"I assumed dying would cause an automatic failure on this test. I don't intend to inflict my name with shame." Gideon states bluntly, as if his priority was on passing the test, not surviving. "As for where to next, I supposed you should lead on as you seem to have a better grasp on what's going on." The dual Mardemdiev blades swung downwards despite the grip on the weapons remaining unchanged. Once they locked into place, Gideon appeared as if he was simply holding 2 lugers. Except, the large blades wrapped under the palm of his hand, having rotated almost a full 180 degrees so they practically act as a sharpened forearm as well as an extended- 2 meter- long limb extension from Gideon's elbow. Putting his arms in a resting position in which is lugers pointed towards the underbrush of the forest, the blades extended up past his shoulders and the tips of the blades reach almost a full meter above his head.

Greyson smiled seeing their new partners with them. "nice to meet you two im Greyson and this is my partner Pricilla and to be honest I don't know about these card things but hey a relic is a relic right? we should all just group up and head out of here with our heads held high" Greyson said smiling at the new guy apparently named Robert and he wondered what their semblance was so Greyson could think of ways to work our plans with them to take any of the larger grim they were bound to be facing in the future. What made Greyson nervous was that now they had 4 people in their team and they had the relics so now the question was when was the boulder supposed to roll down and squish them or something knowing that it couldn't be this easy, their had to be some sort of trap or a grim waiting for them if they tried to get out of here together with their relics....

Walking along and hoping that they were going in the right direction, Tai heard the talking at about the same time as Robert, though the tap on his shoulder reinforced the point, and he turned about to see two other partners headed towards them. He stopped then, turning to face them, since they were all here and all. "Hello," he added with a wave as Robert introduced them both, content to let his partner handle the business of talking.

When they had introduced themselves in turn and Greyson spoke about leaving, Tai shook his head. "We haven't actually found our relics yet," he replied unashamedly. It was simply a situation that needed to be corrected, and so it would be. Best to inquire with them though. "I take it there are other relics back where you came from?"

As she and her partner got closer to the others, all of them started to talk, introducing themselves but it seems that she was gonna be the only girl in the team. It didn't matter but it was going to be weird! But they did found each other and they have the relic cards. "Its so nice to meet you both!" Priscilla said bowing her head ad she looked back up smiling at them. "My name is Priscilla. And I am guessing we will all be in the same team! So cool!" She yelled jumping up and down with excitement. And thats when Tai said that they haven't found their relic yet. "Oh.." Which made her stop and sighed. "Well, yeah! You can find it. We can totally help you find it! Lets go!" Priscilla nodded as she turned around and pointed to a direction. And she began to march!

So, Emlyn thought Auriel needed a little gussying up? Oh, just lovely. He shook his head in response and just chuckled for a moment. "No way, man, this is my thing. I've always worn armor like this. It's all about functionality. Yeah, it's not the prettiest thing, but damn does it work." Reaching up to feel the cuts on his cheek, Auriel spent some of his Aura to fully close the wound. Shaking his head to dispel the strange feeling of his flesh knitting itself together, he took a deep breath and watched his partner as he got up, leaning on his chakram.

The thanks and praise he offered was....embarrassed? That's what it struck Auriel as. Maybe it was his first time in a real fight? Or just his first time working as a team. Whatever, at least he wasn't so proud that he couldn't offer even half-baked words of kindness. It'd probably be easier to get along with him off the battlefield, at least in a social sense. They worked pretty well together, actually. Since Emlyn had offered his share of the valuable feathers to him, Auriel decided to go back to find the first two they had killed before running for their lives.

After taking care of the last of the Grimms' tails, Auriel started looking around. They seemed to be at the top of this particular mountain, so it would have been wise to get one last look for the artifact before making their way to another. "Hey, we might've missed our goal when we were...not dying." Carefully wording his mention of the fact that they had run like headless chickens to avoid hurting his own pride or Emlyn's, Auriel slowly swiveled his head. "Hopefully we won't have to climb any more mountains before we find what we're looking for."

yeah if you guys don't have your relics yet me and Pricilla can help you get it. The relic isn't that far from here actually" Greyson said and he smiled at them as he started to lead the way back to where Greyson found his relic. As they walked Greyson pointed to the prairie that had the same card he had which looked like the Ace of spades as it was described on the card waiting for them to claim their ace before a grim could try to stop then but greyson was ready for anything as he held the grip of his sword tightly. Greyson would try and find a way out of the forest and back to their instructors silently hoping that they would be the first team back and be considered the best right off the bat! Greyson knew that this team would go far and Greyson would make sure of it because he wanted to have his partners realize their potential so they can all become great huntsman and huntress considering Pricilla was their only girl on the team...

