed for a few minutes, and nothin' happenin' the back door of the ship was torn open. I whipped my head around to go down swingin' and there stood a young boy. I just stared for a while, couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that a kid saved my life."

Topaz: "I wasn't that young when it happened old man."

Don: "Bah! You're all infants in my eyes."

Topaz: "Well of course old man, you're ancient."

Ariel: "Topaz!"

Topaz: "What? We're having fun here."

Ariel: "You still can't go around calling people ancient."

Don: "It's fine missy, Topaz is a good kid. I know he doesn't mean any real harm in it."

Ariel: "If you say so…"

Topaz: "It's a two way street Ariel. I give what I get when it comes to these jokes."

Don: "Aye."

Ariel: "Let's just move on."

Nova: "So what happened after that?"

Don: "Ah, well after that young Topaz escorted me to the nearest town to call for help. A couple of beowolves tried attackin' us but Topaz made quick work of 'em. After making it to the town, the locals were kind enough to get us some shelter until my partner at the time picked us up."

Nova: "Partner? Where is he at now?"

Don: "Dead."

Nova: "O-oh… I'm so sorry."

Don: "Don't be. He was an old coot, with too many bad habits."

Topaz: "Still, we are sorry to hear that Don."

Don: "That's enough of the feelin's, we have company."

Almost as soon as Don says that, Topaz is opening the side door, and thrusting his spear into the side of a small nevermore. With a shriek of pain the creature vanishes in a puff of black dust.

Don: "We got another comin' on our right!"

Ariel rushes over to the right door and throws it open, and sees a group of three teryx circling the ship. Swinging her bladewhip, one of the teryx is sliced clean in half, with another swing and a use of her necklace, the other two go down in an electrified mess. The ship is suddenly shaken violently from another grimm landing on the roof, causing Ariel to stumble closer to the edge, hitting her head on the doorframe, knocking her unconscious. She begins to fall out the door, unable to prevent herself. Topaz rushes over and grabs her around the waist, and pulls her back into the ship.

Don: "I'm losin' 'er! We're goin' down! Hold on tight!"

Topaz pulls Ariel over to one of the seats and buckles her in tightly. Looking around, he sees everyone else sitting down and buckling in. He begins to make his way over to a seat for himself, but sees another teryx poke its ugly head inside the ship. Quickly rushing the teryx, he takes a quick stab at it but misses as the ship rocks violently once more. The teryx lunges at him and tries taking a chunk of his arm with a bite. With an audible chomp, the creatures maw clamps down on left his arm.

Neo: "Topaz!"

Topaz: "I'm fine. You all need to stay calm or you'll only attract more."

Neo: "But-"

Topaz: "No buts. Everything will be o-"

CRASH!!!

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Startling awake, Topaz looks around, only to find himself in the middle of nowhere. The air around him is cold, that fact made evident by the thick cloud of steam coming out with every breath. Looking at his left arm, he sees no sign of the teryx biting down on him and shakes his head. Raising said arm up to his head, he gently rubs the back of it.

Topaz: "Ugh, my head."

Slowly getting to his feet, Topaz tries to figure out where he is, and if everyone else is anywhere relatively close to where he is. A few feet away from himself, he finds his spear sticking out a mound of snow. Grabbing the spear, he surveys the land around him. In the distance, he can see a small plume of smoke rising into the air and begins making his way towards it. As he gets closer, he hears something heavy land in the snow behind him. Turning to face whatever it is, he sees a teryx looking at him, with most of its teeth shattered.

Topaz: "Miss me ugly? How are your teeth?"

With an enraged cry the teryx lunges at him once more, but Topaz ducks the bite and buries his spear into the grimm's throat. Topaz looks into the teryx's eyes and watches the grimm dissolve into the usual black smoke. Taking a deep breath, Topaz begins to continue making his way towards where he can see the smoke coming from. The closer he gets, he realizes that it's the crashed air ship, and picks up his pace. Once he arrives, he quickly looks inside to see if everyone is still inside, but see's no sign of them. Taking a look around for any sign of where they might have gone, he sees a note on one of the seats.

{Topaz, I know you will see this when you eventually find the crash site. After the crash none of us knew what happened to you other than the grimm that was holding on to you when we crashed. Luckily someone saw us crashing and came to help, and are going to be escorting us to Mantle, or at least where the people of Mantle are. Everyone of us is fine from the crash, Ariel has a small cut on her head from when she was knocked out, and Don got a pretty big cut from the impact, but other than that we are all perfectly fine. We were told that everyone is staying in the Atlas Crater, so we will see you there when you arrive. Take care of yourself please, we love you. -Neo}

Smiling to himself Topaz lets out a breath of relief he didn't even know he was holding, and begins to make his way out of the ship. Turning, he looks to the sky and sees the floating Atlas off in the distance, and begins making his way towards it. Seeing the swarms of grimm in the sky and the menacing clouds that seem to swallow the very sky itself, Topaz can't help but shudder. Taking the first few steps towards where the rest of his friends went, the spear in his right hand begins to vibrate.

Tera: 'Topaz, we need to talk.'

Topaz: 'Tera? Is that you?'

Tera: 'Yes, its is child. I know it has been a while since we have spoken, but I come to you with important information.'

Topaz: 'Alright then. What is it?'

Tera: 'It's about the threat you are about to face, about Salem.'

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