Bridgett just wanted to collapse on the ground after that ordeal, but she knew that there were things to attend to first. She went over to Abel and began to check him over for the more serious wounds. "What are you doing?" he asked tiredly. "Shush you, and hold still, this is hard enough without you wriggling around." At first she didn't see anything too serious, until she got to his legs. They had been completely peppered with small pieces of wood and shrapnel and though his aura had stopped or healed a majority of them there was one nearly a hands breadth thick lodged deep into his thigh. "I'm going to have to pull this out, it's going to hurt, a lot." Wincing in sympathy she gave it a sharp tug and pulled it free. She held it up to him a gave him a small smirk "Here you go, a souvenir." and she she dropped it into his palm.

Bridgett stood up with a muffled grunt and looked down at him "Before we head off into the cave I'm going to need a minute." With that she walked off a few steps and sat down on the ground, though it looked more like a collapse. After a moment of readjusting she was sitting cross legged, eyes closed, utilizing a deep rhythmic breathing method to try and maximize the range of her semblance. Sensing only the students and their battle with their previous aggressor, she allowed herself to focus a little more on pushing her aura to heal her up. She could sense Abel Watching her intently, but tried not to let it distract her.

Eventually, the four teens arrived at the original area where Priscilla and Greyson had found their relic. "You said you found your card over here?" Robert asked. He turned his head to look around him. "Hm. I don't see a second card, so maybe we should all separate and look around the area. It's gotta be here somewhere." So the four teens separated, looking under every rock and searching every bush, making sure to avoid the oblivious Sitting Bulls grazing around. As they searched, Robert found something of interest. "Hey guys! Over here!" Robert called his partners. If everyone gathered around him they would see a large pit that he had found, next to the pit stood a single wooden sign. It read, "EDGAR IS THE ONE IN THE HOLE!" in black ink, but in red ink the words in black were crossed out and below it read, "RUN! RUN! RUN!" Robert looked at his new friends and asked, "Do you guys think it's in there?"

With the tiny spear removed, Abel became acutely aware of the pain and the bleeding. He looked in disbelief at the splinter in his palm, not entirely believing that it could have penetrated that deep. Of course the wooden shard couldn't have hit his metal plateskirt; it went in straight through the opening in the front. Naturally, it could have been worse. A couple inches to the left and Abel would have gotten the unique chance to live life as a eunuch.

As Bridget sat down to meditate, Abel decided to do the same—after looking at her quizzically for a little while. He composed himself into a relaxed position on his back, one he had assumed many times before, and did his best to ignore the pain and hot fluid trickling down his thigh while he waited for his aura to kick in. When it finally did, he exhaled in relief. Feeling his electric aura flow through his body, soothing and reinvigorating, was one of the most satisfying things he had experienced. This pleasure wasn't only physical—it was symbolic. Each battle with the nightmarish monsters of Grimm was a gamble with his life, and laying down afterward to allow his aura to renew him meant that he had faced and beaten the howling darkness yet again. Though laying down like this might simply look like getting comfortable to others, it was nothing short of victory to Abel.

Abel opened his eyes, blinking a few times to help him readjust to the light. Though red surrounded him in the forest of Forever Fall, that color proved absent from his person. His wounds were healed, and he felt fit to fight again. He wasn't sure how long he had been triumphantly resting, but he guessed it to be only a few minutes. Abel jumped up to his feet, brushed blades of crimson grass from his turquoise overcoat, and summoned the Ampere. As tiny strings of electricity connected his fingers and the weapon's shaft, the Ampere twitched and then leaped from the ground into his waiting hand. He then turned to Bridget, who seemed to be meditating still. Quite forgetting that she had mentioned going into the cave, he asked her, “Ready to get going? We've got no time to waste.” For the first time since he had risen, he noticed the bloody splinter still clutched in his left hand. He flicked it into the grass and tried not to stare at his partner's midriff.

Kuhaku's vision continued to adjust to the levels of darkness. Slowly scanning the area in front of him, his ears were picking up odd noises from within the dark. But, before he could fully focus and make out the source of the noises...

"Kuhaku, I'm over here!" Gren called out to him.
Immediately pin-pointing his partner, his eyes and ears snapped to the side and he turned his head to smile and wave at him, his tail swaying from side to side excitedly.
"Hey! Glad to see you made it alright!" he laughed, his voice echoing.

Suddenly, the room responded to their voices with a loud, buzzing and his laughter died out quickly. Carefully lowering his waving arm and turning his head towards where he first heard the odd noises, he quickly realized what exactly had been making them. Machines, and they weren't normal exploratory or excavating machines from the look of them. They were old and rusty, their joints creaking loudly as they moved. His expression changed and darkened, turning serious. As a bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of his face, he dryly swallowed. "Perfect", Kuhaku thought to himself. "Machines." Reaching behind his back, he equipped Perun (His axe-shield) and Kladenets (His charge-blade) preparing for potential combat.

"Kuhaku, does your illusions work on machines?" Gren asked as he brandished his own weapon.
"No, they don't!" Responded Kuhaku. Then, an idea struck him.

"But my illusions can still work on us! I can use my Semblance and give us both a temporary boost in our abilities! Just say the word and I'll use my powers. But when you want me to use it, I need you focus on looking directly at me and don't cover your ears! The echo that's in this room might make it a bit painful at first, but once my Semblance takes hold, you'll be good to go until the fight's over with!"

As he spoke to Gren, he kept his eyes focused on the machines. Gradually, his black stripes became visible on his ears and tail as he prepared to use his Semblance. Slowing his breathing, he inhaled and exhaled deeply. Warming up his lungs as he refilled and emptied them of air.

As the robots grew nearer, Gren switched The God eater to it's Terror Form. Kuhaku suggested using his illusions to bolster their abilities, but Gren had his doubts. Still, every bit helped. "Alright... First, let's set up the field!" Gren roared into battle, running into the bulk of the bots and swinging The God Eater in a wide arc. It's teeth roared to life as it clashed with the aged metal of the machines, digging through one body and into the other. But despite practically disemboweling the machine, it was still functional. It raised one of it's arms and slammed down onto Gren's position, but missed as he continued his warpath. He tore through the robots, but their durability and strength made it so that he only managed to actually destroy one of the machines; the others, while severely damaged, were still operational. But the purpose of his charge wasn't to destroy all the machines at once, but so that he and Kuhaku were now flanking the robots. "Now Kuhaku!" Gren looked at his partner, hoping that his illusions would work on him as he said it would.

"Alright... First, let's set up the field!" said Gren. As he charged into the robot horde and incited chaos amongst them, Kuhaku bided his time and continued to focus. As his black stripes completely spread across his ears and down his tail, his hazel eyes also began to change. The bronze/copper in his irises mixed and melded with the blue until they faded away and only an intensely bright, glowing sky-blue remained. Baring his teeth at the machines, his sharp canines white and menacing, he inhaled deeply one final time.

"Now Kuhaku!" Gren yelled as he looked at him.

Locking eyes with Gren's from across the battlefield, he puffed out his slender chest and spread his arms open wide in a challenging stance. Then using his diaphragm, he bellowed out a continuous roar that boomed, thundered, and echoed throughout the area. Releasing all of the air from his lungs and projecting his voice for all to hear. Creating slight tremors in the airwaves and ground as he sustained his noble cry for a few, long seconds [TIGER'S ROAR]. Expression twisted into one of combative rage, sharp fangs exposed from his open mouth, his glowing, sky-blue eyes with his black pupils narrowed into a sharp slit, it was in this moment that Kuhaku's Faunus blood truly showed.

As his roar ended, he closed his eyes tightly and pinned his ears against his head. Hyperventilating, he struggled to regain the breath that he sacrificed for his Semblance. His grip slackened on his weapons and he dropped to one knee. Blinking away stinging tears and slowly perking up his ears, he looked up at the robots whose attention he definitely grabbed. Vision fading in and out, ears still ringing, Kuhaku tightened his grip on Perun and Kladenets as every muscle in his body tensed and hardened. Vision and hearing now stable, he grinned darkly at the robots as his Semblance began to take effect.

The darkness of the room had completely gone and his eyesight had dramatically sharpened in detail and clarity [VISION MANIPULATION]. He could hear each individual robot's mechanics click, tick and whir [AUDITORY MANIPULATION]. Standing back up and straightening his stance, he could feel his body relax and move fluidly [EQUILIBRIOCEPTION MANIPULATION] yet at the same time his body felt hardy and strong [NOCICEPTION MANIPULATION]. Odd, the effects of the Semblance took some time before they kicked in. Kuhaku had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to use his Roar again any time soon.

Clearing his throat, he called out to Gren, "Gren! My Semblance should start taking some effect now, you should have more acute vision and hearing, quicker reaction time with increased speed, and reduction in your perception of pain should you take any damage! Now we should be on even terms with these metal-heads! You hang back for a moment, and I'll try to draw them closer to me! When you see me use my Great Axe, we'll hit them all from both sides and take out as many as we can! The ones we don't, we'll at least disable from our joint pincer attack and can finish them off when they're in pieces on the ground! Sound good to you?"

Gren's body felt a tinge of energy surge through him from Kuhaku's Semblance, though it was... Not noticeable. Not initially. He did feel a certain sensitivity to his eyesight and hearing, and the world did seem a bit sluggish. Settling for this, Gren waited for Kuhaku to agro the robots. Only one nearest to Gren ignored Kuhaku, but this just made it easier for Gren to destroy it. The robot brought down it's giant arm at Gren, and he countered by swinging The God Eater upwards, severing the robot's arm. He than jumped onto the larger machine and buried his blade into the robot's headcase, and tore his way down the robot, bisecting it. Gren than heard the tail of end Kuhaku's battle plan, which suited him fine. If he was going to use his Great Axe mode however, Gren would have to keep in his Terror Form; he didn't want to risk shooting Kuhaku with the The God Eater Devastator. "I'm ready when you are!" Gren said as he readied himself to charge at the bulk of the robots, all eight of them.

Emlyn huffed a bit when Auriel stuck so readily by his current ensemble. But the frustration was halfhearted, and the heat of their battle had him excited enough that he ended up smirking in approval. Well, his past worries about how well his partner would hold up were no longer relevant, and, even if he wasn't going to openly admit it, Auriel had undeniably saved his skin. So, a little ribbing aside, he decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Auriel continued to dress rustic and weathered, at least he wore it well.

When his partner went on about how they may have previously missed their target, Emlyn nodded quickly, readily accepting the saving grace to their pride. He lifted off of Mirror, giving his feet a few subtle tests before hefting the chakram back over his shoulder.

"Yes, we should backtrack a little bit. I've got a good feeling about this mountain, for sure," he said and started off back towards where they'd come from. His steps were a bit slow thoughl, and every now and again he'd just look around, making sure nothing else was creeping up on them. "You know, my sister passed her exam in no time at all. She's quite the huntress, phenomenal even."

Kuhaku turned his focus from the advancing robots over to Gren and slightly tilted his head in curiosity. His Semblance didn't seem to affect Gren noticeably or at all, even. Strange. Was there something wrong with Kuhaku? He frowned as he mulled over what could've gone wrong but then refocused on the ever-nearing robots. As Gren tore through a straggler, he gave Kuhaku the answer he needed, "I'm ready when you are!"

Grinning, Kuhaku took his sword and began to smack the front of his shield with it, the metal clanging and clanking loudly as he did. As he made his racket, the eight or so robots were now completely focused on solely Kuhaku, either ignoring Gren or having completely forgot about him. "These robots aren't too bright, it seems" he thought. With the robots advancing ever-slowly towards him, Kuhaku stopped his banging and punched downward with his shield, digging its edge into the ground. He then released his shield to remain in the ground and hid behind it. Swapping his sword into his left hand, he reached into his pocket with his right and pulled out..

A blue vial of Dust.

Smirking, he stabbed his sword into the ground and inserted the dust vial into a small hollow in its spine. Immediately accepting the ammunition, the sword's spine separated and slid back and then returned forward to its original position. Chambering the dust vial within itself. Removing the sword, Kuhaku's glowing blue eyes peered over the top of his shield just in time for a robot to swing at him. Ducking, he quickly grabbed his shield and removed it from the ground to raise it in time to block the attack. The metal fist bouncing off the face of the shield with another metal clanging. Kuhaku braced himself and kept his shield up as the robots were upon him, close enough to swing their mechanical arms at him. "I've only got a few of those rounds, better use them sparingly..." he thought as he withstood the robots' attacks.

Standing his ground, he waited until all of them surrounded him to within a few feet. Their fists and his shield clashing loudly and even sparking a few times. Eyes peering from left to right and back from over the top of his shield, he had the robots' full attention and they were finally close enough. Their individual swings not enough to budge Kuhaku, they all raised their arms at the same time in the hopes that a concentrated attack would bring him down. Giving Kuhaku the perfect moment for his counter. Quickly rearing his shield back, he swung his left arm wide and hard. Smashing his shield across the bodies of the robots and throwing their attack off balance, giving him the few seconds he needed for his next move.

Sheathing his sword into his shield, he removed the combined weapon from his left arm and grabbed the handle of the blade. Swinging it behind him, the weapon rapidly disassembled and reassembled itself into his Great Axe. Announcing the finish of its assembly with a hiss of air, Kuhaku grinned at the robots who were beginning to reorient themselves. Axe reared back, he tightened his grip as he slowly lifted a single finger. With an audible cha-chunk, the Axe had loaded the vial of dust from before. The robots looked at each other, confused for what was coming next. Kuhaku yelled out to Gren.

"Coming your way!" and his finger pulled the hidden trigger within the handle of the Axe.

With one loud thunderous BOOM, the vial of dust from within the axe was discharged. The head of the Axe erupted in blue flames and propelled Kuhaku's swing in a powerful, wide arc [BLAST SWING]. The large axe-head smashed through the robots all at once, cleaving their torsos in two. With the extreme force and momentum from the explosive swing, their bodies were sent flying back towards Gren though heavily damaged and some in near pieces. As they flew in midair towards Gren, Kuhaku's eyes gleamed from the metallic wreckage of their parts, still wearing his signature toothy, white grin. The blue flames on his axe dying out, a small metal slide near the hilt shot back and ejected the spent vial of dust, returning forward with an empty chamber. The empty dust vial clinking and clattering across the ground.

Guess Who said
Eventually, the four teens arrived at the original area where Priscilla and Greyson had found their relic. "You said you found your card over here?" Robert asked. He turned his head to look around him. "Hm. I don't see a second card, so maybe we should all separate and look around the area. It's gotta be here somewhere." So the four teens separated, looking under every rock and searching every bush, making sure to avoid the oblivious Sitting Bulls grazing around. As they searched, Robert found something of interest. "Hey guys! Over here!" Robert called his partners. If everyone gathered around him they would see a large pit that he had found, next to the pit stood a single wooden sign. It read, "" in black ink, but in red ink the words in black were crossed out and below it read, "RUN! RUN! RUN!" Robert looked at his new friends and asked, "Do you guys think it's in there?"

Greyson went around and looked around for their companions card then he looked around making sure not to make to much noise then he turned around seeing Robert call to them so Greyson went and walked over to see what he found which apparently was a really big pit saying something kinda stupid but what made Greyson interested was the sign saying "RUN! RUN! RUN!" so obviously if something said for them to run then it meant something dangerous and/or valuable was down their "if we don't go down their then we might not find your card, if something is dangerous enough for them to put a sign up then their is something valuable down their, ill go down first if something doesn't immediately grab me then come on down" Greyson said as he pulled out his sword putting it behind his neck ready for an immediate slash if something attacked him when he came down.

The Pasture

If any of the four were to gaze down into the pit would see gleaming red eyes and white porcelain-like horns shimmering back at them. It was...almost like a Massive Sitting Bull was trapped down in the pit. Even though it was just a sitting bull, the size of it was immense; easily 6 times as large as the largest Sitting Bull in the area. It was really far down in that pit; too far for the pairs to jump down to fight it. Even so, just from that distance, they would feel the immense pressure of its presence nearly dominate them, as if the thing itself had an aura. That and the thing stank because it was in a massive pile of trash. But that's not too relevant. The thing continued to stare up at them with animosity...it looked far more aggressive than the normal Bull. It even had odd, asymmetrically placed armor bits scattered across it's body...some even looked like they were penetrating it.

---

Beliya

Beliya simply shook her head at GIdeon's statement, saying: "As much as I'd like to admit that, I know little about this place. All I know is that the train seems like the most obvious area to gatehr, since they mentioned it at the start. Simple deductive reasoning." Beliya held her Joyeuse upright, and then simply kept it pressed against her hip in a readied stance. "We have to move before more people get the same idea." is all she says as she begins walking forward, making sure to keep a pace that Gideon could follow. There was the occasional Grimm as they went along, but mostly nothing major, a few Beowulves that got decimated fairly easily as well as the occasional Broodling hatchling.

Laura groaned in response to Trico's foolish questions. Maybe... maybe if she just ran really quickly in the opposite direction it would confuse the girl and she'd be free to find another partner. Cursing to herself, she realized it wouldn't work. She knew the staff of Beacon HAD to be viewing this somehow. She'd have to tolerate this... thing to her rear, kicking up leafs and giggling like some kind of child playing a game. This was no game, this was war!

At least she had the sense to respect an obviously superior person and referred to her as 'mistress'. Whether it was out of respect or some kind of twisted logic was beyond her, but she had not the patience nor the tolerance to understand her new 'partner'. The terrain below them began to change, with the plush red grass below them fading to more bare, rocky soil. The trees became more sparse and soon enough, the mountain was upon them. It was pretty damn big, but they needed to find a relic and this was their best bet.

"I don't know what they look like." Laura admitted, responding to a question she had earlier ignored. "But I'm sure they're obvious enough for us to realize when we've found them. If I was the head master and I was hiding a card on a mountain, I'd hide it on the peak. We'll look there." She reasoned. Prepping herself for a monotonous climb, Sable marched forward and slipped her hands into the side of the cliff. She probably could've scaled it with her abilities far quicker, but that would leave Trico behind, something she couldn't exactly do, no matter how greatly it appealed.

Trico couldn't read minds, since she would probably be very hurt by the way Laura thought of her, and so just kicked up more leaves until they got to the rocky grounds. She thought about making some sort of comment about how mountains 'rock' but Laura then said she didn't know what they looked like, or where they where.
"So, you don't know nothing and just 'ssuming?" She teased. grinning widely. It was nice to see this girl's perfectionism avail naught. "But, if I was the headmaster and I was hiding things, I'd put them in a small cave off to the left of the mountain. Keeping something in an obvious place is asking for it to be found, and plus an obscure place teaches observation and forward-thinking" She exclaimed, grinning widely. However, if the 'Perfect Girl' ever deigned to look at Trico in anything other than disgust, then she would notice the smile seemed to happy, to wide, Trico herself appearing to....stupid. As if a person working to make an act they have no knowledge about believable overdoes everything accidentally.

They seemed to have hit things off on the right foot, at least as far as Tai could tell, and the two even agreed to help them find their relics in turn. With that in mind, and knowing that there was advantage in numbers, they set out together to another part of the prairie, presumably where they had, in turn, found their relics so Robert and Tai could find theirs as well.

Arriving though, there was nothing to be seen. Tai nodded in agreement with Robert, and the four split up, searching the area for the relics that had apparently vanished or somesuch in the interim. At last Robert found something and called them all over, Tai jogging to where he as to see the sign. "Well, that isn't ominous at all," he commented as he read the sign. Still, it was likely that that was where the cards were, since someone had gone to the trouble of getting something dangerous in there, indicating teacher intervention. Though he had to wonder who had written on the sign, since they would have had to go in the pit to know that whatever was in there was dangerous

And, looking down in the hole, he seemed to have hit the nail right on the head. There was a big Grimm down there, bright red eyes and gleaming horns, and it was about six times bigger than the normal Sitting Bulls. It also happened to stink and the atmosphere was heavy, as well as apparent battle scars. But at a glance, Tai would say he did not want to fight that thing.

He frowned as his eyes strained. "Can anyone see if the cards are down there," he asked, unable to himself. He would really like to not have to go down there if he could help it.